As the questions came from the team, Jamison fielded them as best she could, answering in between bites of her own meal. Meg followed along, taking in the information and listening attentively to both her team's concerns and the answers as they came.
“OK, question time to get some answers on what I asked before. Fire and communications is what I’m interested about, personally. First of the two…what’s local fire rescue look like? We at lines with buckets, a fire station, or does that local patrol do the lifting there? How do they do things as far as fire when it’s at curfew time? Is the compound fitted out with a fire detector system, carbon monoxide detectors, or what? Are any of those things connected to a box or is able to be accessed from the outside? Do they actually give a shit when those go off and, if they do, what do the guards do? Any of that known?”
Taking a breath, as well as a hearty bite from the bread, Moss continued on. “What’s communications infrastructure look like, both local and for the Order specifically? Fixed, short-range handhelds, satellite phones, what? We got any frequencies for em?”
The former CIA woman consulted the tablet that held her notes and information, checking what she had and her sharp eyes swifting scanning over the information to sum it up before she replies.
"The Order - for all their numerous and extensive faults - have done some improvement to infrastructure. Most buildings that aren't involved with their operations or local infrastructure that supports them aren't really fitted out with any kind of fire suppression or detection systems. The building inside the compound is more, mm... 'solid' and modern; it was built with modern materials and that includes smoke detectors. I haven't been able to access full building plans and documentation - unfortunately, that level of detail just... doesn't exist for the area, or is obscured or destroyed by successive government upheavals. But as far as fire-fighting goes; the local patrols and civilian volunteers are mostly responsible for their own firefighting efforts. A village this small doesn't have a dedicated fire service. Only much bigger towns or cities have anything of that kind. Fires in event of curfew rely on raising alarms locally and getting attention through more, mm, 'analog' means - waking up people, and then spreading the word through whatever local telephones there are and radio communications. Which leads neatly into your next question. Most local homes don't have hardline telephones, but businesses or municipal buildings do. There's
extremely limited cellular phone service in small villages, and it's spotty at best with no real capacity for sending say, large amounts of data or information. If people own cell phones, they're much more primitive than smartphones.
"The order's patrols use handheld, short-range radios to communicate with base-stations - such as this compound, or a vehicle - that have longer-range radios. I have limited information on their frequencies. I'll pass it over to you".
“Before we move, I want to take a look at their security system.”
“You mentioned a camera covering the side gate. Are there any other cameras indoors? Also are the cameras wired or wireless? If it's networked, I can loop or kill the feed remotely. If it’s standalone, I’ll need to be close to disable it.” She took another bite of bread, chewing thoughtfully before continuing. "Once we're inside, I'll need a minute to access whatever they have on-site. If there's a server or terminal, I can pull intel—comms, patrol routes, supply caches, maybe even Resistance contacts they're tracking."
Her dark eyes flicked to Megan, then to Jamison, gauging their responses. “Also, any idea what Adebayo’s condition is? If they’ve started interrogation, he might not be in shape to move quickly. If we need to carry him, that changes our extraction plan.” She pondered for a brief moment before continuing.
“One more thing—power supply. Any chance they’re tapped into local infrastructure, or are they running on generators? If we can cut the power at the right time, we might be able to disrupt their coordination and limit visibility.” She let her words settle among the rest of the team as she returned to her hearty stew, her mind already working through possible tech-based solutions to make their entry as seamless as possible. Every bit of intel meant one less variable, one less risk.
Jamison took a sip of her water before she replied to Sohee, speaking with clear, clipped words.
"There's a camera covering the garage, and one covering the front door internally. No other internal cameras; the building isn't intended to be open and accessible to the public, so security against
external break-ins is more the assumed issue than
internal security - it's more of an intruder alert system. The cameras are hardwired on an internal system. I don't have the full location of the system, but the security office on the lower floor seems like your best bet"
She unrolled a paper plan of the building across the table after clearing a little space, and tapped the relevant room. The building was spartan and simple in design, as the explanation had made out. The security office was a relatively small corner room off of the main L-shaped corridor that lead from the front door to the garage, and had the stars to the upper floor leading off. The other ground floor rooms included a store room, an interview room, three small holding rooms off of their own small corridor, a locker room/ready room and of course the garage itself with an attached small storeroom. The upper floor comprised of a small lounge with an attached kitchenette, bathrooms, and an office.
Jamisons slim finger tapped an outbuilding shown on the ground floor plan. "This outbuilding inside the wall houses the power supply. The compound has its own generator. Only a small unit, just enough to provide power for the compound. The rest of the village has its own domestic supply, though street lighting while it exists is sparse".
She pursed her lips into a tight line as Adebayo's condition was mentioned, shaking her head.
