Cekap 1  Platoon (English Version)

     Original Story by MFN

      I’m Private Mohd Fayadh Nur. I’m a reporter of this platoon and I’m also a soldier. I was recruited into this platoon and my platoon leader, Lieutenant Radly had put me into Rabu squad. He was stern yet he cared much about his platoon members. Some people called him ‘Millennium Maximus’. I like to be alone, and I always thought about the meaning of this war, that is the war between humans and the ACCs(Android and Cyborg Corporation) which happened for a long time, yet it didn’t seem to end.

*****

      On my left, I saw Corporal Hanafiah was wearing a green armored suit with a belt, armed with three destructive bombs, two heavy packs of bullets and a long gun. He took an LMG 32 rifle which was hanged on the wall next to him.

      The other platoon members also took their own rifles. They seemed to have guts and hunger for battle, although they were new in this war. They’ve been in this war for less than a year. They were trained heavily, but I believed that they might not know the true meaning of the war. I just kept myself in silence- not to let them know what I was thinking. Later, I walked towards corporal Hanafiah who was wearing his armored suit hastily.

      “It looks like you’re ready,” I said.

      He just smiled. Then, he ran towards the door, followed by others. “What are you waiting for? C’mon!” Lans Corporal Raof shouted.

       Quickly, I rushed to get my armored suit…

*****

      Lt. Radly was waiting at the briefing room, beside the airstrip. He wore his glasses, and relaxed himself. A new veteran soldier, Sgt. Dayana stood next to him. We sat on our chairs. Lt. Radly began the briefing, “Alright, this is our plan. We’ll be arriving Temerloh. This platoon will be divided into your own squads. The androids’ bases will be eliminated one by one.”

      There was a transparent screen on his left. It flashed in a sudden and showed a map in the wide area of Temerloh. Rendezvous points were also shown on the screen. Lt. radly showed all the places which must be explored by each squad.

      We understood each of his words. Private Nadzrul instead was in deep sleep. Private Abdul tried to wake him up. Meanwhile, Lt. Radly continued, “We shall meet at Rendezvous Point Rabu. Rabu squad will try to clean the area. Understand?”

     Squad Rabu answered together, “Understood, sir!”

     I knew that this mission could be fatal, as I had to pay full attention towards what I was going to do. If ‘they’ ambushed us from behind, my squad would be gone.

      There were only eight soldiers in Rabu Squad including myself.  This squad was led by Lance Corporal Abdul Raof.  He became selfish nowadays and he liked to show off his skills to other people, even though he was just promoted as a lance corporal around two months ago. He managed to end a war in Pekan with the destruction of an androids’ base there.

      Lt. Radly ended his words, “I hope that you’ll all succeed in this mission. Good luck. May we live in peace.”

       All of us cried, “Huh!”

       Rabu squad members were talking inside Merbuk 66 helicopter, piloted by Lt. Fatihah. They seemed to be ignoring about what was going to happen next. I sat at the corner of the small area, trying to write my reports. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do it as the helicopter was shaking. I turned my face towards Lance Corporal Raof beside me, then towards a small window at the side of the helicopter. I saw hundreds of helicopters came out from a large number of ships. A big division had been formed to fight the war, I thought.

      Merbuk helicopter arrived on a large field around Temerloh forest. Merbuk 23 also landed there, which meant that the Selasa Squad, led by Lt. Radly, will follow us on our first objective. Lt. Radly went out of the helicopter, followed by Sgt. Dayana and the other Selasa Squad members. He approached Raof. Raof saluted him, and he saluted back as well. Then, Lt. Radly gave his first order, “Now we’re at Waypoint Khamis. Be aware of the ACCs. Sgt. Dayana…”

       He turned his face towards Sgt. Dayana. She knew what he wanted her to do. So, she nodded and gave her order to us, “Let’s move to Rabu Point, now!”

      She lifted her LMG 32 rifle and headed south. All of us followed her from behind, except for Lt. Radly who was in front of her. He scanned the thick forest. Raof was behind Selasa Squad.

      Then, Lt. Radly put his hand on his transmitter at the right side of his tactical helmet. He tried to contact Isnin Squad, which was supposed to be further south from here, “Isnin…Isnin… Do you read me, over?”

      He waited, but there was no reply. He repeated his words, but there was still no reply. “We’ve lost Isnin,” he said.

      Private Dhuha, the platoon’s communicator, suggested, “Sir, why don’t we try on a wider communication range, we might get their transmission.” She tapped her backpack she brought along.

      Lt. Radly told her, “No, we can only use close range communication, unless we want the enemies to track us down.”

      A short while later, we continued our journey…

*****

      Suddenly, a laser beam passed through our line of sight. Lt. Radly ordered us to lie down on the ground. Then, he gave us his next order, “We’ve been ambushed, break our formation!”

       Still on the ground, we moved out from our old formation swiftly. Pt. Dhuha couldn’t go out of the formation; instead her right shoulder was shot by one of the androids. Blood oozed slowly from her right shoulder. The androids marched forward, trying to corner us. They were more than 30.

      Pt. Dhuha cried in pain. Lt. Radly dashed to get her. Then, he lifted her leg. “Sgt. Dayana, help me,” he sighed.

