Chapter 10 - Recording No. 12: Luna
Year 2452. Bunker 3002 on the moon.
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“Cultist stockpile spotted two kilometers out past a lunar village. We are broadcasting bearing.”
“Target spotted. Triangulating. Coordinates broadcast.”
“Command, how should we approach?”
“Approach with caution. Status unknown. Potential civilians.”
“Armor start approaching the lunar village, we will pass the village and then investigate an assault approach on the munitions stockpile."
The camera panned to a woman sitting next to the person with the camera with the number fifty-seven on her shoulder, “How you holding up?”
She kept her rifle upright between her legs, “Pretty great. You don’t seem to be doing too hot.”
“You know how it is with me and APCs.”
She rolled her eyes, “Better not vomit on me.”
The cameraman chuckled, “Sure.”
A large figure stood up at the end of the APC near the door, “Attention!”
Every head in the vehicle snapped towards the squad leaders, “Bravo squad on me! We’re escorting the APC through this village towards the staging point. ”
The cameraman grabbed his machine gun and stood up alongside the other people sitting on his side of the APC. The man near the door yelled, “Weapon check!”
The cameraman tapped fifty-seven on the shoulder, “Swap?”
“Yeah.”
He grabbed her rifle and half disassembled it in a few seconds before reassembling it, “You’re good.”
She smiled, “Thanks. You might need a new barrel soon.”
The cameraman reached under his seat in the APC and pulled out a spare barrel and shoved it in his rigging, “Aight, we’re good.”
The two of them stuck a thumbs up into the center walkway of the APC.
After a minute the man at the door hit a switch on the side of the door, “Bravo moving out!”
The soldiers exited the vehicle in a line and fanned out in a wedge as they proceeded down the road.
Looking at the large metal buildings that lined the sides of the street, the soldiers could see the shining lights of civilians peering out the windows. This was dangerous. If any combat broke out how many people would die?
The cameraman quickly let out a sigh of relief as the APC exited the other side of the village. He looked around and realized the other squads were also joining up with them.
A voice crackled through the microphone, “Squads two, five, and seven in MBTs. We’re dropping them at squad way. Support recon remain in APC. We’re expecting moderate infantry resistance. Squads one and three in drone support for infantry. All clear?”
“Yes sir!”
The cameraman’s squad leader waved them over to a drop ship that had just deployed a tank nearby, “Bravo squad get in!”
The cameraman hopped into the top hatch and grasped the handles of the large machine gun mounted on top of the tank. He quickly slipped the headset in front of my helmet and adjusted his rebreather to ensure the augmented reality goggles wouldn’t pinch his oxygen supply.
Looking down into the cabin he saw the squad leader activate the radio inside the tank. Looking around the squad leader grinned, “Final checks. Ammo?”
“Thirty rounds.”
“Spotting equipment?”
“Green.”
“Machine gun?”
“Five boxes.”
“Engine Status?”
“Green.”
The squad leader nodded and looked at the cameraman, “Latch it fifty-six.”
Stolen novel; please report.
Click
The cameraman pulled down the heavy metal hatch they had entered from and twisted a large metal bar locking it in place.
The squad leader clicked a button on the radio, “Squad five on standby.”
A fuzzy sound responded, “Squad five to way five. Recon spotted enemy armor presence. Cover for infantry to eliminate.”
The squad leader frowned, “Alpha, ETA on drones?”
“Drones deployed, searching for targets.”
The squad leader frowned and muttered, “It’s been an entire century, and we still can’t produce maneuverable cheap drones that work on the moon.”
“Two armor targets marked, they are inside the marked craters.”
The camera quickly swung towards the spotter who was frantically entering numbers into a computer next to their seat, “Coordinates entered. Anchor down.”
“Fire?”
The squad leader glanced at a screen on the ceiling, “Fire!”
Bam
The tank shook as the projectile flew out the barrel. The low gravity of the moon caused the tank to seem to float before the anchor the tank had deployed pulled it back down to the surface.
“Status?”
The spotter peered into their instrument, “Miss! Reload reload!”
As the autoloader chucked the spent casing into the void of space the camera spotted a bright flash of light peeking above a crater. The camera man screamed, “SPEAR incoming at 120!”
The squad leader looked up and slammed a button launching a wave of smoke in the direction of the flashing light. Seconds later, the loud whooshing sound of a projectile followed by an explosion behind the tank rumbled through the ground.
“Suppress them?”
The squad leader nodded, “Air burst munition.”
Grasping both hands on the remote-controlled machine-gun turret the cameraman let loose a barrage of bullets in the direction of the rocket.
“Locked! Anchored!”
“Fire?”
“Fire!”
