Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - Working for the Man: Covering Fire [complete]

[Dan Hawkins]

In a break from tutoring the twins, something Dan and Ryu both found extremely gratifying, Anna approached the two of them with a mission. "I have something for you both, by name."

"I'm listening."

"In Kashmir, there's a faction from one of the defunct military groups. The General in charge has powerful enemies. They want him neutralized."

"I don't like assassination missions."

"I realize that, but the last team we sent there was actually taken out when they engaged this General, Kasim. Six Elites, four of which you trained, all dead."

Delta shook his head. "Revenge is a stupid reason to wage war."

"How about a contract to secure the obvious blacktech capable of killing our people. A contract I will add a bonus to, if you can bring the tech back to me. I want to know what and how our people went down."

"Hard to refuse you."

"Good, Rho will be your backup as normal, though I'm adding a teammate this time. Kappa, Jonny Hellfire, will go with you, in case it's more than blacktech."

"The Ex-Ranger?"

"Yes. is that a problem?"

"No Ma'am."

"Good, I've already sent word to Rho, he'll meet you in the Usual place. Kappa is down in the Mess, you can pick him up on the way, get your armor, and head out when you are able. Rho has the mission data."

"You would have sent him alone?"

"No, but the mission would go without you."

"Good, I'd hate to think you believe revenge is all it takes to motivate me."

With that he left, heading for the Mess. Johnny Hellfire was easy to pick out. Dan grabbed a plate, and sat down across from him. "So, you're going to come with Rho and I?" his tone wasn't condescending, it was almost curious, trying to see if the young Elite had actually chosen this.

[Butch_Cole]

They had promised him a break after that Charlie-Foxtrot in Vietnam, but apparently their word was as good as their intel which was as good as shit on a short stick. John Lee Cole, AKA Johnny Hellfire, didn't let his frustration show when he was called in to receive his next mission though. They gave him missions and he said "Siryessir" and collected his fee from which they were taking a significant percentage considering this was his first year with DVNTS. His take would increase after that year was up and there was also a good chance for more bonuses. Thankfully, Hamilton Cartwright, his faithful fuck-up of a friend, former comrade-in-arms, and agent was good for something. The contract Johnny finally signed was one of the better ones for an, at the time, untrained, untested, unknown Nova. Some of these poor schmucks signed 95% of their paycheck away, gave DeVries their left nut to hold on to, and promised them the services of their first born. Ham was a no-talent assclown in so many other ways, but he could negotiate a contract when it came down to it. Thank Christ for small favors...

This one might be different though. He was meeting with Anna DeVries, who was at the Windhoek Base very infrequently. Most of the orders came from Frank Carrington, ostensible head of DVNTS, and her on-again-off-again lover according to the rumor mill. If the orders were coming straight from her mouth, then Johnny Hellfire was getting noticed. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing. When it came right down to it, John had limited interest in being an Elite. Means to an end, that's all it was to him. He wasn't in the Elite game for the long haul. No, he'd fulfill his contract, do something he was good at, and retire on the substantial earnings. Settle down and buy a ranch, rope cattle, marry a real sweetheart, and raise a brood of adorable rugrats.

Anna DeVries was sitting at her desk looking tough and attractive at the same time when John walked in. She motioned to a seat, but he remained standing at parade rest in front of the desk trying mighty hard not to stare.

"Johnny, we were impressed by how you handled your mission in Vietnam."

He didn't say anything.

She continued. "Believe me when I tell you that if we had an inkling that the Cambodians had enough riel to hire an Elite, let alone two, we would have rethought the whole operation. As it is, you managed to fulfill our contract with the Vietnamese and added two notches to your belt."

He didn't give a shit about the notches. Still, he said nothing.

"Anyway, something's come up and we want you on it if you're interested. Our client wants General Kasim taken out and we are going to oblige with extreme prejudice. The last six we sent to do the job didn't even get to come back in body bags. Intel suggests the General got his greedy little paws on some anti-nova blacktech. The presence of hostile novas is unknown, so that's where you come in. Your role is backup to Dan Hawkins and Ryu Hideyoshi. What do you say?"

