Author's Note: Hello, and what's happening? After I pushed out the previous chapter a bit over a week ago, I decided to write out another new chapter…which is this one you're on right now! I got nothing much to say, other than the fact that this chapter will be more action-packed, just like the previous chapters in the story. There will be no major character introductions in this one, but there will be in the future chapters ahead. Other than that, enjoy the fourth chapter!
Voltage Axe Presents
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Reflex
PHASE-04: Silent Guardians
February 9, C.E. 93
Gulf of Guinea, Eternal-class ship Polemos
2150 Hours
"Buffalo soldier, dreadlock rasta…"
"Fightin' on arrival...fightin' for survival," a deep male voice sung along the lyrics. "Driven from the mainland…to the heart of the Caribbean…"
The sounds of a helicopter's propeller blades whirred in the background, just as the team leader of the Spartans parted open his eyes and saw the Eternal-class support ship down over the ocean, from the open doorway of the chopper.
"There she is," Brooks remarked as he removed an earpiece of his headphones. "Home away from home."
"I love the crew down there…I do!" Franco sneered. "Except for all those damned sailors."
"No problem, Frankie," explained the female pilot of the helicopter, "'cause we're not stayin'. Commander just pinged me. Someone's got trouble."
As the chopper made its descent onto the exposed dock of the support ship, the powerful lights around the walls of the ship above the open dock had encompassed the sight of nearly all the Spartans on board the aircraft. Davis turned away from the blinding rays of light as they slowly passed by downward and remained silent, his thoughts still focused on what had happened during the mission in Colombia, trying to make sense of the events in chronological order. Before he went on with his thoughts, he heard a few males shouting from below, breaking away his train of thought.
Sitting beside Brooks to his left, Davis turned to his left again, only to find that the chopper was hovering over a couple of inches above the ground. In front of his eyes, a couple of male ZAFT personnel on the dock were retrieving a metal crate from a few of them lying on the pavement of the dock. Brooks also watched, before he turned to Davis and joked for a bit.
"Didn't even touch down, and we already have a job."
One of the ZAFT personnel on the dock had lifted the metal crate. He loaded it onto the helicopter, where it situated between the sitting Spartans on both sides of the aircraft.
Davis got up for a bit and stretched. "Support got our gear?" He asked, before relaxing back down on his seat.
"Ready and waiting," the female helicopter pilot answered. "Mission details are comin' in on your PTD now."
As the helicopter rotors continued to spin, Castle reached out for his ruggedized tablet device, before swiping and pressing a few buttons on the touchscreen.
"The black box you recovered in Zambia was well-travelled," Commander Kira Yamato explained. "Intelligence managed to pull the NAV data from it, and came back with hits in Nigeria."
Commander Yamato continued, "There's been a lot of activity in the Niger Delta recently. Turns out the Atlantic Federation already had an asset in-country to monitor a P.M.C. operating in the region. Arcturus says they're providing security for natural resource companies, but it looks like that's not all they're up to."
He paused. "These guys are muscling in on refineries, running ops into local villages…they're destabilizing an already shaky area. We want to know why."
"A.F.'s field agent, Officer Frank Garamond, delivered an intel package on the situation, and then went dark," the commander went on. "They've tried to re-establish contact. So far, no luck; they're assuming for the worst."
The commander then detailed the objectives. "We're going in to locate, secure, and extract Officer Garamond…whatever his condition. For the equipment you will use, our chief designer Evgeniy Mudrov, is here to explain."
"Thank you very much, Commander," the chief designer spoke in his mild Russian accent. "In base mode, this is a low-I.R. signature H.A.R.O. Drone. It may look cute on the outside, but you can use it to identify enemy positions from on high, or to pinpoint and lock in targets. It's your eyes in the sky. Good luck, Spartans!"
February 10, C.E. 93
Niger River Delta, Nigeria, African Community
1050 Hours
The voice of a male blared out directives and instructions through the speakers in the background. In the midst of the voice reverberating from the speakers, a quad-rotor device shaped into a rounded ball had hovered around the thick, dense brush and over the swampy waters, four propeller-like engines extending from the open holes of the upper-half and lower-half body that retracted away almost from each other. It floated through for a few moments, before it suddenly snapped back into its normal form, a hand reaching out from the waters to catch it in a snap. From there, Davis signalled to the rest of his squad behind him to move up.
"A.F.'s asset is the priority," Brooks directed. "Locate, secure, and extract."
"Glad we came in the sneaky way," Franco remarked.
"Lock it up, Frankie," the team leader sternly replied before directing again. "Get your A.R. online."
All of the Spartans enabled the IRIS-COM features through their visors, allowing them to see multiple pieces of information in clear and comprehensive form. As they moved up the swampy waters, Davis heard a few disturbances ahead, before he signalled to the team behind him to hold their ground.
Ahead off to their left, they could spot a couple of civilian males terrified by a few men clad in armoured military gear, armed with assault rifles pointed at them. One of the armed gunmen pointed his rifle, threatening an already terrified man aboard the dock, while another aimed at the other civilian male aboard a rowboat. Without warning, the gunman who aimed at the civilian aboard the boat had fired, a bullet piercing through the male's torso. The man fell aback by the force of the bullet coming through him, his body launched off the boat and sunk into the waters.
The violent sight had instantly enraged Castle again, as he was about to make a step forward, before Davis noticed him.
"Hold," the young Spartan insisted, quite hushed up.
Reluctantly, Castle managed to stay still, as they continued to observe. The other civilian Nigerian had been put off-guard by his friend dying in the waters, as he tried to run away, only to receive a bullet through his body from a mercenary in front of him. His body flopped down, back first, a pool of blood forming from the exit wound. The mercenary who had shot and killed him then signalled and told the others to return back. The two men on the docks followed him, but not before the man in front had kicked the dead body of the civilian with the front of his boot, kicking the body straight into the muddy waters.
Sticking by the thick, dense brush, Davis turned to the team and signalled for the activation of the adaptive camouflage on their suits. In no more than a few seconds, they were all rendered virtually invisible from the internal cloaking devices on their suits.
"Camo activated."
As they passed by the thick, dense brush, they could notice the large wooden shack to their left, where the scene had just taken place in front of their eyes.
"This is Garamond's last known position," Brooks noted.
Brooks, Franco, and Castle made their way towards the wooden structure, settling by the tall wooden logs bounded that formed the walls underneath the main floor of the structure. Davis, the only one who remained, began deploying the unmanned aerial drone that he retrieved from earlier. Reaching out for the small, spherical device that had a familiar appearance, Davis tossed the H.A.R.O. Drone upward to the sky with a flick of his wrist. While it was in the air, he brought his left forearm to his chest, before tapping a tactile button on his left-wrist portion of his metal-plated gauntlet. An invisible beam of light shot upward from a hole of the part of the gauntlet covering the top of his wrist, where it struck the sensor placed underneath the spherical contraption. At the same time the H.A.R.O. Drone switched to its air configuration, Davis could notice a holographic projection coming out from the same hole on his left gauntlet. Through his visor, he could easily see the camera feed coming from the unmanned aerial device, and the controls for it located on the left-hand side of the projected screen.
Using his two fingers of his right hand, Davis controlled the drone smoothly, as it hovered above the tall structure of the shack, before moving forward. Through the camera's thermal imaging feed, Davis could notice that there were four heat signatures inside the building, all marked with yellow dots above the four moving signatures. The other Spartans ahead were also watching the drone's camera feed through their visors.
