Op:Samsonite

part 2 of seg 1 (in other words... continued)

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by Puppeteer

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[[Harrisburg International Airport - Harrisburg, PA -- 0905 
hours]]

The small band of Jihaddi variably stood, leaned, and/or sat 
against their vehicles waiting for what, they weren't quite sure. 
 All they knew was that the JAO they had all just recently joined 
was now being called on for a major operation handed down by the 
Trium.

A few conversed lightly, others meditated, and the rest just 
wasted time in the way they felt most comfortable.

Anyone looking upon the group wouldn't have noticed anything 
special about them, but every person pointlessly standing around 
was a mage.  They all had various talents revolving around the 
area of magic.

They had all been startled out of bed by the various alarms of 
their JihadLinkers[tm], where they received a broadcast message 
from Puppeteer, the Arch-Chancellor of the JPV.


  [BEGIN MESSAGE - MM/DD/YY:0400]

  Greetings, all.

  I sincerely apologize for wakin' ya all up this early in the 
day.  
  I've been notified that we are to accompany a TRES force on an 
escort 
  mission from Harrisburg International Airport to our very own 
HQ.

  I am not informed of the purpose, so I can't give any of you 
more 
  information than that.

  All of you receiving this message were selected for this duty 
for a 
  variety of reasons.  Attendance is mandatory.  

  Gather in the motor-pool at 0500.  We'll depart shortly 
after.

  Thank you,
  AC Schneider

  [END]


The Subaru Outback carrying the JPV Arch-Chancellor and his 
confidant-slash-advisor-at-times, Katze Brenner, pulled into the 
parking lot quite quickly, and stopped with a sudden screech of 
the brakes.  Most of the JPVers had been wondering why Pupp and 
Katze had been lagging for most of the trip from Pittsburgh to 
Harrisburg.

Will Keith alone had any idea why the two higher-ups were so 
late.  He chuckled to himself as he heard an unidentified mage 
utter, "What took them so freakin' long?"

Will just continued to chuckle as the other mages began to 
understand.  Katze was spewing a large number of expletives in 
multiple languages as she was attempting to pull a dozing 
Puppeteer out of the passenger side of the vehicle.  She finally 
ended the struggle and left him hanging
half-in and half-out of the vehicle.  She stomped over to the 
group, counting silently to herself.

She took a deep breath, waved to Will, and greeted the rest of 
the party. That duty past, she strolled over to greet Will.

"Don't worry about him.  He'll be awake soon enough, I think.  
Slept the whole way here... he's been working a bit too hard."  
She checked over her shoulder at Pupp, who now had an impressive 
makeover, courtesy of one of the bored mages.  She chuckled to 
herself.

Finally, the Arch-Chancellor did awake, and after a short 
face-wash, joined the group.

"Sorry everybody.  Turned out I actually wasn't in the best state 
to be driving."  He scanned the air for a moment.  "Well, we 
ought to get to the runway.  They'll be arriving soon."


[[Harrisburg International - Runway K49 -- 0928 hours]

By the time the JPV crew got to the arrival area, the transport 
was taxiing in.  Pupp left the group and ran over to Darkside, 
who started supervising the off-loading.  The mages observed them 
have a brief discussion, and Pupp quickly re-joined the group.

He gathered them together.

"Here's the deal.  We're to escort that U-Haul from here to our 
HQ.  At that point we'll deposit the cargo, whatever the hell it 
is, where it will be stored in our premises."  He shrugged, not 
knowing what else to say.

"Well.. mount up!"

--TO BE CONTINUED IN "Op:Samsonite - ??"