"I can't confirm his exact condition. We know he's alive, and he was injured while being apprehended; several abrasions and a minor, if messy, head-wound. While I can't give any more firm intel than that on his condition, I'd plan for him to have suffered more".
"How're we handling surrenders?" she asked, adding to the barrage of questions. "Are we turning anyone who gives up over to the resistance, or are they being shipped Stateside?"
"We don't have the resources or infrastructure in place - yet - to detain and ship out every hostile that might surrender. Cuff them and leave them if they do surrender to you. If the resistance are operating with you, let them handle it. We do have HVT's that we'll be looking for - but none of them are going to be in this little compound in a village."
Megan chimed in to add her words.
"I appreciate the concern for surrenders - but this is a military outfit and operation; not law enforcement. We go in with the expectation to shoot to kill, not detain or incapacitate. Anyone so much as sends a threatening word in our direction, we put them down. Extraction of Adeboyo is the objective".
There were no further questions, so Megan nodded to Jamison who returned the gesture, letting the kiwi take over the leading role.
"I think that covers everything, unless anyone wants to ask Jamison what the tangoes' shoe-sizes, what handed they are, or what their favourite colours are. I can see you're all getting your kit squared away already, good. We mount up in ten"
Megan finished her portion of the meal and returned the bowl to the woman who'd served out that food, who thanked her with a luminous smile and a nod, keeping herself uninvolved from the teams' activities as they went about them in an almost surreal picture of domesticity. Megan turned to her own equipment. She unlatched her crate, and quickly set about kitting up. Vest, pads, gloves, holsters, helmet. She checked and loaded her sidearm, the Mk.23 looking almost comically oversized in her hands, before she slipped it into its' holster. She checked over her MP5, the weapon remarkably familiar in her hands as she checked the action, the batteries in the red-dot and flashlight, and then loaded a dual-clamped magazine and put the SMG on safe. Her normal load of grenades were tucked into their respective pouches on her gear, secured and in ready reach, along with spare magazines as needed. A battery check on her other gadgets - radio, NVGs, strobe, phone - and a top-up of her water and she was as ready as could be, moving to stand by the door and wait for her team.
Jamison joined her with one of the locals, a very dark-skinned man dressed in old British DPM camouflage trousers, a T-shirt in the Taniland flag colours and an olive hunting or outdoor jacket with hacked-off sleeves. His eyes and features were hard, but there was still a spark in his gaze as she met his took to her.
"Winters, this is Christopher Djembe. He's a local commander of the Resistance. He and a pair of his men will transport you to the drop off point just outside of the village to allow you to make your approach to the compound"
Meg put her hand out, and Christopher took it, shaking in a firm grasp. He gave a tight smile and she returned it with one of her own.
"Thank you for coming to our aid, Miss Winters. I am glad to have such expertise to help us in our fight"
"You're welcome, Mister Djembe. And call me Meg; My mum calls me Miss Winters. You have a ride for us?"
"It is nothing extravagant or flashy, but it will get us there without too much suspicion". He nodded to the rest of the team as the three of them stood close to the doorway.
"I am sure you and your people think we are amateurs or lacking in experience, especially compared to you with your training and equipment. But we have been fighting the Order since their earliest days here, doing what we can to resist. If we can get Adebayo back, his voice and influence will help greatly in bringing the common people to realise we fight for them and in uniting and co-ordinating the resistance once more".
"We'll do everything we can, I promise" she said with a nod, before looking back to the team and raising her voice a little.
"All right, ladies and gents. Let's get this show moving, the night isn't getting any younger, and neither am I".
---8-8-8---
A short while later, the group were bundled in the back of an old Mercedes van. As Christopher had promised; it definitely wasn't extravagant or flashy, what with the flaking and faded dusty yellow-brown paint on the outside and patches of creeping rust. The inside at least was clean, if dusty, and there had been the forethought to attach rope handholds to the interior ribs bracing the cargo compartment of the back, so they didn't spill everywhere as the van drove along and they sat in the back.
A double-thump on the partition separating the driving compartment from the rear, along with the change in gears and the engine sound told them they were close, and a moment later the van jolted and bounced as it left the compacted surface of the road and thumped and bucked across the rutted, pitted surface of the ground alongside before coming to a halt. The side door slid open, and starlight spilled in, along with the night-time sounds of life, Christopher's silhouette moving aside as Megan climbed out.
"All right," he said in a low voice. "This is where we drop you off. Good luck, and I hope to see you again soon".
"Thanks, see you soon," she replied, before flipping down her NVG's and powering them on with the characteristic whine as the word resolved into green-tinged clarity. She moved off a short distance crouched in the cover of shrubs, waiting for the others to join her, and surveyed the buildings of the village in the very near distance.
@Thayr,
@FourtyTwo,
@Smike,
@Komo,
@Theyra,
@Alfhedil