“Examination of more security footage revealed the doctor was kidnapped from his room and put aboard a van.” Stills from other security cameras showed the two gunmen with Massacre walking down the service stairs and leaving the hotel by a rear exit.
“The van was later identified at an airport outside the capital. Records checks showed a small plane departed fifteen minutes after the van was caught on camera at the gate,” Hawk went on. “Malaysian air traffic control records show the plane departed local air space, heading north-east toward Than Dat.”
A map of Southeast Asia appeared next, showing Malaysia, Than Dat and its neighbouring countries, Vietnam and Cambodia. The plane’s route was marked with a simple red line.
“Malaysian diplomats contacted the Than Dat government and they checked their air traffic control records. The plane disappeared off radar somewhere in the jungle. Indications were it landed. A Than Dat special ops team was sent in to try to find out what had happened to Masters. They had a fire-fight with Coil forces and were forced to withdraw.”
The map was replaced by one showing Than Dat itself, a point marked in red on the map.
“Recon over-flights in the area by Than Dat Air Force planes located what is believed to be the Coil camp. The State department requested we be allowed to handle the assault on the camp, which Than Dat’s government agreed to. The camp is believed to be a left over from a Cobra force which caused them some trouble two years ago and was defeated by Action Force elements,” Hawk went on.
The map was replaced by overhead photos of the camp, which flipped on to and off the screen in quick succession, showing the camp from various angles.
“Than Dat is willingly allow us carte blanche to destroy the camp and rescue Masters as we see fit. The ground assault element will be inserted by local helicopters five miles from the camp; move over ground to the target and then stage a covert infiltration of the area. The priority is solely the rescue of Masters. Get in, grab him, and get out. Once the team are clear of the site, Freestyle will use the new Night Boomer jet to obliterate the camp,” Hawk explained.
The photos of the camp disappeared from the screen to show a photo of the modified Skystriker now known as the Night Boomer. Freestyle grinned at the sight of the jet, sitting in its hangar, looking sleek, sexy and mean under the bright lights.
“Falcon will command the squad; Muskrat and Spearhead will work in conjunction to assure the team’s safe passage through the jungle. Lowlight will provide sniper support during the assault on the camp. Repeater will provide heavy fire support if your cover is blown. Tunnel Rat’s job will be to insure the hostage is safe to remove, without any explosives being triggered. Hit&Run, you’re supporting anyone else who needs it.” Hawk tried not to smirk at the light infantryman’s slightly disgusted looking expression.
“You insert at night, move covertly under cover of darkness utilising image intensifier goggles and suppressed weapons to neutralise Coil forces as needed. You exfil in darkness to an exfil point designated by the local helo pilots and then Freestyle frags the site. Your unit call sign for this operation is ‘Night Force’, radio code is Night Six for Falcon, the rest of you can fight out who gets the other numbers.” Hawk paused to check his notes. “You have ten hours to come up with your exact assault plan, whilst you fly to Than Dat via Hawai’i and Guam. Good luck, gentlemen.”
Republic of Than Dat
Southeast Asia
22:30 hours local time
The Than Dat Air Force Super Puma helicopter dropped off the Night Force team at the jungle airstrip where the Coil plane had landed. The seven commandos waited for the helicopter to move off before heading out into the jungle.
Spearhead was on point, his suppressed M4SWF at the ready. Muskrat followed close behind him, his own M4SWF in one hand, his machete in the other. Trailing slightly behind Muskrat came Tunnel Rat carrying a suppressed M240 light machine-gun. Falcon and Hit&Run were behind Tunnel Rat, with their own M4SWF carbines. Repeater and Lowlight brought up the rear. Repeater carried an M240, whilst Lowlight carried a suppressed M24 sniper rifle with a night-vision scope attached.
All of the commandos were dressed in flat black fatigues, boots, gloves and helmets. Camouflage face-paint was smeared on their chins and cheeks around the ArmsTech image-intensifying goggles they wore.
The team moved quietly, but quickly, through the tropical rainforest of Than Dat.
After an hour and a half, Falcon called the team to a halt, before checking a small hand-drawn chart he carried.
“We’re about halfway to the camp,” he whispered to the other Joes. “Everyone have a drink and rest up for five. We’ll move out again soon.”
The team took the opportunity to sit down and have a drink from two shared canteens before moving on.
