[center][h1][color=ec008c]Samantha Dalton AKA Chaos[/color][/h1][/center]
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[H2][center]Aral Sea, New Toys in the Sandbox[/center][/h2]

Sam missed her helmet. Her combat suit with its built-in climate control system had helped her deal with the heat of the desert. Sweat was pouring down her face now that her suit was missing its control center. Her helmet was trashed from the explosion and her HUD was unusable. The shrapnel had lodged itself into the faceplate. If she had not been wearing her helmet, she would have taken a heavy piece of metal shrapnel directly to her face and would probably be dead.  Sam’ short black and silver hair was matted to her head with sweat. The autoinjector cocktail was all that was keeping her on her feet. She was still struggling to use her right side. Thank goodness most of what she needed to lift wasn’t that heavy and she didn’t have to lift it far to get it onto the tent wall. 

Sam knew that Xander had more experience with heavy weapons and allowed him to decide how many they packed and what. She knew the basics from her training, but it was not in her wheelhouse. Her training was on intelligence gathering and cyber security. Sam knew her niche was more a specialist support role than a front-line tank like Frigga or Ogre. Sam did her best to follow Skye’s orders. Her attention went to Xander as he spoke. 

[color=b0021d]“Well well. Can’t say these plonkers don’t know quality. This’ll make a mess of any armored vehicle they got.”[/color] Sam smiled as she continued to help him load stuff. [color=ec008c]“They seem to have stuff they shouldn’t have access to. It’s worrying but I won’t complain at the moment since we plan to use it against them.” [/color]

Sam was grateful the pain killers were working. She was still struggling to lift her left arm very far. It was still really weak. Her breath came in short pants. She still felt like she couldn’t take a really deep breath. She grunted as she placed a crate of explosives on the tarp. Xander indicated the explosives as he told her,[color=b0021d] “I trust you have a plan for those? I’m not exactly an explosives expert, meself. And we certainly don’t have the leisure of setting up traps around the perimeter.”[/color] Samantha grinned [color=ec008c]“I don’t either. I am hoping one of our teammates does. I was thinking we can have someone with an exosuit toss them out as grenades if we can rig them to explode.”[/color] Samantha shrugged. [color=ec008c]“I was hoping it might inspire some creative destruction from those who know how to use it.” 
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Samantha’s first mission with Raven Squad was not going quite how she had pictured it. She had come to trust the team and rely on them. She knew she couldn’t do this work alone. She trusted the amazing talents that Skye had assembled to work together. She knew what she could do and what she couldn’t do. She was determined that they were all making it out of this place and the group arrayed against them would be left here entombed in this desolate place. 

Xander nodded, took up his position one side and indicated that he was ready. They both grabbed one of the front corners and began to pull. Samantha grunted, leaning into it with effort. She had taken the left side so she could put the weight of her side over her right shoulder. She gritted her teeth and dug her feet into the sand. She was grateful for Xander’s strength since her suit didn’t really help with strength. Her suit was designed to help her operate the team aircraft and vehicles. She might need to rethink her kit and plan for a combat suit as well in the future. Sam felt as if fire was once more filling the left side of her chest. Once they got the sled wall moving, it took less effort and they sped up some. By the time they made it to the ship they were both breathing hard. 

Sam looked at Xander with concern when he fell to his knees. She watched as he smacked his helmet a few times. She followed Xander’s movements and instructions on how to set up the weapons. She found an opening in the side of the ship not far from him. She knew time was running out and the enemy was almost here.  Chaos chuckled as he gave her a friendly nudge and a smile as he told her. [color=b0021d]“Don’t worry. After all this, you’re definitely getting that five-star review. Though I do wish we had some bevvies for this send off. Hell, I’d settle for that juice box.” [/color] She shook her head laughing. 

There was not enough time to do much for him. Her canteen was in her backpack which had been in the DPV. She couldn’t even offer him a drink of water. She did have some quick clot packs in her first aid kit. She pulled them out and showed them to him. She tore them open and poured them along the wound on his arm. 

[color=ec008c]“Well I don’t have a beverage to offer. How about we stop this bleeding, and we can get a drink together when we are back on base?”[/color] She winked at him as she finished and moved back to her weapons. [color=ec008c]“Maybe we can discuss how many stars you deserve.”[/color] She smirked as she placed her weapon so that it rested against the hole of the ship instead of on her shoulder. She used the edge of the hole to stabilize the weapon. It was not ideal, but she couldn’t lift the weapon to her shoulder. She would make it work. Her sniper rifle had been in the DPV. She still had her machine gun, but it didn’t have the range she would need. Her eyes focused on the incoming enemy. Her brain calculating trajectory angles based on the weapon's position as she began to track the incoming enemy.