Spec Ops 4-6

Chp 4

"The Grinder"
Master Sergeant Justin Dittrich
Day 2 7:00:00
Echo Team Special Forces Group
Eastern Sinnoh

The following day, I got up at 0700 hours for a morning coffee and breakfast. The food here was almost paradise compared to other militaries. We had a lot that others didn't. Coffee, decent meals, showers, bathrooms, and even our own private headquarters. The base was usually packed with different squadrons, but they were all out on assignments [Our squadron is A]. As I went into the mess hall that morning to grab a cup of coffee, I saw the Infernape that I picked up yesterday. I had looked through his files last night. His real name was Pvt. Stanley Barrett, from the 4th Demolitions Team.
"Good morning Private, up and early I see?" I asked as I walked to the counter for the coffee.
"Yes sir," he replied. "I'm ready to get started right away."
I took a sip of coffee and replied to him,
"You know this is no walk in the park, right? This is the greatest Special Ops force on the planet. You have to stay sharp, at all times, because you can never tell when we're called to action. What's around the corner. You sure you're ready?"
"I've never been more confident in my life."
"Don't get cocky now. Go to the armory and pull any assault rifle or submachine gun you want." I told him, pointing to a room across the hall.
"Yes sir!" he said, running over there. It took him five minutes but he came out with two weapons, a P90 and an ACR.
"I can't choose," he said.
"Try the P90 first, then the ACR," I suggested.
"Alright," he said, handing me the ACR. I was only wearing a plain, dark blue shirt, jeans and shoes, so I couldn't sling it, so I just held it in my right hand, sipping my coffee with my left. I led him down a hallway to the outside. Out there, was a large course.
"Welcome to The Pit," I said, sort of menacingly. "This will test your running speed and your accuracy, as well as you determining between "friendly" and hostile. There are 30 targets on this course, 20 of which are hostile. You must run the course in under 45 seconds, take out all 20 targets, and not hit any "friendlies", understood?"
"Uhhh… yes sir. I think I can handle it," he said, stammering a little.
"Can you Stan? Can you?" I said, even darker. He knew I was just playing games now, so he walked down the steps to the gate. I ran up to the observation tower and opened the gate from up there. He walked in and turned the corner right, when three targets popped up.
"CLEAR THE FIRST AREA, GO, GO, GO!" I yelled.
Stan easily took the three hostiles down.
"MOVE UP!"
He ran forward, when three more popped up, and took down the two enemies, barely missing the friendly.
"MOVE UP!
Stan ran up towards the façade of a building, when seven targets popped up. Stan shot the five hostiles and ran into the building, which contained two more targets, one being an enemy.
"UP THE STAIRS!"
Stan ran up the stairs and punched the next target hard, causing four more targets to appear. He shot the three hostiles.
"JUMP DOWN!"
Stan jumped down off the second floor to safely land and shot the remaining hostiles and ran for the checkpoint. His finishing time was 37.8 seconds.
"Not bad!" I said as I walked down to the gate area. "Want to try the ACR?"
"Hell no sir, this P90 suits me perfectly!" he exclaimed excitedly.
"I figured as much," I said, pulling a crate open and placing the ACR in the crate. "You've got a little more to learn though, but let's get something to eat."
With that, we walked down to the mess hall and grabbed something to eat. For the rest of the day, I brought Stan to the "Shooting House" and taught him about hostage rescues. The room I was mostly teaching him in was a small, ordinary room with manikins used as the hostage-takers. We must've stayed in the Shooting House for eight hours, because we were finishing up around sunset. The others that day went out to practice on a plane in case of a plane hijacking. It is ALWAYS crucial to practice on planes and in rooms when you're not out on a call, because you don't want to wear down your shooting skills. After Stan finished the shooting house for the day, I told him how he did.
"Well Stan, you seem to have a decent grasp of things, but that chair that's in the room… you hit it a few times. Usually a hostage would be there, so I don't want to have to explain to the commander why my squadron killed an innocent hostage."
"Sorry sir…" Stan said a little lowly.
"Hey, it's your first day. In a few days, you're going to have… the real test…"
"What "real test"?"
"You'll see Stanley… you'll see…" I said as we parted ways in the hallway to our separate rooms. As I walked down the hallway to my room, I saw Austin and Hailey kissing in front of theirs [They share a room]
"THIS IS A HALLWAY, NOT A HOTEL!" I yelled, purposely ruining the moment.
"Oh shut up Justin! It's not like you didn't kiss anyone on duty before… in the middle of a mission perhaps?" he barked back, causing Hailey to laugh. I just gave him a stare and he shut his mouth.
"Look, just make out IN your room please! Thank you!" I said, walking into my room. I sat on my bed and thought to myself.
"Today was a good day. Stanley is a natural with shooting, I busted Austin, and I'm still thinking about Angel… what a day…"
I lied down on my bed and immediately fell asleep, having dreams of HER.

