April 17, 2056

It's been close to an hour since we landed, and after trekking across pitch-blackness with our NODS, we finally reached the compound. It's well illuminated and by the looks of it way more active than I thought it would have been. Even from our vantage point, I can make out dozens of shadows moving about inside along with the sounds of rumbling engines and the thumping of crates being loaded into trucks.

"That's a lot of Feds." A shard next to me whistles.

"They won't be a problem if you all do your jobs." Macy reinstates before checking the time on her watch.

There's not a definite time, but around the first light is when the Rams are going to initiate their raid on the compound. That gives us plenty of time, but you can never be too careful, especially in this situation. There can always be the potential of the raid being moved up. At most, we have four hours to extract out of here with extra time to spare and with those standards we'll already be on the Carrier by the time the Rams arrive.

"Flash, start setting up Overwatch positions with your team. My squad get ready to advance on my signal," she says before turning to us, "And from this point on we'll be switching to our aliases. For the life of you, don't slip up."

"Copy that, Mourning Dove," Flash replies with a wink before moving away with his team.

"That's not my- whatever, Stormbirds let's get moving."

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The two-man patrol goes down with a low thud as my squad approaches the compound's outer perimeter wall.

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Sticking right behind her, Macy moves parallel to the wall until coming upon a closed door. She crouches and motions us to stay quiet before shortly turning the handle and slowly peering her head inside.

After a few seconds, she gives us the all-clear signal as hastily make our way inside and into a narrow dark alley. The buildings surrounding us spew out the voices of numerous Feds conversing amongst each other.

"Jacana, can you make out any of voices?" Macy turns to me.

It takes me a moment to realize she's talking to me.

"Some of it, but it's hard to focus on a single voice," I whisper back.

"Alright, let's keep moving towards the HQ building."

Slowly but surely, we make more ground inside the compound just Macy motions for us to get down. We do so but she remains standing and pulls out a knife from her leg.

Soon enough, I hear footsteps approaching and what seems to be a female voice humming. She passes the alley and that's when Macy snatches her and plunges the knife into her neck while putting a hand over her mouth. She struggles and lets out a muffled whimper before going limp in Macy's arms.

She's laid down in the alley and that's when we move from our alley to another which connects to HQ. Peeking through the window, we peer into the large lit room packed to the brim with Feds. They stand together as a man in an officer uniform and an orange beret stands above them while speaking to them.

"Is that him?"

"No. It's just some high-ranking officer by the looks of it." Macy states, examining a photo of Shuan that we got from Atlis.

Based on it, he's on the taller side, broad build, with blue eyes and short black hair. The photo itself was taken a while ago but it's enough to identify him even if he has grown his hair out or some facial hair. That and apparently his UnHoly affiliation would cause us Shards to feel a sense of sickness come over us.

"Ok. So where do we find our little friend then?" a shard asks.

Frost scans inside while replying to him. "Feds are entering and leaving the main building in large numbers, too many for just a three story. My guess is that this compound extends below the ground and that's where Shaun is."

"So, we go through the front door yeah?" he says sarcastically.

Frost shakes his head and gets up to walk to a section of our building. He grabs a handle and pulls it up, revealing a hatch that leads to a tunnel.

"Saw it earlier, with some luck this will lead inside the HQ." He explains with confidence and with that we enter the cramped tunnel.

After walking for a couple of minutes through twists and turns, we eventually hit a metal door. Frost opens the door slightly and then enters with us following. The tunnel now turns into a large hallway with dim red lights placed on the walls. No soldiers are visible and it's eerily quiet compared to the noisy topside. Add to the fact that's no way to tell how deep we are.

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"Anyone else getting the chills from this place?

"Don't tell me you're getting anxious now, are you?"

"I feel it too..." I say next.

I can't pinpoint it, but I can feel it in my stomach.

"Didn't the briefing mention this base being abandoned due to the soldiers stationed here mentioning about strange anomalies?"

"Yeah, it's very spooky. Now let's going before the ghosts alert them of our presence." Macy rolls her eyes before turning right into the hall.

We follow close behind, guns raised as we navigate through the never-ending hall. It's been half an hour down here, yet it feels like we haven't moved at all. The overview shot we saw of this base didn't do justice to the actual size and complexity of it.

After another ten or so minutes of nothing, we finally come across a slightly brighter area where two adjacent doors produce muffled voices coming from within. We halt when one of the voices suddenly begins to grow louder along with a set of footsteps.

"Что ни говори. Я поднимаюсь наверх, чтобы подышать воздухом." The door opens and a man exits only to be tackled as soon as he spots us.

Two more Shards pass me and enter the room he came out of and kill the remaining Feds inside without a hitch.

"Room cleared. No gold," One of them say and exit back into our hallway where Frost is on top of the man with the barrel of his gun pressed against head.

