The Rules of Engagement

Four months since appearing

The next three days were a beehive of activity for Wolf Fang. Word quickly spread among the group that their most valued benefactor had been taken, which put an urgency in their preparations; members who were on leave were immediately summoned back for duty. In the main hangar, their newest acquisition, a Lockheed CH-130H Hercules transport aircraft was being loaded up with weapons, ammunition and equipment to support a hostage rescue from an enemy force. There was also an undeniable sense of tension; unlike last time where it was medieval forces using outdated swords and spears, they were heading into battle against a modern nation-state's assets that would have been assigned to kidnap and hold an otherworldly magical princess. Such a force would certainly not be considered lightly.

Once in the air, the men hunkered down for the long trip to Japan, doing what they could to stay prepared. A trip of this length would take multiple stops and refueling and air travel of this duration could be murderous on the body, so activities ranged from impromptu exercises to as much sleeping as the noisy cabin allowed. Up front, the Captain and his senior officers had set up a makeshift planning area as best they could within the plane's tight confines.

"OK, I just got off the line with Colonel McKnight from the Paladin Group. They're a PMC that operate out in the Pacific Rim area, including Japan, so they've got some knowledge of the legal and jurisdictional challenges operating in this area. Unfortunately, this ain't like some third world country or medieval alternate world where anything goes... the enemy's currently located in the border of a first world nation; one with probably the strictest gun laws in the world, which makes it a real challenge trying any kind of kinetic operation."

"Did Colonel McKnight have any suggestions on how they would accomplish this, if they were assigned this task?" one of the officers asked.

"A couple, but they're a real doozy," the Captain admitted. "They mostly stem on the fact that the Russians plan on sailing shortly after we land. Paladin's agreed to provide us with some logistical support, in exchange for some 'favors' in the future." Most likely, they'll want some facetime with "Princess Nanoha", which I guess would be fair, if they had a hand in rescuing her. "What it comes down to is this... once that ship leaves Japan, and is outside the 12 nautical mile border, it's anything goes. The only laws that apply are the laws of the flag ship in question; that is, Russia's laws. Seeing as they're also the ones committing kidnapping and espionage, as long as we pull it off, they won't exactly be calling us to the Hague for war crimes."

"So, we're going to hit them while they're at sea?" the second officer confirmed, with some sense of incredulity. "Do we even have the assets to pull that off?"

"Like I said, McKnight's agreed to lend us a hand; we'll be landing at USAF Yokota Air Base to meet up with them. For starters, he's chopped an asset, callsign Sparrow, who's manning drone surveillance over the target and sending us real-time footage. He confirms it hasn't left port just yet, but there's been a pick-up of activity in the past 24 hours, so it looks like they're pushing to leave ahead of schedule. In addition, he's confirmed at least one short platoon of men boarding the ship, along with the cargo. Best case, extra sailors for security... worst case, GRU Spetsnaz."

"You really think they'd actually commit Tier 1 units for this?" the second officer asked.

"Uncertain..." the Captain admitted. "But I'd rather not assume we were going up against amateurs and find out otherwise the hard way. Good news is one of the guys they kidnapped managed to keep their head clear enough to maintain an open mobile phone signal, which Sparrow's been able to track and pin down. We've got positive ID on which container both he and Blackbird's located. We've also been warned that there might be another hostage at play... some cop they grabbed, judging from the TV news reports we're hearing."

"Are we rescuing them both?" the first officer asked.

"Why not?" the Captain shrugged as he lit a cigarette. "Rescuing cops? You can't buy better PR. That's the kind of reputation that can come back to help us out down the line if we ever get into a sticky situation in the future."

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Mitsuha got out of the taxi and smiled as the welcoming sight of her family home. The past few weeks in the big city had been a blur; coming back into her small home town would provide a welcome reprieve from the stress of corporate life. She stood before the walkway and paused... for a moment, the doubts began creeping up once again... along with the images of her family's coffins... the sympathetic neighbors... all the subsequent events that would follow... but then they all quickly faded. She looked briefly to the driveway and saw Tsuyoshi's scooter and her parent's small sedan, confirming that she was the last one to arrive. She took a deep breath... sure... this was reality, right? It was all... right with the world....

