Game on 2
#2 of Game on
Here is the next chapter of Game On. Things are going to get interesting from this point on, since everything is set in motion.
We spawned into a Military Base. Buildings spread out across the Base in all directions. All of which was surrounded on all sides by a wall lined with guard towers. It was hot, and sun blindingly bright.
"Afghanistan?" Rez asked looking around.
"Israel, a short trek from the Gaza border." Bruce said.
"Awesome, which means we're in a hornets nest. Given the period, Palestine hates Israel." I said looking at Bruce.
"Actually Chex, a peace agreement was just signed by both sides. Israel and Palestine are both done with hostilities. The Free Gaza Agreement, a moment in history where real peace actually started to spread across the Middle East." Bruce said.
"Then why the fuck are we here?" Rez asked getting annoyed.
"Bad at history much?" Ace asked.
"Iran, their President went off the deep end more than usual. He viewed the Agreement as a victory for the U.S." Steele said.
"Which means we are here to respond to a new threat." Wyndle said softly.
"With ISIS out of the picture and peace in one of the more hostile parts of the Middle East. Things are heating up in Syria and Iran. Syria becomes a proxy battlefield for Russia and the U.S. With both sides providing arms, training and Spec Ops intervention. Iran was waiting on a promised nuclear energy deal. But was denied when it was discovered that they were seeking to destabilize the newly formed union." Bruce explained.
"Yeah, well. Wake me up when we get to actually kill something." Rez said leaning against a pallet load of ammo.
Bruce pointed at an office building right in front of us. So Rez took the lead and headed straight in. There was a large map table in the center of the room. With computers and a communications station along the walls. Each man monitoring their screen, waiting to provide updated intel once they received it.
"So nice of the Mercs to join us." A gruff looking cougar said looking up from the map on the table. General, his rank patch revealed that and Banks was stitched into his name patch. He looked back at the map, puzzling out the lay of the land.
"What's the situation General?" Ace asked.
"Like you don't know? Iranian forces are planning on throwing us a little party right here in Gaza. You're going to raid an outpost we believe they are staging the whole thing. Airdrop, under the cover of darkness. A CIA guy is going along for the ride."
"Why?" Rez asked.
"Need to know, and we aren't privy to know. Do your job, let him worry about the rest. I'd like to get out of the sand sometime soon so get to it." The cougar said before walking through a door at the back of the room.
We exited the building and head towards the Airfield. "Full of help he was," Steele said looking at Bruce.
"I didn't program him personally. We have a little of a thousand NPCs running around right now. No way I could do each one. Most the computer took my requirements and randomly generated a character to fit the need."
"So we head to the Airfield and play with our dicks?" Rez asked with a growl.
"It's the only lead we have right now. Unless we want to explore the base." Ace said looking around. There wasn't much activity at the base. A few soldiers here and there walking around.
"Kind of empty isn't it?" Wyndle asked.
"Well when you figure a thousand people, right now on the planet, yeah it is. The engine is working with a skeleton crew in active play areas. I have to limit the number of NPCs until the second server bank is up." Bruce said.
"You're breaking immersion, just be you and forget about the real world." I said trying to get us on topic.
We entered the first hanger, finding an assortment of gear laid out already. A lemur was busy looking over a gear bag off to the side. He looked over at us and he zipped it closed. "We leave soon, so don't hold up or I'll leave you behind." He said tucking a pistol into his tan colored jacket.
"Don't worry princess, we wont hold you up. Just don't get in our way and we'll get along fine." Rez said with a soft growl.
"Listen girl, this isn't my first rodeo. I don't need some leatherneck washout keeping me from my objective." He said looking visibly annoyed.
"Girl? Girl! I'm not going to cover your tail out there! I don't do escort missions, so if you get dead, not my problem." Rez yelled crossing her arms across her chest.
"Easy now, our objectives are one in the same. Let's just stow our gear and let the rest play out as it unfolds." Ace said holding his hands up.
I looked down at all the gear. "Guessing Bruce will be heavy weapons. Rez, you doing sniper or SMG?"
"I'll go sniper, and take the SatCom." Ace said.
"SMG it is," Rez said giving a dirty look in the direction of the lemur who was still lurking in the hanger.
"Steele, we will go assault then. Wyndle, you're medical so most of your gear will be over there." I said motioning towards the red cross bags.
