[Blazrath]

Jack would chuckle slightly as the crew decided to try and say its not true, it still got a conversation going. After he heard the sound off order he would wait for his turn. "Viper-Six is online." and with that the helmet would come on and he would go through the diagnostics. It always tripped him up when first mixing real world with the digital, but after a few moments the sensation passes and he is fine to work. Then he starts to hear the subvocal mics chirp up. "Viper-Six is still online." He'd say, sliding his pack under his chair so it doesn't go flying. "You know Weedy, I'm going to have to call bullshit on you and the money. You don't seem to really do anything with your cut except get yourself new gear and maybe something for downtime. So if you have a thing for money, where does it go? In the bank until you decide to get of this business or already spent on the latest and greatest of military technology."

[Koshnek]

"Viper-4 ready for action." Chuck responded, and once more moments later in subvocal.

The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.

Sheeeeeeeeyit. We aint no soldiers. We's MERCS! We fight for what's about to be in our POCKETS!

"Come on chummers, both of you are as wrong as wrong can be. What we fight for are the people in this bird right here and we do it because we know that the sucker next to us will be doing the exact same thing. And failing someone who is putting his life on the line for you is simply unacceptable." Gale pauses for a moment before continuing, "Thankfully I can’t even imagine anyone in this crew disagreeing with that."

"Used to be a day I fought for a paycheck, and I been makin paychecks for 27 years. When most all your friends been shot, stabbed, blown up, fried, deep fried, eaten and worse...the pay ain't so important no more. A man starts realizing all the things he's done for those paychecks. I woulda hung up the guns a ways back, but this ol boy ain't cut out for nothin but shootin. Here I am now. I fight for all o' y'all, the doc on the ground, and her guards." Chuck took a moment to look at each face around him, stopping at Weedy before continuing. "Find something real to fight for, ladies. The money only takes you so far...unless you're a right cold bastard. I reckon the money'll take ya to the grave then. Though I thought I was a right cold bastard. I suppose I'm just old now."

Chuck shrugged and fell silent after his last comment. He reached into his feel-good pouch, pulled out a tab of cram and popped it. Afterwards he picked up his helmet, fastened it, tested the seal, and flipped back to fresh air. With everything attached and stored where it should be, he pulled up the mission files and began reviewing the important details.

[Poindexter]

"You know Weedy, I'm going to have to call bullshit on you and the money. You don't seem to really do anything with your cut except get yourself new gear and maybe something for downtime. So if you have a thing for money, where does it go?"

She gives Viper Six the finger. "Someone's gotta support ya mamma."

"Find something real to fight for, ladies. The money only takes you so far...unless you're a right cold bastard."

She lets a little smile through, but just a little one. "The coldest, Omae. Ice cold..."

Despite her attempts to play it off like a bad-ass, the whole topic makes Weedy a little uncomfortable. What Jack had said was true and she knew it. Just from what she'd blown on chrome, dope, and ammo, she could have retired a LONG time ago, so it wasn't REALLY about the money, despite her claims to the contrary. It wasn't about a sense of wanting to protect anything either. She aint never had anything to protect in the first place. It wasn't even for the men around her. After all, she'd been going into the CZ on foot by herself since long before she'd ever heard of Vulcan International. The truth is, that when she looks deep inside and really reflects on things, she has NO IDEA why she keeps going back in there, but every now and then, when she's pretending to be asleep at night, she's afraid it's cause on some level, she wants to die in there.

She pushes all these thoughts out of her head and starts singing(screaming) along. "BUT I DON'T CARE IF I SPEND MY DOUGH! CAUSE TONIGHT I'M GONNA BE ONE HAPPY SOUL!"

[martinchaen]

[Thunderbird Hotel-Echo-Seven-Seven, Chicago Airspace, May 2076]

Upon submitting flightplans, Wires almost immediately receives a voice callback. "Hotel-Echo-Seven-Seven, this is O'Hare tower; you are cleared for take-off at 1525 hours local on course niner-zero. Fly the friendly skies; tower out."


With the thunderbird soaring through the clouds at high-speed, Wires feels the sonic boom reverberate through the metal extension of his own self as he tears through the speed of sound. Acid rain coats the aircraft with a slick film of stinging dampness as he steers into the front coming in from the east over Lake Michigan, and as the crew sounds off he double-checks the weather reports.

"... here today. Looks like these clouds are sticking around for a while, folks, so expect north-eastern winds of around 4mph with showers of rain throughout the week. Fog will likely form at dawn and dusk especially near the rivers, so keep those lights handy and stay safe. This is Jose Valero with KSAF News. Back to you, Dan."

