4th Armored “Serpent Crushers"

  Mueller’s tanks pressed hard their attack on an important strongpoint in the enemy line. Four-wide, they advanced down a broad roadway, directly towards the hostile territory of downtown. The darkened buildings loomed in the distance. Around him, the southeast neighborhoods burned. Every other structure had been nearly leveled in the intense fighting. Storefronts were smashed open and used as fighting positions. Roads were choked with the hulks of abandoned cars. Any structure tall enough to provide a commanding view was reduced to piles of rubble as both sides fought to deny the other the advantage.

  Mueller had seen plenty of razed and burned villages in his time, but the scale of destruction on display in this modern city was unlike anything he had ever seen. For a moment, he felt guilty for his role in it. It was a fleeting emotion, for atleast in this warzone, there were no innocents or women and children dashing amongst the ruin. The common victims of war were not present. In that, he took solace.

  The Shogun’s advanced at a walking pace. Side-by-side, their guns thundered in a uniform sequence. Slightly ahead of them, infantry crawled through the rubble of the sidestreets and buildings, clearing them before the tanks could catch up. It was dangerous but necessary work to prevent the armor from being ambushed in the tight environment by hostile foot troops with handheld anti-tank weaponry.

  In turn, the tanks prevented any enemy movement against the Vanguard line from being successful. Fortified murderholes and armored vehicles alike were engaged and destroyed by the commanding firepower advantage they enjoyed.

  It was a cauldron. The muzzle flashes of a hundred firefights danced in various buildings while intense gunfire filled the streets inbetween. Occasionally it was interrupted by the drone of a guided munition flying overhead or the whistling death of incoming mortar fire. Liberal application of grenades by both sides created a steady thump of explosions to go along with the orchestra.

  Despite the gains made, it was a precarious position for Mueller. Their advance had been costly in both lives and ammunition. Fuel was the only thing not in the red. Supply trucks, working autonomously without drivers, were getting stuck in the heavily EM-denied environment. Their programming was supposed to command them to follow the tanks at a safe distance and only come forward when called upon for resupply. But the damn things were getting confused in the hectic environment. The incredibly simple AI that guided them would get stuck on minor debris, or simply stop when a short loss of L-comms prevented them from being able to ping the tanks locations.

  The only good news was infront of them.

  Ahead of Mueller’s rolling firing squad, they had nearly reached an open clearing with a large flat public park. It would be an ideal place to stop and let the rear echelon units move forward and leapfrog them while his own element resupplied. Except it was expected to be crawling with enemy armor and a derailed train blocked their field of fire. If Mueller wanted to advance into the clearing, he’d be easily blindsided and pigeonholed by the tight corner that the derailed locomotive would force his column to make. If the lead tank was destroyed, it would cause a traffic jam and hold up the entire column, serving them up on a plate for opportunistic enemy tank hunters.

  Thankfully, the engineers were on it. Bravely, they had ventured beyond the Vanguard’s own forces, risking being caught in a crossfire to clear the obstruction. Mueller watched through his scope as two 5-ton trucks with drivers were tethered to the wreckage. Shooting clouds of diesel soot sky-high, the trucks were pushed to their limit.

  From behind the train, a squad of Rifles ran back towards the armor, showing the enemy their backs in their frantic retreat. One of Mueller’s tanks called it out and their barrels all slew onto the narrow gap. From it emerged a disgusting creature.

  It was the size of a city bus. It’s skin was oily black and oozed grey syrupy liquid that left a trail of the disgusting slime trailing behind it. It was fat and covered in rolls of heavy flesh. Six legs dragged its gut along the ground, tearing the flesh in places. The creature didn’t seem to mind.

  It appeared to have no eyes or sensory organs. Its “face” if that was what it truly was, consisted of a single orifice. It opened the maw and spewed black viscous liquid onto the engineers position. It was acid. The liquid melted everything it fell across, man and machine alike. One of the trucks was reduced to a smoking pile of scrap with the driver inside.

  Soldiers immediately directed their fire onto it. It shrugged off 40mm grenades and cannon rounds.

  The demonic entity emerged into the road. Before it could kill the rest of the engineers, Mueller gave the order to engage.

