Shadows of the Universe (Sci-fi Action RP)(Started)(Closed)

[Xero Scythe]

Spoiler: OOC

It's okay, Febel, take your time. By the way, does Hunter have a Watch she can see in the Night or did Nobbs just steal it?

Damien hit the rations table rapaciously. The cubes did help of course, but they left him feeling empty, regardless of how many he ate. As the saying goes, there's nothing like a home-cooked meal. After just confining himself to double his allotted portion, Damien walked away with a grimace on his face, his stomach still rumbling. He consumed one more cube before finally denying himself any more food. He slung his weaponry and other items over his shoulders. If a FEATHERS soldier wanted to follow him, so be it. As Damien walked towards the exit, he passed Jarmen. "Say, would you mind sending me the medical files for all the FEATHERS? I want to be prepared for anything. Thanks, here's my PDA number." Damien wrote down his number and made his way to the living quarters.

He sauntered through the halls, looking into rooms one by one. He passed by Saryll and a feather. "Her name was... Hunter, right? I'll find out sooner or later." Damien nodded towards the pair. "Evenin', ladies. How are ya?" He asked courteously as he found a room to his liking. The room itself was mostly spartan in nature, but it was spacious, with two beds and a large table that commanded the back half of the room. Damien also noticed the small door that presumably led to a bathroom. Damien grinned and emptied his pack gently on the table, spreading out the half-finished mechanical prototype replacement limbs he had been working on. "I'll go down and check out the Medical Facilities after I settle in." Damien muttered to himself.

 

[Kasten]

James wrote his own PDA number down and walked off, McMillan should be in Weapons by now. After about five minutes he walked in to McMillan looking at the large window into space, holographic displays James had requested flitting across in red and blue light, since the room's lights were only turned on manually, the room was lowly lit blue and red by the screens, hologlass, and the space window. McMillan was looking past it, his first real look into deep space.

James walked up beside him, not sneaky for once, "Lonely, huh?" McMillan nodded then saluted, in his Attention tone "Sir, what would you like me to do?" "Well. Look on the weapon instruction displays I have up here, during normal duty you will be at the various panels around this room, and doing any specific adjustments I need. For now, I pulled up a walkthrough of the general upkeep and secondary gunnery you'll be doing. First, protocol walkthrough." James walked up and got into the elevated rotating control chair, settling into the surprisingly comfortable seat "If and when space eventually becomes less lonely, you don't want a full-lock, the signals can be detected if whatever pirate or something has a brain, what you want is a Motion Tag, it tells the computer to make the calculations and tracking of the lock on, but doesn't actually swivel the weapons and toss on the targeting painters. But most of this will just be you aiming with the computer's suggestions. I set the sensors to automatically Motion Tag anything that could be a threat, but you'll want to keep a sharp eye on the display. Also remember to look outside once in a while, you might just end up seeing something the computer didn't process." James motioned to a seat that was at the window "You will be in a communicative role, giving displays to the main bridge for me when I'm busy shooting things or making sure our guns won't malfunction. I'll train you in gunnery later, so that while I'm planetside, you can manually blast targets I paint, until then I'll have to rely on the computer." James started working away at a discomforting speed from his mods. McMillan saluted "Yes Sgt." "Call me Sir, or Reynolds or something. We'll be sleeping, eating, and working in the same place, I'd like to know we'll get along well enough McMillan."

 

[lacktheknack]

Rick lay on the floor for a while then got up. "I've been tasked with being a drill sergeant, so I'd better go take a look at the troops and quartermaster - Knobs? Did you just take something out of the vent?"

"Yes, sir."

"Let me see that."

Knobs reached into his pouch and pulled out a bent wrench. "I believe they left it behind during construction."

"You ripped open a vent to get a bent wrench?"

"Yes sir."

Rick handed the wrench back, slightly dumbstruck. "I... I'm going to the quartermaster to see what I'm working with. I'll radio you if I need you. Don't strip the furniture, now..."

"Yes sir."

Rick walked through the door into DELICIOUS, PURE, SWEET BEAUTIFUL AIR. Knobs was going to take a shower soon, whether he liked it or not. Rick thought about it, then figured out a plan. He sauntered over to a nearby directory, and did a dual search for "Armory/Shower Unit". Fantastic, there was one a mere half-kilometer away. Rick downloaded a map and jogged off.

 

[Febel]

Drock stood in the rather Spartan room wondering who exactly was going to be bunking with him. Jason had said there wasn?t going to be mixed bunking. Shame, he?d kind of been looking forward to being in the same room as Saryll. She?d been awfully handsy, if a bit bossy when she was giving him shooting lessons. Maybe get to know her a little better, and then one night they could push the twin beds together and have some fun. He heard the door to the room?s antechamber open and turned around, expecting the second door into the bedroom to open.

