Operation: Saber Strikes

Searching for answers

Nøkk's POV
We carefully moved through the forest towards the wreckage of (F/N)'s helicopter we paused as Glaz lifted his fist. We lifted our weapons as we saw the enemies searching the wreckage. He whispered something to jackal before jackal whispered to ash this went on until maverick whispered "Take the enemy closest to you" I nodded and then Glaz lifted three fingers and put one down every second before we fired and dropped any enemy we saw before quickly pushing trying to kill any enemies before they could react. Once we secured the wreckage we started searching around as I crouched next to the cockpit and ran my hand along (F/N)'s seat. "Let's find the bodies, we gotta give them their dues" there was no emotion to her voice, like she didn't care, I looked at Eliza "You don't care they're dead do you?" She looked at me a dangerous glint in her eye "Of course I do, don't you dare say I don't care that my friends are dead you fuckin' witch" I reeled as I glared about to lunge at her as Maverick got in front of me "Don't, we have a job to do. You two can settle your differences after we find their bodies" I sighed as I moved to where he was last seen as I saw where he impacted after the bombs hit I moved over to the impact point putting my hand on the groove I looked up "There was a struggle here, Jackal on me!" Ryad(Jackal) came running over "There was a struggle here, can you get anything?" He flipped down his visor "I've got two unknown tracks, you want to track them?" I nodded "We'll check out where they go and then we'll plan based on what we find" we set off follow the track pausing every now and again when there was a shift in the window, or a branch broke just off the trail. After a painfully slow 24 minutes, I received a heart attack as Maverick radioed "Nøkk, Jackal where are you two?" Ryad replied "We're following a track leading from (F/N)'s impact point and we're making some progress, we'll be back in 10 minutes max" he sighed "Make it quick, we'll hold the perimeter" we hustled and after 3 more minutes we saw 2 enemies standing by trees outside of what looks like a rock slab, I pulled the pins on 3 IR strobe grenades before tying them together with dental floss before throwing them high into the tree and tying the floss to a branch Ryad looked at me weirdly as I spoke "Dental floss, I always carry it with me, I saw it on an episode of Macgyver" he nodded slowly before replying "Let's get out of here, we know where they are now" I nodded as we slinked away before running back to the wreckage once we cleared enemy line of sight. When we exited to the edge of the clearing where the team was holding I spoke "We found where Zach and (F/N) are, we put strobes in a tree next to the position now we can start planning." We got back into the chopper and took off to the US carrier sitting off the coast of Norway to help support the retrieval mission. Ash was glaring at me the entire time while Jackal, Maverick and Blitz where watching with nervous anticipation. I snapped "What are you looking at you bitch?!" She gasped lightly before replying "really? I'm the bitch here? Who's the one who accused me of not caring? Who's the one who was going to fight a teammate while we're searching for their bodies? Huh? It sure a hell wasn't me" I only laughed "I call it how I see it" When we landed we moved to the command room "Harry, please tell me you've got something?" He looked up solemnly "I'm sorry Freyja, not yet. It's only been 2 hours why don't you all go relax and I'll call you when we get something, okay?" I sighed before nodding and exiting.
Ash's POV
I watched as Freyja and the rest left the room, "Youre not thinking about giving up on them right? You know just as well as I if anyone could survive that shit it's them" he nodded "I'll put as much time as I can into either finding the bodies, or recovering them alive as I can. You should tell him how you feel" I looked over "I can't, not now. He'll find out in good time." Harry nodded "Goodnight Eliza, I'll call if anything is heard or found." I looked at the feed "goodnight harry, before I go... are you happy he finally called you Harry?" Harry paused before looking down at the ground resting a hand on the edge of the table "No, he was admitting defeat when he called me that. I wish he called me it of his own accord and not being pressured by death" I thought over his words "Affirm boss, I'm going to sleep. Keep me updated please, sir" as I headed to the door before exiting and moving through the winding hallways towards my dorm. I thought over his last words "I want to die with dignity" I sighed I hope Nøkk was right that you were captured, atleast then you're alive. I turned the corner and bumped into Marius "oh, I'm sorry Eliza. I was distracted, think about the mission" I nodded "it's fine, I'm more stuck on (F/N)'s last words than the mission as a whole" he looked at me "I never heard them, what'd he say?" I looked down as I replied "he said "I want to die with dignity" before having an F-18 drop bombs on his position." Marius gasped "There's no way he would've survived that!" I shook my head "When we were there we didn't find any remains and Freyja and ryad found some signs of a struggle near where (F/N) should've been, he might've been captured before the bombs hit. There's still some hope." He looked at me "Ja, hope-hopefully. If they're still alive, they'll hold out until we get to them." I looked down "Zach would've needed immediate medical attention, he took 4 rounds to the stomach before the bombs dropped." He smiled "They're a lot tougher than we give them credit for, they'll pull through"
With Zach and (F/N)
"Zach, I want my mommy. I don't feel safe anymore." He chuckled before groaning "Shit, stop whining. Everytime I laugh my stomach stings like a bitch." Just then a baton hit the bar as we fell quiet the mask yelled "Shut the hell up!"
