First Battle of Auroa

*"You will be on a battlefield full of Ghosts! But only you have that hunger! That hunger that makes you Wolves!"*- Cole D. Walker

## Chronology

### Previous

Operation KingslayerOperation Sovereign Bear

## Overview

### Outcome

Sentinel eradicated from Auroa (Scattered outposts remain)Wolves left leaderless and exhausted

## Combatants

### Allied Combatants

Ghost ReconSupported by:

* Stone's Team
* Outcasts

### Hostile Combatants

SentinelWolves

Supported by:

* Raven's Rock
* Bodark

## Commanders and leaders

### Allied Forces

Ghost Recon:* Scott Mitchell
* Nomad
* Fury (2021-2023)

Outcasts:

* Haruhi Ito
* Fury (2023-Present)
* Josiah Hill (2021-Present)

### Hostile Forces

Wonderland Cabal:* Wonderland Leader
* Michael Lomax
* Leon Fairrow (Incarcerated)
* Peter Miles (Incarcerated)

Sentinel:

* Trey Stone (KIA)
* William Gibson (until 2021)
* Maya Coleman (KIA)

Wolves:

* Cole Walker (KIA)
* Pike (Defected)
* Josiah Hill (Defected)

Bodark:

* Pyotr Bukharov (KIA)

## Strength

### Allies

Ghost Recon operatorsOutcastsHomesteaders

## Casualties and losses

### Allied losses

High number of Ghost Recon operatorsHigh number of Outcasts

### Opposition losses

Thousands of Sentinel PMCsThousands of Wolves

Thousands of Bodark soldiers

The **First Battle of Auroa** (Codenamed **Operation Greenstone)** was a military conflict involving multiple parties that engulfed the archipelago of Auroa. It occurred in the year 2021.

## Background

*Main articles:* Operation Citadel

After the Outcasts' bombing of the Skell Foundation Head Office, Jace Skell wanted to bring more security on the island, together with the help of Sentinel. As part of that deal, Lieutenant Colonel Cole D. Walker was brought in as a military advisor for Skell Technology, to further improve the combat prowess of the drones. As such, Project Omega was initiated, to develop next generation combat drones to secure peace with maximum efficiency.

However, Skell had no idea of the conspiracy that was seeding behind the curtains, with Sentinel and Walker wanting to test the drones out of boundaries. Unbeknownst to Skell, this was part of a conspiracy against the United States government, codenamed Wonderland. After the drones were limitedly tested in South America with relative success, though with reports of collateral damage, Jace Skell realized the dangers of his creations and rebelled against Walker and Sentinel. Skell disappeared and while in his absence, Walker continued his work toward his LINCHPIN project as well as world peace by force, the Wonderland. Sentinel attempted to ship out the drones abroad, but Jace Skell managed to access the Legion swarm remotely to sink the cargo vessel shipping the drones, which promptly caused the US to start investigating what was happening in the archipelago.

Fearing for the exposure of the conspiracy, CIA Deputy Director Peter Miles authorized Operation Citadel by locking down the entire archipelago under martial law to prevent the secret from going out. Ghost Recon command however wanted to send a task force of Ghosts to investigate the communications blackout, so Miles authorized Operation Greenstone in the hopes that the occupying forces will stop the Ghosts from discovering anything, and to test the newly founded Wolves.

The comms blackout on Auroa alerted the attention of the United States government, as well as college student Ralph Rager, Trey Stone's brother Theodore Stone, Theodore's sons Seymour and Ernie Stone, Peter Miles' son Dante, and Dante's friends Vince Crosby, Derek Westbrook, Clifford Moore and Kylie Lark, as well as Cole Walker's own daughters, teenage daughters, Harper (age 17) and Adelaide (age 14). Walker himself was also unaware that his daughters were suspicious of him.