?HEEEEYYYY DROOOOCKK!? a gruff voice called through the door.

No. Please no. No. No. No. No. No.
Sergeant Kell kicked open the door, Drock couldn?t even see his arms under the massive dufflebag he?d brought from the shuttle.

?Guess where you?re sleeping, private!?

??on the bed, sergeant Kell?? Drock asked sarcastically.

?haha FUCK NO! You?e going into combat lad! Need to get used to roughing it. You been by Sergeant Osten?s room? He?s sleeping on the floor in nothing but his armor. Well, you?re not a full WINGS trooper yet so I can?t expect you do anything like that. You?ll be enjoying this nice sleep mat.? Drock watched a crew member enter behind Kell, dropping a tightly coiled mat on the floor in the antechamber before leaving.
Sergeant Kell continued, ?You?ll be sleeping in there. Plenty of room for you.?
?There seems to be plenty of room in here for the mat, sir.?
?I?ll be doing stretches in here, private. Need lots of room for it. You?re free to join me if you like.? With this Jarmen grinned.
Drock?s mind went completely blank as he did everything in his power to avoid imagining Kell doing stretches.

?I think the first room will be fine, sir? he said, slightly in a daze.
?Excellent! And just so you don?t have to deal with the reminder?? Kell dropped his duffle back to the floor. Drock?s heart sank. Sergeant Kell had been wearing his exoskeleton armor hidden under the bag. He only wore that when he was about to break something. Drock watched as Kell walked over to one of the beds and raised his hand slightly above his head. With a crunch, the loud squeal of metal being forced to bend filled the room. Drock watched with disappointment as several springs bounced past him and to the floor. Kell had folded the bed over twice, reducing it to mess of twisted metal and torn fabric. Drock slowly walked into the antechamber and began unrolling the mat. Do not poison superior officers. Do not poison superior officers. Hell, knowing this prick it probably wouldn?t even kill him.

Spoiler: OOC

if cap'n can have fun fucking with bunking, so can I.

 

[lacktheknack]

Knobs heard a loud thunk two rooms over. He quickly jogged over to investigate.

Drock stood in the entryway, looking about as mad as one can look without combusting. Kell was inside the room, unpacking a dufflebag.

There was a rolled-up sleeping mat on the ground.

Knobs stepped through the antechamber and into the room. One of the beds was utterly destroyed. Knobs looked up at the sergeant and tumbled the scene around in his head until it sort of made sense.

Then, seeing that Kell wasn't going to turn around for a while, he knelt down and quietly started stuffing springs and shattered debris into his pack.

 

[lacktheknack]

Rick arrived at his destination. The corridors had flared open into towering walls that surrounded an absolutely spectacular city district, with statures perched on every intersection, the most finely manicured shrubbery and ivies hanging from thousands of ornate carved fixtures, as well as a stone garden off in the distance. The entire thing looked like a bizarre combination of classical China and Renaissance France. Some ten kilometers away rose two enormous walls, forming a round-bottomed triangle. They were reinforced supports that divided the city into thirds while holding up the roof. The roof was unwarped diamond, and you could see billions upon billions of stars beyond.

When someone said "Make me a ship the size of a city", someone had missed or added a word somewhere.

Rick had walked a short distance down a paved street before turning into a side street.

The Berlin was not a colonization ship, so the population consisted almost entirely of scouts, technicians and soldiers, and the warehouses were filled with supply drops instead of personal items. Nonetheless, there were some civilians aboard for some reason or other, and they were on this street. Quaint temporary apartments lined the left side, across, from a small pawn shop, the "Welcome Wagon Cantina", an "Aqueous Environment Training Facility" (a pool and showerhouse) and the simply named "Armory Six".

Rick surveyed his surroundings with wonder before entering Armory Six.

He walked into a room with its walls absolutely DROWNING in guns. THOUSANDS of them, of every make, model and variation you could ever want. A desk surrounded by a diamond emergency cage (still in the floor) was in the far corner, a doorway marked "Armour" and another marked "Test" on either side of it.

The centerpiece of the room was a large rifle rack filled with extremely large rifles.

If Knobs' dossier was accurate, he'd have a stroke of pure joy when he saw these.

The quartermaster stood at attention. "I am here to serve you, sir!" He suddenly turned a bit white. "Permission to speak, sir!"

"Go ahead."

"With all due respect... is that a Colossus armor set you have there? In full!?" The quartermaster stepped out from behind his desk and trotted over to Rick. "The helmets for this thing are so rare, and yet you seem to have one - just pulled back, yes? - and you have intact joint control! I'd kill for a matching set!" His eyes widened. "WINGS... I thought the WINGS initiation was cancelled!"

