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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Dec 29, 2010 21:59:28 GMT -5
Elliot's phone was going off when he exited his shower. He picked it up and his phone registered four missed calls and one new text message from Dom that read "Medical. Now."
As he dressed, Elliot silently prayed that nothing major happened. Then he left for medical.
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Dec 30, 2010 1:13:51 GMT -5
Dom paced back and forth in front of medical, contemplating the incident that had unfolded on the surface twenty or so minutes ago, all the while hoping Elliot arrived before General Higgens did as he would likely want an explanation from the entire team.
Jake stood silently against the wall next to the door across the hall from medical, glaring at the floor with that paranoid look in his eyes that he has whenever he starts hashing together one of his conspiracy theories. Truthfully most of his conspiracy theories weren't all that far fetched even though most people told him he was crazy whenever he started voicing them.
Azira, meanwhile, leaned against the wall to the left of the door leading into medical working on her field tablet, trying to dig up any information she could on the Agent Pike character that had earlier threatened Elliot with charges of treason. The amount of encryption on Agent Pike's file frustrated her and though she would not voice it openly, she didn't like Elliot being threatened with such serious charges when she knew there couldn't possibly be any basis for them and she was determined to find some kind of dirt on this Pike character to defend him with.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Jan 12, 2011 22:44:58 GMT -5
I spend way too much time in Medical thought Elliot as he passed by one of maps indicating that he had just entered the floor.
"Excuse me, miss," he said, tapping a doctor on the back to get her attention, "I'm looking for a friend of mine. Jimmy-" He stopped, suddenly realizing that after working with the guy for years he had never learned his last name.
"Oh, the young pilot?" she asked, turning around. "He's in the- oh." When she had fully turned around Elliot recognized her from before. She was the doctor who had forced him to take the ineffective medicine. Infact, that medicine made him feel worse while making him feel like he was drunk, and, from her expression and tone, she remembered him too.
"He's being treated in room 232. We're giving him the same medication we gave you, but a smaller dosage, and it seems to be working for him."
"Like I said, it doesn't work for me. It didn't work then, nor the time before that."
"Funny, every test we've performed indicates that it's worked fine, you're just imagining these effects. Now goodbye." Then she walked off, not giving him a chance to even cook up a retort.
It took awhile. Usually cases like this were in one of the emergency rooms, but Elliot took it as a good sign that he was in one of the more secluded rooms. At the very least, his life wasn't in any danger.
"So, Jimmy" said Elliot as he opened the door, "I heard you're trying to imitate my swiss cheese impression."
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Jan 14, 2011 14:52:30 GMT -5
Jake glared at Elliot as he walked past everyone to Jimmy's room and then followed after him silently at a fast walking pace, now glaring at the back of Elliot's head with a highly paranoid look in his eyes. "Jake?" asked Dom as he saw the look. "Jake!? hold it!" Dom yelled as he moved to get in his way. Jake ignored the commander and rushed past after Elliot, "you cause this, and think you can get away with jokes!?" Jake yelled as he yanked Elliot around by his shoulder and grabbing the collar of his coat and slammed him up against the wall. He glared into Elliot's eyes and shook him, "what did he offer you? Huh!? What did Agent Pike offer you!?" Jake pulled him away from the wall and violently slammed him against another wall, jacking him up in the air just a bit, "come on Elliot, tell us all, tell us how much he payed you to sell us out!!"
"Jake, please, he couldn't have! Leave him alone!" Azira pleaded from a distance.
Dom put a hand on Jake's arm, trying to pull him away, "you are assaulting a superior officer soldier! Stand down! Now!"
"No!! I will not stand down! Not until I know the truth! I don't trust him and I want to hear the truth!!" Jake yelled violently as he continued glaring maliciously at Elliot and tightened his grip on his collar.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Jan 15, 2011 5:28:47 GMT -5
Elliot put grabbed Jake's wrist firmly, though made no effort to remove it. Then he spoke, his tone cold.
"You want the truth, Jake? The truth is; you're a complete imbecile. Infact, I'm certain it's been a well documented fact since grade school. Those guys were there, had probably been following you for a long time. If your face hadn't been so into women, who don't even give a shit about you, you might have noticed them drawing a gun and shooting him.
"The only untrustworthy person here is you. You've attacked me twice, as well as a civilian, and you are disobeying direct orders. You're not even able to think clearly. If you were, you'd realize that there's no rhyme or reason to me sending people to attack you in public. One of the missions that I tend to get shot up in would be much better for that task. I wouldn't even have to do it myself." He paused, and glared back at Jake, his next words like ice. "Next, you'd realize that I don't ever, ever leave allow my teammates to be killed.
"Now, in the next two seconds, you are gently going to remove your hand from me, apologize to Azira for startling her and apologize to everyone for being an all around idiot. Or else I am going to give you a very good reason to book this hospital room for the rest of your vacation. Do I make myself clear?"
