Lilly rushed up the stairs after the shock troopers, with the other scouts once the grenades went off. *BOOMBOOMBOOM* They were greeted by the sounds of screaming and gunfire as the Imperials at the top of the stairs were either killed by the shrapnel flying around the room, or from the bullets the shock troopers sprayed to clear out the first area. The imps in the two rooms ahead of them tried to hault the advance by firing from the doorways, but Squad 4's scouts made quick work of them, with their more accurate rifles. Lilly was right behind the shocktroopers as they surged into the next rooms. An Imperial popped out of the doorway to her right, but someone shot him before he could do any damage. A wounded engineer tried to prime a grenade, but Lilly shot the man before he could finish retrieving it. When they crashed through the door leading to the final room, they spotted the only remaining Imperial in the house: A red-armoured officer with a radio in one hand and his SMG in the other.
"All squads, retreat on my-" He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. When the squad burst into the room, he pulled the trigger on his SMG, spraying the doorway with (very inaccurate) bullets before being cut down by Brenna's return fire.
And that was the end of it. The CP was under their control and the squad had taken minimal casualties. All in all, it had basically been a textbook 'sweep and clear'. When Hunt radioed their success back to command, Lord Barst's sneering voice came through their radios.
"Wonderful. Squad 13 and 14 have dealt with the Imperials in their area and have rescued most of squad 10 as well. The Imperials are on the run, so we are going to make sure they don't get any bright ideas. Squad 4 and Charlie section. You will join the 13 and 14 in their attack to drive the Imperials out of the city. Show them they have critically underestimated Gallia's will to win. Barst out."*static* *twitch* ... They weren't done?! Lilly shivered at the thought of more fighting, but the city was not yet secure. She steeled herself and tried to suppress the fear and nausea bubbling up within her for just a little while longer. She was only partially successful, as when they passed by the imperials they had killed with their grenades, she had to take a moment to retch in a corner, the smell and sight of the blood and gore overwhelming her.
Once they were outside, the squad headed north. Two streets up, several tanks awaited them as well as the significant manpower of squads 10, 13 and 14.
"Y'all ready to show those imps what we got?", one of the sergeants yelled from his tank. Once everyone had made themselves ready, they headed off.
***
The next few hours were a blur for Lilly. They escorted the armour column, cleared houses, and captured any abandoned vehicles the imperials left behind in their frantic retreat. Occasionally, a sniper or group of soldiers would try to halt their advance either by attacking from the upper floors of houses or taking potshots from vantage points further away. Most of these were quickly dealt with, either by the escorts storming the house, or a tank putting a round into their hiding spots. All in all, the advance was slow but steady. Without their commander, the Imperials were too disorganized in their retreat to put up much of a fight.
As the situation got worse and worse, Lukas went over the map, calling out fire missions and doing his best to direct artillery support for the retreating units.
"Ehhh..... FUCK, it's hopeless!" At the beginning, he thought their support could have made the difference and save their forward CP (and the officer in charge of the front line), but they had only managed to delay it's fall. Now they were stuck, trying to put suppressing fire down on what ever coordinates were called in... and by the Valkyrur, there were so many of them... Just about every squad was in need of assistance as the Imperial army broke and routed, and they only had so many guns. The loaders were certainly earning their pay from the amount of rounds that were being put down range, but even with squad 655's artillery section stepping in to help the regular army, they still couldn't do much more than offer token support. The positions were changing too quickly for accurate fire.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck... How did it come to this!?" Lukas growled. The army's pincer had been an amazing success. How did it turn around on them so quickly? He had little time to ponder these thoughts, though, as the sun began to set and the remnants of the force in the city began to reach it's outskirts. Good. The cover of night fall would make the withdrawal a bit easier, but if the Gallian tanks and infantry caught up to them in the open, even that wouldn't save them... He had to figure out something. As he leafed through the handbook he was hurriedly given, he smiled to himself. He might have just found a way to stall the Gallian advance significantly. Reaching for his radio, he contacted the battery.
