"So, why the hell aren't we going after Fremont? Shouldn't he be a priority objective?"
The silence in the HUMVEE was broken by one of the JSOC operatives, who threw his cigar out the window. He stood at 5'9", and appeared timid but definitely didn't act that way on the field.
"Well, the Major believes we need the Militia's support to fight the ZLF. That's why we're meeting with Mullah Al-Bashir. He runs things, but his men are getting low on supplies, ammunition, everything. Does that answer the question for you, Walker?" The captain of the group, a ruggedly handsome caucasian male with an eyepatch, answered his question.
"Yes, Captain Rourke. Roger that..."
The HUMVEE began to slow as it drove up a dirt road that came onto a hillside.
"Almost at the checkpoint, I see Al-Bashir - He's looking at something, mate." Another operative, who was at the front seat, spoke up. He lacked the ruggedly appearance of Rourke but had an athletic build and kept clean-shaven. He put his helmet on and checked his rifle.
"Copy that, Creed. Alright, we can't really trust the militia yet, but getting an alliance with them could greatly benefit our efforts against the Zaire Liberation Force, and rescuing Fremont."
Rourke looked to the team. A round of "Yes, sir." and "Rog." came back in unison.
The team of 8 JSOC's -- Including Creed, Walker, and Rourke, made their way out of the HUMVEEs and met up with Mullah, who was accompanied by his own squad of Militamen.
To fully gain the trust and fire support of the militia, Merrick enlisted a small recon squad to raid the insurgent base currently conducting a missile raid on an allied village. The village was up in flames in the distance and Mullah gave the binos to Cpt. Rourke "You want deal? You want fire support? Take out the insurgents. Then we talk."
Rourke took the binoculars and walked towards the edge of the cliff his squad stood on. He lowered his stance and knelt down to survey the village. He silently grumbled and stood up, "Maybe this is better in someone else's hands." As he placed the binoculars away from his face, the thunder from the storm shone a light upon his face, revealing the scar running down his right eye. He extended his arms out to Creed, handing him the binoculars.
Creed walked over with a duffelbag full of weapons and gear. It contained M4A1's, AK-47's, frag grenades, flashbangs, and more. He turned to Mullah, "Firepower here. Your militia is going to need it, mate." He then nodded to Rourke, proned down and peered into the binoculars, "Jesus, the village is being lit up. I can see where it's coming from, they're firing artillery from that site nearby...Just over the foothills. Tons of security, ZLF enforcers."
Rourke knelt down and picked up one of the rifles on the ground, a M16A3 which had been fitted with a bipod and had it's guard rail removed, replaced by a 3X zoom ACOG scope. After briefly inspecting his weapon, he aimed down his scope and observed the routes in which the squad could infiltrate from.
"Give them here...let me see." Walker snatched the binoculars out of Creed's hands and peered into the scope himself, confirming the details, "Yup. That's the Liberation Force." He set the binoculars down in an open weapons case before grabbing his own loadout, taking a CN-22 - a modern Romanian prototype rifle, the kind he grew up around.
"What's our entry looking like?" Walker asked.
"From what I can tell, the artillery base is fortified in numbers, but it isn't like they got massive firepower. If we have one team hit 'em from the side...and another distracting from the main gates...they'll have a lack of security around the artillery. What do you think?"
Even back in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, Creed was always the type to hear everyone's plans out. He was often credited for planning and decision-making, and became reliable in the process for JSOC.
Amos crossed his arms, staring over the side, into the village, observing the copious amounts of warfare, the reinforcements slowly being picked apart inside, and on the outside too.
Mullah sighed in anger, readying a rifle: "My men are being gutted like animals out there. We don't have time for elaborate thinking! We go in hard, we go in fast, and we leave no prisoners..."
Rourke held his chin, deep in thought. He then turned to Mullah and faced his men, "Bashir, position your men just at a distance to maintain a firefight at the main entrance. Once they're preoccupied, we'll take care of the rest."
"You're sending my men on a suicide mission! You will get us all--" Mullah was stopped by Creed.
