Benny had spent most of the time during the takeoff from the planet and the the ride through space in constructing the firing range in the gym with help from Grayson, Matija, and the others who weren't busy. It didn't take very long to set up, and soon they had a functional shooting range for their leisure aboard their vessel. After spending most of his time refreshing his bomb-making, chemistry, and computer skills during his recovery, he was excited to get to make use of his rifle once again. He retrieved it from the armory to practice a few shots with it before anyone else could hog the space.

It felt good to be able to fire his gun again. The kick of the rifle as it fired was cathartic in some way, after spending so long idle. It wouldn't compare to the feeling of the vibration of the shockwave of a bunker-buster or thermite charge. But still, he took whatever he could get. His aim wasn't impressive before, and being comatose certainly didn't do him any favors, but he could still consistently hit a target at center of mass it seemed, with controlled shots and Skelly's reliable stability. After expending one magazine's worht of ammunition, he called it quits and packed up his gear, giving his bionic arm a congratulatory pat as he left. [color=darkgoldenrod]"At least one of us dinnae get fucked by muscle atrophy, aye?"[/color] he said to his arm as he left the range.


The next few days were spent in relative monotony, made bearable only by his further experimentation in the ship's lab in the testing of new explosives theories, sparring sessions with Matija and recently Koren, and rifle practice at the range. He would've spent more time in the labs, but Harriet, the plant-lady, seemed to temporarily claim the place for a few days saying that Stryker had tasked them to do something. Benny didn't like being kept out but he figured an answer like that was just another way of saying "mind your own damn business", and if it was the captain's orders it was best not to get in the way. Though he did take his wheeled toolkit out to his room to do small-time experiments in his room, at the expense of the nasal health of the people in adjacent rooms. The activities helped keep the boredom in check and resharpened his somewhat dulled skills, but he was itching for something more exciting to do to really bring out his abilities.

An eventual call from Stryker would promise an answer to that itch as it seemed the Alliance had finally found another job sufficiently dangerous for them that they couldn't afford to send their respectable military units into. They were to sneak into human colony occupied by space vikings, have Taleste clear open a path for them, and rescue a bunch of Alliance eggheads doing classified research. The plan was simple, yet so much could go wrong. However, instead of making it anxious, the possibility only excited Benjamin as he felt a smile creep on his face as he imagined the chaos their little team of troublemakers could cause.

[color=orange]"When you get to the terminal, radio back for evac and I'll come back for you at the same place we drop you off, about a kilometer or so outside of town. If you run into any trouble, I'll come back with numbers. If all goes well, none of us will even fire a gun, but after those last few jobs, I want to be prepared for the worst possible scenario, so Grayson... get everyone kitted out for a doomsday scenario, maximum ammo, and I'll also need this stuff as well."[/color] Stryker ordered as he handed a note to the arms master.

Benny began running the numbers in his head, scenarios and situations playing out and what he figured he would need for them. However, they were working on limited information, and that severely hindered his ability to prepare for the task ahead. He figured some standard explosive charges would be necessary for most barriers. A couple standard charges, along with one special Thermite mix and one concentrated Acid to get through anything short of starship hull levels of sturdiness. Usual set up of 2 Flashbangs, 1 smoke grenade, and 2 Frags for general combat. Maybe 2-3 EMP grenades in case any of the secret lab's automated defences considered them enemies. 4 grenade launcher rounds, armor-piercing variants to be used for blasting open vehicle armor, or a quick exit through most walls if needed. And for their doomsday contingency... well there was always the classic military-grade bunker-buster capable of leveling an underground building into a debris-filled sinkhole, if he were allowed to requisition that. He'd also bring in a few of his tools for crafting an IED from household items. A top secret Alliance R&D facility was bound to have chemicals he could work with if his packed explosives weren't enough for anything that stood in their way.

After the few seconds it took for him to analyze it, Tibulus spoke up with a question for Stryker. [color=a7a7a7]"Previous verse still stands. What about innocents?"[/color] their skeletal pilot asked. [color=orange]"As per usual, the Alliance doesn't care about the innocent lives. Let me read you a line or two directly from the mission files... 'The local populace will likely have been slaughtered. Losses unavoidable. Any who may have survived the initial attack will have been rounded up and corralled onto one of the transport ships to be enslaved or sold off to human traffickers in the Deadzone. No authorization will be granted to attempt a rescue, as the priority is the safe collection and transport of the scientists from the research facility' bastards literally couldn't care less than hundreds, or maybe thousands of people are dead or en route to something worse, and there's nothing we can do about it, even if we attempted a rescue, there's thirteen of us and hundreds of them. I don't like it either, but that's the facts."[/color] their leader said.

Benny shrugged at it in response. [color=darkgoldenrod]"Shite like this happens in the Deadzone all tha' time, cap'n. You keep worryin' about these things ye'll go right screwy. 'Sides, not as if we're tha' cleanest scoundrels out here, anywae"[/color] he said with a small sly grin.

A little afterwards, he addressed their commando-droid's concern about wildlife before asking them to leave the room so he could brief Taleste properly. Benny followed the order and left the room, bringing up Skelly's holographic interface to mark down the gear he would need for the operation and submit it to Grayson for approval. In the meantime, he'd get started on making the mixtures for Acid and Thermite in the ship's lab to make sure he could at least guarantee them passage through 2 stubborn barriers.

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