MAGNA CH 1-A: Project Dessert

[GARUD]

"Ok, next question. What was project dessert?"

"Project dessert, boy that brings back memories. It was our first official mission."

"Tell me all about it."

"Well, we had gonna and..."

"I want from the start. Everything that led up to it too."

"Alright, but I'll be here for a while."

"Neither of us are going anywhere."

"Well, it all started...

---

Peter walked through the halls of the building, and found his way to a doctor's ward. The man walked up to the secretary at the front desk.

"Good day sir. How may I be of assistance mr...."

"Front."

"I'll tell them you're coming."

"Please do. I'll make my own way there."

Front walked through another hallway and made it to a large room. In that room were a group of people, all sitting around a hexagonal table, facing the direction of a map. As soon as the man walked in and shut the door, the people stood up.

"Call and identify. Front, leader of MAGNA."

Each person called out their codenames in turn and at the end, they all put their hands to their hearts in salute.

"At ease."

The group sat down.

"Good news... we have our first mission. It is an infiltration mission on the edge of the Sahara dessert. We have to take out a training core. They build missiles over there and train soldiers in the toughest conditions. Any questions before I start the briefing?"

(OOC: Go introduce your characters etc.)

[Mesden]

"Yeah." stated the woman sitting across the table from Front.

"What's the rough idea of how many people we have to face? Is this a wipe or only kill who we have to? Any idea of what geography we and they can work with?"

Elissa was being very blunt with her questions, stating each before he could answer. It'd be the first time the Special Ops infiltrator showed MAGNA how she did things, and she aimed to get the job done.

[GARUD]

"Approx 10 000 people will be there, mostly trained soldiers. Easy for people like us huh? I'll point out our objective and key points on this here map, but it's in the dessert, so expect it to be hot in the day and freezing at night. Also, it is a wipe, but we are going to do it slowly. The whole group is going to be in that camp, and we are going to overun it. We aren't just going to destroy it, we are going to make it look like it never existed."

Front smiled at Elissa. She would be invaluable. All of these people were anything except expendable.

"Anything else."

[Mauve Mage]

Kim smiled and adjusted her gloves absentmindedly as Elissa got down to business. While the Special Ops woman asked the important questions, Kim was mentally scanning the organization's hangar, trying to decide what vehicle would be the best for transporting the squad.

"No questions here, not yet anyways," she said, airily waving a gloved hand. "All I need to know is how well they monitor the skies, and what their aerial patrol is like, but I assume you'll cover that in debriefing."

Thus saying, Kim's thoughts returned to her precious hangar. She was pretty sure that she had a military transport aircraft ready to go at that very moment, if the others didn't mind parachuting to the ground. Otherwise, she had a dual-propellor helicopter she could get ready, if they didn't mind walking a longer distance. Hmmm.... And then there was the new jet...

[Mesden]

"A couple more. What kind of weapons do you expect them to be using? Not that I intend to get shot, but we need to know what kind of body armor we need. And are they equipped with any kind of armor? Armor piercing needed or not, basically."

Elissa laced her fingers and sat up, resting her chin against her knuckles as her sharp, green eyes stared down the leader.

[PhoenixFlame]

Jessica signaled her question with a flick of her index and middle finger, two fingers who were strangely empty in serious situations like this.

"So Front, any special conditions? Restricted weapons, support, ectera? I mean, gotta be something, else they'd just hit this thing with a couple of cruise missles." she said.

"10,000 people? Fuck. I'm gonna need something big for this..." Jessica didn't really like the idea of a sweep, it felt too much like a job for the real military. Still, MAGNA wasn't bound by NATO or Goverment bullshit, which probably kept them from doing anything. Still, Jess' specialty was killing single or small groups of people really well, not hundreds of trainee soldiers.

"First time for everything, eh? Desert's gonna be hard on several types of guns... Better think about breaking out that old Kalishnokov of mine..."

[Raiden]

Thomas leaned back in his chair, his eyes covered in sunglasses, even while indoors.

"How tough could they honestly be? The people are bakers and ice cream makers."

He got some strange looks from the others.

"He said 'dessert', right? So they can't be all that bad. Hell, we could just pick up some cupcakes while we're there."

Even more strange looks.

"Wait...did he mean 'desert'? Oh, well that's a different story."

[PhoenixFlame]

"Heh, well Scope, I doubt they grow ice-cream in the sahara, if that's what you mean." Jessica said at Tom's rather poor attempt at a joke.

"After all, it wouldn't be very good ice cream. Baking might be easier, though."

[Raiden]

Thomas shrugged.

"I'm a sniper, not a stand-up comedian. You want the gems, go look up The Kings of Comedy."

He leaned back more in his chair, his foot on the edge of the table to hold him up.

"Though I could really go for some cookies right about now..."

[Bob the Mercenary]

Choop's gaze traveled over the women of the group through his sunglasses and came to rest on Front. He wanted to make a piece of cake joke, but kept it to himself.

The desert meant heat, which meant sweat, which meant being very uncomfortable for the duration of this act of genocide. Well, everyone except him, and possibly the driver. He thanked himself for choosing the profession he did. Although, he'd tote along his firearms just in case.

He raised his hand.

"So what should I bring on this field trip? You want the whole smash, or should my palm pilot suffice?"

[Armored Bishoujo]

Elaine gazed at the marks that meant the most importance to her. "I know this really shouldn't need to be repeated, but those red dots on the map are where I need to set up bombs for target destruction, and the circles are what the maximum effective radius of destruction will be. Please do not be in those areas when I say that the explosions are going to occur."
Anything else? Ah...
"The numbers aren't marked in the circles. Of course, I use those to determine target priority or whether the objectives should detonate all at once. I could use a brief rundown so I know where to start wreaking havoc first."

[Tarrin]

Panic sat listening to the rest of the groups questions.
"Kim have you got anything that'll carry three combat buggies?" a smile started to creep onto Panic's lips, "They have been 'improved' from the normal militarys crap, So they should be good transport for us".

Jay sat back waiting for Ace's reply, He already knew she'd have something the only question was what she would come up with.

[Darth SS]

Michael was reclining in his chair, absently juggling two oranges and an apple. He listened to the briefing. He then heard his friends and team-mates complain about how they should be better than that. After a while, Michael decided to go out on a limb. Doing so, he looked right into Front's eyes.

"Why?"

There was a silence.

"You're asking for us to go and kill a bunch of training farmers. If they're training to overthrow a government that hasn't wronged them, I'll stop them. If they're a bunch of paramilitaries wreaking havoc upon good little citizens, I will happilly stop them. If they're just a bunch of people who want to protect their homes that you want dead because they're interfering with someone's profits-"

Michael took his USP out from the small of his back. He placed it on the table.

"-then this seems like you're using us for murder. Murder which would show up in newspaper. Murder which would attract attention from NATO. But mostly, useless, senseless, greed fuelled murder."

Michael twirled the pistol, then holstered it.

"Even private military companies don't do murder. We're just a covert private military company."

In the back of his mind, Michael was wondering where his gear probably was, and silently acknowedged that it was ready to go already.

