Mateo had just finished off one of the lingering hostiles and went to reload when he heard the sweet voice of their pilot. Feeling relieved that they were getting out of this mess and when Queen gave the order to move to the bird. "Roger Queen," was all he said, and he got up and put his sniper away and brought out his submachine gun just in case, and quickly made his way to the V22. Covering who he could see and shooting down any hostiles that were close to him. By the time he reached the V22, it was about to leave. He turned off his cloak and took his spot on one of the seats.

Now sitting down, and not knowing if his weapon was out of ammo or not, once it started to leave. Mateo breathed a sigh of relief and took off his helmet. Getting a look at the others, and he did not know how to feel since it seemed like some of the others got the worse of it. Like passed out from their wounds bad, like Samantha, as he can clearly see. While him not that bad and he is betting his cloaking is what saved him from getting wounded. Can't hurt what you can't see, he thought. Still, they got out despite it all, and now he chose to take a deep breath and lean against his seat with his eyes closed. Time for the long trip home.



Time to finally unwind, Mateo thought as he laid down in his bed reading a sci-fi book. Far From Home, it was called, and it was one of his new favorites. If only he gets more time to read and but with his job and routine. Still a nice escape from the world, especially from his job after a mission like the last one. At least they all got out and finished the mission. However, he will be happy if their next mission does not take a turn like what happened in that one.

Either war, after finishing a chapter, did Mateo feel like drinking something. Something alcoholic and so Mateo with a smile on his face. He put his book away and headed to the rec room. When he arrived, he was at the tail end of Skye talking and saw that she and some of the others were in the rec room. Recovering no doubt with what happened to them. It does make Mateo lucky that he got out fine, but that was probably the cloaking, and he is not a frontliner like the rest of the team. But still, it did not make him feel better about it.

So Mateo gave a short friendly wave to Skye and them before heading to the bar and after searching for a bit. Mateo picked out some beer can and took a sip, and made a small face which he found the beer to be tolerable. Addressing the group, "How are you'll feeling? Better, I hope."

Samantha moved stiffly without her usual grace. Colorful and deep bruising could be seen peeking out of the neckline of her t-shirt and creeping slightly up her neck on her right side. Her right arm was in a sling to help reduce irritation to her chest and shoulder and movement along her cracked ribs so that they would heal faster. She was grateful that the severe headache, blurry vision, and dizziness that had come with the concussion seemed to have cleared up while she slept. Her body was stiff and painful if jarred or if she moved too far in the wrong direction. She certainly felt more like herself. She hated feeling weak though. Samantha was fiercely independent and currently felt like a burden to her team. She needed to heal so she could be there for them when they needed her. It took her a moment to process that thought. Coming through the shitstorm standing shoulder to shoulder with the squad made her feel closer to them in a way she hadn’t before. She found she wanted to be there to lend them her support. She didn’t want to see any of them hurt or die because she had failed to do her job. Samantha was surprised at the depth and complexity of how she felt about the other members of Raven Squad. She had never felt this way before. She had always been a lone operator in the past. Is this what it meant to work with a team that had your back?

Samantha looked deep in thought as the sound of Xander’s voice brought her out of her deep thoughts. "Oi, Sammy!" His wave attracted her attention as she turned towards him. Sam’s eyes were drawn over towards the Australian and a smile appeared on her face. "How you holding up? Personally, I could go for a cold one. Maybe something stronger. And as I recall I owe you a drink as well. Care to join me?" She looked Xander up and down examining him. It was good to see him back on his feet and not bleeding. “You look better than the last time I saw you. It is good to see you recovering.” Samantha grinned at him mischievously, “Do you think Sophie will yell at us for drinking and mixing painkillers?” She winked at him as she told him conspiratorially “Let’s go give it a try. But you have to take me to dinner first. I need food.” It was like their commander had heard them from the hallway as she heard Skye call out to them.

"Four, six, eight weeks. Sophie is rather conservative I find with her recommendations, because she doesn't want either of yous doing anything shall we say, too wild? Like say, nearly getting blown up again. Or say, having a port while in recovery on some fucking awesome painkillers." Samantha looked at Xander and nodded towards the rec room. She made her way into the rec room. She was moving slow and stiff, but she got there under her own power. Samantha noticed Skye had poured them glasses. She carried hers with her and set it down on the end table next to a cushioned chair with arms. Sam gingerly lowered herself into a soft cushioned chair. She laughed and shook her head as she picked up the glass. “Thanks boss.” She took a sip from her glass as Skye continued.

"You'll be pleased to know the paperwork your end is done. Your combat effectiveness is high, remarkably so. Particularly you Sam, for a first op, it's 'not bad ey. You even made Xan look professional. First time for that. And that's even when you weren't intact. Job got done, and I already have some leads." Samantha’s eyes lit up with interest as Skye mentioned that they had some leads. “I can help sift through the data we collected to see if we can generate any additional leads. I might be stuck recovering for a few weeks, but they didn’t manage to damage my brain. Though they tried.” She winced remembering her helmet and the concussion.

"Good to have you in somewhat one piece." Samantha smiled at Skye “Appreciate that you pulled me out in one piece.” Her thoughts briefly went to all that had gone wrong on the op. She knew her injuries were not her fault but she still felt like had somehow let her team down or not done enough to support them. Samantha’s attention was turned to Freya as her voice rose. It sounded like someone had angered the battle goddess. Samantha winced. She wouldn’t want to be that person. She saw Freya rein in her temper and turned to apologize to the room. "My apologies..." Freya then moved to get a drink from the bar. Samantha gave Freya a sympathetic look. She had experienced the pain of seeing something special she had built lost to actions of other people or a catastrophic failure.

Sam’s attention turned to Mateo as he entered and grabbed a beer from the fridge. Seeing him grimace made her wonder if he even liked beer. She shuddered slightly. She was not a big fan of alcohol, but beer tasted like horse piss to her. She didn’t see how anyone could drink that. Mateo asked "How are you'll feeling? Better, I hope." Samantha gave him a mischievous smile “I feel like I was run over by a truck. I am doing better though. My head no longer feels like it was split in to two pieces. I feel like I could eat a whole cow though. I am starving. What's for dinner?”

---

Xander chuckled at Sam’s response. “What the doc doesn't know won’t hurt her, and I don’t plan to tell her as long as you don’t.” He added with a wink of his own. Sam agreed to the drink, but as long as dinner was involved. Come to think of it, Xander had hardly eaten anything as well. With everything going on his stomach must have just been keeping quiet, but now that she had mentioned something he realized how famished he actually was. ”Heh. Deal. I’m sure there’s something in the kitchen we could scrounge up. Though it might take me a bit, given the arm and all.” He said moving his left shoulder just enough to wiggle his broken arm.

Before they could discuss any more details, Skye called out to them from the rec room. Sam nodded towards the room indicating he should follow. He obliged. Inside, Skye offered the two a glass of port while commenting on the doctor’s orders. It was rare to see her openly suggest they do something that was technically against the rules, but then again she was boss. The rules were whatever she said, and Xander was happy to go along. He slowly walked over and picked up his glass then raised it towards Skye’s.

“Cheers, mum!” He said as their glasses clinked. He took a big swig from his before making his journey past everyone lounging in the rec area and into the kitchen nearby. He set his glass on the counter and opened the large refrigerator to see what ingredients they had on hand. There were plenty of options to choose from, and by far enough to make food for everyone, now it was just a matter of what he could manage.

As he was looking, Skye let them know all their paperwork had been done then made a sly remark about how Sam had even made Xander look professional. He peered his head out from the fridge and fired back. “Hey. I am always professional! Isn’t that right, fridge?” The top of the minifridge near the bar opened up to reveal the lobber he had installed previously, only instead of loading any cans or bottles, it simply moved up and down as if it were nodding before folding back in. “The fridge agrees. Now, how do burgers sound to everyone?” Xander asked to the room as he pulled out a large package of ground beef. “Say ‘pass’ if you’re not hungry.”

Xander continued to pull out all the utensils and prep any cookware he would need while making a mental headcount of everyone who answered him. He could feel his legs ache and shake with each step as he walked around the kitchen. It wasn’t unbearable, but it was definitely taking him a lot more effort than it should to make food. For a moment he wondered if he could get approval to use his exo outside of missions for the next few weeks, but lost his train of thought when Freya started to raise her voice. Xander could only imagine what fear the person on the other end of that call felt as she became angrier with each word. At the end, she was able to cool her rage and apologized to the room.

“No worries. We’ve all had a long few days. If you want, I could use help with the patties. Smashing on some meat might be a good stress relief?” He suggested to the giantess.

Getting started himself, Xan began rolling and mashing the beef with his good hand until he had formed the first patty. He placed it on a plate he had set aside and started working on the second one. Once he had finished another, Mateao joined the party and asked how everyone was feeling.

“Well me arms busted, it hurts to walk or even stand for too long, and worst of all the doc has ordered me to ‘behave’ until I’m back in top shape. So you lot are safe for the time being. But mark my words, soon as I’m outta this thing, I’m gonna have something planned for all of you.” He gave a mischievous cackle before adding another patty to the stack and took the plate over to the griddle.

The crew around certainly were getting in on this late evening, from the quiet infiltrator to the hacker couple that Skye was trying her hardest not to ship. Irrespective, they were coming together as a team...oh, and then behind her, the voice of rage, like a bear growling could be heard.

@BigPapaBelial

Freya's rage bubbled, and the poor bastards on the other end were going to be working hard as hell in response, no doubt of that Skye thought to herself, watching the team's heavy finish the call. Skye had to remind herself very quickly again- Freya was over seven and a half foot tall as the other redhead stood up from her place in the corner, and there was no part of that which was ever going to be normal. Quite possibly, she would be close to one of the tallest women to have probably ever lived, and as she stood, there was no mistaking it at all. She wasn't some hunchback, she was proud, tall and in every sense of the word, a woman who looked like she could pull you limb from limb like pulling candy floss from a cane. Even a slightly wounded Freya was virtually unstoppable, every part of her like some kind of Athena on steroids. If Skye seemed a little warrior-like and to her own thoughts even close to androgynous in the field, then Skye would look up to Freya like something that fell out of Asguard, or the Pantheon- and certainly, while she wasn't without fault, might usually was quite right. Fuck the pen when you had plasma and a significant amount of ballistic armour...

Skye had run into a giant of her type before, and the amount of rounds she'd expended to take them down without even armour on was slightly ridiculous. The giant in Raven seemed almost beyond that, and hey, while she was a fellow redhead and had her nerdy side, a fine girl no less with plenty of smarts, Skye always made a mental note- cardio would pay off if it ever came to a fight because she'd seen enough of Freya's work to understand people didn't always stay in one piece in a fight with her. It was why Skye needed Freya close, and in particular on the next op, knew there was something she spotted in the next target's retinue- a reason to bring Freya along for a social occasion. Her smarts as a researcher were impressive irrespective of her body, but beneath it all, Skye knew there was something else in there that knew how to raise hell.

In the here and now, Skye had other plans. Giving sarcasm to Freya was like hanging a sack of juicy meat out of reach of a starving lion.

Well...even for Skye, it was simply too fun not to.

"No problem, shite happens. On the positive side, there is distance between here and that lab before you sort them out. And we might have some grub inbetween, which usually helps. You know, there's more kiwis that aren't getting iced now too, ey!" Skye commented, watching her take the bottle and like no other operative in the team could, just swig back. Giants did need a hell of a lot more to feel anything, and she seemed to savour it, Skye leaving her to that portion at the least.
"You did well on that last one, Frey. Took a hell of a beating, and kept a lot of heat off us when we needed it. Really are your parents daughter, and I can only imagine they're proud of you tearing everyone a new one." Skye did have something nice to say, because in spite of the sarcasm, as always, she couldn't let the mother's charm out.

@Theyra

Then there was Mateo, who had come in too, the quiet Colombian infiltrator one that never said much, yet always felt like Skye could spot, irrespective of his quiet or not.

Mateo's story was one she kept dwelling over. Ex-Colombian intelligence, and had treaded well to keep himself alive. He was near silent, and like his callsign, the shadow you couldn't ever see coming. Lethal, and able to go anywhere, do anything, and yet remain completely in the shadows. Someone who was the polar opposite of Freya, but unlike the woman that could smash anything to bits, it always felt like with Mateo you never knew exactly what and where he was. Even without the cloaking, it was the same feeling. Just that he would be there, and he'd find a way in. She was yet to see what he was truly capable of, but then again, Skye wondered, perhaps that was the point- she never saw it and never needed to. It was almost good enough for her mentally, and knowing full well his talents, knew she had to keep him backed up. He couldn't do it all alone, but he did a bloody good job with it. They were a team after all, and having another infiltrator on support, even to shadow him, would be something she would need to keep in mind. But he was a professional, that she had to give. Well, apart from one thing.

Right now, she didn't want to let him in on the fact that at the next op, there was a good chance he'd run into someone from the Tejedor Cartel. Need to know basis and all that. It would be a distraction, at this phase of planning, she knew either he would figure this out already the moment the team got briefed, or she'd tell him in time. Well, when the time was right, he'd know, but that didn't need to be now. Going after their target was critical, and he was professional enough to understand they'd get what they need. She'd promised him that much, there would be a lead, but in time. It was the rare promise Skye had to make to get him on the team, given his skillset. One of the few she made. Men like Mateo had a past that whilst he would keep silent to all, yet was laid bare from the very moment she'd met him. She knew him, understood that mentality, it was closer to her own than she would let on. He may not have said it, but the Scot had the same. Hers were just a lot harder to find.

"Not so bad. Surviving, I guess, I had a couple of ribs hit but it's....well, just inconvenient. I was just saying to the others, combat effectiveness on that one was good. I saw what you got up to, and as always, it's impressive." Skye responded to him, the laconic Colombian getting an equal reply, the redhead nodding back to him as she opened the case and put the instrument she had held in her hands away, the fiddle back into place.

@LadyAmber

As for the other two, well, Sam was the first that came to mind. Injured as she was, Sam was capable. Yet similar to Mateo in some way given what she was trying to deal with Skye knew full well the potential lay beneath. A person who needed purpose, family, a home. Perhaps she was finding that here. In some ways, Skye was glad for it- it kept her mind off things, and while none of her old targets were there, it was part of the wider network. Doing good reminded Skye why she was in this - Sam almost reminded her of a younger version of herself, someone who had that heart and more than anything, kept up their humanity. Excited, yet broadly talented, and growing in capability. And the foil to the team's Aussie.

"Sounds rough, but you'll heal up. Bones break, but so long as your head's intact, that's the main one. Aye, and that intel would be useful. Much appreciated, Sam. Food wise, that'll be on that man over there tonight." Skye added, pointing across the room to Xander, watching as he came in alongside- about time now given that they were all pretty starving.

@Awesomoman64

With Xan- well, what had been thought and said about him, he'd said himself, or Skye already had. The motherfucker...he'd turned that fridge into his own peripheral too.

Son of a bitch.

She almost wanted to say the words, but the sarcastic energy wasn't even there. She had to save that, given there was a briefing. Xan was cheeky, and no doubt still a pain, but he was capable when shit hit the fan. He fought well and his tacit knowledge of extremely advanced kit was always helpful to have on hand. The sort of guy who didn't just disassemble robots, but could probably lay his hand to making a better model. His Dingo was proof of that, and in some ways, unlike either Mateo or Freya, his capability was one that existed into a very different layer of the battlefield. Still, pain in ass, prank playing, co-opting fridges, you know, the usual Bogan.

