Chapter 3- First Operation

"You only see them once. The Ghost Recon Team. Then you never see anything again"- Ghost Recon Saying

LOCATION: Fort Bragg, North Carolina, United States, July 2022

Clay quickly parked his truck, ran into the building and swiped his key card. He made it to the briefing room in less than three minutes. As he walked in, he saw a lot of unfamiliar faces. He sat in an empty chair next to Captain Alexander Brent (1), and saw two other operators seated. LTC. Mitchell walked in and everyone stood at attention. He quickly said at ease and went to the center of the room and addressed all the occupants.

Mitchell spoke saying "I know that the news in Russia is shocking but we have a situation in the Rouge Nation of Syria. We'll continue to monitor the situation in the Russian Federation. But we have a job to do."

"Roughly 72 hours ago, a Fourth Echelon Splinter Cell codenamed Icefish (2) was in the country on a mission to hunt a rogue Voron agent codenamed Snegurochka or in English, The Snow Maiden (3)".

Specialist Jonathan Steele speaks up. "Sir? Why is our team getting this Operation? We have new blood sir and I'm not sure he can keep up with us. What about our other AFO Teams"?

The LTC responds saying "Hunter Team is currently on rotation here at Fort Bragg. Predator Team is a part of a highly classified operation in Yemen. Though I hear that Private Military Contractors are getting heavily involved in the proxy war between the Saudis and Iran. So Predator Team may come back stateside soon. Walker and Nomad are with a team doing a black operation in Afghanistan and are unavailable. Captain Smith and his team are with Green Berets in Africa fighting Boko Haram. While a team led by Captain Nick Salvatore is currently participating in operations against rebels in Columbia. While our final deployed team led by Captain Foster is in the Philippines conducting operations. Any more questions?"

Steele responds "No Sir."

"Good. Major Alice Dennison (5) codenamed Hammer will continue with the briefing."

A black haired woman in a multicam uniform stood up and started talking while images were projected on the screen. "Snegurochka isn't our mission. We'll leave that to the men and women of Fourth Echelon. Our mission is to capture or kill arms dealer Hamid Zarza (6) and his chief bodyguard Brock Rumlow AKA Crossbones (7). Rumlow is a former CIA Paramilitary Officer who sold classified documents to multiple rouge governments and terrorist organizations back in 2016. What's worse is that Zarza has a new shipment of weapons that he's planning to sell on the black market. The last communication with Icefish mentioned the possibility of a dirty bomb as a part of the sale. The President has authorized the use of Ghost Recon to conduct a cross border raid into the country. You will be inserted into the Area of Operations (AO) via an MH-60M Black Hawk Helicopter from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment stationed at Prince Faisal Airbase (8) in Jordan. The Jordanians have graciously allowed us to use the Air Base as our Tactical Operations Center for this operation. The C-130 will also have a platoon of Rangers from the 2nd Ranger Battalion. As they'll be doing joint training with the Jordanians. We'll just be hitching a ride. The goal is to not only eliminate Zarza and Rumlow but also find what connection they have with the Snow Maiden. Get whatever gear you need from Senior Master Sergeant Marcus Kelso. Wheels up in 30 Mikes Ghosts".

As Clay got up to go to the armory to get his kit he was stopped by Captain Brent. "Spenser, welcome to AFO Team Spear. I'm Captain Alexander Brent also known as Ghost Lead on this operation. The buff guy staring at you is Staff Sergeant Micheal Ramirez also known as Coyote. He's a former Special Forces Operator. Our final member of the team is Specialist Jonathan Steele also known as Dallas. This is your team for the foreseeable future. Get your kit squared away with Master Sergeant Kelso then board the C-130".

"Roger that Captain Brent". Clay proceeded to jog toward the armory. When he entered the armory he saw rows and rows of weaponry and immediately thought of Sonny when he saw the FN Mk 46 Mod 1 and the FN Mk 48 Mod 1. Getting the thought of Sonny and DEVGRU out of his mind he approached Sergeant Marcus Kelso about his gear for the mission. "Ah. Spenser. Good to see you. I have your gear and weapons on the table". When he approached the table he saw his kit. His primary weapon was an HK 417 7.62 Designated Marksman Rifle. His secondary weapon was a black Glock 19 with a suppressor. Once he got his weapons packed into the gun case he got his uniform that consisted of both multicam and AOR1 camouflage as well as a helmet with night vision goggles.

The other team members had heavily customized weaponry as well. Ghost Lead had an M4A1 with a 40mm M203 Grenade Launcher. Coyote was using a MK18 MOD 1. Dallas has a Sig Sauer MCX. With the team locked and loaded they headed to the C-130 headed for Jordan. Clay's first operation as a Ghost has officially begun.

References:

[1]: Alexander Brent is a character from the Tom Clancy EndWar Novel series. He is a part of Ghost Recon in the WW3 Alternate Reality.

[2]: Icefish is Third Echelon Operative in the short story The End Begins: Splinter Cell

[3]: Snegurochka is a character from the EndWar universe.

[4]: Reference to Black Powder Red Earth graphic novel series Yemen.

[5]: Alice Dennison is from the game EndWar.

[6]: The Zarza Arms dealing Clan is from Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2

[7]: Brock Rumlow or Crossbones is a character from the MCU.

[8]: Prince Faisal Airbase is a location from Tom Clancy's HAWX 2.

Worked on this chapter for a while. Hope y'all like it. Really hope you liked the references to other works.