"Things happened. We're here now."

"Well... Wow! Do you have any credentials on you?"

Rick pulled out an identification chip. "Sergeant Richard Osten. Temporary drill sergeant. Armour enthusiast. I'm not here to buy right now, just observe."

"I'm unsurprised. I cannot top your armour."

"Now look. I owe a favor to a smaller FEATHER who wants to be a heavy. I think that's why he didn't mind hanging around with the heavy soldiers on the WINGS expedition - the others were afraid to get close. Now, I was wondering if I could let him try some of the more... intense items you have in here?"

The quartermaster grinned. "I have no qualms with this. I cannot let him use the heavy shotgun - health reasons, you understand - but I'll set up the traditional heavy demonstration. You can test it until he arrives, if you wish... you DO want to do it right away, right?"

"Absolutely. And I'll test it, sure. I'm not really good with weapons, but I can aim straight. A bit of practice never hurt anyone, right?"

"A heavy soldier who's not good at weapons...?" The quartermaster's eyes went round. "You're a meat shield?! I've never met a living one before!"

"It was... tough. Let's say that."

"So THAT'S how you got that armor! The prize of surviving the suicide run! Give me a good reason to not fall on my knees in worship, oh God of Indestructibility."

"Sure: The guy I'm bringing over has hygiene problems. I'll have him wash off in the poolhouse, if you'd like."

"Ahm... yes, please do. Armor is a pain to clean the inside of." The quartermaster scratched his head. "You know, I have something in storage for in case I ever met a meat shield... here, I'll go get it after I set up the demo. You call your friend over and have him shower. I think you're going to like what I've got for you... Say, how tall is your friend?"

"About five foot seven or eight."

"Shrimp. I think I've got something anyways..."

Rick grinned. "OK, I'll bring him over."

He clicked his radio. "Hey, Private! Get over here to Armory Six, I have something special for you. Yeah, it's called Armory Six. Better come quick."

<spoiler=OOC>This post and the next may be cruel and unusually long, but I'm having fun typing it. It's worth reading if the thought of a five-foot-seven man wielding weapons and armor meant for someone a foot taller and two feet wider appeals to you, anyways.

Also, I may have gone overboard and completely against the original ship design, but I'm the first one out here in the main area, so why not? If Staika doesn't like it, I'll ret-con the description to something else.

 

[lacktheknack]

Private Knobs received the radio call as he left Kell and Drock's room. He turned and walked over to a directory and did a search for Armory Six. Oh good, it's close by, thought Knobs. Just opposite from where we entered the Bridge area, down the tunnel, round the corner, and -

Knobs stopped dead in his tracks when he entered the cityscape. He stood there for a half minute before he could shut his mouth and keep walking. He felt like he was in a dream as he turned down a residential street. There was a poolhouse, pawn shop, and - Armory Six! Rick must be inside. Knobs sauntered over to the door and stepped in.

Rick was there, holding an FN-AV3. As far as Knobs was concerned, it was a shotgun the size of him. "Ah, Knobs. You're here. I read up a bit about you and found out that you have a mild obsession with heavy weapons. Figured that we should really start out on the right foot, you know..."

Knobs quickly checked for drool. "Yes, sir!"

The quartermaster walked out of the armor section. "I think we'll stick him in a small Titan we have left over, unless he wants the Mammoth - oh, he's here already!"

"Not quite," said Rick. He turned to Knobs. "Actually, the quartermaster needs you to go take a shower before putting the armour on. Protocol, you know." Knobs instantly realized that whether or not good will was involved, part of the intention was to get him to shower. Normally, he'd just ignore people who told him that, but there was some bonafied heavy armor just WAITING for him right there - ! "I'll be right back, I'm heading to the pool for a minute," he squeaked.

Fifteen minutes later, Knobs was back. He was damp, but his hair wasn't so greasy and his distinctive odor had been reduced to trace amounts. He looked almost like a kid again. The quartermaster took him through a spiel and demonstration only seen by heavy soldiers, and Knobs couldn't have been any happier. Rick had the honors of demonstrating the shotgun, to Knobs' chagrin. Rick did find Knobs firing a high-end machine gun meant for people double his size to be both hilarious and worrying. Knobs emitted a couple war whoops throughout before it was all over less than an hour later. Knobs looked almost exhausted.

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed that, Private," said the quartermaster. "Oh, Sergeant! I nearly forgot, the special item for you!

The quartermaster ducked behind the counter and came up with an enormous grunt of exertion. He had a case, about six feet long and four feet across. He dropped it on the counter, where it made an enormous bang. He opened it and peered inside, looking up at Rick and back in the box. "It's even the right color! You are an incredibly lucky man, Sergeant. I don't even want to charge you, it feels like destiny."

