>Want to join
>Haven't read previous threads
>Just want to fire the spess laser

Hawkes: 23 kills.

Changed the rating on Mowdown to 4.
>To lazy to post a pic.

in the IRC we had a neat idea

A dual map mission. Those that survived the nuke are kinda traped fighting off a few bugs and any others are a rescue team sent in to extract (also fighting a few bugs left)

what ya think?

Ghost: 10 kills

Looking for some info on sniper advanced classes!

>>13095577
Also updated mah character card with new kill count

I had a Bitank last mission,

IT WAS GLORIOUS!

So. There's that thing I wanted to ask.

I've got a kill last game.
Except I was botted.
Except I wasn't, because the orders were mine and I just gave them to Krieg so he'd post them for me, since I had to go AFK for a short while, just before Action Phase began.

...so does that kill count?

Just curious. One kill doesn't matter all that much.

Hello everyone,

I know I don’t have much right asking this, running off the way I did. I acted very selfishly and based off of personal experiences that none of you could have been aware of. I want you to know that the root cause of why I did that is the fault of no one here, and that I have found Skirmish Quest, and all of you, truly a fun experience. An experience I’m afraid, that I have may not only ruined for myself, but also for those who cared about my character and me. And so I ask for your forgiveness.

Personally, I ask this forgiveness from Dragon. Me running away was not your fault. From what I have gathered reading the archived threads, you are a good person who likes to be bold in roleplaying, and makes pictures to make people laugh. I don’t want you to change, or to stop pushing the envelop just because I want to come back and play with you.

I feel the need to explain why I acted as I did. Without going into too much detail, I was in a similar setting: an online roleplaying group and, through the actions of a handful of malevolent persons, was verbally assaulted on those forums, then my chat accounts, Facebook, and finally stalked in real life. I’ve tried to put it all behind me, but it was a really hard time in my life and has left some scars, if only the emotional kind.

> >

>>13095668

if you were present you got it.

Continued from >>13095702

I thought I had put it all behind me, but some feelings started to well up. I’m sorry I snapped at you, Dragon, and then for running off after your response. I thought you were laughing at me, shrugging off my defensive words, and it just reminded me of some of the events that had happened before. I see now that it was not the case, and I apologize.

If you’ll have me back, I promise to keep an open mind, and to know that I am among friends. I will take all criticism and parody of my character in good graces, and try to remember that we all play this game for fun. I’ll try and keep all the drama in-character. I still can’t use messenger without feeling very, very uncomfortable, and I’m sorry for that as well, because I know it would make things easier for everyone.

Can I come back?
- Lost

>>13095702
LOST, NO IT WAS COOL IT WAS ALWAYS COOL WE DONT MIND

>>13095577

That sounds good, but I would like to see action against a different force, or maybe some kind of crazy naval combat.

There has been 4 missions threads on this one planet, which iirc is our longest streak.

That and noting tops a nuke for a climax.

>>13095714
Of course you can, and we'd be glad to have you back.

>>13095724
This.
Given the way the players roleplayed immediately after the nuke went off anyway, I was under the impression there WERE no survivors left and that mission ended on a bitter-sweet half victory kind of note.

>>13095714

Hey lost, very good to see you back, your RP was enriching the experience.

Don't feel pressured to use the irc, i totally understand the safety issue, which is pertinent as this is still 4chan.

And naturally, I will also try my best to keep my RP consistent, and in character. You and dragon interacting with Aberham in that scene was fantastic, even is Aberham got very upset.

>>13095724
I'd prefer new force. Naval battles seem to have a low turn out.

Another double map with naval would be fine though.

>>13095702
>>13095714
S'okay. We're her to bash Exalted (not related), and their cronies, but any kind of roleplaying, both serious or just horsin' around are accepted.

Also, last time, sorry for team Skoll and field COs which I promised to compile. I had to run off for a personal emergency.

Now counting my remaining clones: Admiral clone, Private clone (decapitated by mantid), in-coma original, Admiral bonus clone, Capture the Flag bonus clone, and... Did we all get clones in the nuke mission, or was it just those who died in the resultant nuking?

>>13095724
>>13095784
Fair enough, however the nuke death should not count is the only add on if we go that way. (of course if you died before said nuke it does count)

>>13095852

Shot and blinky got new clones,

However, OC has not yet posted if we actually made it out alive

>>13095702

Psicomm will have your brains another day. Now you have to deal with getting out of the irradiated wastes alive.

>> Ghost, your choices are as Follows.

>gho[S]t [gS] > Cloaking while you move, visible when you fire your gun ! This class is also given a melee light weapon that deals one damage.

>[S]aint [St] > Saints are armed with Scanner Guns that are capable of saving meme chips, or capturing a targets' FLUX. Doing so will allow one to swap out FLUX's with an enemy's so as to let friendlies wrest control of their bodies using SOUL SHELLS.

>[S]talker [Sr] > Unconditional invisibility, and immunity to the elements comes at a price ! Severely non existent gear armed with only a side arm and a melee !

>>13095719
>>13095770
>>13095801
>>13095852

Thank you, that means a lot to me. Hopefully I'll be able to get myself, and Lost, back on track.

..speaking of which, I have some RPing about where Lost was when the queen assault was going on...

...but I'm not sure if this is the time to post it. I've read up on the last thread, and the nuke didn't seem to kill everyone, but I'm not sure what the ending really was.

Should I post anyway?

>>13095917


rocks fell, everyone d-

>>13095912
Woot! Sniper prestige classes!

>>13095917
I don't see why not, would also explain why you weren't at the battle
or save it for the next queen
There will totaly be a next queen

Dug themselves into a dark cavern how odd !

> Continue from there

rolled 3, 2, 8, 9, 10, 8, 7 = 47

>>13095949
>Damn rocks. [Prone Mowdown] at 5 rating. Because "damn rocks" doesn't constitute a legitimate post.

>>13095912
Huh. I would have thought there would be class that focuses on damage or attack type. And the Saint sounds like an [E]mergency medic specialist class than a [S]niper's.

>>13095577

We did something like that once.

Battle over Azimuth, in which we accidentally shot a hole in the moon.

And had delicious space chicken.

>bromence your
Bromence my what? BROMENCE MY WHAT, CPATCHA?!? WHAT SHOULD I BROMENCE???

>>13095917

None of us save OC know how it really ended yet, so we are all in the same boat.
It's alright if you don't want to get in irc or use a messenger, but if you ever need to ask us something you could just make a dummy account and find one of our screen names posted in the older threads.

Welcome back

>>13095917
>>13096032
Also, Mibbit. No account needed.

>>13095966

> Okay! This might be one that only Walker can respond to, with you guys buried under rocks, but here goes!

The helmet came down with a hollow thud, the rim digging into the hardpan of dry dirt. The two hands, fingers locked into place by the long strain, gripped and arched, starting the laborious process of dragging her body forward. Her right leg pushed out, scraping a light furrow before it caught and dragged the other leg, stiffly rigid, behind her body. Another few feet were gained as the arms hugged the helmet again her neck before the right leg came back up against the body and Lost’s hands reached out again with the helmet.

Ten hours earlier she had been crouched behind the resupply crates, wondering at the horror she had just done. That’s when she knew she had to get away. Away from everything. Anguish and near panic roiled in her mind, about breaking protocols, about breaking standing military law, weighted against the consequences if she stayed. Lost came to a decision: she knew that she had to leave.

Before she had done more then slip out to the perimeter, she realized she would never make it. Psicomm danced in the back of mind, a connection to the grid. With it they would note her movements, and they would simply locate and drag her back. Or detonate her legs into uselessness if they didn’t have the time. Frantically she searched her mind ways to disable it, but it was literally hard-wired into her brain, uplinked to the mem-chip that all soldiers had. And as if just wishing made it so, her connection winked out.

> >

Continued from >>13096073

She could feel a… shield wrapped around a portion of her mind. There was no better word for it, a perimeter around the mem-chip, starving it and psicomm of the necessary information and power to link and track her. She wanted to pause, stare and think in horror and amazement of what she had just done, but even in the confusion and bustle of the comm channel at the last leg of the refit, she didn’t have the time. She didn’t know how this shield worked, if even now she wasn’t tripping a hundred alarms. She just knew she had to get away from her friends and teammates.

Lost had started by running when she had gotten outside of camp. Great ground-eating strides, augmented by her suits motion-assist servos that rivaled pre-war Olympic runners. The ground, arid and flat, had small rolling hills with large dried lakes and salt flats. With a knight’s impressive stamina, she could have kept up that pace for close on eight hours before complete exhaustion overwhelmed even her medical shunt’s prescriptions and her armor’s motion-assistance.

It was around hour six when her leg broke. The armor, as sophisticated as it was, required an uplink to mem-chip and psicomm to be truly effective. Unable to monitor her body’s needs and thoughts, the servos were working sluggishly, having to anticipate movement instead of knowing the commands as they were sent to the limbs themselves. Environmental was also on the fritz, and Lost had taken off the helmet after only an hour, her blond hair streaming behind her, dark at the roots from sweat. She had held onto her helmet though, losing issued equipment was a disciplinary offense. Even though what she was doing now was tantamount to going AWOL.

> >

Continued from >>13096084

She had given a bark of laughter through dry, flaking lips, her red face already starting to peel, when her left leg servo miscalculated. The system had already taken on more and more strain as the time had passed, and as her foot came down on a cracked piece of a river bed that stood three inches higher then anticipated, the servo continued to move down, and then tried to compensate, thinking that Lost was falling, by going into a recover position. The resulting torque had shattered her steel-strong tibia and fibula in thirteen places in less then .01 of a second.

It had been a struggle to hold onto the shield in her mind as she slammed into the ground. It had taken ages for her to shakily reach up and thumb the manual release for the medical shunt’s pain medication. Eyes unfocused because of the pain, Lost tried to roll over onto her back before she realized the shield and spear already hard-mounted their made it impossible. Resisting the urge to scream, she placed the helmet back on and used her eye-cursor to straighten the leg out and lock it into place. She did scream then, and it echoed off the walls of the cliffs to the west. And then she pulled herself up and started limping.

It had been around hour nine by her internal chronometer when exhaustion overcame her and she fell again. She struggled to remain conscious. Rational thought was cloudy, with a mix of the pain, the last of the drugs, and exhaustion. Dimly, a part she saw that she had made it about 75 miles from base camp. Another part of her idly wondered about when she would die. But most of her was focused on the shield. She could not let that down, if she did, they would come for her, and she couldn’t let that happen. Determinedly she reached out and grabbed the fallen helmet, and using both her hands, started to use it to drag her along.

> >

Continued from >>13096097

Lost crawled and she lost all sense of her self. There was no worry, no thought. Just the shield, the pain, and the crawl. The last water had been hours ago. The last rational thought had been about twenty minutes ago. The body could have been someone else’s for how much she felt it, all the motion was automatic: stretch, push, pull, repeat. Lost never even realized when her strength had failed her and she was simply feebly scraping the ground with limbs too tired to do anything else.

When the shield broke her last thought was that she had failed to protect he friends. Failed to protect them from herself.

>ALERT: KNIGHT UNIT AB45-893K "LOST" FOUND. UNIT IS SUFFERING FROM SEVERE EXHAUSTION, HYDRATION, MULTIPLE WOUNDS, AND HEAT STROKE. DEATH FROM EXPOSURE WILL OCCUR IN THE NEXT TEN HOURS.

There is Darkness.

Bravo Force felt utter silence for the first time. There was no psicomm chatter, no static from on high, no tether. There was only darkness, the ground and the smelly of burning battery acid.
The stuff also smelled of sea salt and sweet oxygen.
It was the smell of death.
The familiar metal paddings of the train's deck was all the could balance themselves on. And one by one they made their way around, realizing that gravity favored the left more than any. They were tilted, and the sands below them was fine glass , warm and steaming almost like like an ocean in freeze frame.

I think im sitting between 13 and kills 15, upgrade tiem plz? (Posting from my phone at work, just a heads up as I wont be able to post often)

Well, since it's posted, it's what happened. Just so you know Lost, we've had TONS of players show up for a few sessions then disappear. Hell, we get a lot of them who show up then vanish half way into a game. So yeah, you don't need to beg forgiveness or anything for not showing up.

Also, in the event that you returned, I had hoped to write off your absence from the rest of the operation as "being pulled from front line duty due to questionable psychological stability," or something along those lines. Walker has had experience with individuals who were overly sensitive to psi-waves and such. Plus, reports of Lost tripping out led him to believe that in her current state she would be a potential liability.

Hey a general!

We were gonna discuss upgrades in this one?

>>13096158

So just to check understanding

We are all pushed to one side of a tipping train with radioactive sand underneath us?

Roosevelte is due for an upgrade, I think. OC is in charge of that.

Just to recap, at the ending of the mission, a S&R team has been dispatched to Bravo Force's approximate position with the mining tank (whether or not Blackbox is the one in it.) Also included are medical supplies and a team of medics to treat for wounds.

Expect medical operations in the cargo hold of a Pelican.

>>13096252

its not tipping but it is jutting. also yes

>>13096221

Thanks.

Well, when you've recovered her and feel up to some roleplaying, I would like to play out that confrontation.

>>13096294

Yeah... not sure how I'm going to have Walker handle that situation.

On one hand, this really does call for a regulation Commissar response.

On the other hand, Walker does know that Lost was tripping out, and knows something is up with Lost.

Lost is very lucky that she is not dealing with Evergrad.

"-!"

"-"

"-?! -?!?"

"- . . ."

Nothing. The psycomm is still connected to none of the Bravo team, that of all probabilities, is most possibly blasted to smitheerens by the force of the blast or just plain fried by the radiated heat.

"-still no replies, Major. Psycomm has returned to 12% connectivity. It isn't much, but it ought to pick up the signals of the MEME-chips."

". . ."

"-they are most probably dead. Might be time to revive the clones, despite not having their latest MEMEs."

Practical. This clone has always been so. No hint of remorse. None. Besides, the clones are still there. At least so long as the resources remained, clones will always walk out of the clone vats, with their memories, or not.

>>13096172

Roosevellllt you are an R
>Ranger
>Shock Trooper
>Machine GUnner

>>13096327

Yeah, I heard about him. At least Walker would look Lost in the face if he was going to detonate her organs.

But I'm sure we'll work something out, or at least have a dramatic/moving roleplay.

>>13096247
Or do I not get one because I'm an armor?

Anyone?

>>13096327
Either Fierstorm or the Inquisitors will have to pick up on that. Losing connection to Meme-chip is a big deal. Might be above Major's paygrade.

/inb4 Walker gets a raise.

>>13096368

He knows that's somethingis up with Lost. Again, prior experience.

Plus, he monitors his soldiers through PsiComm. He's aware that Lost's readings were a bit funny, although they could be written off as stress and combat fatigue.

Either way, going AWOL might end with a demotion, being *BLAM'D*, or a combination of both.

>>13096352
Well, shocktrooper sounds right up Roosevelte's alley, any specifics available, or is it classified?

>>13096471
Something like
>Act 2
>Move 4
>Ammo 20
>Burst
>Aim
>Grenades

Something like that. Last time I heard at least.

