Play@YSDC

In the helicopter-
Catherine checked Katarina's straps and then her own to make sure they were secure. The other members of the team also inspected their straps and equipment. The time passed with agonizing slowness until the pilot got on the radio. "Ground Control, this is Strike Force Alpha," he said. "Requesting permission to take off as scheduled."

In the helicopter-
"This is ground control, McCoy," replied a woman's voice, "granting Stike Force Alpha clearance to take off. Destination as filed. Clear for take off, SFA."

"That must be Kathryn McCoy," said Lt. Rebecca Doolittle. "She's an air traffic controller they let in last night. I met her at the quarantine clinic over breakfast. Good to see they're putting her to work so fast."

The pilot nodded and responded on the radio. "Roger that, McCoy," he said. "Preparing for takeoff." He started the engine, and the helicopter's engines came to life. The rotors began to spin, picking up speed.

Katarina bit her lip and hugged herself in her seat.

In the helicopter-
"Lifting off," said the pilot into his radio. He opened the throttle, and the Huey rose into the air. Once it ascended to a high enough altitude, he leveled off and then steered north.

"This is great!" said Catherine to Katarina, leaning back and smiling. "I love flying! Have you ever flown before?"

"No, never," said Katarina, feeling a little ill.

In the helicopter-
"Hang in there, you'll be fine," said Catherine. "Uh, if you need a bag, just ask."

The chopper flew northward and soon passed over the base perimeter fence. Wherever they were going, the relative safety of Warren Air Force Base was being left behind fast, and Katarina didn't know if any of them would ever return.

Major Nelson Harris stood up and walked to the front of the passenger compartment. He cleared his throat before speaking with a raised voice. "We should be arriving at our destination within ninety minutes. In the meantime, I'll brief everyone on the mission. We will be landing on a plateau approximately two miles south-southeast of Scobey, Montana, not far from the Canadian border. The plateau is also one mile south of a fortified compound of a neo-Nazi group calling itself the Aryan Brotherhood. Their strength is estimated at 200 men, but they may have experienced losses in the last day."

"Are we going to attack the bastards from the air?" asked Julie.

"Hardly, ma'am. Our plans are more subtle than that. The plateau gives a good vantage point on the compound and its approaches, and we'll be able to observe it with our binoculars and, in Airman Osbourne's case, through a rifle scope. He's a good enough sniper that he can hit a target at that range, though we hope it won't prove necessary. I'd like to keep fighting at a minimum. We cannot afford casualties. We are a small force on a very specific mission.

"Our ETA at the plateau is 0845 hours. The helicopter will land long enough to let us off with our equipment, and it will then return to base. It will fly back to the plateau at 1800 hours to pick us up. If we fail to make the rendezvous, it will make one final attempt to retrieve us, at 0600 hours tomorrow. If we are not there, we will be presumed missing in action. Once on the plateau, we are to establish a camp and monitor the approaches to the compound for any sign of the men known as Deadeye and Nitro and their captive, Lara Voronova. They were last seen in a white panel van. We expect them to try to reach the compound, and we are to intercept them before they gain entrance. At least one of the two men must be captured alive. They have intel that is vital to base security. If possible, we are to liberate Ms. Voronova and bring her back to base as well. It's possible that she has important intel as well."

"Well, we ain't short of objectives, that's for sure," said Dauterive, scratching his chin and grinning ruefully. "Ladies, welcome to the front line. Watch out for bullets, snakes, and dead guys. It is time to earn our paychecks."

Dauterive checked his weapons; first the guns and then his fists. Both seemed fine. He chewed ferociously and grinned over at the ladies. It was probably meant to be reassuring.

"We be paid?" asked Katarina. The thought seemed so ludicrous to her that she burst into a cute, if loud, hysterical bout of laughter that only lasts about 2 - 3 seconds. "Good. I want iPod 2. Oh ... no ... no ... X-Box 360. No! Massage chair. Need to go mall after this."

In the helicopter-
Major Harris chuckled a little, letting his mask of professionalism slip. "Ms. Iliescu, if you want cash, we'll be glad to give you some if we survive this," he said. "You'll have more than earned it. Of course, it won't do you any good any time soon, if ever. Under the current emergency, money isn't worth the paper it's printed on any more. Only things of real value will be traded until we can set things to rights. If you want all of those things, I expect you could just walk into a mall and take them. The only people there would be the infected, though they may present a problem. Now, we're going to need to know whatever you can tell us about our quarry. What do you know about Nitro and Deadeye? And what can you tell us about your friend Lara?"

Dauterive waited for an answer to the Major's question but when none was forthcoming, he started to make himself comfortable for a 90 minute snooze.

