Do you believe in Magic?by Toshiro121ChaptersPrologue: Keep it Brief Chapter 1: SnowblindGreetings from Moscow, wish you weren't herePrologue: Keep it Brief Prologue: Keep it Brief Present day **/**/2024 Undisclosed location "I'm not gonna say it again. Drop your weapon on the ground, now!" Oz shouted. "Do you think that I will do as you say, just because you have superiority? I think not." Colonel Kurochnik said, lifting his gun. "I will do what ever it takes to make sure that you american scum do not gain the upper hand in this war, even if it means destroying the greatest discovery in history!" He aimed his gun. "NO!" Boombox screamed. A single shot was fired. **** days before present day 11/10/2024, 1100 hours Join Strike Force (JSF) Command, the Pentagon Washington D.C, United States of America "...After several successful strikes in European territory, the United States Military finally declared that they had established a strong foothold into Western Europe, with the official unveiling of a permanent US Army base in the city of Copenhagen named Fort Charlie. President Becerra congratulated several officers of the army in the White House earlier today on their success, before making a statement on the war at hand. "The United States Government thanks all who have contributed to the effort of ending this war, but also mourn those who have lost their lives fighting against the-" "Same shit, different day." General Scott Mitchell said, turning off the TV. Scott had seen enough of this war to know how bad it was, and to know that the president's little speech didn't help one bit in terms of getting this war over with. Before all this, he was a Captain of a squad in the 1st battalion 5th special forces group, Delta company. A handpicked elite group of soldiers from all branches of the United States military, better known as Ghost Recon. He had seen action in Mexico, China, Korea and the Pacific Ocean, eventually becoming General of the Joint Strike Force, which was a larger, if less skilled version of the Ghosts. As he sat in his office chair thinking about what would happen next, a call came in on his intercom. "General Mitchell, Captain Hope to see you sir." A desk clerk said. "Thank you Miranda, send him in." Seconds later, the Captain stepped in. "You wanted to see me sir?" Hope asked. "Ah yes. You don't have too much time, so I'll keep it brief. Covert imaging broadcasts and intel from our newly established foothold in Europe brought back some bad news. The Russians have a research facility testing new technology to try and make the Space-Land-Air-Missile-Shield system redundant. I've talked to your commanding officer, Major General Goudie about his, and he's come up with a battle plan. You're going to take a team and infiltrate that facility, while the 8th Assault Battalion creates a distraction when we hit against the Euro's in Rozenburg. Here's your mission details, you can go over them later." "Yes sir." "Now if that's all, I'm scheduled to be in the War Room. Good luck Captain." Scott said before leaving the room. JSF Field Intelligence Authorized Personnel Only Unit Deployment are as follows: In Field: JSF 15th Special Ops Battalion, Hitman Platoon, Sierra Squad On standby: 13th Airborne Battalion Location of Deployment: Grid Coordinates:67.690686,55.61554, Russian Federation Date of Deployment: 12/10/2024 JSF 15th Special Ops Battalion, Hitman Platoon, Sierra Squad Squad Lead Name: John Hope Callsign: "Oz" Rank: Captain Former Military Division: US Rangers, Rainbow Equipment: M4A1, Colt M1911, M67 Frag Grenades, Flashbangs, Combat Knife Notable skills/issues: Excellent team leading tactics, as well as hostage negotiation and snatch and grab skills. Has a "no man gets left behind" policy, and refuses to leave any comrade behind, dead or alive. Support Name: Craig Manning Callsign: "Twitch" Rank: Sergeant Former Military Division: US Army Equipment: M249 SAW, M9 Baretta, M67 Frag Grenades, Flashbangs, Combat Knife Notable Skills: Has an exceptional reaction time, and can multi-task almost anything. Unfortunately has issues on being left alone, and will nearly always try to stay with someone else. Demolitions Name Ryan Coles Callsign: "Boombox" Rank: Corporal Former Military Division: US Army, US Marines Equipment: UMP45 SMG, M9 Baretta, M67 Frag Grenades, C4 Explosive Charges, KA-BAR Knife Notable skills/issues: Is skilled in multiple European languages, but has a light but serious heart condition, which is medicated. Sniper Name: Tom Scully Callsign: "Iron Sights" Rank: Staff Sergeant Former Military Division: Navy SEALs, Ghost Recon Equipment: M21 EBR, USP .45, M67 Frag Grenades, Flashbangs, Karambit Knife Notable skills/issues: Speaks fluent Russian, and can go solo when needed for almost any situation. Has issues with orders that he believes to be a danger or a hazard to the mission or the team. Available Resources: Infantry Support: GRANTED(But only if necessary) Close Air Support: GRANTED(But only if necessary) Cavalry Support: DENIED Force Recon: DENIED WMDS: DENIED, COMMANDING OFFICER AUTHORIZATION ONLY NOTE//FROM JSF Command//: Major General Goudie has deemed this mission MUST be kept in stealth.The Russians cannot be allowed to know that we are heading for their front doorstep yet. Keep to suppressed weapons for as long as possible. If things go south, supersonic fighters for Close Air support and Infantry Support from the 13th Airborne Battaion will be on station to help secure the facility or for extraction. Naryan-Mar Airport and Surrounding Area A decently Isolated area, the area around the facility is perfect to hide any kind of base, as snowstorms cover the area deeply with snow, covering them from general sight. The snowstorms also hinder satellite imagery, making monitoring ops in that area difficult. There are many cliffs around the facility, making it both an opportunity and a hazard. HALO jump is the only option we have for insertion as it is deep in Russian territory, the jump itself will have to be timed due to the snowstorms, for obvious reasons. Don't worry though, you'll be assisted with the insertion by the 13th Airborne Battalion, and they know what they're doing. Naryan-Mar Airport is an airport located 3 km east of Naryan-Mar. It is a mixed civilian-military field, and is the only major facility airfield on the Barents Sea coast between Arkhangelsk and Novaya. This place houses the reinforcements that are on standby for the facility, should the base's invasion alarm be triggered. Research Facility A CIA operative infiltrated the facility back 2 weeks ago, which gives us some good intel about the place. However, during that raid, he was compromised. Satellite imaging shows that they have taken him prisoner, attempting to find out what he knows. We don't know if the operative is still alive, but because of his capture, the base has been put on alert, so