I guess not.

Yay for unsung heroes, I guess.

>>13096504

You just went from a 70 year old man to a 20 something bikini model.

Walker needs to sort that out first.

>Maybe, don't know. Armor was at 20, wasn't it?

>>13096516
I'm at 16 kills. So no, even though you said something along the lines of me getting one for what I did. I guess. I don't know.

>>13096471

Shock Trooper.
2 Actions.
3 Move.

Primary: ShortBarrel Parabola Automatic: 4Rx1
2 Pulse Grenade Rounds, 3 spread.

>>13096529

If we are to follow universal armor rules, you dont get your next blow till 20 points

>>13096535
>>13096485

4 move ? OH RIGHT I shortened the range of the SMG in favo of higher move derp

>>13096572
Wow, really? I ram a fucking queen and blow myself to fucking pieces and you won't even... Fuck. I'll be working on Betsy. Fuck you all.

>>13096535
Grenades, eh? Sounds good to me, let's shock some troopers

>>13096639

I gave you an extra meatsuit, and...

eh, fuck it. I don't want to try to appease anyone at the moment.

>Although I haven't thought about it until now - does the Queen count as a kill for Blinky and Shot?

Dragon woke up on the ship, a bit dazed a bit confused. Looking down on his own body and his friends after being torn into was....something. Pulling the trigger to have his own body detonate was even more strange

"Good thing I have spare bandanas"

He waited for the other clones to pop out of their holdings.

Ghost's eyes opened, there was darkness. He had a splitting headache from where his head had collided with the side of the bitank cockpit. It was times like these he wish he wore a helmet instead of a cap. Standing, he managed to flick on the lights after a few moments of stumbling around. Looking around the cockpit, he spotted R00 in a corner powered down. Retrieving his rifle, he flipped the night vision on in the scope and did a quick scan of the area. Confident that none of the xenoforms had survived, he looked down and shouted, "Hey, any survivors down there?"

>>13096683
I appreciate the thought, sir, I really do, but it probably won't see use.

>>13096639

You might get rank up or a field commendation. As for points, those'r solid, cold numbers. The queen is worth a kill but the group gets extra points. That's what it boils down to.

>>13096711

You did DIE. So essentially, this death was a free one for you and Blinky.

Also, you up for some S&R?!?
>Might be RP though. Go make Dragon uncomfortable with your she-parts where your he-parts used to be.

>>13096677

Aberham's eye focus on the faint light up ahead,

"Ghost that you?"

Then the smell hit him, and he remembered what he'd been thinking before the world tuned upside down.

"BRAVO! MASKS ON!, get something over your eyes too, come to me if you can see me."

>>13096683

and yeah it was a team kill so they both get it. Its rare but I cant exaclt award half kills.

>Also, you up for some S&R?!?

Probably gonna be my last mission. I have a job to finish, then I'm gone, sir. I'm tired.

>>13096757

>Would be RP, most likely. Breaking into the caverns below, like a spiked angel of mercy...

>I'm totaly up for RP Btw, anyone who wasn't on the ground or died can party with the dragon. Hell we can also time skip to after you got picked up

>>13096785
"Yeah, whatever. It's a job. No one will give much of a shit, so neither do I, really. I'm not mad at you, Walker, you've been nothing but kind. You've acknowledged me. You've given me credit where's credit's due. But I've faced down a horde of bugs to save two fucking people, and I've thrown myself to the goddamn lions. All I have to remember it is that I have to get a new Armored Gyro and hopefully get it up to spec in time, and the thank you letters from those poor folks. You've been a great CO, sir, and I'm happy to have served under you. But I'm done serving under this army, iff'n you get that."

Shot turned, putting out his cigar and tossing it away.

"You can keep her when I'm done, by the way. Betsy's always been at home in the milit'ry. But you probably won't see hide nor hair of me again. I'm done bein' a hero."

>>13096738

Ghost searched the cockpit, finding a box to the side containing a mask. Slipping it on and insuring that it was sealed, he climbed down the side and made his way over to Aberham. "Yeah, it's me. Looks like we are still alive at least."

>>13096757

Also not terribly sure if i can run a game at this POINT. I havent even eaten yet. And tired ? Yeah I havent been able to return to my bed for 22 hours. I m actually pretty strung out myself.

>>13096851
I don't think any of us are ready for a game tonight so it's fine

Flynn swung his feet off the slab, and started dressing.
Damn, cloning hurt, he thought.
He couldn't spot anyone else in the facility, except a fairly angry 20 something female, storming around with a frustrated look on her face.
Huh.

Don't remember her.

"God, anyone get the number on that nuke..." Nomad groaned as he levered himself up from the ground. He could taste blood where his face had impacted on the inside of his mask. "Nomad here. Helmet's intact. What's the situation doc?"

>>13096817
Fly cautiously approached Dragon.
"Uh.. Who's the chick?" he whispered pointing to the woman.

>>13096869
"Yo Flynn what the a*Explative* up?"
Dragon watches the model go on a tirade to the Major
",..and who's she?"

I SEE SO HOW ABOUT THIS !
>RP NIGHT WITH STORY FLUFF BUSINESS !

It's kind of a mission with me residing. I shall be back in 30.

To those that dont participate- its totally fine. You can be wounded or something. I mean I should be clinically dead by now : D

>>13096903
You know as much as i do.

I think I get a new class. Or failing that, level up again. If I'm just leveling a stat, could I add an R to my missile ammo, so that if I spend an action I can fire off another six? Seems like it could be useful- at least if I ever get in an engagement where I'm not fighting at knife range. Like the last several.

Hell, maybe I should just boost gatling. Those extra 1.2 average hits could help a lot.

>>13096914
"Huh, well, must be someone important the way she's talking to walker."
>Dragon looks up and down the hall
"Hey where the hell is everyone else?"

>>13096934
"Heh. Yeah. Maybe we should just ask?
Speaking of which, where IS everyone else? I thought they'd be back by now..."

>>13096893

Aberham, walks briskly to Nomad.

"Well, I don't know honestly, but the nuke sure as hell went off and that means we all got a huge rad dose."

he reaches out and jerks Nomad's shoulder around, before injecting a does of some white substance into his shoulder.

"There...sorry, I'll need to hit everyone with this, mild diuretic, help you piss the rads out."

He loads up the next does.

>>13096956
"I got no intention of interupting some chick that fired up and Major "I'll detonate your legs"..."
>Dragon shrugs
"Well how did you get here so fast? you die too?"

>>13096109

You still available Lost?

We can come and get you now if need be...i think.

>>13096968
"Uh. Yes. Died. Wait. Hang on. Shot died. Wheres he?"

PS. HOLY SHIT CHEAT SHEETS FOR EVERYONE

http://www.mediafire.com/coltonzerospace

THANK COLTON FOR THIS ONE FOLKS !

test

>>13096981

I'm still here. You can be on the medivac that reaches her, if you want, but she's gonna be under for a bit, even after you find her. But feel free to RP finding her.

>>13096987
"I dunno."
>Dragon rubs his chin
"The others must have survived the blast or somethin'. That was Z*explative*ing NUTS though. I mean i was looking down on you guys and then Q*explative*ing Shot tackling the Z*explative*ing queen. I need to buy that man a drink. Top shelf."

Walker stood in the cloning labs, speaking with the now she-Shot, as two more clones - Dragon and Taggart - were activated.

Both were Anti-Armor units. And were used to handling heavy explosives.

The Major's face cracked into a smile.

Perfect.

"Privates Taggart, Dragon, front and center! I've got a mission for you. And it involves high-powered mining equipment. Man-portable pneumatic cannons. And no, you have no choice in the matter. So get to the equipment room and grab your gear, and meet me in the hanger in 20. You'll get your diggin' toys and debriefing there."

The Major then turned to the Corporal. Only for a moment did he even think about which gender pronouns to use for Shot.

"Same goes for you, Corporal. You and Betsy will ride again. And this time, you'll be an angel of Mercy."

Walker turned to see the two privates still in the room.

"What are you two knuckle heads waiting for? Search and rescue operations don't conduct themselves! You're dismissed!"

>>13096921

I believe I will arrive at a deciscion to let you level up more specs since Armor is that sort of thing with not so fluid growth rate.

I cant imagine spec classes for Armor units tbh, just that they upgrade more with added fluff.

>>13097028
Dragon could only smile at the word Cannon but then could only be confused by the line "Besty ride again". He didn't have much time to think about it

He liked his legs

A relaxed salute "Sir" and he was off to grab himself a cannon
"Search and rescue, guess the others did survive the blast. Shame ya didn't make it bro"

Just curious orbital, is there a sheet for the shock trooper yet?>>13096640

>>13097028
"Yessir!"
>motions Dragon to follow
"WAIT. WAITWAITWAIT."
>slow turn
"SHOT?!?"

>>13097054
Like flame decals, underglow, and nitro?

>>13096965
"Pfft, this is nothing compared to getting a fucking rocket to the face." Nomad rolled his shoulder as the drugs began to flow through his system. He glanced around in the near-darkness looking for the rest of the Bravos. "BRAVOS! Sound off!"

His head snapped around to stare at Aberham. "Wait, doc, what was that about radiation!?"

Shot slid into the familiar, and not familiar seat of the new Ag. Quietly, he looked at the additional controls he had placed for two new systems he was planning on using: External manipulators, or rocket boosters. With a quiet grunt, he removed them, throwing them into the incinerator just within range. "Fucking pricks. All of High command, fucking pricks." he mumbled, going through pre-mission checks. Same old shit. Seventy god damn years of service, and only one CO would even acknowledge him. Her. Whatever, he didn't really give a shit anymore. He tucked the letters from Gregory and Jeremy, two of the people he'd managed to save in that bug- and zombie-infested shithole. The two, in fact, that nearly cost him his own life.

Not that his life was worth much, apparently. He rolled to vehicle deploy and waited for orders.

"Last mission, Betsy." he said quietly.

...

Of course there was no responce. The same tumor in his mind that had given birth to the hallucination that had been Betsy had been blown apart, selfsame as the rest of him, as well as the original Betsy.

"...Won' be the same without you."

>>13097095
"Lieutenant Hawkes here. Trying to get drunk as fuck." He took another swig from his hip flask. Not much left to do but wait for someone to come pick him up.

Oddly the only thing he could think/worry about was if his glasses were dirty and/or broken.

>>13097118
Flynn got his clothes and equipment on. He was still having trouble understanding what had happened to Shot.

>>13097118
Dragon sits in the Apc. confused by the mutterings of "Betsy" and the "years of service"

Damn, she kept in good shape if she was really that old
"Sorry miss but uh...who are ya?"

Ghost and Shcoktroopers are in the frying pan.

And after i eat them, off these sizzling bacon and eggs i will get back to you. I am recovering from the effects of prolonged slep deprivation so dont expect me to move for a solid 30 minutes.

>>13097095

Aberham recoils slightly as Nomad whips around; and furrows his brow.

"Umm, big does of rads"

He relaxes slightly.

"The medicine I gave you should help your body recover, and transport any remaining radioactive particles our of your system with a mild diuretic effect, And everyone need to keep their masks on not to breath any of that shit in."

He ad minsters the dose to himself before continuing.

"Everyone, if you get nauseous or get diarrhea you need to talk to me immediately!"

>>13097141
>jabs dragon in the side
>whisper
"That's Lost! Cloning fucked him- her- him up and he swapped genders inadvertently."

The pain in his head was throbbing, he must have hit his head harder then he thought. "Right, the shot." Even with the others here, it was too quiet. "Hey wait a second. Psicomm is out. I wonder if they think we are even still alive."

>>13097141
"Corporal Shot. I'll be pleased as punch if you say Sir, thanks. Not in the mood for jokes right now, son." he replied.

>>13097187
Dragon was a bit confused as anyone would be.
"Shot...like, Q*explative* Shot. You're not his long lost daughter or anything, you're shot?"

Dragon is silent for a moment

"Uh can i buy you a drink when we get back?"

>>13097212
Goddammit, Dragon.
Goddammit.

Walker stormed from the cloning labs, headed straight to his personal quarters. As he walked, he tapped the side of his TACIM - the Tactical Command Interface Module. It looked like someone combined a set of sunglasses, a pair of headphones without the connecting bridge, and a microphone off the left bud. Standard issue to all command personnel, it allowed him to directly open a channel to any of his men linked to PsiComm.

"McMillan, report!"

"Sir! Just getting the Pelicans ready sir. Should take another 30 minutes."

"Add another and make it 20, Lieutenant."

"*Sigh* Sir, yes sir."

Walker closed the channel, and made a turn in a corridor, ignoring the soldiers who saluted him as he passed. He had no time to acknowledge them all; he had no time to mourn. He had a job to do - save his men.

> > >

>>13097212
"I'll be leaving soon after, son. High Command just doesn't give a shit, so, they can do without me. I tell you what: You serve this damn army for seventy years, and it's not until they see you kill shit that they start giving you what you need to be effective. 'S a fucking shame, I tell you what." he said, cutting off the end of a cigar. "But you keep tryin'. You keep savin'. You keep on doing what you always done, because it's all there is to do. But my boy, he got himself a farm on the inner planets. And my grandaughter, well, I need to see her once in a while, you know? This ol' coot is done being a hero, waiting around for medals he'll never recieve. Waiting for tools he'll never get. So he's shippin' out." he chuckled. "'Cause I'm leaven, on a jet plane, something something whatever." he shook his head. "You boys best be ready, god know's what's down there."

>>13097054
That works. It's tricky to level vehicles as opposed to just giving out new units... basically you're giving out new infantry units, but it somehow doesn't feel like as much of a shift. Possibly because vehicles are more defined by the fact that they were purchased and given to a unit at some point anyway.

Here we are, then. Sharky has been upgraded with the newest model of micro-missiles- just as much speed and punch in a package half the size! They will go very well with her paired missile racks. New attack pattern: Open every engagement with a six-missile salvo at the nastiest available target. Cackle as missiles remain available to punch through enemies later.

>>13097241
"Shit...
I didn't realize..."

>>13097054
It's not like I haven't given you ideas

Multiple times

If I knew how I'd even stat them for you

>>13097241
"Well x*explative* what command thinks or gives ya man...." He pauses for a while after using that word, then quickly jumps back on track "You deserve more yeah, but like shit it's not like no one cares! Why do you think i want to buy you a drink? It's not because you're smoking hot now, which you are, it's because you fucking tackled a z*explative* queen. That was the most badass thing i've seen and I punched one of the mother fuckers to death. Shit we're all clones man, so go home to your family. Hell tape the reunion. Can't wait to see little Suzie's face when she finds out her pappy shot is ass central, leave a clone. Command might not think much of ya, but I know we sure do."
Dragon ends with a FIRM pat on the sholder

>>13097267
"Don't worry, son. No one knows who I am."

He lights the cigar, starting the engine for the vehicle.

>>13097288
"...

You're an alright kid, son." he said quietly, looking at the controls. "Yer alright."

>>13097289
>hangs head
"i feel like this is gonna be big. But how the hell are we penetrating the hive with 3 guys?"