"I guess all I need to know about Nitro and Deadeye," he drawled, "is whether they bleed."

Katarina just stared at her hands, allowing the gap to grow longer before finally gathering up her strength to speak about them. "Nitro know bombs. He called Helmut Krieger. Deadeye is sharpshooter who real name is Bobby Lee Duke. Nitro is huge man, bigger than you, he smart and cruel but bit mad even before now. Deadeye is big, not nearly as big but big, very quick. Nitro was worse with us. He like to hurt people."

She wrings the handkerchief in her hands, staring downcast, tears bubbling in the corners of her eyes.

"Lara is my good friend. We speak Russian. We could talk ... skinheads couldn't know what we say. Lara is, how you say, studies ruins and old vase. She come to America to be bride but not know husband. She very pretty, small girl, blonde girl, very smart, very fast, but not cope well and her mind not strong to last much, maybe, if she still with them."

Larry watched the Russian girl speak.

"Sweetheart," he drawled. "I ain't never seen a man big enough that a bullet won't stop him. You stop your worrying now. This isn't some piss-ant Russian outfit going to rescue your girl. This is the U.S. military. If we say we're getting her back, and we're taking down the bad guys, then it's time for them to make their peace. You get some rest. When you wake up, you're gonna see some good old fashioned retribution."

OOC,While [b]Katarina[/b] can speak Russian, she's actually Romanian - though [b]Dauterive[/b] might not realize this.

In the helicopter-
"If Lara's as plucky as you, maybe she did already get away from them," Catherine told Katarina. "I sure hope so."

"Do remember that we need one of these two alive," Major Harris said. "Ms. Saint James, do you have anything to add?"

"I didn't know those two well or for long - thank God," said Julie. "They're scum, they're brutal, and they're tricky. If you do manage to capture them, don't take your eyes off them for a second or let your guard down. They got the drop on me. I don't even want to think about what they would have done to me if my partner Dan hadn't shown up and rescued me." She shuddered, reliving the terror. "Both Nitro and Deadeye were wounded, and we managed to capture them both alive after Dan shot one and Zoe stabbed the other. Dan went to go take a look out back, leaving me and the girls they had abducted with them. That's when Zoe and Lara decided to kill them both. I can't blame them, really, but it backfired horribly. Zoe held me at gunpoint and made me drop my pistol, and then Lara went up to Deadeye and taunted him, sticking her gun in his mouth. He managed to grab it away from her and then took her hostage, but luckily Zoe gave me her own pistol before Nitro could grab me too. The two of them dragged Lara away. If we do capture one of them alive and save Lara, we may have our hands full keeping her from killing him. If she gets another chance, I don't think she'll hesitate."

Major Harris nodded. "Thank you, ma'am. Does anyone have any questions?"

Larry shook his head.

"Now, y'see," he said, chewing gum as he spoke. "That's the problem with all you civilians. Too much time pointing guns, not enough time shooting 'em. I tell ya, these guys ain't getting the drop on me. One sign of trouble, and they're out cold."

Dauterive mimed smacking someone around the head with his pistol.

"Questions Major? No, sir. I'm just itching to get this bird on the ground and start righting some wrongs."

Katarina smiles at the piss-ant Russian comment. She never liked that country much.

In the helicopter-
"What nonlethal combat options do we have?" asked Julie. "We're armed to the teeth, but most of what we have is deadly."

"In addition to being an excellent sniper," said Major Harris, "AIrman Osbourne is very good with grenades. He has a tear gas grenade and a smoke grenade. All he needs to do is spot the enemy - and he's great at that too - and get close enough."

"Thank you, sir," said Kevin.

"What if that doesn't work?" asked Julie.

"Then we'll need to rely on hand to hand combat," said the major. "Some of our volunteers are MPs and orderlies from the quarantine clinic, armed with batons and also skilled at unarmed combat. Once we subdue one or both of our targets, Airman Winters can keep them sedated."

"Wait," says Dauterive. "It's just the two targets we have to capture alive right? The other guys are fair game no? I'm not keen on running into this base throwing stink bombs and harsh language around while there are bullets flying back at us."

In the helicopter-
"The other guys are fair game if we have to engage them, Sergeant," said Major Harris. "I'm hoping we don't have to, though. From the intel we have, we'll almost certainly be greatly outnumbered. If we need to enter their base, we won't be storming it, we'll be infiltrating by stealth."

"Stealth suits me just fine, Major," says Dauterive. "Just so long as we've got a backup plan and some tools if it goes wrong."

He looks out of the chopper to see if they are approaching their target.

"How will we do that? Hide in stealth?" asked Katarina.