Brothers in Arms - The Battle of Evermore
#8 of Brothers In Arms
Aeslins' sleep was abruptly ended as a C-7 was dropped onto her chest, the first thing that she noticed was the siren, what sounded like an old air raid siren that was probably older than her, and just might have been used in the battle for Britain. It was a loud wailing noise, that seemed to shake her to the very core, her gums rattled and her ears whined as the sound overwhelmed her mind. The second thing that she noticed was that everyone was grabbing their gear, she looked over to Napoleon in befuddlement, his only answer was one word, "Ragheads"
She immediately awake, any last thoughts of a good nights sleep quickly forgotten as she leapt from her cot, and straight onto what seemed like a shag carpet. Looking down she saw a huge Husky, almost 7 feet tall, and in nothing but his boxers. He jumped awake, quick to his feet, nearly knocking Aeslin over, being a feline though, she managed to keep her footing. She pushed this oddity to the back of her mind as she grabbed her combats from under her cot.
"NO TIME" shouted Rainbow as he threw her a chest rig and body armour, she blushed, never having thought of the possibility of going out in public in her underwear, let alone with the intention of killing people. She could feel her cheeks burn as she threw the body armour on, wondering what in the hell she had gotten herself into.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Lewis cursed to himself as he threw the one point sling onto his 870MCS, then fumbled with his shell pouch, trying to get the bloody thing to stay on his belt. Once he managed to do that he grabbed his crutches, threw the shotgun onto his back, and hobbled out of the tent as fast as he could.
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING LEWIS?" Napoleon shouted at him as he saw the cat hobbling out of the tent, his shotgun slung awkwardly behind him. The sound of gunfire had started, making even the air raid siren sound like a lullaby.
"MY BLOODY DUTY!" Lewis said, as he threw one of the crutches to the side, so he could wobble a little faster in the sand.
"NOT LIKE THAT YOU AREN'T NOW GET YOUR HALF SHAVEN ASS BACK INTO THE TEN-
"WITH ALL DUE RESPECT SIR, FUCK YOU. I'M NOT ABOUT TO LET THE FAMILY I'VE SPENT 2 AND A HALF YEARS WITH GET SHOT TO PIECES BECAUSE OF SOME FUCKING SAND NIGGER WHILE I SIT ON A COT AND CRY BECAUSE MY LEG HURTS!" Lewis screamed back into Napoleons face, his rage evident. Napoleon just gritted his teeth and grunted, not wanting to waste time arguing. He waved his fireteam along to the rally point; all of them half dressed, with the excpetion of Aeslin and Tank, who in their underwear.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
"CARSTEZ! WHERE IN THE BLAZES IS MOREAU?!" Major Harris squeaked, being a mouse, he couldn't project his voice the way the situation demanded, but he managed to sound as threatening as he meant to.
"SIR, BRAVO SQUAD IS TASKED WITH HOLDING THE NORTH PERIMETER" Lt. Carstez shouted back, his hyena features hardened against the chaos that was erupting all around him.
Major Harris grumbled and grabbed his pistol belt from the wall hook; Bravo squad was supposeed to be backed up by Charlie squad, but they were on leave. So it was up to Napoleons' crew to hold the northern perimeter on their own. He sighed, knowing he was going to lose people tonight. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Rainbow looked behind him to his childhood friend of so many years, Spalls' face was contorted in pain, but he never complained, not even a little. He was hobbling faster than should be possible with a broken leg and only one crutch. The Ferret smiled and knocked the crutch out of Lewis' hands, prompting a shocked look until he grabbed his arm and propped him up on his shoulders. "We need to move," he said simply, Lewis just grunted in thanks and hobbled that much quicker with the help of Rainbow.
They reached the bunker on the north end of the base, being a forward observation post, it wasn't as large nor heavily populated, but everyone in it knew how to defend themselves, even the Tim Hortons counterboys had donned body armour and were hustling along to their designated positions.
