WWIII Part 1 United We Stand Chapter 3

Docking Bay Level 6

Base 14

Baden

Chapter 3

We all stepped onto the platform that was home to all of the Optrix Gunships and were directed to the set of five that were stationed in the southern sector of the docking bay area. As soon as we got to our gunships a group of about 10 troopers dressed in flight suits and respirators hopped into the cockpits of the five Optrix gunships and they roared to life. From behind us came the two officers that had briefed us on our objectives.

“Jump in boys your leaving ASAP,” the lead officer yelled over the roar of engines and repulsors firing up.

As he departed we all got into the Optrix Gunships that we were assigned to and we were off, WWIII was waiting for us to join.

Optrix Gunship 1135

In route to Objective Bravo 6

“Incoming!” yelled the pilot through the helmet comlinks as four enemy helos rose above the tree line to both sides of us.

But, before he could close off the doors that blocked the trooper cabin from the open air a volley of heavy machine gun fire ripped into the side of our Optrix. The pilot veered sharply to the left and everyone in the trooper transport section almost fell completely out and to the forest below. As we straightened out I heard a load warning siren that was indicating a possible over heat in the right wing repulsor generator and the door mechanism that sealed us into the ship. I lay down and secured the rappelling attachment into the bottom of my CC13 and shot it at the deck. So now as long as I held onto my CC13 I would be fine, unless of course a stray shot from the helo machine gun fire clipped me.

“Good idea,” Sifter said as he tripped and fell in next to me as our gunship lurched and dodged what sounded like a rocket.

“Lock in boys!” Sifter yelled to the rest of the men that hadn’t stuck rappelling lines to the deck.

I managed a look out the side of the trooper section on my side for a second and saw that the Optrix that was flying in formation next to us had taken a major hit and its right wing was releasing a giant trail of black smoke and flames. Somehow, the pilot had managed to keep it in the air but every time they took a hit I winced. Another volley hit our Optrix and a couple of stray shots peppered through the trooper cabin and hit two men in the chest plates. I watched in horror as they were thrown from their holds on the deck and sent flying over the sides of the ship. I felt like a sitting duck that was relying on the pilot’s ability to dodge and swerve around ammunition.

“Lock on rockets!” our pilot yelled and all of the other pilots began to talk very fast.

“Evasive maneuvers, we’re going to start fighting back,” one pilot yelled as all of the ships veered and swerved in different directions.

“Gun crews, to your positions,” said a voice over the comlinks as we began to come around and engage the enemy.

The cool thing about the new Optrix Gunships was that they had narrow service hatches in the wings to allow a man to get into the wing gun turrets and there was a small passage into a tiny room at the back of the ship where two men could man the back guns. Four or five guys unlocked their cables and staggered towards their positions. I noticed that the one Optrix that had the damaged wing didn’t have a right side gun turret anymore so that meant that they were vulnerable. The ship suddenly lurched again as a load roar sounded just below the left wing. I peered out and saw a rocket speed out from the bottom of our wing. I watched it all the way as it slammed into the cockpit of one helo and made it a ball of shrapnel and flames while the back part fell limply to the ground and exploded.

“Haha! Gotcha!” our pilot yelled in relief as we turned and regrouped with two other Optrix Gunships.

The three remaining helos regrouped as well and came in for another pass at us. Again heavy machine gun fire peppered the outside of the Optrix and this barrage was almost fully stopped by our outer shields as we swooped in for another chance at attack. Rockets blasted out of the damaged Optrix that was flying to our right as it lurched away and just missed taking a direct blow. Stitchwork slid across the deck and almost rolled into me as the pilot shifted through auto thruster checks.

“Stitchwork watch out!” I yelled as he slid past.

Just as he was about to slide right off the deck and out over the forest he slapped a rappelling line to the deck and stopped at the edge.

“Why’d you do that?” I yelled over another volley of fire.

“One of those last rounds stuck my line and it was going to break really quick anyway,” he said as he climbed back up and laid next to me Sifter, Blitz, and Fix.

Another rocket fired, this time from the Optrix to our left as it peeled off and swung around to flank a helo that was trying to get a lock on another one of our gunships. The rocket locked and blasted right into the right side of the nearest helo as it spun off and smashed into the trees below us.

