Silverwind Blade

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

Hey dude, sorry I haven't done a post in a while. Been feeling rushed off my feet/stressed and like there's not enough hours in the day to do anything lately. Not to mention my mojo has taken a nosedive as a result, which always hits my mental health hard.
Just clawing my way back to some kind of good at the moment, and wanted to let you know that I hadn't lost interest, just needing a few moments to get back into the groove.

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

"Sigma what-now?" The Israeli woman said in reply in her lilting, mellifluous accent as the Stormhound turned toward the rear of the container and took a few heavy-footed steps. "I have no idea what you just said".
She followed along in his wake dutifully and with practiced and efficient motions as they burst out of hiding. A brief thought of how poor Georgios' mind must be blown wide open flitted through her head, and then it was down to the practical side of things. And if their driver was surprised, the soldiers weren't far behind.
Tobias words registered with her as she caught sight of a group of people running to position, taking cover and setting up to shoot with careful, smooth motions that she recognised and respected. Of course, it didn't change anything much and they'd still have to be dealt with.
Crosshairs and icons in her line-of-sight, projected on the inside of her helmets' visor slid over the forms of the men and women aiming rifles and SMGs at the pair of them from their right, and with subtle movements and acknowledgements in sub-vocalised commands, she sent rounds toward them from the auto-shotgun on her right arm, walking the booming stream of 12-gauge across their positions. Those it didn't hit outright kept their heads down. Spying the twisted door of the container lying on the ground, she wrapped both armoured gauntlets around it's edge, and with a whirling throw, pitched it towards the nearest knot of men and women, who went running with a yell; one too slow and sent flying in a bone-crunching heap. Others ran to his side, effectively removing them from the fight as well, to her satisfaction.
A short burst of CS grenades forced others into scattering, breaking up their formations effectively, and a couple of smokes covered their flank, and gave room for her to charge closer in heavy footfalls.
"I'm keeping them scattered," she called out to Tobias over their channel as she moved up. "Not giving them much of a chance to get any good firing positions or rally against us. If we keep our momentum up, it shouldn't be a problem!"

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

Gabby had found the inside of the container as much of a sweltering sauna as Tobias had. The Stormhound stood with it's back open ready for her to climb in, while the Israeli herself was laid down on her back atop a long packing crate, legs propped up against the container wall, head lolling over the end of the container. Despite her thick black hair being pinned up, strands of it still clung to her forehead with sweat, and the front her her operator suit was unzipped and rolled down to her waist, leaving a purple sports-bra covering her modesty, despite the curves - and muscles - on show. An empty bottle of water lay on the floor of the container next to her, with a capped one in her hand as she debated pouring it over her face instead of drinking it. Normally, she'd have eaten chocolate before a mission, allowing herself to enjoy the sweet, velvety treat... but this time it would've just been a melted, pulpy disappointment. Instead she gave a low groan before pressing one hand to her ear, listening in over the discreet earpiece plugged in and tied to the Stormhound and Firehounds' comms via bluetooth. As Tobias replied, she clicked her own mic in conformation as well, listening in. She rolled over and sat up, pulling her clothing back up and on, pausing only as the same realization crept across her as Tobias, sharing a look with him with a momentary stunned expression on her face, before she slowly zipped up the rest of her suit and downed another mouthful of lukewarm water with a grimace.
"Well, shit". She said quietly and shook her head. "Will it make a difference now if we do tell him? It might even make things worse; he might warn the guards or something. I mean, he doesn't sound like he's got any issues with the General. But," she shrugged. "We don't want to put him in danger unnecessarily". She made an exasperated sound, chewing her lip a moment and glancing toward the direction of the cab and tapping the now empty plastic bottle against her thigh in thought, before she keyed her own mic. "The General's definitely going to be surprised, Georgios," she replied, using the same voice she used to use when in the border police and giving instructions to civilians in dangerous situations. "Best you keep your head down once we spring it on him though. Things will get very... confusing once we do. We'll make sure you get your own, far more pleasant, surprise out of it too, don't worry".
She looked to Tobias and shrugged back. "No time to do much more," she said with obvious worry. "Other than get as ready as we can. Had situations go sideways like this when I was in the police and Yamam. Only thing to do is assert authority and keep plowing ahead".
She grimaced and tossed the empty bottle to the container floor and climbed into the Stormhound, beginning the suits' start-up sequence, the machine coming to life with a melodious hum, before the suit folded closed around her. A few moments later the internal environmental system cut in, dousing her with blessedly cool air. A sip of cold water from the suits' internal system helped, as the HUD sprung into life around her line of sight. As the power came up to ready, the suits' artificial muscles energised, and the weight came off of her body as the machine took its' own weight. Flexing her hands in the padded 'waldo' like arms made the suits' robotic hands flex in the same way and she set her face into a firm, stern expression as she watched the time tick down in the display, straining her hearing to listen for any reply to the conversation, tension setting in to replace the boredom and heat-related fatigue from minutes earlier.

