This thread is considered primarily IC, but posting OOC content is acceptable, just be sure its clear which is which.

The Zermax Group is a relatively small corporate entity that focuses primarily on loaning consultants and contractors to other larger corporations. They've only been around a few years, but have become popular for their military contractors.

Each of you has, through one set of circumstances or another, signed up with Zermax. It is explained that consultants [you] are responsible for providing your own weaponry, equipment, armor, etc. Transport is provided by the corporation based on availability. After signing a massive amount of electronic paperwork and completing an exhausting series of tests and assessments, each of you are invited to pack your belongings and then are whisked away to a remote training facility a hundred or so miles outside of Denver.

The facility itself is rugged and forested. The five of you are each met by a burly human male who introduces himself simply as Raymond. He has about him the air of a military trainer, and though he doesn't bark orders like boot camp, he makes it clear that you're to do as instructed. After arrival, Raymond drives each of you to your lodging, where the five of you likely meet for the first time. It is a rustic style cabin hidden away on a ridge. It has electricity and such, but few amenities. Inside it is primarily one large room containing bunks on one wall, a kitchen on the opposite wall, and a large living and dining space in the middle. There is a bathroom and another small room for privacy needs.

Raymond doesn't make a lot of small talk, but he tells you that your handler will be in touch shortly. He'll answer a few questions as best he can, and then he says goodbye and leaves, driving the vehicle back down the trail.

Once the group is assembled, the vidscreen on the wall blinks on, and you see a computer generated face sizing you all up. "Hiya chummers. My name is Artemis." she says. The face looks human but with just a hint of elvish qualities to her features. "I am your handler, and will be with you for training, and for your deployment into the field. You are designated as Group 309 Echo. The way ZerG works is that each numbered group is broken down typically into five teams. The rest of 309 is in the field, Echo has been rotated and you folks are the new guys." She takes a moment to acknowledge the team leader. "Listen to this guy. He's been employed with ZerG for a little while now and knows how things work. This isn't the military, but you can think of him as your squad sergeant, and me as your lieutenant."

"I can't tell you where you're headed until you're on the aircraft, but while we're in training I'll make sure that you polish up on the skills that you'll need in the field." She smiles. "It's a pleasure to be working with all of you."

Each of your comlinks chirp, notifying you that Artemis has shared her contact info with you.

"Hau," greets Artemis and the rest of the group in his native language. He continues in accented English "I am Khote." Obviously of AmerInd decent, Khote SilverWind projects a calm confidence about himself. He is of few word, but more than makes up for it will strong actions.

"Mañana!"
Sgt. Hammer strolls through the door black duffel bag over one shoulder and another drops to the floor from being held under his other arm,
they are almost perfectly sqaured with only a few tell tale bulges where weaponry presses against the material.

"Bueno to have you here ci! bienvenidos a 'three oh nine' who got the beers, eh? " He scans the room, taking each person present under short scrutiny, nods a brief approval with a tight smile across his tanned face and collects his things.

The Bags are easily tossed onto the top bunk facing the now closed door and he starts removing the small packages of hygiene essentials.

Handler, eh? Didn't know I died and was reborn a dog. He twists to look at his backside. Nope, no tail; probably still partly human. Twisting back, he takes off his shades, revealing slitted eyes that reflect the Vid screen's light for a moment. Anyway, parents call me Brian but the textbooks and Trids agree that we're probably all end up with mildly insulting nick names.

He nods at Khote and the rest and seems to measure them up. Brian himself is a young human of about average height, clearly fit, wearing his brown hair and beard neatly cropped. Wearing hoking boots, cargo pants and a t-shirt and standing next to a large backpack, he looks as if ready to go an a hiking vacation.

"Senorita Artemis She make you bark like a dog .. you wait til Mañana gringo, she one hot Chica!" Banark chuckles to himself jovially as he lifts two worn soft leather cases from his bag.

