"Actually, I think we should send in Winterborn. We need a man on the inside who can seduce his way into the inner circle of whomever's behind those more militant defenders. Someone who can find their armory and lock it down while Red disables their communication so they're disorganized when the rest of the team runs through the tower confiscating weapons, neutralizing hostilities, and securing the tower. Once that's all completed, I'm sure big brother," he paused here to tap his AR driver. "Will be sending folks along shortly to simultaneously relocate the current tenants -as most folks I know like knowing they aren't being turned out into the cold by some heartless bureaucrat, but instead, are being swept into a more comfortable place by a concerned political figure who has a vested interest in the health of his flock- as well as restoring the captured tower into a working power plant. Perhaps even offering some healthcare to those refugees who so graciously surrendered their homes so the guy with the eviction notice could move in his cronies. Don't get me wrong, I'm not seditious or getting cold feet, but these people have every reason to shoot us dead on sight, and no reason to acquiesce to any of the demands of our mission, and so, I say we send our most venomous serpent into their midst to get them a little more willing to vacate their tower. I'd say we could put it to a vote, but putting it to logic seems the better option. Also, we can discuss it in transit." Edard turned to Claire. "Ashia, you're our wheel-woman. Got anything that can fit all of us, or are we going to need to 'procure' something?"

Claire listened and watched the feed on her AR glasses as more footage came through. She was surprised initially to see and hear that the buildings occupants were refugees rather than some criminal or foreign group like she had assumed, realising now that things would be a little more complicated than going in guns blazing and aggressively securing the facility. She listened as Alan explained to them the situation, that the refugees were refusing British forces access on the grounds that they were scared of being evicted and removed from the area. While on one hand she couldn’t blame them, wanting to get away from the chaos of the cities or the now remote and abandoned countryside – but she couldn’t help but wonder what on earth they were thinking, occupying a solar tower when there was a power blackout and refusing to allow engineers to access it. Through their selfishness they were denying power to countless of others, obviously ignorant to the bigger picture and the repercussions their actions were having.

She listened as Pathfinder spoke, suggesting that they send Winterbourne into the refugees to make sure that when they did move their key assets were out of the picture. It made sense to her, but why just stop with one man? In her mind it made sense to if possible get the majority of them on the inside before they struck, being able to coordinate a quick and hopefully ‘bloodless’ strike, removing whatever ‘leadership’ elements they had. Pathfinder continued to speak, suggesting that things would go much much easier if the refugees were being offered relocation and some medical care, but Clare had a sinking feeling that if the government was in a position to do that then they would have already tried to.

She decided not to voice her concerns, Alan would answer regarding that one soon enough she was sure. The man turned to her and asked “Ashia, you're our wheel-woman. Got anything that can fit all of us, or are we going to need to 'procure' something?”

She shrugged as she replied “Nothing parked out front if that’s what you mean” sounding a little shorter than she’d intended “but there is a rather appropriate looking bus at the station just through what’s left of the shopping centre across from the church.”

She thought for a few moments before she said “I think that we will probably be on our own for this mission” pausing for a few moments for Alan to either confirm or deny her suspicions “but I think that we would be best to get most of us inside their compound if we can. To strike all at once and try and incapacitate whatever leadership element they have. If their ‘boss’ is held and all the other key areas are locked off to them then they will have little choice. Once it’s all secure we get the boys with their uniforms and trucks to move in and start getting rid of these squatters?”

She looked at each of the team to see what they thought before adding “I mean if we could convince them all too just up and leave for the good of the country then that’d be wonderful, but people just don’t think as clearly as they should in these kind of situations. I’ve seen civilians just like this lot attacking armed men with nothing other than rocks and sticks, being gunned down by the hundreds when situations like this turn bad.”

