Chapter Four - Fractured Intel 1, The Message
"Find the location in the message Ghost sent you..."
These few words played over and over in his mind as if they were drawing him, speaking to him in a way that he only knew. This was a direct order and he was going to execute it on Ghost's authority.
The four engines of the Lockheed C-130 roared over the skies of Verdansk, a major city in Kastovia, located in the Caucasus Region boarding the Russian Federation to the north and Georgia to the West. In salute to the bonny blue sky, the now once thriving economy, laid waste to a recumbent serenity, midst the chaos. A former Soviet Republic which became independent after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and post-Cold War, the West and Russia worked together to rebuild the city, only for it to fall to the hands of terrorists.
Once stood, now the abandoned city created a form of poetry from the passing wind. In whistles and sighs, in roars and silence, in war and peace. It was both lyric and song. Soaked in the moment, alongside the rising light had come the most buoyant of birdsong encores. Since 2019, hell in Verdansk appeared in the most poignant of places. Fighting had become a lost cause and mercy no longer an option, when the presence of chemical weapons changed everything. Destined for Urzkistan, the deport of the chemical weapons was stopped by the CIA with help from US Marines only too be stolen by a group of insurgents working for the well known terrorist organisation in the area going by the name Al-Qatala.
Led by Khaled Al-Asad and supplied by Victor Zahhaev, eventually, by the start of 2020, Al-Qatala launched a full-scale assault against Verdansk, bringing it to a standstill, its own military forces became quickly overwhelmed to deal with the impact and declared a state of emergency. Two major fractions, with various military personnel grades and expertise known as Coalition and Allegiance were sent to fight the terror units after the failed Russian attempt to protect Kastovia boarders and repel the invasion. The two groups turned on one another as weaknesses and gaps in the chains of commands were exploited to the point where it was difficult to know whether the comrade at arms was in fact an undercover spy.
Operator AO109C entered a long-term contract with Chimera, a sub fraction of Allegiance where he had already done around two years of active service before problems in Verdansk aroused. Exactly what his call sign stood for Allegiance Operator 109 Chimera.
"Find the location in the message Ghost sent you..."
He felt his stomach turn over has the plane hit a strong wind current that pushed and pulled at the outside of the turboprop military transporter. The C-130 used unprepared runways for take-offs and landing so carrying personnel, paratroopers and cargo through many environmental stresses was not going to slow it down. The plane protested against the wind, but the noises and the movement usually would not make any difference to him. He was slowly coming around from being knocked out.
"What if he doesn't wake up?"
"He'll have a hard landing then..."
"You say that about everyone. This man is important... You heard what they said, make sure he hits the ground running not dead."
He was not sure how long he had been unconscious for before getting to this moment. He was disorientated and blinded back a thunderstorm swarming in his mind. The last thing he remembered was fighting for survival and now, he had been loaded onto a back of a C-130 which was already in flight at the standard altitude of twelve thousand feet at least. The craft was heavy, seven thousand gallons of fuel in six integral wing tanks. It needed to reach speeds of around eighty miles per hour on an airfield around 610m long and they were expensive to run. Running this craft to transport only him showed that the people behind the Gulag operations and this shit show in Verdansk were powerful.
Maybe cracking a deal with them would not be such bad idea after all.
"Find the location in the message Ghost sent you..."