Futuristic Transsolar

[Anaxial]

Quiet as ever, he listened to the conversation as best he could though the words were mostly just muffled sounds from behind the walls of the building. The cigar was becoming little more then a nub now and each drag seemed to put a weight on Marshall's heart. He knew it'd soon be gone and he'd only have one left. Occasionally someone would pass by and the Mercenary would give them a nod of acknowledgment, and put his hand on the pistol's holster encouraging them to move along and ignore the blood. He'd hold in the cigar smoke until they had passed. When it had finally come to an end and the Cigar could hardly be held in his hands anymore, Marshalled kicked himself off the wall and dropped the glowing nub on the ground, stomping it out.


Almost simultaneous with his stamping out of the cigar, he heard a sharp yell come from the room and Marshall flinched and reactivly drew his pistol, arching around to aim at the door. His eye's were wide and his heart skipped a beat as he let out a sharp breath and relaxed, keeping his pistol drawn but held lazily in his right hand. Marshall approached the door and gently knocked on the door with the grip of the pistol, stepping back a bit and gripping the pistol in both hands and put his weak leg forward, he didn't know what waited behind that door and he'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[BookWyrm]

Woods had been startled out of his own sleep by Adira's yell. He looked over to where she was on his bed, noticing her sitting up. She laid back down by the time he had stood up. He grabbed his tablet, and another syringe, before walking over to check her vitals again. Everything is checking out alright. Must have been a bad dream. He turned his tablet off before gently laying his hand on her arm. "Its just me. I've got something to help you sleep." Woods injected the serum into her thigh.


About this moment was when the knock came at the door. Woods carefully set the syringe down and carefully grabbed his G58 as he carefully moved over to his kit bag. He pulled out his visor and switched it on, cycling over to the heartbeat sensor. Thankfully there was a heartbeat, that meant it wasn't an android. He turned off his visor as he approached the door, opening the up the virtual view port only to shake his head with a sigh. Marshall stood outside his door, a pistol in his hand and appearing to be ready for a fight. "The last person on the face of the planet that I wanted to have to deal with today." Woods honestly wanted to leave him out there, but figuring that he had followed a blood trail, he closed the view port and opened the door slightly. "Put the gun away Marshall, that's an order." He opened the door the rest of the way, keeping his G58 in his right hand just encase. "The hell do you want?"

 

[Dragongal]

Adira had jumped slightly when Woods had touched her, and again when she saw the syringe, before she realized that it was just medicine and allowed herself to relax. The medicine didn't take long at all to kick in, despite the numerous times she'd been given anesthetics they were still just as efficient as the first time. As she realaxed she let herself think a bit about her nightmare. If it was starting now, that was bad, it never happened just once, it happened for spans at a time, weeks to months. And she was about to take control of a new ship - great. She heard the knocking at the door and looked to see who it was, though she was asleep before she could know it was Marshall - the moment Woods had begun speaking like he knew the person, she'd allowed herself to relax.

 

[Anaxial]

When the door cracked open, Marshall snapped his arms up and took aim at the center of the door. A familiar voice called out to him, it was Vincent Woods, so the plot thickened!


"Marvellous! A soldier is a soldier, even in a hotel." he said as he relaxed his stance a bit, though he kept his pistol unholstered, held lazily in his hand. "I'm afraid I don't take orders from you though." He continued as he traced his leg with the pistol and holstered the gun regardless. "Call it a notion of good faith." Marshalled clicked the safety on and released the gun, stuffing his fingers into his pockets as he looked around on the ground. "Seems to be... A bit of a mess, I followed it here." he said gesturing to the blood on the ground and on the door. "I don't see any holes in you so who you got in there? They hurt bad?"

 

[BookWyrm]

"You'd better get used to taking orders Marshall, especially from me." He glared at the Merc, though his stare did soften slightly when he holstered his firearm. Woods relaxed his arm as he clicked the safety on his G58. Why did he ask questions? Then again, it did look suspicious that there was a rather obvious blood trail leading to his room. "I've taken care of the situation, and they are stable, but I'd rather not release the identity of my current guest." Woods knew it was a sorry answer, but then again he could have had an old friend from SIAD drop in. If that had been the case, though, he would have probably shot Marshall through the door rather than answered it.

