As soon as the winch is down, Jessie hooks herself up and lets Grendel know to haul her up.

Danny moves Jason to one of the seats along the left side of the plane, making sure he is strapped in securely. Pulling a medkit from his satchel, he hooks it up and begins his examination of young man's condition.

Grendel activates the winch, bringing Jessie up to the hovering tilt-wing.

"Team, Base we have an inbound fast mover, from 360, range 35 klicks, ETA two minutes thirty seconds mark. Get the lead out."

Leaving Danny to run the rest of the hoist transfers, he brings the sensor interface forward from the background, attempting to acquire an active target lock.

Warpath organizes the ascent with all possible speed, bringing up the rear.

The med-kit display flashes and beeps at Danny. The endresult being a confused jumble of multiple prognosis, but the best he can make of it its, the kid is suffering from exposure, hypothermia, hunger, dehydration, abrasions, bruising, and minor cuts.

Jessie makes it to the top.

Danny disconnects the Medkit from Jason, somewhat relieved that the young man isn't suffering from anything too serious.

"Base, what all's the news with that there incomin' plane? We gonna be able t' deal with it? Ah'm a-thinkin' we probably ain't outrunnin' it in this thing."

"Three, Base, minute thirty inbound. Get everyone on board. I'm working on a solution."

Blackjack shouts over the radio to be heard over the wind from the engines. She says, "How much weight can that winch hold, Base? Maybe we don't have to go up one at a time." She runs for the area where the extraction is taking place and gets in line. "Come on, everybody!"

Jessie does what she can to help people up the winch, while talking over the comm, "Three, that spirit you have on call... how effective would it be against that Incoming?"

In the co-pilot's chair, Delacroix's body twitchs as he becomes concious once again. The body slouched in the chair proped itself up against the seat.

"Grendal," the monotone voice called. "I have dispatched the watcher"

Blackjack arrives in the plane, quickly followed by Warpath. With the last of the group up, the ramp slides closed, the hiss of the enviro seal fills the cabin. Ears pop as the atmosphere pressurizes to protect the plane from any chemical or biological agents.

As soon as everyone is in, Jessie rushes to her seat and buckles herself in.

"Buckle up boys!"

Even before the ramp is fully closed, Grendel pivots the aircraft about its vertical axis, nosing over and accelerating to the south. An offhand gesture switches off all external transmissions, going passive on sensors and comms.

"Fast mover ETA one minute, we're running to the south. If we're lucky, he'll lose us in the storm. If we're really lucky, he'll lose us in ground clutter. If we aren't, it's going to be a long swim home."

Warpath, the last up the line, lurches into a seat heavily as the craft spins in place. He fumbles for the straps as best he can and eventually gets himself situated. After that, there's not much to do besides hold on for dear life.

Danny glances over at Jessie as he straps himself in next to the semi-conscious Jason.

"Tough t' say. Might do some good, then again it might not. But we'd lose it's protection if'n Ah ordered it t' try." Pausing momentarily, he looks around the plane's hold at the rest of the group before continuing. "Ah'll give it a shot if y'all want though."

"Wait, did you say it was a storm spirit or somethin'? Base mentioned hiding in the storm. Can't it just create a big cloud around us and hide us from the other plane then?"

Danny smiles across at Jessie.

"Ah can do that, an' in fact was plannin' on it. If'n we didn't require it to attack, that is." Removing his stetson, he runs his fingers through his short dark hair before continuing, "Ah'm thinkin' that'd be the best solution for now."

Replacing his hat, Danny leans back in the seat and closes his eyes. Freeing his Astral form from his body, he flies out through the plane's wall to where the Spirit's cloud-like form surrounds the aircraft. He then requests that the Storm Spirit use it's power of Concealment on the aircraft and it's contents, while at the same time continuing to provide it's protection as it has been doing so far.

That done, the shaman's Astral form heads back to the plane to rejoin his body.

Blackjack moves over to the rescued exile named Jason and takes a look at him. She looks at Danny as he returns to consciousness and says on her radio, "How's he doing?"

As Danny fills her in on the condition of Jason, she brushes his right cheek with her upper left metallic hand and says, "Poor guy...he's in bad shape."

Remembering her sweats, she exclaims, "Oh! I have an idea of something that might help! People lose most of their body heat from their head right? And the torso is what matters most because its the hottest part..."

Blackjack unzips her duffel bag and takes out her sweats. They are several sizes too small for Jason, so she bundles his hands into the sweatshirt to keep them warm and puts the sweatpants onto his head with the legs draped behind him to act as a makeshift cap and hold in his body heat. Blackjack is careful to try and pull the drawstrings of the waist tight so that the pants won't fall too far over Jason's face.

She stands back to admire her work and says, "There! That's better!" She smiles at Jason and sits down on the other side of him, strapping herself into her seat.

Danny watches quietly as Blackjack goes about her ministrations, his left eyebrow rising slightly at the end result.

Jessie smiles, watching the whole process. She then reaches into her pack and pulls out a nutrition bar and tosses it in Jason's lap.

