Futuristic The Keepers: Unity [Two more writers Needed!]

[duegxybus]

Sierra turned to Jack. "So...he's basically an ally but not an ally. That's ok, as long as nobody gets hurt." She put a hand over her nose and spoke incredibly slowly, even for a hybrid. "But...here's something I have to ask. To what extent do we learn how to fight?" Sierra nervously turned to Jack and Apollo, waiting for an answer, hopefully one that won't give away the fact that she hardly is able to fight.


@AACS @DJGomez @LesDom

 

[DJGomez]

Caine looked at Seirra and back to Jack with a 'What the fuck?' Look. "Hang on for a moment here.....You're telling me that you've assembled arguably the greatest minds and warriors in the galaxy to maintain peace and order, yet one of us doesn't know how to fight? Am I the only kne who sees a problem with this?"


@AACS @LesDom @JPax42

 

[LesDom]

Jack stopped, staring at her.


"Wait, what? Nowhere in your file says you can't fight. You held off pirates single-handedly. If you're an EM soldier, even you went through basic combat training. Are you a pacifist or something? Jesus, not again."


Jack looked at Joshua, his eyes trailing to his bag of supplies. "You won't be needing your own gear. A great thing about being the EM's deadliest task force is a massive budget. You tell me what armor, what specs, and I'll get it to you."


@DJGomez @JPax42

 

[duegxybus]

Sierra's eyes widened in fear as soon as Joshua's irritating voice reached her ears. "Well, not like that..." She was about to explain but was interrupted by Jack, who immediately concurred to Joshua's statement. After he finished, Sierra closed her eyes. "I mean, like The Keepers. I read they are so efficient because they fight differently. Not like some silly EM prance-around shooting kid." She looked at Joshua as she said this, somewhat curious whether he was one of these.


@DJGomez @LesDom @AACS

 

[LesDom]

"Don't worry about it is my advice. Most of the thing people have heard about the Keepers are rumors. I mean, yeah, for a while we had a guy who could control fire. But shit, he had superpowers and even he died. So don't worry about it." As Jack attempted to fix the incredibly discouraging pep talk, he was miraculously saved by Kaero standing up slowly.


"I'm in."


"We can discuss how much money you want-"


"No payment is necessary." Kaero interrupted, holding up a hand to stop him. "Sending OGA soldiers into the ground is enough for me."


"Er...alright. That guy gives me a bad vibe. Anyway, you're gonna be fine. Just have my back and shoot people and we're okay. However, we've got a bit of a problem still. I know you two are both in, but loyalty is still a question." Jack pulled out a pistol, tossing it to Kaero.


"I have my own weapons."


"I know. I want you to use that gun and shoot Joshua."


"What?" Kaero exclaimed, actually startled.


"You said you're in. I need to know all of you are loyal to me. I gave you an order, shoot Joshua." Kaero stared at Jack, his unfaltering expression not boding well. He turned to Joshua, pointing the pistol.


"Sorry." As he pulled the trigger, the only sound response was that of a click.


"The pistol's...empty? You're insane, Monroe..."


"When I give an order, you all must follow it and trust that I know what I'm doing." Without another word, Jack left.


(@AACS @DJGomez @JPax42 )

 

[DJGomez]

Joshua looked at Kaero with a plain face as Kaero pointed the pistol at him. He knew what Jack was doing and chuckled when the pistol clicked. The EM had him do that same with a Dog that each agent was assigned to raise and take care of. Learn to care for the dog as if it was one of yor own team members, that way everyone knew what type of commitment they would need and form a bond with each other easier. At the end they were ordered to shoot the dogs. Thing was the pistols were filled with blanks so it was more convincing that you'd just killed your closest friend. Afterwards the dogs were placed in the unit as well as part of a canine squad for search and destroy, EOD, etc. Caine thought about his dog. He's named him Riley. It was a Malinois. A beautiful dog and completely loyal to only Caine. He knew that if he was gone, then Riley would be put down since the dogs were trained to follow the commands of only their handler. He went after Jack, ignoring Seirras accusation that he was nothing more then a fresh cut grunt outta boot. "Monroe."


@AACS @LesDom @JPax42

 

[LesDom]

"What? I'm busy."


(@DJGomez )

 

[DJGomez]

"As a condition of my working, I want my dog from my unit. His name is Riley."





