Chapter 96 - A10
Anna carried Del and his backpack on her back as she tried to avoid being spotted by the Imperial soldiers. Del held his M16 with the only hand that was still functional. He needed to destroy the tanks with the resources that he had. RPG was no longer an option. Now, he needed a much more expensive option.
"Anna, open the tablet on my backpack and call in an airstrike using the killstreak menu," Del said as he held his M16 on his right hand firmly.
Anna was holding Del with one hand so it wasn\'t a big issue to grab the tablet on the outermost layer of the backpack as she ran while carrying his own brother. He opened the tablet and enter the search bar for the killstreak menu.
"THOSE ARE THE FEDERALS!" One of the soldiers shouted.
Anna peeked and six soldiers were chasing her. Anna ran faster as she tried to choose the menu with only one hand.. She managed to open the menu and she didn\'t have any idea what option he should choose, but she had an idea on what she should call.
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[Killstreak Menu]
[Tech Level: 6] [Total Balance: 127,870$]
[Sentry Gun] [5,000$]
[Precision UAV] [20,000$]
[Precision Airstrike] [50,000$]
[Juggernaut Suit] [60,000$]
[Cluster Strike] [80,000$]
[Cruise Missile] [120,000$]
[Chopper Gunner] [150,000$]
[Escort Helicopter] [180,000$]
[Gunship] [120,000$/Hour]
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Anna chose the [Precision Airstrike] option.
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[Precision Airstrike] has been purchased. Remaining Balance: 77,870$
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"Alpha 1-2, standing by for targets," someone said on the radio.
"Do you have a laser pointer or something? We need to mark the targets for them," Anna asked as she kept running.
"I have one in my back pocket, grab that and shine the tank with that," Del said.
Anna put her hands in Del\'s back pocket and found the laser pointer. It was like a flashlight, but it was for pointing the laser. Anna pointed the laser at the general location of the tanks to give the attacker plane a target to attack.
Anna shook her hand as she marked her target, "C\'mon, c\'mon, drop the bombs already."
"Alpha 1-2, the target is marked. CAS inbound."
The sound of a jet engine roaring from the distance became louder and louder. The soldiers that were chasing them stopped once they heard the noise they never heard before. Del aimed his rifle at them and shoot them all. He spent all of the rounds left in his M16 and they dropped dead.
"Anna, let me down, they\'re gone," Del said.
"Alpha 1-2, dropping bomb."
One bomb exploded and destroyed two light tanks at once. The soldiers were running in disarray as the bomb exploded around them. The machine gunner on top of the tank started raining the plane with the rounds from their heavy machine guns.
"Alpha 1-2, two targets are down, will return for another sweep."
The jet took a very steep climb to the sky and Del caught a glimpse of it. The attack jet was none other than the A-10 ground attack jet. It was the main aircraft that the air force used to help the ground troops.
"Who\'s smiling now, huh?" Anna leaned to the tree and looked at the fireworks created by the aircraft.
"Alpha 1-2, doing another strafe."
The jet flew right past the tanks and fire its GAU-8 cannons at the tank company. The gun produced its iconic sounds as a bunch of sparks appeared from the tanks and destroying it. The armor of those tanks wasn\'t hard enough to deflect the power of DU 30mm rounds.
The small explosions produced by the 30mm cannons killed the infantry surrounding the tanks alongside the tents that they had placed earlier to stay in that position until the sun came up again. The A-10 fired its AGM-114 missiles at the medium tanks and destroyed it all.
The remaining targets were two light tanks remaining. The A-10 needed to make a turn first before it could engage the target again. Del observed that the Imperial soldiers were running away from the open ground and started entering the forest.
Del put another fresh magazine into his M16 and he shot at anyone that came close to his direction. However, Anna seemed to be the one that got the most kill thanks to her mostly unscratched condition. Anna leaned his back on the tree while she took most of the approaching soldier with her silenced M16.
"They are running away like ants, don\'t you think?" Anna asked.
"Yeah," Del commented.
"Alpha 1-2, firing missiles."
The missiles flew in the direction of the last tanks and destroyed them. The whole grassland in front of him had turned into a fireworks display from the burning tanks. Dead bodies were everywhere. Insides were scattered throughout the grassland thanks to the power of 30mm rounds.
"Alpha 1-2. CAS is completed. RTB."
"Wish I can smoke something now," Anna muttered as she enjoyed the view of burning tanks.
"You are smoking? I never know about that," Del said.
"And you\'re alcoholic, both of us are no better, right?" Anna said.
"Where did you find out my secret hobby here? Never mind that, hey, at least, we survive, right?" Del asked.
"Should we report to the officer?" Anna asked.
"Not yet, let\'s take a rest here," Del said.
Anna sat down right next to Del and she put the backpack on the ground. The enemies were retreating from that location and they relaxed on that forest although with a rifle in their hands. It should be a lesson from both of them that they shouldn\'t underestimate a regular unit. Still, no one fell into a coma unlike the last time so the mission was successful for the most part.
Del and Anna lifted their night vision goggles from their head. Del looked at his own injury and tried to assess the condition of his shoulder. The cut was deep, but it didn\'t end up touching one of the bones in his shoulder. Besides, he had medical volunteers that would mend him at the end.
Anna grabbed the canteen on her belt and opened the mouth part of her bandage. She drank the water and he offered Del, "Want some?"
"Sure," Del retrieved the canteen.
"Why do you think these two are fighting? Was it truely because of political reasons?"
"Yeah, I think so. Ilbistirum Imperial wanted to keep the monarchy while the Federal Republic of Ilbistirum wanted to abolish them. It\'s just the fight of principle, but I understand that it\'s also a fight for their ways of life," Del commented.
"How so?" Anna asked.
"Simple, with royalties, not every people can have education, without royalties, everyone can have access to education. They simply didn\'t want to be kept in the dark for long. Not only that, without royalties, everyone has the chance to reach a higher social status," Del said.
"I see your point, Del, you\'re always interested in politics and medicine too much, don\'t you think?" Anna asked.
"What makes you say that?" Del asked.
"I meant, a year ago, you have a debate with Hannah about federal government versus unitary government. After that, you also have debate with another medical volunteer on the infirmary because she gave Eric Tylenol instead of Ibuprofen," Anna commented.
"Let\'s just say that Hannah and I arrived at a conclusion. About Eric, he was having an inflamation on his right leg so I decided to give him Ibuprofen instead of Paracetamol, but Indy didn\'t approve it by saying that Ibuprofen was an overkill," Del said.
"Alright, enough of the explanation, yes yes, I know you\'re right," Anna nodded.
"And you\'re clumsy, remember the axe that you dropped on my feet, or the knife that you accidentally stabbed on my arm?" Del asked.
"C\'mon, Del, the axe was slippery because someone, which is you, decided that oiling the wooden handle without wiping the excess oil was a good idea. About the knife, I think it was my bad, sorry," Anna shrugged.
"Alright, alright, I get that point," Del said.
Del and Anna leaned on the same tree. Two of them took a break. So far, Del had nearly been killed twice and Anna had outsmarted her grim reaper once. Overall, life in another world wasn\'t as beautiful as they previously dreamed of. Del eventually went to sleep in that forest and Anna kept her eyes opened for any approaching Imperial soldiers.