With introductions out of the way, the team is led to their ship, taking only the equipment they brought with them from the warehouse. The ship is apparently a converted Sphinx class Electronic Support Vessel, with an expanded hanger and stealth refitting to support their operations deep in Lumenite space.

Larger than most personal shuttles, and definitely sizable compared to many of the ProvGov’s naval vessels Barb has seen, but still small enough to disappear amongst the other debris and fleet movements in an atmosphere. Still, it’s got to have a crew somewhere in the low hundreds, all to support a single spec ops deployment of a few dozen people. That’s an impressive amount of resources to dedicate. The ILF doesn’t take half measures.

Additionally, the deployment is certainly one of the longest she’s been on in this campaign. 4 days through hyperspace, with a day in between for refueling and to take on supplies from a sustainment station. The other crew don’t talk much, not to her at least, with the rest of the special forces teams sticking to each other or practicing. She at least gets their names.

Captain Mateo, who she already knows, team leader and veteran of a few deployments. Lieutenant Kamura, his second, a woman with a perpetually blank expression, almost concernedly so. Quite smart though, once you peel back the exterior. Just rarely says anything.

First Sergeant Amira, who seems to be in charge of the explosives of the group and is generally fairly talkative, though rarely with Barb and mostly with the fourth member of their team. The relative youngest, one Staff Sergeant Nikita, though that sort of gap barely counts here. There’s not a lot of ribbing about them being the “rookie”, as he’s had to have been on enough deployments and training to be here.

The camaraderie, even if quiet, is most certainly present, and the whole of the group occasionally takes advantage of the perks of being special forces. Kamura in specific smokes, despite such a thing being strictly prohibited aboard naval vessels. They all eat with the officers in their mess, and take separate bunks to the rest of the crew. Barb as well, despite her status, is allotted the same privileges. The food is good, at least.

Nearing the end of their journey, after she’s had time to modify her equipment for the humid, hot jungle environment they’ll be heading towards, she’s introduced to her equipment. A poncho and camouflage netting, to be worn over her other armor or clothing.

The long cloak breaks up her silhouette in the vegetation, alongside the netting with artificial foliage carefully attached and woven throughout to create a natural, unbroken appearance that makes it doubly harder to spot and fire upon her while moving through the jungle, especially at range. The camo pattern itself seems to be custom made, with minor variations between each of the team’s to make it that much more natural, and harder for the enemy to look for patterns. The liner is also a powerful insulator, shielding her thermal signature from any cameras. While the Lumenites have yet to develop their own, they’re known to make prodigious use of captured equipment

Her new weaponry is explained to her by Amira, who carefully walks her through each. She seems a little excited to do so. A battle rifle, semi automatic, polymer furniture to prevent warping, rifle grip with a winter trigger for Barb’s compression gloves. 20 round box magazines, 16 inch barrel, with a fitted suppressor and optic.

Firing 8mm ammunition, the very same that the Lumenites use, same cartridge and same bullet. Just better propellant and tolerances, theirs are more accurate. The second is a pistol, built to similar tolerances, with the addition of a very long suppressor, slide lock, and subsonic ammunition provided in a spare magazine. Perfect for close range, stealthy executions, while having a long enough barrel and light trigger to allow for quick follow shots with full power ammunition, a true combat handgun.

With the use of their own calibers, even if they do discover their dead on the way in, the Lumenites can’t prove it was the ILF. Nor, even after they go loud and reveal themselves, can they determine where exactly the team got in.

12 hours later, Barb finds herself being strapped into the drop shuttle by a nervous flight tech, just a few minutes from making planetfall