jrudder

Annie rushed up the stairs out from the bunker and saw several members of the 122nd leap into a trench. The war on Gylos was mostly one of trench warfare. A war of maneuver had proved to be difficult and exhausting for the armies because of the long stretches of endless desert, and so trench lines were built near and around important sites such as cities and oases. Annie jumped in next to several Marines and saw three Routeusseans running towards her. She instantly raised her carbine to her shoulder and fired a quick burst, bringing down two of them. A shot from a Marine next to her brought down the third.

She heard, all up and down the trench line, similar firefights ensue. A squad of Routeussan advance scouts took up cover behind a mound of dirt. As Annie looked at the mound, waiting for a head to appear, a boom came from her right, then another. The Routeusseans were shelling their positions. She then heard the resounding whoosh and roar of the Striker Multiple Fire Ionic Torpedo Launchers send an answering barrage at the Enemy. Blue wisps streaked through the air before coming back down and smashing into the Routeussan line on the other end of the battlefield. Just then, a head popped around and snapped a shot off, hitting one of the Troopers in the head. Annie raised her carbine to respond, but a shot whizzed over her head and dropped the Routeussan. She spun around to see Nordak leap down into the trench. More of the squad started to peek out and shoot, and the Space Marines started to duck, popping up to shoot.

“Enough of this!” Nordak finally said angrily. “Annie, you and two men stay here. I’ll take this guy and work my way down the trench and sneak around on their flank, alright?”

“Yes, sir,” replied Annie. She stood up and fired as Nordak and the Corporal he had chosen ran down the trench, crouching over. They ran about fifteen meters and stopped. Nordak peeked up to see a Routeussan crawling right past them, trying to outflank Annie’s group. Nordak quickly pulled the trigger on his LR-128C Carbine, sending a single laser bolt into the man’s head. He then rolled up over the top of the trench, with the Corporal following suit.

They slowly crawled towards the Routeussan squad, and they watched as the soldiers popped up and down, firing off their lasers. Nordak saw one of his Marines go down as he popped up at the wrong time. I have to hurry, thought Nordak. He and the Corporal crawled forward to within five meters of the Routeusseans, and they were now behind the enemy. Both Space Marines raised their weapons and sent a blaze of hot light at the Routeusseans’ backs. They all dropped dead, some firing off random shots into the air as they died.

Suddenly, Nordak heard a warcry from behind, and watched as a Routeussan leapt on the surprised Corporal and stabbed him in the throat. Nordak grabbed the Routeussan’s shirt with one hand and punched the man’s face with his other. Nordak’s punch sent the Routeussan reeling backwards, and the Space Marine commander sent a burst of laser shots into his enemy’s chest. As Nordak turned, he saw the main Routeussan force advancing, and wisely ran back to the trench and jumped in. The trenches had now swelled with most of the surviving Space Marines, who had gotten into their armor and rushed out as soon as possible. Very heavy laser fire began to erupt from both armies’ weapons as the distance between them was closed.

The battle seemed to be going well. At some points, the Routeusseans were being pushed back entirely, but along most of the earthworks, the battle had become a series of fierce firefights between anywhere from squads to full regiments battling it out. Nordak’s 122nd was being assaulted by what seemed to be a full enemy regiment. Both sides were taking casualties, but neither could gain the upper hand. Nordak turned to yell an order to his com officer, and when he turned around he saw a tan-grey tank coming towards them. It fired a shot that hit just in front of a section of trench. The explosion was enough to wipe out at least a platoon of Marines.

“Get that tank!” yelled Nordak over his helmet com. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Marine jump up on the top of the trench. He turned to see that the Trooper had a LAW ionic torpedo launcher. The blue torpedo leapt from the weapon just as a Routeussan gunned the Trooper down, but it found its mark. The front of the tank exploded, killing the soldiers around it. Nordak looked back to the Routeusseans and saw a soldier with a flamethrower crawling towards them, unnoticed. He suddenly jumped into a crouching position and flamed a group of Space Marines. While their armor was flame-resistant, their faces and their fatigues in the gaps in the armor were left unprotected, and many were burned. Nordak raised his carbine to kill the Routeussan, but another Marine beat him to it. Several laser bolts hit the Routeussan’s fuel tank on his back, blowing it up and setting the man aflame. He stood up and began to run around, screaming.

