The snow had started back up. Jesus had insisted that they both stay on watch for the night. “That last attack was just a probe to see how well their mortars did. All they learned was that their mortars didn’t do squat. My guess is that they’ll come back with a lot of mortars. They’ll use the mortals for cover and send in at least a division or two. Tonight is going to be a long one.” He explained taking apart his big machine gun. He had a bunch of spare parts laid out on a towel.

Freya looked away from Jesus and looked out across the field using her scope. So far there was nothing moving. The snow had started up again just after the battle and she had already made one run to the Company command bunker. Luckily, Gunny didn’t send her to the town to drop off his data packet as he had before. He just accepted the report and sent her back to her platoon.

She wondered if it was because her platoon had lost three people during the attack. The squad leader for squad 2 had been killed in the first foxhole. The other soldier that had been in the same foxhole with him had died as well. The second foxhole to get hit by the tank only had one of the members die. The other survived but had to be sent back to town as she was too injured to stay. The soldier's suit had saved the woman's life but she couldn’t do anything with half her arm. The other half had caught a round from the tank. It took her arm off just below her elbow.

Jesus had told her that if they had enough time they could fit her with a prosthetic back at medical. If they could then she could continue with the mission but it would be a while for her to return. Jesus said that unless they were hurting for soldiers to return to the front the odds were that they would find the woman a job back at command. After all, it would cost credits to replace an arm just so the woman could return for this mission. If they had the respawn points still up they would just give her some meds to pass on while she slept so the woman could respawn and take her place uninjured back with her platoon. Freya watched a small medical quad come and collect the woman then leave.

Freya scanned the woods across the field looking for anything that stood out but there was nothing. No animals to run away. No stupid people stepping out for the forest to look around. Nothing. She wondered if the animals had left because there was a bunch of enemy soldiers hiding in the forest now or were they trying to stay warm because of the weather. Back home the snow would slow some of the animals down but not stop all of them.

Once it got dark enough she switched to night vision. To Freya, it seemed like the fading daylight had turned back into midday sunlight. She had an old Canadian scope back home that had night vision and it had cost her a lot in trade for it. Here she was just glad that her armor had the tech to do it.

She scanned the tree line once more and froze. “I got three tangoes along the tree line. I have a shot” She told Jesus.

“” Don’t say tangos. No one says tangos anymore. Just say bad guys or something more descriptive like three military aged adults.” Jesus said looking through his scope. “Or just say three people in battle armor scouting out our position.”

Her cheeks burning in embarrassment she nodded. “Oi, Oi, Oi,” Jesus called out.

A few seconds later their squad leader slid into their foxhole. “What do you got.” He asked them as he slid his rifle into the snow in front of the foxhole.

“Three, Tangos,” Jesus said amused. “There in armor checking us out. Boot here has a shot.”

“Tangos, hmm. Sounds scary.” The corporal said. “Ok boot, let's see some magic. They are all wearing medium armor but your ray gun has the range and power. Take the shot.”

“Taking the shot.” Freya murmured as she focused her eyes as much as she could blocking out everything else. She took slow deep breaths to slow her heart rate down then let all the air out her lungs and held it. She gently squeezed the trigger. A moment later the one in the middle dropped. She breathed in as she re-positioned her rifle. In her scope she watched the two soldiers turn to their friend who had fallen. She pulled the trigger and a moment late the soldier on the left dropped. She once again re-positioned her rifle and looked down her scope. The man turned towards the field in surprise she pulled the trigger. She had aimed at his chest but her shot went a little high. The enemy soldiers face shield shattered and he dropped. Her kill count went up by three.

“That’s some scary shooting their boot. I’m glad you’re on our side.” Freya’s squad leader said shaking his head. “Anything else?” He asked Jesus.

“Nope, that’s everything.” He replied. Freya really wished she could see his face but his face shield was down. She bet he was smiling.

Their squad leader climbed out of the fox hole and wandered away. Freya turned back to the field and started scanning again with her rifle. She wanted to raise her kill count again.

“This is fun.” She thought to herself smiling under her face shield.

Shortly after her three kills, Jesus switched out with her. He promised, half-jokingly, that he would tell her if he saw anyone else to shoot. She sat down and changed out her battery. According to HUD, she had thirteen shots left. Doing the math she discovered that she had taken seventeen shots and had to kill fourteen enemy soldiers.