  “Fire! Fire HEAT!” he said, giving the order for his tanks to engage with whatever they had in the breech at that very moment, and then follow it up with a High-Explosive Anti-Tank round.

  Their 152mm cannons thundered. The creature recoiled from the impact of two sabot rounds and two canister shot. Neither appeared to do much damage.

  The next volley came in unison. All four HEAT rounds impacted simultaneously. The entity exploded from the blast wave. Black goo rained down around it as the bloated thing moaned in agony before falling over on its side.

  Through it all, the engineers had not stopped working. They were rewarded with success. The locomotive and an associated tanker car were pulled free and the road was fully opened.

  The enemy unleashed a horrible torrent of fire on them. The engineers didn’t bother uncoupling. They simple cut their tow straps and their trucks raced down a side street, out of harm’s way.

  The Serpent Crusher’s were just about to reach their objective when Commander Mueller received a static-laced transmission.

  “Crusher Actual, this is Overlord. At next junction, execute left turn and return to Division CP. Bring three combat-effective MBTs. How copy? Over.”

  Mueller stiffened, eyes flicking to the tactical display.

  “Overlord, Crusher Actual. Copy traffic. Currently engaged, enemy to my front. Enemy breaking contact. Objective Baker one klick ahead. Request permission to continue assault and seize objective. Over.”

  The reply came back immediately, clipped and final.

  “Crusher Actual, negative. Disengage and return to CP now. Priority-one tasking. Order is direct from Overlord Actual. Over.”

  Mueller held the transmit switch a beat longer than necessary, weighing the words.

  “Overlord, Crusher Actual. Roger, wilco. Will detach three MBTs and—”

  “Negative, Crusher Actual,” Overlord cut in. “You will return personally with three other tanks. This is not a delegation. Acknowledge. Over.”

  There was no room left to maneuver.

  “Crusher Actual copies. Returning to CP with three MBTs. Over.”

  Mueller switched to battlenet.

  “All Crusher elements, continue the advance. Crusher One-Two, you have command of the assault element. Objective Baker remains priority.”

  “Crusher One-Two copies,” came the immediate response.

  “Sisu, Serenity, Salamander—on me. Left turn at the next junction. Maintain interval.”

  Three acknowledgements clicked in sequence.

  Mueller returned to the command net.

  “Overlord, Crusher Actual. En route to Division CP. Three heavies in company. Over and out.”

  He released the switch and stared forward, jaw set, the radio still hissing softly in his ear.

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Schnell II lurched as the driver turned hard, treads tearing up chunks of concrete roadway as the whole frontline departed the battlefield. There was another one right behind them, so the assault continued without much delay. But it was bitter for Mueller to look in his rearview and see them advancing without being at full strength.

  As Mueller’s 4-tank element pulled onto the street housing the Command Post, he caught a glimpse of the sun on the horizon. Only a sliver of its intense orange glow could be seen beneath the reach of the storm clouds. It gave Mueller pause. He couldn’t believe it was already close to sunset. They had hit the beach just beyond first light. He didn’t feel like it had been a whole day yet. He had barely registered the passage of time.

  The Command Post was a curious sight. As his tanks trundled up, the first thing he saw was an older man in a Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops. Despite the the relaxed attire, he was crouched over an open manhole, feeding cable down to somebody below. Behind him another similarly dressed individual was busily rewiring a traffic light terminal. Mueller realized they must be ISR agents. They were probably trying to tap into this section of the cities digital control infrastructure, giving ISR access to hardwired cameras that they couldn’t simply hack into. These spies had probably been embedded in the city for days ahead of the actual invasion.

  He couldn’t pay attention to them long. The CP was minimally manned. It consisted of a large trailer pulled by a prime mover, escorted by several armored cars, a mobile generator and a supply truck. Long antennas and satellite dishes protruded from the roof, lending it the visage of a metal forest. The truck sat alone, the entire position unfortified.

  He supposed that made sense. The demands of this particular battlespace had shifted quickly over the course of the day. The CP needed to remain as mobile a possible. No time to get comfortable and dig in. It wasn’t viable, as the enemy was quick to maneuver and threaten the vital command node.

