**Author:** AZNCracka --- ### Chapter 1 $\quad$The medic team onboard the Exodus stood on the landing deck, waiting and watching as the platoon of vehicles approached the battleship. Their training had prepared them for returning of soldiers from a fight, and assume the worst, whether it was those who managed to survive, or otherwise tend to those who were lost in battle. Even though it wasn’t their direct duty, many of the medics onboard the ship chose to serve to help all those on board, including their loved ones. $\quad$This would include Charise Alday, a former medical physician from Manila, who made a promise to help those in need. Her husband, a man named Raymond, and her mentor, Maria Falck, were sent on a mission to stop opposing forces from retrieving data from a downed satellite in Doha, Qatar. The fight was intense, and it didn’t end quickly. $\quad$As the boats and aircraft touched back down onto the tarmac, the team of medics broke formation to approach the personnel returning from battle. Before too long, a huge crowd formed on the deck around the vehicles, and injured allies began being escorted and rushed to the ship’s ICU and recovery wings, medics bringing out IVs to stabilize their conditions. $\quad$Amongst the crowds, Charise tried to rush to anyone who needed any sort of help. Her more pressing concern was just to see her husband again, she hoped he returned to the ship, even if he wasn’t exactly in one piece. As the crowds started to disperse, Charise started to worry, as she wasn’t able to find Ray anywhere. $\quad$“Ay jusko, nasaan ka Ray¹?” Charise said to herself as she desperately tried to wade thru the crowd of soldiers. One of the soldiers she rushed past casually walked up to her, and began to ask her, “Corporal. Alday, what’s the meaning of your running?” As she looked to see who had asked her question, her demeanor desperately tried to shift from panicked to collected and calm. $\quad$“Oh! Pasensiya na po², Sergeant Mackay!” Charise had to catch her breath as she began explaining the rushing around. “My husband, I’m trying to look for him as the injured were being taken to the medical wing. I’m worried about where he is, would you happen to know?” Charise tried to hide her anxious tone as she asked the infantry officer about Ray’s whereabouts. $\quad$“Ah, you mean Ray! Well, what you’re seeing right now are all the assault carriers coming back with the front-line soldiers, that’s why there’s so many injured or KIA…” Mackay said. “Support and Reconnaissance teams will come after the Assault and Engineers to help clean up and gather intel after the battle ends.” Charise remembered that Ray had joined up with the recon squad, to get intel for leads into the next step in the mission. Seeing that she was in a support unit herself, and realizing her regiment hadn’t fully returned from battle yet either. She calmed down a bit, thinking that Ray’s Condor hadn’t arrived back at the ship yet, and that there was still a chance that he was okay. “So, Mrs. Alday, now that’s cleared up, here’s what you’ll need to do now,” Mackay said with an official tone. “Head down to the medic wing, and help some of these soldiers to their wounds and ailments. Since it’s part of my job to monitor the rest of the No-Pats, I’ll radio Falck on their status every now and again, and keep an eye out for your husband as more aircrafts and boats return. Understood?” $\quad$“Opo³, yes sir!” Charise said sternly. While she didn’t want to leave the deck, and just wanted to see her husband sooner rather than later, she knew she also had a job to do. She exited the deck, and ran to help the incoming patients. $\quad$Inside the medical wing, soldiers were placed on beds with vital monitors and regulators to keep them stable. Charise, with the help of her physician knowledge prior to signing on to become a No-Pat, assisted multiple patients and the other medics with applying IVs, disinfecting wounds, and removing bullet lodgings. There were more survival cases than anything else, but even then, each patient was different, and needed treatments. $\quad$Needless to say, Charise never encountered injury cases of this scale before, and while she wasn’t the lead physician on the ship, her hands were definitely full with helping everyone as much as possible. $\quad$A couple hours passed, Charise grew tired as she ran to each patient under her care. As more patients got stabilized, and properly tended to, she was relieved that the recent resupply of medical supplies after the attack on the ship happened, so she could do her job without risking too many more lives. She was disinfecting a leg wound of a soldier that was the result of tank shrapnel, when her mentor radioed her over her comms. With her little energy she had, she picked it up, relieved to hear someone else past the soldiers’ agony. “Maria- Mrs. Falck! It’s so good to hear you!” Charise exclaimed. $\quad$“Danke⁴, Mrs. Alday! I’m happy to hear from you, too! Mackay talked to me regarding your situation.” Falck declared. $\quad$Charise replied by saying, “He told you about my concerns for Ray?” she asked. $\quad$“Ya⁵, when you’re finished with your current patient, report to the landing deck. That will be all!” $\quad$Excited, Charise made sure her work was completed with her current patient. She told her colleagues she was being summoned to the flight deck, and she’d be back before too long. $\quad$As she made it to the flight deck, she can see five more Condors approaching for their landing. She walked up to Falck, Mackay, and Captain Irish Graves. The other specialists were checking themselves for any injuries, as well as their equipment. Charise saw this, and she thought if they were able to just walk around as though they weren’t hurt, they couldn’t have been that seriously wounded, something to her relief. $\quad$The first two Condors dropped off groups of engineers, and when she saw some needed medical attention, to which Charise asked Falck if she should help them. Falck shook her head and reassured her that the other medics in the wing will be able to handle them. After a couple Apaches and F-35 fighter jets touched down, Charise’s worry began to build up again. $\quad$“It’s alright, Mrs. Alday,” Falck reassured. “Your husband is in one of those Condors. They’re landing soon.” $\quad$As the third Condor touched its wheels on the ground, soldiers started walking out of the ramps and doors as they opened up. Eventually, Navin Rao, a hacking and intelligence expert, was seen walking out of the VTOL⁶. Rao noticed the group, and motioned to move off the aircraft. It was Ray, in seemingly great condition. $\quad$Charise’s eyes widened and filled with tears of joy and relief, and her smile stretched from ear to ear. Falck made a small smile to her, and motioned for her to go to him. Charise started, and Ray saw his wife running to the exit of the condor. Rao made sure to get out of the way before he accidentally got tackled, and they could properly embrace. Ray and Charise stood under to wind of the turbine engines as he picked her up off the ground and kissed each other. The other soldiers clapped and smiled as they continued walking past to their quarters and medical and maintenance wings. $\quad$As Ray let Charise back down after their reunion, Irish walked up to them and said,” All in a day’s work, you two! Everyone comes home under my leadership, and it’ll stay that way as long as I make it happen. However, the work isn’t done yet…not even close. You can have your moments, but it doesn’t get easier. We’ve got a job to do, hope you remember that. As a No-Pat, we stick together. Understood?” $\quad$Ray and Charise say together, “Yes sir!” $\quad$“Alright! At ease now, soldiers. Grab some food from the mess hall, any medical supplies you need, and rest up! Rao and Ray have intel to mine, and Charise, you and Falck will tend to more patients tomorrow. You two are dismissed for the day.” $\quad$With that, the specialists move to their respective sectors, and clear the landing deck. Ray and Charise do as the captain told them, and the eventful day ends as they wind down having a meal together. --- ¹ “Ay Jusko, nasaan ka” – Oh my God, where are you in Tagalog ² “Pasensiya na po!” – Sorry! ³ "Opo" – meaning Yes, oo is the original word, but po is an article meant to show respect to someone of higher authority. To use this with Yes, po replaces the second “oo” ⁴ Danke – Casual “Thank you.” in German ⁵ Yes in German ⁶ VTOL – Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft <br> ### Chapter 1.5 $\quad$In the mess hall, grunts and well-dressed soldiers alike celebrated with their apparent victory, eating food, making jokes and recalling the strategies that helped keep their fellow squad mates alive to reach and complete their mission. Meanwhile, Ray and Charise decided it’d be better to just grab their meals, and try to talk about how everything was as it happened. $\quad$“What a day, huh?” Charise said, as she took her first bite into her food. “I’m so happy that you’re okay!” $\quad$Ray, with all the worry and stress of leaving his family to go to the sweltering Arab desert, was more than hungry than any other emotion at this point. As soon as he sat down, he shoved a huge spoonful of food into his mouth. He heard his wife being overjoyed at the fact he wasn’t hurt, but he wasn’t able to respond right away. However, he made sure to get through his food to respond in a timely manner. $\quad$“Ah geez, Charise…you don’t know the half of it! There was so much happening, I don’t know where to start!” $\quad$“How about the beginning then, my love?” Charise wittingly said. Their family was also there to help calm the nerves of the two soldiers. They were talking amongst themselves, but the fact they were there helped give moral support to them. Ray chuckled at the remark, as that would’ve been as the condors departed towards Doha’s city limits. $\quad$“Oo, but I hope it’s not too much for you to handle.” <br> ### Chapter 2 $\quad$As the Condors and the armored vehicles raced towards the downtown area of the city, nobody thought it would be such a smooth insertion into the fight. Ray knew about what had happened to this part of the world: due to increasing air pressure and temperature changes in the region throughout the years, sandstorms had gotten more intense and frequent. The frequency of the sandstorms meant that the government had little time to act to clean the cities before the next storm. As a result, many of the major cities in that region started to get buried under the sand of varying degrees, including Dubai, Tabuk, and now, Doha. $\quad$Ray knew about what happened to the city, but he didn’t know just how bad it was until he saw it for himself. $\quad$When his Condor starting to swivel the engines from horizontal to vertical, the drop-off commander started to open the doors and the rear ramp to allow the No-Pats to drop-in. He started to shout over the engine noise: $\quad$“Alright everyone, listen up! Your job as recon and support is simple: Get in, help the front line reach the objective, grab anything you deem