An Eye for an Eye.

Remove all ads!

FOB Wiltshire - Western Mandvi 13th July 0200

It was 2am on the 13th July when Major Carnes was suddenly awoken by a private thrusting a phone at him. In a less than diplomatic manner he snatched the phone and sat up in his bunk signalling the private he was dismissed, hoarsely he greeted the person who had disturbed his sleep. When he heard the voice on the other end he leapt out of his bunk in surprise...

FOB Wiltshire - Western Mandvi 18th July 0500

"Ok guys, I know you weren't scheduled for a briefing till 0900 but the big cheese thinks you'll have better odds in the dark."

Major Carnes drags a map over.



"Incase your a complete idiot you are here" he points to FOB Wiltshire on the map "its a cosy little community of 40 or so lively SOB's tasked with guarding the Western road into Mandvi. You will, in oh about one hour, be boarding an MH-6 which will take you to your LZ...here." He drags his finger over the map.

"You will then haul ass a click to the south west to the small town...hmmm" looks down at a document he's holding "...doesn't have a name apparently. Anyway reports are that all civilians have fled leaving the town in control of the Pakistani's, or atleast their terrorist friends, fly overs haven't revealed any major hardware, what it has revealed is a communications post. Having an enemy communications post this close to our lines is unacceptable and we want you to sort it." He sticks a new map onto the board.



"The Large complex on the right is your main objective, there's a gate in the northern and western walls, or you can make your own whatever works. The other building on the left is a secondary target, it seems to be a stockhouse for spare weapons and ammo if you have time destroy it on your way out. Last count put atleast 30 enemies in the area, but that was yesterday, so stay alert. Your Exit will be by MH-6 half a click south of the secondary objective, call it when you need it, call sign 'All-star'."

Major Carnes looked over the men.

"This is the first day of many guys, lets make it a good one. Get your gear together talk to Lieutenant Ingram if you need anthing extra but make it quick. Dismissed."

22°51'48.09"N, 69°10'45.57"E

 

"Looking at the topography, I would suggest we inflitrate through the fields to the East as that'll give us good fields of fire, and is probably less likely to be mined. We can then aim to crack the Primary Target, then either exfil or move on to Secondary dependent on levels of resistance.

If we can avoid it I recommend we stay out of the town proper as things could get nasty very quickly."

 

John stares at the map for a few moments after Kevin speaks before nodding.

"Agreed, Sergeant. Let us prepare. Make sure you are by the helicopter pad within 45 minutes."

John salutes the Major, before turning and heading to gather his equipment.

 

FOB Wiltshire - Roof of the obeservation building 0510

Private Lynton was doing his best to stay awake during the graveyard shift on the observation buildings roof, his job was to watch the road and radio any contacts moving down it. In all honesty he'd rather be watching paint dry. He flipped down his Night Vision Monocle and tried to breathe some life into his mind by taking a look around at the rest of the scenery, there wasn't much.

The road stretched off into the cold night to the North West, across the scrub land that represented the edges of Mandvi. To the North and the East lay Mandvi itself, a thriving metropolis with busy roads and busy people, though in recent days it had become a more dangerous and hectic place to be. Terrorists had infiltrated the city some weeks ago according to military intelligence, and already they had seen vandalism, "pro pakistani" grafitti and on one occassion a suicide bomber, the older guys said it was only going to get worse.

In the distance he heard the sound of a helicopter approaching, scanning the sky he spotted it approaching from North. He called it in, just incase, the Sergeant in the comms room replied "calm down son, its one of ours". Now it was closer Lynton could see it was an MH-6, a small, agile transport chopper, he wondered for a moment why it was here but it really wasn't his business. He watched it land to the south of the compound, then went back to watching his road, maybe tonight was the night he'd see a tank rolling down it...a soldier can dream...

 

(OOC: I presume that we have the necessary night vision gear for a night operation)

Miguel jumped down from the helicopter, taking a moment to get his bearings in the field. "Well, we may as well get started." he says quietly before putting on the night-vision monocle.

If he does not see any sign of trouble:

Spoiler

"All clear for now", he says as soon as he check out his surroundings. "I guess we are moving south first, then west?

OOC: yeah, west. That should teach me not to post after 1 am...

 

Kevin follows Miguel out of the Little Bird. Almost before his feet reached the floor he was in a crouched position, scanning for threats.

If no threats:

Spoiler

In reply to Miguel: "Assuming the helicopter dropped us on target then we'll need to head more South Westerly.

 

John had quickly gathered his gear and reported the south section of the compound where the helicopter would leave from. He knelt down as soon as he arrived and started rechecking that all his IED gear was in good condition and packed correctly - it was only the third time that morning he had checked. With everything checked and repacked, he leaned against a nearby building waiting for the rest of his squad, and their ride, to arrive.

The helicopter ride seemed to pass by quickly. John's mind, between cursing who ever thought of landing a helicopter so close to the target and wishing that he had a few more men in the squad, spent the time wondering why he had accepted this transfer. He had all the comforts he needed back in the RSME. His very own office, a load of young recruits to drill on disarming and using IEDs, and a real sense of stability for the first time since he signed up all those years ago. Even the weather in Kent hadn't been too terrible. But the action... that must be it. That was what he missed. And here he was...

