Ronan and Phil hustled the Marines onto the sleek looking ship, sitting them in the bay lined with simple webbing seats.
No explanation was offered before the ship took off, they were pushed down hard onto the seats as the craft carried out some aggressive manoeuvring before settling down as the faster than light drive kicked in.
"Good morning," a man said stepping into the bay they were sat in, his commanding presence seemed to fill the small bay, his head of full hair and strong thick features revelling much of his fierce character. "If you would care to come through we can begin," he said cordially gesturing to the open door.
Leaving their gear in the bay they crowded into the briefing area, the cock pit visible with two pilots checking the systems as the ship sped through the vastness of space.
"My name is Hadley-Page, thank you for coming," he began leafing through the folder in his hands. The Marines looked around at each other, smiling at the idea they had any choice.
"Before we begin, I will remind you that you are bound by the secrecy laws and you are forbidden from mentioning anything about this operation once it is over, and I have a long reach, a very good memory and if I feel you have in any way contravened this I will reach out and touch you, and it will not be good." He said making eye contact with them all in turn.
Hadley-Page put a photograph of two stunning smiling girls down on the briefing table, "this is the operation, these assets have been compromised and you will be recovering them."
He fished around in the folder for a few more moments and laid down another photograph, this one blurry showing a middle-aged man of no note worth appearance, "this is Tango one, he is responsible for the assets compromise, and this," he said laying down a photograph of another smiling man "is Tango two, he has the assets in his custody."
Hadley-Page looked around the room checking they were all paying attention.
"Good, moving on, we have confirmed they are currently being held at a location we are heading towards now. Once there you will conduct an operation to recover the assets, and if possible, I would like to hear that Tango one has been eliminated. Unless it is absolutely unavoidable Tango two is not to be touched at all, clear?"
The assembled Marines nodded their understanding and waited for Hadley-Page to continue.
"The assets and Tango One are confirmed on this island," he said producing a satellite image of a secluded tropical island featuring a landing pad and jetty leading to a large low home.
"We have assessed the situation and we feel a Trojan horse approach has the greatest change of success and to that end we have obtained two motorboats you will use to approach the island. I shall allow you good people to plan the actual assault as that is far more your forte, any questions?" he asked.
"Yeah, where are we going?" One of the sky-blue soldiers asked.
"Ah yes, not relevant," Hadley-Page replied. The trooper shrugged.
"This is legal?" Ronan asked.
Hadley-Page looked at him hard, "Yes of course it is."
"What back up do we have?" Megan asked.
"You are the back up," Hadley-Page smiled.
"You're not going to tell us anything more, are you?" Ginger asked.
Hadley-Page snorted and smiled, "Probably not, but I am here to help, shall we plan the assault?"
The soldiers crowded closer to the table and the photographs were passed round. Planning began in earnest, ideas being kicked around and discarded as they progressed. Hadley-Page providing much more help than expected as snippets of information became relevant.
"Ok," Phil said after a few hours, "so two boats, half of us on each, Mack and Ginger on one, to provide sniper and or machine gun cover, we can hide the weapons till needed right?"
"Yes, we can put a box on the top deck for you," Hadley-Page confirmed.
"Great, so Alphabet and Ronan on the other, Ronan in command overall, myself for the actual assault, anything I've missed?"
"Sounds good to me, separate approach or together?" Ronan asked.
"I'd prefer together, easier for observation," Hadley-Page suggested.
"Fine by me," Ronan said, Phil nodding his own acceptance.
***
Ginger check over the box containing the weapons one last time as the boast slipped away from the jetty in the early morning gloom, the long brunette hair annoying her as it fell forward.
Tutting to herself she tried to tuck it back, Hadley-Page telling her to leave it down, so she looked more civilian, she was surprised at the hungry looks the sky-blue troopers and coxswains, who were, mysteriously waiting with the boats when they arrived, gave her when she appeared for the first time in her tiny white bikini.
"Happy?" Mack asked as she lent against the rail with him.
"I guess, this is all a weird for me," she said taking the coffee cup from him.
"Yeah, this cloak and dagger shit is well out of my league, feels weird knowing we're going to fight and all I have is board shorts," he laughed.
Ginger snorted, "Yeah, but that's more practical than this," she said waving her hand over her body.
"er, yeah," Mack said averting his eyes.
They took turns watching the horizon through high quality binoculars as they approached the island, still many miles off, the approach timed so they would have a final stand off from the target for several hours till the sun set, the sky-blue preferring to attack at dusk.
"Standby," the radio ear piece, that all of them wore, announced, Mack and Ginger continued to scan as they waited to find out what alerted Ronan on the command boat.
"Boat, on intercept course, twelve kilometres," Ronan said from the radio.
"Fuck, what do you think?" Ginger asked.
"Could be nothing," Mack said with a shrug, the coxswain continued to pilot the boat.
"Yeah, its closing, we're going to swap sides and allow it to interdict you, we'll cut them off when they stop you," Ronan said.
"Understood," the coxswain said slowing the boat slightly letting the other move ahead then across their path.
Ginger and Mack moved below to continue observing the approaching boat with less chance of being seen.
"You see weapons?" Mack asked as the boat closed.
"Yeah, I see two with long weapons," she confirmed.
"Weapons confirmed," the Mack reported over the radio.
Ginger watched the two armed men standing on the foredeck.
Grabbing a couple of silenced pistols Ginger crawled onto the sun deck and hid them in the cushions around the stern of the boat.
"Practical Elegance, turn back now, you are entering a restricted area," someone yelled from a bullhorn from the approaching boat.
Ignoring them the coxswain stuck to his course, the approaching boat closing in closer, the armed men levelling their weapons at the Practical Elegance continued.
"Turn back now, or we will open fire!" They yelled.
"What do we do?" Ginger called quietly to Mack, he shrugged and continued watching the boat.
