This Is Guadalupdor...Back Together. (Late MT/Early PMT)

[Guadalupador]

0010 Hours: Guadalupadorian Intelligence Service HQ, Divouga, Guadalupador (9/1/2046)

"....So, what do you think of the imagery that the Navy sent us?" Virou Ensha, Chief of the Guadalupadorian Intelligence Service asked, as he watched for the Grand Premier's reaction on the other end of the video call.

"This is good intel, correct? No bull?" Grand Premier Bonya continued to look through the series of images.

"Yessir, the GFNS Heiwa is trailing the vessel, it's currently on a south-east course, it's projected that it'll pass within 550 Km of Kirishinan territorial waters within the next day. Our analysts are saying it's going to Amerigos Samios' subjugated island kingdom, Tija, now renamed, 'Martinezland.'"

Bonya sighed. "We need to act quickly before Quardya gets there. Send out a bulletin to CP 9, and the URA's Intelligence Services, we're gonna come up with a plan to sack this bastard before he disappears."

"Right away, sir."

As the video call ended, Bonya sat back in his chair, the dim lights of the damaged Nosamo skyline could still make him smile. He took a deep breath, and began to write the top secret bulletin.

To: Cipher Pol 9, Remnant National Intelligence Agency
From: Guadalupadorian Intelligence Service
Encryption Level: TOP SECRET
Subject: Intelligence Bulletin

---

This is a Class VII International Intelligence/Security Bulletin: The Guadalupadorian Intelligence Service reported that at 2200 Hours, Nosamo Standard Time, that an Aga Veiia-class attack submarine, currently on patrol, had spotted Yosivo Quardya's heavily defended yacht, 'The Will of New Yama' on a south-eastern course headed towards the pacific island of Tija. On its current course, it will pass within 550 Km of Kirishinan territorial waters, making this area a prime interception point, and possible successful capture of Yosivo Quardya, whom is wanted in Guadalupador for gross human rights violations, and crimes against humanity.

[The United Remnants of America]

0612 Hours: International Waters, En route to Flardanian Airspace (9-1-2046)

The G-1 VIP Transport Plane flew at 50,000 feet above the ocean. It was currently on it's way over the ocean to a nation that the pilot and copilot had never been to before: Flardania. However, the pilot and copilot also didn't know why they were flying to this nation, or why the three passengers they were flying there had to be there ASAP, but when you get a call in the middle of the night from your commanding officer who oversaw the Air Force's G-1 fleet, you listened.

In the back, there were officially "four" passengers, even through there were only three people. The fourth passenger was a case full of all the equipment the three would need, including uniforms, weapons, and gadgets. The three, two male, one female, were also hazy on the details, with only one of them knowing most of the story, and even then, it was on a need-to-know basis. Compartmentalization was fun.

The three were part of the URA's Marshal special forces service, and they were part of the 1st Company, which specialized in "special activities." These special activities ranged from assassinations, bribery, asset protection, asset support, and asset retention. What they did, they weren't supposed to do, and where they were, they weren't supposed to be.

The leader of this small three-person team was known only by his code name, Sage. Sage was the one who know the most about the current mission on hand, even though he'd only been briefed a scan two hours prior, in the middle of the night, in the office of the Operations Director of the National Intelligence Agency. He'd been holding off briefing his teammates, Cross and Banshee, for as long as possible, but their complaints at not even being told what was happening or even where they were going had reached Sage's limit.

"Alright," Sage explained, taking a breath. "It's a simple as this. Roughly six hours ago, the NIA got a message from Dorian intelligence about a certain VIP whom everyone's been hunting for. Yosivo Quardya has been found. Well, his yacht's been found, which is where he went to ground in. The Dorians found the yacht and have charted its course, which will land it within striking distance of Flardanian waters." Sage paused to let that information sink in for his teammates before continuing, "This is where we come in. We're currently flying to Flardania, hopefully someone called ahead, but chances are they haven't, meaning we'll have to talk our way into their airspace and onto the ground without being shot down. Once we get it all explained and settled out, we should be able to get a lift aboard a Flardanian vessel to get us to the yacht, where we'll be participating in a raid upon Quardya's water hidey-hole. I believe the term the NIA's Operational Director said was 'dead or alive', but I'm sure we're supposed to prioritize taking Quardya alive. Any questions?"

Banshee shook her head. She'd been on the job almost as long as Sage, and she knew what this all entailed, and she understood the risks.

Cross was nearly a rookie by comparison, with only a couple out-of-the-way missions under his belt. He raised his hand, "Yeah, so, are we getting any help on this, or...?"

