Argos

My Rangers and I sat around the airfield at Bagram airbase for a while in a full combat loadout, waiting for the MH-60’s to arrive and take us where we need to go. Paul had already left on a CH-47 that was taking other rangers to an area nearby his area of operation, or AO. Lucky b*****d. I checked my weapons for anything that might get me killed when we touch down, the new ACOG on my SCAR was a little off, I needed to zero it again. I looked at Sergeant Danes M249, which was one tricked out piece of metal. If you ever heard the phrase, “Tacticool”, you would think of his weapon as such, instantly. There was a grip-pod, lasers, scopes and set of Back Up Iron Sights  attached to this thing, and the huge multicam pack he was carrying suggested that he was never running out of ammo or supplies. I heard yelling in the background, and that instantly got my attention. I saw Commander Harrison, in a full combat loadout, pushing a huge metal box on a set of wheels towards our direction with two other Rangers. We all slowly got up and inspected this box, wondering what was inside. When Commander Harrison stopped, the other Rangers quickly began entering a 16 digit pin on electronic pads on either side of the box, where a small metal door opened vertically to reveal something that looked like a wolf.

“What the f**k is that?” Specialist Jackson cussed.

“This is Argos, the term derived from the name of the loyal dog of the ancient greek myth, Odysseus. He is Flash’s replacement, as he was taken by DEVGRU. Argos is extremely classified, you utter a word to anyone else, and you and whoever else you told are gonna get killed.” Commander Harrison threatened.

I opened the picture of me and Flash during a previous jump, I missed that happy little mutt. “My battle buddy…” I whispered to myself.

“Yes sir.” the Rangers reply

I saw a faint red glow from two spots on Argos’s head, probably it eyes. He began to move slightly, temporary streams of energy coursing to its head. Argos stood up on all fours, like a wolf, and walked completely out of the box he was held in. He looked very futuristic, something you would see in some video games or highly funded movies about robots. He was technologically advanced, many years ahead of us, and the best part was, he had weapons. He had a carbon fiber tail that held three canisters, each containing different gases. One sleep, one flammable, and one lethal. There were ports on its chest that held chaff, and a small machine gun mounted on its back, and could be retracted at any time. This thing was at least 50 years ahead of our time, no wonder it was classified.

“Argos is embedded with multiple supercomputers that give it an IQ twenty times that of the highest recorded human IQ, and other systems that enable verbal communication. He is one hundred percent autonomous, and knows exactly who you all are. You are keeping him until you get back, understand?” Commander Harrison confirms.

“Yes sir.” The Rangers reply.

The claws on Argos looked like knives, he could rip anything out of anyone with no effort at all.

“Commander Harrison.” Argos spoke.

His voice was clear and easy to understand, slightly robotic, but otherwise easy to decipher. You would easily mistake it for a human voice from far away.

“Yes, Argos?” Commander Harrison replied.

“I request that you leave our immediate perimeter.” Argos asked.

Commander Harrison looked up at us in complete disbelief. Argos, a f*****g machine, didn’t prefer him either. He shook his head, and left in anger. We all busted out laughing to seemingly no end. The other Rangers pushed the box away from us and quickly over to Commander Harrison. We stopped laughing when he heard a helicopter come rolling into the Bagram airspace. Argos looked up at the helicopter and assumed the stance of a hunting dog, almost prone to the ground.

“Incoming transportation vehicle. Rotary class aircraft. MH-60 Blackhawk helicopter.” Argos examined. While assuming this stance, his back-mounted MG revealed itself and was aiming towards the helicopter. It took me only a second to realize that Argos thought the blackhawk was enemy.

“Argos, weapons safe! Blackhawk is friendly!” I order.

Argos, on the verge of firing his weapon, finally gave out and followed orders. His MG was concealed, and he reassumed the basic stance of a wolf, not on high alert or hunter mode or anything like that. When the helicopter landed, Argos was the first to get on, followed by the other Rangers, then myself. The claw marks Argos made on the ground suggested that his claws were new and fully sharpened, we don’t want to f**k with him. The door to the helicopter closed just as fast as it opened, and it lifted off the ground even faster.

“So, since you act on your own, do you have the choice to follow orders?” I heard from the back.

