The next few days in Germany were slow. I've given my team the time off so we could all reset and prepare for what is about to come. My arm hurt and I've tried not to move it to much so it will heal well. While we were still in Germany I did have the team get all of there gear ready to go and packed up. My gut was telling me that we would be on the move sooner then later.

During this off time, I have been busy working. Every day I've been in intelligence briefings with Major Collins and Morgan. Together with Major Roman and Ryan, we have been slowly trying to make a battle plan. Latest intelligence has shown that Russia has a 40-mile-long convoy assembled and ready to move towards Kyiv. Then there are reports that Russia has sent troops up north to scout out Chernobyl.

As we were coming up on being a week removed from operation Black Spear, we got the official order to move out to Poland. Rzeszow Military Base will be our new home for the time being. Since the team was already mostly packed up when the order came I was happy that we didn't have to rush to get everything done. While most of the team was packing up the last of there things, I taped shut a box of my things I wanted to mail home. I didn't want to bring extra items with me to Poland and now that the fall is almost here, I didn't have the need for multiple pairs of summer clothes.

The post office on base was open and even though it cost me a small fortune to mail this box home, I was happy to not have to lug some stuff with me into another country. On my way out of the post office, I stopped under a tree and pulled out my phone. Even though it's the middle of the night back home, I still had some phone calls I wanted to make.

Thanks for calling Mallory, if this is a telemarketer, lose my number, anybody, leave a message and I'll eventually call you back. BYE.

BEEP. "Sorry for calling in the middle of the night. I doubt this is the kind of voicemail you would want to wake up to but I just wanted to give you a call. We are leaving Germany today so things are going to be moving pretty fast now. I don't know if I'll be able to get in touch with you if things go sideways. So I just wanted to call and say hi, hope you have a good day. Give Logan an extra squeeze today. I'll try and give you a call if I can. Bye."

Dominic's phone, if this is anything car related, please call the Waldo's Motor Parts phone number. Even though I work there, I do have a personal life and this is my personal phone number. Yup, so leave a message and I'll get back to you.

BEEP. "Hi loser. We are moving out today. Wanted to give you the heads up about it. I know we haven't talked a lot this deployment, and now any calls are going to be even fewer and far in between. Just wanted to let you know how proud of you I am and that I love you. Hopefully I'll be able to call you soon to hear your voice, but until then, this will have to do. Love you little brother."

To my surprise, when I dialed Peytons number, she picked up the phone. When the call connected I checked the time as saw that it was easily 3am at home right now.

"Peyton?" I asked still surprised.

"Hey honey." She sounded tired, like the I haven't slept in days tired.

"Should I ask why you are awake right now?" I asked concerned. Peyton sighed and I could hear something moving in the background but couldn't place it.

"No, you shouldn't." Peyton said and then I heard a door shut. I'm guessing she left the bedroom.

"Okay, I was just going to leave you a message that I'm moving out today. Things are going to pick up pretty quick once we move." I said.

"I'm happy to be awake and actually get to talk to you then." Peyton said.

"Same, but really that's all I had to talk about. That we are moving out. Calls going to come less if any at all. I also wanted to let you know that I mailed home a box of my stuff that I don't need here. You'll probably get it some time next week." I said.

"You still have that phone I gave you right?" Peyton asked.

"Yea, still have it. You know I'll only use it as my last resort?" I asked.

"Of course. Just please be carefully Dani, the things we are seeing on the news here aren't great and I'm not even going to bring up what's going on in the intelligence we are getting at work." Peyton said.

"I'll try my hardest to come back to you in one piece mom. Let me go though, I'm going to leave mom a voicemail to wake up to. I love you mom, hopefully we'll talk soon." I said.

"I love you too Daniella, please be safe." Peyton said.

After I hung up the phone with Peyton, I took a few second to breath before I dialed mom's phone number. Peyton must have silenced her phone because it only rang once before going to voicemail.

You've reach Shannon Edwards-Murphy. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

BEEP. "Hi mom, just wanted to call and say I hope you have a good day today. Peyton will fill you in on the rest of the details. I love you mom. Hope to talk soon."

I kept the message brief as I knew I had to get back to the team to make sure everyone was ready to go. I also had to finish getting dressed and pack up the last of my gear. As I got back to the barracks mostly everyone was quietly working on getting there gear in order. It didn't take me long to finish getting dressed and when I was done, I went into the locker room and packed up my guns. The aircrew was waiting as I finished up to take everyone's gear onto the waiting plane.

