August 13, 2036

A canvas covered army truck drives down the rough jungle road, its jolting movements awakening three of the four passengers in the back. All four are leg shackled and their arms are handcuffed to the bench seats. Eventually the truck enters a bustling village and backs into an alley. Two guards armed with AK-47s escort the passengers, (carrying the unconscious one) into a steel shack. The shack contains a few cots and a bucket for waste.

Eventually the unconscious one, and the only female in the group, awakens. Introductions are made. Riptide, a Caucasian male, bares multiple link plugs and a sardonic sense of humor. Helios, a male of American-Thai descent, also has plugs and based on his frame, likely had some muscle grafting done. Saito, a male of Semitic descent, also has plugs and a cybernetic eye. The female goes by Zen. She is of Chinese-American descent. Unlike the others, she seems to have no cybernetic enhancements. None of the four are very forthcoming about their backgrounds, but each is in the same predicament. Each was recently kidnapped and brought here. None of the four know each other, although Helios and Riptide met right before they were taken.

As the hours pass, Saito and Zen decide to conserve energy and lay on the cots. Helios tests the dirt floor and begins trying to see if he can dig his way out. Riptide paces for a while, but eventually claims a cot for himself.

Over time, sounds from the other door in the shack reveal that this is likely the back room of a local drinking establishment. Eventually the door opens, and two men enter. One of them is one of the guards that brought them here; the other appears to be an American in his mid-40s. The American introduces himself as Taylor Czarnecki, and the guard as Alanzo. He indicates that Alonzo told him the group was a bunch of troublemakers from America, but the captives say little in response. He then inquires if any of them have combat experience. Zen indicates that she does. They ask where they are and Taylor tells them that they are in Colombia. Alanzo, apparently not able to understand English, upon hearing the word Colombia, pulls Taylor out of the room and locks the door back up.

Sometime later, Riptide hears a distinct gurgling sound and a thump as a body hits the ground and is dragged away. Shortly there after, Taylor opens the exterior door, leans in and says, “Its good to see you are still here.”

Armed with the guard’s AK-47, he ducks into the shack. He tosses Saito the keys for the shackles as he explains that he has a proposition for the group. His first priority is getting them out of town.

Saito, having no reason to trust the man, darts at him in an attempt to snatch the rifle away. A struggle begins for the rifle. Realizing the contest won’t be resolved before guards are alerted, Saito changes tactics and lets go of the rifle, but as he does so he ejects the magazine, and keeps hold of it. This leaves Taylor with the rifle and Saito with the ammo.

Realizing that he will have to give them more to go on, Taylor explains that he needs their help, and they clearly are in trouble themselves. He has a truck waiting on the edge of town to get them away from here. Taylor will tell them the rest once they are safely out of town. Saito gives him back the magazine while Riptide comments that no doubt the truck sneaking them of town will be the loudest one in town.

They are able to sneak safely out to the edge of town where an old pick-up truck awaits. Taylor gets in the front while the other four climb in back. Sure enough, the truck has no muffler and a tendency to back fire. Despite this, they are able to make it safely out of the area. As they are driving along, Taylor passes back a canteen and some candy bars for the hungry and thirsty group. As they are sharing the canteen, Riptide decides to tell them about the time he was dating a porn star, who went by the stage name Megan Fux. The others wondered if they would regret that drink.

Eventually, the truck comes to a stop, and Taylor and the others get out. They hike a mile into the jungle and set up camp. Taylor has a tent, but the rest must fend for them selves. Helios shows a talent for constructing lean-tos and helps the rest of the party stay dry.

August 14, 2036

As the group breaks camp, Taylor fills them in on the details. He is here to destroy an airfield, owned by the Entrada drug cartel. He does not know whom he works for, as those details are taken care of by his handler, Dollar Bill. He was to meet some local talent here in Colombia, but they pulled a no-show on him. While hanging out in a bar, he heard an Entrada soldier named Alanzo talking about some Americans he had. Taylor bought him a few more rounds and found out that Diego Entrada had purchased the Americans from William Moss, a corp who works for Arasaka. Entrada intended to use them for test subjects. Taylor decided to break them out and make them an offer. If they help him take out the airfield, he will get them back to the States. As a bonus, they can keep any of the weapons and gear they are issued. The group takes him up on the offer.