 

[Anaxial]

A sharp burst of air escaped his nostrils as Woods tried to explain the situation. Marshall nodded and looked off to the side a bit, his eyes trailing the blood for a moment. He turned back to Woods and let out a vacant laugh, pointing a finger at Woods and wagged it as he spoke;


"Is it a SIAD buddy? I'm sure you SIAD types do all sorts of black ops. Mission gone wrong? I did hear a gunshot." Marshall scratched his chin as he scrunched up his face in thought. "Oh! It's a lady friend isn't? The ol' Trench Warfare huh? Some 'stress relieving' after a battle are you?" he said with a wide smile throwing a playful elbow at Woods, though it only hit air. Marshall hadn't taken a step since he opened the door.

 

[BookWyrm]

Woods' glare returned in earnest. "Neither my associations with my old comrades nor my own private affairs are of any concern of yours." He wasn't at all amused by the mercs continued insistence on plaguing him with questions. Obviously the subtle art of taking a hint was lost on this man. But then again, with such a record as his, Marshall couldn't be expected to be in the best of mind at all times. "And even if I was in rather pleasant company this evening, I still wouldn't tell you." Woods almost chuckled at the thought. Adira was by many rights an attractive woman, but she was also his Captain. The thought had not crossed his mind.

 

[Anaxial]

Marshall chuckled and shook his head, returning Woods' glare with the smug look only a Mercenary could give. Infact, Marshall didn't respond after that, Woods stared at him, and Marshall stared right back. It was an awkward silence and Marshall's face had gone cold over the time the two seemed to have their staredown. It lasted forever, the eerie silence, the palpable tension in the air, it was finally cut when Marshall rested his hands on his hips, his hand hovering over his pistol before Marshall drew up his hands, his fingers pointed like guns and quietly made gunshot noises while mimicking the kick of duel pistols as he 'shot' at Woods.


"Whatever you say, Lue Tenant." He said, his pronunciation of the word clearly botched on purpose. "Take good care of the Captain Woods, mind you none of the MP types spot you. Might get the idea some uhh... Whatdoyoucallit... Fraternization could be going on." he said, a mock expression of concern on his face as he slowly began to back away from Woods, his finger pistols aimed at Woods from his hips. "Me? I'm just a man who likes to know what's goin' on. You don't fuck with no one, no one fucks with you, know what I mean?" Marshall brought the finger guns to his lips and mimicked blowing smoke out the barrels before holstering one and giving one final shot at Woods with the other. "See you around."


With that, Marshall turned his back on Woods and walked away from the hotel, back into the streets of Arid Harbor. Out there, somewhere there was a person who needed a Merc with a gun. And Marshall had a month to kill.

 

[BookWyrm]

Woods shook his head as he watched Marshall walk away, his whole show had been less than amusing. But what struck him was that Marshall had known it was the Captain all along. Woods sighed, "Its commander." Woods closed the door, laying his rifle down before getting some cleaning supplies. The blood was still fresh enough that it would clean away easily. Not too mention Woods had a few extra things that helped clean up these kinds of situations. After a few minutes outside Woods had been able to remove the trail that led to his room as well as the hand print on his door. Now, with all of the disturbances hopefully done for the night, he closed and locked the door before walking back to his couch by way of visiting the Captain, stopping long enough to check her pulse. Once he had laid down he found himself slowly slipping off to sleep easier than he had first expected.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira woke up slowly, taking in her surroundings as she sat up stiffly. She was surprised by how well she'd slept - of course, looking back, she figured the sedative had definitely helped with that. Her whole left side was covered in bruises from being kicked while down, but her jacket had kept away any internal damage. She reached up and ran her fingers over the gash on the left side of her forehead, which had a few butterfly bandages over it to keep it closed. She swung her legs off the bed stiffly, looking over at Woods on the couch, sound asleep. Her undershirt was black, so it didn't show any blood, but she felt it. There'd been plenty enough blood on her hands and dripping off her face to get her undershirt bloody. Her jacket was even worse, since majority wasn't her blood. She got up and picked up her jacket, walking over to the sink in the kitchen and carefully washing the blood off. The marvelous fabric couldn't be stained and repaired itself if it sensed the wound under it was cared for, as well as joining her pants, boots, and helm, forming a suit capable of allowing her to be outside the safety of a spaceship. Once she'd washed the blood off, she glanced into the shiny metal of the sink, looking at the split in her lip and the cut on her head, which ran from her widow's peak to the far edge of her left eyebrow. Could have been worse - she could have collapsed on the streets and then were would she have been left? She moved back to the bed and took out her phaser, looking over all of the components carefully, before getting an idea.


