Chapter 4: CAS
Sorry this took so long to come out This is the fourth time I've re-wrote it (it kept deleting itself), plus the site had a posting issue, anyway like I said last time our witches will get there first taste of combat in the 21st century. Enjoy.
[-/-/-/-/-/-/-]
[Misfit 1-1]
[ Blackburn]
[LZ Foxtrot, Iraq]
Misfit was in the midst of a violent firefight with the enemy who both outnumbered and out gunned them, and to make things worse they were running low on ammo, Blackburn turned to captain Cole beside him
"Sir we need close air, were pinned down, Matkovic is hurt bad, the bird can't land until the LZ is clear, and the other two Fireteams and the VIP are 200 meters away with no way of getting to us, permission to call it in?" Black asked the captain who was almost frozen in shock of the sudden ambush.
"Y..yes do it." Cole replied with a stutter
"Any Air callsign on this net, this is US marines squad Misfit 1 priority mission over." Blackburn yelled in his microphone.
"Misfit this is Rogue flight from 7th RCAF wing, we have you 5 by 5, send your traffic." The radio replied
"Rogue, Misfit needs Danger close CAS, are you equipped? over" Black asked
"Misfit, Rogue is equipped for CAS send the grid, interrogative how close are you guys to the target?" Rogue answered
"Rogue be advised Misfit is split in two, me and the captain and one CAT Alpha are at grid 518N965E, the other elements is 200 meters west of us, watch your fire over."
"Roger Misfit, can you confirm your distance to target?" Rogue asked
"Roger, Rogue misfit is 100 meters from target, it's hella danger close but we need 2 runs from you, can you do it." Black asked
"Yeah Misfit count on us, we are inbound from the north ETA 1 mike, mark your position with smoke, out" Rogue finished and Blackburn pulled the pin off the green coloured smoke grenade and set it off beside him.
"Tally friendly position, targets 100 meters to front, inbound on attack." The pilot said as he and his wingman started to dive
Blackburn watched the CF-18 hornets speed through the sky towards the targets, as the Hornets flew over they each released 2 MK48UGB's and just before they hit the ground...
[3 Hours Earlier]
[Misfit 1-3]
["LCpl." Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen]
[Passenger Bay of an MH-60A Blackhawk, Iraq]
"So Captain can you tell us the mission again." Commander Minna Asked the Marine Captain.
"Yes of course Ma'am." He replied
Eila siting across from the two started to tune out the conversation as she looked over the Rifle she was "given" more like thrown, the Marine Corporal the gave it to her called it an M16A4 if she remembered correctly. She tried to remember the 10 second lesson they were given on how to load and fire the rifle. Eila felt a sudden tap on her right shoulder, she looked to her right to see Sanya looking at her with a concerned look.
"What is it Sanya?" She asked
"You should be paying attention this is important." Sanya replied with a pouting face.
"Ok ok ok, I get it." She said to her wingman as she looked towards the Captain who was finishing his briefing
"So in review we're going to land close to the target building get in get our man and get out, but don't get me wrong ladies and gentle man the PLR is here and they're pissed, we will take contact and we will have to fire back so prepare yourselves for combat. And if all else fails Adapt and Overcome, you're Marines now ladies welcome to the Corps!" He finished
"Thank you Captain, my girls are ready for anything that comes our way." Minna told him "right girls?"
"Yes Ma'am!" The witches affirmed
"Hey captain, what do we have in terms of combat support if this goes sideways." Montes asked
"Glad you asked Montes, if and when shit hits the fan the fly boys agreed to get off there chairforce asses and have provided us with CAS if we need it, they really want their man back." Cole answered
"Umm.. Captain what's CAS?" Eila spoke loudly of the helicopters chopping sound
"CAS is an abbreviation for Close Air Support, basically the airforce comes and levels the playing field if the enemy is outnumbering or out gunning us." Campo answered for the captain.
"I see it's similar to how we support our ground forces in our world, hmm CAS... I like it" Trude was slightly heard over the chopping sound.
Eila tuned out again, she examined the "Helicopter" or that's what she was told it was called. It had a sleek black figure with a propeller on top and at the back, she couldn't help but think of the Karslandian Dragonfly prototype aircraft ,this is oddly similar, perhaps the technology in this world was not as different as Eila thought.
