Welcome to Gaia! ::

General Aereas stood at the end of the table in the conference room waiting for the two top picked soldiers to arrive. He knew both would be promising and he couldn't wait to get them out onto the field. If they could succeed in this mission, humanity would have a huge chance to be able to pull ahead of this and win the war. He opened the top file on the desk from the man coming in from the Air Force. Honestly, this man mad him nervous and wished he could do without him, but he was the best at what he did even if he did have a poison inside of him that was impossible to extract. He was worried if they were out there he would die from it or be mind controlled or something despite what the medics assured him. The idea of a soldier working under him being like this worried him. The ideas and fears of him failing out on a mission kept eating at him and eating at him.

While the medic pondered over the soldiers picked, one of them walked down the halls with a quickened pace wanting to get out on the field and also slightly sugar rushed from the coffee on the flight over. He didn't normally drink coffee, but considering Raphael hadn't slept at all in the past two days, he kind of needed it. Both of those factors were evident as he was a little over average height and the duller blue eyes that were lined with his slick backed, golden blonde hair. Despite the obvious jitters, his clothes were well taken care of and he did take time to make himself look presentable in front of the General. As soon as he left that room again though, his hair was going to be messed up and he would be changing clothes into his normal "work" clothes or at least his leather jacket until they jumped and he had to give it up.

Raph knocked on the door before walking into the board room seeing the General reading his file then look at him unsure. He stopped and took his hat off before taking a seat near the front waiting on his counter part.

Raphael stood up and held his hand out to her with a gentle smile. "Yes, I'm Raphael O'Connor from the US Air Force devision," he said softly, but not kissing up to her either as there was still power even behind the low volume. He wasn't really good with cultural stuff and all so all he really could do was to improperly great her instead of a bow or what ever. Still, he seemed to be in decent spirits. He hoped though that wouldn't cause an issue with his dumbfoundedness about where she came from.

"Miss Sakura, you and Mr. O'Connor here are to go on a stelth mission asap. Sorry for making you dress up for that. You'll have time to go back to your quarters and such before then," he explained already starting the debriefing without warning. "We will be dropping you off over the South American equator. We are going to HALO jump you down {sky dive} and then your mission is to find out as much as you can about our new enemies. Along the way--while this is slightly a stealth mission--do as much damage as you can where you can afford it, but don't if you can't." He looked at them quietly before tossing their files on his desk and dropping the mission one's before them. It held pictures of the foliage and building that held the creature's homes and military bases.

"I'm sorry but there's no real way to blend in on this mission, just hide. They speak our language but with an accent and they look very "Preditor" looking. I guess that's the best way to explain it until you see one. If you fail though, you'll be just marked as MIA unless you come back then the mission will be forgotten completely," he finished explaining looking at the two glad to see they were getting a long, at least a little.

Raph looked at her and took her hand shaking it firmly nodding. "Raph, Raphael, Hawk, what ever. I don't mind," he said with a true smile before adding, "and yes, I'm top of my squadron and base, so I'm hoping I'm good enough." He looked back at the General when a file was thrusted at him. He opened it up seeing it was his own file and a highlighted part and he closed it quickly and slightly angry about it being brought up before he put it down rather roughly ending up to crack the table a little. "I'm sure I'll be fine General, its been fine before, sir," he said in a slightly icy tone of voice.

"Good then, you are dismissed. Any further questions ask your pilot as he knows everything about this mission," General said with the same glare back at Raph as if it would put him back in his place even though he knew it wouldn't. It was pointless to argue with the hot-tempered young man. Completely pointless.

With a grim salute, he left the office messing his hair up the second he got out letting it fall wildly and naturally instead of slicked back and he undid the top two buttons letting his body breath some. His feet clicked on the floor with a heavier weight to them, it wouldn't be able to not have been read as mad, but his face wasn't a snarl, just emotionless.

Raph watched her walk off and he half heartedly waved to her before he got into his bunk and opened it quickly barely giving the code time to register. He pushed in stripping himself of his dress uniform before pulling on green cargos, camouflage button down, boots, and his dog tags just as he found them lucky. Why the hell not put your fate in luck? He felt as if they were screwed either way. He pulled on his hat over his eyes then his leather coat. He grabbed a few things he knew that would be needed like amo, maps, food, and medical gear. He stood up with the backpack on and then put his holster on for his pistol, shot gun on his other side, and then a sniper rifle that was slipped under his pack. He knew he would have to cary it on the fall so he could open his shoot, but still then, his hands were free.

Finally he stepped up into the cabin and grabbed his parachute and pulled it on after getting rid of the backpack. He closed the doors for the plane and the engine roared to life almost the second it'd clicked shut. "You got any last things to say?" he asked with a now cheerful smile despite the situation. "Don't worry about not being able to mesh with those creatures. You won't need to. They are blind I hope you realize, you just either have to be shaped like them to have the same kind of reading. That's easy," he reasured her patting her on her shoulder before looking at the base that was slowly vanishing before they got into the air. Then it was gone. "The General is an a**, he doesn't say a lot about everything. He just throws you at it. A lot of that nimble qualities of the US has been lost since that damn black out. Sorry," he shrugged.

Raph looked at her and nodded covering his eyes with his hands and looked out the other side of the window. Then he just settled on using like a blind side and watched the dusk sky as they flew by. When he heard her sit back down again, he pulled his goggles up and over his eyes shaking his head at her. "This area we are being dropped at has been long since abandoned. Its a broken down city pretty much. It'll be fine," he kept reassuring her despite he knew she wasn't happy about this. He sat back closing his eyes and pulling his cap down over his eyes as he sunk back in his seat as far as the gun on his back would let him along with the straps. He sighed quietly planning to sleep for the hour flight, but when she spoke again, he sat up and unbuckled himself standing up easily on the slightly rocky plane. He pulled his gun off and parachute to put it down. He looked at her one second before sighing and pulling the shirt off showing the tattoo and then the jet black skin that showed through even the black tattoo.

"I got shot, about half a year ago. I got poisoned and they couldn't get it out of my body and it causes health issues for me sometimes," he explained quietly before he let the shirt fall back over his tone muscles. "And it does give me unhuman qualities from it, but he was worried it would screw me up," he finished sitting back down and pulling on his weapons as well. He rubbed his chest roughly feeling the hot skin through the cloth.

"Yeah, it gives my body more strength, speed, but it hurts my stamina like hell. I can't keep moving like that for long," he said before he smiled at more of her questions. He waited until she was done. He laughed a little and looked at her quietly shaking his head. "I don't mind answering them, and I wasn't really sleeping, just closing my eyes for a little," he explained quietly before he went back to answering her questions. "I got my tattoo after to cover up the mark, I've only had it for about a month really once I was healthy enough to get one. No, as far as it'll help me fit in. It's limited other wise I get sick and muscle spasms. I always carry a gun since I'm just really suspicious of everything from previous things. I also like to use my own equipment I can guess on. And no, I've never seen another beautiful woman with silver eyes. I don't stand out that much since I usually wear long sleeves," he finished looking at her waiting for her next question. Raph didn't mind her questions at all. He liked her curiosity as it let himself know more about her as she learned about him.