Welcome to Tarkov

[Lyoko222 12]

Preface: Ive been playing a really fun, hyper-realistic shooter called Escape from Tarkov with a pretty fun group of guys. I was bored when i was traveling in Iowa a few weeks ago and decided to dramatize our escapades in the game from a lore perspective. Its one of my first attempts at writing in a first person POV.

 

Part 1: Welcome to Tarkov

 

Day 1

███████████,Russian Federation

 

OPL C█████ Hanson

Callsign: BANKER

Operation: BROKEN CROWN

Unit: Talon 2-1

 

Contract #: █████████████

 

 

Laughter filled the air as we sat around a fire. It was about 9 o’clock at night and a cool breeze quickly reminded us that we were not home anymore. If we had known the shitstorm we signed up for, none of us would have been laughing. But here we are, telling stories around a campfire, sitting on logs, storage boxes, ammo crates, anything we had laying around. Just enjoying the moment. We had only been here for a few hours, but many of us felt like this was going to be a simple op.

 

There were about 50 of us deployed here from Talon Company, a private military corporation, or PMC for short. Officially we were here as a subcontractor to United Security or USEC to help quell the anarchy that had enveloped a little autonomous region in Northwestern Russia known as Norvinsk. Once a thriving Special Economic Zone that was destined to link Europe and Russia, was now sealed off as UN Peacekeepers, Russian troops, and numerous PMCs fought for control. It wasn't six months ago that this place was the capital of the world. Political scandals, corruption, crime, and corporate greed turned this place into a war zone. And here we were, about to get right in the middle of it.

 

I looked around the fire at some of the guys. Operator First Class (OP1), Edwards or as we called him, EasyE. He was a big guy, carried a lot of our heavy weapons and explosives. He was smoking a cigarette and chatting with another Operator, OP1 Blastems. Fitting name really. He had a problem with trigger control, which led to more than a few incidents of friendly fire in the past, but we figured if we put him in charge of the lead element, he couldn't shoot any of us if we were all behind him. They were both in Talon 1, the first platoon of our little gaggle of **** ups. Talon 1 was led by Operations Supervisor (OPS) James, or CLJ, who was chatting with my Platoon leader, OPS Cody McSwagger. I kid you not, this was the guy’s name. He was a cop in Chicago before signing up to work for TC. Real cool and down to earth guy.

Off to my right was Lead Operator (OPL) Louis, or Redneck Lou. He was the 2nd squad leader for Talon 2 under Cody. He had actually been a union mechanic in Kansas City, i always figured we brought him along to salvage vehicles to use, but sure enough they put him in charge of a squad soon enough. There were other guys, but i didnt recognize a lot of their faces. Most of them were newer Operator Third Classes (OP3) that we had just finished training.

 

I guess that leave me. OPL Hanson, no nickname though they did like to jokingly call me “the Banker”. A nod to a job i had long ago, and a story of my firing that they all loved to hear about. Of course, I also still knew a lot about the financial services industry, a fact that many of them took advantage of, asking for advice and things like that. I was in charge of the first squad in Talon 2. I had some reservations about coming here, we had all seen the news, but the media wasn't exactly able to report how bad things were. That was the one rule, nobody in, nobody out. I guess we were the exception though, Talon had struck a deal with USEC higher ups and they agreed to smuggle us via boat into the area since there was a no fly zone and a Demilitarized Zone surrounding Norvinsk.

 

We could only bring the bare minimum as a result. When we landed, we unloaded what we had and watched the boat we took sail into the horizon of a setting sun, no knowing that it was our last chance to escape. I thought about that boat as i stared into the crackling fire.

 

CRACK

 

That wasn't the fire… It came from the treeline overlooking our makeshift camp. Everyone immediately grabbed their weapons and stood ready to light up anything about to come out. I propped my MPX submachine gun on the log i had taken cover behind and shined my flashlight into the treeline.

 

“HOLD!” Cody yelled to everyone and signaled me to call out.

 

“STAR!” I shouted into the woods.

 

Nothing. I looked to everyone and decided to try once more.

 

“STAR!” I shouted louder.

“TEXAS!” a reply came.

We all let out a sigh of relief as two figured emerged. The first was Jared, our Chief Operations Officer. We called him Sand Rat. He was our second in command here. Behind him was Kitchin, our Chief Executive Officer. We called him Kitch for short. Honestly he was the best operator out of all of us, but also the most uncouth. We respected that though, and we followed him without question. He ran the entirety of Talon Company, and he was the reason that our entire company was here. Sandrat and Kitch had gone out on a scouting mission not too long after we made landfall. All the supervisors and leads followed them to a makeshift table inside of a medium tent meant to sleep about 10 people. It had become out war room of sorts. The Peacekeepers had abandoned it, so it was ours now.

 

We all funneled into the tent which was dimly lit with a few electric lanterns. Some crates were pushed together to create a makeshift table with a few old chairs around it. As everyone got settled in, a few lit cigarettes and others produced flasks from their vests and passed them around. I reached into mine just to make sure my **** was still there. I only drink Stoli, and I was really hoping i would be able to scavenge some while we were here. Despite the brief moment of comradery, we all looked around a little uneasy. We didn’t really know what to expect, so all eyes were on Kitchin and Sandrat.

 

“Okay.” Kitch said and surveyed the room. He whipped out a map of the local area and layed it across the entire table.

 

“Sandrat and I went north and saw the health resort about 2 klicks north of the gas station. Looked mostly abandoned, but we had issues getting past the bus depot just down the street from it. **** scavs everywhere. They weren't that well equipped, most had what looked like hunting rifles and bolt-action shotguns, but we saw a few with Mosins and an AK-74. Those rounds can get through our body armor, so let's not underestimate them.” he explained and started marking the locations with a pencil.

 

“We are here at Shoreline. Now we have two options here. We can try to go west and loop around the Lighthouse and the Town, then cut through Woods, or go straight north. The only thing is we’ll have to get past the factory district.” he continued and drew paths leading to the area we needed to be in. “I want to leave Talon 4 here to hold this area just in case things get dicey.”

 

OPS Wilson nodded. “I think we can pull that off, i got 12 guys, i can rotate them in 8 hour shifts and we can scavenge the area for more supplies.” Wilson said.

 

“Perfect.” Kitch responded. “Now i need a team to volunteer to go into the health resort. We figure there might be some medical supplies there from when Terra Group were using it as an operations center. Any volunteers?” he looked around the room. No one spoke up.

 

“Okay, Hanson. Thanks for volunteering Talon 2-1.” he said and darted his eyes to me.

 

“****…” I whispered under my breath.

 

“Cody get him a radio. Talon 2-2 will take the gas station up the road to give you all a fall back point. Talon 3... “ he stopped and looked around. “Where in the **** is BillyJoe?”

 

“I think i saw him sleeping earlier.” Talon 3-1’s lead, OPL Noc, spoke up.

 

“Alright Noc, well Talon 3 is going west to the village. See if there is still anyone there. If not, loot the houses and come right back.” Kitch issued his order to him. Noc nodded and left the tent to go find BillyJoe.

 

“CLJ, i want you to take your guys and see what's up with that big ass radio tower. If we can put our transmitter on top, we can have comms throughout the AO while we are here. Got it?” Kitch asked CLJ.

 

“We’ll get it done, man.” he responded nonchalantly and lit a cigarette.

 

“Perfect. We move out at 0400, while it's still dark. And if any of you see a scav, do not hesitate to drop him. They are desperate and they will kill you if you are not careful. Don't try talking to them either. They don't speak a **** bit of English.” Sandrat chimed in. “Any questions?”

 

No one said anything.

 

“Great. Get your guys ready.” Kitch dismissed the group.

[Lyoko222 12]

Part 2: A Walk in the Woods

 

Day 2

0457 hrs (LOCAL)

███████████,Russian Federation

 

OPL C█████ Hanson

Callsign: BANKER

Operation: BROKEN CROWN

Unit: Talon 2-1

 

Contract #: █████████████

 

The sun was starting to come up and the birds chirped as I laid on the ground. I intently looked through my binoculars at the gas station from the hill to the west of it. It had good cover and concealment so it made a perfect observation post, or OP, to look down at the **** scavs that had taken up residence there. The scavs, short for scavengers, honestly weren’t bad people if im being honest. They were people like you and me, well at least me. They were killers now after all. They were workers, first responders, accountants, butchers, police, just about anyone from any trade at this point. They were the civilians left behind, unable to escape the chaos oftentimes. Doing what they had to do to survive, even if it meant killing for it. The human race is a resilient one because of one basic trait. Survival instinct…

 

“How long are we gonna sit on these guys?” i hear whispered to me.

 

I look over to my left and it's my medic, OP2 Salvator Scarselli, or Scars. He was my squad’s comedian which made him perfect to be our doc. You tend to hurt a lot less if you’re laughing, or so i’m told. He was looking through the ACOG scope of his M4 carbine rifle and saw what i was seeing. We had been up here for about half an hour, so i guess the question was fair.

 

“Until i find out how many **** people they have down there.” I replied, not bothering to look away from my binoculars. “I count ten of them so far.”

 

“Why can’t we just bypass it?” he asked.

“Other TC units are gonna have to pass this bullshit at some point, so there is no reason to leave it occupied by people who are going to try to cap us every time we stroll on by.” I explained. “And…… that’s eleven. I thinks that’s all of them.”

The last scav to come out of the building looked to be their leader. Had better gear than the rest. Most were just armed with shotguns, a mosin, a few SKSs, and absolutely no body armor to speak of. Easy. ****. Money. The boss though… He was rocking a pretty nice AK-74N, aftermarket parts, decent optic.

 

“Kazhdyy!” the scav leader shouted. All of the scavs turned their attention to him. “Sobirayutsya vokrug!”

 

“The **** did he say?” I asked Scars who knew a little russian.

