(OOC A collaboration with [@Strange Rodent] and [@iTem])

[color=e0c070]"Benny! You're looking well. Seems like you took your training seriously. Nice suit."[/color]

Benny hears the voice call out to them as they passed by. He turned and saw one of the new crewmates they had. Herbert? Henry? He wasn’t sure. He figured it would come up in conversation eventually anyway.

[color=B8860B]”Oh hey. Thanks…?”[/color] He started, not sure how to respond to them. [color=B8860B]”Was nae about ta’ go into this unprepared. Especially not with these Alliance jackarses put in charge o’ us”[/color] He said as he continued towards the hangar area, not really gesturing at Henry as he could follow them of their own accord if they wished.

[color=e0c070]”Always best to be prepared. Speaking of… have a look at this”[/color], Henry replies as he taps a few times on his holo pad, and going on to say [color=e0c070]”Just sent across my preparations.”[/color].

Benny looked curiously at the holo display and the file-send request from Henry’s device and accepted it. It seemed to be a document regarding their target, Quinlan Kifear. He decided to let it send and view it as he walked along.

Henry stumbled along behind Benny for a small while, before saying [color=e0c070]”Oh, we have never properly met, have we? That’s no problem. My name is Henry. Used to sell old hover vehicles, before I… decided I’d had enough.”[/color]

[color=B8860B]”Sounds as boring as watchin’ a horse shit. Glad ya got outta there. Sorry ya ended up here”[/color] Benny replied frankly as he walked along to the hangar. [color=B8860B]”And ye can just keep callin’ me Benny. Ev’ryone does.”[/color] he finished as the duo made their way along to the shuttles, heading to the ship’s main elevator lift.

[color=e0c070]”Yeah, that’s why I quit.”[/color], Henry said, just before they got into the elevator. Little did he know that these were the last words that were to be spoken before they reached the shuttle bay. In the elevator, silence reigned like a supreme emperor, warring with that small part of you that feels like you should say something, but you never do because it might be more awkward than standing in silence. There was no inoffensive elevator music to pay attention to while they stood. Henry cleared his throat. Unfortunately, that only cut out the roaring sound of silence for a mere moment, and when it came back, it did so with a vengeance. Now the Emperor of Silence had redoubled their efforts, and all that could be heard was aggressive nothing. There was a light, long hiss as the elevator reached their desired level. The doors slid open so slowly it may have caused pain in lesser beings, and when the doors had finished the very small journey that took almost twice as long as needed, they discovered that the wrong button had been pressed. They needed to go up a floor.

Benny couldn’t remember if it was he or Henry who pressed the wrong button, but either way, he let out his frustration with a loud [color=B8860B]”Cripes”[/color] bringing Skelly up automatically to mash the correct button as his arm registered his frustrated desire to get this awkward presence done and over with. Henry merely shuffled his feet and looked around the bare elevator.

After a much shorter duration of deafening silence between the two, they finally arrived on the Revenant’s hangar. Benny wasted no time in stepping off and away from their odd new crewmate and headed towards the direction of the gathering crowd in the hangar.

He spotted the rest of the Revenant’s motley crew gathering around their respective shuttles being briefed by the Alliance agents.

Awaiting their own shuttles were Koren and Matija, seemingly talking amongst themselves. Koren was the first to notice the two men exiting the elevator and waved at Benny as a result. Matija looked at where Koren was looking out of reflex and looked away the moment she sees one of the two. [color=7B68EE]“Took you long enough,”[/color] the blue-skinned man said to Benny. [color=7B68EE]“And you..?[/color] he asked as he turned to the other man that he never bothered remembering the name of.

Henry turned his bloodshot eyes on Koren and merely said, [color=e0c070]”Yes, I am here.”[/color], seemingly missing the point of what Koren said entirely. He waited almost a full five seconds before realising that he missed something. He wasn’t bothered to say anything about his blunder, though, opting instead to mumble something that might have sounded like words.

[color=B8860B]”So… How long ya think we’ll go fer before these Alliance shitheads screw somethin’ up?”[/color] Benny asked Koren, while checking to see if they were still in earshot of the agents, which they thankfully weren’t at the moment.

[color=7B68EE]“Within an hour planetside, two and a half, if you’re being generous,”[/color] Koren responded as he too took a moment to gander on their unwanted allies. [color=7B68EE]“I don’t understand why they want them with us anyway. It’s easier for black-ops to work instead of affiliated soldiers. If they die, it’s going to be under the Alliance’s name.”[/color]

Benny shrugged at that. [color=B8860B]” Stryker says they’re deep cover agents. Dinnae ask me how they made tha’ grade, since their very air screams jarhead from a mile awae”[/color] He responded. Koren looked back at him in response, smiling. [color=7B68EE]“Maybe the Feds they mingle with are just stupid. Or…”[/color] His eyes widened for a moment, contemplative, before shooting back at Benny and the druggie. [color=7B68EE]“...this could be a trap.”[/color]

That last comment gave Benny an uncomfortable feeling in the pits of his stomach, but before the conversation could go any further, they were called to mount up onto the shuttles for departure. Benny took one last glance at the Juz’ and the Mecorian, and gave a quick nod before going with Henry aboard their shuttle, and began the flight to their targets.

[hr]

[color=808080]"Listen up, here's the plan. We're dropping in just under a klick away, we'll make our way over on foot. Once we arrive at the depot, we infiltrate from this position here, and break into two groups. You three. Are gonna take this route around Alpha Sector, plant some of the heavy duty charges. The rest of you will follow me, we'll make our way around this way and drop 2 charges by the gate, just in case the target tries to escape. Regroup at this position here. We scan for the target, if he's not in the open, we trigger the main charges, set off the alarm to draw him out. Once the kill is confirmed, we begin exfil procedure. Maximum carnage rule applies here, so by all means, go hog wild you beautiful, degenerate fuckers"[/color]

The sergeant, whose name Benny couldn’t care to remember past the fact that it started with “Gun” or something, announced through the shuttle. All Benny knew was that he didn’t like this guy’s bossy and condescending attitude. He wondered if they could manage to “accidentally” hurt the guy in the midst of the chaos without compromising the mission.
He didn’t honor the guy with a reply, but he nodded in acknowledgement as he checked his equipment, and adjusted his seating so he wouldn’t be pressing into that waist-mounted thruster-pack he was wearing. He wasn’t used to how heavy it was, but he had carried larger weights before and he was confident he could make use of their new toy.


Henry looked at the waist mounted jetpack and smiled. Perhaps there was good in the universe.

Eventually, the shuttle began descending to a stop and the sounds of the doors unlocking filled the space. Benny checked Skelly’s holographic display, and set it to open up on his helmet instead of projecting above his arm. He brought the map of the area up and set it to a corner of his HUD, with relevant waypoints marking their objectives. He kept it minimized to a small display, and could be easily be zoomed in with a few taps on Skelly’s touchpad. [color=808080]"Alright convicts, go time"”[/color] The sergeant announced leading the way. Benny Hopped out after him with the rest of the group, rifle-raised and scanning the area. He flicked on his nightvision and allowed his eyes a moment to adjust to the glare, then glanced at the minimap on his HUD. He began heading in the direction of the area marked “Alpha Sector” on the base map. He expected Henry and Sadaet to follow suit without him having to check on them.