Chapter 7 OPERATION DEMIURGE (PART ONE)

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65 Minutes Before Operation : "Demiurge"

"This is fucking bullshit man." A young american soldier in his early twenties, complained. His light blonde hair and unkempt stubble all disarrayed waving side to side looking like he had just woken up from a rough nap in the woods. Equipped and armoured in his specialized black BDU and protective MSV armor, he continued. "I mean, that entire recording was batshit insane right? if they got an entire moving city, who's to say what kinda advanced weaponry these fucks have?" He glanced over to his squad mates, all wearing similar types of gear and armor. "Hey, are you guys listening? We might get our asses smacked in there!"

"Заткнись!"

Yelled a Russian man next to him. He had a slightly bulky build and the darkest shade of brown hair and trimmed beard matched with stiff eyebrows equipped with a stern glare. "Huh? Translate that to English, would you?" "That means-" He said with his thick Russian accent, "That you need to shut the fuck up." The squad of five laughed, one of the older senior looking ones patted the young soldier's shoulder. "Ivan here is right y'know? You gotta calm your shit down Conner." He said. The young American, now identified as Connor sighed in response. "Aye, Staff Bull Randleman." Connor said, choosing instead to calm himself down by downing almost half of his flask.

"But, you've still got a point." Randleman continued, a former SSGT of the army. "We're gonna be operating into not just a foreign land, but a foreign fucking world, in the first day no less, so keep your asses at high alert, aye First Squadron?" "Aye!" Replied the squad.

SSGT Bull Randleman then stood up, scratching his blocky chin then putting on his bonnet, masking his thin light blonde hair. "Hey Ivan, is it time already?" "Da." The Russian confirmed, checking his watch. "Lieutenant Winters should be waiting for us at this time." "Alright! You heard him, everybody get up! Let's move it!" The squad quickly prepares themselves, leaving for the mission brief.

"Alright! everybody from 'Task Force Monad' take a seat and focus on the screen would you!" There was a group of twelve men inside the small gray concrete briefing room. There wasn't much inside except a couple of monoblock chairs and a TV Screen with the continuing buzz of the fluorescent LED above. The Men quickly got to their seats while one supervised their movements, after the men fished setting down, he spoke.

"I'll be your Commanding Officer for this Operation, 1st Lieutenant Richard Winters." The Lieutenant was a tall, fully shaved, athlete of a man. He inspected his men rigorously, crossing his arms in the process. He started speaking.

"Now I know that they rushed the formation of this task force, for we got two 6 men squads of CIA PROOs mixed in with some elements of 7th SF and 10th SF for some reason, kind of a clusterfuck aint it?" "Aye Sir! We've even got a Russian here!" One of the men said in a light hearted manner. "A Russian?" Winters singled out Ivan, now staring at him at the eye.

"Da, former GRU Spetsnaz, defected to the states in the 1980s. After a long time the CIA accepted me as a Paramilitary Operations Officer, and served in 2 operations so far, Sir." Ivan said, pulling a small oblong shaped steel emblem from his pocket. It had a golden outer rim with Russian words inscribed in it. On the inside were a variety of decorations such as the coat of arms laced in glistening gold.

"This is a GRU emblem that they gave me back then." "Well hot damn! Why are you still holding on to that thing?"

Ivan put it back in his pocket. "I've put it on eBay, but none seems interested." "Really? how much did you put it up for?!" One of the PMOOs said. "What? You're interested?" "Oh- absolutely!" "Ser'yozno? 5000 Dollars upfront then." "Five grand?" The PMOO spat. "Never mind, fuck that! No wonder no one bought it!" The room's atmosphere relaxed a little with their conversation with some laughing with them.

"We're getting off topic here!"

Winters' voice shut them up. "The point I was trying to say earlier, is that out of all the other forces and guys command could've chosen, they chose us, so you all better not disappoint alright? All of you are at least experienced E-4 or above and are or were rapid reaction forces, am I right?"

"Yes Sir!"