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Jan 16, 2011 14:41:55 GMT -5
Jake glared still and bared his teeth angrily, "oh yeah, crystal clear!" He tightened his grip on Elliot's collar and lifted him in the air and threw him to the side and onto the floor next to Jimmy's bed. "I understand perfectly you bastard! Your rather it had been me that got shot! You call yourself an officer, maybe its time you started acting like one! You never treated me like a member of the team, you've always just looked at me like some kind of side show act for your fucking amusement!"
"Jake, that's enough", Dom said as he attempted to push Jake out of the room to calm him down, but Jake kept pushing his way back in towards Elliot, clearly still full of anger. "I know I'm not the sharpest tool in the box, but at least I'm not an arrogant prick that thinks he's better than anyone under him!" Jake yelled.
"Damnit Jake, that's enough!", yelled Dom as he pushed Jake back out the door. "This is getting out of hand, walk away!", yelled Dom as he tried to hold Jake out of the room. "Walk away!"
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Feb 6, 2011 1:49:35 GMT -5
"You wouldn't be such a damn sideshow if you didn't act like it! I treat you like a member of this team, but I treat you differently because you act differently. You're the only one who acts like a complete idiot on this team! The number of times you've put us in jeopardy, THE NUMBER OF TIMES YOU'VE NEARLY KILLED INNOCENT PEOPLE!"
Elliot stopped and glared. The accusations were what pissed him off the most. The Hell he'd gone through, the mistakes he made, the memories were beginning to cloud his mind. It was good to stop now.
"Jake," he began, his voice much calmer than a few moments ago. "Tomorrow I am putting in a request to have you meet with a counselor to discuss whether or not you will be discharged."
In truth, Elliot had never called himself an officer. That was something other people thrust upon him. Something that he was told he had earned. What he felt he had earned was something else.
"Mea maxima culpa."
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Feb 6, 2011 3:46:11 GMT -5
Jake stopped finally after hearing that and backed off a bit quietly and just stood there looking at Elliot.
"Jake, I'm going to have to agree with Elliot on this one, something is clearly eating at you and as much as we'd like to help you with whatever it is, we're just not qualified to help you with this." Dom gave a hard sigh. "You need some real help man, ever sense that mission back on Trebin in that mining facility, something just hasn't been right with you."
Jake looked at each one of us quietly and then frowned and quickly drew his pistol and aimed it right at Elliot. "Your probably right about something not being right with me, but its been that way sense long before what happened on Trebin and somehow Elliot always seems to have something to do with it, you think there's nothing wrong with him to!?"
"You know what?" Said Dom. "I'm done, I'm done playing commander about this damn feud that's been going on between the two of you, it started out as harmless bickering and taunting and now its gotten out of control." Dom threw his arms up in frustration and backed off to the side as he looked over at Elliot and then back at Jake. "I consider both of you more than just teammates, but I'm done picking sides and pulling rank, now Jake isn't going to be written up to get counseling and Elliot your not pulling rank about this anymore either."
"Commander you can't just let him shoot Elliot!" Azira chimed in quickly.
"No, of course not, the two of you just seem to bring out the worst in each other and I'm sick of both of you constantly instigating each other, in case the two of you haven't noticed someone wants us dead for unknown reasons and we need now more than ever to be able to work together as a team." Dom took a breath. "So stop bitching at each other and settle this before I reprimand both of your asses!"
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The training deck of the Hydra, the deck where hundreds of soldiers are put through their paces nearly everyday to keep them sharp for when they might have to be deployed in a serious combat situation. On this day in particular, however, the training deck was relatively empty except for a line up of the top ten recruits standing at attention.
A muscular, middle aged man in an officer's uniform paced slowly back and forth before the line of recruits as if about to deliver one of those old school military pep talks. The sergeant spoke firmly, "each one of you, has proven yourself time and time again to be a more than capable soldier, but only two of you have been chosen by General Higgens to have a chance to serve as a member of his spec-ops team."
The sergeant pulled a pocket secretary from within his dress coat and held it in the air. "I have here the general's selection of which two recruits in this line up will have a chance to prove that they have what it takes to join his team."
The sergeant stopped front and center of the line up and tapped a few times on his pocket secretary. "Will the following two recruits step forward as I call your names."
"Corporal Yvette Clinger." A young women at the far end of the line up stepped forward, having a wild, but tough vibe about her and stood at attention.
"PFC Marvin Gunther." A young strong looking man from the center of the line up stepped forward with an air of leadership about him and also stood at attention.
The sergeant looked up and down the line up, "these two recruits have shown exceptional skill and ability and have pushed ahead to the top of this unit, all other recruits, dismissed!"
The rest of the unchosen recruits gave salute and then filed out of the training deck leaving only the two recruits that were chosen.
The sergeant remained front and center before the final two recruits and put his pocket secretary away in his coat and clasped his hands behind his back. "Now then, as I said before, the two of you were chosen for this chance by General Higgens. The final say, however, of whether one or both of you will join the team will be left up to the squad's commanding officer. His decision will be based on your performance during their next mission, which you will be briefed on when the time comes." The sergeant turned his back and began to walk away, "I suggest the two of you get to know each other better before you have to enter the field, dismissed!"