Chp 5

"The Plan"
Master Sergeant Justin Dittrich
Day 3 ??:??:??
Echo Team Special Forces Group
Eastern Sinnoh


The first half of the next day was relatively quiet. Stan and I started working as a team in the Shooting House. Did I mention we were using live rounds? Real. Bullets. We weren't pulling no paintball of airsoft bullshit. We were using the real thing. Lucky for me, I didn't get shot. We had to replace the manikin heads over and over again because me and Stan were blowing their heads off. The others went into another part of the base to practice firefights. We had a building on the west side of our fort. It was a paintball arena (the only time we use other than real bullets), but we didn't use just any paintball. The paintballs we used were like bean bullets. Not lethal, but hurts like hell to get shot by one. This was as close the real bullets we would come. At 1300 hours, I made Stan run The Pit again. He made a decent time of 31.66 seconds. After that, I was going to take Stan onto the runway and grab the others to practice airplane hijackings. We have all sorts of planes in our hangars. 747's, 737's, DC-7's, DC-9's, C-130's (Tanker and Transport), AC-130's (Spectre). You name it, we might just have it. The plane companies are always happy to send down a new model when needed. But as me and Stan reached the tarmac, a loud alarm went off. Stan covered his ears, but I just stood there for a moment, and pulled Stan to his feet.
"C'mon!" I yelled. "We have to get the others!"
We turned back and ran into our base. The others were almost two miles out to the west, so it would probably be awhile to get back on foot, so I ran for the garage, but as I turned a corner, I slammed into someone and landed on my butt with an "Oof!"
"Are you okay sir?" the person asked.
I looked up to Zach, who was offering his hand down towards me. I firmly grasped it and pulled myself up.
"Sorry about that! My fault…" I said.
"Well, let's see what the alarms about," he said, starting to jog ahead. I followed him with Stan right on my heels. We ran into the team's command room, where Austin and Hailey already commented via webcam to our commander and General MacTavish.
"They're waiting for you sir," Austin said. He usually never calls me "sir" unless a higher officer is present.
"Master Sergeant, we have a serious problem here!" our commander went out.
"We have reports of big groups of enemy soldiers advancing in on Jubilife City, sizes of battalions!" MacTavish went on. "They've got everything! Tanks, Javelins, machine guns, rifles!"
"And I suppose you want us to help the resistance sir?" I asked.
"Yes! I'm going to send my Task Force in as well. They don't take that city, and you're going to help stop them."
"Rodger that sir!"
"MacTavish out."
The left side of the screen went blank.
"You know what to do Sergeant. Keep your eyes open." The commander finished off.
Now the entire screen had a big, white "X" through it, stating, "Connection Terminated."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Austin said, but I pulled him back by the collar.
"Not so fast Mr. Jumpy. We need a plan," I said.
We were able to quickly work and agree upon a plan. I would provide over watch in the AC-130. Austin and Hailey were to secure the Pokemon Center, while Zach and Stan would support and troops who required assistance. We would strike at dusk, with the cover of night. At 1900, we all boarded the AC-130, with me piloting, and took off. The others would parachute into the city to reach their objectives. At 2003 hours, I opened the rear cargo door in the back, switched to auto-pilot, and went into the back. The other four checked their parachute lines.
"Good luck guys!" I said as Austin, Hailey, and Stan jumped, but Zach just stood there.
"Something wrong?" I asked.
"I hate heights," he replied.
"Well, too bad!" I said as I pushed him out the back. I heard a scream and a parachute deploy. He made it. I went back to the cockpit, closed the cargo door, switched off auto-pilot, and took control. My gunship is so machinerized, it's scary. I pick up my altitude to ¾ of a mile. I made a path for the auto-pilot to circle the city. I'd fly around the north half of the city, then cut through the middle and repeat. I adjusted the tilt of the plane to a mere 20 degrees. Without that tilt, I'd never hit any of my targets. Now the real fun begins.