"Good! Now I'll start on the mission brief." Winters took control of the small laptop connected to the screen in the room. "Now, since this damn operation was just given out and approved hours ago, no one got the time to make a damn PowerPoint briefing, so all we've got- " The screen turned on, showing some drone captured images of the Nomadic City. "Are these photos, we've already planned a landing zone at this football field sized open area over here, near this big building-"

After giving a general layout and route, Winters went on to the objectives. "Since we're the A-Team or Alpha team of the Task Force right now, our call signs have been designated as "Archon", and the Operation?" "Demiurge Sir!" One of the men responded. "That's right! D-Day or some shit, our objectives would be to extract our crashed drone at the city, if it's deemed unsalvageable, just gather the Black Box system, after that make sure no evidence of that drone being there exists, Clear?" "Yes Sir!" "Good! Squad 2, led by SFC Speirs, raise your hands!"

Almost instantly, the men of Second Squadron raised their hands. "SFC Speirs, you and your men would be in charge of this objective, you understand?" "Yes Sir!" Speirs replied, the Lieutenant nodded, satisfied, he turned to the other half. "Alright Arms down! Now the first squad, I'll be your Team Leader so listen up!" The screen changed into a picture of a man with short dark hair and bristled eyebrows, a small smirk on his mouth. "This man right here is Master Sergeant Shelton "Snafu" Bjourne, former Marine, Navy and Seal to now CIA, does anyone here know him?"

The Russian raised his hand. "Da, I have seen him before." "Then that'll make things easier." "What about him?" Bull asked, his arms crossed. The lieutenant laughed for a bit before continuing. "All of you had seen Saving Private Ryan before, right?"

...

Lungmen Guard Department

"Yes Ma'am! We'll get the investigation done right away!" The LGD officer said, before closing the door to Che'n's office. The superintendent sighs, this entire week she had been burying herself in paperwork, at this point there was barely any difference between her office and her bedroom back home in terms of how many hours she slept in them.

"Hey! I'm coming in!" A familiar voice echoed behind the door before the green haired Oni bashed in, carrying with her a basket of snacks.

"Done already?" "Hey! what's with that attitude?" Hoshiguma said, placing the snack-filled basket on her desk. "I've brought you your snacks." She then glanced at Che'n, sighing upon noticing her current state. "Tonight I won't let you sleep at the office again, alright?" Che'n simply nods her head. "So have you finished the investigation on the east side?" "Yeah, there's slight signs of Reunion activity in that area, but so far nothing concrete, actually haven't found a single member yet." "The other teams had similar reports, I suspect they're planning something, even after they've taken Chernobog." "Why do you say that?"

The superintendent takes a sip from her coffee before continuing. "It seems to me that they are hiding from us right now, thanks to Rhodes Island's Intel, we know there's an underground network of Reunion agents, the thing is, after Chernobog happened all their activities ceased abruptly." "So? Doesn't really mean they're planning something if they're just hiding right? Maybe they're just laying low after Chernobog?" Che'n sighed, again. "Still, don't you find it suspicious?"

Hoshiguma leaned back from her chair. "Hey, I'm just telling you to relax, the rest of the LGD is competent enough to catch whatever they're planning, why don't you take a little break?" Che'n rolled her eyes, ignoring her statement. "Any updates on the 'Central Intelligence Agency' case?" She said trying to change subjects. "Nope, nothing at all, however going back to Chernobog, I've got some interesting news." Che'n's eyes lit up. "Oh?"

Hoshiguma took a piece of photo paper from her pocket, giving it to Che'n. "Uhh, this is?" Che'n focused her gaze on the unusual picture, it was a weird blurry photo depicting a dark gray triangle-like object, soaring high in the burning skies of Chernobog. "One of our agents stationed on observing Chernobog, captured this photo at the time of Reunion's Takeover." "D-Did they make it out alive?" "Don't worry, our agent managed to survive by hiding in the outskirts of Chernobog, she only got extracted by the LGD hours ago, that's why we're only getting this information now."

Che'n breathed a sigh of relief before taking a glance at the photo. "So, what exactly is this?" She asked. "Hmm? I dunno." "Huh?"