The sergeant walked off in a manner suggesting he had other business to attend to.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Mar 18, 2011 0:20:50 GMT -5
"He doesn't have to be written up, but I'm not saying he should see a counselor to just to be an ass. He's pointing a gun at my head, he's accusing practically accusing me of shooting Jimmy! He has some major psychological issues! Damn it! He needs to talk to someone and work them out! Until then we-can-not-function as a team! There isn't any trust and this "fued" will just lead to further resentment between us all!"
He glanced at Dom quickly before returning his gaze to Jake.
"You say that you want this feud to end, but by not even advising him to seek help, you're not helping at all. So why don't you try helping him get that gun out of my face and get out of here, or else this is going to escalate and your meager threat of reprimanding isn't going to mean a damn thing one way or the other."
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Mar 18, 2011 14:39:50 GMT -5
"Alright, fine" Dom walked in front of Elliot and up to Jake putting a hand on his shoulder, "come on man, I get it ok? You don't trust him, but you trust me right? I've given you no reason to doubt me have I?"
"No, no sir you haven't." Jake continued to aim his pistol at Elliot, "but you can't ask me to trust him, you can't."
"Your right, I can't ask you to do that when you clearly have no reason to, so I'm not asking you to trust him, I'm asking you to trust me. I understand your concerns and I intend to take them seriously." Dom put his hand on the pistol in Jake's hands, "now, just put the gun down, its not your duty to act on your own concerns, its my duty to act on them, so just lower your weapon and lets go out in the hall and talk alright? I'll deal with Elliot, trust me."
Jake growled a bit and reluctantly lowered his pistol and then holstered it, "fine." Jake frowned and then proceeded out into the hallway.
Dom gave a big sigh of relief and then frowned and pointed at Elliot, "I'll deal with you in a minute." Dom quickly exited the room to talk to Jake outside.
"Are you alright?" Azira asked as she approached Elliot looking shaken by the stand off that had just transpired, but relieved that it was over.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Apr 7, 2011 0:11:18 GMT -5
"I'll be fine. But I'm not going to sit around to be chewed out. Feel free to tell him that for me. Seems all that ever happens is I get lectured and I am tired of that. Jake needs to see a counselor. End of story. If I have to, I'll go over his head about it." He sighed and took a step towards the door.
"In fact, I think it would be best if Jake stayed behind for this next mission. It won't be good if he goes all axe crazy on us. We should look into a replacement. At least for that mission. We need someone we can depend on." He then glanced to the stirring form of Jimmy.
"I mean no offense to Jimmy, but he's injured and won't recover well enough in time, plus he's not the best fighter. I can't think of a better pilot for us though, injured or otherwise."
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Apr 7, 2011 23:40:38 GMT -5
Dom came back into Jimmy's room from talking to Jake outside just as Jimmy began to stir. He approached Elliot and Azira, opening his mouth to say something, only to be cut off suddenly by the sound of General Higgens' voice blaring over the intercom.
"COMMANDER, LIEUTENANT, I NEED YOU BOTH TO MEET ME DOWN IN THE DEPLOYMENT BAY BRIEFING ROOM WITH YOUR TEAM ASAP, THANK YOU."
Dom sighed, "well, hes either got good news or hes got bad news, both of you walk with me." Dom motioned to Elliot and Azira as he quickly headed out the door towards the turbo lifts. "We need to talk about Jake and tell the general whatever our decision is when we get there."
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Mar 16, 2012 3:36:15 GMT -5
"With how my luck has been, it'll probably be fish-face holding up a picture of me at the shoot-out holding babies hostage. The real kick to the teeth is how I can't even get the plasma equipment out for this next mission. If anymore of those... things... show up we'll be toast." The memory of the creatures still sent shivers up his spine. How the bullets practically pinged off of their carapaces, how hard it was to even just roast them alive within their own skin, it was a nightmare. Thinking back on it, that situation could very well have driven Jake to the brink, and past. That his team wasn't required to undergo a psych evaluation after every mission was part of their norm, but Jake clearly needed one.
Then Elliot turned to look at Azira. She still seemed tense, nervous. A fear filled her eyes too. Something big was happening, the creatures, Jake, Agent Pike. It was a lot for anyone to take on right now, and Elliot couldn't help but feel like he was now a part of that problem.
Perhaps, perhaps I really should back off a bit. Give her some more room to breathe
He'd still care for her, more deeply than she could guess, but suddenly it no longer seemed like the time for those jokes.
Jimmy coughed as he tried to raise himself, bringing Elliot out of his deep thoughts.
"Hey buddy," he said, crossing over to his bed "you missed the big event. Jake tried to kill me, Azzy cried herself silly over my being in danger, and now the General himself wants to see me and ol' black sheep. You just stay here, rest up a bit longer. We'll come back and haul you off when it's time to go."