@LesDom

 

[LesDom]

"Fuck no. You're gonna get that thing killed. We're fighting OGA, not amateur mercs you're used to picking off. I guess I should explain. The Keepers are all about missions that other squads just can't do. Our chances of survival aren't that high. We've had around twenty-five Keepers over the years. Counting Ody, Apollo, and I, there are three of the original team left."





@DJGomez

 

[DJGomez]

"You severely underestimate what we did then. And Riley isn't some pooch. He can hold his own if need be, but I wouldn't be taking him missions. I'm asking because you said ask what we need and you'd get it."


@LesDom

 

[TAINLA]

Apollo greeted Jack at the door after he finished talking to the recruits. "Hey Jack, let the dude keep his dog. Of course he can't take it into combat but still..." Apollo had become familiar with the whole concept of a dog. They are rather pathetic compared to domestic animals on Solehrii (many of which are huge, flabby flying whale-like creatures), but their unwavering loyalty to another species makes them human, in a whole way. Apollo liked dogs ever since he first saw them ever on earth.


"But just for the record, you might as well consider him already dead when you bring him in. Jack isn't kidding about the risks." Apollo turned out the door without another word.


@DJGomez

 

[LesDom]

"I said no!" Jack grunted, waving his hand dismissively.


"It's one thing to sign up for this. You're not bringing that damn dog here. I was talking about weapons, not living beings. I guess I haven't been clear enough about where we stand." He growled, stepping closer to Joshua.





"You are a fresh recruit. Your life expectancy drops astronomically after the first mission. You need weapons to keep working at optimal efficiency? Granted. Armor? Done. But you do not make orders around here."


"Another thing, Sierra. This man is deadly. He is not an ally. What he once was doesn't matter anymore. People will get hurt. OGA has destroyed colonies, executed thousands. Since you're in, I'd start preparing if I were you. You might not see the other side of this mission."


(@DJGomez @AACS @JPax42 )

 

[duegxybus]

"Another thing, Sierra. This man is deadly. He is not an ally. What he once was doesn't matter anymore. People will get hurt. OGA has destroyed colonies, executed thousands. Since you're in, I'd start preparing if I were you. You might not see the other side of this mission." Ok then...preparation.


Sierra knew that by preparation she would probably have to fight Joshua or Kaero in a training ring somewhere on the ship. True, she was faster than him by a fair margin, and could quite easily determine the easiest knockout points, but with Joshua's expertise in EM tactics, some of which were immorally designed to take down Ascendii or Hybrids like her, she figured that it would be better to take chances with Kaero. "Hey, Jack, how exactly do we start preparing? Like I said earlier, place to practice combat of sorts?" Sierra nervously grabbed her arm. She wondered how anyone could ever talk to Jack directly.





@LesDom @DJGomez @AACS


(Sorry about my leave, I wasn't in the mood for posting for a while, but here it is)

 

[LesDom]

"Simple. We get a lot of guns."


(@JPax42 )

 

[TAINLA]

Apollo had gone around Jack and out to the navigation bay. "Hey Betty, where exactly are we going first? We're not conforming to Jack's old habits of stopping at run-down space bars and things again, right?" Apollo looked at the map, remembering the horrendous times Jack had gotten drunk. Maybe getting drunk could be fun to humans, simply because they don't need that much before their metabolism isn't able to keep up.


Apollo shook off the thoughts and stared hard into the map. It had gotten noticeably bigger than the last time he looked at it, with more dots representing planets and for some reason many smaller stars. The updated navigation systems also looked nicer. "Wait a minute, why is there a flashy light thing on the system?" Apollo pointed to a red flashing dot on the map.


@LesDom @DJGomez @JPax42

 

[LesDom]

Jack turned to the map, frowning.


"Uh, let's hope it's the newcomers. Betty, when they reach the deck I want you to scan 'em."


"Yes, Jack. Present company: Cropper, Roan. Taylor-" A loud screech issued from the command comm, and Jack squinted his eyes at the harsh noise.


"...Betty?"


"I apologize. My systems were restarted automatically due to an internal error. All bodies scanned are valid."


"Okay. Send them through."

***

​

Cato stood with the soldier, his face stretched and burnt with the marks of war. The two stood out even more so together, his pallid green skin clashing with the human's fleshy pink.