[Truce]

At one corner of the table sat a man who was sitting back in his chair, thinking about the mission while halfway listening to what the others were saying. With about ten thousand soldiers at the camp, each member of Magna present would have to take out a thousand soldiers each to wipe out the training core, assuming Nurse there didn't take an active part of the killing and no help had been received. Chances were though that they would receive back up or had an amazing plan.

Hopefully both.

"Let's hold off on asking more questions for now," Lull said, finally entering the conversation. "We might as well learn about the mission itself before you all start bitching about it."

[Mauve Mage]

"Kim have you got anything that'll carry three combat buggies?" a smile started to creep onto Panic's lips, "They have been 'improved' from the normal militarys crap, So they should be good transport for us".

Kim stopped fiddling with her gloves as Panic addressed her. A grin cracked across her face.

"Ah," she said, leaning forwards and resting her elbows on the table. "Well this certainly narrows things down a bit. Three buggies, you say?" She cast her eyes down to the tabletop and drummed her fingertips on the wooden surface, thinking.

"Yeah," she replied slowly. "Yeah, I've got something that'll work just fine. I think I've got an ex-Army transporter ready to go; If it's not ready now, it will be within the hour. It'll handle three buggies easy enough. It's too big to try and sneak it in close to the base, you understand. I'll have to land it quite a ways out, and then you can drive the buggies in from there."

She looked up at Front.

"Of course, it all depends on whether the Boss here thinks we'll need some air support," she continued with a smile. "I might be able to squeeze a small stealth ops plane in there with the ground vehicles, or maybe a 'copter, if you want me to, Front. I'm sure I'll know everything we'll need by the time we get the full briefing."

[GARUD]

(OOC: Did I mispell desert? Whoops :p )

"Michael, this is a crimelord war, and one of the crimelords is trying to eliminate the other. This time your lucky. We are doing the right thing this time, however, we are all about the profit, not justice. If you are going to be one of us, you need to open your mind."

Front turned to his crew. The questions that were left would all be outlined in the debriefing.

"Okay, our mission is to wipe out the existance of the crimelord and his whole operation. We are going to disarm the missiles, kill everybody, and erase any trace of them whatsoever. All records of them must vanish. The way we are going to be doing this is by blending in with the other troops. They are getting the final wave of re-inforcements, so all of their soldiers will be in one place, and we will be able to sneak in. Our location will be here:
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/8308/untitled8fd2.png

"Point is where we will intercept the last wave of reinforcements. We will then go in under the guise that we are part of them. As you can see, I've got everything planed out. Also, I was able to access a satelite shot of this picture."
http://www.palinstravels.co.uk/photos/sah/wallpaper/800/sah_049_01_l.jpg
"They will be passing it. That is the terrain at point. What we will do at the time is get in the way, and then kill them, taking both their ammunitions and vehicles. Brutal, yet effective. When we get there, I will tour the camp to scout positions and plan our attacks. We won't all be doing killing, but we will be doing our individual parts. We are ultimately aiming to wipe it off the face of the earth, not just to destroy it. It's a secret base, so we are going to make it look like it never existed. All records must be eliminated also."


Front looked around. The group seemed alright.

"Okay, we are going to need something to transport all of us. Kim, get on it. Now, Panic, I need you to learn how to drive like a soldier, or hired mercenary, because it may not be how you drive. Choop, go and get your fastest processing computer, and get some sort of cover or protection for it so the sand doesen't get to it. Elaine, I need some minature explosives. Anything that can fit into a bullet would be great. If not, something that would fit in the ammunition or nosel of the gun. We are going to do some sabotage. Everybody else, we are going to meet at the warehouse on the edge of town. 35 Florence Lane, Earnest, is it's location and don't forget your keycards."

Front paused for a second, before continuing.

"We leave at 3:00 AM tomorrow and meet at the hangar. It's nextdoor to the warehouse so it should be easy to find. However, Kim has the only keycard for it. Be prepared ad rest up. If you have any loved ones then go and make up some excuse as to why you are leaving. If you have anything further to ask, stay behind. If not, dismissed!"

Front put his hand to his heart in salute of his comrades and sat down in the chair in-front of him, rather tired.

[Tarrin]

Panic left the meeting and headed strait to his austin martin, keyed the unlock code and the backup disarm code before heading out,

20 minutes later he pulled into the military base, One of the Mp's on duty aproached the car.
"Can i help you sir?" the Mp questioned
"I'm here to see colonel Mckenzie" Panic answered "he's expecting me"

"One second sir" the Mp made his way back to the booth and made a call, Moments later he returned.
"Sorry for the delay sir go strait thru" the Mp waved the Black austin martin forward.

Three minutes later Robert found himself sharing a cold glass of scotch.
"So my son how can i help ya'll" the southern drawl of the officer always set a smile to Panics lips.
"I need someone to show me how to drive" The colonel's laughter could be heard all the way to the drill grounds.
"Boy if'n i had someone with half your gaddamn talents i'd be happy" Mckenzie shot out.
"Actually it's for a movie im driving for i need to look military for the part" Panic and the colonel had been friends for a long time, He hated lying to the man but he had no choice.
"Well guess we'd better get yeh all trained up then" Mckenzie said standing up and leading Panic out of the office

Three hours later Panic left the base his training would do nicely, He would look and act the part, His friend mckenzie would also be a case of scotch better off as well. All part of the service Panic thought to himself, All part of the service.

[PhoenixFlame]

Twilight left the meeting immediately after aswell, making her way to second-street station to pick up the little toy she had decided on at the bus-locker she had stashed it in several weeks earlier. Jessica never liked to keep all of her weapons in one place, such as at home, or in a designated armory, for fear of losing them all at once. The nondescript small black briefcase containing the disassembled Avtomat Kalashnikova Model 47 was relatively ambiguous.

From there, she found time to stop by home to pick up her new Freedom Arms Model 83, and then made her way to grab a quick bite from a local McDonalds before making way to the rendevous point Front had earlier specified.

Twilight was early, and one of the first there. Yet, to avoid suspicion it was likely best that not everyone in MAGNA appear at an abandoned warehouse at the same time.

Jessica sat at a lone table in the corner, puffing a cigarette while carefully cleaning and re-assembling the AK, and loading the weapon's accompanying 100-round banana clip. Jess reasoned that cheap crimelords probably had AKs for all their goons, and she'd fit right in with her own. That, the high-capacity magazine, and the AK's notorious ability to fire even when gummed up with large amounts of sand made it a perfect choice over a more accurate longarm.

[Bob the Mercenary]

Choop grunted at Front's comment about sand getting in his computer. "You should see my apartment."

His Lincoln pulled up to the bachelor pad. "Kill everybody." "Destroy everything." I'm liking this. Walking up to his door, A5, he pulled a key from his jacket and proceeded inside to ready his equipment.

It wasn't exactly loneliness that struck him at that moment, it just felt like something that was supposed to be there was away for the evening. He drew a hand across his face and reminded himself he's not married. Tonight, the moon was the only source of light. Trickling through the blinds, it fell on a small white closet near Cooper's bedroom. He opened the sliding door and the moonlight illuminated a mountain of unorganized electrical equipment.

