Regina quietly watched as the Colonel General boarded and hind, a two finger salute as it lifted off and flew northwest. The swirling dust hid the pained look on her face.
I closed my eyes for a moment, letting it go, the facade. I walked back into the headquarters. "Bring up every howitzer and rocket launcher in the division. Start creating sweeping fire plans, the 2.Pulk Czolgow will advance as soon as the fire moves north."
Headquarters burst into a flurry of activity. Officers scrambled to call every system up from where they had been waiting. Have the engineers prepare firing positions and the division FDC start working on a series of fire missions that would have every gun in the division create a rolling barrage. My XO briefly looked up from the charts. "Ma'm… where will you be?"
"I'll be where every thunderbolt is… riding the lightning." I replied quietly. I walked out of the building, towards my tank. The T-72BU, I suppose it was something I could only thank the Colonel General for, my mother country, Poland did not operate such modern armor.
I dropped into the hatch, the gunner and driver quickly dropping in as well. The gunner gave me a small smile before turning his attention to his sights while the driver started the tank. "We ride at the top of the spear."
"For Poland!" The driver chimed over the internal radio. I cracked a small smile. Indeed, but for the Union too.
The commander, that distant star I wasn't going to be beside… for him as well. I brought myself from my musings as the tank started forward. Driving over to the highway and getting in the lead position as the armor rolled forward. Already I could make out the firemission being passed over to division artillery command for execution as the 2nd tank regiment's lead elements rolled to a stop behind us, slowly fanning out as they did.
I closed my eyes, praying softly to myself as I waited for it to begin. That everything would go well, that my division would make it through this trail. That my people would find their place in this hell of a world, not to be cast aside.
I slowly opened my eyes as I felt the rumble begin. Ahead g was a great cloud of dust. Rockets slamming into the ground and buildings throwing up more dust than I'd imagined. It wasn't going to matter. I touched the small cross around my neck. Soon none of this would matter.
The regiment started foward, a steady slow pace. A front about eight hundred meters wide, two battalion tactical groups wide, and two deep, a rough box. My driver slowly maneuvered us to the Las Vegas buloevard before the advance started to pick up some speed.
The barrage began to move further out, leaving behind the occasional mutant. A tank here, a sentinel there… easily dispatched by a round from a T-72. Until there was more than a few, a handful, then a dozen, then berserkers and reavers…
The regiment continued to advance, almost like the hussars of old. Tanks and IFVs racing into the dust. The breech rocked back as the gunner caught sight of something in his thermals. I sighed softly, closing my eyes. One last… glorious ride.
It started suddenly, the barrage having mostly lifted. A T-72 off to the left was greeted by a sentinel at near point blank, unable to swing its turret around as the tank raced foward the crew braced themselves, only for the T-72 following along behind to vomit an HE round straight into the sentinel's chest, leaving a bloody mist behind. Their relief however, was quickly cut short, the driver, in their evasive maneuvers had strayed close to a building.
A tank, muscles already rippling in anger slammed into the T-72, its meaty hands clamping to the barrel as it wrenched the turret around before the weight of the T-72 dragged the mutant along. The two careened into a building before the driver could stop. Further enraged the mutant slammed its fists into the side of the tank, leaving large dents, its rampage only cut short by a spray of 30mm fire from a bmp that slid to a stop nearby, the infantry dismounting and rushing to get the crew of the now disabled T-72 out of the wreck.
Ponatoski listened without hearing as the regiment around her slowly began to disintegrate as they drove into the horde. The voices…cring and screaming… they were… annoying. She unplugged her headset. Blissful silence. The tank rocked as the gun fired again.
Ponatoski sighed softly to herself, not listening as the regiment was quickly becoming dangerously intermingled with the growing horde. It would be over soon. The suffering… the pain.
The tank came to a stop, I touched my forehead, it came away sticky, there was a bit of red on the corner of the sight glass. The gunner was cursing… sunlight was coming in through the front of the hull… a red smear decorated the back of the driver's seat, now at the gunner's feet. Oh… the front left of the tank had been sliced clean open. The world was slowly spinning as I put my eyes to the sight glass. There was some large monstrous mutant, scythes for arms. It brought one of them down. Metal screeched, a hole had been punched cleanly into the turret. I looked down, the gunner had been sliced almost directly in half.
The mutant took its scythe like blade arm out, light filtering into the tank again. The monster flashed a toothy, fang filled smile. I sighed softly… this was it… the end. It raised its arm up…
I closed my eyes, leaning back in my seat. A small smile on my face. Colonel Xavier would take over. He was a steady man. I wouldn't be missed, the untrusted one.
I felt a bit of moisture in the corner of my eyes. No… I bit my lip. I won't… not like there will be anything left for them to recover. Maybe that was for the best? Only the image of a general that had meant the best, made a tragic miscalculation…
Why was it taking the mutant so long? I cracked a nearly eye open. A pounding on the turret roof. I blinked as harsh light filled the tank as my hatch was wrenched open. A out of gruff hands grabbed my by the collar, hauling me into the light.
Him… his face contorted in rage, his mouth moving violently as he shouted. He was so handsome, I reached out to trace his jaw. He held me in the air, shaking me. I stared vacantly, uncomprehending. A hot sting, the world refocused, my helmet fell, clattering to the ground. "Answer me! The fuck were you thinking!?!"
A cannon blast. The world rang as I gazed around. T-90s and BMP3s flooded the intersection, the Spetsnaz operators hid between the ruins and rubble of the few tanks that had made it to the base of Excalibur. They fired wildly at the growing horde of mutants all around.
"Regina! Answer me goddamn it!" Andrew roared, my face stung from… from where he'd struck me. I felt the dam break, tears spilled down, I chocked back a sob.
"Goddamn it! There's no time for this!" Andrew roared, his muscles tensing with rage. I hung limply… a failure. That's all I was.
"Gaston! Make sure to get as many out as possible! I'm going to take the General with me and go ahead!" Andrew shouted over to a Colonel, likely the commander of the Spetsnaz brigade.
Andrew put me on his back, like he was going to carry me. He leaned forward so I'd lean on his back. I grabbed him around the chest, burying my face in his shoulder as he hopped off the wreck that had been my tank.