Sergei Antov strolled into the Elisaveta's Operations Room with his usual air of "business as usual". Dressed in a well tailored and expensive suit, the large Afro-Russian looked every part a first rate lawyer. A Cuban cigar was nestled between two meaty fingers of his right hand, and a wisp of smoke followed its swaying movements. The aroma of tobacco quickly overwhelmed the ship's meagre ventilation system. With a smug smirk, he nodded to each of the gathered Team Leaders in turn, who sat around a simple rectangular table made of hardened plastic. Sterile white walls gleaned with the dim light emitted by a singular LED bulb suspended from the ceiling. At the far end of the room, an empty black screen of an eighty inch LCD monitor looked on ominously. Save for the low hum of the Elisaveta's engines, all was perfectly quiet. The Team Leaders knew not to fuck with Sergei. Beneath his luxury and smugness was a trained and sophisticated killer, the same as they. In the Spetsnaz, he was called, rather unimaginatively, 'The Black Russian', and his ruthless reputation as a leader ran before him. "The Boss just called," he grunted, rather than spoke, in heavily accented english. "Its a job close to the old man's heart. Somali Pirates have struck the shipping routes again, and as usual, have captured a ship from under the noses of those useless NATO bastards." As if activated by thought alone, the monitor at the rear of the room flickered to life. A grainy image of a small brightly coloured cargo ship filled the screen. "NATO got this close, before abandoning their assistance. As you know, their policy is to let these mongrels have their way, once they're on-board a ship. For the crew, that means an average of three years in some shit hole prison, and a 50/50 rate of survival," Sergei grumbled with contempt. "Pussies, the lot of them. Afraid to dirty their hands, too afraid to take a risk... but luckily, there's always us fools, right?" The image on the monitor switched to an even grainier depiction of two black shapes at the ship's waterline. "Glorified rubber dinghys," Sergei continued, with a sigh. "Twelve men apiece. That puts our estimates at 24 hostiles. 20 will be on the ship, with 4 manning the boats, if experience is anything to go by. We've not picked up any radio communications, so we can assume they're stone age warriors. Kalashnikovs, an rpg maybe, and lots of violent threats no doubt." The image on the monitor changed again, displaying a sterile set of the ship's schematics. "She's a small one. A reefer - a refrigerated vessel, used for ferrying valuable perishables quickly. The Odessa, is her name, and she's a simple thing. Two levels, one big ass engine and control room, and a small but crowded deck. We're planning on hitting her with an EMP, at night. Dead in the water with no lights, the bastards wont know what the fuck is happening. That's when we go in, neutralise the hostiles, and secure the crew... oh, and The Boss has expressed that lethal force is a last resort. He wants this clean and bloodless. We haven't got long to do this thing, by tomorrow morning she'll be in Somalia and beyond our reach. You leave in four hours, as soon as the UAV deploys its EMP." Sergei dabbed the last of his cigar against the inside his hand; an old habit, established long ago. Discarding the dead butt to the grated floor, he rubbed at the side of his iron-grey hair and released a long sigh. He dug for the inside pocket of his business jacket, and pulled out a tablet. "We were able to make contact with a crew member, who has been able to keep his satellite phone on him. He wasn't much help in detailing the pirates' order of battle, but he did say he was with 15 members of the crew, and that the captain was being held captive on the bridge. Assuming our insider still has the phone, and that he's still with the other hostages, then we'll find most of them in the fore storage - a meat freezer, effectively." Sergei fell silent, boring his cold eyes into the Team Leaders as if he was trying to telepathically communicate with them. "Same shit, different day," he chuckled at last. "Aside from force restriction, the canvas is yours to paint. The ship's company is offering top dollar for this, and so I'm making all of our assets available to you. If it can get to us in four hours, then its yours to use... so what are you guys thinking? Lets hear it." He stood with his arms folded, waiting for their response. Location: Coast of Somalia, Gulf of Aden Time of Day: 20:30, Local Time Weather: Calm, mild wind.