He knew he'd need an entire backseat, or at least a trunk to himself if the boss really wanted all of his processing power. "That would need, let's see..." He began pulling out an assortment of hardware, and at the end, extracted a black metallic box he named "the Brain". The Brain was custom fitted with filters, extra fans, and cotton edging just for this type of sandy engagement. He also carried with him a small carboard box filled with what looked to be mini-televisions.

After loading everything into his car, he headed for the warehouse. When he arrived there it was quiet. He headed inside and found a woman already sitting down, smoking. The one that called herself Twilight. Unlike other men of his age, he remembered women's names. He wanted to comment on her hair, he wanted to compliment her on her figure, he wanted to ask her to dinner.

"Feh."

He lit a cigarette and sat down.

[Armored Bishoujo]

Elaine got to work. Front wanted explosive bullets, but not the kind people usually asked for. Judging from what he said, these bullets were intended to detonate inside the guns, destroying the weapon and possibly killing the dumbass holding it. But possibly wasn't going to cut it, and Elaine figured the sabotage would need to be more severe than just that.
"Let's see...maybe if I make explosives that resembled clips, the bullet's explosion could cause the clip to go up, causing greater damage."
Or...
"A bomb that looks like a gun which goes off when someone pulls the trigger?"
The Bomb Clip concept was much better. Humming to herself, Elaine cheerfully went to her workshop, turned on some Marilyn Manson, and got to work.

[Truce]

Lull stayed behind for a while to study the map once more, making sure to memorize the geography at Point. He wanted the ambush to go on as smoothly as possible, before the enemy had a chance to signal. Satisfied, he then sat up, and headed out the door.

He stopped in the frame for a moment, though, to cast a glance at Scope. "Do me a favor," he said, "And don't shoot me."

Thomas had once joked about shooting him on principle. It was best to cover all bases, friendly and foe.

[PhoenixFlame]

"Something wrong?" Twilight looked up from her little "project" to assess Choop's look of mild frustration. Something about hackers and frustration, just didn't sit right. She quickly shrugged it off, though. Wasn't her business if he was frustrated, anyway.

Jessica couldn't help but chuckle at Elaine's taste in music. Certainly, Marilyn Manson was good, "fun" music, but not something Jessica would listen to on the job. Twilight liked a soothing, relaxed music, with a tone of fantasy to it.

After all, a human being objectively entering a battle situation involving ranged weapons is quite possibly the most terrifying thing one can do. At any moment, you could be shot and killed instantly, by enemies both seen and unseen, by weapons known and unknown. It was there that Jessica learned the secret of staying cool in battle, not thinking objectively.

To take pride and joy in preforming a killer's job, that is not something easily done. Yet, to Jessica, covert ops was a form of art. To be covert, one had to take upon the guise of the laughing monster, the sort of thing children are afraid of a night, the unknown. In *this* mission, one had to ambush an adversary without remorse, see every gun as a symphony, every firefight it's own carefully choreographed dance. It had a zen element to it, logic inflexible. There would be little room for stealth in such a mission, and one could expect a series of intense gun-battles.

Twilight took a moment to remove a pair of tiny earplug headphones from her jacket pocket, connected to her Ipod Nano, and clicked play, promptly returning to work after.

[Mesden]

Like Jessica, Elissa had her own store of guns. Even more to the similarity, she had her own AK-47. With a quick grab of her second pistol she left for the Rendezvous.

By the time she had gotten there, a good bit of the group had arrived. Jessica was assembling her own AK with a 100 round banana clip, an idea she almost hit herself in the head for letting slip her mind.

Choop was there. A hacker and no one of particular importance to her, seeing as he wouldn't be much involved directly in her line of work.

With a casual shrug, Elissa took her own table, close enough should the others have a question, far enough to have some privacy.

[Raiden]

"Do me a favor, and don't shoot me."

Scope gave a little chuckle.

"I make no promises. I can read lips pretty well through my lens, and if I see anything that even resembles 'My name is Lull. James Lull.", I'm putting a bullet through your temple."

Thomas got up from the table and headed out, his cheap and reliable Cavalier waiting for him outside.

While the others were going to find their tools of war, Scope headed for a darker side of town. His car rolled to a stop in front of a pawn shop. The owner was a buddy of his, and in a neighborhood like this, there isn't a safer place to store anything than a pawn shop. He walked inside, giving a slight whistle as he twirled a key on his finger. He went to a locked door that was clearly marked "Employee's Only", unlocked it, and went inside.

Behind the door was a small room with a table holding two guns and several clips of ammo. One of the guns was his trusty M82A3 sniper rifle. It was his favorite gun to use, with its Leupold XV-III scope attached. Anything he could see, he could hit. Which made him quite useful when someone tried to make a run for it. The other gun beside his rifle was a P90 USG with a USG Black sight. It was a weapon modified by the Secret Service and the Feds to be more accurate without a visible laser, so it was nice to have.

While the others were getting weapons that would help them blend in, Thomas almost always used the same guns. He was a sniper, and would tend to be quite a distance from the main action. Hence, no need to blend into the crowd.

Scope packed up his guns in individual, nondescript cases, locked them in his trunk, and took off for the meeting place, stopping at a drive-through for a quick breakfast sandwich and an orange juice. He'd have preferred a coffee, but caffeine tends to make a man jittery, and you never want a sniper with shaky hands.

He arrived at the meeting place, noticing that everyone was off doing their own thing. He was starting to wish that he had remembered his MP3 player, but it was too late for that. Instead, he plopped down beside Twilight and began inspecting his guns.

"So, what you listening to?"

[PhoenixFlame]

"Dominus Miserie, Sanctus, Gloria."

"So, what you listening to?"

"Oh, Salva Nos." Twilight shrugged.

Jessica had been silently mouthing various words to the tune unconciously as she clipped the various parts of her AK back together with semi-familiar efficiency. She hadn't used it in a long time, but the damn thing didn't seem to care. No real rust, dust, or outside elements had assailed the weapon inside it's accompanying briefcase, an addition Jessica had to have custom-made as AKs didn't really sport many spiffy add-ons. She'd have preferred an AR-15 or MP-5, but those guns would both be out of place and out of element in the desert.

"Just getting ol' sandblaster here in order." She continued, sliding the bolt cover atop the weapon and popping it in place.

[Tarrin]

The black Austin of Panic drove up to the hanger, Most of the crew were already here. Everyone was either grooming weapons of involved in their own conversations, Opening the door Metalica's One echoed around the group before Panic switched off the ignition.

Walking over to the hanger door h pressed the intercom "Ace you in there? How bout opening up and letting us in" Panic looked at the rest of the group, Why didn't they just buzz? Kim was never far away from her hanger.
Panic stood back and waited for the hanger door to open.

[Bob the Mercenary]

Choop snuffed his cigarette on the table and watched as the others arrived. The assortment of music provided a chaotic, yet soothing ambiance to the warehouse. He flipped open a briefcase and withdrew his laptop. His eyes then fell on the intercom.

That looks like an RTTY model, no, Clear-Com.

He thought to himself as the monitor came to life. He made a few adjustments onscreen and pressed the enter key. A staticky buzz seeped through the intercom speaker and soon, Choop's entire collection of Led Zeppelin filled the room.

He smiled, lit another cigarette, and reclined in his chair.