Sage pointed to the crate sitting at the back of the passenger cabin, "Well, we have that. It has our usual weapons loadout and our uniforms, since our civvies won't cut it for this. Hopefully, we can get that crate around on a don't ask, don't tell policy. Other than that, I can only assume the Flardanians and Dorians would send teams of their own to assist, since Quardya is a lot more of a target for the Dorians than he is for us. But, until we land and until we're on that boat, there's not much more I can give you, Cross." Sage ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair.

Cross nodded and was about to ask another question before the pilot's voice interrupted him over the intercom, "Could all passengers sit down and buckle up? We'll be hitting some turbulence soon, it looks like, and I don't feel like losing my job because one of you gets a bruise." The pilot's annoyance was apparent, and the three Marshals complied with his wishes, buckling up tight as the continued to discuss the situation, despite it mostly being assumptions and unanswered questions at the little information they'd been given. Compartmentalization was so fun.

[Guadalupador]

0630 Hours: En-route to Kirishinan Airspace. (9/1/2046)

"We're about fifteen minutes out from Kirishinan airspace, you all know the deal when we land, right?" a middle-aged man clad in a suit asked his younger GIS Operators. The cabin was silent, mostly on the fact that the Operators of Varro Zero wanted to catch some sleep before meeting with Kirishinan and Remnant Operatives.

"Yeah, we know, we land, we get chummy with the foreign ops, and then we get that sonofabitch Quardya, am I wrong, Julius?" Opal said, as she rubbed her eyes. She took a deep breath, and stretched out her arms. "Aren't we tracking him real-time, Quardya's not going to be within range for another 12 hours."

Julius looked down toward his tablet, which was tracking Quardya's route in real-time. "You are indeed correct, but the yacht is only going to be within range of interception for two hours at the most. I'm going to need to have you all awake and ready as soon as we land, this isn't some small-time supply/sabotage op in Coastbourne we're..."

"Capturing an HVT. I got it." Emerald interrupted Julius. The rest of the operators snickered at Julius' reaction.

"You're not a bunch of kids, are you? I didn't survive the purge of the DIA to deal with children."

"Calm down, I'm just fuckin with you, don't write me up for insubordination. You know that we're different people on missions and off missions." Emerald brought up a point.

Julius sighed. "You're right. I was sorta like you all once upon a time." He smiled, and reminisced.

"Julius? You weren't always a stuck up, by-the-book, old man?" Diamond feigned surprise. "I thought you came out of your mother with the same demeanor." This comment elicited laughs from everyone, including Julius.

"Man, shut the fuck up." Julius said in-between laughs. "Now, I gotta go and check in with the pilot, and see if the Kirishinans gave us permission to land."

"Can't handle my banter, Julius?"

"Was that banter? I'll show you some real banter once you get back with Quardya, just you wait." Julius said smiling.

---

0700 Hours: The Will of New Yama, International Waters (9/1/46)

Yosivo Quardya smoked a cigarette and leaned on the railing of his large "yacht." He looked down toward the dark water, and flicked what was left of his cigarette into the murky deep. He walked along the deck, repeatedly stopping to see the sun rise, and greet his soldiers, whom were busy patrolling the ship. Little did he know, that within eleven hours, his course in life would be changed. As he continued walking along the deck, he saw his ship's MANPADs launchers atop the crew quarters, helping to deter any incursion from the air, as well as about two small RAM batteries at both the bow and stern of the ship. The Will of New Yama was an appropriate gift from his Admiral father, as it was refitted to act as a small frigate with all appropriate additions, not to mention all the other concealed weaponry that could be revealed as soon as trouble found them, customized personally by Yosivo himself.
He walked into his lush, and elaborate cabin-space to see a young woman, scantily-clad, pouring tea for him. "Ah, right on time, just as we had practiced before, very good. Shall I reward you?" Yosivo said with a menacing smile. The woman shook her head, and tried to plead as he walked over toward her.

[The United Remnants of America]

Agent Sage

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International Waters

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9/1/2046 - 10:21

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"So where are we going exactly, agent?" The last word was nearly spat out by the Flardanian navigator.

The Marshal team had landed in Flardania without much incident. Apparently Flardanian air traffic control had been advised that a plane originating from the URA was to be allowed to land as quickly as possible and with no questions asked. Even then, as the Marshals had deplaned, there was a Flardanian military officer and his driver waiting for them in an unmarked vehicle. Neither was very talkative, which was just as well with the Marshals, who were trained to not communicate with anyone unless it was mission necessary to keep operational security intact.

