04-29-2020, 06:11 AM
(Joint post with [nation]Shuell[/nation])
Tuesday, April 28th
On the outskirts of Necuatexi, smoke could be seen rising from the center of town. There had been rioting for two days now in the capital of what had once been the Necatli tribal domain. The arrival of Imperial reinforcements, and a new Imperial Governor, Xicotzin, had done little to stabilize the situation. If anything, the arrival of the new Governor had only served to inflame the local residents of Necuatexi. Now, rioting was spreading from the center of town to the outskirts.
The junta was determined to regain control of the situation, and ordered Xicotzin to deploy his forces, along with the Shuellian mercenaries, to restore order. Their first order was to take control of all Civil Guard and local police arsenals to keep the rioters from gaining control of them. There had already been scattered reports of some Civil Guard units and local police siding with the rioters against the junta, and Xicotzin was not going to let that become a threat.
200 Watchtower mercenaries of the 600-strong battalion sent over approached the edge of Necuatexi in armored vehicles and helicopters, armed with rifles and prepared to put down the riot with the assistance of the Imperial Army. Briefed prior to their departure from Huitzitaca, the contractors expected little resistance from the disorganized mobs of civilians and felt as if they had little to fear from the local police.
Their first destination was the Civil Guard garrison located in Ichepec, a town on the outskirts of Necuatexi. The Civil Guard garrison there was responsible for the entire southern half of the capital, and keeping its armory out of the hands of the rioters was vital.
The Watchtower mercenaries were being escorted by a single 45-man company of the Imperial Army. Their commander, Captain Tencatzin, carried orders with him for the commander of the Civil Guard garrison in Ichepec to hand over command of the garrison and its facilities so its troops could be deployed to assist in restraining the rioters. That was, in theory, the role of the Civil Guard. But given that the garrison in question was entirely made up of Necatli, their loyalty was “potentially debatable,” Tencatzin had warned the mercenaries.
As the mixed group of mercenaries and Imperial soldiers approached the front gates of the Ichepec garrison, they immediately came under rifle fire. Swearing and crouching down lower in his command vehicle, Tencatzin shrugged. “I guess it’s no longer debatable where their loyalties lie. Advance and take the garrison!”
The man commanding the detachment of Watchtower mercenaries, one Volkhardt Sommer, swore under his breath and reached for his radio before beginning to bark out orders to those under his command. Using the armored vehicles they were riding in as cover from the rifle fire, fuel was injected into the exhaust to provide the soldiers a smokescreen as they organized.
The mercenaries, many of them veteran soldiers or former legionaries, kept level heads and returned fire at the garrison, attempting to suppress them under the cover of smoke while shouting in their native language in an attempt to confuse the enemy Civil Guard.
Captain Tencatzin knew that the two sides would just keep exchanging potshots at each other all day, to a fatal and futile end, as long as the garrison’s walls remained intact. Warning Sommer to keep his men far enough back to avoid being hit by friendly fire, Tencatzin radioed in for air support.
Within a few minutes, two XF-5C fighters of the Imperial Air Force were streaking overhead. They were equipped with Mala precision-guided AGMs specifically designed for operations requiring low collateral damage. As the Xiomerans and mercenaries watched, the fighters fired several missiles into the walls around the garrison, blasting them into rubble and sending a very clear message to those inside the garrison about whether or not continued resistance was advisable.
With the walls out of the way, and the remaining Civil Guardsmen inside the garrison probably quite stunned, Tencatzin ordered the advance to resume, warning both Shuellians and Xiomerans alike to advance slowly and under cover.
Amongst whoops and exclamations from the mercenaries, they advanced, pouring fire onto the stunned guardsmen while taking cover behind piles of rubble in order to capitalize on the sudden airstrike. "Don't give them time to recover!" A mercenary shouts in Shuellian-accented Huenyan, throwing a fragmentation grenade into the garrison at the same time. From their positions in the armored cars, the drivers take their positions at mounted machineguns, firing short bursts at the guardsmen.
