As he sat waiting for the rest of SG-15 to join him in the briefing room, Jake Mackenzie thought back over his recent meeting with General Hammond. The mission, when it came, had been surprising... to say the least. But, hell... it was a mission, and one badly needed at that. He heard the first of the team arrive, followed by the others, coming into the room singly or in pairs. He saw both the newest additions look slightly apprehensive. Angel McNamara sat to one side, seemingly happy in her solitude, while Lieutenant Tatyana Diens, team psych and medic stood near the doorway. Mac had met with her briefly earlier, but hadn't had the chance to introduce her to the rest of the team...something that he remedied immediately. He watched with some amusement as she took a seat next to Tirion Start and mentally wished her better luck than he'd had.

"Seems SG-15 has been assigned a new mission," Mac began to address them, thinking back as he did to his recent meeting with Hammond...

~*~*~

"Take a seat, Major," said General Hammond, pointing at the only vacant chair in the room. Mac accepted and as he sat he stole a glance at the other people in the room. There was General Hammond, of course, and one other person...a civilian without a doubt. Mac vaguely recognized him, having seen him around the base a few times, but his name escaped him. He thought hard, trying to remember the illusive title. 'Doctor someone... who... think, Mackenzie,' he inwardly muttered. This much he *did* know - he was Daniel Jackson's counterpart. Where Jackson excelled in all things Egypt, this guy was an expert in another area. 'But in what?' Even that much he couldn't recall. He had the sort of 'easy to forget' features that made him blend in with all the other people milling around the base.

Hammond broke his reverie," Major Mackenzie, I don't think you've met Dr Patterson." The easily forgotten figure stood, holding out a hand in greeting.

"Major," he said, "nice to meet you." Mac shook his hand, mumbling something he hoped was appropriate, never completely at ease when dealing with civilians, and sat down once more.

Hammond continued, "Dr Patterson is our resident expert on the Mayan civilization and will explain why I have called this meeting."

The doctor coughed in an embarrassed fashion before speaking, "Before we get to the main reason why we are gathered here, I will need to explain a little bit about the Mayan society. The Mayans have worshipped many gods throughout history, but none more so than the jaguar, or 'panthera onca'. The jaguar is a creature known to be both predatory and nocturnal, and its eyes have been described, even up to present day, as luminous gold disks. The jaguar has been revered in ancient Maya as a god and throughout the Mesoamerican religion has been associated with night, caves and the underworld. Sacrifices were made in abundance to the jaguar gods."

He paused, asking if anyone had any questions so far. None were forthcoming and Mac felt his eyes start to glaze over and physically shook himself, sure that this was leading somewhere other than towards a full-blown history lecture.

"Local folk-lore in the Toronacs region of Mexico tells of an Olmec god, part man, part jaguar, called Ocecotl. The beast was said to have supernatural powers and strange, glowing eyes. He was worshipped and feared as the Mayan jaguar god of the Underworld."

Patterson coughed again, and took a sip of water from the glass on the desk alongside him.

To Mac he had all the appearances of a trapped rabbit – absolutely terrified to be in the spotlight and knowing full well he had to continue. He almost felt sorry for him.... Almost!

"Recent sightings have been reported in Pueblo, a village near the ancient sites of Cacaxtla and Teotihuacan. Villagers report of a savage beast, part man, part jaguar, that prowls at night, taking cattle at will and without a trace. Descriptions of the creature also tell of its 'burning eyes'. The real problem began when it started taking the villagers themselves. Those that defied it were killed where they stood, merely by a raised hand." Patterson stopped at this stage, looking at Hammond who took over the narrative briefly.

"These facts together are not enough to indicate any Goa'uld presence, although way enough to arouse my curiosity. Doctor, you had some more to add, I believe?"

Patterson spoke once more, "The local people also talk of a manuscript, called the 'Mazatl Codex', named after the Eighth Lord of the Night. This codex has been missing for numerous centuries but it said to tell of the origins of Ocecotl. If he is indeed a Goa'uld, it may hold some vital information."

"Your mission is in two parts," Hammond looked long and hard at Mackenzie. "You are to investigate these rumoured sightings and ascertain their validity. You are to determine if there is a Goa'uld presence - I don't want a repetition of the 'Seth' incident. If found, you are to use any force necessary to terminate the threat. We found a second Stargate in Antarctica and there's no way we are going to leave a potential third one undiscovered in the Mayan rainforest. You will fly to a military airbase near Mexico City and from there make your way overland to Pueblo. Your transport leaves in two hours. Any questions?"