"Professional, my arse....and aye, burgers sounds good. I'll come and help yous in a second. Tahlia tells me the beef is straight from her farm so I'll be impressed to see it. Real farm to fork and all that!" Skye replied, smiling back at Xan, his mischievous demeanour enough to break even Skye down a little, warming her heart of somewhat damp Scots. Even if it meant a prank at some point. Christ, now that would be back soon...and she wasn't ready for that shit again.

Introspectively, Skye had certainly many things that currently didn't sit well. She couldn't entirely show it, nor display that on the surface. That was the thing about someone like her- she'd spent enough time in the game to see this stuff. Felt a lot of pain, yet it all felt like it was going numb. She knew operatives like Sam, Xan, even Freya to some extent had been fighting for a while and were capable, but beneath Skye's charm and warmth, there was a certain kind of detachment. The kind that suggested a certain wear, a certain burn that carried thin. Even for 30, nearly 31, Skye seemed to have had a few lifetimes of this. A rare thing to observe, but it made her who she was, and it didn't seem to stop. Even if she felt she wanted it to.

She couldn't let it stick, so as Xan headed over to start getting ingredients, Skye sat up, and turning to the group, pulled out her phone, getting a few things ready.

"Anyway....not sure about you lot, but I find recovery works best when you have targets. Like, who to punch the lights out of that caused it in the first place. So let me introduce you to that target. It's no brief, just a starting point."

As the augmented-reality device clacked on from the table, the glass window lit up with the display, Skye aware that while Xan might not have eyes on this, he may have been able to pick it up. A face appeared, the bearded man looking less like some foreign terrorist, even in spite of the fact he was tanned, and well, looked like something you'd almost caricature of some kind to what he would be. The sunglasses and stare, yet the sharp-dressed suit he wore clashed against the water and enormous private yacht behind him. The kind of guy that was almost a Bond villain, yet young enough to be something worse. A tech CEO.

"That is Pavel Andros, Slovenian-Cypriot billionaire, or as you might know him, the founder of Vale Systems, tech firm that is currently the wet dream of every Silicon Valley frat fuck there is, yadda yadda, you know the type. The sort of guy who goes on about AI whilst planning some mental geo-engineering a way out of our fucked up state of affairs. Self-entitled prick, if you ask me, but even worse, his fingerprints are all over Aralsk.

"The hack was messy, but it points to the fact whoever did it was using something high level, with way more computational power than Artemis would have. Something only this man would be able to pull off to break our encryption, or someone he knows. There's nobody hijacking his network. This is his...and we don't know how."
Skye's opinion came out pretty vehemently what she thought about him- people like that, in her opinion, weren't exactly clean themselves.

Even in fighting terror cells, or foiling various plots, people like that left her uneasy- they were all so charming yet her experiences of them had taught her well, to never trust a single word of those who were supposedly on the other side with that level of money. It stank of lies, and all sorts of stuff that put her nerves to edge. Not that she wanted to change the world or something, just that she'd seen enough to suspect too much and know these things never went to plan. Especially if he was tied in some way to what had happened to them.

Pavel was a clear example of that, the Scot internally mused. The modern world was full of complexity, difficulty and hardships. Climate crises, inequality, the visible problems that the world faced had no clear answers, apart from people like that throwing shit at the wall till it stuck. Skye hated that idea, but then again, Raven was probably some funded part of that problem. Either way, it was unsettling- and with problems in the world getting worse, she forgot sometimes they lived on a remote island on the far reach of the world. Artemis didn't have some strong overarching political aim, but from what she understood of it, somebody was trying to take advantage of the chaos. A couple decades ago the world was occupied with one kind of issue rather than the state of affairs that seemed to be bubbling up- and Skye could only dream that they went back to that kind of stability again. The kind that right now, she didn't want to dwell on to herself.

She took a moment in her head before continuing, clicking onto the next slide using her phone, bringing up a map and the interface of their next operation.

"None of this makes sense currently. So, given what we know, I'd like an audience with him because of the fact he tried to fuck us up, yeah? A wee one-to-one he wouldn't normally agree to getting, given he thinks he's above everything. Raphael's found out he has a party at his offices in Singapore in two weeks, and it's not an internal thing, if you were curious. Looks like he wants to invite lots of his other shareholders, and a few subsidiaries too. Quite the list, and surprisingly, no Kazakh arms dealers. More esteemed members of society, if you can believe it..." Skye added with a tinge of sarcasm, looking around the room, bringing up the location.

"It's being hosted at his residence on the roof of the Tsai Wen Tower, right in the CBD of the city, but he's got exclusive use of the whole top floor, with a bar, penthouse, and then some above the Asian offices of Vale. Like I said, he's the kind of arsehole who lives this idea of putting his home on top of his workplace. It's impressive really. But quite not a fortress. Just very, very high up with a few towers around it to keep it company. Not many ways in, not many ways out."

Skye began, taking in the team, before clacking on again. The table was now lit up with the layout of the area, a mostly redacted guest list, and a variety of intel that the team could interact with. Even for a non-briefing room, this little site was a good place to show off data, information and set up operations, the AR allowing the whole thing to be interacted with. 20 years ago they said this shit would actually be real, and lo and behold, it was there, natural as could be, not some weird uncanny valley. They had that at least, Skye pulling a few layers aside as she looked back to the crew.

"Which from that, leads to our little job. To start with, I've got some tasks to keep you all occupied with while you heal up. No rush, but I'll leave the finer details to you."

@Awesomoman64@PerfectThought
"First, I need an invite to his party. Stafford, Xan, see if you can get me one, or make me one. We'll also need you in the party too but I'll leave that up to you how you do it...Raphael might be of help there. You'll also need to figure out a way to get in yourselves along with Stafford and Mateo, either by invite or other means. Working, or perhaps infiltrating. That, and a way to get out. Parachutes, ropes, whatever gets us out of there as a contingency. Come back to me with some ideas and we can take a look at it."

@BigPapaBelial
Second, Freya, you're with me. He has security and if I'm going in there unarmed, I'm going to need backup in case things go south. So you're my plus one...and at the least, it gives me some air of legitimacy if they realise you're someone who would go to something like this. They know you. But if Pavel's security is as tight as it is, I can't take chances- I could use some help on what the security detail is, so Sam and Xan can probably get you that. And whatever you need to do to keep them occupied, do it."

@LadyAmber@Theyra
Third, once we're in, there's more to do. A server farm would be a good hit, but I need more intel goings on that we can extract from the site....and that'll come from our last mission, because there's a lot of connecting information. Sam, Mateo, I'll pin you with those. Figure out what secondaries we can find, just so we can back whatever bullshit I might get from big Pavel to figure this mess out." She chuckled, knowing the team would have a variety of thoughts on that - it was multi-layered, social and more importantly, an actual night out for the team.

"Lastly....anyone got anything else to add, or ask? It's a social occasion, so I'd hope we have no gunfights....because I feel like we've certainly hit that quota already for this month. We can look at this better tomorrow. But have a sleep, get some ideas, and we'll start when ready." The Scot put the question out to the team, knowing that they'd no doubt have plenty, Skye standing up and heading over towards the kitchen, knowing questions would be asked away, as the team took it in.

"Pepper's on the far side, Xan. Those burgers are smelling mighty fine. You don't want to ask how many favours I get the logistics teams to run for us. Won't someone think of the taxpayer...."
Skye mentioned, picking up the griddle and gently dusting some layers of halloumi off to the side, the sizzle on the griddle cooking away, the redhead turning to face the team, whilst keeping half an eye on the burgers below, gently heaping on onions and flipping a few of the burgers he'd rolled. She didn't need to ask if she was helping him- she would just do it, that was her character, and it was just how she seemed to be. Intrusive, maybe, but no doubt without a word, knowing her team and knowing the state they were in relative to her.

She was about to relax on that note, before any questions realising she'd left one thing out.

"Ahh, that reminds me! Right, Tahlia was by earlier. She's headed to the armoury and I think she's gotten you some upgrades. Suits, equipment, that kind of thing. Cutting edge research, so it might take some time to get used to, but I recommend you play with it when you're feeling more fighting fit."

Samantha found herself smiling at Xander. She enjoyed his sense of humor. Sam found that she enjoyed spending time with him. She laughed at his response to her question about Sophie. “What the doc doesn't know won’t hurt her, and I don’t plan to tell her as long as you don’t.” She shook her head as she replied before heading into the rec room. “If she hears about it, it won’t be because of me.” She grinned as he offered to cook for her. ”Heh. Deal. I’m sure there’s something in the kitchen we could scrounge up. Though it might take me a bit, given the arm and all.” Samantha had the fleeting thought that a man had never cooked for her before. She was a little jealous that he seemed to have more mobility than her. She had to be honest with herself, the soft tissue damage combined with the cracked ribs, not to mention the full scope of bruising from being hit by the blast had left her whole body achy and swollen in places. She never handled inactivity well.

Xander accepted his glass of port and offered a toast to Skye. “Cheers, mum!” Samantha looked over at Xander with curiosity “Why do you call Skye Mum?” Her eyes followed him into the kitchen as he began to look in the refrigerator. She snickered as Xander protested that he was always a professional. “Hey. I am always professional! Isn’t that right, fridge?” Sam couldn’t believe that he continued to mess around with the fridge as it nodded as if agreeing with him. She would have to look at how he had done it later. She nodded as he proposed burgers for dinner. “Burgers sound great. I do not want mine to moo or pass for charcoal.”

She looked around at the team that were in the Rec room. She listened as Xander replied to Mateo’s question about how they were feeling. She nodded thinking that was exactly about how she felt. “Well me arms busted, it hurts to walk or even stand for too long, and worst of all the doc has ordered me to ‘behave’ until I’m back in top shape. So you lot are safe for the time being. But mark my words, soon as I’m outta this thing, I’m gonna have something planned for all of you.” Samantha just shook her head laughing as Xander promised to prank everyone after he was feeling better.

Her eyes were pulled back to Skye as began to share information with them. In a rare moment, Skye shared how she was doing."Not so bad. Surviving, I guess, I had a couple of ribs hit but it's....well, just inconvenient. I was just saying to the others, combat effectiveness on that one was good. I saw what you got up to, and as always, it's impressive." She paid attention as Skye went on to tell her. "Sounds rough, but you'll heal up. Bones break, but so long as your head's intact, that's the main one. Aye, and that intel would be useful. Much appreciated, Sam. Food wise, that'll be on that man over there tonight."

Samantha grinned as her eyes lit up with the challenge. “I will start digging through the data tomorrow. Hopefully it will give us a few more leads. I also would like to work with Xander to build us some new hacking toys. I can’t believe I have to rebuild my rig all over again.” She frowned as her custom computer set up is part of what let her be so good at what she did. On the positive side, now she could see what was new and see how she could improve it before their next op. She gave a mischievous grin as she looked at Skye, “I will have to chat with Tahlia to see what kind of parts she can source for me. I heard rumors that there is a new quantum computer core small enough for a laptop.” She would have rubbed her hands together like a greedy miser but well her right one was strapped down at the moment.

Samantha couldn’t help but laugh as Skye picked on Xander some. "Professional, my arse....and aye, burgers sounds good. I'll come and help yous in a second. Tahlia tells me the beef is straight from her farm so I'll be impressed to see it. Real farm to fork and all that!" Samantha didn’t know that Tahlia’s family raised beef. She should have known, Australians are known to have some big ranches. Skye sat up and began to give them more information about their next target.

"Anyway....not sure about you lot, but I find recovery works best when you have targets. Like, who to punch the lights out of that caused it in the first place. So let me introduce you to that target. It's no brief, just a starting point." Samantha paid attention as a slick augmented-reality device came on. An image of their target came up. It was someone that Samantha was aware of, that caught her attention. The image was tech CEO Pavel Andros. "That is Pavel Andros, Slovenian-Cypriot billionaire, or as you might know him, the founder of Vale Systems, tech firm that is currently the wet dream of every Silicon Valley frat fuck there is, yadda yadda, you know the type. The sort of guy who goes on about AI whilst planning some mental geo-engineering a way out of our fucked up state of affairs. Self-entitled prick, if you ask me, but even worse, his fingerprints are all over Aralsk.”

Samantha nodded following along. As a tech junkie, she was aware of all the major and minor players who were on the cutting edge of breaking new technologies. Vale Systems had a hand in numerous industries. She had heard rumors that he was close to a breakthrough that would allow him to use AI controlled sensor systems on satellites to find rich ore and rare mineral deposits. Many didn’t realize the rare minerals used in cellular and miniaturized computer technology were worth more than gold in most markets. "The hack was messy, but it points to the fact whoever did it was using something high level, with way more computational power than Artemis would have. Something only this man would be able to pull off to break our encryption, or someone he knows. There's nobody hijacking his network. This is his...and we don't know how."

"None of this makes sense currently. So, given what we know, I'd like an audience with him because of the fact he tried to fuck us up, yeah? A wee one-to-one he wouldn't normally agree to getting, given he thinks he's above everything. Raphael's found out he has a party at his offices in Singapore in two weeks, and it's not an internal thing, if you were curious. Looks like he wants to invite lots of his other shareholders, and a few subsidiaries too. Quite the list, and surprisingly, no Kazakh arms dealers. More esteemed members of society, if you can believe it..." Samantha could only smile as Skye’s snark and sarcasm.

"It's being hosted at his residence on the roof of the Tsai Wen Tower, right in the CBD of the city, but he's got exclusive use of the whole top floor, with a bar, penthouse, and then some above the Asian offices of Vale. Like I said, he's the kind of arsehole who lives this idea of putting his home on top of his workplace. It's impressive really. But quite not a fortress. Just very, very high up with a few towers around it to keep it company. Not many ways in, not many ways out." Samantha reviewed the layout briefly following along as Skye took them through what was already available. "Which from that, leads to our little job. To start with, I've got some tasks to keep you all occupied with while you heal up. No rush, but I'll leave the finer details to you." Samantha perked up as Skye began to hand out assignments.”

@Awesomoman64@PerfectThought
"First, I need an invite to his party. Stafford, Xan, see if you can get me one, or make me one. We'll also need you in the party too but I'll leave that up to you how you do it...Raphael might be of help there. You'll also need to figure out a way to get in yourselves along with Stafford and Mateo, either by invite or other means. Working, or perhaps infiltrating. That, and a way to get out. Parachutes, ropes, whatever gets us out of there as a contingency. Come back to me with some ideas and we can take a look at it."

@BigPapaBelial
Second, Freya, you're with me. He has security and if I'm going in there unarmed, I'm going to need backup in case things go south. So you're my plus one...and at the least, it gives me some air of legitimacy if they realise you're someone who would go to something like this. They know you. But if Pavel's security is as tight as it is, I can't take chances- I could use some help on what the security detail is, so Sam and Xan can probably get you that. And whatever you need to do to keep them occupied, do it."

@LadyAmber@Theyra
Third, once we're in, there's more to do. A server farm would be a good hit, but I need more intel goings on that we can extract from the site....and that'll come from our last mission, because there's a lot of connecting information. Sam, Mateo, I'll pin you with those. Figure out what secondaries we can find, just so we can back whatever bullshit I might get from big Pavel to figure this mess out." Samantha nodded accepting her orders. She wanted to feel bad for Pavel knowing Skye was going to break him. But she couldn’t summon up the sympathy. Skye’s chuckle meant bad news for Pavel. "Lastly....anyone got anything else to add, or ask? It's a social occasion, so I'd hope we have no gunfights....because I feel like we've certainly hit that quota already for this month. We can look at this better tomorrow. But have a sleep, get some ideas, and we'll start when ready."

