At 2300 the artillery started and went on for 3 hours as SLA forces from the south began a push north, none of it landing near the LUP where the squad was hidden but everyone could hear the thousands of 450mm shells whistling overhead like carrion birds. Nobody said anything but they all felt the ground shake, slightly at first and then building up to a full minor earthquake at those 1200kg shells of high explosive began landing. Underneath the shelling a company of SLA amour moved up and around the area of where they where camped, Gnk'rll barking orders over the radio to "not shell them, safe area" and a couple of authorisation codes to a general somewhere playing chess with millions of credits of SLA equipment. The 120 ton FEN M104's hovered 4 feet off the surface on their turbines and continued north without stopping, then soon after them came the troops.
Sandy watched as what he counted to be a battallion strength force trudged silently past the wrecked APC's in their cameoflaged Body Blocker armour and 10mm rifles. He didnt need to see the faces to know they where young green troops, they marched badly, out of time and some seemed to neglect or where missing parts of their equipment. Big grin seemed to dissapprove too, it was the closest the phantom boy had come to Sandy, barely 7 feet away. At this distance he could make out the charred lids that maked him as a waster, he even had the same yellow-orange eyes as Sandy but that was where the resemblance ended. He ignored the spectre for now which had come to be the constant companion and looked at the passing troops, most of them human with huge amounts of drugs in their systems and biogenetic 313 Stormers who barely noticed them. "Cannon fodder", O'Connor muttered quietly, Sandy had heard the frother's Dogybone power up and he hunched down near the brainwaster, whiping some mud off his MAL AR "Won't last a Mort minute in contact wit them enemy. But that dont seem to the stop the army using them. Poor fuckers." The waster nodded, "aye, poor bastards."
Some heavier troops moved up the sides of the rank and file, the 809th Legionaires that had a Thirdeye camera crew in tow as they always seemed. In black and brown Crackshot armour and with better weapons they where part of the real fighting force behind the militia, O'Connor spat a blue coloured gobbet of saliva in their direction. They werent any better than operative contract killers in his opinion and they where known to treat most everyone badly. A Sergent from the Legion made a point of breaking file and marched over to him.
"You got a problem boy?" The frother stood up to emphasise the mass of the Dogybone armour and the Sergent held his distance from them, "noot yet arsewhipe!" Some of the Legionaires began joining the sergent and backed him up, seeing the possible confrontation in progress Gnk'rll began stomping over angrily. Some of the legionaires began heading back into their lines at the sight of a huge shaktar in ACA Mauler power armour pulling out his 12.7mm GAG 502 machinegun off its shoulder strap. "Dont start anything O'Connor". Red laser painter dots from within the APC wrecks began flashing over their armour, the legionaires decided that it wasnt worth messing with what was to them obviously a spec forces squad. O'Connor was about to offer up an explanation but Gnk'rll wasnt in the mood for it. "I see and know everything O'Connor, I am your leader because of that fact, now, both of you turn back in."Not a morning person at all, Church disliked being woken up at 0500 to start another days trek through the mud that threatened to suck her boots off. At least it couldnt touch her skin, she was horrified at the thought of it doing something to her and treated it as if it would cause cancer. Which it probably would, Ktr'n happily informed her noticing the ebons behaviour, Serravalen snickered evily noting the Shaktar's joke and the unimpressed look on her friends face. "Its good for your skin dear, here let me rub some in for you", that got the ebon out of the blanket in less than a second as Serravalen scraped some of the muck off a boot and threatened her with it. That was the fastest that anyone had seen her move in the last 24 hours so it was a good sign she was healthy. "Why dont you rub some on Ktr'n too, looks like he needs it more than I do", she said throwing on her webbing angrily while the waster and shaktar grabbed a handfull each and hucked it at her when she wasnt looking.
Lines of troops began filtering back through their area and Gnk'rll had them move out quickly before they where spotted, picking up rubbish and burying it so as to leave no sign they had ever been there. Church was heartbroken to see some of the regular militia up close, their light armour broken or missing in places, weapons missing and the life beaten out of them as the combat drugs had long worn off. Boys most of them that hadn't seen more than 17-18 years of life and had come from all manner of different places, mostly to earn a living as a soldier and escape the chronic poverty that afflicted millions. She wondered if they would make it back to their lines seeing as all where exhausted and most of them wounded in some way, the secret real statisics of militia casualties was something like 90% within the first 3 days on Dante and the chances of lasting more than a month was only about 50-50 after that depending on the level of conflict at the time. You made vetran status after 2 months and got a medal, biogenetic implants and a bigger gun and armour before being thrown right back in. Those that actually survived all that where some of the most dangerous individuals around, addicted to combat drugs and most quite insane after seeing all the horrible things they'd seen. To some level she mused they where very much alike, the militia vetran and the Stygmatyr agent. They went, saw and lived through things no being should ever experience. Serravalen noticed her lagging behind and quickly began dragging her through the muck until they where out of the sight of the soldiers.
