NationStates Jolt Archive

Only 12 hours earlier, a rogue terrorist group known as Black Dawn launched an attack against Diggledom. In the attack, highly classified data was stolen. This data, along with many of the terrorists have escaped the nation on a cargo ship, thinking they were in the clear.

Present Day - 1:00 AM

The cargo ship rocked in the increasingly threatening waves, the dark sea tossing spray onto the ship. The wind howled across the deck, causing one patrolling terrorist to flip the collar up on his BDU tunic, to shield his neck from the cold.

''Fucking wind.''

He paced along the cargo deck, keeping along the outside of the ship, huddling along the rails. He stopped briefly, pulling a cigarette from his pocket and lighting it. He then pulled a small flask out and took a sip.

''Bastards in there sleeping and I'm walking around in this shit.''

He continued walking. Looking to his left, past the sea containers scattered over the deck he could see his friend, known to most as Lion. He cast a glance and Lion waved. He waved back, momentarily balancing his AK-47 in his other hand. He continued walking, this time turning his gaze upwards. The moon and stars had been blocked out by thick grey clouds.

''This isn't going to get better.''

Suddenly he cocked his head. High in the sky he thought he saw something move among the clouds but then it was gone.

The briefing was coming over the teams headsets even as the helicopter flew across the ocean.

“We have managed to track the Black Dawn terrorists after their attack. They appear to be trying to escape on a cargo ship. We have it under satellite surveillance of course, they don’t appear to have transmitted the data and we have managed to get a modified AWACS up so they won’t be able to. You have been scrambled for a very simple reason, remove the terrorist copy of the data. It was in the form of a hardened exterior hard drive. Either bring it back intact or destroy it. You will be inserted by the Hind which will stay on station to provide fire support and extraction. Get on with it.” The clipped voice of the commander spoke volumes of how vital this mission was.

“Why the fuck don’t they just sink the bugger?” Asked Pakhir as he fed the last round into the KS-23’s massive under barrel magazine.

“Probably so they know that it is either destroyed or back here instead of having to wonder what might have happened to it for ages.” Bogdana replied, the team sniper was sitting in the open hatch, his silenced sniper rifle clutched protectively to his chest, as if he was trying to shield a child from the driving wind.

“Who cares? We go in, kill the terrorists, pick up the disk and leave. Simple.” Iakov said, his eyes closed, leaning against the vibrating wall of the helicopter, a smile playing across his lips as he reattached the under slung grenade launcher on his rifle without looking.

“Much as I hate to admit it Iakov is right. It doesn’t matter why we do it, merely that we do it.” Heyczo said, the team leaders words effectively stopping any further discussion.

“I have the target in my sights!” Bogdana said, his rifle up in his shoulder, peering through the sights towards the ship, “Damn, we have got two guys patrolling the cargo deck, around our LZ. Want me to take them out?”

“Do it. Pilot?” Heyczo spoke into the microphone connecting him with the pilot, “As soon as the two guards are down hover over the deck and we will fast rope down.”

The hind slowed down, hovering roughly fifty metres from the side of the deck, relying on the sounds of the ocean to drown out their silenced rotors. Bogdana slowly shifted the rifle, leading the walking figure of one of the guards, as soon as there was a lull in the wind he pulled the trigger, the integral suppressor almost entirely absorbing the sound of the shot.

The man, Lion went down, falling behind a cargo container out of view of the other man. This went un-noticed by the other man patrolling the cargo deck. However, the helicopter had not.

''What the fuck is he doing.''

The man muttered to himself taking a puff of his cigarette.

''I knew I wasn't fucking crazy.''

He pulled a small radio from his pocket, planning on calling his ''boss'', and letting him know what was going on.

Bogdana watched as the man in his sights slid to the deck, the bullet having neatly impacted his upper chest, ripping through his lungs and sliced his heart into so much useless mush.

"Target down." He said, moving the scope towards the second visible guard. As the scope slid over the man he saw him pulling a radio from his jacket pocket.

"Shit. He is getting on the blower. Taking the shot."

He slid the cross hairs up and squeezed the trigger again, the recoil of the rifle gently nudging his shoulder, all his attention fixed on the man on the ships deck.

