[IC] The Depths of Deception

[Leon5431]

Agent Telmeck Rorta...yeah still going to have to get used to that. Telmeck thought as he stretched his arms, one over the other stretching his muscles after the morning routine he had just finished. About half way through he had received the scheduled alert for the meeting with the reps. He had dismissed the alert and went through finishing the rest of his workout, which was rather simple, primarily focused on cardio, it wasn't a way to grow stronger it was just a way to keep fit and sometimes to help wake up. Unlike the other mornings here, this time he was not alone. The Masulu, Shuo was in the gym as well, doing an exercise of his own. Telmeck made no attempt to open up conversation with him, instead just nodding his head in greeting as they made eye contact. The two continued their routines until Shuo finished, having started his before Telmeck and took his leave. Somewhere close to twenty minutes after Telmeck finished his own workout and prepared to take his leave

Telmeck scanned over the gym making sure he hadn't left anything out of place before he made his way to the exit of the gym. Once out he proceeded to take the stairs down to the floor their suites were one, as he did, he gave himself a chance to let his mind drift back to the past two days. His mornings had been mostly the same, he would wake up quite early, eat a breakfast, then go for his morning workout. Often times he would be one of the first up and would leave only to return by the time most of the others were awake. The first day he had a few thing to deal with regarding his recent promotion which had him back and forth between here and the Rothian military district, which left him little time to chat with his new teammates. The second day was much more calm, though still, aside from Rareth, he barely shared more then casual a greeting or short conversation with some of the other members. There were some familiar faces from the last mission like the human, Ashley and of course Rareth.

It was odd getting used to calling these new-faces teammates. For years he was with his scout squad, they had all grown so close that they were practically family. A fact which only served to make this switch to a new squad even odder. He wasn't upset about the switch, it was just different then what he was used to and was certainly going to take time before he was entirely comfortable with them. He was a little annoyed with himself that he hadn't taken more time to get to know them, but went with the thought What's done is done, now it's a matter of finding the time to make friends with them instead.]

As he continued down the last few stairs he spared himself a glance to his wrist computer. He would have liked to have been able to inform Terra and the others about the promotion he had received, if they didn't already know, but apparently, they had been called out on a mission head of schedule and he likely wouldn't be able to talk to them for some time. Those assholes better not get themselves into trouble. I'll never let them live it down. He thought to himself before he reached his floor.

He stepped into the hallway and made his way down to his suite. The door slid open at his arrival and he was immediately greeted with the sounds of laughter from the kitchen. He smiled to himself as he heard it, "Well i'm glad to see everyone is getting along." He said silently to himself before stepping into the suite, the door sliding shut behind him. By the sound of the voices it seemed Rareth, Shiva and Shuo were talking in the kitchen. By the time he reached the main room he had been greeted by something else, a mixture of smells from the kitchen, one of the smells was rather appealing and was much stronger then the other, while the other was much more unappealing, whatever it was it had been cooking recently and was yet to be completely gone. Choosing not to interrupt their conversation Telmeck continued past until he reached his room stepping in as the door slid open at his presence. As the door slid shut he thought about how he should have said something to announce that he had arrived, but just shrugged the thought away.

Telmeck slipped out of his workout clothes and pulled his military uniform from it's place in one of his drawers, setting it out on the dresser. "Should probably clean myself before I dress, especially if it's a meeting with some politicians.[/I] He thought to himself as he stepped out of his room clothes-less. Still he could hear the voices from the kitchen but he still payed no mind, he made his way to the bathroom where their shower was, stepping in and not caring to put a lock on the door, it wasn't like he had to worry about being indecent. He stepped up to the shower and fiddled with the temperature, setting it to a rather hot temperature before he stepped in. The water heated up almost instantly and soon there was a fair amount of steam filling the room. It didn't take much to clean himself the majority of the time was just him enjoying the heat from the water. By the time his shower was finished and he was completely dry the laughter had subsided to small talk shared by the inhabitants of the suite.

