06:46:58 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS

Once at the elevator, Errand takes a moment to make sure the chem lights are still on, and there is nothing nasty waiting for the team above. Assured that the shaft is tango free Errand takes a knee and removes the Ares made stealth grapple line gun. The boxy looking weapon easily fit his hand. The 100 meter line was stored in the bulk of the weapon. It made little sound, other than the soft zipping as the line was fed. The grapple head found a home with a "thunk". A pull assured him that the line was secure.

"Assume that from this point forward the drek is a nanosecond from hitting the fan. If anything goes bad, we get split up, we come under fire, Tron your mission is the data, get to extraction point and call for the evac. If we have to Mako and I can hoof it out of the A-O"

Tossing the line into the shaft Errand resumes his protective stance with his carbine pointing down the hallway.

06:46:58 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS

With a curt nod, Tron hooks up to the line and begins the descent. The tension was starting to fill the air as the seconds toward sunrise kept clicking away.

Well, at least look at this way....it's better then dying in prison.

At the bottom of the shaft, Tron slips into the dive gear and gets ready for the final part of the journey.

06:51:00 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS

Errand hung over the shaft, dangling by one arm from the rope. Mako just passed the halffway mark and was moving pretty slow. The mage was gooad at what he did, it just wasn't physical labor. Errand let his grip lossen, the nylon rope slid through his hands. He used his hand and leg to control his decent, but he let it go at a fairly good clip. He wanted to get down fast.

06:53:19 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, third floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

By the time Errand reached the bottom of the shaft, Tron was already suited up and in the water, floating effortlessly with his weight compensator set to positive buoyancy. Mako was struggling to get back into his gear, clearly unfamiliar with the tasks required. Errand scanned up the shaft, making sure that nothing nasty was poised to drop in on them unexpectedly. His skin crawled with eagerness at getting out of this building, but he waited patiently for the mage. Mako had been a trooper so far, dealing well with a difficult situation that would have challenged even trained operators. A loud splash announced the mage's entry into the flooded elevator shaft, and after a moment his bobbed to the surface amidst a cloud of bubbles. Slinging his rifle, Errand pulled his own gear out and strapped it on. Remembering the narrowness of the elevator access, he slung his tank over his arm, ready to pass it down through the hatch. Flashing Tron a thumbs up, he slipped into the water and together the three of them swam through the inky water towards the base of the elevator shaft.

06:53:19 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, Lab Complex Two, twenty-seventh floor, offshore LA, CFS


By the time Errand started to submerge, Tron was already moving into the inky darkness. Methodically working his way through the debris, Tron scanned around and followed his sense of direction toward the opening. A sense of urgency was sounding in his head like an Klaxon.

If it gets too light, we are going be shot like fish in a barrel.

07:00:45 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, ground floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Eighty meters down it was still as black as midnight, the water would be untouched even by the rays of the noonday sun. The three hung motionless in the water, camouflaged by the debris and wreckage strewn about the loading bay. Tron's astral vision revealed the direction they would have to travel, but did nothing to help him discern the location of the biodrone. The Manasphere did seem to be more active than usual, though, violent flares of light racing across the ocean floor in great concentric ripples. Errand motioned him forward, and Tron felt cold sweat on his skin despite the wetsuit. Taking one last look around, he swam into the darkness.

07:02:16 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Bridge of the AFS POWELL, offshore LA, CFS

"Sir, remote ops reports Sentry Unit Charlie has been recovered. Sentry Unit Bravo is proceeding to its assigned patrol area."

LT Julian Amundson acknowledged the OS2's report with a nod, sipping from his coffee mug. The early morning sun was just starting to burn off the low marine layer which cloaked the coastline over night, the windows of the bridge slowly darkening in response to the increasing light. A host of display tags spangled the AR overlay, the one representing the submerged biodrone flashing needlessly in highlight. Amundson flicked it away with a careless gesture, moving to the port bridge wing to gaze out at the expanse of the western horizon. A warning ping drew his attention from the ghostly dark horizon. The POWELL's surface search radar had identified a contact who's course would take it across the exclusion zone surrounding the ruined building of Ares SoCal Headquarters. Again, the OS2 highlighted the datatag to draw the attention of the watch team. Pinching the tag with his fingers drew forth an action item menu from which Amundson selected the 'transmit warning'. Immediately the pre-recorded message spewed forth on the marine band channel sixteen, as well as both FM, VHF, and UHF guard frequencies. The small powerboat, a bayliner by the looks of it, seemed to hesitate for a moment, continuing on its initial course before heeling over eastward onto a new heading that would take it clear of the exclusion zone. Satisfied, Amundson turned back to the western horizon and took another drink of coffee.

