Samantha Dalton Callsign: Chaos
17:30 Local Time - The infirmary
Samantha had been nervous facing Freya. She was used to operating alone and not having friends. Having friends and people who depended on her was something she was still getting used to as she got used to Raven. It was probably a big part of why she was so protective of Skye and Freya and so defensive about her decisions. Samantha had not exactly been avoiding Freya but she had been nervous about how she would feel about what had happened when they landed. She knew that Freya understood that Skye had made her decision and why Samantha had supported that decision. They had talked on the plane. Sam was grateful that Ebrima had suggested that they bring her some food.
A bribe wouldn’t hurt, right? For a giant, Freya looked wan and pale. There was almost a fragility to her along with a sense of enduring strength. She knew her giant friend had been going through a lot of pain. They were keeping her on a drip to accommodate her physiology and metabolism. She looked to be resting when they came in. Sam was almost sorry they woke her up. Relief floods through her as Freya greets her warmly with a smile. Samantha relaxed as she felt Freya arms fold around her in a hug. Samantha squeezes her gently in return.
She gives Freya a stern look as she begins taking the blame for her injuries.
“Hey no one gets to talk about my friend that way. Not even you! I agree that you have a bodacious butt though.” She smiles playfully at Freya for a minute before allowing her face to fall into more neutral lines.
“Seriously, you did it to save us all. I have some ideas on ways I can improve your armor so you can’t injure yourself like this again. We will talk when I get back from this next op.” She gave her hand a light squeeze so she could pull her table and the food closer so she could eat.
Samantha bit her lip and looked down as Freya addressed her yelling at her sister. She looked up to meet Freya’s eyes with a sheepish look on her face.
“I already apologized to her and she didn’t flatten me into bug paste. I appear to have been forgiven. We will make it work. You just focus on healing. You take your time and do it right yeah?” She gave Freya a stern look.
“I have your siblings for back up. Honestly I feel like the midget in the giant brigade at the moment.” She gave Freya a rueful smile. She chuckled as Freya thanked her for the food.
“I can’t take all the credit. It was Ebrima’s idea to bring you the food.” She chuckled a little as Freya’s stomach growled.
“Rest, good food, and listen to the doctors. They will get you back on your feet before you know it.” She tilted her head to one side and tried to decide how to answer Freya’s question of where they were going next. Samantha had seen the intel. She had a good idea where the team was going next but it hadn’t been announced yet.
“Adam has not given any official orders. Based on the intel I have been looking at, my guess is somewhere in the Middle East.” She looked at her friend and gave her a warm smile.
“Enjoy your dinner. We have a briefing to get too. I will visit again as soon as I can, okay? You rest and get well. I will cover the team’s back on this one. It is my turn.” She gives Freya what she hopes is a confident smile. She then makes her way to the briefing room.
Souk Semmarine, Marrakesh, Morocco
Samantha sat with Purna in the little tea shop. They were drinking mint tea and seeking a respite from the sun and never ending heat. The streets that made up the maze like bazaar seemed to hold onto the heat like an oven. The warm breeze was almost non existent blocked by the buildings that lined the ancient marketplace. Samantha’s gray eyes picked up the color of the turquoise scarf and made her look even more exotic. Her face covering pulled down below her chin so that she could sip her tea. The little shop felt like an oasis of calm in the busy noisy marketplace. Sam’s eyes had taken in the interior with ease in a single glance when they entered. She had only spotted locals inside. None of the patrons had the bearing of a skilled soldier or cop. Samantha had been taught how to look for body language and posture that could give away a skilled operative or a person who had combat training. The patrons seemed to be shopkeepers and locals at the market for their own purposes.
Samantha smiled at Purna as he shared what would sound like a natural conversation to anyone paying attention to them.
