The sound of the Round Table-class landing ship in motion was a part of the cacophony that assaulted Maddy's ears, even with her tankers' helmet on, with its' ear protection. The churning of its' engines, the crash of waves against the hull, and the shouting voices of men and women all mingled with the sounds of distant battle that were growing closer.
She stood close to her mount, the light sandy-coloured, hulking shape of her EE-T2 Osorio MBT on the vehicle deck of the ship and lined up with the rest of her units' vehicles, an oddball assortment of tanks and armoured fighting vehicles, their crews standing by to go right into action straight off the ship.
Hopefully, the preliminary bombardment of naval guns, missiles, and airstrikes would have softened up the Iranian beach they'd be rolling onto enough that they wouldn't meet too much resistance; but every historical account of an amphibious landing like this suggested that it would never be quite that easy.
As if to emphasise the point, the buzz of helicopter rotors interrupted the thought, and she glanced up, shielding her eyes as a formation of attack helicopters flew overhead, heading for the beach, one of them launching missiles on plumes of white smoke at some unseen target.
As she looked back down, Magpie waved from the turret hatch of the tank and pointed to his wrist, tapping it and nodding to the open hatch.
Sighing a sharp breath, Maddie briskly crossed the pitching deck, just as the autocannons at the front of the ship opened up in stuttering, rattling bursts of fire. She climbed up and slid into the commanders' position, plugging her communication leads into the tank and toggling onto the crew circuit.
"Genie, wind it up. Magpie, Leaky, stand by. Button down as soon as the doors open; we're going up the beach as covered as we can get".
A chorus of 'yes m'am's' followed, and the tank's engine came to life a moment after with a throaty rumble and growl. Maddy changed channels, switching to the inter-tank channel for the unit.
"Drop your cocks and grab your socks, boys and girls. We're about to hit the beach, and I want to hit the ground running as soon as those doors open and the ramp comes down. Move up the beach and hit any targets that present themselves. Remember; our objective is to eliminate any opposition, and push into Naserabad. Troops will be following and moving up with us, and we have air support. But we're fighting the ISL on their home turf - and they don't like tourists".
She stopped as the ship rang with the rattle and clatter of ricochets hitting the outer hull, and the sound of the engines changed, along with the grind of the hull driving against the shallow bottom as they approached the beach. She exchanged a glance with Magpie, the loader grimacing as he moved down inside the turret, pulling his hatch closed with a clang. Yelling from above called out they'd hit the beach, as the ship juddered and shook, and then she followed suit, ducking into the hatch and dogging it tight, the sound from outside muffled and cut off, replaced by the comparatively claustrophobic interior of the turret and her outside view that of monitors and periscopes as the doors at the bow cracked open with a rumble of hydraulics, and the ramp came down with a grind of metal. Ricochets bounced off of the tanks' hull almost immediately, and Maddy gave the order to move out as soon as the ramp came down. The tracks found purchase in the sand as soon as the Osorio rolled off the ramp, wading through the shallows. Further up the beach, among the low, scrubby vegetation above the tideline, tracer fire lashed out from low structures. Further back, muzzle flashes boomed and the ripping canvas sound of falling shells was heard, albeit muffled by the sounds of the tank from inside.
At some point, this beach had been somewhat picturesque; part of Chabahar bay, a quiet area of residential towns and domestic utilities. But in the ISL's paranoia, it had been fortified with hastily-built and emplaced bunkers, pill-boxes and firing positions, concertina wire, and crude tank tank traps and defences.

From her limited view, Maddy couldn't see much, but knew that more vehicles were supposed to be landing from other ships, disgorging their precious cargoes of armour and vehicles, while other amphibious IFVs and APCs waded ashore under their own power.
Maddy pressed her eyes to the gunsight as the hull rang to the sound of small-arms fire, grimacing as she heard the sound. Time to get into the game, she thought, before calling out the target. A squat, regular grey shape among the greenish-brown brush further up the beach, that spewed tracers in their direction; probably a light or heavy machine-gun.
"Gunner; target! Heavy weapons position at -" she checked again "- two o'clock, one hundred meters! Load HE!"
There was the quick flurry of efficient movement as Magpie swung through the motions, the shell clanging into the breech of the 120mm gun.
"Loaded!"
"Send it!"
"On the waaaay!" yelled Leaky, and the breech recoiled into the turret with a THUMP and the acrid smell of spent propellant, the casing clattering and clanging to the floor of the turret basket.
"All units, fire at will!" Maddy called over the inter-tank circuit as they rolled up the beach, and a plume of angry, explosive flame billowed from the firing position as it fell silent.

@Massasauga, @PrinceAlexus, @AvaP, @Foster, @Smike

Catlin sat squat on top of "Shotgun Shine", a confident grin on her face as she stared down Emily from over her hand of cards. Emily's brow was furrowed, sweat beading on her forehead as she stared anxiously at her own hand. Catlin's cigarette glowed red as she took a long pull and blew it at Emily. The sister coughed and angrily waved away the smoke.

"God dammit, fuck you and fuck off! That shit fucking stinks! Fuck off!" Emily shouted angrily, attempting to snatch the cigarette from Catlin's mouth. Catlin merely shrugged as she leaned back to dodge the swipe, shoving her left foot forward against Emily's shoulder to keep her from getting any closer.

"Ya hand isn't getting any better, Emmy, so why don't ya just admit defeat before I kick ya off the top of ole Shotgun Shine, eh?" Catlin said, her shit-eating grin only getting bigger. Emily was about to lunge when the helicopters buzzed overhead, unloading their deadly payloads into the poor sods on the beach. At this, Ruth sighed and put away the Persian language book she had been reading, climbing down into the driver's seat of the odd tank. Catlin and Emily hurriedly picked up and stowed their cards before hopping into their own respective seats as well, Catlin flicking the cigarette to the boat's floor before sliding in beside Ruth.

"Hope sure as shit those flyboys don't glass everything on that beach. The fewer targets to kill, the less we get paid!" exclaimed Emily with exasperation as she flipped on the targeting console and generator from her seat. Catlin chuckled and shook her head as she turned on her command optics and computer.

"Don't worry, Emily, the briefing said it would be a target-rich environment, so we'll be able to save up for that new cosplay outfit you wanted in no time!" Ruth said, her soft but enthusiastic voice now carried over the crew intercom. Emily's face heated up as she began to deny any sort of thing, while Ruth continued to explain the con they were planning on going to. Catlin soon cut through their conversation.

"Clamp it up! The boat is about to hit solid ground. I want our lovely tin can moving as soon as the lead hits the beach. Stations check!" Catlin barked.

"Engine is running smoothly, all systems green, generator on, and batteries fully charged. Driver ready," Ruth commonly reported.

"Master safe off, gun's hot, FLIR tracking, CO2 rangefinder online, turret motor operational! Gunner ready!" Emily said, barely able to contain her nerves or enthusiasm.

Catlin nodded and checked over her station. The command sight rotated and moved as she manipulated the joystick, thermals, and night vision, turning on and off without issue. "Command station is working well. Alright, let's earn our pay today."

Flicking over to the unit channel, Catlin gave a short and curt report. "Shotgun Shine here, we're ready," she said. Soon, a general message came through from the commander

"Drop your cocks and grab your socks, boys and girls. We're about to hit the beach, and I want to hit the ground running as soon as those doors open and the ramp comes down. Move up the beach and hit any targets that present themselves. Remember, our objective is to eliminate any opposition and push into Naserabad. Troops will be following and moving up with us, and we have air support. But we're fighting the ISL on their home turf - and they don't like tourists"

A simple double click on the comms confirmed the message, and Catlin leaned back. Iran was not what she was expecting, but she and the girls wanted to get outside the US for a change, and this is where their work took them. She wondered if there were gonna be any good bars still open after this, before shaking her head. The country didn't exactly strike her as being open and friendly, and their little invasion wasn't gonna help anything either. It was a small blessing that they had brought their own supply of whiskey to this godforsaken desert in preparation for this.

Catlin lurched forward slightly as the landing craft ran aground. She could feel the rumble of the hull through the suspension as the ship buried itself onto the beach and prayed they'd hit the beach proper and not a sandbar. Soon, the landing ship's doors opened and the ramp lowered, revealing the wartorn beach. Black, oily smoke rose on the horizon as the tank company charged out onto the beaches.

Scanning through the thermals of the command sight, she quickly spotted a line of hasty entrenchments and, to her amazement, a field piece looking straight out of the last war. She hadn't seen that sort of improvisation since the Great Plains campaign, but it was all the same. Maybe the bigger tanks could shrug a round, but her aluminum tin can could not.

"Emmy! Target, 130, field piece. Load airburst fuzes and waist that fucking trench." Catlin yelled into the intercom.

"Acquired! Wasting!" came the response as the 75mm auto cannon spat its deadly payload a round a second. Time HE fuze shells shot forward and exploded over the heads of the dug-in infantry and gun. Within seconds, the position was torn to shreds, the thermals being alight with small, quickly fading signatures.

