MERK: Home War

First Arrival

The Los Angeles International Airport
Three aircraft landed, one has Merk and the rest of his in it and the others have supplies and other men in them
All operators were wearing a variant of the MARSOC uniform
Merk has a short beard and a kind of medium length haircut
Tattoos cover his arms but one the most noticeable one is the American flag that goes down his left arm. Not much is known about him but as seen in his past, it seems to be better that way
Triston was in MARSOC and still followed by Marine guidelines and was fully shaven. He had tattoos from his time in the Marine Corps, on his left forearm he has "Semper Fidelis" tattooed on it, and his right forearm he has "Fraters Infinitas". They mean "Always Faithful" and "Brothers Forever"
Triston was the first person recommended for MERK after he received the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism during his deployment to Northern Afghanistan
Adam was an Army Combat Medic before transferring over to MERK, nothing much notable about him apart from his intelligence. Often when Merk or Triston think of doing something stupid, there's Adam ready to stop them
Mike is the team's AT personnel, he grew up in Philadelphia in a poor household. The first opportunity he could he left for the Marines and served his time there blowing shit up until he got the opportunity to go into MERK
Alex was a standard infantryman in the Marine Corps for five years until transferring over to MARSOC, there he was apart of Triston's team. When Triston left for MERK, Alex was still in the Middle East for three more years. In that time he took Triston's job in being the breacher until he became a team leader. After his three years he transferred over to MERK due to Triston's recommendation of him and his clear dedication and skill he developed in the Marines
Last but not least is Danny. He's the youngest operator in MERK, only being twenty three when he entered Merk, just the year prior to them being sent to LA. At eighteen Danny enlisted in the Army and was quickly brought into MERK due to him having connections and receiving the second highest military decoration for the Army, the Distinguished Service Cross

Merk's squad enters the airport and to find the sergeant they were directed to report to
"Sergeant, it's an honor to meet you" said Merk
"Good to see you guys too, Sergeant Falls" said Sergeant Falls
"Merk, head of MSTF1. We're here to put a stop to this war. We have different rules, different curtsies, different way of life. Rank is near meaningless to us but sergeant me and my men will respect you until our deaths. Any questions of our authority or presence here you're going to have to ask the president himself" said Merk
"Noted sir. Well, hope y'all ain't thinking about getting comfy here, I need you and your men for a mission. I sent a ground team to recover a shipment of material that was ambushed by rebels, problem is downtown LA is a shit show" said Sergeant Falls
"What's our mission?" asked Merk
"Fly in and secure the area, truck stopped on top of a parking garage and the driver fled. Don't think they found it yet so we need you to secure the roof top and get the material ready for airlift" said Sergeant Falls
"Affirmative sergeant, radio back in when ready. Everyone get your gear ready wheels up in two minutes" said Merk

A single MERK Blackhawk flew over the city
LA was a war zone but still active with regular life
The sounds of gunfire and police sirens were common to hear like it used to be, but now even more constant
The found the truck on top of a lone parking garage surrounded by destroyed buildings
"Merk to base, how copy?" asked Merk
"Reading you loud and clear Merk you got eyes on the truck?" asked Sergeant Falls
"Affirmative, no rebels in sight going in for landing send in the retrieval helicopter" said Merk
"Affirmative, we have a Chinook inbound, five minutes out can you hold for that long?" asked Sergeant Falls
"Yes sir, radio back with anything further" said Merk
The helicopter landed and Merk and his team exited
The helicopter lifted back up and began circling the area

"Keep your eyes on the streets, the helicopter has us covered from above" said Merk
"You think these fuckers are going to try anything sir?" asked Triston
"Hopefully not, they're radicals, they're unpredictable" said Merk
"Hey I don't care what they are man I'm just happy I got to see LA in my life" said Mike
"Yeah, it'd be better if we weren't going to be getting shot at the whole time Mikey" said Adam
"Man I grew up in some ghetto ass neighborhood I'm used to getting shot at, to me this is just some normal Sunday afternoon" said Mike
"Well now it's a good thing you're going to be able to return fire huh?" asked Merk
"Who says I didn't in the first place?" asked Mike
"You left when you were eighteen. How the fuck would you be able to return fire?" asked Danny
"Don't question my methods" said Mike

