Entry tags:
The Company
On June 17, 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 3!
Despite the brutal exchange of hand grenades on the grand staircase, most of the team is still in fighting form. Klas and Wen rush upstairs to secure the area, bringing Anabel and Jili for backup. One look at the gory mess up there confirms that their side is in much better shape than the opposition. The four take up positions covering the upper hallway while Qoqa treats Paul's leg and checks on Lev's injuries. Once Paul is able to hobble and Lev is back on his feet, the group pushes on.
The corridor runs east to west, and one feature stands out in the west wing: a heavy door with a card-reader installed next to it. The Agents decide to head that way, checking the rooms between the stairway and their objective, just in case. As Anabel is adept at breaking and entering, she gets the job of forcing doors. Most of the others cover her – but Lev and Paul's injuries make lying prone and watching the hallway a more sensible task.
Most of the rooms contain nothing but covered furniture, barricaded windows, and evidence that some of the shooters engaged downstairs were positioned here earlier – there's spent brass everywhere. Upon forcing one of the doors further along the corridor, though, Anabel encounters two gunmen. Fortunately, Wen and Klas are able to take out both enemies with headshots before they can react. Afterward, Wen realizes that one of the men must have gotten a shot off, as there's a bullet in her body armor. Since it didn't penetrate the vest or even bruise her much, she opts not to mention it to Qoqa.
The team eventually reaches the heavy, secured door. The Agents decide that it would be prudent to check out the door opposite it first. Once again, Anabel breaks in – and once again, there's resistance. This room contains an older man wielding a pair of heavy pistols, flanked by a pair of riflemen. The pistolero has the drop on Anabel, and manages to shoot her in both thighs before Wen silences him with a bullet to the brain. Then Klas hurdles Anabel's fallen form and hoses down the other two opponents, ending the skirmish.
With the sound of gunshots still hanging in the air, Qoqa rushes to Anabel's aid. Her first look tells her that Anabel wasn't all that badly wounded; if the team survives the mission, Anabel should recover fully with proper rest and care. Anabel's wailing suggests otherwise, though, and half the team has to restrain her while Qoqa treats her wounds. Meanwhile, Lev and Paul continue to watch the hallway, while Jili gets to work on bypassing the high-security mechanism on the heavy door.
By the time Qoqa declares that it's safe to move Anabel, Jili has defeated the fancy electronic lock. With Lev and Paul guarding the rear, and Qoqa tending to Anabel, the other three breach the doorway. Jili stands to one side and shoves the door open, allowing Klas and Wen to charge in, ready to kill. The room proves to be dark, cool, and devoid of enemies. Blinking lights suggest that it's full of computer hardware.
Jili immediately takes the lead, gets the lights on, and confirms that the group has found a data center of some kind. She sizes up the hardware and declares that given 10 to 15 minutes, she should be able to pull all the drives, hopefully bypassing any physical security aimed at preventing that. The others agree that this is worth the risk and ask Jili to get to work. The techie whips out her tools and hops to it.
Time seems to creep by as Jili works, but if anyone is left to object, they don't show up. Just shy of 15 minutes later, Jili has a big stack of hard disks and solid-state drives ready to cart away. Klas and Lev stow these in their load-bearing gear, in the pouches that formerly held the bulky expendable jammers deployed downstairs. Then Wen moves in and rigs the room with enough C4 and foam explosive to make it very hard to tell what, if anything, the Agents took.
Once Wen is done, the team pulls back to a safe distance, whereupon Wen blows up the data center. Then it's time to leave. The whole group moves back downstairs to the main entrance, helping Anabel, Lev, and Paul make the trip. On reaching the front door, Klas unbars it and takes a look. He sees nobody out there, but spots several abandoned HMMWVs.
When Klas reports back, everyone agrees that commandeering a couple of the lightly armored vehicles and driving back to the beach at high speed seems like a good option. Paul and Lev are the best drivers, but they're in no condition to drive, much less run. As a result, Jili and Klas are chosen to dash out front, start up a couple of hummers, and pull up to the building to collect their teammates. Without further ado, they leap into action.
Jili and Klas get as far as the vehicles when there's some gunfire from the roof. While this fire is harrowing, the angle is so steep that it's poorly aimed, and both Agents are able to use the vehicles as cover. They manage to get into the HMMWVs, start them up, and drive over to the front door without injury. The heavy portico completely screens the team from the enemy shooters as they prepare to leave. Wen drags Anabel into Klas' ride, while Qoqa and Lev stumble into Jili's with Paul between them.
