Zaitsev's Ghosts: Operation Chronos Week 1 Part 2

Katyusha

                A flash of lightning brightens the night and shadows dance as the door to Tanya’s room burst open. A gravely wounded soldier drops to the floor his strained voice calls out trying to overcome the rumbling thunder in the background, “Kapitan…” The woman’s instinct causes her to pull out her gun and scan the perimeter before worriedly approaching the wounded man. The room brightens once more as Tanya kneels and removes the soldiers protective mask, she knows the man; Nikolai. “Nikolai what happened!” shouted Tanya as her hands begin to feel a warm stickiness coming from the soldiers back. Nikolai wheezes before he can speak, “Serzhant Kova…” the man takes another rasping breath “He didn’t make it.” Tanya’s eyes widen in shock her mind is thrown into chaos; another bolt of lightning streaks across the night sky, “Nikolai! Tell me what happened!” she shouts  but the soldier falls unconscious, the captain grabs the man’s shoulders and violently shakes him continuing to call out his name her voice louder than the booming of thunder outside. Her shouting stops, the sound of her footsteps echo throughout the camp as she heads out the door shouting for a medic. A drop of water bounces on her pearl white skin, she looks up as more and more drops of water fall from the sky. The falling rain drowns out nearly all sound, save for the loud footsteps and creaking wood as two medics ascending the old stairway leading to Tanya’s personal quarters. She points to the man lying on the floor; still looking at the sky, the two men nod in acknowledgement; Tanya doesn’t notice, and walk over to help the man. The captain’s legs buckle and she limply drops on her knees, the woman’s thoughts filled with worry for her sergeant, still staring blankly at the sky, droplets of water streak down her face no-one could tell whether it was from tears or from the rain.

                Nikolai violently awakens with a loud shout his arms flailing as if fending off an unseen foe. Tanya’s hands grab his as she tries calming him down. Nikolai regains his senses and looks at his commanding officer sitting down on a rusty chair beside his bed; he notices her face, her eyes red and bloodshot, he doesn’t know if it was from lack of sleep or worry, he feels pain coming from all over his body wondering how he survived. White bandages nearly cover his entire body, red splotches staining them; marking where he had been shot, miraculously none of the rain of bullets shot at him hit his vital organs. Tanya breaks the silence, “You had been sleeping for a day, and you nearly scared me to death when you arrived in the middle of the night.” Nikolai gives her a bitter smile then his face warps as he flinches in pain before he could reply, “Sorry ‘bout that Kaptian.” The woman stands up to grab a glass of water and what the soldier thinks could be medicine. The captain returns to her seat before speaking again, “I could have been the one to deliver the killing blow you know.” They both laugh but it is quickly cut short as the soldier grunts in pain. “I wanted to give you a firsthand report.” he grimly replies. “Drink this, it will help with the pain”, says Tanya as she hands Nikolai a pill and a glass of water; he takes the glass and drinks the pill. She looks at the soldier seriously then asks, “Can you tell me what happened.” The injured soldier looks out the window and then recounts the events of his last mission “You sent us to aid the Serzhant about two days ago then…”

Operation Chronos Spring 1947: Two days ago.

                It was night, the soldiers fatigued from two consecutive battles the sergeant worried that the next attack might be much better prepared to deal with them. Their last two attacks had the element of surprise granting them victory and the sergeant doesn’t expect that strategy to work a third time. He looks out the window of the ruined building and watches the afternoon sky sink into darkness. His ears pick up a strange sound off into the distance; he quickly stands up leaving his armor unattended to search for the source. Kova stops at a window facing the north the bright orange of the sun blocked by remains of buildings that dot the city making it hard to see the horizon; suddenly he sees a glint in the sky. The sergeant looks at the men behind him and quickly barks out an order, “Sniper’s check out the northern skies, report anything you see.”

                Tension builds in the air as two pairs of snipers scan the dusk sky; the rest of the men finish rearming themselves preparing for the worst. The sound of static floods the sergeant’s ears and a voice comes out, “Serzhant! We’ve got a single bird in the sky!” The sergeant presses a button inside his armor to reply, “Confirmed.”  His armor hisses as the protective helmet of his steel guard drops completely encasing him as he walks to his men waiting in the ruined building’s lobby.  His medic and engineer flank him on both sides completely battle ready, his remaining men all stand in attention. Kova opens a radio channel for all his men to hear and begins to speak, “Men, we have won two victories and the Axis forces are scared. They are sending a complete force to deal with us. Today there is only one objective; show them the true meaning of fear. “He pauses to let the message sink in and continues, “If we die today we die for the Motherland! If we die today we will not be alone we will bring the enemy with us; for every one of us that falls two of them shall join us in hell!” The sergeant’s men stand ready unflinching none of them showing fear. “We cannot die serzhant! The Ghosts are already dead!” shouted one of his men. “For Mother Russia!” shouted another, and another and another. The entire room filled with a cacophony of cheers. Kova walks in between his men heading for the door, the grinding of his armor’s gears and the thudding of his footsteps drowned in the ongoing cheers for the motherland.  His men follow him raising their weapons the cheering abruptly stopped replaced by the rhythmic sound of marching feet.

