Operation Dragon Slayer

Operation Dragon Slayer - part eleven

2009-04-15T11:03:00.003-04:00

This work is fan fiction for the upcoming video game Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. It is part of a larger work that is going to be tied together as a complete novella finishing up just prior to the game's release. The game is currently scheduled to be released October 6th, 2009.

Corporal Denny had his SAW trained on the mounted PLA infantryman manning the 12.7mm when the first shot rang out. Instantly, a second and a third went off as he started unleashing rounds at his target - about seventy-five meters away, the tiny profile of a shoulder and head, mostly obscured from view by metal. Sparks flew up from where his initial volley made contact just below the gunner, along the side of the vehicle. he steadied his aim and brought the weapon to bear a little higher as he felt his bullets whiz over or just to the side of the target. Perhaps they were hitting flesh, perhaps missing it altogether. He readied and fired another volley into the target. This time, he could directly see the bullets glancing around the metal frame of the 12.7mm MG mounted on top and it was no longer moving. Threat down? Who could tell? He let loose one more volley then turned his eyes on the other happenings going on around him.

The front of the APC he was firing on was on fire. My lord, Denny thought, did they actually get one of those 40mm grenades into the window? Denny fired a short burst into the windows of the APC to make certain no one was alive in there. Suddenly he became aware of muzzle flashes coming from behind the target, in the woods directly behind it.

At the same time Corporal Denny was making work of the turret gunner, Corporal Ferris watched as two sniper bullets pierced the front Window of the APC. Then immediately two explosions erupted from the face of the vehicle. He couldn't tell if they started from the hood or inside the vehicle but the entire front of it was in flames. He glanced over at the back of the vehicle, he could see that the back door had opened and troops were spilling out. Unfortunately, at the angle he had, mostly from the front, he couldn't see what they were doing. Mostly he saw elbows of men coming off and immediately heading to the other side of the vehicle. Corporal Denny, beside him, was relentless on his SAW. He noticed some firing coming from within the tree line when he spotted smoke rising from four places between the Recon Marines and the APC. Smoke was starting to fill the area and he caught a glimpse of the second APC for the first time. It's 12.7mm MG was blasting into the woods to their north as the body of the APC lurched forward and the APC came closer to their position.

Ferris slapped Denny twice on his helmet and reached over to point out this new target. Something must have happened to the other two SAWs as one of them was surely responsible for the other MG on the other enemy APC. At any rate, Corporal Denny took aim at the other MG and fired away. The shots were difficult as the smoke was starting to obscure his line of fire. But he felt he landed a few volleys near, if not on, the MG and its mounted gunner. The APC pulled up alongside its wounded comrade and stopped. The vehicle launched four smoke canisters towards the Marines and the entire field started filling with smoke, leading in an angle about seventy meters down the forest where the last smoke canister landed just shy of the tree line. This created a line of smoke running from the APC towards the tree line the Marines were using for cover.

One of the 40mm grenades must have hit its mark because suddenly the entire front of the second APC burst into flames. Corporal Denny and Ferris could both see massive flames inside the cockpit of the vehicle now as smoke drifted up from the front. The gunfire coming from the opposite treeline was getting heavy and Denny could hear the rounds impacting the trees above him. He trained his SAW over towards the muzzle flashes and let loose a few bursts at his chosen target. With all the smoke and the foliage there, he couldn't tell whether he was hitting his mark. He started getting a little infuriated but stayed calm and moved his aim towards another flash and let loose another deadly barrage.

The smoke had now created a full wall across the right portion of the battle field and Denny and Ferris heard a new round of gunfire erupting from beyond the smoke towards where the other teams were set up. His MBITR erupted in calls for Corpsman up! Second squad had PLA infantry right in front of them. They had used the smoke screen to maneuver over to their flank and were in the tree line with them on the far side.

The right flank was guarded by two marines, Corporals Wiseman and Gold. While watching the flank, smoke from the enemy APC had completely blocked their line of view towards the existing fight. It was now apparent that a group of enemy infantrymen had used the smoke and flanked the marines. They were now in the trees with them.

