Mission Log: 20XX0818
Time: 18:40 Hrs
Temperature: 28°C
Humidity: 93%
Deep in the Central American jungle, Colonel Ralf Jones and Lieutenant Clark Still are crouching, hidden behind some bushes on top of a small hill. The high terrain provides excellent visibility on the road coming into the mountain range they are surveilling.
The Ikari Intel Team caught wind of an important weapons cargo being transported to an encampment close by. Their mission entails stopping an incoming Armored Vehicle to retrieve a medium size wooden case, weight unknown, containing a powerful weapon that an opposing Armed Forces Group threatened to use, to subjugate the communities nearby.
Both Ralf and Clark are well aware they won't be able to stop the A.V. it if they tackle it head on because they're outgunned and outmatched. They must come up with a plan, and their time is running out, as the Vehicle is already en route to their location. Ralf's usually belligerent, yet easy going demeanor was balancing towards the serious side, given the circumstances. Clark picked up on the puzzled look on the Colonel's face, and decided to take the first step to propose a course of action:
"Look Colonel, we gotta play this to our strengths. We don't have any heavy weaponry to stop it, so the only thing I can think of is delaying it until we think about how to infiltrate the Vehicle, upon having visually inspected it up close," Clark said with a heavy tone.
Ralf looks around, trying to think of something, and proceeds to offer a quick idea.
"We may not be able to blow that thing up ourselves, but there's gotta be a way to stop it. Let's contact the Intel Team to see if they have any ideas."
The Colonel reaches towards his right hip to grab his Satellite Transmitter (ST for short), and clicks on the tiny button on top of it to make the call. He switches the toggle to output the sound through a speaker for Clark to be able to hear.
"This is HQ, come in Colonel." On the other side, a familiar female voice greets them with an assertively urgent tone.
"Hey there Whippy! We need your help with some-" Ralf is abruptly interrupted by an annoyed agent Whip.
"You know I hate it when you call me that! I swear I will end this call if you don't treat me with professionalism, you knucklehead! Err, I mean, Sir!," Whip replied, regaining her composure at the tail-end of her tirade.
"Easy there, Agent Whip". Ralf responds with a more serious tone, while stopping to make a complicit grin towards Clark, who shyly smiles back. Ralf continues - "We require your urgent support in the current field op."
"Of course Colonel, fill me in on the details," Whip diligently responded.
"There's an Armored Vehicle coming our way, we need to stop it or at least stall it for long enough to be able to visually inspect its structure and potential weaknesses. We have no weapons whatsoever other than a survival knife and our fists. Any ideas?"
"What kind of Vehicle are we talking about? Please describe its appearance."
"It's an Arma Six wheeler, turret for heavy artillery and," as Ralf was elaborating, he is interrupted by Clark with an urgent piece of information:
"And no windows whatsoever."
"…And no windows whatsoever. Wait a minute, how are they piloting that thing?" Ralf inquired.
"They must be relying on external sensors, or cameras for navigation," Whip asserted. "Try to locate them physically on the surface. If you find a way to block or disable them you should be able to get the opportunity window you're looking for."
Clark's eyes met with Ralf's with complicity, right under the brim of his hat and over his sunglasses that were sliding slowly down his nose. Ralf grinned ever so slightly, as to let him know he had a small Eureka moment, and proceeded to finish the call with HQ:
"I think we can take it from here"
"Glad to be of service, Colonel Jones"
"Talk to you later … Agent Whippy!"
"HEY, WHAT DID I TELL Y-" Ralf turned off the ST quick enough to cut off Whip's protest.
Taking out the knife from his back holster, Ralf starts drawing the game plan on the leafy humid ground, Clark paying careful attention. They decide on blocking the dirt road below with a tree. Sadly there aren't any dried up trees nearby, so they search around in the area for one that fits the bill - Leafy enough to reach the possible cameras or sensors, and small enough that it wouldn't take them too long to bring down, because their time is running out.
The road runs on the side of the hill and, luckily for the army men, the summer rains eroded some of the ground around the roots of the trees directly adjacent to the road going up the hill. With the help of their knives and gloves, they start digging away into the ground towards the roots keeping the trunk anchored to the dirt wall. As they feel the tree moving a bit, they know it's time for some Teamwork to get the job done.
