As expected, the White Flames' armor was more than sufficient to blunt the counterattack. Of the ordinary assault weapons; against the Shiva's, they had no answer. And, with short, tight bursts, Narcist, Truk and Ballan began cutting individuals out of the formation with frightening speed and regularity.
After watching the first exchange, Lash turned back to the puzzle door. First glyph down, down, and, with a soft 'snik', it hit its trigger point. The big vampire then began the search for the next glyph even as several rounds smacked into his side. Momentum robbed by his reinforced kevlar, the slugs dropped to the ground with metallic 'pings'.
Ignoring them, Lash located the second glyph and quickly slid it along its track and into place to release the third glyph. Before he could locate it, however, the door abruptly appeared, a rectangle that, with a fine cloud of dust, appeared right in front of him.
Brow raised, he stepped back. Just in time for the door to swing outward to disgorge a good dozen heavily armored individuals in black tactical gear and advanced body armor of their own. As they poured past him, Lash heard Fiadh suddenly call out:
"Lash!"
Snapping his eyes towards where the two liliths were sheltering close to the wall, he was in time to see a good dozen more of the black armored soldiers bodily take hold of them and pull them into the open door despite both struggling wildly against the soldiers' hands. It then slammed close behind them.
Oddly enough seeing the two liliths pulled into the Night Market without them sent a wave of relief through the big vampire. Then he was twisting around as, with the hum of powerful, supercooled magnets coming to full power, the newcomers opened up on the White Flame formation, their gauss rifles almost soundlessly spitting out high velocity bursts of ordnance. A blink later the front line of the White Flame formation was falling into pieces, their enhanced armor no match for the newcomers' weapons fire.
The newcomers had caught the White Flames unprepared and the enhanced humans paid the price. But they didn't stay surprised for long. Even as Lash reached out to pull one of the Ventru nestari's handguns free so he could contribute to the defense, he watched as previously hidden riot-style shields were swung around and lifted into place just in time to deflect the majority of the newcomers' fire.
"Legionnaires," he barked because who else could they be with their gear and tactics coming from inside the Night Market but Silver Legion m'tada?
"The enemy utilizes irradiated sundog rounds. Any contact with your skin will begin an ash-out cascade. If any lodges in your armor, dislodge immediately!"
"Copy that," one of the newcomers smartly replied, her gauss rifle humming as she pounded at the newly-raised shields. Then a number of them were grunting from the impacts as the White Flames renewed their assault. Now aware of how deadly those rounds were, a handful of them paused long enough to pull free combat knives before using the tips to dig the embedded rounds out of their armor and send them to the courtyard floor with firm flicks.
Intending on targeting helmets that poked out from behind the shields to aim in the hopes of disrupting them enough to get them to drop their shields, Lash hesitated. He knew those helmets were just as stout as their body armor. His handgun, a 10mm Glock 20, while powerful, didn't have the penetrating power needed to punch through those helmets at this range. He would just be wasting his ammo.
They did, however, have enough power to punch through the reinforced leather covering the White Flames' boots. Dropping his line of sight, he quickly traversed the line, targeting any visible feet he could see.
The effect was immediate: as soon as a White Flame trooper got shot in the foot, they collapsed to their knees with a muffled yell of pain. And with the rapidity that Lash targeted them, several went to their knees at the same time. Which, in turn, crumpled the shield line. Seeing the humans abruptly vulnerable, the Silver Legion m'tada renewed their gauss rifle fire, chopping a good dozen humans down in a single volley. Added to the tight fire from the three Shiva's, and the vampires were making good progress at breaking the White Flame company down.
Then a cry of alarm from behind their position pulled Lash's attention around. Just in time to see one of the legionnaires drop to a knee, her arm visibly dissolved.
"Légionnaires!" Lash snarled as he fired where he knew the Hand agent still lurked and was rewarded with the stealthed vampire abruptly appearing as he fell back, his daycloak flung off his dropping body.
"Your rear is under attack by stealthed Hand agents!"
Catching sight of the subtle shifts in the air that marked the presence of more stealthed Hand agents, he emptied the rest of his magazine at them, dropping another eight as he charged towards the downed Silver Legion m'tada trooper. He skidded to a halt beside her and dropped to a knee.