Telmeck stepped out and made his way to his room, saying hello and nodding his head in greeting to whomever's gaze turned his way. When he reached his room he stepped in and began getting dressed slipping into his military uniform and replacing his wrist computer on his left arm. As Telmeck dressed, he let his mind wander to this squad. It was quite an odd bunch they had gathered together, from a variety of backgrounds and personalities, there was no way of telling how well they would match and work together. But certainly he saw some chances for tension, humans and Sovereignty tended not to mix very well especially if either of the two knew how to hold a grudge.

Telmeck fiddled with the marks and awards on his uniform as he spaced out only coming back to reality when his eyes passed over his wrist computer and he saw the time for the meeting was drawing near. He stepped out into the now empty and silent suite, which was only offset by his own presence and the sound of the door sliding closed behind him. "Time to appease the politicians." He sighed to himself as he made his way out of the suite and into the common area where the others were already mostly gathered. The door opened just in time for him to hear Shiva pose her question as to how the morning has been in everyone's suite. Seeing as the question was directed to the people from the other suites he elected not to answer, even if his morning had been spent out of his own. Telmeck stepped over next to Rareth and spoke up as he did, "Sorry i'm late, hope I didn't miss too much of the fun." He said a little sarcastically as an aside to her alone.

[EliteCommander]

Rareth gave a bit of a chuckle to Telmeck. "Eh, you didn't really. We've mostly just been complaining about politicians, which is especially awkward, since my duties make me a politician half the time. Though, I guess most politicians don't have cause to behead people on a semi-regular basis. Well, maybe politicians in the Sovereignty, but I digress." She joked to Telmeck.

One by one, each member of the team arrived in the common area until they were all present. Quite pleasantly, they were all at least mostly sober, so they could maintain a sense of professionalism. The group headed down the elevator to a floor near the bottom of the tower. The very moment they stepped out of the elevator, a receptionist shepherded them into what looked like an empty board room. One wall consisted entirely of windows, while the others were completely white and featureless. There was a single, large table with enough seating for over a dozen people with chairs that were designed to be adjustable for any species. They were a few minutes early, so the receptionist instructed them to take their seats and wait for the representatives to arrive, though they did not need to wait long. On the very minute the meeting was set to begin, the four representatives entered the room and took their seats. There was a dark-skinned Human female, a Tempu woman with obvious tech implants in her eyes and on her hands, a Masulu male in a military dress uniform, and a Rothian male who caused Rareth's eyes to widen when she saw him, for he was someone she knew well. It was Ghirn'Lors, her immediate superior in the Rahn'Masser. Rareth knew his job involved politics, but she could not fathom why he would suddenly be representing the Rothians in the Assembly. It did not seem to make sense for him. Nevertheless, she was sure she would learn in time. For now, there was the matter at hand to attend to.

As each of the representatives sat down, they activated holographic screens that hovered in front of them that they could use to display information pertinent to the meeting. With a single touch, Ghirn moved his display to the side so he could address the group. "Greetings, everyone. I am sure you all know why you are here, but just in case, this meeting is in regards to a join-species initiative, one you have all been selected to be a part of. From what I have been told, you have all had a few days to become acquainted, so do any of you have questions before we begin?"

[Leon5431]

Telmeck smiled and laughed at Rareth's comment, "That's good and maybe we could skip on letting the others know about that politician bit. They may end up getting the wrong idea, though, I am sure they will love the whole beheading part, you should focus on that one." He joked back with a cheeky smile.

Eventually the whole group arrived in the common room, they were quite an odd bunch with a varied type of personalities, skills and backgrounds. A good amount seemed military, others seemed to be mercenaries, one or two even still stood out from those two groups looking almost civilian. It's going to be interesting getting to know all of these people, even more so finding out which of them are trustworthy. He thought to himself as his eyes unintentionally skimmed over the two Sovereignty members.

Eventually the group began to shuffle into the lift and made their way down to the floor the meeting was to take place on. The elevator was rather silent, aside from a few people who were making conversation, the air became warm with everyone so pressed together and Telmeck couldn't help but feel bad for any who were claustrophobic. Finally the melodic ring signaled their arrival to the floor, some tension cloud be felt in the air as the doors slowly slid open. Some of the members were made less then comfortable by the idea of meeting with some representatives, which was understandable, politicians had a talent of making you feel as though you did something wrong even when you hadn't.