He then turned to Azira. "Azzy, I still want to know about this Agent Pike. You can come with us if you want, but, at least afterwards, see what you can dig up. I want to know how much power this guy has, and see who, and what, he's affiliated with."
He then peered out into the hallway. With Jake no where in sight, he proceeded towards the docking bay.
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Mar 17, 2012 1:55:51 GMT -5
Dom hurried to the turbo lifts and hit the button and then turned back to Elliot and Azira as they waited. "I think even Agent Pike would have to know that would be viewed as a fabrication of evidence, I mean seriously, babies? In a strip club? Cause that happens all the time right?" Dom stepped into the lift as the doors opened and hit the button for deck 28, holding the door for Elliot and Azira.
"Argh! This is so irritating!" Azira groaned in frustration as she stepped into the lift, tapping rather heavily on her tablet. "The amount of encryption on Pike's file is insane, I've been a computer tech my entire career thus far and I've hacked some pretty heavy encryption before, but nothing like this." She continued working with an almost feverish determination, scrunching up her nose cutely whenever something really challenged her.
"Just keep working at it, you'll get through it eventually." Dom sighed and whispered to himself "you have to."
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Mar 18, 2012 21:32:46 GMT -5
"Remember, if nothing else works try hitting it and shouting harsh words." Said Elliot, a snicker leaving his mouth.
"I'm not surprised that it's so heavily encrypted though. If anything, I'm surprised that she found it. People like Pike, they're the sort that 'don't exist' ya know? The fact that there's a file at all probably means he's lower ranking, or that he's one of the front men for whoever he works for."
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Mar 19, 2012 22:21:17 GMT -5
"I was also surprised that I was able to find a file on him, but what actually surprised me more was how easy it was to find, all I did was look him up on the Naval Internal Affairs official site and there it was, now its just getting into it that's the problem."
"That's kind of odd." Dom said as he looked over Azira's shoulder.
"If it was really that easy to find then maybe he is the head of all this, but hes shadily hiding right in the middle of his lackeys, and if that is the case he may be harder to find dirt on than we thought."
The turbo lift jerked slightly as it came to a stop, the door sliding up and out of the way, opening directly into the deployment bay briefing area where General Higgens awaited along with two unfamiliar recruits and one of his right hand officers. Off to the side stood the team's head research scientist, Doctor Mira Vaughn, whom all of us were aware was studying the severed arm from one of the creatures we had encountered in the mining complex on Trebin, the arm having been brought back with us.
Dom held the lift door open for Elliot and Azira. "Looks like we're about to finally get some answers about a lot of things that have been going on and it looks as if there is going to be talk about those creatures we encountered, so its probably best that Jake isn't here."
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Apr 13, 2012 11:19:59 GMT -5
"It's probably best that the psycho isn't here period. He at the very least needs some rest. And- ya know what? Screw it, I'm dropping it for now, it's not like I'll be listened to anyways. I just want to get this over with."
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Apr 28, 2012 2:43:58 GMT -5
"Yeah, you're right Elliot, people do tend not to listen to your ranting, especially when you've been ranting for longer than ten minutes about the same subject or situation."
As Dom left the turbo lift and entered the bay he led Elliot and Azira in approaching and saluting the general and received a strong salute in return.
"At ease." General Higgens cleared his throat firmly, "I know your all eager for some good news given all that's taken place as of late and while I can honestly say I do have some good news, I also have more bad news as well as some news that I'm not certain fits into either category."
"Firstly I feel I should start off by noting that our friend, Agent Pike, has finally left the ship and he has approved our departure...unfortunately he left us with only our standard arsenal and had our access to all of the prototype plasma weapons locked out."
General Higgens crossed his arms with a heavy sigh, "I wish I could say that concludes the bad news, but it would seem that Agent Pike had a little chat with the captain before he departed. The captain seems to feel that this team's assignment to his ship has run its course. My superiors, following the success or failure of our next mission, have decided to relegate this team to another ship."
"I know this team has served on the Hydra for a few years now and you've come to think of it as your home, as have I. Believe me I tried to talk them out of this transfer, but between Agent Pike's recent inquiries and the captain's feelings it seems that my superiors' hands are tied."
Azira crossed her arms in protest, "how can they do this to us? Our track record has been exemplary thus far, what did we do that was so wrong? All we've done is follow orders and now suddenly someone is trying to bury us?"
Dom frowned, "I concur, it seems that ever since Agent Pike appeared everyone above our heads has been against us and I want to know why and what all of this is about."
"I honestly don't know, I did converse with my superiors about this, but they were barely able to tell me anymore about Pike or what all of this is about than we already. So unless you've had anymore luck thus far I know about as much as you do."
Azira cleared her throat, "I found his file on the NIA's official site, but the level of encryption on it is insane, so far I haven't had any luck cracking it, but I'll keep working on it."
"That's good work Azira, I'm sure you'll work it out." General Higgens cleared his throat again firmly," in the meantime we'll just have to continue watching our backs and keep moving forward with our current assignment until we're otherwise instructed."
