Dimensional Travels: World at War-Chapter 98: Meet in the middle

"Sir. We need to break this siege." Eric said as he looked at a map. He traced along the edges of the Phase Lines with a marker. "Now that Brishan is bigger, I think they have more land to maneuver."

Milano sighed as he observed the map Eric was pointing to. The 4-1 and 6-9 Battalion commanders and their Sergeant Majors stood alongside Eric, with the Carrier captain on the opposite side of the table.

Captain Beninetez spoke up. "We are ready to support. All damaged aircraft were repaired and we are fully mission capable."

Milano nodded. He looked at 6-9 and 4-1. "Have we found out where the launches are coming from?"

Both commanders shook their heads. "Sir, they are utilizing modern doctrine. They shoot, move, and reload."

As the commanders were discussing maneuver options, radio chatter began feeding into the command radio. "CONTACT East sector! Need immediate medevac. 10x WIA. Sector 3A. Under heavy fire."

Milano looked at the 6-9 commander grimly. "Go reinforce them. Have an Armor company push forward and engage."

Suddenly, the treeline exploded with gunfire and cannon fire. Trees splintered and the ground was torn up. Eric tackled Milano.

"Goddamnit! They used the forestry to cover their tracks! Contact front! Get down! Man fighting positions! HHT, get in your vehicles. Captain Beninetez, call the Carrier. We need air support!"

Radios came alive as units began calling out enemy locations and vectors of fire. The entire phase line erupted in gunfire and cannon bombardment. The ground began to scour as every shot exploded fragments of the earth into the air. Trees cracks inwards as bullets ripped through the forest.

Milano ducked behind his truck, grabbing his rifle.

Beninetez grabbed his own radio. He grabbed his weapon to return fire as he called out to the ship. "Carrier actual, captain Beninetez. Immediate CAS for Friendly units under heavy fire at Phase line November. Authorized sorties Charlie, Echo, and Foxtrot. Engage enemies two hundred yards out from red smoke."

Red smoke began billowing in the air as the gunfire and cannons began pushing closer to the command area. Soldiers scrambled to their gear, hopping into vehicles or foxholes and calling out sectors of fire. Suppression fire from mounted .249’s and .50 cal’s rang over the forest as the very air behind each machine seemed to push toward the enemy.

Eric ran up to his sector, barking out orders. "Cover sector 3A and 1D. Up armored humvees, get those turrets aimed over those shrubs. Squads Charlie and Echo, retrieve the AT-4’s. If any Llrathels show themselves, engage and destroy."

The forest became a concert of gunfire and red smoke, the flash of gunfire and cannon fire meeting with the echoing thunk of Abrams and Bradleys returning fire. Mana cannons fired volleys into the 6-8 AO. They had already rendered four tanks not mission capable.

Eric fired round after round from his M-4. The corpses on both sides were beginning to stack up. He had no time to get accountability as he returned fire. "Grenades on those trees to our east!" He yelled out, throwing out more red smoke.

"Goddamnit! Where is our air support?!"

The enemy was less than 100 yards away.

Eric grabbed a soldier who was silhouetting, yanking him to the foxhole. "Do not poke your body out, you moron!"

"Charlie company, 6-8, go reinforce the Western flank." Milano suddenly called out over the radio. "All units, bounding retreat to Phase Line Mike. Artillery, cover retreat by firing at 300 yards out from Phase Line November."

Eric nodded to his men, barking out orders. "M249’s and .50 turrets, fire into the clearing. All other soldiers, initiate retreat to Phase Line Mike Go!"

Fog and smoke hung in the air as the air burned with the smell of oil and gunpowder. "Squad Bravo, suppressive fire! Squad Charlie, carry the wounded and retreat!" Gunfire followed Eric’s order as grunts of pain and confusion echoed out.

"Where is Delta?" A voice called from the smoke.

"KEEP MOVING! DO NOT STOP." Eric yelled as a soldier fell to the ground. He started screaming in pain, holding his leg. More gunshots echoed, and the man’s screams ceased. "Go. We can’t do anything for him!" 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Hammond, requesting shift fire to section one alpha of north phase line November." There was no answer. "First Sergeant Hammond, come in."

Still no answer.

