Gresh nodded,I will call into the   FUJISEC, and have them   send us   the  count... It may take  an hour  or so, depending how the field teams  do.

he  left to make the  calls at the COM  station

  Cross sat down  and shook his head..I have never saw that..... don't knw what that is.....but it sure hurt  him..

Hemsly snorted,Folks  die from that, if they can't  take it.. LC says, its  like  getting  hurt, in reverse..all the pain ya  had  when   it happened,, hurts   just as  much as it  goes 'backwards'.. Ain't that right, Angel lady>

 NA-CE was happy Jax pulled through, and he should be fine, she was so happy but just showed her normal look. " Yes some high protein food is even better." NA-CE smiled then moved closer to Roy and whispered," From your looks and actions, you have gone through this yourself haven't you?"


Then they talked about the serum, NA-CE said first," First off this never happened, you didnt see me use anything got it. As far as what it does to humans, Hemsly is pretty right on. The serum was designed for healing severe wounds on Angels. Now Humans and Angels are similar but also quite different in many ways, so the serum is extremely harsh and slow because it takes longer for the human body to metabolize the serum." NA-CE stopped for a second and said excitedly," Damn that might be it if I can find a way for the human body to metabolize it faster it would be like with Angels about 10 seconds of pain then all healed basically."

 NA-CE smiled then added," Sorry about that been working on trying to make it safer and easier on humans." NA-CE did another full check of Jax to make sure he would make a full recovery.

Roy nodded but said nothing as the comments were made...and only gave Na-Ce a knowing look when she observed that he appeared to have endured it before himself.  "She's right...that stuff is beyond Top Secret.  Basically, if you've still got a pulse and enough strength to endure it, that can heal damned near anything.  But while it's working, you just might actually wish you'd died, instead."  He looked back over at Na-Ce and added, "You probably don't want to make it too easy for us to metabolize...Humans can be really stupid about putting ourselves in dangerous situations.  One of our best insurers for survival is the thought that we might not survive something.  Knowing stuff like this is out there takes a little of that edge off...you know you can get hurt pretty seriously and still make it.  But knowing that it's gonna hurt like hell is a great persuasion against getting too cavalier about getting yourself hurt in the first place."  He gave a tired grin that spoke volumes about the fact that he knew, first-hand, about that aspect of it.

"We also have no idea what the long-term effects of using it may be...whether it's like amped-up Angel Food, or if putting your body through that stress creates long-term side effects that could multiply with repeated uses.  There's no good way to test it, either...it's only been used a very few times on Humans, and that started relatively recently.  And I don't know anyone sadistic enough to administer it just to measure the wear-and-tear it puts on a Human body...or anyone masochistic enough to volunteer for that kind of testing."  He gave a humorless grin and added, "This stuff is literally the most extreme of measures...when it comes down to using this or someone getting Last Rites."  While religious rituals like Last Rites had long fallen out of use with the general populace of Earth, the term lingered on as a euphemism for dying.

He looked around the group again.  "So, no talking to anyone about it.  Pretend you don't know it even exists, and for the love of all you hold dear, do NOT casually put yourself in a position to find out what it's like to get treated with it.  Am I clear?"

 Nifty  saw on the crate  still leaning on the barrel of his  rifle,,looking  at Jax...I...I don't think   I could have went through that.. I ...I  don't Think  Sneak should know about that...

 Lyri   fuzzed   Nifty's hair as she went to where the  coffee  pot  and   fridge were..you go on enough  runs like this.. you'll be getting patched up as well.

Hemsly snorted,especially if you have  head cases  who try ta get  themselves killed  , along with their mates!

 Gresh returned, Handed Roy a  sheet of  printout paper...all the  marks  are dead... The Occui's body  had to be  put in a jar to get the DNA  readings... But..there is a Bonus. One of the Men  in the Occui's hose  is a ....I guess?...A SGT  for  Lady V...we don't know if he was here  to help, or seeking help....FUJISEC is  checking out his   'path' through the entrance to the stadium, I have to bet he entered from a docking lock, in the stem.. they only reclaimed  about 500 yards   from each end.. it will be a few years  before the  stem is  clean..They have  all those   docking   locks  at the  'top' of  The Stem as well..  Hermes  will be  here  in a little better then  5 hours.

Roy nodded.  "That's good news.  I feel bad enough having to put Jax through that...but if he'd gone through that and then we missed one of our marks..."  He shook his head, the scowl on his face saying plenty about how disturbing he found that thought.