Instead of taking the short route directly to the LZ which would have taken the crew directly over the Cermak blast zone, Wires cuts a south-eastern path through the skies and does a 180 over the southern tip of Lake Michigan, angling in for a westerly approach on the LZ. Satellite imagery shows the area to be relatively clear, but this far into the CZ anything could happen in absolutely no time...

[Ravensoracle]

Wires logs out of VR while he gets up tp transfer to the Humvee. He keeps the connection to Betty ready if she'll need him for the few seconds it will take him to make the transfer.

As Wires appers from the cockpit, He's already deck out in his SWAT ensemble complete with all of the gear a growing tech-head would need, In a very nasally and "oh-so-proper" flight attendant vioce

"Ladies & Gentlemen, This is your pilot speaking. We are nearing our destination shortly. PLase notice that I have turn off the restraint sign so that we can assume proper departing procedures. Please move to your new seat aboard the Humvee.

Once he finishes, he climbs into the driver seat of the Humvee. Cap'n we are only a few minutes out. Better get ready for touchdown. Going VR"

>>>>To: Team Viper
Pregame Psych Op
File Inc    http://youtu.be/lTs6a0ORdQU

[Blazrath]

Jack would roll his eyes at Weedy, luckily his helmet blocking the view to his eyes. Muting the outside world except when key words pop up in the feed and stopping his voice escaping his air tight helmet, he would bring up his music list, calling out random. What came through was one of the original elf rock bands that came out of Ireland doing the cover of a cover, which wasn't too bad. Problem was, the original tracks were done with colony bands and transferring in an Irish Brogue could of been disastrous, though to him it was good. He couldn't stand the J-Pop craze going on right now, preferring to stick with the goblinized and elven rock and metal bands.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofEexDdcmq8&index=2&list=UUv7Bgr5Mq-dPYu-Ol4AocEA

He could be seen very clearly he was tapping his fingers in time to the music against his armor, closing his eyes 'til the song ends, opening his eyes to see Wires already in the back and directing everyone in his usual manner. He'd stop the music, open up comm lines for full conversation and unmuted himself, something the rest of the team probably thought was a godsend for the time being. He'd grab his bag and head for his normal seat in the Humvee. "Glad for the smooth sailing into port, hows the weather for the landing Captain?" He would say getting settled, Wires knowing the question was directed at him cause Cap' was August and Captain was Wires when driving or flying. Its also a question on how hot the landing will be.

[Poindexter]

"Roger that, Viper Three!" She spits into the comm before unlocking her gear and unhooking herself from the gunner cables. Four steps and she's next to the door of the hummer, counting heads once again. Once everyone is inside, she takes one last hard look at the her Gauss rifle and wonders if she's bringing the right loadout before closing the rear hatch of the hummer and seating herself next to the rear exit. "Viper One. Viper team is accounted for, strapped in, and ready to roll."

This ain't a bug hunt. I don't need the cannon. Besides, August told us to run light, so that's what I'm doing. I mean, if one can consider a grenade launcher to be "running light" that is.

[rednblack]

August listened intently on the discussion about this thing they did.  It wasn't everyday that Viper team would wax philosophical, but when they did he had a hard time staying out of it. He approved of Jack's quote, but the other's sensibilities. It was hard to believe that Chesterton had survived the First World War and come to those conclusions. Personally, August favored Robert Graves' cynicism over the high ideals of all those other British bastards.  He didn't know how someone could walk away from a front with any ideals in tact.

He fingers a silver medallion around his neck.  At a cursory glance, it appears to be Saint's medal, but the back inscription reads, "John Hawkwood."  When there's a break in the conversation, August adds, "'God take away your alms.  For as you live by charity, so do I by war'. . . A man born to a tanner's son in England, who died a landed Lord in Italy said those words about 700 years ago.  You know, I used to think I got in Betty here for the money, and it was you folks that brought me back.  And I think that's true, but it's not the whole truth.  I can't speak for you chummers, but there are a lot of reasons why I fight.  I fight to put my daughters through school.  I fight because I don't know who the hell else would run this outfit.  I fight for Jen.  But mostly, I think it's my darma, my fate, whatever you want to call it.  Maybe this is pessimistic, but I tried the pacifist route, I tried to do no harm, but the truth is, killing comes as natural as breathing to me."

