The bullet smashed into the glass, narrowly sweeping past a "hostage" and hitting a "pirate", yellow smoke rising from his Exo-suit.
Getting their signal, Sean and Louis swung at the doors of their respective sides, smashing the doors open and immediately moving out of the way, allowing Carl and Ariel to open fire with their pistols.
In the meantime, a C4 charge blew the wall of the canteen open as Giorgio and others charged in, flashbangs thrown and guns blazing.
At the bridge, after crisp suppressed shots of 9mm the 6 charged in, Sean charging behind Carl, keeping his pistol pointed forward while maintaining trigger discipline, taking control of the situation.
"UN! EVERYONE GET DOWN!" ordered Ariel, wildly gesturing at the hostages while Erika and Carl checked the 4 "pirates" with smoking Exo-suits, kicking their guns aside. Louis moved to the control panel, while Ariel and Sean kept their pistols raised scanning the hostages for any surprises.
Giorgio's voice came in from the headsets, notifying that they had secured the canteen.
"Why do you sound like you are hurt?" asked Ariel.
"Don't worry…" grimaced Giogio as he glared at the "pirate" standing next to him puffing yellow smoke. That instructor had ambushed him when he was breaching in and sprained his hand in the scuffle that ensued.
Ensuring the area is under control, Louis proceeded to stop the vessel, finding out to his shock that the controls have been sabotaged, just as Sean had worried about.
"Eddie, how are things down there?" radioed Louis, panicked.
"Not good!" replied Eddie, shooting in the direction pointed by the IR laser of his PEQ15 laser sight mounted on his Ultimax 100 MK9 machine gun through the night vision on his helmet. "We are pinned down!"
"We need to cut the power!" radioed Carl. "2 minutes left! Giorgio send reinforcements!"
Clara barely dodged a bullet, returning fire. "They have cut us off from the transformer! New plan is to cut off the oil valves!"
"You stay here and lookout!" she ordered the other cadet with them. "Eddie suppressive fire!" she ordered.
Eddie opened fire, raining 40 rounds of 5.56 on the enemy, pinning them back. He and Clara bolted forward while the other cadet covered them, firing his rifle in controlled bursts.
Clara and Eddie readied themselves behind a machinery.
"One above you, one in front of you," said Eddie, scanning the area. Clara gave him a nod and readied herself.
Clara then dashed forward, gunning down the "pirate" in front with her with her KAC KS-3 rifle, while Eddie aimed into his Leupold LCO holographic sight and 3x magnifier combo, gunning down the one.
Clara slid behind the machine closet housing the oil valves, barely avoiding the gunfire from the other "pirates" who had stopped firing at Eddie and directed attention to her.
Eddie fired, forcing the remaining "pirates" to an area, which the other cadet finished off with a grenade. All the white dots on their HUDs except for those that represented the "hostages" are gone now. Clara then cut off the oil supply. Soon, the container ship 's propellers stopped spinning, coming to a halt on the ocean— just in time.
The cadets heaved a sigh of relief.
(Night time)
Sean settled down on his bunk, waiting for the lights to cut in half an hour's time.
"I feel weird still," he said, "something does not feel right."
After the VBSS exercise, the cadets went through another round of PT and military theory lessons.
The last segment was a parachuting exercise. The cadets were first briefed through on the basics of parachuting, went with simulation pods, then jumped and parachuted off a tower, all too familiar to them considering their past military experiences before the selection course.
And now, the cadets had just returned from the last part of the parachuting exercise where they did jump off a flying light cargo plane, all straightforward. Following which dinner is served.
"The instructors actually prepared a gourmet dinner for us, quality matching that of 4-star hotel buffets, and there was no catch this time like with the bugs…" he said.
"I agree with you," said Albert. After all their daily intake of calories normally is just barely enough to keep them through the arduous training, not to mention being food-deprived and sleep-deprived from time to time.
