Raven's Rock, Camp Hannula, Pöyrisjärvi National Park, Finland
Listening in, Skye let the team ask their questions and responded in sequence to each. Going first with Sam, who raised the point about capabilities.
"Good ideas, Sam- but I need you with the main force. Purna and Eloise will be your portal to that world if you need it ahead of time so give it to them, and you’ll have time to setup what you can when they tap into the local comms grid. They’ll be your eyes and ears if you give them what you need, including jamming and breaking into comms for Enri and Raph- but when it comes to the main assault, I need you and Adam paired up to man those bits of armour. It will be a fight to take them, and no offense to our heavies, but I need someone fast there too.” Skye replied, turning her attention to the larger American with his arms crossed, replying as the burly Marine could.
“I’d take you for some coastal sabotage, Chuck, but as big as you are, sneaking onto or under the boats will be difficult given their defensive grid. We have a new infiltrator here who can help Purna there, given I need something faster, smaller moving. But don’t worry. There will be plenty for you to detonate- the barracks need a healthy number of explosives in them so we can sow as much anarchy as we can. Guerilla style.” Skye smiled back at him, knowing for him and Duke, explosions would certainly come aplenty.
Ebrima's question got an answer too, as Skye turned to it, thinking it over for a moment.
"That was our initial thought too, just blasting Ark Angel out of the sky. But, if there's any tungsten containers up there, then we're possibly crashing in any remaining Hestia too. It may fall to us, and then godknows what next. As for priorities, Zhao and Rose are your two main HVTs, find and eliminate them and the rest goes from there. The hostages follow after, if we can rescue them. That, and any other intel we can find once we're there. More we find to end this whole mess, the better. And if it comes to us to solve this nightmare, then we'll do it." Skye added, looking over to the others, including Enri.
"Stopping the launch is our prerogative, Enri. We could shoot it out of the sky again, maybe not so easily, but again we run into the same problem as earlier- we just need to be careful at what we're about to detonate. As easy as it would be to wrap up all our problems, any amount of Sol Hestia in there creates a failsafe. And I can’t assume that Rose has already thought that through. So worst case, we’ll deal with it personally if the situation evolves.” Skye added, looking more broadly across to the team, addressing the wider elephant in the room.
“She’s likely engineered this situation that if we were to attack, we’d get ourselves slaughtered if we went in by the coast. And she knows we won’t risk any direct strikes on anything. I’ll let her indulge because I think her immortality has rotted her brain a little...because I have a method we can use to hit her where she can’t react. She's laid out the board expecting us to go into it, not use her hand against her. By the time she thinks she can do something about it, we’ll have applied enough aggression to turn her dagger into herself. Comes from lacking a team of her own." Skye replied, wrapping this thing up, finishing the brief, knowing there were still no doubt a ton of questions, but many of them would slowly get wrapped up on the way over.
"Right. We'll ship out on the Galaxy that Blue Sword have here and rendezvous with the airship once ready. We've got a ghost transmitter for our little run, and you have your last chance here to sort yourselves out. We’ll be moving in eight hours. You can catch up on sleep in the plane once we’re done. EVA team, I’ll brief you shortly, so stay here. Rest of you, you’re all dismissed.” Skye authoritatively called, with it, wrapping this little segment up.
In the interim, Skye had gone through the briefing with the team coming up into space with her on EVA procedures, and whilst more likely than not relevant later, for the time being, you could almost stack it into a montage of various theory, and then some major playing around with Skye’s and Ebrima’s exos, and what movement in space with a MMU pack was like. For most people, this was freaky- but then again, being able to actually steer was crucial to even being able to fight back. If there was anything unexpected, best to be ready.
As for the others, they helped with moving things. Everything had to go into containers, for an op of this scale, it wasn’t so much just picking up gear and loading up, it felt more of an industrial effort than ever, and bit by bit, the cargo trucks, as well as their contents were loaded aboard a C5 Galaxy brought in by Blue Sword, and just like that, the team had packed in. Goodbyes had been made to Antti, Natalie and Victor, and they were off to a faraway land, to a meeting point for the blimp. They were leaving Finland with what felt like a certain kind of finality- the last operation had been substantial, but this felt altogether alien.
It was a long flight. A long way to go. And the situation was still fluid. But, whatever was to come, it was sure to be one hell of an operation to follow.
