Part 6 – Training – Part 3
The next day, it was time for another run at the killing house, this time with Naofumi leading the team.
As they arrived on the training ground, the team noticed Naofumi retrieving a custom riot-shield from Grizzly.
"What is that," Fohl asked as he loaded the magazines on his vest.
"This is how I've stayed alive in this job," Naofumi said as he slide the cartridges into the slots on his shield, "A custom-made level IV ballistic riot shield made with overlapping layers of titanium and Kevlar."
"And these," Raphtalia asked as she pointed at the slots below the large light.
"Specially-made cartridges," Naofumi said as he pointed to the line of cartridges on the bottom row, "Stingmore charges, each individual charge has one hundred bb-sized hard-rubber balls in them that can shoot out faster than most handguns," he then pointed to the middle row, and pressed down on the button that was on the shield's grip, causing the taser cartridges to emit blue electric sparks, "Taser cartridges, each individual cartridge carries two tasers, and there are six cartridges in all."
"Twelve tasers," Raphtalia asked.
"Yep," Naofumi said before pointing at the light, "And I don't think I have to tell you what this is, do I?"
"A stun light," Fohl said, "You hit that, and whoever's in front is temporarily blinded."
"And bingo was his name-o," Naofumi said before pointing at Fohl, then turning to the team, "Team! Fall in!"
The team gathered around the side of Grizzly that Naofumi had tapped the plans for the shooting house to the side of, "What's the scenario," Fohl asked.
"Classic 'robbery-gone-wrong' hostage situation," Naofumi said, "A small crew of thieves break into a house under the assumption the homeowners aren't here. The homeowners are home, the police came, and negotiations aren't going well."
"Any news on the x-rays," Raphtalia asked.
"Three of them," Naofumi said, "Two pistols, one pump-action confirmed. First order of business is?"
"Intel," Raphtalia said, "We get one of those AR6S's in the wall, we can determine where the hostages are, or where the hostiles are."
"Good job," Naofumi said before he pointed at the map, "Anyone want to know where we should shoot the charge?"
Fohl pointed at the 'living room', "Right here," he said, "Assuming these are common criminals, we could safely say a few of them are here."
"Can you say for sure," Naofumi asked.
"Well, we can assume," Fohl said.
"There's where your theory falls flat," Naofumi said, "You don't make any assumptions when you're in the field, especially when there's a hostage situation like this. You make one assumption, and you're wrong, the hostage dies."
"Then what about here," Raphtalia asked as she pointed to the 'kitchen', "It's an open kitchen, and has a direct line of sight into the living room."
"Anywhere else," Naofumi asked.
"What about here," Fohl said as he pointed at the upstairs hallway, "We go in through the font, someone's going to go out into the hallway, and we could catch them."
"That's more like it Tiger," Naofumi said, "Now who's manning the launcher?"
"I'll do it," Sadeena said.
"You used them in the Military Police," Naofumi asked.
"And later as a street cop," Sadeena said.
"Who in their right mind would give a street cop a grenade launcher," Naofumi asked.
"The Chief," Raphtalia said, "He saw that she used them time and time again in the MP, and he issued her one."
"Ok then," Naofumi said as he walked around to the back of the truck, and handed Sadeena the launcher, "You get two shots. Don't miss."
"When have I," Sadeena asked.
"The shooting range," Naofumi said.
"Ok, ok," Sadeena said, "Good point."
"Alright," Naofumi said before pointing at Raphtalia, "Beauty Queen, take Little Sis, and go around the back," he then turned to Sadeena and Fohl, "Supermodel, Tiger, you're with me. We go in the front."
"You're going in with us," Fohl asked.
"If need-be," Naofumi said, "I will be one of the first through the door. When the situation doesn't need it, I'll be either in the control center, or far away with my rifle."
"Then let's see what you can do with that shield," Fohl said.
"You'll see what I can do with this shield," Naofumi said as he drew his 1911, and switched the safety off, "Supermodel, take aim."
Sadeena loaded the launcher, and as she aimed it at the house, "Firing," she said as she pulled the trigger.
The grenade exited the launcher with a sudden "POOF", and when it attached to the wall, it was pretty obvious where it landed because you could see the four sides flattened against the wall.
Naofumi fished a small device out of his pocket, and as he turned it on, the feed from the camera mounted inside the grenade displayed an image of the living room.
He then reached up to his headset, and spoke, "Two tangos holding three Bravos in One-Charlie," he then motioned to the second floor, "Get the roof."
Sadeena reloaded the launcher, aimed toward the roof, and with a single pull, the grenade stuck right over the top-floor hallway, "Stuck," Sadeena said.
"Good," Naofumi said as he looked down at the device, "Nothing so far," he then moved up to the door, "All teams, standby for my go," as he steadied himself by the door, "Standby," he then moved to break down the door, "GO!"
Naofumi threw his shoulder into the door, and was followed by Fohl and Sadeena who each threw a flash-bang into the house's living room.
Raphtalia and Alta then charged in the back door, and as they did, a pop-up target of a hostile came out from behind the stairs.
Raphtalia reacted first, and put two bullets in the target's head.
"X-ray down," Raphtalia said.
Naofumi, Fohl, and Sadeena then moved into the living room where the two pop-up targets came out from behind the couch.
Naofumi quickly switched to his stingmore launcher, and fired.
You could see the pellets in the targets, that was before Fohl and Sadeena opened fire.
"Three x-rays down," Naofumi said, "Tiger, Beauty Queen, with me. Supermodel, Little Sis, secure them."
Naofumi led Fohl and Raphtalia towards the kitchen where a single target popped up: a young child, "Hostage," Raphtalia said.