be careful when infiltrating. Facility Personnel The troops in this facility are members of the Spetznaz Guard Brigade, 56th Airborne Battalion, under the command of Colonel Aleksander Kurochnik, who may or may not be on site. The 56th Airborne Battalion holds a fierce reputation as one of the best special forces in the world due to the very harsh standards of their training, making them ideal for guarding a facility in those kinds of conditions. They're motto is 'effective intimidation', and have shown this throughout their battles in the war. satellite imaging shows no signs of heavy armor or air cavalry, but a large amount of unarmed troop transports are present, indicating that they may be moving something. Physical security inside the facility itself is minimal, with most of the personnel inside being researchers and scientists. Estimates put the full number of personnel on site to be at 100, with emergency reinforcements on standby 24/7. Aleksander Kurochnik NO FILES FOUND Mission Objectives Primary Objective: Find and destroy Anti-SLAMS technology, and any other experiments that may be present Secondary Objectives: Secure Russian scientists for interrogation of intel Secure and extract CIA Operative if alive (Call-sign:LANGLEY, Challenge: FULL HOUSE, Countersign: TWO-PAIR) Eliminate Colonel Aleksander Kurochnik (If on site, this objective is PRIORITY 1, Anti-SLAMS tech is PRIORITY 0) NOTE//FROM GEN. SCOTT MITCHELL//: If the Ruskies manage to get that technology working, then they can unleash more nuclear devastation on the world, and we can't let that happen. A majority vote was made among commanders in the Pentagon to destroy the equipment rather than to keep it, rather let no one have it than someone, am I right? **** days before present day 12/10/2024, 0950 hours Fort Charlie AFB Copenhagen, Denmark Oz stepped out onto the tarmac, gear in hand, the warms morning sun reflecting off his armor. He walked up to the rest of his squad, before giving them a salute. "Good to see you all could make it, nice to see ya Scully." Oz said, shaking his hand. "Good to see you too sir. This here's the new guy, I'll let him introduce himself." Oz extended his hand, receiving a firm handshake. "Sergeant Craig Manning, AKA Twitch. Nice to be here sir." "Likewise. You new in the Platoon?" Oz asked. "Kinda, I was drafted about a month ago. Got the best score in 'The Pit' and in the rifle range, also have a distinction for serving here in Copenhagen." "Well, nice to see you have some action already under your belt, but just a warning; things are going to get much tougher from here on out, got it?" Twitch nodded, before picking up Oz's gear off the ground. "Right let's get on board, Those Russians aren't going to kill themselves now are they?" 2 weeks earlier Royal Gardens Canterlot, Equestria As the sun settled over the hills, Dawnguard stopped and smelt the cool breeze. It had the distinct smell of roses, with a hint of lavender. As he was about to continue his patrol, a bright blue portal appeared behind him. He turned around, becoming curious as to what it could be. Dawnguard looked around, trying to see if anypony was playing a trick on him. Finding the garden empy of all but himself. He cautiously approached the portal, when suddenly he found himself being sucked into it. Trying with all his might, he tried to escape the portal's grip, with no success. He became enveloped in the portal, before being dragged off into another universe. The portal then dissipated, leaving no trace. Seconds later, Princess Celestia trotted into the gardens with a smile on her face, completely unaware of what had just happened. Dawnguard re-appeared a laboratory of sorts, dazed. After gaining some composure, he looked around, and saw a person in a lab coat, staring at him. Seconds later, a group of people with guns burst in shouting at the man in the coat in a language he couldn't understand. One of the men dressed in a uniform looked at him before pointing at him then shouting at the man again. They hit the man and dragged him off, before grabbing Dawnguard. He kicked and threw himself all over the place, trying to break their grip. Eventually they reached come jail cells, of which the man in the lab coat had already been thrown into. They dragged Dawnguard to the end of the cell block and knocked him out, before throwing him in a cell. The one in the uniform stayed behind and muttered "ты что, странное существо?", before heading off with the rest of the group. Chapter 1: Snowblind**** days before present day 12/10/2024, 1838 hours Grid Coordinates: 67.690686,55.61554 Russian Federation "...Sierra's at the north perimeter, over." Oz said, fiddling with his earpiece. "Copy Sierra, Archangel acknowledges. Be advised, snowstorm is starting, we will have no contact with you for a period of time. We will contact you when the storm passes, over." "Roger that, satellite imaging pick up anything suspicious over?" "Negative, signs show all clear. Get in there, destroy the equipment, then get out, and we'll extract you at primary extraction ASAP. Archangel out." "All right, let's move." Oz said, before motioning the squad to follow him. "Man, why does it have to be so fucking cold? I haven't been in weather like this since winter, in 2019!" Boombox said, shivering. "Cause it's fucking Russia Coles, what did you expect? A nice warm tropical holiday in the Bahamas? Suck it up, I mean really." Scully retorted in a mocking tone. "Hey, lock it up Sierra! we're going in, stick to suppressed weapons and use call-signs at all times. Hooah?"Oz interjected. "Hooah." "Hooah." "Hooah." "Alright, lets move out." The team slowly started to make their way across the snow covered plain, their sight hindered by the impending snowstorm. "Alright, we should be getting close to the facility. Activate you're heartbeat sensors, we'll need 'em to find anybody out here." Oz said. "Hey, aren't heartbeat sensors meant for special ops douchebags?' Twitch asked. "Man, we ARE special ops douchebags." Boombox replied. "Oh." Twitch's statement earned a chuckle from the rest of the team. As they made their way closer to the facilty, Oz raised a closed fist, signalling them to stop. "What is it, what do you see?" Iron Sights asked. "Four contacts, fifty meters to our front. Move up and neutralize." "Roger that, moving up." Scully and Coles moved up silently behind the unaware guards. Coles pulled out his suppressed M9 and KA-BAR knife, while Scully pulled out a silent USP.45 and a Karambit knife. They looked at each other before Scully made a signal with his hands, counting down from 3,2,1. The two both grabbed a guard simultaneously, shooting the other guards that had started to turn around, before slicing the remaining guard's necks. "All clear." "All right, let's get moving." The squad continued to move through th snowstorm until they finally reached