Operation: Crimson Space

New intel

Arkady's pov
       I walked through the halls to the chow hall only to hear Taina on the intercom system "Maverick, Iana, Kasper, Lion and Flores to planning room." I started walking through the halls towards the planning room as I heard Olivier behind me "think we're finally going to Libya?" I replied "hopefully, I'm tired of fighting in Europe." He chuckled softly "have you ever been to Africa?" I replied "tak, I was part of some maritime operations to combat Somali pirates." He replied "sounds worth while" I replied "it was boring, very boring." He laughed openly before we pushed the door open and walked in. Nienke looked at me and smiled as I sat next to her, I asked "how'd your phone call go?" She replied "Papa is still upset" I sighed before I heard Taina "I'm sure you've all heard the basic information of this mission before Nighthaven intruded." Most of us nodding our affirmation as she continued "the us Air Force has an MQ-9 predator drone maintaining surveillance on the village." She had Sam pull up the live feed and we saw an aerial overview of the village, I sketched out a rough plan of the village.
One road going in, a compound at the end of the road, on the southern side of the road there were 5 smaller houses and on the northern side of the road there was a small road that split off the main one and that had 7 houses on it. The main road only had 3, maybe 4 houses on it. I heard Taina "as you can see there's a lot of houses, we have a rough estimate of 30 to 40 combatants. The british intelligence staff is warning us that they're expecting emplaced weaponry." I mentally groaned, fighting emplaced machine guns is always a pain in the ass. Maverick asked "do we have any information on the weapons they're using?" Taina replied "we do have images of them unloading M2 heavy machine guns." My eyes widened as the live feed cut and the images of them unloading the ma deuce. Iana asked "are we getting any support?" Sam said "The Air Force is giving an AC-130 to the mission" taina said "You've got air support, the other Rainbow Teams aren't able to send anyone else. It's just your insertion team and then the QRF team."
Flores asked "who's on the QRF?" Sam replied "Nøkk, Glaz, Lesion, Mozzie and Valkyrie." Olivier said "seems like most of this has been accounted for." I asked "do we have any information on what house Deimos is hiding in?" Taina replied "geological surveys suggest that he'll be in a tunnel system the masks have constructed under the compound. We had a little help from the CIA and they did seismic pulses to see if there were any underground structures. Here's the map they provided of the tunnel." We watched as the screen shifted and a winding maze of tunnels was seen. Olivier commented "they've been busy." Erik said "so we're going to clear a village with 5 people, then clear a tunnel as complex as that, with weapon emplacements?" Taina challenged "think your team can't handle it?" We all looked at him in question as he sighed and said "we definitely can do it, just saying it's not easy. Especially with it being a No Fail mission" Santiago looked at the screen and said "when do we leave?" Taina said "the crew is doing their flight checks right now, you'll fly into airport 201 in Niger. There you'll get on two blackhawks and fly to the target area."
We sat quietly before Sam said "we've already briefed the QRF, we leave this up to you all now. Bag him, he goes down, this team gets to regain our aggression." We stood and filed out as nienke showed up on my shoulder and asked "how do we feel on this?" I looked over before shrugging and saying "well clear it, if any team can do it, it's ghosteyes." She chuckled before we all fell quiet. The daunting task of clearing a village, and now a rats nest of tunnels, weighed heavily on our minds. We piled onto the small private jet and then took off, I looked through the satellite imagery and schematics for the houses. Nienke did the same for a bit before I heard Erik "arkady" I looked up as he said "I want you to draw a couple attack plans, you're our resident small team assault expert" I lifted my hand in the 'o.k.' Gesture and got to work. It didn't take long before I had 5 or 6 attack plans, some of which used the QRF as an outer perimeter force, keeping any masks in the rest of the village from creeping in while we assault the main compound.
I passed them off to Erik as the rest of the team looked them over and commented on them, slowly refining it into the best plan for all our different strengths. Soon enough we had our plan, I would lead the team into the main building, once we secured that QRF would hold it and we would proceed to the tunnels. The UAV orbiting the area would keep an eye out for any squirters. I looked at nienke as she said "you know, this will be my first time fighting in Africa." I replied "just hope we're done by 09 tomorrow, any longer and we're gonna get cooked." She glanced at me as Erik said "oh yeah, it's the height of the dry season." Olivier said "the last time I was in Africa I got the nickname Lion" I laughed and said "been a long time then" he glared for a second before smiling "simpler times." I heard Flores "so what're our phase lines?" I looked at him as Erik asked "when did you learn about phase lines? You're not military" Flores did a few of his card tricks as he answered "you pick up a trick or two, when you watch the magic" as he made the card disappear.
