Operation: Crimson Space

Tough blows

Arkady's pov
I looked around the room of Teams, Gustave had called all the teams to Wolfguard's base of operations in Nice. I shifted slightly uncomfortable at the idea of every operator currently active in rainbow in a room when we know Deimos is hunting us. Gustave started "I believe you all know why I asked you here." Taina said, her words dripping with venom, "Deimos" Gustave nodded and said "this man is the single biggest threat we've faced, he managed to sneak into the base at Hereford, past the military police and guards, into Harry's office after having set up a trap to kill a Fireteam from Redhammer. Harry is dead, we're on our own." I heard Sam "so why have us here? We know how much of a threat this man is." Gustave said "we have more information, the footage from the cameras in Harry's office have given us some insight. This Deimos, he's ex-rainbow, he claimed Team Rainbow as his team. So he knows how we operate, he also made his intentions clear. He intends to kill each and every one of us." We all mulled over the last sentence. Gustave said "I believe it would benefit us all if we shared any intel we have on him. We all know Harry set up the squads so we could act independently from a central command so if he ever died we wouldn't need a new six."
Taina said "I'm sure the other team leaders also have plans for operations against Deimos, Ghosteyes will share what we know." Gustave smiled softly as Yumiko said "As will viperstrike." Jordan stood up shakily, his cane supporting a lot of his weight as he said "Redhammer is still in this." We all gave him various signs of respect as Gustave said "I believe our resident Espionage and Intelligence team should lead us off with this trade of information." Taina looked back at us before saying "Erik, tell them what we know." Erik stood and tossed some files on the table (A/N none of this is confirmed, just a theory I find interesting)"We know a couple things in the short time we've been digging. Deimos was Six during Operation Patriots in 2012. The mission went south and it directly caused Rainbow to be deactivated until 2015. His name is James Wolfe, a former navy seal, honorably discharged but not without his fair share of demotions and controversial decisions in combat. The man believes ethics are irrelevant as long as freedom is secure."
Craig stood and asked "if I could" Erik sat down and said "floors all yours squid." Craig replied "if our intel is to be believed this is a huge threat. James Wolfe was part of DEVGRU, the man has fought in every corner of the globe and made cartels disappear over night. Erik, if you've got anything else I don't have anything more to add." Erik stood again and started "we've got a possible hit on his location, a couple of our friends in low places spotted a man wearing similar clothes to Deimos as well and fitting the description for James Wolfe. Ghosteyes is planning an infiltration op to the air field he's operating out of, in turkey, to get a PID. That's all we have at this time." Yumiko stood and said "we've also got some intel, we've been monitoring a couple private C-17's 2 of which have been tracked to the Air field Ghosteyes has marked as high interest." Gustave stood and said "Wolfguard has heard whispers on our web of informants about a growing private military. Styling themselves after Cole Walker's wolves."
We continued trading intelligence for a couple more hours before it was decided Ghosteyes would provide an escort team to clear the way for Yumiko and her hatchet force to sneak onto Deimos' plane. I was fairly confident with the plan, this ex-director had bitten off more than he could chew. We returned to our bases of operations, but today Ghosteyes had guests, we would be hosting Viperstrike during the course of our joint operations. We stood in the briefing room as the teams were selected, I looked at Taina as she limped, her right arm had been burned slightly, her forehead had some light burns, her right eye had a bandage over it, and her leg had some stress fractures from the overpressure. She said "Alright Ghosteyes, listen up. If you hear your name, you are on the infiltration team. We keep this tight, we keep it clean and we move fast. Arkady, Chul, Karina and Ana, you're our team for this." I saw Nienke look disappointed she wouldn't be on the mission. Erik asked "can I ask why you selected them?" Taina replied "Arkady has his jammer, it'll help cut down on the enemies response time. Chul will be invisible to Cameras and sensor equipment, same with Karina. Ana has her Spec-IO so she can help them avoid detection."
We all nodded before Yumiko said "my team is Myself, Vicente and Nayara(brava). We'll sneak on the plane and take out Deimos if he's there." We listened as they went over the plans before Taina said "On the ground, Nøkk has lead. Her orders are as if they come from me, get this done Ghosteyes. Avenge Harry." We nodded and went about getting our equipment. I sat on the bench and slowly loaded round after round of 5.56x45 nato into my 416's magazine, I felt a presence next to me causing me to look up and see Nienke. She asked "this seat taken?" I replied with a small smile "немає, it's all yours" she sat down and asked "nervous?" I replied easily "not in the slightest." She looked at me like I had a second head "really?" I nodded and replied "just another mission, I've survived so much more than Deimos can throw at me." She nodded slowly before saying "mama was excited to hear we had reconnected." I glanced over before asking "why?" Nienke replied "she's taken a liking to you."
      I chuckled softly and said "I've only talked to her once in the last decade." Nienke replied "well yea, but Ukraine hasn't given you much of a chance to visit anywhere else." I nodded before asking "so why bring this up?" She said "if we get a chance, I'd like to visit home." I nodded slowly before asking "we?" She said quietly "I'd like you to come with me." I finished loading my magazines before I stood and said "I tell you what, I make it through this mission I'll go visit your parents with you." She smiled and jumped up, giving me a brief hug she said "you should get moving, I'm sure the others are waiting." I saw her cheeks flush pink as I smiled softly "I'll see you when I get back." She nodded as I started walking, my mind wandered to what my mother said when I was a younger man. It was a warm summer day, the sun shined perfectly through the kitchen window, my mother had just finished putting everything in the pot for the stew before turning "Arkady, listen to your mother, one day you will find your person. You might not know it right away, but when you find her, your heart will know. Listen closely to it, my son, sometimes it only whispers what you know."
       I wondered to myself "is Nienke my person?" I heard Erik to my right "That's an odd question" I glanced over and heard him continue "don't you ever wonder why you two always want to be in missions together?" I replied simply "we're close friends, we trust each other." He replied "maybe, or maybe you guys care about each other to the point you want to be responsible for their safety." I asked teasingly "when did you become a therapist?" He replied with a small laugh "maybe I should be." I nodded and said "god help us all." He feigned hurt and said "tough hit." I stopped next to the mission briefing and turned to him as he said "stay safe, I hope this mission goes without a hitch." I nodded before turning and walking into the room. I saw Nøkk, Vigil and Solis waiting as Taina and Sam came in with tablets. They projected the topographical maps and overlaid the structures and air field on it, we gathered around the table and started discussing our approach plan.
     Taina said "Viperstrike's hatchet force is preparing their gear, we need this plan finalized so we can brief them on it." I asked "we're all Airborne troops right?" The other three on the mission nodded as Sam said "so are the operators on Viperstrike's hatchet force." I suggested "there's the plateau here, we could HALO jump to it and work our way to the airfield from the forest. We bypass the security check points, we'd only have to worry about roaming patrols and security camera's." The others leaned in looking at the course I had drawn on the projection trying to find anything wrong with it. I waited patiently before Nøkk suggested "we could fly a helicopter right to the plateau, avoid any need to endanger a C-130. The plateau would act as a sound muffle, plus we have the stealth hawks courtesy of Sam and Fourth echelon." We looked between each other seeing if anyone had any problems with that plan, when no one said a thing we all agreed that's what we'd go with. Sam said "I'll get the pilots briefed." We nodded as Hibana, Brava and Capitaõ walked in.
     We listened as Taina explained the plan and how we would be moving, what the terrain was like, what our phase lines were, where Ghosteyes would go for extraction and what would happen if we were compromised. After an hour we got the green light and started filing out, as I reached the door I heard Taina "Kasper, hold for a moment." I stopped and looked at her "what can I do for you captain?" She asked "is your wound going to slow this team down?" I replied with certainty "no ma'am, Doc took care of me when we were at the meeting. I'm good as new." She nodded and said "good, now go, our team is counting on you." I gave her a two finger salute before slipping out the door. Nienke walked with me for a bit before saying "I've got a good feeling about this mission." I glanced over and asked "that so?" She nodded and cheerfully said "I think everything will work out." I replied with a bit of skepticism "we'll just have to wait and see won't we?" She nodded before saying "stay safe, really, I won't be there to make sure you come back alive."
      I stopped and turned to her, I said "I'll be okay, we're part of the best team in the world, the best squad in rainbow. We'll pull through, keep the room together until I come back, okay?" She nodded slowly before staying silent, her mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to say something but couldn't find the words for it. She looked at me and her eyes conveyed the message, I nodded and said "don't worry Nie, I'll be back. I'd never leave you to fight this war alone." She smiled before saying "you have to go." I nodded before giving her a quick hug and kissing her cheek before turning and walking through the door onto the airfield, I jogged to the stealth hawk and climbed in. The Crew Chief made the motion of putting headphones on causing me to put the internal communication headset on as Hibana asked "what took so long?" I replied "Caveira wanted to talk." She nodded accepting that, we slid the doors to the personnel compartment closed as the helicopter lifted off. I glanced out the window and saw Erik, Nienke and Sam watching us disappear into the pre-dusk sunset.