Chapter Four: "Assault!"

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As the team moved out, Randy noticed that everyone was moving in time as was planned. Alpha team, who had come out of hiding, advanced on the compound from their angle.

The compound itself consisted of four buildings of various sizes. The largest was centered in the middle with the other three gleaning off at random angles. From his point of view, Randy did not determine if there was any discernible pattern and thus focused on the primary objective of assault the complex. There wasn't a guard in sight, but Randy knew they were there. Under the cover of night, their approach was relatively masked, so long as the platoon marched quietly. One thing that bothered Randy was that since they were in essence on a time limit, they were forced to move quickly through the forest, they seemed to be only slightly paying attention for traps set by Delta Force. Randy paused at the edge of the forest, waiting for the rest of the team to reach his position, then moved in.

It was too quiet.....

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TAG open

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William and his team moved a little the side aiming for one of the off shoot buildings. he was worried by the lack of noticeable guards, the gun fire from earlier would have at least brought out the lookylois which in his mind meant "trap"... so he brought his team to a stop and waited, deciding that they would provide covering fire for the rest of bravo from the darkness.

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TAG OPEN

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Larissa remained prone with Washburne and the Marine with her, watching the target structures through the sights of her Intar M4. The position looked to be way too quiet to simply allow them an easy in or out, and every fiber of her being screamed that they were walking into an ambush. Walking into it blindly was just going to get them all taken out, and if none of the others knew it, well...

"Нет, это - ошибка новичка. Мы должны сделать это право или нисколько." She muttered to herself, now close enough to the others that they could tell she clearly was not American or Canadian as her English had given away. She looked over at the Air Force man.

"We can't rush in blindly here. And in their position, I'd catch as many of us in the open as I could. We either need a diversion, or some way to draw them out. They already have superior cover and surprise on us. Not to mention that the enemy is going to close distance with us quickly and flank us." She whispered to him, "So, we need a plan, and fast. I lit a fire under your butts to get us clear of Delta, but I'm not running this squad. You had a good plan, better than the merc's. Just go with your gut, and don't explain every reason for everything you thought of. You're not answering to me or him."

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Tag, Black

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William and his group had moved behind a log not to for away from the buildings

"okay guys how here played baseball?" he asked

"i did sir"

"were you a pitcher?"

"yeah why do you ask?"

William tossed him his last Flash bang grenade "see if you can get that though one of those windows"

the recruit smiled stood up puled the pin and threw it like a fast ball right though a window. he ducked back down as the window smashed open and then there was a bright flash followed by two guy stumbling out of the building. they where shot down quickly and then some other in side the buildings reveled there positions by shooting at william and his group. making targets of themselves to the others.

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EVERYONE

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Larissa was waiting for the Air Force man to lay out a plan of attack when she was interrupted by the detonation of a flash bang crashing through a window and detonating, followed by weapons fire. She looked around just enough to see that it was the Merc and his team, and her hands clenched harder around the polymer grips of her M4.

"Washburne, Marine, hold fire." She whispered.

"Ma'am, it's Eschelmann." The Marine with her replied.

"Good to know. Hold fire." Larissa replied, looking over the situation before them.

The enemy forces had certianly been caught off guard, but they had quickly regrouped, and now had the benefit of superior cover, with few options left to the trainees on advancing on the target structures without suffering losses...needless losses. She looked to the Air Force man again.

"Okay, that was entirely stupid, and now we have to act. I'll leave Washburne and Eschelmann with you, and go get Alpha. They have no idea what we're doing, and at this point, neither do we, but better that the mercenary has their attention so that Alpha can attack. Attack, suppress, I leave that to you." Larissa explained, crawling back into the woods to mask her movements. Once in the forest proper, Larissa went to her feet, and began to quickly move to Alpha's position, using the trees to mask her movements from the enemy, and closed on their position.

As she neared, a red shot nearly took her head off, and she swung behind a tree, realizing the shot came from within the forest, not without.

"Hold your fire! Friendly!" She called out.

"Identify!" A voice called out.

"Koralov, Bravo Squad!" She responded.

"Keep your weapon down and approach!" The voice ordered. Larissa stepped out, letting the M4 dangle on it's sling over her chest as she approached the sentry.

"What the hell are you people doing?" The soldier demanded as she closed.

"Funny thing is, I don't know. But I need to speak to your squad leader." Larissa said.

