The northern end of the courtyard was choked with loyalists.
Between the probe droids, footage gleaned from the orbiting ships, and reports from the Fisters, Gulliver had a pretty clear picture of what was going on. It was time to start putting the guns to use.
By now, the rooftops were practically bristling with artillery pieces. The nearest ones were loaded with 200mm mortars. The high arc, short range weapons were perfectly suited for engaging masses of troops with indirect fire. On the further buildings were the howitzers. The howitzers had longer range, but flatter trajectories. They still relied on a much steeper arc than a direct fire weapon, but compared to the mortars, they had much greater range.
The tradeoff was size and rate of fire. The 155mm shells were smaller in diameter than the mortar shells, but they weighed nearly twice as much. Loading the weapons took longer, and they required more men to operate. Even in this day and age, there was no real substitute for good old fashioned cannon.
Gulliver grinned as he began inputing the fire command into his wrist mounted datapad.
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"FIRE MISSION!"
1st Squad, 2nd Platoon, 4-223 FA sprang to life. They hadn't exactly been lollygagging before, but BS scutwork wasn't what they lived for. They lived to make the big cannon, affectionately named Overnight Male, sing. The suggestive name was par for the course for artillerymen. Their humor was as black as the night that would claim them all if one of them screwed up and the cannon blew up.
"TARGET NUMBER ECHO NOVEMBER TWO TWO ONE! GRID, 45345-99436! 3 ROUNDS, HE! TIME ON TARGET!"
The gun crew called back the fire order. Honestly, it was an outdated tradition in the digital age, but there was something primal about it that appealed to their souls. They were announcing, to themselves and anyone in earshot (in this case the rest of 2nd platoon, each arrayed around their own gun on the massive rooftop) that they were about to kill the crap out of something. All around them, other gun crews were engaged in the same ritual. The guns tracked onto target on their own, guided by the signal from the FO's datapad. All they had to do was load the shells as quick as they could and pull the lanyard.
They readied the guns and waited for the fire command.
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Up in orbit, the gunnery sections on the big ships were somewhat more restrained. They viewed things like hollering out the fire order to be archaic and unnecessary, something for the poor saps who didn't have the luxury of computer-aimed weaponry to call upon. They quietly performed their jobs, doing their best to ignore the fact that they themselves would shortly face the incoming fire of the enemy fleet.
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The mortar platoons were the first to fire. Though they were the closest to the target, the projectiles were also far and away the slowest. On all the closest buildings around the palace, the muted booms of the stubby little weapons firing could be heard, provided you were close enough.
Further away, the cannon belched flames as the howitzers sent their deadly loads downrange.
High up above, beams of coherent energy lanced down towards the courtyard.
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::Splash.::
That single word, transmitted over the voicecomms to everyone on the friendly net smart enough to listen, would have been a pretty good cue to plug their ears. It was about to get messy.
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Gulliver cackled with glee as the first barrage of rounds impacted right on time.
The howitzers, with their more shallow angles of fire, landed furthest away from the palace. That was fine, as there were plenty of enemies to go around. The airburst shells exploded into ugly black clouds about two and a half meters above the ground, sending shrapnel and concussion waves screaming towards the massed enemies below.
The mortars were able to drop shells directly on the steps of the palace, courtesy of their high angles of fire and the extremely precise coordinates amassed by the Fisters earlier. Their shells were running variable timed fuzes, getting a good mix of airbust and impact going. Though lighter than the howitzers, they actually packed a bigger explosive charge, as they didn't need to use as much weight for the casing.
As soon as the last shell exploded, the timing so perfect that the gap would be imperceptible, ten turbolaser bolts from about struck the courtyard with forces nearly unmatched by anything in nature.
The second stonk struck before the ground had stopped shaking from the turbolaser fire. It was much like the first, but with a difference: Willy Pete had come to call. The white phosphorous rounds burst at head height, showing little glowing chunks of white hot metal all over the place. Noxious smoke poured off the burning phosphorous in thick, toxic clouds that seared lung and skin alike. The stuff burned vigorously, and was nearly impossible to extinguish. Gulliver knew from experience that the only treatment was to cut the phosphorous, and any flesh around it, out before it got too deep. His arms and legs were pocked by several shiny scars from doing just that.
And of course, no sooner had the smoke start to spread than the turbolasers struck. This time, they hit a few meters further out, and with a purpose. The WP burning in their immediate path was consumed, but the stuff burning closer to the palace was chucked inside any openings by the concussive force of the blast. Gulliver seriously doubted that the inside of the Dark Lord's palace had too many fire hazards, but WP was relentless, and also produced one of the best smoke screens known to man.
But wait, there's more. The third and final stonk was all HE airburst. Shrapnel once again scoured the northern end of the courtyard, or what was left of it.
All this, in less than four seconds.
"There is no overkill, there is only 'open fire' and 'reloading," the old mercenary muttered to himself, barely audible over the ringing in his ears.
[member="Ghorua the Fish"] | [member="Darth Mephirium"] | [member="Julian Valentine"] | [member="Braxus Zambrano"] | [member="Bethany Haverford"] | [member="Darth Ophidia"] | [member="Thrukk Gulpdar"] | [member="Drana'stair'eno"] | [member="Darth Hauntruss"] | [member="Darth Acarus"] | [member="Darth Adekos"] | [member="Abelain Narv'uk"] | [member="Seraphina Shel'tah"] | [member="Warok the Defiler"]