The chance to work with two consummate professionals like Dan Hawkins and Ryu Hideyoshi was enticing. Those two didn't mess around. But none of that really mattered. DeVries wasn't really asking.

"I'm in," John said.

"Great," she said. "Ryu is callsign: Rho. Dan's Delta. You're Kappa. Rho has all the mission particulars. I'm meeting with Delta next. For now I suggest you go grab something to eat before you have to head out."

He turned on his heel and made his way to the mess hall. The chow was better than standard for a military base. The plate of spaghetti and meat sauce he added to his tray was reputable restaurant quality and certainly not like that ketchup and egg noodle pile-o-crap they called spaghetti and sauce at Fort Benning. He added a heaping plate of steamed vegetables to the tray, grabbed two apples and two bottles of water before finding a seat.

The vegetables went first, and then he ate one of the apples. He drank a bottle of water. When he was halfway through the giant plate of spaghetti, John noticed Dan Hawkins carrying a plate of his own across the mess hall directly towards him. The experienced Elite sometimes just called Delta sat down across from him and asked:

"So, you're going to come with Rho and I?"

Johnny finished chewing and swallowed. After taking a sip of water, he leaned in closer, and in a low voice said, "Ain't really keen on wetwork, but the lady says I'm your backup, and the lady gets what she wants, right? She says it's just in case there's more than blacktech, which means there are probably a few Nodes up the good General's sleeves. Either way, yeah, I'm coming with you and Rho. Looking forward to working with you, Delta."

[Dan Hawkins]

"Glad to see you're onboard with the program then, Kappa." "I read the report on your last job. Outstanding work with such little intel support."

He nodded. "Your ability to improvise is a key factor in this job. We don't know what to expect here." He didn't sound worried, it was almost as if he were talking of the weather.

"Do you have any gear you need to get? We'll be leaving soon."

[Butch_Cole]

Dan mentioned the lack of intel, and Johnny snorted lightly, shaking his head. He ate a heaping forkload of the surprisingly tasty pasta. Little intel support? Try no intel support. Johnny had been left with his ass hanging out in the breeze, the hot, moist jungle breeze, which isn't a breeze at all, just motionless sauna-like air. The job was supposed to be easy. It wasn't. Johnny escaped with his skin mostly intact and a mad streak for the rear-echelon shit-for-brains behind the caper. He preferred not to think too much about it.

He shruggged, "I can think on my feet, hoss. Don't you worry 'bout that."

With two quick gulps, the bottle of water was drained.

"As for gear, I can pick it up on the way out. Not much other than my Buendia-gunk suit, some light body armor, and a few lil' gadgets that might be helpful on a mission like this. How about you?"

[Dan Hawkins]

"One of the Prototype light armors again. They like to test the results." Dan nodded. His armor was state of the art, and the fact that if it performed this go around, it would be mass produced, and soon keeping people alive on the battlefields longer.

"I like to travel light, makes things more interesting."

He polished off his plate. "Meet Rho and I in ten minutes in Ready Room three. We'll go from there."

[Butch_Cole]

Johnny watched the experienced Elite get up from the table after finishing his food. Dan's access to prototype equipment was impressive, and, if Johnny had been a different Nova, a smaller man, he might have even been jealous. Instead, he was content to be impressed and take it as a sign that Dan Hawkins was just the Elite you wanted on your side in the field. Clearly the top brass had a whole lot of time for Dan if they were entrusting him with their prototypes. Given what Johnny knew of Dan's history, their faith was well-placed. He hoped that meant that the odds of getting iced on a mission dropped to slightly more favorable on an op with Dan and Ryu.

After finishing his own meal, Johnny collected his gear, and made his way to Ready Room three. The other two Elites were already there, but they had probably only beaten Johnny there by a minute or two at most.

"Howdy, fellas," Johnny said. "What's the plan?"

[Dan Hawkins]

Rho took the lead here. "We go in by warp gate. I go make some more, giving them the idea there's more than one team, and hopefully drawing off some of the forces. While I do this, you two infiltrate quietly, Kill the target, and procure any data and tech you can. We rendevous here." He held up a map with a "X" over a hill overlooking a lake.

