Ch 4. Landfall

[Dome]

Knowing they are staying for a while, Richardson drops his gear in a corner, He even puts down the rail gun but makes sure he has the plasma shotgun ready should anything charge in. He sits down in the corner next to his gear and just listens.

[dakota]

" Glad y'all like it." Abe replied, then set a jar of his own special recipe hot sauce on the table with a grin after seeing the tabasco sauce. He accepted the trade with a nod, and set items on a shelf off to the side. Abe spent the rest of the day and into the evening telling what he knew about Dinosaur Swam, and they finally got out of him that he was in fact a retired IDF noncom for nearly thirty years that had moved to Char initially looking for kin before deciding to stay and move further from civilization just to get away.

Close to midnight, when the storm seemed to be raging at it's worst, Shep was finally up and around, and seemed like a different person than most of the squad was coming to know, though Sam and Socrates knew this to be the Trassk from before his injury. With a little persuasion ( and prehaps an order or two), he convinved the rest he was able to take a turn on watch so everyone could get some sleep.

By morning, the rain was no longer pelting the cabin as hard, and the wind was down to a dull roar. As the others started to wake, Abe was already awake and quietly engaging Shep on how the CS had changed since he'd retired over a game of chess.

[Renekin Skywalker]

Socrates looked around, stretching. He smirked, seeing Shep feeling better, thinking of the cats' complaints the night before. That must have accounted for the bulk of their concern. The rest were merely facts of being in a long-range team that was meant to be away from base a long time.

I suppose I shouldn't rub it in, though. He thought to himself as he stood and stretched. Today.

"Watch your rook, Shep." Socrates added, as he pass by on his way to look out the window.

[Tori]

Tori was down to "sleep armor" having removed the arms and legs. If anything went down during the night, she would have had some protection. Thankfully, nothing did. She stretched in ways that would make a human's spine crack, and issued a wide yawn.

She sorted though one of her MRE's sharing mostly sweets and beverage mixes with Abe. Having no way to taste sweet, it meant little to her. The final item shared was one of the coveted pop-tarts. Again, it had no value to a cat. She brushed her teeth, and did a little more stretching.

Tori took a seat near Abe, watching the chess game. She looked at Shep and her tail began to swish, ever so slightly seeing his recovery. A sniff confirmed the wound improved.

"Lookin' fit, Shep. Hoo-ya."

[Janxi]

Jan opened her green eyes and looked around the room. She made a feline stretch, licked her nose twice, turned over and fell back to sleep at her spot on the floor.

[dakota]

Shep looked at the board, then nodded as he moved a pawn to protect his piece," Thanks Soc." He flipped a mediocre salute to Tori, " Feeling better. Autumn's a miracle worker to fix this melon."

Abe took the poptart and offered two jars of the wicked hot sauce he had let the cats try the night before. " It's homemade. I can't eat much of it at once, but I always make a big batch at a time, so lots to spare. Your XO got the recipe for you before you got up. Socrates is it? Got this for you two." He set a container of powder on the table," My unit's dog boy before I retired used to mix this stuff with water to make gravy to dip his meat in. Three days trapped underground with nothing else to eat I took a liking to it too, though I add some herbs to it when I mix it up. Yours for the meat."

Outside, the storm didn't look as bad as the day before, though it was still rainy and windy. The ground had a light skim of water as things were saturated and had nowheres to run off.

[Mierin]

Sam is glad to see that Shep is doing better, but ignores him at first when he tries to order her to get some rest and only rests when she is reassured that he is all right to stand watch.

She is glad to see the storm isn't as bad as it had been, and part of her itches to get moving. They had a long trip ahead of them, and she was anxious to get started. However, she didn't want to put the team at unnecessary risk, so she does her best to not pace as she listens to Abe's stories.

