Skythikon

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

Just to let you guys know I'm still here. Waiting one more day to see if any of those who haven't posted in a while are gonna get a post up.

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

Post up, but it's a short one. Chinese New Year is here, so I've got quite a lot of family stuff to do. ._.

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

"Virus Actual to Kingpin. I will have two of mine to secure the hostage. The rest will assist with the breaching." Wei Jie replied quickly over the radio as his team slowly climbed up the side of the Odessa. The ship's hull was slippery with seawater, and several times he heard the surprised yelp of one of his team members as their feet lost traction. Thankfully, the water had not damaged the ropes they were harnessed to too much, otherwise they were in for a painful landing. With a grunt, he pulled himself up as fast as possible, a task not made any simpler by the wet ropes and his equally wet gloves. In hindsight, he probably should have removed them. Eventually - and it was a very long eventually - he reached the deck of the ship. His Type 81 was up and ready just as his boots touched the surface, scanning for any enemies present. Even though he was confident that the teams which had boarded the ship prior to Virus and Osprey's arrival had done a thorough job, Wei Jie just wanted to play it safe. There were plenty of places for a pirate to hide on the ship and he did not want to be shot in the back after moving off. One by one, the other members of the team clambered over the railings, their arrivals announced by the sound of thick, rubber soles striking the metal deck of the ship. "Virus-Three, last." came Geoffrey's voice over his headset, informing him that the whole team had boarded the ship. Wei Jie turned around and visually checked to confirm that everyone was present before nodding. "Let's move. Up the stairs to the bridge, then we can make our way to the lower deck from there." He said. "Let's make this quick." "Seconded," Firdaus said with a tired sigh. The team moved along the side of the ship in a loose single-file formation. Once they reached the superstructure, they turned and moved along the wall to reach the stairs. "Covering," Wei Jie said and took up position at the guardrail, his weapon pointed up at the open door. Firdaus took that as his cue to move up the stairs. He kept his rifle up and aimed at the doorway, ready to drop any hostile coming through. Once he made it into the bridge - Wei Jie was pretty sure it was the bridge from what he recalled of the schematic shown at the briefing - Firdaus radioed back to the rest of the team. "All clear, move up." At that, the rest of Virus advanced up the stairs while maintaining their formation. Once everyone was in the bridge, they continued towards the stairs leading down to the rest of the ship as quickly as they could. It was quite clear by then that the other teams had done a superb job of clearing the upper deck of hostiles and that there was no need for all their caution. They found the hostage, curled up in a fetal position, by the stairs. "Geoffrey, Adelaida, he's yours." Wei Jie said and without missing a beat, went down the stairs. "Virus actual to Kingpin, hostage is secured and my team is ready to assist. Lots of rooms down here, advise you specify which one you want us to assist in breaching." Wei Jie said.

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

I'll split Virus up to deal with the hostage and the doors that need breaching. Will get a post up tomorrow. Gonna hit the hay early today, think I caught a cold.

