The chopper wasn’t very big, but then again, it wasn’t designed entirely as a transport. The purpose of this chopper, from what I was told, was to simply blast your way through, drop in a squad of troops, and blast your way out. I have to give it to the designers, they did a good job. It had enough room for six men plus equipment, it was sleek, looking like the old style Comanche choppers, the gauss cannon on it can punch through damn near anything and it had a nice compliment of air to ground missiles.
My weapon ready, gear packed up, I headed out with my comrades. Ivanovich told me to call him Drake for short; no one calls him by his full name except his mother, and no one uses his last name except for his employers. Dojin somehow managed to fall asleep the moment we lifted off while Drake was piloting up front with one of his buddies in the gunner’s seat.
From the radio chatter we were picking up it didn’t seem like we had much to worry about. Most of the Chattan forces were pushing further east of us while Drake was taking us in a more westward route; why pick a fight when you don’t have to (don’t answer that). From the way the ride was going, things seemed to be following plan; steady pace, no jinking or quick turns, no turbulence. It was an easy ride to the hospital over the city. That is until I found myself pressed into the left wall of the chopper with Dojin grumbling about how if we were meant to fly we’d have wings.
I tightened the belts holding me into my seat and grumbled to myself about how this was supposed to be the safe route. Dojin didn’t say much, but he looked fairly annoyed. The chopper shook as the gauss cannon fired; a high pitched whine and then a sharp crack as a round is accelerated and then fired at hypersonic speeds. When the depleted uranium round hits its mark it doesn’t matter what type of shielding or armor it has it’s going to take some heavy damage or be destroyed. Oddly, there isn’t much recoil to the weapon…
A few more quick turns, explosions, and an excessive amount of swearing and we finally neared the hospital. I picked up Drake radioing the hospital telling them that we were ten minutes out and to prepare Gen for treatment. I don’t remember much of anything for the next few moments except hearing, “We’re sorry, but she just died a few minutes ago.”
There aren’t many words to describe how I felt that moment. Empty would probably fit best though; yeah, empty. Shieta died, now Gen. And some other friends along the way, but at the moment Shieta and Gen were the two who I was thinking of at the moment. I was tuning back into reality and found Dojin gripping my shoulders, yelling something. And then he was gone, and all I could think about was the numbness that was starting to grow. And then it was gone. One instant I was empty and then the next it was a simple numbness.
“Chattan forces are pushing hard and are breaking through!” Dojin yelled.
Ok, back to reality now.
“Shaul!” He used my first name, that’s new.
“Look, I now you’re probably not in the best of moods, but we’re being called to provide support.” Drake said through the intercom. “I’m being told to drop you off behind their lines so that you can take out a couple of their satellite arrays.”
Now I was really back to reality. “Hold on, I don’t even know where I’m going or what I’m looking for.” I said to Drake via headset.
“Check your backpack, you’ll find a handy little PDA. It should have all your intel there.” Drake said back to me.
Sure enough, there was a nice small, sturdy PDA. I checked through and found a detailed map showing me the target area. Tapping the corner of the screen it flipped from the map to satellite photos of where exactly the arrays were on the map. One of the perks of being a civilian; you get to have your own toys instead of whatever the government can afford…
The area was completely urban from the looks of it. There were two arrays set up on rooftops on the tallest buildings in the area. From the looks of it there was heavy AA in the area along with a large Chattan troop concentration. There were enough tanks and mechs to give ground forces major issues and it didn’t seem feasible to set up air strikes.
“So why exactly are we doing this?” I asked
“Knock out communications and cause general mayhem.” Drake said.
“Shouldn’t this be something that the SEALs should be doing?”
“Yeah, but they’re tied up elsewhere at the moment. That and we’re mobile, you have a rifle that’s designated as ant material and antipersonnel, and you’re dependable. There should be a laser designator in the seabag back there. You’re going to have to paint the target for a cruise missile strike.”
“I got a question; was this planned from the beginning?”
“Actually, no. This was supposed to be my job, but they’re calling me to take out another high profile target and you’re filling in for me.”
“Has this been cleared by command or are we improvising this?”
“A little of both.”
“You’re going to get me court-martialed.
