Ontop of a hill, wooden and earth battlements impose themselves through firepower, the bandit’s last stand. Their AR-15s, AKs and whatever other gucci equipment they managed to bring with them is on against our boys.
We aren’t much better off than them in equipment, our mortars are out of ammo, and our snipers can’t get a good view of their gunners.
These kids have done their homework and if nothing is to be done this will either end in a stalemate or in a reprise of what happened with the Irish in Katanga.
“Our guys can’t move up, they are suppressed. At least they don’t have any heavy weapons or enough ammo, this should hopefully be over by midnight” Lt “Black” said over the main frequency. His voice was calm, the sound of gunfire and yelling could be heard through his speak.
“No... “ The responding voice took a moment to think, the sound of breathing could be heard against the mic. “Yeah, I think we should send the Brazilians.” It felt as if he deliberated for some seconds more before finally deciding.
“Travassus, my friend, how are your boys doing? Ready to go?” He spoke to me, but i couldn’t understand exactly what he said
“Uh, YES! Travassus here, say again Captain Lock, I couldn't understand.” I said as if I just woke up from my daydreamings.
“TRAVASSUS-CHAN! We need you to move towards the frontlines, we need the Cascavel there!” He yelled through the radio
“YES SIR! I’ll wake up the boys, pray for us. ETA 2 minutes unless Vapo is having a bad day” I came to attention in my seat and yelled to my mic, pure energy coursing my veins.
“Perfect, that’s why I love you Brazilians, out” He finished the transmission.
“Chingi! ter- I mean finish it, we’re moving out!” I said to our resident Quebecoi priest, well he’s not a priest but he’s our best theologian and a good friend of ours in particular.
He moved away from the Cascavel, leaving his rune drawing unfinished.
He was carving a Calvary cross onto the side of the hull
“Good luck guys” He said.
I took a map of the region, a drawing made by myself. They taught me to know the terrain before operations and I took it into heart, although it’s not a complete map. We’ll have to go through a small wooded area before reaching the hill, and there’s no roads.
“First platoon, tell your guys to get down and wait for the fucking monkeys!” A garbled voice came through the radio, along with the sound of gunfire and yelling
“Jao, acorda caralho!” I yelled over to my napping gunner, along with a short punch to his shoulder.
“You too Vapo! Turn the engine on, the gringos need our help!” I yelled down towards the also napping driver.
“Why do we gotta help those fucking gringos for fuck’s sake. I was having a nice dream, about to be tied to a bed by a Wo-” The gunner said in a sleepy voice, yawning. He was promptly interrupted by me.
“I don’t wanna hear it caralho, get ready and load a HESH shell” I yelled
“I ain’t gonna wait for those useless chimps and their obsolete monkey-mobile, they are probably sleeping anyway. We gonna fucking bayonet charge those niggers.” A boston-accent voice responded on the radio, the sound of yelling and gunshots was way closer now.
“Ok I'm gonna put some music on then, Vapo has had music privileges for all this time” Jao said, while moving down towards the driver’s seat.
“Oh fuck nigga! Turning this shit on right now.” Vapo said, shortly after the Detroit Diesel engine came to life with a roar.
Now playing on the crew’s Red JBL Speaker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlxBbOllK2I
“For fuck sake” I said putting my hand to my face. “Of course you would choose that”
“hahahaha” Vapo laughed
“You know me, haha” Jao responded.
“MEDIC! MEDIC! Steel got hit!” The staccade of fire and desperation came from the radio speakers
The Cascavel began to move through the open trails in the woods, Vapo knew where to go and his Hatch was opened.
“This is Cascavel to all friendly units, we are on the move, ETA 2 minutes.” I said with a stern voice through the radio.
“Couldn’t we have chosen a better callsign?” Vapo said from below the turret basket
“Of course, but we haven't done it yet. We’ll do it later, we can hit up Lock and German for ideas” I responded.
“Honestly, we should just be called Sérgio 1-1.” Jao said, looking through his sights
“That would bring bad luck!” I yelled back
The sound of wheels hitting sticks and stones in the way and the suspension making us jump around made the travel a bit… uncomfortable.
During all this movement I pulled myself up towards the sub-turret, had to reload the Uirapuru there, a new belt of 762x57.
I opened the machine gun’s tray, and while trying to balance myself on top of the sub-turret, I pushed a new belt through, closed the tray and reached below for the charging handle.
The vehicle turned and I was almost pushed out of the hatch, thankfully I was holding onto the hatch with my other hand.
I pulled the charging handle, the metallic screech of the bolt assured me of the weapon’s condition.
I came back to the Cascavel and closed the hatch.
I was face to face with an anime printed image, glued to the side of the turret, a green haired girl with white horns wearing traditional Japanese clothes.
This place looks more like a weeb’s basement than a proper fighting vehicle sometimes.
