BXBX NOVEL Chapter 101 - Trenches
A tank company? No, Del had no time to deal with that kind of threat again. He immediately grabbed his tablet and searched for any kill streak that he could use. He wanted to ask for help from his dear friend Pidma.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Killstreak Menu]
[Tech Level: 7] [Total Balance: 1,577,870$]
[Sentry Gun] [5,000$]
[Precision UAV] [20,000$]
[Precision Airstrike] [144:00:00 Cooldown]
[Juggernaut Suit] [60,000$]
[Cluster Strike] [80,000$]
[Cruise Missile] [120,000$]
[Chopper Gunner] [150,000$]
[Escort Helicopter] [180,000$]
.[Gunship] [120,000$/Hour]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
"144 hours cooldown?" Del commented as he looked at the cooldown period for the precision airstrike.
Thinking about it again, if he could call in an airstrike without any cooldown, it would be too good to be true because was well-aware that bomb would be much more than fifty grand and it was simply too illogical that it would only cost him right around fifty grand to call an airstrike. Well, there were more options, but Del bet that it would have a much longer cooldown period.
"What is that thing?" Sharon asked as she pointed her finger at the tablet.
Her eyes were glued at Del\'s delicate movement of touching the screen. Sharon had never seen images moving so spontaneously before. She even went as far as putting his face right beside Del\'s shoulder to look at that delicate movement of the screen.
"Eh, Sharon, what are you doing?" Del felt annoyed by the pressure put on his left shoulder. He shrugged his left shoulder and Sharon moved his face away, "this is called a tablet, why do you ask?"
"That kind of technology must be hell darn expensive, isn\'t it? I only found those being owned by those who have ventured into the ancient sites," Sharon said.
"Ohh, ok," Del nodded. Considering that Del found the tablet after he fought through several security turrets and several security robots that were practically immune to standard full-length rifle rounds, it would be no wonder why the ancient tech was considered to be very expensive.
Del snapped back to the main topic. How would she protect the MSVI and the medical supplies without compromising too many resources on his side? AC-130 might be a good idea, but an AC-130 would be way too overpowered to deal with a mere tank company. It was only twelve tanks and it was not like he had no support at his end.
The spearhead of the convoy was six tanks followed by trucks and light utility vehicles. There were also several federal soldiers inside each truck that carried weapons and heavy weapons. In short, Del wouldn\'t be working alone either, but he might have a chance to legitimately show his own power to the federal soldiers so he would get more jobs in the future.
The convoy suddenly stopped. The six tanks scattered to the grassland to deal with the approaching tank company while the truck stopped and parked right behind the tanks. The soldiers disembarked from their vehicles with weapons on their hands whether it was an ordinary rifle or the big anti-materiel rifle to disable the light tanks.
Del followed suit by driving the car right beside one of the trenches. He turned off the car engine and grabbed his M240B. Anna carried the backpack alongside the RPG while Sharon grabbed her bolt-action rifle. All of them dived to the trench and waited for further command.
"Anna, give me the RPG," Del said.
Anna gave Del the RPG and Anna retrieved the M240B in return. Looking far ahead, small dots were approaching their position from afar. Looking through the scope of his RPG, there were indeed fourteen tanks going after them followed by enemy infantries.
"Is there a way that we can deal with them normally?" Del asked Sharon.
"We usually call an artillery strike. These are retreating enemies, Moruguri itself is located in a river valley with one access point. With artillery support from Halivaara, taking out Moruguri itself would be quite a task for the imperial soldiers," Sharon commented.
"Why were Moruguri was attacked then?" Del asked.
"It was a surprise attack in the middle of the night according to Hubert and there was a large bombardment in Halivaara two days ago that set the artilleries out of service, luckily, it didn\'t take too long for the military in Halivaara to repair it, otherwise, Halivaara would fall," Sharon said.
"So, being put under the siege is quite a usual routine here?" Del asked.
"Yep," Sharon said.
"And you all let me destroy the tanks even though you guys will know that they will eventually be pulled back in the next day?"
"Yep."
"Well, I still get a lot of gold coins, so there\'s that," Del said.
"Yeah, good for you," Sharon said.
A whistling could be heard from above and then a large explosion followed after that whistle. Del peeked out of the trenches and saw the large hole made right in front of the Imperial tanks. After that, another whistling came from the sky and a large explosion followed after that.
Dust flew across the battlefield, followed by rocks and fragmentations. Del immediately ducked deeper inside the trenches as the artillery continued its bombardment on the imperial tanks. Del felt that it would be another huge battle and he would be a part of it.
The battlefield turned white just from the earth turned from the bombardment alone. The artillery bombardment eventually stopped and differentiating enemies from hostiles became more challenging. Del could see Sharon and Anna, but seeing the vehicles beyond them was out of the question.
