Master of Warfare

Hard Mode

Amy spent most of the evening disassembling the weapons and armor she had collected in the first two missions, loving that she had an assortment of parts she could now use to craft new things. First though, she had to level up her professions for the third time, because even disassembling items she gained experience and knowledge if how they worked and went together. After learning the recipes for a bunch of different weapons, she went back to the new base and began assembling weapons and armor for them to utilize the next day. She was going to push her little team to excel, but she was also going to provide them with tools and gear they might not otherwise obtain.

The last thing was her own weapon and armor, and when it showed that it would increase her endurance, dexterity and agility all in one thing, she was excited as those were the exact skills she needed in order to be a better sniper. Somehow she had a feeling even working with her new found team like this, she would need to primarily focus on Charisma in order to keep adding members to her Company. She new eventually she would be leading a Battalion sized force, and hoped to make her way all the way up to Lieutenant General and commanding an entire Corp of players and NPCs to tackle these missions.

The next morning the alarm went off like a cannon making sure the entire Guild was awake, as there were over 100 players attacking the outer wall when the members all got up and went to the rooftop equipped with the guns they had used and armor. Amy didn't hesitate when she leveled her M4 from the top of the building, and put a 3 round burst into the chest of the leader who was standing at the gate who lay there gasping.

"The rest of you have 5 seconds to turn around and leave these premesis before we take even more lethal measures to repel your unprovoked attack." she said over a loud horn as the rest of the members pulled grenades out and prepared to pull the pins.

Not one of them decided to leave, thinking she would give a countdown over the horn. However she had done it using hand signals, and as soon as she made a fist, a dozen grenades were lobbed just over the wall to detonate in the group of 100. The scream they heard just before the explosions started began in all as the MPs from the base came and captured any of the players who were trying to escape. It was a clear rule that they were not to attack other players or Guild strongholds, and all of them were in violation as a few of the harder core ones who hadn't been injured were still shooting at their walls and keep when the MPs arrived.

"Now that we have been rudely awoken, let us go inside and get ready for the mission." Amy said as the medics arrived to start bandaging the wounded and prepping them for transport. She had just finished getting dressed when the effects if the 15 dead were delivered to them by the MPs, as the Captain rang the bell to be heard.

"Captain Snips, these items were recovered from the unauthorized attack on your Guild, and are rightfully yours as spoils of war. May I ask what prompted this attack?" he asked clearly an NPC.

"We do not even know who the attackers were, let alone what we could have possibly done to warrant an attack on this scale. We formed only yesterday, and were actually asleep when the alarms went off alerting us tonthe breach in our defenses. It was at that point we gathered on the roof, shot the culprit that had scaled the gate, and used a loud speaker to warn the rest we would be using more lethal means to defend our base against their attack. 5 seconds later my men lobbed their grenades over the wall to begin our assault before your arrival and we stood down taking no further action." she reported as he took notes of it as it was just now 0400.

"Very well Captain, I will file the report with General Simmons detailing the incident that the cameras witnessed as well as your statement. He may or may not have questions for you and your men, but that will be at his discretion and handled through his office." the MP said before saluting her which she returned before a few of her NPC squad members gathered the items and delivered them to the armory for inspection as she went to the mess hall and joined the rest of her Platoon.

Whoever had made the breakfast had already become a master in her book at cooking, as it was one of the skills she had not worked.on the night before. However she had been awake until midnight making weapons and armor for everyone, and would surprise them with it once they finished eating. What surprised her the most, was they were all excited that someone had attacked them already, as it meant they either viewed them as really strong and worth raiding. Or really weak targets that would be easily raided, and now the story of a dozen people repelling the attack of 100 would begin to circulate and draw people to join them just for the protection.

Once they all finished breakfast they headed to the briefing room, as that had been the original plan. The attack had just made it happen sooner, as they had originally planned their departure at 0600, instead of 0500 like it would be now.

"Alright, so we all know how this battle goes down in easy mode. Hard Mode is a little different however, as the number of troops is doubled and we actually have to deal with the tanks. You each know your assigned teams, and we will be covering what each of you will do." Amy said as she began laying out her battle plan for them and gave the 8 commanders their team numbers. Instead of running it in squads like most others would, she only had 25 teams so far, and making them into squads would complicate how she issued orders because of the way they would be set up. The only ones that would actually be a squad of the same type would be the mortar teams, because they were 4 man teams and she had expanded to 6 of them. By the time she laid out the battle strategy and assignments to each squad, she smiled as she took the sheet off the table and revealed the weapons she had made for everyone.

