Routine....

Excerpt from Sgt. Carizzo’s personal Journal

PMC: Raven

Dated: 6/11/2011

Titled: Routine

                Today was hell. A routine assault on the Syr Darya Uplink went horribly wrong. I could tell from the start something was wrong. As we approached the initial uplink sites there was no opposition. SVER was a hardened group; they wouldn’t let us just walk in. And of course they didn’t, when Pvt. Stephens went to activate the uplink two twin explosions went off. Multiple claymores were triggered, the tiny ball bearings inside of them ripping through my squad. I quickly got the squad regrouped, pulling out my remaining three men to a solid bunker. After we had hunkered down inside, the bullets started flying, two squads of SVER soldiers threw themselves out of a bunker just across the train tracks. They charged our position. Bullets chipped away at the concrete structure, someone, I don’t remember who, popped a gas grenade out of the window and it landed right in the center of the tracks. As the yellow smoke began to billow L/Cpl. Ivanov found a set of stairs leading to the top of the bunker. I quickly took the squad up to the top, trying desperately to get us out of there.  Cpl. Carson had been screaming into the radio for air support, but we were apparently to far behind enemy lines, heavy anti-aircraft batteries at Absheron Refinery stopped our planes from coming in. L/Cpl. Schaefer was crouched behind a concrete wall, firing his KP45 at the SVER soldiers who were still coming through the yellow smoke. I remember this distinct look of fear on his face as a bullet tore through the soft material of his beret. His brains splattered against the wall, his body slumped over. Enraged I shouted at Carson to come over to me. Every Raven squad leader has an express code that allows them a direct line of communication to our OIC. When Cpt. Grobel came on the line he was solemn as he told me that there was no air support in the area. He did however promise that a group of commandos was on its way, their six man fireteam would be more than a match for these SVER dogs. I looked over at Ivanov and shouted, “Get Schaefer’s body, were moving.” I led my remaining soldiers back to our initial entry point, up on a cliff out of the enemies direct line of sight. I nestled my HM90SE’s barrel in between two rocks, peering through the scope. I looked back at Ivanov, “Suppressed weapons only, tell Carson to turn the damn radio off.” When I looked back into my scope I saw a sight to make a man cry. Apparently during our firefight the SVER bastards had hung my squads dead bodies along the wall of a large warehouse. The sight was too much. I saw two SVER soldiers walking across the main roads overpass. Two hiss-clicks later they were dead, a bullet through their brains.  I watched as a group of SVER soldiers ran towards their fallen comrades, mercilessly I dispatched them as well. I wildly spun the barrel of my gun towards a group of soldiers moving from the second uplink. Three of them had their rifles pointed in my direction. I slammed on the trigger, bullets ripping through them. Two fell dead, the third began sprinting for cover, I tracked him in my sights, pulled the trigger, and nothing happened. Cursing myself for allowing one to get away I quickly reloaded then nestled back into a firing stance. Behind me, Ivanov was quietly muttering to Carson, the two had attached silencers to their Gotha rifles. They were ready for a fight. The SVER soldier who had escaped my bullets had apparently had a radio because a few moments later the area was swimming in targets. After a few seconds they had tracked down our position. Ivanov took Schaefers KP45 and set it up off to my left, while Carson lay prone to my right. I began firing on the soldiers, and they began returning fire with a hail of bullets, the hot metal bounced off of the rocks, tore through the bushes and trees. An RPG smashed into the cliff face behind us, knocking a huge amount of rubble down. My rifle swung around wildly, bullets smacking into the enemies torsos, heads, legs, arms, any body part I could hit I did. However I knew we couldn’t last long, they had to be allocating some form of artillery into the area. A hail of grenades sailed over towards us, eight or nine enemies must have all thrown them as the nine grenades exploded, showering the three of us in hot rock and dust. I shouted for a headcount, but there was no reply. I looked over to Ivanov to see his tech helmets visor had three bullet holes in it. I looked to Carson but he had been smashed by a piece of rock. It was just me, and I wasn’t going down easy. I grabbed the KP45, holding the trigger down as I methodically swung the barrel back and forth, training and orders were out the window as I took my revenge on the bastards. As the huge Machine gun clicked, I sank to my knees, awaiting my death. The gun fell to my side as I watched the enemies moving forward. I closed my eyes, waiting.

Out of nowhere I heard a sudden wall of explosions. The world seemed to rock as grenades and C4 exploded. Smoke filled the entire area as bullets flew through the area. The telltale sound of suppressed F90 SMGs filled the air as SVER soldiers dropped dead.  The group of Commandos had come. I saw the black clad figures emerge from the smoke, their FTL simply nodded to me when he noticed me up on the cliff. After that, I think my adrenaline ran out, because the next thing I remember is the medical bay at Corvus Research.