Fantasy Kaizoic: Earth Reborn

[Da Doofus]

"Maybe I'll find someone to sleep on instead." He smirked, glancing at a few of the female colonists.
"I could spin a few campfire stories, huh?" He jabbed Kairo with an elbow before departing.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Have fun with that." He said as he watched him walk over towards the group of women. He couldn't help but laugh a little when he realized that Rufus wasn't going to be getting any privacy in the bunks. He'd have to get real creative, that is if the "campfire stories" would be sufficient event in the first place.

He then swivelled back in the chair and called out for the bartender for another shot of the mystery drink. His mind still lingered on the conversation the two had had just moments ago. With how busy the past few days had been, he hadn't had much time to think about the guest, and what kind of repercussions it would have if the public found out. He found that he'd much rather prefer being distracted though, as worry had again started plaguing his mind. With how things were, he didn't think they'd be able to handle such an incident. The only thing he could hope for was that the information would be leaked later rather than sooner.

Once the Syndroid arrived with the drink again, he didn't waste much time to down it. He had a few more shots before finally retiring to bed.

 

[Da Doofus]

The sounds of camp activity would drown out the nocturnal activities of the local insects and unknown inhabitants.
Sleep would come easily.
****************

It was now midnight, and Dr. Eivenburg was still hard at work analyzing whatever samples the surveyors had brought in.
The creatures brought in by the former wanted man and his friend were quietly playing with each other.

He would wait until Dr. Faolain arrived in the morning before making a decision on further study.
His priority was botany and ecological analysis. Zoology was her primary field.

He was now analyzing a branch of a berry bush carefully contained in a sterilized box when he heard chittering behind him.
The greying scientist turned and saw the triplet mammals sitting in a line with shared posture.
They eyed him, then shifted their shared gaze to the berries with a hungry look.
The smallest one made a quiet groan of anticipation.
He quickly took note of the behavior here being similar to that of a trained pet expecting a treat.
It may be against protocol, but he was sure there was a loophole in order to sate his own curiosity.

Using a pair of tongs, he plucked off a handful of the glossy purple fruits and approached the cage.
All three of them vibrated in waiting.
He took one and offered it to the tallest, awaiting a reaction.
What came was another look, this one expecting something else. It was almost pleading. He was stumped. There was food directly within its grasp, but the tiny thing made no attempt to seize it.

"Okay . . ." He said to himself in confusion.

As though that were a command, Frederick plucked the berry from his fingers and gulped it down.
He nearly gasped at this behavior.

"You take commands, do you?" He asked them, not expecting a verbal answer of course.

He plucked another berry for the bearded one named Ezekiel.
The same result, he sat in silence with his eyes glued to the morsel.

"Okay." The scientist spoke, testing this possible revelation.
Ezekiel responded, and took the berry, chomping it down hungrily.

This pattern continued with all three of them until no more food could be offered from his hand.
He ended up smiling at the end.

"You three are like pets." He commented, then paused, seeing the accuracy of his assumption.
This kind of behavior had to be taught.

 

[Chai_T3a]

As the time passed, the camp slowly began to come back to life. People started to slowly trickle out of the sleeping tents as the sun made its rise. By the time it was well in the sky, the camp was bustling with recruits as they went around their daily work. Kairo was among them. He had a terminal pad in his hand as he made his way into one of the storage sheds. He'd been assigned to check the stock and make sure that everything was where it was supposed to be. It was tedious and meaningless work, but the relaxed pace was very much welcomed. There was a small muffled pain in the back of his head from the shots that he had yesterday, but it wasn't anything that would bother him too much. He found that he could forget it was even there as long as he focussed on the task at hand.

He walked through the cramped, but organized space, occasionally glancing down at the terminal to write something down.

 

[Da Doofus]

Once the task at hand was completed, he had to report to one of the supervisors. After that was done, an Albatross appeared in the skies above the camp.
As the colonists scrambled to keep any possible equipment from being blown away by engine exhaust, the dropship drew closer and closer to the ground.

 

[Chai_T3a]

He helped to clear out the grounds in the vicinity of the albatross. With the combined efforts of the colonists, they managed to get the area cleared quickly and efficiently. Once he was sure that there wasn't anything else to move, he himself backed out of the way. Moving a safe distance from the albatross, he started up into the sky. He wondered what they would be bringing. More supplies? Probably the most likely outcome. Then again, he couldn't be so sure.

