“Café by day and bar by night. We capture a bigger market and sell coffee to those who are too drunk to drive.” Sounds like a sensible plan. But of course, it would not be Barghest Squad without a plot twist – arms smuggling, as suggested by his highness, was a heist that the squad would certainly enjoy pulling-off. It shouldn’t be that difficult given that they had the capacity to carry with them items without being identified by metal detectors or customs security. Limited as it was, Katarina had been contemplating about the potential uses of the mist pocket since the day it was introduced. 

Speaking of the mist pockets, the mage placed the plastic bottle down as she recalled a certain volume that she kind of borrowed from the Citadel sitting idly in her personal invisible sack. With a flick of her wrist, the fourth and latest edition of A Complete Guide to the Beasts of Yerin materialized in thin air just as a voice called out their attention and the conversation about the future of the squad went hush. Instinctively, she snapped her attention to the source of the voice, but relaxed when Gideon motioned for them to stay put. There shouldn’t be any problem if all these men wanted to see was their papers.

Shrugging off the sudden intrusion, the mage went back to the more pressing business of checking out the book balanced on her thighs. Before they left the Citadel, Kitty had been toying with this idea of a really flashy spell befitting their squad name, but admittedly lacked time to pursue the study. Thus, she came to the library and [i]borrowed[/i] the book. She had just made it to table of contents when a sound of a distant blast, distracted her. Straightening up on her seat, she noticed a faint glow above the clouds. Her first thought was fireworks. Mega fireworks, because what else could it be? Then slowly, as her eyes adjusted and the initial blast faded, the shape of an aircraft became more apparent. It sailed across the sky overhead, lighting the otherwise moonless night. Only its momentum kept it in flight, with its main engines probably damaged and gravity pulling it to the ground.  

Lori’s initial shock might have taken her to her feet, but Kitty was watched wide-eyed in her seat as helpless passengers who thought that they would escape the claws of death by jumping off the ship were gunned down. Just when she thought they could all spend a quiet night getting wasted together as a squad, an unidentified aircraft literally crashed the party.

Kitty deposited the volume back to the mist pocket then followed Lori to the truck. The Astran was right, they might be the best chance the passengers of the aircraft had. The squad might be off duty, and had no business poking their heads into a potential legitimate military operation, but hey was that supposed to stop the newly graduated WARDENS from saving the world one crash site at a time?

“It shouldn't be that far. Let’s do this shit, boys and girls.” Smiling, she climbed to her feet and stretched her arms over her head, before walking to the truck as if it was just another mission simulation at the Citadel. “Standard recon protocol. Observe and report. Do not engage enemy units – if there are enemy units – unless you are about to get shot in the face. Once perimeter is clear, we’ll start looking for survivors. Lori, we’ll be counting on your tiny scouts.” Her eyes found the Astran, then Lee, who although not a healer, was the closest to one that the squad had. “Sounds good?” 

Katarina resumed her position on the truck bed. It was cold outside especially when the truck started to move, but she didn’t want an obstructed view of the surroundings when they approached the site. The more she could see, the less surprises to be concerned of. “The faster we get this incident sorted out, the more time we have to settle our unfinished cases of beers. So, move out, squad.”