Operation: Crimson Space

Playing catch up

Arkady's pov
I groaned as the atmospheric pressures made my concussion worsen, Iana looked at me in worry "are you sure you're okay?" I nodded and said "I'm fine, I'm sure of it. Just need to finish this." She didn't look convinced as I heard a familiar voice on the radio "Sarge, didn't we tell you it's rude to not invite your friends to play?" I chuckled softly as Volkov joined in "We had to find our own ride too, very rude." I replied "I know you two would've walked to have a crack at Deimos." javelin said "speaking of, we have visual. Enemy combatants are 350 yards ahead of you, looks like they're staging at a cave mouth." I sighed as Maverick groaned out "always with the caves." Javelin came across the band again "were infilling on top of the mountain, we'll work our way to you." I looked at my battered team and said "we'll set up a perimeter and wait for your team to link up. Challenge is Juno, answer is Normandie. How copy?" She replied cheerfully "solid copy." We continued making our way up the steep mountain side, slowly clawing our way sky bound.
Iana asked "why are they here?" Glaz replied "command mentioned that we would have outside support. I'd assume they were our QRF." I nodded agreeing as Caveira came over our headset "Kasper, Maverick how copy?" I nodded to his questioning look as Maverick replied "solid copy maam." She replied simply "sitrep?" He replied "we're in pursuit of Deimos, QRF got positive ID. They're retreating into the caves." She replied after a couple seconds "we're have a rough casualty count, 6 KIA, 17 casualties varying from scrapes to broken bones. I've got 16 combat capable operators." I keyed my radio and said "QRF is en route to us, we'll be good to push when they link." I looked at my squad before she said "I can spare 5" I answered "they'll take too long maam, I'll have 10-12 operators by the time QRF links with us." She replied sounding a bit down "Alright, we'll secure the site and begin casualty collection. When you finish up there, link with us." Maverick replied "affirm maam" I heard Glaz "23 casualties, my god. That's over half of our forces." I nodded agreeing as Iana said "well bag him for them." Maverick replied after a second "mass casualty's never get easier."
I looked up the mountain side at where we were meeting our reinforcements for a second before turning and looking down at what was left of compound, I could see teammates running around trying to find any survivors, I saw Delta operators and FSB soldiers holding perimeter and I watched black hawks tear up the valley to casevac our dead and wounded. I glanced to my left and right and saw my team had also stopped to watch the scene. I heard Iana softly from right next to me "it looks like a movie down there." Glaz replied "makes you wish you could turn it off." I ordered "let's move." My team wordlessly turned and started up the mountain side again, I bumped Iana with my shoulder as she passed, she looked at me as I said "we'll make it through this." She nodded but didn't look convinced, I gave her a soft smile and said "we've got each other, we'll make it through." She looked at me in worry but nodded more convincingly. We started up the mountain again, about 20 minutes later we were at the rally point, sitting quietly waiting.
I heard brushes moving and footsteps slowly approaching as Maverick called out "Juno" and I heard Volkov's gruff response "Normandie." I stepped into the opening as my old team came forward, we silently shook hands as Javelin and Yelena walked forward "sarge." I shook her hand and replied "nice to see you again team lead." Both of them looked surprised as I asked "did you think I wouldn't check in?" She got shy as I said "you're doing wonderfully." She nodded as I pointed at each of my team "This is Maverick, Iana and Glaz." Javelin turned and pointed at her larger team "Volkov, Panther, Angle, Rico, Silas, and that is letos" I nodded as our teams intermingled and we prepped a plan. Before I knew it I was following Glaz into the cave, slowly we crept deeper and deeper into less and less light. Our IR illuminators were the only reason we could see. As we turned a corner I lifted my 416 and saw a barrel pointed down the corridor, I grabbed Glaz and ripped him back as they opened fire. Glaz and I fell, as he landed on me I pulled my pistol and started firing at the muzzle flashes I felt my pants getting wet as Maverick yelled "Suppressing!" As he and a couple operators from Javelins squad came around the corner firing.
    Volkov grabbed me as I grabbed Glaz's vest and we got dragged back into cover, I got out from under Glaz and looked down at my pants and saw them very dark. I looked at Glaz as I asked "Glaz you go-" I froze when I saw the blood pooling beneath him. He had taken rounds in the initial torrent, I radioed "Glaz is down" Angle pulled out a smoke grenade and yelled "smoking!" I leaned to my right and lifted my rifle firing at where I thought the machine gun was just for Rico to fire a few rounds and said "clear." I looked at him in question before he lifted his Dmr and smiled confidently "thermals." I shook my head as we slowly made our way down the corridor, I was nervous for the next ambush. Deimos only fled with 6 operators, we just killed one. How many did he plan on us to meet before we got to him? I pushed deeper into the cave, unease gnawing at the back of my mind.
