The hunter's bow

Jumpin in

Aksel's pov
      I looked out the open door of the plane and saw a picturesque tropical island, a couple snow covered mountain ranges but it was a gorgeous island. I spoke into comms "you sure we got the right island? This place looks like a god damn holiday resort" Finka spoke "it's not, this place has been a warzone for months. The security forces launched an attack and have taken the island. The ghosts got sent to see what happened after the island-" I cut her off "yeah, yeah, island went dark, ghosts lost men, guerrilla warfare the whole nine. I know the story" thatcher asked "then why are ye questioning if we got the right place?" I looked over my shoulder for a second as the freezing air ripped through our clothes and spoke "this place, it doesn't look like a warzone. FOB 7, now that's what war zones look like. I've been in them since I was 21, this place doesn't fit the bill. Either the Ghosts are close to my level of stealth and guerrila warfare or the fight has been too one sided" nomad now dubbed tinker spoke "we'll figure that out when we hit the rv with this nomad"
      I chuckled as I heard the childish like annoyance at meeting another operator called nomad. The pilot spoke "over LZ, jump" I sighed and pushed myself out of the plane followed almost instantly by the rest of the team. I suppose it's smart to send the E&E(escape and evasion) expert first, if I hit the ground and there's contact I'd have the easiest time breaking contact and surviving. I turned and checked my altimeter while we all formed up so we'd hit the LZ together, we waved our arms out and separated as we got towards our target altitude and pulled our rip cords opening the parachute feeling the familiar tug of the harness before we started floating gracefully into the small opening in the jungle canopy. I quickly gathered up my chute and buried it before I gripped my IAR and moved into the forest, quickly taking care to mesh some local plants into my uniform so it becomes that much easier to disappear. I waited until I heard the movement in the jungle, I was at the primary RV so I silently questioned which one of the team made it here first.
My money was on Noma- Tinker, since she travels a lot probably has the most experience orienting herself. I saw Thatcher walk into the clearing before he did a small circle around it walking past me. I smirked to myself and patted his back, he spun with a soft "what the fook?" As I waved my hand a couple times causing him to crouch next to me "was that necessary?" I nodded and whispered "could be enemies in the area, better to go silent than call your callsign" he sighed before radioing "ash, tinker, Finka where are you three?" Ash and Finka replied "almost there" I heard tinker "I've got a group of three unknowns near my position, I'm 150 meters to the southwest" I checked my compass and pointed in the direction before Finka ordered "Onyx, go get her out of the situation. Rally on the RV." I spoke into comms "on it, stay still tinker I'll have you safe in a jiffy" as I pulled out my bow and unbound my arrows. I notched one and started jogging through the jungle until I saw flashlights in the distance. I sighed and thought 'well this just got more difficult'
      I kept creeping closer before I saw one of the sentinel soldiers walk around the tree 20 meters infront of me, I carefully drew my bow and aimed before locking in at my mark and letting the arrow go. I heard the thunk of the arrow sinking into his chest causing him to wheeze as the arrow burrowed into his lung. I rushed forward and turned off the flashlight before I pulled the arrow out and renotched it before pushing forward to the next tree and reassessing the situation. I saw the sentinel soldiers had stopped moving, they were trying gear us. I heard the singing of some birds and crickets as I gently keyed my radio and asked "tinker, can you see them?" As one of the Sentinel corps sentinels yelled "Jim?! Where the fuck are you?!" She replied whispering "yes, I can see the one on my right" I spoke gently "I'll the guy on your left" as one of them got impatient and turned on his light, illuminating his friend. I smirked as I drew my bow and whispered "you're mine now" as tinker whispered into comms "I'm set" as I replied in the same tone "set, hit em" as I released the bow string and heard the thunk of it imbedding itself into the target.
      I heard a couple suppressed shots before tinker emerged from her hide, I picked up the sentinel Corp issued flashlights before tossing one to Tinker "a souvenir, you did good" she replied as she caught the flashlight "that was tense" I asked "how did you like your taste of my world?" She shivered and replied "it was hard staying as quiet as I was, I wanted to shoot them" I smirked and replied "good thing you didn't, I had to reassess the situation the longer it went on" she smiled at the compliment before Ash was in our ears "you guys heading back? We heard some gunshots" I motioned for Tinker to reply which she did with "yea, yea we're coming. Just checking the bodies" I grabbed the last flash light and dragged the bodies into a thick bush before I nodded to tinker as we started making our way back. We got about 30 meters before I stopped tinker and pulled her into cover she looked around in alarm as I gripped my bow tightly.
      I heard some movement to my right, just a damp leaf crunching under the weight of a boot causing me to spin notch and arrow and wait. A figure in dark multicam stepped out, she was about my height and had ginger hair, her face was burnt on her left cheek and she had 4 black stripes across her pale skin. She spoke impressed "how'd you know I was here?" I replied through a smile "I heard you walk, now you've gotta be Nomad." She nodded dipping her head before speaking "it's rude not to give your name" I looked at her before letting my bow go to its undrawn position as I spoke "Onyx, this is tinker" as I threw my thumb over my shoulder. She nodded and spoke "I watched you take out those sentinel goons, you've got some skills" I chuckled before asking "you joining us? We're going on a stroll to the rally point" she replied matching my politeness "if you'd have me, I'd be happy to" I looked at tinker and said "get to know our new friend, I'm letting Finka know" she nodded as the two women started talking I radioed "Finka come in, this is Onyx"
Finka replied "go for Finka, what's up onyx?" I replied "you won't guess who we ran into on our way back" she sounded uncomfortable "more enemies?" I replied "we made a friend, Nomad is coming back with us. Just wanted to let you know so you didn't shoot us" she replied "well be waiting" as the comms went dead and I asked "well ladies, we ready to get movin?" They nodded as we started walking again, this time taking a leisurely pace since the need for fast movement wasn't necessary. No one was in danger, I heard Nomad "so Onyx was it? Where'd you learn to hear like that?" I nodded and explained "I'm a stealth expert, if you can't detect other stealth experts you're not doing your job right. A stealth expert that can be out spotted by another expert you're useless, you're gonna get killed and be of no use to your team" she nodded and replied "I think we'll get along" I chuckled and teased tinker "well tinker isn't her actual callsign, her actually callsign is Noamd but as you can guess. Two nomads on a team is difficult" tinker stared at me in shock that I exposed her.
     Nomad looked at her and chuckled before I continued "And tinker here, was very upset that she had to get a temporary callsign" I heard Tinker hiss "onyx stop talking" I chuckled before I unnotched my arrow and put it in the quiver as we walked into the perimeter of our rally point. I looked around and saw Ash, Finka and Thatcher poorly hidden, I commented "ash your plant cover is too thin and blocks too much of your view, also you can't move your gun without making noise. Thatcher your bush is too small, your legs are visible and so is your suppressor. Finka you're in too thick of cover and can't move without making a sound. But you've got a decent start" they came out of their hiding spots and started talking with nomad while Tinker and I sat against a tree. I looked over my shoulder and spoke "you did good, I might be able to do something with you yet" she chuckled and spoke "شكرا لك(thank you)" I looked over and spoke "I don't speak Arabic" she replied in English "thank you" I chuckled and spoke "don't thank me yet" as Finka called us over and started "this is plan....."