The drive was about a half-hour of silence, but they soon arrived at an out of the way dock that looked like a poor fisherman's wharf back in the URA than anything else. But once they got to the docks, the Marshals realized why they were there. A relatively small cutter sat at dock. Sage had assumed it was Flardanian, but it flew no flag and was painted a dull grey with no markings anywhere to suggest its national origin. The crew, however, appeared to be entirely Flardanian, which assuaged Sage's confusion for the moment.

After boarding, they'd pulled out of dock. Cross and Banshee had gone below deck while Sage had stayed on the bridge, directing the bridge crew to steam towards the expected route of Quardya's yacht, the Will of New Yama.

The Flardanian navigator glanced off his screen and at Sage, who was standing beside him, looking between the navigation screen and his own phone's screen, which had a similar map. He showed the phone's screen to the navigator and tapped a point on the screen, "Can we make it there before 1600?"

A nod, "Yes. We can. I wish I knew why we were going there, though." The navigator was probing for information, and Sage only responded with a shrug, a response that annoyed the navigator further.

Sage watched the navigator adjust course and then stepped away and out of the bridge onto the deck outside and flipped to the contacts of his phone. There were two numbers saved. The first one, titled "1," was a burner phone currently owned by someone in the URA for the next 24 hours. The second number, listed as "2," was a number his briefing had given him to contact when his team was ready to R/V with Dorian intelligence assets. He had no idea who it contacted, and frankly, he guess it didn't much matter so long as it was a working number. Sage pressed "call" on 2 and put the phone to his ear as the line began to ring.

[Guadalupador]

0655 Hours: Undisclosed Location, Southern Kirishima (9th Jan, 2046)

Julius and the rest of Varro Zero shuffled out of the small plane and moved their equipment from the plane, across the private airstrip and toward a small craft idling on the beach. Julius lit a cigarette as he watched his agents move precisely toward their position. "Alright, you all know the weather: a nice rainstorm moving in from the south. Bit of thunder and lightning. The seas should be pretty choppy, though be advised." He said as his agents passed him by.

"Oh, good for infil then?" Opal said as she passed by with a large box of equipment.

"I'd say so. The Gods are with us." Diamond said making one last trip toward the plane's cargo hold to get the last set of gear. Julius continuously looked to his stopwatch. It was finally time. Julius signaled his team toward the small, unsuspecting civilian boat. Varro Zero piled into the deck below and the crew, also part of GIS started up the engines. The fishing craft left the rotting dock and headed out toward the rendezvous point. Julius watched as the craft left the dock. He could hear a distant rumble of thunder before turning on his tablet and watching the fugitive's route.

---

1021 Hours: Pacific Ocean

"We're in range of rendezvous." The captain of the boat said as he passed on by through the cabin. "Thankfully we're on time, and the rain and thunder won't let up."

The Operators of Varro Zero speedily fetched their gear. As Diamond was about to lock and load his silenced rifle, he took out the burner phone that he was given personally by Julius back in Divouga. Diamond flipped open the dinosaur of a phone and pressed 1. He was caught off guard by the phone's unique dialtone before being directed to the receiver. "Awaiting Handshake." Was all Diamond said before hanging up. The Operators were now fully geared up and ready to meet up with their fellow operators. Diamond went above deck and walked along the deck in the heavy rain, seeing lightning strike in the distance before the heavy crash of thunder that followed. They were the storm.

---

1700 Hours: Aga Veiia, Guadalupador

Guadalupadorian investigators were led by locals into a system of ruins that was once the entire city of Aga Veiia. The investigators were pressed to go to the city after mounting reports that the city had been all but exterminated after a large revolt back in 2037. It was alleged that the Ministry of State Security used chemical weapons to kill the inhabitants of the city indiscriminately. Evidence pointed to that the city, renamed Aga Christos, was literally erased off of maps and official documents following the uprising. The Guadalupadorian government, as well as the rest of the world knew about the uprising when it happened, but never knew the full story of what happened after it was put down. Now they were getting answers. An entire city was depopulated either through the chemical weapons dropped on the entire population, or by forced removal to a concentration camp in the area. Statues of Martinez and Quardya were in disrepair, bombed out buildings were on the edge of collapsing as the investigators drove along the decrepit and cracked streets.

One investigator shook their head as they wondered why the Junta would order such crimes to be committed.

[The United Remnants of America]

Agent Sage

---

International Waters

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9/1/2046 - 10:25

---

"There it is. I can make the outline out." Banshee pointed forward, and Sage could just make out the smudged image of a ship through the heavy rain. The unmarked Flardanian cutter had been running with lights, sonar, and radar off, relying solely on visuals. The Flardanian helmsman, following the finger of the Remnant agent, turned the cutter slowly towards the smudge that he couldn't see.

