Friday, March 29, 2013

Steel Dragoons - Part 1.

When the door opened you never had time for questions or doubt - you just had to charge out and engage whatever awaited you. That is the job of a member of the Armored Defense Unit's tactical assault division. It's what every member of the squad had signed on knowing, and so when you heard through your internal comm the familiar command of: "Go, Go, Go!" You did.
                                                                  ---
Chaos exploded outside the armored transport, hostile forces had laid siege to an urban center and were destroying everything. It didn't matter if the people they encountered were civilian or not, whatever their beef was it was costing innocent lives. And that meant it was about to end, violently if need be.

There would be no negotiations, no peaceful approach. Not once the slaughter and bloodshed had begun. Civil unrest, even anarchy, could be dealt with to a point but this, no, this demanded a firm hand. The firm hand of a TAD squad in full gear and zero restrictions on their rules of engagement. Many of the squad were thrilled about it, but it always made Alwyn nervous. He genuinely felt that without some form of restraint that it made them little better than heavily armed wild dogs. It was like giving barbaric thugs advanced weapons and pointing them in a direction.

Alwyn served his unit well, while he only held the rank of Specialist his official job title was listed as "Armored Cavalry Scout." For him it was a fancy way of saying he was the squad's bloodhound. It meant he was the eyes and ears that would seek out threats and relay key info back to his squad leader. But while he was only a Specialist he was often on his own or on those rare occasions asked to lead small scout patrols of 2 to 3 men. Ironically, though, he had to admit he preferred it when he didn't have to take command of a patrol. It never felt right having to order anyone else around, much less being responsible for them.

"Time to go to work," Alwyn told himself as he thrusted himself out the door and into madness. Always the first to face what awaited them all; he was used to it. In a way he preferred it. At least out here and on the move he didn't have time to think or worry over details. Out here there was only his job, his duty and he best be getting to it.

"Beginning recon," he informed his commander as his eyes scanned the surroundings and relayed his HUD data back to the transport. Already he was analyzing the placement and strength of the enemy as he navigated his way around. Soon the rest of the squad would be deployed and they would rely on his relayed data to direct how and where to strike.

With any luck he could manage to spot the vital targets needed to end this conflict without any further escalation. Because if he didn't, well he already knew the kind of ordinance they were packing and it meant the whole area could be leveled just to end this. Orders were orders, but if there was even a chance to take out these extremists without resorting to that he was determined to try.

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