Hoshiguma crossed her legs. "So far no one in the LGD seems to know what that is, except that it's flying and it's flying really high." Che'n tried to look closer to catch smaller details. "So what do you think?" The dragon woman scratched her chin, her tail wrapping her leg. "Can't this be just like a flying fragment of sheet metal?"

The Oni shook her head. "Nope, the photographer insisted that it was flying, it was flying really fast and going up and down, or something, that's what she said, besides that's a really clean shape for a random piece of sheet metal." "The one who took the photo, where is she?" "She is resting right now, after all she just barely survived Chernobog." "Have you questioned her properly yet?" "Nope, that's gonna be your job." Che'n groaned. "Fine, when would she be available?" "Tomorrow morning, make sure to bring Swire with you to the questioning alright?" "Why would-" She paused. "Okay, fine."

"Alright then." Hoshiguma stood up from her seat. "I'll get going now, don't stay up that late again, okay?" "Yeah, I know." Che'n waved her off. Hoshiguma smiled at her. "See you tomorrow!" The Oni said, shutting the door before departing.

...

25 minutes before Operation : "Demiurge"

"You Americans are always thinking so much." "Hey! I'm trying to be the careful one here!" Connor was once again complaining to the entire First Squadron. "I know that a closer look at the video only confirms that the soldiers used weird looking melee weapons, but what if they just ran out of energy in their laser guns or something?"

He said, refilling his flask at a nearby water station. "Apart from the moving city, from what the drone footage saw, the architecture, clothing and the various vehicles are all similar to that of our old shit, if they were so advanced why can't I see a single Burj khalifa? Or flying cars?"

Said Michael Vining, while cleaning his thin glasses, Sitting right next to Connor, he is the dark auburn haired, slim yet capable Combat Engineer and EOD specialist of First Squadron. "Well? Who knows? Maybe they like that kind of aesthetic?" "Y'know? I'm more interested in learning what the people are like here, their culture, language and level of intelligence, Also I want to know what the fuck those weird bumps on their heads are, too bad the drone didn't have the chance to get it high quality."

"Fucking lame man."

Michael and Connor looked over to the new contender with short dark hair, thin beard and a medic armband on his right. "Hah? Lame? Well then the fuck are you interested in Roe?" "Me?" Replied Roe Gunner, the team's combat medic. He put his finger on chin for a bit, thinking about it for a slight moment. "Ah, well, nothing really." "Bullshit, we're basically getting sent to an alien city and you're not interested in it?" "I'm more interested in getting the fuck back home." The sounds of clapping quickly put a halt to their argument. "Enough Jibber-jabber boys! Let's get to the staging area! Lieutenant man is done finishing up, move it!" Bull commanded. The rest followed.

The men of Task Force Monad were gathered up on the staging area, it was one of the airfields of 555, inside one of the hangars the men were doing their final preparations.

"Everybody! Count off!" Winters shouted. "Archon 1-1 Conner Stevenson!" "Archon 1-2 Ivan Karamazov!" "Archon 1-3 Bull Randleman!" "Archon 1-4 Roe Gunner!" *Archon 1-5 Michael Vining!" "Archon 1-6 Richard Winters, now second squadron!" "Archon 2-1 Albert Blithe!" "Archon 2-2 Maven Dossnie!" "Archon 2-3 William Dukeman!" "Archon 2-4 Lewis Livingston!" "Archon 2-5 George Luz! "Archon 2-6 John Speirs!"

"Alright before we go Command handed these to us!" Winters said, leading the men to a table filled with various types of equipment. "These are the new IVAS Mark 3 Augmented Reality Visors, they got everything from Thermal to Night vision and will act as our radios and special environmental and combat support, they're pretty easy to use so we'll learn how to use em' in the field aye?" Winters continued. "Also, a Reaper drone has been deployed as our eye in the sky as well as CAS if shit happens to go down, let's pray this operation goes smoothly aye?" Winters checked his watch, then his men. "What are you staring at! Go get yourself some equipment!"

