Chapter 1...Fire in the hole

Vladimir waited, as usual, for the rest of his company to catch up. Being a seasoned warrior, and capable of dealing with most threats by himself, he was usually given the scouting duty. Or maybe he was given it because he was faster than the rest of the troops. In any case, his commander had seen less combat than him, and couldn't tell one side of a grenade launcher from the other. 
"Oh well", he thought, "at least there isn't an enemy base within miles of here, and until they think of a way to teleport hundreds of miles there won't be."
As he waited, he carefully checked his launcher and his ammo, making sure both were ready for combat, just in case. He also thought back to his early battles, during which he was just a green recruit, lucky enough to have been given a grenade instead of a machine gun. A machine gun means death and everyone knew it. No conscript ever lived longer than a few months, and if they did they were immediately sent on important missions that required experience, and were then killed. A grenadier, however, often lived a long time, assuming they weren't close to any nuclear silo. He knew well what happened to those unfortunate enough to be caught in a nuclear blast. 

His first assignment after training was supposed to be easy. He was commissioned shortly before the advances in infantry technology, stolen by a spy who managed to sneak into an American barracks. His first duty, guard the nuclear silo. It would be a simple duty, since the defenses were more than enough to stop any ground assaults, and the flak cannons kept the Para-troopers and attack planes far away. It was night, and the light of the buildings and the spotlights on the Russian flag were bright enough to see by. Seconds later, pitch black. 
"Hmm, a blackout. Damn allies must be bringing in the F-117's again."
He walked towards the nearest concrete bunker, remembering from training that it was the safest place to be when the cluster missiles of the planes went off. It was at that moment that he realized that the sounds of all the machinery had stopped, even the flak cannons slow rotation. He started to run. Something serious was going down. Maybe they were moving out. He had heard that sometimes they junk an entire base to move it toward an enemy position, but he didn't think they'd do that now, with the enemy constantly attacking. He had reached the bunker, and the air raid siren screamed into the night air.

"I was right, it is just another air attack," he thought. "But why did they shut off the flak cannons? Don't they need them to destroy the planes?"
Suddenly, he saw the lights. Not the single spot light of an F-117 searching for it's target, but the myriad of lights from a plane dropping soldiers into battle. They were searching for guns that might kill the GI's when they landed. He ran inside, and found his commanding officer giving orders, answering all the questions he had meant to ask.
"Prepare for an all-out attack! An enemy spy managed to get into our power plant and shut down all base power. Our defenses are off line. Load your weapons and shoot at anything outside that moves. This is no drill! Vladimir, put down your grenade launcher, you can't use it in here. Take one of the extra machine guns and get ready."

Seconds later, the troopers had landed. They had thrown all the GI's they had at us, and I could hear the rolling of tanks from far away. The distinctive sounds of an apocalypse tank shattered the night, and the screams of a GI blown to bits by its missiles were chilling. The power came back on, the area glared into brightness. The enemy was everywhere. Already the missile silo was burning, and if they didn't kill the enemy soon the missile would go nuclear. The sounds of the grand cannons were a wake up call, and the bunker Vlad was in erupted in a hail of bullets as he did what he was trained to do. As GI after GI went down, the soldiers in the bunkers fought harder and harder. The large explosions went almost unnoticed in the intense fighting, and the loss of some power as well. Shortly the last of them was dead. The silo was still there. Vladimir himself had wasted many of the GI's with the machine gun handed to him, but he missed his grenade launcher. He left the bunker to scout the area, launcher in hand, looking around for any soldiers that might have hung back out of range. When he was far away from the base, he turned to go back. That's when he noticed the large gaping hole where the reactor had once been. The silo hadn't been their main target, the REACTOR had! He had assumed the loss of power before had just been damage to the bunker itself, but without the reactor their power was out for the count. Even as these thoughts rushed through his head, the spotlights he had been searching for earlier had appeared, an entire squadron of them. They reached the silo, and unloaded all the missiles they had at it. He counted the lights. Seven. Even a non-damaged silo could only take five, and they had two more.

"The flak troopers must be dead, otherwise they would have shot down a couple," he said to himself, even as a flash of light told him that they HAD shot down one, but the planes were too fast and too strong to stop entirely. He shielded his eyes from the blast he knew was coming, and covered his ears against the screams of his CO and the other soldiers inside the bunker as they tried frantically to run away from the silo in time. He felt the heat, the shockwave, and the sound all at once. The screams of his CO gurgled away as he died in the radiation. Better to have gone in the original blast than in the radiation is what they had told him in training. He began the long run to the second base. The silo had practically yelled out the existence of this base to the enemy, but the other one was still hidden among the ruins of the city. He mentally went over his report that he would be required to give about the battle. Panic never solved anything.

They had given him a commendation for that battle, as well as a promotion. They HADN'T given him the latest tech, but he was more experienced, and that made up for it. The subsequent days and the assault on the enemy base had taught him much, and gotten him in top physical shape. He was a veteran, with all the abilities that implied. Maybe if he lived long enough they would make him one of the elite soldiers. Of course, he made it eventually, but not until he had made it through many more battles.

He snapped out of his reverie, realizing that the squad should have been here ten minutes ago. He started back, and then heard the gunfire. He ran, and soon came upon the carnage of a battle raging. His squad had wandered off the path, and gone into the city, most likely to loot the place. Instead they had come across an allied base hidden among the ruins. They had garrisoned what buildings were sturdy enough to withstand some gunfire, but had been forced to abandon most of them. The enemy had already garrisoned the only decent buildings, and they easily out-ranged non-garrisoned troops. From the bodies he could see his company had taken out more of the enemy than they had lost, but they were caught between the garrisoned GI's and the enemy Humvee's.

"I guess they could use some help", was his only thought. Panic still never solved anything. He loaded his launcher, aimed at a group of Humvee's, and shouted the battle cry he had heard on an old movie.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

Continue to Chapter 2 here...

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