Bravo Side

07:10

Artemis Briefing Room

Sohel throws his helmet on the table and asks ARIA to contact Shadow. A few minutes later Shadow's voice comes from the speakers, "Shadow here. Did you get the kid's statement?"

"I did."

"What did she say?"

Sohel spends around an hour explaining everything the kid said. After Sohel's done, Shadow asks in a concerned voice, "Can you send me Medusa's helmet cam footage from the Washington orphanage raid?"

Sohel asks ARIA to send the footage to Shadow and says, "I've sent the footage. But what's wrong?"

Shadow doesn't answer. Around 10 minutes later he says, "I'm sure of it. They tried to revive Project Spectre"

"What's that?"

"Long story. I'll tell you about it later. For now, focus on getting Stone. He mustn't in any circumstances get away."

"What about the thing I told you to check last night?"

"You were right. There were many moles in the investigation team for these murder cases. But I've taken care of them. Looks like the one with you isn't a mole."

Sohel unconsciously says, "So, Stone definitely threatened him with something there."

Shadow hears this and asks, "What happened?"

"Shadow, I know I told you looking for the moles will be the last job for you on this mission but please, can you do one last thing for me?"

Shadow says in a reprimanding tone, "And you say General Overlord is a slavedriver. *sigh* What is it?"

"Can you check Flynn's contacts once again? I'm sure Stone's threatening him with something. Can you take care of it? Flynn has taken Luna back to Stone."

"Why didn't you just shoot him there? And why are you sitting there talking to me now? Shouldn't you be rescuing Luna first?"

"I know. We'll leave after our call. And I know I could've just shot him there but I don't want to harm an innocent."

Shadow sighs again and says, "You're too soft for this job. Anyway, I'll look into Flynn's case. Shadow out."

The call disconnects. Sohel then asks ARIA to secure a connection with New Eden.

"Overlord here. What is it?"

"Captain Ghost reporting." Sohel then explains the whole situation to Overlord and says, "So, I'd like to get permission to use Artemis's firepower in our fight."

"Permission denied. I think I've told you the consequences of using destructive force on foreign soil. But you're still here, asking for my permission again."

Sohel gets really angry and retaliates, "Are you out of your mind, Old man? You're still going to deny my request, even after I've told you everything that's happened?"

"That's not the way you talk to your superior kid. And yes, I'll still deny your request. The briefing is over."

Overlord cuts the call before Sohel can say anything. Sohel punches the monitor in anger with his left hand and throws himself on a chair. The monitor breaks by the punch. ARIA says, "Captain, you should calm down. Princess won't be very happy, seeing the monitor shattered into pieces." Sohel yells, "SHUT UP."

Sohel silently just sits there for the next 30 minutes thinking about what he should do.

09:00

Artemis Control room

Everyone in the Bravo squad was anxiously sitting in the control room. Sohel enters the room and says, "Princess, get ready to take off. We're going on a rescue mission."

Annabelle excitedly replies with a happy face, "On it, Captain." Annabelle goes to the control panel and starts getting ready for take-off. Sohel again says, "In this combat mission, I might have to order all of you to do things that might get us in trouble later. Would you still accompany me?"

Jacob says while trying to contain his joy, "Now, that was what I've been waiting to hear all this time."

Mitali says, "As long as it's to save the poor kid, I'll do anything."

Naomi says, "Every one of us here knows you won't order us to do anything inhumane. We believe in you."

Sohel smiles as everyone's reactions reassure him.

A few minutes later they take off and reach Vinton. Sohel orders Annabelle to keep the altitude and send a drone to observe the situation. They then follow them to Holly Beach. While following them ARIA says, "Captain, Major Shadow wants to speak."

Sohel leaves the control room and enters the briefing room. Sohel asks ARIA to connect the call to the briefing room's speakers and after ARIA confirms that the call's connected he says, "Ghost here. What did you find?"

"Looks like Stone has taken Flynn's father hostage. He's in a yacht a mile off the coast of Holly Beach."

"Can you rescue him?"

"You're asking me to infiltrate a yacht full of hostiles?"

"Please. Can you do it?"

"I'll try."

"Thanks."

12:30

Holly Beach, Louisiana

Sohel cuts the call and gets back to the control room. He asks, "What about the bogeys?"

Princess answers, "They've stopped at the Holly Beach. But...…."

"What is it?"

"I'd better show you this."

Annabelle relays the drone feed to one of the monitors. As Sohel sees Luna get shot he orders, "Everyone, get ready. We're landing. Blast, man the M134 Gatling gun. Princess, descend us to 100 meters off the ground."

Everyone starts acting as they are ordered. Sohel too wears his helmet and takes his XM17 in his hand.

Annabelle says, "Captain, We'll be reaching your designated position in 5 seconds."

Sohel orders Jacob, "Blast, as soon as we get in position, open fire on the ground. But be sure not to hit Luna."

"Got it, boss."

Annabelle sees Jacob smiling from ear to ear and says, "Oy, battle junkie. Be sure to avoid Luna."

Jacob gets irritated and answers, "You make sure to keep the aircraft stable."

Annabelle replies, "You don't have to tell me that. I'm in position, fire away."

Jacob opens fire on the beach. His bullet spray takes down many armed guards right away. The others take cover behind the cars. Jacob doesn't stop until the barrel of the gun overheats. Sohel then says, "Blast, use the 40mm cannon and fire a few smoke screens on the ground, then take your LMG. Princess, land us in the smoke screen once it's in action. Once we land, Medusa and Blast will focus on taking out the tangoes. Mitali, you're with me. We'll take back Luna."

Everyone yells in sync, "Yes, captain."