Bound by Blood, Forged in Fire

Brotherhood

Qarghah'i District of Laghman Province, Afghanistan

Echo and November Team were called in for a joint reconnaissance mission, under the designation of Taskforce Arbiter, to find out the layout of a GTNE training camp. They had discovered that it mostly consisted of senior radicals with extensive battlefield experience and disgraced Special Operators from the Middle East. The leader was a former Spetsnaz officer, served in both Alpha and Vympel Groups, and went only by the name Mikhail. He had been thrown out of the FSB for insubordination and later joined the GTNE for their plans against Western Nations. Jace, Reese, Bennett, and Rhodes had set overwatch North of the camp, the others set up on the South, East, and West.

They documented the income of troops and supplies, they saw that the group had gotten their hands on stolen U.S. weapons as well as supplies from the U.K. and Australia. The camp was made up of at least thirty to forty insurgents. They were waiting for the suspected arrival of Shabal Babr, one of the remaining original GTNE lieutenants. They had orders to kill him on site, their overwatch positions gave them the best vantage points and kept them concealed. Jace was equipped with an HK417 with a 20-inch barrel.

An entire week since their arrival a convoy of technicals arrived early in the morning, Babr was in the vehicle in the middle, shielding him from the SEALs' line of fire. The range the others had on him wasn't any better, Jace had to wait until Babr entered the northern sector of the camp. Julian followed his target with his scope, relaying his sights to the others. Jace waited as Badr walked into range, he lined up his sights, and with the move of his finger, he let his weapon do the rest. The SEALs watched as their target fall back, becoming nothing more than a shell; the sentries scrambled, trying to find out where the shot came from.

The operators left their post, making their way to the rally point, as they moved in the Blackhawk arrived. They loaded up and sat back as the aircraft took off. Back at the FOB, Jace went to his quarters and picked up his laptop, in less than a minute Ziva's face came onto the screen.

"Hi," said Ziva. "I'm glad to see you are still kicking doors down."

Jace smiled. "Likewise, how's my dad?"

"Still giving Tony and Jimmy nightmares."

Jace gave her a tired smile, she noticed that he had been more mentally exhausted than physically during his deployment. She deduced that it must've fallen in line with reconnaissance than direct action. Jace had been seeing a therapist about his losses as an operator and a family man. They had found no reason to suspend him from active duty and no major issues had been found.

"Deployment's scheduled to end in three weeks," said Jace. "When I get back we could talk, just the two of us."

"I'd like that, I can't wait to see you again."

Julian was excited to see Ziva again, she was one of the few people he could talk to about his life as an operator.

"How's your case?"

"We just closed it, working with Psych-Ops was an experience."

"Yeah, my dad seems to be into Dr. Ryan. I don't think he's been on a breakfast date in a while."

"Ha, called it!"

In the morning the team was called into the briefing room, and there was concerning activity at the training camp. Satellites captured the feed of a six-wheeler coming in, corresponding to the arrival of massive cargo transport. The screen showed a male in heavy restraints, intel confirmed that the prisoner was an American, Dr. Daniel Winston. He was thirty-five and worked for Doctors Without Borders, he had been missing for four weeks after being captured by insurgents. He had been traded amongst Al-Qaeda and the Taliban until he finally landed in the hands of the GTNE.

The video showed that they were going to execute him in 48 hours if the United States did not release the GTNE leaders in federal custody.

Since Echo Team and November Team were the most familiar with the compound so the operation was theirs.

The team went in via helicopter, they inserted 20 miles from the camp, and they rucked their way to the northwest corner of the compound. They checked with ISR, and their point of entry was clear for infiltration. Two members, Miller and Dodd, peeled off to set up overwatch, and the others pushed forward. They reached the entrance, making their way to the center of the building where ISR confirmed the hostage was. They reached their objective, Senior Chief Bennett was the first one in, unfortunately, he was shot by an insurgent with an AK. Jace returned fire, taking down Bennett's attacker and a second one trying to charge at him. Jace saw an unknown figure crawling to a cache of weapons, he wasn't sure if it was an insurgent or if it was Winston trying to get out of harm's way.

Julian jumped on top of him, trying to control him to get a better look at his face. Once he got a good look at his face he saw that it wasn't the doctor. He heard a man shouting in the corner and saw Winston curled up against the corner of the room. Jace eliminated the man he was on top of and made his way to Winston. He shielded the hostage with his body, a militant came at them, Jace took him by the throat pinning him against the wall, still covering the doctor with his body. Reese came around, killing the militant Jace was holding.

The team cleared the room, everyone was accounted for and another SEAL was treating Bennett for his injuries. Jace helped with the transport and treatment as they made their way to the extraction point. Once on the Blackhawk Jace took over treating the Echo 2IC. Once they were back at the FOB, he escorted Winston and Bennett to the Med Bay, handing them off to the doctors.

Jace and the others waited four hours before hearing back, Winston was going to be okay, only had a few bone fractures and bruising. Bennett on the other hand had died from his injuries despite the best efforts to save him.