Mac had none and stood as Hammond terminated the meeting. He scooped up the large folder that detailed the mission and left, deep in thought, to gather his people.

~*~*~

"So, as you can see, this is an earth-based mission," he told them, having related all he knew himself on the mission. He looked from one to the other, noting their various reactions. They ranged from McNamara’s barely controlled excitement - understandable in the anthropologist - to cool scepticism in Tirion Start. The others slotted in somewhere between the two. "No barren planets," he continued as he glanced at each of them. "No 60 year old wrecks. No strange messages. And no solar flares." He cast his gaze at Start as he said the last one, receiving a calm look in return. He unconsciously rubbed at his left hand as he spoke, knowing he'd had to speak fast and sweet to that medic to get her to release him as fit for duty. He saw Start's pointed look at his heavily bandaged hand and pushed it beneath the table with a slight frown.

"We leave at 0900 hours tomorrow," he said. "Any questions?" Mac sat back as he opened the meeting to the rest of the team.

~*~*~

Steven walked briskly into the team's ready room with report, files, coffee, and one half of his uniform in tow.

"My beeper went off three hours ago. I got here as soon as I could, what's up?" Steven asked Mackenzie and sat down beside Start. The presence of the two new team members didn't even register in his head, he just didn't have the time to think. Mackenzie cleared his throat and began the mission brief, again.

"No time-travelling US Navy fighter planes this time, I'm afraid," Mackenzie replied and dropped a mission binder down in front of Steven.

"That's a relief." Steven sighed. "Then where are they sending us this time?" Mackenzie said nothing but nodded towards the binder.

"Mexico?" Steven replied as he glanced at the first few pages.

"That's correct. We're staying on-planet for this one."

"That's nice for a change." Steven chuckled to himself before taking another large sip of steaming coffee. "I was starting to get bored with all that multi-dimensional quantum jumping to other worlds." Start just rolled her eyes as Mackenzie continued.

"Something on your mind Lieutenant?" Mackenzie asked a bit reproachfully.

"Nothing sir. I just didn't get a lot of sleep. I was expecting a few more days off."

"I can sympathize with you, but I'm afraid you're coming with us." Mackenzie replied with a chuckle. "Also, you may have noticed that we have a new face with us."

"Who?" Steven asked and took his eyes away from the binder.

"Second Lieutenant Tatyana Diens, USAF," a female voice from across the table echoed.

"That's great, what do you specialize in?" he asked.

"Psychology mostly, and I have some medical expertise as well," she replied.

"Great, well then, welcome to the team and all that."

"Thank-you, it's a pleasure to be aboard."

"Well then, who else has anything to say?" Mackenzie asked the assembled team.

~*~*~

Rhea finally left the briefing without any form of fuss - leaving those in her wake doing whatever they liked (which probably involved Start and Mackenzie having another blow out). SG-15 had somehow managed to acquire two new members, both of which had been studying her throughout the meeting when they thought she wasn't looking. Not that their scrutiny was malicious - it was more curious than anything. Openly curious to be precise.

//So that's what I've become, a bloody object of curiosity// she complained to Asreal.

/*You can't expect to avoid it. What did you think when you first heard of us?*/

//'That's gross' I think. Or something along those lines. I can't really remember.//

/*Then can you blame them for being the slightest bit curious?*/

//You shit me when you're right, do you know that?//

/*You're made me aware of the fact on several occasions.*/

//Just so long as you know.//

Before she even knew where she'd been heading, Rhea found herself standing in the doorway to the infirmary - and she knew that she wasn't necessarily there to visit her comatose younger sister. Since returning to earth after being stranded on the Bermuda rock for far too long (even though she'd managed to acquire a new pet out of it), she'd done her best to avoid Chayse. Even after making up her mind about what she wanted. Well, more or less making up her mind. Actually, it was more of a sorta made up her mind. Not that she was splitting hairs about it or anything.

"Hello," Janet said cheerily. "Come to annoy Lily a bit more?"

Rhea chuckled self-consciously - she was well aware of the fact that she was probably the first person in history to ever try to annoy a loved one into waking up from a coma. But then, that's what made her such an individual. "Actually, I didn't even think to bring my Walkman with me," she admitted.

//No, I was too busy listening to my hormones// she thought in mild annoyance.

"Ah, well you'd be here to see Chayse then," the doctor said, nodding her head in understanding.

