RP: Bounty Hunts [Bounty 1]: Sand Rally

[Centurion0507]

Raven made his way out to meet up with Desmond. He had his Emrys G2 body armor set up and prepped for a long stay out in the boonies. He had a bandolier of cells for his SGAR which was placed across his chest with the scope attached to it. He had a pair of HHGs holstered on his hips and a diamond survival knife sheathed along his thigh above his boots. He had several speed loaders for the HHGs in his cargo pockets to make sure he was ready for any situation that might occur. "So Desmond, are you ready for this excursion?" He asked as he leaned back against the other side of the hangar.

 

[Gunsight1]

Amanozako had slipped back into her cabin after the talk with Kendra. She was nearly set to go as it was, clothed, her armor jacket and gun belts with her pair of HHG's all strapped on. She grabbed extra ammunition for the hand cannons and for her Impaler. She grabbed her knife and survival kit, putting them in their appropriate places on her body. Lastly, her duster and fedora went on before she grabbed her NMX issue Impaler rifle and slung it over her shoulder. She was ready. Created as an infantry weapon, it had taken her less than three minutes to get her gear in place and head out the door.

The neko adjusted her wide brimmed hat as she stepped into the ships hangar, her crimson eyes sweeping across the space so crammed full of shuttle and cargo containers. She silently settled herself against a bulkhead and waited for the others that were not already there to arrive.

 

[ShotJon]

They had to wait for a bit before Kendra joined them. She wore a top of a Muur armour, coloured auburn with goldish trims. It looked very nice indeed. Her hair was tied back in a pony tail held back by golden brooch with few fake red gems. She had her shotgun with her and in long holster a new gun. Lorath Hand Cannon with stock, which basically changed it ino a carbine. On her other hip was her silenced Zen Arms and chain-knife.

"Sorry to make you wait my lovelies." She called out as she moved to the hangar to open tha gate. "Lapaz won't be joining us in the end. Of course I won't tell that to that Pig, so you get to share the money for him. So that will be thirteen hundreds and a bit for each. Great huh?" It did not seem she was super happy though. Now there would be only three of them.

The gate opened and desert sun blinded everyone except Amanazako with her neko eyes for a fraction of time. THat is why she was first to see a shiny old 'shuttle' parked outside. It seemed quite armed and armoured. It's time was showing, but it seemed in fairly good shape. In the cockpit they could see Jacob, doing pre-flight checks. Soon the rumble could be heard as a Plasma Impulse Drive of the machine was started. The blue flame shooting from the exhaust in the back.

"Cool huh?" Kendra grinned and slithered toward the shuttle.

The side of the ship was open so the Bounty Hunters boarded it easily. Normally inside would be empty, but this one was made so it had a bench on the side across from the doors. There were also handles on the ceiling. The troop bay, was made for five marines in PA. As no one in the group had PA, they had enough leg room to stretch around. Within seconds the bay-doors closed and the shuttle took off to the sky.

-----

The desert.

The caravan was making its way through the desert under the horrible ray of the sun. It was made of 8 large carts, dragged by equally large desert lizards. On each cart sat a much smaller lizard who drove the cart through the desert sands. The carts were boxy and whatever they were carrying could not be seen by the group of mercenaries hired for protection against wild life and against much much worse things. Nepleslians.

Among the group was a man known as Svante Magnusson found himself, dragged along by his long-time friend Nais Haro, who was part of the group before him. The group itself was comprised of ten people all together. Some of them ex-marines, some of them ex-something. The leader was a short lady with even shorter temper. Jaina Derring used to be a chief in marines and she brought the attitude with her. If she hated you, you wanted to be somewhere else, preferably on different planet.

"Hey Svante, stop draggin your feet." Jaina shouted as she vigorously marched next to front cart, chatting with the owner of a caravan sitting on it.

"Don't mind her Svan," Said Nais, who walked next to the ex-intelligence trooper. They were both near the fourth cart. "She is just slaggin you, she always does that to rookies. I mean to new blood. Everone came through this. Damn, how can se do so fine in this cooker. I bet she is a robot."