                Beads of sweat form on Kova’s face; the cool spring night breeze completely shut out from his armor, tension builds in the air as he and his men wait for the Axis’ arrival the sergeant’s thoughts cloud his mind, “Forgive me, my kapitan. I know you said to fall back if the situation is dire, but I cannot follow that order. I cannot shame the motherland any further these dogs have taken our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters from us and we shall bring the vengeance of the Red Army.”  Minutes passed until a white dot in the sky appeared in the horizon and the strange sound Kova had heard earlier that evening drowned out all other sounds. The airplane’s spotlight scanning the perimeter also revealed the bulk of the enemy’s forces; a Ludwig, several infantry squads and two well armed women “Probably their commanders” thought the sergeant as he watched from afar.

                As soon as all of the enemies were within sight; Kova turned to his men and gave them the signal. They knew their orders; Kill them before they kill you, and set forth to assault the enemy. The platoon of steel guards quickly burst from their cover with guns blazing, a squad of light infantry quickly fell to the first salvo of shotgun and auto-gun fire. The young sergeant immediately knew they were fighting against hardened veterans; the remaining enemy troops quickly recovered from the shock and prepared launched a counter-attack. The axis troopers quickly knew that focusing their attention on a single squad is more likely to eliminate it rather than trying to shoot at everything at once; those with more specialized weapons however split their fire hoping to pick off the wounded soldiers. The enemy commanders appeared before Kova’s squad not long after the first few seconds of battle; two women a lone master sniper and another leading a squad of heavy infantry. The Russian forces were outnumbered but not outgunned; they made true their word for every one man they lost two Germans died along with them. The battle seemed to be even until the enemy plane found the perfect firing position behind Russian lines its guns may have been weak but concentrated fire eventually pierced the steel guard battle suits, slowly whittling down Kova’s remaining comrades.

                A grim thought rattled the Russian sergeant’s mind, “We will lose… My only regret, is not knowing these bastards names.” Time seemed to slow down in his mind; the bark of gunfire muffled as Kova kept his finger on the trigger; to him it seemed as if he could see the bullet leaving the barrel of his gun, the flesh of his enemy disintegrating as the same bullet strikes his target but he knew his death was near; he remembered hearing stories from his comrades who survived such an ordeal, their senses heightened as adrenaline flooded their bodies their reaction times quickened but they say it was death’s final gift. A loud clank rang inside the young man’s armor and he flinches as he sees the armor’s interior displays crack, another loud ping followed as his armor’s protective shell broke in a rain of razor sharp shrapnel, his vision becomes tainted in red as he looks at his assailant; the female sniper. Her short trimmed blonde hair waving in the night breeze her gun close to her face as she peers down her gun’s scopes; Kova was unsure whether it was the night light or his dying hallucinations but he saw a sadistic smile split the woman’s face; then a loud bang. The next thing he sees is the night sky as he topples down to the rubble covered streets; his reddened sights slowly turning grey, he sees movement off in the distance coming from the east he didn’t know why but he called out, “Nikolai…” then nothing.

                Nikolai and his men quickly run out from a ruined building heading for the enemy heavy infantry standing at the center of the battlefield; as they saw Kova’s squad get wiped out. They jump from cover to cover ending up behind a large tree stump shouting in rage he orders his men to open fire. Night turned to day as a spray of burning sulfur engulfs the armored troopers and the smell of burning flesh and gunpowder permeated throughout the battlefield as Nikolai’s Fakyeli brought swift vengeance to their enemies. The enemy sniper unaware that her allies were dying continued to decimate the remaining steel guard laughing as she continued pulling her gun’s trigger. Nikolai thought that he too would die this day but not until he brings vengeance for his friend. The enemy commander’s burnt body had not yet reached the floor when the Russian light infantry occupied their position and let loose another barrage on the enemy sniper and her body guards. The woman had no time to react before she too was covered in molten liquid; her screams of pain music to Nikolai’s ears but that pleasure was short lived; the enemy Ludwig loomed in front of them and the enemy aircraft danced above them. He fought as he muttered prayers; his men gave all they had to bring down the last two enemy infantry and the Ludwig but failed. The last thing he remembered was silently falling to the ground as the Ludwig’s cannon fired on their position throwing him and his remaining men several feet into the air before he collapsed in a heap of rubble. He lay unconscious for hours and miraculously survived as he woke; it was sunrise of the same day, he could only see rubble and corpses strewn across the battlefield. He felt only pain but he knew he had to report what happened and so he walked.

                “And then you know what happened after” ended Nikolai. Tanya’s face was like stone unmoving and unflinching, the man did not know whether she was heartless about losing her love or she was in a state of shock and denial. The long pause was broken as Tanya’s wooden chair streaked across the old floor boards, she seemed to be leaving her final words to the injured soldier were, “Take the week to recuperate once you’re ready we head out our haunt is not yet over.” Then a bang, the woman apparently lost control of her emotion as she exited the makeshift hospital as she slammed the door. It was still raining, the dull grey sky a reflection of her. She walked towards her walker; slowly and with purpose, no one noticed her tears thanks to the rain. Looking up at the rain filled skies she sings.