by Tom Jones
Johnny spoke in denial, “No, it can’t be the NSS. The last time I heard about them, they were trying to conquer Europe. Not Syria!” Tom checked his AK-74M before saying, “It doesn't matter why they’re here. What matters is that we stop them from taking the airfield.” Tom finally loaded the ammo box back into his backpack and donned it. He looked to the rest of the fireteam before saying, “Well, we should probably get a move on. Hopefully the NSS will fight Daesh for us -- or, Daesh brings down their numbers. Either way, we now have a three-way battle on our hands. Expect the NSS to have rifles and machine guns. That’s all the intel that we really have on them.” The group reluctantly exited the building.
Arcades had finally calmed down. The two had moved from the hall into the room that they had been standing next to. Arcades was sitting on a bed, but Jason was standing up while he stayed with the fox. Jason still did not understand what made the fox so upset. Arcades wiped his eyes with his sleeve again, and he blinked a few times to clear out his eyes. Jason wanted to make things right, “Hey man, I’m sorry that offended you.” The fox slowly shook his head before responding, “It’s not you.” The wolf asked, “What is it, then?” The fox looked away from the wolf before closing his eyes again. Jason did not want to escalate things this time. Arcades finally continued after a long moment of silence, “It’s just that…” The fox had difficulty finishing what he wanted to say. Jason interjected after some silence, “Mate, I already knew that you like to be in cuffs.” Arcades slowly opened his eyes and he looked at Jason, “Wha-?” The wolf nodded, “I heard you say it back in Alaska. You told Johnny.” The fox slowly shook his head but he decided to be honest, “It’s very embarrassing for me to talk about it with other people. He asked about it multiple times before, but I always evaded the question.” However, Arcades remembered Alaska, “Wait. How do you hear about that? I never told you.” The wolf replied, “I wasn’t sleeping. It may have looked like I was, but I heard the whole conversation.”
The fox waited before determining what to say next. He finally decided to ask Jason’s opinion, “Well, what do you think?” Jason was surprised by the question, to which he replied, “I don’t think anything about you, mate.” Arcades then asked, “You believe me, right? All I said that night in Alaska?” Jason nodded, “Yeah. I believe you.” Arcades wanted to be sure of something, “Even the part when I said that it’s not a fetish - it’s just something I like to do?” The wolf chuckled before he lied, “Yeah, I believe you.” The fox slowly nodded in response, believing Jason’s lie, “I know Johnny didn’t. It’s another reason why I don’t like telling people. They don’t understand.”
The wolf nodded, “I know how it feels to not be understood. But -- regardless, Kurt I knew that about you since the day I met you. If anything, it made me feel better about you. You’re willing to open yourself and be vulnerable. Something that I know a lot of people that work in this field work as hard as they can to do the opposite of.” The fox was silent, but he was still looking up at the wolf. The wolf finally asked, “Would you still be willing to let me take you up on your offer?” Arcades was confused, “Hmm? What offer?” Jason smiled, “I get to put you in cuffs.” The fox perked a small smile, “You sure can. When we get back to base, that is. This ain’t really the place, man.” Jason nodded with a grin that hid his inner intentions, “I understand.”
“If the NSS gets here, then they’re going to be here very soon. Stay low and see if they can’t fight some of Daesh for us. We’ll slip by in the chaos,” Tom advised his fireteam. Johnny had a question, “How many Daesh vehicles remain out there?” Tom took a moment to remember the last number reported by Pit Viper, “They’ve got three left. They picked off one or two of them during their last sortie.” Johnny looked to the sky to spot the Hind, but he did not see it. He then asked, “Where is Pit Viper?” Tom replied, “They’re thinning out the NSS for now. They’re going to be unavailable for now, so we do not have air support. Watch out for those three vehicles, for they will not hesitate to shoot you.” Johnny nodded, and Tom peeked over the wall he was using for cover to see if there were any Daesh or NSS combatants nearby. He did not spot any of them, so he ordered his fireteam, “Now is a good time to go. Come on!”