the inner perimeter of the facility. The inner perimeter consisted of 2 and a half meter concrete walls, with pillboxes on either side of the main entrance. Oz looked around, finding no immediate solution. "Well it looks like the front gate's a no go." "Yeah, and I don't see any side entrances. So, who feels like an up-and-over?" Scully asked. "Looks like it, I just hope that my grip is good." Coles replied. "Mate, the way you've been gripping your rifle you should be more concerned about the wall breaking off." Oz joked. "Yeah yeah, whatever. Just get up against the wall will you?" "On it." Oz squatted up against the wall, cupping his hands together. Coles ran towards him, putting his foot on Oz's hands, before Oz flung him upwards. Coles grabbed the wall and pulled himself up, before turning around and extending his hand for Scully. Scully grabbed cole's hand before grabbing the wall and vaulting over it. After the rest of the squad made it over, they checked that their weapons were still in good condition after being in the cold for so long. "All right, we're clear. Iron Sights, head up that tower and cover for us with your thermal, the rest of you on me." The squad nodded and headed their separate ways. Scully climbed up a ladder that went to a nearby tower, before dispatching the guard on top and throwing his lifeless body over the railing. He then proceeded to pull out his silenced M-200 sniper rifle and attached it with a bi-pod to the railing. "I'm in position, forward area clear." "Copy that, moving up." Oz noded towards the rest of the group, and they continued forward. There was a minute of silence across the comm channel before Scully blasted something in Oz's ear. "Stop, stop!" Oz raised a fist, signalling them to do the same. "Enemy troop transport inbound, 20 meters to your right. stop and drop till it passes." The three men quickly layed down on the cold snow, before waiting for the truck to pass. "Alright, you're clear. I'm moving up to join you now, over." "Copy that." Oz replied. Scully caught up with the rest of the team as they headed to a locked door. Oz pulled out a device and activated it, and within seconds the door was unlocked. They continued inside, avoiding patrols and scientists when they suddenly came across a large room with a lot of large and strange devices, with a particularly big one in the center. "What do you reckon this is?" "No idea, looks like a portal of sorts." Twitch said, investigating. He looked at the device all around, the only thing of significance was an engraving on the side: Harvey was here, 2020. "Let me guess, we gotta blow it up?" "Eeyup, and that'll be YOUR job, Boombox." Oz replied. Boombox nodded and pulled out a couple of C4 charges. They kept going through the rooms of experiments until they ended up back where they started. "Dammit, doesn't look like it's here." "Do you even know what it looks like?" Twtich asked. "...No..." "Well how about that?" he said pointing to a secure room which they had somehow missed beforehand. The team then proceeded into the room, only to find it was empty. "Well, where is it?" Oz asked. Scully started pacing. "Wait, those troop transports...they must be moving it out somewhere!" He said. "Good thinking, let's have a once over of the rest of the place then get out of here." A minute later the team was on the move again, this time stopping from the smell of rotting flesh. "Gah, you smell that shit?" "Yeah, probably dead flesh, most likely human." Scully noted. They followed the smell until they found the prisoner cells, and what was left of their CIA agent, which resulted in the upheaval of Twitch's lunch. "Well, looks like he's not going anywhere." "Nope, definitely not. Let's keep looking through the cells, might find a POW or two." Boombox said. Oz nodded and they continued. They quickly stopped however when they heard the distinct sound of crying. Following the sound, they stumbled upon something that none of them had seen before. Right in front of them, was a pale purple colored unicorn, wearing what looked to be steel armor and a sad look on its face. "Sweet Jesus what in god's name do we have here?" Boombox's voice caught the pony's attention, to which it ran straight up to the cell bars. "Please, let me out of here!" It yelled. The team jumped back slightly in repsonse, before Oz slowly approached the cell. "You-you're not one of them, are you?" "No, we're not. If you promise not to cause any trouble and cooperate, we'll let you out, okay?" The pony nodded. "Alright then, Boombox get that door open. First thing's first, if you see or need anything, I'm Oz, that's Boombox, he's Iron Sights and that's Twitch. Keep volume to a minimal and we should be out of here in about 5 to 10 minutes. Got it? Alright, let's roll out." The group headed out with pony in tow, and were almost outside again when the alarm sounded. "Shit, that's not good. Iron Sights, what are they saying?" "Let me see... All units to your stations, intruders are in the base. Units 2-4 investigate the north eastern wall." "Well, there goes our up and over idea, time to improvise. But first, a distraction. Boombox, blow the C4." "Ok hose, here goes..." A single click was heard. Moments later a fireball erupted from one of the walls. Shouting followed by panic and PA alerts gave the team a very short window of opportunity. As they headed outside of the base's perimeter, Scully walked up to Oz. "Sir, I'm not sure it's a good idea to bring this...thing along. We don't know what it is, where it came from, or what it can do! For all we know it could be some kind of Russian or Euro-" "That's enough, stand down. Listen, if this thing was made by the Russians they would have made it a little more compliant to them, wouldn't you think? And if it is from another world, wouldn't you think that it'd be a good idea to start off on the right foot? I know I'm taking a gamble on this, but I'm confident about one thing: he'll be a lot happier out here than in there, and that'll be good enough for me." Oz interrupted. "I understand sir, but I'm still uncomfortable about this, but I trust your decision. I've known you for long enough to at least do that." Oz smiled. "thanks mate, now let's get to work on getting the fuck outta here." He looked at his OPSAT (it's from Splinter Cell, but who cares) "The nearest major location is...Moscow. Shit. I take back what i said, he's better off in there than going through Ruskie HQ." He turned towards the pony. "Alright, I'll give it to you straight, we will be heading through the heart of enemy territory, and if we are spotted then we will most likely end up dead, or worse. I'll give you a choice. You can follow us, or head your own way. I can't guarantee your safety either way, but if you come with us, I promise with all of my power that I will get you to safety." The unicorn thought hard for a good half a