7197/Crimson Guard: Recruiting Svetlana

Crimson Guard: Recruiting Svetlana
Date of Scene:	10 April 2019
Location:	New York City
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Snake Eyes, Svetlana Kuznetsov
Tinyplot:	Crimson Guard

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Snake Eyes has posed:
The Crimson Guard compound in New York state is surprisingly large. It's several acres across, fenced in with a pair of fences with concertina wire atop them, encompassing a number of buildings, a few firing ranges and an obstacle course. Its all very modern looking and well put together. At the entrance to the facility is a gate with men wearing red polo shirts with 'CG' in black on the breast. They carry slung rifles and wear pistols on their hips. As vehicles arrive potential recruits are directed towards a nearby parking lot. Once there more men wearing the red polo shirts, these carrying clipboards instead of rifles, are waiting for people to arrive. As they do they're greeted in a polite manner by the recruiters. One approaches the latest arrival, "Welcome to the Crimson Guard compound. I'm Sergeant Burton and together we're going to go through the recruiting process."

Svetlana Kuznetsov has posed:
Svetlana knows about the Crimson Guard, of course, but hasn't ever actually done any work with them. She arrives at the compound in a taxi, dressed in comfortable street clothes. With her age and her build, the young woman could easily pass as a typical high school student. Boot heels click with every step, casual and yet measured with military precision. "Good. Thank you, Sergeant." she replies. The girl's English is quite good, although an accent still carries through. Eastern Europe or Russian.

Snake Eyes has posed:
"Now, I've just got to get a few details from you and have you fill out some paperwork and then we'll get started on the evaluation portion of the day," Burton tells the young looking woman as he guides her into the nearest building to reveal a room with a number of desks at it, leading her towards one in particular. "First, what is your full legal name?" The other questions are pretty standard stuff, enough to do a background check. There don't seem to be any there that would be a deal breaker.

After the questions Burton says, "Alright. That's step one down. Coming up next is a physical fitness test, then a marksmanship assessment and finally a psychological examination. Have you got any questions about anything at this point?"

Svetlana Kuznetsov has posed:
She walks along with the Sergeant, her shorter strides brisk and quick. Sliding into the desk, she crosses one leg over the other; casual without slouching. "Svetlana Kuznetsov." the girl replies, Russian accent rolling off of her tongue. The other questions are answered readily enough. After all, SHIELD did set her up with a good quality identity when she was thawed.

For all her youthful appearance, the girl seems unfazed by both the questions and the situation. "No. No questions so far." she replies. "I did not bring any weapons of my own. I trust that will not be a problem."

Snake Eyes has posed:
"No problem. We'll provide you with firearms. Will you need familiarization with the M4 carbine or Glock 17?" Sergeant Burton asks. "We're going to head outside for the PT test. We use the old US Army physical fitness standards for all our recruits. Pushups, situps and two mile run." He leads the way outside towards a running track. There are yoga mats on the ground out there for people to do pushups and situps on. "You're free to stretch or warm up any way you'd like to. Let me know when you're ready."

Svetlana Kuznetsov has posed:
Svetlana shrugs at the offered choice. "Either one is fine." she replies. Following him outside, she keeps her hands tucked casually into the pockets of her leather jacket. Looking around at the others already in the process of their test, she considers for a moment. Giving him a small smile, the girl removes her jacket. Apparently no stretching is required. "Yes. I'm ready, now. Where to start? Pushups first?"

Snake Eyes has posed:
Burton nods when Svetlana says she's good with either weapon, "Alright. Rifle marksmanship is our primary focus. We're something of a carbine culture here at CG." When the woman gets ready to do her thing the sergeant kneels down at the end of the yoga mat and produces a stopwatch. "Yep, pushups first. We'll go on my mark. You've got sixty seconds to do as many as you can. Make sure you bend your elbows to at least ninety degrees and don't let any part of your body other than your feet and hands touch the ground."

Svetlana Kuznetsov has posed:
Svetlana nods, settling into the pushup position. Her body is rigid, the position held with practiced ease. She looks over at him. Waiting... When he gives the signal she starts at a brisk pace. Her form is remarkably good, the girl snapping off pushups at a pace that's easily -double- the Army standard for new recruits. She doesn't let up, even when sixty seconds passes, coming to a stop and barely breathing hard.

Snake Eyes has posed:
"Holy crap!" Sergeant Burton exclaims as Svetlana does her thing. "Well, you smoked that one." There's a big smile on his face, the man clearly impressed as he records the number of pushups completed on the paper on his clipboard. "I'll hold your feet for the situp portion of the test if you'd like. I'm betting based on your performance so far that you can knock out an average of more than one a second, though. If you max all three events we can usually arrange to pay you a little extra as long as you maintain that level of physical fitness."

