Hey you beautiful people! The first chapter of United We Stand is finally done! Thank you to everyone who submitted an OC and who helped me brainstorm and edit! This is going to be a long and wild ride that I hope you all will enjoy, and without further ado, a project over a year in the making!
Rain falls all around the lush, green mountains as a jet black helicopter dashes across the night sky. men and women inside are hard at work preparing for their next engagement, loading magazines, readying equipment, and suiting up.
A voice droned as the loudspeaker turned on, "ETA to drop point 10 mikes, I repeat, ETA 10 mikes."
A man in all black combat gear stood up and fastened a parachute to his back. The rest of the operators inside did the same, making sure they are all secure, preventing any malfunctions due to user error. Everyone in the cargo bay had practiced this operation hundreds of times, all in preparation for this very moment.
An audible click was heard in everyone's headset. "Coms check," was heard by everyone as the soldier in black was speaking, "Wraith online," he said.
"Oni online," said a shorter, Asian woman with a Kitsune mask on her face, armed with an AR-15 rifle covered in a thin layer of cloth.
"Adrestia online," said a slightly taller woman with olive skin, and a skull mask covering her face, carrying a heavily modified ACR.
"Sparrow online," was heard as a tall man got up and grabbed the charging handle to his heavily modified MK 17.
"Kicker online," said a heavyset man with a protective half mask covering his beard, as he loaded a 40mm into the M203 under his M416.
Wraith spoke again as a green light lit up the hold.
"Everyone on me, ten feet apart at all times until we land. If you get separated you know the drill, we will link up at the rally point before we move on the complex. Once we reach the complex, Oni and Adrestia will hit the power generator, disabling any electronic defenses, and most importantly, the lights. Sparrow will take out any patrols, snipers, and guards outside of the building, then Kicker and I will move in on the complex as soon as your objectives are complete. Radio in to report completion and move in from the closest entrance, and we will surround the HVT, grab him, then pop a flare for extraction," He said. "Any questions?" The rest of the bay was silent.
"That's what I like to hear." "Ok Noble Team, JUMP!" Wraith yelled as he fell out the open door of the chopper, and soon the rest of the squad followed.
Sparrow's voice blared on the radio, "Remember, deploy your chutes at 100 feet!"
30 Minutes later...
The entire unit reached the ground in one piece, and everyone had formed up at the rally point.
Wraith started to issue orders, "Everyone, move up on your objectives, Wraith out."
The team separated as everyone moved to secure the complex.
Adrestia and Oni reached the fence surrounding the generator, observing the three armed soldiers guarding it.
"Shit, tangos," Adrestia Said, "Wraith, rules of engagement?" A reply crackled through her headset.
"The group is a terrorist cell, and they have no affiliation with the Norwegian Government, so neutralize with extreme prejudice, but maintain stealth."
"Roger, Adrestia out," she replied.
"How are we going to play this?" Oni asked.
"I'll grab the one closest to the gate and take out the one to the left of the generator. You take out the one to the right," she said.
Oni signaled with a head nod, and then they both drew their sidearms and moved in. Adrestia kicked the gate open and put the closest soldier in a chokehold, and shot another in the head, while Oni shot the remaining soldier in the neck. They slowly moved toward the large machine that hummed loudly in the middle of the fenced area. Oni moved toward it, and "carefully" took her Kabar knife, and stabbed the controls multiple times. Slowly, the generator's humming died down, until the entire system cut out, and the lights turned off.
"This is Adrestia, objective complete, forming up on back entrance, awaiting go-ahead, over," she communicated over the radio. "Roger, standing by," replied Wraith, waiting on the hill with a pair of binoculars, calling out targets for Sparrow. The tall operator quickly hid behind a wooden barricade as Wraith called out another patrol.
"Two tangos, rounding the corner," Wraith said. Sparrow activated his heartbeat sensor, able to see the two soldiers.
"Targets spotted," he replied. He removed his M9 and dispatched the two soldiers through the wood.
"Objective complete, outside presence neutralized," he radioed. "Good, everyone activate your HUD contacts before you breach, I don't want anyone getting surprised while we're in there," Wraith said over the radio. "Noble, move in."
15 minutes later...
"Are you sure the rest of the building is empty?" Wraith asked nervously.
"YES, for the last time!" Oni replied angrily. "I checked with sensor grenades, the drone, snake-cam, we even cleared the rest of the building!"