They then spend the better part of the day hiking through the jungle. Eventually they reach a drop point. After a half an hour, an AV-4 aerodyne hovers up over the jungle canopy, and drops a large crate. Taylor opens the crate and issues the team their gear. It includes weapons, radios, fatigues, body armor, and other miscellaneous equipment. They are also given C-4 with detonators and a satchel charge for the runway.

The team then continues on. They eventually reach the airfield. Taylor designates the targets. The satchel charge must be used on the runway. C-4 needs to be set at the fuel tank and Diego’s personal jet. Finally a shack at the back of the airfield was heavily guarded, and Taylor wants to know why. Saito will take out the jet and Riptide will handle the fuel tanks. Zen will set the satchel charge and Helios and Taylor will investigate the shack. Helios notes that there is a helicopter on site, and that he could fly it out if need be.

Zen sets the charges and takes up position near the runway. Saito crawls his was through a field of tall grass to a spot that gives him a good view of the jet and the two guards that stand near it. Riptide, Helios, and Taylor move counter-clockwise around the airfield, reaching the north side of the facility. Taylor and Helios head for the shack, while Riptide makes for the fuel tanks.

Taylor and Helios make it to the back of the shed and prepared to take out the guard. However, the guard catches a glimpse of Riptide as he is going for the tanks and walks around the back of the shed to investigate, bringing him face to face with Helios and Taylor. After a brief awkward moment, knives are drawn and the guard is dispatched.

Meanwhile, Zen moves onto the airstrip, positioning the satchel charge and setting the timer. Unfortunately, a guard stationed at the helipad sees her movements and approaches the airstrip to investigate. Zen lays low near the strip hoping that the guard will fail to see the satchel charge. Unfortunately, luck is not on her side and the guard’s flashlight beam eventually comes across the satchel charge. As he investigates the mysterious satchel, Zen sneaks up from behind, jumps on his back, and tries to lock him into a chock hold. The guard is not easy prey, and struggles for nearly a minute, managing to break the hold a couple of times, but never fully escaping. Just a Zen thinks her arms are about it give out, the guard finally collapses unconscious onto the airstrip. Zen ties him up, and drags him into the jungle.

As Riptide sets the C-4 charge on the fuel tanks, Taylor and Helios break into the shack. Inside is a desk full of papers and maps. In the center of the room, is a young man of Japanese descent, strapped to a chair. He has been stripped to a t-shirt and underwear, and appears to have been enduring an interrogation. Helios unties him as Taylor looks through the papers. He is grabbing some papers that look important when he notices photos from the drug lab at Entrada Diego’s plantation. They depict several American veterans being used as guinea pigs for drug experiments. The hostage introduces himself as Torrent, and they exit the shack. Riptide meets up with them as Torrent is putting on the dead guard’s boots. They reenter the jungle and circle back around the airfield.

With all of the other charges in place, Saito makes his move. His smartgun, jacked directly into his brain, communicates with the targeting scope in his cybernetic eye, lining up a perfect shot. Responding to a thought command, the gun fires, dropping the first guard. Saito quickly resets his aim to take out the second guard and is surprised to see that not only did the other guard fail to here the shot, he did not notice his partner collapsing to the ground. Saito fires a second shot but the second guard is only grazed by the shot.

Saito switches to full-auto, and begins advancing on the jet, firing controlled bursts at the guard. The guard takes up position behind the landing gear and returns fire. Saito scores a hit first and the guard goes down. Just as Saito reaches the jet, the doors burst open at the security building and guards begin to pour out. Saito sets his explosives as quickly as he can and then runs back into the jungle.

The team regroups as the charges detonate and the airfield is disabled. Taylor then explains that he will not leave American vets behind at the plantation. He asks the team for help, and they agree without hesitation. They make for the plantation immediately, hoping that most of Diego’s security force will be going the airfield to investigate. As they approach, they do see several jeeps and trucks of men travelling down the road on their way to the airfield.