"Hey captain we are 5 mikes out recommend you call Shooter to ah, soften the landing, copy." The helicopter pilot told Cole.
"Roger, Shooter this is Misfit Actual over." Cole started
"Misfit, shooter send your traffic." The radio replied
"Shooter, be advised misfit is less than 5 mikes out, could you soften the landing major?" Cole asked
"Roger that, shooter will clean up, interrogative do we have PID on target building, we want to avoid creating a friendly fire statistic over"
The radio said
"Roger, target building is small 'L' shaped building on the north-east side of town, direct all fire away from it over." Cole replied.
"Roger captain, shooter is switches hot, have a good one Misfit." The radio finished.
"Wilco, Misfit out" Cole finished.
The Helicopter touched down just as shooter squadron was leaving, Misfit all disembarked the Blackhawk and got into a covering position down a street. The helicopter left quickly after, Eila felt something weirded like almost being watched.
"Alright Misfit the target building is 200 yards down the road, I'm splitting you into three fireteams, Blackburn you and I, plus Matkovic are 1-1, Campo, Sakamoto, Wilcke, Hartman, Yeager, and Clostermann you are 1-2. And Montes along with Miyafuji, Bishop, Litvyak, Juutilainen, and lucchini you are 1-3" Cole finished an started pointing on a map. "So 1-1 we are heading up route 1, 1-2 is going on route 2 an so on and so forth. Ok ladies an gentleman let go rescue us an airman."
The group split off into their Fireteams and headed off down their designated routes, Eila was happy to at least have Sanya with her. As she was saying this in her head she was behind Sanya in the line and checking her out in the new uniform. 'I much prefer her dress compared to this uniform.' She thought to herself before shaking the thoughts out of her head. She was in a combat zone and Likely to take fire not time to think about her beloved San...
-CRACK!-
"What in the hell was that!" Lucchini yelled covering her ears
"That's a high caliber rifle, which can only mean, fuck get to cover there is a sniper watching us." Montes yelled as they all dove behind a wall
"Umm.. Mister Montes what do we do now?" Yoshika asked
"Well we have two options both of which are bad, One: we sit here and wait for more PLR to get here and then he have a real fight, or two: we try to run across the street to that garage with the back exit towards the target building, but someone may get shot and from the sound of the rifle doesn't sound like they'd live to tell about it." Montes said as Eila thought to her self.
'This asshole was shooting at my team which includes my beloved Sanya, no one and I mean no one can harm my Sanya.' as Eila's rage built she again thought. 'I sensed it before but couldn't move quick enough, the bullet must be faster than my reflexes, then I'll use my shield.' She affirmed her plan with a nod to her self and started forward.
"Hey are you fucking crazy, he's watching us and your just gunna walk out there, do you have a death wish." Montes yelled at Eila
"Relax Montes just watch." Eila replied before walking out into the middle of the street
-CRACK!-
The sniper fired directly at Eila and much to his as well as Montes's disbelief the bullet was stopped Mid-air by a body sized blue circle.
-CRACK!-
The sniper fired again in desperation as he watched Eila crouch down and aim her M16A4 at him and fire, Eila watched the Bullet in her mind and new it would hit before she even pulled the trigger.
"He's dead, we can move now." She said gesturing them across the street in a low almost depressed tone.
"JESUS CAMEL FUCKING CHRIST!, you just stopped a supersonic bullet dead saw the location of the shooter and then killed him, that's got to be impossible or some shit." Montes yelled
"Yeah well I'm not very proud of it, I just took the life of another human being, even if it was self defence." Eila started to cry
"Eila! I was so scared that you went out there, why did you do that?" Sanya took Eila into her arms and held her close.
"He shot at us, which means he shot at you, and I just got filled with rage and just walked out there without a plan, I'm sorry to have scared you Sanya." Eila finished looking up at her wingman and then the rest of the team. "How the hell do you guys do this daily? Do you even think about It anymore?" She asked Montes
"To be honest, I do think about it every day, there isn't a single person I have killed who's face doesn't haunt me, I just try and block it out after all in this world, no more specifically this war it's you get him or he will most definitely get you. The whole thing is just fucked up." Montes started as he started across the street. "Sorry to say this but this won't be the last for today, just all of you mentally prepare yourselves, let's move were close to the objective."