important for intelligence, and clear any resistance in-between! You have equipment to help scout targets out and allow friendlies to move forward, SO USE THEM! We’re here to support the US Military, so know your enemy! We’re linking up in ONE MINUTE!” $\quad$Ray was standing next to Rao, who mentored him on his role, and taught him how to use his equipment. Rao had a hacking suite used to help in assisting with accessing encrypted files and disable defenses, while also wielding an enemy motion sensor. Ray was carrying a minor version of the hacking equipment. Compared to Rao, his equipment only allowed him to disrupt enemy equipment long enough for a quick counter to return fire. Ray carried the Special Operations Forces Laser Acquisition Marker (SOFLAM) to help scout targets, and even allow Engineers and aircraft to lock onto enemy vehicles had he spotted any nearby. Everyone else on the condor had different types of equipment to help give and receive intel in the field, as well as help their squads move forward to the mission objective. $\quad$“I was nervous as all hell, especially since it was my first time doing anything like this outside of some the movies and games I’ve seen!” Ray said to Charise. “I knew I had to focus, but that didn’t mean I knew what to do!” Rao, noticing Ray, turned to him, and gave him a smile and a thumbs up. $\quad$“You alright?” Rao said to him. Ray said over the engines and the wind, “Are we going to die?” As Rao heard this, he laughed away from Ray so as not to make fun of his question. $\quad$“We’re not the front line, if that’s what you mean!” Rao cheeringly replied. Just then, someone tapped Ray on his shoulder behind him. It was a white guy with a duffle bag and goggles, and couldn’t help but overhear the conversation they were having. $\quad$“New guy, name’s Angel! I’ll help with providing equipment for everyone! Just wanted to butt in and say this: Don’t worry, as long as to listen to this guy, and you provide the information we need, we’ll do our part to help you out, and everyone will be alright! You got me?” $\quad$This made Ray feel a bit more at ease, knowing he didn’t have to go into this alone. He then replied, “Yea, I got it! Thank you, Angel!” $\quad$“TEN SECONDS! GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO DOHA!” The drop-off commander shouted. The condor started to slow down as it found an ample spot to land. As it lowered to the ground, everyone filed out, and so Ray’s first mission ever had started. $\quad$As Ray dropped onto the sand underneath, he waited for Rao to drop down as well. Angel gave a finger gun salute as he joined Falck towards the front line. As Rao then dropped a few meters away, he spotted and ran up to Ray. “Ray, let’s go this way!” Rao said as he started to take off in another direction. Seeing this, Ray quickly followed suit. <br> $\quad$“While the rest of the army went towards the town center checkpoint, Rao and I went to one of the office buildings. It was a real hike, especially with all the sand!” $\quad$“Honey, how were you able to run in the desert for so long?” Charise asked. “isn’t it really hot out there? I only stood on the flight deck for an hour, and I was melting!” $\quad$“Ahh, funny you say that, Charise! We were running in the shade mostly! It’s not as hot in those areas, otherwise, we took our time if the sun was unavoidable!” Ray tried to assure his wife that it wasn’t so bad. Ray continued, “The objective was far away enough that the heat was unavoidable.” $\quad$“It’s ok, Ray, We’re almost there!” Rao tried to push Ray to keep going, and they barely made it to their destination. It was a tall office building overlooking the main center of town. The stadium was off in the distance, close to where they landed. As they reached the inside of the stadium, they took an elevator and rode it to the 30th floor of the building, there, they were able to provide overwatch of the infantry and aircraft that were approaching. The main door access to the office wing was locked via office security, and they gained it through means of Rao’s hacking software. $\quad$“We set up at a window overlooking the town center; I provided spotting and lock on assistance, while Rao provided sniper fire.” Ray explained the strategy Rao offered by moving his tray over and started drawing up the layout of the city with a pencil and paper towel. $\quad$“The mission was to recover a downed satellite that the captain saw last week, around the time the ship got attacked...He said it’s the first step to disrupting Oz’s plans, whatever they may be. Considering we shouldn’t question the captain’s orders, we had no choice but to follow them.” $\quad$The overwatch continued for quite some time, Ray was scouting, but he noticed on his PAC radar unit, that the enemy was converging on their position. <br> ### Chapter 3 $\quad$The situation was getting frantic. Rao and Ray started to realize that gunfire was heading in their direction now! Glass and office supplies started to shatter around them as the bullets from the enemy broke through the skyscraper’s windows. The fireteam picked themselves up quickly, and backed away from the window. Ray’s SOFLAM’s lens was partially broken from the gunshots, so couldn’t easily replace it in the midst of chaos. Rao took his proximity sensor, and threw it at the floor right by his feet. His radar picked up blips, and he noticed that a lot of them were coming towards them from the city center. Ray picked up the signatures on his PAC as well, except when it updated, he noticed there was one that wasn’t with the main group. Instead, it was behind him and Rao. $\quad$Suddenly, the door that they had locked blew open, and a Russian soldier, equipped with a riot shield⁷ was seen as the dust settled! The duo held their guns up at him as he unfolded his shield. $\quad$“He started to charge at us! I tried to shoot him, but the shield was just deflecting everything.” Ray was telling Charise and their family. “Rao tried to sneak up to him, but he kept noticing us at every turn.” $\quad$“Ay Jusko…” Charise sighted. “How the fuck did you get into this mess…” $\quad$“We don’t know how it started, but I can tell you how it was finished.” Ray said. $\quad$Ray motioned to Rao to grab their grenades on their shoulders, and throw them down at the same time. Rao had an EMP Grenade, while Ray had a Smoke Grenade. Ray generated a cloud of smoke, and a little bit afterwards, Rao threw the EMP Grenade towards the riot shield gunner. The combination of visual impairment and the soldier’s comms breaking, disrupted the soldier’s rampage for a few seconds. This gave Ray ample time to flank him, and aim his gun. Ray took his VCAR and lit up the soldier in the smoke cloud. The VCAR held about 28 rounds, and Ray pulled the trigger so quickly, it was as though he were firing an automatic rifle. As the smoke cleared, Rao rushed over to see what happened. $\quad$Ray was staring at the ground next to the dead riot shield soldier, in a stunned daze at what just happened. Rao began, “Ray! Are you ok?” $\quad$Ray looked up at him, and said, “I’ve…never done that before…I-I can’t believe that worked!” Rao smirked and helped lift him up off the ground. “Well done, that was fine work, Ray! You did great!” Rao looked at the dead soldier, and searched for any equipment. He shared a couple magazines with Ray, and got back to his feet after restarting their hacking suites. Rao motioned with his head, “Ok, we should leave here, unless we want to meet more like him!” Ray and Rao packed their stuff, and rendezvoused with the rest of the No-Pat and US forces. $\quad$After the incursion proved to be a success, Rao and Ray looked around the other buildings to find the location of the satellite. Once they found it, Rao hacked the security on the satellite to open the hatch, and the server suite on the satellite opened with three encrypted data drives. $\quad$“See this, Ray?” Rao began.” This is why we’re needed, you and I. This could be what Oz is after. Let’s take these, and we can head back to the ship, while the US forces gather up their troops.” Rao and Ray regrouped with the rest of the No-Pats, and headed back. $\quad$“Galing!⁸ My love, that’s incredible!” Charise said. “Meanwhile, I just stood by here to receive injured soldiers. I prepped the stations, the medicine and treatments, and practiced shooting and using my syrette. All the while, hoping you’d be ok.” $\quad$“Oh, it’s ok, mahal ko…⁹” Ray said. “You’ll get your chance soon enough! Besides, they needed you here more than anywhere else, I’m sure they wouldn’t want to risk the both of us right away, if things went wrong…” He tried to reassure Charise that they’re both doing their part, to which she agreed. $\quad$“You’re right, Ray. I’m happy you’re back, and it could’ve wound up differently…but thankfully it didn’t.” The whole family clapped for both of them, and they finished their meals right as the ships paging system came online. $\quad$“This is Captain Graves speaking to all personnel. Thanks to the intel findings of Navin Rao and Raymond Alday, we have leads on the next location, and now know where we need to go next for the mission. We’ll be headed to the west coast of Northern Canada, heading to the Black Ridge Facility. Don’t get too comfortable, but it’s a long voyage ahead of us! Everyone in Doha, as well as on board the Exodus for standby, did great today, you did your part well. You have your orders, so be sure to continue your rounds, and you are dismissed until further notice. That’ll be all.” $\quad$Ray and Charise looked at each other, wondering about Canada. They never got to see Canada in the fall before, nor experience a climate cooler than what they had back home, let alone in the desert! They both shrugged it off for now, seeing as this voyage won’t be quick. They had plenty of opportunity to get more familiar with their gear, practice with their equipment, and work more with their mentors. When the time was right, that was when they figured it’ll be the right time to wonder what was waiting for them in Canada. --- ⁷ It’s not Dozer ⁸ Galing! - Tagalog for Exemplary reaction, such as amazing, awesome, etc. ⁹ Mahal ko – My Love in Tagalog <br> ### Chapter 4 $\quad$The ship was resupplied and restocked at Doha with provisions and materials to carry on, and so by the next week, the ship finally set sail towards their next destination in Western Canada. One morning out at sea, Ray and Charise were woken up in their quarters an hour earlier than usual. Lights on is typically done at around 0600 hours, but today was a different occasion. The RA officer said the only thing they knew about what was going on was that it involved the captain. The RA said whatever was happening was in three hours, and all personnel were to report to the landing deck of the ship at that time. This would give the two No-Pats just enough time to get ready and report to where they needed to be. $\quad$“You want to shower first, Char?” Ray groggily asked, still half-awake from the sudden announcement. Ray and Charise were used to their normal waking hours, so for them to get