"Keep moving," Naofumi said.
They cleared the rest of the first floor before arriving back in the living room, and Fohl spoke, "First floor secure."
Naofumi checked the camera-monitor, and saw a single hostile target moving from one side of the upstairs hallway to the other, "Second floor, move up," Naofumi said.
Naofumi walked up the stairs, followed by the team who kept their weapons pointed directly above their commander.
Rule is when you're walking behind a riot shield you aim high above the shield-bearer, otherwise you risk rebounding the bullet off the back of the shield into the bearer.
As they reached the top of the stairs, Naofumi gestured for the team to check the rooms.
Fohl checked the first bedroom, clear. Up next was Sadeena, clear. Alta & Raphtalia were checking the master bedroom and bathroom, clear.
Naofumi then walked up to the door he saw the hostile walk into, "Alright," he said as the team walked up to the room, "Now's the time for an important lesson, wait here," Naofumi walked into the room, and two minutes later walked out, "Here we go," he then kicked the door down, and walked in with his team behind him.
"Clear," Raphtalia said.
"Or is it," Naofumi said as he put his shield down by the door, and walked over to the wall, and leaned against it, "The final x-ray is somewhere in this room. You have ten seconds to find him or we start again, three, two, one, start searching," the team began looking around the room, Fohl and Sadeena instantly walked over to the closet, "Eight seconds," they threw the doors open: nothing, "Six seconds," Alta ran over to the wardrobe, "Five seconds," as she opened the door, there was nothing, "Four," Raphtalia ran over to the bed, and as she threw back the mattress to see the target, someone fired three rounds.
Raphtalia threw the covers down, aimed at the mattress, and emptied her magazine.
Fohl, Sadeena, and Alta turned around to do the same, leaving the mattress as just a bunch of hanging springs, feathers, and fabric.
As they stopped, Raphtalia pushed the mattress aside, and there was the last x-ray, the target was full of holes, but there was no indication that there was any kind of explosive device inside the target. So where did the gunshots come from.
The answer came when they heard a click from Naofumi's direction, and saw him unloading his 1911, to slide a freshly-ejected round back into the clip. There were three spent shell casings by his feet.
"That was you," Fohl asked.
"Damn straight," Naofumi said as he holstered his 1911, "What we go through is guerrilla warfare," he pointed at Raphtalia, "Beauty Queen, extra points for thinking outside the box and for fast reflexes."
"She's a good one," Sadeena said as she slapped Raphtalia on the back.
"Indeed," Naofumi said, "Remember what I told you the other day. Whoever we're going to face isn't going to play by the rules. Whatever they want is worth dying for, that's why they brought guns. These guys came because they wanted to rob this family blind. The next person you come up against will probably have broken into this place with the intent to injure or kill the family. You job as soldiers is to make sure the innocent come home safely. My job as your Commanding Officer is to make sure you go home, but that doesn't mean the way you came. If you go home with one bullet wound, be thankful it wasn't a kill-shot," Naofumi undid his vest, and pulled his shirt down to reveal a large, ugly mark on his right collarbone, "My pain, your lesson."
"Good shit," Fohl said.
"Indeed," Naofumi said, "My first round with the Brigade: we were called into to a situation much like this one. We cleared the first floor no problem. Then we move onto the second floor: asshole was hiding underneath the bed with a PM-63 Submachine gun. As soon as I pulled the covers back, he hit me square in the collar bone because I wasn't holding my shield high enough," he then angled his arm so it was drawing a line from his collarbone to his head, "Another six inches this way," he then drew a line from his collar bone to his heart, "Or a foot this way, and I would have died that day. I went into surgery once we got off duty, and I was back at work the next day. The bullet skipped off the top of my collarbone, and went out the back, somehow it missed everything important. You might get awards from the brigade when you do something amazing, but these are the only trophies you can be proud off. Taking a 9mm round from and old Russian SMG hurt worse than the time my girlfriend dumped me at prom for the head of the football team," the entire team snickered, "But it didn't kill me. Always be prepared, and don't be afraid to take a bullet. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Never forget that."
As the team arrived back at the HQ, Naofumi walked over to see that the workers from the Brigade who were delivering their exercise equipment.
"Captain, sir," one of them said as he walked up to Naofumi with a clipboard, "Sigh here please."
As Naofumi put his John Doe on the line, Fohl walked up to him, "What's all this," he asked.
"Our daily equipment," Naofumi said as he handed the clipboard back to the equipment masters, and turned toward Fohl, "We get here at six A.M. on the nose, and we exercise until eight, or until we get a call. We stay in shape, or we shape out."
"Very good, sir," Fohl said.
"Indeed," Naofumi said before turning his attention to Raphtalia, "Beauty Queen, my office please."
As Raphtalia walked up to Naofumi, he held the door for her, walked in, and stood at attention in front of Naofumi's desk, "You wanted to see me," she said as Naofumi closed the door.
"Yes," Naofumi said before seeing how stiff she was, "At ease, you might sprain something."
"Thank you, sir," Raphtalia said, "Did I do something wrong?"
"No," Naofumi said, "You've done exceptionally well. Perhaps a little too well for an officer."
"Sir," Raphtalia asked.
"I've been looking for an XO," Naofumi said, "And something is telling me that it has to be you, or it's no one else."
"Sir," Raphtalia asked as she looked at Naofumi.
"You heard me," Naofumi said as he picked up a set of metal Sergeant Bars, "These are yours' now, Sergeant Tanuki."
Raphtalia smiled what was perhaps the most beautiful smile Naofumi had ever seen.
Next chapter will be the last training chapter, I promise…
