"I count three sentries." Ash whispered. Next to him, Paul and Trip were hidden behind a hill about a hundred feet to the right of the post.
"Ash, make that four." Brock said through his earpiece, "One in the sniper tower."
The thin outlook that was just behind the main gate was almost invisible from the top treeline until you either had a view from higher above or got to ground level. "Good eye. Keep me posted on his status."
Up on the ridge, Brock was making seemingly small, but precise adjustments to the powerful scope that sat atop the long-barreled sniper rifle. It was a difficult task in both physical and mental aspects. At such a lengthy distance to the hostiles, even a tiny muscle shift was enough to throw off the aim. Gary began to feed him information that sounded like jargon, but Brock easily translated it to line up his shot to the rugged-looking man wielding a scoped sniper rifle of his own inside the taller tower nearly an eighth of a mile away. He was idly standing around, but still scanning the treetops and ground for enemies.
"We're in position." Gary reported. "Ready to take the shot."
"Take him."
Brock steadied his aim on the target, held his breath for a few moments before squeezing the trigger; the Ballista jerked back from the recoil, but the motion was countered by his shoulder and familiarity with the weapon's kick. The gunshot's normal loud cracking sound was instead a muted cough emanated from the cylindrical suppressor that was fitted over the barrel. Similarly, all the Commandos had equipped the silencing tool onto their weapons to maintain their element of surprise.
The perfectly aimed sniper bullet drilled straight through center mass on the target, dropping him like a sack.
None of J's sentries paused in their work.
"Splash one."
Ash saw the armed guard closest to him begin to finish a lit cigarette that was now starting to be a stump. He began to walk in their direction.
"Keep me covered." He told the other two and moved from his hiding position without waiting for a reply.
Like a Persian stealthily creeping onto an unsuspecting Pidgey, Ash moved slowly and deliberately to the left, where the forest would be a little more dense. The guard was in the midst of finishing his smoke just ten feet in front. The other two were inside the small building on the left idly walking around to wear off their boredom. With the sniper dead, nobody was watching.
He was an easy relaxed target, taking one last drag and finding himself entranced by the stream of thin smoke that blew out of his lips.
The guard put the flame out and tossed the butt away.
With only a whisper, Ash lunged forward. He put an iron hand over his victim's mouth and used his other one on the back of the head, wrenching his victim's spine with a popping sound.
"Splash two."
Paul and Trip moved out, now exposing themselves over open ground and always aiming in front wherever they looked. The fence area had no cameras, so they could freely move about.
The final two guards were more heavily armed with FAL battle rifles and had returned inside the post. One of them detected movement and looked up.
Both Paul and Trip let out a single shot, each one dropping them.
"Splash three."
"Move." Ash broke cover and moved to the station, helping Trip dispose of the dead in a locker. Inside was a coffee machine atop a desk with some files and a control panel for the gate. On the back wall was an arms locker with another rifle and a pair of pistols. Boxes of ammunition for both weapons were at the back.
Ash pointed at the uniforms, "We might have to do a walk about when the van rolls up." He grabbed one of the corpses and began to remove the hoodie he wore, "Put the jacket over the armor."
"I have visual on the van." Gary reported. "It's two mikes out."
"Copy." He pulled the solid black hoodie over his uniform before looking over at Trip doing the same before grinning over at him, "Let's get in character."
Paul took the controls for the gate as Ash and Trip stepped out to greet the approaching vehicle. He had pulled the jacket a little higher up and tucked it inside since a bullet hole was quite visible close to the neck.
A few moments later, they saw headlights illuminating the unpaved road as a large silver six wheeled van turned onto the road and came to a stop just in front of the closed entrance.
Ash wasn't sure how they conversed, so he was about to opt for a simple greeting when the driver rolled down his window, "Hey."
"Hi. State your business?"
"We got our next financial shipment." The driver jerked his thumb towards the back, "Go ahead, it's all there for you guys."
Ash nodded towards Trip, who unlatched the door. "Oh and," He turned back towards the driver, "Oh and Leo back there needs to use the can really bad."
"Go."
One of the rear doors opened and a man scurried out from the back, brushing aside Trip and practically sprinting towards the station.
