“We’ll have free reign to get what we need, then the patrol will have a look to see what they can take back, both for their unit and for themselves. They don’t know when they’ll be back here since it is a way away from the safe zone, and it seems a shame to leave so much kit here, after all.” Lance started scanning each row of shelving as he walked down the hangars. They were set up so that each operator had a small aisle of open storage to themselves and each had obviously kept a few sets of plate carriers, vests, boots, packs and weapons on their shelves. The ‘golf cart’ concept flicked back into Dan’s mind, but he was still amazed at how much equipment was available. There was a standard infantry company’s worth of weapons and armor in here for just over a squad’s worth of guys.
“Here,” Lance said, pulling out a plate carrier from the fourth aisle and handing it to Julia.
“It’s medium but can be tightened to fit you. It isn’t made for women, though, so it won’t be the comfiest.”
Julia pulled it on.
“Fine by me,” she said. “Better than the old Velcro-down-the-front interceptor I had to wear in Iraq. This mightn’t be made specifically for women but at least it’s made for humans. I don’t think my interceptor was made for anyone on this planet, judging by how it used to fit.”
Lance pointed to some packs on the top shelf.
“These guys are using Eberlestock packs, which are pretty good. Try and find one with the weapon sleeve insert in it, like this one here.” Lance indicated a large, coyote tan pack with a compartment allowing a rifle to be carried next to the wearer’s back. It took Dan a minute to find one and when he hauled it down he realized it was already packed. He took it back to the other two.
“We’ll leave everything in them – they will have a few sets of gear and 24 hours worth of rats and water, which we can use.” Dan saw that he had sourced Julia her own pack, too, similar to theirs but without the rifle sleeve.
“Right, we need to source a few things. Dan, try and find two 7.62 SCAR rifles. Julia, try and find the grab-bags these guys had ready and grab us some pistols if you can find any. Haul it all in back here and we’ll check and sort it together.”
The first SCAR was easy but it took Dan a little over five minutes to find the second SCAR-Heavy – it seemed, from the gaps in most racks set up for the fire-team marksmen, that most had opted to take their along with them when they went north to Denver. Both of the 7.62mm SCAR-H’s he found were fitted with variable-magnification Leupold sights already fitted and a rifle carry-case with additional ancillaries and pre-loaded magazines. He shouldered the cases and grabbed a rifle in each hand before moving back to Lance.
Lance already had a pile of equipment in front of him. He’d grabbed a few soldiers from the patrol to help him haul it in, and there was a lot of it. He smiled at Dan. “Like Christmas, only less politically correct.” Dan dropped his bags and placed the rifles on the ground.
“Right, I’ve made a few decisions for us but feel free to sing out if you’ve got thoughts or preferences to the contrary. I figured we’d swap our 416’s for some cleaned and oiled ones from the racks here, which already have M320’s on ‘em.” Lance was talking about the grenade launcher attached under the barrel of each carbine. They were a newer variant than the old M203 version Dan was used to, but they would still fire the same 40mm grenade out to 350 meters.
“We’ll carry the 7.62 battle rifles on our back, too, as a reserve if we need any heavier firepower. I don’t think we’ll be walking too far so I’d prefer to go in heavy, with options. We’ll fix them up with their ancillaries and stow them in our packs now.” Dan put his new HK416 alongside him and worked alongside Lance as he attached the few ancillaries that had been left off. The suppressor and collapsible bipod was already attached but Dan also clipped onto the piccatiny rails a hand-grip to help him fire the weapon from a standing position and a PEQ-15 night aiming device. His 416 already had a PEQ mounted to it as well, but this way he had redundancy on both rifles. A bit overkill Dan thought, but since they had the option then there was no reason not to.
Dan looked behind Lance and saw one of the same light machine guns that the Ranger’s squad had with them during their fight on Nevada Avenue.
“Should we grab a Mark 48, too?”
