Operation Crimson Dawn

“Major Carter, The Middle East is teetering on the edge of war. You and your squad have been tasked with infiltrating the remote desert compound of the Crimson Dawn faction to retrieve a deadly bioweapon that could cause catastrophic casualties. You will also be tasked with dismantling the Crimson Dawn’s leadership. First Sergeant Jones will be your second in command, and here are the rest of your soldiers.” The Chief Warrant explains, handing me a file of profiles. “You are excused.” 

“Yes, Sir.” I automatically recite before walking to the soldiers’s dormitories. I see Jones and my other three soldiers sitting on their beds, which are all next to each other. 

“Jones, Reed, Knight, and Bowen, come with me.” I say it in the factual voice everyone seems to use here.

“We have been tasked with a very high-stakes mission. We are to retrieve a deadly bioweapon that Crimson Dawn has obtained. We are also to dismantle their leadership. I have a deep understanding of bioweapons, so I will lead this team. My second in command, as always, is Jones. We will have to take a chopper over into the desert and hike to the stronghold before they sound the warning alarm.”

“Major, what does the warning alarm mean? Is it warning us, or them?” Sergeant Knight asks.

“Both. If we are still outside the stronghold when it goes off, then it means mission failure. It warns them that they are about to deploy the weapon, which we don’t want to happen.” I explain. “Ready your desert packs. We leave at 20:00 tonight.” I give them a quick nod as a dismissal.

I go to prepare my own pack. I sit down on my wiry cot, and instead of starting to pack my bag, I flip open the file I was given from my squad. First, I see myself. The profile notes everything about me.

NAME: ALEX  E. CARTER

RANK: SERGEANT MAJOR

AGE: 32 YEARS

GENDER: FEMALE

EYE COLOR: BROWN

HAIR COLOR: BROWN

DoD ID NUMBER: 7961754338

SPECIAL TRAITS: ANALYTICAL MIND, PHYSICAL PROWESS, UNWAVERING DEDICATION, DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF BIOWEAPONS.

I flip through Jones, Knight, and Bowen’s files before realizing that I have to prepare my pack. I open the metal, army-issued chest at the foot of my bed and pull out my desert pack. A canteen, iodine, a gator, a first aid kit, food kits that you just add hot water to, and many more things are vital for desert survival. 

When I’m done packing, I check on the rest of my group. I can see Knight, Bowen, Reed, and Jones’s packs sitting on top of their chests, waiting for use. I check my watch. It reads 21:35. 25 minutes until we leave. I walk over to the other bunks.

“Alright, crew. We leave in 25. Grab your packs, and let’s head out to the pad. We’ll have to tell Chief Warrant McCord.”

***

Once we are all in the helicopter, we see the base shrink to the size of the grains of sand we will be trekking through soon. We stay silent, occasionally gazing out the window to see the endless desert. The sparse number of trees is scary to me, making me wonder how we are going to find shelter or water. The orange-red ridges are a perfect spot for a sniper to hide out and shoot at anyone crossing the near desert. When the helicopter starts losing altitude slowly, I take a deep breath and address my team. 

“Alright, guys. Once we jump out of the chopper, we run towards that tree.” I explain, pointing to a tree near our landing site. “We’ll need to make a game plan from there. Affirmative?”

“Affirmative.” They all repeat.

When the sleds of the helicopter touch the sandy ground, I push myself to my knees and get ready to jump out. I unlock the door and slide it to my right. I jump out of the aircraft and roll onto the sand. Jones follows, and then the rest of the team. I run to the tree with my head down to avoid the sand flying everywhere. I sprint to the shelter of the tree and slide under it. My comrades now sit in front of me.

“Alright. Game Plan.”

***

Now that we have a game plan and some food in us, we start moving towards the compound, concealed by the cover of darkness. We travel for a couple miles before the compound is only 300 yards away.

“Target is 300 yards on my twelve.” I report quietly into my radio.

Before moving on, though, something differs in the sand. A pile has been made over a large object. It could only be one thing. A land mine.

“Halt,” I say to the team. I carefully bent down to carefully disarm it. I finish the task quickly, getting ready to move forward. 

But before I can say anything to the rest of the team, a shot rings out and hits me in the shoulder. The searing pain knocks me to the ground and makes me cry out in pain. I wince as the blood seeps through my fingers. The shots continue as my team stops in their tracks.

“Sniper! Everyone, take cover!” I yell. The soldiers drop to the ground while my second-in-command rushes to my side, dragging me by my armpits to safety. Worry is etched into his face, applying pressure to my wound.

“Major, you’re hit bad. We need to get you out of here.” Jones says, looking back and forth. The shots have stopped.

“No, we stick to the mission. They can’t know we’re here. Get me patched up, and we’ll keep moving.” I let him clean the sand from my wound before quickly bandaging it. I can feel that my face is pale, but we have to keep moving.

“Listen up, team,” I start. “We have to stay focused. The bioweapon is our top priority. Jones, you’re on point. I’ll cover the rear. Let’s move.” I can hear the pain behind my voice, and I’m sure the others do, too, because I can see the sympathy in their eyes.

I get up off my knees and stand up in pain. I have to brush it off, though, because this mission is going to fail if I focus on it. I walk with my gun up on my bad shoulder, ready to fire at any sign of enemies. 

