Broks answered,Yeah....got two more.. I marked them this time.... i slip up next  to you.. Brooks   slipped up  closer to  Roy...

  Kid  can't  drop no  vans on us here... I think he's  frssh out of them..

  Man?   you  knocked  down one  Van a litle to close  and people get all uptight!

 ..I know   I'll  regret  this...but he has  a point? he didn't know where it was going to  fall, and you didn't   waht a  air drop of  6   EDT  troopers behind you..

 see?... You know, she shoudl be  ..HOT...shot...

 and...there is is...

 from the back  yard   Cross said..  our  trigger man   tossed some   flatbread  by the kitchen  doors  back here  at each house.. if they start  pouring out , we'll give  them a reason to  not wat to,

Gresh came on the   COMstwo more Minute s we have to release the  alarms.. my guess it goes off right away.

"No time to waste, then..."  Roy threw the rolled-up explosive through the fractured remains of the door, and looked down at Karson.  "Fire in the hole!" he called out, using an age-old phrase indicating it was time to detonate ordnance.

"That oughtta be one helluva flash-bang," Roy commented drily as he ducked to avoid the blast, making reference to a common nickname for concussion grenades.  It would, indeed, be a flash-bang of sorts.  A flash-bang on steroids.  Like, angry adult Pirloc steroids...

 NA-CE patched up Liggins and got her combat ready, she then gathered her gear, smiled at Vaka and headed back towards Rot to cover him.

     when Broks  triggered the  cricket  balls,  the  Inside of the    Houe  erupted  in  light , explosions and screams, the second started to  sag in  some,, and  fires  were starting to burn.. Moans  and screams for  help can  from is  side.

   Outside, some one  tried to make a break out the Kitchen  door..Karson   triggered  his 'discs'   and  Peo  flew  sideways  and  Back isde   with  thier legs   gone drom  the knees on  down

 Hirr  Looked  at Hemsly..I thought you were the   'blow stuff up' person. are you goign to blow stuff up..

 Hemsley   titled his head.I just Blew up the door!

 Yes..This i have seen..that door?  will never  bother us  again..now..perhaps. you might be making people dead this time..

 Hemsly    started   rolling    C-10 Muttering something about 'no wonder  me  Ma never wanted a  Cat..."

 after a minute or  so .... about the   time karson's  discs  went off.. Hemsly  ran    to the  window , tossing in three   things   that  looked like sausages

 he   triggered them , and the Living  room  explosed   Scream were cut   sure, while others   screamed  in pain.. half of a womans  body   was draped over the window  seal,,her  eyes   staring   at hemsly, in death.

 That is being , much better...now.. less  people we have to kill with  weapons.

  Twitch COMed again...Sticky says   4    FUJI  Sec  Vans  are being loaded..  they should be  were you are in 5 minutes... you should not be there..in 4.

"Copy that.  Hot Shot, start a four-minute countdown, call out every thirty seconds.  Time to go see if we got what we wanted in there..."  A pistol in each hand, he headed to the shattered remains of the door, watching for any sign of anyone moving or looking to poke a weapon out and ready to shoot anything that looked even remotely threatening.

 Hirr  Nods  to   Yololia,we go..shoot  any one  not us...  Hemnsly follows  the Cats in, he ehads to  the  battere d Kitech,  setting up  Cooking Oils  that he  suts  holes in teh plastic.. they drain slow, but will reach the fires  soon.

 3:30 and counting.. Lyri Moves   to her vam=n and starts it  up..Lirg  move to her  spot  , looking for strays, Until he calls Him over.

 Zob does the  same.. with Nifty   watching  down the  street  away from the   Hull,,the massive entrance to the Stem about  1/2 mile away.

  Roy  Enters   With  brooks...  Karson is  with Cross , as O'day   points to    Roys    House.. and larson   esplodes the Discs  outside the  door.. that  part of the house  behinds  to have  flames licking up the  walls.

 Yotolia   finds   3  Nivarians.. they were blown apart.

