Operation: Crimson Space

Once more

Arkady's pov (37 hours later)
I sat at the spotting scope staring at the compound, we'd gathered quite a bit of information that was continually getting sent back to Ghosteyes command via our tacpads. I heard Glaz next to me "Kasper, you can switch off. I'll take over." I glanced over and said "Hemae, I'll stay up a bit longer. This is about the time they get real active and I want to see if anything changes." He shrugged and picked up his binos, we sat quietly before asking "how long have you done recon? You seem very at home with this" I chuckled softly and said "many years, I have watched so many battles without being a part of them." He asked another question "what do you think your most important recon mission was; besides this one of course." I replied "23 of october, 2014" he asked "what happened?" I answered "the team I was selected for snuck into the Crimea and located Russian artillery battery's and walked our own artillery onto them. Never knew we were there, the frontline artillery just randomly blew up." He looked at me with shock before saying "my units was en route to one of those batteries when that happened."
I grew a smirk and looked at him "and here we both are." He nodded slowly before wondering out loud "how many of my friends did you kill?" I glanced over and asked "how many of mine did you?" He nodded slowly and said "fair, two sides of the same war." I replied "you're not so bad, not for a Russian anyways." He chuckled at the teasing before saying "bingo, shark spotted." I looked back through the spotting glass and asked "location?" He replied "building F" I shifted so I had a view on the building on the southwest side of the compound and found Deimos, standing confidently on the landing. He looked around passively as Glaz said "he's not nervous, but he's looking around. He knows chances are we're here" I mused in amusement "i wouldn't be surprised if he increased patrols." We took some photos and forwarded them to command as we continued to observe, I saw Deimos pause as he looked up towards the valley we've been in. I whispered to myself "come on, come up and play. You know we're here." Maverick asked "what's up?" Glaz answered "Kasper thinks Deimos knows where we are."
Maverick asked "what gives you that idea?" I replied "what gives you the idea he doesn't? He's actively defeated our defenses and infiltrated places no one has ever infiltrated before. He keeps lingering every time he looks up here." Glaz said "the patrols go all the way to the top, do they not?" I answered "they do" he mused in question but it felt more like a statement "I wonder if they found our tracks leading into this valley." I shrugged and said "if they're waiting for us at the top of the mountain they'll have a bad time, we're going down in a few hours." Maverick chuckled and said "so cool under pressure" I nodded and said "if you're not cool under pressure recon is not your gig. Alright boys, I'm turning in; wake me at sunset." When I got woken up, Iana looked at me and said "good morning" I looked around as I silently yawned and said "good night, how's it looking?" Maverick replied "good, activity is consistent, at ease, the strike teams are en route. ISR is indicating enemy activity to the west." I glanced up at the stars before asking "when will our teams be infilling?" Iana said "current ETA is 3 hours." I looked down the side of the mountain and said "pack it up, we're Oscar Mike."
       I got confirmation from my team before moving slowly and picking up our gear, I looked down at the compound and raised my binos wondering as I stared at the base of this was one I got to be apart of. I heard Glaz next to me "wondering how this plays out?" I replied "hemae, just if I get to play this time." He shook his head as we took down the camo netting and slowly prepared to start moving, I hoped no one had picked up on our presence. 3 hours is a lot of time for 4 people to hold off an entire compound, it had been done but it wasn't easy. I had no lack of faith in my team however I recognized the amount of danger I put my team in by taking them on the mission with me, reconnaissance has a way of making itself interesting; I hoped it just stayed observing. I gave the signal and fell in the line as we began the descent.
     I walked next to Iana as she asked "aren't you worried?" I replied simply "Hemae." She asked "why not?" I answered "i grew up in the recon teams, it's never a question of if I die, simply when." She gave me an off put look as Maverick said "recon and covert work is inherently the most dangerous missions an operator can take part in, we have no support if we get into a gunfight right now." She nodded slowly as I said "there's things you can do to offset the risks, but the risks are always there. If I waste time thinking about what could happen, I won't take the time to pay attention to what is happening." She nodded slowly as we fell back into silence. About a third of the way down I pulled my team off the path and we hunkered down, I watched as a group of 8 or 9 contractors walked the path. I looked to my right and saw Iana fighting a sneeze; mentally I sighed of course she'd have to sneeze right now. I quickly moved next to her and covered her mouth and nose with my gloved hand, she looked at me in fear as she realized the situation we were dancing the line of getting into.
    I kept the tight pressure on the lower part of her face until she nodded against my hand, I slowly lowered it as she took deep breaths. Glaz asked "are you okay?" She nodded and said "no need to sneeze now." Maverick asked "what did you do?" I replied "cut off access of the irritant to her nose. No need to sneeze if there's no agitation." She took one more deep breath before saying "okay, I'm ready to move." I looked at her in question as she nodded, confirming she was sure. We slipped back onto the trail and continued down, this time I stayed at the rear of the line. I wanted to make sure I was the first contact with any enemies, I knew how to fight outnumbered; a key point is hitting harder quicker. If I could take away the aggression from the enemy force, I controlled the battle pace and flow; a critical point. I kept my eye open behind us as Glaz lead us further into the valley; closer to our final position and in a larger sense our final challenge.
