Chapter 33: Winter Warfare Part II

Dean lay prone in the snow, further out from his initial position of fire. He scooped up a small handful of snow and shoved it into his mouth.

Between the chilling cold of the snow and his balaclava, his breath produced no visible signature while he gazed down the optic mounted to the top of his weapon’s railed dust cover.

The red chevron mounted straight in the center of his target’s back. His finger rested heavily on the bow of the trigger, waiting for the slightest sign of movement. And then it came….

A man lying in the snow, roughly 100 meters out reached slowly, groaning as he tried to grab his rifle.

The chug of the burst echoed across the battlefield, the target’s arm went limp as the kinetic force transferred into his torso jerking it slightly before settling still.

Dean rested his light support weapon on its bipod within the snow. He rolled onto his back and pressed the push to talk on his right shoulder, while lowering the FPV goggles back down over his eyes, once more taking control over the drone that had been loitering safely in the distance for the last fifteen minutes.

“This is Archon-actual. Casualty report? Over”

While waiting for a response, Dean scanned the battlefield with his drone like a carrion bird searching for a corpse to pick apart.

He monitored the thermal signatures to see if any hostiles still moved. Closely inspecting each body and its state to ensure they were each deceased.

It was then that the voice came over the line.

“This is Lochagos-Alpha, Phalanx-Alpha remains undetected and unscarred, I haven’t seen any hostile movement since the gunfire stopped. Over”

The reports came streaming in from each of Dean’s three fireteams. It would appear that the boys, and their camouflage uniforms that Dean had provided them, allowed them to remain relatively undetected across the battlefield.

The enemy had foolishly advanced into their territory without knowing the first thing about it, or their capabilities.

It was a rookie mistake, one born not from incompetence but overconfidence. Humans were simple creatures, if something kept working they would usually keep doing it until it no longer worked.

Dean had no doubt that until now the sheer mobility, scale, and firepower the raiders possessed allowed them to take what they wanted with little resistance.

But now… Now they had met a force capable and willing to resist in totality. The results were self evident.

Many of the bandits had fallen onto the spike traps prepared during the night. Others, however, had been cut to ribbons by the automatic gunfire brought down upon their advance.

The opening engagement had lasted less than fifteen minutes, and dozens of the raiders lay dead.

After confirming with his drone that the enemy had no living hostiles left, Dean sighed heavily and flew his drone back to his balcony.

He then leaned his head up above the barrier and retrieved his weapon, switching the selector to safe before giving further orders to the guardians of Paradise Falls.

“Fall back and secure the perimeter, patrols are doubled for the time being. Leave the dead where they lie until I give the order to move them. Archon-actual over and out.”

Dean then crawled away from his vantage point, ensuring that he was out of a potential line of fire before returning to his house.

He knew that what he had just dealt with was in no way the whole force of the besieging warband. But if he had to guess he took out a large chunk of their numbers.

They had been reckless with their assault, and they likely wouldn’t remain such.

—

While Dean had returned home, the Raiders that remained in their camp watched as their first wave was gunned down. The echoes of automatic fire had caused the camp to tremble.

While they were aware that the town possessed such firepower, they were not expecting it to be the norm.

Most of their men were still equipped with sporting rifles or hunting rifles. For their target to possess such overwhelming firepower, it meant that the numbers advantage they had been relying upon until now was utterly meaningless.

Several of the men in the warband who had more authority and prestige gathered before their boss. The craven looks on their faces did not go unnoticed.

“What? Are you all thinking of fleeing and taking your chances alone in the cold? After everything we have accomplished, now that we finally face the slightest of challenges you’re ready to give up and run away? Where’s your honor? Where’s your sense of pride!”

The boss knocked over a glass of clean water onto the floor, the cup shattering upon impact while the men shook with his fury.

One of them stepped forward, his head slightly lowered, refusing to meet his leader’s gaze straight on.

“Boss… We lost 32 guys in the initial assault. That’s half of our forces… We didn’t even receive any accurate reports of how many of the enemy there are… We are clearly outclassed!”

The boss quickly rose from his seat and stood before the man who had dared to suggest retreated, grabbing him the collar of his jacket, he stared into the man’s eyes with the rage of a thousand suns.

“You mean we have 32 fewer mouths to feed…. Half our forces remain, so this time we’ll be smarter about the attack. I want the man who pushed for a frontal charge will answer for it.!”

The boss then let the man go and dismissed the rest. Once outside, another man who had been too timid to speak up earlier was quick to raise a valid point.

“Wasn’t the boss the one who gave the order for the direct assault?”

The others looked at the man as if he were an idiot. And one was even bold enough to say it outright.

“Maybe we should make you answer for it! Why the fuck would you ever say that out loud? Nobody’s getting executed… We can’t afford to waste the manpower now. Does anybody want to volunteer as tribute to lead the next wave?”

Nobody stepped forward to take that offer, and why would they? They hadn’t seen the enemy, not even a cloud of their breath.

Still, somebody needed to take charge and plan the next assault. Or else their boss would make an example of them.

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