Ten minutes later, the cutter slowly came up along the vessel. Sage decided it looked like a civvie vessel, but he couldn't tell what kind through the rain, whether it was a yacht or a fishing boat. Either way, it didn't look military. As the cutter settled to a stop, Sage looked to the others, "Alrighty, let's get ready. I want us prepared."

Banshee and Cross followed as Sage went belowdecks to a small bunk room that had been cleared out for them. Inside was the equipment case set the Marshals had brought with them. The three quickly stripped down and changed into Nomex jumpsuits, which had Kevlar stitching. Next, the trio of agents put on a thin Kevlar vest, which wouldn't protect for much more than subsonic rounds or small calibers, but it was some protection. Each agent also had a silenced pistol, and a silenced personal defense weapon. They'd also brought a couple extra weapons, but had decided to not utilize them.

After they took ammunition and flashbang grenades, the three agents returned to the bridge, where they exited onto the cutter's deck. Two Flardanians on the cutter had thrown a ramp from the cutter to the civilian boat's deck, where a figure was standing in the rain. Sage led the trio off the cutter, over the ramp, and onto the civvie boat.

Sage looked the figure over and nodded and Cross and Banshee joined him on the civvie boat, "Good morning. Lovely weather we're having, eh?"

[Guadalupador]

1023 Hours: Pacific Ocean

Diamond turned to the foreign operator that addressed him in English. He nodded and smiled. "Wonderful weather for a mission like this. The Remnant Operators, I presume?" Diamond was quick to speak up. "So I see you'll be riding with us for the rest of the trip. Very nice. My call-sign is Diamond, Diamanthe, in Dorian. Below deck is Opua: Opal, and Isemald: Emerald. Lucky for you and your team, we'll be communicating in English." the Operator introduced himself. "We'll go back below deck into the cabin and go over the plan from there, also be sure to introduce yourselves to everyone else. Diamond went down the stairs and met with Opal and Emerald. "Handshake complete. Start to break away, and keep on course." He said as he passed the helmsman on his way down the stairs. The entire cabin was filled with old computers and radio equipment with a small space for the crew to relax. "Welcome to Varro Zero's little houseboat." Diamond announced as he sat in a small galley booth with Opal and Emerald. He gestured the Remnants to pull up seats to the table.

"So who are you?" Opal asked the Remnants. She eyed down the operators, scanning from head to toe. "You all look ready. Good." She said.

"Apologies, Opal doesn't speak much English." Emerald spoke up. "Now, as you are all aware..." Emerald flicked down a few files onto the table. "Yosivo Quardya. The youngest and only surviving son of the late Admiral Ghazan Quardya is escaping justice and is currently fleeing to a friendly state. We, of course have been tasked to infiltrate, seize the HVT, and then exfiltrate." Emerald spread a blue-print of Yosivo's ship out onto the table. "Now, once we get within range, we'll disembark this craft and use a CRRC outfitted with a noise-dampener on the motor. Thankfully its thundering outside so sound won't be much of a problem.
There's three decks on this thing, it's most likely the boat's running on a skeleton crew of 25, maybe 30 former Ministry of State Security troops. They're the most present danger. They'll be patrolling each deck, manning the bridge, and the AA systems that it has on board. It's also presumed that Quardya is travelling with a sort of entourage... a harem of women that he kidnapped, or rather enslaved is more the proper term. Quardya will most likely be squared away in his lush private cabin on the top deck past the bridge with those women.
Now we have two ways of doing things: We can either take out the guards and seize the entire ship, which would be the preferred method, or sneak in and just take Quardya and leave; Which is pretty much the more difficult of the two. There's one caveat of course: The target needs to be alive, and well enough to stand trial back in Guadalupador. Of course, no one said anything about not roughing him up a bit on the way back. The crew? Expendable. Now, do you fine operators have any questions?" Emerald finished his mouthful of data.

[The United Remnants of America]

Agent Sage

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International Waters

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9/1/2046 - 10:28

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The three Remnants nodded as Diamond successfully identified them and introduced himself. As Diamond led them through the cabin, they nodded to the crew they passed, making sure to not actually identify themselves to anyone that didn't need to know who they were. Once they reached the cabin, met Opal and Emerald, they pulled up chairs to sit near enough to the booth so they could speak without raising their voices too high.

