"How long has it been?" M16 wondered aloud, staring up into the star filled sky above her.
The cool night air stirred gently with the wind, rustling the leaves and bushes all around her. The now familiar forest that surrounded her was alive with noise and movement, but nothing which brought any degree of anxiety to her anymore; she'd learned what was actually worth fearing in the nights here.
She felt perfectly comfortable as she wandered along a now beaten trail, weaving her way home. As she approached she noted a small camera affixed to a tree, set just above eye level, which peered out into the night. A second later she received a notification of movement, and on opening the snapshot that'd come with it, she saw herself staring back.
Good. she smiled in satisfaction and carried on.
A few dozen meters later, she came upon a familiar divot in the terrain set within a small clearing of the trees. Things had changed around here, even when viewed from above. A small black cable wove through the brush and ran up a nearby tree, disappearing into a small rectangular box with an antenna sticking up from it. The other end of the cable disappeared into the earth.
16 reached down and hefted a large wooden board, covered in camo netting and foliage which disguised the entrance to the bunker. Stepping down, 16 lowered the board back down atop her as she followed the cable into the earth, twisting around the concrete bends in the staircase before coming upon a simple metal rebar door.
Switching to IR, the interior past the door bloomed to life as she entered, the metal door squealing on its hinges. The old bunker, ZB-015, was still a mess. But slowly order was coming to it. Much of the concrete debris and trash which had once littered the floor was long gone, and in their place were tables, lockers, and a pair of old cots dressed with bedrolls and blankets. In the corner, still by the entrance, was the generator which hummed happily.
By dim IR light, 16 went around the room and began lighting the candles she'd placed on as many surfaces as possible. They did relatively little on their own, but a few dozen lit up at once, plus the single lamp which sat atop a messy work table, illuminated things quite nicely.
Warm flickering light filled her vision as 16 switched off IR, and slipped off her backpack. With the light, she began picking through and organizing the pack's contents, setting each item atop the worktable.
"Two dozen rounds, couple a' cans of beans, socks, boots, and a couple more tarps. Pluuuus twenty thousand rubles. Not bad eh? Jaeger paid well today!" she grinned, showing each item off to her only audience member.
M4' still form lay atop her cot, bundled in blankets. Of course her sister's eyes stayed closed, and her form motionless, but 16 didn't mind. She needed someone to share her exploits with.
16 pulled out one of her maps, one of a few she now possessed of different areas around. This one was a hiking trail map of the reserve, laced with trails and lookouts, accented with photos of the different wildlife a tourist may have once upon a time expected to see in the area.
"See, we started out here, watching those stupid bandits at the saw mill again. We were up there for hours, noting their patterns and stuff, you know, recon things. Jaeger would just not shut up though, seriously the guy went on for probably an hour about survivalist skills and keeping himself sharp in the tough times."
As she talked, 16 rummaged around in a nearby locker, grasping for a glass bottle within and popped the cap without looking. The old Cognac had become a good friend these last few weeks, but she noted in disdain that the liquid was nearing the bottom of the bottle.
"Agh, I'll need to get some more… anyway, so he gets carried away, of course, and then he asks me how good I am at rock climbing. I say 'eh, not one of my hobbies', and he straight up tells me that if I can climb down the mountain, he'll give me a bonus."
16 took a big swig from the bottle before continuing, "Bare in mind, the spot we're on, it's not a slope. It's pretty much a cliff. I think he's gotta be insane, but, well, why not. So I hopped over the edge and climbed my ass down. Honestly I wonder if he'd thought I would fall, I nearly did a few times, but I made it."
"How tall?" M4's voice asked over the radio.
"Ah, hey Dandelion. It was like, 100 feet? Nothing super crazy, but that woulda hurt to fall. Still, he congratulated me and I got these babies for a prize."
16 showed off the boots she'd won, a pair of brown leather hiking boots with steel toes. They were worn, but actually in her size. She'd noticed them in Jaeger's camp some time ago, in and amongst some of the other items they'd found, and had kept her eye on them since. She didn't know the brand, but they looked and felt solid.
She'd discarded her old boots long ago, the poor things were somewhere off in Tarkov city, and had been making due with some flat shoes she'd stolen from a hotel room. However those were hardly suited to the terrain she was in now.
"This Jaeger seems a bit eccentric."
Dandelion's transmission quality had improved some over the last few weeks as well. 16 had made working on M4's radio a priority, hopeful that even though it may take quite a while to get her sister back in action, she could at least talk to her. Sadly, M4 herself had yet to speak, if she even could, but Dandelion had grown chattier in her place.
"Yeah… He's old. Most likely doesn't know what is reasonable to expect from people anymore. I should probably stop enabling him."
"Indeed."
"Buuuut on the other hand, free stuff is nice."
"It sounds like you're his spoiled granddaughter."
16 shrugged. She began stowing away her gear, slipping off her camouflage jacket, securing her SKS in a spot near her cot, kicking off her shoes and stowing them beside her newly won boots by her bed.
"Haha, I do, don't I. Whatcha been up to by the way?"
