[u][b]2200 Hours[/b][/u]

The briefing room was an empty shell, or a hive of activity with projectors, maps, kit and other technical equipment lying about. Today, it was somewhere between, and Merlin had it set as he wished, set up for a briefing of the team. The island illustrated was off the coast of Algeria, near the Tunisian border, barely 2km offshore, dusty yet with a little greenery scattered across it's surface.

The aerial contours map, as well as the satellite photography illustrated the island's makeup, a sharp peak on it's northern side, with an approach on the southern side, where the satellite picture showed the make up of a small fishing village, clearly settled in by the enemy, and at the top of the hill, a demolished hermitage of some sort. Only walls of the building remained, but even on the satellite image, the sight of tarps, covers and netting could be seen, as well as a belltower and part of an old church that sat alongside a mostly-destroyed stone wall that separated the hermitage from the village below. It must have been hundreds of years old- it looked like it had been a former Medieval site; perhaps something of the Knights Hospitallier, Merlin didn't care for the History of it all but it had a history long before these men had settled in. The village was abandoned in it's entirety, and was claustrophobic, crammed in on the tiny amount of land that was at the base of the hill, and the tiny winding road that went up it's length. It was barely a footpath, but made it's way to the stone walls and remnants of the site. The northern side of the island was effectively a cliff, but one walkway went down it's side, to a small boathouse that jutted out into the crashing waves. Looking across at the individuals in the room who had come for the briefing, he began, knowing he had the lowdown on the situation to introduce to them.

"Situation is clear, lads. This is our site where they based the attack from. And from the looks of it, we've got one clear shot at it before they decide to go home, or worse, use the rest of their explosives. If this is what we're up against, then we can't take any chances." Merlin simply said, as he looked across as the team seated across the room, looking back at the board.
"I know this is coming as a shock, but from what I can tell, we're the best suited team to take this threat on, given our experience and expertise with these sort of technical issues."

"Anyway, intel suggests a presence of around 40 to 60 militants on the island, all of whom are assumed to carry small-arms of some sort. Trained to various degrees, it's a makeup of terrorists who want to bring their fuckin' Jihad to our homes. How our scans missed this is beyond me. But we know they're cosy here. Ruling out an air assault or a drone strike which would destroy all the intel we can find from this site, or a full ground assault with Support Groups, which would do the same with probably more paperwork and risk, we can conduct a surgical strike that puts us in the line of fucking fire. Hurrah."

"It maximizes our chances of finding the PETN, any intel, HVTs as well as co-ordinating fire onto the site. Some vengence too, but I'm calling it out now, that isn't our objective....if it fucking was, we'd be using meat cleavers, not suppressed weaponry. If we do this right, we can find what we're looking for, before any of it goes to ground." He added, as he looked across as his men once more, as he flicked to another slide. 
"The Algerians have not been diplomatically notified about this, mainly because our SIS doesn't enjoy telling them that there's terrorists on their turf, and that any provocation or disruptions would lead to, well, you guessed it, these bastards running to ground where we can't find them. This isn't a usual task for a regular SF team, like I said. We haven't got time, and we're on hand to make the most of this opportunity, before it slips away." Merlin said to the team on their chairs, looking over at the points on the map that he'd marked up.

"We're dividing into two. Nikolaj will take Oakley and will infiltrate the northern coast, this rocky hellhole here, using an SDV to get in undetected. You'll be Echo Black. They'll sabotage the boathouse on the northern coast, and then move up into the remains of the bell tower that sits outside of the walls, to provide overwatch using both drones and DMRs to pick away targets of interest, as well as give us a forward observation post. They'll use grapples, and various other kit to avoid the stairway upwards- a Claymore set at it's base would immobilize any runners easily. Using the Nanos*, we'll be able see into the compound, and establish what the sit rep is from there on out." 

"As for the rest of us, you'll be under my command and we'll conduct a sweep and clear on the southern side, using darkness and a RIB to hide our approach. In comparison, we are Echo White. We'll quietly infiltrate the village and thin the militant hold there, and when ready, make an assault up the hill, clearing the hermitage and the island of all hostiles and finding whatever intel we can find. Likely we're in for a treat, if the intel is right, so we need EOD on hand, and we're going to need a load that maintains itself as flexible. We are bugging out with Vulture, a MH-6 posted to our unit that is on a 10 minute call once the operation begins, and they'll take both teams out of the AO. We'll have one Reaper on standby for more firepower when we need, but we don't want to rely on it, only to hit entrenched or harder targets that we can't go around, or give us a moment of opportunity."  

"Anyway, the gist is we take them from both sides, find any actionable intelligence; manifests, plans, stores, and any remaining PETN, and put it out of action. HVT wise, we are expecting an Abdullah Faisal Ramin, a suspected planner of the attacks in Barcelona and a man on multiple inteligence agencies' watchlists, to be among the detail there. Order is shoot to kill if he's armed. If we can take him, be very, very fucking careful; as with all of them, suicide rigs are still a potential, and this man could be the same. We want to be sharp with this; we don't waste time lighting them up more than we need to, before the Algerians notice what the fuck is going on. I don't need to repeat this, but from our current situation, it suits us best to not have them know until our operation is complete and we are Oscar Mike home."

"Nikolaj, Dominique, you're using rebreathers and dive gear to make your way onto the shore, and you'll need to take silenced DMRs, alongside PDWs for this run if you want to provide overwatch. Everything silent- you're not expected to fire a round, but if you find yourself in a position where you can take shots and help us out, mid to long-range accurate firepower is the call. You know the score. For everyone else, keep it versatile, standard night run. We need firepower, but it has to be suppressed if we want to keep a low profile for our approach. We're carrying both subsonic and supersonic ammunition, for when sound suppressors come off, and IR strobes due to the night nature of this op. It's a mixture of close to mid range, so bear that in mind on your kit."

"So, I would say that it'll be a tricky one. But we have a plan and we can execute it, and so long as we work within the parameters we've got, we can do it." 

"Anyway, we deploy at 1600 Hours, tomorrow, and our plane leaves tomorrow at 1200 from here. Mission is a go from 2200 hours, and myself and the lead team will conduct the assault on the village at 0200. Get your shit together, and be ready. This is what we do best, ladies and gents. Unless you have questions, you're dismissed." Merlin added, the tall and heavily bearded SBS operator finishing distinctly, after the long brief. It had been a lot of information to take in, and even Nikolaj could tell that the infiltration work itself was going to be interesting, that was for sure. It was a difficult assault, but it was doable, and they could get what they were hunting, if they didn't run into any more traps than they could see so far. The Dane could guess Merlin had a reliability in the members of his team to get the job done, but something told Nikolaj that Merlin was going to do something fucking savage to someone again. Operations like this brought it out in him, he thought to himself. No vengence, oh of course he'd say that, but beneath the facade of a planning, careful and co-ordinated Captain, was someone who'd done some more than nasty things to a foe.

Merlin let the team go, as he looked across at Aleksandra, watching as she stood up, the lights now back on and the bareness of the room visible
"Volkov, a word. Stay here for a minute." He said to her, his voice in it's own right able to almost catch her, and pin her to turn to face the Captain, or at least, so it would come across.

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*Drone roughly the size of your palm, with a camera attached that allows for combat units to have a "peek", but without anything big- it's difficult to hear/detect. FYI, used by British forces.)