Joe hustled back to the others, weaving through the trees and bushes. He increased his pace when he neared the firefight. Auto-rifle fire went off sporadically with random fire hitting the trees and filling the air with smoke. Joe’s HUD started picking up the rest of his squad ahead as they fired back at the Birnsteins.
“Steel,” said Montes as he stopped firing and ducked behind a tree to look at Joe. “Abbot? Tempitole?”
After a deep sigh, Joe said, “Confirmed, sir.”
The others all stopped firing and took cover. As the Birnsteins continued to shoot into the trees, Joe’s squad looked stunned. First mission, first firefight, first losses.
The Birnsteins’ fire slowed, and Joe could hear chirping getting closer. Joe’s HUD was having difficulties with the smoke, so he activated his right eye. Through a series of different views, Joe pinpointed the three remaining Birnstein soldiers. Two walked close to each other and turned to the right while the third was walking toward Joe’s location.
Joe got low and marked all three Birnsteins’ locations on his HUD and sent them to the others, all while keeping his eye on the Birnstein approaching him. Montes acknowledged by clicking his microphone twice. Joe received acknowledgement through his HUD of Hoàng, Beck, and Otieno moving toward Joe’s position while Darabi stayed with Montes to balance the teams.
The movement attracted the Birnsteins’ attention with all three turning quickly toward the movements and opening fire. They fired poorly, their shots going high and hitting the trees instead. Montes and his team returned fire as Otieno and the other two hurried for cover near Joe.
Joe saw his opportunity now. The Birnstein had turned away to fire in Hoàng’s direction, so Joe aimed his auto-rifle at the lone Birnstein’s flank and fired a short volley into his side. The Birnstein never saw the attack coming. After he chirped in pain, the Birnstein soldier dropped his auto-rifle and collapsed onto the ground.
Hoàng came up to Joe’s right side while Otieno and Beck checked on the Birnstein to ensure he was dead.
“Well done, sir,” said Hoàng.
Joe heard the fire stop from Montes and the others. Joe’s HUD showed the others standing around after they took care of the remaining Birnsteins.
“I don’t see anything,” said Meinhardt as she swept the area.
“The smoke is interfering with my display,” said Mulloy. “I can’t see what’s going on beyond a hundred meters or so.”
“We’re going to the outpost,” said Montes as he raised his auto-rifle. “Fall in line.”
“Sir,” acknowledged everyone.
The smoke thinned as Joe and his squad reached the tree line near the outpost. The enemy turrets continued to fire at the Human fighters soaring overhead. Joe looked to his left at the trees where the other Birnstein squad had gone to fight another Human squad. His HUD didn’t show him much, but Joe’s eye confirmed that most of the Humans were still fighting as a handful of Birnsteins fled back to the outpost.
“Anything?” asked Montes.
“Not here,” said Darabi.
“Me neither,” added Otieno.
“I got movement to the left,” said Joe as he raised his auto-rifle.
“Hold,” said Montes, but he and the others still had their auto-rifles pointing in the same direction.
The Birnsteins came into view soon after. They were still too far away, but they were getting closer as they fled toward the outpost. Auto-rifle fire pursued them from the trees in the Birnsteins’ wake. As they ran, the Birnsteins fired back only as a distraction.
With the Birnsteins getting closer to the outpost, one of the turrets turned its aim down to fire into the trees at the Humans. Joe knew there was nothing they could do to counter that. He hoped any of the Human soldiers pursuing the Birnsteins saw the turret and took cover instead of risking their lives by running into the clearing in pursuit.
A few large energy shots hit the turret from above and blinded Joe momentarily. A couple Human fighters from Newgate-Beta had come in low and concentrated their firepower onto the turret. The first couple blasts impacted a defensive energy shield around the turret, but the shield was quickly overloaded and failed. The next couple blasts burned through the turret, superheating the structure and causing it to fall apart. The second turret spun around to fire back, but it wasn’t quick enough and fired wide behind the fighters.
A couple more Human fighters came in from the other side of the outpost and launched a continuous volley at the second turret. Like the first one, the energy shield was soon overloaded and the next shots destroyed the turret. Most of the turret fell off the tower and nearly took out the Birnsteins trying to flee back into the outpost.
