Posted by Moore on May 02, 2003 at 05:24:31:
Nowe is west of the Vistula, near the mouth of the mighty river. As was typical of many of the small towns in war torn Poland, the houses on the outskirts of the town had been destroyed. These houses were burned by rioting, shelled by passing troops, or abandoned. Most towns had a ring of blackened shells around them, often used by the local ORMO as guard areas and rats as breeding areas. After years of war, famine, and plague, only ten percent of Earth's civilian population had survived. Slightly more had survived in military units, because they were able to better seize and control assets. Nowe was luckier then most towns. Its docks survived fairly well, and in addition to growing crops, it was able to trade along the river as well as fish. Some of the buildings had survived well near the town square.
One house was alone, southwest of the town on a large hill. The house was a two story house with fading yellow paint and a porch on the back. Although it was ringed with trees, in the early spring there was little underbrush to block vision to or from it. The top of the hill was clear of vegetation, and would make an excellent lookout post, or mortar position. This was the first target that needed to be dealt with.
Everyone changed the batteries in their night vision goggles. Owl and Vulture covered the house with their sniper rifles. Hawk and Eagle set up their machine guns just in case. Peacock and Falcon set up the grenade launcher. Phoenix carefully set down the radio, and checked his MP5 submachine gun. He hated the weapon. It fired an under powered 9 mm round so he had to shoot his target with several bullets to ensure a kill, but it had a built in sound suppresser, and he didn't want the whole town woken up by gunfire. At least until the LAV25's were doing the firing with their M242 25 mm chain gun. He hoped the LAV25's didn't use too much ammo. Rachgee had a hard time last week find finding even a few HE rounds. She was a great trader. She was also a great... Phoenix shook his head to clear out gentle and loving thoughts. Either he was going to be killed, or he was going to have a town of neutral civilians killed to secure Rachgee's future. Although this is not the type of war he wanted to fight, nor the way he wanted to fight it, he was good at it, and he had a job to do.
He headed up the slope, taking cover behind the trees, and looking out for trip lines or mines.
The trip to the top, and the house itself, were quiet. The night vision goggles made everything look green, which always made Phoenix slightly dizzy. It was more like playing a video game; he felt slightly disconnected from what was actually happening. He got to the summit, about 50 meters from the house. No dogs, no geese, no guards, no more trees to hide behind. He took a few moments to catch his breath, and then sprinted across the open area to the sagging front porch. He knew Owl and Vulture would be covering the windows of the house if anyone appeared. No lights were on in the house, no one yelled a warning and his approach. It had been Phoenix's experience that although it was possible for a door to be booby trapped, explosives could be put to better uses. He gingerly tried the door, but it was locked. A quick shove opened the flimsy door.
Phoenix moved quickly through the downstairs. He passed through a kitchen, dining room, and a living room without encountering anyone. Phoenix did notice the house was relatively clean, and that the house had been adapted for living without electricity - lanterns that weren't burning in the rooms, no electrical appliances in sight except a crock pot being used as a planter, hand powered butter churner in the kitchen, etc. He found a staircase leading up. Carefully covering the top landing with his MP5, he made his way up the stairs, treading lightly on the sides of the stairs to avoid a tell tale squeak.
At the top of the stairs was a short landing, and three closed doors. He quietly approached the first door. When he opened it, he was disappointed to see (all in green from the night vision goggles) a child's room with toys, a wooden rocking horse, bunk beds, and two sleeping children. This was going to be messy. He backed out quickly, and shut the door. The center door led to a bathroom, with several buckets of water to flush to toilet. The last room held a man, a women, and a fireplace. The light from the fireplace blinded Phoenix, and he let out a groan as he pulled off the night vision goggles. The man stood up and reached for a weapon; an AK74 assault rifle. Phoenix fired blindly at the moving figure. The MP5 sound suppresser made the shots as loud as a wet towel hitting a table. Phoenix fired, hating the MP5 and wishing he was using his HK Combat Assault Weapon because he was a poor shot and he wasn't sure he was hitting the guy. A tinkling of glass told him that Owl had gotten the Pole in his sights through the window from outside. Owl' shot hit the man in his head, lifting several square centimeters of scalp and skull off the Pole's head from the side away from the window as the 7.62 L round ended the man's life like a light turning off. Vulture' shot hit the man in the back and pushed him forward. The Poles quietly spun to his left, and fell over.
The women, who Phoenix still could not see distinctly, started screaming something in Polish and sobbing. Phoenix grabbed her with his left hand and pointed the MP5 at her. She quieted down quickly. People without good survival instincts and lots of luck were long since dead.
He used his set of handcuffs to bind the women's hands in front of her. He liked to bind the hands in front so he could see what the prisoner was doing. With a few more blinks he could actually see her. She was a middle aged women, thin, blonde hair down to her shoulders, brown eyes, with long fingers. When he patted her down she had an averaged sized chest, small waist, wide hips and was unarmed. She was wearing warm clothing despite the fireplace. She had gray cotton sweat pants on her legs, and a blue sweatshirt on her torso. Two pairs of socks covered her feet. Like most other products of the industrialized world, the manufacture of cosmetics had long before ceased so she probably hadn't worn makeup in at least three years. Phoenix waved to the snipers as he picked up the AK74. He put the women in front of him, and moved onto the landing.
He secured the rest of the family with 100 mph tape over the mouth and hands. He moved the women and her children onto the porch, careful to signal Owl and Vulture. It would be embarrassing to get shot by his own men. The rest of the section headed up to the house, and set up a defensive perimeter.