Once he finishes, he climbs into the driver seat of the Humvee. Cap'n we are only a few minutes out. Better get ready for touchdown. Going VR"

"Roger that, Viper-3.  Viper team, load up."  August found his spot in the humvee, double-checked his gear, and spun around to face the rest of the team as they entered.

"Glad for the smooth sailing into port, hows the weather for the landing Captain?" He would say getting settled, Wires knowing the question was directed at him cause Cap' was August and Captain was Wires when driving or flying. Its also a question on how hot the landing will be.

"Not great, to be honest.  We're most likely looking at limited visibility, especially at the river.  It's a double-edged sword, but we'll try to keep it to our advantage.  Stay frosty, Jack."

[reyjinn]

Gale takes his seat inside the Humvee, strapping in and continuing going over the files from Wires and Weedy. Well, at least we won’t have to go underground to look for this termite nutcase. We’d be doing the poor bastard a favour by putting a bullet through his brain. Don’t know what HQ is waiting for, especially if he’s close to waking up some of those fraggin bugs.

"You there Omae? We’re heading into the badlands so don’t get your panties in a bunch even though I won’t be throwing magic around. We’ve gotten through some bad shit before and we’ll do so once again today. No doubt."

Alright, time to get your game face on. Gale gets in position to monitor the feeds from one of the fly-spies during the ride in the Humvee, keeping his eyes peeled.

[Koshnek]

Once Wires announced that it was time to strap into the Humvee, Chuck got up, slung his AA-16 across his back, picked up the cannon, and took his seat in the Humvee. He was a different person now. Nothing else mattered except the mission and the people in the Humvee. Chuck sat down and held the cannon between his legs with the butt resting on the floor. "Viper-4 locked and loaded and ready for touch down."

Once everyone had settled into the Humvee, Chuck caught the Captain's attention. "Cap'n August. What's the quick 'n dirty tonight, sir? We got the mission files, but I'd like to hear your version."

[rednblack]

Once everyone had settled into the Humvee, Chuck caught the Captain's attention. "Cap'n August. What's the quick 'n dirty tonight, sir? We got the mission files, but I'd like to hear your version."

"Until the situation dictates otherwise, we're going to go with HQ on this one," August says, making eye contact with each of his soldiers in turn.  "We will maintain a westerly course on 31st street.  Gale and I will monitor the drone footage and keep y'all abreast of any upcoming threats or elements of concern.  Weedy, I'm going to give you the captain's chair on this one.  I want your eyes up front in case we miss anything.  Chuck, Jack, I want you both on those weapon mounts should we need to go hot.  On State St. we head north, and maintain our MO.  Wires, I want you to take Gale's drone to the corner of 26th and State to investigate the building where Dr. Clay was last seen, and my drone should scope out the surrounding area to note any potential corridors of egress or ingress.

"Barring any new intel, our plan is to take the building as a tactical maneuver.  We will announce our presence upon breaching the building on the off chance that our target is still present.  I'm going to go in with less-than-lethal rounds, and I'd like another team member to follow with the same.  Do I have any volunteers?  I want backup to be ready to roll with the hardest punching drek ya got, so if the building has been taken by hostiles, I want to drop 'em and drop 'em hard.  If we can keep one alive, we do so for intelligence gathering, but otherwise, I don't think I have to impress upon each of you how dangerous an area we're going into this is.  We will secure the building at 26th and State, and formulate our next move there."

August turns to Wires before continuing.  "Wires, I want 3 drones on the east bank of the South River.  Since we're looking for a termite shaman, we're looking for an above-ground lair.  I noticed a few buildings that were boarded up and are possible sites for recon, once the area has been observed.  Chuck, you know a lot more than I do about how these hunks of plascrete keep standing.  Did you notice anything in the imagery that pulls you toward one or two buildings as being more likely candidates than the others?  Even the boarded up buildings should have one or two avenues of ingress for the Fly-Spies, so that's what I want to use to put eyes on this cockroach first. 

"As it stands, we will extract to the same position and along a similar route, but time will tell on that account.  I need every soldier here to pull this off.  Anybody plan on going home in a bag tonight? 

"Good.  Y'all know Cermak.  You know the stories.  But I'll tell ya, whatever is still kicking down here is kicking cuz it's lived through some drek.  It's kicking cause it's mean, and it's nasty, and it's done some things that'll chill even this old merc's heart.  But whatever we see, it hasn't lived through Viper team.  I've got tougher, I've got meaner, I've got nastier with me right here.  Viper team on.  We're locked, we're loaded, now let's get this done."

