Living Easy/ Living Free/ Season ticket on a one-way ride

[ctu_savior]

WHO: Jack Bauer and the people signed up here, minus Frank and Shiva
WHERE: A nondescript basement in a nondescript building.
WHEN: The following takes place between 7pm and 8pm. Events occur in real time.
WARNINGS: I’m reasonably certain that there isn’t going to be any violence yet, but with this group it’s hard to tell for sure.
SUMMARY:

Comments

Questions and planning

[ctu_savior]

[After his briefing Jack remains standing behind the table for people who need more information]

[pacifisted]

Trowa picked through the folder, skimming sections of random pages for the time being, though he intended to sit and read the entire thing at the first opportunity.

He'd tentatively decided early on that Bauer seemed competent enough, given what looked like the careful organization of the plan; every person fulfilled a specific role without overlapping too heavily into each other's territories--a tactician, a melee fighter, a blackmail artist, and a wild card, among several others--and both the room's setup and the information given during the meeting implied that Jack wasn't just some lunatic who knew how to fly helicopters and speak with implied urgency.

Still, he hadn't quite made up his mind yet...

"'Whatever we do'?" he parroted, quietly, turning another page. "Pretty open-ended."

Expecting to pull off an operation of this nature without at least one casualty was foolish. A sense of realism was necessary, when it came to plans like these

[ctu_savior]

"There's a lot of ways this could go down," Jack said. "Eliminating the right people could cause the meeting to collapse. So could convincing them that they can't trust each other. Sending the right evidence to the right people could get someone else to take care of everything for us. Whatever gets the job done, we'll do. The important thing is that it doesn't get traced back to the City."

Jack didn't mention the other reason the mission plan was so open-ended, namely that he was sure trying to micromanage this group would end with them killing each other. Better to let everyone operate in the ways they were best at while doing his best to make sure they remained within the mission profile.

[pacifisted]

He folded his arms, thinking.

So there was room to maneuver. That was best. While he could function just as well in a tight spot, he preferred to work with plenty of elbow room to shift himself around as he pleased--and how he pleased was from the inside, if he could get it.

"Sully?"

If someone could be bought once, they could be bought a second time. Not by the same guys, sure, but somewhere down the line? The option would come up.

[ctu_savior]

"He's a traitor to his country," Jack said with the kind of tone usually reserved for particularly odious and toxic pieces of sewage, or perhaps Christmas fruit cakes. "Either that, or he's been set up somehow although I doubt it. Whatever it is, if we can prove that his reports to the government have false intel, we could blow this thing open. He's definitely going to be a priority." Sully's lies were the whole reason they had to take this step instead of trusting the legitimate authorities to handle the threat, after all. Finding a way to bring them into the light could be an easy win.

[pacifisted]

That settled it. Even if that did strike a little closer to home than he wanted it to--and if he couldn't be sure whether or not it was intentional to boot.

"Mm. I'm in."

There was no need to clarify out loud what it was he intended to do. If Bauer had done as much research as all that, he would already know what Trowa specialized in... and the smaller the number of people who did, the better.

[ctu_savior]

"All right, good." And that was that. Jack knew enough about Trowa to know that despite his age and history, he could be counted on to be an asset.

[trueltning_fury]

Geddoe probably stood out among the others in his usual leathers and sword belt, but the look on his face was all business as he listened. This was exactly what he was trained for, what he was used to doing - minus the aliases and such. He was a mercenary, not a spy. He relied more on Jack's briefing than the reports in folders, since his reading ability was still somewhat handicapped even after so many months. He got the gist, at least.

"I will admit that I have very little experience with modern-day weaponry," he said when he had the chance to speak up. "If that isn't a problem, then you can consider me on board. I used to be a highwayman and a guerrilla fighter, I know how to infiltrate enemy camps and take them down."

[ctu_savior]

"As long as you know how to defend yourself against it, that shouldn't be a problem," Jack replied. He wasn't about to bring this guy to Mexico just for him to be shot in the face by the first punk with a ranged weapon he ran into. Given what he'd been able to turn up on Geddoe- mercenary, good tactical mind, survival skills, impressive adjustment to modern world, conducted himself well during the Nazi attack- Jack didn't think that was going to happen. "This place is going to be an armed camp, more or less, and we'll have to get past its defenses one way or another."

[trueltning_fury]

"I'm not going to go into a long-winded explanation why," Geddoe said with a hint of wryness, "but I know how not to get shot."

After all, he'd spoken to no one of the Howling Voice Guild. By now he simply took the presence of firearms as a given in this world, and stopped wondering how they got here.

"Getting in will be the easy part. Getting out will be dependent on what goal needs to be accomplished," he said sternly, his mind kicking into strategy mode. "Your advance team needs to complete the reconnaissance in order to determine what, specifically, must be done. Since these appear to be criminals rather than politicians, diplomacy is probably not an option."

[ctu_savior]

"That's right. We're not going to negotiate with these people or try to buy them off. We're going to stop them." Jack had no interest in convincing the opposition that Import crime fighters weren't a threat to their business because the truth was they were, and that was a good thing. "The main goal is information. The first thing we need to do is figure out their game plan. What kind of strike are they planning, how is it going to be carried out, what's it's objective? Once we know that, we can decide how to keep it from happening."

[trueltning_fury]

Geddoe slowly looked around the table full of people, in their many unique shapes, sizes, and ages. They probably had a considerable variety of skills, as well. "Very well. I will offer my tactical experience, then. My only condition is that my expenses are taken care of, one way or another."

[ctu_savior]

"All right," Jack said cautiously. "We'll see if we can work something out. Exactly what kind of expenses are we talking about here?" If this guy charged by the hour, Jack was going to take his bill and use it for uncomfortable things.

[trueltning_fury]

Geddoe gestured vaguely with one hand. "I don't own any clothing from this era, for starters. If you need me to be inconspicuous at all, it's going to take some work."

SHOPPING TRIP!

[ctu_savior]

Jack blinked.

"You need clothes money?"

BOOYAH

[trueltning_fury]

He got a deadpan look in response. "Unless you think this incognito enough?" A gloved hand rested on the hilt of Wild Geese beside him - which he would be bringing along regardless of his undercover status.