Author's Note: After reading numerous BF2142, I felt motivated to write my own. It's based on the map Minsk and set a few days before the actual counterattack by the EU happens. I hope you enjoy this small tale of a Special Forces group as much as I enjoy writing it. I added a bit of Splinter Cell crossovers in there too but it's so minor it's not even worth the crossover category.
DISCLAMER: I don't own any of the Battlefield Games, EA does. I don't own any of the Splinter Cell Games either.
In the Heart of Darkness
Captain Patrick "Dagger" Bloomfield
8th Special Forces Group, United States Marines, European Union
Minsk, Belarus
January 4th, 2142
0135 Hours
Flying over Europe and into the heart of Belarus in a stealth modified UD-12 Shepard Air Transport aircraft was a risky prospect even for the EUSOC (European Union Special Operations Capable). Dressed in a heavily modified Recon armor kit, I had a full face helmet with a heads-up display monitoring my weapon, health and squad. The light Kevlar Spider Web armor was replaced with a heavy ceramic plated Nova Vest and shoulder guards. On my knees were two synthetic shock proof knee guards to protect me from scratching the crystal threads of the Recon suit. The Recon suit was special as it gave us the ability to cloak into a mist of air that enemies could not spot at long range. I carried two rifles, the Bauer H-AR and the Zeller-H Advanced Sniper Rifle. I had been in service for almost five years as a soldier the United States Marines which made up the European Union Army with other service branches. Not so long ago I was inducted into the EUSOC and held the rank of Lieutenant for two years before becoming a Captain with my own fireteam of four operators.
"Captain, we in?" Sergeant Chris McGrath asked as I nodded.
Chris McGrath was a British SAS soldier from England. He was one of the best snipers they bred and being assigned to the 8th SFG he was an important asset to the team. He carried the Pilum H-AVR, even though it's purpose was an Anti-Tank rifle Chris tinkered with the scope and rifle's CPU to achieve almost absolute accuracy at the range of one mile. He carried a Turcotte Rapid SMG for close in work which was equipped with a silencer. McGrath wore the Recon standard suit with the right shoulder featuring a bullet holder, holding five extra Pilum H-AVR rounds. He was able to work either in a team or lone wolf deep in enemy territory and was cool under fire.
"Saki, you alright?" I asked Corporal Sakura Yamamoto who didn't respond to the comment.
Sakura Yamamoto was a defector from the PAC (Pan-Asian Coalition) from two years back. She was beaten, tortured and raped when she crossed the border of Belgium from Russia. Being a former PAC soldier she found out the truth about her parents death. At the age of sixteen Spetnaz Special Forces assaulted her house rooting her parents as main suspects for suspicion of sending intelligence to the EU. Her parents were killed in front of her as she hid inside the closet, silent and now selectively mute. She was forced to enter the PAC Japanese's branch as a soldier and escaped from Russia into the protective arms of the EU ever since. Although mute, she was our premiere CQB specialist equipped with a Voss L-AR and a back-up Clark 15B shotgun at her disposal. She wore the standard assault kit armor with a full-face Recon helmet system.
"Five minutes!" I pilot warned as I nodded.
"Franc, you holding up with that wound?" I asked the French Adjuadant from the Commandant Des Operations Speciales branch of the French Army or French Special Forces.
"Oui, Capitaine le wound is holding fine." Francis De La Rue, a former French equivalent of a Sergeant Major replied in his French mixed English accent.
"Good to hear that." I replied checking the NetBat (Battlefield Network) on mission updates through the geosynchronous satellite orbiting above us.
Adjuadant Francis De La Rue was a big man at least six feet two inches in height and weighing in at one hundred twenty kilograms. He had short spiked blonde hair and a slight stubble around his mouth. A scar ran from the top of his right eyebrow down to his upper right lip, showing his past operations and experience. Although it was hard to communicate, Francis or Franc as I called him was an experienced soldier with a fountain of wisdom. He as the team's support and engineer carrying the Ganz Heavy Machine Gun in conjunction with the Mitchell AV-18 missile launcher on his back. He sported gray assault kit armor with armor plates hugging his shoulders unlike the plates sticking out like some samurai pauldrons. He had a full-face Recon helmet with embedded NetBat systems that few officers ever receive.
