The United States and China have officially done it.
The threat of greater Russian influence in the Special Region have prompted the two superpowers to try and do something extremely foreign. "Cooperate".
They weren't technically 'allied', nor were they even considered friendly. But they decided that Russia was a bigger military threat in the Special Region than either of them were. After Nora's deathmarch, the citizens of most Western countries hated Russia and the Iscariots. So the public approved of this new technical 'alliance' .
The CIA was contacted by President Carter directly, they would have to draft a new plan. Apparently, Trent was still alive which meant that Nora was keeping him for god knows what. Rescuing Trent was priority number one, and the rest of the CIA agents stuck in the Russian internment camps somewhere to the frozen Wilds were also top priority.
The plan to rescue Trent was easy, they would send a detachment of Spec-Ops to secure the prison and rescue Trent. They pinpointed his exact location underground and now it was only a matter of days before the director of the CIA launched the operation.
However, the other prisoners of war who were transported to Russian prison camps in the wild. That…was a different ball game entirely. Not only did the CIA have to figure out how they were going to sneak over a hundred people out of a Russian prison undetected, but they also had to figure out where this base was. A few people theorized the prison was inside of the main Russian military base but recent UAV flights over the area confirmed that was not the case, the prisoners weren't sent there. So they had to be somewhere else. The question was, where?
Nobody knew, NATO sleeper agents in the Russian government were able to give out some information, but as if he sensed that something was amiss President Valentine began a crackdown on his government imprisoning some of his closest advisors.
But this all changed one day, a few days before Christmas. A captured CIA operative by the name of Joel Kenneth was taken by masked Russian prisoner gaurds and interrogated live on television. The video was displayed world-wide. In the video, Joel had looked beaten and broken. His usually pinkish color skin now a sickly green, black bruises around his eyes and nose, and other obvious signs of maltreatment. In the broadcast, which was obviously made as an attempt to instill fear and doubt in Western intelligence agencies, Joel managed to blink out in morse code a message that was properly intercepted and translated.
The message contained the coordinates of the base, the target was of course in the Wilds. Deep in the mountains and snow melt, in a region barely anyone knew existed.
The CIA had its target, and now with the fury of the people behind them President Carter gave an affirmative order to assault the Russian base.
Blackhawk helicopters flew from over the tops of the highest mountains. In between them flew a squadron of dragons. The lizard Queen knew most about the Wilds and her assistance was requested from Colonel Jeb who was the head of the operation. US Rangers and Navy Seals would be the force assaulting a small, seemingly inconspicuous compound in the middle of the wilds. It looked like a small hut, straw built roof, walls made of wood. Resembling more like a cabin.
The helicopters touched down about a quarter mile from the cabin, while a UAV recon drone and the rest of the Lizard Queens' dragon squad moved forward to identify and wipe out any forces that might have been guarding the area. They found a hidden machine gun nest via the UAV's infrared lens and the Dragons dealt with it as their riders fired bows and arrows that impaled the guards stationed there. Killing them silently from the sky.
The Rangers and Seals moved forward through the blizzard-like conditions. Flurries of snow constantly blowing in their faces, they moved fast but cautiously. About thirty operatives all together. The UAV identified another signal, a car moving fast down the road. A black SUV, the team was alerted to this and quickly moved into the snow cover so as to avoid being spotted.
The sedan pulled in front of the cabin, the doors opened, five men dressed in the green camouflage of the Russian military, and another two dressed in black suits exited the SUV and entered the cabin. Three of the soldiers pulled off into either side of the road to patrol it and ensure nobody could enter.
The Rangers camped further behind while the SEAL team moved in closer to the cabin. The Rangers took a few shots from silenced rifles and eliminated the three soldiers. The other team prepared to forcefully enter, getting a breaching charge ready to blow the door down. A small explosion, and the door was knocked down. A operative threw a grenade into the room, another larger explosion inside that rumbled the hastily built shack, and the Seal team infiltrated inside. Quick gunfire was exchanged between the team and those who survived the blast but they died soon after.
The Seal team managed to identify a vault that seemed to open into an underground basement. Another charge was placed on top of it, and the team breached inside. Minor gunfire ensued between the team and Russian guards inside the interior of the basement.
Meanwhile above ground, the UAV identified a convoy of Russian troop transports headed towards the base. They must've gotten word that the attack had commenced. The dragon riders pulled away from their encirclement path around the cabin and swarmed the transports, while the Ranger team used their anti-vehicle equipment to attack them from a longer range. Picking off any survivors with sniper rifles. But the Russian transports disembarked their units and returned fire, forcing the dragons to pull back.
