**Author:** AZNCracka --- ### Chapter 1 A condor touched down onto the landing pad of the Exodus’ deck. The landing crew signaled Pilot Lukas to open the back hatch, and Catalyst squad disembarked. Irish and Falck were present, as they awaited the squad’s return. When the condor touched down, and the engines shut off, Lukas looked back at Catalyst Company and said, “Welcome home, No-Pats. You did great out there! The captain will want to talk with you about what happened. As for me, I’ll be helping you deploy for future missions, so don’t hesitate to give me a shout! Heading out now.” The squad, still trying to help Alara calm down from the aftermath, acknowledged what Lukas just said, and they filed out of the side door of the condor. Irish and Falck see all five members of Catalyst and started to walk up to them. “Catalyst, welcome back.” Irish started. “We’ve received reports from Paik and Rao that the drones were launched successfully, and have started to help the US to secure the facility from the first platoons of Russian soldiers. It’s unfortunate that the second wave of opposition is about to overrun the facility. It was a certainty that they were coming, but you made things easier for them. You all did a good job today helping Nordvik and its personnel, and stayed alive while doing so. However, we still have a job to do…return to your quarters, you’re dismissed for the rest of the day.” Irish then saluted the squad, who then saluted back and shouted, “Yes, sir!” and the group parted ways. Back up at the briefing room of the Exodus, Irish and Zain discussed what needed to be done next. Although the Exodus was still intact and escaped an invading military force descending onto their location, the airstrike that the Eastern Nordvik facility was sent to destroy the Task Force that called the ship their home. They needed to continue their mission, but the next steps they needed to take were a bit complicated, and needed to be done in the right order, or else they will have effectively compromised all their work, and fail their mission, while putting themselves at risk. “This whole thing now…it’s FUCKED!” Irish said, looking at the planning computer. The screen showed the ship’s position in the North Sea, west of Southern Sweden, and was at a full stop in the middle of the water. “How the fuck are going to get out of this mess?” Zain raised his hands in half defense, trying to calm the captain down. He attempted to respond, and began to explain the situation as calmly as possible to Irish. “Captain, relax. We’re still alive, and we’re not in the midst of a conflict between two nations. Think of the situation like this also: Wolff, the man who launched the warhead, the man who wanted us DEAD, now thinks we are. That means, we have an advantage, sir!” Irish looked up at him with widened eyes, and began to question Zain. “What the fuck do you mean…you’re here because you said Oz isn’t the man we thought he was…that he aims to help fix the world, and not make it his own. Was that airstrike not an attempt on his life as well? Where do you see an advantage in our situation…?” It was clear to Zain that Irish was angry, with a bit of confusion behind his words to what he said. Zain continued. “Well, we’re no longer on his radar…we can still continue our mission, without him breathing down our necks now! We are…ghosts to him.” With this statement, Irish slowly came to a realization, and calmed down a few degrees, seeing that he may be right. The Exodus, and all its personnel on board, were considered a liability to Wolff, and were to be taken out as easily as possible by his hand. But since they evacuated, and no outgoing signals from the destroyed facility, Wolff must think they’re dead, and no longer a problem. With this, he could no longer track them to each location they went to. “However, we need to be sure of that, make it impossible to stay on our tracks. We need to take some measures to render ourselves as good as gone. Is this ship able to operate on different radio channels, maybe even switch to Morse code? If not, we should straight up disable the communications mast at least for a while.” Irish thought for a moment, then turned back to Zain, and said, “Yeah, I’ll see that we get the morse code online, and find the switch to the mast to turn off for a few days.” “Very well. But, before we do that, I have an old colleague that I’ll need to get into contact with first. They were originally meant to help deliver ordnance materials to the Nordvik Facility, but I need to direct them for recourse to our location. I’ll let you know within the next couple of hours what they have to say about helping us.” “Alright Zain, we’ll give you an hour, that’s more than enough time necessary to make contact with your colleague. But once that’s done, the radio tower for communication will be disabled, first as a means to test if it can be done, and be switched back on at a later time. If that’s successful, then it’ll be disabled for 48 hrs. We’re dismissed.” Irish then hit the button on his comms. “Rao, Mack, come to the bridge. There’s something we need to discuss.” Zain turned around, and walked off the bridge to the upper deck. He then pulled out his encrypted cellphone, and began to dial a phone number. He began to talk as the other side of the phone line was picked up. “Yes, Blasco, do you have a minute? What’s your position at this moment?” ### Chapter 2 During the night, the eastern Atlantic Ocean was a brisk calm. A battleship was moored out at a port near Aberdeen, Scotland, refueling and resupplying for the rest of the voyage to come under the moonlit sky, stars above, and meteors streak through the air. The only sound to be heard for miles was the water as it hit the sides of the hull, and the pulsing signal of the radio mast, both in sight and sound. In this world, any solace and peace that you can get, you take. The battleship, named Impávido, was the name of the battleship. A few months back, the battleship set sail towards Scandinavia after surviving an encounter in Panama. The captain, Camila Blasco, was laying down on the deck, staring at the night sky as the ship was at the port. It wasn’t exactly a difficult mission she had just finished with her troops, but the people she looked out for on board her ship, was always at the front of her mind. To accomplish her mission is to ensure the safety and well-being of her troops and personnel. Without them, she was nothing. While she was on her break, her task force was manning the bridge in her place. She thought to herself as she look at the sky, trying to tell apart stars from space debris and planets, “if only things could change on our chaotic planet…maybe I’ll be part of it? Oh well, at least I have this, mi Impávido, y mi pueblos¹ . Twenty minutes later, one of her soldiers walked onto the deck. He walked up to where she was resting, seeing almost in a light daze, ready to fall asleep from the calm environment. Blasco noticed him, and gave a small smile as she turned to look at him. “Christopher, que pasa?” Chris nodded his head in return and said, “Buenos noches, Captain, sorry for interrupting…but we received an encrypted call from someone who claims to have worked with you in the past.” Blasco lifted her head off her chair, with furrowed eyebrows. “Really? Who?” “I’m not sure. Would you come to the bridge at your next possible moment?” Chris asked. “Give me another 20…we don’t get nights like this often enough.” Chris then nodded and saluted before turning and walking back into the ship’s hangar. Blasco went back to lying down and stared at the night sky, enjoying whatever time of peace that she had. She thought to herself after finding her center once again, “Dios mio, may we get more moments like this…” The twenty minutes had passed, and Blasco was back on the bridge to receive Christopher’s status. “¡Eh! Chris, estoy aqui,” She said as she quietly announced her arrival. “Ah Captain, awesome.” Chris responded. “Your phone here, nothing changed since I came over, ma’am.” Chris handed over her phone, and as she looked at the screen, the relaxed mood the captain started to fade as worry and frustration started to take its place, as she saw the incoming call log. “Rashid Zain…what the hell does he want…we’re already on the way to him…” Blasco said to herself. “Everyone, leave the bridge. This is between me and the messenger, I need to speak with them…ahora, go.” Without hesitation, Blasco, seeing the call was from a half hour ago, hit the call back button, and the phone started to ring. ¹ mi Impávido, y mi pueblos – my Impávido, and my people. Impávido usually means dauntless, however in this case, its referring to her ship ### Chapter 3 In the war room of the Exodus, Irish, Mack, and Rao were talking about how to disable the comms to the ship, while Zain was anticipating a response from Blasco, whether it be in the form of a text message, email, or phone call. However, since the other group was in talks of disabling communication, Zain was mentally counting down the time to when that would happen. The captain did suggest an hour, and that was about forty minutes ago. Zain, pacing outside the room, kept looking back at his phone, hoping the next time he did so, an alert would show up on the screen. Irish, who finished talking with Rao and Mackay, then proceeded to walk to Zain, intending to warn him about the upcoming comms blackout. “Zain…has your contact responded, yet?” “Not yet, sir. How much more time until we go dark?” “There’s still 15 more minutes. Keep in mind, this is only a test, but it will last about five hours, so best hope you get something before that.” “Yes, sir.” The quick conversation was over, and Zain went back to checking at his phone. Meanwhile, Rao arrived at the window on the Exodus’s computer that contained the programming of the communications array. Mackay and Irish were manning stations on other parts of the bridge to allow access to the main programming for Rao. With ten minutes left, Irish grabbed the paging system mic at his station to address the rest of the battleship. “Attention No-Pats, this is your captain speaking, here’s the deal. We now face the potential of encountering an enemy that has the power to systematically ruin our mission, and destroy us. However, this enemy is not without their flaws, and thinks that we were lost at Nordvik. As we were reaching our contact within the facility, they launched an airstrike in the eastern facility. We had enough time to make it out of the blast radius and not be hurt in any major way. This contact is on the ship now, and agreed to find help. Now, in order to make sure our signal isn’t compromised, we will need to disable communications coming to and leaving the ship. This includes all forms, including, wi-fi, radar, sonar, and morse code. This test blackout will be temporary, starting in nine minutes, and lasting about five hours. This will see how we can limit our communication without being detected. Once we get the help we need, whatever it may be, things will work more smoothly as a result. Over and out.” Zain, towards the end of Irish’s address to the ship, saw his phone light up. There it was! It was a phone call from Blasco. He answered the call and responded: “ألو², Blasco?” Zain started. But there was a pause over the phone. Finally, a voice was heard on the other side of the line, “Zain…que paso?” With this, Zain walked over to Mackay, Irish, who just turned the mic off, and Rao as he put the speaker on for his phone. “Yes, Blasco, do you have a minute? What’s your position at this moment?” ² ألو – Allo, Arabic, courteous gesture to answer a phone ### Chapter 4 “Why the fuck do you want to know? Ques eso, Zain? What’s the big deal?” Blasco snapped back over the phone. However, unaffected by her banter, Zain said back to her, “Hmm, guess not much changed, eh? Listen, I’m onboard a ship, called the Exodus, and I’m with Captain Irish Graves, Rao, and Mackay. Our situation is urgent.” “You fucking asshole, Zain! I’m delivering your package right now, and were prepared to move towards the