He places them on the bunk and begins to slowly unwrap them "Talking of hot Chicas, come meet my little girls 'Derecho' and 'Izquierda' .. they know how to make a man happy, ci!"

Lying on the bunk in the oil-skins are two well used but immaculate sub-machine guns, crafted and modded the gleam in the flickering lanterns as the generator sputters outside.

upon glancing in the adjacent bag there is also a automatic rifle and an assortment of other weaponry.

"Back home in Pueblo, your name .. is Brain Ci ? is ummm Coco ! is meaning genius... or Coconut ... is one of those .. is not insulting though, no?"

with the initial inspections done, he places the SMG's in their holsters in the business suit he is wearing, they barely cause the material to ripple, giving no indication of their presence,

Reaching into an innerpocket he produces a small silver flask, which he takes a sip from and he offers everyone a similar chance at the "Taéngelé"
"¡salud y pesetas ! "

Reggie enters the room and looks around slowly, a broad grin on his face. He spots a familiar face and his grin gets even bigger, splitting his face in two.

"Damn. They recruited the sorriest bunch of nobodies to run this job didn't they. How's it goin Hammer? Long time no see. Glad to see you made it out of Bogota in one piece. Me, I had a bet going with the guys that you would walk out of there with some panties on your head and the clap in your underpants. Still not sure whether I won that one or not..."

After exchanging greetings (including hearty backslaps and much back and forth), Reggie turns to the rest of the group. A slightly-shorter-than-average stocky man with dark skin and tight wiry hair in a crew cut, his body language and facial expressions are all happy and friendly and totally at odds with what comes out of his mouth.

"How ya'll doin. I'm Reggie, but you can call me Crispy. Usually I'm the brains of this type of operation, but seeing as how we got Sgt. Hammer here in charge, looks like we're in some deep shit that even I might not be able to get us out of. Hope ya'll got some life insurance or somethin' for us, Artemis."

with a grin on his face from ear to ear and one raised eyebrow poised in shock, Sgt. Hammer turns to face the latest arrival.

"Reginald, Muchacho ! .. is Bueno you made it Amigo ! is simple ci, you owe me twenty! there's no way I'd touch that hija de puta with yours !"

Friendly backslaps and laughter ensue

"Now my lil' Burro ... where's the beers Amigo ? I'm not getting younger and you damn well aren't gettin' taller or prettier by yourself!"

"Now come meet the amigos ci, Khote, Brian pleased to meet Crispy "
"we called him that after he gets amorous with a Sangre del Diablo he comes off that thing sticky and crispy like deep fried soya .. heheheh "

he whispers conspiratorially " I think it sends hima bit Loco too, his Coco is a bit variado !"

"Shit man, sounds like you already started drinking without me. Ya'll don't listen to this crazy-ass elf, he keeps making up stories one after t'other about how I got my name. I got this name Crispy when I got sent upstate, but that's all you need to hear about that. Now, how about the name Hammer? I heard you tell that woman in Bogota it wasn't your fists that were the 'Hammer'."

A loud laugh bursts from his mouth as he finishes talking. Noticing no one else laughed along with him, he shrugs and picks up the strap of a large bulky duffel bag and looks around at the bunks.

"Looks like this one's not taken..."

With a bit of a grunt, Crispy heaves his bag up onto the top bunk. The bed sways drunkenly under the weight as a loud clatter sounds from within the bag as it settles onto the bunk.

"aww muchacho, admit it ... you loved that damn devil tree Ci ? ... you hug more tree than any other Elf I know "

"By the sounds of it you bring your other lover to party too ? the old sex-bot in that baggage man ?"

"Anyways, all this memories of happy times, makes me emotionales, I'm stepping out for some air okay, if Artemis calls I'm on the porch okay?"

