The motorboat sped towards the yacht's rear. Karl looked at his watch and the speed meter.
"5 minutes to engine cutting! Divers, standby!"
Louis and Eddie sat at the edges of the motorboat, activating the underwater propulsion module on their Exo-suits.
"Go!"
They dived into the water, disappearing under the waves, not one bubble nor break in waves seen.
Soon, the boat reached a distance that they can reach by paddling. Karl cut the engine, and the automated speed boat started to travel forward by inertia, they took paddles and paddled quickly yet quietly towards to the yacht.
In the meantime, Louis and Eddie has reached the rear of the yacht, looking out of the water.
"Report on deck situation," radioed Louis.
On the helicopter far away, Vera observed with her monocular.
"All clear!"
Louis and Eddie launched grappling hooks from their Exo-suits, which magnetically stabbed into and locked into the exterior of the yacht. Giving a pull to ensure that the chord is tight, Louis and Eddie hoisted themselves out of the water and onto the yacht, climbing on the exterior to the deck.
The peeked out from the edge of the deck, looking to see if there are any "pirates" on the deck. Seeing no one in sight, Louis launched a mini drone from his Exo-suit into the air, the size, shape and colour of a seagull. It has been programmed to hover around the yacht and relay heat signature imagery back to the team. A while later, a grey top view of the yacht appeared on the HUDs of the cadets, with white dots representing "pirates" and "hostages" and red dots representing them.
They see that 2 "pirates" are approaching the rear of the deck from the interior, walking away from their fellow "pirates". Louis and Eddie raised their suppressed pistols.
2 clean shots later the 2 "pirates'" have a faint yellow smoke coming out of their Exo-suits. Louis and Eddie flipped onto the deck, forming a perimeter.
"Infiltration successful," Louis reported. He and Eddie switched to their main weapons, alertly looking forward. The rest of them hoisted themselves up behind them using grappling hooks, all 7 of them gathered on the rear deck, all of their guns equipped with suppressors.
Clara, Eddie and Erika broke off from them, heading down to the cabins towards the engine room. They did so in a backward triangle search formation, with Eddie and Clara each covering 60 degrees of their front right and front left respectively, while Erika covered their rear.
Sean squeezed Ariel on her shoulder, entering the upper structure, heading to the bridge in forward search position. Ariel covering 60 degrees front left, Sean front right, Louis front left and Karl rear. Instead of aiming down their optics, they chose to point and shoot, as looking through the optics will greatly obstruct their vision in the already crammed environment.
A "pirate" stepped out, Ariel shot him, then Louis followed up with a second shot. The 4 cleared through each level of the ship quickly and carefully, using the feed from the drone to alert them to "pirates" around them and get ready to engage before they appear, and soon the levels are filled with trails of yellow smoke.
They have entered the bridge level, much narrower than the other levels, hence switching to pistols. At Karl's command, the team split into 2, surrounding the bridge from both sides.
Sean swapped to his rifle, raising it over slightly, careful to ensure that the muzzle is out of sight, pointing the optic at the interior, acting as a corner shot system. He observed that the "pirates" have barricaded themselves in the bridge, and forcing the "hostages" to surround them and separate them from the windows, forming a human shield.
"4 pirates, 12 hostages, crammed like sardines inside," he reported.
"All stations attention, attack simultaneously," ordered Karl. "Snipers do you copy?"
"Copy!" replied Albert, observing the situation through his monocular on the helicopter, his AXMC sniper rifle hanged at the door.
"You guys good to strike?" Karl asked.
"What are the odds like?" Albert asked Vera who is analysing the data presented to her by the fire control AI of the red dot sight and magnifier combo of her AK-12M1.
"There strong erratic wind near the bridge area, wind speed around 50, to ensure the shot is not botched by the wind, we need to be 120m out from the bridge at least," she reported.
"We will begin engagement in 10 seconds, over!" yelled Albert, readying his sniper rifle.
"Standby," ordered Karl. "Final 5 minutes countdown."
Just then, sound of machine gun fire is heard in their headsets. Alarmed, Karl immediately radioed Clara.
"We have engaged!" reported Clara, returning fire at the "pirates" in the pitch black engine room with Erika, covering Eddie to a secured position. Eddie then did the same, covering Clara and then Erika.
Faint gunshots can now be heard at the top deck. Sean gulped, knowing that they have to strike now.
"Go!" ordered Karl. Sean and Louis deployed their battering rams.
"Action, action!" yelled Albert at the pilot. The helicopter charged forward at full speed. He aimed into his scope.
"Windspeed 30!" reported Vera.
Albert loaded a specialised glass breaking bullet, breathing in quick beats to slow down his heart rate.
The helicopter soon arrived in front of the bridge; he quickly scanned the human wall in front for an opening.
"Bang!" Albert the trigger.
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 Karl and Ariel to open fire with their pistols.
3 crisp suppressed shots of 9mm later, the 4 charged in, Sean charging behind Karl, keeping his pistol pointed forward while maintaining trigger discipline, taking control of the situation.
"UN! EVERYONE GET DOWN!" ordered Ariel, while Louis and Karl checked the 4 "pirates" with smoking Exo-suits.
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 his IR laser on his FN P90 through the night vision on his helmet. "We are pinned down!"
"We need to cut the power!" radioed Karl. "2 minutes left!"
Clara barely dodged a bullet, returning fire. "They have cut us off from the transformer! New plan is to cut off the oil valves!"
"Erika, on me! Eddie suppressive fire!" she ordered.
Eddie emptied his 50-round magazine, reloading, while Clara and Erika broke contact and headed for the oil valves.
"One above you, one in front of you," said Erika, scanning the area. Clara gave her a nod and readied herself.
Clara then dashed forward, gunning down the "pirate" in front with her HK-416. The one above tried to shoot her, only to be taken out by a quick burst fire from Erika's SG-552.
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.
Erika fired, forcing the remaining "pirates" to an area, which Eddie 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 yacht's propellers stopped spinning, coming to a halt on the ocean— just in time.
(3 hours later)
4 more cadets are eliminated from the course by the end to the day's training. Sean looked at the new flag pole at their main camp which is now littered with helmets of the jungle camo used in South Africa, the ocean camouflage helmets used for the HALO jump and swimming segment, and the black helmets used for the VBSS. Due to the sheer force of today's regimen, from HALO jump to PT to armed swimming to VBSS, today is also the first time which a cadet had voluntarily quit, unable to bear the harsh training anymore.
All the cadets are demoralised consequently, worried that they may be the ones to break next, especially for Sean.