Nordvik Facility!” “NO! Do NOT go to Nordvik! A conflict broke out there, and Wolff…he tried to destroy the Nordvik research wing with an airstrike. Please, will you listen to what we have to say?” Zain pleaded to Blasco while explaining his new situation. An audible frustrated exhale came through the radio as a response. The Nordvik soldier only had a few more minutes to get the captain on his side, but it wasn’t too much avail. It was then that Irish leaned towards the phone and began to talk. “Fine, whatever, so what the hell is this urgency you’re talking about?” It was at this point Irish motioned Zain to put the phone on speaker, and now Irish was part of the conversation. “Ma’am, this is the Captain of the Exodus, Irish Graves. Seems like you two have some history. However, what he’s saying about the current situation is correct. We barely got out alive from the Nordvik Facility as an invasion broke out, and an airstrike initiated by Wolff took out the building we made contact with Zain.” There was a short pause, then Blasco came over the radio. “Captain, good to hear from you. Fortunate, you made it out alive. But what exactly are you calling me for, and why do you need my help?” “We need safe passage to Singapore.” Zain responded. From what we understand, there are things in that country that we need to take care of in order to carry out thework of a scientist from Nordvik, a man named Bergman, and find out why we need to go there.” “And, captain, do you have any idea of what this package is capable of?” “…Yes, ma’am I do,” Irish replied. “Voros and Bergman work on perfecting a code to send to the Shearwater-II Satellites to combat the weather, and restore environments to how they were at the turn of the century. We believe this could work. But right now, we’re only asking you to help us reach Singapore safely, and gets us out of Wolff’s reach. Will you help us?” Another long pause, which was interrupted with Rao saying the time, and the time remaining until comms blackout. “Three minutes captain.” Mackay walked back to his station and was prepared to flip the switch to the comms array. “Captain, I hope she decides soon.” Zain leaned back towards the phone. “Blasco, I should’ve mentioned that we’re on a time limit of sorts here. We plan to cut comms to limit how much we would show up to Wolff’s radar. We need a decision; will you be able to help us?” “*sigh*…Dammit Zain, you never make things easy…but, I’m willing to do you and the world some good…Currently mi ship is ported in Scotland, these coordinates near Aberdeen, and I’ll send in an SMS after we hang up.” “…Thank you, Blasco.” Irish said after hearing the she would agree to help them. “You’re welcome, Capitan. Coordinates sent: ETA should be around another 13 hours.” Zain’s phone buzzed with a message: 57.6958, 11.8716. “Got it. We’ll be there with our ETA after our black out test. Thank you again, Blasco.” Zain said to her. “You’ll thank me when we meet up, Zain.” At that moment, the phone hung up. And Irish quickly asked Rao to run the ship’s current position. “Rao, figure out our ETA with these coordinates.” Irish yelled as he handed the phone to him. “Roger.” Rao simply said. He typed in the ship’s coordinates, 56.069141, 6.149919, and ran it against the coordinates the Blasco sent. “Right…found the location of the coordinates: Port of Gothenburg in Sweden. It’s a safe enough distance away from the battlefield, so we should be ok. From her position in Aberdeen, she should reach the port in about…30 hours.” “Great. ZAIN! Your phone, tell her our ETA. We’re about to go dark soon.” Zain took his phone, and quickly types 30 hours to send to her, and whether or not she receives it, will be found out after the blackout. Irish then nodded to Mackay and shouted, “Let’s make it happen.” Mackay acknowledged this, and flipped the switch to the comms array. Sonar, Radar, and Shortwave were disabled, but Morse Code was still active. Irish then set the GPS to Blasco’s coordinates, and started the ship back up, starting their long journey to the rendezvous point. ### Chapter 5 The North Sea was still as the sun set below the horizon. Fog was slowly rolling in towards the ship as it made its way east, past the northern tip of Denmark, to the port. The ambient light of the bridge from the Exodus could be seen from all directions. Irish was out on the upper deck, scouting the immediate area of the ocean with his SOFLAM³. Mackay was on the ship’s spotlight, looking towards the stern of the ship, Casper on his OV-P Recon Drone to scout further out through the low-lying clouds. However, the drone didn’t have much range beyond the crow’s nest. Casper radioed the captain. “Captain, ETA’s close. You sure Zain’s intel is solid?” “Stay frosty, Casp…we only get one shot at this…Zain hasn’t double crossed us yet, no reason to fucking start now.” Irish declared. The confidence in the captain’s voice reinforced Casper’s mentality, and went back to focus on his controls for the drone. In the middle of night, as the fog came and settled in full swing, visibility dropped down to a measly 4 miles in each direction. The stars were no longer visible in the night sky as the Exodus continued to head towards the rendezvous point. The estimated time of arrival after the Exodus sent its last signal out to the Impávido was 30 hours. Zain and Rao were in the war room, and as Rao looked on the screen for the passive sonar, he could see other ships that were anchored at sea, as well as other marine life beneath the waves. Rao decided to radio the captain as well: “Irish, come in.” “Go ahead, Rao.” “I’m picking up multiple blips on passive. None seem to stand out.” “How far out is it, Rao? We can’t see a fucking thing out past the fog, and we’re closing in on the port.” A moment of silence passed as Rao estimated the distance the blip was from the center of the display. He then spoke up. “We’re about three miles, sir. The port’s close.” “Copy that…in that case we’ll make our way there and wait. Mackay, you see the ship, start flexing the shutters on that light. That’ll be the signal we give to the ship when we see it.” “Roger, Irish.” Mackay said as he swung his light to the ordered direction. Casper yawed hid drone to above the fog layer while keeping up with the ship, and as he did, he could clearly see the Gothenburg skyline, as well as the light from the ships docked at the marina and port. Casper then went to his radio and said: “All channels, I think I spotted the ship! Zain, Rao, tap into my drone feed, confirm what I’m seeing.” Rao switched screens to Casper’s feed as he pointed the drone’s camera out towards the horizon past the bow, FLIR activated to look through the clouds. “Rashid, can you tell if that’s Blasco’s ship?” Zain looked closely at the monitor, as he focused on what he thought was a battleship at the dock, but what he focused more on, was the bridge of the ship. Remembering the colors that Blasco would outfit her ship with, he turned to Rao, and confirmed that the set of lights in the distance was the Impávido. “Yes, that’s her ship. She always liked to use green on her ship as a visual indicator for other ships, so it makes sense. The Exodus seems to have a cyan type of ambient lighting, likely chosen by your captain. That’s hers.” Zain then picked up the radio. “Casper, contact confirmed. That’s her ship at the docks, and the visual signature is how I can confirm it’s the Impávido. The only thing is, how did she get here before us?” “I have no fucking clue, Zain, but solid copy. Mackay, time for you to do your job!” Irish replied. “Understood.” Mackay said, as he started to open and close the shutters on the spotlight as the ship approached the port for docking. At this point, the fog was clear of the city shoreline, and Mackay and Irish could now judge how close the ship was in order to see the Impávido’s blip on the radar. Casper started to return his drone to the Exodus, and once he did, he started to climb down the crow’s nest to navigation deck. “Irish, this is Rao, the Impávido is in sight, we’ll be docking at Port of Gothenburg in another two minutes!” “Copy, Rao, sound the horn! Mack, keep flexing the spotlight.” Rao walked over to the chute, and began to tug on it in multiple intervals to the potentially neighboring ship. The glow of the Impávido’s bridge became more intense, and more solid, as the Exodus reached the port. The main deck of the bridge was on full display, with the Impávido slowly drifting up towards the port side of the Exodus. Everyone on board the ship breathed a sigh of relief and waved as the Impávido got bigger in their view. Then, as if in response, the Impávido let out two large bellows from the depths of its fog horn, as the engine shifted into reverse, timing it so that the ship finally rested next to the Exodus. A new voice came over the radio waves, it was Blasco, ready to meet the captain of the Exodus. “Hello, Irish. I’m ready to meet you.” ³ SOFLAM - Special Operations Forces Laser Acquisition Marker – essentially, military grade binoculars ### Chapter 6 The Exodus docked at the port adjacent to the Impávido, and the ship was tugged and secured within a few minutes. The shell door to the two ships opened up, and the two captains were finally able to give a firm handshake and salute to one another. Irish, impressed at the captain’s demeanor, spoke first. “Nice to meet the captain we were speaking with in the ocean. But I do have to ask how you got here so fast.” Irish asked. Blasco, as she squeezed Irish’s hand a bit harder, let out a small chuckle, made a small smile and said, “All just a bit of speed, fuel, y heading in the right direction.” Irish, still a bit confused, made a half smile as he shrugged in acceptance. “Well, we have a plan in motion, and I’d like to talk with you about it.” “Si, of course, Irish. But first, I need to know where Zain is, so I can be rid of this package he wanted me get him.” Blasco suggested. Irish, radioed Zain about the package that was brought on board from Nordvik. “Zain, your needed at the shell door on the port bow. Blasco, bring over the case you needed from here, and she’ll provide us assistance to Singapore. Over.” “Copy, on the way, Irish.” Zain said. Eager to meet the captain of the Impávido, Zain dropped what he was doing, and made his way to the shell door where Irish was. Within minutes, Zain was in the presence of both destroyer captains, and one of them had the package he was hoping to get from Panama at her ankles. “Hello, Zain. Como estas?” Zain, hearing the tone from Blasco, which was neither friendly nor excited, and yet, neither distancing nor aggressive, began to speak in response, “Hello, Camila. Doing well…glad you were able to make it out of Panama okay.” “There were some speed bumps, but I got what I needed from those fuckers in the Dark Market. How did you make it out of Nordvik, with all that’s happening there now, exactly?” “The Exodus found me. I told them what we need to do the world some good. And the package that I needed you to get…is needed for that to happen.” Blasco, hearing this, slowly started to form a smile into a slight frown, and then kicked the box in the direction of Zain’s feet. The box slid over, and as it did, part of the frame came apart before Zain’s feet. “You should be the one to open it, hermano.” Zain looked back at her as she said this, and, with a crowbar that he procured from the garage, began to break the box apart. As he did, what he revealed was not just one item, but a number of them. There was a series of papers, with geographical coordinates, a number of USB flash drives, and a big plate that read “Shearwater II”. Zain looked at the sheets of paper with the coordinates listed, and something caught Blasco’s eyes, and had widened as a result. Confused, Zain, and now Irish, now looking up from the book of papers he held, gained a look of confusion as well, as Zain flipped to the back cover. In big bold text, it read: Follow the trail, and you’ll find me. -Oz Looking up from the now revealed note, Irish, and especially Zain, now realized why Blasco had a