Sharp Shooter

War Fighters

The remnants of the KA fleet didn't stand a chance against the Texas. The first ship to fall underneath the weight of her 16 inchers was the stolen Dreadnought. We watched from the armory as the ship broke into three pieces and went up in a ball of fire and smoke. The Destroyers were the only ones that managed to get shots off, but the Sea Whiz blew them out of the sky and the 16's blew the ships to pieces. The small arms fire from the deck, ranging from the might 50 cal to 308 to the 223 used by Helios and Kachira shredded the KA foot soldiers. Over the next few days, the KA ships were at the bottom of the ocean and the USS Texas, after 70 years of being a museum, was once again the ruler of the seas.

Months past after that. My team and I had been on RHIB's for countless hours looking for Silver and Raider. After about three months. Efforts were halted by the higher ups in Fireblood and Raider and Silver were handing the KIA, killed in action, designation. How was that for a double edged sword? The news came just days after I got the clearance to give Raji a military funeral. There were three coffins going in the ground that day and only one of them contained an actual body. I had met Raider's parents in that time as well. They blamed Vortex and Jace for their son's death. Frankly I didn't blame them, they needed someone to pin it on, they needed a reason, but why they didn't blame the KA, I'll never understand. I spent hours at the range with Sorra and Val after that day. It had broken me with the thought that two more of my friends were dead and gone, I wanted pay back, we all did.

Then one day, the opportunity for payback arose. Jace handed us a pack of Hellhounds massing for an attack on a Fireblood camp on a silver platter. The team, especially Vortex, was all to eager to spill some blood for Raider and Silver, maybe a little to eager.

"Vortex!", I barked from across the table as I was getting my Dragonov back together, "you ready to kill some hell hounds?"

Dars perked up, "I am", he growled happily.

"Hell yes", Vortex smiled, cracking her neck and baring her fangs.

"Looks like your cover will be blown Dars", Kachira said as she finished packing up her first aid kit.

"Ahh...who give a fuck?", Dars smiled, "maybe it will be like when Raji deserted and convince some others to join the cause."

"Hey Dars?", I said as we gathered the rest of our gear and walked to the C-260 that regularly took us to AO's, "how did you meet Raji?"

He laughed, "he gave our trainer lip and got lashed for it. Raji was one scary mother fucker Renny. He didn't take shit from no one. He made it well known that he hated the KA and was more than punished for it. I started chatting with him one night in the barracks, he told Silver and I that he was gonna escape or die trying. We thought he was full of shit, till six months later he turned up on that very same carrier we were stationed on and handed Silver, myself and our team our asses on a silver platter."

"He beat you down by himself?", I asked.

Dars nodded, "took his armor off and beat the living daylights out of all of us. Broke both my back legs and seriously screwed up our brawler Fang. After words he gave us an ultimatum. Join the Navy, or die where we lay."

"And you and silver were the only one who took it?", I asked.

Dars nodded, "Raji executed the others one by one, ripped their heads clean off their shoulders. Vortex and Raji would have been good friends. You were lucky you knew him."

I smiled, "yeah, I was. I wish I could have been there to save him. If I ever find the hound that killed him I'm gonna feed him a few .308 rounds."

Dars sighed, "you and me both brother."

When the jet landed, we piled in. Vortex lay in the back of the 260 on her stomach and the rest of us sat on the benches.