 Hemsly   Dumps  some hard  candies  from  a  Bowl into his pocket,The  Young cat  found  3  bodies.. one looks like the Mark.. they have weapons, I'm grabbing  a short carbine..never saw its  make before..hard  ammo to boot. turning to the felrites,  , see this rifle?.. you see any more , grab them

 Roy    found the  Roussian a bit  easier, the   Purple   elongated head, was  have smashed.. there were two others  as well. the rest of the bodies  were humans.

 Lyri  said...3:00 and counting.

"We got the Roussian.  On our way out, let's not give them any more time to look for us than we have to."  It wasn't the surgical precision that he preferred, but on the fly with a small crew and two targets at the same time in separate buildings required a more direct approach.

"If anyone's got anything that will point the finger at one of the other groups on the station, leave it behind.  I'm sure they've got eyes in FujiSEC, whatever we can do to get the rumors flying is just going to serve our purposes later."

And then an idea struck him.  He pulled his kabar, and carved a crude rendition of the design from the patch their transport operator had shown them into what was left of the Roussian's forehead.  "That oughtta get some tempers flaring..."  Part of him wanted to go through and give all the bodies a cash-slasher treatment, but that wouldn't fit with the image they were going for...it would fit a gang hit, yes, but they didn't have time and the groups they were hoping would get blamed for it also wouldn't have time, and would know that.

"Let's clear out, clock's ticking fast."

 NA-CE got back to Roy and would fire at any bad guy she saw move but she followed Roy stayed close as they began to clear out before Fujisec got there.

 The Nivarian House  was starting to Burn, as  the oil  reached the burning carpets.. Hemsly  waved  the  everyone out , carrying the  weapons and what mags  were  on the  people who were dead.

  Vans...  will meet you at the  Main Gate?  the   SEC is  coming from   the  southwest.. No lights on our  Vans..

  Nifty hopped into the  back, as  Lirg did the  saw  with Lyri . the Vans  dropped  down , moving to the  Gate...2:00 and counting..I can see their head lights..

 Karson, Cross  and  O'day ran  between the Houses  ...Going to be alot of sorting out for them, when they see those   vans and  who the bodies are ..

yotolia looked to Hirr and then nodded before inching her way closer to the doorway again holding her rifle up in the ready position, only breaking to grab and pull the pulse rifle out of reach of the body and towards Hirr, just in case she only maimed him, then readied her rifle once more to scan the room as she entered.

She heals back a cough with a gag at the smell of burning furniture and the stench of burning flesh. no matter how hardened a warrior was the combination of the smells would get to anyone. She scanned the room for survivors, ready to put down any opposition

Roy hurried to the vans as their extraction proceeded without any opposition.  "Once we're all in, rush out about a quarter mile and then drop in with the rest of the normal traffic.  No need to have our driving drawing attention..."

Keying his comm, he reported in, "Okay, Big Guy, looks like we got 'em both, and I etched a little something on one of the bodies to tell them Nolte sent us.  We better hurry if we're gonna get there before any retaliation hits...can you vector us in to avoid crossing paths with the local constabulary?"

  The Vans   merged into the  heavy traffic flow  heading to  the  Uppers.

 Lyri  COMedLights on , Zob. we  want to look .Like every one else... Id  Boss man says  to  get  down  on the dec, will shut out lights off and  drop..otherwaise. we  are commuters.

 NA-CE followed Roy into Zob's shuttle, she took her seat and she looked to see who was in this shuttle as well.

  Gresh  came  on the COMs,Delvery  Vans  almost always  turn to the  Port side , when entering, then  head down or above the   streets   headed  to the Mountain amd   such ..leaving open air for  military and   Civi persoanl traffic.. make that turm for   6  blocks, Trun up the street towards the  Mountain... two black from the Mountain   turn to theb starboard..until you reach the beach  road... drop  down to street traffic .. The  Occui has  his  place  near the Hull... he  has a tall fence.. a gate to the   port  and starboaard  sides.. two builings..on his for  cars  with  Visitor rooms  above  the lower  section..and a  trwo story home  with a  laanding pad on top...he has  people.. we know he has   the  30 you are pewrmitted  for a civi business person... i would assume he has  more then that,

Roy nodded as the directions were relayed, even knowing that Gresh couldn't see the gesture.  It was a subconscious move on his part, instinctive.  "How's our fireworks supply?" he asked, knowing that Karson and Hemsly had been pretty liberal with the high explosives on the last operation and he suspected there would be a need for more of it coming up.

