**Author:** AZNCracka --- ### Chapter 1 $\quad$Out in the open seas, the Exodus was on a 23-day voyage to the Panama Canal. A lead from their time in Canada clued the crew onboard the destroyer for that as the next destination. About halfway into the voyage, Ray and Casper were training together in the loading bay. $\quad$BANG! Shots from a gun rang out. “Again.” Casper said. BANG! The shots continued. It was a slow day on the Exodus, and everyone was running their rounds onboard the ship. Around the ship, Charise was tending to patients in the medical wing, and their kids were in the ship’s day care, starting a pre-school education, and Ray had been training with Casper on using a different type of rifle to use within his class, a sniper rifle. Casper had given him a training variant of an SWS-10 sniper rifle, firing non-lethal rounds at targets. Ray had 5 different targets to practice shooting at, the closest one stood at about 5 meters away, and each target after was standing 5 meters further than the last one. Ray was being trained to shoot, and hit, all five targets with one magazine, which had 5 rounds, before he would need to reload. Each target had an LED that glowed red. Those that were successfully hit would have the Led change from red to green. However, if he missed a target, or ran out of bullets, he’d have to reload, and start over again. The first three targets were no problem for Ray, however, the last two caused him to misjudge the distance, and he wasn’t able to hit the targets as easily as a result. $\quad$BANG! The shot barely hit the target. Still, the target registered the hit, and the light changed to green. “Urgh, not too good!” Ray sighed. He swore he could feel the judgement from Casper’s gaze as he missed his shots. Even though Ray got deployed to an actual conflict a bit earlier than his wife, he still hadn’t seen long range combat, or at least, long range where sniper and marksman rifles became involved. $\quad$BANG! At this point four of the five targets were lit green, with the farthest one lined up in Ray’s scope. One bullet left, and one target left. Ray took time to steady himself, and pulled the trigger. BANG! The last shot was fired. Casper then looked up at the target that Ray tried to shoot. He looked from his scope…the light on the last target…was red. $\quad$“…Try again, Ray.” Casper said. Frustrated, Ray threw himself off the mounted rifle, and rolled to face up towards the ceiling, sighing. He covered his face and grit his teeth as Casper looked in his direction. He muttered to himself “What’s going on…” as he saw this. $\quad$Casper got off his perch, walked up to Ray, and asked, “What are you doing, Ray?” Ray lifted his head and looked at his sniping tutor. He thought of the words to say without sounding too dramatic, and simply said, “This isn’t good, is it…” Ray, clearly down on his luck, said softly to Casper. He then looked towards the targets before looking back at Casper, when he asked, “What isn’t?” $\quad$“I’m trying to get the targets before I run out of ammo, Kuya¹…but we’ve been here for an hour, and I still haven’t nailed it yet.” $\quad$“You know what else it could be, by any chance?” Casper asked. He tested Ray to see if he could catch on to the flaws in his technique for sniping. Ray thought through everything he had been doing. He thought of his prone position on the floor to the targets, how efficient his reload was, and how steady his shot was. After a bit longer, he ultimately couldn’t figure it out. $\quad$“…hmm…hindi ko alam po², I don’t know.” Ray confessed. $\quad$Casper thought to himself. “How about this, then.” Casper grabbed his NTW.50, and kneeled down next to Ray. “Reload your gun, and show me what you do.” Ray nodded, got back into his prone position, and then aimed with his rifle. Casper then rested a hand on Ray’s shoulder. He noticed how stiff his upper body was, and then said to him, “You’re too stiff in your arms and shoulders. Being steady is one thing, but if you lock yourself up, and you’re too tense, it’ll lead to shaking, and it’ll throw off your aim.” Ray thought of the advice he was given, and tried to relax his shoulder and arm muscles enough to still handle the gun, but wasn’t shaking anymore. $\quad$“Hmm…there really is a difference! I think I got it now.” Ray said. But before he looked back into his scope, Casper, now back on his perch, asked, “Good. Now, have you tried holding your breath before you pull that trigger?” $\quad$“Oh…no, I haven’t been doing that. Does that help, too?” Ray asked. $\quad$“Yes, it’ll steady your aim even further. Either inhale or exhale as you’re ready to shoot.” Ray nodded, lined up a target. He found the first target in his sights. He then inhaled, and shot the rifle. BANG! The shot hit the target directly in the center, no problem. As Ray saw the results, he looked back at Casper, and realized his advice actually worked! Casper subtly nodded, and motioned to shoot the next target. As he aimed through his scope again, he finally understood what the best sniper on board the ship was saying to