Tuesday, January 6th, 2071, ~08:31EST; MV Thundercloud, underway 50km E of Key West
Gunner Blythe reads the messages from the Commander, sends in back in return.

<<@Crew [Gunner Blythe] Commander do we have the locations for the Sea Chests on the Benito Juarez? What will be the scaling procedure for getting on board? Will we be swimming the entire distance or being towed?>>

Gunner Blythe heads down to the Armory, and looks thru the supplies there.

<<Litany [Gunner Blythe]Negative on the Gel rounds, only ones here are sized for the machine guns.>>

Turns and secures the door into the Armory, turning on the light outside indicating ordnance handling in progress. Turns off his commlink and verifies the armory is EMF off status.

Gunner Blythe takes out his Predator and begins preparing it for possible wet exposure operations. Inserting a loaded clip of gel rounds, set the safety to On, via the smartgun link. Once that is done, he places it into a waterproof Kevlar reinforced bag seal it up, then verifies the seal. He then takes 4 loaded magazines for the Predator, 2 gel loaded, and 2 regular ammo, places them into a waterproof Kevlar reinforced bag, and verifies the seal.

Takes down the Ares Alpha begins preparing it of possible wet exposure operations, inserts a clip loaded with gel rounds, loads the grenade launcher's clip with 2 flash bangs grenades, 2 Thermal Smokes grenades, and 2 High Explosive grenades. Sets the safeties to On, via the smartgun link. Places the Alpha into a waterproof Kevlar reinforced bag seals it up, then verifies the seal. Takes 2 loaded Alpha clips of gel rounds, and 2 loaded Alpha clips with regular ammo, places them into into a into a waterproof Kevlar reinforced bag seals it up, then verifies the seal.

He opens up the locker where is armor is stowed, takes the helmet and begins preparing it for wet exposure operations. Completing that places it into a into a waterproof Kevlar reinforced bag seals it up, then verifies the seal.

Opens up the grenade storage locker and takes out 2 pepper punch grenades, 2 flash bang grenades, 2 thermal smoke grenades, and 2 high explosive grenades. Insures that each has its wireless link set to 1 meter range, working on one at a time in blast reduction container. He takes them and places each into a waterproof Kevlar reinforced bag seals it up, then verifies the seal.

He places the sealed bags into one locker, secures it, then turns off the indicator light and unsecure the door. Turns back on his commlink.

Brings out his combat knife, sharpens the edge, prepares it for wet operations, places it into a webbing sheath.

He takes out the Diving gear, SCUBA gear, checks, verifies the operation and status of each.

Heads down the Galley and begins preparing a quick meal prior to the event.

Tuesday, January 6th, 2071, ~08:31EST; MV Thundercloud, 50km E of Key West

<<@Crew [Captain] The schematics provided by Chief mark those. The grappling guns, or guns, will be our method up the side of the ship. I will use the stormcloud to locate a relatively clear spot to board. The sea sleds will allow up to adjust intercept and compensate for drift or course corrections. >>

Johnny heads down and dons his wet suit. Then puts his Ares and clips into his dive bag before making his way to the launch room to inspect the sea sled. Here's hoping this goes easy.

Tuesday, January 6th, 2071, ~08:30EST; MV Thundercloud, underway 50km E of Key West

<<@Captain [Cuda] Aye aye Captain.>>
Cuda takes the helm and begins changing course to a heading of 275. Double checking the course the software is displaying for him, he nods affirmatively that they have reached the desired heading.
<<@Captain [Cuda] We're underway Captain>>

<<@Mr Cuda [Captain] Mr Cuda - Belay my last order. Turn us to a heading of 090 and take us just out of sensor range then run us to a heading of 000, full speed ahead. We want to get in front of the ship's path.>>

Cuda sighs. Can he make up his fraggin mind?
He changes course yet again, verifies it with the nav comp and coms the captain back.
<<@Captain [Cuda] All set, heading triple naught. Unless you change your mind again.>>

Cuda eases into the new course, checking the nav comp every few minutes to make sure he hasn't strayed any. He relaxes in the beauty of sailing.

Tuesday, January 6th, 2071, ~08:33EST; MV Thundercloud, underway 50km E of Key West
Carlos

<<@Cap'n Rollins [Carlos Rodriguez]:
"Roger that Cap'n">>

Carlos carefully stows the the tools at hand before heading back to his room to gather his gear. He then squeezes down the narrow corridors to the armory where he preps his gun for possible wet conditions.
I sure hope this works the way Gunner says it will. If not, we might have some Words.
Carlos strolls into the dive room with a perceptible spring in his step.
Ahh, it'll sure be good to get some action, and hopefully some loot. I'd forgotten just how much waiting around you have to do at sea when waiting for a ripe target. Irregardless, this should be a good opportunity to get a measure of my crew mates' mettle.
He secures his well worn, but seldom used AK-97 in a dive bag capable of holding it and 2 spare clips. However, donning the unfamiliar wet suit and dive armor is a struggle.
Surly: "Can someone help me with this piece of sh*t suit?" Mumbling: "Ork sized, my ass."

