Prologue

40 miles North of Mosul, Iraq – YPG territory

Staff Sergeant Christopher "Mac" Zheng

38th ERQS USAF

21 Nov 2016 – 0220

My feet pound into the dirt as gravity drives the weight of my equipment laden body into the ground. My knees buckle and I fall onto my side with all the grace of an elephant hit with a tranquilizer, as the breath simultaneously leaves my chest in a hurried gasp. I can hear the reverberating rasp of air in my mask as I catch my breath. An upward tug pulls my body as the wind captures my chute and tries to pull me along with it. Drawing from my experience, I hit the quick release on my harness and slip out of my jump harness and move to collect the rebelling fabric and gather it up in my arms. I look around and spot my gear a few feet away from me and grab my entrenching tool and begin digging a hole. While digging, I disconnect my breathing mask from my helmet and ditch it next to the parachute rigging at my feet. I quickly dump the contents at my feet into the hole and cover it up with the previously displaced sand, taking care to make sure it looks as undisturbed as possible.

As I hook up my comms and slip on my earpro, I check the function of my Mk 12 to make sure that it was undamaged in the drop. Satisfied as the bolt slams forward on a fresh mag, I activate my comms to reach my team.

"This is Red One, can I get a comms check, over?" I question as I inspect my plate carrier for any rips. Finding none, I'm satisfied and readily slip on my ruck. I then switch on the IR strobe on the back of my helmet and check to ensure that my PVS-21s are securely attached to my helmet. I see three indicators light up on my HUD.

"This is Red Two, how copy?" "Red Three, over." "Red four, copy?" I mentally sigh in quiet relief as the rest of my team comes in over the radio. I pull out a map and GPS from my admin pouch and shine an IR light from my helmet onto them.

"RV on me, we need to link up with the YPG 20 klicks south of here in 80 mikes." I scan my surroundings and I see three green figures approaching my position. We do a brief check of each other's gear and set off to the south. As we move silently across the desert sand, I then switch my comms to a different frequency and key my mike. I make a hand signal to my team to indicate that they do the same as well.

"Overlord, this is Red Actual. Angels have hit the ground and are on their way to the RV, ETA 80 mikes. How copy?" I say.

"Red Actual, this is Overlord. We read you and have you on our scopes with the Predator. We'll keep you updated on any Tangos in your vicinity, over. Happy hunting Red Actual."

"Copy that Overlord, Red Actual out." I then switch my comms onto standby mode. The team and I proceed silently on foot for the next hour, the long trek being largely uneventful. Red Two and I go over our elevation charts and windage tables during the trip as well as delegating responsibilities for the mission and possible contingencies.

As we close in on the RV I see a flash of IR light 50 meters and a crackle in my comms. I key my mike and whisper "Whiskey," as I flash my IR light thrice.

"Foxtrot." Crackles a hushed voice in my ear. I nod to my team and we jog over to the friendlies in front of us. As we draw closer I see four silhouettes rise up out of the underbrush. One of them moves towards us and I draw closer as well, both of us extending our hands towards each other.

I introduce myself "Mac, 38th ERQS."

He nods and returns the gesture, shaking my hand as he spoke. "Goose, SFOD-D."

Delta? The hell? I remark in silence. Unease begins to form in my gut, but I push it down and out of the way. Guess my clearance isn't high enough. "I was told that you'd be our ride to hell." I glance around, "I take it we've got some locals in the vicinity."

He nods, "Good eye, didn't expect that from chairborne." He grins, a perfect set of dull white teeth peering out from underneath his grizzly beard. He keys his mike twice and several silhouettes rise from the underbrush, numbering around twelve in number. "Some of the YPG's finest." He remarked.

"Didn't know a pilot warranted this many ground assets." I remarked.

Goose shook his head, "Normally they wouldn't, but we've got an ISIL HVT in proximity to your pilot, so command decided to task more assets to the mission." He paused. "What air assets are y'all bringing to the party?"

I recalled the mission brief and recounted the list to him "A pair of reapers equipped with JDAM payloads, an AC-130U will be on station at 0500, and we've got a carrier group in the Mediterranean with F/A-18s on standby about 15 mikes out. Not as much as I'd like, but it should get us out of any jam short of a full on Mogadishu mob." I pause and then continue. "Who's the HVT?"

