[b]The after-party[/b]

"Well, they're obviously not totally accurate," Shona replied, tapping her chin in thought. "But as far as numbers, GEAR systems, all that stuff goes, they're pretty good, and they're improving all the time." She noticed that the sniper looked a little uncomfortable, shifting in his seat and avoiding turning his ears towards the speakers. Her own sensitive ears were folded back slightly against her head, and she gave the guy a sympathetic smile. [i]If this keeps up, we might have to have a word with the DJ...[/i]

"Next time we have time on the sims, I'll show you how to tweak the settings, if you want."

----

[b]The briefing [/b]

Shona, as usual, was sitting in the front row, her ears perked up attentively and her PADD sitting on her knee, using a stylus to jot down notes as Silver spoke. She forced herself to sit still, realising that one of her feet was jigging nervously against the leg of her seat. Her first real combat mission with the Riders. Her first real combat mission for months, full stop. Real bullets, real baddies. She took a deep breath, focusing on the files on the screen and on her PADD, and on her squad-mate's questions.

She frowned in concern as Aidan brought up the possibility of wounded, biting her lip as she glanced at the data on her side-bar. "Just hope there are survivors to be wounded at all..." She murmured half to herself, her ears wilting a little. She really hoped they weren't going to be riding into a massacre...