Tyranny of Steel

Having recovered Jürgen's corpse, or what was left of it, Captain Andreas Jaeger quickly made his way out of the tent; however, the moment he exited it, he noticed a large and muscular figure. According to the dossier they read over before this mission took place, this man was likely to be none other than Subetei, the man who was the favorite to succeed the previous Khan who Jürgen had assassinated.

Subetei immediately reached for his saber; however, before he could even get his hand on his weapon, a booming echo resounded through the night's sky. A gaping hole was in the middle of the Mongolian warlord's chest as he stared at Andreas with surprise. In the Captain's hand was a 1422 Service Revolver, which he had fired the moment Subetei reached for his weapon.

The once-proud Mongolian warlord who was just about to become the next Khan of the Golden Horde collapsed to the ground. However, the minute he did so, many warriors appeared from outside their tents, wondering what such a noise could be. They gazed in astonishment as they saw their leader bleeding out on the ground in front of a group of strangely dressed men.

The brave warriors of Subetei's faction immediately unsheathed their blades and began howling as they charged at the intruders. Andreas did not hesitate and quickly raised his revolver with one hand as he opened fire upon the enemy in rapid fashion.

Beside Andreas was the medic who quickly raised his rifle and fired at the oncoming opponents. Gunshots echoed in the air as bodies collapsed. The more shots fired, the more Mongolians appeared from their tents, armed and ready for combat.

However, Andreas did not stay behind, instead, he and the medic quickly regrouped with the other members of their squad before fleeing from the scene of their crime. Evidently they had found Jürgen's equipment. While the soldiers ran, they also reloaded their weapons and fired at any hostiles who dared to get in their path. As for Andreas, he had long since fired his six shots, and because he was carrying Jürgen's body, he could no longer load his weapon.

With this in mind, he quickly holstered his firearm before unsheathing his bayonet, where he held it close to his body in case he needed to kill someone who got too close. As the Mongolian warriors began to chase after the fleeing Austrian team, the marksman on the hill above began carefully picking his targets; with every squeeze of the trigger, another hostile was sent to the afterlife.

With great finesse, he quickly racked the bolt of his needle rifle back, where he placed the next paper cartridge into the action before slamming the bolt home. After doing so, he quickly acquired his next target on the path of least resistance and gunned him down. Andreas quickly spotted the marksman clearing the path and ordered his men to follow it.

"This way! Hurry!"

The Austrian Jaegers fiercely began to battle their way out of the enemy encampment. As a Mongolian approached the medic reloading a paper cartridge, he quickly halted the procedure. He then raised his bayonet while thrusting it into the man's heart. After doing so, he finished pushing the bolt forward before firing on another target.

Andreas was protected by his soldiers, who guarded his flanks as they secured the route out of the camp and towards the boat. Before long, they had gained a head start over the warriors of the Golden Horde, who were now rushing back to their tents to grab ahold of their bows. However, by the time they retrieved them, the Austrians had made their way out of the encampment and rushed towards the river basin where they had left their boat.

The marksman continued to clear a path until his comrades had gotten close to their position. As such, he fired one last shot protecting the rear guard from an incoming sword swing, exploding the target's head before hopping down from his position and regrouping with his team. As he ran alongside them to the shore, he instantly cursed.

'Well, this is a fucking shit show!"

Andreas did not say anything. Instead, he tossed Jürgens body into the boat and began to push it into the river. Before long, the Mongolians arrived and began to fire their arrows upon Andreas and his team; fortunately, their vitals were well protected from missile fire, and the hands failed to pierce through the Austrian steel trench armor.

Andreas quickly unslung his rifle and fired a shot into the torso of the nearest Mongolian warrior before hopping into the boat which was now flowing downstream, every one of the Austrian soldiers made their way into the boat—at the same time, ducking their heads, and protecting their exposed backs from missile fire. They began to row as if their lives depended upon it, as arrows fell upon them instantly.