Dom crossed his arms, not liking this situation at all. "Sir, do you know what ship they're transferring us to? Another cruiser or do you know yet?"
"As far as I know we're being reassigned to a lower class ship, a frigate, the Alliance Frigate Heart of Valor. Now I know what you're thinking, but despite the fact that we'll have fewer resources available to us on a lower class vessel shes a good ship and I'm familiar with the captain."
Dom shook his head with a heavy sigh, "it sounds to me like they're effectively demoting us..."
"I wouldn't exactly call it a demotion, our current mission hasn't changed, but regardless, I have every confidence in this team and I will continue to have your backs and we will continue to push forward together, but enough on that matter for now."
The general turned to Doctor Vaughn, a young women in a white lab coat on his left, she looked about mid-twenties with long black hair. As the general nodded to her she moved up next to the briefing screen.
"Alright, for those of you who don't know this is Doctor Mira Vaughn, she is a leading expert in xenobiology and the head of our research team."
"Thank you general." She spoke in a very crisp British accent with a surprisingly calm demeanor for a scientist, "for those of you who don't already know I've been studying the infected arm that your team recovered during its mission on Trebin. Firstly I have to say...this specimen is unlike anything I have ever seen before, the physiology of this creature is beyond anything I've studied in my career. I don't want to bore you with the scientific details, but basically the specimen's genetic structure was almost entirely rewritten by what I have identified as a virus, the baseline was still human, but the rest was mutated, adapted to suit the needs of the virus, changing the structure of the host body in the process."
"As for the resulting creature, it's resilience alone is...alarming, to say the least, it also has astounding regenerative capabilities meaning it would likely recover from injury quite quickly and would essentially never die of old age."
Dom cleared his throat a bit, "and what about killing them, find out anything in that department that we should know about?"
"Unfortunately no, I ran multiple tests in an attempt to find anything that would easily harm them or at the very least weaken them and I found nothing other than what you already determined, that their carapace can be weakened by highly focused intense heat, such as from plasma fire, but unfortunately I can't conduct any further tests because Agent Pike had the specimen and all of my research confiscated. Honestly I was lucky I still had this hidden backup copy of my report."
The general crossed his arms as he prepared to speak again, "and that's where the rest of the bad news comes in. I learned that a few hours ago, under Agent Pike's orders, Division 8 of the NIA, which deals with everything related to special operations and black ops, secured what was left of the mining complex on Trebin and is apparently launching a full scale investigation into your competence during the mission there and the necessity of the orbital strike you called in to level that place."
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Jun 1, 2012 1:35:02 GMT -5
"Sounds like Mr. Pike is up to some pretty fishy business, pun intended. First he locks up out weapons, then instills new orders and directions upon us and then has us relocated while taking our specimen away from us.
I'm wondering how much of this is just to keep us quiet. Now do try to follow my warped thinking here for a moment, alright? If he separates us, then we'll probably go on about it and bring it to public attention, but if we're together we can talk to each other about it. Not only that, but people would just look at us as a group of stressed war buddies. We saw things together, so it's given us similar quirks.
Now, there's this lack of competency that he's looking into. What do you have when you take a bunch of soldiers, who have quirks, and call them incompetent? A Section 8, you know, back when you could be discharged for such a thing, only I doubt we'd be dropped off back home right away. I bet that's what it will be called when we are no longer useful anyways. Then we'll get those nice little pills that make you see pretty colors until your brain finishes oozing out of your nose.
Now I know I sound pretty paranoid, but this is just an out there idea. I think I'd rather be a little paranoid, not bat-shit like Jake, and be prepared for whatever Pike has coming than find out that tries to compete with Satan in the evil acts list.
I do have this question though; why don't they want us to learn about this creature? I gotta say, this sounds like a cover up. A pretty bad one from my point of view, he takes away the arm, which appallingly enough was once human, and locks up our weapons to boot. Again, not to sound paranoid, but it sounds like he's covering up for someone's involvement in this. Has anyone tried talking to the people we rescued from Trebin?"
Elliot finished his monolog, but there was still much more to be said. With his luck, fish-face would probably be around the corner and bar him from talking, or threaten to have him locked up for slander.
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Jun 8, 2012 14:01:31 GMT -5
"I agree with you Lieutenant, it does seem an awful lot like an attempted cover up, but as for what exactly is being covered up or who Pike is covering for, I'm afraid I don't have any answers. Unfortunately my superiors seem to have been cut out of the loop on this investigation as well.
I also inquired about the people that you rescued from the mining complex, but we no longer have access to them, it seems that anyone who survived the incident has essentially dropped off the grid and the locals on Trebin were evacuated from the area and told it was an accident involving dangerous ground gases and mining explosives."
Dom shook his head in frustration, "seems like everywhere we turn for answers Pike has already been there and either removed all evidence or blocked access to anything useful, what do we do now?"