minute, before stepping forward with a decision. "You saved my life from that awful place, so I feel that I owe you. I will follow you and aid any way I can, and the name is Dawnguard, nice to meet you." He said, extending his hoof for a handshake. "Nice to meet you too. Congratulations Dawnguard, you've just been drafted into the Joint Strike Force, 15th Special Ops Battalion. Welcome to the war soldier." And with that, they headed west, to Moscow. Greetings from Moscow, wish you weren't here****days from Present day 14/10/2024, 2330 hours Leninskiy Prospekt, Moscow Russian Federation "... and so here I am. So you're telling me that you have stuff called modern technology? And don't have magic?" Asked Dawnguard. "Yep, that'd bout be it." Oz replied. Although with all this "modern technology" you'd think we'd be finding ways to save the world rather than to destroy it. Ah well, doesn't really matter right now. What matters is that we have you here and we need to get you state side. Let's test your memory, what's the current situation?" Dawnguard put a hoof to his chin "Let's see, we're currently behind enemy lines, near their home base to be precise, detection would equal capture, torture and/or death. If it were just me I could just use an invisibility spell and waltz out, but since you are the only ones who can properly guarantee my safety, however safe that is, I'd prefer to stick with you." "Not bad, not bad at all. Alright, here's the deal. we've got a lightning extract on the way, quick in and out. but in order to remove suspicion of us already being here, we're going to have to make it look like a snatch and grab. Which means we need a HVT, this guy to be precise." Oz pulled a an image off his OPSAT. "This is Arkadi Novikov, former Rainbow operative. The boys state side want a few words with him, and we're only happy to oblige. A chopper is already en route to our position so we'll need to grab him fast." "What's a HVT?" Dawnguard asked. "A High Value Target, usually used for information or trading." Scully stated. "That's right, we're gonna grab him, then wait for our exfil. Remember, once the bird lands we'll have 30 seconds to get on-board, with or without him or anybody else, so stick together. But first things first, let's go get our HVT. Unfortunately, this won't be easy." "Since when is it ever?" Scully asked sarcastically. The group laughed. "True. We are about 1 kilometer away from the heart of Russian territory, The Kremlin. Unfortunately, our target lives on the street opposite, with a 100 meter walk across the middle of Red Square between the two. We have 3 options, here they are." Oz pulled up a holographic map. "Option 1: We go in through a back entrance, improvised or non, of his house, eliminate his guards and capture him. If it goes right no one will know, however if even one of his guards or himself manage to call for backup it will go to shit." Scully said, pointing out Novikovs house. "Option 2: We wait until he is en route to the Kremlin and grab him there. We can easily eliminate his men since they are so exposed, however once we do we'd have about 1-2 minutes before someone finds the bodies." Oz stated, shifting attention to the middle of the map. "What's the the 3rd?" Coles asked nervously. "Our 3rd option is to attempt to shoot our way through the Kremlin, find him and shoot our way out. Not only do we not have enough ammo for that kind of op it is highly risky and un-recommended by all tacticians." Oz closed the map. "Well, which one?" Everyone pointed towards the house. "Okay then, number one it is. Boombox, prep one or two breaching charges, Iron Sights gear up." Twitch raised an eyebrow. "What about me?" "You get to look after Dawnguard. Last thing I need is him or you getting caught in the crossfire, last time I checked you didn't have much experience with Russians on your record." "Loaded, locked and ready to rock sir." Scully said standing at the door. Boombox stood up and nodded. "Ready sir." "Perfect, let's roll out." The team, minus Twitch headed out towards Novikov's house, checking corners of alleys and being careful not to be seen. Oz told the team to stop about 10 meters from the back door of the target's house, before contacting Twitch. "We're in position, move out to the exfil point, over." "Copy that, moving out". Twitch quickly replied. The team moved up to the back door, before Oz nodded to Coles. Coles hugged the well on one side of the door while Scully took the other, then placed a breaching charge next to the door handle. Oz counted down with his fingers. 3...2...1. The charge went off and the door blew wide open. Leaving Red Square, 2355 hours Bullets ricocheted as the team including Twitch and Dawnguard, made their way through the winding back streets of Moscow, with Novikov in tow and about 2 dozen Russian Military Police and soldiers on their heels. A bullet missed Scully's head by centimeters. "Motherfuck! Who's idea was it to equip bodyguards with frag grenades?" Suddenly the comm channel burst into life. "Sierra this is Vector-25 Bravo, we are approaching the Exfil Zone, you've got a shitstorm behind you buddy." Oz laughed. "Tell me something I don't know mate, just get down and be ready." He tightened his grip on Novikov, who had a black bag over his head. They kept running until they reached a square where their chopper, a V-25 GosHawk was waiting to land. "Be advised, we are taking small arms fire and are requesting that you hurry the fuck up, over." "Yeah yeah, we're getting there. Keep you pants on, jeez!" Scully did a 180 degree turn and nailed a soldier rounding a corner behind them, before sprinting ahead to the landing zone. As the team approached the landing zone, the GosHawk landed and opened it's back door. "Get the hell in here!" One of the soldiers shouted from the ramp. "GO GO GO!" Oz screamed as they boarded. "Dust off, NOW!" "Copy that, we're outta here!" With that, the GosHawk took off, retracted the ramp and flew off. On the ground, a Russian took off his helmet, threw it on the ground, stomped on it and cursed. Coles put his weapon down before sliding down the side of the wall. "That...was tiring. I haven't ran that fast in a LONG time." Oz smiled. "Hah...same here mate." He turned his head to see a soldier was staring at Dawnguard. "Ah, yes, forgot to mention that. Gentlemen, say hello to Dawnguard, Earth's first REAL unicorn." "W-where did you find that?" the soldier asked. "Afraid that's classified mate, sorry." Oz walked up to the cockpit. "How we doin?" The pilot turned and smiled. "We got off without much damage, just a few bullet ricochets. Should reach the fort in a couple of hours, suggest you get some shuteye." "Will do. Okay everyone, feel free to catch some Z's, we'll be in the air for a bit." He pointed at dawnguard and the soldier. "Feel free to get acquainted with one another, clear up any confusion. As for me..." Oz sat down, crossed his legs and went to sleep.