Carlos' mood does improve when it comes time to put on the breathing apparatus. His interest in how these unfamiliar pieces of technology operate and interact is obvious:
"So how exactly does this work? and why is this piece so crucial? Gesturing at the breathing regulator.
---
After receiving some basic explanation of diving:
"So, being at depth, and breathing pressurized atmosphere can cause feelings of euphoria? Fascinating... I wonder what neurotransmitters are involved? and why are the neurostimuli affected by preassure? Hmm...."
I wonder if this could be a viable process on the open market? Obviously we couldn't pressurize the users, but if the trigger could be isolated....

Tuesday, January 6th, 2071, ~08:33EST; MV Thundercloud, underway 50km E of Key West
Captain Johnny "Rocket" Rollins; [LTG, PAN=Hidden, 5] SIN={none}

Johnny makes his way to the dive room. There, he helps Carlos with the wet suit, before donning his own. "I don't use SCUBA when I dive so I'm not qualified on the gear, but I'm sure Mr Blythe can be of assistance."

Assisting the other crew members where he can, Johnny initiates a system diagnostics on both the roto-drone and the sled. The adrenaline began to build in his own system with the growing anticipation of the coming conflict. He reflected back on his first dive....

"MOVE IT! MOVE IT! MOVE IT! Hit the deck ladies!" D.I. Bishop was hulking man and heavily cybered. He never missed anything, recorded every mistake in order to hold it against you... and was one of the best instructors Johnny ever had.

Hitting the water and having the cyber-gills kick in for the first time Johnny started to panic as his instincts told his brain he was drowning. Bishop's voice in his brain, over his com, shook those self-preservation instincts from his conscious mind. "Rollins! What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to drown yourself in six feet of water WITH CYBER-GILLS!?!??! You trying to exemplify Darwin's Theory? Well not on my watch! Stop fighting and let the gills do their job."

The growling voice of that aging soldier always demanded obedience... and Johnny somehow always gave it without question.

The beep of the incoming diagnostics report from the roto-drone snapped Johnny back to the present.
<<@Controller [Roto#1] All System check. Detail report attached.>>

He fired up the secondary sled as a backup. He simply wanted it nearby.
<<@Sled#2 [Controller] Initiate systems check. Launcher behind Sled#1 and maintain distance of 4 meters.>>

Looking around at the rest of the crew as he moved into position and connected a silvery optic cable to the primary sled, he thought. Hu-ah! Let's do this!

Tuesday, January 6th, 2071, ~09:15EST; MV Thundercloud
Captain Johnny "Rocket" Rollins; [LTG, PAN=Hidden, 5] SIN={none}

As Cuda placed the Thundercloud directly in the path of the Benito Juarez, Johnny checked that the Stormcloud drone was moving in position three kilometers north of the anticipated rendezvous point. The roto-drone was in the launch rack and awaiting its call to battle, should the situation prove necessary to implement lethal force.

He ran a final check of all the team member's comlinks to make a last minute rechecked of the diving cases he had installed earlier in the week with skinlinks. He connected the silvery datajack cable that would allow him a connection to the sled and checked its extendable antenna that allowed it to communicate when within a meter of the surface.

When the Thundercloud reached all stop, Johnny launched the first sled with the team members all hanging on. As they pulled away, he looked back to insure the second sled had successfully launched and was taking up its position trailing them.

He gently accelerated the sled to full speed, stopping every five minutes to check position via the Stormcloud and adjust trajectory as required.
<<@Team [Captain] Should take about twenty minutes to intercept the ship.. Once we are just under half a kilometer, I will begin an assault on the command and control systems. Once they come to a stop to investigate, we will initiate boarding.>>

The erratic patterns of the sleds, fortunately, do not seem to the attract the attention of the Benito Juarez. Yet, anyhow.

Range to target: 2 km

Tuesday, January 6th, 2071, ~09:40EST; ~2km from the Benito Juarez
Captain Johnny "Rocket" Rollins; [LTG, PAN=Hidden, 5] SIN={none}

The dive went smooth and everyone seemed to be doing ok with the trip. As they rose for the last time, Johnny spotted the ship. Now.. Time to play. He brought the sled to stop and began scanning for a signal from the ship. He activated an agent on the stormcloud to begin the search.

Tuesday, January 6th, 2071, ~09:40EST; ~2km from the Benito Juarez
Litany

She'd just followed the ARO directions and kept an eye on what everyone else was doing. Now she was hanging on for dear life, plastic bags full of gear and weapons strapped to her body banging into her every time the group was bobbing up and down in the water. Litany felt like a yoyo. It was going to be a lot better on the ship. If they could climb aboard, and avoid getting sucked into the ships plumbing.