@fourtytwo
Samantha looked disgusted because she didn’t like Pavel. He was everything she detested with large tech companies. She took a sip of her port to moisten her mouth. “Rumors on the dark web say that Pavel has invested heavily in a new satellite-based sensor system to find rare minerals and ores that is supported by AI technology. He is looking for new mines to source the raw materials he needs for his products. They say he paid a Russian space tourism company to put the satellites in space in secret because he didn’t want his competitors or certain governments to know about it. It is possible that with his own satellites and altering that technology, he could pick up on encrypted communication systems and tap into them using cellular satellite networks. Pavel has a history of walking over others to make a buck. While his company appears to be environmentally conscious with equitably sourced materials, he hides the ties to his company through multiple shadow cut out companies.”

Skye had started helping Xander cook. She smiled as Skye joked about calling in a lot of favors to get them prime ingredients. The smell coming from the grill was making her mouth water. Her stomach rumbled in protest. She patted it with her good hand. It would get fed in good time. "Pepper's on the far side, Xan. Those burgers are smelling mighty fine. You don't want to ask how many favours I get the logistics teams to run for us. Won't someone think of the taxpayer...."

Samantha’s eyes gleamed and a bright smile lit her face as Skye shared her last bit of information with them. "Ahh, that reminds me! Right, Tahlia was by earlier. She's headed to the armoury and I think she's gotten you some upgrades. Suits, equipment, that kind of thing. Cutting edge research, so it might take some time to get used to, but I recommend you play with it when you're feeling more fighting fit." She raised her glass to Skye. “Thanks for the new toys boss.”

The giant of a red head turned at the bar the bottle of vodka still in hand. She'd barely drank half of it, half a bottle like that would put most normal people under the table and out like a light. But Freya honestly looks like she had been drinking Welch's grape juice all this time instead of a black label vodka, woman has some skills and not just in killing people it seems.

As the briefing goes she smiles then snorts, "Pavel Andros? Yes I know him, him and Vale Systems. Jotunnhiem Defense and Energy, my own research, development and contracting company has done work with Pavel and Vale a few times. We in fact got the first iteration magnetic coils from him and Vale for our current project. I just hope he's forgotten about what happened last time..." She takes a gulp from the bottle.

She let that air abit.

Then continued, "Prick tried to cop a feel on me and one of my researchers last time we met face to face. His hand was up Kellie's shirt and almost up my skirt before I grabbed him and threw him through a glass wall. He was out cold when we left. We left a note." The big woman sniffed looking at the bottle in hand, "Ahhh it was 3 years ago I'm sure he doesn't remember. I'll contact my team Skye, whatever Xan and Stafford can come up with maybe we can wing it and add something connected to Jotunnhiem? A little bit of legitimacy? Just putting that out there. I trust Staff and Xan here honestly." She took another swig, "Meanwhile I'll try and find my best power suit for the party. What do you think, guys? Hips or breasts? Which would be better for this? I can't show off both sadly."

---

A loud sizzle announced to the room that the patties had finally been placed upon the hot grill. The aroma of the meat wafted through the air only intensifying the feelings of hunger for the squad. Xander continued to multitask, keeping up with the conversations while making sure the patties didn’t, as Sam put it, “pass for charcoal.”

Sam commented on her excitement for the projects she would be starting tomorrow, as well as expressed her interest in working with Xander to make some new gadgets. The feel was mutual, both for the excitement, and the lament of losing all their equipment last mission.

"I need to rebuild my gear again, too. Need a new tablet, and with the Dingo nothing but scrap I'll have to start from the blueprints. Course that means now is the best time to really redesign it. And with you Sam, well, I think we can add more than just a little bite to the old girl."

The conversation then turned to business as Skye introduced them to their next target and assignment. Pavel Andros. On the surface, a genius. The face of the future in tech. In reality, just another rich kid with unlimited money and the world’s greatest PR team. Though it seemed everyone in the room had a bone to pick with Pavel, and Xander was no exception. They all gave their reasons for hating him before Xander spoke up with his.

"Yeah. Right wankhead, that one." Xan commented while he pulled the fully cooked and seasoned patties off the grill. "Never met him meself, but an old pal from my academy days went to work for him. Spearheaded a huge project developing automated drone tech, think Dingo but for much simpler tasks like one of them robot vacuums. Made them a hefty profit, and in return for his work he got a pink slip and a shitty severance attached to an NDA. Meanwhile Pavel took all the credit and erased every trace of me mate ever having even looked at the project. Bet you anything he's using that same tech for his satellites."

After he aired his complaints about Pavel, Skye continued the pseudo briefing and gave Xan the task of finding a way in and out. However, his face grimaced when she mentioned the timeline. He remained silent for the time being, hoping he could come up with a way to make it work, but two weeks just wasn’t enough time to pull off what she was asking. Luckily Freya was there to save the day with a much better and more legitimate way in.

"Honestly, Freya's plan may be the way to go.” He said carefully assembling the burgers to everyone’s specifications. “If we wanted to get our names on their list my way, we'd need access to their database, which means we'd have to get connected to their network on top of cracking any security they have in place. Ideally we could plant a trojan on some suits computer and slip in using their creds completely under the radar, but that would take two weeks just to plan. We could technically remote hack in, but that’s too much of a risk for a tech company like this. Their security would be top notch, and the moment they get a whiff of an attempted break in, they'd shut the whole event down. However, there’s still the question of getting our gear in there as well as getting a layout of the place… I think I have an idea on that. Gimme a few days to look into some things and I’ll get back to you.”

With the burgers finally assembled and ready, Xan started handing them out to each person.

"Oh, Sam.” He said walking over with her long awaited meal. “To answer your question from earlier; it's because she's our mum! She looks after us, keeps us in line, and of course.” He handed her the plate and winked "Keeps us fed."

Stafford wordlessly listened to the 'briefing'. A wry smirk coiled up his lips upon the mention of Pavel's name. It seemed his job would be easier than expected this day. An old shooting 'buddy' of his, Stafford found it really did pay to have the connections that came with the inheritance.

As the team unsubtly aired their dislike for him he jotted down a note in a small pocketbook. Nothing they were saying surprised him. Neither did he disagree with any of it. He found the least likely type of man is the man that so wishes to be a genius, but is only held up by marketing. Another case of generational wealth being wasted upon the next generation.

"I can probably snag myself an invite, love. Might even have one already, not sure these days. Might even be allowed a plus one. Depends how well Pavel remembers me from the 'good' old days." Though Dr. Boxer had expensive tastes, he'd never cared for the type of person associated with his class. And he most certainly wouldn't willingly stand any of them without a very good reason. Fortunately for the group, Stafford found himself wanting to make up for his previous failings and he could do that by begrudgingly tolerating his socio-economical peers for a couple of hours.

The team raised lots of valid points, their commentary revealing that well, they all certainly had a bone to pick with Pavel too. That was good, Skye thought to herself. Who wouldn't hate on a billionaire frat bro.

@LadyAmber

"That could be something of a lead. Though hopefully it doesn't lead to us having to go to space to dismantle those things...for a starter, I don't think we have a rocketry programme yet!"
Skye chimed back with a little sarcasm, flipping a burger, having a moment to ponder it over, knowing what she knew roughly about the market for such communications. After all, if Pavel was using it for that purpose too, all sorts of shenanigans could be going on, and hacking their comms could be on.

"Though it's a good point. There has to be some kind of ground station, and no doubt there's more intel on that network. It might open the door for us, especially if the data is on one of those satellites and we can get it down to us if we can't visit ourselves."
Skye added, knowing it might be something to circle around to, but in the main, it gave them something to look for on the next operation. Pavel was a vested target, purely as there was possible association to Artemis, but the fact his fingers were on this meant something else had to be going on. Skye wanted answers. And she'd get them, first by asking, then by telling, and only then, maybe by doing something more than that.

@BigPapaBelial

It didn't sound like much fun wither with what Freya was saying. Once again, Skye reminded herself that the giant could probably have done far worse, and in some ways, she hoped for Pavel and his memory's sake...

"Sounds like a method in. And damn....well, he might be rich but he can't be too intelligent if he thought that would end well. Jesus, if your brother found out, he'd be turned into some wee Spam alright." Skye remarked, sarcastically as she knew full well the score of Freya's family- once again, she wasn't the only one that was that tall. And freakishly strong. And have a waistline like she did...Skye couldn't deny, it was quite something.

"Oh, and for dresswear, it's gotta be the former. If they're craning their necks, it's all eyes on you, girl, near, far, wherever you are...keeps you professiona tool and reminds you you're not to be fucked with. Whatever the hell they feed you back home, remind me to try it sometime, Freya!"
Skye remarked, cheerfully than prior, knowing Freya would hopefully take it well, the other redhead of the team making Skye sometimes feel like a mini-me in comparison. Well, with an accent of her own, it made her stick out at least, somewhat?
"Your invite should work. I guess it'll be guarding you, and in some ways, it keeps the attention directed at you. That will come in handy, aye." Freya was certainly going to be of help here- her company and her reputation would make her a glowing target in her suit, but no doubt, that was the point. You didn't hide a giant. You made them front and centre, and in the complete opposite of working in espionage, you put someone like Freya out like a parade float, for all to see. So that well, Skye and the others were in the shadows.

@Awesomoman64

Helping out with the hallumi, Skye responded in turn to Xan, hearing out his story, and his possible approach method.
"And I thought he was just a regular an asshole....sounds rough, Xan. Glad to hear I don't need to give you all more motivation, team."
Skye responsed to Xan, then more generally to the group, as she finished up helping him out, finding a set of plates.
"Sounds like something good, Xander. Keep me informed what you're up for doing."
She retorted back, knowing him and Sam were more likely than not going to be spending plenty of time reassembling their electronics. Having lost it in the buggies, they'd need some bits to work on, and knowing the resourcefulness of Tahlia and their own, they'd be back in no time.

@PerfectThought

Last but not least, the other Brit had stayed quiet, Stafford probably taking his time to absorb the conversation, and the goings on around here. Of course, he'd be back to his usual soon enough, given the injury though, he wasn't probably giving shit today. She almost missed that, almost.
"Possibly. But if not, keep your head on a swivel. I'll appreciate getting a whisky with you there, mate. And you'll get some up close action too."
Skye warmly commented across to him, getting the table set, turning to the team in general now, knowing they'd all be wondering what next.

"Well.....that's no' bad. Eat up, team. We got some healing and work to do. Sounds like a few of us might have invites then. I'll get to work on a more concise extraction method tomorrow. In the meantime, install any of your upgrades, get back onto recovery, start figuring out your method in, out, and what we have on the line. We'll be there soon enough. For now, eat up, because that looks delish!"
Skye called out, for a moment the redhead of the team enjoying this little atmosphere, this evening, and each and every face that was here.

----





The next day came as a slightly better one for Skye Lyons, given her ribs weren't hurting so much, either from the light use of painkillers, or sheer bloody mindedness. Some did have to ponder if Skye was just some sort of machine, but there wasn't much more to it than the fact she just harnessed, took life by the core. An introspective view was that it made her feel somewhat alive, and by this point, she was so accustomed to it, not doing it felt even weirder.

Skye didn't muck about. Same thing as usual, porridge oats, fruit, cranberry juice, and a shot of a blended smoothie from the kitchen, followed by the early morning briefing, it was a nice little routine to have as the sun barely rose. The kind that sort of gave her a basis, because it was a job after all. A full time one, with no holidays, but a hell of a lot of perks. Like how right now, she was free to act how she needed to. The team were in the same boat, given they were awaiting the date of the party, and had jobs to do in the interim.

And it was the a slightly varied routine for Skye, a different route but still the same. Skye was back out and with the black and orange triathlon suit she had on over her athletic and weathered frame, she looked slick, the mark of efficiency. It may have seemed she embraced some sort of luxury rather than doing this in usual combat conditions, but Skye didn't need that every day. Nah, today was about getting back on the horse. Irrespective of what the doctor's orders were, Skye would allow herself to break that. She may have been a stickler for the rules, but what fun were they if you couldn't break them?

It made running a team hard as hell, that was for sure.

A swim kicked things off, with the dawn chorus of birds chirping and the raging sea giving Skye all she could, drowning her red hair into the salt water, the muscles burning and aching, but coming back into posterity once she'd kicked off the first two hundred meters. A kilometer would do, but against the raging sea, it was like trying to fight Posideon throwing bricks at her shoulders every few seconds once she was outside the reach of the bay and into more open water, swimming to the next. She didn't care. It just made things more entertaining, and after all, she wanted this to be a reminder to her she wasn't going to let the idea of ribs hold her back. The others may have rested up, but she wasn't going to let go.

So coming off the swim, the next step was the bike ride of this little biathlon sans weapons, with a full face crash helmet attached to the carbon-black bars of the parked bicycle. Left back down by the small airfield that the team had on the far side of the bay, her mountain bike was a formidable little tool, carbon-framed and with a rear shock to boot, but still, very human powered and tricky to use on the trails of the island. On the trails around the place, Skye could put it through its paces, not needing engines or electricity to pull the bike up the hundred meter hills that formed the spine of their home, the jungle and fine tracks being a good place. With all the uphill, Skye had to ration the energy she had left, the burn now setting in, her heartrate rushing past 160 from pushing on the slippery, rooty and rocky climb in the foliage, the little hiking trails that shouldn't have taken a bike still being put to use by her. Every part of her body felt like it was on fire, screaming, but the glimpse of orange and black was a blur in the early morning paths. Rubber skidded on dirt, and the sight of Skye pushing through her ribs kicking back was visible and very much audible.

These moments mattered. They reminded her of being alive, and directed her thoughts into something more positive than the dwelling thoughts she always would circle over again sometimes. Showing any weakness to anyone in the team was going to be the end of her- at least, it would be, and sometimes just pushing into that physical endurance was like it made it all fade, like nothing mattered at all, and it pushed her to be more. It was being stubborn, and if being in control that mattered, if not her team then very much her own mind felt good. Kept her able to resist thinking about some of the past. Her mum's state, and her dad's death. A break with the past had worked, but it always felt like she had to run even harder to just put things between her and that. Literally go to the antipode of the world to put that between them, and well, turn inside out. Become some arbiter of good and immerse herself into a stress that completely wiped the past clean out. It felt hard but then again, she had no reason to doubt herself when she pushed.

And Xan was right, when she spoke to him a while back. She had to relax. Let things in. But Skye knew that was going to take losing a part of her she wasn't ready for yet. Maybe the tectonic plates would move, but that was going to take time.

On that thought, Skye stopped at the top of the ridgeline, looking down at the dawn sky, and the Homestead on the horizon. The expansive view, the wind blowing her sodden hair back, the feeling of sweat in every orifice and the near echoing of her heart returning down to a low, thumping rest rate. Her ribs hurt, but not as much as it would to not make the most of this moment, right here, right now. Being alive in it all. Final stretch now.

And it was downhill, a rush that pushed her hard, as Skye whipped the mountain bike through the undulating terrain, catching air over a boulder and leaping the bike through the track, giggling and grinning with pride, the endorphin rush of this not dying yet. Sure, it didn't beat getting shot at, wingsuiting into a North Korean radar site, or all manner of stupid shit she'd done before, but it was something new, and novelty was always fun.

If ever Skye enjoyed moments like these, it was odd to see her be somewhat at ease with herself, completely hooked on that high, and it was clear whatever that high was, it was from being absolutely on that ragged edge. She liked learning new things, and this was her most recent- integrating it into her routine had certainly been paying dividends, and as she made her way to the bottom of the trail, before the team had probably even woken up, she'd gotten her fill. Mountain bike parked in the hallway, she got a morning shower in, and back into her more usual casual clothing, got to work on making the round of work she had ahead. The only thing that came close was skydiving, but given her state and the fact they had work to do, she thought better of that.

---

With her morning madness out of the way, Skye returned inside the intelligence centre down in the support complex, the Israeli signals intelligence operative hunched over his desk, four monitors plus another to his side revealing he was deep in flow, but Skye was having none of his indifference.