August 15th, 2036

The team arrives at the plantation in the early morning. It is mostly coffee fields, but also contains a walled estate, a few bunkers, two warehouses, and a large well-lit facility. There are also numerous jeeps on patrol, each with two men and a .50 caliber machine gun. Torrent identifies the well-lit facility as most likely a drug lab, where the vets are probably kept. The team slowly circles the plantation until they are behind the drug lab. Saito scales the building, and once on the roof moves the camera that is aimed at the back door. Helios is able to bypass the lock and they enter the facility.

They find the communications room and consider disconnecting the security system. Torrent points out that the system is using a carrier signal for tamper detection, and disconnecting it would just set off an alarm. They decide to leave it alone.

After checking the back section of the building, the team moves to the front half. Finding a hallway that has PZT cameras at each end, Saito and Zen decide to run to the cameras while they are panned away and black out the cameras. Zen activates her adrenaline booster, and when the timing is right, they go for it. Unfortunately, Zen does not get to hers on time, and is in the frame when she blacks out the camera. Saito gets to his on time, but finds himself at a hall intersection, with another camera down the other hall pointing at him. They disable the cameras and begin searching rooms as quickly as possible.

Riptide moves down the center hall and begins checking doors. Suddenly the front door bursts open and two guards armed with AK-47s charge in. Riptide realizes that he is caught in the open, and brings his two pistols to bear. The first guard has the jump on him however, and fires a 3 round burst. The first two hit Riptide square in the chest and gut, but his body armor protects him. The third round, however, rips into Riptide’s thigh, cracking the bone within. Riptide falls back against wall, but stays supported on his good leg. He squeezes off four shots from each pistol and all eight rounds find their target, and the guard collapses to the ground.

The second guard had moved behind the first and was heading down the east hallway. Saito, hearing the shots runs down the intersecting hall. As he reaches the corner he drops to a prone position and extends his upper body around the corner. The guard shoots first, but his rounds either hit the wall above Saito’s head, or hits Saito’s back which is protected by body armor. Saito squeezes off a three-round burst and drops the second guard.

Zen comes around the south hall to the front door and shuts it. As she does so, she sees the guard on the jeep out front charging the .50 cal and aiming it at the front door. Meanwhile, Torrent has found a computer in a back room, and begins pulling apart the casing to get the hard drive. The team eventually finds the room that contains the vets and Torrent emerges with the hard drive.

With two of the vets and Riptide unable to move under their own power, the team makes a slow retreat out of the back of the building and into the jungle. Taylor gets on the radio and sets up an evacuation point, but it will take an hour for the AV-4 to get there. They move slowly through the jungle. Saito and Zen remain in back providing covering fire for the team. Zen also plants some left over C-4 chargers to take out some of their pursuers.

Eventually they reach the evacuation point. While Zen lays down some suppression fire, and Saito takes out any guards he can spot, the team is able to get aboard the AV-4 and is flown out of the jungle. The hour flight takes them past the coast and into open water where they see a cargo ship loaded with freight containers waiting. As they pass over the ship, they see that the containers form a ring, at the center of which is a hidden landing pad. The ship is called the Galveston Star, commanded by a Captain Greer.

Riptide is taken to the infirmary where his leg is set and put in a cast. Saito raids the medicine cabinet and swipes some morphine for his own purposes. Torrent is able to hack the stolen hard drive and finds that Entrada Diego has some sort of business relationship with William Moss of Arasaka. The exact nature of the relationship is unknown, but Diego is working on a new synthetic drug called “Blue Glass.”

In appreciation for their efforts, Taylor gets permission to double the team’s payment to $1,000.00 each, including Torrent. He also advises them that they each had acquired a powerful enemy in someone at Arasaka. It was probably best if they got new IDs and laid low until they knew exactly whom they were up against. His handler, Dollar Bill, would set them up with new IDs for free; they just had to find him. He hangs out at a place called the Forlorn Hope in Night City. But first the teams gets a much needed shower and bed rest as the Galveston Star makes its way to Miami.