FourtyTwo

Foxtrot Oscar (A less-than-serious Military RP)

This RP idea took about a few years in the making, but it's time to go do it again.

Military RPs are fun and all, but this one's something that doesn't take itself much too seriously given this squad's eccentric selections and in a near future setting (15-40 years from now- left ambigious to your imagination). Taking influence from everything from an awful lot of video games- Titanfall to MGS, COD to Arma and Bad Company among many others- with a sprinkle of a little insanity on top and a teeny bit of grounding, this RP isn't exactly focussed on absolute tactical precision nor complete fantastical elements- but the ground in between, with a mobility-classed system and characters that don't come up in most military RPs, as well as the backgrounds that don't often go into them.

Sure, there is SOME tethering to make sure you don't take the piss- but more or less, this is a bit of a extravagance. This is about having a little uniqueness with your character- and bringing something a little more exotic to the table. Yes, maybe the weaponry might be real- but there's a focus on the rule of cool, and while that some people may suggest is a downfall....if you're the sort of person who can make rule of cool stick to a wicked plot and add something via a character, count yourself in.

This RP is about having a laugh- and well, writing characters with a little comedy (however that works for your character!) helps to grease things along, because the team isn't your usual team of dry militaristic types, but charismatic, developed and cool characters. Simply put, it's a mesh of military influences infused into a much more over-the-top style. There will be ridiculous characters, and ridiculous opponents. While we are still grounded to our world, this isn't the most rooted RP. Interested? Read on.

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The Setup:

Foxtrot Oscar (FO) is a mysterious task force, working against the forces of international anarchist terrorist groups in the near future, often who are armed with quite fantastical and advanced technology- or nefarious political aims. Al-Qaeda it isn't, so in come our operatives. In a world where mechs are prototypes, exoskeletons, jump-packs, optical cloaking and various other technologies are around the corner, the tide is coming in....and FO stands in its path.

Where an SF team cannot penetrate, they come in. When a politician needs to go, they come in. When you have eight foot mechanized armored soldiers trying to breach a high-security Gulag and you need those fuckers removed, they come in. Foxtrot Oscar views the world as a little too conventional, and when things are beyond the sanity of any force on the planet, they exist just to keep things from spilling over. They're the people that stop the world ending as we know it. Problem is, they're a little dysfunctional- and well, they're not all the most....professional of soldiers. Or spies, or agents, or well, anyone who is capable of getting involved.

So, they are beyond what you would normally call a sane bunch of men and women, but are what little stands between some of the most technologically advanced and well armed forces of natures nobody even hears about on the news from making the world a miserable place. Not just "terrorists". Far more sinister forces are at work, and sending Delta Force or the SAS is no longer the solution. For an asymmetrical and superior force, you need your own mirror. But you're gonna have a band of entertaining misfits if you want the best of the best. A lot of people who don't play to the rules, or make their own. This fractuous team is Foxtrot Oscar- and you're invited for the ride.

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Background:

Not much is known about Foxtrot Oscar as an organisation- only that it has shadowy links to the previous "Team Scimitar", a prior semi-independent mercenary group that similarly fought against a range of terrorist threats and organisations.

Though since those days, plenty has evolved in terms of technology and equipment used- and the organisation appears to silently select those who it wants through a contact named "Oracle", who recruits operators on a selective basis. FO after all, is the boogeyman that spies, special forces and various government agencies can't even confirm exists.

Based out of a formerly abandoned mining facility high in the Swiss Alps, FO has access to a short runway, as well as a bunker complex built into the side of the mountain- housing a firing range, armoury, R&R facilities (including a pool, of all things!), training rooms and brefing facilities that allow it to be a home away from home- out of sight and visuals from prying eyes.

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If you're interested, click me

So Now What?

Interested then? Well, here's how it works. The RP functions around approximately six characters (can be more or less!)- and focusses upon the team having different skills and specialities, as well as entirely different approaches to combat. While there's three main classes, within those their playstyle may be completely different- and may bring a very unique ability that is class-defying. Each character can also have a path to upgrades- after each operation, they are able to use new technologies, experimentally given out to help them get a further edge.