"Alright, let's follow the lead in and swing fast to the left. Emily, engage fortified positions at will. I want any bunker that looks at us funny gone. Ruth, keep up with the lead." Catlin ordered. A curt confirmation came from the other two, and Shotgun Shine sprang to life. The strange light tank rolled fast over the flat beach, its autocannon's heavy thumping a constant as round after round slammed into enemy infantry positions. All the while, Catlin scanned the lines for anti-tank threats before spotting what she was looking for. A pair of T-72s lay partially concealed and buried in the dunes; hastily tossed netting and scrubs kept the majority of it hidden.

"Emmy! T-72s bearing 124, trying to be slick with that position. Toss that turret!" Catlin ordered.

"Copy... acquired!" Came Emily. With a flip of a switch, the belt was switched, and the telescoped darts were loaded instead. Without any orders, Ruth quickly moved the light tank up behind a nearby dune, letting the immense gun depression from their cannon barely peak over the horizon. "Wasting!" Emily announced as the cannon thudded away at the first T-72. The first round slammed into the lower glacis, piercing through the armor easily and spawling the inside. The second round bounced off the front plate and up into the lower turret, detonating the ammo and sending half the tank nearly fifty feet into the air. Emily wooped while simultaneously acquiring the neighboring tank. This T-72 immediately deployed smoke and began reversing in a panic. But it was no use, as with the flip of a switch, the C02 laser rangefinder cut through the smoke without issue, the FLIR automatically locking the armored target. The cannon thudded away again, this time blowing the tracks off the enemy tank and piercing the turret. The driver of the tank quickly bailed as smoke began to pour out of the barrel of the enemy tank.

"Shotgun Shine here, scratch two Iranian tanks. Will continue keeping an eye out." Catlin said before flipping back to the intercom.

"Emily, conserve ammo, this is gonna be a long day."

There are plenty things that happen in times of war and combat. People die, move up the chain, or disappear if they choose. The crew of the Belladonna had been tightly knit until a month ago. The commander had lost her head to an incoming round while turned out. She had been trying to vector on a target and was suddenly decapitated by an enemy tank. They never got the one who did it, but the contract was completed anyway. Times like that reminded the survivors of the solemn reality that anyone could die at anytime without warning.

But the Belladonna and its crew were still needed. So instead of quitting, they had decided to stick it out. For each other, and for the money. A week ago, the boss transferred them a replacement commander and told them to "be nice to her." Even after one week of familiarization training, the girls had no idea what to make of their new commander. She was subtle, quiet, and spooky. Her facial tattoos gave them all the creeps, but they never admitted to it aloud. Now they were about to do their first contract with her in the turret. The real deal.

Ash Vale had been trained as an assassin in her former life. Part of a doomsday cult that saw the Heavenfall as a new beginning and the heralding of the death of the old world. The Veil of Ash cult was small-time compared to the Eternal Church, but they still kept up with their own ways of subterfuge and cunning. Ash had been sent to hunt down escapees from the cult and kill them to preserve their secrecy. It was during one fateful assignment that she learned what truly waited beyond the walls of the cult's compound that was secluded in the middle of the western part of the United States.

It was then that she decided to leave her life behind and make a new one. She had no name beyond what the cult had given her: Ashen Wraith. So when Armoured Fist asked for her name, she merely adopted her old cult's name into her being. Ash Vale, though the last name was misspelled by the administration clerk. Still, she made herself useful as she could. She had been bumped off many crews in her time for the same reason given by every one of them. "She scares the shit out of me." Now she was commanding the crew of the Belladonna, an M60A3 TTS that was supposed to be one of the rougher assignments, but she took it in stride as she only knew how.

Ash sat upon the top of the turret. Inside, Roxy "Haymaker" Mitchell was going over the ammunition loadout and assisting Darla "Fangs" Stray with the pre-combat checklist. Velvet "Doll" Harrow started up the engine to test operations of the turret, gun, optics, and so on. With the exception of Ash and her East German button-up coveralls, the girls were wearing US GI tanker coveralls, all in various states of being unzipped. From Darla's modest neckline to Roxy's tank top show, but neither could hold a candle to Velvet's full cleavage lace bra ensemble with midriff exposure to boot. Even after getting out of the brothel, Velvet couldn't stop being a tease.

"That covers everything. Hopefully the FCS doesn't shit out on us again." Darla groaned.
"Only if you don't treat her right. You know what Doll says." Roxy shot back.
"Yeah yeah, I know. Doll sure does love reminding me."
"Cause you keep forgetting." Velvet added.
"Can it, Doll. Hey boss, we all set?" Darla asked.

Ash brought her mic down in front of her mouth and spoke in her usual eerie calm tone.

"Dismount and meet me on the turret."

The girls all traded looks before they all popped out of the hatches and gathered around. Ash had her tarot card deck sitting on the roof of the turret, next to a mortar and pestle and a bundle of sage. Again, they traded looks and shrugs.

"What is it, bosslady?" Roxy asked.
"Our immediate future is in question. I look to Hecate now for her guidance. Fangs, your lighter please." Ash replied.

Fangs pulled out her zippo. It was engraved with her confirmed kill tally of seventeen and the words "MEAN AND UNSEEN" underneath. She handed it to Ash, who flipped it open and lit up the sage bundle.

"Stand at the side of the tank. I will get to you when I am done." She instructed.

Once again looks were traded with suspicion, but no one said a word against her. Their commander was their commander, no matter how weird she was. The three of them stood down at the side and watched Ash disappear into the turret. Smoke from the sage plumed out of the commander's hatch as soft prayers to Hecate echoed inside. One minute later, she reappeared and climbed out. The sage was sufficiently burnt, allowing her to crush the end into the mortar and pestle, grinding it into a finer ash with some other things mixed in. Once she felt it was enough, she jumped down to the rest of the crew.

One by one, Ash went down the line. She smeared her thumb into the ashen mix she made and marked each of the girls on their forehead, just above the area between their brows.

"The battlefield is full of the strongest emotions." Ash stated, "Hate, anger, sorrow, fear. All these and more at their most raw and powerful. We must be protected against the spirits who wish to cling to us and not let go. Every one of us carries ghosts, but no more passengers are welcome on this journey." She ended the prayer by smearing ash on her own forehead to match the rest of them. "Come. Let's see what Hecate has in store for us."

Ash climbed the turret with the crew in tow. She picked up the tarot deck and began to shuffle the cards. She shuffled and shuffled, over and over, until three cards fell out during the movements. Ash lined them all up and turned them over on at a time.

"Ace of Pentacles. Judgement reversed. Nine of Wands."

The crew each stared at the cards and then looked up to Ash.

"What's that mean?" Roxy asked first.
"The cards can be very blunt, Haymaker. Hecate says we will have a lucrative contract." Ash answered.
"But?" Velvet chimed in.
"But only if we accept what has come to pass and move forward with renewed determination."
"How convenient." Darla spat.
"The cards don't lie. We have a lot of work to do, and not just on the contract." Ash said cryptically. She perked up as her headset came to life with another voice: the unit commander's. Ash deftly packed up her belongings and stowed them in her personal rucksack. "Mount up. We're making ready to land."

The crew hustled into their stations, pulling the hatches closed and locking them down. The ship was going ahead full until it got closer to the shore and began to gradually slow until it bottomed out on the sand. The CO's tank was first off the ship, as per tradition. Once there was an opening, Velvet kicked the Belladonna into first gear and sent it forward.

"Doll, get us a wide angle as you come out. I want to be out of everyone's way as soon as possible." Ash ordered.
"Can do, hot stuff!" Velvet said back, jerking the tank to the right as they came down off the ramp.
"Who's turn is it now? Roxy asked.
"It was mine last time. It's Fangs next." Velvet replied.
"Nah, let's make it special. This is the commander's first time. Let her pick." Darla said.
"Pick? Pick what?" Ash asked.
"First song. We always play music in the tank during combat. Helps us focus." Roxy answered.
Ash stared blankly and said, "I don't have anything to pick about that."
Roxy rolled her eyes. "Alright, fine. I think I got something for you anyway."

But Ash was already on her commander's day sight, even as music filled the interior.

"Haymaker, load plastic. Make ready." Ash told her.
Roxy pulled one of the few High-Explosive Plastic rounds from the ready rack and shoved it into the gun breech. She locked it closed and yelled, "UP!"
"Fangs, plastic, pillbox. Traverse right."

Darla swiveled the turret right, looking through her own day sight with her hands on the yoke.

"On." Ash called out.
"Identified!" Darla shouted back.
"Fire, fire HEAT."
"On the way!"

The whole tank shunted as the gun recoiled, sending the 105mm HEP shell directly into the mouth of the bunker and blowing it to pieces.

