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Entry tags:
The Company
On June 3 and 10, we had Bonnie ("Xiang Wen," a.k.a. "Wu Xie Zhi" and "Dot"), Marc ("Anabel Windsor," a.k.a. "Abigail Wilson" and "Vicky"), and Torsten ("Qoqa Ramazanova," a.k.a. "Zoya Petrovna Sidorova").
Time: Thursday, April 24, 2014 (evening).
Place: Islands southeast of Athens.
Last Event: The raid continues, part 2!
After clearing the ground floor of the mansion-turned-fortress, the Agents deploy a third jammer at the far end of the wing opposite the one where they entered, thereby blanketing the entire building in static. Then they reload and hasten toward the stairs to the bunker under the building. It seems that the place's new owners substantially reused Grandfather's security systems, making cameras easy to avoid. Before long the group is just around the corner from the back hallway that leads to the basement staircase. Wen grabs a rifle off the nearest dead enemy – a weapon far handier than her cannon – and peeks out for just long enough to shoot the camera to bits. Then the team rushes forward.
The Agents secure the corridor and then cover Jili as she tampers with the keypad lock on the armored stairway entrance. The instant that's disabled, Wen cracks the door, pokes the muzzle of her borrowed rifle through, and shoots out another security camera. Before she opens the door further, she spots a tripwire. She follows this back to an attached explosive device, and then snakes a skinny arm through and disarms the trap. With that done, the group presses on, Anabel jamming the door behind them with her crowbar.
Lev moves into the lead and carefully peers around the railing of the first flight of stairs, down toward the second. He can just make out yet another camera in a dome on the ceiling, which he shoots out with his submachine gun. Then everybody charges downstairs, where they encounter a second heavy door. This, too, is secured with an electronic lock. Jili swiftly bypasses it, commenting that it's among the best she has seen, yet making short work of it all the same.
Once again, Wen gets the dangerous job of taking a look. Cracking the door a tiny bit, she notes that there's no tripwire on this one. Then she uses a small mirror borrowed from Qoqa's medical kit to see what's up the hall beyond. It seems that the enemy is expecting the Agents. To be precise, six well-armed men are dug in behind a barrier made from upturned file cabinets and other heavy furniture.
Realizing that a straight-up gunfight would be terribly risky, Wen asks Paul for some of the group's C4 and detonators. She quickly rigs a rather large bomb – and to generate fragments, she fastens spent magazines and other rubbish to it with surgical tape. Then she hands the detonator to Jili, who fiddles with it to ensure that it will work despite the team's jammers. Wen explains that her plan is to dive low, chuck the bomb, and yell to Jili to trigger it. Klas pulls out a handful of small smoke grenades and prepares to toss them to provide concealment.
The entire plan comes off without a hitch: Klas pops smoke, which draws immediate gunfire. Then Wen rolls out, staying low, and hurls her bomb toward the men she saw in the mirror. Bullets whizz all around her but she miraculously avoids injury. As soon as she yells "Now!", Jili hits the button. There's a loud explosion and then . . . silence.
As the smoke clears, the Agents occupy the corridor, where they learn exactly how gorily effective Wen's bomb was: all six enemies are lying motionless with large pieces of shrapnel embedded in them, several of them missing important body parts. Klas deploys the last of the jammers, just in case, and then the team approaches the door to what was, in Grandfather's days, the main security center. It looks like it still is, too; the door is the heaviest the group has encountered yet, with both mechanical and electronic locks. It looks like it might need to be blown.
Wen beckons for Paul's assistance with more demolitions work. The other five shoot out the cameras in the corridor for good measure, and then stand guard while Wen goes to work. This time, Wen deploys several cans of foam explosive, filling all the seams in the door and its frame. As always, she works quickly. Before long, she's paying out wire and backing away from her handiwork, gesturing for her associates to clear the area.
Once the team is a safe distance from the rigged entrance, Wen detonates the charges. The door is propelled into the room beyond. The Agents rush in, Lev in the lead, and find that the four men there are already casualties – though one is twitching enough that Lev shoots him just to be sure. Then Klas and Qoqa take up position near the jagged hole that was once a doorway, Wen goes prone with her cannon pointed at the smoking breach, and the other four push on. Anabel and Jili turn left, to examine the entrance of what was an armory the last time around, while Lev and Paul go right, toward what was formerly a small cell block.
Lev and Paul discover that the cells are still being used as such. They find eight prisoners in residence. All have shackles on and bags over their heads. The captives' utterances and clothing hint at Middle Eastern origins. Their wounds suggest torture. Paul and Lev opt to withdraw and fetch Anabel and Qoqa, who are better-equipped to handle such a situation.