We flew in low and fast. AA fire was getting heavier as we moved in and it wasn’t looking to get any better. The bay door opened and I fast roped down onto a rooftop a good distance away from the arrays; any closer and we’d be pressing our luck. Dojin was with me, thankfully; I wouldn’t have anyone else covering my back and spotting for me.
We started moving towards the first array due west of my drop off point, about fifteen kilometers off. The way through the building was interesting to say the least. There were a few civilians who were staying and going on as though nothing were happening outside; though the fact that they had weapons within easy reach said otherwise. We avoided them and ignored them for the most part; they did the same for us. The rest of the building was empty though; everything people had left behind. Some didn’t bother closing their doors, leaving the abandoned apartments wide open with everything they couldn’t take left behind and in the open.
Ground level now and slowly making our way outside while trying to avoid being caught. We were in luck, no patrols nearby or sentries around either. We started making our way west while trying to find some quick transport at the same time. There were random cars parked on the sides of the streets but nothing that we could use; most were busted up pretty well from gunfire or vandalism. Every few kilometers we had to duck into a building and hide while a patrol drove past us. From the looks of the soldiers in the vehicles they weren’t on too high alert; the tired, bored look prevalent on the last three patrols that went by. That’s not to say that there weren’t any patrols that weren’t actually doing their job though. Four times we were nearly caught by someone with sharp eyes and a keen nose. Lucky for us we’re in an urban area that was populated by a good number of people; their scents were still pretty strong and masked ours well enough.
Target is now in sight. It’s a tall tower, a three sided skeleton of metal rods, studded with satellite dishes. It’s one of the two hubs for communications of the Chattan forces for this side of the city. The other array was the secondary site acting as a backup in the event that something were to happen to this site. I took position in one of the windows on the upper two floors of a tall apartment complex approximately six or seven blocks from the array, just high enough over the surrounding buildings to clearly see the target.
Target is painted, and Command says that the missile is inbound. I wait quietly while I keep an eye on the target, sitting patiently for the missile to streak in and light up the sky. Minutes pass, painfully slowly; each moment I’m here is another moment that I can be discovered. I can hear the low whine of a rocket engine coming in now, AA cannons and missiles firing to take out our missile. Too bad for the Chattans, the cruise missile was right on target; taking out the top dozen floors. The secondary explosions inside the building along with the intense fires should finish off the building and collapse it. I don’t wait to find out, though, and start making my way down with Dojin.
The entire area is crawling with troops now. Everyone wants to know what the hell happened and to find out if anyone had gotten behind their lines. I decided it’d be best to stay off the streets and found an empty alleyway with sewer access. Dojin and I lift the manhole cover and slide down the ladder. I make sure to cover the manhole before making my descent. The sewer tunnel was fairly dark, with little or no light. My eyes couldn’t see much, and the smell was overpowering. I grab an NVM (night vision monocular) and slip it on, the small reflex sight in front of my right eye with everything in front of me projected onto the thin polymer screen in a dim blue.
I can hear the troops moving above us along with the drip of pipes and the sewage water running its course in a quick current. Occasionally I spot a massive rat, the size of a decent sized housecat, and have the urge to blast it to pieces. Fortunately they wizen up and scurry away before I get the chance to raise my weapon. Disgusting creatures, ugh…
The hair on the back of neck raises, a familiar tingling feeling creeps along my spine. In a flash I see troops heading down the tunnel, armed to the teeth and alert. Dojin must have sensed it too; he was dead still, ears lifted, listening for something. We quietly duck into a dark alcove, shimmying our way up it until we’re forced to press ourselves up against the ceiling. It isn’t very comfortable, needless to say, and doing this with the gear and weapons with us while keeping silent doesn’t help much either. I notice a large pipe within reach and grab it, digging my claws in to keep from sliding and manage to crawl onto it. Slowly I work myself further along it, giving Dojin enough room to get onto it as well. Thankfully the pipe has space cleared out around it in the ceiling, giving just enough room for us to squeeze into and letting us see everything under us as well. We wait quietly, feeling the troops getting closer and closer. I switch to thermal vision and carefully wrap my legs around the pipe to swing down to look around. I spot a dozen signatures in the distance coming this way; enough to give trouble down here alone. Personally, I thing we could take them, but not without someone calling for help; that wouldn’t be a very good thing for us.