Wiseman was the first to spot the threat. Lying in ambush position, he reached his leg over to Corporal Gold and shook Gold's leg to indicate "enemy spotted". Wiseman saw two PLA soldiers moving rather quickly through the forest directly at them. He let loose with his automatic rifle putting three bullets into the chest of the first soldier. The second soldier dropped behind a tree and started barking commands. Suddenly gunfire erupted from behind that position and bullets were whizzing above him.

Corporal Gold reported the enemy contact on his MBITR and launched a hand grenade as far as he could towards the enemy from his prone position. The explosion was only about twenty meters from the men and suddenly more explosions rang out right around them sending tree branches dirt and shrapnel all around them. Corporal Wiseman could feel the sting of impact wounds in a few spots on his body. The wind was completely knocked out of him, his ears were ringing and his vision was almost completely blocked by both a dizzying feeling in his head and debris floating in the air. He could see a fuzzy curtain of colors in front if him come alive with muzzle flashes from the trees but couldn't hear anything. He fired back at the enemy positions as best he could but couldn't tell what was happening anymore. It seemed like a dream world. He looked over at Corporal Gold and saw him forcing himself back onto his stomach. The Corporal had been hit in the leg but was forcing himself back into position to fire at the enemy.

Wiseman continued to fire his weapon at the opposing threat until he ran out of ammo and needed to reload his clip. His vision was starting to come back some but he was still totally deaf in both ears. As he was reloading he saw three PLA soldiers advancing towards them. Corporal Gold landed a few shots on the first soldier and moved his weapon to aim at the second when he was hit by multiple bullets to the upper chest and shoulders. The bullets ripped through his unprotected skin at the soldier and he plunked down losing consciousness.

Corporal Wiseman shot at the second PLA soldier and the third dropped down to return fire from a prone position. A couple bullets whizzed by right next to him from PLA soldiers further back in cover. He was unaware of Gold's situation as he couldn't hear anything and his sight was still a little blurry. Suddenly he could see shots flying over his head towards the enemy position. He turned back to see the remainder of the second squad had moved into position to aid him. That was when he noticed Corporal Gold was down. Immediately he yelled for a corpsman into the MBITR.

Operation Dragon Slayer - part ten

2009-03-27T14:56:00.004-04:00

This work is fan fiction for the upcoming video game Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. It is part of a larger work that is going to be tied together as a complete novella finishing up just prior to the game's release. The game is currently scheduled to be released sometime between 5/26/09 and 7/31/09.

Operation Dragon Slayer - part ten

The forest begun to quiet down, the Recon Marines were set up in defensive positions and Corporal Denny was back on his SAW looking over the break in the forest. His gaze kept moving back to the PLA Z-11 attack helicopter that was still burning. By now it was more of a dull crackle - like a warm fire in a New England family fireplace. Corporal Ferris leaned over and whispered to Denny. "Bro, give me some Cope."
Denny looked over at Ferris, "It's in my cargo pocket, right side. It's my Last tin, so go easy."
"Right, thanks."
"Don't sweat it."
A minute later, Corporal Ferris was flicking a few loose tobacco strands off of his finger tips when he and Denny saw a WMZ 551 B , a six wheeled PLA APC, roll into view. It was about 400 meters away and rolling down hill towards their position.
"Holy Shit!", Feris clicked on his MBITR . "Three One be advised, we have an enemy APC about 400 meters and closing. Ah shit, make that two APCs!"
The radio crackled back. "Roger Ferris, tell Denny to hold his fire." Three seconds later Sgt. King and the rest of the squad burst into their position. King spread the men out at the edge of the tree line, just far enough inside the cover to keep out of sight but close enough to the opening to have good sites over the entire area. The Sergeant looked at his watch. It was still another good thirty minutes before the evac choppers were due to arrive. Suddenly, Lieutenant Hogan burst into their cover and flopped down beside King.

