Sergei Antov strolled into the Elisaveta's Operations Room with his usual air of "business as usual".

Dressed in a well tailored and expensive suit, the large Afro-Russian looked every part a first rate lawyer. A Cuban cigar was nestled between two meaty fingers of his right hand, and a wisp of smoke followed its swaying movements. The aroma of tobacco quickly overwhelmed the ship's meagre ventilation system.

With a smug smirk, he nodded to each of the gathered Team Leaders in turn, who sat around a simple rectangular table made of hardened plastic. Sterile white walls gleaned with the dim light emitted by a singular LED bulb suspended from the ceiling. At the far end of the room, an empty black screen of an eighty inch LCD monitor looked on ominously. Save for the low hum of the Elisaveta's engines, all was perfectly quiet.

The Team Leaders knew not to fuck with Sergei. Beneath his luxury and smugness was a trained and sophisticated killer, the same as they. In the Spetsnaz, he was called, rather unimaginatively, 'The Black Russian', and his ruthless reputation as a leader ran before him.

"The Boss just called," he grunted, rather than spoke, in heavily accented english. "Its a job close to the old man's heart. Iraqi terrorists have downed a Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft heading back from an American Forward Operating Base. The plane was carrying Journalists and Reporters from the BBC, CNN and FOX news. Although the aircraft crashed the crew and the journalists survived. As of this morning, The Pentagon didnt know this. The Terrorists in question released a video online stating their demands or they would kill the hostages. we have 4 days."

As if activated by thought alone, the monitor at the rear of the room flickered to life. A grainy image of a small dusty brown compound appeared on the screen.

"The Pentagon managed to get these photos from a drone before it departed from Iraq. They've asked us to do their job for them," Sergei grumbled with contempt. "Scared of going back to war they told me, bullshit i say. cant be seen still acting in Iraq after they promised to withdraw troops more like it."

The image on the monitor switched to an even grainier depiction of 5 sand coloured squares. "What passes for a home for the enemy." Sergei continued, with a sigh. "the drone picked up 20 hostiles in the area, sources suggest the hostages are being held in the centre building. We shouldnt need to worry about their gear. Kalashnikovs, an rpg maybe, and lots of violent threats no doubt. These guys have no air support and shouldnt be too much of a problem taking down."

Sergei dabbed the last of his cigar against the inside his hand; an old habit, established long ago. Discarding the dead butt to the grated floor, he rubbed at the side of his iron-grey hair and released a long sigh. He dug for the inside pocket of his business jacket, and pulled out a tablet. "We were able to make contact with an american reconnaissance unit which was able to find a small mine field surrounding the south entrance. Assuming our insider is correct then we've got little room for error.." Sergei fell silent, boring his cold eyes into the Team Leaders as if he was trying to telepathically communicate with them.

"Same shit, different day," he chuckled at last. "A the canvas is yours to paint. The Pentagon is offering top dollar for this, and so I'm making all of our assets available to you. If it can get to us in four hours, then its yours to use... so what are you guys thinking? Lets hear it."

He stood with his arms folded, waiting for their response.

Ignacio H. Nobunaga listened to the mission briefing about the Iraqi terrorists who shot down a Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft and took everyone hostage since everyone survived being shot down. He dislikes the policies of the United States but he hates terrorism a little bit more than the policies of the Americans. He sees where they are located on the monitor and he has never actually went to a desert since he only has training in Urban terrain and it was a small area but big enough to be a problem. Ignacio wasn’t worried either about the hostiles but it didn’t take much to take civilians hostage. He heard a minefield from Sergei’s mouth, protecting the south entrance of the encampment. He hears Sergei’s question and sits normally in his chair and looks directly up at Sergei with an nonchalantly look to him.

He had a boredom to him, he was in the Japanese Defense Force for 17 years of his life until he was dishonorably discharged. ”My honest opinion it could be a trap but everything in Iraq smells like a trap, which is probably why Iraq is so controversial,” Ignacio said with a straight face. Ignacio definitely is reminded of the four days deadline of when the hostages are killed. ”This operation to rescue hostages from no honor bound terrorists is a good thing for the Disgraced Phoenixes,” Ignacio said. Ignacio adds, ”I will get the necessary preparations together and write out a requisition form of the equipment and other assets required for my squad.” He stays seating until the other two team leaders give their thoughts to Sergei Antov.