As the Civil Guard troops began pulling back towards the center of the garrison, and its main building, the advance continued. While the Guardsmen continued to fire back at the attackers, the smoke generated from the mercenaries’ vehicles made it impossible for the Guardsmen to properly direct their fire. Equipped with night-vision goggles, the attackers had no such problem. They fought their way forward, as the defenders of the garrison continued to fall.
Eventually, the mercenaries and Imperial Army soldiers surrounded the main building. Sporadic and disorganized gunfire continued to come down on the heads of the surrounding troops, along with an occasional grenade. “The armory is in this building. Do you think your men are up for a bit of room to room combat?” Captain Tencatzin asked Sommer.
Sommer nodded in affirmation. "Allow me to get our specialists. We'll clear that out in no time flat." He replied, calling out names over his headset and directing them towards the main building. At his orders, multiple men armed with shotguns jogged towards the center of the building, lining up at either side. After a quick countdown, they kicked open the door and entered, shots ringing out sporadically from the building in the time afterwards as the mercenaries cleared the building of guardsmen room by room.
As the gunfire died down, a mercenary exited the building and approached the two commanders, giving off a quick, unneeded salute. "A few surrendered. The rest were disposed of." He explains. "Armory's been secured."
”Excellent work,” Captain Tencatzin replied. “We have another Imperial Army unit on the way to take command of the garrison and deal with the prisoners. We have a moment for your men to rest up and prepare before we move on to our next objective.”
Approximately an hour later, a new Imperial Army company arrived, along with a detachment from Xiomeran Military Intelligence. They took over the prisoners and the garrison, as Tencatzin briefed the mercenaries on their next objective of the day. “We’re ordered to disperse some rioters just south of the center of town, who are preventing our forces from linking up. They’ve taken control of the main north-south arterial road leading into the center of town. They seem to be gathered around the local police headquarters....we might have to deal with a few of them as well, although they shouldn’t even be as hard as this lot to deal with,” Tencatzin added, gesturing disdainfully at the Civil Guardsmen being led off as prisoners.
The column soon mounted up and continued their advance, taking the aforementioned Tlahico Road into the center of Necuatexi. As they rolled forward through different neighborhoods, most people eyed the column resentfully, although no one offered any immediate resistance. That changed as they neared the headquarters of the Necuatexi Municipal Police, located near the center of town and the Necuatexi Palace.
As the mercenaries and their Xiomeran escorts approached, they saw a makeshift set of barricades made of tires, wood and rubbish had been set up. Large burned-out vehicles had also been set to block the roadway. Behind the barricades, a large crowd of locals had gathered. They began shouting angrily as the column approached. Some began to throw rocks, and even a few Molotov cocktails, none of which reached the column as it pulled to a halt.
Tencatzin sighed as he noticed some police vehicles pulled up behind the barricade. Several Municipal Policemen in their distinctive green uniforms were visible at the barricade, clearly armed. “The idiots,” he muttered under his breath. As he turned, a group of Imperial Police in their black uniforms emerged from a nearby side street. “Don’t shoot,” Tencatzin said quickly, waving down the mercenaries and his own troops alike. “Did you try to break the barricade?”
“We did,” the Imperial Police commander leading the group replied. “Their resistance was too strong, we took casualties and had to fall back.”
Tencatzin swore, turning back inside his command vehicle and picking up a microphone. “By order of the Provisional Imperial Government of Xiomera, you are hereby ordered to disperse at once,” he shouted over a loudspeaker. In response, the crowd began shouting louder, and the throwing of items intensified. “This is your final warning. You are ordered to disperse at once or you will be removed,” the Captain repeated. With the crowd continuing to grow more violent, he sighed. “They don’t get a third warning.” With a wave of his hand, he ordered the column to begin advancing.
