Page 93 of Rescuing Sophia

“I don’t know about dangling from a RUFI. There’s trust, and then there’s trust.” Gabe arches his brow.

“Trust me, it’ll work. We’ll run simulations on the rock wall at the gym. You’ll see what I mean.”

She then pulls out a piece of fabric that shimmers and shifts as she moves it. It’s a bit disorienting and makes me sick to my stomach if I stare at it for too long.

“And for our air team, meet our new stealth material. It adapts to match the surrounding sky, making you nearly invisible during your descent.”

The room bursts into excited chatter as we examine the new tech. It’s impressive, no doubt about it, but I can’t shake the nagging worry about Sophia’s location.

“This is great, Mitzy,” I say, “but what about Max’s question? How do we find Sophia?”

Mitzy’s grin widens. “That’s where this comes in,” she says, holding up what looks like a miniature version of our bumblebee drone. “I call it the Queen Bee. It’s designed to seek out and lock onto the signal from Sophia’s drone. Once it finds it, it’ll lead us straight to her.”

The room falls silent as we process this. It’s Ethan who finally speaks, his voice filled with cautious optimism.

“Alright,” he says, “let’s incorporate all of this into our plan. We’ll run more simulations to see how these new elements change things. But remember, people—no plan survives first contact with the enemy. We need to be prepared to adapt on the fly.”

As we break to prepare for the next round of simulations, I feel a renewed sense of hope. We’re getting closer. Each new idea and each piece of tech brings us one step closer to rescuing Sophia.

We spend the next several days running simulation after simulation, refining our approach. The casualties are still high, but we’re making progress. By the end of the week, we manage a run where we extract Sophia with only one casualty—not great, but a vast improvement over our initial attempts.

As we gear down from our final sim of the day, Ethan addresses the teams. “Good work, people. We’re getting there. But we’re notdone yet. I want everyone to study the compound layout and memorize every detail. We drill again at 0600.”

The next few days blur together. We run combat drills, practice cliff climbing techniques with the RUFI, refine our HALO jump procedures, and put Mitzy’s new exosuits to the test.

Every spare moment is spent pouring over intel, discussing contingencies, and preparing for every possible scenario.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity of preparation, Ethan calls us all together. The room falls silent as he surveys the assembled teams, his eyes hard with determination.

“Listen up,” he says, his voice carrying to every corner of the room. “We’ve trained, we’ve planned, and we’ve prepared. Now it’s time to execute. In 48 hours, we launch.”

He pauses, letting the weight of the moment sink in. “This won’t be easy. Malfor’s compound is a fortress, and he’s expecting us. But we have surprise, we have skill, and most importantly, we have each other. Watch your teammates’ backs, stick to the plan, and we’ll all come home. Any questions?”

The room is silent.

“Alright then.” Ethan raises his right pointer finger and swirls it in a circle. “Gear up. We move out at 0200.” As the teams disperse to make final preparations, Ethan’s voice cuts through the buzz of activity. “Hold up, people. We’ve got one more briefing. Mitzy’s team has some updates for us.”

We reassemble, the atmosphere electric with anticipation. Mitzy steps forward, her usual excitement tempered by the gravity of our mission.

“Alright, folks,” she begins, “we’ve made some final tweaks to our tech. Stitch, why don’t you fill them in on the Trojan horse?”

Stitch steps up, her fingers dancing over a tablet as she speaks. “We’ve developed a virus that should give us access to Malfor’s security systems. Once inserted, it’ll create a backdoor for us to manipulate their defenses.”

“How sure are we that this will work?” Max asks, his voice skeptical.

Stitch’s grin is fierce. “Pretty damn sure. We’ve been testing itagainst simulations of their firewalls. It’s not foolproof, but it’s our best shot at giving you guys an edge.”

Ethan nods. “Good work. What’s the deployment plan?”

“We’ll need to physically insert it into their main server,” Stitch explains. “Once that’s done, I can remote in and work my magic.”

The room buzzes with murmurs as we process this information. It’s a risky move, but if it works, it could turn the tide in our favor.

Jeb steps forward next, his face grim. “We’ve also been working on psychological profiles of Malfor and his key lieutenants.” He taps his tablet, bringing up a series of images on the main screen. “Based on what we know, Malfor is likely to respond to our assault with overwhelming force. He’s not the type to cut his losses and run.”

“What about Sophia?” I ask, unable to keep the edge from my voice. “How’s he likely to use her against us?”

Jeb’s expression softens slightly. “It’s hard to say for certain, but given his pattern of behavior, he’s likely to use her as bait or a human shield. We need to be prepared for either scenario.”

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