[Darth SS]

Doc was very quick about his preperations. Drive to his home, load his stuff in his trunk. Call girlfriend, ask if she'll watch the cat while he's out of town. Business meeting in Paris. Love you, bye. Methodically, Doc went about cleaning stuff up, changing the litter box, throwing out the stuff that wouldn't last, and then taking the trash out. Make sure all the bills are paid. Head into basement, grab the kit trunks, extract the special stuff needed.

Doc got back into his car and drove back to the base. He simply carried some of the stuff in, except for two things. First, his gun bag. Second, a smaller blocky case.

Michael then walked out and sat down next to Thomas. He opened up the gun bag and extracted his M4, and began to field strip it for a clean touch-up cleaning before they went out. He also put the box down in front of Thomas.

"We're not going to be needing a medic on this one. Inside the box is my spotter's scope. I'm not good with optics, so would you please calibrate it for me? I'll be spotting for you, so I'd like to have it properly prepared."

[Mauve Mage]

"Look sweetie, I promise I'll be back soon," Kim said comfortingly. "You just wait here for me, okay?"

The black helicopter didn't answer, but Kim didn't expect it too. The woman wiped the black oil from her hands as she finished fiddling with the transport's engines; the helicopter was parked behind her, it's windshield pointed towards her like sad-puppy eyes. Kim grinned.

"Just don't let me come home to find you giving free rides to any pretty girl who knocks on the hangar door, you hear me?"

The transport was packed and ready to go. Kim had spent the past few hours giving it a proper tune-up, filling up the gas tanks, and packing for the trip. It was a large plane, meant for carrying soldiers and vehicles of all kinds over long distances. Kim had lovingly nicknamed it "Thunderbird Two" after the similarly-functioning aircraft of the old TV puppet show, "The Thunderbirds."

Kim took a few steps backwards and admired her handiwork. The transport had been stripped of all it's military insignia and properly stocked. Engines had been tuned up, parachutes had been inspected, everything was A-OK. Pleased with herself, Kim brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes (leaving a gray streak of oil on her forehead) and leaned back against the helicopter.

"I know I'm forgetting something," she said to herself. "Oh. Right." She strode over to a desk covered in blueprints and maps, and pulled open a drawer. She dug through some unimportant documents and a few half-empty bags of gummi worms until she found her handgun. Meh, it probably still worked. She tossed it on the chair and dug through the other drawers looking for some bullets. She pulled out a cartridge and shook it. Well, it wasn't empty.

"This'll do," she said dismissively. She had some more in the transport somewhere. One of the boxes in the cargo hold had some extra guns 'n' ammo.

Kim was about to make one more trip around the hangar to make sure the rest of her ships would be safe during her absence, but a muted call on the intercom system shattered those plans. Cursing quietly, Kim looked down at her watch.

"That time already?!" She jogged over to the hangar door. She yanked it open and stared outside. "Oh. It's you guys. How long have you been hangin' around out here?" Without waiting for an answer, she waved them all inside.

"Come on in, come on in," she said. "Come see the Thunderbird. I won her in a card game a few months ago. It's amazing what you can win if you know who to play against." She withdrew into the hangar and made a B-line to the T2.

"Pretty, isn't she?"

[Darth SS]

Michael was running a brush through the barrel and glanced over at Kim.

"Looks like a good plane. How low and smooth can you fly her?"

[Tarrin]

Panic walked into the hanger, Hit the up on the main hanger door, Just high enough to let him drive the Austin in, Then closed the hanger again.

Turning around he noticed the dirty look from Ace, "Hey me leaving that out there would be like you leaving that thing out there" Panic's finger pointed at the blackhawke Kim had in one of the corners.

[Mauve Mage]

EDIT: Ninja'd by Tarrin! (Edited!)

"Looks like a good plane. How low and smooth can you fly her?"

Kim arched an eyebrow, pretending to be offended.

"My dear Doctor Michael, I can fly her 'round the world in the blink of an eye with nary a false step or loss of control." She smiled and patted the worn green gray paint on the aircraft's underside. "Don't worry, Doc. I won't wreck her while you're aboard, if that's what you're worried about. I'll be 'specially careful not to make you work overtime."

She was about comment further, but at that moment the hangar doors opened and in came Panic, driving an Aston-Martin into her hangar. Kim's eyes narrowed.

"Hey me leaving that out there would be like you leaving that thing out there" Panic pointed out, noting her expression. Kim sighed in resignation.

"All right, fine," she grunted. "But you'd better watch how you drive that thing. If I see one scratch on anything in here, INCLUDING the floors, I'm taking that thing apart piece by piece and melting it down." Everyone looked at her. She shrugged. "My hangar, my rules."

Changing the topic, Ace punched some buttons on a nearby control panel and the back of the plane opened into a ramp. Several crates, cases, and bundles were stacked on one wall, and Panic's combat buggies were lined up neatly on the floor, their tires chained down. Kim jerked a thumb towards the aircraft's contents.

"I've got some basic supplies and extra ammo stocked up in there," she said. "Is there anything in particular you guys wanna bring? If so, there's still plenty of room for some more crates." She looked over at Elaine. "If you want extra explosives, we've got room, but you'll have to pack them in something extra strong. And I'd prefer it if they were placed towards the hatch and away from the cockpit and wings. I know you're really careful with these things, but I don't wanna take any chances."

[Truce]

In a chair near the far corner of the hangar sat Lull, who looked over his newspaper as each member of MAGNA entered. With only a ruffle of the pages to signal his acknowledgement of his comrades, he returned to reading, quietly waiting for the mission to begin.

[GARUD]

Front had escided to go home until it was time. He sat at his kitchen bench, beer in hand, sitting in thought.

---

A lone figure wrapped in a cloak approached the hangar.

"Ready to go?"

Front looked around.

"We have someone missing. We have some time to spare anyway. He'll be here with us. Anyway, when we get there, we are going to pull over the buggies that are transporting those re-inforcements. Anyone want to volunteer to be the one to do it? Or should I?"

[Truce]

Once again, Lull looked over the top of his newspaper. "I'll take that role. Out of all the people assembled here, I'm the one least likely to get shot at. I'm not that intimidating compared to some of us, and unlike the rest of you I'm not strapped head to toe in combat gear.

"Before we go though," he said, lifting up the newspaper again, "You all have heard of the Moscow Theatre Hostage Crisis, right?"

[GARUD]

"Indulge us. I would hear what you have to say. It kinda slipped my memory."

Peter looked around and sat at a table. He had a volunteer. It made things alot easier to manage now.

[Truce]

Lull nodded. "Simply put, it's an incident where the Russian Spetsnaz used a knockout gas to incapacitate terrorists before they raided the building. The gas itself is called Kolokol-1, and it's very effective for its purpose, though at the level the Russians used it, they accidentally killed a little under three twetienths of the hostages."

Tapping the bag beside his chair, the man continued. "I don't have nearly enough to take out ten thousand soldiers, not on such short notice. However, it should be enough to take out some of the buggies when we ambush them. We don't want them being able to call for back up or tell them we've attacked, and we definitely don't want to show up with gear that's been blown halfway to hell. It wouldn't hurt to interrogate some of the guys we manage to keep alive, as well."