Before Svante could reply a sound of a shuttle could be heard. The group could see the Viper coming of from the direction of Maharombi Spaceport, their destination. "Looks like the reinforcements the owner talked about are here." Nais said.

The shuttle.

In the shuttle the travel was dreary, though climatiyed. With no viewports there was nothing to watch, though there would be nothing to watch anyway as all around was just a lot of bloody sand. Luckily the trio of hunters could feel the shuttle finally slowing down.

"Here we are dears," Kendra said through the loundspeaker. "We are going to test the drop-doors so get ready!"

To get ready they had about two seconds before the floor under them dissappeared. It was a way marines were dropped in the battle in their armour from good heights, quickly and ready to kill. Of course the marines were in PAs. Hunters were not. Luckily they were only few feets of the ground.

The Caravan.

"Oi Nais, take Mr. tattoo and go check if those are the guys there will help us!" Jaina shouted at the duo of mercs.
"Aye!" Nais shouted back and looked at Svante. "Let's go. You do the talking, I'll do the shootin', well if it will be needed."

Nais was a not a short, not a tall woman with short black hair and a Zen Arms Marksman rifle. She checked it and loaded a bullet, keeping the safety on. With that she nodded towards the shuttle, which belly just opened and few figures jumped down behind small dune about 300 feet off.

 

[Saul]

'Become a bounty hunter!' Nais had proclaimed.

'Make credits!' She had promised.

'Ditch that stinkin' old Corps!' She'd said.

So far since becoming a bounty hunter, the only thing involving credits that was dropping a cool 4100 DA on some kit like his armor and new weapons, and the only thing 'stinking' was the obscene amount of sweat that had soaked through another pair of socks that he'd brought with him for the trip. All of this for the promise of 500 DA. 500 DA was less than he'd made for a weekend at his security job watching automated warehouses to make sure nobody broke in and nothing went wrong. And back then there wasn't the 50/50 coin toss that he might or might not get stuck in it with some local raiders. Of course habits with booze, trouble, and women all alike meant that sort of 'cushy' civilian job wasn't well-suited for him. Even if she was a harsh task master he could never fault Jaina for her hands-off approach to R&R. So long as she didn't have to post bail or go to court to testify, she didn't care.

That still didn't change how she was at work, since he'd been marching since morning, and had gradually watched from beneath his one-way visor the boiling sun rising up into the sky to scorch them all.

Happily silent even after his friend's comments, Svante watched the gunship flying in low. He knew from his time in the Corps that the "Viper" was a troop transport designed for Marines in PAs, and that any pilot worth his salt would know PA equipped infantry were safe from far greater altitudes than that. Which meant the pilot wasn't good, the unit commander had wanted them to come in that low, or the troops getting dropped off weren't in PAs. Those three things and the garish custom paint told him that there was no way in the deepest and fieriest pits of the beyond that it was Marines landing. Of course the fact that he hadn't just been given the 'pleasure' of being on the receiving end of a PCT-01A meant they weren't bandits either.

When he listened to the sound of Nais chambering a round after they had been told to go investigate the dropped off personnel, he made a silent prayer to his creator that he had come from more field-oriented experience than his friend. Nais had been a code-breaker through and through, more used to service behind a desk, and usually only needing to handle a rifle for six-month qualifications. His weapons were already loaded with a round in the chamber each, safety off, and ready to go.

So taking up point and waiving Nais to take cover before the group might see her coming around the dune with him as they approached, he gave her to the mental count of five in his head, switched his rifle to 3-round burst, and rounded the dune just ahead of the group. Part of him felt proud that in Muur armor with a dark tan base and a green-gray digital camouflage on the plates that he looked more like a trained killer than the others on his new team gave him credit for simply for being the new guy. Though the provided coat over it made him look more local, as per their employer's instructions.

When he approached, while both hands were on his rifle he didn't draw a bead. If they were friendly, they were and that was the end of it. The first one to draw on him would get a round through the dome courtesy of Nais and the rest would get dealt with in short order.

Had to love superior firepower.

"Hey!" He called, "You the new help?"