The group made their way out of the elevator and was led to the meeting room by a receptionist. The rooms bland features did little to provide anything close to a welcoming feeling instead in just seemed to add to the mono-toned serious nature of this building. If only we were meeting with some generals or something, they are so much more predictable, politicians are just, sneaky, feels like they are always up to something or trying to get you to let loose some secrets you have hidden away. Telmeck thought to himself as he admired the view from the large windowed wall.

As the clock struck the time for the meeting to begin the politicians made their entrance almost in perfect sync with the clock. Creepy Telmeck joked to himself as they did. Each one of them took their seats and as they did Telmeck looked over each of them, the female human, the Tempu woman, a Masulu male and a male Rothian. As they all got into their seats each one activated their own personal holographic screen. It was the Rothian rep to first speak, moving his screen to the side before addressing them. He listened as the representative spoke and asked if they had any questions. Telmeck himself had nothing he wanted to ask, at least, nothing that he was sure wouldn't be answered shortly, so he took the chance to gaze around the room to the members of his new squad to see if they had anything to ask.

[Lightbox]

After the politicians asked if there were any questions august cleared his throat and took a step forward "Uhm yeah hi, i have a question. Whats the pay like for this team? I mean i know it is an honour to serve on a new assembly initiative however i know of course some of us rely on missions and contracts to make ends meet, whether for ourselves or even if there are any of us who financially support our families, and since we wont really be able to take new contracts while working for this team i would assume there will be some sort of pay?"

[Muttonhawk]

Shiva had hoped to get in some more small talk before the meeting, hoping to get a better angle on the third rothian in their team, Telmeck. He too didn't engage them much, but that was because he simply didn't seem to be around as frequently. Unfortunately, time had already seemed to whip by and an official came to escort them all.

The entire group was brought to a large board room. It wasn't quite as extravagant as other rooms in the building, but it was still squeaky clean. It had a nice view as well. Shiva picked a seat without much heed, as they were all pretty similar. Once she worked out how the adjustment levers worked, she was able to sit comfortably. By coincidence, as soon as Shiva had set her chair to a comfortable configuration, the group was joined by four more individuals. Shiva didn't immediately recognise any of them, but they had an air of importance about them. The sovereignty suits among the four were very high ranking, Shiva could tell that much. They too had dress uniforms on. Damn.

...Actually, the faces of the tempu and masulu were somewhat familiar, but Shiva couldn't exactly place where she had seen them before. Were they ambassadors, or representatives, or something? Some sort of minister or chief of something or another. Shiva knew she had seen them both making public statements in the news before.

August, being a mercenary, was the first to ask about pay. Shiva's inner Sovereign citizen gave a slight cringe to this, but she understood that it was a livelihood they followed. It wasn't as if Shiva had ever known what it was like to own property. Everything she had, save for a few trinkets, were Sovereignty property. The only money she was ever given was a capped allowance, restricted to an upper limit. She was a convict, not an employee. It would be nice if a perk of this assignment included a real salary, but she doubted that the Sovereignty would have glossed over that.

As for any questions Shiva wanted to ask, she opted to wait until after the briefing. She expected most of the information she wanted would be given before her asking anyway.

[Kyelin]

A loud pinging resounded through the still morning air, prompting the agent to look down at his TAC pad on his wrist... A notification, that the briefing was about to begin, and that he should report to the board room immediately. A contented, raspy sigh escaped his suit, as Opus began to walk hurriedly through the garden and return to the Concord. Finally, after all this waiting, they were about to begin. For him, it couldn't have been sooner.

---

After a brisk walk through the various winding corridors and office hallways, he finally arrived at the briefing, just as what he assumed to be the main backers of the initiative, addressed the group and asked for any questions to be known. Opus heard mention of pay, and curiously looked over at them. Where they actually making money off this deployment? He honestly knew nothing about it, he didn't know much about the Assembly task force at all. Standing towards the back, the agent crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, eager to learn just what all of this was about. He only knew that his was going to be an interesting next couple of months, or even years.

