Sharp Shooter

Twenty Questions

"I was just about to come get you Ren", Syren said. I noticed that he was sweat soaked and covered in dirt.

"Did the Sarge have you running?", I asked.

"No", Syren said holding up his M16. It had a free float rail, a Trijjicon ACOG sight and a foregrip. In a holster on his leg was what looked like a factory Beretta M92FS and on his back was a Styer AUG that had a red dot, short 16.4 inch barrel and a 20 round clip. The patch on his shoulder read "Task Force Stalker, "I was qualifying with my weapons. I'll be joining you for this fight, so will your uncle."

"Really?", I asked looking between the three of them.

"Yes", Uncle Tommy said, "I gave the Texas over to the Master Chief so I could Join Task Force Stalker."

"Wow", I said, "thanks."

Uncle Tommy smiled, "did you get the package I sent you?"

"I did", I smiled, "Vortex gave it to me on the fly back. That M27 looked, felt and smelled brand new, why'd you say it was old?"

Uncle Tommy shrugged, "I have no idea, just how the letter came out."

Syren laughed, "I wish my uncle would have bought me an M27 just because I had to have surgery."

Uncle Tommy laughed too, "we all do", he looked at Raji, "I see you've made a recovery."

"I did sir", Raji said, "if you hadn't been down there when we hit that wave the doctors would have killed me and not even realized it."

"Your welcome", Uncle Tommy smiled.

"So this is your friend Raji", Jace said looking up from a mountain of papers, "KA has been chattering about you. Apparently someone whose leg you bit off made it back to Iran alive and told a story of "a once dead Drakehound now back to life."

Raji smiled, "so let the horror stories began. I told myself when I went rouge that the KA would speak of me as they do of Vortex, look's like it's in the first stages."

Jace smiled, "gotta start somewhere. Anyway Ren, I was gonna send for you because we just got flushed a few shipping crates full of brand new equipment. My brother was in charge of sending them to the right place, but he "lost" a few sets of multi cam, light plate carriers and boots. He also "lost" a box of Glock 17's and customized Styer AUG's. Guess who gets it?"

"TF Stalker?", I asked.

Jace nodded.

"That's good because I put in a request for new uniforms a while back and the armory master never got back to me", I laughed.

Jace smiled, "oh, and by the way, I'm handing you complete control of your team as well as a promotion to Sargent."

"Really?", I asked, "that's...that's a heck of a bump sir."

"Yes", Jace said, "with all the shit you regularly take and come back from, I think you've more than proven your worth, just don't make me regret the bump."

"I won't let you down", I smiled.

"Good", Jace said, he checked his watch, "still a few hours before curfew, why don't you guys get to the armory and get your new uniforms, hit the course and I'll see you at dinner, John and I will go into town and buy some pizza."

I smiled, "sounds like a plan."

My team and I walked from the main A51 building to the barracks where I found my entire team outside. Ivan was perched on the roof with a laser pointer and Navi was trying to catch it. Val was on his side on the roof soaking up the sunlight and Sorra was sitting beside the door sketching something.