Lance shook his head. “Too heavy once you factor the 7.62mm belts we’d need to carry with it. Besides, we’ve got all the 7.62mm firepower we need here with the SCAR. Machine guns are only really useful when you need a heavy volume of fire to suppress an enemy force so that they can’t shoot back at you. Since hack isn’t shooting at us, we don’t need the rate of fire of the MG. Besides, the SCAR can fire on full auto if things get desperate.”
Dan nodded and followed Lance’s lead in slipping the SCAR into the weapon sleeve of his Eberlestock as Lance continued talking.
“Since we’re effectively the security for Julia and the air-crew tomorrow I figure we might as well carry some 40 mike on us, too. If you want you can swap your plate carrier for the grenadier’s one here, or if you like your set-up just transfer your pouches over like I’ll be doing with mine.” The plate-carrier Lance handed Dan had two rows of pouches full with small, spherical grenades that could be fired out of the HK416’s M320 launcher. Dan opened the pouches. Four High Explosive Dual Purpose 40mm grenades and 2 smoke grenades were in the pockets. Since the vest also had a similar set-up of shingle and utility pouches to carry a similar load as the plate carrier he had on he figured he might as well exchange them. There was also a padded MOLLE battle-belt next to the vest with another row of shingle pouches, able to stack both pistol magazines and rifle magazines against his hip without interfering with the wearing of his vest. Turning the belt further over Dan also saw that there was a pistol holster on the right hand side, a Gerber combat knife and a few flashbangs and smoke grenades staggered along the belt.
“There are thigh holsters, too, if you want them,” Lance called out, while refilling his own battle belt with extra magazines. “But I’d recommend going with the belt instead. You can carry more on them and they won’t impede your movement or tire you out like something weighing on your thigh will. I’ve never understood the desire to load up legs with kit, unless you aren’t walking anywhere and are just remaining with a vehicle.”
Julia returned, wearing her new vest and with three satchels. Lance nodded and looked them over in his hands.
“Maxpedition shoulder-slung satchels, but what’s best about these is their contents – they are already set up for grey-role work where the operator will be working low-key, normally in suits or civi gear so they don’t stand out. We can use all the stuff in here. Any luck with the pistols?” Julia slung a small bag she’d used to carry them through. In it were a number of Beretta M9 pistols, all with suppressors clipped on.
“We’ll take enough for ourselves since the pilots already have theirs, but we will keep the suppressors and extra magazines for them.” The ready reaction operator’s had kept their magazines fully bombed up with bullets, so every mag grabbed was already prepared for them.
“Julia, I’m not sure if you just want a pistol or if you want a long-arm to go with it. These HK416’s work just like the M4 or M16 you would have used when you were in the service. Over to you.”
“I’ll take it,” she said after a moment’s pause, picking up and inspecting the German-made carbine. Unlike the 416’s Dan and Lance had uplifted hers didn’t have the grenade launcher attached, but all three of them had suppressors attached and were painted in muted earth and tan tones, making them easily recognizable as special operation weapons.
“I’ve grabbed these for the Colonel and the L-T pilot,” Lance said, pulling out two shorter sub-machine guns that were slightly larger than the Beretta pistols but a lot shorter than the 416 carbines. Like the HK416 weapons these sub-machines guns were also made by Heckler and Koch in Germany.
“MP7,” Dan said, recognizing the box-like shape.
“Yep,” Lance said. ‘A pretty nift
y personal defense weapon. Fires a small 4.6mm bullet but it can fire them quickly and quietly, and despite their size they can still take out a man in body armor at 200 meters. Because of their size they’ll be perfect for the pilots and they’re easy to learn.
“There are only a few things I think we still need to do,” Lance continued. “We’ll want to load up our packs with an extra few MRE rations and Dan and I will grab some extra boxes of bullets, in case we need to reload out there. Also, there are some helmets there for you with night vision goggles and an integrated helmet and mike set-up that will click into the radios on your vest. One last thing – you both might want to swap your boots out for something harder wearing, if you can find a pair left in here in your size.”