Prologue: Keep it Brief Prologue: Keep it Brief Present day **/**/2024 Undisclosed location "I'm not gonna say it again. Drop your weapon on the ground, now!" Oz shouted. "Do you think that I will do as you say, just because you have superiority? I think not." Colonel Kurochnik said, lifting his gun. "I will do what ever it takes to make sure that you american scum do not gain the upper hand in this war, even if it means destroying the greatest discovery in history!" He aimed his gun. "NO!" Boombox screamed. A single shot was fired. **** days before present day 11/10/2024, 1100 hours Join Strike Force (JSF) Command, the Pentagon Washington D.C, United States of America "...After several successful strikes in European territory, the United States Military finally declared that they had established a strong foothold into Western Europe, with the official unveiling of a permanent US Army base in the city of Copenhagen named Fort Charlie. President Becerra congratulated several officers of the army in the White House earlier today on their success, before making a statement on the war at hand. "The United States Government thanks all who have contributed to the effort of ending this war, but also mourn those who have lost their lives fighting against the-" "Same shit, different day." General Scott Mitchell said, turning off the TV. Scott had seen enough of this war to know how bad it was, and to know that the president's little speech didn't help one bit in terms of getting this war over with. Before all this, he was a Captain of a squad in the 1st battalion 5th special forces group, Delta company. A handpicked elite group of soldiers from all branches of the United States military, better known as Ghost Recon. He had seen action in Mexico, China, Korea and the Pacific Ocean, eventually becoming General of the Joint Strike Force, which was a larger, if less skilled version of the Ghosts. As he sat in his office chair thinking about what would happen next, a call came in on his intercom. "General Mitchell, Captain Hope to see you sir." A desk clerk said. "Thank you Miranda, send him in." Seconds later, the Captain stepped in. "You wanted to see me sir?" Hope asked. "Ah yes. You don't have too much time, so I'll keep it brief. Covert imaging broadcasts and intel from our newly established foothold in Europe brought back some bad news. The Russians have a research facility testing new technology to try and make the Space-Land-Air-Missile-Shield system redundant. I've talked to your commanding officer, Major General Goudie about his, and he's come up with a battle plan. You're going to take a team and infiltrate that facility, while the 8th Assault Battalion creates a distraction when we hit against the Euro's in Rozenburg. Here's your mission details, you can go over them later." "Yes sir." "Now if that's all, I'm scheduled to be in the War Room. Good luck Captain." Scott said before leaving the room. JSF Field Intelligence Authorized Personnel Only Unit Deployment are as follows: In Field: JSF 15th Special Ops Battalion, Hitman Platoon, Sierra Squad On standby: 13th Airborne Battalion Location of Deployment: Grid Coordinates:67.690686,55.61554, Russian Federation Date of Deployment: 12/10/2024 JSF 15th Special Ops Battalion, Hitman Platoon, Sierra Squad Squad Lead Name: John Hope Callsign: "Oz" Rank: Captain Former Military Division: US Rangers, Rainbow Equipment: M4A1, Colt M1911, M67 Frag Grenades, Flashbangs, Combat Knife Notable skills/issues: Excellent team leading tactics, as well as hostage negotiation and snatch and grab skills. Has a "no man gets left behind" policy, and refuses to leave any comrade behind, dead or alive. Support Name: Craig Manning Callsign: "Twitch" Rank: Sergeant Former Military Division: US Army Equipment: M249 SAW, M9 Baretta, M67 Frag Grenades, Flashbangs, Combat Knife Notable Skills: Has an exceptional reaction time, and can multi-task almost anything. Unfortunately has issues on being left alone, and will nearly always try to stay with someone else. Demolitions Name Ryan Coles Callsign: "Boombox" Rank: Corporal Former Military Division: US Army, US Marines Equipment: UMP45 SMG, M9 Baretta, M67 Frag Grenades, C4 Explosive Charges, KA-BAR Knife Notable skills/issues: Is skilled in multiple European languages, but has a light but serious heart condition, which is medicated. Sniper Name: Tom Scully Callsign: "Iron Sights" Rank: Staff Sergeant Former Military Division: Navy SEALs, Ghost Recon Equipment: M21 EBR, USP .45, M67 Frag Grenades, Flashbangs, Karambit Knife Notable skills/issues: Speaks fluent Russian, and can go solo when needed for almost any situation. Has issues with orders that he believes to be a danger or a hazard to the mission or the team. Available Resources: Infantry Support: GRANTED(But only if necessary) Close Air Support: GRANTED(But only if necessary) Cavalry Support: DENIED Force Recon: DENIED WMDS: DENIED, COMMANDING OFFICER AUTHORIZATION ONLY NOTE//FROM JSF Command//: Major General Goudie has deemed this mission MUST be kept in stealth.The Russians cannot be allowed to know that we are heading for their front doorstep yet. Keep to suppressed weapons for as long as possible. If things go south, supersonic fighters for Close Air support and Infantry Support from the 13th Airborne Battaion will be on station to help secure the facility or for extraction. Naryan-Mar Airport and Surrounding Area A decently Isolated area, the area around the facility is perfect to hide any kind of base, as snowstorms cover the area deeply with snow, covering them from general sight. The snowstorms also hinder satellite imagery, making monitoring ops in that area difficult. There are many cliffs around the facility, making it both an opportunity and a hazard. HALO jump is the only option we have for insertion as it is deep in Russian territory, the jump itself will have to be timed due to the snowstorms, for obvious reasons. Don't worry though, you'll be assisted with the insertion by the 13th Airborne Battalion, and they know what they're doing. Naryan-Mar Airport is an airport located 3 km east of Naryan-Mar. It is a mixed civilian-military field, and is the only major facility airfield on the Barents Sea coast between Arkhangelsk and Novaya. This place houses the reinforcements that are on standby for the facility, should the base's invasion alarm be triggered. Research Facility A CIA operative infiltrated the facility back 2 weeks ago, which gives us some good intel about the place. However, during that raid, he was compromised. Satellite imaging shows that they have taken him prisoner, attempting to find out what he knows. We don't know if the operative is still alive, but because of his capture, the base has been put on alert, so be careful when infiltrating. Facility Personnel The troops in