Delta started. "The timeframe for this op is twelve hours, anymore, and we risk giving them time to call in reinforcements, or rally the troops. Infiltration by conventional means after the gate will take two hours." He looked to Kappa. "You have your throat mic, use it. We will have to separate to acheive our objectives, since we don't know exactly where in the base the General will be. Killing him is the priority. Kappa, You're going to be searching the barracks, and eastern half of the camp. If you find him, kill him immediately, and call it in. I'm going to the Western half of the camp, to what we think is the armory, and communications building. I'm going to disable the comms, and then find whatever tech they're holding. I'll smash if I need to, and take what I can."

"Sound good?" He was giving Kappa the starring role, killing the general, while he took on the technical role, and Rho the decoy.

[Butch_Cole]

Ryu started the briefing, and Johnny followed intently. Then Dan laid out the rest of the mission parameters for them.

So, Johnny'd gone from being backup to Delta and Rho to a possible starring role in a short time. He didn't really care either way, and if Dan wanted him to be the triggerman, then so be it. Rho was the decoy and Delta to blind them and neutralize their tech. He'd do his job as Kappa and hopefully not get iced, get to come back home, get one step closer to the end of his contract and starting some kind of happier, safer life.

"Rho raises a ruckus. Delta wallops the West," he said, nodding. "I'm good with that. I'll keep you informed if for some reason the General's nowhere to be found in my sector."

Johnny shrugged, adding, "You never know."

[Dan Hawkins]

"No, you don't."

He handed over a small communicator. "This device is set to only send and receive on a specific channel. One that is your only secure link to Rho and I." He nodded. "Do Not allow it to fall into enemy hands, destroy it if there's any chance."

Delta had on what looked like a full body armor, ceramic plating over a gel sublayer, and most surprisingly it was actually done in dark brown, black, and grey, desert night camo. He pulled out a helmet and nodded. "That's it then. "Let's synch the watches and get this show on the road." He pulled on his helmet, which normally gleamed, but for this mission had been dulled significantly so that it held no reflection.

The trio synched watches, and Rho began opening gates all over the target area's perimeter. He indicated one to Delta's left. "That one takes you to your start point." With nothing further to say, Delta walked through, finding himself in a boulder strewn hillside, immediately he took cover and set about making sure there was nothing else there.

[Butch_Cole]

With the communicator in place and his watch synched with those of Delta and Rho, Johnny Hellfire secured his own helmet. His armor was similar in coloration to Delta's advanced prototype light armor, but it was bulkier. It would offer similar protection while weighing a good deal more. Johnny's stamina would hopefully keep him from getting too tired. He also hoped that the mission wouldn't take nearly as long as they had originally figured.

Delta stepped through the gate Rho indicated. He held his hand up in front of Johnny indicating that he should wait a moment. With his other hand, Rho summoned one...two...three...four...five warp gates in succession one after another. Then he dropped his hand, and pointed at an open gate.

"That one's yours, Kappa," Rho said. "It'll take you to a drainage ditch half a klick from the eastern perimeter of the base."

Johnny nodded and stepped through the gate.

The first thing he noticed was the smell. Drainage ditch my ass. It was a goddamn sewer from the looks of things. And the smell. Still, at least Rho hadn't dropped him right into the sewage. The portal let him out a few feet away from that mess.

He only allowed for it to distract him for a moment. After scanning the immediate area and noting that it was clear, Johnny climbed out of the ditch and began to make his way towards the base. There was ample cover--some fairly large boulders--along the way that made the job somewhat easier. Either Rho had done his job supremely well or there was a certain level of incompetence among the people in charge of this base, but Johnny didn't encounter any patrols as he methodically made his way to one hundred meters from the razor-wire topped fence on the eastern edge of their target.

In the distance, Johnny could hear the frantic cries of soldiers being mobilized and running out of the barracks as well as a few small vehicles being started up. None of them seemed to be concerned with this area, which meant that Rho's distractions were working.

Slowly, Johnny crawled his way to an area between the midpoint of the fence and the southeastern-most corner. From where he was, the first of the buildings were visible. Once he made it either through or over the fence, there was 25 meters to the side of what appeared to be a garage. While it was unlikely that the General would be hanging out there, the rear wall would provide good cover and a place to strike out from.