"Four hostiles inside," Davis noted as he moved the drone so that all of them could see the hostile mercenaries very clearly through the holes of the roofing.
He then pressed a button on the holographic control toggles to retrieve the drone back. The drone quickly hovered back to him, before he caught it in its normal form.
"We're gonna have to ask the new residents some questions," Brooks told the team. "Set up for the grab."
Davis steadily trudged through the swampy waters, as the other three Spartans quietly rushed up the stairs leading to the shack to take positions behind the entrances of the structure. Brooks and Franco prepared themselves with their firearms drawn, readied to breach the front doors. Castle situated himself beside the side entrance to his right, with Davis taking up the other side of the door, his light-machine gun armed tightly in his hands. With the four yellow outlines of the mercenaries in plain view through the walls, all four Spartans were ready to breach in.
Brooks prepared them. "On my go. 3…2…1…GO! NOW!"
Suddenly, Davis felt it again. In the back of his eyes, a brown seed dropped from above in an abyss, before it bounced up and exploded into a million tiny fragments. Rushing streams of "1s" and "0s" emerged outward from the zone of the impact, the numbers overwhelming everywhere. In an instant, Davis moved in and kicked down the wooden door with his left leg, the powerful force of his kick had almost blew the door off its hinges. As he breached in first with Castle following behind, he began to feel the time slowing down before his eyes, as he saw the world around him move even more slowly than he actually was. Shock and confusion overcame him for the second time, as he took a few deep breaths repeatedly, while he raised his light-machine gun from the waist-down.
'This…feeling again!' He thought. 'I…I don't know what the hell is happening to me! Is this…some weird thing that only occurs to me…or something else?'
He then directed his focus on the two Spartans breaching in from the front entrance, Brooks and Franco, having seen them move slowly along with the mercenaries who were still unaware in the slowed-down world around him. Before then, he realized in his head, that he could take advantage of this sort of ability that would prove to be beneficial towards him and his team.
'If this is some sort of crazy ability that I could use,' he rationalized, 'then it might work out in our favour. Let's see what I can do!'
Taking aim at the closest mercenary in front of him, standing by a window, Davis fired a few bursts from his light-machine gun. The sharp bullet rounds travelled in the normal pace of motion, shredding through the armour of the mercenary who was now caught off-guard, and passing through him with a few large spurts of blood coming off from the exit wounds. A metallic wastebasket flew in the air ever so slowly, while Brooks and Franco gunned down a mercenary in front of their sights. Castle fired a few shots that precisely made their mark on the third mercenary, who began to flop downward as streams of blood flew in the air and away from his exit wounds.
Before Davis knew it, time and motion resumed back to its normal pace, as he rushed up to the fourth mercenary who sat fear-stricken on the chair, with radio equipment on the desk in front. The young Spartan rushed up from behind, forcefully throwing the man from the wooden chair and down onto the ground hard, subduing him in the process.
"I'll ask you once," Davis retrieved a handgun from his holster and pointed it against the man's head. "Where's the American?"
The man cursed at him in a foreign language, before Davis forced him against the ground hard, his grip tightening around the man's neck.
"Aagghhh!" The mercenary shouted in pain before he yelled in English. "The refinery! In a shipping container!"
Once Davis heard everything, he clubbed the man unconscious in the back of his head with the butt of the handgun, holding its barrel tight.
He had put back the handgun into his holster. "They've got him locked up in the camp."
"Command, this is Spartan," Brooks communicated over his built-in headset. "They've got the package in the refinery. We're en route."
"Understood, Spartan," the head operator replied as the Spartans began headed out of the shack. "We'll scramble support."
The head operator then warned them. "Be advised, you've got large numbers of civilians in your area. Watch your targets."
"Roger," Brooks acknowledged as he took point and passed by a van slowly.
Just in front of Brooks, past the open red gates, there were a large group of civilian men and women in the street up ahead. Brooks had also seen, about 50 metres away, what appeared to be armed men having a conversation with a few civilians clustered together. A man and a woman standing right near the Spartans in front and to the right of them, both natives of the village, had taken notice of their visual signatures.
Panicking, they pointed at the armed men in the distance to let the cloaked Spartans know.
"These men!" The male native discretely told them. "They're trying to kill all of us! Please!"
As the couple left, the Spartans advanced past the gates, before they stopped after a few paces. Davis quickly lobbed a motion sensor from his belt, before it landed and revealed the three armed mercenaries in yellow outlines through their visors. As the three Spartans in front of him began to take up positions behind convenient sources of cover, Davis tagged the three men with the attachment that was built into his LMG.
"Steady, now," Castle lined up his shot. "When you're ready."
Davis then quickly gave the command to fire, before several gunshots rang out in the streets. The three mercenaries who were talking the group of natives had all collapsed to the ground with bullet holes and blood strewn all over their bodies. Right away, screams of terror and horrified shouts came across and around the street, as the village natives took cover from the gunshots while the Spartans continued advancing. As the natives began clearing out the area in the chaos and confusion that overcame them, the Spartans made their way past an intersecting road and continued their way straight.
"Move!" Brooks told the remaining natives who were in the way, as they made their way towards the path that curved to the right.
With the remaining few native citizens fleeing from the scene, the Spartans slowly approached before the street ahead. From there, they continued to hear gunshots in the distance, and more people screaming in horror. They could make out more natives ahead, fleeing away from the direction where the gunshots were coming from. As they passed through the entrance leading to the street, they immediately spotted two armed mercenaries to their left, standing in front of a few burning houses.
"Hostiles, 12 o'clock!" Brooks blared out. "Engaging!"
The two mercenaries spotted them rushing out and began to fire. However, they were quickly shot down by Brooks and Davis first, as they charged through. Castle and Brooks took to the front, while Davis and Franco followed as they rushed down the street.
"Contact, dead ahead!" Castle fired his personal defence rifle at them.
"Moving to cover!" Brooks fired as well, before taking cover by a wooden pole.
With his line of sight almost unobscured, Davis aimed and fired at a mercenary coming in from the right, with the bullet-ridden man falling down on his back.
"Move, move!" Brooks shouted at the men and women native to the village, who were trying to flee. "Get out of the way!"
"Contact, to the left!" Castle whipped around to fire several bursts at the mercenary who rushed from the alley to his left.
The mercenary fired back, before he was clipped down in a hail of bullets. Franco, behind Davis to his left, fired at another armed mercenary coming from a wooden house ahead. A few burst rounds passed through the man's skull, as he fell from the tall platform of the house.
"Come on, come on!" Castle roared, as the few civilians in front of him ran by.
Davis rounded a corner to his left, before he joined Castle and Brooks, as they shot a few more mercenaries who remained in the area. Two of them were already picked off by the two Spartans in front, while they aimed at the other remaining gunmen.
"Target down!" Castle yelled after he shot down a mercenary rushing from the path to the left.
"3 o'clock!" Brooks shouted, before he shot dead another armed man by a truck.
Davis surveyed the area around him. "We're clear!"
All four in the squad proceeded the path to the left, continuing all the way, until they began spotting an oil pipeline above ground that lead all the way towards an oil depot in the distance.
"Command, this is Spartan," Brooks communicated as his team continued onward. "We're closing on the camp. You got an update?"
"Roger that, Spartan," the head operator responded, "pushing the satellite scan to you now."
'SATELLITE SCAN INITIATED.'
…
'TRACKING LOCATION: AFRICAN COMMUNITY.'
