Krieger Platoon

by Jay Ivanovich

  Cholius wasn’t so sure this technician had been entirely thorough. It had only been a few minutes… They had anticipated this would take a little bit longer time than that. “Are you sure it wasn’t one of your teams?”

  The tech shrugged. He’d done everything he could to figure this out, why were they questioning him so much? “As far as I know we were the only ones General Barsha sent. Also, I’m pretty sure Air Force technicians are the only ones that know how to work this system properly.”

  James crossed his arms on his chest and stared down at the sole working computer screen. Still said secured… Didn’t look like anything had changed. “How can you be sure it’s actually shutdown then?” He asked uncertainly.

  The tech suddenly looked annoyed, but stayed calm and professional. He was definitely telling the truth now though, not that he wasn’t before. “The first thing I checked was the status of the system. The data that was sent back showed that the entire hydra network was at 0% operable status, and pushed back into lockdown… It would be pretty difficult, if not impossible, to alter that information. You’d have to access all the separate hydra receivers and have them all in link unison, and know how to falsify the coding, and know how to-”

  Bag interrupted him with a dismissive wave of his hand. The tech was going into too way much detail now. “Ok, understood… So can you access security logs for the rest of the facility or was that fried too?”

  The technician glanced back at the work station and then shrugged. “No, that’s all on a separate server so it should be fine. Why?”

  Bag’s voice became very stern. “I want you to get a list of all the doors, hatches, windows, and everything else that’s been accessed in the last thirty minutes.”

  “Got it, Sir. I’ll just be a minute.” The tech turned and furiously type away at his wrist coms for what seemed like an eternity, then yelled out in success. “Got it! Ventilation Access hatch 05 was opened 8 minutes and thirty one seconds after the blast doors were opened. That’s the only recent entry in the log.”

  Jon passed Bag a serious stare. “We’re supposed to meet up with Bravo Team, remember?”

  Bag nodded. “I do, but whoever did all this is still here in the facility. No one outside of our group knows about this mission, let alone would want to take Hydra offline AND have the codes to do it. We can’t risk letting someone else have access to this thing, we need to capture them.”

  Jon thought about it for a moment, then let out a long sigh. “Fine…but if Bravo Team needs backup, and we’re not there, that’s on you…” He turned to the tech. “Ok, so where the fuck is Ventilation Access hatch 05?”

  The tech squinted his eyes oddly in thought, then went back to typing. “Hang on Sir… Ok…that’s on sub-level 5, silo bay number 2. The elevator in the lobby should be able to take you straight there.”

  Cholius uncrossed his arms and stood up straight. “8 minutes ago? They have quite the head start on us…”

  The tech interrupted in an excited exclamation. “Sir! New entry in the log! Surface entry hatch 9 has just been unlocked!”

  Bag nodded to the tech, then turned to the rest of the team very seriously. “Right! James, download the facility schematics from the tech, and set some charges on the core! Make sure no one uses this shit ever again! After that, meet us downstairs. Level 5… Everyone else, on me!”

  James nodded and called his team over to brief. Lieutenant Mitchel, the Air Force team commando had also been listening in and stopped Bag and Jon just short of leaving the control room. “You going after whoever did this, sir?” He motioned over to the dead NSWs.

  Jon grunted and was about to say growl something back, but Bag spoke first. “Yes we are.”

  Mitchel nodded. “We’re all curious about it ourselves. Mind if we go with you?”

  “That’s fine.” Bag shrugged, then called to the rest of the soldiers. “Let’s go Krieger!”

  Krieger and India team rushed into elevator, and descended deep into the facility below one group a time. When the doors dinged open, the teams immediately spread out and created a defensive semi-circle around the elevator doors without so much as a word spoken. Both India and Krieger suddenly seemed to be on the same wavelength. That was a nice change.