"These are yours to keep, and should be improvements over the weapons you currently have. Armor is over there, and each of you should be able to identify which armor and weapons best suits your class." she said as they all walked up and grabbed the weapons meant for them.

"This is a major upgrade." Greystone said as he hefted one of the machine guns she had made.

"Good, now we have 15 minutes before 0500, and some of you should have extra carrying capacity over what you did last night. Stock up on extra ammunition now, that way we hopefully do not run out. Snipers, it is ok to overburden yourself with ammo, as we with the range will begin shooting at the same time the mortar teams do. Target Officers first, and always targets of opportunity. Any questions?" Amy asked as they all equipped their new weapons and armor she had made them.

Amy stepped through the portal to Suceava once again, and was not surprised when this time the report came back the Colonel Pendergast would not be falling back, as his troops had supposedly dug in where they were. She was proud of her troops, as all 40 of the infantry and heavy infantry had immediately began digging behind the fence indicated, and had made good progress in the half hour time they had before the last of the friendly tanks came over the hill and was destroyed just before the artillery fire began falling.

This time the mortar teams also opened up with the anti armor rounds they had brought, and surprised them all when a dozen tanks exploded in unison caught by the artillery and mortars just before the call came through that the artillery had experienced a failure and would be out of commission for atleast an hour.

Amy and the Sniper teams began firing as quickly as they could, her and Natya using the same guns she had made the night before with enhanced range over a standard M110 that she had upgraded significantly. The shots were almost silent as the NPC snipers were firing away as well, taking out many of the advancing troops while the mortar teams had switched to their anti personnel shells and were causing all sorts of mayhem while the front line infantry kept digging to make their trench deeper.

For over an hour the mortar teams fired before their tubes were so hot they couldn't send off any more shells without risking cooking them off while the snipers guns had been made to prevent this very thing. They kept shooting, none of them aware of the effect they were having until half an hour later the advancing Russians finally engaged in combat with Colonel Pendergast and his Battalion of men. At this point however they were still outnumbered 4 or 5 to one, and only served to give the time the mortar teams needed to switch tubes and begin firing again.

"Ma'am, Colonel Pendergast is right in the line of fire. Even danger close we cannot ensure we won't be killing his men." the main mortar Sergeant said over the radio.

"Use your discretion Sergeant, he was warned that his position could be easily overrun and that we would do whatever it took. Attempt to get them as close as possible, but in a few moments we will likely be dropping them right where his lines were." Amy replied just as the artillery commanders replied that they were operational again as well.

"Captain Snips calling in strike, fire for effect. Danger close at Colonel Pendergasts location. Fire at will." she requested over the radio knowing that it would spray the entire area with shrapnel regardless of who it effected.

"Copy Captain, danger close. Anti personnel rounds fire for effect." came the response as the Lord thumps could be heard a few seconds before the large explosions on the battlefield in front of them could be seen. It was at this point 100 men could be seen running from the lines, Colonel Pendergast one of them as he made a beeline for the small town where she was positioned.

"All teams, cover the retreat of Colonel Pendergast." she said intl her local comms before switching to the artillery channel. "Artillery, the Colonels position has been over run. Request suppressing fire at his location. Danger close and dug in." she requested before switching back to her local channel. "Mortar teams, as close as you cam get, alert me when they are at minimum range." she ordered knowing they had a spotter of their own with the infantry for making adjustments.

The second round of shots from the artillery was when the infantry fully opened up, as Colonel Pendergast and his remaining men had finally made it behind their lines, and they could shoot at anything moving indiscriminately. The enemy had not been expecting that, as they had not been aware of another platoon being stationed in the city itself.

The smoke from all of the explosions effectively made it so that the snipers were useless, so Amy switched to her M4 and began shooting into it with controlled bursts just to assist however she could.

It took another half hour of continuous fire for the message on their interfaces to show they had overwhelmed the enemy, and that no survivors from the advancing troops remained on the battlefield before a cheer was heard through all of the men. Amy was glad as she massaged her shoulder, sore from all the shooting as she looked at her sniper rifle and the amount of clips she had remaining. out of 40 clips that held 30 rounds each, she had 4 left. She knew most of them were kill shots, which meant once again she had killed over a thousand men on this mission as the details came up. She smiled when the lowest number was from one of the infantry men, who had killed 275 men this time around.