"Sarah, what about you?" I asked the Virginian Born American recruited from the EU Navy as a Corpsman.
Sarah was your usual eye candy in a soldier's uniform. But there was more than meets the eye. I learned over the course of the selection process that she was a former NSA operative working undercover in Russia under a group called Third Echelon. She retired from the NSA to find work as a Navy Corpsman and help people while she was breathing, twenty eight and still looking fine she was a lethal operative. She carried a Voss L-AR at all times and during the times that she couldn't, a P33 Pereira revolver was always close. She had blonde hair tied in a ponytail tucked away underneath a standard full-face helmet fitted to a full heavy support kit armor system sporting heavy chest and leg plates.
"I'm doing fine Captain." She replied as I sat on the polymer seat facing the other two women.
"One minute!" The pilot yelled from the cockpit and also on the radio.
"Check gear and make ready for insertion!" I yelled racking the bolt on the Bauer H-AR, checking for any jams.
"Ready!" Chris yelled out into the passenger bay as the jet engines hummed, shuddering the airframe.
"Locked and loaded, Capitaine." Franc reported, Saki gave me a thumbs-up.
"Ready as ever Captain." Sarah reported as I nodded.
Over the years since the 21st Century the ice has been growing from the North and South Pole, slowly eating away at the lands devouring them whole and leaving nothing behind. The Cold War began three years ago, the two factions fighting for what land we have left and what resources we had left. Technology advanced at rapid paces but not enough to stop the ice from spreading. War constantly happened on all fronts, from the deserts of Egypt to the snowy fronts of the now frozen Black Sea. Our mission was simple, recon the EU command center in Northern Europe in the city of Minsk. The EU's Krieg Panzer's 2nd Regiment withdrew from here three years ago from a furious attack from General Arkadi Petrov with three battalions of armor and troops. We were going to do this the old way. A HALO jump into the city just like the ancestors of the EUSOC had to do during the Gulf War.
"Thirty seconds!" The pilot yelled for the last time as the side panel doors slid back revealing the dark sky.
Two men sat in the seat right next to the doors, manning two Gatling guns sitting below them. The parachutes we were wearing were made of lightweight polymers that were easy to manipulate in mid-flight. Manufactured in the late 21st Century, the technology was phased out in favor of assault pods which were both noisy and left the soldier slightly vulnerable on impact as he has to adapt himself to the battlefield before charging into battle. The red light blinked slowly as I checked my straps and gear. I stood up ready to jump as the light turned yellow. Then, the passenger bay was lit up by a bright green light.
"Go, go, go." I ordered into my helmet radio as I gripped onto the upper lip of the UD-12 Shepard's door frame glancing into the dark void.
Saki and Franc sailed out from the transport aircraft, their arms and legs spread like an eagle to catch the air. Confirming everyone had left the aircraft, I stepped off myself. I let go of the small lip and fell downwards, into the gaping mouth of the giant black hole below me. I kept my arms and legs snapped at my side. I felt the air and turbulence buffet my body as I darted through the darkness with the NetBat highlighting the team in yellow. They were doing synchronized sky diving and holding formation as I reached their altitude. I stuck out my arm and legs catching the air, slowing down.
"Pull toggles at one." I ordered the team as a series of clicks acknowledged the order, the team unable to nod.
The altitude ticked down on the right side of the HUD. Three thousand and dropping fast as we hit terminal velocity. The ground below us slowly unfolded as a series of lights were still on in the enemy inhabited city. Tall skyscrapers adorned the center of the city and towered high above the others. In front of me a street devoid of light and life with only small apartments surrounding the streets in the dark and heavy atmosphere of enemy occupied Belarus. The altitude hit one thousand feet and the HUD flashed red we surpassed the tallest skyscraper, quickly dropping into ground. I reached up and pulled the matte black toggle from my left shoulder strap. I heard a fizzle and then a pop as they parachute was deployed by a small charge. The synthetic fabric catching the air, slowly me down quickly as the straps tightened around my body. The weapons hanging off my back in soft cloth cases attached to my chestplate by magnetic cloth straps, pulled at my body as it decelerated.
"Ghost Lead, parachute deployed." I reported into the full-face helmet radio as I touched down on the snowed in road, rolling to absorb the fall.
