E-KIA
“Mike?”
“What’s up?” I said looking up from my menu with a smile.
“I’ve been wanting to ask you some…things, I‘m curious about your life before you came here, of course if it‘s too soon I understand” she added quickly.
I folded my menu and set it on the table, reaching out and resting my hand on her foreleg. “Twi, all you have to do is ask, I’ll be as honest as I can be, and you don’t need to worry about hurting me, I’ve put it in its proper place by now to be sure, ask away.”
Twilight looked thoughtful for a moment before responding, “ What was it like? Being a ….SEAL was it?”
I had expected this, we’d covered damn near everything else about me except my time in the Navy, I nodded “Yeah that’s right, as far as the job? It was at times…unpleasant, but I even if I could go back and change it I wouldn’t, ‘cause then I never would have met you”.
Dude, Really?!
Twilight rolled her eyes, “Mike that’s sweet, but I’m not a foal”
I sighed, “Yeah that was pretty terrible, I guess you want a story? Would that suffice?”
Twilight’s eyes brightened “That sounds great” and seemingly out of nowhere pulled a quill and some parchment before fixing her gaze on me ready to take notes….
I took a deep breath and began….
4 years ago….
“Gentlemen, our target goes by the name Jabal Abu Ahmad, Call sign: Killswitch. This asshole is responsible for the attacks on our embassies in Kenya and Benghazi and is right up there on my personal shit list.
I soaked up every detail I could while the Chief outlined the op, I was 22 and fresh out of SQT and Sniper school. this would mark my first mission on a team, to say I was nervous wouldn’t be too far off. I-
“Sir?, what can I get you?”
I jumped at the waiters voice, “Oh, I’m sorry buddy, I’ll just have the salad and a glass of water”
“Not to worry sir, and for you Miss”
Twi spared one last glance for the menu “I’ll have the same, thank you”
The waiter nodded “Sounds good folks, I’ll get that started right away”
The second he was gone I continued.
After the brief I made my way to the common area just inside the massive aircraft hangar and started
checking my gear, IR strobes, Mk. 25 (Sig P226) sidearm, HK 416 with a Gemtech can, EOtech MPO and an AN/PEQ 15 IR laser for a primary and my centerpiece Macmillan TAC-300 Sniper rifle
“Hey bro, you alright?”
I looked up to see my team’s other sniper, guy named Bobby walking toward me.
I smiled weakly, and decided to let it ride, “Truth be told, I’m a little nervous, I just wanna do my job and not screw up, ya know?”
He chuckled, ”New guy, that’s something we all go through, stick with me when we’re on security tonight, only worry about your sectors and you’ll do fine.”
I nodded, “Wilco boss”
“C’mon new guy, 5 mike till jumpoff”
20 minutes later…
I checked my gear for the fifth time, and turned my gaze to the landscape below, when the pilot’s voice came over the radio.
“Hammer 2-5 is 1 mike to target”
The LT ‘s voice came over the team freq, “Final check guys, Bobby? Keep watch on the new guy, I want you both on the perimeter while we take down the target building, clear?”
Bobby nodded and flashed me a covert thumbs up.
“Flaring, 200 AGL, That’s you, guys.”
The team chief, who was by the open door, booted the heavy rope out, and one by one we fast roped onto the desert floor below…
Bobby and I took point, moving silently, guns up for any sign of hostiles, finding none we flagged the rest of the team in on a dune overlooking the target village, just a few shacks surrounding what looked to be a large garage or hangar, I dropped prone and set up my rifle with a clear view of the main building while Bobby took the outlying structures.
I keyed up my mic, “LT?, high ground, ROE’s?”
“Anyone with a weapon, you drop ‘em like a bad habit”
“Copy, out”
I glassed the main building through my night vision optic and spied three sentries milling around the front entrance, I Tac’d over to channel 2.
“Bobby, 3 hostiles by the main entrance, you got anything?”
“I got a sniper on the roof of the far structure, reference the technical, gimme a range and a wind call if you would”
I tracked onto the guy while bobby relayed the 3 sentries locations to the rest of the team, then settled in to take the shot, the shooter was young about 19 or so carrying a Type 79, a Chinese copy of the SVD sniper rifle, I felt a sick feeling in my stomach, we were really getting ready to kill this guy.