Her mind flashed back to the Doha struggles, when the absolute monarchy of Qatar and its holdings had been systematically stripped down and purchased by a corporation fuelled and funded by the now vastly powerful Saudi Arabia. The entire country was blockaded and all supplies and provisions became rarer than life itself, people killing each other for scraps of food or anything that would lessen their suffering. The night after she had driven a supply truck through the blockade, a feat that was only possible due to the sacrifice of hundreds of young fighters, the following day the cooperate ‘army’ of mercenaries had moved to occupy the capital building in Doha itself.

Starving and angry people had attacked in the thousands almost before being driven back under a hail of fully automatic fire, blood and bodies filled the streets in what felt like only a few moments. She shuddered at the memory, and silently hoped that they were able to resolve the issue without any bloodshed.

Having been so interested in trying to hack the camera systems and listening to the introductions from the rest of the team, Red was startled by Alan’s voice in his ear. Once Alan was done with his second brief, and having listened to the team’s suggestions so far Red felt the need to speak up: “Look folks, while we can easily neutralize the hostiles, I don’t think that’s our problem.” Red taps his PDA and sends a feed of the better armed guards patrolling the building to team’s AR’s. “…These lads are pros or pro-ish. I mean they’ve got some sort of military training, maybe not the best, plus their weapons are better than what most people have these days. If I had to guess, I’d say they’re mercs.” He hesitates for a moment, looking around the group. “Now while any one of us could probably handle all of them, that isn’t what has me worried.” He said as the expression on his face began to change, “Something tells me that the civilians ain’t exactly their objective. If we are to breach in any sort of heavy force, what’s to stop them from using the civilians as shields? Hell, who’s to say that isn’t the reason they let the civilians stay? Now I can foul up their communications easy enough, but I feel like that would just make them more twitchy. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be expecting or willing to lose a couple civilians, but letting them get mowed down because we didn’t at least try to find a subtle approach, seems a little much for our first op.”

Red stopped suddenly, realizing how much he had been talking. He looked around, feeling a little embarrassed and wondering how the others felt about his mercenary theory. “Uhh…right…well then…That’s just my opinion. I’ll keep looking for the weakest point in the perimeter, but at the very least I feel like we should try and separate the real shooters from the ‘wanna-be’ shooters before we bust in there.”

(i know silver dropped so mac is tecnically gone, but whateves)
Mike crossed his arms, he was no master of tactics, but it would take more then one person to take the solar tower. A frontal assault would end with civilian casualties. he looked at the group members and tried to piece together their specialties.
"Winter would be a good asset to send in, but Mac would probably be better at moving around with out garnering attention, ideally send them both in together." he said.
"Anna should be on the high ground if possible as over watch." he looked around at the rest.
"then the rest of us split into two groups with the two highest techies as team leaders." mike finished. "that's my opinion anyway, anyone else have ideas?"

Allen was really thinking on this, he listened to all of the great ideas, and he was sure it was one of theirs that would be used, but he did have his own tid-bit of logic to throw into the fire of this forge. He let the group finish it's current words before speaking up, with his AR open for Alan as well. He turned, to ensure he was facing the entirety of the group before continuing with his actual words.

"That is actually a really good idea, but I think we can utilize that aspect, for the whole team. We have been blending into society for ages now, without no one but ourselves knowing who we are, and what we do. I believe our whole team could get into the tower. If we provided the notion that we had no food, and no water, but were willing to work or do what ever we needed to do to earn our keep, our whole team could essentially, and falsely, fill the role of a series of civilians inside the tower. This would allow us to all get to work doing our jobs from the inside, scoping it out, setting it up, mapping it all about, and planning ahead from the inside-out. I am going to sound cheesy, but it is true. You keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

Alan spoke up to clarify the situation regarding assistance. "The British armed forces present have been notified of your mission however I hold no authority over them. Whilst I can contact their seniors in order to gain their assistance as well as their complience the chain of command seems to be having communication problems. It would be safest to assume the British forces will not intervene unless fighting breaks out at which point we can assume a full storming of the tower and massive civilian casualties." A brief pause.