"I'm back," Mitsuha announced.

"Welcome home," her mother replied, with a kind voice. Mitsuha looked at her parents with a sigh of relief. The house was still exactly as it was before; it was as if time had stood still and nothing had changed. Even the same stubborn stains on the kitchen stove from back in her last year in high school were still there... hmm... I wonder why Okaasan hadn't gotten around to cleaning those yet...?

"Hey Mitsuha," Tsuyoshi waved as he came from his room.

"Oniichan," Mitsuha greeted and the siblings gave each other a long overdue hug.

"So how is our favorite lawyer? Made partner yet? Judge? Supreme Court Justice?" Tsuyoshi prompted jokingly.

"O-onichan..." Mitsuha replied with embarrassment. "Those takes years... if ever. At some point, politics gets into it. It's not like the technology field, where I'm sure your brilliance is going to send you to the top."

"Well... heh..." Tsuyoshi smiled with his trademark self-deprecating manner as he held his hand behind his head, "I was going to keep it a surprise until the formal launch, but... I guess I can give you a quick preview now..." He pulled out a tablet, tapped it and opened some software. The screen came to life, showing an animated, detailed schematic of a large cargo boat. "So... what do you think?"

Mitsuha slyly after she barely glanced at the screen. "Eh...? What happened to becoming the world's greatest video game designer?"

Tsuyoshi pursed his lips with slight embarrassment. "Hey... at least I'm closer to my goal than you... what happened to wanting to becoming a best-selling author?"

Mitsuha blushed, "Th-that could still happen..." She then looked at the table screen with earnest and froze with confusion. "Wh-what is this, anyway...?"

"Oh sorry..." Tsuyoshi tapped one of the screen buttons to stop the animation. "Basically, our group's been awarded a major contract for automating the operations of large-scale industrial shipping facilities. In this case, this is a test bed for the ability to run a cargo ship, almost entirely by computers and sensors. Normally with a ship like this, you'd have a crew of 30 to 40 people. With this software, and support sensors and hardware, you'd be able to run a cargo carrier this size with a crew of 6... maybe 8 if you wanted some redundancy to allow 3 shifts."

"Is-is this already running?" Mitsuha noted as she saw the software tracking with flashing lights and moving numbers.

"Not quite," Tsuyoshi clarified. "This is just a simulation. Obviously, software on this scale needs to be tested for all kinds of possible failure scenarios, so it's running multiple setups of possible crises that a ship like this could face, and how the software would handle it, hopefully without crashing. So, for the purposes of the test, I invented a fictional cargo ship, and I'm running it through a series of accidents, weather problems, and even a hostile pirate boarding. This ship's a Russian cargo ship; I called it the Kuzma Minin..."

____________________________________________________________________________________

Captain Aleksey Yablokov watched as the dozen troops came aboard the Kuzma Minin with the quiet stoicism that his people were known for. He had no doubt these men were professionals who had seen action in other conflicts around the world; there was something about their eyes that told the tale and the bearing how they carried themselves. Each man also carried a duffle bag that looked quite bulky... no doubt their personal weapons and military gear, he told himself. In a separate cargo container, military rations were being lifted aboard along with other provisions that would be necessary for the short two-day trip to Vladivostok, as long as they didn't run into any difficulties.

"Captain, you'd better come take a look at this," the intercom blared.

"On my way," Yablokov replied, and headed up to the forecastle.

Up at the command deck, three of the officers were going over the ship's maintenance logs. They had received instructions for an early departure, so they were working the crew at an accelerated pace, which set the men in a foul mood. The fourth man handed him a sheet of paper, that would likely make things worse. "Latest weather reports for the next few days... there's a major storm system currently making its way through Hiroshima and headed north back out to sea. At its current pace, it'll be right in our path at our projected course with the schedule we've been given."

