At an altitude of 10000 meters in the air, way higher than most aircraft in this era are capable of, a flight of four Fi-22 Ospreys is en route deep into the heart of Spanish air space. Off to the side of the Ospreys, barely visible thanks to the blueish glow of their engines, is a squadron of Bf-4 Phantoms. There is supposed to be one more squadron, but they're currently flying beyond visual range, forming a secondary perimeter around the flight group.
Inside the troop compartment of an Osprey, six figures wearing state-of-the-are full-body armored suits are meandering about, killing their time by breathing in pure oxygen and bantering.
"Hey, boss," Said Raven-239, Emile, while sharpening his big kukri, causing sparks to hit the deck of the Osprey. "You reckon how many of them will be alive when daybreak?" He asked in a gruff tone with obvious grim humor.
On closer inspection, Emile's armor now sports a Flecktarn camo coating. The man, now a Warrant Officer under the employment of ONI, then checks the blade of his kukri. Satisfied with his work, Emile sheaths the kukri in its scabbard, attached to his right pauldron. After that, he hoists up the S-8G shotgun by his side before loading more 8-gauge shells into his ammo vest. The man then directs his helmet-covered head over to his commander, eager for a response. Even for his commander, the sight of Noble Four's, helmet, etched with a skull on his visor, is unnerving.
Knowing the man's thirst for battle, Commander Raven-259 Carter, Noble One sighs. "Mission objectives are clear, no survivor when we encounter hostilities. As for hostages, we will bring whoever's still alive aboard. Considering that we have four Ospreys, we are expected to bring in around 80 survivors, max."
Carter then stops before adding a caution. "Keep your bloody business to yourself now." Earning a laugh from Emile.
"You're afraid I will scare off the ladies, sir?"
"I am afraid that they will be too scared to even board the evac." Carter added before working on checking his battle rifle. Unlike Emile with his CQC focus, Carter sports a G1SD for the upcoming mission. However, much like Emile and the rest of his team, Flecktarn is the camo scheme for his armor.
A new, booming voice then interjects. "Are we even sure that four Ospreys are enough for extract?" Said the tallest of the team and also the one packing the heaviest heat. His main weapon, a handheld 14.5×114mm heavy machine gun taken from a Leopard MBT, rests by his feet. "For all we know, the hostages may exceed the number." The man, Chief Warrant Officer Raven-052 Jorge, also known as Noble Five, posed a valid concern.
It's why the only female of the group, Lieutenant Commander Catherine and surprisingly used to be part of the Night Witches before her transfer, replies. "Section Two has sent in infiltrators either by hook or by crook prior to this operation. They have confirmed visually the number of prisoners being held here. It is, however, old HUMINT from two days ago. From then till now, we have only been spying on them via air, and during that time frame, six trucks have been going in and out of the compound. Visual inspection denotes that only one truck has been used to transfer four additional prisoners."
Unlike the rest of the Ravens in her team with their specialized armor, now dubbed Mjolnir to avoid confusion, Catherine uses a cheaper production version of the Mjolnir, the Semi-Powered Infiltration armor. Less powerful and less expensive than Mjolnir, the armor is outfitted for the Witches that accompanied the Raven teams. The SPI has the plus that it's extremely suitable for covert ops, being geared toward concealment magic and agility instead of protection and firepower. Catherine can still fly freely thanks to a retractable compartment that allows her to spread out her angel wings. To keep her in the theme as a member of a Raven team, Catherine has the designation Raven-320 and she is Noble Two. Her weapon of choice is a G1SD also.
"So our margin of error is five at the max." Said the last member of the team, Raven-266 Jun, Noble Three.
"That's correct, if nothing else goes wrong, that is." Responded Catherine.
After that answer, the compartment falls silent with only the humming of rotor blades and clacking of weapons reverbing. It's only until Jun, the sniper of the team, pulls out a magazine from beneath his ghillie armor and is just about to load it into his SG-14.5 that Emile speaks up.
"Whatcha got cooking today?" Knowing that the question is directed at himself if the skull is anything to go by, Jun replies with a light smirk, hidden by the helmet with the ghillie covering most of it. "14.5x114mm mana-conducted payload munition. Enough to take the upper half off a Crusader as 1000 meters. Expensive as hell so I am hoping we won't be using it today, well, most of it at least."
Whistling, impressed, Emile then asks. "Between that and my good old grenade launcher, which I don't have at hand, sadly, which will be doing the most damage?"
Jun shrugs at the question. "Well, if you want crowd control then go for that frag launcher of yours. My girl sure as hell would have to pick her targets." Jun then gives Emile a side glance. "Speaking of frag launcher, I can see that you also strapped yourself with 8-gauge explosive shells. Don't point it at something you don't want to destroy, alright?"
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Instead of answering, Emile scoffs while knocking his left fist on his chest plate as a "Trust me" gesture.
Suddenly, their radio comes to life. "We're five mikes out. Prep your luggage, ladies and gents."