 

“I think he’s gathering everyone.” he replied. “I’m not really sure though.”

 

I continued to observe. The scavs left their posts and started to converge on the scav boss who was in the middle of the fueling plaza, near the pumps.

 

“Holy ****, I think you’re right…” I said in astonishment. “****, hold on.”

 

I put down my binoculars and reached for my radio.

 

Beep

 

“All fireteams, all fireteams, this is Hanson. Line up shots, focus long range weapons first, prepare to fire on my mark, over” I quietly said through the short wave channel to the rest of my squad who i had spread out along the treeline overlooking the area.

 

“This is Grizly, Bravo ready.” a reply came

 

“Hern, Charlie ready.” a second reply came.

 

“Talon 6, Talon 6, this is Talon 2-1. We are initiating contact with enemy at gas station, eleven armed tangos, over.” I informed Kitch of our impending engagement over the longer range radio i was carrying. I didn’t expect a reply though, I doubted Kitch was even monitoring the channel, but protocol and all.

 

I propped up my MPX and lined up a shot on the closest guy i could find. **** 9mm at most has an effective range of something like 100 meters. These guys were probably about 75 away. Started to question my weapon choice to bring with me. Maybe i could steal that guy’s AK though…..

 

“3...2...1...Mark.” I called over the radio as 6 shots rang out. 6 bodies dropped immediately, they found their mark.

 

The rest of the scavs all jumped back in surprise and terror. A few more shots were fired and 3 more fell as the final 2, which included that scav boss, ran for cover. I followed him in my sight and i saw him point… Looked like at me.

 

WHIP

 

The bark on the tree next to me exploded as a slug hit it, sending bark into my face.

 

“Mother ****!” I shouted and fired a few shots at the scav with the shotgun who had almost ruined my **** life. He dropped as a line of bullets leading from his chest up to his face hit him.

 

“One left.” I called over the radio. “Move in.”

 

The squad, minus Charlie team who had the squad’s only RSASS, moved down the hill into the fueling plaza.

 

“Kapitulyatsiya!” Scars shouted at the man.

(Surrender)

 

“Nyet!” a reply came as he blind fired a few shots, sending us scrambling for cover. I dove behind a burned out car and kept my weapon trained on the barrier the scav boss was hiding behind.

 

“Hern, do you guys have a shot?” I asked through the radio.

 

“Negative.” he replied.

 

“Kapitulyatsiya!” Scars shouted again from behind another barricade parallel to the scav boss’.

 

No reply came.

 

“Bravo, lay down suppressing fire, me and Scars will bound up and take him.” I ordered.

 

Grizly and Marco, our Bravo element, nodded and started to put shots on him to keep his head down. Scars and I rushed to the next piece of cover, a gas pump. Scars set up and started to shot as well as I made a mad dash towards the scav boss from the right, staying clear of their suppressive fire. When I got close, like a well oiled machine all 3 stopped. I vaulted over the barricade, aimed my gun and pulled the trigger.

 

CLICK

 

****.

The Scav boss turned to look at me and tried to turn his rifle to shoot me, but it was too long and he was too slow. I threw my MPX and rushed him. I grabbed the handguard of his AK and tried to wrestle it away. A few shots rang out as he held down the trigger in the struggle. I made one final push and he released his grip on the AK, as did I and it flew across the ground. The boss produced a knife and jumped on me, desperately trying to sink his blade in my throat. I held him back with one hand, but it slowly got closer and closer as he overpowered me. Almost….  Almost… GOT IT!

 

BANG. BANG. BANG.

 

The boss went limp and collapsed on me. His knife sliding from his grip and clattering across the parking lot. I pushed him off with my right hand and looked to see my P226 pistol in my left hand. I had been trying to get it from it's holster when he was on top of me. I planted 3 in his chest. I stood up and dusted myself off as the rest of the squad run up. I looked over to the boss who was laying on the ground bleeding, but he was still alive. Definitely hit a lung, probably his stomach too. His breathing was labored, and i could hear him choking on his own blood. It was a pathetic site. He looked up at me with angry eyes. My reply was the barrel of my pistol and an indifferent look as I pulled the trigger, ending his life.

 

“Talon 6, Talon 6, this is Talon 2-1, Contact over, time 0508, 11 tangos dispatched, meds and ammo green. No casualties. Gas station is clear at this time, over.” I reported into my radio.

 

“Good job, Hanson. All those shots woke me up.” Kitch replied over the radio. “They have anything good on them?” he asked.

 

I looked around. “We’ll keep you posted on that. Talon 2-1, out.” I replied and went to retrieve my prize. I picked up the AK and looked at it. Pretty nice, I think i’ll keep it.

 

“Talon 2, 2-1. Have Lou and his guys come search this area. We are moving on to the resort, over.” I requested as I stripped the scav boss of his mags, ammo, and meds.

 

“Alright, lets go.” I ordered and started walking north back into the woods. I looked to the East and saw the sunrise over a dark horizon. We were in it now, weren’t we….