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

Sling loading. Kazue hated that term, among other things. She had the fortune of having only done the maneuver only a handful of times during her time with the Japanese special forces, and all of them were simply training and refresher courses. There had been plenty of experienced personnel on hand to oversee the operation and to call things off the moment they felt that things were even slightly going wrong. Even then, she had disliked being in the vehicle being sling-loaded. Would it not have been safer to load the crew up into the helicopter, then carrying the vehicle by sling-loading? It did not take long for Kazue to find out that, yes, it would have been safer, but she was part of the special forces; safety was a privilege, not a right. She ignored what Bird said - she had barely done any fighting during the raid - and simply looked at the floor of the boat, fighting back the butterflies in her stomach that buzzed every time the boat rocked due to the wind. Glancing up, she saw Geoffrey seated quite comfortable near the rear of the boat, one arm resting on the hull and the other cradling his rifle, which rested butt-first in between his legs. She scowled, how could he look so relaxed while here she was, one violent gust away from pissing herself. "Having fun?" She asked, no small amount of disdain in her voice. Geoffrey chuckled slightly, incensing Kazue even further. Was he laughing at her? "Sling-loading is how the Guards travel," He replied, referring to his time in the Singapore Armed Forces. Strangely, Kazue noticed that he never spoke about the unit he last served with, always about the Guards, which he had only served in for a mere ten months. "Ever sat in a sling-loaded Spider LSV? No doors to block your fall, shift too much to one side and you'd be in for a painful drop. Add that to the Chinooks usually flying as fast as the engines would allow and it wasn't uncommon for first-timers to throw up the minute the wheels left the ground." He paused and looked over the side of the boat. With a mischievous glint in his eyes, he looked back to Kazue. "At least if you fall overboard here, you'd just be landing in water." "Don't make me shoot you," Kazue snapped and tightened her grip on the ropes that lined the hull. The ride could not be over soon enough, and she found herself looking forward to finally being able to throw her weight into a fight. She needed to shoot something, maybe that would be enough to make herself feel better about herself after feeling like a frightened schoolgirl. "Just relax," Geoffrey said and leaned back against the hull. Kazue nearly shouted out in alarm as his head went over the side, but she caught herself just in time. "Close your eyes, focus on something else and this will all be over before you know it." Kazue scowled once again. That was certainly easier said than done. "So, they call you Bird?" She heard Adelaida say, trying to make conversation with one of Osprey's members. "How was things on your end of the mission?" The last thing Kazue wanted to hear was about the mission which she did absolutely nothing in, so she shifted her attention towards Wei Jie for a split second before realizing that it was a waste of time. The Chinaman was never in a sociable mood during missions. He would be more than willing to speak casually when off-duty, but during a mission he was all business. True enough, Wei Jie sat in the boat with his eyes looking forward and down and did not move an inch from his position. Sighing, Kazue wondered what Firdaus was up to. The friendly Malaysian had taken out his parang - basically a large machete - and was polishing it with a torn rag. A few of Osprey's members looked at him with curious gazes. Much like Kazue, they were probably unused to seeing someone carrying such a big bladed weapon. Combat knives and bayonets, that was what Kazue was used to. Machetes were strictly a jungle-only piece of equipment, not something you carried around everywhere. It did not take long for Firdaus to notice the eyes on him and he looked up. "I like it," He explained simply. "Hacks limbs as easily as branches. Nothing scares the shit out of person as effectively as having them see their buddies being cut to pieces." For emphasis, he waved the weapon lazily in front of him. Kazue just thanked the heavens that she had yet to see him use it. She could already envision to grievous wounds the parang was capable of inflicting. "Nearly there," Wei Jie reported suddenly after a couple more minutes of silence. "Falcon, don't bother stopping. Just get us low enough to touch the water. We'll handle it from there." He looked behind him at Geoffrey. "Geoffrey, get the engine running. Firdaus," He paused as he looked for the person nearest to the rope at the front. Kazue could see the hesitation in his body language as he noticed that it was a member of Osprey, and although Kazue could understand - commanding someone from another squad without consulting the person's commander was seen as a sign of disrespect - she could not say she felt the same. Wojtek had given out orders to Virus before, after all. "Thor," Wei Jie continued. "Both of you, standby at the ropes. The minute the boat hits the water, I want them released. We are not wasting any time." "Falcon copies. Descending now." The pilot reported, and Kazue could feel the whole boat shift as they began to lose altitude at a rapid pace, much to her displeasure. It took all her discipline to simply not throw up. The boat's engine growled as Geoffrey revved it up. Everyone else got into their positions, holding on to something in anticipation of the bumpy landing. All the while, Wei Jie looked over the side to gauge their remaining distance. There was a slight bump as the boat finally touched the water, and almost immediately it started moving forward. As planned, the ropes were disengaged and the boat surged forward. Kazue at last let out a relieved breath. Now this was something she was comfortable with.

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

Right, so I ended my last post with the option to have the ship-to-ship combat should Black Jack drag on and not require the retasking of Osprey and Virus.

