Operation Blind Knife [Project Warfighter] [IC]

[Monfrox]

Voroshilov overheard the predicament and looked over to Kayora when she came up to her.

"If we can take out those gun trucks and the AA and MANPAD teams, then we can bring him to the roof for a MEDEVAC. If not, well...I don't wanna think about "if not"..."

There was adamant worry in her tone, a thing not given very often from soldiers of her nation. Froxians were brought up from birth to fight, and therefor had a mentality where they could be confident in most any kind of bad situation. However, the possibility of them failing here and now was a very real concern for the marksman. With the enemy now fully on alert, she knew that she had very minimal time and even less room for error in persecuting her targets. With the two of them now up on the roof, there was work to be done. Voroshilov slithered over to the edge and threw her rifle over it.

It wasn't good. Insurgents were jittery enough as it was, and with one trap blown and a UAV downed, they knew something was up. Some teams were moving around, but most seemed to be converging on their building.

"This isn't good...we're gonna need more than just us up here, but..." She fired the first shot out of her rifle and watched her target slam to the ground. "I'll do what I can!"

---

The STU were having quite the time pushing into the facility, but their pride kept them from actually saying they needed any help. But at this rate, Arynka was about to snatch up an enemy AK just to be able to keep shooting.

"We're moving forward. Encountering moderate resistance." The Sergeant reported, kind of understating it as told by the amount of gunfire being heard from her end.

Up in the apartment building, Sholokhov looked over to John as he sat. Foreigners were interesting to her, as many Froxians didn't get out much. It was their isolationist nature. Hell, it was a big deal for two SOF units to be sent to an international task force on their own.

"You think we should do something?" She asked him.

---

Days like this were still somewhat boring, despite being so close to the front. One man knew that better than anyone. Tobias was a younger guy than most of his buddies, and that got him stuck with a lot of the odd jobs that no one wanted to do. It was all about seniority, which was bullshit to him. Always the one out on patrol and getting food or picking up supplies. He hated it. It bred complacency in him and contempt for his comrades. Of course, this all came to a head today.

"What the...oh my fucking God. Joseph! JOSEPH, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Tobias shouted as he walked over to the small can. "You little fucker! Stop leaving your shit on the floor and clean up after yourself! I'm not your fucking mother!" Poor guy even reached down and snatched it up.

---

Major Rosenthal was moving back and forth around the base area, giving out orders to the units charged with defending the narrow roads that would serve as Task Force Atlas' extraction route. The trucks and escort Humvee were already to go, and the M1128's were just rolling out. She walked over to the other troop trucks and looked to the Specialized Anti-Tank teams.

"Sergeant Haertling!" She called.

A meek girl came running over. She looked barely out of her mid-teens. "Y-yes ma'am!"

Rosenthal looked down on the 5' 9" girl with a softness in her eyes.

"You're out only line against these tanks, Sergeant. None of them get through, understand?"

"Yes, Major!"

"Good. I'll see you when we come back around with the convoy."

With that, the troop trucks followed the MGS's out into Sholk. The Major went over to the communications tent and took up one of the radios, keying the frequency and encryption for her units stationed out there.

"All units this net, be advised. Enemy has a major armored column heading into your AO. They'll be there in about a half hour. Expedite your objective before they cut off the extraction route. A convoy will be sent out to collect you. Set RV points and secure pick up zones. Mustang out."

She dropped the mic and went over to pick up one of the handhelds.

"Where are you going, Major?" A Captain asked.

"I'm going to get our people back." She replied, clipping it to her belt and the mic on her collar. She went to the staging area and grabbed an MP5/10 off a rack with a tac belt and a triple magazine pouch before slinging the submachine gun over her shoulder and heading to the motor pool.

One of the SNCOs was there to greet her. "Everything's all set, Major!"

"Good. Let's go. Get that Leopard 2 tank moving and have them meet up with us as an escort."

"Yes ma'am! Bravo Two-Six to Magic, patch me through to Punisher One, over."