After another hour’s trek through the rainforest, they were nearing the compound. Spearhead signalled the team to halt and drop to the ground.
Falcon moved carefully up to the point man.
“What’s up?” he whispered near Spearhead’s ear.
“There’s a trail ahead,” Spearhead whispered back. “And I hear talking.”
Falcon turned and signalled to Lowlight to move up. After a whispered explanation, the sniper silently moved forward, then around a tree.
Lowlight flipped up his NVGs then raised his rifle to look through the telescopic night-scope. He could just see the source of the voices. He moved back to the rest of the Night Force team.
“Four Coil troopers with automatic rifles, frag grenades and an Alsatian,” Lowlight reported to Falcon. “Standing in the trail having a smoke and talking.”
Falcon swore under his breath. “Spearhead, Hit&Run, you’re the best marksmen we’ve got on the team other than Lowlight. Move up with him and take them down. Lowlight, make sure you take the dog.”
The three Joes nodded and carefully moved out.
The trio moved into a position Lowlight found for them with a clear shot at the Coil gunmen.
Lowlight lay down, setting up his rifle on its bipod, whilst Spearhead and Hit&Run crouched behind him. Luckily for the team, the Coil troopers were bunched up, making it easier to hit them.
“On three,” Lowlight whispered. “One… two… three.”
He fired a single shot, dropping the dog. At the same time, Hit&Run fired two shots in quick succession, hitting one Coil Trooper and then a second as the first fell. Spearhead fired at the same instant, a near-silent fwip-fwip-fwip marked his three round burst dropping one Coil trooper before a second marked the other falling.
“Targets down. Nice work, gentlemen,” Lowlight said.
The trio moved back to the rest of the squad.
They moved out, now following the trail toward the Coil compound.
The trail through the rainforest made the team’s progress much easier, allowing them to approach the camp faster.
It was nearly one AM, local time, when the dark shape of the camp’s watchtowers loomed out of the night over them.
The team came to a halt, around a hundred metres shy of the tree line. The camp sat in a square mile of open ground, with a chain link fence surrounding the buildings. Four towers were positioned at north, south, east and west. The southern tower was shorter than the others as it doubled as the gatepost.
“Lowlight, you’re up,” Falcon said. “Take out the guards in the towers. Everyone else, wait for Lowlight’s ‘go’. We’re silent from here on out.”
Lowlight nodded and moved off through the trees toward the camp. At the edge of the trees, he dropped into a crawl, pulling himself forward on his elbows toward a fallen tree. Lowlight switched off his goggles and flipped them up, out of the way. He opened his rifle’s bipod and leaned it on the tree. He adjusted the rifle’s image-intensifier scope, focusing on the guard in the eastern tower.
Lowlight aimed slightly above the guard’s head, to allow for bullet drop, then gently squeezed the trigger. A sound barely louder than a mouse squeak and the guard dropped. Lowlight quickly moved his aim to the guard in the gatepost. He adjusted his scope again and then fired. Two targets down. The western guard followed. Three shots, three kills.
The northern guard was the hardest target. He was the furthest away, leaning against one of the posts holding the top of the tower. Lowlight had to adjust his aim twice before firing. The guard fell.
Lowlight keyed his radio. “Towers are down. You’re clear,” he whispered.
The rest of the team sprinted up the trail, across the open ground to the gate. Tunnel Rat quickly scrambled over the guard post’s desk, and out into the compound before carefully opening the gate to allow the rest of the team in.
Falcon gave the team a hand-signal to move out and they split up. Repeater and Spearhead ran across the compound toward what the team had deduced was a prison block of some kind. Tunnel Rat and Hit&Run headed for what they thought might be the armoury, whilst Falcon and Muskrat headed for the building with a satellite dish and radio antennae on top.
Repeater and Spearhead reached the prison. Repeater moved to cover the door as Spearhead gently turned the handle. The door opened. Spearhead tossed in a flash-bang before shutting the door. The stun grenade detonated, its effects muted by the closed door.
Spearhead threw the door open and darted in, a single guard was sitting behind the reception area’s desk, whimpering and clutching his ears. Spearhead shot him.
Repeater followed him in; gun at the ready as Spearhead flipped his goggles up and quickly searched the desk for the keys. The point man moved to the barred door that led into the rest of the building. A quick check revealed all the cells to be empty.
“No prisoner here,” Spearhead commented.