They’re under us now. We keep waiting for them to pass, and they oblige us, thankfully. The last Chattan finally passes by, but we still wait a few minutes to make sure they’re gone before I swing down and double check. Coast is clear and we make our way down from the pipe to the ground and head out. We got another hundred yards before another vision flashed in front of me: two soldiers, probably scouting ahead with flashlights, not too far off in front of us. There wasn’t anyplace to hide this time, so we had to press ourselves against the walls and move slowly, hoping we could avoid them. Sure enough, fifty yards ahead of us the tunnel turned to the right and the two were around the corner. The first one came around and just missed spotting us; the second must have caught a glimpse of one of us because he started tracing his steps back trying to find us. We didn’t stop to let him, though, and kept moving along, speeding up as fast as we could without getting too loud.
We were nearing our target now, and decided to try to find a building that we could use to paint the array with. I climb up a ladder and carefully lift a manhole cover, peeking out from under it. We’re in an alley, lucky for us, with no one watching. We get out quickly, grumbling to ourselves about the stench that we managed to drag along with us. Breaking a nearby window we slip into a department store and make our way to one of the stairwells. So far it seems like this building hasn’t been occupied; good so far. We make our way for one of the upper floors, working slowly, until we’re at the second to last floor, forty stories off the ground. Slowly we make our way to the west side of the building to face the target and find a part of the building that seems to have taken some rocket fire; a few of the walls were blown out with debris from the upper floor around the area from where the ceiling collapsed as well as some blast marks.
I found a spot that had a good amount of cover and took position from it. Looking outside I could see troops everywhere on high alert; more than likely looking for us. I set up the designator and painted my target; moments later Command telling me that the missile was inbound. And now the wait; silence, except for the activity outside. Dojin was dead quiet, kneeling behind some cover where he wouldn’t be seen from outside or if someone were to glance inside the room from the hallway. AA batteries started to go off, then the low hum of the cruise missile streaking for the target. No doubt they knew what it was going for and were lighting the sky up with everything they had trying to stop it. Too bad; the missile hit the target building and collapsed the top half of it. I packed up the designator and started for the door, Dojin in tow behind me. We sprinted down the stairs, pausing every few floors to listen before continuing down.
In the department store in the bottom level troops had taken up positions. It looked like they were expecting a full out assault from the streets and only a few sentries covering the rear. Dojin and I doubled back up the stairs, keeping quiet as we could to avoid being seen. Fourth floor now and no clear way of getting down and out. I was tempted to call for help over the radio but they’d be sure to pick it up and trace our signal. I looked at Dojin; he looked back, giving a slight grin, white teeth showing a mischievous intent. He winked at me as he reached for his katana. I rolled my eyes and did the same as we slinked down the stairs to the third floor. We carefully looked about and saw only a few guards posted. Quietly we crept up, though our scents gave us away. Not that it mattered much; you can’t call for help if your vocal cords are cut. The immediate area was clear for us to make our way out one of the windows facing the alley. We had to make quick work of it all; the smell of blood was getting strong and the others would be sure to pick it up.
I grabbed the rope from my pack and made a makeshift harness from it. Dojin did the same as we anchored ourselves to a concrete support and rappelled down the side. We had to be careful about it; there were windows that we had to rappel down from and we’d be easy to spot and even easier targets. Wait until the guard is distracted, then drop down to the other floor. Wait again, then drop, quickly, until we reach the ground. Ground level now, a little closer to home. We cut the ropes and slip into the sewers again, quietly making our way towards a safe extraction point. We had the usual patrols looking for us, though our blades made short work of some of them. The larger groups we avoided completely, not wanting to cause too much trouble, though it seemed some of the Chattans we killed down here caused something of a stir. It wasn’t even halfway in the tunnels before we had to make our way on the streets on foot, but not without leaving a nice little gift for our friends below: a nice chunk of C4 set to detonate in fifteen minutes.
The streets were easier to navigate and a little less restricting. The tradeoff was that we were more exposed to more Chattans and could be easy targets if we didn’t tread lightly; then again, the same is true anywhere, even behind your own lines. A low rumble in the near distance marked the explosives going off, hopefully drawing away attention from this area. Fortunately it worked for the most part, though the ones that didn’t go to investigate were only more alert. That’s ok; we had more than enough space to go around them. Finally, we were far enough out to call for an evac, and waited patiently, hidden away under the remains of the first and second story of an apartment complex. Soon enough we were airlifted out by Drake, heading back to base.