The Major left her senior noncom to handle the radio while she stepped into the passenger seat of the lead Humvee that had a MK.19 on top. Behind her were three Stryker APCs, which they would use to extract the teams currently in the city.

"Alright, let's head out before those tanks get here."

"Yes, ma'am." Her driver replied, dropping the vehicle in gear.

[The United Remnants of America]

"All units this net, be advised. Enemy has a major armored column heading into your AO. They'll be there in about a half hour. Expedite your objective before they cut off the extraction route. A convoy will be sent out to collect you. Set RV points and secure pick up zones. Mustang out."

Tarzan looked up at Jackie. The two were standing at the bottom of the elevator shaft the Namenians had gone up a few minutes earlier. They were meant to provide backup, but the radio call had just come in. Tarzan was the first to speak, "Um. Should that be an issue?"

Jackie ignored the question. "Vladimir. Tarzan and I are moving to reconnect with Ninja and Royce and will begin moving to cover the extraction route. Can you handle out lack of support?" Two radio clicks came as a response and Jackie nodded to Tarzan, "let's go."

The duo moved out of the building, each looking either direction as the crossed the street to the abandoned building and climbed the steps to get up to Ninja's overwatch position. The sniper didn't move, but he acknowledged their return, "What's going on?"

Jackie responded first, "We're packing up. The Namenians don't need us, and we need to start moving our injured," Jackie moved her head to Royce as Tarzan walked over to the small Froxian operator. "What we'll be doing is securing the extract route so we can get the hell out of here."

Tarzan picked up Royce's rifle and slung it over his shoulders, and then looked down at her, "I'm gonna pick you up now, kid, alrighty? We're goin' for a bit of a walk." Tarzan knew the Froxian probably couldn't understand him if her ears were still ringing, but he figured he had to try. He slowly reached down and grabber her arms, pulling her upwards and looked her in the eyes as he lowered down and rolled her onto his shoulders into a fireman's carry. "Wow... She's pretty light. Hey guys, I got her. Let's get moving."

Jackie turned and nodded as Ninja pulled his rifle off the windowsill and stood, shouldering his weapon. Silently, the thee formed up as they began to move downstairs and out of the building, back down onto the street. Jackie was in front, with Tarzan carrying Royce in the middle, and Ninja carried up the rear. All was going smoothly.

"This is Oreo to Sentinels. Koopa is down. Koopa is down. Request immediate assistance."

The trio stopped. Tarzan looked at the ground and sighed, "Motherfucker."

Jackie responded on the radio, "On our way plus one carried. Coming from the East. ETA ASAP." The trio turned around and started moving the opposite direction down the street, Jackie and Ninja's weapons high. In the distance, they heard the crack of a high-powered rifle shot.

---

Oreo had been ignoring the outside world until about fifteen seconds ago. Prior to that, he'd been working to make sure Koopa lived more than the next thirty seconds. Now that Koopa was 'stable' and Oreo had stopped the majority of the bleeding, Oreo could once again start letting his focus drift outward. He noticed Koopa's rifle was gone, and that the others has gotten past him while he was working, he'd just put in the call to the rest of his team on the radio before he looked back behind him to Ralph, Kayora, and Voroshilov when he heard his name.

"Looks like you'll be getting your wish after all, Oreo. The lady says it's time we move our butts and lay some hurt on these rebs. Is he fit to move?"

Oreo nodded at Ralph and used the back of his hand to wipe sweat off his brow, "Yeah. He's fit to move. But I'll need another body to help me carry the stretcher. Preferably, I'd want two people while I walk alongside and monitor him, but I don't think we'll get that luxury. How are we moving out? I've got the Jackie, Tarzan, and Ninja coming. They're on their way and they've apparently picked up another injured."

The thought that they had an injured with them finally registered and Oreo squeezed his eyes, sitting back as he wiped his bloody hands clean on his pant legs, pushed his darkened glasses up and pressed his palms into his eyes. "This is fucked..."

