Grimoires and Gunsmoke

The first rays of the sun broke over the eastern horizon, painting the Ohio landscape with hues of orange and gold. Yet, in contrast to this serene setting, the AH-64E Apache helicopters of 3rd Platoon, Bravo Squadron, surged forward, their rotors cutting through the morning air. Flying low and fast, they utilized the early morning light to their advantage, the sun at their backs casting long shadows in front of them and masking their approach on the horde heading towards New Philadelphia.

"Warmonger, Rebound 1, heading 2-7-0," Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jessica “Rebound” Moore's voice echoed through the Battle Network. “Moving to engage the main body of the horde.”

"Hold one, Rebound," came the stern reply from HQ, a hint of urgency evident in the voice. "Rebound, we need you to divert immediately to heading 2-9-0. The troops downtown are being overrun, they need air support ASAP."

Jessica’s gunner, Warrant Officer Michael "Kanga" Rew, responded with a hint of skepticism, "Wait, what? What about the skimmers? Wouldn’t we be sitting ducks further away from our formation?" Heasked over the local net.

A brief moment of static ensued while Jessica mulled over the new instructions they’d just received. The skimmers were fast, and there was something to be said about protection in numbers, especially with the Marine’s AH-1Z Vipers flying around with Sidewinder missiles.

“Warmonger, say again? Confirm you want us to break off?” Jessica inquired with a voice full of concern. “We’d be extremely vulnerable on our own out there.”

There was another pause that put everyone on edge before a reply finally came crackling through the radio as the noise of the operations center filtered in through the background. "Intel is reporting that the skimmers, along with the main body of dragons, are being pulled back. Airspace over New Philadelphia is clear. But our boys on the ground don’t have the luxury of waiting. They're in a tight spot. They need you there, now."

Michael threw his head over his shoulder and exchanged glances with his pilot in command before the woman returned to comms, “Understood Warmonger. Breaking right, heading 2-9-0.”

Switching to her platoon communication, Jessica started issuing instructions, splitting the platoon up into flights of two. "Listen up, we’re going to split into flights to ensure we aren't putting all our eggs in one basket in case the intel is off. Boomer, you’re gonna pair up with Agony, Costco you're with me. We're going to hit them from the east, Boomer, you and agony are gonna divert and come at them from the north over the town."

A series of affirmatives resound over the radio, each pilot acknowledging their new orders as Apaches shifted seamlessly into their new formations while their engines whined. Jessica watched as the two helicopters broke off and flew north to fulfill their new purpose. But her attention quickly shifted to her own path and the silhouette of Costco's Apache beside hers.

“We’re totally going to die.” Warrant Officer 2 Giovanni “Costco” Fontana, always one to make a joke when things seemed bleak, spoke up with a chuckle.

Jessica grinned and shook her head at the familiar bravado and glanced at the idiot. “Shut up, Gio.”

As they steadily made their way to the town, the morning sun cast both of the aircraft shadows over the small road below. The serene beauty almost tricked Jessica into thinking this was another training mission to get some extra stick time, but reality quickly set in as she spotted heavy smoke plumes of the burning town billowing over the horizon.

Giovanni’s playful demeanor shifted, and he tightened his grip on the Apache's controls. “You seeing that?”

“Yeah,” Jessica replied, narrowing her eyes at the dark clouds in the distance. “Looks like they couldn’t hold them at the outskirts...”

Their path had been strategic, keeping them low and close to the winding roads, offering them the protective cloak of the trees and terrain. But the impending urgency dictated a change in strategy. The spiraling plumes of smoke intensified as they drew closer, signaling that the town was bearing the brunt of the onslaught.

“Rebound, this is Costco. We should move faster, feed from the drones is showing that things are looking bad.” Giovanni immediately transitioned to their call signs as a grave undertone replaced his usual casual voice.

Clenching her teeth, Jessica wrestled with the decision of keeping things slow and steady or opt for a more direct approach and pull up. The looming threat of skimmers still hung over her like a shadow, if ISR was incorrect, they’d be on top of them like flies on shit. “Damn it! Alright. Break the tree line, we’re punching it straight through to town and hope that HQ hasn’t fucked us."

“Copy that, Rebound.” The second Apache confirmed as both of them pulled up on their flight controls, sending the helicopters soaring upwards.

The duo elevated sharply, slicing through the morning mist that had settled above the treetops. The sudden exposure to open skies brought with it a heightened vulnerability and they braced for the worst. Yet as the four pilots scanned the horizon looking for any sign of giant flying lizards, they were greeted with nothing but the open expanse of the Ohio sky.

The expected threat didn’t materialize.

“Horizon’s clear, climb!” Jessica ordered, nudging her aircraft higher, searching for that perfect vantage point. Giovanni’s Apache followed suit, their rotors humming in harmony as they rose.

From their new altitude, the grim tapestry of the battle unfurled beneath them. The once tranquil town of New Philadelphia was now a maelstrom. Flames and explosions of varying sizes, some dwarfing the buildings themselves, completely consumed the town. However, what struck Jessica most was the bizarre interplay of colors that mixed in with the chaos. Unnatural greens, purples, and violets that hinted at the otherworldly powers shimmered in the air, while strange hexagonal blues acting as shields, causing ordinance to detonate prematurely or simply bounce off.

