[IC] The White Gloves

[Razqua]

Samuel Walters
Walters giggles a bit. He then responds to Van Eyck. "I think you misunderstand me Mr. Van Eyck. The boats we need are already where we need them. All I need is the funds to procure them. I can tell from that look you just gave me that you don't like me but ill tell you something. The reason I was hired was because I know what I'm doing and I know how to get results. Ill tell you what. You don't believe me? I can get get the boats myself. All I require is that I am reimbursed for my investment after Ive proven to you I can deliver what I say I can."

[c3p-0h]

Prof. Glasgow's comment caught her off guard with how… well, thoughtful it was. Then again, he might've just been annoyed with how little progress she'd made with her research. Too nervous to form a real reply, Rio just gave the older scientist a small bow.

Her attention was captured then when the colonel started talking. Rio perked up when she heard scientists had the option of going to Kenya too, but her excitement quickly deflated. She'd probably just get in the way, and get herself killed, along with countless others. With a quiet sigh, Rio resigned herself to staying at the base. That was probably the safer option for everyone involved. She looked down at her useless legs, atrophying beneath her. She listened to the various military personnel talk around her and raised a tentative hand.

"Excuse me…" she started, "do we know anything about the kaiju yet? What sort of animal it is?"

[KaijuBaragon]

Alekos registered everything he had heard. He then took out his pen and a card and begun writing on the back of it. "So, it's a predatory lake animal, that is big enough to take out an elephant." Alekos muttered to himself. "I think we're dealing with a reptile or an amphibian...." Alekos normally muttered what he was writing as he was writing it. The Kaiju couldn't be a mammal, and it wasn't a bird, or a fish. There was a possibility it could be an invertebrate, however. Alekos remembered the attack of a giant crab like creature a few weeks ago. Everyone thought it must have been a fish, as it was taking out submarines. But, if this creature in East Africa is an invertebrate, it probably wouldn't want to leave the safety of the water.

Alekos straightened his hair, and some of the wrinkles in his clothes, before standing up. He cleared his throat, and begun to speak in fluent English, but with a heavy accent.

"This situation we have developing in Kenya is deadly. We need to sort it out as quickly as we can. Through my research I have grouped every attack that we have currently recorded together, and a lot of them show similar traits. A lot of the reptilian or amphibian attacks so far have been from creatures that have appeared aquatic. For example, the salamander like creature that demolished Naha. This creature that we have in East Africa is seemingly an aquatic creature. I have made the assumption that is creature is reptilian in nature. We can see in normal nature, amphibious creatures live in both water and on land. However, a lot of these animals need air to breathe, yet without water they will die. Take the common frog. It need to come to the surface to breathe air. Yet if it is deprived of water, it dries out and dies. To cut to the point, maybe we should try stopping this creature by leading it away from the water, or possibly cutting it off from the water source. But we will need more information on this creature before we can come to a sensible and rational conclusion to the situation."

Alekos finished talking, but remained standing in case any questions were directed at him.

[FVGT]

"Hey," Gant said with a slightly irritated tone when he detected the sarcasm. "I am a warrant officer. I.... just have some.... issues with fear and anxiety. That's all." Though still somewhat irked him, Gant kept following him to the meeting room. As he walked in, fortunately, they hadn't gotten too far into the meeting. Based on the information he was hearing, this particular monster was a bit more hungry than the others he'd seen in his local deployments. Of course, this one had food than the emptier woodlands in Canada too, but still.

A lady behind him asked about what other information they had on the kaiju, and another scientist behind him gave more info on the topic. Suddenly realizing something important from that, Gant's hand shot up. In an uncharacteristically loud voice, Gant immediately followed her question with his own. "Van Eyck, sir, what kinds of prints were left behind by the kaiju on land?" Though he didn't have a full understanding of tracking, he realized that they could figure out what it looked like based on what it left behind. Whether it stood upright or was low-lying could be found out, and perhaps would give a better idea how it could be contained. Furthermore, they could find out how it moved through the water. If at all. He hoped it couldn't fly. That would be bad, based on what they were bringing with them.