"Domino." He answers.

I whistle in surprise, "Damn."

"Yeah, that's what I said." He signals to the rest of his team and YPG and they begin moving out. "We'll take you over to the technicals, I'm sure you're familiar with the layout of the compound?"

I nod, and signal for the rest of my team to follow. We follow the YPG commandos to four makeshift technicals. My team and I follow the Delta guys to a troop carrier variant with an enlarged bed, meanwhile a YPG soldier follows us onto the back of the truck.

I extend my hand to the YPG soldier which she takes with a grin. Goose introduces her, "Mac, this is Commander Baksi. She and her men will be creating a diversion two hundred meters north of the compound while we go in and extract your pilot, capture Domino and eliminate his men."

She nods "We've done many raids on the city over the past few weeks, Daesh won't suspect that we are going after your pilot."

"You English is impeccable." I noted.

She shrugged, "I studied at a university in Denmark, before the fighting here began and the land of my people called for me." She smiled. "I've heard the cries of many a Daesh dog, begging me to spare his life." She drew a knife. "Before I slit his wretched throat."

Goose chuckled, "She's a piece of work ain't she."

"Yeah," I replied, "glad she's on our side." I return my gaze to Goose, "So what's our entry plan? The mission planners have us entering the compound to the North and South with breaching charges, but I'm not big on multiple entries in confined spaces, not with a POW in the mix."

Goose nodded, "That's just asking for a blue on blue clusterfuck if you ask me. Y'all have any extra sub rounds for your side arms, we're out."

I nod and remove three 15 round glock mags from my pack and pass them over to Goose, the rest of my team mimicking my actions as they shared the ammo. "Here you go."

"Much appreciated." He slipped the three mags onto his plate carrier before continuing. "So the way I see it, we've got two options, we take out the guards in the back quietly and pick the lock on the door. From there we search silently for the pilot and take out any of the Haji fucks we find and grab any intel we can and confirm if Domino is down or has flown the coop." He paused, "But that's only if Baksi's diversion works and draws some of the guards to their position when we're exfil from the compound."

"And I take it the second option is a lot less quiet." I noted.

"Yeah, we set up a sniper's hide in the building across the street to the North and have three of us, two of your guys and one of ours, grab their attention while we breach silently from the south and fight our way towards the pilot and hopefully Domino who's interrogating him." He waited. "Not much of a plan either way, but I like to keep my ops simple and to the point."

"I like it, less chance of fuck ups. Any idea on force strength inside the compound?" I ask.

"Couple of locals we tapped for surveillance say that there are anywhere between 15-30 guys in that shit hole at a given time. So we could just be facing a couple of fireteams to a whole platoon." Goose shrugged. "It's a damned crapshoot, but it's the best chance we've had of taking out Domino in years."

"Plan sounds solid enough to me. Not airtight, but then again no op ever is. You've got knowledge in country so I'll defer to y'all." I replied

"Appreciate it, glad to see you chairborne guys aren't a bunch of loudmouths like the squids." He grinned.

I chuckle, "Well, we might like to fly but at least our heads aren't in the clouds when our boots are on the ground."

Goose leaned back on the railing of the truck, chuckling. "Roger that, you guys mind keeping watch? We're about 50 mikes out."

I nod "Sure soldier, you've earned it."

He nodded and gestured to the rest of the Delta team, all of them taking more comfortable positions in the back of the technical. Meanwhile, I go ahead and radio command to give an update. "Overlord, this is Red Actual, we've made contact with friendly YPG forces and are en route to the objective. Over."

"Glad to hear that Red Actual, good hunting. Over and out."

"Overlord, there's something else. It wasn't just YPG, we've linked up with a Delta team, any heads up on your end? How copy?"

There's a pause before my comms squelch, "Uh, we haven't been given any notice of Delta assets in your AO, Red Actual. You should have made contact with an ODA team. We'll contact JSOC to confirm their mission and keep you up to speed on any developments, Over and out."

Red Two speaks up next to me, "You know I'd expect this kind of planning mistake from NSW not Army."

I shrug. "Could have just been a mistake when filing the paperwork man."

"If you say so, I'm kind of pissed we're not in the loop though." I ignore him and begin sorting through my gear.

After a few moments I turn to Red Two "Worm, what do you think, full or light load for medical gear?" I ask.

