RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 63-2: Brawl (Part 2)


    "Steady... Steady..." Said Rokossovsky while using a binocr to overlook an approaching mass of Pnian soldiers. Situated inside a run-down Orthodox church, Rokossovsky awaits the right moment to spring the trap.


    Even with the weapons looted from the Pnian forward elements, they''re still underequipped to fight the numerically superior Pnians in a standoff engagement. So, taking a page out of the good Lieutenant Adam''s book, Rokossovsky will be fighting dirty. Now that the enemy is moving in arger formation to lessen the chance of an ambush, Rokossovsky has been preparing to bite at them in smaller, more manageable chunks.


    The Pnians leading the push to the slum are foot mobile apanied by a few TKS tankettes and trucks with machine gunners using FM 24/29 machine guns. Just the initial spearhead alone is more than enough to make Rokossovsky second-guess himself, not to mention the trailing elements behind enemy frontliners. As such, it''s time to even out the yfield for a bit.


    When one of the trucks in the rear of the Pnian spearhead drives over a loose set of road pavement, Rokossovsky gives the order. "Now!"


    At his order, a Belkan Pioneer that has been Adam''s liaison to Rokossovsky presses his cker twice.


    <em>CLACK</em><em>CLACK</em><em>BOOM</em>


    The ground beneath the truck loaded with a four-man machine gun team explodes in a fiery fireball, thus torching the vehicle and burning the exposed passengers alive. The trap, made using a small amount of remotely detonated stic explosives and scavenging fuel and mmable materials,pletely blocks the path of an otherwise narrow road. This prevents the main body from immediately crossing to support an otherwise cutoff spearhead.


    Hiding over on the roofs and second- or three-story buildings that nked the road the Pnian spearhead had been traveling, Adam signals them to hit the Pnians below with everything they have. Some vics ignite their Molotov cocktails before throwing them on top of the leading tankettes and trucks, the sight of them catching fire is very reminiscent of battles from the Great War era. The burning liquid from the Molotovs disabled the tankettes by slipping into the engines or the crewpartment. In the case of the exposed machine gun trucks, it outright eliminates them from the firepower equation. It''s a textbook divide, block, and ambush. Seizing the chance, both Rokossovsky and Adam, though separated by many buildings, order at the same time.


    "Fire at will!"


    Utilizing abination of battle rifles, bolt-action rifles, and submachine guns, thebined Rusviets, Belkans, vics, and sympathetic Pnians weed the panicking and burned enemy spearhead with a faceful lead. The distraught Warsaw garrison soldiers are beset with a sudden hail of bullets from multiple angles from above. From the church, Rokossovsky has some of his Rusviet guards use their long-range rifles to snipe the enemy. While Adam over at the side buildings has his Belkans and the lesser-skills slum defenders firing at them at close range, creating a dense field of fire. Though minimally trained in their looted weapons, this close distance and being at an elevated position mean the slum defenders can still hit with reasonable uracy. Very soon, nearly all of the enemy Pnian spearheads are either dying or injured, with all of their vehicles disabled or burned down with their crews still inside. Rokossovsky does not envy how those people go, not one bit. The Rusviet General prays that those Pnian soldiers are at least innocent in whatever has happened in the slum. Otherwise, Hell will give them a fate much worse than being scorched to death.


    Rather than sticking around to finish them off, Adam calls for a tactical retreat. Rokossovsky has tomend young Adam for his quick and decisive thinking. The incendiary trap blocking the rest of the Warsaw garrison from rescuing their spearhead is now dying out. If Adam and his force had gotten greedy, they wouldn''t be able to retreat in time and risk being ughtered by the enemy. Fortunately for Rokossovsky and Adam, the slum defenders are reasonable and experienced hunters, they know when and when not to pick their fight. Hence, the defendersply with the retreat order promptly, conserving their limited firepower and manpower for the next engagement.


    Rokossovsky and his detachment at the abandoned church provide overwatch until thest of Adam''s force has retreated before they too swiftly withdraw out the back of the church. Such a perfect ambush is rare, and it won''t work twice unless the Warsaw garrisonmander is very, very dumb. As such, Rokossovsky and Adam aren''t counting on them being able to set up another such scenario again. Instead, what follows next will be a series of intermittent, medium-to-long-range shootouts. They aim to kill as many of the enemy''s officers as possible while stalling for time, at least until things can be resolved in one manner or another.


    Basically, they just have to make them bleed until it''s done.


    -------------------------------------


    "Fuck... Off!" Delivering a nasty blow using the butt of his MP9, Adam knocks away the teeth of an unfortunate Pnian.


    He then pulls out his pistol and shoots the bastard right in the head. Letting his enemy''s brain matter spill on the floor, Adam resumes his position by the broken wall of a flower shop that the now-dead Pnian used to break into their fourth holdout position. "SITREP!"


    "Good!"


    "PEACHY!"


    "NOT GREAT, NOT TERRIBLE!"


    "I JUST GOT A NEW HAIR CUT!"


    Such were the positive replies with some reporting yellow on ammo. Even with them all using semi-auto fire mode or bolt-action rifles only, they''re burning through supply at a frantic pace. Unfortunately, by this point, they have taken some casualties, with a few of them permanent. The Belkans are fine since those that got hit were trained properly and were wearing bulletproof vests. Yet the slum defenders took the most damage as they''re not fitted to be in activebat. Already, they''re down to less than thirtybatants, with Rokossovsky''s Rusviet units also losing one soldier due to a case of self-sacrifice. That heroic Rusviet jumped on a frag grenade to save the Belkans and vs, dying without an intact face.