"55A, this is Glockner. Adjust Fire, Grid NK180513, Over." First, he needed to get the guns zeroed on his target zones before the retreating soldiers reached them. Wouldn't want to hit his own troops after all...
The outskirts! They were almost done! The Imperials had long since given up any attempt of slowing them, choosing to scatter and run, rather than try to fire when ever groups of them were spotted. With such little resistance, by the time evening fell, the armoured column had managed to make it to the edges of the city and were greeted by the sight of hundreds of Imperial soldiers scrambling across the fields, towards the hills and forests that surrounded the city. The radio crackled as the sergeant they had spoken to before piped up.
"Look at 'em! Running like dogs! Come on, boys, we aren't done yet! Infantry, take cover in the houses at the city's edge. Tanks, move forward. We're gonna wipe these bastards out! No mercy, No surrender!"Lilly couldn't help but be a bit disturbed by the column commander's cavalier attitude, but allowed herself a sigh of relief. At the very least, her job was done, and her friends were no longer in danger.
That was when she heard the whistling.
"55A, this is Glockner. Fire for effect. Mechanized infantry in the open. 10 rounds per gun, Ragnapalm Rounds. Grid NK180513, Over." After a moment, the radio crackled to life as the gunners responded.
"Mechanized Infantry in the open, 10 rounds Ragnapalm, Grid NK180513. Authentication is Foxtrot Zulu, please confirm. Over." "I authenticate Alpha Bravo, Glockner Out." Lukas grinned a wicked grin. A shipment of experimental Ragnapalm rounds had arrived a couple days ago - just in time for use in this battle.
"Come on, you bastards. Come on and burn." Off in the distance, the guns sounded as the battery fired it's entire stockpile of Ragnapalm shells. If any Gallians tried to pursue them, they were going to be in for one hell of a barbecue.
What was that?! More artillery?
"INCOMING!!!" Lilly screamed as she dove for cover into a nearby house. The explosion that came was quieter than she expected, but it still shook the earth. Once the torrent of shells stopped, she looked out from the house and saw just what had happened. The shells that landed hadn't been explosives... they had been some sort of fire shells that set vast swaths of the field ahead of them aflame. The inky black smoke rising from the inferno ahead of them completely obscured the retreating Imperials. The radio crackled to life as the sergeant in charge of the attack began transmitting.
"What the hell was that!? Rios, are you alright? Did any other tanks survive that?" Several affirmations were called over the radio, before Lord Barst cut in.
"Sergeant, this is Lord Barst. Do not even think of trying to drive through that fire-screen. That's Ragnapalm, and it will quite happily melt straight through your tank's armour. Have everyone pull back a block. We will be ceasing operations for the night.""AHAHAHA! BURN! DIE, YOU BASTARDS!" Lukas stood up from the hill they were observing from, watching as the rest of the Imperials retreated and noting with satisfaction the trio of Gallian tanks that had gotten a bit too ambitious and now lay burning in the middle of their Ragnapalm. The Imperial army was now safe to retreat and regroup, the Gallian advance had been halted, and they had even managed to destroy 3 medium tanks - not an insignificant number. Turning around with a grin, he signaled the other members of the spotting unit.
"Alright pack it up, we're done here. Lets get back to base before the flames die out." Despite the somber air of those around him, Lukas was in a fantastic mood. Even if the city had been lost, serving his enemies with steel and fire was something that never failed to lift his spirits.
The flames burned on for a good half hour as the Gallian squads retreated back within the city. Lord Barst and several of the other sergeants would sporadically get on the radio to issue orders, but for the most part, they were done for the night. Vasel had been retaken, the Imperials had fully retreated, and it seemed like they would finally get some respite. Through trial and error, Squad 4 managed to find a relatively undamaged house with working water and gas, and went about the process of setting up for the night. As the squad went about setting up, Lilly looked around. There was someone she needed to speak with before she could relax.
"Mr. Hunt, if you have a moment?" She quickly walked over to him, still obviously shivering a bit from how tense she was over the course of the battle.
"Did you make it through the battle without injury?" He didn't seem like he was wounded from the few glances she had seen of him, but she wanted to make sure. Out of all the squad members, she was especially concerned about him.