Argos looked at Private Greere, who must have asked the question. “I may analyze orders but I may not disobey them. Should I disobey an order of any kind, your commander would wipe my memory.”

“So if you’re the smartest thing in the world, why can’t you do as you please?” Sergeant Dane asks.

“I am an autonomous combat drone, created solely for the purpose of satisfying the orders of those appointed over me. It is my duty to follow these orders.”

“What good is your intelligence if you can’t use it?” Specialist Jackson asks.

Argos directs his attention over toward him, and he gives his answer. “Your taunting holds no purpose or direction, it is advisable that you stop.”

I chuckled a little bit. I walked on over toward the window of the helicopter, while the Rangers are asking questions that have seemingly no end. The landscape of the mountainous areas are covered in random spots of snow and ice. At that point I knew that we were getting close to the mountains. Who knew Bagram was so close?

“Locksmith.” I hear.

I turn around to see Argos sitting like a dog in front of me. “This is the Takur Ghar mountain range. Have you been here before?”

“No, I haven’t. This is my first time.” I answer.

Argos walks to the single open door of the helicopter and looks outward to see the view, his carbon fiber tail flowing smoothly behind him. “This area is new to me as well. This is actually the first time i’ve seen the outside world, after undergoing numerous tests to increase my capability in combat.”

He pauses. “The view is...rather nice.” Argos compliments, turning his head towards me.

“Yeah, I would agree with you there.” I reply. “Do you drones wonder the same thing about our world as humans?” I ask.

“We, drones, are different in that area of which you speak. We collect data of the area and embed it into our memory. Depending on the living conditions and the hospitality the area offers is where we determine whether or not the area is preferable.”

“But you gave a compliment of the view, not the area.” I return.

Argos looks at me, then back outside. “I do not contain man's natural ability of feeling or the internal nervous system of one such human, the conclusion I came to was an assessment of the area based on preference.” Argos pauses.

The helicopter banks hard to the left, and begins landing preparations. Argos does not move at all, while the rest of us grab on to something to stabilize ourselves. I reassure myself, and stand normally, looking out of the window to see some campfires lit up in the distance.

“It appears as though there is a distinct signature of unrecognized personnel. What are the rules of engagement?” Argos asks.

“All unrecognized signatures are expendable unless told otherwise. Do not engage anyone until authorized to do so. There is another allied team within the mountains, so watch what you shoot.”

“Roger.” Argos replies.

The helicopter lands on a single platform that is clear of any rocks, snow, or enemies. The area is about as big as an average classroom, and the helicopter just barely fits. Argos is the first to hop off, assuming the stance of a hunter, revealing his machine gun from his back, scanning the area for hostiles. I get off next, along with the other Rangers, where we pull our rifles to the front and defend the helicopter as it takes off back to Bagram. I scanned the area silently, and thought to myself on a tactical approach to the mission. There was a small cave to our left, and an ascending hill in front of us.

“Whats the call, sir?” Private Greere asks.

“Alright, you three…” I say, pointing to the Rangers. “...you three take the cave to our left, if you see anything out of synch, let me or Argos know about it. Any enemy camps you see, destroy. We will link back up tomorrow at objective goalpost in sector charlie one-three-seven-niner, copy?”

“Sir, what is objective goalpost?” Specialist Jackson asks.

“Dude, you need to pay attention, this was mentioned in the brief. Objective goalpost is the rendezvous point at the top of the center mountain of the map, where we will meet up with Tick and his team.” I remind.

“Team, lets move.” Sergeant Dane ordered.

The Rangers got up and moved quickly into the cave, weapons up and ready to fire. When they disappeared into the cave, Argos relieved himself of the hunter stance and concealed his MG. I got up and threw my SCAR on safety, as well as adjusting the ACOG and BUIS to match the previous zero I had with an aimpoint optic.

“It seems as though these Rangers are slightly disorganized. Is that why you had them separate from us?” Argos asks.

“Somewhat. The main reason being that we need to cover a lot of land in a short amount of time. Splitting up will cover double that land in the time span.”

“I understand.” Argos confirms.

I get up to stand and swiftly walk over towards the hill, where I sling my weapon over my shoulder and begin climbing. the chill of the rocks went through my gloves and sifted through my hand, where the coolness of it had calmed my trigger finger. There were a few rocks that stuck out like a sword in a pile of arrows, and they were so sturdy that it would take a powerful blast to be able to move them.