"OK, second squad is watching our backs and third squad is setting up thirty meters down the tree line. Have everyone hold their fire. I expect they only have 12.7mm MGs mounted on those but I don't want to take any chances of having them see us if we don't have to."
"Roger LT, we're good. No firing unless spotted." replied Sgt. King
Everyone seemed to be settled in and waiting to see what happened next. Ferris could feel his heart beating in his chest. He had almost settled down from their previous encounter in the pine woods over an hour ago. Now he could feel the anticipation building up again. Ferris had been in the corps for a little over two years and was relatively new compared to the rest. He had cut his teeth during a seven month tour in Afghanistan with the 2/3 but by the time he served, the majority of action was winding down - insurgent attacks were seldom but he did experience, and learn to work in, firefight situations. He looked back over at Corporal Denny and saw him rubbing the stubble under his lip like he was sitting on a couch watching a ball game, as relaxed as could be.

As they watched the APC roll downhill towards their position, Lieutenant. Hogan's MBITR went off with his radioman, corporal Billets, calling him.
"LT, I got the CoC on the radio."
"Roger, I'll be right there.", The Lieutenant put his hand on Sgt King's arm and told him he would be back in a couple minutes but that he could be interrupted if need be on his MBITR.

When he made it back to his radio he found out the Evac was only fifteen minutes away and was being escorted by F18s. This could be the solution to our little problem, he thought.
"Thunderbird six, this is ThunderBird Three Actual. Is there anyway, we could get some close air support from one of those F18s, break?"
"ThunderBird Three, that's a negative, those birds are busy trying to keep the flight path open for your evac. You'll need a clean LZ for pickup Lieutenant."
At this point, Lt. Hogan realized they were going to have to take out the APCs on their own and they only had about fifteen minutes to do it!
"Roger Six." We'll clear the LZ ourselves."

Lieutenant Hogan then raced back to Sgt. King. Plopping down beside the hulking Sergeant they saw the APCs moving closer to them. They were approximately 100 meters now and closing in - probably another minute before they were within striking distance.
"Sgt, we're gonna have to take those two beasts out. Get Willem's sniper rifle equipped with armor piercing rounds. We're gonna fire through the windows and see what we can do."
"Roger LT." Those MGs on the top shouldn't be too much trouble. We can keep the mounted personnel pinned down and unable to fire with the SAWs."
Lieutenant Hogan added a few more twists with, "Its a long shot, but I want to try to get some 40mm grenades into the vehicles too once we blow out the windows.
"Roger, we'll set our man up, sir". With that, Lieutenant Hogan slapped Sgt. King on the shoulder again and ran off to confer with the other two squads. King looked over at Denny. "Did you get that sonny?"
"Sure did. Sniper opens up the windows, Corporal Black lobs a 40mm grenade into the 1x1 hole from 80 meters. I keep the 50mm MG silenced with the SAW and the baby Jesus will appear in my backpack later."
"Yup that pretty much sums it up, Corporal".
"Sounds great Sarge."

Corporal Black was the assistant squad leader of Sgt. King's squad. and was currently set up a few meters away with Corporal Polasky, who had finally settled down from his initial encounter a few minutes ago. Ferris chimed in a question to the Sgt, "How's Polasky holding up?".
"He's fine Corporal. He's a damn good Marine! Now you both know what needs to get done. Wait for the M40 shots before opening fire."

Sgt. King moved over to the other 3 men in his squad. Corporals Black, Polasky and Willems. Willems was the squad marksman and carried an M40A3 Sniper rifle that he had just finished loading with special armor penetrating rounds. The Sgt had instructed him to take out the windows in front of his designated vehicle on his command. Lieutenant Hogan had instructed the other marksmen in the group to take out the other one using the M82A3 SASR. Sgt. King made sure they were good to go then he settled back in cover. After another second of pondering, the Sgt. decided to equip his M203 as well. Two shots at the open window gave them two times the chance of making the shot.

The APCs pulled up in front of the smoldering helicopter wreck and stopped. They were about 20 meters away from each other in a line so that the front of the first vehicle was facing Sgt King directly while the second vehicle was far enough behind it to expose its front to the third team's position. The angle of the window was only about twenty degrees which should be enough to penetrate the plastic window cover on the driver side of the APC. Suddenly, the back door of the lead APC clanged down onto the open field just as Lieutenant. Hogan gave the word for the snipers to open fire.