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

As dangerous as their position was, Wei Jie was unwilling to leave his position until every single hostile was eliminated. He was well aware that the women that they had left in the brothel either had yet to leave, or were still going to be easy prey for any pirates that survived the intense fire pouring in from both his team and the Osprey assault element. Without replying to Osprey, he took aim at a group of pirates and emptied the remaining three rounds in his current magazine. The resulting explosion all but vaporized his targets and maimed a further two who were unfortunate enough to be standing within range of the grenade's burst of shrapnel. Machine gun fire from his right scythed through the air, mowing down those who had survived the destruction of the technicals and were now attempting an approach on foot. Every now and then, the sharp, distinct crack of a sniper rifle could be heard, shortly followed by the keeling over of an enemy. The lack of any objections from his team made Wei Jie even more sure of his decision to delay their exit for just a little longer to give the women a higher chance of escaping. Once the last techinical had been taken out by a rocket courtesy of Osprey, Wei Jie at last gave his initial orders for their orderly exit. "Firdaus, take the remaining QLB magazines and head downstairs. Hold position at the same door we came in." He said and pushed the two remaining full magazines towards the Malaysian. "Got it," Firdaus replied, grabbed the two magazines and hastily made his way back down the stairs. "Adelaida, I will take over the machine gun. Head down and join Firdaus, I will join the two of you once the coast is clear." Wei Jie said calmly. He knew that Osprey was probably keeping watch over Virus while cursing them for taking so long, but Wei Jie wanted to personally ensure the safety of those under him. He had served under a few commanders who were more than willing to be the first to leave a fight even if it meant leaving their soldiers in a precarious position. At the same time, he had the privilege of serving under those who always made sure their people were safe before leaving themselves. Wei Jie made a note of emulating the latter while using the former as an example of how not to lead. He pushed himself off the ground and moved over to the LMG just as Adelaida made her way down the stairs. Adopting a low kneeling position, Wei Jie aimed down the sights of the machine gun and fired off short bursts at any pirate who made the mistake of making himself a target. Only once he was satisfied that there were no longer any major threats around did he run back down the stairs to rejoin the rest of his team. "We are in the clear, but we will have to run towards Geoffrey and Kazue. I do not want to hang around here." He said, then addressed his squad's sniper team. "Geoffrey, Kazue, start packing up. We are on the way to your position." Adelaida frowned slightly even as they cautiously moved through the open door. "What about the women?" Wei Jie shook his head. There was literally nothing more they could do. Had there been a vehicle large enough to carry all the women back to the nearest town, he would have told Osprey to head back while his team escorted the women away. However, now all they could do was just give the women their freedom and hope for the best. He did not like it a bit, but there was still one ray of hope. "I know that PLA special forces occasionally conduct their own raids on troublesome pirate bases. If they are lucky, they might run into one such raiding party." "With everything they have endured, I think they deserve a bit of luck." Adelaida said with a sigh, but quickly fell into silence as the three of them ran the four-hundred or so meters to Geoffrey and Kazue's position. It was nothing they were not used to, but after a brief but intense firefight through the brothel, followed immediately after by the repelling of a sizable attack by the pirates, the three of them were out of breath by the time they reached the other two members of their squad. Wei Jie could feel his legs and lungs burning - the nine kilogram QLB-06 was starting to feel like a bad idea, but he simply stood up straight and took in a few deep breaths to recover. Geoffrey and Kazue were just finishing packing up, the former stuffing the camouflage net back into his rucksack and the latter burying the spent shell casings by shoveling sand into the ditch. It only took them a few seconds before they were ready to move off and Wei Jie mentally prepared himself for the forced quick march back to the insertion point. They were within visual range of the beach when they received word of an enemy patrol moving down the beach in their direction. By the sound of things, the enemy had no idea where Virus or Osprey were and were merely wandering around blindly and hoping for the best. "Virus Actual copies," Wei Jie said, with no small amount of frustration in his voice. This Khanya was proving to be a pain even after his death. The enemy patrol had to be taken out, no question about that. They could easily wreck the teams' boats and thus leave them trapped in Somalia, and that was not something Wei Jie wanted to happen. Still, he was not in the mood for a protracted fight. He wanted to go in, eliminate the patrol as quickly as possible and then just hop back into the boat. "Geoffrey, ready your MP5. We are not going to do this the clean way." Wei Jie said. A moment later, he heard the clacking of metal as the sniper slung his rifle across his back and brought up his submachine gun. "Adelaida, Firdaus, I am giving you the freedom of choosing when we attack. Just make sure it is...Fearsome." He said. Firdaus laughed. "That, I can do. Just watch." He said. Virus slowed their pace as they approached the boat, anticipating the arrival of the enemy patrol. Sure enough, they saw the circles of light cast by their torches long before they could even make out their outlines. "Shift to flank," Wei Jie said quickly through his microphone. The team moved parallel to the enemy patrol, and only once they were almost in line with one another did Firdaus land the first blow. With a ferocious roar, he charged towards the leading man of the enemy patrol and fired an extended burst from his 552 into the pirate's chest. He grabbed the body before it fell and used it as a human shield to soak up the rounds fired by the second man in the enemy patrol. While he was distracted with Firdaus, Adelaida joined the fray, placing two clean shots into the second pirate's head, dropping him instantly. From the back, Kazue and Geoffrey wasted no time in taking out their own targets while Wei Jie hung back and used his light machine gun to eliminate those who were smart enough to keep their distance and attempt to regroup. Within seconds, the pirate patrol had dispersed. Virus made no attempts to persecute the runners; that was not part of their job. They simply had to secure the boat and they had completed their task. Wei Jie pushed the boat slightly into the water so that when Osprey arrived, they could all just pile in, start up the engine and be off. "Virus to Osprey, boat is secured. Just waiting on you." He said and looked out at the water. In the distance, he could make out several pinpricks of white light, probably the headlamps or searchlights of boats. Judging by the fact that almost all of them were heading away from shore and the near-constant distance between each of them, Wei Jie guessed that they were pirate-commandeered vessels. However, they did not seem to be heading towards Virus, at least not at the current moment. "You might want to make it quick. We have possible pirate vessels leaving shore, but they are not heading for us. Probably for some juicy target farther off shore." He reported.