Oreo took another slow, shaky breath before pulling his hands away and adjusting his glasses. "Can we wait until the rest of my team gets here so we have some more bodies, or do we need to move now?" Oreo pushed himself back off the ground and knelt over Koopa again to check his pulse and breathing, making sure nothing had changed in the past minuted.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

Voroshilov overheard the predicament and looked over to Kayora when she came up to her.

"If we can take out those gun trucks and the AA and MANPAD teams, then we can bring him to the roof for a MEDEVAC. If not, well...I don't wanna think about "if not"..."

There was adamant worry in her tone, a thing not given very often from soldiers of her nation. Froxians were brought up from birth to fight, and therefor had a mentality where they could be confident in most any kind of bad situation. However, the possibility of them failing here and now was a very real concern for the marksman. With the enemy now fully on alert, she knew that she had very minimal time and even less room for error in persecuting her targets. With the two of them now up on the roof, there was work to be done. Voroshilov slithered over to the edge and threw her rifle over it.

It wasn't good. Insurgents were jittery enough as it was, and with one trap blown and a UAV downed, they knew something was up. Some teams were moving around, but most seemed to be converging on their building.

"This isn't good...we're gonna need more than just us up here, but..." She fired the first shot out of her rifle and watched her target slam to the ground. "I'll do what I can!"

Kayora surveyed the situation, and lobbed a few willie-petes into the streets, blocking the approaches of the larger foot-mobile elements as rounds flew and people fell. Not being able to know if the person in front of them was walking into a killzone, or from where would play an important part in slowing their advance.

"No can do," The specialist answered, shaking her head even as the sharpshooter's eyes were focused out front, "We've got more wounded. Best hope is to slip away, reconsolidate our wounded, and carry on with the mission. The only choices are whether to stick together or to split-up right away to finish this before the tanks start rolling in."

Feeling a lump of dread building in her throat, she could tell there was a similar dread in the lamia's voice... or was it fear? "Me and Ralph have gotten our wounded out of worse situations. Just focus on the mission and let the enemy bodies fall where they may. She gave Voroshilov a look, as though pleading her to come with them, now. "Move when you're ready." She instructed, jumping down through the hole to take point, trying her best not to look back, for fear of seeing her resolve to make a lonesome stand on her rooftop.

Oreo nodded at Ralph and used the back of his hand to wipe sweat off his brow, "Yeah. He's fit to move. But I'll need another body to help me carry the stretcher. Preferably, I'd want two people while I walk alongside and monitor him, but I don't think we'll get that luxury. How are we moving out? I've got the Jackie, Tarzan, and Ninja coming. They're on their way and they've apparently picked up another injured."

The thought that they had an injured with them finally registered and Oreo squeezed his eyes, sitting back as he wiped his bloody hands clean on his pant legs, pushed his darkened glasses up and pressed his palms into his eyes. "This is fucked..."

Oreo took another slow, shaky breath before pulling his hands away and adjusting his glasses. "Can we wait until the rest of my team gets here so we have some more bodies, or do we need to move now?" Oreo pushed himself back off the ground and knelt over Koopa again to check his pulse and breathing, making sure nothing had changed in the past minute.

A shot rang-out above them, quickly followed by others to answer Oreo's question as Ralph slung his rifle and helped move Koopa. Kayora dashed past, a quick glance confirmed they were not to wait-up for the lamia as more shots barked overhead.

Vlad's team:

"What the...oh my fucking God. Joseph! JOSEPH, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Tobias shouted as he walked over to the small can. "You little fucker! Stop leaving your shit on the floor and clean up after yourself! I'm not your fucking mother!" Poor guy even reached down and snatched it up.

As Tobias was bent-over in a rather compromising pose, a very large hairy man fell through the roof access hatch and landed squarely on top of him, a knife weaving its way in front of his neck as they crashed into the floor. Robin wiped the blood off his bayonet, nodding at Full Metal at his quick thinking as the rest of the squad quickly filed-out, Sarge took the rebel's gun, mostly making a not to have a rebel gun be the last one to shoot, to give the illusion that the rebels would have won the next firefight.