"Whilst civilian casualties are discouraged mission control has determined the power supply to hospitals a priority and you have been granted full authrity in the means you execute the mission. Take whatever actions you feel to be appropriate. The specialist engineer is standing by on location." Alan continued, his finish sounding rather final. Doubtless he would respond if asked directly but it seemed he was stepping back on things now.

---

At this point John McIntyre or "Old MacDonald", who had been listening carefully and stroking the light stubble on his chin decided to throw in his sixpence on the plan. "I'm happy to go in and do some kind of negotiations and yeah, we could all go in as civvies. The trouble would be all going in armed as civvies. I reckon three is about the most they'll let in with guns before they start to feel intimidated. We should assume they will search anyone who goes in openly." McIntyre stopped for a moment to adjust the rucksack straps on his rucksack. "Perhaps we pose as a neautral negotiating party of three and, once we're inside, we find a way to get three infiltrators in to snoop?"

---

Anna observed the proceedings with silent focus, mulling the various suggestions over in her head as they came up. There was a lot to consider. In terms of applying her skills there were defintiely, from what she could see, some potentially useful overwatch sites but, for this job where a lot of it was indoors she would probably me more useful as an infiltrator. Anna signed as much before adding,"The plans are all good but at some point we need to get moving." Anna's green eyes pulled around the circle to Claire. "do you think you could show us where this bus is?" she asked in hurried sign language.

Claire’s mind continued to dwell in the past somewhat as she listened to the others, things she’d rather be forgotten springing to mind at the thought of what might happen if things went badly. She snapped out of it when there was a small silence. She quickly realised that they were all looking at her, having just asked her a direct question. Feeling a slight twinge of guilt at not paying attention she clenched her jaw as Winterbourne repeated what Anna had signed, a slight smirk on his face.

“It’s this way” she said flatly turning as she did, leading the way towards the main exit of the church. It was a short way to the entrance of what was once a busy multi-story shopping complex, only having to cross the mostly deserted street before it loomed above them. Its exterior had been made of mostly large glass panels, but in the short time since the blackout most of them had been cracked or smashed altogether. The inside was littered with broken glass mingled amongst the thin layer of snow that had penetrated the broken skylights, giving the whole place an almost surreal an otherworldly appearance. The numerous shop fronts had all been looted and vandalised, picked clean by criminals and scavengers alike. A few shady looking individuals were loitering around one or two of the shop fronts, they did nothing but look away once they saw the large group passing through looking as imposing as they did together.
The bus complex on the other side was almost as equally destroyed, several of the busses completely burnt out and many other damaged severely. Towards the back of the complex there was a covered garage and only just noticeable was another bus that seemed to have escaped most of the chaos, the only sign that it had been touched was that the side of it had been creatively spray painted with the words ‘Vandalism and stuff’. Other than that it look completely fine. Glancing around once she moved into the garage and pulling the Skeleton-Jack she had been given from her pocket and pushing it into the lock next to the door. It turned seamlessly in the lock and the hydraulic doors activated, opening quickly as the lights inside the bus buzzed to life for one brief moment before flickering out. The electrics were probably all shot, but at least the engine should still run fine providing the Jack worked. Without looking back she climbed onto the bus and opened the small barrier that divided the driver’s seat from the passengers before seating herself and quickly adjusting the seat and mirror as the others climbed aboard.

Once on the bus, Edard chose a seat a few rows back from the driver so he could watch the road, with a window seat, setting his pack down beside himself, grabbing the drink tube for the hydration pack for a quick sip. He preferred a less than lethal method of combat when civilians are concerned. It's why he preferred the humble blade strapped to a forearm, with a tazer-punch mode. he could probably whip up something similar for anyone that wants some for the final attack. He made everyone an email of the weapon design titled 'Want one?: R.S.V.P. with any necessary or desired customizations' It also meant he could leave all his other less than lethal weapons here. He planned to bring a portion of his ammo to trade with the refugees, and walk in upon arrival. "Well, I could feasably fit in either the primary or secondary wave, but I believe The Axeman should be on the second wave, as we might need a more rapid unfolding of events during that stage. Red, How close do you want us to get with the van before we get too close and they find the hack signal from the van, or will you be continuing the cyber warfare simultaneous with the street level brutality that might at any instant erupt in there? Bus could go mobile if necessary. Wheels, would she be able to handle off road?" he asked, patting the foamy cushion of the bench seat in front of him.

