Griffin & Kryuger HQ in Area S09

Some time earlier.

The Headquarters of the Griffin and Kryuger PMC's operations in the Carpathian regions was abuzz with life. Multiple ongoing operations were keeping much of the staff awake and working through the evenings, which included staff like miss Kalina, the Polish logistics officer and adjutant, miss Helianthus, the serious officer of the cadre and one of the more trusted members of Griffin, and the Commander, an Ukrainian man that had seen a bit too much for his own good. He had barely been eighteen himself when the Third World War ended in a stalemate. He had fought for a single year, witnessing how brutal man could be, before deciding to stay in the Army for a while,

He sighed, then leaned back into his eat and stretched, letting out a yawn. Night had fallen over Area S09 and the HQ of their operations was still operating at pretty much peak capacity, what with the deployment of four Echelons on logistics support operations within the areas they had managed to secure. He also had the KCCO breathing down his neck about possible future outings deeper into the nearby Areas.

Sangvis had been proving itself to be quite the ingrained pest in the Carpathian region. It was starting to annoy the living hell out of him and his entire staff, but, at least, they were making some degree of progress in rooting the bastards out. He sighed, dropping his pen onto the desk and standing up. He needed some coffee to complete the paperwork, so, he'd go get some.

Marching out through the door of his office, he passed by a pair of Dolls that instantly saluted him. He saluted back, simply continuing forth through the HQ's reinforced, narrow corridors. He stopped after about five minutes of walking, entering the cafeteria and laying eyes upon the multitude of Dolls in the place. Most of them turned and, upon seeing him, stood up and saluted. The only ones who knew better were Team AntiRain, all of whom were acquainted with the man by now.

He saluted those that did stand up back, ordering, "At ease..." as he marched up to the coffee maker in the corner. AR Team themselves had seen the Commander and simply waved in greeting, to which he waved back and nodded as he poured a mug full of pure black coffee. He turned toward AR Team's table and walked up to them, noting that each had picked a different item from the buffet to eat.

M4, the 'young' leader of the team, a shy, brown-haired girl with a strand of neon-green running down hair running down the left, smiled and said, "Good evening, Commander..." as she played with the mashed potatoes and fried chicken on her plate using by using her fork. He nodded in greeting and scanned the table quickly, noting how each of the four AR Team members behaved.

Calm, but wearing her trademark grin, the eldest of the AR girls looked at the Commander with her one good eye, the other hidden beneath a black patch with yellow markings. The next sister of the gang was M16A1. She simply gave the commander a two-finger salute and said, "Evenin', boss. Good to see ya coming over to catch up. Take it the desk job got boring?"

"More-so here just to get coffee, Sixteen," The man replied, straightforward. She shrugged just as the man noticed the opened bottle of alcohol sat next to her. He hummed, then stated, "That Daniels better not be from my supply, M16. Else, you're paying for it out of your next salary..." which seemed to catch the girl off-balance. She nearly slipped face-first into her own serving of a cheeseburger and fries.

Beside her, eating cereal at this time of the night and giggling at her sister's misfortune, was M4A1 SOPMOD II, or Sop, for most of her friends. A bright-ginger girl with a pair of scarlet eyes, an odd pair of headphones that resembled horns and other mods to her body, like attached Sangvis limbs, beamed at the commander. She spoke, her voice sharper than her sisters', "Heya, commander! Good to see ya!"

"Likewise, Sop..." He nodded, then eyed the last woman. Pink, unkempt hair and a pair of deep blue eyes greeted him in return.

She stared back at him with eerie professionalism and calm, sizing him up, of course, as she usually did. STAR-15 hummed, then gave a small half-smile and said, "Good evening, sir. How goes the workload?"

