Impact Ares: Winds of Pandora

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

Darren plops down with his tray in a seat close to Sasha and the Amazon-lady. Trying to not break the lingering stillness of the air, he doesn't call out to Adam but makes an effort to try to flag him over to a closer table several times. He mutters quietly to Sasha. "Feels like home already, aye Sasha?" Darren's ability to tolerate the silence lasted a few minutes, but soon had been exhausted. Forcing down the last throat-clinging spoonful, Darren lets out an exaggeratedly loud sigh of contentment. "Aah! Good for mind, body, and soul, that is. You'd think I didn't have a broken leg yesterday. Nothin' like a hearty breakfast with a little help from the miracles of modern medicine, aye?"

When offered the piece of candy, Darren politely declines. "Thanks, but no thanks, miss. Gets all stuck in my teeth. Besides, I've been told I get a bit hyper when I get the sugar in me. Would you believe that?!" He presents his best 'innocent' face to Sasha and...Uh...Amazon-lady's name...L...L...Lauren? Laura? Lorren! Lorren. "Maybe you should offer a bit of that to our quiet comrades here, Lorren." It's kind of obvious from the way he says the name that he's proud he remembered it. He then starts to speak just a bit louder and more excitedly to make sure his voice carries across the room. "They must be hung over from celebratin' - you'd think they'd be feelin' all-Aces after yesterday's big raid. With those PTs they jacked these boys are goin' to be power-players pretty soon, don't you think?" Without looking around any, Darren listens and waits to see what reaction (if any) he provokes from the gangers.

[TamerBill]

There is a quiet murmuring from the other tables, but none of the gangers saw anything to the new arrivals. One by one they finish their breakfasts and depart for the briefing room.

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

As the crew begin to leave without so much as a "hello", Darren slumps forward in his seat to plop his left elbow down on the table. He leans down to rest his the side of his face on his hand, and for a brief moment his cheeks fill up with air - only to be blown out in the middle of a sigh. "Terribly friendly crew we've got here, aye?" With a bit of a laugh in his voice, he continues on a brighter note. "What's the world come to when you meet nicer folk in prison than you do out and about? Shall we be headin' on to that meetin' now, ourselves? Duty calls!"

Darren lifts up his legs and spins around on his seat to stand up. He does his best to tuck away that nagging thought that's been bothering him before anyone sees his face again.

Gotta hope the Lady's still lookin' out for me - if this crew is a gang of killers, I don't know what I'm gonna do.

[Twilight]

Sasha observes Darren's odd antics with a mixture of dread and amusement...mostly dread.

When Darren stands she does as well and she squeezes his arm lightly, whispering so that only Adam, Lorren and he can hear. "I guess it might not feel like home quite so soon." She looks a bit sad but does her best to replace the frown with a small smile.

"Let's get to that briefing while we can still follow someone to the correct location..."

She hustles in order to keep an eye on the unfriendly Gangers.

[LazyJoe]

Adam treated Darren's and Sasha's comments with his usual attitude; he heard but did not listen. A human element of almost any situation was lost on him and he had more important things on his mind. However, when the others started to move he was in front of the other three and led them into the Briefing Room.

[TamerBill]

Once everyone's filed into the briefing room and settled down a stocky commander-type addresses you from the front of the room, flanked by your 'rescuer' from before, Dirk Turnkey.

"As you all know, we acquired some new machines yesterday, courtesy of the Divine Republic. As prototypes for the next generation of Personal Troopers they're more powerful than anything currently in mass production, which means that now is the perfect time to hit the DR with all we've got. We've got the PTs, we've got the people and we've got the plan but we're low on the fourth 'P' required for any successful operation, which is of course supplies. I'm splitting you into three groups today; you'll each hit a different area and bring back the supplies to fuel our big raid."

The commander spends the next few minutes assigning teams. All four of the new members are assigned to Blue Team along with the pilot of the Raubvogel, Ryan. Their task is to parachute from the Raubvogel onto a DR supply train as it travels from one dome to another.

"This operation will be known from now on as Operation Goldmine. Any questions?"

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

Darren's expression could only be described as dumb-struck as the briefing progresses. They're just...puttin' us in the game like that? No ante? Sounds too easy. When the commander asks for questions, there's probably little surprise when Darren throws a hand up - not that he waits to be recognized before asking his question anyway.

"Just a couple, err...boss! The first one, I suppose, should be 'what do we do on this train'? Stop it so some of yo..our boys can come unload it? The second one," Both his voice and expression darken noticeably. "..is why you're sendin' us. You've got no reason to trust us yet, so either you're really runnin' out of cards, or this is the kind of gig you don't expect anyone to come back from. Am I right?"

[Yuki Akuma]

Lorren raises a hand. "I have a question. Why do you commander types always insist on giving these things goofy names?" She glances at Darren. "...And why exactly are you sending four 'slaves' on an important mission like this? Do you actually trust us? I know I wouldn't trust us..."

[Twilight]

Sasha's eyes nearly bug out of her head as she tries to sink into the floor through the seat of her chair.

Well...low profile we are not...

[TamerBill]

"We are sending you because it is just difficult enough for you to prove your worth while not being so difficult as to require more experienced men. It is also not vital to the operation as a whole as we have the other two teams to rely on for supplies in the event that you botch it like schoolgirls. I hope I make myself clear."

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

Well, that's a bit of a lucky break. If it's not difficult enough to need their best, maybe we WON'T die.. "Painfully clear...Sir? Once you tell us what we're to do with our train after we nab it, I'm guessin' we'll be all-Aces."