“Are you having difficulty climbing the hill, locksmith?” Argos asks.

“No, im good. Its just been a while since I climbed anything.” I reply.

I heard hydraulics in the background and saw Argos soaring above me, landing perfectly on the top of the hill. He stood about 3 feet above, where he looked down upon me. I stopped and looked back at Argos. I was wondering why he didn’t reveal his hydraulics systems.

“Allow me to help.” Argos offered.

He extended his carbon fiber tail to reach my hand. When I caught on to it, he directly lifted me off the wall and placed me on the ground next to him. He had infinite strength in his tail alone, I couldn’t imagine what his whole body could do.

“Thats a lot of strength in that one tail.” I compliment.

“Indeed. Carbon fiber and metallic exoskeletons combined make for an inseparable pair as far as strength goes.” Argos replies.

I smile, and turn around to continue with the movement. The only thing I saw when I turned around was a steep hill that led nowhere but down. There were multiple paths that could lead elsewhere, but to reach them, we had to descend this incline.

“It seems as though the only approach to the mission is to descend this hill.” Argos examines.

“Yep, thats about the size of it. Can you scan for another approach?” I ask.

“Roger, scanning for a tactical approach.” Argos begins.

I saw a single spherical pulse of red light coursing from his head, indicating that he was scanning the area. I raised my weapon and lowered myself to a kneeling position. The landscape below was covered with snow, some random patches of grass and vegetation. The air surrounding us was cold, it stung my face like someone was jabbing pins and needles in it. There were soft whispers of wind that gave the trees and bushes life for a single second, moving them in the direction of the wind. The view in the very back was anything but ordinary. Clouds touching and scraping the tips of the mountaintops, some clouds higher than that. There was some form of snowfall coursing through all of the rest of the area, and some trees that magically grew on some of the soil here, the leaves of which had of course fallen off. The mountains itself were colored a light brown color, kind of like dirt, and the rocks had effortlessly blended in, there wasn’t a way to see rocks by looking straight at them, you would never know they were there. There were a few broken trees, surrounding some of the damaged trees were flowers just in bloom, they were a deep purple color that gave a cooling sensation when you looked at them for a while.

“It appears as though there are multiple routes that I can take to avoid such a drop, where we will link back up at the bottom with little to no delay. However, for you, there is no avoiding this.” Argos confirms.

“I kinda figured that. Go on ahead, I will meet you down there.” I order.

“Roger.” Argos finishes.

His hydraulics had kicked in, causing him to jump to inhuman heights. He latched on to a side of a mountain and proceeded to walk among them like a spider. His claw marks had left small cuts in the rocks, which later collapsed to gaping holes. It was the most obvious thing in the world, but who would expect it to be Argos? I looked down on the incline again, it didn’t seem as far down as when we first looked at it. There were little to no rocks on the way down, it wouldn’t hurt that bad.

“Here goes nothing…” I whisper to myself.

Securing my pack, medkit, and weapons, I jump off the top and slid down the incline, and there was nothing more that I would absolutely regret doing. There were blunt rocks that hit my sides and arms like sledgehammers swung at full power, and the branches and twigs that were in the way jabbed me like an acupuncture gone horribly wrong. I had the wind knocked out of me multiple times, and I often felt like I would die whenever it happened. I eventually regained my balance about 90% through the slide down, and finally reached a cold, hard bottom, lightly blanketed in snow and ice.

“Oh...s**t...ouch…” I panted.

My legs and arms were sore, and feeling in my back was gone, at least for the time being. I tried getting up, and almost slipped through the pressure on my legs caused them to shake and shudder. There was a sharp and revolting pain that shot through my legs when I got to a standing point, but I know damn well that pain is just weakness leaving the body. I effortlessly pushed it out of my mind, and snapped my weapon in front of me. No later than a few seconds thereafter, Argos lands on all fours with a “shink!” as his claws impaled themselves into the ground.

“Apologies, Locksmith. It was predicted that I would make it here first.” Argos begins.

“You set your standards too high, ease yourself.” I assure.