"Not all of us are here. The Lieutenant took charge after we lost contact with Sergeant Beehan." The soldier explained, leading Larissa to the others.

"Another wet behind the ears trainee?" Larissa scoffed.

"Uh, actually, ma'am, I think he's SAS." The soldier replied.

"Right. And I'm Canadian Special Forces, too." Larissa replied.

"I doubt that, ma'am. You're not wearing their patented puke pattern." The soldier said, the grin barely visable in the dark. Larissa could barely restrain her own grin, finding the description of the Canadian CADPAT camo uniform fairly apt.

They approached half of Alpha squad, waiting prone facing the structures from the rear.

"Lieutenant? One of Bravo just arrived." The soldier said.

"Just one?" The former Platoon CO replied.

"Your replacement was taken out. We were waiting to attack when one of ours decided to kick things off himself. Where's the rest of your squad?" Larissa asked.

"I don't know. We...we got separated on the way here. I had to take charge." The Army Lieutenant explained.

"Fine. Look, we don't have time to wait. We either move up now, and start clearing, or Bravo's going to get picked off." Larissa explained.

"And I take it you're going to kick me out of command?" The Lieutenant bristled.

"If you're going to act like a child about it, hell yes I am. Get over it, you don't get to always be in charge because you're a Lieutenant. Hell, the Russian military is so officer heavy, we have Lieutenants who have to do the duties of Sergeants. So you'll get no sympathy from me." Larissa glared hard at the West Point graduate.

"...sorry." The Lieutenant replied.

"Now listen. We're short on manpower, but a six-man team can easily clear a structure, no problem. Everyone, watch your angles, focus on the objective, and no one play the hero. We were attacked by members of Delta Force, so don't expect anything less than fully trained and even experienced Special Forces holding these structures." Larissa explained.

"SpecFor? What the hell do we have against that?" The Lieutenant asked, "We're all pretty new."

"Then follow exactly what I say and you'll get out just fine." Larissa replied.

"And why's that? What makes you so special?" One soldier demanded. Larissa sighed, not at all willing to make this bit clear, but she had to if they were to know, notoriety or not, that she had the experience to help them through.

"Nobody but us. Russian Spetznaz." She replied, repeating the motto of Russian Special Forces, "Now keep your heads down and stack up at the door at the far end. Lieutenant, you're on point. Move out."

The half of Alpha that Larissa was able to find quickly moved to the rear entrance of one of the side structures, stacking up at the door, preparing to breach inside. In her mind, Larissa hoped this was the right call, still never quite sure that each call she made was right, but she suppressed her self-doubt for now.

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Tag; Black, Open

OOC: Beehan, if you're still here, I've left it open for you to still take action with the other half of Alpha Squad, I just felt it better if someone got the NPCs moving
-Coffin

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one of Williams recruits went down under the hall of intar fire
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tage: Mike Beehan

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With Koralov taking her leave at a time when every man counted, it left little alterantive than for them to press on without her. He only hoped that she would actually make it over to the other squad without getting hit by those in this "superior: cover.

Turning back to those still with him, Randy said, "Ok, here is the plan. She is right that they have superior cover and we no longer have the element of surprise, but we are going to take this complex." He peered around the barricade he was crouching behind, seeing that the enemy squads held two positions, one high and the other low. "Ok, we are going to attack from two fronts. You guys," he pointed at Trembly, "take the left flank and focus your fire on the higher ground. We will take the right and focus on the ground forces. Stay behind something and move around if you can. It will confuse their numbers."

He moved into position with everybody else, and just before moving out, he said to Trembly, "I hope she made it. I would hate to have to rub it in her face." He chuckled and moved out.

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Tag: Trembly, Koralov, Everyone else

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Larissa was now beginning to now have regrets about leaving her last flashbang as a trap with the two fallen recruits, but at the same time, it worked to their advantage in a way. The squad formed up at the door, stacked up to the left of the door, at least demonstrating some know-how.

"Open it, let's try to keep it quiet for now, but engage immediately if spotted. Do it." Larissa said quietly, and nodded to the Army recruit on point, who carefully opened the door, stepping in with his rifle raised, before leaning out to wave them in. Larissa followed the pointman in, approaching the corner slowly, a T-shaped junction that branched down the hallway with several rooms on either side. Larissa put her back to the wall, and slowly slid the stock of her M4 down to collapse the size, before leaning out just enough for her head and the rifle to peek out. No one was in the hall, which made the situation all the more difficult. She leaned back.