He stood there and watched as the albatross made its landing.

 

[Da Doofus]

Once the aircraft landed, and the loading platform extended onto the dust-filled ground, a team of security personnel marched out followed by Syndroids carrying out a secondary water collection unit and a crate that was labeled for medicinal supplies.

Shortly after arrived a group of Noah passengers garbed in the Research division colors.
Among them was a familiar redhead.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo watched the whole process attentively. A crowd had formed around the albatross, forcing him to occasionally lean over and shift in his spot to get a good view of what was going on. His eyes perked up as he saw someone familiar make her way out the doors. He blinked a few times, trying to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

It's been a month or so since he had last seen Helen. She was never someone he had expected to come to the camp, especially with her services so valuable to the republic. Still, he was glad that she was here. One more familiar face among the camp never really hurt. A small smile formed on his face as he tried grabbing her attention with a wave.

 

[Da Doofus]

She did not see him at first, not until after the albatross was fully unloaded and it had departed back to the Noah.
She then began coordinating the detached research team to reconstruct the field labratory in the tent. Commander Stryx arrived to personally greet her, and that's when she saw Kairo in the distance.
She waved him over with a soft smile before looking over the updated supply manifest he had completed prior to her arrival.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo was ready to continue the rest of his duties when he saw the wave that was directed at him from the corner of his eyes. He turned around and recognized the person as Helen. With a smile plastered on his face, he made his way over to her position.

“Helen! Nice to see you here!” He greeted.

 

[Da Doofus]

She scoffed.
"Well I suppose I'm lucky to still be head of Research." She began. "Director Bentley commissioned me to establish a field team earlier than scheduled." She handed the holopad back to Stryx.

The Commander looked it over. "Everything accounted for?"

"Seems to be." She nodded. "So what's this I hear about some specimens?"

 

[Chai_T3a]

He was a bit surprised by the reaction his words elicited from Helen. He hadn't meant to bring up something touchy. In fact, it sounded much more like a casual greeting than something from spite. But he still couldn't help but feel a little bad about his choice of words. Dr. Faolain and Director Bentley must have had a pretty unpleasant conversation since he last spoke to Helen in the infirmary.

Still, dwelling on that little aspect was not necessary. He kept his unwarranted guilt at bay and continued to listen to the conversation. He took it as his queue to speak at the mention of the specimens.
"Uuhhh. You're talking about those monkey bat's Rufus found?" He asked, hoping his assumption was correct.
"They're over in the lab." He pointed at the basic building that was designated as the research facility. It didn't take him long to feel a little stupid though. He was pretty certain Helen knew where the lab was, especially since it would be where she'd spend most of her time.
"Real smart things they are. One of them's been getting really riled up over something, I'm not entirely sure what it is though."

 

[Da Doofus]

"Rufus Maye?" She raised a brow.
"He's here?"

"It was my idea. He's a good man, if a bit obnoxious." Stryx jutted in. "I firmly believe he will be ab invaluable member of this community."

Helen sighed. "I'll take your word, Stryx."

 

[Chai_T3a]

He remembered the last conversation Rufus had with Helen. The guy really didn’t give her a good first impression at all. Kairo couldn’t hide the small grin that had formed on his face.

“I’m sure you’ll come to tolerate him.” he added on.

 

[Da Doofus]

Helen rolled her eyes.
"Guess I'll have to." She said, still unconvinced.
The head of the now-formed Field Research team moved on to her currently constructing laboratory

Stryx smiled at her as she went. It was a rare sight to see such a breach of his stalwart demeanor.
It soon melted back into his daily expression when he looked at Kairo.
"Kairo," he said. "How is today's agenda coming along?" He folded his arms behind his back and began a stoll, prompting Kairo to follow.
"You checked our inventory I see. Do we have an adequate shift for tonight's watch?"

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo definitely noticed the smile that had formed on Stryx's face. He couldn't be certain, but he was pretty sure that this was the first time he'd seen him smile genuinely. He'd always seemed so formal and professional. To the point where the smile almost looked alien on Stryx. For a second he found himself wondering if there was something between the two that was deeper than just work partners.

