Fractured Dawn

Price Of A Mile

Location: Dalnax, New Orderia, R-1

5 soldiers walked down the snow filled streets of Dalnax, it was like looking back 13 years. Dalnax had fallen to insurgents years before and only recently had NO forces began to retake it. As the squad walked they saw abandoned cars buried in snow, bullet holes in buildings, slumped over skeletons wearing police and civilian clothes, and the destroyed buildings. The insurgents didn't spare anyone or anything of the carnage, as they moved across the city they executed anyone who didn't join them previously. The last civilians alive took up arms or were dragged into a street and shot.

Military forces had attempted to stop this by ordering evacuations. These evacuations failed however because insurgents would attack the convoys full of civilians. It wasn't like they were military vehicles either, they were all marked with red and the word evacuation written on all sides. Even ambulances carrying injured out were ambushed and the people inside killed. Once the insurgents secured the city as theirs they put up propaganda for any surviving civilians with claims of NO forces leaving them to die and that if they didn't revolt they would be killed.

The military had surrounded the city and periodically sent in small groups to retake small sectors but it was widely ineffective. Finally NO forces and NATO support counter attacked 13 years later and retook the city. That is for the most part, the insurgents shot themselves in the foot by unleashing automated soldiers on NATO forces, this sounds good but the robots were built by NO technicians. The robots were never fielded because they couldn't actually identify friend or foe. The insurgents turned them on and assumed the safety protocols work, they did not, so when the insurgents swapped some shit around it just killed everything it saw. The robots killed most remaining insurgents and many NO and NATO personnel before they were bombed into oblivion. Now the soldiers are clearing the last sectors.

The soldiers continued walking until they saw a partially destroyed apartment complex. A massive hole in the wall that was reinforced with sandbags and had a machine gun nest made it clear that was an insurgent compound. The soldiers got into position and radioed to command.

Soldier: 23-4 to dispatch, requesting CAS run on a possible insurgent base.

Radio: Affirmative, mark area with red smoke.

The soldiers got out a grenade launcher and fired a smoke grenade into the compound. Immediately the machine gun nest opened fire on them and they ducked down. They returned fire and waited for the bombing run. They fought for a while when two jets flew over and dropped JDAM bombs. The compound exploded and debris shot into the air before raining down. Before the smoke could clear the CAS bombers turned around and did a strafing run on it to guarantee they wouldn't need to come back. The soldiers cheered and walked towards the smoking debris. They checked for any surviving insurgents and reported back to command that it was clear.

They were ordered to return to base for the day because it was getting late. The soldiers did what they were told and got into their LAV. They met up with a few more squads in a convoy and drove to base. While driving they noticed something odd, a car not fully buried in snow.

Radio: All vehicles halt, we have an IED!

Before they could stop the lead vehicle flipped when the suspicious car exploded. Fire shot into the air and the convoy started taking fire. The soldiers used the 50 cals mounted to the LAVs to return fire and soldiers got out and began to use their assault rifles. A squad ran over to the flipped and burning wreck and forced open the door. The pulled out the injured crew and dragged them to cover where a few medics began to work on them.

A problem with NOLAVs, they are modeled after the US humvee. The humvee is a great vehicle right? WRONG. Humvees are prone to flipping, they are not armored enough, and aren't as reliable as one would think "military grade" vehicles are. NOLAVs share most of these problems, they are reliable however(but considering it is 215 years after the humvee was made that is to be expected) and they have slightly better armor(once again 215 years later, it should have been much better by now). The LAV is good but it is still a death trap when it goes toe to toe with an IED. Anyways back to NO soldiers being killed.

The soldiers kept shooting at the buildings the insurgents were in with the hope they would survive until backup arrived. They were to close to their attackers to use CAS so two squads were sent to clear the buildings. The first building was breached and it got brutal. Soldiers were fighting for every foot they moved. The soldiers decided that a normal push wasn't going to work so they tossed in grenades and attached bayonets(knifes attached to their rifle barrels, no not the large ones from WW1). The grenades went off and the soldiers ran forward and stabbed any surviving insurgents. The last of the insurgents tried to set off an IED only for the squad's breacher to use his shotgun to open a hole so big it had it's own area code in the insurgents chest. The squad cleared the first building and decided to fuck clearing the second one and took an IED.

The second building was breached and the bomb was planted quietly. The soldiers ran for cover and used the IED against the insurgents. The bomb went off and the building was blown apart. The upper floor pancaked and the debris burned. The area was mostly clear of insurgents as NO helicopters arrived to evacuate the injured troops.

In total that day of combat gained 3 square miles of land, and had 38 men die.  That doesn't sound bad but I want to remind you that NO forces are fighting enemies using outdated rifles, without any support, that are greatly outnumbered. Meanwhile NO forces have CAS, tanks, late 22nd century equipment, and completely surround the insurgents. For any deaths that high with such little land gained is a nightmare. The average death toll this late in the conflict is 13 men per mile gained. That number is for small offensives, the large offensive had hundreds die in a day. Despite this the city was completely retaken 2 weeks later. The nightmare of Dalnax was over and the biggest insurgent force in NO history was crushed. Propaganda about this would be shown everywhere in New Orderia and would increase support for the ongoing civil war.

Dear 1 person who reads this(last chapter had 2 views me included), I hope you are having a nice day (: