[IC] Chapter Four
I guess it's time to brush up on my Spanish, Choi muses. It's been a while. So, next stop Cuba. A Caribbean island socialist paradise, land of Castro, cigars, rum, classic American cars and Son music (Buena Vista Social Club was one of the only non-classical CDs his parents had let him buy). Like Libya, official relations between the host country and the U.S. were rocky, to say the least, but, Choi thinks optimistically, at least Cuba still has a functioning government.
The mission is, again, straightforward but far from simple. Getting in is one thing. Getting out, especially with tons of presumed alien scrap, well that's a whole other ball of wax. Multiple objectives complicated things exponentially. At the risk of being perceived as a worry wart or naysayer, Choi spoke up.
"Have any of you heard the story of the dog and the porkchop? Maybe it's bone- I don't know; doesn't really matter. Anyway, this dog begs outside the local butcher shop every day, usually he gets nothing. One day, the butcher tosses him a porkchop. The dog can't believe his luck. He wants to enjoy his prize on his own, away from the other strays, so he heads home. On his way, the dog crosses a bridge. He happens to look down, and when he does, he sees another dog with a porkchop. This one looks bigger and juicier than the one he's got. He wants that one too. So, he starts barking at the other dog, hoping to scare it into dropping its superior porkchop- except, when the main dog opens his mouth to bark, his porkchop falls into the river. So does the other dog's. The main dog is left with nothing. He got greedy, and he lost what he'd gained."
James pauses. He can almost hear the eyes rolling. He's committed, though, and there's an off chance someone in the room hasn't figured out where he's going with fable time.
"The point I'm trying to make is that we might have to choose- cargo or Russian. If we bite off more than we can chew, we might come home empty handed or," he didn't have to add like Dancer, "...we might not come home at all. That isn't to say that we can't achieve all of the mission objectives, but I think we should prioritize and be OK with heading home with just one porkchop. And, with all due respect, I think splitting the team for anything where combat looks likely is... very likely not worth the risk. Between alien physiology- especially their mind control stuff- and tech, we're probably going to need numbers, as well as surprise, to offset their advantages."
It's one man's opinion, and James has nothing but respect for the Frenchman. The FBI agent quickly moves on. He's on a roll now, and there a couple more concerns that he'd like addressed before the meeting ends.
"Speaking of tech, any ideas as to how we're going to get our gear into the country? Fake I.D.'s might work for us, but they probably won't work for our weapons and E.T. toys."
One more question, then he'll hold his tongue and let the others chime in.
"Last but not least, if we do manage to provoke an aerial engagement, how do we keep the Cuban Air Force from jumping in and complicating things?"
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This message was last edited by the player at 22:30, Wed 25 July 2018.