UNSCDF2 Chapter 27- Opposing Forces

Reygi, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Secronom Research Facility

April 20, 2001

1845 Local Time

            “We’re here.” Cookson approached a room marked “B215” on the wall adjacent to the door.

            “Open it.” May waved at the marines to ready their guns.

            Cookson looked at Green as he swiped the Secronom keycard on the access panel.

            “Please enter code.” the panel spoke as the number pad lit up.

            “Um…” Green looked at Cookson and then May.

            “One...two…three and four?” Hariprasad guessed.

            “Just try it once in case we get locked out or something.” May cautioned.

            Green nodded and slowly pressed the digits Hariprasad has said. The panel lit a red light and buzzed.

            “Access denied. Please reswipe card and enter code again.” the panel spoke.

            “Great, now what?” Green replied in frustration.

            “Contact Zyrok, see if he has any ideas.” May pointed at Hariprasad.

            “Let’s just blow this up.” Green joked.

            “Captain Zyrok, this is May’s team. We’ve reached the Control Room to defenses, but we can’t bypass the door. Is there any recommendations for us?” Hariprasad spoke on the RaidComm.

            “May’s team, this is Forester here. Zyrok is currently taking a trip back to base. What’s your situation?” Forester replied.

            “The door to the Control Room requires a four-digit code. We don’t want to keep guessing in case something happens like a security breach or system lockdown. Do you have any ideas we can bypass the system?” May answered.

            “Not that we know of. It’s getting dark outside and a bit windy. I recommend you head back out to the surface from the shaft and we’ll take a look tomorrow.” Forester replied.

            “Copy Lieutenant, we’ll be topside in ten. May out.” May ended the RaidComm.

            “Head back? What about the Russian?” Hariprasad asked.

            “Vladamir? Oh, he won’t be going anywhere that’s for sure.” Robertson assured.

            “Gentlemen, you ready?” May impatiently pointed at the vent shaft.

            “You head the Sarge, move it marines.” Cookson ran to the vent shaft.

            One by one, the marines climbed back into the open vent shaft. As the marines moved tightly in the shaft, they reached the intersection where they have to make a turn to head to the air shaft.

            “Ever wonder where the other shaft leads to?” Green pointed his flashlight on his M16 down a very long corridor between the intersections.

            “Move it Green, we’re going to suffocate here.” Robertson nudged Green from behind.

            “We’ll check it out later. Our current orders are to head back up.” May shouted from the front of the team.

            The marines continued down the shaft until they saw the broken fan and the darkened skies. At the top of the edge stood two marines with flashlights.

            “Over here!” Forester shouted from the edge as she waved her flashlight.

            At the edge of the shaft were two ropes dangling down. The wind blew it occasionally sideways, but the rope was anchored down. Robertson slung his M16 to his back and began to climb the rope.

            “Just like the obstacle course training we had.” Green climbed the other rope.

            “Move it marines.” May shouted as Robertson almost made it to the top.

            Once Robertson and Green reached the top, Cookson and Hariprasad immediately followed leaving May at the bottom of the air shaft. Forester looked at the marines standing beside her and watched as the wind got stronger. Both Cookson and Hariprasad were having a hard time climbing the rope as the wind blew them from side to side. Hariprasad missed his footing while climbing and slipped a meter downwards.

            “Hold on.” Forester shouted.

            “Pull them up!” Robertson spoke to Taylor as he stood next to Forester.

            Taylor and Green walked to the rope Cookson was climbing and began to pull whilst Robertson and Forester tugged on Hariprasad’s rope.

            “May, can you release the anchor?” Forester spoke on the RaidComm.

            “Got it LT.” May replied as she headed to the bottom of the rope.

            May walked to Cookson’s rope and untied a sandbag and them immediately ran to Hariprasad’s rope and did the same action. Once the anchors were gone, Cookson and Hariprasad ascended quickly to the top as the marines pulled from above. As soon as one of the ropes was free, Forester tied anther sandbag to the bottom of the rope and threw it down.

            “Get on May! Untie the sandbag once you’ve climbed on.” Forester shouted on the RaidComm.

            “Copy.” May replied as she quickly climbed the rope.

            May held onto the rope with one hand while untying the sandbag with the other hand. After a few minutes, the sandbag dropped to the ground.

            “Ready!” May hollered on the RaidComm as she grabbed the rope tightly with both hands.

            The wind was getting a bit more intense as May began to feel a strong resistance as the marines on top pulled her rope upwards. Dust and sand were flying everywhere as she slowly reached the top. As May reached the edge, Forester and Cookson pulled May to safety.

            “That was close.” Hariprasad commented.

            “I can’t see anything.” Green looked at the horizon for their camp, but only saw dust and sand swirling around.

            “Camp, this is Forester here. We’re at the edge of the air shaft, but we can’t find our way back. Request assistance.” Forester spoke on the RaidComm.