this facility are members of the Spetznaz Guard Brigade, 56th Airborne Battalion, under the command of Colonel Aleksander Kurochnik, who may or may not be on site. The 56th Airborne Battalion holds a fierce reputation as one of the best special forces in the world due to the very harsh standards of their training, making them ideal for guarding a facility in those kinds of conditions. They're motto is 'effective intimidation', and have shown this throughout their battles in the war. satellite imaging shows no signs of heavy armor or air cavalry, but a large amount of unarmed troop transports are present, indicating that they may be moving something. Physical security inside the facility itself is minimal, with most of the personnel inside being researchers and scientists. Estimates put the full number of personnel on site to be at 100, with emergency reinforcements on standby 24/7. Aleksander Kurochnik NO FILES FOUND Mission Objectives Primary Objective: Find and destroy Anti-SLAMS technology, and any other experiments that may be present Secondary Objectives: Secure Russian scientists for interrogation of intel Secure and extract CIA Operative if alive (Call-sign:LANGLEY, Challenge: FULL HOUSE, Countersign: TWO-PAIR) Eliminate Colonel Aleksander Kurochnik (If on site, this objective is PRIORITY 1, Anti-SLAMS tech is PRIORITY 0) NOTE//FROM GEN. SCOTT MITCHELL//: If the Ruskies manage to get that technology working, then they can unleash more nuclear devastation on the world, and we can't let that happen. A majority vote was made among commanders in the Pentagon to destroy the equipment rather than to keep it, rather let no one have it than someone, am I right? **** days before present day 12/10/2024, 0950 hours Fort Charlie AFB Copenhagen, Denmark Oz stepped out onto the tarmac, gear in hand, the warms morning sun reflecting off his armor. He walked up to the rest of his squad, before giving them a salute. "Good to see you all could make it, nice to see ya Scully." Oz said, shaking his hand. "Good to see you too sir. This here's the new guy, I'll let him introduce himself." Oz extended his hand, receiving a firm handshake. "Sergeant Craig Manning, AKA Twitch. Nice to be here sir." "Likewise. You new in the Platoon?" Oz asked. "Kinda, I was drafted about a month ago. Got the best score in 'The Pit' and in the rifle range, also have a distinction for serving here in Copenhagen." "Well, nice to see you have some action already under your belt, but just a warning; things are going to get much tougher from here on out, got it?" Twitch nodded, before picking up Oz's gear off the ground. "Right let's get on board, Those Russians aren't going to kill themselves now are they?" 2 weeks earlier Royal Gardens Canterlot, Equestria As the sun settled over the hills, Dawnguard stopped and smelt the cool breeze. It had the distinct smell of roses, with a hint of lavender. As he was about to continue his patrol, a bright blue portal appeared behind him. He turned around, becoming curious as to what it could be. Dawnguard looked around, trying to see if anypony was playing a trick on him. Finding the garden empy of all but himself. He cautiously approached the portal, when suddenly he found himself being sucked into it. Trying with all his might, he tried to escape the portal's grip, with no success. He became enveloped in the portal, before being dragged off into another universe. The portal then dissipated, leaving no trace. Seconds later, Princess Celestia trotted into the gardens with a smile on her face, completely unaware of what had just happened. Dawnguard re-appeared a laboratory of sorts, dazed. After gaining some composure, he looked around, and saw a person in a lab coat, staring at him. Seconds later, a group of people with guns burst in shouting at the man in the coat in a language he couldn't understand. One of the men dressed in a uniform looked at him before pointing at him then shouting at the man again. They hit the man and dragged him off, before grabbing Dawnguard. He kicked and threw himself all over the place, trying to break their grip. Eventually they reached come jail cells, of which the man in the lab coat had already been thrown into. They dragged Dawnguard to the end of the cell block and knocked him out, before throwing him in a cell. The one in the uniform stayed behind and muttered "ты что, странное существо?", before heading off with the rest of the group.
Chapter 1: Snowblind**** days before present day 12/10/2024, 1838 hours Grid Coordinates: 67.690686,55.61554 Russian Federation "...Sierra's at the north perimeter, over." Oz said, fiddling with his earpiece. "Copy Sierra, Archangel acknowledges. Be advised, snowstorm is starting, we will have no contact with you for a period of time. We will contact you when the storm passes, over." "Roger that, satellite imaging pick up anything suspicious over?" "Negative, signs show all clear. Get in there, destroy the equipment, then get out, and we'll extract you at primary extraction ASAP. Archangel out." "All right, let's move." Oz said, before motioning the squad to follow him. "Man, why does it have to be so fucking cold? I haven't been in weather like this since winter, in 2019!" Boombox said, shivering. "Cause it's fucking Russia Coles, what did you expect? A nice warm tropical holiday in the Bahamas? Suck it up, I mean really." Scully retorted in a mocking tone. "Hey, lock it up Sierra! we're going in, stick to suppressed weapons and use call-signs at all times. Hooah?"Oz interjected. "Hooah." "Hooah." "Hooah." "Alright, lets move out." The team slowly started to make their way across the snow covered plain, their sight hindered by the impending snowstorm. "Alright, we should be getting close to the facility. Activate you're heartbeat sensors, we'll need 'em to find anybody out here." Oz said. "Hey, aren't heartbeat sensors meant for special ops douchebags?' Twitch asked. "Man, we ARE special ops douchebags." Boombox replied. "Oh." Twitch's statement earned a chuckle from the rest of the team. As they made their way closer to the facilty, Oz raised a closed fist, signalling them to stop. "What is it, what do you see?" Iron Sights asked. "Four contacts, fifty meters to our front. Move up and neutralize." "Roger that, moving up." Scully and Coles moved up silently behind the unaware guards. Coles pulled out his suppressed M9 and KA-BAR knife, while Scully pulled out a silent USP.45 and a Karambit knife. They looked at each other before Scully made a signal with his hands, counting down from 3,2,1. The two both grabbed a guard simultaneously, shooting the other guards that had started to turn around, before slicing the remaining guard's necks. "All clear." "All right, let's get moving." The squad continued to move through th snowstorm until they finally reached the inner perimeter of the facility. The inner perimeter consisted