  They were on the ground level of the silo bay, and the massive columns of what they could guess was roughly 50 or 60 missiles, ascended up to the ceiling like rows of trees in a nuclear forest. The concrete facility was a long rectangular area similar with several floors of catwalks running the length of the room far above near the ceiling. The entire facility was well lit with bright LED lighting. Compared to the facility in Crystal City…this place was massive and a lot newer. Looked like it was finished not too many months ago…

  Jon carefully scanned the cat walks above them with his thermal visor, and around the ground floor where they were. He was not about to be ambushed again… “Everyone enable thermal on your visors…full color spectrum preferred.” He whispered hoarsely into his radio.

  The elevator dinged open behind them as the rest of Alpha and India team rushed out, James leading the way. “Bag, I got the schematics and the core is now on fire…and in pieces. We should be good.”

  Bag passed him an approving nod. “Roger that. Upload the schematics to the local file share, and send them to everyone…. Then take point and lead us to that hatch.”

  James uploaded the schematics to file share on his wrist coms, then did a quick check of his weapon and motioned the teams forward. “Joe…navigate for us.” He whispered back to him.

  Joe quickly pulled the schematic up on his own wrist coms, and then began passing quiet directions and hand gestures to James. India and Krieger team had two long, parallel lines of soldiers moving down the center of the facility. They hugged the safety railing next to the blast-catch pits of the missiles, and made sure to glance down in them for any awaiting hostiles. They moved a little slower than what would have been preferred, but that’s what happens when you have a lot of people.

  Sound both echoed, and seemed muffle within the place. The sound of rubber soles skidding across the rough concrete deck seemed to reverberate throughout the entire place. If anyone WAS here, they sure as hell knew Krieger and India were too… Just as the passed by the second to last missile, 49 of 50, Joe quietly tapped James and whispered. “Ok… The hatch should be on the far side…off to the left over there.”

  James slowly ‘pied’ his way around the last massive stalk, and toward the far wall of the facility. It didn’t take much time to notice the very open, man-sized ventilation hatch a few yards off. “Eyes open for traps…eyes on the cat walks…” Cholius breathed out quietly.

  James slowed his speed as he approached the open hatch, then began to ‘pie’ his way around until he had a clear line of sight down the vent. “Clear…”

  Jon immediately crouch walked into the vent, weapon leading the way, followed closely behind by Bag. “No time to waste, let’s go!”

  Mitchel glanced down at his watch, then back to Bag. “Sorry Colonel, but this is as far as we can go with you. We need to regroup with the rest of India. Our mission is to capture the traitors now.”

  Bag paused mid-way in. The thought of betrayal was a constant worry still, but now it seemed like India was actually trustworthy. Hopefully they were. “Alright, I appreciate that you stuck with us. Thanks for your help.” He replied genuinely.

  Mitchel nodded back politely. “Yeah, you guys take care of yourselves alright?”

  The team members passed a few quick nods of respect, but then Krieger went straight back to it and crouch walked as a team into the heart of the ventilation system. The cold metal air-ducts creaked and thumped loudly under their boots, and an artificially warm air was being pushed through around them. It was being blown from some far away heating system, whose large fans could be heard turning slowly in the distance.

  Jon paused for a moment as he turned a corner and entered a triple wide cross section. It seemed to be a l
arge hub where all the ducts came together…and not in any way that made sense. He pulled up the schematic on his wrist coms and began to scrutinize it. “Am I reading this shit upside down? Is it that one to the right…or the one further right?”

  Bag shrugged and likewise accessed the schematic. “Um…Damn. I don’t know. We could split up?” He supposed, equally lost.

  Jon shook his head, and flatly replied, “Fuck that, I don’t want to get separated down here.”

  Bag shrugged back again. “I don’t see how we have a choice. Look it’s either the one straight ahead of us, or off to the right. We split the team and rendezvous back if it doesn’t work. Shit, we could mark the cleared vents with tape or something.”

  James and Cholius waddled up behind the two, along with Joe who had given up trying to make sense of the massive network of vents a few minutes prior. James sighed quietly as he looked over Bag’s shoulder. “So…which one?”

