The characters and the plots belong to their respective owners. I therefore own nothing, minus the names of my OCs. However, I do own the OC of Ava Grady as well as the DEFCON Year Universe books, which you can find on Amazon through typing "Defcon Year Ryan"
BTW : I sign this fanfic to the brave defenders of Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine, glory to heroes.
AN: Due to this year being 2024, I can tell you only one thing for November 2024: VOTE BLUE, VOTE BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT
Two months after the success of Operation Blue Storm, Ava was relieved of her duty to be transfered to the newly-reestablished 6th US Marine Division. And within said division, Ava would meet none other than a former US Marine who previously served with the 3rd US Marine Division, Norrie Vastano.
As Ava made her way to her barracks, she saw nearly half of the 6th US Marine Division was made up of veterans from previous battles while the rest of the division was made up of rookies still green and still learning their skillset. However, those green men and women were well-led and well-trained by seasoned combat troops, all of whom knew the enemy, be it the Iranian military, the Chinese military or the Russian military. Ava kept looking around for the barracks she was assigned to when she spotted two US Marines chatting with one another.
"Sorry guys. Where's C Company from 1-9?" Ava asked.
One of the US Marines then pointed to a brunette holding a camouflage-painted and customized M27 rifle walking around. The brunette then turned to Ava and the two Marines when one of them whistled before calling her by her surname. The female US Marine then motioned Ava to follow, which Ava did by hurrying while carrying her weapon and equipment.
"Must be one of the transfers, eh. Norrie Vastano." the female US Marine introduced herself.
"Yeah, Ava Grady. 2nd US Marine Division." Ava told.
"Grady, like, the Navy SEAL?" a passing US Marine asked.
"Yeah. Why?" Ava asked the Marine.
"Heard lots 'bout ya and yer old guy. Badass attittude runs in the damn family apparently." Norrie answered.
With that said, Ava followed Norrie, who walked through the camp and led Ava to the block of C Company from 1-9, which also happened to be where Norrie Vastano was sheltered alongside her own squad. Norrie then led Ava to where Ava was berthed, where the latter met several other US Marines, all of whom were fresh-faced recruits while their drone operator and radio operator were hardened veterans. Ava then put her equipment on the empty bed of the tent before turning around.
"So, who's your squad leader?" Ava asked those US Marines.
"You are." the drone operator answered.
A few months later, after intensive training, Ava and her new squad were among the rest of the US 6th Marine Division and the Polish 21st Mountain Brigade which were to land alongside Ukrainian Marines to take Crimea back from the Russians. Ava knew the importance of this mission, which could cut the Russian forces invading Ukraine from their most important supply lines as well as divert the best Russian forces from the main effort, which would be made by Ukrainian, German, Polish, American, British, Canadian, French, Finnish, Czech and Belgian ground forces. As Ava and the others, including Norrie Vastano, listened to the briefing, US HIMARS trucks and US destroyers launched cruise missiles towards Russian defensive structures, which were already weakened by winter storms, while Ukrainian naval drones struck any Russian ship stupid enough to venture in the Black Sea and thus protecting the invasion fleet.
Ava then took her new weapon, which was a Heckler & Koch M27 rifle fitted with a KAC QDSS silencer, a Trijicon VCOG scope, an AN/PEQ-16 laser module, a vertical foregrip and a bipod, letting her understand she was the leader of her squad and that she was now a regular Infantry Marine. As she finished packing up, Ava strapped her high-cut helmet to prevent it from slipping from her head before putting her headset on. Ava even remembered that she and her squad were to take and defend a Burgertown while reinforcements, including tanks from the Ukrainian Marine Corps, would be unloaded on the beaches while Allied air assets would provide air cover for the invasion force.
After the briefing, Ava and her squad boarded one of the ACV-30s before the driver closed the ramp and drove forward before being joined by other ACVs with either a Browning M2A1 machine gun or a 30mm cannon, as well as Polish PTS-M and Opal amphibious vehicles. As Ava checked up her equipment, she heard two of her men praying not to be killed before she looked through the roof hatch and saw an ACV getting blown apart, killing some US Marines and forcing the others to jump in the sea and swim while one of the Polish Opal vehicles was hit by a Lancet drone, forcing the Polish soldiers inside to jump into the Black Sea and swim using their flotation equipment to one of the US Navy LARC-5 amphibious trucks tasked with rescuing anyone who fell in the water.
Suddenly, a few minutes later, all of the vehicles that weren't hit made it to the shore thanks to supporting gunfire from the ships and planes. Just as the ACV crew lowered the ramp, Ava jumped from her seat and found herself in the middle of hissing bullets and exploding mortar shells. Many US Marines and Polish soldiers then dismounted their vehicles before running towards a shingle, where they would be safe from gunfire. Ava then fell on her stomach alongside the rest of her squad and a squad of Polish soldiers all of whom were alive after all. Ava also saw that, despite being involved in the first high-intensity war since the Gulf War, the Allied forces sustained few loses when compared to the rage of war around her.