worried look moments before, as she read the note on the back of the papers. Just then, Blasco’s eyes looked at Zain’s, and her eyebrows furrowed. “Please explain to me what’s going on, Rashid.” Zain, no longer able to hide in his disposition, began with the first words that came from his mouth. “Well, Blasco…The mission we’re on now, is to help Oz to claim a territory for the No-Pats, and to use technology that’ll help the planet. I’m being honest, but it seems you don’t want to believe me…” Zain confessed. Blasco, taken aback by his words, made a slight retaliative response. “I was wise to not trust going to Panama. Of all the people I thought I’d help; I’m helping THAT MAN??” Blasco placed her hand on her handgun’s holster, ready to take it out to aim it at Zain. However, he raised his hands, not towards his holster to counter, but towards the ceiling, by his shoulders, in an attempt to explain. “Wait, relax, captain! I can explain more!” “I’M NOT YOUR CAPTAIN! But…I know we’re still friends, Zain. I haven’t forgotten our history. That’s why I’ll allow you to explain to me, why you’re helping OZ!” Blasco demanded, moving her gun to its holster, and crossed her arms in defiance. Zain, relieved at this, lowered his arms in response and spoke. “Okay…thank you, Blasco. Oz had saved my life once before, by allowing me the ability to walk and be fully mobile again.” Zain looks down to his ankles, which everyone knew more or less at this point were prostheses. “After he helped me with that, and sometime after the global blackout, Oz reached out to me to help a Nordvik facility executive, Oscar Bergman, locate the faults of the original Shearwater project, Steadfast Refuge, and what caused the blackout in the first place, and fix parts of the programming in his operation, Silver Spear. He needs a few more components and data to fix the code and properly compile it into the program, and this package from the Dark Market, is what he needs to finish the job. Yes, his mission and approach might be unorthodox, and requires a lot of strings to be tugged in the right order. But I believe with the completed coding from Bergman, we’d be one step closer to fulfilling what Oz wants, to help everyone, and not just himself.” Blasco, clearly still not entirely convinced, responded, “…Alright, Zain. It seems like at least you haven’t betrayed everyone yet, and what you’re saying is correct, I want to see change. Irish, do you trust this man?” she said as she looked toward the captain of the Exodus. Irish, with a stern look on his face, sternly uttered, “Yes. With everything he showed us, he could’ve left us for a fall back in Norrland. But he didn’t. He’s the man that’ll take use to Oz’s doorstep.” Blasco took a moment to think, then looked back up to both Irish and Zain, “You said you needed help reaching Singapore…That’s all I’ll do for you. Once we get there, you’re on your own.” Blasco declared. Zain and Irish looked at one another, then nodded towards Blasco, and Irish said, “Alright then, Captain. If you’re willing to help that much, we’ll take it. Let’s head up to the bridge, where we’ll determine the meaning of these coordinates.” ### Chapter 7 In the mess hall, No-Pat refugees and operatives were lounging while discussions were being made at the bridge on what to do next. Hot food was being served late at night, likely the result of the destroyer being resupplied with fresh food supplies, water, hygienic and utility products, countermeasures, and munitions. It was almost as though there was a reason to be up, if not to try and help the shipyard crew with the resupply operation at work. Charise and Alara helped themselves to some coffee that was freshly brewed, and sat on a couch in the neighboring recreation room, cheering and watching Ray and Marcus play table tennis against each other. Takashi, Sundance, Boris, and Paik were in another part of the recreation room watching the latest movies that came out since their recent deployment. It was understandable, as they narrowly avoided an airstrike against them, and exfiltrated from the area in time to avoid an impending major conflict, and Catalyst stayed behind to at least provide defenses against the opposition. The least they could do right now, is appreciate that they were back on the ship they called home, all things considered, in one piece. That is, except for one thing. Alara had lost the one thing that literally kept her squad going through every mission: Her modified LATV Recon. The last sight of her vehicle was not of a pristine war machine, but a destroyed frame, the result of the conflict that unfolded back at Nordvik. Every now and again, the mental images and feelings from that sight had stunned Alara. Charise noticed this, and began to talk to Alara about what she was thinking. “Hey, you okay, Alara?” Alara shook easily enough from her stun lock, and turned to Charise. Alara picked up what she asked, and her mood suddenly changed in her response. “Oh, I’m okay, Char! Why?” “You’ve been quiet, like there’s something wrong.” “Yeah…It’s the car we all rode into battle together. I feel like that’s how we all got closer as a squad and friends, know what I mean?” “I know - oh, hi guys!” Charise was leveling with Alara as Paik and Takashi were walking to sit with them after their movie finished. Marcus and Ray saw this, and decided to stop the ping-pong for the time being to join the group. Paik greeted everyone as she and everyone else sat down. “Hey, Charise, Alara!” Paik said to the two ladies. “What are we talking about?” “Me and Alara were just mentioning that we did what we needed to do in Nordvik, we helped the US forces…but not all of us made it…” Charise Explained to Paik. Paik’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean? I see all you here.” “No…every one of us made it back to the ship, minor injuries…but what I mean in this case, not everything made it back. The Recon we used, the one I was assigned to, got blown up at the extraction point. Whatever mission we get deployed to next… we won’t be as prepared as we had been.” Takashi nodded in sorrow, as he was there as he saw it happen. “The mortar came from nowhere…luckily we were all out of the car, but I saw it become a smoldering wreck, and ran to get Ray and Alara to the Condor.” Paik, hearing this, now understood the somber tone Alara and Takashi carried with their statements. After all, it helped them in Canada, Panama, and northern Sweden. It protected the squad and allied no-pat and US forces from the worst moments on the battlefield. Paik tried to speak up, “You know, we took that tank you drove for first wave of opposition, along with some other vehicles. Zain and Irish agreed to that. I’d talk to them about, Alara.” Alara heard this, and thought there might be a chance to get her and her squad’s beloved assault vehicle replaced, possibly even upgraded. “Hmmm, I’ll look into it…Thanks, Jisu.” “괜찮아요 (gwaenchanayo)⁴, Alara. But I’d do it soon, I heard there’ll be a meeting with all operatives on this ship, and the other ship next to us, on observation deck in a half hour. Until then, we can still rest a bit longer. Takashi, want to come and get some food at the mess hall?” On the Observation deck of the ship, Catalyst Squad and the squads and specialists of the Exodus and Impávido all gathered at their respective ship’s observation decks, as their ship’s captains both arrived to speak to everyone under the floodlight lamps of the ship exterior. The personnel were at attention as Irish began to speak. “At ease everyone, but we request that we have your undivided attention, as you listen to what me and Captain Blasco have to say as we proceed on the next step on our now joint mission.” Catalyst and other No-Pats gradually began to realize why the two ships were docked directly next to each other. The captain continued. “My name is Captain Irish Graves of the Exodus. And this joint operation will involve both of the Exodus and the Impávido’s efforts as we make our way to Singapore.” Now it was Blasco’s turn to talk in the microphone. “Hola everyone, I’m Camilia Blasco, captain of the Impávido. Irish filled me in on the situation that his ship and his operatives have endured over the last couple weeks. And from what I’ve come to learn, they’re in a great danger from outside forces. They need our help with evading their pursuers, while continuing to the next destination in their mission, as Irish mentioned, at the Port of Singapore. The Impávido will provide patrol to the Exodus along their route, while the specialist fireteam from the Exodus will be split into two, one fireteam will remain onboard the ship, while the other will travel by land and air to rendezvous at the port. Crawford, Lis, Casper, Dozer, Rao, and Mackay will be the fireteam that travels apart from the ship to Singapore. We’ll plan voyage to the Polish port city of Gdansk, where the land fireteam will be deployed on their journey. And we’ll talk more on what you’ll be provided and when we’ll get there, and what to do.” Irish concluded what his ship’s plans for deploying its troops will be. Blasco stepped back up the mic once again to explain more detail on what her ship’s objectives were. “My ship, as Irish said, will provide defensive measure as we assist them in their travels. As they will evaluate more on what they will do, my fireteams will meet with me and respective COs and specialists in the bridge to talk about our game plan. Bottom line, we got you all here so that everyone is on the same page on what happens next. That being said, you are all dismissed until tomorrow morning, when this phase of the mission starts. That is all, you may return to your previous activities.” ⁴ 괜찮아요 (gwaenchanayo) – No Problem in Korean ### Chapter 8 As the crowd dispersed, Alara made her way to the front where the captain was, Paik and the rest of the squad followed. Wading through the crowds, Alara reached Irish, who was talking with the soon to be ground forces that’ll make their way to Singapore. It didn’t take long for them to finish their briefing before Alara got the attention of everyone involved. “Excuse me, Captain, permission to speak?” “Ah, hello…Alara! Yeah, permission granted, at ease.” Irish said as she acknowledged the squad’s presence. “Thank you, sir. Without taking too much of your time, our squad lost its ground transport vehicle, and we were hoping to get a replacement.” Irish, looking to the other specialists, looked back at Alara, and said to her. “For sure, in fact I think Zain over here can help with that. I think you should talk with him.” He said as he motioned to Zain for help. He walked over and listened to Catalyst’s situation. He nodded towards Alara, and said to the squad. “I know what you’re saying and it’s fine. We actually procured a couple vehicles from the Nordvik Facility as you were setting up the drones during the assault. Here’s what you can do. Meet me in the hangar in another 15 minutes. I think I know some vehicles you and your squad will appreciate.” “Really? Alright, thank you Zain, we’ll be there.” Alara and the squad acknowledged this, and started to walk towards the hangar of the ship. Zain nodded and the rest of the specialists walked back to their stations, making preparations for the ship, while the ground team moved towards another part of the hangar as well, preparing themselves for the long journey ahead. Ray, Charise, Alara, Takashi, and Marcus all arrived at the hangar, and waited by one of the condors and talked amongst themselves as they waited for Zain to help them with their situation. Marcus eventually brought up the subject on just which vehicle they would wind up getting. “You think it’s a tank? It might be a tank!” Marcus said with some enthusiasm. Alara, skeptical about the vehicle, said back brazenly, “Pfft. Yeah right. Besides, that’s too slow for what I’d prefer for us.” “It’s okay! I drove one with Ray in Nordvik. So, if anything, I’d be the one to drive it if it is.” “Fuck off, Marcus…that’s not going to happen!” Alara snapped back. “Maybe it’s another Recon?” Takashi raised. “We’re used