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

Hiya man, I finally got a post up; had been meaning to for a little while, but things got a bit busy. Had some (ugh) practical stuff I had to get on with, and it was my birthday as well, and a big one at that, so I had a party.
However, came back energised and excited, so I've put up a post to keep things moving along - especially since I had some time to think about it.
Not a lot in there, but it's my loadout up, and gets us moving to the next step as well.

Hope you're doing well!

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

Gabby looked over Tobias' shoulder as he went to work on his loadout, doing her best to be annoying and distract him in a friendly way as he went through, before relenting as he got to work properly. It was only a few minutes and he was done, and sliding it over to her. She accepted with a nod of thanks, meeting his eyes as he spoke.
"All right," she replied with a nod. "I think I've got a few ideas already. From what the boss briefed, looks like we'll be dealing with soft targets primarily... although; I hate surprises, and it never hurts to be ready".
Her slender brows curved as she concentrated on the screen, large but long fingers dancing across the icons as she tapped in the details for her own loadout specific to the mission, taking Tobias' advice onboard as she did so.

"Stormhound - Duner"

R. Arm - Auto-Shotgun (select-feed: Buckshot/FRAG-12)
L. Arm - Flamethrower
R. Shoulder - Recoilless Rifle (select-feed: Smoke/HEDP/Flechette)
L. Shoulder - GMG (select-feed: sticky foam/HE/CS Gas)
Secondary: 2x CBJ-MS with drum mags
Melee: Chainsaw
2 x Limpet Mine

"All of that combined with the shredders already onboard and my normal 'light and sound show', and I think those poor bastards are going to be wishing they'd stayed at home. I almost feel sorry for them; but who knows. Maybe there'll be some smart ones who actually run away this time, eh?"
She patted Tobias on the shoulder as she stood up. "At least this time there's not a massive time difference to make up with sleeping or whatever... and I doubt there'll be much else to other than sleep and wait once we're packed into our crate, either".

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

Really enjoyed that post, so wanted to get my reply up quickly, as I had some inspiration for it. Wasn't as long, but was still a good reply and I had a good amount to work with too. Excited to get us both back out in the field again, although the downtime between was fun.
I'm going to start thinking a bit more about Gabby's background and off-time as well, so I can think of more to do with her when we next get some downtime from ops as well.

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

Gabby grinned widely at Tobias' comment about building things in his shed, and laughed as Alex showed her confusion. She waved a goodbye to the technician as they made their way to the briefing room next door.
As they entered, she nodded in greeting to Gavin, following up her partners' response with one of her own. "Much the same as Tobias, sir. Charged up with caffeine, and bored of paperwork. Ready to get out into the field and do the practical part of the job".
She tuned in attentively as the South African began to talk. She found his demeanour and attitude comfortingly familiar; he reminded her of many of the higher ranks she'd encountered during her career with the IDF and the Border Police; people who'd done their time on the line and had the experience, knowledge, and professionalism to show for it, and bore it with understanding, quiet dignity and occasional dour humour, and understood the things their fellow personnel of lower rank were dealing with. She respected him as a result, as she knew he had the same for her and Tobias.