Operation Dragon Slayer - part nine

2009-03-20T11:27:00.002-04:00

Operation Dragon Slayer - part eight

2009-03-11T22:27:00.002-04:00

Introduction - Senate Armed Service Committe Briefing on Skira Island Situation

2009-03-08T22:55:00.013-04:00

Operation Dragon Slayer - part seven

2009-03-08T11:17:00.004-04:00

This work is fan fiction for the upcoming video game Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. It is part of a larger work that is going to be tied together as a complete novella finishing up just prior to the game's release. The game is currently scheduled to be released sometime between 5/26/09 and 7/1/09.

Second Lieutenant Hogan's 18 man Recon patrol was moving east away from the area of the Pobedino bridge. Their next assignment was a "watch and observe" duty about 25 kilometers East. There they would take up position at the edge of a mountain range which should provide good observation points for one of the main highways leading into the central valley. The team needed to descend their current position, travel the 25 kilometers and then ascend the next mountain location within 36 hours.

Suddenly the quiet forest landscape erupted in a roar from a low flying z-11 Chinese attack helicopter. Corporal Polasky dropped to the ground and immediately readied his M4 Carbine. He Looked around the forest but saw no indications of attack. He lowered his rifle as his squad leader motioned the men to get up and continue moving. His tensions eased up a little bit as he saw another man in his team crack a smile. The helicopter drifted away to the south and apparently didn't notice them. Over the course of the next hour, they spotted z-11's scouting around their position two more times. No one was at ease anymore.

Normally, this would not be a terribly difficult trek. But having enemy attack helicopters buzzing around made for a few distractions. Whenever the, now familiar, sound of an approaching chopper was heard, the men dropped down to remain hidden. As an additional measure, they were now taking a less direct path to maintain cover as best they could. So far, they had descended the small mountain, traveled about 6 kilometers east and were able to stay in a thick pine forest the entire time.

Up to this point, the team was moving together. Now, the word came down from Lt. Hogan to split up into their respective six man teams. The teams would move in parallel to each other maintaining a distance of fifty to seventy meters apart. Given the terrain, each team would be well out of sight of each other. However, the distance would provide a considerable advantage in maneuverability if they encountered any hostiles.

Staff Sergeant Peter King was the team leader for the squad responsible for the left flank and was currently the second man from the point. They had just seen another Helicopter come by about twenty minutes ago. This latest one was moving a lot slower than the others and appeared to be a bit broader. His fear was the chopper was carrying troops and that an all out search was underway for them after they blew the bridge. The men were a bit on edge because of the chopper activity. Never the less, he knew he could count on his men, the team had been together for over a year and had been through some intense training together that had bonded them tightly.

Suddenly, he saw Corporal Polasky, the marine on point, stop moving crouch down and give a hand signal to stop and remain quiet. The Sgt, raised his hand to signal back to the next marine then raised his Carbine up and scanned the area ahead of him. Polasky next gave the sign for enemy in sight. Sergeant King's heart skipped a beat. The next signal came - "Range within 100 meters". Polasky dropped down to fully prone, rifle ready in a the proper firing position.

King signaled back for the other four men to move to his position and displace around him quietly. He indicated that the SAW should be set up 10 meters to his left, it was a slightly elevated position and was behind a fallen log that could provide some cover. He then sent an immediate signal to Lt. Hogan on his MBITR indicating that they had spotted enemy units. With any luck the enemy would pass by them. That was when he saw, about 20 meters ahead and to his right, his first enemy soldier. The man was moving slowly, carrying a small automatic machine gun. He was wearing jungle camouflage and an old fashioned looking army helmet. The sergeant moved a little bit closer to the tree next to him and watched the figure slip in and out of his sight.

