On the next day, Peyton woke up and put on her surplus Czech army uniform before heading to the mess hall, where she got motioned over by a Czech sergeant, towards whom she headed before siting next to them. In the mess hall, there were other Coalition personel, but no UN peacekeeper, as the base was strictly under Coalition command. Once she sat, Peyton got introduced to the Czech sergeant whom she was going to call Jan, as she didn't want to put his family's life in danger.
After the breakfast, everyone headed to the briefing room, where they were explained the daily operations. The briefing non-commissioned officer then told everyone in the room to stand at attention. The officer then told everyone to sit down before starting the briefing once a map was displayed.
"Thanks for welcoming Peyton Grady among us. She's going to stick around for one year and a half, ie from today until June 2023. But back to our mission. Today, our mission will take place in the Grey Zone. The Blue one is under both local and UN military countrol. But the Gray Zone is a dangerous place, so the UN has asked us to clear the area before they and the allied militaries can gain full control of that area so that they can reconstruct it. Our mission is to find any arms cache or bad guy in the area. But remember, we don't have to kill to be efficient and the leaders of any local smuggling ring are to be caught alive. We will apply the usual rules of engagement, since according to intel, there are around 40 bad guys in this area. During your heliborne insertion, the attack planes and the fighter planes will provide cover. After this, the helicopters will supplement the whole operation. There also will be tank support with the local militaries and UN forces will follow us, because they're forbidden any right of domestic intervention, which is to be done by local law enforcement. Any question?" the officer told everybody.
As no one replied, the briefing officer dismissed everyone. Peyton and the soldiers headed to the armory, where Peyton put her Kevlar vest on before strapping her helmet to her belt. Jan then gave Peyton a black boonie hat and a Glock-17 pistol, which Peyton took before strapping them to her carrying equipment. She also put her boonie hat on her head before following the Czech squad and their dog before heading to a US Army CH-47F Chinook, as did 2,000 other Coalition troops with CH-47s and CH-53s. Once everyone was in the helicopters, these huge machines took off and headed with several UH-60s, UH-1Ys, AH-1Zs, AH-64s and UH-1Hs as escort towards the operation zone. In the helicopter, Peyton and other Coalition troops checked their weapons and equipment before putting their helmet on their head.
At the operation zone, the heliborne troops rushed out of the helicopters before linking up with the mechanized troops tasked with providing cover. The first stages of the operation went well, until one of Jan's men heard a bullet snap on a wall next to him.
"Sniper! Take cover!" Jan yelled, prompting Peyton and the Czech soldiers to hide behind a wall.
Other Coalition troops took cover behind the tanks, before pushing towards a ruined abbey, where the shot came from. Peyton snapped a picture of a US Army M1A2 Abrams TUSK firing at the building, killing the sniper and his accomplices. Jan and his squad then took cover behind a M3A3 Bradley pushing to the abbey. The Bradley then fired its M242 Bushmaster cannon towards a destroyed wall, killing the bad guys behind it, a scene Peyton snapped on her camera. Jan and his squad then took the lead with Peyton sticking to them. Other Coalition troops then began searching the area, leaving no rock or wooden plank unturned. The more they pushed forward, the more arms cache they found.
But Jan and his men found themselves under fire, meaning they approached an important target. Letting out his radio, Jan called in an A-10C Warthog for support.
"This is Black Horse 4-5, we need a Warthog strike at grid 45W6S9E. Attack from direction 150."
"This is Tusker 6-2, we're ten seconds from target." the A-10 pilot informed.
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The Jurassic Reporter // Jurassic World and Netflix's A Christmas Prince trilogy
FanfictionEight years after being forced to bear her cousin, Peyton Grady, a former USMC combat correspondant, is now a journalist for USA Today after four years serving her country. She's currently accompanying Coalition troops monitoring the rise of UN forc...