"Roan Cropper. Dominic Taylor." The man Cato had spent years keeping tabs on, the man whose name Cato heard off of every soldier in his army, looked him in the eyes. He was older. Far older than what he expected. His face was scarred, pockmarked, and wrinkled. He looked like a man who was overdue a death during war. As he towered over the human man who checked his fake identity that Cato had validated by hacking into Betty's systems, he wondered how this one person could cause so much trouble to an order so large. He was pathetic.


"Jack Monroe. You're shorter than I imagined." Cato said simply, dressed in stolen EM army fatigues. Jack smiled, used to remarks from ascendii.


"You might beat us in one kind of height, but not the other. Anyway, two EM soldiers. This group might be more tamer than the last." Cato did not smile at his crude joke. He was instructed to blend in, and so he would to stupid human customs.


"Well, that wraps up the ground team. Our mission is a go."


(@JPax42 @DJGomez @Anaxial @AACS @Ulysseus )

 

[TAINLA]

Apollo had remained completely out of sight of Dominic and Roan until Jack said that the mission is a go. Apollo looked at both EM soldiers, slightly disappointed. One was a bright green Ascendii Hybrid, one that, which Apollo could tell by his eye movements, had a much quicker thought process than most hybrids, almost matching those to the extent of an Exansis officer. Apollo stepped forward and strongly grabbing his hand and shaking it briskly. "Welcome aboard Dominic Taylor."





Switching to the human, Roan Cropper. He was a human with a side of his face nearly burned off, but healed. One of his eyes was a milky white, so Apollo could make almost no judgement of his anxiety level. He grabbed Roan's hand and briskly shook it. "Welcome aboard Roan Cropper."


Apollo simply walked back to the navigation bridge and kept on examining the map. Betty had seemed to have the flight plan out and ready, unlike 20 years ago, when they had to manually map the route. Good old days. Jack was much closer to Apollo's physical age back then.


@LesDom @DJGomez @Anaxial @JPax42

 

[duegxybus]

Sierra walked out of the bunks to see the two new recruits, one burned up human and another vivid green hybrid. "Hey! New people! If mission's a go, then I say we're good." Sierra's eyes met those of the green hybrid, and she quickly looked away. She couldn't tell if it was distrust or something else, but it left a twisted feeling in her gut.


Catching Apollo walking away, Sierra followed him to the navigation bridge, having to almost run to keep up with Apollo. "Can you like, not walk at thirty miles an hour?" She was a little bit upset about being completely out of the loop but it was still outrageous. When they got to the map, she looked at it hard as well, seeing that it had definitely changed from the first EM version. "Hey, Jack, where are the map controls?"


@LesDom @AACS @DJGomez @Anaxial

 

[LesDom]

"That's on a strict need-to-know basis." Jack responded simply, leaving the bunk area and climbing onto the command center, cracking his neck.


"Betty, full speed ahead. Everyone, get some rest. Tomorrow...the mission starts. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the bar." He departed, scaling down the stairs and leaving towards the Lounge area.





"Betty, scotch. Clean." He grunted with a cigarette in his mouth, knowing a certain someone would join him soon.


"Forgive me for intruding, but protocol installed by your supervisors require me to deny your request. You have an important mission tomorrow that cannot be compromised from inebriation." Jack groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose to stop the imminent headache caused by annoying software.


"Fine. A sandwich too. Happy?" The AI intercom buzzed softly, pondering his new request to see if it would fit the parameters of the new policy.


"That will suffice." Jack grimaced a sarcastic smile, flashing his middle finger at the monitoring camera to all the spying EM officials while his order slid onto the desk by a machine.


"Piece of shit..." He muttered under his breath, taking a bite.


@AACS @JPax42 @DJGomez @Ulysseus @Anaxial

 

[TAINLA]

Jack said if anyone needed him, and that was Apollo's cue to follow him. Well, after giving him some space. He waited a while (in his time, of course, in reality it was just one and a half minutes) before strolling into the room. He walked in just as he normally would, responding with a "Hey, Jack. What, no alcohol? Good, Betty's taken my job as your drink control expert." Apollo knew rather well he wasn't very good at controlling Jack's drinking, partially because he didn't know how alcohol worked.





"I know what you're probably going to ask me to do, leave. But, to be fair, we haven't heard from each other in a while. So, how has the new EM regulations been treating you?" Apollo took on a cross-legged position and hovered in place, his bat-like wings flapping steadily beside him.


