Ch 1 The Next mission

[dakota]

One week later
Briefing room
Colonel Wallace stood at the front of the room, his arms folded and leaning against the desk. " I'm going to give it to you straight. Since the commanding officer is detained, so I'll give to you straight. This is a rescue mission, plain and simple. Numbers of detainees are unknown, but recon puts it between five and fourteen CSOG operatives being held here." As he said it, he keyed the projector's remote. A pre rifts map of the continent appeared and then zoomed in to the lower right hand corner. " This is Dinosaur Swamp, and from our operative operating out of Fort Machias, it's aptly named. Before we lost contact with our operative, he took photos of our people being held by unknowns. We do know they were taken several hundred miles north near a city called Char. Who the men that have them are we don't know, nor do we have numbers. But your goal is snatch and run. You'll leave for Fort Machias at 0800 and Colonel Schrader will have more information upon arrival. If you have any special equipment to requisition, pass it to Captain Fraser and I'll try to arrange it." He grinned," I recommend you pack your swim wear."

Medical Ward 4

Carson Trassk looked up from the crossword puzzle he was toying at on his pocket computer and smirked, " I wondered when you'd finally drop by, L teh...," he whistled, looking at Sam's new rank insignia," Captain Fraser. Guess this means I have to start saluting." He raised his hand in a sloppy salute, touching wear his hair was growing back after being shaved to put in stitches. " Doc says I'm outta here later, but I'm guessing this is where we part company so you can take a job in the rear and I break in another snotnosed green LT. can't say it hasn't been fun, Sam."

[Tag]

[Renekin Skywalker]

A Captain, eh? Socrates thought to himself. Certainly, someone who embodies the goals and image of the States as well as Sam Fraser deserves it. I hope they did not also promote that Trassk, though. He needs to learn more about what it means to be a beacon for humanity...

"Sir." Socrates said, to Wallace, at the briefing, in that crisp dog-boy voice for addressing superiors, such as humans. "Do we expect large bodies of water, or only rivers and swamps?"

[Tori]

A smallish battle cat stood to address the colonel. She immediately snapped to attention when erect. Her uniform stood out among the usual army and marines. It was in a digital woodland pattern, though the propriatery pattern of the CS Navy. Her fingers were also webbed, some kind of unique breed of cat. On her chest was the "Budweiser" emblem. An eagle bearing a trident and a flintlock pistol. On her sleeve was a subdued SO-3 rating.

"Sir, SO-3 Tori, sir. I suggest we go native for this operation. If the enemy realizes they are being attacked by a blue force, they may use their prisoners as hostages or human shields, or even kill them to disrupt our motivation. If they believe this is a red-on-red engagement, they may leave the prisoners with a lighter guard, allowing an element of our team to liberate them while engaged in diversionary conflict, sir." The cat looked straight ahead and avoided eye conflict. Though at attention, her feline body language suggested she was a bit timid. Her tail was low and still, and she looked straight ahead, as if to avoid eye contact. Officers intimidated her.

"Also, sir, to we have any intel of Sploogies, I mean Splugorth operating in the area?" She blushed beneath her fur and whiskers at using the vulgar name for Splugorth to an officer, but she was a SEAL, and the enemy was not human, or a sentient being with any rights as far as she cared.

[dakota]

" That depends, Socrates." Col. Wallace replied," The entire area borders on the ocean, and the place is littered with all sorts of bodies of water. I'd prepare for both." He turned to Tori, and smirked. " I know you are new to CSOG, but you should have been trained that squad leaders will determine the course of action. And no, no signs of Atlantean activity in the area, allthough raiding parties have been reported by teams operating out of Lone Star east of territory border."

[Renekin Skywalker]

Socrates looked at the pre-rifts map. "Do we have anything more up to date for a map or..." He paused, suddenly aware he might have picked up Trassk's questioning habits. "Or was intelligence unable to procure anything?"

[sasqaricious]

Autumn still out of her element and obviously unhappy to be in the briefing sits quietly and listens to the briefing as well as the discussion between everyone. Being from where she is she is used to the mutant animals, and actually enjoyed their company. She keeps notes on everything she can on a simple personal computer. But anyone who looks at the room would probably find it amusing as everyone seems to be hard core killers with the exception of her.

[Mierin]

Sam smirks at Shep's sloppy salute as she sits on the end of the bed. "You're not getting rid of me that easily." she replies "There's another mission I'll be heading out on soon."

Sam looks more excited about whatever the mission is than even receiving her promotion as she leans forward. "They found him! He's alive!" The smile on her face made it obvious that she was referring to her older brother, Tim, whose squad had disappered months ago. Smirking, she adds "The Colonel made sure to mention that i should tell you. Knowing you, if I hadn't, you'd have followed me whether or not you were getting out of this place."

[dakota]

" This is the best we have here, but the locals will have better." Wallace replied. He looked at Autumn, " Doctor, am I boring you here? There's a very good chance these men and women will need your services once they are recovered. Possibly even to transport them."



" Calm down, Sam. " Shep said, sitting upright. " He? Tim? Are you serious? Damned right you needed to tell me. When do we leave?"

[Mierin]

Sam nods with the same smile on her face as she says, "Yup." She sits a little closer to Shep so she can explain what the Colonel had told her in a quiet tone of voice, without everyone else in the ward overhearing. Once she is done, she leans back and tells him "A squad is being put together as we speak, we should be heading out in the next day or two, tops." Standing up, she smirks "I will , of course, have to check with your doctor to make sure you're cleared for duty."