"Morning!"
Skye cheerily greeted him, the redhead wearing a crimson red t-shirt, complimenting her red ponytail, as well as her usual cargo pants and trainers, her stance one of warmth yet an underlying air of authority, one that never really left despite how casual she may have come across.

"Someone's been for a run. Against doctor's orders. Tut tut, Skye." Raph sarcastically remarked, the dry Israeli replying, only then breaking from the screen.

"Oh, way more stupid' tha' that. I don't know when to stop. So keep that on the down low, yeah?"

"Well, I'm sure I can keep that secret. All good, chief?"

"Somewhat normal. Have you started to look at what I sent across to you?"
Skye enquired, breaking the chat to another subject quickly, not wanting to fuck around, given she knew Raph wasn't going to keep the smalltalk going without being more awkward.

"It looks positive. Certainly got some options to look at, the party itself looks like a hell of an event. He doesn't come out of his shell often, and while the security is tight, it's not impossible to beat. Plenty of spots you can get him one on one. I assume you have a plan for that."

"Indeed. Then that settles that nicely. Tahlia's got me a taser I can conceal, and a few other goodies. Team'll know what to go for- data, and well, keeping the party going to get me my opportunity. Then we'll have him to chat to."
Skye commented, Raph sitting up in his chair a little and turning completely to her, knowing while it wasn't his place to ask, he had to get it out of his system.

"Why are we going after him, Skye? I thought talking to billionaires wasn't our forte, I thought it was dropping people? Surely we'd find a better way to get this data, just find a datacentre and break into that if you want to stop us getting hacked again? Don't get me wrong, the man is an asshole but this feels unpredictable."

"You know as well as I do, some secrets, they're not on flash memory, they're up here. And they are just....well, they're so much easier to get than a hack." Skye pointed to her temple with that, the redhead smirking, knowing she was winding up Raph, the Israeli a little puzzled still.

"Right....but you do realise, if he doesn't play ball and you get nothing, this is going to backfire, big time...and there's no easy way back from that. Brave as you are, are you sure you're gonna get something?"

"Never was going to be without a little risk. But it's a measured response, the alternatives you know will be too difficult to do remotely, even at a datacentre. We can figure out what happened to us in Aralsk from the horse's mouth, and we take Artemis apart...because it's a hydra after all, with lots of heads. Killing him isn't going to help us. It's getting the root, and it's not his money I want....it's their network. Once he gives me what he needs, he'll be compromised enough, and we can set him loose and see where the trail goes because he'll be impossible to hide afterwards. We can see what happens. Let them run riot. Then stamp on the lot."

"That's some social engineering you got going there?

"I do try my best." Skye was steely, before cracking a grin, just knowing she could really get at their intel guy, and well, relish in that.

"Fucking hell....you got intense quickly. Like, that's so evil....shit, normally I would have thought of that first...."

"Like I said....there's lots of ways to get a job done. This happens to be the best one right now...and for a man who has an image to protect, it would rather be a shame if he couldn't return to his party without....oh, I don't know, something happening to that very thing."

"What do you mean?

"Oh, they're just details, I'll let your Mossad brain think on what I said. I don't muck around."

"Skye...."

"Thank me when I get you an insight into why our supposedly invincible network got hit. Anyway, I'll leave you with finding us some more intel, and some low-level backdoors to get Xan, Sam and the hackers over the line. Enjoy."
Skye added, a wry smirk on her face, giving absolutely zero away. Need to know basis, and all that....and the satisfaction was going to be all hers.

------------

With a return out of the intel hub, Skye knew the team were at leisure- well, the sort of leisure that wouldn't mean it was all downtime. They had options- Raph was in his hub doing his thing, Javi was down in the motor pool with a new couple of buggies that had been brought in, Tahlia was in the armoury and well, Doctor Keller was probably having some rest after the insanity that had been the last couple of days of people coming in various states of repair. Checking weapons and gear, recovering their past equipment, even some more activities together were on the cards, so she left it open to them, knowing this was a brief interlude before they'd have a plan and be back out on things to come.

It was as good as any opportunity for Skye to let them enjoy time without her being on top of them, let the team settle themselves in. For the time being, she had some work of her own to do in the office once again, and this time, figure out an extraction plan. Best case? They walked out of there, no skin off back. But if there was hacking taking place below, then Sam and Xan were going to need a fast track way out of there. And in an emergency? Well, Skye was working on that method...and really hoped it didn't come to that. Door left open, Skye clicked on some music, and the soft sound of James Blake keeping her ears company.

((Now that I'm not going (as) crazy))



Michele woke a pitch darkness. She ached in parts of her body she had never known could feel pain.

She half-blamed the armored suit for the rough and tumble landing she had made when she jettisoned from the DPV. Skye had mentioned it was fresh in from assembly and programing; the notion that it might have had a few kinks and bugs to work out wasn't entirely out of the question. Excuses. As the return journey from Aralsk returned them to the Homestead, Michele only shifted more of the weight of that mishap onto her own shoulders. She was a newbie; a rookie. She knew there would be a learning curve; it was just a sharper turn than she figured it'd be.

Not without effort, she managed to remove herself from her bed and onto her feet. It was a good first step.

She stretched as best she could and tended to her wounds. While the armor had proven resilient to light firearms, a few lucky shots had caught the spaces where it was left thinner for mobility. There was that, and the fact that she had weathered the jumppack donning gunmen, who had come prepared to deal with a heavier threat than her.

The thought of it shuddered her. She had managed to do them in before they could off her... five... five men in total had been ripped through by Hornet's trigger before the Cavalry arrived. Michele wouldn't soon forget that she had taken lives for the first time... she had jotted it all down as soon as she was back in her room. 'Aralsk. Five. FNP-90,' was stretched into the pages of a small notepad. She'd have that if anyone decided to give her shit for being 'too soft.'

To say the least of all, she had survived, even if she had to chock it down to luck a few times. Evidently, she had taken a rough it at the tail end of the firefight that left her out cold until they were airborne and en route home. The Englishman will never let me live that down, she joked to herself.

Daring to venture, she swung open the door to.het quarters into a significantly brighter corridor, and started towards the dining area with a grumbling stomach.

Samantha sipped her glass of port as she listened to the team come together for dinner and an impromptu briefing by Queen. Her body hurt and felt foreign and stiff. She already felt better than she had yesterday though. She was grateful that the drugs Sophie had used with her helped keep her asleep. It had allowed her body to start healing and heavens knew she was grateful to not feel like a spike was being driven through her brain. Her eyes glanced around at her fellow teammates. Normally in a group setting, she would feel awkward like she didn’t belong or was on the fringe of the group. She had been subjected to the opposite end of the spectrum when she had been younger when people had fawned over her in wonder at the work she could produce due to her intellect. She was comfortable with these people and felt like she could be herself. She didn’t feel like she had to appear as anything other than she was. They all seemed to accept her as she came with gifts and flaws, simply human.

Samantha listened to what Freya had to say about Pavel and found that she was both furious on her behalf and amused at the same time. "Prick tried to cop a feel on me and one of my researchers last time we met face to face. His hand was up Kellie's shirt and almost up my skirt before I grabbed him and threw him through a glass wall. He was out cold when we left. We left a note." She would have paid good money to have seen that. She made a mental note to look into the connections between Vale and Freya’s project. If she knew Pavel, he had planted something to try and steal her research. Pavel was intelligent and talented, but his true success came from stealing the breakthroughs of others. He was very good at hiding his tracks and using his power to get what he wanted.

The information Xander shared lined up with what she knew about the man. Xander’s intel was a good idea. Maybe his friend had included a backdoor into that technology, that they could exploit if Pavel was the source of the hack. She made a mental note to check with Xander to get his take on this idea. She listened as Xander seconded Freya’s plan to go in with legitimate invitations.

Samantha took another sip of her port. The port sent warmth through her spreading out relaxing muscles that were tense and knotted from the abuse her body had gone through. It was a pleasant feeling. The smell of the grilling burgers made her stomach growl. They smelled delicious. Samantha tilted her head to the side in thought as she pondered Xander’s insight. She agreed with most of his points. She was slowly melding with the chair as her body relaxed with the combination of port and painkillers working their magic.

Her attention turned to Stafford. He was usually so quiet and reserved, she was a little surprised when he spoke up. If Stafford could land a legitimate invitation with a plus that got 4 members of the team inside the party. Her attention returned to Queen as she continued after the team had added their thoughts and intel to the mix.

Samantha couldn’t help but chuckle as Skye addressed what she had told her the rumor on the dark web had to say about Pavel. Samantha almost choked on her port in laughter at Skye’s joke that Raven Squad didn’t have a rocket program yet. “I will build you a space shuttle but only if I get to fly it, and I might need Freya’s help to power it.” She winked at Skye, humor lit her eyes wondering if she would take her seriously.

Samantha listened as Skye addressed Freya. It made her curious about what Freya’s family was like. Samantha had to agree that Pavel must have a death wish to try his sexist bullshit with Freya. But then her experience with Pavel was that he had an overinflated ego. He felt his money and connections made him untouchable and it was true to a certain extent. It was assholes like him that had her seeking out Raven Squad. She chuckled as Skye chimed in on what Freya should wear. Samantha couldn’t help but imagine what Pavel would go through facing Skye and Freya together. Maybe she could get Freya to wear a button cam on her power suit so she could record that for posterity and her own amusement.

Skye had acknowledged what Xander had to say about Pavel and asked that he keep her informed of what they were working on. She had addressed Stafford and encouraged him to join the op and get in on the action. Skye gave them some final orders as they ate their meal together. "Well.....that's no' bad. Eat up, team. We got some healing and work to do. Sounds like a few of us might have invites then. I'll get to work on a more concise extraction method tomorrow. In the meantime, install any of your upgrades, get back onto recovery, start figuring out your method in, out, and what we have on the line. We'll be there soon enough. For now, eat up, because that looks delish!"

Samantha’s eyes lit up as Xander carried her plate over to her and handed it to her. Her mouth watered as the burger looked scrumptious stacked high with grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, and sauce. She accepted the plate he extended to her as he spoke to her. "Oh, Sam. To answer your question from earlier; it's because she's our mum! She looks after us, keeps us in line, and of course.” He winked at her as he released the plate and told her "Keeps us fed." She smiled up at him and nodded back. “That makes sense. Thank you for cooking for me.” Her eyes lingered on him as he left to fetch his food. Samantha nodded thinking as she took a big bite of her burger. She was momentarily distracted as the sustenance her body craved made it one of the best burgers she had in a long time. Her day was looking up. She gave a welcoming nod to Hornet as the woman came into the room probably lured by the delicious aromas of the grilling burgers.

And burger!

Oh lord the giant of a woman grabbed her helping happily...she'd been looking forward to this. It's a towering patty, with all the fixings, and maybe scriledgious, but there was mustard, mayo AND...relish on there too...no no ketchup...she's no savage.

And ate it all in about 1 and a half bites...

Who knew?

As Freya licks her fingers clean. All the while making little sounds of enjoyment and happiness...that would sound lewd if the context of a good meal hadn't already been established. She grabs the near finish bottle of vodka and tips it back finishing it off, "Emm, okay that was good." She's getting up and stretching...yet again doing things that might be construed as lewd...and seductive...dear god how is it her abs can move like that!? And...the hypnotic...bounce of....

Uh where were we?

Freya smiles and heads for her laptop, calling out when she's close enough, "Avidan!" The laptop beeps, "Call Jotunnhiem PR team, extension 98112, Pilar Naji." The laptop beeps, a messaging app blinking and a dial tone sounding. By the time the heavily bearded, man with the most striking of brown eyes picks up and his picture appears on the screen Freya is sitting in front of the laptop crosslegged. Pilar grinning and calling over the call, "Freya! Hello there my red head first love. Oh it's so sad you never took up my advances. It is good to see you." Freya grins, "Oh Pilar, I would have broken you, you know that. It's good to see you too." Pilar chuckles, "I would have gladly gone to my next life knowing my pelvis was shattered by a goddess made flesh! You are still on duty are you not? What do you call the company for?" Freya hums, "Yeah I guess that'd be a way to go. Someday, someone, somewhere...I'll just have to sneak them by Jamie. Anyway, I'm calling because, fuck...Pavel Andros."

The call is quiet for awhile, Pilar Naji's face going dark with anger and loathing, "Did he do something again? I can call the legal team if you want, pipe them through." Sounds like more then a few of Freya's team dislike Pavel. Freya snorts, "Not this time. No, I need..." she sighs, "I need an In to his party that's going to happen in a few days." And Pilar does an honest to god double take, and a confused pikachu face over the call. Finally finding his voice, "Freya...my dear girl, are you drunk?" Freya snorts, "I had a bottle of vodka and a burger I'd need another 2 bottles before I feel anything. No I'm not drunk. Though that can change. No...I need an in for a mission. Pavel may have ties to something Raven is working on. Skye and I need an in. If I can show up, with a bodyguard, we can operate as a distraction. I need to break out one of my cleavage heavy power suits, but we need an official in. An invite or a really good reason to crash the party and make a statement."

Pilar rubs his beard, "Well...we are due to renew our magnetic coil and secondary power generator contracts with Vale. I can send out a feeler or two, see if I can...no I think I can indeed get you an invite. Give me 5 hours. I'll have something to you, you and a plus one, my dear. I ask only one thing." Freya quirks an eyebrow, "Oh? A condition? Pilar you sly dog. Name it." Pilar actually blushes, "I want a kiss...a proper kiss...and...um access to your next lingerie shoot!" Freya snorts then chortles deeply, "You horn dog. Done! Get to work on Pavel's party staff. Get us an invite." She chuckles, "And we'll see about the lingerie shoot."

She then seems to remember where she is, and she looks over at the rest of Raven, "Oh...right..." And the giant red head blushes.

Mateo does like it when a plan comes together as he sat there at dinner while the others talked and discussed the mission. So a mission against a billionaire who has ties to Artemis. Mateo thought to himself, so this prick might be the reason why their drone got hacked and... I wonder if any of my old contacts could get me an invite. It has been a while, but maybe Veronica could help. She does do magic with that computer of hers and helping to steal from a billionaire might something she would like. She is one of those, a rebel and screw the corporations type of person after all, and she does still own me.

Only his rumbling stomach snapped out of his thoughts and back to the dinner. It has been a while since he had a burger, and how wonderful these ones smelled. It was tempting to take a bit, but then Freya's talk with Pilar happened, and well Mateo did not know what to say or do for a moment there.

So he politely ignored the awkwardness of the room and spoke. "I think I can get myself an invite. An old friend of mine who has a dislike of corporations could get me an invite. Though after this, I think I am going to get myself a look at the blueprints of the building. Just to see what we are working with once we are in."

Then he had a smile on his face, taking an intel from a prick rich guy. Sounds like something he would do back in his days with DNI but, knowing what happened with them. They would just try and find a way for him not to do it. Corrupt pricks, and then as the bad memory of working for a corrupt intelligence agency. Mateo counter by digging into his burger and was greeted by a good pleasant taste. Nothing like good food to dispel a bad memory right, and hoping that Raven is not the same? Either way, it worked for him, and he waited to see what else would be talked about at the dinner and if there would be any more awkward moments.

The team gathered in, Skye knew it was good to have everyone back in somewhat of one piece, and that with a little time till their next mission, they could rest up and recuperate before getting after it. That included Michelle, her first mission in Raven going so far so well, Skye aware of the capable infiltrator taking on a different role shadowing her in Aralsk.

@Wayward

"Good to have you back, Michelle. Held your own on that op. I know it's not easy being thrown into the deep end straight away, but you kept it together." Skye called to her, knowing she was no doubt a little shell shocked from the experience, but considering she'd followed well on Skye's lead, it had to be said, she'd done well.

