Explosive Situation

Log Title: Explosive Situation Characters: Airtight, Calhoun Burns, Chance

Location: Benzheen - Western Asia

Date: October 03, 2016

Players: Bzero (Airtight), Matt-Bat (Calhoun Burns), Horsetuna (Chance)

TP: Darklon TP

Summary: G.I. Joe troopers sweep mines in post-war Benzheen.

As logged by Airtight - Monday, October 03, 2016, 7:45 PM

Benzheen - Western Asia

 * Benzheen, officially called the Emirate of Benzheen, is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Trucial Abysmia to the southwest, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the south. The coast is formed by the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman forming Benzheen's coastal boundaries.


 * For a period, Benzheen was a moderate regional power, but over time, as its power declined, the emirate came under heavy influence from the United Kingdom, though Benzheen was never formally part of the British Empire, or a British protectorate. Benzheen has long-standing military and political ties with the United Kingdom and the United States, although it maintains an independent foreign policy.


 * Benzheen is an absolute monarchy in which the Emir of Benzheen exercises ultimate authority but its parliament has some legislative and oversight powers. In November 2010, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) listed Benzheen, from among 136 countries worldwide, as the nation most-improved during the preceding 40 years. According to international indices, Benzheen is one of the most developed and stable countries in the Arab World.

It's a bright, hot day in Benzheen. Airtight, Chance, and Calhoun "Hound Dog" Burns have been sent to Benzheen to help clear mines left over from the recent Benzheen/Trucial Abysmia unpleasantness. While the Joes clear explosives from the end of a runway, a young boy wanders into the other end of the minefield, carrying a bell on the end of a stick and leading a small herd of goats and sheep.

Chance was in the middle of telling a story while they were working on clearing out the mines "... So anyways, after the great war, my Uncle Albert got his leg replaced. You couldnt even tell. And one day he pulled into a parking spot for the handicapped at the mall and climbed out, when this young punk about twenty started screaming at him... that he wasnt really disabled and all that."

Airtight listens to Chance's story, pausing before carefully moving to the next grid on their sweep. He carries a small device designed by Tripwire to detect mines that can't be seen. He's not an explosive and demolitions expert like Calhoun and Chance, so he follows their lead and relies on his device.

Risk as well, Chances' bully breed demo dog, was also sniffing about, followign behind the EOD officer. "So my uncle waits for him to get closer, and then reaches down and /takes his leg off/ an chases the guy all the way across the parking lot with it."

Used to being outdoors, Calhoun listens and nods as he hears the tale told by his fellow minesweeper. Ocassionally he looks and around, not out of disinterest but relying on his own experience of the land to see if there's signs on the surface of what lies below.

As he looks up this time Calhoun sees more than just the scenery. "Pardon the interruption..." He starts as he stands. "... but is anyone expecting company?" Calhoun points over to the figures which, with the sun at their back obscure who, or indeed what, they are to the totally just an architect. Honest.

>**BA-DOOM**< One of the sheep step on a landmine, and with an explosive roar is turned into so much red mist. The boy grabs his hat and ducks down as debris rains across the field. His herd scramble in fear, running in all directions as they panic following the explosion. The boy braces himself to run as well.

Airtight straightens up and looks in the direction of the scared kid stuck on the minefield. "Sheesh! You'd think if the Benzheens had the smarts to ask for EOD teams to clear the mines, they'd warn their own civilians to stay away!" His gaze sweeps the distance between the Joes and the kid - that's a lot of uncleared minefield to cover.

Chance seizes up immediately at the explosion, going pale as he looks up and over. Risk yelps as well and barks several times "... Shit. Civ on the field! Who left the gate open!? " he sounds angry, concerned. But even more concerned then "DONT MOVE! DONT... Damn. Anyone speak the local tongue?"

Caught off guard by the blast Calhoun ends up back on the ground where he started. With more mud (and hopefully not bits of ex-sheep into the bargain!) on him than before. Standing a second time he shakes his head to clear the ringing and blinks to regain focus. Cancelling the cool calm which his tone usually commands Calhoun calls loudly and clearly in the direction of the person frozen in place. "HEY!"

Then Calhoun whistles loudly, just like when getting the attention of a fellow rider during a roundup and hopes the hand signal to stay in place crosses over from rearing horses to rearing sheep. And that the scared kid looks up to see it. Understanding or no.

The kid looks up as he hears Calhoun whistle. Spotting Calhoun's motions, the child nods and freezes, holding as still as he can. Clasping his hands together, he looks up and prays to Allah to deliver him from near-certain death. The animals slowly calm and stand around dumbly, waiting for directions from their shepherd.

"... Risk isnt a herd dog. I think the sheep may run if she helps us clear that area out... but the kid is more important... we can probably buy him more sheep right?" Chance asks the others, kneeling to put a hand on Risks' collar, feeling her tense.

"Easier than buying a new kid, that's for sure!" Airtight looks to Calhoun, who seems to have gotten the kid's attention and so far has kept the situation from going any farther south fast. For a civilian, Burns is pretty quick and level-headed in a situation. "Any bright ideas?" he asks the MASK agent.

Calhoun looks over to his car. She's just had an overhaul and, strictly speaking, he hasn't flight tested her yet. Gotta take that first fence sometime though. He then says, "I can get across..." He nods to his car and continues, "... and if anyone wants to join in the action you're welcome for sure." Even with the area cleared so far he's easily got enough of a run to get airbourne. As Cal works out a short flightplan he's already moving towards Raven. The doors drop down and are open as he jumps in to the drivers seat. Eager to make that the pilots seat.

Airtight hesitates a moment, and then yells, "All RIGHT!" He runs over to the car, practically jumping over the hood like a Duke boy. He clambers into the passenger seat, and, perhaps amusingly, buckles his seatbelt, putting his mine-detector on the floor of the car. "OK. Let's go. Show me what this thing can do." He looks over at Calhoun. His face is masked, but his voice sounds excited.

As the doors snap shut Cal has a smile on his face. Turning that smile on Airtight Cal says calmly, "Be glad to." As the engine fires up he gently pats the dash and, under his breath, whispers inaudible to all but Raven, "Okay baby... time to ride."


 * The car speeds off in reverse then brakes hard and suddenly. The front wheels kick into the air, the bonnet and engine bay flip over synching with the doors dropping down. Simultaneously the wheels fold in flat to the now bow/nosecone/upsidedown bonnet and the rear spoiler raises revealing Ravens flight engines.

One flare of light takes the car into the air, over the field and on to the access at the other side. After changing back to stealth mode Raven makes an neat 180 and stops gently. The doors open once more and Cal says cheerily, "We hope you enjoyed your flight, do remember to collect your luggage at the carosel." Phew. He really needs to remember to take more quality time with Raven. Make sure he looks her over himself after such extensive repair.

Airtight is in the Raven, having just been flown right over the minefield to the other side. "Wow!" he yells. What a rush!" As the doors open he unbuckles his safety belt and retrieves his mine-scanner from the floor of the car. He steps out gingerly, and seems much more distracted looking at the Raven that at the poor kid still stuck on this side of the minefield.

Chance was still over there by Risk, mostly watching the Sheep nervously at this point and holding Risk back. He then starts to make his way forwards, slowly, hoping to 'spook' the sheep slowly back towards the gate, holding onto Risks' leash tightly.

Still seated in Raven, Cal calls over to Airtight through a freshly wound down window, "I'll be a shake gettin' the others over. Meantime you got the touch, you got the power, you got the detector. See if you can see a way through that mess." The window rises as Cal prepares to do the same and get Chance and Risk across. After all, Raven's only a two seater.

Airtight nods, and slowly uses his detector to find a clear path through the minefield to the kid. He gestures to the boy. "Okay, kid," he says. "This is the drill. Lead your sheep in a straight line from here to the gate where we landed. That should be a mine-free corridor -" He locks his focused gaze on the shepherd's eyes. "-look at me, kid. No mines straight ahead. Understand?"

Backing up further from the field Raven takes a turn to drive around the edge of the field and pick up the other two on four wheels. Realising there's a lot of still spookable animals around he decides the extra light and sound of Raven in defense mode coming towards them may cause more problems than its worth. So an impromptu rallycross stage. "Hold on now, this is isn't gonna be great for your suspension." Cal quietly says to Raven within the privacy of her hull.

Chance moves through the minefield with Risk, trusting his dog to keep the suited up bomb man safe as they carefully done so... trying to remember his farming vacations and about sheep herding and which way is the wind going? "Speak." he mutters, and Risk barks several times at the sheep, quite interested in them to encourage them to move along.

The kid looks up at Airtight in fear, shivering as tears roll down his deeply-tanned face. He hugs a lamb to him tightly to his body. His eyes continue to widen, and he looks ready to panic. He glances around as he hear the car rolls by, and then jumps as he hears Risk start barking. He grips the lamb tightly and prepares to bolt.

[G.I. Joe] Chance says, "I dont think he understands you Airtight. Try handsignals? guesture him to come to you..."