Soon we reached the bottom of the valley and set into our loose security positions, about 4 hours before the assault began. The other security teams are making their way to their positions on the southwest and southeast corners of the compound, setting it up so if any enemy combatants try breaking out and escaping there's a team to either engage or detain the enemy. I sunk deeper into the root ball I was using as concealment and watched as the sun slowly made its way below the valley ridges and it crept ever closer to kick off; one of the first times I'd ever felt the nerves of combat make me wish I never get a chance to get involved. J looked around and lifted my hand in the 'ok' signal, getting confirmation from my team that they were set and ready. Before I knew it, a few hours had passed and it was well into the night; perfectly a new moon. I heard on the radio Caveira's voice "5 mikes out, what's the situation?" Vigil replied "all quiet, not much activity" I keyed my mic "this is about the time patrols slow down and activity dies."
     I heard Nøkk "keeping tabs on the neighbors, eh Kasper?" I replied simply "of course" as I sat quietly listening to radio chatter and ISR giving updates, eventually I saw IR Strobes in my NVGs and realized it was just about kick off. Before I knew it, I was watching as the strike teams ran across the open ground and flew into the buildings; seems we're going with a hyper aggressive plan today. Iana asked "moving fast, are we sure that's smart?" I replied "not in the slightest" Glaz looked over and said "I get the thought process but shouldn't we act like there's traps?" I looked around slowly before Maverick said "this is where we lose people, too focused on trying not to give him a chance to escape not enough focus on the operation." I sighed softly and said "hopefully they've planned this out well enough." Just as I finished my sentence I watched one of the lieutenants we codenamed bank come running out of the compound. I weighed my options and squeezed the trigger 5 times watching him drop like a sack of rocks. Iana looked at me and asked "why not detain him?" I replied "we've got bigger things going on, don't want to waste too much time."
     She nodded slowly as I heard Maverick "got another one" as a couple suppressed rounds tore out of Glaz and Maverick's rifles dropping the fleeing contractor. I laughed softly as I watched his corpse flip over pinning his head near his ass. Iana said "I haven't heard anything inside the compound for a bit, I wonder what happened" I was about to key my radio when I saw a group of contractors take off from the side of the building, I rose a little in my stance getting ready to start shooting when I saw muzzle flashes and heard the super sonic pop of rounds snapping past my head. Instinctively, we all hunkered down and took cover waiting for the gunshots to stop ringing out; once they did we rose and Iana radioed "be advised, containment had been breached. I repeat, containment has been breached. Contractors are in the wild." The ISR operator's voice filled my headset as he said "squirters are 150 yards outside the perimeter." I sighed as I replied "keeps eyes on, we'll have to secure after Deimos." Nøkk replied "breaching the safe room." We all glanced between each other in anticipation.
     I heard Blackbeards voice fill my headset "Get out now! There's a bomb!" My team looked to me as I yelled "fall back! Go!" And they turned and started running, putting more ground between themselves and the compound. I watched in anticipation of the detonation that was going to happen and I saw operators making their way out. I saw Caveira and Nøkk make it out the near side door as I waved and yelled "over here!" About half of our operators were out of the compound when it detonated, the shockwave threw me violently. Everything seemed to slow as I watched the walls buckle and split from the force, the center of the building lifted and then collapsed in on itself. I tumbled as I hit the ground and time seemed to speed up again, I stood and felt something wet run down the side of my head. It itched terribly, I felt dizzy and fell to a knee grabbing my head as my ears rung. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked seeing Iana looking at me concerned, she crouched next to me as I closed my eyes and shook my head trying to get the ringing to stop.
     She asked "how's your head?" I replied "I'm dizzy, and it itches and my ears are ringing." She looked me over with a flashlight and said "your ear is bleeding and you've got a cut on the back of your head." I sighed as Maverick crouched next to us "you good, Kasp?" I nodded and said "Sitrep?" He replied "our forces are scattered we're trying to reconsolidate but it's hard, we have no idea who we lost, who's injured where the missing are or what the detonation did to our teams." I sighed again before saying "I'm sure Caveira is trying to regain control of this situation. The other containment teams can help with getting this situation under control." Glaz emerged from the forest and crouched next to me "what's our role? I can set up overwatch." I replied "hemae, we go after Deimos." Iana asked concerned "do we even know where he is?" Maverick answered for me "he had to be in the group that split out." I nodded and keyed my radio "Tag, where are those contractors your tracking?" He replied "northwest of your current location, 700 yards going vertical." I looked in the direction and saw they were headed right up the valley we had used to observe. Of course he knew.