Wings of Death

Operation Paladin

All the team leaders were summoned to the war room for the mission briefing. Nathan was trembling with nervous excitement when he entered the room along with Captain Elijah and the others. Major Morris turned on the projector and showed them a map of the whole town.

After greeting the team leaders, the Major started explaining the mission details, “I want each one of you to pay close attention to what I’m about to say”. He pointed at the map with a wooden cane and said, “The four teams will leave the base at the same time. When you reach City Square, I want you to split into four directions. We need to cover a lot of ground and we need to be quick about it. Each team will have two kinds of troops, the standard units equipped with grenade launchers and fragmentation grenades and the special units armed with Rain Blasters and shields. You all should be prepared to face both kinds of enemies. Every soldier will be carrying a set of night vision goggles, a flashlight and a pair of vanadium earplugs in addition to their primary weapons and grenades. You need to eliminate all the Bloodwings and Blood Demons you encounter with extreme prejudice. If there are any survivors they will probably be hiding in basements or underground parking lots and cellars.”

The 4 leaders nodded in acknowledgement. Next, the Major clicked on the remote and switched to a different image. “What you see over here is a map of the underground system. It contains the locations of all underground parking lots, basements, mines and cellars. When you have cleared an area you must thoroughly search these underground facilities and try to locate the survivors. Be on your guard at all times because we don’t know who or what might be lurking down there. It is going to be a long mission so pack extra rations and ammunition. Your vehicles are being fitted with extra oxygen tanks as we speak. The mission will begin at 1800 hours and will be called ‘Operation Paladin’. The goal is to break through the enemy lines, secure the town and rescue any stranded survivors that you find. No matter what happens, you must return to the base before dawn. Am I clear?”

“Yes sir!” the four leaders shouted in unison.

“Good. I am counting on you”.

Each of them took one copy of each map and discussed the mission among themselves. It was decided that Captain Elijah and Lieutenant Amy would cover the northern and western parts of the town respectively. Nathan was assigned the southern sector and Sergeant Abel the eastern region.

Fort Barton was abuzz with energy. Preparations were already underway for the monumental task which lay ahead. The vehicles were being fitted with new oxygen tanks and refueled. Klaus Varchovsky and his men were busy constructing more SAGL 32-Ts and Rain Blasters. By tomorrow they had to manufacture 20 units of each weapon. Meanwhile Margaret and the scientists had finally decided to take a break from their scientific endeavors. The trio emerged from the lab and headed straight for the bar. They had worked diligently for the past four weeks, analyzing the Bloodwings and their victims. If not for their ground – breaking research, the soldiers would never have stood a chance against the Bloodwings.

Alex and Joshua were growing impatient with every passing minute. They were eager to go outside and find their mom. They prayed for her safety and went to bed.

When they woke up the next morning it was raining outside. The soldiers made haste and turned on the mini water harvester. Dr. Grant’s design was perfect; it was effective at collecting rainwater and storing it inside an internal water tanker. Unfortunately, the rains did not last for too long. By afternoon the clouds had cleared away and made way for the scorching rays of the sun. A total of 75 soldiers were going to participate in this mission. Each team was going to be composed of five Rain Troopers equipped with Rain Blasters and shields and 10 soldiers armed with SAGL 32-Ts and rocket launchers. They had to move fast and cover a lot of ground so the Arch Knight Tanks had to be left out. The armored support would mostly consist of Shock Hounds and Metal Guardians. 5 Shock Hounds would be leading the way with 5 Guardians following them.

Captain Elijah was going to lead team Alpha, Sergeant Abel was in charge of Delta team and Lieutenant Amy was at the head of Charlie team. Nathan, Alex and Joshua decided to stick together. Nathan was given the opportunity to lead team Zulu, a squad of brave young recruits. By 1700 hours all the 4 teams were geared up and ready to go. The survivors wished them luck and many even prayed for their safe return. They studied the maps once more and checked their radios before boarding their vehicles. Margaret waved at Nathan from a distance as he bid her farewell. Mrs. Browning felt a strange sense of pride mingled with fear as she kissed Nathan on his forehead and told him to stay safe. At 1800 hours the 4 elite teams rolled out of Fort Barton and Operation Paladin was finally underway.

They encountered minimal resistance on the way to City Square. It seemed that their previous skirmishes had finally weakened the enemy’s numbers. The 4 teams split at the City Square intersection and headed off towards 4 different directions. Alpha team ventured into the countryside and started looking for survivors. Since there were mostly small cottages and 2 storied mansions they didn’t expect to find anyone still alive. The operation was going smoothly; Captain Elijah and his men went from one village to another and searched for survivors. Delta team had the difficult task of locating survivors in the heavily forested regions of the town. Sergeant Abel ordered his men to dismount and follow him into the forest on foot. They trudged through the mire, chopping off the vines which blocked their path. There were 2 caves and an iron mine in the region which could be potential hiding spots. The iron mine was located in a clearing at the west end of the forest and the two caves were deeper inside.

