IRON PHANTOM
(C-790 stealth strategic cargo plane, "Sweden", October 2132)
A Draco operator stood up from her seat in the cargo plane, turning to her fellow operators, or, as they like to call each other, siblings.
"Alright, here's a repeat of our objective," she said, looking at the holographic projection of the map below. "This airport is a mere 8km west to the enemy capital, our objective is to control the airport, so that we can land a light combined arms brigade there and take control of the capital, while the remaining forces of enter from the "Finnish" border. Speed is key. This aircraft is posing as a civilian aircraft," said Artemis 1 "Aya".
"The enemy won't know we are coming. But that's not to say they are not prepared, the airport is flanked by a 200 men strong force, and they are equipped with light anti-armour weapons. After we HALO jump in, we will guide tactical missiles fired from our staging area in the New Baltic Union Area (NBUA) to destroy them. The moment missiles are live, the remaining strike forces consisting of the 45th Airborne brigade and the Assault Pathfinders 3rd Company will insert via helicopters and together, we will seize the airport and clear the way for heavy cargo planes to land, delivering 3 light combined arms brigades."
"Got it, Big Sis," replied Artemis 8 "Walter", his ghostly appearance will suggest that he is an Angel subspecies. He is their communications specialist. They all regard the leader of Squad Artemis to be like a sister figure of sorts, after all, she is the oldest.
Very soon, the words that have waited for the entire night entered their headsets:
"Operation Iron Phantom is a go."
Soon, the jump lights in the cabin turned to green. All of the 10 operators of Squad Artemis stood up, checking the oxygen levels in their jump suits. As they are jumping out at an altitude of 10,700m, there is no breathable air around them, hence making the carrying of oxygen necessary.
HALO jumping is a parachuting technique in which operators jump from a high altitude and open parachutes at a low altitude. Doing so would allow them to sneak past radar detection in principle, allowing for stealthy insertions.
The jump ramp open, and the 10 of them jumped out in the pitch-black darkness of the night, heading for their objective.
They landed at their staging area, 800m away from airport. Artemis 5 "Cameron" set up her MRAD sniper rifle, observing the military base adjacent to the airport, looking the activities of the soldiers stationed there and cross-checking it against the intel they have received prior to the mission. The time is in the early morning, all she can see are sentries taking guard at the watchtowers. With nothing out of place, the Rein operator turned to her observer, Artemis 4 "Meari". She is of the Inari subspecies, evident by her cat ears and other feline features. Meari too, is observing the enemy activity.
"All clear here," she said.
"Same here," replied Meari.
"Wait," she said, looking into the scope of her SR-25 DMR, seeing a column of mobile surface to air missiles (SAM) batteries approaching the base in the distance. She frowned, knowing that these weapons do not belong to the unit stationed near the airport. "We have movement, mobile SAM batteries approaching. Those weren't in the original briefing."
Aya's pulse quickened. "Walter, relay to Command. Reinforcements inbound. We plan to engage them, over."
Walter immediately transmitted the data. The response was swift.
"Artemis 1, stand down. Your orders are to guide ballistic missile strikes of the base, and confirm target destruction. You are not to engage with any hostile troops until the helicopters arrive except to prevent exposing yourselves, over."
Aya gritted her teeth. "Negative. Mobile SAMs are small, hard targets. If we let them into the base, we risk missing some. Even one intact SAM could turn our air insertion into a slaughterhouse, over."
Command soon replied back, this time in a sterner tone. "Squad Artemis, follow your orders. You opening fire will jeopardise the suddenness of the operation—"
An annoyed Aya turned off her radio, she is fed up by the concerns of her superiors. To herself and her siblings, they all see it as a distrust of their capabilities, something which they feel humiliated by.
After all, they are regarded to be mankind's finest. They had done feats that are considered legendary for the common human and Sellardraxian folks, and yet, they are still humble enough to listen to the command of ordinary people, which to them, is already a sign of respect. Angered and frustrated, Aya decided to do things their way, wanting to one-up their superiors for daring to underestimate them.
"Nanami, go as we planned, give them the boom," she said into her radio.
"You know how much I love this, Big Sis," said Artemis 3 "Nanami", a Lita subspecies coquettishly as she looked at what she considers to be a piece of art: the IED she had made to blow the lead vehicle into a pile of smoking garbage in the blink of an eye. Next to her is Artemis 6 "Liu Zhong" and Artemis 13 "Xiao Yue", both of the Lin subspecies, aiming their guns at the convoy.
"Big Sis, I think we should wait for command's orders before we proceed," said Liu Zhong, having second thoughts on the tactical viability of this decision.
"You worry too much, Big Bro," assured Nanami with a smile, her voice dripping with mock sweetness. Being the oldest male member of Squad Artemis, Liu Zhong is regarded to be an older brother figure.
She let out a soft laugh, her flirtation laced with a dangerous edge. "Honestly, Liu Zhong, if you're so nervous, you should just let me handle all the fun stuff. You can just stand there and look cool while I steal the show."
Xiao Yue snickered under her breath, glancing at Liu Zhong, whose ears were turning slightly red.
"Oh, my fingers are itching!" exclaimed Nanami, holding the detonator.
The lead vehicle in the convoy soon appeared, and with the press of a button, it is enveloped in a pile of smoke.
At the rear of the convoy, Cameron and Meari sniped the drivers of the 2 rear trucks, rendering them immobile. All 3 strikes happened at the same time, so in sync as if they are all parts of a delicate mechanical clock.
The moment the convoy is rendered immobile they opened fire. Bullets, rifle grenades, suicide drones and rockets rained down on the convoy of SAM batteries below, quickly taking them out.