He steps lightly to the door and slips out quietly, taking a seat on tree stump he looks out over the panorama in the dying sunlight and wonders

<A new team, a new life .. hope this is worth it me' amigo... Lady luck can't screw me over again, surely ...>

The door opens again, revealing a barely visible outline of a human inside.

"Oh, sorry! Must have switched it on by accident." The voice is female, and heavily accented. Something eastern european.

A moment later, a flicker runs over the form and it comes to life, revealing a shapely woman in a full body armor suit carrying a rather long bag and a heavy-duty backpack.

As she takes off her helmet, a beautiful redhead appears underneath.

"Hey guys! I'm Tatjana - or Nova. I think I heard something about drinks? Could use one."

With that she steps further into the room, looking for a space where she can put down her stuff. The longer bag looks like an oversized rifle-bag, easily four feet if not more, and from the sound of it hitting the ground, it also seems to be quite heavy. Only now you realize that it must have been hidden from sight as well a moment ago. Same with her backpack.

"Only devil tree I know of is some crazy talk I heard of trees movin' on their own down in that area. Pick a man up and tear his arms right out of the sockets. Ain't natural, that's for sure. Crispy shudders involuntarily. "Sexbot didn't make the trip, seeing as how you broke the last three. No, I just brought along some drones for recon and Big Bertha for when recon's over. This time, we're gonna..."

His sentence trails off and a slow whistle escapes his lips as Nova makes her entrance. His eyes take in all the details as he says with a smile, "Now this is the type of job I think I'm gonna like."

"dobrý večer milá dáma"

"So, we are all here? Ci, bueno, we are strangers in a strange place. I'm sure we all have our motivatione and i will not pry, but I don't need tu mierda interfering in our operacione"

"My door.... Hmm, remind me to ask Artemis for one of these things... Is open if you think you compromise us"

"Now, cheesy bullshit out of the way, I intend to see us all rich muchachos... And senorita.. And live to spend it ci,"

" maravilloso, let us drink and be merry, tomorrow we go to work!"

"Let me change into something more casual first..." Tatjana says as she heads to one of the rooms with her backpack.

About fifteen minutes later she reappears, dressed in jeans, halter top and a leather jacket.

You can see now, that her right hand is cybernetic. The jacket covers the rest of the arm.

And she wears one striking piece of jewelry, a pentacle pendant with a gemstone in the center, which is hanging on a cord around her neck.

Khote silently shakes his head at the antics of the others fondling their guns and teasing each other; all behavior that was all quite familiar to him while he was with the NAN military. Yet Sgt. Hammer's accent and intermingling of Spanish reminded him this was something team was not his familiar team. This was something new.

In the coming weeks of training, he would brush up on his Spanish language skills, but for now it was only serving to throw him off as his mind would briefly stop listening to remember what 'variado' or 'sangre del diablo' meant.

Choosing patience in the new environment, he chose to give each newcomer a friendly smile as he quietly stowed his gear. The team would soon enough get to see his skill with his sweet of automatic weapons while they trained together and became a true team.

Like the other men, he was a bit distracted by the appearance of Tatjana. Her beauty was unmistakable. Also unmistakable was her use some the same chameleon-ware that he favored on his armor and weapons.

"Hau, Tatjana" he greeted her as he walked over towards her bunk. "You too like to inahme, err...hide, in plain sight." He pointed towards her formerly cloaked gear bag. Futher gesturing towards the pendant around her neck. "Is symbol of faith? Or does the Great Spirit speak to you too?"

Khote was obviously of Amerindian descent, which obviously made him shamanistic. They should get along well enough, their beliefs being not too different from each other.

During her time as a mercenary, she had found that most soldiers-of-fortune were quite open to the concept of having an awakened among them. Her own experiences from the past having been quite different, it took a while to open up herself a bit more. Therefore, she was glad to have someone else who shared her rare talent around. It kept the nervosity down.

As she nods and smiles, Tatjana shifts her senses to the astral to confirm her thoughts.