 

[Gunsight1]

Even though not given more than a couple seconds warning of the drop, Amanozako landed with grace and skill of one who had made such drops many times before, in battle most of the time in her case. She had landed in a crouch, impaler rifle held ready as her red eyes scanned the area around where they had been deployed.

The sand dunes offered little tactical value, cover was poor and there was no concielment beyond using the carts from the caravan. If someone wanted to hit them, this
Would have been a good place.

Standing and shouldering her mean looking NMX weapon, she examined the caravan casually taking inventory of how many wagons there were, what they seemed to be loaded with and more importantly, how many people there were.

She did not bother responding to the greeting from the armored member of the carava's existing security.

 

[Foxtrot 813]

Although he didn't have enough time to even mutter a 'what' before he was dropped, Desmond still managed to land somewhat accurately, with the only casualty being the cigarette that he was holding between his fingers as he waited inside the shuttle at the moment of the drop. He fell on one knee and used his arm to support and stop himself from falling face first into the sand, dusted the sand off his hand once his newly acquired cape once he got up, and then turned to look at the caravan.

The bounty hunter then looked back at the man approaching his group, noticed the gleam of a scope behind it but still moved towards him nonetheless. "We'd be some pretty stupid bandits otherwise." He answered Svante while looking directly to where he assumed someone was aiming at him. He then noticed upon closer inspection that, unlike him, the other bounty hunter was also wearing a full set of the Muur, while Desmond left the helmet and the forearm protections back in the Iron Ferret.

Desmond moved towards the caravan shortly after the exchange, taking his time to light another one of his death-sticks before doing so.

 

[Centurion0507]

Raven hit the ground and tucked and rolled to absorb the impact and spread it out across his entire body surface, before bouncing back up into a crouch and pulling his rifle up and starting to look around while making sure to not make a threatening move towards their ostensible backup forces. He looked at where Desmond was headed and decided he may as well stick with the only person in the group he actually had any real experience or knowledge of. Looking around at the desert he saw the lack of shrubs and shrugged, the somewhat generic coloring of his ghillie suit would work here somewhat well if he hunkered down into a hole in the sand when they stopped and settled more sand around his position. "Well this should be interesting I guess" he muttered as he walked. His SGAR would track from side to side as he walked and observed the general area that they were in.

 

[ShotJon]

As soon as the trio of bounty hunters landed, they felt the dry air and scorching sun on their faces. It was first time they were in the deserts of Delsauria and man it was hot. It was hotter then Miss Yamatai YE35. The sun made its best at boiling the trio of hunters in their own suits. Withing seconds they were all sweaty and uncomfortable. Except Amanozako, who could control her bodily functions and withstand the heat. Plus NH29s don't sweat. Lucky bastards.

Along with the hunters a large backpack fell out. As Des and Amano made their way to the caravat, it fell down to Raven to handle it. It was pretty hefty, and after opening he coudl see it was filled with provisions and liquids.

As Raven followed his two compatriots down the dune her could see movement to his right. A figure got up, pulling back a baggy hood of sand-coloure poncho. It was Nais, who made herself scarce. She waved at the hunter to show him she is friendly and started made her was down along with the other hunters.

As Desmond descended down the dune he could see a short lady in desert coloured camo uniform. It was a bit baggy, so it was not hard to guess she had something bullet-proof under it. She held an Infantry Battle Rifle made by paragon with under-slung GL. At her side was a good old ZA .45 handgun. Also she had some kind of large revolver slung in armpit holster. She could 30-somethin and under her helmet some red hair could be seen sticking ou.

"You da help they promised me?" She asked Desmond as she came closer. Under her helmet she had a suprisingly attractive face. Or it would be attractive if she would ever smile.

"Yes, we wouldn't be here otherwise." Desmond replied, scratching the stubble on his face with his gloved hand and examining the other bounty hunter in front of him. "Nice gun." He added, looking at the rifle, which was the exact same he carried sans the grenade launcher.

"Meh, it works. I hate fucking bull pup, but I lost my rifle in last job. This gets the job done," She shrugged, looking down on her weapon. "Grenade launcher gets hand though. What can I expect from you three?"