Chp 6

"Angel of Death"
Master Sergeant Justin Dittrich
Day 3 20:05:15
Echo Team Special Forces Group
Above Jubilife City

I moved the aim of the 120 MM gun via the television monitor. The plane's guns don't have regular sights, so a camera and TV monitor with thermal optics is used. I could see the crossfire light up the night. I could see several people flashing with IR strobes, only visible to the camera. Friendlies. On the other side were plain, white figures. Hostiles.
"Hotel Six, this is Bravo Five!" Austin yelled. "We could really use some assistance!"
"Copy Bravo Five, bombs away!" I said, aiming and firing the 120 MM gun. On the camera, I saw the hostiles freeze, look up and try to scatter, but…
"BOOM!"
That's all I heard from the ground as the round made contact with its target. All I saw were bits and pieces. Grusome…
"Nice shot man!" Austin yelled again.
I took a deep breath as I re-aimed the "sights". This is never easy.
"Hey, we've got hostiles on the top of that building, west of the water tower," Austin went on.
"Copy that. Better cover ears!" I replied, shooting off another 120 MM round. The gun reloaded itself, which I absolutely loved, when…
"BOOM!"
The round slammed into the building and exploded.
"Good shot!" a soldier yelled.
I ignored the compliment and re-focused.
"JUSTIN! WE NEED SUPPORT NO- AH!" Stan said violently.
"What the bloody hell was that?!" I asked.
"Stan is down! I repeat, Stan is down!" Zach yelled.
I kicked something in the place I was standing, maybe a toolbox, but I don't recall because the alarm went off. Not just any alarm. A missile alarm.
"DAMN IT!" I said, running to the cockpit and slamming the big, red button, deploying flares. After a few seconds, I heard a "DING DOOOOONG" letting me know the missile (or missiles) have been successfully evaded.
"Whew, that was close!" I said, going back to the TV monitor and found Zach's position.
"Zach, where do ya need it?" I asked.
"North of my position!" he replied.
"Copy, artillery inbound!"
I looked towards the north and saw at least three dozen hostiles, scattered around. Probably best to use the 40 MM. I sprayed the area with the rapid fire blasts.
"BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG"
All the rounds slammed into their targets and exploded. I heard Zach whistle.
"DAAAMN! That is definitely a kill!" Zach continued.
I didn't reply. I just went to the cockpit and checked the fuel. ¼ tank left. At that rate, I'll be crash landing if I stay.
"Guys, Hotel Six out. Going to refuel!"
"Hurry back!" Hailey said.
"Copy," Zach said.
"Don't get shot down!" Austin said, humorously.
I couldn't help but laugh a little. I flipped off the auto-pilot and made my way out of the city.
"Attention any airports in my immediate area. This is the AC-130 Hotel Six. Requesting to use a runway and to refuel, over," I called over the radio.
"Copy that Hotel Six. I've got a runway available to you due west of your position," a radio trafficker responded.
"Rodger, ETA [Estimated Time of Arrival] five minutes. Hotel Six out."
I adjusted the flight towards the west and saw a decently sized tarmac ahead. It didn't look busy at all, but it would still be difficult to land, due to high trees. I flew as low as possible without clipping the trees. When the trees cleared below me, I threw the plane down onto the strip, causing it to rattle the entire plane, and slow down. The AC-130 smacked the ground on its landing wheels, which I swear, I thought would collapse. I maneuvered the gunship towards the refueling dock. There were workers already waiting for me there. It struck me odd, just then, that there were no other planes in the area. I followed the workers' directions and parked at one of the pumps. I flicked off the engines and disembarked the plane, the workers immediately getting to work. I walked up to one of them.
"Hey, what happened to all the other planes?" I asked.
"Gone," he replied. "We told all the planes to get out of here when we heard what was going on in Jubilife City. We were to stay here, in case any friendly military planes or helicopters need refueling."
"I see…"
He handed me a bottle of water.
"Thirsty?" he asked.
"Thanks," I said, taking the bottle and practically scarfing it down. I was thirsty. The workers refueled the plane within ten minutes. After a big thank you, I was in the air again.
"Hey guys, Hotel Six is back. Ya guys miss me?"
"Sure as hell…" Austin said.
"Alright, well give me a sit-rep over."
"Bravo Five has successfully secured the Pokemon Center. We have multiple civis in here and are keeping them here."
"I've supported all I can sir. I'm all out of ammo and I'm just trying to sneak to the Pokemon Center undetected," Zach whispered.
"All right, that's good," I started. "Listen uUUHHH!!!!"
"What?! WHAT?! What's going on?!" Austin asked.
I looked at my engines. Both right engines were down. I must've struck some Starly or something.
"Mayday! Mayday! This is Hotel Six! We are going down! I REPEAT! WE ARE GOING DOWN!"
"JUSTIN, NO!" Austin yelled.
At that, I threw the radio off and tried to find a good landing area. I looked down into the blackness, and saw a lit up highway, no one was on it, probably because of the invasion. I had no choice. I forced the plane down and started to lower onto the highway. I was able to steadily land onto the five lane highway, but that wasn't the worst of it. As I slowed down, I started to swerve off the highway. There was nothing I could do to control it. The right wing slammed into a bunch of trees and all I saw was an explosion behind me… and then blackness…