The Winter Storm Part 2

After Kaiser crawled out of the dug in pit and proceeded to hastily trudge through the mud and snow while trying to keep his head down and under cover to avoid it being shot off, Balta and Marcus waited for him to move onward before poking their heads out of the foxhole after several minutes have passed. The first thing they wanted to do was here where the sound of any fire would come from if their foes tried to fire at the doctor, that way they could provide him cover fire. Fortunately, however he seemed to be getting out of the way just fine. They watched as he moved while this time keeping his profile as low as he can down the other side of line. Marcus had his eyes on Kaiser while Balta prompted her rifle in the forest facing east towards the clearing and the enemies supposed battle lines.

She peered down her scope as she then caught sight of something moving in the forest. Moving to adjust her focus the colonel gazed through her scope to find a silhouette in the other side of the forest. She observed the figure for several minutes as it moved and eventually disappeared into the shadows once more. All the while, captain Maxwell saw her do this and he moved back down into the ditch to speak with her.

“What’s it Balta?”

“Movement, other side of the forest, tango.”

“Scouts?” the captain asked her.

“Could be, that or just some unlucky fool who just gave away his entire unit’s position.”

“Keep em focused. We want to make sure they’re-”

Suddenly an all too familiar sound was heard in their air, a sound that every soldier dreads. In the sky a whizzing and sort of whistling sound was heard Suddenly the blood in Balta’s body rose as her limbs began to tighten, Marcus on the other hand quickly covered his dark grey Order standard issued helmet with his hands and crouched the best he could in a haste. The sound of a soldier down the battle line could be heard yelling ‘incoming!’ as within moment a burst in the air was heard as a shell fell from the heavens and hit the ground making a loud boom while shaking the ground and tossing up snow.

“Shit! They got artillery!” Marcus let out as Balta kept her started to calm her nerves from the impact.

A second whizzing noise was heard as Balta pulled back her rifle and quickly toppled into the hole. This time the shell landed close as it hit in between their hole and another one. The loud blast was deafening as Marcus covered his feline ears while Balta barely had time to do her own. Her ears began to ring as she was getting a case of shell shock.

“Keep calm Marcus! They’re trying to soften us up! If we’re lucky a round won’t hit us!” Balta told Marcus

“What?” The captain replied with his hands clenching his ears down.

After a few moments of her ears ringing, her hearing finally came back. Meanwhile, Marcus let go of his own set of ears. A third shell hit, this time it was father off from the two. Sadly, however what was also heard was a maddening scream that both could barely make out, but had no doubt in what had just transpired. They both knew a shell had hit its mark, and now for some of their comrades the war had just ended for them. Two other consecutive blasts were heard down the line, off in the distance.

“Either their artillery is missing, or they’re trying to hit our flanks!” Marcus let out.

“Get ready for them to advance! Get your weapon ready! Don’t fire until I so.”

He nodded as she was the first to stand up in the hole and once again placed her gun in the snow, this time as her body naturally fell into it and was molded around her. She peaked through her scope and sure enough, she saw them, all of them. From the clearing in the forest to the other sides she could see hundreds, if not thousands of cybernetic like Mobians with all manner of augmentation and weapon. Behind her Marcus did the same and pressed his body while moving up in the hole. He pointed his gun towards her firing line, but once he saw the advancing troops he began to shake.

Fortunately for the two they would find their enemy not charging towards their side’s positions, but instead they were moving up in a line formation. Unfortunately, however, both of them could see that they had heavy weapons teams bringing in large caliber guns. Balta moved her scope around to find a good target to shoot. In her mind, she knew that she only had one good shot to make before all hell would break loose and the enemy would spot their position.

“Get ready Marcus. Remember, always shoot the officers first!” She told him.

In the corner of her eye she spotted one, a female officer. This echidna had red fur, but also had on black leather and cybernetic quills. Balta moved the reticle of her scope over towards her while taking a deep breath. In one fluid motion, she adjusted her cross hairs up to the forehead of the officer with a cap on and without a single thought pulled the trigger. In mere seconds the round busted through her barrel as it traveled through sonic speed right into the officer’s skull. In a second the round penetrated the unfortunate echinda’s cranium as blood gushed out she fell down, lifeless.

“Now Maxwell!” Balta said as their position was exposed and soldiers around the officer turned and began to fire in retaliation straight at their position.

“Get some!” Marcus let out as he returned suppressing fire from his own armament upon the squad.