Yablokov rolled his eyes with exasperation, and almost tossed the report at the nearest man in frustration. "Сукин сын...*" he muttered and headed down to the cargo deck, where the extra passenger accommodations had been set up for his new guests. "Your little schedule change is proving to be a serious problem. Do you mind explaining why we have to leave a day early?"

* Sukin syn / Son of a bitch

"The sooner we leave, the more likely we won't be captured by the authorities," Boris pressed.

"Yes, yes, you're famous celebrities..." Yablokov waved off, his voice dripping with contempt, before holding up the sheet of paper. "Well, because of your actions, we're going to be sailing right into the teeth of a major storm. Our two-day trip might have just doubled because of this."

"This mission has the potential of doubling the wealth of our country," Boris insisted. "This being has the ability to transport to another world... if we can decipher how her powers work, we're talking about an entire world's resources ripe for exploiting, and all completely defenseless from modern weapons!"

"And what makes you think our scientists are even capable of extracting such power from her?" Yablokov retorted cynically. He had seen far too many failures of the old Soviet Union of the bad old days, and even the more recent Federation to put his faith in his countrymen's scientific expertise, or more accurately, their lack thereof. "More likely, they'll just chop her up like a piece of meat like they do for so many of their other experiments, and all of this will be for nothing!"

Boris silently swore under his breath. He's not wrong... it was certainly possible that our scientists would come up empty trying to duplicate the Princess' powers, but damn it... they had to try... after she... he paused and took a moment consider Yablokov's point. Was I letting our humiliation from the World's negotiations last year undermine my judgement? It seemed impossible that he had let a child outmaneuver him so effortlessly, yet there they were, all the other representatives in the room, all but laughing at their slipup when he attempted to tie a hero of the Princess' homeland to his country, only to have his Ukrainian ancestry be used against him*, given the current difficulties. How a Princess from another world would know such subtle minutia of world politics, he had no idea, leading him to suspect that one of his rivals among the intelligence community probably tipped her off... which to be fair... I would have done the same in their position... though that didn't make it any easier to stomach.

* see Manga Chp50 / LN Chp20   

"Your point is... may very well be true..." Boris conceded, "but I refuse to return back to Russia empty handed!" He gestured to the soldiers as they were getting their equipment and barracks set up for the short trip. "They are here because we serve our country... even if the challenges seem unsurmountable... we don't quit just because they're hard."

____________________________________________________________________________________

Yokota Air Base was located in the Tama area west of Tokyo and featured joined operations between the JASDF and USAF. The base was both the JASDF Air Defense Command and USAF Japan headquarters. Housing 14,000 personnel, the base was commonly used for airlift operations, which made it ideal for the mission that was needed here. As such, this wouldn't be the first time the US military nor the JSDF used PMCs for unconventional operations when the needs arose.

"Gentlemen, welcome to Japan," Colonel McKnight greeted the Wolf Fang Captain with a firm shake of the hand as the latter stepped of the CH-130H along with the rest of the team. Both leaders instinctively sized each other up, as warriors tended to do upon first contact. Of course, both sides had provided each other with personnel packets and dossiers so both units overall capabilities would be a known factor, as this was a vital requirement for mission planning for operations this dangerous; doubly so when trying to fold together units who had never had a chance to train together. To one side, he saw a Japanese civilian that looked distinctly out of place who had an intellectual look to him, who he assumed was Dr. Nishimura.

"So, Colonel, what's our target's current status?" the Captain asked.

"Still in Yokohama," McKnight confirmed. "But according to a source we've got keeping an ear to the ground, that's not going to be for long. A request went into the harbormaster for departure in the next 48 hours, so 2 days ahead of schedule. Whatever they're planning must be urgent because our team's naval experts say they're heading into a serious weather pattern with their projected route, which of course affects anything we end up doing as well."

