The Ace of Spades Campaign - Raid on Sterling part 15

The Battle for the Sterling Agricultural Colony

"Finn's an idiot!" Julia said as she raised her Transfarer R43 Fireflash Microwave Sniper Rifle to her right shoulder.
"How so?" asked Royce Tavahi, who was standing next to her on the roof the barn.
"He has no idea of tactics. He's brought his artillery truck in far too close," Julia answered knowingly, "and those two gunners are ripe for the plucking. Just watch."

She fired twice in rapid succession and shot the two gunners manning the 40mm cannon. Both died of devastating head wounds.
"Bloody hell!" Royce gasped in disbelief. "You killed them both. Thank the Lord you're on our side!"

Danica and Katja broke cover from the small grove of trees they'd been hiding in. They sprinted to the back of the command truck, unseen by any of the mercenary raiders.
"Someone doesn't sound happy," Katja said as the sound of Erik Finn throwing a hissy fit reached her ears.
"He does know a lot of swear words," Danica remarked with a grin.

"Artillery crew, open fire," Erik Finn ordered over his communications channel.
"They're not responding, sir," Timo Olmstead, the young communications technician behind him said, stating the obvious.
"For fuck's sake!" Finn fumed. "Why haven't they got an open channel to command?"
"Because they're dead, sir," Olmsted gulped. "I've got them on the screen now."
"WHAT!" Finn bellowed. "How the fuck did that happen? What a clusterfuck this is!"
"Sniper fire, sir."
"God-damned snipers. I bet it was that  frigging bitch, Frostorm!"
He continued to rant and rave for quite a while, much to the amusement of Danica and Katja, who could hear every word he spoke.

In the centre of the battlefield, Lieutenant Pierre Lascelles led his men out of their truck to launch a frontal assault against the defenders hiding behind makeshift barricades.
"Forward, men!" he shouted with confident authority. "Let's show these farm-boy wimps how real men fight!"

What he was not expecting was such swift retaliation from the defenders. Kimberley who was well hidden in a bedroom on the first floor of the apartment she and her crew had been assigned, shot first. One slug from 12mm autopistol hit one of the mercenaries in the centre of his chest and blew a huge hole through him, fatally wounding him.
From the rooftop of the same apartment, Jeanette Grey had also been on over-watch, just waiting for a target to present itself. As four mercenaries emerged from the back of their truck, she fired her laser sniper rifle at one. He crumpled to the ground with a burning hole through his heart.
Rebecca Ellington was not happy at being ordered to help man the barricades. She'd much rather have been up on the roof of either of the two buildings. Being down on the ground she felt too exposed and vulnerable. So when the mercenary driver dropped down from the cab of his truck she took her frustration out on him by shooting him in the head with her phaser pistol. It was on the kill setting and the red beam hit the unfortunate mercenary in the right eye, killing him instantly.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the truck, Royce Tavahi took out another mercenary. He was by far and away the best marksman of the colonists and so had been a natural candidate to have been issued with one of five laser sniper rifles the crew of The Ace of Spades had bought for them. He put it to good use by shooting his target in the neck with a single lethal shot.

The remaining seven mercenaries from Squad Lascelles returned fire. Lieutenant Lascelles blew the head off a colonist hiding behind a pair of barrels to his right. His short burst of rifle fire was precise, controlled and very accurate. The other mercenaries in his squad poured out a load of 9mm rounds from their HK18 assault rifles, but most hit the barricades. Only one other colonist was hit and he died instantly from a head shot.

Squad Zegers disembarked next. Sergeant Mitch Zegers and the truck's driver and navigator took cover behind  a hedge. The eight mercenaries from the back of the truck jogged towards an opening in the hedge.

The two mercenaries leading the advance were cut down by highly accurate and lethal fire from Celeste's built-in disruptor pistol. Their mesh-lined armour was not enough to absorb the twin beams of energy. The four colonists standing alongside Celeste cheered in delight when they saw the two mercenaries drop to the ground dead.

This just spurred the mercenaries on to seek revenge. Every one of them opened fire with their 9mm Harrison and Krupp HK18 assault rifles. Once again, the hard cover of the defenders prevented them from suffering greater casualties. Sergeant Zegers managed to kill a colonist who was standing right next to Celeste. One of the colonists standing on the apartment roof was also hit and killed but on the whole it was a poor display of shooting by the mercenaries.

Over on the opposite flank of the battlefield, the squad commanded by Corporal Demer Millius disembarked in an identical manner to Squad Zegers.

This time, it was the mercenaries who got to fire first. Their fusillade of 9mm rounds was only marginally better than that of Squad Zegers. Corporal Millius managed to clip Royce in the left shoulder. He drew blood but it was just a minor wound that caused the sniper to flinch and cry out in pain. Two colonists standing on the roof of the floor below Royce suffered fatal chest wounds and died almost immediately. But the rest of the fire from the mercenaries was way off target.

The colonists immediately returned fire. Blayne Culver was one of the other colonists who had been assigned a laser sniper rifle. He was positioned on the same level as Julia and Royce. He acquitted himself fairly well by hitting Corporal Millius. Sadly, it was not a killing shot, it merely wounded the corporal in his right side. The other two colonists on the roof below both shot and hit the same target. The mercenary would have survived either one of the two laser beam hits but the two hits were enough to kill him outright. Was it a co-ordinated attack or pure luck? Most likely, given the colonists lack of combat experience it was pure luck.

