One way op: Insertion
Chapter Four
I sat in the back of the pelican and thought of everything that had taken a big part in my life to this moment. My college course, moving house, leaving some really good friends behind, My girlfriend. We had had an argument and I stopped talking so much and we drifted apart. I wish I hadn't. Id do anything to have her back. Everything I did was subconsciously for her. All of it. I would have loved to spend my life with her, but I fucked up big time. I was put on leave due to the way I spoke in my sleep. I was always one for having the will to live in battle…But after the split I talked as if I had nothing left. The turning point of war and I was part of it. I always wanted to mean something. Something to anyone, when my girlfriend left I felt like I meant nothing. Nothing to no one. Then I realised how many families were depending on us. I saw children in the park looking up at me, hopeful eye, when I would walk down the street in my uniform. I then realised I meant the world to everyone. Literally. My thoughts were interrupted by Austin.
"Ayyyyy Ayyyyy Ayyyyy, look what I found lads!" he pulled out two large flasks and reached in another four times carefully placing the flasks on the bench like they were gold.
"Pack these in your Bergen's lads." He whispered so pilots couldn't hear of his discovery. He handed them out to everyone as they snuck them in each of their bergens. I must admit I was very pleased to see them myself. A nice warm –what would be most likely coffee, them being pilots. They kept the brews in a container in the ship for health reasons when in cold areas, but some dipshit had left em in there, so we naffed off with them. Ours.
"You are a genius!" Gray said through gritted teeth grabbing his face in a firm grip and kissing his for head before taking a biiig gulp.
"Fucking A" he gasped with a grin. He looked like something from an advertisement. He whipped the flask lid on and slid it into his Bergen discreetly. Austin pointed at the safety on Gary's weapon.
"Your safety is off." With that Gary looked down only to get a flick on the nose from Austin.
"You're a tit." We all laughed, it was what we all needed. A good laugh.
I checked the safety on my own weapon, and ensured my webbing was on right and all my suit was still fitted right. It was.
"RED LIGHT!" I yelled. The whole room lit up with red light so as not to wreck our night vision.
"WHERE ABOUTS ARE WE?" I screamed above the rotors. He looked at me like I was such a prune. He pulled the head set off his head and pointed at it and then pointed to the wall behind me, where a head set lay for me. I went as bright as a tomato and put the head set on.
"Sorry about that mate."
"Shit happens, Where gonna be there in about 6 minutes"
"Got it, cheers mate"
I pointed at the ground and then indicated 6 minutes with my fingers, everyone nodded in acknowledgement. I checked my weapon again and ensured my frags were in place and all my kit was secured. The Harness released me from my seat, and I stood up and picked up my weapon and prepared myself for the doors opening. I double checked that it was zeroed so that the weapon was set to my sights and checked the magazine was in place properly. Everyone else was released from their seat, with a hiss and a clunk, as the hydraulics lifted the cast iron harnesses. They all stood up and did the same in their own time. There was another loud hiss and the sound of mechanical parts whirring as the door opened and revealed planet much like our own. I was tempted to ask if we had just flown to fucking America or something. I didn't. As the loadie shouted, it was all ok, I me and Gary launched ourselves off the pelican and lay on the floor looking for a target and providing any covering fire that was needed in case some elite appeared from no where. I shouted.
"PREPARE TO MOVE!" I gave a few seconds to ensure all kit was in place correctly fitted and the magazine was on their weapon correctly.
"MOOOOOOVE!" At that moment the other six came rampaging off the pelican and set up a perimeter each oppo (operative) scanning the area for a target.
"Dinger grab the heavy weaponry and explosives, GO!" " Gary Vehicles, GO!"
He immediately did as I ordered and came back with the vehicles and weaponry, Dinger in the passenger seat and Gary in the hot seat.
"Andy, Lee, Austin in the other warthog!"
"REALEASE THE WARTHOG!" I shouted to the loadie.
He did as I ordered and Andy, Austin and Lee jumped in, Lee sitting on the back. I sat next to him, my weapon in my lap and ordered the rest onto the other vehicle.
Austin spoke, "Andy, you know where your going don't ya kid?"
"Yes mate." "WELL LEAD YOU FOLLOW!" Andy shouted over the roaring engines of the pelican in our ears to the other vehicle. Gary gave him the finger and drove off a head with a grin. His helmet and weapon in his lap.