LZ Zulu, Somewhere in Tsavo West National Park, Kenya
1100 Hours Local Time
Two Days Later
Soundtrack: Bonobo - KeralaGoing from the sub-tundra north of Finland to the equator was a shock to the redhead, her gentle skin catching rays and metaphorically speaking, sizzling on impact. It had been a long flight, with shipping containers and vehicles loaded, armour set up, and in the back of a MAN KAT 1 8x8 cargo truck that bumped through the insanely gouged out roads of the Kenyan savannah, Skye sat with the rest of the team, wearing just fatigues for the moment, albeit keeping her rifle and pistol to bear even without the exo on at the moment.
The rest of the team were in the back too- and likely- they were feeling every bump of the insanely rutted, washboarded road. Skye looked back to the others, wearing her blue tactical shades, her red braided hair blowing about in the wind a little as she sat next to Freya and Ban, smirking back.
"Never thought we'd be out on safari, did we!" Skye chuckled, a certain grin in her face as she looked across to Eloise, who was out here for her first op, and then Athena, and Sam adjacent, the latter of whom Skye smiled even across to, breaking back to serious team leader face as soon as she could permit herself to allow it.
The cover for the truck was off which allowed them to enjoy this safari into the end of the world, and in the distance, a group of Giraffes could be seen on the savannah horizon, contrasted by the enormity of Kilimanjaro in the distance, and then, in the thick treeline of a special LZ, the Airlander’s gigantic mass. Painted a dark grey, covered in specialist coating, the team were making haste for where Athena's Airlander Class-12 airship was landing in the brush, making a few gazelle scatter and certainly cementing itself as the biggest thing for miles around. This remote, and out of the way from civilization in the middle of the savannah, locals would likely call it in but be told to calm down with their whiskey habit. Who would believe this, after all?
For the airship, it was a needed catchup. The various fuel trucks and supplies had been hauled across from a backcountry landing strip the C5 Galaxy had dumped the team into were here to intercept it, and they would continue aboard this, the ability to loiter closer to the island thanks to it’s stealth capability a godsend tactically speaking, and something Skye had astutely put into service given no other support was needed. When you weren’t getting airstrikes, make your own, was her logic. And if it was stupid, then well, good. That meant it wasn’t going to be seen coming, even if down here, the Flying Buttocks, as she was affectionately named to the chargrin of basically everyone that wasn’t remotely interested in calling it that, sat there in the red-sandy rock of the plains.
They were a day out from Reunion, ready for another dawn attack on a highly reinforced site. So the gear they had, and the prep they had was perhaps a little above average, but considering the number of enemy, and their skill, they could use any prep they could have. Pulling into the clearing, Skye opened the rear latch and leapt down the few feet to the floor, M31 on her back and the sight of Vincent already ahead of schedule.
“Mon Capitane, she is ready. The size of her I still cannot get over. Gigantic, huge, mon dieu, you are going to give me a heart attack!” Vincent said, chuckling as Skye stared him down, as he realised what he’d said, the silhouette of the Airlander Class-12 behind Vincent framed almost perfectly, basically like someone had covered up Athena with a shimmering grey pair of tights, that particular blonde even craning her neck at it before staring down Vincent. And hysterically, it just couldn’t have been worse. He turned to look at it, then back at Skye, then Athena, then Sam, as if the realisation had hit in him that even he was getting infected by just how stupid this entire thing was.
“Ah, merde. Sorry, sorry. I did not….” Vincent replied, Skye still stoic and pear faced, as she looked to Sam, then Freya, smirking, as she gave him a gentle shove in the shoulder, breaking into laughter.
“It’s all good. They’ll just take turns beating you up. You keep seeing us hurt, maybe it’s your turn? Ahh, Vincent. You’ll dig yourself a hole like that….now come on, let’s get this show on the road. Before this goes arse over tits. You alright flying it?“ Skye giggled with the charm she could have, hiding the fact in that moment even against Vincent she could have set him up so, so clean for the two next to her. And he followed, nodding back.
“Oui, it’s like a plane but just full of helium. Stealth coating on it is as good as the….what was it, flying thing that Freya had? It’s tiny on their signature, no easy way to lock it unless they deploy jets. And we loaded AMRAAMs and ECM systems on top of the Hellfires. And even Freya's new system, the long-range railgun. So by the time they even try, we may even have a fighting chance.” Skye giggled at the thought of it, looking to Eloise, who no doubt was dropping her jaw beyond the floor in the sight of all of this, anything she’d ever seen even in her line of work likely being eclipsed by this.