"I wouldn't call her the Great Spirit, but I guess it's close enough. Gaia, the Great Mother. We refer to her simply as the Goddess."

Brian was just about to start unpacking his backpack on the cot under which he had already pushed a wooden crate, when their last team member ghosted in. He had to chuckle at the idea of just forgetting one's own invisibility. An invisible nova, interesting concept. Hi, I'm Brian.

After putting his clothes - mostly variations on what he was wearing - into his locker, he looks around again. Rich and drunk, sounds like my kind of job. Anyone else feel like having a look around? Maybe find a lake, catch us some real food?

"Ah. You are chimaka, of the Earth Mother. She is of great power," Khote pronounces solemnly. "Wakan Tanka lends me his strength to protect. May he guide your actions as well."

Khote was being rather formal on this first meeting, but he was already contemplating testing the strength of the Great Spirit (and his foci) against Tatjana's power.

When she has finished her aura reading, Tatjana's senses come back to the physical world, and she smiles once more.

"It's good to see someone versed in the art of protection. It will keep us safe out there."

Ban wanders through the main room to the Kitchenette and prepares a hot Soy-Kaf drink, before examining the rest of the barracks

It's fairly standard stuff, similar to the other establishments he has been in the past and more recently with ZerG.

it seems fairly out of the way, as should any good military compound, but <Why so far from any other infrastructure?> he wonders

He returns to the main room and takes a seat with the others while they chat and get to know each other.

Thoughts and emotions run through him momentarily until he catches himself smiling absently, enjoying their company, appreciating them as they push gently at personal and professional boundaries, relishing the quiet moment before the inevitable storm.

"Me Amigos, a moment por favor ?" he asks

Looking at each of them amicably while they finish conversing and continues,

"I have worked with this company for a while now, I will not say I trust nor distrust them as much as any other group of course"

A quick glance over the shoulder, nervous of speaking too loudly, he leans forward and lowers his voice slightly but not whispering.

"I am not of a nervous disposition, but ... we do not know what 'Training' we are to expect, Ci? I would ask each of you of your perceptiones? sorry. I mean your observations? "

"We are safe here in their employ, I am certain of this, but perhaps we are expected to be tested further no?"

With that said Ban sits back and sips the brew, looking at the expectant faces around him and waits for their comments

Tatjana shrugs her shoulders.

"Well, I have just arrived, so cannot say much. Have done a number of tests and assessments already, which is why I am here. Guess things turned out fine. Not sure how much more testing will be required, but I do think it is good to train together, if we are to go out on missions with this team. Knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses might save lives."

"Thanks Tatjana, perhaps I am being overly eager for Artemis to give us our tasks .. it is always the quiet times that set me on edge the most"

"I know, How about a joke to lighten the mood, Ci ?"

"How do you kill an Aztlan battle tank with only a rifle?"

"You Shoot the Gringo's PUSHING it !! Ci "

The five contractors sit and chat, getting to know one another.

The sun goes down, and eventually they turn in for some sleep.

Revile comes before dawn, and anyone sleeping in is awoken either by their associates, or by the vidscreen coming on.

Artemis' computer generated face looks into the room. "Morning everyone. Let's get this thing moving, shall we? Help yourself to whatever food you like in your housing. I'd pack extra." she grins. "Your first training assignment is to get to training. You can pull up coordinates 834.15 by 102.54 on your comlinks, I trust. That's about.." she glances offscreen, "seventeen klicks. I'll see you there in two and a half hours." The vidscreen blinks off. You lot will have to make fairly good time, over some difficult terrain to make it.

And so training begins. 309 Echo makes it to their rally spot for training, right on time, and only a little bit winded. There's no one around though, but just at the bottom of the hill is a mockup of an urban street, complete with store fronts, a few multistory buildings, parked cars and so forth. Your comlinks all beep, nearly in unison. Its Artemis again. Apparently you won't be seeing her in the flesh. She provides instructions on the days training, which is fairly basic stuff, and you all hop to it.