“Three misses.” She thought to herself then remembered the first people on the tank. Two shot in the legs to get them in position for the kill shot. So that’s what one missed the shot. No, wait there was the guy on the tank. Hit him in the arm. So no missed shot?” She asked herself. She did the math in her head a few more times but kept coming up with the same numbers. Eleven one shot one kills and three shots to get her them or another into position to be killed. In the end, she shrugged and closed her eyes.

She woke up to sudden very loud noise. Found herself on her feet before she realized it. Then right in front of them, there was another noise that she felt vibrate in her chest. Looking out in the night she watched as huge white explosions rocked the forest. Even with her automatic noise canceler in her armor, each explosion hurt her ears.

“That’s not mortars. That artillery” She thought to herself looking through the tarp into the forest behind her.

Jesus grabbed her arm and pointed towards the field. She turned around but saw nothing but darkness. Cursing herself she turned on night vision and saw a field full-on enemy troops running towards them. She took aim and tried to ignore the exploding shells that were dropping all around her.

She had plenty of targets so as soon as she pulled the trigger she shifted her aim and fired again. Beside her Jesus had his big machine gun working again and he lit into the soldiers on the field. Row after row fell to his gun as he guided gun into the biggest clumps of soldiers. Freya noted as she reloaded her gun with a new battery that the explosions were so loud that she couldn’t hear his machine gun beside her.

There were just too many troops running across the field and Freya noted that they were more than halfway across the field already. She changed out her battery again and kept firing. Some of her targets took more than one shot to take down. One of her targets took three shots to the chest before it went down.

She knew they were going to be overrun when they passed the two-thirds mark on the field. The good news was the shelling had stopped and she could hear Jesus’s machine gun again. She reloaded her rifle again and noticed that it wasn’t fully charged. She had twenty-eight shots instead of the full thirty. She put it out of her head as the first of the enemy soldiers breached the tree line only to die to an explosion.

She reloaded again and absently noted that this time the battery was fully charged. She took aim at a monster of an enemy soldier. He stood about eight feet tall and carried a machine bug that was bigger than Jesuses. She pulled the trigger but the enemy soldier kept running towards her foxhole. She pulled the trigger a few more times but it didn’t seem to phase the soldier.

She took a second to look at the armor and noticed that the armor for the huge machine gun was coming out from the things armored side. Aiming at the small hole she focused ignoring everything going around her and let the air out of her lungs. Holding her breath she pulled the trigger. There was a spark by the hole and at first, she thought she missed then the armored soldier stumbled a couple of steps before falling on his face. He didn’t get up after that.

“Yea!” She yelled after a second as the monster armored soldier remained on the ground.

She was still cheering when the trap above them collapsed. Brushing the tarp away Jesus swung his small machine gun around and fired. Freya looked to where he was shooting at and saw a dead enemy soldier laying on top of the collapsed tarp. He had run over the tarp not know they were there.

Now exposed the gunfire aimed that they intensified. Freya crouched as low as she could go and shot anyone who got close to them. At one point she saw a grenade come flying towards them. Jesus dropped his small machine gun caught the grenade in mid-air and toss it back towards the thrower. The grenade exploded in the air a few feet in front of the soldier taking him and another soldier out.

“That’s what I’m talking about.” He yelled as he picked up his machine gun and started firing again.

They stood side by side exposed to the enemy fire while firing back. It was the most exciting thing Freya had ever done. She had no idea how long the attack was. She just kept firing her gun and people kept on dropping. Her kill count rose to a crazy number and kept on rising. Then there was nothing more to shoot at. There were piles of bodies all around their foxhole.

“Woohoo!” Jesus screamed out raising his gun in the air. “I love tier 1 missions.”

Freya laughed then sat down. Her heart was running a million miles a minute but she was loving it. She laughed and leaned back. This was what she had been missing back home. This was better than sex.

“Yea!” Jesus roared standing less than a footway. “Give me some.” He asked and raised his hand.

She laughed even harder as she gave him a high five which made him walk around pretending to be a chicken. He even clucked like on. She laughed so hard her sides started to hurt. He raised his gun again and screamed out again.

