Bugs. Men more hardened than he had been driven to insanity by the very notion of dealing with such horrors. But he could not afford to let emotion overwhelm him now. He was no normal man. He was Navajo. He was proud. He was here to serve his nations.

`I'm all for a quick tactical retreat and calling in the big guns boss.`

His voice calm over the subvocal mic.

`There's no honor in dying needlessly.`

He raises from the prone now, weapon at the ready as he does so. The motion is fluid, practiced. He maintains control of his Alpha at all times. When he's to his feet he begins to slowly move to the rest of thew group, eyes never fully leaving those windows.

"Guys, if we call the big guns in, we might risk another Chicago happening," Wildheart says over his radio.

"I suggest we do a little recon into the hive first, see how big it is and just how much firepower will be needed to handle it. If we call in a barrage too soon, they might get stirred up and just decide to raise hell in the surrounding area."

"Hold on. First off, get me a radio linkup with Command. Now. Johnny and Hawkwind, you back on top of that hill and make sure nothing is coming after us. Nvwati, give the man a setative to calm him down. Keep your cool men."

`One uplink to Command coming right up.`

He didn't have to reach back to do the work. Had everything he needed within easier reach. Bugs. This definitly wasn't what he was expecting.

Through his Transducer, Joseph sends his thoughts out on the airwaves, "Command. Come in Command. This is Wolf."

Snow gives a curt nod then proceeds to head back up the hill double time and keep a sharp eye on the surrounding terrain.

"Gotcha boss" says Wildheart, acknowledging the order.

He takes a kneeling position at the top of the hill and points his Mossberg down the hill.

Wolf looks to Nvwati and makes a few quick movements with his hands that only those who know Sioux Handsigns would recognise.

"Probe him."

The Captain is on the line already.

"Boys, got word in from command. We are bringing in a back up team, but you guys are gonna have to go in there and clean out the hive. We can't have another Chicago here. We do have some insecticides back here, though. Drop back, pick them up, and plan how to go in."

Nvwati's mind reaches out to the focus in his vest and he begins to probe the mind of the captive. For the moment, he drops his shielding and uses all of his mental energies in the effort.

"Alright Team, lets give Nvwati a minute to finish up what hes doing and we'll head back to basecamp. It looks like we're going in."

"Great..."

That's all you hear from Johnny before he stands up and starts packing his guns. He walks back to the T-bird and rather impatiently waits for everyone else.

Wolf gives Johnny a look. "You got a problem Johnny?"

Over the comm... "Captain, how is the insecticide delivered? We talking Capsule Rounds for the firearms, grenades, what?"

"Yeah. I hate dealin' with bugs. I'll do it, though, if it means I get to kill lots of them."

He switches tones real quick.

"Hey, anybody got a Squirtgun? We might want to arm with those instead of regular stuff. If not, you think Command might be willing to let us borrow a few?"

"I'm workin' on it Johnny. And I understand where you are coming from, just don't let it effect you, thats all I ask."

"I'll try. I just hope to kill that bastard shaman that summoned it up."

"Who can tell me what to expect when we get inside? I know a little bit about these things, but what about the Shaman?"

"Feh. Frag if I know. I just want him dead by the barrel of my gun."

Over the comm, Nvwati subvocalizes the results of his divination. "He's definitely telling the truth about the bugs. His team was fallin' back to here when they get set on by the hive. He only survived because he was out here working on the guns."

"The shaman is unimportant," Cub growls over the comm.

"He has only served to bring them here. Once they have established their foothold, he is less important. What is important is that we take no chances, we allow no survivers. This can't be a rescue mission. We go there to whipe them out, all of them. Bugs are an abomination to this world."

He arrives at the base camp, he loks very unhappy to have pulled back.

"Wolf, we need to go in soon, or wait till after dark. I don't want my spirits vaping on me half way through cleaning out this nest."

back at base camp...

Wolf is going over all the information the Captain gave him on the subject of the bugs...

"Cub, I need to go through all this information here so I can get a good idea of a game plan. Go ahead and let your spirits go for now and get us some more help once the sun is down. Everyone, get your gear together and be ready to roll at 20:00 hours. Any questions?"

"I have one, sir. What kind of ammunition can we get to take care of these Bugs?"

Wolf looks over at the Captian, "Sir? You could answer that better than I could."

"Well, the information I recieved seems pretty clear that Insecticide is only an irritant, not actually deadly to the bugs.

Teams have shown that it can be effective to have one or two men using the insecticide rounds or weapons and the remainder using the opportunities to chew up the bugs with regular rounds."

"Do we have insecticide rounds then? And if so, for what types of weapons?"

"Permission to speak freely, sir?"

(OOC: If yes)

"I want to fragging kill those bugs. How does the LMG and HVAR sound for killing them off?"

(OOC: If no)

Johnny merely nods.

