Jack, Be Quick.

"Fucking damnit..." Uso said, "any chance they'll let us in? We really just need to pick up a friend...


...also we are wasting time, get in. I'm Uso, That's Mook, and the girl is Mook's wife.

Forget the civvie stuff. Look threatening and let's try and keep them from starting a fight."

Uso was quite eager to get going, sitting back down in the pilot seat of the small APC/shuttle.

"Commander Pine of Saber, Sarah here is my smart ass subordinate, and Uso is my boss. Sarah is not my wife." Jack said simply

"We plan to keep this under the radar if we can, if we can find more subtle transport, it would be very appreciated." he continued trying to clarify the circumstances.

"Well you argue like you're married!" Uso snapped

Duncan raised an eyebrow at the exchange before him, "A subordinate? Sarah, you went corporate? That's so cute."

"I have a ride back that way," he jerked his thumb in the direction he was just walking away from,"that I ditched since I was heading off planet. Should still be there. Finding transpo is pretty easy here, either buy it or 'borrow' it." He said making the universal air quotes sign obviously meaning steal.

"As for the cartel, bribery is the name of the game. If that doesn't work then a little thunder and a little lightning go a long way."

"I'm happily married and I don't argue with my actual wife for one. And no we are not corporate." Jack quickly gave not wanting things to misunderstood due to Uso's usual lack of tact.

Uso frowned... she hated that taking the local transport was the right call. It'd take a long longer to get to their destination...

The waiting really is the hardest part,

"Alright, We'll have these transports on standby and take the local..." Uso said, hopping out of the front of her vehicle, a grenade launcher slung across her back, pistol on her hip... and soon a bulky hoodie was covering them both. She also grabbed another small pack out of the transport and headed over to Duncan. "Lets see your transport."

"It's right over here," Duncan said winding through the crowd of mostly degenerates going about their business. As he turned the corner he presented a quite used and worn down van. It already had some men crouched by the wheels but they had not even gotten the vehicle on a jack yet.

"Hold on," he said with some annoyance and walked to the duo. He grabbed one by the back of his collar and with strength matching his large frame easily hefted the man up and back away from the vehicle. Seeing the same coming to his own future the other man decided to run for it instead.

Duncan turned and waved the crew closer, "Come on. Bench seat up front, Sarah and Pine you're with me." He got in the driver's side and started fiddling with some wires underneath the steering wheel easily denoting how he had originally acquired the vehicle.

The back was cramped but Duncan always made sure to have benches in his rides. He liked to think he would have company even though it had been a while.

Jack and Sarah climbed up front with Sarah in the middle, and the other four Sabers in back.

"So Duncan, how bout tell me about yourself, I usually like to know who I'm working with. Makes it easier to work together, and to trust them enough." Jack said as he closed the passenger side door.

"Well, I am a part time Bounty Hunter part time teacher. Life isn't nearly as exciting as it used to be for me, or as lucrative," Duncan explained a little caught off guard. He doesn't mind talking but he wasn't ready for Pine to ask.

"What about you? What kind of name is Pine? Or do you just prefer Commander Pine?"

Uso frowned, it's like they didn't know who paid the bills around here. She'd end up in back, right next to the side door just in case she needed to make a quick exit.

"I'll keep the other transports in drone mode, and have them hover just out of sight in case we need them..."

"Pine is my last name, the only reminder of a family I've never met, Commander is my rank. The names Jack." Jack answered from behind his helmet's face plate, his visor still polarized. "It seems your unused to someone wanting to actually give a shit of who you are. I'm not asking your life story, I know not everyone wants to share there past whether they just like to keep it private, or are not proud of some of it. I can relate." he continued a bit.

Duncan gave a smile, "Well Jack, it's no problem. I love company and I get so little these days I am happy for the change of pace."

Duncan drove the van through the streets narrowly missing several pedestrians and coming close to other vehicles, even honking a few times. It was apparent that he knew how to drive amidst the chaos.

"So Jack what do you know of your family?" Sarah asked almost casually.

Jack looked at her, his face behind the visor being of complete confusion, "Why would you care, and I'm not sure Duncan cares either. It's a strange question to randomly as someone."

"Well for all I know it's a long drive, and I'm bored with both of your silence, especially since i'm stuck between you two." Sarah continued.

Duncan grinned even more, "I'm with her pal. Spill. It would pass the time. I never got to know my family but I like hearing about others."

He swerved quickly avoiding two men brawling suddenly in the street.