As he did, he spotted the moly knife on her waist. Another bleeding edge piece of military tech that was known to the Qos Viran, a moly knife used a high vibration of thousands of cycles per second to turn the knife's edge to a line that could cut between molecules. It could also sever limbs almost instantly.
Jerking the knife free, he flicked the activation stud with his thumb. Then he was grabbing the twitching trooper by the shoulder.
"Hopefully this doesn't hurt very much," he said.
"Do it," she spat back, bracing herself. Nodding, Lash swung the humming blade through her arm just below the shoulder. Just in time to watch it fall to ash.
A look at the clean slice through her tissues and not seeing the glowing spider web of a compromised nervous system, he nodded in grim satisfaction.
"Purged," he tautly reported even as several more legionnaires cried out as they were stabbed by hidden car'dieth blades. "You need to put pressure on that, trooper." He then held up the moly knife. "Gonna need this for a couple minutes."
"Take it," the Silver Legion m'tada replied through grit teeth as she fished out a field bandage and slapped it against her new stump. "And my sidearm. You'll need it."
"Copy," Lash said, reaching out to tug her sidearm out of its holster. Then he was up and firing at the other shiftings in space he could see.
As was their habit, the Hand weren't striking at the body, the legionnaires' armor enough to deflect anything less than a hard stab. Instead, they were going for the quick scoring, a gash, slice, or prick against a more vulnerable spot like the forearm or leg.
So, for a long few minutes, Lash was busy absorbing the shots the White Flames were sending in his direction in an attempt to slow him down, gunning down the Hand agents he could identify. And removing any limbs that had begun an ash-out cascade in response to a slice from a car'dieth.
Rising from taking a groaning legionnaire's leg off at just above the knee, it was reflex that snapped Lash's arm to the side to block a car'dieth strike coming out of his right blind spot. At the same time, he felt a presence coming in from the left, not yet able to strike, but pulling back in preparation to do so.
Using the block's motion as momentum, he twisted the moly knife in a tight semi-circle at waist height. And, while it didn't give him any feedback in the form of resistance, his timing was such that he watched a Hand agent abruptly appear to collapse, the blade having cut him across the chest, basically slicing his heart in two.
Still twisting, he blocked a second car'dieth stabbing down from a third agent before putting two rounds where his face should be. Then he was using every bit of his native vampire speed and strength to stop his momentum and twist the other way to catch the first agent leaning in, planting the moly into the side of his head right up to the grip.
Again, the agent appeared out of nowhere as his sudden death caused his body to move out of synch with the heavy stealth daycloak and it fell off. Letting the blade cut itself free out of the traitorous Hand agent's head, he stayed low and dropped another half dozen agents moving in from what appeared to be a position near the courtyard's far end, which had another entry into the space.
Just as his magazine ran dry, another full dozen agents abruptly appeared as they shed their daycloaks on their way to the ground, wearing several new holes in their bodies. Then a legionnaire beside him on a knee, her gauss rifle scanning the second entry point.
"Clear on thermals and motion," she tightly reported. "Rear position secure for the moment, Qos Viran."
Nodding, Lash threw a look back at the White Flames. At the same time, he heard what sounded like weapons fire from deeper in Old Town.
"The locals are engaging the White Flames," he said. Also hearing the distant gunfire, the legionnaire nodded in agreement.
"We need an exfil before we're uncovered," she indicated.
"Affirmative. Call it in, trooper," Lash directed. "But no helos. The enemy has air support. They'll shoot your birds down or worse, track them back to base." Looking back at the firefight between the White Flames and the Ventru, he put a fresh magazine into his handgun.
"We'll hold the courtyard until you've cleared your wounded."
"Copy, commander." She went silent for a moment. "Called in. They are five mikes out."
"Five mikes?" the big vampire repeated with a frown. "For a ground extraction? You already have a team standing by in the Night Market!"
"Not sure what to tell you, commander," the legionnaire replied with an almost imperceptible shrug. "Just a relay point."
Lash's expression tightened then relaxed. She was right. While she was a Silver Legion m'tada trooper, she was still just a trooper, not an officer. He couldn't hold her accountable for decisions being made further up the chain of command.
That being said, while her hands were tied by the chain of command, his were not.
"Taking these," he said, scooping several gauss rifles by their straps from where they were dropped by legionnaires attacked by Hand agents.