The flight harness is barely keeping Burns in his seat. He's having to work so much harder than he thought to make it round the field. There's no road, no track, just nothing. Stopping in a half spin, back at where Raven was first parked, Cal's just in time to see Chance and Risk half way across already and Airtight near to the kid. He fails utterly to see the imminent problem. Even if he did... nothing he could do in time anyway.

[G.I. Joe] SGT Airtight says, "Oh! Right! Gotcha!"

Airtight tries to gesture to the kid, but the boy turns around and starts to bolt across the field. Airtight leaps and grabs the kid, tackling him to the ground. He hugs the kid close, bracing himself for an imminent explosion that luckily doesn't come. At Risk's barking, the sheep run out of the field to safely, and Airtight stands, bringing the kid out himself as well.

Seeing the kid bolt was a shot to the gut. The relief of seeing Airtight make the save took the edge off but... being unable to do anything... yeah. That won't sit easy. Getting on Raven's loudspeakers Cal calls out, "Good job! Just bring 'em home safe now!" He then slumps in the car's chair brathing out. Long and slow and waits for his heat to stop pounding so hard in his head.

Chance had gone pale under his bomb suit and hugs Risk so tightly around the neck that the dog starts to squirm frantically. He exhales loudly into his suit, fogging the window and stands finally, watching the sheep.

[G.I. Joe] Chance says, "Good catch... let's get some guards and damn fences up now. And a translator."

Airtight gets the kid to safety, and then takes off his helmet and wipes the sweat from his forehead, breathing hard and nodding in response to Chance's radio message. "*Whew*" he breathes. "You know, it kinda sucks that when political turmoil hits an area, they go crazy with the land mines." Airtight laughs erratically, but he's clearly shaken up by the near-death experience of himself and the young shepherd.

Chance makes his way carefully around the minefield with Risk now, and he murmesr to the dog to be 'nice'. The dog puts her ears back all sweetly and starts to butt-wriggle (having no tail to actually wag) at the child.

Suddenly, *VRRROOOOOM!* Something tears overhead, faster than can be tracked with the naked eye, making a beeline for the nearby airstrip. Airtight ducks and coughs as dust is send up around them, some getting into his eyes (this is why he never takes off his helmet!). "Huh?" Airtight asks in confusion. "Whazzat?"

Distracted from sitting and calming down by the new arrival, Calhoun gets out of Raven and looks over to the airstrip. The cloud of dust being kicked up means he cant see a thing. He suspects the others can't either. In any case Cal has to turn away and cough out the dust the drifted into his face from the cloud.

Chance is still in his monkey suit, so hasnt a problem with the dust. Risk though flattens her ears in distaste of the loud noise,t he Joe stopping to watch "... Who was that? " he taps his radio.

Airtight squints through the dust. After letting thing settle a moment, he yells suddenly, "It's a Python Conquest! Must have been in ultra-stealth mode!" He frowns. "Not many forces have access to Pythonization stealth technology. You're packing the binocs, Hound Dog. Lens 'em up!" He looks over at Calhoun and grins.

After a moment in the car Calhoun exits with his mask on and the rangefinding binoculars in his hand. Technically they're a civilian design like you'd understand an architect'd carry but are suspiciously like mil-grade tech. A seasoned pitch speeds the binocs Airtight's way and Cal calls out "Think fast! I'll use Gulliver!" He then adjusts the built in systems of his mask to target the landed machine. It's not Spectrum but it's still got a fair few features of its own.

Airtight catches the binoculars, and stares through them as Calhoun analyzes the jet. Airtight focuses on the pilot of the jet, and whom he's meeting. "It's Darklon himself!" Airtight exclaims, naming the independent arms dealer who recently escaped Joe custody. "And he's getting the royal welcome from Colonel Faroud!" Calhoun can see the Pythonized jet cooling on the blacktop as a masked figure climbs out of it and walks across the hot tarmac to meet a man in military dress holding up his arms.

Taking in the details... Calhoun realises he's not as up on pan global politics as he perhaps should be. Two people are meeting. Sure. Is this good? Bad? Neither? Time to put the silent into the strong type. If someone needs a pilot, rider, driver something built or blown up... he's here. But he's a do-er. not a thinker.

Guards arrive with some fencing, and carefully cordon off the area that still hasn't been cleared of mines. A translator approaches the three Joes, keeping an eye on the scared kid nearby that the Americans had saved. "G.I. Joe!" the translator calls out. "What can I do to help?"

Airtight literally facepalms, covering his forehead with a green-gloved hand. "We have to call the Pit and let Duke know ASAP. I think our mission just morphed into the sticky mission phase." As Chance takes the kid aside and lectures him through the translator about minefield safety, Airtight picks up his encrypted satellite radio, and calls in to base.