>>13097227

Walker made it to his quarters. As the door hissed open, he stood inside, the automatic lighting activating. Despite the size and the Spartan furnishing, the room was not lacking - at least, to Walker. Sure, it had some plaques on the walls, and a pair of ceremonial pistols on a rack with a sword hanging beneath them. But aside from that, there was only the necessities - a bed, a desk with a pair of holo-frames sitting on it, a foot locker, a single dresser and cabinet, and a coat rack.

And one large locker tucked into the corner of the room, which the Major headed straight for. Punching the keypad combination, the little display flashed green, and a soft click could be heard as the mechanism unlocked. Walker quickly opened the locker, but stopped as it was fully open.

He reached inside to touch the fabric of the old combat suit.

"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" he muttered as his fingers traced an old patch sewn on the sleeve. It had been over five years since he had worn it.

His hand dove into the locker, as he pulled a well-worn TACIS out, one that was much more utilitarian and suited for the field. He removed his new TACIS, and slowly connected the new one into his implants, feeling the familiar metal and connections in his skull.

Lastly, he pulled an old rifle from the locker - similar to the ones Rangers used, but much more modified and personalized. He shouldered it, and aimed down the sights.

"Looks like I'm back in the saddle again, huh John?" the Major whispered to a portrait on his desk.

>>13097168

Looking a little disoriented, "Is is weird for everything to smell red and yellow?"

>>13097323
"Shit, most of the hive is dead, son. Mr.Smiley took care of most of it for us. We're needed to get folks out, not to kill shit. This is what I'm best at, boys. Extraction. Shit's piss easy, once you get the hang of it."

>>13097338
"Heh. I suppose, but god, ive seen enough caves in my lifetime. I'd prefer a straight field, where ya can just cut em down, ya know? RATATTATATA ya know?"

>>13097353
"That's infantry ferya." he said with a sigh. "Getcher head offa murder for a second, boy. We are here for extraction, getting those poor folks out alive. Cover and positionin' don't mean shit here."

>>13097335

"well yes, you have you mask on right?"

>>13097381

"I checked the seals. Did hit my head on the bitank though."

>>13097353
"Then why the fuck did you pick the big gun. You shame us Anti armors. SHAME US" Dragon is saying this in no seriousness and with a huge grin

>>13097338
"Damn, I'd like to kill a scarab with this thing ya know? That'd be q*explative*ing metal. Not that we need to what with you squashing them underfoot."
Dragon suddenly sits foward
"Man you save our asses on the train too. Walker will definetly get you out of here, but at the same time you should stay ya know? Just leave a clone behind keeping the death rolling up."

" That should be fine, Private" Said a sharp confident tone of an Inquisitor. " I just double checked with tectonic intel, theres no xeno movement for a good 5 miles deep. "

She was just about to turn the corridor as if to look for Walker when suddenly- at the turn of a heel, she looks Shot up and down.
" The Gyro operator am I right ? I ought to commend Walker for that daring move-- killing another hive queen- matured one at that... "

>>13097334

20 minutes later, Walker stood in the hanger. Just as he had ordered, four shining Pelicans, plus a new Armored Gyro, sat waiting form him.

"Sir! All preparations have been made, save for the Gryo. We've got all the mining equipment and medical gear stowed away on the Pelicans. We also have two Colossi already inbound to the location to get the dig site prepared."

"Good job, McMillan," the Major said as he pat him on the back. "Is Sergeant Hartford on board already?"

"Yes sir, and all the doctors. We're just waiting on you."

"Good. Get the Gyro loaded onto a Pelican. The rest can launch."

"Sir, yes sir!"

Walker walked over to the Gryo, and climbed in through the hatch. Wearing his old combat armor with his rifle slung over his shoulder, the only thing that indicated that his identity was his trademark cowboy hat.

"I'll be riding with you, today. You boys ready to get dirty?"

>>13097138

"Good to hear ya LT. Looks liked we're stucked uner a buncha rocks and if the doc's ta be believed we're bathing in radiation right now." Nomad double-checked that his shield and sword were firmly attached to their holders on his back. "What's your status?"

Nomad picked his way carefully towards where he had last seen Howe, the injured Riflemen had been propped up against the wall in the middle of the train. "Howe, Ghoul, you guys read me?"

>>13097408
"It's what I was grown for sir. Nice to have ya hanging around. Major"

>>13097371
"Sorry Si- Ma'am. I served in the infantry for a while, just got used to it i guess..."

>>13097417
"I'm doing okay. My sis seems to be alright, albeit she's taking a small nap." Hawkes looked down at the head on his shoulder, or what he could decipher was a head in the darkness. "Wonder if rads got in my booze... Fuckin rads." He was staring into his flask, but with a shrug he raised it to his lips and tipped his head back.

>>13097393

"Well, if it becomes anything other then Synesthesia, let me know, I'll drop you into monitoring on the HUD just in case you have bleeding or the like."

He fiddles with his headset, but after a few moments looks confused.

"You said Psicomm was out, correct?"

"We need to get out of here soon. As fast as possible actually"

>Lost, you still there? I'm going to do a Hoth on you. "We found them, I repeat, we found them!" kind of deal.

>>13097443

"And lieutenant, sir, don't mean to sound out of line, but you need to get your mask on, and your sister needs her's on too"

>>13097454

> Still here. Just sitting back and watching all the adventure. I've got some soda, so I'll be up for a while longer.

>>13097486
"Get one fer her. I'm not puttin' one on until I'm bloody shlosh- Is that a glowing green ferret? Yeah, get me a mask."

30 minutes later, Walker found himself sitting in the Armored Gyro nicknamed 'Betsy' with three of his men. It felt odd, sitting in a Gyro hanging from a flying Pelican. He would have preferred if they drove.

That, or the Gryo at least had windows.

"Major Walker, this is Pelican 6-2, 'Snarks.' We just picked up a signal, about 4 clicks East of that hole above the railroads."

"Copy Snarks, confirming."

Walker tapped his TACIM, trying to filter out some of the noise. Sure enough, a unit signal came through. One of Bravo. The ID came in as KNIGHT UNIT AB45-893K "LOST." Quickly, the Major opened a channel to one of the other Pelicans.

"6-3, this is Walker. The doctors are on board your bird, correct?"

"Affirmative, sir."

"Right. I'm uploading coordinates to you. Land at these coordinates to retrieve one of our soldiers. Then head to the dig sight."

"Understood Major, 6-3, out."

>>13097513

Aberham quickly retires the masks, though does not seem at all pleased at the idea of seeing his commanding officer drinking in such a situation.

He also provides the remaining Bravo members with the "inoculation" as quickly as possible as to avoid any protestations.

For a few moment he thinks back to university, it been so often that Warsaw has outperformed him, almost without effort, or so it seemed. That competence could mix with levity often alluded him.

Ghost wandered back over to his bitank and climbed back up into the cockpit. Were there distress beacons in these things? He began scouring the console looking for any switch or button that might be the one.

>>13097533
"So Walker...
Hows it feel to be back in the saddle?"

I must have some seriously bad luck to keep missing these things!

Another uneventful half hour passed by. The Major was still monitoring the comm. channels.

And he was wishing even more that the Gryo had windows for him to look out of.

"This your pilot speaking, we are at the dig site. Preparing to drop."

Twin clangs could be heard from the hull of the Gyro, and suddenly the entire vehicle was in free fall. Then it hit the dirt with a stomach-inverting thud.

"Shot, the Colossi have already made some headway into the dirt. Head over there and start burrowing. You and Betsy will head the effort, while the Colossi will help move dirt. Dragon, Taggart, get out at the hole and start diggin' with those nice toys you have. Don't worry I'll be playing in the dirt too."

Just as the Major said that, he hefted a pneumatic cannon stowed beneath his seat.

"Just keep your masks on," he said as he fitted his own - awkwardly - over his face. "Don't want to risk radiation poisoning."

Nomad had located Howe and Ghoul, the former unconcious and slowly sliding into the glassed sand floor while Ghoul was surrounded in smoke unconcious inside his BitTank. He dragged the both of them to safer ground where Aberham took care of them. "I think that's all of us that survived the Hive."

He looked up at the caved in ceiling. Things were looking grim for Bravo Force. "I'm starting to wish I had brought El Dorado along. Any ideas on how to contact Command or get us out of this irradiated hole in the ground, doc?"

>>13097590
>Start joining irc, AIM, read threads! I've not missed one doing this

>>13097597
"Lets do this!" Fly cheered as he slipped on the mask.
>goin to bed, see ya later. Been fun. Maybe an actual game this weekend?

The interesting thing about Gyro pilots is that they use the cameras positioned between the hemispheres to pilot. The center of the sphere doesn't rotate, and neither does the thin band between the armor plates.

He pulled down a visor, peering inside.

"Here we go, boys. 'S a bumpy fuckin' ride."

>>13097590

>Quick refresher. We're on the Rizon server at the #skirmishquest channel. If you can't or won't download IRC you can use Mibbit ->http://www.mibbit.com/. JOIN US. JOIN US!

>>13097597
"Aww, always wanted to glow in the dark"
Dragon seems to handle the recoil with ease and starts punching into the dirt

>>13097562

"Familiar and nostalgic, Private. Now let's go dig up Bravo, shall we?"

Walker stepped out of the Gyro into the hot sun.

Good thing he had his hat.


Elsewhere, Sergeant Lio, pilot of Pelican 6-3 "Warhammer" was busy trying to locate the phantom knight. The signal was weak, and would disappear only for it to return moments later. Why the Major cared so much for a bunch of disposable clones was beyond him.

"Lio! I've got something on the visuals. Looks like our knight," said his copilot.

"Roger that. Command, we've found our knight. I repeat, we've found him. Landing now for extraction."

Lio expertly swooped low, then pulled up, using the Pelican's boosters to bring the ship to hover. He quickly brought the bird down, and opened the boarding ramp.

"All right medics, go do your thing."

>Can you work with this, Lost?

Solid Earth and soil thudded and ground at regular intervals as the Colossi up top jammed drill arms into the tera . Down below and further down the sounds of digging was simply muffled out under tons of rock and molten cavern ceiling. However, large plates of rock begin tumblng down on the sandy floor, creating a sound louder a thousand waves crashing. In the darkness, it felt stormy and duslt as hot glowing sand was dislodged from the molten bottom. The mining train didn't have a care in the world

It was never silent inside a Predator. The constant loud hum of the engines was a comfort- it meant that the systems which kept the somewhat less than aerodynamic vehicle aloft and moving were online and functioning. The deafening banging of the gatlings, loud enough to cause near-total hearing loss should some rare pilot manage to survive a year of active operation, was a gleeful chant of violence accompanied by the softer shuddering rattle of the entire craft fighting to stay intact; its massive weapons generated enough stress that only the careful nanowelding of all joints held its toughened metal and ceramic plating together. And the shrieking blast of launching missiles was a cry of victory.

There was a new sound in this Predator, though, and it was not so friendly nor familiar as those. A low, level hissing that bespoke a quiet problem, unnoticed and unmonitored during the frenzy of battle, now slowly preparing to become fatal. Some loosened mechanism, perhaps, scraping constantly against another, or a slow and steady leak of one of the vital chemicals which constantly flowed through the aircraft like blood and kept the wonder of technology flying and killing. The particulars didn't matter- it was the soft, steady noise of approaching doom.

It replaced another sound, one which was normally taken for granted and not associated with a Predator at all. In the back of every pilot's mind, indeed every clone's, a soft buzzing formed a connection to an essential net which kept them in constant, comfortable communication. That soft noise, that quiet reassurance of one's place in the world and the presence of others who acknowledged it, of those upon whom one could depend and whom depended upon on in turn, was missing.

>>13097726
It had been a very long time since Irons had been truly alone.

>Can't talk; comm's out, speakers are fried. Can hardly see; it's dark, sensors gone, lucky to dodge the damn walls. Can't land; if that hissing is the hydraulics... this whole thing could explode the moment I try to deploy the gear. Can't stop looking for bugs; team's alive down there. They must be. They need someone to watch over them. Can't rest while I'm flying, can't get stimmed with the comm out.

>I don't think I can keep this up much longer.

>The fuel gauge is counting down. That noise is getting worse. And I'm sure that something is moving, out in the darkness. Is anyone even left but me? Where are you, Command? Major? L-T? Kari Squad, are you even alive?

Brown smoke trailing unseen behind it in the darkness, the Predator makes another slow circle around the crashed train...

>>13097700
Shot was quick, slamming away debris, playing music over the intercom. Loud, but not bassy, the kind that carried well. As soon as the mess was cleared, he got out himself, moving to assist those caught in something, or those who were lost.

>>13097700

>Sure. Want it to go any particular way?

>SLEEEEEP. G'night everyone.

"Time for a nap."

There was a loud sound, at first Ghost thought the ceiling was caving in until realized someone was digging through! Activating the rest of the bitank systems, he readied him self to move toward any opening.

>>13097770

>However you want your interaction with four medics trying to lift you onto a stretcher to work. Walker isn't there; he's at the dig site. After they retrieve you, they will head directly to the dig site to set up a medical station for the wounded.

>>13097796

Nothing yet. No sounds of Psicomm kicking up , nor that familiar whitenoise of "radio silence" in his ears either.

The whole damn thing fel like he was deaf.

There was a beep on Walker's TACIM.

" Uhm sir- Is this the commanding officer ? " Said an unsure voice. Civilian for sure, a volunteer off the Homefront defense forces or what's left of them... "

"God damn this thing has a kick!" Dragon pushed deeper into the soil.

oh man, he was so going to get hugs

Aberham looked impatiently at his clock, it had been several hours, and so far no signs of sickness. From his perch on the enemy Bitank he could make out all the remaining men in the faint illumination, and he watched them carefully.

He knew how important it was to keep himself distracted, and monitoring the status of Bravo provided enough, Ghost needed to get to a proper med-bay for examination, and the ionizing radiation monitor kept clicking. Fortunately his calculations put them at under-dose, especially with the immediate treatment he had given.

No, he could not let his mind rest, to think they had been abandoned, that might break him. and he felt like he'd come to far.

"don't think about pink elephants"

>>13097863

Walker paused from blasting away bedrock, wiping the sweat from his brow. Some days, good, physical labor was what a man needs, he thought to himself.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice came over his TACIM. A civilian.

"Yes, this Major Walker, Commanding Officer of Bravo Force. May I ask who you are, or how you got on this military frequency?"

>>13097886

Th- This is Petty Officer Bradley, I just got assigned to to GeoIntel not too long ago- we've run those geo sonar triangulations like you requested- and it seems that we're looking at two- no three days of subterranean layers before we finally make it to the molten cavern underneath..... but dont get me wrong, sir- I'm not trying to dissuade you from rescuing your own but.. " Bradley cricks his neck. " The logistics on this dig doesnt look too good- we're talking a blast crater created miles deep by an asteroid and a bug colony- surviving for 3 days in the underground with limited oxygen and supplies seems... grim "

>>13097931

"Understood Bradley. Tell me then, how much firepower would I need to blast a hole deep enough so that I can dig my men out within a day?"

