Operation Dragon Slayer - part ten

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 four

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

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 five

Major Nelson's F18 was flying at an altitude of about 2,000 meters with a speed just under MACH 1. At this altitude and speed, the pine trees below them looked like a nice plush carpet. He could see the beginning of a small mountain range in front of them and they were about 750 meters above the highest mountain top visible. It had only been a few short minutes since they one of their planes was confirmed as shot down as they all made the trip to the target. The full effect of the loss wasn't waying down upon him yet since the mission was not complete. There was too much to think about right now. Too much to do to make things work. However, experience told him there would be plenty of time to reflect on it later. Just then, Ducky made radio contact with the recon team on the ground who were responsible for tagging the target with the laser spotter.

"Lemons, the team is all set and ready to light up the target". Ducky switched back over to talk to the Recon team. "Recon group 4 this is flight team A. We are ready to receive laser guided munition signal now."

Meanwhile a few dozen kilometers away and a few thousand meters below them...

US Marine 2nd Lt. David Hogan, squad leader of Bravo company of the 3rd Recon Platoon, was laying prone about 3,000 meters west of the Pobedino bridge on Skira Island. His eighteen man Recon team had been inserted via Sea knight helicopters from the LMS Peleliu about 24 hours ago. This bridge was their first mission they had received. They knew they were going to have a few over the next few days. To Hogan's right was Sgt James Bilko, an eleven year veteran who saw action in both Afghanistan and Iraq as a Recon Marine. The Sgt was using the platoon's AN/PEQ-1A laser marker to paint a target on the Pobedino bride. The marker was aimed at the main support structure. The support started in the water and stretched out about 300 meters into the air. The bridge's span joined the support structure about 200 meters above the water. This was going to be one heck of a show.

The marines were situated just on the downward slope of a small mountain range overlooking the central valley. The most predominant structure visible was the Pobedino bridge that connected the north and south parts of the island and was situated just at the opening of the valley. There was also a train and a natural gas line that connected the two sections. But this bridge was the main thoroughfare. Without it, the Chinese would have great difficulty driving north and capturing any high valued targets.

Lt. Hogan, Sgt Bilko and Corporal Wayne Smithers, the radio operator communicating with the F18 fighter group, were only about 50 meters from the rest of the platoon, who were hunkered down in defensive positions guarding the site. From here, they could see the entire valley opening before them. However, they were slightly visible and had to remain low to make sure no aircraft would spot them. The rest of the platoon was currently armed to the teeth. They had sights on every possible method of approach to their temporary mountain top lair. They had three M249 SAWs set up scanning the perimeter and a M82A3 Special Application scoped rifle. Although the chances of needing the SASR, given they were about 500 meters up on a mountain, seemed pretty scarce. The Marines that weren't manning or spotting for these weapons were carrying Grenade launchers on their M4s. Anyone stumbling upon their location was sure to meet enough fire power to knock them back off the island and into the Pacific!

The Corporal spoke into the radio, "Roger Flight, we are tagging the target now". Smithers turned to Bilks and let him know it was time.
"Tagging the target now" whispered the sergeant. There was a few seconds of absolute silence interupted only by the sound of grass swaying in the breeze before they could hear the jets coming in from behind the mountain. Smithers looked up to see two F18s swoop in a few hundred meters above them. It was hard to see when they released the payload but a few seconds later and before they were even over the bridge they abruptly turned to fly directly north and away from any hostiles Chinese forces.

It was quite a sight to see the two GBU-24's make rubble out of the bridge's main structure. There were two great flashes of light followed by dust, rocks debris and water causing an enormous dark cloud that dwarfed the bridge. The next part of the show was watching both sides of the bridge that formerly connected to the main support structure crash into the river below. It was easily a 200 meter drop. The weight of the steel crashing into the water caused an enormous splash. Huge waves shook out from it and were moving towards each bank.