"Negative contacts. You three, stay here. Two of you cover the hall, the other covers the door. If this goes bad, cover us. The rest of you, on me. We'll sweep room to room, by the numbers. Let's move." Larissa said, turning around the corner to the first door on the right side of the hall. She took up position on the left side of the door, motioning for the Lieutenant to take the right side, and the Marine that had nearly taken her head off earlier stack up with him, leaving the last one, a British Army recruit, behind her. Larissa put her hand on the doorknob, twisting it lightly to test for traps, before turning it fully and carefully pushing it in. The door swung in slowly, revealing a pitch black room. Larissa went in after the Lieutenant, going left while he went right.

"Clear." Larissa said just above a whisper.

"Clear." The Lieutenant replied.

"Coming out." Larissa said, stepping out of the room backwards.

"One down, five to go. Ma'am, I don't think Bravo has time for us to do ninja." The Marine said.

"Agreed. And they need positions to cover the approaches, not hide in the closet. Let's draw them out. You two, wait here. Lieutenant, on me. We're going to make some noise." Larissa said.

"What do you mean?" The Lieutenant asked.

"He who tries to protect everything protects nothing, sir. They're only going to cover points we can get them at, not every last room." The Brit said.

"And if they know we're here, that saves us the guess work. We've got the hall covered, they're going to walk into cross fire. When I kick that door open, get in there and wait for my go. We'll go up the hall, kick in every door, and see when they show up." Larissa said, moving up the the first door on the left. The Lieutenant stacked up on the right side, while the other two recruits waited in the cleared room. Larissa spun and faced the door, drawing her leg up and kicking hard into the plywood door.

"GO!" Larissa shouted for added effect as the door swung in with a THUD, as she spun back behind cover. The Lieutenant swung in to yet another pitch black room as the two doors at the end of the hall opened and intar fire flew down the hall, nearly catching Larissa as she brought up her M4 and began firing at the left target, while next to her, the Marine and Brit leaned out of their room and began firing. Both defenders dropped from the impact of red energy coursing around their bodies.

"Move up, watch your spacing, and check these two rooms before them." Larissa said, moving up to the middle door, the Lieutenant behind her. Once again, she opened the door with a solid kick, spinning around to the right side of the doorframe as the Lieutenant swung in to sweep the room. The Marine and Brit followed her example, and caught one of the OpFor facing out a window and firing out at Bravo Squad. He turned to try and shoot, but took a pair of double-taps.

"Clear!" The Brit called out.

"Room clear!" The Lieutenant said, "Doorway, possibly leads out!"

"Leave it alone, unless you want someone to shoot you outside. Move!" Larissa said, moving forward to the last two rooms, leaning into the left to find a ladder going up to the second floor.

"Check the bodies. Look for flashbangs." Larissa said, covering the ladder.

"Try up here!" A voice called out, and a flashbang clattered down onto the floor.

"FLASHBANG!" Larissa looked away, but barely in time, as most of her vision was gone, her hearing now just a loud ringing. She saw two figures jump down, one firing twice into the Lieutenant, who collapsed from intar fire. Larissa fired her M4, though it was hardly accurate, before she felt the rifle being twisted away from her, and a mass of camo obstructing her vision. Reacting on instinct, she struggled only to keep him in place long enough to draw her head back and slam it forward into what she figured was his. He stumbled backwards before collapsing. Larissa turned to see the Marine and Brit covering her, firing on the ambushers.

"...okay, ma'am?" The Marine asked as her hearing returned.

"Yeah, just give me a second." Larissa said, blinking her vision back into place.

"They got the ell-tee. Pretty damn clever, if you ask me." The Marine commented.

"Well, let's return the favor then." Larissa replied, already checking the bodies over for flashbangs, and found three between the four bodies, "Anything in the other room?"

"Yeah, a Two-Four-Nine set up in the window. Guess this guy was laying down some serious fire on Bravo." The Marine said.

"We may need it." Larissa said, swapping magazines.

"Up to the second floor then?" The Brit asked.

"Yeah." Larissa said, checking the ladder for anyone covering upstairs. She hooked one of the flashbangs to her vest, swinging her M4 to dangle on it's sling behind her, and drew her captured P226 intar, chambering a round, and then readied the second flashbang, pulling the pin and tossing it up the hole, before starting up the ladder as it went off, P226 in hand.