Clark takes out of his utility pouch a light but long survival rope and ties a rock to the end, throws it to one on the top branches to tie it, and crosses the road to pull it. Ralf slaps his cheeks to concentrate, and aims to put all his body weight into a series of punches that shake the tree to its core - This special technique is known as the "Vulcan Punch". This objective is completed as the tree falls onto the dirt road, blocking it.
As they go up the hill back to their strategic scouting positions, they start to feel a rumble in the distance, The Armored Vehicle's engine roaring towards them. Time's officially running out, they only have a couple of minutes before it reaches their position, and upon a quick look into the distance with his trusty pocket binoculars, Clark thinks of an additional step to incorporate into their plan.
"Colonel, on second thought, I don't think the tree is big enough to stop it. We gotta tamper with their sensors or cameras to force them to stop."
"What do you have in mind, Lieutenant?," Ralf replied, haste in his voice.
"I'll need you to trust me. Wait for me here, and let me know when they're about 30 seconds away from making visual contact with my position, around that curve about 100 mts away," Clark said while pointing to the portion of the road he was referring to, and handed over his binoculars to Ralf.
"You better know what you're doing here, or we'll be in some deep trouble," Ralf asserted.
"When have I ever let you down?" Clark yelled, as he was sliding back down the hill.
Clark took off his hat, grabbed some dry foliage from the ground and put it in it, as isolation. Then approached a fresh puddle nearby and grabbed a few handfuls of mud from the sides. "They're coming, 30 seconds!" Ralf informed his colleague. Clark proceeds to smudge the mud with his hands on the foliage at around rib cage height and above, assuming that's where the sensors would be, trying to cover as much area as he can. He listens to Ralf's voice warning him again: "HEY C, 10 SECONDS!"
10 Mississippi - Clark tries to get as much mudd as possible off his gloves …
9 Mississippi - … and onto the tree's foliage
8 Mississippi - Claps his hands to remove the excess
7 Mississippi - Cleans his gloves on his pants and
6 Mississippi - Turns the hat around to drop the mud out
5 Mississippi - Ralf yells "5 Seconds!" as Clark turns around
4 Mississippi - He leaps into the hillside wall
3 Mississippi - He sprints up with a couple of long steps
2 Mississippi - He looks up at a bush he can conceal himself behind
1 Mississippi - Clark takes a quick dive behind the bush, a few yards away from Ralf
Clark clenched his hand as he grabbed one of the bush's thicker branches, and pulled himself up to keep crawling towards the scouting position where Ralf awaited for him. He had a couple of seconds to spare to keep going up, before the vague rumbling in the distance finally became a clear engine sound. Without looking away from the target with the binoculars, Ralf asked through a grin on his face "Mud? Seriously?," to which Clark replied through an agitated sigh "Yeah, mud. You'll see in a bit."
While crouching shoulder to shoulder next to each other, as they had many times before over the years, Ralf reminisced about how his explosive head-on approach to missions was often upstaged by Clark's more strategic approach. He knew this counterbalance always helped to keep the accomplishments rolling in.
As the target approached the carefully laid out obstacle, they crouched further to conceal their position in the foliage around them and paid close attention to the scene. The vehicle slowed down a few meters before the fallen tree, only to come to a full stop seconds later. Ralf held his breath to keep his pulse steady enough to hold the binoculars in place, and effectively survey the armored vehicle's exterior. Meanwhile, a thick drop of sweat rolled down Clark's forehead, as doubt was casted over his plan's success, since the leaves hadn't touched the surface as he expected.
"I definitely don't see any windows or hatches. How about you C?" Ralf whispered.
"There, on the front," Clark pointed. "That cylinder slightly protruding at the center, that isn't a headlight. That has to be a camera!" he asserted, with relief in his voice.
The A.V.'s engine suddenly stopped, taking our heroes by surprise. Ralf moved the binoculars away from his face and turned to Clark, opening his eyes wide then promptly looking to the target, as to signal him to pay stay alert at what was about to happen next.
There was a turret on the top, and a hatch next to it for a soldier to exit and operate.
"That looks like a .50 cal," Ralf pointed out, quietly.