"He's not asking you, mate...You want the missile raid to stop, let us help you. Then we can talk about the deal." Creed then turned to Rourke and Walker, "We ready to roll?" Other JSOC operatives and Militia forces alike loaded their weapons, before splitting off to inact the operation.
As the militia forces slid down the hills to reach the main entrance, Rourke and the rest of the JSOC operatives treaded down the steep dirt road down towards the trees that blanketed the east side of the base.
The side entrance was a mere chain door, exposed by open land and surrounded by the trees, which provided cover for the operatives until the time had come to storm the base. The only defenses that prevented their entry was a machine gun nest and a sniper watchtower.
One of the JSOC operatives, Sergeant Dolgen, yelped in suprirse as he took over, "Shit, they have an MG Nest!"
"Somebody could get a frag up there. Risky, but plausible." Creed peered ahead of the tree he was behind, taking in the area: "Once those defenses are dealt with, it's minimal security til we reach the artillery. Militia distracted them."
"Yeah, you're right." Walker perked his head up, noticing explosions and gunfire in the distance, albeit spaced out from one another, signaling that an attack had just begun. He then unhooked a frag from his vest and readied it.
"Don't think throwing a grenade up there's gonna be any good."
He still tried it anyway, and hurled it into the sniper watchtower. It was perfectly timed and exploded the top of the tower, sending shrapnel and various pieces of human around the side entrance of the artillery base.
"Huh, 'guess I was wrong."
The team was now able to push forward.
Creed began moving forward cautiously, M16A4 at the ready. He trained his rifle on the confused MG nest gunner who watched his buddy in the sniper tower go flying in all sorts of directions.
As the gunner removed himself from the mounted machine gun, his upper body became exposed to the exterior of the nest. Rourke quickly aimed down his scope and took the shot, bringing the gunner to the ground before moving into the compound. He drew his standard issue M1911A1 and finished off the insurgent fighter.
Rourke took cover behind a jeep and mounted the bipod of his M16A3 onto the hood of the vehicle, providing supporting fire from the back as the rest of the team moved through the open main street of the compound. More ZLF fighters had been drawn to the explosion and were firing from the roof of the main building and other elevated positions, forcing the JSOC team into cover.
To the surprise of the JSOC operatives, the insurgents proved to be no run of the mill guerilla fighter. They began taking strategic positions around the compound's infastructure and preventing the advance of the operatives towards the missile base, as the rest of the company took care of the militia fighters at the entrance.
Dolgen was shot in the chest and fell back behind cover. "Ah! Im hit!"
"Dolgen's down. They got a sniper on the roof." Walker took cover next to Dolgen and immedietely began applying medical aid.
Meanwhile, Mullah's men were pushed back at the front entrance, with lesser and lesser troops by the second.
Rourke turned his attention towards a sniper who was concealed by a narrow brick hole in the wall, positioned at the top of a narrow 3 story house.
Before he could take the shot however, the sniper shot a bullet through the jeep, compromising his position and forcing him to find another spot to support the squad.
As Walker applied medical aid, Creed ran over while firing his M16 at the elevated insurgents, hitting a few in the process but not confirming any kills.
"Alright, Walker, I'll make a run for that vehicle over there to draw the sniper out. Get some guys to provide covering fire, we'll draw the sniper out..." Creed panted in exhaustion and stress.
"Roger that. I got you covered." Walker readied his rifle and ordered two JSOC operatives up to fire at the sniper. As the JSOC operatives continued to be held back by the sniper, numerous other ZLF insurgents began advancing towards the operative's position, moving in to smoke them out.
Creed and Walker worked to take care of the sniper holed in the base. Creed made a run to the nearby vehicle while Walker shot at the window. When both of them were in position, Creed nailed the sniper in the neck when he got distracted with Walker.
As the militia forces slowly became less of a threat up front, the majority of the ZLF insurgents drew their attention to the JSOC squad assaulting them from their flank.
Soon, the operatives would find themselves in an open field, occupied by tents and storage depots. It was now clear that that reinforcements were slowly beginning to arrive at the missile site and would force the operatives to retreat if they did not press on immediately.
They needed to act quick.