𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐛 𝐡𝐞𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐩 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐀𝐉 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎𝐍'𝐒 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐚 . there is already , astonishingly , coverage leaked to the media , and international news stations are abuzz with the sensationalized , amorphous story with depictions of fire , bloodshed , and abound with buzzwords — terrorist cell . war criminal . senseless . there’s a statement put out by christopher winthrop , the american political darling denouncing HERON’s violent actions , and jacob heugh’s lack of presence answering for the atrocity that’s been committed , and that is nothing new to heugh . contact lasted for fifteen minutes . three people perished , and eight were injured . he enters site minerva for an immediate briefing ; an investigation is launched after a heated phone call with the u.s. ambassador within the capital , as well as the presidential head of state with whom HERON shares a delicate alliance . what was meant to be a training exercise for the green field ops in a closed training location quickly became a situation their superior quickly lost control over when out of the ruins came from the dark six figures at first glance wielding semi automatic weaponry . an unidentified gunshot rang out , killing one HERON operative . the remaining fifteen , spooked by the gunfire began to spray the figures rushing towards them , alerting a nearby SAJ operative apart of the team surveying the exercise who had witnessed the contact with the alleged hostile SAJ op , and began a chain event of panic and misinformation that lasted within the blink of an eye , resulting in the deaths of one confirmed serbian officer , and a man later confirmed to be miloje stanković , a prominent figurehead for conservationalists and political anarchists . the initial gunshot was not fired by any weapon on the site , and cannot be accounted for , and therefore must have been made somewhere outside of the location . as for the other four , they had been no more than average citizens dressed in the serbian forces gear , mouths sealed by duct tape under their heavy helmets , and their weapons bound to their tied hands . they had rushed towards the sound of the HERON ops , likely hoping to be rescued . despite these facts and at no real fault of HERON’s or of the serbian government , rumors and conspiracies began to spread at startling speed and ferocity , some hailing HERON’s lack of professionalism as deliberate , and the death of miloje a staged assassination , the evidence nothing more than support to back these claims which were automatically , zealously fueled by political microagressions lead by senator winthrop , leaving HERON under the scrutiny , once more , of the EU and the FCC while jacob heugh tries his best to discover who would have orchestrated such a terrible mishap , and why , before he’s called to once again defend HERON and clear it’s name before a another witch hunt erupts from the chaos .