07:03:20 Ares Facility 90 meters below sea level.

Errand watched Mako swim out into the nether with fear, mingled with anticipation.

Maybe going last wasn't such a great idea.

He had timed it in his head when he swam out, 90 seconds is what it took. The darkness was still bleek but it wasn't quite as bad as when he came in, thankfully. That was good and bad, good in that he might be able to make his way along the bottom in a generaly strait line till he could make out the under water flare. Bad that the shark could make him out better. A minute and a half ticked by... more than enough time for Mako to have been eaten... or made it to the shelter of the drain.

Slowly Errand made his way out from under the broken building feeling his way along the ground, when the building was far enough behind him, and he was sure that he was pointed in the right direction, he kicked off. With all his real, and cultured muscles Errand kicked with his feat and pulled with this arms though the water. It was an intense effort to not hold his breath, but to remember to breath evenly as raw terror engulfed him. Being eaten by a shark was not on his list of ways to go.

07:05:08 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - minus eighty meters, offshore LA, CFS

A brief flash of light drew Errand's attention, and he corrected his path, pulling hard against the black resistance of the water. A few more strokes and he could make out the thin illumination from the chemlights they left with the sled. Mako was already strapped in, while Tron hovered at the edge of the storm drain, watching to make sure Errand was clear of pursuit. Errand motioned and Tron dropped into his seat in the sled. Errand was right behind, pushing the throttles forward even before securing his harness. The trip through the storm drain this time was much less harrowing, mostly because they were on the outbound leg, having secured the objective and traversed the difficult portion of the mission. Errand reminded himself, though, that the job wasn't over until they were back at the hangars. He couldn't afford to let his guard drop now. Too many times he'd seen things go wrong just when the team thought they were home free.

Again, the invisible grip of Tron's spirit envelopes the sled, speeding them along their route. It was a smooth transition to the open ocean as well, climbing swiftly into the light. Already, Errand could see the wake of the APOGEE, curving across the surface towards their intercept point. He goosed the throttles to their stops, fighting against the inertia of the sled in the water. With savage glee he brought the two vessels together in more of a controlled crash than any kind of docking maneuver.

Kiyonaga, with a strength that didn't match his slim frame, slammed down the locking arm on the bow of the sled before helping Mako climb aboard the speedboat. Cyrenne glanced over her shoulder once before heeling the boat over in a turn towards shore.

07:05:08 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - minus eighty meters, offshore LA, CFS

Phew! Not shark bait. If this is the trial, we may be looking at hard time! thought Tron.

Tron gave a slight nod to Errand...We live to fight another day. One of the benefits of the time spent together, Tron and Errand didn't have to speak to understand thoughts. The nice thing about being professional, the calm mask...even with the adrenaline pumping!

07:30:00 Tuesday October 2070 APOGEE Extraction vessel

Errand sighed as he sat down in the paded rear seat. There was't alot of room on the boat, but there was enough to strip out of his dive armor and put on something more comfortable, his combat clothes and tac gear. He craddled a cup of hot choclate and admired the rising sun. He was starting to wonder if he would ever get the chance to see it again.

I will not go back.

07:32:14 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Singularity speedboat APOGEE, northbound, offshore LA, CFS

The sun was already a full handsbreadth above the horizon, the low morning fog thinning beneath its rays. Cyrenne had the throttle up at eighty percent, the bow of the speedboat lifting clear of the water from the thrust of the twin waterjets. Errand glanced behind them at the roostertail of spray, sweeping his eyes across the horizon for signs of pursuit or surveillance. Mako motioned and Errand passed him the thermos full of hot chocolate. The slim asian mage unscrewed the top enough to take a drink. A look of faint confusion clouded his face, and Errand was about to ask him if there was something wrong when Mako's face went ghost white and he pitched forward, unconscious.