“Good. By the time we have what we need done, stealth won’t be a problem. And you can make all the ass jokes you like then. Pervert.” Skye coldly replied with a grin towards the end to just poke that she hadn’t forgotten whether it was intentional or not, as the logistics operation got to work.
"Sam can lend you a hand." Skye smiled across at the tech of the team, nodding her head back to the blimp.
"Hopefully in better circumstances than last time, right?!" Athena replied, Skye sighing in response to maybe her....overenthusiasm, giving a look to Sam of "look, she's being hyper again, leave it".
The ramp onto the beached airship visible in the gap in the tall brush was being loaded via a forklift truck, a hastily assembled rendezvous giving the airship a chance to get fuel, supplies, and most of all, the equipment the team would need.
The team followed, Purna looking to Eloise with a grin.
"This was a hell of a capture. Not sure how we got it, but it's impressive, right?" Purna asked, as Tahlia followed Ebrima, looking over to him.
"Your holographic projector threw those Blue Sword OpFor in that exercise for a spin. Where on earth you got that from beats even me. So you have my respect there, Ebrima. Outfoxed me when it comes to logistics." She smiled back to him, as Skye headed up said ramp, leading the group's brief little stop to look at the giraffes, gazelles, and probably somewhere in the distant brush, lions and zebra that populated this perfect shrub.
The option of taking the hovercraft was mooted, but given its weight, had now been replaced with two buggy-like
CAVs, mounted up with a XM307 Grenade Launcher on the rear, and a M240 in the passenger seat, seating four in complete discomfort for all situations but providing rapid, mobile firepower that compromised completely on armour. Installing a V8 in each had helped out with that, given the shorter sprints required, Javi had souped both up with a lot more speed and Baja-like suspension to just send anything it hit when on the road. For the reassurance of the occupants of each, it could be deployed aerially and had two-stage parachute systems linked up to them, a system made for rapid deployment that was a bit more tried and tested from old designs when you absolutely needed to drop a vehicle in from on high, say, as high as 30,000 feet. That was just the vehicle pool, located where Rose's last pod had been, and now had been scrubbed thoroughly for any trace of any other sabotage or other hidden systems. There was so much more to this airship now, given it had become a mobile FOB and Athena’s little palace in the sky.
Athena's people, Skye had to admit, had been through, as she clambered upstairs, back towards the quarters where Sam's heart had stopped, as she wondered inside, taking in the refurb. Skye whistled, the look on Athena's face reflecting the same childish grin, as Skye took in just how lavish this was. This was not a command centre of Skye's liking. This was a fucking penthouse, even more extravagant than Rose's. Although, it had room for all of them aboard, CAVs, weapons, armour, and everything else inbetween.
"You had two weeks to refurb in here, and you really threw more money than sense at it. My god. Not sure if I should take my shoes off in here. That is really plush." Skye commented, the opulence of this little place staggering. White walls, and gold trim, in a hyper-modern style. Athena, standing in a dark crimson jumpsuit, like her thermals replaced with a thin overlay, were her go to for this- somewhat inspired by her sister, and when coupled to bleaching her usually apple blonde hair with electric blue, made her look like an alien rather than a giantess. She wanted that superhero look, given the new additions to her suit, and a little tribute to Freya too. She seemed barely phased, giggling at the thought of Skye's lack of ambition.
"Look. Evil flying lair shaped like a giant booty. Did you think I was passing the opportunity up to do something with it? Absolutely not. The Insta clout I am gonna have up here, I mean….you can’t buy this." Athena did not particularly care, the crimson red jumpsuit barely covering her curves and making her look more hyper than usual, as Skye somehow could feel Athena's parents judging behind the smile on all those things together. Walking into the armoury that had previously been the store for Sol Hestia and a bunch of supplies brought her smile back, looking around at the state of things, all in its right place, ready to go for an operation on moment's notice. Athena at this point was definitely high on all of this, her hyperactivity given her second heart more likely than not throwing more blood than she probably should have had in her head.
"No, but you can steal a highly advanced, classified piece of military equipment the Americans are screaming most likely they want back before you shipped it here. Fuck me. This is a bona-fide mobile FOB for the sky. Utterly ridiculous." Skye commented, walking through the area where no less Rose had been shot, and the comprehensive palace that Athena had made to her own self. This bit was more industrial, but still, if industrial met Christian Dior levels of opulent décor, with racks for the heavies armours, exos, weaponry, and so on, well, it had been well equipped.