Rhea looked at her with a mixture of surprise and fear. //She knows?! How?// "How'd you guess?" she replied, by some miracle managing to keep her tone light and her voice steady.

"Well, I know that you're heading off-world again tomorrow, so I'm assuming that you've come to do the usual 'goodbye' thing."

"Oh... Of course. Maybe she'll get lucky and I'll buy her dinner." Rhea grinned impishly, although it turned into the genuine article as Chayse emerged from Janet's office.

"Thanks for the loan Janet," the redhead said, then paused when she saw the woman still standing in the doorway. "Oh, g'day Rhea."

"Uh, hi. Can I... talk to you for a moment?" Rhea knew she sounded uncertain, and suspiciously like a little kid asking for a choc-chip bikkie, but she couldn't help it.

Chayse smiled. "Sure, I was just finishing up anyway. Just had to call Justice."

"There wasn't an emergency?" she asked anxiously.

Chayse shook her head. "No, I just wanted to grab her before she went to bed is all. C'mon, you can buy me a cup of coffee." Pulling off her lab coat, she folded it over her arm and squeezed past Rhea into the hallway.

"Well, it's a start I suppose," Janet quipped. "I'll see you later okay?"

"Of course you will," Rhea replied. "Although I'm not planning on providing you with any business if that's what you're after."

The brunette snorted. "I don't think so."

~*~*~

Waiting patiently for the call to connect, McNamara stood at the public phone. The heat was terrible and the anthropologist was quite ready to hightail it back to the base for some iced tea and air conditioning.

“Professor Dunn’s office,” the unmistakably nasal voice of Dunn’s secretary answered.

“I’d like to speak to Professor Dunn please.”

“Who’s calling?”

“Angel McNamara.”

“One moment please.”

Angel shifted the phone to balance between her right ear and shoulder. At the same time, she started to flick through the thick folder of research that had been given to her on her way out of the mountain by some flunky named Patterson. The information went into detail about the Mayan culture and this Panthera Onca they were supposed to be on the lookout for. She muttered to herself, wondering why they’d send her when she only knew the basics about Mayans. Aztecs and Incas were a little more closer to home, as were the Scandinavian and Prussian cultures, but not the Mayans.

“This is Dunn.”

“Oh, Professor Dunn, hi. It’s Angel McNamara here.”

“How are things going in Colorado?”

“They were going good…”

“Were?”

“I’ve been sent to Mexico to sort something out with a bunch of military types,” she explained.

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll be able to handle you.”

“Yeah,” she shrugged off his attempt at humour. “Listen, my paper the New Guinean tribal habits can’t quite make it by Friday.”

“I know, someone already called me.”

She rolled her eyes at the military in general. “Of course they did. Listen, I don’t know how long I’ll be here, but I’ll get it sent to you as soon as I can.”

“No problem, Miss McNamara.”

“McNamara!” Jake Mackenzie’s voice could be heard a few dozen metres away. “Let’s go!”

“Professor, I have to go. I’ll speak to you later.” She hung up the phone and started walking towards the few gathered people known as SG-15.

“Get done what you needed to?” Mackenzie asked.

Replying and walking past, she nodded and breathed. “And Dunn’s much nicer now that I’m not studying under him now too.”

~*~*~

Jake Mackenzie looked across to see the anthropologist *still* on the phone. "McNamara!" he called out to grab her attention. "Let's go!" As she hung up and walked towards him he asked, "Get done what you needed to?"

"Yep... And Dunn's much nicer now that I'm not studying under him now too," she replied as she moved past him. Mac looked around for the rest of the team. He'd located and rounded up most of them. MacDonald and Hunter stood together, with O'Shea close by. McNamara joined them. He spied Diens talking to Start and he frowned slightly as he headed in their direction.

"Ladies?" he said. "Whenever you're ready," before turning away, his frown deepening.

~*~*~

The flight to Toluca AFB, Mexico took quite a while, and their transport wasn't precisely equipped for comfort, and Mac took the opportunity to try to get to know their newest addition a little more. Tatyana Diens. Second lieutenant, USAF. Psych and medic. That, he realized, was the limit of his knowledge about her.

"Lieutenant," he said, taking the seat next to her. "Tell me a bit about yourself." He saw her brow furrow, unsure what he wanted to know maybe. “Where are you from? Where were you based? Y'know... that sort of thing." He smiled in what he hoped were an encouraging manner, but judging by her widening eyes he knew he wasn't succeeding. He caught a slightly disapproving look cast his way from a certain doc didn't put him off. He looked down at Diens and waited patiently.

