Eido slapped her leg in excitement. She bounced up out of her seat and started grabbing her equipment. She stripped down and started shoving herself into the wetsuit, nary a care about her body.

After a few moments of silent cursing at the skin-tight suit, she had it on. She went to check on her gear, making sure it was all in place and ready to go for when they got to the entrance. She double- and triple-checked her two guns, then loaded a clip of each with APDS, loaded one of the spares with EXEX and the other two with regular rounds. The EXEX would be for the Predator, and each gun had a spare of regular rounds.

She slipped the parachute on her back, then grabbed the bag up in preparation.

"Two to one says the newbie lands first!" She glances at Darlene and winks. "Just kiddin', hun."

Lt. Madigan eyes Eidolon for a moment, before breaking out in a small, sly smile. "I'll take you up on that. How's a hundred sound?"

Eido smirked.

"Well, if you want to play... Alright, I'm down for that. Anybody else want in the pot?"

The intercom broke in to the banter.

"Three minutes." Came the pilots voice over the roar of the props. The regular light dimmend and vanished. Replaced with a eerie red light.

"Rhys, stick with Madigan. Everyone in line, lets move people."

Demitri takes up his spot at the rear of the group.

Eido winks at Darlene again, then hops in line.

"Let's get this show on the road, I'm gettin' itchy for a good gunfight."

"I'm just ready to get this over with..." Vathiel said as she joined the line. "At least it only gets better afterwards."

Sylph takes his place at the head of the line, his job being to make sure that everyone survived the drop. He prepared his mind for the casting he may have to perform if gear went sour on the way down, he takes a moment to telepathically tell the Lt what the others already know in their experience with Sylph, "Make sure your chute is open before you fly past me or I assume the worse and use magic to keep you from hitting the water too fast.", he nods to the Captain, and prepares to dive bomb out the door when it's time.

Rhys moves to stand next to Lt. Madigan. Checking her straps are not tangled or twisted, he stands behind her a quiet reassuring presence. And he waited...

The night air was cold and bighting. It filed the cabin quickly as the rear door of the cargo plane lowered down. At 35,000 feet the sky below was dark and seemed to stretch on for eternity. The group turns to each other, some with grins, smirks, stoicism, and outright fear.

It’s one thing to jump out of a plane during the day, when you can see the ground, another at night with no idea what is below you. The wind snaps an errant line around with a loud cracking noise.

The pilots voice echoes over the comm..

“Twenty seconds!”

“Ten Seconds!”

The loadmaster makes his way to the front of the line from where he opened the door. He grabs the side and holds out one hand with five fingers on it.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

Blackness’ with only the sound of rushing wind to fill your ears.

Sylph is the first out of the chute, with practiced ease he drops feet first into the high speed winds, literally being blown back harshly as his arms and legs reach out to slow his jet-speed lateral movement. The duffel bags are nearly ripped from his grasp as the wind savagely attacks him. Moments later, as the wind quits pushing into him as harshly, he leans forward, before closing his arms and legs and diving to the surface. His Image Link remains activated with his low light vision. He watches the GPS monitor as it ticks away the meters to sea level, waiting to see the 1200 fly past. He immediately casts Levitate, as his arms and legs open up to assist in deceleration, decelerating at phenomenal speed until he finds himself at a standstill some 100 feet lower than he'd anticipated. He pushes himself up and out towards the other fallers, searching for them with his enhanced vision modifications, in the night skies to make sure they all have deployable chutes.

Fingers joins the back of the que with the Capt behind her. Her body temp raising a couple of degrees as the adrenilen rushes through her body. Watching Slyph step out of a perfectly flying aeroplane, make her shiver. Watching one after the other out the plan trying to absorb as much infomation as possible as how this should be done. The time pass quickly and now its Fingers turn, the edge of the loading ramp approaches. No regrets no returns. She steps over the edge, wind buffeting her body, time seems to stand still. As images rush through her mind like the air aropund her body.

Situated in the middle of the line, Darlene casts one last nervous glance at Rhys just before her turn comes to jump. She steps up to the door, and with only a slight hesitation, grips the sides of the exit with both hands and pushes out as far as possible into the cold night air.

Rhys gives the Lieutenant one last nod as she preps for the jump. Seeing her go, he is the next one out jumping at the loadmaster's signal. With his gear strapped tight to his body, he pulls his body into a straight form keeping pace with Madigan to move in for the rescue if he has to, but leaving enough space that their parachutes won't get crossed if she makes a clean jump.

A quick glance at the wrist display from his TacCom system shows the team at varying elevations, some still in the aircraft others at different stages of their descent.

As her time came to make the jump, Vathiel closed her eyes and jumped out. It wasn't the height that bothered her. It was the leaving the solid ground of the plane behind. It was actually fun afterwards, the feeling of freefall.

Fraiser takes one long calming breath then jumps. Falling's the easy part.

