First Strike

by Richard Turner

The word that one of the four-man teams was overdue didn’t come as a total surprise to Sheridan. He had planned for the possibility of losing at least one team. There were still enough enhanced explosive charges carried in the packs of the young Marines he had with him to flatten an entire city block. With the twelve Marines plus himself and Cole, Sheridan was confident they could knock out the jamming site as planned. He grabbed a hot drink and sat down with Cole away from the other Marines. Sheridan quickly outlined his plan of attack on the compound.

  Cole liked the plan; it was simple yet effective. In his experience, the more complicated the plan, the greater the chance of something going wrong.

  “Until we destroy the jammers, I guess we’ll just have to assume that Garcia and Roberts managed to lead their teams to safety,” said Sheridan.

  “They may be young, but they’re good soldiers,” said Cole. “They’ll get their people where they need to go.” With that, he stood up and went to fetch them both some food.

  Sheridan checked the time. They had four hours to wait until they had to move out to attack the enemy position. He rooted around in his jacket pocket until he found some crackers. While he munched on his snack, Sheridan studied the faces of the people he was going to lead into battle. Unlike them, he had at least seen combat and knew what to expect. He chuckled to himself when he realized that he was still relatively new to the business of war. What a difference a couple of months can make in a person’s life, thought Sheridan.

  Cole returned and handed Sheridan a warmed-up ration. “Here, sir, eat this. You may not feel like eating, but your body needs the calories to keep you going in the cold.”

  Sheridan took the food and thanked Cole. “I hope the missing team knows to head back to the capital now that they’ve missed the rendezvous timing.”

  “Your orders were quite specific. They’re either on their way back or are dead. There’s nothing you can do about it, so I suggest you put them out of your mind until this is all over.”

  “Sergeant, when we step off, I want you on the far right-hand side of the assault force. If any Chosen soldiers or their Kurgan officers try to make a run for it, kill them. I don’t want anyone who may know how to work these jammers surviving the attack.”

  Cole nodded. He had anticipated Sheridan’s order. He would have given the same one if he had been in the young officer’s place.

  As night fell, the weather turned bitterly cold. A strong wind came from the north whipping the falling snow into a swirling maelstrom.

  Sheridan called his three team leaders to him. “Okay, we attack in five minutes’ time. Sling your Kurgan rifles and use your silenced pistols during the initial assault. I want two explosives charges per tent or vehicle. When you see a red pen flare fired up into the air, that’s your signal to withdraw. Move back in pairs to the RV and for God’s sake, don’t leave a man, dead or wounded, for the enemy to find. Everyone makes it back here, or none of us does.”

  At the edge of the forest, Sheridan dropped to one knee, brought up his binoculars and studied the position one last time. He saw through the blowing snow four Chosen soldiers walking back and forth on the perimeter of the camp with their heads down. They looked unimpressed to be outside in the cold. He lowered his binoculars and placed them away. Sheridan looked at his people waiting in a long line for the signal to advance. Sheridan took a deep breath to calm the growing feeling of anxiety in his chest.

  There was nothing more they could do. It was time.

  Sheridan stood up. With his silenced pistol in his hand, he walked straight toward the center of the Kurgan installation. His teams quietly spread out and walked to their intended targets. When he was within ten meters of the nearest guards, one of them saw him and called out for him to stop. Sheridan ignored the warrior and kept walking. The soldier called out again and then reached for his weapon slung over his shoulder. Sheridan brought up his pistol and dropped the soldier and his partner before they could react. He stepped over their lifeless bodies and kept walking toward the main tent he had eaten in earlier. He watched as two of his men silently shot down a couple Chosen warriors before tossing their prepared charges under a long vehicle with several large antennas and dishes on its roof. They now all had ninety seconds to do what they had to before the charges detonated.

  Sheridan pulled open the flap to the tent and stepped inside. It was like stepping into a furnace. Several heaters turned on full blast warmed the room. His arrival didn’t stir anyone away from the warmth of the radiators. It was as if he was invisible. Sheridan couldn’t believe his luck. He quickly moved to one side, reached into his jacket and pulled out his charges. He flipped the safety switch to armed and dropped the explosives behind him. He counted down in his head. When he figured he had less than thirty seconds until the charges went off, he brought his pistol from behind his back and started shooting. With the image of Eve hanging lifeless from a tree in his mind, Sheridan yelled at the top of his lungs at the soldiers. He was going to exact his revenge. The first to die were the Kurgan officers followed by any Chosen, who went for their weapon. He kept firing as he edged backward for the opening. With their officers dead, the Chosen soldiers seemed to hesitate, unsure what they should do even though there was an enemy in their midst firing on them, killing them.