She went into the kitchen and turned on the stove, getting ready to make a simple breakfast as a token of gratitude for Woods. She shuddered at the idea of being left unconscious on the streets of Arid Harbour. bacon and pancakes would be sufficient, right? She hoped so, she didn't know how to make much else.

 

[BookWyrm]

"Stack up."


The endless droning of the rain had faded into limbo as the squad approached the compound, stacking into formation in the usual way. Woods could feel his heart beating in it's normal steady fashion all the way up until they stacked up for the breach. It felt like it had slowed as he focused on the objective. They were moving into the building for a sweep and clear. Some paramilitary group had moved through a village and taken up in the compound, but it didn't really matter. The mission was a clear as it needed to be. Go in, kill the bad guys, go home. Slick applied the breaching charge to the door before getting back into formation. "Three, two, one, breach."


The door flew back into the room, followed closely by two nine bangers. Upon the first flash and deafening explosions the team breached into the room. Tap, one down, shot placed right into the mouth, severing the brain stem as it ruptured from the back of the neck. Tap, tap tap. Tough bastard, took two to the chest and one to the face before he stopped moving.


"Entry room clear."


"Moving."


Only two? No, two others had been close to the door. The breaching charge had been a little hot. The nine bangers clattered and flashed on even as the team moved out of the entry room and into the hall way. Three tangos poured into the fatal funnel and into the receiving end of several heart stopping rounds. The SIAD team moved with a purpose, clearing the remainder of the building in less than five. "Main, this is actual, objective clear, requesting evac." "Roger actual, evac in five." "Copy main, actual moving out front."


The team secured the evac sight and huddled down in the down pour as they awaited evac. Woods played over the whole scenario in his mind. It had been a perfectly executed raid. No tangos left alive, and the building was cleared for the locals to use again. All in all, a good days work. Except for when the kid started running at them. "Movement on my twelve." Woods turned, looking at what Slick had called out. A local kid, probably no older than eight, was running towards them, a bio-rigged explosive vest outfitted to his body.


"Jesus....the kids rigged!"


"Take him."


Woods looked over to Jaeger, the squad leader. "Take him Wraith."


"Its a fucking kid!"


"A fucking kid with a bomb strapped to him. Take the fucking shot!"


Woods shouldered his rifle, aiming towards the kid as he came ever closer. Its a kid.....


"Take the fucking shot!"


Somewhere in between depressing the trigger and peeling off the target Woods caught sight of the child's face. Red, puffy eyes and tear streaked cheeks, and that was despite of the rain. The kid had been taken from the village and rigged just for the purpose of killing the team when they tried to help him. But all Woods could see was the look of sheer terror on the kids face. "Help me...please..."


"NOOOO!"


Woods bolted awake, his body covered in sweat as he sat up on the couch. His eyes still registered the dream as reality, and it took several seconds before he finally was able to realize that he was in his hotel room. "Fuck me sideways." Vince's head sank into a shaking hand as he tried to get a grip on himself. His body was shook by the sobs that always followed the nightmares.


Then he remembered the Captain......

 

[Dragongal]

Adira had already finished making the food and was cleaning up when she head Woods scream. She bolted out into the living room, just happening to stand behind him, seeing him awake and looking at nothing in particular, before he mumbled something and started sobbing. her eyebrows knit together as she silently walked around the couch, making sure to stay on the far side so she wouldn't startle him. She'd dealt with this before, both with her own crewmen and herself. Some panicked and attacked if you got too close, others didn't care. She was willing to bet Woods would kill her if she got too close. "Seems like you had a pretty bad dream," she said quietly as she perched on the arm of the couch opposite him, being sure to give him some space. She didn't look directly at him, not wanting to embarrass him too much, instead focusing on the wall opposite them, so she could peripherally see him. "You don't have to explain, unless you think it'd help, then I'm here. I get it." She nodded to the kitchen and said, "If you want to eat, I made breakfast."

