Reygi,
Kandahar, Afghanistan
Secronom
Research Facility
April
21, 2001
2205
Local Time
“Did I just see the Russians?” May
peeked out from the stairwell to the first floor.
“I think you’re right.” Christopher
exclaimed as he took a peek.
A group of Russian scattered about
the hallway and began to clear rooms one by one.
“If the Russians are down here,
which means…” May’s voice trailed off.
“Top floor is compromised.” Forester
spoke quietly.
“We need to get up. I’m not going to
let my Sarge turn.” Taylor
stared at the group.
“I understand Taylor, but we’ll be killing ourselves if we
go up.” Forester glared.
“Then we need to go up as one of
them.” Taylor
suggested.
“Christopher, watch Casey. Taylor, May, and I will
get some uniforms.” Forester directed.
“Plan LT?” May asked.
“When one group clears one room, we
go from behind and take them out.” Forester replied with confidence.
“They go in groups of three.” Taylor studied.
“Then we’ll make it look like a
prisoner transport.” Forester replied.
“They are going to the room opposite
of us now.” Taylor
peeked out the door.
“Get ready marines. We only have one
shot at this.” Forester pulled out her bowie knife.
“Oh right, we need to keep it clean
and quiet.” Taylor
put his MSG-9 down against the wall and unsheathed his combat knife from his
belt.
May pushed the stairwell door open
quickly as Taylor
and Forester snuck out. Once Taylor and Forester got into position behind some
open doors, May nodded to Christopher and closed the door quietly behind her
before rushing to meet up with her teammates.
“Flashlights. Inside.” Forester
whispered as she peeked her head into a room that three soldiers had entered.
“I’ll get the center guy.” May waved
her combat knife in a downward motion.
“I’ll take the left and Taylor can get the
right.” Forester looked at her blade.
“Got it.” Taylor nodded.
“Ready?” Forester took a deep
breath.
Taylor and May nodded in unison and crouched
as the two slowly turned inside the room.
“Go.” Forester commanded in a short
whisper.
Taylor made a dash for the soldier on his
right and tackled him to the ground whilst May lunged with her knife at the
soldier in the center. Taylor
jabbed his knife into the back of the soldier’s head and twisted the handle
while May made a slash at the throat of her target. Upon realizing what had
happened to his comrades, the last soldier lifted his AK47 to aim at the dark
assassins, but was intercepted when Forester approached from behind him and
snapped his neck. The soldier collapsed to the ground with a thud and
everything turned to silence.
“Get dressed.” Forester crouched
beside the soldier she had killed and began to strip his clothes.
“If you girls like, I could leave
first while you change.” Taylor
looked around.
“Just don’t look. Face the wall
while you change.” May replied with annoyance.
Taylor grinned and then turned to face the
wall. He took off his helmet and body armor and placed it aside. As the three
marines put on the militia outfit, they secretly concealed their RaidComm
transmitters into their newly acquired military helmets.
“Do I look like a militia or what?” Taylor picked up an AK47
and held it coolly.
“Sure…” May laughed as she swapped
her primary weapon.
“Let’s go.” Forester waved at the
doors.
The marines exited the room and
quickly moved to the stairwell. Christopher lowered his weapon as he recognized
his comrades in militia clothes.
“How’s Casey doing?” Taylor eyed Casey.
“Not too well, but he’s holding on.”
Christopher reported.
“Squad two. Report in squad two.”
the radios buzzed on the militia outfit.
“Hurry! Get to the elevator now!”
Forester spoke rapidly.
May pushed the stairwell door open
and the marines quickly got out. Christopher lifted Casey to his feet and
carried him to the elevator with the aid of Taylor.
“Squad two, do you copy?” the radios
buzzed again.
Forester hit the elevator button and
the elevator doors opened.
“Attention all units! Squad two is
down. Search and destroy.” a man spoke on the radio.
“Up we go.” May pressed the elevator
doors closed.
Before the elevator ascended,
Forester tapped onto her RaidComm.