Meanwhile, in the mess hall on the Elisaveta. Misaki was sitting down reading a book by her squad mates, which is primarily about proper explosive handling and other things. Dexter was looking at the title of the book, Misaki was reading. “Misaki, why are you reading that book?” Dexter asked. Misaki looks at Dexter and smiles slightly. “Church to reread up on my explosives and how to handle them with care,” Misaki said. Dexter sighs at Misaki since this woman is too much of an explosive hog even though she is their explosives expert. Jaina and her twin sister Trisha looked at Misaki and they were wondering where Ignacio is. “So where is Ignacio our team leader?” The two twins asked in unison. Dexter sighs again and looks at them both. “He’s in a mission briefing with Sergei Antov,” Dexter said.

Vasily listened to the briefing in silence, with his arms folded across his broad chest and his eyes impassive. The mission sounded, and probably was, deceptively simple. On paper, it seemed rather straightforward; the teams would infiltrate the compound, take the enemy by surprise, rescue the hostages and fight their way to extraction. With the teams available, that would not be a problem. They could very easily take on twice their number of insurgents and still come out relatively unscathed, of that Vasily was confident. The problem came with the extraction of the hostages. Even with a total fighting strength of fifteen, Vasily did not like their chances of babysitting whilst in a combat zone.

He cast a sideways glance at the leader of the Disgraced Phoenixes. If Meng Lie was here, he would have taken away five from their total fighting strength. The Chinese man had never been silent about his disapproval of the Phoenixes, albeit he kept his complaints to snide remarks or calmly-delivered quips. Even though Vasily wanted the teams to get along as much as possible, he found it hard to not see his friend's point-of-view. He had taken a look at the service history of the Phoenixes, and didn't quite like what he saw. Apart from two of their team, the rest didn't really have much in the way of practical experience.

Vasily shrugged mentally. The same could be said for his team, if he had to be honest. With the exception of Meng Lie, himself and Anahera, the last two members had been members of peacetime armies. Well-trained, with excellent attitudes, but ultimately lacking experience in real combat scenarios. Despite that, Vasily felt confident that they would carry out their duties to the best of their abilities in this first mission.

"Well," Vasily began and cleared his throat. "I would suggest we insert via helicopter. We can land two or three kilometers away from the target buildings and march the rest of the way to maintain stealth. I would recommend silenced weapons. We must remain hidden until the very last moment, otherwise we stand to lose the hostages." He paused, recalling a few memories from his deployment to Syria, then looked at Sergei. "Do we have any intelligence on the status of the buildings? IEDs, booby traps?"

---

Armoury

The rifle felt comfortable in Meng Lie's hands, as if it had been built specially for him. He lifted it up, holding it against the bright, white fluorescent lights embedded in the armoury's ceiling. Satisfied that the barrel was free of any major defects, at least on the outside, he placed the rifle back onto the table in front of him, then wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. He had just spent the last four hours stripping, inspecting and cleaning every weapon used by every member of the present squads. Most saw the task of weapon maintenance as dreary, but Meng Lie thought otherwise. He found it a therapeutic break from an otherwise repetitive daily schedule.

Of course, there was a practical reason for his actions. He wanted to personally ensure that everyone's weapon was in top form during a mission. A single rifle jamming or a launcher misfiring could cost an innocent's life, and that was simply unacceptable to Meng Lie. He had been trained to be better than that. As the only operator present to have a service history that was exclusively with a police, rather than military, force, Meng Lie was well aware that he would be under more scrutiny than anyone else. Well, they could examine him as much as they wanted; Meng Lie was careful to never be anything less than professional.

He picked up an M21 rifle manufactured by Zastava. Vasily may have put the squad together, but the Russian had allowed Meng Lie to do most of the day-to-day planning, and Meng Lie ran a very tight ship. He had insisted on standardizing the equipment of the squad. The other teams could do as they wished, but Firelight was his team. The first thing Meng Lie had done was to select a rifle for the team, and the Zastava M21 had been the one he had chosen. With a system based on the AK and firing the common 5.56 cartridge, it was a rifle that was both easy for anyone to learn to use as well as easy on R.E.S.C.U.E's logistics branch.

Meng Lie carefully centered the rifle on his work table, then began to disassemble it. There was work to be done.

---

Mess Hall

"Drink! Drink! Drink!"

Anahera practically shouted that word over and over again in Ashton's ear as she hovered around him like a starving mosquito. The last round of poker between her, Asthon and Seung-Min had turned out badly for the Singaporean, and thus he had to pay the forfeit. The plastic cup he was now steadily draining had originally been filled with Milo - a sort of chocolate drink - but as the stakes were slowly raised, the three of them added more and more questionable items. From Ashton, it was soy sauce. From Anahera, a generous dollop of Thousand Island sauce and from Seung-Min, a pinch of kimchi.