Khattab kept the headlights off on the M1114, and the vehicle crew could hear gunfire coming from past their location. Abu Ridhwan poked his head inside of the cabin of the Humvee, “Khattab, who is shooting?” Khattab tapped on Walid’s shoulder to signal to him to look out of the firing port. Walid peeked out of the small hole, but he did not see anybody shooting. After a few seconds, he noticed Pit Viper rising from the buildings. Walid shouted, “Their helicopter is back! We gotta move now!” In the spur of the moment, Khattab started the engine of the M1114, and he applied pressure to the accelerator. The vehicle moved, and the headlights flickered on. Abu Abdullah and Abu Hajaar both opened fire at the Hind, but they soon stopped firing as they noticed the Hind was not planning on returning fire. Abu Hajaar turned his head to look at the helicopter, but his MICH 2000 blocked his view. He pushed up the brim of the helmet, and he watched the helicopter fly past their vehicle. Abu Hajaar asked, “Where are they going?” However, nobody answered.
“We’re taking fire from that vehicle below,” the pilot of Pit Viper said as he could faintly see the muzzle flashes from the MG3 and the M16A2. The gunner scanned for the targets, but it was too late for him to return fire. The pilot pulled out of the range of the Daesh militiamen, and he applied yaw in order to align the Hind in the direction of the NSS. The gunner looked through the infrared viewfinder, and he could see some of the NSS soldiers were taking cover wherever they could in order to avoid being attacked by the Hind. While some of the NSS soldiers were killed during the initial gun run by Pit Viper, the rest of them were now on alert. They had begun to return fire at the Hind, but the pilot had pulled out of the hot zone to avoid taking damage. The NSS, Daesh, and CDI were now almost to the airstrip. Pit Viper had to be combat operational in order to assure that CDI secures the airstrip. The gunner zoomed in on a few Daesh militiamen out in the open, “Targets spotted, firing.”
Khattab was now about to emerge from one of the alleys, but stepped on the brakes as he saw three Daesh militiamen were gunned down by the helicopter. Abu Ridhwan watched as the three men were torn in two by the helicopter’s autocannon, “Shit! They got to our brothers!” Abu Hajaar stood up with his MG3, and he was preparing to fire on whoever walked in front of the alleyway. However, Abu Abdullah pointed up at the Hind, and he could see that it was flying right over their position. Abu Abdullah spoke to Abu Ridhwan, “They haven’t noticed us yet. Khattab, turn off the lights!” Khattab flipped a switch, and the vehicle’s lights switched off. Once he finished turning off the lights, he turned around to speak, “Abu Ridhwan, we need to take down that helicopter!” Abu Abdullah picked up the AKM that was modified to fire rifle grenades, “We can use this. If I shoot a bomb just right, then we can take down the helicopter.” Abu Ridhwan squatted down, and he dug through a pile of equipment before pulling out a pack that held explosives. Most of the explosives were custom pipe bombs, but the rest were RPG-7 warheads. However, the launcher had been lost earlier, so the warheads were not of too much use to them.
Abu Ridhwan grabbed the barrel of the AKM, and he pulled it towards himself. While Abu Abdullah was holding it, he pushed up the brim of his PASGT helmet to watch as Abu Ridhwan fit a pipe bomb in the muzzle of the modified AKM. The first grenade that he tested was a perfect fit, so he gave the lighter to Abu Abdullah. He said to Abu Abdullah, “Here is the lighter. All you need to do is light it before you fire it. Make sure that doesn’t explode in the truck, alright?” Abu Abdullah looked to the sky, and he could not see Pit Viper anymore. However, he could still hear the helicopter from afar, and he could hear its autocannon firing. Abu Abdullah questioned, “Who are they shooting? Our brothers have not made it there yet!” Abu Ridhwan did not know what the NSS was, but he tried to respond, “I don’t know. Some other
people are there I think. Remember to shoot them if you see them. God is great.” Abu Hajaar heard the last thing Abu Ridhwan said, and this prompted him to add an extra, “God is great!” for good measure.
Abu Ridhwan had one last thing to say to Abu Abdullah, “That helicopter is flying too far for you to be able to hit it with that bomb. You’re going to need to wait for them to get closer before you think about firing that at them.” Abu Abdullah looked at the safety on the rifle, and he noticed that it was never set to safe. The rifle seemed to have been permanently set to semi-automatic. Abu Ridhwan looked up at the walls of the buildings, and he decided that it would not be an ideal place to attempt to launch a pipe bomb. Abu Ridhwan spoke into the cabin again, “Khattab, take us to a better spot to shoot the helicopter from.” Khattab shifted the vehicle out of park, and he drove out of the alleyway. Abu Hajaar and Abu Ridhwan were standing with their weapons ready to engage any combatants.