up an extra hour early meant they weren’t exactly ready for this earlier rise. Charise finished stretching and rubbing her eyes, and finally replied, “Ok, but because you’re allowing me to this time.” Charise then stuck her tongue out and winked at Ray as she said this. She got out of her bunk, and began shedding her PJs as she walked to the shower head in their quarters. “Catch up with me in a bit,” she teased as she closed the door behind her. With this, Ray certainly had his wake-up call, so he quickly wrote an entry in his journal, and went to freshen up with his wife. $\quad$After they cleaned themselves up, the Aldays and their family went to go get breakfast. The mess hall was more crowded than it otherwise would’ve been at normal breakfast hours. The time read around 0645, and the only people seated seemed to be other No-Pat Soldiers. Their family grabbed their food, and went back to their quarters, while the couple got their food and sat down, and as they did, they started hearing people talk. Ray asked the others at the table, “So, does anyone know what’s happening?” The other grunts at the table looked at each other, and some had shrugged their shoulders, as they didn’t know exactly what was going on either. $\quad$“I think the captain wants to debrief all of us on what to expect in Canada!” One grunt said. “By the way, never been there before, I heard its beautiful this time of year!” $\quad$“Yeah, right…” Another one said, “Clearly something else is happening. I mean, he’s such a no-nonsense type of guy, He wouldn’t be like ‘we deserve a break, and I chose Canada, of all places…” $\quad$“Well, what do you think it is then?” The first soldier said. At this point, Ray and Charise were just enjoying their food and listening as the question was being thrown around. $\quad$“I think it has to do with Oz! He did work with him before, but the attack on the ship last week was likely his guys that tried to assault the ship.” $\quad$The third person at the table tuned into the conversation and said, “I was there, I tried to make sure that the civilians were alright.” Ray chimed in and said, “Yea, I made sure no enemies made it inside the area I was in.” $\quad$“And I looked after the people in the hull and medical wing,” Charise said. ”It wasn’t easy.” There was a bit of a silence, everyone was thinking, until the second person had a thought. $\quad$“Maybe it’s some sort of a memorial service?” Everyone looked at her, with a hint of worry on some of their faces now, including Ray’s. $\quad$“Did we really lose that many people?” Charise began to worry as she remembered that fateful night, when she some of her own family, as well as others. “It would make too much sense if that’s the case.” $\quad$“I guess we’ll find out soon enough…” The third person concluded. As ray finished his food, he decided to talk about stuff with everyone. The group continued to talk to each other for another half hour until the ships, paging system came on: $\quad$“To all military personnel, please report to the landing deck in 15 minutes, sharp! Repeat, all military personnel, report to the landing deck in 15 minutes!” $\quad$The group at the table, having heard this, all started to get up and moved towards the stairs to reach the deck. The soldiers introduced themselves to Ray and Charise as they walked from their table. $\quad$“By the way, I’m Marcus Rinaldi, but you call me Marcus. Me and my family were born in Italy, lived near Firenze. We sought refuge in France as our government couldn’t handle the pressure of the Mediterranean rising. I’m with the assault teams here.” $\quad$“I’m Alara Sahin, from Turkey, you can call me Lara if you want. We, my family, fled to New York from Istanbul before my country established Martial Law…The US is great, and they’re safe there, as much as they can be anyway. I’m doing what I can to help those here, being good with explosives and transport.” $\quad$“I’m Takashi Sato, from Nagoya, Japan! Our city was hit by some rough waters due to the strong tides, caused the inner harbor to be nearly uninhabitable. It was fixed recently, but the infrastructure nearly sent the economy to default. I’m here to help those in need, like everyone else is. I was an engineer, but I’m also good with information, so I conduct recon for the ship. Please, call me Taki!” $\quad$“Nice to meet you all, I’m Ray, this is my wife, Charise, and we’re from the Philippines! She’s a medic, providing support to everyone on this ship, and I help with finding and decrypting information. Our country’s economy dropped from the blackout…it didn’t quite fail, but things haven’t been easy since then.” $\quad$“Tell me about it,” Alara said. “It’s’ great to meet new people, it helps in these times and circumstances.” $\quad$“For sure,” Marcus said solemnly. “C’mon! we need to get to the landing pads before we get in trouble!” The group promptly leaves the mess hall, and reach the flight deck, seeing the sun rise as it touched the horizon. <br> ### Chapter 5 $\quad$The sun hit the tarmac of the main deck in warmth that couldn’t be felt below deck. The No-Pat Soldiers stood in formation as they gazed towards the stern of the ship. In front of them was a small platform, with the specialist soldiers standing in a line. The captain finally arrived on deck, and walked up to the podium to deliver his message. He spoke up. $\quad$“Hello No-Pats. It’s been a rough week. We had a brush with the enemy…they came aboard the ship in hopes for us to submit to their demands…we weathered that storm…and while the battle was won in the end…we lost some good people, soldier or otherwise…” Ray thought back to Alara’s words about what she thought it would be, and realized that yes, this was to commemorate everyone we lost that horrible night. Charise realized this too, and tears started to well up while trying her best to maintain formation. $\quad$“Today, I chose to take this time to honor those we lost along the way. It was through my actions that led to what happened these past few days, and for that, I am truly sorry. It is never my intention to lose the people I’m responsible for, and it bears a weight on my heart as well, you’re not alone. However, with that being said, as your captain, it is also my duty to be honest to my crew. We retrieved some intel from London last week, that later proved to be the location of the satellite that would fall in Doha. The data within that satellite that was retrieved has yet to be decrypted, but we know it was a major key to Oz’s plans if he were to get his hands on it. Those plans, whether he got the intel or not, likely catalyzed the next major conflict between the US and Russia.” $\quad$Everyone, though not exactly in the dark about why they went to Doha, finally realized why the condors assaulted the ship last week. $\quad$“As he assaulted the ship, he threatened to kill the civilians on board, in an effort to force us to buy into their demands, as I said before…including my son. One of his henchmen held him at gunpoint unless I gave the Intel. An insurgent, my best friend from a squad I was once a part of, Ex-Sergeant Clayton Pakowski, was on board. He made it from the medical wing to the upper deck, and he rescued my son, along with many others. Unfortunately, he was lost as well during the attack.” $\quad$There was a bit of confusion amongst the soldiers. Maybe the intentions were good, but with the way things happened, it surely wasn’t the most ideal way. He continued. $\quad$“Please understand, I wish for things to have happened differently, and again…we lost some good people. I’m here today because I wish to honor those we lost this past week…our friends, our family, squad mates…it doesn’t get easier from here. But if we persevere, we can make sure that their deaths weren’t in vain. We can make sure that Oz doesn’t win, by not allowing his plans to get much further.” $\quad$At this point, Charise, still doing her best to stay standing in formation, streams of tears started to fall down her face. Even though the words of the captain weren’t understood completely, it was the meaning behind what he said that made the impact. $\quad$Then, as the captain stepped away from the platform, the specialists all stood up. The commander sitting beside the platform rose from his chair, then shouted, “ATTENTION!” The specialists then locked their feet together on command. $\quad$“Port, ARMS!” In unison, they all pulled their M5 rifles from the holsters, and held them across their chests. $\quad$“Present, ARMS!” They then left faced towards the stern, and aimed towards the sky, and executed a rifle salute. The shots rang throughout the ship, each with a short pause before the next shot, into the ocean behind the ship, into the horizon. $\quad$After a short pause from the end of the salute, the commander issued one more order to the soldiers. “AT EASE!” The soldiers then lowered their arms, and broke formation. The ceremony commander then turned his attention to the rest of the soldiers on the deck and said, “Thank you for your time, everyone. Tide will change soon enough. DISMISSED!” $\quad$As the crowd dispersed, Ray and Charise then went back to their quarters, talking about what they’ll be doing next. $\quad$“Are you okay, Charise? I saw you tearing up.” Ray asked, concerned for his wife. $\quad$“Ok lang,” Charise said. “It wasn’t too long ago. I just hate being reminded of what happened…” $\quad$“I know…we lost our relatives…but it’s not your fault. We’ll make sure we can make things right.” $\quad$Charise thought and finally said, “You’re right. We’ll do it for them.” Ray gave her a smile, and hugged it out with her. “So, what are you going to do now?” $\quad$“I might hit the gym, try to get some strength to wield my gear better for when I do get deployed.” Charise said. “How about you, Ray?” $\quad$“I might learn how my OS for my tools works. I got some of it, but I don’t quite know how to use it yet.” $\quad$“I thought you were a computer geek, babe.” Charise jokingly asked. This helped cheer her back up a bit. $\quad$“It’s why you married me.” Ray winked. “But better to know before I get deployed again, too.” With this, they walked off the deck, and went their separate ways. <br> ### Chapter 6 $\quad$The ship was set on its course on a non-stop journey to Western Canada, and day in and day out, it was almost a locked routine for both Ray and Charise. Ray worked with Rao to pull any info from the data drives recovered from Doha, and also trained to practice using his hacking suite. Charise was in the firing range practicing her aim, throwing baseballs for her throwing form for grenades she’d use, and got more used to the weight of the guns in her hands, as well as ran around on the deck to shift the weight of her equipment efficiently as she ran. Each day after their midday meals, they’d get to more their mentors more, know each other’s backgrounds, and what they were fighting for with their training. $\quad$One day, Rao taught Ray how to field strip his VCAR rifle in order to clean it. “First you remove any sights and magazines still mounted into the weapon.” Rao