But a bullet snapped next to Ava's face, bringing her back to reality before she aimed her M27 rifle at a Russian machine gunner and fired it, killing the guy and his assistant with several bullets to the chest. Suddenly, USMC and Polish combat engineers set Bangalore torpedoes under the barbed wire at several emplacements in the fence before everyone put their hands to their head in order to protect themselves from the blast just before the Bangalore torpedoes went off, destroying the wire fence. Ava then led her squad and the Polish one to a command bunker before they and the other US Marines and Polish soldiers stopped at a trenchline and fired their 5.56mm rifles towards the running Russian soldiers, killing many and injuring many more. As Ava and her squad jumped into a trench, she spotted Norrie Vastano killing several Russian soldiers before the survivors were caught alive by Polish soldiers, who handed them over to the reinforcements.
Ava and her squad, as well as their Polish allies and the first wave saw the Ukrainians leaving the beach and pushing towards Sevastopol, Simferopol and the interior of Crimea before mounting their light vehicles and driving towards Melitopol, which was yet another objective of the mission. As they were driving, Ava and her allies got a radio message informing them the Ukrainian troops have managed to put three full-strenghth brigades ashore and were now on the offensive towards Kerch, Sudak, Dzhankhoi and Alushta while US Army troops were now using the seized beaches to bring in reinforcements, which were now pushing towards the Dniepr river.
Suddenly, Ava and her small vanguard force were in sight of Armiansk when they were forced to stop before driving in reverse as Russian paratroopers fired upon the Americans and Poles. Ava then felt the M1152 Humvee she was in coming to an abrupt stop after hitting something while the Polish M1097A2 Humvee was stuck in a ditch. Needless to say, everyone left their vehicles and ran into the nearby Burger Town while the Russian attackers were all shot dead from inside the Burger Town, which happened to be already defended by Ukrainian special ops soldiers armed with Malyuk rifles supplied with ammunition looted from dead Russian soldiers.
"Sitrep." Ava shouted amidst the gunfire from both Allied and Russian forces.
"We're one of the Ukrainian SSO teams tasked with softening Russian defenses. But we've been compromised." the Ukrainian platoon leader reported.
"Yeah. We're your reinforcements for now. Gotta wait a little longer for mechanized forces to repel Ivan." Ava explained.
The Ukrainians nodded, fully understanding Ava and her scouting force were what could help Presidents Biden and Zelensky defeat Russia and its allies. Ava and her team then took their turns in surveying the surroundings while Russian troops were hurrying towards the Burger Town and planning to find a weak spot in the defensive perimeter of the Burger Town fast-food restaurant. As Ava was taking a small break, a Polish soldier whistled some music Ava recognized as the theme of "Yankee Doodle".
The American then rushed to the Polish soldier before using her binoculars and spotting a large group of Russian VDV and naval infantry approaching the Burger Town. Ava the turned around and motioned the rest of her USMC-Polish detachment to come to her and pointed the approaching Russians while the Ukrainians kept surveilling the rest of the perimeter.
"Fire." Ava told her group.
The Polish soldiers fired their MSBS Grot rifles and UKM-2000 machine guns while Ava and her squad fired their M27 rifles at the encroaching Russians, killing many of them and hitting more in the kneecaps, the leg or even the toes. Suddenly, the Russian soldiers fell back, with some of them getting killed before Russian BTR-Ds and BMD-2s came in sight. Ava, her fellow US Marines and the Polish soldiers took their FGM-148F missiles and attached them to the CLU before locking the targets and firing their missiles. Just as the joint scouting unit tossed the spent missile containers, the Russian vehicles were all destroyed, killing their crews in the process.
Bullets then hit the Burger Town from the East, forcing the scouting force to switch places with the Ukrainian SSO soldiers there. As Ava and her fellow scouts then fired their weapons at another battalion of encroaching Russian soldiers, who happened to be Spetsnaz troops, killing or injuring most of them before driving the Russian Spetsnaz troopers back. Suddenly, a whole force of Russian mechanized troops with BTR-82A and BMP-2M APCs supported by T-80BVM and T-90M tanks arrived. Ava, her fellow scouts and some Ukrainian SSO operatives then fired off their weapons at the Russian infantry, killing many Russian soldiers in the process.
"Scout Four, this is Butcher One. How copy, over?" a MQ-9 controler's voice sounded through Ava's radio.
"Butcher One this is Scout Four. We're defending the Burger Town in Armiansk. I say again, we're defending the Burger Town in Armiansk. Requesting air support against anything with a Z letter on its top. Over." Ava told the controler.
"Roger that. CAS inbound. ETA five mikes. Out." the controler replied.
As Ava and the scouts kept defending the Burger Town alongside Ukrainian SSO soldiers, who used Javelin anti-tank missiles to destroy the Russian tanks while the USMC-Polish squad fired AT-4CS launchers to destroy the Russian BTRs and BMPs before everyone fired their small arms at the encroaching Russian infantry, reinforcements kept pushing towards the Dniepr river and the Sea of Azov while the main force breached the Russian Surovikin line further north, taking advantage of the weakened Russian defense.
And said reinforcements, consisting of Ukrainian Marine forces alongside US Army mechanized forces and Polish mechanized cavalry troops exterminated the surrounding Russian forces, enabling Ava, the US Marines and the Polish soldiers to get out of the Burger Town to further repell the Russian soldiers.