"Any chance you can send someone to hook up with us to resupply?" he asked.  He still had a few magazines left, he was sure the snipers still had plenty of ammunition left, but he didn't know about the explosives.  "And, hey, Hot Shot...it's my turn to be high cover and your turn to go in..."  Unless, of course, she hadn't thought to bring anything more than her sniper rifle...it wasn't exactly conducive to infiltration...

   Lyri   replied..Yeah?   hey   'Home Town" i need a greaser  with  a muffler.

 The demo  guys  woulkd be happy  with one mor e 10 pound Block, they  could divide  3  ways.

Gresh  waited  a bit.. the vans  were  another  2  minutes from leaving the  Stem, In thier various Vans, Jax  and Nifty looked  down at The  Stem..flashes of  weapons fire  could be seen, but not anywhere near the rate   as most Stations

gresh  finally came  back...you people  are hungry...stop in  at  'Hal's  Hoagies", they have a  drive  through order window, and you'll pick your order up  in the back...sandwiches  are good too!

As the vans proceeded to the designated pickup for their 'order', Roy busied himself in the back of Zob's van.  Not knowing for sure the nature of the operations they'd be going on, he'd come prepared for a variety of possibilities.  Sniping meant the machine pistol would stay in its holster unless something went VERY wrong...it also meant his assault rifle would stay bagged up.  It could shoot straight enough for basic marksmanship at the ranges involved...but he wanted precision, and penetration.

And that meant he was busy putting together one of the Barretts that Gresh had scored for him, oh-so-long ago.  With four magazines, he the had forty rounds.  Twenty of them were conventional .50cal rounds, which were devastating in their own right...the other twenty were Raufoss rounds, which he'd save to use if they had to penetrate some kind of sheltered position.  He'd been able to penetrate the metaglass on a Demon shuttle with a couple of them in the past, he was pretty sure he could handle just about anything short of a station bulkhead, and while their target had connections, he doubted the connections were THAT extensive.

He'd wait to put the barrel on the thing until they were about ready to disembark...the van wasn't crowded, necessarily, but a fully assembled Barrett would take up an indecent amount of room...

 NA-CE repacked, and resupplied her med kit and got ready for the next place. NA-CE sat down and just watched a professional put together a lethal instrument of destruction, she watched and learned.

  There was  a very pretty   Girl at the Window..  Lyri leaned over  and said,HiYa!   My Van and the One beh8nd me are here to pick up a preorder  for a  Party. Its  some  big thing? should be  going on, well after  the Light  Go Out.

  she smiled, with a Giggle,I am soooo jealous!..  Its been a long Time  since i got to go to a party Like that... Please  Pull  around the back to the service   entrance, and  they'll have your  order.

  Lyri smile d and Move d ahead,  When Zob pulled up, she didn't even  Flinch  at  seeing a demon..Nifty. in the Front  seat  had his mouth open and eyes  wide..

 Please  follow  your  fiend's van, your order for your party   will be brought out... she  looked at Nifty  and  gave him a  playful, shifting of the eyes.

  Zob Nudged   Nifty...Nifty's  Voice   went  high until he cleared his throat...Hey?..Is there any chance you are part of the order!

  Zob's head just dropped and he gave it a  shake with a sigh.

 well.... I have to work tonight  and tomorrow  Night... I understand  that  the   Fancy offcier   will have a beach party  the next day..we can sneak into the beach party, Lots of   us do when  the Fleet is in... she wrote something on a Hal's  Hoagie napkin...That's  My COM... COM  me sometime tomorow  and  we can meet while all the  Big wheels do thier Ball...