Hearing that, Carter springs to his feet. "You hear the man. Check your supplies, we're in this for the long haul." Per his words, the team reassesses their backpacks carrying ration, medical, and munition supplies.
While they're at that Jorge chats a bit with the team. "I think this is the first time ever since training that we work with Blue Team."
Emile chuckles, remembering the few times he got bested by his fellow CQC specialist on Blue Team. "Good times, man. For a team of four, they're damn good."
"They have been competing with us for the position of First Class Ravens for a reason." Jun commented. "As former Storm Troopers, they were menaces on the field. As Ravens, they're Death itself."
"Now that is high praise coming from you, Jun." Catherine remarked.
"One mike out! Opening cargo door!" Announced the pilot over comms.
"Alright people, line up!" Carter stopped the chatter as the Osprey's door opened up, revealing a sea of cloud below, illuminated by sparse moonlight. The sight is breathtaking that even Carter must take a second to appreciate it.
"Pretty, ain't she?" Emile commented in an uncharacteristically soft way.
"Aye, but this ain't no time for sightseeing, unfortunately. Ready up, Nobles!" Carter ordered. The rest of the team tenses up for the upcoming jump.
"10 seconds!" Carter then raises five fingers, counting down when the timer reaches the five seconds mark. "Five! Four! Three! Two! One!" The pilot gives the green light.
"GO! GO! GO!"
Running a few steps before stepping heavily off the ramp, Carter dives forward and falls down below. Following a mere second behind him is the rest of his team while on the Osprey, four members of Blue Team also jump out. Together, the group of nine Ravens sink into the sea of clouds, their HUDs constantly updating their fall velocity and altitude, a minimap is presented to keep them posted on their current location relative to the ground.
Diving beneath the clouds, their shadow cast a curtain of darkness over the two teams. Turning up their night visions, the members that are trailing behind the team leaders lock on to their IR strobes. If any of them stray away from the group due to battering winds, they will be making minimal adjustments to their flight path to rejoin the formation. Less than two minutes later, the diving Ravens reach 900 meters, and unlike normal paratroopers, they aren't packing any chute. Instead, the two teams use a combination of wind magic to slow down their fall. By the time they reach the ten meters mark, they're slow enough that all of them can drop down to the ground silently even with all the gears.
"Noble Team, SITREP." Carter called out through the private channel. From an outsider's perspective, Noble One didn't even say anything.
A couple of seconds later, Catherine checks in. "Noble Two here, all green."
"This is Noble Three, posting up on the high ground. No movement." Jun said while eyeing the terrain with his sniper rifle.
From a nearby bush next to Carter, Emile and Jorge emerge. "Noble Four, at your service."
"This is Noble Five, status nominal." Said Jorge while hefting his HMG with two hands.
Nodding, Carter taps a headpiece on his helmet, switching the channel for a line to High Command. "Overlord, this is Noble One."
"This is Actual, send it." Came the calm voice of the Reich Marshal after a beat.
"Noble Team has made touch down on Spanish soil, no deviation from intended LZ. Condition is green and we're ready to move out, ma'am."
"Copy that, Noble Leader. We're receiving a live feed from your team right now. Smile and wave, won't you?" Said the Marshal with a light tone.
Nevertheless, Carter looks up into the sky, waving his right hand.
"Good, the image quality is crystal clear and we're seeing you like it's daytime on all spectrums. Operation Spaniard Freedom is a go." The Marshal commented before saying. "Blue Team is a kilometer out to your North East and will be taking care of a target of opportunity. Should take around twenty minutes to half an hour. In the meantime, you are to follow through with the plan and move to Waypoint 1. There, you will be waiting for Blue Team before proceeding with the rest of the mission. Are we clear, over?"
"Crystal, Actual. Moving to Waypoint 1 now, over." Soon after, Carter turns to the rest of Noble Team. "You hear the lady, roll out, Nobles."
"Aye. It's a bit sad that we aren't the ones to pick up that target of opportunity, whatever the Hell that is." Emile complained. Carter shakes his head at this while the group march on through the wood with Jun shoring up their flanks.
Catherine then jokes. "What if the target was to scare a bunch of kids? I bet Emile here is like the personification of the Boogey Man for them."
Hearing that, Emile deadpans. "Booh."
"Seriously, you two?" Carter turned around, giving the pair a side glance. On their part, they just shrug. "It's like I'm leading a bunch of kids all of a sudden."
"Yeah, but they're your kids." Jorge added with a chuckle.
"Aww... Papa Bear is looking out for us." Emile jested with the rest of the team giggling along at the expense of Noble Leader.
Opting to not comment but only sighing away, Carter soldiers on the nighttime path. The rest of the trek is like that, a banter here and there to kill the monotonous walk until they reach Waypoint 1. It's there that they set up an overwatch position to wait for Blue Team. Of course, any discussion they make at the time is muted from public scrutiny. To outsiders, they're no different than unfeeling machines with their armor on. If only they knew that beneath the helmets is a group discussing what is better, lasagna or pasta for breakfast.