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

I can probably drag out Long Arm a little longer with the sudden appearance of enemy ships, but I'd honestly rather have a redeployment to the Odessa. Osprey and Virus would seem like tge unluckiest bunch of operators otherwise.

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

The breaching charge had done an excellent job of blowing through the wall, the one behind it, and the unfortunate pirate who had apparently been leaning against the latter. Without waiting for the smoke and debris to settle, Adelaida pivoted on her leading foot and rushed into the brothel through the improvised entrance. The first pirate she laid eyes on took three rounds from her G36K and his buddy beside him was quickly eliminated by a burst from Wei Jie's Type 81. They had caught the enemy with their pants down - some of them quite literally. They had obviously not expected such a sudden and explosive assault, and most of them were still in the midst of pulling their pants up or grabbing their rifles when they were dropped. "Move!" Wei Jie shouted to a group of incredibly frightened women as he moved up the right. The brothel looked quite standard for an illegal operation using enforced labour. It was squarish, with a single corridor running down the center of the building and doors leading off to individual rooms along the side. The area the team had breached was probably a storeroom where necessities were stored, and the room after that looked to be a area for the women to rest, though from the looks of it, that was not what it was in fact used for. Adelaida felt a shiver go down her spine as she made the quick observation. Human trafficking was rife in the Philippines - and most of South-East Asia, for that matter - and such brothels were almost as common as a mosquito. From the corner of her eye, she could tell that Firdaus was also quite put off by the mere existence of the brothel. He barely showed any emotion as he kicked a pirate pleading for his life to the ground fired into his head at point-blank range. "Room cleared," Firdaus reported and moved towards the corridor, taking cover on the left side of the entrance. Adelaida was about to move up to take up position on the other side when one of the doors opened and a pirate jumped out, firing wildly from the hip with his AK. Bullets struck the ground, the walls and the ceiling, but Adelaida and Wei Jie managed to get out of the line of fire before the pirate could get lucky. Firdaus leaned out of cover and opened fire on the pirate. At such a close range and such tight quarters, the pirate was struck by almost every pellet contained in the shell. He let out a final yell of intense pain and dropped his AK before falling back onto the ground. "Clear every room!" Wei Jie ordered. Turning back to the women, he said, "All of you, stay here until we're done." While Adelaida knew he meant well, wanting to keep them well away from the fighting, she could almost feel the women behind them tensing up at his words. No doubt they were used to such rough and commanding tones being accompanied by plenty of violence, both physical and mental. With a gentle smile, she looked to the youngest of the women - a terrified girl who could not be older than ten - and said in a motherly voice, "Don't worry. You'll all be safe and home soon, I promise." She did not know whether they could even understand her, but that seemed to put at least some of them at ease, so she shifted her attention back to the corridor. Wei Jie and Firdaus had already cleared the first two rooms, which were thankfully empty and had moved on to the third and fourth respectively. Automatically, Adelaida made her way to the third door on the left side of the corridor. She licked her lips and let out a sharp breath to steady herself before kicking the flimsy wooden door down and aiming her rifle at whoever was inside. There was a pirate inside, but his pistol was not aimed at her. Rather, he had his arm wrapped tightly around the neck of a woman and the muzzle of his pistol pressed against her temple. Adelaida clenched her jaw and took aim at the pirate, but he was smart - he kept most of his person hidden behind his hostage and all Adelaida could see down her sights were the pleading, teary eyes of the hostage. "Move and I shoot." The pirate said, though his subsequent