to that, maybe that’s what the we’ll get.” “I’d rather not start from scratch with modifying our squad vehicle again.” Ray cut in. “Stakes just keep getting higher, and if one bomb destroyed a Recon, we definitely won’t survive the next thing with one of those if we’re in it.” “Yea…true.” Takashi admitted. “Still, what else is there?” Next thing the squad knew, Zain, Boris, Angel, and Irish came through the hangar bulkhead, hands filled with tablets and tools at their disposal. They found the squad near Lukas’ Condor, and approached them. Zain laughed and shook his head, saying, “No, you’re NOT getting a Condor! Can any of you even fly one of those?” Collectively, the squad looked at one another and said, “Uhh, no.” Irish chuckled, and said, “That settles that question. So, Zain, what do you have in mind?” “Come to this area of the hangar, please.” Everyone got up and followed him to some vehicles shrouded in tarp under some catwalks. Some of them were rather large vehicles, while some seemed to be rather compact. “I believe you’re allowed a choice, Miss Alara, since you were the one that asked about getting a new vehicle. Here’s what I have in mind.” Zain walked over to the first vehicle and pulled back the tarp. “This here is not a conventional vehicle, but a hovercraft. Very versatile, guns on every seat! And the advantage this has is that it’ll be able to travel over any terrain you encounter. It can even cling to buildings and climb them.” Alara tried her best to hold in her laughter long enough to say “Nice! That’d be a sight to see. But, what else do you have?” The other members of the squad held in their confusion, has they more or less looked at the advantages of the vehicles instead, in order to keep a professional demeanor in front of their captain. “Here, this one is the biggest vehicle procured, besides a tank.” Zain walks over to a second vehicle, and yanks off the tarp to reveal an eight wheeled behemoth with a giant turret in the center. “This one is called the Brawler! As its name suggests, this vehicle is completely combat ready, from the reinforced shell, to its seating capacity! Up to six people, two exposed seats in the back for riflemen. Alara thought to herself, and then asked everyone, “What do you guys think?”Very versatile, guns on every seat! And the advantage this has is that it’ll be able to travel over any terrain you encounter. It can even cling to buildings and climb them.” Alara tried her best to hold in her laughter long enough to say “Nice! That’d be a sight to see. But, what else do you have?” The other members of the squad held in their confusion, has they more or less looked at the advantages of the vehicles instead, in order to keep a professional demeanor in front of their captain. “Here, this one is the biggest vehicle procured, besides a tank.” Zain walks over to a second vehicle, and yanks off the tarp to reveal an eight wheeled behemoth with a giant turret in the center. “This one is called the Brawler! As its name suggests, this vehicle is completely combat ready, from the reinforced shell, to its seating capacity! Up to six people, two exposed seats in the back for riflemen. Alara thought to herself, and then asked everyone, “What do you guys think?” “The bulkiness would definitely help in a fight,” Ray said. “But I think that could slow the vehicle down. Zain, how fast is this?” “With a full cabin, this thing is only a bit slower than the Recon that you guys drove. Did you guys want something faster in mind?” “I think we’re more about getting somewhere quickly than anything else,” Charise said. “Besides, more able groups can put this vehicle to better use than we can.” “Fair enough,” Zain responded. “Then in that case, I think my last option will suit you guys best.” He walks over to the last vehicle tarp, which wasn’t as big as the Brawler’s and begins to pull the tarp off of it. “You may have seen this vehicle before in Panama, but like the Brawler, we have our own division of this vehicle, with our own set of tools it can use. The tarp finally came off the vehicle completely to reveal a unique looking CBL RAAM anti-personnel vehicle. Besides the Nordvik colors it spotted, it had something that everyone stared at in awe: A rail gun turret. Mounted on it also were grenade and rocket launchers, both anti-tank and anti-air varieties, and a universal radar and deployment system. “All the stuff you see here is controlled by the seating inside, it’s a proud work of engineering done by the team from the Nordvik facility. I take it you like this one the most?” The squad looked at each other with unrivaled enthusiasm, and Alara declared “Yes. This vehicle is the one we’ll go for. It’s got the wheels, the arsenal, and the protection!” she paused for a second, then added, “Although I’m sure my squad will agree that we’ll need to make some adjustments to our liking.” “If this is the vehicle you’re going with, who are we to stop you. However, Angel and Boris are here, they told me they helped you with upgrading the Recon before, they’re sure you’d want to do some things with this vehicle as well.” “Here and happy to help.” Boris belched to the squad. “We got our tools ready!” “Yes sir. We’re here to help everyone’s survival, including yours.” Angel added. Irish, with his tablet, noted that one of the Nordvik RAMs has been assigned to Catalyst squad, and turned to everyone. “Okay it’s noted, this vehicle is yours now, Catalyst. Now besides Zain here, we will remain on the ship carrying her to Singapore. You can use that time to make the modifications necessary before our next deployment, whenever that’ll be. Congratulations Catalyst on earning this vehicle. Zain, you’re with me.” Irish and Zain walk back to the bridge of the ship, out of the hangar. At the same time, Boris and Angel walk towards the squad, and get their tools unpacked. Boris, with a smile, then said, “Let’s begin, please!” ### Chapter 9 Catalyst Company, Boris, and Angel got to work on the RAM. Angel, the always prepared man that he has been known for, took out a stereo, and plugged in his greatest hits music from the early 2010s to present day playlist, as they whipped out the tools. Alara, Ray, Charise, and Marcus, all brought sheets of reinforced armor sheets for the doors and engine, while Takashi worked on getting the Engine out from the engine bay to upgrade it. While he did that, he left a packet in the passenger footwell connected to the dash, and intended to install an OS hybrid of the vehicle systems with that of his and his squad’s PAC systems to relay status of the vehicle with one another. “Alright, we got the engine, the armor plating, and the reinforced tires! But, there’s one more thing” Alara noted. “We need a fifth seat to seat everyone in the RAM.” “Do not worry, young one,” Boris grunted. “We have extra from other RAMs from Nordvik.” Without asking for her permission, Boris went and got another seat from around the corner of the hangar, and, hanging it off his shoulder, walked back to the group. Letting it down slowly, Boris looked back at Ray and Marcus, and merely said, “ДA⁵! Here you go!” “Boris, you thought ahead, nicely done!” Angel chuckled to himself. “Let’s get cracking then, everyone!” Angel then pulled out a pile of rivets and a stamper, while Ray and Marcus lifted the armor plating into place. Takashi and Boris took out the rear seat bench, and eventually figured out a way to rearrange the inside of the RAM’s cabin. “I have idea, Tak.” Boris mumbled. “We put new seat in middle, and move the brace in between the other two seats back to create room.” Saying this, Boris took a diamond tipped sawblade, and went inside the back seat of the cabin. Before too long, he made a near perfect cut in the roll cage, and modified it with welding a reinforced titanium steel alloy segment more towards the back. “Tak, take power sander and smooth out edges on welding! I’ll get the new seat and create rail frame to anchor new seat into RAM!” Takashi understood, and the rest of his and Boris’ work was underway. Ray and Marcus were finished with putting the armored plating onto the panels of the doors with Angel around the same time, and they were able to move one to the next big part of the modification: the engine. Unlike the Recon they previously drove, the RAM’s engine bay was located in the rear of the vehicle. Not only did this make accessing the engine more accessible, but also easier to take out and put a newer engine into the cavity. With the added weight of the armored plating, and the seating accommodations, the need for a mightier engine was justified. “I checked the Nordvik manual for this variant of the vehicle,” Charise pointed out. “It already uses a turbocharged diesel engine.” “Hmm…perhaps we could give her stiffer suspension,” Angel suggested. “The tires seem thick enough to stop a bullet as it is anyway, so it’s just the engine.” “Maybe add more induction,” Ray suggested. “Modify the air filters and ECU also.” Giving an understood nod towards Ray, Boris looked to Angel and Takashi, and said, “Not hurt to try. We have spare parts in the garage.” Angel, although he was a bit skeptical that the RAM to be modified much further on the engine, said, “The shocks and suspension, I’ll lift the vehicle and modify those. You can take the engine, everyone else.” Charise and Alara helped Ray and Boris find the potential parts to upgrade the engine with, and picked out a few options along the way, including a few pump housing turbos, a different induction kit, and eventually called for someone with an electrician background for the ECU remapping. Rao was soon part of the mix, as the know background involving him and interacting with computers was the best possible course of action. While he was underway streamlining the process of the vehicles systems and the ECU remap, Alara, Angel, Charise, and Boris swapped out performance parts in the engine, while Ray and Marcus assisted Rao with testing the weapons systems and HUD on the windshield, as well as testing safety and comfort systems, including the AC, control of the bulletproof windows, and headlights. Hours later, Rao finished his work on the ECU and electric systems in the vehicle, and Charise and Marcus finished testing the programming. Everyone else finished swapping the components on the engine, and remounted the engine into the engine bay. “I believe my work here is done for now,” Rao commented. “But I’ll stick around for any adjustments.” “Thanks, Rao.” Alara replied. “Looks like the engine is secure, should I turn the vehicle on now?” “It was given to you; I don’t see why not!” Angel said, with a smile. “ДA, give it a shot!” Boris exclaimed. “Alright, one second!” Alara rushed over the driver seat. She noted how much slower the doors were able to open, given the armor plating. However, she knew this would happen, and shrugged it off as something to get used to. After she adjusted the seat to her liking and took note of where all the controls were, she found the ignition button, and gave it a push. The electronics chime started, and there was a sudden explosion. The diesel fuel channeled through the newly enhanced M16 engine’s pistons, following the diesel cycle the engine was designed for. Smoke and unspent gas came through the modified exhausts at first, but only seconds after, the emissions cleared up, and the vehicle’s engine system was up, running smoothly. Inside the cabin all the electronics, HUD, and weapons systems came online, accurately reading the status of the vehicle, as well as ammo count and weapons temperature of the mounted guns and launchers. Alara grew a smile from ear to ear as she saw and heard her squad’s new transport vehicle come to life. She turned the RAM off, and exited the vehicle, turning to the group that could make it all happen, and showed her facial expression. One by one, everyone joined in on her joy, as the hard work that they had done throughout the night had paid off to near perfection. “凄い(Sugoi)⁶! This is fucking awesome!” Takashi exclaimed. “Only thing now is to fix up the outside look, and test the weapons and drivability!” “Absolutely,” Angel said. “Irish said we won’t embark to Gdansk until after lunch tomorrow, so we have time to test everything right on the dock yard.” “Harika!