Brian listened to the updates from the point team, Gavi and the native, Inakel. As the former Israeli Defense Forces soldier spoke, Brian Park motioned for the two teams to advance to the edge of the ridgeline, keeping low to the ground. He wanted the soldiers to remain hidden and maintain about 30 - 50 meter interval between man. The terrain was too spread out to be all bunched up. Even 10 meter intervals were too close.


Brian crawled up between Gavi and the German team lead by Neuer. He didn't care who had the larger penis and this was the worst place to get into a pissing contest over something as stupid as who's in charge. That is a guaranteed one way ticket to dead city and he didn't believe the German team leader was ready for that.


Brian spoke in low tones, cupping his hand over his mouth with his head pressed into the sand. "Armadillo tree niner, this is Falcon zero one, over," Brian was calling the battalion's Fire Direction Center.


"Falcon zero one, this is Armadillo tree niner, go ahead over," came the response. Although 350 meters is well within danger close for artillery, it was also danger close for mortars. But that doesn't mean you can't use them to help break up an enemy formation. You just simply communicate that fact to he FDC and let them know your position as well.


"Armadillo tree niner, Falcon zero one, adjust fire grid November Victor fower zero fife wun two eight, danger close, troops in the open, Victor Tango in effect, Oscar Tango zero eight hundred mils, range tree fife zero, over." Brian gave the current location of the Salvesh squad with the grid coordinates (NV405128), narrowing their location down to a 100 meter grid square. The 120mm mortars used by battalion had a kill radius of 60 meters. To provide a smaller area would be pointless. 100-meter grid square was as small as you need to go with indirect fire. Park gave the FDC their Observer to Target Line (OT 0800 mils) and distance to target at 350 meters. All indirect fire units used a gradient of mils rather than degrees. 0800 miles equals 45 degrees on a lensatic compass. Brian Park used a laser range finder that told him declination in mils and in degrees as well as distance. The Variable Time (VT) fuze would allow the mortarmen to set the fuze on the High Explosive (HE) rounds to detonate roughly ten meters above the surface of the sand. This had the effect of scattering  hot molten steel fragments in a multitude of directions. The Battalion Heavy Mortar platoon has six each 120mm guns. They would employ a three gun sectional sheath with an overlapping sheath away from the friendly observer. Three guns would create a 60x180 meter kill sheath. Two sheaths would create a 120x180 meter sheath with the grid coordinate NV405128 as the center of the impact.


"Falcon zero on, Armadillo tree niner, adjust fire grid November Victor fower zero fife wun two eight, danger close, troops in the open, Victor Tango in effect, Oscar Tango zero eight hundred mils, range tree fife zero, out." The Fire Direction Computer informed the section leaders on the gun positions as the direction of fire and charge setting for the projectiles. 


The number two Gunner, laid in the direction of fire and then leveled the bubbles on his site. Meanwhile, the two ammunition bearers readied one 120mm HE round and handed it to the Assistant Gunner. The assistant gunner inserted the tail fins in the muzzle of the mortar ready to fire. The Gunner yelled, "gun two, up!"


The squad leader then yelled, "Hang it!" and "Fire!" The Assistant gunner lowered his cupped hands down the outside of the mortar barrel as the HE round dropped to the firing pin at the base of the tube. A loud "Whump!" noise sounded as the propellant exploded, forcing the projectile out of the barrel.


"Shot, over," The FDC communicated to squad leader Brian Park when the round left the barrel. Due to the distance to target, the round would remain airborne for approximately 35 seconds.


"Shot out," Brian replied and observed the intended impact zone.


When the round was five seconds from impact, the FDC spoke, "splash, over." This tells the observer the round will land soon.


"Splash, out." Brian scanned the area where the Salvesh squad was located. The round impacted to far to the left. Brian immediately spoke to the FDC, "Right one fifty, fire for effect, over."


"Right one fifty, fire for effect, out," the FDC let Brian know they would adjust their direction of fire so as to have the rounds impact an additional 150 meters to the right bringing the impact a distance of 400 meters from the observing squad. The mortar platoon went through the same drill the number two gun went through. The gunners had levels the bubbles at the same time as the number two guns. The squad leaders issued instructions to create the overlapping parallel sheaths. The Salvesh reacted by running away from the initial impact. Since they were roughly eighty meters from the initial impact, they were heading towards the spot, Brian Park anticipated they would move to.


"Shot, over."


"Shot, out." and "Splash, over."


"Splash, out," Brian responded then yelled to his squad, "Keep your heads down! Hell is incoming!" Five seconds later, six each 120mm HE mortar rounds impacted in and around the ten-man Salvesh rifle squad. The impact of the rounds shook the soil around the human squad. Vibrations reverberated through the sand causing it to shift with each explosion. A heat wave from the blast cascaded up and across each person's face. It was like being slapped by a short duration heater. Three seconds after the initial impact, another six rounds impacted and then another three seconds later, a third volley impacted upon the Salvesh squad.


The Salvesh physiology may be hardier than the human build, but even they weren't impervious to the hot shrapnel produced by High Explosive mortar rounds. At four hundred meters, none of the shrapnel would have reached the humans, only the heat from the concussive blasts. Since the initial mission was to prevent the enemy from detecting their location and to keep the Salvesh away, there really was not need to engage with small arms fire.


The Battalion mortars wanted a Battle Damage Assessment on the fire mission, "Falcon zero one, this is Armadillo tree niner, Bravo, Delta, Alpha, over."


Brian observed the target area and communicated the damage assessment, "tree niner, zero one, BDA stands at tree Kilo India Alpha and possibly seven Whiskey India Alphas, they are limping and bleeding, heading north east, over."


"Roger out."


The Salvesh continued to bug out of the impact area, never knowing where, if any Grathik Mercenaries were in the Area of Operations (AO). But the Salvesh would take away the effects of the Mercenary's indirect fire capabilities.


"Anyone want to see what _they_ look like?" Brian asked the squad." It was his intention to leave two to four men in an overwatch position from where they were at the moment and take another team down to the impact area to observe the enemy up close. It would be  hazardous to take everyone down in one move. There could be an additional squad of Salvesh moving into the area.