“Vapo, pass me a water bottle, this place is fucking hot!” Jao said to our driver.
Vapo opened a Brastemp mini-fridge that took the place of the hull’s ammo rack, with a single hand and took a cold plastic water bottle, sliding it down towards the turret basket.
“Thanks mano.” Jao finished.
“Free of charge, buddy.” Vapo responded
“Travassus-Chan! I am getting very troubling reports from the frontline, when are you arriving?” Lock’s voice came from the radio
“45 Seconds!” I yelled back, the Detroit diesel screamed as the vehicle bursted forwards “We are almost there!”
Through my visor prisms I could see the end of the woods and the hill. The sound of firing was loud, we were already in range but we didn’t like to do it from a distance.
“Companheiros, one last charge!” I yelled, propelled by adrenaline and bloodlust, “HAHAHAHA, Isn’t it beautiful we have a stabilizer installed!” I said while laughing maniacally, knowing full well the men in that hill would not survive.
“I'm gonna fire!” Jao said.
I promptly took a WP smoke shell from my turret bustle, ready to insert it into the breech as soon as the satisfying sound of the EC-90 recoil impacting the hydraulic buffer reverberated in my ringing ears
We are out of the woods now, green plains and rolling hills are around us. If it wasn’t for the hatches and armor we would be feeling the sweet smell of spring grass and the chirping of birds.
But instead, we are greeted by a greasy smell of sweat and the sound of our wheels grinding.
“DISPARAR A VONTADE, CARALHO!” I yelled with a smile on my face, we are around 170 meters away and the winds are making our Red and white guidon flag flutter.
The sound of a Co-axial MAG machine gun and the deafening roar and punch of a low pressure 90mm echoed throughout the region. A hesh shell hit the battlements, square center, tumbling a part of it down.
“OOOOH OOOK UUH AAAAH! ” Jao made monkey noises while he blasted away with the machine gun.
“Turn right, they will try to retreat away, we’ll catch’em!” I yelled to Vapo as I slid a WP shell into the breech.
“HOLY SHIT, THEY’RE HERE!” Someone screamed from the radios
“THAT’S WHY I LIKE WORKING WITH THEM! YEEEEEEEEEEAH!” A deep voice came from the radios
***BANG!***
Now playing in the crew’s Red JBL speaker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lU8j7lj4RdU
Another shot, the pale white of burning smoke was seen inside the battlements. Another square hit almost in the same point, as expected from our gun-monkey.
I moved up towards the sub turret controls, not the best but I could aim and shoot the machine gun. There is an optical sight and electronic fire mechanism connected to a solenoid.
I started blasting away in the general direction of the battlements.
The infantry began moving up, motivated by the firepower
We began moving towards the flanks of the battlements.
“HESH UP!” Jao said
“That watchtower 5 degrees to the right, blow it!” I ordered.
The bang of the 90mm roared, the punch of the recoil was felt, tilting the vehicle a bit even.
I could see people leaving the battlements in a hurry, jumping through the back fortifications and running through a gate.
“HALT!” I commanded, “Target 135 degrees, infantry! kill them all” I roared
I machine gunned them with my turret, they didn’t stand a chance.
Now playing in the crew’s Red JBL speaker: https://youtu.be/WjfuLpoRy6k
Bodies littered the hillside, blood all around it. Some shots could still be heard from inside the fort.
“Travassus to Lock, mission accomplished” I said over the radio.
“Another outstanding job from the monkeys, thank you very much” He responded.
“No need to thank us, we don’t deserve it” I finished.
I opened the hatch and looked around before taking a seat on the edge of the sub-turret.
Brabo, Apenas. was stencilled on the barrel.
Big Sergio was written to the left side of the turret.
The Cascavel moved towards the fort, our boys were there, probably partying or something. We climbed the hill up and entered the fort through one of the gates, some huts and tents were inside along with lots of bodies and our boys. The new yorker was being treated by MedSgt. “Seal”, our resident medic and overall nice guy.
The vehicle stopped and a crowd came over to the vehicle. Lots of different faces, guns and uniforms. We were an odd bunch, some looked like mall ninjas, others were pretty much cosplaying with anime patches and three hole balaclavas. Others had milsurp gear and others had a match of locally sourced and standard issue military equipment.
Rifles ranged from FALs, Ar15s, AKs and the odd wooden stock shotgun, or pistol. Some katana swords were involved too, a Dutch colonial troop sword could be seen in the hands of an odd lanky short guy.
I think I saw an anime dakimura too. Some of those automaton looking humanoid dolls were in the crowd too, their ghostly pale skin, dead stare eyes and gothic lolita attire were easy to discern in the middle of the sweaty surplus equipped men.
“Good job you three, keep that up and we’ll be able to buy ourselves some land in no time” A giant man with a deep voice congratulated us.
