K-day + 72 | 21st Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st Recon battalion “Viboras” | “Antares” Sector, Cratenia’s border| Now Playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubol9NyLWZc The rain season has just started, the sound of water hitting the Tarp rigged to his vehicle over my head reverberated and around me rainwater filled the scene as if the dense grey clouds came down to earth. I’m a lieutenant of a recon group, we have been ordered to map the Cratenian border, as of right now we’re still in the battalion encampment, awaiting equipment and the go-ahead order, I just hope the roads didn’t turn into quagmires. “I’m telling you man, this shit right here is a fucking gold mine right beneath our feet you should be happy to be here” Said Fernando, the young loader, sat on a ammo can “I don’t care, this shit is boring. We've been here in this sector ever since the re-location , at least in Rio-Seguro we had something to do.” Replied Raimundo, the driver, leaning over the Sucuri wheeled AFV. Both men wore camo overalls and black berets “Ey, news came in” Said Rafael ,a cascavel commander, completely soaked wet and with a transparent plastic bag filled with paper in one hand, he entered the tarp “News? go on, be the orator” I said, and had to raise my voice thanks to the rain. “From Brasil: Separatists rebels in the Northeast have laid siege to Recife and Fortaleza, the fleet and the Marines alongside the 2nd and 3rd Fatherland volunteer motormech brigades are being sent to quell the rebels. Enemy incursions in the North have stopped thanks to the large number of casualties incurred by the forests on Lord’s Hahykim forces, although their air assets still infest the skies over the Amazon. Rafael took a breath in the middle of his reading From the ‘Otherside’: The first native regiment in the ‘Otherside’ has been raised in Rio Seguro; the 1st Rio Seguro Fatherland volunteer light infantry battalion is part of the 21st armored cavalry regiment and is composed by native volunteers who have been given training and top of the line equipment, although small number of native volunteers have been employed as guides and advisers or as small specialized combat units, the 1st battalion is the first combat unit large than a platoon completely composed of natives.” “That’s enough, any new orders?” I interrupted him “Yes sir, we are to move out at 1200 hours and return at 1600 hours, doesn’t seem like enough time to me, sir.” He replied and commented The rain started to diminish and the fog was clearing up, revealing lushy rolling hills a small river and on the other side a expansive savannah-like biome, enough to cover the horizon with it’s brown earth and tough and sparse vegetation “Why are we even here, didn’t the flyboys already map this whole place last month?” came a voice from inside the Sucuri, through a small circular hatch used to dispose of spent shells, Roberto the gunner, voiced his indignation towards… having to work “Ground reconnaissance is 3 times more accurate and makes sure the officers get a good picture of the damn place.” I answered Roberto It’s 1145 HOURS right now, standard Rio-Seguro time. “Rafael, prepare your crew and brief the rest of the guys about this, I don't wanna be behind schedule today.” I commanded “Yes sir” He saluted and moved out of the tarp “We move out in 15 minutes, get ready!” I yelled to my crew Now playing: https://youtu.be/U7T_d5HzJWI The recon group has 9 vehicles: 1 Sucuri tank destroyer (my vehicle, 105mm gun) 2 modernized Cascavel armored cars (90mm guns and 2 ATGMs) one of which is commanded by Rafael, 2 Guarani APCs (one of which carries a 81mm mortar) and 4 marrua jeeps (equipped with computers, mapping equipment, AT4s and medium machineguns) Callsigns are “Vibora” 1 to 9; the recon group is also known as mechanized infantry squadron this is the army mainstay maneuver force, the amount of firepower at my disposal is no joke the same way Cratenia is no joking matter, they are officially neutral towards us but they are fighting a extermination war against the eastern undead nobles, this mission main objective is to map their border sector but the chances of we facing enemy formations are, as always, ever present. The squadron was in formation at our side of the river the land was still wet thanks to the rain, a relaxing foggy dew was present, behind us the battalion encampment, in front of us a river shallow enough for us to pass and Cratenia My watch beeped signalling that it’s is now 1200 hours “Operation start, exploradores lead the way! maintain formation until 250m into the other side” I commanded over the radio. On-top of the tall wheeled tank destroyer i had a privileged view, the jeeps moved forth and crossed the river, splashing water as they gone then it was the time for the vipers to cross the water “Raimundo, go ahead” I said over the intercom, the Sucuri charged ahead, the rumble of the Scania engine filled the air, we crossed the river with no problems, behind us the two Cascies and guaranis, their infantry had their heads out of the hatch, some taking photos of the scenery and the crossing with their phones. The guidons fluttered in the wind while we crossed the wet savannah, my Sucuri had a Brazilian flag attached to one of the radio antennas, a reminder that we were from the “big empire” in the other side of the portals to the natives, around us the scenario was a call-back to the plateaus in central brazil, although colder thanks to its proximity to the North pole but no matter how close it was to the pole it’s equatorial vegetation stayed, scientists couldn’t explain, and i didn’t care if there was an rational answer to that, it’s beautiful nonetheless. As we moved the terrain was mapped by the jeeps, in my MFD screen I could see the map gaining it’s form, even the elevation and depressions in the terrain were present. The sun was shining bright, clouds of dirt raised as we moved in the distance, we could see a big mountain, smaller hills surrounding it. 1423 hours We stopped for a small pause so we could get our bearings and check our progress, the leader of the explorador section came to me, he climbed the Sucuri “Lieutenant, we are half done here, just gotta finish up some holes and get to the eastern part of the sector and we will finished” The young man in combat gear told me enthusiastically, behind him I could see a dust cloud rising, almost imperceptible in the