WASHINGTON CITY
Chancellor Ahston Kennedy's face wore a scowl of displeasure as he was briefed about the incident regarding the most recent demon incursion onto Earth. Footage of the the attempted assasination Qurban by three red demons, and their subsequent capture. Then, the footage of a demon prince resembling an owl, slaughtering a significant number of the personnel that worked in the facility that the three would be assassins were being held in. He did not flinch when he men and women were turned into a fine red mist, he was too angry to let shock have a place in his attention. Then of course, the last part where the demon prince took the grimoire that was being analyzed, apparently used it to open a portal, that it then went through, taking the would be assassins with it.
"Conventional small arms fire appeared to have no effect on the demon prince, though this matches previous intelligence." Riley Dabruch, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency explained.
"This demon prince has since been identified as Stolas Goetia, one of the Goetic demons. Why a demon prince would go out of their way to save an imp, much less trust an imp with his grimoire, is unknown. It appears to contradict the information on hell's hierarchy we had received up to this point."
"The demons also claimed to be under the employ of a dead terrorist, correct?" Ahston said, his voice professional, though still belaying his frustration at the situation.
"Correct sir, the ramifications this assasination attempt has on our security is potentially disastrous. Ring leaders coordinating assassinations from the dead with those that can supernaturally get past security measures is going to require an overhaul in our COIN three assassins in particular, as you already know, have been active for a while now. They leave before they can be apprehended most of the time, however this is the first known assasination attempt on a government official. Them being contract killers explains why they appear to have no pattern in who it is they kill."
"Was there anything we were able to gain from the grimoire?"
"As of now, many pages of it have been scanned, however not all of it, our research teams are still going over what they managed to collect."
"Sir, if I may" Pyoter Kozlov, head of the department of Science and Technology spoke up.
"You may." said the Chancellor
"While our research into the grimoire pages is ongoing, we did confirm that demons, and their demonic abilities emit a sort of signal that is able to be picked up by specialized instruments, the same we use to monitor objects demons and angels leave behind on their escapades to Earth.
"While interesting, what is your point?"
"Chancellor, we could use these in public places to detect demons, and use it to screen for possible demons in disguise, thus allowing us to eliminate any demonic cell that may have taken root on earth, and add alert systems to our government security systems.
Ashton nodded "Outright, very good, direct your agency to begin developing detection instruments for large scale employment.
"Yes sir," Kozlov nodded.
"Riley, I want you to get more information on demon princes, and specifically Stolas, we don't have anywhere near enough angelic metal to effectively combat a prince, so we have to tread with caution."
"Yes sir." Riley saluted.
"Uhm, permission to speak sir." Eric Sutton, Head of the Joint chiefs of staff said.
"Granted."
"About not being able to combat them, we have received an interesting proposal… from the Strategic Air Command."
Location: Outskirts of Herat
Sergeant Jeferson Fitzgerald stared blankly at the soldier on the other side of the CH-58 Seminole's passenger cabin. Everyone's face was concealed by the new 'Iron Man' exoskeletons as they were nicknames by the troops that wore them. They had spent months training with them, and it looked like they were finally going to be able to get to use them on an actual mission. It was pretty standard, strike a terrorist compund, take their leaders for interrogation, kill everyone else, simple.
Jeferson felt the helicopter coming to a stop, this is where they'd be getting off. The Seminole lowered itself to the ground. The soldiers silently unbuckled themselves, and moved towards the now opened side door. They filed out in an orderly fashion, Jefferson taking point. The facility layed a ways from their landing site, to avoid the insurgents noticing. Another helicopter should be landing in another designated landing point also full of soldiers.
Jefferson ordered his squad forward, the darkness of night concealing them. Their camouflaged exo-skeletons allowed them to further blend in with the terrain. As the squad neared the compound, Jefferson split his men into fire teams, and fanned them out to various points around the building. His two sniper teams took up positions giving them clear lines of sight on windows and the roofs of the various buildings.
"Jefferson, this is Sergeant Nathan, do you copy? Over" The sergeant said over the comms
"I Copy. Over." Jefferson responded.
"I can see two hostiles on the roof from my side. Over."
"I can see two on mine. Over." Jefferson stated.
Jefferson transmitted footage of his point of view to Nathan, Nathan did the same.
"Confirmed two separate groups, moving sniper teams into position for elimination. Over."
Jefferson designated the guards on the roof as 1 and 2, and transmitted it to his squad, giving them clear viewing of who was designated. "Sniper Team Alpha fire on 1, Sniper Team Beta fire on 2 on my mark." Jefferson ordered.
"Wilco." The teams both responded in near unison.
"My teams have lines of sight. Over.'' Jefferson relayed to Nathan.
"Copy that, on our mark. Over.'' Nathan responded.
The snipers were now tuned into the messaging system "3, 2, 1" In near unison, the sniper teams discharged their rifles, and Jefferson could see the two roof guards crumple to the ground.
"Targets down on my side, over '' Jefferson relayed to Nathan.
"Confirmed targets down on my side as well, over."