  Jon passed him an annoyed expression. “Haven’t decided yet…”

  Joe waddled in front of the group to get a better look at the system, as the officers continued to argue amongst themselves. Joe deactivated his thermal visor, pulled up the schematic again, and then zoomed in on their approximate area. Hmm, it actually looked like either one would lead them to a ladder system that would take them to the surface. That and the surface entrance they were trying to find was in a long network of similarly…wait…what’s that?

  There was a shudder of something behind the holographic image on his wrist coms… but he couldn’t make out what it was. Joe squinted and stared down the tunnel to the right, but there was nothing there. He had definitely seen something though... He took hold of his rifle and flipped his visor back onto thermal…and almost immediately took a single mostly muffled bullet right under the chin strap of his helmet. Joe dropped to the deck, grasping at his throat and choking on his own blood.

  Cholius had heard the muffled thump of the bullet as it went through the metal wall, and immediately noticed Joe on the ground. “CONTACT! GET DOWN!”

  The teams dove down to the metal deck and aimed their weapons in the direction of every open vent they could see…but they couldn’t make out anything. There was nothing there! Cholius rushed over to Joe, and carefully turned him over and tried to assess his injury. “MEDIC! Willits! Get up here!”

  Jon growled in rage. “GOD DAMNIT! All of you watch the fucking vents!”

  Willits came charging through as fast as she could, and shoved Kabir straight down another vent. “MOVE! GET OUT OF MY WAY!” She crawled straight over to Joe, and tossed the large medical pack off her shoulders and onto the deck. Joe was bleeding heavily onto the deck from his neck, and was gurgling and struggling painfully to get air. She quickly examined the wound, and let out a deep breath and spoke very quickly as she began to dig for supplies. “The bullet passed right through his neck. It missed his spine, but I don’t know if it missed his jugular!”

  She quickly hit the back side of the wound with bio-seal, as James cautiously crawled over to his friend, and then dropped his head concern and let out a long sigh. “Damnit… Damnit Joe…”

  Willits grabbed James hand, shoved a large sterile bandage in it, and then directed it onto Joe’s neck. “Put pressure here! I might have to operate!” She barked at him.

  The enemy could still be around… This was not a good place to be. Cholius carefully wiped the blood from his hands onto his pants, raised his weapon, and then waddled closer to where the shot had come. On thermal, he noticed right away a single hot shell casing down the suspected vent with his thermal visor. “The shot came from this vent.”

  Bag immediately began crouch walking down the vent, weapon readied at the hip and on full automatic. “ALL TEAMS, ON ME! LET’S GO!”

  Cholius clasped James on the shoulder supportively. “Stay here with Willits. Take care of Joe.”

  James took a deep breath and snarled. “The fucking cowards! They couldn’t do a straight up fight because they are weak fucking losers! I’m going to put them in their damn place!”

  Jon turned and growled. “COME ON! MOVE IT!”

  The teams quickly regrouped behind one another as they moved as efficiently as they could through the vent. The vent was a straight shot past the initial turn, and soon the team had reached the very open vent exhaust panel. Beyond the panel was a concrete silo, with a ladder that ran straight up for 8 or so floors to the open surface escape hatch above. Light and dust was pouring in from the desert above, as they clustered up and came to a halt a few yards from the exit. Bag moved up slowly and quietly toward the open panel, and carefully peeked out from the vent only to instantly be shot at from at least several automatic weapons on the surface.

  Bag kicked himself backwards to get a safe distance away from the incoming fire, just as the firing stopped as a familiar conceited voice echoed down the silo. “Oh what do we have here? Let’s see, the last time we ran into each other… Oh yes, I shot one of your dear squad members in the head. Now, if I’m not mistaken I just added another to that tally.”

  Jon roared back at, completely pissed off. “What about you, dick head? What about the crony I emptied an entire clip into? Oh that’s right, I fucking killed him!”

  Sempra cackled. “Jon, I will truly miss you after I kill you. You are quiet entertaining.”

  “SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Jon bellowed.

  Sempra sighed loudly. “Always so charming…”

  Bag’s eyes narrowed and his voice became calm, but fiercely hateful. “Sempra, what are you doing here?”