Back on the other flank, Kyran inside the apartment and Lynda from behind the central barricade, managed to clear away all of the mercenaries on the left side of the truck. Both women were firing phaser pistols and both had them on kill settings. With the two men out in the open it was not difficult for them to achieve killing hits. They both took their time to aim before firing. It was a lesson that had been drilled into them by Julia. When shooting, take your time. Be accurate, not hasty. It was sound advice, which they heeded.

Mearc and Sheas moved a short way along the central barricade to plug a hole in the defensive line vacated by their fallen comrade.
"I'm really scared, Mearc" Sheas confided. "I don't want to die out here. I don't want you or any of us to die."
"I understand, Sheas, I really do," Mearc said, trying his best to reassure her. "But what we're fighting for is worth dying for. We can defeat Finn and his raiders. Kimberley and her crew will make sure of that. Trust me, sweetheart."
His heart went out to her. She had lost her father in a border skirmish a few years ago and hated soldiers ever since. Although he abhorred violence himself, he firmly believed in their cause to defend the colony at all costs.

He raised his laser sniper rifle to his shoulder and fired at the truck's navigator. The powerful beam hit the young mercenary in the centre of his upper chest and spun him round. He was dead by the time he hit the ground.
When Sheas fired her laser sniper rifle, her hands were shaking so much that she fired high and wide. She had been a decent markswoman the previous week when practising with Julia. But then her targets weren't shooting back and she suddenly realised she was not cut out for combat. Tears filled her eyes as she began to sob.
The four colonists to the left of Mearc had mixed fortune with their firing. Two hit and two missed. Of the two hits, one was a light wound on Lieutenant Lascelles, but the other was a kill shot on one of the mercenaries.

On the defender's right flank, the colonists struck back at the mercenaries belonging to Squad Zegers. Yuri Katona was the fifth colonist to have been issued with a laser sniper rifle. He proved he was worthy of the honour by killing a mercenary by shooting him through the heart. Two of his colleagues on the roof chose the same man to shoot at and both hit. The mercenary couldn't sustain that amount of damage and he fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. The rest of the fire from the colonists was woefully inaccurate.
Gwendoline Papillion had been biding her time before making her move. She did not enjoy taking a life. She was a nurse after all. But this was no time for cowardice or squeamishness. Kimberley had made sure that her phaser rifle was set to kill. Gwendoline almost always had it on stun setting. She took aim at the person whom she considered to be the greatest threat - Sergeant Zegers. She shot him in the right shoulder, which rather gladdened her. For one, she had actually hit the person she'd aimed at and secondly, it was not a killing shot. Her conscience was clear.

Celeste, however, had no compunction in taking a man's life. She put two shots into Sergeant Zegers' head and blew the back of his skull off.

Julia was equally without conscience when it came to killing. Two shots from her high-powered microwave sniper rifle snuffed out the lives of Corporal Millius and one of his men.
"Take that, you bastards!" Royce said through gritted teeth. Once again, he was in awe of Julia's prowess as a sniper. His left shoulder was bleeding badly and it hurt like a bitch, but he'd fight on. He could feel the tide of the battle turning in favour of the defenders.

Katja opened the door at the back of the command truck. She expected it to be locked but it wasn't.
"Surrender now!" she yelled at the two occupants inside.
Timo Olmstead reacted immediately by throwing his arms high in the air and pleaded, "Don't shoot me. I surrender."
Erik Finn glowered at the two women and made a grab for his HK18 assault rifle, which was lying on the console he was facing. No sooner had he touched it than Danica shot him in the chest with her phaser pistol. She had the pistol set to stun. Finn toppled off his chair unconscious.

Danica stepped inside and pointed her phaser at Timo, who stared at her in alarm.
"Order your men to throw down their weapons and surrender," Danica said sternly. "The war's over. You lost!"
"Absolutely," Timo said, nodding his head, eager to please. He spoke into his microphone, "This is command. Abort mission. I repeat, abort mission. Drop your weapons and surrender to the defenders."

There was a moment of confusion amongst the mercenaries. Lieutenant Lascelles demanded confirmation, which he received very swiftly. With a resigned sigh, he dropped his rifle and raised his hands in surrender. All around him the other mercenaries followed suit.
Mearc led his colleagues over the barricades to confront the clearly crestfallen officer.
"Why?" he asked. He was finding it hard to believe what had happened.

Lascelles just shrugged. "It's orders. Finn has decided to end the fight now. I have no idea why. You'll have to ask him for his reasons. It sure as hell beats me."
The mercenaries began congregating behind the lieutenant. They looked just as bewildered as he did.

A few minutes later, the command truck was a hive of activity. Kimberley had been summoned by Katja and Danica to hear something important. By the time she arrived with Celeste, Julia, Mearc and Sheas, Erik Finn was coming round. He was about to protest but guns to the head from Katja and Celeste forced him to keep his mouth shut. He had lost and he knew it. Reluctantly he accepted his fate.
"Kimberley, let me introduce you to Timo Olmstead," Danica said as soon as her captain arrived. Kimberley could tell from the look on the Venetian's face that she was excited.
"Hi," Kimberley said to Timo, offering him a friendly smile. He smiled back.
"Timo has an interesting story to tell, Kimberley," Danica announced. "Go ahead, Timo, tell her what you told me."