Meanwhile, Jili and Anabel work on the former armory door. Jili defeats the fancy digital lock, and then Anabel spots and disables a failsafe designed to drop a cage-style barrier across the opening. Once that's done and the lights are on, it's apparent that this room, too, still serves its old function. The place is piled high with small arms, not-so-small arms, and ammunition.
Anabel, Jili, Paul, and Lev report back, and the Agents switch places to send better-qualified people in each direction. Qoqa and Anabel go to check on the prisoners, while Lev takes a look at the armory. Jili tries to get the security consoles back online, but Wen's breaching charges seem to have damaged them beyond repair. Paul takes Qoqa's place guarding the entrance with Klas and Wen.
Qoqa and Anabel interview the prisoners without opening the cells. They learn that all eight men were grabbed in Syria, during raids by unknown attackers. Anabel manages to explain to the men that the team is here to help, but cannot let them out – there are too many armed hostiles around. She counsels them to stay calm and testify to the authorities, who are doubtless already on the way thanks to the explosions and fire on the island. As Anabel speaks, Qoqa does a visual examination of each captive and concludes that nobody has been injured severely enough to need immediate medical attention.
At the same time, Lev takes stock of what's in the armory. He identifies small arms of every make, not to mention crates of ammunition and explosives – including more than enough to replace everything the Agents expended on the way in. He also sees plenty of support weapons: rocket launchers, surface-to-air missiles, and so on. Most worrisome is a stockpile of what are unquestionably chemical weapons. Though he isn't sure of the details (and isn't inclined to find out), he suspects that they're nerve agents, and in a quantity sufficient to wipe out a town or a small city. He marks these clearly in several languages, for the benefit of whatever authorities end up with this hot potato.
With those tasks done, the Agents replenish their explosives and ammo, and then move out. The next stop is the former data center, but it turns out that this has changed: Now it's just an empty room. Jili examines it quickly and notes that some cables still pass through here, leading upstairs, which suggests that the new occupants have set up their equipment on the upper levels. After kicking in a few more doors for good measure, it's clear that the group has found everything of note down here.
The Agents return to the stairway they barricaded and climb back up to the ground floor. Upon reaching the door at the top, they hear the sound of someone trying to batter it down. Realizing that this means there's likely more enemies heading around the back way via the other staircase, Jili jams the lower entrance, sealing and scrambling the electronic lock. Then Lev and Klas move up and get ready to surprise the men pounding on the door.
Klas yanks out Anabel's crowbar, causing the door to fly open and spill a couple of surprised-looking goons into the foyer. Lev is ready for them, and sprays bullets around at head level, to lethal effect. Unfortunately for Lev, the one opponent he can't see is also expecting trouble; the man returns fire, dinging Lev in the helmet. Lev collapses immediately. Klas wastes no time jumping to his buddy's aid, putting three rounds through the gunman's face, but the damage is done.
Qoqa rushes to Lev's aid while the other five fan out into the corridor and confirm that it's clear. Cursing loudly, Qoqa whips off her lover's helmet and examines his injuries. It seems that fortune didn't abandon Lev completely, as the helmet stopped the bullet. Lev "only" has a concussion – not a hole in his head – though that's no laughing matter. Qoqa manages to rouse Lev with inhalants and stimulants, but he's groggy and staggering. He won't be taking point any more on this raid.
As soon as Lev is standing with his helmet back on, the Agents get rolling again. Klas and Wen take the lead, Anabel and Jili help Lev along, and Paul and Qoqa bring up the rear. There's a brief burst of gunfire back there as the group pushes on, and nobody has to turn around to know that Qoqa made sure that Lev's assailant won't be found among the living when the authorities arrive. Paul actually sees Qoqa shoot the man in the face and spit on his corpse.
With grim determination, the team moves back to the central hall and up the main stairs to the second floor. Wen suddenly signals a stop, and gestures that she heard the sound of someone moving just out of sight at the top of the staircase. She and Klas cook off and toss a pair of grenades . . . and hidden enemies do the same thing! There are explosions everywhere. Fortunately for the Agents, the open staircase offers many places to dive for cover and doesn't reflect the blast especially well.
When the smoke clears, the Agents are mostly fine. Mostly. But Paul has a chunk of metal in his leg and can't stand without leaning on the wall, while Jili and Lev are dizzy from the blast. Nobody can hear a thing, but Wen steals a glance upstairs and sees that the team's enemies got the worse end of the exploding gift exchange. Still, staggering Lev, one-legged Paul, and one-handed Qoqa mean that the rest of the mission won't be easy.