"Tron!" shouted Errand, catching the mage and turning him so he lay on his back on the deck. Both Tron and Kiyonaga were there instantly, the former flipping open his medkit while the latter unclipped Mako's dive armor and unzipped his wetsuit. Errand knew he'd only be in the way now, so he scooped up his assault rifle, laying it over the stern of the boat and searching for mage that had put Mako down.

Ten minutes later he was still scanning when Tron sat back in disgust.

"Fragging medkit says he's asleep. I can't tell what's wrong. Do we have medevac waiting on shore?" He shot the question at Kiyonaga, but it was Cyrenne who answered.

"I've radioed ahead, we'll have a dustoff bird waiting for all of us. de Medici wants the data cores back soonest."

Tron nodded, glancing over at Errand. The grim set of the ork's face was all the answer he needed. The last fifteen minutes of the boat ride seemed to drag on for hours, the silence broken only by the heavy thrum of the APOGEE's marine diesels and the cries of the gulls wheeling overhead. As they approached the boat ramp, though, Errand could make out the pulse of rotors. One of the unmarked Hughes Stallions waited in the parking lot, rotors spinning at a flat pitch while half a dozen armed guards kept watch. Two of them hustled down to the dock as the APOGEE neared, the spidery framework of a field litter held between them.

Cyrenne waited until they were almost upon the dock before killing the engines. The bow of the boat dropped into the water, slowing their forward motion quickly. They still had enough momentum to crush the rubber bumpers of the dock almost flat when they hit, though. Kiyonaga looped the stern line around one of the pilings, snugging it tight. Cyrenne was out and walking down the dock, the sack with the datacores slung over her shoulder. The two soldiers dropped into the boat, quickly lifting Mako onto the litter. Tron and Errand stood on the dock to receive the litter, passing it carefully until they could get a solid grip on the handles. All four then trotted back to the helo.

The litter locked in place against the rear firewall, and one of the guards fitted a portable monitoring device over Mako's wrist. The rest of the guards were mounting up in the chopped, manning the door guns forward of the main cabin. Tron and Errand were just a little slow in strapping in, still fighting with the jumpseat harnesses when the helicopter lifted off, accelerating nose low in a brutal battlefield extraction. Again, the way that the Singularity pilots employed combat maneuvers, even in a seemingly non-hostile environment, impressed Errand.

The flight back to the Singularity hangars was a ten minute roller coaster ride at nape of the earth altitudes and speeds at the top of the helicopter's performance. Thrown forward into his harness again as the helicopter banked sharply to avoid a series of telephone poles, Tron grimaced.

"Man, I wish this flight had meal service."

Errand laughed. Finally the long concrete runways of the Santa Susana Logistics Field flashed past beneath them, and Errand anticipated the aircraft slowing to a hover before setting down. The pilot had no intention of remaining visible to hostile surveillance for that long, though, only pulling the nose up at the last minute to set the aircraft down on its tailwheel first before dropping heavily to the mainmounts. The helicopter still had about twenty knots of groundspeed on when it rolled through the open hangar doors, only braking to a halt once completely inside. None of the groundcrew react to the hot landing, merely moving forward to chock the wheels of the helicopter while the pilot kills the engines. As the rotors wind down, Errand sees de Medici waiting for them in the middle of the hangar.

08:15:01 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 – Santa Susana Logistics Field Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Errand disembarked the helicopter with the ease of a man who had done it many times. He gave the pilot a nod and smile, "thanks for the trip home," before approaching de Medici. A weapons tech, a man Errand hadn't seen before, rushed up to him as he approached de Medici, he took his weapons and gear quickly and efficiently.

"Sir, the operation had a few problems, but was generally a success. Would you like a debrief here, or inside?"

08:15:12 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 – Santa Susana Logistics Field Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

de Medici glances at the support tech, a brief flash of annoyance crossing his face. Errand understood immediately that the tech was out of place and conducting his business at the inappropriate time. The conversation between operator and employer quite possibly was beyond the security clearance for the technician. de Medici shook his head.

"No, our preliminary debriefing will be conducted in the operations room with Cai. It won't be long, I know you've been up all night so we'll keep it short. Additionally, we haven't had a chance to examine the data you've retrieved. Our full mission debrief is scheduled for 1600, enough time for you and your team to get some rest and have a meal. I'm going to check on Mako, then meet up with you for the debrief. Any idea what happened to him?"