The altitude decreases rapidly as the group falls ocean ward. The cold wind bights at you and if it weren’t for your wetsuits, masks and helmets you would have been frozen by the time you hit the water.

Six hundred feet closes rapidly, as the computer generated number hit six hundred your parachute auto deploys, snapping your head back and stopping you almost instantly.

Form there the ride is rather smooth. A gentle float down to the ocean surface.

Muscles that Rhys wasn't aware were clenched relax at seeing Madigan's chute open. With a swift jerk his own pulls his descent up short. pulling the oxsys gill over his mouth, he prepares for the cold embrace of the sea.

When he is only a few meters above the ocean, Kincaid pulls the release strap that cuts his parachute free. Dropping into the frigid water like a knife, he resurfaces and kicks a few strokes to recover his watertight packs before heading for the Lieutenant to make sure her landing didn't cause any problems.

Eido snapped up as her chute opened. She quickly slid on her oxsys gill mask, then cut the chute at the appropriate time. She arched her body and cleared the chute and bags, keeping her from being tangled up in the mess of wires.

Sylph hovers down towards the water, an unseen gladness that the dangerous part of the drop was over. His task now to make sure there were no problems with the chutes underwater. As he approaches Lt Maddie, he hands her the duffel bag he'd held for her, winking at her with a telepathic message, "You weren't the first to touch the surface". Once he's sure everyone is ok, he slips the gills and mask on, and then quietly goes under the water.

Capt. Demitri releases his chute and falls the few remaining feet to plunge into the cold waters below. While gathering his gear, he calls out over the comms, "Status everyone."

"Kincaid checking in."

"I'm alive and well. Who hit first?" Eido looked around. She didn't have the time to check to see if Darlene hit first or not.

In the most melodic sperethiel one could possibly imagine, the voice of Sylph is heard for the first time by some as the Transducer transforms his thoughts into sound across the microtransceiver, "Sylph reporting in. Everything looks good, everyone made it to the water safely. I'll be slipping under the water to join the rest of you now."

As the chute deploys, Fraiser sends his thanks to the air spirit and refocuses on the water below. He once again starts reciting prayers in Gaelic. The power gathers in his hands and he cups them together, calling for aid. Just below he can feel the spirits moving and he calls to one. A spirit touches his mind and he feels a surge of curiousity. He sends the sprite a feeling of warmth and respect.

"I'm good, have a spirit on stand by for the swim Sir." He quickly turns to the spirit. Thank you for answering my call. My friends and I need your help. We must travel your waters for some time and must not be seen by any others. We must avoid any hazards and make our journey as fast as possible while we move through the ocean.

After the joy of freefall came the cutting of the chute and the sudden plunge into the ocean. Grabbing her gear, she joined the group inventory. "Status? Wet..."

Upon surfacing, Darlene releases a breathe she wasn't aware of holding. Accepting the bag from Sylph, her face splits into a wide grin, as she mentally responds, thanking him for his help.

As the silent mage disappears below the surface, she suddenly finds a concerned Rhys treading water next to her. She pulls off her Oxsys for a moment. "That was kind of fun, but I don't think I'd want to do it in the light of day. Thanks for everything, Sergeant."

As she re-seats the artificial gill, she responds to Demitri via transducer. "Madigan here ... but I wasn't first down."

"My pleasure ma'am. Enjoy the swim." Rhys slid back through the water enough that he would not unnecessarily splash the nuclear specialist. Swimming with the packs attached to a snap at the wetsuit's waist was awkward but he'd manage until it was time to move out. Using the innate sensitivity he has to the dark and minimal lighting of the starry sky, Kincaid scans across the ocean with its billowing swells raising and lowering the Ghost team gently.

It was a clean jump without error, a solid feat for a HALO jump at night with at least one inexperienced jumper.

Eido mutters a few curses under her breath.

"A bet's a bet. You'll get your money when we get back to base."

With that, she goes over and grabs her bag, then prepares to go for a nice, long swim.

The whipping of the chute openinng and holding was a relief. This was the worst fear taken care of. Pulling the release button some 10m from the deck Fingers plunges in to the water. Surfaceing she checks that all her gear is intact and ready for phase 2. The bouancy of the air bladders assist with floatation.
"All 10.10 ready to move."

Getting all the diving kit ready Fingers rondivous with the team.

The wrist mounted Submersible Propulsion Units attach quickly and register that they are at full power. The charge should be enough to last through the entire mission. With a last glance to everyone the team insures that all the equipment is attached to tow lines or person before moving out.

HUD displays linked to visors, or datajacks interface with the SPU's and GPS's to overlay the teams exact position under the water. The drop was right on, you are exactly five miles out.

The steady hum of the Submersible Propulsion Units is a constant companion, as is the cold water flowing over your bodies. The oxygils work flawlessly providing you with air to breath and recycling your co2 back into the ocean.