"Just watch our backs, and we'll watch yours. Assuming someone actually comes looking for trouble." The bounty hunter replied. He actually hoped no bandit would hit their caravan.

"I always expect someone coming for trouble. Makes my bloody life easier." The woman responded with a nod, then she pointed to the back of the caravan. "Speaking of back, I will have you take the last two carriages. You are a team so it is better for you to be together. I hope you guys also have comms."

She then looked at Amano, Raven, Svante and Nais. "Svante, Nais you go with them. The back is too big only for three people to handle. Back them up." Jaina ordered the two mercs.

"Yeah, we got them." Desmond said. Team was a loose term, there was Raven, who he could count on, and then there was Amanozako, who he was sure he couldn't. Instead of voicing that out the bounty hunter just carried on, moving past the leader of the other group and motioning for his, as well as the two new additions as well, to follow him.

"By the way, I am Jaina Derrick. These two with you are Nais and Svante. They will give you our frequencies. We still have couple of hours march till the evening." She explained, then turned around and walked to the front of caravan.

The group walked for a bit before they reached last two carts. Each was pulled by very large lizards and each had its own driver. The one driving the last car, was a local and other was actually a nepleslian, a female youngster dressed in what one would describe as a desert clothes, which Desmond approached.

"Howdy," the girl said, pulling her hood a bit back. She could not have been older then twenty, with dirty blonde hair. "I am Kelly."

"Desmond. We'll be escorting you." He said, looking at the large mounts that were pushing the caravan before wiping a handful of sweat from his brow. "Any tips you can give us about these bandits? What to expect, how they act, who are they and leads them?" He asked.

As Desmond looked at the very very large lizard cow, it looked back at him. THen it slide a long tongue and licked his face in a friendly way. It seemed similiar to Haures.

"Aww seems Bessy likes ya!" The girl exclaimed as she laughed. "And I don't really know much, except that all the toher caravaneers were all killed. Like in the other caravans. I was no too happy that the caravan master decided to ride out early."

That made the bounty hunt sigh as he wiped his face yet again. No one there knew anything, making them pretty much have to rely on the early warning from the aerial support to tell them before they were hit, if they were hit. Assuming they spotted the bandits before they were possibly hit.

He waved goodbye to the rider and went back to his group.

The lizard driver looked at Amanozako, his tongue flickered in the air few times. "You smell funny, hat-lady." He said in heavy accent.

"No one knows jack, and I won't count on an early warning in case the bandits are coming. Don't let your guard down, I'm not dying for a thousand bucks." Desmond said to the group, out of the earshot of the caravaners, and also including the two new unofficial members as he looked around at the caravan.

"Hell at least you get paid more then we do," Nais said, shaking her head angrily.

 

[Saul]

Svante could only shake his head. He'd seen enough acts during his time in the Marines to know when somebody was trying to seem intimidating. He just let the man's words go like water down his back and as he tracked the man's eyes over to where Nais had taken cover he could almost feel her eyes rolling behind the scope. Maybe these people were legit, maybe they weren't. Svante would admit that he hadn't been in the business long enough to know any big names but the lack of any murmurs or excitement from the rest of the crew Nais had brought him into told him that these folks likely weren't anybody to get too excited over. So he made his way back to the convoy and had assumed his original position until he suddenly found himself being ordered to fall back to the rear position with the new arrivals.

"Great, I get to walk with the fucking would-bes." Svante grumbled angrily to Nais as they had headed back.

Positioned in the back with the others on the opposite side of the last wagon from Nais, Svante looked back to one of them: a man in black Muur armor.

"Ya' know, I know you'll hate to hear it. But one look at you and you all look the least local out of a pack of tourists." He laughed good-naturedly, "I'm just saying."