The next thing he heard was the report of Corporal Polasky's M4. Rat tat tat! Immediately, the sergeant fired a bursts at the enemy soldier he was following in his sights. The target went down and out of view. The body seemed to jerk quickly indicating a hit. A split second later, one of the marines moving up behind him fired a rifle mounted grenade over he and Polasky's heads that landed about twenty meters deeper into the forest. The round exploded, sending splinters of wood and dirt up in the air and all around them. The noise was deafening. The Sgt. switched his MBITR over to voice and called Lt. Hogan to tell him they had encountered enemy activity. Bullets were cutting through the forest around him from his right. He feared that some of the enemy had slipped by them, between his team and the middle team. Sergeant King threw a hand grenade in the general area where he had last seen the Enemy soldier, which seemed to be from the same area the gun fire was originating, then communicated his hypotheses about the enemy being between the two squads back to the Lt. His message was interupted by the sound of his grenade exploding. Despite the ringing in his ears, King heard the SAW open up next to him, raking the trees in front of them sending debris, tree bark, leaves and dust into the air for as deep into the brush as they could see.

They were in the thick of it now. the Sergeant needed to keep his team organized, figure out where the enemy was and concentrate fire back in that position. He looked over to his left and saw two of his men manning the SAW. To his right were two more firing their M4s into the brush. He didn't see any more incoming fire. Corporal Polasky was crawling back to them on his stomach with his rifle in front. King darted over to the men by the SAW and told them to hold fire until they saw anything.
"Keep focused on the area directly in front of us - the way we were walking. Watch a full 120 degrees. no more!

Then he quickly sprinted back to the other two men and told them to hold their fire. He focused their attention on the area to the right where the enemy was slipping by them. Next he ran over to Polasky where the Marine was still moving quickly along the ground. He dropped down in front of the Marine and put his hand on his back and looked directly into his eyes. "Corporal, you OK?"
Polasky looked up. He had wild fear in his eyes. His face was expressionless and he simply nodded yes, making no other indications.
The Sgt spoke again, "It's ok man. We're gonna prep this area for defense. Come with me." With that, the two Marines headed back to the others and got down on the ground behind some cover, in preparation to fire. Sgt. King and Corporal Polaski would guard the back side of the area. He had divided the team into three groups of two men. Each would watch 120 degrees or one third of the approaching area for attack while he coordinated with the rest of the platoon.

By the time he had things back under control he could hear shots ringing out towards the middle team, Lt. Hogan's team. He also got his first commands back from the LT.
"King, we are engaged with the enemy on two sides. The third team is moving in a flanking maneuver and we should have them pinned between us. Stay where you are and prepare to return fire as we expect them to try and make a run for it through your position."
"Roger LT. We're standing by."

Operation Dragon Slayer - part six

2009-03-04T15:54:00.002-05:00

This work is fan fiction for the upcoming video game Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. It is part of a larger work that is going to be tied together as a complete novella finishing up just prior to the game's release. The game is currently scheduled to be released sometime between 5/26/09 and 7/31/09.

Sgt. Vasquez put down his binoculars and turned to look at his men. All eyes were on him, they knew it was "Go Time". He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow with a gloved hand then pointed his finger at Private Paterno.
"OK. Paterno and Taylor, you're coming down with me. The rest of you, keep watch BUT keep out of sight. Now let's go down there and get our guy."

With that, Vasquez started moving down the rest of the hill, keeping the shack between the farmhouse and himself. The last thing they wanted to do was be spotted by the dismounted infantry milling around the farmhouse. Paterno and Taylor followed close behind. As soon as they got to the shack all three dropped down and looked at each other. Vasquez got on one knee as he gave the other two a sign to stay down. At first he whispered. "Rusty!" Then a little louder - "Rusty". Nothing. He crawled around to the front of the shack. Now he was no longer able to shield himself from the farmhouse, he was exposed if spotted - not a good feeling. Lying on his back he reached over to the door. It was wooden, rotting and generally not in very god shape. There was a five centimeter gap between the floor and the door. Again he whispered Rusty, only this time under the doorway as directly as he could. Nothing. He looked up and saw the lock on the door was dangling. "Oh no.", he said to himself. He turned and looked back at the farmhouse from his prone position. The grass in the field was too high and too thick for him to see the farmhouse or to be seen. His cover was better than he had thought. So, he took a little risk. He opened the door a little bit and peeked inside.

