12:00 A.M
"Team Ready?" a voice cackled over the radio of the Special Forces team codenamed Hotel Six.
"Ready Chief." four other voices said simultaneously. The team consisted of five highly trained operatives who had trained and graduated basic together. They were considered one of the best teams in the business. One of the main reasons for this was that they had been friends since basic training. Each of them had a nickname that was given to them by other squad members. These were the names that were used during black level missions like these.
"Longshot, what have you got?" the captain, John "Master Chief" Serener, spoke into his radio. John was the natural leader of the team with all the qualities of a good leader. He spoke with a slight east coast accent. He was given the name Master Chief because he shared the name with the famous video game character John 117; the genetically modified warrior, named Spartans, known as the Master Chief and humanity's last hope.
"Two guys on the wall. Four guys patrolling the gate. There looks to be two others inside." A British voice replied back. This voice belonged to Jake "Longshot" McHale. During basic, he was the best marksman there was, hitting targets easily 250 feet away. For this reason he was called "Longshot" and did the team's primary recon.
"Chief, what about the spotlights?" a feminine voice asked through the radio. The person asking this question was named Cheyenne "The Vixen" Adams and was the only female of the team. She was strikingly beautiful and had long blonde hair to match in addition to speaking with the slightest of a Midwestern accent. She was also the only person on the team to not use her nickname for operations because it was easier to say her real name. In addition, she was also second in command of the team and John trusted her over anyone.
"Longshot, you take care of that thing I asked you?" John asked.
"Yes." Longshot replied.
"Perfect. When I say move, push the button." John ordered. "Deto, charges ready?"
Deto was the team's demolition expert. His full name was Joshua Adams and he was Cheyenne's twin brother. He was all about silence and stealth which was a strange contrast to his affinity for blowing stuff up. He also had a very "colonial" way of speaking to people. He never told anything about himself to anybody except for Cheyenne. They were extremely close and knew almost everything about each other. Joshua was also forty minutes older than Cheyenne but a lot larger. His size helped in "hands on" situations.
"Yes Chief" Deto replied.
"Awesome" John said "Blindside, can you get the gate open?"
"Course Chief." Ashe "Blindside" Ibn Ahad replied back. Blindside was from Italy despite his last name. He spoke English, Italian and Arab for this reason. He was the team's computer expert and pilot. He was also an expert in sieges like this.
They were here for two reasons. The first was that this fortress, named Fort Reningald but known by the grunts and special ops as "The Citadel" was an extremely important outpost to Kadar, the enemy capital and if they took this place out then it would be a straight shot to the capital. Second, another spec ops team, led by Captain James Mariner, was being held in the prison, known as the "Hotel California". Hotel Six was situated behind a series of sand dunes and were shielded from the spotlight's piercing lights.
"Longshot, send it." John said into the radio. At that moment, Longshot fired a bullet a hundred feet away from the fort. This bullet was the thing John had asked him about moments ago. The bullet wouldn't make a sound but was loaded with red flare powder and would light once it hit the sands. This was meant to distract the patrol and keep the gate unguarded long enough for them to slip in. Just as planned, the patrol team moved away.
"Deto, charges go" John ordered. Deto pressed the button situated in his hand. At that moment, the spotlights went dark. It wouldn't last for long. There was a backup that would activate in 20 minutes. Every second counted here.
"Move!" John yelled to his team. At once all five of them moved at fast as they could in the darkness, never stopping until reaching the gate. 12 minutes left.
"Blindside, gate!"
The gate was locked by a nine digit keypad but that wouldn't be a problem. Blindside smashed the keypad in with the butt of his rifle until the casing fell off, revealing a series of wires underneath. 8 minutes left. Blindside started twisting wires that were the same color together. He was hotwiring the gate. After six minutes the gate slid open.
"Everyone inside!" John said.
Once everyone was inside John started checking his team's gear. He had ten clips of ammo, four grenades and his signature dual pistols. Cheyenne had, as usual, her signature dual katanas in addition to her rifle. Deto carried a pistol that he modified himself. Longshot had a high powered semi-automatic rifle. Blindside carried a rifle and pistol. All weapons were silenced of course.
"Okay, we need to get to the top of The Citadel." John explained. "Captain Mariner and his team are up there waiting to be freed. It's our job to make sure that happens. Is anyone not clear about anything?"
Not a word.
"Move out!" he commanded.
As they made their way up The Citadel to the prison, Cheyenne was wondering how long this war was going to last. Just two months ago, in the battle of Shaku, she had witnessed ten people die in a single rocket strike by the state military. While this didn't bother her at the time she was reflecting back on it now with a sense of dread. What were those men thinking as they died? Did they have families that would never see them again? Were they willing to die at that point? These were questions that she had always wondered and would never know the answer to. The total body count after the battle had been 950,000 allied soldiers, 200,000 civilians and 1,000,000 enemy personnel. Shaku was also where she grew up. For her the battle hadn't just been about keeping a tactical advantage over the enemy by having this city, it was about protecting her home. For her, war had come home. And come home it had. The city was almost in ruins, with most of the city shelled, bombed and shot apart. It was a hard fight to get to where they were now.
"Okay, we're here." John said.
Hotel Six had reached the prison. However, there was one small problem. There were guards. Lots of them. Everywhere they looked there were at least three guards at once. Getting the Captain out was going to be a challenge.
While observing the prison floor, the solution popped into John's head. It was amazingly simple. They just had to do one thing.
"Make your way to the control room" John ordered. "I'll meet you there."
"Yes Chief." Hotel Six replied.
John was moving through the air ducts trying to find James. After fifteen minutes of hard searching, he finally found him. At the same time he heard a flurry of clicks come out of his radio. Everyone else was at the control room.
"James, look up." I whispered through the grate.
"John, is that you?" James asked back.
"Yeah. Now get ready, we're about to bust out."
"Awesome. Team, get ready."
"But Sir, we don't have weapons." This was James's subordinate, Brooke Shields. John dropped his pistol through the grate.
"Here, now you have a weapon. Try not to use it." John replied back, "I'll be back soon, got to take care of some things."