Repeater lowered his gun slightly. “Now what?” he asked. “We were sure he’d be here.”
“RV with the others at the garage building as planned,” Spearhead said.
During the flight over to Than Dat, the team had decided to split up during the assault, secure the prisoner, secure the armoury and raid the command building for intelligence before moving to secure what they’d decided was some kind of garage, given the large vehicle-sized doors.
They headed out the door; Spearhead replacing his goggles as he did.
Falcon and Muskrat arrived at the command post. Muskrat carefully opened the door and they moved in. A short corridor led to a small reception area, where a Coil trooper was dozing in his seat at a desk. Falcon shot him.
There were two further doors leading off the room. The two Joes moved to the left door. Falcon opened the door and Muskrat charged in, M4 up and ready.
Inside, three Coil communications specialists were sitting at a table, playing cards. Before they could react, Muskrat shot the one in the middle, pivoted left and shot a second, before Falcon shot the third as he came in.
Muskrat took his backpack off and along with Falcon, began rooting through the codebooks scattered around the radio sets and shoving them into his pack. After a few moments, they moved back to the reception room.
This time, Muskrat threw the door open and Falcon charged in. Two Coil troopers looked up as the Green Beret raced in, Falcon fired, dropping both in quick succession.
This time, the captain removed his backpack and he began grabbing computer discs, CD-ROMs, paperwork and audiotapes that were in the room.
The pair headed back outside, where Muskrat took an infrared beacon from his web-gear and quickly climbed up on to the roof of the building, using the convenient maintenance ladder, and paced the lit beacon in the middle of the roof. As he turned, he could just make out Hit&Run doing the same at the armoury building.
The team reassembled at the garage.
“Where’s the prisoner?” Falcon asked when he saw Spearhead and Repeater were not escorting Masters.
Spearhead shrugged, “Dunno. Not in the cells.”
Falcon cursed under his breath. “Tunnel Rat, shut down the generator for this building and we’ll get on with securing it.”
The shorter man nodded and moved to where a small, dedicated generator was hooked up to the building. Seconds later, Muskrat opened the small side door and the team moved into the darkened building.
Simon had nodded off at the workbench again, he realised as the lights and air-conditioning suddenly shut off. Startled awake, he looked around in the darkness.
The two Mech-Snakes were asleep on their camp beds. He could hear the snores. Simon frowned, but before he could do anything about getting up, he suddenly realised someone else, several someones, were in the garage. The side door was open and several men had come in.
There were several fwip-fwip-fwip noises from the direction of the camp beds. Suddenly, a flashlight snapped on, blinding him.
“It’s him,” said a voice with a strong Louisiana accent. The flashlight snapped off.
“Who are you?” Simon asked.
“GI Joe Night Force,” another voice answered. This voice had a Carolinas’ accent. “We’re here to rescue you, Doctor.”
Suddenly, someone flicked on a pair of small lights, so that Simon could now see the six men in front of him, all carrying American weapons, he noticed, and wearing ArmsTech’s Mark III Night-vision goggles. One of the men pulled down a small flap on his body armour vest to reveal a two-tone green Stars and Stripes.
“I know who GI Joe are,” Simon said, “But who are Night Force?”
“The team sent to rescue you,” replied the commando with the Carolina accent who’d shown him the flag. “What did they have you doing in here?” he went on.
“They wanted me to build them a drone that they could use,” Simon said. “The leader, a guy calling himself ‘Overlord’, wanted me to build it in three weeks. He’s due back in a couple of days to see how I’m doing.”
The commando leader nodded, looking interested at that. “We’ll be long gone by then.” He turned to a shorter man, “Tunnel Rat, plant another IR beacon on the roof. I want Freestyle to make sure she hits this building.”
The other soldier nodded and headed outside.
“Everyone else, let’s move out. Doctor, no talking. We’re covert.”
Simon nodded.
The commandos moved outside, making sure to keep Simon in the middle of the group. In the darkness outside Simon could barely see. Suddenly one of the Joes grabbed his arm and put Simon’s hand on the commando’s shoulder.
“Hold on to my shoulder, DO NOT let go,” the commando whispered. This one spoke with more of a Mid-west accent.
The team moved off, heading toward the gates, Simon desperately holding on to the commando’s shoulder.
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Topic: GI Joe Spec Ops: In Blackest Night: Night Force V The Coil (Read 2135 times)