08:20:00 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 – Santa Susana Logistics Field Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Errand fought the temptation to screw up his face... what the hell did he know about magic?

"I am not aware of anything that could have happened to him, unless the Hot Chocolate was poisoned and I was just more ressistant. Anything beyond that is outside my AO."

Errand gave a nod to de Medici as he departed, and finished checking in his gear. He made a polite inquiry to the armorer if he could come down and clean the weapon himself, and got a firm no. He looked around the little area he could, couldn't find Tron, and decided to sack out. The buzz that follows an OP was quickly wearing off and he was growing fatigued by the minute. With only a few wrong turns he made his way back to their dorm. The small apartment was silent, clean and the way they left it. He briefly thought about the girl, the one who smiled at him, but decided sleep took precdent.

The bed loomed closer and he collapsed on it, gratefull to not be in jail anymore...

08:20:01 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 ��" Santa Susana Logistics Field Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

...almost as soon as his head hit the pillow his, Tron's voice echoed in his ear, "What are you doing buddy? Debrief now in the Ops room!"

Frag.

Errand was tired, he swore at himself for not paying closer attention to what the man said.

"Right, on it, be there in 4."

He tossed his tack harness into the corner and ran for the door. He got into the hallway and charged down the corridors till he saw the door, and then came to a brisk walk. Inside was Tron, de Medici, and the people who had been there the day before. He nodded and took a seat.

08:24:18 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

de Medici does not look up as Errand slips through the door, his attention focused on the hologram only he can see. The image appears as a slight distortion in the air in front of him, polarized so that only his eyes correctly parse the separate light beams. He closes the call with a gesture, though, turning to look at the assembled individuals. Cai waits patiently at the head of the table, while Tron sits near the opposite end. Cyrenne is next to de Medici, while Kiyonaga leans back in his chair across the table.

"That was the Med Bay. Mako is stable, but still unconscious. They're not sure yet what the problem is, but they suspect some kind of magical attack."

He looked to Errand.

"Why don't you take us through the operation reconstruction to see if we can isolate the most likely time he was attacked?"

08:24:18 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Tron shakes his head. "I don't remember him having any trouble until the ex-fil. But here is my recolections of the operation." Tron gives his narration of the events that transpired. He doesn't hold anything back. If this is try outs, best not anger the hand that is currently feeding me. After he completes the recount, plus up loads any images from the drones to aid in the playback, Tron leans back and motions toward Errand to begin his data dump....Even if he was late to the briefing...Tron thinks with just the glimmer of a grin.

08:24:18 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Errand returned the grin with a slight wink. He then turned his attention to de Medici, "well sir we inserted at the OP at...", his account of events, minus the fancy images and holo's that Tron had provided, was word for word what Tron had said. The only differences were point of view.

"...and that's when Mako folded like a lawn chair. I have no idea what happened to him. My immediate response was to scan the perimeter, I saw nothing in range. My assumption, and this is only my assumption based on gut instinct alone, is that magic was responsible. My knowledge of that field is limited so make of that what you will. After that we returned here, as far as I know, it was a successful OP."

Errand finished tilted his chair back and waited for questions. He triggers his commlink overlay onto his contact lenses and pulled up the secure link that Tron created.

I hope to hell we passed whatever test this was, because I really don't want to go back to prison. Unless you have another plan, preferably one that doesn't involve us shooting our way out of here if things go bad?

08:43:37 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

de Medici listens carefully through the reconstructions, taking notes almost constantly and asking questions to clarify certain points. After Errand finishes, he motions to Cyrenne and Kiyonaga to add their reconstructions as well. Cai follows with a short description of the encounter between the biodrones. None of the other information revealed indicates a likely cause of Mako's injuries.

"All right, thank you all for the good work. Get some rest. We'll reconvene at 1600 for a full mission debrief. Hopefully by that time Cai will have analyzed the recovered data and developed an idea for our next operation. You're dismissed."

08:43:37 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

Errand placed his hands flat on the table and pushed himself up. He gave a nod to de Medici and a shrug to Tron. He wasn't sure what had happened to Mako other than he knew it didn't matter. If you bought the farm from a bullet or mojo, you still bought it.

"Hey Omae, I need to crash, see you back at the room."

