Play@YSDC

UNIT HQ - London, England
8:40 PM - Thursday, September 5, 1985

Valerie Soames led Chad Engraham, Leonek Novak, and Sergeant Valentine Hale to the room where the personnel files were stored. Row upon row of steel filing cabinets lined the walls in alphabetical order, and several pine tables were in the middle of the room. "Well, here we are," she said. "Let's start going through them and selecting people for the mission."

Hale begins to cast an expert eye across the files, ideally looking for soldiers with experience of amphibious landings and experience of beach fighting. He looks for any soldiers with combat experience against the creatures that he heard mention of in the earlier briefing. Occasionally he asks questions of the others to try and round out his understanding of the upcoming confrontation.

Valerie Soames helped Valentine Hale navigate the files, and he found some soldiers with experience of amphibious operations. Most of them were, like himself, veterans of the Falklands War. A couple of them he had even served with there. There was one UNIT soldier who had encountered the Sea Devils before during UNIT's only other encounter with them, though he was older. This gave him more experience, but he was also past his prime.

"Oh, here's a dear girl I know," said Valerie, selecting a file. "I hate to involve her in this horror, but she's a good covert operative, and she's also friendly with young Elliot. If he doesn't make it out, I know she'll want to go in after him."

Valentine looks up at Soames, he doesn't know much about her apart from she was at the briefing earlier. "I think we'll need all the help we can get ma'am. To be honest I feel like I'm flying blind on this mission. These chaps seem like a formidable team though?" He hands her the files he has selected, seeking approval or at least a indication that he hadn't fouled up so early in the day...

"You're right, of course, Sergeant," said Valerie Soames, nodding. "She's in." She looked over the files that Valentine had selected. "Yes, they look a fine collection of strapping young men...and one older one, though still young enough to be my son. They certainly seem to have the right background and skills." She returned to perusing her own files. "Oh, here's another good one: Dr. Gordon Baxter. We need all the medical personnel we can get, even if Dr. Shields makes it back to HQ safely."

The grim looking soldier turns to the older woman, "thanks. I'm feeling a little out of my depth here, everyone here seems to know a lot more than me. The little looks between them, the eyebrows raised at certain turns of phrase. To be honest I'll be happier once I'm out in the field."

"You're quite welcome," said Valerie. "Just yesterday, I would have felt the same way. Once you've been to Dunwich and seen the things we've seen..." She shuddered. "Well, you'll understand then. I suppose how you're feeling is a bit like how civilians might feel among a group of soldiers who have seen action together. If you haven't been there yourself, it can be overwhelming."

"Well the sooner we get started the better, I think we're about done here. I'll pass these files onto admin and send out the muster orders. I should go and check my gear and draw some ammunition from the quartermaster here. Is there anything else you need me for? Or more importantly, is there anything else I need to know?"

"Oh, that's right, you missed most of the debriefing," said Valerie. "There's a lot of historical background we discovered during our visit to Dunwich, plus the layout of the village. We could fill you in if you're interested."

"Now an offer of some information before I put myself in the line of fire sounds just what the doctor ordered! What can you tell me?" The big soldier grabs the back of a chair and drops into it ready to listen...

"Well, some of us met a local writer, Virgil Soames," said Valerie. "He may or may not be related to my late husband, but I think he likely is. We learned that the trouble in Dunwich started around 1945, when Captain Josiah Lake of the Royal Marines returned from the war. He was a war hero, and he also had a lot of gold that he spread around to good effect. Some people thought he must have taken it from the Japanese. He corrupted the town's elders and soon was in charge of Dunwich, supplanting the Barne family that had dominated before. They sold their mansion to the Lakes and moved out of Dunwich in 1947. The Soames family opposed the Lakes and their rise to power."

Hale nods thoughtfully, he hadn't expected a history lesson, but if it helped him in the field who was he to argue..."So what it the connection between these Lakes and the creatures that are now at the heart of our troubles in Dunwich?"

OOC,Everyone is moving to the thread linked below.

Intelligence