A.N.: Hey guys, what's up? I know I haven't posted a chapter for just about anything in a really long time, and I'm sorry for that. But with school starting up recently, I haven't had as much time to focus on writing like I used to. So for a while, I'm only going to be posting a chapter once or twice every week. I'm sorry I can't post as often, but I'm doing my best with what I have. But, continuing from that, I feel that I didn't really enjoy the way that the original "The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same", so I'm doing a rewrite starting with the original Modern Warfare. I've been thinking about this for a while, waiting for the Remastered version to be released, but I felt that I didn't want to wait any longer. So, here is the first chapter of "S.S.D.D.", rewritten for you all. So, please, R+R, PM, and enjoy. Until next time, OPKILLERFROST, out.
Tracking… Found
Sgt. John "Soap" MacTavish
22nd SAS Regiment
Somewhere near the Bering Strait
We were all on a Black Hawk moving towards the cargo ship. We still couldn't see it, but I knew that we were getting close. We had flown halfway across the damned world to get attack this thing. I hoped whatever was on board was worth it. Captain Price, my new Commanding Officer started to brief us further on the op.
"Bravo Team, the intel on this Op comes from our informant in Russia. The package is aboard a medium freighter. Estonian registration number 52775. There is a small crew and a security detail on board." Price said
"Rules of engagement, Sir?" Gaz, my XO (Second in Command) asked
"Crew expendable."
Right as Price said this, the freighter came into view. It was still just a small pinprick of light in the distance, but I could see it, bobbing up and down along with the waves in the storm. As we moved in closer, our radio chatter started to pick up.
"Baseplate, this is Hammer Two-Four. We have visual on the target. E.T.A sixty seconds." Our pilot said
"Copy Two-Four."
We began to fly near the ship, and now I could pick out the individual cargo containers sitting on the deck. I looked over at Price, seeing him smoking a cigar. I still remember the first words he said to me only hours ago. "What the hell kind of a name is Soap, eh? How'd a muppet like you pass selection?" I continued to look around at the other men in the chopper. There were five others in there, if you don't count the two pilots. Of course, there was Captain Price, then there was Gaz, Griffen, Wallcoft, and King. Now, when I say "other men", I mean four men and a woman. King was one of the only women in the SAS, so that's saying something about how good of a warrior she was. We were the same rank, but I knew that she could and would order me around if the situation came to it.
"Thirty seconds. Going dark."
Every light that was not needed was instantly shut off, sending us into the pitch black of the night. I tried to look at everyone else, but I couldn't see them through the darkness. The only one I could see was Captain Price and that was only because he was smoking a cigar. I guess it was something that calmed him before a mission.
"Ten seconds. Radio check. Go to secure channel."
With that, Price threw away his cigar, but I could now see thanks to the bright lights of the ship. Price pulled down his gas mask, and I did the same. Time to go kick some ass.
"Lock and load." Price said
I pulled out my silenced MP5, getting ready for when we were given the green light to fast rope down onto the ship. Once the chopper stopped moving, and was only hovering, I knew that it was time.
"Green light! Go! Go! Go!" the pilot said
King dropped the rope down, fast roping once it had hit the deck. Price went next, then I followed. Once my boots had hit the deck, I brought up my gun, ready to fire. I was waiting for Price to give the order, and I hoped he was going to give it soon, because the guards weren't going to stay oblivious to our presence forever.
"Weapons free."
With that, we opened fire, shooting all of the crew on the bridge. There wasn't many of them, but there was definitely more than how many there was on the mock cargo ship back at base.
"Bridge secure." King said
"Hold your fire! Gaz- stay in the bird till we secure the deck, over." Price said
"Roger that."
We stacked up at the door, then Price kicked it open. The lock must've been either rusted, or disengaged, because for a man as old as Price looked, I don't think he'd be able to kick open that door if it was brand new and locked.
"Squad on me! Stairs clear."
We moved into the bridge, then down a set of stairs. Now we were in a hallway with a drunken soldier stumbling out of a room at the other end. Taking the initiative, I fired a burst into his chest, killing him.
"Last call." Price muttered
I walked into what would've been position 3 back home. The room was empty, so I continued to where 5 would've been. Inside, there were two soldiers sleeping. I shot the two of them then walked out.
"Crew quarters clear. Move up." Price said
We walked out of the ship and out onto the deck. Once I stepped outside, I was instantly pelted with rain. We moved down a set of stairs to the lower deck, where Gaz, Griffen, and Wallcroft were fast roping down.
"Ready sir." Gaz said once they were on the deck
"Fan out. Three meter spread."
We did as he said, keeping three meters between us. Sitting like this, nothing was going to get by us without someone seeing it. We kept moving along the deck, eventually seeing two guards on a platform halfway across the ship.