     My ears rung loudly causing me to lose my balance as Iana rushed over, I fell to a knee as she caught me. She looked at me worriedly as I said "I'm okay, just... I just need - a second." She replied "I think you need more than a second." Javelin said "have your team stay with you, we'll push ahead and you all can catch up when you're ready." I looked at her in challenge as she said "the time frame is tight, we need to move." I nodded and said "go, we won't be far behind." Her team wordlessly took off. Maverick crouched next to me "Kasper, you're concussed. You shouldn't even be here." I narrowed my eyes at him "I'm not going anywhere." He answered "it's a little late for that." I said "just give me a minute." Iana rested her hand on my shoulder "you don't need to be the one to bag him." I replied "I know, I just need to know he got bagged." She looked surprised as I stood and said "let's go." Iana and Maverick shared worried glances as a massive gunfight broke out ahead of us. We started running to get there quickly.
     As we tore around the corner I saw the situation, Javelin and her team were ripping rounds at the remaining 5. They couldn't do much to stop Javelin's team but they were trying, I looked at Maverick as I radioed "Javelin, suppress. My team will flank." She replied "Roger." I looked over my shoulder and said "we move slow and low until we get to their 9, we light them up and we nab Deimos." They nodded as we left cover and slowly made our way against the cavern wall. The contractors were so preoccupied with the gunfight they lost track of their surroundings until Maverick and I were side by side directly perpendicular to their line. I whistled and saw one look over as Maverick gave a peace sign and said "yo" and we opened up, wiping out the whole line. I radioed "neutralized." As my team stacked on the door to the next room, Javelin and her team picked their sides as I kicked the door and Maverick flowed into the room, we checked corners as I heard Volkov "Get on the fuckin ground!" And Rico yelled "Drop the fucking detonator." I ripped my aim over and saw Deimos, he pulled his mask off and said "Kasper"
      I replied "Deimos." He replied "I knew it would be you, you've been hard to narrow down." I answered coolly "you haven't." As Silas yelled "drop it! now!" Deimos looked over calmly before asking "so what's the plan now? You gonna arrest me? Prove that rainbow is still dangerous?" I replied "I'd love to take you alive." He slowly walked towards a table, never letting the detonator go before he turned and said "you know, this situation reminds me of my conversation with the late director." Maverick barked "get down and show me your hands!" Deimos continued as if the order was never given "I was lamenting how Rainbow has fallen, how it's turned into this show. Back in my day, it was legendary." I kept my eyes on him as the team slowly spread out in a half circle keeping our aim on him. He continued as he pointed at Maverick, then Iana and finally me "you three, you three however are throwbacks. I knew rainbow had to be in the mountains but I couldn't find you. Knowing how everything turned out you must've been watching for a couple days."
      I stared at him boredly before saying "can we skip to the part you get on your knees and we detain you?" He chuckled before saying "we both know it's not going to go that way." We all stared at him as he said "in the words of your late director, I find you exceedingly fucking boring." As he lifted the detonator and we all fired. I watched as the force of the rounds impacting spun Deimos completely around before he fell face first on the cave floor, the small subterranean river splashing loudly as we all looked around before I heard Volkov "he counts as my kill." We all looked at him as I radioed "Captain, how copy?" Caveira answered a second or two later "solid copy, send traffic." I answered "Deimos is KIA, I repeat, Deimos is KIA." She sounded ecstatic "awesome job, is everyone okay?" I replied "Glaz is KIA, we're bagging Deimos and Glaz right now and doing a final check on this command center for any intel." She replied "solid copy, see you all when you get back." We slowly walked around and scoured any of the lock boxes of tables for any usable information.
     About an hour later, we reached the base of the mountain and moved around helping in anyway we could until Lion got ahold of me, I looked at him as Iana said "he's got a concussion." Lion sat me down and did a final check before confirming Iana's suspicions "he's got a very bad concussion, we need to get him back to base asap." I heard Caveira "this is the last chopper of casualties, the next one is retrieving personnel. Lion looked at me and Iana, I had taken to leaning on her for support as he said "I would like to send Kasper and Iana back to base." Iana said "but I'm not-" lion cut her off "he had a severe concussion, he will need someone to keep an eye on him." She looked at me and smiled softly before nodding, Caveira replied "approved, they'll be on the next chopper out of here."