 

[Luminescent]

Rea smiled at Anu's peculiar tendencies. "Yes, and because humans have "primate brains", we need you to talk extra slow. As slow as I speak. Can you do that?"


She smiled at Anu and took a look around the dark room, trying to evaluate the mess. "You read an entire dictionary? Impressive! However, just because you know the meaning of the words and what it does, doesn't mean you know what it looks like or feels like! How would you know the difference between a light bulb and a chair until I put an object to the word? Also, I have only just met you, and I don't know your full capabilities yet. So I will treat you as if you don't know anything until I know what you do know. If you don't understand something, please ask!" When Anu screwed in the lightbulb, Rea almost gasped. Only then could she fully absorb the damage Anu had done. It wasn't reckless damage, either. It was clean precise damage, as if he intended to put it back together. As if he were to dissect a frog. Clean and precise, careful not to waste anything.


"Anu! Please do not touch me, yet! I will allow you to touch me once we have known each other for one month. Remember that, Anu. Once you know a human's name and they know yours, you must wait one month to touch them." When she spoke to him, she used a firm, yet kind voice. She didn't want to get angry with him, or he would reciprocate. She was enjoying his peppy and positive attitude. "Anu, I know that many humans have the name Rea, but I have been called Rea since birth. Only today has someone called me 0105. I am not used to it. If you were to summon me by calling "0105", I would not recognize it. But my brain has been deeply rooted to recognize the name Rea, as with other human's and their brains. Who is 0104? I only know her by her name."





@Anaxial


(Finally... Sorry for the wait. xD )

 

[InsanEleven]

3487/11/05 07:16:43 SST


"Head pilot to engineering; Curie point for the electromagnetic warpfield drive is 768 degrees Kelvin with a margin of 0,1%. I will increase the power with ten percent every ten seconds, tell me when you are ready for testing temperature." Saami had been testing different systems regarding the warp engines for about an hour now, with engineering obtaining data from the systems. So far nearly everything had been well within margins, clearly in the green zone, except for one or two systems that required some internal recalibration. Nothing that could not be fixed within a day or two. The ship truly was in excellent condition, and he sincerely wanted it to stay that way.


The buttons and controls for the drives were located inside the bridge, in a sound proof room that held two seats (usually for the head pilot and the captain or a second copilot), but the ship could be operated fully with one pilot if necessary. It was made so everything was within reach, and an AI voice ran through the program with you. Basically as if the ship itself guided you while operating it.


"Engineering to head pilot; we are ready to measure temperature data." That was the sign he needed, and immediately he flipped a switch, after which the AI told him the electromagnetic warpfield had been activated. This system was quite important, keeping the ship intact during a warp, but if the field overheated beyond the Curie point it would collapse on itself. He had to know exactly how the power scale corresponded to the temperature rising, so he wouldn't accidentally overheat the systems. It would be fairly important there was a decent report made on the details of the ship, so in the case that he fell out the captain or a navigator could take over and bring the ship to safety without accidents. Occasionally when he was waiting for engineering to get ready he switched his attention to communications to see if Captain Rik had replied to his earlier message, but so far he had gotten nothing. It didn't surprise him though, he had send it at 4 am after all and it was still early, she was in all probability still asleep or waking up. The engineering department hadn't been too happy with their early morning assignment either, but they would just have to get ready to be called up at any time of the day. A 2 am breach in the ship wouldn't wait for their sleeping schedules either.

 

[Anaxial]

Staring at her with big black eyes, Anu returned his hands to the table, palms towards the roof. He analyzed her for a good few seconds before he cocked his head curiously and leaned forward, bringing his face close to hers.


