?????? Somewhere in Siberia
Mason woke up and got out of his bunk. He slowly put his fatigues on and walked out to the mess hall. His friends Tommy and Eugiene were already there.
He took a bite of his eggs and said, "Boys we have a new assignment"
Tommy, the red haired one nearly choked.
"We just got one"
Mason frowned.
"Apparently we completed the one so fast that they wanted us to do another. Now get ready. We're leaving at 0600 hours."
Eugiene sighed and drank the rest of his coffee.
"Tell command I'll see them in hell".
He got up and took his tray to the disposal area.
Tommy finished his meal.
"I'll meet you at the helicopter pad."
He got up to take his tray to disposal. Mason ate his food quickly. This was a pretty important assignment. Or so he was told. He finished his food, dropped off his tray and ran off to the showers. The bland tiles were rough on his feet. Even after him being there for a while, he could never get used to the feel.
A band of tanks sped through a snowstorm in the Russian wilderness. The lead tank, and old T-34 stopped and turned its turret. The rest of the tanks entered a V shaped formation and followed suit.
Mason sat down in a bright room full of other marines in one room. The air was dry and warm. They were all sweating under their heavy BDU's, but it was better than the crisp cold outside. The commanding officer of the batallion stepped up.
"ATTENTION!"
All the chatter died instantly.
"This assignment is easy. Guard a checkpoint, check for contraband..."
"Doesn't seem so hard..."
"... and detain VIPs and bring them back to base."
The whole room was filled with groans. The commander only frowned and shouted "TO YOUR STATIONS". Within 3 minutes Mason found himself in a humvee 10 feet away from the blast door.
"Prepare to open. 3...2...1".
Mason saw snow fly in through the cracks of the opening door. Like water leaking out of a pipe. The Humvee moved towards the exit of the base.
This oughta be fun
Reaching the exit, they waited for the barrier to be lifted. Mason sighed and waited for clearance.
After the barrier was lifted, the humvee moved forward and slowly rolled to the checkpoint.
The tanks started to fire at targets set up by their crew. One tank, an IS-2, hit one of the targets right in the middle of the 100 points circle. The commander of the lead tank, a short blonde hairs girl opened the hatch and peered at the targets with her binoculars. She only grinned before she disappeared into the tank.
Mason stepped out of the Humvee and immdiately felt the crisp, freezing cold wind hit his face. They were lucky that they had full visibility. Otherwise their job would be a hell of a lot worse. Mason slung his rifle over his shoulder and walked towards the side of the road. The weather was supposedly -5 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity was only 11%
This sucks ass.
He had a feeling he'd be in for a rough time. To pass the time he was going to have to stand on a road checking vehicles. The bulky suits provided to them obviously weren't enough. The boots made a crunch on the snow while they walked to their posts. The breeze picked up, and blew some leaves into Masons face. He continued to walk to his station until he found the door. Eugiene walked over to Mason and patted him on the back. Mason activated his radio and switched on his microphone.
"Do you know what the VIPs look like?"
Mason paused.
"Nope. Thanks to command they just said something about old tanks."
Eugiene scuffled and walked inside the small station of guards. The second he walked in the air transformed from a blinding cold mist into a warm and comfy place. The guards were sitting down on a table. Drinking instant coffee and watching the video monitors. Mason had one look around the room, and turned around to the exit.
The tanks rolled down a small road, single filed. The leader of them peered through the observation hole and saw a small checkpoint. She reached for her radio, and in a higher pitched voice, shouted to the tanks "STOP. Checkpoint ahead"
Mason yawned and sighed. Guarding the checkpoint would be boring. That was until he saw a bunch of old ass tanks roll up to the checkpoint. He saw the commander of the checkpoint run over. Half of the soldiers took their weapons off of safety. The other aimed it at the tanks.
"Papers please!"
A small girl in a tanker cap stood up out of the commanders hatch. Behind that tank a teenager, about masons age, stood up out of the hatch and stepped down. Mason sighed. Some guy behind him went back inside and into the armory. What surprised Mason and perhaps the rest of the soldiers is that the little girl hopped on the bigger girls back and was given a piggyback ride.
The rifles simultaneously made a clicking noise. Guns were chambered. Out of the 10 soldiers aiming their weapons, Mason put his down.
"Stand down. You in the green. State your business."
The girl with the brown hair, who was startled for a few seconds, suddenly replied, "We're passing through." Mason instantly noticed an accent.
"Papers please."
He could see the short blond girls face go pale.
The brown haired one kept her composure, but Mason could tell she was worried.
"We didn't know there'd be a checkpoint..."
Mason sighed.
"Can I at least get an ID card?"
The brown haired girl set down the blond haired girl and handed him a card.