"I was born in Pittsburgh," she finally replied. "And spent most of my childhood there." She glanced up at him to see if this was what he wanted to know.

"Go on," he replied, prompting her to continue.

"I actually trained in psychology in Oxford, England," she continued, "before being based in Nevada and Wisconsin." They chatted together for a few more minutes, during which time Mac slotted in parts of her psych profile that he'd been handed just before they'd left the base. Yeah, she was obviously at a slight loss at the moment, being chucked in at the deep end like this, but he'd read enough to know she hid her natural confidence at the moment. He knew it would soon resurface.

The remainder of the flight was spent quietly, with the others either chatting softly, reading or dozing. Mac himself sat at the back of the plane, alone and collecting his thoughts. He flicked through the mission dossier once more before resting his head back and closing his eyes.

~*~*~

//Nothing like being thrown in at the deep end.// Second Lieutenant Diens thought as she tried to get comfortable with the pathetic amount of leg room the plane gave her.

The flight saw that she was sat next to her CO, Major Mackenzie. “Lieutenant," he said, taking the seat next to her. "Tell me a bit about yourself."

//Small talk. Or I confused Dr. McKenzie at my psych evaluation// She thought.

"Where are you from? Where were you based? Y'know... that sort of thing." He smiled.

"I was born in Pittsburgh," she finally replied. "And spent most of my childhood there." She glanced up at him.

"Go on," he replied, prompting her to continue.

"I actually trained in psychology in Oxford, England," she continued, "before being based in Nevada and Wisconsin."

"So what do you think so far? I take it you have been briefed on the kind of work we do a Cheyenne."

"I'm excited, sir. I can't wait to experience the real thing." She said smiling, some of her confidence seeping out as she began to relax more.

The remainder of the flight was spent quietly. Tatyana noticed that SG-15 were either chatting, sleeping, or reading silently. //They're comfortable around each other; The team's been together for a while then. The major seems to be a bit of a loner, deliberately distancing himself. This assignment's going to be interesting,// she thought as she settled back into her chair and tried to relax.

~*~*~

Keeping one eye on the potential disaster in front of her (in the form of one motion-sick Tok'ra) Start watched Diens with mild curiosity. Both her parents had been psychologists, so she was no stranger to the science, and had a pretty good idea what was going through this psychologist's mind right now. The woman was sitting back in her seat, hands folded across her lap, observing. Observing the dynamic of the team, no doubt, maybe even doing first-impression evaluations of each of the individuals. Which, of course, would include the doctor herself. She frowned. Having had it done to one extent or another most of her life, psychoanalysis was not enormously high on her list of things she enjoyed other people doing.

Diens' gaze eventually landed on the doctor, catching her out. Her expression didn't falter at all. Tirion, unsure of what else to do, flicked her eyebrows up and down, then looked out the window as the plane taxied towards the disembarkation area.

"I hate hot weather.." she muttered as the plane came to a stop, then turned to Rhea. "Did I mention that I hated hot weather?"

"Christ doc," The Tok'ra replied "We just got off an ice cube! How can you complain about this?"

Tirion made a face. "The weather wasn't the problem... it was the whole 'being trapped in a giant time-warp' situation that *really* got to me."

As if to accentuate her point, one of the exits opened and a huge gust of hot air was sucked in, filling the cabin in seconds. Being one of the closest to the door, Start copped it full in the face, and she shut her eyes, silently mouthing 'Oh my God' as the rest of the team became exactly aware of how hot it was.

"Alright folks... this is our stop." Mackenzie announced, standing up and reaching above him for his small pack. "Let's go."

A few grumbles and groans added to the heat in the air as the team navigated a set of very unstable portable stairs. Start jumped three steps to the ground, flicking her head back so her hair would fall in place.

"Wonderful." She exclaimed sarcastically, taking a deep breath. "Avgas."

Looking over at Mackenzie, she saw him fiddling with a fastener on his bag, frustration written all over his face as he tried to lock it one-handed. As a water polo goalkeeper, she knew a *lot* about one-handed activities, and wondered what kind of sweet-talking he had done to get himself declared fit for duty. Chuckling to herself, she walked over and crouched down next to the offending strap, stilling his hands. As soon as she did, he pulled his injured one away, almost as if he thought she had come all the way over just to squeeze it for fun. Throwing him a lopsided smile she shook her head and did the fastening one-handed, slowly, so he could see how she did it. She looked up to see if he had followed what she had done, and the mixed look of understanding, irritation and total confusion she received in response made her laugh. Bracing her hands on her knees, she stood up.