him. He shifted his rifle to the next target. For this one, Ray exhaled to steady himself before he took the shot. BANG! The bullet hit the target, and this one was more accurate than the last target. $\quad$With two targets lit green, Ray wanted to test the different breath techniques a few more times. BANG! He shot the next two targets, one as he inhaled, and the other as he exhaled. BANG! He realized exhaling allowed him to be more relaxed, and the steadiness lasted longer. “I’m better when I exhale, looks like.” He said to Casper as the fourth target lit up green. $\quad$“Good. Stick with that method then.” Casper replied. Ray then attempted to quickly move to his sights onto the last target, the furthest one away from the sniping position. With two shots left, Ray exhaled, then pulled the trigger. BANG! $\quad$Looking up from his scope, he looked at the color of the light, and saw that the light color hadn’t changed. Ray let out a frustrated sigh, and Casper looked at him again, asking, “Now what is it, Ray?” $\quad$“I was trying to move quickly to the last target, and it looks like I still missed…” After a frustrated pause, Casper then began to question: $\quad$“Tell me something, Ray: Why do you think you HAVE to shoot the targets quickly, like you said?” Puzzled, Ray thought of an answer to give to him. $\quad$“Well, on the battlefield, everything moves quickly, and I feel like I’d miss a chance to take down the target if I didn’t try to move quickly.” Ray answered. $\quad$“Ray,” Casper interrupted shaking his head. ”…Might I have to remind you what gun you’re holding?” $\quad$Ray then answered, “It’s a sniper rifle…” $\quad$“Correct. With this, it’s the opposite of what you’ve experienced. This isn’t a video game, where you can quick scope people easily. It’s meant to be a steady rifle. With this, you take your time lining up your shots. Sometimes, they just line up for you. But you need to remember: you have more time than anyone else with this rifle.” Ray understood, to wait and steady his aim, especially for the further targets. “Focus on the last target, and make sure you’re steady to pull the trigger.” $\quad$Ray thought as he got back into position with this gun. Did he mean, don’t worry about anything else going on in the battlefield? Or did he mean that wait for the right moment? Ray realigned himself with the scope on his gun, aimed at the target. This time however, he didn’t try to shoot right away. Instead, he exhaled, and steadied his aim. Once he was calm, he took the shot on the last target, with a buttery smooth pull of the trigger. BANG! $\quad$Casper looked up from his perch once more at the far target. “Ray.” $\quad$Ray heard him, and looked at the target’s light, which was burning a bright green. Casper got off his perch, walked up to him, and then said, “Good shot, mate.” Casper helped lift him off the ground and rested his hand on Ray’s shoulder. “Practice that a bit more, and on the next deployment…You’ll be able to protect even the best of us.” Ray smiles as he was being congratulated. After all, he just figured out how to shoot a target, no matter the distance. Even then, he just nodded, and accepted his advice. $\quad$“We’re done for today, mate. We’ll do more of this tomorrow. You’re dismissed.” Casper said. He took his rifle and gear, and then started to head back to his quarters in the ship. Ray looked down at his rifle, and even though it was fitted for training purposes only, he decided to keep it for the next time he could practice more with it. Ray then rolled back the targets into their holding areas, and closed the door to head back to see his wife in the medical wing. --- ¹ Kuya – Tagalog to refer to male relative, mainly a cousin, within close age group, or to a male with close connections ² Hindi ko alam – Tagalog for “I don’t know.” <br> ### Chapter 1.5 $\quad$The Exodus was a couple days out from the port city of Colón, where the ship received permission from the Panamanian Government to be stationed there. Ray had been busy practicing sniping the targets in the loading dock, he took an hour out of the day to get used to his breathing patterns, his holding technique, and trigger pull. Even though Casper wasn’t there to supervise his efforts, he felt like he got better with his newfound technique. $\quad$Meanwhile, Charise was still tending to patients in the medical wing, and helping take care of their children. Ray would visit and watch over their kids after he finished his own training, so that Charise wasn’t overwhelmed with her work. Charise gave meds to Marcus for his family’s flu that they got while walking around the port city in Canada and prescribed more medicine to Alara’s family for seasickness, and Alara was able to keep her reparation ability in practice. $\quad$When they weren’t with family, Marcus and Takashi helped Alara modify her Recon assault vehicle, and the weapons and defenses that were attached to it. With a set of impact drills and solders, they got to work. $\quad$After ripping the minigun off of its foundation, and taking the engine out