“Is that helicopter going to make another pass?” Hans said as he was still prone with his AUG. Fritz was close by, “I think he’s gonna try to deal with Daesh. They’re still in the town.” As Pit Viper pulled back from the NSS, the soldiers began to rise up. They waited with their weapons for a few moments, and one man gestured in order to signal the NSS to move in. The soldiers began sprinting towards the direction of the airport. Bullets began to impact the dirt, and the gunfire was soon heard after.
One NSS member yelled, “They’re shooting at us from a distant location! Listen to the delay between the impact and the gunfire!” Some NSS members began to run in different directions to hopefully throw off whoever was shooting at them. More dirt kicked up, but Pit Viper was not shooting at them this time. The NSS soldiers could not see any CDI or Daesh combatants, so they continued without providing cover fire in order to conserve their ammo. After all, they had neither reinforcements nor support vehicles. If they were to capture the airstrip, then they would be able to bring in reinforcements according to their superiors. However, for now, they had to just keep running.
“No, yaw right. I thought I saw one of them over there.” The pilot applied yaw, and the gunner looked through the scope. However, he did not see what he was looking for. He then remembered that he saw a modified Humvee somewhere around the ground. He asked, “Where did that one vehicle go? I saw them shooting at us before we turned back around to fight the NSS.” The pilot did not have an answer for the gunner, so he only leveled out the helicopter to provide the gunner with a better opportunity to utilize the helicopter’s armament. The gunner had another request for the pilot, “Bring us down a bit. I need to see if those Daesh guys went over there.” The pilot lowered the throttle of the Hind, and he shot a quick look at the fuel gauge. The helicopter had well over three-quarters of a tank remaining. They would not go to refuel until the helicopter had one-quarter of a tank remaining, or until the helicopter’s armament had been completely depleted. The helicopter lowered down, and the gunner scanned the ground again. He then noticed a small group of Daesh fighters. He said aloud, “There you are,” before holding the button to fire the autocannon.
Khattab drove right behind the helicopter. Abu Ridhwan looked up at the Hind, and he nodded to Abu Abdullah. The noise that the helicopter produced made it hard for the crew to hear. However, Abu Abdullah knew what he was doing. Abu Abdullah raised the barrel of his AKM, and he adjusted the sight’s elevation. Though he did not have too much training on using rifle grenades, he did the best he could. Sweat formed on Abu Abdullah’s bare hands as he steadied the weapon the best he could. He even motioned for Abu Hajaar to move out of the way in order for him to use the ledge of the M1114 to fire the weapon. He took a knee on one of the custom seats of the bed of the truck, and he placed his finger on the trigger of the rifle. He mouthed a small prayer aloud, and he handed the lighter back to Abu Ridhwan to indicate he was ready to fire. Abu Ridhwan sparked the lighter, and he held his hand in front of the fuse. The fuse was lighted, and Abu Abdullah was feeling anxious as he was preparing to fire the grenade. He waited for a couple seconds for the grenade to cook, and he fired the bomb.
The rifle grenade flew through the air, and the noise that was generated by the explosive was not heard due to the autocannon the Hind fired. The pipe bomb flew right to the large exhaust port of the Mi-24. The bomb entered the exhaust port, and the helicopter’s engine soon exploded. The helicopter was immediately shaken from the blast, and it was forced to roll to the right before the pilot yanked the stick backwards to pull up. The main rotor began to shake as it had been severely damaged, and debris from the engine began to fall out of the aircraft. The second engine soon went up in flames, and the helicopter began to lose altitude. The pilot made a last ditch effort of trying to save the aircraft, but it proved to be futile. The helicopter began to pitch downwards, and this only caused it to lose more altitude as it rapidly lost lift. The Hind slammed into a building, and the rest of the fuel that was in the helicopter caused a massive explosion. The explosion lit up the night sky, and the explosion was soon heard by both the NSS and Daesh.
“God is great!” The Islamic State vehicle crew yelled in amazement as they had managed to take out the Hind that was responsible for taking out the rest of their vehicles and support units. Abu Hajaar, Abu Ridhwan, and Abu Abdullah all waved their weapons in the air in joy as they celebrated their victory over Pit Viper. Abu Hajaar even decided to fire off a few rounds from his MG3 to celebrate as well. Once Khattab realized the noise the crew was generating could potentially give away their position, he accelerated and drove down one of the roads. A few NSS members were now trying to advance into the town. Abu Hajaar held down the trigger of his MG3, and he was able to neutralize a few of them. The NSS began to return fire, and this prompted Abu Hajaar to duck down in order to avoid being shot. However, he still attempted to fire at the NSS soldiers that were running for cover behind buildings and vehicles. The burning remains of Pit Viper were now the greatest light source that lit up the dark night. Khattab pulled a right turn, and he began to drive towards the direction of both the helicopter’s remains and the airport.
