Disembarkation
Alexei scowled at the screen. Of course something like this would happen. It was the theme for the whole damned campaign.
"Are there any other contacts?"
"No, just those three. The rest seem to be local wildlife aside from a contact upon the ridge, probably a sentry, but I can barely see it and I doubt it sees us." Eloni paused as he replied to a message from the other Chimera. "There are no other contacts on our flanks or rear according to 302, though he says your other squad is requesting an update."
Alexei thought as he watched the screen, willing whatever the blobs were to move on. After a few moments of expectant silence he looked to the Voroshilov twins and smiled.
"Tell your comrade that we're going to do a little sport shooting."
Eloni looked at him with an incredulous expression.
"Don't worry Corporal Eversman. I don't intend to give us away."
Eloni wasn't at all sure what to make of Alexei's words.
"Two, this is One, the sarge says he's going sport shooting, over."
"One, this is Two, he's going what?"
"You heard me Two, out."
Eloni turned back and watched as Alexei clambered back into the passenger compartment over his team and equipment. Alexei tapped the two snipers on the shoulder as he passed, and silently indicated that they were going on to the roof.
After a couple more hand gestures that Eloni couldn't make heads nor tales of, both snipers dug out silencers for their rifles, checked their optics were clean, bundled up their other gear in their cloaks and made their way to Alexei; who was waiting under one of the hatches that allowed passengers to set up heavy weapons on the back of the Chimera's roof. It was also an emergency exit in case the rear door's mechanism jammed or failed, especially if the promethium tanks or ammo rack took a hit. It was amazing just how quickly people could exit it, especially when the vehicle took a direct hit. Eloni killed the main interior lights and activated the red auxiliaries.
"Take a deep breath, children," Alexei said with a smile as he turned the handle on the hatch with a chunky clunk. Even from where he sat, Eloni immediately caught the rank stench of the swamp in the back of his throat as the NBC seal was breached. He didn't envy the three going out into that.
Alexei braced himself by the door and gave the two snipers a boost up, winking playfully to Ludmilla as he did so. Once they were up he passed them their rifles and bundled gear and looked to Mischa.
"Magnoculars..." Mischa fished them from Alexei's pack and lobbed them back to their owner. Alexei then whispered to Ludmilla "psst, catch!" as he tossed them to her and pulled himself up to the roof. As he got his footing he heard Anatoly make one of his trademark quips and leaned down and flipped him the eagle, smiling as he heard Demitri and the rest of the squad laugh before he closed the hatch.
"Gutsy fargers," Tarriman said as the laughter died down. "Smells worse than my socks after a five day chemical warfare exercise out there."
"Nothing smells that bad," quipped Jakers, which earned him a cuff round the ear.
"Alright you two, calm yourselves. Don't make me punt the pair of you out the rear hatch for a time-out," Eloni said as he swivelled his viewfinder around to watch the trio.
Alexei turned to the twins as Ludmilla passed him the magnoculars with an amused grin and affixed the silencer to her rifle. Anton had already taken up a firing position against the Chimera's turret while Ludmilla crept forward and took up her own to the right of it. Alexei moved up behind her and knelt, scanning into the distance looking for the spot where the three blobs had been on the Chimera's surveyor.
As he zoomed in he heard Anton's steady voice.
"Contakt, range 450, five targets."
Five targets? Alexei squinted hard into the viewfinder as he zoomed in. He could see that what had been the larger blob on the surveyor was in fact a group of three Kroot seeming to be chatting amongst themselves. The other two were clearly sentries. He looked again as he tried to make out just what the last one looked like.
"Do either of you two see wings on that khekking thing on the very left, or is this thing miscalibrated?" he asked uncertainly.
Ludmilla zoomed in, the little buzzing sound from her scope indicating that she had zoomed right in to get a better look.
"Nyet, you're right Alexei, it does have wings, though otherwise it seems little different from the others."
Kroot with wings? Just another item to add to the list of strange things about those savages, Alexei thought to himself.
"Well then you two, divide up your targets, primary is that flying bastard."
Alexei watched from the corner of his eye as the two snipers decided who got the primary via the ancient pastime of dead arming. Ludmilla won the right to take down the two sentries while Anton got to deal with the clump of chattering abominations and the two swapped places so as not to confuse their targets. Alexei was disappointed to lose his perfect view of Ludmilla's sculpted rear.
"Alexei, you are my spotter, keeps your eyes off my arse and on those targets."