    Fucking Hell, Adam hasn''t signed up to see such a death, but he still stomached it anyway. The stakes are high since innocent lives are on the line. These shoot-first-ask-question-never Pnians will turn the civies into Swiss cheese the moment they see them.


    Adam shakes the morbid thoughts away, pulling out his empty MP9 mag before recing it with a new one in his vest. Right, he too is yellow on ammo. Poking around the broken wall, Adam aligns the ironsight with an enemy soldier prepping for a grenade throw. He pulls the trigger, hitting the Pnian in the shoulder, forcing him to drop the grenade. Seeing the live grenade beneath their feet, the other Pnians jump for cover. Adam sees the explosion from his position, yet he has no clue just how effective it has been. Already, the Lieutenant can see more Pnians peaking their guns out from behind covers and windows, trading fire with the defenders in the flower shop.


    To make matters worse, a tankette turns the corner, pointing its 8mm machine gun.


    "Fuck! Get down!" Adam hit the deck alongside the otherbatants in the flower shop, just in time before a burst of 8mm bullets ripped through the front of the shop.


    Being suppressed, Adam calls out for the markswoman in his small unit. Armed with a scoped G1 rifle, the designated markswoman has to double up as a tankette hunter. The reason is that the Pnian TKS tankette has extremely pitiful protection against Belkan''s more modern 8mm Mauser bullets. Her G1 rifle can precisely snipe the TKS crews through the thin 8mm steel of the tankettes.


    "Goddamn it, Hedwig, I need that MG silenced yesterday!"


    Stout rifle reports can be heard from the top floor before the tankette stops firing its machine gun. "Thank you so much,dy!" Adam said through his throat mic.


    Daring a look, he can see that the tankette has new holes on its front armor tes. Nevertheless, the suppressive fire did its job as the Pnian soldiers were dangerously close to them.


    "Damn it, pull back to thest defense line! Those that can cast shield, do it now and provide cover!" Adam called for another tactical retreat before dodging a bay swipe from a Pnian that came through the bullet-ridden front door.


    "Eat this!" After ducking below the swipe, Adam rises with his pistol in his left hand. Pulling the trigger, the Lieutenant sent a 9mm bullet through the chin and into the brain of the Pnian.


    Turning, he sees one of the vs fist-fighting another enemy, he saves him by pulling the trigger of his USP a couple of times. Looking at the front door, Adam uses his MP9 on his right hand and fires a suppressive barrage after flipping it on full-auto. His action buys the group enough time to regain their bearing, with the rescued v thanking him before retreating behind two Belkans who know how to cast shielding magics. The shield can take a few rifle hits, but it consumes them of their mana quickly whenever one is cast. It''s why Adam saves their abilities till now when they have to make a hot retreat.


    "Use the rear door! We need to get back to thest defense line! Move!" Adam urged.


    Protected by the shields that already had some cracks, Adam''s unit made it out of the flower shop a bit worse for wear. To prevent them from being followed, one of the vs has the idea to toss a Molotov into the mmable shop.


    "Good idea, now move people!" Adamplimented the man, recognizing him as the v he saved earlier. Both men shared a respectful nod before they hiked with the group back to theirst holdout.


    Adam switches his radio to themand, screaming. "Talk to me Bravo, where the fuck is our air support!?"


    After a beep, Lukas reports back with anxiety and relief in his voice. "Rigel Squadron is right above you. They are unable to identify where you are to drop their ordinance safely, so you better haul ass to where they can not hit you by ident!"


    "That''s the best news I have heard all day long!" Adam finally managed to let out a gunpowder-stained smile.


    "Try to hold on Alpha, more support is on the way with an AWACS. They can help you more than me. I have a n in the work to see if I can get you more guns, if not an early extract!"


    "If you manage to do that then don''t be surprised when my fiancee pulls you into a crushing hug when we get back!" Adamughed, finally, there''s hope for them yet.


    "Sorry Alpha, but I am not into NTR!" Lukas remarked.


    "The fuck is NTR even mean?!" Adam quipped.


    "I don''t know, it''s what the Japs said!" Lukas said before shutting down the line for now. The Sergeant probably goes off to get his own ns going.


    Anyway, their banter sure works wonders for his unit''s confidence as they hear it all on speaker. It was an intentional choice by Adam to let the vs and the others hear what he discussed with Lukas back on the train. The result that is the defenders'' fighting spirit is rekindled once more. When handling an unprofessional force, Adam learned that it''s much better to keep the morale up rather than discipline. All those training back in the Academy sure paid off unexpectedly.


    Nevertheless, he needs to convey the new information to Rokossovsky and the other defenders. It''s time to hunker down and watch the bomb being dropped, literally. That and prepare for close-quarterbat as theirst defense line. Unfortunately, the line is smack dab in a dense urban setting with crisscrossed buildings and small alleyways. CAS may have limited effectiveness in such a setting so they have to rely on the tried and true bays, buttstocks, and bloodied fists at the end of the day.


    Whatever the n to get them out of the danger zone is, Adam hopes that it can bepleted fast.


    "Oh Mother Goddess, please watch over me. Oh the staunch figure of victory, our Marshal, please bless us with the Fortune of War. My sweet Aria, pray for your fiancee and the innocents." Unknown to Adam, his prayers were said aloud.


    There will be some interesting repercussions down the line because of his prayers.