The shack was empty except for a few old pieces of farm equipment and the tell tale sign of muddy foot prints. It looked like someone was in there with a few guest, hard to tell if they were invited or uninvited. Exactly what he was afraid of. Vasquez let the door close gently and crawled back to the other two men. Paterno spoke first - barely in a whisper. A simple "What?" was all he could get out. Paterno was totally confused by this whole mission. Now that Vasquez came back from the shack empty handed he was baffled at what they would do next.

Vasquez smiled directly at him and held his gaze for a moment. "It looks like they got him. So, we're gonna get him back." Vasquez turned to his MBITR (MultiBand Intra Team Radio) and called down the rest of the team. "Miller, stay up there with the M40A3. Your providing sniper cover. The rest of you get down here with the rest of the gear."

Over the next few minutes Vasquez went over the plan. Miller would stay behind and provide sniper cover and keep a look out for any more hostiles while the other five members crawled the two hundred meters across the grass field to the farmhouse. Once there, they'll take out the dismount infantrymen and regroup by the front door to storm the house.

Miller chose a nice spot just below the ridge of the hill that the team came in on to set up his sniper rifle. He was about 20 meters up on the hill and had a good view of the farm house. More importantly, he could see a few kilometers in either direction and could alert the team if they had any more company. The position he chose allowed for a good meter of earth sloping up behind him so that he didn't leave a silhouette against the sky. Now laying prone, Miller extended the rifle's bipod down for support. He was just around 200 Meters from the farm house. At this range, he was sure to hit his targets with ease. He was watching the Chinese infantrymen carefully as they were milling around the front of the house, which he could only partially see. At any given moment he could see two or three of them. Every twenty seconds or so, he looked up from his scope to check the road that ran past the farmhouse to make sure no one else was approaching. In not too much time, he got a signal from Sgt. Vasquez on his MBITR.

"We're here" Vasquez whispered." "Roger SL." Miller spoke back. "I have three targets in sight."
Vasquez continued with the instructions, "Take out number One on my mark. We have the others."

Frick and Taylor had crawled around the right side of the house where they could barely see two of the infantrymen leaning against the porch rail. They were talking quietly to each other about twenty meters from the two Recon Marines. Frick and Taylor had their M4s ready to go and were waiting for the signal from Vasquez to open fire. Both men were feeling their hearts racing. The anticipation was enormous.

Private Paterno and Corporal Thompson had crawled along the other side of the house just behind Vasquez. From this vantage point, they could see most of the house except for the porch. As they listened to Vasquez's commands, they knew Frick and Taylor had that covered. In front of them, they could see four Chinese infantrymen armed with light machine guns. The men were hanging around the vehicle. Paterno was watching one of them move over to the back of the vehicle away from the group when the man suddenly flew backwards leaving a pink misty cloud where he had just been. A second later they heard the boom of Miller's M40A3. Paterno swung his M4 carbine to his designated target, the one closest to the porch, and easily put three bullets into his upper chest. It looked like one more hit his neck as mist sprayed out the side while the body dropped backwards onto the dusty pavement. He moved his glance back to the secondary targets and saw that they had all been downed. He popped up onto one knee to better assess the situation. All four were down and Vasquez popped up and darted toward the porch. Paterno followed with Thompson covering them from behind.

There were two more dead Chinese Infantrymen on the porch. Frick and Taylor were on either side of the front door and Vasquez wasted no time kicking it in. Frick and Taylor moved inside quickly. Each one looked to his side. Frick yelled "clear" but Taylor saw a Chinese officer with a pistol leveled at him. He went to squeeze off a round but felt a bullet hammer into his chest armor. The glancing bullet spun him around and onto his butt. Paterno entered next, immediately turning and delivered two quick three round shots into the officer just after one more pistol bullet landed behind him in the wall. The Officer's body was blown back against a window then crumpled to the floor in a mass of blood and broken glass. Thompson started to grab Taylor and drag him out the front door when Taylor waved him off. "I'm fine, I'm fine. It glanced off of me."

Vasquez moved over to the stairs and was aiming up the staircase - watching to make sure no one assaulted them from the second floor. The entry hall was filling with smoke from the gunfire. Not too much yet, they could all still see fine. At this point, Frick had cleared the room opposite the one with the hostile Officer. Paterno, Taylor and Thompson leveled their weapons into the room the officer was in while Vasquez continued to cover the stairs.