“It is lovely, Uncle. It is a bit sweet for my tastes as well.” She saluted him with her cup even as she replied in softly spoken Arabic. She kept to her role as the niece of a local shopkeeper helping her uncle with a market day. Samantha had watched careful for any signs of a tail or that they had drawn any attention at all. They had been accepted as one of the locals and blended right in. She had traded some common well wishes and greetings with other locals. The kind that they might offer a common acquaintance or someone they thought they knew. No one had batted an eye. She had trailed behind Purna at a respectful distance protruding a respectful and dutiful demeanor. Purna had played his part to perfection, acting the protective uncle to a favored niece. She nodded dutifully as he said it was time to leave.
“Yes uncle.” She gave him a respectful nod as she answered in softly spoken Arabic even as her eyes twinkled mischievously. She rose to her feet and followed Purna out of the tea shop. She stayed a step behind him to his left. She didn’t want to be in the way of his weapon if he needed to draw it. She walked close enough to hear him.
Samantha listened to Purna describe his home.
“I will have to visit your home at some point. It sounds like a fascinating place. I would love to see the history that I am sure is still evident in the culture there.” Samantha’s eyes followed the action as tourists were stopped by local military and police. Sam and Purna passed unmolested. She raised an eyebrow as she noted the t-intersection where so many of the tourists were being stopped. A gateway to other activities in the market perhaps? She casually stumbled and caught herself along the wall with a hand as she slapped one of her disposable cameras into place. She wanted to keep an eye on what was happening at that intersection.
Samantha paid attention as Purna went over the plan once more. Samantha was fine with this plan. Her skills were going to come in very useful for this op. She was glad to be paired with Purna for this operation. This kind of operation was more in her wheelhouse than attacking facilities. She was used to subterfuge and stealth to find the information she needed. She softly answered Purna again in Arabic in case anyone was listening. She wanted him to know she had heard him.
“Understood.” Samantha moved easily at Purna’s side as he held her hand. A way to signal to local men that she was under his protection as a family member. She understood that he was playing the part and this was expected in this part of the world. She kept a pleasant look on her face as she pretended to adjust her pack just like a native woman would if the load shifted. It added to their story. No one had tried to stop them or even sell them anything. The hawkers in the marketplace could be downright aggressive and were with tourists. Their cover as locals was holding up as they made their way through the Souk. Samantha easily picked out the armed men that were local military or police. The closer they got to the garden the more nefarious types of armed men began to show up. They appeared to be local muscle for the differing criminal elements around. She noticed the local military and police here didn’t seem to notice them at all. She did notice that tourists seemed to be stopped more frequently the closer they got to their target destination.
They approached the entrance to the La Jardin Villeneuve. What she could see of it through the opening was beautiful. There was a heavy presence of Morrocan Army soldiers at the entrance to the garden. Tall stone walls surrounded the garden. Across the streets surrounding the garden were buildings and shops in varying heights. There were tight alleyways between some of these buildings leading to inner courtyards behind shop fronts or residences for shop owners. Purna pulled her into one of these alleyways as if it was his shop. Confidence could sell that you belonged in a location. They went far enough down the alleyway to be out of sight.
Purna began to pull out his equipment. They were splitting up from here. She nodded as untied the fake cloth that covered her tactical pack. She unzipped it and began to pass him some equipment as she began to explain how to use it.
“Wait, I have some gear for you. These are disposable button cameras. Just peel and stick and push once to activate.” She passed him a set of 10 cameras.
“I will be able to watch their feeds and have my AI monitor them.” She passed him a small zipper pouch of buttons.
“These can help disable cameras and electronic locks. Peel and stick. Press and count to five. It will deliver a small electrical charge that can short out electronics such as cameras, motion detectors, and electronic locks. They might also work on auto turrets that require motion detectors. It can prevent the lock from opening after being disabled. So use it carefully.” She dug back into her pack and pulled out one of the perfume bottles of knockout drops.
“Spray in their face and it will put someone to sleep in a hurry. It's the same stuff as in the grenades but in a container for one on one use.” She gave him a grin as she watched him put it all away on his person.
Purna gave her a hug and she returned it.
“Don’t worry. I will get in easily. I got your back. Be careful in there.” She released him and watched as he went forward and took off through the shop they had been next to.