Sean was the first to ask any questions. "Sir. do we have any idea how far of the coast we are?" he said in a firm gruff voice

Sergei looked at Sean for several seconds, questioningly. "At present, thirty miles, give or take a mile. The EMP will knock the Odessa's systems into a flatline, when she's approximately ten miles from Bosaso, a known pirate stronghold," he said coldly, "less worry about where the ship is, and more worry about how to get those hostages off that floating fridge."

"right. lets get sniper somewhere on the ship. possibly on the top of the bridge. doing this by boating to the side of the ship we can scale the side to the aft deck and proceeding from there to get the sniper on the bridge. then the rest of my fireteam will secure the captain. allowing a distraction for other teams to get into the storage rooms" Sean said placing his black shades on his head. " then to secure an exit my sniper can switch to the crane allowing a safe escape for the other teams. anyone else go an idea?"

Adam looked at the schematic after the briefing, thinking and listening to what the other squad leaders were discussing.. "Hmmm," he briefly said. "Okay, so Kingpin secures top deck, along with the help of Prophet and Leapord." Adam said, beginning to explain his version of Sean's plan. "Point of entry can be the heli-pad if we came in from the side. Virus, Crocodile and Cobra proceed downstairs to the corridor in the bottom deck. Sweep and clear both decks until we reach here and here." Adam said, pointing at the fore deck wall and the fore storage door below. "C4 breach, rescue hostages and then rendezvous back to the heli-pad." Adam finished.

Sean listened intently to adams proposition. "ok. once were ready to get the hostages i suggest 2 entry points to that room. the downstairs team will breach through the wall. upstairs team will breach the ceiling creating confusion allowing any hostiles to be taken down quickly and effectivly. up until that point i suggest we use silenced weapons allow 2 snipers"

"The problem I have with two breach points for the hostages is that debris could injure or kill from above, and it would be more confusing if bottom and top were hit at the same time." Adam rebuttled, not trying to be confrontational but to make sure he had all bases covered. "Definitely suppressors and snipers may be needed. What do you all think?" Adam asked the other squad leaders, see if they had a different plan or versions of the plan he had come up with.

Wei Jie and his team stood at the back of the room as Sergei gave them the briefing. It sounded straightforward enough; all they had to do was just storm the ship in force and the shock of the sudden attack might convince the hijackers to lay down their arms and give themselves up. Of course, it was mentioned that lethal force could be used as a last resort, but Wei Jie hoped it did not get to that point. While he had little sympathies for pirates, he was well aware that most of them were poverty-stricken folks looking for an easy way to make money. Not admirable, but Wei Jie could at the very least understand their motivations. He glanced at the rest of his team as Kingpin and Cobra gave their own suggestions. As he glanced over each of the operatives under his command, Wei Jie could see a slight issue. Not with the mission or planning, but with his team. Out of the five of them, only himself and the Singaporean - Geoffrey - had any tangible experience in boarding operations. The rest were more oriented towards airborne operations. "Oh joy, a sea operation." Kazue said drily beneath her breath, voicing Wei Jie's thoughts, albeit in a more sardonic manner. "We'll make this work somehow." Geoffrey replied with a shrug. "Easy for you to say." Kazue shot back. "Enough," Wei Jie said, with no small amount of irritation in his voice. Sometimes he could not believe that the people he worked with were actually from special operations forces around the world, what with the way they bickered among themselves. Then again, he supposed that they were used to being afforded a lot more freedom than the regular armies. Still, that was no excuse for them to suddenly start acting like children. "Any of you have any suggestions?" Wei Jie asked his team. He would then consolidate, compromise and piece together their individual plans before voicing them to the other teams. "A helicopter insertion would be good," Geoffrey said. "That way we're all doing something we're comfortable with." "Yes, the pirates would not notice the loud, whirring sound rapidly approaching them." Kazue said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Honestly, if we come in on a helo, we would just be giving them an early warning." Geoffrey rolled his eyes and was about to say something before another member of the team, Adelaida, cut in. "Perhaps," she began, her voice calm and motherly. Despite being the youngest of the team, Wei Jie often found her to be incredibly helpful in keeping the peace between the more belligerent members, namely Kazue and her favorite target, Geoffrey. "Perhaps we could insert both via sea and air. We have more than enough people to do so, don't you think so?" Wei Jie nodded. That sounded like a good plan to him, but then there was one other person who had not voiced his opinion yet. "Firdaus, what about you?" The Malay shrugged. "Adelaida's plan sounds good to me," he said. Wei Jie did not expect anything less. Firdaus' expertise lied with fighting in cities and jungles. When it came to air and sea operations, he simply knew how to insert, but had little more to add. Satisfied, Wei Jie turned to the other teams. "A purely heliborne insertion would be unwise if we have to keep things bloodless. At night, the pirates can hear us coming miles away and will have time to prepare. We would be surrendering our element of surprise before the operation even begins." He said and walked slightly forward. "Perhaps we could have a joint air and sea insertion? Some of us will be dropped via helicopter, but only to act as a distraction while the rest covertly enters the ship via sea. The pirates' attention will no doubt be focused on the heliborne operation, giving the seaborne element the opportunity to free the hostages with minimal trouble."