"Not much. We only just got back to base. Things are a mess, so we're cleaning up. It's only been a few hours since we last talked."
M16 nodded. That was something she and Dande had noticed as well. Time was moving differently for the two of them. It had barely been a week since Paldiski back home, but for 16, it had been over a month now. Oddly whenever Dandelion was transmitting, things seemed to equalize for a while.
Thinking about it hurt her head, so instead M16 took another sip of cognac.
"I did look over the jamming signals you mentioned. I'm afraid it didn't not transition perfectly, but I was able to learn some interesting things about it."
M16 settled into a small wooden chair set beside the work table, which was opposite the cots. She then produced another of the maps from her growing stash, this one an old topographic map of a section of the coast line. Samoylov, or Mechanic as he seemed to go by increasingly, had provided it along with a request. Apparently someone had set up a jammer in the area, which was affecting his ability to communicate with the outside world. As such, he'd tasked her with investigating it.
M16 had been able to find the jamming signal with her inbuilt transmitters, and had asked Dandelion to see if she could figure out who may have set it up and if it could be beaten.
"It isn't military, as far as I can tell, but is high end for the times. You wouldn't be able to beat it electronically with your EW suite."
"Really? That well defended?"
"No, it's simply too powerful. A matter of scale. This would be useful in blocking out entire regions from communicating. You simply cannot produce enough power to defeat it."
"I wonder if USEC would've set this up then."
"Perhaps. This 'Terra Group' you've mentioned may have the resources to set something like this up. I did not find any evidence of affiliation with anyone in the signal's contents, though perhaps inspection of the hardware would provide some clues."
"Any vulnerabilities?"
"Well, they still have to transmit the jamming signal, so it should be vulnerable to a physical attack."
"Like what? Should I blow up the transmitters?"
"That would work."
16 glanced back over at M4's still body, "Maybe I should ask Samoylov first before I torch it."
"That may be wise. However, locating the transmitters first may give an edge in negotiations."
"True. He did ask me to investigate them, more intel may mean better pay."
"Ever the capitalist."
"That'd be 45. I'm just desperate."
She leaned back, now staring up at the dark concrete ceiling above her. She listened to the howling winds, echoing through the doorway to the bunker.
"How's M4 by the way?"
" No updates. Diagnostics still look the same, vitals seem fine. There's only so much I can see and do on this end you know."
"Yeah I know."
"Have you considered taking Lunasia to your mechanic's location?"
"Well, yeah…" she muttered, "but getting her in there safely would be no easy feat, plus I still don't know if I trust him that much."
"Yet you allow him to perform repairs on you?"
"That's different. Plus I don't really have a choice, I need to fight and he's the only mechanic in town I know."
"If you say so."
16 rolled her eyes, and took another sip of cognac. Sadly, less of the burning liquid reached the lips than expected. A quick shake of the bottle confirmed her fears: she was finally out.
"Tch, damn." she growled, setting the bottle aside, "Whatever, I should get some sleep. Talk to you later Dandelion."
"Very well. Rest well."
Now effectively alone, 16 went around the room snuffing out the various candles, and after kicking off her socks and pants, she switched off the lamp on her work table and dove into her own cot.
"Night M4," she muttered, shutting her good eye.
By 10.00 the next morning, M16 was about half way to her destination. There weren't any good maps of the entire area, but she had enough intel to give a rough idea of how far away she was. For the most part, she was following the river which ran south towards the coast. The only trouble she'd seen so far had been near a warehouse district where a group of RUAF troops had set up a roadblock near the river. However, she was able to bypass them by carefully slipping underneath a bridge before moving on.
The soldiers seemed quite tense as she passed by, with manned gun positions and foot patrols moving with a purpose running around above her as she slipped by.
Otherwise, the trek proceeded in an uneventful manner. Occasionally she'd hear a pop of gunfire in the distance, or spot a few unknowns wandering near the far side of the river, but clinging to the trees and moving slowly let her go undetected.
When she believed she was getting close to her destination, 16 moved away from the river and up to the small paved road that ran alongside it, dashing across into the treeline on the far side and proceeding to follow the road. Not long after, it split, with one smaller path winding into the forest while the larger proceeded straight south.
She decided to follow the smaller path, as on her map of the coast she noted two roads, one smaller than the other, which entered into the region from the directions she was approaching. She figured that if anyone were watching the roads, they'd likely focus more on the larger of the two.
Through the trees, she noticed a wall blocking her path forward. This posed little issue, she could see a break in the wall just ahead with a large sliding metal gate which the road led straight to, but what was more disconcerting were a few small signs marked with skulls and crossbones between her and the wall.
Apparently someone had mined the approach.
Despite no signs being on the road itself, 16 decided prudence was called for.
"Hey, Jaeger, are you there?" she called on a designated frequency.
Moments later, the old man's voice crackled over the air waves, "Ah, Anna I presume. May I help you?"
"Yeah, I'm trying to get towards the coast, near the health resort, but it looks like someone mined the road next to the river. You know anything about that?"
