The pack was getting ready in the cargobay for their departure to Hades IV. Most were checking and polishing their gear, wich some had decorated. Lance Corporal Buzz's M83A2 SADAR said "Grrrrr" on the side, as a sign of his eagerness to a good fight. Solo was up in the cockpit of the UD4 Dropship doing some final testing on the engines. He always did his testing thoroughly, the crew knew to stay out of his way during those times.
Corporal Webley and Private MacCabbe sat smoking a cigarette in a quiet corner of the cargobay, the two men couldn't be more different in appearance. Webley's long black hair lay across his muscled but lean back in a braided ponytail. His warm and always sunkissed face was the opposite of MacCabbe's rugged looking bald head and goatee. Despite the differences in appearance they had faught allongside eachother for years now, with much respect for one another. For a few weeks now, MacCabbe had been acting more and more irrational. He used to confide in his packmate, but lately the two had grown distant from eachother.
'MacCabbe,' Webley started hesitantly after minutes of silence had gone by, 'What's going on with you? I can't have you acting out on this mission like you did last time.' MacCabbe didn't look at him, instead he kept looking straight forward into the room where Hemi was working on the APC.
'I have to be able to count on you, I used to be able to count on you Josh. What the hell happened?' MacCabbe kept quiet, but Webley saw the emotions on his face. He just couldn't make out what they were trying to say. He watched as MacCabbe rolled another cigarette.
'Shadow has been on my case about you, if this mission doesn't go smoothly we will both pay the concequenses Josh. I don't want that, and I sure know you don't want that either.'
MacCabbe stood from the crate he was sitting on, his back facing Webley. His voice was a bit raspy when he spoke, ' All will be fine Web.' He walked off to help Hemi load the APC into the Dropship.
Solo past them on his way down, he looked at the Corporal sitting in the corner. Something was up, and they were not telling him. If this was something that could endanger the mission, he was supposed to know. He would keep an eye on things, just in case. He walked up to Webley, 'All systems are ready for departure Corporal. Take off is still scheduled for 0700 hours.'
'Thanks Solo,' he replied with some hesitation.
They started walking to the front of the dropship where the rest of the pack stood, strapped and loaded in their gear. The pack was still unaware of what was awaiting them, but that didn't bother anyone. Hades IV was a challenge like all the others for the Wolfpack. It was starting to become dawn as the cargobay doors opened, and the enigens of the UD4 started rumbling. The pack joined together at the access ramp of the dropship. Buzz walked up front, the rest followed him up te slope. MacCabbe tailed behind. The dropship blasted of into orbit, towards the USS Epsilon. Once docked, they found their way to the hypersleep capsule chamber. Once everyone was in place, Solo activated the hypersleep sequence and the capsules closed. In a couple of weeks they would be facing an unknown threat. But with one of them unstable, and the Corporal overly worried about it, the circomstances for this mission weren't great. Solo returned to the cockpit, and the ship went quiet. As it would be for the coming days.
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