January 6th 2016

“Right Alpha Two Zero. Listen up. Your next mission is to take out a large military facility along the river Kapuas.” Said General Williams “You will meet up with a civilian, a scientist. He will be there to analyse the stuff you find. Understood? After you take that place apart, blow it up. Any questions?”

Alpha Two Zero was in the ops room of the SAS base of Swanbourne, being sent on another suicidal mission. It was something they were very good at. Because, put simply, Alpha Two Zero was the best.

“Sir, will we have backup?” Asked Captain Tom ‘Reaper’ Wolf. Reaper was the team’s leader. He was a hard bastard, tough, strong and ruthless. He had been leading his squad against the Chinese for the past 3 years with great success.

“No backup I’m afraid Tom. You’ll get a helo insertion, but that’s the best we can do I’m afraid.” General Williams looked apologetic. Reaper folded his arms back and sank his chin to his chest, thinking.

“Sir, is this a stealth mission?” Asked Nick ‘Animal’ Smith. Of medium height and build, he was a stealthy little bugger. This aided him in the endless pranks he played on his comrades.

“Look, Nick, I don’t care. You can use stealth, or you can go in guns blazing. But just get into the facility.”

“Sir, how about civilians? I don’t want to blow them up too.” John ‘Highlander’ McTavin was asking this time, and for obvious reasons. He was in charge of the fireworks, and was very dangerous with them.

“John, we’ve timed this perfectly. The civilians there are in two teams, because they’re too pussy to

work the year round. This way, there won’t be civilians, as they’re in between exchanging the two teams.” McTavin nodded, happily, to himself.

“Sir, does it matter what weapon systems we use?” inquired James ‘Pirate’ Cutler. “You know we all have our own personal preferences. That’s one of our rights, as you well know.” He grinned when he said this. And they had earned it. Because of the many dangerous risks they had taken, they had gained rights within their unit. Another right they had gained was the easy familiarity with the General. That was why the General got to call them by their first names. To general soldiers they were called by their callsigns. To all other senior officers he they were called by their last names.

“Of course you get your usual weapons James!” Williams seemed offended. “You know that I know that you work best with them!”

“Course sir!” Cutler grinned. He had always liked the general, liked his easy going manner. He stood, yawned and stretched.

“Well Tom?” He smiled down at his companion.

Tom looked up, distracted. “Well what James?”

“Do you have a plan?”

Tom looked angry. “Course I got a bloody plan, you twat. Came up with it while you were exchanging bleeding pleasantries.”

McTavin grinned. Only Alpha Two Zero had the right to swear in the ops room, and only Tom could swear directly at Williams. “Well lads, I’ll be down in the armoury, making some fireworks.” He said with a lavish wink. “General!” He saluted smartly and strode out the door.

“That man, I swear one day he’s gonna lose an eye with the way that he plays with gunpowder!” Tom said with a chuckle.

“Anyway lads, we’d best be off!”

“But I was just getting comfy!” whined Smith.

Tom grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and propelled him out the door. “Cmon Cutler, we are leaving.” He walked out the door as well.

“Sir.” Cutler nodded politely to the General and joined Tom by the door. They walked out, leaving behind silence in the ops room as the General contemplated whether or not to get a beer for himself.

Alpha Two Zero, after having been to the armory and choosing their signature weapons headed out to the helicopter that was to drop them into the territory.

“You’re Alpha Two Zero?” Yelled the chopper pilot over the furious din of the helicopter. Tom just nodded. “Then get in and buckle up!”

“Where are we getting dropped off?” Tom yelled.

“FOB Tank!” the chopper pilot was busy flipping his switches and pressing his buttons.

They all piled in and with not another moment wasted, they faced a very long chopper ride.

There was silence in the chopper. They were all thinking about what they had to do. It was fortunate that none of them had loved ones. They didn’t need to waste time thinking about them. Tom had been married, and had a child. He had come home after a tour in Afghanistan to find her, a lawyer and her new man sitting at the kitchen table with divorce papers. Some welcoming committee.