"And I'm sure that guy's not the only bonus in the mix, but that's a pretty hefty one.  Catching someone like that is one of the reasons I wanted to come ahead of the Hermes."  He grimaced slightly, and continued, "You can bet that he'd have been on his way off-station as the Hermes was coming in...they might all have been, for that matter.  I like that Delta Nights scare the bad guys into going to ground, and I think it's effective even if it wasn't doing much more than showing bystanders that EDT and the rest of Lady V's personnel are scared to be out and about whenever the Fleet's in port.  But we're going to get our best results if we can hit them when and where they aren't looking for us."  He looked over at Gresh.

"What we need is a covert strike group...either one that can stay on-station and do the dirty work that FujiSEC can't or won't tackle, or one that can bounce around between carrier-stations and colonies and keep Lady V and her minions guessing about where they're going to be hit next.  The ideal lineup would probably be everyone in this room right now...but we're needed for other duties on the Hermes.  So, people with similar skills...and the history to show that they're going to stick with the job, even when it gets painful and dirty."  It was clear he was more than merely 'suggesting' such an organization.

"I know a guy who used to be really good at finding all kinds of weird stuff, and getting it where it was needed even when there were some pretty hefty obstacles blocking the way.  I bet he could find the kind of people to put together a reliable team like that..."

 NA-CE nodded to the SM in his response," I see your point, but I can at least try to minimize the chance of death though, I must try to do that as a healer." NA-CE did understand his point if it was easier they would rely on it more and be sloppy and not as focused, lose their edge of being afraid to die. If that method was almost worse than death it would be a deterrent that is for sure, NA-CE understood, so she would now just work on increasing human survivability to the drug and not its painful consequences.

 Gresh gave his report on the marks and NA-CE was also very happy they got them all for Jax's sake. NA-CE was almost hoping they got one alive and they didnt want to talk, she wanted to practice some knew torture technics she read about, cause as much pain as inhumanly possible with minimal lasting physical damage on the patient.

 NA-CE listened to the rest of Gresh's report and Roy's response, she waited for Gresh to respond to some things before she said anything about the special team idea.

  As jack started to stir, Gresh  looked at the time in the Bunker's  clock box.well.... The Hermes is  die  in 4 Hours, If  we stuck you all on a shuttle  you would  meet them  2  hours out.. do you want to do that..or  wait it Out..

 Lyri Grins...if  we wait it out.. I want to COM the Captain to leave the  dress picking open!..

Gresh chuckled , his deep  voice said, with some mirth ...you will have  about  3 hours   before the ball starts , once the Fleet comes in..  If it take you longer then that to pick a fress... you should stay home!

 Lyri  had a comic frown..I guess Males are all the same, no matter how many arms they have!

 NA-CE checked her patients they were all fine they didnt need to rush back to the Hermes. " All three of my patients will make a full recovery, no medical need to head back to the Hermes, but I agree with Lyri if we wait, we need to keep the dresses open and yes all men are the same no matter the race it seems."

Roy raised an eyebrow at the comments about all men, but offered no response on that front.  Instead, he asked, "I thought the Captain got all of you dolled up further in advance than this...but then again, my experience with the dressing party has been limited for having to shuffle schedules to cover for all the female personnel who would normally be scheduled but have gone to get an Angel-silk gown from the Captain and a makeover."  He shrugged, and added, "Makes sense it wouldn't be too far in advance...don't want people running around and spilling stuff on their priceless finery or screwing up their immaculate makeup before the Ball..."

He looked at Lyri.  "Your call, Master Chief.  I prepacked my dress blues so they could be brought down when the Hermes docked, so I don't need to run back there for anything in particular."  He shrugged and looked over at Gresh.

"Had no idea how long this was going to take, so I planned for it taking too long instead of being over ahead of schedule."  He turned back to Lyri.  "I may not need to go back, but I don't really have any great burning desire to not go back, either.  So I defer to your judgment on this one."

  Lyri looked  at NA-CE  and the others,we will be  fine , if  we  return to the Hermes  when it  docks., Just like  we  left? taking  some supplies in. then those of us who are going to the ball can get ready and  go though the  Red carpet thing.

 he nods to Jax  who was sleeping comfortably,Sneak will be glad to see he is  in one piece

 Gresh gave a snort,we can do  that we will laod  up some crates  of  37MM  ammo from the factoies  Below the lowers.... it will look natural.

 NA-CE smiled and replied, " That sounds great to me, Jax might be up by then but that was a big jolt to his system. How will we handle it if he isn't up and moving on his own, do we have a plan for that?"