"EVERYONE GET INSIDE, TANK, SET UP THE C-6, GET SOME FIRE ON THOSE FUCKERS, LEWIS, YOU FEED HIM, RAINBOW, AND PRINCESS, YOU'RE WITH ME." Napoleon shouted his orders, struggling to be heard over the din of battle. He patted the back of each of his squad as they hurried into the concrete bunker, finally entering himself after Lewis and Rainbow made it inside. ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Tank hefted his C-6 LMG onto the firing step, dropping an ammunition box at his feet. He saw Lewis bend down and lean his 870MCS against the wall within reach, then grab two belts of ammo to drape them over his shoulders, wincing with pain as he moved. He secretly admired his resolve, but he knew that Lewis would mis interpret anything he said as pity and bite his head off. So instead he turned to look over his shoulder and stuck out his hand to the new girl, "M'names Tank, ya mus' be Aeslin? Pleas'd to meet'cha." He gave his friendliest grin.
"The pleasure is all mine Tank," She smiled right back and shook his hand, her face beaming with confidence, not something you see very often on fresh meat, he decided that he liked her. She was going to do alright.
He started as someone rapped on his head, "Keep your dong in your panties and start shooting you big oaf," Lewis smirked as the Husky started blushing as he shouldered the LMG and waited for the command to open fire. _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Napoleon flipped the switch that turned on the floodlights on the perimetre, lighting it up like Toronto on new years eve. He was shocked, there was what seemed like thousands of insurgents rushing at them, screaming and waving AK47s above their heads. It reminded him of that scene in Full Metal Jacket, when the VC attempt to overrun the airfield. Their were hundreds of them out there, at least.
He shook his head and cleared his thoughts, quickly regaining his composure. He eyed the range markings out on the field, little more than white posts, they were meant to tell you accurately and quickly how close the enemy was. SOP said that you opened fire once they reached standerd engagement range of 150 metres, but he doubted that the Taliban cared about SOP's. He did a quick check in his head and did some mental math, they were roughly 500 metres away right now, the C-7 had an effective range of 400 odd metres, so by opening fire when they were about 300 metres away they might be able to scare them into thinking that little more than a fireteam held the perimetre...
'Wait just a minute' Napoleon thought, 'Where's Charlie squad?' He remembered something about leave, but decided he had more pressing matters at hand. "Aeslin!" He shouted, trying to get her attention, "Grab the detonator, we have a few surprises of our own for them" The Lynx gave a knowing smile, throwing her C-7 over her shoulder on it's sling and digging through the assorted crap that command said was vital kit at the back of the bunker. I mean really, who needs three different kinds of survival knives?
She found what she was looking for under a pile of urban digicam boonie hats, grabbing it, she twirled around, using her tail as a counter weight, and tossed it over to Napoleon, "Think fast!" she mewed. She had guessed his reflexes right though, as he turned around quickly and snatched it out of the air, rolling his eyes as the rest of the team chuckled. He quickly hit the arming button and pressed the dead mans switch, waiting for the right time to blow the perimetre. It was his idea to get some demo set up along the perimetre, but since he couldn't get it sanctioned by Hot Iron, he had to be creative, so instead of using claymores and C4, he had used anything from flash bangs to roman candles, and had the previous Bomber, now known as Rainbow, rig them to the detonator switch he now held in his paw.
He turned to his fireteam, "When this blows, open fire, don't hold back, make them think that they're charging an entire fucking platoon." He ordered, getting nods from everyone. Smiling he, looked down range at the approaching insurgents. Now at about 400 metres away. He lifted a ciggerate from his ammo puch, and lit it with the lighter he kept hidden away in his rig, for emergency use only he had always said to himself, having been trying to quit smoking for the past 3 months. He took a drag, savouring the way the ember glowed, the taste of the tobacco, he was in bliss. He smiled to himself and hit the detonator, causing all hell to break loose.