Snow downloads a copy of the data and goes over it while going through his gear and making sure everything is in proper order. When it looks like the master sergeant has a moment alone, he approaches Wolf.

"I have a compound that can put a few of us on even footing with those bugs, sir. The effects are immediate and it lasts for at least a couple of hours. The only problem is that when it wears off, those who've taken it will be in bad shape for about the same amount of time. But if push comes to shove, it'll save our hoops. If you want me to, I can prepare a few slap-patches with it and distribute it to the rest of the team."


(OOC: He's talking about the Spirit Strength magical compound. It's on page 123 of Man & Machine. It grants Enhanced Physical Attributes, Movement, Enhanced Reaction, and Enhanced Sense for Essence+D6 hours, but leaves the subject with Physical Attributes 1 and an Initiative of 1+1D6 for an equal amount of time when it wears off. No addiction or other long-term affects.)

"Have some ready, but thats something we're gunna use only as a complete last ditch effort."

"Sir, we sure could use some Explosive rounds for this bug hunt. I dunno how effective APDS is gonna be."

"Think we can get command to send us a little care package?"

"Hmmm. I'd like you men to discuss what equipment you believe you are going to need before I send in the requistion. I have some gear of my own I'll be tacking on as well."

"You coming along for the ride, Capt'n?"

"I'll be up there with you. However, Command wants an observer from the team. And that is going to be me. Don't worry, I'll be there with you. I am just going to have to be running all sorts of diagnostics and gathering data. Fragging...."

"Get yourself a BattleTac Receiver, Sir. You can save data right from the BattleTac feed and split the feed to a data-storage chip. There is all the data and diagnostics you'll need. That way you can also be free to take care of yourself and not worry about getting all the data down, plus you'll be able to take... <clears throat> orders from the network, if that isn't a problem, Sir."

"Don't worry Sergeant, I have all that set up. And yes, you will be in command as soon as we go down into those tunnels. Unless of course, my ability to record is *cough* somehow ruined."

Laughing-Snow breaks a bit of etiquette, but can't seem to help himself. "Are we going to take any prisoners or are we just going to raze the place?"

"Are orders are coming still fragmentary at best. It think we'll get the complete deal when we get our requistion equipment. Right now, they have been suspiciously silent on that issue."

"AV rounds or APDS rounds gentlemen. You have to do an incredible amount of damage to them to kill them. If there True spirits, only the shamans will really be able to hurt them. But if there Fleshform, APDS is what you will want. If command doesn't want another Chicago, then let's not do this halfway."

Cub has said his piece, he then retires to the shade of the T-bird and meditates. While doing so he releases all his Spirits.

"Well, in that case, I got APDS...but I doubt I've got enough of them," Wildheart says.

"I could use a belt of APDS. I've got 1,000 singles, but not belt to throw them in. I'd also need something to hold the belt while we move...

"If need be, I can leave it, hopefully under some sort of camo, at the front, where, if we need to, I can lay supression fire while we all get out.

"I hope it doesn't come to that option, but just in case, I'll tote the HVAR as well."

"I'll be taking in my shotgun and Heavy Pistol, 40 roudns and 48 rounds respectively, all APDS."

"If we can, I'd like at least 10 clips worth for each weapon."

`Give me APDS for my Alpha, and enough grenades to light up the night, and I'll be ready.`

There was little emotion in his voice, as Windtalker spoke, he was supressing it for now. If it came down to it, he'd fight tooth and nail with his Tomahawk, and die like a warrior.

"I've got plenty of arrows. Give me 10 extra clips of APDS for my rifle and I'm set. Anyone else need anything?"

"Just ammo. Lots and lots of ammo for my Alpha and Masterkey, and spare clips for the former. EX and APDS preferred."

"Belted if you have it. And a few more spare clips to throw APDS in for quick changes. I can provide all my own ammo, I just need clips and belts."

Wolf ponders for a little while about the situation...

"Guys, lets leave the explosive rounds at home. I don't want to take a chance of them blowing up in our face. Besides these things can be pretty heavily armored, so lets stick with as much APDS as possible."

Laughing-Snow catches himself before stating "as you command" as if he were some kind of frelled up Cylon. "Very good, sir."

"All I need is the 6 clips each of APDS for my Alta and Mossberg CMDT."

"I am going to say this again. We should not be going in there. Nuke it from orbit, roll in some nerve gas, whatever. But we should level this place. I will go in with you, and I will die with you if need be. But I am telling you, we should not be doing it."

Cub says this directly to the Captain before saluting and returning to the T-Bird, "I am going to get some rack time, wake me when it is a good day to die."

Wolf watching Cub go and sighs.

"I gotta tell you Capt'n, I'm not too happy about this either. But... well... anyways... How long do you think it'll take the gear to get put together? I was thinking we could leave at 20:00, but it may be a good idea to give the guys a good night rest before we go in."