To be continued . . .
Time: Thursday, April 24, 2014 (evening).
Place: Islands southeast of Athens.
Last Event: The raid continues, part 2!
After clearing the ground floor of the mansion-turned-fortress, the Agents deploy a third jammer at the far end of the wing opposite the one where they entered, thereby blanketing the entire building in static. Then they reload and hasten toward the stairs to the bunker under the building. It seems that the place's new owners substantially reused Grandfather's security systems, making cameras easy to avoid. Before long the group is just around the corner from the back hallway that leads to the basement staircase. Wen grabs a rifle off the nearest dead enemy – a weapon far handier than her cannon – and peeks out for just long enough to shoot the camera to bits. Then the team rushes forward.
The Agents secure the corridor and then cover Jili as she tampers with the keypad lock on the armored stairway entrance. The instant that's disabled, Wen cracks the door, pokes the muzzle of her borrowed rifle through, and shoots out another security camera. Before she opens the door further, she spots a tripwire. She follows this back to an attached explosive device, and then snakes a skinny arm through and disarms the trap. With that done, the group presses on, Anabel jamming the door behind them with her crowbar.
Lev moves into the lead and carefully peers around the railing of the first flight of stairs, down toward the second. He can just make out yet another camera in a dome on the ceiling, which he shoots out with his submachine gun. Then everybody charges downstairs, where they encounter a second heavy door. This, too, is secured with an electronic lock. Jili swiftly bypasses it, commenting that it's among the best she has seen, yet making short work of it all the same.
Once again, Wen gets the dangerous job of taking a look. Cracking the door a tiny bit, she notes that there's no tripwire on this one. Then she uses a small mirror borrowed from Qoqa's medical kit to see what's up the hall beyond. It seems that the enemy is expecting the Agents. To be precise, six well-armed men are dug in behind a barrier made from upturned file cabinets and other heavy furniture.
Realizing that a straight-up gunfight would be terribly risky, Wen asks Paul for some of the group's C4 and detonators. She quickly rigs a rather large bomb – and to generate fragments, she fastens spent magazines and other rubbish to it with surgical tape. Then she hands the detonator to Jili, who fiddles with it to ensure that it will work despite the team's jammers. Wen explains that her plan is to dive low, chuck the bomb, and yell to Jili to trigger it. Klas pulls out a handful of small smoke grenades and prepares to toss them to provide concealment.
The entire plan comes off without a hitch: Klas pops smoke, which draws immediate gunfire. Then Wen rolls out, staying low, and hurls her bomb toward the men she saw in the mirror. Bullets whizz all around her but she miraculously avoids injury. As soon as she yells "Now!", Jili hits the button. There's a loud explosion and then . . . silence.
As the smoke clears, the Agents occupy the corridor, where they learn exactly how gorily effective Wen's bomb was: all six enemies are lying motionless with large pieces of shrapnel embedded in them, several of them missing important body parts. Klas deploys the last of the jammers, just in case, and then the team approaches the door to what was, in Grandfather's days, the main security center. It looks like it still is, too; the door is the heaviest the group has encountered yet, with both mechanical and electronic locks. It looks like it might need to be blown.
Wen beckons for Paul's assistance with more demolitions work. The other five shoot out the cameras in the corridor for good measure, and then stand guard while Wen goes to work. This time, Wen deploys several cans of foam explosive, filling all the seams in the door and its frame. As always, she works quickly. Before long, she's paying out wire and backing away from her handiwork, gesturing for her associates to clear the area.
Once the team is a safe distance from the rigged entrance, Wen detonates the charges. The door is propelled into the room beyond. The Agents rush in, Lev in the lead, and find that the four men there are already casualties – though one is twitching enough that Lev shoots him just to be sure. Then Klas and Qoqa take up position near the jagged hole that was once a doorway, Wen goes prone with her cannon pointed at the smoking breach, and the other four push on. Anabel and Jili turn left, to examine the entrance of what was an armory the last time around, while Lev and Paul go right, toward what was formerly a small cell block.
Lev and Paul discover that the cells are still being used as such. They find eight prisoners in residence. All have shackles on and bags over their heads. The captives' utterances and clothing hint at Middle Eastern origins. Their wounds suggest torture. Paul and Lev opt to withdraw and fetch Anabel and Qoqa, who are better-equipped to handle such a situation.
