"'It's not a vacation, Shades'," Shade parroted to Dash with a smirk, gesturing to the rest of the team who were in varying states of relaxation around the campfire, "I don't know, D, but this feels a lot like a vacation to me…"
Dash sighed in annoyance, leaning back against the tree she'd chosen as her 'spot'. Muttering about getting things done and lounging around like bumps on logs.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Shade," Ghost started, sitting down on a log nearby, "this is just to relax and unwind from today's and yesterday's hike. The real fun begins tomorrow."
"Oh joy," Shade said with a wry smile, "oh gracious Ghost of ours, do tell what we might be facing so we can prepare!"
"Nah, that's for me to know and you to find out," he replied, "more fun that way… for me, at least."
"Good to know we're not spending this whole time being lazy bums," Dash commented idly.
"I don't know what your rush is," Robot spoke up, in the middle of eating from an MRE he had packed, "but I'd prefer stuff like this than sitting around at the base doing the same things we do every other day. It helps break up the monotony, you know?"
"Oh I'm not complaining about being out here, I'm complaining about feeling lazy," Dash responded, getting up from her spot, "I'm goin' for a walk."
"Mind if I join you? Leg's starting to get a bit stiff." Shade said, standing up to stretch out a bit.
"Not the only thing," Meat muttered quietly, Royce smacking him on the shoulder shortly after.
Dash rolled her eyes at Meat's comment and shrugged, "Sure, what the hay."
Shade nodded and grabbed his webbing gear, slinging it over his shoulders before making his way to join her on the walk. It was still light out, but it was approaching dusk. "I'm not the only one dreading what Ghost and the boss have planned, right?" He asked once out of earshot.
"Between the two of us? Yeah," Dash answered, "I can't take all this sitting around doing nothing," she shuddered.
"You say that now," Shade chuckled, letting the statement hang unfinished, "I bet you he has us break down the camp and carry all of the parts to a new position then set it up somewhere else."
Dash shrugged, "That doesn't sound so bad to me."
"I know, that's where Ghost says he changes his mind just as we finish the setup, then tells us to break it down again and move it somewhere else."
Dash hummed thoughtfully, but didn't really say anything as she kept walking, it still didn't sound too bad. Annoying sure, but physically taxing? It would be a cakewalk.
Shade stopped without and held out a hand for Dash to stop as well, slowly taking a knee as he looked over towards his left. His face wore a serious expression, as if he was looking for something. Dash watched him with a curious expression, then looked to where he was watching. He continued to look, then slowly started moving off to the side, circling around to his 'target's right, signalling for Dash to follow but stay low and quiet. Dash spotted something odd and followed Shade without hesitation. She stopped beside Shade once he stopped as well.
"I think I've got two guys, wearing hoodies and commercial camo, about seventy meters or so in that direction…" He whispered to her, drawing his knife from his webbing and holding it in a reverse grip, "they don't look like hikers… last I checked there weren't any major trails along this neck of the woods, which is why we're here."
Dash narrowed her eyes at them, and whispered back to Shade, "I'm gonna get a closer look…" she said, before moving forward quietly in the cover of the trees, stepping carefully to avoid dead branches or any 'alarm' tripwires these two might've set. Shade shot off to further flank right, moving fast but low, seemingly making very little noise. The pair closed to within thirty meters of the unknown persons, and Shade signalled for Dash to halt from his position.
The reason these men were out here became obvious; they were inspecting a small grow field of cannabis. Through the bushland, Shade could see the glint of a handgun in the waistband of one of the men, and signalled as such to Dash to warn her. Dash sent back a signal to let Shade know that she'd seen his warning.
Shade nodded and they continued to watch the two men for a few more minutes, before Shade signalled for Dash to move in and take the gunman, whilst he started moving with the other man in his sights. They crept closer and closer, maintaining absolute silence until they were within ten meters of them. Holding for one last moment, Shade held up a hand and counted down from three.
Once his hand closed into a fist, they leapt into action, Shade lunging for the man with his hands in his pockets and slamming him chest first into a tree. He swept his legs out from under him and pushed the man to the ground onto a large tree root, and dove onto him to keep him restrained. As Shade took down one, Dash charged the other, dodging a surprised fist as she went. She held his arm out in a lock as he drew the pistol and forcing him to let it go. It ended up getting flung instead of simply dropping. Dash cursed at the flash of safety orange that meant the safety was off. Stupid civvies and their stupid lack of common sense and their stupid fucking lack of gun-safety. The handgun hit a nearby tree and went off, but she didn't hear any evidence of someone being hit, so she focused on wrestling the larger man onto the ground and pinning him there before looking up to see where the bullet had ended up.