 Gresh snorted...the   crates that carry the cases of 37MM rounds  is like a coffin.. if he cann  walk, we'll empty one    and send him up in a box....we did that many times with spies  on privateer  vessesl

 well, we have..let's see here.. 1 hour  and about  10 minutes  for the Hermes  to  dock.. that gives us  2  hours  to get ready for the Ball...if  we pull this off, any  bad  guys in the woodwork  will wonder, just who  blew everyone up?

Roy grinned at Na-Ce.  "That's the easy part.  If he's not up and ambulatory yet, we can just take him to Shadow's condo...walk him in with a story about him not being able to hold his liquor.  That, or stuff him in an ammo box and take him back aboard the Hermes, but I think I'd rather give him the time to recover before Sneak finds out he was wounded."

He looked over at Lyri.  "The whole objective of coming in ahead of the fleet was to catch them off-guard and have them wondering if there's more than just the Fleet in operation.  He grimaced, and added, "<blue>Damn...if I'd thought of it earlier, and if we'd known who the targets were, I'd have had Beth send an anonymous payment to another one of Lady V's associates here on station...hidden just enough to not look like it was a planted payment, make it look like they'd been paid a bounty to go take the others out.  Would have been an even better set-up than leaving tokens on the corpses."  He shook his head and shrugged.

"Guess that's for next time..."

 Hemsley  nods  as he listens,yeah..Mix it  up is  good, Right?  Tokens  this  time.. payments on the next one. might even 'tie them together.. they'll be looking' at  each other  all cross eyed!

Cross  was looking down fuckign  Occui hiding in a hatch way..all the mercs  and such . and that almost takes the Kid out..range at  Jax  sleeping..

 Occui  sitting tight...here... Vaka  said a bit sternly

Zob  grinned.

 Nifty  said,..he means  bad guy Occui..they can't be smart or they wouldn't be bad guys.

Roy shrugged.  "At this point, all we can do is learn from it...like, when you pop a hatch like that, keep the hatch between you and the tunnel.  It's not a guarantee of safety, but it's a helluva lot harder to seriously hurt you shooting through a station hatch that's theoretically designed to seal atmosphere.  Or, if it's a hatch design that won't let you do that, like a sliding hatch, make sure you've got someone covering the tunnel when you open the hatch."  Pragmatism was a survival mechanism...

"Bitching about it won't change what happened, and dwelling on it will just make you that much more jittery about it the next time a situation comes up.  Figure out what could be done differently, what would have yielded better results, and make that your SOP going forward."  He looked around the group as he spoke...and then got an impish grin as he looked at Vaka.

"But you've gotta admit, your kind can be sneaky little bastards when they want to..."

  Cross   went to get a cup of coffee, he said over his shoulder, well..over the  course  of the  operations   I have been involved in, I would say the losses  we  suffer, compared to what we have dished out. Is....very accptable..

 as he Turned  and Looked at the wounded, Thought Hirr  seemed to be  unaffected , save  for a wince  now and then..or?  was that a  'cat' face.. he shrugged as he added,But.. when a good trooper  gets  hurt, or killed, the  numbers don't matter too damn much.

a  Young girls  with a 'why Not" collar work shirt came into t....Hermes is  40 Minutes out  , Mr Gresh....SM  Spencer.he back with a  headset on..

 NA-CE monitored Jax and his recovery and checked on the two cats as well as they waited for the Hermes to dock. NA-CE did acknowledge Roy's excellent ideas in case Jax wasnt up and about when the Hermes docked. At this time NA-CE wasnt sure if he would or not, it would be close.

 NA-CE looked at Cross and replied," In my eyes any loss or our side is too much but I am a little bias I guess, I want to heal and save them all. I do agree with you though, the loses we do suffer in these raids are very low considering the damage we have done to the bad guys."

 After the girl spoke NA-CE began gathering up and packing up her gear and getting all her patients ready to move out. When she was ready NA-CE went back to Jax's side, she felt horrible she couldnt repair his wounds without using the drug.

Roy gave a shrug and a saddened smile.  "'Acceptable losses' are only acceptable in the abstract.  The moment it becomes someone you know, or even worse, someone you like, it stops being acceptable.  You have to learn to work through that, anyway.  People are gonna get hurt...it's the nature of what we do.  Some of them may even get killed.  If you start worrying too much about preventing that, nothing ever gets done.  But it's also important to realize that anyone you send into action is an unacceptable loss to someone, or else you get careless about your losses."  He grimaced, and added, "That's one of the ways you recognize good officers...they try to minimize the risks while still maintaining enough momentum to actually get the job done.  It's one of the reasons I know we have better officers than the Empire, EDT, and Lady V and her minions...we don't try to solve every problem by throwing waves of lives at it."

