Songster Gecko

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

Damn, that sucks. Can't you argue the blacklist if you've got proof that someone did steal your identity? It wasn't you, after all.

R.E.S.C.U.E Global Ops

I am not going to be a leader of the squad. lol

@DegenerateThree Hello. I like your name. =P

@Landaus Five-One

Hello. Not sure if my name should be liked, but okay.

R.E.S.C.U.E Global Ops

Team Firelight

Callsign: Firelight

Team Leader/Grenadier (Firelight 1)
Name: Vasily Vladimirovich Navikov
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Nationality: Russian

Appearance:

Vasily looks every bit the ex-VDV member that he is. Tall, with bulging muscles and almost always wearing the distinctive blue-striped shirt, he exudes an aura of confidence stemming from experience. He keeps his brown hair short, with the sides and back shaved and the top never more than half an inch in height. His size is not a reflection of his speed, and one would do well to remember that he had also served with Russian Police Spetsnaz, a job a lumbering person would not fare well in.

Service History:

- Russian Airborne Forces; 45th Special Reconnaissance Brigade (Transferred Following unspecified incident)
- Russian Airborne Forces; 83rd Guards Airborne Brigade (Discharged following end of contract)
- Russian National Guard; Vladivostok SOBR (Discharged following end of contract)

Notable Skills:
- Airborne/Heliborn Operations
- Combat Reconnaissance
- Hostage Rescue
- Competent in most weapon types
- Grenade Launcher specialist

Team 2IC/Breacher (Firelight 2)
Name: Yang Meng Lie
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Nationality: Chinese

Appearance:

Hard-faced and slender, Meng Lie has the appearance of a walking oxymoron. Where most members of Firelight are slim, he is outright slender, with a dancer's build. One look at his face, however, and one would quickly discard all notions that he is a soft person. There is a reason that Meng Lie is the team's chosen negotiator and interrogator, and that is his almost emotionless face and cold, black eyes. Few people can withstand a brief, half-hour interview and most would crack shortly after the twentieth minute. As with Vasily, Meng Lie keeps his hair short, almost to PLA regulation.

Service History:

- People's Armed Police; Snow Leopard Commando Unit (Transferred following change in residence)
- People's Armed Police; Heilongjiang Special Police Unit (Transferred following promotion)
- People's Armed Police; Immediate Action Unit (Discharged following end of contract)

Notable Skills:
- Urban Operations
- Hostage Rescue and Negotiations
- Counter-Terrorism
- Wilderness Survival
- Competent in most weapon types
- CQC Specialist

Team Heavy Gunner (Firelight 3)
Name: Lee Seung-Min
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Nationality: South Korean

Appearance:

With a petite build and youthful features, Seung-Min looks, and is often mistaken for being a lot younger than her actual age. Her large, brown eyes do little to dispel the illusion of youth and innocence, though it's not as if she minds. As long as it does not get in the way of her work, she could care less about her looks. Her small size belies her strength, which one can easily deduce as she carries what is easily the heaviest weapon of the squad. She keeps her black hair tied into a messy ponytail.

Service History:

- Republic of Korea Army; 90th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized) (Transferred upon request)
- Republic of Korea Marine Corps; 1st Engineer Battalion (Discharged following end of contract)

Notable Skills:
- Amphibious Operations
- Operations with Armoured Vehicles
- Combat Engineering
- Explosives Handling
- Competent in most weapon types
- Anti-Tank/Anti-Structure Specialist

Team Marksman (Firelight 4)
Name: Ashton Tay Shi Kai
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Nationality: Singaporean

Appearance:

Average in looks, average in height and average in personality, Ashton would have been an easily overlooked person in any other setting and with any other people. However, against the background that is his squad, Ashton stands out in particular simply because he is perhaps the only one who can be seen as 'perfectly normal'. His slim build belies his strength, something which he uses to his advantage when it comes to a hand-to-hand fight. Straight, black hair licks at his brows and collars, the longest his team leader would allow. Ashton wears a pair of ballistic glasses on a near-constant basis. Not because he wishes to hide his dark brown eyes, but because he needs the lens inserts to combat his short-sightedness.

