Krieger Platoon

by Jay Ivanovich

  A light above the door began to blink red, indicating the drop zone was approaching fast. Cholius stared all of the trainees in the eye and then shouldered his rifle. “We jump when that light goes green… Keep an eye on your altimeter and follow the infrared markers on your team mates backs. You will all be fine, trust me.”

  They had to do things fast and make sure the trainees didn’t have much time to think. Thinking could lead to hesitation, and hesitation then leads to fear. Fear destroys rational thinking, and that’s when all kinds of bad things happen. Matt shuffled to the door and took a hold of the overhead railing. Likewise, shouting over the deafening wind. “Line up behind me, single file! I’ll jump first! Follow me straight out! Do not bunch up!”

  The squad slowly shuffled over, as Cholius took up the very rear of the group. The trainees stood anxiously in silence, their eyes fixed on the light as it continued to blink red for another thirty seconds…and then a minute…before finally flashing to green and holding steady.

  “GO GO GO!” Matt jumped head first out of the cabin door, and immediately twirled around to see the rest of the team jump. He counted, three…four…six…seven, ok all there. Hopefully nothing goes wrong…

  All sound from the helicopter engines vanished and was replaced entirely by the relentless rush of air, followed closely in suite by the aircraft’s lights fading into the abyssal backdrop of the night sky. In all directions were shadowy wind-swept dunes, spanning a seemingly endless distance. Jagged mountains ranges reached up into the sky from below the darkened horizon to the North West, to which the larger of the two moons, Phobos, began setting behind in its rapid orbit.

  As Matt carefully scanned the horizon for any sign of human activity, he caught a glimpse of a loom of light just beyond a small canyon to the east. Though it was most likely a corporate mining facility, since it really was in the middle of nowhere, he’d make a mental note of its location. Matt snapped his focus downward as he caught a glance of something else...a structure maybe, directly below them.

  He adjusted his zoom and activated the night vision feature in his combat HUD; an outdated but still very valuable set of impact and shatter resistant goggles with a built in Heads up Display. It was complete with Friend or Foe identification, 8 times magnification ability, a compass, temperature readings, and a wide variety of small features to make a soldiers life easier. All except a clock, which didn’t make much sense, but that’s why the combat goggles are outdated.

  He began scanning all around in a slow and meticulous manner… Yep he knew it, there was some sort of abandoned settlement only a few yards from their landing zone. This definitely wasn’t coincidence.

  He checked his altimeter, one-thousand feet and falling steady; 900… 800… 700… 600… 500! His chute deployed and he was jerked about by the familiar and very sudden decrease in speed. Matt gained positive control of his descent, and steered directly toward a soft looking mound of sand. He quickly bent his legs at the knee, angled himself sideways, and rolled into a relatively soft landing.

  Just as he started to pull in his excess chute, the rest of the team began to land all around him, one after the other. Most did fairly well, but one of the trainees was obviously struggling to control his chute and landed dangerously hard into the side of a dune, sending a small plume of sand up all around him. That couldn’t be good…

  Cholius and several of the trainees rushed over toward the crash to ensure the jumper was ok… Other than being shaken and sore, Private Kazowski turned out to be just fine.

  No bad at all… for new recruits that is. Matt checked his rifle again, ensuring it was clear of debris, then re-slung it on his shoulder as the team regrouped on his position. Cholius pulled up a map of the region on his wrist coms display, and then spoke in a whispered tone. “Everyone listen! Our objective here is to recon and secure the town we saw on the descent. Two Bravo will take the South West Corner, we will take the North West. Move in on my signal, two clicks for ready, three clicks for go.” Cholius clicked his radio twice, and then three times to explain what he meant. The soldiers all nodded to acknowledge. “Ok, be safe and let’s get this done.”

  Shake gave Matt a friendly shoulder shove and whispered sarcastically. “Team Two! Where the party never stops!” Matt shoved him back. “More like team badass.”

  Ramirez raised his hand, prompting Matt to grunt a quiet laugh. “Don’t raise your hand buddy, just ask away.”