As his two companions leaped out, John quickly glanced around to check no one had forgotten any of their equipment, before following.

If no threats:

Spoiler

John lands on his feet and takes a quick glance around the area before nodding at Kevin's comment.

"We'll head directly south, then cut west. We run the risk of running into anyone coming to investigate the helicopter if we take a straight route."

He glances around once again, checking for any activity in the region, before giving the ground a prod with the toe of his boot.

"Aleza you take the head, Bates center, I'll take the rare. Single file, keep it quiet, you know the drill."

If threatened

Spoiler

John leaps to the ground, silently cursing the helicopter as his gaze sweeps the field, trying to pick up any risks.

 

Miguel nods and eyes the the east horizon nervously for a moment, then tajes point. He heads south making as little noise as possible and keeping a low profile - there shouldn't be any patrols that early and far out, but still...

If we can proceed with spoiler #2:

Spoiler

He eventually stops suddenly, raising a hand to notify the others. "There is talk ahead," he whispers "Investigate or avoid?"

 

"We're not equipt for stealth kills. Let's make it in and out with at least noise as possible. We don't want to wake the entire village," Staff-Sergeant Gregory replies in a barely audiable whisper.

 

"Aye. The mission is more important than increasing your kill count. Although"...
At which point Kevin pats his LSW and grins.
"...if there is a need for violence, I'm sure we will be more than capable of proving our superiority."

 

The Squad halt a short distance from the road, through their NV gear they see the two men casually strolling into view. Obviously very complacent, convinced that the good guys won't be trying anything against their "superior" foe. A minute passes and the men wander off back down the road towards the town. Sigma get up as one and continue undetected on their way once the men are out of sight.

 

John stays low as the patrol passes by. He glances occasionally towards his two companions, making sure neither of them will break the cover. Despite having heard about both of their extensive experimce, you can never tell with people. As he waits he silently curses whoever it was who put a small group of unknowns together without any proper team training first - how can you rely on your squad to have your back when you hardly know them.

As the patrol moves on John motions to the other two to continue down the road.

 

Miguel waits for the patrol to pass, wondering why the three of them had been sent on a mission against such numerical superiority without any known support. If the higher-ups were sure enough there were no civilians, why not just bomb the post?

On John's sign he rises slightly and takes point again, checking the eastern horizon. ((How much time do we have until sunrise?))

 

Kevin follows keeping an eye out for trouble.

The mission seems simple enough but at the back of his mind is the knowledge that the simplest missions usually go fatally wrong more often...

 

0615 - East of target.

It was not far to village and the ease of moving down the road enabled the squad to move relatively quickly. It seemed that the earlier patrol had decided to take a different route and were not seen again.

As they moved further down the road each team member brought to mind the map of the town they had seen in the briefing, each starting to realise slowly how badly planned this whole mission seemed to be...




Just so you know guys (probably something I should have sorted out way back) Rotku is carrying a couple of explosives, you all have 4x scopes on your weapons, and don't worry about counting bullets we can assume you have enough ammo for whatever you require just remember to reload every now and then.

 

After a short while walking, John motions them to stop and crouches down just off the road.

"Alright. Before we go on, let us work out our approach." He pulls their map out ((I assume we have one, whether digital or hard)) and sets it out for them all to see. "I make our position about here, yes? And this is our primary target. My suggestion is that we cut directly south through here, across the fields". As he speaks, his finger travels along the map, showing his suggested path. "Once we hit the road, we continue down it to the crossroads ((Point 3)), then cut South-East to a position just below the house here ((the house been Point 4)). From there we can assess the situation and go from there. Thoughts?"

 

Miguel turned back to face the others, and squatted. "OK. We will need to pay attention to the lone building northeast of the target - that is the house you mean, right - it looked like a good place to put guards. Afterwards maybe go southwest and circle the primary objective so we keep on the southern side of the village ? If we are very lucky, we may not even get spotted. If not... well, we are in deep trouble." he says, frowning. Whoever had the idea of sending only the three of them without any support needed to spend some time actually fighting in this war himself.

 

John nods.

"A astute observation, Aleza. We clearly do not have the forces to deal with any form of assault. Our only option is to sneak in, take out the objectives then get out of there as fast as we can." He pauses for a few moments before nodding. "Yes, I do like your suggestion of south. It has a lot going for it." He looks up at Kevin. "Anything to add, Bates?"

 

Kevin studies the map.

"In theory sounds good Staff Seargeant. Only problem I can see is if they have laid IEDs or mines along the road to hinder any assault on the town. Conversely they might have laid them in the fields assuming any assaulting force would come cross country."

Kevin shrugs.

"Who understands these terrorist scum. I'll go with the road. At least it'll be faster so we can get out of this s***hole."

 

Miguel nods, then looks at Gregory. "Speaking of IEDs, staff sergeant, you were trained in demolition, right? It might be better if you take the lead from here."