After he finishes speaking, August gets up from his seat, and takes his place near the back of the humvee, passing Weedy along the way and gives her combat armor a solid punch in the chest.  "you're my eyes out here, girl.  You keep these boys safe," and with that August prepares the drone feed.

[Koshnek]

"Chuck, Jack, I want you both on those weapon mounts should we need to go hot.

Chuck nodded, "Yes sir."

"Barring any new intel, our plan is to take the building as a tactical maneuver.  We will announce our presence upon breaching the building on the off chance that our target is still present.  I'm going to go in with less-than-lethal rounds, and I'd like another team member to follow with the same.  Do I have any volunteers?  I want backup to be ready to roll with the hardest punching drek ya got, so if the building has been taken by hostiles, I want to drop 'em and drop 'em hard.  If we can keep one alive, we do so for intelligence gathering, but otherwise, I don't think I have to impress upon each of you how dangerous an area we're going into this is.  We will secure the building at 26th and State, and formulate our next move there."

Chuck just shook his head at this. "No go, sir. I pack a lot, but its all lethal. I recommend puttin myself in the vanguard during the breach. Shotguns ain't too good at range, and I have a limited number of cannon rounds. I'd prefer to save them for something nasty, sir. It'll eat my ammo, but remember that I have limited suppressive capabilities too. And to be honest sir, I'd prefer to be the first one bein shot at. I reckon I got more experience bein shot at than anyone here. I ain't proud or nothin, but I done got pretty good at it. The rear guard is normally my bread 'n butter, but I ain't gotta deal with my armor smothering me tonight. My mobility will be an asset should you choose to utilize it, sir. Don't let these old bones fool y'all, now. The lady over yonder'd be the only one here who could give me a run for my money."Chuck broke out of mission mode for just a moment to give a rare smile and a wink to Weedy. "Though when I was her age I'd have left an old man like me in the dirt."

August turns to Wires before continuing.  "Wires, I want 3 drones on the east bank of the South River.  Since we're looking for a termite shaman, we're looking for an above-ground lair.  I noticed a few buildings that were boarded up and are possible sites for recon, once the area has been observed.  Chuck, you know a lot more than I do about how these hunks of plascrete keep standing.  Did you notice anything in the imagery that pulls you toward one or two buildings as being more likely candidates than the others?  Even the boarded up buildings should have one or two avenues of ingress for the Fly-Spies, so that's what I want to use to put eyes on this cockroach first.

Chuck nodded. "I reckon I ought a look at that, sir. I'll ask Wires to look over it while I'm at it. He knows a thing or two about structural integrity himself." He got up, pulled up the satellite imagery in question and examined the buildings in designated area. Chuck approached Wires and unsealed his helmet to take it off, cradling it against his side. "If you were a big ol termite which one of these buildings'd look nice n cozy to you?"

[reyjinn]

>>”Captain, I got shockers in the pea shooter. It’s not optimal but an option you should know about.”

[Poindexter]

"Barring any new intel, our plan is to take the building as a tactical maneuver.  We will announce our presence upon breaching the building on the off chance that our target is still present.  I'm going to go in with less-than-lethal rounds, and I'd like another team member to follow with the same.  Do I have any volunteers? 

"Sir! Yes, sir! I can back you up with the taser unless you've got an extra clip of shockers for the rifle. Either way."

"As it stands, we will extract to the same position and along a similar route, but time will tell on that account.  I need every soldier here to pull this off.  Anybody plan on going home in a bag tonight? 

"SIR! NO, SIR!"

After he finishes speaking, August gets up from his seat, and takes his place near the back of the humvee, passing Weedy along the way and gives her combat armor a solid punch in the chest.  "you're my eyes out here, girl.  You keep these boys safe," and with that August prepares the drone feed.

Weedy looks down at her chestplate after the punch. "Roger that, Sir!" she says with a combination grin and warface. She loves it when August does shit like that.

[Blazrath]

"I've got a clip of buzzers for Matilda. Probably take down a horse in some cases, but if you want someone to go into a dark building with ya with non-lethal rounds, I've got plenty of light." He would say, his voice sounding slightly robotic as the suit broadcasts what he says. "Though, I don't know how the boys in black will feel about lil old me comin' in with a marksman rifle and these comfy clothes." He would say, patting his chest to give a slightly comical metallic noise.

Getting into the humvee, Jack would take on of the gunner spots. While Chuck was better with these weapons than he was, he still had some training. Plus, throw enough ammo down the range and you will hit something. "I know I'm not coming back in a bag."