[center][h1]Kaitiaki HQ, New Zealand In the Armory[/h1] [h2] [color=ec008c]The Calm before the Chaos[/color] [/h2][/center] [hr] [color=ec008c]Samantha[/color] had spent a few days pulling secrets and information out of Pavel’s computer. The intel she had recovered had led to two new operations. Once she had unlocked everything on his computer and broken through the encryption, she had begun the initial analysis of the data. She had done the first runs of analysis on the data with Skye uncovering some disturbing information about Artemis’ interest in a drug being produced by the man that Mateo was hunting. The information had also yielded a location of interest that needed investigation. Samantha had turned the remaining task over to Raven’s analyst team as she needed to get ready for the next operation. She still needed to get acquainted with her new suit. Her last suit had been trashed in the explosion in the desert. Samantha spent some time with Javi working on upgrading vehicles and gear. She didn’t have much time before Singapore to work on her suit. She had spent the time building gear to help them with a stealth operation. Singapore was not an operation where they could use their tactical gear. It had required the more subtle approach that she had trained for with the CIA. She was still proud of how well her gear had worked on that op. Sam knew her suit requirements were a little different since she tended to play multiple roles on the team. Her suit needed to be able to support all her roles. It was past time that she built a suit designed to work with all her roles. Samantha wanted to prevent similar injuries to those that had taken her out of the field for a few weeks while she healed. Her suit had stopped the bullets, but the damage from the bullets and explosion had incapacitated her in the long run. [hider=Chaos’ Tactical Suit] [center][url=https://ibb.co/xq6nm8Y][img]https://i.ibb.co/tpD0ZPz/Chaos-Tactical-Suit.jpg[/img][/url][/center] [/hider] She started with her helmet. She replaced the visor with a reinforced bullet proof smart glass that could be used as a heads-up display. She could also tint the glass so her face was not visible or make it clear so she could see out. The glass would help protect her vision against bright lights from stun grenades or explosions. She needed that when she was in active combat as a pilot. The HUD would work in conjunction with her onboard AI to help with things like target identification and overlay different vision options from her embedded camera systems such as infrared and night vision. She added a layer of the custom gel that would be lining her whole suit. This would give her head some additional cushioning if she got bounced around again from an explosion. She developed a special gel that she was using throughout the suit. She developed a gel that would help cool the embedded technology and act as a ballistic gel helping to stop kinetic injury and bullet penetration. The gel would help with temperature regulation in the suit as well. The gel was in a sealed layer with an imbedded chip that took the kinetic energy from Samantha’s movement and converted it to a low electrical charge that helped recharge the suit and allowed for the gel to be reactivated. This would allow the onboard AI to regulate the gel as needed for heat dissipation. The outer layer of the armor had areas made from a ceramic alloy infused with titanium. This armor made up the outer shell of her helmet and covered vital areas of her body like her chest. These plates were situated over a woven ballistic Kevlar that offered more flexibility and ease of movement than traditional Kevlar. There was a thin layer of the gel housed in a self-repairing durable material that was almost impossible to puncture or tear. The next layer held embedded electronic components such as cameras, sensors, actuators which were basically synthetic tendons to help with movement, and the needed wiring for those systems. Samantha used the prototype miniaturized quantum dynamic CPU chip and motherboard as the basis for her suit AI instead of a new laptop. The case for the AI was made up of the same titanium infused ceramic alloy of the outer armor and was located on her chest and hidden by the chest plate of her armor. Sam took Xander’s advice to lighten up seriously. Instead of a new laptop she would build an AI computer housed in her suit that could interface with a desktop on base when she was on base. The base for the system was flat and about the size of a small tablet or cell phone. There was another thin layer of gel material which made up the interior layer of the armor. Leaving that tough durable material as the inner layer. The armor was designed to be put on like a jumpsuit. She would step into the boots and pull everything up to her waist. Then pull the arms over her shoulders and zip up the front. There was a flap of the woven Kevlar that covered the zipper. The gloves were pulled on last and the helmet locked into place. There was a brace built around her neck to help prevent spinal injuries and help support her as a pilot when she was pulling heavy g-forces. Hidden in the ridged cowl and chest pieces were cameras, sensors, communications, and rechargeable batteries. The gloves had haptic sensors that could be turned off and on as she needed them. There was a custom-made leather harness rig that rode at her waist and carried her sidearm, grenades, and multiple belt pouches that held other gear she might need for an op. She had a second harness that rode around her