- Down in the sand he was forced to shift every now and then to stop from sliding, the buffet of wind and sand was making it difficult to get a read on anything. The others closest to him were just barely in his line of sight and he couldn't see far enough to get a good read on anything. Cursing quietly under his breath he thought back to his training, a strange calm filling his mind as he forced himself to concentrate. If they lost ground so be it, at this point it would be worth it to not lose anyone else. Falling back would get them out of the main fire, hopefully, and give them time to find something better to rally against. Whatever, or whoever, it was that had them fixed was definitely seeing them with no problem.
Just as he was opening his mouth to give the order to fall back the next explosion went off. These weren't mines. Grenades? Brows furrowing tightly between his eyes in frustration. Moving forward could startle their attackers or it could get them killed. Who knew if there were mines ahead, all they knew was there wasn't any behind them. Having a minesweeper team with them would have solved this problem but as it stood they had to wait for their arrival, and who knew if they'd even show up mid-fight. They would have to fall back. "Fall back, seek shelter and hunker down." Barked into his comm set as he scanned the area in front of him, shoulders tensing as he spotted the shadow moving toward them. Was it a foe, however? He couldn't just shoot at them until they had fired first.
Hearing the affirmatives from those left he waited until they had all fallen back behind his position before he followed. He found a wall that gave him a break from the sheer wind and buffeting sand and he kept watch around it, eyes narrowed intently. Mines, why did it have to be mines? "Confirm status." Knowing his men would not have left the four fallen and updating his tracker as his men rallied up. He even marked the new positions of his downed people, looking it over to get a rough idea of where everyone was and where they had experienced contact. Then, and only then, did he make radio contact. "Charlie One, this is Victor Echo Six, contact with unknown number of enemy combatants. Four casualties. One confirmed mine, three unknown explosive weapons. Advise, over."
Shooting blindly was an option, but if they riled the local populace by shooting innocents there would be more trouble. If this was the enemy they were facing that was another story. There had to be intel of some sort by now, right? If the locals were hostile there would be clearer action plans. For now he couldn't even tell where the assault was coming from. Perhaps the shadows nearing them would give them a clearer idea. If they were the enemy they would know soon enough. It would be nice if Command knew something but they were likely as in the dark as them. It would be down to him to make the final decision whether they would engage or not. Rasei just hoped he wouldn't be wrong when he did.
