“Any targets on comms….” Anakin asked as he looked from his seat drinking coffee and looking at the screens. They had brief periods of great activity and long spells of waiting, boredom and delays. Artillery sat waiting quietly for the brief ear ringing comments of combat and action.
“None. Boss. No call outs. No feeds on the drone.” The Gunner replied, checking his screen and tapping into the command channel the arty crews were sharing. Some had fire missions but the Iron hides sector was quiet.. too bloody quiet. “Too quiet, too fucking quiet.” Xena replied as she leant back against the shell store stacked with rounds ready to fire and a growing number of empty shell slots, one special and rest standard HE shots.
“checking drone feeds.” Anakin said as he flicked between channels at the command station, feeds and frequency. He did not have full access but enough to check and get an idea of what was going on the battlefield. “Neg…wait… something. Movement, what ya think. ISR 13.” He said to the main gunner to run to the channel and pull up the footage of shapes distant moving in a half constructed building, concrete, cinder blocks with a large courtyard and what looked like tyre tracks and crates…
“Looks, reckon thats a Anti tank? Auto cannon modified?, but we got friendly on the next … bloody close shot. Could be an armory, not wanna go HE.” he looked over at the channels and what they had inventory, one mistaken loaded dummy shot, AP, HE, LASER, shotgun….
“What's distance on a tungsten… and a circle.” He asked as he also switched the channels about to their group.
“Group.. This is Anakin. Got a suspect house. Danger close. One street west. May have a secondary blast. Will be switching to tungsten shot, button down. Keep low. Frag effect only.”
“Set range. 3570 metres. Burst at 20 metres, 3530 metres detonate, high angle shot, scatter it on top like a pie plate.” The Gunner said with a stressed tone knowing how one digit out and their friends would have a few hundred holes in them. “Angle locked. Gun locked. Range locked. High angle one shot locked. Fuse set.” He repeated as lights came green confirming each stage was ready.
“3 charges. Ready.” Xena said as she sent the rammer home and the breach locked with a final sounding metal clunk.
“10… “ he started the countdown on the crew net radio and began to bounce his fingers on the controls at his station. A nervous moment and a real test of his crew.
….
The round roared over like a thundering truck as it broke the sound barrier, the gun rocked and the tracks creaked as a shell raced across the sky.
In a time that was fractional at best flying through the air, the shell struck not with force but the air burst detonated high, the shells angle and orientation sent a fan of Tungsten balls into the buildings upper story and roof sending hundreds of small balls that flew through materials with great plumes of dust that left a rising dusty haze over the building with light that shined through a structure filled with tiny holes like a star field.
“You guys ok?” Anakin asked as he nervously waited for the feed to update.
“None. Boss. No call outs. No feeds on the drone.” The Gunner replied, checking his screen and tapping into the command channel the arty crews were sharing. Some had fire missions but the Iron hides sector was quiet.. too bloody quiet. “Too quiet, too fucking quiet.” Xena replied as she leant back against the shell store stacked with rounds ready to fire and a growing number of empty shell slots, one special and rest standard HE shots.
“checking drone feeds.” Anakin said as he flicked between channels at the command station, feeds and frequency. He did not have full access but enough to check and get an idea of what was going on the battlefield. “Neg…wait… something. Movement, what ya think. ISR 13.” He said to the main gunner to run to the channel and pull up the footage of shapes distant moving in a half constructed building, concrete, cinder blocks with a large courtyard and what looked like tyre tracks and crates…
“Looks, reckon thats a Anti tank? Auto cannon modified?, but we got friendly on the next … bloody close shot. Could be an armory, not wanna go HE.” he looked over at the channels and what they had inventory, one mistaken loaded dummy shot, AP, HE, LASER, shotgun….
“What's distance on a tungsten… and a circle.” He asked as he also switched the channels about to their group.
“Group.. This is Anakin. Got a suspect house. Danger close. One street west. May have a secondary blast. Will be switching to tungsten shot, button down. Keep low. Frag effect only.”
“Set range. 3570 metres. Burst at 20 metres, 3530 metres detonate, high angle shot, scatter it on top like a pie plate.” The Gunner said with a stressed tone knowing how one digit out and their friends would have a few hundred holes in them. “Angle locked. Gun locked. Range locked. High angle one shot locked. Fuse set.” He repeated as lights came green confirming each stage was ready.
“3 charges. Ready.” Xena said as she sent the rammer home and the breach locked with a final sounding metal clunk.
“10… “ he started the countdown on the crew net radio and began to bounce his fingers on the controls at his station. A nervous moment and a real test of his crew.
….
The round roared over like a thundering truck as it broke the sound barrier, the gun rocked and the tracks creaked as a shell raced across the sky.
In a time that was fractional at best flying through the air, the shell struck not with force but the air burst detonated high, the shells angle and orientation sent a fan of Tungsten balls into the buildings upper story and roof sending hundreds of small balls that flew through materials with great plumes of dust that left a rising dusty haze over the building with light that shined through a structure filled with tiny holes like a star field.
“You guys ok?” Anakin asked as he nervously waited for the feed to update.