"Painful," He replied, sighing deeply. The girls all let out a short chuckle at that. The good Commander was a nice man, for what it was worth. He was not one to take any risks without putting thought behind each move first, just so that his deployed Echelons didn't get needlessly damaged. Everything he did was for a reason, it had a purpose. This way of doing things had also earned him the reputation of a ruthless commander among the ranks. The only ones who weren't following the rumor were the girls that had been here from the get-go. Namely, AR Team.

Sighing as he felt the other stares drilling into the back of his skull, he took another sip of his hot coffee, then said, "You girls enjoy your dinner..." as he walked out. He figured it was time to get back to the grind, anyhow. No real reason not to put oneself back to work. Entering his office and sitting himself down, the man started writing up the reports and req forms necessary for IOP to send more ammunition for the girls they were deploying, not to mention extra Cores for the Dummy Linking process.

Another couple of hours passed uneventfully, with the man finishing the last of his paperwork just as Kalina burst in and called out, "COMMANDER! We have a situation!" which caused him to jump to his feet. He walked with her as she explained, "Two minutes ago, a massive energy surge came in from Area S09. Our sensor suite picked it up and we managed to pinpoint its location to an old, abandoned town currently under Sangvis control."

"Any idea what it may be?" He inquired as his mind already worked on who to deploy.

"Nope," Kalina replied. The two pushed through into the command center as it came to life, with Helian already on-deck, checking footage from the UCAVs they'd deployed to scout the place out. Helian turned toward them and nodded, to which Kalina said, "I got him here, as you asked, miss Helian..."

"Thank you, Kalina," The woman replied, "All available Echelons are awaiting your order to deploy, sir."

"Let's get a good LOS on the town," He replied and approached the holo-table in the middle of the room. He leaned onto it, looking at the images playing from the Drone Feeds as he thought who to send. He could deploy PKP's Echelon, but he wasn't sure how SPAS-12 would do in the middle of a village like that. He could drop WA2000 and her hunter-killer team in as support, though.

Hm. He took a moment to consider that, maybe, it was better to just wait to get proper intelligence before making a decision. Watching as the drones flew in, he noted that the village was already occupied by a battalion-strength unit of enemy T-Dolls of various types. Vespids, Rippers, Jaegers, hell, there was even a swarm of Dinergates on the main road into the town. Of course, all had been transported in by an autonomous convoy of SF vehicles.

He hummed, then said, "Prepare AR Team's Echelon and Echelon WA2000 for deployment. The sniper squad will provide cover from the peak on the right, while AR Team advances to secure whatever it..." He paused as he saw the drone's camera pan up, to the sight of a structure in the mountains, off of which rocks still slid off, "Is... Is that a new base?"

"... It..." Helian stared on, stunned.

"Sure looks like it," Commented Kalina.

The man blinked, then said, "Alright, prepare all other Echelons we have available. Keep them on standby in case this proves to be hostile. I want that town secured and for our people to find out just what the hell is in that base..." as he plucked up a rifle and slung it onto his back, "I'll take a trip with the second chopper in as soon as we get the All-Clear from M4A1 and her team."

"Yessir," Helian replied, though she was less than happy about this. The Commander had a certain tendency to get himself into trouble, mostly by operating closely with his Echelons whenever his other work was finished, which was surprisingly common, now that she thought about it. Even now, the man had finished much of his work, enough that a short stint outside the Wire would be possible for him.

"And someone contact the KCCO..." He sighed, "Much as I hate it, we promised we'd give them reports of situational changes in the AO."

"Will do, sir," Helian replied again as she glared at Kalina. Kalina herself was busy messing about with something else in the meanwhile, which seemed to annoy the resident hardass of the command team. With a heavy sigh, the Commander nodded and dismissed both of them, marching to the armory to acquire his firearm and prepare the QRF. He'd fly in with PKP and her girls for the fight.

Noting the fact that M2HB, the fifty cal big gal, was already carrying the bipod and her weapon on her shoulder, the man walked on to the armory. She smiled at the commander, her scarlet eyes glimmering with joy at finally getting to do something again and her blonde hair flowing down her back as she strutted forward. He nodded in reply to the girl, surprised to see that her joy at being deployed took hold instead of the supposed 'fear' most units felt toward him.

