UN Special Forces Poland Research Base

[albatross]

Tiger sit up and begins to unbutton her uniform, staring at Khris with a mischeivous seductive expression. She kicks off her boots and tosses her dirty socks at him and wiggles out of her shirt revealing her black shorts bra. Then starts to inch her pants down, looking over her shoulder to gauge Khris' reaction.

[dakota]

Khris had seen all he could take and he kicked off his sandals and laid down next to Tiger and pulled her into a loving embrace, mumbling ," You damned tease."

[albatross]

The next morning, Tiger gets dressed in a UN uniform to address the base personnel. She has a spring in her step and kisses Khris passionately.

In the conference room the scientists and military officers gather with the pilots and their trainers. On the screen is news stories about the new director of the UN Special Forces. However the news stories show a tall lanky Chinese woman with a pearl handled revolver.

Tiger strides into the room. She is introduced by a UN dignitary who notes she developed the plans for the portable generator and has a military record which impressed the Security Council, though he gives not even a hint as to what that record might be. While the fake Tiger addresses the United Nations assembly, the real one addresses the base personel.

"Every day we wait, more refugees starve to death. And, we have also just experienced the consequences of attacking before we are ready. We have lost one robot in combat, and our top pilot, while alive, will not be able to face the enemy again. The spare robot will be assigned to Merrow, who will join Dancer and Peacemaker on the active roster. Potential will no longer be used to judge recruits, instead we will use results."

She turns to the scientists, "Elect two leaders and focus your efforts on building a new spare and on increasing the strength of the shields. Jeckle will be my liason, copy me and Jeckle on all developments but your chosen leaders will manage the day to day operations."

Turning to the Polish military officers, "Lt. White will be my liason and my second in command. Protect the base as best you can. I understand an American power armor unit will be arriving shortly. Integrate them into your plans."

Then she addresses the pilots and trainers. "The Gates Foundation will be able to bring in two new trainees as requested. Merrow will be joining the active roster and Vessel has transferred to Division One."

"Questions?"

One of the scientists asks why the director in the news conference looks different. Tiger smirks. "Guess they couldn't find anyone shorter. The Security Council offered me the director position, but it was agreed that I would not appear on TV. China has selected a military officer to represent me to the public. You can think of me as her stunt double."

"There is much to do, I suggest we get to work."

[dakota]

Khris had hung back to watch the room as Tiger addressed the room, gaugung responses and fighting with his uncomfortable uniform, even if he wore in improperly with the jacket open and Pythons slung on his hip in a holster rig that looked more more suitable in a wild west movie and of course his sandals instead of uniform boots. He leaned against the wall and listened and watched, thankful he didn't get assigned one of the jobs.

[albatross]

The meeting breaks up and everyone gets back to work. Tiger goes to the Command Center to begin her new job. Dancer, Peacemaker and Merrow go with Roan, Marv and Lt. White to begin training together, heading first to the pool for some team building exercises. Heckle leaves to explore the base. Jeckle goes with the scientists to step up the equipment, experiments, begin rebuilding the spare robot, and to prepare for the arrival of the other three robots by ship.

Kris has time to explore the new base. UN and Polish troops scurry around, and crews of technicians assist the scientists.

[dakota]

The fifth wheel once again, Khris shrugged and headed out, looking to establish the base's strengths and weakness without getting in the way. He decided to start with the troops, to see if they were on par with the ones back at the vietnamese base.

[albatross]

The Polish base is very different from the Vietnamese Cave base. An old mine, it has fewer wide open spaces. Also, its obvious that this base was intended as a bomb shelter, probably from way back in Russian times, and signs of new construction are everywhere. Indeed, military engineers are still at work in many places, and the work of the technicians and scientists to re install all their equipment and experiments makes the base seem extremely busy.

In an attempt to maintain security, thousands of high ranking Polish officers are patrolling all the activity. Unlike Vietnam, which had an intact military unit, Poland seems to have put all its best and brightest into guard duty. Even the low ranking soldiers all look to be veterans, the backbone of whatever unit they came from. Kris can see Special Forces uniforms, intel, analysts and military police. He can tell just by looking at them that most of them have seen combat.