When we reach the laboratory of the compound, I can see the weapon, which is stored with many high-tech alarms around it. I get to the computer to access the mainframe.

“Soldiers Knight and Reed, plant charges to destroy the lab in 15 minutes. Jones, guard the doors. Bowen, get over here and help me access the mainframe to download the data on the weapon.” 

“Yes, Ma’am.” They say it in sync before moving to different positions.

I hack into the computer, and Bowen finds the file. It takes us 3 minutes to find the file and another 2 to get past the firewall. Soon, we will have downloaded the data and taken the hard drive. 

“Ten minutes.” Reed reports.

“No need to stay. This place is going to blow if we’re here or not. Let’s get moving.” I respond.

Just then, an enemy unit storms into the lab. We all pull our guns up to our faces as the team starts to fire. 

“Open fire!” I overcame the gunshots.

We return fire almost immediately, our guns making the sound of little explosions. In a prime moment, when we have almost won, a shot disguised by the others hits me in the leg with no chance to dodge it. I groan and almost drop my guard, but I keep firing.

“1 minute!” Reed announces. This seems to throw the other team off guard because they stop firing for a split second. All but one. We continue firing at the team, knocking on all of them. The one smart soldier has taken cover. 

“Let’s move! This place is about to blow!” Knight yells.

As we run for the door, the hidden soldier comes out of his spot with a machete. He cuts through the bandages on my shoulder in the hope of opening my wound more. He creates a small gash through the wound, but it aggravates the gunshot wound more. The bandages have fallen off, leaving them to catch. I shoot him just as Jones grabs my other arm and drags me out of the building. They start to run to safety, me limping behind. I ignore the excruciating pain in my thigh as I run to catch up with the others. When we are safely behind a small structure 1000 yards from the compound, the building explodes into a million pieces, destroying the Crimson Dawn.

And as the ashes fell, I finally let myself be helped by my team. 

“Is everybody okay?" Reed asks.

“I’ve got a nasty gash, but other than that, I’m good. It’s not bleeding too badly.” Knight responds. 

“Fire caught my uniform. I got a burn on my arm,” Bowen says.

“I’m hit in my left leg. Bleeding is pretty bad. And my shoulder bandages are gone. I’ll radio the chopper while you guys take care of yourselves.” I say, grabbing the radio out of my pack.

“Our wounds are minor; let us take care of you while you call in.” Reed argues. I clenched my jaw. I didn’t want to seem weak and ask for help, but I needed it badly. I nod before speaking.

“Warrant McCord, This is Major Carter. Mission Complete. Please send the chopper to pick us up. Over.”

After a few seconds, a voice answers. “Major Carter, this is Warrant McCord. Chopper is on its way. Do you have the data? Over.” 

“Affirmative. Over.” 

“Good work. The chopper will be there in 5. Over.”

As I put the radio down, I can see Jones getting out his first aid kit. I lean heavily on the wall and let myself be in pain. Jones and Reed quickly bandage my wounds and lift me into a standing position. Reed supports my good shoulder while Jones holds my pack. I limp the miles we have to travel to get back to the landing site, leaning on Reed. When we see the helicopter descending from the sky, we all put on our gators to avoid swallowing mouthfuls of sand. The people on the helicopter must see Reed supporting me, because I hear a radio call all the way from the ground. 

“Major Carter is seriously injured. All other soldiers are minorly injured.” They must be reporting to McCord.

As the helicopter lands, a few soldiers jump out to come help me into the chopper. I am rushed into the chopper as my comrades help lift me in. I fall into a haze, my voices muffled and my vision blurry from blood loss. 

The rest of the ride is a blur.

***

I wake up in the base infirmary. The bullets have been removed, and my wounds have been heavily wrapped in gauze. My squad has come to visit me a few times over the course of a couple of weeks, but I wasn’t feeling up to talking. But when they came to visit me this morning, I was all smiles. I wasn't usually a happy person, but I did just finish a mission and survive.

“Hey, Major. How are you feeling?” Jones asks.

“Like I just blew up Crimson Dawn,” I answer with a laugh. They laugh, too.

“We’ve missed you in training. You know, yelling at us.” Reed says.

"Hey, once I’m allowed out of bed, I’m back in training. I’ll be given a crutch, so you better take it easy on me.” I tell them.

“Actually,” the doctor interrupts, “you are technically allowed to walk around now, but we wanted to keep you here for another day.” He holds a crutch at his side.

"WWell, what if I walked around during the day and slept here? I could stay checked into the infirmary, but still move around.” I offer it to the doctor.

He thinks for a moment. “Ok. But be back by 20:00.” He hands me the crutch and walks away. Jones helps me get out of bed and stand up. Once I’m stable, I take the crutch from the foot of the bed and walk in a quick circle. It works pretty well. I put my arms up in celebration, and the team claps. I do some slight bows, being careful not to aggravate my wounds. Bowen goes and opens the door and beckons us out. I hobble out of my hospital room and walk to the cafeteria. I can’t stand hospital food, so having some real food is rejuvenating for me. 

As I eat, I realize that everyone is staring at me and whispering to the person next to them. I know why, though. I just led a team to successfully destroy Crimson Dawn. 

And even though we destroyed them, it isn’t over, and it never will be. We may have won for now, but more fighting is soon to come.

Some might be afraid, but I can’t wait.