Sgt. Bilko broke the silence first. "Let's get the hell outta here." Smither's eye's lingered on the disaster site for a few seconds more before the Lieutenant's urging brought him back to focus on his duties.
"Excellent work as usual." Smithers heard Lt. Hogan say.

Smithers congratulated the flight crew and then the three men packed up the gear and head back up hill towards the rest of the men. Smithers heart was still racing. He was relatively new to the Recon squad and had spent only a few years in the corps. He hadn't seen anything like this before. This "trip" was turning out to be the most exhilerating 24 hours of the young man's life.

Operation Dragon Slayer Part two

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.



Part 2
Vasquez's Raiders
Sergeant Vasquez was dreaming about the sunny beaches he left behind nearly 20 years ago when Corporal Taylor woke him up from his cat nap. It had been that long since he last saw his the beaches he grew up on. He missed the carefree days of playing on them into the night with the other village children. Since the briefing this morning in the ready room on the LHD Peleliu, he had been thinking of those days. This latest mission was to a pacific island. Supposedly much colder than Okinawa, the island he just left, or that coastal village he left so many years ago when his family uprooted and moved to America.

"It's time Sergeant ." Corporal Taylor insisted. It had been 26 hours since his team left Okinawa and as team leader he ordered everyone to try to catch a little nap before the flight over to the Island in the Sea Knight. It would be a normal insertion behind enemy lines. Normal in the sense that it was what they were trained to do. Not normal in the respect that no one had any idea as to what they were getting themselves into or what was going to follow.

The 6 man Recon team knew their objectives and they knew them well. What they didn't know was what was next. Rumors abounded regarding a full scale invasion of the island to follow. If that were true, Vasquez knew that their incursion onto the island would last a while. The intel they could provide would be an invaluable asset. They were carrying a lot of gear. much more than this op seemed to need. One AN/PEQ-1A SOFLAM laser marker, one KOWA TSN-822 telescope and a full (MPSIDS) to send images back. This didn't jive with the orders and briefing they received from Sergeant Marks this morning.

"Taylor, did you get the Copenhagen?" Vasquez asked.
"Sure did, 8 rolls for 6 men for 3 days. Seems like quite a lot man." chuckled Corporal Taylor.
"That's not for you to worry about kid!" replied Vasquez. "Give me 3 rolls and pass out one each to everyone else."

Final gear checks and then loading on the Sea Knight were all they had time for now. The 6 men headed towards the flight deck. Each one privately remembering good times, bad times, imagining what would come in the next few days. They knew it wouldn't be like Iraq, or Afghanistan a few years back. This one felt different. The players were different. Bigger. Stronger. The stakes were higher and they knew they were going to be used for what they trained to do.

Operation Dragon Slayer Part One

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.



Air Force Staff Sergeant Barnes was finishing his 3rd cup of coffee in the break room of the communications center on Hickham AFB when Private Billingsley came in and disturbed him and his crossword puzzle.

Staff Sergeant Barnes, "I think you need to see this." stated the private. A nervous look in his eyes told Barnes this was either serious or the private was about to throw up.

"Very well Private!". The two men made their way back towards the communication center as the Private filled the Sergeant in on what was going on.

"We picked up a low frequency broadcast early this morning and we logged it in the database. When it re-emerged about 15 minutes ago, it was flagged as high priority. All that came through in both transmissions was "Codename Rusty", "Dragon Rising", Mission in Jeopardy" and "Radio Out".

"The broadcast was weak but it was clearly American English. The transmission was on a frequency and bandwidth normally used by Chinese Special Forces."

"The triangulation pinpoints it somewhere in the Tym-Poronaiskaya Valley on the island of Skira."

They ran their security badges through the scanner and entered the secure confines of the communications control room.

Barnes looked at the private strait in the eye and gave him his orders in a cold calm voice. "Billingsley, get me in touch with Captain Lime wherever he is....."

Operation Dragon Slayer Part three

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.



Part three

Major William Nelson, call sign "Lemons", was at 8,000 feet moving at just under 1,000 knots and roughly 5 miles west of Skira island when his REO, 2nd Lt George West, call sign "ducky" called out incoming bogies.

