Second chapter, feel free to leave your thought in the Reviews section.
2. Pre-mission jitters.
Barracks
Viper had managed to reunite his squad on the barracks. Some of them had been on-leave on the nearby town (aproximately 10 miles away from base) . After the last man arrived, Viper pulled out the drone imaging from a folder, courtesy of General Robertson and briefed the men as thoroughly as posible.
"Listen up, here's the situation. Aproximately five days ago our drones began picking up a substantial amount of enemy activity along Kyrgyzstan's border. Command suspects these movements to be militia reinforcements en route to current combat hotspots all over the Middle East. Nevertheless, the brass wants boots on the ground to assess the situation and determine the nature of these movements. The codename for this operation is Red Typhoon. Command has confirmed two possible LZs, Alpha is here, aproximately 50 kilometers east from the border with Uzbekistan, and near an actively used dirt road that leads toward the less-vigilated part of the borderpass. Landing here implies assessing the convoys that attempt to furtively make their way to Uzbekistan. Drone imaging confirms escorts for these convoys, a number of no less than 5 technicals, possibly armed with M2 or DShK heavy machine guns. LZ Bravo, on the other hand, is here, 20 miles North-West of Talas. Imaging confirms unknown military personnel concentrated around a 2-mile radious, Intelligence suspects there's an enemy C2 located in this area, should we land here, our orders are to recon the area, collect any Intel on enemy positions and destroy any materiel on sight. We will be Inserted by air, HALO jumping out of an MC-130J. Our exfil will be arranged after our objectives are met and we are secure to leave. Questions?"
Hawk, the Designated Marksman of the team, was the first to raise his hand.
"Sir, this seems like a high-stakes mission, why aren't we being briefed by the brass themselves, sir?"
He is always the thinker, Viper thought to himself. "Not going to lie to you, people. This will be an off-the-books assignment. Should we carry on with this mission we will officially be on our own, on hostile territory with minimum-to-no support. If things go South while out there NATO will disavow us and deny any ties with us. For these reason I will not order anyone into this mission, I'm asking for volunteers. Anybody who does not wish to be part of this mission can walk away, but must not, under any circumstances, talk about anything I've just told you. Should you do so you will be prosecuted by a military court."
The room fell silent, the threat hanging in the air. In all honesty, it was the first time Viper had ever asked them to volunteer, not that they would back down at all, they knew what their job was. Everyone volunteered on the spot, and Viper suddenly felt confident about the succes chances of the mission.
"Very well" Viper said, "the MC130 leaves tomorrow at o1oo hours. You know the drill, 1 hour earlier on the tarmac with your combat gear ready for check-up. You are dismissed."
The squad left, some to the mess hall an others to the basketball court, leaving Viper alone for a moment. He pulled his phone out and dialed Robertson's number.
"Are they in, Captain?"
"Yes, sir, they are all in"
"Good, then you should get some rest, the hardest days of your life are coming your way."
"Yes, sir."
"Oh, and Viper, good luck"
"Thank you, sir"
Viper cut the call andwent to his personal bunk, near the barrack's door, readying himself for what he knew would be dream-filled slumber.
The mountains are steep, Viper runs as the bullets snap when they hit the rocks around him. He stops and brings his 416 up while covering behind a good-sized rock. The weapon barks single rounds as he pulls the trigger, carefully picking his shots to conserve ammunition. 5 meters ahead Jonesy fires his M240B in short, controlled bursts, while Hawk and Jester make their way to cover, running 10 meters past Viper and stopping to cover Jonesy's retreat. The team's gunner begins to run, craddling his weapon in his arms, the ammo belt loudly clinking against his l egs.
"Tossing frag!" shouts Viper, pulling an M67 fragmentation grenade from his plate-carrier. He pulls the pin and tosses the grenade on a high-arc, depletting the fuse quickly, and, as the grenade lands 30 meters ahead, he ducks behind the rock as the grenade explodes, showering the enemies with shrapnel and metal fragments, killling 3 of them and injuring 6 more. Downhill, Ace and Whopper provide covering fire, Ace with his HK 416 and Whopper with an MP7. Viper moves downhill as his team covers his retreat, and they continue this peculiar piggy-back excersise until they reach a flat area, at which point the squad takes cover and open fire at the enemies still coming down from up the mountain. 7.62 rounds hiss and snap all around them, with the constant staccatto of AKMs and other automatic weapons.
"RPG! 2 O' CLOCK!" Ace shouts, as he discharges five rounds against the threat. The enemy succumbs, but his finger depresses the trigger in an act of reflex, and the rocket flies forward, erratically heading towards the team. The rocket grenade then shaply turns left and hits Viper in the chest, not detonating but knocking him back and blowing the air out of his lungs. He falls on his back and yells as an inmense pain ripples through his chest.
"CAPTAIN!" Whopper shouts, as he sprints towards him, grabs him by his vest and pulls him to cover. Suddenly, an explosion happens, the rocket's fuse finally doing its job. The explosion sends dust into the air, forcing Viper to close his eyes...
As he wakes up, Viper notices that his heart is accelerated. He is not startled, it wasn't the first time he's dreamed about combat, but the dream had an odd sense of finality that sent a shiver down his spine. He looks at the digital clock on his desk. 11:00 p.m. Time to get up. He stands up, makes his bed, and then proceeds to the showers, letting the water wash away the remnants of his dream and bringing back his concentration. The team had chosen to hit the possible enemy camp first, since attacking the convoys would probably scare them away, and would thus destroy any important intel they had, but the number of hostiles was potentially greater, and this prospect had worried Viper since then. As he finishes his shower and puts on his uniform, the rest of the team wakes up and does the same as he, all of them ready in less than 30 minutes.
Who said the service didn't teach you anything useful...
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