Invasion

Carrizo stood outside of the Raven base, Hoi, Dimitrov, and a small group of Titan soldiers behind him. Carrizo pulled out his ID card, sliding the thin piece of plastic through a reader. The massive steel doors slowly opened; straight to a wall of Raven soldiers pointing weapons at the group. Carrizo smiled, “Grobel, glad to see you still have the same old love.” The Raven Captain walked out from behind the men, “Why are you here Sergeant, I should kill you now for desertion.” Carrizo walked forward and stepped close to Grobel, he whispered “Captain, do you really want your men dead? You know that stopping this Shadow War at all costs is of the upmost priority. I need you, and your men.” Grobel looked at Carrizo, “You know what Raven Industries would do to us?” Carrizo chuckled “There isn’t a thing they can do to us. The Russian government has agreed to give us a base there, on government ground. If any PMC attacks us there, the Russians have every right to mobilize an army against them, and I have been assured that they will. We will be safe.” Grobel shook his head, “I’m sorry, I won’t come.” Then he looked at his men, and sighed, “If any of you soldiers want to join Carrizo, go. I won’t stop you.” Carrizo’s old squad immediately joined the large man, a few more soldiers filtered over across the expanse between the two groups. Carrizo nodded to each of them, “Welcome.” He said, and then looked back to Grobel, “I wish you would have joined me. If we ever meet on the battlefield, let the best man win.” Grobel nodded, and then walked off towards his office coughing.

Carrizo showed every man to his bunk. The quarters were cold, and ice hung about the base. The heating system was old, and did little to help matters. Carrizo made sure that every man knew where he would be sleeping then headed back to the command center. The large concrete tower was placed in the center of the base. The base itself was so rounded by thick concrete walls, guard towers at each corner. One soldier was posted in each tower, Carrizo thought it unnecessary, but Dimitrov had insisted, “They need things to do until we get to training them.” Carrizo had finally given in and let Dimitrov place men on walls. Hoi had busied himself by writing up schedules and manuals. Dimitrov had begun finding contractors and manufacturers to help build new bases, and provide arms and vehicles. Carrizo walked to the table in the center of the room. The table was state of the art, a touchscreen built in, as well as the ability to project images in 3D. Carrizo pulled up a map of the world, and began labeling areas as SVER, Valor or Raven. Finally the world was covered by the three colors, blue red and green. The entire world, except for the small area he stood in. Carrizo stared at the map, then began filling in the Raven bases he knew. After a few hours of work he had every Raven base filled in on the map. His access codes had yet to be denied so he was still able to access Raven’s secure network. He grinned; there was already a file about Titan in there. Hoi walked over to Carrizo and sat across the table from him. “Intimidating,” Hoi said while indicating the map. Carrizo nodded, “It’ll be a tough job, but we’ll get it done.” Hoi nodded, “Carrizo, I’ve been thinking we need a logo, something we can slap onto everything, from uniforms to buildings.” Carrizo smiled, “Maybe, I’ll think about it. How are the schedules coming.” Hoi held up a packet of papers, “Right here, ready for you to review.” Carrizo reached across the table and took the packet. “I’ll read them tonight, you get some rest.” Hoi nodded, wiping some dirt off of his face, “Yes sir.” The young man headed out of the room and off to his quarters. Carrizo opened the packet and began to read.

Bullets whizzed everywhere, screams sounded throughout the field. The man swung his head and watched as an APC burst out of the trees. The monstrous machine crashed through the once tranquil field and ran over a soldier. It’s main cannon began firing on a nearby car, blowing the piece of plastic to shreds. The man watched as soldiers began loading out of the truck, they were wearing black uniforms, strange rifles in their hands. From his position he could barely make out the logo on their arms, it was a shield of sorts, a raven on one side and shiny metal on the other. The man began sliding off the top of the ridge. He stood and turned, straight into a gun barrel.

“Today, Raven Industries began an all-out assault on the Philippine Islands. Casualties have been reported in the hundreds. NBC 17’s own Al Roker is on the scene investigating, Al?”
“Thanks, the situation here has gone critical. Raven soldiers are killing civilians and military personal alike. There is no discretion as to what they destroy or who they kill. You can see here behind me, this house has been hit by a mortar strike, and much of the western half of these islands look like this, destroyed. Back to you.”
“Thanks Al, Raven Industries released this statement earlier from the CEOs office.”
“The invasion of the Philippines is a preemptive strike. Terrorists in the country were threatening to start a war against the countries of the world, and Raven Industries invaded to stop that from happening. A force of Raven soldiers will be kept in the country to maintain peace during these hard times, no further comment.”