From down the street came a gunshot
Everyone on the roof stopped talking and all stood up and rushed to the edge
"Anyone got an eye?" asked Merk
"Negative, keep an eye open for anyone on the streets" said Triston
They kept looking in the direction of the gunshot and still nothing
As they kept looking in that one direction they saw a police car turn the corner coming down the street slowly with its lights on
"Sergeant we got a gunshot and police in the area how far is the evac for this material over?" asked Merk
"Less then two minutes hold on" said Sergeant Falls
"Alright. Okay men I need two eyes in each corner of the roof no messing around now it's time to get serious" said Merk
His squad followed the orders and for the next two minutes they kept security of each direction
They saw the helicopter coming in and thought it was going to be an easy mission
The helicopter landed and a team on board started loading the material in the helicopter
On the side they heard the first gunshot Triston and Adam saw the police car coming back around
This time when they got halfway down the street an IED went off causing the driver to loose control and drive right into a storefront
The explosion shook everyone on the roof and as more gunshots started being directed towards the police car the loading team started doing their job faster
"What the fuck was that?" asked Merk
"An IED sir, we got an officer in distress we need to go help" said Triston
"That's not our mission man" said Mike
"They need our help" said Adam
"He's right, you three are with me set up a rappel. Alex and Danny you two stay up here with the loading team, when we secure him the Blackhawk will be around to pick y'all up. What I need you guys to do is provide cover for us while we rescue that officer" said Merk
"You got it Merk" said Alex
Merk's team rappelled down as Alex and Danny provided overwatch
When they were down at street level they moved to secure the police car
"Sergeant Falls come in I got my team going to rescue a police officer, get a QRF inbound ASAP. We got heavy rebel activity" said Merk
"Roger that, stay safe" said Sergeant Falls
As they got closer the saw armed rebels exiting an alleyway
"Riflemen twelve o'clock, engage" said Merk
They got behind nearby cover and began opening fire on the rebels
The first ones who exited the alleyway were all taken out but soon after more came from the alleyway suppressing Merk's team
"Overwatch team provide cover" said Merk
From the parking garage Alex and Danny started opening fire on the rebels
As the rebels were being suppressed Merk's team began moving up and clearing the street and pushing the rebels back
As they fell back his team took this opportunity to recover the officer
They ran towards the car and saw one dead officer in the passenger seat
"Anyone inside this is MSTF1, we're with the military we're here to help you" said Merk
From behind the counter inside the store stood up a badly wounded officer with his hands up
"Triston go secure him we got you covered" said Merk
Triston got the man up and helped him out of the store
"Blackhawk team come in package secure pick up our guys on the parking garage we'll be waiting on the streets for you" said Merk

As they began pulling back towards the parking garage they started to get shot at again by a few rebels that came back
"Triston get the officer to the evac point we'll cover" said Merk
Triston retreated with the officer as Merk, Mike, and Adam covered him
"Blackhawk team to Merk over we secured Alex and Danny get to the evac point" said the Blackhawk pilot
"Roger that. Hold fire fall back" said Merk
Merk's team stopped firing and began retreating towards the evac point while taking a lot of small arms fire as they moved from cover to cover
They saw the Blackhawk hovering down the road from them waiting for Merk's team to be about of the gunners line of fire
When they got out of the line of fire the side gunner began firing down the road ripping cars and cover to shreds with its minigun
After around thirty seconds of nonstop firing the helicopter landed and Merk's team and the wounded officer got inside and they took off
"Sergeant Falls its Merk, heading back to base now. Reporting none of my men injured or killed and bringing back one wounded officer. Rebel fighters still in the area, if you're still sending that QRF be cautious, over" said Merk