"Ghost Two, touchdown." Chris reported as he landed next to me, the parafoil floating onto my body.
"Get your shit off me, you Brit." I said jokingly to Chris as he laughed.
"You Yanks are all so touchy." Chris replied as I pulled in the parachute and stuffed it into the bag.
"Captain watch out!" Sarah yelled into the radio as my face was hit by a black shape, falling into the floor with one hundred kilograms of gear and body.
"Even for a special ops team, we still have some kinks to work out." Chris commented as the rest of the team landed behind us, while I got out from underneath Sarah.
"You guys need to work on your HALO skills. When we get back to Hereford, you're first." I grunted lifting Sarah on her feet.
"Sorry boss, the wind kind of made me over shot the landing." Sarah explained as I sighed, pulling out my rifles from the cloth bag.
The area was completely dark. It was like being in a small iron cell with no doors or windows to show you of the world outside except for one small hole emitting light. Two hundred meters away and two blocks down the road was where the electricity started. To my right was a bombed out apartment with signs of recent abandonment. With the parachute stowed away and hidden in a fake pile of snow with an electrical signature suppression field around it, the assaulting force which was only a few days away would pick up the equipment. I waved the squad forward into the apartment which was a ten story building housing the population that was relocated to Poland. We entered the doorway, the sliding doors open from the loss of electricity and a safety feature.
"Franc, Saki, go check on the electricity. The rest with me." I ordered switching on the night vision.
"Oui, Capitaine." Franc answered as we ascended the stairs trying to get to the tenth floor with the highest vantage point.
I lifted the rifle to my eyes, careful not to activate the digital scope or night vision as any electrical signature could give my team away. In the dark and without light, my eyes adjusted slowly to the pitch black environment. Slowly sweeping up and down flight of stairs I made sure to note every single door and detail as it could help in our exfiltration if we were needed to. The EUSOC was made up of more than ten different special forces heritages that were formed with the birth of the EU Army. GSG9, United States Green Beret, the Special Air Service, MARSOC, French Foreign Legionaries were a few giving their own specialized training and traditions to the recently formed SpecOps branch of the European Union Army. I heard an object smash into the floor a few meters away from me. Holding up a fist, I ordered the small team to top.
"What is it?" Chris whispered as my adrenaline rush kicked in.
"I hope it was nothing." I replied quietly, stepping onto the fifth floor.
The stairs opened up to an arms width corridor with a blown out wall at the end of it. Light seeped into the corridor, spilling just a few inches into the hallway. City lights dotted the horizon as skyscrapers adorned the city center of Minsk providing a protective wall of metal. The concrete floor held sturdily as I slowly stepped forward, deeper into the corridor with metal sliding doors lining the apartment floor. Something felt and looked majorly wrong. Smoke floated from the middle of the corridor and in the middle of empty air. I squinted, reflexively activating the digital binoculars. The HUD zoomed in on the source of the smoke which turned out to be a cigarette glowing dimly in the midst of the city lights. The air in front of me shimmered. A PAC sniper stood guard in the apartment watching over the dead zone of the city. I looked back holding out a hand and signaled the fireteam to wait.
"What do you see, Captain?" Chris asked as I held up a single finger pointing to the shimmer shape and then making a slicing motion at my neck.
Chris gave me a short nod as I slung the Bauer behind my back, pulling out from my left shoulder strap the BJ-2 Combat Knife. I held the combat knife in a reverse grip with the pointed edge facing the ground. The matte black finish glimmered in the darkness and the serrated front end hungering for blood. This is what the Marines taught me to do, be a killer. With the induction into the EUSOC I was just a restrained murder with the permission to kill. I snuck up behind the shape and brandished my knife, holding it next to my head. My muscles tensed as my left hand positioned itself behind the shape. I relaxed just for second before lashing out at the shimmering air. My left arm wrapped around the sniper's neck and found grip as it choked his airway. He gurgled, wheezing as he writhed in my grip.
"мат!" He cursed in Russian as I dragged him away from the blown out wall.