of 2 and a half meter concrete walls, with pillboxes on either side of the main entrance. Oz looked around, finding no immediate solution. "Well it looks like the front gate's a no go." "Yeah, and I don't see any side entrances. So, who feels like an up-and-over?" Scully asked. "Looks like it, I just hope that my grip is good." Coles replied. "Mate, the way you've been gripping your rifle you should be more concerned about the wall breaking off." Oz joked. "Yeah yeah, whatever. Just get up against the wall will you?" "On it." Oz squatted up against the wall, cupping his hands together. Coles ran towards him, putting his foot on Oz's hands, before Oz flung him upwards. Coles grabbed the wall and pulled himself up, before turning around and extending his hand for Scully. Scully grabbed cole's hand before grabbing the wall and vaulting over it. After the rest of the squad made it over, they checked that their weapons were still in good condition after being in the cold for so long. "All right, we're clear. Iron Sights, head up that tower and cover for us with your thermal, the rest of you on me." The squad nodded and headed their separate ways. Scully climbed up a ladder that went to a nearby tower, before dispatching the guard on top and throwing his lifeless body over the railing. He then proceeded to pull out his silenced M-200 sniper rifle and attached it with a bi-pod to the railing. "I'm in position, forward area clear." "Copy that, moving up." Oz noded towards the rest of the group, and they continued forward. There was a minute of silence across the comm channel before Scully blasted something in Oz's ear. "Stop, stop!" Oz raised a fist, signalling them to do the same. "Enemy troop transport inbound, 20 meters to your right. stop and drop till it passes." The three men quickly layed down on the cold snow, before waiting for the truck to pass. "Alright, you're clear. I'm moving up to join you now, over." "Copy that." Oz replied. Scully caught up with the rest of the team as they headed to a locked door. Oz pulled out a device and activated it, and within seconds the door was unlocked. They continued inside, avoiding patrols and scientists when they suddenly came across a large room with a lot of large and strange devices, with a particularly big one in the center. "What do you reckon this is?" "No idea, looks like a portal of sorts." Twitch said, investigating. He looked at the device all around, the only thing of significance was an engraving on the side: Harvey was here, 2020. "Let me guess, we gotta blow it up?" "Eeyup, and that'll be YOUR job, Boombox." Oz replied. Boombox nodded and pulled out a couple of C4 charges. They kept going through the rooms of experiments until they ended up back where they started. "Dammit, doesn't look like it's here." "Do you even know what it looks like?" Twtich asked. "...No..." "Well how about that?" he said pointing to a secure room which they had somehow missed beforehand. The team then proceeded into the room, only to find it was empty. "Well, where is it?" Oz asked. Scully started pacing. "Wait, those troop transports...they must be moving it out somewhere!" He said. "Good thinking, let's have a once over of the rest of the place then get out of here." A minute later the team was on the move again, this time stopping from the smell of rotting flesh. "Gah, you smell that shit?" "Yeah, probably dead flesh, most likely human." Scully noted. They followed the smell until they found the prisoner cells, and what was left of their CIA agent, which resulted in the upheaval of Twitch's lunch. "Well, looks like he's not going anywhere." "Nope, definitely not. Let's keep looking through the cells, might find a POW or two." Boombox said. Oz nodded and they continued. They quickly stopped however when they heard the distinct sound of crying. Following the sound, they stumbled upon something that none of them had seen before. Right in front of them, was a pale purple colored unicorn, wearing what looked to be steel armor and a sad look on its face. "Sweet Jesus what in god's name do we have here?" Boombox's voice caught the pony's attention, to which it ran straight up to the cell bars. "Please, let me out of here!" It yelled. The team jumped back slightly in repsonse, before Oz slowly approached the cell. "You-you're not one of them, are you?" "No, we're not. If you promise not to cause any trouble and cooperate, we'll let you out, okay?" The pony nodded. "Alright then, Boombox get that door open. First thing's first, if you see or need anything, I'm Oz, that's Boombox, he's Iron Sights and that's Twitch. Keep volume to a minimal and we should be out of here in about 5 to 10 minutes. Got it? Alright, let's roll out." The group headed out with pony in tow, and were almost outside again when the alarm sounded. "Shit, that's not good. Iron Sights, what are they saying?" "Let me see... All units to your stations, intruders are in the base. Units 2-4 investigate the north eastern wall." "Well, there goes our up and over idea, time to improvise. But first, a distraction. Boombox, blow the C4." "Ok hose, here goes..." A single click was heard. Moments later a fireball erupted from one of the walls. Shouting followed by panic and PA alerts gave the team a very short window of opportunity. As they headed outside of the base's perimeter, Scully walked up to Oz. "Sir, I'm not sure it's a good idea to bring this...thing along. We don't know what it is, where it came from, or what it can do! For all we know it could be some kind of Russian or Euro-" "That's enough, stand down. Listen, if this thing was made by the Russians they would have made it a little more compliant to them, wouldn't you think? And if it is from another world, wouldn't you think that it'd be a good idea to start off on the right foot? I know I'm taking a gamble on this, but I'm confident about one thing: he'll be a lot happier out here than in there, and that'll be good enough for me." Oz interrupted. "I understand sir, but I'm still uncomfortable about this, but I trust your decision. I've known you for long enough to at least do that." Oz smiled. "thanks mate, now let's get to work on getting the fuck outta here." He looked at his OPSAT (it's from Splinter Cell, but who cares) "The nearest major location is...Moscow. Shit. I take back what i said, he's better off in there than going through Ruskie HQ." He turned towards the pony. "Alright, I'll give it to you straight, we will be heading through the heart of enemy territory, and if we are spotted then we will most likely end up dead, or worse. I'll give you a choice. You can follow us, or head your own way. I can't guarantee your safety either way, but if you come with us, I promise with all of my power that I will get you to safety." The unicorn thought hard for a good half a minute, before stepping forward with a decision. "You saved my life from that awful place, so I feel that I owe you. I will follow you and aid any way I can, and the name is Dawnguard, nice to meet you." He said, extending his hoof for a handshake. "Nice to meet you too. Congratulations Dawnguard, you've just been drafted into the Joint Strike Force, 15th Special Ops Battalion. Welcome to the war soldier." And with that, they headed west, to Moscow.
