Per 
“Beautiful day out, isn’t it Carl?” Jackson leaned back in the passenger side seat of the semi-truck. Staring out of the window, looking at the swirling grey clouds that loomed over the grassy countryside.
“You got a weird as hell description of what a beautiful day is supposed to be,” Carl quickly averted his eyes off the road, and out the driver’s side window. “Let’s just hope it stays clear and calm like this, I hate driving in the rain.”
“What? You soft Americans can’t handle a little rain?” Jackson chuckled, his crooked smile turning into a wide grin.
“Ah, screw you Jac-” Carl was abruptly cut off by an alarming boom. The sound of their semi-truck tires. The truck swirls and sways as Carl tries to regain control of the loss vehicle.
“What the hell?” Carl quickly pulled the truck off to the side of the road.
“I thought I told you to check over the tires before we headed out!” Carl gave Jackson a nasty glare as his face stretched up and tightened.
“I did check them over before we left!” Jack replied angrily. “They all were fine, almost new looking.” His tone was stiff and annoyed as they started to get out of the truck. “Call Mr. Fairglad and tell him we’ll be late, I’ll go check to see what the damage is.” Jackson made his way to the side of the truck.
“Huh? How is this possible?” His face shows nothing but confusion and annoyance, smelling the horrible scent of burnt rubber. All of the tires appeared to have massive tears, and rips in them. Jackson started walking to the back of the Semi as he scanned the area.
There, laying on the ground a just a few meters away from the back of the truck, set up on along the middle of the dry cracked pavement hardly visible to the naked eye were large tire spikes.
“The hell! Carl! Get ahold of security!” Jackson started to run to the front of the truck.
“I can’t! There isn’t any service out here….” Carl sounded panicked as he constantly tried to dial up Mr. Zairglad’s number.
Mobile Task Force Epsilon-6 stood in the back of their transport. The pilot of the helicopter looked backed to Commander Rose.
“We got about 2 minutes before we get to our destination, Commander.”
“Thanks, Kyle.” Rose gave the pilot a nod and then quickly turned her head away, trying to hide it. The helicopter made its way over the barren grasslands of the countryside, tearing through the grey stained clouds that threatened rain upon the land.
“Hey Cadet, why you shaking? This mission will be pissed easy.” Senior Officer Romaries playfully punched the Cadet’s shoulder. “Recon reported we only got two targets, and both are unarmed Micky D's employees”
“Well, this is my first mission with Epsilon-6, ma’am. I don’t have much field experience so I’m a bit scared to think I could botch the entire operation.” Samuel replied with while rubbing the spot where Romaries punched them.
“Ah chin up soldier, Romaries’ got a point. Command got reliable information that there is indeed only two MC&D employees. A team of field agents probably could have handled this mission.” Lieutenant Shane chuckled and looked the cadet up and down quickly before looking at Romaries.
“Say, Cadet, didn’t you transfer from Site Security?” Romaries looked over to Samuel.
“Yes, but Site-11 never had a breach. While I was there, we had an Insurgency raid once but they didn’t get far. I never saw any of the action.”
“All right, quit the yapping. Squad, we’re about 30 seconds out.” Rose stated as a Large White Semi-Truck was visible in the distance. “Set us down 20 meters from that truck Kyle”
“Aye Commander, will do” Kyle started to descend down toward the grassland; a thin fog creeping up towards the truck could be seen.
“Any of you hear the ghost-stories of the 1st Black-Ops unit?” Shane wearily asked as they descended.
“Hey Lieutenant what did I just say?” Commander Rose looked to him with a slight smirk.
“Sorry, Commander,” Shane replied with. “I just really gotta know. A few guys were talking about them back at base as if they were ghosts or something.”
“Well, we’ll have plenty of time for ghost stories back at Area 14.” Rose replied as the helicopter touched down 15 meters away from the Semi-Truck. “Stay safe, Kyle.” Rose said to the pilot of the helicopter with a sincere smile before she departed.
“Let’s go, Sam.” Shane would say as he hopped out of the helicopter and began to slowly move towards the truck.
“Yes, Sir.” Samuel didn’t hesitate following the Lieutenant. The thin fog covering the grassland was sweeping towards the road.
“I’ll keep watch over that hill, Commander!” Romaries stated as she pointed down the road.