He remembered that day as if it was yesterday. Arriving back at base. 6 months in Afghanistan. He had been captured and tortured during that time but, thankfully, he still had all his limbs attached. Everyone’s families had been there. But not his wife and new born child. He had put it down to the fact that they wanted to do something special at home. So that was where he had gone. Walked in and there they were. She was sitting with her new man and a lawyer with divorce papers already written up.

He was startled out of his reprieve by the chopper pilot who yelled at him to get his sorry ass out of his DAMN chopper.

“Alpha Two Zero! Get off the bloody chopper!” Tom roared at his unit. They scrambled off, and sprinted into the FOB. Tom gave the chopper a quick glance then followed his unit in.

Their time at the FOB passed quickly. Shower, shit, drink and sleep. That was all they had time for.

Only 2 hours after they had arrived, they had to set off. During their time, they had made the acquaintance of their civilian scientist. His name was Angus Rumed.

“So, Angus,” McTavin was drawing out each word “What brings you to the fine and dandy place of FOB tank lad?”

“Well,” said Angus “I’m not exactly sure. I was told that there was a facility nearby?”

Tom leaned forward in his chair. They were sitting in McDonalds, in full combat gear. “What do you mean you haven’t been told?”

“That’s just it. I was told that I had to accompany some soldiers to a facility and take notes.”

Cutler grinned. “I smell a conspiracy.” Smith laughed. Then there was silence, each soldier thinking about what Merlin (the name the soldiers insisted on calling Angus) had said. After about 30 seconds of complete and utter silence, Tom stood up and stretched loudly.

“Well lads, we’d best get a crack on. Want to be in before sunrise.” Tom remarked. The rest of them stood up, stretched and headed out into the night.

Their preferred method of movement was to run it. It was a mere 5 kms to the facility. So they ran.

Their journey was uneventful. They passed through several villages. And that was where they met him.

Tom looked on ahead at the village. The lights were on, and there was a loud hubbub of noise. Never a good sign. He gave a hand signal, and immediately Cutler and McTavin crept forward . Smith stayed back with Merlin, just in case. Together, Tom, Cutler and McTavin moved forward slowly. Soon they were able to look in.

And that was where they met the good doctor.

A man in a big brown trenchcoat was being pushed roughly through the village. He looked about the same height as Tom. His glasses were balanced precariously on the bridge of his nose. Judging by the way that he was pushed this way and that to different people, and by the stethoscope Tom saw poking out of his pocket, he was a doctor. Tom had seen enough. He stood and emptied two rounds of his pistol into the air, scattering the villagers like wildfire. Tom slowly walked over to the man, who had been pushed to the muddy ground in the confusion. Cutler and McTavin took up defensive positions near the pair.

“G’day mate! What the bloody hell you doing out here?” Tom greeted the man cheerfully. “What’s your name, mate?”

“My name is Mike Valance. I’m a doctor, sent out here to help assist the poor villagers. They jumped me a couple days back.” Said Mike.

Shit. Tom thought. With the impeding destruction of a major military factory, they couldn’t spare a man to go back to the FOB with Mike. There was only one solution. He had to come with the team.

“Listen mate, we’re Special Forces. We ain’t here for a friendly ramble through some local villages. You’ve got to come with us.” Tom said, watching Mike. He saw the tell-tale slump of the shoulders that signified defeat.

“Fine.”

“Alpha Two Zero! Haul ass, let’s go!”

After leaving the village behind, they had been travelling for approximately 30 minutes. That was when they caught sight of the facility which they had been tasked to destroy.

It was a pale white, dotted with black guardhouses and tours with machine gun’s on them, and manned by snipers. It was like a dome, with only one entrance. It was very imposing. They immdeialty ditch the road in favour of a hill overlooking the facility. The climb was hard, and it was night by the time that they had reached the summit. Then was time for the thing which Tom had perfected over years of service.