Jack just stared at them for a few moments before responding, "You guys aren't going to let that go are you?.....fine. As I said I never met my parents, from what I was told by the officials at the orphanage I had been taken into, they both died within a few hours after my birth. Something about that they were serving on a ship during a third elysian war, and the ship having taken critical damage, caused the core to start going critical. New born me was sent ahead to an escape pod with some of the other crew, and while my parents tried to get there, a support beam pinned my mother and my father stayed behind to save her, but neither made it out in time. The core emissions mutated some of my genes to cause a difference in my physical appearance. My hair color, and eye color. All I was ever left by them was this photo, which seems to suggest a sister, I've been looking for her for a long time." As he stated the last sentence, Jack pulled a photo from his coat, in the photo where three people, a woman with brunette hair, blue eyes, and soft features. Next was a man with black hair, green eyes, and a lean face. With a sixteen year old girl between them, who had black hair, blue eyes, and soft facial features.

"Now is there anything else you want learn?" Jack asked slightly awkwardly since no one had usually given a rat's ass about his life.

"Hey man, sorry about your parents. Take heart that you know more than a lot of other out there. I work at an orphanage somewhere else and I too was one with zero information about my 'rents," Duncan explained showing clear sympathy for Jack but clearly not out of pity, just kindred understanding.

"It's all good though, I know you will find her. Easy peasy."

""Born of death, cursed to spread death, and destined to become it.", my life has been nothing but blood, solitude, spent brass, insanity, and a constant numb feeling. Karma can be a bitch, and she never lets her toys go." Jack said now looking out the passenger side window. "I didn't stay in the orphanage long since no one even cared, I just walked out one night and spent the majority of my childhood on the streets. I was in the military for the last five years, until I left to join the USO this year." he continued as he remembered dark streets, bodies, gangs, and a smoking gun in his hand.

Sarah watched out the windshield as the two talked until Jack went quiet, "You mean like the Elysian bitch that you married, my parents died in that war, and you were a nep, how can you not hate them?"

Duncan looked sideways at the two beside him, "First of all, Elysians could say the same Sarah. War sucks cause both sides think they are right and only the good people really get hurt for that. I grew up in a home with both Yamatians and Nepleslians but it was all good cause we were all victims. You had it rough Jack and I'm sorry for that. I was taken advantage of when I was just a kid but trust me, I came back stronger than ever and I even learned to not sweat the small stuff. Find something you can be passionate about and things take a turn for the better.

"But really Sarah lay off the guy, I know we all just met everybody deserves to find a little piece of happiness in this universe. What about you? How did you become some sniper merc,"He asked Sarah.

Jack slowly turned his gaze towards Sarah, "What the fuck did you just say about my wife? Do you want me waste a bullet, because I will leave your corpse on the side of the road." he said barely holding his anger.

"Izzy is the only good thing in my life, the only family I have, and the only person who has made me still believe I can be a good man. I have fought wars, and a battlefield is nothing but a massive grave that puts the shovel in your hand, I lost men that I almost considered brothers, and you don't even want to know the shit I had to do as an officer. They called us "the angels of retribution", but we were just the dogs of slaughter. I am not a nep either, I was born in space, I have no people, no home planet, and no government. With her I have for once in my life, some place I can call home. I said I'd never lead troops again, but here I am doing just that to protect her and that home, and I have to deal with people like you who point your hate without bothering to consider suffering it leads to later." Jack spoke quickly and with a voice full of rage, as he grabbed Sarah by the collar even as he his eyes teared slightly under the helmet.

Sarah flinched slightly, "Well we all have shit past buddy, I was Yamatai until I left their military, I wanted to be a soldier to get revenge against those feathered bastards. They took my parents, and I couldn't even get even, so I traveled as a hired gun, using that rage to hit targets, people, groups, and all for the next paycheck and with no other skills to use."

"KIDS, KNOCK IT OFF." Uso said, her ears perking up from under her hair and swiviling forward. She would hear it before the rest of them, rapid, sustained, gunfire. The familiar smell of metalic smoke, and a mixture of people either trying to get away from something, or trying to get up high so they could watch what was going on.

As they got closer, their destination would start getting easier and easier to see. The apartment complex they had been heading to looked like a warzone. Technicals were parked all around the simple metal fence that surrounded the half dozen structures, and numerous cartel thugs were outside, all unloading into one of the buildings. Most of the exterior walls had been shot off entirely, and bullets were starting to chew through rock and drywall on the inside of the structure. The smell of gunpowder was everywhere...

"Fucking.... shit.... what the fuck is Sute's friend doing...." Uso asked, more to herself than to anyone else. "Jack, disperse your team and have them get ready to go in. Once you're ready to move I'll have our APCs swoop in and clear out these guys..."

The 'These guys' Uso was talking about were just up ahead. One standing behind a well armored machine gun mounted to the back of some truck, happily firing away at the apartment complex while two other guys were watching from behind, their eyes peeking up just above the truck's cabin to watch for anything moving in the complex itself.

Three of the technicals were already on fire, and numerous injured were being drug away from the firing line. Whatever was inside of the structure certainly could do some damage... and luckily it had their full attention.