⁷” Alara exclaimed. “For now, let’s finish up with the outside look…but what should we do?” “I don’t we need to do too much to it, but just switch out the logo with another one.” Marcus suggested. “What did you have in mind, Charise?” “Why not our logo?” Charise brandished a stencil that had a very distinct shape to it, one that the squad could easily call their own. ![[catalyst-logo.png]] The squad, looking over the logo, both liked the simplicity of the logo, as well as its uniqueness, but also found it a bit strange in its uniqueness. “Well, it’s definitely different from the Nordvik logo.” Rao commented. “I like it!” Everyone stared at the logo, trying to take it all in, and after they gave it some thought, nodded in agreement. “If this represents our squad, I like it too!” Alara said enthusiastically. “I think it’ll look great against the white digital camo pattern.” “Yea. I think so too.” Ray stepped up to say. “Let’s add it onto the vehicle, and call it a night.” “Agreed, I need to see how my kids are doing soon, anyway.” Alara said back to Ray. “Yea, I think we will finally have this chance to be with our families for a good while again.” Charise said. Marcus found a can of midnight purple spray paint and Charise's stencil, and sprayed it on the rear quarter panels of the vehicle. Once that was done, everyone took a step back to see the handiwork that they were all able to accomplish. They all shook each other’s hands, helped pack up their belongings, and then went on their way back to their quarters. Tomorrow would be the day to prove the worth of their efforts with the vehicle ⁵ ДA – Russian for “Yes” ⁶ 凄い(Sugoi) – Awesome in Japanese ⁷ Harika – Turkish for awesome ### Chapter 10 The next day, the sky wasn’t exactly the brightest of days to be testing a newly brandished vehicle. Clouds in the sky, as well as the occasional flash of lightning, raised concerns about an incoming storm over the Swedish ship port. However, that didn’t stop everyone involved into making this car a reality. The car was lowered onto the shipyard tarmac, thanks to Angel’s prowess at operating cranes. Alara, eager to check how it handled, hopped into the driver’s seat. Ray loaded up the vehicle’s prior performance statistics onto this PAC. “Hmm, let’s see…engine used to be 320bhp coming from the engine, now it’s 700bhp, so it should accelerate faster and reach a higher top speed, thanks to the tweaks on the ECU done by Rao. But the added weight from the seats and armor might balance that out. Eh, let’s see what it does.” “You guys, ready?” Alara said excitedly. “Fuck yea, show us what it can do!” Marcus exclaimed. “You got it!” Alara then check all the systems. Electronics were good, suspension and weight distribution were ideal, and the diesel tank was topped off. Alara then lead footed onto the gas, and heard the monster come to life. The front of the RAM picked up, almost as if it wanted to do a wheelie, yet kept its bulletproof tires and armored exterior kept the vehicle squarely planted to the ground. As it gained speed, shift through its 10-speed automatic transmission, the RAM evened out its displacement, going to Zero to 60 in 6 seconds. In a heavy military vehicle, that is incredibly fast. As she reached the end of the tarmac, she jerked the steering wheel to the right, and the RAM’s 4-wheel steering kicked in, making a tight turn swiftly and easily. The RAM leaned extremely over to the left, but not to the point where it would itself to roll over too easily, that much was a relief. After the turn, Alara sped back towards the ship down the tarmac, with the team standing right in the way of the incoming mini tank. As the group of people got bigger and bigger in the windshield, Alara slammed on the brakes, and the wheels stopped, but the vehicle didn’t. The tires started to generate smoke as the car slid forward; the brakes sent sparks as the friction heated them up past their normal strength. The RAM leaned forward as per its weight distribution that it seemed to have. However, the vehicle was still able to top a respectful distance away from the crowd, and safely rested inside its cloud of billowed smoke. Alara, who at this point, released her foot from the brakes, and engaged the emergency brake to place the RAM in Parking. Alara then opened the door, and jumped from the driver’s seat, cheering on the way the vehicle had just handled. The crowd hat consisted of her squad and the specialists that helped with the modifying walked over, some clapping, and other running over to cheer on the success of the test run. “That shit was tight!” Marcuss shouted. “This car’s going to be so awesome in the next deployment!” “Opo, that was galing!” Ray and Charise agreed. Alara nodded to them in agreement, then looked to Angel, Rao, and Boris for approval. Angel gave a half-smile, with a slight nod to show he liked what they had done to the RAM. Boris, with his discernable disposition, gave a snarl and an enthusiastic loud laugh, ultimately ending in a big handed clap. Rao had a mixed emotions of amazement as well as excitedness that could only could from seeing a car move fast. However, it was Angel who began asking the more serious questions. “Well done, Alara! That was some serious driving. I can see why you’d be the pilot of the vehicle your squad uses. However, it doesn’t seem perfect. The RAM leaned too much in all directions when you turned. And this was on even road! Last thing you need is to topple over on rough terrain.” Hmmm, yea that’s true…You’re suggesting to tighten the suspension on the axles, I’m guessing.” “Mhmm, just a quick tightening, and it should be a LOT better.” “ДA, time to test weapons systems! Everyone, follow!” Boris grunted. With that everyone followed him to the vehicle. With the doors opened, everyone filed into the cabin, and checked the designated spots. The different seats had different roles, one for the driver, one to man the main railgun turret, another for auxiliary MGs, one for a grenade launcher, and one to deploy the radar and sonar targeting systems. Everyone, particularly Takashi, was blown away by the technology now at their disposal. They took time calibrating the vehicle’s systems to their liking, and even switched it up to adjust and find a balance, in the chance that some of them wouldn’t wind up in the seats they would otherwise be accustomed to. After a couple more hours, before they all knew it, an hour was left until the two ships were to embark. Angel promptly led Catalyst squad back into the ship, and said to them, “You guys are now more ready than ever to kick some ass on the battlefield. Treat this RAM well, and it’ll protect you at all costs. After tweaking the shocks, you should be good to go, but if you think of anything else to add for safety, contact me and Boris. We’ll be more than happy to help.” “Me too, you think any software can be added or tweaked, I’m your guy.” Rao added. “Okay, I’m going to lift the RAM back into the ship, and we’re likely headed out soon after, so get comfortable.” “Thanks again for all your help, Angel, Boris, and Rao, we won’t let this go to waste.” Alara declared. With that, they shook everyone’s hand, and Catalyst went their separate ways onto the ship, as with Boris and Rao, while Angel went to the dockside crane to lift the vehicle back in to the hangar of the ship. ### Chapter 11 Sometime after noon, The Impávido and the Exodus were fully resupplied for their voyage ahead. All of the personnel in the respective ships were accounted for, and the ships were then tugged out to the mouth of the Black Sea. The first order of business before either ship set out for Singapore was to reach the port city of Gdansk in Poland, in order to drop off the ground team of the Exodus, and rendezvous with the ships. The logic behind this, according to the captains in charge, was so that the land team wouldn’t have to travel through the north land of Scandinavia, especially after they had just avoided a conflict between the military of the forces of the US and Russia. Another reason was to ensure that on their travels, they wouldn’t cross into Russian territory, should they have chosen to travel through northern Sweden, and walk right into the hands of the last superpower left in the world. The port of Gdansk was a mere 2-day voyage from the port of Gothenburg, and the two destroyers wasted no time with setting sail. As they left the city port, Irish came over the pager for the ship. “Attention all personnel: We are on course to the Gdansk ship port in Poland. It’ll be a two-day voyage to cross the Black Sea. No-Pat operators, you have your roles, but don’t forget to squeeze in a bit of R&R to tend to loved ones and your own down time. That will be all.” Seems like with this announcement Catalyst squad was already getting to the R&R part of their appointed roles by getting lunch with everyone. Ray and Charise got together with their family, while also looking after their kids. Marcus, Alara, and Takashi did more of the same with their families as well, even with the whole squad’s families getting together, and learning even further about how their families felt about being in the situation. As it turns out, all the squad members and their families were all part of the same invite system to the Exodus, as well as other military ships serving as a means to escape governments going through hardship. Alara’s parents explained that Turkey’s martial law didn’t take long before it eventually fell to mass hysteria, pockets of rioting throughout Istanbul, and limiting the entry and exit from the country. “In the end, we all felt both relief that we’re not there any longer to fend for ourselves, but now we worry that things won’t get better.” Alara finished, calmly hugging her four-year-old son. “He’s gotten big, Alara.” Charise noted the reality of how much time had actually passed since enlisting. “It really has been a while since we brought our family aboard, taking our kids on here.” She looked at Ray lovingly, then around her to acknowledge their family as he rocked her kids’ carriages. “How is Italy and Japan doing, anyway? Philippines is slowly recovering it seems. The US supplemented our country with food and recovery efforts. Nd the Martial Law was carried out by the US Army for a while, by the time we came onto the Exodus, things were seemingly calmed down. Still, we couldn’t stay.” Some of their family agreed, albeit not all in complete confidence in her statement. Her sister and brother-in-law looked the other away, not want to start an argument, but wanted to hear what Takashi and Marcus had to say. “Japan…Japan is the same as it’s always been, honestly. Very isolationist, very restricted. We left because of mounting tensions with the government relations amongst Korea and China. Surely, you heard something of it. China had an economic turnaround in the early 2020s, after what Chang tried to do. It didn’t last long however, so they did what any other war economy would’ve done, attempt to strike down another country for its resources. Japan and South Korea made a temporary alliance to fortify against Chinese and Russian forces, but in the end, it wasn’t meant to be. China lost its title as a major superpower and with Korea’s and our victory, as a result, we gained a boost in our economies, and a pleasant business venture erupted between the two.” “So why did you become a No-Pat?” Alara asked. Takashi looked at his family, who were talking amongst themselves besides his wife, who took his hand, and he said, “To put it simply, we didn’t want to see if it’ll happen again. We got to see the world by doing this too, on top of helping the world.” “That’s admirable, Taki.” Ray said. “Marcus, how about you, bro?” “Aha, bro! I like that, thanks, Ray. But yes, my family’s reason to leave Italy.” Marcus started. “A lot of economic down-turn happened in the years after the destabilization of the European Union. And you