[Congreveopia]

Congreveopian Team:

“That’s Leighton’s call,” said John. “Seems like those two made it across the street fine without our help, though, and it doesn’t look like these forces are moving to reinforce whoever they’re engaged with. So, yeah, we’re not doing anything right now, and that’s probably not good.” John glanced at his HUD to check the squad channel was live. “Leighton?”

“Yes, okay,” replied Leighton “Nexus, how’s our reassignment looking?”

“It’s probably going to be a while,” said Nexus “Froxian wetware’s a bit busy with an approaching armor offensive.”

“Ah, I see it on the local area map,” said Leighton “That’s going to run into our operations window. If we weren’t given orders, then they’re probably just planning on using us as caltrops to slow the advance.”

“Metaphorically speaking, I presume,” said Nexus. “I can agree, although I don’t have much data for president on Froxian military command etiquette, it does appear that we’re being ignored. DO you want to take command?”

“Yeah,” said Leighton. “Let’s show them why it’s a bad idea to ignore the Platinum Soldiers. Charles, pop your helis. Nexus, take control of them and Buzzer One, and give us maximum tactical awareness. Low stealth priority; high obscurity priority. They’re welcome to see the drones, but don’t translate that into them seeing us. Alpha force is now mobile and hunting the Tunguska. Plot me a route and notify the other teams. Make sure you offer the Remnant-Hurti group a plan that involves us drawing pressure off them to allow their exfil; we’re the only uncommitted unit still in this fight.”

“Right,” said Thomas to Sholokhov. “That’s our cue to go do something.”

He pulled a black hemisphere from his belt and stuck it to the ceiling near the window. “Nexus, I’ve left eyes on the street for you,” he said “Moving to regroup with the rest of the squad.”

[Monfrox]

Major Rosenthal

"Always with this shit...nothing can ever go the way we want it to."

"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy, Major."

"Yeah...tell me some other good news."

"Just sayin', Major."

"I know, I know. Keep your eyes on the road and be ready to floor it if things get hairy."

"Who's the first pick up?"

"The team we sent out to takeout the AA, if they decided to follow through on that objective."

"Be a lot easier with air support."

"Sure would, Corporal." The Major replied with a huff, watching the MGS vehicles turned off to the right on some unnamed street, heading out to face off against the armored column. She briefly wondered how many wouldn't make it out before banishing that thought to the deepest part of her mind. Troop trucks followed them while the APCs moved forward still. Itwould only take a few minutes to set the ambush, but wit such a small force, it was going to be tough.

"Alright, we'll be coming up on the triple-A positions shortly..."

---

Voroshilov

It was a good thing that Froxian Designated Marskmen were trained on how to make quick snap-shots at medium distances as well as more stable shots for long-range. Voroshilov pinged anyone she could find, moving to the next target even if she missed. She did, however, prioritize MANPAD teams. There were specially rounds made to be shot into the outboard fuel tanks of anything from little jerry cans on APCs and Humvees to the fuel tanks on the troop trucks to cause an explosion that was aimed to confuse and panic anyone in the vehicle. It bought precious time, but sometimes if even blew up entire vehicles if you shot it into the right place on the right one. That class had been all about learning how to target and identify fuel stores and tanks on military vehicles, and noting the very few ones that could be completely taken out with such a shot.

Sadly, Voroshilov hadn't gotten her incendiary rounds yet, so she made due by picked off the gunners when she wasn't taking fire. An explosion went off around the corner and drew the attention of the insurgents for a brief moment. In fact, it was so big, Voroshilov looked. She squinted at something and then sighted it in through her scope. There was the dreaded Tunguska, burning in a hulk of metal as it's ammo cooked off inside it. Fire licked from places on it's armor, and what insurgents were still alive were crawling out to get away from it.

"Well...holy shit...there goes the Tunguska! Alright, we got one more gun truck that I can't get a good shot on, and then I think we're clear, so long as the others stay off them!"

