Hakon
Every two to three minutes an explosion ripped through the air. The thunder echoed throughout the outskirts of the compound of the forward base as debris and dirt flew around. That gave him a window to move, to stay low, move fast, and find new cover. Hakon continued to breath as he waited for the next series of explosions to fall.
An explosion ripped nearby to his left and Hakon waited for a moment as debris flew into the air. He counted the explosion and waited for the fifth one before he moved from his cover as dirt and small debris fell on him as he moved. He was sure there were only five, they always came in a series of five. If he was wrong it could mean his death.
Hakon rushed through the outskirts of the compound and made his way towards it to reach the armory of the forward base. His eyes scanned for signs of enemy troops and other threats from his surroundings as he ran to the new cover he had picked out before he left the old one. His Sidearm was out and ready as Echo gave a warning that the 45 second timer was nearing its end and the next salvo of missiles and artillery would fall.
Hakon slammed into the cover and cursed as he bit his lip. He was still several blocks from the armory, and he cursed himself for not having his gear with him, and wondered if it had been destroyed in the retinues barrack where he had left them, but the closest armory was much closer than their bunks. The attack had caught them all off guard. He had been off duty and out for a run and separated from his gear when the first shells hit.
Hakon waited for the last explosion of the next five to hit yet again before he moved. Each time he moved around the debris on the ground and found new cover. The explosions were taking longer each time, and further away but every now and again one lasted not too far from him.
The explosions reached 50 seconds apart, and then 55, and soon they were a full minute between salvos. Hakon realized that it would mean enemy troops were either entering the compound and combat zone or the artillery was being pressed by other forces but he had no Comms to confirm it.
Echo had been trying to make contact with anyone but no link could be established as the A.I. tried to make a connection to any of the networks on the planet. Even the ‘Axetooth’ in orbit was silent, and Hakon tried not to think what that could mean. If the Space Dragon class carrier had fallen, their chances of survival were low.
Again Hakon forced himself to move as the last shell hit and exploded through an already mangled structure. His standard issue Imperial Sidearm had been in his hand as soon as the first shell hit the ground, but he felt naked without his armor or other weapons.
Hakon spotted corpses and body parts here and there. Mixed with dirt and the debris of buildings and vehicles. A few faces he had recognized as belonging to members of the legion. Others he knew as the civilians who’s homes and businesses lay around the forward base compound. He didn’t have time to stop, and pushed their faces out of his thoughts as he continued forward.
Hakon had no idea how many were dead. How many were innocent people going about their normal lives. How many brothers and sisters of the 113th Legion had lost their lives in the opening moments of the attack. Nor could he say the fate of Frea or how many were wounded and injured and required medical aid.
Hakon cursed again at the thought of being caught off guard. They were better than that and he knew he was better than that. Perhaps they deserved their fate for their lack of security and intel on the world of Starcrown. He tried to move when it was clear and keep track of everything that was around him. He took the sights in and cleared them of threats as he moved with his Sidearm at the ready.
The sounds of small arms fire ripped through the air and Hakon dropped into low cover. He looked at his surroundings as he tried to figure out where it was coming from. The sounds of light rail guns were mixed with that of the unmistakable noise of Imperial Sidearm fire.
It took Harald a moment before he spotted the three lightly armored figures as they fired at and took return fire from another position further off in the distance that he could not see from his current position.
“Echo?” Hakon asked his Wraith but was already running forward towards the three figures as fast and low as he could.
“I’m working on it,” Echo chimed in his ear. The A.I. was silent for a heart beat before it continued. “The shells are tipped with EMPs. I can’t connect to anything, and my reading are scattered.”
“Get the friend or foe system working for my eye,” Hakon growled quickly before he pushed himself off the ground and tried to move quickly and silently so not to draw attention to himself or alert the three figures who were no more than a hundred meters in front of him.
“I’m trying,” Echo replied sharply.
Hakon’s mechanical left eye flicked. The altered reality that his mechanical eye flickered again and again. He nearly tripped as his vision came in and out on his left eye just enough to throw him off. The HUD information finally came to life but continued to flicker and blink in and out from the EMP blasts of the shelling.
The HUD display mostly displayed blank and unknown information as Hakon continued to move through the rubble of a ruined building to get behind the three figures as they fired their lightly powered rail guns towards an unknown target.
