Bermuda Triangle
19:09
October 11, 2014
Operation Lost Spears
It’d been three months since Scott Mitchell had been wounded in an EMP airstrike in El Paso. His recovery was rapid, and he’d quickly returned to duty once he’d gotten back into peak condition. This was his first long-term op since the months-long covert campaign in Mexico, and it felt good to be back with his team. Some of them had been promoted since Mexico, and he felt they’d all earned it.
Inside an airborne CV-22 Osprey, Mitchell was selecting his equipment, and being briefed via Crosscom 2.0. A glance out the window revealed a pair of MH-60M Black Hawks were escorting the aircraft, in addition to another Osprey.
“Captain Mitchell, some NSA spooks uncovered an alarming bit of information a few days ago. We all know the post-Castro government hasn’t been the most stable one, even after a team of Ghosts took out a drug-funded revolution and helped with the democratic transition,” General Joshua Keating explained, via the audio-video feed on Mitchell's Crosscom.
“Yeah. Lots of corruption, bribery, drug money, the works.” While Mitchell had always considered himself apolitical, being a career soldier by trade, by no means was he politically uninformed. He preferred to know what was happening on the world stage, because there was a fair chance that his team might be called in to deal with a given crisis.
“Exactly. You remember those Ukrainian nukes the Mexican rebels had a few months ago? Well, a few more from the same source just turned up. There was a pissing match between us and Rainbow, but we got the op. If you guys screw up, if that’s even possible, there’s a Plan B. The arms sale is in a month and a half, so we’re giving you as much breathing room as we can.”
“Then you can tell Ding he owes me one less beer.” Mitchell shifted his weight and crossed his arms, his currently-bare hands brushing against his UCP fatigues. “What’s with the new uniforms? They feel like they have a different… Exterior texture. I had to take a medical exam and I missed that part.”
“I’ll let Lieutenant Barnes handle that one.”
Mitchell’s Crosscom 2.0 tuned in to First Lieutenant John Barnes, an Defense Intelligence Agency attaché who'd worked with the Ghosts before.
“One of the new toys the team is getting. DARPA calls it AdCam. It’s more durable than your normal fatigues, it’s waterproof, EMP-proof, it has adaptive insulation properties to keep the wearer comfortable, it stores several hundred camouflage patterns that can be switched to on the fly, and the batteries practically never run out,” The officer explained. "It really only burns power when it's activated to change patterns."
“Patterns, sir?”
“AdCam stores several hundred camouflage patterns on a series of small memory drives. Just activate it from your HUD and you can change those fatigues from UCP to MultiCam, any MARPAT or NWU pattern, and a few hundred of other patterns, digital and otherwise. The vests, boots, gloves, balaclava and helmet are given less emphasis though, so those just come in UCP, Multicam, and monotone colors. Some of the team’s weapons have a coating single-color version working. All the Special Forces with you have the same equipment, but their camo is stuck on UCP for now, same as yours. Some of them brought their own MultiCam fatigues just in case they needed them, and they just might.”
“The eggheads never let us down, do they?” He chuckled.
Keating shrugged on his end. “ One of the designers decided that the fatigues should need an authentication code to activate the camo-change function, so that a false signal couldn't easily impersonate the team leader's signal and cause a change that'd make the users stand out like a sore thumb, but the damned authentication code was never installed in the first place. A few Air Force techies are onboard to help with the kinks and patch the software, but that’ll take a bit. On the bright side, they’re Level B CBRN-protected with minimal modification; strap them tight and add a CBRN mask to your helmet, and you’ll protected in most hazardous environments you might come across.”
“I noticed we’ve got a MULE and a few UAVs onboard. How long do you think this operation’ll last?”
“We don’t know that. The Osprey you’re in, the other one, and the Black Hawks coming along have different engines to allow longer time without resupply. A DARPA whiz kid came up with a way to turn water into a non-flammable form of hydrogen-based fuel in the field, and that’s how your fuel problem’s solved. The exteriors are also covered with a radar-absorbing epoxy; not total stealth, but it's enough that careful flying should keep your team off the Cubans' Cold War-era radar systems. Only the highest-ranking members of the Cuban government and military know you'll be there. Rosen and Barnes’ll fill you in on the rest.”
