Sunday, March 8, 2009

Operation Dragon Slayer - part seven

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."

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Operation Dragon Slayer by Laci's Ghost is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.