While I'm not someone to put into place strict rules, I'd prefer two of each in each class and a male and female in each class to really help the flavour of the RP gel (we can't have all infiltrators!), as well as a bit more variety in origins- but will happily accept anyone who has an interesting idea and can make it work, irrespective. This isn't all prescriptive- they're put in as ideas and to start of the process of what the team might look like.

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"Light" or "Stealth" Characters

These characters are all relatively unarmored, unable to stand up to much in a firefight- often only coming to that as a necessity. But they have ludicrous amounts of mobility and are able to provide support and some assault help in different ways from different perspectives- they're snipers or infiltrators, hackers and parkour specialists- with these characters often being the masters of stealth thanks to their talent and optical cloaking. They're agile, often more than not to almost cat-like levels of speed, freedom of movement using various tech such as grappling hooks to wall-adhesive gloves- and capable in CQC thanks to Krav Maga or other fighting styles. They're potent at working on their own, but as a part of a wider team, add an enhanced intelligence and support function.

They often work as good hackers and sabotage experts given this, working in the shadows of the main team's work- and have the widest range of infiltration and exfiltration equipment, ranging from wingsuits to diving kit.

Five Common Talents:
-Excellent at sneaking and stealth
-High levels of agility (Parkour)
-Sabotage (Explosives, Mines)
-Hacking
-Sniping

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"Medium" or "Assault" Characters

Characters who are well armored, able to take a few rounds, but not like the "Heavy" characters- they are a comfortable in between. They form the assault element of fire- and they offer a lot of versatility through carrying a lightweight exoskeleton- using jump-packs to double jump, wall run and basically throw themselves up into positions that often none of the team could, allowing them to hammer fire from pretty much any angle using slightly heavier weapons than a typical SOF operator would use- be that LMGs, automatic shotguns, MGLs and high-capacity SMGs.

The closest comparison one can think of are the "Pilots" from the Titanfall universe- a perfect blend of fast and hard-hitting in a hot firefight. They're nowhere near as agile as the lights, but offer a lot more momentum- allowing them to flank and provide fire from any angle. They also have special abilities of their own that neither class has- be that the deployment of a personal protective bubble, heavier drone use, or anything else that pertains to the fact that they carry a bit more into the fight than a typical operator would.

Talents:
-Balanced Operative (Jack of all Trades)
-Jump-Pack based mobility
-Versatility
-Unique Abilities
-Specialist Routes Availible

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"Heavy" or "Juggernaut" Characters

These characters are giants. Literally, they're over seven foot and immensely tall, strong, and able to basically punch through anything they want. People, walls, armour, anything. And that's without their heavy armour! In their super-heavy armor clad in head to toe, are nigh on impossible to take out- which means that more often than not, they're the centre of attention, the guy or girl turning up fire to the next level, and FO has TWO OF THEM. Even up close, they're often absolute beasts in CQC without weaponry- often carrying melee weapons like an axe or a mace to club people they can't get with any of the plethora of weapons they carry. While a light might make that work through silently picking people off, a heavy will make those people shit themselves- one-on-four, you probably can't win that fight unless you're very specially skilled. After all, a heavy isn't often stupid if they've made it into FO- they're often far smarter than you think. The Mountain from Game of Thrones? Nah, this giant can do much, much more.

They use heavy weaponry and carry even more support weaponry that puts them almost on the level with a mini-mech- from miniguns to automatic grenade launchers, flamethrowers to prototype electric or laser-based weaponry, or SMGs, heavy pistols, and all sorts of exotic secondary weapons that allows them to take on a wide variety of foes- specialising in AT on top of their usual anti-personel usage. For them, might is right- and bar much, they are incredibly difficult to counter. They're killable all right, but it takes a lot more than just bullets. They do suffer from the least versatility in infiltrations and their sheer size and operations weight means that they often need special methods of insertion. No less cool, of course.

