The Night wasn't  quiet... two things   Stems all had in common..there was never 'daylight'...and it was never quiet.

  The  constant   Hum of  air cars and such.. a mile or so in the air..the  roar  of  faster   cares..and the drumming of  SEC Vans  as they flew lower with search lights  flashing.

  in the darkness.. dim light lit up street corners,  or  barrels  of trash burned... Windows   might have a Light on, if they were towards the edges of the Stem... in the middle.. Buildings were falling apart, from constant  warfare that went on between gangs..or even.. with the SEC

 the  Port side ( Hikki's side).. I have

Garrat

Sath

 Lirg

Hans

Jesse

Hemsly

 Minnet

Starboard  Side...

Supe

Hodden

Tucker

 Robbins

Waggstaff

 On Supe's side, it was a good  10 minutes  of  walking past the Gate, when the saw a figure  down the street beating on anoher  figure.

 Hodden went to Move, Robbins  said,...no...wait.....flank the sides.... this could be a trap....

Supe , Tucker  and Wagstaff moved to one side of the  street... Robbins, Hodden  on the other side...

.............................

 On Garrat's  team's  side.. they were  about 12 minutes into their  walk down the street.. they saw.. down the   short alley way.. a small Body.. lying still, while  2 rats, near as big a Mila , were  treating  chunks of  flesh off it.

Garrat shot the rats and checked to see if there was any life left in the body.

 the Rats  die  easy enough.

 The Body is of a child, somewhere  around  10 years old..seems to have been there awhile..The Rats looks like a cross  between a  Earth Rat and a larger , Rat like  Rodet from The Hillite planets

   Garrat sighs, and reports the child's location.  This was not his mission.  Time to knock on some doors.

   Lirg looks at the Rat's  bodies and says to Sath,.... Humans  cannot be made if we eat big furball...right?  he  kicks  the nearest creature to see how  fat it is...

  they here sn the distance  , some  weapons  fire...

 Hemlsy is looking  around with his  greasegun ready,..i liked it a bit better, when i was just gettin'  drunk on leave...

............

 Supe's voice  comes over the COMS.......don't know about your  side... but i think someone's looking for us... Had a set up.. Tuck got  nicked up..but  we killed them both..one of the snipers got away though...

..............

 Hans   see' a figure  running hard  with a  rifle, headed toward  the Brightlights    about a mile away , in the middle of the  Stem... the runner is  about   500 yards   away and moving.

Marked one 500 meters on foot and armed. Hans said quietly into his coms. 500 meters was about the maximum range for a suppressed rifle but Hans dropped to one knee and raised his rifle. One deep breath to steady himself aiming at waist height he led the target by about four feet to compensate for the mans speed and the flight time of the bullet. Then,slowly exhaling his finger caressed the trigger almost like a lovers touch. As the rifle coughed and recoiled against his shoulder he spoke into the com. shots out...

    Hans  watched the runner.... took care for his shot.. then let the round go down range.  The Fellow  stumbled a bit of a   bit of bricks or debris.. the   shot hit him in the left Thigh, causing him to cart wheel to the  road, he  grabbed his  Gun, and  went for cover in a have collasped  Building.

 Supe came on the  COMs...... How you get him... they'er  waitng on us... i don't know if they know the numbers...

Looks like our runners got a flat tire boss. Hans murmered into his mic. One could almost hear the grin in his voice. He was enjoying himself. THIS is what he lived for. The contest. Pitting his skills and training against whatever the gods threw at him.
He keyed his mic again. You guys wanna mop that up? He may have intel. he finished with the co-ordinates then began to move again keeping an eye on the entrance of the building but also scanning ahead.

   Supe's group....

   .... We haveta  stay on Mission here...at least until we  reach the Black where we  move across to Hikki's...If you can  bring him  donw..get alook at where he's goin'...

   Hodden came on the  COMs,...saw a bit of Light  from the  Building near the Hull..its about a block away from the first Compound we'll reach...


 Garrat's group....

   Garrta..Sath, Lirg,Jesse, Hemsly and Minnet move up their side of the Stem... Hans is ahead..somewhere.. looking for snipers  or watch.


  Hemlsy whistles  a Moment they points to an area about two blocks  away.. the lights are a bit brighter there...That looks like a Compond to me...

   Garrat moves his team up.  He sets them to look foreward in the direction of the runner and starts checking doors.  If there are bad guys in the buildings, it wouldn't be pretty if they came in from behind.

  Hans shot at the runner, some  500 yards  and running  towards the   Uppers... they can see a bit of a brighter like in the middle of  the  Stem  in the distance.