“Good luck Zyrok and Frederick.
We’re going up.” Forester spoke on the RaidComm.
“Okay, you too.” Zyrok replied just
in time before the elevator shot upwards and the transmission fizzed.
“Remember folks, prisoner
transport.” May looked at Christopher.
“Take these.” Christopher handed May
his M16 and concealed his Lock 17 pistol under his flak jacket.
“Here’s the story, Christopher and
Casey were captured by us. Their team had encountered multi-limbed zombies and
they were the only survivors.” Forester quickly briefed.
“Sounds good.” Taylor nodded.
“One more thing. Vladamir told us to
interrogate them topside.” Forester added.
“Good idea, I’m betting that they
don’t have contact of him either so it will be easier for us to make things
up.” May replied.
“Get ready.” Forester readied
herself as the elevator reached to the top.
The doors opened and three militia
soldiers pointed their guns at the group.
“Freeze!” one soldier called out.
“We’re bringing prisoners up for
interrogation under Vladamir’s orders.” Forester pointed at Christopher and
Casey.
“Where is Vladamir?” the soldier
asked.
“He’s down there with the others. We
tried contacting up here, but it seems like we’re out of range.” Forester
responded.
“Oh, hang on.” the soldier looked at
his comrades.
“Take them to Dimitri?” an old
looking soldier asked.
“Yeah.” the soldier nodded and
looked at Forester.
“Alright soldiers, move it.”
Forester ordered.
Suddenly, the building shook and a
rumble was heard as Forester and the soldiers walked into the hallway.
“The UNSC is here!” one soldier ran
out of a room coughing as dust filled the halls.
“Follow me.” the old soldier waved at Forester to
bring her squad up the stairwell.
Once the marines reached the ground
floor, dust and smoke was everywhere. Some soldiers huddled against the wall
with injuries while others had a shocked face. Forester glanced out of the broken
window and saw a Pelican in the sky firing missiles at the trucks mounted with
heavy machine guns. As the missiles impacted their targets, explosions ripped
through the silence and shook the ground. A marine was at the rear of the
Pelican firing the M60 mounted turret at the stragglers in the open.
“This way.” the old soldier waved at
a corner.
Forester watched the Pelican and
then turned to follow the soldier. She knew it was her time to act and get the
marines out of the hot zone. As Forester and her marines reached the corner,
she noticed that the soldier was alone. In a fluid motion, she yanked out her
concealed bowie knife and impaled it into the soldier’s back. A cry was heard,
but the distant explosion sounds masked the assassination.
“Let’s get a ride out of here.”
Forester told the group.
* * *
“RPG!” Parker called out form the
back of the Pelican
“Deploying countermeasures.” Pruett
pressed on the button.
A barrage of flares fired from the
rear of the Pelican and lit up the sky into an eerie glow of red. The RPG
smashed into a flare and exploded violently and flung shards down to the
ground.
“This is Lieutenant Forester, who is
in the Pelican over?” Forester spoke on the RaidComm.
“Forester, Pruett here. Parker and I
are the only ones here to assess the situation. From the looks of it, you’ve
lost control of the facility.” Pruett replied.
“I’m afraid so Pruett. Pruett, I’ve
got Casey seriously wounded, are you able to do a quick extraction?” Forester
asked.
“You’ll need to hold on for a few
minutes while we clear out the outside threats.” Pruett replied as he looked at
the fires burning from destroyed vehicles from his window.
“Roger, any suggestions where we can
extract?” Forester asked.
“Umm…the outside is a mess. How
about the roof of the building?” Pruett responded.
“Roof sounds great, we’ll head up
first.” Forester answered.
“Okay, we’ll extract in…ten
minutes.” Pruett estimated.
“Copy, Forester out.” Forester ended
the transmission.
Brandon swerved the Pelican to the left as an
RPG barely clipped its wings. He noticed where the soldiers were camping with
the RPGs and fired two missiles. The ground below him exploded and flung bodies
into the air.