His arms clawed at me, panicking too much to realize his knife was sheathed at this utility belt. His camouflage was disabled. The synthetic fiber disrupted by my own as I brought the knife down. The blade easily sliced through his uniform, a small space between the armor's neck piece and the helmet show his vulnerable flesh. It was like cutting through butter before the knife hit something hard. The blade had stopped at his spinal cord, the blood squirting out at my helmet and armor tinting it crimson red. I felt his arms weaken slowly as I drove the knife and cracked his spinal cord killing him. Thus, the PAC sniper was now truly dead. One of the casualties of war. I pulled out the blade and dropped his body on the frozen floor. The team slowly walked towards me to examine the dead sniper as I wiped the bloodied blade on my jacket.
"Brutal, Yank." Chris commented as I crouched down, taking the helmet off the soldier.
"Fucking hell, he's just a kid." I grunted seeing the opened eye face of a Russian sniper no older than the age of eighteen.
"Since the PAC dropped the age of enlistment to sixteen, every testosterone fueled boy joined wanting a piece of us and some food for their family." Chris stated as I slid my hand over his face, closing his eyes.
"Let's get him inside one of these apartments and hide him from any curious eyes." I ordered as Chris nodded, Sarah helping him out.
The two quickly grabbed the dead sniper and placed him in the apartment directly to our right. It wasn't lavishly decorated like some of the rich and powerful lived in but was filled with essentials. Accommodations like television and internet was cheap enough that even the poor could afford it, food wasn't. Ever since the war began and the cold frontier became consuming the fertile lands in the north and south, food was scarce. Some like the production facility in Africa and Italy churning out food for four whole continents. The PAC was even more desperate, China, Russia and Japan had to rely on the South East Asian region for their supplies as their massive population went hungry. The PAC at first tried to reason with the EU for some resources but to no avail. War was declared on October 2139 with PAC invasions all across the border.
"Capitaine, I have found le generator." Franc reported as Chris and Sarah walked out from the apartment, the trial of red blood still fresh on the floor.
"Good, can you get it online?" I asked the French soldier.
"Oui, I can only get uh…un chambre with electricity." Franc replied as I nodded.
"That will have to do, try to get a room at the top floor working will you?" I asked Franc, gesturing the two towards the stairs.
"Roger." Franc answered swiftly as I followed the two soldiers up the stairs.
The rest of the ascent was quiet and peaceful as we stepped onto the still intact tenth floor. Well, it looked intact anyway. It was dark and eerily quiet in the corridor. Lowering my weapon, I walked to the first door and looked inside. No life and no light just as I expected. Suddenly the room was flooded with light. Apparently, Franc just lit up the wrong room even though it was on the tenth floor. The light disappeared as quickly as it came. I turned away walking towards the end of the hallway. Light flickered on from one of the rooms. The rifle came up to my eyes, the light flickering casting a human shadow on the ground in front of me.
"What is it Captain?" Sarah asked as I saw a humanoid shadow on the ground.
"Someone's in the room." I grunted, rounding the corner with my rifle.
"Are you sure?" Sarah asked again concerned.
There was no one there. The light on the ceiling flickered on and off before stabilizing as I sighed. Lowering the rifle and pulled off my helmet. I shut my eyes tight, taking a few moments to calm myself down. The cold air started to creep up on my face and touched it with a merciless finger. Rubbing my face to warm it up, I snapped open my eyes. I jumped as a hand landed on my shoulder. I turned to see Sarah with her right hand up in the air.
"Did I scare you Captain?" She asked as I shook my head.
"No, I'm just a bit…tired that's all." I replied, a small white cloud escaping my lips as I exhaled.
"Power's on Capitaine." Franc reported.
"Good job Franc, now get back up here. It's time to set up the hide." I ordered Franc as a click acknowledged the order.
"Why don't you have a seat Yank?" Chris suggested as I nodded and smashed my fist into the light switch, extinguishing the light.
The darkness calmed my nerves as if a fire inside my head had been extinguished by a wall of water. The couch I sat on felt cold and desolate as I rubbed my face in another attempt to warm it up. I heard the sliding of the door close, the hum of the heating system resuming its duty to expel warmth into the room. Chris paced the room trying to find a way to open the metal shutters protecting the windows from the winds from the north. I pulled out a PDA from one of my armor compartments and tapped the screen, geological, weather forecast and military information streamed into the PDA in real-time updating me with the movements of enemy troops from hundreds of satellites orbiting the planet from above. A new green warning flashed with the words: NEW ORDERS. I tapped the screen bringing up a small text message.
