24 April, WY602 – Korolev, Whistler

Aidan and Cara receive word from Jack that a Mr. Reinhardt would be contacting them and they should ”milk the bastard’s guilt for everything possible, but still be friends when it’s over”. Almost on cue, two men arrive at the door of the hospital room, the first is a small, nervous man in a suit and the second, a massive, muscular man stuffed into business casual wear. They identify themselves as Mr. Reinhardt and Mr. Swan respectively.

Reinhardt apologizes to the crew profusely and offers Swan’s services in helping reclaim the goods. When asked what Swan’s specialty is, he responds simply, ”ruckus”. They pressure Reinhardt for more help, and he offers up a carton of WDF standard-issue combat armor, and after a little more prodding, a case of rifles, as long as it helps ”maintain our long and profitable relationship with Mr. Cartwright”.

The crew retires back to the Explanations and prepares for the coming assault. The drone continues to report nothing new at the Desert Rats’ base. Mr. Swan arrives equipped with bleeding-edge mechanized assault armor and an automatic gauss rifle, which gives everyone a higher level of confidence of success. The crew heads off to the airstrip to board their borrowed Lancer while Tomoe and Otto head to orbit on the Explanations to stand by to retrieve the cargo.

Cara orders the lancer to hover over the base and everyone works to suppress two machine gun batteries and snipers. They land the Lancer and disembark just as one of the smugglers scores a hit on it with a rocket launcher. The crew swiftly dispatches the remaining smugglers outside the base and starts contemplating how to assault the interior.

Tomoe reports that a convoy of heavy trucks is swiftly approaching the base across the desert, the crew has fewer than thirty minutes before they arrive…