[THORQUE]

George was listening quietly in the meeting taking in all of the information being thrown out.
__________________________________________________ ____________

After the debriefing, George made his way back to his appartment. inside was full of posters of old heavy metal bands. He walks in to his room and pushes the switch underneath the light switch and a panel on the wall flipped around revealing a board of guns and knives. He would admire and handle these to pass the time.
__________________________________________________ ____________

George entered the hanger, with his SPAS 12 hung over his shoulder.
"What'd I miss?"

[PhoenixFlame]

"Nothin'." Twilight responded to George's comment, while grabbing her duffle that contained her H&K USP and the remainder of her spare clips, ammo, secondary devices, and tertiary devices. Most of them were optics, but some of them were lethal. Her M1911 was already slung snugly inside her shoulder-holster, with the accompanying revolver at her side, all nicely concealed beneath a black leather jacket that wouldn't be too far out of place among drug-cartels.

AK held in her right hand by a shoulder-strap, now just barely strong enough to hold the formidably-loaded weapon, Jessica boarded the ramp of the plane, taking a seat next to the buggies agaisnt the sidewall of the plane.

[Bob the Mercenary]

Choop left his chair and headed for the plane. He dropped the cardboard box he'd been carrying and withdrew several of the small electronic devices contained within.

He addressed the team. "I guess now's the time." He held one device up. "I've been working on these things for two years. They're field communication codecs that allow you to talk to any single person on the team at the push of a button. They've also been equipped with small monitors so you can see who you're talking to, keep track of objectives, take notes, watch pay-per-view, etc...."

He began handing them out. "They also serve as a GPS indicator and radio tuner for emergencies." After he had placed one in everyone's hands, he took a seat. It was good to see his inventions at work, hopefully they would be the first glitch-free devices Choop had ever assembled.

[Armored Bishoujo]

"I'm glad I decided not to create all the Bomb Clips myself," Elaine said. "That assistant of mine really knows how to work miracles."
The dufflebag contained a large number of Bomb Clips for a small variety of popular guns. "These explosive clips go off when the gun loads a bullet from the clip. They're marked with a small red dot on the bottom so please check to make sure you're not about to boobytrap your own firearm. Don't worry, I highly doubt there's a chance our ammunition will get mixed up."
Elaine herself was sufficiently armed, having her carbine with the grenade launcher attachment on a back holster. Everything, from ammunition to medical supplies, was mounted on her belt or strapped to her legs.

[Tarrin]

[EDITED]
Panic walked over to the boot of his car and dissapeared, Moments later he returned with one strange looking gun.
"This may be of use Front" Panic said droping the weapon infront of their leader.
"It's a increased velocity dart gun, Got about twice the range of a standard dart gun." Panic looked pleased with himself "Only problem is it has just four shots".

Panic always kept non-leathal weapons around just incase of snatch and grab missions.

[Darth SS]

Michael was putting his gun back together and was getting ready to clean his handgun.

"A quick exposition on that hostage situation...There were nine hundred hostages, a hundred and thirty of them died. The remainder had about six hundred who survived without any side effects. Aside from them, the remainder split up pretty evenly into two groups. One group had seizures and other neurological problems, the other half developped more painful symptoms like diabetes and anal leakage."

He loaded the mag into his gun, and pulled back on the charger. A copper casing gleamed back at him. With a satisfying snap, it closed again. He put the safety on, and checked how firm the foregrip was. Then he put the gun away and started to work on his sidearm.

"I'm curious. Why don't we just fly in and hose the place with vulcan and missile fire?"

[Mauve Mage]

Kim jabbed a thumb towards Michael.

"I like this guy," she said with a grin. "He speaks my language." She turned back to the packs in front of her, triple-checking the aircraft's parachute supply.

"My only worry is that they've got ordinary civilians in there," she called back. "Y'know... folks who just come in and work on bomb-making assembly lines or whatever the heck they do in there, just to make a few dollars to help them survive. Even if I had the most kickass bomber plane ever, I wouldn't want to fly out of the Sahara knowing that I just massacred innocent people. I would think that's why we're infiltrating the base first, to see exactly what we're up against. 'Course, if we find out that the base is nothin' but crimelords and lackeys, I'm all for your idea."

[GARUD]

"He's not paying us for Vulcan fire. He wants us to delte all of those records about the existance of this place, and we have to do it internally. The best way to do it is this way, because of two reasons. Firstly, missile fire is loud and explosive, and people would find out about it. That's not what we want. Secondly, there's a server in that area with direct access to that information we need to destroy. However, it's the only access and we've already tried to get in externally."

Front put a sly look on his face and grinned.

"However, we aren't going to erase that information. We are just going to keep it for ourselves. Might be someting interesting. Anyway, everyone, get on when you are done. We leave in 10 minutes."

Peter boarded the plane and stood leaning against the wall, toying with the new equiptment Choop had given him.

[Truce]

Lull grabbed his bag and walked over to the plane, stopping at the door to set down his bag. Turning around, he smiled at Scope. "My name is Lull," he said, adjusting the collar of his suit. "James Lull."

And then, like that, he grabbed his bag and took his seat inside the plane.

[Mesden]

The ever quiet Elissa boarded the plane with little delay, only one last check to make sure she had all of her guns with her.

AK, Check. Mark 23, Check. Carb, Check. Forty-five, Check.

With all of her "Things" ready, she took her own seat, making sure to be close enough to Front to get his attention when she called for it.

"Front, we don't have the guns nor the explosives to take out a full Ten Thousand, you know that, right? Those booby traps and these," Her left hand fell on the pistol in her right holster while her right pulled up the AK for a moment before setting it back down, "just don't have the casualty output we need. The only chance we have is to make a friendly-fire scenario. Get in, shoot some, cause some confusion and get out before we're caught in it. Then gundown who makes it out."

She looked dead at him, green eyes nearly piercing and disecting him for every subtle motion of leadership. She'd been doing for a few years on her own team and wanted to be sure she was following someone competent.

[GARUD]

Front laughed.

"We won't necessarily be using our own guns all of the time. Remember, a dead soldier can't use their own. Run out of ammo? Pick up a different gun. Besides, they have a very large stock. Not only that, they have a couple of missiles we'll be detonating. They aren't big enough to be a threat to anything but the camp and the close vicinity. We'll be outta there before they go off. Trust me, I've got alot of it planned. Not all, I need to see the camp for finalisation, but we'll be okay with what we've got."

Peter smiled. She was an inquisitive one, this Elissa.

"You need to trust me. We haven't been a squad for long, and this is our very first mission. Just understand that I'm not only a veteren, but a leader. I would sooner breach a contract than put one of us in danger of death. Put your faith in me guys, I won't lead you wrong."

[Mesden]

A small sigh escaped her breath, closing her eyes and leaning back on her seat. A pair of sunglasses flipped out of her jacket and were lightly placed over her face.

"Alright. I just wouldn't have much faith in their nuke plan. Also, once we're in there, shooting's pretty much a last ditch effort. And so you know," an icy gaze shot out over her sunglasses, "no one gets my trust just by asking for it, pal. You've gotta prove you're trustworthy to me."

The cold stare was soon eased back into the shut eyes again, her head leaning back as she instantly grew silent off the harsh note.

