"Our intel from Captain. Marcos' squad indicates that the Russians have formed a blockade around the main shipping harbor. We can't get any forces past the armaments along the landing zone, and no planes can make it over their SAM's."
"Well don't just tell me what we can't do!"
"Captain. Marcos and his squad found a landing point on the beach, but it can only handle one zodiac. We can land at max, four or five men with a ten foot RHIB. Then from that vantage point they can take out the SAM and SSM sites."
"Alright, Do we have any available seals on board the battlegroup. Seal Team Six is deployed to the east coast, but who's on our west."
"Sir, may I make a suggestion?"
"Go ahead."
"STORM is still on board the Ford."
"... Alright, connect me to whoever is in charge of deployment on the Ford. Tell them I need STORM, and I need them yesterday."
Gneiss- US Special Forces deployment, STORM
"Gneiss, where ya' been?" Igneous asked as I stepped into the armory, "Swabbing the poop deck?"
"I've been catching some Z's, then the PA system shouted for me to join you all, what're we up to now?"
"Ridge is still being briefed," A woman stepped up to me.
"Faria, what're you doing here?"
"Under new orders, I'm temporarily a member of STORM, Marble, reporting for duty."
"Good to have you on board, your arm is fine then?"
"Yea, I'm patched up just fine."
"Well, I always said we needed a woman on the squad."
"She's only here, until the war is over," Ridge was stepping down a ladder, "no offense to you, but hopefully you aren't here very long."
"No offense taken, sir." Marble saluted.
"At ease, Marble." Ridge, grabbed a handful of small pouches, and passed them to us, Igneous held one, and tossed it between his hands "These packs are full of plastic explosive." Igneous suddenly flinched at the word explosive, and nearly dropped his pouch, "We're going in through a hell storm, boys. The entire battlegroup is going to engage a Russian fleet, while we slip in and flank their mobile SSM's. We will have limited support from the Ford, but mostly we'll be on our own."
"Yea, what else is new." I grabbed an M4 off the wall, and slung the explosives patch to my side.
"We're rendezvousing with a Lieutenant Aidan Paul Renner. He'll pop a flare, and we'll hit the beach."
"So we're just gonna roll past the entire Russian fleet?" Igneous asked.
"It'll definitely be difficult." Ridge, opened a hatch, and we started filing through, and moving down a ramp to the deployment bay.
"Again, what else is new." I stopped and looked at the bay.
"Tell me we're not taking the little zodiac." Igneous asked Ridge, and Ridge just marched on, "Oh come on… last time we had a tank!"
"That you stole,"
"Still!" Igneous groaned and moved on, and Marble stepped up next to me.
"This'll certainly be interesting." She smiled, and then followed them. I shook my head, and then followed my squad.
Yien-US Army
"Yien, what've you got?" Captain Marcos and I had reached Fox, and discovered ten wounded soldiers, and two dozen terrified civvies. Liapold was here, and Dorlem was in a body bag in a back room. They hadn't gotten to Fox before the blood loss had taken it's toll. I was camped at a window overlooking the bay, and I was gazing through a high caliber sniper rifle.
"Sir, it looks like the fleet is mobilizing, the battlegroup must be getting close. They've got birds in the air, and the ships are moving northward."
"Renner said that they're on edge."
"I think I can see- Yes, there are ships out on the horizon… It's one of our supercarriers… and a bunch of amphibious assault ships."
"Here we go."
"This is about to get, really, really-"
Gneiss-US Special Forces deployment, STORM
"Insane!" Igneous growled, "This is insane!"
"We're still inside the ship, dude." I replied, and he shook his head. We were sitting in the launch bay with three other zodiacs- distractions-, two LAV's, and two APC"s. It was quiet, save for Igneous ranting.
"I'm just saying, listen to that!" He pointed upward, I was listening. We'd just engaged the Russian air assets, and I could hear the battle raging outside. I felt the ship rock with each hit, and heard it return fire. Then I felt a heavier hit.
"That'd be the line of fire from the Russian ship mounted weapons." Marble, said, and slid into her place in the zodiac, "We're not going to get much cover from three boats, and some LAV's"
"Hang on…" Ridge raised a hand, "We're nearing our release point, Gneiss, you got the helm?"