The Russian force moved forward, at the speed of light splitting into two groups to knock out the Seal team and the Rangers. As far as anyone knew, the Rangers hadn't been spotted yet. The Seal team emerged from the cabin with about fifty people dressed in tattered clothes or sackcloth. Some were naked. All of them looked like they went through hell, being emaciated, with multiple bruises on their bodies.
The Russian groups opened fire on the Seals and POW's alike, forcing the two to find cover while retreating. The Rangers continued opening fire, now more desperately, but they also had to deal with the Russian force headed their way. There was no close air support, as the UAV was only equipped for reconnaissance. The operation was supposed to only be in and out, and High Command didn't predict that there would be such a large Russian response to what seemed to be a relatively obscure base.
The Seals pulled back putting some distance between themselves and the advancing Russian reinforcements, the dragons did what they could but the armor plating of the dragon scales could only protect from so much. The Rangers too kept applying as much pressure as they could but they would risk completely exposing themselves.
With the UAV relaying live footage of the whole scene to both the President and his closest military staff, the top generals of the army gave the go ahead to deploy extra forces to assist in the mission. This was an extremely tough decision, the military didn't want to call in heavy fire onto what was essentially Russian territory and start an informal war with them. But as the operation looked like it was about to go into failure, it was obvious that the survival of the mission was what was most needed at this point. And so with that, aircraft from the southern bases in East-Angelica. F-15E Strike Eagles flew from the bases in the south towards the frozen wilds. All the Rangers and Seals had to do was hold out until the airforce could arrive.
The Russian force slowed its advance as the Rangers and Seals began counter-attacking more desperately, upping the ante. The dragons also fought back hard, shooting fire and the dragon riders firing magic-powered ordinances at them. The Russian force which consisted of primarily IFV mounted infantry, couldn't fight back against the aerial assault made by the dragons and slowly had to dig in to resist being completely exposed. Meanwhile, the Seals continued to pull back leading the prisoners away from the gunfire with the downtime created by the Russian halt.
Then the airforce arrived, armed with JDAM bombs they screamed over head and let the bombs loose. A direct hit on the Russian infantry. The ground exploded into fire in stark contrast with the grey-snow covered- terrain.
A cease of gunfire for a minute, and then the Americans began to run like all hell. The Rangers and Seals needed to move out of the area before a more serious Russo-Iscariot force came to deal with them. The American numbers were small and were in way prepared to fight off an entire counter-attack. Even with close air support.
The Blackhawk helicopters that had originally brought the Spec-Ops into the combat zone arrived into the LZ to bring them and the prisoners back home. Bolstered by a few extra choppers to handle the prisoners, they landed not too far away. The Rangers and Seals managed to regroup with the helicopters and load all the passengers on board. Just as the UAV spotted a large force moving this time from both the north and south. This force seemed a lot more powerful with APC's, IFV's, and tanks. The F-15E's were ordered to simply harass the Russian counter-attack by firing the main cannons at them, however not for the intent of destroying them but just to slow them down while the choppers could get to a safe distance. The aircraft had to soon pull away, the Russians had come with Anti-Air equipment. Multiple SAM's were launched, the Eagles popped flares and pulled away.
But it was still too little too late for the Russians, the Blackhawk helicopters managed to get far enough away from the combat zone. And now there was nothing left.
Similar raids like this were conducted all across the northern Wilds, multiple Russian bases being identified, raided with the prisoners being extracted. The operation to rescue the imprisoned agents was going smoothly, and so far all of those who hadn't died on Nora's deathmarch had been successfully rescued.
This changed soon. Russian intelligence managed to capture word of another raid conducted this time by the U.S. Marine Corps. In a known Russian base close to Iscariot territory. Russia mobilized troops to the area in preparation for the attack secretly. Unknowing of the Russian reinforcements in the area, the Americans commenced the attack at dawn.
Again a small force composed the task force sent to rescue the prisoners at the base, the airforce was on watch this time and the task force had the support of Artillery batteries in East-Angelica. This was one of the larger and prominent bases in the Russian territory, and NATO military command understood it would require more support if this attack was to be successful.
The helicopters approached the base, and immediately SAM's began firing at the air. Flares were dropped to dodge the missiles, but the fire continued. Anti-Aircraft Flak came from below, and hit a few of the choppers. The mission was immediately called off. The air force was sent in to bomb the Russian military. The failure of this mission made it clear that it would be a lot harder to penetrate Russian defenses in the Special Region than previously anticipated.