"It has no angle to shoot at close range," Clark replied, both of them knowing full well, thanks to their military training, that it was meant for long range defense from other tanks and aircrafts, not for infantry on foot. Not that it was needed anyway, since it was mostly invulnerable to most attacks a single individual might be able to inflict. In any case, they should continue to maintain their cover for their own safety.
The humid jungle air fills up their lungs, as the tension makes them hold their breath. The concentration has their hearts racing, Ralf can feel it in his chest while he's holding up the binoculars. Clark, on the other hand, feels a pulse in his temples, where thick drops of sweat are slowly running down towards his cheeks.
A slow metallic clanking noise cuts the tension. The hatch on the roof of the A.V. is slowly opened, and a dark olive green helmet is revealed, as a member of the crew peeks out to have a look at the tree blocking the dirt road. He raises his hand to cover his eyes from the afternoon sun, which is hitting him at a very uncomfortable angle, and after inspecting for a few seconds, he communicates what he sees with the Crew inside, his words inaudible.
"I can't read his lips from this distance," a slight tone of frustration can be perceived in Ralf's words. Meanwhile, Clark observes everything that's transpiring, like what the soldier is wearing - Short sleeved T-shirt, elbow pads, 1 fingerless glove, a tactical vest not matching the helmet's color. His build looks strong, but not awfully muscular. Clark can't help but feel like if push came to shove, he could take him on mano a mano, but that would be too easy.
"I can't see what kind of guns he's carrying on him. Do you see any ammo?" Clark inquired.
"No visual on firearms, ammo or gear," Ralf replied, "other than suspenders with holsters".
"Any hints at who he is talking to?"
The soldier crawls back inside the hatch and closes it, making Clark nervous about the moments to come next. The engine starts again, and the AV slowly rolls towards the fallen tree to run over it. "This better work Lieutenant," Ralf thought to himself.
As the tree is getting trampled, the muddy foliage stains the front of the AV, hitting the navigation camera, and blocking the view for the crew inside. The machine slows its movement, and stops again a handful of yards away.
"Bingo!" Clark exclaimed. "It's our window of opportunity. We'll have to engage soon."
"Alright," said Ralf, as he hands over the Pocket Binoculars to Clark. "It's show time"
In what was a lucky occurrence, this time the AV didn't turn off the engine when it stopped its march, making enough noise to cover their movement. They quickly slided down the hill, crouching, on what they identified to be a blind spot on the vehicle's side. "If it has a camera in the front, it may have another one in the back too", Clark pondered.
The hatch makes a vague noise, muffled by the engine vibrations around it, hinting that it's about to open. The Ikari Warriors take haste in their descent, and quickly duck to avoid being in the emerging Soldier's line of sight. They hear his voice saying: "Es algo rápido, no tardo". Ralf's field experience tells him these enemy soldiers are speaking Spanish, they're most likely locals.
The Soldier starts to climb down on the opposite side of the Vehicle, while Ralf and Clark finish taking their position, ducking out in the back of the machine. As he starts walking towards the front to clean the navigation equipment in the front, Ralf peeks out the side, and notices the Soldier isn't carrying any weapons at this moment. He turns to Clark to signal with his hands the Enemy is unarmed. Clark knows exactly what to do.
Clark hastily crouches and advances behind the trail the soldier had walked to surprise him, but not in time to stop him from cleaning the camera, which captured the action that followed next - Clark jumped to place his ankles around the man's shoulders, shifts his weight around and performed a Reverse Frankensteiner on his opponent. The crew inside has been alerted on their monitors of the situation happening outside, and they quickly get ready to exit and engage.
The first Soldier is laying on the ground disoriented, as Clark is incorporating himself to go and choke him out. Soldier 2 exits the hatch, scouting the situation from atop the AV.
"Welcome to Earth!" he hears a yell on his back, then gets clocked in his right cheek right after, as Ralf had been waiting to ambush him and cover for Clark. A third Soldier, the Pilot, inquires from inside the vehicle frantically "Hey! ¿Qué pasa? ¿Estás bien? … HEY!". Soldier 2's body, completely limp from getting knocked out, falls inside the Vehicle. The Pilot understands the situation, and immediately hits the gas to get out of dodge. Whatever was going on would surely change with a little distance, he thought to himself. Clark quickly jumps out of the way, while Ralf clings to the hatch hole and the turret on the roof. The AV is on the move.