He taps his chin, "Hmm, I say we go in light and ditch the rucks in this technical, carry a few IV bags, stretcher, morphine drips and a light trauma kit. We can always administer more extensive trauma care once we're out of the compound on this technical."

I nod in agreement and begin setting up my gear. I notice Baksi staring at me with interest, while I sorted out my gear. "Can I help you ma'am?"

She blinked, unaware that I had noticed her staring. "You and your men, are you doctors?"

"PJs ma'am, though we like to think we're doctors, ain't that right Worm?" I say as I elbow him in the side. He grunts and mockingly glares at me.

"Speak for yourself, I graduated from MIT and got accepted into medical school, before I decided to grace this unit with my presence." He chided.

"You never got accepted, dumbass. You punched your interviewer for saying that he was skeptical of your meeting their entry requirements." I replied.

"Hey, it's not my fault, the dude was being an asshole." He grumbled.

Baksi giggled, "The two of you are funny, and you seem close."

Worm patted my shoulder rather forcefully, "Went through the pipeline together all the way from Indoc, what, eight years ago? He's been stuck with me since."

"Unfortunately," I sighed. As Worm continued bantering with Baksi, a wayward thought crossed my mind. Hope this mission doesn't go sideways. I shake the doubt from my mind, and keep my fears to myself.

Forty Five minutes later.

I walk silently, hugging the wall to my left, suppressor in my left hand and sidearm in the other. I carefully screw on the suppressor onto my G19's barrel threads, taking care to make as little noise as possible. I do a press check to ensure that a round is in the chamber and proceed along the wall until the southwest corner of the building is right in front of me. I check around the corner and see three guards by the door, one of them dozing off in a chair on the farside of the doorway, the other two casually chatting. I look back and signal to Worm that there are three hostiles ahead and one's asleep. He nods and signals that he'll take the one on the right down low. The two of us round the corner and draw a bead on our respective targets' heads. A suppressed puff of air exits the muzzle of our sidearms as the subsonic 9mm ammunition instantaneously turns the two Daesh fighters' brains to mush. I quickly transition my line of sight to the briefly startled guard, and end his miserable life with two rounds in his chest and one to the head before he could fully wake from his slumber. I see Goose's team crossing the courtyard to the southeast and moving on our position. Red three moves to the door and begins picking the lock, while Red four puts some oil on the door hinges.

"Nice and smooth, good work." Goose lowly remarked. He drew his sidearm and attached his suppressor, the rest of his team doing the same. "Leave two of your guys to guard our exit strategy."

As Red three and four finish opening the door silently, I signal for them to pull security, and they nod in response. They holster their sidearms and check the chambers on their M-4s while tightening the suppressors on the ends of their muzzles. I nod back at Goose "Got it covered."

"Good, watch our six. I don't want the Docs catching a round if I can help it."

"Understood." I reply. I nod to Worm and the two of us bring up the rear of the four Delta members. My heart begins pounding in my chest as we cross the threshold of the door and into the gaping mouth of the foreboding house's dark interior. A drop of anxious sweat ran down the back of my neck as the six of us silently crept through the interior of the building, with intermittent pffts as bullets entered unsuspecting skulls and silent swishes as knives slit unguarded throats and punctured unarmored chests, all the while blood was silently spilling down to the dust hewn floor of the building. Every ten meters, a small block of C4 with a remote detonator would be placed next to a door frame or load bearing pillar in the building. In a span of what seemed to be hours, we finally came upon a door that contained violent voices beyond it.

"Tell me Lieutenant Foster, what were your assigned targets before you were shot down?"

"Lieutenant… Jocelyn… Emily… Foster. 26 October 1992. United States Ai… Aaargh!" Her labored speech was interrupted by sharp screams of pain.

While this was occurring, one of the delta members began attaching a breaching charge to the door while the rest of the team holstered their sidearms and unslung their rifles. Worm and I follow suit with me bringing up the rear of the stack with my MK12. Goose holds out a hand indicating for us to wait, I glance at my watch and notice that eleven minutes had passed since entering the building. Baksi should be kicking off her assault any minute now. Just then a rumbling explosion goes off to the North. There are the mortars, right on queue.

Goose then closes his hand into a fist and squeezes the shoulder of the point man. The point man nods to the three man on the other side of the door frame. He smiles and whispers, "Knock knock."

