It was dusk in a small city of Groznyy. Nationalist troops have been fighting over the city against the combined Russian and Chinese armies. Epsilon was there as a special forces team to assist the Eurasian armies. Rina and her team ran into one of the unoccupied structures.
"Saya, Diva, Vespin, cover us from this building. Arthuria, Namine and Kairi, follow me," said Rina to her team. Saya, Diva and Vespin quickly went up the building they were occupying. Arthuria, Namine and Kairi followed Rina to another structure. Gunfire from a nearby building suppressed the four.
"Onee-chan, that building is suppressing the assault team," said Vespin, pointing at the building. Saya looked and nodded.
"On my mark, 3…2…1…Fire!" said Saya, and the three sisters fired a shot. The building was neutralized; Rina and her team continued on. They reached where several Chinese troops were retreating from Nationalist gunfire. They looked around the corner of the building and saw some Nationalist Humvees firing at the troops.
"Arthuria, nade," said Rina. Arthuria pulled the pin and gave it to Rina. Rina threw in into one of the Humvees. The driver tried to throw it away but the grenade exploded. The explosion engulfed the Humvee and it blew into bits. The Humvee next to it became affected by the explosion. Its occupants exited the vehicle; this gave a chance to Kairi and Namine to fire at the Nationalist troops. The Chinese troops stopped retreating and started moving forward.
"谢谢! (Thanks!)" said one of the soldiers as they ran forward and past them. Then Rina and her assault team passed through some small lanes and reached a church. The Russian were having a hard time holding it as there were Nationalist troops prodding from the streets. There were only several artillery guns and a destroyed T-90 tank.
"Epsilon, regroup at the town church. We need to hold the lines," said Rina on the radio. They went to one of the soldiers.
"Кто за? (Who's in charge?)," asked Rina. The soldier turned around.
"Вы. Командир был ранен (You are. The commanding officer was shot.)," said the soldier. A Nationalist Abrams tank appeared from one of the streets.
"Обложка нам из пехоты. Мы заботимся о цистерну (Cover us from the infantry. We'll take care of the tank)," commanded Rina.
"Da," replied the soldier as he signaled his comrades to fire at the incoming infantry. Rina and her team ran towards the tank and surprised the machine gunner. The machine gunner fired at them, but they were fast enough to evade the bullets and reached the turret. They killed the machine gunner and opened the hatch. Rina dropped a grenade in the tank and closed the hatch. The team scuttled off as the tank blew up from the inside. The shell remained, but its occupants were dead. A Russian soldier took out a bazooka and launched at a group of Nationalist troops. The explosion managed to take some lives out, but their numbers were massive. There were snipers in among the Nationalist troops that were sniping at the Russian soldiers. There was nothing they could do but retreat into the church. Rina saw the retreat and called her teammates.
"We've got enemy snipers! Where the hell are they?!" asked Rina. The some shots came and hit the Nationalist troops.
"Sorry, we got a bit hung up there," reported Diva, appearing with her other two sisters as they fired from a corner of a building. They quickly spotted the snipers, plucking them out. Missing the backbone of their assault, the Nationalists started to pull back. Several Russian MiGs came past and dropped bombs at Nationalist vehicles trying to enter the city. The Nationalist started retreating, running away as Russian T-90 tanks started rolling into the city. Then Rina spotted some Russian civilians being captured by the Nationalist troops. She quickly asked her team to follow her to retrieve the civilians, but a reply from the snipers gave her tough decisions.
"Taking fire, need assistance!" screamed Saya's voice on the radio. Rina thought for a while and made her decision.
"Hang on there! We have to save the civilians!" replied Rina as her assault team raced to the civilians. She quickly killed some Nationalist troops and flanked the truck containing the civilians. They seized the truck and drove the truck back to the church. After reaching the church, she asked the Russian troops to get the civilians out as she rushed to the besieged snipers. When she reached there, the Chinese troops managed to repel and recover the snipers. The twins were okay, but they were sobbing. The youngest sister, Vespin, was bleeding from her left eye.
"What happened?" asked Rina, shocked.
"A fragmentation grenade. She lost an eye, Rina, she lost an eye!" said Saya, sobbing while shaking Rina to her senses as the medics took Vespin on a stretcher to an APC to rush her to the nearest hospital at St. Petersburg.
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she thought of that incident that happened over a year ago. Her decision to save civilian lives had cost her a teammate. But if she chose to help her teammates, the civilians will most likely be killed under Nationalist custody. It was a hard decision, but she did what was right. The reason for the army is to protect the people of the country; what's the use of the army if it fails what it does? She shook her head to forget the haunting incident. What's past is past; she had to live with it. She wiped her tears as an announcement was made.
"One minutes to drop zone." Rina woke up her comrades up.
"Fresh and ready?" asked Rina. The rest nodded. The sky became dark as the day decided to close for the night. The helicopter reached the outer perimeter of Baghdad, ruined from the Nationalist invasion. There were several structures still standing, thus making it easy for the helicopter to slip by and land. They've landed several kilometers from the command centre in the heart of the city. They got off and the helicopter flew off immediately. They slowly crouched down and head for the nearest structure.
