Act 1, Chapter 1—Operation Diving Pelican:

March 1st, 2022, the ParaCom operatives were deployed via a Vertical Take-Off and Landing troop transport aircraft. Their commander, Main Officer Arnold Bradley, instructed the squad, “The operation is taking place in the West Coast of the continental US. Paranormal activity has been reported and eyewitnesses reported abductions during the assault. Because there are no civilians, this mission is a search and destroy one for any paranormal activity.” The troop transport landed, allowing the squadron to exit to begin the search and destroy mission against the paranormal.

Though a beach would be relaxing during daytime, the time was of the witching hour, when the paranormal was at peak activity. Sea creatures might rise from the tides. Monsters are definitely on the prowl. Fortunately, the lifeguard tower was nearby and it could prove a very helpful asset. Stores by the beach can provide urban combat and locations of the supernatural enemies. A pier also provided an area to explore. Though it theoretically would have been crawling with the paranormal, the team would have to search and destroy them systematically.

-

William gripped his sleek Pump Action Shotgun tightly. He wasn't religious, so he didn't have to pray. As the large door lowered to the floor, he set foot on the yellow sand, shining in the moonlight. "Save it for the enemy, Gath..." Looking over the battlefield, it was fairly empty around the drop ship. "I'm going up the tower. You with me, Dilara?" Pointing at the top of the tower with the back end of his Shot-gun.

Xavier cautiously scanned the air as he stepped out the aircraft, looking through via scope of the impressive, and beautiful bolt-action they gave him, blocking out Goliath's cocky tone and ranting. Scoping out the area, Otieno looked over at the tower where William pointed at, mentally noting how it should give a nice overview of the area as he says to his team mate, "Going with ya Will, hope you don't mind the company."

Just as Xavier and William were ready to approach the tower, both could notice from a distance that ghouls were near the tower. They were carrying automatic crossbows as their primary weapon. The ghouls were not aware of the operatives' presence and can be either become victims of a sneak attack or assaulted directly. The ghouls looked hideous, but since they were light infantry, they could be taken out fairly easily compared to their cohorts.

"Shhh, shhh." Will pointed a finger at the ghouls silently. Crouching low, he moved quietly and slowly, pointing at his grenade. "If I can't kill them, I have a nade as backup...I think I'm gonna go in. If one of them spots me, put one inbetween the eyes, mate." He whispered to Xavier. William took out a sleek, black combat knife in his other hand, holding it backwards. He crouched there, not sure what to do.

"I'm going in."
He snuck up to an isolated ghoul, slowly and carefully, preparing a knife kill. Sneaking up behind him, he attempted a stab to the neck. His back was to the towers wooden wall, providing cover and avoiding LoS with other enemies.

William's blade made contact with the ghoul. He directly severed neural connection from the head to the rest of the body, causing the ghoul to drop. Surprisingly, the crossbow shattered into fragments once the user took a dirt nap. Even more surprisingly was that the shattering was noiseless.

The sneak attack was a success! The other ghouls had not noticed the assailant. In fact, the ghouls carried along in their patrol. The path to the tower was secure for now. Xavier can ascend the tower if he pleases.

-

Charles walked behind Lazar and Goliath, making sure nothing came up from the rear. Without his visor down from the trip in the transport he he decided to pull it down just enough so his eyes where looking through the bottom. Now he saw the figures walking in front of him in 30 different ways, but he quickly settled on heat detection as it proved to be one of the most reliable. Then again this wasn't normal war... and it seemed like Charlie was telling himself that more and more each day. He took a cigarette out from the pack in his pack pocket, quickly lighting it with the small flame that shot out his fingertip. Perfecting this technique without blowing yourself up as you could imagine was hard, and the draw back was he could never really produce much flame at a time, and at best he could give a good little blast before he was left with nothing for hours.

From the corner of the visor his ember glowed with intensity, and Charles listened carefully as they tread across the sand. He lifted his Uzi and looked around there rear, the day looked to be rather uneventful. He didn't mind.

Xavier nodded to William, watching as he did so, his scope on the one William wasn't going for as the blade in his hand ended the first one. Nodding his thanks, he slowly made his way inside the tower, never once letting his rifle fall off the pack of ghouls just in case he was spotted. He slowly made his way up the ramp, hoping it doesn't creak, or squeak with no loose floorboard that would give away his shot as he whispered into his earpiece to inform Bradley and the rest of his unit as he made his way to the top, "Sir I got x-rays right in front of me, taking fire on one of them now." He zeroed in on the one in the middle, aiming at his head, taking in a deep breathe before slowly squeezing the trigger.

After gathering the weapon fragments, Will heard Xavier. "I'll back you up, mate." William whispered through his earpiece. Sneaking to the entrance to the tower and the start of the ramp, Will took out his silenced pistol, aiming. If a single one of them spotted his teammate, he'd shoot to kill. He kept his hand steady, breathed slowly and kept his pistol at head-level of the ghouls. This had better work or the stealth take-over of the tower would be a failure.

"Going on Overwatch."

-

Xavier landed a bullet right between the eyes of the ghoul, which as a result made the enemy's head explode like a ripe watermelon. William's overwatch proved to be very useful as exposing the enemy for a shot with blasting off an approaching ghoul's jaw. Dilara also would notice that the ghouls had a particular physiology as well as the opportunity to finish off the jaw-less ghoul. If she and her teammates recover the best corpses, it would provide for a good autopsy.

Goliath's thrashing around provided a good lure for two ghouls to come to their direction. The noise was for sure enough to attract them. The crossbows were readied and they fired bolts with some sort of energy surrounding the bolts. Fortunately, the ghouls were not accurate and they missed the party.

-

"We've already perfected a way to kill them. A bullet through the head." William got up as there weren't that many ghouls left inside the tower. "I'm going out to help the two down there." Pumping his pump-action shotgun, Attaching a rope to the end of the tower, he rappelled down while the ghouls were distracted. Running up near the ghouls and hiding behind a small rock that made him crouch. Aiming, he took a shot at the distracted ghoul.

Dilara is now free to recover bodies as she pleases, due to her finishing off the monster. Lazar and Goliath were suppressing and slaughtering the ghouls with rapid fire, with the ghoul in the middle getting the most messy of treatment. Running and gunning, William's shotgun blast connected to the ghoul on the right The last remaining ghoul was in an animal-like panic, running off and taking cover. It also utilized suppressing blind fire to further prolong its life. The ParaCom troopers were showing great promise.

-

While his team mates fired upon the now-alerted ghouls, Xavier made is way to the main lookout point of the tower, squatting now in low cover as he zoomed over to any ghouls he can spot when he saw Lazar run after a retreating ghoul, quickly aiming at the running ghoul's knee as he muttered to himself before taking a deep breath to study his aim, "Get ready for a cripple meat-monkey doc." With that said, Kenya's favorite sniper slowly squeezed the trigger, the scope zoomed in on his victim's knee.

-

While Xavier's round hit the ghoul right on the knee, Lazar and Goliath's firing patterns were enough to send the crossbow flying ten meters or over thirty feet away from the ghoul. Surprisingly, the weapon remained intact from the firepower. William and Charles were ready to capture the creature, much to Dilara's delight. The team would capture one disarmed, crippled, and alive! If the capture goes through, the mission would be accomplished!