Alexei tried to stifle a laugh as Ludmilla turned her head and stuck her tongue out while Anton snickered at her rebuke. He swore that at times she was a damned psyker.
He took a shallow breath of the vile swamp gas and focused again on the targets.
"We've got a slight westward wind at about 200, factor two... and a contrary eastward wind, factor three at 400. Seems regular and constant." He waited for a moment as the siblings gauged the wind and gentle rocking of the Chimera, adjusting as necessary. Both confirmed they were ready to fire with the little click of their safeties.
"Fire when ready..."
He heard them both take two deep breaths, then a third, slowly emptying their lungs until they were half full. Even while squatting less than a foot away from them he only saw the little dots from the tracers speed away and heard the tell tale turning of the bolts as the twins loaded their next rounds. The only other sound had been the click of the firing pin and the odd whisper of the silencers.
They had just finished sliding their bolts back into place when the first round hit its target. One of the three Kroot that were huddled together suddenly lost its head just a fraction of a second before the winged monstrosity lost its own. Alexei noted the second pair of tracers already speeding away to their unwitting targets and saw the second sentry lose its head in a similar fashion to the previous one.
However, Anton's second round hit its target in the upper chest, mortally wounding but not outright killing the stricken creature. As he heard the twins sliding their bolts back into firing position the last Kroot seemed to suddenly realise the acute danger it was in and attempted to stand in order to flee. Alexei watched as two more tracers sped their way towards the panicked target. One smashing into its neck just below the jawline, the second driving into the left side of its face, the force of both rounds punched the body back as the head region simply disappeared in a thin cloud of blood.
All in all, from first firing to the demise of the last target, some six seconds had passed. Good, but there was one still alive, mortally wounded, but still alive. Alexei watched it trying to feebly crawl away from the swamp. It wouldn't be going anywhere soon, even if it had the strength, tenacity and sheer force of will to crawl all the way up the ridge to safety. It would bleed to death long before then.
He looked to the two snipers with a pleased expression.
"Very good children. Excellent shooting from you, Ludmilla." He turned with a slight frown to Anton and motioned to the last target, still clawing its way at a snail's pace from the swamp. "But not so good from you, Anton, you had better not give such a performance once we're on the ridge."
Anton grimaced at the rebuke and muttered a curse under his breath.
"Ludmilla, give the creature the Emperor's Benediction."
Alexei heard Ludmilla turn the bolt as another round was loaded into the breech. A second later he saw the tracer speed away into the mist as he put down his magnoculars. He needn't watch the creature's demise. Ludmilla couldn't miss an easy target like that, even from a mile away.
He stood up, turned and walked back to the hatch and rapped on it three times. It opened barely a moment later, the red-lit face of Mischa staring up at him.
"Mischa, pass me Anastasia, danger's clear."
"So how'd we do, Papa Alexei?" Mischa asked as he passed Alexei his equipment.
"We did very well, they never saw what hit them. Tell the Chevek we can move on, there's no need for any more delays. I'll just have to hold my breath a little longer."
Alexei buckled on his ammo pouches and grenade satchels and looked Anastasia over as the hatch door closed. Alexei sat back down next to the twins as the two vehicles surged forward through the stagnant water. The three didn't exchange any words as the IFVs climbed out of the muck, stopping a good ten metres from the water, letting down the ramps and disgorging the rest of the team. Alexei nodded to the ridge and pointed to it with a sharp chopping movement. The twins leapt down in silence and disappeared into the long grass. As he jumped down from the IFV he could see Georgi and the two squads were already setting up a perimeter.
He strode over to Mischa, who was setting up the beacon, and watched as the Chimeras backed into the swamp and turned back for the rest of the company. He turned and watched his team complete their perimeter.
"Once you've got the beacon set up I'm taking Anatoly and Maxim up to the ridge to reconnoitre with the twins. Move up once the Chimeras are within sight."
"Puyotnam, Alexei."
"And throw that filth in the swamp," he added with a nod to the bloody mess that had been the Kroot lookouts.
Looking back through his viewfinder, Eloni watched as the first wave spread out into a tight perimeter. Turning to his target finder he spotted the two lone heat blips of the snipers moving up the ridge as he panned it round. Looking through his view finder again he couldn't identify their position, even though they were moving. He shook his head as he looked to the target finder again.
"Glad they're on my side," he said to himself, at least until their sergeant says otherwise.
"Two, this is One, stay alert, we may be coming back hot, over."
"Roger that, One. Remind me never to take up gambling debts with snipers, over."
"Affirmative, Two. Out."