The compact craft swivelled its VTOL capable engines to the vertical position and pivoted around as it hovered, lining up on the speeding jet fighter.
Both aircraft opened fire, Moondancer throwing the swing-wing jet up on its left wing tip as he did. The AGP’s cannon fire flashed past either side of the fighter as the targeting reticule glowed red over the AGP and a loud growling tone sounded in his earphones.
The 20mm Vulcan cannon roared for a full ten seconds, firing 600 rounds of armour-piercing ammo into the left-side engine of the vertical take-off craft. The AGP began trailing smoke as it started losing altitude. Moondancer popped the Skystriker’s flaps, slats and airbrakes, dramatically reducing its speed, pulling it around in a tight turn and lined up on the AGP, which he was now closing in on from behind.
Moondancer lined up his second target and as the reticule glowed again, he fired a second, shorter, burst. The AGP banked, the 300 rounds shredding the pod’s rudder and perforating the right wing. The AGP wobbled badly and began losing altitude as it struggled to keep itself flying.
Moondancer turned the Skystriker back west and flew back to base.
February 16th, 1991
Westfield, suburb of Saint Sebastian
Action Force troops had pushed into the suburbs of Saint Sebastian. An assault group had entered the suburb of Northwood, as well as strike force entering Westfield.
The unit moving through Westfield comprised two Z Force HAVOCs, two Z Force battle tanks, one Z-Force Rapid Fire Bike, one Z Force Recon Cycle, one SAS Force Panther, one SAS Force recon jeep, one SAS Force Puma and a contingent of Z Force infantrymen and SAS Force Attack Troopers, led by Major Warhorse, with Bodycount and Boonie as his senior NCOs. Quickfire and Kukri were with the Northwood group, which Major Lionheart was leading.
The force was making its way toward the market square in the heart of Westfield. Bodycount was leading a recon element of the Recon Cycle, the Recon Jeep and one of the HAVOCs and eight Z Force infantrymen whilst the main force held back.
Bodycount keyed his radio. “Warhorse Actual, this is Recon Zero, we are approaching the market square. All clear so far.”
“Recon Zero, Warhorse Actual copies. Stay frosty, sarge.”
“Roger that, Actual.”
The vehicles were crawling forward, slowly, allowing the troops to keep pace. Bodycount was looking around at the three and four-storey tall buildings, his weapon up and ready, occasionally, turning to look back down the street. At the intersections, the convoy would pause and allow a pair of Infantrymen to peek down the side streets before they moved on. The area was eerily quiet, with no sign of civilians or Cobras.
They finally reached the market square, the centre of which was blocked by a massive barricade.
“Stay sharp, people,” Bodycount called.
He silently waved forward two infantry troopers, who trotted toward the barricade; weapons at the ready.
Suddenly gunfire erupted, cutting down the two troopers and sending the rest scuttling for cover. A rocket flashed out and blew apart the Recon Cycle, killing both Infantrymen manning it. The HAVOC and Recon Jeep immediately opened fire.
The infantry troopers began returning fire as Bodycount went to call for help, but his radio was being jammed.
“Dammit,” he swore. He returned fire; dropping one Viper he could see over the barricade.
A SAW-Viper opened up with sustained fire, which pinged off the bulletproof canopy of the HAVOC, before the rounds ‘walked’ up the vehicle to tear apart the Z Force gunner manning the two heavy guns.
Bodycount switched his grip on the M16 assault rifle and fired a grenade from his under-slung M203.
The SAW-Viper stopped firing. Bodycount dashed across the street to the HAVOC and scrambled up on to the vehicle, he shoved the dead Z-trooper’s body aside, settled into the seat and checked the controls for the 75mm ‘Leveller’ guns. They were still functional.
Bodycount immediately fired a pair of rounds into the barricade, blowing a huge hole in the makeshift barrier.
Metal, wood and body-parts flew into the air as the shells hit.
Bodycount’s radio cleared, the jamming obviously caused by a now-dead Tele-Viper.
“Recon, this is Warhorse Actual, report in!”
“Warhorse, this is Recon Zero, we’re under attack from a Cobra barricade in the market square. Send back up!” Bodycount shouted before switching frequencies as the HAVOC’s driver opened fire with the small 9mm twin-guns on the front.
“Recon, this is Zero, counter attack! Push into the barricade! Move, move, move!”
The recon jeep dropped two 40mm shells into the barricade, before it sped forward, one of the attack troopers leaning out the side to open fire with an FN MAG light machine gun.
The HAVOC charged the barricade next, the Z Force driver smashing part of the barricade as he drove through the hole. The Cobra troops were in disarray, but still managed to open fire at the armoured vehicle.
The Z-Force driver slew the vehicle around and Bodycount fired two more 75mm shells, smashing more of the barricade apart as the platoon of Action Force troopers charged through the gap, firing their assault rifles.
The Cobras began falling back, Bodycount feeling bullets slamming into the armoured seat back as the HAVOC’s engine roared it through another turn. The SAS Force commando raised his M16, flicked the selector switch to automatic, twisted his arm around so the gun was parallel to the ground and fired the assault rifle at the Cobras until the magazine emptied. Recoil didn’t mean anything when you’re holding the gun sideways and spraying rounds all over the place, Bodycount thought to himself. Two Vipers were cut down by his impromptu fusillade. He quickly reloaded and set the rifle back to burst-fire. As the HAVOC roared after the Cobras, Bodycount started firing aimed rounds at the retreating troopers.
The recon jeep whizzed past the HAVOC on the left, the Attack Trooper in the passenger seat, firing his MAG full auto.
The Cobras continued to run, falling back to the local police station, from where heavy fire rained down into the streets, forcing the Action Force troops to pull back out of range.