 

[Windra]

(OOC: hey guys, coming in late! Pretend I was here alllll along.... ¬_¬)

Having touched down with the other bounty hunters on the sand, the new recruit Casteel Krasnov found herself sliding a bit on the dunes due to the weight of her gear. The heavy weapons hauler (well, not just the hauler), was huge, bulky Nepleslian woman who looked more man than typical female. At 6-foot five inches, she was easily TWO men with the breadth and width of her barrel chest and matching arms and legs, yet she still maintained a woman's waistline, a proud, hen-like bust, and... well, that was about it. Everything from her forehead to her bulging biceps to her sleek, rippling thighs was broad and angular. She looked like she could have been an ID-SOL, besides the gender.

She was last to catch up with the others due to her gear. She was packing an MG-32 on a two-point sling on one side, a ZA assault rifle on two-point sling on the other, with a casual ZA .45 and ammo on her gunbelt, and a ZA SMG strapped to one thigh like an afterthought. Clad in half Murr body armour, combat cargoes and boots, and layered tanktops under a dusty cloak and mantle, the heavy weapons operator was still easy to spot due to her size.

 

[Gunsight1]

Amanozako scrutinized the caravan. She was decidedly unimpressed with what she saw and had to wonder if this thing was even worth anyone's time to hit. Her eyes turned to the lizard as his comment reached her ears.

"So do you" she replied with a sniff and an upturned nose. Her enhanced nekovalkyrja sense of smell easily detected and focused in on a verity of scents and stenches that the others could not. This was a feature to her artificially created body she was not always pleased to have, though despite it's often unpleasantness it did come in handy. The ex-soldier moved on, continuing down the line of the caravan, checking everything.

 

[Foxtrot 813]

"Cool." Was all that Desmond replied to Svante, letting Amanozako do the trash talking as he lit yet another cigarette. The desert open desert was already unpleasant enough as it was, soaking his clothes under the armor and making them clammy and sticky against his back as the sun bore down on him, its heat almost suffocating. He took the time to examine his surroundings more closely, adjusting the sand cape to provide more cover against the merciless sun.

The first thing that caught the bounty hunter's eye, however, was the towering female -which he didn't identify as one at first glance- who had just joined the group, surprising him both with her stature and the excessive amount of weapons she carried. He showed no reaction. "Alright, let's just move out." He said at last, one hand resting on the grip of his battle rifle as he walked towards the wagon they would be escorting.

 

[Centurion0507]

"Well, guess I get to be the guy everybody else has to go to in order to get their rations and water on this trip" Raven grumbled as he threw the bag onto his back and stumbled a bit until he got its unwieldy mass settled on top of all of his other gear. He waddled his way towards the bounty hunter end of the caravan and set the bag down when he got there, "well that was an interesting way to get here." With that he settled back against one of the wagons and fiddled with his gear getting it resettled to the way he like it and allowing easy access to ammunition and weapons if they were required.

 

[ShotJon]

Normally when one goes through the desert he rests during the time, sun is at it highest and travels in the morning nand then later in the night. For this caravan it was not as that. The local race of lizardmen did not mind the sun and nepleslian around them just had to get over it. The boss of caravan just wanted to go on, so they did.

The group soon found out that the driver of the last car did not know how to keep her mouth shuth. At all. After she told Raven to toss the large backpack on the cart she then started talking. About EVERYTHING. She talked about the caravan and how she just got hired on the last minute. Everyone was scared of the raids, but she rilly needed the money and she got hazard pay. She told them all how she was glad they were here, that they look like tough mercs and what not.

There was a commentary on everyone as well. Desmond was dubbed handsome, Amano was told that she was too quiet and could use a smile. Raven was told to try to loosen up a bit and Casteel heard a lot about how she was the biggest woman Kelly has ever seen. Svante and Nais already got through this all before the group of mercs arrived. The two mercenaries walked near the seconds to last cart, covering it.

"Hey, you," the lizard driving the cart said to Svante. "Dat lady in fedora, she smells strange. She does not sweat."

Before Svante could reply though the caravan took torn to the small outcrop near some rocks. The sun was setting and it was time to set up a camp. The carts were driven into a circle and the large lizards cow things were pulled inside the circle. The surroundings here was not as much a sand as a dry dirt and rocks. It made for a fairly good spot, with good visibility around them.