Five Talents:
-An actual bullet sponge
-Close Quarter Beasts
-Versatility in Combat
-Heavy Weaponry
-Terrifying, centre of attention, frontline operatives

Juggernauts (BigPapaBelial and kingkonrad) IC

Natalie had raised her own GAU-19, the enormous fifty-caliber minigun like Victor's Denel, something nobody should have been able to carry with the ease she seemed to show, the belt slapped into the minigun's loading feed, a polymer chain following the reciever to her black rucksack, the Russian inspecting her twin Deagles, and well, the harpoon on her arm, the thing protruding enough out of the way of her forearm to not poke anything out in a painful way, nor impale her hand if she had to fire it out. A nice thing to have indeed she chuckled, as she brushed her hair aside, following behind Victor, seeing Eric again. She was glad she was ready to go- ready to set up their grand entrance, and support their mop-up.

"Glad to hear, Osprey. Prep that zone for us, and hopefully we can all reduce the amount of time we spend freezing our asses off." Natalie remarked, looking across her flank to Victor, her fiancee all suited and booted like she was.
"You know I get so exited when I see men in uniform, right? C'mon, handsome. Let's go save the world." Natalie giggled, knowing she was just out of earshot from the other team members, giving a little eyebrows to Victor, knowing full well just how much of a tease she had to be- even in circumstances like this.

Meanwhile across the room Ross had to agree with Carl, statying shtum until the two giants and the sniper team had gone, agreeing completely with the stakes. Even in the ops they had gone on, be they Pararescue, search and destroy or out and out assaults, nothing compared to this.
"Even with those two, you're right....the scale of this is pretty insane. But we're here because they think we can crack this nut. Normal infantry might not stand a chance against the odds we're going into. So I suppose there's a specialist reason we're there." Ross added, looking across to Eric, who was getting ready to head out, on his own, into the fray.
"Shit, good to see he's back in things. You heard what happened to him?" Ross commented, Jenny looking up.
"Yeah, got stabbed pretty badly right?" She said, Ross nodding, Jenny cursing.
"You could say that. Fuckin' crazy he's going still. Looks like Blue Sword have him on a special op...good to have him back."

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Somewhere in Baffin Bay, Greenland
0249 Hours

The SDV slowly chugged through the ice-cold water, the tempurature barely above freezing and barely hospitable without a warm drysuit to keep the cold at bay. SCUBA training had been on the cards before for the Kiwi and Andrew assumed Nolan had something too, but this was a very different kettle of fish. The sea bit away even despite the layers, Andrew taking a firm breath in through his rebreather as he adjusted their course slightly, the enormous white and blue ending of the Greenland Ice Sheet and an offshoot glacier poking out into the bay that was north of Thule AFB, the ridge that was omminously over it clad with radar installations and detection equipment.

"Glacier's up ahead- satelite photos were right. We're gonna need to tail it onto there and make our way inland onto solid ground. We've got no resistance at all, bar a radar installation we're going to have to set some C4 on and I would guess, a squad full we need to cut out before we set up our post. The AAA and SAM sites are down in the valley, set up in a way that our guys won't cleanly be able to hit them with JDAMs or even hit with a proper naval bombardment. Osprey on the other hand...that Canuck is gonna raise all shit when he gets there." Andrew commented, chuckling as the SDV pulled up as the Kiwi pulled back on the controls, like an aircraft but flying through ice-cold ocean water rather than the blue skies.

Despite the darkness, the very early morning had one suprise for them still- the bright green and purple hazy lights of the Aurora Borealis lit up the sky like electricity sparking from a wire, a technicolour haze that the Kiwi couldn't help but only adore. It was a sight to behold, and while it took a fraction of their darkness away, it was rather a spectacular setting, owing to the fact it seemed particularly fitting for the operation they were on, this far north. Perhaps poetic in some sense, he chuckled to himself, the cauldron grey sea contrasting with it in a way. Mind on mission, Andrew reminded himself...