They could hear some footsteps shuffling. None of the members of the recon team spoke any Chinese. So, there was nothing they could try except to take the room with brute force. Corporal Paterno quickly moved around the door as he dropped to one knee so he could see into the room better. He immediately saw another Chinese officer holding a gagged and bound Caucasian male in front of him. A knife was held to the prisoners throat. Across from him was a radio. The receiver was off the unit and a Chinese voice was playing out the speaker. Taylor moved in next. Without any hesitation he pulled the trigger and blew a hole into the Officer's skull spraying blood on the cieling. The prisoner dropped down onto his knees, his head down against the floor.

Taylor walked up to the prisoner, leveled his rifle at the man's head and spoke loud and clear. "Rusty?". The man shook his head vigorously in an up and down motion signalling yes. Vasquez heaved a huge sigh of relief now that they had found their man. The farmhouse incursion was going well. They had to check the upstairs to make sure no one else was around before they could relax though. He spoke over the MBITR to the squad. "Taylor and Paterno, stay with Rusty. Thompson come with me. Frick watch the front door." He checked in with Miller to make sure there wasn't any other action going on that he wasn't aware of. Then, the two men went upstairs and cleared the remaining rooms. They were all empty.

When they came back down the steps, Thompson turned to Taylor, "John are you sure your fine? Let me see where you got hit."
"I'm fine bro, I took harder hits at football practice."
Thompson looked down at Taylor's chest and saw a six centimeter tear in his tiger camo. The edges around it were black where the bullet had scorched the clothes.
"Man, do you know how to sew, brother?"
The two men laughed together and could feel the tension easing out of them. Vasquez walked outside with Frick. "Any activity out here Private?"
"Nope, just some soon to be rotting corpses of our enemy Sgt."
Vasquez looked out onto the dirty stone pavement in front of the house. There were three dead bodies lying right out front and one more on the other side of the "Brave Warrior" Vehicle. Each one was soaking in its own pool of blood. Alright let's have a look at our man, Vasquez said as he stepped back inside and reached into his pocket to pull out a fresh can of Copenhagen.

Operation Dragon Slayer - part four

2009-02-27T10:39:00.012-05:00

This work is fan fiction for the upcoming video game Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. It is part of a larger work that is going to be tied together as a complete novella finishing up just prior to the game's release. The game is currently scheduled to be released sometime between 5/26/09 and 7/1/09.

Part Four

Vasquez stole a quick glance up above the thick Pine treetop canopy and saw the silhouette of the Sea Knight making its way back to the HLA. The forest was cool and quiet. It seemed like the insertion had gone undetected. That was a great first step. Now came the thirty mile hike to the rendezvous point. They had a few more hours of darkness to use and he knew making their way across the pine forest would be much safer while the sun wasn't shining down on them. After a quick check to make sure everyone was ok and all the gear made it down unscathed, they started towards their objective.

The hike was long and the air was nice and chilly. Although the snow seemed to have melted already, the late spring air this far north was still crisp in the middle of the night - perfect weather for hauling fifty pounds of equipment thirty miles and back. The six men in the patrol were very used to this kind of work. They are all part of the Marine 3rd Recon team stationed in Okinawa. It had been 26 hours since they received their orders while back on base. Luckily, some were able to catch a couple quick winks of sleep and a hot meal on board the LHA Peleliu as they made their way along the almost 2,000 mile trip here. The first few hundred miles of the trip, like the last few hundred, was made by air. It was a harried trip consisting of stowing gear, grabbing quick flights here and there with little chance to rest. When going out on a mission like this, resting before hand, if you can, helps out in the long run. There is no way of knowing how long you'll be expected to stay awake and alert.

When Lt. Marks contacted Vasquez aboard the Peleliu to let him know that his squad would be going in alone, he was excited. A small six man recon patrol into enemy territory was what they trained for. Quick Silent Deadly! Now, the reality of the situaton was kicking in. He was still excited. But now he was also cautious. He channeled that cautiousness into alertness as they continued to move across the forest for a few more hours.