“Fuck him, bad guy doing bad shit” a small voice in the back of my head reminded me, I checked my gut and settled back into the spotting scope.
“Range”
“927 meters”
“Wind”
“Quarter value, push left 1/2 mil”
“On target”
I took a breath did the math in my head, check.
“Fire”
The suppressed .300 let out a sharp pop, I tracked the heat trail of the round and a half second later the sniper jerked from the impact and dropped like a bag of cement onto the roof of the structure.
“Hit, center mass” I held on the guy for a sec, seeing no movement “He’s toast”
“Was that the first time you’d seen another person die?”
I nodded, “It was part of the job, that doesn’t mean I was entirely comfortable with it, make sense?”
Twi nodded in turn, “I’m sorry you had to go through that Mike”
“I’m sorry that the nature of my world made it necessary”
Twilight marked something down on the parchment, “Please continue?”
“You got it sweetheart”
Bobby smiled “And that’s jenga, nice call, now get back on the weapon and cover their infil, I got our six”
I nodded and pulled my rifle over, putting my eye back to the scope just in time to see the assault team take down the 3 by the door and make entry. A few short pops over the team freq and the call came in.
“Command, Blackbird, Killswitch E-KIA, sweeping for Intel now’”
The next few minutes passed without incident, Bobby and I kept watch when something odd caught my eye.
“Bobby, you seeing this? I got a dust cloud 3, maybe 4 klicks out, she’s been getting closer for a few mike now.”
“Damn new guy you’re right, Assault team, high ground!”
“Go Bobby whadya got?”
“LT! we’ve got company. 3x covered truck, 2x technicals”
“How long?”
“Maybe 2 mike, we’ll keep em busy while you guys break for the dunes”
“Sounds good, we’re moving, 30 seconds, weapons hot on the vehicles”
Bobby turned to me,” you ready for this new guy?”
I nodded ”Born ready”
I stared into the scope at the approaching vehicles cranking the magnification up to 12x, I spotted the driver, making a quick range call in my head I took the slack out of the trigger, pulled in a breath and fired…The heavy 180 grain projectile sailed right through the windshield and cut the driver’s head in half.
“Hit!” Bobby called out, “They’re stopping, reference, middle vehicle, gunner belt fed weapon”
I placed the crosshairs over the guy’s chest, “I tally”
“Fire”
I squeezed, broke the trigger clean and sent the round downrange.
“Hit, center mass, he’s done”
Somewhere in the back of my mind I registered the deaths of two people by my hand, eh, I wonder what they’re serving in the DFAC for breakfast?
“So it didn’t bother you at all?” Twilight’s tone wasn’t accusatory in the least, in was just an honest question.
“It’s hard to explain, it’s not that I didn’t care, more like I knew why it was happening and I accepted it”
“I think I get it, please go on, what happened next?”
The assault team goes jamming by on our left as return fire rips through the air around us, I can hear the LT calling for CAS, I lined up my last shot on an RPG gunner, as soon as he fell I packed up my rifle and tore ass after the rest of the team, we thundered up the dune and onto the waiting helo.
The pilot must have ripped the collective clean out of the bird, because the next second we were up and banking hard. I felt the post extreme adrenaline rush nausea sneaking up on me as I scrambled into a seat next to the LT. We’d only been airborne for a few moments when an earth shaking rumble caught my attention, I turned to see a formation of three A-10 Warthogs blasting our bad guys into oblivion.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see the LT’s smiling face, he pointed at his headset and I Tac’d back over to channel 1.
“Not bad new guy, not too bad at all”….
“Wow…”
I smiled at Twilight across the table, “I’m glad you liked my story, did I answer all your questions?”
Twi nodded, “I think that’s enough for today”
“I’m thinking my dear that maybe we should eat our lunch”
The rest of our meal passed in relative silence, when we finally made it back to the library the sun was sinking below the horizon, bathing all of Ponyville in a soft orange glow. I stayed outside to grab a smoke and sent Twi inside with a kiss and a promise to meet her in bed ASAP (Guy’s gotta have his priorities).
I stubbed my smoke and made my way inside, blowing out candles as I went, I almost didn’t see it. A note sitting on the kitchen table, same as the other Royal seal and all, I tore the note open and the words printed inside in Celestia’s beautiful script hit me like a sledgehammer.
I have need of you.
-Celestia