Upon reaching the top, she found it was actually an open attic-style space with crates for cover. Two OpFor were covering until they were recovering from the flashbang, and Larissa shot both of them before taking up cover as incoming fire forced her behind a crate. She prepped the second flashbang, tossing it out at the remaining three firing on her. The Brit was the second one up, and took up a position with her, firing carefully aimed shots to catch another OpFor, now leaving them with two on the opposite side of the room, and in cover. The Marine was last up, toting the Intar M249 SAW.

"What the hell are you doing?" Larissa asked.

"Oh, just what I do in the Corps. Lug this big bastard around. That M4 was like a toy, I needed some weight." The Marine grinned before propping it up on the crate and began spraying bursts.

"You, go left, I'll go right. Let's get this over with." Larissa said. She holstered her P226 and went back to her M4, before going to the next stack of crates and bounded over them, firing two and three shots while advancing from cover to cover on the OpFor. Once behind a crate close to their position, Larissa grinned to herself as she pulled one of her smoke grenades out, but instead of arming it, she made the motions and then tossed it at her target.

"Flash!" The target called out, twisting away to cover his eyes. Larissa came up and fired on her target, dropping him. The Brit's target was already down.

"Clear!" Larissa called out.

"Clear!" The Brit called out.

"ROOM CLEAR!" The Marine chimed in from his position.

"Now then, let's marshal up their weapons and see about helping Bravo." Larissa said.

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Tag: Open

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William was not who Randall was talking to "sir who are you talking to?"
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MAP ( http://i1176.photobucket.com/albums/x338/lwes4/map1-5.png )
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William and had three recruits left "okay you and you, keep there fire focused here me and him or going to that ditch over there to get around them" they nodded and William and the other guy crawled in to the ditch and and after a few minutes crawled out on the other side of the building. "okay let go" William said as they crawled all the way to the building.
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MOUT Training Area

The training assault on the compound had been going smoothly, for the most part. There was still one final ‘structure’ to be removed from play before the teams could consolidate and move towards their next objective and patrol base. It was sandbags, plywood, and cam-netting, nothing hard core about it, but it sure was dishing out the hurt, bristling with at least two machine guns and a mortar, which occasionally popped off an ilium rounds. The Gunny stood back and watched, and scribbled in his note book, and watched some more.

In his scanning across the field his eyes fell upon five individuals not participating in the assault, grumbling to himself about slackers, he crouched down and ran to their position. Sliding in next to them he glared at each, “What in sam hill’s name do you think you’re doing! Get your asses in play, there is still an objective to be neutralized!” He growled, his eyes locked onto the two highest ranking members there, a USAF Tech Sergeant and a Brit, Colour Sergeant if he remembered correctly. “You two are in charge, make it happen!”

Brian’s head was still swimming from being hit with an Intar blast, but he was back on his feet, if only thanks for Beehan and two others from Alpha coming back for him and the fallen Bravo that had been left behind. Frustratingly, however, on top of being rigged as a booby trap with two smoke grenades and a flashbang that they had been able to disarm and recover, Bravo Squad had made off with all of his ammo, but that issue had been rectified by the unconscious Delta Force OpFor who had no need for their ammo. But there was something about a pissed off Gunnery Sergeant snapping orders that helped get him through the proverbial fog in his mind.

“Roger that, sir.” Brian replied, before looking to Beehan, “I’ll ride shotgun, this is your squad still, and I’m not exactly 100% here. Good to go, just don’t think I should call the shots here. Besides, I don’t want to have to have you wake me up a second time.” Brian grinned in jest, though it was barely visible in the night.

Taking a moment, Brian looked over his M4, still not quite used to it having a glowing red light on the base of the pistol grip, or the red-tipped rounds in the magazine and chamber, but then again, it made better training gear than MILES, he had to admit to himself, as he made sure the selector switch was in the 12 o’clock position on SEMI. He rarely ever went to full-auto fire, as it had been discouraged in “Superman School”, and every other time in his career. Brian then took a moment to further survey the combat zone, watching for any details to chime in to Beehan.

“Looks like one of the teams is digging into that building on the south end. Don’t know how useful they’ll be, but might need ‘em for a fallback point, yeah?” Brian suggested, pointing at one of the structures that had gone silent.