Our weapons were already set to go. Though now that we were in the game we could stock up on extra ammo and other gear we needed. I grabbed a red cross butt pack and secured it to my gear bag. Extra healing wouldn't be a bad thing. We loaded magazines, slipping them into holsters on our vests or into our bags.
I smiled at Wyndle, helping him pack his gear after I finished mine. "You won't have as much room for ammo mags. Attach a butt pack like I did. If you run dry, just drop your gun and switch to a side arm. We can replace the rifle later, and you can always grab one from a Tango we drop along the way."
The white wolf nodded and nuzzled into my thick neck fur. Getting a snort from the lemur. I ignored him and helped Wyndle slip his pack onto his back. I pointed at the twin prop plane outside the hanger. "Stow your gear and come back to help with the rest."
"Okay Chex!" Wyndle said sprinting off to do as I said. Getting a smile from me in the process.
"Satchel charges," Rez said holding two up with a grin.
"May as well, we don't know what the situation is." I said before lowering my voice to a whisper and adding, "If our friend doesn't chill out there I'll put him down myself."
Rez shook her head, "Hell no. He's mine, what he said earlier is going to get him dead, just like I promised."
Bruce sighed and whispered, "You can't kill everyone. Just suck it up, we may never see him again after this."
He had a point, but at the same time I had a feeling we would be seeing him again. I growled softly and grabbed my gear and headed to the plane. The situation was odd to say the least. War and peace, and more war? Yeah it was history, to an extent. Something was different this time around.
We stowed our gear and the pilot went through his pre flight check. The lemur wasn't talking to us. Something I was fine with. He was sitting just behind the cockpit. His gear bag was smaller than ours. Traveling light, into an unknown situation. That didn't feel right to me either.
Steele closed the bay door and sat next to us in the middle of the long bench that ran down the right side of the plane. A matching row ran down the left side, with room in the middle for vehicles and other equipment. Neither of which were on board with us.
A time lapse message was displayed a foot in front of my face. The whole plane was dark, other than the glow of red overhead lights. It was almost go time. Wyndle was fidgeting next to me. He stopped when I placed a hand on his knee.
I put on my helmet, lowering the NVGs. Making sure it was adjusted and ready to use once we started free fall. The overhead lights flashed twice and our friend stood up. Grabbing a parachute before slipping into it. We got up and did the same. Placing our extra gear into a drop crate that was going out with us. Once the chute deployed it would be hard to keep track of everything. Easier just to drop it together.
Rez snapped the box closed and we gave our parachutes a double check. Using the buddy system to make sure everything was secure and properly placed. The lemur walked towards us, his bag tucked between his back and his chute. Standing next to the control for the bay door.
I rolled my eyes, hard to trust a guy who refuses to trust others. The overhead lights switched to green and the lemur opened the bay doors. The sound of air whipping around filled the cabin and the temperature dropped. The lemur held onto a rail, waiting for the signal to bail.
The lights flashed and he was out. I sighed, "Whatever. We jumped in pairs, with Rez and Ace going first. After Bruce and Steele were clear I switched on the conveyor to drop our supply crate. Once it was out I motioned for Wyndle to go. We both jumped out into the dark abyss. Our bodies sailing through the air, moving closer to the ground.
I pulled my chute, the force jerking my body hard. My descent slowed and I felt dizzy. 'I can do this' I thought to myself over and over. It wasn't real, it was a game. My stomach believed it was real though and that was good enough for me at the moment. I couldn't see Wyndle and it was dead quiet. I flipped down the NVGs and switched them on.
It took me a moment to find the others. The IR beacon on the crate was strobbing away beneath me. We were going to land a few hundred yards from what looked like a compound. It was bigger than I thought. But we weren't really given any intel on this Op. As I neared the ground I lifted my legs up and landed butt first on the sand covered ground.
I yanked the quick release for the chute and stood up. Tucking my rifle against my shoulder before scanning the area for hostiles. "Chex, everything here is clear. Moving towards the crate." I said before sprinting in the direction of the beacon.
"Rez, everything here is clear. Moving to target." Rez said over the radio.
"Ace, all clear and en route."
"Steele, quiet and mobile."
"Bruce, same on my end."
"Wyndle, and I'm kind of stuck."
