CHAPTER 16


   
When the senior diplomat had decided to abandon the consulate for the safer grounds of the distant Seau-Neaut airbase, he had not considered exactly how complicated this was going to be. The Orcs had obviously decided they were not going to cooperate on the matter and, unfortunately, there were plenty of them around now. The only chance that any of them had, to get out now, was as small groups. It was something of a surprise when Gabe Foster came back in with his patrol and reported that the Orcs were largely ignoring civilians. Bruce was very surprised by this because he had figured most of them would have been eaten by now. He considered a lot of what he had seen over the past few hours and realized that a great deal about this attack made no sense. That was only the latest bit of intel on a growing list that was down right perplexing. In this case he decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth because it gave them an out they otherwise would not have had.
The plan was a simple one. Break the non combatants up into small groups. Dress them as much like locals as possible, and then, send them on their way. They would have to find a way to get across the river but, if the intelligence was still good, there were already a lot of people trying flee over the Par-Phveng. Hopefully the Orcs would not notice or, to be more accurate, care about yet another group. The remaining marines were sprinkled in with the other assorted types and might be able to offer at least a little protection should things get nasty. Bruce had other ideas about that but, he kept his mouth shut. Besides that, his job was going to be the thankless one. It was likely suicidal as well.
It was one reason that Bruce was surprised to see a particular face with his team of volunteers. Corporal Grace Morgan had not taken to the rigors of combat all that well. Bruce really did not blame the girl. No one could really train your emotions on how to handle it. She had done her job like a professional but that did not mean she liked it. As far as Bruce was concerned, it only meant that the little girl was sane. Still everyone, that had assembled on him, knew what the mission was all about. That's why Bruce asked the little Jarhead, “sure you're in the right place, Corporal?”
She barely looked him in the eyes when she replied with a hint of hostility, “I'm no fucking hero, Arbuckle.”
Bruce easily told the girl, “then you're in the wrong place.”
Finally she looked up from under the brim of her helmet, “I just don't think any of those other groups got a chance in hell of getting out alive.”
That drew a smile from the retired S.E.A.L. He even laughed when he realized that this girl was still thinking straight. If she could get the rest of her act together, she'd make a fine warrior one day. He then got back to business and told his assembled crew of random marines, mercenaries, and state guys with military experience. “Ok, we're going to make them look at us. That way the others got a shot at breaking the perimeter. Bruce pointed towards what was left of the east wall, “and the first item up for bids is...”
Sitting on their ass and holding the perimeter was not an option here. Bruce picked the two story building, that he assumed was some kind of office, for his first attack. The Orcs had been using it as an assembly point. They were ferocious but, lacked imagination. They kept going to that same building so it was time to make them pay for that. Foster had already scouted it out with his team and they waited between waves, when only a handful of the bastards were guarding the place, to go knocking on the door. They made a lot of noise, cleared the building, and left behind some nasty surprises for when the egg heads would predictably return. Those surprises brought down the entire building and, by Bruce's estimation, spared them one all out assault on the consulate perimeter.
A couple of more hit and run raids, on enemy staging grounds, got the Orcs attention. It had also cost them in lives and Bruce was starting to realize that he was not going to be capable of keeping this up for much longer. Besides that, they were almost out of explosives. He was starting to understand that the real reason they had not been overrun before now was the fact that the enemy did not think they were worth the trouble. They had obviously changed their minds because the big green, ugly, looking monsters were now showing up in force. There staff blasts were starting to pound the hell out of what was left of the wall. Bruce had never imaged that they could produce that kind of firepower. He would have sworn those staff things had somehow become automatic weapons. Then the stakes were raised yet again.
The distant rumble, to the south, turned heavy and it was more than just in volume. Bruce could detect a huge artillery barrage and, if he did not know any better, he could have sworn he heard MLRS rocket batteries raining down on the districts just south of the river. Bruce was not the only one who heard it because Foster showed up a few minutes later and asked the obvious, “First Brigade?”
Grace Morgan watched the flashes of light and listened to the rumbling and then asked the next most obvious question, “think they can breakthrough to us?”
Bruce was all out of answers, “the hell if I know. We can't depend on that, even if they can.”
The little Marine added, “they better cause,” she nodded out towards the ruins of the city around them, “”those fuckers are not taking me alive and, I don't want to die.”
Bruce noted a strange look on Foster's face. He was going to say something and then saw where Gabe's eyes were pointing. That caused him to say to the marine, “they were brewing some coffee in operations kid. Go get us some.”
“I don't,” Grace thought twice about her response and then decided to do as asked.