Instructed. Ray took an Allen wrench to screwed his holographic sight from the rails on his weapon. It was easy enough, releasing the magazine was simple enough as well. $\quad$“Next, remove the barrel frame from the grip assembly. Ray found the attachments on the rear of the grip, and unscrewed the mounting from the frame. The grip slid out, and the bolt assembly was next. $\quad$“Ok, for this, rest the barrel on the ground, and pull upward on the bolt.” Rao Instructed. Ray did so, and the retractable stock of the gun slid out along with the bolt. After a good twist, the bolt was free, and so was the stock. “Very good Ray! Now, let’s clean this bad boy.” $\quad$“Yeah! That wasn’t so hard! What do we do now?” $\quad$“Take this rag pull, spray some cleaning kit on the end, and drop the weight through the barrel.” Ray di this, and Rao suggested doing it a couple more times to be thorough. $\quad$“Okay, now what? Ray asked. $\quad$“Put some defogging gel on the sights. It will help protect the lens against any weather and extreme temperature we encounter.” $\quad$“Right…” Ray applied and wiped the gel over his scopes until there was no trace of the gel left to see. $\quad$“Now, just take a wet cloth, and wipe down the frame and padding.” Rao said as the last step. “After that’s done, just reassemble the gun, and you’re finished.” Ray assembled his gun back together, but then remembered his sidearm. $\quad$“How about this one?” $\quad$“Well, you didn’t use it in Doha, so its ok, maybe if you get to use it, then you clean that after the next battle.” Rao reassured Ray. The two finished cleaning and packing their equipment, and started to head out when Rao raised a question, ”Tell me something, Ray.” Ray turned to him, anticipating a personal question. “Did you ever fight with a gun before?” Ray had to think for a second. $\quad$“Well, no, I haven’t really…Bakit po¹⁰, why do you ask?” $\quad$“In that building, with the riot gear soldier. That was quite a strategy! How did you know what to do?” $\quad$“Honestly, I didn’t. I tried something from the shooter games I played growing up. Someone threw down smoke, while the others moved up to attack.” $\quad$“Interesting!” Rao was shocked. “It was a legitimate maneuver, but to apply it from your past hobbies was quite the thinking, Ray! Keep it up.” Ray smiled at this. “Also, have you shot a gun before then?” $\quad$“Not one like this, anyway,” Ray confessed. “This gun is grades higher than what I’m used before.” $\quad$“What did you shoot before?” $\quad$“Just the M5 at the range when I enlisted. But that was a year ago. I trained with that one, but not the VCAR. Its lighter, but isn’t fully auto, so I still have to get used to pulling the trigger if I want to shoot the gun, like what happened in that office building.” $\quad$“Ah, don’t worry, that time will come.” Rao chuckled as he clamped a hand Ray’s shoulder. With their gear stowed away, the two started to head back to their quarters. $\quad$Meanwhile, Charise was at the range with Falck. She had setup a makeshift obstacle course out of various light materials held within the hull of the Exodus for Charise to simulate movement through an environment in order to both know how to react to her enemy, raise her gun to proper aim height, and also use her syrette to help other personnel in the field. Since she was ordered to not waste grenades, she practiced using baseballs for her main grenades, and medicine balls for medical and ammo crates. $\quad$At the start of the training, Charise really struggled through the course. However, as time went on, she got better with her movement, although she still struggled to take down the targets quickly, and her time getting through the course didn’t change. Falck was seriously pushing her with each run. $\quad$“Charise! Keep moving!” Charise had done this obstacle run more than 10 times since she met up with her mentor. By the twelfth time, she was seriously winded, and as soon as she completed the course again, she practically fell to the floor. Falck saw this, and walked up to her with a small energy bottle. “What’s wrong, Charise?” After gulping down the energy drink, she responded, “I’m trying my hardest to clear the course, but I don’t know if I’m getting any better with it…pasensiya na¹¹, Tita¹² Falck.” $\quad$“Frau¹³ Alday, honestly,” Falck began. “What are you apologizing for? Not completing the course as quickly as you’d like to? Like for me to see?” Falck lowered herself to eyelevel with Charise. “That’s not why you’re here! You’re training because I received word that when the ship docks at Port Edward, you’ll be deploying with us!” When Charise heard that, she quickly looked at Falck, surprised at the news. “That’s right! So, this training is more than just training, it’s to help you move around, and to stay alive!” $\quad$“Ay Jusko…so there was a reason to keep going all this time.” Charise contemplated. “I’ll be in a squad too, right? They’ll know what they’re doing?” $\quad$“Of course, Charise! You’re not alone in this. I understand, it’s scary. But remember what I said to you before.” Charise remembered, the first day of training that she took with Falck, to never give up, and that she wouldn’t give up on her either. “I protect my own, and I haven’t forgotten my promises to you. So, let’s go a couple more times, and then well call it a day.” Falck helped Charise to her feet, dusted her off, and helped with her equipment to try again. “Besides, I see it myself. You’ve gotten so much better than you ever have been, so don’t doubt yourself anymore! I WON’T ALLOW IT!” That little morale boost helped Charise to get through the rest of the day as best as she could. She couldn’t let anyone down, even now. “When you hear the basketball buzzer, you start again!” $\quad$“…Opo, tita…” --- ¹⁰ Bakit po – Why in Tagalog, po is an article used to show respect to those of higher authority/hierarchy ¹¹ Pasensiya na – I’m sorry in Tagalog ¹² Tita – Female relative, usually means “Aunt.” However, it can also be used towards any much older female figure that someone has gotten close to, or otherwise has a strong connection with. ¹³ Frau – German for “Mrs.” <br> ### Chapter 6.5 $\quad$The ship was in its final approach to Canada, with a little over a half day left out at sea. Everyone was in the mess hall, even the captain, and they grabbed a meal to help with cooling down at the end of the day. Charise and Ray sat with their colleagues from before the memorial service, and talked about what they were able to accomplish since then. $\quad$Soldiers were in the mess hall to relax and have their foods at the usual meal times. The TVs in the mess hall were showing the usual game and talk shows from around the world. All seems to be working rather normally, and that was when the international news broadcast broke the ambient noise. The news anchor began to speak: $\quad$“Good evening, I’m Gerald Pruzon, for CDN. This just in! Reports are coming in from Bonaparte Lake Provincial Park in eastern British Columbia. A massive landslide has caused a side of a mountain to completely lose its foundation. The landslide was said to have displaced several hundred tons of mountainside rock and nature to the valley below. Several service tunnels and major road systems within the nature reserve have been completely destroyed due to the collapse. Reporting to you live from the news chopper, Katie Meyers. Katie?” Everyone turned to the news, as it had mentioned Canada, and the region they were headed. The captain rose from his seat and focused on the TV. $\quad$“Gerald, the devastation I’m looking at is very indescribable. As you can see, major parts of the mountains and roads are in complete ruin. Disaster teams are on the scene right now, trying to figure out how to clean up the mess left here. Since this was of a lesser populated area of the country, there has been no reason to anticipate a count of loss.  Canadian officials are sectioning off the area of the reserve to help with accelerating cleanup crews for the road systems and service tunnels. Cleanup won’t start until the end of the next month. Reporting live from above the nature reserve, Katie Meyers, back to you Gerald.” $\quad$“Thanks Katie, we’ll continue to cover this story as more development happens.” $\quad$The captain then addressed the hall, “Everybody, in case you didn’t realize, that’s where our next destination is meant to be. Now, it looks like our job just got a bit harder, now we’ll need to figure out what this means for road trip up to the facility. Carry on as usual, until we update you on the situation.” Irish then stepped away as everyone looked at each other at what this could mean. $\quad$The next day, the Exodus reached its destination, and was reeled into port. All the while, Rao and Irish were looking over the data of the landslide that was reported in the news. The reality soon dawned on them that the US Operations Center that they were supposed to go to had suffered substantial damage to the service tunnel, as well as the Information sector. With this, they were able to cross reference data from the Battle Network of the Russian forces, and were able to come to the conclusion that the Russians found out about the covert facility. $\quad$Back on the ridge, Irish told the situation to Rao. “FUCK! Rao, we need to get there quickly!” Irish exclaimed. He then reached for the pager. “Attention to all personnel! All hands-on deck! We need to mobilize to the Black Ridge facility within the next four hours! So, get ready, pack up your gear, say goodbye to your loved ones, at least for right now, and be ready to fight!” $\quad$With this announcement, Ray and Charise already had their gear stowed away under their bunks, and just had to get into their combat gear. They said bye to their cousins and relatives, and asked them to take care of their children while they were gone. $\quad$“Oi, what are we going to do while you guys are gone?” Ray’s cousin, Maribel asked. $\quad$“Well, you’re going to be in a port city, I’m sure there’s plenty of places to eat and shop! You’ll figure it out. But please, watch our children, and keep us in your prayers po.” $\quad$“Who knows, ate¹⁴.” Charise commented. “Maybe we’ll bring back a souvenir of our own!” $\quad$“Ha, very funny…” Maribel said, more amused than not. “Really though, I want to see you both standing next to me again, and not anything else, okay?” $\quad$“Oo, we know.” Suddenly, Angel shouted for them to board the Condor. They hugged, waved a temporary goodbye, and proceeded to the Condor before it took off for the air base east of the nature reserve. --- ¹⁴ Ate – Female cousin, but can also be used to show respect to someone within same age region <br> ### Chapter 7 $\quad$The fleet of condors and ground vehicles underneath were moving along to the air base in the mountains up ahead. The squad leader then stood up and started to speak to the people on board. “Alright everyone, listen up! The callsign for our squad is Knox! Remember it, listen out for the command in your communications gear.” Ray’s and Charise’s, along with everyone else’s Heads-Up