"Got two on the platform." Gaz said
"I see 'em." Price said
Once we were closer, Price gave the order and we killed them, moving on immediately. It took a while, but when we reached the far end of the ship, we ran into our first problem. Tangos on the second floor started shooting, not allowing us o move up.
"Hammer Two-Four, we got tangos on the second floor." Price said into the radio
"Copy, engaging." The pilot said
The Black hawk then came into view, one of the gunners spraying all of the second floor windows. Any tangos that hadn't been taken out by our small arms fire had been ripped apart by the minigun. After the second floor had been cleared, Hammer Two-Four had to bug out because they were low on fuel. Perfect timing. We were about to enter the ship, where they wouldn't be able to help us.
"Copy Hammer. Wallcroft, Griffen, cover our six. The rest of you, on me."
"Roger that." Gaz said
Wallcroft and Griffen stayed behind at a railing while we moved up to a door, stacking up. Gaz then pulled a W1200 shotgun off his back, locking the shell into place.
"I like to keep this for close encounters." He said
"Too right mate." King said
"On my mark- go." Price ordered
Price twisted the wheel on the door, pulling it open. We moved inside, King going first, Gaz second, Price third, then me bringing up the rear.
"Check your corners! Move. Check those corners!" Price said
"Clear left."
"Clear right." King said
"Hallway clear! Move up!"
"Clear right." King said
"Stairs clear." Price said
We moved down a flight of stairs, and that's when we came into contact with hostiles. In front of us was a walkway around a part of the engine, then on the other side was where the hostiles were sitting. We moved around the engine, and that's when they started opening fire on us with AK-47s. King and I moved up, killing the hostiles quickly. Price then took point and we continued to clear the ship of hostiles. We all stacked up at a door, then King peeked through it and received a burst of machine gun fire. I guess they know we're coming now. Price prepped a flashbang, then threw it through the open door.
"Flashbang out. Go." He said
We then moved through a door, ending up on a catwalk. Below us, there stood two soldiers who were dazed by Price's flashbang. We shot them, then continued to move up. We cleared the room, then started to move up. I was slightly ahead of the group, but there wasn't a tango in sight. That was, until one popped out from behind a crate, shooting a Desert Eagle at me. I lit him up like a Christmas tree, then kicked the gun away from his hand, just to make sure that he wouldn't be getting up and shooting me. We then made it to the other side of the room, where we stacked up at yet another door. Price kicked this one open, then we moved up onto the catwalks in the next room. Unfortunately, there were tangos on the opposite catwalk and they opened fire on us. Was there ever going to be a moment when we weren't going to be getting shot at once we enter a room? We returned fire at the group on the catwalks, then made our way down the other side. I took cover next to a crate to reload, and then King hit slammed down into the side of the crate, taking cover from the hostiles.
"Havin' fun, Greenie?" She asked while reloading
"Totally. Just love getting shot at." I replied sarcastically
"Well that's the fun part."
With that, she got up and continued to clear the room. I followed her lead, and together we managed to take out the rest of the hostiles while Gaz and Price were reloading. After the room was cleared, we stacked up at another door (is there any shortage of doorways in this fucking ship?) and waited for Price to give the order to move up. It came when he threw a flashbang into the next room, stunning any soldiers that were inside.
"On my mark- go." Price said
We then moved into this room and started shooting at the hostiles in here. I hoped that they would run out of people for us to shoot, because I was running out of ammo. After another heated firefight with the lovely chaps in this section of the ship, it was finally all clear.
"Report- all clear?" Price asked
"Roger that." Gaz said, pulling out a Geiger Counter
He started walking around the room, until the Counter was ticking madly. I guess he'd found what he was looking for.
"I'm getting a strong reading sir. You might want to take a look at this."
Gaz pulled the latch up and then pulled the door open. Inside was a nuclear device with what looked like an Arabic flag hanging behind it.
"Hmm… it's in Arabic… Baseplate, this is Bravo Six. We've found it. Ready to secure package for transport." Price said
"No time, Bravo Six. Two bogies headed your way fast. Grab what you can and get the hell outta there." Command said
"Fast movers. Probably MiGs. We'd better go." Gaz said
"Soap, grab the manifest in the container. Move." Price ordered
I then walked into the container, looking for anything that looked like a manifest. My eyes settled on a clipboard with writing I couldn't read on it. I grabbed the papers, folded them neatly, then stuffed them into one of the various pockets in my uniform.
"Alright- Everyone topside! Double time!" Price said
We began to move to the end of the ship where we were initially dropped off. This would've been the quickest way to get out, but things were never that easy.