Gently raising the SDV up, they levelled out at 25m, the glacier now right in front of them as Andrew brought the craft to a halt.
"Okay, last stop, the middle of fucking nowhere. Let's go out for a swim, Nolan boy. Keep a cool head, would ya?" Andrew said, chuckling as he pulled the doors wider open, the engine now dead and the SDV now staying stationary beneath the waves. With a gentle turn, Andrew attached his flippers stashed on the side of the boat, pulling them taught around his feet on his drysuit. With a gentle push, Andrew pulled himself free from the craft, kicking upwards as he swam towards the glacier, flippers kicking hard against the water. It'd be a couple minutes swim, but they'd make it to the glacial shore in time.

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Zoe chuckled, bounding over a small patch of trees and another crevasse, watching as Val swung past her, middle finger raised, all right before her. Well, that had to be responded to...that wasn't on! Zoe pulled down on the risers, diving down and bringing it down onto the snow, flying the wing fast and turning hard to skim across the powder, kicking up a fine white spray as she whooped, pulling hard on the toggles, fully aware of where she was now relative to Val. With almost a poetic turn, she turned in the harness, almost upside down, waving two middle fingers back, burying the toggle and barrel-rolling the wing, coming down hard into the powder with a hard plonk. She was laughing too much to care, the Swiss girl barely moving but now getting underway, following behind Val on the run down, swinging by her side from time to time, just enjoying the petering out as the snow and rocks began to increase in number.

The run was beginning to run out, but there was still some fun to have- Zoe taking the chance to use her momentum to get airbourne again, right over Val and bobbing over a set of trees, bringing herself down right by Val's side, getting another shot of her Colombian partner in crime, a visible smirk on her face now they weren't barelling and thundering down the mountainside, the Moroccan pine showing signs that this wasn't the high Alps, but a mountain in North Africa, an arid and dry landscape now better visible beyond the peaks of the valley. Fast route down this had been.

Coming to a halt with a hard pizza and skid, the wing collapsed in front of Zoe as she put the brakes on, giggling with joy as she waved to Val, yelling for her to come over.
"Now wasn't that something!?" She yelled, chuckling as she pulled the wing in tight, unclipping from her skis. With a gentle patter into the powder, Zoe was running over towards Val as she misjudged the speed a little. Val was still moving a little....ahh, shit. This might hurt a little. Probably not because there's a lot of powder, Zoe realised, barely diving out of the way, going for the embrace but being comically denied and no doubt causing Val to faceplant into the snow. Well....the right intentions were had, Zoe thought to herself?
"Shit, sorry! You alright?"

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

With a gentle turn, Zoe tangented away from Val, the kick up of snow billowing over her as Val landed, the typically exitable Swiss now a little more irked by the snow kicked up, but hey, it was what she got for being in the slow lane.....so with it, she got back to Val's left, keeping out the way. The two were hurtling down, a sight to behold, ginger and yellow in a chaotic harmony, as Zoe gently pulled back on her wing's toggles. With a gentle rise, she pulled away from the slope, switching sides on Val's path, coming down on a steeper section and carving hard on the snow, using it to create momentum to come away from the slope once again and come aloft.

With a loud whoop, Zoe was back in the air again, the blonde-haired Swiss girl totally enamoured with the moment. It felt odd to her, strange even to be a jack of all trades, somewhat a master of none. Her background and her education really pointed towards her doing more than this, but well, who was she to care? She was happy, living, and completely sucked into her own momentum, something she kept up her own rate at. Val seemed to at least half tolerate her- give her shit, give her real feedback, rather than just be a flat-out hater or a kiss-ass. Val was fucking real, she thought to herself. The kind of girl who would sigh at her shitty comments, but would come along for the ride. Zoe probably should have seen that bit, but hey, it was another partner in crime for the things she got up to. And that stuck with.

Coming back down as she had gone up, Zoe hit a few berms, using the wing to amplify each and every send, travelling almost a superhuman distance if it wasn't for the fact she had a giant yellow speedwing carrying her from point to point, completely enamoured with this. The route still had a little while to go, with a few more huge crevasses coming up- this wasn't a glacial mountain, but the rock just fell away completely at points, to huge spaces that no skiier would want to go down into without something to pick them up and over.