I chuckled, I couldn't help myself. It was a lot of things to remember. Not like non VR games where you tap space bar and the chute vanishes on landing. "On the way Wyndle, sit tight." I said over the radio.
I turned and headed back the way I came. He jumped with me so he couldn't be far. It took a few minutes but I managed to find him. Tangled in his chute, his helmet laying on the ground six feet away. I picked it up before helping him out of the chute. "Thanks Chex, sorry I'm hopeless." He said lowering his ears.
"Don't worry about it pup. NVGs on, and follow me, quietly. Stealth skill will be getting some use tonight." I said before heading towards the rendezvous point. Rez was waiting as patiently as could be expected of her.
"At least he survived the drop. Come on kid, let's go see if we can't find our slippery little friend." Rez said motioning with her head towards the walled compound that was still hundreds of yards away.
"Distance is half a mile," Ace said looking down the scope of his Barrett.
"No one saw him land?" I asked looking around.
"Nope, whatever he is up to, we aren't supposed to know." Bruce said softly.
"That doesn't weird you out any?" Steele asked. "You made this, what's his game?"
"I don't know, like I said I programmed an A.I to oversee all the bits and pieces. It's like a director, or a Dungeon Master in a classic RPG. It comes up with everything that isn't controlled by the players. It cant break the rules of the game, but it can adapt situations to suit it's purposes. To keep the game fun and interesting."
"Enough tech talk, business guys, business." Rez said getting antsy.
"Tactical column then. Rez in front, with Ace on our six?" Steele suggested.
"I say two man fire teams, checking one and six." I said looking around us again.
"Your call Master Sargent." Bruce said looking at me.
"That's my call, same pairs as jump. We make for the compound, neutralize the threat and find Agent Smith."
"Bad movie reference is bad," Rez said shaking her head.
"Cut the chatter, buddy up and move out." I said looking at Wyndle.
"What do I?" He asked quietly.
"Just walk towards their base, and if you see any bad guys waste them. I'll cover us from the other side." I told him already falling into the formation as I explained it to him. It was hard to see, a long distance to cover walking backwards. But nothing really seemed to feel right.
It took us almost ten minutes to cover the distance moving at half speed. No contacts, nothing on the walls. No guards, no patrols. We huddled up along the wall and inched towards the metal gate at the entrance.
Rez held up her fist and we stopped. She put her hands, pinkies together and then rotated them like a set of double doors. They were already open. Last thing I wanted to not hear. I motioned with my hand towards the gate, holding up two fingers.
Rez went in first, then Steele. Both covering a different side of the room as Bruce swung into the room. I covered Ace as he entered and motioned for Wyndle to go. Checking our six before shuffling inside. The courtyard was clear.
Rez and Ace stacked up near a door on the left side of the room, while Bruce and Steele did the same for the one directly in front of us. I motioned at the remaining door, the one on the right. I was going to enter first and cover the right side of the room after entry. Wyndle had to be right on my tail in case there was a threat on the left half of the room.
He stacked up behind me and I gave him a nod. Wyndle tapped my shoulder to signal he was ready and in I went. Hugging the wall as I covered the right side of the room. There were wooden tables, arranged in rows. Aside from that, the room was empty.
There was another door on the left side. So we stacked up again and I led the way into the next room. Same story as the first. This one contained shelves and cooking supplies. Save for being a kitchen, it was empty as well. There was another door, I was sure it led outside. We stood clear of it, and I turned the knob, my back to the wall as I pushed the door back and open.
As soon as it was open we were met with automatic gunfire. "Contact! Contact!" I yelled into the mic. A bullet dug through the hard stone wall and into my hip. "Fuck!" I cursed loudly, Wyndle looked at me for advice on what to do.
I pulled my satchel charge from the side of pack and pulled the primer cord. Sliding further along the door away from it. I swung my arm out. Using the strap to hurl it out into the rain of gunfire. "Satchel charge!" I yelled sprinting from the door with Wyndle in tow.
We made it five steps before it exploded. Sending sand and debris into the kitchen. The gunfire stopped and we took defensive positions in the kitchen. We didn't have to wait long for the Iranians to come in after us. A gazelle stormed in, spraying the room with his AK-47. We had close quarters tactical training from a S.W.A.T game we played earlier in the year.
All Wyndle had to do was stick with me and we had this in the bag. The door served as the perfect kill box. It framed the gazelle, giving us a very nice target. A few shots from my SCAR and he was down. He wasn't alone though. A cheetah followed right behind him.
