Parting Gifts

by gerald hall

  Marilyn quietly laughed for a moment. She had talked to Jeff shortly after that round hit the Knox’s barn. He told Marilyn that it was the luckiest shot that he had ever seen. Lucky for him, that is. Melanie’s barnstorming in that little ultralight had scared the hell out of Jeff for years. Now, her feet were firmly planted on the ground with the destruction of her flying machine. That made her husband feel a hell of a lot more comfortable, even with her playing sniper against the incoming Caliphate force.

  Marilyn and Melanie’s radio sets could also listen in on the militia’s main communications network. This was vital because of the role that the women play both in engaging enemy key targets at long range, but also how they would be able to spot enemy movements using the long range optics on their rifles. But the two female snipers would be basically all alone except for the radio communications link with each other and the limited links that they had with the rest of the Ashley militia.

  At each of the primary sites that Melanie and Marilyn had identified as places to snipe from, they had arranged to have WD-1 telephone line strung. The snipers brought lightweight field phones that they would quickly hook up once on site. This gave the women secure communications to the militia headquarters. The women weren’t merely working for the militia as snipers. They also used their optics to locate targets and identify enemy troop movements for the rest of the militia at the same time.

  For several months, Marilyn, Melanie and Marilyn’s children had all worked together to design a unique armor-piercing round for the 338 Lapua Magnum rifles. They started off with the idea of using a 3D-printed polymer sabot to encapsulate a precision-milled subcaliber projectile. The superb ballistic coefficient of the long 6.5mm projectile seemed perfect for the job too.

  While tungsten carbide would have been the ideal material for the projectile because of its high sectional density, Marilyn had to settle for a hardened steel alloy boat-tail penetrator due to a lack of the heavier material. Even so, the ability of the steel round to penetrate not only all types of personal body armor but also lightly armored vehicles was quite impressive. Marilyn’s test-firing of the extraordinarily flat-firing ammunition easily produced match-grade performance with less than 1 MOA accuracy, even before attaching the SMASH electronic sighting system to the rifle.

  Both Marilyn and Melanie had several 10 round magazines of this specialized sabot ammunition along with other magazines of commercial match-grade 338 Lapua ammunition when they went out to their hides to engage the incoming Caliphate force.

  The two rifles both had 60cm long barrels that were free-floating so that they only makes contact with the rest of the rifle at the point where the barrel is connected to the rifle’s receiver. Marilyn and Melanie’s rifles were even longer because of the sound suppressor that was attached on the muzzle of each weapon. While the suppressors did not completely silence the rifles, it did make it much more difficult to identify where the shots came from. It also was much easier on the firer’s hearing. Still, both women wore electronic hearing protection devices that enabled them to still hear normally.

  Both rifles also had bipods attached to help stabilize them during firing. The bipods also made it much easier for the shooters to keep the weapons ready for firing for extended periods of time.

  “I read that during the Second World War, the Russians used more than a few female snipers. They inflicted quite a toll upon the Nazis during the war.” Melanie said over the radio to Marilyn as they continued to wait for the invaders to appear.

  “But how many of them survived the war?”

  “Only about a quarter of them. The Russians lost a lot of soldiers fighting the Germans fighting against overwhelming odds, especially during the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union.”

  “Well, personally I would prefer surviving this battle and eventually getting to see my kids again, Mel.”

  “So would I, Marilyn. But if I have to die, I might as well have made a difference in my final moments. If I can’t do it from the air, then I want to do it right from here.”

  For what seemed like hours, the two women waited quietly and watched for movement out in the distance. Before they had gone out, both snipers had coordinated with the rest of the militia to ensure that they would not target any friendly personnel. In addition to the electronic sights on their rifles, both women carried handheld spotted scopes that they used to scan the area. The spotter scopes gave the snipers a much broader field of view than the sights on their rifles did.

  At last, one of the camouflaged women saw movement off in the distance in the mid-morning sunlight.

  “I have a target out there just west of here at the edge of that treeline. There is a guy in uniform who looks like he is in charge of about a dozen or so others. He is definitely not one of our people or from the Guard.” Melanie quietly said.

  “What’s the range on him, Mel?”

  “The rangefinder on my sight says that he is just over one thousand meters from me. I’m going to use my standard match grade ammunition on him because I want to save the sabot rounds for more hardened targets.”

  “Sounds like a good plan to me. Go ahead and take the shot then, Mel.”

  For a few moments, Melanie hesitated. This is the first time that she was about to fire upon another human being. Like any rational, caring person, Melanie still had in the back of her mind the instinctive inhibition towards taking another human life. It was even more intense for Melanie since she was not in any imminent danger from the person that she had her crosshairs on. Marilyn knew what was happening though. She had fought for her life once before and killed two of her assailants. She also knew from her reading of some of Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman’s books on the psychology of warfare, just what Melanie was experiencing as well.

  “It’s OK, Mel. If you are having a hard time taking the shot, just spot for me and I will take it instead.” Marilyn calmly said over the radio.