Lemons wingman, "Grits", interrupted the radio silence a fraction of a second later.
"Lemons, we're picking up bogies now. Looks like eight fighters moving directly at us in two packs of four."

"Do we have time to make it to the target?" replied Lemons?

"Negative, they'll be within range in about a minute." barked Grits.

"Roger we'll take evasive maneuvers. Stay on my right as we climb."

Lemons gave direction to the other 2 fighters in the 4 fighter mission.
"Pup, we're going high, take low. Try to get inland towards the objective but don't go too far south or east or you'll have more to worry about than these fighters."

"Roger Lemons."

Lemons, Grits, Pup and Ducky were part of the 242nd Marine Fighter Attack Squadron. They were flying in three - 4 aircraft groups making sorties around Skira island in support of Marine Recon patrols in the area. The major invasion force was scheduled to make the amphibious landings within the next 48 hours. For now, they just had to worry about a half dozen different groups of recon marines wreaking havoc around the island. The planes took off from the USS George Washington a few hours ago and had been moving north west across the pacific towards their objective.

For now, the squadron had received orders to take out a bridge leading to northern parts of the island. The Chinese forces were moving north along the main highway but had to pass over a rather large bridge in the central valley in order to make it north. There were several high priority targets including several multinational oil refineries in the north that the US joint task force was responsible for protecting. It appeared that the Chinese knew this bridge was important and were guarding it with air support.

Lemons made his way to 16,000 feet. He could see one of the four plane groups making its way towards them on the radar. The other group was clearly moving south towards Pup and his wing man's F18s.

"Lemons, the bogies are in range now." I have visual and am firing Sidewinders." as he finished talking, both sides of the plane lit up as the two sidewinders launched towards the oncoming aircraft.

Lemons brought the F18 down towards 12,000 feet to avoid detection but it was clearly too late. The Radar Warning Receiver announced incoming missiles. Ducky immediately deployed countermeasures as Lemons dove passed 10,000 feet.

Seconds later the first towed decoy exploded. The Warning Receiver wasn't letting up and it was clear more missiles were on their way. Surely enough, a second explosion was felt just above them. The second towed deco had been hit. Both men clenched their teeth tightly as the explosion rocked the cockpit. The warning system fell silent and Lemons evened out the F18 at about 7,000 feet.

"Ducky what's our status" cried Lemons.
"we're ok. All 4 birds are still up. It looks like we still have 5 bogies though. Two of which are behind us now and closing in.....

"Roger. I'll try to get back around so we can take another shot." With that Lemons dropped the flight stick forward and the plane made a radical turn back towards the oncoming bogies.

"Firing!" cried out ducky and two more sidewinders made their way from the jet. Lemons saw both planes now pretty closely and it was clear they were J10s - advanced Chinese fighter planes. The enemy fighters let loose another slew of missiles but this time they weren't coming close to them.

Glancing up from his control panel, Ducky cried out, "I think Pup and Seadog are down!" There was no response from them on the radio. "It looks like the remaining J10s are bugging out. I think we hit one more but I don't see Pup's plane anywhere."

Grits piped in over the radio, "Lemons, I think we lost Pup and SeaDog. I called in Search and Rescue for them."

"Roger that, our orders are to proceed to target." Lemons tried to reach Pup's Wingman Chester. "Chester this is Lemons what's your status?"

"Lemons, we took some debris to the side and we are out of sidewinders." I'm flying ok but we can't keep up much speed. We've fallen behind you guys."

"Roger, Chester. Head back to the George Washington now. We'll deliver the payload ourselves. Those were J9s. You won't last through another dogfight." replied Lemons.

"Roger Lemons, we're heading out. Good Luck!"

"Thanks Chester, stay safe and get that bird back in one piece." Lemons switched over to talk to Grits. "OK, pull down to 3,000 feet and let's make our way towards this bridge."

"Roger Lemons. Let's do this!" replied Grits...