of the engine bay, the No-Pats then had to choose a new gun, one that still packed a punch, but was much more manageable in terms of accuracy, and had a quicker cooldown. $\quad$“Lara, check this one out.” Marcus pointed out the gun that was in the maintenance bay. It was a .30 Caliber Heavy Machine Gun turret, complete with gyroscopic stabilization and internal cooling system. They also found a thermal smoke dispersal package that fit on the sides of the car. The squad then proceeded to take that off the car as well. $\quad$After the whole disassembly was done, Takashi wheeled over an engine hoist, and lined it up with the engine bay of the Recon. The new engine had an improved turbo boost system, and had shorter gears in the transmission to allow for faster acceleration. Together, these would help with both entering and exiting the area of combat at a much quicker rate. Alara especially wanted this after the fiasco that happened in Canada. She wanted to make sure that she and her squadmates didn’t have to barely escape with their lives again. $\quad$As they worked on the car, someone else walked into the hangar to see what was happening. “Hello guys, what are you doing here?” $\quad$Alara and everyone looked up and noticed Angel was standing in front of them. had a utility belt, a pair of hardware gloves, and a soldering helmet. Even though he asked, it seemed like he already knew the answer. $\quad$“Uh, ciao³, Angel.” Marcus said to him, carrying a heavy piece of hardware. “We’re upgrading the Recon for when the going gets tough!” $\quad$“はい, better protection, and ordnance against the enemy” Takashi added. “But we’re having a bit of trouble making things work properly.” $\quad$“Heh, looked like it,” Angel replied. “You’re lucky I’m here. I can help figure this out for you. Leave it to me!” Angel then walked up to the Recon and started analyzing the condition of the vehicle and engine bay. “Ah, I see something that could be a problem, right here!” Angel pointed at the rack and pinion on the front axle. “The engine is a bit big for the axle, the wheels won’t turn as well or as quickly.” Marcus then asked, “So what should be do?” $\quad$“Here, use this!” Angel said, pointing to the hoist the car was sitting on. The fireteam lifted the car into the air, and they went to replace the axles to accommodate the new engine. The team also reconfigured the seating arrangement so that it would seat five people, instead of four. By shrinking the wheel wells, and restancing the wheels to be resting outside the wheel arches, that made more room to add another seat for the back row. Everyone continued work on the vehicle through the rest of the day until Alara’s Recon was in good drivable condition for next deployment. $\quad$At the end of the day, as Angel wiped the sweat from his brow and packed his tools away, none other than Captain Graves stepped into the garage. Boris and Angel saw their captain, and gave a nod to him, acknowledging his presence. Irish gave a small smile before asking, “I’m looking for the man that found the crate in Canada, Raymond Alday. I heard he was here.” $\quad$“Hello, Irish.” Boris said, stretching his arms and legs after working on the vehicle. “He’s right over there, with the rest of group.” Boris pointed towards Ray, who was inspecting the vehicle. Irish walked up towards the car, and abruptly shouted: $\quad$“Everyone, listen up!” Suddenly, Ray, Alara, Takashi, Marcus, and Charise dropped their tasks and looked towards the captain, not saying a word. Irish then lightly chuckled, and said, “At ease everyone. I came here because of what some of my fireteam has said in regards to how you worked, independently, and together, when we were in Canada. We’ve decided to make your group into its own squad. Congratulations!” Everyone, excited by the news, had varying degrees of enthusiasm and being thrilled at the idea of being their own team. “Now, we also decided on squad name and callsigns for each of you, so you can be designated on comms with aliases, and not give away your identity to anyone easily.” Everyone looked at each other for a minute, bits of anxiousness on what they decided on for their squad’s name, as well everyone’s code name would be. Irish spoke up again. $\quad$“Whenever given the opportunity, your group will be known…as Catalyst Company. We thought it had a nice ring to it, since you found the next lead in our mission. As for callsigns, each one of you will be given the name based on your preferred combat style.” Everyone listened closely at this point. $\quad$“Ray, your callsign is ‘Shade,’ due to your hacking and technology knowledge. Charise will be “Aura” for her expertise in medicine. Alara, you’ll be ‘Speedy’ with that LATV of yours…looking good by the way, you and Catalyst will thank you for surviving in that thing.” Alara smiled and laughed under her breath at his comment. Any good grace from the captain will definitely help them out in their deployments to come. “Takashi-san, you’ll be ‘Bushido,’ for your display of resilience. And finally, Marcus, your callsign is