The squad leader slid into their fox hole which ended the celebration. “Get down you big chicken. You know better.” The corporal said grabbing Jesus’s arm and pulling him down.

“Have you seen my kill count?” Jesus said laughing.

“Yea, it’s crazy good but remember this is just a tier 1 mission. It’s barely better than a recruit mission. The enemies are stupid and weak. They're dumb down, even more, when they swarm like this.” The corporal said shaking his head.

“Yea man, but have you ever seen numbers like this. My kill count is huge.” Jesus said smiling.

“So is your head.” Their squad leader chuckled. “Just don’t do anything stupid to ruin it. I’ll be back. The Sergeant wants to talk to me and the other squad leader who survived. Hell, you might get promoted to squad leader. Get this foxhole squared away in the meantime.”

Freya helped pull the body out of the foxhole then repair the tarp that had fallen. When the squad leader came back he had Freya join a work party to get rid of the bodies while Jesus would keep watch. With a sigh, Freya joined a few others to grab the bodies and toss them onto the field.

When she got back to her foxhole she found the Jesus was gone. She found out later that slightly more than half their platoon had died in the human swarm. That meant everyone got a foxhole to themselves except Freya who had the sergeant in hers. For the next several days there were no more attacks and Freya ended up as a runner again.

The snowstorm which had started just after the first attack had not stopped but it did lighten up. The snowflakes became small but more numerous. Visibility had dropped so that she could only see half the field in front of her foxhole. The sergeant wasn’t a bad guy but he wasn’t like Jesus. He rarely talked and spent most of his time sitting in the corner of their foxhole doing something.

The storm continued for another week and her platoon leader had her as a runner every time he needed a message sent. The snow built up over the past week even though each snowflake was smaller than the ones she was used to back home there were more of them. On top of that, the wind had picked up and blew the lighter snowflakes around so most of the paths she had created in the snow to make it easier to travel to and from her platoon were erased each day.

At least one platoon was shelled each night. There was no rhythm or reason who got it that night. Freya would wake up to the loud explosions in the distance only to go back to sleep if she wasn’t on duty after she made sure that it wasn’t their turn to get hit. The only good thing about having Jesus in her foxhole was that he took more turns on watch than she did so she could sleep more.

The supplies in the town got hit on the fifth day and by the tenth day, they were out of supplies to give out to the companies and platoons. The company had an extra do worth of food to give out to each platoon but they too ran out. The platoon had a couple of days if they rationed to a single nutrition drink a day. In the last days, the platoon supplies ran out and they were down to their own personal supplies. Freya was glad that Jesus had given her some of his nutrition drinks before the mission or she would have had to go without for the last two days.

Aside from getting hit by artillery shells each night they were no more attacks. Freya frequently scanned the field looking for any targets but saw none. On the second to last day, Freya realized that there had been no objectives updated since the mission started. She asked the Sergeant about it.

“The mission updates are hidden on this mission. If you looked at the mission specs you would see three question marks. The means that objectives are hidden due to any number of reasons. If I had to guess then this mission is the type of mission that what we do during the mission changes the mission objectives. Our objectives would have changed if our or another platoon had fallen or we had to retreat back to the town for some reason. This way we are not penalized for another platoon’s mistake. The downside to hidden objectives is that you don’t realize you already failed an objective until the end of the mission. According to the rumor mill, most of the missions from now on are going to be hidden. It’s to prevent people from suiciding if they fail a mission early.” The Sergeant said from his side of the foxhole.

“Oh, thank sergeant,” Freya said turning back towards the field hoping for another chance of raising her kill count.

The fourteenth day came and went without an end to the mission. There were some grumblings from some of the platoon members but for the most, no one seemed to care all that much. On the sixteenth day, Freya ran out of food even after rationing her supplies to just one nutrition a day. She used her water purifier to melt the snow and keep herself hydrated but she still felt hungry. She wondered many times how long the mission was going to last. On the eighteenth day, two days without food, a new announcement appeared.

Bonus mission 1: Charlie company will aid in the attack and capture the Town of Stavelot. Mission failure: if Federation forces are unable to capture the town.

Bonus mission 2: Civilians are hiding in the basement of a house on three bridges road. Charlie company will find the civilians and keep them safe. Mission failure: Any of the civilians die.