The Gunny at that point had moved back to watch the team dynamic as they got their act together, moved out, and assaulted the objective. But the Tech Sergeant had given the Gunny a perfect opening, smiling, he moved back into the circle of the group. Reaching out he snagged the Tech by his plate carrier and gave him a solid shake and turned the man so he could talk easily into his ear. “It’s your squad now, Tech Sergeant, get them on the move, before I happen to remember where I put my radio and call their fire this direction. Now move!” He said giving him a nudge and a wink, then a solid push back towards the line. “Get moving!”

“Roger that, then.” Brian shook his head, “Alright squad, on me. We move up in pairs, try to avoid their attention, I’d rather not get caught in the open. Once we’re close enough, we’ll roll a couple smokes in to distract ‘em, and you on the MG, keep ‘em suppressed. Should be nice and easy, got it?”

Brian took point with the other Bravo trainee, moving up slowly and trying to use what cover was in the clearing to get close to the position, but it came simply down to crawling on the ground to the position, freezing as another Illum round shot into the sky, and waited several tense seconds, until no fire erupted their way, all the fire seeming to be on the other trainees for now.

“Alright, on three, we pop smoke. Just huck ‘em in and keep your eyes on them, they’re gonna light us up the second they realize that the others aren’t star baseball players or something.” Brian whispered to the other trainee, as he slowly pulled an M18 smoke grenade from his vest, as did the other recruit. Both tossed their smoke grenades into the position, smoke spewing into a cloud inside the objective.

The M240 gunner opened up on the ‘bunker’ as soon as the Tech Sergeant and his battle budy were off, not a bad start not a bad start at all. The Gunny moved up to follow, keeping his eyes on the 240 making sure to move when he stopped between burst or to reload, the boots had just tossed a set of smoke grenades into the defensive position, which was now spewing whitish grey smoke, the Gunny took the chance to move up onto the tail end of the ‘conga line’ that was forming to breach and clear the room.

“And now we clear the bunker and then Miller Time.” Brian said with a bit of a grin, always finding time for humor, even under fire. “On three...one...two...”

A burst of fire ripped dangerously close to their position, causing both to drop back down into the dirt.

“That moron...does Danger Close not apply to MGs?” Brian groused, before standing back up, “I’ll make sure he never hears the end of it. Let’s go.” Brian kicked the door in, tossing in one of the flashbangs that had been left wired to his body when Bravo left him. After the flash, Brian swung in, going right, M4 up and tucked into his shoulder. As soon as the first OpFor crossed his sights, he fired a double-tap, hitting him with red energy, before continuing in, clearing out the remaining OpFor with his “battle buddy”, finally silencing the MGs and mortar.

“Clear!” Brian called out.

“Clear!” The trainee called out in reply.

“Let’s grab Tweedle Dee on the Two-Forty and the rest and link up with the guys who took that south building.” Brian said, “Coming out!”

If only the assaulters had known how danger close it really had been, the Gunny had been hit by a full three second burst from the 240, and had been spun face first from the impact into the ground, knocking what little wind from his body that it still held. The line from Murphy ran from through his head, ‘Friendly fire, isn’t’. Groaning or something like that the Gunny managed to roll himself over and his hands immediately fell to his chest, covered in blood, and growing dark red stains. Sucking in as much wind as he could. “MEDIC!” He screamed, before coughing up a lung full of blood and falling back to the ground.

“What the? Med...OH HELL!” Brian said, running over to the fallen man, discovering it was the Gunny, and it was definitely NOT an Intar caused situation. Brian swung his M4 behind him, dropping to his knees next to the Gunny and swinging his pack around. Opening it, he found only a few bandages and pain killers.

“You have got to be kidding me...get back up there, tell that idiot on the MG to relinquish his weapon right now, or he gets zapped. Then get over to that building and find out who the hell took my gear, and get it back! MOVE MOVE!” Brian ordered the other recruit, who ran back to their position they came from.

“Alright, hold on, I’ll do what I can for you from here, just stay still.” Brian said.

“Ra..Rad...Radio!” He managed to cough, pushing it towards the PJ. “M..Mine...w...wo...rks!” He continued coughing up more blood, it was now running down his face, and coming from his chest wounds in mass quantities with every breath and pump of his heart.

