Capítulo 15: Time to get some souvenirs....

Our last job had some good and bad outcomes. We managed to save both clients and therefore got job done. Moreover, due to extreme conditions we got a lot of cash. However, our team had got some bad wounds. Jorg lost his fingers and required delicate transplant operation and rehab. It will take a lot of time to get him back in action.

Others had it rough as well, Ron got some minor cracks and torn muscles, nothing serious. But he is just tired and needs a good break so he combined his sick leave and vacation request as to have a good holiday away from work with his family.

Flyboys, Rene and Alex, wanted to stay but company offered them special training course at NUSA Army training facility. They were hesitant but after reading about training plan they agreed since unlike standard training course this one focused a lot on low altitude combat manoeuvring and evasion. So they agreed and left for training course.

Since it was only me and Sam left our team got temporarily disbanded and we got attached to various teams lacking a security specialist or EMT. Those teams usually got called rag-tags or more commonly "leftovers". Such teams lacked coordination and teamwork so such teams used only in extreme situations or simple patrol missions in reasonably safe zones. Trauma Team doesn't want to lose their people but cannot let them stay idle either so they assign them into such teams.

God, those were some boring days. Teams got mixed all the time. I tried to remember names of temporary team members but after third or fourth time I just started calling them by their roles. Pilot, Medic, Gunny and so on. Boring days with completely unknown people each telling their own inside jokes that nobody can understand.

But this boring routine ended abruptly when one of our teams fails to evac one of our clients and faces severe losses. Pilot and both security specialists get killed. Surviving pilot and EMTs barely made it back and one of EMTs dies in hospital. This was quite shocking for Trauma Team. It is common to have injured members, rarely single losses happen. But this time half of team was wiped out while other half badly injured.

Trauma Team HQ couldn't let go such slap on their face. They initiated some thorough investigation, contacting fixers, hiring solos and netrunners. Just in 24 hours they got all the necessary info and findings made them furious. Ambush was planned and performed by two gangs, Maelstorm and Scavengers. Scavengers got special mission requiring them to get access code, passwords, maps and other valuable intel about Trauma Team. Scavengers lacked good netrunners or didn't want to risk them so they decided to use more straightforward approach. Capture and interrogate our team as well as hacking aerodyne computer brains. However, they didn't want to risk too much and wanted to share risks and costs with someone else.

This is when Maelstorm steps in. Scavengers have found out that Maelstorm got some nice bounty contract on one manager working for All-Foods. After searching more about that manager they have identified his Gold insurance package. So they decided to cooperate with Maelstorm. Maelstorm maybe rough and crazy as well bloodthirsty bastards but even they know how hard it is to ambush a convoy and then fight off Trauma Team which will come after their client. This lead to strange temporary alliance to be made. Combining their forces they will have enough firepower to easily get the manager and deal with Trauma Team. Their plan worked out well except that our colleagues managed to get out, although paying a bloody price for it.

I learned that after being called to HR department for a brief meeting with their head, Jeremiah Waters. He explained me the whole situation and offered to go for "black ops" mission. I wasn't sure what exactly that mission is going to be about so asked for more details. It was pretty simple, purge and punishment.

Trauma Team has quite a reputation amongst civilians as of life-savers and so on. It is alright to fight off bandits and other scum while saving a client. Company tries to maintain that image but sometimes they have to do some dirty jobs. Therefore in order to protect brand image Trauma Team uses some of their security specialists in black ops. We cannot use our standard equipment and show any connection to Trauma Team since what we are gonna be asked to do is really gruesome and horrible thing which if uncovered will put a lot of dirt on company.

Why company doesn't use solos? Simple, solos not always keep their mouth shut and not always reliable. Yeah, company has some trusted solos but they use them in really dire situations while most of black ops they prefer to perform by their own hands.

Jeremiah offered a good sum of money for this job and I couldn't ask what is a catch. Well, that was simple too. We have to barge into lion's den without any support. If we get captured by enemies, we are fucked. If police catches us, we are fucked. If corpos catch us, we are fucked. Trauma Team will not try to rescue or save our asses. After we agree and until mission completion we are officially erased from employee list and so on. We get paid according to risks involved and this time risks are pretty high that's why I am looking at cheque with money worth six month of my work.