Rick ignored the destiny comment and pulled the case open. It was a shield, the same off-white color as Rick's armour.

"Whaddya think, Private?"

Knobs attempted to lift the shield, but was completely unable to do so. "It's heavy. It must be two hundred pounds." Rick reached over and grabbed a hold of it. Instantly, there was a brief hum and the joints in Rick's armour all spasmed. "What... is it?"

The quartermaster's eyes were glowing with excitement. "It's a shield! It looks to be just the right size you you to hide behind, if you duck your head. It's got a particularly rare and powerful nanobot breed in it, you know, it can repair your armor even faster using the shield metal, and they can adjust atomic structure so that ANYTHING can replace the shield material.. Even a houseplant. Plus, I defy you to break it. Even if you nuked it, it would still hold together."

Rick tried moving it. It felt so much lighter! He could tell that it was interfacing with his armor, and the shield had much better programming and optimization than his joints did. They started overwriting.

global modifier +1

Rick noted that that the holding bar seemed to span about the same distance as one of his many pack-holders on the back of his armor. He moved the shield behind him, and it quickly grabbed hold of its own accord. Rick turned to the quartermaster, quite pleased. "Thank you kindly, sir. Have yourself a wonderful day."

"Oh it has been. Actually, you could make it even better. Could you take this?"

He grabbed an old, old large iron contraption and handed it to Rick. "Flammenwerfer. It werfs flammen. I've modded it as best as I can, but I'm honestly about fed up with the damn thing. I'm too afraid to use an explosive mixture, so I've only tested it with flammables. It spits fire, and lots of it. I don't want it anymore, it's too crude. Maybe you can find a better use of it."

"Thank you very much, I think I know someone who may want this."

Rick and Knobs exited the armory. "Hmmm... Hey, Knobs. Wanna try your modding hand with this thing? Get it all gussied up and maybe add some more features or something. I bet Camilla could use it."

"Sure... I'll see what I can do..." Knobs was still on cloud nine.

They walked to the tunnel back to the bridge when Rick stopped again. "Hey... Knobs... do you have more guns on you then you started the day with?"

Knobs paused. "...Yes."

Rick sighed in exasperation. "Let's not tell the quartermaster that, OK?"

Knobs nodded. "Thank you for that, sir."

Rick took a deep breath. There was only a trace of Knobs' musk. "Not going to lie... it was worth it. Don't expect me to pull that regularly."

"Yes sir."

 

[Kasten]

McMillan had just been through the 'matrix' room, mental-interface reality used for recreation and training with The Devi-Sgt. Reynolds. That's his name. He'd forced him to endure a hellish mission gone wrong. One hundred times, he'd been shot, sawed, bashed, crushed. What scared him, is James made it through the mission at the same level of experience. And he'd be sleeping near this guy? He was positive James was a demonic ninja.

"Oooo~~h McMiiiii~llan" Ohgodno. That was enough torture. I'm positive that he can become invisible without the armor. "Guess where your sleeping, Private." "... In a bed?" "Heh. No." James opened a one bed room, and put a landmine on the top of the bed, it dug in and activated. There were two overhead pipes. "You're sleeping in the smaller one." "Sir, with all due respect, how do I get up there?" "You climb in." James jumped and practically scurried into the larger pipe. "That mine will become seeking at night, and hit you with a tazer once a minute unless you're in that pipe. It can climb the walls." McMillan had massive bags under his eyes, as he closed the door that had 'James and sla-... Bi-... Maggot.'

Spoiler: Bunk

I think we're all trying to break our feathers as much as possible

 

[Grim327]

Watched and listened as all of the commotion between the newly arrived FEATHERS and their WINGS mentors. "I guess I need to pick a FEATHER," he said to himself. Chris walked over to the one that was a little chubbier than the rest, and said " I guess me and you are bunking together. What's your name FEATHER?"

"Pvt. Colon, sir!" He replied with a crisp salute. "Don't call me sir, I never took to the pleasantries. My name is Chris Gannon, and I'm the techy of my team. I will teach you everything you need to know about hacking, decryption, and all around making the enemies electronics a cyber hell.

"Yes sir, er... Chris." Colon replied.

"Alright then. How about we start off with finding a room to bunk. The other guys have already gotten a head start, so we need to see if they left us anything." They grabbed their duffle bags and gear and set off for the bunks. It took sometime to get there for the ship was fairly easy to get lost in. Once they found the hallway the began to look for a room that wasn't taken. They passed by the other's rooms and found a suitable bunk that was close to the end of the hall. Chris opened the door and saw that the layout was fairly simple: two twin beds on the other end of the hall, a small bathroom in the lower left-hand corner, and a couple of coffee tables. There was plenty of room for electronics, weapon assembly/dis assembly, and anything else he needed to do, and even train his FEATHER. "Alright start unpacking and I will get back to you in a second. I just want to check out the electronic warfare station of this ship."