Dan looked down at his Belleville desert boots. They were light-weight, designed for summer conditions and he’d already worn them down around the soles. In Afghanistan that wasn’t going to be an issue, as he’d be able to exchange them easily. Out here, though... Lance had a point.
“Try to find a pair of Lowa’s or Meindl’s if you can. They’ll be warmer and will last a hell of a lot longer.”
Dan was lucky and managed to find some already worn-in Lowa Desert Elite’s in the same shelves where the Mark 48 machine gunner was stacked. By the time he had swapped his footwear over Dan and Julia were standing by their bags and the soldiers from the security patrol were taking turns to exchange some of their own kit inside the storage hangars.
“Good to go?” Lance called. Dan stood up, testing how the new boots felt on his feet. They were a lot heavier and sturdier. While they would take a bit of getting used to, they also felt like they would last.
“All good,” Dan called back.
***
Scott and Hannah were waiting for them inside Fort Carson’s converted gym when they got back. The command post was still busy, but they had found themselves a spare table away from any of the other cells and had spread maps over it.
“We’ve done what we can by way of flight planning, but we’ll be unable to confirm how close to the factory can land until we actually get there. Julia has indicated the objective building to us, which we reckon is 200 meters by 90 meters, judging off the few aerial photos of the area we’ve got to hand.” Scott indicated a point on the map 10 kilometers to the North-East of central Boulder.
“The factory itself only has 50 or so car-parks near it so we’re hopeful that it won’t have been packed by hacks after Stalin hit. That’s the good news. The rest of the area is pretty industrialized and would have been busy, and there are suburbs on the southern and eastern side within a kilometer. I don’t know but the wider area could well be teeming with the infected, turned types. What’s worse is that there isn’t a fence around the factory so, while we are lucky in that we should have plenty of space for my squadron to land and load near the factory, it will be hell trying to secure it should the hack population want to rush us.”
Lance studied the map and grimaced.
“My plan,” Hannah piped in, “is to put the Lakota on top of the objective. That is, I’ll try and land on factory roof itself. It is risky,” she shrugged, “but that way I can get in and switch off quickly, and we should be pretty secure up there. We’ll be close to the Lakota when we need to get comms back to the rest of the squadron and it will be in a perfect position if we need to escape back onto the roof and fly to safety.”
“Assuming we don’t fall through the roof itself,” Lance said, looking at the maps and photos. “Otherwise, I think you’re right and we can be pretty secure from up top there.”
Julia used a pen to point to the North-Eastern corner of the building. “Our better bet is to land on the roof of this building, here, which is right next to the factor. The factory roof is sloped, while this building’s roof from memory is flat. The two buildings are connected by an interior corridor about fifteen meters long as they’re used by the same firm. Even the corridor building is pretty tall, though, so we’d need a ladder to get back up.”
Lance paused, thinking the options through, then nodded. “If you’ve got any rope with you we’ll take it, but there should be some form of access for utility and maintenance workers we can use to get on and off the roof. In the worst case we’ll rip off one of the air con ducts and smash our way through the ceiling. What instructions have you given your 2I/C if they don’t hear from us?”
Scott had an answer ready. “We’ve got some sat-phones to take with us with the S6 signals cell here monitoring a base set, but if they’re not working we can jump on the Lakota’s comms suite and call back in. My guys are planning on the more dangerous course of action whereby they have to fight their way into a hot LZ and secure everything, and they’ll only change to the less fuel-intensive soft-landing option if we tell them to do so. If they don’t hear from us they will come in regardless and will improvise while expecting to have to fight every step of the way. I’ve told them the mission is paramount, though, and even if we vanish they are to proceed.”
Julia spoke up again. “One of the Carson-based engineers, an Army Captain, will be heading in with them so he will be able to identify the basic equipment needed if I’m not there. He will only be able to get the basics, though, and I’d much rather have the opportunity to go through the factory floor and pull out anything that could prove useful with a bit of tinkering.”