The sergeant was on watch and Freya was asleep when the announcement came. Waking up Freya read the message and stood up. “Sit back down boot, we wait for orders before we go anywhere.” The sergeant said not bothering to look at her. He kept looking through his scope on his rifle.

It was nearly a half an hour later when a runner came looking for the platoon leader. He dropped off a data packet and left without waiting for a reply. “People, listen up.” The Sergeant yelled out as he climbed out of his foxhole. “We got our marching orders. We head west to the three bridges road where we wait until everyone gets there. The platoons will march in order so that means we are in the rear in front of headquarter platoon. That’s a lot of high ranking eyes on us, so no screwing off or you’ll never get into a named platoon let alone a named Company.”

“There are a bunch of houses on that road so we are going to have to clear than before we move on to the main part of the two. Rules of engagement are not to fire on anyone unless they fire on you or you get permission from me.” The Sergeant said sending each of them a laser communication with a data packet that contained their orders and a map of the area. Freya read the orders and it was almost word for word what the Sergeant had said. She dismissed the data package.

“Police up your gear. We leave in five.” The Sergeant said walking off toward the mostly empty supply bunker.

Five minutes later the Sergeant returned. “Who wants point?” He asked. Freya raised her hand but no one else did.

“Who wants point, besides the boot?” He asked again. When no one volunteered he signed. “Ok boot, you got point. Just remember, you asked for it.”

Freya took the point position and lead the way towards the road. Right away she realized why no one wanted point. She had to create a trail in the snow, that was almost up to her waist, for everyone behind her to follow. Roughly a half a mile later her legs burning in exhaustion, she regretted her decision. She came across several abandoned foxholes from the other platoons as she made her way towards the road. The path got easier as she passed the first empty foxhole as she just had to follow the path the other platoons had created.

They were the last platoon to reach the road. Even the Headquarters platoon had reached the road before them. “But all they had to do was follow the road we had to walk in the snow all the way here.” She thought to herself as she stumbled onto the road.

The road cut between two farmlands that seem to stretch out to the horizon. The fields were covered in snow but the road itself was clear of snow. Freya wondered if it was some tech like back home in the Reservation where the main road was heated to keep the snow clear.

About halfway down the road, Freya heard gunfire somewhere down the road. “First platoon is under fire.” She thought as she ran to the left-hand side of the road and took cover in the ditch. The rest of the platoon followed her to the ditch.

“Boot, get going. Walk fast, don’t run but let’s get into the action.” The Sergeant told her from behind her. Nodding she walked crouched over in the ditch and move forward. The platoon behind her followed them.

The platoon ahead of her at chosen the other side of the road them too were moving up. As they moved up the gunfire slowed down and petered out. The Sergeant motioned for Freya to keep going so she did. She only stopped when she ran into another platoon in front of her. She slowed to a stop about thirty feet from the last member of the platoon in front of her.

A runner the headquarter platoon came running past her and kept going. Freya waiting hiding on the side of the road waiting on orders. A few minutes later the runner came by going back to his platoon. Five minutes or so the runner came back with the orders to move out and join the first platoon that was waiting by the first bridge. The runner then left to give orders to the rest of the company.

The platoon started to job ahead so Freya took off running at half speed. They arrived at the first bridge to find first platoon on the opposite side of the bridge with the rest of the platoons on the opposite side of them. The order came down to spread out and march ahead off the road. First and Second platoon would stay on the road to be used a bait. Freya led her squad west. The sergeant had her at the farthest position away from the road. Once she was in position he told her to stop and had the rest of the platoon walk side by side in the field.

Someone from one of the platoons closer to the road spotted a bunch of enemies bunched up on the side of the road waiting to ambush anything that was coming down the road. Third platoon circled to the far side of the ambush site and flanked them. Between the Second and Third platoons, the enemy was wiped out with no casualties to either platoon. Once again Freya’s platoon was left out of the action.

When they got close to the town Freya and her platoon made their way back to the road. Second and third platoons were sent around the town to blow up the bridge leading into the town. By blowing up the bridge they would cut off reinforcements and cause a distraction as Third and Freya’s platoon entered the town. Frey’s platoon along with Third platoon would head towards the center of the town and try to drive the enemy into First and Second Platoon.