Sommer listened to the conversation between Tencatzin and the police commander intently, observing the crowd out of the corner of his eyes. As the order is given to advance, he sighed before pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. "You heard the man! Advance, and disperse the crowd! You are cleared to open fire on hostile," Volkhardt ordered over his radio, pulling out his service pistol and firing into the air once before re-entering the vehicle. "Our IFVs can withstand a few molotovs, don't you worry," he assured Tencatzin.
Tencatzin nodded with approval as the column advanced. As they drew closer, the rock-throwing grew even more heavy. The Xiomerans fired a few warning shots over the heads of the protesters. This did not have the desired effect. Not only did the protesters continue to throw rocks and Molotov cocktails at the column, the warning shots prompted the municipal police manning the barricade to begin opening fire.
The thrown items were no threat to the column, but the police gunfire was, even if a minor one. With another curse under his breath, Tencatzin ordered the column to advance quickly and return fire.
Sommer chewed on his cigarette in disdain, before talking into his radio. "You heard the Commander. Open fire, target the green-shirts first - they're armed. These civilians'll disperse once people start getting shot." He turned, focusing his attention on Tencatzin. "Think you can call down another airstrike? Transport helis can't land yet, but the soldiers inside can rain down fire if need be."
The Captain nodded, turning to his radio and issuing a few commands. While the Civil Guard garrison had been on the outskirts of town, the latest objective was right in the middle of town. With a target in a much more built-up area, an even more precise approach was required.
Within a few minutes, the thrumming sound of rotors could be heard. A pair of XH-5 attack helicopters flew above the disturbance. As they approached the barricade line, the helicopters began opening fire with the rotary cannons mounted at their nose. As the rapid fire blasted apart the barricade, the crowd of rioters began falling back, shouting and running in fear. The local police who managed to survive the initial round of fire from the helicopters began falling back as well, their resistance broken by the desire to survive.
"Good hits," Volkhardt comments. "That'll make taking the outpost much easier - shouldn't be many stragglers." Mercenaries advanced quickly, once again capitalizing on the stunned silence following the gunships to take the entrenched position and secure the police station. Sporadic rifle fire quickly cleared out the stragglers, either scaring them away or gunning them down. "We'll need to request tanks in the future, if we can expect barricades like this to be common."
”Noted...but I am hoping this will not be common after today. Our other forces have gotten things in the northern half of the city under control. We may have more issues in Acalan, but once those are settled, we should have no further urban combat to deal with. Of course, the malcontents will simply hide out in the countryside after that - and that will be a completely different matter,” Tencatzin replied calmly as the mercenaries and the Xiomeran soldiers mopped up the last of the resistance. “Now that this is settled here, we’re ordered to proceed to the Necuatexi Palace. The governor wants to thank you,” the Captain added.
It was a short drive to the Palace, where the first Imperial soldiers had deployed to install the new Governor. Their perimeter around the Palace was quite strong, the mercenaries noted.
When they arrived at the Palace, Governor Xicotzin came out to greet them. “I have been briefed on your actions so far, and you have done admirably well,” the Governor said to Sommer. “Your men are welcome to set up camp within our perimeter around the Palace. From there, you can bring in additional forces to deploy as needed. In the meantime, the Provisional Government is grateful for your hard work - and believes in rewarding hard work. Once your men set up camp, if you need anything, just ask for it. Food, drink, anything you may need.”
Sommer shook Xicotzin's hand, nodding politely. "Thank you, Governor. My men'll set up shop in the perimeter and dig in for the night. The larger of my two detachments will be moving to take Acalan as soon as possible." He pauses, taking a moment to wipe the sweat off his face. "They'll have enough equipment to take the city, but air support and any armored vehicles you can provide us will assist in the event of... strong resistance. As for the security contractors here - food, drink, and barracks to rest in will be enough for now."
”Very good. We will provide the air and ground support you’ll need to take care of any trouble in Acalan - but that’s for tomorrow. For now, enjoy the rest you’ve earned,” the Governor said, nodding and instructing Tencatzin to show the mercenaries where they could set up camp.