"Don't worry.." She said, holding her thumb and last three fingers up to him "It took breaks in those on separate occasions, before I could even *look* at a problem like that." He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she shrugged. "Hey, we're in the middle of *Mexico* about to take on a historical and anthropological mystery. It's about as useful as I'll get."

~*~*~

Toluca AFB was quite a dump. And that was being generous. The runway had more holes in it than... he *was* going to say than one of Tirion Start's theories, but he knew after the Bermuda affair, that wasn't totally fair. Hell, it wasn't at ALL fair. enough to say, the runway had a lot of holes. They were ushered towards the side of the military base where two Hum vees were waiting. They threw their bags into the back, along with the equipment brought with them from Colorado. Survival packs, gear, supplies and bedrolls, all were thrown in too. Mac headed for one of the driving seats while Sergeant Hunter took the other.

Mac took another look at the map that he'd propped up on the dash, and headed for Pueblo... and whatever awaited them there.

~*~*~

At Toluca AFB they were ushered towards the side of the military base where two Hum vees were waiting. They threw their bags and equipment into the back. Mackenzie headed for one of the driving seats while Sergeant Hunter took the other.

Tatyana climbed into the back of the nearest vehicle and noticed that the Major was the driver. He had propped his map up on the dashboard, planning the route, she guessed.

SG-15's other new addition climbed in beside her. "Tatyana Diens," she said offering her hand to the young woman.

"Angel McNamara," she said in response.

The Major turned on the engine, which roared to life. The hum vee sped away, leaving the two new additions scrambling for their seatbelts.

~*~*~

The plane trip had been more or less crappy. The AFB where they landed wasn't exactly anything to write home about. There was plenty of dust and the scenery wasn't much to look at. Rhea grinned.

"Just like home, but without the noxious fumes," she murmured to herself.

"Huh?" Start asked, somehow managing to look slightly harassed, even though as far as the Tok'ra knew she hadn't crossed swords with the big Mac in the last few hours.

"Nothing." Rhea shook her head, but couldn't wipe the grin off her face.

/*You probably look like the cat that ate Auntie's pet budgie,*/ Asreal commented dryly. /*Do you want to make it any more obvious?*/

//Ah, they'll just think that my strangeness level has gone up a notch.// She shrugged mentally and physically, tossing her bag and bedroll into one of the 4WD thingies that had so helpfully been supplied for their use. Climbing into the back seat, she only just had her belt on when Hunter coaxed the (loud) engine into life and roared off. MacDonald wasn't nearly so lucky and almost went flying off the back as the vehicle belted down the road like a bat out of hell. However, Rhea only had a fraction of a second to laugh at him before the potholes started up. A few moments of being tossed around like a rag doll well and truly convinced her that these 4WDs were rather like troupies with regard to the sensitivity of their shock absorbers - i.e., you felt every blasted bump in the road magnified by a factor of at least ten.

"You wanna slow down a bit?" she yelled to Hunter. "This isn't exactly Phillip Island!"

"What?" the sergeant yelled back over her shoulder.

Rhea's teeth rattled as they went over yet another rough patch. "Can you weigh anchor a bit, I think I'm going to chuck!"

That phrase did the trick, and they were soon travelling at a slightly more sedate pace. MacDonald, who was sitting beside her, tried his best to shift over against the opposite side of the vehicle on the off chance that she wasn't fibbing (which she was). Start, seated directly in front, glanced over her shoulder with some trepidation before resolutely turning back to stare out the windscreen. Rhea just grinned to herself and stretched out as much as the confines of the vehicle would allow. If nothing, threatening to be sick all over everyone had managed to get her a little more room... So what if everyone thought she suffered from motion sickness?

~*~*~

The road ahead grew even rougher and Mac was finding it hard to keep the Hummer in a straight line. He glanced back occasionally to make sure Hunter was keeping up and out of difficulty. She was. Easily. His companions were Diens and McNamara, and the two new team members seemed to be getting on pretty well. He couldn't catch all of their conversation from the rear seat, but enough to know they were getting to know each other.

He glanced at his watch. Already it was 1745. The road from Toluca had taken them east towards Mexico City then southeast on to Pueblo. And it was further than it seemed on the map, Mac knew that. The area they were entering had turned mountainous and the 'rood' deteriorated even further. Onboard equipment showed an altitude of 5452 meters and the air temperature dropped instantly.