"Roger, Moving squads into position, I will breach your mark, over"
"Roger, Moving squads into position, over" Jefferson responded
Jefferson ordered his squad to various positions on the edges of the compound. Breacher teams would enter the building at various points. He also sent a squad to lay down suppressing fire on the courtyard, and clear it out. His men dutifully took positions, the snipers took up spots closer to the compound with a greater view of the courtyard.
"Nathan, do you copy? Over"
"I copy, over"
"My teams are in position, beginning breach on my mark, over"
"Roger, Over"
"3 2 1 BREACH!"
The breaching teams blew open the compound doors, the squad grenadiers firing flashbangs into the enclosed spaces, and quickly ducking back to cover. The flashbangs gave out seven flashes each, disorienting whoever was unfortunate enough to be looking at them directly. The soldiers moved fast, firing almost point blank at any compound guards they spotted. The guards crumpled to the floor when the 5.56mm impacted them. The guards' strange looking guns bounced off the exo-skeltons of the Terran Special Forces. Outside in the courtyard, automatic riflemen laid suppressing fire on insurgent forces that tried to fire back on Terran positions. Snipers began picking them off one by one.
A grenadier launched an incendiary grenade, that either flushed insurgents out of their cover to be gunned down by the automatic rifleman, or incinerate whoever stayed too close. On the other side of the compound, Jefferson's men could see Nathan's men doing much the same of what they were doing, breaching and laying down fire in the large courtyard. So far the insurgents were unable to mount an effective response. Grenadiers sowed chaos and carnage in their lines, giving insurgents one of two options, run out of cover, or die in gore then and there. The practiced riflemen and machine riflemen with a combination of grueling training, smart bullets, and targeting computers made any attempt out of cover near suicidal. It was a lethal catch twenty two the insurgents found themselves in.
It would continue on like this for a time, the courtyard got cleared. Jefferson's and Nathan's men turned room after room inside the compound into bloody murals. Based upon blueprints for the compound used in the briefing, the safe room was getting closer and closer.
Jefferson fired a round through the heart of another insurgent, causing him to crumple to the ground. The weapon fell to the ground with a clang, the strange design caught Fitzgerlad's attention. He walked over the dead bodies that littered the floor, and crouched over the strange gun. He stood up, inspecting the weapon, and turned to one of his subordinates.
"You know what this is, soldier?"
The rifleman looked at the gun, and then back to his commander.
"It looks like a gun sir"
"Not just any gun, It's a gun made by Pride Ring Weapons Industry, it's a gun from hell"
Jefferson pointed to the 'PRWI' insignia forged on the barrel.
"This is better quality than these insurgents should be able to afford on their own, meaning they got themselves a sponsor."
Jefferson dropped the gun on the floor, and ejected his rifle's magazine, and put a new one in.
"Forward." Jefferson announced as he began moving deeper into the compound, his men following from behind.
Gunshots echoed as Jefferson and his men moved closer to what they were there for, painting a bloody path out of those who opposed them. Soon enough another source of gunshots and screams could be heard approaching them, likely another squad, possibly Nathan's boys.
The soldier's went down several flights of stairs killing rebels on every level. In one room, another squad of soldiers joined them, entering from the other side of the room. Jefferson noticed the markings on one of the soldiers denoting their higher rank over the others.
"That you Nathan?" Jefferson asked over the comms.
"Confirmed" Nathan said while looking over to Jefferson's squad.
"The objective should be just below us" Jefferson said.
Nathan nodded.
The two squads went down the final flight of stairs, entering a large area, with a vault-like door on the other end of the room. The guards to it were quickly put down, the finely honed skills of the special forces on full display.
Jefferson and Nathan walked forward towards the vault door, soldiers trailing behind them.
"Set a magnetic charge" Nathan said pointing to a grenadier, who nodded. The soldier took out a device, and placed it on the large steel door. The charge made a beeping noise as it was set, and the grenadier quickly let go. Electricity danced across the vault door as sparks began flying off of it.
After a while the sparks stopped, and the vault door's locks began clicking open one by one, until finally the massive steel door opened, revealing an oak wood study, with a red demon asleep at a reading chair, a book in his lap.
"Cuffs" Jefferson commanded, with one of the soldiers handing him handcuffs.
Jefferson, without missing a beat, entered the study, and handcuffed the still sleeping demon. The feeling of cold steel wrapping around his wrists awoke the little red monster.
"W-what, what is the meaning of this! Guards! GUARDS!" The demon yelled for his now deceased protectors.
It wasn't until Jefferson marched him at gunpoint to the still bleeding remains of what were once his guards did the severity of the situation begin to dawn on the demon.
"This is Blue Leader, the package is within custody, requesting transport"
"This is Green Leader" Nathan said into his comms "Blue Leader has the package in his custody, requisition transport"
Jefferson waited for a moment.
"Transport request accepted, will be touching down near the compound, over and out"
"Pleasure working with you" Nathan said, extending a hand.
"You as well," Jefferson said, accepting the handshake. The demon was passed to one his men, who began escorting it back through the compound.
"Demon back terrorists…, I hope this doesn't start something serious" Nathan said.
"Sorry to say, but if they're this well established, it probably already is" Nathan said looking back at the advanced though now ruined security door.
"I feel we will be seeing this sponsor's goons again real soon."