The Irish troops moved quickly and efficiently, bundling each team member into a car and rapidly bringing them to their desired location.

[@datadogie]

Knight had the shortest trip of all of them- the Flight Lieutenant was only a few hundred yards away from two green-painted AW139 helicopters. She was met by a Lieutenant- Krawczyk was the name on his flight suit- saluting with just a hint of sarcasm. No Irish airman would be thrilled to have a Briton tell him his job. “We were told the Flight Lieutenant might prefer to fly her own patrol,” Krawczyk said, with a gesture towards one of the waiting helicopters. “I know this coast well, I'll act as your navigator. And your door gunner, if it should come to that,” he said with a pat on the FN machine gun positioned on the starboard side.

[@R31GN]

Carvalho nodded as he heard Dirk volunteer for one of the land patrols, then immediately stepped forwards. “I'll ride with Dirk,” he said. Carvalho felt at least somewhat responsible for the safety of the civilians on his team. That, and he would feel more comfortable giving military advice if he had at least one scientific expert at hand should they actually run across the mysterious giant. Brigadier Mahon nodded, then got in the car with the two men for the ride to Renmore Barracks. It was a brief ride- twenty minutes perhaps- but one marked by silence. Carvalho sensed the stress that the Brigadier was feeling, the weight he was under. 

The Brigadier only spoke once, as they crossed through the gates into Renmore, passing by numbers of cocky, uniformed youths, excited by the challenge of going out to fight an unknown enemy. “They're good lads, and they'll do their best,” Mahon said quietly. After the long silence, Carvalho nearly jumped at the older man's words. Mahon sighed, rubbed his iron-gray hair. “I just hope I can bring them all home.”

The car pulled to a halt, and Mahon immediately donned his cap and stepped out of the vehicle. “O'Sullivan!” he bellowed at a passing sergeant, decked out in full combat gear. “These two gentlemen will be accompanying you. Show them every courtesy.”

O'Sullivan gave a gap-toothed smile and salute. “Right, make yourselves comfortable,” the sergeant said, opening the back door of a RG Outrider patrol vehicle for them. A few confident, grinning Irish troops made room for them. “I pity the kaiju that comes across this lot!” O'Sullivan said with a breezy laugh. Doors slammed, rifles were loaded, and the convoy of two Outriders roared out the gate of Renmore. Carvalho loaded and checked his Taurus sidearm, knowing in his heart the 9mm handgun wouldn't be enough.

[@Jangel13]

Chaim Abergil perked up his ears at the conversation. The Israeli had liked the idea of the lights, and walked over to Lorenzo, pressing a Motorola radio into his hands. “Lorenzo, right? If you find good places for lights, just give me a call. I'm going to try and round up lighting rigs for you, just tell me where to send them.” With that he walked over to another car and had it take him into the city and fire department, where he would take stop of emergency prep and try to find powerful spotlights. The Brigadier ordered several other men to also begin rounding up floodlights, they scattered in vehicles to procure lights from wherever possible.

The Irish soldier drove Lorenzo out of the airport and deep into the beautiful Irish countryside. The sun was just setting they reached the R336 road on the outskirts of town- maybe a fifteen minute drive from the city center. The roar of the ocean touched Lorenzo's ear, just as the taste of salt on the wind did. “Our best guess is somewhere on this coastal highway,” Lorenzo's guide- Private Donlon- offered. “The first attack was in Cathair, the second in Spiddal, further west.”

It was getting dark quickly out in the sticks as Donlon slowly began driving, letting Lorenzo take in the countryside.

[@KaijuBaragon]

Soliders took Huan Xiao's luggage (though not without a worried look at the warning labels on the crate containing the toxin) and loaded it into the car, reaching the hotel just after sunset. The Radisson was clean, modern, and comfortable, and the UNKEO had not skimped on their accommodations. Huan quickly discovered a large room booked for each member of the team, as well as a conference room for them to meet in. And with the UN picking up the tab, Huan was free to raid the minibar or order room service to his heart's content. The perks of fighting kaiju were manifold, it seemed.

[b]THE DOCKS[/b]

O'Sullivan's convoy of two fighting vehicles hardly drew any looks as it passed through Galway. The citizens were accustomed to seeing military vehicles so near the barracks. However, as the Outriders passed by the historic Docks area, home to a bustling waterfront and nightlife district, they began to encounter crowds milling about in the streets. The sergeant swore as they were forced to stop by the growing crowd of rubberneckers who seemed to be coming out of pubs and homes as the sun slid behind the horizon. “What is all this?” he complained.

Carvalho peeked out. It seemed all the people were coming out to look at something out in the water of the harbor. He saw pointed fingers, uplifted cameras. Curious, he shifted himself over to better see out the window of the vehicle, then froze. “[i]Que porra é essa[/i]?” he found himself saying, then immediately hoping no one understood his profanity.

Bright in the gathering darkness, visible under the green water of Galway Harbor, was two glowing yellow circles, moving lazily, indifferently, in slow and searching patterns. “Sergeant O'Sullivan,” Carvalho said quietly, “I would suggest you put a man up on that machine gun you have mounted on the roof of this vehicle.” He began to ease the Taurus out its holster, for all the good it would do. With a look at Dirk, Carvalho shook his head. “I think it liked the way those two policemen tasted. It's going for more people,” he said grimly.

The flashes of cameras increased in intensity outside, while a few of the more sensible rubberneckers turned and ran. The water of the harbor churned into a white froth, and a titanic black hulk began to rise like some new island. Rivers of water washed down from the thing as more and more of the body became clear.

Carvalho was struck by the size, the immensity of the thing. Of course, he knew kaiju were big, that was their whole point. But actually seeing one was different. It was black in color, covered in thick, bony plating. A squarish central body the size of a baseball diamond, supported by eight segmented legs. Glowing yellow eyes atop long and waving stalks, like flexible telephone poles. A horrible, segmented mouth, full of sharp bony mandibles but not teeth. And the claws, of course. Pincers, really. One was small, almost dainty at eight feet long, suitable for fine manipulation. The right hand pincer was the stuff of nightmares, though. Massive, curved, nearly the size of the creature's entire body at a full seventy feet long. The blades of the pincer looked razor sharp. Wincing, Carvalho thought of the Garda car that had been cut neatly in half- now they knew how it had been done. 

“It's a crab,” Carvalho found himself saying to Dirk. “Of course, a giant, enemy crab.” He almost laughed, before he looked at the tremendous monster in front of him- the first kaiju he had ever seen. Carvalho had been shot at before, had grenades lobbed at him. But nothing had prepared him for this. The mandibles in the giant mouth worked, and a horrific clicking noise echoed across the streets of Galway.

The Irish soldiers gaped, the smarter civilians ran for it, and Carvalho grabbed for his radio, sending a message out across the UNKEO frequency. “This is Carvalho, all units please reply,” he gasped. “We have a confirmed sighting of the subject in Galway Harbor. Repeat, the subject is in a populated area.” Realizing he couldn't keep calling it “the subject” Carvalho searched his mind for an appropriate code word. “Subject is henceforth designated, uh, Fiddler.” 

Fiddler's rolling yellow eyes finally seemed to fix on the crowd lining the waterfront, and the clicking sound of the mandibles increased in speed. Panic finally began to spread through the assembled crowd, and more than one person was knocked down in the rush for the nearest buildings. The safeties clicked off on the soldier's Steyr rifles, a belt was fed into a machine gun, a rocket was loaded into an antitank weapon. Twelve infantrymen up against this creature. Carvalho swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. “I've got rifles, machine guns, and a few rocket launchers on hand. Not really sure they'll work, though. Please advise. Over.”