### Operation Briefing

With Sentinel forces jamming most communications to the outside world, Skell resorted to desperate measures and directed the few remaining drones still under his command to sink the nearby naval cargo ship, USS Seay, in the hopes of provoking a United States military intervention as well as to prevent any drones being deployed abroad.

Unfortunately, government corruption connected to the Wonderland Conspiracy convinced the President to instead deploy a platoon of Ghosts to investigate the island.

With this, under the direction of the Central Intelligence Agency, the President was manipulated by Senator Lomax to appoint CIA Deputy Director Peter Miles to co-lead the operation. Reluctantly agreeing, Ghost Recon Commander Colonel Scott Mitchell appoints Lt. Colonel Dominic Nomad" Rubio to lead 32 men and women onto Auroa. Departing from the USS Wasp, the Ghost Platoon was divided into 4 teams (each team 8 people), arriving at the island roughly a week after Sentinel's takeover.

However, having been conducting experiments with the "Wonderland" Project, Miles and Senator Lomax grew concerned that their involvement in the conspiracy would be exposed. In response, the 2 men quietly alerted Stone and Walker, who promptly mobilized their occupying forces in anticipation of the inevitable Ghost assault. During the preparation of their assault, Walker covertly communicated with Josiah Hill, who while reluctant to join his cause initially, nevertheless kept the rest of his comrades in the dark about the matter, hoping to investigate further once they arrived on the island.

Meanwhile, former Wolves Earnestine "Succubus" Sullivan, Jack "Ozone" Holloway, Dennis "Rocket" Roper, and Noreen "Flytrap" Jacobson, having grown disillusioned with the Wonderland Conspiracy, attempted to flee Auroa and blow the whistle on the entire operation. Unfortunately, this attempt, as well as Operation Greenstone itself, would spell dire consequences not just for the Ghosts but for everyone else as well.

## Events of the operation

### Drone ambush

Due to pure coincidence, the 32-person Ghost Recon platoon arrive on Auroa at the same time as the Stone brothers and their friends' investigative expedition and the Wolf deserters' escape attempt from Auroa. Deploying in 4 Gyps helicopters, the platoon is ambushed when Sentinel deploys a swarm of Legion drones. Within minutes, all of the Ghost helicopters were brought down, with many operators dying or suffering grievous injuries. Deployed to hunt their former comrades, the Wolves start systematically eliminating the few unlucky operators that were wounded.

Ernie and Seymour Stone's investigative team also fall victim to this ambush by the Legion drones, leaving Ernie and Seymour stunned that their own uncle would try to kill them.

The Wolves and their Sentinel PMC collaborators manage to exterminate numerous survivors, including Corey “Weaver” Ward, who is personally executed by former Ghost Cole Denholm Walker, revealed to be the leader of the rogue ex-US Special Forces operators and a traitor.

Sometime during this, Josiah Hill fled to a nearby safe house where Walker awaited. Having explained his reasons for defecting, Hill readily agreed to defect, however, Walker requested that he remain with the Ghosts temporarily, hoping to convert Nomad as well.

Immediately after this, surviving Ghost Recon operator "Fury" killed Walker by blowing up his helicopter with a rocket launcher. Fury then fled the scene, miraculously managing to avoid discovery by either the Wolves or Sentinel and met up with Ralph Rager, who was part of the Stone brothers' expedition team.

### Meeting the Outcasts and Walker's death

Sometime after this, Ralph Rager and Fury met up with Haruhi Ito, leader of a resistance movement called the Outcasts. They were soon joined by Ghost Recon operator Josiah Hill, who had grown remorseful over what he'd done to his fellow Ghost Recon operators by siding with Walker, alongside Wolf deserters Dennis Roper, Jack Holloway, Noreen Jacobson and Earnestine Sullivan. The Outcasts allowed them to stay and out of gratitude, Rager, Hill, and company decided to pay it forward by assisting the Outcasts in recruiting new members and conducting sabotage operations against Sentinel and the Wolves. During this time, they managed to recruit Sentinel deserters Anna Becker and Anton Gibson, though Sentinel caught on to what was going on and retaliated by capturing and executing Sigrid Bloom, a doctor, head of Auroa's main hospital, and a close friend of Ito.