GEARS: Silent Line - The Silver Bullet (Silverwind Blade & KingKonrad)

With that, Max pulled out as the engine rumbled into life, the dirt kicking up from the dusty track they had come down to these cliffs from the rear tyres. It wasn't a comfy ride, but this thing was meant for getting the job done, not exactly entertaining foreign dignataries Max thought to himself- and well, you got used to it after enough time driving buggies smaller like this faster over even rougher terrain. His old team had made a habit out of it- a lightweight vehicle and a GEAR made a great hunter-killer combo, allowing for speed and precision firepower to blend perfectly. Well, when you had the upper hand, it usually worked at least.

Taking a pair of sunglasses out of his uniform's chest pocket, he put them on, sighing as he leaned back in the seat, taking in the coastal road's views, winding along to a small settlement down the road, their last little resort before going back into the fray of things.
"Now this is quaint. If it wasn't so bloody fickle here, what a holiday destination this would be..." Max commented aloofly, slowing down a little on the tight bends coming into the village, gently dropping the throttle in full awareness that his CO was in the car. While Silverwind wouldn't give a shit, he felt it was half an idea not to break local laws while out on R&R, even if minor...

Pulling into the village, Max was able to find a spot to park on the main street through town, remarkably enough, a spot that had no restrictions or meters, or anything. Damn, not a half bad find. Now, just to find a place to eat....and almost as if by cue, upon getting out of the jeep, Max could already see something.
"Hmmm....that looks good. What about that cafe over there, boss?" Max asked, pointing it out across the road, the cafe having a sea-view and an area outside to eat, the place looking like it offered local delicacies from what Max could make out of the sign.

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Zoe chuckled, shrugging as she pulled the canopy taut, pulling her pink-tinted goggles down over her eyes while she did, the wind picking up and fluttering the speedwing a little.
"What, and you think this content is gonna go....downhill?" She said, shrugging her shoulders, rolling her eyes and making it almost seem like you could see through her heavily tinted goggles, her French soft and squeaky accent giving her a certain flair, as she knew that while Valentina was very blunt at times, she was a fun companion when you begun to really explore the madness that was a mountain environment.

Picking herself up proper, Zoe adjusted her ski bindings, flicking them taut and took a deep breath, looking across to Val with a giggling grin, just ready for whatever this is.
"Tell you what....race you to the bottom?" She asked, Zoe pulling the canopy tight as it inflated and begun to pick up much more air, pulling her along now, yelling back knowing she'd already gotten moving.

"You haven't got a choice in the matter, dear!" Zoe added, chuckling as she grabbed the toggles and with a swift turn, kicked up a bank of snow, leaping forward onto the powdery piste, the yellow canopy taking her aloft over a small berm, before bringing her back down with a spray of snow behind. A few big gaps were coming up, as Zoe put her foot down, storming down the mountainside, clearing the first huge crevasse with a gentle pull on the toggles, effortlessly coming away from the mountain and giving her the opportunity to spiral the canopy, going into a full barrel roll and back down into the snow below, whooping as she did. No doubt, the footage coming from this was gonna be next level- just what the Swiss girl wanted.

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Mark gave a low chuckle, looking back over to Athena over his shoulder, turning as he took the took the drive into hand, chuckling.
"Glad to hear you're enjoying this taste. Anyway, she'll co-operate with us. We always seem to find a way....in the end, it's usually quite inevitable with our operations. Aye, let's pack it all up. We just need to hold here till the local PD take these into their possession. What happens from there, I don't really give a shit- we have our copies and all we need." Mark added, putting the drive away as he shut the laptop down, sending the drive's data to his cloud-based backup now it had been swept and secured, isolated of any shut-downs or lock-outs it could have. They had no idea what they could be running- and chances were, if the Syndicate knew they were comprimised even further, their networks would already be scrambled. It left them little time to act, but Mark knew they'd get straight onto it.