"We're stealing time from one of A.F.'s satellites," Commander Kira Yamato explained. "They're going to reposition for us. Stand by."
'LOCATING: NIGERIA.'
"Here we go. I'll run you through it."
'LOCATED: DELTA.'
"It'll take a minute to get full granularity from the feed," he continued, "but we're picking up some activity you should know about."
'LOCATED: OIL HARBOUR.'
"We know Arcturus runs the bulk of their ops out of the facility here," Kira explained. "It's a sprawling complex with multiple structures. Our men have been analyzing patterns of movement and cellphone traffic. All the data suggests Officer Garamond is being held somewhere in this area."
He paused. "Garamond has been with Special Activities for a while. If anyone could handle capture and interrogation, it's him. Still, we don't know his condition, so be prepared to carry him out if you have to."
'BLIND ZONE DETECTED.'
"Part of the camp is covered," he discovered on the screen. "It looks like some sort of hangar. We can't get an exact fix on that container."
"We should be able to use a drone or magnetics to track him down from our side," Davis suggested. "We'll find him."
"Copy that," the commander acknowledged. "It looks like the mercs aren't expecting any trouble."
"I'll tell ya what, man," Franco remarked, "some cold-hearted bastards to just be playing around while their friends are out there butchering civilians."
"They'll get theirs soon enough," Castle growled out.
"Don't take them too lightly," Kira warned them. "They might look sloppy, but they're well equipped and quick on the trigger."
'HOSTILE AIRCRAFT DETECTED.'
"Be advised, we did pick up a pair of radar contacts several clicks out from your location," Kira analyzed. "Looks like a couple of gunships. Those choppers tell you everything you need to know about Arcturus' connections. These guys are serious business."
He continued. "Choppers aren't moving fast, but they are pointed at your direction. Keep your eyes up, just in case."
'LOCATING: NIGERIAN COAST.'
"What do we have for air assets?" Brooks asked.
"Nothing for close support," Commander Yamato answered. "But our naval group's sitting off the coast, and they've agreed to loan us a couple of aircraft."
'LOCATED: NAVAL CARRIER SUPPORT.'
"We've scrambled two fast movers," Kira explained. "They'll hold south for you at Angels two-two, and wait for your call. They're your panic button if more mercs show, but we don't want to use them if we don't have to."
"Understood," acknowledged Brooks.
"That's what we've got for now," the commander said. "Good luck in there."
"Copy that, Spartan out."
As all of the Spartans reached their way further towards the oil harbour, Davis tossed up the H.A.R.O. Drone in the air again, and activated it.
"Use the drone," Brooks instructed him. "Mark those targets."
With the drone high up in the air, Davis could spot three hostile mercs through the camera feed, who were about 40 metres away from where they were. Tapping on a holographic button to the left of the screen, he marked the three hostiles with the blue chevrons above their heads for the other team members to see. They moved to their suitable firing positions as soon as they saw the enemies ahead of them.
"Set up your shots," Brooks instructed.
Once Franco stealthily moved up to the left and lined up his aim at his target, Brooks gave the green light for Davis to command.
"Leung. On you."
"Ready to fire."
In a few short seconds, all three mercenaries went down quietly as suppressed bullets passed through their bodies. Once the area was neutralized, Davis recalled the drone back to where he was, retrieving it as soon as it snapped back into its normal state. He quickly rushed his way down to rejoin his squad, before they had all snuck towards the front entrance of the oil depot. Davis took cover behind a concrete barrier to the right of the bridge that situated above a swampy stream of water. He then deployed the drone again, as it transformed into its air configuration.
Steering the drone high above in the air, Davis could make out a large gaggle of mercenaries around the area ahead. There were several mercs concentrated on part of the area, as they were having an intense match of soccer, while the other few and far mercenaries were located off ahead to the right. Another small group of mercenaries were located to farther-left.
"Looks like a skeleton crew," Davis observed.
"Then this should be quick," Brooks remarked.
Tagging a couple of enemies through the use of the drone, Davis directed Castle and Brooks to take positions and line up their aim on their targets.
"Ready on your go," Castle prepped him.
"Fire!"
Several metres away, the two mercenaries standing near each other had watched their fellow friends play against each other. Before they knew it, a few bursts of bullet rounds struck them through their lower-body areas, both of them going down bloody but without anyone noticing them.
Davis retrieved back the drone, before he vaulted over the barricade and slid into a position behind another concrete fortification ahead, right beside an armoured 4WD. Brooks, Castle, and Franco all advanced ahead of Davis and took covers behind concrete barriers and large metal crates that were before the mercs playing soccer in front. Still behind the concrete barrier at the bridge, Davis popped out and tagged all four men who were out in the open. Their steady aim trained at the heads of the four mercs in front of them, the Spartans awaited for Davis to give the signal.
He squeezed the trigger on his gun. "Fire, fire!"
Muffled gunshots erupted, before all four men who had control of the soccer ball went down instantly at the same time. Not before long, a mercenary watching over from the end of a catwalk began spotting the fallen bodies on the ground, before he saw the direction where the shots had originated from. An alarm sounded, catching the Spartans off-guard.
"Aw fuck!" Castle cursed out. "I knew this was gonna happen!"
"Contact, 12 o'clock!" Franco shouted.
"Watch that balcony!" Brooks pointed at the man on the catwalk. "Light-machine gun!"
The man who sounded the alarm rushed over to the mounted-machine gun position at the end of the catwalk, opening fire at the Spartans that took cover.
Davis popped out and fired at him. "Take out that gunner!"
"Affirmative!"
"Dead ahead!" Franco yelled, as he fired at a few mercenaries coming from the right.
"They're moving to cover!" Brooks yelled as a couple of mercenaries slid behind concrete barriers.
Armed with the sniper rifle, Castle quickly popped out and took aim at an exposed area of the mounted gunner, before he fired. The bullet travelled right through the skull of the hostile merc, splattering blood all over the walls near him.
"Gunner's down!" He shouted.
Davis quickly exposed himself out of his cover before firing at an armed mercenary popping out from a concrete barrier. The gunman went down in a few seconds before he could even fire back. Vaulting over the barrier, Davis immediately rushed towards a stack of large metal crates, sliding into them and avoiding a few burst rounds from enemy mercs.
"Hostile, 12 o' clock! Rifleman!"
Davis popped out of cover right away and fired at a mercenary behind a stack of metal crates to the left in the near distance. A couple of more mercenaries rushed from the left, as more bullets were exchanged between them and the Spartans.
"I'm moving!" Brooks bellowed, as he rushed off to another position.
Aiming down the sights of his scope, Davis picked off a couple of mercenaries that focused their fire at the other Spartans. Franco, ahead to his right, shot at an armed merc in the middle of moving to a new position. The mercenary stumbled and collapsed forward, on his stomach, as he lay slain from massive blood loss. Castle aimed with his sniper rifle and fired, his bullet ripping through the cranium of an unsuspected mercenary, before the gunman fell aback by the force of the impact.
"Got one!"
Brooks and Franco finished off the last few remaining mercenaries in the area, as they managed to get their bullet rounds past through the exposed legs and torsos of the men in combat gear. All of the remaining mercs were now down on the dusty, gravelled terrain, blood everywhere from the bullet holes ridden across their bodies. It was now dead silent as it was for the Spartans in the area.
"We're clear," Brooks reported as all of the squad reloaded the ammunition on their weapons.