“Good work,” Hakon told Echo. “Any intel?”
“Still working on it, give me a minute,” Echo replied from the safe confined inside his WRAITH Armguard which housed the A.I.
“We don’t have a minute,” Hakon responded.
The clothes, light armor, and lightly armed railguns of the three figures in front of him didn’t match the uniform of the legion or anything that Hakon was familiar with on the small world of Starcrown itself. He didn’t know the local forces well enough to know if it was local security forces, first responders, or the rebels of the Barta Realm they held their contract with.
Hakon kept his eyes moving as he slowly worked through the rubble with his Sidearm raised and at the ready. He tried to get a glimpse of the figures taking fire up the slight hill but couldn’t get a good view of them or their weapons.
Hakon got closer to the figures. He wasn’t close enough to risk shooting and giving away his position. Not yet. He was less than fifty meters away from them and he had no doubt he could hit the targets but if he were wrong he would give himself away to those on top of the small slope, and if there were another he could open himself up to attack.
He didn’t know what kind of armor they had on and although it looked like lightly armor he couldn’t see the make through their long coats even when his left eye zoomed in. They were facing the wrong way, and at that range it was possible that a shot more the Sidearm might be deflected although Hakon had his doubts about that. Few on Starcrown would have anything that could offer more protection than what standard security forces in Furse space used. It was a poor and lightly populated world.
Hakon took a new position and cover less than twenty five meters from the three the three lightly armed figures as they continued to fire. He realized that the shelling had moved further away as he heard blasts come from the other side of the compound.
Hakon saw one of the three figures take fire from the slope. The barrel of an Imperial Sidearm poked through into Hakon’s sight, and Echo shouted into his artificial ear that allowed non stop communication with the A.I.
“Confirmed friendly,” Echo stated in his ear. “Green Four and Green Five,” Echo continued as a second person began firing at the three lightly armored figures. “I can’t make contact with their Echo’s. Confirmed friendly up high.”
Hakon jumped forward and moved from his new cover and kept his Imperial Sidearm forward and aimed at the nearest target as he rushed forward through the rubble and ruin of the building. He fired twice as he came within ten meters of the first target. He quickly moved his pistol to the second target before the first fell, and fired another two shots into the person before they could react.
Both bodies fell to the ground before the third figure could move. By the time the third figure realized what was happening and began to move, Hakon fired his fifth and sixth shot into the target and watched as the blasts rip through her chest and leave two fist fist holes before she herself fell to the ground.
“Ragnor, Elmo, that you?” Hakon shouted as he slammed into new cover among the three dead figures which had been shooting at what he hoped was his friends. He looked for signs of other enemy threats around him as his back pressed against the broken concrete wall of his cover that had belonged to the three dead rebels.
“Fuck me, Hakon is that you?” Elmo’s voice called out from his cover across the street and up the slope but was cut by the sounds of more small arms fire not that far from them by unseen foes.
“You good?” Hakon asked before he looked at the small screen on his wraith armguard to see that the radar was still down. He let out a small curse before he scanned his surroundings and then dashed across the street and up the slight slope to Elmo’s position.
Ragnor and Elmo held their position as Hakon joined them. They were both in civilian dress like himself.
“Lewis didn’t make it,” Ragnor told Hakon. He let out a small nod of acknowledgment of the death of one of their own. He wasn’t the only one and wouldn’t be the last one.
“Frea?” Hakon asked quickly.
“Haven’t heard anything,” Ragnor responded as he looked over his rifle. “Fucking EMP blasts have everything down. My Echo can’t even connect to either of yours.” Ragnor continued.
“She and the rest of fire team four were last seen in the compound,” Elmo said. “If they hadn’t already grabbed their gear they will likely be trying to reach the armory along with the rest of the base personnel.”
“That's where I was heading,” Hakon replied quickly as he pushed the thoughts of Frea out of his head.
“Good, fall in with us,” Second Companion Ragnor said. “Let's move before more get through the perimeter.” The Second Companion of the retinue paused for a moment before he finished his thoughts. “Kill anything that isn’t a member of the legion” Ragnor told them. “We’ve got two blocks before we reach the compound front gates. We’re likely to meet more resistance.”
