The Ghost and the Phoenix

Part One

Atten...HA!'

In a unified movement, the squad of soldiers stood to attention. Feet together, arms straight down by their sides, eyes facing front. The instructor known as Ghost making the only sound, his boots crunching the gravel on the makeshift parade ground as he walked between the ranks.

Making his way to the front of the squad, he stopped and turned to face them. Eyeing the front row of soldiers through his mask, he let out a sigh. Footsteps approached behind him but he refrained from turning around. The person appeared on his right, coming to a halt beside him.

'Price wants us in the briefing room.' the man said in a heavy Scottish broug.

Ghost nodded without looking at him.

'Alright gentlemen. Your 48 hour passes begin the moment you're dismissed.' Ghost's deep British accent carried across the parade ground. 'Enjoy your downtime cause it's the last you'll get for a while.' He paused, giving them one final look over. 'Dismissed.'

As the soldiers filed off the parade ground, Ghost turned to the man beside him.

'I take it the mission's back on then Soap?' he asked as he pulled a packet of cigarettes from the back pocket of his pants.

'Aye.' Soap confirmed as the two men began their walk the the briefing room.

'Didn't think they'd find a pilot to be honest.' Ghost pushed the bottom of his mask up over his lips to light the cigarette. He took in a long draw, exhaling the smoke in a long steady stream.

'Aye that.' Soap agreed. 'Havin' 'death wish' as a prerequisite seemed to turn most of 'em away.'

Ghost chuckled, nodding his head and taking another drag as they made their way to the shade of the large grey building where the briefing room was located. Before entering, Ghost flicked his cigarette onto the ground, stubbing it out with his boot.

Captain Price, the head of Task Force 141, was standing by a lectern at the front of the room. A map of their target was displayed on a large screen behind him. Without paying much attention to who else was in the room, Ghost and Soap made their way to the vacant seats at the front.

'Sorry to cut your recruit training short Ghost.' Price said. 'But now that we're all here, let's finalise the plan.'

The mission was fairly straight forward. Infiltrate the enemy's base, grab some intel, then blow shit up. The difficulty was the location of the base. Their only way in and out was by chopper so they would lose the element of surprise quickly.

Inserting a squad of soldiers into a hot landing zone was risky for everyone involved. Their usual pilot could attest to this, as he was currently on medical leave thanks to a well timed shot bringing down the chopper during their last mission. He was lucky he'd made it out alive.

'So team.' Price addressed the group. 'Any thoughts or concerns?'

'How important is it to enter from the Northern end of the island?' a feminine Australian accent came from the back of the room.

Ghost shot a surprised look at Soap before turning in his chair to see it's owner, who was still seated out of sight.

'Ah, Captain Carter. Appreciate you filling in for our pilot.' Price said. 'The Northern end is the least fortified. Do you have something else in mind?' he gestured for her to join him at the front.

The first thing Ghost saw of Captain Melissa Carter, call sign Phoenix, was her dark red hair in a tight bun at the base of her neck. Following her movements as she made her way from the back of the room, he saw her green eyes pause for a moment on his masked face, before she turned her gaze to Price.

Mel stood with her back to the group, arms crossed, resting on her chest as she looked closely at the map. Her black t-shirt and cameo cargo pants showed off a curvy but well toned frame. While much shorter in stature than the men in the room, there was a strong presence about her.

'Now that's a bonnie lass.' Soap leaned over and whispered into Ghost's ear, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

'I just think we'd be better approaching from the South.' She grabbed the pointer off the table, switching it on and running the red laser over a section at the bottom of the map. 'Around there.'

'That's a suicide run. 'Sergeant Wade in the front row blurted out. 'They have SAMs and two fixed machine guns in that location.'

'Not an issue.' she replied without turning around. 'If I enter at this point,' she hovered the red dot over a small dip in the mountain range. 'I will be able to take out their Comms tower and this machine gun before they know we're there.'

'Are you crazy?' Wade asked her.

'I'm Australian.' Mel replied as she turned around to face Wade. 'I grew up in a county where everything is trying to kill you. What you call crazy is just another Tuesday for me.'

The rest of the group chuckled, causing Wade to sink down in his chair. He was a pain in the ass at the best of times, so Ghost was pleased to see the Captain put him in his place.

'Crazy or not, Wade does have a point about the SAMs.' Price said her, bringing attention back to the him. 'Won't you be targeted before you get near the tower?'

'Not if I stay below 100ft.' Mel replied. 'That height will keep me out of range and off their radar till they're pretty much out of the game. I'll only need a moment to take out the second machine gun. Your boys can deal with what's left.'

'Below 100ft Captain?' Price questioned, a sceptical look on his face.

'We fly at 30ft when we muster cattle back home.' There was no arrogance in the way Mel replied. It sounded like she was just stating a simple fact. 'Ultimately it would mean a cleaner extraction for when your men are ready to leave if we're positioned there.' She pointed at the Southern area of the map. 'But it's your mission so it's your call.'

'What do you think Ghost.' Price asked, turning to look at him. 'Your leading the insertion team.'

Ghost stayed silent for a moment, arms crossed as his eyes studied the map before looking at Mel. Unlike most, she didn't shrink under his gaze. In fact she seemed completely un-phased by it all. You'd think she had been asked to take them on a charter ride, not drop them into a heavily armoured military base.

'Sounds fine to me.'