[Tori]

"Thanks for the sauce, Abe. Jan and me come from Lone Star, and love hot food. It's a way of life 'round there." She placed the jars in a tube sock, then in a plastic sealable bag. That would keep them from rattling and from leaking on her stuff. "I'll trust Shep to pass the recipe on when we get back to the real world. And y'all had dogboys in Ishpeming? That's a cool thing." She knew most would probably not be friends to stray-hunter Socrates, but was glad some of the lucky got away and found jobs in a service where they weren't slaves. She wondered if her sister might be serving in some other man's army.

She acknowledged Shep, the tip of her tail swishing slowly to denote her positive feeling. "You look a bit like ol' Lazerus, ya know? Back from the dead. I'm glad you're gettin' back up to speed." She seemed sincere, as a full strength team could make the difference.

"Hey Six? I been thinkin... All the creeks, streams, rivers, ponds and swamps are gonna be overflowed for a couple'a days. If we could acquire a boat, like some kinda local craft, we could make good time on the waterways, avoid the roads,not be slogging up to our necks in swamps, and get up towards Char in good time. It'd be a good way to travel without drawin' a lot of attention. Just one boat among the rest, sir. Otherwise, the swamps are gonna be deep, and any stream may be impassable." A tactical acquisition for navy and marine personnel meant stealing.

[dakota]

Abe smirked as he moved his knight," I was IDF, but i did an exchange stint thanks to a deal between the powers that be. spend the last four months of my career chasing critters through the bowels of Iron Heart thanks to my track record dealing with all that fun stuff. "

Shep smirked," Is a written recipe gonna do you any good, Tori? I'll give it to you later when I can get it converted to pictographs. Shouldn't be too difficult." He looked at Sam, " Good to go, boss. On your call."

[Renekin Skywalker]

Socrates listen to the conversations, but kept his eyes outside, and his psychic senses on what he couldn't see.

"You know this area well?" He asked Abe, calmly.

[Janxi]

Jan rose from her sleep, wondering why everyone was talking when it was clearly a good time for a nap. She yawned wide, showing off her huge teeth. A few of the walls of the building struck her as promising scratching posts, but she would wait until she got outside. She learned from her mother that humans considered shredding a wall to be rude.

Like any marine, she checked her primary weapon, then her side-arm, and finally her FWS. Seeing all well, armed and in good working order, she pulled on the rest of her armor and her utility cover. She walked over to Tori, gave her a casual sniff, then nuzzled the little cat's face once. This seemed to be feline for "Good morning."

"Alright, I got my sleep. Let's go to work." She took a seat beside her partner and listened to the planning.

[Tori]

She greeted Janxi with a nuzzle and a purr. Her whiskers twitched slightly.

"Aww Shep, I knew you would either read it to me or transcribe it. This stuff is plasma hot and damn good."

She listened to Abe talk. Being from the U-P and working some in Iron Heart interested her. "I did some time in Iron Heart, too. God I foxin' hated the weather. Before I got approved to serve on a team, they made me a rescue swimmer at Sault Ste. Marie. It was pretty borin' but we spent the time bowfishing. I gotta 24-and-a-half pound carp. If we're rained in, I wanna go out and maybe shoot a tarpon. You ever get one 'round here?" Leave it to a fishing cat to steer the topic to what she loved best... Fishin'.

[Mierin]

Sam nods at Tori, "That's a good idea if we are able to find one." The last thing they needed was some angry person with a weapon firing at them for stealing their boat.

Sam looks outside to see how the weather is, adding "Hopefully we'll be able to get this show on the road soon."

[Janxi]

"Six, it ain't nothin'. We can liberate a boat in no time and be back before the rain stops. Hell, maybe Abe's even got a neighbor with a boat that he don't much like. We could just borrow for a spell."

[Dome]

Richardson having roused when everyone talked stepped out to relieve himself and clean up and wash his face in the rain. When he gets back he sits back in his corner and begins going over his weapons and gear. His face seemed focused and serious. Autumn if looking at him would almost think that this is a different person than the man that tried to hit on her back at the base. While that person seemed warm, friendly and always ready with a smile and quick replies, this one seemed serious and focused on nothing but the job at hand.

'Let the others sit and strategize, that's not my job,' he thought as he checked the sights on his rifle.