gulp gave away his fear. Adelaida narrowed her eyes, wondering how she was going to go about solving this problem, but then she soon noticed the pirate's mistake. He was standing directly in front of a window. "Adelaida, I need him to turn." Geoffrey's voice came over her headset, as if on cue. "Calm down," Adelaida said and lowered his rifle. "Just let the girl go and you can keep your life." She did not take her eyes off the pirate at any point in time as she slowly but surely side-stepped to the left. It was risky - the pirate could be so nervous that he would pull the trigger the minute he detected the movement, but it had to be done. There was no way Geoffrey was going to be able to put a round through the pirate without killing the hostage in their current position. "You're young. Maybe you just made a mistake. It happens." Adelaida said calmly and continued shifting to the side. "We can help you." Then, the pirate made the fatal error of turning ever so slightly to his right to face Adelaida. Geoffrey wasted no time and almost immediately a bullet came crashing through the window and entered the head of the pirate. The resulting exit wound splashed the wall next to the door with his brains and parts of his shattered skull. The woman screamed and dropped to a squatting position, her eyes shut tight and hands over her ears. Adelaida rushed to her side and knelt, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Shh," She shushed the crying woman. "You're safe now." Slowly, she removed the woman's hands from her ears and looked at her face. Her eyes were red from crying, but apart from a few scrapes and bruises, she appeared unharmed. At least physically. Adelaida added to herself with a slight frown. She gently helped the woman get to her feet and pointed out the door. "The others are outside. Go join them and I promise you, we will help you get out of here." The woman nodded and ran out of the room as if it was infected by the plague. Adelaida could not blame her. Looking at the old and stained mattress on the floor, the depressingly bare earthen walls and single, flickering light bulb hanging from the ceiling, the room looked rather sinister, as if it came straight out of a horror film. She quickly made her way out of the room and rejoined Wei Jie and Firdaus, who had both finished clearing the rest of the rooms. "Virus to Osprey, brothel is cleared." Wei Jie reported. "Seven pirates KIA, twelve civilian prisoners freed." The three of them made their way to the back room where the women were. Wei Jie looked over them and let out a frustrated sigh. While Sergei had said that they simply had to free the women, that was not how Virus operated. Everyone on the team, especially Adelaida, Firdaus and Geoffrey, knew that just letting them loose would be akin to killing them. Unarmed, with no supplies and no idea where they were, they would barely last two days, let along long enough to make it back to civilization. "Too many of them to bring with us," Firdaus said with a grimace. Osprey would probably have objected to the original, unvoiced plan, but Adelaida was quite confident that Wei Jie would have been able to make them see reason if there were a reasonable number of prisoners. Twelve was in no way within that range. "And it's almost a week's march to the nearest city, and that is at the standard GGK pace." Wei Jie nodded in agreement, then took out his satellite phone and GPS. He knelt down, intending to pass it to one of the women, but she shrank back from him and kept her eyes glued to the floor. Adelaida shook her head and said, "Here, let me." She said and took out the same devices from her pockets. She knelt and slowly extended her hand with the items towards the women and nodded her head slightly, all the while keeping a friendly expression on her face. She made sure her rifle was slung at her side and hidden from view as much as possible - no doubt the prisoners all grew to associate the sight of an armed person with whatever trauma they had suffered. "Use this to call for help." She said and held up the phone. "Use this to find your way home." She continued, holding up the GPS. After a few tense seconds of silence, one of the women gingerly reached out and took the two devices. "T-Thank you," She said in a small voice. Adelaida kept her surprise at any one of them speaking English to