Service History:

- Singapore Army; 3 Guards (Transferred upon request)
- Singapore Army; 1 Army Development Force (Discharged upon end of contract)

Notable skills:
- Heliborne Operations
- Jungle Warfare
- Raiding Operations
- Competent in most weapon types
- Marksman Rifle specialist

Team Gunner/Medic (Firelight 5)
Name: Anahera Weaver
Age: 28
Gender: Female
Nationality: New Zealander

Appearance:

Maori blood flows through Anahera's veins, and she is clearly very proud of it. Her arms are decorated with tribal tattoos, and whether or not they are indeed Maori tattoos is still up for debate. With wild, green eyes and an impish or even mischievous look to her, she is easily the most enthusiastic member of Firelight, always more than ready to head out on a mission. Like Seung-Min, she keeps her auburn hair in a loose ponytail.

Service History:

- New Zealand Army; Royal New Zealand Army Medical Corps (For training)
- New Zealand Army; 5th/7th Battalion, RNZIR (Discharged following end of contract)
- Several unspecified tours with MSF

Notable Skills:
- Combat, Trauma and Emergency Medicine
- Competent in most weapon types
- Automatic Rifle specialist

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

Somehow, I highly doubt they'll send people after us, but better to be safe, I s'pose.

R.E.S.C.U.E Global Ops

I'll work on my CS's tomorrow.

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

"This is why we'll go broke," Rhys muttered beneath his breath and shook his head. Well, if that was what Murphy wanted, that was what she was getting. He wasn't the one footing the bill, after all. "I'll poke around and see what we can get." He said with a shrug, even though he was already quite sure about what he was going to order for the team. The really old stuff were out of the question. Those Korean War or even Vietnam War era machines were good as collectors' items, but for practical use? No, Rhys knew that he could do better. Even if Murphy wanted nigh-vision goggles simply because they were cool, Rhys wanted them to be usable should they come across a situation calling for such equipment.

It would take time for him to set-up the deal for the night-vision goggles, since they wanted far too little to be able to contact the manufacturer and too many for him to be able to snag off Ebay. He would have to use other means, such as the deep web or from obscure, legal military surplus sellers. Nothing a little hard searching couldn't handle. That left the thermal imagers, and that was no problem whatsoever. Rhys had already done the research; a few months back, he had toyed with the idea of attaching small thermal imagers to a commercial quadcopter to create a surveillance drone of sorts, but the plan fell through when he realized that the current imagers available were all far too big to fit onto a drone.

A smile crept onto his lips. Now he was in his environment.

---

"P-Pleasure to meet you, Noon." Fletcher said, then mentally lambasted himself for the stutter. He shouldn't be letting this lady get to him this much, but he just couldn't help it. He had never been that social of a person to begin with, having gone through his school years without even a single fling. For someone he found attractive to talk to him in such a manner, it was almost scary to him, and Fletcher just wanted the conversation to end, but he couldn't find any good or polite reason to excuse himself. "No," That was what he wanted to say in response to her question, but his rumbling stomach betrayed him.

He looked at her with a sheepish look on his face, and said, "Evidently not. Have you?"

R.E.S.C.U.E Global Ops

Would a description work?

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

Finally, something for him to do!

Rhys could barely keep himself from grinning as he rolled away from the group and back to his laptop. He opened another browser window and leaned back. "NVGs are going to be tough," He said and let out a frustrated sigh, even though on the inside he was secretly pleased to have a challenging task. "I mean, it all depends on how good you want them. The military stuff? Nah, we're only going to get those from the black market or deep web. They're illegal for reselling, last I checked. We could get some surplus stock, though. The old ones, and I do mean old. I'm talking about First Gulf War or even Vietnam War."

If he had to be honest, he wasn't too sure about brands when it came to such a specific item, but he felt pretty sure that you could hardly call up the manufacturer to place an order. "In any case, mind telling me why we're going to need NVGs?" He asked and cocked a brow. "I thought we'd want thermal imagers to capture heat signatures."

---

Fletcher didn't know whether if it was because he hadn't had a proper conversation with a lady for a little over two years, or if the lady's smile was really just that alluring, but Fletcher could feel the blood rush to his cheeks when he saw her smiling at him. He was inclined to believe that it was the latter case - it happened often enough with social recluses who became even worse recluses after enlisting - but he wasn't about to say that out loud. "Have we?" He asked in response to her suggestion that they had crossed paths before. "I think I would have remembered, ma'am."

His mind only registered the last sentence after it had left his lips, and it only served to make Fletcher feel even more flustered. His section would have described it as being smooth, but to Fletcher, it was another failure of the filter between his brain and mouth. The next words out of the lady's mouth didn't help in the least, and Fletcher looked down, hoping to hide the blush which he knew was quickly filling his cheeks. "Ah, I-" He began, then cleared his throat and looked at her. "I don't think I have your name yet, ma'am."