“We are going to head for the iron mine first. Keep your eyes peeled and follow me”, said Sergeant Abel.

The team followed his lead and walked cautiously through the dense foliage. There were no animals in sight; the Bloodwings had probably killed them already. The mosquitoes and leeches were however ever present. It was a long and sweaty walk to the iron mine. Most of them were covered in scores of mosquito bites by the time they reached the iron mine, “Should have brought a mosquito repellent or a damn bug spray at least’, piped Corporal Matt.

As they neared the entrance to the mine the Sergeant called out for any survivors but there was no reply. Since they had come a long way already he thought it would be best to go into the mine and investigate once before leaving. The elevator was out of power so he had to use a ladder to head down. The Sergeant was the first to enter the mine followed by Corporal Matt. They turned on their flashlights and started searching for any clues they could find. It was a long tunnel, 2 miles in length. The two soldiers walked carefully while checking the area around them. They saw some tracks in the damp ground and decided to find out where they led. There were two different footprints, one a bit smaller than the other. They followed the foot prints to the end of the tunnel where their flashlights revealed a horrifying sight. Two emaciated corpses were crouched against the rock wall. It seemed like a mother and her son.

Sergeant Abel reported to Captain Elijah on the radio, “This is Delta team reporting. We found two dead bodies in the mines. They probably died due to starvation. We were too late, sir”.

“Copy that. Carry on with your mission. There is nothing we can do now”.

Delta team acknowledged the Captain’s orders and continued with their search operation. Their next objective was searching for the survivors inside the two caves. 

Meanwhile Charlie team was searching the parking lots and basements of shopping malls and community centers. They were near the entrance of a ruined shopping mall when Lieutenant Amy asked the team to halt. “Do you hear that?”

There was a strange sound coming from a distance, it sounded like the flapping of wings. The Lieutenant asked the team to get inside the shopping mall and stay quiet while she scouted the area in front using her binoculars. She spotted two swarms of Bloodwings and 2 Blood Demons. Engaging a Blood Demon surrounded by a swarm of Bloodwings was a dangerous task. She had to think of another plan.

She headed inside the mall and discussed the matter with her team, “There are two Blood Demons out there surrounded by two swarms of Bloodwings. I think the Bloodwings are protecting the Blood Demons. We can’t take on two Blood Demons and two swarms of Bloodwings at the same time. Here’s the plan. I will go to the roof and take care of the Bloodwings quietly, on my command the Rain Troopers will move in to support with their shields. Once the Bloodwings are down, deploy your shield wall on the rooftop and aim for the Blood Demons. I just hope they don’t spot us first. Let’s move”.

Charlie team slowly climbed the stairs and followed Lieutenant Amy to the rooftop. The Lieutenant looked for a good vantage point and having found one with a clear view of the swarm, she headed there with her black bag. From inside her bag she took out a custom made sniper rifle which Klaus Varchovsky had given her as a gift. This special gun did not fire normal sniper rounds but lightweight sticky grenades. It was equipped with a suppressor and a high end scope which allowed the user to zoom in on targets almost 2 miles away.

“Stay back and don’t fire till I give the green signal”, she whispered looking into her scope.

The two Blood Demons were about 850 metres away and the swarms of Bloodwings formed living shields around them. She knew she had to silently eliminate the Bloodwings first before dealing with the Blood Demons. Her finger coiled around the trigger like a viper and she fired at the Bloodwings. The sticky grenades were so light that the Bloodwings didn’t feel a thing as it hit them and stuck to their wings. When she had marked one swarm with the sticky grenades she changed the magazine and fired at the other swarm. All 42 Bloodwings had been marked with sticky grenades without alerting the Blood Demons. She breathed a sigh of relief but knew the job was far from over. Klaus had created the sticky bombs in such a way that they wouldn’t detonate on impact but had to be detonated remotely by pressing a button on the stock of the sniper rifle. She counted the targets once more and then pressed the button. Immediately a series of explosions lit up the sky like fireworks and the Bloodwings were blown to pieces.

She turned around and gave the green light, “Shield formation now! Take out the Blood Demons, they are headed our way”.

The Rain Troopers deployed their shields and formed a shield wall and the Lieutenant retreated behind it. As soon as the Blood Demons were in range they sprayed them with rain water even before they could spit at their shields. In a couple of minutes the Blood Demons were reduced to a smoldering pulp of scales and feathers. All hostiles had been eliminated and the skies were now clear. They could now proceed with the rescue operation.