"Lookin' good there boy. Chew on that for a while, I'm sure you've got a mad case of the munchies."

Color returns to Jasons cheeks as Blackjack wraps him in her sweats. HIs eyes flutter open for a moment. "Wow," he whispers, "your gorgeous." Then promptly falls back unconcious.

Outside the Ares tilt wing, clouds and fog roll around it. Shielding it from prying eyes and sensors. 2000 feet west, a F/A-27 screams by at 1,200 KPH. Passive sensors show it continue on for another klick, then bank hard and come back to the island, puling a long circle. When it finally disapears of Grendels sensors, it was circling the island, as if searching for something.

Blackjack blushes when Jason compliments her on her appearance. She giggles. All she can manage to say is, "Hehehe! Thanks." She tries not to show that she is embarassed. As he falls back asleep, Blackjack says, "That's right. Rest big guy. Your dad will want to see you safe and healthy."

She raises her radio and says, "Base, what's our ETA, and where are we headed? Going to the hangar might be a bad idea, unless the opposition has given up on that area. Should I call Zoe and tell her we are on our way to the rendezvous site?"

"Six, the rendezvous is across the Salish border, and I don't have a flight clearance that far. We may be able to use the storm to sneak through, but the sensor density along the border makes that an unlikely probability. My suggestion is that we return to the Tacoma hangar, disembark, and go to ground somewhere where we can provide medical attention for our target as well as plan our trip to the rendezvous site. We can use sensors and our astral personnel to clear the airstrip for us. I don't plan on being at the airfield for longer than it takes to shut down the engines and climb out of the aircraft."

"Base, want me to put a call into Zoe and have her get a Doc on call? She can likely work on getting us a border pass as well."

"We should definitely call, Two, but we should also make it clear that the information should go no further than her. I trust my fixer, but I don't trust the people I'm working for. See if she can lay on a Doc as well as finding us a safe house. If we want, she can also start looking at getting us across the border as well as running a security sweep through the airport."

Jessie puts a call through to Zoe, hoping that she'll pick up.

"Ah say we go on right from here. He don' need too much in the way of medical attention, least-wise nothing that stoppin' will help. As fer bein' detected, that there Spirit should give us all an advantage against them border sensors. Ah don't see nothin' gained by goin' back to the hangar instead of jus' completin' the job."

As he talks, Danny continues to fuss over the semi-conscous Jason, doing what he can to make him more comfortable and ease his condition.

The flight back is much smoother than out. The weather has seemed to die off. The storm has blown itself out. In the distant west the sun can be seen setting, rays of gold and red pierce the clouds. The wind is coming from the north aiding your return trip and boosting fuel economy. Danny's storm spirit conceals the aircraft from any prying eyes.

The boy gets better quickly under Danny's care, color and warmth return to him. Twenty minutes into the flight he wakes up, eyes opening carefully.

"Who are you people?"

@ Jessie

Zoe picks the line up nearly instantly. "You got him, great! What, you need a doctor? Can't Danny heal him up, that's what he is there for." When you explain the situation to her,

"Listen, I can't get you a doctor. I can get you med gear, but no other people can see him, soka? I had one of my people swing by the hangar. The FD was there cleaning up the mess but other than that there doesn't seem to be anyone interested in the dead rigger."

on the phone...

"Understood, what about our chances of getting a safehouse setup someplace? The pilot isn't certain this craft can get through the border sensors. We may do the smuggle a different way through. Is there a chance you could secure us a border pass?"

"Well you did get me off there and if you wanted to kill me I suppose you could have done it back on the island." Jason thinks for a moment and then a decision is made.

"Ok, I'll trust you."

Seemingly satisfied for the moment he asks Danny, "do you have anything I can where, these clothes are all torn up." A slight blush comes to his face when he mentions the clothes. He gives a sideways glance to the two girls.

On the phone...

"I can try on the border pass, as for the safew house," you can almost hear her ticking away the options in her head. "I can think of one or two. In the meantime get back to Seattle and I will see what I can come up with. You might have better luck having BJ setup the border pass though."

She disconects the phone and the line goes dead.

The Seattle skyline appears on the planes sensors. A distant mountain range of steel and Glass. The rain is still falling from dark grey clouds that cover the city like an angry dome. However; the wind has died down, and flying is considerably easier.

With only a few minutes left before you need to line up at the airport, now is the time to decide where to go....

"Alright everyone. Zoe is looking into a safehouse for us to crash at for now. Shes also going to be looking into a border pass for us. Six, when we get to the safe house, jump online and see what you can do yourself on getting that hooked up, just in case Zoe falls through."

Danny smiles at the young native as he adjusts the blanket around his still-shivering body.

"Ah'm sure we can find somethin' fer you t' slip into."

The shaman pulls out the unused set of camoflauge clothing given to him before the run, and hands them to the young man. He then holds up the blanket in front of Jason to give him a measure of privacy while he changes.

As Jason changes into the dry clothes, Danny casts a couple of restorative and cleansing spells on the young man.

He comes through looking %100 better. He looks as he did in the hollopick Blaze showed you all. "Thanks, uh, sir? What do I call you?"