A thunderous bang resounds within the hallway as a shaped C4 charge blasts the door off of its hinges and into the room beyond. Within milliseconds the team begins funneling through the door and several sharp cracks and clacks fill the room as supersonic 5.56 rounds fly towards their targets and bolts slam forward as the action ejects and chambers a round. I bring up my rifle and cant it 45 degrees bringing up the reticle of my Leupold deltapoint onto a green figure holding an AKM and squeeze of three rounds into his chest. He limply falls to the floor, AKM still in his hands. I scan my sector for any more hostiles, with my cheek glued to the stock. I hear several "Clear!" calls coming around me as I walk towards the dead body and kick the rifle away from him. I yell "Clear!"

"All clear, Mac you're up." I nod and gesture to Worm to begin working on the patient. I begin by checking her pupils for dilation and feeling for her pulse on her neck. Seeing that all was good I begin speaking.

"Lieutenant, it's all good, you're among friendlies again. Now, I'm going to check you for spinal injuries, so tell me if you feel pressure when I press down." I begin by squeezing her toes between my fingers and she nods with a grimace, I repeat this with her finger tips and gently feel the vertebrae on her neck for any fractures. "Alright lieutenant, any pain in your chest or abdomen?"

She shakes his head, "No, I'm fine. Just get me out of here."

I nod and Worm proceeds to deploy the stretcher. We gently place her onto the stretcher and I proceed to tightly wrap paracord around her left bicep. "Alright lieutenant, you're a little dehydrated, so I'm going give you some IV fluid. Hope you're not scared of needles." I smile jokingly.

She painfully chuckled, "If this is your bedside manner, trooper, I'd hate to see how you treat your dates."

"Damn, eltee has some spunk." Goose remarked jokingly. I glance over at him and notice him restraining one of the people still alive. The rest of his team was gathering all the papers and hard drives in the room.

"Is that Domino?" I ask.

Goose grinned, "You bet your ass it is, we've been hunting this fucker for months." He said as he finished zip-tying his wrists and ankles. "You got any sedatives with you?" I toss him a syringe from my kit. "Much appreciated." He then injects the syringe into the man's neck and then raised the man's limp body over his shoulders in a fireman's carry.

"Why would he expose himself with the prisoner, after all this time of being incognito?" I ponder.

Goose shrugged, "Beats me, I'll leave that for the spooks to handle. You three ready to pack it up?"

Dispelling my uneasiness I respond, "Yeah, let's move." I hook up the IV bag to my plate carrier and pick up my end of the stretcher, while Worm gets the other.

As we get moving, my radio crackles to life "Red Actual, this is Overlord. Come in over."

Surprised I answer my comms, "Overlord, this is Red Actual. I read you over."

"We've got you and Baksi's team on our scopes. YPG forces are currently getting pushed back and at risk of being cut off, they are retreating back to exfil. Additional Daesh forces are also massing at a city square approximately two klicks southeast of your position. I suggest you exfil from the area while you can. How copy?"

"Copy that, Overlord. Can we call in a drone strike on the massing enemy combatants? Over."

"Negative Red Actual, firemission is not sanctioned due to possible civilian casualties. You'd have to wait until they are outside the city limits. How copy?"

"Copy that Overlord, Red Actual is oscar mike. Principle is secured. Over."

"Copy that Red Actual, good work. We'll keep you up to speed on the situation down there. Overlord out."

My radio then dies down, I then notice Goose speaking into his comms as well.

"…Station, I repeat, Domino is in custody, and intel has been secured." A short pause. "I read you, we're oscar mike."

We glance at each other and the seven of us head for the exit, the Delta guys taking care to ensure no hostiles were lying in wait beyond any corners. Within seconds we crossed the threshold to the outside air and began crossing the courtyard. Red Three and Four brought up the flank while the Delta guys held point and rear security with the patient in the middle of the formation. Once we were approximately 80 meters from the compound, Goose pulled out a detonator and whispered "Boom." I feel the concussive blast hit me in the back as several C4 charges detonate, causing the structure to collapse and any hostiles still alive in the building to be buried underneath the rubble.