He looked over at Na-Ce.  "What's his prognosis?  If he's likely to be up and about before the Ball, we should arrange transport to the condo.  If he's going to be down more than, say, three hours, we should get him back to the Hermes so they can monitor him while he finishes recovery."

 NA-CE did a full check of Jax then replied to Roy," He will be ready to go, but I suggest he act as a foreman, there will be no heavy lifting for awhile."

  The girl comes  back again....... Mr  Gresh?  The  Hermes  is   20 minutes  or so out from docking,   some of the supply shuttles  and  trucks  are  heading out to the   docking arm. It would be best  for our Vans  to be there.

Gresh Looked at Roy,she's  right?  If  we  wait longer, it might look too obvious,  load  up your people  and get into the Que. You will have, carte s marked by the  Young Lady's  company that is  helpi8g provide  ammunition for the Fleet..

Roy gave a nod.  "Do me a favor?" he asked Gresh, and nudged the bag with his sniper rifle and extra gear brought along for the operation.  "Send that to the condo, addressed to me...package it as something innocuous.  So sense hauling it back to the Hermes when we're going to need it again after the Ball, and no sense giving any observers a clue that some of us made it here before the Hermes."

He turned to the rest.  "Let's mount up.  Gotta get the ladies back to the ship so they can doll up for the Ball..."  He gave Lyri a mischievous grin and jerked his head in the direction of the door they needed to exit to follow Gresh's instructions.

 NA-CE helped Jax get ready for the journey, and she stayed very close to him, just in case something went wrong.

 They started  to  head towards the   Vans, as Gresh called for another  delivery Van, from a different company, to take  gear to the  Hotel,

   Cross and KArson were near to Jax  as  NA-CE helped  him towards the  vans. Your  Girl Gonna be upset  when she  see's you got  hurt?

  No?  I mean. we have seen each other  hurt, sometimes really bad, in the Stem,  we didn't have  ESN Med techs to put us back together . if she  starts  freaking out because  i get hurt, it will be time for her to get a head scan... he  abed   towards Roy , Hemlsy  and some others... we all , from Roll and Can on up to me and Sneak, outlived most  Stem kids...Me  and Sneak are  trying to  Pay  the  ESN  back. There is  no reason , for us..NOT..to use  our new life, to help kill bad  guys, for whatever Motivation you want...

  Hirr   was  helping Yotolita,The Pup has  heart of Felrite! This is good  for Hermes

 Lirg snorted,He is not a Pup..he is  full member of pack..many packs!..

Hemsly   walked with  Roy Funny how some one who had 'nothin' is willing to fight fer everythin'

in front of them Lyri  was looking at the Ladies and  smiled,There's a good bet, I'm not ever having kids?  So..If a catch that bullet with my name on, I want my angel silks, divvied  up among the other ladies.

 Nifty Looked at her, and she  waggled her  finger at him.....stop thinking like that!

 Niftly looked surprised...I didn't say anything!

 people laughed. Jax  groaned as he laughed. they entered the Vans,  and were headed to the Lowers  Docking arm, w=that was  The Hermes  Berth

Roy grinned at Nifty.  "Smartest answer you could have given," he commented drily.  He looked back and Hemsly and replied, "I think the people who had little or nothing often make some of the most dangerous ones on the battlefield, because they know all too well what they have to look forward to if they lose and survive.  I mean, let's face it...you look at how Lady V and the EDT marshal their own forces, and you know that if they end up coming out on top, they're gonna bleed everyone dry just to pad their pocketbooks a little more."  He shrugged.

"Not saying that you can't be dangerous if you come from wealth...Lt. Frans is enough proof to shoot down that theory, once she got her head squared away and realized who the enemy really was.  But she's never going to fight with the same kind of ferocity that the LC does, because she's never known what it's like to have someone trying to keep you under a bootheel."

He grinned over at Jax, and added, "And while I'm sure Sneak's gonna be okay with news that you got wounded, she probably doesn't need to know just how bad it was.  Does she?"

 Jax  grinned,Yeah?  If this  shook her up, She wouldn't  be 'Stem". I think Dice was seeing someone  from one of the hermes   civies..and there was a fight, because  some one didn't like  Roll getting out of school.  Dice got sliced up by the older kick. Runner took the Guys  knife
 and jammed it in his  right thigh...They came to  Sneak's house , she has  some   derma  foam and Paste... the  girl Dice  was seeing  broke up with him then..she  didn't like he  got cut up...so?  some  folks can be squimsh.

 They Loaded up , Hemsly just grinned at Jax  and Gave  Roy a pat on the back.