Authors note: So while making this chapter I realized that it was going to take too long to finish writing, let alone the editing. So I pretty much cut the chapter in half to meet my deadline. So the bad news is that this chapter isn't as long or as exciting as I wish, but the good news is that chapter three is about 80% done and should be out in just a few days. Enjoy.
What Will It Take?
Chapter 2
Elzbieta sat on her bed, admiring her new room. It wasn't the fanciest of accommodations but still way more than she ever would have expected, especially since it was all free. As Lieutenant Castellano had said, it was her new home, away from the one she just left.
Meghan Castellano. When Elzbieta had taken this job, she didn't know what to expect, and of all things she certainly didn't expect to see the Navy SEAL again. She remembered the when she had first met the young officer in Iraq not long after transferring to GROM. She was a natural leader, and well respected among her peers. During Operation Orange Sky, the two had worked together for several months, infiltrating a powerful warlords inner circle. Eventually, the two were able to bring down his entire militia, and the best part was that not a single innocent civilian was harmed. It was Elzbieta's proudest military achievement, but also one with many headaches. The two would often clash when it came to different procedures and strategies. By the end of the operation, she didn't know if she respected the woman, or hated her guts.
It wouldn't be until two years later, when they served together again in Afghanistan, that Elzbieta knew that the woman in question was the real deal. During a fierce firefight, their team of twenty soldiers was ambushed by nearly a hundred insurgents and cut off from reinforcements. Under the leadership of Castellano, not only did they repel the enemy attack, they didn't lose a single soldier in the whole battle. From there, she never questioned the SEAL again.
In her reminiscing, she suddenly remembered something. She grabbed her bag and started digging around inside. She found an old sketchbook and started flipping through the pages, they were mostly filled with hand drawn maps and battle plans, but there were also several drawings. Before becoming a PMC in 2003, she attempted to study arts in Berlin for two years. While in the middle east she would use what she learned to draw during the very little down time she would get. Eventually she found what she was looking for, it was a sketch of the woman currently occupying her thoughts. Drawn with her shemagh, eye black, and with a friendly smirk on her face, Elzbieta had sketched the picture not long after Orange Sky.
It's been eight years, and overall she was happy to be reunited with Meghan, but uncertain about joining Rainbow. Everyone who became an operator for the organization did so because they wanted to fight bad guys, even at the risk of losing their lives. How would Meghan, and the rest of them, react if they found out she joined for a different reason, a selfish reason? For now, she would rather not find out, they didn't need to know anyway. She closed the book and set it on the nightstand. She removed her jacket, leaving her in a white tank top. She then laid down, exhaustion from the trip finally catching up to her and she fell asleep.
Meghan was sitting in her room eating lunch and filling out some paper work. Whenever a piece of Hereford base property was damaged or destroyed, a damaged property form had to be filed. After befriending Eliza, Meghan kept an entire stack of copies in her room. After finishing up this most recent one, she sat back and was finally able to relax.
Being a Rainbow operator was a lot of hard work, both on and off the field. In some ways it was a good thing, because yes, the pay was amazing, but in Meghan's opinion you couldn't take this job without honestly wanting to do some good in the world. It was why she joined the military in the first place, and her never back down attitude is what lead her to become one of the first female Navy SEAL's in history. And when Rainbow started to consider her, she was one of the few candidates that Six never had any concerns about. Her interviews with her were short and simple.
Meghan knew this wasn't always the case, Six had a way of making a person uncomfortable simply by talking with them. She could make someone second guess themselves or question everything they had been told. Meghan remembered her friend Craig didn't get it so easy, it was the only time she had seen him struggle and question if he was good enough. She couldn't imagine Eliza and Six being in a room together without some sparks flying, possibly literally. Then she started wondering how Elzbieta's interview went with Six. Speaking of which, she should probably start the check in process with the girl.
"Nearly one o'clock," She said to herself, "surly that's enough time for her to have settled in by now."
She got up to leave, but then she realized she had only given herself a two-minute break all day, all week really.
"Maybe another hour." She said as she laid back down, almost instantly falling asleep.
"Nelson is looking pretty bad!"
"Plug the wound, hurry!"
"Shit! Jacobson is down too!"
"Norman where the fuck is our back up?!"
"I'm trying to get them on the radio!"
"Someone get on that machine gun!"
Bullets were flying in all directions, bodies of the dead and wounded littered on both sides. The team of soldiers were desperate to get out of the situation they were in. The ones that were still combat effective had to split their efforts between fighting off the assault and tending to the wounded.
"He's losing blood, do something!"
Elzbieta knelt down and looked at the bleeding man. He was incredibly pale, and not moving. She removed the bandage she had placed earlier, blood still leaking from the wound. She opened her first aid kit and pulled out a few bandages and tools. She began to attempt to properly close the wound, but her hands were shaking.
