(AN: I would suggest playing Aurelleah - Defense of the Citadel [Epic Orchestral] on YouTube for some atmospheric music. It has no lyrics, just great battle music. )
POV Rio
As soon as I got the message, I ran back to the Warwick Homestead and took off with the Vertibird back to the Castle. It seemed like I arrived before the Gunners had arrived. But while flying, I did see a few Gunner scouts in the local area. I landed the Vertibird and was greeted by a woman in a Minutemen uniform.
"General! I have been ordered to escort you to the War Room, where Lt General Garvey is awaiting you," The Minutemen said while saluting me.
"At ease, and let's get going," I replied.
I am led to the war room, and I see Preston looking over a map of the area. He sees me and smiles.
"Glad you could arrive in time," Preston says with relief.
"What's the situation?" I ask.
"Several scouts have been spotted in the local area, but a caravan tipped us off. They said they saw a force of at least a hundred Gunners heading in our direction. I sent out a scout, and they confirmed that the Gunners are on their way. They will likely attack within a few hours. We don't have an exact number, but it should be at least 100 and no more than 200," Preston says.
"How many people have you recruited?" I ask.
"19, I have assigned them to defense for the moment. Our food stores should last us for a few weeks if it really becomes a siege. The Gunners likely don't know we have working artillery. That should give them a surprise. Though we haven't test-fired them yet, so I am not sure how accurate we will be," Preston says with some hesitation.
"That won't be a problem. Anyone who is assigned to a job is imparted with knowledge of said job. They should have no issue with operating the artillery. But first, let me distribute some weapons," I say while taking a crate out of my inventory.
When the crate is opened, inside are various blasters. Most of them are based on the DC-15A, but I had a few other types, such as the DC-15s and some E-5 Blasters. I also had an EWHB-12 stored in the Veribird's storage. We distributed the weapons and ammo to everyone, and then I sent the Veribird into the sky to give air support when needed. Finally, I took out a macrobinocular and gave it to Preston. I didn't need them as I could see farther than most.
I spot the Gunners' main force and start calculating their numbers. I counted 142 Gunners. Combined with the 6 scouts that made 148 in total. But the real issue I spotted was the 2 Vertibirds that were coming over the horizon.
"Hmm, well, I guess it's time to let them see why attacking from the air is a bad idea," I say aloud.
I move to the AA gun and get in the seat. I aim it towards the enemy Vertibirds and start the targeting calculations.
Beep Beep
"Target confirmed firing in 3... 2... 1..."
BOOOM
The round flies true and hits the Vertibird dead on, and blows it into scrap metal. The second Veritbird tries to maneuver, but I quickly lock on to it and destroy it as well.
"The Gunners are making their attack!" Preston yells.
"Fire at will, Commander!" I respond over the radio.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
The Castle was equipped with 6 artillery cannons, with each one firing nonstop.
POV Colonel Briggs
"Holy crap, those cannons are operational!" I scream in panic.
I get on the radio to command.
"General August, this is Colonel Briggs," I call in.
"It's all right, all troops prepare to retreat," replies General August.
"We won't get another chance at this, General," I respond.
"We have no choice, Colonel Briggs, your troops can't survive firepower of that magnitude," August responds.
"We're almost past their minimum range, if we try and retreat now, we won't make it. From what our spies have told us, the Castle only has a couple dozen defenders, and most are fresh recruits. We can still win this," I reply.
"I am ordering you to retreat. We can attack at another time, but we can't just throw away so many troops' lives," August orders sternly.
"Sorry, sir, but it seems like the radio is having issues. Can... Repeat..." I say while faking interference. Then I turn off the radio and continue the attack.
POV Rio
I watch as the Gunners get past the artillery and close enough that we can start attacking with our blasters. I had General's Ghost out and started to pick off any Gunners I could. Next to me was the newly promoted Commander Athena. She was given the task of using the EWHB-12. The other Minutemen had various blasters and were awaiting the order to open fire.
"Cease Fire! Cease Fire!" Athena orders over the radio.
The artillery stopped firing, and then, in a bright flash of blue blaster fire, we all opened fire. The Gunners that managed to survive the artillery were cut down rapidly as there was no cover on the approach to the Castle's two entrances. Some Gunners return fire, and a few manage to injure some Minutemen, but the medics dragged the injured away and started treatment. By the time the Gunners had gotten within 300 feet of the Castle walls, they had only 3 dozen survivors.
