Mediterranean Sea, Syria
Cpt. Jacob “Hawk” Turner

It was late autumn. Almost October, actually. During this time of the year it’s supposed to be colder, people cheering on other people and celebrating all kinds of holidays, right? People aside from us.

We found ourselves on a flight far away from home, again, to the God forsaken deserts of Iraq following something we believed was another russian lead. Jameson has learned that a squad operating under a drug lord named Nikolai Ivanov was now transporting something to be used against our people in the russo-ukrainian war. To everyone’s surprise, we were the first people to be called and sent out here in the middle of nowhere instead of Kole’s squad black.

To get one thing clear, I personally did not allow Maya to join us, despite all her protests saying that she can be useful as a translator for our language barrier. I considered every option, every possibility and told her that it was too dangerous for a rookie like her. So, instead, I proceeded to ask the impossible and recruited the translator from squad black, sergeant Ellis “Match” Cooper.  I knew my luck had already run out when I found out that Kole’s right hand man was the only soldier knowing more languages than English and Spanish in the entire regiment.

So I had to work with what I had. And so far, so good. He isn’t so bratty and insufferable as his captain, surprisingly though because those two seem closer than me and Rafe sometimes. Maybe it’s just because of the mission or he’s not that talkative around new people. I like to keep it professional for now and the squad hasn’t complaint.

Ar Rutba, Iraq

“Here, put this on” Yun pulled out a crate full of scarves and balaclavas and every squad member and trooper took one, wrapping it around their head. The desert was indeed strange, the only noise filling our ears being the howl of wind and steps in the sand. It always seemed creepier to me than forests or even swamps. Empty, vast and cruel.
I grabbed a red and black scarf and wrapped it around my neck and face, leaving a small gap between the fabric and my skin to breathe properly in this damn sun. Throughout my life everyone’s told me that when it’s hot and sunny you have to cover yourself up. And that’s because people that live in hot climates like this are always fully clothed no matter what, to protect you from the sun. That’s the one thing I never got used to when working here. After years and years of training I still hate extreme weather conditions from the bottom of my heart.

We did a short com check to make sure we had some kind of signal and begun marching towards the city. We all would’ve been much happier if Luke landed closer to the outskirts of this dump of civilization but the Russians would’ve heard us or maybe worse.

Seen us.

We had to do this the hard way.
As we approached the last dune of sand before landing eyes on the deserted buildings, I pulled out my binoculars and laid on my stomach to avoid being seen in the distance.

“How many?” Pearl asked standing beside me looking through his scope.

“Two in the towers, two at the gate. Not moving. 350 meters. Two and a half notches” I instructed and Pearl begun dropping them one by one with his sniper rifle until we were clear.

“They won’t be moving any time sooner” he chuckled and reloaded his gun.

“Good job. There, use the ruins for cover” we begun walking towards the buildings at a quick and steady pace after we made sure no man was in our visual field. These people may be held up in the middle of a huge sandbox but they surely had some sort of communication system so they will notice that some of their snipers had… evaporated.

We began marching towards the settlement, cursing the unmerciful wind and sand. A lot. Of. Sand. As we approached the city cautiously, I could feel the air thickening, as if we were being watched. It might be my paranoia speaking, or my hate for deserts, or both, but this feeling made ne watch my squad’s back a thousand times more than I would normally do.

“Pearl, Yun, take the towers, just where the snipers found their end. We will continue undercover but we need the higher ground” I commanded and they both nodded and got into position in no time.

We proceeded with wiping the narrow streets of the city clean of Russians. One by one, as silent as possible, without having an exact number of enemies at hand. Most of them were carrying smoke bombs and flares and I couldn’t help but ask myself. Do they have an air base nearby? In this land of… nothing? Are they waiting for something? With each stealth kill we took, I felt more eyes on me. With every muffled lifeless grunt, I could hear the howl of the wind intensify.

“Cap’” I heard Rafe’s voice from behind as he handed me one of my knives “You might need this.”

“Thanks.” I gave him a short nod and secured the weapon into its holster. Damn, this man does know when to pull me out of my thoughts, or perhaps his timings are just perfect. But no sooner than I got reconnected with the real world, I dodged the strike of a Russian mercenary that escaped my visual field, cutting his throat clean.

“Watch the windows!” Ranger yelled as we quickly got to cover and opened fire. Several empty magazines hit the ground and the enemies with them, the strong distant sounds of sniper bullets accompanying our defenses until I heard a heavy thud from behind me: Match. Laying dead on the ground with his lifeless eyes wide open.

“Goddammit!” Rafe turned and started dragging his body to cover.

“Match is down, I repeat, Match is down!” Ranger yelled through the comms as he threw a grenade into one of the buildings.

“Switching to explosives, stand back.” Rafe replied and started blowing up parts of the balconies, earning some pained screams from our opponents.
They all seemed to be coming from one particular place: the town square.

We approached the modest settlement and neutralized the remaining enemies and quickly realized why they were being held up here. Supplies, ammo and guns. But why?

When it all came to a standstill and the last body dropped dead, we returned to Match’s body and cursed under my breath.

“Fuck… he didn’t even get the chance to be useful.”

“He didn’t even get the chance to be arrogant.” Rafe said as he kneeled and shut his eyes “Kole won’t be pleased.”

“And the commander either.” Alejandro added in disbelief. We all checked our blind spots once again and kept advancing through the dust, still hearing yelling in the distance.

“What do we do with him now, cap’?”

“We leave him here until we clear the entire settlement. After that, I’ll try to figure out something.”