Skythikon

R.E.S.C.U.E, Global Ops

"Virus-Two copies, Osprey. We are almost in position. Out." Firdaus said quietly into his microphone as he crept slowly towards the brothel. For the past half-an-hour, the other three members of Virus had quick-marched themselves to a prime flanking position on the building's southern side. It took a far longer time than a direct assault and involved a lot more leopard crawling than Firdaus liked, but as he looked at the lightly defended building, he had to admit, it was definitely worth the effort. As Wei Jie had predicted, guards on the outside were minimal, just two half-asleep men on chairs, their AKs leaning against the wall beside them. After all, Khanya was probably not worried about who got in, but rather who got out. He inched his way forward; they were now just fifty meters away from the brothel. Looking back, he did a final check to make sure that Adelaida and Wei Jie were following behind him before continuing onward, slowly crawling towards the two guards by the door and taking care not to make any sound. Firdaus doubted that the guards could see them, as tired as they appeared to be. The desert version of the Japanese Jeitai camouflage pattern worked quite well in the Somali desert and - Firdaus made a note to thank Allah specifically for this blessing on Friday - it was a cloudy, moonless night. "Adelaida, Firdaus, the guards are yours." Wei Jie's muted voice came over his headset. Nodding to no one in particular, Firdaus slowly pushed his primary weapon, a 552 commando outfitted with a simple red dot sight, foregrip and laser targeter, to his back, beside the Remington 870 that was his breaching tool. He drew the silenced QSW-06 from his thigh holster and slowly continued moving forward. While everyone on the team stuck with whatever weapon they had used in their respective armed forces, the QSW-06 was the only weapon that Wei Jie insisted on being standard, and with good reason. Fitted with a silencer and firing a specialized subsonic round, it was as close to a truly silent weapon as they could get. "Understood. Firdaus, wait up." Adelaida said, thought Firdaus wished she had chosen a better time. He was now barely twenty meters from the guards and was probably a sharp breath away from being detected. "Virus-Three to assault element, you're still in the clear." Geoffrey's voice came over their headset. "The two sleepyheads are your only opposition so far, but I would not make too much noise. I can see armed men in the brothel through the windows. Looks like Khanya's throwing some kind of party." "Not the good kind, I imagine." Firdaus muttered darkly, just as Adelaida pulled up alongside him. Wei Jie still lagged behind, but Firdaus could understand why. After all, he was the one lugging the nine-kilo grenade launcher. Firdaus smirked as he recalled the first time he saw the Chinaman slinging that beast across his back. At first, the Malaysian had thought that it was something Wei Jie had been taught during his time with the PLA, but upon asking, Wei Jie had rather sheepishly explained that he just liked the launcher. It was by no means a bad thing. The QLB-06 - or 'nine kilograms of fuck you and everything you stand for' as Geoffrey eloquently called it - proved to be incredibly useful for anything between taking out lightly armoured vehicles to knocking down troublesome walls. "In position," Adelaida reported. "Left or right?" She whispered. "Take caution, searchlight swiveling." Geoffrey warned. Fridaus grimaced. "Left, and let's do it fast." He said and took aim at his target with his pistol. With a nod to Adelaida, the two of them fired almost simultaneously, their weapons barely making a sound as the bullet left the muzzle. The two guards jerked slightly, as if they had awoken with a start, then slumped in their seats, completely still. "Wei Jie, rendezvous at the southern wall, searchlight is coming for us." "Understood. With all the noise they're making inside, I'd say we can make a run for it. I doubt they're paying any attention to what's going on outside, anyway." Came the section leader's response. Given the green light, Firdaus and Adelaida quickly got to their feet and made a mad dash for the wall, taking cover behind it just as the searchlight swept over their previous position. With his heart in his throat, Firdaus prayed hard that the searchlight operators would