“All squads: those turrets are neutralized,” said a voice over everyone’s headsets.
“Confirmed,” said Montes. “Newgate-Three to breach.”
“Charlotte-One to breach,” added a voice.
“Marshall-Four to breach,” said a third.
A few more squads also called out that they were proceeding to the Birnstein outpost. Joe’s HUD lit up with all the different squads and their members as they started for the outpost. Montes soon started forward, and Joe and the others followed.
All of the squads stormed out of the trees and into the clearing to race to the outpost entrance. Some moved quicker than others, but they all went with the same intensity and determination. Charlotte-One was the closest, and they made quick work of the few Birnstein soldiers attempting to guard the gate. Once the Birnsteins were down, Joe was convinced the Human squads would make it in.
“Here we go!” shouted one soldier before others added their own battle cries to the charge.
After seeing Charlotte-One enter the outpost, Joe heard fighters getting closer. He looked up to see two Human fighters approaching fast. They were weaving through the air to avoid enemy fire coming at their afts. To get a better look, Joe focused his right eye and saw a whole Birnstein squadron pursuing them.
“Montes!” shouted Joe as he came to a complete stop.
Montes and the others stopped and looked back at Joe. The rest of Newgate-Three followed Joe’s gaze and watched as the Birnstein fighters split up equally to target the two Human fighters. Soon, the two Human fighters were blasted out of the sky, and the debris rained down on the squads below.
“They’re circling back!” shouted Meinhardt as Joe saw the Birnstein squadrons’ weapons aimed down toward the ground.
“Cover!” shouted Montes before he started running back to the trees.
The Birnsteins’ fire was hell. They targeted anything moving between the outpost and the trees. The volleys were frequent and quick, and the Birnsteins sprayed their attacks all over the clearing. Several Humans dropped quickly as they were engulfed by the enemy fire. Formations fell apart with some continuing toward the outpost but most turning back to the trees.
Joe’s eye went quicker than he’d ever seen before. His vision filtered rapidly through different fields until it settled on one that attempted to track the incoming blasts. With everything moving at the speed of light, Joe began to feel overwhelmed and tired, but he kept his eye tracking as he ran.
“Squadrons! Squadrons!” shouted Montes over everyone’s headsets. “We’re under heavy fire here!”
“Copy that, but we are, too,” came the reply. “Several enemy squadrons and shuttles just entered the area. They outnumber us–”
The reply stopped as another Human fighter exploded under the barrage of three Birnstein fighters overhead.
“Don’t stop!” yelled Montes to his squad. “Go! Go! Go!”
More Birnstein fighters came into view as they circled the outpost. They rained even more weapon fire down on the Humans. The Birnsteins attacks hit their targets less frequently as the smoke grew thicker over the area and obscured everything. That also made finding the tree line for cover more difficult.
Some weapon fire came across Joe’s retreating squad, and made a few of them fall down. Joe had very little warning from his eye of the impending attack, and he grabbed Hoàng as he weaved to the left. Beck followed close behind them.
“Keep going!” shouted Montes from behind Joe. “I’ve got him.”
Joe kept going, but looked over his shoulder to see Montes helping Otieno to his feet before they started for the trees to their right. Another volley of weapon fire came down behind Joe and the others, which further scattered all of the retreating squads.
“Here, here, here!” said Joe as he reached the trees.
He ran past several more trees before ducking behind one. Hoàng and Beck came to a stop next to him, and all three ducked down as the Birnsteins made another pass and shot a volley into the tree line but missed Joe’s location.
Joe next scanned the sky with his eye and saw several Birnstein shuttles fly in and land around the outpost. The ramps lowered as soon as the landing gears hit the surface, and squad after squad of Birnstein soldiers ran out into the clearing. Many went into the outpost to eliminate the Humans inside. The others spread out to stop any Humans still trying to flee to the trees. Joe then saw a few squads start for the tree line in his direction.
“Attention field personnel,” a voice said over everyone’s headsets. “A retreat order has been issued for your area. Get clear and standby for pickup instructions. I repeat: a retreat order has been issued for your area.”