Shortly after daybreak, the patrol made it to the Orlovo River. The mountains were just a few miles off in the distance to the north - right where they should be according to the map. So far, they had traveled about twenty miles towards the objective and stayed exactly on target. Excellent start.

Ordering his men to stay back a few yards and out of sight, Vasquez moved towards the river slowly and cautiously. There was a few meters between the grass and the river bank. The cover wasn't great but not too bad. The river looked about 20 meters across and wasn't moving too quickly at this point. On the opposite side of the river was a field that sloped upward. The opposite bank was not steep and had a nice rock grouping a few meters in that would provide cover once across. A crossing was definitely possible here.

He moved back to his men and began to give his orders.
"Frick take off your pack and leave it here with Taylor. Keep your M4."
Miller and Thompson, set up the SAW about 10 meters down stream from here. Stay out of sight but make sure you can see across the river to the opposing bank. Taylor and Paterno stay here with the equipment."
Then he ended with, "Frick, your first!"

Frick replied with a quick, "Absolutley Seargant".

The men quickly went about their tasks. Miller and Thompson set up the M249 SAW where they could return fire if anyone saw Frick crossing and took some shots at him.
They snuck up through the grass just to the edge so they could poke the barrel out. They could see the opposite bank nicely. A good view. mostly grass going up the hill but the pine trees that started about half way up were dark and a little menacing looking. Miller took out his binoculars and made constant sweeps into the dense foliage while Thompson kept his gaze to looking through the SAW's sight.

Once he was covered as best that the group could, Frick made his way across the river. At its highest point, it was about 4 feet deep. Not as bad as some of the tests in the combat water survival training they had all taken. As soon as he was on the other side, Frick made his way behind a rock grouping and signaled back to Vasquez. Paterno was next. He crossed quickly and then Taylor made his way across carrying his load plus Frick's. Miller and Thompson, packed up the SAW and made their way across followed finally by Vasquez. The obstacle only cost them about 20 minutes and they were able to make the crossing as safely as possible. Vasquez just hoped they had the same opportunity of time on the way back.

With one more hurdle out of the way the patrol started moving across the last few miles towards the objective. The operation was a search and rescue of a special operative. All that the Lt. could tell him was that he was an American Agent working for an undisclosed agency. No one knew he was on Skira until they received some cryptic radio messages about 48 hours ago. The agent's cover was blown and he was making his way to a rendezvous point for pick-up. He had the only good intel on what was happening on the island and the brass wanted to know what that was.

Air cover on the island was limited. The Chinese were patrolling the shores which made getting onto the island very difficult. All civilian ports and airports had been seized. The only way on or off the island that wasn't controlled by the Chinese was by force or stealth. Vasquez half wondered why this James Bond cat couldn't just steal a chopper and fly off. This isn't a movie he guessed and, truth be told, he was glad for the mission.

As they moved towards the objective, they could see lots of examples of that Chinese air power. Fighters were moving across the island at a consistent rate and PLA z-9 helicopters were seen a few times on this side of the mountain range - Maybe 10 miles away. They were in a small valley in the center of the island. There was definitely a lot of activity across the mountain range to the east. They could see plumes of smoke rising up and could hear distant explosions. He supposed that was some of the Russian military making a few last stands against the overwhelming Chinese forces.

Shortly before noon, they arrived on a hilltop overlooking the rendezvous point. It was an abandoned shack at the end of a farm. There was plenty of cover on this side, as the shack was built at the end of the field and only about 10 meters from the start of the pine tree forest. They could see some activity back at the farm house, which was about 200 meters away.

Vasquez took a look through his binoculars and could see a Chinese version of a Humvee, the "Brave Warrior", parked outside the farm house. There were also 6 infantrymen standing outside. The agent was supposedly inside the shack. Hidden and would only respond in a friendly fashion to a voice uttering the code name "Rusty".

Operation Dragon Slayer Part five

2009-02-27T10:34:00.012-05:00

Operation Dragon Slayer Part two

2009-02-25T15:20:00.009-05:00

Operation Dragon Slayer Part One

2009-02-25T15:18:00.006-05:00

Operation Dragon Slayer Part three

2009-02-25T13:14:00.011-05:00