"Wallcroft, Griffen, what's your status?" Price asked
"Already in the helicopter, sir. Enemy aircraft inbound… Shit! They've opened fire! Get out of there now!" Griffen yelled
We walked through a doorway, but then we were immediately flung back into the other room by a giant explosion. I was on the ground, trying to figure out which way was up. My vision was burned orange from watching the side of the ship light up in a blaze.
"Bravo Six! Come in! Bravo Six, what's your status?" Big Bird asked
"Shit! What the hell happened?!" King screeched
I looked over that way and saw her and Gaz getting to their feet. I had to do the same, but it was as if my limbs had become like lead. I couldn't move.
"The ship's sinking! We've got to go, now!" Gaz yelled
"Bravo Six, come in, damn it!" Big Bird yelled
"Big Bird, this is Bravo Six. We're on our way out!" Price said, then noticed that I was still on the ground
He hauled me to my feet, yelling "On your feet, soldier! We are leaving! Get to the catwalks! Move, move, move!"
We ran to the nearest flight of stairs leading to the catwalks, then climbed them as fast as we could. It was hard work, though. The stairs were steep enough when the ship was upright, but now it was tilted so badly that the stairs were almost like a vertical ladder. Once on the catwalks, we began running. I had no intention of slowing down, but that was challenged when the side of the ship burst, sending a cascade of water down on us. I was brought to my knees, putting me even farther behind everybody else. I got up and chased after them, praying to god that I would get out in time and not be left behind. We entered the first room we were in, and again, the ship's hull tore away, sending water raining down on us. This time, I was ready for it. I braced for the impact and stayed on my feet, and I kept running. I was almost to the door when the catwalks started to break away from the side of the ship. If I didn't move fast, I would be sent down into the cargo hold and I'd definitely be left behind. Right as the catwalks tore themselves from the bolts holding them in place, I leapt to safety through a doorway. I turned left, then right down the hallway where we initially engaged the hostiles. Their bodies were floating in the water, and I had to jump to avoid tripping over them. I turned and ran up the steps to the main level of the ship. I turned right and then was outside again. I just barely caught sight of King running around the corner of the tower. I ran after her, and saw that everybody was climbing into the CH-46 Sea Knight that was hovering at the edge of the ship. As I ran towards it, it started to move away from the ship, and I realized I was being left behind. I sprinted faster, hoping to make it there in time. Just as I reached the edge, I heard King yell.
"Jump for it!"
I pushed off with all the power my legs held, and I made it onto the chopper. I had just barely made it onto the ramp, but there was one problem. The ramp was slick from the rain and it was angled downward. I began to slide out toward the sea, but Price apparently noticed. He turned around and grabbed my arms, pulling me into the helo.
"Gotcha!" He said, turning around "We're all aboard! Go!"
"Roger that, we're outta here. Baseplate, this is Big Bird. Package secure, returning to base. Out."
With that, the pilot closed the ramp and my view of the sinking ship was cut off. I was just glad to be alive. I took a minute to breath before getting up and sitting on one of the numerous seats on the helicopter. I sat hunched over, elbows on my knees, thinking about the events that had just occurred. I was aware of the many lives I had taken this night, but they weren't the ones that bothered me. I found it strange that none of the men I killed were seared into my brain. I had never dwelled on it, but to this day I had never been haunted by the fact that I've murdered so many people. I looked around the chopper and saw that Price was talking with the pilots, Gaz was talking to Wallcroft and Griffen, but King was sitting by herself. She had taken off her gasmask, and now I could see that she had light brown hair and the same color eyes. I just realized that before the op, I had never seen King without a mask on. She was wearing one when I was running the course in the hanger, and then she was wearing one during the mission. I was forced to stop paying attention to her when Griffen started talking to me.
"Some jump there, Greenie. For a minute there, I thought that you had just dived into the icy drink below." He said
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." I said
"Well up until now, nobody had known how good a soldier you were, so we had no idea what would happen to you, Greenie."
"Would you stop talking to me like that? I'm not a bloody rookie. This wasn't my first mission as a soldier. You don't just automatically rise to the rank of Sergeant when you finish basic training, you know. I'd expect you to know that judging by how you're still a Private."
Griffen shut up after that, but my comment earned a smile from King, and for some reason, I felt happy knowing that I had made her smile. I couldn't wait to see it again.
So, that was the first chapter of the rewrite, and just letting you guys know, I am going to be taking down "You Can't Kill Me" until after this story is finished, because of the fact that the changes I want to the make this story will change the events in that story. But if Thunderstrike16 and DecepticonGamer happen to be reading this, I don't know where I was going to go with the whole "Roach has a vendetta against Menendez because he hurt Liz" thing. That was one of the things that I wanted to take "YCKM" down for. But I hope everybody reading this enjoyed that last chapter, and I'll see you guys soon. Like I said before the chapter, I'm trying to write more often, but don't expect a constant stream of chapters. So until next time, OPKILLERFROST out