RPGTopia

Maxwell grunts. "If you insist, lieutenant. Let me know when it is time for action...." The mercenary takes off his backpack and rummages around for something. He finally finds it, a book, and begins reading it intently.....

Riley simply nodded in understandment while tightening up the bandana ok his head, his pistol in it's holster and his Ak-47 slung over his shoulder...

Jacob eyed the soldier, amused by the choice of words but not showing it. he gave a brief nod, followed by a salute, hands crossing behind his back as he eyed the others behind his shades, curious as to what they would say...

Satisfied, Barnes looked around. Stepping forward, he suddenly and deftly plucked the book from Maxwell's hands, then flipped it shut and placed on the deck next to him. "Read when you're en route. Right now, we've got more serious business to take care of," he growled, his green eyes boring into Maxwell's. He stepped back and paced back and forth in front of the mercenaries. "Now, in a few minutes you'll all be boarding that Osprey behind you and heading to a small island where the U.S. government has been performing some animal experiments. However, that is none of your concern. Your job is to make sure Mr. Dodgson here is safe and sound when we arrive up until the point we leave. If you do your job, this'll be the easiest money you've ever made." Dodgson interjected with a quick cough. "Yes, thank you, Lieutenant. If I may?" Barnes nodded and stepped aside, allowing Dodgson to step forward.

"Six months ago, we lost contact with the research base on the island. We don't know if their communications equipment was wrecked, or if the entire base was destroyed somehow, but we plan on finding out. We will land, investigate the situation, and leave. That's all. If all goes according to plan, you won't even have to shoot your guns. However, the Captain of this ship has warned me of an approaching storm, which may interfere with the operation, and we may be staying a little longer than we like, but it shouldn't be a major concern. Now, any questions?" Dodgson paused, looking over the mercs curiously, pushing his glasses farther up his nose.

Jacob raised a hand half-heartedly, saying "What kind of security does this base have? Considering you've suddenly lost contact, the only alternative I can see to critical irrepairable communication systems failure is a full island take over. whatever firepower managed to do that, i have doubts a small, rag-tag Merc team like this will be equipped to handle. Some of us are good...but everyone has their limits". the man spoke with a british accent, and had a voice that seemed to exhude the alertness of a seasoned soldier...

"And another" A man sitting on a cargo container said, his back slumped over and his arms resting on his lap. He could be seen over the gathering of mercenaries "Just why are we leaving just before the storm? These oceanic systems arent a small thing. We might not even make it to the island if **** goes bad" said David, an eyebrow raised at his superior

"And that's exactly why we won't be staying," Dodgson replied. "We're only going to be there for a few hours, at the longest. We won't land at the research base, just in case it was indeed attacked, and we will be strictly observational. You mercenaries are more of a backup plan, in case we're spotted by whoever did this. Hopefully it won't come to that." He then turned to David. "The storm is far away right now, and it's not directly heading for the island. We'll be there and gone long before it arrives, if it does at all."

OOC: Compy before you post, look at your character's stats they are a little... off, 6'4 and only 108 pounds I wound suggest you up that number because right now 'Grizzly' is nearly dead from malnutrition

"And what if we land on the island? what kind of animals are present on the island, I do not want to be made prey by whatever may be there," asked Hiero.

"In addition to the point that fellow brought up," Maxwell says in a slightly irritated manner, "Do you think it is possible that your..... "experiments".... have gotten loose by now? Six months is a long time, you know...."

OOC: T'was a typo RT

"In addition to that...what does the storm mean for the trip back, may I ask?" David retorted, straightening up a bit.

"If we are indeed caught by the storm upon arrival at the island, we will simply bunker down and wait it out. It's not particularly bad, and we have enough supplies to last a few days," Dodgson said. "On top of that," Barnes added, "the storm will mask our presence from anyone or anything there." Dodgson nodded. "Which brings me to my next point: the animals we experimented were various large reptiles and birds. That's really all you need to know about the project, which is otherwise classified. If we are indeed attacked by some rogue animal, you are authorized to use lethal force." After clearing his throat, he continued. "Most of the subjects were already freely roaming the island as part of the experiment. They are almost certainly still there, but like I said, we won't be spending enough time on the island for that to be a major risk."

"And what if the base never was attacked in the first place, but overrun by these... experiments?" Riley asked with a raised eyebrow, a bit suspicious about how they weren't exactly told if the animals used on the island were really even all that dangerous or not. The lieutenant saying the words "attacked" and "rouge" though slightly lowered his real suspicion...

Dodgson chuckled. "These animals had no reason to attack the base for the past 5 years! Why would they bother now? Besides, we had a full military staff there as well, and other security measures that were more than sufficient to stop any curious predators."

Jacob's eyes narrowed at the last one to speak, Riley. "It's unlikely whatever was there are the cause of this situation. a well equipped scientific facility should be geared to deal with any breaches involving their own experiments. Even if that is the case, it'd be likely there was some form of help involved" he responded simply, his gaze drifting between the other mercs. "Unless their behaviour has been tampered with....I'd say we'd be safe as long as we kept our distance. There are no reptiles large enough to consider attacking a group of armed mercs this size. and there are no reptiles capable of taking more than a couple of shots of automatic fire without being killed. So the problem should be minimal" he said. He didn't like the number of questions being asked, though he made sure it didn't show. This mission was important...and he planned to see it through...

Dodgson nodded. "Thank you, um..." He shuffled through a stack of papers he pulled from his briefcase: the mercs' dossiers. "...Jacob."

David simply fell silent, eyes narrowed slightly. First his commanding officer says the storm was far off, now he says that the storm could interfere with the mission. Which was it? The fact he said the storm gave the mercs a tactical advantage made him more suspicious, as if this entire thing was planned. The classified nature of the mission didnt help his disposition.

Maxwell says, "Well, partner, I'll still be keeping my guard up. I've got my doubts about how safe the place is, even if nothing will attack us...."

Hiero wasn't satisfied he felt the suited man was dodging his question, but left it alone for the time being. He had plenty of times where a mild concern would rear it's ugly and most times potent head. He would not be caught off-guard or so he believed, time had proven however that no matter how hard you try to expect the unexpected it only leads to paranioa and in the end more surprise. He then remembered someone he met on his journeys in Asia Minor. He was tasked with protecting a scientist who was conducting field experiments in a hostile area, he asked the scientist about her work and she said it was a study on insects. When hiero seemed unimpressed the scientist showed him that the study she was conducting was anything but, she was discovering new poisonous insects to help medicine and had found a beetle with a toxin that could cause death like poralasis if injected into the bloodstream. Hiero recalled a quote from her: "Nature doesn't just adapt. Nature cheats, changes the rules, and slips out the back door with your wallet while your still trying to figure out what happened,". Hiero cracked a light smile on remembering this.

Jacob nodded simply as he eyed the others, wondering if any other questions would spring up...

"Well then, what could those at the base even do to provok attack in the first place, if they hadn't done nothing real dangerous at all?" Riley pressed on, pulling out his knife and slashing it across the top of the crate he sat on top of...