When he reached the fence, Johnny extended his hand and awakened his quantum charged fires. Sickly green flame surrounded his fingers. The fire looked more like that produced by certain chemicals, but it was something more than that. Not only did it burn hotter than any normal fire, but it also caused irreparable damage to anything or anyone it touched other than Johnny Hellfire. He melted a small hole in the fence, small enough for him to crawl through. Once on the other side, he made a dash for the garage wall, took a breath, and figured out his next move.

[Dan Hawkins]

For Delta, the new armor worked like a charm. Active camoflage engaged, he couldn't see his own hand in front of him without turning on the filter. He stalked silently to the fence, and jumped. landinging with surprising silence, he padded to the armory bunker, Reaching out, feeling the ptech of this place.

"God was it a rush. For being some shithole base in the middle of nowhere, it was like the installation where he'd found Sol and Luna. He could feel dozens of computers, the eyes of cameras, ears of microphones, the entire network bustlying with activity.

Quantum got him into the bunker, after a sitrep report of people still in the base got him believable codes. There were weapons of US and German manufacture, the sort of stuff only the best in the military normally gets. He turned his camera on, making sure to record some of the serial numbers for later. There was simply too much to extract, but he could find who made the sale. He delved deeper into the bunker, unaware that someone was watching him intently, or rather watching the absence of truth that surrounded him.

Finally he hit the motherlode, Tech he didn't recognize immediately, dozens of small collars, each one giving off powerful quantum readings, looking like nothing more than ordinary jewelry.

That was the moment he felt a terrible sharp pain in his chest, and saw the tip of the blade emerge from his chest, through the breatplate of the armor. "Too bad for you Ace, I'm better at this." He didn't cough blood, focusing on healing as the blade was turned, causing searing pan throughout his body. "Don't get any ideas. You'd be dead if my employer hadn't tlold me to make this hurt. You killed his protege's, and I'm gonna make this hurt."

Delta had moments to raitionalize and formulate a strategy, and he used them well. "You Talk to much. With that, he grabed the sword and snapped the blade, unpinning himself from it in a fountain of blood.

"That was really really dumb."

[Dan Hawkins]

the nova speaking was an Elite as old and experienced as Delta himself. "Arclight." Dan lashed out with a bolt of lightning, charring the other nova's skin, but doing little more. "Careful old timer, you wouldn't want to fry all the toys."

"Delta come in, this is Rho, they've got major forces incoming prep for evac in three."

"Looks like the word is out, isn't it."

Delta spun away as a dozen blades perforated the floor where he'd been standing. Arclight created all manner of blades with quantum power, and used them to deadly effect. On his guard and hoping silently that Johnny was having better luck he continued to fight a revenge crazed lunatic in a powderkeg,

Across the base Johnny was in luck in ways no one could imagine. The target was in his room, seated at his desk pooring over reports of troop dispositions, and resource allocation. He barely notice the nova open the door, thinking it was an underling come to bring away his dirty dishes. His brain had only a few tenths of a second to process the smell of cooking flesh, and then his head fell over, lolling to the side, as the blast had cored right through his chest and chair. Gathering up the papers, and taking video evidence of the confirmed kill, Johnny made his way to the armory, where he found Delta still engaged.

There was the glitter of light as the blades met dangerously sending sparks around them. Then it was gone, Arclight vanished. Kappa barely had a moment to react as Delta pivoted, and threw his knife right at his head, ducking to one side. There was a dull "Shunck" sound as it imbedded in Arclight's face, killing him instantly."

"How the hell."

"He won't suffer anyone to interfere. I knew he'd hit you from behind as a shield, thinking I wouldn't dare throw. I knew you'd dodge it." Delta nodded. "Good work." He packed up the collars and all the other bits he could carry in the shielded pouches. "Take out the comlink." No sooner than he said it did he EMP the entire area, twice for good measure. Outside they found Rho waiting, bloody for once, but intact. "Way more than it should be."

Delta nodded. "Yeah, but we got everything we came for."

The three of them stepped through the warpgate and then the entire circuit taking them home, and no one heard a single scream pierce the night.

[Quantum Fire]

End of Thread

XP: 2 Standard, 2 Baseline, 2 Nova