The last of my team grabbed their things and made there way out of the barracks while I hung back to make sure nobody forgot anything. With one final sweep of the barracks, I was satisfied nobody left anything behind. I wiped off the last of the notes on the whiteboard and it was like we were never here.

I closed the door behind me and made my way to the waiting plane. When I got there I made my team sound off and I was happy that Morgan counted herself as Gold 13. I flashed her an approving nod before making my way over to Major Collins and took a seat next to her. She handed me a folder and I knew it would be our barrack assignments for while we are in Poland. I flipped through the paperwork and saw we were all staying in one large room for our stay. I wasn't surprised, our stay is most likely going to be short.

The C-130 was pretty full of supplies and troops, making the three-hour flight to Poland a noisy one. By the time we landed I was ready to jump off the plane. My team grabbed there gear before we found our transport over to the barracks were we will be staying. When we found our barracks, I punched in the code on the door lock and pushed it open. The room was basically just a bunk room. Ten cots lined up against each wall with trunks at the end of them for storage. I claimed the cot closest to the door and let the team file in to claim there own.

"This is it guys, just pick a bed. You can settle in a little bit but I want everyone to keep a go bag packed in case we have to move out at a moments notice." I ordered gathering everyone's attention. When I got nods in confirmation I unpacked for a few minutes and took in the room. Mostly everyone was focused on getting unpacked while I just took a look at the paper work Major Collins gave me. We have another locker room closer to the tarmacs and a meeting room not far from the mess hall. But I also noticed that she snuck a meeting in for myself, Rob, Monica and Morgan in about an hour. We are going to be meeting with the general in charge of the op with Major Roman and Ryan to get our mission details.

I took out a base map before leaving a few on my bed for everyone else. Next I grabbed my backpack with my laptop in it along with my ID and cell phone before I took out my thigh holster and strapping it on. Once my pistol was in place, I grabbed the three others I needed for this meeting and we took our leave.

The walk over to the meeting room felt like I was walking to my death. I knew the outcome of this meeting would determine what we would be doing in Ukraine. With one final hard swallow, I found the meeting room and I pushed open the door. There was a lot of people moving around with a few large tables in the middle of the room. On the walls, there are a bunch of TV screens showing various different things. I tried not to pay them any mind as I found Major Collins and walked over to her.

She gave me a nod and we took our seats at the large table. It took a few minutes for everyone else to set down and take a seat so the meeting could start. General Jett Foudy came into the meeting room and started to prepare this documents for the meeting. He is going to be running the operation from here. I haven't worked with him before and it doesn't look like Annabelle has either by the look on her face.

"This morning while you were in the air on your way here, Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech stating Russia is going to be conducting a special military operation to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. After the speech was concluded, missiles and airstrikes hit all around Ukraine. There have been reports coming in of a large ground force moving into Ukraine in multiple areas. The US has reached out to the President of Ukraine to see if we could evacuate him and the first lady but we haven't heard back yet." General Jett Foudy started barely looking at his paperwork.

"The Commander-In-Chief is being been given constant updates on the situation as the news and reports come in. Right now, he has authorized three special operation teams from the Army to be deployed into the Ukraine to assist in securing their borders and stop Russian troops from destroying the country. This operation will be effectively known at Operation Trident. The current plan is to send Alpha and Bravo team up north to help secure the Chernobyl Nuclear power plant while Gold Team heads south to push towards Mariupol, key city along the Sea of Azov which connects the Black Sea with most of the country. The mission is going to be espionage, gathering intel and disrupting any and all advancement into the country. Rules of engagement as always are no firing unless fired upon." General Foudy continued.

Flashes on the TV screens behind him starting to catch my attention and my focus shifted. Videos kept playing of airstrikes hitting buildings. Video after video it just kept playing. Building after building, crumbling into rubble. It felt like I was going to throw up. I tried to put those feelings in a box so far into my brain to burry it but it was hard to focus back in on what the general was speaking about.

"Stealth is going to be important in this mission. If Russia knows that we are here on the ground helping Ukraine, things are going to be messy, so everyone is going to need to blend as best as possible. When you guys are inbound, you will meet up with Ukrainian special forces to see how they move and get any additional information you can to help assist you on the ground." General Foudy handed out thick packets to Ryan and myself. I'll read through everything later because I knew it was going to take me time to get through everything.