I rolled my eyes as Erik said "our phase lines are October, May, April and September. October is eyes on the village, may is beginning the assault, April is entering the tunnel and September is tunnel secure." I commented "quite the gap in time frame between the phase lines." He looked at me and said "it's the most important parts of the mission." I shrugged before shifting my 416 and leaning back, getting some shut eye before we reached the target. When I woke up I heard Flores "were about to reach the insert" I nodded as I double checked my rifle. I noticed she needed to be cleaned, there was grease build up that had started to occur. I mentally marked it before I heard Iana "something wrong?" I glanced over and said "not yet, I just have to clean my rifle when we get back, I've cycled too many rounds since her last cleaning." She nodded and said "I'll remind you then" I looked at Maverick and saw his eyes dance knowingly between us, he looked at me and smirked teasingly.
     I looked at Iana and saw her eyes dancing between maverick and I, she focused on me when she noticed me looking and her expression softened. I pulled down my NVGs and watched the desert as it passed below us. Maverick said on comms "we're 5 mikes out, get switched on." I leaned out the open cargo bay and looked forward seeing the lights of the village waver through the heat waves. I glanced up and saw it was a quarter moon, not as much light as I'd like but the NVGs could offset it. I turned my PEQ-15 to IR illuminator and asked "who's lead?" Maverick looked and said "we're the only ones with experience fighting in the Sahara. You're point. I lifted my left hand in the OK symbol and tuned out as Maverick handed out the rest of the positions. I felt a note pad tap on my forearm, I glanced over and saw Iana looked at me as I grabbed the notepad and read it "stay safe, Mama is asking about when we're going to visit next. You need to be there for that." I glanced at her before silently laughing.
The pilot came over comms "touch down in 1 mike, it will be a brown out." I sighed and heard Maverick "understood." As the others looked on in interest, Lion asked "brown out? What is that?" I replied "it's when the rotor wash kicked up the sand and makes a mini sand storm, you can't see a thing until the choppers leave." The three nodded their heads as the information processed. Just then Zero was heard on the radio "be advised, we have an ISR pred feed of the target. Activity is normal, no signs of them knowing what's about to happen." I glanced out the cargo bay again and looked at the second Blackhawk carrying our QRF, I heard Maverick "Nervous Kasper?" I replied without looking "not at all, just antsy to get going." Next thing I know both teams are on the ground looking at each other as our eyes adjusted and we discussed the best way to approach to achieve our assault with the least amount of casualties. I heard the Nøkk "we're heading to our OP, let us know when you kick things off and we'll start securing the rest." I lifted my closed fist as Nøkk and Valkyrie walked by, getting fist bumps as they walked. Iana and I had grown close with the two women.
I looked at Maverick and said "we should get this show on the road if we want to be there before dawn." He sighed but said "lead the way, target is 2 klicks that way" as he pointed south. I stood and started making my way in that direction, it was a relatively quiet ruck. Nothing really happened, no patrols, no vehicles just silence, that is until a buggy game flying over a sand dune causing us to drop to the ground and take aim. I keyed my radio "I've got eyes on contractors" Nøkk asked "how do you know they work for Deimos?" I heard Maverick "what else would contractors, in a buggy that says 'Deimos Legion' on the side be doing 200 meters from our target?" Lesion replied "No need to get snarky" I rolled my eyes as the teasing before Caveira was heard "tighten it up" the joking stopped as we watched the buggy make their patrol. When they passed I looked at Maverick and said "we need to take them out" he looked at me in confusion before Lion said "I don't feel comfortable leaving our QRF out here with them patrolling like that when we check the tunnels."
Maverick nodded and radioed "be advised, when that legion patrol come around again. We're going to engage." Nøkk radioed "What?!" As he said "spread out 10 meters between us." We all silently spread out and laid down. I pulled my shemagh off and paid it under my rifle to try to keep the sand out of the receiver as we waited. About 30 minutes later they crested the dune again, when they drove down into the valley between dunes we engaged. A torrent of rounds struck the engine and drivers side door. They didn't stand a chance, I watched as the buggy sped up and started climbing the dune we were on before it tipped and started crashing back down into the valley. We watched as it crushed itself with each roll before Maverick said "lion, Kasper, check it out. Make sure they're done." I shook my rifle as I stool and started down the dune towards the wreck with lion.