[EliteCommander]

Despite the blunt nature of August's question, Ghirn answered without skipping a beat. "Payment for most of you is being handled by the governments who sent you, and will most likely be the standard of whatever your government pays. For those of you who are independent contractors, the payment you have agreed to is outlined in these contracts...here"

With the press of a button, Ghirn activated holographic displays in front of every member of the team, each one of which displayed a contract drafted specifically for the person it was being presented to. "These contracts outline the terms and conditions of your service to the Assembly in this endeavor. For most of you, it essentially boils down to a simple non-disclosure agreement, though as I said, if you are a contractor, i also outlines your pay. You may examine it if you like, but we cannot continue until everyone here has signed the agreement. If you do not like the terms, you may leave now. Be aware that, after signing this agreement, if you reveal any classified information you learn during this mission, the Assembly will have the authority to detain and imprison you."

Rareth was no stranger to these agreements, so she wasted no time in signing her NDA. The holographic display was able to take her biometric readings for identification, meaning all she had to do was to give her thumbprint. As she was no mercenary, her pay was taken care of by the Rahn'Masser, and was no different from her normal salary. The wording on the mercenaries' payment contract was actually a bit complicated, but if they performed well, they could stand to make half a million credits for a year's contract.

[baskets]

Coin followed the group into the meeting room, trying to make herself as small and unnoticeable as possible. She was relatively comfortable with Bit and August, but beyond that, much of the group was still an unknown to her. She took an open seat, keeping her limbs as close to her chest as she possibly could. She pressed her back into the seat, and brought her feet up to the seat of the chair, holding her knees at chest level. The few seconds she waited before the representatives walked in felt like years.

As the representatives filed in, Coin felt the unavoidable feeling that she should probably already know who the human representative was, at the very least. Did Coin salute? Did she just wave? Did she just continue sitting, balled up in her chair? Coin wasn't sure, so she stayed put, for the moment.

Then August asked about pay, and Coin wanted both to hide her face in embarrassment and reach over and slap August. His tact was poor and he gave off a pretty horrible first impression. Not the best way to start off this inter-species team dynamic. At least the Rothian reacted well enough. Coin sighed inwardly.

As soon as the non-disclosure agreements were brought up on the displays, Coin began skimming the contract and gave her thumbprint without any second thought. She was, after all, assigned to this team by her commanding officers, so it wasn't like she'd have much choice anyways. As soon as the display accepted her thumbprint, Coin brought her hands back to her knees, pressing them to her chest tightly.

[Balmung1100]

Bit sighed as the pay was explained.

"So I get jack shit as always." He murmered to himself before giving his thumbprint. "At least this includes a change of scenery."

He scratched the scar on his head carelessly and traced it down to his prosthetic eye. Politicians caused that injury, a standard double cross that Special Operations members had practically grown accustomed to. He never really expected that councilman's young child to pull a gun on his squad, let alone fire without hesitation.

He quickly snapped himself out of his memories and reclined in his seat.

[Hailfire]

Ashley perked up in her seat as the issue of pay arose and leant forwards as she paid intense attention to the answer, surprised at the bluntness with which August had bought up the issue but relieved it hadn't had to be her asking. Ultimately this was the make or break question for Ashley as, whilst a relief from the solitude of the mercenary life would be welcome and Ashley already had people she considered friends on the task force, if she felt she could earn better elsewhere she'd turn her attentions there. Ashley rolled her eyes behind her aviators and sighed as it turned out Ghim could not directly answer the question but turned the aforementioned eyes to the contract skim reading it for keywords like "payment" and "credits". Her eyes widened as she saw the potential figures and she immediately signed contract. She'd need to ask about expenses at some point, particularly if her services were required as a pilot, but having seen the reactions of some of the others when August had asked his question Ashley had no desire to be "that girl" and kept her mouth shut for now, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the briefing to begin and smiling at some of the others present from behind her shades.