Artemis 11 "Maia", an Inari subspecies, looked through the ELCAN Spectre optic on her KAC AMG machine gun, looking at the smoking bodies in her reticle.
"Too easy," she grinned.
Just then, few consecutive low explosions are heard. The Squad Artemis operators turned around.
To their shock, the enemy had destroyed the runway, intending to use scorched earth to prevent them from reaching making use of the airport to land troops. This means, that their objective has failed.
(AR training pods, UNSSD Tokyo Base, October 2132)
Dr Sheldon Allen excitedly walked into the room.
"I see that you all have ended the session? How was it? Is it to your lik—" he stopped, seeing the solemn expressions of the Squad Artemis operators in the room, and a furious Lieutenant Colonel Richard Williams, the UNSSD Tier 1 operator in charge of overseeing this new training infrastructure. Around them are other UNSSD SOC personnel participating in the simulation.
Seeing Dr Allen being stunned and at a loss, Lieutenant Colonel Zhou Xiao Tian, Richard's fellow operator, smiled, assuring Dr Allen that it was a good demonstration, and brought him outside to discuss further implementation of the project and to suggest improvements.
Once the 2 stepped out, Richard exploded at Aya. His 1.9m tall height looming over the 1.73m tall girl.
"WHAT THE F*** WERE YOU ALL THINKING?! BLATANT DISREGARD OF ORDERS TO FULFILL YOUR OWN F***ING HERO FANTASIES? IS THIS HOW YOU LEAD YOUR UNIT, CAPTAIN?" he snapped.
"Sir, we—" said Maia.
"AM I TALKING TO YOU W*NKER?!" snapped Richard, angrily reprimanding her.
"No discipline and no sense of cooperation! I don't care if you are the best of the best! You are no better than simpletons with guns and magic!"
Maia pursed her lips, keeping it shut.
Richard then turned to the other UNSSD SOC operators.
"Comrades!" he said. "As the Tier 1 operators of the UNSSD, are we mankind's finest? Are we the tip of the sword of mankind?"
"Sir yes sir!" replied the other operators in unison.
"AND WE NEED EVERYONE'S EFFORTS TO DO SO, RIGHT?" he continued.
"YES!" yelled the other operators.
Richard then turned to the Squad Artemis members, raising his finger at them accusingly.
"But these jokers don't think so! They think their judgement is the best! They think they are superheroes that will save the day! Ordinary folks like us are inferior to them! Because they are "bred for war"."
A few snickers erupted from the crowd.
"What do you all suggest we do?" asked Richard.
"Punish them!" yelled a voice in the crowd, and many soon concurred.
Aya bit her lips, trying not to let her tears of shame and anger fall. The rest of her "siblings" are mostly the same, with the exception of Walter, whose face remained in a half-smile, and another one of them:
A cough stopped the crowd's chattering.
Richard turned, looking at a hooded figure in a corner of the room, distant from the rest of her "siblings". She is more than 2m tall, looking at Richard with one of her purple eyes. Her 2 pairs of dragon horns are visible underneath her hood. Unlike other Dracos however, her skin is not one similar to human tones, instead, it has a slight orange tint to it.
Seeing Artemis 100 "Mistral" sent chills down Richard's spine. Despite being colleagues for almost 5 years, this particular member of Squad Artemis always gave him bad vibes, the aura giving off from her is one of mystery, and for someone whose speciality is in intelligence gathering, the incomprehensible unknown always made him uneasy.
Just then, Xiao Tian returned. Seeing the tense atmosphere in the room, he pulled Richard aside.
"This is now an issue of morale," he said. "Let me handle this."
Richard shrugged. "Don't go easy on them, whatever consequences there are I will bear with you."
Xiao Tian chuckled. He then turned to the crowd.
"While everyone is understandably angry over the whole debacle, I have a question to pose: why do you think they did it? Surely, it's not out of simple stupidity, right? I mean as you all have mentioned, we are supposedly elites."
Murmurs erupted from the crowd as the other operators discussed the situation, trying to make sense of Xiao Tian's point. He then turned to Aya, bending down slightly, looking at her in the eye level.
"Perhaps, you would like to enlighten us on your decision?" he asked.
"I wasn't confident missiles alone could neutralize the SAMs," she admitted. "I didn't want my comrades flying into a death trap."
Xiao Tian then turned to the crowd, asking if Squad Artemis did it out of care for them, which they responded with a united "Yes".
Xiao Tian nodded. "And they did destroy those batteries efficiently and effectively, but doing so exposed our objective. As the Tier 1 operators of the UNSSD SOC, we were all encouraged to exercise flexibility in pursuit of our tactical objectives. This often means that each and every one of us, would need to make decisions that will affect the outcome of the battle."
"But we are not fighting in our individual sections, we are fighting as part of a bigger group, with a clear mission objective in mind. So, while your decision made sense when you think from the level of Squad Artemis, it does not make sense from a broader tactical perspective and given how the mission requires stealth," said Xiao Tian.
"Hence, I won't say that Squad Artemis committed a "deadly sin". They acted out of good intentions and out of care for their comrades – for you! But it wasn't a sound decision. Let today's incident be a lesson for all of us. Always think of the broader picture. Alright, you are dismissed."
With that, everyone left the room. Xiao Tian slipped Aya a tissue, while asking the Squad Artemis members to stay behind to draw lots.
"You know the drill, 3 of you are needed for next year's Tier 1 selection," smiled Xiao Tian.
"Lucky Vasily and Freddie," whined Artemis 12 "Electra", an Avis subspecies. "One is off to Hokkaido, while the other is at a sniper competition in Brazil."