distance behind some small hills closeby. “Sargeant, do you know of any other mechanized units operating in this sector right now?” I asked him “No, no sir, we should have the entire sector for us, and Cratenia doesn’t have any mechanized assets” He replied I motioned for him to move out of the way and climbed over my hatch, now standing on the Sucuri I used my binoculars, I could see it, five T55 tanks, burly green men on top of each one of them, following behind were 4 m3 halftracks. “Sergeant, you see that?” I passed the binoculars to him and pointed towards the moving dust cloud at the distance. He picked the binoculars and saw what I was pointing to “C-can we take them, Tenente?” The sergeant asked, fear evident in his voice and posture “Tenente! we got hostiles!” Rodrigo exclaimed from inside the turret “We can and will sergeant go and tell the others, we’ll practice some ambush tactics today.” I said to him, he promptly gave my binoculars back and jumped off the Sucuri and sprinted towards his jeep Now playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT_n-KcC_eY “Attention all Viboras, we got hostiles at bearing 253, long distance,i want flanks covered by cascaveis, ATGMs at the ready, i want machine gun teams ready and camouflaged around our perimeter, i want infantry with AT4s alongside the machineguns at the front of our formation” I commanded , the men started moving about guns in hand, sergeants yelling orders, exploradores in the jeeps were taking their mgs out of the mounts and carrying them off. The cascaveis raced to the flanks and took cover below trees, their Missile pods angled into position and their commanders put their heads out of the hatches binoculars in hand “Rodrigo, lase the target, don’t aim for the tank, aim ahead of it so the infantry doesn’t notice it.” I commanded, Rodrigo acknowledged it and the turret spun into position “Around 2700 meters, sir! out of range, sir!” Rodrigo exclaimed The infantry moved into position their lizard pattern camo was completely alien to this brownish land. “All guns on my command, hold fire until further orders” I commanded and entered the Sucuri turret “Rodrigo, distance?” I asked “2500 and closing in fast sir, are you sure they didn’t see us?” Rodrigo asked, excitement and fear in his voice “We’ll see in due time” I replied “LOAD ARROW!” I yelled to Fernando The sound of an APFSDS entering the breach was heard. “PRONTO!” fernando exclaimed The sound of tracks and engines in the distance dominated the air, other than that nothing could be heard, soldiers wiped the sweat off their eyebrows commanders had their eyes fixed on the targets using their binoculars “Distance?” I asked “1700, sir! within range!” Rodrigo exclaimed “ATGMs Pick your targets, leave the center for the Sucuri!” I commanded “Vibora 2, picking number 4 Tank” “Vibora 3, picking number 1 tank!” The voices in my headset exclaimed “VIBORA 1, picking number 3 and 4, use the ATGMs to take care of the transports” I commanded Fernando had another APFSDS in hand ready to load the gun as soon as it was fired, Rodrigo spun the turret and had number 3 in his sights. I took my sight and aimed at number 4, ready to override the turret and take the shot as soon as number 4 turned into a burning wreck below the sun. The enemy began firing, our ambush wasn’t an ambush anymore, their shots overfired hitting around 150 meters behind us, the explosions shook the ground and created dust clouds. Now playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG07SO7bKgk “Distance?!” “1500!!!!” Rodrigo yelled “All guns on my mark! . . . . FOGO!!!” I yelled on my headset and as soon my voice The strondous sound of the 105mm filled the air,the sound of a brass casing impacting the shell basket reverberated in the turret, dust was kicked up i could see the tracer impacting the T55 and turning it into a miniature star, the dust cloud still filled my sights but i could see enough to kill the Number 4. The sound of a round entering the breech was echoed inside the turret and as soon as the gun aligned with my sight i pressed the trigger and the scene repeated itself, this time the T-55 didn’t turn into a giant bonfire, the arrow smacked into the hull producing sparks as it penetrated, the t55 came to a stop, the orc infantry began to jump out, meanwhile our infantry began firing their FALs and IA2s into them. “Load HEAT” I commanded, in my sight I could see missiles impacting the other two tanks, the infantry already left their tanks and transports while the missiles flew, although a few unlucky ones were turned into barbecue in the following explosions. The surviving T55 had it’s turret aimed at us, it fired a shot and in the same time the 100mm shot left the barrel an ATGM collided with its side and turned it into a barbecue grill, the shot impacted closeby the fragments of which could be heard impacting the Sucuri’s amor. The sound of firing was the only thing that could be heard, like a fatal symphony, assault rifles, machineguns, battle rifles, grenade launchers and the mortar all firing in unison. The ‘105 fired again, this time hitting one of the halftracks, such a shame to turn that museum piece into a battle wreck, but it did look beautiful while it burned alongside the orcs that crewed it. Missiles smashed into other two halftracks, the crews were abandoning them, they weren’t fast enough and became fated to have those WW2 relics as graves. Only a single Halftrack remained, it was trying to maneuver around the orc infantry which in turn was in complete disarray being hit left and right by machinegun fire, it showed its sides and became peppered with shots becoming a kind of iron maiden, killing the crew and making the vehicle bleed crimson red. The infantry didn’t have anywhere to go, the mortar was starting to rain down on them, they died one by one, another Undead lord patrol neutralized. After the smoke cleared and the ringing in our ears became clear we moved to inspect the wrecks, the soldiers stabbed whatever greenskin was too stubborn to die by firepower, the orc’s guns were a mish-mash of AKs and FALs from all around south-america, the tanks were peruvian, the half-tracks, columbian, Paraguayan and Peruvian, seems our neighbours are in even worse conundrums than us. We took photos and marked our kills in our barrels, picked up whatever we could salvage and continued our mission, another glorious tale to be told to young Brazilians.