Sprinting diagonally to the left, the Spartans moved towards what appeared to be a blue intermodal container that allegedly had the missing field agent inside. Davis confirmed this by using the magnetic optics through his visor, where he detected small signatures of metal coming from beyond the metal walls of the container. Slowly approaching the large metal container, the team stacked up against the loading doors, two of the Spartans on each side of the doors. Davis readied his light-machine gun, as Franco held onto the handle of the loading door tightly.
"I'll cover," Davis signalled to Franco.
"Got it," Franco nodded as he began pulling at the door.
The door fully open, Davis rushed in, only to find a man sitting down against the corner of the container. Bloodied and beaten with a black fabric over his head, the man coughed and groaned as he struggled against the rope that bounded his hands together.
"Stay down!" Davis ordered the man.
The man then keeled over, continuing to struggle against the binds that were placed around his hands.
"Still, still! Be still!" Castle calmly came by his side, assisting him. "It's alright, sir. We're getting you out of here."
Brooks watched from the entrance of the crate, as he saw trouble coming their way. Fast.
"We've got company!"
Franco turned to Castle. "It's him," he confirmed. "We got him."
Castle gestured to Franco, before Franco turned to the man as he got him back up on his feet. "Up, up! Let's go!"
Taking off the restraints in a flash, Davis carried the man by his side, as he brought out his handgun. Up in the air ahead, a gunship belonging to the private military company began firing upon them. The ground shook with force, almost causing all the Spartans to lose their balance from the heavy rounds raining down on them, kicking up dirt and debris everywhere. However, the bullets had missed all of the men on the ground as they made their way out. Brooks rushed out of the container, with the team right behind him.
"Protect the V.I.P.!" Brooks roared out. "Diamond formation! Let's move!"
With Brooks, Franco, and Castle surrounding Davis and the hostage as they moved forward, the gunship hovering ahead began deploying mercenaries, as they landed on the ground.
"Pick it up, pick it up!" Franco bellowed.
"Right, right!" Castle screeched.
"They're on the bridge!"
Davis, armed with his handgun, began firing at the mercenaries rushing towards them. He pushed down the male hostage whilst escorting him, as they continued to rush forward.
"Down! Stay down!"
"Keep him covered!" Brooks yelled, as he shot at a couple of men were situated above a platform to Davis' right.
Davis shot at an armed merc who stood on top of a couple of large wooden crates, with the gunman falling off from the bullets that ripped through him. More armed mercenaries rushed in, with a few of them taken down by Franco who was covering Davis. Another gunman fired at Davis, the bullets deflecting off from his titanium armour, as the Spartan groaned out from the force of the bullets hitting him. The gunman was then shot down by Castle, who covered Davis' left as well as the hostage's.
"Watch your six!" Brooks blared out.
"Hostile chopper, inbound!" Davis shouted, glancing at the gunship in the air.
"Left, left!" Brooks directed. "Go left!"
"Down, down! Get down!"
The gunner aboard the helicopter began firing upon the Spartans again, as they cut to their left and dodged the several incoming rounds that barely missed them.
"Down right there, down!" Davis settled the man by one of the towering metal structures holding the facility together. "Stay down!"
With one arm busy holding the contact down to safety and another holding the handgun, Davis shot at the multiple hostiles that came from the shipping containers ahead. He fired multiple rounds at the incoming mercenaries, killing a few that were on the crates, along with another that rushed from the right. Another few of the mercenary units swarmed in, firing at the Spartan, before the Spartan returned fire again. Davis quickly turned to the hostage and began moving him again.
"Alright, back! Move back, move back!" Davis guided him. "Up, on your feet! On your feet!"
"Back!" Brooks ordered loudly. "Fall back to the camp!"
"Moving! We're moving!"
Continuing from the left, Davis shot at the multiple units of mercenaries that were now converging in on the campsite. He fired a few shots, taking down three mercenaries that rushed from the cargo trucks that stopped. The other Spartans fired at the hostile mercs that kept rushing in, doing their best to protect both Davis and the V.I.P. in particular.
"Command, this is Spartan!" Brooks frantically communicated. "We need those fast movers!"
"Command copies," the head operator responded immediately. "Bruin One-Five is in the air. Can you guide on target?"
"Roger that, patch it in," Brooks responded as a large explosion right behind them almost engulfed all of the team.
"MOVE IT, COME ON!" A Spartan hollered.
Davis scurried the hostage down behind a stack of large metal crates, pushing the man down on his stomach.
"Stay down!"
The head operator came on right away. "Confirmed, it's yours."
As more heavy units of reinforcements consisting of more ground troops of Arcturus mercenaries and gunships in the air had surrounded the team and began to close in, Brooks turned to Davis who was with the hostage.
"Leung, that's you!"
Snapping to his reflexes, Davis tapped a few tactile buttons on the wrist portion of his left gauntlet, allowing him to guide a cruise missile fired from one of the air units being deployed. Heavy suppressive rounds bounced off of the crates that protected Davis and the hostage from enemy fire, as he controlled the missile with the tips of his fingers. Through his visor, he carefully directed the missile as it headed for the oil depot, aimed at the hostile men, choppers, and other units on the ground.
Davis growled out in desperation. "C'mon, c'mon…"
As the guided missile reached its target within a few seconds, Davis popped out from his cover to see the missile explode in between a couple of hostile gunships. This was then followed by a series of massive explosions that ensued, leaving behind a flash of sheer whiteness that almost engulfed all of Davis' vision as he ducked down and away. In a matter of seconds, every chopper that was in the air had collided with one another before exploding in several fireballs, covering up the sky. Cargo trucks overturned and rolled over, before a few of them burst into flames and exploded. A few large pieces of debris narrowly skimmed over Davis and his other squad-mates, as they took cover behind the large metal boxes. As the scene began to settle, thick clouds of smoke blew off towards the Spartans, as they slowly got themselves off their feet. There was nobody left, right where the trucks and choppers were.
Davis got up, as he peeked around the corner of his cover to survey the damage, panting harshly from the adrenaline that continued to surge through his body at every rapid pulse of his heart.
"Well…I guess that worked," he panted, feeling the gooseflesh developing on his skin.
"Everyone alright?" Brooks asked in the aftermath.
"I'm fine," responded Franco, who was behind Davis.
"I'm good," Castle added.
"Good to go," Davis confirmed quietly under his breath, before he had finally unmasked the field agent. "Sir, are you injured?"
The man was distraught at first, before he gradually retained his composure. "I'll be alright," he assured. "What's the plan?"
"Plan is to get you home," Brooks answered him. "First step is to get out of the open. Let's move to that hangar."
Brooks and Franco approached the large metal doors of the hangar, with Franco covering him as he prepared to open the door, expecting any potential dangers that were behind the doors. Slowly pulling the door open, Franco took point and came through the doors slowly, checking his surroundings in doing so. Brooks followed in quick, a hand on Franco's back as a precaution.
"Clear?"
"All clear."
With the coast being clear, Davis escorted the field agent into the hangar, with Castle at the back of the pack following behind. Once they were all in, Castle quickly slid and closed the door shut. Davis brought the defenceless field agent to an area between a few boxes and a cargo truck, and held him there as the team leader communicated to the head operator.
"Command, this is Spartan. Package is secure."
"Copy that, Spartan," the head operator responded. "That hangar looks like it has some sort of substructure. Rally there for extraction."
"Roger that, Command," Brooks responded as Davis let the embattled A.F. intel officer walk on his own.