Eddie groaned, "wah lao eh, you 2 had been suffering from persecutory delusion since dinner was served, you jokers barely touched your plates, though I really want to say thank you as your generosity allowed the girls, Louis and I to get extra servings. Besides, so what if it is really a scam? At least we have filled stomac—"
The emergency gathering whistle interrupted him. The 4 of them immediately sprang out of bed, changing into uniforms and grabbing their assault backpacks, charging out of the dormitory into the gathering area.
The rain mercilessly peppered on them. The rainfall itself is not heavy, what made it appear so is the strong wind, sending all of the loose straps on the cadets and their hair swaying wildly.
Instructors Reza, Nanami and Maia waited for them, dressed in Exo-suits.
Reza looked at his watch. "Head to the armoury, get in Exo-suits and full gear! Move!"
The cadets finished gearing up and re-assembled. The instructors led them into a cargo plane, which took off among the heavy rain and occasional thunder and lightning.
"Parachutes and oxygen tanks?" Ariel exclaimed, finding them under the seats.
The instructors remained silent throughout the plane ride, ignoring any questions posted by the curious cadets. Sean looked at the altitude meter, finding to his shock that they are flying at an altitude of 10,700m. He peeked out of the cabin window, finding them flying above the clouds in the dark night, with occasional lightning.
"Alright!" announced Nanami. "It's now 00.00 hours. Today's training begins! The first segment, HALO jump!"
"WHAT?!" exclaimed the cadets in shock. HALO jumping is an insertion tactic for armed forces to deploy stealthily, in which aircraft will fly at heights above the reach of anti-aircraft batteries and radars, then parachutists will free-fall at terminal velocity until reaching a low altitude at around 900m, the opening their parachutes.
"So, this is the catch," mused Sean. To do such an extreme training after a fulling dinner is real torture.
"Ma'am, we have just eaten, are you sure we are going to HALO jump?" asked a cadet.
"If you can't do it you can quit!" retorted Maia. "Anyone who gets cold feet is eliminated!"
"Your jump coordinates are in your HUD already, follow the instructions. Herbert is waiting for you all there. You will be scored and ranked based on arrival time!" continued Nanami as the instructors wore their parachutes and oxygen tanks.
"Check your oxygen and parachutes, we will decompress soon!" ordered Reza.
The cadets grabbed their parachutes and locked them onto their back modules magnetically, then pulled out the hose from the oxygen tank, connecting it to their helmets, and then mounting it on the slots.
"Cabin decompression in 3…2…1…"
The red light in the cabin changed to green, and the cadets activated their oxygen tanks, for soon there will be no atmosphere to breathe at such a high altitude once the cabin depressurised. The plane then swapped to VTOL mode, hovering.
The door opened, and the cadets saw the booming lightning of the clouds below, all of them subconsciously taking a step back in fear.
Nanami readied herself, preparing to jump. "I need 3 kind sweethearts to start things off with me! Anyone?"
All of the cadets stood in silence. "Then we will allocate! Numbers 9, 42 and 4!" ordered Maia.
Sean feels like he is being targeted against. He is not exactly a strong parachuter.
He inched forward to the door, his mood akin to that of a death row inmate heading to the electric chair. Erika is not any better, heart beating out of their rib cages. Being an Assault Pathfinder of the UNSSD Air Force, she is used to HALO jumping and other more extreme air insertion methods. But this? To do a HALO jump under such weather conditions and a stuffed belly? That is real torture.
Louis on the other hand is scared. The Lita boy only had basic parachuting and HALO simulation pods experiences back when he was with the Marines. In theory he knows what to do. In practice he is like someone who is raised on arcade racing games asked to drive a manual car.
Nanami activated her night vision, jumping off the plane. Sean breathed in and out, activating his night vision, seating down at the edge of the plane, trying to push himself off yet his hands stubbornly kept themselves on the plane. He breathed a huge gulp of air, mustering enough strength to finally push off, free-falling into the midnight air of South Africa.