Training goes on like this for a few days. Some hiking through the woods, some mock urban training, but little in the way of excitement. A few days in you hear the clatter of automatic weapons from the distance. Artemis explains that there are a few other groups training in the area, and not to be concerned about it.

After nearly a week, Artemis has the group of you pack up everything you came with. "You're moving." she tells you. "I'll be a long walk." Anything that you don't want to carry you can leave behind and it will be picked up and brought to your destination. And she's right. It is a long walk. You all cover the entire distance in a single day though, which Artemis seems pleased about. You find that your destination is a town - abandoned and empty among the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Artemis refers to it as "Site B". She explains that this is where the rest of your training will take place. You're encouraged to find a place for the team to bunk. She warns you to be wary of your environment, as there will be one or more other teams operating in the town. They'll be considered as Opposing Forces. Its largely mock battle though- training teams are not to fire on one another. She notes that you don't want to make any serious mistakes in judgement out here. The best punishment one could hope for would be to have their contract terminated and to be dropped off in a nearby town.

And so for almost five weeks the team trains together, sleeps together, eats together. Artemis seems pleasant to work with. Her function becomes clear through training. She's a combination human resources, logistics, operational planning, and limited electronics assistance all rolled up into one. She never mentions where she's located, but her accent is that of the west coast, perhaps California. She runs the team through all kinds of drills, almost all urban. Building assaults, mock VIP protection, convoy duty, improvised defense, and so on.

After having been doing training for six weeks, Artemis tells the team that they've passed - implying that not all teams do - and that they'll be catching a helicopter the next day. And sure enough, the next morning right at dawn, a dark colored chopper without any identifying markings picks the five of you up from a large weed choked parking lot. The crew isn't very chatty; they help secure your gear, and then you're off. About an hour later the helo sets down at an airport - military by the look of it. Artemis says that you'll be flying on an Aztlan aircraft with some wageslaves and the like, and that its wise to not be too talkative on the flight. This proves to be rather easy though, since the aircraft has a light crowd, perhaps a dozen people in addition to you five and the crew. The other passengers have the look of corporate types, only a few of them have the look of people familiar with violence.

A couple of hours later, the aircraft descends and lands. This airport has the look of being pretty new. Lots of Azltan markings around the place. Mountains in the distance, warmer weather, you guys are probably in what used to be the nation of Columbia. With some guidance from Artemis, and a local Zermax fellow, you all are packed up into a passenger van. The driver finishes his checklist and then gives you all a sour smile. "Be happy you're not flying all the way to Bogota," he says. "They've started shooting down aircraft." He then closes the passenger doors, climbs into the cab, and the van pulls away.

--------------------

Feel free to post whatever you like, IC/OOC/RP/whatever.

Monday I'll open another thread and we'll get going.

An audible groan is heard from Crispy as the punchline is delivered. "Shit man, don't you have any new jokes? I heard that one last time we were on a mission. New material man, get some! Now how about this? 'How many elves does it take to shoot a pistol? Two, one to carry the gun, the other to carry the ammo.' Now that right there's some real gold, you should listen to more jokes like this to improve your routine."

.......


As the days continue, Crispy continues to flap his big mouth during the training. He does well with the physical parts of the training, even improving slightly with some pointers from the other team members on how to find a handhold here or there. In any of the training exercises that involve calculations or coordinated movement, he excels, and is quick to let others know it. But despite his big mouth, he pulls his weight, and is quick to lend a hand to anyone that might need help (although they might hear him brag about it afterwards).

Arriving in Bogota is a bit of a home-coming to him. He remembers the last time they were here, Hammer and the rest of the crew. Good times. He hoped the mission would go as smoothly as the previous one.

Tatjana is always up first, she doesn't seem to sleep much. She is usually found somewhere cleaning her weapons or checking on her equipment, she seems to be extremely careful about that, doing this a lot more than necessary. On the plus side, coffee is usually readily available in the morning.