  “No! I got this, Marilyn. I will take the shot. You can have the next one though.” Melanie said a couple of moments later as she steadied herself for the shot and a very dramatic change in her life. She settled her sights on the uniformed man standing there, took a deep breath, slowly let it out and then squeezed the trigger when the computerized sight indicated that she was on target. It had already measured the range, accounted for ballistic drop, air temperature and even wind velocity.

  The recoil of the rifle came as a surprise, even though Melanie had fired at least two hundred rounds though it before. The muffled boom did not even remotely reflect the power of the round now going downrange. The hollow point 8.6mm round raced out at over three-thousand feet per second towards her target.

  Both Melanie and Marilyn were watching when the targeted figure suddenly was slammed backwards and landed on the ground. Several of the other nearby men rushed to see what had happened. But their body language told the two snipers everything that they needed to know. The first enemy casualty in the battle for Ashley had just been inflicted.

  Marilyn heard only silence over the radio link. So she calmly transmitted to her friend.

  “Are you alright, Mel? That was a hell of a good shot that you took.”

  “Yea, Marilyn. I’m alright. I just didn’t know quite what to expect.” A subdued Melanie replied.

  “No one ever does, Mel. But you will be alright. Who knows how many of our people that you just saved by making that shot.”

  “It’s just not an easy thing to do. I’ve hunted for years and didn’t blink an eye at the thought of shooting a deer, a ground hog or even a mourning dove. But this was something very different.”

  “I know. I’ve been there myself, remember? Well, it looks like our friends are sticking their heads out again. It’s my turn now to take the shot while you spot. OK?”

  “Sure. Just be careful, my friend. I would sure hate to lose you.” Melanie said.

  “Of course, I will. I want you to be careful as well for the same reason. I’ve known you for far too lo
ng. I wouldn’t want to lose you to some damned Islamist who has no business being here on our land.”

  Marilyn paused for a moment.

  “I have another target now. He and several other men appear to be setting up some sort of heavy weapon out there. I am taking the shot now.” Marilyn quietly said a few seconds before a second muffled boom was heard from the hillock where she was sited.

  “Target is down. Good shot, Marilyn.” Melanie reported.

  There was a moment of silence over the radio before Marilyn responded. Even though she had fought years ago to defend her home and her life, it still wasn’t particularly easy for her to take another human life either.

  “Roger that. Let’s see if there are any other targets out there that need to be serviced. We can pass the information along to the rest of the militia too. The militia needs to know what we are seeing out there so that they can do something to hit these jihadists as well. ”

  Marilyn called back to the militia headquarters while Melanie continued to call out potential targets a kilometer or more beyond even the extended range of their sniper rifles. Many of these potential target areas had been preregistered far in advance by the militia. Melanie and Marilyn could see various markers and stakes out in the distance. Marilyn gave out the locations of the enemy positions based on these markers over the field phone.

  A few moments later, Marilyn and Melanie began to hear a series of muffled thumps coming from behind them, followed by a faint whistling sound overhead. Seconds later, a series of explosions rocked the immediate vicinity of the designated targets, followed by additional secondary explosions from jihadist ammunition being set off.

  “Those must have been those new gas-propelled mortars that the militia is using. Your kids have done a very good job fixing us up for this fight, Marilyn.”

  “We won’t be able to use them very often though. Our ammunition stores for our mortars are very limited. The kids are trying to make as many rounds as they can using the high explosives that we just received from the Alliance when that Osprey visited us. But there is only so much of it to go around, unfortunately.”

  After the explosions subsided, the entire area simply went silent. The jihadists never even had the opportunity to fire back a single round. This is how the first day of the defense of Ashley also ended. Other militiamen began to occupy several observation posts during the night. Several of the militiamen had purchased their own personal night vision devices in the years prior to invasion of the Caliphate. The militiamen used their equipment to help protect the town from the jihadists. Even so, for the most part, the jihadists tended to not move very much at night though.

  During the next three days, Melanie and Marilyn saw small groups of jihadist soldiers attempting to approach Ashley on foot during the daytime. A few rounds from their sniper rifles quickly put the infiltrators to flight. The rest of the militia didn’t even bother firing any mortar rounds at the infiltrators. Jeff wanted to save their ammunition for the real attack that he knew would eventually come.

  But on the morning of the fourth day, the jihadists tried a different tactic. Nearly a dozen trucks and cars suddenly appeared through a wooded area and speed towards Ashley on Ohio 229. Melanie and Marilyn were already in position by then and began firing sabot rounds at the approaching vehicles. The armor piercing rounds quickly punched holes in engine blocks and radiators that easily cripple a vehicle once hit. In less than thirty seconds, half of the vehicles had been disabled nearly a kilometer from the town that had been their objective.

  The jihadists quickly dismounted from the disabled vehicles and sought any cover that they could find with the fields, ditches and the limited number of trees that were nearby. The remaining vehicles continued to press on towards Ashley.

  By then, the rapid response team of the militia had gotten into their defensive positions and started to shoot at the intruders. The rest of the militia was also mobilizing and rushing into their defensive positions as quickly as they could.