She could feel the bruises forming already where her hog had jammed against her hip, and she glared malevolently at the man above her concentrating on something above the waves.

With a guilty start she turned off her targeting reticles highlighting his spine and tried to relax as she floated.

Tuesday, January 6th, 2071, ~09:40EST; ~2km from the Benito Juarez
Captain Johnny "Rocket" Rollins; [LTG, PAN=Hidden, 5] SIN={none}

Johnny reaches his mind out to the Stormcloud. Show me the prize...

The Juarez's network is fairly easy to find, despite being hidden.

Tuesday, January 6th, 2071, ~09:40EST; ~2km from the Benito Juarez
Captain Johnny "Rocket" Rollins; [LTG, PAN=Hidden, 5] SIN={none}

Johnny gives one final check of his harness then slips back into VR to begin his assault on the Benito Juarez's node. Given what he needed to do, he was going to have to take the risk of cracking the system for admin level access. Things were working well, but he knew that every second counted and all it was going to take was one misstep to put the system on alert.

And you're in. Just barely - the system senses the possibility of an intruder, though not more than the possibility.

Boarding Team now 1.5km from Benito Juarez.

Tuesday, January 6th, 2071, ~09:40EST; ~2km from the Benito Juarez
Captain Johnny "Rocket" Rollins; [LTG, PAN=Hidden, 5] SIN={none}

Johnny penetrated the virtual hull of the Benito Juarez and stepped onto the command deck of an 18th century schooner. An icon he took as the pilot program stood behind the wheel, piloting the ship. A rough looking, peg-legged ship hand was swinging an oil lamp scrutinizing the very area where Johnny stood. He stood for the better part of a second (an eternity in VR), till it moved on. Dang firewall almost got me...

He moved over to the captain's log book and pulled a quill pen out of his pocket. He quickly and quietly flipped over to the crew roster list, which also included virtual crewmen present only in the electron world. He added a pair of names to the list.

He then reached into his ghostly pockets and pulled out a full grown man in a security uniform. Oh, that won't work. May fool the system, but won't fool a living operator. He returned the quill pen to his pocket and pulled out a set of oil paints. Working feverishly for nearly a full second of real time he changed the security uniform to that of period garb.

He then handed the new sailor a list. Keep an eye on these systems, insure our presence is not detected. Leaving the agent to its own devices, he floated through the decks to the engine room. There, where the rudder controls should be, sat an older diesel engine. Looks like the originality ran out here.. Or the Engineer didn't care for the motif.

Locating the system controls, he set out unleashing his nasty little script. It didn't need to do a lot.. Just buy some time. The script will begin fooling the appropriate sensor that a pressure build up in the engine is underway. It will then activate an override to shut the engines down. Then it will simulate a power surge from the engines to the generator, followed by a recycling of all sensor systems. As the external sensors come back on line, the agent will be running over watch to edit the signal inline. The internal sensors will fail to come back online, the primary security router detecting a fault it believes to be from the power surge.

If this works right, this will get most of them focused on internal problems. By the time they track back to faulty sensor readings, we should be aboard.

Johnny flexes as his senses return to his meat.
<<@Team [Captain] Saddle up. We're about to go in hot. We've got a little over two minutes travel time and the fun starts in 5.. 4.. 3.. 2. 1..>>

As his time readout counts out the synchronized start with the script and agent, he dives the sled and accelerates towards their target..

Tuesday, January 6th, 2071, ~09:41EST; ~2km from the Benito Juarez
Litany

With the go order, the nerves settled down, and she concentrated on maintaining the efficient streamlined form as the sled dragged her along under the sea. The countdown clock in her lower left field of view reassuringly ticked over and the cycle of systems checks and responses from wireframe icon of her internal systems held at a steady green. The steady thumping of her bagged hogs and iball against her hip was simply reminder to place them on a better strap the next time she did something like this.

St. Nicholas... no, though tis a nasty group of thieves I swim with, St Elmo, hardly likely to encounter lightning here, I'll seek my guidance from Brendan the Navigator, can't see a thing in this water and losing our way would not be the best thing right now.

As the sleds accelerate towards the ship, Johnny's consciousness slips back into electron world, his meat firmly fastened to the sled with the array of straps. His experience with the SEALs was paying off for him now. The first few times he had done this he feared he'd drown, now it is simply part of the operation.

He stepped back through the hull of the ship to the sound of an air horn. Looking around in the bridge, the pilot program is still engrossed with the ship's helm. No additional security at this point. Sliding through the decks down to the engine room, he finds something he doesn't expect. A large, beefy guy with a cutlass and a corn cob pipe. Tattoos on his massive forearms and a giant cutlass on his belt.

This is no program. The thought no more crosses his mind than the man turns and looks around the engine room. Johnny stops. Freezes. I hope this stealth program is worth the damn money I paid for it. He checked his mental link to the agent in the system. Still active, but a security hacker inside will require a change in tactics.