The weeks of training pass like a blur,
it is refreshing to be busy again for Hammer after so much time doing so little, and it is good for me to see that the old ways return quickly.

Muscle memory takes over from active mental control, things that years ago I would have learned by repetition 50 or 100 times a day or week, now don't even register in my consciousness.
forced marches where the scenery blurs into grey, all that is left is the focus "Get the Job DONE! fight through the pain!"

Team 309E perform admirably as expected, despite a few unavoidable infractions with the other trainee teams on site.

Tatjana seems to attract (wanted / unwanted?) attention, the curse of beauty I suppose.
and despite her blatantly obvious ability to handle herself in any situation, the more chivalrous of the team do keep getting their faces bloodied after running their mouths off
It is both amusing and instructive to watch how tactically they position themsleves now, without even thinking about it.

Taking the last days FIBUA* for example

The Ex CAS Marine I think he was, bloody stupid and a liability is what I'd call him though..
Lucky Nova only broke his wrist for his trying to sample the delights, and his team mates deserved the punishment they got for backing him up.

He was knees down on the ground with his arm at snapping point in her grip in the middle of the street after a full days training. His team on their way to their RV with their weapons slung over shoulders, the same as us as we returned to our waiting vehicle on the outskirts of town but in the opposite direction.

As soon as I heard Crispy yelling, I knew how this would end "Hey Homes, You need to learn that the lady ain't into your shit, Ya feel me Chummer!" His weapon no longer slung, but confidently aimed at center mass.

Nova murmurs viciously over her team Comm < < "I Have this, comrade!" > >

I don't even need to look at Khote to know his eyeballs are rolled into the back of his head already, and the sudden static in the air and howling wind is his doing, the sparks rolling down the barrels of my ARES ALPHA an omen of the impending magics.

To my left, and without any instruction Brian has already started moving with machine pistol in hand to a covering fire position over the AmerInd, they work as a perfect team now
and to my right I have seen the alley I can use as cover to race round into a postion to flank them if they make the wrong decisions.

Fortunately it doesn't escalate any further, I turn and single out their team lead SGT. Estevez, He is a brick wall of a man, you could shoot the bastard all day and I swear it'd just piss him off !

Automatic rifle casually at my hip but pointed in his direction, he knows I'll take him though.
" Back them the hell off Estevez, this will end badly for you! Mi Amigo " I yell and there's the briefest of looks in his eyes before he raises his left hand to call off his men

The dust is whipped up into a Full on magical storm full of sparks and crackles along any metal surface now, the guy on the ground is doing his utmost to not scream and all but one of the other team have backed off a distance,
Crispy educates the last man that listening to his superiors is generally the path of least resistance ... at least I presume that's what he said .. I was too far away to hear over the storm but the rifle butt to the nose seemed to punctuate the lesson.

Nova pushes the offender to the dirt with the heel of her boot " в другой раз друг ! " * and whirls to walk away while Crispy walks alongside wiping fresh blood away from the rifle.

"What was that bout ?" He asked her .... "I do not like dirty hand prints on my armor Comrade!" She replies

And now, this is another blur. as is the chopper ride, Plane ride and now into the van...

<< Bogota, it's like a distant memory, literally a lifetime ago since I was here, however brief that was (not brief enough) I'm looking at things and there's no recognition now, can things have changed so much ?

The place is huge, a sprawl of poverty and miniature battlefields surrounded by life as it passes by for the civilians, gang wars, corp wars and the ever present battle for control of the area .. it's a melting pot waiting to explode.

<< Bogota, how in the hells did I end up back here? I'm sure someone up there fucking hates me !



*(Fighting In Built Up Areas)
"Another time Chummer!" - Russian

Don't let my tweaking the title throw you off.

Its up.

Bogotá - IC

Bogotá - OOC