As the soldiers continued their retreat, more gunfire exchanges were heard as the forest became alive with muzzles flashes and small bursts from machine guns. "Throw more smoke! Keep moving!"

Another soldier fell, his eyes looking up at the sky as gunfire ripped through the clearing.

Eric kneeled on the ground, his eyes glowing with mana as the air began to shimmer in a purple hue. He inhaled, remembering the words of Jessica on how to release his mana. As he began to push forward, Michael tackled him. A hail of bullets passed over their heads. They could see the enemies approaching from the North now. "Eric! What the fuck are you doing!"

"I can’t lose another!"

"We can’t help it. But right now, we need you!" The captain laid prone, firing rounds from his weapon. "Pull it together, motherfucker. You aren’t this weak."

Eric groaned, releasing his mana as he joined Michael. It was too late for them to finish retreating now. They each looked at each other. No more words were spoken.

Each trigger pull matched the sound of their breathing. One shot, one kill. "Reloading!" Eric called as he rolled behind a rock. "I got you covered!" Michael responded, crouched behind a tree.

The Cartharic forces had stopped advancing at that point, having pushed to a few hundred feet away. Eric finished reloading, and aimed his weapon. "Go."

"Moving left!"

Michael threw his last smoke grenade, covering his retreat to the boulder Eric was at. The two leaders looked at each other, then to the enemy. "Think we can make it?" Eric said with a grin. Bullet fire bounced off the boulder behind them as Michael rolled his eyes. "Worth a try. We wouldn’t be here if you didn’t decide to go action figure."

Eric smirked. "Lets go."

The two men run, ignoring the world behind them as suppressive fire echoed from Phase Line Mike. 6-8 forces engaged the enemy, covering the retreat of Eric and Michael as they slid into the trenches. Michael pulled Eric into a bear hug. "If you ever do that shit again, I will knock your ass out and drag you to Mia."

Suddenly, the roar of engines was heard overhead. Bombs began to drop as Jets flew overhead. The wind pressure from each explosion forced Eric to crouch. He smirked as he hopped on the radio. "Fires, Cease fire. Friendly air support in area. Friendly units pushing back to Phase Line Mike."

Josh and Justin looked up as they heard the roar of engines and the large booms of bombing runs. "Are you shitting me?" Josh groaned as he leaned back against a Llrathel, looking at Erica. "You didn’t tell us they had those!" He growled, pointing to the jets that were currently Deploying munitions into the forest. Erica sighed, her eyes wide. "I didn’t know. Reports from the Frontline’s didn’t include those machines!"

Josh rubbed his face in his hands. He looked over at Justin. "The Sraiaz are doing nothing against the FA-18’s. Why were we not told?"

Justin shook his head, shrugging. "Order the retreat. Have all units fall back to their original treeline positions. They can’t run regular bombing runs. I bet they are using the jets as a smoke screen in order to retreat."

As 6-8 retreated, the atmosphere seemed to condense. Thunderous airwaves rushed over their heads as trees blew over, and large explosions covered the forest in a roar that echoed throughout the entire valley. Soldiers didn’t stop as they rushed to Phase Line Mike. They assumed fighting positions along the new phase line, commanders getting accountability as they realized they were not being pursued. "Cease fire, and maintain operational security." Milano called over the radio. He took out a cigarette, his hands trembled as he leaned against his vehicle.

Captain Beninetez called the Carrier. "Cease CAS. Return to carrier and commence maintenance operations."

Milano turned to Eric. The two men nodded to each other and began accountability. Eric ran from trench to trench, jotting down notes for each company while Milano got on the radio.

"Sir, we have two hundred and ten soldiers still missing. We haven’t confirmed whether they are KIA or MIA/WIA." Eric concluded as he shut his notebook. "I have already deployed small teams to search for the missing soldiers. We haven’t heard from Hammond or Echo company 6-8."

Milano looked at Eric, his eyes narrowing. "Master Sergeant Dryer, come with me to my vehicle."

Eric followed, his fists clenching as he hopped in the truck. The soldiers around them cleared the area, giving the two senior leaders space. Milano unbuckled his ACH. "What’s going on Eric?"

Eric sighed as he dropped his head, exhaling. "We haven’t found Mia, sir."