>>13097879

"You say something doc?" The Knight's strong voice echoed in the empty cavern. He had taken up station on the highest point he could reach, shield strapped to his arm and sword loose in it's scabbard. He hoped they had gotten all the bugs in the nuke, but it payed to be ready for anything.

He had spent the last few hours in...well it was best described as meditation. It was something they had taught him in boot as part of his training in the sword. In this state he could conserve his energy with the minimum amount of oxygen so he was ready if any trouble reared its head.

Also, Bravo Force symbol, rough, and subject to change.

That is a bear.

Because B is for BAD-ASS-MOTHER-FUCKING-BEARS.

>>13097980

"Fire power ? well I would imagine that something as comparitively strong as another asteroid would do the trick -- penetrating deep into same crater that it had caused. "

>>13098018

Walker scratched his chin. Blasting the crater with something that would provide the same amount of energy as the initial asteroid would be tricky.

Inspiration struck him. That approach was like using a hammer to open a can - it would get the job done, but was the brute method force. A smaller amount of force at just the right spots would be better. Namely, a penetrative one. This would be just like digging to the bottom of a well.

"Roger that, Bradley. Listen, I want scans of the area surrounding Bravo. I don't want to hit my men on accident with this."

The Major then opened up a channel to the dig team.

"Listen up people! Pack it up! We're going to be pulling back to a safe distance so we can blast our way through."

"Bradley, can you locate a position where I can use a bunker-buster missile or two to blast a hole next to Bravo without blowing them up? I would very much appreciate it, Petty Officer."

"McMillan! This is Walker. Tell the gunner to prepare some bunker buster warheads. Preferably the smaller ones."

>>13098005

Aberham spoke quietly in return, as if to prompt the knight to follow in kind.

"People just can't help thinking about things the don't want to think about" He pauses "you're very quiet, did not even think you were there, they teach you that? maybe in imprint from psicomm?"

>>13098078
"blast through close and then dig the last bit away? I love the way you think sir"

The medic’s boots thumped down the boarding ramp of the pelican. Their commanding officer, Second Lieutenant Rorwen Tucker, held his rank more because of his medical doctorate and officer school training then anything else. The other men, one of them actually a woman, helped lead one of the medical shifts on-ship. Today the Major was knocking out all the stops, and Tucker felt exposed here out on the surface.

Glancing about, the shine of the knight’s armor gave him away as much as the unsteady psicomm reading. All that radiation in the air, with the EMP fields playing havoc with the sensors. All that radiation made him shiver. Suddenly he noticed that the other medical staff had stopped and were staring at him.

“O-okay men, let’s get that knight in and lift off,” he said, trying and almost succeeding to keep the tremor out of his voice. As they set off, he tried to run a hand through his thinning red hair, and was surprised when his hand hit the combat helmet.

Corporal Lori Adams, a fully qualified nurse, was the first to get to the knight. She had seen her share of injuries, and quickly pulled out her diagnostic array. The patient was laying face down, head uncovered, with the left arm and leg extended.

“Subject appears to be female… okay… handshaking with the mem-chip.” Private Aper Lorette was undergoing his last month of internship before he was a fully qualified Emergency Medic. His dark, Nubian features quirked as he scanned his readout.

“Is the knight ready to move?” asked Sergeant Ronald Pinkerson, presumptuously tweaking the settings on his grav gun.

> >

Continued from >>13098113

Lori shot him an irritated glance. “She’s been through a lot, looks like an onset of some pretty serious exposure. Left leg is a train wreck.”

“She’s also not supposed to be here,” said Aper, his voice quizzical. “Says here that they lost contact with mem-chip her at the base camp little under an hour before they started phase two. How’d she get here?”

Everyone exchanged glances. Stranger things had happened, but…

Second Lieutenant Tucker cleared his throat, as much because of nervousness as to try and reassume control. “If the patient is stable… Sergeant Pinkerson, would you be so kind as to?” He finished the order with a vague hand gesture.

Pinkerson had spend some time in the trenches, and gained some considerable skill with the grav gun. While normally it would take two medics working in unison to keep the patient immobile while lifting them for transport, Pinkerson lifted the form effortlessly without shifting the knight from her position.

“Excuse me, corporal, but are those burn marks on her face?” said Tucker as he recoiled from a study of the patient. “R-radiation burns?”

Lori and Aper exchange glances with each other before Lori said: “Sun burns, sir. Radiation here is pretty clean, all things considered.

> >

Continued from >>13098123

“Very good,” Tucker attempted to put some authority back into his voice. “Lets get this patient back onto the Pelican and get to the dig site.

Aper moved over to walk besides Lori as Pinkerson deftly maneuvered the body. “What do you think her story is, Lori?”

“I don’t know, Aper, but if she was off mission… well, the Major’s gonna have her hide. Might blam her on the spot.”

Aper snorted. “I don’t think he’ll do that, but I wouldn’t want to be in Lost’s shoes when he gets back, especially if there are any more fatalities. He’s always in a bad mood when that happens.”

“It’s not like they won’t come back,” Lori grumbled. Being a medic sometimes seemed like a pointless job when you could just blam the poor sod and he’d come back factory fresh.

“You know the Major,” Aper said, with a consoling pat on her back. “He’s sentimental fool like that.”

And Lost? Lost slept a sleep of the dead, with only a bleak and hopeless thought to fill her mind: she had failed.

>>13098078

" May I suggest firing it through where the rail line used to be ? Otherwise I've plotted these two points that are distinctly AWAY from the track's line of approach , that way, we wont hit any length of it "

Bradley worked the geo map, he was familiar with this interface when he inspected the tera , her tectonic plates, and fertile soils.. now he's finding ways to drive deeper into it with the very weapons that destr-

he gave it no thought. He kept to his vector calculations and hoped that explosions were as predictable as he had calculated. Tapping the pen against his lips he starts to fiddle with the dial of the geo sonar. How was he gonna find people in that big ass noisy hole.

he pen kept tapping and then promptly fell on the floor as the idea literally struck him.


It would be another 20 minutes before Aberham and Irons could hear a distinct tone blaring through the bedrock subtly.

>>13098092

"Heh." Nomad chuckled to himself. "Something like that. Some of us Knights got picked for 'special training' in boot, mentored under clones of 'swordmasters'. I use it to quiet my mind and body, keep it regulated and ready for a fight. How about you, learn anything interesting in medical?"

>>13098135

All the other soldiers stood watching the Major. If one didn't know any better, the man looked as if he was talking to himself with his hand on his head.

For a good two minutes, he was silent, save the occasional "uh-uh" or "m-hm." Suddenly, his face broke out in a massive grin - difficult to tell with his mask on.

"I like the way you think, Petty Officer Bradley."

The Major stood up, and climbed from his hole, only to look around to find that many of the dig team had stopped.

"What the hell are you waiting for? Didn't I just tell you to pack up shop? Or would you rather stay here and learn first-hand the destructive capabilities of our weaponry? MOVE! MOVE IT! MOVE IT BEFORE I DECIDE TO START SHOOTING PEOPLE!"

>Finally awakens, only to stare into the darkness that was the collapsed tunnel. He frowned and placed a cigarette in his mouth, not lighting it since he knew oxygen was probably going to become an issue soon. After a moment Ghoul stands, dusts himself off, and calls out for any other survivors.
"Who else is alive?"

>>13098150

"Medical was...odd, I was an MD, before Warsaw got me to sign up, had a good footing in biology and some nano-tech theory. Once they get you in Medical it's more robotic, list of specifications for S.O.M, and procedural content on context-treatment. Not to say I didn't like it. I'm not to most creative individual."

Occasionally a rock fell from the ceiling, the sound of it hitting ground the only sign to himself that he wasn't deaf. Still, knowing someone was on the way made the wait bearable.

>>13098187

"Probably for the best, doc. Wouldn't want you gettin' creative with the placement of my kidneys if you get my meanin'."

>>13098179

"Welcome back to the land of the living, lieutenant. Looks like you didn't go up in flames this time!"

>>13098205
>chuckles, still wanting to light his cigarette
"Seems so, but we got ourselves into a pickle this time haven't we. How many of us still alive in this hell hole anyway?"

>>13098205

Aberham suddenly goes tense, the subtle motions of his silhouette halting for a few seconds.

"You hear that?"

He dismounts the Bitank, and stands on the train deck, listening intently to the faint sound at the edge of his perception.

>>13098135
In the midst of despair, of ominous silences and softly malicious noises marring a perfect operational hum, a new sound is heard.

>What is that? Has something else gone wrong?

>No, it's definitely not coming from Sharky. And I'm not imagining it. It's something else. Something in the rock.

>But what? A signal from command, lost in the ground? Or some kind of bug thing?

>Maybe it's command. Maybe. Either that or bugs to kill. Better to hope. I'm here, command. Right here. Look, see?

A hand squeezes a trigger, and a half-dozen rapid blasts ring out in the silence accompanied by light flashing from the Predator. Rock on high on a cavern wall shatters as heavy armor-piercing explosive rounds impact it with force that could shatter even the toughest of armor.

>That die's cast. Now, will the bugs will come first...?

>>13098222
"Countin' me and the doc? Think eight of us. No sign of Irons. Oh and we're getting about a metric ton of radiation in our lungs, so I wouldn't suggest lighting that until we get to the surface. Think of it as a reward." The Knight cracked a smile behind his helmet.

>Even though I'm tired from writing all those Codexs, I thought I'd do a little roleplay to show how much Colton cares about getting you out.

Colton sipped his iced tea as Specialist Amber served the volleyball. There was a recreational suite on board the ship, and right now those off-duty were playing an impromptu game of volleyball. While Colton was never much for sports, the last minute call of all demolitions and medics that Walker could lay hands on for excavation had taken away the last two men who were in on the game. Colton praised the sexist bastard who had designed the women’s sports clothing and leaned back in his chair on the observation hub overlooking the gym.

Maybe it was because he was a last-minute addition to Sköll Squad, and maybe it was because he had kept his head down, but Colton had managed to slip past the Major’s fingers. A part of him wondered how everything was going down there, what with the nuke and all, but a larger part of him focused on the perky ass of Private Reed. Sometimes it was good to be overlooked.

The rumbled bass static made Bradly jump his fucking chair.
" FUCKING LANDER GOLD " He nursed his ear as he fumbled to place the headphones against his other ear.

There was definitely balistics, his plan had worked. Geo sonars are a tricky thing in a farming planet- since the darn things could drive an animal from its burrow when it echoes against the tera. In which case responded back- first with the same recited beep of the gatling guns, then second with a dot dot dash for. . ... . .. . .

[ Bombs incoming. report nearest position ]

>>13098252

The sound of gunfire shatterd Aberham's concentration like and arc of lightning,

He jumped an gave as shout, which would have certainly caused him embarrassment in another context. However, the surprise muted any such feelings.

"The fuck was that, more of those human we encounterd?"

>>13098309
>smirks to himself
"Well I'm glad its more then just the 3 of us, but I don't think ya need to worry Doc. Those were Iron's vulcans, I can almost guarantee it. Beautiful sounding aint they? Unless they bring the damn cavern down on top of us."

>>13098295
Probably in betsy moved to a safe range with Walker, but a place where he can see it.

>>13098295
"Perhaps this button is the distress signal?" Ghost presses the button. The bitank launches a shell and several vulcan rounds at the ceiling nearby.

"Oops"

>shakes his head as Ghost's Bitank fires its vulcan's randomly, and runs over to it, climbing up to his cockpit.
"C'mon Sergeant I'm pretty sure that was morese code from the Major. Pull the vulcan trigger as morose code."

Wolf stalked down another tunnel. He could not believe how stupid he had been. Fighting on the train, he was trying to survive the suicide charge into the hive. Just for a quarter of a second he was distracted by a mindcontrolled Marine shooting in Wolf’s general direction and a Wasp swooped down on him. Managing to keep the claws form his vitals he still was banged up pretty good and carried off.
Now he wandered in the deep of the hive, killing the occasional bug, but mostly trying to find a way out. At least he was not alone. He could hear shooting echoing through the tunnels.

>>13098359
"YES, THAT WAS INTENTIONAL!"
Ghost fired again, this time in what he hoped was morse code.

>>13098125

A mile and a half away, the entire dig team had gathered, waiting in the shade of the vehicles. By this time, Pelican 6-3 had landed, and was using the Pelican cargo hold as a makeshift hospital.

The medics had already stabilized Lost. Fixed her all up with the best medical technology that Bravo could deploy on the field. All her burns, cuts, scratches, and her broken leg were mended, although she was still wrapped in gauze in certain areas.

Walker stepped into the hospital, and stood by her cot. He had already sent the medics and doctors away. Now it was just he and her.

He looked her over. No doubt that some of the more immature men enjoyed removing her armor and her body glove. Bright blond hair, fair facial features, built like an athlete but still maintained her feminine features. Certainly, attractive.

But that wasn't why Walker was here. His hand itched as he unbuttoned the holster at his hip. Slowly, he drew a pistol - a custom-made pistol modeled after an old Earth revolver, single action and everything.

With his thumb, he pulled back the hammer, and pointed the pistol at her head. He could execute her right now for going AWOL. For abandoning her fellow soldiers. Killing her in her sleep would be a mercy that she didn't deserve but he would give.

"Looks like the Major's found us. Knew he'd come through." Sheathing his blade and shouldering his shield, Nomad dropped down to where Howe's body was and heaved the unconcious Riflemen on to his other shoulder. "Doc, make sure the LT and his sister are fit to move. I'll get Howe and the others. We're going home Bravos. We're going home."

>>13098408

But then, he hesitated. As he stared at her face, he realized that her sleep wasn't serene. That she slept troubled, disturbed. And he noticed, too, that strange sensation felt all those years ago, during the Gemini Project, with his brother and all the others.

Walker realized why he always had a strange feeling around her, why he felt nostalgia. If he hadn't been connected to PsiComm this close to her while she slept, during in which such mental activity increases significantly, he would have been left guessing. Perhaps he would have simply dismissed it as an irregularity, just "something."

He slowly released the hammer of the gun back to it's resting place and holstered it, walked out the Pelican doors, completely ignoring the medical staff who had been standing outside.

He finally understood.

She was psionically-sensitive.

>>13098410

"Roger that, taken care of."

>Last call for some RP in the hole before I write Bravo being saved.

>>13098411
>Had my heart in my throat there for a second.

Trying to discern the location of something from its echoes is nearly impossible. For Wolf even more so, because he had to fight all the way and breathing became incredibly hard. His helmet had been ruined in the fight with the Wasp and had been left behind.
Taking another deep breath Wolf moved down another corridor, taking a turn only to stare at a wall.
“Fucknuggets.”

>After leaving Nomad and Aberham to go about their work, Ghoul climbed up into his Bitank, smiling as it thrummed to life beneath him when he started it up. With a smile he started it forward, most of its sensors were down but he knew that for the most part he didn't need them. Ghoul knew he heard gunshots coming form the south a ways but there was a wall in the way, other members of Bravo couldn't be on the other side of the wall, they should be closer to the train.
"Fuck it. I ain't had a cigarette for a while, its getting hot down here, and I've always wanted to do this"
>With that he slammed the Bitank into full speed toward the wall, firing an AP round into to soften it up just before crashing through. As Karnivore crashed through the wall, demolishing it he shouted over its external speakers.
"OH YEAH!!!"

