White Tail
"NCR's senate has got funds tied up at the Boneyard and President Kimball ordered our most experienced rangers to chase ghosts down in Baja"
90 days until movement
"Damn pre-war shit, they never fucking work right." Ranger Cayenne fiddled around with a rusted range-finder trying to loosen several screws to take it apart. Meanwhile Ranger Than peeked through the scope of his sniper rifle, a .50 caliber bolt action that'll turn your insides into jelly and crack skull as if it was glass. It had an enormous 27-inch barrel would compensate for a spear should the user run out of ammo and a muzzle break big enough to knock out a 250-pound man with one slam.
When the New California Republic wanted something done and was out of diplomatic options, the Rangers were an absolute last resort set aside a full-scale invasion by an entire NCR division. But this was different. Six months ago while stationed in Arroyo preparing to deploy into the Mojave AO at Camp McCarran; just before initiating movement they were set aside and were quietly moved to Baja, a largely empty and barren NCR colony, emptiness for miles, followed by local tribes and towns refusing to be occupied by the NCR. So why on this soulless land would they be here instead fighting the most important battle since their war with the Brotherhood of Steel? Than played around with the safety of his rifle, scanning his sectors of fire with the built-in thermal vision of the helmet.
"My brother's unit just got rotated out of McCarran, from the letter he sent me it didn't look like it was going so well, half his company was vaporized by raiders in Outer Vegas. He was so angry when they moved out before they could do any effective change into the area." Cayenne said.
"Why do you think we're here and not back in hoover dam like we were a couple years ago? The Legion should've been history at this point if the politics in Shady Sands didn't tie us down" Than said, his trigger finger got tighter.
Every Ranger deployed to Baja felt a level of frustration. The Veteran Rangers more so as they were holding down the best the NCR had and squandered their experience and skill to….provide overwatch and kick down doors of tribal who barely knew enough agriculture to survive?
"Look all I'm saying Than is-" Cayenne was cut off before their radio started blaring, "Cayenne, Than, what is the situation?" Cayenne quickly pressed the communicate button, "No change on the situation, Mantis company you're clear to engage."
Like a mole rat burrowing out to attack its prey, no less than twenty rangers donned in the elite black armor, the NCR Ranger combat armor, armed to the teeth with assault carbines, riot shotguns, and sequoias, stacked on the entrance to a building and kicked it down.
"I'll never get tired of seeing that" Than let out a sigh before adjusting the zoom settings on his scope. The building was dead quiet, the only sound that was heard was the door being kicked down. He knew what it meant – either it was empty or the only people they are going to see is a normal family preparing for supper. That did not go well the last time, Than recollected the platoon leader having to issue out an apology and was stripped of his ranger status for throwing a flashbang and having his platoon gun down a family of 10 and their dog.
"Another cold case? God I swear I wake up and it's like groundhogs day, every day is the same, wake up, brief, workout, night raid, sleep, repeat." Cayenne whined, her voice was often made Than twitch and roll his eyes. Than was baffled the day she was assigned as his spotter. Snipers work in teams, the sniper, the person behind the rifle pulling the shot, and the spotter, the person tracking the distance, windage, and verified targets before elimination. She also provided cover fire in case their position was compromised with her suppressed assault carbine.
Trust was non-negotiable. If the spotter or sniper disagree or don't see eye to eye, at best they'll collide and won't be within sync among each other. At worst, one of them will get the other or both of them killed. The team takes responsibility for any round that comes out on the other side of the barrel, not the sniper, the team. If they miss their shot and hit an unarmed civilian then the both of them will face a trial in front of a military tribunal.
"Hey, I got movement 600 meters north east of the objective, party of two." Cayenne zoomed in on her range finder. 600 meters away was flat land, roads, and several sandy hills nearby. Than aimed his rifle to the two bodies moving towards the objective.
"Spotted" Than switched from thermal to night vision, they were wearing cloth to drape their lower half and strips of rag to cover their shoulder. The two of them were carrying primitive firearms that reminded Than of rioters when they were trying to gun down a senator he was protecting. They were cheap and easy to produce, it just so happens when he pulled the trigger the pistol exploded right near his face killing the user instantly.
The rag was bright red and had the mark of an animal in the center that was luminescent and could be picked up from their night vision.
The mark of the bull. It could not be missed, the shape of a yellow bull charging within a red background was all but clear: they were part of Caesar's Legion.
"Cayenne confirm with me the mark of the guy on the left, check the rag near his chest, that has to be the same mark those legion fucks have on their banner."
"There's no fucking way we're miles away from any Legion territory, there has to be a reason" Cayenne soon doubled back on her statement.
"Yes I see it, they're starting to walk faster too, what the hell do we do?"
"Didn't we broker a peace with the legion? Imagine the backlash if they found out we killed their men. If any senator gives us shit we're done we'll be mining coal in Redding until radiation stops being a problem."
"No, we just killed so many of them there wasn't anyone left to negotiate peace talks."
"I'm taking the shot." Than said,
"Are you fucking crazy? Didn't you hear what I just said? Besides they're just walking for all we know they could just be citizens who didn't know what that meant, there's no way this is a good idea."
"It is 3 am at night and we are in some remote tribe there is no way they're here to visit the neighbors and ask for sugar, they're here to bring trouble." Cayenne yielded before looking back at her range finder.
"Wind looks good, about 3 mph, you're going to be shooting now about 550 meters." Than moved his scope to adjust for the moving target and to compensate for wind. Time slowed down for him as he inhaled and exhaled, making sure to remove all of the oxygen in his breath before giving the 3.3-pound trigger a firm squeeze with the pad of his finger. The .50 tracer round soared into the air flying with impeccable speed before landing into the man. The tracer quickly bounded and before even a second passed the body dropped.
"Clean body shot."
The other man stopped walking, looked at his now dead friend and hauled ass for dear life.
Than racked the bolt hearing a nice heavy thunk from the .50 round ejecting onto one of the rocks before adjusting for a follow up shot. Than once again repeated the same breathing and squeezing technique before the tracer spun out of the rifle and landed in approximately the man's leg from Cayenne's rangefinder. He tumbled and fell clawing to hold on for dear life before Than finished the job.
"Cazador-five this is Mantis-eight just shot two targets approaching AO." Command took a couple seconds to relay before responding.
"Roger Mantis-eight make sure to file your shot locations in your action report."
"Confirmed." Cayenne put the radio down as the veteran rangers exit the building empty-handed.
"Looks like I was right nothing but cold hands, you owe me a beer later when we get back."
"I never said I…alright fine lets get a drink after we get back." Than looked up from his rifle to see the ground team exfiltrating from the area with a radio beep indicating it was their turn to leave shortly.
What is the Legion doing in Baja? Whatever the NCR investigator finds out after dealing with the local complaints and property damage he'll get his answer, or maybe he'll end up with nothing but sweet nothings about how it was just coincidence they were wearing legion apparel.
Than got up, picked up his rifle, and groaned. "Just another fucking day in Baja."