not notice that the two guards were now dead instead of sleeping. A second later, Wei Jie slid into position beside Adelaida. "Two techinicals," Firdaus said and peeked around the corner. "I think we can take the both of them out with a single charge." Wei Jie nodded. "Good plan. Wait for the searchlight to pass. Adelaida, take a look around the building and find us an alternate method of entry. I don't want to blast through a wall without knowing who or what's behind it and I don't like the idea of kicking down the front door either." "Understood," Adelaida replied with a nodded and, sticking to the wall, skulked around the corner behind them with her G36K up and at the ready. "Searchlight is moving...Moving...Still moving..." Geoffrey said and, as if for comedic effect, yawned. "Glad to see the effort you're putting into this," Firdaus said with a smirk. "I know, right?" Geoffrey replied and Firdaus swore he could hear the mischievous grin in his voice. A second later, the sniper continued, "All clear. Make any moves you need. I'll continue providing overwatch." Wei Jie nodded and tapped Firdaus on the shoulder, giving him the go signal to make his move. Without hesitating, the Malaysian dashed from cover and slid into position beside the nearest technical. He took out a small block of plastic explosive from one of the pouches attached to his belt - while Kazue carried all the larger block charges and detonating cord, Firdaus liked to carry small charges in case he ran into uncooperative walls - and unceremoniously placed it under the vehicle, directly underneath the oil sump. He took out the detonator and making a quick check to make sure it was in test mode, pressed the button. A green LED lit up on the device, telling him that it was armed and ready to go. Satisfied, he ran back to the wall, taking behind the corner and in front of Wei Jie. "Armed and ready. I placed enough explosives to kill four technicals. These pirates are going to have one hell of a fireworks show." He said with a grin on his face. He could barely contain his excitement at things finally starting to kick off. Adelaida reported back soon after. "There's a small extension on the eastern wall. From what I can see through the tiny window, it looks like a storeroom. Regardless, it's a place with no one." "Then that's our point of entry." Wei Jie said firmly. "Move out and assume two-man breaching person. Adelaida, you will be the point woman for this breach. Firdaus, set a timed charge and give it ten seconds. I want Osprey and Geoffrey to attack at the same time. Once the wall is blown, detonate your charge and kill the technicals. Hopefully all that chaos would be enough to stun the bastards inside to give us time to kill them without too much resistance. I want the brothel cleared quickly so we can cover Osprey for their assault on the main compound. All clear?" "Got it," Firdaus and Adelaida replied one after the other and quickly moved to the eastern wall and adopted their positions. Wei Jie stood on the right with Adelaida roughly half a meter away and opposite him. "Virus Actual to Osprey. We are setting up our assault on the brothel." Wei Jie said as Firdaus fiddled with the timer on the charge. "Twenty seconds until it all goes loud, so pick your targets. We have the technicals covered, so you can save your rocket for something else. Geoffrey, do you have-" "We have our target," came a terse reply from Kazue. Wei Jie took that as a sign that his sniper was already concentrating on his target and was ready to shoot at any moment, otherwise he would have replied personally. "Osprey, we will be taking out one of the guards by the bofors. Take the other if you want, or you can leave it to us." Firdaus placed the charge on the wall and quickly took up position behind Adelaida. "Ten seconds," He said over his headset. In a joking tone, he added, "Hey, Osprey, mind keeping Khanya alive long enough for us to see him? I think Virus has got some words for him." "Target acquired," came Geoffrey's cool voice over the radio, and that quickly put an end to any light conversation. Firdaus mentally counted down the remaining seconds. Five more to go. "Minimal wind, distance four-fifty meters. Ready to fire." The sniper reported, probably trying to help co-ordinate the teams with the countdown that followed. "Three...Two...One...Sending." And then, all hell broke loose.