"I've never seen anything like this," Giovanni murmured, equal parts awed and horrified.

As they neared the town they saw that the ground combat below was like watching a blend of modern warfare mixed in with scenes straight out of a fantasy film. Soldiers fired conventional weapons while mages, identified by the colored spell they flung around, sent the elemental hurling in every which direction. The landscape was filled with pockets of clashes: soldiers taking on strange creatures, tanks battling gigantic hyena-like monsters, and Bradley’s trying to bring down the large blue shield that was steadily marching towards them.

“Rebound 1 and 2 checking in, Flight of 2 Apaches holding east 5 miles, ordinance to follow.” Jessica made the call for both of them, letting the ground forces know that they were in position and ready to provide close air support.

A near unintelligible voice crackled back on the radio with the intense sounds of gunfire in the background, "Roger! Be advised we’re-” The voice suddenly cut off as more intense gunfire drowned his voice out. “We’re north of the river, and west of the burning office building!"

Jessica and Giovanni flew their aircraft closer to the town as the gunners on board each Apache worked their sensors, trying to identify the mentioned landmarks. They relied heavily on the thermal imaging system and laser rangefinders to zero in on the exact locations amidst the chaos.

“Got ‘em.” Michael called out as he used the high-resolution sensor suite to zoom in on the soldiers fighting positions.

And what he saw was an absolute cluster fuck. Burning and molten military vehicles dotted the entire town as friendly and enemy lines mixed into a chaotic melee. The once-paved roads were cracked, torn apart by a mix of explosive munitions and raw elemental power. The intersections became whirlwinds of combat, where soldiers became overrun with otherworldly creatures.

The defenders were barely holding on by a thread as their lines slow started to crumble under the weight of the floods of enemy forces.

“Be advised, you got a whole bunch of guys coming up at you from the south.” Michael's voice crackled over the radio as he monitored the situation. “They’re all trying to maneuver on your position through the alleyways.”

“Roger, you’re cleared hot on any moving targets to our south and to our east!!” The voice responded, the sound of the raging battle nearly drowning out his voice. “Be advised, we have friendlies to the north and the west! Commanders initials, Papa, Mike! Engage, engage!”

Jessica tightened her grip on the flight controls as the weight of the situation pressed on her. Her aircraft maneuvered closer and hovered in place allowing Michael a steady platform to choose his targets.

“Rebound 1 copies all, we will be engaging.” Michael used his sensors to track dozens upon dozens of what seemed to be werewolves and one of those massive Hyena-like creatures. All of them were flooding up the road and bolting towards friendly positions in a frenzied manner.

However he painted the Hyena with his rangefinder and laser and got back on the radio. “We got a whole bunch of guys maneuvering, we’re engaging.” The gunner said as a Hellfire missile slid off the rack with a deadly hissed and arced up towards the sky.

Michael could see the heatwave from the missile's rocket plume, and just a few moments later, a massive explosion encompassed the Hyena, causing it to crumple to the and skid along the asphalt. Not wasting time, the gunner switched to his 30mm chain gun and went cyclic on the beasts sprinting up the road.

The helicopter shuddered with each shot, as 30mm rounds were expelled from the helicopter at an astonishing rate. Each round created plumes of death as they hit the ground, showering everyone and everything in their vicinity. Beings who caught direct hits were blown apart while others were sent tumbling in disarray, clutching at their body.. Those that survived the initial onslaught were left disoriented, scrambling for cover.

With each turn of the head, the gunner reaped death with his Target Acquisition Sight (TADS) attached to his helmet. This allowed the gunner to simply turn his head in order to control the Chain gun mounted beneath the fuselage with lethal precision. His Forward Look Infrared (FLIR) system painted the world in black and white, illuminating heat signatures and making it so no one could hide from his sight.

Giovanni mirrored the action as his own Apache loosed a Hellfire missile at another large creature, this one resembling a towering ogre with a massive pot belly and thick, armored skin. The missile found its mark, the impact igniting a ball of fire, leaving only a charred, smoldering carcass in its wake.

“Be advised you still have a massive force converging on your position from south to north.” Jessica warned through the radio, her eyes darting between the gun cam feed and their surroundings. There was still a high probability of them being intercepted by a skimmer and she needed to keep her head on a swivel.

The soldier on the other end, sounding breathless, responded, “Roger that, we're moving! We're moving west, continue to engage!”

Jessica glanced at the navigation screen to get a bead on the soldier's new position. "Copy, covering your movement to the west." She replied as the aircraft shuddered from another long volley of 30mm that was released.

Michael was relentless. The man continued to focus his fire and rain death on the largest clusters of enemies that were foolish enough to clump together. But then, something on his FLIR system caught his attention. A cluster of humanoid figures, each of varying sizes, were slowly progressing much further down the road. They were grouped tightly around another humanoid figure, distinct from the rest. Unlike the others, this figure emitted an unusual energy that barely registered on Michael's FLIR, revealing itself as a series of interconnected hexagons that formed a semi circle around the group.