"Roger" the girls replied as Eila finally let go of Sanya
"Hey Sanya if it's ok there's something I want to talk to you about later." Eila told Sanya
"Sure, but you can't talk to me whenever that's why I'm your wingman." Sanya said a little confused
"This is something... Something different ok, jeez" Eila finished.
[Landing Time Plus 1 Hour]
[Misfit 1-1]
[Cpt. Quinton Cole ]
[100m From Target Building, Iraq]
After the squad split up the only team that had so far reported contact was 1-3, and it was one combatant. 'The way the PLR fought would better be combated by a standing Army like the Rangers not the Marines.' Cole thought as he examined the map determining that his team was 100 or so meters from the objective.
"Ok Black, Matkovic let's move, the target building is 100 meters to our front, keep an eye out for IED's" Cole ordered
"Yeah you know it sir, I don't need to lose a leg to those fuckers." Matkovic the EOD specialist said examining the ground in front of him.
-click-
"FUCK FUCK FUCK, you've got to be fucking joking me man, right after I say that shit." Motkovic yelled angrily
"What is it Montes?" Blackburn asked
"I stepped on a fucking Mine." He replied with a sigh. "I'm good though it's a pressure plate, probably some old WWII anti-personnel mine, just get something heavy hurry up!"
Cole and Blackburn worked frantically to find something heavy enough while still trying to keep security, Cole looked into a house and found a shelving unit and called black to help him move it.
"Ok Black let's get this thing over there and get him off that mine" Cole ordered
"Yes sir" Blackburn replied
When they turned the corner they saw Matkovic with his hand up surrounded by PLR yelling to them not to shoot, and that he was standing on a mine.
Blackburn held Cole back a second.
"Wait sir, if we attack now he'll be in the crossfire and I don't want to kill him at least not yet Hua?" Blackburn said
Ok then, what do you purpose?" Cole asked
"I say we make some noise and draw as many away from him as possible." Black told him
"Sounds good let's do it." Cole said as he grabbed a brick and flung it into a window across from them.
Cole and black watched closely as all but one solider broke away towards them.
"Ok this is it hope your ready sir." Black said as he checked if a round was chambered and flipped his M16 in to full auto and turned the corner and started firing taking down 1 or 2 of the un-expecting PLR men before diving for cover.
Captain Cole pointed his rifle around the corner to fire when...
-click-
-click-
-click-
His weapon wouldn't fire.
"W..why won't it fire, the magazine is in the weapon properly, the safety's off, so why the fuck doesn't it shoot" he yelled fiddling with his rifle behind a wall and before he knew it the firefight was over and Matkovic had time to look over the IED. It was almost as if Cole blacked out during the firefight.
"Cap are you good did you get hit?" Blackburn asked
"No, I didn't get hit, I'm fine more importantly what's the situation here?" Cole asked
"Well it's a little more complicated than I hoped, in short Run!" Matkovic said
"What do you mean run?" Cole asked ask Matkovic pushed him away.
"Run god dammit" he said as the three of them ran as quickly as possible away from the mine that detonated behind them sending them face first into the mud and showering them in dirt and rocks.
"Well shit there goes my pants." Blackburn laughed as he got up
"That was one hell of a boom Matkovic."
"Yeah no shit." He replied breathing heavily
"Okay gents let's keep moving were closing in." Cole ordered out of breath
[17:00 GMT ]
[Tombstone 1]
[SSgt. Dunn ]
[Aboard the USS Valkyrie, On The Pacific Ocean]
"Ok gentleman so you are wheels up at 19:00, Dunn teams yours now" Captain Garrison said as he left the room.
"Ok tombstone so to review we are wheels up at 19:00 off to Baku to secure the PC and deliver it back to the Valkyrie, questions? concerns? No? good, go get some chow and get your gear together." Dunn finished as he too walked out of the small briefing room
[Landing Time Plus 2 Hours]
[Misfit 1-2]
[Sgt. Steve Campo]
[Right Outside Target Building, Iraq]
Misfit 1-2 was the first on scene and was awaiting the other two Fire teams that were closing fast. So far it was a clean ride for 1-2 they hadn't made contact at all yet.