"Yes, sir." Colon replied and started doing as ordered.

 

[Kasten]

Spoiler: Escapistpostglitch

This was a posting mishap, please delete.

 

[staika]

Jason looked around the hangar and noticed that most of his squad had left, he decided to head to the Bridge and get the ship started up. Jason was heading out of the hangar when he noticed two recruits messing around, he looked around and noticed that no one had taken them as their recruits yet. Jason then took out his knife and threw it in between the two recruits, they jumped back in shock as Jason walked up and pulled the knife out of the wall.

"So what are you two doing?" Jason asked as he put his knife away. "Um we were just waiting for someone to take us in as their recruits...... sir." The taller one answered almost forgetting to add sir to his sentence. "You two have names?" Jason asked not even responding to their excuse. "I am Robert Webb sir." The taller one answered first. "I am David Mitchell sir." The shorter one answered as if they had practiced introducing themselves like that.

"You must be Sergeant Lier, you look different than what I was told you'd look like but hey at least you're not Captain Kahlil, Right Dave?" Webb said not realizing he was talking to Captain Kahlil. "Yeah, I heard the Captain is a major dick! If I was his recruit I'd probably just try to kill him in his sleep." Mitchell answered as the two seemed unaware of Jason's presence anymore. "You two do know I'M CAPTAIN KAHLIL!" Jason shouted at the two as both of them looked at Jason in shock. "WE ARE VERY SORRY CAPTAIN KAHLIL!" Both said at once trembling in fear.

"You two are now my recruits! For now follow me because I have to go start the ship up. I do have stuff planned for you two though so don't get too relaxed!" Jason said as he walked towards the corridor that lead to the Bridge. While walking down the corridor Jason noticed that there were people now and whenever he walked by they would clear the way and salute him. After a long walk Jason finally made it to the bridge which was located near the top of the front of the ship.

"Damn this ship is huge, at least my room is near the bridge so I won't have that far to walk everyday." Jason thought as he walked into the bridge. "CAPTAIN ON DECK!" one of the soldiers shouted as each person in the bridge stopped what they were doing and stood saluting Jason. "At Ease." Jason said calmly as he walked to the Captain's Chair. "You two, your first job is to stand at both sides of my chair at attention. Think of yourselves as my guards." Jason said as he took a seat in the Captain's chair, Webb and Mitchell then took position at each side of the chair like they were told to without saying a word.

Jason took a look at the monitor in front of his chair which showed the live feed of what was outside the front of the ship."Lieutenant Sanders, get the ship ready to go." Jason ordered over his chair radio. "Right away Captain Kahlil." The voice answered. "Crew of the E.U.S. Berlin, This is Captain Kahlil. The ship is going to begin it's journey everyone prepare to launch." Jason said over the intercoms so everyone on the ship could hear him. Webb and Mitchell then were given a chair to sit in and were strapped in ready for launch.

The noise of the engine started causing the ship to begin to shake and cause a low audible humming noise that could be heard across the entire ship. Jason could start to feel the ship moving as his monitor showed the stars start to move as the ship started to get into the best angle to move. The monitor then stopped it's movement as the ship came into a prime angle to move since there were no planets in the way. Jason could feel the movement as the ship started to move forward and bring itself farther away from earth.

After about 20 minutes the Berlin was going at full speed and the monitor showed nothing but blackness and stars. "Captain the ship is at full speed, turning on the artificial atmosphere now." Sanders said over the radio. Jason could feel the artificial atmosphere turn on as it allowed him to begin to move again after a long period of not being able to move. "Crew This is Captain Kahlil. We are now at full speed and if you have not noticed we have turned on the artificial atmosphere so you may return what you were doing. ETA to Daylesha is one day." Jason said over the intercoms. Jason then got up and stretched a little.

Jason then sat down back in his chair as Webb and Mitchell took position at each side of his chair. Jason was happy they were back standing as they were joking around the entire time they were in the chairs no matter how much he yelled at them to stop. Jason decided to do some paper work before heading off to bed.

 

[Kasten]

"Captain, all weapons are two minutes off from full prime, would you like anything special sent to you? I'll need at least two hours to get the Ablative Shield for the overview window fully functional, the halfwits that created the shell used out-of-date hydraulic controls with cutting edge battle computers. If I manually prepare the armor, the weapons will be cutting it really close to our ETA, which should I focus on?"