  A second later, he was outside. He dug out his pen flare, pointed it up into the night sky and fired it. With a pop, the flare opened up over the installation. Sheridan could see in the red light of the flare his people moving back. It was all going to plan when all of a sudden automatic gunfire erupted from outside of one of the vehicles. Sheridan turned his head just before the flare burnt out and saw a couple of his people fall. With a curse on his lips, Sheridan ran to help. He heard another burst of gunfire, only this time it came from some of his Marines. By the time he arrived by the two fallen soldiers, Cole and another man were already there, bending over to pick up the casualties.

  “Cover us,” called out Cole as he tossed Sheridan his rifle.

  Sheridan grabbed the weapon, checked that it was on full-auto and fired off a long burst into a couple of Chosen soldiers who had run out into the night trying to stop them.

  A second later, a loud explosion tore through the camp. Bright orange and red flames leaped up into the sky, lighting up the installation. Several more powerful detonations rocked the night as vehicles and tents vanished in a wall of fire.

  Sheridan jogged beside Cole and the other Marine as they carried their casualties into the swirling snow and safety. They soon entered the woods. Sheridan ran ahead, pushing the branches out of the way so the men following him with their wounded comrades wouldn’t be struck by them. Behind them, the last couple of charges went off destroying more of the installation and its jammers. A couple of minutes later, Sheridan stepped out into a small clearing. The rest of his people were already there waiting for him. A Marine with combat first aid training saw the two casualties being carried in and ran to help.

  Sheridan reached into a pocket and pulled out a small radio. He turned it on. With a grin on his unshaven face, he said to Cole, “We did it. We have a signal.” He quickly contacted divisional headquarters in the capital said, “Tarawa.” The code word for success.

  “Sir, Hebert is dead and Kim has a stomach wound,” reported Cole.

  “Damn,” snapped Sheridan. “Any other casualties?”

  “None to worry about. Allen and Charles were grazed by enemy gunfire, but they’ll be okay after they’ve been bandaged up and given some painkillers. Sir, without immediate medevac, I don’t think Kim’s going to last the night.”

  Sheridan shook his head. He’d hoped to pull his mission off without any casualties. He was about to say something when the clearing was suddenly lit up as bright as daylight from above.

  “Run!” yelled Sheridan just as a missile fired by a Kurgan drone struck the ground, exploding. Three Marines were killed by the blast, their broken bodies tumbling across the frozen ground. Sheridan’s people scattered and ran
for their lives.

  Cole and Sheridan stopped under a tall fir tree and looked up into the dark, trying to spot the drone. The sound of another missile streaking through the air made both men duck. A split second later, another warhead exploded nearby killing more of the already hammered team. Sheridan knew they had to do something about the drone before they were all systematically hunted down and killed.

  Cole looked over at Sheridan, “Sir, do you have any more flares?”

  “Yes,” replied Sheridan as he pulled out his pen flare launcher.

  “Okay, when I tell you, I want you to fire it straight up in the air.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Cole said, “I’m going to see if this Kurgan rifle grenade launcher is as good as ours.” With that, he checked that there was a grenade in the tube and brought the rifle to his shoulder. He took careful aim at the drone as it hovered above the clearing searching for a new target to engage.

  Sheridan held out his pen flare.

  “Now, sir,” said Cole calmly.

  The flare shot up into the night. The drone took the bait and moved directly toward the light. Cole held his breath and gently pulled back on the trigger. With a loud pop, the grenade shot out of the launch tube and soared straight up into the belly of the drone. With a loud boom, the drone blew apart.

  “Watch out,” said Sheridan, pushing Cole to one side as the burning debris rained down where they had been standing.

  Both men looked over at the heap of metal and electronics as it burnt. They knew they were lucky to be alive.

  Sheridan said, “Come on, Sergeant, let’s see how bad we’ve been hurt before another drone makes its way over here.”

  The casualty count stood at seven dead and two walking wounded. Cole bent down and began to pull the ID discs from the dead bodies.

  Sheridan looked over at the shaken survivors. “Leave the dead where they are. We have no choice; we’ll have to come back another time to get their bodies. Sergeant Cole will divide you into two groups. Each one will look after one of the wounded soldiers. You are to make your way back to the capital while Cole and I link up with Garcia and Roberts’ detachments in the hills overlooking the Kurgan lines.

  When the last of the soldiers vanished from sight in the falling snow, Sheridan looked over at Cole. “How far do you think we’ve still got to go?”

  “Ten klicks, maybe.”

  “Well, I guess we had best get moving before the sun comes up.”

  Together they made their way through the thick woods, keen to avoid any more contact with the enemy. Above them, the battle that would decide the fate of Derra-5 was about to begin.

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