Svetlana Kuznetsov has posed:
Svetlana looks pleased with his assessment, but certainly not surprised. There's something knowing in her smile. Shaking her head at his offer, she replies. "There is no need to hold my feet, but you can if you wish." Shifting positions smoothly, she keeps her knees raised slightly and laces fingers behind her neck. This time when he signals for her to start, she kicks off with a pace around two and a half situps per second. And she puts a twist into each one, alternating right and left elbows to her raised knees.

Snake Eyes has posed:
"Wow! That's fast," The NCO is certainly impressed by the woman's performance. He marks down her results and chuckles a little bit, "If you run like you do pushups and situps you'll be making that extra money with no problem. I'm impressed, though. You're easily the best recruit I've seen today." Wearing a grin Burton says, "The run portion is pretty simple. Eight times around the quarter mile track as quickly as possible. Just don't leave the track and you're good."

Svetlana Kuznetsov has posed:
Svetlana sits up and snaps to her feet, looking quite fresh for all the exercise. The girl does look to be sweating now at least. She looks at the track, then back at the NCO. "Eight times? Da. Is no problem." she replies. The girl bounces a few times on her toes before the run as well, getting a decent amount of air. At a sprint she can keep up with APV's for short distances, but that would be a bit -too- good. As it is, she sets a pace that puts her comfortably into the Olympic range, towards the high end of the scale.

Snake Eyes has posed:
"Alright! Well, you just set the company record, I'm sure. Bronson's going to be envious, that dude spends all day in the gym," Burton's got a big grin on his face as he speaks to Svetlana. He's even got a big bottle of water waiting for her when she finishes. "If you make it through the rest of the assessment you'll be making more than I do when we get in country."

Leading the way towards one of the rifle ranges, Burton continues to speak, "The rifle marksmanship portion of the testing isn't too rough. Forty pop up targets, forty rounds of ammunition. You'll shoot from the prone supported, prone unsupported and kneeling firing positions. After the work you just put in I'm expecting great things from you out here as well." There tables set out with weapons and eye and ear protection set out on them, manned by more guys in the CG shirts. Burton grabs the safety equipment and a rifle and offers it over to Svetlana, "Here you go Ms Kuznetsov. We use red dot sights on most of our rifles so they're zeroed to the weapon instead of the shooter, but you can use the flip up irons if you'd prefer. Zero should still be pretty good on them. Keep the weapon downrange at all times until the safety officer clears you off the range then return it and the eye and ear pro to the table."

The guy behind the table says, "You're on lane eight, ma'am. Ammunition is already out there for you. Load your weapon when instructed to by the tower."

Svetlana Kuznetsov has posed:
Svetlana definitely accepts the water bottle, raising it high and drinking deeply. She's definitely sweating now, the silk clinging a bit to her damp skin. Walking along with him towards the range, she looks at the other guys in the CG shirts. "Do you have many women here?" she asks curiously.

Setting the bottle down, she takes a set if earmuffs and drapes them casually around her neck for the moment. Picking up the rifle, she checks it over with the casual ease of someone who's familiar with military arms. Flashing the guy behind the table a smile, she nods and heads towards lane eight. Ear muffs on, she takes her stance and waits for the range commands.

Snake Eyes has posed:
"Most of our employees are men, but there are a few women," Burton replies. "Most contractors are guys for some reason, but our female employees usually get more time deployed if they want it. We prefer to use them when dealing with women overseas to make them feel more comfortable. It's important to Crimson Guard to treat the local nationals well and respect their needs and wants."

The tower at the range issues commands once all the shooters are in place, instructing them when to load their rifles and telling them "Watch your lane" when it comes time to actually do the shooting. The targets are green man sized silhouettes and they pop up from as close as fifty meters to as far away as three hundred meters. Depending on how far out they are they stay up for different lengths of time. When the shooting is finished weapons are cleared and a fellow waiting at the end of the lanes has a cleaning rod to put down the barrel of the empty weapons to make sure they're safe.

Svetlana Kuznetsov has posed:
Svetlana slips a mag into the rifle when she's cleared, jacking the shell into the chamber and shouldering the rifle. Deep breath, exhale slowly. Her shots are neat and efficient, the girl snapping off head shot after head shot as the targets pop up. In most cases the target is still on its way up when she shoots it, and the girl doesn't miss. Shooting finished, she ejects the empty mag and clears the chamber before offering the rifle for the safety check and stepping back half a pace.

Snake Eyes has posed:
"Well done!" Burton's nearby, having watched the whole thing. He makes a mark on his paper and chuckles, "You're a shoe in, I'm sure. All that's left is the psych eval." Once the weapon and safety equipment are returned to their proper places the recruiter leads Svetlana back to one of the buildings and to a room full of computers. "The psych portion is administered electronically. All you need to do is follow the instructions on the computer. It's a little on the long side. Should you pass we can discuss compensation. Based on your physical fitness and marksmanship skills, not to mention the reputation you're building, I'm guessing you'll be making what we pay former special operations guys."

