Chapter 5: Port Raid (Lance corporal)(Cam)

I was walking on a cloud since Anh told me about being pregnant but she would not let me pamper her. There was more good news, I was promoted to lance corporal which meant more money. Of course there was also bad news, I was reassigned to a new unit forming in the east at a port. They were doing raids in smaller ports and fishing villages.

I was also told I had been put in for the Queen's Star. Not for going after the other tanks but for taking out the first one while we were under fire. I was not looking forward to finding a hover truck to drive us to the next base but the company sergeant major saved me the trouble. He knew a guy that knew a guy...

A week later a vertical lift bird was making an almost empty run to the port and the navy yard we had to go to. Sims, Allen and George helped load our things and we dressed Anh in one of my uniforms and she rode with me. When we landed soldiers appeared and helped unload. They had a hover truck and took us to a building that looked like a set of three cargo pods.

Three were together with a single roof. The right was the kitchen dining area. The middle front was a common area and the back a bathroom with a shower. The left pod had two bedrooms and all three were already furnished. Another sergeant major was waiting and helped unload and gave me keys, "first call is at four."

I did not know what to say but thank you. They left and I kissed Anh and went to find my unit. Of course it was all the way back next to the airfield where we had landed. The captain was with the company clerk when I reported so I was able to take care of everything right then. My new lieutenant was a full lieutenant named Gilbert and a distant cousin to the king.

Staff sergeant Black was the platoon sergeant and had cold grey eyes that seemed to look through me. My squad leader was sergeant Zon, he was a farmer before joining the army. I took over bravo team which was a surprise. I had private first class Sanders and privates Dunn and Billings.

The last two had only been here a week and thought they knew what they were doing. Working around the port and the buildings of a port I knew I could not take the over and under. Anh bought me a new gun cabinet for the pistols and another for the rifles. The first week was a surprise for my team since I knew what combat was like and wanted to keep them alive.

We did morning exercises and then trained most of the day or rehearsed raids. I changed to my twelve millimeter magnum carbine and got thirty round magazines. I also switched to the twelve millimeter magnum pistol. The privates did not know what to think and everyone else only checked the weapons out and stayed quiet.

At the end of the next week we had a company formation in one of the hangers. The army Field Marshal arrived and walked in with a full colonel who I was told was our strike force commander. The Field Marshal called me out and the colonel read the citation letter. It sounded like a story that had been made up.

I had single handedly killed an enemy squad that had ambushed mine. I saved the squad leader when a tank engaged us and then I attacked the enemy. I killed numerous enemy soldiers while breaking through enemy lines. I had destroyed the enemy tank in a courageous attack that had a building collapsing on me.

I almost laughed as the Field Marshal put the ribbon around my neck and adjust the star high on my chest. One thing was sure, the captain and my lieutenant knew what medals I had now and looked at me differently. The Field Marshal waited and then had a private word. He gave me another medal while telling me it was unheard of but I was a knight commander.

It took all day to get the nonsense out of my privates heads. But that was when we got a mission. It was down the coast to a small port and not a village. According to the information a drug smuggler was using it to buy drugs and sell weapons deeper in the country. The recon plane had a picture so we could see all the houses and the dock where a small cargo ship was.

There were other docks but those had the normal fishing boats. One building out on the edge of the town had a chain fence around it. Two close to the docked cargo ship looked new and were made of what looked like cement. The windows we could see were more slits than windows which told us a lot.

It was a platoon raid and we were supposed to be in and out in just a few hours so we did not bring packs. The bird dropped us in a clearing five kilometers away. My squad was in the rear and spread out once we left the coastal forest. We saw the few houses on the outskirts and those we saw ran. That was not good and then a bell in the town started to ring.

We had four objectives for the raid. The house on this side of the town which was ours. The two houses by the docks and finally the cargo ship. With the people running and sounding the alarm I had my carbine to my shoulder. Sergeant Zon gestured and I moved to the left of the alpha team.

The rest of the platoon was way ahead and further to the right as we angled towards the target and the chain fence. When we started past the first house and saw our target that was when everything went sideways. Each squad had brought a grenade launcher, it was a five centimeter grenade that was lobbed up to a hundred and fifty meters.

We were almost to the point when alpha team would use it when I spotted something in the field ahead. I searched both sides and then realized what it was and dove while yelling, "FOCUS MINES!"

There was a slight rise at the edge of the fields. Sanders, Dunn and Billings had learned to react and dove. Sergeant Zon and Alpha did not react and the row of focused mines went off. Several thousands pieces of shrapnel spread out in wide fan over my team. It ripped into the other team and the sergeant and they went down.

I brought my rifle up as private first class Hill and private Gote began to scream and the two windows on the side of the house broke. I fired into the head and shoulders of one man aiming a rifle and saw him go down as another man fired from the other window. Sanders started firing at the other man and he vanished from the window.