"Seaborne entrance is our best bet. if we go in quiet we take the route we just discussed. if we want to go in loud with less trouble we could depth charge the ship and go in from the lower levels. either way theres still chances this could go tits up." Sean said looking at the map again

Sergei slammed his giant fist onto the table, startling the Team Leaders with the echoing bang it made. "I hear talk of helicopters, I hear talk of boats, I hear talk of suppressors and snipers, and I hear talk of breaching charges," he sneered, his voice dwindling to a low rumble. "Let me remind you, that the Odessa will be powerless after the EMP - along with any electrical light source that pirates may have in their possession. That goes for the lights mounted on their zodiacs, and any torches they may have. What do you think will happen, if during this sudden outage of power beyond their comprehension, they hear a helicopter approaching?" He sighed, stepped back from the table and folded his arms again. "17 dead hostages, that's what happens," he said. "The pirates are dumb, they're illiterate and their trade is solely invested in the intimidation of the defenceless. But any dumb goat herd knows when they're fucked, and a helicopter engine will be just the give-away they need to start shooting." The monitor at the rear of the room switched from the schematics view, to a local meteorology display. Swirls of vibrant green circled a red dot, titled 'The Odessa'. "It's going to be cloudy tonight. Approaching from the sea has my backing, but to you whirly-bird lovers, I can see a helicopter featuring in this. Therefore I propose that the Odessa's top deck is secured by a single team seaborne insertion, to minimise the chance of the pirates seeing us approach. Once the deck is secure, we can move on the bridge and grab the captain - then we'll bring in the helo. Those dogs down on the bottom deck wont know what's happened to their friends. The helo can unload the rest of the teams, and you'll be able to divide and conquer the lower deck... and of course, extract the hostages. I'd also advise you think about exploring non-lethal weaponry; things have come a long way since the Battle of the Somme, in that respect." Sergei had no real jurisdiction over the Team Leaders; he didn't know their men, or their teams' capabilities. He was there purely as an advisor, but reserved the authority to force through decisions when stalemates occurred. However, he avoided doing this as much as possible, to minimise the chance of creating internal divisions. No one liked some jacked up dick playing King of the Castle, after all. "What do you think?" He asked, regretting that he had to ask the question.

"nice plan. I volunteer Kingpin for the initial insertion.Sir" Sean said looking towards all the other Fire Team Leaders and flipped his glasses down to cover his eyes.