@LadyAmber@BigPapaBelial

Skye kept a mind out to Sam's response, giggling a little as Freya was then on the phone, chatting to her team. And clearly having a fun time doing it. Skye didn't people watch, that was a professional thing after all, but even personally right now....she had to admit, Imran was right. Giants were a freaky kind. But there was no denying it, the girl that smashed IFVs was also hot in a Gladiators pinned up on her bedroom wall kind of way. As she put the phone down, it was like Skye replied to both Freya and Sam in the same breath, smirking.
"Remind me to never ask how your company does HR complaints."
The Scot chuckled, as she sighed, looking across the team, noting Mateo's comment also, the Colombian silent throughout and then having his own note.

@Theyra
"Sounds like a plan. Let me know how you want to play it. If you want your infiltrator's kit on the other side, Sam and Xan will join you in that. Raph might have some stuff on that front for you in terms of plans."
Skye mentioned, knowing his more laid back, chilled style would take that rather than the beef she had to throw back at the other redhead, and the team leader's thought that she had spent a little too much time here with the team as is. On that note, Skye knew that the evening had to either wind up...or wind on.

"Right...enough misery for us. I've got some Swedish vodka sitting in that fridge. And for a certain someone...I got something even more lethal." Skye added, giggling, going to the fridge and drawing first a bespoke bottle of vodka, followed by a mystical looking bottle of a green looking absinthe, the kind that was not for mere mortals like Skye and the rest of the relatively functioning alcoholics. Oh no, this one, this was for the kind of girl that would need a few bottles to feel. This would make her feel much faster than that.

"One for you, Miss Kaantario?"
The wry grin on the redhead's face went up as she popped the green bottle onto the table and looked directly at Freya, and for the briefest of seconds, the look in Skye's eyes was not of a boss anymore, but of someone wanting to indulge in a bit of team bonding.

---

A Significant Quantity of Alcohol Later

"So I says to the guy, size of Valkyrie, yeah, right....fuckin'....yous having a laugh? This is what you keep in your bedroom after I sneak into your little compound full of Ruskies, to keep you occupied? Anyway, I caved his head in with his ten-inch rubber dildo, guy thought he had me on the ropes, but you see, he was thinking with his 'wee fuckin' baws!" With that, Skye slugged the vodka shot down, giggling away, the redhead now well and truly gurning away, utterly lost for a second, because to get her this far, the bottle had been cleaned out with everyone else. Skye had lost any formal demeanour, at this point, what was left was a feral special forces soldier, that happened to be Scottish, and rambling.

"Anyway, that's the reason I don't like Uzbekistan, and how I ended up blue balling some Russian giant with his own instrument, aye! Because it's a shithole, it's sandy, and that wee fuckin' fella! In that order!"

It's pretty obvious to everyone there that while she isn't going to let anything operational slip, she is in that drunk storyteller mode, and right now, it's the most pissed she's been in a while.

So much so, that even narratively, the writing style here is even deviating.

An obliterated Scot is a terrifying thing, because someone of Skye's capacity doesn't let it happen, almost ever. Aside from today, because after all, they had gone out and barely avoided getting killed, and well, the team were just gelling so well. No immediate mission either, or at least, one they could just about recover on the hangover from tomorrow morning, Skye's corner of lucidity reminds her. Irrespective of whatever state the team had decided to go to, this night had clearly escalated heavily, and in a way that definitely wouldn't be sanctioned in any other special forces or intelligence team.

A good old fashioned piss up never disappointed.

Before then going to stand, and in the most unapologetic way, clattering down in front of the sofa, Skye spills a bit onto the table, with a wry chuckle, before barely clambering up again.

"Ahh shite....you know.....you're a good bunch. Top team of people. And there are things I'd let Freya do to me that's probably illegal. And Mateo too, probably. I dunno. Like this whole workplace policy shite says we can't.....bloody legal crap. I remember when I used to be out in the field, none of that....ah bloody hell. Don't get me wrong, all with consent, but I'm no stranger to any silly ideas." Skye blurted, probably revealing a bit much. The kind that didn't normally come out of Skye, and no doubt, flooring the team a little, as she giggled.
"Anyway, you're all about as pissed as I am. Enjoy tomorrow, eh!"

---

Skye did have to think to herself as she worked in the office, if her immune system wasn't as powerful as it was, she'd still be bawling on the floor.

What happened that night, she didn't want to reminisce too much on, but hey, she hadn't done anything TOO silly. Well, the bike ride, catchup with Raph, and other things had flushed most of her regret out of the system, but sometimes, she had to let go. As Xan had said, show her colours a bit more. But then again....that was probably a bit further.

The team were working away in the background on their own kit, with support team, together or on their own, whilst

On that note, Skye took the break from her office to check over her dress, the form-fitting crimson red and black dress matching lovely with her hair, and even more creatively, having a tactical slant to it. Interwoven ceramic plating with silicon carbide disc plating, it seemed almost seamless with the material of it, and no doubt, the other members of the team would for their formal garb. Kept off metal detectors too, and almost felt like padding of some kind. An extravagance, because why not....just as the boys had their stuff, Skye knew she had hers.

The other tools, including a hidden taser, hidden inside a bag, alongside a makeup kit made up of a few hidden tools was always useful to have- some had been brought to her recently by Sam, who had worked on some of these in the background, some were old traits. The classic knife in stiletto was on again, and a perfect little after-dinner tool to use. Not a bad little contingent, and all importantly, flight safe and metal detector safe.

Running through the rest, she checked over the office layout, and taking her time, looked at entry points, more details to do with the party, and got to pondering. There was a plan afoot, but as far as she could tell, they could take this on. She'd get her audience with Pavel, and the others would have a variety of tasks. Freya and Stafford on running distraction, with whatever detail they came into- that they didn't know much on, whilst Sam, Xan, Mateo, Michelle had the task of getting into the party through their method, retrieving their kit and infiltrating downstairs, getting onto Pavel's network, the company network and finding out what they could. That was uncertain, but they had some detective work to do, and no doubt, as the mission went on, Skye could fill in the blanks from what she got from social engineering with Pavel and co.

The skyscraper definitely had methods in and out- vertical enough for a BASE or wingsuit flight out, and also, for another secret contingency if the team needed it. The office below was on two levels, and relatively vast- including Pavel's own network, which would need handling. An elevator also would be in operation but no doubt it was secured, and getting around the skyscraper would be tricky. But no doubt, with the right tools, it could be turned inside out. They had plenty of methods, and while Skye could monitor them, it would be tricky to do so, even on her phone while in the party. It being a social event and all.

A standard social occasion for Raven, and Skye had no doubt that more booze would be on the cards. For them, not her, thankfully....

---

With the team making their prep, the evening came about fairly quickly - they'd been able to get some leads, and some chats to Raph later, Skye had some idea of what to do.

With that, Skye called a team meeting- they had their opportunity to catch up and with that, they were all in the same briefing room, comfy chairs laid out and Skye at the front, dressed in her blue shirt and khaki trousers again, red hair tied into a bun, her rosy cheeks and adamant look once again back to business.

"Alright everyone. What have you got for me? All recovered?"
Skye asked, looking across the team, knowing that so far they all had a method in, or at least, a method to make their way to the party. And hopefully out.

"Because now's your last chance for any questions. In terms of operational setup, I've identified some objectives. But details are scarce right now. Pavel is the main objective, but I need a possible server connected to the company network, and Pavel's own looked at. Which is going to be guarded, by both electronic and physical means. Anything to add?"

The night of the discussion

Everyone here getting smashed, and Freya sitting there on her second bottle of something strong, and just then feeling it. She grins around the room at the party. This is merc life. You make love and party and be merry because you never know if the next op will be your last. IF the next op will have that bullet, rocket or 30mm round with your name on it. It might be etched into the side reading HE or Frag, or traveling in the blink of an eye from 500 meters out from a big bore rifle.

So a merc will take their peace where they can. Drink and eat and party. If your lucky maybe abit of tail along the way who knows.

She stayed up until people started passing out. And by then Freya was buzzed, but not flat out drunk. So she helped those who weren't out of it cart everyone back to their rooms.

And only then did the giantess herself head to her room, grinning ear to ear, she loved these guys. Loved working with them, this is prime ass team in the end.

The Morning after...and she know it to

You always start the day off with breakfast. It's the way things go, even if you're hurting. Even if you're wondering why you did something stupid the night before. But the best way isn't hair of the dog. Sometimes it's just some grease and something good to eat.

Ahhh and maybe...a hit of something to take your mind off ALL of that.

It's almost like life started to play the music in their heads as soon as her door opened.

The suit is...a thing of beauty. A charcoal black, with silver and platinum colored threads stitched in here and there giving it a sheen and metallic quality. The upper part of the outfit is a blazer, with the metallic threads creating a V formation that brought all eyes to the fact that it's closed with only one button...near her navel...and there is nothing under the blazer. No bra, no shirt for modestys sake, naw this woman knows what she's doing, and what she's putting on show. There is tanned skin on display and precious, powerful skin indeed, it's for all eyes to look at and damn does she wear it well. Her form fills that blazer out incredibly well, making it less lewd and more, I'm in control here. It also helps the strut she puts on says power. Knowledge. And Wisdom. And she knows it too.

The lower part of the outfit is a flowing loose pair of slacks, flowing and billowy in fact, and cut in a way that abit of thigh shows through a cleverly opened window in the side of the pant leg. A hint of a black panty if she steps in a certain way. Those silver and platinum threads glint and call attention.

Dear god the woman knows exactly what she's doing, and she's doing it right. As she walks into the living area, she looks around, her hair done up to show off her intelligence while also saying "Behold your goddess!" Freya's make uped face, just enough to enhance but not over done gazes around the room, "Pilar came through over night. I have two official invitations to the party. Myself and a bodyguard." She says this with all the confidence in the world, "A case of Jotunnheim's newest projects will meet us on site, so I can regale the attendees with our progress." She grins, "I'll be able to keep their attention."



Freya sits, not quite primly and not at all trying to hide the fact her blazer is designed to show more and more cleavage when she's sitting over bending a little, it's like she designed it to say "Look here not anywhere else. All eyes on me." She smiles brightly at Skye, "As I said Pilar came through, we're in Skye. Legit tickets in, and atleast distantly Pavel may not remember about me throwing him through that class wall. the HR and PR rep he talked too in Vale didn't say anything anyway." She nods, hoping that means it's all green. She raises his cup of juice and sips at it, wondering what everyone else has.

---

Xander was just getting ready to sit down and eat when Michele walked through the door.

“Oh hey, Michele! Glad you could join us for… Oh shit!” Xan exclaimed, realizing he was now short one burger. “Here, take mine. I’ll just whip up another right quick!” He offered her his plate, then walked back into the kitchen and prepped to make another one.

During that time, Freya was on her phone call. Xander ended up just shaking his head near the end of it. Whoever that Pilar fella was, he had better watch himself. Making demands like that after being rejected previously, and to Freya of all people? Either this guy didn’t know how to keep it in his pants, or he was suicidal. In any case, Xander refrained from commenting on the situation. Freya herself didn’t seem to mind, and she was more than capable of taking care of herself if Pilar stepped out of line.

Speaking of taking care of themselves, Mateo was the first to break the ice after Freya’s call and let them know that he too had a person on the inside. Hell yeah! Seemed like everyone had an in of some kind. Well, except for Xander. But he had something cooking other than burgers. This was going to be a huge party, which means it would need a catering service for the whole event, one that wouldn’t have even close to the same levels of cyber security as Pavel’s company. It would be cake to add him as a new employee scheduled to be part of the staff for the night. Not only would that get him inside, but also allow him access to some of the areas restricted to guests and a way to monitor security without being suspicious. All he had to do was find the company Pavel would be hiring and get to work.



“She’s not lying.” Xan hollered from the kitchen as he was rinsing off everyone’s dishes. “She really hates Uzbekistan. When I first joined, I edited her requisition form to switch her regular whiskey for Uzbekistan whiskey. The missions she sent me on after that, I swear she was legitimately trying to kill me.”

To the shock of everyone, including himself, Xander had decided to abstain from drinking to his heart’s content that night. He had to at least have some restraint in his current condition, so instead he traded places with Skye. Let her cut loose and have some fun while he played party mom. Throughout the night he made sure everyone had plenty of water to mitigate any hangovers, made sure no one got too crazy or did anything dangerous, as well as just kept the place somewhat tidy. Just because they had cleaning staff didn’t mean they had to be responsible for the team’s mess. It also meant he was sober enough to realize Skye had hit her limit after she started rambling about what she would “let the team do to her.”

“Alright and with that I think it’s time mum got her beauty sleep.” Xan said, walking from the kitchen to the lounge area to help Skye to her feet. “Come on, I’ll get you to your room. I think we should all call it as well. Got a lot of work ahead of us and after what we’ve been through, we’ll need all the rest we can get.”

Samantha was happily eating her burger. She felt like a ravenous beast. Her body craving sustenance to help it heal after the long restorative sleep she had. She had already finished the glass that Skye had poured for her and didn’t notice when Skye refilled it. She almost choked on her burger as she heard the excited voice of Freya talking to someone named Pilar over the phone. She coughed as her eyes widened at him demanding a kiss from Freya and to attend her next lingerie photo shoot. Somone whacked on her the back between the shoulder blades dislodging the piece of her burger that had gone down the wrong pipe.

She wheezed for a minute or two as she recovered from almost choking. Her eyes were watering. She wiped at them. Her face incredulous as she turned towards Freya as she got off the phone. “Hold on! Lingerie photo shoot? Bribing the help with kisses? Freya! What else are you holding out on telling us?!” Samantha grinned at Freya realizing she was feeling hardly any pain and was moving better. Samantha really looked up to Freya. She felt Freya was a great role model. Maybe she would be willing to adopt a little sister. These thoughts were very foreign to Samantha, and she frowned for a moment as her alcohol and drug addled brain tried to think through where that thought had come from. She shrugged and turned to Freya with an expectant look.



Samantha had slid out of her chair and was currently laughing and rolling around on the floor as she listened to Skye’s story. “Remind me to tell you the story of the Arabian sheikh I turned into an asset. I couldn’t believe how easy he was to flip. He had this kink about wearing women’s high fashion in public but under a full hajib so no one could tell. He liked to walk around with... nevermind. He couldn’t find a way to buy his couture without his enemies finding out and blackmailing him. He agreed to share intel if I sent him a care package once a month.” She started laughing all over again as she remembered how ridiculous the guy was. His macho man public image didn't meet up with his private life.

Samantha’s eyes widened as Skye confessed, it seemed she had some attraction towards some of the team. Samantha smiled and winked at Skye. “I know what you mean. We have an awesome team. They are all pretty great.” She held a finger up to her lips like she was going to tell Skye a secret when Xander’s voice cut across her thoughts cutting off the fun. Samantha had never been this drunk before. She rarely drank because drinking made her feel out of control. She was a lightweight compared to most of the team. Samantha frowned and was disappointed that Xander was not trying to take her to bed. Samantha looked around the room confused for a moment. Her brain was definitely not firing on all cylinders as she tried to figure out why they were going to bed.

Samantha woke up the following day her body in pain as her body reminded her of all she had put it through on the last op and all she had drunk the night before. She felt sick to her stomach and her head was pounding. She was dizzy and felt like the room was spinning. “Please tell the world to stop so I can get off!” She futilely told the ceiling. Some kind soul had left a glass of water by her bed. She sipped at it and her stomach rebelled at first. She sucked in a deep breath as she fought her rebellious stomach. Slowly the queasiness eased, and she managed to drink some more water.