FROM: COL. TERRY L. HAMMER
TO: CAPT. PATRICK J. BLOOMFIELD
ENCRYPTED ALPHA ONE
EYES-ONLY
Captain, we've got new orders from the brass. You are to comb the area for
a missing medical specialist by the name of Claire Laroche. Picture and file is attached.
Rescuing this medical specialist is now second to your objective of reconnaissance of the area.
Good Luck and Fair Winds Captain.
Colonel Hammer
8th Special Forces Group
Message will self-destruct after finished reading
"Claire Laroche?" I asked myself quietly, tapping the attached file as Sarah scourged the room for something.
"Claire Laroche, age twenty six, French descent. Obviously." I grumbled flicking the screen with my thumb.
"Occupation medical lab technician, degree in medicine and surgery, so why the fuck are we rescuing her?" I asked myself scrolling down further.
"Captured in Minsk to treat injured PAC soldiers back to health on October 2140 when traveling to the Belgian frontlines." I finished reading and found her picture.
She had hazels eyes and black hair tied in a ponytail. Obviously it was a bit old as the date was 2138 just one year before the war and when she graduated from college. Why she was in this desolate place was not my business. We had our orders and I had to carry it out. The message deleted itself shortly after I finished reading it and the picture was saved to the PDA's personal picture folder. I sighed, a bit frustrated that some General sitting in his warm office or a politician enjoying dinner was sending us. An elite group of soldiers to do a job that the Pararescue unit of the EU Air Force should be doing. We were trained for infiltration, sabotage, assassinations, snatch and grab, extraction of high value targets and enemy harassment techniques. Instead, we were the eyes for a large force and tasked with the rescue of some medical specialist.
"Capitaine, orders?" Franc asked standing in the room, I didn't even notice him coming in.
"Take up watch near the window, no light in and no light out. Chris, get your ass up stairs and set up a sniper hide. Sarah follow me, I've got something special for you to do. Saki, you help Franc set up the observation kit." I ordered the six man team.
"Roger." Franc replied walking towards the metal shutters with Saki closely behind.
"You got it boss." Chris stated stepping outside the door.
"Sarah, meet me on the roof and make sure Chris doesn't do anything we'll regret." I commanded, placing the light sniper rifle on the couch.
"Yes sir, I'll make sure of it." Sarah responded quickly as I pulled off my gloves.
I was reverting back to the old style of reconnaissance in the 21st Century where ghille suits and camouflaged paint ruled the day. Modern thermal scopes were tuned to much higher heat detection settings as the armored suits produced so much heat that it bled into the surrounding areas. The suits also gave off electromagnetic readings that were equivalent to the 21st Century computer. Pulling out a large burlap suit sewn with fake white colored fabric moss, I donned the heavy clothing. It felt cumbersome and thick, draping over my skin like a blanket. Next came what the Marines called the "War Paint". I grabbed what looked like a girl's cosmetic kit. It looked small, black and square but inside it held paint in shades of black, green, brown and white. Dipping my fingers into the black paint, I smeared it in thick lines diagonally on my face. White filled in between the black as the two were only prominent colors in this winter wonderland. That and the color of blood running down the streets when the two superpowers faced off against each other. Grabbing the sniper rifle and walked out the door. Shivering from the cold wind, I continued up the stairs to the roof to find Sarah lying down on the belly arguing with Chris on the snowed in roof.
"McGrath, the Captain ordered you NOT to engage the enemy." Sarah ordered as Chris groaned.
"He's right sodding there!" Chris hissed, looking through the scope of the Pilum H-AVR.
"Can't you British SAS jocks stop creaming over every single enemy you see?" Sarah asked as I laid down next to her, crawling up to the small lip of the building.
"Sir, permission to engage lone enemy sentry six hundred meters to our one o'clock." Chris stated eager to get a kill.
"Do you have a silenced rifle?" I asked the British soldier.
"I haven't killed anyone in months! You expect some SAS operative like me to sit idly by and not engage a target?" Chris hissed as I shrugged.
"I didn't say you couldn't kill, I asked if you had a silenced rifle." I whispered as a smile slowly spread on his face.
"Well then, may I borrow your Zeller-H Captain?" Chris asked nicely, tapping his armored finger on the body of his rifle.
"Here!" I grunted throwing the rifle over to him.
"Alright, come to daddy." Chris breathed as I pulled out my own set of binoculars, looking at the lone sentry.
The armored PAC soldier sat on top of a metal chair inside a gunmetal colored house. The window was blown out and behind the sandbags was a mounted machine gun. I swept the area with my binoculars, seeing no hostiles in sight. Sometimes people don't understand the blood thirst of the operatives and labeled us as barbarians. Truth is all of us men in the Special Forces will never back down from a fight. It was a part of who we are and war was a home we all came back to eventually after leaving it. Chris tapped the trigger guard of my rifle as he lined up the shot. I looked back confused as he didn't pull the trigger for the last two minutes.
"Are you going soft on me here or what?" I asked the Brit as he held up his right index finger.
"Silence, the wind is still blowing around at six knots. I've set the scope to five, shooting now would place the round exactly three inches to the right of the target." Chris explained quickly, his finger now hovering over the trigger.
"And that's why you're the best sniper in my squad." I murmured looking back into the scope.
The wind howled and blew constantly, beating us with its cold grasp. Eight hundred meters away was the lone sentry sitting in the darkness between two street lights. Why he had the lights out, I didn't know. What I knew was that he was about to get a bullet through the head. I waited a few seconds more as the wind slowly died down. The road in front of him was barren, the closest sign of activity further back where the PAC had cooked themselves up a fire burning in a rusted barrel. His friends huddled around the warmth, holding their hands up to the heat to keep themselves from freezing to death. My fingers shook and froze in place as my breathing became erratic. It was cold alright, but bearable for a few minutes longer. Then, I heard a cough and quickly afterwards a small crack. I waited for one second, and then two. The head of the enemy sentry exploded in a small cloud of red as his body slumped on the machine gun, raising it up towards the sky.
"Tango down." Chris breathed putting his finger off the trigger.
"You guys are so barbaric." Sarah stated as he gave me back the rifle.
"Such is the nature of an operator." I replied smiling, tapping my fist against Chris's.
"So Captain, what did you call me down here for?" Sarah asked as I pulled out my PDA.
"I want you to send a disc drone out into the PAC's outpost and search for…" I said scrolling through the various pictures of past targets.
"…her." I finished my sentence, sniffling from the cold.
"Who is she, your girlfriend?" Sarah asked taking off her pack and pulling out a palm sized disc with rotorblades in the center of it.
"Very funny." I replied as she grinned, throwing the disc into the air.
"What in the hell is that bloody thing?" Chris asked as the disc hovered in the air.
"It's a disc drone, McGrath. Used to survey and scout the area. Not to blow things up." Sarah stated firmly as I chuckled, finding the two quite suitable for each other.
"Simmer down you two. Let's not get excited over some piece of technology." I suggested as the drone darted into the air.
"Shut up." The two replied as I was slightly surprised from the retort.
"Alright then, I'll leave you two lovebirds to argue with each other." I stated crawling backwards, getting up and walking down the rooftop access.
Walking down the stairs and entering the room, I saw Franc hovering over Saki as they reconed the area. Franc as his usual self was telling her about to his battles before the war and how his wife used to make him the best French toast, before the war that is. Saki, being the perfect listener she was, stayed silent throughout the whole exchanged as I walked in the room silently. Taking off the burlap camouflage and donning my armor, I sat down and pulled out the PDA. The PDA was loaded with apps essential to both the mission and some not essential. One was the games that it came with and one I usually played when I had free time. Tapping the drone application, a real time feed of the terrain popped up as the small disc flew over the abandoned town of Minsk.
"Oh, Capitaine. I didn't hear you come into le room. I was just telling Saki here about le time was in battle with le PAC in Karkland." Franc explained as rubbed my hands together looking at the PDA.
"Carry on, Adjuadant La Rue." I replied as Saki looked at me.
"Do you like the stories?" I asked her as she nodded, not knowing wither she understood me or not.
"Franc, wake me up in two hours will you? I need to get some rest after that long ride into Minsk." I requested Franc as he turned around to face.
"Oui, I will wake you up in deux hours Capitaine." Franc replied holding up to fingers as I nodded putting the PDA on stand-by and lying down on the bed, closing my eyes letting sleep waft me away.