“What a shot!” Parker called out
from the back.
Two pickup trucks sped out from the
corner of the building with mounted turrets. The soldiers fired the turrets at
the Pelican’s belly and managed to penetrate its thick armor plating.
“Hull integrity at seventy percent.” the
computer in the cockpit spoke.
“Shit!” Pruett pounded on the
console as he realized that he had one more missile remaining in the missile
pods.
Pruett target locked one truck and
fired the last missile. The truck exploded and flew in the air while the other
truck continued to move around.
“I’m out of missiles!” Pruett
exclaimed.
“Switch to GAU-19!” Parker called
out.
Pruett looked at the console and saw
a purple button. He pressed it and heard the GAU-19 barrel rotating.
“Eat lead!” Pruett squeezed the
trigger and the GAU-19 fired a torrent of armor piercing rounds into the truck.
The bullets lit the sky up with
quick flashes of light. The truck exploded as it was peppered with bullets and
Pruett stopped firing. He smiled in satisfaction and laughed at the
destruction. Pruett turned the nose of the Pelican towards the roof of the
facility and noticed that a couple of snipers and RPG wielding soldiers camped.
Pruett squeezed the trigger and unleashed death and destruction.
“What did I say? Reign of
terror…that’s…” Parker laughed, but was cut off as a sniper round hit in the
chest.
“Parker!” Pruett turned his head his
head and saw Parker drop out of the Pelican and into the dark grounds below.
Pruett knew Parker didn’t make it.
Either the bullet killed him or the fall did, but he had not time to grieve the
loss of a comrade. Pruett looked at his watch and sped the Pelican towards the
edge of the roof.
“Pruett, we’re coming up. Get us out
of here.” Forester spoke on the RaidComm as she pushed the rooftop stair doors
open.
Pruett quickly turned the Pelican so
that the rear of was facing towards the marines. He clicked on the autopilot
button and picked up his M16 resting against the cockpit doors. As the team of
marines ran at him, he noticed some soldiers still alive camped out behind the
rubble. Pruett fired off a couple of rounds creating a light suppressive fire
before he mounted on the M60 turret. While Pruett unleashed a fury of bullets,
Forester and May got on the Pelican first.
“Get in the cockpit.” May ordered
Pruett as she stepped in to replace Pruett on the turret.
While Taylor and Christopher carried
the unconscious Casey onto the Pelican, Forester and May fired heavily at the
rooftop stairs as a swarm of soldiers ran out.
“Lift off!” Forester shouted as
Casey was strapped into his seat.
“Copy.” Pruett turned off the
autopilot and pushed the throttle forward.
The Pelican jerked forward abruptly
and the facility became distant.
“I’m closing the hatch. Everyone
inside.” Pruett pressed a button and the hatch at the rear of the Pelican
sealed shut.
“Get us to Base immediately.”
Forester commanded as she ran inside the cockpit.
“Got it ma’am.” Pruett acknowledged.
“Hang in there Casey.” Taylor looked at his
friend with a worried face.
Reygi,
Kandahar, Afghanistan
Secronom
Research Facility
April
21, 2001
2245
Local Time
“We’re here at the armory.”
Hariprasad stood in front of a big blast door.
“Get that bypass going now.” Frederick commanded as
she watched some figures run down the hall.
Hariprasad swiped the Secronom
keycard on the access panel while Cookson pulled out a small datapad from his
backpack. The pair quickly worked together in disassembling the panel and
attaching the wiring to the datapad. While the pair was doing the system
bypass, Nevarez and Schmidt looked at both ends of the hallway.
“We’re in.” Cookson pressed a button
on his datapad and the doors hissed open.
“Move it.” Zyrok ordered as he saw
three spiders run towards them from the hall they came from.
Nobody fired a round because they
didn’t want to attract attention so they all quickly hurried inside. Hariprasad
hit the button inside and the doors slid shut.
“Woah!” Nevarez looked inside to see
guns and ammunition scattered around the floor.