R.E.S.C.U.E, Global Ops

Geoffrey could not help but feel relieved as he, along with his team, were led away from the operations room and into the armoury. Operation Black Jack, while sounding rather interesting with its need for a non-lethal and quiet solution, was certainly not geared towards what Geoffrey was trained for and what he was comfortable with. He was a sniper, and a rather good one at that, if he could say so himself. Putting a round into a target's head from a mile away with his PGM 338, that he could do. Fight room-to-room on board a ship? That sounded just plain unappealing. "Well, that was a waste of breath." Kazue muttered beneath her breath and folded her arms. In the short time Geoffrey had known the Japanese woman, he had found her to be almost trying too hard to be sniping with her words, as if she were actively trying to pick a fight with everyone around her. Geoffrey chalked that up to her small size; she was probably just trying to prevent anyone from looking down on her or doubting her abilities, though how she intended to achieve that with an acidic personality, he did not know. "Not entirely. At least the Black Jack teams have a plan, yeah?" Geoffrey offered. As his old platoon commander in the Guards had once put it, 'if you have a plan at the end of a meeting, it doesn't matter how many black eyes or bruised egos there are. It was a good meeting.' Kazue shrugged, and they both fell silent as Sergei gave the briefing for their new mission. Geoffrey more or less stopped listening after Sergei mentioned their target's involvement in the infamous Elisaveta video. Back when he was in the Singapore Guards Formation, he and the rest of his section had made the mistake of watching the video while messing around with their phones after a long day of training. It had been like watching a car crash - disgusting, painful but ultimately nigh impossible to pull your eyes away. In fact, his section had half a mind of taking up Sarenkov's offer back then, and would have if they had been less afraid of being court-martialed for desertion. "He's a dead man walking, that's for sure." Firdaus commented after the briefing and stuffed his hands into the pocket. "Anyone else saw the video when it came out?" He asked and shivered involuntarily. Adelaida nodded, but then shook her head. "God rest Elisaveta's soul, but we have work to do and more people to save." She said and looked to Wei Jie. "Should we put together our plan first, or load up?" "We already know what we will be using," Wei Jie said and turned towards Osprey. It appeared as if the other team had already came up with a plan during the briefing and their team leader - Wojtek, if Geoffrey recalled correctly - wasted no time in sharing. The plan sounded rather solid. They had two targets and two teams to take care of it. While Geoffrey would have gladly volunteered to be the one to put a round square between Khanya's eyes, he was quite satisfied with being part of the element to raid the brothel. Going in guns blazing to rescue people never failed to make him feel like a soldier again. Wei Jie nodded in agreement with Osprey's plan. "We will send two of our own to recce the brothel." He said and pointed to the road cutting across the desert, to the north of the compound. "Geoffrey will be deployed first, along with Kazue. Between the two of them, they can make a temporary outpost to keep an eye on movement in and out of the brothel. I imagine that it would be busy, and not with people who would surrender at the first sign of fighting either." That was quite a tall order, as far as Geoffrey was concerned. They were probably going to deploy on the same beach, and it was going to be in absolute darkness. While he was confident of his navigation skills, the more he looked at the map, the more he was convinced that the desert was featureless and thus a navigational nightmare. Still, it was not completely impossible. It would just take him longer than usual to carry out the order. "Give me co-ordinates and I can be there within twenty minutes of hitting the beach." He said confidently. Two klicks was nothing compared to the ten kilometer fast march he had to undertake to just earn the title of 'Guard'. Wei Jie nodded and looked to the others. "No objections?" He asked and waited for exactly two seconds before continuing, "Then load up and ready yourselves." ---- That was how, a few hours later, Geoffrey found himself sitting in a boat with both his team and Osprey. At a glance, it would have been easy to tell the difference between the two teams. Osprey looked like they were about ready to just level the compound and call it a day with all their weapons and the various accessories fitted to them. Virus, however, went with a different approach. Where Osprey had a rocket launcher, the heaviest weapon on Virus was Wei Jie's QLB-06 semi-automatic grenade launcher. It was a heavy beast, and it was anyone's guess how he could carry it slung across his back while still carrying a Type 81 light machine gun. Everyone else either carried a simple assault rifle or, in Geoffrey's case, a sniper rifle. Geoffrey smirked to himself as he recalled how they decided on the name Virus. It suited the method of operation of almost every one of its members. They infiltrated the enemy's territory with minimal fuss, made themselves scarce while pinpointing and exploiting weak spots and when the time came to strike, they made sure it was sudden, crippling or if possible, fatal. "20 seconds." He heard Wojtek say. As soon as the boat hit the beach, Geoffrey was out. He was easily the most lightly equipped member of either team, forgoing the plate carrier the others used in favour of a mesh load bearing vest and ditching the helmet for a boonie hat. His rifle, a PGM 338 with only a variable zoom scope, night optics and anti-mirage band as its only modifications, was slung across his front and an MP5 hung from its sling by his side. He carried a medium-sized rucksack containing everything he was going to need to make himself disappear into the desert, as well as some rudimentary survival equipment. Kazue soon joined him on the beach. As the designated engineer of the group, she had to carry her pack of tools and explosives in addition to her standard battle equipment of rifle, plate carrier, helmet and ammunition. She loaded a magazine into her Type 89 assault rifle and cocked it. She nodded to Geoffrey, indicating her ready. "Move when you're ready," Wei Jie said in a low voice. In the dead silence of the night, it might as well have been a shout. With a nod to their team leader, Geoffrey and Kazue moved off towards their observation post. "Virus-Four to Osprey sniper. We are moving to our OP." Kazue reported in a quiet voice over her headset. "Let us do a bit of recon before you start shooting things up. Out." It did not take long for them to reach their post - the two klick estimate had obviously been from the beach to the compound itself. Geoffrey looked out at the pinpricks of light in the distance and guessed that they were maybe five or six hundred meters away, but no more than that. It was a lot closer than he was used to, but it was probably for the best. With such a high chance of collateral damage and civilian casualties, he wanted his shots to be as accurate as possible. "Outpost my ass," Kazue said as she looked around them and tapped her foot on the ground. "Ground is hard, we won't be able to dig a scrape worth digging in time." She looked out across the road. "I see a small ditch, we could probably use that as cover." Geoffrey shrugged. "Better than nothing. Let's go." They dashed across the road and did not stop until they reached the ditch. It was, as Kazue said, small, but it could at least fit the two of them and with a few hacks of Kazue's entrenching tool, they managed to make it possible for them to poke their rifles out without increasing the risk of being spotted. To conceal them even further, Geoffrey took out a large net with brown strips of cloth stitched to it and laid it over the ditch, securing it down with rocks he found around them. He sprinkled a few handfuls of sand over the net to complete the illusion. It was sub-par and far from satisfactory, but in such low-light conditions, it would do. He slipped back into the makeshift scrape and shouldered his rifle, peering through his scope and aiming towards the brothel. Beside him, Kazue took out a pair of binoculars and scanned the area in front of them. "Virus-Three and Four in position." Geoffrey reported and adjusted his scope. "Eyes on the brothel. I can see lots of movement inside and cars parked outside. We could have a lot more people than we expected. Osprey snipers, can you confirm?"