Kazue smirked as Sergei pretty much gave everyone a piece of his mind. She was glad that someone else had the sense to see just how poorly suited a helicopter was for the mission. It amazed her that none of the other ex-military personnel in the room had seen the problem earlier, and that made her feel good about herself. What made her feel better was seeing the sheepish look on Geoffrey's face in the corner of her eye. There was something about the exceedingly average Singaporean that just irked her. Maybe it was just so uncanny to find someone so incredibly unremarkable, at least physically wise. "Non-lethal weapons sound good," Firdaus said, suddenly sounding a lot more alive. "The Beretta LTLX7000 would be just the thing for the job, if we can get our hands on two dozen of them, that is. If not, we can always just use shotguns and fire rubber slugs and buckshot. That'd be enough to bring anyone down without killing them." "How enlightening," Kazue muttered beneath her breath, quite put off by the Malaysian's sudden enthusiasm. Still, she could not bring herself to make any sort of sarcastic remark; it was rare for Firdaus to have so much to offer to a mission's planning phase, since his specialization in jungle warfare and survival was quite a niche specialization and thus it was very rare for him to have any sort of insight worth sharing. Wei Jie nodded in agreement. "Sounds good. My team's mostly air and heliborne, so we have no problems leaving the seaborne side to Kingpin." Kazue grinned internally. Looks like they already had a plan, this could prove to be one of the fastest briefing's she has ever had. "Wait," Geoffrey piped up suddenly. "Fuck," Kazue muttered beneath her breath and folded her arms. What did the mannequin have to say now? She chuckled inwardly at her impromptu nickname for the Singaporean. He really did feel like a mannequin, as unremarkable as he was. "You said that we got this information from a hostage with a satellite phone. Is it possible that he has been discovered and the pirates are actively on the look out for an insertion force?" He asked and walked over to the screen showing the schematics of the ship. Pointing to one of the containers, he continued, "We will only be on station in a few hours, that's enough time for them to clear out a container and stuff the hostages inside, just to throw us off." He paused and turned to face everyone else. "Do we have a contingency plan for if the hostages are not where they are supposed to be? Or if the pirates spot us before the seaborne element even boards the ship?" Kazue frowned. Geoffrey did make a good point, though she suspected that if the pirates found out one of the hostages had contacted security forces, there would not be any hostages for them to rescue. "Geoffrey has got a point," she said and crossed her arms. Geoffrey gave her a small smile, probably thanking her for the support, but Kazue ignored it. She disliked the Singaporean, but she was going to give credit where credit was due; he had brought up a valid point.

Sean's eyes began to twitch. how had he missed that small detail. "right then. so instead we take 2 boat teams. one team secures the captain the other team sweeps the containers."

Azriel had sat quietly for a good chunk of the brief, looking instead at his watch. It was the arguing that brought him out of it and he spoke up his Israeli accent heavy. "How bout we drop a small team far away enough off the Aft section that we can't be heard, and that diving team uses the underwater propulsion vehicles to clear the distance. Then they either weld in or climb the deck. Meanwhile team 2 inserts using zodiacs and takes out the floaters. And then we smuggle the hostages out and then proceed to take down and apprehend the others from there." He said, and then went back to looking at his watch.

"OK,OK. lets just take this plan and start the mission. if we dont act fast the hostages wont be hostages anymore" Sean said firmly in his thick irish accent. Eyeing the map he looked again at the back of the boat. "wait" he said noticing thinking of something he hadn't originally. "we have the 4 AFT Storages at the back why not have one team scale the back and cut in with a welder. making this a quick in for the team allowing them to find the hostages and signal the other boat teams to scale to the top and create a distraction. allowing other teams to approach by air after the top is secured and help with extraction"

Isaiah sat quietly, not wanting to interject or add in any suggestions, figuring the op should be easy enough. It should be as simple as sending an entry team in with manned torpedoes so as to sneak underwater, then pop up when they arrive at the ship. From there, they would just need to get up on the deck, and get to work. It's child's play. He thought musedly to himself. His long-standing and accoladed military career made him a bit cocky -- okay, it made him downright arrogant, but sometimes he had to call it where it lied. He might have a strong operational history, but the others weren't greenies. They knew their way around an op or two. But here they were, stuck on what kind of entry to use, and did he hear someone mention a helicopter earlier? What the actual fuck? They want to save the hostages, don't they? Isaiah yawned. "For the love of God, just send the entry team in using manned torpedoes and call it a night. We're dealing with pirates, who are essentially idiots. Shouldn't be that hard to work 'em."