"I'm on it." I pressed a few buttons, and the zodiac flared to life. I watched the release light above us in anticipation, and then heard the buzz, and saw it flash green. We dropped into the flooded launch bay. Another zodiac deployed in front of us, and the bay door opened. The first Zodiac exploded out of the bay, followed by an LAV, then it was our turn. I slammed the throttle, and we sped forward into the bright morning light. It was overcast, and the air smelled like rain. It seemed peaceful for a moment, only a moment.
Then a large cannon round flew past us, and my eyes snapped to our forward. Dead ahead was a Russian destroyer flanking a massive aircraft carrier. I saw the LAV to our right open fire on encroaching enemy boats, and I cranked the throttle as much as I could. We shot past two armored boats, and slipped past the first zodiac. Then we came under fire from a passing attack helicopter, I swerved left, but the zodiac behind us took the full brunt of the hit. The chopper paid us no mind and went on to attack the Amphibious assault ships.
Marble pulled up a drum loaded grenade launcher, and opened fire on more approaching vehicles. She nailed one chopper in the under carriage, and caused the other's to break formation. Then I saw the water dead ahead start bubbling, and was shocked as suddenly the water gave way and we were sliding down the aft of Russian sub. The massive column of buoyant metal screeched as it broke the surface, and then, before even making full rise, opened a missile hatch and fired just before it was hit by an incoming missile strike from our side. I saw that it had already been damaged by a torpedo, which must have made it surface, but now it was sinking under us. As the turbulent sea sucked it back under, we slid back onto the grey water, and I took back control of the RHIB boat.
"Break south, Gneiss. Our LZ is that way." I turned the wheel, and we hydroplaned right. We managed to curve around a Russian attack boat, and Igneous, who was manning a mounted minigun on our boat, tore apart their gunners. Then I saw the flare, and made a beeline.
"Russian forces are moving on the LZ!" Marble announced, and I glanced to my left. There were dozens of Russian charging down the beach towards the small drain inlet where I spotted a single soldier fighting them off.
"Cover fire!" Ridge didn't even need to order, Igneous was already spinning up the minigun, and his rounds burst from the six super heated barrels and shredded the beach. Marble also fired a handful of grenades right into the mix of sand, blood, and bullets. I cranked the Zodiac, and we slid into the calm storm drain, and I pulled the lever to release anchor.
"Thanks for the assist." A tan skinned, dark haired, man reached out and helped me out of the zodiac.
"You're lieutenant Renner?" Ridge asked, and he nodded.
"We've got a hell of a lot of work to do!" We followed him up the edge of the inlet, and looked out over the beach, "Stay close, we're gonna hit that SAM site dead ahead, that'll clear the south flank for air support."
"We're following you, Lieutenant." Ridge nodded, and the man took a breath, then we broke into a sprint. The beach was littered with bodies from our arrival, and we made it clear towards the dock without any interference, but then we were immediately engaged. I snapped left and right, firing constantly. The echo of the M4 rattled my ears, and I slid into cover behind a crate. Then Igneous came up next to me, and together we sprung up and took down four more with ease.
"This is definitely better than Seattle, more explosions." Igneous threw a grenade on his own cue, and the metal orb blew two men clear off the dock. Then he ran forward, and stopped right in front of the SAM. I covered him as more men took a makeshift bridge across the gap between docks. Then he came running back, and jumped over the crates landing next to me. He pressed down on his trigger, and the SAM was immediately turned into scrap metal.
"One, down. Let's go forward."
"We're going to commandeer the SSM at the end of this dock." Renner explained as he took cover from incoming fire. I shot the soldier pinning him, and then turned back, "We're gonna use it to hit the rear end of their fleet."
"I've got this one!" Marble moved forward, and we followed her. I ran past her, and swept the area around the missile site. She was on the console in a heartbeat. She was pressing in commands, and then suddenly the launcher swiveled.
"How many should I launch?" she asked me.