Freya found herself excited. She was finally getting something to do after a week and a half of waiting. She felt hungry and a little tired but the thought of action made her smile. She stood by the edge of the river. The plan was for Freya’s platoon to cross the river downstream from the third bridge and come up behind the enemy who was guarding the bridge. Third platoon would attack as soon as Freya’s platoon got into position. They were all waiting on the First and Second platoon to kick off the attack.

Freya stepping into the shallow but fast running river. She could feel the river’s current trying to pull her down the river as she made her way across. The water of the river rose to her chest and unlike rivers back home there were no river rocks to slip on. She was able to dig her feet into the soil of the river bed and cross without being dragged downstream.

They crept up the river and waited by the edge of the river in the snow bank. She released a sensor cloud and looked at the results on her map. She counted ten enemy soldiers in front of her blinking red. Some of the red dots were moving around. They appeared to be clustered on both sides of the bridge.

“Sandbag bunkers? Heavy machine gun nests? Guard shacks?” Freya wondered looking at the dots on her map. On the bridge, was a bunch of razor wire but she couldn’t see anything else. She looked at the supports of the bridge and wondered if they were wired to explode. She was just about to turn around and ask the question when there was a huge explosion followed by a lot of gunfire in the northwest. Several red dots ran out of her scanner range just after the explosion went off. They were heading towards the explosion.

The Sergeant tapped her on her shoulder and she charged ahead running up the river bank. The small clusters of enemies turned out to be a Machine gun nests. As she crested the river bank she aimed and fired hitting the gunner who was clearing his gun aiming at the Third platoon that was racing across the bridge. Jesus ran past Freya and unloaded on the first machine gun nest with his heavy machine gun. He took out the entire nest.

From behind her Freya heard a thump and the second machine gun nest exploded sending the enemies inside flying. Freya raised her gun to fire again but there was no one left to fire at. They were all dead. She spun to her right and aimed her gun at the town but there nothing there except brick houses.

The Sergeant yelled something out but Freya couldn’t hear him but she followed him towards the side of the first house. She took cover behind the Sergeant who was standing by the corner. He checked to make sure everyone was following before he peeked around the side of the brick house. He beckoned Freya when he turned back around.

“Freya, Jesus there’s an alleyway across the street about forty feet down. Jesus, set up your BFG and take out anything coming at us. Freya, keep him covered. The rest of you follow me were heading down this street to the next one.” The Sergeant ordered.

He motioned Jesus to go first. He then grabbed Freya’s shoulder and pushed her next to him. “Stick to his ass.” He told her then turned around again to look around the corner and whispered, “Go.”

Jesus broke into a run and Feya ran after him. He was a lot faster than she was so she had to sprint to keep up with him. She got a quick glance of the street before they were in the alleyway. Just as she got to the alley she heard the sound of a heavy machine gun go off and the road behind her was pelted with bullets. Jesus wasted no time and dropped to his stomach and eased up to the corner of the building that they were using as cover.

Freya stood above him and peeked out from cover. She was only there a second before she heard the heavy machine gun fire. She ducked back as the bullets fly past her hitting the wall on the opposite side of the alley.

“Where is that coming from.” She muttered out loud.

“To the right. Big three-story building that is across the street by the intersection. He’s by the second floor third window from us.” Jesus said as he leaned out. “On the count of three, cover the rest of the platoon.”

On three Freya leaned out and looked for the building that Jesus had described. It didn’t take her long as she looked to where Jesus was shooting. She aimed her gun and fired a few rounds into the window but her kill count didn’t go up. In the corner of her eye, she saw the platoon advance up the street.

Jesus kept firing at the window until the rest of the platoon made it across the street and into the building. Then he stopped and stood up. “Let's go.” He said and started running down the street towards the building where the enemy had been firing from. Freya followed him.

The door was already kicked in so they kept on running into the building. There was a big staircase right in front of the door. There were rooms to the left and right of the staircase. “I’ll go left. You go right. Fast clear the first floor.” He told her turning left.

Freya turned to the right and entered the room with her rifle at the ready. She looked around and spotted electric heater with some old fashion peel top cans that had crusty remains of food in them. She walked through the room and found another room to her left. She walked into the room and clearing the corners she checked on this room. There was a bunch of sleeping bags and some random equipment but no people.