To Ashton's credit, he waited until the cup was drained and smashed against the table before breaking out in a hacking cough. "You-" He began, but was interrupted by a series of coughs. He sat up straight, closed his eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath before speaking once more. "You two are fucking insane." He said, then shot Seung-Min an icy glare. "I nearly choked on your bloody kimchi, you know that?"

Seung-Min shrugged. The Korean rarely spoke, though the slight grin on her face certainly told Anahera that she was having fun. "Aw, come on, Ash," Anahera said as she gently patted the Singaporean's back. "It was all in good fun, and besides," She paused and stood up straight, dramatically pressing a thumb to her chest. "You've got a certified medic over here."

Ashton looked at her for a moment before saying, "You threw thousand island sauce into something that's basically liquid chocolate. Forgive me if I doubt your credentials."

Anahera made a show of deflating before returning to her seat next to Seung-Min. "Well, I'm the one you fellas are stuck with, so you'd better get used to me." She said and gave Ashton a playful wink. Even from their very first day, Anahera knew that the Singaporean was the sort who played by the rules and would be the last person to go wild in a party. In short, he was the kind of person a person like Anahera loved to tease. It was almost like a routine between the two of them; Anahera would say something strange or flirtatious, and Ashton would reply with a quip.

He did not disappoint in this particular instance. "Please tell me we can do trade-ins" He deadpanned, and even Seung-Min giggled at that.

"Only within two months of purchase, buddy." Anahera replied with a laugh.

Ashton sighed, shook his head and began gathering the cards on the table into a pile. "Right, time for round three. I'm not losing this time. My stomach can't take another one of your potions."

Taylor had listened to both of the other team leaders proposals. "Chopper would be a good idea. Only problem is Iraqi's still have some left over Anti-Air weapons from when the USSR invaded Afghanistan, Afghans must have sold them cause i remember seeing them on the ground when i served there. Not great stuff but still a risk. HALO jumping might be an option. Aircraft will be to high for them to pick it up. I do have to say though that if we don't have the resources for the HALO jump then a chopper is the best idea. My squad has an Ex-Pilot so we may even have air support. Taylor explained the weakness of the previous plan but even he knew it would most likely be the plan that they stuck with.

Meanwhile in the bunkroom.

Corporal Kelly Speares sat taking apart her pistol and putting back together again timing herself to make sure if need be she could do it in a hurry. Faith and Sean Connors sat around the TV watching the whatever appeared on Sky 1 (Other TV channels are available.). "Jesus Christ Sean, why you keep watching that crap. shouldnt you be checking the damn chopper or some shit." The pissed Corporal said rather annoyed that the squad was doing very little in preparation. "You ever tried relaxing abit Kelly my dear. Not everything is about the next mission you know. Live a little will ya!" The Ex-Pilot shouted back.

An insertion via HALO jumping did indeed sound like the safest and stealthiest option, but Vasily could already see several problems with Taylor's suggestion. Vasily knew that his team was not anywhere near the level of being capable to carry out a HALO jump, at least not without multiple safety violations, violations that even the VDV would have not risked. With his vast experience with the Russian Airborne, Vasily could practically carry out such a jump with his eyes closed, but the rest of his team? Meng Lie was police trained, and so would have never even seen the inside of a military transport aircraft. Seung-Min was a marine, Ashton a heliborne raider and Anahera an infantrywoman.

"While I agree that a HALO jump would be safest, not all of us are trained for such an operation." Vasily said carefully, not wanting to sound any more confrontational than was absolutely needed. He glanced fleetingly at Ignacio. There was no question about it; the Disgraced Phoenixes were definitely not trained in HALO operations, of that Vasily was more than sure. "We do have capable helicopter pilots, and if the anti-air weapons being used by the insurgents are leftovers from the Soviet invasion, then avoiding them would be a matter of flying low and fast. The early Strelas and Iglas will be unable to engage us then."

Sergei listened to the team leaders decisions on their insertion into the complex. Their proposals seemed intriguing to Sergei. What seemed more intriguing was how they planned to execute the mission and how they planned to extract the Hostages.

"Vasily, Taylor, Ignacio. While your insertion plans sound rather plausible you still have two problems to worry about. The Hostages and the extraction. If you plan to destroy their Anti-Air units then I will personally send a Chinook to pick up the hostages and yourselves leaving your Pilots to escort the Chopper back to the American FOB. How you decide to get the hostages in the first place that is up to you. For your insertion Helicopters i will have buzzards prepped for you."