"And does this weather affect what you said you're able to provide us in terms of assets to support an amphibious CT operation?" the Captain inquired.

"As long as your boys are up for it, we got the limos to get you there," McKnight confirmed, as the distinctive sounds of helicopters came closer to their airfield. The members of Wolf Fang all looked as a group of MH-60Ms flew overhead and landed onto carriers in preparation for transport. The Wolf Fang Captain counted six helos, two of which were DAP* configured, which gave them an airlift capacity of 44 men, last time he checked, not counting hostage extraction, which meant he would have to deploy accordingly and nodded.

* Direct Action Penetrator Gunship

"What about our hostages?" the Captain asked.

"Aside from Blackbird," Nishimura confirmed, "there's my student Yuta Ishii, who managed to activate the locator app on his spare cell phone as soon as they were taken hostage and has been providing us with a location as they've been moving the ambulance, and text updates on their actions. The policeman they took is one Sergeant Seiryu Kobayashi, who went with them when they left the hospital. They were betrayed by Inspector Aozuki, who was apparently working with the Russians."

The Captain nodded with some admiration. "Smart boy... he may have just saved both their lives, along with Blackbird... searching the entire cargo ship would have probably been a near impossible task. Do we have a positive ID?"

A short young man stepped forward and nodded. He was slight in build; probably the last person one would expect from a soldier, and had the look of a computer nerd, but the stripes on his shoulder marked him as an O-3 UASO*. "Dr. Nishimura was able to give us Ishii-san's cell number, and we've been able to lock in on its location using both the cell towers and surveillance assets. Your target's this crate, MAERSK, dark grey, container# Papa-Sierra-Lima-Uniform-30009-25-Gato-1, located fore side bay, second row, third column between the secondary decks."

* Unmanned Airborne Surveillance Operator (Captain Rank)

So, you're Sparrow , the Captain, said to himself before turning back to McKnight. "So, what's the next step?"

"So, here's what we're dealing with," McKnight offered, pulling up a tablet. "Our target's a Russian Sevmorput-class bulk-cargo ship. She's some 260 meters long, 32 meters wide, 18 meters deep. She's driven by a nuclear-powered turbine, max speed 20 knots." He paused to point out key features on the diagram as the officers leaned in with their own thoughts. "Derrick assembly in the middle has two cranes for servicing the holds, two cooling towers in the front half of the ship, forecastle in the rear has C&C and crew quarters."

McKnight then pulled the Wolf Fang Captain and the senior officers to a makeshift map table and traced a route that started at the Yokohama Bay, following the east coastline of Japan north along continental waters until it passed between the strait between the Hokkaido and Honshu Islands. From there, the route went west-northwest, making a straight line to Vladivostok. "She'll be in international waters the entire last leg here," he indicated, tracing his finger on the last long leg, "we'll have to wait until she leaves this point," he indicated a section just past the continental shelf, "as that's where other shipping lanes cross, but once she's out past this point, it's open season."

"That's kind of far out there," the Wolf Fang Captain observed. "Do your birds have that kind of range?"

"It's a stretch," McKnight admitted. "That's why our jump-off point will be Misawa Air Base. That's the northern-most joint USAF/JASDF airbase able to support an operation like this at the tip of the Honshu Island and it'll give us the most range to work with. We'll have a ninety-minute window at combat tempo. SOAR* will tank us when we start, then when we exfil for the return flight back to Misawa."

* United States Army 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)

How the hell'd you swing that, the Captain wanted to ask, but decided not to press his good fortune. CT* missions were already high-risk as it was; doing one at open seas was something that was normally done by nation-state level forces, with the resources like naval ships standing by for refueling. Part of him wondered if they were punching above their weight on this one, but the alternative was leaving the little lady in the hands of the Russians, and that wasn't any kind of choice for an honorable man. If that meant getting a little help from the big boys for this one, then so be it. "From what I can tell, we've got three objectives... C&C, engine room, and hostages."