"Thanks," He turned to see Ash leveling his rifle straight at his head, "Don't move."
To his right, Trip opened the shotgun door before smashing the stock of his weapon on the unsuspecting henchman, breaking his nose and knocking him out cold.
"Don't make any noise either," Trip slid the body to the back before sidling into the shotgun seat and clamping a hand over his mouth, "Just do as we say and you'll be able to walk. Understand?"
The man nodded so Trip pulled his hand away again. "Check in with the guard post and then again with command. Just like in protocol."
"Everything checks out," Ash gave thumbs up towards Paul, who hit the button for the gate to open.
"Now check in with command and state that the guard post has just let you in. Once they've confirmed it, tell them that one of those guards is feeling ill."
"Okay." The driver calmly keyed his radio.
"What is it?" A gruff voice asked from the other end.
"We just got checked in. Proceeding to the loading area."
"We'll be waiting."
"One of the guards at the post just got sick and threw up," He licked his lips after adding the detail, hoping both his captors and superior were buying it.
"Have them visit the sick bay when their shift ends in an hour."
"Good." Ash waved over to Paul, who moved out from the post and climbed into the back of the van. He had let the other man with the urge to empty his bladder sidle into the restroom and begin to relieve himself. When he came out, the Sinnoh spec ops was there to take him out with a couple of well-placed blows to the face.
He then smashed the butt of his gun into the driver's head before dragging him to the back.
Climbing into the driver's seat, he heard Gary's voice once again, "As soon as you drive through that gate, Brock and I are going to lose a majority of sighting from our position. You may not have sniper support, but we'll do our best."
"Got it. Thanks."
As they drove down the road, more of the compound that was previously undetectable to the naked eye were starting to show themselves. A pair of large barracks was opposite the enormous clamps that held J's massive ship in the dock underneath the canopy, to their right was a large warehouse that had at least a dozen more identical silver vans in front to act as a loading front. A couple of them had mounted machine guns atop their roofs.
"Ash, we got a shipment of gold bars back here, serial numbers show they were stolen in Unova two years back by a group of bank heist gangs."
"Who knows what else they have that we've been looking for."
They headed towards an empty parking spot next to two of the vans and discreetly rolled the bodies underneath. Paul went to the front and popped the hood to snip the wires from the main battery to keep the vehicle from moving.
The three of them disembarked and weaved through the parked cars to the warehouse's entrance. Part of the forest had been cleared to establish a perimeter around the rear of the compound, although Paul had discovered that there was a small ditch that carried waste sludge from the airship towards the sewers. It was low enough to provide cover for their approach should there be cameras mounted on any of the buildings. They hunkered down and it took several minutes of slowly advancing to reach it.
The giant airship had four large turbine engines that acted like covered rotors and was integrated into two delta wings that ran alongside each side of the craft. At the front was a large cockpit glass that faced outward with a pair of long barrels beside it. Further up close to the fuselage were missile batteries, the boxlike weapons being able to carry eight Swarm rockets that could be locked on and cluster fired onto a target to overwhelm it.
Hunter J had been spotted everywhere, from Sinnoh in one day and then the next, she could be found in Unova, nearly two thousand miles away. This was her primary mode of transportation and her way of being able to move about undetected.
Keeping the ship on the ground was their priority as well. It was probable that J could get the vessel spooled up and airborne rather quickly and they would have a hell of a time digging her back up if she disappeared. Finding out how close your enemy was to catching you made a bit more paranoid for a lot longer.
Moving to the closest engine, Ash pulled out a demolition charge, sticking it to the inside of the metal wall by a magnet on the other side. Down at the far end of the back engine, Paul and Trip were attaching one as well. Sticking it to a crucial part of the vehicle's function, specifically its engine was the best way to disable it. The charge was the size of his fist and packed enough explosive power to make sure the engines had to be completely replaced.
"Colbalt Two, the airship is being hidden by a Kecleon canopy. It is facing in your direction. Maybe you can give us sniper support."
"We'll make adjustments," Gary replied, "How do you want to play it?"
"I'm transferring you the detonation codes, when I say: game over. You hit that signal. We're maintaining our cover for as long as possible and if it gets blown, that might buy us some time."