Display (HUD) highlighted the name of their squad. He then continued, “Our job this time around is simple: Get into the main sectors of the HQ, work with the US forces to set up defenses. Ensure the safety of the facility. And protect any assets that’ll be vital to the overarching mission. We will NOT let the base fall to the enemy!” Everyone readied their guns, took their safeties off, and charged the first round into their rifles. $\quad$The condors then began their descent to the ground and slowed down. The dispatch leader motioned everyone to exit the vehicle when the light turned green. Everyone filed out the ramp. $\quad$Ray, since this wasn’t his first time, exited the condor out the rear ramp. He jumped and landed on his feet, no problem. He decided to wait for his wife to get to the edge of the ramp, and hoped shed be able to jump just fine. However, when Charise reached the end of the ramp, she looked below to the ground, and started to hesitate. Ray had to shout to her to get off the condor. $\quad$“Charise! Come on, It’s not that far!” Ray encouraged Charise to take the leap. She had run with her equipment, aimed and shot her gun, and even laid down and got back up with everything on her back. But this was something Falck didn’t train her to do: jump, and when she landed, to absorb the impact and stay standing. $\quad$“I’ve never done this, I don’t want to hurt myself!” Charise nervously said. But the engines were starting to throttle up. $\quad$“You can trust me! I’ll be right next to you when you land!” Ray said. With little time left to properly drop-off, Charise took the leap off of the condor, and jumped. $\quad$It was only 5 feet, but with all the equipment she was carrying, when Charise hit the ground, she lost her footing, and stumbled forward. Right where she lost her footing where she was going to land, and braced for faceplanting, Ray caught her in time. “Nandito ako¹⁵! You’re ok!” Ray quickly helped her back to her feet as Rao gave them their orders. $\quad$“Not bad, No-Pat, but you’ll need to get used to that, I’ll tell Falck to not skip that in your training.” Rao said. Charise pouted and looked at him, then to Ray. Ray laughingly shook his head, indicating it wasn’t anything serious, and Charise shrugged it off. They then set out for the main communications array to rendezvous with Falck and Paik’s squads. $\quad$Once there, Rao greeted Paik and Falck, and asked for orders. Charise looked around, and could tell from the look on Falck’s and Paik’s faces that their personalities are totally different from when she saw them in the conference room all those months ago. Falck definitely had a no nonsense look on her face as she oversaw the sector being fortified for defenses. Paik, meanwhile, had a strong look of determination. Falck saw Charise, and her commanding presence eased up a bit. “Charise! Guten Tag!¹⁶ You’re finally getting your chance to witness combat, and what we’re fighting for! How are you doing?” $\quad$Charise had slowly started to realize the reality of what she was participating in, and nervously said to Falck, “O-ok lang, Tita…I’m scared po…” Charise had a frozen look of terror in her face. Falck stepped in closer and laid a hand on Charise’s shoulder. $\quad$“Listen, Charise…I’m scared too, we all are.” Falck began opening up to her. “We may be the task force on the ship, but we’re still just people. You’ll do fine, as long as you listen to orders, and help as many as you can. You-no…we, can do this!” Charise released some of her anxiety at her speech. Every time Falck gave an inspirational speech to her like this, it always seemed to calm her down, much like the motherly displacement Falck seems to have if she isn’t in her stern personality. “Ok tita, I understand…I’ll do my best.” Falck smiled at this. “Danke¹⁷, Charise.” Falck gave a reassuring pat, and gave her commands. She pulled out a map of the area. $\quad$“You are to move with Paik and Rao’s squad through the operations center, start with the comms array locater here, and move west.” Falck pointed out the landmarks as she explains what she was talking about. “Paik and Rao will help guide you to the destroyed service tunnels, at which point, you’ll cross the ravine to the main server rooms and offices, and that’s likely where further intel on what we’re here to find. Is that clear?” $\quad$“Yes ma’am!” Ray and Charise said together. $\quad$“Excellent! Now, meet up with Rao, and let him know the-,“ Just then, the air raid sirens around the air base started blaring. Everyone started to look to the northern tree line towards the lake. They could see a whole fleet of Hinds and Hokums on their way, the battle was beginning a lot sooner than everyone expected! Everyone’s eyes widened, including Falck’s as she finished her thoughts. $\quad$“…plans” Falck realized there was no time left to walk around to get familiar with the location. All she could rely on were the maps and radar as the Russian forces closed in on the base. $\quad$“Falck, what are orders?” Paik said to her as the roaring of the helicopters started to approach. $\quad$“Get to positions, now! At the Comms Array!” Falck started waving off people to link up at the satellite dishes. Ray and Charise followed everyone and prepared everything. This was it, their first battle together as husband and wife. The battle of Black Ridge was upon them. --- ¹⁵ “Nandito ako” – “I’m here” in Tagalog ¹⁶ “Guten Tag!” – “Good Day/Hello” in German ¹⁷ Danke – Casual “Thank You” in German <br> ### Chapter 8 $\quad$In the skies above Ray and Charise’s squad, Russian helicopters and jets pierced the autumn winds with the roars of their powerful engines. They started to give chase to the US Aircraft that were, up until a few minutes ago, patrolling the area to defend against the Russian air forces. $\quad$Meanwhile, on the ground, the tree line at the No-Pat’s elevation was bring demolished, a visible indication of the direction the Russian ground forces and assault vehicles were coming from. Suddenly, flashes came from the tanks. They were shooting their turrets! $\quad$An engineer, with his defenses and sentinel systems, yelled for everyone to get down to ground as the shells impacted the facility. Ray and Charise dove for the ground behind the sandbags. The shell hit the main antenna of the center satellite dish, and bits and pieces of the building shot out in all directions. After the shower of debris, Ray slowly rolled over and got on his feet. He helped Charise to her feet as well, but they both made sure to stay in cover as they did so. $\quad$“GET TO THE MAIN EAR!” the engineer said. Everyone got up and headed for the main radio to the southwest. The radio was designated as rally point A, and Ray and Cherise ran as fast as they were able to for main defense with a majority of the rest of the US Army. A hailstorm of bullets and explosions rang around them, craters forming from the shelling that the Russians were throwing at them blocked their visibility, as well as destroyed the path they were running on. $\quad$Everyone returned fire as the different vehicles coming from the Russians were charging up on them quickly. US Forces attempted to converge on their position with their own vehicle forces, and while they slowed down the Russians, they didn’t stop them, and still made their advance to the main antenna. However, the engineers knew that this would happen, it was all part of their plan. As they ran, the engineers readied some C5 at the base of the antenna. Once they got to cover, the lead engineer yelled out “READY!” to his other engineer soldiers, and he pulled out a remote that had a big button on it. They all pulled their own remote out and got the button cover opened. $\quad$“FIRE IN THE HOLE EVERYONE!” The main engineer yelled to everyone while still running. Ray and Charise ran up the stairs and ducked behind the sandbags lined up to the railing. Charise was scared shitless, and she covered her head as she curled up near Ray. Ray could only comfort her with yelling reassuring responses, like “It’s okay, you’re okay po!” Ray saw her gun hanging off her strap by her side, and handed it to her. “I’ll protect you, if you protect everyone else! You’re support after all!” Charise heard this through the chaos surrounding them, and grabbed her gun. However, she rested it back down, and pulled out her ammo bag and syrette pistol instead. She gave a look to ray that she understood what he meant. She threw the ammo bag to the soldiers on the ground underneath the radio, and shot some medical rounds around her until her syrette ran dry. She gave a thumbs up to Ray, and he, relieved that she was no longer petrified by the battle that was happening, gave her thumbs up a fist bump. $\quad$The tanks and other assault vehicles got even closer to the radio tower now, to the point where the logos and marks were easily visible. Then, the engineer shouted “NOW!” and every engineer pressed the buttons on their remotes. $\quad$As they did, a solid line of explosions set the field across the road to the rally point on fire. The bevy of hard explosions turned the lighter infantry vehicles into tumbling balls of fire in different directions, while the tanks started to billow out smoke from interior fires, eventually lighting their magazines on fire. The treads broke down, and the tanks eventually all erupted into a massive fireball that blew the armored plating off their chassis. The first line of engineered defense was a success. $\quad$Over the comms radio, Ray and Charise could hear the captain commending the efforts of the engineers. They laid out some anti-tank mines, just in case there were more coming from the direction the tanks came from. Ray saw the helicopters swarming the warzone, and all the while, some soldiers that were using the anti-air missile launchers were having a tough time trying to take them down. He looked to Rao, who was pinned from the missile barrages coming from above. $\quad$This got Ray to thinking: there must be a way to shoot down the choppers. “Ano gagawin ko?