We had only lost 8 Minutemen, but no deaths, just injuries, forcing them off the battlefield. The Gunners were doomed, as even if they got near the walls, they would still have to deal with the several concrete bunkers in front of the entrances. Each one has several heavy machine gun turrets. I decided to make their day even worse in the hope that they might surrender. I activate the command to have the AHO begin its attack run.
The Vertibird drops from high altitude and opens, killing several Gunners. Then it drops the single-use bomb I had attached to its underbelly.
WHISTLE.... BOOOOOOOOOOOM
The bomb hits dead center and turns over a dozen Gunners into meat chunks. At this point, the Gunners were still 150 feet away from the Castle walls, and they had only 14 members left. Usually, this is when they would surrender or retreat, but apparently, I overestimated their survival instincts. One grabbed an RPG from a fallen Gunner and pointed it at the Veritbird, but as they fired, I put a round through their skull. This causes the RPG to fall but still fire, this time aiming at the nearby Gunners.
With another minute of shooting, the Gunners only had 2 members left. One was in T-60 Power Armor, and the other was wearing a strange combat suit that I felt I had seen before. The suit user went behind the T-60 user and vanished. Or at least that was what everyone else thought, but nothing changed for me. They moved away from the T-60 user, and I was a bit confused as they were not as dodgy as they were a few seconds ago. But I just shrugged my shoulder and popped his head like a watermelon. Once he felt the T-60 user noticed, but they still didn't surrender.
'Ugh, what a stubborn idiot.'
I pulled out an experimental blaster that was meant to be used to capture people alive. The biggest issue it had was the short range, and it was a bit finicky, as sometimes it wouldn't stun them or knock them out, but instead give them a seizure or heart attack. I walk a distance away so I am out of line of sight, and then fly up. The T-60 user is too distracted by the cover fire that he doesn't see me, allowing me to get close enough to start shooting him.
(AN: If you want the exact sound, then listen to (Re-upload) Stun Blast- Star Wars Sound Effect #2 on YouTube. )
The first round doesn't knock him out, so I keep firing. He tries to shoot back, but I can dodge each time due to being far more maneuverable compared to the clunky power armor. It takes 9 shots, but eventually he goes down.
'Damn, is my prototype that off from the original? Even a Sith Lord can be taken out with a single shot.'
Regardless of the reason, I had ejected the Gunner from the suit of power armor and then stored the suit. Then I grabbed the prisoner and brought him back to the Castle. Once he was in custody, I started to loot the many dead bodies.
We made a truly mighty profit from the attack. Most of our expenses were nonexistent as we used Workshop things, or the Minutemen were loyal and used no ammo. On the other hand, as long as the looted armor and equipment were still somewhat in one piece, I could place them in my inventory, and they would be brought back into pristine condition. This was also the first time I could see the effect in detail, as it grabbed all the pieces of the equipment scattered across the battlefield and put them towards repairing the item.
Not everything could be salvaged, as some things were just too broken to be classified as equipment anymore. Such as a Mosin-Nagant that was turned into fragments of metal and wood. The Gunner who owned the gun was hit directly by an artillery shell and was practically turned into mist. It also helped that I could loot corpses and find random things, and Luck would determine if it was good or not. But it made it so that as long as some flesh remained, I could loot it for the Gunners' equipment minus their weapons, as weapons were fully separate from the bodies.
An interesting thing I noticed was the lack of structural damage to the local area, even though it had just taken a sustained bombardment of artillery shells. It seemed like the artillery couldn't damage structures unless you used a shell that wasn't the default one. Regardless, the end result was a complete victory for the Minutemen. With this, we had shown our capabilities and would likely see an increase in recruitment and trade. We had no losses, and those who were injured could be returned to duty very quickly. But it did make me realize we needed more specialized medical staff.
Luckily, Curie was here to help and was even able to help train some of the medics. But I decided to stick around the Castle for a couple of days.
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Authors Note:
God is on the side with the best artillery. I think this chapter best shows this, but even without them, the Castle would be very difficult to capture. As for the size of the Gunner attacking force, it was influenced by the Nemesis status Rio has with them, but also, the Gunners are already sworn enemies of the Minutemen. So if they hear that the Minutemen had recaptured the Castle and only had around 20 or so defenders, then it makes logical sense to strike them while they are still weak and get a new fortress to use. The next chapter will be a level-up chapter, and then after that a one-man infiltration of the Soviet Union, wait, I mean an ODST drop, wait, no, that's not right. Until next time, Ciao.