"Oh I see, near the health resort you said? I've had a couple scouts report some military activity in the area, perhaps they did it."
"Do you know a way through?"
"Not through the mines, but you could perhaps take a path through the mountains instead."
16 looked up to her east, seeing that there was a small mountain nearby she could probably traverse. Probably a better way forward.
"Alright, thank you."
"No problem. Though while you're there, could you do me a favor?"
"Depends on what it is."
"Of course of course. I simply got word that some shady figures have been working in the area, and there is supposedly a dropoff set for tonight. I'd like you to see if you can find it, and get any information you can on who it's for and what it is."
"Aight, wilco."
"Excellent! It should be happening somewhere along the beach, near the docks, so be careful."
"Copy, thanks. Out."
With that, she signed off and began trekking off into the woods, making for this supposed mountain pass.
Sure enough, she did find such a trail not long after setting out for it. It was a snaking little dirt path leading up and back down the rocky mountain, depositing her along the bank of a canal. Said canal was marked on her map, as was the trail head on closer inspection, so she knew right where she was.
She was just north of the Health Resort, and the canal she was near ran right towards it before carrying on to the coast. This was a convenient location.
Up above was the Health Resort, set atop a hill overlooking her and ringed with a tall fence. From where she was, she could see a small break in the fence near the building closest to her, and according to her map there should be a way in from the far side as well.
16 opened her EW suite, and began monitoring the various signals pinging around the area. She found a few distinct bearings where the jamming signals were strongest. The nearest appeared to be coming from the health resort, or more accurately, from above it.
Given the angle, she didn't need to triangulate this one to figure its range, as any further than the health resort's roof would put it hundreds of feet in the air.
Still, she pursed her lips looking up at the imposing building. It was wide and tall, set atop a hill overlooking the entire approach with dozens of glossy windows peering down at her. It was like the building itself was glaring at her from a hundred eyes, daring her to try and approach it. Her thermals couldn't peer through the glass, so if someone were covering her approach, she'd find out when they opened fire.
Still, there was nothing for it. She had one entrance here and no intel on whether the front would be any better.
Carefully, M16 crept her way up the hill, hands wrapped around her SKS with her eye constantly scanning every window that could see her, looking for movement or silhouettes. She made it up to the break in the fence, pausing just below where she pressed herself up against the hillside to hide from any prying eyes.
So far so good. However now she had a new problem: she had no idea how to get onto the rooftop.
Presumably it could be accessed from within, probably at the top of a staircase located somewhere within the facility, but where such a stairway may be, and how to get to it, were all unknown.
"Looks like I've got no choice," she muttered.
After one last scan of the area, 16 dashed out of cover, up over the hill, past the break in the fence, and straight through the first door she found. Ripping the door open, she tumbled into the dark room beyond, lighting up her IR vision as she yanked the door closed behind her. She then trained her SKS on the nearest entrance to the room she now found herself in, and listened.
No movement, no commotion. There appeared to have been no reaction to her entrance at all. If there was anyone in this building, they hadn't noticed her, or didn't care.
She glanced around, getting her bearings. She was in a movie theater, with two exit doors on the sides near the screen, and two other exits that left out the rear. There were a few smashed lights, and a portable generator in the corner that looked beyond neglected, but no other signs of recent occupation.
This filled her with a little bit of hope, enough to get her back on her feet and moving towards one of the rear exits. All the while though, she kept herself as quiet as possible, and always looking and listening for any sign of life.
She stepped out into an entry lobby for the theater, complete with concessions and a ticket stand. Just past them though was a set of stairs, leading up and down from her floor. Upstairs appeared to lead into more hallways, likely offices, but downstairs was glowing with natural light.
Following the light, she was greeted by a wide set of double glass doors, which led out into a plant-filled courtyard which sat in the center of the health resort. To either side long glass halls stretch around the space, wrapping around it as if to give it a hug. At their ends, two three story tall blocks rose up, connected along their center by a sky bridge on the second floor.
Despite the wide open spaces and ample glass windows, 16 felt increasingly pressed in. So many angles, so many hiding places made her feel claustrophobic. Not to mention how dead quiet the building was; there was a stillness to the air that felt wrong. Nothing moved, nothing reacted, no sounds no smells no motion.
16 took a breath, steading herself, before turning east. Somewhere in this mausoleum was a way to the west building's roof, she had to find it.
She crept along towards the long glass hall to the building in question, staring down its long, open length for a while. Behind her a door led outside, a tempting warm breeze calling to her, but she needed to move. No matter how vulnerable moving along that hall felt, it was safer than moving outside. Even if only a little.
After a few minutes waiting and listening, scanning with every sensor for any sign of life in her vicinity, 16 made her move.
She dashed along the hall, gun swaying as she prepared to fire on an unknown, unseen foe popping out to engage her. However, as she crashed into the far wall, and quickly scrambled through a nearby open door into a supply closet that felt relatively safe, nothing came.
No bullets, no reaction.
Still, she waited a few minutes, huddled in a corner of a supply closet, rifle pointed at the still open door she'd just rushed through. Then, something caught her eye.