"Y'all can jus' call me Danny."

The shaman gathers up the discarded sweat suit and returns it to Jessie, then retrieves the still-uneaten ration bar she had given to Jason and hands it to him again, along with a small container of water.

"Eat up an' get yer strength back."

Grendel drops back into the command interface, his network segmenting itself out before him. Utilizing the aircraft's superior transmission power, he reaches out into the metroplex. The Bison's symbol goes from a cross-hatched matte to highlighted as the network brings the interface live.

Kilometers away, in the darkened garage, the heavy truck's diesel roars to life. Status lights glow green across the databus and hardwired network boxes, sensors and ECM coming online. The drone pilot receives and decodes the instructions, acknowleding with a simple handshake. The garage door rolls up on its track and the Bison disappears into the rain.

Grendel arrays the network's windows arround him as he subsumes into the aircraft again, the EW display dominating to the left and the Bison's direct feed on the right.

"Team, Base, ETA three minutes. Get ready, we're coming in hot. Our ride's waiting. Ground combat element, cover the transfer. Zoe's cleared the airfield so far, but stay frosty."

The tilt-rotor comes in fast, flaring low, and hits the runway still moving at forty knots. Downwash from the powerful six-bladed propellors whipped the standing water into a cascade of white spray. Grendel stays off the brakes to avoid hydroplaning, aerobraking with the wings to come off-speed. As the aircraft rolls towards the hangar, first the right, then the left engine winds down to idle as the fuel flow shuts off, leaving only the APU powering the on-board systems. Grendel drops out of the tilt-wing entirely, setting the brakes by hand. The Bison's cargo door slides open, the interior dry and beckoning. Not waiting, the lanky elf retrieves his two cargo duffles and moves across the tarmac to his vehicle.

Blackjack smiles and says to thier rescued friend, "That's right. We're your friends. You can trust us." She giggles at his request for new clothing.

Blackjack holds out a hand to grab the sweats and says, "Wait, those are mine." with a smile. She quickly stuffs them into her duffel bag and zips it up.

Once on the ground, Blackjack begins helping Jason to walk over to the Bison. "Come on! We have to get out of here as fast as we can."

Jessie throws her backpack over his shoulder and comes up on the other side of Jason from Blackjack to cover that side. Her enhanced eyes and ears scan the area for any sign of trouble.

Warpath continues the task of hanging on for dear life as the craft comes in for a landing. On the descent, he changes out clips in his assault rifle, making sure he's loading Ex-Ex. Another bout of rigger antics is likely to get messy, he decides.

As soon as the landing forces are sufficiently lax, he stands, pulling the ties on his camo cloak. He arranges the cloak around himself as he ranges a little wide from the group to perform overwatch on the group loading to the other vehicle. "Four, Base, I've got overwatch. Let me know when we're ready to roll."

Jason unbuckles and trys to stand, his legs buckle a little. So when Blackjack offers help he gladly accepts it. Grendel walks out of the cockpit, all business. Jason stairs in awe of the elf as he walks in.

"Was he the pilot," he asks Blackjack.

The move to the Bison is fairly easy. Warpath moves into a position on the other side of the Bison, covering the only entrance/exit to the area. Jessie turns on her senses to the max looking for trouble. There doesn't seem to be any.

"Looks like we're all clear. I'll put a call through to Zoe and see how things are going on that safe house."

With that, Jessie dials a line out to Zoe.

"We're on the ground. How is the safe house coming?"

"Yeah, an olds apartment building on the east side, on Rainier drive, 43rd and pine. It's just off the I-90 exit so when your ready to go, you can just hop the freeway and fet going. Call me when you leave for the border so I can let Blaze know that your on the way."

After she get's an affirmative, she hangs up the phone.

Jessie passes the address on to Grendel.

"Alright, lets hold up there for the night and give Six and chance to secure us a border pass."

Once more, the network spreads itself out before him, and his commands bring windows into highlight or drop them into the dim background. Grendel moves through the Bison, returning his gear to the gray utility lockers in the back of the vehicle. Simultaneously, the port side drone rack extends itself, launch cradle deploying the Condor II drone. The small SHAPELY drone disappears into the rain, the sensor package slung beneath it opening a new surveillance video window.

"Get the lead out, people, we're rolling in two." Grendel returns to the command couch, engaging the five point restraints.

As the last of the team leaves the plane, Danny grabs his duffel bag, then looks over the interior one last time. With a deep breath he gathers his will, casting a cleansing spell which is designed to remove all incriminating physical traces left behind. Satisfied, he shoulders the bag and strolls over to the waiting Bison, stowing his gear under the seat before strapping himself in to the new vehicle.

As soon as Grendel is secure in the Bison, Warpath hurries back to the aircraft, gathers the last odds and ends of his gear, and piles into the Bison with the rest of the team. He breaths a sigh of relief to be out of the air, though he knows that the mission is far from over.

With the last of the team aboard, Grendel closes up the Bison and rolls out from the airfield. With the Condor running lead, the heavy truck snakes its way through the metroplex towards the safe house.