"UP!" Roxy yelled after slamming the shell into the breech and locking it again.
"Fangs, coax, AT. Traverse right. Doll, take us up the beachhead slow so we can cover the troops. Fangs, on."
"Identified!"
"Light 'em up."

The rattle of the M240C echoed inside the turret as tracers danced around an ATGM emplacement, tearing it and its operator apart in a red mist until the missile detonated inside the tube housing. The mission was on, and they were marching on Tehran. Ash made a silent prayer to Hecate to see her and her new crew through this contract, and hoped they weren't being used as expendable assets for a diversionary attack.

“20 minutes, final checks. make sure the ammo is ready, we gonna need it, is the 30mm live?” The tanks commander asked if he clicked the channels and lights on the SPG control panels where hot and ready to go. Gun pressure, power, aux power, comms, auto turret, the electronic warfare lights showing green and the 155mm auto loader was ready to go. Easily the most modern base vehicles of their group but worryingly the largest and heaviest by 20 some or more tons. The 8m barrel rose slowly confirming the test and slew side to side confirming the motors were operational.

“Nord, Xena, Soup you know what to do, and keep the pop tarts safe, I want a snack after this.” The Commander said but laughed at the end, the luxury of their own microwave was worth every joke they got, hot meals were a luxury that few crews had.

“Got it, gonna be a bitch to clear the tracks out, ready, we were ready last night.” The powerfully built main battery loader called out and shook her head. She and rest had been working hard on getting IronHide operational and combat ready, she was a heavy hitter but also heavy on maintenance and mechanically complicated.

“Come on Tina, you know il be crawling under.” The much smaller driver climbed into their seat, the heavy hatch open but ready to close once they got closer making the armoured compartment a sealed space behind a small glass block and screens.

“Hurry up, we be late to the party” Xena called out to the main Gunner as they boarded and the engines rumbled gently to make sure the vehicles systems were fully powered and primed for when they drove off the ramp. “50%, we have full pressure soon” Nord replied from up front over the intercom as other vehicles were being made ready. “Tags clear, guns hot and ready for load.” The Canadian answered to the group as they pulled all the safety tags they had set for transit and the lights blinked red signaling the gun was live.

“Copy, seal up, ready for roll off.” The commander radioed a few minutes later as they waited engines ticking over, hatches down and guns ready for the coming landing.

The daylight hit the front of the armour as the doors began to creak open from dark metal to the view of a beach front, the flash of fire, burning and smoke rising. The battlefield was in front and the sounds hit them, radio channels were wild with activity and this was one of multiple units landing today. “GO. GO. GO.” On the third Iron Hide lurched forward and its almost 70 tons hit the ramps with a jolt and pushed the ramp deep into the sand as it powered up and out into the maelstrom, the armour pinged and rounds bounced off the barrel. “Copy. Fire at will.” Replying to the group's radio circuit and swinging to the side, crushing aside an abandoned beach furniture to gain more room to turn the barrels long length about.

The rattle of the 30mm auto cannon was started as they let loose on the closest target before they could turn the main gun, and elevate into firing positions. “Prepare for direct fire, the idiots landed us into a hot one, 3 shells, into the pill box, 270 degrees.” The order is quickly actioned as the gun swing and 3 155mm rounds soon slammed into a solid looking pillbox sending concrete and other materials flying as one shell found its mark diving deep through the slit and blasting it apart from the inside.

“Orders from command, gun at point Delta confirmed, prepare, 3 round simultaneous burst.” The order was quickly followed and the gun swung to the present planned target elevating before 3 rounds fired in under 5 seconds, a magic of maths and applied algebra the shells fell on the target at same time.

The smell of burnt cordite was strong as the automated loader fired the rounds off on command of the gun laying computers that calculated, fused and calibrated the angles to drop within half a second or less. Hits were still hitting the large body of the self propelled gun and there only was so much 30mm they had.

“This is Iron Hide, we are taking fire, we are safe for small arms but suppression would help.” The cool Polish commander did not break his calm but he was genuinely worried, the others might be able to take an anti tank hit but the big gun was lighter armoured. Shrapnel, small arms but heavier stuff would penetrate the hull, even with additional hedgehog protection kit. “Keep it to burst, we cannot just go out and reload the 30 Mike Mike.”

“Aye sir, what kinda fools out us in first wave? Ready to fire on command, 5 rounds He rapid.” The Canadians' cool tones came across the internal circuit as they rotated to angle their hull against bullets and better deflect that hit the hill flat on. “Good job Nord, keep us on an angle, 160, keep us 30 degrees to that.”

“Copy, keep your heads, wait for a larger target, let the tanks take the smaller stuff. Keep to standard HE, Save the specials.” The Polish commander decided they only had so many 155mm shells aboard. The crew were doing what they needed to do, he trusted his crew to work on their initiative and own minds.

“Smoke firing. Direction only.” Came the call as one of the sole discharges fired and laid a wall of choking grey between them and the fire point that was engaging them, it was too close for the 155 so the 30mm bursts rattled from the upper mount sending plunging fire into the enemy dug in positions.

“Too close, we get off this beach as fast as we can once they clear a path.” The Polish commander grumbled, he was not in a great spot and hardly designed for this. They had to be careful to get off being so heavy, once they hit solid ground and more room to move they could do their thing.

During the run-up to the beach, Richard Paterson Sawyer was making ready the tank's snorkel as Adrian was busy affixing the exhaust-plate to keep the seawater from backflooding the engine. Thus, their tank would be able to ford through the waves up to five meters deep, although they'd hoped they would never need to worry about anything deeper than the four meter draught of their landing-craft, accidents have historically happened, and helping push the landing-craft free if the beach back out to sea as the last tank out would be their responsibility. As a beached LST would prove quite the valuable and inviting target.

Further assisting the tank in its role of preventing any of the other tanks foundering in the sand, including themselves, were a pair of un-ditching logs strapped fore and aft of the tank to be secured to the treads for added traction if necessary.

Inside the tank, Marly their gunner was already sulking and keeping busy with the gunner's optics and general state of the tank's interior while everyone was making final outside preparations.

Sitting atop the turret, Captain Grable looked up from his map and at the helicopters as they made their run and came back to tip their rotors to the side indicating good suppression of the bay's naval assets. He gave a re-assured nod at them before going back over the map, trying to find good positions, vantage-points, and other points of interest they should focus on reaching if they wished to survive the mission.

Soon it was time, and Marly thumped the turret roof with a wrench to tell Marcus to patch into the intercom as Maddie gave their pep-talk and Adrian lept into the driver's position and revved the engine to keep the manifold pressure high enough for the exhaust system to work as Richard became seated himself and closed his hatch. Marcus hesitated a moment as he watched Ash performing some strange ritual on a Patton tank, but had more important things to worry about than witchcraft; in this business, sometimes it paid to be a little supersticious.

When the ramp dropped, all tanks gunned their engines and everyone at the back of the boat could feel the hull groan as all that mass shifted forwards and suddenly off from the ship, their tank following the K2 and the self propelled artillery into the surf just as the ramp was closing. By now the beach defenses had come alive and the team went into action.

"Driver, smoke! Loader, manual ejection. Gunner, HE, trenches, 100, coax and ricochet." Marcus bellowed orders in rapid succession as Adrian injected raw fuel into the exhaust to create a plume of thick low-hanging smoke to surround the landing-craft while Richard quickly disabled the shell-ejection port and slammed in an delay-fuzed HE round which Marly lined up and shot into an otherwise inconspicous stretch of trench that looked perfect for an RPG team to hide in, penetrating into the sand and blowing up inside the bottom of their foxhole, followed by some .30 caliber machine gun rounds and another delay-fuzed shell that bounced off the sand before exploding, cutting down any defenders who'd suddenly lost their nerve and tried to flee. The two shell-casing clattered to the floor, filling the tank with acrid fumes as Marly continued to mow the defenders down with her .30 caliber machine-gun.

"Driver, reverse, easy." Marcus's order was non-standard, but Adrian complied, and the sudden jolt and shudder of bumping fender-to-fender with their landing-craft and pushing it off against the sand until the silent sound of freedom and waves lapping over the hull could be heard.

"Driver, advance!"

Some time later, as Adrian's vision periscope cleared from the surf, he chimed in "Surf clear" and Richard promptly ejected the tank's snorkel and reactivated the auto-ejector for the tank's main gun. Adrian also was quick to open the radiator-vents to keep the tank from overheating now that it wasn't being cooled by copious amounts of seawater as it took up position besides Itonhide and Marcus poked his head out as the SPG was laying down a defensive smoke-screen and 30mm covering-fire. He clanged on their hull with his Uzi to get their attention, Richard also unbuttoned from the tank to man the tank's grenade-launcher as Marly switched to the mantlet-mounted 14.5mm KPV machine-gun to make swiss-cheese of the nearby concrete bunkers.