"-breach achieved."

"-standby for Psycomm connections. Bravo, do you read?"

The tone suddenly stopped. For some of Bravo, nothing changed. For others, it was like an entire city going silent. But whatever it was, the sudden silence was unnerving, a herald for something to come.

To call it the calm before the storm would not be completely inaccurate. For that’s what followed.

The entire cavern shook violently, as if there was an earthquake. A huge roar off in the distance could be heard as dust and bits of rocks fell from the ceiling. Under the vibrations, sections of the melted sand cracked, causing a spider-web to rapidly grow from the eastern side of the cavern.

As soon as the quakes ended, a second quake and boom was felt, the tremors and noise even greater. In some spots, the melted glass even shattered, with larger rock fragments falling from roof of the cave.

And as abruptly as it had begun, it stopped, bathing Bravo in complete silence…

>Warning. Warning. Atmospheric conditions detected are congruent with nuclear shock wave. NBC protocol *Omega* has been activated. Automatic safety lockdown is in place. Please stand by.

"Will you just shut the FUCK up already!?"

Krieg whipped his cap at the intercom. The antiseptic voice had played on loop for several hours now and he was more than prepared to sit in complete silence. He lifted himself up with a grunt, replaced the cap on his head and fetched another cigarette. Under the NBC protocols the cockpit had been completely sealed and the tobacco-fueled haze had thickened to the point where he could not see his own hands clutching the cigarette. There was merely a pinprick of orange surrounded by a faint sphere of light. Body temperature was also an issue, so all nonessential garments had been discarded. Aside from his battered cap, of course. Krieg sat in the darkness, mostly naked, throat burning, and disposition certainly unpleasant. The automatic warning sounded once more.

"Gert, I love you and all, but you can be a real cunt sometimes."

>>13098550

20 minutes later, the entire cavern began to shake once more. This time it was more methodical, with dust and small grains of dirt falling to the cave floor. As time went on, the rhythmic booms and quakes began to get louder, and were soon coupled with the muffled sound of machinery.

Two and a half hours later, a section of the eastern wall was blasted apart, sending a large, spiked sphere bathed in light flying into the cave.

Three figures followed from the hole in the wall; the one in the center wearing a funny-looking hat.

“Jackpot” the figure said.

>>13098462
>>13098521

Turning around to find himself a way around the blockage Wolf could hear a low rumble.
Suddenly the wall behind him exploded into dust and debris, peppering him with small stones, a big one careening past his head.
Starting a run he tried to get away. There was no chance he could fight something this big and strong with only his rifle. Another rumble and the wall broke down fully to reveal a BiTank blaring on full volume: “OH YEAH!”

>>13098561
Deafening noises echoed through the cavern, and Ghost's massive headache was worse then ever. Pulling his bitank up to the newly made exit, he yelled out of the cockpit "Hello Major! Good to see you, but all this noise you're making is causing the cave to taste funny."

>>13098580

"... Son, get up topside and let the doctors take care of you."

The Major motions to the gaping hole in the wall spilling light into the cave.

"Quickly, if you will."

"Major, you magnificent bastard, I could give you a hug right now if my hands weren't full and I didn't think you'd detonate my organs." Nomad laughed heartily as he picked his way down.

>>13098591

Ghost simply pilots the bitank out and heads to the medical station that had been set up.

>>13098592

"Heh, Shot did most of the work. These pneumatic cannons work fine, but Betsy's a beast, I tell ya. Hey, maybe if you tell her she's pretty Shot will let you hitch a ride back up."

>Passing the fuck out now.

"-psycomm connection reestablished. MEME-chips recognized, commencing immediate reuploading at the fastest bandwith."


"-brace fot mental strain." A sudden migraine pops up on all surviving Bravos' skull, but just as suddenly fades away.

"-welcome back, Bravo. Had decided that your chances were minimal, but you know the Major."

>>13098562
>perked a brow as the spotlights on his Bitank focused on Wolf and with a chuckle he spoke over the intercom to the Sergeant
"Wolf didn't expect to find you here..."
>Then he heard the crash as Betsy busted through the other wall, turning Karnivore to see the Major and crew, he smirked a lit the two cigarettes between his lips.
"Well you all heard the man lets get on outta here."

Wolf stumbles over to the spiked ball of doom.
“Hey, Shot. Good to see ya. Betsy is really beautiful. Could you please let me in? Feels like I marched 15 miles to get here. I’m just so sick of it.”

>>13098612
>I forgot how much I missed this. Could we have another general thread tomorrow? To wrap up Bravo teams recovery, and maybe tie up Lost's readmission into the unit? I think it's WAY past my bedtime.

((.... wait, were we tunneling down or sideways? I couldn't tell. ))

"EVERYONE IN. NOW."

> the sheet metal hatch rattles open and a very irate woman sits at the controls.

"ONE WORD FROM YOU, ONE WORD, AND Y'ALL ARE WALKING, YOU HEAR ME!? WALKING."

Wolf throws a look at 'her' and limbs in.

"Hey, Shot. Something is different. Did you cut your hair?"

Strapping himself in he checks his rifle, making sure the safety is on.

What were you guys just waiting for me to go to bed to start the thread? I had Warsaw's reaction to the last battle typed up and waiting. Now it's probably all wrong. Oh well I'm posting it anyway.

It had been a another wetware issue. Some faulty implants or wiring in his mem-chip, Warsaw didn't know what. Just that it meant he wasn't able to control his body. There had been no time for retrieval, however, and the Commander had simply handed control to one of the TAs. So Warsaw watched, through eyes he couldn't control , as the battle unfold. Watched right up until his death. Orbital Command was funny about these things though. Anyone who died while suffering wetware issues were issued a replacement clone, no questions asked. Meaning almost as soon as he died, Warsaw found himself in a new body. The neural pathways of every brain are unique, even amongst clones no two are exactly the same. This difference can cause a moment of helplessness as a mem-chip synchronizes the personality with it's new body. The mind will reach for pathways that aren't quite where they're supposed to be. Basic training for memory transfer is to remain calm and focus on preforming a single action while the mem-chip synchronizes. Most clone-techs recommend blinking, since you're less likely to injure yourself that way. Warsaw was anything, but calm. As soon as his eyes snapped open, Warsaw began trying to climb out of his pod. The act resembled an epileptic seizure. Clone-techs immediately moved to restrain him, having to bodily hold him still as he'd managed to writhe to far out of his pod to use it's inbuilt restraint field.
“It's alright,” A female tech said soothingly, “Nothing is going to hurt you here. You're safe. You're back on board The Sword of Damocles. Nothing can hurt you here.”
The words only seemed to provoke Warsaw farther as he redoubled his efforts to escape, his movements becoming more coordinated ever second. Eventually he found his lungs and sucked in his first lungful of air, only to scream it back out, “WALKER!!! GET ME BACK DOWN THERE!”

>>13099406

Less than ten minutes later Warsaw was riding a Pelican back down to Homestead. He'd had to throw one of the other medics off to get the seat, but otherwise the ride was quiet. Instead of shouting the usual exuberance, Warsaw sat pensively, his hands balled into tight fist, as the Pelican made it's decent into the atmosphere. With nothing better to do, his mind began cataloging all the ways his new body was different than his last. The faint scar across the back of his left hand that showed where he'd slipped the first time he'd used a scalpel. The knotted scar on his leg where his tibia had stabbed through when it broke after jumping off the roof of his house as a kid. Those and a thousand other little marks all gone now. Everything that had marked him as Warsaw was gone now. It was unnerving. He vaguely remembered his first clone feeling the same way, but it had been different then. There had been an original, someone he could point to and say 'That is Warsaw. I'm not him. I just happen to be exactly like him.' Now the original was gone and there was only one 'Warsaw.' Worse, he could feel the absence of the original. It was like he'd been thrown from a warm bed out into the chill air of a winter morning. As his thoughts continued to circle the pilot announced they were drawing up on their objective. Worry for his comrades washed away his own existential concerns at the news. Thanks to the EMP he had no idea what to expect, but feared the worst. “You better not be dead Aberham,” He murmured to himself.

>Now to actually read the thread!

Columbo opened his eyes in the darkness of the hive which was needless to say, a cluster fuck of debris from the train and near by walls.

He attempted to free himself from under part of the train, when the pain in his gut stopped him. That wasp had gone and fucked him up more than he had anticipated.

"Columbo here, anyone lend a hand -- And some Aspirin? "

>Updated sheet

PsiComm Techs didnt know what to make of it. Their mem-chips were intact, all the information was there, but the signal to their FLUX was scrambled, something about the radiation had made that signal change entirely. Or perhaps it was the overexposure to the hive queen, that can certainly be a writeable case. Most clone signals survived a nuclear blast- those whose heads were completely vaporized were the ones that were truly lost.

But this ?

" Their signals dont mesh up with their clone bodies anymore- or rather their originals'. Reported a technician- in short, if they were to die in combat- "

" I get it, doctor." Fierstrom interrupted. She looked out into the white rooms of the medical bay from an overlooking window. The fact that they were in the quarantine section of the medical bay was a coincidence due to the hospital wing being filled up with another assault group that lead a diversion.

But now- the notion of quarantine felt necessary. These werent the men of bravo that had entered the hive. When they came out- something about them had changed. Perhaps recloning them using these bodies would be feasible- but re assigning the warbucks provision to CLONES was a gartersnake of red and black tape. And the costs ? Nearly 10 bravo men would burn a hole in funds. It was not something she was about to let Walker know because that was exactly what he would do.

" So what are the characteristics of these new signals ? What would happen upon death ? " She quipped again.
" Well, if the Cpl Shot's case can be an example, I would imagine that they would randomly synch up with the closest signal since the AI in Orbital command wouldn't know what to do with them- "

" Orbital Command doesnt even NOT know what to do with anything, Doctor, when posed with a protocol- Orbital Command HAS to do something " She corrected

" Well." The doctor straightened himself his uniform clung to muffled " from these reports, Orbital arrived at 50,000 errors and a 4 loop errors before deliberately settling on a "Mistake" and that - she chose the next best candidate to synch up this signal with. A private, actually, Private Mesa, Polyist. Was tentatively assigned here on reserves and thawed only a year ago. "

In so many words- Orbital Command has decided to pass the buck to her.

" Very well then, list her as a casualty and throw in a notice of of Bravery, her original should be enjoying a life of Legitimacy about now."

"Ma'am?"

" You heard me, Pvt Mesa's sister sacrificed her body in service for the HLF even before she woke up. It's worth that much "

" I - I see. What about the other soldiers who made it back alive fro- "

"Re assign their signals, they are originals now strictly speaking and Orbital Command should treat their signals as such. Meaning that this is End of the line for them until we can figure out what to do with their clone pools.
Specialist- I want you to study the after effects that this mission has had on them, reintegrate new signal chips for them, say that it's just repairs, use the model P's if you have to especially for that awol knight. "

" But Model Ps are-"
"Expensive. But above all, not for regular soldiers. And we leave it at that doctor. You will report to me and me alone, avoid using Psi-Comm as much as possible, we're doing it paper trail, am I understood ?"

" Y- Yes ma'am" The doctor had a moment of reprisal before walking off " But what exactly are you intending to get out of this - "

Fierstroms eyes were jagged now, almost maniacal. " If I am right, and that the queen had after effects on them after the bomb went off, this garter snake of a move I'm about to make will have a lot more water. " A devil may care smile spread across her face.

This what you wanted to see me do , Jonathan ? If you can see me now . . . . .

Eyes opening to unfamiliar surroundings, Ghost sat up in the cot with alarm. It took him a moment to realize he was in a medical station. Still a little dizzy, he looked around to see that most everyone else here were still asleep or unconscious. Seeing no doctors around, he laid back down to get some rest.

- 1 hour before rescue-
" Somethings wrong" Slumping against a rock Howe was muttering to himself, His eyes were a bit sunk in, his lips dry as cardboard and his body trembling. He had lost alot of blood before, but there was something else. Something was amiss, something had gone terribly, terribly wrong. He was gonna die down there, he just knew it. By now he was rocking back and forth.

"HOWE! Get ahold of yourself man." Nomad smacked the injured Rifleman lightly in the face, though his servo-assisted strike was a lot stronger then he meant to, rocking Howe back.

"Hows helmet actually cam off and he shook his head clear of the confusing panic. "oh.... What.. Thanks nomad. I was loosing it, i am not good with enclosed spaces" There was only silence in their cave.

---Rescue--

As nomad came to help Howe and the others, bringing with him the news of rescue Howe could not believe it at first. He had been completely certain he'd die. Howe allowed himselfa genuine smile

--- Present time --
The young soldier found himself doing exercise to keep his injured leg strong :Instant rehabilitation was many times mandatory. He would not let the bugs, or whatever else they face, get the upper hand again.

>Anyone know if we're having a session tonight? Or what a P-Chip is... is it dangerous?

>>13103746
>I don't know if there is a game. I think a P-chip is a mem-chip that has been made to accommodate whatever happened to the nuke train survivor's heads.

Waking hours later, Ghost leaned up in his cot and called out, "Is anyone awake in here?" He was beginning to wonder who else made it out. Looking around, he saw Lost laying in another cot off to the side. He hadn't seen her since before entering the hive proper, and though she hadn't been involved in combat she appeared worse off then many of them. Where had she been at? He couldn't recall her being reassigned. The thought that she might have gone AWOL crossed his mind, but she didn't have a bullet in her head either. Command would likely want his explanation for Lost's absence, but he would need to get her story first.

>>13103746
Might be a game tomorrow night it is very tentative however.

if there is.

It might be a pvp or a plot mission. This time, not a live firing session. though the plot mission might be more covert than anything else...

>>13104400
>Awww! I've got a weekend outing with the parents. There might be internet where we're going, but it's unlikely.

Holy shit this is still here. Right. I'll be writing in a bit. Prepare yourself for punishment, Lost...

Many of you already know about Colton's eccentricity of always keeping his helmet on. However, I thought it might be nice for all of you to get to know the true emotional depth of him, what with all this deep roleplaying going on.

So I present this image.

>>13104400
>Covert

Aw, damn.

>>13104769
>Gulp!

>>13104769
I didn't realize the Major was so kinky.

>>13104400
Covert missions? But we like shooting things!

I kid. Of course being a sneaky bastard is amongst the finest of the soldierly arts.

>>13104769
"Sir! permission for excessive use of electricity-related puns despite the fact that shocktroopers don't really have anything to do with electricity?"

>>13105090
"Sir! permission to kill captcha for eating my trip?"

>>13105100
damn it,I give up

>>13105090

"DENIED!"

>>13105084

"YOU WANT YOUR LEGS DETONATED, SERGEANT?"

>>13105108
No, you don't. No one in my squad is allowed to give up.

>>13105133
Ohm my god, Sergeant, you're right. I'm not gonna get all amped up for nothing!

(hopefully the major doesn't socket to me though)

The Major, back in his officer uniform, strode into the medical station with the head of security, Sergeant Hartford in tow.

