Fireteam 404, Monday 15th October(Chapter three)
#4 of Fireteam 404
I was lying next to Luke enjoying a lie in with my mate when alarm bells started ringing. I was up in seconds and reached through the boundaries of space and time into another dimension to enter my combat suit. Firstly it isn't as complex as it sounds, secondly there is a plate on the back of the combat plate that when touched by the owner reforms around them. I also grabbed my rifle out of the dimension in the same movement of my hand.
Luke was beside me as we made our way to the control room, which was basically a room with a couple of computers and a holographic projector. Tayler came in after us. "What is it ma'am?" She asked. "We're getting scrambled. Attack on airport, suspected Royalist terrorist attack, we are to assist local S.W.A.T. team, or armed defenders. An A.P.C. will be along shortly." "Anything else we need to know ma'am?" I asked. "There are no civilians on sight so weapons live, shoot to kill." We nodded our heads to show we understood.
Five minutes latter we were hopping into the back of an A.P.C. and driving off to the airport. "Ok pre-mission check." We all moaned as Annabelle said it. "I know, I know but we need to do it. Weapon check." We all cocked our rifles and checked the chamber. The plastic casing with a glowing blue liquid inside was in the chamber. "Secondary check." I pulled the pistol from the holster on my hip and checked the chamber. Luke, being a typical badger, pulled out a revolver. He checked the drum, spun it, and flicked it back in. "Beacons." I turned on the beacon in my shoulder pad. "And finally H.U.D. checks." I ran my H.U.D. through its testing program. "Good it wasn't that hard was it." "Pure torture ma'am." Luke joked.
Ten minutes of blaring down the highway we turned off and approached the airport. There were two black vans with the imperialist S.W.A.T. logo on the side. We could tell immediately they were amateurs or at least immature. We dismounted the A.P.C. and Taylor was greeted by wolf whistles from the S.W.A.T. team. Looking at there weapons and the state they were in they were amateurs. I walked up to one. "Permission to handle your rifle?" "I wouldn't mind your leopard friend handling my rifle." He and his friends found this incredibly funny. I took his rifle off him; it was a MP6 S.M.G. in a poorly kept condition. I cocked the weapon putting a round into the chamber. "Maybe now it will fire first time. Also the bolt is a bit stiff; although these guns are reliable they still need to be maintained." I walked off and joined the rest of the fire team.
Luke was first up to the S.W.A.T. commander. "No offence but your team needs to have there firearms inspected, most of them are poorly maintained." He turned to Luke and vented his anger towards him. "Don't talk about my team like that. You get your fire team to stay out of the way and let my men do there work. I'm not happy about you getting your team involved and don't think because you're two meters tall that you can intimidate me." "Firstly I wasn't trying to intimidate you; secondly I'm not in command. You want to talk to her."
Annabelle approached the S.W.A.T. commander. "What is this some sort of joke, sending the animals in with a bunny as a leader?" The commander commented. "Hare," She corrected, "and this is not a joke we are here to help take out this threat." "I don't need some female bunny ordering me about. You stay back and let my team do my work." "Call me a bunny one more time and I will mute you. If you send that team in at their current state they will get slaughtered." "Don't insult my team and I will not be talked to like that by a female." I, and probably the rest of the fire team, didn't like this guy. "Our society is different to yours, it should really catch up, and I can talk to you however I please since I, firstly, out rank you and secondly am in command of this mission." She turned to Tayler. "You can go know." Tayler ran off towards the control tower. The commander pushed Annabelle further. "You will not talk to me like that and we have a sniper positioned over there." He pointed to a small outlook on top of a hanger. "So we don't need you little whore to help." We all cocked our rifles at the comment and advanced, Annabelle was right up in his face. "What did you call her?" "I called her a whore you stupid bunny-ugh!" She slammed her knee up into his groin with a force that made me winch.