Piercer. Hope you’re all happy with these choices, as there won’t be any chance to change it.” Everyone looked round, and from the looks on their faces, everyone seemed to agree with what the captain said, not like they had any real choice anyway. “We’ll be arriving at the port in Canada by tomorrow afternoon. Be ready for mission deployment by that time. You’re dismissed, squad.” With that, the newly formed Catalyst saluted the captain, and he walked out of the garage. Shortly afterward, the squad finished inspecting the vehicle, and left for mess hall to rest up and be with their families, whilst leaving their equipment in the newly reinforced and upgraded Recon for the mission ahead of them. --- ³ Ciao – casual Italian greeting and farewell, depending on where it’s said in the conversation. <br> ### Chapter 2 $\quad$The ship docked at the port in the city of Colon, and the No-Pats wasted no time in getting ready to reach the lake held within the Panama Canal. Alara loaded up her recon onto the freight Condor, and everyone in her squad, Takashi, Charise, Marcus, and Ray, climbed into the same condor before their dust-off. $\quad$The US forces commander came onto the air waves, and spoke to all the callsigns. “Alright No-Pats, here’s the scoop on what you need to know: An abandoned ship beached at the old Panama Canal has just been recently revealed to be what’s considered a hotbed for Russian intelligence operations, in violation of several treaties. This cargo ship, called the Starg, will be the point of conflict, as we have seen enemy personnel enter and exit the vessel in the past few days, indicating activity is still present in the ship. As we make our landing, we will need to secure the vessel, and all its surrounding territory, before the enemy can show up. That way, we’ll be able to blow their secret base sky high to kingdom come. Tighten up, be ready for any conflict in the area. Command out.” After the radio cut out, the aircraft commander then spoke up, and brought up a projected image of the area of operation. “Our fleet will be landing to the southwest of the ship! You will land there, and take up positions at these checkpoints surrounding the ship!” He then pointed to the areas in the northwest, northeast, and southeast of the ship. Essentially, the US forces were to try to establish a perimeter before they went to assault the ship. So that was the game plan. $\quad$Ray and Takashi were to provide overwatch for Alara’s Recon as Charise and Marcus provided covering fire from the car. Alara then turned to Marcus: “Ok erko⁴! If this thing starts to smoke, you and I, we’re going to switch seats so I can make repairs! I’m trusting you to not be an idiot driver now, Marc!” Alara said, albeit rather jokingly. $\quad$“Ay, puttana⁵!” Marcus said with sarcasm. “Driving is in my blood! I’ll prove your ass wrong!” Marcus was confident he can drive the squad out of trouble, and even though she wasn’t being serious, Alara’s somewhat genuine worry dissipated. “Alright, you heard it here everyone! “Giovinazzi” will ride us to safety!” Everyone laughed at Alara’s jeer, but not for long, as the Condor came to a stop a few feet above the ground. The condor deployed the Recon underneath as everyone filed out of the aircraft. $\quad$“Taki! You see that hill? That’d be a great place to watch over the vehicle! Let’s go!” Ray said. He and Takashi headed for the hills, while Charise and Marcus got into the recon and head for the container field. $\quad$Once at the containers, Alara and Marcus stopped the Recon. Charise got out of the car, and took down the Russian flag from the flag pole. Ray kept an eye on his wife’s surroundings as she got the job done to replace the flag as quickly as possible. Marcus kept the turret on a swivel, and kept an eye out for hostiles that may want to either sneak up on them, or ambush them in a surprise attack. Charise took down the enemy flag, and raced to replace it with the US’s flag. Alara shouted to Charise, “You almost done?” Charise turned around, and yelled back, “Yeah, pulling the flag up now!” $\quad$“Alright.” Marcus, Ray, Takashi, nodded, and kept an eye out for enemies. Ray quietly said, “She’s almost done, but keep looking around!” $\quad$“Right.” Takashi said, still looking down his scope. Takashi still looked down his SOFLAM⁶ and looked for enemies. As Charise finally raised the flag, she yelled back “DONE!” to the Recon. Alara radioed Takashi that the flag was raised, and therefore the area, was taken. Ray and Takashi kept looking around for more targets, but, to their shock, there weren’t any enemy personnel coming their way. $\quad$“Clear!” Takashi stated. Charise, done with the flag, ran back to the Recon and got back into her seat. Relieved, she radioed command. $\quad$“Checkpoint at Bravo 1 has been taken, command!” $\quad$“Good job soldier!” Command replied. “Move onto the next!” $\quad$“Copy, moving out!” Before they did however, Charise decided to check with the other quad to see how they were doing. “Falck, this is Charise, over!” $\quad$“I hear you, Charise. What