[GARUD]

"Soldier, are you giving me attitude? Because if I hear you speak to me like that again, you'll be taking on all 10,000 on your own."

Front drew himself up and walked over to Elissa. He stared right into her eyes, and she couldn't meet his gaze. He spoke in a very low, yet frightening tone.

"I wasn't asking for your respect or trust. I was demanding it. Out there I am your only lifeline. If you fail to understand that, you will be dead almost right away. I am also the leader. You do not question me. I am prepared to be less like a drill sergeant and more like a friend, but when you give me that kind of crap... you will realise there is nothing more terrifying than me. I want respect. I want your trust. If I don't get it, I'm not paying for your funeral. Now, is that clear Soldier?"

[PhoenixFlame]

"Soldier, are you giving me attitude? Because if I hear you speak to me like that again, you'll be taking on all 10,000 on your own."

Something about "You do not question me." just really set Twilight off. Elissa and her were very similar people working very similar jobs, and while people like Front could deal with grunts and recruits well enough with efficiency, something about his attitude was rather unprofessional.

"'Ey, Front."

Jessica spoke up at this latest outbreak, in a low, serious tone, despite the casuality of the statement, "It's not attitude, it's business. Understand that we're not here for chickenshit plans like taking out 10,000 people with their own guns, we're here for doing a job and doing it right. Elissa wants to know how we're going to do that, and so do I. Right now, you're not giving us a very convincing argument. Too many variables."

About then, she wondered just what day it was. "Fuck, it's monday, isn't it? I hate mondays..."

"Quite honestly, if we do get in a firefight outnumbered 900 to 1, it doesn't matter how good we are, and we know that. Even with a Beta-C Mag, there's more marks than bullets."

[GARUD]

(OOC: Pheonix, it's attitude. Would you talk to YOUR military commander like he was some peon?)

"No, it is attitude. If you can't trust me, then you might as well not be here. Kim, we're heading off. Let's go."

Front turned to Jessica.

"You have no idea what we are doing do you? We are fighting 10, 000 soldiers. Now, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to know that it would be stupid to go in without tactics. Very stupid. I'm no moron, and I have a plan. But I need to know the camp to finalise it. That's the only variable."

Peter then turned his attention to Elissa.

"Now, you said I had to earn your trust. Well, I'm not going to go out of my way to do that. Instead, you are going to have to choose to trust me. I'll let you stew over that. You have until we get to point to decide whether you do or you don't. Just a word of warning though, the last person to not trust me ended up dead. He was the only one... not to trust me and dead. So until point, if you can't trust me by then, well... you'll get the picture."

Front stood.

"Oh, and fix that tone missy. If you speak to me like that gain, I'll skin you alive."

He said it in an weird tone. Then he walked to the back of the machine where he polished his custom gun.

[PhoenixFlame]

"Yes Sir." Jessica said emptily, restraining the urge to roll her eyes as she did so. Front seemed to be pulling one of those army drill sergeant "I'm so badass!" performances that she personally hated. Mel Gibson could do that, but he certainly wasn't someone Twilight would trust in a "smash and grab" on 10,000 armed troops. Surely Front knew that in a first-mission scenario where the commander's competence wasn't known would go shakily at best, but maybe he didn't care.

After Front had left, Jessica slid her glasses down over her nose, raising her eyebrow and sending Elissa the typical "We're so screwed." look.

[Mesden]

(OOC: It wasn't attitude and she never said she wouldn't follow orders. Trust is a personal issue for her, Garud.)

It was surprising how not once did Elissa even flinch over Front's authority.

With a softer voice than normal, she called out, "You misunderstand me. I'll follow your orders and I'll do what you say. But there's a line for me."

She sat up and rested her elbows on her knees, turning her look towards Front.

"You're a leader, damnit, but you're also a person. This isn't attitude, this is fact. I can't up and trust," that one word rung clearly through everything she had said, it's emphasis important to her, "ANYONE just off of a 'trust me, I've got a plan'. I can follow an order without question and not trust the person. I don't know you and I've go NO reason to trust anyone right now. Get us through this mission and it might change."

Ellisa brought herself to a stand and gave a casual stretch and a half fake yawn before lifting her sunglasses back over her eyes. With a small look back to Jessica she gave a final shrug and took a seat a bit further away from Front.

I'm the leader Respect my authority. God, it's like I said I didn't respect him. Fuck, Rambo had a plan, bub. Things don't always work out.

[Tarrin]

Panic sat just behind the pilots alcove playing with a engine part from the Evo he was "Improving", The words from the three drifted up to meet him, It was funny they had all been in the school together, Front always came up with sound plans, Then again El and Ace always had their eye out for improvements to any plan put forward.

Panic wasn't some brainless grunt, He was always going over the missions looking for easer and more effective ways, Well once he knew what the plan was anyway, Front was always the same "I have a plan, You will know it when i need you too" a smile creaped onto Panics face, He knew how much that chaped the girls and sonetimes he thought Front would do it just to put them on edge, Just to test their limits.

Panics head droped back down to the part he was working on and the portable drill started up again, The grinding bit attached to the drill bit into the part boreing out the widining hole even further.

[Darth SS]

Doc was stripped down to his skivvies, and putting on his beige drop zone clothes. Sitting beside him was his Phantom CIRAS maritime pattern modular combat vest, with all of his pouches. Next to that was the rest of his gear, which Doc put on quickly. On went the vest, double checking all his ammo was there, and his camelbak water delivering bladder was good. Happily, he'd put his belt on first, and was securing all the drop-leg pouches. The last was his handgun, which he'd attach a pistol sling too. It was a little stretchy piece of plastic that hooked onto his belt, so he couldn't drop his gun. After he'd lost his pistol during a jump in Afghanistan, he spent the thirty bucks and never looked back. Elbow pads, knee pads, over frivolous details.

Doc checked all that stuff, then grabbed his safety glasses, put them on. Then he grabbed his very large medical kit, a large black box that he wore like a backpack, and put it on. He beat some of the dust off his ballcap, then put it on. His radio headset hung around his neck as he listened to the whole conversation, and he was smacking his gloves together to get some sand out of them.

"Just weighing in here. Front, you read my service record. I was always polite and kind to my superiors, and treated them like humans-"

Doc gave Front the finger at this point.

"-but you are not my superior. We are not an army. You are not a commanding officer. We are all humans here. Equal humans. We all have our jobs to do. You look down on us, you treat us like your toys, your minions, then situations change. Elissa doesn't hold the plane because she decides the volume of fire isn't worth you. Scope accidentally dials in the wrong wind speed and misses the guy laying fire down on you. You and Panic get shot, and I assess that Panic is a better use of my supplies."

Doc attached his pistol sling onto his P226. He checked the mag he was about to load, then put it in his pistol. The slide snapped shut dramatically.

"And, despite your belief that we're all so awesome, and we're all so great, we don't want to run afoul of NATO. They would kill us. And, frankly, the money being offered isn't worth the risk. I could be paid almost as much, doing much less if I worked for Blackwater."

Doc grabbed his spotter bag, sometimes called his "shit-happens" bag, and went to sit down. He pulled out an MP7 PDW, loaded it, safed it, then put it back. If him and Scope were compromised, Scope would get that thing to use.