The smile didn't last for long though, the moment Stryx was facing Kairo again, the man seemed to go back to normal. Kairo followed along and listened to what he had to say.

"Thing's are going smoothly. Nothing much out of the ordinary, at least from what I can see." He gave his best answer, honestly he wasn't told much about the camps situation. He had been focussed solely on his own duties today.
"I'm not entirely sure about watch though. I could take the shift if we more people." He offered, looking over at Stryx in the process.

 

[Da Doofus]

"Hmmm." Stryx glanced at the walls. "I may need you to. I spoke with Red Team, and I decided to have them escort a team to retrieve the supplies from Rufus's camp.
They'll be back by evening, and I don't want them over exerting themselves."
He pointed to a trio of Syndroids. "I have Penny up there tonight, but the rest need to watch the south sections." He looked at Kairo. "If we end up needing you, you'll be placed on the northern section tonight."

Stryx's explanations were cut short by the rumbling engine of the Cricket departing for the jungle once more. Seeing the returne vehicle made the commander recall it's prior owner.

"Where is Rufus anyway?" He asked.

 

[Chai_T3a]

“I haven’t seen him all day.” He answered, looking around just in case he’d coincidentally spot him.
“Might still be asleep?” Considering it wasn’t much into the day, that was a very real possibility.
“Do you need to talk to him about something?”

 

[Da Doofus]

The blonde-haired veteran shook his head.
"Nothing like that, I would just like to know that he isn't causing trouble in the camp."
They passed by the early tier garden, with Syndroids and colonists planting seeds as the irrigation paths were being dug.

"Where are you assigned next?" Stryx inquired.

 

[Chai_T3a]

The garden seemed to be coming together nicely. It wasn’t some kind of grandiose farm stretching acres across, but the small place would be enough to keep the camp self sustaining later on. He wondered what they would be planting here.

“Uhhh. I believe they want me working repairs.
Don’t know what could break in the span of two days, but hopefully it isn’t that complicated.” He answered.
“Otherwise I’d probably do more harm then good.” A nervous chuckle escaped his lips.

 

[Da Doofus]

"Probably just some maintenance on the older equipment." He guessed. "Finish that and report to me. I'll have an answer to whether you'll be on watch duty or not."

"Commander Stryx to the comm station." A voice on the recently installed intercom system boomed. "Commander Stryx to the comm station."

Stryx glanced at the mounted speaker, and sighed.
"Excuse me." He said to Kairo as he changed direction.

 

[Chai_T3a]

Kairo watched the man leave. His figure becoming smaller and smaller before a crowd of people inevitably covered him up.

Once Stryx had left, he had found himself wondering about what he’d just volunteered for. He sighed to himself, realizing that he very likely just gave up tonight’s sleep. Then again, Stryx probably would have led up to making him volunteer anyway. Besides, it would be nice to make sure that Red team came back safely. He probably wouldn’t get any sleep knowing that they were out there anyway.

He made his way to the mess hall to grab himself a coffee, before making his way to his next job. Stryx had been right about his assumptions. The broken equipment that was before him was beginning to show real signs of age. Luckily, most of the maintenance work seemed rather simple. He quickly got to work.

He spent the rest of the afternoon working on his task. When he was done, the sun was about ready to set. He made his way to report to stryx

 

[Da Doofus]

The Commander was speaking with the chief engineer on expanding the compound's border even further to allow for additional bunk houses.
The sun was beginning to pass over the distant horizon in the sign of early evening.
Stryx saw Kairo approaching and dismissed himself from the prior conversation.

"Afternoon, Hunjan." He greeted. "Equipment up to speed I take it?"

 

[Chai_T3a]

"Yup! I mean..yes sir." He said, letting the words flow out a bit too quick.
"Everything's been repaired. At least to the best of my knowledge. Hopefully we don't have vehicles shutting down halfway in the jungle." He said jokingly. He quickly realized that such a self deprecating joke wouldn't help the situation at all.
"Uhhh....so about the night watch?" His hand raised to grab the back of his neck as he attempted to change the topic.

 

[Da Doofus]

Stryx's expression briefly shifted into one of an apologetic meaning.
"Volk's having trouble adjusting to the environment, so it'll be you on watch tonight." He said with no hesitation.
"Penny will walk you through what's expected." He pointed to the patrolling Syndroid on the wall.