“Ah-teen-SHUN! Officer on deck!” cried the muscle-mountain-of-a-man.

At this point, all the injured clones were awake, and those who could, jumped from their cots to salute the Major. Those who couldn’t simply tried their best to sit up and salute.

Something was off. The clones who served under the Major could tell. It wasn’t just his current demeanor, or the scowl he wore on his face that gave it away. Of the many things he was known for amongst his men, it was that he preferred informal interactions when possible. In fact, it was not uncommon for him to be seen drinking with his men on occasion. So to hear Sergeant Hartford call out like that without the Major saying his usual “as you were” meant that the Major meant business.

“Corporal Lost! Front and center!”

>>13105252

All eyes quickly were directed at the knight, who swallowed hard and stepped forward into the aisle between the cots. While it wasn’t immediately visible, it was evident to everyone in the room that the poor woman was afraid – of course, whether this was because the person knew Lost well or would simply be afraid if they were in her situation was a different situation altogether.

Soon the fear would be blatantly obvious, as Major Walker strode to where she was standing, and in one swift motion, drew his sidearm and pointed it at her forehead.

The temperature in the room dropped 10 degrees, as everyone froze. Lost’s eyes widened in shock, horror, and fear.

He pulled back the hammer on the pistol, the clicks reverberating within all the clones’ ears. And for several moments, he was silent, simply pointing the pistol between the Corporal’s eyes.

“Corporal, do you understand why this is happening? Don’t say anything, don’t try to explain yourself, just nod if you understand.”

The Kknight swallowed hard, and nodded slowly, eyes shifting between the Major’s grim face and the metal at her head.

“Good. While I may not know the exact circumstances, I am going to take responsibility for your actions. Because you see, as your commanding officer, it is my job to determine if the people I send into combat are suited for the missions I assign them. Thus, I should have done a more rigorous review of your profile to determine that you were a psionic-sensitive individual, making you unsuitable for a mission that would place you in a xenoform hive. Failing that, I should have at least pulled you from that train when you and Bravo received reinforcements, as PsiComm data indicated high levels of stress from you, no doubt due to your nature. In any case, your actions are a direct reflection of my failures, so I will not be executing you.”

>>13105261

Lost opened her mouth to speak, only to have the Major raise his free hand to silence her.

“However, regardless of your psionically-sensitive mind, you must be punished for your actions. I’m demoting you to Private First Class.”

Before anyone could heave a sigh of relief, the Major quickly dropped his arm – only to fire his gun into both of the Knight’s knees.

The Knight crumpled to the floor of the room, crying out and grasping at her ruined legs. The Major took a step forward and crouched, his shadow bathing the injured Knight.

“You walked away from the battlefield, soldier. So your punishment will be to learn how to walk again.”

The Major stood up, holstering his gun.

“Perhaps this time, you will learn not to walk away from a fight.”

The Major turned to leave the room, passing a frightened orderly. Just then, a doctor with two security guards came bursting into the room.

“I heard gun – HOLY SHIT WALKER WHAT DID YO-“

Before he could finish his sentence, Walker grabbed the man by the collar and violently pulled him forward.

“Shut up. Fix her up, now. None of that immediate treatment for her. Just accelerated. I want her in crutches for the next week. Got it?”

The doctor, face as red as a tomato, could only bite his tongue and nod.

“Good. Now get on it.”

Walker released the doctor, and stormed past the two guards, with a slightly confused Sergeant Hartford in tow.

“Doctor Mhikael, what should I do?” asked the frightened orderly.

“Get her on the cot and start cleaning her up,” sighed Doctor Mhikael. And here he thought that he wouldn’t have to deal with excessive violence from commanding officers while Walker was around.

>>13105270

>Done. Fucking hell, typo. And yes Lost, you get to keep your spear.

Afterthought:

Because in a universe where death is circumvented by mem-chips and clones, the punishment of death loses it's weight.

Shot watched impassively as the men rushed Lost to quickly treat her. He took a long drag of his cigar, wordlessly walking past Betsy. He went to his cot, looking through the foot locker he kept there.

...And pulled out a photo.

A family. The picture was old, and it showed, but there was Shot, a young, boisterous man with a smile on his face and a cigarette in his mouth.

'You're gonna kill yerself with that smoke.'

It's funny what you remember. The way they had run together from the monsters. Watching them tear apart their youngest and eat him alive. The way his grip on his arm slipped, the sweat making it slide out of his.

The sound of flesh being hewed. The look on her face as she crawled towards him, even as they ate her from the knees up.

'Miss Farre. I think I like it.'

Seventy years of this bullshit. And he still didn't feel that anger fall away. Because once the sadness and the grief rot away, the only thing left is those bleached-white bones of rage. Rage that lead him to signing up the moment they'd have him, even if he was nothing more than a transporter, an extractor. He remembered feeling something snap when he ran over those two... creatures during the civilian extraction.

'How about Howard for the son? And for the girl?'

The way the creatures crunched under his Ag. The way they made pitiful screams of agony. The way he was so fast they could only limply flail at him as he passed.

But it wasn't enough. It was never enough. He wanted them to feel his pain, he wanted them to know what it was like... and they never would. After all, how could he make them lose something they never had?

'Betsy. Let's call her Betsy.'

God. Damnit.

>>13105270
Ghost sprang up from his cot on the Major's entrance, throwing a quick salute. As Lost was called up and Walker began his speech, Ghost could only stand there silent. He was shocked about the revelation of Lost's psionic ability, coming out as it was in a room full of witnesses with no pretense of secrecy. Then, the Major shot both of her knees and stormed out.

Ghost made his way over to her cot, staying back enough not to get in the doctor's way. He had many questions, but now wasn't the time for it. For now, she would be in too much pain at least until the administered painkillers kicked in.

>>13105270
>Ghoul stood at attention with the rest as Walker entered the med bay. He didn't even blink as the Major shot Lost, but what did intrigue him was the mentioning of her being a latent psychic. With brow furrowed Ghoul strode out of the med bay after the Major left, lighting up a pair of cigarettes as he walked slowly toward the hanger.

>>13105270

Lost lay there unresponsive once the orderlies gently laid her down on the bed. She ignored the questions they asked, as well as when the doctor asked the same in more strained tones. She stared at the ceiling—a clean, antiseptic white—and tried to keep the sobs, the heartbreak, inside. There were many reasons to cry, but none of them were for the pain. Even without the medical shunt, even without any sedatives in her system, the pain was a distant cry to her. Some of that was simply being a knight, but far more of it was the words she had wanted to say, but couldn’t.

As she had stared down the barrel of the large-bore revolver, shock, fear, and horror had painted her face and ran through her mind, but maybe not for the reasons people would have expected. A large part of her had wanted for him to pull that trigger. That part had wanted to grip the pistol and press it against her head. The only reason she had not is because of the fear, the horror that the major would not have known why she had ran, why she needed to die. If she died with everyone thinking she ran from cowardice, instead of trying to save them from herself…

> >

>Continued from >>13105624

She knew the horror stories about psions. The Hundred K, the Burning Man, the Zellnega Affair: all humans that had gone psionically active and unable to control their powers or their minds snapping from the strain and becoming raw conduits for the mind-tearing energies. Some people said it was Exalted technology, humans meddling with dangerous artifacts, or aliens abducting test subjects and releasing them as mindbombs. All the rumors said the same thing: psions were danger to themselves, and more importantly, to others.

She had tried to tell him, tell him that he was wrong, that she should die, but the cold look in his eyes as much as his hand froze the words in her mouth. Her mind reeled as he told everyone about her dark secret. Even now, as the doctor started to fuss over her ruined knees, removing fragments of shell, that hurt the most: that he and known and wanted to mark her to everyone as a dangerous freak. She kept staring at the ceiling… because she couldn’t stand meeting the accusing looks that would surely be on her teammates faces.

>>13105127
No, sir!

>Should have put it together the time you got the Inquisitor to jump you.
>Didn't realize the Major was a switch, though

>>13105270
Irons watched impassively as the Major left the room, Lost on the ground behind him. It seemed a dramatic tale- unwatched psion being driven half-mad or just freaking out with fear, running; the Major was obviously not being his normal self with her, so he was probably feeling stressed. Silly of him; the man cared too much and let his heart weep as his men died when it should have exulted at their valor in standing firm even as they watched one another torn apart in gruesome ways.

In the end, it was simple. Lost ran. Maybe she ha some kind of mental stress excuse, maybe not; it didn't matter. The unit had psych treatments available for people who thought they might crack, or who just felt like they needed to talk about moral crap involving clones, and if she was too much of a fool to mention that she could hear the bugs shrieking in her head she deserved more than however long it would take to patch her kneecaps up.

>>13105890
There was something far, far more interesting about the results of the last encounter than one psi girl... though few others seemed to have picked up on its implications.

Irons kept his eyes off of Shot most of the time. It'd be rude to stare, after all, and someone might think he was thinking about chasing the guy. Girl. Whatever. Obviously Shot was more than a little disconcerted, but the pilot couldn't stop thinking about what had happened to him. What it meant.

It was probably an isolated incident; glitch somewhere. It'd all be sorted out soon. But maybe not- the Inquisition had its eyes on this unit. They could be testing something, without telling anyone. He'd be watching as the others died around him. If it happened to anyone else, or again... being freed from the limitations of your few clones, allowed into whatever body was most convenient, meant more than just a few personality issues and a cute new face.

It meant that however many times they died, it wouldn't matter. They could come back, eternal warriors, fighting the good fight again and again and again with no cost for death but a few moments of agony. Gaining always in skill and experience, endlessly defending humanity from whatever the next degenerate threat that might try something out in the galaxy is. With that on their side, how could they possibly lose?

The others were chatting about something or other, but Irons closed his eyes and leaned back. He'd catch a short nap before trying to figure out anything new.

He dreamed of endless glory.

"Doctor, I know the Major said no instant treatments, but have her on her feet by next deployment."

Pulling up a seat next to Lost's cot, Ghost continued, "Well, that could have been far worse. I don't know for certain why you ran, but I'll hazard a guess that it had something to do with that queen. I've gone up against a brood queen twice now, and even without psi sensitivity they can really screw with your mind. If I had been in your situation, I can't say that I wouldn't have done the same." He took another glance at her knees, thinking, before facing Lost again, "Report in once you recover, soldier. We'll get you back in the field." With that, he turned and began looking for doctor to clear him for leaving.

>>13105946
>Aww, I have the best sergeant ever.

Lost was unable to stop hot tears from trickling down her cheeks as she stared impassively at the ceiling. She had wanted to tell Ghost, her sergeant, that she wasn’t a coward. She wanted to look at him and meet his eyes. She wanted to say that he should get as far away from her as possible, that they all should. She wanted to reach out and cry on his arm, let him stroke her head and tell her that everything would be alright. But she didn’t say anything and she didn’t do anything, and she was coward, if in a different way for a different reason.

Trauma's helping out in the medical bay, since she's practically been living there. She walks over to Lost's cot and checks on her legs under the cloth, making a scowl and takiing a sharp breath. "I've seen kneecapping before. On the plus side, your knee bombs are permanently broken. Downside is knees don't grow back on their own. If you want this for the next deployment, the doc's gonna have to shove some metal or plastic in you, Lost. By then you'l just barely be used to your new joints, and probably trip quite a bit." Trauma re-covers the other girl's legs, "I have to ask, WHY? Why did you bail?"

>>13106038
Shot sighed. He couldn't help it. He had to talk to her.

"Excuse me. Trauma, I know why she ran." he said, sliding up a seat beside her. Shot looked... different than Lost probably remembered. Instead of the haggard, angry old man, it was now a haggard, angry young woman. They even shared some features, perhaps coming from similar planets. At least, his new clone did.
"It's Shot. The guy in the Armored Gyro?" he asked. "I heard all dat." he said. "What Walker said. An' I want you to know, it's all a buncha BS. I mean... think about it. You probably saved all our hides doing whatcha did. I've been at groun' zero of the bugs meetin' up with a psych." he said, taking out his photo and showing it to her, "They called 'er a witch, Lost. But I didn't give a damn. She was my wife, and I loved her. We had a son. Settled down on a nice planet." he shook his head. "But one day, she just... she flipped out. We all... felt it." he said tapping his head. "Worst headache in the world. But you know who else felt it? The bugs did. The come down on us, a great, black cloud... and they came for her. And they tore apart everything in their way. Ever since then, I've been in the milit'ry. It's not... It wasn't her fault. And this wasn't ezactly yours. In my opinion, Lost, you were braver than all of us. You know what was gonna happen when you ran. You knew the repurcussions of it. And you did it. You put yourself on the line for a few cheeky bastards in a clonin' farm. You didn't run ter save yerself. You ran to save us. An' that's what matters. I don' much care about what's goin' on in yer head. Yer always welcome on Betsy."

He patted her shoulder lightly.
"And, uh. When you have some spare time, I'd like to sort out all the... implications of this new body of mine. Before they, uh. Implicate. Iff'n you get my meaning." he rose and made his way to the doors.

He'd left the photo behind.

>>13106322

>Did you want to respond first, or should I?

Dragon entered the med bay, He still had alot of questions to ask of lost and her being shot in the head didn't help spur conversation.

He was caught off guard when shot opened the door
"Hey man...god that will always be weird, anyway ya gotta let me buy you a drink for all you did."
Dragon took the time to peer into the room
"Was going to bring lost because I don't know shit about her yet and uh...f*explative* Abe, and Ghost...I need to buy them drinks too." Dragon shrugs
"Fuck it, it'll be a party, Just got to convince the others. Ya in?"

>>13106414
>>There's mine, too. :3

>>13106429
"Ah'm in. You might wanna put it on 'old, though. Lost ain' in much position to be goin' anywheres."

>>13106458

>Yeah, I know. I want to know if Trauma wants to respond to what you said first.

>>13106429
Change shot in the head to knees

>>13106414
>you first, injured madam

>existence ratrooke

>>13106458
"I'll X*explative* carry her. Hell we'll have the pary in med for all i care."

Lost’s eyes welled anew as she watched the figure of Shot retreat. The joy of someone knowing warred with the sorrow for them learning first hand. Relief of not having to explain warred with the pain of not being able to say it herself. And the fear grew. The fear that they would accept her anew, that they wouldn’t shun her. That they would hold her to their bosom until she brought the bugs down on them or ripped them apart with her mind.

>>13106509

>I'll post more when I see where this is going.

>>13106494
Trauma clenches her left fist, "You're not moving her, Drag Queen, ask the doc if you can party inside, but if you try to do anything to her I'll be forced to act." She takes a seat next to lost, glaring at Dragon

>>13106509
Shot looked over his shoulder at Lost, then turned to Dragon. "Frankly, son, she jus' needs some time."

The doors of the med-bay once more give a pneumatic hiss, and Aberham strides into the room,

"Shot, sir" He says, with a muted and flat tone "You have a mild concussion, take some pain-killers, and no alcohol for the time being, Sorry Dragon but.."

He stops, as the contents of his stomach decide it no longer appreciates the confinement, and he dives for the nearest restroom.