"Ooh one month." Anu said returning to his up right position. "That is a very short time. I will wait over month before continuing my analysis." He explained, these humans were all very peculiar, some seemed to tolerate Anu and his hijinks, others made their agitation known. Rea seemed to be the former, he could hear it in her voice, see it in her movements. "0104 is the endearing Captain Adira Rik. Curious human she is, she seemed bothered by most anything I did. I can only assume most humans do not like being touched. I will refrain from it, until a month has passed." The alien nodded to Rea, showing her had learned something after all. "I will observe how you behave around other humans. How other humans behave around you. I will learn, eventually with your help Rea Attune." With that, a month of learning had begun, Anu only needed to see or hear something once to get it and so his progression was fast, but his curiosity got the better of him many times along the way.


Still Anu was never abrasive and was never purposely rude or aggressive during his 'schooling'. He took in everything anyone taught him and eventually was functional enough to be left alone in a room without ripping it apart, though he did have a worrisome curiosity about human dissection, but at least promised to wait until one of them died to do it.


Marshall avoided the base entirely, he only reported when he was told to and at designated muster times. Most of the time between now and their scheduled departure date he spent drinking, or running small missions on the side to make ends meet until the time had come...


(Set my two characters up to be ready for the time skip. @Luminescent feel free to respond with like a general idea of what was taught and all that jazz.)

 

[BookWyrm]

Adira had already finished making the food and was cleaning up when she head Woods scream. She bolted out into the living room, just happening to stand behind him, seeing him awake and looking at nothing in particular, before he mumbled something and started sobbing. her eyebrows knit together as she silently walked around the couch, making sure to stay on the far side so she wouldn't startle him. She'd dealt with this before, both with her own crewmen and herself. Some panicked and attacked if you got too close, others didn't care. She was willing to bet Woods would kill her if she got too close. "Seems like you had a pretty bad dream," she said quietly as she perched on the arm of the couch opposite him, being sure to give him some space. She didn't look directly at him, not wanting to embarrass him too much, instead focusing on the wall opposite them, so she could peripherally see him. "You don't have to explain, unless you think it'd help, then I'm here. I get it." She nodded to the kitchen and said, "If you want to eat, I made breakfast."

Woods looked up at Adira, his eyes red and puffy from sleep and the tears. He wiped his face off, slightly embarrassed but feeling no real worse for ware. His heart pounded in his chest, though it slowly started to calm as he sat there in silence. For the longest time he didn't feel like saying anything. This was his burden to carry. But for some reason unknown to him Adira seemed to be the type to trust. That, and actually getting that memory off his mind and out to someone other than his squad felt like it could help. "Back in SIAD, it was a simple sweep and clear. Some paramilitary group had come into this settlement, generally fucked it all to hell and back, and we were sent in to clean up the mess. In an out in less than five, all tangos down, extract on the way when this kid starts running towards the group. It was pouring down rain, but even then we could tell that the kid had a bomb. It had been bio-rigged into him. What kind of sick fuck bio-rigs a kid? Squad leader made the call, but I was the one who pulled the trigger. We all made it out that day, and the kid was gonna die regardless...but..."


Woods shrugged his shoulders as he looked up at Adira. " It happened within seconds, and the rig would have killed all of us, but I can't help but feel like some sick fucker for doing it."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira had stayed silent the entire time he spoke. She looked over at him as he finished, staying silent a few moments more before quietly saying, "it's always the worst when you don't really have a choice. Like, maybe there was some other way you just couldn't think of at the moment, even though, of course, there wasn't. And of course, logic doesn't tend to make the nightmares stop, right?" She didn't have to tell him he'd saved lives, anyone in his place would have done it, he did the right thing, he gave the kid a quick death, show him pity, no, he didn't need that. She knew, he didn't need that kind of talk. He probably had figured it all out already, anything she could say to attempt to comfort him like that, he knew. That never made the nightmares stop, though. So she decided to just show him that she understood instead.

 

[BookWyrm]

"No, it doesn't really matter which way you look at it. The nightmares persist no matter what. Even medals and award don't make 'em leave." Vince scratched the back of his head before sighing. He stood up and stretched, rolling his right arm around some to loosen his shoulder up. He just now smelt the breakfast that had been fixed. "What is all that about anyway?", he asked as he motioned towards the kitchen.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira shrugged, smiling slightly. "Just a token of gratitude for your help yesterday. Nothing big." Adira paused, then asked, "Just curious, you don't have to answer, but who was at the door last night? I recall your opening it and saying... something... then I passed out again." Admittedly, a rather large part of last night was a blur to her, not that she missed out on much at all. Evidently, nothing too mad had happened since there weren't any MPs around and neither of them were at the base in confinement.

