If my writting is getting sloppy, I apologize. I'm writing theses just for fun and recently at 2400.

Have fun!

12 minutes later

"Alright final gear check," yelled Zinnerman. Yosef, Alec, Flaste and himself had all shed their military uniform and had changed into clothes not unlike the ones they wore while they were guerrillas. Yosef had opted for a pair of khaki cargo pants and a zippered hoodie instead of his usual BDU's. At a causal glance the 4 of them could pass as work crew, but under their civvies, they were loaded out with all sorts of gear. Starting from the waist up, each one if them carried a handgun, concealed under their shirts. Discarding the tradtional M71A1 used by conventional forces, each of them carried a FSAUR-9 as the guns lightweight polymer construction and higher ammo capacity made it easier to use. The also carried a trauma kit and one type of bladed weapon on their belts. Under their shits they all wore ultra thin body amour in case things go hairy. To add to that contingency plan, inside the sling bags on their back lay FS-90 sub machine guns. Favored by special forces for their size, weight and 50 round capacity, the gun also fired amour piercing rounds giving the operator and extra and advantage. Among other things they all had brought a variety of multi tools, flashlights and other gear.

After getting the all good sign from the team they all moved into the loading dock and began sealing themselves into hazmat suits. Due to the high probability of enemy surveillance at the port it was essential that the team exited covertly. To this ended they decided the best way was to ride out in the garbage trucks hauling waste from the ship.

" well this sucks" grumbled Alec. As he sealed his suit and waded into the container filled with a mixture of weeks old food, oil and god knows what.

" Well it could be worse" said Yosef as he plopped in after him.

"Really?"

" uh, nope not really."

" well at least that's over" said Flaste, stripping the hazmat suit from his clothes.

Tossing his suit into a whole they dug in the forest by the road, Zinner, opened his smart phones a looked at the intel they had as Yosef and Alec buried the suits. They were about ten minutes outside of a town call Erford were according to sources was a hot bed of hardliner federation group. " all right, were moving into the town, if anyone asks about us we stick to the story ' we are contractors sent to scout building sites." Zinner said as they began the walk to the town. " Our first priority is I find a place to operate from, find Marida, secure transport for Crossbow and an exfil rout."

Thankfully, the first part of thier operation was accomplished quite easily. While Erfort was a medium size town with a Dublin like atmosphere, there had been a real estate bubble that had popped during the end of the war. This left many buildings half built and abandoned, a prime location to set up an HQ. Passing through the somewhat quaint town, they stopped to buy some sandwiches at a street vendor before heading toward a half built building they had selected using the street view on a map app.

"Seems clear" shouted Yosef after claiming to the 5th floor of the building. " walls are all intact, windows are sealed. Seems perfect."

Calling for his team mates to join him, they began setting up laptops, cameras and sensors and encrypted communications gear. However, as he was unpacking the wiring for the antennas, Yosef mind began to wonder about the next part of the mission. Marida. She had been irritated and had ignored him the last time they had seen each other. He hoped that she was safe, knowing that her aggressive tendencies might be trouble. Come to think of it, bot being on good terms with her made the Lt. realize how much he missed thier friendship. The pranks, the funny remarks they made about movies they watched, the witty joust they had and the respect they had for each other as warriors.

" Zinner, I'm done setting up the gear." He said anxiously, " if it's all the same to you I'm gonna go look for Marida."

"Roger that, just keep an eye out for any intel or exfil routs while your at it" he replied.

Choosing to travel light, Yosef decided to leave his pack at the base, leaving him with his handgun and knife for weapons. If he needed anymore that he probably would be cracked anyway.

As he left a the building, a nice spring breeze had picked up. Thanks to the colonies climate control the weather was never too hot or cold, always just right. It felt nice a and brisk, as he walked between the refs brick condos and apartments, and dinners and cafés.

People seemed friendly and he causal greeted a few as he passed through the town.

After about 10 minutes or random searching, he realized that this was no good and he needed some strategy here. Thinking about Marida, he turned to an old man passing by. "Excuse me sir, do you know any place I could get a drink around here"

"Oh just two blocks away there's a place called The Bulldog"

"Thanks" he replied, jogging away.

Pushing open the door of the pub, Yosef scanned the room as the warm air met his face. leaving his coat on a hanger, he spotted his Lt. in an alcove near the back. His feelings of relief were quick lived though as he saw two shady looking figures seated with her. The bar was empty, besides two other patrons, so he figured a direct approach would be the best. As he walked to them, one of them called out to him from his 5 o clock, "Oi, where ya think ur going?" He ignored the man, focusing solely on the pilot in front of him. The man repeated himself louder. Yosef was going to tell him to frack off, but stopped when he felt a cold jolt on the back of his skull. Frack, this dude had a pistol up his head, he thought, rasing his hands in surrender. "Oi, boss" yelled the man. " we got a shady looking fellow here." Roughly pushed twords the table. He saw Matidas eyes widen in shock as she saw him.