Sandy heard the noise first and ordered the squad to go to ground, it was a noise that struck fear into all who had heard it and lived. The Thresher had arrived, "get to cover dont fire unless your threatened!" Gnk'rll would have liked to mix it up with the enemy but it would seriously comprimise the mission. There was sporadic fire from 10mm rifles and reaper cannon that cut through the mist which carried the sound well enough to make it sound like it was only metres away. The squad crawled down into the muddy sides of craters and waited for it to stop, they powered down armour, radios and anything else with an electronic signature the Thresher might lock onto.
Sandy saw one of the black armoured shapes breifly, it bounced clear over his hole with its turbine powered jump packs and was gone in an instant. The 10mm rifle fire from the SLA militia began increasing in intensity now as they where approached from 3 sides in a standard pronged attack by the enemy, then the morning air was torn apart by the unmistakable noise of VAPH and Thresher cannon on the powersuits. A horrible metallic tearing noise was multiple VAPH's being held down on full trigger lock while the deeper roar was the burst from the Thresher cannon mounted on the feared 'Sarge' class powersuit. Two minutes later the Thresher departed as quickly as they had come leaving only broken bodies and the screaming of the wounded dying in the mud.
Lord Gnk'rll waited another 3 minutes before ordering everyone out of the area at double time, he didnt wait for the slower Church, instead scooping her up in his left arm and began charging off. Serravalen thought it a bizarre and amusing sight until Ktr'n did it to her as well."It should be close now", Gnk'rll pulled up his squad over to rest as they where all dead tired. "Just over a few more hills and then it should be at a set of coordinates provided by control", only the frother and Sandy seemed alert even after running around all day. Their hyperactivity had been prolonged by flux and the combat drugs flowing through through their bodies, "can you two do a recon or would you prefer to rest?" The both agreed to go on for another few hours while the rest of the squad rested in the remains of what was once probably a house but only the bricks remained. "We can only afford a few hours rest and then we will have to move, make the most of it." Serravalen and Church's hopes sunk for a decent nights sleep as their companions ran off into the nights gloom, they managed to make a lean-to out of one of their waterproof blankets and huddled underneath the fabric out of the rain for a time to heat up some food while the rest mearly slept in their armour or where on short watches. Confident that they where well behind enemy lines Gnk'rll set up mostly electronic surveilance to keep out any unwelcome visitors. Church cried silently under the blanket holding Serravalen for warmth and comfort, a few tears for her own misery, fear and a few more for the beings being gunned down out on the battlefield.
The spectre was gone, it struck Sandy that it was the first time in what felt like decades that his mind was his own, O'Connor began scanning the area with his vision enhancements in the helmet that gave everything a lurid green appearance through the low light and thermographic heads up display. "I see one, 11 oclock, human male, no armour or weapon," Sandy brought up his binoculars and began scanning the area. He dosnt show up on thermo, he's there in lowlight though, range 308 metres." O'Connor grunted in agreement, "thats a bit bloody queer eh? Could have an ECM of some type", he tagged the target and let the onboard computer do the tracking while they kept moving on the perimeter of the area they where scouting through.
Apparently there was a bunker complex in the ruins of the former township, both men eventually found what they figured was the entrance in the remains of a former army base, "not typical SLA architecture, they got a few pillboxes on the perimeter, dunno if theres anyone in them." Sandy marked the targets down on a navmap and sent it back to Gnk'rll in an encrypted burst transmission. They waited for a few minutes while Gnk'rll acknowledged the transmission and then sent back a text message to wait at a set of coordinates outside the target. "Looks like we'll be a few hours, wanna try some UV? Its the special stuff, nawt that common shite", O'Connor offered the airhypo full of the blue chemical cornicopia. "No thanks mate", Sandy declined and set about making a meal out of their rations, "suit yourself then", O'Connor blasted another 12 hours worth of the psychosis inducing stimulant through his body, "mmmm thats the shit." The last thing Sandy felt like was a new habit, noting that he only had one burn gem left he activated a set of mathematical equations in his deathsuit that drew the last of its store of flux into him to bolster his reserves.