 It was then , Nifty realized, from the  bit of grey in her  skin, That thi girl was a long time resident of the Stem. Jax  and   Sneak and the rest of thier pack  were Losing that 'metal tinge'..This gril must have only been  out of the Stem  for a year or so.

 Tahank you..um... he looked at   the  napkin..,,,,,Silver.... I will do that...

 Zob  elbowed him again.

  Um... My name is Nifty....

she smiled....I will look forward to that...Nifty...

Zon pulled away  and   signaled for the turn Lyri was making,I am so embarrassed...have you ever went out  with a girl before...

Nifty frowned...she  surprised me....

 how?

she was nice  to me.

...............

 The vans   pulled  around to the service  entrance..  the door opened     as the Back doors  of the Vans  opened. Three  coolers  for each  van  were slipped In, The    Older man with a messy apron  and whit  baseball cap went through the Motions  od   having Lyri  get scanned for the   goods.

 Thank you  for your  order, Miss...  what we did  was, one  cooler  has   a block of the dessert with  fixings  to be added.. one   cooler  had  assorted  entrees  for those   who like  , longer Hoagies... The  third  cooler  has fun food you can toss about... They are Limited. in all?  but when you  have a varirty, i'm sure everyone will find  a ....few  servings.. they like

  the  doors  closed  and the  man whacked the side  of  Lyri's Van. and they pulled a way...

Roy grinned at the descriptions, tucked into the back of Zob's van.  Explosives, ammo, and grenades of some sort, he surmised.  He took a look inside the coolers, to verify.

As he started looking through the cases, he said, "Now, see, Nifty, that's kinda your whole problem right there in a nutshell.  Your pickup lines are so over-the-top that almost no woman with a sense of self-respect is gonna say yes...because you're not approaching them as a woman, you're approaching them as some kind of physical asset to be exploited.  The young lady at the window took you up on it, which leaves me wondering whether she sees you as a good time, or as a potential way to get off the station and onto the Hermes.  Or it's just possible that she's used to guys seeing her as an object and doesn't mind...kids from the Stem don't get a whole lot of experience in respect and sensitivity."  He shrugged.

"But because you have a bad approach, you're constantly getting shot down...so you expect to be shot down, and when it doesn't happen, you no longer have a plan for how to proceed.  If you'd stop approaching women as prospective bed-warmers and start approaching them as people to get to know, and actually have some confidence that they might want to get to know you, you'd get shot down a lot less often.  Unless all you're actually interested in is a roll in the bunk with a nice piece of ass...in which case, you should talk to Steele...I mean, he's a dick, but he's also probably the Hermes' champion when it comes to getting women who don't know him to go to bed with him."  He snorted softly and added, "He's probably so good at it because once they get to know him, no woman wants to sleep with him, so it's the only way he gets any action..."

 Nifty  shook his head,I don't like LT   Steele. he.makes me lok like  i have manners!. Besides. the LC  don't like him much. I don't like anyone the  LC don't like.. They always seem to be.... i dunno? Bad folks.

Cross, shrugged,Not al the  time  , kid.. he messed up two of my people when we showed up, , just because   they gave him some hassle on the beach.

O'day  shrugged,you get what you pay for..'eh?  Didn't see  be   stickign  my ehad  in a Lion's  mouth..not  real smart.

Jax   gave a shrug,older Stem Kids,..we  get a 'feel' for folks..who is  a mark..who is a set up..who is  'bait'... I trust the LC's feelings .. but..sometimes, the   Bad  folks  are Just dumbassess..

 Liggins snapped..hey!..watch your mouth!

 Jax  merely  gave her  a thin lipped smile..all i know?... I didn't  get a broken leg at a beach party, becaus e i  thought i  could rough up a  'pilot"

 Cross    nodded  as he   took a couple  more mags   and   put the empties in the  cooler.