did you need, dear? Over.” $\quad$“Just need a sitrep⁷, Tita. We just took over Bravo 1 without any resistance, over!” $\quad$“Hmm, that’s a bit strange, Charise. Over.” $\quad$“What do you mean? Over.” $\quad$“We’re here at Delta 1’s checkpoint, and we didn’t run into any resistance taking the territory either! Over.” $\quad$“Oh, sige. You think it’s too quiet around here? Over.” $\quad$“Rao and Paik seem to think so. Bravo and Charlie were taken without much enemy contact either, if at all. Still, I’d be careful if I were you and your squad. Over.” $\quad$“10-4, Tita. Over.” $\quad$“Where is your squad headed now?” Over.” $\quad$“We plan to head into the stern section of the ship, over.” $\quad$“Copy. We’ll enter through the bow, and rendezvous with you inside, over.” $\quad$“Sige po. Over and out.” $\quad$Ray and Charise’s spoke with Alara, Takashi, and Marc to attempt to rendezvous with Falck and her squad. The squad drove up to the opening on the starboard side of the ship, near the stern, when Takashi said to Alara, “ちょっとまて⁸! Stop the car!” Alara slammed on the brakes, and turned to Takashi. “What the fuck’s your problem, man? We’re going to drive in and take the stern of the ship!” $\quad$“No, we need to play this smart! This is close combat we’re dealing with now. And who knows what, or who, we’ll be running into!” $\quad$“Taki’s right, Lara.” Charise agreed. “We should cut the engine, and enter through the stern on foot.” Alara, though she was disappointed, turned the engine off, and grabbed her rifle. The squad exited the Recon, and slowly walked into the stern section of the ship, weapons at the ready, and prepared for anything that would happen once they were inside the ship. $\quad$Ray radioed to Rao, trying to ask exactly what they were looking for inside the ship. “Rao, this is Ray. Over” Rao, at the bow of the ship with MacKay, Paik, Angel, and Falck, were walking together and maintaining a tight group. He responded, “Yes Ray, Rao here. What’s up? Over.” $\quad$“If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly are we looking for? Over.” $\quad$“We’re looking for an agent, the one who left the message in the crate that you found back in Canada. Over.” Ray’s squad froze for a second. They all realized that they weren’t looking for some_thing_, but they were looking for *someone*. “Here’s a picture of our target.” Rao sent a picture to Ray’s PAC of the person said to be in the area. “Tall British man from MI6, name is Charlie Crawford. He infiltrated the dark market within the last 5 years, gathering information about Oz. However, since he’s deep within their ranks, undercover as their arms dealer, we need to be cautious about finding him. Over.” $\quad$“Bakit po⁹? Why do we still need to be weary of him if he left that message for us? Over.” $\quad$“It could also be a lure into a trap, over.” Ray heard this, and Charise got nervous about what they could be walking into this very second. $\quad$“Understood. We’ll keep looking around the ship, and rendezvous with you guys in a bit. Over.” $\quad$“Roger that, Ray. Good luck, over and out.” The radio cut out, and Marcus then cut in after the radio conversation ended. $\quad$“Let’s turn off our radios. For all we know, they could be listening in, and that could give away our position.” $\quad$“Okay, you guys turn yours off, but I’ll lower the volume on mine.” Takashi replied. They turned their radios off, and proceeded into the stern. $\quad$The stern was littered with trash coming in from the dry bed of the Old Panama Canal. But once they entered through the bulkhead to the cargo bay, they saw what the Dark Market was dealing: weapons, ballistics, and armor to sell to every, and any, military faction. There were tanks covered in tarp, missiles for airplanes and helicopters, and armored plating for soldiers and vehicles stacked inside crates. Ray found a computer terminal in the center of the stashes of munitions, and hooked up his PAC to the computer. He quickly extracted the info he found on the computer, hoping there might be something worth looking at later when their mission was over. $\quad$They came to an area where some stairs lead to an upper level of catwalks and platforms, followed by makeshift tunnels made by some of the ship’s containers. $\quad$“Which way should we go, guys?” Charise asked the squad. Alara chimed in and said, ”Taki, Ray, can you go can up above and provide cover for the rest of us down below?” Alara wasn’t the CO¹⁰, But Takashi agreed they should divide and conquer. “Okay, Lara, good idea. But NOW we need to keep our radios on to keep in contact.” Ray said, looking at Marcus for him to agree, and turned his radio on as well, along with Alara and Charise. Once Ray turned on his radio, he and Takashi took up positions upstairs as Charise, Marcus, and Alara made their way into the next area. --- ⁴ Erko – Turkish slang for man ⁵ Puttana – Italian for “bitch” Marcus said this in a friendly manner, so there should be no confusion about their friendly dynamic ⁶ SOFLAM - Special Operations Forces Laser Acquisition Marker, enhanced binoculars meant to help scout for targets on the battlefield. Can also be used to help designate targets for lock-on strike equipment ⁷ Sitrep – Situation Report, details on how things are going ⁸ ちょっとまて(Chottomate) – Japanese for *Wait a minute!