Without glancing back, the nine of us advance towards the direction of the parked technicals approximately 600 meters away beyond a hill. Once we reach the halfway point to the hill, we hear a sharp crack and the whiz of a bullet passing right by us. In a split second all hell breaks loose as sand and dust kicks up from the surrounding bullet impacts as well as the hot gases and spent brass cases ejecting from our teams' weapons.

"COVERING FIRE!" Goose yelled "MAC, TAKE DOMINO AND THE PRINCIPLE TO THE TECHNICALS, WE'VE GOT YOU COVERED!" I run up to his position and set my end of the stretcher down simultaneously with Worm's. I move over and relieve Goose of his burden and put Domino's limp form across my shoulders in a fireman's carry. I then grip my end of the stretcher again and rise up, grunting from the extra weight. With bullets whizzing by me I begin running.

I sprint towards the hill with everything I have, fear and adrenaline propelling me forward. I can feel my vision tunneling with only the top of the hill ahead in focus. As we draw closer I can feel several bullet impacts by my feet and their number steadily increasing as I near the hill. About fifty meters from the crest of the hill, I see several silhouettes pop up and begin firing. My stomach sinks briefly, until I see from the muzzle flashes that the barrels aren't pointed towards, but above me. Within seconds I come up over the top of the hill and run towards the bottom. I set down my burden immediately.

I unhook the IV bag from my plate carrier and signal to three of the YPG soldiers at the bottom of the hill near the technicals.

"You two, take her to our technical and keep this IV bag above her! And you dump this piece of shit somewhere in the technical, I don't care." I yell. Before I can get their acknowledgement I unsling my rifle and drop to prone at the top of the hill, whilst deploying my bipod. I increase the magnification on my Leupold scope from 3.5 to 10 magnification and switch on the IR illuminator on my weapon and set it to two degrees. I quickly acquire a cheek weld and notice that my teammates below are bounding towards my position in an Australian peel. I feel Worm's presence next to me as he begins spotting my targets.

"Mac 325 meters ahead, Third house from the right, southwest corner, 3rd story window." I adjust my elevation turrets on my scope to compensate. Worm throws a handful of sand in the air. "No crosswind, tailwind of approximately 5 mph. No adjust. Send package."

I nestle the buttstock of the weapon into my shoulder and gently push forward to load the bipod. I expel all the air out of my lungs and feel my heartbeat pounding in my chest. I center my crosshairs on the whitish green figure and gently squeeze the trigger. The buttstock of the weapon gives a light thump to my chest as the round travels down the barrel and towards its target. "Target down, shift aim to 2nd story window on the southeast corner. Same distance, no adjust." I shift my aim and squeeze the trigger a second time. "Target down."

Worm and I repeat this process until the rest of the team makes it up and over the hill. I activate my comms while continuing to pour out hot lead. "Overlord this is Red Actual, we've encountered heavy resistance and could use some covering fire for our exfil, how copy?"

"We read you Red Actual, we've got one reaper tasked to your firemission, give us a minute to reposition the drone as Russian air assets are in your AO. How copy?"

"Copy that Overlord." In the distance, I see several explosions going off as Russian bombs land within Mosul. The fire coming at us dies down momentarily and I signal for Goose to go ahead and get to the technical. He nods and signals to Baksi for everyone to retreat. After a few seconds, the fire from our hill dies down and Worm is the only person left on the hill with me. In the span of several long and arduous seconds my radio comes to life. All while bullets continue to whiz past me from above and impact below my position

"Red actual, drone is in position designate your target, copy?"

I turn on the IR laser on the front of my rifle. "Red Actual copies, Overlord. Target is designated, send package."

"Package is sent Red Actual, bombs away."The seconds tick by until a rumbling boom hits the building in front of me, with a second one following close behind. The building the ISIL fighters were firing from begins to crumble.

"Good effect on target Overlord, proceeding to exfil. How copy?" I speak into the mike.

"Copy that Red Actual, I suggest you step on it. The locals are getting restless. Overlord out."

"Roger that, we're oscar mike." I pick up my weapon and jog towards the technical where the rest of the team is waiting and the vehicles are idling by. As we grow closer to the vehicles, the convoy begins heading out. Goose holds his hand out as I near the technical and I grab it as soon as I am able. I feel myself being hauled up into the truck bed and steady my footing as I come up to Goose's level. I look to my side and see Worm being hauled up in a similar fashion by one of the other Delta members. I proceed towards the front of the truck with Worm following close behind. We arrive at the area where Red Three and Four are tending to the Lieutenant. "How's the patient." I ask. Worm silently plops down on the bench to my left, crossing his arms nonchalantly, though I know he is listening as intently as I am.