The room was filled with shelves, and on one near her eye level, she spied a strange object. It was blue, vaguely cylindrical with a black screw on top which looked like it could accept two hoses on either side. It was unmarked, and on picking it up 16 found it light.
"Water filter?" she mumbled under her breath. She then turned her head to scan the other shelves, and got up to begin collecting a few items as she noticed more and more little treasures.
Hoses, power chords, a few rolls of tape. All useful things. The water filter especially, she imagined Jaeger would have a tremendous need for these things. She wondered what she could exchange it for.
There was still no reaction to her movements, no one had shot at her, and she'd seen and heard nothing. Emboldened, and now seeing a new purpose to her visit beyond a simple errand, she began moving again.
Just outside the closet, she found two sets of stairs leading up. With a sigh of relief she began ascending the nearest, keeping her rifle pointed upwards and scanning ahead as she moved, but no longer going quite so slowly as she had been. Soon enough, she found herself on the third floor with no more stairs to climb, so instead set out along the floor to search for another.
The other set of stairs she'd seen also terminated at the third floor, but hoping that the far end would have different results, she set out along the hall. As she went, she noticed a lot of items cluttering the halls: boxes, canvas screens, and stacks of old computers that looked to have been halfway packed up before being abandoned. There was one thing bounding them all together though, as everything was labeled with the Terragroup logo.
There were dozens of doors lining both sides of the hall, each numbered sequentially, and the vast majority were locked tight. Not all though, and those still open she pillaged through in search of items to barter or sell, soon having a small trove of treasures, including med supplies, more hardware, and a few loose electronics
With a now heavy backpack, and increasingly determined to get this done, 16 made it to the end of the hall with little fanfare, and found her efforts rewarded as there was not only a staircase here too, but one which did lead upwards. So, she followed it up and out onto the east wing's roof, greeted by warm summer air and midday sun.
Not far off was a pair of satellite dishes, and according to her systems, the first source of this jamming signal. The equipment was unremarkable, appearing to just be a normal satellite dish. Perhaps it was connected to some equipment deeper in the facility, probably in a locked room, but she did not feel up to searching for it right now. 16 made a little mental note of the location, recording the coordinates, and then noticed a metal staircase nearby.
"Sonava…" she groaned. There had been a fire escape the whole time. Not visible from within the health resort, but if she'd stepped outside at any point she'd have found it right away and saved about fifteen minutes.
Still, better late than never. With the first signal found, she made her way down via the fire escape, cut back through the building and found a front exit. Here there was a check in desk with an ancient computer resting atop it. The computer was long dead, but in one of the desk drawers she found a little brochure of the resort, including a map.
16 stuffed three of said maps into her backpack, and carried on, leaving out the front door and jogging over towards the main road which led out of the resort grounds. She then crashed into the brushline, and hunkered down for a moment to plan her next move.
She'd been working on triangulating the last two signals whilst traversing the health resort, so she now had a decent idea of their direction and range. Now that she had a moment of relative calm, she pulled out her topographic map and began comparing.
They both appeared to correspond with a pair of hills just east of the canal that bisected the area, which she happened to be near at that time. The map made note of two facilities atop each hill, one of which she could see in the distance was a large weather radar and station.
The other was a bit further away, and appeared smaller. It was also in the opposite direction from where Jaeger had asked her to search for the drop, so she decided that she would hit this one up first, then loop back and hit the other two.
She folded the map back up carefully and tucked it into a jacket pocket before setting out into the trees.
Getting to the second signal source was relatively easy. The area was both heavily wooded and hilly, both of which made her feel quite secure from any would-be attackers. With her thermals active, she was hopeful that she could spot anyone before they saw her. However, as she clambered up the hill to the second signal's source, the only things she saw were wildlife.
The second signal was emitting from a radio tower, one wrapped in a barbed wire topped chain link fence. Since it was on her map, one which appeared to be a few years old and created by the local government, she assumed that the tower had been co-opted for the purpose of jamming rather than built for it. Certainly she couldn't see any physical evidence of the jamming signal, no hardware that looked out of place or anything.
With a shrug, 16 made note of it and moved on. From the hill, she could see the weather station in the distance. The quickest way to it though was through a wide open field surrounded by trees and hills. Dozens of places a gunman could wait, hide, and pop up to fire when she least expected. Her thermals weren't picking anything up, but hard won experience told her that assuming that meant there WAS nothing out there was foolhardy.
Instead, 16 took the long way. She wrapped around the field, slipping into small dips between hills and sticking to the trees, running across the few open areas she was forced to cross. She was always ready to receive fire, constantly scanning the hill tops and tree lines for motion or thermal signatures. However, the only things she heard and saw were fluttering birds and tree limbs saying in the wind.
Soon enough she began climbing her way up to the weather station, following a small road which wound its way up to the top. She found the weather station at its end, meeting in a breach in the chain link fence which surrounded the station.
The post consisted of two main structures, and a few smaller sheds as well as a few more satellite dishes and other assorted equipment and dead vehicles. The main structure was a two story red brick building at the end of the road. Beside it was the weather radar tower, which stretched well up above the main building and was topped with a large radar dome.