 

[staika]

"Just send me a report on the status of the weapons. And Focus on getting the weapons up. From the report Major McLelland gave us the worst we may have to face is giant worms and I don't think they could do any real damage to our ship from the planet, if they even exist." Jason responded over the radio.

 

[lacktheknack]

Rick punched Knobs lightly on the shoulder. "Hey, Private. I may seem like a benevolent superior right now, but that changes tomorrow. You wanna be a heavy like Camilla? I can help you out, but trust me, you're going to NEED some sleep. Now."

A nearby Launchpad Clock read only about 9:00 in the evening. A chill shot through Knobs. He didn't want to think too hard about what would happen tomorrow, but decided to take Rick's recommendation at face value.

Arriving back at their room, Knobs pulled a vial of meds out of one of his many pockets, gulped it, and lay down on the bed. Rick stood near the door and watched. He didn't really need to sleep. Near the end of the Suicide Run, he had been sleeping for three or four hours a week. It was a simple fact of life: Stay awake, or die. His body was trained very well, and he couldn't close his eyes for longer than three hours any given two days. The human body can take some pretty horrendous abuse and keep on ticking, Rick had found out.

Knobs was about to find out, too.

Rick thought for a moment, then lay on the floor to grab some shuteye. Who knows how long they'd be on the planet, and he'd probably be night guard and not get any sleep at all while down there. Besides, he hadn't slept for two days already.

Yes. He'd wake up before midnight, and the FUN could begin.

 

[Kasten]

James walked into the Weapons Control chair, and a wet, unhappy but rested, as he took his post by the holoscreen and watched space pass by, while James smirked, and dismissed the night-crewmembers, and James put his name and 'maggot' up on the duty display on the bridge for the Battle Room

 

[Grim327]

Felt the ship shake and then go back to normal as they started moving. Once the artificial atmosphere was turned on, he decided to look at Colon's record and pulled it up on his PDA. Apparently he didn't like conflict, was always sending money back home, and bunked with Knobs at the academy. Chris and Rick will need to co-op training with their FEATHERS. Once he was done he walked over to where Colon was sleeping and shook him awake, "Hey, if your going to be a field technician and cyber warrior, you are going to have to be awake with everyone else."

"Hrmm, give me five more minutes Mom." Colon groggily said, obviously still dreaming. "If yo want to play it that way, then we will have some fun after all." Chris said, flipping the mattress over and throwing Colon onto the ground. "I said wake up pvt. It's late in the morning and you have some training to do! We don't have time be off in Dreamland.

"Yes, sir!" Colon replied getting on his feet and saluting. "Now that your awake, we can get to work. Before we get to electronics, you need to learn about weapon maintenance. Keep you and your friends' weapons shooting long enough to kill the enemy. Let's head on over to the armory and grab a few weapons to start off with.

"Yes, sir." Colon replied as he started following Chris. As they were walking Chris asked Colon, "So, do you have any kind of training in weapon maintenance and/or electronics?" "Yes I do. I don't like open conflict too much, so I figured I can help my squad mates without shooting at the enemy too much. Although, I don't have too much training, just a little more than field stripping and cleaning."

We have a long way to go, Chris thought to himself. As they entered into the main part of the ship, Chris and Colon took a look at the cityscape. "I can't believe they put all of this in here." Colon said. "And we have to keep an eye on the electronic defenses of this place." Chris replied. Colon gave him an awkward look as if saying, are you serious? Chris just gave a small chuckle and set off to an armory. After passing bath houses, medical stations, and a small bar, they finally found an armory labeled Armory 2. They walked in and saw that the place looked like a gun convention on steroids. Rifles, pistols, and everything in between were lined all across the walls. They even had a heavy weapons section. A tall-muscular man stepped up behind the counter and said "I'm the quartermaster for this armory, how can I help you?" "Ya, I'm teaching my FEATHER here about weapon field maintenance, and were hoping to borrow a few guns to work on." "A FEATHER? You wouldn't be talking about the WINGS program would you? I never expected to meet WINGS members." the quartermaster replied. "I'm WINGS, he isn't, although he is close." Chris replied, "About those guns?"

"Ah, yes. Give me one minute." the quartermaster replied. After about five minutes the quartermaster returned with a full dufflebag. "Here you are, a bag of assorted pistols, rifles, and the like. And considering you are WINGS, I will entrust you to bring them back the way they are now, so no charge."

"Why thank you, We will bring them back soon I promise. Come on Colon we have work to do." Chris replied grabbing the dufflebag and walking out.

 

[lacktheknack]

3:00 AM. Rick trotted back into his room. Knobs was still asleep.

Rick grabbed him and set him upright on the floor. Knobs awoke with a jolt, barely gaining his balance before Rick let go.