It was here, at this moment, when Marcus calmly handed 'Anakin' a grilled cheese sandwich, smiled, nodded, and ordered the tank to move forwards once more as the crew buttoned-up once again.

Smoke was a wall of foggy grey in front of the self propelled gun, the crew were working on switching on their EW warfare systems. If they were stuck static they would fire up and try to jam the ability to get a lock on or modify to prevent the enemy from setting off an IED etc.

“Im gonna check the 30 mike mike” the commander called out and he climbed atop the guns hull with a spanner to give the auto cannon a knock as it was firing a short delay from the command system. He hit the gun a few times to knock the motor to be better aligned and to get the system working. It was an ancient act old as machines, the rights of percussive maintenance and used the ancient tools that were solid metal bars shaped into useful forms. “Count” he shouted down as he climbed up the internal ladder.

“65%. Box will last long as we get cover boss” was returned loudly over his short range comms and ears at the same time even though the crew's ear protection. Electronic versions that would protect you from the noise of a massive main gun but let you talk. Handy, they had not been cheap and they liked ears that did not hurt.

“You fucking ass, appreciate it.” Anakain shouted as the tank rolled alongside with a grinning soldier holding food, really… He took it with good nature and laughed at the sheer stupidity of the act. “It had to be sand related damn it Marcus.” The two had worked together before and the jokes had not stopped even if the most stupid of times. He gave him an easy salute as he dropped back down and slammed the heavy hatch atop the self propelled gun's hull clad in thick rubber to absorb drone strike and soak light damage or prevent ricochets.

“Where the hell do you get uber eats in Iran” Came Xena calling out with a shake of her head as she waited for order to load shells and took a break where the breaks were to drink some water from a metal bottle that clanged tied to the hulls plating.

“From our help Xena, we might be moving if Marcus can clear the way.” He said with a more relaxed tone distracted by a meal as he had to hold his nerve and trust others to clear a path where they could not.

“Good, save some pop tarts for me,” Nord said as they sat up front in the driver's spot, her small window letting them see outside at the falling smoke beyond them between Ironhide and the enemy.

“Steady down, we still have to get past the defences before snack time.” The Commander sobered as he calmed things down eating his admittedly decent snack.

“Aye boss,” Nord replied as they waited on the throttle.

…

“Thermals, commander anti tank team, hill side.” Came the alert as the 30mm sent line shots but they fell short as the team got cover behind an area of earth in distance that must have been pre planned.

“Locked, ready.” Came the Canadians' response, “HE, got a shot.” He added rapidly turning the main guns ballistic computers to the task with the range finders and guns swung into place with a fast movement that was smooth, barrel and turret moving in tandem.

“Marcus, keep your head down. AT team, scrub, 350m, north north west. Firing.” Came over the groups circuit. With a few seconds warning 2 155mm passed low over the top the tank with a sound like a freight train passing before they slammed into the hillside sending a large plume of dust and fire up where the anti tank team where. If they missed them they certainly had a massive shock and headaches.

The Belladonna moved up the beach as Velvet kept it in first gear. The ISL were as ready as they could be. They even had the old hedgehog tank traps set out for them. Ash wasn't worried. Velvet could dance Belladonna around them like she was back on the pole, and she did just that. What worried her was the hulled down tanks they were using to rain hell down on the beach. Bunkers, machine guns, the works. But even still, Ash knew that this was only the first layer of defense. The artillery would be pulled back. Old Soviet guns and rocket pods mounted onto technicals. They had to break through if they didn't want to get killed on the sand.

"Fangs, HEAT, PC. Traverse left." Ash ordered as she sighted a BTR-82AT.
"Identified!" Fangs shouted as she put the illuminated gunner sight onto it.
"Fire."
"On the way!"

Boom! The tank rocked from the recoil of the main gun again. The stabilizer kept it on target as they moved up. Ash watched the 105mm HEAT round blow the turret off the BTR. Its crew bailed and took off running, even though it was still technically operational.

"UP!" Roxy yelled, signaling there was a new round locked and loaded.
"Fangs, fire at will." Ash said.
"Fangs out. Here I come." Darla replied.
"Watch out, boys." Velvet chuckled.

Ash switched to the platoon radio and spoke over the sounds of Black Sabbath blaring in the turret. She never once yelled.

"Maddy, this is Hex. The Belladonna's pushing up into the center. We're going to try to punch a hole where it looks weakest and get off this beach before they get wise and bring artillery down on our heads."

It was times like this she was glad that the cult had drilled military tactics into her head from all the training of being an assassin. They had adopted a lot from what they could get their hands on, including many manuals about special forces. Ash wanted to keep her tank mobile, moving, and therefor harder to hit. The tank shunted back again as Darla shot the main gun at another target she found, and Roxy went about loading another round. So far, they were making decent progress.

Maddy felt a quiet thrill of satisfaction as she watched her squad go to work. They were rolling up the beach at good speed, covering for each other and seeking out the threats as they came up. She heard the chatter over the inter-vehicle radio and the feeling amplified. They might all be a bunch of disparate oddballs and with just as patchwork a group of vehicles, but all of them were showing they knew how to fight, and fight well.
However, it was time for her to take the resources at her dispsal, and shape them into a piercing spear, as they moved forward, with the line of buildings in sight on the horizon as their objective, and as fire became more focused from the opposition. The preliminary strikes from their airborne and naval cover had done a good job of smashing the heaviest opposition, but couldn't eliminate all of it completely. There was still plenty of work for them to do.
"All vehicles; great job so far. We've got them falling back. Time to keep this momentum going, and send them packing altogether. Tank-Rex, form with me and follow Belladonna up the middle; we're going after any more of the armour. Ironside; hang back and get the cover fire coming. I'm seeing a lot of dug in infantry positions ahead; take care of them. Shotgun Shine, chase the flanks and flush out any stragglers or lurkers; there's bound to be some trying their luck. And keep the big gun covered, over!"
She switched channels, speaking to her own crew as she leant back from the vision periscopes, blinking rapidly to give her eyes some relief, and glancing down and across at Leaky and Magpie.
"Genie; bring us up on Belladonna's left side, and match their speed. Magpie, Leaky, standby for targets!"

The Osorio's engine roared as it easily plowed through and over the low creases and ridges of the terrain, flattening scrubby brush under its' treads as it joined up with the M60 in the lead. The turret swivelled as Maddy scanned their surroundings. Ahead of them, a formation of Iranian T-72's and a couple of older T-55's were on the move, their domed turrets swivelling, and muzzle flashes lighting up as they tried to get a bead on the advancing Shattered Steel forces. Beyond them, IFV's and APCs started to move as well, rolling back from their defensive positions after they loaded their squads and heading for the the town and fallback positions.
"Target in the open; enemy T-55. Load AP!"
Magpie swung into action and swiftly loaded one of the APFSDS shells into the 120's breech and it slid smoothly home, with him standing back and giving space as Leaky pressed his eyes to the rubber shroud around the gunsight.
"Loaded!"
"Send it!" Maddy yelled, and Leaky's call of 'On the way!' was almost lost with the THOOM of the gun firing.
The T-55's domed turret sparked, and it seemed as if it had bounced off, before the tank lurched sideways and flame billowed from every hatch and opening, before the turret blew upward on a plume of smoke and fire, the lollipop shape turning end over end, before it crashed to the ground. She grimaced as she didn't see anyone get away, but such as it was; armoured combat didn't give much room for survivors.
"Next target, T-72 at our eleven-o-clock; load AP!"

@Massasauga, @Foster, @PrinceAlexus, @AvaP

“Copy, once we find solid ground. Firing for effect.” The commander responded across the main net and hung on tight as heaviest of the group lumbered slowly and carefully up to where the recon and engineers said would be hard ground for firing. “Nord, keep us off that slope.”

Over 60 tons hit softer sand and began to rotate as one track skidded and lost grip but it soon regained and swung back rolling forward over ground where the wide tracks began to run more smoothly and there was less slipping on the drives. Slow steady going and the entire time they had to risk fire. They had to hope the engineers had got things right or they would need a recovery tank very early in this battle.

“Iron Hide reached location E6. Requesting counter battery data from air assets” Calm Polish tone came across the frequency to the command posts, they needed to know where the enemy were before they gave themselves away. Anakin waited, eating what was left of his gifted meal, they just had to sit and wait and that was the hardest part.

“Orders boss?” The main gunner asked as he checked the systems for the nth time, all green and ready to fire at the press of a button. The auto feed was already stacked and specials sat on a separate manual load system ready to be fed into the guns breach.

“Fire and move, Nord, we start move on round 2, 3 we moving. Xena reload us on 3, guns, 3 round salvo, simultaneous hits, standard HE. For now hold until we get accurate targets. Do not be tight about ammo, we need those guns dead ASAP.

Move from E6 and head to G, keep the gaps random, so they cannot pin us down so fast.” He finished and while none saluted the clear nod from his crew as he panned around, they fully understood exactly the orders.