Wyndle went full auto on the guy. Wasting half a mag, if not more. A grenade was the next to enter the room. I grabbed Wyndle by the shoulder of his body armor and yanked him back into the dining hall. Barely clearing the room before it went off.
My ears rang, but we were good. I heard more gunfire before Rez came over the radio. "Five outside, west side. Four, making for the compound. Incoming boys!" I turned from Wyndle to cover the doorway. Just as two more came bursting into the kitchen. I shot through the doorway and into the room.
Taking down a shrew of some kind. The wildebeest with him unloaded on the doorway. I barely managed to get clear. Cursing myself for standing in front of the doorway like that. This was perma death, I'd have to start fresh if I didn't make it. Chex wasn't going to just bite the big one.
Blood ran down my arm and leg. It stung, and I couldn't move as well. I shuffled back towards Wyndle and readied our ambush as soon as the bovine made it to the door. He stormed in without warned and Wyndle only got a few shots off before he ran dry. I put a few controlled shots into the wildebeest.
He dropped with a groan, trying to raise his AK-47 enough to get a shot off at us. I put a shot into his head and he quit moving. Wyndle fumbled with his M-16, removing the spent mag to replace it with a fresh one. "Short controlled bursts, don't do auto. You just waste ammo that way."
I held the switch for the radio, "Clear." The gunfire outside had already stopped. I looked down at the wildebeest. We came in from above, at an altitude high enough to avoid detection. Yet they seemed to be expecting us. Where did they hide, and how did they know?
"Clear," Rez said through the radio. Agent Smith, the nameless CIA guy. He was clear before we were. So did they react to him? Dessert the inside, lay an ambush in a nearby cave system until they knew we were inside?
"Did you guys see anything?" I asked through the radio.
"Armory, north side. Well stocked, it wasn't tossed." Bruce said.
"Some intelligence goodies on the east side. Maps, cellphones and a laptop." Rez said.
I led Wyndle back towards the courtyard and then through the east doorway. The first room looked like a common area. Small tables and lights furnished the room. The second room though was definitely the command center. Maps with various targets circled. Pictures of people of interest pinned on the wall.
"Coming through the east door," Rez called out before slipping into the room from the only other door.
She was alone, and looked less bored an annoyed than earlier. "The electronics are missing," I said to her.
She shook her head and motioned at her pack. "Like I was going to leave them for that dick to take while we were off fighting. Ace is helping the others look for him."
"No need," a voice said behind me. I looked back, and standing behind Wyndle was the lemur.
"Wyndle, we will cover tactics later." I said slightly annoyed.
"What do you want dick?" Rez asked growing annoyed once more.
"The laptop, give it to me." He said pointing a suppressed MP5 at her.
"I think not, you see finders keepers or something like that." Rez said growling softly
"Like you can understand it anyway girl," he said waving the gun.
I sighed and threw my hand into the side of the SMG, forcing the barrel away from Rez. Wyndle kicked the lemur hard in the chest. Sending him back onto the floor hard. While his gun stayed in place, held in my strong hand. "Good job Wyndle, zip tie his ass."
Rez shrugged and we waited for Wyndle to zip tie the lemur's wrists together. Once he was finished I pointed at him, "Watch him Wyndle. If he tries to escape, kill him."
"But, we're on the same side." Wyndle said looking confused.
"We don't know whose side he is on. Until we figure that out, he is our prisoner. So watch him while Rez sorts out the tech for us."
Rez pulled the laptop from her pack and opened the screen. It was all in Arabic, but she had chosen that as one of her languages. We all got one bonus language, plus a number based on the intelligence level of our character. Rez and I both could speak five different languages. Knowing the most out of anyone else in our party.
I watched her work her magic, computer use was another skill she invested heavily in. It didn't take her long to navigate through the files and find what we needed. "Korea, they got intel from Korea. This isn't how it happened."
"How what happened?" The lemur asked.
We ignored him, history wasn't going to repeat. So it was just used to get us to this point. "We need to get out of here and figure out our next move. Lemur, are you going to assist us?" I asked looking down at him.
"My mission is to secure that intel and report back. Your job is done, let me go."
"Your mission just became our mission little man. Rez, your call."
"Take him back, maybe he will tell us something interesting." She said.