  “Are we gonna have pancakes for breakfast?” Evidently he was trying to be funny.

  Lee immediately punched Ramirez in the shoulder and then stared at him irritably. Ramirez flashed him a stunned look, but realized the joke hadn’t had the desired effect on anyone.

  Cholius and Matt exchanged disappointed looks, to which Cholius responded to by kicking Ramirez firmly in the boot. “Be quiet and stay alert! We aren’t in friendly territory anymore!” The trainees became silent and shifted uneasily from the scolding, as the reality of their situation began to sink in even more. Cholius waited to ensure the trainees had stopped the horse play, then signaled to Matt. “Let’s move.”

  Cholius and Two Alpha disappeared off in the opposite direction, as Matt crawled up to the crest of the dune and began flipping from traditional night vision, to thermal, and then back to normal vision. Not a light or thermal reading in sight. The town was being swallowed by the desert, with most of the building being covered in sand, and abandoned for years by the looks of it; wonder why Bag picked this spot?

  The rest of Two Bravo slowly crawled up next to him and likewise stared out at the abandoned town. There was an old rusted water tank, almost entirely buried by sand, about 20 or so yards away, and from there they were only about 15 yards from the first building on the far outskirts of the town. It became apparent that the settlement was not as big as it looked from the air. None of the buildings were taller than 1 story, and there couldn’t have been more than 2 or 3 streets at the most, though there were a lot of dark windows and most of the doors were either missing completely or sealed up with metal barriers. Lots of potential ambush areas… Matt clicked his radio twice, signaling to Cholius that his team was in position.

  A harsh wind began to pick up from the East, cascading small streams of sand down from the crest of the dunes. The team could now see their breath, even without the heat imaging on, and the surplus field jackets, gloves, and neck wraps could only keep you so warm for so long. Shake checked the temperature on his wrist coms… 11 degrees Fahrenheit. Could be worse… The sun was coming up in a few hours…. Not that it would help all that much. He could already feel his fingers begin to lose their warmth even through the gloves. Welcome back to the suck…

  Three clicks came over the radio from Cholius team, just as Matt likewise readjusted his neck wrap and covered his face up to his nose with it. “I hope you all wore your thermals… Ok, here’s how it’s going down. I’ll move first… Once I get into position I’ll signal the next person to come to me. Once they’re in cover and set, the next person will come, and so on. This is called bounding...something you should have been taught in basic.”

  He sincerely hoped they were taught that… The squad all acknowledged with nods and some with the thumbs up, to which Matt nodded in kind. “Shake, I want you on our six. Make sure everyone makes it over alright.”

  “Got it.” Shake replied as he rubbed his nose to return warmth to it.

  Matt slowly crawled back up to the crest, took a deep breath, and then sprinted silently over to the water tank; dropping to one knee and leaning backwards against it as he stopped. He leaned out from around the tower, carefully scanning for movement, and then signaled the next person with a cutting hand movement.

  Kazowski ran right up over the dune as fast as he could, making a little more noise than he should have, then dropped haphazardly next to Matt. He looked nervous as all hell and his eye movement was a little frantic, so Matt couldn’t be too hard on him or it would just make things worse. “Not bad, but it’s about mov
ing quickly AND silently. Always be prepared for a possible ambush. Take up a position behind me and watch our six.” Kazowski gave the thumbs up, as Matt motioned to the next soldier.

  Hawkins was a little better about it noise wise, but he ran into the water tank on arrival and made a fairly loud thump. Matt tensed up and carefully listen for any sound that could indicate an enemy presence…but it was nothing but wind. Satisfied that they were safe for the moment, he sighed. “Hey, you did pretty well but you need to be quiet. If the enemy hears us, it’s over.”

  Hawkins didn’t have a sign of worry on his face what so ever, in fact he looked almost bored…which could be just as dangerous. He whispered in reply. “Alright…sorry.”

  Matt signaled Shake last, who gave a quick look around and began to run over to the team, but stopped dead in his tracks and dove straight into the lowest point in the dune, as a bright red flare soared up into the sky near their position. Holy shit!