She moved stiffly and awkwardly but managed to get up and take one of the painkillers and the anti-inflammatories Sophie had given her with strict dosing instructions. She made it into shower and let the hot water loosen tight muscles. She almost felt human after her shower. She pulled on a pair of soft lightweight sweatpants in a heather gray color. She pulled on another graphic t-shirt. This one had the Wonder Woman symbol on it. She pushed her feet into her slides before putting her arm back in the sling. She needed to wear it a few more days according to Sophie. She was moving better today now that her muscles had warmed up. She wasn’t feeling as stiff after the shower, but her stomach was still not a happy camper.

She left her room and made her way to the kitchen. She poured herself a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table to eat it. That was about as energetic and capable as she felt. When she was done, she rinsed her bowl and spoon and put them in the dishwasher. She had told Xander last night to meet her in the garage this morning. She had asked him to meet her before she had gotten drunk with the team leader after dinner. She would push through though. She wanted his help to design some new gear. She needed to rebuild her hacking rig. His help and experience would be invaluable. Together they had a working set of hands. They could at least plan and then begin to build as they got better. She figured she would be able to start building stuff in a week. She should be able to ditch the sling by then.

She headed for the garage. She couldn’t help but smile as she entered the area of the garage that Tahlia had told her she could use as a workshop. The smell of concrete, axle grease, and gasoline would forever remind her of her father. She grew up chasing her father around his automotive shop. Her smile turned sad as she was reminded of his death. She missed him. She sighed but headed to the workbench in the corner. Tahlia had managed to source what she had asked for. She pulled up the work stool and sat down facing the bench. She began to open boxes as best as she could as she waited for Xander. The parts for her new laptop were all here. Now she would customize it and put it all together in a cohesive package that could withstand most anything.

The next day, Xander found himself face down in his bed still wearing the clothes from the day before. He must have been so tired after last night that he passed out as soon as he made it back to his room. Every part of him was still tired and sore, but it was getting better. He begrudgingly took the prescribed medications, even if that did mean no alcohol today, then managed to undress and hit the shower. He was rather happy at that, as it was a task he previously struggled to do. Though the real challenge once again was getting dressed again afterwards. As for his outfit, he had promised Sam they would meet in the garage to work on some designs and gadgets today, so something casual and comfortable would do. By the time he left, he was sporting a pair of old washed out jeans and a loose fit gray t-shirt.

He was already running late, so he decided to pass on a normal breakfast and settled for a protein bar and a mug of coffee. It was a delicate balancing act to eat and drink on the move with one hand, but Xander was trained for this. Well, maybe not this situation specifically, but the same basic principles of swapping and using different equipment applied here. When he reached the garage, all that remained was the bar’s wrapper, and about a third of the coffee. He had his usual big smile painted on his face as he walked up to Sam.

“G’day, Sammy! Looks like you’re feeling much better. Want me to grab you a mug?” He cheerily greeted her and lifted his mug indicating he was asking if she wanted any coffee. “Hold on now. What's in those boxes? Don’t tell me those parts already came in! Now that's express shipping!”

Samantha had been struggling with some plastic wrap on a particularly stubborn box when she heard Xander’s voice. She turned on the stool and looked him over with a smile. He was moving better too. She was glad to see it. She didn’t know what Sophie had done but she did know that she was healing faster here at Raven HQ than she would have under civilian medical care. No one would hear her complain. She was not a good patient. She hated being a forced invalid.

She nodded her head at Xander. “I would love a cup. I believe there is supposed to be a coffeemaker in here somewhere. I’m not fussy about my coffee. Black and fully loaded makes me happy. If you serve me decaf, I will hunt you down and hurt you.” She gave him a mock fierce glare with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

Xander let out a loud singular “HA!” at the decaf remark. “Oh please. I might pull my share of pranks around here, but I’d never do something that cruel!”

“It is good to know that something is sacred with you. Duly noted coffee is exempt from pranks.” She gave a big sigh and tried to look disappointed “I guess this means I need to give your beer the same respect. Which is hard for me. I don't like beer. It's disgusting!” She gave a repulsive shudder about the taste of beer. She watched him to see if he was buying her act.

He set his mug down on the workbench and began the quest to find the coffee maker. Despite the organization of the garage, things still managed to get lost if you didn’t nail them down; especially appliances. The Aussie started opening every drawer, container, or locker that might hold the coffee maker, while still maintaining the conversation with Sam. Sure he could go back up to the kitchen where he knew a fresh pot was, might have even been faster, but he wasn’t about to leave now that he just got here. And quite frankly, he had been looking forward to this morning. He really enjoyed Sam’s company and their banter. He’d rather take longer down here than go back up. She watched as he began to open every locker and cabinet looking for the coffeemaker. He continued to talk to her as explored explaining his own rig to her.

“You look like you're feeling better too.” She couldn’t help but grin as Xander commented on her current project. Not that she was getting too far with one hand. At least she still had her dominant hand to work with. She waved her hand across the boxes on her workbench. “Talhia was told that I lost my laptop on the mission before we made it back to base. She had some parts on hand as backup. She wasted no time in getting the rest for me. I prefer my own computer set up as I work to analyze the data found on the mission. I am sure you are more comfortable with yours as well.” She raised an eyebrow in response to him, as if daring him to reply. “You can help me build the new rig. I would appreciate your assistance and insight. Then we can brainstorm up some gear for the mission. I don’t think we have done anything quite like this before. Maybe we can build some cool gear to help out our teammates. What do you think?”

“I know what you mean.” He replied in reference to Sam’s comment about preferring her own computer. “I’ve me own rig in my room. It’s where I do most if not all of my programming. She’s pretty similar to what you were carrying in the field, except mines a full bloody tower weighing about 18 kilos. No way would I be able to bring that on a mission.” He explained getting a bit louder as his search had brought him to the far side of the room. “That’s why I made me tablet. A real thing of beauty. Weighs practically nothing. The UI is basically like a video game; Press a button it does a thing. And the universal cabling lets me plug it into pretty much any interface assuming I can get close enough. I’ve got plenty of spare parts to make a new one, but uploading all the software is going to take god knows how long.”

Samantha managed to hide her nerves. She normally preferred to work alone. She knew she was limited with what she could do physically at the moment. After working with Xander in the field, she trusted him. She liked his sense of humor. She found she enjoyed his company. She felt working with him would take her mind off what she couldn’t do at the moment. Plus he was fun to be around. She knew she wouldn’t be bored. “Just think of all the mischief, chaos, and mayhem we can cook up together.” She gave him a sassy look and a wink.

Sam tried to hide her amusement as he continued searching on the far side of the room. Her lips curved up of their own accord. She watched as he pulled the coffeemaker from underneath what looked like a workbench but was the kitchenette counter in the workshop. She could tell because it had a kitchen sink and faucet on one end. The deep utility sink was next to it along the wall with the CNC machine, laser lathe, and parts wash station. Some enterprising soul had commandeered it for additional space. Her smile got larger as she watched him struggling to hold a conversation and make her coffee.

Success! In one of the bottom cupboards of a nearby workbench was the illusive coffee maker! Though there was some assembly still required. Which obviously would take a bit longer due to his limited mobility. Though that did give him a good idea where to start for suggestions. “I suppose the main thing to focus on would be mobility. You’re a lightweight. Er, as a soldier I mean. You need to be able to move quickly while still being able to carry all your equipment. So ask yourself: Is there anything you can do to lighten that load? And if not, how can you more effectively carry it? Oh where the bloody hell are the cups?”

She couldn’t help but laugh at that. She rose to her feet and made her way over to him. She cleared a spot on the counter for the coffeemaker. She patted the empty space. “Put the coffeemaker here.” She then opened the cabinet above the sink and pointed to the cups. “This is the kitchenette not a worktable.”

Xander took a step back and looked the kitchenette up and down. “Huh. I guess. Maybe if I had taken a moment to survey the area, I could have saved a bit of time…” He stated, slowly getting quieter with each word. He was normally a very observant person. How did he miss the fact this wasn’t a workbench? In fact there was a lot of food and snacks down here, meaning he didn’t have to rush breakfast. Oh well, now he knew for later. He quickly shook off his embarrassment and placed the coffee maker down where Sam had indicated.

She talked to him as she explored cabinets this time. She opened the cabinet door next to the cups and found coffee, filters, sugar, powdered coffee creamer, granola bars, gummy worms, M&Ms, protein bars, and beef jerky. There were probably more things in the cupboard than she could see. She was impressed with the selection available. “I guess we don’t rate a k-cup coffeemaker in the garage workshop. It makes sense. They probably wouldn’t stand up to the debris in here. Oh looks! Snacks to keep hangry mechanics from breaking more than they fix. Sweet! Someone knows how to keep mechanics happy.” She winked at him before stepping up next to him. She helped him get the coffee started by grabbing the measuring pitcher for the water and setting up the coffeemaker for brewing. She found that spending time with Xander was easy. She didn’t feel that awkwardness that she felt sometimes with others. She didn’t find it necessary to fill the silence between them as they made coffee. It was comfortable. The coffee didn’t take long to brew. She poured a cup and only added a little sugar, just enough to cut the bitterness a little.

Together they had two hands. The two worked together to get the coffee machine all set up and filled. It was almost eerie just how well they worked. Only one mission together and now they were functioning as one, Sam’s good arm taking the place of Xan’s broken and vice versa. In no time Sam had her own cup of coffee, and Xan was freshening his up. Was two cups of coffee this early too much caffeine? Probably. Did Xan care? Nah!

She grabbed the plastic containers of M&Ms and tucked it into her sling to carry it back to the workstation. She grabbed her cup of coffee with her good hand. She grinned at Xander and waved to the snacks. “Did you want anything?”

He thought for a moment before replying “Yeah I’ll take some of them gummy worms.”

She waited for Xander to make his choices known before returning to where she left computer parts and boxes, some opened and some unopened. “I appreciate your set up with your tablet. I have found that sometimes hackers and security specialists are good, and I need to improvise. They are always copying my best viruses and code breaking programs. So I am constantly having to upgrade. That means I need computer power on the go.” She explained her thought process to him. She of course had a set of computer viruses and code breaking programs that would work on most equipment. It was that other 20 percent that she worried about like what was needed against Artemis on their last op.

Xander nodded along the whole time. He understood completely the reason why, and that in most cases her system outpaced his. The main difference was simply where they were usually placed in the field. “For sure. If I worked more covertly like you I’d have the time to crack most security systems; like what you did in Kazakhstan with that defense system you fucked up! But mine needs to be more quick and in the moment. I don’t have time to take down a whole system, I just need to bugger whichever lousy prick thinks he has the drop on me and turn the table. Hehe. It’s the difference between causing Chaos, and experiencing a Glitch.”

“My idea is to create a powerful portable rig that can go anywhere with me. My last rig was sweet but even with a reinforced case it didn’t survive that ground zero blast on the last op.” She frowned knowing none of them had expected their last op to go so sideways. She gave him a wicked happy grin as she continued. “Tahlia managed to get me a prototype miniaturized quantum dynamic cpu chip and motherboard. The developers have not managed to create a portable cooling system good enough to handle it. I believe I can use a liquid gel cooling matrix that is environmentally friendly. It should keep it cool enough without freezing up the moving parts.” She went on to explain. “You know those reusable cooling packs for first aid that you can buy. One time use right? Well they activate with a low voltage static charge. I can rig a sealed system to apply that low voltage to make it reusable. It will also act as sound proofing and kinetic shock control. What do you think?”

“Well that’s bloody genius!” Xan exclaimed as she described her new cooling system. Just need to make sure that low static charge is contained in the gel. If it has any sort of energy leak it could put the sensitive parts at risk. But you can manage that with pretty much any sort of non-conductive shielding.” Xander paused for a moment before continuing. “Which brings me back to my point; we need to lighten your load.” Xan continued his ‘lecture’ but all the while started helping Sam unpack the rest of her new parts. “The reinforced case was good and all, but everything has a limit. Take my Exo for example. It has armor sure, but only for standard rounds that I expect most blokes to have and hit me with. I could add more protection for 50 cal or higher, but then I’m getting close to heavy territory, and while there’s nothing wrong with our heavy mates, it would be pretty daft for me to sacrifice mobility for armor when I’m supposed to be compensating for their slowness. Basically, protection from EMPs and low caliber bullets should be fine, but beyond that you’re just making yourself a slower and easier target.”

Samantha nodded as she sipped her coffee and began to nibble on M&Ms as she listened to what Xander had to say. The chocolate, sugar, and fat from the candy helping her stomach feel less queasy. Her head tilted from side to side as she took in his advice. "Keep it simple. Make it durable and powerful without sacrificing weight and space." She nodded as her brain kicked into high gear. "I can do that. I will customize the pieces as I work to get them all to fit together." Samantha looked rueful as she held up her own messed up arm. "I am still in the planning stages since I need my other hand before I go wild on building."

Samantha pulled out a large sheet of blank newsprint from a tray under the workbench counter and grabbed a mechanical pencil. She began writing notes that included her ideas and Xanders. She noted the list of parts that Tahlia had provided. She wrote a label above that column that read Chaos' Laptop. She drew a line and then labeled the next section Xander's Tablet. She moved over to another column and wrote team gear.

"I wanted your help to brainstorm some ideas for gear for the team. I would love your help to build it. I should get my other hand back at the end of the week. Also I wanted to know how I could help you rebuild your tablet and what your ideas were for it." She gave Xander a bright smile. Talking tech was something she loved to do as a total gear head."Come on I want your most creative ideas. Anything you can dream up! Anything you thought about and didn't write down on a napkin. Let's hear it!"
Xander paused and thought for a moment. His most creative ideas, eh? Well he certainly had a few of those, and with Sam’s help they may actually be possible now. There was one idea he had actually been tossing around in his head.

“Well, one downfall with my tablet is that it still takes up both me hands to use. If I want to execute any hacks, I have to do so from cover which isn’t always readily available. However, I’ve been working on a way to wire up the ol’ exo, specifically in me left arm, so that I could interact with it by simple hand movements.” Xander explained while also demonstrating with his functioning right arm. His fingers began pressing points in his palm and even twisting his wrist a few times. “Wiring up the gloves and programming the interface is one thing, but the real trick is to find a way to make sure it knows the difference between when I’m trying to talk to it, and when I’m in the heat of things. Some sort of unique gesture that’s easy to do, but not something I’d accidentally activate holdin’ a gun or something.”

Samantha nodded and as she jotted down his challenges for use in the field. She started jotting down her own ideas to overcome his issues. She was thinking about upgrades she wanted to make since she had experienced some of the same issues in the last op. She stopped and stared at the wall in deep thought for a minute. Her pencil tapping against the paper.

"I had some of the same issues on this last op. I was thinking of developing a proprietary encryption communication chip that would allow my laptop to interface with the AI in my suit helmet. That way I can gun, run, and do basic hacks while running." She paused as she gathered her thoughts "My equipment was compromised when Raven's communication got hacked. My thought was paired proprietary encrypted communication that will allow my two devices to support and direct the other and if the communication source gets hacked then they will not be able to take over my system or get any data from it. They may no longer be able to send data out over that source, but they will still be able to communicate with each other. I was going to investigate early cellular devices and protocols and see if there is something in the early military applications that might be able to be improved that was abandoned. This way I can give voice commands to my helmet AI and the heavy lifting is happening to my paired laptop nearby."

Samantha jotted helmet AI and tablet pairing with haptic input gloves in Xander's column. "I am thinking we develop a similar system for you. I am rebuilding my helmet AI. I can create one for you that works off the same principles so you can give it voice commands. I can also develop haptic input gloves so that work with your HUD so you can use eye gestures to launch commands in your HUD or turn on your gloves to be used on a tablet overlay so you can input manual commands to your tablet without touching it. We could build an armored compartment that your tablet could slide into and integrate with your suit. What do you think?"