There were two doors one was a double door that was missing one of the doors and a single door that was closed. Freya went to the double doors and peeked into the next room which looked like it might have been a fancy dining room. The wooden table was covered with ammo and food supplies. She didn’t see anyone in the room so she forced herself to ignore the food. She turned to the closed door and was about to kick the door in when she stopped and checked to see if it was unlocked. The door opened easily and she stormed into the room.

The room was she had stormed into was a kitchen. She looked around and when she didn’t spot anyone she turned to leave. As she was leaving she spotted a pot on the stove that was boiling something red. “Tomato soup?” She wondered and reached out and turned the stove off.

She went back to the room with all the supplies and found Jesus there doing a fast clear of the room. “Clear,” she called out to him when he spotted her.

“Clear.” He said lowering his big machine gun. “The rooms form a square around the stairs. “Let’s head upstairs and find the rest of the platoon.”

They made it to the stairs when someone called out. “Jesus, is that you?”

“Me and the boot,” Jesus called out and the rest of the squad came down the stairs.

‘You clear the first floor?” The Sergeant asked Jesus.

“Yup. Found some supplies too.” Jesus said nodding his head towards the room Freya cleared.

“I think there is some tomato soup cooking in the kitchen if anyone's hungry,” Freya said waving her hand towards the same room Jesus was pointing to.

Even the Sergeant laughed. “Grab the supplies and food. We don’t have time to eat though. I’m sure your tomato soup is good O’Malley but I must decline.” He told her.

Freya felt her heart swell as the Sergeant called her by her last name. It was the first time anyone in the platoon had called her anything but boot. She smiled behind her face shield glad no one could see her face. She led the platoon back to the room with all the supplies. They all took their backpacks off and started stuffing them full with the ammo and old fashioned canned goods.

She grunted as she put her backpack on. It was a lot heavier than she expected. She heard the click as the backpack locks engaged as they attached to her armor. She was adjusting her backpack get it more comfortable when she heard a dog barking. She froze as she registered that the barking noise was coming from under her.

She looked up and notice that she wasn’t the only one to hear the barking. The Sergeant motioned for everyone to back away. Then he pointed to Jesus and motioned him to stand in the corner in between the two doors. Then he motioned for everyone to spread out around Jesus. The Sergeant motioned for two Private fist classes to move the table. Under the table was a rug. One of the privates threw the rug back exposing a trap door.

“This is the Federation Marines. Come out with your hand in the air or we will shoot you.” He yelled out in another language but Freya understood him as it was one of the Languages that had been downloaded during Basic.

“We are coming out. Don’t shoot we are not soldiers.” A voice called from under the trap door. There was a sound of a lock unlatching then the trap door slowly rose up. Freya aimed her gun but didn’t place her finger on the trigger.

A man in civilian clothes rose out of the floor. “Please, there are women and children here. We are not soldiers.” The man said again.

“How many are there down there?” The Sergeant asked.

“Twenty-two.” The man said as barking came again from under the floor.

“Shut that dog up.” The Sergeant said as there was an explosion that rocked the house. “Get back down there and stay there.” The Sergeant said pushing the trap door closed on the man. He threw the rug back over the trapdoor and motioned for the private to move the table. Below them the dog let out a squeal of pain then there was nothing.

“They’ve killed the dog.” She thought to herself feeling tears come to her eyes.

“Jesus and O’Malley go to the second floor find a window and get ready. The rest of you we guard the doors and windows on the first floor.” The Sergeant said turning from the room where the civilians were hiding in. Freya nodded and followed Jesus out of the room and headed up the stairs.

Jesus quickly looked the rooms over. “I got the corner room. You take the next room. Shoot any that is not in a Marine uniform.” He told her, leaving her alone. She ran into the room he wanted in. It was an old but fancy bedroom with a small twin bed that sat higher up from the floor than what she was used to. The bedposts were some kind of yellow metal. She passed it absently wondering how comfortable it was. She found a window that was pointed down the street towards the center of the town. In the distance, she saw thick black smoke rising up towards the sky. The site was oddly darker than any smoke she had ever seen against the falling snow. She wondered what was on fire.

She found a good angle and took a few steps back from the window. “Never point the barrel of your gun outside of the hunters blind.” She quoted her grandfather in her head as she started scanning the street looking for any enemy activity.