Roy waited for the exchange to quiet down before he redirected things back to his point.  "You don't like Steele...but you hit on women in the same way he does.  I think it works for him because he's so obvious about the point that he's ONLY looking for a warm body to share his bed, and nothing more...for some people, that's enough.  But your pickup lines have the same kind of feel to them.  I don't think that's all you're looking for, because of the people you use them on...not the kinds of people that typically jump in the sack for the sake of mutual relief of a frustrated libido."

He shrugged.  "I could be wrong, and that is actually all you're looking for.  Doesn't matter much.  But the point is, for someone who doesn't like Steele, you're dangerously close to walking in his footprints."  He gave a grin that was a little tired and a little sad.

"You've found someone who reacted well to a pretty obvious pickup line.  You've gotta make up your mind now how you're gonna go forward with her, because you're probably gonna need the time between now and when you meet her at the beach to figure out what you're going to do.  You going to treat her like a self-propelled sex toy?  Or are you gonna get to know her and let her get to know you?"

I know.... I know... But ..look? I'm  somewhere   around the   age  of  19..maybe even 20.. None  of the ladies  treat me like  a guy..I'm..like a kid?.. and I  don't  want to  hit on younger  chicks,,that's ...I dunno...stealing  eggs  from the nest?.. We  can't all be  lucky
 like Jax...  he motions  to Jax.

 Jax   was  checkingHe's  right SM... I'm  Damn lucy , me and Sneak got together... never  happens  if  we  don't almost get killed   on Etna...  each Mage to  make sure they were capped off...

  Lyri came On the COMs  Ok?  Off to  see they  Occui of   Oz...Follow  the  dec plated  road...

 Lyri's Van Lead...Zob Fiollowed.

Roy grinned.  "The biggest reason the ladies treat you like a kid is because you've got over-eager puppy energy radiating off you like a cracked reactor core.  I know you grew up in pretty hard conditions, so this might be a hard concept to process...but good relationships are something to be savored.  You come across like you're running around trying to grab up relationships like they're spilled candy and you're afraid the rats are gonna get them before you do or something.  I get it...you're young, probably wasn't a whole lotta opportunity when you were guarding gates for Gresh, and you aren't used to that kind of attention being a serious option...if you were lucky, someone was making jokes about, "If you were just a few years older..." and now that you are, they aren't around."  He smiled and shrugged.

"But the ones worth having around?  You don't lure them in with pickup lines.  You just be yourself.  Jax got lucky, sure...but Jax also didn't spend a lot of effort trying to lure Sneak into hooking up with him.  He was just himself, and she saw that and decided that was something she wanted more of in her life."

He chuckled and sat back, finishing his checks on the Barrett.  "But that's something to think about after we're done.  If we were going after a Porcine instead of an Occui, I'd say we're gonna huff and puff and blow the house down, but that's the wrong fairy tale."  He keyed his comm.

"I'm gonna have to change vans when you disembark, Hot Shot...we don't want three quarters of our cover fire together when we go in..."

   The  two  vans  went  down the road..  Nifty as checking his optics.

    lyri  pulled  off  away from the   shore  road and  three  blocks  later   went  down an  alley when they came out of the alley, there  was a couple   bars there.. Music  loud .. Lyri  got  out  and waited  for  Roy

 she looked through her Bino and handed it to Roy..  there   is a bridge over that causeway...leads  to  that    mound of   ground  where  his house if...that cause  way? look to the   beach side..it  has  a gate and  a fence... now?  most folks  would think that's to keep stuff out... I'm thinking its  to keep things....in.

 however ..hover vans    can easily   go over that cause  way?..anyone   on  foot...has  to use the   bridge.....

Lirg   and Nifty  came over  as well.I think we could easily  hit them , with the weapons we have , from the Mountain..then..he  has to  leave by that bridge...

 Nifty used his  rifle scope...  why not  just   fly   as high as the Mountain, and   fly over the  river thing,.. land in the  back?..  Zob   could sit  back   and  target anyone  caomign across the  bridge... and if there are Hungry things in the water, they can't swin it  either... um..by the way.. i ..um..can't  swim..