"Roger that Cobalt Lead."
They found a side entrance that led into the main deck of the ship and eased their way inside. Once they moved throughout the vessel, their cover would be blown and they'd be quickly outnumbered.
However Ash expected that they would eventually be found and the deeper they penetrated into the security of this place, the more chaotic it would be to re-secure while fending them off. Besides, a Federation Commando doesn't stop until he completes his mission.
"Located security." Paul stated, gesturing down the opposite end Trip and Ash were about to head.
"Take point."
He led the way, leaning out to aim and covering their advance from the vector before proceeding. As he continued to go, one of the guards just outside the security station had noticed them. Paul quickly aimed and put a burst through his head. He hadn't even had time to reach for the gun holstered on his hip.
"Stack up," Ash moved behind Trip as Paul took the door's other side. Once they were in position, his hand rested on his left shoulder and he tapped it twice.
"Go!" As soon as the rookie kicked open the door stepping aside, Cobalt Lead was the first inside and with his weapon raised, he had already eliminated two of the seven personnel inside. They were dazed and only one of them was beginning to reach for their weapon. He was the first one killed.
Moving to the left opposite Ash, Paul eliminated three more and Trip took care of the final three. As soon as the last one was killed, an alarm klaxon began to wail. None of them had time to utter the word "clear" yet.
"Goddamn it." Paul snarled, glaring at the security systems. They were a special kind that registered tagged personnel only inside. If someone didn't have the clearance or none were inside at any given time, an alarm would be triggered.
"Well they know we're here now."
The three of them rushed out into the bisecting hallways just as two groups of men came from either side. They all carried rifles and opened fire with a volley of shots upon seeing the three of them.
Immediately Ash and Paul both took a side, firing back at the hostiles. Trip was inside the main security room, disabling as many systems as possible. Eventually the wailing alarm had been silenced.
Shinji finally managed to drop a few of his, allowing him to move up and Ash to shuffle over. Trip now fired from the back of the room, having a narrow window in which he threaded his bullets into one hostile also trying to hit him.
"Cobalt Lead, the guard post and the compound is lighting up!"
"Cobalt Two," Ash had to shout over the staccato of gunfire through the halls, "Our cover is blown; we're engaging and going to push to the ship's bridge!"
"Do we blow the charges?"
"Negative! Only when I say the word!"
Several guards had appeared through the doors
Trip fired a long burst of automatic fire to their left, staying at his position once he had dispatched his enemies. Several of them fired back, but the young Unovan had ducked back into his cover, only to reemerge and gun down the hapless foes.
Ash leaned over through the narrow threshold and assisted Paul in taking out the final two enemies.
"Clear."
"J's room?"
Trip pointed down one of the corridors, "Down the hallway over there. Control center is a large det of double doors."
"Alright, stay frosty." Ash took a brief glance around, "Don't know what J's got waiting for us."
With Trip on point and Paul covering the six, the trio quickly found the entrance to the airship's bridge. It was a large set of two metal sliding doors with a green light at the top. Upon sensing their presence, they slid open.
Right into an ambush.
About a half dozen men with automatic FAL rifles were on the other side and the three men had a split second to register the threat and dive for cover before the ten foot wide span was suddenly filled with fast moving bullets.
Ash forced himself to breathe slower and untie the knot that had suddenly formed in his stomach. The three of them were leaning against the wall just at the edge, silently thankful that the steel wall was dense enough to stop bullets from penetrating and hitting their backs on the other side.
"Shit." Paul looked as if he was about to take a peek out to see their hostiles and their positions, but the gunfire coming from up top had not diminished and the guys were adamant on keeping them pinned.
"They'll have plenty of rounds," Ash said, "Keeping us pinned down to either cut us off or until J escapes."
"What do we do now?"
"We're going to lay down a smokescreen on both ourselves and the general enemy direction. We get the drop on them. It's game over."
The mission continues!
Another thing I am going to add is that I am a very busy person. I have maybe two days a week to write. Meaning that updates will be sporadic. It will be tough to keep it up on a regular interval, but I'll do my best and I don't want to sacrifice quality for quantity.
A big thank you to everyone who has reviewed, favorite and/or followed so far, you give my writing purpose.