midriff area that carried her throwing knives. Built into the armor on the outer legs were cases for her additional gear. The armor was sleek, stylish, and black in color with aquamarine piping. Samantha knew that she was going into a cold environment. She decided on some thermal underwear under her suit would be wise even though the suit had built in environmental systems. She had learned on the last op when your equipment went down, you had to make do with what you had. She didn’t relish fighting frostbite while trying to aim with chattering teeth if her armor failed again. She had developed a jumpsuit coverall that she could pull over her armor that would block heat and radar signatures. She had discovered the chemical formula when developing her new armor that would absorb radar. She had taken the formula and used it to coat a heat reflective material that would hide her from infrared cameras. She figured her guns were not a large enough piece of metal to flag on radar. If she tried to conceal them inside her coverall, getting them out later might be an issue. She strapped her weapon harnesses over the coverall. She stopped for a moment and had a “duh” moment. [i][color=ec008c]Why hadn’t she thought to put the coating on her suit?[/color] [/i]That would help her on stealth missions. She sighed as she could already foresee that she would be upgrading her suit before long, and she just made it! Samantha had chosen her standard loadout. Her knives went into their sheaths. A P365 Sig Sauer which rode in a holster on her hip. A customized M4A1 Carbine that could be modified in the field if needed clipped into the sling harness that attached to the shoulder of her armor. She packed extra ammo magazines and put a silencer on her carbine. She had opted to leave her sniper rifle at home. They were trying to sneak in unannounced and weight might be a concern with how they were getting in. Sam laughed at that thought. [i][color=ec008c]Okay weight was not a consideration.[/color][/i] Samantha was not comfortable carrying both guns at once. She could but it made more sense to be able to move fast and stealthy. That meant her carbine with a silencer. She would be more effective getting in close anyway. That is where she shined as an operator. She packed some new grenades she had come up with that incorporated her knockout spray. She had developed an aerosolized grenade to spew the knockout spray in a gaseous cloud. The grenades packed enough spray for a 5-foot radius circle. Samantha grinned as she remembered testing it out on base. She couldn't predict how well they would work in the field. Inside building yes because their was no wind but there were circulation systems that might spread the cloud. Outside you had unpredictable wind to deal with. She coudln't predict how that would work as the gas spread over an area. [i][color=ec008c]Would it lose its potency? Would it still work if people came into contact with it?[/color][/i] She didn’t know how long it might keep someone knocked out since she had not tested them yet on people. The concentrated spray had worked great in Singapore. It seemed like the next step since it had worked so well. She decided to test them on this op. She might as well test them on people she didn't care about. She packed 4 night-night grenades. She put two stun grenades onto the weapons harness and added two explosive grenades. She put tools in the pouches at her waist. She only took the ones she thought she might need. The basic screwdrivers, wire cutters, that sort of thing. She did a little test jump and made sure everything stayed where she wanted it and didn't make excess noise. She nodded satisfied as things only shifted a little and there were no loud clanking noises to give her away. She heard Skye’s voice and looked over at their leader. She was evidently giving last-minute instructions or a pep talk to Mateo and Tahlia. She waited a beat before walking up to Skye. [color=ec008c]“Did I forget anything?”[/color] She grinned at her boss. [hr] [center][h1]Patagonia, Chile[/h1] [b][h3]Fireteam Condor[/h3][/b] [h3] [color=ec008c]Let the Chaos Begin![/color] [/h3][/center] Samantha was sitting on a bench inside their staging area. It was one of the most beautiful places she had ever seen. She was glad they had arrived during the daytime so she could appreciate the idyllic scenery. She had grinned as she listened to Vincent going on and on about the VTOL that she had helped Javi overall and set up for this operation. She snickered as she heard the back and forth between Vincent and Skye. She looked over to Freya. [color=ec008c]“How are you doing Freya? Are you ready to do this?”[/color] She smiled at Freya’s obvious excitement. Skye gave the orders to start the op in motion. She nodded and grinned at Skye [color=ec008c]“Yes Boss”[/color]. She gave Skye a cheeky grin as she left the hut to start running the lines from the helium tanks to the compressors. Samantha made sure the lines were not kinked and laid out nicely before she inspected the connections between the tanks and the lines. It would be a disaster if the tank leaked out excess gas to a poor connection or worse, a bad connection blew and took out the tank with it. Gas was typically stored under high pressure. She exercised due caution to ensure they had a smooth time filling the suit. She went to help Freya suit up. [color=ec008c]“Do you need any help?”[/color] She didn’t want to connect the lines to the suit until Freya was in and ready. She didn’t want Freya to get caught in any lines and break them.