"Diens," he called back to the lieutenant in the rear. "Contact MacDonald and tell him we'll stop for the night as soon as we've dropped down the other side."

"Sir," came the reply and he heard her speak to the main in the other vehicle. The descent soon began, but not until after the Hum vee had been put through some testing terrain. It survived, as Jake knew it would. The like level had started to drop and Mac knew they needed to call a halt pretty soon. Ahead he could make out the dense rainforest that he knew would hold Pueblo and the area of their investigation, and the temperature inside the vehicle soon rose once more. He opened the side window to allow the air inside the Hummer to move, and as such was distracted enough to almost miss the boulder that was sitting in the middle of the track.

He pulled the wheel sharply to one side, hearing Diens swear as she landed almost on top of McNamara. His actions took the vehicle around the boulder, mostly. Mac heard a scraping sound as the right side of the machine made light contact - enough to throw the steering wheel violently out of his hands. Mac grabbed at it again, seeing a rock face to his left and the wheel crashed into his left hand. His injured one. He scowled and winced at the sharp pain that brought him but ignored it as he tugged the wheel to the right. Cliff face and boulder were behind them.

"Warn Hunter," he threw at the others as he clenched his left hand slightly. He wasn't about to voice a complaint, but he knew he'd damaged his injury a bit. He took a quick look and saw some fresh blood seeping through the bandage and muttered under his breath. At least they had a medic with them this time and he was sure Diens could patch up whatever sutures he'd ripped out easily enough. All the more reason to find a place for the night, which they quickly did.

Mac watched as the second vehicle joined them in the small clearing at the side of the trail and he pushed his left hand into his jacket pocket as the rest of the team emerged.

"We'll move on at first light," he said, knowing he should maybe assign the driving to someone else... Maybe MacDonald could take the first Hummer and Mac would come up with some valid reason for the change in drivers.

Camp was set up in a very short space of time and he saw O'Shea and Hunter start to organize a meal. He leant inside the first Hum vee and hauled out his mission folder, wanting to read up some more on Pueblo and the events that surrounded the village. The most comfortable seat being inside the vehicle, Mac sat in the back and spread the file out, balancing his flashlight on the small shelf behind him. Before he started reading, he pulled out a small first aid kit, knowing he should try to sort out whatever he'd done to his hand before anyone noticed.

~*~*~

"Damn holes," Hunter cursed as she swerved around another one. "Worse than Rt 22 at home..." She had been trying her hardest to avoid them, so as to not make her or her passengers sick, but thus far all it resulted in were vaguely sick passengers and being left far behind.

A fork approached and the other vehicle was nowhere in sight. "Son of a... ok. Map." She pulled it out and studied the unfamiliar area, all the while trying to keep her eyes on the road. The hum vee hit a major pothole sending loose articles flying.

"Hey watch it!" moaned O'Shea.

"Sorry," Hunter blushed. She looked back down at the map and shrugged, "Now... How bout left. Left sounds good."

To the left, around the bend, and on for another two or three miles, and the other hum vee came into view. Adrienne secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She did NOT want to have to call her CO to come look for her. The first time that happened, during a night exercise two years ago, was enough humiliation to last her a good while.

She pulled it in alongside of the other and shut down the noisy engine. "This concludes the Potholes of Mesoamerica tour. Please gather your scattered minds and articles and exit to the aforementioned doors. Feel free to visit the tip jar at the front of the vehicle, any and all donations would be greatly appreciated." Not getting anything but glares, Adrienne shrugged and pulled her hat back on. She stood next to her CO and slyly noticed his much better bandaged hand. "Sorry we're late. O'Shea insisted we get some drive through, but the guy who took our order through the plastic hamburger was a little slow. What do you need me to do?"

~*~*~

"My ass is totally killing me." Steven replied to himself and rubbed his posterior. The flight down to Mexico itself wasn't too bad, considering he spent most of the time placing mental side bets on when O'Shea was gonna spew her lunch. Instead it was the lovely tour… "Potholes of Mesoamerica" as Hunter called it, that was leaving him worse for wear.

The nice walk for firewood afterwards gave him time to think about the mission. Keeping close enough to the camp he did a little exploring of his own. The jungle certainly was an interesting place, he thought as a pair of green and yellow lizards skidded away under his feet. Picking up another large branch and happy with the load of wood he had thus far, Steven headed back to the group.

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