The Pilot keeps looking over his shoulder, not being completely sure what got his crewmate unconscious. He doesn't see blood, nor did he hear any gunshots outside, so he's confused. "¿Qué diablos?" Ralf is outside waiting to make his move as soon as his body stops shifting momentum from the curve on the dirt road. He peeks inside and only sees the Soldier knocked senseless and the busy Pilot, and decides to make his move.
"Hey there amigo!" Ralf announced himself as he jumped inside, scaring the Pilot, who turned the wheel violently. The Ikari veteran, not being able to set a steady foot inside, lost his balance and stumbled inside all the way to the back. The Pilot starts to reach for his gun in the hip holster, and Ralf leapt towards him to defuse the situation. He fell raucously on the ground, close enough to grab the Pilot's hand to prevent him from gripping the gun firmly. The enemy soldier looked at Ralf's massive build, and understood he had to get the upper hand in any possible way in this life or death combat situation, so he decided to roll the AV down the hill, as he was wearing his seatbelt, but his attacker was not.
From a distance, Clark looks at the vehicle rolling over on its side down the hill, after having disarmed his target and stripped him away from any tactical gear like weapons, ammo and comms devices. "These suckers are outmatched. You've got this Colonel," he thought to himself as he sprinted in Ralf's direction.
As the AV was spinning, Ralf was able to stay close to his target by grabbing onto his wrist, frantically, as his body was shifting momentum around the interior. Also being thrown around out of control was the Soldier he'd knocked out a moment ago. The Pilot might have stayed in place because he was strapped to his seat, but by the way his head was moving and his arm being pulled with his attacker's weight, he was clearly having a rough time too.
It was a cluster of firm trees that stopped the uncontrolled motion of the ship, which finally came to a halt in an upright position. Inside, the Pilot was slightly disoriented as he felt his right arm was being tugged. Ralf never let go of his wrist, not even for a second.
Colonel Jones pulled himself up, put his knee with all his weight on the Pilot's lap around the hip that had the Gun in the holster, looked him in the eye with a tired look and said "Sorry, nothing personal Jack", as he threw a elbow that landed on the opponent's temple with enough strength to render him unconscious.
Finally safe, Ralf started looking around, squinting to try to make something of the AV's interior, searching for the target: a wooden case. He noticed the unconscious body of the Soldier he had neutralized earlier was laying in the corner, contorted in an unusual way. One of his legs was on top of the case. Ralf approached with caution, and as he moved the soldier out of the way, he noticed the crate had been cracked open as a result of all the ruckus. Inside, a small plastic briefcase with a padlock was safely stored with a soft mold around it. "Gotcha!", Ralf told himself with a smile on his face, and a drop of sweat dripping down his forehead.
As Clark approached the vehicle, still worried about his comrade's fate, he let out a sigh of relief as he noticed the red bandana emerge from the hatch.
"Found the gizmo!" Ralf yelled out. "Now let's get outta here, this jungle heat has me beat."
"I told you the mud would work!" Clark declared, as he raised his hat to let some air in.
Ralf climbed out of the AV, carrying the Yellow Case, and some of the equipment and weapons from the enemy soldiers to make sure they were no longer a threat.
"What about the wooden case?" puzzled, Clark inquired.
"This right here," Ralf said, as he tapped the yellow target. "This is what we were after."
"Radioactive Material?" Clark inquired with a serious tone.
"Don't worry C. As long as we don't open it, we should be out of danger."
"You're right. If the case is marked, it's gotta have radiant barriers built in."
As the Ikari Warriors walk back up and into the hill, they input the exfiltration area in their Satellite Transmitter for their ride to pick them up shortly. There's an air of victory in the banter they exchange.
"Even if the plan worked, I have to admit there's one thing I would have done differently," Clark confessed.
"What would that be, Lieutenant?" Ralf asked, his interest piqued.
"I wish I hadn't carried all that mud in my cap." Clark took off his hat, revealing his hair was full of tiny mud chunks, as Ralf let out a hearty laugh. "I was just so pressed for time!" Clark exclaimed with a grin full of resignation.
"You definitely gotta hit the showers as soon as we're back at HQ, you mudhead. Haha!"
⋆ MISSION COMPLETE ⋆