Observation.

Tom had an uncanny ability to observe the guards and their routines. He quickly determined which guards were slack, which were not. He worked out their lines of sight, their habits (both starting their shift and near the end of it). He determined which ones would hold fast, and which would turn and run. He identified the veterans and the green recruits. He gazed upon it with an intensity that was somewhat frightening to his civilian charges.

“Does he just…stare?” Whispered Angus to McTavin.

“Aye lad, that he does. He’s learning the guard’s routines better then they do.” McTavin said quietly. Nobody wanted to disturb Tom.

“And he just…lies there?”

“Yup. Ah, finally finished sir?” Tom had finally stretched and gotten up, shaking out the numbness in his legs caused by long hours of inactivity.

“Oh my god, my leg’s have forgotten how to work.  And yes, I have finished.” Tom  glanced around. “Where the hell is Cutler?”

“Gone off to take a piss sir.”

“That fuckhead.”

“Too right sir.”

“James! Finally come to join us?”

“Of course sir.”

“Well lads, here’s the plan.” They all squatted around a patch of dirt. Tom was using a stick as a pointer. Several sticks to be precise. They broke very easily. “Right lads. I have observed the guards’ routines and their lines of sight. Nick, I’ll tell you which men to take out, in order. James and John, be ready to swoop in to clean up the mess. Alright? Then get to it!”

All the soldiers immediately jumped to their packs and their weapons. They started cleaning them, stripping and re-assembling them. The civilians, Merlin and Doc as they had taken to calling Angus, watched in some admiration. The joking, laughing and easygoing manner had gone completely. In it’s place was a completely emotionless, remorseless, efficient, killing machine.  

It was time. It had been an hour since Tom hatched his plan. It wasn’t terribly complicated, but it didn’t need to be. It was simple, because the unit had worked together so many times that they understood each other perfectly. Nick and Tom would take out the guard towers and force the guards into a small area, which would be in the direct firing line of John and James. James would lay down fire with his light machine gun, and John would pour in frag grenades.

It was efficient, and merciless.

The time had come. Tom and Nick nodded to each other, and began to eliminate the guards. They first targeted the ones which Tom identified as veterans. These were the men that the younger recruits would look too. Next, all officers in sight. Generally, veterans were more dangerous than officers, as they would stand their ground. But with the officers and veterans both gone,  they would mill around, waiting to be told what to do. And be slaughtered.

The plan ran like clockwork. When the veterans started to fall, there was a great cry of alarm. The guards abandoned their posts and started to run for the nearest guard house, but the officers held them back. Then, the officers were killed. The officers, the one force stopping the guards from their idea of salvation, were gone and they ran into the guardhouse. There were scraping sounds as they barricaded themselves in.

Tom would have liked to let them live, but they were too much of risk. Tom gave an order on the radio. John and James lept up, and sprinted over to the guardhouse. With James protecting, John knelt down and placed a sizeable amount of explosives on the guardhouse. Then, James and John hightailed it out to safety to watch the fireworks.

Angus and Mike had watched on in horror as the guards were terminated. They watched these grim soldiers go about their grim duty, and offered a silent prayer to all inside the facility to get out while they still could.

With the guards taken care of, Alpha Two Zero approached the door. Tom radioed back to General Williams.

“Sir, we are just entering the facility now. The perimeter guards were taken care of. The only incident to report is that we picked up another civilian, a doctor. He was being held captive in a village not far from here. Yes, we can trust him. Alright, understood sir. Over and out.”

The others looked expectantly. He took a deep breath. “Nothing’s changed. We push on, clear the facility, take a nosy around and then destroy it. Let’s roll.” The men nodded and opened the door. They entered cautiously. The two civilians, terrified out of their minds, followed behind them, and then shut the door.

Nobody was leaving alive.