“General.” Mitchell almost disconnected when the officer spoke up.
“Oh, and Mitchell? Bring me a few Cubans if you can.”
“No promises. Out.”
First Lieutenant Joshua Rosen carefully walked over to him, mindful of the fact he was in a moving vehicle.
“Scott, you probably noticed the couple dozen Green Berets that are coming with us. They’re here to provide security at wherever we set up camp, and some additional firepower or coverage if we need it. They’re equipped with Crosscom systems like the rest of us, so joint ops should go smoothly. JSOC's SMUs all use versions of our gear now, but using them for guard duty and support would’ve been a waste. Rangers don’t have enough experience with covert warfare to work with us on this, so they’re out.”
“These guys with us have been in USSOCOM for most of their careers, they’ve all got experience with Future Force Warrior tech, and several of them have experience working with OGAs. They know how to use this gear, they’re veterans, so while they aren’t Ghosts, they’re damn good at their jobs,” Rosen added. “The team captains are all simulated First Lieutenants to prevent chain of command issues, but you can change that if you'd like. You’re in charge, and Ghosts have higher authority.”
“Good to know I won’t have to leave half my team at the camp just to go on a raid.”
The captain carefully walked over to one of the mini-armories on the aircraft and began to pick out a few weapons. Most of the weapons were packed away, but a few were ready for easy access. Alex Nolan, the team’s medic, was loading his P90 next to him.
“You know we’re passing through the Bermuda Triangle, right Ramirez?” The Boston native joked.
“Yeah. I’m sure my life insurance policy just got voided.” Jose “Joe” Ramirez and Alex Nolan were usually the first ones to joke in any given situation, which often led to the two of them exchanging quips.
“The kicker is that our flight was the nineteenth one to take off from our last stop. Cue the title card saying ‘Flight 19 Part 2’.”
Mitchell grabbed an M8 carbine with an underslung M320 grenade launcher. The M8 was adopted in 2007 prior to the Three-Block War with North Korea, but only saw limited frontline service because of supply chain issues combined with the short length of the conflict. Disagreements over the cost of the program during the single-term Caldwell Administration had led to the cancellation of further acquisition of the weapon. That left the Department of Defense with around 53,000 of the carbines, another 27,000 of the other variants, as well as a surplus of spare parts, magazines, maintenance kits and accessories.
The M8 carbine was just over six pounds loaded and highly accurate for a weapon its size, with toggleable two-stage 1-3x magnification as well as visible and IR laser pointers on its specialized combined electronic sight, and integral back-up iron sights. Since the unique accessory ports never caught on, there weren't many accessories it could use without an adapter to mount conventional rails. Nevertheless, as a streamlined weapon system that provided all the basics in a lightweight package it was superb.
For a sidearm Mitchell chose an HK45T, reasoning that the extra power would come in handy. The weapon was relatively light because of the polymer frame, and the good ergonomics made it a comfortable fit for his hands. The recoil damping system made it kick a lot softer than other .45 pistols, so he could place follow-up shots faster, and the weapon's superb accuracy added to that. The gun was top-notch, and he knew it wasn’t something he’d have to worry about.
He loaded both weapons and cocked them before sliding the pistol into a thigh holster and slinging the rifle across his chest.
As he sat back down in the Osprey’s seats, he put his gloves on and removed his helmet to don a pale gray balaclava. His uniform may have been relatively conspicuous compared to some he’d worn before, but the thing he liked most about the infamous Universal Camouflage Pattern was that it made him look like a ghost. A pale figure appearing from nowhere to slay its myriad enemies sounded almost mythical, especially in a world of advanced technology.
Any individual who stood against America’s interests and proclaimed to either not believe in ghosts, or to have no fear of them could be proven wrong at a moment’s notice.
Mitchell closed his eyes and grabbed some shut-eye for the rest of the flight.