Diplomacy, Destruction, and Death

Dear Diary,
 
Random money making ideas, the kid beating any tough guy or gal in a spice related contest. Scorpion wrangling, (apparently Kiillien is a Scorpion whisperer, Sargent cranky pants scares everything, Lux and I rocked the picnic blanket and echo will get it down some day. The team building continues? How did we get roped into catching creatures at 4am?
 
And then we were suddenly sent to find 4 husbands 2 sons and a brother, all military officers. All MIA and all I can say is thank god for the bard. Wives and sisters approach our sergeant who immediately states they are probably dead. I kicked him in the shins, tried to reroute 1/2 succeeded, then flat our shut the bastard up. I appealed to our only ray of hope, Kiiellien. Somehow our backpacked compadre, talked them down.
 
Thank goodness he had the sense to contact his commanding officer. I guess these guys were shipped off to war. Not great, but at least their absence can be explained. Amazingly, he approached tact the second time around, but Kii did the heavy lifting.
 
So now we're off to invesitgate the base. (Guess whose vehicle came in handy? The GSG. Aaaaaannnnnd, Gambit has offered to help me fix her up. Things might be shaping up alright.) At least that's what I thought...
 
We were met with smoke billowing out of the scorpion's eyes and holes punched from the inside out of the base. A clear sign that something decidedly unfriend took place, and from my analysis, something with some serious fire power was in play. Now I'd normally get excited about such a thing, but not when those big guns might be aimed at me. The only good fire power, is your own firepower! (Purchased or re-appropriated)
 
We crept in together, trying to watch each other's backs. Sarg, is just about as gung ho as I expected, which is to say I don't know if it's bravery or sheer stubbornness that drives the man forward. I think he'd bit a bullet, spit it out, and then criticize it for not doing a good enough job trying to kill him. Oddly, I think I kinda like the guy, as long as he's not being diplomatic. Something tells me he means well... kinda an odd thing to say but I guess we're technically on the same side... I wonder how much propeganda bullshit we've both been fed? Me and myself, I have more of a head for tinkering than getting all hot and bothered about politics. It always seems to me people will find any excuse to shoot in a direction if they think it will benefit them. In other words shoot first, rationalize after and I'm no idiot, if I'm not makin em' some one else will.
 
But I'm yammering, we crept in, got in some good shoots and some bad ones. Two metal double gun barreled bastards had us under fire. Then suddenly I'm nabbed by a damn ghost person and staring down the barrels of the bad ass who blew the holes in the wall, I put my hands up to signal I was no threat, this thing looked like more than I can handle.....
 
(record paused)