Bam
Seconds later a second explosion rang out in the distance. The squad leader pressed a button on the radio, “Alpha status?”
“Enemy infantry routing behind armor.”
The squad leader thought for a second, “This is squad five. We have met moderate resistance. How shall we proceed?”
“Command to squad five, fall back to the lunar village. It should be evacuated in five minutes.”
“Rodger.”
“Squad five lure armor into the main square. Infantry squads will eliminate.”
“Orders received.”
The squad leader looked up into the cabin, “Yall hear that?”
A quick nod from all Bravo five squad members and the squad leader grinned, “Releasing anchor. Let’s skedaddle.”
The camera panned down towards the spotter who hollered, “Lock! Semi-stable.”
“Fire?”
“Fire!”
Bam
The tank aggressively rocked backwards as the recoil pushed the tank backwards. The spotter glanced backwards, “Continue?”
The squad leader nodded, “Fire everything we got. We won’t need the sabot ammunition.”
As the driver floored the reverse towards the village, the tank let off round after round at the two craters holding the enemy tanks in place. Finally, the auto loader gave a hollow click. The squad leader looked up, “Out of sabot, now we pray that the plan succeeds.”
In the center of the square was a large stone sculpture of a fountain. Of course, there was no water since it was the moon. The driver skid to a stop behind the fountain as the two enemy tanks slowly rolled into the entrance of the square.
The squad leader clicked the radio, “Squad 5 engaging. Ammo is black. I repeat, ammo is black.”
“SPEARs in position, will fire when ready.”
Quickly looking through drone footage, the squad leader glanced at the driver, “Put down the anch-”
Bam The tank tipped upwards by forty degrees as a round activated one of the reactive armor blocks on the side of the tank. The squad leader cursed, “Shit.”
Bam The final shot sent the tank in a slow barrel roll a meter above the lunar brick of the village square. The camera man stared into the sight of his machine gun. He glanced at the squad leader who gave him a nod.
The machine gunner licked his dry lips, swung the machine gun in the opposite direction of the barrel roll and held down the trigger.
Seconds later two explosions rang out from the other side of the square as the tank softly touched down right side up.
The squad leader screamed, “Anchor! Switch to HEAT!”
“Affirmative!”
The machine gun panned to the enemy tanks. One of them had its side blasted off removing its mobility, the other’s turret was pierced and wasn’t moving. The disabled tank let loose a barrage of machinegun fire at the top of the houses where the friendly infantry had fired SPEARs.
“Target the disabled tank! Ignore the dead one!”
“Yes sir!”
The spotter yelled, “Locked!”
“Fire?”
“Fire!”
BAM
A massive curtain of metal fragments and a spray of liquid oxygen came out the back of the disabled tank as the life support and ammunition storage mixed.
“Squad five to command, two tanks eliminated. Minor armor damage.”
“Command to squad five, standbye for mo-” BAM
“Shit!”
“Squad five? Do you copy?”
The cameraman looked through the sight of his machine gun and saw their tank’s barrel ripped off on the ground next to their tank. The squad leader screamed, “Squad five disabled, one hostile active.”
“Command to squad five, survive.”
The squad leader looked up, “Release the anchor. We’re going in.”
The two tanks crashed with a high-pitched vibration echoing through both hulls. The squad leader looked up at the cameraman and pulled a small sphere out of his rigging, “Pop the hatch, bring your machine gun.”
Click
The two men clambered out of the top hatch of the tank and squatted behind the two remote controlled machine guns mounted to the top of the tank. Peering at the enemy tank they saw its treads digging into the ground as it fought against squad five’s tank.
On the top of the hostile tank was an open hatch with someone wearing a helmet with augmented reality goggles on. The SPEAR must have disabled the turret’s spotting.
The cameraman shouldered his machinegun and glanced at the squad leader who gave him a nod. BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM
The helmet and goggles flew off into the void of space as red blood splattered across the top of the tank’s smoking turret. In a swift motion both the cameraman and squad leader leapt onto the enemy tank.
Suddenly, the turret started rotating to try and shake off the two men. The squad leader looked up at the cameraman, “Shoot him!”
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM
Nearly fumbling the sphere out of his hands while balancing on the spinning turret, the squad leader pulled the pin on the grenade in his hand and chucked it into the hatch, “HOLD IT DOWN!”
Both men struggled to hold down the hatch as two or three people from inside the tank desperately tried to open it while the turret spun at an increasing speed.
Boom
The cries of agony reverberated through the metal until all that was left was the heavy clank of the dead tank’s spinning turret and active engine. The two men rolled off the tank with a mixture of relief and horror.
Squad five’s tank backed up and the five members of Bravo five watched as the zombie tank drove in a mindless circle around the fallen stone fountain.
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