Chapter 68 – Operation Firestorm Part 4

RonTheBlackCat

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https://youtu.be/XZlcqvprbU0 - Ballad of the Green Berets

0322 May 14th, 2020 CE

0441 Sun 44th, 196 AE

Affanore Human Concentration Camp, Elven Nation

“My leg!” Douglas shouted in pain. He laid on the ground like the others but clutched his leg.

Pablo and the others quickly got into cover. Douglas dragged himself behind a crate and sat. Frederick looked at where the shots came from. “The elves are coming out of the fucking factory!”

A few elves came out of the doors of the factory and got into cover behind the crates and vehicles there. Flashes came from their bolt action rifles. Pablo looked over at Douglas. “Jeremy! Get on Douglas! Everyone else, covering fire!”

Pablo wished that they had carried the Mk46 machine gun with them on this mission. Because they were infiltrating the elves and their bags had been made to look like the ones that an average elf carried, they couldn’t bring along any of their larger or bulkier weapons. 

Every member of the team had an M4 rifle and a varying amount of food and water in their bags. They also all had M9 Berettas hidden on them. From there, what they carried differed. The weapons sergeants had found a way to stuff their sniper rifles into their bags. The medical sergeants had their medical supplies. The communication sergeants had communication equipment. The engineering sergeants had the C4, wire cutters, and a few other random things. Everyone else on the team had grenades and flashbangs. This wasn’t everything that they carried but it was a few of the most space-consuming. 

As Jeremy, the medical sergeant, crouch ran to Douglas, Pablo focused his fire on one of the elves. A few bullets whizzed over the Green Berets but the elves were being suppressed by the sheer volume of fire that was being poured down on them. Then multiple bullets peppered the crate where Pablo was hiding. 

“They got a machine gun to our right!” Robert yelled to the others. 

The machine gun started spraying their entire position. Before long though, it fell quiet. Sporadic rifle fire started coming from the elves but without their machine gun, the rest of the Green Berets could keep the elves mostly suppressed.  Pablo peeked out of cover and looked down the scope towards where the machine-gun fire was. Although the elf was ducked behind cover while reloading his machine gun, Pablo could see their helmet bobbing up and down. He kept his gun aimed at the area. The elf popped out with his fully reloaded machine gun and set it down. Pablo fired. Watching the elf slump over, Pablo yelled over the gunfire. “The machine gunner is down!”

Dennis looked out of his cover as if he was debating to do something. In a snap, he made up his mind. “Keep me covered. I’m moving up!”

Dennis ran out of cover and started sprinting to a tree. It was quite a distance and a few of the elves noticed. They tried to take Dennis out but they were completely pinned down. Dennis lobbed a grenade at the elves’ position. 

Inside the factory, an elf ran into a room that looked like an office. The elf officer, Lieutenant Alok Rolana, was at a desk and writing something on paper. The officer looked up at the panicked soldier. “Lieutenant! The factory is under attack by armed human soldiers!” 

“Calm down. Alert the elves in the barracks.”

The soldier looked down at his feet and started stammering. “They… they are all dead.”

Alok raised his right eyebrow. “What do you mean they are all dead? There were at least thirty elves in there!”

“The humans blew up the entire barrack.”

Alok took a deep breath. He wanted to scream and question how the humans were able to blow up that big of a barrack but he understood that he was in a bad situation. “How many elves do we have left?”

“About ten. A few of them are already engaging the humans outside. What do we do sir?”

“Call a retreat. Get me out of here. We will use the back door.”

“What do we do about the humans? 

Alok paused as an explosion came from outside.

“Leave them.”

The remaining elves panickedly shouted after Dennis’s grenade killed a few of them. They started running back into the factory. Pablo took a shot and nailed an elf, who was standing up to run, in the head. One of the elves seemingly dropped his rifle as he ran back inside. 

Pablo turned to Jeremy who was still tending to Douglas. “How’s Douglas?”

“I patched his leg up and gave him some morphine. He should be fine. He can still walk.” 

Pablo looked over Jeremy’s shoulder and at Douglas. “Douglas, your leg holding up?”

Douglas nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine. A little pain like this is nothing.”

Jeremy stared at Pablo’s shoulder. Pablo looked at Jeremy questionably. “What?”

“Pablo, you are bleeding from the right shoulder.”

“Aw shit,” said Pablo as he touched his right shoulder. “Ouch. I didn’t notice it at all.”

“Let me patch that up for you.”

Quickly the Green Berets moved up to the factory. They got beside the door that the elves all ran into. Dennis was in the lead and looked back to the others. “I don’t know how many of them are in there but there’s at least three from the survivors.”

Dennis opened the door and threw in a flashbang. Hearing it go off, the team rushed in. 

“For the Nation!” 

An elf lunged at Dennis with a knife. Avoiding the knife, Dennis grabbed the elf by the neck and then went around him. He got both of his arms under the elve’s armpit. Dennis locked his hands on the elf’s neck. The elf struggled intensely to get out of Dennis’s hold and kicked around. The elf started wildly shooting tiny fireballs. The fireballs fizzled out in a very short distance but it would be dangerous to Dennis if the elf somehow got his hand around. Dennis ground his teeth. “What the fuck!” Shoot him!”

Blood splattered over Dennis’s face as a bullet from Pablo’s M9 Beretta entered the side of the elf’s head. Letting go, the elf crumpled to the floor, blood flowing out of his brain. Dennis wiped his face. “Motherfucker.”