“Got it boss.” Came in a clear 3 voice ring about the hull, there was a lot of machinery in the big beast, even more so with their additions.

“Copy that, ready to fire on mark" The Canadian gunner came over confidently and sat back on his seat as the music began to play over the internal speaker…Nord had taken the IPod it seemed as heavy metal boomed over the speakers, Lordi in native language began to pump up the crew and they the commander grinned as he flicked a switch to blast it externally. Who's your daddy boomed out with a heavy kick as the main gun turned and the tank began to roll out slowly, looking at angle and elevation. “Ready, cleared to fire.” The Canadians' voice gained a level of Canadian that was not good for the enemy, he was nice but… nice was not always nice.

“Ready, HE next on the racks, give em hell.” Xena said as she nodded along to the music choice, an 155mm round already resting in her arms.

The commander nodded and turned to his radio, switching to the inter squad net. “Punk Ass Deceptacons. Firing.” The final word the main gun began to sing the song its people, 3 155mm rounds raced out firing on the move as the tank began to advance behind moving and attempting to Duke as the second salvo echoed out at the next positions on their list by Intel before shrapnel hit its hull and the SPG rocked from blast wave of a counter battery shot but the hull held.

“Damn, fuckers are good, keep firing.” The commander showed his iron resolve and looked out the top hatch, seeing the other tanks advancing before ducking back down again, iron but not stupid.

“Morter pits, send emm the tungsten.” He shouted over the noise of the ringing and music. Being a tanker meant you just got tinnitus by default. The gun recoiled as they blanketed the porters with a rain of directed tungsten balls at near supersonic speeds.

T-Rex mostly stayed near Ironhide's, well, hide should it get bogged-down, largely laying defensive smoke for the beleaguered SPG as it was franticly laying down counter-battery-fire. Grable's crew meanwhile was more focused on dealing damage directly and supporting the infantry-push up and off from the beach, which entailed a squad of infantry that had become orphaned from their IFV seeking cover behind their T-62 as it steadily advanced, at least until they passed anything that qualified as cover that wouldn't pose as a bullet-magnet for enemy machine-gun pillboxes. Some of the infantry had even clambered to the engine-deck and were manning some of the mounted machine-guns as Marly would silence their guns with the crudely-coaxial 14.5x115mm KPVT and the 7.62x54 PKT long enough for Rick to pop them with a 40mm.

Ironhide and T-rex then came under fairly accurate mortar-fire, which forced Rick to button-up and promptly stripped any of their infantry-cover that hadn't already found shelter in the captured trenchworks. Unbeknownst to them, some of the ISL fighters had managed to find concealment from their thermal-imagers amongst the sun-heated rock outcroppings to their flanks, one of whom being equipped with an ATGM, an Iranian copy of the M47 Dragon to be precise. And they were just lining up their shot while laying as close to the rocks as humanly possible as their friendly SPG finally finished their artillery-duel.

Sighing a breath of relief, Rick opened his hatch to resume hosing down the next series of trenchworks with grenades as he heard a distinct rapid series of pops rapidly approaching, he slammed the hatch shut, "Rocket, right, HE!" He bellowed as he fetched a round from the rear ammo-rack as Adrian tried to pivot the tank on a dime to face the threat... impact. The 140mm missile slammed into the turret, rocking the whole tank with a painful shudder as Marly cursed and started spraying the rocks wildly with .30 cal as Rick recomposed himself, pulled the safety-cap off the HE-frag round and slammed the shell into the breach, "Ricochet, UP!"

"On the way!" Marlene hollared back, lasing the rocks and aiming just shy of the nearest spot, she'd end up bouncing the round into the air above and hopefully cover a wide enough area to get the bastard. Rick popped back out of the hatch and let loose the rest of his ammo belt of grenades on the entire right flank, either forcing them to flee or killing them outright. Inspecting the damage, the missile had hit the turret in the Nizh ERA panels, had it not been for the upgrades, he probably would not have been alive right now... He slumped back into his seat, and fetched another belt to tie-one to Marly's coax before attending to resupplying his own weapon-system.

It was around this time when Maddie chimed-in about needing their assistance in conducting a frontal-assault their M60 Patton had initiated

"Alright, but we're gonna finish securing this right flank. Took a hit to the turret but as long as we don't get caught-up on the same spot twice we should be fine." Marcus gave an appreviated sitrep on the open radio-net to anyone on the team who'd be concerned. "We'll even help swing into town once the infantry is done mopping-up here in the rear. Shotgun-shine, be liberal with your machine-gun fire. Bad enough one of our tanks gets shot in the ass, I'd rather not let it be two."

With that, T-rex turned left and proceeded up the beach as Rick shoved an APFSDS round into the breech and pulled another one into his lap from the hull-rack. Being further to the flanks, their tank popped-up amongst a more mad-max style collection of T-72 Mahmia with "cope cages" a recent innovation of the earlier Syrian campaigns. Also present were some uparmored BMP-2s and BTR-60s with their main-guns removed in favor of a Zu-23-2 and swathed in what was either construction-brickwork, or Kontakt-1 ERA of dubious ballistic protection.

It was unclear whether they were attempting to fall-back or committing to a decisive counter-attack, but it seemed unlikely they had the numbers to succeed with either. "Gunner, co-ax, BMPs, 800. Use AP on your choice of tank when out." Marcus got a quick ranging on the personel-carriers, and let Alexi empty the KPVT's belt into the thin-skinned BMPs, setting one alight and forcing them to bail-out into a hail of .30 caliber fire before she turned her attention to one of the T-72s that was clumsily turning to engage them and sent a 3BM4 projectile into their side, striking low in the hull and punching straight through to the ammunition carousel, promptly causing the T-72 to eject its entire turret into the air. Another round was loaded before the turret had even hit the ground, "Re-engage, to the right."

“Copy. Northern guns are quiet, moving onto the southern.” Iron hides commander said over the radio, it was not fully quiet as shells slammed home and the ground shook. Artillery in other areas friendly and hostile was engaging each other and black smoke rose from those hit on the beach and those that were hit on the enemy side as distant smoke rose from Iron hides and others bombardment. Almost all had taken minor damage and were hit or shook, a number were out of the fight and burned as well as one lost utterly with all hands from a direct hit, magazines detonated and carved a large hole into the beach front.

The battle was anything but heating up than slowing down as a Paladin further down the line was laying out its own barrage sending rounds inland that had a Texan flag with shrapnel holes in cloth. An Himars… who the hell landed a Himars on a beach like this sent plumes of fire and telephone pole sized missiles fired from the beach edge with whatever it brings a rather vital target priority.

“Sir, we got counter battery radar tracking fires, over a dozen guns in the area engaging our forces, alternating fires. Some SPG.” The gunner said as he listened to the radio with surprising calm and cool Canadian.

“30 seconds. Give me 30. We have a jam.” Came Xena who grabbed a rather heavy tool to apply the rites of percussive maintenance that would free the system, they could fix it later but they had to get the gun back online and operational for now.

“Get it back, 30mm, suppress that ridge. Timed detonation. On my mark” He called out to cover the tank escorting them that took a hit. “Got about 15 seconds T rex before 30mm is dry, will suppress ridge line 4. Fire on command.” Anakin said as he looked before he could even ask the rest of crew as Xensa swore, banged the system hard and lights went from green to red with a grinding hiss of systems that would definitely need a strip down after the battle.

“Hot.” Xena said with a tone that was part anger and part … something else that he did not question. He left what they did in private to them as long as it did not bother the crew, she and Nord were close friends and complete opposites, they all got on but those two were thick as thieves and trouble magnets.

“Fire on north. Join up with the rest of the battery, arty command wants North quiet.” Anakin confirmed and switched from inter group to the battery net to coordinate fires between the crews in the separate sections. Air defense teams and others had an overarching net between them.

“1 minute, all arty. 1 min. Set.” The curt command came from the senior artillery officer in the force. Anakin leaned over and gave the crew the command. They would fire in 40 seconds and the rest of the force, rocket, mortars and anything else they were able to area bombard would lay down cover for the rest of the force.

“All artillery. Fire.” Called the command.

The sprint up the beach was anything but. It was times like this that Darla was happy to have a stabilizer in the vehicle. The M60, though not officially known as a Patton but nicknamed such anyway due to intense similarities, was the last of the old breed. When the Army moved onto the M1, they finally started using composite armor. But the M60 still had rolled homogeneous steel construction, much like the Shermans and Pershings of yesteryear. In the face of peer adversaries, the armor was adequate. But the T-72s, and by extension T-80 and T-90 series tanks, could punch holes right through the armor with ease.

It was for that reason that Darla zeroed in on the T-72 currently showing its flank to her. She pulled the trigger after releasing and watched the HEAT round streak toward it, striking it in the side. The ensuing fireball sent the turret rocketing off the hull to land discarded on the desert floor some distance away.