"Wait for the dust to settle down, the artillery unit also includes smoke round to help us," Sharon said.
Sharon must have been through this kind of situation a lot. She knew too much for a mere medical student. However, considering that the battlefield was the main activity location for MSVI, it was rather expected. Usually, the thing that happened after artillery bombardment was none other than shooting.
The shooting immediately started. The federal soldiers exchanged fire with the imperial soldiers. Bullets were flying in both directions. Del, Anna, and Sharon were in the far back, but bullets still reached their direction. It might be what they called suppressing fire considering the number of bullets flying in his direction.
The artillery didn\'t kill them all. Most of them immediately took cover in the nearby trenches. The place was indeed filled with trenches and moving from one trench to another was indeed easier than moving the whole convoy.
"Hitman 11, this is Hitman 2, do you copy, over?" Hubert shouted through the radio.
"This is Hitman 11, standing by for orders."
"We have casualties here, numbers are unknown, but it will increase, I request immediate transport of emergency medical supplies to my position, over," Hubert said.
"This is Hitman 11, roger. Where\'s your current position, over?"
"Six trenches in front of your location, Hitman 11," Hubert said.
"Copy that, Hitman 11 is on the way."
Del sighed after he listened to the order. He felt lazy to move out of his rather safe trench and into the vehicle on top that might have been shot by the imperial soldiers. "Hubert told me to move six trenches in front of us."
"SIX TRENCHES?"
"Yes."
All they had was a machine gun, an RPG, Del\'s backpack, and whatever was available in Del\'s tablet. As much as Del wanted to go cheap, he didn\'t want to risk his life too much this time. It might be the time to actually use something much more expensive.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Killstreak Menu]
[Tech Level: 7] [Total Balance: 1,577,870$]
[Sentry Gun] [5,000$]
[Precision UAV] [20,000$]
[Precision Airstrike] [144:00:00 Cooldown]
[Juggernaut Suit] [60,000$]
[Cluster Strike] [80,000$]
[Cruise Missile] [120,000$]
[Chopper Gunner] [150,000$]
[Escort Helicopter] [180,000$]
[Gunship] [120,000$/Hour]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Del bought the chopper gunner option.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Chopper Gunner] Order Has Been Confirmed. Remaining Balance: 1,397,870$]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
"Hitman 11, this is Delta 1-3. Transferring fire control to you."
The tablet screen turned into the infrared camera of the helicopter. Looking up, a helicopter flew right on top of his head and that helicopter was an AH-64 attack helicopter. Using the control in his tablet, he gained the altitude of that helicopter and scanned the area in front of him.
Six tanks were remaining alongside infantry scattered on the trenches in front of him. There was no counter on how many enemy infantries were left, but the hostile had their body painted in bright red instead of bright white color.
Del moved the cross-hair to the tank and he pressed the fire button. A loud bang came from the sky and followed by a barrage of smaller explosion sound in front of him. The 30mm cannon of the apache helicopter made quick work of that small light tank with its 30mm bullets.
"Good kill, good kill."
"Hitman team, this is Hitman 7, interrogative, did someone call for a bombardment or special units?"
The team leader, Hitman 7, was confused on why the tank in front of him suddenly exploded without any reason at all. Maybe the concept of close air support didn\'t exist in this world yet, or it was just a comfort affordable by the special units only.
"Negative."
Del gave Anna the tablet and told her to shoot at the tanks. He put his RPG back into his backpack since his hand would be filled. He wanted to take the opportunity from the chaos to grab the medical supplies. The thing was, what was the box that contained the medical supplies for injury?
"Sharon, do you know the box that contains the medical supplies?" Del asked.
"Search for the box with "Trauma" written on it," Sharon said.
Del jumped out of the trenches and immediately rushed to the vehicle to search for the small box that he would need to treat the injured soldiers. He opened the tarp and revealed bunch of small boxes. Which one was the right box?
He read the description of each box one by one. "Medicine? Nope. Disease prevention? Nope. Survival medicine? Nope. Trauma? Yup, here it is." Del picked up the box and he immediately jumped back to the trench with the box still in his hands.
"Alright, I got it, Anna, how many tanks left?" Del asked.
Anna just showed the infrared camera on the tablet. There were only burning wreckages between the sea of dead bodies on the screen. Del was surprised, he hadn\'t gone for a long time and the tanks had all been destroyed.
"None. All of them had been eliminated. Apache helicopter is stupidly overpowered," Anna commented.
"Anna, please provide supressing fire as I move, alright?" Del asked as he readied to climb out of the trench.
"Copy that. Go Del! Be careful, alright."