Sniper: Line of Fire
2372
Somewhere near the DMZ
Once again, Bobbi March was on her own, behind enemy lines. After a Shadow class stealth runabout had dropped her off on Thor’s World, she’d had to hike across five miles of prairie in her SEWG. The Starfleet Extra-vehicular Work Garment – fancy name for a space suit – was necessary since the planet had been infected by a biological weapon. The contagion was lethal to humans, harmless to Cardassians and gave Klingons a bad cough. The planet had been poisoned back in the 2340s by the Cardassians, but hadn’t been claimed by them. Now, with a new Klingon-Federation War raging, the Empire was using it as a garrison in their operations in the DMZ.
The suit was bulkier than she was used to and uncomfortable. She’d also had an itchy nose she couldn’t scratch for half an hour, which set her teeth on edge.
It was dark on this part of the planet and the landscape floated before her in an ethereal green glow thanks to the night-vision view being projected on her visor. It was old technology from the early 21st century, pioneered for use in fighter jets. Thanks to 24th century technology, however, the helmet wasn’t any heavier than a regular SEWG helmet.
Bobbi reached the small wood near the Klingon garrison. She clambered up a tree with some difficulty and found a position to sit in which offered some comfort. She activated the helmet’s targeting reticule, then called up the small images of the six targets.
Bobbi waited, fighting fatigue to stay awake as she watched some non-descript warriors wandering along the perimeter.
As Bobbi watched, she saw the first of the six targets. She didn’t have a hope of pronouncing his name, so she’d simply dubbed him ‘Nine of Spades’. He was a Captain in Imperial Intelligence. She hefted her M-4 carbine and took aim.
Normally, she’d be using her phaser rifle, but the SEWG made it awkward for her to hold the rifle and aim properly. Oddly, the antique weapon was easier. It also had the advantage of being virtually silent with the suppressor fitted to the barrel.
She fired and ‘Nine’ fell to the floor as the bullet tore through his head.
A number of guards came running over as the Klingon lay on the ground, bleeding to death.
As she watched, ‘Ten of Spades’ and ‘Jack of Spades’ came over. They were the head of security for the force and his deputy. Two more shots and there were three corpses on the ground. A lieutenant began screaming orders in Klingon to a squad of troops. Moments later, they hurried out of the compound towards the woods.
Bobbi cursed. She’d been hoping they wouldn’t have time to react before she’d nailed all of her targets. She dropped from the tree and ran.
After half an hour she seemed to have lost the Klingons, so she headed back towards the compound.
Creeping through the darkness, Bobbi peered ahead of herself, cautious of any Klingons lurking around.
Bobbi climbed a tree two over from where she had been. In the compound, she could see the bodies of her first three targets had been removed. A few Klingons were still standing near where she’d gunned down the H.V.T.s. Carefully, she swept her gaze across the five Klingons visible, looking for a match to her remaining High Value Targets.
None were visible. She turned her attention to the windows into the compound. No one was visible at any of the ground floor windows. At the first floor windows she saw a Klingon looking down into the open area around the building. He wasn’t anyone important, however.
Then she saw the most important of her targets, ‘Ace of Spades’ – General Karla. The garrison commander. Karla had stepped close to the other Klingon and was looking into the yard. Bobbi raised the carbine and took aim. The other Klingon, obviously an aide, stepped in front Karla. Bobbi sagged slightly. A curse crossed her mind before the aide stepped away. Her target reacquired, she wasted no time in taking the shot. There was a small tinkle as the bullet smashed through the glass window before penetrating Karla’s Klingon skull and exited through the back of his head in a spray of gore.
Bobbi immediately threw herself backward off the branch she was sitting on, somersaulting as she dropped, landed on her feet and ran parallel to the tree-line and stopped several metres away. She scrambled up another tree in time to see Karla’s aide looking out the window even as he screamed into a hand-held communicator.
The question now was, would Karla’s deputy – the ‘King of Spades’ in Bobbi’s list – enter the room and give her a shot?
Once again, troops came streaming out of the compound. Bobbi scrambled from the tree and dodged away from the Klingons.
She found herself near the crude wooden gates into the compound. ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained,’ she mused to herself as she slipped into the yard. Most of it was swathed in darkness. Silently thanking any benevolent deity listening that her SEWG was painted black, she crept behind a large cargo crate and waited.
She’d barely been in place five minutes when a Klingon shuttle dropped from the sky and landed nearby.
As she’d hoped, they were evacuating the other HVTs and not by transporter.
Bobbi watched as three warriors hurried out into the yard, weapons at the ready. They were clearly bodyguards as they scanned the area with keen eyes.
First to clear the door was the base’s Operations officer, ‘Queen of Spades’, he hurried toward the shuttle’s boarding ramp before ‘King of Spades’ emerged. Bobbi decided to cast aside subtly. She shifted the M-4’s selector switch from single-shot to the three-round burst setting and took aim.
Three 5.56mm bullets punched through ‘Queen’, tearing half his face apart. A second burst went through ‘King’. His chest exploded messily.
Bobbi quickly switched the assault rifle back to single-shot and shot the bodyguards in the leg.
Not wasting a moment, she sprinted from the yard, darted out the gates and ran. Her extraction point was three miles due East and she needed to be there within three hours or she’d be staying on the planet...
Bobbi March will return...