“Okay, but you have got to stop moving, you’re gushing blood and you keep moving, you’re gonna be more than a quart low before the medivac gets here.” Brian said, trying to apply what few bandages he had onto the wounds to stop the bleeding, before taking the radio.

“Sierra Golf X-Ray calling anyone on this net, this is a medical emergency. The Gunnery Sergeant is down, live ammo, need medivac on my position, urgent. Say again, this is Sierra Golf X-Ray, we have a medical emergency, requesting medivac. How copy?” Brian asked, but only static replied.

“We’ll try again in a moment. Just lie still, I’m going nowhere until we get this squared away.” Brian kept working, but he had little to work with. The recruit returned after what felt like an eternity, only to show that he only had more bandages and painkillers, no tools at all.
“He’s hemoraging blood, and I can’t get anyone to get on the radio and get a medivac. Keep calling until someone picks up or the battery dies. With these supplies, I’m sorry, but there’s next to nothing I can do. DAMNIT!” Brian swore.

The recruit with Brian kept making the same call over and over, but still, only static was the only reply, and there was little that the Pararescue Operator could do for the dying Gunnery Sergeant.

With what little strength he had left, the Gunny dug into his admin pouch weakly, his fingers trying to grab his TacsOp book, it had a red tabbed section just for instances like the one they were in, “Co..Coffin...” He said getting the PJs attention, he pointed weakly before his arm fell to his chest limp, his eyes staring dead into space, his body unmoving.

“No...no no no no, you’re not dying on me...” Brian said, trying to apply compressions and CPR to the Gunny, but after a few moments, he gave up, finally taking the book. Fishing out a flashlight, he clicked it on, and began flipping through the pages, before finding the instructions.

“Check the guys in there for a flare gun. Grab it, come out, and fire a flare. I guess calling for help on the radio isn’t the right way, it’s a flare.” Brian said, his voice flat and neutral. The recruit with him nodded, heading into the bunker and finding the flare gun, returning outside and firing a flare into the air as instructed.

The red flare arced up into the air, it’s parachute engaged and it drifted to Earth, the cadre members among the trainee’s knew what it meant. They were on the comm net in seconds searching for answers, but none came forth.

Jake told his squad to bunker down, and sprinted across the field. No one fired, nothing moved, the air seemed to be as still as in a crypt. The beating sound of rotor blades from the medivac V-22 could be heard coming in fast and low over the trees. Jake slid in next to Coffin grabbing him, “Sergeant who’s hit, talk to me!” He said calmly, giving the man and gentle shake, not noticing the still form of the Gunny on the ground next to Coffin.

“It’s the Gunny. Somehow, we had a live MG in our squad, and he took a burst. I’ll spare the medical details for the committee...he’s dead, Petty Officer. Didn’t have the supplies to keep him stable in time to find out how to get the medivac here in time...” Brian said, his voice still low and neutral. Death was part of the PJ life, trying to save people from it. Hell, he had seen a few in his time, during a helicopter crash during a “Red Star” meet at Nellis, but it never got any easier.

“I’m not pointing fingers here. What’s done is done...” Brian shook his head.

“I know you’re not Coffin, I know, you did the best you could with what you had, better than most would have done.” He said placing a hand on Coffin’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze, “Where’s the two-forty now?” He asked looking around the area, as more of the squad and OpFor moved into look. When they did, some took a knee, others just stood there. Jake grabbed his radio, “All callsigns, all callsigns this is PO Fischer, medical emergency over, this is no longer a medivac, I need a casevac to Echo-Tango Niner-Eight, Six-Fife, Seven-Two, Two-Zero. I repeat...”

In the southern building, Larissa and her squad had dug in, requisitioning the weapons the OpFor were using for themselves, including a pair of M16A4s with night vision optics. However, when one of the friendlies, the recruit that she had actually wired and ordered be stripped of ammo when he was knocked out earlier, burst in, demanding the medical supplies left behind, Larissa realized there had to be something wrong. She was forced to divert the trainee back to Black where Airman Washburne had the supplies. The flare went up, and that sold it, as did the mass of approaching people surrounding the bunker, just outside of it.

“Something’s happened. Come on.” Larissa said, climbing down the ladder to get down from the attic, and sprinted over, captured M16 in her off hand only as she approached, stepping in to see what had happened. One of the trainers was speaking to the other recruit she had left wired and ammo-less, and next to them was a body...the Gunnery Sergeant.