“Tango down,” said the pilot of the gunship that fired the shot.

“We got them outnumbered, lets form up, attack plan Alpha 375,” said a pilot over the comlinks as all of the gunships circled and formed up into a group.

The formation was for three gunships to fly in a triangle formation towards an enemy and for two more to pull up and fly high over top of the other three. As the enemy engaged the front triangle formation, the other two gunships would speed up, swoop down in behind the enemy and take them out. But, because we had a two damaged gunships (ours and the severe one) we would have to both be in the triangle formation. We formed up and sped up for the attack as the helos came at us in full force. They fired a barrage of machine guns and rockets spiraled out towards us.

“It’s too hot!” one pilot yelled as the rockets came flying past, just missing their targets as the pilots spun and weaved. We were on the left side of the triangle, at point was an undamaged Optrix and to the left was the crippled one with the almost destroyed wing. I saw the other two Optrix Gunships arc swiftly through the air using sun to cover their advance on their enemy as they swooped over behind them.

“Look out!” our pilot yelled to the lead Optrix but it was too late.

A helo opened up with machine gun fire and flanked us. The bullets hit the cockpit shields of the lead Optrix and jammed right through. The pilot and co-pilot inside were instantly killed as the Optrix made a shallow descent towards the tree line. Just as it was about to hit the troopers inside the cabin hit the manual override and opened their hatches. Only about 10 to 12 men jumped out and opened parachutes before the gunship smashed into the ground and became a flaming wreck. Our gunship opened up with machine gun fire and hit an enemy helo in the left wing as it bucked and swung to the left. The two Optrix Gunships that were swooping down came in behind the helos and opened up. One took a rocket to the tail section, lost control and spun to the ground. The other helo that we hit rose and banked right. Our pilot spun around and opened up with the main gun turrets at the front of the ship. The helo took hits all over but stayed on the air as its wings and trooper section spewed smoke. The pilot opened up again, this time with a rocket barrage and completely turned the enemy helo into shrapnel and flames in mid air.

“Send for help,” for those who made it out of the destroyed gunship,” one pilot said.

“Copy that,” another said.

“We did it boys,” our pilot from the damaged gunship said over the coms.

“Yeah, but we lost too many men to be of much of a support party,” another pilot said in response.

“Copy that,” another one said as we formed back into the formation we were in when the enemy attacked us.

Only this time, we were missing a left back flank.

“About three quarters of the way there,” reported one of the pilots over the coms.

By this point everyone was standing up again but we were all hanging onto the hand grips that served as emergency holds that came out of the cabins top. The Optrix that was damaged was constantly checked on and they had enough fuel and power to get to the checkpoint but that was probably going to be as far as they got. I loaded my CC13 as our pilot informed us about the current situation and reports. The 557th have started to force the Pakistanis back but they have been reinforced by the Afghanistan Dark Ops teams and a couple of Russian Assault teams. And, there were still a bunch of anti-air support cannons set up so we would have to stay alert and ready for anything because the door controls were still not responding.

“I’m itching to try these new guns out in battle,” Blitz said as he stepped over and stood next to Sifter.

“Calm down, you’ll learn to love this quiet time when you can get it,” said a tech that was next to us. I turned to find armor that was the same as mine. The only difference was that my red combat armor was shiny and new, his was scuffed and dinged with grey, white, and black marks all over it. He also had a giant discolored patch on his leg that was attached with some allow.

“What happened to your leg?” I asked as Blitz was about to make a comment back to him.

“Oh, that. I was trying to get a couple of men out of a transport that went up in flames after taking a missile from point blank range when all of a sudden mortar shells hit all around us. I was lucky that one didn’t hit me directly. It melted off my armor and I had to go through rehab for my leg because it was broken in three places,” he told us as we all turned and listened to his story.

“That sounds terrible,” Stitchwork said as he starred as if measuring up the trooper.

“It was,” he said as he turned away as if in deep thought.

“T minus 30 seconds,” said our pilot over the ships com system.

“Lock and load, we’re going in,” said the trooper to my left.

Just as I prepared all of my weapons and checked my suits readouts, the shells from the anti- air support systems started to hit all around us. We rocked slowly back and forth as our shields took the main part of the blows. The damaged Optrix took a hit to it’s under side and I thought it was going to just explode, but it stayed up with sparks flying from it’s under belly turret section.