Entering the armory, he found that the drones were already stacking up the boxes of ammo M2 would use in the upcoming battle. Aside from that, he also saw the various other armaments in lockers that his Echelons would use. He walked up to his own locker, the rearmost one that was sat right next to Kalina's, punched the code in on the keypad and plucked up his favorite Western weapon. Tan, boxy, but with a smooth frame and a lot of piccatini rails, the SCAR-H 7,62x51mm Battle Rifle remained the most trustworthy gun he'd used, right alongside the AKs.

Pulling the bolt handle, the man looked inside, making sure the magazine-less weapon was cleared. He then shouldered it once that was confirmed, looked down the Trijicon ACOG scope he'd mounted onto it, turned the laser and flashlight on and off, then made sure the weapon's suppressor was properly fixed in place. Setting aside the weapon, the man pulled the rest of his kit out of the locker, which included a black Ops-Core FAST Helmet with attached earmuffs and com system, an Eagle Industries plate carrier/chest rig and a few other various pieces of kit, including a Five-SeveN pistol in a thigh holster.

He put on every piece of gear, loaded up his magazines, then slotted them into the rig's pouches and secured them. Following that, he picked up his rifle and loaded a full magazine, keeping the safety on and not feeding a round. Checking his wristwatch, he noted that his entire task force was probably ready by now, taking into account that they had multiple armories.

He marched out through the halls, making sure his com system worked all the while, before exiting out to the helipad. There, he saw a single MH-53 Pave Low helicopter, some nice little trinket they managed to repair from the battlefield ruins one of their Exploration Teams found at one point. It now proudly wore the Griffin & Kryuger insignia on its side, instead of the US Marine insignia. The vehicle's engine was on and its blades were spinning.

M4 was already sat by the vehicle. She promptly saluted the Commander and yelled to him, "All echelons you requested are present and accounted-for, sir! We're glad you could join us tonight!" as she and him climbed aboard. AR Team was sat furthest at the front, with a seat saved right by M16's side for him. Standing on front of him was the fifth member of AR Team's echelon:Kriss Vector.

The helicopter began to lift off, forcing the echelons to hold on tight. It then took off toward the target area, countermeasures at the ready, in case enemy AAA decided to become a factor in the region. The Commander watched the Griffin HQ in the area become smaller and smaller behind them as the massive chopper flew forth. M2 manned the machine gun attached to the vehicle's ramp, keeping her eyes peeled and a wearing a grin.

The helicopter continued its approach, under escort by a pair of refurbished Reaper Drones as it entered the AO. The Commander checked his weapon one last time, then nodded approvingly, before looking forward, at the cockpit. The pilots aboard were human, possibly some of the only human members of Griffin outside some of the security personnel on-base.

He hummed, stood to his feet and marched up to the front of the heli, rifle on his back. The Pilot on the left, a woman, greeted, "Privyet, Commander. Here to enjoy the view?"

"Just looking over the Carpathians, Lieutenant," He replied, "How much longer?"

"ETA puts us at about five mikes out from the target area, sir," The co-pilot, a younger man, replied. He had an MP5SD by his seat, bought with his own cash, as well as a heavy-duty combat chest rig. Anything to protect oneself, the Commander thought. He nodded and patted both of them on the shoulder, before turning and walking toward his seat.

The aircraft began its descent into the valleys of the Carpathian regions, the Reapers with quad-pods of Hellfires flying close by, too. The man pulled out a tablet from his carry-on bag and turned it on, linking to the Drone Feed. He hummed as he saw lights barreling down one of the main roads toward the town, before zooming in. He showed the sight to the teams and said, "We have a victor rolling down the main road. Single transport, from the looks..." before he turned the tablet's screen back toward himself and zoomed in, "And it's going right toward a Sierra Foxtrot ambush spot."