He had just blown her cover and her plan. " I was told you were alone" the larger man on the table growled." Who the frack is he and more importantly who are you really?" He finished the statement by removing a large magnum from his waist band and slamming it on the table. Stupid, amateur move. 'Time to improvise' she thought. Praying that Yosef would see her hands, she made a quick signal on the seat beside herself. Glancing up, she saw a his eyes flicker downward. That was all the confirmation she needed. Staring into the eye of the terrorist the Cyber-Newtype calmly replied " Jehovas Witness, muthafrackers"

Taking the confusing answer as his queue, Yosef, rapidly turned to face his opponent, sliding his right hand to deflect and control the handgun. Delivering a stunning knee to the mans stomach, his left hand unsheathed his karambit it knife. With an extension of his forearm, the sharply curved blade fillet the terrorist armpit, sending nerve tissue and arterial blood gushing from the wound. Behind him, Marida had kicked the table forward smashing both enemies in the ribs while she claimed the revolver and fire one bullet into each of their skulls. However, two new enemies presented themselves. As seemingly everyone in the bar was a terrorist, the bartender and a lone customer also drew weapons and laid down a burst of fire. Falling back into the alcove, Yosef drew his pistol as Marida reached under her coat and drew out a small cylindrical device. Pulling the safety pin and tossing it into the bar, it exploded with a 180 decibel and 8 million candela flash. both blind and disoriented terrorist didn't have a chance as Yosef and Marida came sweeping out of their cover and began firing. In standard military fashion, Yosef put two rounds into the bartenders center mass before finishing with a head shot. Marida on the other hand put one,well placed round through the other mans shoulder, and punched him in the face with the barrel of the gun.

" Clear," shouted Yosef after confirming there were no more bad guys lurking in the bar. " nice shooting"

" you too" she replied emotionless, as she was tying the still living mans hand and feet.

" i missed you" keeping his gun in compressed ready,the Lt. kept his guard up while she worked. After no response, he decided here wasn't the best place for small talk and closed his mouth.

"We need to interrogate this fracker. I'm assuming Zinner the squad are here?" She said, gagging the man and picking him up.

"There here," he out the window, he saw flashing red and blue lights out line the buildings " but we have heat incoming. Can't go straight back."

" follow me" she said. Pistol still draw and ready, she moved them through the back of the pub into the back alley. "I set up my base not to far from here."

" lead the way "

As far as hideouts went, Marida had actually found a nice place. It was a nice apartment, fully furnished with beds a couches still intact. It seemed that the building had foundation problems and so the owners had to abandon it only weeks before completion. After running around stabbing and shooting all day, it felt really good to just sink into a couch.

"He'll be out until the heat dies down" Marida say tossing a used syringe into a waste basket. She plopped down on the chair across from him, pulling off her hat and letting her hair down.

" good, I contacted Zinnerman, he said to do the interrogation here before we head back." Before the awkward silence could set in or she could try and avoid him, Yosef quickly continued. " and by the way, I really did mean what I said in the bar."

" Yosef, just drop it"

" No I'm not done" he firmly said. "I reacted badly when I found out you had problems with stims and alcohol. I was trying so hard to maintain discipline and order, I forgot about trying to help my people. I'm sorry."

This was unexpected. What she had thought would have been a scolding, threats of court martial had instead been a heartfelt apology.

"However, I'm not just going to ignore the problem." Grabbing the sofa, he jerked it forward until they there knees were almost touching. Looking into his eyes she only saw genuine concern as he asked " what are you trying to forget ?"

She didn't remember how she started telling her story nor when she lowers her eyes and started crying. What she did remember was the comforting arms around her and her head leaning against him. He didn't even have to say a thing.

And that was mostly because Yosef had no idea what to say as his mind was racing in half panic mode "Oh god, I don't know what to say. This story is so deep, I don't know if I can, oh crap is she crying? Crap she is, what do I do? Agh uhh, hug yea that sounds right. Slowly, slowly, god please don't hit me. There we go. God I could get sued for this. Frack, frack, fra.. Oh is she sleeping?" He realized he had been holding his breath and let it out. Rubbing her red hair to see if she was still awake, she confirmed by letting out a snort and begging to begging to snore rather loudly. Laughing as he slowly lowered her into the sofa thought " what a unique, quirky, deadly, beautiful person". And that night as Yosef pulled his coat over her, she slept in absolute peace. Yosef on the other hand stayed up all night because someone had to guard the hideout.