Lost Sight - NATO-Russia Conflict 2018

12: Fire Mission

 

FOXTROT LINE, Targu Mures

November 1st 2018

The sewers were dark. Rats roamed the nooks of the old, 18th century structure. It smelled, naturally, like shit. Lieutenant Rick C. Salvade, USMC, prowled through the dark, NODs on his eyes. He had never, aside from training, seen something as green as what he was seeing right now.

Andi was on lead, followed by Kiwi, and then Sgt. Hernandez. Salvade was behind Sgt. Hernandez, with Arkey behind him and LCpl. Schmidt at the foremost rear. LCpl. Brian Arkey was the platoon’s only man qualified as a Scout Sniper, but when he went fresh out of training, the slots in Hitman Company’s Weapons Platoon was already full, so apparently when he landed in England he was there because of an administrative screw-up. When First Lieutenant Norton tried to talk him that there was no place for him, Lieutenant Salvade came over to the conversing two and told Norton he woul take Arkey under his wing.

“Scout Snipers are both scouts and snipers. He can always be the Scout, and can be the Sniper when we need him. Bring your M40 over, Lance Corporal, welcome to 1st Platoon.”

With a half-grinning face, Arkey replied with an “Aye-aye, sir!”

Since then Lance Corporal Brian ‘Simcard’ Arkey thought that Lieutenant Norton was a fucking dick. A big fucking dick with a big fucking asshole. He had left his M40 on the rooftop of Zulu Building, and carried his plain M4A1 Carbine instead. He was called ‘Simcard’ because of several reasons. The first one was that he loved playing games and had a gamertag named ‘Simcardo’, and there were several guys in the platoon that liked playing games as well, not to mention, Lieutenant Salvade, LCpl. Schmidt, LCpl. Ian Malcolm, Sgt. Waters, and Corporal Ortega of 3rd Squad. PFC Mark Manus from 3rd Squad was also the avid online gamer, but unfortunately he was the first Marine to be shot today. However Doc Hutchinson, the Hospital Corpsman assigned to the platoon, managed to pull the lucky PKM bullet – a full metal jacket – out of his upper arm and he was back in shape. PFC Manus and a couple other Marines volunteered for the night raid, but they were ultimately rejected due to Simcard Arkey’s qualifications as a Scout Sniper.

The second reason he was called Simcard was that he was opening his phone battery in the barracks-tent and suddenly his simcard disappeared so he had to go to the provider and get a new one. That happened when they were in England.

The five Marines and two Romanians emerged from a hole not long after. They used the attached iron ladder to climb up and out of the sewer.

Kiwi emerged first, followed by Andi. They quickly ran to the nearby ruined building – a destroyed church – to cover the climbing Marines. Salvade was the first Marine to emerge, then it was Arkey, then Schmidt. The Salvade, Schmidt, and Arkey ran to their position to cover the last one to come up, Sergeant Hernandez. Hernandez climb slightly longer than the rest. With NODs over his eyes, he appeared over the sinkhole, buried it back into place, and dashed towards the rest.

“Took you some time, sergeant.” Said Salvade.

“I’m not the biggest fan of ladders, sir. Nor heights.”

Salvade chuckled. He went serious again after that, and all the men looked at him. Rick noticed that the church had a high tower, and it was destined to have a good view. He was thinking of the possibilities once they got up there. Thanks to the night, they were absolutely concealed and the Russians wouldn’t know where the spotter team – his team – was.

“Sir,” said Kiwi. “I think we should get to the church tower.”

“I was thinking the same thing, private. Kiwi, Arkey, get to the top. We’ll be right behind you.”