"Thirty seconds," The pilots called out and the red light turned on.

"Sniper Echelon's dropping first. WA, you and your girls best be ready!" The Commander ordered, "PKP, take half your Echelon and provide rearguard cover for them. SPAS, you're with the other half!" and he stood to his feet, readying his weapon, "I'll be on the Ground with AR Team and SPAS's section..." as the vehicle descended. They touched down on the peak where WA and her team would be sniping from and the green light kicked on. The Commander barked, "WA! MOVE!"

The Sniper with dark-red hair stood to her feet and hefted her weird, blocky rifle, calling out to her team, "Los! Let's move!" before running out single-file with their supposed MG escort. M2HB gave the group of Snipers, which also included CheyTac Intervention, a quick salute. M82 Barrett grinned at her fellow fifty-cal-using counterpart, before jumping off the bird and calling out, "WA Echelon's Number Six, M82, last out! Loading EXACTO rounds!"

"PKP and escorts, out," The LMG stated as she and the other two members of her team jumped out.

"All sniper elements are out! Get us down there!" The Commander barked, "All Dolls, to your feet! Looks like we gotta save whoever this is..."

The pilot nodded and dived with the bird, flying close to the edge of the mountain and bringing them down fast and hard, right next to the northern edge of the town. Plasma bolts started flying, narrowly missing the bird as it touched down with a thunk. The Commander bellowed again, "All Assault Dolls! OUT! OUT! OUT!" as he set the fire selector to Semi-Automatic and jumped out of the transport.

A bolt of plasma passed by his ear as the rest of the squad disembarked, deploying their Tactical Doll Dummies from the vehicle's cargo pods as well. He hummed, scoped in the Sangvis sniper that took a pop at him, then took its head off via AP 7,62x51mm. The rest of the squad filed out and formed a line of fire, covering rear and front to make sure they weren't ambushed or flanked, before AR Team opened up with their own rifles.

Sop hefted her rifle and grinned, laughing maniacally as she launched fragmentation grenades from her M203. Detonations and bright flashes flared in the distance as much of the Sangvis contingent this side of town focused on them. The Commander made a single hand motion, an open palm chop forward, to which the entire force began its advance, M97 and the other shotguns present advancing.

A high-caliber sniper shot rang out and an EXACTO round tore through three Sangvis shooters that were positioned within the ruins of an old house. The Commander and his force kept up the pressure, meeting Sangvis's troops face-to-face in close quarters, with the man himself sniping out a few Sangvis fuckers himself via judicious use of his SCAR-H. He scoped in a Ripper and fired, before reloading as the machine dropped.

He pushed forward, side-by-side with M16 and the shotguns, each firing burst and shell into the enemy lines as their Sniper team dealt with the enemy. Meanwhile, M2HB had set up her machine gun and was going to town on the enemies trying to push through the trees on their left, letting out a hearty laugh as spent casing and chain-link fell onto the dirt, still smoking from being expended.

The Helicopter circled above, firing flares and chaff to avoid enemy MANPADS and to confuse enemy shooters in general, since some Sangvis T-Dolls heavily relied on LOS with their NVGs and their thermal sights, which meant they were easy to spoof at times. One of WA's own rounds punched clean through the mouth of a Ripper, dropping the machine to the floor, its jaw hanging loosely by a thread of synthetic skin.

Following up, M4A1 planted the sole of her right boot into the chest of a Vespid and filled it full of holes, while M16 beside her was lobbing Flashbangs left and right to further disorient the hostile T-Dolls. They'd already pushed deeper into the town than they had expected, with plasma rounds flying all around them as Sangvis troops focused on taking them out.

STAR caught a bolt in the shoulder, yelping. The Commander turned around and lowered his rifle, before moving to the girl. She lifted her right hand and stated, "I'm fine! Keep up the advance, Commander!" before hefting her rifle. A few stunned looks from the other T-Dolls passed as quickly as they came, with them redoubling their efforts on killing the enemy units.