However, due to the shape of their helmets, if they huddled down just right, there was no way they could be killed. After a while, they made it out of range of the Mongolian composite bows and began to cheer as they flipped off the hostile warriors who stared at them with disbelief. However, Andreas immediately barked at his soldiers to remind them of something serious.

"We're not out of the woods yet; we need to get to the extraction point before they can get on horseback and follows; quit your cheering and start rowing!"

Just as Andreas had said, the Mongolian warriors of the Golden Horde doubled back to their camp, where they got ahold of their horses. It was a race against time; the Austrians had to make their way downstream to where their mounts were located. If the Mongolians arrived before they did, it was all over.

With this in mind, the team furiously rowed the boat into the rapids, where they were propelled downstream at a tremendous rate. After a while, they arrived at their destination, where Andreas picked up Jürgen's body and placed it on the back of his horse. After mounting their horses the team immediately set off towards the Austrian Borders.

However, before they could celebrate, they noticed that the advanced force of the Golden Horde was not far behind. Several hundred elite Mongolian riders were closing in and fast. With this in mind, Andreas pulled out his revolver once more and began ejecting its empty cartridges out of its gate. After doing so, he rapidly reloaded the weapon, with the reins in his left hand and the revolver in his right, he stormed off on his horse towards his homeland.

The Mongolians rushed their horses towards the Austrians without caring for their mount's safety. Eventually, they began to close the distance, where they proceeded to fire their arrows towards Andreas and his men. They were not in a good position, as their trench armor did not protect their backs. If an arrow made its way through its exposed area, it could mean death.

The Austrians faced their oncoming attackers and fired their revolvers at them. The bullets traveled downrange to limited success. If anything, they were more likely to strike the horse. A .38 special was not capable of entirely stopping a horse with a single shot unless it hit a vulnerable region.

However, when their shots did land clean, they managed to either knock down a rider or kill its horse. As the Chase continued, things were beginning to look bleak to the Austrians. By now, they had run out of ammo with their revolvers, and they were not equipped with cavalry carbines.

However, in their darkest hour, the sound of thunder resounded in the air, and in the very next moment, a plume of smoke appeared from the edge of the forest. As it did, more than a quarter of the approaching Mongols fell dead. It took a few moments, but another volley was fired shortly after, where an exciting sight took place.

Men dressed in Uniforms that they did not recognize emerged from the treeline with muskets in their hands and triangular bayonets affixed as they loaded quick loading tubes into the bores of their weapons before firing another volley. With this third volley, every last member of the horde who had followed them was either slain or trapped beneath the weight of their horse.

Seeing that their enemies were defeated, Andreas ordered his unit to halt as they watched the unknown men rush forth from their positions and skewer any member of the golden horde left alive with their bayonets.

Andreas was quite suspicious of this new and unknown force and thus approached them cautiously. However, the man in charge of the company of soldiers who had helped them with their pursers immediately saluted him before speaking in what Andreas would politely refer to as "Broken German."

"Captain Kryštof Jílek of the Royal Bohemian Army. We were sent to provide aid; I am glad we arrived on time."

Berengar had suspected something like this could happen. With this in mind, he had kept the newly established Bohemian Army on standby to intercept and aid the Jaegers if they found themselves in trouble during their escape. Andreas was stunned to see that there was some form of support for them, however before he could thank the man and his troops, Captain Kryštof immediately began to interrupt.

"The majority of their army is still out there, and there are not enough of us to fight them off. Quickly, while you can make your escape, we will be returning to Bohemia immediately."

Thus the brief interaction between the Bohemian Army and Austria's fledgling special forces group ended. Andreas quickly gave his orders to his soldiers; he was confident he did not want to stick around for the rest of the horde to arrive.

"Quickly, with haste ride towards the fatherland!"

His soldiers immediately nodded their heads and followed the path back to Austria. The rest of their journey would be entirely uneventful.

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