“I’m not landing this thing,” said the pilot of the crippled Optrix over the coms as we approached our touchdown objective.

“Ok I’ll give you an eject vector, hang on I’ll patch it through on your computer,” our pilot responded.

“Got it,” said the other.

I watched as the damaged ship came up into an incline and evened out. Just as it did it reduced speed and the remaining troopers in its cabin bailed with parachutes ready. Next the viewport shot off of the front of the ship and a pilot and co- pilot parachuted out. The damaged ship ducked into a shallow fall to its final resting spot about a mile away. Our Optrix ducked under a salvo of machine gun fire and landed in a small clearing.

“Go! Go! Go!” yelled the pilot as a stray rocket wised past our parked ship and almost clipped another Optrix as it came in to land.

It was a mad sprint to the tree line that was about a football field length away. I saw a trooper next to me hit the ground as he took a shot directly to the middle of the chest plate. Sifter ran faster than me and reached the tree line first. I saw him crouch and start firing his CC13 at what appeared to be an empty forest. I got there next and slid in beside him and started looking for targets. The battle was clear as day once you got out of the sun and glare. We were surrounded by men that all had the same uniforms as us but they had a big black stripe up the center of every armor plate. I quickly realized that that symbolized that they were part of the 557th Infantry Division. Fix, Blitz, and Stitchwork all arrived at the same time and all five of us moved up behind a clump of fallen trees.

“Now this is way more intense than the training battles,” Blitz said as he fired his first shots.

I was about to respond when another rocket whizzed through the trees and hit one of our tanks in the turret section. The tank went up in flames and the troopers around it were sent flying in all directions. I only then realized how much com chatter I was listening to and switched to the station set for the reinforcement legion that we were part of. An officer reported that we were making slow but consistent progress in advancing on the small guard tower/fort that the enemy had built about a mile away from this battle. I saw a couple of enemy soldiers run for cover behind a set of trees and picked them off with suppressing fire that kept them in the open. A sniper with forest camo ran over and crouched down next to me.

“Good vantage point, mind if I take a few,” he said in a deep filtered voice from his helmet.

“Be my guest,” I said as I turned and looked back for more enemy troops.

I saw two running off to the side of the battle and was about to take them when a sniper bullet hit one square in the chest and penetrated enough to hit the next one in the gut.

“Tango down,” the sniper whispered into his comlink.

“Hey, how’d you get on our channel?” I asked as he reloaded his rifle.

“I just picked a channel; my group was the first ones here. I think I’m one of the last four or five left,” he said as he picked off another enemy.

“I’m Rusty,” I said as I stuck my hand out to him.

“I’m Blackout,” he said back to me as we shook hands.

I introduced him to Sifter, Blitz, Fix, and Stitchwork and they we all became instant friends.  We sat there firing at the occasional enemy and ducking under rockets for about 30 minutes before the orders came to press the attack. Tanks and heavy transports rumbled past us and through the woods. Blackout stood up and motioned us to follow him as rest of the troopers ran past us and followed the tanks. We ran and fired at the same time as we pushed the enemy back. At one point we came to a low wall that had a few enemies still sitting behind it. We were almost the first ones to get to this point so the tangos had no idea we were running towards them. Blackout jumped over the wall, stuck his combat knife into the first mans chest. He pulled it out spun and sliced two other guys. The last one was going to shoot at Blackout’s back but he spun, ducked and sent the knife spinning through the air and into the man’s chest. The impact sent him backwards into a tree where he laid still. After retrieving his knife Blackout turned towards us because we all just stood there in a shocked silence.

“Coming?” he said as he slung the knife back into its holder along the side of his leg.

All we could do is nod and start off behind him. It didn’t take us long to break through the rest of the enemy and reach the front of the tower.

“Situation report,” said one of the tank commanders.

“Hold your fire, we still don’t have the computer codes hacked yet so we need a team to retrieve the data from the main monitor in the viewing room manually.

“We’ll go,” Blackout said over the same channel.

“Alright, 15th platoon,” the tank commander said as he motioned us and about 30 others towards the building.

