Operation: Crimson Space

Rtb

Arkady's pov
I climbed into the black hawk and sat down, I looked out at the war torn street. The police were stacking body bags and trying to clean up the scene, I heard maverick ask "you two have fun?" I glanced over as Iana said "no, I just held the stair case. You know how that goes." I gave a small smile and said "oh, I had a fuckin blast." He shook his head and said "Kasper, you're something else." I replied "maybe" Anna and Daan looked between us in interest before I turned my head back out of the helicopter and to the streets below. It wasn't too long before we were out of the city and we let our guards down and started to relax. Doc looked over Daan and Anna for a while, I figured he must be looking for any signs of shock. I wouldn't blame them if they had some, they had to watch their daughter kill people.
      Time flies when you're in a helicopter and before I knew it we were back at Elis. I looked around as we touched down before I dropped out of the bay and to the ground below. I heard Taina "Ark" I glanced over as she said "drop your gear off, take Nienke and have her parents settle into her dorm. Meet me in the TOC in an hour" I checked my watch and said "sounds good" as I turned and helped Anna down. Nienke said "papa, mama, follow me" I switched my 416 to safety and followed them quietly. I watched as they inspected our home base and we walked. I laughed quietly when they stopped by a 'propaganda' piece we have of our team members, we've all got one, they just happened to find Nienke's. I commented "it was Doc's idea" they looked at me in surprise before Nienke said "he said it would help with our self confidence." They nodded as we started moving again. Anna asked "will we be safe here?" I replied "tak, they tried to attack us here once." Daan asked "did it go as expected?" I heard Nienke "yes, but we took some casualties." Anna asked "who? It wasn't you was it?" I replied "no, it was me." They looked surprised.
     Nienke said "Arkady took a round through the shoulder and one into the plate, we had a couple other operators get hit. No one died though." They relaxed as we helped them settle in. About 45 minutes later I headed to the TOC with Nienke, she looked at me and said "I appreciate you trying to protect us." I waved her off as we reached the door and I pulled it open; when we walked in I noticed several other team leaders and second in commands next to Sam and Taina. I listened as they spoke before Nienke asked "how can we be of use Taina?" She looked at us and said "just who I needed, Kasper" I straighten at my callsign as she continued "as you know this is a massive operation, we'll need eyes and ears if we're going to make this go smoothly." I was hopeful as she continued "I want you to select a 4 man recon team. You'll be our eyes and ears in the target for 3 days. We want confirmation that Deimos is on target." I asked "when do we leave?" She said "24 hours. Get your team picked and be ready to go."
I nodded and turned to leave I heard Lion "my friend" I looked back and he said "we're counting on you" I grew an uncharacteristic smile and said confidently "We're Recon Olivier, we're always counting." He laughed as I walked out and I heard Nienke "you're awfully talkative." I replied "been a good day" she gave me an odd look and cocked her hip as she came to a halt "is it now?" I replied "yeah, finally getting back to recon." She shook her head as we started walking again. I noticed more than a few operators from other teams, I asked Craig "are you all staying here?" He replied "yea, we even have a team from the Rangers. CO wants Deimos bad." I nodded slowly as we continued to walk. When we arrived back to the barracks, I sat down and started cleaning my rifle. A good bit of gunpowder had built up in the receiver from the heavy use she's had in the past weeks. I looked up as Erik sat next to me, "are you ready for this?" I nodded and said "we win on this one."
He said "well, you guys are on squirter patrol." I replied joyfully "all by ourselves?" He replied "no, they're figuring out who's taking other sectors." I stood and offered my hand, he clapped his onto my forearm as we said "see you on the other side." We were getting ready to leave when Gustavo burst through the door "Eliza's awake!" Erik and I started making our way down to the medical wing to see her before we were wheels up. When we got there Meghan, Jordan, Nienke, Yumiko and Miles were there, we walked in and saw everyone turn around to look at us. I asked "how is she?" Nienke said "she doing some tests for a concussion but she's talking." Jordan was getting antsy, he wanted to go in to check on his friend. Erik and I watched quietly waiting for any word on her condition. About 10 minutes later, Doc walked in "she's got a severe concussion, she'll be off the field for a couple weeks if not months." We nodded quietly until Yumiko asked "can we see her?" Doc said "oui, just give her time. She's still foggy."