* ⁹ Bakit po? – Why in Tagalog ¹⁰ CO – Commanding Officer <br> ### Chapter 3 $\quad$Ray and Takashi carefully walked their way through the containers while Alara, Charise, and Marcus kept their head on a swivel as they made their way into the next area of the cargo bay. As the squad on the lower level made it through the hallways, what the room revealed was what could only be described as a wide, open showroom. Past the stashes of weapons and guidance systems were more tanks shrouded with a tarp, as well as a US captured F-35A Fighter jet rotating on a turntable. The jet was surrounded by giant LED displays, showing information about the plane, its performance, and combat capabilities. Marcus motioned the ladies to follow his lead, and they slowly walked down the three lanes of opening towards the showroom. $\quad$Meanwhile, Takashi and Ray walked through the container tunnels towards found a balcony on the upper floor, and that’s where they setup their vantage point. Ray had carried a combat ready sniper rifle for this mission, and even though the container ship was close quarters combat, and he had used his G57 for the most part until now, the distance between him and the rest of his squad made it more viable to have that put to good use. Once Ray finished calibrating his scope, he looked to Takashi, and nodded at him to provide overwatch for their friends with his SOFLAM. Takashi took point with his binoculars, and watched as the other three walked towards the fighter jet. $\quad$“Clear left,” Alara said in the radio. $\quad$“It’s…clear right.” Charise said. $\quad$“Okay. Clear down.” Marcus declared. However, he saw passed the turntable, and noted movement. “Wait, Charise, Lara. Possible visual contact past the F-35 display. Let’s stay sharp.” $\quad$“Understood, we’ll regroup. Taki, Ray, cover our approach.” Ray and Takashi acknowledged the message, and had their eyes trained on their friends. Ray was covering their movement, and Takashi looked to where Marcus spotted the movement. Takashi saw shadows past the displays by some stockpiles of ammo, and he was trying to find any defining features on the figures, but to no avail. “Marcus, sitrep, over.” $\quad$“I’m about to drop on them…Cover me.” Charise and Alara readied their guns, and were ready to fire at the first sign of trouble. Marcus turned around the display area, and raised his gun. $\quad$But instead of hearing gunshots being fired, silence was returned instead, for instead of having a gun pointed back at him, Marc actually found Falck, Paik, Mackay, and Rao, much to his relief. “Stand down everyone, it’s our mentors!” Marc, along with Ray and Takashi sighed a breath of relief as the message came over the comms. $\quad$Alara and Charise lowered their guns, caught their breath as well, and calmly walked over to Falck and her squad. Takashi and Ray raised their head from their sights and eased up from the trigger. They watched and listened in as the group on the ground level went to the seats and talked about what they had found. $\quad$“Were you able to find anything?” Rao asked to Alara and her group. $\quad$“We found the Dark Market’s database towards the stern. Ray has all the juicy information to look at.” Alara clarified to everyone. $\quad$“Ha, very well.” Rao gleamed at Alara’s remark. “Mackay, he found something for us to listen to.” $\quad$“Yea, here, but don’t you all talk at once now.” Mackay pulled out a speaker, and played back the message that was embedded inside. Once the last message was done. Mackay spoke up again, ”It’s apparent this Crawford guy knows a whole lot more about the strings that Oz is pulling than we thought before, and he’s leaving around clues, sort of like a trail.” $\quad$“The coordinates led us to this ship.” Paik mentioned. “And we’ve searched the whole bow section.” $\quad$“Opo, we checked the whole stern and midship section. We have nothing either.” Charise replied to Paik. $\quad$“Then we still haven’t found what we needed coming here…” Falck said. “There’s still no sign of Crawford!” $\quad$“Ha! You want to know where Crawford is, eh?” a deep burly voice said in response to Falck’s disappointment. Ray and Takashi noticed the group all point their heads to the starboard side of the ship, and saw a man in a leather jacket, and a bulletproof helmet, surrounded by four guards, all with their guns pointed at the task force, enter the showroom as they shifted their sights. “Well…I think I can help with that.” <br> ### Chapter 4 $\quad$Crawford, out of nowhere, was standing in the same room, their main objective, right before their very eyes. All this time, the Panama Canal was uncomfortably quiet, no contact with the enemy, or their informant. Yet, here he was now, practically creating a Mexican standoff with the Dark Market soldiers surrounding him, ready to fire