"Hey Campo was it? Is it always this quiet?" Shirley asked the Sargent.
"No, but usually it's bad ju-ju to say shit like that, so hold out on it eh?" Campo replied
"Sure I'll hold it back sarge" Shirley replied jokingly
"So what's it like fighting aliens?" Campo asked the witches
"It's very difficult, but like I always say there's nothing a witch can't do. To be honest you should try fighting them sometime, that is if it's possible in this world." Major Sakamoto replied
"I think I'll pass thanks." Campo said as he took a knee. "Where the hell are the other teams, they should be here by now." Campo said out loud
"I'm sure there just taking a detour, right Major?" Perrine asked Mio.
"That's right I'm confident in this squad, why don't you radio them Sargent?" Mio asked Campo
"Captain Cole in all his inexperienced bullshit just called for radio silence for some fucking reason so we just have to wait." Campo said as Misfit 1-3 rounded the corner
"Star?" 1-3 said ducking back into cover
"Texas!, seriously Montes you see the PLR wearing MARPAT." Campo said as he looked over Montes who rounded the corner with the rest of 1-3 who all came and sat behind the cover 1-2 was at.
"You seen the cap yet?" Montes asked.
"Negative, you?" Campo replied with a question
"Not since the helo landed." Montes said.
"Ok, fuck it I'm breaking this bullshit radio silence. 1-1 this is 1-2 message over." Campo spoke into the radio
"1-2, 1-1 I though I called radio silence." Cole replied
"You did sir but 1-2, and 1-3 are here waiting for you and 1-1, what's your ETA, over" campo once again spoke into his radio.
"We won't be making it our path is blocked, 1-1 is going to break off and secure an LZ for extract. Get it done quick the birds don't have much fuel, 1-1 out" Cole replied ending the conversation
"Alright then you heard the man let's do this" Campo said getting up and dusting off his pants.
"Yeah Hooah!" Montes said stacking up on the door.
"Negative Montes you and 1-3 set up security out here make sure no one climbs up our ass eh?" Campo said
"Fuck fine let's do it, 1-3 were chilling right here and protecting 1-2 as they get our man." Montes briefed his team
"Ok 1-2 let's do this, kick it in" Campo ordered as Shirley kicked the week Woden door in.
As Campo entered the room he saw his disgusted team members staring at a mutilated corpse on the floor lying in a pool of blood.
"Not our guy, but this means the PLR is most likely in the building. On the plus side out pilot can fend for himself at least." Campo said as he and his squad moved through the rest of the building clearing every room through the first and second floor minus one room at the end of the hall.
"Ok this has to be it we've been to every other room... I hope this pilot is ok." Minna said as she moved to stack up on the door with the squad.
"Yeah, ok kick it" Campo ordered as Shirley kicked in the door and saw the pilot in the corner with his weapon aimed at the door.
"Hey hey hey man, were marines put your gun down." Shirley said with her hands up
"Oh yeah...prove it, Star?" The pilot said asking for the countersign.
"Texas!" Campo yelled from behind the wall
"Shit ok, finally the QRF, sorry about the gun can't be sure anymore. Can we go home by any chance." The pilot asked
"That's why we're here, can you walk?" Campo asked
"Negative one of those fuckers caught me in the leg as I got in here." He said grabbing his leg
"Ok, Sakamoto, Yeager pick him up and bring home with us." Campo ordered as the the two women went inside the room and helped the pilot up.
"1-3, it's 1-2 we have the pilot we're brining him out now." Campo said over the radio.
"Roger I'll radio the captain and let him know we're coming his way soon." Montes answered.
"Sorry mr. Pilot I don't know your name, but we have a medic outside who can take a look at your leg." Perrine told the injured pilot.
"It's Baker, and thanks." He replied as the team exited the building
"Miyafuji he's hit see why you can do." Mio asked her protégée
"Yes Ma'am." She replied while going to look at the pilots leg. "Hmm I see the bullet went through, there's a lot of blood but this should be simple."
To the pilots amazement Yoshika's removed her helmet revealing her summoned familiar and a blue light emanated from her hands. Slowly the wound began to heal.
"Holy shit, what are you?" Baker asked Yoshika
"I'm human just like you, now I healed the wound but your leg is still broken don't stand on it for a month and a half ok?" She replied
"S...sure." He said confused "t...thanks"
Yoshika was about to speak when she was interrupted by the radio.
"Misfit this is actual, be advised we are in heavy contact at the LZ and have called in danger close CAS on enemy position in between you and us mark you position with green smoke and await further orders." Cole said over the radio.
"Roger actual marking with GP, awaiting further orders, over" campo said as he popped the spoon of a smoke grenade.
[Landing time plus 2hour and 30mins]
[Misfit 1-1]
[ Blackburn]
[LZ Foxtrot, Iraq]
Blackburn watched the CF-18 hornets speed through the sky towards the targets, as the Hornets flew over they each released 2 MK48UGB's and obliterate most of the attacking force, when the Hornets made their second pass all but 3 soldiers had been killed the last three either were shot by Blackburn or ran away.
"Misfit, it's Rogue runs complete requesting BDA, over" the pilot said
"Rogue good effect on target 99% of targets destroy thanks for the save over." Blackburn replied
"Yeah roger that Misfit, Rogue is RTB have a good one, out" the pilot finished as black saw him and his wingman tilt there wing back and forth in a last flyover before turning straight north out of the AO
"Nomad, Misfit the LZ is clear come on in over." Blackburn told the chopper
"Roger Misfit inbound ETA 20 seconds." Nomad said over the radio as the rest of Misfit ran into cover beside them
"Yo Black our new squad mate is a damn good medic better than you, and our new pilot friend want to get back home when the chopper getting here." Montes said
"There's the bird now help him up an get seated good job today misfit." Cole ordered as he jumped into the Blackhawk.
[19:00 local time]
[Phenix 1]
[Captain. Anna Redding ]
[FOB Liberty, Iraq]
The Young Blond Captain stood impatiently beside the hanger that she was told the QRF was landing at, she heard the Blackhawk and it came into view. As the bird landed a few of the Marines got out and grabbed a stretcher and started the carry it toward the infirmary as the passed Anna she saw that it was another Marine in the stretcher.
"Hey Cap'n you come all the way over here to kick my ass personally." A familiar voice said.
"Baker you asshole what did I tell you about getting shot down." Anna said as she punched him in the gut "that's for the squad, thanks to you were one man down."
"Sorry about that Ma'am" Baker replied
"Yeah well go get som rest, I'll thank the QRF." Anna said turning away from baker who was being held by a pair of medics.
Anna met and thanked all the QRF she could find other than 2 standing in the corner of the hanger.
"Hello sorry to interrupt but were you two apart of the QRF mission that saved my wingman?" Anna asked politely.
"Umm yes we were. We were happy to help out a fellow pilot, I mean soldier." The young silver haired girl said.
"Well thank yo— wait a second I know you, what was it again, Sasha no, Sandra no, a yes Sanya Litvyak right?" Anna asked
"Yes that's me but how could you know that?" Sanya replied
"Well you see I'm a witch too we were in the same Orussian airforce unit before you transferred to the strike witches, and I got to this world somehow. By the way my name is Anna, Anna Rosenkova captain US airforce." She said extending her hand for a handshake.
"Oh Anna that's right I remember you now, your hair wasn't quite as long back then and you didn't speak at all." Sanya said as she shook Anna's hand.
"Yeah that's me, well the old me, anyway nice to see you again but I have to go thank you both for saving Baker." She said as she walked away.
"Sanya if she is a witch to that means there are probably others in this world too." Eila asked
"Yeah probably, but back to what you were about to ask me." Sanya said looking back at Eila
"R..right well this might sound weird but I'm just gunna go with it. Sanya I..."
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So this one was a long one for me and a lot of stuff happened in this chapter, a witch took first blood, Matkovic got hurt, we saw Captain Cole freeze up in combat, the introduction to Tombstone, a CAS mission and the reveal of my actual purpose for creating Anna. Once again I'm sorry this took such a long time for me to finish but I hope you enjoyed this chapter, let me know what you think and how I can improve my technique and such.
Go ahead and review or PM me with questions if you like and follow if your not already doing so. This has been your friend and Strike witches fan. Angel, over and out
[/JFW_ANGEL/]