[Lightbox]

August took his time reading over the contract, he felt like he could practically hear eye rolling going on behind him due to his question about pay but for him it was second nature to know what you were going to get out of a mission, especially one where noone would tell you what the fucking mission would actually entail. His eyes slowly scanned the contract looking for anything he could see to give him an insight to the mission and any smallprint which could crop up and make things difficult later down the line. Most the contract was your standard bullshit terms and conditions though as the ghirn fellow had said it was mostly a non disclosure sort of thing.

Everyone else had pretty much signed and was waiting impatiently by the time August finished reading, he hated going into a job without knowing what he'd be getting himself into it made it incredibly difficult to plan for it. He then sighed as he signed the contract, he just hoped the pay would be worth it...

[cqbexpt]

After they filed into the room and took seats he noticed everyone assume varying degrees of laxness among the group. Some straight up acted like they would much rather be anywhere but here and a few acted like it was nothing new. For Shuo he simply leaned back in the chair and waited for the actual briefing to begin. He was rather ready to head out again. After the politicians he assumed moved into the room Shuo was met with relief that he would get back to the action this much sooner. As they sat down and began with the Non disclosure agreements Shuo listened closely. When the mercenary asked for his pay out right Shuo's mouth contorted into disgust."These mercenaries were not much better than rebels." Shuo thought.

His inner citizen was outright appalled by the question. Though Shuo managed to regain his composure rather quickly the thought had still slipped into control of his body. While he harbored no grudge against humans in particular he hated their use of outside soldiers. No authority that had the right to rule should have to rely on them. Turning back to his pad he quickly skim read the disclosure. For the most part it was standard fair and like other things he had signed before. He quickly allowed it to take his DNA sample and prints. After the message faded and thanked him for his cooperation he leaned back in his chair waiting for the important part that was to come.

[Muttonhawk]

Shiva took her time reading the contract through. Even though she skipped the pieces she recognised as irrelevant or redundant, there was still plenty there. After about half a minute, she still felt a little self conscious holding up the rest of the meeting. It was her right and her obligation to look through it all, though. It was at least a tedious comfort to find that legalese wasn't too different on Pax from any other documents she had read.

During the parts about non-disclosure, Shiva's mind was cast back to the two 10th eschelons that gave Shuo and herself orders in regards to it. She twisted her mouth and hoped that she wouldn't have to turn her back on this initiative at some point. This was the first squad in that she was actually getting along with, and the living conditions were much better. On the other hand, if she was caught betraying the Sovereignty, it would be just the excuse they needed to take her head.

Nearing the end, Shiva sighed quietly about the payment clauses for her. The Sovereignty had of course stopped any chances of her earning credits, as predicted. Everything else was reasonable enough as far as she could see. Without any more reluctance, she pressed a thumb against the scanner to sign the contract.

[EliteCommander]

The representatives waited patiently while each member of the team signed their contract, with each holographic screen deactivating once they submitted the form. Once every form was signed, Ghirn continued from where he left off.

"Alright, with that settled, we can move on. my name is Ghirn'Lors. The other representatives are Aminata Faye of the United Nations, and Zinzech and Beni of the Sovereignty." Ghirn introduced.

Unlike some of the other members of the team, neither of the Sovereignty representatives showed any reaction to August's question. Of course, that did not mean they did not pass judgement on him, it simply meant they were practiced enough in politics to avoid displaying their inner thoughts. Beni, the Tempu representative, took a glance at a few reports on his screen, then continued onto the subject of the meeting.

"Now, as for why you are here. The purpose of this meeting, and indeed this entire initiative, is to stop a new threat that has come to light in recent months. They are a cell of rebels, insurrectionists. Sovereignty citizens are among them, so normally, we would handle the situation promptly, but this situation is not so simple, and the Assembly has reconciled that no one government has jurisdiction here."

