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Long time gone part 1
Posted By: grylsy<grylsy@hotmail.com>
Date: 3 August 2003, 8:29 AM


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Long time gone part one: the beginning




The weapon was a Fabrique Nationale Fusil Automatique Legère (FN FAL) rifle, it was remodelled of course. This rifle was first used in the 20th century and was reinstated into active service in 2500 and had changed very little since then, its only changes were of the magazine size from 20 to 30 and were held in a clear plastic magazine. It was shortened from 1053mm to 900mm by removing some of the overall barrel length, its effective range went from 800 metres to 650 metres. The last thing changed was the calibre from the 20th century 7.62 NATO to the 7.62 UNSC Marine CORPS round which is also used in the MA5B Assault rifle. The reason this rifle was reinstated were because of the need for a accurate rifle over open spaces and had incredible fire power up close and was easy to maintain unlike the S2 14.5mm sniper which jammed when exposed to dirt and it's scope would malfunction when the air was damp. Another rifle was made to suit this need, the S4 it was basically a S2 but in 12.7mm HMG (heavy machine gun) calibre, and it was more reliable but suffered from a small magazine of 10 rounds, despite these it is still used in the dense forests in the Congo along with the S2, MA5B, MA5A, the new FN FAL and many more firearms. Back to the point of the story.

The FN FAL was held lazily in the hands of a Coalition trooper as he walked along at the end of the patrol, the patrol was searching for the rebels who had started an uprising in the Republic of the Congo. The Trooper's name was Chris McAllen, an Australian who had left his easy posting at an Air Force base to see some action without going to fight the Covenant. Chris was at the end of the patrol, which he thought and knew was the safest place to be, as the Sergeant and the Lieutenant walk in the centre which meant snipers would shoot them and the point man would trigger any booby traps or mines.
But every man knew that the safest place was behind an L62 LMG, and an American Marine named Alfred Barnes was the Squad's machine gunner. Chris was carrying 2 space belts of ammunition for the L62, he wore them crossed over each of his shoulders, the bullets weighed a far bit and every few steps Chris had to readjust the bandoliers as they dug into his shoulders despite his Spectra vest, this was an all purpose bullet proof vest with all the necessary pouches and pockets. By his side Chris, who the Squad nicknamed FAL-len as he always carried a FN FAL and seemed to trip a lot on the tree roots, carried a .45 ACP H&K USP (Universal Special Pistol) with a LAM (Laser Aiming Module) and had a 15 shot magazine it was a Marines dream, it was easy to operate, had minimal kick, could be silenced (and FAL-len had a silencer in his pack) and had plenty of stopping power.

Chris was the newest and greenest troop in the Squad, he had a lot to prove and this was only his third patrol and with the other two patrols they hadn't spotted any Rebels. The Congo was vast and the Rebels had many strongholds, which had been discovered, and there were still more to be discovered. The Rebels weapons consisted of M16A5s, MP .357s (which are used by the Coalition forces as well), LAWs (extremely old but very efficient), RPG 12s, AK-74s (those things belong in a museum), M40 LMGS, H&K G36s and many more weapons which were no longer in use by the Armed forces of the human race. They were even using the old FN FALs with the 20 round clips.

Chris looked ahead of himself and saw Parker, Alison Parker, she was the second female and in the patrol and she was a designated sniper, she was carrying a S4 12.7mm Sniper rifle and wore a Gillie suit with different varieties of Congolese vegetation attack to it. All Chris knew about Parker was that she was hot! He liked when he first met her and he only met her 1 week ago when he first arrived in the Congo. She also had a great but Chris would always be staring at her but when they moved along through the jungle. Chris was planning to ask her out on his next spot of leave and take her to a fancy restaurant.

Chris' knuckles turned white as he gripped the synthetic pistol grip of his FAL, he took his mind off Parker and looked around the surrounding vegetation, and it was quiet, too quiet. He suddenly felt afraid and excited as it would be his first chance to kill someone and in danger of being shot, he looked at his vest and decided if he got shot the vest would stop the shot, he patted his vest.