The General moved to a console and brought up the layout of the Medusa on the briefing screen, "we continue with our current assignment until my superiors say otherwise, there's not much else we can do right now and Agent Pike cleared our departure from Whitefall. We should be departing very soon now so lets try to focus on our next mission." General Higgens turned to his right and saluted one of his other officers, a woman in her late twenties with shoulder length blonde hair, crystal blue eyes and a pale complexion, but with a very tough no nonsense air about her.
"This is Lieutenant Elena Frost, I believe the Commander is the only person here besides myself that's familiar with her."
"I believe your right sir," Dom actually smiled as he saluted her, something Elliot and the rest of the team normally only saw if someone actually told a really great joke, "Lieutenant Frost, its been far too long."
The Lieutenant quickly returned the salute, her tough look giving way to a smile, "indeed it has been Commander, I look forward to working with you again." Her voice carried a deep Russian accent as she spoke which seemed rather fitting for her appearance and her tough attitude.
Dom smiled at her for a few seconds more before directing his attention back to the briefing screen, "so, what exactly is the deal with the Medusa? We already know it was some kind of research vessel that belonged to the old Arakis Genetics Corporation."
"Indeed it was and thanks in large part to Lieutenant Frost we managed to recover a lot of old records that included the layout of the Medusa, so we now at least have some idea what you'll be walking into when we get there, Lieutenant, take it away."
"Yes sir, alright as the Commander said the Medusa was a research vessel, but it was originally designed as a freighter. Now according to this layout of the ship that we obtained, a large portion of the cargo hold was refitted to function as multipurpose labs and what looks like specimen containment areas, but the upper decks of the ship seem to have remained unchanged.
"Now, even though we know the ship's last signaled location before it was lost, we won't have any idea what condition the ship is really in until we get there. Now, operating under the assumption the ship is actually there at all, we believe that the ship is intact and adrift in space, in which case, we will enter through one of the docking ports on either the port or starboard side of the ship."
"Thank you Lieutenant," General Higgens moved back in front of the briefing screen to address everyone again as Lieutenant Frost moved off to the side. "Alright, Commander your team will be leading this operation and Lieu..."
"NOW DISENGAGING FROM WHITEFALL ORBITAL STATION, FTL JUMP COMMENCING IN TEN MINUTES"
"Alright everyone you know what that means, game time is just hours away now."
Everyone in the bay jumped back to work, returning to business as usual aboard the ship following the announcement over the intercom.
"As I was going to say, Lieutenant Frost is going to lead a secondary squad to back you up on this one and I also have two young recruits here that will be going with you. These two were at the top of their class, this mission is their chance to prove themselves, hopefully one or perhaps both of them will be joining our team after this mission is complete, provided they pass your field assessment, I suggest you and Elliot get to know them."
"Yes sir" Dom saluted, "there is a matter concerning Jake, however, that Elliot and I need to discuss with you...right now if possible sir."
The General crossed his arms, "alright...I get the sense this is something serious and he won't be fit for duty on this mission...am I right?"
Dom looked over at Elliot, "would you like to tell him what happened in the med bay and make this easier or would you prefer I do it as this unit's commanding officer and turn this into a long drawn out fiasco that involves tons of paper work for both of us?"
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Jun 16, 2012 4:12:18 GMT -5
"Well sir, he attacked me and threatened to kill me. He seems positive that I'm on Mr. Pike's payroll and that I desire to see everyone get killed."
Elliot sighed and paused.To think, just a couple of weeks ago they were dealing with rebels on a distant planet and were able to joke around about things with each other. True, Jake took it harshly at times, but he could dish it out as well. Then... the creatures. Whether it was how alien they were or how just how close to death the experience seemed to bring them, it caused something in him to snap.
"I believe that Jake needs to see a counselor about what he went through on our last mission. I attributed it to the stress and strain we were under during our last mission, but this is definitely something more. I know it is going to sound odd coming from me, but Jake is usually much more together than that. Before that mission, he could take my jokes and laugh, retort, or at least shrug it off."
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Jun 18, 2012 23:58:37 GMT -5
"I see, that does sound highly uncharacteristic of him...I am glad to hear that you were able to diffuse the situation before it escalated further." The General rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "I'll go see about Jake myself, I want the two of you to stay focused on the mission at hand as well making sure those two spec-ops recruits are as ready as they can be for what you might be walking into."
"Understood sir, we'll get it done," Dom saluted.
General Higgens saluted in return, "see that you do, I don't know what the future holds, but we need to be ready for it, carry on." The General exited to the turbo lift, presumably to go see about Jake.
"FTL JUMP COMMENCING IN 5...4...3...2...1." The ship gave a barely noticeable lurch as it jumped into FTL.
Dom turned to Elliot, "Lieutenant, I want you to see to the recruits, Lieutenant Frost and I are going to check up on things in the armory, I want to make sure Agent Pike didn't leave any surprises for us before he left."
Dom looked over at Azira still working on her tablet and then turned back to Elliot, "just leave Azira to continue working on Pike's file, with any luck she'll find something before we reach our destination in about an hour."