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

This was not a good start.

Rhys had not been hoping for a chatty fellow or a smartass - the team had enough of those - but he had hoped that this Fletcher would have been at the very least, not a completely socially inept person. Surely, there had to be something for him to comment on, be it how empty the office was, or Murphy's choice of hair colour or even Noon's excited declaration of love for Chinese food. Rhys sighed inwardly. He had given them his name, at least he could do that much.

Perhaps he was being too harsh in his judgement, Rhys decided. After all, they had only met for a minute at most. They were going to be working together for the foreseeable future, and Rhys honestly could do without making things awkward between them from the start. "G'day to you, buddy." He said with a smile on his face. "Name's Rhys. I'm the brains of this place. I'll be the one giving you whatever information you need, and fixing whatever shit you fellas break."

---

"Nice to meet you," Fletcher said in response to the Caucasian's introduction. It was nice to put a name to a face, and this Rhys person looked, and sounded, friendly enough. He didn't really need to explain his role, though, as Fletcher had already deduced it simply from his disability. Apart from working in the background as in the role of a handler, Fletcher could think of little else for Rhys to do. You could hardly ask him to clean up the place, now could you?

Fletcher looked to the lady introduced to him as Rainbow, and immediately decided that she was a person he should take seriously. She certainly did have a no-nonsense aura about her, as if she would cut him in half if he made as much as a quip about her name. "I won't," He said and managed to wrangle a friendly smile onto his face. He had dealt with the serious sort before, such as visiting officers or base personnel who took themselves too seriously, and Fletcher knew that he would just have to polite, friendly, and hope for the best. "I know about being given an unwanted nickname, ma'am."

That left only one person whose name was still unknown to him. Bolstered by the confidence at having said a total of two complete sentences, he looked to the tanned woman. "Ah, may I know your name, ma'am?" He asked. The honorifics slipped out of his mouth without his notice, the result of having to address everyone as either 'ma'am' or 'sir' for over a year.

The Asian Ghost Story Collection

Rhys spun his wheelchair around at the sound of the door opening, and immediately he fought the urge to scowl. Murphy had placed a recruitment advert for a bodyguard, or at least someone to act as the muscle of the group, if he wasn't wrong, and the man who stood in the doorway absolutely did not look the part. A string bean of a person, Rhys could not see him protecting anyone from anything, let alone the supernatural. He was well aware that as a Singaporean, this new person had served in the army, but then again, the Singaporean Armed Forces took in almost everyone who wasn't dying or crippled.

For a moment, Rhys wondered if he should give a few words of welcome, or derision, but then decided to hold his tongue. He wanted to see how this new person would react to his new colleagues. In his experience, Rhys knew that that alone could tell him plenty about a person, or it could very well chase them away. He rolled himself towards away from his laptop and reclined in his seat, eager to see the scene unfold in front of him.

---

Fletcher didn't know what to think. The office looked sparse, far sparser than he had expected. A few chairs here, a recliner there and a cluster of cubicles, that was all there was. He supposed that the commotion earlier had been them trying to pretty up the office, but he honestly didn't think that they achieved much. In fact, it served to only accentuate the bareness of the office, with the bright balloons contrasting heavily with the plain walls and drab furniture.

Well, he had seen a lot worse.

As always, Fletcher did a quick scan over the people in the room. It was a habit that he had gained during his time in the army, and one which would probably be very difficult to kick. The Caucasian in the wheelchair caught his attention for a moment longer than Fletcher would have liked, but he quickly shifted his attention to the wall behind him before it became noticeable. It was another skill he had acquired in the army, the art of looking, but not looking. To observe a person while appearing completely distracted by something else.

Two of the ladies looked rather normal, as far as Fletcher was concerned, and it was the last one that really stuck out to him. With her pink hair and oversized sweater, she certainly had a unique look to her. She seemed quite surprised that Fletcher was on time, and honestly speaking, so was he. Perhaps it was a relic of the 'punctual is late, early is punctual' mindset his sergeant had drilled into his brain during basic training, but Fletcher never felt as if he was running on time.

He stepped into the office, shutting the door behind him and offering everyone a small smile and wave. "Morning," He said, completing the earlier greeting which he had cut short. Looking around, he took one of the chairs and sat down. He cleared his throat, then introduced himself, even though he was pretty sure that they knew who he was already. "I'm Fletcher," He said, then realized that he had no idea how to continue. Perhaps he should have just kept quiet.