Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Taking Debriefing to a whole new level

The Lucky Shot Casino, Khayr-ad Din, Badlands

3100hrs, 1 Spring, TN1935

The Lucky Shot Casino bustled with activity. The main floor was jam packed with a hopeful crowd ready to try their luck. A live band was playing some upbeat classical swing and a small knot of dancers kept moving, close to the bandstand. The liquor flowed, and the money rolled in.

"Looks like a good night, Miss Julie," Curtis, the floor manager, looked down onto the main floor from a small landing. He was dressed in a dark tailored suit accented by a green ascot. Curtis had bright green hair, completing the ensemble.

Julie Pojhola nodded, puffing on a cigar. She stood next to Curtis, surveying the gambling floor.

Curtis sniffed the air, "what the..." his nose wrinkled, "Miss Julie, what are you smoking?"

She chuckled, "a cigar. From the Eastern Sun Emirates. Now, if you'll excuse me, Curtis, I have a meeting to attend."

"Smells like the swamp," Curtis called after his boss.

"How would you know?" Julie trailed a long cloud of smoke. She climbed the stairs and found her way into one of the private meeting rooms in the back of the Casino. The meeting had already begun, and Julie could hear voices behind the door. She knocked, "it's Julie."

The door opened. She entered. Everyone was smiling, as Kelly Lebeau regaled the room with her tale:

"I had to take the shot. It's the only time I'll ever be able to take that shot! People, it was exquisite!"

The room burst out laughing, with some of the younger caravaners cheering and applauding. Only Avatanya Brom, lead driver on the raid, and Trishaw Carmichael, head engineer, were nonplussed. "I had just fixed that Longrunner, Lebeau, and you shot it up again!"

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I was aiming for your ugly mug, Brom," Kelly shot back saucily.

"People, people," Ben Cantor cut in quickly, "as amusing as this all sounds, how did you get out? Weren't the Protectors on you like a swarm of Redjackets?"

Julie's gaze fixated on Tom Chambers, who had just lit a fresh Emirates cigar. He caught her staring, and averted his gaze as Ben asked his question.

Guilty as charged, Tom.

"Well, the Humanists wanted the hovertanks, so they kept the heat off," Avatanya shrugged, "on our end, it was a no brainer."

"Except that you should have seen their faces when we showed up just over the border, with the entire Free Emirates shipment, except for the tanks," Ethan Dunn smiled slyly, pouring himself a double from a bottle marked XXX. He looked up, wided eyed, "'Well, sir, I just don't know what happened exactly. As we rolled up and started our assault, there were MILICIA Barnabies with gear escort loading the hovertanks. They had us outgunned, so we couldn't really stop them when they tore off during our initial assault.'" Ethan feigned mock innocence, his hands up, palms forward. "Who would have thought that a 'bureaucratic coincidence' would work so well in a bureaucratic utopia?"

"What about you guys?" Josephina turned to Kelly, Ari and Kain, who was sitting next to Tom, slowly sipping whiskey, "any problems?"

Ari coughed, "no, none at all."

Kelly nodded. Kain looked at his whiskey tumbler. He had led a smaller team disguised as an Allied Southern Intelligence outfit that had "reclaimed" the former CEF hovertanks for the AST. "No, our papers all checked out."

"Nothing at the border?"

"Nope."

"Oh, ok then," Josephina shrugged, "well, I guess--"

"Oh, hey," Sam opened the door. Leticia followed him in, "Letty here was just telling me about the Humanist border guard and the full body cavity searches. Talk about overzea--"

Avatanya snorted, her eyes widening in horrified delight, "Lebeau, you can take potshots at me any time you like!"

0 comments :


 
Hermes 72 - Heavy Gear RPG - Most artwork Copyright 2002 Dream Pod 9, Inc.