“I think you’re bloody brilliant!” Xan said with a chuckle. He could tell why Sam was brought on to Raven, no that he ever doubted that call. With their minds together, they could fix the world’s problems. Though for now they’d just have to settle on taking care of bad guys.

“Now, let’s move to the more immediate objective: our next mission.” Xan stood back up and sipped at his coffee as he began to pace the room. “We can’t take in most of our current equipment without immediately setting off every alarm. We need gear that’s functional, but also concealable. Shoe knives, exploding pens, laser watches, the kinda shit you’d see Bond use.”

Samantha chuckled at Xander's praise and preened a little under his gaze. She replied in a fake snooty tone, "Why thank you, kind sir!" Samantha watched as Xander began to pace the room with his coffee cup. Samantha went back to writing in the column team gear and began to write as Xander talked.

Samantha talked as she wrote down their ideas. She began to write “ceramic knives, embedded into shoes, such as stiletto heels, or hidden so they can pop out for the guys, hidden in belt buckles for the guys is also an option. Weaponize purses for the gals, chain straps with a handle that could transform into a garrote or whip. A heavy shiny designer looking bauble that could hide a collapsible asp for Freya. Make up that could be combined into a two-shot carbon composite gun, with bullets hidden inside a designer zipper pull. Keychains that looked like push button flashlights but doubled as a taser. Jewelry and cuff links that doubled as communications gear and mini drones. The ladies would have small perfume bottles that could carry acid, sleeping agents, or a liquid pepper spray. The guys could have metal cigarette cases that combined with money clips to form a carbon composite gun that could hold 2 bullets. The bullets could be hidden inside a metal keychain bauble. Cuff link cameras and scanners. Pens could be modified to be a taser, planted as a spy device with hidden camera, microphone, and transmitter. Pens could hide a ceramic stiletto blade, twist and out pops a blade, or pens could hide a camera and scanner. Watches could also host communications gear.” Samantha looked up at Xander “Watches are too small for a laser powerful enough to do much. We could pack them with a high explosive. Plant them and use them as a small charge for breaching a door lock.” Samantha waited to see if he would add to their idea list.

“Damn. All that just off the top of your head? You’re giving me a run for me money.” Xander said and shot Sam a quick wink.

” Well knowing Pavel, he’ll be up on his tech and have all the good stuff locked tight. We need to be prepared for security that can’t be hacked normally or even quickly. I’m thinking contacts that can mimic eyes and fool retina scanners, even false finger tips that can copy fingerprints. That should let you lot snag anything you need without having to resort to explosives, even if they are micro. Then we just whip up some smart glasses to give some of us on screen HUDs and video feeds, and I think we’ll be golden!”
Samantha laughed as she considered his points. "You can lift fingerprints with a makeup brush and some clear tape. I am not sure how hard it would be to build gloves with nanite finger tips that change fingerprint patterns. It’s possible. Not sure I could get that done in time. We will add it as a maybe." She wrote the idea down in the gear column.

She pondered how to get around a retina scanner. "The retina scanners are harder. We could hack the scanner and send it a file withe information it is expecting. The challenge with that is we would have to collect that data at the party which comes with some risk. If we can hack into his system or find his retina and fingerprints prior to the op, then we can print contacts with the information and create fake fingerprints on a set of gloves to mimic his fingers. The reality of us being able to find his biometrics on file somewhere will be difficult. I doubt someone who is so aware of cyber security would leave his information in a system he was not sure was well protected."

Samantha made some notes to look for Pavel's biometric information in the recovered data and search other possible sources for that information such as government databases. He might be on file with some of the government contractor work he has done. Samantha turned her attention back to Xander after taking another sip of her coffee. Her eyes followed his movements as she nibbled on chocolate goodness.

Xander paused his pacing for a moment as he considered Sam’s concerns. All of them were valid, especially with their time constraints. However, when she mentioned getting access to those things prior to the op, Xan got a wicked smirk. “Leave that to me. If things go according to plan, I should have access to the venue beforehand. Knowing Pavel, his prints and DNA will be all over the place. I can get what we need. Hell, I might even be able to confirm what kind of security he’s got and save us the time wasted in guessing.”

With that thought, Xander turned to Sam and walked over to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder, then leaned in a bit to look at the list she had written down. After he skimmed their ideas he began to bob his head in a small nod. “Yeah. I think we’ve got a lot to work with. We’ll want to get right on those if we want to make them in time. But first, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you about.” Xander turned from the list to face Sam as he grew a sly grin on his face. “A while ago you mentioned something about my beer launcher being ineffective. Curious what tips you had for me to improve that. I really wanna get that girl working perfectly.”

Samantha felt the warmth from Xander’s body and the weight of his hand as he leaned over her to review their list. She nodded, agreeing with him. “It is a lot of gear, but we can do it! Most of it will be printing or cutting pieces and then assembly. Planning and setting up the technical schematics and measurements is what will take the most time. I have to decide on the right materials as well. We should have what I need in stock. It is pretty basic stuff. The only parts that might be difficult will be the proprietary communication chips but since I plan to build them not purchase them. We should have what I need for that.” She met his grin with one of her own. “I like your thoughts about what you can find out about Pavel before the op. We will have to compare notes after we do some hacking.”

Samantha gave Xander a mischievous smile as she leaned closer to him. “Well I have not had an opportunity to really examine your masterpiece. Why don’t we go take a look and you can explain how it works. Then I will be in a better position to help you improve it.” She winked at him as she set the pencil down as she slid off the stool with a raised eyebrow in challenge.

Kaitiaki HQ, New Zealand

With a click of the slide, the presentation started, Skye knowing it was a little bit of an exposition at this point, but it was time to go from the top, one more time, over how they were hitting this place.

"Okay, so we know the score."

"Here's the plan. All of us, bar Xan are up top with invites. We arrive separately, and keep a low profile, apart from me and Freya. Recommend you use your alternate names throughout, first names can stay if you haven't been too naughty. Xan, just for the Uzbek whiskey, I got you onto a catering detail...because I need someone behind a bar to help us lubricate the social situation." The slide clicked, as Skye turned to the team, the blue hue of the AR display lighting her up as well, framing her freckled and worn features.

"Here's the plan. All of us, bar Xan are up top with invites. We arrive separately, and keep a low profile, apart from me and Freya. Recommend you use your alternate names throughout, first names can stay if you haven't been too naughty. Xan, just for the Uzbek whiskey, I got you onto a catering detail...because I need someone behind a bar to help us lubricate the social situation."

"Once we get through, Sam, Xan, Michelle, I need you downstairs to start work on the server farms, and Pavel's PC. I want whatever intel you can get off it- likely it'll be encrypted so you won't know what it is straight away, but get what you can and don't raise any alarms. Be incredibly careful- intel from Mateo and Raph suggests they've got guard details, motion cameras and all sorts of tech that will hamper you, so take it steady, drop guards lethal or non-lethal, and don't get caught. We get compromised, the op goes under. I'll get my time with Pavel, and we can learn what we might be up against. Because believe me, we still have plenty to learn."

"Plans came through from Raph and Mateo, so cheers for that. It is a 70 storey skyscraper, right in central Singapore - there's an office below the top two decks, which are a bar and a company breakout room. Guy is running his place like Google, but with the frat parties that come with it. Expect a lot of high life, and . The office is on the storeys below- lot of high modernist infrastructure, and open offices, mixed in with a few technical server rooms and compartments. Filled with halide gas if there's any fire too, and expected to be incredibly secure. So not something you can hit so easy. If you even trip anything, they're gonna gas you out- so be ready with respirators once you're infiltrating. If that happens, there will be an alarm and a lockdown, so moment you trip it, we're all gonna be evacuating. That might work for me, come to think of it, but hold until I'm near him."

"Extraction is back the way we came, via the lift. In an emergency, there's a trailer parked on the adjacent street with an airbag inside it. It's a rough landing, but a fast way down if you have to get out. Sam, Michelle, I believe you've got wingsuits to use for your way out. Make a scene if you have to, but those things will get you out of there quick if you need it."

"Everyone clear?" Skye rounded the presentation out, the AR screens giving a highlight of the setup, the tower, and entry points. The team had plenty to digest, and it was certainly a lot more to take in. The rest of the team had a chance to show off their bits too, as part of the briefing- tools, equipment or sub-routes they were taking.

---

Tsai Wen Tower, Singapore

Behind the Vale

The night sky was lit up with the skyscrapers, so numerous that they were almost alike the stars in the sky if you squinted, such were city lights that seemed to trance and weave through on the small south-east Asian island port among the background of Singapore's metallic "trees" and Marina Bay Sands.

Singapore was a city of money, and while it wasn't Dubai, there was this underlying feeling of banks, money and just everything being clean beyond measure like it was some sort of sterilisation chamber. It was a place for Vale Systems to base one of their many offices, and the party was quite the event, attracting many from near and far. They didn't own the whole building, but a serious part of it belonged to them, and it was their own.

And in the midst of it on the tower that stood among the urban high rise jungle, the lift doors opened. Out into the open, the hubub could be seen, the high life and classical piano music playing, yet this was no pleasure- this was only business for Raven Squad.

In it stood Freya and Skye, the red dress wearing bodyguard wearing a fetching pair of black tight gloves to complement her dashing red and black dress, her red hair tied into a simple bun and the Scot almost a mirror image to the larger girl next to her. A little makeup to hide her freckles and some jewelery too, all of which had sleekly got through security- containing comms, and a few other gadgets.

It was almost comical, the way Skye walked in front of Freya, like a miniature almost, a sideshow to the large and far more famous redhead. But they were here now, and only had security to go through. A concierge check, manned by two men, one of whom brashly spotted the pair like the least-incognito couple they were. A standard check, given well, even despite the metal detectors downstairs, this was the last point at which any interlopers could get in.

"Hey, welcome to the party. IDs and invites, please." One of the men asked, as Skye reluctantly showed hers, the guard looking down at Freya's, then at Skye's, the invites and paperwork all in order, as it should be. This was an ultra-exclusive event after all, and well, security was tight. It felt like it, the sunglasses wearing, sharp-dressed American accented guard looking down at Skye, taller than her yet towered over by Freya nonetheless. The invites were of note- the guard noting that they had a warning to look out for Freya's guest, given what had happened last time.

"Miss....Caldwell? Interesting. Hmm.....may I have a word? In private?"

"What's wrong, the dress too revealing? Oh please, you're not the first one to hit on me. We don't need any distractions." Skye seemed arrogant, but well, in this society, you acted your part. Confident, arrogant, asshole. Like the man on the other side.

"No, it's a security check. I need you to come with me. Alone."

"I don't leave my client. I'm here to guard her, after all. Don't take me as stupid, my client is important and needs to go through, so do I."
Skye barbed back, knowing it was out of turn now, but this was, frankly, bullshit.

"She can come with us then. If she can't defend herself, that is."

"Sure. Sorry, Freya. My paperwork is in order...I'm sure it won't take more than a minute." Skye feined an apology to keep cover, as they walked over, Skye this time around joined by Freya- it was rather a sight to see but the guard carried on, not backing down. He couldn't here, and was in control of the situation. So much so he told the other guard to stay, he could handle this. He was armed, they weren't, and they weren't stupid. So he thought.

Following, Skye would have been easily able to be worried they were off to a dark room and compromised. But in some fucked up way, oh, this was perfect.

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A Caged Bird

Sitting down in the dark windowed room after heading downstairs from the roof suite into the office and as part of a wider security network, Skye looked across the table, as the security man took a seat, eyeing her up, pistol at side after leading past a couple of other guards. The security room was a bad start to the evening, but things were what they were. It helped knowing the layout, and some of the guard detail. Like the man who had told them to sit looking across.

"So, I did my work into who was attending. And your name, it doesn't come up. See, I know everyone in the VIP protection game. Everyone."

"You're a ghost, Skye Caldwell. Question is, why are you protecting Freya Kantaario? What, you think she needs it? Do you even understand what kind of a social event this is? And what she did to Pavel? There aren't plus ones here. This isn't a bring your friends gathering. Your client may be lucky enough to get an invite, but she knows, this isn't how it works. A guard for her isn't on the cards. This is a chance for her to be civil. And the invite is a courtesy, so after happened to just pretend it's all fine to have anyone here ain't gonna work for my boss. So what the fuck are you doing here, pretty girl? Here to cause another incident? Some tagalong? The man coolly said, his anger palpable in the soundproof office.

The mistake he'd made was already becoming a bit evident by the second, Skye putting her sheepish face on, and lying through her absolute teeth.

"Well....I'm doing my job, because my client wants me here? Check my paperwork."
Skye looked over her shoulder at the towering hulk, and could only smirk. Oh, Freya could do something. But she knew Skye well enough. Well enough to know this was Skye's game, it was the look in her eyes. Play dumb, and play him out to see what happened next.

"Really. I highly doubt that you are, because finding reference for you, hell, even CCTV footage is hard. Anyway, I think you ain't got shit to protect. Pavel wants no trouble. You look like it, because this don't add up. And I'll offend the great Freya Kaantario to do so, because my client comes first." The man laid his pistol on the desk, a nicely ornimental RSh-12 revolver, and the size of the fucking thing said it all- his mannerisms, his brashness, his sigh as he looked into Skye's eyes, knowing he had her on the ropes. Or so he thought, because well, Skye was leaning into this exactly like she wanted. The way only she could.

"I bet Freya hasn't realised she's hired a ghost. Tried to walk in here, thinking we don't care about last time. And given the man I look after wants no trouble....this stinks."

"Och...uhhh, yeah, you're right!" Skye responded straight, as the man bolted upright.

"What?" It was too good from him because he was leaning in, and the fire that burned just burned in all the wrong places.

With that, Skye launched quicker than he could react forwards and towards the revolver, throwing her left arm at his windpipe and right onto the sidearm, using him as weight she went hurling herself over the table and yanking him down, grinning as they both carted onto the floor. He tried to push back, but there was no stopping a surprise, as she jabbed hard into his lungs, quickly neutralising him as he tried to throw her back off him.

Skye was exactly where she wanted to be. Right on top with her legs pinning his gut, and with a hard swipe at his throat to hit his windpipe, he wasn't going anywhere, Skye keeping her gloved hand tight against his neck, able to push a little harder and end it all here and now. Maybe she didn't have his strength. But she had something more, and that was an experience of dealing with bigger bastards than him. It was no short reminder that Skye wasn't some princess, she was fierce, and hiding it rather well up until that moment.

"Make a move and play hero, it doesn't end well for you......oh, Jim Wickers, Ex-FBI, strong ex- in fact. You're pretty good as his Senior Security Liason....so far, ey?" Skye started, taking control of this situation, knowing that right now, any dumb looks were gone.

"What that means is I can really embarrass you to your boss. I'll find him and tell him Freya right there is coming to beat his 'wee heed into a fucking pulp. Your worst fear. And you know, she just might. Or maybe she won't and she'll grab a vodka and leave. She is really elusive like that. You're a smart cookie. Problem is, your little warning didn't figure me out all the way." Skye chuckled as her resolve tightened, looking dead into his eyes, revolver pushed aside, the man choking out as he sprawled, frankly embarrassed by what Skye had gone and done. It was a classic move, but they never saw it coming.

Nobody ever did.

"And you'll do nothing but watch on those cameras on that wall no matter what. You think that works as a successful evening?" Skye retorted to him, very, very much aware that he was no doubt in shock, and the fact he was barely conscious added to it. Skye's physique didn't scream what Freya's did- sure it was beaten but it looked more like a runner's, more than someone capable of the damage she was.

"Don't worry. If I was here to kill him, he'd already be dead. I'm just not interested in security staff causing me hassle tonight. So, I'll going to tell you to reconsider before I think about moving onto you. Understood?"