[GARUD]

Front looked up.

"And to be honest, I want you to save everybody else except me. That's what a leader does. First to fight, last to be treated. But I don't plan on being shot. Look, to be honest, NATO knows all about this mission. They are just turning a blind eye to us for now. I'm not stupid though. They won't know about anything that will go against them. In fact, I've already got the next mission. It's from them directly."

Front rose to his feet.

"Look, I know it looks a little sketchy about our odds. But this is a training camp, not a garrison. They only keep a few hundred in the camp at a time. Even at night. But let's assume that you guys stop being loyal like you said. You need me just as much as I need every one of you. And if being disrespectful from you leads to disloyalty, then I guess we are all dead men."

[Mauve Mage]

(OOC: I'm assuming everyone is already aboard...)
EDIT: Hey Garud, you ninja'd me while I was writing my take-off scene. Since flying is what Kim does best, would you mind losing that last sentence in your above post and putting it after mine?

IC:
Kim settled into the pilot's seat and put on her headphones. She hunched down into the seat, trying to avoid the conflict that was going on behind her.

"You do not question me."

"Understand that we're not here for chickenshit plans..."

"If you can't trust me, then you might as well not be here."

"We are not an army. You are not a commanding officer."

"Akwaaaaard," she muttered to herself. Readjusting the earpiece, she put her full attention into flying the aircraft- what she did best. Below her, a tow vehicle was dollying the craft outside the hangar and to the runway. Kim's fingers moved nimbly over the switches and flashing controls that decorated the dashboard with the air of one playing a piano. Confident and assured. It was an art.

The engines awoke with a low, sleepy hum that quickly escalated into a battle-ready scream. Kim spoke calmly into the radio, and a tinny reply from her ground crew assured her that they were clear for takeoff.

The runway stretched out before them, beckoning to Kim Tyler, Flying Ace. This was where it began.

Sluggishly the craft began to crawl across the paved road. Then, as though awakening from its long rest, it pushed forward. Faster. Faster. It plowed forward, hurtling across the ground and sending clouds of fallen leaves swirling into little orange-and-green tornadoes in its wake.

The pavement was nearing an end. Black concrete simply stoped in the distance. Faster and faster the aircraft went, unconcerned. Kim carefully pulled back...

The transport tilted its nose towards the sky. Almost as though it were being lifted up by invisible hands, the great aircraft left the earth. The white clouds ahead beckoned as Kim flew up to greet them...

[Armored Bishoujo]

Elaine was silent. When in the process of deploying, she had only one thing on her mind...Maylene. Elaine opened her top right breast pocket and pulled out the photograph of her little girl. The photo was taken recently, showing Maylene blowing out her candles on the cake at her seventh birthday. Elaine was able to be there and take the photograph herself. A single instant, locked in absolute peace, before they came...
Elaine put the photograph away. Maybe this time, she would see him. She leaned her head against the wall of the aircraft and waited, trying to get some additional rest.

[Darth SS]

Doc was watching Elaine. He saw her take out that picture so lovingly, then look at it. Her face just lit up as she saw it. Then she tried to get back on task. Feeling an uncomfortable silence, Doc decided to try to ease the tension.

"Your kid?"

She nodded.

"Can I see?"

[THORQUE]

George got on the plane and sat in the corner and then proceeded to idly fiddle with a bullet,not making any effort to converse with anyone else.

[Armored Bishoujo]

Elaine handed over the photograph to Doc, speaking as he looked at her. "That's was her on her seventh birthday...about three minutes before the drive by. I was hospitalized for about four days. She died overnight. They had to be a business rival of my husband. He's a crimelord, much like the fucker I believe we're going to destroy, but I didn't know the truth behind his 'big shipping company' until I did some investigating after her funeral."
Her expression was strong, but anyone could see she was holding back tears. "With just my own abilities, I'd never be able to find my husband Richard. If there's any chance that I might have to find that son of a bitch, it's through working for MAGNA. So once my first enlistment was over, I separated and pledged myself to MAGNA. Sure, I absolutely love explosions and fire, but nothing spurs me forward like remembering my daughter's face as she wished her father was there so she could say good-bye to him, too."
Elaine sighed, trying to regain her composure. "So, that's the real reason I'm here. How about you?"

[PhoenixFlame]

Jessica couldn't help but overhear Doc and Elaine's conversation, and while she didn't want to join in, it did bring back memories. Guilt, one might say. Jessica was in MAGNA SpecOps not because she was a military wash-out, but because she had spent the following two years as a professional hitman. After all, master pistol skills and extreme CQC training was not something the standard army grunt got in basic.

Drive-bys were hardly professional, but the act itself was a symbolic one. The mark was Elaine's little girl, targeted merely for her relation with the divorced family. Tragic, but something someone would pay money for, moral or not. Jessica never knew, as she'd never cared to delve into the other's personal lives, but it was something that made her feel uncomfortable.

With her left hand, Jess thumbed over her MP3-Player's dial, switching the tune to The Police's "King of Pain", and turning the volume up to drown out the chatter.

"There's a little black spot on the sun todayyy..." Sting's voice poured through the headphones.

"That's my soul up there..." Twilight whispered in sequence with the chorus.

[Darth SS]

Doc was leaning back in his seat. His face had that look of a deer in the headlights. He never anticipated...that. He'd just thought she was a caring mother and without the tragic backstory. Oh well. A lot of mercenaries must have those. Still though...harsh stuff. She died when she was seven?

Doc sighed, and felt like expounding.

"I'm here mostly because of stuff like that. When I was a kid, and we would play war, I was always the medic. I was delegated that duty. When I graduated, I went into the air force and got a degree in physics, but I stuck with my trade. I was a pararescueman. Before I went to afghanistan, I served with a group of Green Berets, and SEAL team two. To get that, I had to fufill my mandatory EMT credentials, but I also got my qualification as a field trauma surgeon. I can't talk about what I did with those two, at least not for another fifteen years."

Doc leaned forward now, and put his gun aside.

"While I was in afghanistan, there were three helicopters shot down. The first two had simple recoveries, and we didn't deal with a lot of enemies. The third though...it was fucking swarming with Taliban. The rangers and canadians with us did a pretty good job of clearing it, but eventually it was decided that the PJs would need to be parachuted in. So we did. Like the good medics we were, we secured the pilots and the gunners, and administered what aid we could. I got to do a tracheotomy, and clamp someone's brachial artery. Anyways, the blackhawks and apaches showed up to extract us. We ran out, and we loaded the patients, and we saw that there were two guys left behind. Rangers. Both of them. One guy looked like he'd been shot pretty bad. So, I remembered the slogan 'So that others may live' and I ran back in."

Doc sighed at this point. This was where he got mad with himself.

"I can't remember much past there. The after-action report basically says that I shot a few people, dragged the wounded guy into cover, was shot once for my trouble, and stablized him. Then I stuck him on his pal's back and burned through the rest of my ammo covering them as they ran back. Of course, at this point the choppers had to leave, so I sprinted back there. I got shot twice more running back, managed the throw myself into the Blackhawk and proceeded to bleed. One of the machine gunners was shot, and since I was the only PJ I slapped a pressure bandage on him and grabbed the Vulcan. I was shot another two times while I was on the vulcan."