She turned to the rest of the S.W.A.T. team. "Do anymore of you want to insult me or my fire team?" There was silenced. "Good, your 2I.C. can take over. Ok team listen up you know the briefing, S.W.A.T. goes first and we follow. 2I.C., U.A. frequency twelve with our sniper providing over watch." The team assembled and rushed into the terminal. "Holly cuss they are going to get killed moving like that." Luke commented. No sooner had he said it then an explosion echoed around the building followed by small arms fire. "Go, go, go spread sweep." We assembled in a v formation and spread out. We moved through the ticket hall scanning every corner and watching for I.E.D.s.
We passed the bodies of the S.W.A.T. and came under fire. We scattered for cover and returned fire. The terrorist were well trained, probably Royalist marines. " Luke, Jack get onto behind the desks and circle around." Annabelle ordered. I vaulted over the ticket desk and started crawling along, Luke was close behind. We got beside them and managed to empty a clip each but came under fire that had us pinned. "Did you see what I saw?" Luke asked. "If I had your eyes than yes but I don't." He pulled a canister off his belt. He pulled out the pin and tossed it over the desk. There was a hiss as the gas sprayed out. The royalist coughed and spluttered in the cloud of tear gas. We went back over the desks and the fire team reformed into a v formation moving though the hallways to the terminal.
Annabelle ordered into cover when we passed the through the security section. "Nita take point, scan the terminals." "Yes ma'am." She moved out in front and moved cautiously around the corner, looking down the terminals from the right. "Seams clear-" She turned and a figure jumped on her and managed to get her in a head lock. We all raised our rifles at him. "Put them down or she dies." He barked. "This is over watch I can't shoot without hitting Nita." The royalist then made a mistake. "Put them down." He pointed the gun towards us. Nita knocked his arm away, spun and punched him in the face then she drew her knife and stabbed him in the throat. He was on the ground and she was about to pull out her knife.
A flash of blue came from around the corner and Nita fell in a heap. "Marine down, marine down." Shoots rang around the terminals and the halls; we came under fire from both directions. "Over watch sit' rep', over." "Multiple hostiles moving onto your position from the terminals, trying my- holly cuss, I'm pinned, I'm pinned. Sorry ma'am." We fired out as best we could from our position on the royalist, but they knew what they were doing and numbers would overwhelm us. "Ma'am, behind you, get into the toilets." I informed "What?" "Trust me." I ran across from where I was towards her, shots rang past and hit me. I slid the last meter to her position. "Ma'am into the toilets and through the air ducts." "We can't leave Nita." "Ma'am unless we can come up with another solution there is nothing we can do for her." She was silent pondering this for a second. "Jack there is a security door over there if we can get to it we can go out that way." I looked to where she was pointing. "Worth a shot, cover me." She fired out and I ran across the hallway to the door. "Luke get Nita, I'll cover you." Annabelle ordered. He ran out and grabbed Nita's body, lifting her over his shoulders then running back into cover. "Smoke out." I unhooked a canister off my belt and rolled it into the hall, in seconds the hall was filled with a cloud of smoke and we were gone.
We sprinted down the hall as fast as we could, soon we heard the sound of royalist behind us then we came under a hail of gun fire. "Through here, move!" I ushered them through a fire exit, alarms started to blare as soon as I opened it. Before I could exit I came under fire and had to move away. I returned fire slaying a few but they kept coming. I turned sprinting down the hall way, I raised my gun and fired at a window. It smashed as I threw my body weight against it and I was in the air falling from two stories. I rolled as I landed to soften the impact and kept running. I ran out onto the tarmac of the runway and realised, too late, that I was exposed. I cussed my stupidity and ran for the nearest cover, which was an abandoned luggage cart. I dove behind it and came under more fire. I fired out from the makeshift cover and went to reload when I realised that I was out of ammunition. I pulled out my side arm and continued firing. The sound of an engine approached from the run way and I saw an A.P.C. rushing towards me, its cannon turned and fired on the royalist. It stopped behind me. "Get in." Annabelle called from inside. I rushed around the back under a hail of gun fire and ran up the ramp inside. "Go, go, go." We sped away from the airport with all five of us battered and bruised but alive.