 

[BookWyrm]

"Marshall." Vince left it at that as he walked over and chuckled slightly when he saw the bacon and pancakes on the table. He fixed two plates worth of food before walking back to the couch to sit, carefully passing Adira the second plate. "I haven't had bacon and pancakes for......well, since before I went into SIAD. We didn't really get a lot of luxuries during the service. Once in a blue moon we'd have real deal steak and potatoes, but that was on rare occasions when one of the squad happened to find them."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira smiled, taking the plate and trying some of her own cooking. Not bad at all, if she were honest. She stayed perched on the armrest of the couch. "Glad I could pay you back with something decent then. I was worried this would be too plain for you, but I'm glad to see I was wrong. Also, I'm going on the assumption Marshall had nothing particularly important to say." Adira finished her food, then a thought occurred to her. She moved back over to her jacket and reached into her pocket, pulling out her communicator. She flipped it open, then rushed and pulled on her jacket and boots. "Shit! I completely abandoned the paperwork last night and this morning they've been running warp tests. Dammit!" She replied to Saami's message: "Sorry, long story, didn't mean to leave you with the work. Very long story. Will be there in ten to finalize anything and check the warp tests." She ran out the door, saying, "Thanks again!" before heading to the base.

 

[InsanEleven]

3487/11/05 09:04:05 SST


Saami sat in a secluded part of the launch station, notating all the findings on the warp engines in fine detail. He'd been on the last test when he got the message from Captain Rik, and she seemed to be in a hurry. He didn't mind particularly much that she had left, probably less than she did, but it wouldn't be good for her image if she made a habit of going missing. A tarnished image could easily cause the decks to become distrusting, and the more internal rummage there was, the higher the chance of failure. But at least the ship was in excellent state, and he would even make a handy summary report with all the details she needed on how the ship handled. That way she would know everything she had to even if she hadn't been there to actually do the tests.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira adjusted her jacket as she walked over to Saami, ignoring the glances she got for her split lip and the butterfly bandages holding the gash on her head closed. Her head still hurt, but there wasn't much she could really do about that without medicine, which she didn't have at the moment. At least she had her jacket on, which hi her bruising. "Really sorry about that, some... old friends caught up with me. I had to hide out at Woods' place so he could patch me up. What've the results been so far?" Better tell him now, so he wouldn't think she was hiding something if he found out later.

 

[InsanEleven]

Saami looked up with his usual unchanging gaze, despite being surprised by those gashes. So there had happened something, and from her words it appeared to be like she had enemies on her heels. That wasn't good, if she had enemies even here in these outskirts of the empire. Of course she was a fairly famous captain, but if people wanted her gone so badly they attacked her even when she was deeply nested in an important military branch then that didn't spell much good.


"You should watch out with old friends ma'am, they can be feeble. Everything is in order, the ship is in excellent state. I will finish the report with the details within approximately two and a half hours." Old friends apparently could also beat you to pulp. He couldn't flat out warn her right here though, so he had just give her a more tactical hint to not get into more trouble. Hopefully she'd take a new friend with her next time she went out.

 

[Luminescent]

A month of learning had begun. Anu was learning very fast, and it wasn't that difficult to teach him. Rea would tell him something, and occasionally he'd come back with a question or two, but after a short explanation, he never forgot it. Although he was still very curious, Rea enjoyed teaching him and being in his company. She taught him causal phrases, introductions, hellos, goodbyes, and the like. They got together with the doc to dissect a cadaver, which Anu seemed to enjoy.


Anu was always kind and willing to learn. Eventually as the month came to an end, Anu had learned to keep his hands to himself, he learned when it it acceptable to be honest, and when it is better to lie, not to tear a room apart, to keep his curiosity at a safe level, to ask questions, and most of all, to live at a slower pace than he was used to. That part took a little work. Anu was used to a high functioning, intelligent society, in which talking, acting and moving slowly was an inconvenience. Although he learned it quickly, the practice of it was more difficult. However, at the end of the month, Anu was a master.


@Anaxial