¹⁸” he looked through his equipment, and then remembered his hacking suite. Ray’s eyes widened as he started to boot up the program and flip up his antennas. As his systems were switching on, he pulled out his gun and leaned out of cover to defend the position he was staked at. $\quad$Charise was running to soldiers, tending to their wounds, and giving out ammo to those in heavy gunfire. Occasionally she charged her defibrillator, in the worrying event she saw soldiers no longer moving in the battlefield. When she did see on her HUD a request for help, she would run to it. She threw a smoke grenade to cover her approach, and a cloud started to fill behind the antennae, where she would be able to make the advance safer. However, as she did, she got into a close encounter with an enemy soldier! She was shocked, if only for the fact this soldier slipped through the cracks of the defenses. This time, however, Charise did not hesitate. She remembered what Falck told her during her first sessions of training, to not allow the enemy to take the chance to shoot or attack first. $\quad$In her reaction, Charise rushed to the soldier, and swung her rifle across the soldier’s head. The infantry soldier stumbled and fell to the ground, dazed from the sudden melee attack. Charise quickly pulled out her G57 handgun, and fired some rounds into the downed soldier, making sure he couldn’t get up again. $\quad$It was an unusual feeling for Charise. All her life, she was accustomed to helping people, and chose to take up a career to help save lives. Yet here she was, standing over a soldier, whose life that she took. It was a conflicting feeling; on one hand, she was still alive in the midst of battle, but she didn’t ever want it to come to this. $\quad$The smoke cloud dissipated, and the chaos started to kill the background yet again. She looked around on the battlefield, and saw Ray staring back at her. Seeing the distraught in her face, he quickly ran to her and helped her to the next source of cover in the adjacent wall underneath the antennae. Ray quickly turned to her, and started to pat her down for any wounds or gashes. $\quad$“Ok pa?”¹⁹ Ray said straight to Charise’s face frantically, as he caught his breath. Charise had to shake out of her daze of what just happened, and regain her composure to her husband. She was breathing heavily, looked around at her person before she looked at the person who made sure she was alright. $\quad$“Ok! O-o-ok pa ako!”²⁰ Charise said, sweat dripping from her helmet visor. She was glad Ray was there, otherwise her situation could’ve turned out a lot worse. $\quad$“Okay good! I know now not to mess with you if you have a gun!” Ray joked, trying to calm the situation. They had over the radio that the radio tower control has been lost, and that’s when worry set in for the couple. They ran to further cover, Suddenly, an LA-TV Recon off-road transport rushed up next to them amidst the chaos. It was Marcus and Alara, and they frantically shouted to the two No-Pats. $\quad$“Ray, Charise!” Alara shouted. “We can’t stay here! The radio towers are about to be overrun! We’re starting to fall back!” $\quad$Charise, confused, responded, “Pero²¹, we were just holding the line! The tanks got blown up! We saw that happen!” $\quad$“Those weren’t the only ones…the Russians came prepared! Now get in the car, before you can’t anymore!” Alara screamed to Ray and Charise, panic clearly starting to build up in her voice. Ray and Charise quickly got into the remaining seats of the SUV, while Marcus used the turret to cover them. Once in the vehicle Alara slammed on the gas, and swiftly and carefully drove to the location of the next rally point, inside the Op Center. --- ¹⁸ Ano gagawin ko? – “What do I do?” in Tagalog ¹⁹ Ok pa? – You still ok? In Tagalog ²⁰ Ok pa ako – I’m okay! ²¹ Pero - But <br> ### Chapter 9 $\quad$The Recon vehicle drove around the various soldiers, both friend and foe, to try to race to the rally point off in the distance. Alara wasn’t the best driver, but her previous experience as a police office in her home country meant she was probably more capable than most at maneuvering in high speeds. With that, however, she was never shot at by tanks when she was in a cop car, either. $\quad$“Hold on!” Alara shouted to everyone riding with her. The Recon was a tight driving machine, but it had its moments of uneven acceleration, given its long gear transmission. The slow approaching tanks took pot shots at the retreating soldiers to impede their progress to the Op Center. The car was close the edge of the crown²² when the tanks reached the radio towers. Marcus was swiveling with the mounted turret looking for a way down to the op center. $\quad$“Lara! There’s a crevice after the gates! Go there!” Marcus shouted. $\quad$“Right, I see them!” Alara responded. Helicopters and planes from both warring forces were fighting overhead, which made retreats for everyone that much more difficult. In the car, Charise looked past the tree line, and she could see not only more tanks, but other assault vehicles coming up to their position. She shook Ray to bring his attention to the same tree line, and she yelled to Alara to get off the road. $\quad$“LARA! Turn left now!” Charise shouted. Alara looked in her mirror, and noticed the trees being mowed down from the impending vehicles coming from the forest. “Fucking hell, hold onto something, guys!” Alara prompted. She hit the handbrake by the steering wheel, and drifted past the brakes and into the ravine. The slope lead down to where the landslide destroyed the service tunnel going through the op center, and when they reached the tunnel, Alara sharply turned right into it. $\quad$“There’s an access way to the main hallways coming up on the left in this tunnel! You should see it soon!” Marcus said to Alara. She raced through the tunnel, dodging the burned down cars and other debris and rubble from the collapse. They saw fellow No-Pats and US soldiers running into the Op Center to get ready for their next line of defense. $\quad$As they approached the entrance, Alara slowed down the vehicle, and everyone was able to get out. As they exited, A Russian tank appeared at the end of the tunnel. Charise spotted the tank, and everyone who remained in the tunnel either chose to retreat further into the Op Center, or fight the tank to protect other’s advance. Alara pulled out her M5 Recoilless and started to shoot the tank. The first shot landed right in front of the tank, and only obstructed the tank’s path to the entranceway. The tank took a shot at the Op center’s entrance, and while the shot hit right above the soldier’s head’s, the tunnel appeared to be reinforced enough where the tunnel didn’t collapse on top of them. $\quad$Thinking quickly, Ray pulled out his SOFLAM to target the tank. Alara noticed this, and reloaded her launcher. Marcus took his EMP Grenades and threw them as hard as he could. The grenades managed to get far enough to the point where the tank’s mobility and main turret went offline. This bought more time for Ray to lock on with his binoculars, and for Alara to reload. Once she was ready, Alara took another shot at the tank. This time, with the help of Ray’s lock on, the shell hit the tank, and some armored plating fell off. She saw this, and quickly reloaded another round. The lock on faded, but she quickly shouted “DISTANCE!” to Ray, and he said was 80 meters away. With this, she used the scopes reticle to aim slightly higher to compensate for gravity. She fired, and once it hit the tank, the turret started to billow out smoke. $\quad$Alara took out the shell, and tried reaching for one more to finish the job, but as she did, panic struck. She had run out of ammunition for her rockets! She started to panic, and tried to call for Charise. The radios at this time had been disabled, in part because of Marcus’s EMP Grenades, and she thought of trying to call for her by mouth, but Charise was busy shooting syrettes to soldiers going inside, and defibrillating those that needed it in the stairwell. Charise sees Ray out of the corner of her eye, and motions her to regroup immediately. As he was motioning for her to come back, engineers came around the tank, and tried as much as they could to repair the tank. $\quad$Charise ran over to the squad, and saw that Alara’s launcher was empty. Charise pulled out the Ammo bag she was carrying, and was able to give Alara another rifle shell. But as she pulled out another round to load into her launcher, the tank, now no longer smoking, shot another round, and shattered the doorway to the stairwell. Everyone hit the ground, and tried to protect themselves from the shrapnel and dust that was thrown around. --- ²² Crown – The area of a landslide zone where the ground is still intact, crown cracks, are the areas or stress where the landslide forms <br> ### Chapter 9.5 $\quad$As everyone got up, Alara’s ears were ringing, and Marcus was stunned from the tank shell. Charise checked herself and Ray for any wounds, and quickly reloaded her syrette pistol. She then shot some rounds to Ray, Marcus, and Alara in case they needed them, before injecting herself with a stim. $\quad$The tank and infantry slowly moved in closer, checking their corners. Charise tried to shake Marcus back into proper composure, while the others, as well as others in the tunnel, were struggling to get inside. Ray, once back to proper soldier condition, picked his gun up, and started to shoot at and return fire at the infantry coming towards them. While he was able to take out some of the soldiers, this brought the attention of the other soldiers, as well as the tank, to shoot back. The tank stopped, and tried to aim at the doorway again. Alara shook off the ringing in her ears as she saw the tank, she jumped for Charise’s ammo bag and found another shell. She loaded it, and quickly fired off another round. The shell hit, but the tank was still operating. Alara tried looking for another shell, but there wasn’t one. She was definitely out of ammo this time. $\quad$Suddenly, a rocket flying from the other side of the tunnel, flew through, and smacked right onto the turret of the tank. The tanks treads started grinding, and the tank wasn’t able to move fast anymore. The person who launched the rocket launcher ran right up to the squad, and kneeled down as she loaded another round. Marcus, now regained his composure, took a look at her and noticed a pale whit figure with sunglasses and red hair in a ponytail stood from the dust. She was also holding a different kind of launcher: a remote-controlled launcher. Then she turned to them, and promptly said, “Get down!” Everyone got down, and didn’t try to ask any question about who she was, where she came from, because it was clear, she was there to help them. She finished loading her rocket, and got up. She aimed the launcher, and the rocket hit right where Alara’s rockets hit before, with the weakened shell of the tank. The rocket hit, and the tank exploded violently, with the turret popping off of its foundation. The infantry that took cover by the tank were thrown off their feet, no longer able to fight, and the tunnel was finally cleared of Russian forces. $\quad$Ray got up off the ground, then helped Charise get up. Charise got Alara off the ground, who dusted off Marcus afterwards. They all looked at their savior, who was a Natural Red Head. She wore polarized shades, and had a GROM²³ patch on her right arm. She looked to them, gave a light smile, and said, “Names Ewelina, but you can call me Lis!” They looked at her in astonishment. “And you’re welcome, No-Pats! We’re needed, let’s move!” Lis then reloaded her launcher, and made her way up the stairs into the Op Center. $\quad$“She definitely knows what she’s doing!” Marcus said, eyes wide and smirking. $\quad$“Yea, maybe she has another launcher like that for me.” Alara jokingly said, reloading her launcher. “This thing can only do so much.” $\quad$“Yeah, well, let’s see if she’ll stick around first.” Ray said. Charise nudged him, giving him a worried look, wondering what he meant by that. “I mean to help us, Char…” Ray clarified. Charise nudged Ray and gave a