CASE - A Fluffy Lesbian Science Fiction

"Why exactly didn't we just drone swarm those fucking guns, ma'am?!" One of my marines called out to me as we were almost knee-deep in metal scrap, firing our guns almost constantly.

"Because…" I had to stop talking for a moment as I gunned down five more mechanoids in our proximity. "The radiation interferes with the drone's controls too much, soldier!" I yelled back. Trust me, if I could send a drone swarm to take out those guns, I would. But it was already hard enough for the scout drones to get a good picture from afar. Drone swarms this close to the surface would just drop dead after a couple of meters. "Do you think I wouldn't rather sit on my girlfriend's lap right this moment, damnit?!" It was good this gun could blast a mechanoid apart basically anywhere I hit one of them, because aiming was not easy at the minute. Four more mechanoids exploded in contact with my bullets.

We had been fighting for about four hours straight right now and we were getting close to the defences that could give us a clear shot on the anti-aircraft guns. We still had a long way to go to the compound itself but the signs of fatigue were starting to show. The mechanoids had definitely proven to offer stiffer resistance than what we'd expected, although luckily, apart from some scrapes, grazes and the friendly fire incident from earlier, we had mainly been spared from injuries.

The first ring that was our target had some outer defences which we'd finally reached, but that offered some challenges of its own as mechanoids started to stream out of the multiple exits these concrete fortifications provided. Presumably emptying out from the bowels of a tunnel network below. The exits made for good kill-zones but we still needed to be careful for the return fire that streamed from it. As while we were concerned about friendly fire, the mechanoids were not.

"Get those tunnelbuster rounds ready! We don't need to kill them, trapping them works just as well."

"Already on it, Commander." The tanks started to pick their targets and fired the first couple of rounds into the exits of the fortifications, collapsing the reinforced concrete almost immediately, trapping the mechanoids on the other side of an avalanche of debris. Would this stop them forever? Probably not. But even if we could seal the entrances for at least an hour, it could provide us with a big enough advantage for it to be well worth the effort.

"Press forward!" I gestured to the front towards our target, one more push and we could finally silence the anti-aircraft guns. "Squads, prepare charges to do the same thing inside of the main defensive structure. We just need to create space for the artillery team to set up."

I got confirmation from all my squad leaders as their designated marines started to use the fabricators on the back of the tanks to create the specialized explosives.

During our push the scout team had abandoned their last position as we had fought ourselves past the range where their mortars would be effective. Having finally just made their way back to the tail end of our assault column, Sergeant De Smet ran over to me with his troops.

"Sorry we are late, Commander. We set up some mine deployers on our way here but had to dodge some incoming groups of bogies while we were at it." In the distance I could hear explosions going off as one of said mine deployers had probably done its work. "Do you need us anywhere?"

I took a quick look at the squad and while they were trying to keep a brave face, I could tell by their breathing that they were exhausted, quite a bit more than the rest of our force, understandably so. But sadly for them I couldn't really rotate them out for the time being, that said, I could give them a task that was less physically taxing, although one that wasn't really in their wheelhouse. "Attach yourself to the medical team for the time being."

"You sure, Commander?"

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"Yes, that was an order, Sergeant, move it."

Sergeant De Smet sighed but followed my order nonetheless, taking his squad with him to the next tank. Being put on the sidelines wasn't something they wanted to do right now, but at least it gave them a way to recoup some of their stamina.

And that was basically what I kept doing for the next hour, keeping an eye on the exhaustion levels of the squads that were fighting in our vanguard and changing their position with squads that were making up the rear guard. I needed them to be as fresh as possible for the assault on the next defensive sections and this was the best possible solution. Halting the entire column to set up camp was just simply not possible. We would get swamped by a never-ending wave of mechanoids if we held the same ground for too long and even if we didn't, it would make finishing the operation a lot harder.

And then, just thirty minutes later, the moment was finally at hand to storm the first major checkpoint in this operation, the highly fortified and massive outer defensive ring. The tanks used their canons to blast their way through the outer gate section, which wasn't too hard as there wasn't really much of a gate left, and set up a defensive perimeter trying to halt mechanoid assaults coming from inside of the ring with two squads covering the rear. With the other quads , our now partially rested scout team included, to infiltrate the gate tower structures. The medic team together with me and my personal bodyguard stayed outside next to the tanks as it was the safest place to be.

Explosions rocked the towers as the explosive charges went off to block the interior routes towards the positions we had picked for our railguns. A part of me feared that the explosives would bury my own troops, but I trusted in the expertise of my demolition experts so I could focus on holding the line until we could start the next phase of the operation.

The main road in front of us, between the third and second ring of fortifications, was remarkably a lot clearer of debris than the area we had just fought through. This gave us clear lines of fire from the open gate, making our engagement range several times higher than what we had been dealing with. Especially useful for our machinegunners as they could now really put up big zones of fire control.

Gunny took this advantage to heart and took a knee to stabilize his double heavy machinegun loadout and just started to put fire down the range while one of the medics, currently without a job to do, just loaded ammo canister after ammo canister on the racks at Gunny's thighs. I could only imagine the grin on Gunny's face as the firepower burst down the range. The tanks as well could shoot all their machineguns and cannons unhindered by tall buildings or piles of debris. In contrast we only received a very minimal amount of fire back. In a way surprising as we didn't really have much cover either, but I wasn't about to complain about good fortune.

Fifteen minutes of laying down fire later, we finally got word from Delta squad that they had reached the top of the tower and that they were setting up the railgun as they were speaking. Only moments later we got the sign that they were ready.

"Select targets and open fire." I commanded.

A dust cloud gushed from the top of the tower and at practically the same time in the distance an explosion could be seen as the first shot of the railgun had connected with its target. "Target one down. Engaging the next target now." Delta squad notified.

A windup of ten seconds later and the same events unfolded once more, this time the explosion wasn't visible from our location as it was obstructed by the second wall in the distance, nonetheless I got confirmation that the second target had been destroyed.

And like that we continued to defend our position while Delta squad swiftly and surely worked through all the targets that had been set before the start of the op, opening up the airspace for our shuttles to utilize.

As our communication link to the ship was currently not up, we used one of our tanks to shoot a flare round into the air which was our signal to the UFS Roald Amundsen and the shuttles in orbit to start phase two.

With roaring fire the shuttles descended into our sector only ten minutes later lighting almost the entire second defensive wall up with blue flames.

"The cavalry has arrived, Commander." They then proceeded to circle around our back to take out groups of mechanoids that were attacking our rear too. "Your friendly eyes in the sky say you're ready to go, providing close fire support where needed."

"Thank you, Hawk-one. We are pulling out of the towers to start our piercing run at the main compound."

-With this air support we should be able to cover the rest of the distance a lot faster…-