“Tank!” She yelled out hoping Jesus could hear her.

“I see it.” He called back.

The tank slowly made its way down the street towards them. It’s cannon aimed right at the house they were hiding in. There were about twenty soldiers following the tank. Freya looked around worried looking for any troops that could save them.

“Tank coming from main street!” She heard Jesus yell out from the top of the stairs. “We have any tank busters left?”

“I got one left but I don’t have the skill to use it. Can you shoot it?” The Sergeant asked.

“I got the basic skill so I can fire it but it’s iffy if I can hit anything with it,” Jesus yelled back.

“That’s better than any of us. I'm sending it up to you. Take that tank down or we are going to have to try and run with the civilians.” The Sergeant replied.

“Roger that,” Jesus yelled back.

Freya spotted one of the soldiers in the back who was less heavily armed than the rest of the soldiers coming towards them. “Officer?” She wondered. She aimed at him but didn’t fire. She didn’t want to give the tank an excuse to shoot at them yet.

“Fire in the hole,” Jesus called out which was followed by a large crack. The tank didn’t explode completely like the ones in the field but part of the back tore off and the tank froze.

“Good enough,” Freya said and pulled the trigger on the one she thought was an officer. Her kill count rose as the soldier dropped. The other soldiers scattered. Some dropped to the ground while others ran to the sides of the street. She found another target on the side of the street and fired. She could have easily shot the men that were laying on the street but she left them there for the harder shots. Her kill count rose yet again.

In the other room, Jesus took care of the soldiers who were laying in the street with his big machine gun. In seconds, none were left alive. Freya found another target and fired. She was looking around when she noticed the top of the tank open up and a man dressed in a black fancy uniform climbed halfway out of the turret and looked around. He looked like he was yelling at the people inside the tank to Freya as she pulled the trigger.

Apparently, he wasn’t wearing armor as his head snapped back then he slumped forward and her kill count rose. Freya smiled then frowned. The tank’s cannon started to slowly rise upwards until it was pointed at the window that Jesus was shooting from. Crying out his name in ran to the door to the room she was in.

One second she was opening the door the next was she laying across the room and her ears were ringing. Looking up she was the wall that separated her room with Jesus’s room was gone and only rubble was left. Through the hole, she could see the tank’s smoking cannon. A little unsteady she stood up. She took a step towards Jesus’s room but stopped when she saw something that made her pause.

It looked like a piece of armor but something was off about it. Stepping closer she saw something red like a piece of meat inside the armor. Frowning she was not sure what she was looking at. Then like a click she realized that she was looking at the chest piece to the armor that Jesus was wearing.

“That means….” Freya thought looking at the meat looking thing inside the armor.

She had no idea how long she stared at what was left of Jesus. She just couldn’t stop staring at it. She was only able to look away when she saw something in the corner of her eye move. Looking up she spotted the man she shot moving.

A feeling of rage coursed through her body. She raised up her rifle. She placed her finger on the man in the black uniform and she gently squeezed but stopped. Something felt off with how the man was moving. He was slowly sinking down into the tank but he was too limp. Either he was falling back into the tank or someone was pulling him back inside.

Holding her fire she watched the man slip into the tank bonelessly. She aimed just above the rim of the hatch on top of the tank's turret. “Come on.” She whispered. “Come on. Come on.”

Her patience was rewarded as a helmet slowly arose from inside the tank. She waited for the helmet to raise a bit more but it stopped just before the edge came into view. She frowned. “There is no way anyone can see like that. A decoy?” She asked herself.

She quickly flicked the scope to the first setting and without moving her cross on the gun she looked around the tank. Not see anything she flicked back to the second setting getting a close up of the helmet. It rose quickly again but as it did she could see something black holding up the helmet. “Maybe the stock of a rifle?” She thought.

The helmet suddenly dropped into the tank. She smiled when she saw the top of someone's unhelmeted head peek over the lip of the hatch. She waited until she could see the person's eyes. She had just a second to realize that it was a woman before she pulled the trigger. There was a splash of red and the head dropped into the tank again but her kill score didn’t rise immediately. Looking at the blood she knew she didn’t miss. She was still trying to figure out what went wrong when the kill count suddenly rose by one.