“Damn! Was that Pit Viper who just went up?” Johnny pointed at the direction of the burning wreckage. Tom looked at the wreckage, and he tried to make contact with his radio, “Pit Viper, this is Golf 1-Actual. What is your status? Over.” There was no response. Tom did not bother trying to contact the crew again, as he had a feeling that the Hind did indeed crash. He looked back to Johnny and said, “Afraid so. We’ve lost our air support now.” Tom then gestured for the rest of the fireteam to proceed, “We better not waste anymore time. We need to get to the airstrip before they do!” The fireteam sprinted across a street, and they encountered the NSS for the first time.
Johnny called them out, “NSS! Contact ten o’clock!” He immediately began firing with his AK-12. Tom also fired at the NSS soldiers, but the NSS soldiers returned fire. Rounds ricocheted off of the ground, and a few NSS soldiers collapsed due to their sustained gunshot injuries. The rest of the NSS members moved to cover before attacking the fireteam. However, the time they took to get to cover was plenty of time for the CDI fireteam to evade their fire. Some Daesh combatants came looking for the CDI fireteam, but they were fired on by the NSS. One of the three remaining Daesh vehicles soon pulled up and they began to fight the NSS. Tom peeked over the broken wall he was using for cover. There was plenty of gunfire and screaming in Arabic, German, and English. Tom made a suggestion, “That’ll buy us time. Let’s go; we’re almost there.” The fireteam continued to proceed towards the airstrip. Johnny replaced the magazine that he was using with one that was full of ammunition. He moved the half-full magazine into the pouch that held the one he had just been using. He was hoping that he would finally reach their intended destination.
Arcades was now kneeling beside the bed and Jason was sitting on it. Jason looked at the fox, and he wanted to ask a few questions, “Hey Kurt, can I ask you some things?” The fox looked up at the wolf, “Yeah, you can. What wo
uld you like to know?” The wolf decided to ask his first question, “Are you a sadist or a masochist?” Arcades’ face winced in response, “I’m neither. I don’t do pain, or anything else like that for that matter.” Jason concluded that his question was not the best. He then decided to ask something else, “Well, what do you want exactly?” The fox thought about the best way to word his response. He replied with, “Well. What I do like is to just be restricted from movement.” Jason thought that Arcades’ response was insufficient, “And? What else?” The fox shook his head and brushed his tail out of the way, “That’s it. There’s nothing else to it.” The wolf then remembered what the fox said back in Alaska. He corrected himself, “Oh, that’s right. I’m sorry.” The fox looked at the wolf, “Sorry about what?” The wolf then said, “Uhh.. I assumed you did more than you said you did.” Arcades shrugged, “Happens. Don’t worry about it. Nobody understands what I want.”
Jason still looked at the fox that remained kneeling in front of him when a knock on the door was heard. Arcades quickly rose up and said aloud, “Who is it?” He heard Bocchino’s voice from behind the other side, “Hey, Kurt. I got some news for you.” Arcades opened the door, and he saw the cat standing at the doorway. The cat nodded and said, “Come with me, and I’ll show you guys what I got.” The fox turned to face Jason before continuing, “You coming?” Jason silently got up and went with Arcades. Bocchino showed the other two anthros to a communications room that had been set up. Bocchino sat down at the chair, and Arcades examined the multiple monitor display. He asked, “So, what do we have here?” The cat pointed to the screen.
Arcades bent forwards to look at the image displayed on the monitor. It was a group of NSS soldiers that had been taken with an infrared imaging device. Arcades could see the NSS emblem due to the fact that they were made to be seen under IR imaging. The fox asked, “Where was this taken?” Bocchino replied, “Syria. A place called Abu Kamal. Otherwise known as Al-Bukamal.” The fox was surprised, “What? When was this taken? Who took it, and where did you get this from?” Bocchino explained to the fox, “This was taken tonight by a CDI operative in Syria. They’re requesting support from anyone that’s out there to help them. They’re locked in a three way battle between them, the NSS, and the Islamic State.” Arcades remembered what he knew about the NSS, “This seems kind of fishy. I really would like to know what is going on over there. Not sure why the NSS is there, but something tells me that it ain’t for a good reason. That’s for sure.”