As sporadic fire rang out across the street, with both Cobras and Action Force troops trying to pick each other off, the rest of Major Warhorse’s group arrived.
Bodycount hopped down from the HAVOC and jogged back to the Major who was riding in the SAS Force Panther.
“Looks like the Cobras are holed up in the police station, sir.” Bodycount looked back at the building before continuing. “I know we’re supposed to be mindful of collateral damage, but we might need to consider heavy weapons to winkle them out.”
Warhorse nodded, silently looking at the four-storey building. He finally keyed his radio.
“Eagle, this is Warhorse. We’ve got Cobra cornered in the Westfield Police Station,” he began. “Request permission to engage with heavy weapons.”
There was a pause on the other end of the radio.
“Warhorse, this is Eagle. Permission granted. Take them down.”
“Copy, Warhorse out.”
Warhorse switched radio frequencies. “Warhorse 3-3, this is Actual engage the police station. All Warhorse elements, provide cover and support.”
The Z Force tank lumbered forward, moving around the HAVOC, raised its main 120mm cannon and fired a single shot into the front of the building.
The shell detonated above the station’s entrance, blowing off a large chunk of the building’s façade.
The Recon jeep and the infantry troops immediately opened fire, spraying rounds into the hole in the front of the building. Bodycount dashed back to the HAVOC, swung himself back into the gunner’s seat, raised the seat and guns on their hydraulics and fired a shell from both guns, blasting apart more of the building.
A second shell from the battle tank followed and then a voice came over the Action Force radios on the international distress frequency: “We surrender, we surrender!”
Saint Sebastian, Commonwealth capital
March 5th, 1991
“Fighting continues in the capital city of the Central African Commonwealth today, as Action Force continues their advance through the city. With no heavy armour to support them, the infantry troops and their light vehicles face several more days of prolonged fighting to weed out the remaining Cobra forces. Action Force’s successful pacification of Cobra troops in the suburbs of Westfield, Northwood and Southill was not met with similar success by the mercenaries known as the Iron Grenadiers. An airborne assault on the suburb of Eastchurch by the Iron Grenadiers went disastrously wrong when two of their transport planes were shot down as they deployed the Iron Anvil paratroopers. The planes crashed into a heavily populated part of the suburb, leaving hundreds dead and scores more wounded. That situation was made even worse as the Iron Grenadiers engaged the Cobra forces in the area in a three-day pitched battle to secure the crash-site. It’s understood from sources in the exiled Commonwealth government that President Kowombe was furious and personally contacted the IG commander, a man known only as ‘General Mayhem’, to demand the Grenadiers cease operations in the capital or he would order Action Force to destroy the airfield the Iron Grenadiers were using as their base. Since then, Action Force has advanced into the capital proper, using only light vehicles such as jeeps and Armoured Troop Carriers to support their infantry, moving from building to building, street to street to secure them. Cobra are in disarray, with their air support destroyed along with the majority of their vehicles.”
Skip turned off the radio to concentrate on the transcript of Lieutenant Orion’s report. The paratrooper was leading his team as one of the three advance elements of the assault into the capital. It wasn’t the kind of battle Orion and his men were trained for, but they were coping so far.
Lt. Orion’s paratroop team were ahead of the main Z-Force infantry group on the southern flank. Captain Bloodhound’s SAS Force Advance Recon team were in the centre, with the SAS Force Airborne Spearhead on the northern flank. Skip glanced up to the street map of the capital that was pinned to one wall of the office that was Action Force’s forward command post. The Action Force advance was about halfway across the city, whilst the command post was on the western edge of Saint Sebastian. Once again, Skip cursed having been promoted so highly he had to sit back from the frontline. As he was contemplating the map, Eagle strode into the room. The SAS Force commander looked harried.
“Quickfire’s just reported in,” Eagle commented. “His squad’s got a solid lead on the Cobra force commander. They think it’s Reptile.”
Skip smiled at that news. “Great, where is he?”
“They spotted him heading into a building in Walter Lutulu Avenue. The report concludes with a request for back up. Bloodhound’s team have had to swing north to back up Bulldog’s group because they’ve run into a Cobra strong point. I’ve already got Warhorse leading a unit of Attack Troopers forward to keep up the momentum in the centre of our advance. What back up can you muster?”
Skip looked at the map once more. Captain Longbow and Major Lionheart were commanding the bulk of the Z-Force group behind Orion’s Paratroopers. The pathfinders were ahead of the advance by a couple of streets.
“The quickest element I could move up is Orion’s paratroop squad,” Skip said. “They’re about three streets away.”
“Do it. If we can snatch Reptile, chances are we can end this war fast,” Eagle said.
Skip nodded in agreement. He headed out to the radio room.
David Murugu Avenue, Saint Sebastian
That same time
Lieutenant James O’Ryan, also known as ‘Orion’, was watching Spider as the Frenchman carefully advanced along the street. The former member of the Foreign Legion’s 2nd Parachute Regiment was carefully scouting the street, his MP5 sub-machine gun up and ready as he moved.
Next in the line of the squad was the American sergeant Sam Ross, known as Patriot. Like Utah, Patriot had been in Action Force since it’s inception. He was the squad’s marksman, carrying an M24 sniper rifle. Behind Orion were Tank, the unit’s West German support gunner, with his light machine gun and Hammer, the Spaniard who lugged around a light anti-tank weapon as well as his assault rifle.
Suddenly, Orion’s radio beeped quietly. Spider dropped to one knee next to a wrecked car and glanced back at the junior officer. Orion waved him into a nearby shop that had its doors blown off.
Inside the shop, Orion hit the transmission button.