Moving further into the factory, the Green Berets scanned around. They saw a couple of figures crouching behind some machinery. Dennis approached them with his finger on the trigger. The four men looked at Dennis in fear. Noticing that they didn’t have pointy ears, Dennis relaxed and held his hand up to the others. “Don’t fire, they are all humans.”

Dennis studied the men. They all seemed to be in their mid-20s. Remembering the Imperial Language, Dennis spoke to them. “Don’t worry. I’m human. See”

Dennis pointed to his ears. The men, noticing this, all blinked in surprise. Joy soon came across their faces. One of them seemingly threw themselves onto the ground as if in prayer. Another one started crying. 

“Thank Angels! We are saved!”

Hearing the happy shouts, more and more figures started showing themselves. Some came out of closet doors and others stood up from the machinery and tables they were hiding behind. They were all human men and seemingly varied from as young as 16 to as old as around 40.  Dennis looked around. “Okay. Listen up. You are all humans right?”

Albeit all looking nervous, the people in the room nodded. 

“Do any of you know where the elves went?”

The men looked at each other. One of them responded.

“I don’t know. They seemingly disappeared after the gunfire and explosion. We thought they were killing everyone so we decided to hide.” 

Dennis nodded. “Thank you. You are safe buddy. We will get all of you guys out of here.”

“Who are you people?” One of the men cautiously inquired. 

“We are American Special Forces. We have been tasked to liberate you guys,” said Dennis. “Please refrain from any more questions. We have to get you guys outta here. The elves could come back with reinforcements. We will be linking up with a bigger force.”

0220 May 14th, 2020 CE

0410 Sun 44th, 196 AE

Three miles from the Orva Caelora Human Concentration Camp, Elven Nation

Damon and the rest of Baker Company of the 75th Ranger Regiment had quickly collected the extra supplies that the MC-130 had also parachuted out. They were now traveling hastily across the green pastures. 2nd Platoon was sent further ahead for reconnaissance. 

About an hour later

<<<“Ghost Actual. This is Ghost Two. We have found the concentration camp. Quite a big place. Over.”

“ I hear you loud and clear. Is the only elf presence at the camp? Over.”

“We have only seen them at the camp. The route there is clear. But there are a lot of them in the camp. At least a company’s worth. Over.”

“Okay. Standby. We will arrive within 6 minutes. Over and out.”>>>

Damon got off of his radio. He turned to First Lieutenant Jeb Baker, the executive officer of Baker Company. “Seems like they accidentally dropped us off about a mile from our supposed drop-off place. Ghost Two just found where the concentration camp was. It's further than it's supposed to be.”

Orva Caelora Human Concentration Camp, Elven Nation

Senior Lieutenant Kaylin Gendan saluted as she entered Captain Elion Wynrie’s office.

“Captain. We have received reports that a human invasion has begun.”

“Start rounding the humans up,” said Elion, frowning at the news. He got out and flipped through a book. “Protocol indicates that we need to start exterminating the prisoners.” 

Five minutes later

Damon was lying on the grass and observing the concentration camp when a gunshot rang out from the camp’s direction. “Fuck! They are executing the prisoners.”

Damon got on his radio. 

<<<”Ghost Sierra. This is Ghost Actual. Are you guys in position? Over.”

“We are in place. Ready to take the shots. Over”

“Good. Do not fire yet. Over and out.”>>>

Damon turned to the others. “The gate is quite sturdy. There are multiple guards and a guard post right outside. Get the Carl Gustav and blow that entrance and post up.”

Two soldiers aimed down the scope of their Carl Gustavs. 

“Backblast area clear.” 

“Firing.”

One HEDP (High Explosive Dual Purpose) round streaked towards the guard post while the other HEDP round streaked towards the gate. A bright orange explosion knocked the guards off their feet and made a hole in the gate while another explosion shaved off half of the guard post. 

<<<“Ghost Sierra. This is Ghost Actual. You are free to fire at any elves. Focus fire on those responding to that explosion. Over.”

“Wilco. Over and out.”>>>

The 50 men from the 4th Platoon swiftly moved toward the gate. Elves showed up from the clearing dust. 

<<<“Provide covering fire for Ghost Four!”>>>

Mk48 machine guns opened up on the elves at the blown-up gate. 

One of the snipers looked down the scope of his M2010. He led on the head of an elf running towards the gate. He pressed the trigger and the gun jerked. Moving his gun, he found another target. He fired again.

Damon watched as the men of 4th Platoon took cover behind the debris and objects at the gate. They started pouring down fire. 

<<<“Ghost One. Ghost Two. Ghost Three. We are moving up to Ghost Four’s position!”>>>

Disorganized squads of elves tried to respond. Taking cover behind crates, buildings, and vehicles, the elves opened up with machine gun and rifle fire. The 4th Platoon responded in kind but with a higher volume of firepower. They started pushing into the camp. Soon the rest of Baker Company joined in. 

<<<“This is Ghost Four. The front gate is secure. We got a couple injured. We are clearing the buildings near the entrance.”>>> 

While supervising the extermination in an open field in the camp, Elion heard the explosions and gunshots at the gate. He went to find Kaylin. “Lieutenant. Report! What’s happening at the front gate?”

Kaylin was talking to the Company Sergeant Major but directed her attention to Elion. “Human infantry have begun an assault. They have taken over the gate.”

“Get the armored cars out and deal with them.”