“Nightwatch 2-1, this is Nightwatch 2-2.” I heard over the radio. I tried remembering the callsigns, and figured out that 2-2 was Paul and his team. There was a white noise that consistently flooded my ears for a few seconds after Paul spoke through the radio, but it didnt bother me too much.

“Go 2-2.” I reply.

“We have made it to rally point alpha, and have eyes on you from above. We have you on thermals. Where’s your Rangers?”

“They split off to cover more ground, they should not be much farther than I am.”

There was a 5 second pause in Pauls reply, he must have been looking around for the other Rangers. “Roger, we don’t have eyes on, but we will soon. Will you need sniper support?”

“Argos?” I consult.

“Locksmith, according to recent scans, there appears to be enemy activity performing unjust actions while installing campsites to our north. It is advisable and highly suggested that we avoid it until we are in greater numbers.” Argos explains.

“The mission is to destroy all campsites and secure intelligence on a nuclear launch. We can’t avoid it.” I advise.

“I am aware of the mission directive, however, under the direction of high-frequency scanning and unparalleled logic, it is still advisable that we avoid this campsite, or this will surely be our grave.”

“2-1?” Paul asks.

“One second, 2-2.” I exclaim. My attention turns away from Argos, thinking of the situation that might unfold if we go and attack the campsite, and the consequences involved if we don’t. My attention is turned back to Argos. “The mission directive is to destroy all campsites and eliminate anyone in them, and secure intelligence on a nuclear launch from Baas. We are attacking the campsite under the cover of stealth.”

“Locksmith, please be cautioned. The number of hostile signatures in that relative location easily surpasses your suggested maximum ability to occupy such a number of personnel. It is highly advisable that you review and revise your decision.” Argos cautions.

“Argos, there is no such thing as too many bad guys. We’re going to the camp, and we are switching it off. We clear?” I finalize.

“Roger.” Argos agrees.

“Nightwatch 2-2, Nightwatch 2-1.” I say into the troop net.

“About f*****g time, 2-1. Go ahead.” Paul replies.

“There is an enemy camp some distance to our north, and we’re taking it down. Sniper support is appreciated.”

“Solid copy, 2-1. We are moving. We’ll let you know when we get topside. Out.”

I snap my rifle to the front and continue moving forward. Argos moved ahead of me, his MG was out and ready to fire. The surround air got colder and my fingers got a little harder to move, which meant my trigger finger was failing me. Argos had his carbon fiber tail flowing calmly behind him, readying a sleep gas canister, painted blue. He later stowed his gas canisters and withdrew what looked like three short knives, from the body of his tail, that were brought together triangularly to form a spear at the tip of his tail. He lowered his body to the ground while we kept moving forward, which lead me to do the same. I activated the PEQ-16 visible laser and pushed the buttstock closer into me, pointing the tip of the suppressor out in front of me, motionless in my hands.

“Detecting increased aggression levels. Hostiles are beginning to arm themselves with heavier weapons than the suggested essential combat rifles.” Argos scans.

I heard a long stream of gunfire in the distance. It left me thinking that it was the Rangers who were taking down a camp the found. “Sergeant Dane, was that you?” I said into the troop net.

“Negative, gunfire was not us.”

I felt confused for a second, but shrugged it off, thinking it wasn’t very important. Argos and I scaled a medium-sized incline, which led to a small platform of rock and dirt, which overlooked the campsite that we were patrolling to. It looked more like an outpost, there was an organized communications center, armory, and sleeping quarters. These guys are trained and they know how to operate. I went to prone on the ground, Argos doing the same, curling his tail next to him.

“Scans indicate an estimated number of forty hostile elements. After extended observation, I came to conclude that this is a suicide mission.” Argos estimates.

“Suicide mission is my middle name.” I reply.

Argos stares at me for a minute, then looks back over to the campsite. There were African fighters scattered around the campsite like ants on an anthill, and they moved to what looked like no end. I heard white noise coming from the troop net on my radio, and knew Paul was about to talk, but couldn’t for the life of him figure out what to say.

“Nightwatch 2-1, Nightwatch 2-2.”

“Go, 2-2.”

“We have thermals over the campsite, and eyes on your position. Who’s your friend?”

I looked at Argos, who paid no attention to Paul’s question. “An attack dog.” I conclude.