---

Royce

Royce was light, yes, but mainly because she was short and stocky. Well...that and silicon weighed a lot on someone, of which she had none but the carbide in her trauma plates. She wanted to kick and scream at Tarzan to put her down, but she irrationally feared that he wouldn't hear her as she couldn't hear herself. Her ringing had subsided, and now if sounded like she was under deep water where everything was heavily muffled. She thumbed for her pistol and held onto Tarzan's vest strap; a very unhappy look on her face.

---

Sholokhov

The pathfinder didn't know what Thomas's plan was, but she knew what she needed to do. She took her rifle up and stood with a sense of conviction, even if she was slightly shorter than him.

"I don't know about you, but I'm not going to leave them behind to fend for themselves. I'm going. You can come, or you can rejoin your team. I don't know about you, but I owe those girls a couple beers so I'm gonna make sure they get back to drink them."

She wasn't mad. She knew some things worked differently in other nations. However, these were her fellow soldiers, and she wasn't about to leave their escape up to chance. She took off for the stairs.

---

The Hospital

The area was pretty clear for now. Roving patrols were just a nice way of calling a gaggle of fighters walking and talking through the halls. Of course, on the top floor, there was the very distinct sound of a young girl screaming bloody murder from behind a set of double doors around the hallway corner. There was also a brief sound of electricity arcing. Of course, then there was perhaps something more pressing.

"Tobias, get off my back. Who are you, my fucking mother?" Joseph replied, stepping around the corner. He eyed Vlad's team for a second as he stood there. But, as realization dawned on him, it soon faded as blood and gray matter exploded out the side of his skull. Not a warning, but a muffled chuff from somewhere impossible to discern. Joseph's body went limp and fell.

[The United Remnants of America]

Oreo-Koopa

Oreo grabbed the handholds at the head of the stretcher and looked at Ralph, "One. Two. Three. Lift." Together, the Hurti operative and the Remnant combat medic lifted Koopa's stretcher with little effort.

The Remnant tech specialist was still unconscious, and his pale Roskian skin tone had attained a milky pallor consistent with blood loss and shock. It was a striking contrast to Oreo's glimmering dark Torian skin.

As they stood, Oreo deftly switched hands so he could walk forward in case Ralph and him had to traverse stairs or corners, he wouldn't be taking them blind. Oreo tried to keep pace with Kayora, despite her high-tailing. As they moved on, Oreo said a quiet prayer for Voroshilov. He was probably the most religious man on the Remnant Sentinel team. Religion wasn't extremely common in the URA, but Oreo was a devout Catholic, and he prayed for the Froxian lamia sniper's safety, as well as her accuracy.

She was their guardian angel. The explosions in the distance marked the angel's terrible anger for Oreo and forced him to press onward with his fallen comrade.

---

Jackie-Tarzan-Ninja

They'd adopted a triangular formation, with Ninja leading the way, Jackie to his back-left, and Tarzan carrying Royce.

The ground rumbled as the trio jogged down the abandoned road and the sound of the explosion came through the air a few seconds after.

Ninja spoke first, "I'll guess that's bad news."

"Well it's probably not good news." Tarzan was quick to respond. As he ran, he noticed Royce's eyes had lost their glazed look and she had wrapped a hand into his plate carrier, causing him to bob his head in a nod as he jogged. "Right, good news is our Froxian seems to be recovering. She's aware now."

The two men could hear Jackie's eyes roll as she spoke, "Great. Sounds like our day is getting a whole lot better, isn't it?" She quickly flipped her radio to transmit out of the local team, "Jackie to Oreo. We're one block from your pos and closing."

"Roger, Cap'n. We're on the move. Voroshilov is providing oversight."

Jackie didn't respond, but switched her radio even further up the channels so she could transmit on the Froxian channel, "Voroshilov, this is Sentinel 1-1. Trio plus one injured advancing on position from East. Distance one block. Can hear your fire and explosions to West. Advise you don't turn and shoot. Updates on situation?" Jackie hoped the sniper could take enough concentration from her own survival to respond to her so they'd have the necessary information before they got to the building the Hurtis, Oreo, Koopa, and Voroshilov were camping out.