The round had been hastily fired and was less accurate this time. Rather than putting a gaping hole in the man's chest, it ripped through is neck, severed his spinal cord and decapitated him. His body fell and his radio smashed onto the cargo deck, breaking into two pieces.

Inside The Bridge

The men inside sat, drinking, smoking and playing poker. Most of them did not know the significance of what they had done. Most thought that they would go un-noticed and escape. Alexis looked up at clock.

''Almost time to change shifts, Lions probably out their shitting himself.''

He directed this towards Dimitri, an older, balding man in a black toque.

''Ah fuck, gimme a second.''

Dimitri got up, left the bridge and walked down the hallway to his room. He pulled on a large, olive drab military issue parka. From a locker he pulled a pistol which he attached to a leg holster. He pulled several grenades from the shelves and placed them in his pockets. Lastly, he pulled out a radio, tuned it to the right frequency and placed it into his pocket.

OOc:

Do you have any concept images or deck maps for this ship? just might be useful if you did.

OOC: Edit - This is my idea for the ship. The only differences are that the bridge is farther back with no cargo containers behind it. Also, less cargo containers, and very few stacked on top of each other.

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/2576/71428508ig4.th.jpg (http://img148.imageshack.us/my.php?image=71428508ig4.jpg)

As soon as the second mans body hit the deck the helicopter swooped forwards, the carefully maintained Hind hovering precisely over the centre of the forward cargo deck. Onboard the four man spetznaz team worked quickly and without a word, throwing the thick rope from the hatch, strapping their weapons securely onto their backs before grabbing onto the rope with both hand, twisting the rope around their feet and sliding down to land on the deck.

As soon as the last member of the team hit the deck the helicopter lowered it's nose, speeding away from the boat before adopting a patrol circuit roughly 300 metres from the ship.

Onboard the ship the team quickly took stock of the situation, they had two messily dead bodies on the deck with them and an unknown number of live and kicking terrorists onboard. The only visible light was from the bridge, which was what prompted the next action.

"Iakov, grenade the bridge on my gunfire."
"Got it."

Iakov slid one of the high explosive fragmentation grenades into his underslung Tishina and raised the rifle so that the sight picture was centred on the main bridge window. As soon as he was in postion Heyczo fired his Ak-104 at the window, the suppressor easily keeping the noise of the cycling action and the muffled gunshots quieter than the sounds of the sea. As the heavy 7.62 rounds shattered the glass, punching through to richochet around the bridge Iakov launched a grenade, passing cleanly through the window.

Without pausing to see the result of their actions the group moved towards the prow, entering the lower levels through a hatch leading to a set of stairs.

The helicopter had been spotted by a man on the bridge. Unsure of it's intentions he got closer to the window, peering out. He saw the team fast rope onto the deck. He got on his radio.

''Patrol Team, we've got enemies on deck.''

He was about to push a button that would allow him to broadcast a message over the ships loudspeakers when the bullets shattered the glass. He ducked and swung his AK-74 off of his back, taking up a position at the window. He was just in time to feel the grenade wizz past his head. It flew into the back wall, bounced back, landing under the makeshift poker table. It exploded sending bit of metal and splinters flying all around the room. He had been unlucky. The blast had crumpled him at an odd angle in front of the window. He had been pinned to the wall through his leg by a large piece of metal. His companions lay strewn about the room. They all appeared dead.

Stairs

The men sent out to relieve the first patrol climbed down their respective stairs. They had been lucky. Had they waited a few minutes longer, they would have been killed. Then they got the radio message. Neither knew what to do. There was an unknown number of soldiers on the ship. They could be anywhere.

The first man, known as black, lay prone on a landing, halfway down towards the cargo deck. The icy wind cut at his skin like a knife but he didn't care, he was more worried about the enemy. He raised his rifle, an AK-74. He had attached a scope to it. He looked through the scope, scanning the cargo deck for any signs of movement.

The second man, Mikolov was scared. He was new to Black Dawn and hadn't yet seen combat. He raised his weapon, an AK -47 and continued down the stairs towards the cargo deck.