"Stay quiet or your brains will end up splattered on this floor," he says to him.

"Okay! Okay! Don't kill me." He begs and stops resisting. "Who are you guys?"

"Wouldn't you like to know. Get up." He gets off of him and brings him to his feet, keeping his gun on him at all times.

"Where is Shuan Dorosh?"

"Huh? He's not here." He tells Frost.

"Oh really? Then I guess we don't need you." Frost begins to take him into the room with his dead friends and that's when the Fed cries for him to stop.

"Enough with the bullshit. We know he's here. Take us to him."

The Fed complies and starts leading us.

After some walking in silence, he stops in front of another door with a light emitting from beneath. Here is also where that feeling I felt earlier comes on stronger.

"He should be in there. It's where he normally is, I promise." He says, his voice quivering.

Macy leans her head on the door and listens to the voices inside. We wait a second until she looks back and confirms the voice. Our man is inside.

"Good work. Looks like you kept your word." Frost says and pulls back the barrel of his gun off the man's head.

"Thank you! So can I-" He's cut off when Frost's knife slices his throat, and he falls to the ground gagging.

"Stack up." Macy orders and we do as she says.

"At least three other targets but expect more. PID before shooting, we didn't come all this way just to put a bullet through him."

Macy is first on the door and turns to us with a breaching maneuver gesture. I take place as the third inline and await the countdown. With her hand, Macy lowers each finger until they're all down and with a kick, tosses in a flashbang as the room explodes with a blinding light.

They move in and when I finally enter three Feds are already down as I scan around the room before locking on to a Fed holding onto their head. I aim in and fire, striking them through their torso. Another two fall quickly as well, leaving only one man left in the middle of the room, somehow unfazed by the bang.

He stands staring at a screen that takes up an entire wall, displaying some sort of evacuation plan that leads into numerous areas into Rambell.

"Get your hands up!"

He slowly turns around showing his face. His face is also stern as he stares us down. Just this motion makes my stomach turn and my headache.

"Well... I wasn't expecting your company so soon." He says.

Frost takes a step closer and yells again, "I said hands up!"

He complies and raises them.

"On your knees, now! Don't try anything or a bullet goes through your head."

"I was expecting more of an entrance, but this still works." He gets on his knees and that's when two shards rush him and take him to the ground.

They zip tie his hands and put a black bag over his head. He doesn't even struggle.

The Shards pull him up and that's when Macy approaches him. "Cooperate and this will go much smoother."

Shaun chuckles under the bag. "Of course, I was planning on it."

Just as Macy orders for us to start exfilling, a voice comes blaring over her radio.

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Soon after this, an explosion rocks the building and then another as the screen begins to flicker.

"What's going on up there?" Macy asks into the radio.

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Through the radio, we can hear the rotors of helicopters and the echoes of gunshots in the background.

"What!? It's too soon though!"

Shaun raises his head. "Rambell? Then who the hell are you all-" He's pushed through the door we came through as I follow the group out and that's when another explosion shakes the ground beneath us.

"On the double! Move it!" Macy yells as we run through the hallway. "Fire upon anyone who sees us. Ram or Fed."

My heart's beating fast as we finally come upon the metal door and begin to make our way back to the surface. After a while, we reach the hatch where an orange glow emits from the outside. Once outside, gunshots can be heard all around us and fire can be seen blazing on various buildings and watchtowers.

They've attacked way ahead of schedule. Helicopters are passing over us and Feds are scrambling in every direction. And that's just an assumption because in the dark there's no telling who is who in here.

We keep running, avoiding spots of light as we near the entrance that we came in through. We're almost there when a squad comes around a corner and face first into us. We both immediately raise our weapons as the other squad begins shouting commands.

"Бросайте оружие! Сделай это сейчас!!" One of them yells and that's when the voice hits me.

It can't be... can it?

"Comply or be shot!" He yells again and now I'm sure of it.

It's Nik and his Sentinels. Out of everyone we could've ran into, it had to be him...

No one's fired a shot yet as we look over to Macy. There are probably a million things going through her head, but she keeps silent as the Sentinels continue to yell at us. They'll recognize us by the sounds of our voices but there's no telling what they'll do once they find out that we have Shuan in custody. It could end up with us getting into a gunfight with the same allies we made in the hunt against the Feds.

I don't think any one of us knows what to do, but what I do know is that someone needs to make the first move.

"Пиромант! Бежать! Бежать-"

A shout makes both our squads turn towards a road in the base where a Rambell soldier is soon set ablaze and sent flying into a wall. Following behind him, a familiar looking Fed comes around the corner, sprouting flames from their weapon as they lock their sight onto us.

"Die! Die! Die! You will all perish under the name of the Lady!"

The Pyromancer's muffled screams takes us all back as he raises his gun, causing us to scatter as the stream of fire shoots towards us.

The first move was made.