Shade looked to her with wide eyes, before looking up to the bullet hole that was lodged in the tree trunk a foot away from his face. "Holy fuck…" he breathed, before schooling his expression and digging his knee deeper into the back of the man he was holding down. The sound of stomping grew louder as Captain MacTavish, Ghost, Scarecrow, Roach and Chemo came rushing through, stopping as they saw both Dash and Shade holding a pair of men on the ground with a handgun lying nearby.
"Anyone hurt?" Chemo said, rushing over to squat between the two soldiers as he gave them cursory once-overs.
"Nah, we're good mate." Shade dismissed him, a little bit shaken by the near-miss.
"The fuck's going on?" Ghost exclaimed, walking over to pick the gun up and render it safe, sticking the magazine in his pocket.
"We busted two assholes with a weed farm," Dash answered, gesturing with her head at the plants, "This idiot," she shoved her captive further into the ground, "doesn't know a damn thing about gun-safety."
The man underneath Shade finally came to his senses, "Who the hell are you people? Cops?"
"You aren't that fucking lucky mate," Shade laughed, tapping him on the back, "we're military. You'd have heard the police coming from a mile away."
"Ahhhh fuck," Dash's prisoner sighed, letting his head rest on the dirt.
"Yeah, 'Ah fuck' is right…" Scarecrow joked, walking over to the questionable plants to take a look himself, "not that much here, quality is dubious at best… they'd probably have to cut it with some other shit to get much out of it…" he turned back, noting the varying looks he was getting from his team members and the two wanna-be drug runners, "what? I grew up in SoCal, what'd you expect?"
It took a few hours for the nearest Sheriff's office to respond to their call, but the seven of them finally returned back to camp feeling plenty tired. "Is that better Dash? You did say you didn't like lazing around," Meat called as they all sat down around the fire to unwind a little from the evening's events.
"Much," Dash answered with a nod, "Although that part where the idiot threw his weapon? I could've done without that."
"You and me both, D," Shade said with a groan as he rubbed his face, "that round almost caught me in the head… a foot lower and I wouldn't be sitting here."
Dash shook her head, "Were our lives a cartoon, I'd have fainted."
"Ever since you got here Shade, you and Dash have been nothing but a beacon that trouble just seems to home in in," Roach started, "I mean, there's the little fight you two had, the recon you guys did that night in Mexico, the subsequent attempt at re-enacting the Alamo, the 'wake up call' you pulled on us, and now this shit!"
"Says the guy we nicknamed Roach for always getting in some ridiculously life-threatening situation and surviving," Dash threw back at him, "And it wasn't a fight, it was a sparring drill."
"Psh, please," Roach returned, "if that was a sparring drill, then Meat's a fucking vegan."
"What can I say? I don't go looking for trouble, it seems to know where I am most of the time," Shade offered with a resigned shrug.
Meat laughed, "Should've called you 'Magnet' instead."
Dash chuckled as well and shook her head, "Nah, as suiting as it is, I don't think it'd stick."
"Meh, worth a shot," Meat replied, standing up and stretching out, "I'm sure that I speak for everyone here that all of that has made me tired..."
"Dude, you did absolutely nothing," Royce interjected.
"... that's just a detail, regardless, I'm gonna hit the sack. See you all in the morning!" Meat waved a 'farewell' before making his way to his small tent off to the side. Once he disappeared and was out of earshot, Shade spoke up.
"... y'know, I knew a Magnet back in the Commandos. And yes, he lived up to that name more than I could even aspire to…"
"This was more like what I was expecting," Shade commented as he, Dash, Meat and Royce hid under a camouflaged net on the side of a small hill, all of them with binoculars in hand barring Royce, who had a rangefinder instead, "none of that drug interdiction or hiking shit…"
"Mhm, this is what a lot of our missions actually boil down to, actually," Royce said as he looked down to a notepad and wrote down a range next to an object's description, "observation and reconnaissance, generally in high risk areas and deep behind enemy lines, or for time sensitive stuff."
"Yeah," Meat added on, unusually serious for once, "my first mission with the Task Force was actually a combination of recon and spotting for some UAV air strikes, working with the USAF. We got the guys we wanted after a few days of sitting in our vantage point, watching and waiting. Roach and I are actually both qualified forward observers, though he generally gets to lug around the designator more than I do."
"Sounds like fun," Shade says, lowering his binos, "one of my mates had to play assistant to a RAAF JTAC that was attached to our patrol team for an op overseas. He said that whilst it wasn't initially heavy, carrying the extra batteries, smoke grenades and other targeting and communications did take its toll."
"But totally worth it when you hear 'wings level' followed by the loud 'boom' that only a thousand-pounded JDAM can make." Meat chuckled, glancing at Shade, "they're the best to use. The danger-close zone isn't as large as a two-thousand-pounder like a Paveway Two, but the boom is bigger than a regular Mark Eighty-Two five-hundred pounder."
