Chapter 5

When devil company finally hit the ground, they did so in the mining town of Tristans Retreat, an area dedicated to the mining and refinement of Uranium, intended for the process of artificial anti-matter production for starship reactors. Needless to say, the town was a high priority objective.

Which is precisely why the ROM deployed an entire battalion of the army with the sole objective of defending the town, and using the AA guns to keep UEN support to a minimum.

'Once! Just once I'd like an easy deployment!' thought LC Jackson Allen , moving back into cover behind a ruined ore truck, pushing a new magazine into his rifle after mowing down a careless ROM trooper.

The AA gun lied at the center of the town, and surrounded by hostile troops. Indigo company had linked up with Apache and Behemoth companies shortly after reaching the ground, and had made steady progress through the town, despite fierce resistance.

Allen looked past his cover, seeing the AA gun moving its turret as it fired on any UEN air assets in range. As long as it was active, the infantry was gonna have a hell of a hard time. He quickly moved his head back to cover as several rounds impacted the truck. The ROM had set up a machine gun nest on a rooftop overlooking the company's position, severely hindering their ability to move and already causing casualties. If they can get rid of that gun, they can move forward and get the chance to either take or destroy the AA gun.

He looked to Sergeant Major Dusty, himself taking cover behind a wall quickly being chipped away by machine gun fire. "Sir!" he yelled. "That gun is kicking our asses! We need to take it down yesterday!" he screamed. He wasn't particularly afraid of dying, but just sitting behind a truck and waiting to take a bullet wasn't high on his list of things to do today.

Dusty looked to Terry, then to the machine gun nest on the roof down the street. There weren't many places to take cover from its unrelenting fire, the entire unit barely able to move without risking life and limb. "Well Allen, if you've got any ideas, I'd sure be glad to hear them!" he yelled.

Allen quickly analyzed his surroundings. The building to his right was a machinery shop, at 2 stories tall. His power armors jump pack would be just barely able to reach it. If he can get up to the rooftops with some covering fire...

"I think I've got one sir!" he replied to his sergeant major. "I'll need some covering fire to make the gunner duck his head for a minute!"

Dusty tilted his head, a silent question about his subordinates plan. Allen merely nodded up to the roof, with dusty quickly catching. 'Ah what the hell, why not' he thought.

He flicks on his radio, relaying his orders to every member of the company currently taking cover at various points on the street. "Ears up! Allen is going to be ripping that gun a new one, but he'll need some help! On my go, everyone will lean out and light up the enemy position long enough to get him up and over there!" Dusty looks to Allen and gives a thumbs up as allen primes the thrusters on his jump pack, ready to launch himself up on the word.

Dusty flips his rifle to fully automatic and gets back on the comm. "devil company! Three! Two! One! Suppressing fire!"

All at once, he and the dozen other marines taking cover on the street all leave it at once, opening fire on the hostile machine gun position to force the gunner down just long enough for allen to enact his plan. As soon as his companions begin firing, he ignites the thrusters, jumping several meters up into air, grabbing onto the ledge of the roof, pulling himself up.

He quickly begins his mad dash, running and jumping across the rooftops towards the enemy position, using his armor to enhance his jump distance to clear the gaps between rooftops. He bolts the sixty meters to the enemy nest, reaching his destination just as his allies crouch back into cover to reload.

By the time the ROM troopers manning the nest get up to continue firing on the UEN marines position,Allen finally makes the last jump, landing and rolling onto the rooftop the machine gun nest was set up on. When the ROM troopers get up from cover, seeing Allen landing on their roof, they make a desperate bid to level their weapons, but fail to do so before Allen empties his entire magazine into them, the 6.8mm tungsten ammunition punching right through their power armor, making ground beef of the soldiers within.

"Ok guys, you're clear." he says over the radio, an audible note of fatigue in his voice. The rest of the company get up from cover, seeing Allen waving at them from the roof at the end of the street.

Dark Ranger First Class Marshall Logan is the first to break the silence. "What the fuck mate!" he says, a bit astonished. "And you're still a Lance Corporal how?!"

Allen chuckles. "Long story man. Looooong story."