Several minutes latter he emerges, disheveled, but still wearing a scowl, and administers a dose of anti-rad meds to himself from one of the freezers nearby.

Before finally moving into a free office, and slamming the door unceremoniously behind him.

>>13106568
"Woah, m*explative*. Hostility. Who are ya anyway?"

See the other enter, Ghost finished his talk with the doctor and walked over. "Hello everyone. The doctor says I'm good to go. Seems like most of us actually lived through that."

“You have to… you all have to stay away from me.” It came out as an emotion-strangled whisper. “I’m not safe. You heard the major… you heard Shot.”

She looked down, away from their faces. “I’m dangerous. I could do what Shot said, or be another Burning Man, or a Hundred K, or…”

Her pretty face crinkled with despair. “I can’t… I don’t know what… I’m not… not safe.”

>>13106619
Trauma turns her hategaze to Lost. "You. You need to cheer up. You aren't any of those things. all that matters is learning control. Training what you have. I can't count the number of things i accidentally pulverized before getting ahandle on how to fineness things. Just try and it works out."

The hatebeams focus on Dragon again. "As for you, I'm the one who can tear out your guts with her bare hands. Name's Trauma. I got hurt in the aftermath of Aggoria's queen fight. I've been in the medbay scince then."

>>13106619
"Pff, please. I punched a bug in the face and if i die i get a brand new clone" Dragon lifts up his shirt. Strange, he doesn't seem to have a belly button.
"See this? All this was bug food, and then i blew the rest of it up. Now I'm fine. We're made to die Lost so feel free to flip out or x*explative*." Dragon shrugs "We'll just come back." He smiles, a reasuring smile and then gets back on topic "So drinks or no?"

>>13106605

>Talking to Ghost, not Shot, did not see that shot was there actually.

>>13106619
Ghost looked at Lost for moment, considering his words, before finally replying, "Lost, the Major knew about you. If he really believed you were a danger to us, you wouldn't still be with us. We've fought and defeated two xeno hives and weathered the psychic terrors they could throw our way. If anyone is safe with you, it's the people here in Bravo."

Shot remained silent. His gaze was merely an invitation to Lost: Talk to me if you like. And with that, he left, heading back to Betsy.

>>13106705
"Z*explitive*, nice. I'm Dragon and the big gun is my thing." He grins "Glad to have a girl with some fire here, and another knight at that. If you want a drink considerit on me"

>>13106753
"Ghost! you're coming too. I heard you got special access or some v*explative*, That translates to top shelf in the dragon dictionary"
Dragon then takes a moment to look to Aberham and points
"And you! We totaly got off on the wrong foot. I need to buy you a drink to make it up to you"

They just didn't understand.

A tone of frustration make its way into Lost’s voice, and hot tears stung her eyes, "What if the major is wrong? How could he tell what I’m capable of? I don’t. What if the best thing he could have done was put that bullet in my head? Why take that risk for one life?”

>>13106865
Dragon shakes his head and goes so far as to walk over to the injured Knight "Come on now lost, that's just being dumb. We're all going to die in the service after all, and I sure as b*explative* don't care if it's by some bug or some sorta para-psy....I don't n*explative* know! All I know is I'll keep coming back and I'll keep dieing. It's what I was grown for. Hell any of you could kill me right now and I wouldn't be pissed in the slightest. All that matters is you're in my squad, you're a damn good knight and I don't mind killing bugs or whatever the n*explative* at your side at all."

>>13106821
"Got room for one more?" Flynn asked tentatively.

>>13106865
Trauma stands up, and clamps her left hand around Lost's neck, tightening to the highest safe pressure, "Now, If you start talking like that, and giving up hope, it becomes a problem. You have an ability. a dangerous one. But, It can be controlled. Directed. But if you just give up, or refuse to try, there's no reason to justify the risk, is there? It'd be better to snap your damn neck now and end it. I don't want that. You don't want that. This is the deal. I don't kill you now, You stop whining and man up. You train. you work at it. You get IN CONTROL. If you snap later, I'll put you down before something bad happens, Deal?"
Trauma loosens up so Lost can speak.

>>13106865
"If the Major is wrong, then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. However, you can learn to control it. The fact that you are aware of it and not just using it subconsciously already gives you an advantage that most of those involved in those other...incidents didn't have. "

Turning to Dragon, "You heard Abe. It's thoughtful, but a party will just have to wait."

>>13106823
In the medbay after being nuked and buried and irradiated underground for a while, listening to Lost whine about her insecurities. Bravo: DRAMA! Film at eleven.

>>13106865
Faintly smiling, Irons finished talking with the doctor who had been taking his readings. Apparently even that close to a nuclear blast, the Predator's heavy rad shielding- designed to stand up during operation in deep space with full exposure to the heavy solar winds of many systems- had kept him well protected. He'd taken a bit of a spike, but it was more 'cancer within a decade' than 'vomiting and bloody death'. Since he didn't really expect to live a decade in this body, it was like being perfectly healthy. He began to head out of the medical bay, pocketing a small packet of anti-rad medicines that he'd been given mostly on principle.

He paused, however, with his mood was slightly soured by the conversation drifting from around Lost's bed. Ghost was a good sergeant, sound tactical mind and a solid sense of professionalism, and Dragon and Trauma were decent enough soldiers, but Lost... she really needed to be shouted at. Loudly and repeatedly.

He probably should just leave it to Ghost, but... no, he'd at least offer an opinion. Though no shouting, since she wasn't his squaddie. Five quick strides took him over to her bed. "Stop thinking, Private. You have your orders, and they don't include second-guessing the Major. If your brain explodes and kills the whole team, it is not your problem; it's his, as the officer who has made his informed decision. Stick with your squad, stay there, and LIKE IT. And if they die because they stick with you, they'll like it too, because they'll be doing their jobs as ordered instead of wasting their and everyone else's time and worrying about shit beyond their pay grade."

With a grim smile, Irons took a glance at Ghost. "Apologies for interrupting, Ghost. I'll leave the rest of this to you."

>>13106960
"Duh, yeah. BYOB"
>>13106972
"Woah! z*explative*! I don't think that's going to help none!"

>>13107019
"Whereza at?"

> You suddenly realize Rook has been standing in the background the whole time.

>>13107098
(CAPTCHA ate my profile)

>>13106972
>>13106999

Ghost watches with concern when Trauma's hand goes to Lost's neck. He refrains from acting when it becomes evident she did not intend to cause harm, and she has her say. He is about to speak when Irons walks in and gives his input.

"Er.. well said, Irons."

>>13107098
"Hey... Rook...
What... Uh...
Whasgoinon?"

>>13107116
(Damn nice class card)

>>13107140
(Grazie)

>>13106972

Lost’s eyes grew sharp again for the first time since her last deployment. That cold blue gaze pierced. Raged boiled inside her. Rage against their bravery, their trust, their caring. But mostly rage at herself. Maybe she would snap. Maybe she would and kill them all before they could do anything. Kill them completely.

But then again, maybe not.

Her own hands reached up and, even though it took both of them, pried the fingers away from her throat. She kept her eyes locked with Trauma’s, but her look was now only embers.

“Okay, you win. I will try. I don’t know where to start or what to do, but I’ll turn this power into a soldier’s tool.” The smile she gave was predatory. “And since you’re taking a personal interest, you’re going to help me.”

Lost let go of the cybernetic arm. “But not today. I just got both my knees blown out and ran an ultramarathon yesterday. You can all stay with me here, but you need to do something for me first.”

She gave a impish grin. “You have to get me something from the mess. I’m starving.”

>>13107133
" To be honest, I have nothing resembling a clue."

>>13107129
Irons gives a quick nod to Ghost, and steps back slightly, but doesn't leave.

>>13106972
He's pretty much done with Lost, but there's something more important to do here. Trauma has shown initiative, violence, determination, and sense, and he hadn't seen her anywhere on the squad list. There was only one available option to any right-thinking sergeant: Recruit her into his squad before anyone else wised up.

He could wait a minute or two for that, though. Until she was done here, or seemed less occupied than currently. It wasn't as though he was in a rush.

>>13107266
>Bad news, son
>You are too late

>>13107216
"Dragon and I and a couple 'a' guys were gonna get some drinks, wanna tagalong? BYOB?"

>>13107179
Dragon just looks between the two girls and then the men around here
"...Who wants to get the n*explitve* out of Medical? I want to get the n*explitve* out of Medical." Dragon doesn't wait to see what happens between the two, washing his hands of the potential cat fight. "W*explative*-ing dieing together and there's s*explative*-ing in fighting. Jesus christ It's like high school"

>>13107179
Trauma reclines back in her seat, the sheer malice she was projecting fading away, "Good. Drag Queen, get some food and booze. and some non-alcoholic stuff for Lost. Shot, Ghost, Formally requesting to join Alpha, Gotta make good on my deal with Lost."

Hawkes had left the med-bay many hours ago, he felt he didn't need any goddamn treatment for any goddamn sickness or what not. He had been treated in the field by someone he trusted more than any goddamn 'stay at home' doctor.

Hawkes sat in front of a terminal, the screen slowly filling up with words as he typed. He felt the need to write to Dorothy, he hadn't done that since Celia... Let's end that train of thought there. His right hand found some familiar to the touch in his pocket, an owl. A bloody, goddamn, owl.

He drank. He drank until his flask was dry, and when it was he cursed it and himself for being out of booze.

"Lilly wouldn't approve. Brother."

"Dammit Augustus, leave me be."

"I told you not to call me that!"

"I'll call you whatever I damn please."

The dark haired man that stood in the door way moved forward and grabbed Hawkes by the shirt,

"You have no right to do anything with this family, not after you dragged Lilly AND me into this shit!"

Hawkes laughed coldly, "I didn't do anything other than enlist. It's not my fault Lilly likes me more than you. It also isn't my fault that you got a thing for the Pelham girl, didn't know you were into the sisterly type."

Raven punched him and left, only stopping at the door, "Say hi to Dorothy." Hawkes threw the flask at him, but missed by a good bit. With that Raven walked out of the room and down the hallway.

"... Fuck you."

>Family issues you say?

>>13106865
>>13106972
>>13107179

> Rook suddenly realizes that it's only his first deployment, and he's been dispatched with a unit of maniacs and psychopaths. As cool as that sounds in movie trailers, he finds the aspect... unsettling in this all too real situation. Yet exciting.

...
> Though that could just be denial.

Aberham slides into the treatment bay once more, an approaches the growing group with a wherry expression.

His skin is pale, and he is perspiring at a somewhat unfortunate level.

>>13107299

"You know Dragon, that sound like a great idea, so why not have everyone get the fuck out of medical after I hook Lost to psicomm, and then I go sleep."

"Deal?"

>>13107296
"Sure."
> "- no way in hell I'm staying here."

>>13107312
Ghost laughs. "Not even been accepted yet, and already giving orders? Well I was going to ask him to bring something back anyway. Request accepted, welcome to Alpha Squad."

>>13107312
"I'm getting a n*explative* drink, that's it, but call me drag queen again and you'll need more then a robotic arm...Welcome to alpha."

>>13107299
"Yeesh let's get the F*expletive* out of here!"

>>13107291
>Damn you and your out-of-thread communications tricks.
>Ah, well. There are worse things than being pre-empted in recruiting someone.

>>13107299
Irons gives Dragon a deadpan look. "There is no infighting here. This is the friendly dispensing of advice."

>>13107312
With his planned recruitment opportunity vanished before he could bring it up, there's nothing left holding Irons here. With a nod to the other sergeant, he's off for the tac room. It was always a good time to study how to kill things better.

>>13107312
>Okay! Was wondering when someone was gonna snap Lost out of it... wasn't thinking so literal...

>Anyway, I'm waiting for the stage in medical to clear to Lost, Trauma, and Aberham. Tell me when this happens.

(Wiat, we're stuck in the train right?)

>>13107385
Trauma puts the hate beams back on, "It's a hand, Drag Queen. Whine again and we're gonna have it out, boy. Zero tolerance for bitching."

>>13107418
>Nope, long gone from there. Got dug out, brought back to base, medical treatment and free time for now. Feel free to get drunk, shack up with theoretical NPCs, study how to kill things, write family, or do whatever it is that your character does in their free time after not quite dying.

>You probably want to thank Roosevelte for saving your life at some point, by the way; I seem to recall him dragging your wounded body onto a tank. But don't quote me on that one, could be mixing people/events up.

>>13107418

This is the part where if you were on any other thread we'd tell you to "lerk more". But no, we're on our ship, probably in orbit around this planet. I think.

>>13107385
>>13107437

Lost looks back and forth between Dragon and Trauma. A frown appears on her face.

"Both of you, quit fighting. Don't make me start exploding heads."

Then she gives a faint smile.

>>13107448
(if someone tells me that in character I will, as I'm pretending I was unconscious for all unknown events. Until then... )

> Shuffles out the door, mumbling about getting something to eat.

"Well, the doctor cleared me so now I have nothing to excuse myself from paperwork." Looking at both Dragon and Trauma, "You two, stay out of trouble. If you create more paperwork for me, you will both regret it." With that threat issued, Ghost departed the medbay to go get some work done.

>>13107475
( Also, why do people keep talking about Lost like she's the 'young girl with lethal and hard to control powers' stereotype from Nippon?)

>>13107437
>swigs beer
"FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!"
>chanting

>>13107501

"Get out of the fucking med-bay"

>>13107437
Dragon stops at the doorway, turning for a moment to slowly raising his hand to point at Trauma. As soon as it's in possition his expression suddenly turns from a serious one to a smirking expression "No hugs for you."

>>13107518
>buzzed
"bluph..."
>Stumbles out
"fuckin chain a commandandshitstupid...."

>>13107402

>That should leave us with just Trauma and abe.

Aberham steadies himself on a nearby chair and slowly sinks into it, then pulls up the medical interface near Lost and starts the process of a regeneration cycle and some piscomm 'z's.

>>13107569

>Okay, posting shortly.

>>13107526
Trauma throws a rubber ball after dragon, smiling now, "Get out, Drag Queen!"

(i think medbay is clear now, lost.)

rolled 9 = 9

>>13107612
Rolling to catch ball! [5 or less pass, more is fail!]

>>13107632
The ball bounces off of Dragon's arm after an awkword attempt to catch "b*explative*" The cuss seems directed at being unable to catch more then the throw. He quckly scoops up the ball before darting out "MINE NOW"

I wanna know what timezone some of you are in, because for me these threads never start before 11 and seem to go on until 3.
I wanna participate, but I can't frequent these hours. I've got shit to do in the mornings.

Lost got up to a comfortable sitting position, wincing at the incredible array of pain her knees were giving her, even through the pain killers. She looked, really looked at the knight now sitting besides her. Trauma was proud, she was strong, and she didn’t have time for whiners. That was good. She didn’t even blink when Lost told her what she had planned.

Lost gave an approving nod.

“Okay the… ‘deal’ is like this. So far I’ve only been able to sense… emotions from people. Get general ideas on their strongest emotions. I’ve--” she glanced guiltily at Aberham, who was looking at the interface “—also had one experience on touching… on ‘reading’ another persons mind.”