"Nothing beats the gravelly sound of an A-10's main gun though," Royce finished off with a smile, "that shit'll get you aroused as all hell. Even if you're a chick, right Dash?"
"Less chatting more scouting," Dash responded evenly, still looking through her binoculars.
Meat simply chuckled, "Yes, Master Sergeant, ma'am," before looking down at his notepad as well, reviewing his notes. They were set up on the hill and tasked with watching the small main road that was a mile away, told to maintain a count on the traffic frequency, the kinds of vehicles seen, and record anything that seemed out of the usual.
Without warning, Shade reached over Dash and slugged Meat in the shoulder. "Punch buggy, blue."
"Bullshit," Meat returned, grabbing his binos to confirm. "I don't see it."
"Third lane, east to west, passing the midpoint now."
"Tally… you asshole." Meat grumbled as Shade laughed to himself.
Royce shook his head, "The fuck, are the pair of you fucking six years old?"
"Meat, maybe. But I'm double digits: ten years old." Shade returned with a smirk. "Just passin' the time mate, this is starting to get old real quickly."
Dash rolled her eyes at their banter as she continued to mark down notes on her notepad. At the far end, Royce let out a low groan as he let his head drop down to the ground. "Royce?" she questioned, a little confused by his outburst.
"We just got made… got flashed by a laser, went to find the source and I found Ghost with a laser pointer and a cardboard sign that read 'You're dead!'." He rubbed his face, and Shade let out a silent curse.
"Must've seen the glint from our binos…" he suggested, flipping them around to see how reflective they were, "that or something shiny made us stand out."
"Or," Dash said a little grouchily, "he saw you move when you went to punch Meat. Or picked up on the chatter. Or a number of other things."
"In order of what you said, D, this is my rating," Shade said, flashing her a small frown, "likely, hell no since he's over three hundred meters away, and potentially," he rubbed his face as he sat up, "I'm gonna say it's the glint off the lenses, since the sun is beaming down on us from our one o'clock."
Dash rolled her eyes and got up as well, not pressing the matter. Royce spoke up as Meat started packing away the camo netting, "Guess we head back to base camp for the next tasking order…"
"Sounds good, sooner we get there the sooner we can get back out."
Scarecrow, Roach, Robot and Dash stayed low as they moved among the trees, trying to move up and secure their target, a field backpack that was suspended on a tree. Robot and Roach held their position, watching for movement as they signaled for Dash and Scarecrow to move in to retrieve. They didn't notice the four bodies hiding strategically around the bag, lying in wait to spring their trap.
Scarecrow was the first to vanish, disappearing without a single word or sound as Royce pulled him down and smothered him, drawing across his neck with a red marker pen to signify his throat being cut. Robot was second, succumbing to the same fate as Scarecrow by Chemo's hands. Roach turned around to check in with Robot and confirm they hadn't seen anything yet, but didn't see anything at all. He tried to signal to Dash, but she was focused on the bag and as such didn't see his gesturing. It was all for naught as Meat subdued him, taking him down with a few 'stabs' to the back as his mouth was covered.
Shade held his position as Dash crept right by him, only meters from the bag now. His face was all painted up with a mixture of mud and camouflage paint, body covered with sticks, branches and leaves in addition to his home-made 'ghillie' suit, which was effectively a torn up and painted up burlap sack that he could throw on over the top of his clothes.
'Just a bit closer… that's it… just a bit more…' He thought to himself as he watched Dash stand upright and reveal her position to try and pull the bag down. Once she had her hands on the straps, Shade made his move. He locked onto her and held his arms out front, closing the distance rapidly. Dash heard the sudden movement and reacted instinctively, flattening herself against the tree as she pulled the bag down and avoided the charge.
Shade nearly grazed her side, but passed her as he couldn't slow up fast enough. He rounded on her and tried again, this time aiming for whatever he could in order to stop her and bring her to the ground. Dash, pack now slung around her shoulders, met him head on, but ducked under him with a twist at the last second and ran.
Her twist caught him off-balance, and as he tried to compensate he overstepped and caught an exposed root, tripping him and sending him, in his worse, ass-over-tits. He hit the ground with a solid thud which partially winded him, and he watched as Dash ran off with the bag towards her team's 'base' with a groan. A whistle blew a minute later, signifying the end of the round. "Good job men, almost had them…" He heard Ghost call out as he sat up, rubbing his head.
"No almost about it, LT," Dash chuckled, strutting back into the area with the pack in one hand, "They might've gotten the jump on the other guys, but not me."
"Quiet from the peanut gallery," Meat called out, "nobody likes a showoff…" he teased back.