[dakota]

With the more experienced defenders, Khris felt more at home as he explored for some reason. His only concern was someone would remember who he was before he joined Omega, having found work in nearby Lithuania the Czech states

[albatross]

A few of the intel operatives and higher ranking operatives nod to Khris, but he can tell by their body language that they recognize him from some file on UN operatives as part of Tiger's delegation, rather than as an assassin.

Of course, if his face is known, he knows that someone somewhere will make the connection eventually... Or if someone has realized they haven't decided to share the intel with the troops yet. A high profile mission like this is a double edged sword. This is exactly the kind of mission that could lead groups to overlook his past... but if anyone feels differently they know where to find him.

[dakota]

Unsettling thoughts filling his head, Khris continued to prowl the base, openly inspecting things and familiarizing himself with his surroundings. One thing he was certain of, the force in this base seemed more efficient than the vietnam base. He hoped they wouldn't need to test his theroy.

[albatross]

The military engineers are diligent and well patrolled. The base is huge. Khris finds a huge bay with elevators where the robots will be stored once they arrive. Unlike the giant cave of the Vietnam base, the halls of the Poland base are more thickly layered. Khris finds there are two methods of exploring: he can travel down avenue corridors which branch out left and right into various facilities (barracks, medical station, patrol station, etc) or he can take elevators up or down. The upper levels are mostly military, built to house troops guarding the lower levels. Although, the upper levels still have lots of areas for relaxing in addition to gun ranges and other military pursuits: weight rooms, little restaurants, even little underground parks for games. The lower levels are clearly designed with civilians in mind. The mid level areas are being converted to labs for the scientists, tons of gear and experiments being brought in and configured. Restaurants, bars, theatres both for movies and live performance, sprawling athletic clubs, and more are housed on the mid levels. The lowest levels have taller ceilings and are oriented towards living and community spaces: apartments, pools, parks, schools, day cares... an entire self sufficient community.

[dakota]

"Why couldn't Omega have this kind of impressive setup?" Khris sputtered to himself, becoming more and more impressed with the base layout. Other than the fact they were underground and needed surface connection for sustainability, he saw no major flaws with the base design. Getting bored with his sightseeing, he headed towards the command center, intent on overseeing the set up as they got online again. He was curious if their departure had caused any change in the demon's travels.

[albatross]

The Command Center is oddly quiet as most of the base is focused on moving in, setting up, or meeting the new people they will be working with.

They are monitoring the delivery of the three remaining giant robots by ship. And if course the course of the three demons. So far, the demons have returned to their original paths of mayhem and destruction more or less. The one Rock fought still has an original projected course, but at this point it merely shows a slight time delay from what the demon intended.

The demon in Vietnam is still moving South, toward the coast of Vietnam. The analysts are predicting it will cross the sea to attack the islands and then on to Austrailia. The other demon continues to cross on the bottom of the Pacific, headed for South America. And the third demon is nearly across China, with millions of displaced refugees in its wake.

[dakota]

Khris stood by the doorway, observing. His attention was focused on the monitors, but anyone moving grabbed his attention.

[albatross]

After a matter of days, everyone is moved into the base and shortly after the giant robots are delivered and Dancer, Peacemaker and Merrow can abandon the portable testers and once again train in the big machines.

Other than his severe phobias of the demons and of Tiger, Rock has recovered well and he can occasionally be seen training or talking to Marv, Roan, Dancer or Peacemaker. Now that Tiger is the Director, there is less time for her to supervise the training that happens outside the robots directly, and Rock's amazing senses allow him to keep away from her.

Foxglove has been working her magic to make some alterations to the base, apparently with Tiger's permission - or at least no effort has been made to stop her. There is now a pub for the scientists, and dozens of brilliant young grad students have been added to the base personnel, most of them very attractive young women. Some of these women seem to be quite attracted to highly intelligent men regardless of age. They mingle at the pub.

The officer's club is filled with escorts, and some underground dance clubs have been set up in abandoned tunnels for the enlisted men. The additions haven't done wonders for Khris' sense of base security, but the Polish military seems to be diligent in checking all their backgrounds. Most seem to be military brats or civilian contractors with security clearance.

Bored and tired with searching the base, Khris is in the Command Center again. Tiger is overseeing the beginning of a training exercise.