Variant: The Inception

Strays

While on the plane, on their way to their designated destination, the team begins a conversation about Jeremy's girlfriend.

Jun speaks up first, "man, I can't believe you never told me about her. How long have you been together bro, tell me all bout her ASAP."

"Calm down man," replies Jeremy still blushing. They pester him into talking and eventually he succumbs.

"Fine," he says, "we grew in the same orphanage. She was always in the kitchen back then, and you know I love my food, so I befriended her in order to get better access to the kitchen. We got along pretty fine, always together, and when the AVA came, we evacuated together. She applied to join the kitchen here while I shortlisted in the AVA. I really can't say when we started dating, but I guess we are."

Kuma speaks up next, "You guess? Bro if you have to guess then something ain't right," he interjects.

"We've been fine all this while, and as you saw," says Jeremy pointing to the edibles on his lap he just received, "It's working out well for me." They all laugh.

They are notified that the plane is approaching the designated drop zone. They attach four large parachutes to the four edges of the Humvee. Mark double checks to see if it is affixed properly. They get back in the vehicle and put on their seat-belts. The rear-end opens up for them to drop down, signaled by the blindingly bright green light blinking inside the plane and the cargo door opening wide. Jenny puts the gear in reverse and gently eases the Humvee out of the Cargo plane. Immediately the first set of back tires leaves the plane, the wind pulls on the parachute and the vehicle is hurled outside. They feel a jerk momentarily before it stabilizes midair. The plane continues on ahead. Mark orders them all to look out the windows with their binoculars, to watch out for any projectiles.

"Hanchou, so, say we see a missile headed towards us right now, how would we react to it?" Asks Seba.

"We'll shoot to it down of course. That's the only response. Most of this Humvee is made from Icynnium, even a direct contact with one missile wont do much damage, but to be on the safer side".

"Yes sir," responds Seba, as he lets go of Sam's hands and focuses on his duty.

The drop zone is a grassland with fairly tall trees. The sun is setting, hence they decide to spend the night there and observe their environment, subsequently deciding to continue the exploration in the morning. They munch on the donuts brought for Jeremy with some cold sodas. They designate lookout times, although it was unnecessary as the Humvee is equipped with proximity alerts ranging up to ten meters. Krash offers to be on the lookout first. Mark orders them to rest up at about 2040 hours. They sleep in the Humvee. Kuma and Reina take the last two shifts, using the opportunity to say their morning prayers. Afterwards, Mark evacuates the front passenger's seat for Reina. She heats up breakfast. They have their first meal if the day at 0628 hours, and by 0645 hours, they pair up.

"Hanchou," says Tanya, " I know that part of our mission is to bring back with us those we meet outside the base, but how are we going to that when our Humvee is already packed full? "

Mark brings out a sat-phone from inside his backpack, "with this," he says, "I'll inform base and they'll come get them with a Heelo," he says, bringing out comms. Jenny parks the Humvee inside the thickest shade of trees the vehicle could get into and they cover it up using shrubs and piles of leaves. They do this not in fear of the Humvee being broken into, for that's nearly impossible, but in fear of enemies knowing that they will return to that spot and plan an ambush. Mark distributes ear buds to them and they set up their comm lines.

"Keep your lines active, check in regularly and desist from unnecessary chatter. But report anything worth reporting. If you encounter an enemy, assess them, if you cannot take them, request and wait for backup. Your arm bands will send me your real-time locations on this console, so I can deploy backup when you need one. We meet here again by sundown."