"Alright squad quiet down!" the Captain's voice yelled over the earpiece in Chris' ear, "confirmed enemy presence 200 metres up, Parker your up!" Parker broke into a quick jog and ran out of Chris's view and she joined the Captain.
"Captain?" Parker asked,
"Ok, Parker, we got 3 skinnies (a nick named given to the Congolese Rebels as they were dangerously underfed and were dying of starvation which might be a good thing for the liberating forces) up ahead, so just put a bullet in 'em and take a Marine with you for support." Alison gazed down the trail, and there they were 3 Congolese Rebels armed with shotguns sitting around smoking cigarettes.

Chris sat up the end of the patrol as it had stopped and moved under cover as Alison was going to go kill them, he was facing the opposite way to the others he was looking behind the patrol if any Rebels had made this a planned ambush. Suddenly he felt a tap of his should he turned and saw Alison's Hazel-Blue eyes staring at him,
"Captain wants some one to come with me for support and I thought you could use the experience so wanna come?" Chris looked at her stunned, he clear his throat,
"Ah... yeah I'd be happy too Parker,"
"Please call me Alison, ok lets go!

Soon Chris was at the front of the patrol with Alison and he now had a pair of binoculars that he was to use to be Alison's spotter and give accurate wind and range adjustments while she snipped.

Alison was now lying down on her chest and had unfolded the rifle's bipod, closed the bolt and released the safety. She lined up the first Rebel.
"Wind 2 knots" Chris' voice hard and determined, Alison applied the modifications.
"Range 193 metres", Alison obeyed and compensated for the range. Alison held the rifle steady, she had the scope aimed perfectly on the furthermost Rebel's forehead.
Chris had also set the range and wind adjustments into his FN FALs range finder and aimed the rifle at the closest Rebel's torso.
BANG Alison fired the fire, a few milliseconds later BANG! Chris' gun went off as well, it was about 50 milliseconds before the first round hit the target and Alison had already let off another round at the Rebel in the centre of the group, the first round hit its mark, the Rebel's head disappeared in a mix of blood and sinew. Chris's target turned by instinct to his comrade, a bullet hole the size of a baseball appeared in his left breast and a fountain of blood rushed from in to met the cold ground, even before the first Rebel hit the ground the last Rebel fell over with a hole in his throat.

"The enemy is cold, move up!" Alison's voiced boomed over the headsets of the patrol.
"That was weird!" Chris exclaimed as he raised to one knee, FN FAL smoking.
"You did fine ah... what was your name? I forgot to ask"
"Chris, Chris McAllen we met at the mess hall no my first day, but you probably forgot me though."
"Now it's coming back, come on lets rejoin the squad." Chris pressed the magazine release button and the near full magazine fell towards the floor, Chris kicked it and play hackie sack with it and on his third kick he caught the clip and let his FAL rest on its sling as he opened a small pouch and put a fresh bullet into the magazine, he then put it in the gun and pulled the bolt back.
"Nice trick" said Alison as she pulled the bolt back and caught the unfired bullet and put it in one of her many Gillie suit's pockets, and put three fresh bullets in the magazine by feeding them through the breach directly into the clip and closed the bolt.
"Mine isn't as good" she continued, "Yours is better."
"Those things take time Alison".
Whilst they were doing this the squad were up at the corpses and were taking the weapons and any intelligence they found off them. When Chris and Alison got there they saw first hand what their weapons did to the Rebels who to them were just targets. It was a real mess blood was every where, on the fern trees, the grass, and the track also on the corpses.

The Captain pulled out his map and checked it with his compass, he pointed into the Forrest and informed the squad they had to go clear a small village of the Rebels before they can call in an evac.




That is the first part of my extremely LONG story but I won't post one every day probably once a week as I got other things to do besides posting and reading your stories on HBO. Well tell me what you think.





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