Aminata, the Human representative, activated a three dimensional holographic model of what appeared to be a space station in the center of the table, then proceeded with her part of the briefing. "This station was recently the target of an attack by these rebels. It is located close to the border of Rothian, Human, and Sovereignty territory, not all that far from Pax. The world it orbits is an uncolonized, terrestrial planet with a toxic atmosphere called 39048 Sarentanza. It does not yet even have a common name. The only thing of interest about the world is its high mineral wealth, which was the purpose of the station. Its inhabitants were mostly geologists and other employees of a mining corporation based out of Pax, along with their families. Now, we have reason to believe those people are being held hostage by this rebel group. The planet does not yet officially belong to any of the governments, and both the insurgents and civilians contain citizens of all of our nations, so we have come to the conclusion that it would be mutually beneficial for all involved that we all work together."

Ghirn sent each team member a copy of the intelligence on the station and the attack, which both appeared in the form of a screen in front of them. "These are the scouting reports we have on the situation. You may read over them now, and we will also make sure to forward the information to your ship before you leave. The basic plan is this: you will infiltrate the station undetected to locate the hostages. From the plans the corporation that built the station has provided, we have determined a way to jam the station's communications and sensors, so you should be able to slip in undetected. Provided most of them are still alive, there are too many hostages for you to extract alone. As such, your task will be to locate where on the station the hostages are being held. If they are smart, the rebels will be holding them in various locations across the station. We will also be sending a modest sized joint-species fleet with your team. You will relay the hostages' locations to the fleet, then signal their attack. Provided you are fast enough, you should be able to extract the hostages with minimal casualties. From there, you will then aid the assault force in recapturing the station. That is the summarized version of the plan, does anyone have any specific questions?"

[Fatal Error 1337]

Srath suppressed a smirk from sneaking onto his reptilian face at the mercenaries question and the minor reactions form the group. He didn't know exactly what the Masulu were expressing as he hadn't that much experience with thier species, though he guessed that they saw it as incredibly selfish from what he knew of their culture. This was not as true with the humans, the one who preferred to go by the name Coin flushed slightly in embarrassment while looking like she wanted to strike the effeminate mercenary. He suspect he wouldn't be able to suppress his laughter if she did. The other, Ashley, seemed very interested in the answer from the gathered officials.

When the display of the form popped upward from the table, Srath began skimming over the legal form. It seemed fairly standard except for some tighter security and non-disclosure requirements than he was used to. Once he and the others had signed theirs the briefing kicked into full swing, and Srath could hardly believe what he was hearing. It was taxing Srath's self control a great deal to keep his considerable frustration from letting any number of the accusatory statements that were piling up.

'They let them fortify themselves, because they couldn't who to send.' Srath forced himself to stop the aimless frustration from building. 'It can't be helped now, chew somebody's ear off later.' He thought, using a human expression. 'Rescue them first.'

Sath did have one question though. "What demands have they made?"

[Kyelin]

Without thinking, Opus sealed his suit tightly around his wrist, and removed his glove, revealing a heavily scarred and what appeared to be previously burnt hand. A slight humming sound emanated from the contract as his thumb was scanned, and the form was signed. The agent was beyond waiting, and had done this before a million times. Though he could understand the need for this little gesture of trust in this instance, regarding a multi species task force and four governments likely to be held liable for any screw ups. Best to not let the public know of those.

It was then that the briefing started, and Opus listened intently to every detail, watching the blueprint layout furiously for vents and crawlspaces that could allow for covert moving on the station While this was going on, a thought occurred: All this secrecy, all this preparation and red tape wrangling, to take out a terrorist outfit? He couldn't tell if the politicians heading the meeting were hiding something (you never really could with politicians in all actuality), or this was a legitimate reason to call in the big names. If there was something going on, it would be huge. Even military tacticians always end such briefings as this one with a 'need to know basis' clause.

A voice snapped him out of his train of thought, and Opus looked over to the Male Rothian, intimidating even for a lizard man. Realizing he hadn't even learnt a single member's name in the two days he was here, the agent made a mental note to get to know a few of the others, at least so he could gauge what they would do in a fight. He let him finish his question, and then moved from the wall, walking towards the schematic slowly. As Opus spoke, wisps of vapor escaped from exo vents on the sides of his helmet, and his raspy, grating voice split the air, as he waved an arm lazily at the holo, not taking his eyes of it.