            “Copy Forester, I’ll dispatch Pruett to pick you folks up on the Pelican. Turn on your transponder so we know where you are.” Casey replied back on the RaidComm.

            Forester pressed a button on the side of her belt and a green light lit on.

            “We read your signal Forester, Pruett is already on his way out. ETA five minutes.” Casey reported on the RaidComm.

            The group of marines huddled next to a nearby rock for cover and waited for the Pelican to arrive. In a matter of minutes, the engines of the Pelican could be heard from above as it slowly descended.

            “This is Romeo 21, we see you. We’re heading down.” Pruett chirped on the RaidComm.

            The Pelican slowly descended to the ground and the hatch opened. Mendoza and Nevarez stood at the edge of the hatch and waved at the marines.

            “Go! Go! Go!” Forester commanded.  

            The marines quickly jogged into the Pelican and grabbed a seat. Mendoza hit a button beside him and the hatch closed.

            “We’re good Pruett!” Nevarez shouted as the hatch locked tight.

            “Copy, lifting off.” Pruett yelled back from the cockpit.

            Forester walked into the cockpit and saw Pruett lifting a lever.

            “Ma’am.” Pruett greeted as he turned his head to see Forester sit down beside him.

“What’s the status?” Forester turned off her transponder.

“The weather is shit. Can’t see a thing at all.” Pruett looked at his console and pressed a button.

“I can tell.” Forester looked outside the window and saw a mist of sand flying around in the air.

            “I’m using instrument flight controls on this one. I prefer visual flight controls, but I don’t have a choice.” Pruett looked at his console and turned the Pelican’s heading.

            “Don’t worry, we’re not in a hurry.” Forester smiled.

Reygi, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Secronom Research Facility

April 20, 2001

2000 Local Time

            “Area looks clear Sergeant.” a tall young woman looked at her binoculars as a Pelican flew away from the air shaft.

            “Tanya, go with Yuri and scout ahead.” a man in his late thirties with stripes of a Sergeant answered.

            “Yes Sasha.” Tanya nodded and waved at a bearded man holding a Dragon SVD.

            “Alexsei and Gleb, on me.” Sasha waved at two soldiers behind him as he cocked his AK47.

            Sasha watched as Tanya and Yuri ran towards the air shaft from their cover and reached the edge. Sasha and his team had seen everything. They had covertly hidden in cover as the UNSC set up their camp and extracted their marines from the shaft. He knew now was their opportunity to beat the UNSC in uncovering the secrets of Secronom.

            “We are good to go.” Tanya spoke on the radio.

            “Ok Tanya, we’re coming.” Sasha spoke back on the radio and waved his soldiers to follow him.

            As Sasha reached the edge, he looked down and saw complete darkness. He reached into his backpack and snapped two glow rods and threw it down.

            “Tanya and Yuri, stay up here and cover our exit out. Alexsei and Gleb, we’ll rappel down.” Sasha ordered as he reached for a cable on his utility belt and clipped it to a metal railing.

            “Yes sir.” Yuri nodded and looked at the scope of his Dragon SVD.

            Sasha took one more glance at the desert and then rappelled down with Alexsei and Gleb on either side of him. Once Sasha and his soldiers reached the bottom, they unclipped the cabled and wielded their AK47s.

            “This way.” Sasha pointed at the shaft in front of him.

            The soldiers crouched into the shaft and slowly made their way inside until they reached an intersection.

            “Sergeant, where to?” Alexsei looked left and right.

            “Left. The corridor seems to be pretty long, but I’m sure it will lead to an opening.” Sasha replied.

            Alexsei turned left with Sasha and Gleb following behind. As the Russians trekked down the corridor and reached the end, there was a turn right.

            “Feel that?” Sasha felt a breeze of warm air blow on his face as he turned right after Alexsei.

            “Yup, there must be an opening nearby.” Alexsei whispered as he heard a faint hum.

            The soldiers continued down the vent until they reached a medium-sized fan blocking their path. This time, the air was hotter and stronger.

            “Sasha? Now what do we do?” Alexsei looked at the fan spinning very fast.

            “Shoot it and destroy it.” Sasha patted Alexsei on the back.

            “Okay.” Alexsei readied his AK47 and aimed his sights on the center piece of the fan.

            Alexsei fired five rounds into the fan and destroyed the motor. Smoke erupted and the fan whirled to a stop. Alexsei coughed and then covered his face as a thick smoke circulated in the vent.

            “We’ll crawl through it.” Sasha coughed as smoke entered his lungs.

            One by one, the soldiers crawled between the blades of the fan when suddenly an alarm blared in front of them.

            “Warning! Systems overheating, please switch to auxiliary fans. Warning! Systems overheating, please switch to auxiliary fans.” the alarm blared from an opening below the vent.

            “That’s not good.” Alexsei commented.

            “Open the opening!” Sasha ordered.

          Alexsei bashed the opening with his gun and the soldiers quickly got out. There were lots of computer servers surrounding them and a door marked “Controls”.