The Spartans continued down the spacious hangar, with the team surrounding Frank as they all walked. Davis spotted a metal crate that was filled with ammunition for small firearms placed just against the side of the wall towering over the opening of the stairway down to a lower level, facing in the direction of the Spartans. He quickly opened up the box, and helped himself in replenishing the ammunition that was spent with the weaponry he used. After he did so, he followed the team as they made their way down the staircase below.
All five men made their way down the stairs, before they headed left and traversed through a short hallway. As they cornered to the left, the Atlantic Federation field officer had let out a gasp of fear with sudden realization, before he ran ahead of the Spartans that followed him.
"I gotta go back," he dreaded anxiously, heading right. "I gotta get back into town."
Davis paced forward a bit more to catch up to the intelligence officer. "Sir, with all you've been through," the young Spartan insisted, "I think you can take a day off."
As the Spartans travelled down another flight of stairs, Frank turned around and faced Davis, who was in front of the pack.
"No, you don't understand," he argued, standing by a door. "These guys, these mercs, are caught up in something big! I don't think they even realize how big it is."
"You got any hard intel on that?" Davis asked, following the field agent who continued right, before climbing down a short flight of stairs.
The field agent puffed deeply. "Yeah, of course," he calmly replied. "I've been watching them for months. But somebody tipped them off. I had to ditch my files before they picked me up."
"Where are they now?"
"In the trunk of a car, parked at a gas station in the north part of town," Frank elaborated.
As Frank stopped at a room full of generators and mechanical machinery that powered the hangar, Davis followed suit while Brooks came in, as he communicated to the head operator.
"Command, Spartan," Brooks explained. "V.I.P.'s got some critical intel we need to recover. North section of town, in a vehicle at an abandoned gas station."
Frank paused hesitantly for a moment, before he continued walking, with the Specter team trailing behind him.
"Copy, Spartan," the head operator acknowledged. "Stand by, we'll do another sweep."
The field agent had found what appeared to be a break in a large sewer pipe that was fit for a man who was around 7 feet tall. He stepped through the giant hole, and into the pipe, where the Spartans followed him right inside as he went to the right. Trudging through the dirty waters that were ankle-deep in the sewer pipe, Frank led the Spartans down the pipe, avoiding foreign objects that situated on the pipe—such as a rusted oil drum that was left in the middle. He slowed down for a moment, as he turned to Davis following him from behind.
"Let me have your sidearm," Frank requested. "I'll take you to it."
"That's a negative, sir," Brooks responded from behind Davis. "You're going home. We'll get your gear."
Frank stopped and turned his head to the Spartans again. "I was a Ranger," he reasoned. "I can handle it."
"I'm sure you could, sir," Brooks insisted. "But today, you're the mission. You're leaving."
They continued to travel down the pipeline of the sewers for many more metres ahead, until they stopped at a point where the path diverted into two lanes: left and right. It was a dead end heading straight, where the path was blocked off by metal bars fixed in front. Davis led the way, directing Frank and the team to the right, as they continued their way down the pipe.
The head operator patched in on their headsets right away. "Spartan, we're still seeing a lot of activity on the ground. What do you want to do?"
"Spartan will recover the data, and meet you at the secondary L.Z.," Brooks responded.
"Roger that," the head operator acknowledged. "If you're going back in there, you better do it soon."
"Acknowledged. We're moving now. Spartan out."
Travelling down the pipe for another 65 metres, the five men began noticing the light being reflected onto the surface of the pipeline had become even brighter, as they got close to it. Trudging through the ankle-deep waters that were murky brown, the five men followed the path that curved to the left, before they found the exit out from the pipe. As they ran towards it, a swarm of large rats passed by their feet, as they ran away from what appeared to be the loud noise of a helicopter flying overhead.
Dropping down from where the sewer pipe had broken off, one-by-one, the Spartans and the field agent landed onto the foot-deep waters outside. They looked up, to find the transport chopper hovering metres above them, as a rope was dropped down for the field agent to be extracted safely. Davis assisted Frank, as he fixed the end of the rope around his belt, before making a few adjustments to ensure he was safely lifted away.
"Thanks," Frank told Davis. "Thanks for coming to get me."
"Rangers lead the way," Davis responded, before he signalled to the pilot crew above to give the green light.
Brooks watched the field agent getting pulled up to the helicopter. "Good luck, sir. See you in a few."
As they all watched the helicopter pulling off and away from the scene, they focused back on the new objective they had just received. Leading the way, Davis discovered the opening of a sewer pipe at ground-level, where they went over some ramping rocks and into the pipe. They trudged slowly through the pipe, before they stopped, as they saw the end of the path in front.
"We'll go through here," Brooks directed. "Eyes open."
As the light shining through tunnel slowly revealed a village of bungalows and crudely-constructed dwellings, which were past the shallow pool of muddy, contaminated water that came from the pipe, all four Spartans passed through the end of the pipe. Passing through the shallow pool of murky sewer waters, the team of Specters slowed to a stop behind a make-shift fence of rusted, corrugated metal, situated in between two derelict bungalows.
"Hold your positions, I hear footsteps," Brooks instructed quietly. "Sounds like they're nearby, beyond this fence."
Moving away from the fence whilst crouched, the Spartans took up positions by a wall of a bungalow to the left of the fence. In front of the pack, Brooks turned to Davis who was behind, signalling to him with the nod of his head. Davis then reached out for the spherical device and tossed it in the air.
"Drone deployed." Davis monitored the surrounding areas through his visor.
As the H.A.R.O. drone was in the air, Davis directed the unmanned aerial vehicle forward, before banking to its left. Through the infrared camera, Davis could spot one lone hostile mercenary patrolling in a nearby area, just ahead of a skid full of used oil drums. Using the electronic tagging feature on the drone, Davis tagged the Arcturus merc with a tap of a holographic button. Directing the drone away from the area and banking around to the right, the Spartan could immediately notice another hostile merc patrolling another area nearby from below, the shotgun-toting mercenary cautiously being by a small dwelling unit with a makeshift garage. He tagged the mercenary through the view of the drone.
Brooks and Castle moved to their suitable firing positions behind the corners of the buildings, before they lined up their aim on their assigned targets.
"We'll take the shot when you're ready," Brooks prepared Davis.
Not waiting for a second, Davis immediately gave the order to fire. Both Spartans who were in their positions quickly fired, the two unaware mercs collapsing on their fronts from the bullets piercing through their backs. With the areas cleared, Davis continued to guide the drone forward for another several metres before he stopped it. Through the camera, he could notice another rifle-wielding mercenary patrolling the area up the short rocky slope ahead, in between an S.U.V. in the foreground and a burning house in front of him. There was another mercenary in the area, carrying a pump-action shotgun with him. Banking the view to the far-right, Davis could spot another Arcturus legionnaire with an assault rifle. As he moved the drone back leftward, he had spotted a fourth legionnaire within the area.
Observing the movements of all four hostile legionnaires in that area, Davis waited patiently for a few moments, until he saw two mercenaries patrolling the front end of the perimeter. The two other gunmen were behind the burning houses at the back. Taking the opportunity before his eyes, Davis quickly e-tagged the two men on the ground who were in plain view of the drone's camera feed. Castle and Franco rushed past the bungalows in the area they were in, before they quietly took up positions behind the marked men who had their backs turned to them. Davis then signalled to open fire; they did, the two legionnaires patrolling had went down quickly, blood spilling out onto the pavement.
