Operation: Crimson Space

A brief reprieve

Arkady's pov
       As we ran I heard over the radio "Sabre 1, victor 3, how copy?" I replied "good copy, send traffic" I heard "we're enroute with 2 Mi-24 hinds to provide cover for your exfiltration" I replied stoically "great, we've got our IR strobes on, anyone without one is enemy" Victor 3 replied "sounds good, we'll be there in 15 mikes" I sighed as Volkov said "couldn't be any sooner, немає we have to run for another 15 minutes fighting our way to the trucks just for the hinds to show up" I heard Javelin "I'm just happy to have air support." I said "me too, let's move we're 20 mikes from the cars" I thought about it before radioing "Rainbow 1-1, Sabre 0-1" thermite replied "go for Rainbow 1-1" I asked "how's Iana doing?" He replied "she's holding on we've slowed the bleeding but we're almost to the halfway point of her golden hour." I shared glances with Javelin and Volkov before replying "Just go, get her to the medics" he said "we can't do that, we can't leave you guys here. No Man Left behind" Volkov snapped "Thermite, This is an SSO operation. You have wounded and she's running out of time, go. We'll figure out another evac" Zofia replied "well come back for you, we promise" I didn't reply as a round snapped overhead, the distinctive sound of a hyper sonic 5.56 nato round.
      I spun and fell to a crouch firing at the mask watching him fall, I sighed before turning and running again. Javelin laughed "These guys are fast, must've been track runners" I shook my head at the fact we're actively being chased by 20-30 masks and she's still making jokes. I said "Volkov, how much farther?" He said "1.7 klicks, 14 minutes give or take 5" I sighed and said "let's hurry the sooner those gunships get here the sooner we go home" I felt my body shivering in the pale moonlight of this stormy night. Lightning cracked overhead as we ran, the rain was definitely fucking with my optics, my night vision was fuzzy and out of focus causing me to stumble a couple times as I adjusted to the limited vision. I sighed before hearing shouting behind me, my team instinctively found cover and got ready for a gunfight. I wiped my eyes trying to get the rain out of them before tightening my grip on my rifle, shivering aggressively as the freezing early spring rain pelted my exposed flesh. My uniform grew heavier and heavier as it became more waterlogged and I became more exhausted, we were entering the 5th hour of combat and it was started to take its toll.
       I saw a group of four masks slowly creeping around the corner, I noticed one crouch and press his hand against a depression in the mud, I quickly realized it was a boot print. These were our trackers, the ones that had kept the masks on us. I flexed my pointer finger not even feeling the recoil as my arms had numbed up, I watched the mask who had crouched get ripped back as his hands snapped to his neck as he rolled around choking on his own blood. Javelin took the mask on the left hitting her with 6 rounds from her Ak while Volkov and myself hit the last 2 with our rifles, I ordered quickly "let's go, the main force can't be that far behind" as we spun and started running again. I looked to my right and saw Yelena jogging haphazardly next to Javelin, I felt some sympathy for the dog, her paws must've been freezing.
      10 minutes later we had reached the extraction zone, we found pieces of cover that got us out of the rain inadvertently setting up an L ambush. I heard Victor 3 on the radio "Be advised Kasper, we're getting reports from Rainbow's MQ-9 of a large mask force amassing half a klick north of your position." I replied "acknowledged, free to engage." I heard a cold laugh before Victor 3 replied "putting rockets in doorways, Wilco" I laughed as I heard the rockets rip out of the tubes heading straight for the masks. I sighed as I felt the water levels in the hole I was in rising, just before I heard Thermite "Kasper, we're en route. ETA - mikes, how -opy?" I replied quickly "Thermite, you're breaking up. I can't make out what you're saying, the storm is interfering, over" he replied again "5 mikes! 5 mikes, how copy?!" I replied quickly "good copy" before switching to local radio "extraction is here in 5 mikes, sit tight" I heard javelin "about time, my ass is freezing" I chuckled softly before Victor 3 was heard "I'm almost out of rockets, the masks are still en route. I can only do one more pass before the storm forces me to egress."
      I replied "take care of your gun ship, we'll be okay without support for a bit" he said in reply "commencing final strafe, good luck Kasper. I hope this gamble works out." I muttered to myself "me too" as I heard the sound of engines in the near distance only to hear Maverick "Sabre 0-1 were about to enter the perimeter, blue forces coming in." I replied "Sabre copies all, great timing" as my team slowly worked our way out of our cover just for the up armored MRAP to pull into the opening as the back door swung open and I saw Buck waving us in as we ran for it, we quickly climbed up the steps and sat down as buck slammed the doors closed and locked them before yelling "we're good!" I sighed in relief just as small arms fire was heard pinging off the side of the armored vehicle, Maverick nodded his head slowly as Zofia said "not a second to soon" I laughed softly before Javelin said "I'm just glad to be heading back to base."
      I nodded before leaning back, these missions only get more stressful. I asked Thermite "hey therm, how's Iana? Is she doing okay?" He replied "she'll make a full recovery, it was just a flesh wound. She wanted you to visit when you got back to base" I nodded slowly before maverick said "fun mission yeah?" I laughed before saying "yeah, you could say that" he patted my shoulder saying "seems you've got a couple fans" I closed my eyes and said "that jammer always pisses the masks off" Buck replied "he wasn't talking about the masks" I opened one eye before Javelin said "who was he talking about?" Thermite replied plainly "Harry, Team Rainbow's director." I closed my eye and said "is that so" before dosing off, the exhaustion setting in. When we got back to base I climbed out of the MRAP and stretched, the fatigue setting in fairly quickly. Volkov, Javelin, Yelena and I moved to our cages and took off our gear carefully placing it in its designated positions, I heard a voice at the door to my cage "you must be Master Sergeant Bohuslav" I turned and saw a man slightly shorter than myself "Senior Master Sergeant" I corrected.
       He nodded knowingly before saying "I'd like to thank your team for covering mine's extraction" I nodded slowly before surmising "you must be six" he chuckled softly before asking "may I come in?" I motioned to the bench in the corner of my cage before asking "can I do something for you Director?" He didn't answer me instead asking "You run a team of 3, that's very unusual. How'd that come about?" I replied simply "we're more a recon team than an assault team" he nodded slowly before pointing out "your team handled themselves well for being a 'recon' team as you put it" I hung up my plate carrier and turned "what can I do for you Six?" He stood up and extended his hand, I saw a piece of paper in it "join Team Rainbow, I could use your skills and outlook at the team" I looked at the paper before turning my eyes to Harry "how much time do I have to decide?" He replied simply "my team returns to our primary base tomorrow morning, 06:00 local" I nodded slowly "I'll have an answer for you by then." He nodded before saying "I look forward to your answer"
I slowly walked out of my cage after Harry closing the door and locking it before I paused and watched the strange man walk away, he walked jovially and with a slight bounce in his step. A stark contrast to the serious conversation he had just taken part in, I mulled over his offer before turning and heading towards the medical wing. I wanted to check on Iana, it's not uncommon for us to take casualties while engaging in our operations, my platoon alone had over a 100% casualty rate. All of us had taken rounds or shrapnel, all of us had been wounded and some had been killed but it rarely happened to our western partners when they went on operations with up. I thought over the many times I had been blown up, or grazed and even my time with nato rounds in my body. Time flew as I made my way through the winding corridors and up the staircase before I saw the main desk, the military nurses and doctors moving through with expert grace before I walked up to the secretary and waited until she looked at me "What can I do for you sir?"
I replied "I'm here to visit the Rainbow Operator Iana, I heard she was being treated here" the woman typed away for a second before saying "go down this hallway, the 4th door on the right" I nodded and said "thank you ma'am" she nodded as I walked past the desk and paused outside the door. I gripped the door knob and twisted it slowly pushing the door open and walking in, I saw Iana push herself up as I reached the foot of her hospital bed. She said "you came" I replied simply "you asked for me" she smiled softly as I teased "Nie, I thought I told you to not get shot" she replied "it wasn't on my list of things to do" I sat down and said "Your Director invited me to join rainbow" she perked up "are you going to accept?" I looked over and asked "what do you think I should do?" She replied "I think rainbow would be a great opportunity for you" I nodded softly before saying "been a long time since we last talked" she nodded softly "been a couple years" I replied "I think I'm going to accept, I get to fight the masks more and I get to catch up with you"
     She nodded a little excited before saying "it's a great place, the mission rotation means we get proper times to decompress" I nodded before saying "you rest up, I'm gonna go tell Ivana and Bhyrkov I'm transferring to rainbow. I also have to tell Six" I heard the somewhat familiar voice of Six in the doorway behind me "tell me what" I turned and said "Director, I'd like to accept the invitation to Team Rainbow" he smiled happily before saying "I'll let your commander know and start drawing up the paperwork" I nodded before saying "if you'd excuse me, I'd like to go inform my teammates" he stepped out of the doorway as I started through the base heading to the dorm building finding my teammates in our room. They both looked at me as Bhyrkov said "finally back from your date?" I shook my head before saying "Director Six invited me to join Rainbow" Ivana asked "are you going to?" I replied simply "Six and Alecsyrkov are drawing up the paper work as we speak" Bhyrkov stood up and saluted "it's been an honor" I walked forward and extended my hand while saying "I agree" he shook it as I gave Ivana a hug and started packing.