"It's a bit quiet here. Something must be up," said Rina. Then Intel from the headquarters in Jerusalem came in.
"Most of the troops stationed have left Baghdad; they're heading towards Jerusalem. You'd better hurry up or there will be no Jerusalem to return to," said the Intel officer. Rina gave a simple reply and built up a plan.
"Ok, this is going to be harder than expected. Most of the troops are now heading towards Jerusalem. Their strike was earlier than expected. We're timed now," said Rina. The team nodded, and Rina gave hand signals for them to split into two groups; one led by her and one led by Arthuria. They followed the Tigris-Euphrates River to the command centre at the centre of Baghdad. It wasn't big and fully equipped; more like a forward base rather than a main base. Nevertheless, they had to disable it. It was the only link that holds the invasion force on the ground. There were several troops patrolling nearby.
"Namine, garrison that building with Diva. Kill anyone that comes in our way. Arthuria, regroup," said Rina to a blonde Asian girl and Diva. Namine had long hair just like her twin, Kairi, who has red hair instead. Namine and Diva nodded and got up the building. Arthuria's team regrouped with Rina minutes later.
"The rest, follow me," said Rina. The rest followed her to the command centre.
Two Nationalist guards walked past the command centre and entered a corner. Rina and Arthuria crept by behind them and grabbed them by the mouth. The guards struggled, but Rina and Arthuria slit their throats. They dragged their bodies and hid them and continued to run across the road. Another two guards came out from the command centre. One took out a cigarette and lighted it. He was puffing away when he was shot by Saya and Kairi with their silenced rifles. The second one realized that his comrade was killed, but was neutralized immediately by Arthuria as Rina entered the centre and killed the officers in charge. Then she planted C4s around the building and the team left off to the building where the snipers were. Rina lifted the cap of the trigger and pushed. The building was blown to bits; it came crashing down as fire engulfed the entire street.
"Our job's done, let's move out," commanded Rina. She was about to leave the premises with her teammates when her vision blurred. She staggered for a while, and then collapsed. Her teammates rushed towards her to retrieve her. Diva checked her pulse.
"It's not good. She was too fatigued. We have to bring her somewhere before the troops realized what happened and come back," said Diva. Arthuria offered to carry her and the team left the city.
"Where am I?" asked Rina as she woke up. She saw herself hooked up on an I.V. and breathing tubes stuck to her nose. The nurse on duty attended to her.
"You're in the Istanbul General Hospital. You have been given 10 weeks off from duty," said the nurse. Then the nurse called the doctor in. The doctor entered and saw Rina awake.
"How are you feeling?" asked the doctor.
"Why am I here?" asked Rina.
"You collapsed in the line of duty. You were fatigued, starving and dehydrated," replied the doctor.
"But I'm fine," said Rina as she tried to get up. But she just didn't have the strength to get up.
"You're weak. Take this as a break. By the way, your friend is here," said the doctor before leaving the ward. Then Arthuria entered the ward and sat by her bedside.
"Rina, take a break. You are more prone to attacks when you're in this state. Please, take the doctor's advice," said Arthuria.
"So you can take my place?" shot back Rina. Arthuria was speechless for a moment.
"The position commander is reserved only for you, Rina. When you're better, you'll assume command," said Arthuria, then her cell phone rang. Arthuria picked up the phone. Then she handed the cell phone to Rina.
"A call from an old friend from the inside, he wants to speak to you," said Arthuria. Rina took the phone and placed it beside her ear.
"Hello Rina. Heard you're going to be off duty for a while. By the way, I've managed to put Vespin in your brother's team," said the voice.
"Thanks, Melvin. You're such great help," replied Rina.
"You owe me one, Rina. I had to do extra paperwork just to get her in there," said Melvin.
"You're a funny guy. Well, I need my sleep. Bye," said Rina as she closed the phone. Her face glimmered.
"Happy news?" asked Arthuria.
"Yeah. Tell the twins that their little sister is under my brother's wings," stated Rina. Arthuria nodded and left the ward. Then Rina called the nurse in.
"Get me a phone, will ya?" asked Rina. The nurse nodded, and brought a telephone and set it by the side of the bed. Rina dialed a number and waited for the person at the other end of the line to pick up the phone.
"Hello?" said the person at the end of the line.
"Hey brother, it's me, Rina. Is Vespin in your team?" asked Rina
"Yea, why did you ask?"
"Because she was from my team brother. I want you to make a promise, ok?" There was some quarreling at the background from Doug's end of the line.
"Who are quarreling?" asked Rina.
"Oh, it's just James and Yee Lin. Quarreling over mundane things. One of these days my head's gonna burst," replied Doug.
"I think Vespin will solve that. And the promise. You must promise that you'll take care of her just as much as you love me, ok."
"Yes, I promise. Oh, I heard you were out of the task for a while. What happened?" asked Doug.
"It's nothing. Don't worry, I'm fine now. Call you back when I'm back in service. Bye," said Rina before closing the phone. Then she shut her eyes to go to sleep.