know, Italia is known for a lot of tourism. I already told you my background when we first met, so I won’t say it again. But in its achievements, came misfortunate events. The increasingly inclement weather around the world became the result of that economic downturn. Cyclones got bigger, water got too warm for the food be collect, and it all culminated in the Steadfast Refuge program the US made. When the blackout occurred, we thought we lost power for good, and we all thought to relocate at the net possible chance, since there were no signs of improvement. The No-Pats arrived as an effort to help with recovery efforts to our government, and they promoted their division as part of their care package distribution. That was when I applied our family. A few months later, The Exodus, among other ships arrived, and we got assigned here. The rest, as they say, is history.” There was a collective nodding and understanding from the entire group. While other relatives and children eat their food and conversed amongst themselves, the group closest to the conversation concerning the operatives’ history finally understood why they all chose to join the cause, and that was to hopefully find meaning in their pursuit of success. “Well, then.” Ray spoke up. “It seems like this long journey we started will be for a little bit longer. We got a couple days to maintain our weapons, train, then just relax with our families and friends before we reach Poland. They’ll likely tell us how long of a voyage it’ll be to Singapore afterwards.” “Word, I’m beat from all the missions and modifying our gear, and thanks guys for making our new vehicle look worth using.” Alara said. “Let’s all raise a glass, that we’ll stick together for a good while, at least until the mission is done.” As the gesture presented itself, the squadmates, as well as their family members all raised their glasses, hoping the journey won’t get any harder, and that they’ll see the end of their mission before too long. ### Chapter 12 The Impávido was anchored in the waters of the Black Sea, while the Exodus was docked at the port of Gdansk. Irish was grouped with the ground forces from the destroyer on the floor of the shipyard for a debrief, while their vehicles were being lowered from the ship. The captain spoke up. “Alright everyone, you know why you’re about to do this. We’re being hunted by an enemy we can’t necessarily fight back. If they were to either capture or destroy the ships, at least there will still be a group of us that’ll still be able to carry out the mission. This objective is both simple, yet complicated.” The captain shared mapping data from his tablet to the fireteam’s HUD on their visors. “While the Exodus and the Impávido make their way to Singapore by water, you’ll be making your way there by land. Starting from Gdansk, Blasco and I determined the best course would be to first travel southeast towards the Turkish Peninsula. That way, you’ll only have two countries to traverse from the eastern part of Turkey, through Iran and Pakistan, into the western part of India. Once there, you have head northeast through the eastern end of the head of the country, up and around the southern Yunnan province of China, and make your way down through Thailand into Malaysia. Use whatever road systems you can, and pass through every border checkpoint you come across. You don’t need to make enemies out of other countries while on your travels. Voyage ETA will be close to a month and a half on the open sea, so don’t make any effort to rush there either. Keep us up to date on your status, as we will be doing that too. Any questions?” After the long ramble of the mission outline, Crawford spoke up. “Captain, what’ll we be using to travel?” “Good question, Charles. If you choose to go by land, we have two CBL Ram Assault Vehicles prepared for you on the road ahead. Very robust, and very fast. However, if you choose to go by air, we’ve procured a Bell V-640 LRAA⁸ for you to use. A couple of you have piloting experience, so you’ll be able to alternate who flies the aircraft, if you choose to. The refueling can be done from inside the craft too, just need to fill the tank as you’re coasting, and the engines are off. Supplies for food, ammo, and water will be provided either way. It’s your choice on how you want to go by land or air.” “Understood, cheers mate.” Crawford acknowledged. Apart from his question, Irish mentioned one last thing about the road option. “Should also be mentioned that since it’s getting closer to the spring time, the weather shouldn’t create any road hazards. Alright, the vehicles have been lowered onto the shipyard dock, we’ll be keeping ears out for how your progress is, we’ll be keeping in touch as well.” “It’s okay, sir. I believe we already concluded we’ll use the LRAA. It’s like you said, no worry about terrain, and we can spare you the ground vehicle for your use.” “I see. Very well then. Thank you guys, and good luck. We’ll meet you at the port soon.” The group of No-Pats did a salute, then each did a handshake for the captain, reinforcing the idea of good luck for the group. “Take care captain, we’ll be seeing you in Singapore.” Rao said, on behalf of the entire group. Irish gave a small smile to the fireteam, turned, and walked to back up the gantry to the deck of the destroyer. “Cool. So, whose calling co-pilot seat?” Mackay asked. Everyone looked at him and chuckled, as they walked to the aircraft’s doors. Before too long, the destroyers disembarked, and headed out towards the Atlantic Ocean, to meet up with the Impávido to head towards Singapore. ⁸ LRAA – Long Range Assault Aircraft – Based on the Bell V-280 concept, aircraft is capable of about 2400 nautical miles in one flight. ### Chapter 13 Out on the open sea, the Exodus and the Impávido had benefitted from the technology that Blasco had on her ship, mountable radio jamming systems. By masking the signals of both the Impávido and the Exodus, the two ships were able to set sail and carry out their voyage with certain safety. Limited communications were established between the two ships, and the two ships held a constant visual of one another along the way. A month and a half on the open water had given everyone on board, specialist and civilians alike, some serious downtime was able to be attained. Apart from the No-Pats daily routines, roles, and overall duties, they were also given time to tend to their families, maintaining equipment, and getting to further know one another on the ship. The voyage had lasted for a month and a half of standing the tide, ensuring the safety of the ships, and making their way to their destination. After the effective downtime, the Exodus and the Impávido had finally arrived at the port in Brani Island in Singapore. The ships were properly anchored and docked, and personnel and vehicles disembarked from the vessels. The captains of both destroyers were on the dock as transport vehicles, including the RAM that Catalyst had modified, was being lowered to the ground. Irish, looking to Blasco, shook her hand, thanking her for the assist in traveling to Singapore. “Thank you for the help, Captain. We can take it from here.” Irish said with a professional demeanor. “Indeed. This is as far as I’ll go for you guys.” Blasco responded. The smile on Irish’s face indicated he was grateful to have the help from fellow No-Pats with added safety and assistance, as well as get to their destination. However, the look in her eyes clearly said to Irish that she wasn’t intent on changing her mind. “Where will you go now?” Blasco asked. “We’ve got possible leads to help Oz…there was an encrypted message in the package Zain had, and it said to come here. We’re hoping to find the next lead somewhere here.” “Ay Dios mio⁹, I really hope you know what you’re doing, Irish.” Blasco sighed. “We’ll be heading out within the hour…take care of yourself, and be sure to look after your people, no matter what happens next.” “Always do. We’re about to head out, Captain. Perhaps we’ll meetup and work again.” “Perhaps. I’ve got leads of my own. I plan to pursue them. Good luck to you and your team, Irish.” With that last statement. Blasco and Irish exchanges a salute, and she walked back to her ship on the dock. The Catalyst CBL RAM was awaiting its squad after being lowered, and as they approached the main doors, the vehicle turned on its lights to acknowledge the proximity of the fob Alara was carrying. Catalyst all filed into the vehicle, and as it turned on, their PAC systems updated with coordinates to follow and get to. Alara stomped on the gas as she raced to the location. Irish and the ship fireteam followed them, albeit at their own pace. Once Catalyst got to the area that was described, they got out of the RAM, and as soon as they did, their HUDs on their visors started pulsing with light. The caused a couple members of the squad to jump, as though someone had just brought a camera up to their face and triggered the flash right in their eyes. However, after that, the flashing was reduced to an illuminated aura surrounding their visors, with a subtle difference in brightness in different parts of their visors whenever they looked around. Confused, Ray decided to contact the other specialists. “Anyone on Exodus fireteam, do you read?” Ray asked into his PAC. Everyone was listening in on the same channel. “This is Irish, Ray. What’s wrong?” “Our visors lit up when we reached the location. What’s happening?” “Oh yea, that. Firmware update to our PACs, courtesy of Rao. Scavenged it from Nordvik technologies, wrote a code that would hybridize with what we use. Very handy when the objective is clear, but when we’re in the AO.” Ray looked at everyone with a look of understanding and shock, and nodded his head at everyone. The rest followed suit in agreement, and ray finally concluded, “Copy that. What should we look for?” “Something inside one of the containers. When your PAC and visor started getting bright around the edges, you’re close.” Rao added. “Ok, Ray out. Let’s go look around the containers!” Ray said to the rest of his squad. They kept close to each other as the other fireteam approached. In the Brani Island port, over 2,000 shipping containers, some stacked on top of each other four to six levels high, stretched over an area the size of an American football field. With the new location at their disposal, the two squads began searching for the right container. A couple hours passed, and the moon was high in the night sky. The city lights glistened in the distance, as the No-Pats searched for their hidden treasure. Charise and Angel were looking in a series of containers near a cargo ship when Angel’s visor began to pulse rapidly. Angel saw this, and stood still to acknowledge the frequency of the pulsing. Charise noticed Angel standing in his spot, and she radioed everyone to come to their location. In a matter of minutes, the squads in their respective vehicles raced over to where the two soldiers were. The container was located a few levels up, as a result, Marcus, found a mobile platform to bring the captain and the others up to the level of the container. The container had obviously been locked, considering the security in one of the last major serviceable shipyards in the world. Irish didn’t have the time, nor the patience to find a way around the locks, so he pulled out his MCS-880 shotgun, and shot two magnum rounds into the rasps of the locks, and the door slowly swung open, and allowed entry into the container. With shot gun still in hand, Irish funneled the barrel through the crack of the doorway, and pried the door open to breach the rest of the way in. Angel shined his flashlight on his pistol into the container, and proceeded to walk in. It didn’t take long before Angel saw what was inside. He lowered his gun, and radioed the all clear to the rest of the crew. As they stepped inside, Irish walked up to Angel and saw what he discovered: a computer server, with global coordinates to other destinations, and a solid-state drive hooked up to a computer, which showed further information