Quickly and carefully, 16 rushed into the main building's front entrance, and proceeded to clear it from top to bottom. She found the bottom story empty, and consisting mainly of living quarters, while the top was a server and data room which she presumed controlled the radar and dishes outside. There was no sign of recent occupation, which set her mind at ease. There were two windows on the upper floor, one looking north over the rest of the station and one looking east.
She was quite certain which of the dishes outside was transmitting the jamming signal, looking out the south window she could see one which lined up near perfectly with her triangulation's estimates, so she recorded that. Now though, she was more interested in the server room, as she'd noticed that the electronics in here were not all dead.
In fact, they were all active. There was no computer which was plugged into them, but that was of little concern to her. 16 unslung her bag and rifled through until she found a thick bundled cord, and a series of makeshift adapters. She selected two different adapters, placing them on the leads of the chord, and slipped one into the back of her neck before pressing the other into one of the rack's input/output ports.
A connection was bridged, and data began to flow. The server demanded a password, but she paid no mind as her EW suite was able to cut into the archaic firewall with ease. She was in.
Her initial assumption was correct, the server was running the dishes outside, and also the weather radar. Indeed it'd recorded quite a bit of weather data, and had records going back years, with only a small interruption a couple weeks ago.
That coincided with the USECs kicking things off. Strange.
She also found a source of the signal, a small script running off the server's hardware which just told it to transmit a set signal at max power, though interestingly she also noticed that it had specified breaks at certain times of day and specific dates. They were small windows, probably too small for any human monitoring the signal to notice a pattern in.
She also looked through the recent logs, and noticed that a computer had been hooked into the system regularly over the last few weeks. Once a week, every week since the interruption ended a few weeks back. The user ID associated with it had been used well prior to this time though, with logs of its use going back well over a year. It appeared to be a generic one, probably a station specific ID rather than one associated with a specific person.
This user had also logged in around the same time the jamming signal had begun.
Sadly that was all the useful data she got. The signal's script betrayed no information on its author, and was simple enough that it could very well have been written in that very room. She decided to unplug without touching the signal, as it did not appear to be connected with the other two signal sources, so taking this one offline would do nothing to the other two. Doing so would reveal that it'd been compromised, and give the owner a chance to counteract her.
Instead, she plopped down behind one of the second story windows, and made a call.
"Hey, Mechanic. I have an update on that jamming signal."
I took a little bit for Samoylov to respond, giving 16 a little while to look around the room. She noticed a small metal box set beneath one of the desks in the room, and curiously crawled over to it while she waited.
"Go ahead," the man's voice replied.
16 pressed her ear up against the safe, and began experimenting with the lock. She was familiar with the system it used, and began trying numbers while listening for a click.
"I've found three distinct sources, one at the health resort, a radio tower, and the weather station just south of the resort. They appear to be co-opted on pre-existing hardware, and are on a simple script with set break times. I'll send coordinates and a copy."
As she transmitted her findings along a designated frequency, 16 found the final input to the safe's combination, and pulled the heavy metal door open to reveal its contents.
"I see, thank you. Can you disable the signals?"
The safe contained a small wad of Dollars, a small elastic band bound diary, and a silver-white flash drive labeled 'ironkey' in english. She stuffed the contents in her bag, not sure whether any of it was valuable, and then shut the safe.
"Only the one at the weather station, I could only find the transmitters for the other two, so I'd have to break them to do that."
"I see. Any indication on who may have set them up?"
"Nothing certain, but the weather station signal was set up by someone with an older userID, and there was a lot of Terra Group materials and computers in the health resort."
"I see, well thank you, I'll look into this further. Come get your compensation whenever."
"Copy, out."
16 cut off the transmission, and mentally checked this whole affair off her to-do list. Taking the signal down would be another day's adventure. Still, the day was not over yet.
She made her way over to the radar tower, and began ascending the spiraling metal stairs that led to the top of the structure. Based on her map, the beach where this drop was supposed to happen should be at least partially visible from that position, so she figured that scoping it out from afar was a good first step.
At the tower's top, just below the radar itself, was a small metal cabin outfitted with a desk, filing cabinets, and a lamp with a burned out bulb. It was cozy, she thought, so she set her backpack down just inside.
She set up a small camping stove, clicking the igniter until the spark caught the leaking methane from the can and burst into a little blue and yellow flame. She then popped open a can of meat stew with her knife and set it atop the crackling flame.
While the food heated up, 16 sat down on the tower's railed edge, and began scanning in the direction she was headed.
It was about four thirty pm, and the sun in the west was beginning to fall, though it'd be a few hours still until it began to dip below the trees. To her immediate south was the coast, about half a klick away roughly, but visible through the trees. From where she was she finally got her first glimpse of human's in the area.
To the west, it appeared that the military was set up and fortified around a port facility, with a tall metal wall lined with spotlights and guards in towers with machine guns. They were a fair way off, so no real threat so long as she stayed away.
More pressing was the civilian dock area, where it appeared that a group of bandits had setup shop. They'd formed a roadblock along the coastal road, right beside the docks and an old gas station, and likewise appeared to have taken over both areas. The docks themselves were a bit isolated, sticking out from the coast line on a short spit and were ringed with a tall fence that obstructed her view of the inner area. By contrast the gas station was quite exposed, and surrounded by a tall hill on one side and a long open sightline on the other. It wasn't an awful base, but definitely not manned by professionals either. However, it was an obstacle as it sat squarely between her and the beaches she needed to reach.
She didn't have a good view of much of said beaches from where she was, which meant she'd need to get closer.
As 16 watched the bandit positions, she counted the numbers of men she saw. They were each in very distinctive outfits and carried a variety of weapons, so they were easy to distinguish. 5 with aks of different kinds, a few with pistols, one guy with a shotgun, and one with a longer hunting rifle. There were probably a few more in the dock house itself too.
They didn't seem too eager to venture beyond their little territory, only going between the docks and gas station. Probably due to fears from the military nearby seeing fit to squash them should they put up too much of a fuss. However it made the prospect of slipping past and investigating the beach area more of a challenge.
Once it was done warming, 16 dug into her meal greedily, restoring her power levels a bit on the calorie rich stew and enjoying something that wasn't cold, canned fish. As she sat, feet dangling from the tower, SKS in her lap and food in hand, watching the bandits bumble about, she felt oddly at peace.
She stayed up there for hours, looking out at the glittering coastal waters, watching distant patrol vessels sail back and forth while the sun began to set. Brilliant oranges and pinks started filling the sky as it dipped beneath the trees, and eventually gave way to the purples and blues of twilight.
When night did come, 16 took her time packing back up, and leisurely made her way down the tower and towards the beach. She tried going east first, hoping to bypass the roadblock, but found the canal again, this time bound by a tall chain link fence.
She glanced up and down the length, and was pleased to find she was in luck, as just a little ways upstream a tree had fallen across the canal, crushing the fence and forming a makeshift bridge. 16 hopped up and crossed over the gently flowing water to the far side. From there she looped just north around the gas station, working her way across a wooded hill that overlooked the whole bandit encampment, and then slipped down to the coastal road and the beach beyond.
It looked as if the beach had been abandoned in the midst of tourist season, as dozens of beach chairs and umbrellas dotted the whole area, with long abandoned towels, coolers, and even a few boats sat rotting near the water. Gentle waves crashed into the coast, slapping into breakwaters and stirring up the sand below.
16 poked around the beach for a while, checking every spot she could think of that may hide a drop site for something. It didn't help that she didn't know anything about what was being dropped off, or how big it was, or even when. It was possible it'd already happened and been picked up, or wouldn't happen for hours still.
Still, she carried on, moving down the beach a ways, checking in the changing stalls and under beach towels just in case.
Then she froze.
A ways away, far down the beach, she spotted a figure on thermals slowly approaching. He was clearly armed and armored from his profile, and in IR 16 could see a pair of tiny little green lights on his face, meaning he had NVGs on.
She quickly got to cover, hiding in a changing stall while he approached. She held her SKS at the ready, tracking him as he moved along. Yet, she didn't need it, as the man passed her by, his boots crunching in the sand. He moved back up the beach, near the roadblock, and then crouched down behind a breakwater.
16 leveled her rifle, and held her breath. It was tempting, he was barely moving, messing with something in the murk. She saw him take a long rifle off his shoulder and place it down, and then take something out of a breast pocket and do much the same.
She held off, aware of the bandit camp nearby. They'd come running if they heard shots.
As the man finished, she expected him to head back her way, back the way he'd come, but instead he crept up to the embankment just below the roadblock. He spent a little time there, watching, waiting, probably debating his next move while 16 watched from a distance. He then began creeping along the embankment, heading along the side of the road which led into the docks. He crossed over the spit leading to it, and disappeared in the murk.
Then an explosion of gunfire rang out, cutting through the night air.
16 lurched forward, dashing towards the drop sight while gun fire ripped the air. She slid into the same spot he'd made the drop, and quickly began rifling through the hiding spot.
Here was an SV-98, stripped of most of its parts, and a leatherman multitool inside. Certainly not the items she imagined.
Confused, she left the items in their place, and crept up to the embankment the man had been at a minute prior. Rapid gunfire still burst in the night, and on creeping up, she could see bandits charging down from the gas station towards the docks, bearing weapons.
They all rushed in, and a renewed burst of fire echoed from beyond the fence that surrounded the docks.
After a minute, it stopped abruptly, leaving the world quiet once more.
16 paused for a while, waiting to see what would happen next. However nothing happened for some time, with no signs of motion nor life from the docks.
Curious, she began creeping closer. She walked along the side of the embankment, and slipped past the fence much as the man prior had done, only to come upon a scene of carnage.
Dozens of bodies littered the grounds, all seeming to have been rushing for the central structure in the area: the dock house. It was a squat two story building made of wood, with a couple windows looking over the entryway. All the windows had been blown out, so 16 could peer inside with thermals, but spotted nothing.
She waited a while once more though, cautious not to be too hasty. She was likely undetected, so if anyone were still alive and in fighting shape, they'd have no qualms revealing themselves if given the time to calm down from the fighting.
But no one emerged from the dock house, and after a few more minutes of waiting, she grew impatient.
16 carefully stepped into the building, SKS's barrel leading the way inside as she glanced around. The room was smaller, with a series of filing cabinets on either side of the wall and a desk with a cash register against the far center wall. To either side, a staircase led up, and both sides featured dead bandits at the base of the stairs. Bullet holes had ripped into every wall, and quite a few dead bodies lay on the ground in pools of blood. The bandits had been slaughtered wholesale, many with holes dead center in their foreheads, while a few, notably the ones on the stairs, had been riddled with bullets.
Most weren't even armed, and even those who were still had many pistols holstered. Dead light strips dangled from the ceiling, and a few filing cabinets had been overturned.
16's eyes narrowed as she heard something. A faint grunting sound coming from her left, down a small hall next to one of the staircases. As she crept closer the sound became more distinct, that of a main in pain, trying to stifle his breathing. The safest thing to do would be to clear it with grenades, but she didn't have any.
With careful, measured movements, 16 crept closer. Cautious to avoid stepping glass or anything else which may give her away. She stepped into the hall, thermals active, and began to clear the rooms beyond, growing ever closer to the sound.
Then it stopped. She followed suit, freezing on the spot as the sound disappeared. She increased sensitivity on her senses, looking for any movement, any indication where the person she was hunting may be
A shadow flinched, and the world burst into chaos. A figure tumbled into the hall, and sprayed away at her with reckless abandon. He was frighteningly close, the next door up from her, and so she couldn't react with her own weapon. Instead she let the rifle go, and snapped a hand out to snatch at the foe's rifle, gripping the searing hot barrel in hand and forcing its path to miss her.
The enemy resisted, and they tumbled into a furball on the ground, both sides kicking and yanking at the rifle, trying to keep its barrel from intersecting with their body.
Her enemy was physically larger, but she was stronger and heavier. With a furious grunt she managed to get the upper hand, twisting the weapon up and towards her attacker, threatening to break his fingers if he didn't relinquish it. Meanwhile a powerful kick was driven into her side, nearly knocking her to the ground.
However, she won out, and a moment later the weapon was free, hefted upwards out of its owner's hands, before being driven back down.
The butt smacked into the man's face, and he flopped over like a dead fish.
Briefly she considered ending it, however with the chaos calmed she got a good look at him. It was the PMC from earlier, sure enough, and based on his gear he certainly was a USEC, albeit notably there were no patches or markings to distinguish him as such. His plate carrier had been shot through a couple times, his nvgs were a twisted mess on the top of his helmet, and he was bleeding from his arm and leg.
The man was in bad shape, which explained why he'd been making such a racket before.
Now the question was what to do with him. The 'rifle' he'd been using was actually a small 9-mill smg, an mp5 in a stock configuration. Useful, though not something she favored. His armor and any extra gear he may have in his backpack could prove quite valuable too. However all the loot she already had was nearing the upper end of how much she could carry, adding in all that would hamper her badly on her way home.
None of his wounds seemed too bad, though she couldn't tell how badly he'd been hit through his body armor. She certainly could disarm and leave him as well. However this man was the one who'd performed the drop, he might know something valuable.
So, 16 unclipped the man's body armor, and quickly assessed his condition by night vision. He'd been shot through twice, the rear plate catching both bullets, in the upper chest on his right side. Both would puncture the lung, which the sucking sound and pooling blood in his chest certainly indicated, but it shouldn't be fatal as long as he didn't bleed out.
With the man still dazed, 16 rifled through his rigging, and pulled open the IFAK he had strapped to it. She quickly sanitized the areas, earning a wince from the man, before applying a few bandages to the wounds.
Next she searched for any painkillers, and was surprised to find a small yellow tipped injector. It was labeled as a propital regenerative stimulant.
"The hell," she muttered, staring at it. She was actually familiar with the drug, or a version at least, as it was commonly used by Statesec back home as trauma treatment. In fact she'd stabilized a few Statesec agents much the way she was now with that very drug. However, it was a fairly new drug at the time, and not widely spread. Yet here it was, almost thirty years earlier than it should have existed.
She also noticed a small Terra Labs logo on the injector's label.
Still, not a problem for now. 16 popped the yellow cap and drove it into the man's upper thigh.
Shortly after, he started to come to. 16 made sure to keep him pinned down with her full weight, and kept the mp5 nearby just in case. It took a minute, but his eyes eventually opened and locked onto her lazily.
"Eh-?" he grumbled, "m'I in heaven?" he muttered in English. He was American.
"Not quite, soldier boy," she replied in kind, "Mind telling me what you're doing here."
The man seemed to wake up a little more, and tried to pick himself up. However, 16 weighed around 250 lbs with all her kit on, so it was just not happening.
"You're heavy, jeez."
"Uh-huh. Answer the question please."
The man smirked, "Not even gonna ask my name first beautiful? Right down to business eh?"
"Spare me."
"Pfft, fine. I'm Justin by the way. I was on a job, dropping off some stuff for a UN guy I think."
"What for?"
"He just said it was for 'his contact'."
"Why are you working for him? Is he with USEC?"
"USEC? Nah, they're fucking useless. He paid me to do it, and I'm hoping if he likes me enough, he might even get me outta this shit hole city."
Sounded more like her arrangement with Jaeger and Mechanic and than anything else.
"Right. Why come in here then? Why not head out the way you came?"
Justin sighed, "My extract was here. There's a boat coming to pick me up."
"Boat? How'd you get that?"
"Couple buddies of mine fixed one up. We were hoping to sail outta here, but the Ruskies have the sea lanes locked up tight. Nearly got blown up by a destroyer when we tried."
"You said they're coming to get you?"
"Yeah. what time is it?"
"22:21."
"Ah, they should be here soon then," Justin started squirming, "Look, If you ain't gonna kill me, then can you let me go. Much as I don't mind a pretty lady on top of me, you're starting to crush my ribs."
16 briefly appraised the man, but decided that he was probably not a threat anymore and had given some useful information. Enough to probably justify letting him go. He definitely owed her now, and based on how he was acting he knew it, so she may be able to cash that in sometime in the future. Like a boat trip out of Tarkov perhaps.
As she got up, she heard in the distance a tinny engine approaching, which sounded to her like a speed boat engine. Justin heard it too, as with a wince he got up to his feet and made for a window in the room he'd burst from, peering out into the dark.
"Ha, they're here. Alright."
"Cool," she muttered.
16 picked up her sks off the ground and began picking through the devastated main lobby of the boat house. She started picking through the different bodies, searching for ammo and anything else small and useful on them.
"You wanna come? We got a reeeeeally nice place setup. Comfortable." Justin asked, his voice trying to sound sultry, she supposed, though his punctured lung and the still obvious discomfort made it sound more whiny than anything.
"I'll pass."
"Suit yourself," he said, limping out into the main lobby as well, backpack hanging off his shoulder, "mind giving me my gun though?"
"When I leave," she said, "you can have this back."
"Not the trusting type are you?"
"You shot at me."
"I thought you were a baddie. Well, guess you are, just in a different way."
She turned a glare at him. This man was perhaps the most determined idiot she'd met so far.
Suddenly a wash of white light filled the room, bright enough to force her to switch off IR lest she be blinded. It was streaming in from a window that faced west, towards the road and military base, and with it she could hear a vehicle pulling up.
"Oh shit," Justin cursed, "Ruskies. I gotta go!"
16 and the USEC rushed outside, and at the far end of the road leading into the docks 16 could see at least three Tigr trucks pulling up and disgorging RUAF troops, headlights shooting white cones of light into the night.
She was cut off.
"Shit," she cursed, and began rushing along after Justin who was descending down to the docks.
The wounded man hobbled along, rushing out onto the exposed wooden docks towards the waiting boat in the gloom. It was a white speed boat, definitely a civilian pleasure craft from the looks of it, and it'd been parked at the far end with at least two figures just barely visible in the night.
Then she heard shouted alarms in Russian behind her, and the soldier's rifles began to chatter.
Bullets zipped through the air past her ears as the pair of them charged the last few meters to the docks. Justin was trying, but his injuries were slowing him down. Sadly she figured she did need him, as whoever was driving the boat probably wouldn't take her if he wasn't there.
So, she took two steps in front, snagged his collar and belt in a move that took the man off his feet, and using all her strength she tossed him through the air, flying a few feet over the water before crashing onto the boat.
16 followed shortly after, taking a running leap towards the water craft and landing on her feet, locking eyes with the stunned man behind the helm.
"GO!" she yelled.
The man responded immediately, gunning the engine as machine guns rattled in the night behind them, bullets zipping through the air and splashing into the water all around.
16 pointed her rifle aft, and started taking pot shots in return, struggling against the mediocre iron sights of her sks and its unfamiliar handling as she tried to nail the distant targets. As far as she could tell, she scored no hits, but the fire did lessen a bit as the boat sped off into the night.
Notes:
And I'm back. Again. this is the first time I've written a chapter w/o being actively addicted to Tarkov at the time, and my loss of interest int he game has certainly hurt getting this out. IYKYK with BSG's bs, but I just haven't found the will to play again for a while. Still, the world is captivating and maybe one day they'll win me back. I will try and get more chapters out tho, I promise.
Anyway. Off to everyone's favorite map. The vibe here I wanted wasn't the usual early wipe shoreline hell, but more of a quiet one. I've always preferred those kinds of raids on this map specifically. Not quite the same in PVE either, you just don't get that same anxiety entering a quiet health resort if you know its just bots inside. The Health resort just hits different honestly, it's the perfect mix of silence, anxiety, and reward. Its also my least favorite place in the game, though that's mostly because I die every freaking time I get on the roof for signal, and have to do it fifteen times to finish the F-ing quest line.