Tuesday, April 28th
On the outskirts of Necuatexi, smoke could be seen rising from the center of town. There had been rioting for two days now in the capital of what had once been the Necatli tribal domain. The arrival of Imperial reinforcements, and a new Imperial Governor, Xicotzin, had done little to stabilize the situation. If anything, the arrival of the new Governor had only served to inflame the local residents of Necuatexi. Now, rioting was spreading from the center of town to the outskirts.
The junta was determined to regain control of the situation, and ordered Xicotzin to deploy his forces, along with the Shuellian mercenaries, to restore order. Their first order was to take control of all Civil Guard and local police arsenals to keep the rioters from gaining control of them. There had already been scattered reports of some Civil Guard units and local police siding with the rioters against the junta, and Xicotzin was not going to let that become a threat.
200 Watchtower mercenaries of the 600-strong battalion sent over approached the edge of Necuatexi in armored vehicles and helicopters, armed with rifles and prepared to put down the riot with the assistance of the Imperial Army. Briefed prior to their departure from Huitzitaca, the contractors expected little resistance from the disorganized mobs of civilians and felt as if they had little to fear from the local police.
Their first destination was the Civil Guard garrison located in Ichepec, a town on the outskirts of Necuatexi. The Civil Guard garrison there was responsible for the entire southern half of the capital, and keeping its armory out of the hands of the rioters was vital.
The Watchtower mercenaries were being escorted by a single 45-man company of the Imperial Army. Their commander, Captain Tencatzin, carried orders with him for the commander of the Civil Guard garrison in Ichepec to hand over command of the garrison and its facilities so its troops could be deployed to assist in restraining the rioters. That was, in theory, the role of the Civil Guard. But given that the garrison in question was entirely made up of Necatli, their loyalty was “potentially debatable,” Tencatzin had warned the mercenaries.
As the mixed group of mercenaries and Imperial soldiers approached the front gates of the Ichepec garrison, they immediately came under rifle fire. Swearing and crouching down lower in his command vehicle, Tencatzin shrugged. “I guess it’s no longer debatable where their loyalties lie. Advance and take the garrison!”
The man commanding the detachment of Watchtower mercenaries, one Volkhardt Sommer, swore under his breath and reached for his radio before beginning to bark out orders to those under his command. Using the armored vehicles they were riding in as cover from the rifle fire, fuel was injected into the exhaust to provide the soldiers a smokescreen as they organized.
The mercenaries, many of them veteran soldiers or former legionaries, kept level heads and returned fire at the garrison, attempting to suppress them under the cover of smoke while shouting in their native language in an attempt to confuse the enemy Civil Guard.
Captain Tencatzin knew that the two sides would just keep exchanging potshots at each other all day, to a fatal and futile end, as long as the garrison’s walls remained intact. Warning Sommer to keep his men far enough back to avoid being hit by friendly fire, Tencatzin radioed in for air support.
Within a few minutes, two XF-5C fighters of the Imperial Air Force were streaking overhead. They were equipped with Mala precision-guided AGMs specifically designed for operations requiring low collateral damage. As the Xiomerans and mercenaries watched, the fighters fired several missiles into the walls around the garrison, blasting them into rubble and sending a very clear message to those inside the garrison about whether or not continued resistance was advisable.
With the walls out of the way, and the remaining Civil Guardsmen inside the garrison probably quite stunned, Tencatzin ordered the advance to resume, warning both Shuellians and Xiomerans alike to advance slowly and under cover.
Amongst whoops and exclamations from the mercenaries, they advanced, pouring fire onto the stunned guardsmen while taking cover behind piles of rubble in order to capitalize on the sudden airstrike. "Don't give them time to recover!" A mercenary shouts in Shuellian-accented Huenyan, throwing a fragmentation grenade into the garrison at the same time. From their positions in the armored cars, the drivers take their positions at mounted machineguns, firing short bursts at the guardsmen.