“Looks like they were in a rush.”
Cookson exclaimed.
“Look what I found.” Hariprasad
picked up a fully loaded M60.
“Nice.” Cookson smiled.
“Everyone, load up and stock up.”
Zyrok shouted as he picked up a XM8 off a gun rack.
“Zyrok, I’ll look for the armor.” Frederick walked to a
room at the back of the wall.
“Okay. Schmidt, go with Frederick.” Zyrok
directed.
“Yes sir.” Schmidt nodded and
hurried off with Frederick.
Zyrok watched as the marines swapped
their weapons with the new toys they had uncovered inside the armory. As he
walked past a cabinet, he noticed some handgun ammunition and took a full box.
Zyrok felt satisfied and decided to see what Frederick had found. He walked briskly into
the room and saw a nice sleek armor behind a glass wall.
“That’s nice.” Zyrok stared in awe.
Frederick looked at a computer console and
typed on the keyboard.
“Bypass?” Zyrok asked as he saw Frederick take out her
datapad and placed it next to the computer.
“Yeah, remote access.” Frederick tapped on her
datapad.
In a few minutes, the glass wall
slid down and the armor was readily available for the taking.
“Go ahead, try it on.” Zyrok urged Frederick.
“Not like this.” Frederick looked at Zyrok and Schmidt with a
raised eyebrow.
“Oh…right, sorry.” Zyrok grabbed
Schmidt by the shoulders and walked out.
After a few minutes of waiting, Frederick walked out of
the room dressed in the new suit of armor.
“Wow…you look…” Zyrok stared in awe
as Frederick’s
hair flew in the air.
“Amazing…gorgeous. I know.” Frederick smiled as she
put on her helmet.
“Hahaha.” Zyrok blushed lightly and
looked away.
“I was going to say that you looked
cool, but oh well.” Schmidt smirked.
“Let’s get going. Can’t wait to blow
this place up.” Frederick
walked out to regroup with her marines.
“We have to rescue a soldier here.
She’s trapped on this floor.” Zyrok interrupted.
“She a Russian?” Cookson asked.
“Yeah, but we’re blowing this place
up. We don’t leave her behind especially when we said we’re going to get her.”
Zyrok looked at Nevarez and then Schmidt.
“Fine. Go and save the damsel in
distress.” Frederick
crossed her arms.
“Come on Frederick, it’s not like that.” Zyrok pulled
out the radio.
“I just want to complete this
operation as fast as possible with the least casualties.” Frederick thought about Robertson.
“I understand, but I’m keeping my
word. Plus isn’t this that makes us better than the Russians?” Zyrok reasoned.
“Oh, alright. Let’s get it done
quickly.” Frederick
rushed.
Zyrok turned on the radio and held
it closely to his mouth.
“Hey, you still there?” Zyrok spoke
on the radio.
“Yeah, is that you Captain?” Tanya
replied on the radio.
“Yes, it’s me. Where are you?” Zyrok
asked.
“I ran out of the vent because those
eight-legged zombies found me.” Tanya replied quietly.
“You alright?” Zyrok asked.
“Yeah…I’m okay.” Tanya whispered.
“So…where are you?” Zyrok asked
again.
“I’m in a laboratory. Wait…Room
B5531. Where are you Zyrok?” Tanya replied.
“We’re in the armory. We’ll be with
you shortly. Sit tight.” Zyrok ordered and clipped the radio this belt.
“Central room is in B5535. We can split
and do both things at once.” Cookson suggested.
“Sure, 1-3 can prime the
self-destruct sequence while we go get Tanya.” Zyrok looked at Schmidt and
Nevarez.
“Sounds like a plan to me.” Schmidt
cocked his newly acquired XM8.
“Let’s get moving marines.” Frederick pointed at the
closed blast doors.
“Lock and load.” Zyrok aimed his XM8
at the door.
“In three…two…one!” Cookson slammed
his hand on the button and the door hissed open.