A Marine next to Nordak raised his rifle to kill the man, but Nordak put his hand on the rifle and lowered it. “Let the bastard burn,” Nordak said coldly. To his left, a Sergeant lobbed a grenade over the top of the trench at the advancing Routeusseans. A small explosion muffled any screams, but a more pressing matter was at hand. Three tanks now rolled towards the regiment, and Nordak saw no more men willing to stand up and die to destroy them.

Suddenly, a large laser bolt flew over the regiment and carved a hole in the lead tank’s armor, causing it to explode. Several more shots destroyed the other two tanks as their turrets tried to swivel to respond. Many of the men in the regiment looked behind them and saw, to their delight, two powerful AX-30 Main Battle Tanks rolling forwards several hundred yards behind them. The Marines began to cheer as the AX-30s continued to fire their massive laser cannons at the Routeusseans. Large explosions rocked the landscape as the heavy laser bolts found their mark amongst groups of enemy soldiers.

A roar overhead made everyone on both sides look up. A squadron of Routeussan Hero-class starfighters barreled down on the battlefield, their dagger-like wings meant to inspire fear. The lead fighter leveled out and went into a strafing run, laser bolts cycling out of its triple cannons and smashing into the Space Marine trenches. The eleven other fighters in the squadron followed suit, and several of the fighters sent their laser blasts into the two AX-30s, reducing the powerful tanks into smoking piles of slag metal.

“Take cover, Goddamn it!” ordered Nordak. “There’s nothing you can do about it! Take cover!” Nordak knew that the Routeusseans would not have ordered such a strafing run if their troops were still making an all-out assault on the Space Marine lines. No, the Routeusseans were falling back, and the strafing run was being made in an attempt to cover the Grand Army’s retreat back to their own trenches. Indeed, the sound of laser rifles being fired had totally ceased, and now the air was filled only with the boom of the fighters’ laser cannons and the cries of the wounded.

Finally, after several minutes which seemed like days, the squadron abandoned their strafing run and disappeared into the upper atmosphere as quickly as they had arrived. Nordak immediately leapt up and began to walk amongst his troops. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, he wanted to find out from his officers and his own observations how many men and women he had lost in the attack. Secondarily, however, he also always liked to put a fearless face on for his regiment, to inspire them to be just as brave, as well as to comfort any Marines who had lost friends or were shell-shocked. Nordak would sit with affected Marines and try to nurse them back to mental health before moving on to the next one. Sometimes this process took many hours, but his troops loved him for the amount of care he showed to them.

As Nordak walked around, looking for any Marine who needed help, Annie walked up to him and sighed. “I guess no counterattack, huh, sir?” she asked.

“Not today,” replied Nordak, rather disappointed. “That attack wasn’t much. I doubt that’s what they were planning for so long.”

“I agree,” said Annie. “It could’ve been a feint, or then again maybe we just got the light end of the assault.”

“Excuse me,” said a voice from behind Nordak. He spun around and found himself face-to-face with a young Second Lieutenant, his face covered in dirt. “You Johganis?”

“That’s Commander Johganis to you,” said Nordak with a sideways glance at the Lieutenant.

“You him?” asked the Lieutenant.

“Yes,” replied Nordak.

“Here, sir, I have a message from Command General Ross,” said the Lieutenant, producing a piece of paper from a pouch on his belt. “He wants you and your XO to report to HQ immediately.”

“What about my regiment?” asked Nordak. “We just repulsed an attack; I can’t just leave them out here.”

“Your regiment is being pulled back into the rear and being replaced with the 385th,” reported the Lieutenant, awaiting Nordak’s response.

Nordak looked at Annie, who nodded, and said, “An order’s an order. Annie, tell the Company Commanders to inform their men we’re moving to the rear.”

“Roger that, sir,” said Annie, and she moved off to relay the order.

__________________
Rudder

If I review yours, it'd be great if you review mine:

Death and Glory