Story: Soric Snipers

Veteran Special Operation Rapid Insertion Commando snipers Staff Sergeant Ellis Mckenzie and Sergeant Gary Salinas prepare to defend Jico’s central plaza against overwhelming odds as they come to the realization that a large scale war has come to the Coalition.

“Stay here Mckenzie, I’m gonna see if I can find us some more ammo.” Salinas left our sniping position to scavenge whatever he could find. We had a break in the fighting but nothing was silent. The city burns around us and survival seemed next to impossible. We dropped in dead center into the fight right before the UIP deployed their energy shield over the city, cutting us off from any reinforcements. I’ve fought the good fight more times than I can remember, but I bet every soldier tells themselves that. But not like this, not even with the Sivorsky uprisings in 2425. Being a SORIC trooper not many of us find enemies that pose a real challenge towards us. Fighting Insies kept us sharp and confident in our abilities to win the day but these guys were different: Lethal, trained, and highly motivated. There were lots of ‘em, they laid siege to countless Coalition worlds and now they encircle us. No matter how bad it had gotten in the past, nothing we’ve faced before could prepare us for this: a war, a real war that no one could deny. Not even Cole.
I first met Cole and Layla when I was six years old and we’ve been best friends ever since. Cole always said I was only happy in the military because there was no ‘real’ war going on. He clearly never faced an Insurrectionist attack because they would have made him challenge such thought at times. Layla said a war wouldn’t be possible in our lifetime and they would always end up in an argument while I silently watched them debate over a topic they would never understand.
“What have you got?” I asked Salinas as he came back.
“Eight rounds, too dangerous to go far out there so I had to pickup whatever they were careless enough to drop on the ground,” he said while showing me the cartridges in his hand. “How many magazines you got left?”
“Four.” I counted the full mag I had in my sniper. “You?”
“Three.”
“Take the extra rounds then, we’ll be even.”
“You take the odd one out,” he said while handing me the spare round. “I only need seven for a mag.”
“Yes, I know that Salinas. I’m a sniper too you idiot.”
“Thanks for not being selfish Gary…that extra cartridge could save my life Gary…I owe you one Gary,” he exclaimed.
“Relax, get in position. Hopefully I’ll be able to return the favor when our reinforcements get here.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah…Hey is it just me or do you miss home?”
“What? Trying to change the subject to something more depressing?”
“No, I’m just saying I miss it more than usual. I’m used to dropping into the middle of nowhere and head shotting a few Insies, not the end of the world.”
“Is that what you call this?” I asked.
“I’m not trying to be a pessimist but look around you.” He had a point. No matter how hopeless our situation seemed I guess a small part of me was still thinking we were trying to put down an Insurrection. It’s going to be a while before we get reinforced and who knows what’s happening on other colonies. For all we know Earth herself could be under siege right now. I hope Cole and Layla are alright, its possible that the last time I would ever see them was in that coffee shop on Erie when I was on leave just over a month ago. That’s when Layla told us she was expecting her first child…what a time to be born.
“Mckenzie you good?” asked Salinas.
“Yeah, what?” He brought me back to reality.
“The lieutenant’s on the radio.”
“Mckenzie, Salinas. You there troopers?” asked Lieutenant Cox over the radio.
“Still here sir, what are your orders?” I asked.
“You two are in defilade and we’re depending on you to keep our flanks covered. Do that as long as you can but fall back to me if your position gets compromised understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
Salinas looked over to me. “We’re staying?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright but let’s try to keep an eye on the guys downstairs, the last thing we need is to get flanked while we’re covering everyone else’s flank.”
“They can handle themselves.”
“And can you?”
“Huh?”
“Mckenzie, you’ve got that wall eyed look. What’s eating you?”
“Nothing.”
“The screaming? The blood? We’ve been through this before and you said I was being depressing.”
“Let’s just get through this, we’ve got enough to worry about without thinking about what might be happening on other colonies.” Salinas said nothing as he became wall eyed. “Gary!”
“What!”
“You were saying?”
“Alright…like you said…let’s get through this.” Training simulations and fighting Insies could only prepare us for so much, no soldier had seen such action since the First Interstellar War and little by little each one of us had started to realize the true scale and potential of this war. I’ve known Salinas a long time and he’s not one to stray away from focusing on his job, but neither was I before this moment. The enemy began popping smoke as another charge was imminent.
“C’mon Salinas, lets make these guys regret the day they crossed commandos,” I said.
“We’re trained for war. Now it’s time to earn our keep,” he responded.