small smile, then jokingly said, “I know, I just wanted to hear you say it.” Alara and Marcus rolled their eyes and moved forward with the mission. $\quad$Coming from the tunnel entrance to the stairs was Takashi, the other person they talked to before the ceremony. He recognized everyone, and said “Oh, mina²⁴! You’re okay!” This was the first time Takashi saw Ray and Charise on the field, and was glad he caught up with them. “Command said the reinforcements were starting to decrease for the enemy! C’mon, we’re heading to Mackay’s position to finish the fight in the Op Center, Let’s go!” $\quad$“Well, we still have a job to do…” Ray said to everyone. “Lead the way, Taki!” $\quad$“はい²⁵!" Takashi said, and they followed him to the final line of defense. --- ²³ GROM – (Grupa Reagowania Operacyjno-Manewrowego) Special Polish Military Forces Unit ²⁴ Mina – Japanese for “Everyone” ²⁵ はい(Hai) – Japanese for “Yes!” <br> ### Chapter 10 $\quad$Takashi and everyone arrived at the main HQ sector of the airbase Op Center where everyone was engaged in the middle of a gun fight with the infantry of Russian Soldiers. No one had time to ask questions, other than where to get dug in. Mackay and Paik were dug in deep; he shot his assault rifle into the planning room where there was a projection of the mountain range where the air base was situated. Paik was trying to use her visor to scout for enemies in the corridor. Charise had now developed an elevated sense of committing to the objective, as she jumped behind some sand bags and tossed out an ammo pouch for the soldiers in the immediate area. Ray took cover behind a wall nearby, and scouted the area, while Alara, Marcus, and Takashi dug in and returned fire in multiple directions. Ray placed down a beacon to call for reinforcements, and booted up his hacking suite. While it wasn’t nearly as robust as Rao’s, he was still able to disrupt some equipment, and possibly give his squad an upper hand. A Russian sentry gun was poised in the main corridor leading to the planning room. It was spotting US troops as they ran into the fiery hallway, and shot at them with deadly accuracy. $\quad$Once Ray noticed what was happening, he raised his arm to line up his IR blaster on his wrist to send out the hacking code to the turret, which took about 5 seconds. Once that happened, the gunfire from the sentries stopped, and that much was allowed to keep everyone from being pinned behind their cover. He then located the Fire Suppressant substation, He threw a smoke to the ground, and waited for the cloud to generate. The cloud built up big enough so that the path between him and the substation was visually obstructed. He ran across the way to the substation, and bashed his gun against the valve. The valve opened up, and a deluge of water started to flood the op center. $\quad$The main corridor soon underwent a torrential downpour, and visibility was severely limited. Mackay noticed this, but then shouted for Paik. “Paik, link up with reinforcements! Finish this!” Mackay then threw her a shotgun, and she head on to find the remaining forces in the facility. Paik walked up to Ray with her shotgun, and smiled. “Hey, we go now!” Ray returned the smile, and proceeded to walk around the main corridor. $\quad$Ray’s reinforcement beacon started to talk; it was letting the squad know that additional troops were converging on their position. All Ray and Paik had to do was locate the last group of Russian soldiers. Paik activated her DMG thermal visor, and whispered to Ray, “Stay tight!” With that, Ray stayed a few paces behind her. The visor lowered down to her eyes, and she began to scan the area surrounding them. $\quad$Paik’s scanning goggles didn’t pick up any signatures, which puzzled her. “Hmm, that’s weird…” She said quietly. $\quad$“What’s wrong?” Ray asked. $\quad$“Am not pinging anything…what the hell’s going on?” $\quad$“Hang on, I’ll radio command.” $\quad$“Ok, I cover you.” Rao pulled out his radio, and began to ask, “No-Pat Ray to command, what’s your status, over?” Ray and Paik waited for a response as they made their way to the cliffside opening of the landslide chasm. $\quad$“This is command, the last of the Russian reinforcements have been wiped, they’re beginning to retreat, over!” $\quad$They both had their eyes widened at the message. How did that happen? They guessed that was the reason it was all quiet after they regained control of the Op Center. They looked at each other in disbelief, but then shrugged, and Ray responded, “Uh, copy that, over. Where should we report?” $\quad$“Report back to your squad immediately. Gather any intel and supplies, and report topside in 2 hours. Command out.” $\quad$Ray put his radio away and looked at Paik. She motioned with her head and said “가자 (gaja)²⁶” to go back to the main hall of the Op Center. $\quad$Once back in the main hall, Mackay saw the two approaching, and waved off everyone else to lower their guns. $\quad$“Anything to report?” Mackay asked to Paik and Ray. $\quad$“Command said the Russian reinforcements are retreating at the top and the foot of the mountains. The fight’s over!” Ray exclaimed. Everyone else breathed a sigh of relief. $\quad$“Great news, and good job everyone! What were the orders after that?” $\quad$“Check supplies, intel, and regroup topside in 2 hours.” Paik said. “There’s a data center on the other side of the tunnel, West from here. We should check there.” $\quad$“Good idea. Everyone, you heard the lady! Let’s make our way over to the data center, but let’s pick up anything we don’t want to get left behind. Move out!” --- ²⁶ 가자 (gaja) – Korean for “Let’s go!” <br> ### Chapter 11 $\quad$Charise and Falck were walking around, checking the other soldiers. She helped administer her syrette to some troops, while others, she used to revive with her defibrillator. At this point, she had gotten used to the idea of not being able to save everyone. While she was able to save most of everyone in the room, there were others that were in critical condition, if not dying or dead already. She gave some medical supplies for the critically injured, and radioed in a transport for them to be lifted back to the Exodus. Falck rested a hand on Charise’s shoulder, and she looked back at her mentor. Falck smiled at her, and Charise returned the emotional response. Falck started to cry, but not because she was doing her job properly, but the fact that Charise was still alive after the battle was over. $\quad$“You did great, Charise. You didn’t give up, and I’m proud of you for that.” $\quad$“Thank you po, Tita…” Charise said, while she smiled and held back a tear. Falck took her hand off her shoulder, smiled as well as she wiped some dirt off her face. $\quad$“The orders were to report to the data center, so let’s make our way there. Medevac crews will be here to help take the injured back to base.” With that, Charise and Falck set for the other side of the chasm. $\quad$In the data center, Rao, Paik, Takashi, and Ray were all searching through the servers and computers in the office areas. The limited, strobing lighting made it difficult to find anything discernable without getting distracted. Still, the office area was a large and wide area, so the squad could cover more ground quicker. “Ray, you take the far sector, near the server room. Takashi, look on the desktops for any files that can be recovered. Paik and I can decrypt data from the towers.” Ray nodded, and went to the other side of the office. $\quad$An hour had passed since the search began, and Ray had found a server room that still had many towers left intact. In the ambient emergency lighting of the server room, Ray was scouting for any server towers he could find containing valuable information to use in the Exodus’ mission. $\quad$He pulled out a data drive for Rao to pick away at later, when he heard a beeping noise somewhere down the hallway. Ray started to feel nervous; he didn’t know what to make of the beeping. It wasn’t at the same frequency as a proximity sensor, so that at least meant there wasn’t any enemy personnel in the area. Even still, Ray raised his gun to ready, just in case. He collected the rest of the data drives he compiled, and left the server room. $\quad$He walked halfway around the hallway to pinpoint the sound as it went off. As he turned, and twisted as he walked through the hallway, the sound got louder. From that, he knew was getting close. At one point, he started to notice a red light against the dark hallway. The red light was blinking at the same exact rate as the beeping was happening. At least now, Ray had a visual aid to guide him in the right direction. The ambient light lead into a single office cubicle, and what Ray found, made him suspicious and worried. $\quad$“Ray to Rao, come in, over!” Ray shouted into his radio. $\quad$“This is Rao. Ray, you okay? What happened? Over.” Rao said calmly. $\quad$“Tell everyone to please come over here, I think it’s something you’ll want to see, over.” $\quad$“Copy. We’ll finish here in a bit, and report to you location, over.” $\quad$“Salamat, over and out.” Ray marked the location on his radar, and waited for everyone to regroup. $\quad$After 15-20 minutes of patiently waiting, Rao and the rest of the company came to his location in the office. Charise and Falck rendezvoused with his squad as well, and the two embraced. They were happy knowing they made it through their first battle together, and were able to see each other again afterwards. Rao decided at that moment to tap Ray on the shoulder, “What was it that you needed us to see, Ray?” $\quad$“Ah yes, it’s in this cubicle.” Ray walked a bit over to the desk, and pointed out what he found: it was a large, rectangular weapons crate. The pulsing red light covered up a strange insignia on the top of it. “Should we try to open it?” $\quad$“Seems important.” Falck intervened. “Who wants the honors of cracking it open?” $\quad$“I’ll do it.” Everyone looked, and noticed Takashi pulled out a crowbar he found in the other server room. “Everyone, stand back!” $\quad$The crowd gave him room to work, and he then struck the latch that held the crate shut, and forcibly wedged it in between the two halves of the crate after the latch broke. With an enormous shunt downward, the top half of the crate flew open. The beeping was extremely loud at this point, as when Rao looked inside, he noticed it was a transponder to the contents in the box. Inside the box was a voice recorder, and it seemed to have one file on its storage. $\quad$“Hmmm…” Mackay mumbled, puzzled as he picked up the recorder. He navigated to the files section of the recorder, and decided to press the play button. Suddenly, the little device began to speak. It was a mysterious man, giving a very cryptic message: $\quad$“\[STATIC] if you're hearing this, you found my transmitter. The one I stuffed in the crate. I know what he's planning. And I know there's people out there who want to find him. Oz made a deal with the Dark Market. Black Ridge... it's connected. Listen. The Dark Market cannot be trusted. They have control \[STATIC] both East and