Red Three looks up while Red Four is monitoring her vitals. "Patient is stable, BP is 125/75 and a pulse of 126 bpm. O 2 saturation is less than ideal at 92%, but acceptable. We've got her on oxygen to compensate. She's also got some skin lacerations and bruising from the interrogation, but low risk of infection. We had a mild spike in her vitals when the ordnance exploded so I gave her a mild sedative to calm her nerves. She'll pull through."

I nod satisfied, "How are you feeling Lieutenant?"

She drowsily craned her neck up to make eye contact and gave me a thumbs up with a lazy grin. "The drugs are awesome, but these guys' hospitality makes me miss your bedside manner."

As I chuckle at her drugged attempt at humor, my comms squelch with life "Red Actual, this is Overlord, priority message incoming. Respond."

Alerted out of my brief sense of security I respond to the hail. "Overlord this is Red Actual, send traffic, over."

"Red Actual, we just got word from JSOC. There are no Delta assets near Mosul, I repeat, there are no Delta assets in Mosul."

My blood froze and a stone dropped into the pit of my stomach as uneasiness and foreboding overcome me. I take a quick glance at the rest of my teammates who heard the message, and see that they had tensed and frozen in place. The tension was so thick that a bullet could not have penetrated it.

Thinking quickly I move to grab my knife and unholster my sidearm, ready to fight my way out, when suddenly a sharp crack explodes behind me and I feel the strength escape from my body. Time begins to slow to a crawl, my ears lose their hearing, and I feel numbness in my throat and as I weakly reach a hand up to it, my knees begin to give out. Where my larynx formerly resided I feel only a pulpy mess, and a warm liquid flowing down my chest and my back. As the scene in front of me begins to tilt and the bottom of my vision becomes replaced by the truck bed, I see my teammates rush to ready their weapons, only to be met with a deplorable fate mirroring mine. Red Three and Four go down almost instantly, pink mist exiting out the backs of their skulls. I see Worm to the left bringing up his sidearm only to fall back from multiple rounds hitting his abdomen under his plate carrier, through his sides and his dominant arm. He begins to collapse backward onto the seat that he had just a split second earlier tried to rise from. As the floor rushes up to meet me, I see his head slump forward, wheezing with each breath as his lungs collapse as the higher air pressure invades his chest cavity.

I try to yell, but I'm only able to let out a strangled gargle and then I feel a dull impact on my forehead as I meet the truck bed with my helmeted head. I manage to weakly crane my neck to the left and see a boot fill my vision and then suddenly vanish. I feel dull vibrations through my chest that conflict with my struggling heart. The foreign vibrations gradually grow weaker and eventually stop. My hearing fades back to me and I hear a voice.

"Sorry Lieutenant, nothing personal, just business." I hear soft sobbing in the background and realize that the patient is still alive.

I try to yell NO but again, I'm only able to manage a strangled gargle, much weaker than the last. I struggle to move my right arm, finger tips twitching, wanting to do anything to stop him, I can't give up. My thoughts grow cloudier as my heart beats away its remaining life. I… need to… stop… only … one…

My efforts are interrupted as a sharp crack reaches my ears and the sobbing I heard before has stopped. All the remaining energy that I had managed to summon leaves my body as I have no more reason to fight. My chest hurts, I can't breathe. I can feel myself drowning in my own blood and my body grows colder as my blood pools around my head and I lose all sense of being all along my body. The edges of my narrowed vision have black clouds encroaching on the center. I can feel the last vestiges of my consciousness fading. Not… like… thi

Hey there everyone, this is the author. I apologize for rebooting the story, but in my haste I had written myself into a corner and was unable to brainstorm of a way to include all of the pre Mass Effect 1 events I wanted without making the story cluttered and a mess. I hope you all enjoy this new work, but there won't be a regular release schedule, because I will be taking my time with this story.

Also, some procedures and operational methods have been simplified or omitted from this chapter to make for a better plot development (and also not putting some stuff on a public forum for obvious reasons). So for those of you who have been outside the wire, try not to get an aneurism. Also, I am not a former PJ, just worked with them.