[simultaneously, He sent the mute a silent AR message reading : if you would like some company on the walk from bus to sniper post, you wouldn't have to reveal the location to me later. Not trying to make a move: you're obviously taken and just as obviously not interested in me that way, but if we are to be a team. Well, teamwork means you don't have to walk alone, is all i'm saying. I'll watch your back, if you need it. and stay out of the way until then. I imagine it will be quite the show.]

He already set the AR rigging to go into 'Wayfarer' mode, activating autonomous cartography, real-time subsonic radar, gps tracker, activating auditory subtitles while playing music on his audio feed, and set the minor AI he'd managed to get talked into finally accepting two days before the blackout, what served as the embryo of the robotic pet has gone dormant, but the software was already running and aware, as he'd entered the activation code the very hour of the blackout, so for all he knew it had been fried with every thing else, but a part of him wouldn't give it up so he carried it along. Maybe if he could get a sufficient charge into the device, he could find out if it could still run a robot, even if he had to build it from scratch. But that might have to wait.

Mike walked a quick 360 around the bus, no leaks or major damage that he could tell. walking back to the rear, he climbed into the rear door and set up in the seat behind it, putting his backpack in the space between him, and the sidewall.

"not the most ideal vehicle, but it will save our feet." he said, with a nod of thanks to Clair as he opened his bag, making sure his rifle was accessable, but reasonably hidden. he frowned as the interior lights flickered and died, but in most cases, it was a good thing, as the interior would be partially obscured. he had just settled into the uncomfortable, rather dirty seat when his AR perked up with a advertisement for some sort of tazer knife from Edward. curious, he pulled the trench knife from its sheath and studied the hilt. the studded knuckles on the knife lent extra weight to his punches, as well as focusing the damage on the points. was it the nicest non-lethal solution?, probably not, but it worked without a battery. the knife slid back into its sheath with a muted rasp and mike sent a quick "thanks but im set for now" response.

the discussion about the team setup started, with him being placed into the second wave. "as much as id love to go in early, I don't think a man with an ax would fly under the radar easily. he muttered. "then again, it is the technological apocalypse, stranger things have happened." he mused as he looked out the window keeping an eye outside for any unwanted developments. "ill go where i'm needed I suppose"

Walking through the shopping centre had presented everyone with a fusillade of advertising materials on their AR systems, the PDE's of the stores had been unaffected by The Blackout and thus wherever one looked within the near deserted shopping mall a pop-up window would appear to market now obsolete goods. The adverts seemed archaic and yet utopian, the most sophisticated ones showed video footage of the stores wares or indeed of the shopping centre itself as the bustling commerce centre it had once been. Truly that was a thing of the past now. Without active heating the smooth, polished floors had taken all too eagerly to the coating of snow that had invaded in and would have been un-walkable had it not been for the silt of broken glass that acted as grit for grip. Heaven forbid anyone fall though, the injuries produced would be heinous. The bus station was much the same.

As everyone stepped on to the vehicle the floating amber line indicating the route to take flickered for a moment before changing course dramatically, the AR having taken a moment to realise they were planning to travel by vehicle and compensating accordingly. At the back the bus, by its rear left wheel, came the pungent smell of petrol fumes indicating that much of the petrol had been requisitioned from the vehicle. Judging by the intensity of the smell however there would be plenty enough to set the engine running for a short time at least. A couple of passers by stopped to watch idly as the group boarded the bus, probably wondering what they intended to do with the bus, it wasn't exactly an ideal spot for squatting come nightfall.