We approached the tower and the two small sets of buildings that were to the sides of it with caution. As we came in from this side another platoon swung around the back and we circled the structure, cutting off all means of escape and counter-attack. Just as we approached the door a window was smashed open at the top of the tower and a couple of RPG rockets flew out. One struck a tank right under the muzzle and turned it into a fireball. The second smashed into the ground and sent troopers flying everywhere. Before they could reload the rocket launchers a couple of mortar rounds struck the building and sent them crashing out through the window and to the ground. I looked up and saw a giant gaping hole that was being fired at as a couple more enemy soldiers got into position to take shots with rifles.

“Set the charges for rapid entry,” a bomb squad leader said as he motioned two of his men towards the side wall of the tower.

They planted some ST55A charges in a circle about chest high on the wall. Underneath those went a packet of C4 and we all stepped back to either side of the charges to get out of the blast radius.

“Fire in the hole!” someone yelled into the com channel as the bomb techs rolled away from the detonation.

As soon as the charges blew the giant chunks of wall in everyone was through the hole and firing. Just as I got inside I was tackled by Blackout from behind as a burst of rounds went flying over my head. We hit the floor and he pulled out two DD36 pistols and knocked down a couple of tangos that were taking cover behind a stack of boxes. He rolled off of me and I pulled out my CC13 and started to fire. Sifter came through the door next and he crouched down beside me.

“There doesn’t seem to be many enemy troops in the main tower,” he said as we crept behind some boxes.

“I noticed that too when we came in,” I replied as I reloaded my CC13.

The fire fight only lasted for a couple of minutes before it finally died down and everybody split up into little groups to scout out the bottom three floors. Blackout took point as we moved up onto the third floor of five.

“Fix, don’t move,” Blackout whispered into his comlink.

It took me a second to realize that Blackout had switched off his helmets outside comlink and spoke directly into the secured channel. I also noticed that he started to move slowly forward and he pulled out his combat knife and motioned Fix to take a step back. After a few seconds Blackout leaped towards a small armory closet. I then noticed that the door was slightly ajar as Blackout kicked it in. Two enemy soldiers came towards him with blades drawn. But, before they could do anything, Blackout kicked the closest one in the stomach and sent him flying back against the back wall of the room. The second came in with a downward swing at Blackout’s neck. Blackouts hand shot up and caught the man’s wrist and stopped him cold. He spun around and swept the man’s legs out from under him. As he fell Blackout caught the man’s falling blade and stabbed him in the gut. He then turned, pulled a pistol and ended the other with a shot to the chest as he was standing up.

“Let’s go,” he said as he holstered both and started for the fourth floor.

“Wow, I’m glad you’re on our team,” Blitz said as we all followed him up the steps again.

The final floor was composed mainly of the giant overlook control center that was full hostiles that were firing down on our tanks. The door was barricaded so we stood to both sides as a set of bomb techs stepped forth again to set some charges.

“Get down!” the comlink crackled as I ducked and steel, light, and everything else went flying.

Before any of us could get into the door heavy machine gun fire ripped through the hole and took down three or four of our guys. Blackout was on the other side of the hole from the rest of us so he pulled out his pistols and rolled towards us. I thought he was going to get picked off but all of the shots magically missed him by less than inches. As he stood up and filed into line with the rest of us I heard Blitz speak up over the comlink.

“Teach me how to do this shit when we’re done dude,” he said with almost utter amazement in his voice.

Blackout turned and eyed him up and down really fast, turned back around and said “don’t count on it”.

“Smoke out!” another trooper yelled as three or four smoke grenades filled the room that we were waiting to enter.

“Go,” Blackout said as he stepped forward and began to crawl into the room, using the smoke for cover.

Blitz and Fix followed him as he advanced into the room. Sifter and I were next and last but not least Stitchwork came through followed by a couple of techs.

“Caution, follow my lead,” Blackout said as we got to a makeshift barricade in the center of the room that had the machine guns mounted to the top of it. I just made out Blackout’s shadow as he slipped around the barricade. I jumped up and sprinted to follow him as the smoke began to clear.

“Out of the open,” he yelled through inter suit coms as we all pulled up our weapons.