when he gave the order. $\quad$“My apologies,” Crawford began. “Was this the welcoming committee you were expecting?” he chuckled, and finally concluded, “Well, this was the best I could do.” $\quad$Mackay spoke up, “Were you the one leaving those messages around?” he demanded. $\quad$“Those were made ages ago mate, before I was brought on to work here.” Crawford purported. “In order to make a change, sometimes you need to go to extremes in order to get shit done. It’s everything you think is going on.” $\quad$Takashi pulled Ray into cover, and pulled out his SVK and looked down his rifle’s scope at the situation. Ray looked to him, and said to him “What do we do?” $\quad$Takashi said, “We must wait for the right moment to strike! When you see them raise their guns to their eyes, that’s when you pull the trigger, Ray!” The situation was getting critical, Ray had to make sure, with his training, and the advice that Casper told him, not to miss. He knew that Crawford was the contact, and he figured that if he really wanted to kill his friends and squad, Crawford would’ve given the order to kill them by now. Still, he followed Takashi’s advice, and waited for the moment the guns were aimed at his crew. $\quad$“The world needs us, Exodus.” Crawford said, slowly raising his right hand into his inside jacket pocket. “Time is quickly running out.” As he said this, he pulled out a grenade. But it wasn’t one the squads recognized. “Oz will remember this day.” As he said this, the guards around him raised their weapons. Ray and Takashi saw the sign, and took aim with their fingers on the trigger. Crawford quickly looked behind him and nodded. Was this a further sign? Ray thought so, and squeezed the trigger. $\quad$The gunshot rang through the hull of the ship as bullet travelled to its intended target. The soldier behind Crawford was met with the bullet to the right side of his neck. The soldier crashed to the ground only a second later, with their blood splattering the walls and floor behind him. The other soldiers behind Crawford began to frantically look for where the shot came from. Takashi used that panic to take out the soldier in front of Crawford, and shot four bullets from his chest down to his pelvic region. At that moment, Crawford pulled the pin on a grenade, and threw it at the two remaining soldiers, he then turned to the Exodus group, and shouted, “Get down!” Everyone jumped to the ground in anticipation of the grenade blast. $\quad$The grenade exploded, and out came a blinding light and deafening boom. The soldiers, still looking for the marksmen, were unaware of the grenade that landed at their feet, and started stumbling, disoriented. Crawford then shot one of them in the head with his M1911 pistol, and Alara, unimpaired by the grenade blast, took her shotgun, and blasted the remaining soldier. $\quad$With the enemy soldiers dead, and Crawford remaining alive, the Exodus crew sat back up from their jump. Crawford then shed his dark market leather jacket, and removed his helmet, showing his military outfit underneath. Looking back at Ray and Takashi, he smirked and motioned them to come down and regroup with everyone. As they reached the ground level, Crawford walked over to Mackay, and reached out his hand. “Sorry mate, started off on the wrong foot. Let me help you up.” <br> ### Chapter 5 $\quad$The two squads, finally having the HVT¹¹, started to head towards the radio tower for extraction. Crawford mentioned to Angel and Lis to meet them at the rally point. Mackay began to ask questions to Crawford. $\quad$“So, was that whole performance coordinated or something?” Mackay asked. $\quad$“Huh? What do you mean, mate?” Crawford replied. $\quad$“Those words you said, were you buying time?” $\quad$“Oh that. Yea, I saw your sniper boys up top. You weren’t from around here, and you guys were the only ones to come through the front door while the US and Russians secured the other ships in the Canal.” $\quad$“I see,” Mackay accepted. Ray then asked Crawford, “How did you see us on the balcony?” $\quad$“I was here for some months now, soldier. I know the ins and outs of the Starg. I just had to see the surveillance footage, and I knew exactly where your squads were.” $\quad$“How did you know to give a sign of some sort, then?” $\quad$“You’re with the Exodus too, right? Enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Ray stood at this response, and processed what he said. He accepted it for what it was, that Crawford seemed like he was here to help. Ray then tried to ask Crawford a heavy question. $\quad$“How hard is it to be a double agent?” Crawford shook his head and answered his question. $\quad$“Mate, the shit I’ve seen, you’ll wonder how I’m still breathing…but don’t worry, I haven’t lost myself to these savages.” $\quad$“So those messages you sent,” Rao said. “It’s all true then?” $\quad$“Take my word for it, bruv. I know what the real mission is. I was being ambiguous with what I said on purpose. To let the enemy know what I’m saying, without letting them know what I mean. Besides, times are