[Twilight]

Sasha seems to recover a bit from her mortified state and perks up her ears in the hopes of clearer instructions. She nibbles nervously on her lower lip but avoids fidgetting further.

[LazyJoe]

Showing the merest hint of surprise upon hearing he was to be parachuting from a moving plane onto a moving train, Adam remained silent throughout the others' responses in the hope of any additional information he might use. Only then could an informed reaction be reached and applied.

[TamerBill]

The commander looks irritated at the groups pleas for more information about the mission.

"I don't have time to babysit you anymore, outsiders, I have real operations to direct. I don't care how you accomplish your mission, so long as you do it. Now get in that plane and get those supplies!"

The pilot of the Raubvogel, Ryan, signals to the group to follow him to the hangars, where their ride awaits them.

[LazyJoe]

Trying to forget how insanely dangerous the next 12 hours will be, Adam follows Ryan to the Raubvogel. Hey, it's not like staying here would be a safer alternative.

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

Darren's head hangs low and he begins to massage his forehead. He falls in step behind Adam and that pilot-guy. As the group walks along, Darren is barely heard muttering to himself.

"Greeaaaat. All we've got to do is jump on a train, packin' nothin' but our fists and the clothes on our backs, hijack it, and sort out a way to unload the damn thing and carry the goodies back before the DR comes a'callin'. There's no way these boys are playin' with a full deck, no sir..."

[Yuki Akuma]

Lorren follows the pilot, and sighs a little. "If we're hijacking a train, can I at least have a gun? I'd be much more reliable with a gun, I think."

[TamerBill]

"Amusing as it would be to see you fight off DR soldiers with only your scathing sarcasm, it won't be necessary. There're rifles in the Vogel."

When they arrive at the hangar Ryan sets off ahead to prep the machine for launch, motioning the others to wait there for a minute. Looking around the hangar you can see the Tempelritter Mk II and the Verruckt from your earlier exploits, though the Zwergenhaft is nowhere to be seen.

[Twilight]

Sasha follows. Evidently worried about the mission and about the fact that she is the one that got the group into this. Although I guess that the worst that will happen is that we end up caught by the DR again...no...wait...we might also be killed. Her face falls.

Once they get to the hangar, she observes the available machines and muses "So...do we get both of these? And if so, who gets to pilot the second one?"

[Yuki Akuma]

Lorren stares at Sasha, groans, and grabs her arm, pulling her in. "This is an aerial mission, knucklehead. Neither of those can fly."

[TamerBill]

"Hehe, good one. 'Do we get those'. No no, we're dropping you out of a plane."

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

Starting to get a little nervous about this whole "mission", Darren shifts his weight back and forth between feet with his arms folded in front of him. He raps his fingers upon his left arm and looks vacantly out across the hanger.

"Hopefully they tucked away some parachutes to go along with those rifles, then. Maybe the abridged version of "Skydivin' for Dummies" while they're at it would be nice, aye?"

A slightly comforting (but moreso amusing) thought manages to put a stop to his anxious mannerisms at least - even brings a grimace to his face. May be as dangerous as bein' back in my cell, but good money says this's more interestin'. "Still, sounds more fun than bein' slaves to a librarian, or dirt-farmer or somethin'. Not everyday it's in your cards to leap out of an airplane."

[LazyJoe]

Adam gave Darren a scrutinising sidelong glance.

'I could think of worse things than working in a library.'

[TamerBill]

"Okay folks, all aboard the bird of prey!"

As each of the group ascend up the stirrup in turn Ryan presses a rifle and a parachute into their hands and points them towards a seat under the cockpit.

[Twilight]

"Oh, right." Is the full extent of Sasha's response to her mistake.

She awaits Lorren's actions and takes cue from her before doing anything that might seem funny or erroneous. After all, this is serious and potentially rather grim business.

[LazyJoe]

Adam took the rifle with a certain unease. He'd fired shotguns back on his father's estate many years ago, but that was worlds apart from being in an actual gunfight. The mere idea made him feel more than a little queasy.

There must be a better way to do this he thought as he sat down.

[Yuki Akuma]

Lorren, on the other hand, takes to the rifle like a duck to water; she sits down, examining the rifle, getting a feel for it... "Hm... a bit heavier than I'm used to... what kinda rounds are you using in this thing?"

[Twilight]

"So...what are the specifics of this thing? We need as many details as possible if we are to pull this off." She looks hopefully at the pilot.

"What we know so far is that we'll be jumping from the air onto a moving supply train with nothing other than our wits and these riffles. Do we know how many guards will be on this train? What is our target cargo? Are we to take prisoners or kill those that oppose us?" She tries not to look squeamish at her own question.

[TamerBill]

"Details schmetails. Don't you get that we're testing you here? Show some initiative."

With that the PT boosts out of the hangar and into the desert, scattering loose sand in its wake. A simple jump and a stomach-churning transformation later the group is flying through the air at amazing speed, heading directly towards the sand-train just visible on the horizon.

[TheGreatJabu]

Darren Sirion

For the first time since leaving the mission briefing, Darren laughs aloud at the pilot's comment. Although still filled to the gullet with butterflies, the laughter helps alleviate a lot of his stress. "Haha! Whether you were jokin' or not, thanks - I needed that."

At least in his own mind, this helped to clear the air a bit. Feeling a bit more bold now, he begins to converse with the pilot. "So what'd they say your name was? Ryan? How long you been with the uh..Blood Pact?"