Kapitel 85: THE RAT'S TAIL part 2
(Jeju Island, DRK, September 2134)
Among the thick forests and remnants of bombed and scorched houses, 5 people in ghillie suits raised their heads.
A far cry from is former glory as a world-famous tourist attraction before WW3, this once beautiful island is wrecked by the horrors of war, being the site of a major battle between the ex-ROK and the Veo invaders. Due to the usage of chemical weapons, the island was left uninhabitable until 2125 when the DRK government finally cleaned up the island.
While refugees have begun to return, the island is still largely uninhabited due to the presence of countless unexploded munitions and dangerous Veo technology that the Korean military is still clearing, with a huge restricted zone marked out on the island.
Archangel's investment in the form of a factory and jobs for the locals was a life-saver to the crumbled economy of the Jeju province, being the first major company to set up operations in the province after WW3 ended, helping greatly to restore confidence in the area.
"Are we clear?" asked Aya.
Clara is looking at the time carefully. "Ok, let's go," she whispered.
She stood up, keeping her body low, moving forward carefully, raising her HK-416 rifle. Aya and Liu Zhong followed her while Albert and Vera remained behind, having set up a sniper position.
As they advanced forward, they came across a patrol of Korean soldiers. Not wanting to start any trouble, Clara alerted them to get down, and the 3 hid themselves among the vegetation, planning to wait for them to leave before doing anything else.
Suddenly, a few suppressed shots rang out, and the patrol is gunned down before any of them can return a shot.
"Hold your fire," ordered Aya, remaining hidden.
A group of armed Sellardraxians appeared in the area, prodding the bodies of the Korean soldiers and firing follow-up shots to kill the stragglers.
"Who are they?" asked an alarmed Clara.
"Let's catch a tongue and find out," said Aya.
She observed them, identifying the leader of this group, he is wearing a brown balaclava.
"Take out everyone except for the one with the brown balaclava," ordered Aya. "Liu Zhong and I will make the capture."
"Roger that, I am taking the machine gunner," said Clara, taking her suppressed Glock 19 pistol and aimed it at the machine gunner. Even though her HK-416 is also suppressed, suppressed 9mm pistol rounds is much more quieter compared to 5.56 rifle ammunition at close distances.
Albert zoomed in his suppressed SR-25 sniper rifle on the head of another hostile while Vera zoomed in her suppressed SVD sniper rifle on the last one.
Aya and Liu Zhong kept their guns in their Exo-suit weapon bays, crawling forward carefully, and are soon able to just touch the unsuspecting hostiles.
"3...2...1...go!" whispered Aya.
3 shots rang out, hitting all 3 hostiles in the head, killing them. Before the leader can react, he is pinned down by Aya and Liu Zhong who sprang out from the grass, their combined weight pinning him firmly on the ground.
He struggled, only to be quickly gagged and restrained. Liu Zhong noticed his dragon horns, realising that he is a Sellardraxian, and quickly injected him with Cosmic Energy dampeners.
(10 minutes later)
"They are Vanguard," muttered Aya as the team advanced forward, hiding the bodies under vegetation.
"Well this complicates things," said Albert. He and Vera had rejoined them.
"Now what?" asked Vera.
Just as they approached the factory front gate, more shooting is heard. Clara immediately stopped them.
Looking down, they see Vanguard rounding up Archangel personnel, Korean soldiers and civilians, then gunning them down in cold blood at the factory. At the same time, they are bringing out things from the factory then pulverizing them with Cosmic Energy or carrying them onto their vehicles.
"Oh sh*t..." muttered Clara in horror. "They are destroying evidence!"
"But why?" asked Albert.
"They must have been tipped off," fumed Aya. "They know UNSSD is coming."
"No time to waste," she said, readying her rifle. "Let's go! Stop them! Make as much noise as you can to alert the local populace!"
With that, the 5 readied their grenade launching modules, firing a salvo.
Rifle grenades exploded around the clearing, sending the Vanguard terrorists below into disarray.