"Well, it's at your service. Without cost. I'm kind like that. I mean, I could charge you rent? By the hour, by the day? I mean, I could make it a business. Screw this whole private military thing. I just sit there and just let people have a ride on something as glorious as this." Athena commented and rambled, as Skye looked over her shoulder, staring a dagger, and giving a sigh to Athena's casual filler-filled smirk.
"What was I thinking…..fine. Your treat. Just means you have to save the world so you can keep it." Skye replied, Athena shrugging off as she walked through the deployment room, containing the literal trapdoor in the floor for the CAVs to drive out of, and the team to drop out of- with wingpacks at the ready. They were getting reused again, at least for some members of the team, as Skye completed the tour, heading back to the main common area, looking out of the window at the life beyond. Athena sorted out her affairs, namely caking her face in makeup, nails, of course, tactical, and then sorted out the new attachments to her armour that she'd been wanting for a while.
Purna, Adam and Tahlia followed suit, setting themselves up in the armoury, bringing in their gear, rifles, suits, and everything else. It wasn’t much more to go, but fuelling was nearly done, and the searing heat of the African plains would soon be a memory once they left the LZ.
Once everyone was aboard, the airship clambered fast to altitude, leaving no doubt plenty of the Maasai tribespeople in a certain shock and awe, as the vehicles cleared route as fast as they'd arrived back to the C5 at the bush airport, and left, leaving only tracks and footsteps behind.
Somewhere over the Indian Ocean
Soaring higher and higher, the airship caught wind and was now motoring as it approached 35,000 feet, into the jetstream, and now was covering plenty more ground, into the afternoon and it would continue through the night.
Adam looked across to the redhead who cinematically stood at the window, in her usual characteristic blue shirt and jeans, staring into the vast horizon, her braided hair and undercut revealing an operative in the glimmer of sun.
"Come on. Save some cool points for the rest of us." Adam interrupted Skye's staring at Kilimanjaro and the plains of Africa far below now, becoming a distant streak from the wind carrying this oh-so-stupid insertion method, as Skye looked over.
“Fine. You got me there.” Skye’s reply cut back, as Adam sat down on the sofa, the same one that Sam and Skye had actually shared, funnily enough. Athena had been sensible enough to leave some furnishings, once checked, over. No more sofa-based explosive devices.
“I never did talk to you before the last operation. Or this one actually, properly about us.” Adam said with a sincerity, as Skye looked at him, almost wanting him to go on.
“You did. You apologised, remember?” Skye replied, Adam shrugging.
“Yeah. But it did not go exactly the way I thought. It was more widely, you know. I know we didn’t see eye to eye after Kyrgyzstan. There was more to say.” Adam said, sighing, as Skye nodded.
“Well, it was done and dusted. I thought you were for order, control? And I was too much. You said it yourself.” Skye’s response. “So, honestly, it is what it is. I learned a lot back then too, and changed my own methods too, realised I needed to be a bit tighter with things. In some ways, you’re right, what works for me relentlessly doesn’t for others, rules are there sometimes not to be broken. So, no, if that is what you are inferring, I didn’t dwell on it. Just acted it out. Thought you'd appreciate that.” Skye replied with a meandering thought, as Adam nodded.
“Well, not like that, Skye. Just more….it was shitty. It’s why I gave this position when you came back in. Have to admit, you have a way with the team that I simply can't. Good team, but Jesus, Raven is a lot. Crazy.” Adam fessed up, as Skye nodded in return, thinking back on all of it, bald Pole’s green shirted, fatigue wearing contrast to the Scot displaying perhaps the differences- the rock-band supporting team lead versus the more orderly, disciplined Pole showing just how apart they’d been.
“Well, I was a bit brash. But we’re both just too messed up. And in this game? Honestly. Takes someone fierce to do what we do. Leading a bunch of misfits like this, nothing wrong with saying it was difficult. Your op in Marrakesh went well for what it’s worth. I think you’re a perfectionist who realises when you couldn’t enforce order, or stop the big blonde girl funding half of this, you might struggle. It happens. Still worked out or we wouldn’t be here. Just roll with it and sweat it later.” Skye replied, more mature in some ways, as Adam looked over.