Inside

The noise from the explosion had awoken several sleeping Black Dawn members. Most suspected it was just a lightening strike or a large wave. However, a couple members pulled themselves from bed, pulled on pants and grabbed weapons, heading for the bridge.

Even as the terrorists onboard moved around, heading towards the carnage that used to be the bridge the four man spetznaz group quickly headed along one of the ships side corridors. Heading straight for the engine room, weapons up and in the aim, fingers curled around the triggers and eyes constantly searching for any sign of enemy troops.

The Speznaz team had entered the engine room. Inside, two men sat. They had been assigned the boring task of monitoring different dials and gauges to ensure everything worked properly.

''Hey Nikol, did you hear that.''

Eric could have sworn he heard the sound of approaching boots.

''Eric, you've heard something every second, calm down a bit, have a drink.''

Nikol tossed a bottle of Whiskey towards Eric. Eric caught it, unscrewed the cap and took a drink. Before he could lower it, he saw a shadow on the wall. It wasn't the shadow of one man, it was several, all armed and stacked up in a tactical formation. He dropped the bottle, letting it smash.

''Fuck, now they've heard me.''

He grabbed his AK-47 and walked closer.

''Eric, calm the fuck down, who heard you.''

Eric didn't wait for the team to round the corner. Just as the shadow rounded the corner, he sprayed the wall with bullets. He fired too soon. The actual figures hadn't made it around the corner yet.

Nikol realized something was up too. He grabbed his AK-47 and ducked behind a crate. He used it for cover, propping his elbows on the top, waiting for any sign of life....

OOc: Sorry mate, RL has caught up with me, I am going to be dropping off the forums for a few days/weeks. Just so you have a heads up, sorry I had to cut the Rp short.

OOC: Just take your time, do what you need and post when you get back.

The sound of the bottle smashing made the four man team pull back, one inadvertantly knocking a free hanging lightbulb, throwing exagerated shadows across the room. As soon as the first burst echoed through the room the team moved further into cover, the lead two men pointing their weapons towards a hole in the machinery that the enemy would be forced to come towards to weasel them out and the rear two going to check no one was coming along the passage behind them.

"Flash." The word was whispered, with barely enough power to leave the lips, let alone travel through the noisy engine room. Luckily the throat microphone he was wearing picked up the vibration of his throat, rather than the noises that barely escaped his mouth.

Two grenades arced over the machines, both the operators having checked the roof area was clear before cooking the grenades for a couple of seconds to ensure that the 200dB crack and the 9 million candlepower light would cause maximum trouble by airbursting.

"Forward." The two operators moved forwards as soon as the grenades went off, both moving forwards, their weapons up, following their eyes and they scanned the area.

''My fucking eyes!''

Eric screamed in pain as he threw his arm over his eyes, no longer concerned with the enemy force. Nikol on the other hand also felt the effects of the flashbangs. He prepared to blindly fire, but then realized that he would likely kill him comrade by doing so. Instead, he pulled a smoke grenade from his pocket. It was old, soviet made, he wasn't even sure it would work. He fumbled with it, due to his inability to see. He found the pin, pulled it and it slipped from his hand, clattering against the ground. He then ran for it, heading towards the other engine room exit, away from whatever had thrown the flashbangs. However, his inability to see caused him great difficulty in trying to navigate his way back.

Pakhir fired as soon as he came around the corner, the massive 23mm shotgun round covering the entire area in front of him with 50 solid lead pellets. Stepping out from behind him Heyczo flicked his IZUMRUD sight down infront of his eyes, searching through the smoke for the any movement in the smoke bank. He spotted a moving heat signature among the clutter from the engine and fired a quick burst of 7.62 towards the figure.

The pellets ripped into Eric's flesh, tearing it apart. He had been hit mostly in the chest but several pellets had also entered his arms, legs and head. He fell to the ground, lying in a bloody mess on the floor.

Nikol heard the gunshot and knew the enemy was coming. H is sight had almost come back and he could see the door. He turned to fire a burst of AK fire back, figuring Eric had been killed. He never got to pull the trigger before several bullets tore into his body. He fell to the ground, still alive. He turned his AK towards the haze of smoke and fired, in fully automatic mode, a long inaccurate burst of fire into the haze.