I jumped the barricade just as the smoke cleared away. Everyone in the room seemed to freeze as he starred back at each other in a stunned silence. Blackout took the initiative and jump/kicked the nearest enemy soldier in the mouth. As he fell all hell broke loose and we began to fire at the room full of enemies. I picked off two that were crouching behind an overturned console and crouched, turned and picked off another that was breaking for more cover. Fix mowed down about five that weren’t looking his way and reloaded behind a broken control panel. Sifter leaned up next to the original barricade with Stitchwork and they laid down some fire on the back part of the room near the giant hole in the wall. I turned and saw Blackout take out the last of the men operating the heavy machine guns. Sifter turned and took out another couple and ran past us. I followed him as Blackout joined us. We sprinted through the cross fire and made it to the other side of the room. Crouching down I started to lay cover fire down for Stitchwork and the rest of the team that was still running across. There were only a few enemy troops left in the back corner crouched behind a couple of empty crates and tipped over monitors. Blitz pulled out a sticky grenade and started the charge. He ran forwards and chucked the grenade at the makeshift barrier. The grenade flew over and stuck to the wall behind them. It went off and we all ran towards the middle of the room. A couple of troopers started talking into the comlinks as others reloaded weapons and tended to the wounded. All of a sudden there was a load rumbling noise and a small whistling sound. It got louder and I saw the shadow of an enemy jet soar very close over the top of the building.

“Down!” yelled a couple of men near the wall as a missile ripped into the side of the tower with a giant explosion.

I was tossed across the room and had my back smashed against the terminal. I landed on the floor next to Sifter and another trooper and rolled onto my stomach. As I got to my feet and stretched out the pinching feeling in my back I heard frantic com chatter about how two tanks had been immobilized by the enemy missile assault and that we were going to press forward into the woods to the first extraction point. That was all I listened to before I turned the comlink down and went to check on the rest of the team. Stitchwork and Fix were up already and they were helping Blitz get up from under a pile of wires. I pulled Sifter up and Blackout ran over and told us he found the main console that carried all of the technical data that had been transmitted to this sector.

“I can extract it but it will take a couple seconds,” Fix said as he remembered the console and walked past us.

I noticed that only about 20 or 30 men had survived the missile attack and there were eight injured.

“Stairs are jammed and partially destroyed,” someone reported through coms as a couple more troopers stepped into the room.

“We can’t just stand here and wait for that jet to come back,” someone said as we all thought of a way out of the tower.

“Give me a rappelling line,” Blackout said to me as he slipped past me.

I handed it to him without even saying anything and he stepped through the group of officers. They starred after him as he stepped towards the giant glass windows on the other side of the tower. He pulled up his CC6 sniper rifle and shot a bunch into the windows as they shattered outward. Next, he snapped the repelling line into the bottom of the gun and fired it in an arc towards the ground in between the trees below us. It stuck and he motioned towards the rest of the troopers to do the same.

“Good idea,” someone said as one after another ten men stepped forward and shot their lines in the same arc at the ground.



One by one, men started to sling their rifles and other weapons across their backs as they grabbed onto the line and jumped out of the tower.

“Get the wounded,” one medic said as troopers began propping injured men over their shoulders and jumping onto the lines.

The last ones left in the tower were Blackout, Fix, and me as Blitz, Sifter, and Stitchwork made the jump.

“30 more seconds,” Fix said as he backed away from the console and slung his rifle over his back.

“You go we’ll take care of it,” Blackout said to him.

Fix was about to respond when someone yelled “Enemy jet spotted, coming in” over the comlink.

“Go,” Blackout said as he slung his rifle over his back and turned towards the console.

All Fix did was nod as he turned and jogged to the ropes.

“I can hear it coming,” I said as I started to here a low hum followed by cannon fire from our tanks.

“Done, go!” Blackout said as he ripped the flash memory drive out of the console and ran toward the ropes.

Just as we were almost there machine gun fire rained in through the cratered side of the tower. Things started to burst into flames from the bullets hitting consoles and power outlets as we got to the rope lines. We heard a hum and another jet swooped in from the front of the tower and shot a missile just as the one coming from behind us did. Before I could react Blackout pushed me out of the tower and jumped just as the whole thing turned into flames and sent shock waves over top of us. The last thing I remember before I blacked out was us both missing the lines and slamming into tree branches on the way down as we slammed into the ground and rolled to a stop.