R.E.S.C.U.E, Global Ops

Sorry for not getting a post up yesterday. Got home really late. Will try to grt one up today.

R.E.S.C.U.E, Global Ops

Yep. Thinking about ever getting Lima back up, Skyth? I want to maybe wrap up that RP, go straight to Copenhagen- I'll ask Silverwind, if you're still in. Going to post. My guys are a mixed bunch, but no doubt, will be a fun team- moreover being a weapons team.

@kingkonrad

I wouldn't mind. We can talk more via PMs. Also, just something I found amusing. Leopard happens to be the name of the company I was under during basic.

R.E.S.C.U.E, Global Ops

Technically, yes, but only vecause the formation my unit is under handles aerial photo recon. My unit just handles the supply and logistics side of things. I'm in the Singapore Armed Forces, by the way.

R.E.S.C.U.E, Global Ops

I REALLY need to keep working on mine. Though they'll be in, no doubt. Skythion, great to see you again! How are you?

@kingkonrad

Good to see you as well! Passed out of basic training a few weeks ago, right now undergoing training to be an air force driver. Complete novice to driving anything between a Ford Everest and a five ton truck off and on road in two months. ><'' Otherwise, doing fine.

R.E.S.C.U.E, Global Ops

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.

R.E.S.C.U.E, Global Ops

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."

R.E.S.C.U.E, Global Ops

Argh, looks like I got too caught up making characters, though I'll admit at one point I was wondering how I was gonna control all of them. XD Will get everything fixed right after this, thanks!

R.E.S.C.U.E, Global Ops

Finished up my CSes, just waiting to be approved then I'll get my post up.