"why didnt you say that half an hour ago for christs sake. Lets just go and save some hostages guys." Sean shouted now getting mad at the thought of what the pirates were doing to the hostages

(I prefer longer posts. Hope this is fine.) Osprey was a reserve team for this operation, and right now, Oskar Wojtkiewicz, or "Wojtek", sat in the armory, with the rest of Osprey. He stood by his F2000, wearing a navy blue T-Shirt, and a pair of brown walking trousers, a pair of hardened boots at his feet. The rest of the team was the same, give or take, apart from different shirts. From Czech, to Scot, to Bird, to Thor, they were inspecting weaponry. Wojtek knew he might get breiefed up at some point, and that if they were needed, they could be a spare diving team. He was an expert diver, and the rest of his team was capable of it- or no less, capable of airborne operations. Bird was a former Canadian Paratrooper, and CSOR Jumpmaster, usually being probably one of the most venomous jumpers that Oskar had seen. She could lecture him at length, and while she was only 24, there was a reason it was Sergeant Bird, rather than Private. She had jumped the craziest things, and no doubt, was able to fling herself into the abyss with any load, any equipment, with hardly a panic. Himself, he'd been a Lieutenant in FORMOZA, and Thor was a former Captain. He was probably Oskar's equivelent in the sea, but what always struck Oskar was how good that Thor could keep himself aloft with diving gear AND a parachute. He could land one onto the deck of an oil rig, with intense winds and pouring rain, no pressure. He could do it, but Thor's job in the MJK was basically that, and he could do it, time after time. Wheras Wojtek happened to have a short, well kept stubble, Thor's beard was pretty remakrable, considering that it was almost to that extent of a Blacksmith's. A PMC had it's advantages- no facial hair restrictions, and that was good. Czech, or Pavel, was a fellow Slav, and perhaps a little less weathered, albeit older than Bird. Only a Lance Corporal in the 601st. But he was good, and knew his shit, despite his fresh-faced look. He had seen deep reconnaissance, and could hold his own with a Minimi, as well as parachute jumps. Then there was The Scot, or Scot; who happened to literally be called Scott, to everyone's confusion. That was a real thing to explain, but he could shoot straight, and was a former SBS Corporal. Good level of experience, and a firm head. The barrel was back in the F2000, as Wojtek checked the fit, before aligning the bolt correctly. "You think we're going to get our feet wet any time soon?" Czech asked, as Wojtek laughed, looking over at Czech's Minimi, on his lap. "I wouldn't doubt it. They fucking like us." Wojtek replied, almost rough, as Thor nodded, looking at his own Colt C8. "Damn right." He simply added, as he adjusted the Magpul CTR stock on his beloved rifle, the silencer already attached, but no magazine in the weapon. "And it's the usual pirate stuff here. Low priority. They're thick in the head." Bird said, the fact that her surname and the colloquial name for a female operator was so hand in hand, it just worked. Bird never found it offensive, even if her female peers did. It was something she accepted, and she was one of the lads. In a way, while they all knew she was feminine, when it came to relying on a teammate, she was as good as any. No doubt. She fixed up her own C79 optic, adjusting the sight picture as she finally got it done, looking to Thor. "No doubt. Remember the Puntland? That raid? Fuck, that was fun. Those pirates were so fucking scared...." Thor simply said, chuckling, almost in a crazy way. "Because you put a CG through the front fucking window of a training camp, and set off that ammunition cache. That was why it was good. Free fucking firework show." Wojtek simply replied, as the group laughed, the laughter wearing off after about a few seconds ago, as Wojtek shook his head after that. "But you know there was paperwork like a fucker after that." Wojtek said, stopping for a pause before he continued. "Shit happens." He