Being one of the last to leave the plan, Linx gives a thumbs up to the cargo master and runs at the exit as he jumps into the air with a whoop of joy and a pure adrenaline rush as he feels himself plunging earthwards at terminal valocity. He can see the dark specs in the air below him, and watches the chutes opening one by one as they hit the distance marker. On cue his opens as well... pulling hard on the ropes to make sure he doesnt land on top of anyone he cuts the rope and drops into the sea, feeling the cold rush of water over him.

This is the bit Linx knows he isnt going to like, he hates being cold and wet... and to add to that there was always the worry one of his bags may split and ruin some of the precious eqipment inside.

Joining the others at the sub he smiles around the breathing mask and gives them a thumbs up.

[Deleted]

The three hour trip to the island leaves you cold and tired. While your bodies are used to the hard physical labor, there is always something draining about being in the ocean. The Propulsion units shut down within a 100 meters of the island, you successfully skirted the currents through the channel and made it around the backside. Now comes the hard part. Intel says the island is all but deserted. You never know though.

Sylph moves his hands through the water, seemingly trying to pull it around him despite being full immersed. After a couple of seconds, it's almost like a watery curtain surrounds Sylph, as he pulls a sheet of water around him, disappearing behind it. Sylph is no longer visible, but his singsong voice is heard over the transduced microtransceiver. "Performing Recon. I'll go for a bird's eye view of the isle, take a few moments before coming to shore please."

Kincaid treads water, a shiver running down his spine involuntarily as he is caught in the wake of the magic. Looking to the Captain for orders, he waits and catches his breath while he prepares for the long haul without a propulsion unit.

Demitri holds his arms down and lets the propulsion unit keep him afloat. Distantly he feels the cold creeping into him.

"Be quick about it Sylph. Someone have get a spirit to check the island for signs of life."

Darlene tries to rest, floating with as little movement as possible on her part. Looking over to where the seemingly ever-present Kincaid is treading water, she grins tiredly and mutters through chattering teeth.

"And that was the easy part!"

"Not a problem Sir. Do you want a visual recon of the island or a search for something specific?" Fraiser hangs in the water with the sea spirit hovering nearby.

"For now a quick scan for an metahuman life will do, the faster we can get out of this water, the beter. Once we're on dry land we can worry about a more thorough search."

Fingers moves slowly till she is beside the Capt.
"We need to check the North face, there was small craft dock on the Sat Image. There is a small beach on the south side, but north of the south side has some cover, but there are vantage points for enemy snipers. "

Kincaid smiles at Darlene.

"Don't worry, Fraiser's spirit will help us across the bay as long as we get there before dawn. If I may be so bold, you're doing just fine ma'am. Several members of the team worried, but you are exceeding expectations. Ma'am."

Continuing to tread water, the bulky elf rests slightly against his bouyant packs.

"Got it and on it, Sir."

Fraiser opens himself to the astral and begins to center within himself. He begins to gather the raw stuff of the plane and shape it into a squad of generic looking SWAT team members. The figures are only about 6 inches high and dressed in full riot gear. They all stand at attention and face him, eagerly awaiting orders.

Listen up and listen tight. I need a full recon of the island. I need to know how many we might be facing and any possible threats to our insertion. Break into two squads of four and divide the island in half. Give me a grid search pattern of each half. You have one hour to search. Report everything you find to your commanding officers." Fraiser points out the the two more powerful watchers. You two report back to me at the conclusion of the search. Do not engage any hostiles, is that clear?

YES SIR! The small figures all salute and respond in unsion. The two officers turn and quickly pick three others to join them. You heard the man, it's time to earn you pay! MOVE OUT! Fraiser smiles to himself as the mini commandos head out.

As soon as the briefing is finished, Linx sorts out the wetbags and digs a small hole under a large bush... dropping them into the hole to keep prying eyes away he meets up with the others and gets ready for the search.

The lee side of the island is rugged and full of sharp rocks. Protected by the bulk of the island from view by the old housing and prison facilities it is easy to make your way up and find temporary shelter.

Local time: 0230 hours.

Fraisers spirits soon return reporting nothing out of the ordinary.

Sylph returns from his recon, though the only proof of it is his stating so over the transceiver. He remains unseen and unheard as he packs his propulsion unit into his bag. He does a once over of his equipment to make sure no water has seeped into anything, then closes it all back up. "Time to hightail it to the other end and go swimming?" he asks over the channel.

Fingers approaches the beach, settling in near a edge off bush she check that all the kit is still dry.

Lt. Madigan returns Kincaid's smile. "Thanks, I appreciate that. I was kind of worried about that myself."

Following the others onto the island, she tries to stay out of the rest of the team's way.

"Guess resting here a bit to dry out and warm up will just make it harder to take the plunge again..." Vathiel commented as they got up on the shore.

Linx quietly gets on with his duties silently wishing that he was hooked up to one of his drones, flying miles above the earth.