As the roaring of the charging enemy troops got closer, Terrance glanced up at the incoming jets. They had quickly risen to gain attitude before commencing their dives. Come on you sods, killing the fucking bastards before they kill us!

*

“Fuck me sideways, would you look at that!" Mass was too shocked to tell Hubert to clear the channel. It seemed as if a sea of enemy troops was suddenly racing towards Ranger Five's position. The whole hill was already deeply scarred and pockmarked by previous fighting, and burnt out enemy vehicles showed just how close the enemy infantry had come to overrunning the rangers.

"Main bombs first, then climb and missile pods, switch to guns and wing bombs for strafing,’ Mass ordered, ‘Let's show these bastards who's boss. All planes release on my mark, then break and hunt."

He breathed slowly, keeping his craft on track as it bucked in thermals rising from burning vehicles on the hill. The enemy were just reaching the far edge of the smoke as he gave the order, releasing his own tactical bomb. Looking to his left, he realised that Schwarz was out of position again.

Shit! Shit! No!

*

Choi screamed in triumph as the advancing ChinKor wave ran into the thick red smoke that the remaining enemy soldiers had thrown as he and his comrades charged. He didn’t understand why they would throw smoke as it would only hide them for a few seconds, and was useless at stopping bullets. It wasn’t even very good at preventing him and his comrades as it was straightforward smoke, something that their sensors would easily penetrate.

A higher pitched screamed started to register at the highest limit of his hearing, as if the enemy were screaming in fear at their advance. As it got louder, he looked up, looked at the ECAF position and looked up again. “Back! Get back!” he knew his warning was too late by the confused looks on the faces of those around him.

*

Terrance screamed as the sound of the dive bombers reached her. It was ear-piercingly loud even over the sound of battle, her backbone chilling as if someone was walking over her grave. Cold sweat ran down her spine and she was sure she could hear the screams of other members of her platoon.

She risked a look up and saw the jets climbing away as their primary payload tumbled towards the ground, wobbling as they tumbled through the air. As she watched the payload tumbling through the air, her mouth dried up as she realised where some of them were falling.

"Oh you fucking stupid bastards."

Five of the heavy bombs slammed into the ground beyond the ranger’s position, each one digging a crater four metres deep and ten wide, the explosions overlapping. If the actual explosions and shrapnel weren't deadly enough, the concussive force reduced the bone and flesh of any ChinKore troops in the open to little more than jelly up to fifty metres away.

The sixth exploded right in the middle of the platoon's small position, the huge blast pretty much covering it, killing rangers where they crouched, shrapnel scything through those that weren’t caught in the initial blast and deadly shockwave. Her ears rang from the power of the bombs and she shook her head to clear the pounding headache that pulsed with each beat of her heart.

“You shitting cocksuckers!” She screamed the insult down the comms channel, even as the jets returned and started to strafe the few stunned enemy survivors. Dazed, she started to call for medics, shooting any enemy troops she could see that were still standing.

*

”My sincere apologies sergeant, I .... oooof!" Schwarz didn't get to finish his sentence as Kinglsey’s fist slammed into his stomach. Mass revelled in the feeling of his foot slamming into Schwarz’s groin, the boy shrieking as his previous injury was torn open once again.

"Sergeant! What's the meaning of this?" Kingsley turned to see Pilgrim approaching them, a confused look on his face. He doesn’t know. Kingsley felt sick at what had happened, as well as the thought of telling Pilgrim that a man under his command, under Kingsley’s had killed half a ranger platoon with a miss-aimed bomb.

"This shit, this arrogant, over-bearing piece of Me2U scum killed half a platoon of our own people because he couldn't get his shit together and stay in position!" The last three words were delivered in time with three well-placed and hard kicks to Schwarz’s curled up body.

Mass watched as the blood drained from Pilgrim's face. Pilgrim looked down at Schwarz and then back at Mass.

"I take it the gun-cams confirm this?" Kingsley could barely hear him speak over Schwarz's blubbing and pleading.

Bastard’s not so superior after a couple of digs, he thought as he spat on the cowering Me2U star.

He nodded in answer to Pilgrim's question. What happened next was almost too quick to comprehend.

In one smooth movement Pilgrim drew his pilot's knife, yanked Schwarz's head up and back, and cut into his throat, sawing the blade back and forth whilst Schwarz screamed, his voice warbling as his vocal chords were cut, his cries turning to gurgles as the blade continued to slice through his flesh.

Pilgrim stopped cutting just as quickly as he had started, letting go of Schwarz's head and stepping smartly away from him. The entire flight watched in shocked silence as Schwarz gurgled and kicked his life away, hands feebly clutching at his neck.

"You are scum." His low-pitched voice easily carried through the air, all of them listening intently to every word, "You have been sentenced to death, communed because you are deemed to be of use to the defence of the UK against the ChinKor Republic. If you prove yourselves to be no longer capable of carrying out even that task, I will carry out sentence. Dismissed. Carry on sergeant."

Kingsley fought to keep his breakfast down, saliva gushing into his mouth as Fitzsquire muttered “God help us" before spewing his own breakfast over a wide area of ground.

"You heard him. Dismissed,’ Kingsley growled, ‘and get that disposed of. Use the shit burners. Get your jets turned around quickly, we're going back up in thirty minutes."

He walked away, stomach roiling as pictures of what he had just witnessed continued to play through his mind. That man is far harder than I gave him credit for.