simply added, getting up, as he took his Mk23 off a work table, slowly checking over the .45 pistol, unscrewing the Osprey Silencer on the end before inspecting the grooves, and getting to work on a maintenance check, disassembling the Mk23. "If I think they're planning what I think they are, then those teams will have fun. Hostage Rescue. I remember Antov telling me earlier, vaguely about it. He was busy, going to this brief. We've had our share of action, but shit, it'd be good to join them. I prefer sweep and clear. Less civilian fallout. You kill who you kill, don't worry about some fucking news." Wojtek added to his statement, as Bird nodded, a little in disagreement. You couldn't lie, that Wojtek looked a bit grizzled about it, and Thor was almost the same. They were expendable, any civilian got in the way. They were good at getting a job done, not complications. It wasn't their forte, but come to it, Wojtek knew that HVT rescue was something they could do, and do well. They were all ex-Special Forces, after all, and for good reason. "Sure...but you got to feel for them. I get paid to not worry about them, but they're innocent." Bird simply said, as Thor looked over, finished with his C8. "And as Wojtek said, shit happens. Let's just not worry about it." Thor spoke, as Scot looked over. He'd been a little quiet, but then again, he was a Marksman. A man of few words, because perhaps bullets did more for him. Usually, Bird would be paired for him as a detachment, working as a spotter/shooter pair, with Bird using her spotting gear to look down range. But Scot knew he wasn't a sniper. He was able to shoot a marksman rifle very well, to around 1,000m with a 7.62mm round, and a 6x optic. That was what he did. Any more, he would more likely hit the moon. "True. It does. They don't pay me enough to be a reporter, anyway." Scot simply said, as Wojtek chuckled, looking around as he put the pistol back together, focussing on it yet knowing he could do this blindfolded. It was a quirky thing, but it killed time. Knowing your pistol, as it would be what would know you, he looked over to the group, scattered in the ship's small armory. "Right. If this is hostage rescue, we tool up differently. They have hostages, but I don't want us to go in non-lethal. Fuck that. We're going in hot, lead blazing. It works every time. I prefer paperwork to knowing my target breathes. I want you, Thor,to grab a M1014 for when shit goes down and we need a breacher, loaded with buckshot and beanbags, instead of your Carl Gustav. Or bad shit will happen. It's tempting, I know. Instead of your L129A1, Scot, I want you to get your MP5SD, and a set of breaching charges. Czech, you go with your CZ805, and I'll keep my regular shit. No grenades, only flash and stun, or smoke grenades if need be. We'll be likely assaulting at night, so Night-Vision Pieces, but remember, they use flashlights. So respond in kind with your own, use the AN/PEQ-15 flashlight for when you need to blind them. Reactions will be slow, no doubt. They'll be very, very weak in comparison. They'll be surprised that we'll have number, and no doubt, will panic. This is bad, unpredictable. But use it to your advantage. Kit wise, we go with night-orientated stuff. Blacks, Ops-Core helmets, no goggles. Flashbangs, Stun grenades, no explosives. We clear?" Wojtek said, in an almost half-breiefing style, as everyone nodded, busy with their weaponry. "Good. Nothing too strict here, it's an in-case they yell. No doubt they could, but if they don't, I can tell Antov we were ready to go. And that keeps our paychecks, everyone." Wojtek said, as he put his pistol back on the table, looking over to the group. (What chopper is it? I believe Osprey will ride as a attaching force from the helicopter. If it's a Mi-8 or something like that, then cool. I should state- Osprey aren't immediately on this Op, but they'll be riding along in future more. They're a weapons team- in future, they're a little more flexible than the loadouts I gave in their CS, as you saw, but they're generally quite capable as both an airdropped and underwater team.)