Doc rubbed his torso.

"Shot five times. Once in the calf, twice in my right arm, twice in my torso. After I got out of hospital, I was awarded the Air Force Medal. I was apparently supposed to get a Medal of Honor, but some P.R. guy in the White House said that was a bad idea, and also said that a presidential mention was a bad idea. To make things better, they said that since my shooting arm had been hurt, I would need rehab for it. Done with, by the way, good as new. When they learned it was hurt, they 'offered' me an honorable discharge, and then forced me to take it."

Doc rubbed his arm uncomfortably.

"So now I'm here. I'm making sure that people stay alive, our side and the other side. I'm trying to ensure that as few people die as possible, because, in the end, Front and a few others are here to kill. They perceive that as their job. I want to make sure that the people who deserve to live, live."

[Armored Bishoujo]

Elaine looked thoughtful as Doc gave her his story. "Before the attack, I was type of person who would think everyone was worth saving. Since Maylene's death, I'm just not so sure anymore. Maybe when I finally catch up to Richard and decide what to do with him, I'll find the woman I used to be back then."
She forced a smile which looked awkward. "I'm not sure if I want to go back to the woman I was, but at least I'll have a choice."

[GARUD]

Hearing Elaine's story almost brought a tear to Front's eye. Still, this was business. Emotions have to come second. This issue would have to wait. The vehicle neared point.

"Okay, guys enough chit-chat. We are going to go over the mission."

Peter made sure his voice was loud enough that Kim could hear.

"Okay, first thing is to get Lull to stand on that stretch of road when thos extra troops come. Then, he will signal them to stop. Lull, you cool with that? Now, the rest of us will wait on the sides as the dunes can hide us well. It's also rather dusty, they won't see us. After Lull has stopped them and they have come out of the car, we ambush them. If they have uniforms, then I want headshots, alright? If you can't, doesen't matter. They are part of a crimelord army. They aren't good with disciplin anyway. Okay, when we come out of hiding, we can circle to surround them, and open fire. Whether they have weapons or not, we can't let them go. They know about this place, and our mission is to wipe it from existance."

Front looked around the room.

"Got any questions?"

[Armored Bishoujo]

Elaine thought about anything that might need to be brought up, but came up with nothing. Everything seemed to be in place. She remembered when she was part of a convoy that came under an enemy ambush. Now her role in that situation would be reversed. However, the team she was on would succeed where those guerillas had failed. The only thing that would really suck about the whole operation is that she would probably get hit on by the crimelord's goons...a lot. The other girls as well. It would be difficult work resisting the urge to break a nose and shoot someone in the knee, but she'd have to so as not to draw attention to herself.

[Darth SS]

"Isn't circling a bad idea?"

Doc had his hand raised and looked around. His face had that expression of suprise at the obvious.

"I mean, that goes one of two ways. First, we look deep, and we can't shoot for fear of killing one of our people. Or, we don't look deep, open fire, and kill one another in the crossfire."

[GARUD]

"You have a point there. We all have decent aim, but we still could hit our own. Hmm... we could just jump into their vehicles and start firing. Also we could all stand behind them and shoot like a firing squad. What do you guys think?"

[PhoenixFlame]

"Or flank them all on one angle." Jessica adds in, "Perferably from the crest of a high dune, where we'll have 70% terrain cover and they'll just have vehicles."

"After all, 7.62 FMJ'll pentrate any non-armored vehicle's door or window without much problem." She added, patting her AK, "That, and I bet Countdown and Doc use SS-109's, so they'll have little cover to speak of." and making reference to the AR-15's military-grade steel-core penetrator ammo used by the majority of frontline troops.

"No sense getting closer than we need to." She shrugs.

[Tarrin]

Panic just sat there listening to everyone converse, He wasn't the best at coming up with plans in these situations. Urban environments was his forte.
So he just listened waiting for the plan to unravell.

[GARUD]

"Perfect, we'll go with that. What would I ever do without you?"

Front cracked a wry smile, before looking out the window.

"Kim, we are at point. Set us down just over there. We'll walk to the ambush area."

Peter saluted to the rest of his crew.

"Ready troops?"

[Armored Bishoujo]

Elaine was the first to rise and salute. "Just point us in the right direction, sir."
She felt nostalgic the moment she said it, and wondered what other military practices she'd be incorporating during the mission.

[Darth SS]

"Unh huh, I'm not so much down with calling the guy 'sir' given that this is a volunteer organization...but anyways, where are we hitting them?"

Doc picked up his GAU-5, and made sure the chamber was loaded. Then he checked the safety and foregrip. Again. No sense in having something go wrong at this point.

"Also, am I getting in trouble if I patch guys up who are from the other side of town?"

[Truce]

"Of course," Lull said, starting to make his way down to the road where, as far as he could tell, he was still supposed to stop the convoy. "Nobody is allowed to survive. That is what a wipe is.

"The only reason we would keep them alive is if they were somehow beneficial to us. Perhaps interrogate them, but when their usefulness was up..."

[Tarrin]

"Man it 'aint fair, Ace gets to bring a plane, Do i get to bring a buggy Nooo! It just sucks." Panic muttered too himself sliding the clip into the Mp5, and patting where he always kept his scorpion.

Following everyone else he made his way to the ambush point.

[Mesden]

"Sorry Doc," Elissa stated, her tone having a firm flow to it, "this is what we're going to have to do."

[Mauve Mage]

(OOC: I'll be gone from Saturday until probably the second Monday in July, so I'll make it easy on everyone and keep Kim out of the action for now.)

Ace killed the engines as the massive transport settled into the waves of hot yellow sand. The screams of the machinery quieted down to a dull hum, and then into a silence, broken only by the occasional clink! clunk! of metal cooling and contracting.

Barely had the plane touched ground when her team members were rushing out to the ambush point. Kim fished around under the seat and pulled out her handgun. She held it up, making sure it was at least loaded.

As she inspected the weapon, she noticed a gauge on the dashboard in front of her that didn't look quite right. At either end of the gauge was a C for cold or an H for hot. The needle was pointed firmly into the red H zone. The "Whoahboy that can't be good" zone. Grumbling to herself, Ace put the gun down and tapped the gauge with her finger nail. The needle did not move. She grimaced.

"Hey Boss?" Kim called after Front. "I think we may have a problem. Mind if I stay here instead of join the ambush? Something's overheated back there, and I want to make sure it won't blow up if we try to take off again."

[GARUD]

"Go ahead, I'm not fussed. I'd rather we have our escape route open at the cost of 1 extra gun."

Front inspected the area of the dune, and decided on a good area. It was just behind a hill of sand. If they sat down, or crouched, the would not be noticed.

"Now, this is a good position. People, over here now. Lull, I want you to be ready to pull them over."

[Tarrin]

Panics mind wondered for a minute, the plan in his head had definate advantages, First on of the female members would stand on the dune and proceed to strip, Stopping the sex starved convoy who would then charge up the dune to get a better look at the vision they had stopped for.

A nudge bought Panic back from his "Plan" and into reality, He always liked his plans, Only about 9 out of 10 had one of the girls stripping.