Anna, McDonald and Winterbourne all boarded the bus in quick succession. John waited until everyone had boarded before pulling the once automatic doors closed. "Looks like we're already getting attention from the locals. That being said, doesn't take much I guess as there's precious little entertainment at the moment."

Clare waited as they each clambered onto the bus and picked their various spots. She checked each of the buses systems one after the other, each of the failing to activate as she had guessed. Beside her ‘Old Mac’ pulled the doors closed, the hydraulics obviously also tied into the electronics just like everything else. “Thanks” she said absently as she continued what she was doing, only marginally surprised to find that the designers of the bus hadn’t decided to tie absolutely everything including the basic driving functions to the electronics system. With a quick flick of her wrist Claire pulled the Skeleton-Jack and drove the point into the steering column’s key slot, waiting a few brief moments before turning the ignition and saying out loud “Well here goes…” mostly to herself.

As she turned the key the engine screeched to life quickly and without a struggle, the sound of the engine echoing through the mostly deserted bus station feeling almost like a forgotten noise to her. Running her hands along the steering wheel slowly she took a few moments before turning in the seat and shouting just loud enough so they could all hear “Okay boys and girls, grab on to something if you can.”

With that she began to reverse the bus slowly out of its covered spot and into the clearing alongside several of the destroyed buses, slowly getting a feel for the bus and its capabilities. Surprisingly it was slow and somewhat jolty and handled like… well, like a bus - far from the usual high performance vehicles that she preferred to drive. Pulling forwards she was forced to move very slowly several times as she carefully avoided some shards of wreckage or other random piece of debris for fear of piercing one of the tires or something which could otherwise severely hamper their progress. She gritted her teeth slightly as she realised that most of the roads would have the same issues, though at least she would be able to pick up some level of speed wherever they were clear – especially the further they moved away from the city centre. She tapped the fuel gauge several times as she drove, trying to get a judge on how much juice they had left before it cut out, but the needle just sat at empty, meaning that the tank would have precious little left within it. Hopefully once they reached the outskirts of the city and surrounding area then there would be either other vehicles or maybe even a petrol station that hadn’t been syphoned off, something they could use to get them the last leg of the trip to the solar tower.

As she drove she made sure to take care, the large and bulky vehicle almost seeming to have a bit of a mind of its own. Aside from the occasional nudge against a vehicle that was blocking their way she managed to keep everything smooth and without incident. Occasionally there was a car or other vehicle that was blocking their path, but it was easy enough for one or more of them to hop out of the bus and force their way into whatever was blocking their way before releasing the hand-brake and rolling it out of the way. It became clear that in some places they passed that there had been what looked like riots or at least very thorough vandalism. At one point they passed what had once been a large housing estate, the entire area reduced to nothing more than ashes and burnt out remains – obviously a serious fire had broken out, and without the fire department functioning it had gutted the entire area unchallenged before burning itself out, undoubtedly killing hundreds in the process.

As she went she kept to herself as some of the others in the back talked amongst themselves. That was until suddenly a voice beside her almost made her jump, away in a world of her own as her thoughts raced. Turning she saw the grinning face of MacIntyre, obviously slightly entertained that he had startled her.

“Jesus Mac” she said turning her eyes quickly back to the road “You’re lucky I didn’t send us headfirst into a wall, startling me with an ugly mug like yours.”

John grinned again slightly at the jest before a more serious look fell upon his face, the older man obviously had been watching her slightly as she battled with her dark thoughts and tried to push away several memories. It was clear at each sign of destruction that they passed that she was effected in some way or another, and if John had to guess he’d say she’d seen some pretty terrible things in her time.

“You know” he began taking a seat in the closest one to her “I was in the army once, have been in intelligence ever since. I’ve probably been to quite a few of the war –zones you fought in, maybe we’ve even exchanged rounds once or twice.”

She knew he was kidding really, he had likely been in service long before she had even left her parents – he was just trying to reassure her and maybe even make a new friend, after all he had said that his speciality was with people. As an intelligence operative she was sure he’d know more than enough about the countless atrocities that had been committed by some of the mega-corps and states over the years.