Erika jumped after Sean, while Louis remained frozen, hesitant.
A forceful kick from Maia then sent him off the plane, screaming.
Sean spread out his arms, slowing down and controlling his descent through openings in the clouds to avoid lightning, his eyes also fixed on the altitude meter.
"Altitude, 9000m."
He followed the directions on his HUD, keeping his limbs spread out, reaching the terminal velocity of around 203 km/h.
"Altitude 5000m."
"Altitude 2000m."
Sean turned around, seeing Louis and Erika approaching him. The 3 continued their descent together, directing towards the landing area.
"Take it easy, all parachuting logic is the same, follow us," reassured Sean, trying to placate Louis down.
In the meantime, Nanami had reached optimal height, opening her parachute, gracefully guiding herself to the landing area, landing and stopping after a short run.
"How was it?" asked Herbert. Nanami tidied up her parachute. "The usual, the first group should be arriving soon."
"Altitude 920m, deploy, deploy!"
Louis pulled his parachute, to his horror, the parachute did not open. Calming down, he pulled the handle to eject his main parachute, only to find to his horror again that the chord is tied up, he is unable to pull it.
Panicked, he flailed his arms, wildly, getting the attention of his peers who stopped opening their parachutes and immediately glided over, assisting him.
"CALM DOWN!" roared Erika. "Get to your cutaway procedure, you fish brain!"
Louis arched, getting his body position correct for the cut away procedure.
Erika deployed her parachute to buy time, grabbing onto Louis's legs, while Sean helped Louis with his snagged chord. The warning on his HUD blared loudly as his altitude got lower and lower, dangerously close to the minimum threshold. If he did not open his parachute before then, the parachute will be useless in slowing his fall, and he will fall to his death at terminal velocity.
"Deploy! Deploy!"
"Hurry up!" yelled Erika anxiously. If Sean and Louis are unsuccessful, she will be forced to break off as her parachute cannot slow all 3 of them down.
Sean and Louis grunted, trying their best to untangle the chord.
At the last minute, Sean untied the chord. Louis immediately ejected his main parachute and his reserve parachute unfolded, spreading out like a giant white sheet, while Sean broke off and quickly deployed his parachute in the nick of time. He is rapidly pulled back, feeling as if he came to an abrupt stop in the air. The 3 heaved a sigh of relief, guiding their descent down to the landing area, maintaining their caution, scared that another accident will happen.
Upon landing the 3 of them collapsed onto the floor, breaking out in cold sweat and shaking uncontrollably, especially Sean and Louis, recounting their close call with death.
"My feet is cold..." muttered Sean.
"Literally or figuratively?" asked Louis, panting.
"Both," replied Sean.
"Real droll," replied Louis. "Too…close…" he muttered, gagging and almost throwing up from fright and nausea of eating a full meal. Sean generated a block of ice and placed it on his hand to calm himself down, with Louis doing the same. The coldness of the block helping to numb their fright and return them to their senses.
Upon recovering, they stood up, removing their helmets to wipe their sweats, then tidying up their parachutes and reporting to Nanami and Herbert.
A while later, Eddie, Ariel and Vera landed, taking a longer duration than Sean's group. Upon landing, they threw off their helmets, vomiting uncontrollably at one side. Eating extra servings, heavy motion sickness from HALO jumping together with fear made them sick to the core.
"Should…have…listened to…them…" groaned Ariel, regretting being too naïve. Ariel and Vera uncomfortably packed their gear and reported to Herbert and Nanami.
Nanami's nose visibly scrunched at the sight of the 3 cadets throwing up.
Seeing their friends in such a state, Sean and Louis immediately patted them on their backs to make them feel better, while Sean gave them "I told you so" smirks.
"Who's having persecutory delusion now?" asked Sean, prompting Eddie to slap him in the arm.
Vera coughed, leaning onto Ariel for support. She glared at the instructors who are looking at them, amused.
"I shouldn't…have…trusted…you…all."