"More importantly, is there any information on what kind of equipment and firepower these 'rebels' are sporting? Could they have possibly gotten into any of the station's automatic defensive and security systems as well? We may need someone technically minded to help reduce that advantage. Unless we all would enjoy dodging turret fire, on top of everything else?"

[cqbexpt]

The briefing began and as each representative took their turns talking, which was rather odd to him as it would be easier to have only one or two of them talk. Though that made him wonder if they had rehearsed the briefing before hand, just to make sure they didn't stammer into each other. But when they began asking for questions Shuo's first question was going to be loadouts but the Diphroyd managed to get to the question before him. But it did raise another question for Shuo.

"Two things I would like to know before we go in: Estimated enemy force size and what are our rules of engagement here. Do you want us to execute all the rebels or would you rather us capture them over killing?"

[EliteCommander]

Ghirn picked up after Srath's question. "That is one of the strangest parts about this incident, actually. These insurgents have made no demands, no attempts at communication despite ample opportunity. The only reason we know they are taking hostages is because one of our scouting vessels was able to remote in to some interior cameras for a while before they discovered the vulnerability and shut it down. The other half of your mission will be to uncover information about these insurgents, if at all possible. Your primary concern is of course the hostages, but anything else you learn could save lives down the road."

Pausing for a moment, Ghirn highlighted a few features on the station of interest, including automated weaponry, hangers, and various routes of travel. "As for their equipment, we do not have a great deal of information in that regard. In the video feeds we tapped into, we saw their members carrying projectile, plasma, and fusion weapons of widely diverse styles, some civilian variants, some military. Likely, they are just armed with whatever they could purchase on the black market. Of course, with the size of the illegal arms trade, that means they could be well-armed. We are assuming they have access to the automated defenses, but it should not matter. The company who built the station has fortified every backdoor they built into their systems to us. We can outfit your ship to emit a signal that will cause the station to both identify you as friendly, and to keep you hidden on their sensors. When you are inside, you are authorized to kill any and all insurgents necessary, but if you can capture any of their members, especially officers, it will be helpful in learning more about them.. There is evidence that this organization is larger than just this group. We have appropriated a ship for your use. It is in the Trer'ahn spaceport on the other side of Concord, dock 26-D. You will be leaving tomorrow; it should be ready by then. Now, i believe that is everything we have to discuss. You all may return to your apartments if you wish, or remain if you have any questions for myself or my fellow representatives."

[Muttonhawk]

Shiva leaned her arms against the table and held her hands together as she listened on with interest. So, a hostage situation followed by a sweep and clear of a space station? Seemed manageable with everyone they had, not that Shiva had an extra input, or even interest in leading the team into it. ROE was predictable. The weaponry of their enemies would probably just be something they would have to work around, the same with the hostages. What made Shiva stop to think was the fact that no demands were made. She doubted that no one else had thought about this, whether they were on the squad, or these present officials, but what would this group want?

Shiva thought that maybe they just wanted to loot the place, that these guys were affiliated with some organised crime outfit. Perhaps they wanted information, some kind of corporate espionage, or to install some kind of malware. What do a sect of rebels truly want from a mining station? Perhaps things just went wrong and now they were trapped, but they hadn't made demands for a passage of escape. Whatever they are there for, they must be still doing it. Shiva decided to discuss this with the others later. For now, she stood up, saluted, and strode out back towards the apartments. She had some preparation to do, but anyone who knew masulu expressions would have seen the puzzlement painted over her face.

[Balmung1100]

"And here I was hoping for a change of pace." Bit sulked when he heard the situation. Sure, insurgents were a bit out of the ordinary. Sure, the lack of demands and hostages weren't exactly to spec. All in all it seemed like a by the book mission with a few small hitches. With the team that had been assembled it'd probably be child's play.

"Am I the only one that feels the need to ask about supplies? If this goes south, and given the strange mannerisms of our targets it very well could, we're going to need plenty of ammo. I came here from a mission, so I'm not exactly stocked up."