Albert and Vera quickly aimed their semi-automatic sniper rifles on the hostiles below, taking out high-value targets and clearing the way for their comrades.
Liu Zhong led the assault, firing his FN P90, gunning down the hostiles, Aya and Clara followed after him, firing their rifles, quickly clearing the area of hostiles.
Vera and Albert remained outside, setting up a sniper position to provide overwatch after recording the evidence on the vehicles, while the rest entered the factory.
They soon reached the stairs that head to the 3rd floor, where the main archive room is located in based on the construction schematics.
Liu Zhong took point, while Aya and Clara followed behind, weapons raised.
Liu Zhong deployed his shield, while Aya threw a flashbang.
Disorienting the hostiles, Aya fired her L119A2 custom at the hostiles, killing them as she and Clara hid behind Liu Zhong as they moved.
Clara aimed her HK-416 rightwards at an adjacent room to prevent ambushes.
Liu Zhong turned around, walking backwards parallel to the stairs, with Aya behind him doing the same, now switched hands to left hand. This is to ensure that they are covered by Liu Zhong's shield in case anyone shoots down at them from above.
"No one on the stairs above, clear," radioed Albert, looking into the building through his sniper scope. He is focused on the building, while Vera is focused on the surroundings.
She looked at her HUD where her drone's thermal scan revealed people converging in the form of dots on the map.
"Move quickly guys, we have unidentified personnel approaching!" she warned, looking into her sniper scope in the direction of the dots.
Clara quickly moved back behind Aya, and tapped her on the shoulder to signal that she is ready.
Aya deployed a mini robot to extend their individual radars and to scout ahead, it rolling in front of Liu Zhong. She then tapped Liu Zhong.
The 3 advanced up, with Clara guarding them from ambushes by taking quick checks at the entrance to the second floor.
Arriving at the 3rd floor safely, they let the robot go to the archive room first, while they followed behind, alertly checking the other rooms next to them.
Ensuring they are clear, they arrived behind the door to the archive room.
"Anyone coming up or down?" asked Aya.
"Negative," reported Albert.
Aya activated the wall penetrating radar on the robot, finding that 5 Vanguard terrorists have barricaded themselves behind the door, weapons raised at the entrance, ready to blast anything that enters.
Liu Zhong stepped back, raising his shield, while Aya and Clara carefully moved to the 2 sides of the door, keeping their footsteps light.
Clara signaled that she is ready.
Aya detonated the robot, which sent the door flying inwards, throwing the Vanguard terrorists into chaos. Seizing the chance, Liu Zhong charged in, activating the giant lights on his shield, disorienting and blinding the terrorists, firing his FN P90. Aya and Clara then quickly moved in after him, firing their rifles.
In a matter of seconds the 5 terrorists are gunned down.
"They haven't purged all the files yet, thank goodness," said Clara after checking the servers and monitors. She quickly got to work collecting the data into the modems while Aya and Liu Zhong kept guard.
"F***!" exclaimed Aya when she noticed a video of Freyja's body being dissected and prepared for cloning recorded 2 years ago, smashing a chair in rage.
Liu Zhong pointed at a black car that he recognised to be owned by the UNSSD administrative office from the license plate in a security video from the same month.
"Can't see who it was," he said. "But this is prove that an UNSSD higher up is a traitor. Clara, make sure you get every last bit of intel."
A while later, she is done.
"Come in!" Vera's frantic voice came in.
"Go," replied Aya.
"You have to go now, there is a huge wave of Vanguard terrorists approaching. They are wearing Korean army uniforms!" she warned.
"Copy that, let's go!" ordered Aya.
To save time, they abseiled down using ascension cables through a window
Liu Zhong got down first, using his Draco subspecies affinity to hover himself down gracefully. He then secured the cables, allowing Aya and Clara to come down.
(Among the grass)
"They are going to find us soon," said Albert, looking at the swarm of Vanguard terrorists. "And I still can't reach the DRK government, our radios are jammed."
"How about Colonel Schulz?" asked Vera.
"Nope," replied Albert. "Can't reach him too."