Lost took a deep breath and let it out. “I don’t know if psionic individuals are limited to certain things, or if this is how it starts for everyone. I need someone, someone willing, to try things on. I won’t do it on an unwilling person. It has to be someone who trusts me, and who I can trust.”

>>13107689

The OP/DM is in eastern, and has been starting around 5-8 pm as of late.

>>13107707
Eastern US?

>>13107707
How late do these things usually run?
If I have to drop out early for chronological reasons does my squad leader take over for me? If he gets me killed do I get a free clone?

>>13107696

Aberham continues to punch the screen on the interface, if anything picks up the pace.

"Who?"

>>13107750
Basically, any kills you make while away don't count nor do any deaths

>>13107696
Trauma smiles, "Well, that's not bad at all. Why were you making all that 'My life is over' noise earlier? And i guess my insistence does mean that I am volunteering to help you."

(How old is Lost? I know I'm asking a lot of questions, but I'm just trying to get a feel for my team)

>>13107657
"Who wants to get shit faced?"

Dragon walks down the hall, his first pick up is a buzzed stumbling Flynn "God damn bro handle your shit! You had like, one beer now you can't even god damn walk."

>>13107833
>>13107847
> Rook walks buy, holding food, and as he passes he glances at him and says
"Handle your shit."

>>13107753

Lost slumps back in her bed. She opens her open once, twice, three times as she looks at Aberham.

“It… it was you. I heard you and Dragon saying my name, but I couldn’t hear what you were saying…” Lost presses her two index fingers together “…so I reached—with my mind—out to just hear, just hear mind you, and accidentally touched your mind.”

Lost’s eyes get wide and she holds up a warding hand. “Now, now I didn’t see anything I shouldn’t have, and I know what I did was wrong. Honestly, didn’t get anything… except the conversation and a few stray thoughts and emotions. I’m… I’m sorry. Please don't hate me.”

>Holy shit, I did not expect to trigger a shitstorm over the psionic sensitivity thing. When I said psionic sensitivity, I didn't mean it like Force sensitivity, but rather, "I can kind of pick up on emotions and intent but it can easily be written off as intuition and gut feeling" sensitivity.

Right, I think I'll write a bit about Walker before passing out.

>>13107870

Aberham hauls the procedures, but does not look away for the screen.

His eyebrows tweak incredulously, at the word 'accidentally'.

He responds in as unsympathetic a tone he could muster ".......You enjoy your stay?"

>>13107944
Couldn' have said something sooner there, bucko?

>>13107806
>She's about 20, not sure exact age. (With cloning it's all relative). She appeared first in the 3rd General thread (http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/12975246/#12992992) if you want to read up. Tall, well-toned, blond, blue eyes, pretty with a glimpse of the beauty she'll have when she's older.

>>13107972

>Wasn't at my computer while all this came down. But hell, isn't that what RPing is? It would make for a decent confrontation when people start saying that Lost is going to mind-rape people, when Walker is going to be confused at say that at best, she's going to call bluffs in poker games all too much.

>>13107864
Someone tell me what Dragon and Flynn look like, I want to draw that. (some time tomorrow)

>>13108008
.... wow, yeah. That's going to be a great moment. Nevermind, let them keep going.

>>13107949

Lost winces. “Aberham… it wasn’t like that. It was…”

“It was like walking around a vortex. A hundred, a thousand emotions and thoughts and feelings all spinning around, disappearing, and coming back into sight. The ones closest, the ones that moved the slowest, were the emotions of irritation, of anger at Dragon,” her voice gets softer “and of caring, and compassion… for me.”

“Aberham. At that moment I knew you were my friend. Truly and one hundred percent. I knew you would always care for me and look out for me. And you would be there for me when I need help.” Lost’s eyes grow downcast. “I… I hope that’s still true.”

> I'll get to Trauma now.

"-meatsuits are too prone to hormone control."
A speaker on one of the medbay's many terminals pipes up, though it is unclear whether it was saying it sarcastically or monotonely.

"-i kind of like it in the Psycomm. Many items become less troublesome as it is in a meatsuit."
"-shame we cannot stay around for too long."

"-also note, all these conversations are being recorded and monitored. Or easily hacked into."

>>13107781

“Trauma… I ran that day… I ran that day because I thought I was a ticking time bomb. I thought that if I stayed, I would put everyone’s life, the entire operation at risk. I thought that you, my family, my only family, would hate and despise and fear what I am if I told them, and hate me even more if I didn’t and they found out. That is why I thought my life was over.”

“I still don’t know what I am. I still don’t know that I won’t kill you all, that I won’t snap and tear everything down around my ears. But I’m going to try. I was going to let my life end to save everyone else. Now I am going to get a handle on this power for the same reasons.”

Lost crooks an eyebrow at Trauma. “And while I appreciate your help in making me see this, don’t think it’s an excuse to push me around. I’m a knight, we do the pushing. You ever put that hand around my neck again and don’t snap it, I’ll make you wish you had.”

And with that Lost gives Trauma a little playful punch on the shoulder.

>>13108238
trauma rolls er shoulder, "Very good. That's all i wanted. Now, I think Aberham has something he wants to put in you."

>>13108097

Aberham continued to fix his gaze on the instrumentation, and resumed to processes he had interrupted.

"Press here when you're ready to sleep Lost." As he turns the panel to face her.

"I'm, just, I'm just sick: picked up too many gray, I just need rest. And maybe I'm a little disappointed, I'm sorry."

"Just get better, we can talk later."

He stands and wobbles back to the med-bay door.

>>13108238
>>13108271
>>13108289
". . ."
"-too sick to appreciate or even note the pun, sadly."

"-anyway, anyone remember how can MEME remain in Psycomm before needing to be uploaded to a clone? It feels comfortable around here."

"-the femme-body is queer, though."

>>13108271

>I think Aberham has something he wants to put in you.

He stops walking,

"....heh, fuck, whatever"

Then he steps out of the room, sees Ghost and bores a hole into the sergeants head with his eye.

>>13108310

Lost's sadness quickly grew to irritation at the mechanical voice. Glaring at the speaker it was coming from, she gestured at it.

"Trauma, could you punch that?"

rolled 1 = 1

>>13108327
"DID THEY SAY IF THEY WERE COMING FOR DRINKS GHOST?"

Rolling deceve

>>13108327
Ghost, who had been standing right outside the door, merely stated, "I forgot my cap."

>>13108346
"-heh."
"-breaking public property has penalties."

"-cheerio, though."
The terminal shuts off by itself.

rolled 9 = 9

>>13108353
(fuck yeah)

Trauma slams her fist through the speaker, before heading out, "It's getting late, Girl, I'm gonna go sleep. The ladies barracks will miss you. Rest up, Lie back and just let abe do what needs to be done. You might even enjoy it."

>>13108370
>Previous roll negated!

Ghost walked through the med bay over to where box was off to the side. Reaching into the box, he withdrew a cap and a tablet which had been left on.

>>13108394
Ghost turns around and shoots Trauma an odd look.

>>13108394

"Um... okay?"

Lost colored a little bit, what with her squad leader in the room.

"Sergeant... did you hear... ALL of that?"

>>13108356
Trauma smiles at Ghost as she leaves for her quarters. "Oh, sorry, sir, still getting used to the hand. It's covered under the prosthetic acclimation clause of our medical plan, sir. If you actually look at our benefits, they're extremely good. Best benefits in the galaxy."

>>13108398
(Damn)

>>13108429
Dragon is still in the hall way, now slightly boozed "Oh hi Trauma, brought ya shomething." Dragon seems to reach for something but then displays only the middle finger "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH" After a moment of laughing to himself he reaches around again and produces top quality liqur "No, serously thish ish for you. You got ballsh...women ballsh, I like that."

>>13108422
Ghost just turns to Lost and nods.
"Good night, soldier." With that, he turns to leave.

>>13108450

Lost reaches out her hand.

"Sergeant, WAIT!"

>>13108476
Ghost pauses. "Yes?"

>>13108019
Thin, younger, dark circles under eyes, medium hair, can't handle his hit.

>>13108446
Trauma scoops the bottle out of his hand but keeps her left hand on it, "Oh thanks! Also, don't ever flip me the bird." And as she smiles from ear to ear, she pulls her hand back and a sickening pop is heard. Should dragon look at his hand, he'd see his middle finger dislocated in all three joints. "Go see abe about the hand." Trauma calmly walks off to her room.

>>13108019
see>>13096903

>>13108499
Dragon looks down as soon as she lets go and laughs. He doesn't seem to be in pain and he isn't that drunk....
"We don't always get what we want." Dragon walks towards the now needed med lab, blowing her an obnoxious kiss, *MUAH* and all. "Sweet dreamsh, and may a flight of angelsh shing thee to thy resht"

"Hey abe, mind poping shome sss*Explative* Back in place?" He also looks over to lost "Feeln' better?"

>>13108485

“I have a lot of apologizing to do. With the Major, with my squadmates, but especially with you. You need to have absolute trust in me, absolute faith in my abilities and my will to follow your orders. And I hid what I didn’t want you to know, even if it could have been a problem. Or a boon.”

“Walker is the commanding officer, and he gave his punishment for what I did today. But you are my squad leader, and when we’re pounding the ground, it’s you who are the closest thing to god for a soldier. I need to redeem myself in your eyes, and I want to know how.”

Lost looked with true sincerity into Ghost’s eyes. “The Major took my knees, but the rest is yours, to do what with you will.”

>>13108531

-abe not in med bay-

>>13108499

Aberham, slowly walks to meet Trauma, as he sees Dragon, wander off after their minor confrontation.

"Trauma, hold up a moment."

The Major stormed down the halls of the command ship, his irritation visible to everyone he encountered.

“Sergeant Hartford.”

“Sir?”

“Didn’t I dismiss you already?”

“But what if you run into someone and you decide to shoot them?”

“… Sergeant?”

“Yes?”

“Go find Private Colton and kick him in the groin for me.”

“… Are you trying to get rid of me?”

“Are you ignoring an order from your commanding officer?”

“SIR, NO SIR!”

The large man then marched down another corridor, finally leaving Walker alone. That was the nice thing about being the commanding officer, Walker mused to himself. Except for doctors, you can order others to leave you alone.

> > >

>>13108607

The doors to his quarters hissed open, and Walker plopped down into his chair, exhaling as he slumped down in a manner more befitting some delinquent school child. Removing the sidearm from his hip, he unlocked the cylinder, and let the empty casings and shells fall to his desk. With a flick of his wrist, the cylinder was whipped back into place.

For the next five minutes, Walker simply sat there, with his boots kicked up on the desk, absent-mindedly spinning the pistol cylinder, snapping his wrist to stop the rotation, and firing the empty gun at the wall.

“Another psionically-sensitive individual, huh? Reminds me of the Gemini Project…” he mumbled to himself.

His eyes glanced over to the pair of intricately decorated pistols displayed on a wall-mounted rack. A small reminder of his participation in that project… and of what he lost.

“Well, at least she ain’t dangerous. At most, she’s just going to pick up on emotions and have some really funky dreams. Maybe eventually she’ll be able to call bluffs. Heh. We learned ‘bout that part the hard way, didn’t we, John?”

Walker asked the pair of pistols. Silence. Of course there wouldn’t be a response. While he deeply wanted one, he knew that if there was one, he would probably need to administer treatment via a bullet to his skull. And yet, he continued to talk to the imaginary individual in the room.

“Probably no need to tell Fierstrom either. No need, anyway. If this kid wasn’t filtered out already, High Command or the other powers to be probably figure’d she’s not worth being kidnapped in the middle of the night to become some scientist’s guinea pig. Ain’t that right, Fierstrom?”

He knew she wasn’t there. Not in person, anyway. She was probably listening to him, though. Or recording him. He knew how Inquisitors were; spying was something they did. If you tried to hide something from them, they’d find out one way or another.

> > >

>>13108605
Trauma walks and talks. "Make it fast, abe, i'm tired"

>>13108615

He reached into his pocket, and drew a fresh cigar. Cutting the tip and lighting it, he took a deep drag from the cigar, savoring the taste before exhaling and resuming his conversation with the room.

“Heh, maybe all of Bravo is involved with some super-secret experiment, with some stupid-special project name. ‘Project Badass!’ HA! That would be a laugh. You hear me, Inquisitor? If you’re up to something, I’m on to you! I know you are! You always are!”

The Major let out a brief, if not maniacal-sounding, laugh. Maybe he would cause the Inquisitor to panic by saying that? Would be funny if it was actually all true, and that she WAS plotting something. Well, she probably was, anyway.

He removed his feet from the desk, and hit a button. The small holo-projector set within it lit up, bringing up a small screen and holographic keyboard up. The Major cracked his knuckles, and began to write the letters he promised he would. He laughed to himself. She was also probably going to read through this as well.

>DONE. WATCH YOURSELF, COLTON. BIG SERGEANT HARTFORD ALMOST HAS A CASE OF LENNY-THE-SIMPLE-GIANT. EXCEPT HE USUALLY MEANS IT WHEN HE BREAKS SOMETHING.

>>13108532
Ghost listened to Lost, then nearly did a double-take when she got to that last part. Turning bright red, "Uh, well," clearing his throat, "If you really feel the need to redeem yourself, you just need to-"

>continued

Shot sighed as he worked on the beast that was his vehicle. Not much to think about. He wondered if he'd talk with Lost again, set her straight. The poor girl needed not a lover, not a CO, but friends, people she could lean and depend on for more than just...

Well.

Despite Walker's insistence, Things Happened between people who fought alongside one another. It wasn't exactly something you could stop by blowing up their legs.

>>13108616

"I'm sorry, could you just help me back to my quarters, I'd rather not collapse in the hallway"

"I'm just up ahead."

>>13108640
Trauma sighs and does so, before going to her own quarters "Fine."

>>13108631
Moving his tablet in front of him, "you just need to do your duty. Be a good soldier, follow orders. You've already shown tremendous bravery, bordering on recklessness even. You'll do fine. I got to go. Good Night!" With his tablet conveniently positioned in front of him, he quickly walked out of the medbay.

He hopes that Command wasn't monitoring that.

>>13108664
Dragon, being in the room of course sees this and is doing his BEST not to laugh, making room to let his sargent pass "Night sharge"
Dragon smirks over to Lost "Don't do that to the poor guy...he has women problems"

The whole PA system crackles for a second before it starts to pick up a voice and some accompanying music

"-my darling I, can't get enough of your love babe
Girl, I don't know, I don't know why
Can't get enough of your love babe
Oh, some things i can't get used to
No matter how I try..."

On the cloning vats, another clone finishes being MEME-loaded and smiles as his hearing starts to catch up with the song.

>>13108677
From the hallway, "I heard that! A HUNDRED PUSH UPS!" With that, he ran back to his quarter.

>>13108664

Lost watched, perplexed, as Ghost scurried out of the room. Her squad leader: scurrying. What was the matter? Had she gone too far, placing him above Walker in her eyes? Maybe all sniper were this standoffish.

"What was that, Dragon? Oh, goodnight to you too."

Laying back down, she rolled over onto her side. And pressed the sleep button on the monitor.