“I get that. I get it. But hey. I learned from you too. More aggression works sometimes.” Adam nodded, as he looked back across at her, giving a smile, a rare one, before cracking open more truths while he felt like he had to right now.
“You know, after this is done, you should think about stopping. Get some R&R. Find someone, Skye, and just leave it behind. Even with all the shit that is going down, you need to be normal eventually. And you know I’m not saying this because I’m trying to be difficult. If not me, someone will respond.” Adam commented, Skye nodding, looking up to him.
“I mean, what choice do I have, Adam. You missed a bullet. Apparently there were fucking hundreds of bodies of mine to deal with....so it still isn't easy to let go. I don’t think I can ever leave it, Adam. You probably can, and did for a while. But me? This thing is to the core, to the end. Till she’s dead, I don’t know how I move forward. But once I guess I’ve got her spine peeled out of her, then I’ll be happier.” Skye did not mince her words, the sometimes warm Scot turning anyone ice cold, even Adam in that moment, just reflecting just how utterly done, broken, and fed up with this bullshit affair she was by now.
“Maybe. But there is an after. You’re still human, Skye. Maybe if not us, then there’s someone who will want you to live. Do that for you.” Adam added, Skye nodding, giving no reply as they looked out of the window, in a silence, uncomfortable, and perhaps to Skye, unresolved entirely.
The quiet was uncomfortable, yet in it, Skye lived. Adam had a point. He had something, perhaps family drove him back, normalcy even in this absurdity. But her? As much as she found it in Sam, Freya, the gang here aboard, she still struggled deep down. And this always gave her something. After, there would be time. More than enough given the headache Rose had caused.
Tahlia sat with Purna inside the armoury of the airship, the Kiwi retooling her FN Ballista, going through the .338 chambered sniper rifle, getting ready to drape a new camo cover over it, the Kiwi sitting in a merino wool green pullover and her tactical legs, the Nepali himself checking his SIG MPX through, the lengthened barrel a bit more pronounced for the greater accuracy he wanted from the SMG.
“So the new girl. Eloise. You seem keen on her?” Tahlia added, gently adjusting the stock on the rifle, as Purna nodded.
“She’s lethal. Quiet, maybe a little awkward but….she’s no less capable.” The Nepali replied, himself taking the time to go over his arm-mounted PDA, fiddling with the cloaking capabilities of his gear, as well as the bundle of high-density explosive he was carrying. A higher than usual load, considering sabotage work was on the horizon.
“I think she reminds you, of you.” Tahlia replied, a blunt tone in the blonde’s response, Purna’s face caught off guard.
“We’re all killers here. I thought it’s about the right person for the job.” Purna’s reply was as blunt, as he finished up, checking the high-calibre SMG over, checking the sighting.
“Agreed, it’s just an observation. I thought you’re more of a loner. Yet more you work with people, I think you seem to find that mutual. I’m no expert on people. And I shoot people from afar on my lonesome. But I just note that about you.” Tahlia poked a little, smirking.
“Come on, smile a little bit. You are even making me seem warm.” The Kiwi farmer chuckled, as Purna shrugged, the ice melting a little as he gushed out a bit.
“It’s a mindset of being stepped on and treated like you’re nothing, Tarly. I am sorry. But it’s what I know. Most assassins just behave like they have everything all the time, so they forget what it’s like to truly be a ghost, truly be untouchable. So perhaps it’s why I wanted her. Believe me, I trust you with everything. But working on such things….it requires more than everything.” Purna replied, Tahlia nodding as she chambered the rifle, checking the bolt.
“Aye, I know what you mean, I mean nothing by it. And it’s her first op. And maybe her last if we earn ourselves some R&R. Or get killed. Either way, I’m sure you have this.” Tahlia smiled back, as Purna cracked, and returned one.
“Wouldn’t dream of stopping now.” Purna responded, as he left the armoury, and with that, left the scene to grab a bite to eat- likely the last or a while.
Looking down at the tactical map of Ile de La Tempete, and the Vulpine Space facility, Skye had her opportunity to at least review how the site was laid out, tactical positions, everything else. Rough estimates of troop concentrations, capabilities, and then everything else.
She drew in a simple plan. A little out of sequence, but if it worked, all parts of it would kick in at about sometimes.
Using the resources they had, the advantage of a bit of stealth, their vehicles and their weaponry, Skye had gotten to work cooking on something that felt equal parts old-school, classic Raven, and a little bit more silly on top of that.