Taking the laptops aside, he begun moving all the equipment into a secure set of steel hardcases, putting them inside, thinking back to Athena's earlier comments.
"So yeah, this shit runs deep. Don't get me wrong. Not every gang is in on it. Those Panamanians in Mexico? Yeah, nah, they weren't. There's a few factions and groups who aren't. But all it takes is enough people on board for them, and they'll have their monopoly pretty much. It's like McDonalds, but McMafia, if you get me. Sure, there's a Burger King or some greasy spoon on the side of the road in competition....but it ain't the big Maccies, is it?" Mark added rather poetically, knowing the allegory was poor, but it would somewhat put the point across, as he got back to her earlier point.

"As for Morocco...it's a beautiful place. They say it's the furthest east you can go while staying close to Europe. Marrakesh is a mess of bazaars, souqs and all sorts of other madness. Fits a drug dealer's boss really as a place to stay. Also fits us too, because we'll have a little more anarchy we can use up."

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Part Three: Atlas't

Somewhere on Mount Toukbal, High Atlas, Morocco

While coincidence was a fine thing, in that same early morning, the unlikely pair had made their way up Mount Toukbal, coming down off the summit after taking in the impressive views of Morocco's highest peak. The late winter had given them a good opportunity to get an awful lot of powder, this high up the mountain, and the snowline was fairly low all things considered- it was almost compeletely devoid of snow in the early autumn, so to get this was rather a boon. An African mountain wasn't exactly as wild as Alaska, or the Alps, Japan or even New Zealand or Norway, but it was a line that Zoe had wanted to do for a while, and the Francophone gal had something in mind for this little adventure, someone she just had to bring Valentina along for. The morning was pretty perfect too- a few smiges of cloud, but it was nearly completely clear, if not freezing cold. The petite girl, the Wanderlust Queen herself was wrapped up in predominantly yellow and purple, from the purple North Face beanie she had on, the warm yellow Picture Object jacket she wore, to her purple-coloured ski-pants, a look that she tried to keep the same, of course, for YouTube purposes. She shut off the MP3 in her ear, exhaling a cloudy breath of mist, taking in for a moment the splendid view as they stopped a little off the peak.

They were going to get down fast, but like all things, Zoe didn't just want to take the slow line down. The line was jagged, but nowhere near steep enough for a wingsuit jump, given how the terrain oscillated and shifted, a mass of sandstone sticking out on a spine yet falling away every so often, making it nigh impossible to ski or snowboard down....in a normal manner. For that, came speed-riding- effectively, using skis and a speedwing, or a minature paraglider wing, to effectively fly down a ski-route, and well, quite literally fly out of danger any time a drop or a jump seemed too huge. It was pretty much the quickest way down, and well, while the French Alps were a more epically scaled place to do it, it just hadn't been done here. Plus, the line looked like it had a lot of big gullies that could be cleared, which was of course, cool as hell. Fodder for the GoPros, and their YouTube galore. Perhaps that was what Zoe did think of more than anything- perhaps it was the wrong way to do things, but she didn't care. It helped her remember, and while they were trying to build something up together, it had to be said, living the moment had something to it.

Zoe looked out, the playgirl extraordinare glad to be back with Valentina, someone she had a love-hate relationship, often in the very literal sense as she sat down in the snow, adjusting her Oakley goggles, looking to the Columbian as she unfurled her own bright yellow speedwing out across the fresh powder. No sponsors...yet, she chuckled to herself, as she adjusted the Gopro on her chest, aware that for vlogging purposes, filming was almost mandatory at most given times. One forward, one at face, covered the whole self-filming shenanigans. Who needed a film crew these days?
"So, how we feeling? Val-en-tina, top of North Africa, you gonna shred it, gal?" Zoe exitedly asked, her voice bubbly and almost child-like, hoping even in this cold, she'd get something out of Zoe's stoked comment.

GEARS: Silent Line - The Silver Bullet (Silverwind Blade & KingKonrad)

Yup definitely! Lots of crazy action to come- got a reply up now.