The men followed their NCOs orders, picking and choosing various types of equipment and gear from the makeshift armory and desk inside the hanger.

"Didn't the 82nd complain about these things giving them headaches or somethin?" "Those were the first versions, Conner, pray to God that these mark 3s are better." Answered Michael, putting his black balaclava on. "Huh, pretty light compared to what I'm used to." Commented the Russian, wearing the headset and helmet. "Everybody! 10 minutes till 0 Hour, if you've gotta pee, do it now!" As everybody was preparing themselves, the doors to the hanger opened, letting in the natural light and the silhouette of two men, walking towards them.

Winters looks over, identifying the two men walking who entered. "Director Sir!" He said, performing a salute while the others followed his example. "At ease gentlemen." Grant signaled them to put their hands down, then presented the person next to him.

"This man to my right would be the Director of the Newly Formed Intelligence and Operations Department, and he's got something to tell." Oswald nodded and cleared his throat before speaking. "Oswald 'Juno' Clark, from today onwards you'll all report directly to me as your main commander, understood?" "Understood Sir!" Oswald walks over to Winters, looking at him at the eye. "Lieutenant Winters, you're the Commanding Officer for this operation right?" "Yes I am, Sir."

Oswald inspected him, then going back to his former location, now staring at the entire Task Force, he addressed them all. "Just to be clear, your primary objectives would be to retrieve or destroy the remains of the drone and to find out if Shelton Bjourne is still out there or not by tracking the signal using the SIGINT we have while operating covertly and trying to draw little to none attention from this world's inhabitants, but that's not all."

He continued. "Your secondary objectives would be to gather all types of intelligence about what kind of world we're in, your IVAS headsets would constantly have a camera feed that would record every second of your operation and display them real time back here in base through the communication capabilities of the Reaper drone, you will by guided by Command in the event of first contact with this world's inhabitants, I wont take much more of your time so I'll leave the final words here to the Director."

He backed off as Grant stepped forward and with his rough voice, mustered up another speech. "All of you, 14 men, including the two helicopter pilots, are the first in human history to ever interact with this new world, its inhabitants, its culture and I want you to know how important this is, understand?" "Yes Director Sir!" They responded. "The Central Intelligence Agency might not be the best at mass surveillance or information gathering like the NSA or has the latest and greatest tech and weaponry the DIA has, but still we excel in both those fields. One could say that the CIA is a jack of all trades, but I think there's more to it." The Director said. "Out of all the members of the Intelligence Community, the CIA had been the top and most consistent agency in gathering one of the most important types of intelligence, Human intelligence or HUMINT, so the more accurate quote would be 'The CIA is a jack of all trades and a master of one.' Do you know what I'm getting at here?"

He continued without even giving them time to respond. "The greatest strength of the CIA is its ability to form and exploit connections with various types of people no matter who they are, what they are and what they are like, and over the years we've become accustomed to getting things done this way. The problem is, we have absolutely no clue how this word works, all our previous strengths and connections on Earth are all gone and useless, from our assets, allies, knowledge and all existing Intelligence, all gone and purposeless. It's as if our eagle's all seeing eye is blinded and it's wings decapitated. This is why we're sending you all covertly, we don't know how this world would react if they learn of our existence. Maybe they'll have a violent reaction and they'll hate us and try to get rid of us or maybe not, I dont know. The point is, we're clueless, but at the end of the day, we're the Goddamn CIA here. Never in history were we left in dark, because we are the dark. And even in this fantastical world, we must know, we shall know and we will know."

"When you inevitably make first contact with the inhabitants here, be sure to learn all you can about them, how they speak, how they act, think and live, and if possible put yourself in a position where you could best benefit from them in any way possible. The CIA has become masters of the human mind and if the people of this world are even remotely similar to that of Earth, then I assure you, we shall have no worries for our survival, for we already have this world by our claws."

___ (Arknights is not owned by me) A/N I promise I'm not a fed! Image ontop for reference on what the soldiers look like, but imagine it pure black.