"Haymaker, load SABOT." Ash commanded.
"SABOT UP!" Roxy yelled after locking the breech.
"SABOT indexed!" Darla shouted as she re-indexed the main gun to keep it from sending the kinetic round sailing over the heads of their target.
"Fangs, battlesight, two tanks, left tank first." Ash said.
"Identified!"
"Fire."
"On the way!"

Click. Nothing. Click. Nothing again.

"Shit! FCS down! Stand by!" Darla shouted.

She grabbed the manual firing device, colloquially known as the "master blaster", and twisted it, sending an electrical charge down to the gun that ignited the round in the barrel. The tank rocked. Darla watched the SABOT streak through the air and smash into the engine block of the left tank. It caught fire almost immediately. Before Ash could order Darla to fire on the second T-72, the tank shook as a loud bang sounded inside the turret. Velvet rocked in her seat as Roxy and Darla braced. Ash dropped onto the turret floor on her ass, earning her indignation immediately.

"Status." She said loudly above the noise in the turret.
"Up!" Velvet cried.
"I'm up!" Darla shouted.
"I'm not out yet! Everything seems fine!" Roxy called out before she stooped down and helped Ash back onto her commander's seat.

Ash stared through the viewport and spotted the T-55s running adjacent to the T-72s. One had its turret cranked all the way around and was aimed squarely at them. The other tanks were still cranking theirs around. Ash wiped blood from her busted lip and set her vengeance in motion.

"Haymaker, load plastic."
Roxy looked at her like she had two heads, but shrugged her shoulders and grabbed one of the HEP shells.
"Doll, shift it into second gear."
"Copy!"
The tank lurched forward at renewed speed, pulling out in front of Maddy's tank.
"PLASTIC UP!" Roxy yelled.
"Fangs, tank, you know which one." There was venom laced in her words.
"Identified!" Darla shouted immediately after.
"Re-index."
"Indexed!"
"Relaze. Aim for the turret."
"Lazed!"
"Fire, fire SABOT."
"ON THE WAY!"

The HEP round sailed forward and smashed into the T-55's turret mantle. The other tanks would be made short work of by their allies. But Ash wanted this kill to be hers. Special. Personal. They had challenged Hecate's words in her heart. That was not something she let go lightly.

"SABOT UP!" Roxy yelled again.
"Doll, pull up to the tank and keep it between us and the others."
"Oooookay!" Velvet replied shakily, hoping that Ash knew what she was doing.
"Fangs, take out their track."
"On the way!"

She had to resort to the master blaster again, but sent the SABOT round into the right track and sprocket. Back at Fort Knox, they called it a "mobility kill." But Ash wasn't done.

"Fangs, engage at will. Do not fire on the wounded tank. I'll be back." Ash said, unplugging her CVC headset from the tank's intercom.
"You'll what?!" Darla whirled around in her seat just in time to watch Ash's feet disappearing up out of the commander's hatch. "What the hell is she doing?"

Ash ran off at a quick speed. Her feet carried her across the entire barrel of the Belladonna, knowing that it could be moved at any second. But at the very end of the muzzle, she jumped off and felt it leave her feet. Fangs had acquired a new target. That was fine. Ash sprinted like the wind and reached the T-55 in seconds, grabbing the tank gun and swinging her whole body up to plant her feet onto the engine block. The commander's hatch opened and the ISL tank commander stood turned out of it. Her eyes dilated and she darted toward him. He saw her coming. Maybe it was the striking face tattoo. Maybe it was the gleaming silver dagger in her hand. Maybe it was way she scaled up the turret like a big cat closing the distance on its prey. Maybe it was all of the above. But for whatever reason, he was shocked. Mortified, even beyond any rational thought.

He tried to pull himself out and throw his body over the side of the tank, only for Ash to snatch him up and drive the dagger into his neck. She forced it out and slit his throat wide open before she let his limp form carry on off the side of the tank and onto the sand. She then stepped up to the commander's hatch and drew her pistol, the nickel-plated finish gleaming in the desert sun and engraved with cult iconography akin to her tattooed skin. She disappeared into the turret. Three shots rang out, then silence. Ash pulled herself up out of the turret. The driver, still alive, pulled himself out through his hatch and started to run from the wreck. Ash pointed her pistol at him and fired just as Darla found a new target and sent another SABOT out the cannon of the Belladonna. As the driver fell and sprawled out onto the sand, another tank exploded in the distance.

Ash looked on for but a moment before she headed back to the Belladonna. Much as she would've liked to stay and bask in the victory, there was still much to do. It promised to be a long day, and it had only just begun. She took one of the red smoke grenades off the ring around the commander's cupola and tossed it into the open hatch of the T-55 as the passed it. Red smoke soon poured out from the tank, indicating to company salvage crews later that it could be serviced if repaired. And if not, it would certainly be a nice bonus to sell off to another country.

Roxy popped her hatch open and made a whistle to signify how impressed she was. After all, what Ash had done was nothing short of insane in the middle of a combat zone. Doll had also been observing, but ducked back down when she saw the commander coming back. When Ash sat down and everyone buttoned up again, Roxy was the first to acknowledge it.

"Damn, I'd hate to see you on a bad day."
"No one messes with my crew. No one." Ash replied.
"It's not often we get to bond with the newbies after first light. But...I think we know what to do now." Velvet said from her seat as she pulled the tank away from their most recent kill.
"Yeah. Regular little ritual. Once we get done with this engagement, hand us your helmet."

Ash said nothing in response and waited for orders to come down from Maddy.

The 120mm on the Osorio spoke again, and again. Autocannon shots from the BTR's and BMP's slammed against the tank's armour, ricocheting off. One smashed the mount for the M2 at the commanders' hatch, another sheared off the right-side headlights, and another from the same burst damaged the smoke mortars on that side too, before the Osorio put the vehicle out of commission, fire erupting out of the blown-out rear hatch, as the turret blew off in a pillar of flame. T-Rex and the Mighty Jalopy rolled up the retreated lighter armour, while Belladonna pulled the heavy lifting.
The T-55's had been routed; all of them were destroyed or otherwise incapable, and as the three MBT's moved forward as a wide-spaced wedge, their overlapping fire had shattered the enemy formation even as it retreated.
The infantry and light vehicles falling back were caught without the heavier vehicles' firepower to cover them, leaving them and the relatively unprotected artillery all that remained in the open ground between the Shattered Steel force's position and the outskirts of the small town.
And then the artillery barrage co-ordinated by Ironhide was unleashed, and it took care of the rest.
The creeping curtain of fire eviscerated the landscape, obliterating what scrubby plantlife there was, and the meagre cover. Vehicles were bodily tossed into the air and people were just gone as the pummeling barrage annihilated everything.
The few artillery pieces that had been emplaced by the ISL forces were shattered and crippled, and anything left was a ripe target for the attack and gunship helos as they made another run.
As much of a crescendo of firepower and assault on the senses as it was - Maddy and her team could even feel and hear it, buttoned up as they were inside the Osorio, and it sounded and felt like it was raining freight trains - it was over in mere moments, and an eerie stillness persisted afterwards for a few moments, as if the world was catching its' breath.
Maddy's ears stopped ringing, and the spots disappeared from her eyes enough that she could finally talk coherently. She got her wits back and spoke on the radio as she peered out through her commanders' periscopes, cursing as the view was blocked by the M2, twisted in its' broken mount. She popped her hatch after grabbing her rifle and emerged into view.
"All units, hostile forces are-" she paused as she looked over the view before her; nothing but smouldering stubs of scrub and twisted scrap, among scattered debris lay before them.
"-gone. All units; regroup on this position before we advance into Naserabad".

Maddy took the moment to do a quick clean-up and check-over of her vehicle. The browning M2 was trashed; the 23mm round had mangled the mount and the body of the heavy machine-gun itself. It'd need a replacement, and that bothered her, as they were about to roll into an urban area; albeit a light one, and the heavy MG would be invaluable. Never mind; they'd make do. And there'd be enough places to get a replacement. They were pretty ubiquitous weapons, after all. At least the ammo was still intact, and they had plenty of that. And the 7.62mm on Leaky's hatch was still in one piece, as was the coax.
As she worked on removing the broken gun, Magpie coming up to help, she reflected back on their mission briefing.

