As Silverwind walked into the briefing room, he was met by Catriona. She offered a warm smile as he looked at her, his tail wagging gently.
"Hey there, chief," she said as she walked over to him, resting her hands on her hips. "It's no been that long, but feels longer."
He smiled back as he looked up at the towering bovine, single eye taking in the changes in her appearance and the shift in her posture and body language as he did. She still looked good - great, even - to him, despite the damage she'd suffered.
"I'm just glad to see you again, Cat. After the last op and everything that happened, well-"
"Aye, well", she said with a ahrug and the rasp coming into her voice. "I'm no too pleased about what happened myself, but we made it through. You're no rid of me that easily, unfortunately for you".
"Ah, it wouldn't be the same without you here. I'd miss having you around, there's no-one like you, after all"
"Just as well," she said with a slight smile. "Dinna think th' world could handle more'n one of me... But it's good to see you too, you mangy old sod".
"Mangy?" the fox said with a grin and mock-offence. "I brushed my fur and everything. How rude, making an effort just to get shot down. I'm hurt".
"Aye, I can tell. Mortally wounded, direct to yer pride."
The banter likely would've continued along with the smiles on both their muzzles, before Max and Anna stepped in. Catriona grinned at Max's words and she gave a shrug of her vast shoulders and tossed her head. "Aye well, looks like I'm too stubborn to die. I wouldna give the bastards who tried the satisfaction". She chuckled and listened along with Silver as the pair of felines exchanged their own good-natured barbs, before the silver fox took control.
"I think we all have to be a bit crazy to be here in the first place, Anna. Not to mention to keep coming back." He tacked his pebble onto the mirror surface at the rear of the room, transforming it into a screen. A central three-dimensional model of the solar power facility appeared along with the surrounding landscape. Other windows showed the real-world surveillance footage and annotations, along with images of identified defences.
"Right then, since y'all asked Max, this is our portion of insanity fer this time around. Our good friends in the Silent Line appear to have fortified and garrisoned this abandoned solar research facility in the Simal desert. It's approximately one hundred miles away from the nearest large town, though there are small villages or hamlets closer by, as well as individual farms or other places. No significant Simal military outposts closer than the previously mentioned town, however. From information gathered from interrogation of our prisoners and recovered intel, it seems like there's an agent in the Simal military for Silent Line, which is how and why they've got the place to begin with. Seems like the materiel they've got in place-" he tapped the relevant windows, enlarging the images of armoured vehicles and GEARs "-aren't Simal issue, and instead look like equipment sourced from other nations. Notably these are Laurentian GEARs, and those there-" he highlighted a wheeled, turreted vehicle "-look kinda like fire support vehicles or assault guns. Not to mention miscellaneous light utility vehicles with pintle-mounted heavy MG's or launchers and emplaced support weapons. It's a relatively small force with no support, and we're looking at maybe six GEARs supporting a quartet of wheeled guns, as well as numerous support vehicles such as the utilities and various trucks with specialised loads." He frowned and highlighted the group of trucks, parked up alongside the facilities' long, boxy and semi-buried building. Parked up in lines, cables ran in thick strands from the equipment on the back of each, snaking into the building. "No idea what the hell it is they're doing with this place. Accordin' ta records we got, the place was researchin' applications for solar power and related technologies... which could mean anythin'" he said with a shrug. "As well as uprootin' these guys, finding out what they were up to will be the other half of the mission".
He nodded toward Catriona, the big cow having taken a seat. "Burner will be our mission control, as she's not quite back in th' game yet. Since the location is about as far inland as we can get, and it ain't nowhere near close to here; we'll be flying down to Faraenal in a stealth transport. We'll land, rest up and wait for nightfall, and then the transport will cross the border using stealth, and the Falcons will fly themselves in. The transport will drop Anna in as well-" he looked to the panther with a nod "-and she can glide in to distance, with the transport remaining on station using stealth to act as mission control. We extract back over the border using the Falcons' flight modes. Simal shouldn't know we were there, an' we're far enough from any reinforcements that they shouldn't be able to get to us in time even if we do get discovered or noticed".
He nodded and returned the screen to the 3D representation of the facility and its' surroundings. "Questions, comments, insults?"