The Russian pressed a red button on his desk and began to speak into it in russian. "Подготовьте канюки". A voice came back over the Intercom. "As you wish Sergei. I will send words to the Pilots"

Ignacio hears Taylor Martins suggest HALO Jump but he also heard Vasily asked about traps around the buildings before Taylor suggested the Helicopter Jump. He knows from his experience that his squad is definitely not trained for a HALO operation. The only reason for this is most of them are infantrymen, women, and he is the only helicopter pilot in the Disgraced Phoenixes. He also hears the reasoning of the HALO Jump because of vintage Anti-Air from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He hears Vasily’s argument on the fact not everyone is trained for a HALO Jump even though it does feel like a safe option but it would probably take longer to train everyone for HALO operations.

Ignacio regains his composure when he hears Vasily’s saying they do have capable Helicopter Pilots. He even agrees with the fact that those are early AA defenses are very unreliable on the fact, they cannot target things, which are closer to the ground. ”The option, which Vasily said about flying low is a better idea, than something my squad cannot do.” Ignacio said towards Taylor’s suggestion with a deep understanding of the Disgraced Phoenixes. He hears Sergei Antov talk about the Hostages and the Extraction and that is the definitely big problem. ”Destroying the AA units will probably be the best idea, so Extraction can be done by Chinooks,” Ignacio said with a smile on his face. Ignacio’s Helicopter Training had to deal with escorting Chinooks and other transports.

Meanwhile, in the mess hall on the Elisaveta. Dexter sighed at the fact, he keeps on having to remind Jaina and Trisha where they’re squad leader is even though they are quite reckless on the battlefield nonetheless. He looks around the Mess Hall and notices three members of Team Firelight playing poker and one of the three is having a very bad day. He smiles slightly but goes back to minding his own business with his squad. ”I definitely remember something Meng Lie said about our squad, I forgot what it was but it definitely pissed off Ignacio but I was the one who calmed our team leader down,” Dexter thought to himself. He knows that both squads are definitely not on good terms with each other so it is better not to aggravate the issue. Misaki looks at Dexter and places her book on the table. “Church what are you doing?” Dexter turns towards Misaki and sighs slightly. ”What I am doing nothing just leave me be,” Dexter said towards Misaki with a slight annoyed tone in his voice. Misaki picks up the book and gets up from her seat. “If you are doing nothing than I am going to go to the bunks and read my book there then,” Misaki said. Dexter waves Misaki goodbye and she walks out of the mess hall and towards the bunks.

Dexter looks at Jaina and Trisha and all they were doing was doing a staring contest with each other, which was slightly weird for him to see this. ”Seems like me and Ignacio are the only normal people in this squad,” Dexter thought with a little bit of annoyance. Mostly because him and Ignacio are the only men in the Disgraced Phoenixes.

"As far as were aware they havent booby trapped the compound. this should be a simple mission. Now, if you are ready you should go and get your squads up to the Landing pads. Dust off is in 20 minutes. one pilot and 4 men to a buzzard. two on each side. Good luck. Do me proud." Sergei Saluted the soldiers and made his way out of the brief room and towards the Comm room.

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Taylor saluted Sergei and made his way down to the Bunk room. He heard the announcement for 3 pilots to make their way to the Landing pads to prep their birds for take off. As he made his entrance into the bunkroom he noticed that Sean and Faith had already left. Sean was an Ex-pilot from the ARW in Ireland and he had probably taken his sister with him to double check the Bird. Corporal Kelly Speares and Lance Corporal Charlie Lyre had both prepped their gear and were stood to attention until Taylor had grabbed his gear. The team made their way upto the Landing pads and they had a small briefing of just their squad. "Ok, from this point out there will be no mentions of names. Kilo-Lead to Kilo-Four got that." an all around nod made it clear they understood. "Sean's gonna drop us off on the east of the complex and were gonna deal with the anti air and then move in to clear the LZ of hostiles. Sean will provide air support as soon as the AA guns are down."

Armoury

Vasily had wasted no time in making his way to the armoury once the plan had been finalized and the assets secured. Taylor could take care of the pilots and their briefing. Vasily just had to get Meng Lie up to speed about the mission and have him prepare the teams' weapons, or, more accurately, to simply release the electronic locks securing them to the racks. The moment Vasily saw Meng Lie standing over a disassembled SVU-A sniper rifle on the armoury's central table, he knew that the Chinese man had just spent the last few hours ensuring that everything was in top condition.

"A mission, sir?" Meng Lie asked, looking up from his work at the Russian. They were no longer in their respective forces, and even then Vasily had never been an officer, but he had long since given up telling the Chinese man to address him by name. It was probably never going to happen.