  The last of the jihadist vehicles got as close as two hundred meters away from the town’s first defensive line before its engine died and its tires were all shot to pieces.

  “Right now, I wish that we had a good, old-fashioned Ma Deuce. A fifty-caliber heavy machine gun would put an end to this foolishness right away for sure.” Larry, an older militiaman who had served in Afghanistan years earlier.

  “Let’s have at them now.” One of the militia squad leaders called out.

  “No. Be patient. If any of these bastards move, we are going to hammer them to pieces. You know that Jeff doesn’t want to lose anyone to one of those folks out there playing ‘possum’.”

  It didn’t take long for the jihadists to try to advance in spite of having been stripped of their vehicles by the accurate fire of Ashley’s two female snipers. Someone behind the lead jihadist ranks was obviously applying a lot of pressure for the troops to continue to attack.

  As soon as the jihadists began to pop their heads up in order to try to advance, they were met by a hail of gunfire from a bewildering array of rifles ranging in power from 22 Long Rifle all the way up an AR-15 that someone had chambered in 458 SOCOM. A few others used a variety of Kalashnikov’s as their battle rifles. But while some people did use traditional hunting rifles on the firing line, the majority of the militia’s personnel used one form or another of the AR-10 or AR-15 platform.

  The jihadists were hit and fell only a few steps from where they had originally hidden. A couple of the jihadists tried to get up on the back of one of their disabled trucks, vehicles that had been made into improvised support vehicles or ‘technicals’ with the addition of a heavy machine gun mounted in the bed of a pickup or other light truck. The jihadists had hoped to be able to use the heavy machine guns to provide some direct fire support for their fellow mujahedeen.

  Marilyn and Melanie quickly put an end to that with a few shots, dropping each jihadist who attempted to climb up and fire the heavy weapons. As quickly as the fighting started, it also ended just as rapidly and conclusively.

  Cheering began to erupt after the last of the attackers was hit and neutralized by the militia. But this was subdued somewhat, not by Jeff warning his militia to stay alert and under cover, but by a volley of jihadi mortar fire that fell near their positions instead. A few militiamen were slightly wounded by flying shrapnel, but fortunately none were seriously injured or killed this time.

  The enemy mortar fire let up after a few minutes. But Jeff was not leaving anything to chance.

  “Everyone stay put. We don’t know if this was the only attack for today or if it was just the beginning.” Jeff passed along to his militia.

  “We should go out and try to salvage those heavy machine guns off of those trucks. They will definitely come in handy the next time that Caliphate tries to attack us.” A young militiaman named George Hampton said to Jeff when the militia commander stopped by George’s defensive position.

  “I agree, George. We certainly can use the additional firepower. But we should wait until after nightfall before we try to go out there. There could be snipers out there on the other side too. But we much be very cautious about this. I also would not put it past the Caliphate to boobytrap those machine guns or any other military equipment that those people out there might have on them.”

  “Why don’t we just drag in both of the entire vehicles to here, then take our time dissembling the weapons, vehicles and anything else that we can salvage to reuse for our defense? We have a couple of heavy duty tow trucks out in the garage that is just outside of town. One of them is even big enough to pull a semi, I believe.”

  “I will think about it, George. But remember, a tow truck is also a lot larger target than a couple of guys.”

  “Then we just put some armor on it. That’s what we did in Iraq when I was a soldier out there.”

  “I remember, George. I was out there too, you know.” Jeff said with a quick smile that masked a hint of irritation before moving on to the ne
xt militia position.

  During the next couple of hours, several men and women worked quickly to bolt onto improvised armor onto the cabs of the two tow trucks sitting inside of one of the local garages. Sometime shortly after noon, Jeff visited the garage to see how their efforts were progressing.

  “Hello, George. How is your little project doing?”

  “We are almost done here. We can’t cover everything, but we have managed to cover the cab and protect the engine radiator with armor steel.” The militiaman explained as he pointed at a series of steel louvers in front of the engine compartment and plates elsewhere.

  “Where did you get the plates?”

  “Benjamin and Lissette had some spare 8mm thick steel sheet stock available. So we got them to cut some of them to the necessary dimensions. We even have steel shutters over the windows so that our people can see outside.”

  “You don’t have anything on the roof or floor of your cabs, do you?” Jeff asked as he looked over the two vehicles.

  “No, Sir. We didn’t have enough time to have those cut. We are also worried about how much weight that we are adding to the vehicle chassis’. We don’t want to break anything due to the added mass. Besides, it’s not like we are going to be driving over minefields with them.”

  Jeff grimaced for a moment. There were going to be some glaring vulnerabilities to these vehicles. But for this limited application, Jeff thought that it just might be enough though.

  “Alright. How long do you think that it will be before you have these trucks ready?”

  “I’d say that we will be ready to roll in another thirty minutes or so.” George eagerly insisted.

  “I hope so because we are only going to have a limited window to do this before the jihadists get reinforcements here. If they have any RPG’s or additional heavy machine guns, they will cut through that armor like a sharp knife through hot butter.”