  Matt cursed under his breath, and motioned to his team. His voice now sharp and stern. “Stay down and be quiet! Don’t move!” Dark shadows rolled across the sand as the red illumination from the flare blanketed the entire area with an uncomfortable revealing aura. After what seemed like an eternity, the flare sank into the sand and extinguished itself. Matt remained motionless as the darkness and muteness of the town returned. Radio silence aside, he had to risk calling Cholius for that. He keyed the radio. “Two-Alpha, this is Bravo.”

  There was silence. He tried again. “Two Alpha, this is Bravo.”

  Cholius came through in a whispered growl. “Bravo, this is Alpha. Was that your flare?”

  Matt sighed in frustration, Cholius sounded equally as alarmed. Damn… “Negative, not ours, not ours…”

  “Roger that. Stay sharp, and continue on. Alpha out.”

  Matt cursed under his breath again. “Roger, out.” Then gently shoved Kazowski and Hawkins, and whispered. “Hey, shit just got real. We don’t know who’s out here, and we don’t know what to expect when we go in. Stay frosty, got it?”

  Both nodded, then went back to watching their sections with renewed concentration. Shake shrugged with a kind of ‘I don’t know’ expression to over to Matt, all the while still half submerged in sand. Matt gestured the same back, then carefully peeked out from around his cover and began a slow scan with his thermal visor. Nothing but the cold dark. He quickly signaled Shake over to his position, then raised his weapon to provide cover. It looked clear…hopefully was clear…

  Shake gradually got up into a low crouch, aimed his weapon downrange, and began sidestepping back to the team. He was just about halfway there when another flare was shot up, this time more toward the north side of town, and accompanied by the sound of automatic gun fire. Shake sprinted the last few feet and then dove into a defensive positon directly behind Kazowski. The gun fire ended as quickly as it began, and obviously wasn’t aimed toward any of them. However, that was right where Cholius’ team was supposed to be.

  Matt radioed to him promptly. “Two Alpha, this is Two Bravo. What’s going on over there?” A full minute of silence passed before Matt keyed it again. “Team Alpha, thi-”

  Cholius, in his ever calm and collected way, interrupted. “Two Bravo, we have been engaged by an unknown number of hostiles from the large office building at the center of town. We are moving to engage from the North side entrance, we need you to continue on from your current position to the West side. Breach and Clear. Over.”

  “Roger that, out.”

  Shake tapped Matt on the shoulder, drawing his attention. “Is this part of the training?” Though his cool tone said he wouldn’t be surprised by any answer.

  Matt shrugged in reply. “Two Alpha was just shot at. We’re moving to support. I guess we’ll find out then.”

  “Just saying, we don’t how many hostiles could be out here.”

  “Yeah...I realize that.” Matt carefully peered out from cover to plan their next movement. From what Matt could make out, the entire town was a long rectangular shape, with one main road running the center, and two smaller roads flanking either side. Their target building was smack in the middle of that, but from here he could only make out the western corner of it. Directly next to that was an alley they could use to get into position, but they would have to cross open road to do it. With shots being fired, that would be dangerous. Hmm…

  Matt turned and tapped Hawkins on the shoulder. “Hey, give me your smoke grenades.” Hawkins hesitated for a moment, but then unbelted both cylinder grenades and handed them to Matt. Matt tossed one to Shake and motioned him closer. “Throw yours in the center of the street, but more to the right side.”

  Shake leaned out from cover to see his target and then nodded in understanding. They then pulled both pins and tossed the grenades up and over the decrepit corner building closest to them, and almost perfectly in the center of the road.

  Matt counted down in his head as the smoke built up. 5…4…3…2…1…that should be good… “On me! Let’s go!”

  The team quickly progressed forward to the very edge of the decrepit corner building, stacking behind each other. Matt very gradually peeked out from the corner to ensure the street was fully engulfed in smoke, then turned back and motioned the thumbs up to his team. He carefully jogged across the smoke filled street to the opposite building, then slowly inched his way along the wall and forward up to the alley entry.