Samantha put her pack back on and secured her look as a local woman once more. She walked out of the alley and passed the barrier in front of the garden. She deliberately walked past the guards and turned down the side of the garden. She grinned when she found what she was looking for. She turned down the alleyway next to a tall two story brick and clay building. The building had a flat roof with a terrace on top. The entrance to the terrace was from stairs from an interior courtyard that was hidden from the garden side of the marketplace. The shops all backed up together to create interior courtyards for the shopkeepers who lived above their shops. These interior courtyards became a communal outdoor living space for those who lived in that block of shops.
Samantha grinned as she ran and jumped up and bounced from wall to wall pushing up and over until she had landed on the rooftop terrace. She reached through the slit in her robe and began to slap button cameras along the edge of the roofline to give her a view of the street below. She then began to run and jump onto the next roof. She slapped cameras along the edge of the roof as she went. She went as far as she could before she ran out of rooftops that could take her weight. She knew if she landed on that tin roof she would fall through it. She accepted it. It was too far for her to jump across. She would have to get down and scale back up.
She climbed down and came out of the alleyway walking as if she had every right to be there. She had noticed there seemed to be fewer locals this close to the garden. She didn’t draw any undue attention. She made sure her face covering was on. All that was visible was a thin slit with her eyes showing. She walked to the far corner of the garden where the residence was. She quickly scaled the old wall. There was plenty of handholds for her. The wall was wide enough to walk on. She ran down the wall headed to the residence roof. She didn’t want to get spotted up here. She was fast. She thought for sure the guards below her would have spotted her. They had been looking the other way smoking.
She jumped over to the residence roof. She slapped a few cameras up as she climbed over the wall that separated the garden wall from the residence balcony. She ducked down below the balcony wall. She crouched low with her back to the wall. She pulled off the cloth and her tactical backpack. She pulled on her gloves and pulled off the turban. She pulled on her helmet. She rested back on her heels in a position she could move in a hurry if she needed too.
She was just getting started when she heard Purna tell her.
"Inside, Chaos. We have a lot of hostiles here. Be careful."Samantha kept her voice low so she wouldn’t reveal his position.
“Chaos in position. Beginning electronic countermeasures.” She wanted him to know in case she kicked the hornet’s nest. She settled into the zone.
“Bob begin scanning for accessible computer systems and signals. Deploying mini drone.” She touched her necklace and deployed the minidrone built into it. She began to scan the skies around the garden. She was surprised she had not been caught yet. She looked around and began to scan for drones. She laughed a little as she spotted them. No wonder she had not been spotted. The drones were hovering over the open main entrance that had all the soldiers and barricades. The other drone was hovering in front of the residence but had cameras that were stationary pointing down. They would have spotted her if the drone had been higher but it was just below the roofline. It was below where she had come in from. If they had another drone, she had not spotted it yet.
Bob reported back within moments.
“Encrypted Wifi signal coming from the residence. Cellular wifi signals coming from multiple directions. Some are encrypted, some are not.” Samantha thought about that. It made sense a great deal of the merchants probably had cellular wifi for their businesses to take card transactions.
“Disregard cellular signals and focus on the encrypted wifi signal from the residence. Show me the camera feeds.” For the first time since she slapped up some of the cameras she could see what they were capturing. The best ones were the ones she had just planted on the residence facing the main gate where all the soldiers were.
“Bob monitor camera feeds and notify me of soldier movements at the main gate.” Samantha settled into work. She activated her haptic gloves so she could interface with her laptop and went to work trying to gain access to the systems remotely. Who knew she might get lucky. She was ready to announce she was here just yet. She wanted to give Purna a chance to get in deeper before she let them know they were here. She sneered as a short time later she had managed to infiltrate the residence wifi. She had gained access to their network. Within moments she had managed to take control of the drones. She left them hovering but had lopped the camera feeds. She doubted the operators were skilled enough to pick up on that though. She began to have Bob go after the databases and download as much as he could.
“Bob scan active cameras using facial recognition. Notify if any high value targets show up.” She keyed her comms and reported in.
“Chaos controls the airwaves.” 
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