Back with Eliza and Marius
"Yeah, they'll.... they'll-uh, they'll just be waiting for us. Yeah, that's it, they're just sitting waiting for us" he nodded before moving past me "Just hold strong and be ready for them to come home" I nodded before heading to my bunk.
When I woke up the next morning I moved to the cafeteria and sat at the rainbow table with my coffee and eggs a couple of our friends sat down across from me "Where's Nøkk?" Erik spoke "over there, with some of the squids" I looked over and saw that she was indeed sitting at a table with female sailors "What're we doing today?" Elias spoke "Nothing, Harry's given us the day off until he finds out what the fate of Valkyrie is" I nodded before trying to finish the food before giving up and throwing it out and making my way to the gym. I walked to a punching bag and felt all the pain, worry and hatred before releasing it all throwing punches and kicks into the bag for minutes as I yelled before breathing heavily as I stared at my bloody hands "So this is what they saw when they got that look" I sighed as I moved to the sink washing the blood off my hands hissing at the sting before I wrapped them and left
Time skip 1 month
I woke up when I heard Harry over the PA "Ash, Doc, Montagne, Lion and gridlock to briefing room 3! Now!" I fell out of my bunk throwing on my tac vest and my boots before running to the briefing room I was the last to arrive and Harry looked at me "I'm sorry to call you here so early but they're moving, if I can direct your attention to the screen you can see two people being dragged to a convoy. We have confirmed it's them, you have 10 minutes to get your gear and get on the chopper, this is time sensitive we cannot allow this opportunity to slip by, I'll brief you in the air, go!" We saluted before running to the armory I grabbed my r4 and m45 I looked over at the team quoting Elias "if anyone needs to sneeze, do it now" they chuckled as lion slung his backpack on "let's show these des erreurs(mistakes) what happens when you fuck with Rainbow" we nodded with determination filling our bodies "Gilles(Montagne) lead us out" he nodded as we jogged to the chopper, a stealth hawk I've never gotten to see one before. We climbed in and the chopper lifted off as we heard Harry in our headset "the convoy just left. If everything we've found is true you'll land infront of them by 2 miles, after that it's an ambush clear and secure. The stealth hawk will be in the area to extract when the mission is complete. The convoy has 4 cars we suspect (F/N) and Zach are in car 3 but we cannot confirm so check targets." Lion replied "Understood" as Harry asked "Any questions?" I asked "Do we have any secondary extract points?" He replied "4 miles east on a plateau is extract point bravo" I breathed "clear" we were quiet for the 2 hours while we flew to the ambush point until I bolted upright "Damnit! Did anyone remember to grab ammo?" They all looked at each other before sighing "Yes, ash we grabbed our ammo" I chuckled as they joined me before we heard "2 minutes" we started checking our gear as I looked out the window seeing 4 sets of headlights probably about 10 miles back "we'll probably have 5-10 minutes before they reach us when we land" they nodded as we started our pre-mission ritual. the pilot spoke "30 seconds, make ready" Lion pulled the door open as Montagne grabbed the rope, the helicopter pitched as the light switched to green and the pilot yelled "Go!" As we started rappelling one after another until we all hit the dirt and set our perimeter I lifted my hand extending a finger and waving it in circles as the rope was pulled up and the other operators formed up "Grid, put your stingers on the road, doc set up a reception area for Zach and (F/N) and then move to this tree, Lion have your drone ready to tag enemies so we can identify enemies. Monty when we find them I need you to lead us in so we can get them out safely" they nodded as we set out to our positions I heard tori "Stingers in position, this'll slow em down." I nodded as Lion spoke "Big brother coming online" I asked "Everyone in position?" Everyone confirmed as we waited for the convoy to arrive. I was breathing deeply trying to calm my nerves when I felt doc's on my shoulder "Don't worry, it'll be okay. We'll all be home before you can say eureka" I nodded as I heard the trucks engines "Showtime" we lifted our rifles and waited for the trucks to hit the stingers.