“Oh god...” Larissa breathed, shaking her head. While training accidents were always an issue, and even more so in Spetznaz, it was still always hard to accept, and a memory crept up on her, forcing her to turn away for a moment, closing her eyes and clenching her other hand open and closed, trying to remain calm, breathing in and out slowly, but she could not stop the sudden case of shivers that had overtaken her. Even though she barely knew the man, it was still quite difficult to come to terms with. She turned around, lowering her head, in respect before murmuring in her native language, “Другой Моряк, сообщающий Святому Питеру, он служил его времени в Аду.”

Jake unsnapped his assault pack from his plate carrier and pulled out his pancho, flicking it open he laid it over the Gunny’s body, closing the man’s eyes, and whisper in his ear, “Che la morte ti dia la pace che cercavi. Requiescat in pace.” And placed the poncho, over his head. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to calm down and breath, to get his shit together. Pushing up from his knees he captured his M4 and looked at the growing crowd of OpFor, Cadre, and Trainees. “Alright, give me three-sixty security! Let’s keep the Gunny company till the casevac is on station!”

Brian took a deep breath, before swinging his M4 back into his hands, taking a moment to swap magazines out of habit, tapping the new one against his helmet before slapping it in. “Roger that.” He took up position, dropping to a knee and keeping watch on his angle.

“Yes, sir!” Larissa took up her position, lying flat prone with the M16 in hand. She tucked the rifle’s stock against her shoulder, watching the area as ordered.

The V-22 thundered into the clearing, it’s rotors tilted upwards and it settled down, the rear ramp lowered and a team of medics charged over, moving towards the Gunny. As the rushed in, Jake meet them near the edge, “We’ll take it from here guys.” And relieved the medic of the folded stretcher, “Coffin on me!” He shouted as he walked towards the Gunny, his left arm came up and he removed the velcro America flag patch from his right arm. Stopping next to the Gunny’s body, “Help me get him on.” He said flatly to the Air Force Technical Sergeant, as they placed the Gunny’s body on the stretcher, he also laid the flag over the Gunny’s heart. Standing he looked around the group. “Sierra Golf X-ray, stand at attention!” He bellowed into the night.

Brian moved backwards, before spinning around with practiced precision, swinging the carbine behind his back before taking his place on the stretcher, grabbing it.

Larissa turned around upon being called to attention, standing to her feet and snapping to attention.

“Present arms!” Jake called, the whole of SG-X brought their arms up slowly to attention, Jake gave his own quick and precise before stepping to the head of the stretcher, “On three,...one,...two,...three,...up.” He said to Brain, as the brought the Gunny up. “Order arms!” He called out, and the sound of hands being brought down was short and crisp against the night. “Let’s get him home.”

Brian said nothing more, as they silently brought the stretcher to the waiting V-22, keeping his expression neutral and keeping cadence with Fischer.

Larissa snapped her salute as crisp and precise as she had at any Victory Day parade, in fact, more so, dropping it on command just as it had been brought up.

Jake grabbed his radio and told the rest of the Cadre to get the trainees back to base and put them in barracks, they’d need further guidance from the Colonel, but till then it was Jake’s show. “Sergeant Coffin, you’re with me. We’re the Gunnery Sergeant’s escort back to base.”

“Yes, sir.” Brian replied, “We’ll learn from this, as high as the price was, so that others may live.” Brian said, ending with the motto of the Air Force Pararescue.

“So others may live. Hoo-yah!” Jake replied coming from his past as an Aviation Survival Technician (rescue swimmer) with the United States Coast Guard.

(JP brought to you by Brian Coffin, Jake Fischer/Scott Powers)

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Reactions to what's happened etc. Would be great!

ON

The Colonel had barely got into his foxhole when his radio crackled to life.

"Sierra Golf X-Ray calling anyone on this net, this is a medical emergency. The Gunnery Sergeant is down, live ammo, need medivac on my position, urgent. Say again, this is Sierra Golf X-Ray, we have a medical emergency, requesting medivac. How copy?"

He immediately tried picking up the receiver to respond, but it wasn't transmitting. It was at this moment that a red flare illuminated the entire area. This was actually happening. A V-22 flew over his head, and he pulled out his satellite phone, due to normal mobile phones having no signal in this area. Dialling in General Mjolnir's direct number, he waited for a response.