Sean looked around the room again. Looking at fire teams he knew this would be a simple OP. "can we get on with this we have an insertion we have the Execution we have the Extraction. what else do we need. lets just do this while we still have hostages to save. OK. if you need me ill be briefing my men in the armoury." and with that he left the others to their arguments about how they would get in even when they had the plans ready.

Sergei nodded at Isaiah, “finally, someone with a solution and not more questions.” He paused, long enough to give Azriel a curious glance. “I think we’ve enough diversity here to strike these bastards from every angle; leaving no room for error.” The monitor’s image returned to the Odessa’s schematics. Sergei marched around the table, and approached it, picking up a stylus attached to the wall beside the screen. “Prophet hits the Aft Deck from the sea, using underwater propulsion vehicles or manned torpedoes – either will get the job done. Cipher dittos this, taking the Fore Deck. Both teams converge on the Bridge, and clear the upper deck entirely of hostiles and hostages. Incase our insider is a trap, we’ll have those containers, the med-bay, messhall and kitchen searched too. Kingpin arrives in a Zodiac. Fuck the Boss, I want those pirates in the dinghys taken down permanently. Use live ammunition, stab them, I don’t care, but do it quietly. Once they’re gone, prepare to breach the Odessa’s Fore Storage from the outside. Use breach charges, but do not go until given the say so by Cobra. Cobra comes in with Prophet, but takes the stairs to the Bottom Deck rather than converges on the Bridge. They clear the aft storage rooms one by one, quietly. Then head through the engine room, no doubt the pirates will be banging around down there trying to work out what’s happened to the power. Take them down, with non-lethal means if possible. Cobra will then prepare to breach the Fore Storage from the door. On Cobra’s command, both they and Kingpin breach the room. If a hostage is killed by flying metal or debris, then we’ll bite the bullet and take it. It’s that, or the pirates get a chance to open fire on them. Whilst all that is going on, Prophet clears the sleeping quarters, whilst Cipher keeps things nice and quiet topside. Last thing we need is a pirate infested trawler to turn up mid-operation and fuck with the extraction.” Sergei stood back, having decorated the schematics with various coloured lines. He nodded at it with a grunt, and gleaned a toothy smile. “Just like old times,” he chuckled to no one in particular, before turning to the Team Leaders. “That’s the plan, I’m putting my stamp on this one. We’ll be here til morrow otherwise, working out whether a torpedo can take down an MI-18 in a dogfight. Hop to it ladies and gentlemen, you’ve got four hours to prepare.” Turning to Deng, Sergei waved a hand. “Virus is going elsewhere; a nice sunny beach, in fact. Meet me in the armoury, with Osprey Team.” Sergei’s demeanour as he entered the armoury was a lot less confident than he was up in the Operations Room. Baby sitting hardened killers as they plied their trade was one thing; carrying out a request from The Boss was something else. Virus Team filed in behind him, and along with Osprey Team, the expansive armoury suddenly seemed rather small. Sergei waited a few seconds to speak, and did so with a sigh. “Sarenkov called me an hour ago. There’s someone he wants dead, despite his um… Christian beliefs. If you can call them that,” Sergei said, pulling out his tablet and holding the screen up. On its display was the image of a dishevelled African man of middle years; his yellow, rotting teeth gleaming white in contrast to his charcoal coloured skin. A big bushy greying beard surrounded the man’s cracked lips, and a pair of dark eyes peeked out from cavernous sockets. “Yalero Khanya,” Sergei said with conviction. “That’s right. I know you’ve all seen that video of The Boss’ daughter. This is the guy that did most the fucking, and most the hacking. We got a tip off three days ago that this prick was still alive and well; retired from the pirate trade of course, and lying low as a third-rate sex trafficker. Figures right?” A few taps on the tablet later, and the image changed to a satellite rendering of a remote complex in the Somali desert. “Two clicks inland,” Sergei said, “got himself a nice pad, plenty of guards, and plenty of women. There’s a brothel nearby, where he keeps local girls as young as six. Sarenkov doesn’t like the idea of his man being alive for many reasons, understandably. He also wants, rather insistently, for that brothel not to be there anymore.” Holding up a hand, Sergei shook his head. “I recommended a drone strike… but The Boss reckons we need to have boots on the ground; that is to say, to make the bad guys know we’re not above going in there ourselves and murdering them in their sleep. If you ask me, he’s making this far too personal, but I can’t say shit. He’s offering each of you an extra 100k for this mission, not because of the risks, but because of the silence required. He can’t have his… minders, knowing he’s sending men off to scratch his itches.” Sergei turned to leave, “you leave in four hours. I don’t care how you get there, I don’t care how you do it. Kill that bastard, and all his bastard men. Let those women know they’re free – I don’t care what happens to them after. Just do what The Boss wants, and get back here when it’s done. This is a black mission, you’re off the grid but you’ve got anything and everything you ask for.”