The unit had been briefed aboard the Amphibious Assault Ship, helicoptered over from the Tank Landing Ship while they lurked just out of ISL waters in the Persian Gulf. The flotilla of ships all stood ready, and there were men and women engaged in activity everywhere; the buzz of anticipation in the air, of a battle about to break out.
The briefing had been simple: The operation would officially commence at 04:00, when the jets aboard the assault ship would target and destroy the shore-based anti-ship missiles and observation posts. Then the flotilla would swing toward the coast, with the landing ships pulling out in front.
The ships would launch a barrage of missiles and gunfire to strike the emplaced defences, and to cover the landing ships. Meanwhile, attack helicopters would strike key targets blocking the landing, along with artillery positions. Light transports and gunships covering them would move further inland, dropping in small strike teams to seize key positions, while the armour and the main bulk of the infantry would roll up the beach.
Naserabad had been chosen as the landing point due to its' position in the bay, its' relatively undefended state, and its' small size. It was also a launchpad for their next main objective: the capture of Konark International Airport. Once that was under their control, they could start ferrying in supplies and reinforcements, and have a base to expand out from to seize more of the area and get it under control.
But capturing the command post in Naserabad, set up in the commandeered secondary school, was their first objective.

The fifty-cal gave way, and between them, Maddy and Magpie cast it off the top of the Osorio's turret, letting it thump to the dusty ground. Magpie climbed back into his position behind the M240, and she settled back into her own, casting a glance about her to check on the status of the others. She was relieved to see that the Achtung Trottel, Dino's Puma, had joined them at last; the IFV must have fallen behind or got caught up in the fighting, and fallen behind.
"All units," she spoke into the radio, looking across at the other vehicles and giving a wave of her hand above her head. "Report your status, and get ready to advance on the town. Shotgun Shine, Achtung Trottel; you're going to be our pointy end of the spear this time. You're better in close quarters than us heavies. Ironside; we'll be sending co-ordinates to you for suppressive fire on any entrenched or fortified positions. Belladonna, T-Rex, we're going to split and head up the roads with the infantry in support".

@Foster, @PrinceAlexus, @Arminwraith, @AvaP, @Massasauga

The 155mm gun lowered and a cheat haze rose from the barrel as the self propelled gun completed the barrage and a gentle hiss and tink of changing metal could just about be heard under the din of the engine and the events going on around them. The barrage had been short, sharp and intense with a sudden massed bombardment of the area making a wide access lane out of the now wasteland.

“Bloody hell, they brought some big guns today.” Anakin said as he reached out to take a quiet spell to reload the 30mm as they rolled slowly though the area to where the next rally point they had to hit on the mission plan. Everything was blasted, tanks tossed like toys and the very earth blackened and she'll holes by the dozen.

Smoke rose from a tank with an acrid smell, it had been hit and he assumed it was torn apart by at least 1 direct hit from a high explosive shell, its ammo rack and fuel leaving it scattered for 50m across like a smear of blasted and burned metal already turning to rust from the flames. The King's of battle had made their roar and the bite was even harder. “Kings of Battle Ladies and Gentlemen. We have hot pockets.” Anakins voice came over the radio net as they rolled up and down a blasted area they could not tell if was a dip in landscape or a very unlucky trench. Slow, heavy and not as glamorous the heavy rocket and gun artillery had done their work well.

“Update from arty net. Combat engineers are gonna clear the path to set up a potential supply axis if needed and dig in their 240mm mortar from Dragon Company. MLRS used most on the ridge or deep fire.” maybe someone were paranoid about back up plans but establishing a clear potential line of supply if enemy resistance was more determined and sheltering the heavy less mobile and 1 round per minute virtual siege weapon was just good military sense. Just because they were winning did not mean they should be careless.

The rockets were beyond powerful but that came at a cost and they were a one shot system almost. But taking the ridge was essential to not lose momentum and get bogged down. “Copy. Targets and cords on channel Echo 5.” He said as he put the radio back to the verbal net to find out how the others might be doing across the wider front. “You all are good. Sounds off.”

“Sleeping on the job boss. Engines fine.” Nord replied with a cheeky response and danced them round to reach their spot they found an area some shelter from indirect fire.

“Good, ammo is still in the expected Anakin, they say its sand out their though..” The main gunner said as he dropped down to help Xena with checking the ready rack and getting the laser guided shell back into the storage area. “Specials minus 1 tungsten only.”

“workout unlike you lazy bitches. The main gun needs a strip down after to realign the loader arm. Can still fire. Just try to avoid super charging the gun.” Xena reported from the after where she learnt drinking some water after they moved the laser shell back into its slot.

“Copy. Dial the speed back on the gun, but keep it on auto.” He ordered and got a charity of responses from cheeky to the yes sir. But long as they did their jobs and followed orders when it mattered he let that go. They were not normal soldiers and they never let him down so far in a real fight. “Bring me some clankers my 501st.” He said more lightly but focused on the job.

“We are some of the worst clones ever made.” The Canadian said with an almost deadpan tone. “Copy. Gun speed set down. Auto.” He added more businesses like. Banter yes. But job first.

“Copy. Loader ready.” :Copy. We are in cover, it's not great but something.” came back and they halted in cover with the gun lowered down and still hot from the day's firing.

…

Anakin checked the 30mm optics and saw a drone flying in thankfully from the friendly side as it passed over, it sent a smoke trail of missiles at some target that had obviously been important… been the operative word. The drone was not so lucky to eat an anti air missile. "Ammo is good for now. In temporary Postion. Gun has mechanical damage, but operational. We still able to fight." He finished the status report to the rest of the team.

The crew had been, for the most part, very quiet about what had just transpired. Tank combat was personal, to a point. It was also impersonal, to a point. What Ash had done bridged the gap between both. She made it very personal, and yet acted as if it was just another part of the job. The crew had a newfound fear and respect for her. To charge a tank as fearlessly as she did, even if it was knocked out by mobility kill, still took a lot of guts and stupidity. They were still figuring out which it was as Roxy and Darla went about tossing the empty casings out of the turret. Doll had inspected the hull and turret to find a shiny new streak of raw steel that she'd have to repair later.

"Doll. New orders. Regroup on the command tank."
"Yes, mom."

Ash didn't respond to the slight, but figured that Velvet had made a Freudian slip. She pulled the M60 around as Ash instructed which way to go so as not to grease their treads with friendly infantry. As they neared to saddle up alongside the command tank, Ash got on the horn.

"Maddy, this is Hex. Belladonna's acting up. FCS failure on SABOT rounds seems to be a recurring issue. We're going to have to put in for an upgrade soon before the manual firing device stops working. Be advised that we will be relying on you more so for main gun support. Belladonna's pretty much taken her lion's share anyway. I don't think she's very hungry right now."

Leaning back, Nishikawa looks around the interior of the crew compartment of Achtung Trottel. Schmidt is leaning over the drive controls, looking at... something. Hammond has a poptart, the foil crinkling so quietly, it can barely be heard over the engine. A thump resounds from the back, probably Rossi slamming the heads of a few recalcitrant grunts' heads together.

"Ey, you jokers get word yet? I ain't been doing nothin' back here but keeping Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumber back here from playing with explosives."

Speaking of which, there's Rossi poking her head in.

"Indeed we did. I know you're going to love it, too."
"Well, get on with it!"
"We're the spearhead going into the town."
"You're jokin."
"Do you see me laughing?"
"Faaaaaack! These idjits back here are as green as the grass!"
"You'd better make sure they're going to be ready, then."
"Sure, sure."

With that, the hatch slams shut, and the sound of yelling marginally increases. Suddenly, the crew-net crackles, and Hammond's voice crackles through.

"Alright, so for anyone not paying attention, new orders just came through. We're no longer on the clearing sweep who will be clearing out resistance after the streets are clear. Now, we're on the first push into town. Now, I can hear the whines already, so lemme make this clear. This wasn't my choice, we're going to do our jobs, and be ready. we're rolling in 15. Take your restroom break now."

Another slight crackle, indicating a channel change.

"Alright, now, with the grunt's curiosity satisfied, here's the actual plan. Schmidt, we're going to be heading to the left, towards the southern end of town. Once we make contact, hook us outwards towards the desert so we don't accidentally bumble into an AT trap in the city. Nishikawa, you know your marks?
"Yes, Hammond-san. Use the main gun for light armor, missiles for anything heavier, and the launcher for entrenched infantry."
"Call out your marks before you send them to the Almighty so we know how many Spikes we have left in the bin, but you got it otherwise. And, just call me Hammond."
"A-ah! Yes, sir!"
". . . we'll work on it. Anyways, Angie, love!"
"What?"
"Once we clear the edge perimeter, we'll probably be out far enough that we can see the enemy artillery and AA. When we're out there, grab Gabriel and get those drones of his up and spotting for our artillery. If we can send those guns to god before they start hurling shells at the streets, this will be much more buttery to deal with."
"Understood, Dino."
"Alright, this next part will be the meat and potatoes of our little play. There's a mosque on the far side of town, that is our marker for the turn-in. We don't go farther southwest than the mosque. Imaging has a road about 200 yards in front of the mosque that turns into the city, and drops us off right on the front door of the suspected command post. When we get there, it'll be a typical scramble deployment. Grunts pile out and into the building, we take Trottel on a block circut around the building to make sure the OPFOR doesn't get any reinforcements while Angie and her Spring Children are clearing it out. Make sense?"
"Yea, I got one."
"What now, Schmidt?"
"D'ya think if we can pull that command post before the rest of the groundpounders get it, we could go get ice cream?"
". . . Goddammit, Schmidt."