"I've taught you this little sister."
She tried to steady her hands to clasp the wound.
"Steady your mind, stop overthinking."
Her hand slipped.
"Your life and your friend's lives might rely on this one day."
More blood.
"What are you doing?"
Another attempt.
"Pay attention!"
Another slip of the hand.
"Don't lose focus!"
More blood.
"Don't give up."
Another attempt.
"You're better than this."
Another slip.
No more blood. No more heartbeat.
"Ela…"
Knock, knock, knock.
"What will it take for you to focus?"
Knock, knock, knock.
"What will it take for you to do better?"
Knock, knock, knock.
Elzbieta woke with a gasp. Breathing heavily, it took a few moments for her to remember where she was. She was sweating profusely, her nightmare still resonating in her brain. Then there was another knock at the door.
She got up and answered the door, seeing Meghan standing there.
"Hey." She greeted. Then took a closer look at the green haired girl. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." Elzbieta responded.
"You're crying…"
The Polish girl touched her face and realized along with sweat, tears were in fact running down her cheeks. She quickly turned away to wipe away the moisture from her face.
"What's going on."
"It's nothing, I'm okay." She insisted.
Meghan wanted to pry, but deep down she knew the girl would not open up, at least for now. She figured instead the girl in front of her would appreciate changing the subject.
"Um, we should get this paperwork started."
Elzbieta nodded in response as she put her jacket back on.
"Okay, lets go to the lounge." Meghan said as she turned to walk downstairs.
"Lieutenant Castellano?"
"You don't need to call me that." Meghan responded, turning back to her. "Just call me Meghan, or Valkyrie."
"Meghan." The girl said, almost as if testing the name. "Can you…keep this between us?"
"Of course."
"Thank you…you can call me Ela."
"You prefer to go by your code name?" Meghan asked.
"It was also my childhood nickname."
Meghan nodded at the admission, thinking the name was kind of pretty.
"Well Ela, let's get started."
Three hours later, the two were still in the lounge finishing the last few papers for the day. Even though both had just rested, they were still trying not to fall asleep from the mind-numbing process. A few of their team mates were utilizing the common area as well. Buck and Capitao were watching a soccer game on one of the TVs, Frost was on one of the couches reading a hunting catalog, while Blackbeard was polishing a few of his rifle shields. Meghan had tried to introduce her old friend to them, but introductions went about as awkward as one would expect. So they just took one of the tables in the corner and began the tedious work.
"So, this is the weapons accountability form." Meghan explained. "This is acknowledging that your weapons and all accessories shall be kept in the armory here on Hereford Base, however your personal equipment, aka your grzmot mines, will be kept and maintained with you since you're the only one qualified with the knowledge and expertise to handle them. And yes, Sledge had to sign one of these saying he knew how to use a hammer."
Ela smiled at the thought, the first time Meghan had seen her do so today. She took the form and signed it. Meghan then pulled out yet another form.
"This is the second part of the form." She continued, "This is just a list of said weapons that you brought and are being submitted into the armory, just make sure everything is correct and sign."
Ela looked over the form, reading the list of guns.
WEAPONS ACCOUNTED FOR:
-Scorpion EVO 3 A1 Serial Number; 11081985
-FO-12 Serial Number; 08292017
-RG15 Serial Number; 07131990
"You can also get special attachments to your weapons as well, sights, compensators and such." Meghan explained, "But that also has to come out of your paycheck."
Ela made a mental note of that and signed the form.
"And with that, I think we're finally done." Meghan said, sounding relieved.
Just then, Eliza and Siu walked in. The two were talking and laughing among one another. They noticed Meghan and Ela and walked over to their table.
"Hey guys, what have you been up to?" Eliza asked.
"Hello, we just finished the first set of paperwork and now we're just hanging out in here." Meghan elaborated.
"You mean there's more?" Ela asked defeatedly.
"Yes, unfortunately." Meghan answered, also defeatedly. "So, what have you guys been doing?"
"We've just been talking about our time at Tel Aviv, and sharing battle stories." Eliza said, "In fact, we learned the craziest thing, not only did we go to the same university, but we also fought in Operation High Sun as well."
"Yes, it was my first combat mission." Siu added.
"Not only that, but she was the girl that I had to stop from killing Shuhrat, I didn't recognize her it's been so long."
"Small world." Meghan commented.
"Yes, I remember everything going well, until that crazy Russian got involved. I hope I never see him again."
The blonde and the redhead looked at each other, not knowing who should deliver the news. Finally, Eliza spoke up.
"Shuhrat Kessikbayev. Um, yeah, he's kind of also an operator here."
Siu looked at them in surprise. "After the crap he pulled during High Sun?!" She exclaimed. "Why? How?"
"Calm down Siu." Said Eliza, "He's not as reckless anymore, he's only blown up the hostage a couple times."
"WHAT?!"