Tron had a habit, even when they were on runs, of staying up for days at a time. Errand never quite figured out how he did. Or how he survived that psyhco's full auto barrage at point blank. That brought a smile to his face. He didn't even know the punk's name really, just that he worked for Frost, and had been paid well to betray Errand and Tron. The memory of the betrayal was still bitter. But finding that punk in the prison population wasn't to hard, especially when he paid some well placed bribes through his PD. It took most of the 80k he had saved up but he got transferred where he needed to be. Found him, and beat the hell out of him before breaking his neck with his bear hands. Revenge was not a professional trait, and it was an emotion Errand worked to put behind him. This one time though he allowed it. Since he couldn't get to Frost, and the lucky bastard had survived all the grenades that had been shot his way, he allowed it.

The bunk loomed at him again, he set his commlink to wake him at Fifteen Thirty hours, no need to be late again.

15:30:05 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Santa Susana Logistics Field, Singularity Housing Bay Two, Temp Quarters, Hangar 5B, Simi Valley, CFS

The incessant shaking of his arm finally dragged Errand from sleep, and he sat up, rubbing his eyes with one hand while he stilled the alarm on his commlink with the other. Alerted by his motion, the room brightened to an ambient light. He sat on the edge of the bed for a moment longer, enough to hear the muted sounds of the trid filtering through the closed door. With a sigh, he made his way into the bathroom to freshen up before the meeting.

Twenty minutes later and feeling slightly more human, he stepped out into the common room of the shared housing unit. Tron had his feet up on the table, AR windows spread out in front of him with the trid droning in the background merely for some ambient noise. A mostly eaten chicken salad sandwich along with chips and what could have been four or five strips of bacon were left on a plate on the table. At the sight of food, Errand's stomach growled, and he made his way to the kitchen.

He'd just finished the first half of his own sandwich when the door chimed. Tron cued it open with a lazy gesture from his offhand, having already penetrated the house network. Cyrenne stood in the hallway, a half-smile of unsurprise on her face.

"Ready?"

"Yeah," Errand answered, heading off any kind of off-color remark that Tron was working up. The tall ork grabbed a liter of water from the fridge before following the two humans out into the hall. Together the three of them made their way back to the meeting room. To Errand's surprise, the only other individual present when they arrived was Cai, her hologram leaning against the head of the table while appearing to leaf through a stack of flimsies. He glanced sidelong at Tron, who shrugged. If the decker wanted to maintain such an elaborate fiction, and if de Medici permitted it, who was he to complain? Errand slid into a seat and leaned back, waiting.

It was only a minute more before de Medici and Kiyonaga arrived. The slim corporate operator glanced around the table to ensure that everyone required was present, before fixing his gaze on Errand.

"OpsDiv, along with Cai, have completed a preliminary analysis of the information your team recovered, and it looks very promising. An in depth analysis will not be complete for another four days, but we believe that we've located the next target for your team. This time it should be a little easier, since the entrance is outside any area claimed by corporate forces."

He turns to Cai, who has already anticipated his request and is cueing the trideo display. The viewpoint swoops down from atmospheric surveillance altitude towards the northwestern coast.

"It will be another underwater insertion, through this series of caves, here," de Medici continued, the particular geographical reference highlighting itself needlessly. The viewpoint moved through the narrow, twisting tunnel for two, perhaps three hundred meters.

"According to the data, this series of caves opens up into a larger, dry cave system. This system is one of the many series of caves formed unnaturally by the action of Mana in the submerged area of Los Angeles. The data indicates that it will travel adjacent to the subway lines here, and here, branching off into three smaller tunnel systems. The easternmost one will take you to the target. It should terminate at the walls of a subterranean Universal Omnitech research and development facility. This facility was part of their metallurgical research division, but was damaged and abandoned after the quake. OpsDiv calculates that due to the remote nature of the location a seventy eight point three percent chance remains that it has been undisturbed by looters. You should be able to breach the walls at either of these two locations, access the labs, and recover any sample materials left inside. We're not interested in data this time, only hard samples. They'll be easy to identify, but just in case I've downloaded a list of sixty common Universal Omnitech R&D labels to your commlinks."

de Medici pauses in his briefing, looking back at Tron and Errand.

"Before I continue, is there anything you'd like to offer for planning consideration?"