Zhenya could not say that he was surprised when he saw a BMD-3 of the VDV come rolling through the airbase. It was almost a certain fact that Medved had something to do with this sudden de-escalation, but the Russian also knew that this was exactly how the VDV operated. Strike hard, strike fast and end the fight before it even truly began. All around him, the Russian troops were all cheering at their speedy victory. "Nobody, but us!" They shouted the VDV's motto in Russian, punching their fists into the air. Taking some time to mingle with his ex-comrades, Zhenya found himself repeating the motto alongside them, albeit in a softer and more subdued manner. "Do any of you know of a Medved team?" Zhenya asked eventually, curious about what the Vympel team had been up to. "They said they were going to designate more targets." The VDV lieutenant whom Zhenya had asked merely shrugged. "Who knows? Vympel never tells us anything. I am just happy that the fight is done and I have not lost too many of my men." He said, but then tilted his head towards the other side of the airfield. "But it has something to do with the command center, I am sure of it. We were told to leave that building to Spetsnaz. If that place is off-limits to even VDV, it must contain some very important information." Zhenya furrowed his brow. This was not going to go down well with the Captain, but he would deal with that problem when it came to it. "Details to do with Grozny, I guess." "I fucking hope so," The lieutenant said. "I promise you, we are going to salt their lands and burn their homes once we find out where the TIAF have been hiding." ---- The command center had, thankfully, survived the worst of the bombardment. Most of the walls were on their last legs, and the ceiling was entirely gone, but the building's contents were still thankfully largely intact. Medved-One carefully stepped through a roughly person-sized hole in one of the walls. Opposite him, he could clearly see the huge chunk of metal which had made the hole. Aside from that however, the command center was empty. "Clear," He called out to the rest of his team, who filed in shortly after. They gathered in the center of the building and took a quick glance around them to get oriented. "Right, we all know the drill. Search everywhere and take anything that looks important. We cannot waste time with the computerized bullshit, so pull the hard drives and we will hand it over to the technicians when we get back to base." Medved-One said quickly. With only curt nods from the rest of the team as acknowledgements, he moved off to search his own sector of the command center. The first desk he came to had apparently been emptied in a hurry - the drawers were still open and there were papers everywhere. Some were burnt, but a few were still intact and legible. He picked one sheet up and looked through it. "Cargo manifest," He called out, neatly folded the sheet and placed it into a map case hanging from his duty belt. "Hard drives," Medved-Two reported. "And a laptop that's still on. Can you believe these guys were using Google Earth?" "I can, actually. Unless they were planning some precise laser-guided bullshit, Google Earth maps are good enough." Medved-Four replied, and was immediately followed by the grinding sound of a cabinet being dragged across the floor. "Hidden trapdoor." He reported, then smashed through the wooden door with the heel of his boot. "Anything?" Medved-One asked as he sifted through another pile of papers. "Yeah," Medved-Four replied. "Empty gas canisters, like those used in Grozny." Medved-One let out a low whistle. That was one heck of a find; no doubt the TIAF were planning a similar attack somewhere in Armenia, or in any of the neighbouring states. Just as he was about to dismiss the pile he was sifting through as useless, one particular report caught his eye. It was written entirely in Russian, with no Turkish or Armenian translation. Holding it up higher, he read the report carefully. "Oh, shit." He said, his eyes going wide. "What is it?" Medved-Three asked. "The TIAF are planning something massive." Medved-One said. "An attack on a European city. A second Grozny, they call it." "So?" Medved-Four asked. "Let the technicians find out where and let whichever nation it is deal with it." Medved-One shook his head. "It is a false flag. They have militants already in their target city. Several hundred, if this report is to be believed." He said and smirked despite the situation. He had lost count of the times when intercepted enemy reports spoke of 'thousands' of insurgent troops when in reality there was hardly a handful. "They have Russian uniforms and AKs. Once this attack kicks off, Europe will think that Russia just launched a terror attack." "So the TIAF is targeting Russia?" Medved-Two asked. "What for?" "According to this, Grozny." Medved-One replied. "Revenge for the slain martyrs or whatever shit. They mentioned Lima too. Looks like Derzhavin's friends have made themselves a significant problem. Could be a trap, could not. Either way, we can't do anything with this now. We can panic later when the technicians get more details. For now, strip this place and do it quick. I want us done and out in thirty." ---- When Zhenya walked back to his team, the last thing he had been expecting was for the Captain to immediately blow up in his face. Sure, he had been expecting some kind of reaction, but he had thought that the Captain would save the emotional stuff for when they were back at base, not here in the presence of a VDV regiment. "I do not know either," Zhenya replied flatly and folded his arms. "But we have our orders, yes? To return to base. The VDV seem to have everything under control here." Just then, Medved-One's voice came over his headset. "Derzhavin! Do not reply. This is a secure connection, no one can hear us. Listen closely. We have raided the enemy command post and they have plans to implicate Russia in a terror attack. Their target is Copenhagen, but that is besides the point. The Danish can handle their own affairs. The point is that the TIAF know of Lima. They know you will respond and from what we found, they are planning to eliminate your team once you all respond. Keep Lima away from Copenhagen, Derzhavin. Do whatever it takes." The communication cut off as sudden as it began. Zhenya maintained his facade of calm, but in his mind, he debated whether or not he should tell the Captain what Medved had just told him. It did not take long for him to decide that it would be a bad idea; the Captain would probably see the trap as a challenge and decide to take the TIAF head on, even against tough odds. "Are we to return to base?" Zhenya asked the Captain.