on the global coordinates, where to look, and an audio file labeled “Find the Wizard.” Irish moved the cursor on the screen to the file and clicked on it for playback. A waveform showed on the computer screens media player, and a familiar voice began to speak: “The Dark Market gave Oz a storage container here. It has everything on Project: Silver Spear. You just need to unlock it. Project: Silver Spear was never a weapon. It’s our future. The Shearwater technology. Dr. Voros fixed the coding mistakes and unlocked its full potential: a geoengineering machine, one that could transform the land and build us a new home. This has been our plan. To create a place to unite us, the abandoned and forgotten: the No-Pats. Oz's laptop has everything. In Wolff’s hands, it would destroy us. But in yours, we can turn the tide of our fight.” Irish took a moment, then looked at the sets of coordinates, and put the two together. “I see what’s going on, now.” He said, nodding as it dawned on him. “Everyone, back to the ship. We found what we came here for.” Everyone filed back to the mobile platform, and lowered it back down to ground level. Without wasting too much time, they all got back into their vehicles, and drove back to the Exodus. “Oz and Zain have set up a breadcrumb trail for us to follow, I have a feeling this will lead us to him, and what the plans are. But so far, Zain has been right, and hasn’t misled us with anything. When we get all our equipment on board, we’re heading back to where we were at the beginning of last year: Black Ridge underground facility.” ⁹ Ay Dios mio – Oh my God in Spanish ### Chapter 14 The fireteam accomplished what they set out to do in Singapore. However, their voyage to their next destination, to find technology back at the black ridge region in Canada, was put on hold until the ground team for the Exodus arrived. That wouldn’t come for another few more days until comms on the bridge picked up their messages. Once they found the ship, Irish and the team on board didn’t waste time and ordered them to land their aircraft back onto the ship’s stern. The ship had permission to embark long before the ground team arrived, and so they left the port, and set course to sail across the Pacific to Northern Canada. Catalyst was notified that despite their assistance in helping find the first bit of clues to finding the technology, and Oz’s location as a result, the squad was given permission to remain at the ship whenever it was either moored in a bay or at a dock at the locations they were determined to go to. With no sense in arguing against the captain’s orders, they complied, and were just told to carry out their routines, tend to their families, and otherwise, just rest from all the work and effort they did to meet the efforts of their fellow No-Pats. It wouldn’t be another month until the ship would make its way across the ocean, and when they reached their destination, the Exodus moored itself out in the bay of where the Black Ridge Mountain range was located. The coordinates from the first set of data pulled from Singapore led to another area of the mountains, near a river that cut through the mountains. Luckily, the winter season was just about over, so travelling through the range was devoid of major snow levels. Little opposition was found at the base, given a major conflict happened there months prior that involved the No-Pats. However, they paid little mind to the state of the near abandoned facility, and merely focused on their mission. It took a few hours with the Valor for Irish, Mackay, Falck, Rao, and Paik to look for the facility, and finally find the pieces of evidence that Oz had left behind for them. Once found, they exfilled from the area to return to the ship with what they found. Another couple hours would pass to allow for Rao, Crawford, Zain, and Irish to crack the code to the computers, and plot the next destination. This time the ship set course to the Queen Maud Land region of Antarctica. All of the people and other personnel on board had to yet again get comfortable for another long voyage to another part of the world. At some point during the voyage, the Exodus had reached Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to check their systems and maintain their engines. Shortly after the checks were complete, A call from Blasco, and her ship the Impávido, was found by the bridge of the Exodus. Captain Blasco explained that her mission would continue with Irish’s ship, as her ultimate duty would be to help ensure the future of the No-Pats. Confident in the forces that Blasco would be able to help bring for the mission, Irish happily accepted her help, and after she too had her ship maintained and refitted for the voyage ahead, the two ships set off to the next destination. Weeks go by, the weather and the water that splashed onto the deck got colder and more extreme. Catalyst Squad and other continued their routines and watching over the ones they cared for the most on another time-consuming voyage. Moored on the coastline nearest to the region, The specialists took off to the location found in the data Oz had planted in his bread crumb trail he left behind. A pattern formed, where mission in, mission out, the specialists would find a clue to their destination, look for more clues, return to the ship, set sail to the next destination, and repeat. Voyage weren’t an easy feat either, as it required the other members of the ship to have patience, as at this point, it felt like to some, a cruise, only it was on a ship not exactly equipped like that. Still, no on complained, as they were just thankful that they were still alive, able to help, and see that everyone else they cared for could appreciate the sentiment of what they chose to undergo a couple years ago. Every voyage taken knocked off at least few weeks off the calendar. The intense cold at their latest destination had led some on board the ship to hope that their continental hopping across the planet would soon be over. Luckily, they would get their wish, as the specialists determined that the last set of coordinates, they found with the set of technology that they found within the oil rigs of the Queen Maud Land Facility, would be the last location they’d be sailing to in their extensive voyage would be west of former Cape Town, South Africa. Catalyst had no idea what that meant, they wondered if it was their last destination to travel to for a while, but if it meant they could get away from the harsh cold that Antarctica was known for, they put up with enduring this shorter voyage to the south tip of Africa. Not only that, but if it meant making sure their families could be as content as possible for a bit longer, then that would be for the best. The VTOL was refueled, and rearmed as the Exodus set sail northbound, towards the end of their heinous bread crumb voyage to Oz. ### Chapter 15 The Exodus made it way and docked at Port Nolloth, a couple kilometers southwest of the Richtersveld, the apparently location of Oz’s location according to his coordinates. As Catalyst and the Exodus fireteams deployed on two condors, Casper had to stop Irish to talk to him. “Casper…what’s happening?” Irish asked Casper, with a hint of impatience and concern. “Irish…I trust you, and I trust your judgement. But Oz…after everything he put us through these past couple years…I hope you know what you’re doing. And not only that, but we’re within the borders of my old stomping grounds…a country I fled to join you guys!” “I understand the concern…but no, we won’t turn you in, nor will you be caught. We only have these cards left to play to reach Oz, and if he wanted us dead by now, he should’ve tried again before we even reached Panama. What he has planned, we managed to figure it out thanks to Zain and Crawford’s intel. This journey…will be worth it. We’re this close. We’ll be alright, brother. Let’s get into the Condor.” The two-remaining No-Pats filed into the Condor containing pilot Lukas and the rest of the operatives, carrying a Brawler to their destination. The other Condor contained Catalyst company, and their modified RAM they put together before reaching Singapore. Once one Condor was able to take off, the other was rolled out onto the helipad, and fell in line with the others before too long, and started heading northeast to the coordinates provided. It only took about a half hour before the condors reached the area outside the Richtersveld, and the two condors landed in the African Veldt, and released the RAMs from the cables and hooks that enabled them to be carried by the aircraft. The two groups got into their respective vehicles, and continued east. Another ten minutes later, the two vehicles reached the outer perimeter of the site. However, despite the gate that would allow entry. Exodus exited their Brawler, and looked around. There was something…strange, about the perimeter gate. Although the gate seemed kept and secured, there were no guards anywhere. No patrols, none in the lookout towers, and no vehicles circling the site. After scouting the area with his drone, Casper helped conclude to everyone that the site was, in fact, empty. “Well, shit. We need to get inside, and we really shouldn’t ram the gates, or use our vehicle weapons.” Irish worried. “What the fuck do we do?” “Captain, might I have a suggestion?” Zain asked, as he pulled out his ranged grenade launcher. “This will only destroy the lock, and we can pull the gate open.” “Are you sure that’ll work?” Irish said with a concerned look, especially towards the mean looking weapon he was carrying. “This button programs the range to the grenade for it to explode. I’ll make the range so it’ll before it hits the main frame of the gate. Minimal destruction to the structure. Here, I’ll show you.” Zain raised his grenade rifle to his eyes, and aimed at the gate, over 60 meters away from their position. When he lined up the gate controls in his sites, he pushed a button on the trigger grip of the launcher. That was when the launcher programmed the range into the computer, and he pulled the trigger to shoot the grenade. The grenade flew through the air, and just like Zain had said, exploded at the range just before the gate control panel. The resulting hit opened the gate, and Zain lowered his grenade launcher and nodded to Irish. Irish gave a nod back in response, and everyone filed back into their vehicles to travel the rest of the way to the coordinates on their GPS. As they drove to the rendezvous point, they passed by all sorts of operations that seemed to have taken place at the site. They saw a quarry with intact construction vehicles, mining equipment, and excavation machines scattered in different places. In the outskirts of where they were, there was irrigation facilities, agriculture plots, and powerplants. This whole site seemed to have been either evacuated very recently, or was just recently constructed, and whoever built it left in a hurry. Either case, they would figure out the answers soon enough, as they eventually reached an old office building in the easternmost reaches of the site. The operatives all piled out of the vehicles, and drew their guns. Irish, confident in where they’d meet the man that sent them on this wild goose chase, went into the building first. “Cover me, guys, I’m going in.” With his shotgun drawn, Irish kicked open the door, and swiveled around the doorway. As before, when they were at the gates, as well as making their way to the building, no one was there to greet him with a gun pointed back at him. Irish looked, and saw that the office building the coordinates led to, was more of a weapons armory. His suspicions had heightened, why was there a weapons locker in the middle of a mining quarry? After looking for anyone within the interior of the building, and shooting down hinges on doors to make breaching easier, Irish had almost run out of ammo. At this point, he checked most of the interior, and since he was in an armory, he figured he should take some shotgun shells it had, and reload his gun. That was when, almost as if on cue, a tall