She briefly glanced at the man’s face, he seemed sincere and genuine enough, so she decided what the hell. “I just never thought that this kind of shit would happen here of all places you’know?” she asked referring to the United Kingdom in general “It’s always been safe, secure, far away from the frontlines. People here don’t know how to protect themselves or their families.”

She paused deciding against continuing, she had nothing positive or pleasant to say and so decided that it was best to keep her thoughts to herself.

The older man sighed slightly and responded “Of course you’re right about that, but there isn’t much that can be done. You just have to remember that here we are, doing what we can to help. This mission is important, if we succeed then it means the first line of emergency services can start running again and helping people. From there I’m sure that more and more utilities will be recovered and who knows, we may even get to the bottom of who is behind this whole thing.”

Anna plonked her ass down on one of the seats in the wheelchair zone figuring they were unlikely to be taking elderly people or mothers on this route anytime soon and zoned out, turning up the music she was listening to and letting her head rest on the cold, poor quality plexiglass of the window. Her music player was set to shuffle and when one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzQlpOW0kj4&sns=em song finished and she heard the first few chords of the next song, Things we lost in the fire by Bastille, she almost skipped straight away as te somewhat dated Bastille was not her usual cup of tea. Instead out of pure laziness she let the song play and found herself absorbed in the sad irony of the song. Although the world certainly hadn't lost everything to fire there had definitely been loss and the results lay in the world around them like corpses. As the second chorus was set in motion Anna felt a sudden urge to sing. Obviously she was unable to do that, the harsh treatment of her past had taken that capability when it stole her voice from her, and so she did what she was prone to do when such an urge. She played music.

Anna's guitar, or one of them, was in the bulky guitar case hanging over her badge adorned rucksack. She had only the guitar with her as an excuse to carry the deep hardcase which she had used alongside a false bottom to conceal her sniper rifle without the need for a total disassembly. Now she was glad for taking it and, when the song ended she removed her earpieces and took the electro-acoustic guitar from its case. After a minutes checking on the tuning she began to play. Without her voice if there was an audible way Anna could communicate her feelings it was music. Anna played her instruments with a passion and focus so intense it would often take physical contact even from her partner to draw her attention away from the music.

(Non-acoustic version of the song)

Captivated by the music, Edard began to reassess the sniper again in a whole new dimension, and for the first time in a while, was pleasantly surprised and surprisingly pleased. Composing a message on his I-Net screen, He sent it to their UN handler. [ I, for one, am so glad the sniper, anna, was selected for this mission. I'd almost forgotten the sound of good music.] He had half a mind to see if Red would help him seed the streets with PDE's with a random selection of music just to bring a little splash of levity into this bleak new existence. A project that might, of course, hinge on the success of this mission.

In the refuse at the side of the road, He'd found some petrol cans, empty of course, but with a length of hose, he could start harvesting any that might not yet have been scavenged while the bus was stopped to clear the road of the husks of cars. Things were getting bad out there, and the society he'd known a month ago was now something completely alien. They needed to restore some measure of order, and they needed to do it within the week, he knew. Because it only took give or take fifteen days before even the sanest member of a post-collapse citizen will seriously consider eating his neighbors just to have a bit of fresh meat. He'd rather no one have to live with that on their conscience.

Red had been tapping away on his PDA and just following the group for so long he barely realized that he was on a bus on his way out of the city. He was slightly startled at how oblivious he had been, he began looking out the window at what was left of society. No power, no public services, and almost no sanity. It scared him a little how quickly everything had gone to hell, and how far it had gone.

Suddenly he realized he was hearing music. Looking up Red saw Anna with her guitar in hand strumming some song he didn’t know. He didn’t need to know what the song was, the music was the most peaceful thing he had ever heard. Red thought for a moment, maybe society wasn’t totally lost. He smiled, and looked out the window again, their mission was about more than restoring some power, it was about starting to rebuild civilization.