Meanwhile, Jili and Anabel work on the former armory door. Jili defeats the fancy digital lock, and then Anabel spots and disables a failsafe designed to drop a cage-style barrier across the opening. Once that's done and the lights are on, it's apparent that this room, too, still serves its old function. The place is piled high with small arms, not-so-small arms, and ammunition.
Anabel, Jili, Paul, and Lev report back, and the Agents switch places to send better-qualified people in each direction. Qoqa and Anabel go to check on the prisoners, while Lev takes a look at the armory. Jili tries to get the security consoles back online, but Wen's breaching charges seem to have damaged them beyond repair. Paul takes Qoqa's place guarding the entrance with Klas and Wen.
Qoqa and Anabel interview the prisoners without opening the cells. They learn that all eight men were grabbed in Syria, during raids by unknown attackers. Anabel manages to explain to the men that the team is here to help, but cannot let them out – there are too many armed hostiles around. She counsels them to stay calm and testify to the authorities, who are doubtless already on the way thanks to the explosions and fire on the island. As Anabel speaks, Qoqa does a visual examination of each captive and concludes that nobody has been injured severely enough to need immediate medical attention.
At the same time, Lev takes stock of what's in the armory. He identifies small arms of every make, not to mention crates of ammunition and explosives – including more than enough to replace everything the Agents expended on the way in. He also sees plenty of support weapons: rocket launchers, surface-to-air missiles, and so on. Most worrisome is a stockpile of what are unquestionably chemical weapons. Though he isn't sure of the details (and isn't inclined to find out), he suspects that they're nerve agents, and in a quantity sufficient to wipe out a town or a small city. He marks these clearly in several languages, for the benefit of whatever authorities end up with this hot potato.
With those tasks done, the Agents replenish their explosives and ammo, and then move out. The next stop is the former data center, but it turns out that this has changed: Now it's just an empty room. Jili examines it quickly and notes that some cables still pass through here, leading upstairs, which suggests that the new occupants have set up their equipment on the upper levels. After kicking in a few more doors for good measure, it's clear that the group has found everything of note down here.
The Agents return to the stairway they barricaded and climb back up to the ground floor. Upon reaching the door at the top, they hear the sound of someone trying to batter it down. Realizing that this means there's likely more enemies heading around the back way via the other staircase, Jili jams the lower entrance, sealing and scrambling the electronic lock. Then Lev and Klas move up and get ready to surprise the men pounding on the door.
Klas yanks out Anabel's crowbar, causing the door to fly open and spill a couple of surprised-looking goons into the foyer. Lev is ready for them, and sprays bullets around at head level, to lethal effect. Unfortunately for Lev, the one opponent he can't see is also expecting trouble; the man returns fire, dinging Lev in the helmet. Lev collapses immediately. Klas wastes no time jumping to his buddy's aid, putting three rounds through the gunman's face, but the damage is done.
Qoqa rushes to Lev's aid while the other five fan out into the corridor and confirm that it's clear. Cursing loudly, Qoqa whips off her lover's helmet and examines his injuries. It seems that fortune didn't abandon Lev completely, as the helmet stopped the bullet. Lev "only" has a concussion – not a hole in his head – though that's no laughing matter. Qoqa manages to rouse Lev with inhalants and stimulants, but he's groggy and staggering. He won't be taking point any more on this raid.
As soon as Lev is standing with his helmet back on, the Agents get rolling again. Klas and Wen take the lead, Anabel and Jili help Lev along, and Paul and Qoqa bring up the rear. There's a brief burst of gunfire back there as the group pushes on, and nobody has to turn around to know that Qoqa made sure that Lev's assailant won't be found among the living when the authorities arrive. Paul actually sees Qoqa shoot the man in the face and spit on his corpse.
With grim determination, the team moves back to the central hall and up the main stairs to the second floor. Wen suddenly signals a stop, and gestures that she heard the sound of someone moving just out of sight at the top of the staircase. She and Klas cook off and toss a pair of grenades . . . and hidden enemies do the same thing! There are explosions everywhere. Fortunately for the Agents, the open staircase offers many places to dive for cover and doesn't reflect the blast especially well.
When the smoke clears, the Agents are mostly fine. Mostly. But Paul has a chunk of metal in his leg and can't stand without leaning on the wall, while Jili and Lev are dizzy from the blast. Nobody can hear a thing, but Wen steals a glance upstairs and sees that the team's enemies got the worse end of the exploding gift exchange. Still, staggering Lev, one-legged Paul, and one-handed Qoqa mean that the rest of the mission won't be easy.
To be continued . . .