  “Oh, a little of this and a little of that. But that aside, how are you doing today Bag? Not too well I can imagine… Is your chest feeling any better?”

  Bag fumed with absolute rage at the pure arrogance behind Sempra’s words. He hated him… He loathed him entirely! Bag took in a deep breath, and spoke in a calm and dead serious tone. “I will rip your jugular from your throat and drown you in your own blood…”

  Sempra hesitated for a moment. “Well…that isn’t the typical boy scout soldier thing to say. Actually I’m rather disappointed in you, for that and for being alive… You shouldn’t get so emotional over meaningless things, especially when they deal with ‘family’ members…”

  Bag screamed out in rage as he blind fired his weapon out of the vent. “I WILL FUCKING END YOU! I WILL ERASE YOUR FUCKING EXISTENCE! DO YOU HEAR ME?”

  A hail of bullets rained down from the surface as a response, forcing Bag to once again take cover. A few seconds after the firing had stopped, the whine of a drop ship’s engines echoed down into the silo as it took off and began to quickly speed away.

  “FUUUUUUUCK!” Bag began to slam the butt of his rifle against the metal wall, and verbally released his hatred in the form of a guttural scream. Cholius suddenly bellowed out, much to everyone’s shock due to his normally quiet and reserved demeanor. “Colonel Kirovich, I suggest you stop beating the wall… STOP RIGHT NOW, SIR!”

  Bag froze in place at the sudden outburst and immediately noticed all of his team members were silently staring at him, startled and very disturbed looks on their faces. Bag stared right back at them, still fuming in anger, and keyed his radio. “Krieger Air Wing, this is actual, do you read?”

  There was a moment of silence, before Dade came over the radio. “This is Air Wing, go ahead.”

  “Dade, I need an armed gunship and extract at my location…broadcasting coordinates now. We also have a drop ship leaving my area and I need you to get it marked on radar as a high value target… Where the hell are we by the way?”

  Dade remained silent for a good thirty seconds before responding chirpily. “Roger Bag, I got support moving to your position now, ETA 20 minutes. I’ll get back to you about the drop ship when I get some Intel on it. Oh, and you’re about 30 miles outside the city in the middle of the desert… Dade out.”

  Bag leaned back against the metal wall and tried not to make eye contact with any of his men, all of whom he could feel were judging
him harshly. Ramirez broke the moment of silence, hesitantly. “Colonel… Bag… Are you ok, Sir?”

  Bag glimpsed over to Jon, who glared back at him with a look of absolute disappointment, a disappointment that pierced straight into Bag and suppressed all other thoughts. Jon then simply turned his head away without a word. There was nothing to be said at this point, and Bag knew it. He’d let emotions dictate his actions and cloud his judgment, and put the team at risk. Joe had been shot, and here he was caught up in his own bull shit! He truly was selfish!

  Bag let out a long and pained sigh, removed his helmet, and dropped his gaze away. Well his actions proved without a shadow of a doubt, he really was losing it…and now everyone knew it… But at this moment he still had a job to do, he was still part of the team. Bag took in a deep breath and responded. “Yeah, I’m fine… Let’s go get Joe…”

  Chapter 27 – Pawn takes King

  President Clarkson sat beside his wife Shari, wearing a set lavish party blouse and skin tight pants with her blonde hair in curls, which Clarkson knew was all for the guests and not at all for him. They sat in the front row of the foldable metal chairs, along with a dozen other government officials, congressmen, and military advisors packed together on the large oval balcony of Congressional Hall. The balcony overlooked Jefferson Park, which was essentially a spacious private area of grass with an occasional tree that surrounded the building on all sides. Though normally the park was quiet and mostly unused by pedestrians; today was the Remembrance Day for all those who had died during the government bombing a few days prior. The patriotic crowds below had filled the entire park to capacity, and were anxiously awaiting for Mayor Francis to finish his opening remarks so the real event could begin. Well, Clarkson knew HE was…