(C-790 stealth strategic cargo plane, “Sweden”, October 2132)

A Draco operator stood up from her seat in the cargo plane, turning to her fellow operators, or, as they like to call each other, siblings.

“Alright, here’s a repeat of our objective,” she said, looking at the holographic projection of the map below. “This airport is a mere 8km west to the enemy capital, our objective is to control the airport, so that we can land a light combined arms brigade there and take control of the capital, while the remaining forces of enter from the “Finnish” border. Speed is key. This aircraft is posing as a civilian aircraft,” said Artemis 1 “Aya”.

“The enemy won’t know we are coming. But that’s not to say they are not prepared, the airport is flanked by a 200 men strong force, and they are equipped with light anti-armour weapons. After we HALO jump in, we will guide tactical missiles fired from our staging area in the New Baltic Union Area (NBUA) to destroy them. The moment missiles are live, the remaining strike forces consisting of the 45th Airborne brigade and the Assault Pathfinders 3rd Company will insert via helicopters and together, we will seize the airport and clear the way for heavy cargo planes to land, delivering 3 light combined arms brigades.”

“Got it, Big Sis,” replied Artemis 8 “Walter”, his ghostly appearance will suggest that he is an Angel subspecies. He is their communications specialist. They all regard the leader of Squad Artemis to be like a sister figure of sorts, after all, she is the oldest.

Soon, the jump lights in the cabin turned to green. All of the 10 operators of Squad Artemis stood up, checking the oxygen levels in their jump suits. As they are jumping out at an altitude of 10,700m, there is no breathable air around them, hence making the carrying of oxygen necessary.

HALO jumping is a parachuting technique in which operators jump from a high altitude and open parachutes at a low altitude. Doing so would allow them to sneak past radar detection in principle, allowing for stealthy insertions.

The jump ramp open, and the 10 of them jumped out in the pitch-black darkness of the night, heading for their objective.

They landed at their staging area, 800m away from airport. Artemis 5 “Cameron” set up her MRAD sniper rifle, observing the military base adjacent to the airport, looking the activities of the soldiers stationed there and cross-checking it against the intel they have received prior to the mission.

The time is in the early morning, all she can see are sentries taking guard at the watchtowers. With nothing out of place, the Rein operator turned to her observer, Artemis 4 “Meari”. She is of the Inari subspecies, evident by her cat ears and other feline features. Meari too, is observing the enemy activity.

"All clear here,” she said.

“Same here,” replied Meari.

“Wait,” she said, looking into the scope of her SR-25 DMR, seeing a column of mobile surface to air missiles (SAM) batteries approaching the base in the distance. She frowned, knowing that these weapons do not belong to the unit stationed near the airport.

She reported it to Aya, who then asked Walter to relay it to command, analysing that the enemy had received reinforcements. Realising that the enemy will be entering their line of fire, Aya decided to ambush them and take them out, reporting to command her intentions.

She then started ordering her siblings, coordinating the ambush. Just as she is in the midst of planning, a pop-up appeared in her HUD. It’s the orders from command which Walter is relaying to her, using his long-range radio as a middle point.

“Artemis 1, stand down. Your orders are to guide ballistic missile strikes of the base, and confirm target destruction. You are not to engage with any hostile troops until the helicopters arrive except to prevent exposing yourselves.”

Aya rolled her eyes, replying to the transmission. “Negative sir, these SAM batteries are mobile and small targets for ballistic missiles, we can’t guarantee their destruction if we were to let them into base and use missile bombardment as planned.  If even 1 remains operational, it will be disastrous for our comrades inserting using helicopters. We are confident in destroying these batteries now, over.”

Command soon replied back, this time in a sterner tone. “Squad Artemis, follow your orders. You opening fire will jeopardise the suddenness of the operation—”

An annoyed Aya turned off her radio, she is fed up by the concerns of her superiors. To herself and her siblings, they all see it as a distrust of their capabilities, something which they feel humiliated by.

After all, they are regarded to be mankind’s finest. They had done feats that are considered legendary for the common human and Sellardraxian folks, and yet, they are still humble enough to listen to the command of ordinary people, which to them, is already a sign of respect. Angered and frustrated, Aya decided to do things their way, wanting to one-up their superiors for daring to underestimate them.

“Nanami, go as we planned, give them the boom,” she said into her radio.

“You know how much I love this, Big Sis,” said Artemis 3 “Nanami”, a Lita subspecies coquettishly as she looked at what she considers to be a piece of art: the IED she had made designed to blow the lead vehicle into a pile of smoking garbage in the blink of an eye. Next to her is Artemis 6 “Liu Zhong” and Artemis 13 “Xiao Yue”, both of the Lin subspecies, aiming their guns at the convoy.

“Big Sis, I think we should wait for command’s orders before we proceed,” said Liu Zhong, having second thoughts on the tactical viability of this decision.

“You worry too much, Big Bro,” assured Nanami with a smile, her voice dripping with mock sweetness. Being the oldest male member of Squad Artemis, Liu Zhong is regarded to be an older brother figure.

She let out a soft laugh, her flirtation laced with a dangerous edge. “Honestly, Liu Zhong, if you’re so nervous, you should just let me handle all the fun stuff. You can just stand there and look cool while I steal the show.”

Xiao Yue snickered under her breath, glancing at Liu Zhong, whose ears were turning slightly red.

“Oh, my fingers are itching!” exclaimed Nanami, holding the detonator.

The lead vehicle in the convoy soon appeared, and with the press of a button, it is enveloped in a pile of smoke.

At the rear of the convoy, Cameron and Meari sniped the drivers of the 2 rear trucks, rendering them immobile. All 3 strikes happened at the same time, so in sync as if they are all parts of a delicate mechanical clock.

The moment the convoy is rendered immobile they opened fire. Bullets, rifle grenades, suicide drones and rockets rained down on the convoy of SAM batteries below, quickly taking them out.

Artemis 11 “Maia”, an Inari subspecies, looked through the ELCAN Spectre optic on her KAC AMG machine gun, looking at the smoking bodies in her reticle.

“Too easy,” she grinned.

Just then, few consecutive low explosions are heard. The Squad Artemis operators turned around. 

To their shock, the enemy had destroyed the runway, intending to use scorched earth to prevent them from reaching making use of the airport to land troops. This means, that their objective has failed.