"I'm kidding." Eliza joked. "But seriously, he's been I vital asset to the team since it was formed, and I know he will be in the future. Six wouldn't keep him on the team if she thought otherwise, and the same goes for you, for all of us."
Siu didn't seem convinced.
"It was thirteen years ago," Eliza continued, "he's changed a lot since then."
After thinking for a while, Siu finally relented.
"Alright, I'll give him a chance, where is he?" She looked around, "In fact, where is everybody?"
Ela also couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be very few personnel roaming around. She knew rainbow was small, but surly it took more people than this to run an anti-terrorism organization.
"Oh, right." Said Meghan, "There are thirty operators in rainbow, well thirty-three now, and twenty of them are currently participating in Operation Velvet Shell in Spain. The rest of us were left here to hold down the fort."
"When will they be back?" Siu asked.
"When the missions complete."
"So you have no idea." Ela interpreted.
"Pretty much, it happens a lot."
"Oh they're mission is complete. They're just taking advantage of the night club they saved being so thankful." Sebastien chimed in.
"What do you mean?" asked Eliza
"Curtesy of Dominic, just hit play." He said as he tossed his phone to her, she caught it and saw a video loaded up on the screen, at which she hit the play button.
Sure enough, the video was of what looked like a high-class night club filled with a bunch of people partying by the pool. Among the partygoers, Eliza recognized a few of her fellow operators. Suddenly, the video focused on one of her friends, Taina, who was dressed in a bikini and dancing in a very un-operator like way. Eliza's jaw dropped.
"You have to send this to me." She said.
"Already did, check your inbox."
"Eliza, is Monika going to be okay with you having that?" Meghan asked, concerned.
"She won't mind, trust me."
"What wont I mind?" Came a voice from behind her.
Eliza turned around and saw two new faces having entered the lounge, it was the two GSG-9 operators that were picked to stay back. Marius Streicher aka Jager, and Monika Weiss aka IQ.
"Oh, hey Monika." Eliza greeted. She then walked over to the girl and kissed her on the cheek. "This is Siu, we went to Tel Aviv together and she's a new team member. Siu, this is Monika, a fellow operator, and my girlfriend."
"Nice to meet you." Siu greeted, as she stuck her hand out.
"Likewise." Monika responded, shaking the girls hand.
"So where have you been all day babe?" Eliza asked, wrapping her arm around the Germans shoulder.
"In a meeting with Six, we've got an announcement to make, but first…" She snatched the redheads phone while she was distracted. "let's see what it is that I won't mind."
"Hey!"
In an instant the blonde unlocked Eliza's phone and began watching the video. "Hmm, interesting."
"See, told you guys- "
Without warning, Monika grabbed Eliza by the ponytail and pulled her head so it was right next to hers.
"We'll discuss this later." Monika said, she then let go of her girlfriends hair and turned towards Ela, "I see we have another new face as well."
She offered a hand, "Monika Weiss, GSG-9."
Ela accepted the handshake, "Ela Bosak, GROM." She greeted back.
"Welcome aboard, I trust you will enjoy working here."
"Thank you."
Just then, three more people walked in.
"For the last time Seamus, I don't know where your hammer is!" James said, annoyance in his voice. He then saw Meghan and Ela with a large stack of papers on their table. "What are you two doing?"
"Just getting this paperwork out of the way." Meghan answered. "We've been doing this all afternoon."
"Why didn't you just take it to the administration office?"
"The what?"
"The administration office down the road, they fill out all these papers in about thirty minutes."
"Has that always been there?" Eliza asked.
"Yes. Have you guys been doing this yourselves?"
Both women didn't bother answering.
"Bloody Americans, I swear."
At this time, Marius decided he had enjoyed the show long enough and spoke up.
"Alright, since the gangs all here," He said, "we have a training session tomorrow, Hereford training yard, same as usual. This is coming from Six herself, I guess she wants to see our new friends in action, and because we will be getting a new mission brief within the next few days."
There was excitement from the group, having been left behind for the current Operation.
"Does that mean the rest of the team will be back soon?" Vicente asked.
"I didn't get an exact date, but very soon indeed."
"Alright Siu, I look forward to see you in action." Eliza said.
"And I look forward to seeing you as well, Eliza." Siu responded.
Meghan and Ela looked at each other.
"Ready to work together again?" Meghan asked.
Ela smiled. "Definitely."
"Seamus, I found your hammer."
So next chapter we will finally get to see some action again. I know it doesn't quite fit the game but in most military units a small group is left behind to manage things back at home. Plus I didn't want to cram too many character introductions at once. And on that note, I am trying to get every operator to have at least a small part in the story, so fear not Tachanka fans, your lord will be here soon. Also if you haven't noticed already I have changed the story rating to M because if the current content doesn't already warrant it, future content definitely will. As always feel free to leave a review. Until next time.