"So, there's a satchel hanging from the statue of intersection twelve. Bonus points if you don't use a directory. Go get it."

"Wha... wha...?" Knobs was fairly sure that he was still dreaming.

"Go find intersection twelve and get the satchel off the statue. Then bring it back."

Knobs trotted off, slightly stunned. Rick stepped out into the WINGS cabin hallway, then over to a directory. He identified himself, activated the relevant permissions, and started following Knobs' progress via security camera. Knobs clearly figured out that his training had begun, and made a point of avoiding directories, suspiciously eyeing the attached verification cameras. Rick couldn't see through those, he just saw through all the hidden cameras in the ceiling and such.

Knobs' pace slowed to a walk as he entered the city section, and slowed even further as he approached intersection three by Armory Six. He glanced down the three streets available, then went straight ahead. Intersection eight. Knobs ignored that the areas panned out the further he went and immediately trotted forward again. He was dismayed to find that it took him to intersection twenty. Knobs experimentally went left, and indeed, it took him to intersection nineteen. So there WAS logic!

Knobs saw an easy-to-climb building, and climbed it clean out of Rick's sights. He must have gone up to count the intersections. Rick began cycling through the nearby cameras. There, he had dropped off into a well-trimmed hedge. Hopefully no one would notice. He ran off in the correct direction, but his adrenaline buzz was clearly dying from being ripped from bed so suddenly.

By the time he reached intersection twelve, he was nearly on his hands and knees. Rick watched worriedly as he climbed the statue, falling once and sliding into something pointy twice. The architect clearly hadn't meant for the lady he sculpted to be scaled. Finally, Knobs reached the satchel, he had to knock it off instead of picking it up. He nearly fell off the statue when it landed, it must have made a crashing sound. Rick started to feel sorry for the guy. He slid to the base of the statue and caught his breath. He then stumbled to the satchel to pick it up.

He couldn't.

No wonder it made such a huge thump when it landed.

Knobs stretched for a minute, then, with enormous effort, lifted the satchel over his shoulder and began plodding back.

He arrived back at 3:40.

"...What was... the big.... idea...?" Knobs could barely speak.

"Endurance and strength is needed in ALL heavy military. This tested both. Feel free to open the satchel now."

Knobs set it down with a crash. Rick jumped. Drock groaned unhappily from a nearby doorway.

Knobs managed to open the knot with surprising dexterity, given his condition, and he peered inside. Food bars and scrap metal. LOTS of it.

Knobs took two bars, and Rick took three. "Feel free to rest some more, now, if you want. You'll be getting less and less."

Knobs stumbled off to their room, scarfing down a nutrition bar. Rick waited for him to disappear through the doorframe, then counted the metal pieces.

Six. There were three missing.

 

[Febel]

It had been a couple days since Jarmen first arrived on the Berlin and he?d spent most of that time in his quarters, using his tools to build yet another watch. At this point in his life he?d built literally hundreds of them, using kits and carefully molded scrap metal. He didn?t really see the point anymore, he?d started it several years before to improve dexterity after an explosive charge he?d been tinkering with went off a bit early and injured his hand but by now his fingers were so flexible and his hands so steady he could probably pick a lock with one finger.
Think I?m going a bit stir crazy he mused, should probably get out and explore the ship. That thought, combined with the fact that Drock had spent most of last night dropping hints that he wanted him out of the room for awhile (not the least of which was him muttering ?Will you just fucking leave already? multiple times in Kell?s presence) motivated Kell to set off down the corridor unknowingly in the direction of the cityscape.

Haven?t seen much of the other WINGS as of late. Knobs and Osten came back this way last night. Seems Ricky boy somehow managed to get Knobs smelling like roses, at least in comparison to his usual odor. Maggie seems to be bonding with Saryll. Used to have to lock doors behind me just to keep her from following me from room to room, now she?s gone. Probably for the best though, that girl needs someone to stick with other than me and Penlan. Kahil was all wrapped up in doing whatever the hell newly instated starship captains do. At least he was keeping Mitchell and Webb out of trouble. From what I?ve heard James seems to have made it his life goal to have McMillan either kill himself as an escape or end up being sectioned.

He paused for a moment in a corridor with a window overlooking a hangar separate from the one he?d come in on. As he watched a cargo crane swung across his vision, a fighter grasped between its pair of massive arms. He walked on.

Now that I think of it I haven?t seen those other ones at all. He?d only spotted Camilla once as she rounded a corner, Penlan trailing a few feet behind her. Penlan had turned back a grinned nervously at him.