@LesDom

 

[Anaxial]

The inside of his transport shook and jerked occasionally as the craft swiftly drifted around the orbit of his former station and broke through the atmosphere into dark space. The lights flickered above his head and Roan tilted his good eye up at them, staring quizzically for only a moment before he returned his dead gaze to the floor. He had been transferred before, it was the way of life for Earth Military but this transfer was different. He'd left behind such a team that he swore they could never been outdone. His last words to them before boarding the transport;


"It's been an honor serving you all, I know you will all go far and remember; Acts of goodness are not always wise and acts of evil are not always foolish... Still, always strive to be good."


From then it was only a short ride to his knew duty station among the Keepers. An opportunity he looked forward too, all things considered. Eventually, with a heavy sigh Roan had found his peace and leaned back in his seat and allowed his eyes to close which quickly carried him off to sleep. When he awoke, he had already arrived at his new station and happily unbuckled himself and lifted his Seabag of personals. It wasn't long before he was standing in a room awaiting his to meet his new comrades with what appeared to be a hybrid.


Normally, he'd be more conversational but sleep onboard military transports was never that restful. A man eventually entered the room, greeted his compatriot and turned to him to shake his hand. Taking note that the man had noticed his scar Roan couldn't help but grin with a friendly smile, first impressions and all that.


"It's a pleasure to be here, sir. And uhh... Don't worry, that's just a birthmark." He said, showing a toothy grin as he winked his milky eye and gave a firm handshake in return. His voice only made him sound closer to death than he looked, it was gravely and resonated in his throat as if he'd been smoking since he was born.


"I hate to intrude, but is anyone available to show me to the barracks? I just need to set my things aside before I get to work. I'll need to talk to someone about getting the Battlesuit aboard as well... Sir." He called out to Apollo just before Sierra had entered the room.

 

[LesDom]

"When you were my 'expert', you nearly poisoned me. Twice." He took a sip, turning his head to look at the floating alien.


"Just take a seat like a normal person, 'Pol."


"I know what you're probably going to ask me to do, leave. But, to be fair, we haven't heard from each other in a while. So, how has the new EM regulations been treating you?" Jack flashed a thumbs up, taking another bite.


"I do their dirty work as long as they keep me funded. The keep me funded as long as they get to monitor everything I do, including taking a shit." He chuckled, draining the rest of his glass.


"Makes me miss the days where all we had were the weapons and armor we looted off of stuff we killed, and an old flying garbage truck. Still managed to get the job done." Jack was sent into a fit of coughs, a bout so bad he was forced to spit in the nearby kitchen sink. He wiped his mouth, grunting. "Sorry about that."


(@AACS )

 

[duegxybus]

"Battlesuit?!" Sierra nearly jumped (God pray she didn't, she might've fallen back with a "thud") at the word. "You mean, Mr. Cropper, you don't wear armor like normal people, instead you have a battlesuit?" Sierra hated how the EM had never mastered compact storage, and battlesuits were the worst. She continued anyways, starting to find a nice place to have it put.





@Anaxial

 

[Anaxial]

"Battlesuit?!" Sierra nearly jumped (God pray she didn't; hybrids like her could reach 10 feet vertical) at the word. "You mean, Mr. Cropper, you don't wear armor like normal people, instead you have a battlesuit?" Sierra hated how the EM had never mastered compact storage, and battlesuits were the worst. She continued anyways, starting to find a nice place to have it put.



@Anaxial

Surprised that the hybrid would even care about a battlesuit, let alone react so drastically to the idea of it, Roan looked over to the girl and nodded politely.


"Well, I'm more than capable of having boots on the ground." He said cupping his chin with his hand. "You don't get scars like this inside of a Battlesuit." he tapped the scarred portion of his face.

 

[DJGomez]

Joshua let Jack go and pout on his own. If his chances of survival were so low then what was the point in recruiting anyone. He wasn't going to press the matter, and Caine still had a few contacts he could call in a favor for and get Riley safely and quietly out before anythin happened to him. Looking at the elevator doors open he was relieved to see some competency. The hybrid he didn't know, but he recognized the scared face of Roan Cropper. He followed his EM service with an intrested eye, and was considering offerin him a place in the black ops unit. Nether less, it was a welcomed sight to see a fellow ground pounder. He walked towards the two, ignoring Seirras ignorance of battle suits, giving a nod towards Dominic and directing his attention to Roan and extending his hand. "Roan Cropper, Joshua Caine, EM. Glad to see someone who can handle themselves. I'll show you to the barracks."





@Anaxial @JPax42