* counter-terrorism

"Agreed," McKnight nodded. "C&C has to go first; we can't let any kind of communication go out. If they're able to call for help, our odds go way up. We're also going to need to SCRAM* that reactor; the last thing we need is some patriotic Russkie thinking he's going to go down a hero by taking us all with him by trying to start a runaway."

* Safety Control Rod Axe Man, termed by Enrico Fermi for an emergency nuclear reactor shutdown

"What about the hostages?" Nishimura interjected. "What's stopping them from killing them the moment we board?"

"They won't touch Blackbird," McKnight assured. "We've intercepted comm chatter coming in; the Russkies are calling this operation from back to Moscow. Blackbird's been designated HVT* by none other than their Central Committee; if they so much as touch a hair on her head, they can count on every last one of their families getting a one-way ticket to the Gulags. As for Ishii-san and Kobayashi-san, we have non-lethal means to deal with these kinds of situations."

* High Value Target

That explains how they were able to deploy GRU Spetsnaz so quickly, the Wolf Fang Captain belatedly realized... someone very high on the totem pole wants this to happen. Might also explain how McKnight was able to get USSOCOM* onboard... clearly the big boys in the geopolitical arena got wind of what's going on and both sides are jockeying to be on the right side when the dust settles.

* United States Special Operations Command

"OK then, three teams... based on capacity and who we've got to bring back..." he turned the Wolf Fang squad. "Scott, you're Alpha; C&C... Nichols, you're Bravo; engine room... Mitchell, you're Charlie; hostages... ten per squad. I'll join Charlie, McKnight since you've got nuke experience in your package, if you could hookup with Bravo, we'd be appreciative. Charlie, we're acting QRF* if anything pops up... we'll also be needing to bring in the Doc, once Alpha and Bravo call secure... Doc's our specialist for this mission... his job will be to evaluate Blackbird and have her medically ready for transport. The three of you... pick your teams... " The groups split up; the team leaders would pick, based on individuals with past experiences with counter-terrorism, fast-roping, and coordinated close-quarters rapid assault tactics. Those who's specialties were jungle or desert warfare would likely be missing out on this one.

* Quick Response Force

____________________________________________________________________________________

Boris and his partners were finally relieved to be at sea. Stubborn old goat and his excuses... A large part of this was his team's fault of course, he knew... his partners had forgotten the first rule of field operations; nothing goes as planned, and they panicked when they saw the policeman. But what's done is done... and at least now, they were safely out of Japan. He did wonder why Ivanov insisted that the hostages weren't to be harmed... OK, the boy... he understood... his medical expertise could be useful... but policemen were almost always going to be trouble... first chance he got, he would probably try something foolish... Did Ivanov really think the Japanese would try anything if something were to happen to a mere policeman...? Surely, they wouldn't do anything so brazen as send mercenaries for something so minor...

For now, Boris went back down to the lower hold, where he took some comfort among the company of his countrymen. Since they weren't sailors, none of them had duties on the ship, so they mostly held off the boredom with exercise and dice and card games. Looking out of one of the portals, he looked over the horizon at the ominous cloud cover... so he was right about the weather at least... well, best get to secure quarters, he thought... he didn't know if he was susceptible to sea-sickness, but the last thing he needed now was the capper of all failures to this mission and soil what was left of his dignity by heaving his stomach contents in front of his men.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Misawa Air Base was located in the Aomori prefecture along the north central part of Honshu Island, and known as the "Tip of the Spear" for the Pacific Air Forces, and home for the 35th Fighter Wing, hosting both Japanese and American troops, with nearly 6000 men serving.