West. Weapons, mercenaries, intelligence \[STATIC] sell anything to the highest bidder. They are everywhere. You want to stop him, and them - trace the signal. You need \[STATIC] before it's too late.” $\quad$As the room listened to what was being said, looks of confusion and worry began to form on everyone’s faces. Clearly this person, whoever he was, knew to leave the message for the No-Pats at this location. At the same time, however, nobody knew who it was that was speaking to them. Nonetheless, after the recording ended, Mackay shook his look of worry away, and promptly handed the drive to Rao. $\quad$“Get this to the captain…he needs to hear this.” Rao took the recorder from Mackay, and stashed it in one of his side patches. The radio from the captain came alive at that moment. $\quad$“All No-Pats, report topside to airbase hangars in fifteen, exfil from the area will be at time.” $\quad$“That’s a long way up!” Alara realized. “Unless we all know how to hike up a crumbled mountainside, how the hell are we going to back topside?” $\quad$“It’s okay, Lara,” Marcus explained. He pointed to the far side of the server room, and noted there’s another part of the access tunnel to get to. “Follow me, I’ll show you!” $\quad$“No-Pat, you get to give orders this one time!” Mackay jokingly commented. “But yea, show us whatever it is.” $\quad$They eventually reached the end of a large platform, with silos flanking them on either side of the walls. Marcus then pushed a button, and a large door then opened up. Turned out it was a service elevator, meant to escort military vehicles down to a lower level on the mountain within the base. Everyone got on board, and MacKay patted Marcus on the shoulder and said, “Good work, soldier.” They then rode the elevator up to emerge topside and made it to the hangars. It was sunset now, and when the squads reached the hangars, they found the captain was talking to the US Forces Commander when everyone came rushing to the condors for extraction. $\quad$“Rao, good to see you again!” Irish said to Rao as he ran up to him and saluted. “What do you have for me?” Rao then reached into his side pouch and pulled out the recorder. $\quad$“I think you’ll want to listen this when you get a chance, sir. I think it’s very important!” Rao said urgently. $\quad$“Yeah, well, I’ll need you later on to help me figure out what the hell’s on this thing. Alright, alright, at ease, Rao. You and Falck’s squads did great today.” Irish looked over at Ray, Alara, Marcus, and Charise, and pointed them to their condors. $\quad$Ray and Charise went into the Condor, and as they sat down, they noticed Lis, sitting down wiping down her launcher. Charise got excited to see her, and ran over to say hello. $\quad$“Ay jusko! Lis! We didn’t get to thank you from before for saving us! We couldn’t be more grateful!” Charise said enthusiastically. Grateful, Lis smiled, and said to Charise, “Just doing my job, No-Pat, but you’re welcome!” $\quad$“Ah, pasensiya na po, I’m Charise, Ray here, he’s my husband.” Ray reached out for a handshake, and Lis obliged. “It’s nice to meet you again Lis.” $\quad$Angel, who was sitting next to Lis on the condor, looked up at them, and nudged her. Quickly, she then said “Ah, this is Angel. We’ve known each other for a while, well before the incursion at Doha.” $\quad$“Yes, we know him too, he’s quite the funnyman, great to have around.” Charise said. Lis teasingly looked at Angel, who then rolled his eyes, clearly showing that what Charise said was true, and it was good to be among friends and allies. “We’ll talk later, looks like we’re getting ready to take off!” Lis said, as the condor air commander stepped into the rear of the aircraft. He told everyone to strap in, as they lifted off, and the Condor headed back west to the Exodus. <br> ### Chapter 12 $\quad$The Condors landed back at the destroyer, Ray and Charise would go back to their quarters, and clean up after their experience in their battle together. Ray and Charise, while they weren’t wounded, they definitely felt the pain of being in battle together, and what they experienced. Ray looks at Charise as she took her armor off, and he began to try asking her how she felt: $\quad$“Ok lang?” Ray began to ask. Charise stopped for a moment, and then she responded, “Ok lang. Today wasn’t easy.” $\quad$“Even then, you were incredible today, Char. You helped everybody today! But, yeah I know, it was a very intense day. I don’t think we could’ve come back like this if it weren’t for Lis.” $\quad$“Oo. You did great by finding that box for the captain, too. And yes, she was amazing when she destroyed that tank! Still, that wasn’t the close call I had with that one soldier was the scariest thing that happened to me today.” $\quad$“I can only imagine, Char. This is a different type of medical field to get used to…” $\quad$“Yea, seeing blood and injuries in a field, and not near a hospital isn’t the same as how things were before…just something I have to get used to, along with everything else. $\quad$“Helping with computers and finding files definitely isn’t the same anymore…Not even finding the crate comes close.” $\quad$“Haha yea…I wonder who that was, what he wants.” $\quad$“We’ll find out soon, I guess. Still, I’m not worried about that anywhere as much as I am about our friends and family…I’m so glad that we’re still here for them.” $\quad$“Me too, Ray. We have an opportunity to see our children, still.” $\quad$“Right. After we clean up here, we should go see them in the medical wing. Hope they didn’t get too worried.” $\quad$“Ray, they’re 2 years old, anything can entertain children at that age.” $\quad$“You’re right. Still, I’m sure they’d love to see us again.” $\quad$“Let’s finish here, then we can see them and find our family, and tell them everything that happened today.” $\quad$It was only a few hours later, and the sun had already set. The Exodus had already left the port and set back out to sea. $\quad$Their family and squad met up in the mess hall to grab some leftover food from the mess hall. There were other troops grabbing food, others playing games on a projector, and others nodding off on the benches of the tables. Everyone sat down, started eating their food, and as everyone was enjoying each other’s company, the captain would come onto the paging system to give a small speech, his thoughts on what happened today as well as what he learned, to everyone on board. $\quad$“Evening everyone, I hope you’re listening. Today was a very stressful day…and I’m grateful for everyone’s efforts in the air base’s defenses. We were able to pick up some troops from the air base to join our cause, in the fight to help preserve our way of life.” $\quad$Alara and Marcus knew at least one person the captain was referring to, and they gave a small smirk to each other. $\quad$“Their role will play a big part in that goal. Furthermore, we found some crucial data and intel, regarding a secret agent deep behind enemy lines, and what he’s uncovered. While we didn’t uncover everything, we know where we’re going next: His last location was in Gatun Lake. For those that don’t know, that’s close by the Panama Canal.” $\quad$Charise nearly choked on her food and beer as she heard the location. The first thought that ran across her mind was “Great, another long trip out at sea.” At least this would mean that she’d have more time to train herself, the battle in Canada did more of a number on her than she thought. $\quad$“So again, good work today, everyone. The next destination is a ways away, so though you shouldn’t get too comfortable, use this time to regain composure, and make your time last. That will be all, until the morning.” The paging system from the captain then shut off for the night. Everyone looked at each other. Alara then began to speak. $\quad$“For fuck’s sake, another long voyage! The last one from Doha was so long, too!” Alara definitely seemed frustrated about this. $\quad$“What’s wrong?” Charise asked her, wondering why she was building up to a small boil. $\quad$“It’s my son, he develops a minor case of seasickness every now and then, and we don’t have any more pills to help with that.” $\quad$“Oh, sige po²⁷. What type of reaction does he have?” $\quad$“Oh, just minor stomach cramps, and headaches.” $\quad$“Right…tell you what, I need to feed my children in a bit, they’re in the medical wing. If you want, you can come with me and I’ll find some painkiller and motion sickness pills for you.” $\quad$“Hadi canim²⁸? You’d do that for me, Charise?” $\quad$“Oo. We should together in these situations. Besides, what are friends for?” With that Alara smiled, and agreed to follow her after their meal. $\quad$“I should check on my family too.” Marcus said. “But afterwards, I’m headed to bed. But I’ll say this to everyone: I’m glad we’re all safe, so we could have this moment.” While Marcus didn’t explicitly say the word friend, everyone knew he cared when he said that. $\quad$“Tomorrow’s another day, I’ll be seeing you guys again.” $\quad$With that, everyone left, their families retreated to their quarters. Ray and Takashi stayed behind to clean up. Takashi and Ray spoke for a bit. $\quad$“What’s going to happen now, you think?” Takashi asked Ray. $\quad$“I don’t know. I haven’t been to Panama ever. Hell, I’ve only ever dreamed of going to Canada growing up…at least the port town was nice.” $\quad$“はい, Okinawa gets very hot, but Panama heat must be worse.” $\quadquot;Oo. Oh well at least it’ll be a while until we get there.” $\quad$“Yea, let’s use this time to get better at what they expect of us.” $\quad$“Definitely. But hey, I’m going this way, to the medic wing to meet up with my wife and check on my kids.” $\quad$“Ok, I’ll check on my wife as well, we’re in this direction.” $\quad$“Oo, ok. Talk again later, Taki! Goodnight po.” $\quad$“おやすみなさい(Oyasuminasai)²⁹ Ray.” The two parted ways, and Ray went to go see his wife and kids. $\quad$Inside the medical wing, patients laid in their beds, while doctors walked around. It was almost lights out, but Charise made sure to help Alara out with getting her medicine. $\quad$“Tessekir edirim³⁰, Charise. I’ll make it last.” Alara stored the medicine in her pocket, and walked back to her bunk. Ray stumbled on her and Alara noticed. “Ah Ray! Charise just gave me the pills I need. She’s over there!” Ray saw her walking to their kid’s beds, and thanked Alara for pointing her out. “No problem ray, goodnight!” $\quad$Ray and Charise saw their kids sleeping, and while Ray wanted to wake them up, Charise gently shook her head, so that they can sleep easy. Ray understood, they both gave them a hug and kiss to see them in the morning. They went back to their bunkers, and got ready for the next day on their voyage ahead. --- ²⁷ Sige – Tagalog, short hand for “I understand/understood” Depending on context or when it’s said in a conversation, “Sige “can also be a farewell. ²⁸ Hadi Canim – Turkish for “Really?” ²⁹ おやすみなさい(Oyasuminasai) – Good evening/Good night in Japanese ³⁰ Tessekir edirim – Turkish for thank you very much <br> **Continue the journey:** [[Crossing the Panama Canal]]