Dom saluted Elliot before walking away to meet up with Lieutenant Frost, the two of them exchanging an affectionate, perhaps even longing gaze before exiting the deployment bay in the direction of the armory.
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Sept 25, 2012 23:17:03 GMT -5
"Ya know, I never cared for faster than light travel. I get that things can move faster than light, but it somehow feels unwholesome."
Elliot thought back to the tests done in the early 2000s, the tests that originally called doubts on whether or not anything could move as fast as light, and shuddered. Not from dread, but from the immensity of it all. He was by no means stupid, but he'd never been taught much about light speed. Jimmy probably knew about how faster than light travel was possible, Azzy surely did, but that did little to ease the complexity of it all.
If there was anything dreadful about FTL travel, it was Agent Pike. Somehow a quick R&R session had turned into threats and orders and now they were being forced to head off somewhere else, probably to be killed, just so that Pike could achieve some goal that was beyond them. Worse still was Jake had likely cracked and would not be a stable member.
Even worse, Elliot had missed his chance to take Azzy out. The realization left him slightly hurt.
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Sept 27, 2012 23:38:07 GMT -5
A good ten minutes after he had left for the armory Dom radioed Elliot, snapping him out of his distracting day dream with tiresome news. "Lieutenant, I hope you're preparing those two recruits well for the mission ahead because from down here in the armory things are looking pretty bleak. Pike didn't leave us a lot to work with, we're going to have to make due with a pretty basic arsenal."
Dom sighed heavily over the radio clearly not wanting to say what he was thinking or feeling about the situation over an open radio, "just make sure they're ready, because I honestly don't know what we're going to run into on that ship...get everyone down to the armory as soon as your done with the recruits so they can get loaded out for the mission."
After a brief silence in the deployment bay, besides the normal sounds of the hard working crew, Azira suddenly let out a triumphant cry of accomplishment. "Yes! Finally!"
She quickly ran over to Elliot with a big smile on her face and holding her tablet up for him to see, "I'm in! I finally cracked his file wide open and pulled a copy!" The screen showed the first page of Agent Pike's NIA file, his face in the picture in the top left corner displaying the same cold look that was given to Elliot at the start of his interrogation. "Don't worry, they didn't pick up on me while I was in the system so they couldn't know it was us, we can peruse his file without repercussion."
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Post by {WW}BetaBloodWolf7 on Oct 3, 2012 16:22:40 GMT -5
"That's great!" Elliot nearly beamed at her, catching himself as the two recruits stepped forward. "Still, let's be careful. Copy the data and save it on a separate location, we don't need a security back up coming online and catching us, we'll look at it shortly."He then turned his attention to the two recruits, a young man and a young woman.
"My name, as you should be aware, is Elliot and I am a lieutenant in this squad. Don't worry about my last name, or addressing me by name, this is kind of like a family, and, like a family, we don't do with formalities. Also, don't call me sir. I am not a knight or a lord in Medieval England.
The charming lady next to me is Azira, she handles any and all of our computer problems, as well as fighting with us. With the possible exception of our pilot, Jimmy, no one in our family shirks combat, and we all have specialties we deal with. Dom, our black sheep leader, is exactly that; the head honcho. I take second in command as well as advanced weapons specialist. Jimmy is our pilot, as well as communications expert, he handles most of the work when it comes to keeping in touch with HQ. Jake is.. a sort of combat expert. Kind of a heavy, if you catch my drift.
Now then, our mission is to discover what has happened to the Medusa, a cargo ship renovated into a research vessel, and report our findings. At this time we believe the ship to be intact and adrift. It is believed that the ship was carrying out some form of animal research, though we do not know what kind. This means that the specimens could have caused an accident, or a disease could have affected the crew, or even killed them. As such, we will be entering fully armed. Now then, before I answer any questions you have I have a question for you; what is your name and what are your specialties?"
The young man stepped forward. He had short, jet black hair kept in the traditional military hair-style with brown eyes so dark that at a glanced they matched his hair color. His uniform was well maintained, with no wrinkles or stains in sight.
"PFC Marvin Gunther." He hesitated, Elliot had said not to be addressed as 'sir' specifically, as well by rank, and the idea of addressing a superior, on duty, by his first name went against everything he'd been taught and dealt with thus far. "I've been trained in the applications of modern and advanced engineering."
"Marv, where are you from?"
"Luna, sir. In Sol." He let the 'sir' slip, Elliot let it slide.
"Ever see much action?"
"Yes," he paused, catching himself. " a little. Mostly a few terrorist cells, such as the Anti-Unification-League."
Elliot chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "Calm down a bit, tense up anymore and your muscles will snap your jaw clean off." He then turned to the woman next to him. "Same set of questions."
She smiled at him, showing a set of pristine white teeth before answering with the voice of a southern belle. "Well, Elliot, my name is Yvette Clinger. I was born on Typhus, but my parents took me to Corinth before I signed up for the service. I have-"
"Woah, woah. Slow down. How about your skill set" Had they really assigned such drastically different people to the squad?