We regrouped with the others and used the SatCom to call for an extraction. We didn't have to wait long, the Blackhawk helicopter arrived at break of day. Just as the sun was starting to crest the horizon. Rez roughly shoved the lemur into the back of the helicopter. She followed after him, wanting to keep a close eye on our prisoner.
The pilot flew us back to an Airbase not far from the compound. It wasn't where we started, but without a plane we couldn't get back there in a single shot. We were all silent, not much of a change for Wyndle. But the rest of us were all trying to sort out what happened.
We know the Iranians hid in a cave they found. But as for why, we didn't really know. They could have ambushed us from inside the compound just as easily. The Agent wasn't talking, so we didn't know what happened before we got there.
Rez led him from the helicopter towards Ops. I didn't care if we got a talking to over taking him prisoner. We needed answers, not him waving a gun around at us. He was proving to be unhelpful every step of the way. I just gave Bruce a look that spoke about my annoyance at the program. He refused to give us any help. Instead he would rather be a silent prisoner.
The CO looked at us when we entered the command center. "Untie him," the bear said angrily. Rez used a knife to cut the ziptie and the lemur rubbed his wrists. Smoothing out the fur and soothing his sore flesh.
"What's the meaning of this?" The bear half shouted.
"Major Samson, he pulled a weapon on one of us. Instead of treating this as a joint mission, he has set out to lone wolf it and blew any chance of a surprise attack." I explained.
The bear sighed and waved his hand. "The mission has to come first. So what happened?"
We filled him in on everything that happened. The lemur still refused to give up any information. Which annoyed the Major with every passing moment that his silence persisted. "Lock him in a holding cell if he is above debriefing!" The Major yelled after almost half an hour of pointless questioning.
The guards grabbed the lemur and patted him down. Pulling everything from his pockets before escorting him, handcuffed, out of the room. I picked up a cellphone they took from him and handed it to Rez. She went through it, "No contacts or texts and nothing in the call history. He could have switched out the SIM card before the mission."
"Doesn't matter, we couldn't find it without his help anyway. We have one lead, and it points out of country to Korea. We need to get over there and see how far this thing goes." I said.
"Unlikely that Korea and Iran are in this alone. With our allies, they couldn't hope to put a dent in our defenses. Let alone war for anything and come out with something to show for it." Bruce said.
"Maybe winning isn't the point, could just be trying to make a point." Steele said.
"How so?" I asked.
"Look at how our country does things in this period. We respond with a huge show of force, through our weight every which way like we can do whatever we want. This could just be a way of saying that just because we have a big stick, it doesn't make us king of the school yard." Steele said.
"So splinter groups, instead of traditional warfare. We cant declare war on that, scramble jets against it. Just a bunch of small groups, all working to take shots at us until the defense toll gets out of hand." Ace said.
"A lot of countries don't like us for our attitude. It's too John Wayne meets 80s action hero. Keep us distracted with pointless ghost wars and causes. Which in turn will wear on our allies before we finally find ourselves broke and friendless." Steele said.
"It's brilliant, look at how things with terror groups went. Bombing schools, just to take out one hostile while killing countless innocents. The casualty rate is extreme when it comes to how we fight mosquitoes with Tomahawk missiles." Bruce said.
"I don't appreciate your talk. We did the best we could given the threat. Loss of life happens in war, and it isn't always a combatant. Some times a civilian gets caught up in things, but we have always pushed for the greater good." Major Samson said angrily.
"There it is, right there. That attitude is what they are looking at. Killing ten unarmed, unconnected civilians is a small price to pay for nailing one terrorist, is that it? That is the attitude that this group is working to exploit. It makes us look like self centered ass hats." Ace said.
I had to agree, a surgical strike isn't as surgical as they make it sound. They track a cellphone to a building, and fire a missile at it. There is no proof that the phone wasn't discarded and picked up by someone else, or traded out. They are just content to press a button and be done with it.
"The shadow war is about to begin," I said softly with a grin. Things were definitely going to get interesting fast. If the system was working on Global Politics like that, then we were in for a game like nothing we had ever played before.
"Game on," Rez said giving a thumbs up.
There it is, part one. Any mistakes point them out in the comments below. Want to see more hit that watch button, liked the story give it some stars and if you have feedback leave that in the comment section. Thanks for reading.
^_^