  From his open hatch, Mueller held up a fist and his column came to a stop. He quickly gave his orders to the tank commanders.

  “Priority is ammo replenishment. Once that’s done, get some chow in. Nobody leaves the vicinity. Go!”

  Mueller climbed down from the top of his Shogun and walked towards the CP. On his way, he spotted a detachment of Rifles guarding a large group of POWs. There must have been a hundred. With only six Rifles watching over them. The guards weren’t in standard kit either. The troopers were in coveralls with simple chest rigs for their gear and holding submachineguns.

  Mueller picked out the one that appeared to be in charge. The Rifle came to attention and saluted.

  “Knock that off.” He told the soldier. “Don’t you know not to salute officers on a battlefield?”

  The Rifle was unsure how he should answer. “Sorry, sir. Didn’t know.”

  “Who are you? What’s your unit?” he asked.

  “R2C Manno. TVS Hornet. Machinery division.” The Rifle told him. His accent was deeply Italian.

  Meuller raised his eyebrows in surprise. They were sailors. “What are you doing here.”

  The Rifle shrugged. “They asked for volunteers. Hornet is beached and not going anywhere anytime soon. They told us to guard these.” He gestured to the prisoners.

  That wasn’t a good sign. It meant they didn’t have enough soldiers.

  Mueller glanced at the lines of POWs. All were kept on their knees with their hands zipcuffed behind their backs. One gave Mueller a particularly nasty look.

  “We’re taking prisoners?” Mueller wondered more so than asking a legitimate question. He hadn’t had any even try to surrender to his unit throughout the entire day.

  “Ya, mostly the lower-level cultists. ‘Spose they lost faith in their glorious death when it finally came knocking on their door.” Manno smirked slightly.

  One of the nearby prisoners heard him and shouted, “We have not lost faith! You will burn as the slaves you are!”

  Manno gestured to one of his sailors who walked over and smacked the cultist on the back of his head with the butt of his gun. The POW hung their head in pain. It was practically a lovetap compared to what Mueller would have done to them.

  “Any thralls or vampires?” Mueller asked.

  “Not really. Thralls kill themselves even when they get cornered and offered to surrender. I’ve heard we got a couple vamps, but that’s all I’ve heard about that. Apparently, a mechanized unit managed to kill a demon though.”

  “You guys have encountered demons?”

  “Well, not us, but…” Manno nodded in a direction down the road. Lying against a collapsed concrete pillar was a humanoid body. It was scorched beyond recognition but many features of its physiology were clearly not human. It was heavily mutated, with horns protruding from it skull, a chest that was just a little too big to be human and wings, long and scaly.

  The corpse was watched over by an IFV. The armored vehicle kept its twin 30mm barrels pointed directly at the body. On either side of it were two heavy weapons teams with recoilless rifles. None of them slacked. They watched the corpse like hawks, weapons ready to obliterate it if it so much as twitched. Two field researchers were taking samples from the body.

  “What did that take?” Mueller asked.

  “Scuttlebutt is that it was a botched merge between a vampire and a cascade. The demon won in the end, but couldn’t assume full control. Some unlucky sapper got caught in its claws, so he detonated all his stuff. Full load of antitank mines.”

  “Sheisse...” Mueller gawked, mouth agape.

  He regained his composure. “As you were.” he told the R2C and departed for the CP trailer.

  Two guards parted to allow him up the steps into the trailer. Inside, it was surprisingly spacious. Rows of operators manned Command and Control stations while a long table in the middle displayed a holographic rendering of the city, all the units in it, known and expected enemy forces and various operational statuses.

  The hologram wasn’t as fancy as one found on a carrier, it was lower resolution and only showed the terrain in hues of blue, with units labeled in neon green, red, orange and yellow.

  Reinstead was surrounded by his strategic commanders, conferring about something. He took notice of Mueller and gestured for him to wait one minute. Mueller gave a thumbs up.

  While waiting, he produced his own tactical map. It was the size and shape of a mousepad, but was actually a powerful computer. He unrolled it and plugged it into the primary node. It automatically began downloading the most up to date tactical information.

  Reinstead made his way over.