Argos looked at me, then back over to the camp. “Attack dog…” he merely whispers.

“...Roger that, 2-1. You have sniper support at your disposal. Let us know what heads we can blow off.”

“Copy that, 2-2. Keep your finger on that trigger, we are about to engage.” I warn.

“Locksmith, I still do not approve of this objective, but it appears as though the threat of imminent death does not bother you.” Argos concludes.

“Just because I accept the inevitability of my fate, does not mean I am in any hurry to embrace it.” I reply.

“Your words and motives are insane, however, they are also inspiring.” Argos finishes.

I smiled. I heard Argos changing his gas canister, then forming his tail spear once again. I readied my weapon and pointed the suppressor in the direction of the campsite, and flicked my weapon off safety. I saw the temporary flashes of light on another hilltop, adjacent to ours. Paul was signaling where he was and that he was ready to fire. I return the signal with a few brief flashes of my own, where his immediately stops.

“Lets start the party with flammable gas.” I suggest.

I saw Argos raise his tail, retracting the tail spear and bringing out the canister launcher. The blue canister unlocked itself from the launcher, the tail directed it to Argos’s hind legs, where he retired his gas canisters. He connected the blue canister to a small port in his left hind leg, where it locked itself in place, and retrieved the flammable gas canister, colored red. The gas canister had easily slid into the launcher, and locked itself into place.

“Flammable gas equipped. What are your orders?” Argos asks.

“Launch the gas into the center of the camp, wait for the gas to engulf more than half of the campsite, then ignite it.” I order.

“Calculating launch trajectory…” Argos confirms.

His tail bent at an angle, pointing into the air. The carbon fiber material hardened to lock the angle, so he would not lose his aim. with the hardening of the carbon fiber changed the color of the entire tail to a light gray color, which made it look like it was a tail made of pure rock. The gas canister spun slowly inside the launcher, and the high-power spring was loaded and ready to launch the gas.

“Weapon ready.” Argos confirmed. “Be advised, the gas contains a chemical that disorients the vision and hearing of those who are affected. The affected personnel might run off from the radius of the gas to get to safety.”

I waited for as many people to get into the gas radius before Argos launched it out there. There was a cluster of enemy personnel that were playing around with AK47’s and Mossberg shotguns. Once there were an ample amount of enemy personnel within the radius, I gave the word to Argos to fire the gas.

“Argos, do it.”

The canister launched with a “Psss!” from his tail, where the carbon fiber immediately softened and changed back to its normal color. It disappeared from view as it glided through the air, but Argos kept track of it. As it hit the ground, the small glass windows broke on contact, and released the gas through a widespread area, covering more than I anticipated. The gas was a lightly colored red mist that spread through the air very quickly. Within the following 10 seconds, the victims started to experience the symptoms of the chemical within the flammable gas. Some were coughing violently, others were on the ground, furiously rubbing their eyes or vomiting. The time came where I was about to get sick from watching these guys get sick, which caused me to order Argos to finish them off.

“Argos, ignite the gas.”

Author's Note

Getting really far in this, but it will soon be complete! Please tell me what you think so far, and ill be sure to listen with 100% intent! Many thanks and much appreciated!

Reviews

[_SEMPERFI]

This chapter is awesome, the attention to detail and immersion, I feel as if I can literally see Argos and his unique abilities. Cool name btw. The depth of Argo's intelligence and the ability to conduct missions is fantastic.

A question though, would your main character (Locksmith) really travel as a lone wolf? I am just wondering as I have always seen special operates in fireteams of four or at the least pairs. I guess Argo's could count as your second man thou.

Anyway fantastic job man!

[Austin Jolly]

Sometimes, SEALs would travel alone or even in groups of two because of their dissatisfaction for their Army counterparts, the Rangers. Because only a small portion of SEAL Team 5 (Locksmiths team) knew about the operation, It was likely that it would happen anyway. However, keep in mind that Locksmith is not the only SEAL in the mountains, technically he is not travelling alone (aside from being accompanied by Argos). And yes, the vast majority of Special Operators would operate in squads of 4, or groups of 2, but sometimes there are exceptions by which the pair or the group would split off to cover a bigger objective at hand. Good analysis.

Thank you for the constructive comment, it means a lot (and motivates me too!)!