I have signed up for black op only at one condition, this time company will not take even a penny from my reward as debt payment. I get all what I earn on this job.

Now I am sitting inside of container moved by Bratsk U4020. Inside there are 12 people, 8 security specialists, 2 EMTs and 2 team leaders , also security specialists. Instead of our standard attires, equipment and weapons we got standard grey-black PMC outfit without logos or anything that can leave hints or traces. We also had to use different weapons, Nokota D5 Sidewinder, Militech M251s Ajax and Arasaka HJSH-18 Masamune. I got lucky since I was one of the few specialists with good reflexes that received Tsunami Kyubi. This rifle may not be the fastest or hard hitting one but it totally compensates with it's extreme accuracy. With my implants I can even go for one shot-one kill, Kerenzikov will allow me to aim properly while rifle will make sure that bullet will reach its target with extreme precision. The only thing that irritated me is mag with 20 bullets. I wish they had extended mags so that I could save space on my rig.

"Get ready. We are almost there." - short message from our team leaders. We started forming into two groups with 4 "enforcers" and 1 "medic" in each. Each group member got ID based on their team. I am A-3, Alpha team, third member. Team leader is Alpha. No names, only callsigns. Everyone was busy checking their equipment and making sure that our comms are online.

Car stopped and we started getting out, to my surprise I saw a group of mercs waiting for us. I automatically readied my rifle and aimed at them.

"A-3, calm down. Those are our....allies" - team leader ordered me and I followed that but still observing them. Two muscle heads, two slim almost fragile girls, skinny weirdo with large hand implants and....a kid? Is this some kind of pedobear gang or some shit?

"You must be Maine?" - our team leader approached one of muscle heads with glasses.

"Yeah and you are the one that contracted us to provide intel and netrunninng support?"

"Correct. Now pass me the intel."

"Not a problem but you see. While getting all the necessary info our netrunners have detected some very nasty ICEs and cyberprotection. It was above standard level, so I think that means that we deserve a bit more eddies." - Maine said with a smile

But my team leader got a different opinion on his proposal.

"Don't play your games with me, merc. You agreed on contract so shut up and do what you have been told! Otherwise I will have to terminate our agreement and that may include you and your sidekicks getting terminated as well" - team leader got out a his handgun.

Situation got tense. Everyone readied their weapons but not aimed at each other, yet. Then I saw girl with black hair getting slight eye glow which I know is the sign of hacking. I immediately activated Kerenzikov and aimed my rifle at her head.

"Only try to do something funny and I will blow your head!"- I shouted at her. Glow in her eyes disappeared but I still aimed at her. My action caused chain reaction everyone started aiming at each other. Now even a small spark can cause a firefight to break out.

"Easy, easy everyone." - Maine said trying to calm down everyone.

"Alpha! Mission is priority. Everyone lower your weapons." - Zeta team leader said out loud.

"Fucking merc..." - Alpha wanted to say something but Zeta told him to shut up.

"Alpha, enough. Maine, what do you want?"

"We deserve 25% more eddies."

"I will contact superiors. Wait." - Zeta then activated secure channel and started explaining situation to HQ.

All this time I was keeping an eye on two girls which definitely are netrunners. Kid was just a dumb gun-ho girl so she was least of my problems while those two were real threat.

"You get your 25% extra. But don't try to do something like this again. Now give us what we need and tell your netrunners to be ready." - Zeta told him. Everyone relaxed but I kept my finger close to trigger, just in case.

"Hah, you see. No need for violence, we negotiated and everyone got what they need. Sasha just got a bit trigger happy here so need to worry. Lucy, send them intel."

Zeta and Alpha started analysing intel and making adjustments to plan based on new information they got from mercs.

"Sending adjustments to plan. Get ready for some rough moments. Scavengers got heavy weapons and death-trap corridors. Maine, we are starting in five minutes." - Zeta said.

"Got it. Girls will start their attack right the moment you break in." - Maine replied and started walking away with the rest of his crew following him.

"Good reaction there A-3." - Alpha said to me and I just nodded.

Next five minutes we spend going through plan again and again since new info required some changes and we had to memorize them well. Finally it was less that 10 seconds before T-time. We got into our positions. Well, it is time to descend into lion's den.

"Start!".