Private military companies, a few dozen of them exist across the globe. Most of them carry out mundane tasks; providing security, driving, or acting as bodyguards. Sometimes though they act in less overt capacities. Officially, clandestine actions are not carried out by PMCs in non permissive environments. Unofficially, everyone from governments to wealthy individuals with a grudge have contracted their services for everything from recovery to assassination.

Blackforest Tactical Solutions, a PMC several years in the making. Owned and managed by former Delta Force operator Michael Hunter. Based in New York City it operates in both domestically and overseas. Officially acting as security as contracted by the United States and other NATO members. In reality security services account for a fraction of their contracts, their primary service is clandestine operations. Handling direct action, counter terrorism, and intervention operations, including but not limited to raids, hostage rescue, and asset recovery. To mange both sides of the PMC two groups of men are employed. Six former operators who worked with Michael in the military and ten former infantrymen.

The Ranger sat at the end of a table in a boardroom overlooking his former comrades in arms. The table sat in the middle of the room and had eleven chairs. One at the head and five on each side. Lining the walls were guns; rifles, shotguns, and pistols all of them unloaded. The only loaded gun in the room, aside from the sidearms on each employee's him, was a shortbarrel Sig 556 to the Ranger's right. One gun among many, with no overt sign that it was the one loaded gun on the walls. On the wall behind the Ranger was a 60" screen.

The six men who sat in the room with him were not the only men that served with him, but they were both like-minded and of a similar caliber. Each was a former delta operator, each a mutant, and each shared the Ranger's view that your power should never be relied upon or a plan rely on it working. A mutant power is a powerful asset in battle, but the existence of adapteds could easily kill anyone relying upon a power.

"Sergei Potapoff, Russian arms dealer an' former KGB." The Ranger began as he used a small remote to bring up a picture of Sergei on the screen. Again clicking to also bring up a map of Somalia. "Currently believed t' be holed up in Somalia. He has an understandin' with several of the local clans, he gets them guns an' they let him hide there, away from the hands of US troops an' blue helmets."

Another click and several pictures appeared on the screen as well as a dot on the coast on the map. "These pictures are from forty-eight hours ago. As of now he's in a bunker three hours North of Mogadishu. We have been contracted by the Pentagon to retrieve him. The US military can't handle this because if they are discovered it could mean an international incident, we have been contracted to provide them with deniability. That said, this has to stay quiet."

The man to the Ranger's immediate left spoke up,"What is the plan to enter the country?" Charles Montgomery, a large man built much like an ox. Like the Ranger he'd been an airborne Ranger before moving over into Delta force. His mutant ability was a pair of blades he could deploy from his forearms. Call-sign: Lumberjack.

"HALO jump, an amphibious operation would mean either blowing our cover or coming ashore too far away. This was we land just inland of the bunker and move in from the west. Egress via the ocean following a distraction." Answered Thomas Blair from across the table. Thomas had not been a Ranger, he came to Delta after being a green beret. He was 6'1" and a smaller build than most men in the room. He was also the most skilled marksman among them. His mutant power allowed him to create invisible walls of force. Call-sign: Bird of Prey.

The Ranger nodded to Bird and called up a picture of an A-40 Albatros, a two-engine amphibious jet. "Whirlwind will pilot the Albatros, Sideshow will assist with overwatch."

”Just IRNV or as a gunship?” Sideshow asked. Real name, Chris Renfield, special forces operator before joining Delta force. Man of similar stature to the Ranger. His power allowed him to project images into people's minds.

Flipping through the paper in front of him, Whirlwind answers, ”No Afghani tornado this time Sideshow.” The pilot of the group, Jonas Gerhart , Airborne Ranger before becoming a Delta operator. Whirlwind can arc lightening between his hands, allowing him to wreak havoc on anything electronic or biological, but at the cost of announcing himself with thunder. ”Just fire support if needed on pickup.”

”Correct. This is a non-permissive environment an’ therefore cannot afford t’ bring ground-attack artillery t’ bear.” Ranger added before continuing with the meat of the briefing. ”The bulk of the men at the bunker are inexperienced pirates with AKMs, inaccurate an’ unable to work as a team. That said, there have been reports of Sergei keepin’ a few former Spetsnaz around. This has not been confirmed. So be ready for anythin’ goin’ in. Dragoon, this is now your operation.” As he finished, he gave a nod to a man near the end of the table.

Jonathan Wahl, a tank commander before moving into the Rangers and later passing selection to enter Delta force. The oldest of the group and for a short time the Ranger’s commanding officer. His power allowed him to alter the chemical makeup of his skin, moving carbon to the surface and hardening it to nearly diamond. This would not completely protect him from the impact of bullets or other objects, but would greatly mitigate the damage as well as completely eliminating the damage from glancing blows and low velocity strikes like from a knife. Call-sign: Dragoon.

The Ranger slid the clicker across the desk to Dragoon. He took it and stood up, advancing to the next slide, and continued the briefing. Meanwhile the Ranger rose and made his way to the back of the room, by the door. "This is a non-permissive environment and we don't want any backlash against the United States." He moved to stand beside the screen behind where the Ranger had been sitting. And used the clicker again, a string of weapons and schematics appeared on the screen. "We'll be using ComBlock weapons. AN-94, AK-101, 103, PP-19, and Saiga-12s only. This way if they look at the brass left behind or get a good look at our guns, it will look like a Spetsnaz team made the extraction." The guns all looked very similar, but each is a different caliber and serves a slightly different function. "Lets see if you guys remember your AK familiarization class."

The back door opened and the Ranger slipped out. Dragoon had it under control and he had other pressing concerns. He could follow the operation from the boardroom, seeing all that Sideshow could see and able to hear all radio chatter. In the meantime he needed to secure the transport of the firearms from one out of country warehouse to another to be picked up. They were fine to be used by his company out of country, but most of them could not be owned inside the United States as they were machine guns manufactured after 1986. This meant the import was banned and non (government) military ownership of them illegal.

Arriving at his desk he could see a flashing light on his phone. There was a message for him. He sat down and pressed a button to begin playback. It was a man's voice on the line, someone the Ranger had known from back home. Thomas Rudder, a close family friend. "...Michael, it's Thomas Rudder." He began, sounding panicked, "Please call me back, something has happened to my daughter, Jessica. I don't know who to call. She went missing. She was in Armenia at the time, but I think she's been taken across the border to Iran!" He then provided the number to call him back and the message ended.

The to-do list figuratively going out the window, the Ranger picked up his phone and dialed the number.