[ MT 1981 ]
[ Mature ]
Vympel
April 14, 1981
Mogadishu, Somalia
0220 hours local time
They came like ghosts in the night, their Mil Mi-24 "Hind" transport helicopters swooping in, as thick black threads, fast ropes, were thrown out of the open doors, and were quickly followed by camouflaged infantrymen. The soldiers of the 122nd Special Tactics Battalion, Vympel Team, were the best in the world, assigned to carry out missions deep behind enemy lines, and succeed. One by one, the thirty soldiers swept down, silently covering their approach with their AP-1 assault rifles and RPK-74 squad automatic weapons.
Meanwhile, a single Hind provided overwatch, its 30mm cannon and rockets as a deterrent to any insurgent threat. Silently, the soldiers advanced down the street, scanning for movement. Thirty meters to their front, a careless Somali sentry kicked rocks around, while his AKM lay two feet away, on a chair. He had heard the helicopters, but assumed it was the Slovitreans buzzing homes again, to frighten wives and children. Infidels, he thought, right before a knife entered the left side of his kneck, and quickly exited. That thought would prove to be his last.
"Let's go," whispered the team leader, checking the chamber on his AP-1. They were locked and loaded. At the end of the street sat a pair of inconspicuous Toyota pickups, with the engine block removed. What any bystander did not know, was that the hood was packed full of Semtex high explosive, and would blow this city block into the next century. No evidence, no survivors.
The group reached the target house. A large metal gate blocked the main entrance, but allowed viewing of a pair of 1950s Ferraris parked in the front lot. Sheik Hassan Mohammed, the man who financed the bombings of the fuel stations at Alexeigrad and Plavost was inside, and the Ferraris sealed that certainty. The man loved his cars more than he loved women, and he would never let them out of sight.
One of the soldiers, his face covered with a tan balaclava, placed a Thermite charge on the gate. Average reaction time for Mohammed's security team was one minute twenty seconds. Average response time of a BTR-60 stationed out back, two minutes ten seconds. The Slovitreans had a very small window from when they blew the charge, to certain death. The team leader gave a small, almost imperceptible nod. "Go."
In a flash, the charges had detonated, and a fifteen-man team stormed in, their rifles raised. Meanwhile, the other half of the group went around to the back of the compound, to plant a pack of Semtex on the compound's fuel supplies. The resulting explosion would distract the defenders, enough for the team to enter, kill Hassan, and get out of there. The team leader, NAME REDACTED, raised his AP-3, and fired a pair of shots at a sentry on the balcony, who was fumbling for the safety of his M16A1 rifle. The man dropped, an egg-sized hole in his right temple.
Meanwhile, the team stormed inside, shooting anyone that moved. Near the end of the hallway, they shot a man who looked an awful lot like Hassan, and after closer examination, it was confirmed. The HVT was eliminated. Time to exfiltrate, and fast.
As those thoughts whipped through the team leader's head, he watched as lights turned on in the back, to allow crews to start up the BTR. Unknown to them, the house's fuse box had been rewired to the Semtex charge on the fuel tanks.
The tank crew no longer existed, their remains resembling extremely overbaked ziti. Now, just as swiftly as they had arrived, the teams had left, climbing into their armored helicopters among heavy RPG fire. Just before departing, the team leader pressed his detonator. The trucks loaded with Semtex detonated, levelling the entire compound.
"This is Vympel. Objective complete. Friendly casualties, none. Hostile casualties... total. Hassan is dead."
The Hinds flew off into the darkness, like the ghosts the team were.
Historical Note: From 1979 to current day, it has been confirmed that Vympel Team, or their counterparts, were involved in no less than one hundred assassinations of terrorist leaders, "disappearances" of corrupt officials, and rescue operations for downed spy pilots. Their casualty rate, apart from that of the Slovitrean-Rustonian War, has been a mere fourteen dead, and thirty-three others wounded in the line of duty.
Vympel Team remains active, combating threats to Slovitrea globally, and internally. Currently, they are stationed with the 127th Infantry Division, based out of Petrenkograd, in preparation for an imminent Rustonian invasion.
[NOTE: All conversations translated into English for ease of reading]