“Sounds good to me, Romaries,” Rose said, and gave a quick nod. “Hey Shane, you and the cadet secure that truck out of hostiles!” Rose shouted to the squad as she made her away from the transport.
Shane reached the semi-truck and prepared to confront the MC&D employees at the front of the truck. The two men stared at Shane and Samuel as they approached them with weapons drawn.
The four of them all could hear the air screaming as the whistle of a mortar shell made its way toward them.
“GET TO COVER!” Shane shouted as he worriedly looked at Samuel.
Shane and Samuel quickly dove under the truck just barely avoiding the impact.
The rest of MTF Epsilon-6 dove behind any immediate cover. Several shells bombard on their location. A majority hitting the front of the truck.
“The hell is happening Lieutenant?” Samuel leaned low into the ground trying to aim his rifle from the underbelly of the truck.
“The hell you think is happening Cadet, we’re under artillery fire!” Shame hastily replied as he tried to spot where the bombardment was happening.
“Commander we got serval GOC operatives on the hill half a klick southwest” Romaries looked through the scope of her rifle as she leaned behind the helicopter. “With this damn fog rolling in I’m unable to see them clearly. I don’t have a clear shot on any of them”
Commander Rose reached for her radio. “Command we’re trapped under artillery fire, calling in for drone strike 0.5 klicks southwest of this location.”
Nothing but static came from the radio.
“Damn it we’re alone out here! Romaries, Can you see Shane and Samuel?” Rose tried to spot the truck looking through the fog.
“Negative Commander, I can hardly make out that shipment truck” Romeries replied firing off three round bursts where the GOC operatives were seen.
The artillery strikes went on for several minutes eventually stopping after the fog became so thick no one could see a few meters in front of them.
Shane and Samuel laid under the truck mostly unharmed from the bombardment letting the truck take in most of the shrapnel. Rose and Romaries laid behind the safety of their transport. Out of range of most the explosion.
There was an eerie silence as the members of Epsilon-6 stared into the fog waiting for their opponents to makes themselves known. All of them listening for the sounds of footsteps. The minutes past. Yet, no one heard anything. The only sounds were the crackling of flames and smell of boiling plastic as part of the semi-truck burned.
Samuel kept a tight hold on to his rifle digging his fingernails into the grip Shane could see he was shaking.
“Psst, calm down Cadet” Shane whispered into his ear.
Samuel gave a quick nod as best he cold trapped under the wreckage of a semi. Shane motioned for him to crawl out.
Samuel and Shane slowly made their way out from under the wreckage quickly taking cover behind the truck.
Shane spoke into his headset. “Romaries? Commander? You two okay?”
“We’re here Shane, alive and well behind the transport. Romaries spotted multiple GOC operatives half a klick southwest. Romaries and I are making our way to the truck stay alert” Rose replied.
“Copy that commander.” Shane motioned for Samuel to take a stance towards the southwest of the truck.
Romaries and Rose slowly made their way through the white blanket of fog that covered itself around the planes.
The Squad took a defensive stance within part of the wreckage of the truck keeping eyes out towards the southwest. The fog inching itself away from the truck. Slowly the area started to clear up.
As the fog finally faded Epsilon-6 could see that just 10 meters away seven GOC operatives laid face first on the asphalt. A burning hole could be seen from the back of their helmets.
The squad stared at the corpses with nothing short of pure confusion.
Romaries slowly made her way over to the bodies. Kneeling down at the closest one to them. “It has to be a .50 caliber round. Look at the hole in this helmet.” Romaries stated her tone showed she was clearly conflicted and confused.
The rest of Epsilon-6 made their way over examining the deceased before them.
“These guys took a single round to the back of the head and the round punched through their helmets and all the way through their heads.” Shane said as he looked at the other members of the squad. “They must have died instantly.”
“Okay, this is definitely strange. This one has some kind of 5.56 round. Yet, that one over there has a .45 ACP round in them and another had a 7.62 bullet hole in their head.” Rose informed them. “Someone check their weapons!”
“All of them have 7.62 rifles commander.” Romaries picked up some of the GOC’s firearms.
“Yeah, but you all see these singe marks right? These bullets are incendiary rounds. However, I never heard the sound of them being fired.” Samuel stated as he stood up wincing in pain.