"Communication is going to be limited and anything coming across the wire must be encoded. No locations should be freely given up over the wire. We are coming up with a list of possible home bases for each team. Once that has been finalized and preparation have been made to get you in country, you will be moved out. You will be given a few hours notice to get your final affairs in order before you move out. Any questions?" General Foudy asked when he concluded.

"Is there any plan for evacuation if the situation were to turn dire?" I asked. A few heads turned in my direction and the sinking feeling I've had since we got to Poland really started to make me want to run from this room.

"As of right now we cannot send in air support. We do have a few platoons on standby for backup but it will be hard to get to either teams once you get to where we need you to be." General Foudy choice his words carefully when coming up with that response and that was all I needed to hear. Once we go in, we are on our own.

"What about supply runs? If we are going to be in country long-term going up against the Russian army, we are going to need more supplies eventually." Ryan asked annoyed.

"We will set up supply runs when we come up with safe locations to deliver supplies." General Foudy answered again. I turned my head and found Major Collins' jaw clenched and I knew there was something she wanted to say but isn't.

"Permission to speak freely sir?" I asked needing to raise my voice.

General Foudy looked at me for a few seconds before taking in the other faces around the room. After another few seconds of my firm stare he nodded his head.

"Permission granted." He said reluctantly. I nodded and stood from my seat because the anxiety and anger was burning in my veins, my seat could no longer contain it.

"In the past twenty minutes since we've been in this meeting I have been watching the TVs behind broadcast a country being destroyed by an egomaniac who should not have power. He is going to destroy a country in the span of a few short weeks while we sit back and watch. I know this is a tricky situation because of NATO and all that, but what about the people of Ukraine who are now caught in the cross fire? These innocent people are going to die because of these airstrikes. Are we allowed to help them? Render aid? What about supporting the local militia who have taken up arms to defend their country? You are basically telling us to go into this warzone with no close backup or air support without an exit plan. I don't really care if this leads to my court marshal or dismissal but I refuse to lead my team into the middle of this without a safe, thought out evac plan. I can't speak for Alpha One or even Bravo One because he isn't even here in this briefing room but I won't actively bring my team into theater without these plans carved out." I fumed.

The room was silent by the time I was finished speaking. It seemed like everyone else in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to listen to what I had to say. I don't think anybody knew what I was going to say but it definitely wasn't that. I didn't sit down after I was done, I couldn't. If I took a seat then my points would be dismissed. I know rank wise I was on the low end of the totem pole, but I didn't care. These points needed to be addressed and I don't know if anybody else was going to bring them up.

"Your points will be addressed as the plans continue to develop Staff Segreant. This isn't the final action plan yet. We will be meeting again tomorrow at 13:00 hours to continue to work on these plans. Everyone is dismissed for now." General Foudy stated.

Once the dismissal order came, I quickly gathered my gear and stormed out of the room with Rob, Monica and Morgan quickly following behind me. We didn't make it far from the room before I felt someone grab my arm and push me into an empty meeting room. Major Collins let go of my arm as the door shut behind the rest of my team members. I slammed by stuff down on the empty table and started to pace the small meeting room.

"That was probably not the best way of going about asking for a better plan." Rob spoke up first.

"They are marching us to our deaths, do you not get that?!" I yelled finally losing my cool. "They are literally sending us on a suicide mission in the name of gathering intelligence. I refuse to lead my team that far into a warzone with no feasible exit strategy."

"Your dad would have done the same thing." Major Collins said and I took a pause to look at her. "I'm fairly certain he has done that before, demand for better conditions for his teams going into warzones. A lot of the times, it worked out in his favor. This is also another reason why I am staying here. I will try and get you anything you need once you go in. Whether that be supplies or a way out of the country. But you can't lose your head in these briefings again. Once was plenty to get there attention."

I rubbed my face and nodded as I continued to pace the room. Major Collins words started to settle my anger for the time being but I know it won't be long before it returns.

a/n: kind of boring chapter but necessary to set up the coming chapters. I'll probably get this work between 40-45 chapters. well 45 might be a stretch but we shall see.

song on the side is I See Fire by Ed Sheeran. thought it fit with Dani's anger at the plan that was being made.