T-Rex and a few of the older APCs were left tangling with the open-walled courtyards on the right-flank. The perfect spot for any hoodlum with an RKG-3 to score an easy kill if they were too aggressive, too soon. Their force used the concealment of the defilade and shrubbery to skirt around suspected killboxes before committing their infantry towards the fight. T-rex laid back with a VADS in case things became dicey as the infantry picked their way along, an M113 upgraded to ACV-15 standards was operating in close-support, knocking over walls with its hull so the rest of the armor sitting overwatch could make sure nobody was flanking them from courtyards as the infantry took the high-ground of nearby buildings to get a lay of the land. Fighting had been swift and sparse on these outskirts, mostly just some really alarmed local civillians and the occasional old-timer with an AK that didn't take a liking to someone kicking a boot through their door instead of the well-planned defense-in-depth they were expecting.

This led to one of the squads getting eyes on an intersection up ahead, spotting a dug-in T-72 with its main-gun sighted down the road to ambush their T-62 the moment it would've came into the main street. The findings were relayed, Rick's job had been to listen for infantry-chatter on their radio-net, leaving comms in the rest of the tank free and clear.

"Boss, tanks up ahead, on our left, 200 to 300 meters, a pair of BMPs dead-ahead if it weren't for these tenaments in the way."

Marcus pinched at and stroked his graying beard, thinking. "VADs, follow us close, guns right. Alexi, turret aft, be ready to traverse right, Rick load AP, prep the next AP, and be ready to dig into the HEAT rounds. Adrian, all ahead full, we're going to bust right through those walls and clear a path. Like Rick said, we just need to make it 200 meters before they realize what we're up to."

"Fucking hell..." Adrian swore as he gunned the engine and shifted to a lower gear and sped off, an ex-Isreali M163 VADS following the neat tank-sized hole they punched though several ranch-style apartment-buildings and disturbed many fine locals in the process. When they came out the other side, they were behind a dug-in T-72 at point-blank range.

"Traverse right! Tank!"

"Up!"

"Depression" The nearst tank was too close and too low to the ground, a slight flaw in Marcus's plan as the T-72's turret began to react to their presence

"Next target, tank, right! Adrian, find us some depression!"

"On it!" Adrian began driving around the tank they spooked, to buy them some time and maybe find something to get their treads on to get the gun down, but it was a losing proposition and the enemy tank's powered traverse was winning.

"Identified" Alexi shouted as she lined up on the further tank sat neatly on the main-road just as its engine was coming to life, the tank would soon be reversing into cover and popping smoke.

"Ramming!"

"Fucking WHAT?!"

Adrian ran his tank over the top of the dug-in T-72, then gunned the engine and grinding treads on steel as the slipping tracks literally tore the sights off the dug-in T-72 and upset the turret-ring, soft-killing it in place as the T-62 rolled-off and found level ground.

Behind them, the VADs was making its trademark "Brrrrrrrt" as it laid into a BMP-1 and its dismounted AT-team.

Alexi fired, the other tank was now engulfed in defensive smoke, but she knew where it HAD to have been a second ago and fired.

Marcus popped smoke as well, sowing absolute chaos in the enemy's forward defensive lines.

"Adrian, get us out of here and start laying a line of smoke for the PCs. I believe you may have just steamrolled their right flank."

Alexi kicked him in the back of the head, "And don't you EVER pull a stunt like that again!"

Rick popped his head out to lay some 40mm small-arms fire into the tank they just ran over.

“We're gonna need a new arm set on the auto loader, can you pass mx to have that ready later?” The main gunner bent over and examined the systems that were bent back but had clear stress marks and shining bare metal where the large tool had forced it back into alignment. Command could have it waiting for them or could sit on their ass all day waiting for parts and waste a whole night doing the job.

“Copy, still good to support advance?” The commander asked as he added that to a note pad for when he found the right radio net to report for maintenance teams. The radio crackled a bit. They watched from afar as they saw tanks and vehicles rolling into town with several groups of discounts beginning to break into the outskirts to set up spotters and such matters. Long they got targets, it was fine by them.

“Gunfire ready on your calls, you got priority bar all hands calls.” The commander to the armoured group said as he leant back on his seat and scanned the 30mm sights. Nothing bar cooling fires on the thermal and no real activity they had to worry about. It was however paranoia that kept you alive and he rotated to scan for smaller light drones that the 30mm would be fine to engage at close ranges.

“you need to buy better coffee, drive all good. Ready to go on command.” Nord said as they rested in the driver's seat. Having not needed to be busy, you took breaks where you could. A camo painted Stanley cup full of coffee, acrid bitter coffee that was obviously the cheapest crop found in the landing crafts stores. By all that's … who even purchased this. The engine rumbled on stand by quieter and powering the internal AC that was doing their best to cool, but this was the middle east.

“Noted.” The commander said as they took in the calm before the next storm.

Maddy paused and listened as Hex's voice came over her headset, confirming with a 'roger, wilco'. She looked on as T-rex moved off to the right, and turned back to give a wave of assurance to Anakin and the rest of the PzH's crew as the Osorio rolled forward, taking up position along with Belladonna and the comparatively sleek and low-slung shape of Achtung Trottel.
Grimacing at her lack of machine-gun, she ducked into the hatch a moment.
"Genie - I'm borrowing your SAW!"
"No problem boss. I keep it in good working order, and I promise to drive straight so you can hit what you're aiming at".
Maddy smirked at that as she recovered the light machine gun and unfolded the bipod, keeping it close at hand along with a spare box mag on the roof of the turret. The loader's hatch opened alongside her, and Leaky came up, checking over his M240 and sliding his dust goggles down over his eyes as the town loomed closer. Maddy's eyes flicked between the shapes of the angular, flat-roofed buildings that were so common to this region of the world with it's precious little rainfall and even less snow to be concerned about and need sloped roofs. Yards were enclosed by walls instead of fences, leaving numerous areas hidden from view, but conversely; the streets weren't paved and there were no sidewalks and little street furniture and only sparse, scrubby vegetation. Cars were parked up alongside the road here and there; older models mostly, most of them looking European and pre-Heavenfall, covered with dust from the environment and baking in the morning sun.
Everything seemed almost unnaturally still, save for the grinding of the armoured vehicles' engines and the sounds of her crew and the radio net as messages went back and forth - and then it was broken by the pop and crackle of gunfire in the near distance as one of the other crews engaged the hostiles.
The sudden sound was like a switch had been flipped, and small-arms fire started to lash out at the advancing trio of armoured vehicles.
"Shit!" Maddy swore as she ducked down, rounds pinging off the tanks' armour. Speaking quickly, she tucked herself in behind the M249 braced on the roof of the turret and opened fire as she yelled orders.
"Incoming fire from the two-storey building at our two-o-clock, and from the residential buildings to our 11 and ahead. I caught movement in the cross-alleys to our left and right, too! Disperse and engage at will; Belldonna, get some fire on that upper floor. Trottel, engage to the left!"

The boss was curt as usual. Maddy had a lot on her shoulders as it was, and Ash was only adding onto it. These mercenary outfits were always bumping through contracts with tanks that seemed like they were barely holding together. Hell, Ash had heard that the girls had to source the coaxial guns for the M60 as well as a new engine and transmission. They put a lot of their own money into Belladonna to keep her up, running, and happy. Yet Belladonna was a picky bitch and always a bit temperamental. Ash tried to keep her happy, but there was only so much she could do on her own.

As the Might Jalopy and Belladonna moved down the road, Roxy put the music back up. Darla was visibly on edge. Velvet was as well. The music was to help calm them down, which worked wonders. Velvet was looking for telltale signs of IEDs alongside Darla who was keeping an eye on their direct front. Ash was the only one totally at calm as she kept her eyes on the surroundings to try to spot any would-be day-ruiners. All it took was one well-placed RPG into their side and they'd be knocked out. Darla was always complaining about a lack of infantry support at times like this, but she was too focused to care right now.

There was a quiet. A hush. The entire crew went silent. Only the music and the engine could be heard. Something in their minds alerted them, like the split-second before a lightning strike. Then bullets started bouncing off the armor. To their credit, no one in the crew flinched. Maddy shouted her orders, to which Ash replied "Copy" and nothing else before switching back to thew crew channel.

"Fangs, coax, two story building on the right."
"Identified!"
"Pull the trigger til they don't get up."

The machine gun rattled as Darla sent rounds downrange. Ash swiveled her cupola to the left and lit off with the M2 Browning at the other building, peppering it with .50 cal rounds that chewed the walls up.

"Haymaker, keep your hands near those shotguns. We may get drones soon." Ash instructed.
"You got it."
"Doll, keep steady on this heading and get us a bit of distance from the others."
"Sure thing, boss!"