He woke up some time later, mid-morning maybe. Fuck, it was hard it was hard to keep track of time out here. Panam was gone, but he heard her off in the distance talking with someone, maybe Dakota. The tent door was open, and he could see Mitch was sitting in the mess trailer. He threw on his jacket and headed towards Mitch. He was happier here that he had ever been in Night City or even with the Bakkers, but now he knew what Panam meant when she said she'd miss the food on that last drive out of Night City. Whatever Mitch was eating didn't look great.
"Rough night?" Mitch asked, pointing to V's shirt. He looked down and realized the shirt was still stained with blood.
"Guess so" he answered.
Mitch continued, "Don't worry bud, we are gonna get you fixed the fuck up good. We cut a deal in exchange for some of that 'saka tech we stole. That shit's worth more than gold, and we got enough of it to last a long time. You good to ride today? This is a meet we are gonna need you at."
"Yeah, I'm good." V answered. "Whats for breakfast?"
"Your favorite – protein porridge-" Mitch said laughing. He gestured to the cook, and she brought a bowl over to V. He dug in with his spoon. The taste of this shit almost made him almost throw up every time he had it. At least it was warm this time, it was even worse cold. He watched Mitch finish one bowl and then get started on a second.
"Mitch" he said between bites.
"Yeah?". Mitch looked up.
"How do you fuckin' deal with this food every day? Did you get used to it or what? Never had to eat like this with the Bakkers"
"The Bakkers weren't in the middle of fucking Arizona". Mitch said, taking another huge bite, he must have seen the disgust on V's face this time. "Can't taste anything since the war" Mitch said laughing. "I'm breaking your balls, we got you something special today. He gestured to the cook again, and she brought out a plate of what looked like locust sausage and a couple of beers.
"Shit is that what I think it is?" V said. He hadn't had real food in weeks.
"Fuck yea" answered Mitch. Figured you could use a good meal. Panam said you been in the shit the last few days".
"Thanks. S' good to be here." V said cracking open a beer. Mitch nodded and cracked open his beer. They both turned around and looked out over the camp. He felt Mitch's hand on his shoulder.
"Head over when you are done with that, we gotta go over the plan". Mitch headed over towards Panam and Dakota, beer in his hand.
V spun back around on his stool, and slowly ate the locust sausage, savoring every bite. Shit he never realized how good it was. A lot of friendly faces were looking over at him, and he got a few friendly waves which he returned. He had gone to Night City to become a legend but had always felt like he was missing something. ever since Jackie died. They were fuckin chooms till the end. He never thought he'd find that again. Jackie would have fit right in here in camp, drinking beers, racing, shooting cans, doing fuck all. He still got the occasional holo call from Vik or Misty, shit even got one from Kerry when he was someplace in Europe. Hopefully they were all doing well, but that life was behind him now. Looking at his jacket, he thought about Saul's speech again. Fuck. The Bakkers sure as shit weren't like this.
V finished the last bite of sausage, washed it down with a beer, and headed over to the command truck. Mitch, Panam, and a few nomads he didn't know were around the table.
"Hey there V. How was breakfast? Did you like our surprise?" Panam asked.
"Preem". He answered. "How'd you get that all the way out here?"
"Trust me when I say the Aldecaldos have connections" she said with a half-smile, he returned one of his own.
Mitch clapped his hands, but he was smiling at both of them. "Ok guys, we gotta focus. V – we know you are runnin low on your meds. There's a ripper about a day's ride from here. He's fuckin good too, probably the best in this part of the badlands."
"Who is it?" V asked.
"Sebastian Ortega" answered Mitch and Panam at the same time. "Why do you care?" continued Mitch.
"No reason figured maybe I'd heard of him". That name did sound familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Maybe he had heard it in the Afterlife, or even with the Bakkers.
Mitch and Panam looked surprised. "Have you?" they asked in unison again.
"No, I don't think so". He looked at the table again. "So, detes?"
Mitch motioned for Dakota and a few other nomads to head over to the table. He continued "Ok so this rippers good, but nobody really knows anything about his crew. We've heard his gang's anything from robots to ex maelstrom to fuckin' voodoo boys. As you can imagine tech's hard to get out here, and he needs what we're sellin. So he's got some meds that will fix you up good, and we trade him some 'saka tech he needs to keep doing what he's doin. Got it?"
V shrugged. "Sounds too easy. I don't like it"
Dakota spoke up. "Nothin gets past you. He's smack dab in the middle of Raffen county. No idea how he's still alive and workin."
"Either the Raffen are scared of him…" V trailed off.
"Or he's cuttin deals with them to rob suckers like us" Dakota finished his sentence and everyone around the table nodded.
"Now we got us a few things workin in our favor." Mitch continued. "We modded the basilisk more, made it faster for gettin around out here in the desert. We added some firepower to Panam's truck too, that turret's souped up with some of the 'saka weapons we klepped. Could probably take out one of those Kang Tao AVs by itself now. And we got a couple of Quadros with turrets too. But if Ortega has robots or who fuckin knows what, we gotta be careful."
Panam took over. "One thing we are lacking is a good netrunner There's Carol, but we need her here in case something happens. That is where you come in V. We need to you to ride in the basilisk with Mitch and take care of any raffen deckheads. Mitch can handle the tank solo if he has to. Dakota and I will handle the truck. We have some ICE but if they hack that basilisk or my truck we are finished. Can you handle it?"
"We … aren't riding together?" V asked Panam. They always rode together, well ever since Night City.
"Sorry V, this mission is dangerous, and nobody can handle this new turret as well as me. Besides, Mitch is a better tank pilot, and Dakota is the best driver we have."
He nodded. She was right, but he still hated the thought of having her unprotected in her truck instead of in the basilisk. She had gotten lucky with the first ricochet when they took down that Kang Tao AV back in Night City. Fuck. He put the thought out of his mind, though, they had a job to do. He couldn't believe they were driving into Raffen country for him. At least it wasn't Arasaka tower this time.
"V" he heard Mitch say.
"Yeah Mitch?"
"Keep your fuckin' pants on in the basilisk. No funny stuff". Mitch said, with a huge shit eatin' grin on his face. Everyone around the table cracked a smile, and a few spit out their beers. His eyes met Panam's, and then they started laughing too. Fuckin' gonks. It was good to be back with family though. He hadn't laughed like this since Jackie.