"Shit.....ok, ok. You realise I ain't it, huh? You think you can just waltz in? I ain't telling you shit, anyways, you're both fucking dead if you try and get out....fuck you! His whimpered yell was something, as he knew there were no good options, and well, he had reason for that given the position he was now in. Play it long, and wait this out.

Skye chuckled in response, looking to Freya, looking him dead in the eyes, Jim choking as Skye pushed down on his throat again, pushing hard as he tried to recoil, then easing up, putting his head straight against his.

"Shhh.....you hear that? Nah, me neither. That's because you took us into a soundproof room. Thank you for that. And nobody is coming for you in the next twenty. Remember, you got it wrong...I'm protecting you from her, not vice versa. If we did it her way, she'd be scalping you alive. I've seen her bench a fucking jeep, not even glue would put you back together if she did. And that would be far better than the entertainment up there." Skye gently sat by his side, putting her hand to his throat, aware she could push on his damaged windpipe and just make it hurt so, so much more once again.

"Whatever he's paying you, your ex-wife and two kids are worth a bit more than what might happen next. Oh yeah, the ones you didn't tell Pavel about so you could get his clearance. I know, which I guess makes me more important than your client right now. So do tell me something, Jim, because it'll save you a lot of hassle. Where's Pavel, and how many guards are around him? Lie, and Freya here, she comes back and opens you like a tin of sardines."
His face changed quickly, that very second, because the threats went from violence, enough to get most, to something else altogether.

It was a situation he had no energy to react to, but then again, he had no reason to doubt it. You did Carrot, and you did Stick. Sometimes, you did both at the same time. Same place. And when you got your hands dirty in this game, you did bad things. Nothing bad would come to his family of course given Skye had no idea where they were, but she'd made sure to keep it in mind as a weak point from her reading of the security detail they did know about. His weak point wasn't his strength or ability, it was in blood. Sometimes, social engineering worked a hell of a lot more than violence. Right now, that approach was about to pay dividends.

"You piece of shit...don't do shit to them, y'all hear?"

"Temper, temper. Nothing is going to happen to them. Just start talking and you'll stay employed, and if you're lucky, might even get a pay raise. Try and focus on positives, Jim, and you might live. Talk to me." Skye's voice was back to reassurance, backed by almost that same spirit that made her the team mum, yet somehow, inexplicably, underlined with threat.

"Alright...they're on the top floor. He's got more guards, ten more. You ain't got a hope in hell. He's got a giant in the team after last time with Freya. Big dude. Like I said, big mistake. You won't stand a chance, whatever you're doing. You fucking do anything, I'll kill you....you can rot in hell!" Skye looked to Freya, then back at him as he tried to yell, Skye throwing her hand against his mouth, his other one against his throat.

"That's better. But a bit rich coming from you. You really are such a lucky boy for someone who treats a so called, 'pretty girl' so poorly. I thought we really could have something, might even let you stay awake but you really are foul. Please do me a favour and don't remember my face. I'll try and forget yours pretty quick." Skye grimaced as she peeled back off him, as she drew her handbag from across the room from off the table, and flipping the perfume bottle, rammed the top of it straight into his nose, spraying a full, if not over-dose of the sleeping agent, the fast-acting tool taking the dazed guard out, as Skye looked almost deflated. She expected more.

"That was eventful. Bloody awful, even. Is my makeup still ok? Because we have this guy to move, and not gonna lie, he is fatter than the file said he would be. He's like fucking Steven Seagal." She asked, knowing the disapproval would be on Freya's face, yet in some ways, she'd be entertained. Skye didn't like parties a lot, so this must have made for a little bit of change.

Skye was that kind of character- she had learned how to be a spy and be a ghost, a spectre and an asset that blended in, turned into something else, someone else when she had to be. But beneath that, she never forgot she was capable of these things. Capable of doing what was needed to get it over the line, and beyond guns and firepower, she had learned how to use their ability against them. Right now, that was what had done it- and while it didn't always go smoothly, this one had to- otherwise, their operation was compromised. Skye would have been held for longer and if more security joined, they'd be shit out of luck. Then there was no talk, and no chance of finding out what they needed. No server farm check, and that was that.

After hiding Jim's knocked out body in a nearby cupboard, out cold for at least the next half an hour, Skye had the chance to get the rest of her equipment set up, instead of in some toilet probably full of old coke lines on the toilet seat. And enough to spy an IP address, on a CCTV system, among a few other things. By being in a secure room, Skye knew they were off camera. It was almost as if gambling on his confidence had payed dividends. She adjusted the frequency on her phone, linked to her ear-ring, a beautiful pearl piece that concealed a mic and earpiece that gave nothing away beyond its user- to activate the mic all she had to do was push on a signet ring on her hand, and it felt as fluent as anything, while the earpiece used a oscillatory segment in her piercing to allow her to silently listen to the team, and so far, it was coming through crystal.

"Team, me and Valkyrie are in. Security is tight here, but we dropped one. Gave us a goldmine though, we got into a security booth. Glitch, Chaos, I'm pinging you an IP address for CCTV and their admin server network. Careful around it because likely it's protected. Everyone, get to work, get to know some faces, and do our jobs. You know the score. Infiltrators, when ready, make your way down and get your gear recovered." Skye's tone was authoritative, sometimes harsh but in this environment, it had to be. Plus, she'd only gone and knocked out a guy at the party when she tried to be more incognito than raiding a beached cargo ship.

Within five minutes.

With that last communication through her earpiece built into her earring, Skye and Freya emerged back out of the small booth and out of the mostly quiet security complex without further hastle, heading through the corridors and back up the stairs out of the top floor of the offices onto the veranda, the skyline once again visible as the party raged on, suits and dresses everywhere, eyes beckoning on Freya, and less so on Skye, who strutted her stuff with confidence. No more bullshit, as they were on the other side of the fence, and well, the other guards hadn't seen them. They were unlikely to get any more attention, until they realised that Jim had gone for too long of a break, and by that point, things might get spicy.

They knew where he was. They knew what to do. And Skye, Freya and the team going into the party had that to enjoy. The Scot craned her head up to the giantess by her side, knowing she had thoughts on her mind after that, and no doubt, plenty of thoughts of what the update on security meant for them.
"Keep an eye on that giant. Try not to fuck him either, because when he sees you he's gonna be like Casanova. But if you can keep him away, that helps me plenty. We are gonna need to play it cool around Pavel, and our guy on the inside of the bar staff isn't fucking up my drinks order this time either...."
Skye wryly commented to Freya, knowing that the situation was gonna escalate with one of them around- but having Xan on the inside, well, that could change things quickly...

In the interim, the rest of the team were no doubt making their way in, to significantly and likely less drama than they were. It would be a bit of time to get into the party and get used to it, but they had a crowd to mingle with on the upmarket cocktail-bar, come wine-bar, come rooftop piano session that was a high society party at a tech firm.

---

Samantha was feeling better and was excited about their next op. Her condition had improved quickly once she started physical therapy. She still had no clue what Sophie had done but she knew whatever process she had used, she healed much faster. She was full of energy and had been hard at work with Xander’s support on gear for their upcoming op. She was excited to share with the team what they had developed for them to use. She did her best to focus on the briefing. She found it hard to sit still after her injuries had forced a week of convalescence on her. It was like her subconscious wanted to test her body’s limits to prove they had healed. Her knee was bouncing up and down as she tried to bleed off excess energy.

Samantha was still pouring over the intel from the last op. She had found evidence buried in the hacking code that pointed to Pavel’s involvement. She had found some bits and pieces of router information that had allowed her to follow the route of the signal that had hacked their drone from router to router following where it had bounced from. There was some signal coding that allowed her to confirm that at one point the signal had been passed through a satellite in space. There was not enough information for her to triangulate the location of the satellite. The data had been corrupted enough that she was unable to take it all the way to the source. She could tell the boss that whoever had hacked their drone knew what they were doing and they were more paranoid than her. She had managed to trace the signal back through 57 different routers in 32 different countries before missing pieces of data broke the chain. She was proud of herself for managing to reconstruct it that far. She was still working on analyzing the huge amount of data she had sent back from the op at the beginning before their signal was hacked.

Samantha had to pause her work on the data to work on supporting their next op. Samantha had needed to do some necessary hacking to get the team invited to the party. Instead of hacking Pavel, Samantha hacked those she thought might be invited. While most of those companies had adequate cyber security, it was nowhere near good enough to keep her out. She had infiltrated emails at 50 different tech companies that she thought might receive invites. She found it child’s play to intercept the incoming invitations and confirm that executives so and so with company x were unavailable to attend but they would be sending x in their place. She simply replied as them, to insert their own people and then arranged to have couriered invitations rerouted and intercepted by Raven Squad. Now the team all had legitimate invitations for Pavel’s party. Pavel had developed a fancy card invitation with an embedded chip in it that contained the identity information of the person invited making them unhackable. He was right, they were pretty unhackable. That didn’t stop her from getting the real deal setup for their team. There was always a way!

Samantha had to develop fake identities for the team members who needed them. Along with fake ids, she implanted enough believable searchable history that their fake identities would pass a background check. Samantha had created backdoor access for herself with the social security agency, and the internal revenue service a long time ago. She created legitimate social security accounts, with fake work history and birthdate information. At the IRS, she duplicated the fake work history along with fake filed taxes. She created a fictitious social media trail with doctored photos to help sell the back story. She didn’t think guests would receive that level of scrutiny but Samantha was not taking any chances with her team. She had a lot of fun creating identities for the team. She wondered if Michele would get the reference of her fake id. She couldn’t resist trying to get a rise out of the quiet French woman. Spending time with Xander was rubbing off on her.

Samantha had managed to hack into some of the lower level employees' emails. She had managed to have a box of equipment shipped to the mail room and delivered to one of Pavel’s executives that was out on maternity leave. The box would be delivered to the woman’s office and sit there until her return to work in two months. It wasn’t a huge box and had to go through a security screening process before leaving the mail room. Samantha had to design a box with a shielded interior space to hide the weapons and electronic gear she wanted on hand. Pavel’s parties were famous for confiscating any kind of communication or smart device. He was right to be paranoid about industrial espionage as that was how he had made so many of his own breakthroughs. He had stolen them from his competitors. It was the only way she could think of to get her laptop past Pavel’s security screening. She had shipped hers and Michele’s wingsuits around the interior making it look like a clothing delivery to the office. I mean who hadn’t had something shipped to the office so that you didn’t have to worry about porch pirates intercepting your delivery?

Samantha paid attention to the briefing as Skye went over everyone’s role. When Skye was done Samantha popped up with a wide grin and rubbed her hands together. “Who wants presents?” She looked around at the team and winked at Xander. He knew what was coming since he had her develop and build most of it. She didn’t wait for anyone to answer. “Everyone is getting presents! But ladies first!”

@FourtyTwo
She handed a very fashionable purse which held the other items she had developed for Skye to use. “Okay boss, the chain handle can be used as a garotte or a whip. The keychain inside has a penlight charm that looks like a flashlight but doubles as a taser. There are three different unbreakable glass perfume bottles, Each one is a different shape, The square one has acid, the ball shaped one has a sleeping agent, and the octagonal sphere shaped one has pepper spray. The lipstick tube has a popup stiletto ceramic blade, the makeup compact can transform into a compact two shot gun. The extra bullets are in another bauble on your keychain that looks like a lighthouse.”

@BigPapaBelial
She smiled and turned to Freya with another designer handbag but this was scaled up in size to suit Freya’s larger frame and look more natural with her body size. “You also have a lipstick ceramic stiletto blade, a makeup carbon composite gun, a hidden taser on your keychain, the three perfume bottles, and the chain handle can be used as a whip or garotte.” She pointed out the large designer metal bauble hanging off the zipper pull. “This holds a collapsible asp hidden inside. Just twist the top and snap your wrist while holding the bottom which becomes the handle.” The bauble looked rounded 3d stylized P. The bottom of the P was obviously the handle.

@Wayward
Samantha grinned as she handed a different style of designer handbag to Michele. “Michele, I have some special surprises for you since you will coming with me to have my back. Like the others your purse chain handle can be used as a garotte or a whip. You have a taser hidden in a keychain charm. The lipstick tube has a popup stiletto ceramic blade, the makeup compact can transform into a compact two shot gun. The extra bullets are in another bauble on your keychain that looks like a heart. Instead of giving you a perform bottle, I designed a carbon composite needle launcher for you. It looks like a standard ink pen. You push the click button on the end of it and a small, barbed needle will shoot out that is dipped in a fast-acting sleeping agent. It is short range, but you can fire as fast as you can reset the spring-loaded firing mechanism and the pen can hold 25 needle darts. It can shoot up to 10 feet. There is a metal cigarette case for you in there. The cigarettes in the case are mini smoke bombs. Light them and drop them and they produce a smoky cloud of about 3 feet. The zippo lighter is a small torch. Just flick the dial the opposite way and a sustained flame about an inch long will be produced. It only has enough gas to burn for about two minutes though.”

@Awesomoman64 @Theyra @PerfectThought @ReusableSword
She then proceeded to hand boxes to all the guys on the team. “Each of you have designer looking belt buckles with hidden blades that pull out. If they wand you, they will think it is the buckle. It shouldn’t read though as the blade is ceramic. The buckle is brass. The metal cigarette carrying case combines with the zippo lighter will form a carbon composite gun that will hold 2 bullets. On your keychain is what looks like a small push button flashlight that doubles as a taser. Two extra bullets are hidden in the tech logo looking keychain. A steel cylinder hidden inside the beer can keychain can hold your choice of sleeping agent, acid, or pepper spray. Just press the top connector piece downwards. It has a little push button lock so it doesn’t work till you want it to. These are all items that can be carried in a jacket or pants pocket that can be quickly removed before stepping through the metal detector. Your wrist watches hold the circuitry for new encrypted closed team communication devices. The cuff links and tie bars hide tiny cameras and scanners. Ladies your communication circuitry is hidden in your necklaces. The matching bracelets have a small camera eye and scanner.”

Samantha paused to explain how the new communication devices worked to everyone. “The new communication devices are based on older cellar technology that was abandoned at the time because we didn’t have the technology to make it smaller and lighter. Now we do. I custom built the circuit boards and tuned them using circuitry embedded into a grown crystalline matrix for stability. The signal is run through an encryption filter and decrypted by the devices. The devices together create a closed network that only communicates with each other. It is experimental at this time but if it field tests well, we will be updating all Raven’s communication equipment. The devices will read as active electronics and put out an EM field which can be read by Pavel’s scanners. For this reason, there is an off and on switch embedded into them. Press the set button on your watches gentleman to turn them off and on. Ladies press the gemstone centerpiece down to turn yours off and on.”

She pulled out a pair of the newly developed earbuds. “The new earbuds work in conjunction with the circuitry devices and are smaller and more comfortable to wear. They are hard to see visually as they sit further into the ear canal. They allow you to hear everything else going on around you as well. I had to get creative with the microphones. They are tiny and printed into a silicone based sticker that should disappear on your skin and blend in. I suggest putting it somewhere on your throat or chest to pick up your voice. To send a nonverbal acknowledgement simply tap the microphone and it will send a beep.”

"I also have some miscellaneous stuff if anyone is interested. Pens that can be planted which contain hidden microphones and transmitters. Pens that have retinal scanners and dna collection devices built in. I have contact lenses that can change eye colors and provide a retina scan different to your own. Tie bars that hide a usb style connector and encrypted data link that is plug and play. It will allow remote access to the system using that device." She waved her hands out to indicate they were empty. "That's all I had time for." Samantha felt a deep satisfaction as she looked out at all of them. “Any questions?”