 Both Squads are on the last street over, working their  way up the  hull.

Unless he meets resistance on the door to door Garrat continues.  "Nice shot Hans.  keep an eye on him.  Anyone tries to help him, their a target minus the kid rule."

Jesse sticks to her guns and keeps to an exterior wall holding her weapon ready in case she needed it to fire at something knee level or higher.

She listens to the chatter and focuses on her group's COM link for anything she may need to be aware of as she moves along.

  There was a  marked  contrast in the Stem , past the  gates.. the  one block or so of 'livable ' buildings.. others   had only a little power, though the water seemed to work just fine.

 Garrat  knocked on doors and  was  greeted   by everything  from"..Go away!... we don't have anything!"...to Baby  Cries... to  'bugger off , Mate!'

  Then, he saw   what he knew, from past actions.. was the make shift walls of  a Compound. Digital Numbers spray pained on  shattered aircars  and even a few  air trucks, helped for the walls.. with    brinks from nearby  buildings  added in.

 The  sign  on the wall said, " low Cost "  " Good  Deals "... " PAyment Plans"  and there was a sign of a paw in the middle that flashed  ( flickered?) in neon.

..............

 across the way there was  the distance  sound of     Heavy Pulse  and  an MG....

   Garrat goes through the motions "Just a door to door check in ma'am.  we're looking to bring a greater level of security to this area.  Any information you can supply will be noted and used to promote a better stem."  "Sorry about bothering you sir, just a door to door check in.  You have a good evening."

   Garrat scans the set up with his visor, not a lot of information on the basic ability but he sees what he can see.  "Hans, you got a bead on the compound?  Can you see into it?"

  On Supe's  side the fire  fights was  intense... but nothing  the Vets couldn't handle  from a few bushwhackers.

  ..think we   cleaned up the ambush... except  for that runner.. we'll be at the  first warehouse compound in about 8 minutes.

 He said over  All-COMs

.............

 Garrat's team awaited  news from HAns, Or Garrat's orders.

As Hans seemed occupied, Garrat pushed forward.

Finally Hans voice came over the coms. In position. Eyes on compound. Two tangos visible on wall. Two more outside gate. Total four tangos visible. Gate is air truck gate. Should i engage?
  Hans looked through his scope. If he circled around to the side flanking the two outside guards and be able to take them unnoticed. He had plenty of det cord and it would be childs play to cut a breach into the trailer. He then scanned for electtonic sentry gear while waiting for a response.

"No, we need to confirm they are hostile first."  Garrat looks at the rest of the team. "Take cover and watch the front.  Hans, rather than drag the entire team into the open I'm going to have them and you stay hodden and pick out targets while I open communications.  If I click the whisper mike twice, you guys start taking out guards at a distance while I seek cover." Garrat looks at the heavy rifle on his shoulder.  He'd rather be the one shooting it but he has the heaviest armor so he's more likely to survive approaching the compound.  He also loathed to ask anyone to stick their head out where he might not "Any one in this immediate group capable of using my rifle?

   Lirg Nodded to Sath, The  two aliens    looked for a building they could step into. The windows only had a  half pane of glass, some didn't have any.. as  folsk enstled  down with weapons..

  With no takers, Garrat keeps the rifle shouldered and waits until everyone is in position then walks up to the gate, his hands close to the Uccui pistols. He speaks in english rather than using the traslator.

  "Hello gentlemen.  ESN is taking stock of the stem businesses. what organization do you represent  here."

  Off in the disatcne there was  more  Gun fire... it would be reasonable to think it was Supe and the others...'making obervations'.

.......................

 On Garrat's team side.

 The   GUard at the top left corner of the Gate called  down...You don't look like any ESN  we have!..This is a..respectable  business...of  sorts... we deal in Goods..all kinds of goods.. if some one wants.. we can get it..shipped out..or  shipped in....Tolles  Runs this place.. he's away at a meeting... so? what can we do fer ya?
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:07, Sat 07 Oct 2017.

  Supe and his people looked over the Bodies....Use  that  little scanner..... take  all the weapons   you can CArry, QM  will like that...

 Tucker  askswon't that be too  much?

 ..If it is?.. we'll sell some off to  that Hikki guy.. or?... gives some away to kids  down here... even up the odds for those  adults who prey on them..

 Hodden dumped the last  man on the pile,..That's the last one?.. we goign to that warehosue now?

 .. Yep.... see what they have to say about thier bUsiness.... then.. take it from there...

 the small Group walked  towards the  warehouse..looking  at the   walls of stacked  care frames  with    sheet meat    welded or melded to the fronts..

 ..Thick walls... should have brought  Grenades....