Chapter 8: Mission Briefing
"All Agents, report to the bridge at once for mission briefing." The Director's voice cut over the ship wide comm, snapping all Agents aboard the Mother of Invention into action.
Without a word, both Ark and York snapped their armor on, before clicking the seals on their helmets and exiting York's room in the direction of the bridge.
North glared at the ceiling, breaking out of a passionate embrace with Maryland. Mary sighed in disappointment, standing up off of North's bed to pull on her armor. North involuntarily shuddered at the sight of Mary placing her 'unique' helmet on, covering up her pale blue eyes and bleach blond hair. Maryland's camo green patterned armor had been designed far differently than the rest of the Freelancer suits. North shrugged into his purple and green armor, before holding open the door out of his room. "Ladies first," North flirted, knowing Mary would be blushing under her helmet. As he predicted, she didn't respond to him. She only giving him a gentle shove before leaving the room, quickly followed by North.
Virginia had been just about to take a bit of her sandwich when the announcement came through the comm systems. "Oh you've gotta be fucking kidding me!" She cried out at the ceiling, ignoring the looks she received from the standard soldiers in the mess hall with her. Virginia quickly took a large bite out of her chicken sandwich, chewing it as she reached behind to tie her mousy brown hair back. She hopped up, leaving her tray on the table as she ran for the door, throwing on her helmet as she went. Now fully clad in her white and blue armor, Virginia set off at a sprint towards the bridge.
Cali and Rhode Island both paused in their training round as the Director's announcements echoed throughout the open area. "Would've had you too…" Cali sighed, walking towards the exit.
"Oh please, it was 2 and 0 Cali. Better luck next time." Rhode gloated, his black and blue armor not even scratched as he followed California out the large exit.
South cursed as she heard the Director's call to arms, flicking off the ceiling and the general direction that the bridge lay at. "Stupid fucking mission briefing..." She muttered, replacing her headphones with her helmet before leaving the room.
Florida's head visibly perked up as he heard the Director's orders, whereas Washington simply groaned and hung his head. "Damn it, I forgot about that." The grey and yellow Freelancer muttered.
"Oh c'mon Wash, we'll do great! Maybe he'll let us host that party when we all make it back in one piece, like I wanted last time." Florida cheered, happy for the new mission orders.
A white armored arm snaked around both Freelancers, clasping them on their shoulders. "I agree with Florida, let's get going lads. See what our dear Director wants." came Wyoming's heavy British accent as he led them out of the hanger, ignoring 479er shouting at them to come back.
In less than ten minutes, Freelancer Agent's Arkansas, York, Washington, Connecticut, Florida, North and South, Maine, Wyoming, California, Virginia, Maryland, and Rhode Island all stood at attention around the Holotable in the center of the Bridge. Carolina stood at the Director's right, and the Councilor at his left. The Director himself stood at the head of the holotable, hands clasped behind his back and gazing around the room, as though mentally evaluating them all. "Where is Agent Arizona?" The Director questioned, shifting his gaze across each Freelancer individually.
"I'm right here, sir." 'Zona's replied, as she walked inside and joined the other Freelancers. She stood next to Virginia and Rhode, back straight against the Director's glare.
"Well, now that Arizona has graced us with her presence we may begin." The Director started, activating the Holotable. "Carolina, the floor is yours."
Carolina stepped forward, the blue glow casting odd shadows across her teal armor. "Thank you, sir." She acknowledged, inserting a data chip and watching as the table brought up a 3D image of what seemed to be an abandoned military base, near a large body of water. Although secure looking, further examination by the team revealed a caved in section on its right wall. "Now you all know we've been pursuing the leader of the Insurrection, and now we've finally traced his second in command to this location."
Out of the corner of her eye, 'Zona could see CT visibly stiffen next to Florida at the mention of the Insurrectionist leader. She made a mental note to ask Connie about that later, before she turned back into Carolina's briefing.
"Until recently, this was an outpost for Project Freelancer. It housed two teams of Simulation Troopers, a red and a blue team." Carolina paused a moment, before adding, "As far as we know, the Sim Troopers were all killed on sight when the Insurrectionists moved in."
Wyoming shook his head with the slightest hint of grief. "Poor chaps wouldn't have even stood a chance." A few murmurs of agreement resounded around the gathered soldiers.
Carolina pressed another button on the table, and it zoomed the view towards to front of the base. There was a small bunker on the left just outside the base, as well as a sniper tower on the same side that appeared to have 360 degree view on everything. The metal appeared to be made of the same material as the Hunter shields; causing Ark to wince as he recalled the last time he had gone against a Hunter's shield. Surrounding the gate was a wall made of a mix of metal sheets and stone it appeared. Atop the wall were pathways, which sported many turrets. The turrets lined the entire wall, and the top of the base appeared to be covered by some sort of energy shield.
"As you can see, it's heavily fortified under the Sim Troopers control alone. I expect that the Insurrectionists will have added some new surprises since their move…" Carolina stated simply, gesturing to their loadout.
Maine growled in approval at all the weapons, and even South let out a low whistle. "Damn that's a lot of guns… What's the plan?"
Bringing the view back to show the facility in full, Carolina stripped away the physical details, showing the blueprints. "Our mission is to abduct the second-in-command, and eliminate any and all targets in our way. To do that, we're separating into four strike teams."
The Director rejoined the briefing at this point, "Team Alpha will be led by Agent Carolina, and it will consist of Agent's York, North Dakota, and Florida." He drawled, and the mentioned Freelancers almost subconsciously began to drift and stand together.
"Our job is infiltration, we're going to get to the top and open the gate for the other teams." Carolina added.
The Director nodded before continuing, "Team Beta will be led by Wyoming. Agent's South Dakota, Maine, and Connecticut will be under his command."
South and CT groaned, already predicting the amount of 'knock knock' jokes they would receive on the Pelican ride. "Can it you two, your team's job is the distraction. While you draw their fire, our team will slip in and open the gate."
If the grumbling before was load, the protest now was almost unbearable. "Silence!" The Director shouted, his temper taking over. "This is your job and it is vital to the mission that you succeed, are we clear?"
Interrupting the bitch-out session, Carolina continued the briefing. "Team Gamma will be led by Agent Rhode Island, and you'll be leading Agent's California and Maryland. Your objective will be to search the East side of the complex for our target. You find him, you take him at all costs."
Rhode saluted, "Yes ma'am, we're crystal clear." Both Cali and Mary walked over and stood by Rhode now, forming their team.
'Zona and Ark let out a simultaneous groan as they realized the only ones who hadn't been chosen yet. "Team Delta will be led by Arkansas, and he'll be commanding Agent's Arizona and Virginia." Damn it… Why her? Ark thought, fully knowing how great their teamwork had been, although they had yet to even be together in the same room for more than twenty minutes as of late.
"Your mission will be to sweep the West side of the base, same objective as Gamma. You find him, you bag him, got it?" Carolina continued.
Ark gave a two fingered mock salute, before replying, "Yeah, got it boss…" Virginia walked over to stand beside Arkansas, but Arizona stayed exactly where she was, refusing to budge an inch.
"We'll be dropping you in via group ODST pods. Agent's, this mission is of vital importance to the continuation of Project Freelancer. This cannot fail, are we clear?" The Director barked.
"Sir, yes sir!" The Freelancers crowed.
"Now get moving Agent's, you deploy in 5!" The Director turned and walked back up the Bridge, hands once again folded behind his back as he faced the stars, consulting about something with the Counselor as the Agent's filed out of the room.
Turning off her invisibility, a familiar black armored Freelancer stood behind the Director. "Now then, what's MY objective?"