[Razqua]

Gerolf Schults
Gerolf Sighed. Perhaps Walters was rubbing off on him too much. He spoke in a more serious voice as he responded to Gant as they walked into the meeting room. "I apologize for my rudeness. Ive had a stressful day. Also I feel the need to point out that I never did doubt your rank. I simply found it humorous you felt the need to state it. You see me and my comrades from Silver Talon view formal ranks as somewhat of a joke. If you'd like I could explain to you why at another time."
Gerolf took his seat. He listened to the conference and clenched his fist and ground his teeth upon hearing Walters. Not only was he insulting someone who reports to his employer but he even openly spoke about his black market contact in Africa. Silver Talon would be considered war criminals if world governments knew half of what they did and he had the audacity to practically confess to committing a crime. Schults had to bite down on his tongue to stop himself from shouting at Samuel.

[Polyphemus]

Though the situation was grave, Colonel van Eyck was pleased by the number of questions and discussion his briefing had generated. Good. The team was interested and already committing themselves to the problem. One of the scientific staff- Glasgow, was it?- was even leaving the room already, hopefully to pack a bag. That was the kind of enthusiasm he appreciated.

First things, though, he had to deal with the men and women in the room. Walters, for one. While the man's combat record was excellent, his discipline was appalling, which seemed to extend to the rest of his firm. If the man couldn't be bothered to even address him properly, what assurance did Van Eyck have that Walters would follow an order given in combat?

Still, the mercenary's offer was tempting. Granted, the boats he was pushing were probably just some rusty Vietnam-era PBRs, but it would help pad out their scanty resources. If they even existed. If Walters could come up with the crews, fuel, and ammunition for them. If the money he wanted didn't just end up in a Grand Caymans account. There were a lot of "ifs" involved when dealing with Silver Talon, it seemed. But ultimately, lives were at stake and the man was offering to help. That outweighed the alarm bells going off in his mind. "Very well, Mr. Walters. You will be paid on delivery of these craft. Not before. I do intend to deduct the price of a soldier's manual from your fee, however."

He opened his mouth to address Rio Toma, but then allowed Diakopi to answer, far better than he ever could. "Thank you for your analysis, Professor, it may give us the knowledge we need to handle this situation. Everything seems to indicate a creature that is primarily aquatic but comfortable operating outside the water for short periods. It is worth noting that one of the dead farmhands was completely bisected, almost like with a huge knife blade- something straight, not serrated or jagged like teeth would be. Possibly sharp talons, we do not know for sure. I hope that may help you form an idea of what we're up against."

"As for your question, Warrant Officer, our preliminary reports mention no prints. I will relay a request to the Kenya Police Service to send us more photographs of the scene. Alternately, we could take care to inspect it ourselves upon our arrival."

He looked around the room. "United Nations aircraft are ready and waiting to fly us out. We will be setting up our base at Entebbe Airport, outside Kampala. If there is no further business. . ."

[Razqua]

Samuel Walters
Samuel spoke up. "Actually I should probably tell you that I will not be joining you for the initial landing. In order to acquire the boats I mentioned me and one of my pilots will be flying out in my helicopter to meet my contact." Not realizing that Gerolf was in the room he continued to speak. "Please inform Gerolf Schults; One of my officers; that he will be in charge of the men until I meet you back at base."

Gerolf Schults
Gerolf was still pissed at Samuel but none the less he spoke up. "Actually sir that won't be necessary." He said addressing Samuel. He then turned to Van Eyck. "I am officer Schults." He said in his thick German accent. " Please excuse Commander Walters' behavior." Samuel seeming a bit annoyed gave Schults an angry stare. "He's simply not used to directly working with directly with military officials and as such I'm certain he simply forgot the appropriate protocol." Schults hoped that Van Eyck would buy into his bullshit even a little bit. "Walters is a great commander but his people skills could certainly use some work." He thought. He knew that Samuel and himself were going to argue about this later but it had to be done. Van Eyck couldn't be allowed to believe Silver Talon was a group of unprofessional jackasses even if it wasn't far off from the truth.