"Demolitions. Aside from some of the newer tech, I've handled most anything that explodes, be it manually, remotely, conventional or otherwise. I haven't had a chance to handle the newer plasma explosives, but I can disarm them. I spent time with three separate squads thus far, and have had no fatalities on my watch. Also, to cope with the occupational hazards, I have a bit of skill with first aid and the like."
She continued on, listing off in-depth experiences until Elliot finally asked her to stop. The nonstop talk, combined with the blond hair and slim figure, made it seem almost like a joke. Her large, blue, eyes spoke of a deeper understanding though, as if her motor-mouth was part of a presentation to make her seem like the stereotypical dumb blonde.
After Elliot ordered the pair to the armory to load-up on and prep for the mission, he turned Azira to check out Pike's page.
"Excuse me, Elliot?"
He turned to see that she was still there before he could so much as open his mouth she spoke again. "You mentioned letting us ask questions before asking about us. Well, when you mentioned that you were trained to handle advanced weapons it got me to wondering if you had dealt with the new plasma weapons yet."
He glanced at Azira, who seemed to have a slightly annoyed look to her, before turning back to Yvette."I have, and, in fact, used them on my last mission. The guns handle fairly well, but they consume plasma too quickly for my liking. They also have a tendency to overheat, which made things quite dicey in a couple of spots. The grenades did a bang up job though." They both chuckled at the joke, and she flashed a smile at him.
"I think I'll enjoy working with you Elliot, you're a lot like my old friends back in the bomb squad. I'll head off to the armory now, and see you there soon."
Elliot watched the recruits as they disappeared towards the armory, with Marvin well ahead of Yvette, then pulled out his own personal radio.
"Sorry about the wait, I have briefed them, but I didn't tell them about our issues with the specimens, or really any of our last mission except that we tried the plasma technology out. They're on their way down there now, and Azzy and I will be along shortly. By the way, she's cracked Pike's page, we'll show it to you once we ditch the recruits." He clicked the radio off and deposited it back into his pocket. "Come on." He began, patting Azzy on the shoulder. "Fill me in while we're on the way, what have you found out about ol' Fish Face?
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Post by SHADOWMASTER89 on Oct 6, 2012 1:06:06 GMT -5
Azira flitted through the pages of the file on her tablet and filled Elliot in on the major highlights as they ventured to the armory, arriving while the recruits were still suiting up in the form fitting HEZA or Hazardous Environment Zero Atmosphere suits.
Dom walked across the room in the form fitting suit, able to move around normally. "It's been awhile since we've had to wear these suits, its amazing how well armored they are yet they aren't super heavy and allow for normal movement."
Lieutenant Frost and her own team of four were already suited up and logging out their equipment and load-outs with the armory officer, three of them handling SCAR 48s, the standard assault rifle for most Alliance troop deployments, with the launcher attachments in place for the use of concussive ordinance. The fourth man in her squad carried an Alliance made heavy combat shotgun that Jake had always favored because it "packed the most punch" in his words.
Lieutenant Frost herself carried one of only two units of the best weapon for this mission to be left in the armory by Agent Pike, an Mk.4 Scorpion rapid fire gauss rifle, manufactured by the Mobeus Corporation, the top weapons manufacturer contracted by the Alliance. Lieutenant Frost and her team also carried concussion grenades as well as M24 Taurus gauss pistols as their side arms rather than the standard Alliance issue.
Dom walked to the weapons lockers and grabbed the only other Mk.4 left, quickly snapping one of the heavy clips into it before locking it, already having his concussion grenades and M24 guass pistol in place on his belt. "Better get suited up guys", he approached Elliot and Azira, "as much as I'd love to hear what dark secrets are hidden in Pike's file we don't have terribly long before we drop out of FTL and then its game time."
He moved closer to Elliot and Azira. "I figured in case we run into those creatures again once we're aboard the Medusa and we don't have access to the plasma gear this time around we might as well go in with what weapons we do have that at least pack enough of a wallop to stun them, even if only for a few seconds."
Dom motioned to the weapons lockers. "I figured the gauss weapons might give us the best chance and since there are only two Mk.4s I assigned each of those to the team leaders, myself and Lieutenant Frost. Other than that I figure a gauss pistol as everyone's backup would be best and since the SCAR 48 is the most versatile assault rifle we have I decided we might as well go with that as well. Also, the concussion grenades should at the very least give those things a headache and, but I really don't think throwing around any type of real explosives on an eighty year old ship wreck would be wise and those attachable concussive shot launchers for the SCAR 48 should do the trick as well."
Dom then glanced at Elliot as he grabbed the helmet for his suit. "If you have any objections, preferences or concerns about my decisions now would be the time to speak of them, I'm just trying to make sure we all have our best chance of coming out of this alive."
As soon as Dom finished speaking the ship suddenly made a hard lurch as it dropped out of FTL more roughly than usual causing everyone to stumble just slightly.
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