figure emerged from the corner of the offices. Oz finally encountered Irish in the armory, just as he was loading his Super 500. "I hoped our first meeting wouldn't be so...hazardous." Graves racked the shotgun and went to leave. "How's Omar?" Irish stopped. "Safe." Oz breathed. "I was thinking, if this all works out, you could bring him here." "Then we better make sure it all works out, huh." Irish offered his hand. "See you on the battlefield, Oz." He grasped his hand. "Name's Loyiso." ### Chapter 16 “You’re still Oz to me until we know what it is you’re planning with this technology.” Irish said. “Everyone, regroup to my location.” He spoke into his PAC, and within a few minutes, everyone else was there by his side. However, when they soon realized the man that was standing across from their captain. Marcus and Crawford draw their weapons and take quicker paces towards the two men. However, Zain saw this, and made an even brisker towards Oz and Irish to get to them before anyone else. “Wait! Hold your fire everyone!” he shouted as he turned back towards the group. “Stand aside, soldier!,” Crawford barked. “This is the man we been looking for. We still can’t trust him entirely.” “I understand, sir. But if he wanted us dead, we wouldn’t have gotten in here, and he would shot Irish by now.” Crawford had to pause for a moment, then moved his eyeballed everyone else to see what they were thinking. No one else had the idea of pulling the trigger first. He released his finger from his trigger guard, then lowered his gun. Looking at Marcus, then Casper, he motioned to listen to Zain, and they all lowered their guns. Charise, Falck, Ray, and Alara followed next, then Angel, Rao, Sundance, and Mackay. And everyone else lowered their guns, and secured the building and room they were all in. Once the standoff had been settled, Zain approached the man who had literally gotten Zain back on his legs. “Loyiso…Oz. It’s been too long.” Oz recognized the voice, and smiled and turned to Zain to greet his old friend. After a genuine, long handshake and hug, they released each other and the tone shifted to the main idea of why Oz baited them to the Richtersveld. “So, here’s the thing. Zain may have already explained to you what I want to try to do with this technology. But without going to all the Shearwater relays in Canada and Antarctica, this would all have been impossible.” With this revelation, it finally dawned on Catalyst company why there were so many stops all over the world. To travel to every recess of the globe, and why every single stop was important, it all made sense. They looked at each other with this knowledge in mind, and continued listening. “The relays have been calibrated with the proper code and signal to be sent to the satellites, which should mean the Silver Spear protocol that’s been uploaded will finally control the strength of the weather control systems. The remote you obtained from the Black Ridge facility, it will help with moving the satellites into position and orientation, to initiate the weather control at the right moment.” “Hold on, mate.” Crawford interrupted. “So, this will fix the satellites and their weather manipulation systems, but what exactly do you intend to do with this much power?” “I’m sorry, Crawford, is it?” The answer is relatively simple.” Oz reassured. “On your various voyages all over the world, and your time in Panama, in the canal, did you accept every single thing that was wrong with the world? The places we once called home are practically unlivable. The Canal in Panama is gone. There’s no more snow in Northern Europe. And the WHOLE of Africa is a useless desert now. Sure, they’ve tried to make an eco-plantation near the Nile…but we’ll get back to that in a bit. The answer to your question is this: I plan to use the Silver Spear protocol to return the natural weather cycle to the Earth. Restore and regain what was lost with the global warming crisis, and our very way of life as a result.” Crawford was both shocked, and confused at the prospect of eliminating global warming. However, he allowed the most wanted man in the world to continue. “You must understand. This has been the objective all along.” Looking at Irish as he says this. “Through the chaos WILL come order. All of the pieces are in place, but we still have a bit more work to do.” “And let’s say you achieve this. What will happen here? You set up shop here, any particular reason?” Irish demanded. Oz, the ever so optimistic control freak, pulled up an image on a 3D monitor in the office, and began a small presentation. “This. I call it a new bastion of hope for the No-Pats. A place in the world where they will be welcomed, and not ex-communicated. When the weather cycle has improved, it really will be a home for those seeking refuge.” “What will this ‘sanctuary’ be called?” “The region closest to the Ricthersveld is another reserve that will regain its former glory. Reclaim resources it once lost, and will be the place of where it will have all began: NAMAQUALAND.” “Very ambitious, Oz.” Zain said. “However, you mentioned something needed to be done. What is it?” “Yes, my friend. The task is very simple.” Oz began. “This plant in the Richtersveld ceased operations some time ago, although the equipment has evidence of not succumbing to the elements just yet. However, I have suspicions that the US and the Russians have intel on my whereabouts. I know you lot aren’t responsible, but Wolff was the one who tried to eliminate you, and he’ll stop at nothing from killing the leader of the No-Pats. This plant must see fortifications from attack, in order to have a future, much like the one I just described to you.” “What kind of defenses are you talking?” Mackay asked. “We have armored vehicles, AA guns, what?” “Yes, that’ll do, sergeant.” Oz responded. “Communications array needs some maintenance, and there are sandbags and Jersey barriers in some warehouses in other parts of the plant. If we can position all of those things into a strategic pattern in parts of the plant, we should be able to keep things going until the operation is fulfilled.” “Right. Well, we’ll get started now, if we’re done talking. Taki, Ray, and Rao, you can handle the comms array. Casper, Paik, setup TUGS sensors and sector barriers for detection of enemy personnel. Mackay, Zain, Marcus, find ordnance crates to distribute around the plant. Boris, Alara, Angel, setup trip mines and aircraft pads for vehicles. Charise and Falck, get medical supplies ready and support crates around the plant. Blasco, feel free to move your resources and personnel to help us out.” “You got it, mi amigo.” Blasco agreed, then turned to her group. “Vamanos!” No one needed a translation for that, they all agreed and moved out to carry out the tasks that were given by their captain. Irish then looked back at Oz and said, “As for you and I, Loyiso, we’re going to discuss details on what’s happened before, and what’ll happen next.” ### Chapter 17 The main fireteams got to work on their respective duties. The communications array was fixed up and re-established. Entrances, buildings, and perimeters were all properly fortified with reinforcement materials and supplies, and defenses were put up, both as a means to fortify the site, as well as make the Richtersveld plant into a central headquarters for future operations. They even created a small hub for other occupants to take shelter, in the event of an airstrike or a natural disaster. A couple weeks passed, and all the preparations to the site were completed, Oz made a rundown of everything that had to be done. As everyone was relaxing and taking in the veldt’s calm breeze, Oz Jumped onto the top of one of the construction vehicles present at the site in front of everyone, and began to speak. “Very good, No-Pats.” Everyone looked up as he recited his speech. “This place was once just a remote site. Now, it’s not only a fortified site, but it’ll become the basis for future operations, and the home for all No-Pats. We must make sure that any assault on the mining facility will be protected. I’m sure that both Russia and the US will come here to take me their prisoner. That is why I ask of you only for a few more favors.” Irish approached Oz. “What is it this time?” Oz turned to him, with a look of genuine compassion and concern. “I wish to accompany you on your ship. The Shearwater technology has nearly reached perfection. I wish to demonstrate what this power is capable of.” “When should be head out?” “We should head out the sooner, the better, as I said, before any US or Russian presence arrives.” “Fine. No-Pats! Return to the Exodus and Impávido! We have one more operation to complete.” Without question, Exodus’ and Impávido’s crew started to head over to their vehicles. Casper was clearly relieved, and followed suit. The vehicles started up, and made the long drive back to their ships, anchored off the west coast of South Africa. Within a couple hours, the Valor VTOLs reached their destination in Egypt, the Renewal agricultural research facility located in the eastern desert south of Cairo. The two VTOLs landed in the parking lot outside of the laboratory, and everyone began to file out. Oz, with his No-Pat drab, and control panel on his back equipped, stepped out and briefly shouted “Let’s go, follow me!” to everyone as the engines were powering down. Irish and Blasco confirmed the order to follow, and everyone soon walked in the same direction as the fearless No-Pat leader into the Lab facility. They eventually made their way to the roof, and Oz took his control panel of his back, and began to turn it on. After the startup and some programming, Oz hit a button, and all of a sudden, there was a brilliant flash of light that ran through the sky. At first everyone thought that a bomb has just hit the facility, and everyone raised their arms in reaction. “It’s okay, everyone! Watch.” Oz encouraged. Some lowered their arms, while others didn’t until they were sure that the light was gone. What happened next was something straight out of a science fiction movie: Out of nowhere, the sky started to get really dim as thunderclouds quickly formed, and lightning was generated, with thunder booming immediately after. Everyone in Exodus and Impávido companies were standing in awe at what they had just witnessed. The weather changed before their very eyes, water fell from the sky in a completely arid location. Blasco, who once though very little of Oz’s efforts, was in astonished shock, and began to say amongst the crowd of No-Pats, “Son of a bitch…It WORKED! IT ACTUALLY WORKED! This…this could change everything! Yes, Oz. I see now. You’ll very well be able to use it to make a home for us No=Pats with this technology, for sure. But we can do so much more with this. We’ll finally be able to tame the superstorms, the weather. We have the power to fix the environment…fix the world.” “Yes, now you see, my fellow No-Pats. With this technology, we will be able to restore what we’ve lost for so many years. We, as a species, will be in control of our destinies on this Earth once again. Nobody will ever question the nature of our interests again! For we, will have reversed the effects of our global climate catastrophe. It begins here. With this, and with all of you.” Ray, Charise, Marcus, Alara, and Takashi felt a sense of ambiguity with this statement. With everything that they’ve done to reach this point, and survived long enough to witness this is unforgettable turning point in their mission, it was unreal. They felt, for the first time, renewed hope for the world. Although it may only be a small start, the big picture was that economies would potentially be restored as a result, crops will be able to grow again, tourism and residential areas reclaimed, and the natural climate cycle of hot and cold can finally be cycled back to the world. The feeling was overwhelming of the potential to finally pull off what would’ve been considered impossible before this moment. The No-Pats felt this in the future to come. “So…one question remains.” Boris shouted. “What next, Oz?”