We all slowly filtered in the room, Nienke and I stepped away into the corner and observed. I asked in a whisper "how're your parents?" She replied matching my tone "they're still shaken up but they're doing good." I nodded and said "we'll have to go check on them before we leave" she smiled softly before Eliza asked "have we gotten Deimos?" I replied "no, no luck there" she frowned as Jordan said "we're going after him tomorrow. We found his stronghold" she said "when should I be ready?" I laughed as Yumiko said "I respect the drive to get back in the field but you have to take your time" she didn't seem happy about that as I excused myself and moved back to the hallway heading back to the room. When I reached it I slowly started working through all my gear, double checking everything and replacing equipment that was damaged or expired. I heard a knock on the door and then creak as it got opened, I looked back and saw Sebastian "with everything going on, I fear no one has taken time to check in with you. How's everything going for you my friend?"
I replied "fine" he asked "you're not being entirely truthful are you?" I replied "it's just a firefight, I've been in hundreds and I've come out relatively unscathed most of them. I'll be okay" he mused "you don't fear combat do you?" I looked up for a second before saying "no, I feel that as long as I'm doing the right thing someone will keep an eye on me." He said "I never viewed you as the religious type" I replied "I left the church a long time ago, some beliefs didn't want to leave." He chuckled and said "my mother did the same. Every week we spent Sunday in church." I chucked softly and said "yes, they have a habit of doing that." I saw movement in my peripherals and glanced over as he said "we're going to lose people on this one." I froze for a second before saying "yes, probably. It's a shock we haven't lost anyone so far." He looked down for a second and said "we really are some lucky sons of bitches huh?" I chuckled and said "speak for yourself, my mother is lovely." He laughed heartily before saying "well come out on top"
I patted his shoulder as I stood and said "well my friend, we wouldn't be the best if we didn't." He nodded before saying "I've got a weird feeling about this" I nodded and said "Deimos has been quite the pain to pin down. I will admit I'm a little skeptical about this hard confirmation." He nodded as the door opened and Nienke entered. He smiled and said "hello dear, how're you holding up?" She replied jovially "quite well." I asked "how're your parents?" She sat next to me and leaned against me "they're still shaken up, it's not everyday civilians deal with gunfights like that" Sebastian said "it's not every day we deal with gunfights like that. I'm amazed you both managed to hold them like that." I chuckled as we heard the PA system key on "all operators report to briefing room 3, all operators report to briefing room 3." I stood and extended my hand to Nienke, she took it carefully as I helped her up. I quickly closed my rifle back up and placed it on the end of the bed, I looked at the clock on the wall and said "I suppose we should start our practice."
Sebastian followed my gaze and said "I believe so, let's go" Nienke grabbed my hand as we entered the hallway. I glanced over as she said "this mission gives me the heebie jeebies" I asked "where'd you pick up that?" She looked at me funny before I replied "the heebie jeebies? Where'd you get that?" She replied "oh, Meghan taught me it." I chuckled before quieting down, I looked down the hallway and saw teammates and colleagues meandering down the hallway towards the briefing rooms. I couldn't help but wonder how many would be here to do it after this mission. Nienke interrupted my musings saying "I'm wondering the same thing" I gave her a look of questioning before she said "if we all make it back or not" I nodded and said "it's natural, especially with how lucky we're getting." She shuddered as Sebastian said "eventually luck runs out, that's when training kicks in." I replied "well put friend, hopefully our luck holds. It would be a shame to not have all our comrades to celebrate with." He nodded as we slowly made our way down the hall, taking our time to try to buy even a few more minutes with all our friends and teammates above dirt.
I looked at Nienke and bumped her shoulder with mine, she looked at me in question before I asked "are you truly okay?" She nodded but averted her eyes, I pulled her into a hug and said "I wouldn't let them get to you while I'm still breathing, you're safe. You can count on me" I felt her tense up at the contact, i understood why, it's very out of the usual for me. She nodded into my chest and said "I don't like this mission, it feels off." I nodded as we started walking again and Sebastian said "I can't help but feel as though we're being lured into a trap." I replied "well there's only one thing to do" he laughed and said "spring the trap." I nodded smiling as we reached Briefing Room 3 and I pushed the door open. I held it and followed after they walked through, we looked around and saw Meghan, Craig and Tina waving us over. We slowly made our way over before sitting, I noticed the four team captains on the stage and said "we're gonna have a fuckin long meeting, all four are over there." Nienke said "there's always a long meeting when it's a big mission" Meghan said "it's gonna take hours, then we'll have another briefing just before take off" I chuckled quietly resigning myself to the onslaught of information and briefings.