As soon as everyone is aboard, Jili and Klas hit the gas. There's more fire from the roof of the mansion, but it's ineffective against the vehicles' armor. The only close call involves an AT4: Wen sees it being brought to bear and shouts a warning to Klas, who swerves, preventing a hit. The blast and fragments do minimal damage to the HMMWV. In less than a minute, the Agents are safely over the crest and out of the line of fire.
On reaching the beach, Jili remotely detonates the massive bomb that Wen rigged in the ship that brought the team to the island. Hundreds of kilos of explosives go off, igniting tonnes of heavy bunker fuel. The blinding flash, deafening blast, and ensuing column of fire and black smoke are detectable for many kilometres around. They're also Vinnie's signal to return from his position offshore. He fires up his engines and races toward the beach to fetch his allies.
Vinnie shows up within minutes. Neither his arrival nor the ensuing extraction draws fire; it seems that the island's inhabitants are in no condition to interfere. Vinnie refuels his boat from the cans of extra fuel aboard. He has far more than he needs – and with seven passengers, there's no room for the excess – so he decides to dump it on the HMMWVs and set them aflame. Then he puts back out to sea.
There are several blips on radar. From their tracks, it's clear that at least some of them are responding to the explosion and fire – and possibly to earlier reports of weapons fire. Vinnie does his best to stay well out of the way of these vessels. After about 45 minutes, he's convinced that he's out of the danger zone. He reduces speed and does his best to look like a casual sportsman out for an evening cruise.
Once the boat is no longer skipping over the waves at high speed, Qoqa does a little one-handed field surgery with improvised gear – her favorite kind. She extracts bullets and fragments from Anabel and Paul, takes another look at Lev, and patches up Wen's scratches. When she's convinced that her teammates aren't going to bleed out (and after dousing them in antiseptics and dosing them with antibiotics, just in case), she sees to her hand. She manages to patch that up properly, after which all there is to do is wait and let Vinnie spirit the team to safety.
Time: Thursday, April 24, 2014 (evening).
Place: Islands southeast of Athens.
Last Event: The raid continues, part 3!
Despite the brutal exchange of hand grenades on the grand staircase, most of the team is still in fighting form. Klas and Wen rush upstairs to secure the area, bringing Anabel and Jili for backup. One look at the gory mess up there confirms that their side is in much better shape than the opposition. The four take up positions covering the upper hallway while Qoqa treats Paul's leg and checks on Lev's injuries. Once Paul is able to hobble and Lev is back on his feet, the group pushes on.
The corridor runs east to west, and one feature stands out in the west wing: a heavy door with a card-reader installed next to it. The Agents decide to head that way, checking the rooms between the stairway and their objective, just in case. As Anabel is adept at breaking and entering, she gets the job of forcing doors. Most of the others cover her – but Lev and Paul's injuries make lying prone and watching the hallway a more sensible task.
Most of the rooms contain nothing but covered furniture, barricaded windows, and evidence that some of the shooters engaged downstairs were positioned here earlier – there's spent brass everywhere. Upon forcing one of the doors further along the corridor, though, Anabel encounters two gunmen. Fortunately, Wen and Klas are able to take out both enemies with headshots before they can react. Afterward, Wen realizes that one of the men must have gotten a shot off, as there's a bullet in her body armor. Since it didn't penetrate the vest or even bruise her much, she opts not to mention it to Qoqa.
The team eventually reaches the heavy, secured door. The Agents decide that it would be prudent to check out the door opposite it first. Once again, Anabel breaks in – and once again, there's resistance. This room contains an older man wielding a pair of heavy pistols, flanked by a pair of riflemen. The pistolero has the drop on Anabel, and manages to shoot her in both thighs before Wen silences him with a bullet to the brain. Then Klas hurdles Anabel's fallen form and hoses down the other two opponents, ending the skirmish.
With the sound of gunshots still hanging in the air, Qoqa rushes to Anabel's aid. Her first look tells her that Anabel wasn't all that badly wounded; if the team survives the mission, Anabel should recover fully with proper rest and care. Anabel's wailing suggests otherwise, though, and half the team has to restrain her while Qoqa treats her wounds. Meanwhile, Lev and Paul continue to watch the hallway, while Jili gets to work on bypassing the high-security mechanism on the heavy door.