To keep from arousing suspicion from Walker, Hill feigned loyalty to Walker. Behind Walker's back, however, Hill covertly fed intelligence on Walker's activities to the Outcasts with the help of Outcast musician Jesus Morrison, who encoded the enemy intelligence in his music.

At some point, Walker himself was killed while leading the Wolves on his search-and-destroy mission against the Ghosts. Accounts vary as to how Walker died, with one version of events maintaining that Fury blew up Walker's private helicopter in a rage after executing Weaver. Another version of the events holds that Walker was killed when a joint-force of Outcasts, Wolf deserters and Ghosts stormed Walker's base at Howard Airfield and killed him there.

### Finding Erewhon

Regardless of the events surrounding Walker's death, it's generally agreed upon that Nomad and company make it to the cave, revealed to be known as “Erewhon” by its inhabitants, a network of survivalists calling themselves Homesteaders. They also discover that Ghost Recon operator “Holt” is still alive, albeit seriously injured and later revealed to be permanently out of action. After he is told about Weaver’s death, a horrified Holt realizes something bigger is afoot.

Holt then reveals to Nomad that Victor Coste, CEO of Paladin 9 Security, is on Auroa. News of this eventually reaches Seymour Stone and Ralph Rager, who decide to investigate Coste’s presence on Auroa and his reason for being on the archipelago. To be more specific, the boys wonder how Coste and Paladin 9 managed to bypass the drone swarm barrier that destroyed their helicopter, as well as that of the Ghost team.

### Operation Wormwood

Sometime after this, the Strategist, one of the leaders behind a drone project called Project CLAW, learns of a separate series of kidnappings across the Auroa archipelago, targeting both Wolves and Sentinel PMCs. Fairrow orders Walker and Stone to identify the perpetrator of the kidnappings, suspecting them to be a saboteur trying to shut down the CLAW Project and, by extension, Wonderland.

### Operation Checkmate

The Stone brothers discover that Sam Fisher of Fourth Echelon is accompanying Coste on the island. While Fisher and Coste are ostensibly working alongside Sentinel to provide logistical support, the duo are actually investigating the kidnappings of military specialists that are traced back to an individual on known as "The Strategist." Fisher, the Stone brothers, and Nomad decide to team up when it is discovered that Midas is alive and is being held by the Strategist for a top-secret program known as Project CLAW; an artificial intelligence hive mind that enables human-controlled drone swarms that can be used for military applications. After making contact with and enlisting the help of system analyst Hollie Mackenzie, entomologist Willem Van Dyke, patent legal advisor Stephanie Burgess, and former US Army general Reggie Paxton, Nomad and Fisher discover that The Strategist is Leon Fairrow, a billionaire industrialist and head of weapons manufacturing conglomerate Lomax-Fairrow. Fairrow and his partner, US Senator Michael Lomax are part of a conspiracy that involves high-ranking members of various US government agencies and private development firms to create the drones.

Fearing that Fairrow was not reliable and concerned about the kidnappings, the CIA and the Department of Defense had asked Fourth Echelon to investigate. After infiltrating Project CLAW's research facility and facing off against an array of drones, the Stone brothers confront the Strategist, who is captured by Fisher. They also find and rescue Midas, who is evacuated to the homesteaders' base to recover with fellow Ghost survivor Holt. Meanwhile, using a short window provided by Mackenzie in the drone swarm that is protecting the island, Fisher and Coste manage to evacuate onboard the C-147B *Paladin* with Fairrow in-tow and force him to testify before Congress. They hope that Fairrow's testimony will prompt the United States government to officially launch a US military invasion of Auroa to remove Sentinel from the archipelago.