Greetings from Moscow, wish you weren't here****days from Present day 14/10/2024, 2330 hours Leninskiy Prospekt, Moscow Russian Federation "... and so here I am. So you're telling me that you have stuff called modern technology? And don't have magic?" Asked Dawnguard. "Yep, that'd bout be it." Oz replied. Although with all this "modern technology" you'd think we'd be finding ways to save the world rather than to destroy it. Ah well, doesn't really matter right now. What matters is that we have you here and we need to get you state side. Let's test your memory, what's the current situation?" Dawnguard put a hoof to his chin "Let's see, we're currently behind enemy lines, near their home base to be precise, detection would equal capture, torture and/or death. If it were just me I could just use an invisibility spell and waltz out, but since you are the only ones who can properly guarantee my safety, however safe that is, I'd prefer to stick with you." "Not bad, not bad at all. Alright, here's the deal. we've got a lightning extract on the way, quick in and out. but in order to remove suspicion of us already being here, we're going to have to make it look like a snatch and grab. Which means we need a HVT, this guy to be precise." Oz pulled a an image off his OPSAT. "This is Arkadi Novikov, former Rainbow operative. The boys state side want a few words with him, and we're only happy to oblige. A chopper is already en route to our position so we'll need to grab him fast." "What's a HVT?" Dawnguard asked. "A High Value Target, usually used for information or trading." Scully stated. "That's right, we're gonna grab him, then wait for our exfil. Remember, once the bird lands we'll have 30 seconds to get on-board, with or without him or anybody else, so stick together. But first things first, let's go get our HVT. Unfortunately, this won't be easy." "Since when is it ever?" Scully asked sarcastically. The group laughed. "True. We are about 1 kilometer away from the heart of Russian territory, The Kremlin. Unfortunately, our target lives on the street opposite, with a 100 meter walk across the middle of Red Square between the two. We have 3 options, here they are." Oz pulled up a holographic map. "Option 1: We go in through a back entrance, improvised or non, of his house, eliminate his guards and capture him. If it goes right no one will know, however if even one of his guards or himself manage to call for backup it will go to shit." Scully said, pointing out Novikovs house. "Option 2: We wait until he is en route to the Kremlin and grab him there. We can easily eliminate his men since they are so exposed, however once we do we'd have about 1-2 minutes before someone finds the bodies." Oz stated, shifting attention to the middle of the map. "What's the the 3rd?" Coles asked nervously. "Our 3rd option is to attempt to shoot our way through the Kremlin, find him and shoot our way out. Not only do we not have enough ammo for that kind of op it is highly risky and un-recommended by all tacticians." Oz closed the map. "Well, which one?" Everyone pointed towards the house. "Okay then, number one it is. Boombox, prep one or two breaching charges, Iron Sights gear up." Twitch raised an eyebrow. "What about me?" "You get to look after Dawnguard. Last thing I need is him or you getting caught in the crossfire, last time I checked you didn't have much experience with Russians on your record." "Loaded, locked and ready to rock sir." Scully said standing at the door. Boombox stood up and nodded. "Ready sir." "Perfect, let's roll out." The team, minus Twitch headed out towards Novikov's house, checking corners of alleys and being careful not to be seen. Oz told the team to stop about 10 meters from the back door of the target's house, before contacting Twitch. "We're in position, move out to the exfil point, over." "Copy that, moving out". Twitch quickly replied. The team moved up to the back door, before Oz nodded to Coles. Coles hugged the well on one side of the door while Scully took the other, then placed a breaching charge next to the door handle. Oz counted down with his fingers. 3...2...1. The charge went off and the door blew wide open. Leaving Red Square, 2355 hours Bullets ricocheted as the team including Twitch and Dawnguard, made their way through the winding back streets of Moscow, with Novikov in tow and about 2 dozen Russian Military Police and soldiers on their heels. A bullet missed Scully's head by centimeters. "Motherfuck! Who's idea was it to equip bodyguards with frag grenades?" Suddenly the comm channel burst into life. "Sierra this is Vector-25 Bravo, we are approaching the Exfil Zone, you've got a shitstorm behind you buddy." Oz laughed. "Tell me something I don't know mate, just get down and be ready." He tightened his grip on Novikov, who had a black bag over his head. They kept running until they reached a square where their chopper, a V-25 GosHawk was waiting to land. "Be advised, we are taking small arms fire and are requesting that you hurry the fuck up, over." "Yeah yeah, we're getting there. Keep you pants on, jeez!" Scully did a 180 degree turn and nailed a soldier rounding a corner behind them, before sprinting ahead to the landing zone. As the team approached the landing zone, the GosHawk landed and opened it's back door. "Get the hell in here!" One of the soldiers shouted from the ramp. "GO GO GO!" Oz screamed as they boarded. "Dust off, NOW!" "Copy that, we're outta here!" With that, the GosHawk took off, retracted the ramp and flew off. On the ground, a Russian took off his helmet, threw it on the ground, stomped on it and cursed. Coles put his weapon down before sliding down the side of the wall. "That...was tiring. I haven't ran that fast in a LONG time." Oz smiled. "Hah...same here mate." He turned his head to see a soldier was staring at Dawnguard. "Ah, yes, forgot to mention that. Gentlemen, say hello to Dawnguard, Earth's first REAL unicorn." "W-where did you find that?" the soldier asked. "Afraid that's classified mate, sorry." Oz walked up to the cockpit. "How we doin?" The pilot turned and smiled. "We got off without much damage, just a few bullet ricochets. Should reach the fort in a couple of hours, suggest you get some shuteye." "Will do. Okay everyone, feel free to catch some Z's, we'll be in the air for a bit." He pointed at dawnguard and the soldier. "Feel free to get acquainted with one another, clear up any confusion. As for me..." Oz sat down, crossed his legs and went to sleep.