By the time Qoqa declares that it's safe to move Anabel, Jili has defeated the fancy electronic lock. With Lev and Paul guarding the rear, and Qoqa tending to Anabel, the other three breach the doorway. Jili stands to one side and shoves the door open, allowing Klas and Wen to charge in, ready to kill. The room proves to be dark, cool, and devoid of enemies. Blinking lights suggest that it's full of computer hardware.
Jili immediately takes the lead, gets the lights on, and confirms that the group has found a data center of some kind. She sizes up the hardware and declares that given 10 to 15 minutes, she should be able to pull all the drives, hopefully bypassing any physical security aimed at preventing that. The others agree that this is worth the risk and ask Jili to get to work. The techie whips out her tools and hops to it.
Time seems to creep by as Jili works, but if anyone is left to object, they don't show up. Just shy of 15 minutes later, Jili has a big stack of hard disks and solid-state drives ready to cart away. Klas and Lev stow these in their load-bearing gear, in the pouches that formerly held the bulky expendable jammers deployed downstairs. Then Wen moves in and rigs the room with enough C4 and foam explosive to make it very hard to tell what, if anything, the Agents took.
Once Wen is done, the team pulls back to a safe distance, whereupon Wen blows up the data center. Then it's time to leave. The whole group moves back downstairs to the main entrance, helping Anabel, Lev, and Paul make the trip. On reaching the front door, Klas unbars it and takes a look. He sees nobody out there, but spots several abandoned HMMWVs.
When Klas reports back, everyone agrees that commandeering a couple of the lightly armored vehicles and driving back to the beach at high speed seems like a good option. Paul and Lev are the best drivers, but they're in no condition to drive, much less run. As a result, Jili and Klas are chosen to dash out front, start up a couple of hummers, and pull up to the building to collect their teammates. Without further ado, they leap into action.
Jili and Klas get as far as the vehicles when there's some gunfire from the roof. While this fire is harrowing, the angle is so steep that it's poorly aimed, and both Agents are able to use the vehicles as cover. They manage to get into the HMMWVs, start them up, and drive over to the front door without injury. The heavy portico completely screens the team from the enemy shooters as they prepare to leave. Wen drags Anabel into Klas' ride, while Qoqa and Lev stumble into Jili's with Paul between them.
As soon as everyone is aboard, Jili and Klas hit the gas. There's more fire from the roof of the mansion, but it's ineffective against the vehicles' armor. The only close call involves an AT4: Wen sees it being brought to bear and shouts a warning to Klas, who swerves, preventing a hit. The blast and fragments do minimal damage to the HMMWV. In less than a minute, the Agents are safely over the crest and out of the line of fire.
On reaching the beach, Jili remotely detonates the massive bomb that Wen rigged in the ship that brought the team to the island. Hundreds of kilos of explosives go off, igniting tonnes of heavy bunker fuel. The blinding flash, deafening blast, and ensuing column of fire and black smoke are detectable for many kilometres around. They're also Vinnie's signal to return from his position offshore. He fires up his engines and races toward the beach to fetch his allies.
Vinnie shows up within minutes. Neither his arrival nor the ensuing extraction draws fire; it seems that the island's inhabitants are in no condition to interfere. Vinnie refuels his boat from the cans of extra fuel aboard. He has far more than he needs – and with seven passengers, there's no room for the excess – so he decides to dump it on the HMMWVs and set them aflame. Then he puts back out to sea.
There are several blips on radar. From their tracks, it's clear that at least some of them are responding to the explosion and fire – and possibly to earlier reports of weapons fire. Vinnie does his best to stay well out of the way of these vessels. After about 45 minutes, he's convinced that he's out of the danger zone. He reduces speed and does his best to look like a casual sportsman out for an evening cruise.
Once the boat is no longer skipping over the waves at high speed, Qoqa does a little one-handed field surgery with improvised gear – her favorite kind. She extracts bullets and fragments from Anabel and Paul, takes another look at Lev, and patches up Wen's scratches. When she's convinced that her teammates aren't going to bleed out (and after dousing them in antiseptics and dosing them with antibiotics, just in case), she sees to her hand. She manages to patch that up properly, after which all there is to do is wait and let Vinnie spirit the team to safety.