Story Bravo Strike Pt. 2: Extraction

Bravo Strike Pt 2: Extraction


A soldier carrying an AK-47 assault rifle tromped down a game trail, whistling. His bandolier full of grenades and ammunition, he looked outfitted for war. Outfitted for war did not mean he was ready for the biggest, and final, surprise of his life.

There was a horrible tearing noise as Bacca slashed his combat knife down deep into the neck of the passing sentry. He quickly relieved the corpse of its explosives and arms, and handed the AK to a young man huddled in a bush inside the loose formation of Bravo Team.

“Do you know how to use this?” Bacca inquired.

The young man nodded, and cycled the bolt like a professional.

“Good. Stay close to our squad. Do as we do, and we will get you out of here alive.”



24 Hours Earlier. . .


“This is satellite imagery of a slave camp in eastern Vietnam.” The CIA spook began. “This is a major base for a crime syndicate dealing in drugs and human trafficking.”

“What does this have to do with us, exactly sir?” Bravo’s sergeant, Snail asked, exasperated.

“We were planning on infiltrating this compound through covert means, and removing their top leaders. Twelve hours ago, our inside agent went dark. Four hours ago, we found his body dismembered twenty miles from the compound.”

“Thats nasty. . .” One of the new recruits muttered.

“Cut the chatter.” Snail snapped. “So what’s our objective?”

“Infiltrate the compound, free the captives, and bang out as quietly as possible. We don’t know if they’re expecting us, or they’re plain and utterly stupid. We hope for the latter.”

“We can handle it, sir.” Bacca spoke up. The rest of Bravo Team nodded in agreement.

“So when do we leave?”

“Right now, son. Right now.”


12 Hours Earlier. . .


“Contact! Back right! Back right!”

Bacca looked to where Snail was calling and raised his P90 to drop the hostile man, who had been preparing to throw a hand grenade into the midst of Bravo Team. He then turned and pumped another burst through an already wounded adversary, who had been crawling towards his rifle.

“RPG! COVER!”

The grenade blew two of Bravo’s rookies off their feet, and Bacca grimaced at the sight. The explosive had detonated only a yard away from the pair, ripping them apart. Snail jumped across a log, and collected the men’s tags, along with a few grenades and magazines of ammunition.

Bacca dashed over, and slid the final ten feet through the firefight to come to a rest next to Snail. Snail passed Bacca the pair’s single MSR, and Bacca accepted gratefully.

“See if you can thin the attackers a bit, while I head further east to call for evac.”

“You got it.” Bacca replied, and then went to work.

The Remington .338 Lapua MSR was a beautiful, all purpose weapon. It could waste enemies at medium to long range, and on Bacca’s own rifle, which he had left back at base, he had a red dot sight mounted on the side, so he could simply twist the rifle over, and it would become a close-quarters weapon.

Bacca dropped a man preparing to fire another RPG, then removed a hostile manning the .50 cal mounted on a Technical. He then removed four more men spraying away with assault weapons, then was forced to take cover as another RPG shrieked through the air.

“Fall back with the captives! Escape and evade tactics!”




Present


Bravo team was now making their way quite slowly through the forest to Snail’s position, where they would be able to call in air support and extraction. There were search parties combing the forests for Bravo and the escaped captives. There were about sixty total, five having been lost to stray bullets and RPG rounds.

“Snail, you still there?”

“Still here bro. Waiting for you guys.”

“Roger. Approaching your position now.”

Bacca crept up slowly to Snail, where he was watching the surrounding landscape with his Skull Crusher. He was filthy, covered in mud, dirt, and blood, though Bacca suspected that he wasn’t looking much better.

“I think we should head for that cliff up there. We would have the uphill advantage, and air support could easily be called.”

“I suppose so.” Snail paused. “How is everyone?”

“TIred, exhausted, and entirely devoid of hope.”

“Well, let’s give them some then.”

Four more hours, and Bravo along with the escaped captives reached the cliff. Bacca had never had a more beautiful sight.

“InterSpecCom, this is Sergeant Snail, requesting immediate medevac and extraction. Authorization code Bravo Romeo Alpha Whiskey Lima 3925

“Sergeant, authorization code confirmed. Air support inbound.”

Several cheers went up from the group, then, suddenly, there was a scream of “Mortars! Take cover!”

The resounding detonations of mortar shells cut the squad of forty Bravo operatives that remained in half, as well as killing all of the captives.

“Quick! Find cover!” Snail called, rushing to the cliff face, me hot on his heels. “We have to kill the mortar teams!”

“Setting up.” I called, and began marking targets.

The mortar teams were spread far and wide in no particular pattern, meant to make them harder to spot. When you are set up on an open grass plain, though, you do not have very many places to hide from a sniper team of Snail and Bacca’s skill levels.

Round after round, team after team, the mortars were knocked out. Snail and Bacca could either kill the operators themselves, disable the mortars with bullets, or shoot their munitions supplies, detonating them. Either way, the mortars were dealt with.

Bacca grimaced at the sight of the dead captives. Not one had made it out of the mortar strike alive. It was a sickening reminder of the casualties of war. It could be your enemy, maybe your teammate, or, in a few cases, entire squads or battalions. Sometimes, it made no sense why one man died whilst another lived. Few things ever make sense in war.

Two hours and two attacks later, fourteen special ops soldiers, including Snail and Bacca, lifted off in Transport Echo two-six and were carried to safety.




THE END


This was an experiment in writing literature for the Brawl forums. Characters are based off of the personalities of @907BaccaFTW and @Snail_5_.


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