He quickly held his arm which appears to have been hit by shrapnel.
“Whoa, you okay their Cadet?” Shane grabbed a first aid kit from his pack.
“Well let’s not discuss this for too long. We still have to complete our mission. Not to mention I don’t want to be in the open like this in case the GOC has back up.” Rose looked over her unit.
“Not to mention the Cadet needs some medical attention back at base.” Romaries said the next sentence slightly joking. “Congratulations soldier, you just got your first battle scars.”
Shane lightly chuckled as he applied bandages to Samuel’s wounds and looked him over for more wounds.
“Romaries help me look through this wreckage to see if the packages we’re after are still intact.” Rose made her way onto the back of the Semi.
Romaries didn’t hesitate following her order. she jumped up onto the back of the Semi-Truck alongside Rose. After digging through the collapsed truck and broken cases they found a few undamaged boxes of what they were looking for. They managed to pull out several unharmed packs of ‘Brian Brayer Brand Pocket Vacations’ a device MC&D had been selling for quite awhile at this point.
“Looks like quite the hall ma’am.” Shane helped Samuel stand up and began to help the commander unload the cases.
“Indeed it is, let’s get it all to the transport and prep it for evac.” Rose stated to the squad. “Bring the bodies as well! Commands gonna want to know why they just dropped dead”
“Aye Commander” The entire squad stated in unison.
Date: December 1st, 2008. 14:00 hours Approximately a day after Commander Rose Olander had an encounter with the 1st Black Ops Unit-Phantom (1st BOU-P) otherwise known as Fireteam Phantom.
Interviewer: John Alexandrov
Interviewed: Commander Rose Olander
Foreword: Follow Incident: [Close Call] Commander Rose Olander was brought in for standard debrief protocol. With Agent Alexandrov interviewing her.
<Begin Log, December 1st, 2008. 14:00>
John: “Good afternoon Commander Rose, please take a seat.”
Rose: “What is this about Alexandrov? You called me in saying you had questions about my report?”
John: “More like Nine has ordered me to question you about it”
Rose: “But why? It was a simple raid on a transport truck from Mick D. The only strange thing was the dead GOC operatives.”
John: “The dead operatives are the reason as to why you’re here. Nine wants to know why a unit of Global Occult Coalition would just suddenly drop dead.”
Rose: “I wondered what killed them… They all had different caliber holes in their heads and the bullets went all the way through but they weren’t all .50 caliber rounds, each of the deceased operatives had wounds with various caliber sizes.”
John: “What do you think killed them, Commander Rose?”
Rose: “well..obviously the bullet wounds, but I assume you mean who shot them?”
John slowly nods as to answer Rose’s question.
Rose: “I don’t have the slightest idea.”
John: “You have to have a guess or idea as to who pulled the trigger and killed them, Rose.”
Rose sighs before she begins speaking.
Rose: “Shane brought up this so-called ghost unit. The 1st Black Ops Unit-Phantom I believe it’s called. I never thought it was real. I still don’t believe it is. I’ve only heard ghost stories about them. But the dead GOC operatives had traits fitting to the stories of the unit.”
John: “And what traits are those Commander?”
Rose: “No sound of a gun being fired. No muzzle flash. Bullets going straight through a helmet and a person’s entire head even though it’s not a .50 caliber round. An attack in the dead of night.”
John: “So you believe this unit is to blame for the deaths of the GOC operatives?”
Rose: “There’s no longer a doubt in my mind that it wasn’t them. Although I wonder why they wanted to attack some lowly GOC operatives after a truck from Mick D.”
John: “What do you think they were near there for?”
Rose: “I doubt it was for the GOC grunts. Were they on an operation to kill an HVT for the O5’s?”
John: “That’s classified”
Rose: “Of course… I should’ve expected that. The O5’s do so love their secrets.”
John: “Do you believe the unit is real or fake Miss Olander?”
Rose: “I have no clue but I can say something for certain.”
John: “And that is?”
Rose: “Epsilon-11 the Nine-Tailed Fox, believe they’re real without a doubt.”
John: “And how do you know that Commander?”
Rose: “I used to train with them. They’re dedicated to the foundation but they love their stories.”
John: “Tell me one.”
