Sky master Black hawk crashed several small trees and finally hit the big tree resulting in a big explosion. Various parts flew around in very high speed bringing destruction to the surrounding environment. Other three hawks were greatly alarmed and pulled up the height quickly.
"One hawk down!"
"Need backups!"
"Fuck your backups. I am going to order my team to retreat."
"Fall back! Fall back!"
In the command room of a military base, operators listened to the messy voices with sad faces. Heavy atmosphere failed the whole room. They didn't expect to lose a lot of people today and it all happened in just a few minutes. They couldn't still believe the results but they knew everything really happened.
"Where is our air reinforcements?", Lieutenant Joe asked. He was also not feeling well. After all, these soldiers in the battle are all of his platform units. He knows their names, their stories and he has a lot of precious memories with them.
"They replied that it would take at least two minutes for them to arrive the battlefield.", one of operators said. Joe felt that his men might not last till that time. So, he grabbed the communication mic from the operator responsible for conveying commands to the soldiers and said, "Remaining three hawks give fire cover to the ground units. And all ground units, retreat right now."
"Stop! Let them hold the ground. They can't retreat. There are already allies coming towards there. If our people retreat now, everything will fall short.", a burly officer walked in and interrupted.
"Proceed with my order. Every units, retreat right now.", said Joe and he turned to look at the burly officer. Joe stared at him and said, "Captain Rake, I cannot obey your order. You're sending my men to die. We stand no chance against our opponent obviously."
Burly man called Rake walked over, stared at Joe and said calmly, "I am the captain, Lieutenant. You have to obey my order."
Then, he turned his head and said to the operators, "Convey my command. Let them stick to their positions no matter what."
'click'
Joe pointed Rake's head with his pistol.
Rake asked, "Do you know what you are doing, Lieutenant?"
Joe said coldly, "I do, sir. But if you're still pushing my men to die, I will have no choice but to shoot you now."
Rake fell into silence for three seconds as he stared at Joe and he said calmly, "You're going to military court, Lieutenant Joe."
Joe still said calmly, "I will and gladly."
During that, no operator told Rake's order to the soldiers in battle. Rake felt really bad as things didn't go as he wished. He looked around at the people in the room who turned their heads to look at him and said, "This is the direct order from major general Elison Wood. I hope you guys would have the same mentality like now in the military court too."
At the other side, three sergeants ordered their men to retreat as soon as Lieutenant Joe gave them the retreat order. Three hawks in the air also started to attack the squad of armored men who shot down one of them. They saved no bullet nor no rocket. They understood their assignments. This action successfully created a space between their friendly units and their enemies.
Peter and his squad ate bitterness even though they were breaking out from the battlefield. Since their enemies have heavy firepower and these guys are already retreating, Ben only gestured them to move forward quickly. Even so, all out attacks from three fully armed helicopters were no joke. It was only thanks to Nsak's armors, they were able to break away from engagement safely and quickly.
The sudden intense battle quickly ended just like that. Everything fell into quietness and peace after three minutes later. The badly destroyed environment and the horrible looking aftermath are silently proving that the battle really happened here. A joint platform of four heavily armed squadrons paid a heavy price and the worst is not a single enemy is left behind. Casualties are very high. Fifteen soldiers died. One sergeant included. Nine soldiers have various degree of damage. The worst guy is now howling on the ground as 12.7mm armor piercing bullet smashed his arm bone all the way. A few other guys got shallow skin injuries as the bullets just slipped through on their arms or legs. An unlucky guy got a small shrapnel flying from their hawk explosion in his chest. Fortunately, it only broke two bones as it hit the place a few centimeters near the shoulder. His bulletproof vest also showed his worth after his other siblings showed repeated failures against 12.7mm armor piercing bullets. The worst guys are the ones who got head shots. Helmets didn't even stand a chance and the heads got exploded. Their beloved ones might not even be able to see the faces of them since their facial figures were directly destroyed.
Five minutes later, the group of surviving soldiers tested the surroundings for the enemies and started to come out as nothing happened. They put the corpses of their comrades together in clean place and mourned sadly. The only medic who stayed behind in a helicopter also came down and started to treat the injured men. When that helicopter dropped the medic with the rope, the two pilots couldn't wait to pull up quickly to the safe height. They didn't want to get shot down too although their enemies might have already gone. But they didn't want to lose caution against these fierce men who fought back toughly against them. After all, they are a joint platform of four squadrons with three infantry squads and one heavy weapon squad and still they failed to leave a single enemy behind despite of paying a heavy price. And they didn't underestimate their enemies either. At that time, two helicopters flew towards them. It is SWAT units from Laredo. They're late.
At a small hill over 4km away from the battle took place, Peter's squad stopped under the shades of big trees. They are tired and hungry too. Ben gestured the team to stop and took off the helmet. The rest of men also took off their helmets. Ronald and Allen directly sat down on the ground without caring about environment nor image. Peter also sat down and took out water bottles and energy bars of different flavors from his space ring. Not to mention, Ronald and Allen, Mark, Glenn and Dale also came over and sat down in circle around the foods. Then, they took their shares and started to eat and drink. Ben also came over to recharge his lost energies. The crowd silently had their simple meals.
Peter looked at Ben and said sincerely, "Ben, I'm sorry. I almost put everyone in danger."
Ronald and Allen exchanged glances and checked the situation silently. Ben, however, didn't blame Peter. He calmly said, "You don't need to say sorry. I understand about your feelings and I know you understood me too. It happened suddenly and we are not at faults. No matter how the world portrayed us due to this battle, you guys have to remember one thing that we were also forced."
Ben drunk the last water in the bottle and stood up.
"Come on. We need to move on quickly. After heading to the north for another 2km. We will be able to get on the no.83 highway.", said Ben. Then, he put on his helmet and moved his arms and legs. The rest also finished their foods and drinks quickly and prepared to continue the journey. The crowd left the place quickly after Peter put away the emptied water bottles into his space ring.
Along the way, they were not able to talk anymore due to the destruction of communication server box. However, it didn't create any trouble to them because they are all retired veterans. Fortunately, they didn't have to run for another 2km because they met a dirt road after rushing forward for a few hundred meters. They took off their armors and put them back into their respective storage bags. Peter also put his armor into his space ring and took out their two pickup trucks from the inside. However, before they started the pickups, the ground begun to shake greatly like a mega earthquake. They hurriedly got down from the pickups and lay down on the ground flat.