Vasily nodded. "That's right. Silenced loadout, Yang."

"Understood, sir." Meng Lie replied. "Sir, I need you to gather the teams. I shall see to the final preparations personally."

Mess hall

The three members of Firelight had long since stopped their game of poker, much to Ashton's relief. He knew that it was only a matter of time before someone was eating rancid food or drinking expired milk, with the way things were going. In the aftermath of their last round, Anahera had to drink what was basically a tea-coffee mixture infused with oyster sauce, sliced chili and a copious amount of pepper. To say that it was an unpleasant experience would have been an understatement; the New Zealander had practically sprinted to the nearest sink to throw up.

"Still looking a little green there, Ana." Ashton said teasingly, a smirk tugging at the edges of the lips.

"Piss off, Ash." Anahera replied grumpily. She slumped over in her seat, resting her head on her arms and groaned in discomfort. "I'm never going to be able to wash the taste from my mouth."

Ashton leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. He was enjoying watching this side of Anahera, the side that wasn't always trying to get a rise out of him or teasing him to the point of irritation. Still, he could not help but feel some sympathy for his team mate. It would take a lot of mouthwash and mint-flavoured toothpaste to wipe the horrendously strange taste from her mouth. "Well, maybe next time you wouldn't choose such a stupid forfeit for our games. Not so fun when you're the one who has to do it, huh?"

"Yes, yes," Anahera replied, her voice muffled. "I'm sorry, Mister Ash. I promise I won't do it again, Mister Ash. Please don't call my parents."

Ashton was about to give his response when the ship's intercom crackled to life. "Attention all teams," Vasily's static-laced voice said. "Everyone to report to the armoury for kitting out. Repeat, all teams to report to the armoury for kitting out."

The three members of Firelight fell into silence for a moment, each of them looking at one another. Then, as one, they jumped out of their seats and ran for the armoury. The time for jokes and casual conversations was over. Now it was time to be serious.

An announcement came over the comm systems on the entire ship.

"PILOTS FROM TEAMS KILO, DISGRACED PHOENIX AND FIRELIGHT ARE TO REPORT TO THE LANDING PAD IMMEDIATELY. DUST OFF IN 10 MINUTES. ALL TEAMS REPORT TO THE LANDING PAD FOR IMMEDIATE DEPLOYMENT."

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The entirety of Kilo team were prepped and on their buzzards. Sean in the pilots seat and the others sat on the sides. the Helicopter was fuelled up and its rotorblades spinning preparing to take off as Kilo Team waited for the other teams to reach the landing pad.

The Armory

Ignacio was in the armory to make sure his squad was equipped for the mission with a silenced load out. Misaki was the first one to make it to the armory since she was heading towards the bunks but when she heard the announcement from Vasily the team leader from Team Firelight she knew it was important. Dexter, Jaina, and Trisha ran into the armory since they were all the way in the Mess Hall and sighed at Ignacio. Ignacio gave them a single look and then looks at the team Firelight's leader Vasily and Meng Lie. Ignacio has a problem with Meng Lie but he doesn't want that to be a problem right now so he just looks at his squad and knows Trisha is the only one that likes using knives and only knives. ”It looks like everyone is here from my squad,” Ignacio said with relief in his voice, "As well, squad its a Silenced load out since that is what Vasily suggested in the mission briefing and I agree with him on that." This was before the announcement of ten minutes remaining before the mission started.

The Landing Pad

Ignacio and his squad, the Disgraced Phoenixes got to the landing pad in a hurry equipped with a silenced load out from the Armory. It was only like ten minutes remaining before the mission started. Ignacio was irritated slightly mostly because of his squad. He gave them a stern look and they fell in line easily and they got onto the buzzard, in the designated positions. Ignacio is in the pilot seat since he’s the pilot, he allowed one of his squad mates to carry his weapon since he can’t hold a weapon and fly at the same time. The one he gave it to was Dexter since he trusts him a little bit more than others, even though he was trained with sniper rifles. Dexter was happy to hold Ignacio’s M16 with a better grip attachment and a silencer. Dexter usually keeps his sniper rifle on his back.

"ALL TEAMS TO THE FLIGHT DECK, ALL TEAMS TO THE FLIGHT DECK. DUST OFF IN 5 MINUTES. REPEAT 5 MINUTES TILL DUST OFF"The Voice came over the loud speakers a final time, all the teams would need to be prepped and ready for launch in those next five minutes, They all should know never to keep a russian waiting.