When she was gone Bruce looked to the other spook and demanded, “you know something and don't play this classified bullshit on me, not this time. Not now.” Gabe had never been a guy who minced words, not even when Bruce was training him way back when. This time he was hesitant and Bruce decided to play a hunch, “you were in town for a drop. This whole party messed up your plans and you've been out looking for your contact, ever since. You stumbled over something didn't you?”
Gabe relented, “I got one asset on the ground and a middle man playing delivery boy, between us. I think the middle man is neutralized, in fact, I'm sure I saw her.”
That perked Bruce's ears, “her?”
“That's the big problem Bruce,” Gabe told him with a very serious look, “the Orcs, well, they're taking prisoners.” The reaction was not what Gabe had expected, “you don't look so surprised?”
What could Bruce say to that, “after all that's happened, why would it?”
“They're carting women out,” Gabe said. “I've seen three groups now.”
Bruce asked the natural question, “only human women?”
“No, you don't get it,” Gabe told him, “not just human. From what I've seen, it looks like only humans from earth. The guys, they're killing them on site like always.”
The conversation came to an abrupt halt when the shooting around the compound picked up. Bruce and Gabe crawled to their nearest firing positions and both said the same thing, at the same time, “what the fuck is that?” Neither bothered with an answer. The easiest solution was to shoot it until they turned the giant armored looking dinosaur thing into so much ground beef. The creature was running at the wall, full speed, bucking from the fire it was taking, and swinging a giant meaty looking tail that had a wrecking ball on it's end. The charge waivered when the creature let out a mighty roar and was still twitching long after it bled out all over the street. By Bruce's estimation, their defenses had probably used up half their ready ammo on shooting it up. They had also had to concentrate all of their fire at it and, what came after, proved that it was all the enemy needed. Orcs were charging right behind the thing and, as they passed by the creatures remains, they started firing in volleys. One line would advance and fire no sooner than another had just expended a round. The large caliber shells were turning what was left of the consulate's buildings into so much rubble.
The worst part of it was the fire was coming from more than one direction. The distraction had worked and the Orcs had gotten close on several fronts. They were pinning down what was left the main consulate defenses and this allowed their assault force to rush forward with minimal resistance. Bruce almost thought of it as over kill because he was not so sure that every single gun he had could match the firepower they were taking from the main attack.
It was Gabe who vocalized the issue at hand, “we're not going to stop this one.”
“Up yours,” Bruce told him, “I'm too pretty to die.”
The Orcs quickly reached the crumbled wreck that was the consulate walls. Bruce set off the last of their Claymore mines and thinned out their ranks but, the waves behind them just kept on coming. His ear was telling him that the fire was growing heavier but, fewer and fewer human weapons were adding to that volume. He looked to Gabe who had just raised his head over their cover to check out the situation first hand. They were fortunate that the debris they were hiding in looked like a terrible position. The Orcs seemed to recognize that fact and were not shooting at it very much. Their charge also seemed to concentrate on buildings they thought important. Unfortunately, they seemed to have picked the right ones too. Gabe reported, “operations has been overrun!”
That was the fallback point and it also happened to be where their ammunition and weapons reserve was. Somebody was pretty stubborn about keeping it out of enemy hands though. No sooner had Gabe said that when the building blew up from inside. Bruce kind of felt sick about it. He knew he was too old a sailor to get choked up over loosing a comrade in arms but, Morgan had just been a kid. He had sent her over there and maybe that was why he sighed and said, “well she got what she wanted.”
The sudden ear splitting sounds of weapons fire came from all directions at once. It sounded more like an echo bouncing off walls than actual fire. Bruce also recognized the fact that what was making the rumble were not enemy weapons. It came in burps and he knew that it was some kind of rotary fire. The US military were the only ones that had weapons like that in Feyland. His spirit perked up and he joined Gabe in looking for the source. They both saw streams of tracers ripping up large hordes of monsters as they tried to flee the unexpected attack. The few that tried to return fire at this sudden magical appearance only got turned into so much gore for their troubles.
An Apache attack helicopter flew over head, hovered, fired at some more targets with rockets, and then moved on as a waive of Blackhawks followed closely behind. Soldiers began roping out of the choppers into the empty lot on the backside of the consulate. Another group came down on top of the ruined admin building. Bruce was sure there were a few more groups but, he could not really see them from his vantage point. The US Army wasted no time spitting out fire on the retreating Orcs. The return fire was sporadic and random, telling Bruce it was ok to stand up for a second. After he did not die, he checked his watch, and then looked out towards the ruins of the city. He then told Foster, who had just joined him, “you know we only got about ten minutes or so.”
“Yeah, I hope they brought enough choppers,” Gabe replied in agreement.
Sadly, Bruce pointed out the obvious, “yeah well, there's not that many of us left to move. I'm sure we can get first class seating.” He then pointed towards the back lot, “let's go find their CO.”