She smiled behind her scope but didn’t look away keeping her gun aimed at the hatch in the turret. She did zoom out to the first setting so that she could keep an eye on the entire tank but she didn’t move her crosshairs.

“Just how many people does it take to run a tank like that.” She wondered.

“Jesus, O’Malley. You guys still alive up there?” The platoon leader yelled from the first floor.

“Jesus is gone,” O’Malley called back. “Just how many people can a tank like that have?”

“Anywhere from three to four.” He yelled back.

“I got two. Not sure how many are still alive in the tank.” Freya yelled down not looking away from her scope. As she spoke she saw a head reach up quickly from inside the tank and grab ahold of the hatch.

“Not automatic,” Freya noted about the door as she zoomed in and pulled the trigger. The hand disappeared into the tank but left a red and black mark on the hatch door.

“At least one still alive in the tank,” Freya yelled to her platoon leader.

He was quiet for a few seconds before he yelled, “Sending friendlies out.”

“Roger that,” Freya replied.

She zoomed out again so that she could see all of the tank, but again kept her rifle aimed at the hatch. About a minute later she spotted two soldiers from her platoon run towards the tank. One covered the other as he climbed up on the tank and tossed something down the hatch. He then closed the hatch and jumped off the tank. There was a thud and some dust arose from the tank. She kept watch on the tank as the two marines came running back.

“Tank’s dead.” Freya’s platoon leader called out once the two marines came back. “Stay on overwatch. I’m sending a runner to HQ.”

“Understood,” Freya said finally moving the crosshairs of her scope off the tank to scan the surrounding area. There were was no movement that she could see. Before the runner could return she got an announcement that all objectives were complete. The Sergeant gathered everyone together and they all walked to the waypoint together. No one talked as they walked to the exit. Freya was the first to arrive at the waypoint and the after getting a nod from the Sergeant she was the first one through the door. She walked into the light.

You have completed the mission successfully.

You are awarded two E-points, one Skill point, and one Mod point.

Completed mission 10 Credits.

Do you wish to sell all the loot:

Yes

No

Bonus 1: For volunteering for a dangerous assignment after the death of the previous position holder you are award two E-points, one skill point, and one mod point. 5 Credits

Bonus Mission 1: For Charlie Company successful capturing the Town of Stavelot you are award two E-points, one skill point, and one mod point. 10 Credits

Bonus Mission 2: For Charlie Company successful save all the citizens hiding in the basement of the house on the three bridges road you are award two E-points, one skill point, and one mod point. 10 Credits

You have unlocked Medals

You have been awarded the sharpshooter award for successfully hitting ten targets in a row with a success rate of 90%. You are award two E-points, one skill point and one mod point every fifty levels.

Award upgraded to Skilled sharpshooter award for hitting twenty targets in a row with a success rate of 95%. You have been awarded the silver S. on your ribbon. You are award two E-points, one skill point and one mod point every thirty levels.

Award Upgraded from Skilled to Expert sharpshooter for hitting thirty targets in a row with a success rate of 98%. You have been awarded the silver E. on your ribbon. You are award two E-points, one skill point and one mod point every twenty levels.

Award Upgraded from Silver E. to Gold E for hitting fifty targets in a row with a success rate of 98% rate. You have been awarded the gold E. on your ribbon. You are award two E-points, one skill point and one mod point every five levels.

Congratulations you have leveled up.

Congratulations you have leveled up.

Status Screen

Name: Freya O’Malley

Rank: Recruit. Level: 10

Template: 2nd Platoon Scout

Enlisted points: 39

Credits: 45.75

Skill points: 9

Mod points: 9

Weapons: GMZ 127 energy rifle with Colax purified battery. Basic combat knife.

Armor: Dryad model armor. Dragonlily sensor suite. Sensor alert cloud.

Wetware mods

Health

Level: 0

Health Regen

Level: 0

Strength

Level: 0

Perception

Level: 12

Agility

Level: 0

Dexterity:

Level: 0

Memory

Level: 0

Processing speed

Level: 0

Personal AI

Level: 0

Skills:

Enhanced sensing

Level: 1

Tracking

Level: 1

Acrobatics

Level: 1

One time infantry Dropship

Level: 1

Basic Infantry

N/A

Hardware mods: None

Medals: Gold E Sharpshooter ribbon.