The United States of America, upon learning of what has happened on Auroa, immediately launches an investigation into Sentinel's corruption. They also publicly condemn and disavow both Cole Walker and Trey Stone. News of the crackdown slowly reaches the archipelago through a hacktivist organization called DedSec, much to the relief and joy of the stranded Stone brothers and their allies.

### Hunting "the Fed"

Eventually, the Ghosts, the Stone brothers, the Wolves and Sentinel discover a mysterious individual known as “the Fed” and quickly conclude that they are responsible for the kidnappings across Auroa. Suspecting the Fed to be a saboteur seeking to shut down CLAW, the Strategist orders both Stone and Walker to track down and identify the Fed, then capture the individual for CLAW testing purposes, an order Walker and Stone disagree with; they instead intend to kill the Fed to permanently end their interference with Project CLAW and, by extension, the Wonderland Conspiracy. With help from former Ghost Recon operator turned Wolf Hank “Flycatcher” Hua, the Fed is tracked to Golem Island, revealed to be his base of operations.

The Fed is soon revealed to be Omer Caglar, a former Turkish intelligence officer and leader of a splinter group of consisting of both Outcasts and disillusioned ex-Wolves calling themselves the “Lost Children” (Turkish: *Kayıp çocuklar*).

Caglar intended to hijack control of the CLAW Project, turn it against the Strategist and, ultimately, kill both the Strategist, Walker, and Stone with it, a decision that outraged Haruhi Ito, the original creator and leader of the Outcasts.

As part of his agenda, he led an operation to kidnap various Wolves and Sentinel PMCs, intending to use them as Guinea pigs for his own twisted take on the CLAW Project, which involved creating a human-drone “Hive mind” weapon, which would be used to assassinate Fairrow, Walker and Stone in a coordinated strike.

The successful extraction of the Strategist reduces Caglar's hit-list to just two people: Walker and Stone, though Caglar is unaware that Walker was already dead by this point. The Wolf deserters, led by reformed Ghost Recon operator Josiah Hill, launch a manhunt for Caglar on Golem Island, but the search turns up empty. It’s later revealed that Caglar got wind of the Wolf manhunt looking for him and fled Golem Island beforehand, having relocated elsewhere on Auroa. The news comes across as a "deja vu" moment for both the Stone brothers and, particularly, Nomad, who remembers a manhunt for a submarine designer for the Santa Blanca cartel known as El Cerebro during a previous mission years ago, who ended up escaping unharmed.

### Operation Red Patriot

With Cole Walker dead and Project CLAW thwarted, the now-disowned Trey Stone had become the commanding officer of the occupying forces of Auroa. Several Wolf deserters revealed evidence that Trey and Cole Walker had a backup plan in the event their scheme was foiled: an "alliance of convenience" with the Russian Ultranationalist organization known as Raven's Rock in order to carry out a massive bio-weapon terrorist attack on the United States, in a bid to destroy the United States government, frame Russia for the plot, and start a Third World War.

In response, the Ghosts and their allies each launched coordinated strikes against the Bodark leadership. To make matters better for the Ghosts and their allies, they were able to kill off everyone in the Bodark-Sentinel alliance, including Trey Stone himself.

### Konni Group invades

Sometime after Trey Stone's death, the occupation force on Auroa was significantly weakened due to in-fighting amongst both the Wolves and Sentinel. The Outcasts, emboldened by the enemy civil war, went on the offensive and began launching daring attacks against Wolf and Sentinel camps across the archipelago.

Meanwhile, Ralph Rager and his comrades were celebrating the victories against Project CLAW and Red Patriot when they suddenly received alarming news: a new enemy had invaded Auroa, apparently as part of a massive operation by the Russian Federation to steal Skell Tech drones and weaponize them for acts of terrorism.

After being shown surveillance photos from both Outcasts and Homesteaders, Ralph and company were stunned and horrified to learn that their new enemy was actually one they had faced years ago in Bolivia: a Russian private military contractor known as Konni Group.