Carrizo stared blankly at the TV as the reporter continued to talk about the invasion. From behind him he heard Dimitrov, “And so it begins.”

Outnumbered

Excerpt from Sgt. Carrizo’s personal Journal

PMC: Raven

Dated: 6/13/2011

Titled: Outnumbered

Valor.

Some of us soldiers call them the cowboys. They’re all out here for the glory, the riches, the women. But this is war, many of them don’t understand that. Oh sure, I know lots of men who joined Valor. They were ex-Special Forces, SAS, Delta Force, amazing fighters. But this war, this war is different from any they have fought before. These soldiers are fighting for different reasons. This isn’t for country, for your kids back home, for your wife. This is for money. This war is to get companies ahead; it’s almost like sports teams rivalries. I personally fight for my friends, and to keep these poor young kids alive long enough for them to understand why we should fight.

Today was one hell of a fight for my life. My squad was tasked with defending a burn-off tower at Flores Basin Transfer. I was going on my normal patrol with some new guy. He was talking about his girl back home, like I cared. Suddenly a siren went off, the automated AA battery swung to the sky and fired a burst of machine gun fire, I saw a flash in the sky, the burning wreck of a C-130 came flying in. It smashed straight into one of the heavily fortified bunkers, smashing the entire structure, and every inside it, to pieces. I quickly moved to a nearby watchtower, setting the bipod of my AM50 up on the rail. I could see a line of APC’s rolling in from far away, 6 of the vehicles were rolling out of the nearby mountains and towards our facilities. The soldier near me removed the P-600G from his back, aiming the thing at one of the APC’s. I heard the lock on tone and looked over, “SON OF A-“ My scream was cut off as the idiot pulled the trigger. The back blast from rocket launcher destroyed the inside of the watchtower, sending me flying out the side.

As I recovered from my impact I looked at where the watchtower should have been. For a moment, my mind projected the image of it being there, but a few blinks solved that, the top of the building was completely erased. Marking myself as lucky I hauled my ass to my feet. I looked around for my rifle, I groaned when I saw the mass of twisted metal that had once been a fine piece of engineering. I quickly drew my F57 from its holster and ran towards a nearby shanty. Taking cover behind the patchwork of sheet metal and cardboard I peered towards where the vehicles were. I saw the telltale blue smoke of a Raven artillery strike. The smart rounds would be falling in moments. I looked over towards the mortar battery and saw to Valor soldiers fumbling with an explosive charge. I aimed my trusty pistol at the two men, quickly firing and taking one of them out. The second one collapsed, thrashing about in the foliage. I leapt over a rock and ran over to him, as I got in close I grimaced. The bullet had smashed through his thigh, puncturing a major artery. In an act of mercy I shot him in the head. My next priority was to find Cpt. Grobel, he would need some protection during this attack. The captain meant well, but he was no fighter, a tactician maybe, but he’ll never be a good soldier. As I covered the distance from the AA battery to the cooling tower that Grobel should be at I noticed a strange phenomenon. Raven soldiers were desecrating the bodies of Valor men. I saw at least two soldier firing tons of lead into a dead Valor soldiers body. I looked away, unable to watch this unchecked at of inhumane slaughter. I dashed over to the Captain, “Sir, Sgt. Carrizo reporting.” Grobel nodded to me, and then looked back over at a group of soldiers. “Sergeant, these men just came from basic, this is their first combat, and you’re in command.” I nodded curtly, a quick snap to attention and a salute later I was in the armory, the new guys following me. I picked up an ATAC 2000, the trusty rifle felt right in my grip. I quickly attached a silencer, red dot sight, and a fore grip to it. I turned to face my new “squad”. “Alright, listen up and listen well. There’s some fierce fighting going on out there, and I want to see all of you make it through that, listen to my orders and do exactly as I say and you’ll live. Disobey me, and I’ll shoot you myself, understand?” The shell-shocked boys nodded in unison I grinned, “Welcome to Flores.”