Eloise, and Purna had wingpacks to go- the ships, as well as critical infrastructure on site needed needed some sabotage. That meant copious amounts of explosives, and paving the way for the rest of the team by snipping the SAM sites on the ground, the ones that at least, could be physically managed rather than hacked. That meant some highly agile, fast movement in the more urbanised, dockland of the spaceport, a facility able to move rockets off ships and into position for launch. They were “Fireteam Shadow”. Herself, Tahlia, Ban and Ebrima had one CAV, and had a vehicle store and barrack to hit on the volcanic slope further inland, designated as “Camp Bravo”. Tahlia would need a sniping position, and then could provide long-range firepower, hitting targets critically where and when needed. Once Bravo was dead, they would keep rampaging until they hit the command centre. That team was “Fireteam Hammer”.Freya, Chuck, Sam and Adam had the other CAV to deploy in. They would hit Camp Alpha, a large barrack, with the former two taking the heat and rampaging through the barracks zone to clear the way to the launch site’s entry point and command centre, whilst the latter two had the larger mechanised titans to go steal and capture, taking another massive zweihander to the launch facility afterwards- the Command Centre being designated Objective Osiris and where they coalesced, near the rocket on the launchpad. That team in particular was termed “Fireteam Anvil.”It had moved fast, so Skye had no doubts people were unsure where they were going. All she expected was once they were in contact, they just made sure to destroy as much as they found.
As contingency, Athena and Jamie could sort themselves out and deploy later when required- and Vincent was on call to unleash hell with missiles on the armoured targets, albeit with a bit of a delay. Safe to say, it was an all points setup.
Skye ran it by each of the teams. This would be a bit of an asynchronous attack- the lights of Purna and Eloise would be in early, but they’d be behind enemy lines when the others started falling out of the sky. They had a lot of explosives to plant, and if done right, they would cut off the naval aspects, as well as the inland troops in one fell swoop.
To cap things off, the team had their last opportunities to mingle on the airship- with Skye and Adam in the lounge with Athena not too far away spread out on a sofa herself, Tahlia and Purna grabbing a bite to eat from the teeny kitchen onboard.
Part Seven: Countdown to Launch
Somewhere 30,000 feet over Île de la Tempête, Reunion
Suiting up, from the heavy armour plates interlocking on Athena’s Warhawk, retooled, equipped with a significantly improved boostpack and coil mechanism, to Adam and Skye’s fatigues latched into the exoskeletons they wore, to Purna’s tight fitting infiltrator garb, one by one, the team geared up in a certain kind of solace. They had trained years, some decades now for this. And yet in this situation, this very moment, they were going towards their biggest threat yet.
Moving out of the armoury and into the vehicle pool and quite literal trapdoor of the airship, where the ramp emerged out of, Skye stood tall in her exo and fatigues, oxygen mask on, given the door was going to open in the centre of the room. The dawn assault was back in vogue, the pink sky returning from two weeks ago.
“All yours, Viper. You two go make us an opening.” Skye smiled through the oxygen mask, as Purna gave a nod, heading over towards the release and punching the button.
With it, Purna looked across to Eloise, giving a thumbs up. The black carbon fiber wingpack sat tight on his back, the jets there as usual on each wing, a carbon fibre helmet and oxygen setup providing a nice steady flow of breathable air.
“Time to stretch your wings out, Archer. LZ’s marked up. We’ll land, then divide and conquer. Place your charges carefully, there’s many, many targets of opportunity. Fuel dump, the corvettes, you name it. And no end of personnel that need a knife, a bullet, or an arrow through their skull. Let’s make some mayhem of our own.” Purna replied, as the door widened up, his breathing intensifying. And with it, Purna led, not trying to leap so hard as if he’d fall across the other side of the trap door, but instead falling out, the cloud layer below masking the island, but not the big pointy volcano that stuck out of it.
Turning, Purna got a lock on their LZ shy of the dockyard area in a thick mangrove swamp, and only used the jets to adjust trajectory, the two lights soaring onto target. Falling more than flying this time around, but the speed and pace that allowed them to accelerate towards target, undetected, was unbeatable. And Purna was loving every second of it.