“OK,” Lance nodded. We’re going in and trying to gain an advantage by getting eyes on the ground early, keeping ourselves secure with stealth and keeping things low key. Once we get in let’s get the helicopter quieted down ASAP, and we’ll confirm the move to the objective after that. If anything goes wrong our default actions on will be to move back onto the roof and reassess from there.”
Dan felt like he was a passenger within the team without much to offer. Planning a mission using a small team seemed like second nature to Lance, who just rolled through the options and tasks they needed to do. He took some comfort from the fact that the helo Colonel, Scott Galatchi, wasn’t fazed by letting a Sergeant plan and run everything. In situations like this experience counted more than rank, and Lance was clearly the man they needed to pull it off.
“That is everything sorted, then. After this I’ll run you through the gear we’ve got for you and we’ll find a place to test-fire and zero our weapons. Then, I guess, we rest up and wait for 0900 tomorrow.”
***
By six o’clock that evening they had check-zeroed their weapons, ensuring that the sights were dialed in for the respective firer. It was easiest for the MP7s with their short-range holographic sights, and the pilots found the submachine guns intuitive and easy to shoot. The ACOG sights on the HK416’s and the variable-power sights on the SCAR-H’s would have proven more difficult but Dan and Julia were skilled enough to be able to group their rounds tightly against a target and, with a few adjustments to the sight dials, they confirmed that their rifles would put rounds against the same point they were seeing through the sights. They didn’t bother with the pistols but they did ensure all pistol sights were centered and the pilots were given suppressors and extra magazines for their M9 Beretta’s. The beds Dan and Lance had crashed in earlier that day were part of the break-out room for those working in the command post, but Scott made sure they were looked after and had meals delivered for them and stretchers set up in the cramped quarters his unit was lodged in.
The meal itself consisted of pre-cooked sausages, meat patties and onions cooked on a barbeque accompanied by stale bread, but to Dan and Lance it was the best thing they had eaten in days. Judging from the portions everyone around them had, someone had managed to get them a double portion each and they both appreciated and needed it. Hannah checked on them before they had finished.
“Everything alright?” she asked, throwing them each a couple of ketchup sachets. She was quite attractive, Dan realized, with her dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. She didn’t stand out from a crowd as being a beauty but she definitely had her charms. ‘Cute’ was probably
the word for her, he thought. She could also fire a submachine gun with relative ease, which was more important for their task tomorrow, but nevertheless Dan couldn’t help himself enjoying her presence.
She promised to ensure that they had breakfast delivered for them tomorrow at seven thirty, and told them they could sleep in to then. We must look shattered, Dan thought, looking at the stubble and dark rings around Lance’s eyes. Perhaps it would have been better to delay this mission by a day so we could be properly rested, but Lance was right – they didn’t know what was happening out there, so best strike while they can.
Before Hannah left she showed them where the ablutions and shower block was located. Both men washed and changed into a clean set of fatigues from their pack, Lance ditching his jungle set for the regular light tan-and-green multicam variant, but neither shaved. Regulations seemed over-rated when you were about to go on a desperate bid to secure the Fort’s future. The few days worth of growth also helped Dan and Lance stand out. With their painted weapons and light beards they were being treated with respect by those around them. Without them they would be just another Sergeant and Captain, and would probably have been asked to jump on guard duty or help out on a cleaning roster or do something equally routine.
Dan had taken off and placed his new Lowa boots next to his stretcher and was staring at the ground when Lance sat next to him, pulling out his beer.
“Still got yours?” he asked. Dan had to fish into one of the outside pockets of his pack before he could pull it out. The bottle was warm to the touch but he could see a few other men inside the room glance somewhat enviously at it. Lance had his Leatherman out and used it to pry off both tops. They chinked the edges of their bottles and took a sip. The beer was far from cool and had been shaken a lot during the day but, regardless, it still tasted refreshing.
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