The trooper stared at him as he did that, as if she was contemplating asking him whether he was either rated on gauss rifles, or authorized to use one. Then she was curtly nodding.
"Copy that, commander. Good hunting."
But Lash was already beyond hearing her. With one of the rifles up, he advanced back towards the dug-in Ventru in a tactical crouch, peppering the White Flame position with tight bursts from the magnetically-powered weapon. As he did, he also zigzagged to each downed legionnaire, grabbing them by the back of their armor vest and dragging them out of the line of fire.
Then he was sliding beside the Ventru nestari, still targeting the White Flames. He had seen on approach that more than half of them were down, half of those unconscious. But none were ash and that meant they could be revived.
"Fordricht," he said. The North African, in the midst of slamming in a full magazine, looked over at the big vampire. And nodded in thanks as he deftly caught the gauss rifle Lash threw to him one handed. His assault rifle then found itself slung back over his shoulder and the gauss rifle was up and pounding what was left of the White Flame company.
"Absinthe, Morel, Van Klant," he went on, tossing each one of the advanced rifles. The last couple were distributed then he was taking a spot between Truk and Ballan, firing almost constantly as he did.
By this point the humans had taken away the advantage the vampires got by shooting them in the feet, ducking behind their remaining shields to get as much cover from the gauss rounds as possible.
Now bolstered by five of the high powered rifles, the remaining Ventru nestari kept the humans heads down while Ballan, Truk, and Narcist used the even more powerful Shiva's to chisel through the ceramic and steel shields to lash at the armored bodies taking shelter behind them. Then the shields were knocked aside and the White Flames were forced back into an open field exchange of fire. Except, this time, they were facing gauss rifles in addition to the machine pistols.
It was a frantic few seconds before the last human was spinning back, his weapon dropping from his nerveless hand and his helmet cut in half by gauss fire. Immediately the weapons fire from the Ventru stopped.
"Truk, Ballan, police those humans," Lash tightly directed, keeping his rifle aimed at the downed humans. "Fordricht, Absinthe, pull out the med kits. We need our wounded to be able to travel in five mikes. And watch out for sundogs embedded in their armor."
"Copy that, Wolf," the North African replied as he, and a lean, hard-eyed vampiress quickly pulled out their med kits and turned towards where their fallen had been gathered.
Moving tactically while Narcist, Lash and the rest of the still capable Ventru nestari covered them, Ballan and Truk swiftly covered the intervening space to check the human bodies, sprawled in various postures of death. A quick reach down to check for a pulse then they moved on if they didn't find one. If they did, they drew their sidearm and put two shots directly in the White Flame soldier's head.
The two veteran soldiers worked quickly, finishing their body check in a matter of moments. And when the last one, which struggled weakly when Truk went to check for a pulse, got two in the head, he flashed the waiting Ventru the thumbs up.
"We're clear, Wolf," Fordricht said, dropping his gauss rifle from his shoulder.
"Copy." Lash slung his rifle and turned back to the rest of the Ventru company. "Stay frosty. By the sounds of it, White Flames are engaging Austrian forces all over the city." A quick glance up at the sky showed no less than five thin tendrils of smoke lifting into the early evening sky from either burning vehicles or fires in buildings out in the small city. And, thank the Dark Father, no war planes flying in support.
"The legionnaires have already called in an exfil to get their people out of the courtyard. They are about two mikes out. We need to hold the courtyard until they've affected their extraction. Then we need to clear our casualties and get them into the ..."
Uhhh! It was like getting a runaway truck directly to the center of his back, the impact enough to make him stagger forward a couple feet. Blinking away the shock even as he suddenly found himself struggling to get a breath, he looked down at the cratered hole in the center of his chest almost in disbelief. Was he actually ... shot?
But there was no mistaking that impact, or the breathless aftermath as the body went into shock. He had felt it a couple of times at Magnar's. There was no denying it.
Somebody had just pumped a high velocity fifty caliber round through his upper back.
"Sniper!" Fordricht snarled even as Narcist screamed: "Wolf!!" Then he was slowly falling forward, his legs no longer able to hold him up as his damaged heart slowed and stopped.
As he hit the ground, he heard the sound of helicopters approaching, getting louder and louder. 'No!' he silently screamed.
'No helos!' And then everything went black.
****