  “Apologies for pulling you from your unit, commander, but I have special tasking.” Reinstead seemed genuinely apologetic, as if he felt he had interrupted a performance by an artist.

  Mueller had time to temper his frustration on the drive over. He waved it away. “What’s the situation, sir?”

  “Not good, nor horrible.” Reinstead gestured to the map. “But we’re being bogged down.”

  Mueller took it in. There were twelve brigades landed to the north and fighting their way south. On the southern front, there were nine. They all appeared to be frozen in place. Reinstead explained.

  “The northern pincer can’t advance. The enemy has built a great wall along their entire axis of advance, they’ve mined it and are manning it with heavy guns. Storming the line was already incurred two failed attempts. Both called off due to heavy losses.”

  “We can’t plaster them from the air?”

  “We don’t have enough firepower. We’re down to one carrier.”

  Mueller’s eyes widened in shock. “H-how?”

  “Well, we haven’t found the vampire control vessel. Coup De Grace has to stay over the channel, out of gun range, to hunt for anymore Vorrkoths. Our bodyguard sub barely managed to evade the first one and now their sonar is heavily degraded. If one of those things is directed against our beachhead… we’re losing it. The Iron Heart has been dispatched back to Salvo to pickup more supplies and reinforcements. She won’t be back for another 46 hours. Maybe longer. The Cry Havoc has wandered off to the east. She’s damaged and fighting internal fires and a boarding attempt. She’s lost the ability to launch aircraft and her forward guns can’t engage.

  That only leaves the Defining Moment. She’s fully operational, but she’s not enough. Enemy A2AD is too strong over downtown for us sortie a strong enough strikewave to destroy it. And her cannons aren’t going to cut it.”

  Mueller supposed the carrier’s name was fitting for the situation the entire Vanguard found itself in right now.

  Reinstead continued, “For now, that’s fine. They’re drawing a large part of the enemies heavy units.” he gestured to the south now. “But our situation is still precarious here.”

  The unit alignment was a mess, Mueller observed. Three brigades formed up the center, including his Serpent Crushers, the Rock Punchers and the 2nd Mechanized “Fist Fighters”. Their position was fine. It was the flanks that were in danger.

  Reinstead explained. “I have two brigades tied down to the southeast, our right flank. They aren’t engaged but the enemy has roughly four battalions hanging over them. There are still thousands of civilians trapped in Long Beach, awaiting evacuation. If I move these units, they’ll be food for the wolves.

  To the southwest… i-it’s a shitshow. The 4th motorized was at their center and has collapsed under intense contact with enemy heavy units. It’s severed our line. The 3rd Mechanized to their east is desperately trying to defend the flank by themselves now. Meanwhile, the 5th armored is stuck and isolated beyond our supply lines.”

  Mueller took it all in. The enemy general certainly wasn’t making things easy. “Have we found their command center yet?” He asked.

  “Freikorps is on the job. Six, elements are deployed behind enemy lines.” Reinstead emphasized the number. “ They’ve found a number of decoys and are trying to sus’ out the real one. High Command on Salvo is working a solution to get around the air defense when they find it.”

  Mueller nodded. “Where do I come in?”

  “The left flank.”

  “Need me to stabilize it?”

  “No, with only four tanks, there’s not much you can do.”

  Reinstead passed him a radio message on a piece of paper.

  “There’s a platoon belonging to the 4th stuck behind enemy lines. They’re in a warehouse at the corner of Sixth and Francisco. They’re completely surrounded and we’ve lost all communication. That transmission was the last thing we heard from them.”

  “So, a rescue mission?”

  “Sort of. They’ve reported that they found one of our spies. A recruit from outside the Vanguard. She says she’s come into valuable intel about the nature of the storm and what the vampires are planning. She’s also wounded. She’s a high-confidence source. ISR has directed us to get to her and find out what she knows at all costs-damn the night. So, I’m sending you. Four tanks, plus three supply trucks. Penetrate behind enemy lines, drop off the ammunition, get the spy, get the intel, get out. And by God, move swiftly.”

  Reinstead had laid it all out. There wasn’t anything else to say. The two ruthlessly efficient Prussians simply shared one last determined nod.

  “There is only forward.” Mueller said.

  He turned on his heel and exited the CP.