As the Civil Guard troops began pulling back towards the center of the garrison, and its main building, the advance continued. While the Guardsmen continued to fire back at the attackers, the smoke generated from the mercenaries’ vehicles made it impossible for the Guardsmen to properly direct their fire. Equipped with night-vision goggles, the attackers had no such problem. They fought their way forward, as the defenders of the garrison continued to fall.
Eventually, the mercenaries and Imperial Army soldiers surrounded the main building. Sporadic and disorganized gunfire continued to come down on the heads of the surrounding troops, along with an occasional grenade. “The armory is in this building. Do you think your men are up for a bit of room to room combat?” Captain Tencatzin asked Sommer.
Sommer nodded in affirmation. "Allow me to get our specialists. We'll clear that out in no time flat." He replied, calling out names over his headset and directing them towards the main building. At his orders, multiple men armed with shotguns jogged towards the center of the building, lining up at either side. After a quick countdown, they kicked open the door and entered, shots ringing out sporadically from the building in the time afterwards as the mercenaries cleared the building of guardsmen room by room.
As the gunfire died down, a mercenary exited the building and approached the two commanders, giving off a quick, unneeded salute. "A few surrendered. The rest were disposed of." He explains. "Armory's been secured."
”Excellent work,” Captain Tencatzin replied. “We have another Imperial Army unit on the way to take command of the garrison and deal with the prisoners. We have a moment for your men to rest up and prepare before we move on to our next objective.”
Approximately an hour later, a new Imperial Army company arrived, along with a detachment from Xiomeran Military Intelligence. They took over the prisoners and the garrison, as Tencatzin briefed the mercenaries on their next objective of the day. “We’re ordered to disperse some rioters just south of the center of town, who are preventing our forces from linking up. They’ve taken control of the main north-south arterial road leading into the center of town. They seem to be gathered around the local police headquarters....we might have to deal with a few of them as well, although they shouldn’t even be as hard as this lot to deal with,” Tencatzin added, gesturing disdainfully at the Civil Guardsmen being led off as prisoners.
The column soon mounted up and continued their advance, taking the aforementioned Tlahico Road into the center of Necuatexi. As they rolled forward through different neighborhoods, most people eyed the column resentfully, although no one offered any immediate resistance. That changed as they neared the headquarters of the Necuatexi Municipal Police, located near the center of town and the Necuatexi Palace.
As the mercenaries and their Xiomeran escorts approached, they saw a makeshift set of barricades made of tires, wood and rubbish had been set up. Large burned-out vehicles had also been set to block the roadway. Behind the barricades, a large crowd of locals had gathered. They began shouting angrily as the column approached. Some began to throw rocks, and even a few Molotov cocktails, none of which reached the column as it pulled to a halt.
Tencatzin sighed as he noticed some police vehicles pulled up behind the barricade. Several Municipal Policemen in their distinctive green uniforms were visible at the barricade, clearly armed. “The idiots,” he muttered under his breath. As he turned, a group of Imperial Police in their black uniforms emerged from a nearby side street. “Don’t shoot,” Tencatzin said quickly, waving down the mercenaries and his own troops alike. “Did you try to break the barricade?”
“We did,” the Imperial Police commander leading the group replied. “Their resistance was too strong, we took casualties and had to fall back.”
Tencatzin swore, turning back inside his command vehicle and picking up a microphone. “By order of the Provisional Imperial Government of Xiomera, you are hereby ordered to disperse at once,” he shouted over a loudspeaker. In response, the crowd began shouting louder, and the throwing of items intensified. “This is your final warning. You are ordered to disperse at once or you will be removed,” the Captain repeated. With the crowd continuing to grow more violent, he sighed. “They don’t get a third warning.” With a wave of his hand, he ordered the column to begin advancing.