I jogged quickly to the most eastern bunker, the smoking wreckage was packed with bodies, blood spattered across the concrete barricades surrounding it. I looked back at the scared boys, they were packed together, huddling close for comfort, “Spread out, or you’ll all get killed by one grenade.” I looked at the two boys who my HUD designated as repair specialists. “You two get this bunker online ASAP. The rest of you, take cover, once they realize were on a repair mission, the hounds of hell will be on us.” I looked to the skies, the sight was both amazing and depressing. F-22s flew on strike missions all across the blue sky. I grimaced as I saw two 500 kilo bombs dropped from one of the Raptors. “COVER!!” I dove to the ground, the bombs dropped just a hundred meters away. A massive swath was cut through the defenses and the men who had been manning them. Two twin craters sat as testaments to the carnage that had just ensued. The shockwave rolled over me like a hurricane; I gripped my rifle and the ground desperately trying to keep myself from being thrown into the air.

Finally as the last waves of dust settled I looked up, my blast visor wiped itself clean with a tiny laser bar. I looked to the new guys. Miraculously they had all survived, taking cover behind the barricades. I looked to the two repairmen; they were huddled with the rest of the squad. I trudged over looming over them, “Get that bunker online now goddamnit!” The two soldiers ran over to the bunker, beginning their repairs. “The rest of you, spread out and take cover,” I looked at the squad Machine Gunner, “You, in the watchtower, provide fire support.” I walked over to a sandbag wall, crouching behind it and looking about.

“PARATROOPERS!”

The shout was raised by one of my squads soldiers, a Pvt. Huxley. The squad LMG gunner pointed his APEX towards the sky and released a stream of bullets. I saw them rip through the parachutes, and the bodies of the soldiers themselves. Many of the soldiers plummeted to their deaths as the met the ground at 100 mph. One of them crashed right into a small shanty house, dying instantly for sure. I turned my own rifle and began firing on the soldiers. I saw many dead bodies drifting down from the skies, their bodies hanging from trees and buildings. Then an APC rolled towards the bunker, right then I heard a whir. Looking over my shoulder I saw that the bunker was online. “Somebody man that turret, get some rockets on that APC!” I saw one of the squad members aiming a P-600G at the APC. A huge 67mm anti-tank round ripped through him. His entire upper torso disappeared in a shower of blood and guts. The tank rounds began smacking into the barricades, puncturing the solid concrete. I watched as two more soldiers fell victim to the massive rounds. I knew even my experimental armor couldn’t hold off one of those massive rounds. I ducked down, into the bunker. Waiting for the assault I knew would soon begin. From above me I heard the swish of rockets being fired from the bunker turret, the massive explosion of the 30mm rockets was nothing compared to those bombs from before. But it still had an effect. I peered out of one of the viewing slots and saw that the APC was a smoking wreck; a smoking wreck that also blocked off the main bridge access.

The bunker repaired, I took my squad over to the AA battery. But it was nowhere to be seen, as I looked about, I realized that the explosion from the bombs must have wiped it off the face of the earth. I then turned to face my squad, “Alright guys, check your CNIs. Looks like the north defense lines have fallen, were heading over there now! Follow the waypoints, lets re-secure those points.” I took my soldiers towards the north side, along the way we picked up a few stragglers from that defense. Now with a squad and a half of soldiers I felt confident, especially since these soldiers had seen combat. We ran over to the control panel for the pumps. As we approached the building, I noted that it was pretty much infested with Valor soldiers. I held my hand up for the squad to stop. “Alright guys, spread out and surround the building, on my command bust the windows and take out all the opposition.” We all moved out, one man to a window. I set my radio to broadcast over the platoon wide net. “3, 2, 1, FIRE!” A chorus of smashing sounds came from all around the building, I stood up and punched the window, the poked my ATAC through the hole. I fired burst after burst into the Valor soldiers. They quickly began dropping dead as bullets smashed through the soldiers skulls, necks and heads. Two of my soldiers climbed up to the top floor, bursting in from the maintenance access they quickly dispatched the remaining opposition. I jumped through the window, smashing the rest of the glass with my body. Once inside I told everyone to make sure the bastards were dead.

15 hours later, the parachutist’s bodies are still hanging from the trees.