"Shit," he replied. "This has to be a trap then. There is no way they're just gonna let us take him, with the whole area undefended. Ok, BREACH!" He screamed. He kicked down the door and swept the room with his SIG 550, only to find it empty.
"Shit," Wraith said flatly.
"Sir," Adrestia inquired, "You should come and see this."
Wraith walked over to her, only to see live footage from the drone over the compound, which was currently being surrounded by enemy troops.
"Shit," he said again. "We need to move..." He was cut off by a subtle beeping noise that got progressively louder. He turned to see a brick of C4 start beeping.
"BOMB, RUN!" Wraith yelled before he jumped on the brick, just before it exploded, saving his team from the blast. He was thrown through the wall, bleeding profusely. For everyone else, besides their entire world ringing, they were fine.
Sparrow was the first to recover. As soon as he got up, he ran to his now unconscious Ghost Lead, examining his wounds. He took his knife and started cutting away at his battle dress, pulling off his vest and armored BDU, to reveal a horrible bloody and boney mess.
"Shit," Sparrow exclaimed with disgust. "Holy shit, ok, we're gonna get you out of here, don't worry."
While he was hastily dressing Wraith's wounds to the best of his ability, the rest of the team also recovered. As soon as he saw them, he ordered them to secure the floor so he could move Wraith to the roof.
"I'm going to pop a flare, and when you get the signal, you better haul ass to the chopper or you're walking home," he ordered. He picked up his commander in a bridal carry and started up the single flight of stairs to the roof. Meanwhile, the rest of the team was shooting from windows, balconies, and holding the enemy off from the stairs. Outside, enemy forces were gathering en-mass around the complex, but the Ghost squad was holding them off through choke points. There were hallways full of dead terrorists and spent brass littered the floors.
Back on the roof, Sparrow was radioing for evac, "This is Sparrow, requesting immediate evac, I repeat, requesting immediate evac." "What do you mean you can't evac from the roof?" He demanded angrily, "Fuck you guys! Fine, we'll hike our asses almost a mile away because you sissy fucks are scared of some villagers with Garbage Rods." He radioed the news in for the rest of the team.
"This is Sparrow, we'll have to get out of the building and hustle over to a small clearing where they'll be able to put a chopper down." The rest of the team replied with several similar curses before starting to carve a path out of the building.
Hereford Base, United Kingdom: 23:00 hours
The home of the elite counterterrorism unit Rainbow Six, the occupants were mostly winding down from their celebration of the night, likely to commemorate a successful operation. The party had ended, all the operators had mostly gone back to their quarters; those that were not piss drunk at least.
Mike Baker was walking back to the SAS dorms when he got an emergency call on his phone.
"Bloody hell, it's nearly midnight! who's calling my drunk ass in the middle of the night?" he thought to himself. He answered the call and immediately went running for Harry's office. When he arrived he nearly broke the door down trying to get in.
"Harry, tell Gustave to prep the med bay, The Ghost squad is coming early, their Ghost Lead is critically injured; IED." he blurted out.
I'll let him know, can you make sure that the RAF doesn't shoot them down?" Harry replied, his voice heavy with worry. "I'll make the calls, you just make sure we aren't going to have our new employee KIA on his first day," Mike said as he ran out to make arrangements.
In the medical wing of Rainbow's slice of Hereford, Gustave Kateb was hard at work preparing the surgery suite. Due to his experience, he knew he would need to extract shrapnel, and according to Harry's description of the extent of the victim's injuries, he would need to remove bone as well, so he had his tools all prepped and ready. He had the medical staff prepare blood ready transplant, O- as he wanted to save as much time as he could, but now all Gustave could do was wait, as he and the medbay's crew prepared the suite as well as they could.
Back in Norway, the Ghost squad is arriving at the determined LZ, fighting through wave after wave of gunmen.
"Holy shit, that was rough," exclaims Sparrow. "The chopper should be on approach." Like clockwork, the pilot reported that they are about to touch down.
"I'm getting Ghost Lead prepped, secure the LZ!" He yelled to the team as they fanned out to cover the area. A few minutes later the helicopter lands and Sparrow loads Wraith into it on a stretcher, and then the rest of the team loads up and boards as well. As the doors shut, the air in the hold is thick with worry for their fallen comrade as the helicopter races off to Hereford.