"All of them, Marble!" I shouted, and she pressed a few more commands. Then the massive machine above us, cranked loudly, and finally fired off multiple shots. I watched them arc, and slam down past the blockade of half sunk ships, and more ships were added to the graveyard. Not shipping freighters this time, but Russian battleships.
"Alright!. We've got air support inbound!" Renner announced, and I saw two ospreys coming in from the south, but a SAM site further up the harbor opened fire on them, and one of them took a missile right in the wing, and started spinning in our direction.
"Yea, that's definitely inbound!" Igneous turned down the dock, and sprinted away. I turned, and Marble and I grabbed each other. We both flung ourselves off the dock into the water below, and the Osprey slammed into the dock, then flung off of it into the water a few yards in front of us.
"Gneiss!" Ridge screamed my name, and I raised an arm.
"I'm good!" I answered, and grabbed the dock, "Marble's here, we're alright!" Then I heard a pounding coming from inside the Osprey.
"There are survivors." Marble stated, and I didn't hesitate. I leaped towards the Osprey, and reached out to grab the door, but it was jammed. I heard more pounding inside, and I knocked in response.
"I'm gonna get you out of there."
"Gneiss, there's fuel in the water!" Igneous was on the dock telling me to get away, but I was pounding on, and prying at, the door. It refused to budge, and I swam toward the cockpit, just in time for the rear of the tilt-rotor vehicle to explode. I was only sent forward a few feet, but the flames licked my helmet, and I heard a scream from inside.
"Gneiss, on your nine!" Marble shouted the warning, but Renner opened fire first. He dropped the men on the dock to my left, and I dived under the water. I swam under the wreckage, and surfaced right against the dock. The other Osprey had blown apart two more SAM's and I could see the air battle beginning with our planes rising of the deck of the Ford. I pulled myself the rest of the way up the dock, and turned back to see my squad, and the men who'd been deployed from the other Osprey in a firefight down near the beach, but there were only a few guards on the SSM site. I opened fire, and dropped the trio, then I ran to the console, and I started typing.
"And…" I typed the last few numbers in, "Open sesame!" I pressed the final button, and the missiles launched, but rather than firing on the fleet, this six round salvo blew apart one of the largest scuttled shipping freighters in the blockade. The deployment boats, hovercraft, and APC's stormed in like I'd just blown a flood gate, and suddenly the Russians were on the defensive. I turned back to the beach, but saw that most of them were retreating, and those that weren't were being picked off by my squad.
"We took the beach!" Igneous yelled, and charged towards me. He raised an arm, and we high fived.
"Damn right, we did!" Renner grinned at me, "Good job blowing that blockade, with all these reinforcements we'll take back San Fran in no time."
"STORM, this is Overlord, come in STORM, over."
"Overlord, this is STORM-01, we read you, over."
"We've got big problems, we may have taken the harbor, but now the fleets retreated to around the mouth of the bay, and we have intel saying that there are multiple Russian subs inbound. The only sub in the battlegroup was blown to shreds by a mine, we'll need a birds eye view of the bay if we have any chance of stopping those subs before they destroy half the battlegroup and open a hole for the fleet to retaliate. Also there is a Russian tank column still in the city, and they seem to be regrouping to take back the docks."
"Seriously?" Igneous shook his head.
"Tank's will secure the beach, but I need you and your squad to get us coordinates on those subs. The Osprey that landed on the beach will have a SOFLAM target binocular system available, take it, and get us that intel. How copy?"
"Roger, where can we get a birds eye view, over?"
"There's only one place with that view of the harbor, Ridge." I pointed, and he stared up at the golden gate bridge.
"The observation balcony on the center Golden Gate Bridge is the easiest place for you to assist."
"Roger, Overlord, we're on our way, over and out."
"So, destroy a bunch of submarines, before a bunch of tanks come to blow our asses up." Igneous lifted his rifle to his shoulder, and chuckled, "Why can't we ever just sit around and guard crates."
"Because you'd kill yourself out of boredom." I punched him in the shoulder, and he nodded.
"Let's get moving, Renner, you in?"
"All the way, man- uh, sir." The lieutenant nodded.
"We need to stop picking up strays." I laughed, and Igneous nodded, then we set off towards the bridge.