Mark slide deeper into her thoughts, like working his way through tar.  Eventually, however, her concentration wavered the tiniest bit, going from tar to molasses, and he managed to slip the very edge of his consciousness through her blockade.  He quickly turned the mass of thought into a tendril and slipped into her mind.  If he wanted to at this point he could mess with her memories or make her relive them, but that wasn't the purpose of diving into her mind today.

Sensing that he was through, she dropped the barrier around her thoughts and he pulled out.  Once he was completely out he opened his eyes and his senses came back to him, though he felt tired from the effort.  "Not bad at all." he said to Hatsuki.  "It took me quite a bit longer this time, I think.  You've been practicing."

"Hai," she responded, then another voice spoke.

[b]"So ah, yes, what exactly are we supposed to do now against the aliens?"[/b]

"We will be flying into Tel Aviv as soon as we load onto the Jet." Hatsuki said.  "Once there, we will be running a joint mission with the local resistance to neutralize, or if possible, capture the alien Mothership that has landed just outside of the city.  We were unable to smuggle out significant intelligence from the area, so we will be relying on our allies to inform us of the situation once we arrive."  She checked to verify that her sword was still in its holster and that her backpack was on her back with its supplies, then boarded the plane.

"Well, I guess that's our cue." said Mark.  "All aboard."  With that he grabbed his supplies and boarded the vehicle.

---

As they neared the city they sent out a shortwave encoded signal.  The aliens didn't monitor these frequencies regularly as they could only be used for low-speed data transfer at best, but they were good enough to arrange a rendezvous at a pre-named location.  "This is UN Vessel Spectre approaching LZ Charlie.  Will arrive in T-2 minutes.  Spectre out."  Hopefully the resistance would get the message and meet them there, otherwise they would have to locate the resistance on their own, which would delay the mission.

Two minutes later the pilot activated the VTOL engines and lowered them into position in an old soccer field.  Hatsuki dropped the ramp and flew out to scan the area.  By the time they touched down Mark was at the ramp ready to leave.  "Thank you for flying air Spectre.  If you have any customer service complaints, then STFU." said the pilot over the intercom.