"He's a tit" Andy exclaimed shaking his head in his helmet. I whacked my helmet on and fastened it to my suit and applied the NVA. Dinger was looking my way so I waved at him to get his attention, I think he was looking, I pointed at my helmet and then at Gary. He got the jist he thumped him on the arm and told him to put his helmet on. He grinned at me and did as he was told as Dinger desperately held onto the steering wheel for dear life as Gary casually let go and applied his helmet. It made me chuckle. You could see Dingers desperation from his actions in his suit, it really made me chuckle. The NVA was now fully lit. There was a faint tinge of green and the fuzzy static you get on the TV at the end of videos. I could see as clear as day. I stared at the ground and watched it roll beneath my feet as the vehicle moved, I found myself hypnotised by it, it almost made me wanna go to sleep! I was interrupted from my day dreaming by Lee Thumping me on the shoulder. I looked up and saw him pointing at a building. As we had just got dropped off I didn't think I really needed to check where we were because I thought we would be in the right place. I checked the GPS on my wrist. We were in the wrong fucking place. Bless their cotton socks, the air core had put us in the wrong place! I Contacted Gary in the head set in our helmets which were now activated.
"Gary where in the wrong fucking place stop and pull up quick, I don't want them hearing our engines, or running into any patrols."
"What the fuck! Ok mate what ever you say"
The engines died down and everyone got out of the truck at the nearest waddie we could find. We were completely out of side in the waddie so we could walk around quite freely. We all stood chatting about why we were in the wrong place and what we were gonna do. We had to drastically change our plans due to this position we were in. I was stood thinking when Gary mumbled summit.
"Invis Elites" everyone acknowledged but acted like we hadn't seen them so they would hopefully come with in arms reaching distance. It was a big risk. They could just let loose right now if they wanted. Fortunately they did come within reaching distance.
"There's Two." "I'll drop the one directly in front of me" Mike get the other one in front of you"
"Got it"
The second they stepped into arms reach I reached out and grabbed what I thought was a blade of his armour on his chest, pulled him in towards me and pulled out my covert ops knife - my mates had bought it off the internet for my twenty-fifth birthday - I slipped it up and into his chest, he didn't make a sound. I could feel the warm sticky blood seep through the cloth it my suit. The body slowly came into full view, sprawled out on the floor, what I assumed was his mouth was wide open. It was no elite, hunter and definitely no grunt. It must have been 14 ft tall. It had exceptionally large fingers and the body armour similar to the elite. It had a brute plasma strapped to his back and four plasma grenades down his left leg. We all crowded round the creature we had just dropped. I'd never seen anything like it. Well I said the same thing when I bumped into my first elite but this was something far more extraordinary.
"What a poor ugly bastard." "He wont be coming back for more any time soon."
It had something in his hand. I pulled the grasp on the object in his hand open and retrieved my discovery. It looked like a knife or some kind of melee weapon.
"The cunt was trying to do the same to us"
Mike took a step forward and booted it as hard as he could. There was a clank of metal as Mikes boot hit the creatures armour.
"Well I've never seen anything as big as that before!" I stated.
We started to set up an op.
"Dinger do us a favour mate, scopp us that cam-net in the back of that vehicle." Pointing at the Warthog with the mounted rocket launcher. He scurried in the back looking for the cam-net as I grabbed the tail of the other vehicle and dragged it round with all my might so it was parallel with the other vehicle I released the Warthog only to see two hand prints where my grasp had dented the metal work. Kiwi came over and whistled as if he was shocked by what id done.
"That's all the wanking your doing mate, builds up the fore-arm." With that he grabbed his fore-arm and put his thumb up at me and left with a pat on the shoulder. Dinger came back with the cam-net and asked what I was doing with it. I explained to him and immediately he agreed and placed the net well over one vehicle and I ran and placed it over the other.
"Kiwi mate set up the comms for me will you?" Kiwi was the man you needed for communications.
He acknowledged what I said with a nod and got to work. He grabbed his Bergen from the vehicle it was in and whipped out the 323 radio.
"Gary, Dinger, between you two sort out a night watch for us." A night watch was where two people would stay up for an hour or so and watch out for anyone trying to bug us out.
"Yes mate, but your going on first" with a thumbs up they informed everyone they were off for a shit and off they trotted discussing who was going on when.
The same grin that appeared in the café back at camp returned to my face as I thought of the most cunning plan to get him back. I searched my Bergen for the mini-cam I brought with me somewhere.
"FOUND IT!" I ran off on my mission to take a photo of Dinger taking a shit. It was beautiful. Dinger squatted down armour plated trousers round his ankles a lovely big cable hanging out his arse.
"FUCK YOU!" he shouted in a whisper. I couldn't help but piss myself laughing. I ran back to the AO and showed the rest of the squadron. When he returned he was greeted with big grins and cocky comments.
"I bet that was a right ring stinger wasn't it mate, it must have been!"
"Do you need an extra roll?" It all brought about laughs. But what nobody new was, I had only completed half my little mission. I had yet to put it on the notice board in the café!