Svetlana Kuznetsov has posed:
Svetlana smiles at the assessment, nodding and running fingers through her long hair. "So you deploy women for longer tours than the men? That is a little surprising to me, but I suppose it all depends on mission location." She follows along, and for the first time during the evaluation the girl seems a bit... unsure. Not exactly afraid, but she's definitely not comfortable in the computer lab. Her smile says otherwise, or at least she tries to pass it off as she settles.

Snake Eyes has posed:
"Yeah. We need them when dealing with other women usually. We prefer not to have men conduct searches of females whenever possible because we want to minimize the chances of anyone feeling victimized," Burton explains. "Depending on the results of your eval here you might be eligible for work as a regular in the Crimson Guard or as an irregular. If you're an irregular you don't need to worry much about dealing with the local nationals too much. You'll be too busy kicking ass and performing recon missions and stuff like that. Generally it's the regulars that do the hearts and minds stuff."

As Svetlana finishes her testing Burton is speaking to another contractor who's manning a computer. He looks at the screen and nods his head, then approaches his recruit again and says, "Alright, you passed. You might be eligible for work as a regular in the future if you get a bachelor's degree but for now it looks like you'll be an irregular. Pay's the same but it tends to be more direct action."

The recruiter leads the way back to the desk where they'd done paperwork earlier that day, "You're hired, if you want the job. Compensation for someone of your skill set, with your reputation and marks on our examinations starts at a thousand dollars a day in country with possible bonuses. We provide full health, dental and optional life insurance, up to half a million bucks, while you're working for us."

Svetlana Kuznetsov has posed:
Svetlana looks much more relaxed after the psych evaluation for some reason, perhaps simply being glad that it's over. Leaning back in her chair, the girl stretches and looks somehow too young to be doing this sort of work. But that, too, could be used to advantage in some circumstances.

"If I did not want the job, why would I have paid for a cab to come here?" she asks, almost coyly. "As an irregular, will I be able to train here as well? I can buy my own ammunition, of course. As you say, it is good to keep up skills."

Snake Eyes has posed:
Burton nods his head, "Awesome. We'll knock out the rest of the paperwork while you're here and get you on the books." There's a lot of paperwork to be done, but the recruiter keeps talking to try to make it more palatable, "You certainly can train here. There's some mandatory training before you go over. For the most part we'll supply you with any ammo you need. Before deployment we like to have our guys go through at least a couple thousand rounds with their weapons to ensure proficiency and familiarity. We've got a great gym and a lot of our contractors are martial arts guys if you want to get some hand to hand training in, too. I practice BJJ myself, if you ever want to roll."

Svetlana Kuznetsov has posed:
Svetlana nods and listens while filling out the paperwork, completing it in English and very deliberately. No, it's not her first language. "Everyone use the same weapons and same ammunition." she offers, more a statement than a question. It's the same with most military groups, after all. "BJJ? My training was Sambo and Systema. And I would like very much to spar, as much as possible. And please, call me Lana."

At some point someone is bound to wonder how a girl who looks too young to drink ever learned martial arts forms used by Russian Spetznaz. But she'll deal with those questions as they come.

Snake Eyes has posed:
"Of course. M4 carbines and Glocks for most folks, M249 for automatic riflemen, M203s for grenadiers," Burton's pretty serious about the weapons stuff. "We use a couple different types of sniper rifles, they're all 7.62 NATO. Our trucks rock either an M2, a M240B or a Mk 19." There's a little bit of a chuckle, "Lots of cool weapons. You'll get to fire all of them here during familiarization."

"Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. But Sambo and Systema? That's so cool! We'll be sure to spend a lot of time on the mats. There are always people in the gym but we usually do hand to hand combat training in the afternoons if we're not working on something else." And there's a big grin, "I will, Lana. You call me Burt. I think we're going to get along just fine."

Svetlana Kuznetsov has posed:
Svetlana grins broadly at the offer for time on the mat. Yes, she probably spent too much time around Darcy Lewis while at SHIELD, and her young mind still puts innuendo where it doesn't necessarily belong. "I think we will, too, Burt." she replies.

"I sort of grew up on old Russian gear, but I promise that I'm a quick study." she offers. Then again, who didn't grow up on the AK-47? "Need anything more from me today?"

Snake Eyes has posed:
"Nothing else for you today, Lana. Once we're finished will all the paperwork we'll bring you in for pre-deployment training and get you all caught up with our SOPs," Burt tells her. Then he stands up and extends a hand for a shake, "Welcome to Crimson Guard."