[Tori]

"Aye aye, sir." She spoke with a Lone Star drawl, sounding less feline and more redneck than anything. Already she disliked the Colonel. She was not determining a course of action, merely making a suggestion and an observation known to her team leader and CO. It's what good subordinates did, and how the Navy trained its operators. Then she realized what was happening. He was probably from Chi-Town and thought cats and dogs made for good pets, cheap troops and fed her kind something called Purina. She already missed other sailors and SEALs. On deck, animals and men were more or less equals, and a suggestion would be considered. Soldiers were foxed up, that was for sure.

Without realizing, the tip of her tail begain to move from side to side. She gazed over at her partner Janxi and offered a wink, then began to look around the rest of the room. It would be good to test the theory of their pairing in combat. The wall of a Marine thought and talked like Tori. Having trained some together in preparation for the mission, they shared a lion pride mentality already.

The female human in the room looked like a pogue. Even worse, she smelled like a veteranarian. As with most animals, evolved or not, Tori had a slight fear of the vet's office. It meant poking, prodding and a lot of unpleasantness, especially for a prototype. Pogues rarely contributed to a mission. Better a Naval Corpsman, who was almost as hard as a SEAL, carried weapons, and wanted to get operators patched up and healthy. Corpsmen didn't see her as a test subject. Still, if she got zipped, or busted a leg in a drop, the pogue would be ok. Tori didn't know why Col. Foxface was cracking the pogue's walnuts. It seemed she was taking notes and contemplating the briefing. If she was a pogue indeed, she would have little to add to the conversation.

The dogboy Socrates seemed squared away, for a dog. He talked like an operator, and didn't seem the sort to sniff crotches or hump legs. He didn't smell too offensive either.

Speaking of team leaders, there seemed to be no other officers or senior non-coms in the room. She wondered where he could be and why he would skip out on a briefing. She heard her skipper was Capt. Sam Frasier, but did not know a thing about the guy. Tori was still the FNG in the camp and knew nobody other than Jan.

The last human in the room, another E-4 was quiet so far. Tori liked the look of him, and he smelled like explosives. It was a nice scent to a kitty. She focused on that and her tail stopped twitching.

"Sir, interrogative: Do we have any aerial recce on the target? If not, any chance of getting a Talon, or at least a flyover for some candid camera?" The thought of ingressing on a target without knowing who and what was there was never good for an operator. Usually, SEALs got preliminary data from air, and ingressed only to varify preliminary findings, and make a detailed, eyes on report later.

Splugorth would be brazen and powerful enough to nab Deadboys, but Tori figured they would send them back to Atlantis and use them as gladiators, or Rift them off to parts unknown for a tidy profit. It was the middle of a swamp, so no vamps using the Deadboys as cattle. There was a malevolance about the entire idea that a squad of Deadboys could be taken and held.

She reached into her back pocket and produced a can that said "Catenhagen," for those that can read. She pulled off the cap and used a claw to fish out a small amount, before inhaling it in a nostril like snuff. She began to purr softly, audible only to Janx and Socrates, and nuzzled her shoulders a few times. She put the cap back on and passed the can to her feline partner.

[sasqaricious]

"Nnnnnno sir, I am making notes as best I can. I am just seemingly out of place here at the moment and out of my element. I am sorry. But I am making the notes we need and all that." As if to show her work she turns the tablet filled with notes on everything that he is saying. As well as a spreadsheet of names as the people in the room say who they are so she has a face for it.

[Renekin Skywalker]

Soc frowned a little at the lack of information. Col. Wallace was an honest man, as much as Socrates had seen, anyways, which meant there must not be much information to get.

"Locals, sir?" Socrates asked, in a careful tone. He knew that sometimes CSOG used non-human locals to their own means. But, with the new personel, the Dog Boy was wary of exposing Wallace to reprimand. "CS locals?" He added, hoping to clarify. He knew well enough even if they were human, but not CS, their treatment would be less than a CS human.

Socrates' ear twitched at the sounds of the snuffing, noting the can moving in plain sight. He made a note to inform Sam of this, so she would be prepared for the problems the addiction would cause.

[dakota]

" I just wanted to make sure you were with us, Doctor. I know field ops are not your speciality." Wallace smirked, " Yes, I mean the troops stationed at Ft. Machias. Tori, if you'll save your indulgences for later, Col. Schrader does had aerial photos, topographical charts, and some intel from indigenous locals that has been substansiated. No Talons in the region, but there are already a pair of Sea Strikers off the Chi-Town pulling aerial recon as we speak." He looked around the room. " Any other questions?"


* * * **

Shep wasn't waiting for the doctor. " Screw that, I can't wait on a doc. I gotta pull my gear, check out my weapons and sight them in, charge my clips." He through the blankets aside to reveal his preferred camoflagued fatigues. " Oh. Yeah. the Colonel gave me a heads up you were coming, but wouldn't tell me why." He grinned sheepishly. " do you expect any less?"

[Tori]

"Aye aye, sir." Tori gave Janx an apologetic look and slid the 'nip back into her pocket under its customary ring before buttoning the pocket. She was still riding the nip and took little offense to the admonishment. To her, 'nip was no big deal, though she'd even seen human sailors and marines chastised, especially in Iron Heart, for the human equivalent of dipping. In Lone Star, pretty much every cat 'nipped and every human dipped. She wasn't sure what dogs did. She continued her low purr, audible only to Janxi and Socrates.

"Sir, what sort of victors (vehicles) will we use to get to Fort Mach, and what can we expect there?

[Mierin]

Sam smirks at Shep as she shakes her head. "No, I wouldn't have expected anything less from you." The weight that seemed to have been on her shoulders these past few months seems to be gone and she smiles happily. However, she still flags down the nearest doctor that comes their way and says "I'd like to make sure this soldier is ready to be released, Doctor, if you have a moment." Smirking at Shep, she asks "Did you expect anything less from me?"