"Hello?" Asid asked, as he picked up his phone. He paused, taking a sip from his coffee, as he wondered what this was about.

"Sir, its Colonel Marshall... We're out on the training area, and there's been an accident... The Gunny's been shot, I'm not sure how serious, but a V-22 has just flown away from the area. I'm about to head over to the infirmary now."

"Understood." Asid said, frowning at the phone. "Do you need me on the scene?"

"I think it would probably help morale. Like I said, I'm going to the Infirmary, see how bad the Gunny's been hit." He could tell the General was upset by this by the tone of his voice.

"That all?" Asid asked, quietly. "Otherwise I'll be there in a bit."

"Yes sir, that is all." He ran towards the Land Rover and sped down the dirt track heading back to base.

"Alright. Then I'll be there soon." Asid hung up the phone, as he stood with a curse.

After he had hung up, he then called Fischer, and after a brief wait, he could hear rotor blades through the phone, so he must have picked up.

"Fischer! It's Colonel Marshall! I'll meet you at the helipad! Secure that weapon! No doubt the MP's will want to investigate, as will I!"

OFF
Tag Asid, Fischer, Coffin

ON

V-22 In route to SGC

Jake sat near the ramp, the tip of his boot resting under the stretchers handle, the other one forced to the deck plate to keep from tapping, from the nerves he was feeling. His helmet was spun in half circles between his hands, his eyes closed, avoiding the Gunnery Sergeant's covered body, and that of the Marine who'd shot him. The sat phone in his vest began to vibrate, opening his eyes, Jake stopped spinning his helmet and placed it over his knee with one hand as the other retrieved the hefty phone and flipped the antenna open to answer the call. Digging the phone into one ear and his point finger into his other.

"Hello!" He yelled trying to over come the nose of the rotors.

"Fischer! It's Colonel Marshall! I'll meet you at the helipad! Secure that weapon! No doubt the MP's will want to investigate, as will I!"

"Roger sir! The weapon and Marine are in my custody, along with the Gunny's body. Were two minutes from touch down!"

Tag Coffin, Asid, Marshall

ON

V-22 Osprey, En-Route

Brian found himself in a torrent of emotions, trying to keep them all contained was a challenge. He sat across from the Marine, his Intar M4 resting in his lap, but the selector switch was still set to 'SEMI', and a non-lethal red-tipped round sat ready in the chamber. Next to him, the M240 general purpose machinegun sat, cleared and empty, with it's ammo box of live 7.62x51mm NATO laying next to it. Brian's gaze darted from Petty Officer Fischer, the Gunny, the Marine, and to the M240, before going back around again. The Marine sat with his face buried into his hands, and had avoided all eye contact with everyone.

Even still, with the rotors whirring, Brian's thoughts fell to other times, before looking to Fischer as he spoke into the satellite phone, before his gaze returned to the Marine. Part of him understood that it was an accident, but nonetheless, precautions were in place for a reason, and responsibility had to be taken. Eventhough he may have never encountered the alien training devices that they were using, nothing should have been left to chance. Brian also felt frustrated that even as a PJ, fully trained and certified as a combat medic, he had not been fully equipped.

So many "what-ifs", "could've, should've, would've", but in the end, the harsh reality was laying right in front of him. All he could do was learn from it, as he did from the training accident at Nellis a few years ago. As he came back to the same conclusion, his thumb flicked the selector switch back to "SAFE", subtly and silently, as if coming to terms that this was no longer murder unless a tribunal said so, and even still, it was not his place to judge.

OFF

Tag, Fischer

ON
William sat there confused by all that had gone wrong any unable to understand how it happen.
OFF

ON

V-22, Final Approach

"Coming in, twenty seconds." The pilot reported.

Brian looked up, giving a thumbs up, before looking over at the Marine.

"Don't give the MPs any lip, or any sob story, or you'll be in a world of bad news. Own your actions, tell them everything they want to know clearly and plainly. Got it?" Brian asked. The Marine simply nodded in response.

"Ten seconds." The pilot reported.

Brian stood up, taking his position at the end of the stretcher, and waited for Fischer to take position as well, if he was going to. He took a moment to adjust his gear, swinging his Intar M4 behind his back and ensured his helmet and tactical vest were in place, smoothed out his now filthy ABU uniform, and waited as the V-22 touched down, the ramp lowering.

OFF

Tag; Fischer, Asid, Marshall