STAR had already bandaged herself and was using her scoped rifle as she moved from cover to cover. Beside her, Sop kept firing grenades as she saw enemy strongpoints, before switching back to the rifle itself and peppering enemy units. The Commander, M4A1 and M16, meanwhile, advanced at the tip of the spear, surprisingly enough. He heard Helian over the radio, "Unknown Victor has been stopped by a Jaeger. Recommend moving fast."

"Roger..." The Commander growled, "Alright, we're pushing harder!"

"Yessir!" The Dolls cried out in reply as they hefted their weapons and pushed forth. Shotguns roared, pistols barked and rifles chattered as the team pushed through the thick line of Sangvis machines. The man himself was surprised by how easy this was, but he considered the fact that they were, in fact, facing basic enemy units that weren't commanded by a Ringleader.

He kept on pushing, making sure to have the rest of the Echelons behind him at all times. He grabbed M16 by the arm and pulled her out of the way of a burst of plasma, before shouldering his rifle with one hand and putting the monster down. M16 nodded in thanks, to which the commander simply kept pushing forth. The American Assault Rifle girl smirked, then joined up, with M4 close beside her. A flashbang flew and another squad of Sangvis was blinded and quickly dispatched.

Within moments, the last remnants of the enemy's forward line had been cleared, followed by the teams pushing hard forward, deeper into the line and quickly destroying a squadron of machines. Following that up, the Commander and AR Team continued forward, deeper into the enemy line. He paused, however, as he saw a gathering of Sangvis near the house and the destroyed truck off to the right.

With a quick motion of his hand, he ordered the entire assault team to take out the enemy surrounding the house. Pushing forward, the man himself hefted his weapon and switched it to full auto, opening up and pelting a slew of the enemy machines with enough lead to make a lead farmer blush. He took a knee as the rest of AR Team advanced, scoping in and firing bursts at the most dangerous enemies. Guards fell by the bushel to 7,62 AP, while their grenadiers thumped grenades forward and M2 had also redeployed to support them, hosing the enemy line down in hellfire.

With a pile of scrap on the floor between them and their new contacts, M4 stepped forward and into the light of a lamppost, stating, "Please, identify yourselves! We mean you no harm unless you are Sangvis Ferri units!" as she held her rifle close. The man hummed, then looked past the girls, rifle lowered and safety off, still, for now. He approached, then paused.

A white-haired man with... Animal ears... Stepped forth, stating, "I am SilverAsh, a representative of the Rhodes Island Pharmaceutical Company. Greetings. We mean you no harm either," as he held his hands raised. He was dressed in a rather fancy suit, but the most stunning thing was his goddamn animal ears. Similarly, behind him were a bunch of figures with ears, tails and even what looked to be exoskeletons. Most carried weirdly-designed swords, with a couple even carrying guns.

"... What in the fuck...?" Murmured the Commander, taking his helmet off. He spoke, calm, but stern, "I am Commander Michael Shevchenko, of the Griffin and Kryuger Private Military Company and representative of the interests of Griffin and Kryuger and their associates within the Neo-Soviet Union. What business does your company have here, mister SilverAsh?"

The group looked, confused and concerned, between one-another, before SilverAsh swallowed. He spoke, "I think it's best we discuss this somewhere safer, Commander, sir." respectful and clearly aware of their precarious position. The man nodded, then gave one hand signal to the girls. He looked to the damaged transport vehicle they'd come in with, before crossing his arms as he saw the 'Rhodes Island' emblem, a chess piece, a Rook, within the confines of a thick outline of a triangle, with the title of the Company written below, as well as two lines on the left and right. 'May I enjoy my life and practice my Art/respected by all men and in all times'.

Odd. He hummed, then jabbed a thumb back and said, "We have a helicopter ready and you have a lot of explanations to give us..."

On that, both sides seemed to agree...