too tough to be fabricating the truth on a tape.” $\quad$“I have question.” Paik chimed in. “What grenade was that?” $\quad$“Oh, this little bugger?” Crawford smiled. “Concussion grenade. Direct successor to a flashbang.” $\quad$“Where you get them?” $\quad$“Heh. Dark Market tech, sweetheart. But don’t worry. Where we’re going, you’re going to be thanking me. Tell me something, Macky. Has your fireteam been running low on weapons and ammo lately?” $\quad$“It’s Mackay…and it’s not an immediate concern, and we’re getting rations of food and water from the Panamanian government.” $\quad$“Well, hold that thought, we’re almost there. Prepare a cargo condor, you’ll want what I’m about to show you.” Mackay gave a weird look as Crawford used his Dark Market ID to open a shipping container block they had been walking to. He flipped on the lights, and everyone inside was astonished at what Crawford has been keeping all this time. “Well? Consider this me proving my allegiance.” $\quad$Inside the shipping container was an overwhelming surplus of weapons from major conflicts of the last 50 years. Everyone was blown away by the ordnance that Crawford was stockpiling, whether it was for distribution for the Dark Market, supplying Oz’s army, or just for the sake of earning the Exodus’ respect. Whatever the reason was, if Crawford was showing the squad these weapons, clearly, they were going to be used. Why not put them into the hands of the people willing to fight against the tyrant that was Oz, the No-Pats? Amazed, Mackay then radioed a cargo condor to be at the ready for extraction of the weapons and vehicles at their location. --- ¹¹ HVT – High Value Target – Usually used to designate a person or object that holds a vital and crucial factor into successfully completing the overall mission. <br> ### Chapter 6 $\quad$Two cargo condors came to the marked extraction site a few hours later, and with their main mission complete, the two squads, along with a couple squads of US Forces that helped to seize the area, boarded their transport back to their bases. The cargo birds magnetically picked up the shipping containers, and started to head towards the exodus for packing out the stuff within the container. Everyone strapped in and put their headsets on. $\quad$As they flew back to the ship, the specialists listened to Crawford talk about everything he knows, or where he came from. Charise tended to everyone’s needs, in case anyone needed any bandages, painkillers, and use her syrette on them to stabilize them until they reached the medical wing for proper treatment. $\quad$Ray made his way to him, and synced his PAC to Rao’s software, and transferred the data that he found from the Dark Market server. Rao gave him an approving nod, thanked Ray, and shook his hand. “This will help immensely Ray! Good job today! Not only did you secure intel, but you and Takashi helped everyone survive, and you even made it back alive! You’re really coming into your own as a No-Pat!” Ray also looked at Casper, who was staring back at him, and threw him a thumbs up. Any approval from the best sniper on the ship was considered a win for Ray. $\quad$Falck learned of Charise’s deeds that day as well. That she not only helped with claiming territory for the No-Pats and US forces, but to help check the ship down one lane, all on her own. “Very good, Charise. Support is more than healing soldiers, it’s also about helping the mission. THIS is what we do!” Charise smiled, and she found that wasn’t longer crying from nervousness after a hard battle. Instead, she felt more hardened, much like her husband had felt after he returned from the incursion at Doha. She was no longer as scared to check her corners, shoot her gun, or kill an enemy. She was more ready than before, and able to help than she ever had been. Falck can see the fire in her eyes, and made a small smiled at Charise, who smiled back at her as she acknowledged her compliments. $\quad$Rao looked to Crawford, and began talking to him as the Condor took off and made its way back to the ship. $\quad$“Thank you, friend. Firstly, for not killing us, and for the supplies.” Crawford smirked back, and put on his trusty shades. $\quad$“No problem at all, bruv. Just be sure they get put to good use against the enemy. It’ll be the greatest bit of irony, yea?” $\quad$“True, but I have a question about the speakers: The speakers had a print called Nordvik slapped on the front. What is that?” $\quad$“Ha! It’s an automated facility! Where all the futuristic stuff comes from!” $\quad$“Why was it important to put the messages on those speakers, though?” $\quad$“Because it’s where Oz and the Dr. Voros set up shop to create their ultimate weapon!” Everyone looked at him in shock and worry. What does he mean by that? $\quad$“Anyway, take me to your captain! I’ll have a word with him, and everyone will know exactly what Oz and the Wolf have been planning this whole time.” Irish was awaiting his task force back at the ship, ready to receive his soldiers, as well as any intel they gathered. <br> **Continue the journey:**