Davis then proceeded to e-tag the other two mercs in the area, this time, Brooks rushed over quietly and was positioned near Franco. He lined up his shot, along with Castle at a different vantage point. Once the two remaining Arcturus gunmen reached to the areas where the two bodies lay, Davis gave the command to fire, with the team leader and Castle firing simultaneously. On sync, the men collapsed to the ground hard, just before they could even discovered their slain comrades.
"All areas are cleared," Brooks reported as Davis retrieved the drone back from the air. "Here we go. Group up on me."
Sprinting away from the village full of derelict dwellings, Staff Sergeant Davis Leung ran for many metres before he could rejoin his team. They raced past a couple of burning skids full of oil drums, passing by an armoured 4WD and a small shack, before they turned to their left and climbed up a short flight of wooden stairs. Exiting the stairs to their right, the Spartans rounded past a towering tree before they stopped by a set of brown wooden doors. They began to stack up, two men by each door, before they positioned themselves close to each other. Brooks took point, as Castle quickly opened the door to the right.
Brooks, Franco, and Davis all rushed in with Castle right behind them. They found themselves in a courtyard, a space enclosed by a ran-down building, open to the skies above. Passing through an opening of a wall, the Spartans treaded slowly past the space that the sun shone upon, while they heard audible noises of a chopper lifting off in an area nearby. Passing through a set of open doors, the Spartans got on their stomachs and shimmied their way, one-by-one, past an opening with the chipped down remnants of a wall above. Back on their feet, the team of four passed through a doorway to their left, just as the chopper had left. All quiet at that point, the ZAFT Specters vaulted over chipped-down brick walls to their left that were knee-high.
Brooks took point, as they passed through another open doorway to their right, before they climbed up a makeshift ramp of bricks and other debris from the torn-down building. They passed an open doorway in front of them, before they slowed through the room and stopped behind a set of chestnut-brown doors ahead. With two men at each side of the doors, Davis nodded to Brooks, as the young Spartan took point. Brooks quickly opened the door wide, the three other men swarming in before they stopped, as the team leader followed. They were now on the highest level of the ran-down courtyard, the sun shining down on them, just before they heard a hoarse scream of agony coming from below.
Observing the sight in front of them, three men on the ground level were dressed in casual clothing and had dragged a bloodied and savagely-beaten man in what appeared to be the uniform for the P.M.C. operating in the area.
"Looks like the locals are getting some revenge," Franco monitored.
Davis had a look of deepening concern on his face, as he saw the three men ominously circling around the defenceless merc by the shades of the tall tree. "They're gonna tear him apart. What should we do?"
"Do?" Franco responded incredulously, just as one of the angered locals landed a foot against the already-embattled man. "Kid, we aren't even here."
Davis turned to Franco, who began leaving off along with the others, before he turned to the sights once more. Catching up with the squad, Davis could hear several blows being landed on the hapless mercenary by the angry civilians, as he began to vault over a series of brick walls to the left side of the courtyard. The rest of the team followed behind him, as they reached all the way to the other side of the courtyard. Hopping over one last barricade, Davis led the pack past through an open doorway, as Brooks communicated to the head operator.
"Command, can you get a fix on the vehicle's location?"
"Negative, Spartan," the head operator answered. "We see a couple of structures, but we can't see what's under them. You'll have to do the legwork."
"Understood."
Franco followed Davis and Brooks as they all jumped down to the lower level of the building. "Millions of dollars floating around in space, and still can't beat just going to see for yourself," he quipped.
Passing through a doorway, they climbed up from the large pit they were in, before they made their way up and onto a raised platform back outside. They jumped down from the raised platform, before they jumped down again and back onto solid ground. With their camouflage systems activated again, the Spartans made their way up a small flight of concrete stairs.
"Alright, eyes up gentlemen," Brooks firmly instructed. "We need to find that car."
They found themselves back in the wide, open area of the village, with the oil pipelines above in the far distance. Just as they stopped by a stack of wooden boxes, they began to see several locals running for their lives, from a path to their left. After waiting for the rest of the civilians that ran and screamed past by them, they slowly trekked down the path where the panicking people had ran out of. Passing by the red metal doors that were swung open and remained in place, the Spartans moved while crouching, finding themselves in another part of the village.
"Spartan, Snowbird," the voice of the female helicopter pilot came on their headsets. "We've reached secondary. We'll orbit until you're ready for extract."
"Copy, Snowbird," the team leader responded. "We'll be with you shortly."
Davis remained in place by the corner of a building in the shadows, while Franco peeked out from the corner with Brooks and Castle behind them.
"One hostile, he's got an assault rifle."
Brooks split away from them and moved in a different path, as he observed the areas surrounding him to the left. "There're two more left, next to the checkpoint."
The Spartans split ways, before they converged past a large market stand, as Castle spotted another hostile gunman ahead of his view.
"Bloody hell, I see four now."
Franco and Davis took cover behind an abandoned leather sofa, while Castle took cover behind another one ahead to their right. Davis immediately popped out from his cover, and spotted the four mercs within eyeshot. One was patrolling on top of a bunker, right under the watchtower. Two of them were on the ground and to the right of the bunker, while the fourth mercenary was watching the shores of the ocean to the bunker's left. With the light-machine gun drawn out, Davis e-tagged the man on top of the bunker first, followed by the two men on the ground and to the right, before he focused his sights on the man to the left.
"Ready on your shot, Leung."
Davis narrowed his eyes before he pulled the trigger. "Fire, fire!"
On cue, the four marked men went down straight away as bullets pierced through the bodies and heads.
"All hostiles cleared," Brooks noted as Franco and Davis moved up along with Castle.
Franco moved behind the wall of sandbags, just as he caught something in his eyes through the windows of the bunker.
"I've got eyes on two more here, coming from 9 'o clock."
Davis took cover at the corner to the left-end of the bunker, popping out to find the two mercenaries walking besides each other in the near distance, stopping by to watch the waters of the ocean.
"Add two more," Brooks noticed. "Same direction."
The young Spartan continued to peek out from the corner, finding another two mercs about to join the first two at the shores of the beaches. He began tagging the armed men in the distance, one-by-one, before he focused his sights on the last man in the back of the pack. Firing his weapon, the other Spartans did at the same time, the four legionnaires in the distance struck by the travelling bullets coming through.
"We're clear!"
As Davis moved out from the corner with the team advancing, he could hear the rumbling sounds of a gunship in the distance becoming closer and closer. He moved into the shady areas of the bunker, in the hopes of avoiding detection by the attack helicopter. Once the helicopter passed through the area, the Spartans continued to travel past and around the bunker, and through the sandy shores before they climbed up a small flight of stairs leading into a room of a building.
"Keep your heads down," Brooks warned quietly. "If that chopper spots us, it'll get messy real fast."
They had cut to their right, before exiting the building through an open doorway and into the outdoors again. Taking cover behind a wall close to their left, the Spartans peeked out to observe the gunship hovering over an open area, with a small unit of Arcturus' soldiers of fortune dropping down from the chopper by cable. They waited for a few moments, before the attack helicopter began to take off and flew away from the scene. Davis quickly deployed the drone from his belt, guiding it high above as it can while he monitored the surrounding areas below.
In front of the camera feed, Davis could spot a soldier of fortune inhabiting the top of a watchtower about 30 metres away from where the drone was. He shifted the drone downward, as he saw another rifleman on the ground, just by the bunker that housed the watchtower above. He then panned the drone to the left, finding a third rifleman about 45 metres away from the unmanned vehicle in the air. Without checking even further for any more hostile men on the ground, Davis e-tagged the three men, assigning the targets to his three squad-mates.
"Fire, now!"
All three Spartans lined up on their targets and fired, with the man in the watchtower going down from a bullet to his head, the other men on the ground also dropped dead right away. However, one of the Arcturus mercenaries nearby had spotted one of his dead comrades flopped over on the ground, before he began shouting over his walkie-talkie. Before the Spartans knew it, they were fired down upon in intense bursts of bullet rounds coming from afar.
"Hostiles found the bodies!" Franco shouted. "They know we're here!"
Davis hurriedly retrieved back the drone before they moved away from the walls and back into the room they were previously in. Taking cover under the windows, more hostile bullet rounds found their way past the windows, shattering the glass frames into millions of shards that rained over the Spartans. The suppressive bullet fire coming from the remaining mercs ricocheted off of the concrete walls of the room, some narrowly missing the ZAFT Specters. Brooks and Franco began to return back fire, before they themselves ducked down fast as more incoming bullet rounds came at them furiously.
Franco turned to Brooks. "What the hell is suppressing us?!"
"M.M.G. nests on those buildings!" He roared.
Brooks, Franco, and Castle continued to peek out from under and returned fire again on the hostile troops of mercenaries firing upon them. However, they were quickly suppressed by the mounted gunner nests on the buildings far ahead to their right.
Brooks ducked down for cover again. "We're under heavy fire! I can't even see those damn nests!"
Castle popped out again from his cover and fired his sniper rifle, managing to take out one of the mounted-gunner nests. Suddenly, the whole entire room trembled and shook back and forth with enough force, as the gunship circled around and fired 40mm rounds at the building they were in. The concrete on the ceiling began to crumble away in a pile of dust, the building slowly falling apart.
"FUCKING HELL!" Castle blasted out angrily. "That goddamn chopper is NOT helping us out!"
Davis, still underneath a window besides them, quickly devised an idea. He pulled out the H.A.R.O. Drone again and deployed it, the unmanned air vehicle hovering out the window, before he directed it to the far-right and tagged a hostile merc on the ground who was near the building that housed the nests.
"Got it!" Franco shouted, as he aimed down at the marked man and fired, killing him instantly.
Castle immediately popped away from under and peered through the sights of his sniper rifle, before he pulled the trigger. The one man behind the mounted-gunner nest flew aback with a distance-travelling bullet piercing through his eye, before he laid on the ground dying.
"Other M.G.'s down!"
"We're getting them now!"
Davis continued to direct the drone, before he tagged a merc just by a small building on the ground to the left.
"RIGHT THERE! GET FIRE ON HIM!"
"On it!"
As one of the Spartans peeked out from under the windows and opened fire on the marked man, Davis steered the drone away from the incoming fire that was focused on the unmanned vehicle. He then tagged another hostile merc firing from the second-storey of a building 25 metres away from the drone.
"TAKE THAT ONE!"
"COPY!"
A loud bang was heard, before the marked man in the building succumbed straight away from a sniper round in his chest. Davis retrieved the drone back, riddled with deep dents from the enemy infantries that fired at it. The room they were all in continued to tremble with violent force, as Davis backtracked to the door they entered the room and out, as he could see the gunship hovering around in the skies. He quickly strafed back into the room, taking cover underneath the windows again, before he peeked out and fired at the attack chopper with his light-machine gun. Some of his several burst rounds bounced off from the metal of the chopper's exterior, while a few of the burst rounds pierced through the windscreen of the helicopter's cockpit, narrowly missing the pilot and its gunner.
"Reloading!" Davis replaced his spent cartridge with a fresh, new load for his primary weapon.
The gunner on the hostile attack chopper continued to rain down on the Spartans inside the building, which was about to fall apart with several more rounds coming from the aircraft.
"We gotta do something about this bastard!" Castle barked at his team.
"Can't stay here forever!" Franco added.
"Alright, we gotta split up!" Brooks quickly brought up the idea. "That way, the gunner's gonna have to focus on one of us, while the others try to take it down! Sound good?"
"Yeah, I like that!"
"Great idea, Chief!"
The team leader then turned to Davis, with Castle and Franco turning to him as well. "Leung, you got that?"
Davis dodged a few incoming rounds from the chopper, before he looked up at Brooks. "Sure, let's try that!"
"Alright, on me! LET'S MOVE!"
Vaulting over the windows, the Spartans dropped down onto the ground, before they separated from each other. The gunner aboard the chopper began to focus on one of the Spartans rushing out in the open, as he fired at him. Franco narrowly avoided the lethal rounds that rained down on him like Hell, juking around and maneuvering from position to position, taking cover behind buildings. While Franco had distracted the chopper's gunner, Davis fired continuously at the gunship, emptying away at the new cartridge that he had loaded in. Brooks and Castle also fired at the chopper, before the pilot directed the helicopter, with the gunner now focusing in on Davis below.
With the chopper now hot on Davis' heels, the young Spartan avoided the incoming 25mm rounds from the air, as he ran in a zig-zag pattern. He raced up a small flight of stairs, sprinting past a parked car, before he slid to cover behind the wall of a derelict house. Moving away from the cover, Leung continued to fire down upon the attacking chopper above him, before he had exhausted the whole cartridge. He squeezed at the trigger of the L.M.G., only to hear metallic clicking noises instead of the loud, ratcheting booms coming from the barrel. Realizing that he had ran out of ammunition in the cartridge, Davis scrambled off before he was caught by one of the 25mm rounds from the chopper, sending him flopping down onto the ground.
Picking himself back up frantically, Davis got on his feet and kept on running, blowing past a lamppost before he dove into a dwelling that was exposed from the top and sides of the house. Taking cover behind a wall, the young Spartan struggled with the reloading process on his light-machine gun, as the gunner aboard the chopper located him and was about to fire again. Before he could even push down the red button on the flight yoke, the gunner and pilot were met with several bursts of bullets hitting the windscreen of their cockpit as well as the side of the chopper to their left.
Brooks, Franco, and Castle concentrated their fire on the chopper that was fixed onto Davis, depleting every last bullet in their rifles. Castle took aim at a soft spot on the attack helicopter through the scope of his sniper rifle and fired. The bullet travelled straight through the metallic exterior of the chopper's right engine, shredding through the electrical components powering that engine. Instantly, the helicopter's right engine exploded, spewing out blazing flames with thick, black clouds of smoke billowing outward of the flames. The pilot of the helicopter struggled to bring the vehicle under control, as it jerked to the right and angled in that direction. The flames began to spread towards the other parts of the chopper as the pilot desperately steered it back and away from the scene.
Brooks breathed out heavily as he saw the burning chopper flying away into the distance. "Area's secured…we're all clear."
Castle and Franco exerted their breaths more frequently, as they began reloading the ammunition on their weapons. Brooks did likewise in the moments of tranquil that followed.
"Leung, you all right out there?" Brooks finally broke the silence. "Leung?"
A moment later, crackles of static filled their headsets before the young Spartan's voice came on.
"Yeah…I'm alright," he quietly panted. "Doesn't seem like I broke anything."
Brooks gave a bountiful sigh of relief, as Davis shakily emerged from the dwelling unit, a fully-loaded light machine gun in tow. Castle and Franco were in disbelief for a moment, before they finally settled back and focused on the task at hand. Davis regrouped with his team, before he deployed the H.A.R.O. Drone again, as he directed it towards their north-north-west.
"There's the gas station," he noted.
The Spartans rushed towards where the gas station was located, before they located the back of an S.U.V. parked near the pumps. Stacking up against the rear door of the sport utility vehicle, Davis opened up the trunk of the vehicle with his squad-mates covering for him.
"Command, we've secured the intel," Brooks communicated over the radio. "We're ready to extract."
"Roger that, Spartan," the head operator acknowledged.
The voice of the female helicopter pilot followed. "Snowbird's en route to the L.Z."
As soon as Davis retrieved every last piece of intelligence reports he could find, he stashed them in a compartment of the combat suit. He patted a hand on Brooks' back as confirmation, before he drew out his light-machine gun again. A few short moments passed before the Spartans heard the noise of the transport chopper's propeller blades spinning, getting louder and louder as it neared where they were. Just as the chopper was close to making its descent, a projectile in the shape of a mini-warhead zoomed towards it from its left and slammed into it. A large fireball burst near the chopper and rocked it, causing it to swerve sharply to the right. The Spartans looked around and saw just above in the skies in front of them, the same attack helicopter that had come after them not too long ago.
"Spartan, we're in trouble!" The female pilot communicated. "Taking evasive action!"
The attack chopper then began to fire down on the Spartans, as they scrambled away from the vehicle parked near the pumps.
"Hey, our buddy's comin' back for seconds!" Franco remarked loudly in his sarcastic wit as he fled. "Let's make sure he doesn't have a round three!"
The attack helicopter then focused on the transport chopper that widely looped around it, firing at the moving aircraft and yet narrowly missing the shots it tried to land on. While the enemy aircraft was fixated on the ZAFT chopper in its sights, Davis emerged out from the shadows and tagged the attacking chopper for the others to focus their fire on.
"ENGAGE THE VEHICLE!"
"Roger!"
All four Spartans on the ground began firing at the beast of a gunship that tried to take down the ZAFT transport chopper. The female chopper pilot grunted in sheer frustration as she steered the chopper away from the continuous auto-cannon rounds that grazed the aircraft. Aiming down his sights, Davis continued to fire straight at the attack helicopter's engines, while Castle and Franco moved to positions as they also continued to fire at the enemy chopper.
The hostile helicopter then aligned itself with the transport chopper it faced and fired its auto-cannon again, with the ammunition rounds piercing through one of the transport chopper's engines. Thick, white smoke poured from one of the engines to the chopper's left side, as the helicopter angled to its left and stuck on the position as it circled. An alarm wailed repeatedly across the cockpit of the transport chopper as the female pilot struggled to maintain control over the air vehicle.
"SHIT!" She cursed out, tugging at the flight yoke in front of her.
"Keep firing on that hostile chopper!" Davis bellowed out. "We gotta take it down!"
"On it!"
The four Spartans on the ground kept on firing at the hostile chopper as it neared them, while it was busy trying to shoot down the ZAFT chopper in front of its sights. Castle moved out from his cover, before he took aim with his sniper rifle whilst moving, pulling the trigger on his gun. His shot managed to pierce through the hostile chopper's left engine, blowing apart the electrical wiring inside, and sending sparks and flames building up on the copter's left side. Franco and Brooks shot at the chopper's right side with their personal defence rifles. Some of their bullets travelled upward and struck through the right-side engine, severing out the rotors and electrical wiring on that engine. The attack helicopter was now burning up on both sides, the heavy clouds of smoke building up from the intense fires that increased in size from the blown-out engines.
The pilot of the hostile chopper began shouting in hysterics, in a foreign language as he struggled to bring the copter under his control, the alarms going off in the cockpit while the helicopter spun around in circles. He only managed to slow down the chopper from spiraling downward, before he met through the shattered windscreen, the sight in front of his horrified eyes that he did not want to see as the chopper stopped. He came face-to-face with Davis on the ground, already having drawn out his light-machine gun. Davis fired a barrage of bullets from his light-machine gun, shooting continuously from the hip, as most of the bullets travelled towards the chopper's main fuselage.
In no more than a couple of seconds, the chopper exploded into a massive fireball, sending pieces of debris everywhere. The fireball shrunk as the thick clouds of black and white smoke expanded outward, with most of the flaming wreckage already on the grounds far away. Brooks and the other Spartans watched in awestruck, as they saw the smoking transport chopper remain in the skies as the only air vehicle out there.
Shaking his head, Brooks snapped back to his focus. "Snowbird, you're clear."
"Roger that, Spartan. Let's get you out of there."
The transport chopper finally made its descent, as the thick grey smoke billowed out from one of its damaged engines. The Spartans quickly regrouped, before the wheels of the helicopter touched down on the ground.
"GO! GO! GO!" They rushed towards the open doors of the helicopter. "Keep moving, come on!"
"Pick it up," Brooks piped up as they all boarded the chopper.
Davis looked around to see everyone on board. "All present and accounted for!"
"Let's go gentlemen," Brooks quipped. "I don't like being on the ground."
The transport chopper began lifting off, before it gained enough altitude as it flew off into the distance, out into the skies over the blue ocean.
To be continued in PHASE-05: "On the Prowl".
NEW TECHNOLOGY
H.A.R.O. (Hover-land Advanced Robotic Operative) Drone (ZAFT)
FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS
Land and Air Configurations – The H.A.R.O. Drone can be deployed in either configuration depending on various situations. In the air configuration, the drone transforms into a quadcopter-like vehicle. In the land configuration, the drone is kept closer to the ground via three wheel-like rotors, and can be maneuverable.
Infrared Camera – The I.R. camera feed on board the drone can be used to identify hostiles through thermal activity.
3D Target Marking – Hostiles within the viewpoint of the drone's camera can be marked with visible markers above their heads.
And that concludes this chapter! Here are some notes about this chapter, for those who have read it from start to finish…
Firstly, I have to say that Bob Marley is one of my favourite music artists. Not only did I include a couple of excerpts from his song "Buffalo Soldier" as having significant meanings to the story (maybe even foreshadowing something? Who knows!), but it's also a direct reference to the start of the "Noble Tempest" mission in GR: FS, where another song of his was featured in the game.
Speaking of which, the mission that Team Spartan undertook in this chapter is based off of the aforementioned mission from the Ghost Recon game, where the Ghosts had to rescue a U.S. intelligence officer in Nigeria.
Another thing to note in the chapter, is that Davis is slowly beginning to realize what is happening to him as soon as he enters the Advanced SEED mode. Although he has not exactly found why this happening to him, he does realize the potential of the ability he has. Further explained, Advanced SEED mode can be activated at will in some situations, while it can also be activated when either someone close to the individual is in harm's way, or the individual is facing a near-death scenario. That will be demonstrated later on in the story.
Lastly, I actually did have one hell of a time coming up with the final few sequences that involved the Spartans taking on a hostile attack helicopter, in what appeared to be a "boss battle" situation. In fact, writing down the final scene in the chapter where Davis shoots down the chopper with a light-machine gun, very much reminds me of something out of a Rambo movie. Or some '80s action flick that featured scenes like this. Anyway, that's enough said!
For those of you who are wondering when the mobile suit action arrives, there's no cause for concern. It'll all happen in a few chapters after this one, as the story continues to build up, and the antagonists will be soon be introduced into the story. If you do like this story, feel free to leave a comment or favourite it…or both! Stay tuned for more on the way ahead!