The mercenery leader was already giving orders and before Kelly's cart moved into its position, the Bounty Hunters could see that several mers moved out to set scanners into the stony field. Jaina they whistled at Desmond and waved him over.

"Hokay, we are going to setup a camp." She explained. "I got enough people for three man watch over-night, others will sleep in gear and ready to shoot. I expect that should they try a night raid, it would be around 1am. Anyway I need an over-watch."

The woman pointed to small hill about three hundred meters afar, its top pretty much covered in rocks. "You guys are a team, so you will be my over-watch. The four of you, plust Nais, who is my shooter and take Svante too, he can spot for her. Anyway set it up there however you want, take turns on watch. I just want eyes up top."

She then handed desmond a small pack. "This has scanners for ya, set it around your hill so you guys won't get spooked. The reader is in it, who has Muur helmet can link to it. Kelly will give you stuff for the night."

And with that the mercenary woman turned around and left to organise more things. Kelly on the other hand was happy to start talking. She started taking out a ton of stuff. Sleeping bags, food-packets, explained in overall detail how it works and how awesomely warm it will keep you in the night.

"But best is this!" She said, taking out a metallic box and setting it on the ground with a gruff. It seemed a bit heavy. "The stove. This beauty is best camper can have. No light, just warmth, you can use it to get warm or heat food. Whatever you want. Oh I cannot wait. I am going up there you guys!" She said with excited voice, taking her own backpack.

Now it was on Desmond how to organise his team and deal with the overly happy young girl. The hill gave them fairly good way to see around and the stones would give them also good cover, anything should happen.

 

[Foxtrot 813]

Desmond made his way back to where his group was after getting the equipment and company from the caravan, stopping just for a second to stare at the sun as it slowly set on the horizon. He watched the celestial body for a couple of seconds, finishing what he decided to be the last cigarette for the day -he couldn't risk having any during the night if there was really a chance of a night raid- and threw the stump on the sand, stepping on it.

While he wasn't a talker himself, the bounty hunter made for a great listener, just nodding along and sometimes mumbling some response to Kelly. He did once raise an eyebrow at the prospect of having her presence, as well as the incessant talking, but simply adjusted the pack that he was carrying. "We're on watch duty... There." Desmond said monotonously, slowly jabbing his finger towards the hill and then turning his gaze back to the group, "We'll take one hour watches throughout the night, that should give us six hours of sleep each." He added.

"I'll go ahead and set up the observation equipment." Desmond said after a while, gesturing with his head towards the pack he was carrying and moving towards the hill. While the walk upwards wouldn't, shouldn't have fazed him in the slightest, it was surprisingly laborious after a 'happy' day of desert excursion. He set the back down between two rocks once he reached the outcrop at the top of the hill, then went about to work on assembling it. The scanners was nothing more than a sensor pack that had to be screwed on top of a tripod.

Setting the scanner on their designated spot, facing away from the caravan, the Bounty Hunter stood up, leaning against a rock; He didn't want to risk falling asleep. Putting the helmet of his Muur on, Desmond keyed the communicator "I'll draw first watch." He said, crossing his arms and watching the desert.

 

[Saul]

Svante let out a weary sigh as they'd finally rounded up for the night. He waved to Nais, signalling her that he would get ready for over-watch by retrieving the spotter's scope from the wagon his long-term gear was kept on - as well as most of that gear for bedding down once he'd shifted out with his replacement for the night watch. The scope was a high-magnification system, capable of thermal imagery, and perfect for helping find range and windage for a sniper to accurately down targets. He had headed up the hill with the rest of this apparent new group he'd been assigned to and as they'd finally reached the hill he'd signaled Nais silently towards a good hide-site: a flat plateau-like outcropping with plenty of rocks and shrub to provide cover and concealment for the pair while giving them a good field of view on somebody who might be approaching the camp.

He moved ahead and swept the area once to make sure it was clear of any of the potentially hostile wildlife he'd been warned about before he began to set up his equipment. He set up the spotter's scope for one of the most likely avenues of approach, one which he would cycle between while observing others and which was easier to spot in the lay of the land from this vantage point as opposed to in the camp. After that?