The ride back was uneventful, thankfully. From what Drake had told me the loss of the two arrays had taken out a good portion of the communications for that part of the city and was wreaking havoc with the Chattans. While we were being flown back a good portion of our troops had taken the opportunity to launch an offensive while the Chattans were still hurting. I could hear radio chatter through my headset, hearing battalions marching on the Chattan lines, overrunning half the city; some areas faster than others. For a moment I found myself wishing I was down there with the rest of the men. When I was down there in the thick of things I didn’t think of Gen.
It was starting to fully sink in that she wasn’t there anymore. It sucked. There was a growing void; a hollow that screamed at me. It was building, making things hard to see, making my vision shake and blur, making things grow dim. It was starting to overwhelm me. I couldn’t breathe for a moment; my chest felt tight, something pressing my chest in. Heart rate rising… it hurts…
Then it stopped. I sat there, Dojin’s hand on my forehead, murmuring to himself. I looked at him, expressionless. The pain was gone, that hollow filled. She was dead, and that’s all there was to it. Nothing I could do about it, and she died fighting as a soldier. She was a soldier as much as she was my lover. And she died as a soldier. It’s not like she was specifically targeted; soldiers die in combat. It’s that simple; they train us to kill and to die if necessary. And suddenly all the grief I had felt was so much less. It still hurt, of course, but it was no where near as it had been before. I accepted it.
Dojin didn’t say anything the rest of the ride. We sat there, listening to the rotors turning, in a comfortable silence with each other. Right there I finally realized why I was fighting. It wasn’t about revenge anymore. It wasn’t about being lost and not having anywhere to turn to. It was about the men next to me. I fight for the men next to me. They are my family now. They are my brothers. Now I finally understand why I was cheered back in the village, and why the other Loupines would be worried about me if I were hurt, or try to cheer me up if I were down. They are my family.
And that’s what I had been doing wrong this whole time. I kept only a few friends. I kept away from my unit. That’s why I was a sniper, wasn’t it? I didn’t mesh well with the others, and this was something I could do well without needing others. I had my spotter, and that’s it. That’s why I still felt empty, even as a soldier. I had no sense of family; only a few friends. Friends can carry you only so far though, and when they’re gone, then you have no one.
I got to
the
“Shaul, I want your honest opinion on a few things.” Jed said to me, setting aside a few documents. “What do you think of the way we run the military right now?”
Well that was a loaded question. “Beg your pardon, sir?” I replied, unsure.
“The way we structure things, the equipment we issue out, the tactics we use. What’s your opinion?”
I pause a moment. “I think it’s alright for-“
Jed cut me off before I could continue, “Shaul, I know you’re bullshitting me.”
He was right. “Sir, honestly, I do think we need to revamp a few things. We’re structured fine, but we do need to rethink of some of the equipment we have and the tactics we use. I don’t know about you, but it would be nice to have something more reliable than the shields we have since they seem to be getting more and more defective lately. At first they were a godsend, but they’re a hassle now. I like the standard pulse rifles we have, but they could be more powerful and a little more efficient. Though, I do like the freedom that the uniform gives us.” I mention the last part with a grin, having on a tactical vest and a loincloth.
Jed sighs, nodding. “I have the same opinion, as does the Chiefs of Staff. House Chairman Guerra approved of putting together a special detachment force to implement new tactics and equipment. If things go well we’re going to adopt the new methods.”
“So what does that have to do with me?”
“You’re in it.”
That was a bit of a shock. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“Actually, you do. I was just hoping you’d agree without having to be asked.”
I give a smirk. “Well, since you asked so nicely sure.”
“You’ll be part of a small platoon, eighteen men total: four fireteams, one platoon leader, one platoon sergeant. You’ll the designated marksman for the platoon.”
“What about Dojin?”
“All he has to do is sign his reenlistment papers and he’ll be a fireteam leader.”
I figured Dojin was already enlisted. “What division is Dojin in, anyway?”
“PsyOps mainly, and some SpecOps.”
“I should’ve figured.”
Dojin snickered at me. “I would’ve thought you’d have figured that out sooner.”
“Gear will be issued tomorrow after you link up with your platoon at 0700.” He pulled out two manila envelopes and handed one to Dojin and I. “I suggest you get washed up, get some chow, and get some rest. Dismissed.”