[center][h2]KAITIAKI[/h2][/center]
[color=ec008c]Samantha[/color] sighed as she began packing her bags. She had come home from her mission. She spent some time with Kameko. When she had downtime between missions, she had time to think. When she slowed down, she couldn’t help chewing over how he died. She continued to search for clues and evidence for everyone responsible. She was collecting the data. She felt confident that when she was ready that she could take the information to Queen. She had struggled at first to get used to working with a team. Her missions with the CIA had always been solo without much support. She had learned to trust the team and lean on them during training. She knew there was more than one team and had met many of them in passing. 

She was still working to process the death of her father. To be healthy enough to pass the entrance test, she had begun seeing a therapist. She hated to admit that she was long overdue for therapy. She couldn’t argue that she was doing better. She found it soothing to spend time with Kameko. She felt like the last link to her past and the last person who really truly knows her. She worried a little about Kameko. She was doing fine physically. She had taken over the dojo on her own and was teaching more now. She seemed so lonely. They seemed to fill that need for each other. She worried how she was coping when she was away. 

She sighed as she zipped her suitcase. Thank goodness she got to leave her gear at the base. She giggled thinking about what it would be like to get some of it through security. She grinned at least traveling commercial was easier for her. LAX while a clusterfuck and always busy had flights to almost everywhere. It was a good airport to fly out of as long as you took the hour long drive in traffic into consideration. She had already packed her personal laptop gear. Kameko had already left for the dojo. They had said goodbye over breakfast. Her uber should be here any minute. She hated leaving her babies in Kameko’s garage but they would be safe here while she went off to save the world. Her babies being her custom racing motorcycle and her Shelby Cobra. She had restored the Cobra with her father. She was very attached to both of her vehicles. They meant even more to her now. She grabbed her bags and headed for the airport. She had to do the undercover shuffle before finally arriving at her destination. She made sure she had her real passport and id secured in the special hidden pocket inside her computer bag before pulling out the alias she was traveling under. 

She hated flying commercial. It was so much more convenient to fly herself to her destination. If only she could afford her own airplane. She made decent money but not that good. Plus flight plans and all that. It would be even harder to conceal that flying under an alias. Once she was on the plane she happily leaned her chair back to avoid talking to the passengers around her. She pretended to sleep. It was amazing what people would say around you when they thought you were asleep. She amused herself with the commonplace drama for the rest of the flight. After the plane landed, she stood to gather her luggage. She had to catch a connecting flight. She turned to the woman sitting next to the window. She smiled and told her [color=ec008c]“You should dump him honey. He doesn’t deserve you. Why would you want to fight for a man who didn’t respect you in the first place. The problem isn’t the ho he hooked up with. The problem is with him. If you had a clear understanding that you were both in a committed monogamous relationship, dump him. He ain’t worth the trouble.”[/color] She saw her face go red with embarrassment and she began to splutter as Sam grabbed her bag and moved down the aisle to catch her next flight. 

It felt like a day later and Sam was tired as the plane finally touched down in Wellington. She produced her third alias ID for this trip as she deplaned. She was tired and grumpy. Normally she loved to fly but that is if she was sitting in the cockpit. She felt like she was being released from prison being forced to sit in economy in the rear of the plane. It felt good to be up and moving through the airport. She swung by baggage claim and picked up her bags. She made her way to the departure area. There was a driver waiting holding a sign with her name on it. She approached him and simply nodded. He just nodded in return and led the way out of the airport. She could tell by the way he moved that he was an operative. She didn’t recognize him though and assumed that he was just a cog in the logistics chain to get all the operators back on base for the next assignment. He helped her get her bags into the back of the SUV. She didn’t make a fuss or a scene about it. She could lift her own bags and didn’t need to be coddled but she didn’t want to draw attention to herself. She knew he was driving to meet the boat that will take her out to the island. She was right he departed after dropping her off at a secure dock. She made her way to the indicated sleuth and hailed the boat. 

After a long but uneventful trip over to the island, Sam was tired but she smiled. She loved this part of getting to base. She secured her bags to the back of the 4-wheel ATV. She slipped her sunglasses over her eyes before letting out a loud whoop. She threw her leg over and mounted the ATV. She took off in a peal of spinning tires and dirt flying. She put the ATV through its paces as she followed the trail to the base. The ride into base restored her joyous disposition. The rumble of a high-performance engine and the wind from her passing blowing her hair back would never get old. She came roaring into base. She almost forgot to stop at the checkpoints to put her info into the system. She grinned as she pondered that it was a security issue she should probably mention to the boss. Maybe she would try to set off the alarm on purpose the next time she came back to base. She didn’t know her new boss well enough to know how she would take a prank like that yet. She pulled the ATV into the garage and climbed off. She unloaded her bags and headed into base. She looked down at her now well worn travel clothes. She needed a shower. Her combat boots and jeans were splattered with mud. Her vintage Motley Crue tshirt was wrinkled and had a small ketchup stain on it. Her hair looked a little wilted but still fabulous. It was one of the reasons she kept it styled so short. As she passed into the base proper she called out in a cheerful voice. [color=ec008c]“Hi Honey, I’m home! What's for dinner? I am starving!”[/color] She snickered as settled her bags at her feet and took a look around to see what was happening and who was here.