Scarecrow, Ozone, and Dash kept their eyes on the ground as they walked, looking for any clues to lead them in the direction of the other team, consisting of Meat, Roach, and Shade, who were to avoid being caught, while sticking together. Dash was the first to pick up a not-quite hidden boot-print in the mud, mostly hidden by the bushes growing over the road. She got them headed in the right direction, now they just had to make sure they were able to follow any course changes. Scarecrow went off to follow any possible false-trails meant to throw them off, to make sure they weren't the real-deal, returning to his team once he was sure it just looped back, or radioing if he found it lead onward.
There were subtle signs, a crushed leaf here, a boot print hidden under the leaves there, a broken twig or two, maybe a thread caught on a thorn bush. Regardless, Dash was able to pick them out among the other 'noise' and follow them.
From their hiding place high up in the trees, Shade watched as their three 'pursuers' followed their 'trail', an internal monologue playing in his head the entire time.
'This 'eres the wild 'Becca Myers', known to the locals as the 'Dash'. A relentless lil' creature, she'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth if she has your scent. But fear not, these things have a couple o' weakness that'll keep you alive if you remember 'em.' He waited until it was clear before signalling to his team to slowly and quietly drop down. 'First, once the Dash has a scent, it'll ignore any outside interactions until it either finds its prey or it is well and truly lost. And secondly, they have a severe disadvantage to anything higher than them, so if you can, seize the height advantage and wait them out.' Taking a look around to make sure they were clear, Shade, Roach and Meat started heading back the other way to the encampment.
It didn't last long, as Shade was brought to the ground by an unseen attacker, and once he heard the small laugh, he rolled his eyes and submit, only one thing going through his head.
'Crikey!'
The days rolled by pretty quickly, and soon they found themselves packing up the camp once more for the final time, everyone ready to get back to base for the comforts of their mattresses and nice warm showers.
"I actually quite enjoyed this…" Shade said to Rook, who looked like he was both ready to pass out and eager for more. The SASR operator was in his element, which Shade could understand. He admittedly felt quite at home in the bushland as well, "and it looks like you did too, mate."
"Mate, I live for this shit," Rook replied with a chuckle, patting his Commando friend on the back before walking off to retrieve his gear. They were to hike it to a clearing where a Chinook would land and pick them up to take them home. With his own gear set, Shade walked around the practically empty site and offered his help if it was needed. Finding that everyone else was set, he went back to his gear and sat down against a nearby tree, taking the load off. He rubbed at his neck a little, more than certain that something had bitten him there sometime over the last few days, and made a mental note to visit one of the docs to get it looked at.
Dash stretched comfortably as she finished packing up her things and the rest of the camp was packed away. It had been a pretty good week. The exercises had almost been like a competition. It had been a nice bit of fun in the midst of all the tension of waiting for a serious op. She looked around the camp, and out over the water, taking a deep breath of the fresh air. There had been a place like this near her family's land. They used to go camping there every month, like a family tradition. As much as she liked it though, she was sore from sleeping on the ground and ready to get back to base where she could fall face first into a mattress instead of a pile of leaves probably home to bugs of all kinds.
Shade walked up beside her and just sighed softly. "Not gonna lie, it's kinda making me homesick…"
Dash shrugged, "Just a bit…" she agreed quietly, "Had a place like this back in Texas… my family and I would go camping and fish in the lake, live off the land for a couple days..."
"I was a city suburb kid, but the terrain around Holsworthy is like this as well," Shade commented, "bush is kinda what I did best, ironically enough for a city-slicker."
Dash nodded absently and stood up once their superiors made the call that it was time to go. They shared a smile as they boarded the Chinook and sat together in relative companionable silence the entire flight back.
Authors' Notes:
(Spitfire)
Well that sounds fun, I wanna try some of these heh. Busted some drug runners. Nearly shot poor Shade in the face. Dumbass rednecks and their lack of gun safety. Dash has a keen sense of spatial awareness, try to pull the wool over her eyes like that and you'll still get screwed. So.. yeah that's it, little bit of homesickness at the end, but that's okay. And my sleeve keeps stabbing me so I'm gonna go ahead and wrap this up so I can change jackets.
Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher
~Spitfire out
(Shade)
Some of the stuff they did is stuff I legitimately wanna try, especially that hardcore "capture the bag" (Definitely top of my list), can't imagine how badass that'd be to play. Small shoutout to the legend that is Steve Irwin, couldn't resist that if I'm honest (It was beautiful). And Rook is a confirmed 'bigfoot' with how much he loves the wilderness. Not to mention that Ghost is a master troll, probably king troll of the task force. I mean, laser pointer and a "you're dead" sign? Dude is on a higher level.