Vera gritted her teeth.
"Better to strike now when we still have the element of surprise," she said.
Albert looked at an abandoned jeep next to them, with the key still plugged in.
"Ok, we fire a shots, then dash to the jeep, pick up Captain Aya and the rest, then charge to the evac area," he said.
Vera agreed.
She flew her drone down into the terrorists, detonating it at their head level, killing some.
Albert then shot a terrorist in the legs, wounding him badly, flooring him, while the others quickly dashed for cover.
Seeing that her fellow terrorist is down, a Vanguard terrorist tried to pull him into safety.
Albert calmly locked her head in his reticle, pulling the trigger.
The terrorist fell, another ran forward, promptly killed by Albert.
One more ran out of cover to aide, only for a bullet to go through his chest, killing him.
"DON'T COME OVER!" yelled the wounded terrorist on the floor.
He grabbed his pistol, aiming it at his temple, intending to kill himself so that the other terrorists will not expose themselves trying to save him.
Albert is having none of that, prompting shooting the terrorist's fingers off, rendering his pistol useless.
With none of the terrorists daring to move and are pinned down, Vera swapped her SVD for her MP9 machine pistol, rushing to the jeep.
Once she arrived, she fired her entire arsenal of rifle grenades at the positions of the terrorists, shielding Albert's retreat.
The 2 then quickly drove off, getting Aya, Liu Zhong and Clara.
They sped off to the shores where they had hid their motorboat, charging through several Vanguard interceptions along the way.
"Faster!" yelled Albert, firing his Glock 17 pistol from the front passenger seat.
"On it!" yelled Vera, stepping on the accelerator.
Aya, Liu Zhong and Clara laid down suppressive fire.
A bullet blasted off a tire, causing them to crash into a tree.
"We are close by, abandon the vehicle!" ordered Aya.
They got off, dashing forward. All they need is to run down this small hill.
Just then, they are stopped by several armed men.
"Captain!" yelled a familiar voice.
"Richard!" exclaimed Aya happily. "Good to see you!"
Major Richard William waved at them as he and several other masked operators rushed forward.
"Quick! Vanguard terrorists are behind us!" yelled Vera. "We need to move!"
"Did you all get the intel?" asked Richard.
"Yeah we did!" replied Clara, handing him the data modems.
Aya frowned. She is puzzled.
After all, Richard should not have known about their objective, and it's not like Franz and Bryan would have deployed reinforcements beforehand, since getting into a firefight was not expected at all.
Just then, Liu Zhong stopped an operator, grabbing his arm and rolling up the sleeve.
"Why is your arm tattooed comrade?" asked Liu Zhong. "It's against our discipline."
He then froze.
All of the members of Task Force Prime know each other due to their shared living spaces. Yet, Liu Zhong realised that the operator in front of him is a complete stranger.
"Who are you?" he asked suspiciously.
"I really hoped you had not noticed that detail, Lieutenant," said Richard.
He suddenly raised his L119A2 rifle, shooting Liu Zhong in the head.
"NO!!" yelled a shocked Aya, before she can raise her rifle, another "operator" shot her in the head.
Simultaneously, Albert, Vera and Clara are gunned down, the 5 of them rolling off the hill.
"Should we pursue?" asked an "operator".
"Nothing can survive a head shot, not even Squad Artemis," sneered Richard. "That's how their first KIA is sustained."
"We have what we need," said Richard, pocketing the modems. "Have the Korean civilians been moved to safety?" he asked.
"Yes," replied an "operator".
"Chris," said Richard. "Remove the jam and call the Korean army. Get the rest of your Spades contractors, time to exterminate these Vanguard vermins."
"Bravo 2, do you copy?" asked Chris Adler, a Spades International higher-up, he is the operations leader, ranked as high as Charlotte.
"Alpha 1, solid copy," replied Shirley Miller. She and Khai just boarded the island with a platoon of Spades International contractors. They are soon joined by Korean special forces.
"You are clear to move, eliminate all of the Vanguard terrorists," ordered Chris.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein