Audio log #18- The Raid

I hadn't found out more about our resident young prodigy, but something still seemed off about her. I couldn't place it, but I had a feeling that it could be dangerous. So I pulled a few strings of my own; I had her transfered to my squad. That way, I could keep an eye on her, and I trusted Cryptid and Klip to take care of her if she tried something. That's probably paranoid of me, but i don't like loose ends. Potentially dangerous, sniping, loose ends. So, this is how we ended up here, raiding an Urag outpost in the dead of night. This was a major high-risk operation, any screw-ups would result in disaster and probable death. We were here trying to recover some valuable intel (which we weren't even sure existed), and deal as much damage to the Urag vehicle depot while we were here. breaking in was a piece of cake, almost too easy. Which worried me, more than a little. Normally, Urag sentries were highly alert, and reported suspicious behavior liberally. And I hate to say it, but the new folks weren't exactly masters of stealth. But still, no alarm had been raised. I dismissed my worries, and continued. We were following Cryptid, who was being careful and checking around the corners of the buildings we hugged. I heard a creak above our heads, and raised my hand. We all forced ourselves deeper into the shadows cast by the roof overhang; there was a sentry walking right above us. I heard more creaks, as the sentry walked away. We let out the breaths that we had been unconsciously holding, and continued on. Finally, we reached the command building. The Urags had built their outpost in the remains of an old town, using the exterior of the remaining buildings as a front to their own structures. Their command center had been built quite conveniently in the ruins of the City Hall. It too, seemed too easy to break in to. We made our way to their analog of a computer mainframe. Quite clearly, we saw a removable memory cube in the mainframe, marked with the Urag's red official paint. That had to be the intel. Cryptid grabbed it, and we headed to the door from which we entered. Cryptid opened it... and walked right into an Urag. Not hesitating, I fired a round above his shoulder, and into it's forehead. It fell, clearly dead. However, we also heard the shouts of several Urags upstairs. Almost immediately after that, an alarm began to sound. Cryptid grabbed my shoulder, and pointed to the ventilation shaft. I understood what he meant, but it wouldn't work. Not for all of us, at least. At that moment, I knew what I had to do. I told him, "Bug out. We need to get that data to Command. Take the kids, and go. I'll hold them off long enough."

He considered this for a moment, and nodded. He understood. I overturned a desk for use as cover, and he removed the over of the shaft. He gave me one last salute, and crawled into the shaft. Klip followed suit. Anna lingered for a moment afterwards, and approached me. Her lips briefly brushed mine through the bandana, and then she was gone. I heard the shouts of the approaching Urags, and I steadied my aim on the door. As an afterthought, I pulled out a grimy picture from one of my pockets. In it, was an old picture of my wife and son. As the Urags approached, I felt oddly calm. I knew that whatever happened next, I would be at peace...

Done