      Sgt. Dayana quickly lifted her head, “We need to bring her to Pt. Fatin.”

      Continuous explosions behind them had forced Lt. Radly to back away from the battlefield.

      I tried to fill the bullets into my LMG 32. As I managed to reload my rifle, I pointed it towards a human-looking android. It rushed towards the bushes, making me harder to shoot accurately. But I just continued firing at my target, even though I didn’t know where it could possibly be. Luckily for me, the Android fell down to the ground as his leg was shot by me.

      Pt. Fatin reached Pt. Dhuha’s head. She was a medic. Lt. Radly seemed to be sweating. He hoped that Pt. Dhuha would be saved. Sgt. Dayana let her hands go, and told the Lt., “Sir, their numbers are two times larger than us.”

      Raof fired at one of androids confidently. He cheered as it was destroyed after being shot for several times. Then, he dashed forward and threw a hand grenade- that he had gripped with his left hand since moments ago, towards another android on his right. Unfortunately, his arm was shot. He looked above, and saw the android that was shooting at him.

      “Damn you!” he sighed. His rifle fell off his hand.

      I stood behind a tree, trying to avoid the androids’ attacks. I reloaded my weapon and turned my body towards one of the androids which kept shooting at me. My target was locked. So, I fired at it continuously. Unfortunately, it went behind a tree, too. Its right hand was wounded. I could feel the sweat on my forehead. Then, it showed itself and threw a grenade towards my hiding spot. Swiftly, I dashed away, evading the big explosion which took place a short moment later.

      Selasa Squad and Rabu Squad members had managed to destroy seven androids. It was hard for us to hunt them. They were very good in the jungle. We didn’t expect this to happen.

      “We need reinforcements,” Lt. Radly said. He took out all the communication equipments from Pt. Dhuha’s haversack. Meanwhile, he tried to calm her down as she cried in pain. Then, he pushed a button on a box which he took out from her haversack just a while ago. The box suddenly opened, and Sgt. Dayana attached the other communication equipments into it.

      As she managed to attach them all, Lt. Radly said, “Merbuk 66… Merbuk 66… please respond…”

      There was no response. He tried again, “Please respond… Merbuk 66…”

      That was weird. Why didn’t they answer?

      After a few minutes of struggle, we managed to destroy half of the armies. I had destroyed one of the most annoying android, which kept bothering me. But unfortunately, most of the squads’ members were injured. Paramedics from Selasa and Rabu Squad, Pt. Fatin and Pt. Syazwani were unable to treat them all. I received a shot on my left arm. We were losing our guts.

     Suddenly, there were two shadows coming from the south. Apparently, they were trying to save us. One of them launched a missile. Thus, more of the androids were destroyed.

      I tried to walk closer towards them. Actually, they were Lt. Fatihah, and Lt. Ainoor, pilot of Merbuk 23. Lt. Fatihah was holding LMC 14 rifle which could launch missiles. Meanwhile Lt. Ainoor armed herself with LCG 32 rifle, which was more powerful than LMG 32 and it could fire cannonballs.

      We were grateful with their sudden appearance.

      After I brought Raof towards Pt. Fatin, I ran to get them. I told Lt. Fatihah, “Gimme the LMC, quick!”

      She was surprised to see me. Then, she threw her weapon towards me. I grabbed it with my left arm.

      Lt. Radly successfully contacted Khamis and Jumaat Squads. They told him that they would be arriving as soon as possible. Lt. Ainoor and Lt. Fatihah approached him. He asked them, “How’s the other pilots?”

      “We’ve lost them after the ACCs had launched their SAMs,” Lt. Fatihah explained. She meant Lt. Hanisah and Lt. Kistina who were lost. She couldn’t tell whether they were still alive or not.

     Lt. Radly stood up and gave us all his next order, “We must keep attacking!” he pointed his rifle towards an android in front of him.

     Excluding Lt. Fatihah and Lt. Ainoor, all of us answered, “Sir, yes sir!”

     Then, he continued, “May we live in peace.”

     “Huh!”

      Our guts came back. I dashed towards the battlefield while firing at the androids continuously. Most of them followed me, but some of them were shot down. More missiles were fired. I was lucky that the ACCs’ shots only hit my armored suit. A small burst of cannonball came through my eyesight. It was Lt. Ainoor. I smiled. She told Lt. Fatihah to take Raof’s weapon, since Lt. Fatihah wasn’t holding any weapon.

*****

      We continued moving to the south. Khamis Squad and Jumaat Squad had treated the wounded. The ambush which was made by the androids wasn’t a successful one.

      Lt. Radly led the way, followed by Sgt. Dayana on his right. The wounded were 20 out of 40 platoon members. Isnin Squad was believed to be KIA.

      Up above us, three F62 aircraft crossed the clouds. Raof was behind all of us, looking at them. Lt. Radly told us, “The bombings will be made at Rendezvous Point Rabu. We’re going to help them clean the area.”

       We marched ahead while singing patriotic songs. Even though we knew we were bad at singing, but at least it could bring our guts back. Maybe we’ll be KIA, or maybe not. But for Lt. Radly, all soldiers are considered dead in serving the country. That made Platoon Cekap1 special.

MFN 2002

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