I glanced across at Alpha, "cover me!"

I waited until all three started firing before I leaped up and rushed to the side. I dropped beside sergeant Zon and checked him but he was dead. I crawled to private Allison and then corporal Thomas but they were dead too. Private first class Hill and private Gote were alive but wounded. I took the grenade launcher and belt of grenades from Hill.

I slipped the loop over my left shoulder and under the arm before I moved back to my team. I took a breath, "cover me."

They started firing again and I went to my knee and brought the grenade launcher up. I aimed at one of the posts holding the chain fence up and fired. The explosion ripped it apart and mangled the fence. I reloaded and fired again and a huge hole was ripped through the fence. I reloaded and aimed below the window on the right and fired.

The whole building shook as wood and stone was blown away. I reloaded and came to my feet and started towards the hole in the fence. I fired at the partial hole in the wall and the explosion tore a huge gaping hole into the building. I let the grenade launcher fall onto the strap and brought up my carbine.

Once through the fence I knelt to the right of the hole. I could see a door and two bodies and gestured, "Sanders, Dunn cover! Billings move!"

He leaped up and rushed towards the hole through the fence. He crashed into the wall on the other side of the hole and I spun and searched the room before I entered. There was another door close to the one leading outside, "Billings cover these doors!"

I spun and moved to the other door and pulled a grenade. I armed it and threw and dropped to the floor. The grenade went off and I leaped up, "Sanders move!"

I had my carbine up as I rushed into the other room to find three bodies. I looked around and turned to leave, "Dunn move!"

I walked back into the other room as Sanders rushed in and knelt beside Billings. Bullets ripped through the inner wall from the other side of the house and we dove for the floor. My carbine was trapped under me as I wiggled and crawled towards the front door. I stopped at the door into the other side of the house and pulled my pistol.

I looked at where the bullets were ripping through the wall and moved back and aimed. I fired a couple of times into each spot and leaped up and rushed. I shoved my pistol into the holster and brought up my carbine. Three men were screaming and writhing around and I shot each one in the head before I knelt and looked at another door to the left, "on me!"

Sanders, Dunn and Billings rushed in and I stood and moved to the other end of the room, "cover me."

I kicked and the closed door broke and crashed open. No one fired as I kept my carbine up and moved in. The room had been used to melt gold. On a workbench were small gold and gem studded statues they had been removing the gems from. On the left wall were several burners where they melted them and made small one kilo gold bricks.

In the back wall was another open door into a bathroom. I checked it and walked back to the front, "secure."

I looked at stacked bundles of drugs and a rack of strange carbines. One box below held loaded long helical magazines I had only heard about. I pulled one of the carbine out of the rack and checked it to see it was a twelve millimeter magnum. I tossed it to Dunn and took another and tossed it to Billings, "grab spare magazines."

I headed for the door, "Sanders help me with Hill and Gote."

First I took the squad radio from sergeant Zon and slipped the earpiece in and keyed the handset, "Papa this is four bravo."

I moved to inject pain meds and help private Gote as the platoon sergeant answered. We could hear what sounded like a major fire fight towards the docks, "four bravo this is Papa Sierra, papa is down. Abort your objective and move to the north and link with first on objective bravo."

I frowned, "Papa Sierra, four is down and so is all of four alpha. Two dead and two wounded and our objective is secure."

He cursed, "copy. Treat the wounded and move them to cover and then link with first."

I looked at Sanders and then knelt, "we have to move them into the building."

I made sure private Gote's wounds were covered and lifted him in my arms and staggered towards the hole in the fence. I set him down inside the front door and made sure he had water and his weapon. I gestured to Billings and Dunn as Sanders brought in Hill, "time to go."

They held their new carbines as if they were extremely pleased. Once out of the building I shot the lock on the gate and kicked it open. My men spread out as I turned to the northeast and we started through the edge of town. We saw people peeking out windows and doors as we skirted the edge of the town.

Finally we saw a man from first squad firing around the corner of a building. I knelt and keyed the handset, "one this is four bravo."

It took a minute before he answered, "about damn time!"

I snorted, "we had our own dead and wounded to care for. Now where do you want us?"

He sighed, "our man with the grenade launcher is down and exposed. We need you to breach the rear door. We will cover while you move into position."

I looked around, "standby."

I turned my head, "Sanders is that a drainage ditch to your left?"

He nodded and I grinned, "one this is four bravo. We have a covered route to the rear of the objective. Give us five minutes and we will knock on the door."

I bent and walked in a crouch and slipped into the ditch and Sanders, Dunn and Billings followed. We crawled on our hands and knees for fifty meters before stopping. I looked through the grass at the back of the bunker like building. I had Sanders and Dunn to my left and Billing move up on my right.