Wonder if Camilla?s abusing her as bad as James is doing to McMillan. Penlan?s not the sort to complain if she was. I haven?t even seen that kid with the huge fuck-off wrench once since I had them all lined up in the hangar. Maybe he?s a shut-in or some crap like that. Hall was supposed to be assigned to him but I haven?t seen him either. Then again that?s not saying much.
He?d once ordered the private to go and grab a replacement uniform after his had gotten torn. It was nine hours before he saw the lad again and even then he was pretty sure it was only because the boy had wandered into the canteen, lost in thought.

He walked through a larger, more heavily armored door into a rather blinding light. Looking up he realized it was meant to be artificial sunlight. His eyes began to adjust and his eyebrows rose as he took in the cityscape for the first time.
Well, wow. This is pretty damn impressive I have to admit. His gaze returned to the ceiling off in the distance. Between the occasionally bank of lights meant to bring a sense of normalcy to the environment he could see the tiny pin prick lights of stars through the glass.
It?s a fucking tactical nightmare though. On a pseudo-warship like this a giant glass dome with a city underneath is an enemy gunners wet dream. And even if it didn?t take a hit and decompress, inhabitants and all, what would happen if we were ever boarded? ?I know, let?s take all the worst fighting involved in shipboard fighting and add on the even worse aspects of fighting in an urban environment!?

He looked back down and saw a young woman, probably 15 or 16, dragging her boyfriend into a clothing shop. A smile crossed his face. He had to admit, there was a pleasant novelty to finally living in a city that was neither burning to the ground nor filled with people trying to kill him. His grin widened as he walked down the street, spying a bar in the distance.
Well, he thought, maybe I can change that after a few hours drinking.

Spoiler: OOC

I think...I think I may have written more than I needed to. Also, yeah I have to admit I was sort of commenting on people's rate of updating with some of those.

 

[Kasten]

James had put McMillan through another test, he was now tasked with swimming UP the laundry water flow each morning before anything else. So when a smiling James and completely beat McMillan walked into the city, nearby crew were mildly confused. McMillan also knew that to be able to eat lunch today, he'd have to go through an exercise section, more Matrix Room Hell, and then SPRINT to the place he'd be eating. And scarily enough, James might decide to make him crawl there with weights on his back if he fell behind at any point. He'd get James this fight, he knew it! Or else more CQC lessons, but he could totally beat James!


James was smiling. McMillan was slowly breaking, and it was hilarious. Soon, he'd be ready to actually start some training beyond Basic. "Hey McMillan, why do you adhere to Army standards? The WINGS program has lax standards for a good reason, do I need to beat the chain of command into you again?" "Try Sir, I dare you." McMillan was taking a stance one second, and then found himself rolling down a rock slope into a decorative pond the next. It hurt, quite a bit, he mused. James noticed Kell nearby and walked over while waiting for Arthur to climb back up "Hey Sgt, haven't seen you in the halls. If you want somebody to take care of your Maggot for you, I'll whip them into shape for awhile while you explore the city." James seemed remarkably calm and kind for a guy who was systematically breaking somebody in order to better train them... for his amusement.

 

[Grim327]

While Colon was sleeping, Chris had disassembled a few of the guns they had gotten from the quartermaster, and took one or two pieces of some of those guns out of the equation to see if Colon would notice. He would start out simple, but eventually have Colon practically making new parts in the field, or finding spares. Once he was done he walked over to where Colon was sleeping. Instead of sleeping on the bed, he slept on the floor to avoid getting rolled over. Chris lightly kicked Colon saying, "Rise and shine sleeping beauty, it is time for your first lesson."

Colon reluctantly got up, remembering what happened last time when he didn't. " What is the first lesson exactly?" Colon replied while rubbing his eyes.

"Glad you asked. I am going to see how well you put a gun back together, while having little energy. You see these guns lying around in the room?" Chris replied looking to pistols and rifles that were idling sitting on a bed, and tables. "I will time you to see how long it takes you, got it?

"Ya, I got it." Colon groggily replied, still trying to wake up. Chris pulled out a stop watch and yelled, "Go, Go, Go! You have no time to waste!" Colon was startled by the loud screaming and ran over to the closest gun. On the table was a Tsunami assault rifle, and a Maelstrom assault rifle; or at least the parts to them. Colon quickly started putting the guns back together, but soon found out that some of the parts were mixed together, and he had to sort them out. After about an hour of sorting and fitting with all the other guns, Colon was finally finished, "Done!" he yelled, "Er, I mean I'm partly done. Some of the parts were missing, I don't think I lost them."

"Good, I was hoping you would catch my little trick. At least you know most or all of the parts to a variety of guns. Go grab a nutrition bar, or something while I clean up here and set up your next training session. Be back here in 30 minutes." Chris replied.

"Yes sir!