I rapidly shout orders and my men react instantly. Artoka ignores his wound for the moment and picks up his rifle again to join Beem and I in combining our fire with the men from the rest of the chalk. Together we pick off the rest of the Martians to the East over the next two dozen seconds. I didn't see Toric reposition his gun but I could hear it clearly, punctuated by the hollow plunk of Cricket's rifle grenade launcher. My assault rifle clicked dry so I turned my head to observe the round's effect on the enemy while I reached for a fresh magazine, and just in time. There were already a few men fallen from Toric's gunfire, and when the grenade landed it threw the rest of the Martian squad to the ground, where they remained, motionless. Toric whooped and Cricket pumped his arm briefly in celebration, then slid the tube of his launcher forward and let the spent casing fall out of the breach, trailing smoke.
I had some time to regroup my thoughts while I finished reloading. The two Martian squads had been finished off quickly due to my men's bravery and the rest of the chalk's complacence in following our lead, but I was still warily on the lookout for whatever cannon had shot at us while we were still inside the landing boat. The rounds had come across us horizontally and I saw no heavy weapons among the infantry or an emplacement so I suspected some kind of ground vehicle. The remaining sergeants (I could only spy Esquire and Galiposhae but I only learned later that 1st Sgt. Felix had in fact been killed very early on) must have come to a similar conclusion because I saw them hollering at our two ATGM operators to get their missiles loaded.
"I was expecting a more substantial reception." Artoka remarked. A medic was quickly patching his shoulder and he growled in pain. "How fucking disappointing."
He was right. Only a platoon awaiting them? It didn't make a lot of sense. Could the Martians really be this disorganized? The rest of the chalk, about 80 people, mostly healthy, were spreading out along the trench and taking up defensive positions. The sergeants were both placing all of their attention on the two rookie ATGM operators, making sure their weapons were loaded properly, and assigning the squad gunners fields of fire. They were doing this job well in your opinion—these men were veterans too after all—but you were concerned that neither of them seemed to have any interest in attacking.
[Cover:Heavy] [Frags:10 Smoke:9 HE:5]
Hall | Leader | MC:--- EXP:--- PS:Dead STA:--- | HK.1-B Carbine [150]
Gavin | Assistant | MC:Stable EXP:Line PS:Healthy STA:Rested | HK.1 Assault Rifle [125]
Toric | Soldier | MC:Stable EXP:Line PS:Healthy STA:Rested | PP.3 Squad Automatic Rifle [409]
Beem | Soldier | MC:Stable EXP:Line PS:Wounded STA:Rested | HK.1 Assault Rifle [105]
Artoka | Soldier | MC:Stable EXP:Line PS:Wounded STA:Rested | HK.1 Assault Rifle [120]
Cricket | Soldier | MC:Stable EXP:Recruit PS:Healthy STA:Rested | HK.1 Assault Rifle w/GL [120/4 Rifle Frags]
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Topic: [SG] War for Mars (Read 10883 times)