The Wolf Fang squad assembled in one of the many hangars, along with the assembled helicopters as they were unloaded from transport planes, and prepped for flight by crew chiefs. Squad members gave their weaponry final checks. The Wolf Fang Captain and McKnight were on the phone with Japanese Coast Guard, who were monitoring the Kuzma Minin via the ship's AIS*... so far so good... still on course, according to the Coast Guard. They were heading through the strait, so any deviation from their course would have been immediately noticeable, so they doubted that any funny business would be tried here, but they wanted to make sure they would have eyes on target before they reached the continental break point.

* Automatic Identification System; required on all ships greater than 300tons for collision avoidance

As the hours drifted by and the Kuzma Minin finally got through the strait, the MH-60Ms were giving their final checklists, Sparrow got his workstations prepped and his drone squadron launched and headed towards their target's expected course. McKnight and the Wolf Fang Captain gave each other a knowing look that both recognized... see you when I see you... it was the look every soldier gave a comrade with the expectation of coming back, knowing full well, there was always that lingering chance that this time... it might not happen...

Upon receiving clearance from the tower, the men surged forward from the hangar, filling the choppers, pre-arranged assigned order, then one-by-one, the six of them headed northwest in formation. They flew fairly high up in the night sky; for now, there was no need for the risk of low-level flying as they were over peaceful Japan, and there was no need to wake the neighborhood. As they got to the coast, the lead pilot called out "Feet wet..." announcing they were over ocean and to drop down to 500 feet.

"Sparrow, Command, confirm target... report all contacts..." the Captain ordered.

"Command, Sparrow... target acquired, right where she's supposed to be, contact Victor Alpha One, she's in the lane... course bearing ... two-nine-three, speed one-three knots... looking like she's head'n into choppy weather sirs..."

____________________________________________________________________________________

Mitsuha looked at the cargo ship display with intense interest, as Tsuyoshi nodded with approval. "So, what do you think? Pretty impressive, eh? This software has the potential to expand to all sorts of applications... powerplants, manufacture automation, any place where feedback loops can be set up to provide inputs to the computer."

"Well, I guess it is impressive, Oniichan... but... won't it put a lot of people out of work...? I mean... you said... your software is going to replace a crew of 20-30 people with only 5-8?" Mitsuha muttered as she looked at the tablet.

"Well, that's true about any kind of automation or future technology to some degree, Mitsuha," Tsuyoshi admitted. "But you have to consider the advantages as well. The kind of work we're talking about is really tedious, and in many cases, extremely dangerous. It's no different than how we use computer control systems for pretty much the entirety for running our entire national powerplant grid, or any given reactor. This software just takes that to the next level."

"I... I supposed..." Mitsuha conceded. She looked at the tablet again and then shuddered. Something about the display felt... off... was this thing showing a... moving ship...? She could almost feel like the cargo ship was moving under power... she knew Tsuyoshi-oniichan... precision fanatic that he was would put in every little conceivable detail, like the model kits and role-playing games of his youth, but this...? You even included the names and ranks of individual sailors to crew the ship... why would you do that... for a ship that doesn't even exist? And why are there soldiers on this ship... oh right... you said to repel pirate boardings... but what does that have to do with testing a computer program...?

"Mitsuha... are you alright?" her mother asked, noting that Mitsuha had gone pale and hadn't moved, fixated on Tsuyoshi's work tablet.

Mitsuha's breathing became unsteady as she shook her head... in her mind, she could see the ship sailing across Yokohama Bay... she could hear the sailors barking orders... soldiers complaining about seasickness... "It's... it's not right..." she whispered, almost to herself. She looked around her house, and the faces of her family, then back at the tablet. "This... this is all wrong..."

"Mitsuha, maybe... you're taking this too seriously..." Tsuyoshi reassured her, taking the tablet back. "It's just a demo... I mean... you're right... maybe we should consider the societal impact before implementing it wide scale after all..."

"Mitsuha..." her mother came up with a worried expression to comfort her as her father joined her. "You're not feeling well... you've been working so hard... "

Mitsuha stared at her parents and Tsuyoshi for a few seconds, sighed and nodded. Maybe... that was it... she was letting Tsuyoshi-oniichan's little Flash animation trigger her lingering doubts. It's not like she was really in some Russian cargo ship, surrounded by enemy soldiers, right...? That would have been... absurd... Surely... this was reality here... safe with her family... where it was all right with the world.