“You holding up okay?” Purna called out, the rare glimmer of emotion calling back as he turned gently around a bank of cloud, the tropical island that made up Ile de la Tempete coming into view below, the launch site perched on the plains of the east contrasted by the bulbous orange glow of the gently active volcano on the west of the isle, and inbetween, a presence of Artemis and PLA forces that would usually make him wince. But this time it was just necessary. There was no other way around, and Purna could have no doubts, not when the stakes were as high as they were.
And headed for their HUD-marked PLA, Purna readied to deploy his chute as they skated down from on high to almost level with the ocean itself, the waves throwing themselves up, as they flew towards a volcanic island in the southern Indian Ocean, below radar, a tiny blur in the dawn chorus.
If this wasn’t something cinematic, then nothing was, as they had 1km to go to the mangroves, their parachute deployment point, and then, the start of their little romp to start sabotaging. Lights did not often work together- but on this instance, Purna knew that Eloise just needed to be let loose on any targets of opportunity, and so long as they picked the opposite ones, they'd have everything covered, ready to detonate in time for the other teams to arrive.
Fireteam Anvil, Fireteam Hammer
With Viper and Archer gone, the rest of the team finished gearing up, and got ready to go, sitting in their CAVs respectively.
Quite literally, it was time to freefall some assault vehicles onto an island, Skye seeing the rest of the team assemble up, clambering onto vehicles, Athena and Jamie staying behind but ready as a QRF as and when she was needed. Quite literally, to drop in where their presence was required. Skye knew Athena had something in the works for that, as if the queen of indulgences hadn’t already cooked up something of her own.
The actual callsign Queen, however, had a moment to address the rest of the teams, wanting to go through the plan one last time.
“Right. So, just a reminder. Normally you’d deploy the chute on the vehicle early with that yellow toggle, but instead, when you pull that, it’ll deploy a drogue. That will slow the vehicle down, but it won’t stop you going splat. Instead, you yank that red one when the altimeter shows 2,000 feet. Then, fire the engine up, and whatever you hit, keep it going, cutting the chute away.” She begun, looking to the rest, knowing this was hasty- but, such a brief was important to reiterate.
“Winds and drop-point should put my CAV on target for the slope of the volcano towards the west of the island, and we’ll then rampage towards the vehicle pool after dropping off Tahlia. Our job, if you’re with the lovely Major Skye Lyons that is in Hammer, is to sabotage any vehicles, then run a gauntlet mopping up patrols around the island to make sure no QRF can fuck with us. We’re going to wipe them before they wipe us, and lead the attack on the main Command Site.” Skye started.
Adam looking to his group. “My team, Anvil should be here for this point, south of Camp Bravo. If we keep up the speed, and ram-raid, we can launch an assault on the barrack and the mechanised suits’ location. The ships, SAMs, and majority of the resistance should be cut through. But we need to secure that barrack if we want a clean run on the command centre and the launch site. If you find any intel, let me know. But I expect this to get messy.” Adam added, as Skye looked to the collective group here.
“And collectively, we need to then group up and assault the Command Centre after we’re done, and the remaining forces. Viper and Archer might be able to open us some doors, but we’ll need to do the heavy lifting. This method will drag them into a confrontation we fight on our terms. Speed, aggression, and firepower wins us this fight, because we sure as hell don’t have numbers. We’ll have them on the run in no time.” Skye smiled, clambering into the passenger seat of the CAV, sitting next to Ebrima, looking to him.
“We all good?” Skye asked, reattaching her oxygen over her face, the fatigues wearing, exo-clad Raven lead in position to go, as was Adam, behind the passenger seat of the other CAV with Sam at the wheel, Athena watching on at all of them.
“Happy hunting, go fuck them up, but leave me some!” Athena teased, as Skye smirked back, even broken by her unrelenting bullshit. With it, the armoured blonde punched the release button, the air draining as they were about to HALO some buggies into an island. There was an order to all of this, the sort that would make sure they hit their LZs, because they weren’t about to just send these things into the ocean or some jungle. Seeing their marker come up, Skye turned to Ebrima, and her smile visible through the mask, she tapped the bonnet of the CAV.
“Little hand says it’s time to roll....so play us out, Boaro. Hope you’re strapped in. I'll navigate us, let's fly this fucking thing.” Skye with that, cued the music, and her hand on the side strut of the CAV, got ready for Ebrima to drop them down.
Soundtrack: AC/DC - Shoot to ThrillThe odds were not in Raven's favour, at all. But, Skye had some feeling they were tipping it close.