Rose: “Well…” Commander Rose takes a moment before speaking again. “It’s said that the unit’s a Fireteam that handles assassinations for the highest members of the Foundation. People like THE Administrator, the leader of the O5’s aka Head Overseer O5-X and a few others.”
The sound of the intercom makes both people in the interrogation room look over as O5-9 turns on the intercom.
Nine: “I do believe you’re a level 4, correct Commander?”
Rose: “T-That’s right sir.”
Nine: “She has the proper clearance to know about the Administrator, Alexandrov.”
John: “Understood sir.”
Rose: “Shall I continue?”
Nine: “Please do.”
Rose: “I was in a training with a regiment of E-11 troops and they told me a tale of the unit. It’s said they’re the best of the best. Aces of Aces. They say they were handpicked from the best Delta-Force operatives ever. It’s said that the guys have no pasts or futures and they only exist to serve and please the Admin and O5-X. They’re literal GHOSTS. Their pasts were destroyed from history by a secret group in the foundation. They say that a secret group is the Foundation’s secret Black Ops Command. Codenamed: GRM. Standing for Ghost Raids Management.”
Nine: “Get to the stories Commander!”
Rose: “Fine!..” She takes a moment and then begins again. “Back in 2001, the regiment of E-11 troops were going through the middle of a forest for a regular patrol. I was with them that day and we happened to stumble upon a group of bodies fitting the MO of the Fireteam.”
John: “The MO?”
Rose: “Completely silent kills that happened in a flash without giving the enemy time to blink. No sound of a gun being fired. No muzzle flash. Bullets going straight through a helmet and a person’s entire head even though it’s not a .50 caliber round. An attack in the dead of night.”
John: “Continue.”
Rose: “The bodies were so fresh that blood was still dripping from the bodies. They were probably about 30 feet ahead of us but we never heard a single scream or round fired. It was as if they were struck by lightning or something! They couldn’t react to the Fireteams attacks.”
John: “So what?”
Rose: “They bore the marks of the unit. And some of the bodies had been brutally killed. Multiple bodies were disemboweled while others only had their throats slit.”
John: “What group were these men with?”
Rose: “The GOC and Chaos Insurgency.”
John: “Understood. Please continue.”
Rose: “While we thought we’d try and bag the bodies but these strange guys in suits approached us and told us that they were there to collect the bodies. They had this strange IA logo on their left arm. When we asked them what it stood for they said it stood for Investigative Agency. Like crime scene investigators however they worked for the foundation.”
John: “What’d they do with the bodies?”
Rose: “Collected them and took them somewhere for ‘forensics’ and ‘autopsy.’ Although I don’t buy that for a second.”
John: “Please get back to the story Commander.”
Rose: “While we decided to head up the ridge and at the top, we found a GOC base untouched and undamaged. We went and searched it and the only thing left were the bodies of the GOC operatives. Most had their throats slit but the General on the base was brutally killed.”
John: “And you believe this to be the 1st BOU-P?”
Rose: “Fireteam Phantom? Of course, I believe it! Do you know why that unit has the name PHANTOM?!”
John: “Why?”
Rose: “They say it’s because the Captain of the unit is so feared around the world he gained a nickname short for a combination of the Boogeyman and the Grim-Reaper.”
John: “And that nickname is Phantom?”
Rose: “Precisely!”
Nine: “John I believe we’ve heard enough here. Please take Commander Olander to the side room to prepare her for amnestics.”
Rose: “WHAT?! BUT WHY?! I’VE DONE NOTHING WRONG SIR!”
Closing Statement:
Interrogator Alexandrov proceeds to drag the pissed off Commander Rose into the side room where a team is waiting to administer the amnestics. After administering the amnestics Commander Rose was returned to her unit who had also had their memories wiped and they were told they had completed their mission without complications.
John Alexandrov returned to his position with Intelligence Agency and returned to his work. Currently, Fireteam Phantom was informed of the mistake and they informed the council that it’d never happen again as long as both sides watched each other's backs.
Fireteam Phantom is currently still on duty acting under orders from the Administrator and the O5 Council are now taking increased precautions to ensure another accident doesn’t occur due to a unit being too close to the AO of Fireteam Phantom’s operations.
<End Log, December 1st, 2008. 16:00>