____________________________________________________________________________________

On board the Kuzma Minin, Captain Yablokov watched carefully as the ship entered the narrow strait between the Honshu and Hokkaido islands. This was the most crowded part of the journey, as multiple shipping lanes crisscrossed between the two large land masses, carrying cargo and passengers between them. Navigating here required some degree of skill and experience, so even though they had made the trips many times, he was on hand to make sure nothing went wrong. Once they cleared the continental shelf, they made the necessary course corrections, taking the ship out towards open waters.

"Come about starboard... set course two-nine-three... ahead standard," Yablokov ordered.

"Course two-nine-three confirmed," the helm confirmed, "speed, thirteen knots."

Yablokov looked towards the horizon with his binoculars and grimaced. The radar showing the weather patterns didn't look any better. Damn the SVR and their stupidity... if it weren't for their gun-happy antics... we could have left at our normal scheduled time, and we'd be looking at clear skies... but no... and for what... some fool's errand of harvesting a magical princess... yeah right... such foolishness... he shook his head.

"Captain, message on the VLF...*" the radio operator called out.

* Very Low Frequency - 3 kHz to 30 kHz, allows up to 40 meters penetration into sea water, used for military communications with submarines

Yablokov took the sheet; messages of this type were short and used code words due to their limited bandwidth, and for added security. "Helm... new course... two-two-one... drop to one-third..."

The helm officer paused for a moment, then nodded, "New course, two-two-one, dropping to one-zero knots."

Yablokov then announced, "Bridge lookouts, stand by to starboard for and have crew stations on stand-by..."

____________________________________________________________________________________

Oh shit...! The young Captain hit the communicator urgently, "Command, Sparrow, new contact... designate contact Victor Alpha Four... submerged contact bearing two-two-one, twenty kilometers and closing, estimate speed, sixteen knots."

"Sparrow, Command, can you ID?" the Captain interrogated.

"Designate Victor Alpha Four matches the profile of an Akula class attack submarine... estimate contact with Victor Alpha One in forty minutes..."

"Captain, if they make it to that sub, we will never see her again," McKnight warned. "That sub can have her hundreds of klicks away and we won't have a chance in hell of ever finding her."

"Sirs, reminding the Colonel..." the first helicopter pilot countered. "The Akula packs SA-N-10 on her sails, never mind what she can do to the cargo ship, or the extra troops she's probably carrying. We're packing flares and jammers but ain't no guarantee against an SA-10."

"Get me team leaders on the line," the Captain ordered. After a pause for confirmation, he continued. "This is Command-Actual... mission's just hit a snag... looks like the Russkies decided to bring in the big guns... this mission just might have gotten a whole lot nastier than we originally promised... if we go, we could find ourselves outnumbered or even possibly lose a bird... but if we abort... we lose Blackbird and the hostages for good. So, guys... it's gut-check time... we went into this mission, up front saying this was volunteer-only. So, I want a go, no-go call from all teams... call it..."

There was a tense few seconds across all six helicopters as the senior officers scanned the faces of their men, looking for signs of doubt and hesitation. Nerves were always present, as was the adrenaline that surged in anticipation before battle. Each man searched within themselves... could they face themselves... or each other if they were the one to pull out...? One by one, then as a group, they nodded.

"Alpha team... calls go," Scott replied.

"Bravo says go..." Nichols confirmed.

"Charlie team is a go," Mitchell acknowledged.

The Captain paused for a moment, closed his eyes for a brief, silent prayer. "Sparrow... start the clock... all teams... code word Blackbird... execute, execute, execute...!" Upon command, all six MH-60Ms leaned forward into the night, dropped to nap-of-the-Earth and headed into the storm.