After the loading was completed the previous day, Mark handed Sernechevich a letter containing GPS coordinates and a radio channel, instructing him to navigate the ship to that location after leaving South African waters. Mark himself returned to Durban that evening to join the rest of the team aboard the yacht *Gramma* for their rendezvous.

The meeting point for the two vessels was located 230 nautical miles from the South African coast, just outside the country’s exclusive economic zone. Thanks to the widespread adoption of the Automatic Identification System (AIS), Mark had been able to track the *Cristo*’s position and course using the yacht’s electronic chart as soon as they left shore. Since the yacht was faster than the cargo ship, they caught up before sunset despite the *Cristo* having departed half a day earlier.

At 5:25 p.m., the crew aboard *Gramma* visually confirmed the *Cristo*’s position, and Mark immediately activated the yacht’s high-frequency radio.

After establishing contact, he asked Sernechevich to scan the surrounding waters with radar. Once they confirmed there were no other vessels nearby, *Gramma* approached from the *Cristo*’s rear right.

The weather wasn’t favorable that day; thick clouds covered the sun, and the wind picked up shortly after noon. Whitecaps churned across the sea, battering *Gramma*, which, with a displacement of less than 50 tons, rocked heavily in the waves.

After several failed docking attempts, Mark instructed Sernechevich to turn the ship around and take advantage of *Cristo*’s towering hull to block the wind. *Gramma* approached from the other side this time.

After more than twenty minutes of effort, *Gramma* finally docked alongside the *Cristo*. Sernechevich, the Serbian first officer, directed several deckhands to lower a rope ladder. Mark and Jansen led the way, climbing aboard.

Watching the others board the cargo ship, Keith gave a few instructions to the captain of *Gramma* before climbing up the ladder himself. When he rented the yacht, he had signed a two-week lease with the yacht company. According to the agreement, the yacht would remain offshore, waiting for his instructions. If the coup failed, they would first evacuate to the *Cristo* by helicopter, then transfer to the yacht in international waters to return to South Africa, while the African soldiers would return to Cabinda aboard the cargo ship.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

In 1774, the same year as the First Continental Congress, a British ship called *Europa* discovered this small island in the Mozambique Channel, and the island was named after it.

However, British control didn’t last. In 1897, the French occupied the island, and since then, Europa Island has been part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, becoming an overseas French territory in Africa.

Europa Island covers less than eighteen square miles. Though most of the land is vegetated, it holds no economic value, and the barren soil isn’t suitable for farming. There’s a lagoon of about five square miles, but the water is too shallow, and the surrounding coral reefs make constructing the harbor is hard , depriving it even of potential as a haven harbor.

The French placed little importance on this island, which lacked both economic and strategic value. They stationed no troops or bases, only setting up a small outpost staffed by a guard team of fewer than ten personnel to assert sovereignty and protect the island’s weather station.

As the sun tinted the eastern sea golden, the outpost on Europa Island was bustling, with the guards stationed there hurriedly packing their bags.

In the captain’s office, Henri Allain unlocked the gun cabinet and took out two MAS-49/56 rifles. These rifles, half a century old, were spotless except for a few small scratches on the stocks, looking almost as new as when they were first produced.

He placed the rifles in a black travel bag, then stuffed in the magazines, bullets, and maintenance tools from the gun cabinet, and zipped it up. However, due to the bag's small size, two barrels protruded from the zipper.

Allain, the commander of the Europa Island guard unit, managed the outpost along with his five subordinates. Born and raised in Africa, Allain serve in the French Border Police. Whether to avoid provoking the Malagasy government or simply because they didn’t want to post soldiers on this barren island, all the guards were from the border police, with personnel rotated every two months, drawn from the Réunion Provincial Police Headquarters.

Yesterday afternoon, the outpost received a faxed order from the Réunion Provincial Police Headquarters, instructing the personnel on Europa Island to evacuate immediately. They were to take all government seals and official documents and transport the radio equipment back to Réunion.

This wasn’t unusual; since the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, authorities had put emergency response plans in place for typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters, including the evacuation of personnel stationed on remote islands. But this time, Allain hadn’t received any notice from the meteorological department, and the order wasn’t issued by the Réunion provincial government or the national police headquarters in Paris but directly from the French Ministry of the Interior.

At 7 a.m., a C-160 transport plane from the Saint-Denis Air Force Base landed on Europa Island, ready to take the guards back to Réunion.