Intrigued, Michael zoomed in for a closer look. The shield seemed to be focused primarily in the direction of the ongoing conflict, protecting the figures behind it from any harm. The energy source was complex and unlike anything he'd seen in the field before. It was clear that this shield was the reason why this particular group was untouched by the ongoing firefight.

Hypothesizing the figure at its center would be key to taking down this defensive mechanism, Michael quickly switched over to his Hellfires. The gunner painted the target with his laser and then loosed a Hellfire missile.

The missile arced upwards, leaving a heat distorted air in its wake before descending rapidly towards its target.

“God damn!” Jessica shouted in surprise when she saw the missile impact from her own feed.

The dull blue barrier had immediately flickered out, but this was accompanied by bodies and… body parts flying in every which way. Meanwhile, Michael chose to show no mercy for the stunned survivors and switched to his 30mm once again, raining down a deadly hail of high explosive rounds upon them.

Tiny explosions showered the formations that slowly trailed behind the former barrier, peppering everyone with shrapnel. The two pilots watched from their aerial vantage point as the mass of alien soldiers panicked. The once-cohesive unit that had been shielded was now a scattering of individual fighters desperately seeking cover and regrouping.

"Rebound 2, this is Rebound 1. Eyes on a large enemy formation just north of the river and south of the intersection of the burning office building. Coordinating fire. Over." Michael's voice was calm and measured over the radio as he adjusted the Apache's fire to the where the invaders were trying to make their escape.

"Copy, Rebound 1. Tally on your target. Engaging with Hellfires, over." The voice of Rebound 2's gunner crackled back.

Jessica banked the Apache slightly to give Michael a better firing angle. "You’re a fucking demon, Mike," she chuckled, watching the enemy troops scramble back towards their comrades as their escape avenue erupted into shards of death.

“Fuck ‘em.” Michael replied as kept up the pressure

A sudden, intense flare of light broke the night as the telltale trail of a Hellfire missile from Rebound 2's Apache raced towards the ground. Michael could almost feel the raw energy in the air just seconds before the missile made contact.The very ground seemed to tremble, even from their altitude. The missile detonated in the heart of the alien formation, creating another catastrophic explosion that instantly consumed scores of the tightly clustered enemy.

Michael launched his own Hellfire and watched as the concussive force of the explosion expanded outward, turning every being within its radius into mere fragments, indistinguishable from the next.

From the northeast, the unmistakable roar of rotors heralded the arrival of their redirects as two more Apache attack helicopters from their platoon emerged over the horizon, their silhouettes menacing against the backdrop of the burning town below.

“Rebound 1, this is Rebound 3. Looks like you've been having a party without us," joked the lead pilot of the reinforcing choppers. “Be advised, 2 more Apaches on station, ordinance to follow.” He announced to the beleaguered friendly ground forces.

Jessica grinned while adjusting her flight pattern. "Glad you could join us. We’ve been thinning the herd, but there's plenty left for everyone."

The morning grew even brighter as the newly arrived Apaches began to unleash their own versions of hell onto the alien invaders below. Alien Ogres and the hulking, nimble Hyenas that were systematically wiped out by the air to ground missiles, leaving the poor fucking infantry to run head first into tank and machine gun fire with no support.

"Rebound 1, tallying your previous targets. We're going to take the east side. Light up anything that moves," Rebound 4's gunner reported, their Apache banking smoothly to position for optimal fire.

"Copy that, Rebound 4. Watch out for the structures on the east side; there's been squirters holding up in there," Jessica advised, as she peered at the horizon one more time. The Pilot-in-Command tilted the Apache to provide a clearer line of sight for her gunner to give him the best firing angles possible.

As Michael kept dispatching his deadly rounds below, Jessica’s attention remained southward, always alert for any sign of the aerial skimmers they were so accustomed to encountering. It seemed odd; every time they were in the thick of it, the agile skimmers were their most prominent aerial threat. They were fast, nimble, and notoriously hard to shake off once they had you in their sights.

The realization dawned on her slowly, a mix of surprise and disbelief. Were they not being intercepted because they were too low on the enemy's priority list? Or was it something else? She glanced over the HUD, then down to the burning town, then back up to the empty skies. "Maybe they've actually left," she murmured, more to herself than to Michael.

“What?” Michael asked, momentarily looking away from the targeting system.

“They’ve pulled back. The skimmers... the air support... it's gone. They've left their ground forces to fend for themselves," Jessica cringed as she watched another detonation in the street that sent people flying.

Michael refocused on his feed and let loose another round of 30mm causing the enemy's ground troops to scatter and retreat from the devastating firepower raining down on them. “Good, fuck ‘em.”

Jessica could do nothing but let out another chuckle as she made one more pass over the now blunted enemy assault. She almost felt a strange twinge of pity, seeing the desperate alien soldiers below, clearly overwhelmed and outmatched without the support they were probably counting on. But that sentiment was regulated to an ‘almost’. They chose to come here, after all.

"Poor fucking infantry, indeed." She laughed as the chaingun on her aircraft caused it to shudder one more time.