herself and stood up. Firdaus gave her a thumbs up and Wei Jie merely gave her a nod of approval with his arms folded. "I'll never understand how you do that." He said with a slight shake of his head. The Filipino laughed softly. Wei Jie was about as gentle as a rock to the face, and his face looked as if it had been carved from a rock, so it was no wonder that the women were not as receptive to him as he had hoped. "Oh, don't worry." Adelaida said as the three of them made their way to the main entrance of the brothel. Through their headsets, they could hear Osprey giving them the meetup point. "You'll get it one day." "Maybe," Wei Jie said with a shrug. Pressing down on his push-to-talk button, he said, "Virus-Three and Four, we are on the way to your position, please acknowledge." His response was dead silence. Not even static could be heard. Frowning, Wei Jie tried again. "Virus-Three and Four, do you copy?" Once again, he received no reply. "Shit," Wei Jie muttered. "Something must have happened. Firdaus inform Osprey-" He was interrupted by a burst of static in his earpiece, followed by the hush voice of Kazue. "Had to go radio silent. Three technicals just drove past us and we barely avoided detection. Estimate around twenty possible hostiles converging on your position." Suddenly, the relaxed, post-mission mood came to a grinding halt as the news sunk in. "twenty?" Wei Jie repeated in a whisper. "They must have heard the commotion, or they were intending to use the brothel." Adelaida suggested, but half-heartedly. It was useless to guess the intent of the pirates. All that mattered was that they were on the way and they had to either bug out as quickly as possible or set up a defensive perimeter and prepare for one hell of a fight. twenty untrained fighters were still forty guns firing countless bullets in your general direction. "Virus to Osprey!" Wei Jie called out urgently as he gestured for his team to double it to the compound. "Virus-Three and Four reports that we have twenty possible hostiles converging on our position. ETA two minutes, recommend we dig in and prepare to push them back! We are approaching the compound and will take up positions on the roof." Without waiting for a reply, Wei Jie led his team into the compound, into the building and up a series of stairs that led them out onto the flat rooftop. It offered them a good view of the road. Even from such a distance, Adelaida could see the clouds of dust kicked up by the fast moving technicals. It would not be long before they were close enough to realize that something was wrong. "Adelaida, take the LMG. Firdaus, you're my assistant on the QLB." Wei Jie said quickly and removed the grenade launcher from his back. He unfolded the built-in bipod and placed it on the roof, it's muzzle facing the road. Then, he passed his Type 81 to Adelaida. It was a lot heavier than the G36K that she was used to, but she felt a strange sense of impatience to use the weapon. It looked interesting to say the least, as if someone had taken an old SKS and given it a makeover to become a pseudo-RPK. Wei Jie adopted a prone position and took aim with the launcher. Firdaus knelt beside him and laid out the two extra magazines for the launcher he had been carrying on the ground. Adelaida took up position a good two meters away from the two of them, deploying the bipod of the machine gun and lying prone with her eyes glued to the road. The last of the technicals had just cleared the turn and was now heading straight for the compound. "Virus-Three has no shot. Repositioning." Came Geoffrey's voice over the headset. "Target in sight." Wei Jie said quietly and clicked off the safety of the launcher. There was a tense silence as he waited for the vehicles to get closer. "Firing." The grenade left the muzzle with a dull thumping sound and silently arced through the air. The thirty-five millimeter high-explosive, dual purpose shell arced silently through the air for almost two seconds before striking the leading vehicle square in the hood. The resulting explosion illuminated the desert with a burning orange glow for a split second. "Open fire!"

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

Hopefully I got the directions correct for my post. Got a little turned around looking at the map. I'll try to keep my posts shorter than a wall of text in future, if I can.