GEARS: Silent Line - The Silver Bullet (Silverwind Blade & KingKonrad)

Max chuckled, nodding to Silver as he agreed with what he had to say. She may have been cold, calculated and ruthless in her execution of work, always obsessed with it, but deep down inside her there was someone he cared about, and vice-versa. While some friends would let him die in some hellhole, somehow Max would always guess that someone like Anna would crawl through hell to get him out, just so she could keep ripping him a new one.

That was a good friendship to have, between the both of them.
"Oh yeah....she will happily kill in cold blood, but honestly, when you figure out that all it takes to make her super exited is when she nerds out over kit like that? Yeah, it gets easier, I supppose."

Anna's wingpack disappeared into the horizon, heading back inland as Max nodded to Cat and Silver, agreeing that food sounded like a great idea right about now. Cat's teasing of Silver had gotten that out of him- he did care, on a deeper level, and it was a warm feeling to have knowing full well that there was that almost family-like aspect to them already. It was the way it was in special forces, and Max was glad it was the same here- as aloof as he could be at times, it was good to have that level of trust.

"Aye, me too, I could seriously do with some sea-food here, I bet it's delish....I mean I see food, I eat it, if you get what I mean"? Max added with a chortle, knowing full well that on this op to come going back to MREs and crappy rations was gonna be a rarity, compared to this. Heading off the beach and back up the bluffs, they were quickly able to get back to the military jeep, sitting there on the afternoon sun and awaiting their taking. Walking up, the lion looked back across to Silverwind and Catriona, the lion stretching out as he yawned a little, covering his gob as he did so before he spoke.
"There was a local village near here, can't remember the name, but they do a lot of good food. Silver, as our CO, want to take the pick?"

Burning Rubber Three (Bee and kingkonrad)

Mark got them all plugged in, making sure they weren't connected to any external network, plugging in a USB and another drive to get the hard-disks backed up on each laptop, aware it was crucial they got it before anything kicked in. Remarkably, security on both was poor, given that a standard door-kicking programme had gotten through and gotten them into both. Hearing what Athena had to say about the locations, his ears perked up, as he came over, having a look through.
"Those Serbs are probably the friends of Sobotka you uhh....dealt with. I mean, it's not just them. Serbs are just one part of that organisation. Those triads, the mafia....all of them will have friends at this table. Like the EU, the UN, big organisations like that, criminal gangs at this level realised there's no point killing each other over business like this, when it can be run reliably. It's lucrative, and better for everyone when there's one monopoly and people can predict they won't get arrested. Drug networks are like that too. Everyone wins when the supply is constant, the money is constant and regulated, and everyone does their fucking job. Which is why when we throw a spanner in the works, the whole thing gives us plenty of opportunities. Like this one." Mark commented, chuckling as he scrolled through, seeing where the network had gone.

It was almost like a full-on distribution line, with drugs being delivered into Rotterdam from Karachi, Uzbekistan and Jakarta to name a few on containers with other goods, being brought into Holland that way and then pushed out. It was like they had hitched a ride on international shipping- this wasn't some dude in a submarine trying to get drugs to Miami, this was them being involved in global trade, on a very illicit level. And to think this was only one section of their work...Mark kept looking over with Athena, aware that while they hadn't trawled everything, there was a lot of interesting stuff coming up that would get them higher up the criminal organogram.

"This is a fucking goldmine. Shit, nice work, Athena. There's a few leads, but the main one we'll want is this guy's boss. She's not someone I recognise....Ektarina Kolhakova, looks like she's in Marrakesh, she's the regional lead. Shit, this is like a fucking company. Google, eat your heart out." Mark added, chuckling as he took his drive out, aware he'd gotten the copies he neded, aware now they had a location, even vaguely, to start searching.
"I'll make some calls. This is now getting high up the foodchain, Ath. We're gonna need to try and bring her in if we want to get some real intel, and be very careful how we play it out. No doubt she won't want to go down fighting. Get this wrong, and we're back to square one. You with me on this one?"