  Hawkins rushed up from behind and took up a defensive position, followed then by Kazowski and Shake, each about 5 seconds apart from each other. At once the team rounded the corner, weapons held at the ready, into the alley with the wall of the target building on their right. They walked single file along the wall, side stepping or ‘Pieing’ corners and windows as they passed, most of which were completely sealed up. Thankfully.

  The building had a set of doublewide doors about 15 yard ahead. Just by Matt’s head movement, Shake could tell that was going to be their entry point- A glass bottle suddenly glided across the alley from behind him and made a loud ping sound as it collided with the wall. Shake, as well as Kazowski and Matt in front of him, instinctively pressed up against the wall and froze. Shake’s body responded like it always did, with a sudden rush of adrenaline and anxiety that made his stomach feel like it was in his throat, and cleared his mind of all other thoughts.

  Shake relied on that exact response for moments like this, and used his heightened reaction time to instantly pivot with his weapon at the ready. However, the sight of Hawkins drooping his head in shame and holding up the OK symbol with his hand made it clear it was just a careless mistake... One that could have gotten Hawkins killed… Or worse, he could have just gave their entire position away.

  Matt motioned to Hawkins to fall back in, in a manner that clearly illustrated his irritation. Though a second later, more automatic fire screeched out from the other side of the building, followed by the very distinct low-pitched pop of several friendly M-21 Carbines as Two Alpha returned fire. Cholius’ team was sure getting all the heat…

  The obviously non-American staccato of automatic fire continued only briefly until it was silenced by the thud detonation of a grenade. Matt remained motionless against the wall, and carefully glanced back at the faces of the new trainees before making his next move. Shake was fine as always, the guy was a cool as ice under fire. He was glad he was working with him again. Hawkins was clearly on edge, but otherwise seemed fine. Kazowski on the other hand was almost hyperventilating from the looks of it, and his rapid eye movement illustrated the fear behind it all. Matt would have to talk to him after this, one on one. If the kid was going to be a soldier, he have to learn to control his emotions better. As he was, he wouldn’t be able to function properly.

  That would be much later though… Matt made a single gesture with his hand, then quickly closed the remaining distance to the door, and setup a breaching charge dead in the center. Matt clicked his radio twice to signal the team was in position, as the rest of the team fell in behind
him. What seemed like an eternity past until the acknowledging two clicks came over from Cholius, followed immediately by three more to signal the attack.

  Matt tilted his head toward the team and whispered. “Go on thermals.” He tapped the small push button on the side of his combat goggles, changing the reading from the full color spectrum, to black hot, to white hot. He looked back and gave the thumbs up until all members stopped adjusting their glasses, and acknowledged with their own thumbs up. Matt held up 3 fingers…2…1…he pulled the pin on the breaching charge and turned his head away from the door.

  A single flash of light and smoke blew a large hole in the center, and literally threw the door open. The team blitzed in without hesitation and began to sweep the first room, which looked like it had once been a dining room of sorts, along with a large table in the center and a dozen or so broken chairs lying about. The dining room opened up into a larger central hall with a full complement of broken windows and a bar spanning the length of the south wall. There were also two more sets of large doors on the west and north sides of the room, as well as a single slightly open, and very suspicious door behind the bar.

  A second breaching charge detonated toward the east side of the building, chased immediately by a group of four white-hot images rushing in, who Matt knew at once to be Cholius’ team. Matt gestured Shake and Hawkins toward the suspicious bar door, as he carefully leaned down and picked up a still warm rifle round casing from the floor. He turned his goggles to normal vision and activated the helmet mounted red lensed flash light to examine the casing. The 5.45mm label on the round immediately implied the round was…Russian? Clichéd bad guy…

  Cholius’ team finished their sweep and made their way over to the center of the room with Two Bravo. Matt and Cholius exchanged shrugs of equal frustration and unease, as they continued to scan about the room alertly. Where the hell were the hostiles?