Sommer listened to the conversation between Tencatzin and the police commander intently, observing the crowd out of the corner of his eyes. As the order is given to advance, he sighed before pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. "You heard the man! Advance, and disperse the crowd! You are cleared to open fire on hostile," Volkhardt ordered over his radio, pulling out his service pistol and firing into the air once before re-entering the vehicle. "Our IFVs can withstand a few molotovs, don't you worry," he assured Tencatzin.
Tencatzin nodded with approval as the column advanced. As they drew closer, the rock-throwing grew even more heavy. The Xiomerans fired a few warning shots over the heads of the protesters. This did not have the desired effect. Not only did the protesters continue to throw rocks and Molotov cocktails at the column, the warning shots prompted the municipal police manning the barricade to begin opening fire.
The thrown items were no threat to the column, but the police gunfire was, even if a minor one. With another curse under his breath, Tencatzin ordered the column to advance quickly and return fire.
Sommer chewed on his cigarette in disdain, before talking into his radio. "You heard the Commander. Open fire, target the green-shirts first - they're armed. These civilians'll disperse once people start getting shot." He turned, focusing his attention on Tencatzin. "Think you can call down another airstrike? Transport helis can't land yet, but the soldiers inside can rain down fire if need be."
The Captain nodded, turning to his radio and issuing a few commands. While the Civil Guard garrison had been on the outskirts of town, the latest objective was right in the middle of town. With a target in a much more built-up area, an even more precise approach was required.
Within a few minutes, the thrumming sound of rotors could be heard. A pair of XH-5 attack helicopters flew above the disturbance. As they approached the barricade line, the helicopters began opening fire with the rotary cannons mounted at their nose. As the rapid fire blasted apart the barricade, the crowd of rioters began falling back, shouting and running in fear. The local police who managed to survive the initial round of fire from the helicopters began falling back as well, their resistance broken by the desire to survive.
"Good hits," Volkhardt comments. "That'll make taking the outpost much easier - shouldn't be many stragglers." Mercenaries advanced quickly, once again capitalizing on the stunned silence following the gunships to take the entrenched position and secure the police station. Sporadic rifle fire quickly cleared out the stragglers, either scaring them away or gunning them down. "We'll need to request tanks in the future, if we can expect barricades like this to be common."
”Noted...but I am hoping this will not be common after today. Our other forces have gotten things in the northern half of the city under control. We may have more issues in Acalan, but once those are settled, we should have no further urban combat to deal with. Of course, the malcontents will simply hide out in the countryside after that - and that will be a completely different matter,” Tencatzin replied calmly as the mercenaries and the Xiomeran soldiers mopped up the last of the resistance. “Now that this is settled here, we’re ordered to proceed to the Necuatexi Palace. The governor wants to thank you,” the Captain added.
It was a short drive to the Palace, where the first Imperial soldiers had deployed to install the new Governor. Their perimeter around the Palace was quite strong, the mercenaries noted.
When they arrived at the Palace, Governor Xicotzin came out to greet them. “I have been briefed on your actions so far, and you have done admirably well,” the Governor said to Sommer. “Your men are welcome to set up camp within our perimeter around the Palace. From there, you can bring in additional forces to deploy as needed. In the meantime, the Provisional Government is grateful for your hard work - and believes in rewarding hard work. Once your men set up camp, if you need anything, just ask for it. Food, drink, anything you may need.”
Sommer shook Xicotzin's hand, nodding politely. "Thank you, Governor. My men'll set up shop in the perimeter and dig in for the night. The larger of my two detachments will be moving to take Acalan as soon as possible." He pauses, taking a moment to wipe the sweat off his face. "They'll have enough equipment to take the city, but air support and any armored vehicles you can provide us will assist in the event of... strong resistance. As for the security contractors here - food, drink, and barracks to rest in will be enough for now."
”Very good. We will provide the air and ground support you’ll need to take care of any trouble in Acalan - but that’s for tomorrow. For now, enjoy the rest you’ve earned,” the Governor said, nodding and instructing Tencatzin to show the mercenaries where they could set up camp.
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