Admittedly, Sage decided, the boat was nice enough. It was an undercover operations boat, he assumed, not unlike a spy trawler some nations had used years ago. Opal eyed each of them and asked their identities, causing the three to look at each other, with two looking towards their leader.

"You can call me Sage," the man with the salt-and-pepper shock of hair and a shadow of facial hair said. Sage was the eldest member of the team, as well as the leader.

"I'm Sirena... Um, Banshee." Banshee's auburn hair was tied into a tight braid that trailed down her back, her piercing green eyes burning holes wherever she looked.

"Raspyatiye." Cross nodded, his Remnant accent thickest out of the trio. Cross' blonde hair was longer than Sage's, and his face showed a youthful touch when compared to Sage's experience. Cross glanced at Opal and winked, "But you can call me Cross if you want."

After their introductions, the three listened intently to the briefing of the situation. It seemed like a fairly simple mission, and when prompted for questions, Sage lifted his hand and began speaking without being called upon, "What's stopping us from taking the easiest way out and using a barrage of anti-ship missiles to eliminate the target?" Sage knew the answer, or at least assumed he had a good answer for why they had to take Quardya alive, but he asked mainly for Banshee and Cross, who had less experience in the business and were no doubt thinking the same thing themselves.

The Remnant way to deal with conflict had always been as straightforward and efficient as possible.

[Guadalupador]

"Well glad you asked, Sage." Emerald remarked. "We've got civvies on board. Innocent women enslaved to Yosivo Quardya. It's better that they stay among the living so they can testify against him in court. Maybe rack up a few life sentences for the bastard... Hell, even the rarely used death penalty for Crimes Against Humanity. Secondly, Quardya's got information that could help us track down his comrades, and expose further crimes that New Yama had committed. He could have all this information in caches on board. Either that, or he's got a really good memory. Both would be lost if we fired an Exocet up his bum." Emerald looked around at the group of operators. "Everyone understand? Alright boss, take it from here." Emerald said to Diamond.

"Kindly. Now, we'll be within the range of the ship in about five minutes. Get your last minute checks done now, we've got a little rat-faced war criminal to catch." Diamond clasped his hands together and gestured his team to rise from the table and head up to the top deck where the CRRC was. Within minutes the team was on the water and headed toward Quardya's yacht. Opal piloted the small craft over the choppy waves as Emerald guided her with a map. Diamond looked to Sage and nodded as Opal called out that she could see the yacht in the distance, rocking in the waves. The Will of New Yama was coasting at a leisurely speed to help weather the storm it was in, as the operators got closer they could see a few guards patrolling the top and lower decks. "Lock and load." Diamond said over a crack of thunder. The CRRC slowed down and moved toward the stern of the ship where a pair of jet skis could be seen hoisted above the water. Opal increased the speed slightly to keep in equilibrium with the yacht as Emerald used a miniature grappling hook to pull the CRRC in close enough to reach a ladder onto the lower deck. Emerald was the first to ascend the ladder onto the lower deck. He hugged the wall in front of him and peeked around a corner. No guards to be seen. Emerald signaled to the others that the coast was clear.

[The United Remnants of America]

Agent Sage

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International Waters

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9/1/2046 - 10:30

---

Sage nodded. It made sense. The intel that had been shared with him before they left had suggested that innocents aboard the ship, however they were deemed as acceptable losses for the overall mission. In other words, Sage and his team had been given permission to waste anyone aboard the ship, but Emerald's explanation made things difficult. If the Dorians wanted Quardya for intel, then at the very least he'd need to be taken alive, even if it ran against his instincts to put a threat down as quickly as possible. And if Emerald was cautioning to have trigger control when it came to the enslaved women, then his team would have to have trigger control. Normally, if civilians were in a combat zone, it was their fault, but if they were slaves, something Remnant intelligence didn't offer, they likely had no choice, making them hostages rather than civilians.

The equipment they'd brought had been easy enough to re-check, but in the five minute wait, the Marshals had rechecked their equipment three more times. And even as they boarded the small watercraft, the trio was ready, their armor and clothing beading off rain from the storm while also keeping them warm. Soon enough, they were within sight, the large yacht in the hazy distance, nearing at a constant rate. Opal had pulled them alongside, and Emerald hooked them to the side of the ship. Emerald was the first up onto the deck of the ship, but Cross was close behind him. He lowered himself into a crouch and pressed his back to the wall, drawing his pistol and pointing it towards the sky. Banshee and Sage were next, however they stayed off the wall and kept their pistols holstered for now. Each took a knee, and even though Sage was in charge, his eyes were on the Dorian and Remnant in front of him, watching for any signal or indication of trouble or safety.