As the Op was revealed in detail, she could feel her eyebrows climbing into her hairline and a bemused smile growing on her ruby-painted lips. She swung slightly in her office chair as she considered the task, leaning back in the chair and looking over the images and information on the interactive whiteboard and pursing her lips. She gave a frown as the Cornishman mentioned the title of 'operation Trojan container', absently replying as she kept her attention on the screen.
"If we're going for Greek Myth, maybe 'Operation Pandora's Box' works better". She turned her attention to Gavin, one eyebrow quirked upward and a slight wry smile still in place.
"We couldn't get the amphibious kit finished in time for this one, eh?" she said ruefully, before shaking her head, raven ponytail swinging. "Well, it seems... not straightforward, but not like something we can't handle, necessarily. Bit more James Bond than we're used to, but unlike Commander Bond, we have bulletproof armour, and we don't need to be subtle. Like you said; speed and aggression".
Tobias made his comment and she caught the reference, rolling her eyes but a smile in place as she did so.
"I have a loadout in mind already, if it's mostly infantry we'll be dealing with. Shouldn't be too much worse or better than the last op; just in closer quarters and with a... 'unique' insertion and extraction, to say the least. When do we ship out - pun fully intended".

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

Gabby moved along quietly in Tobias wake, smiling gently as she walked through the building with him, nodding or giving greetings to those she recognised as they headed into the basement and passed others at work. She followed suit with her security checks and stepped into the maintenance bay a few steps behind the slighter man, taking her hands from her jacket pockets as she walked closer to the pair of suspended Exosuits, hanging by chains from suspension points in black-and-yellow hazard striped steel frames. She glanced over as Alexandra greeted them, pressing one of her hands against the Stormhound's cool metal chest and looking into the blank visor that was above her own head height, before turning back around and listening in to the chat.
She chuckled as Alex mentioned the harpoon and the cable, grinning to Tobias. "Aw, so no Spiderman adventures for you yet, eh?" she said with a smirk, before listening attentively at the rest of the upgrades and giving an appreciative nod at the increase in performance and capability in her partners' suit. The big woman lightly rapped her knuckles against the suits' smooth armoured carapace and turned with a raised eyebrow to Alex in expectation. The ginger-haired woman grinned in reply and flicked through the tablet she held up.
"Don't worry, I got around to yours too. Let's see here; ah yeah. Wasn't too hard to add those mods you requested-" she tapped the screen of the tablet, and a small retractable camera popped up from the head of the suit; and another from the left forearm guard.
"They should let ya see around corners like you requested. And behind you as well. What else... stripped and re-skinned all the bearings in the joints, they're now about twenty percent quieter when you're moving, which added with the new padding on the feet makes you a lot more stealthy... well, for an eight-foot mass of electronics, steel and weapons anyway. Oh, that reminds me; your taser has been upgraded too. It's now an air taser, so you can make contact or short-ranged attacks with it to stun people."
Gabby made an appreciative murmur at that as Alex looked back down at the pad and then back up, an amused smile on her face as she locked eyes with the much bigger woman.
"Oh, and there's a message here from R&D for you... they said 'Please tell Ms. Bat-Seraph to stop requesting the Stormhound to be upgraded with Iron Man blasters and a Gundam beam sword'".
Gabby made an attempt at an innocent face which was immediately ruined by her sniggering

Iron Wolves (SilverwindBlade and FourtyTwo)

Just getting a post up now, and following what you've suggested. Adding one small idea that I thought might be useful from the previous op, which can be further refined following the adding of a flight/hover pack and associated wings in future. Looking forward to our next action too, and some more long-term plot.

Honchos in MiG Alley

Thanks for the reply and the welcome, Gunther. Good to see you too.
I've read a couple of books about the the Sabres Vs. MiGs over the years, and after I read the RP and posted this morning, I read up on the F-86 as well, as it's something I know a little about, but not a lot. Jets from the 60's til now tend to be more my area of expertise, and as you quoted from my profile, usually with a sci-fi or non-historical twist. But as I said previously, I'm not going to pass up the opportunity at an aviation RP, because they're like rocking-horse poop around here.

I appreciate you sharing the bits of info with me too, and I get what you mean about picking up bits of language. While I never served myself, there are a lot of tidbits and terms over here in the UK that have come from things soldiers have picked up or used as slang over the years. I find stuff like that quite interesting as well, so cool to know that little bit of trivia about 'Honcho' and its origins.

Not sure about the Assassin's Creed game, although I appreciate the invite. I've actually never played any of the games, and know nothing of their lore, etc, and not sure if it's a setting I'd be interested in as much as this one.