Svante sat.

And waited. With thermal imagery, watching the surroundings of the cooling desert sands for any sign of bandits approaching.

 

[Windra]

Kelly's commentary was not unexpected, so all Casteel did was smirk with nothing more to say. And like Desmond she was more of a listener than a talker anyhow, so when instructions and equipment were distributed, she helped haul their shared gear up to the rock-strewn hill over yonder.

As the men and women of the team set up their own little spaces for the overwatch that night, Cas checked her equipment once more, ensuring that each weapon was chambered and ready to go, though only the handgun was left with the safety off. No point in getting shot by your own weapon.

"Second watch," she called out, after hearing Desmond declare first. Her cybernetic optics provided her with a broad range of visual spectrums to watch for, so she worried little about the things that crept in the night.

 

[Centurion0507]

"I'll take either the midnight watch or the last one since those are the two times we're most likely to get hit each night" Raven said as he began setting his gear up just in case they had to bug out in a hurry. When it was time for them to rack out his boots were placed inside his sleeping bag to keep them warm and free of any unfriendly local wildlife. He also set his rifle up with a sling that he could wrap around his leg to keep it close to him in his fart-sack (Aka sleeping bag), his pistol was holstered and he used it along with the top of his body armor as an improvised pillow. "We should probably start hitting the sacks soon though folks, it's gonna be time to move out again before we know it. Wake me when it's my watch." Raven said as he suited actions to words and shrugged most of his gear off and into his sleeping bag before rather promptly falling asleep.

 

[Gunsight1]

Overwatch, Amanozako rolled her eyes. There was nothing of value in this convoy. The neko needed little sleep and did not feel like it at the moment. She opted to assist with the first watch, setting herself up to watch their groups backs while the others watched over the convoy.

She kept silently vigilant, her enhanced eyesight scanning the area around, looking for anything suspicious. She frowned, she did not like how certsin members if the convoy seemed to be taking issue with her being there. She could see it in the way they looked at her or talked quietly after she passed.

She frowned again, readjusting her grip on her impaler rifle, pushing any thoughts outside the job at hand out if her mind.

 

[ShotJon]

The bounty hunters and two mercenaries set their little camp. Svante and Nais, picked a spot between two boulders, setting Nais' rifle under a camo blanket with enough room for two to lay next to each other. The blanket hid their thermal signatures and gave them warmth. It would be needed. As the sun set up the scorching desert was quickly becoming a freezing waste of sand. Nais let herself be heard that she would take the last watch, which left Raven with the watch of a dead man, aka midnight watch. Least sleep, worst hours, biggest chance of getting hit.

Luckily for him, Amanzako was a neko. She layed down for her short needed amount of sleep and before Desmond's watch was over, she was up again. That was good, two man watch was always better then one man watch. Kelly was surprisingly quiet, the young girl lay a bit to the back, saying she does not want to get in a way, something should weapon.

Soon Casteel's watch came up. She set up their weapons and took her place, watching the encampment and the small sensor screen linked to the motion sensors around their little hill. The nigh was moving through, stars shining on the cloudless sky. It was a bit discomforting how easy was to see in the desert during night. The stares lighted the stony outcroping the caravan used quite well. Even without night vision goggles, it would not be too impossible to move around or even see movement, at least for a short distance.

Alas, Casteel saw nothing and soon was trying to squeeze into a sleeping bag, that was a tad bit too small for her after she woke up Raven. The young man picked up his thing and took his turn. Even for a hardened soldier, the days journey was tiring and the sleep he got was barely enough for him to get rejuvenated. Still he held his spot, with Amanozako behind his back.

As the watch was going, the neko's ears twitched. She could hear a strange crunchy sound. Something was moving not way too far. Raven's sensor screen blinked as well. Something was coming. Strange thing was, that it did not came for the main camp. It came straight for them from the other direction, fast and silent and it was near.

Way too near. The young man got on his feet, getting ready to wake up others when a shade came to him, jumping from rock to rock. Amanozako could hear the sound of claws scratching on the stones. There was more of then and one of it, flew straight at her as well.