33 replies to this topic

[Loonie]

<<This place is home to the vast majority of forum roleplaying done in XCGS. In here you can roleplay the characters that you players come up with, most likely about what they do in their free time and can also make them interact with other characters from other players. There could even be some roleplaying when it comes to pilot characters, where they can roleplay how they intercept a UFO, though you'd best consult with me about that thing in advance.

So have fun everyone! >>

[Loonie]

0130 hours, 15th December, 2085 - Eastern Alps, Europe

Viktor observed from underneath the tail of the Tranquility, which had burried itself into the ground and had its rear end sticking out of the hillside. He looked towards the alien frigate which was on the opposite end of the crater that had been created by the X-Com ship's crash landing.

Since he had first seen Earth's enviroment he was actually quite surprised. By the last reports Earth was a desolate planet and a toxic hell hole. But after just a few moments of scouring the nearby area, and despite the fact that it was night time, he had noticed green grass, trees that looked almost completely healthy, in fact...the enviroment seemed to be quite rich with healthy flora! Heck, he even managed to see a deer pass by, and one without any warts or mutated limbs too! It had truly amazed him, but apparently, and for some strange as of yet unfathomable reason, it would seem as if Earth was going BACK in time as opposed to forward!  

As he wondered about this wierd situation however he saw a shadowy figure, slightly illuminated by the stars above, run away from the craft and towards his own location. After half a minute of waiting for the figure to arrive, it had finally reached the Lieutenant and nodded to him, yelling a well renowned phrase afterwards:

"FIRE IN THE HOLE"

Within the next moment a series of almost deafening explosions detonated in and around the alien frigate that ended up after a few seconds with a plume of smoke rising upwards into the star filled sky. Viktor spoke up with a sense of relief:

"Well, if the aliens do make an orbital scan of this area they won't be seeing that paticular ship. I just hope they won't see the Tranquility either. You did salvage everything you could beforehand right?" he turned to the figure, which was apparently a scruffy individual with black hair and a short stature:

"Yes sir. All of the stuff that we could get out of there has been removed successfully. We managed to scavenge only a small amount of the alien tri-titanium alloy components from the ship's hull, several sectoid corpses with no survivors amongst them, some alien weaponry and mostly spent plasma clips and a few of the aliens' plantlife that we had witnessed before in AW-I."

Viktor turned around and went up a series of steps which led to one of the Tranquility's exhaust intakes. Since the ship had been burried the intakes leading from the Engine Room to the outside had been the only way one could get out, that is if one would discount the hangar area which opened up to an underground cave network. The steps, up which Viktor was going at the moment, had been set up until the engineers could cut out the huge engines so as to make room for what would later become the base's primary entrance.

"Overall, not that much useful stuff I gather..."

The engineer that followed behind him repeated quickly and solemnly: "No sir."

Beginning to crawl through the intakes the two men managed to make it into the Engine Room after a short time, whereupon Viktor tried to remember other things that he would need to ask about, now that he was the acting commander of the Tranquility.

"Um...when are we going to fix these damn intakes so that we don't have to crawl through every time?"

"Our team will finish up on these by tommorow morning sir."

"Ah...good." Viktor paused for a second and asked again, as if he were wishing for a different answer to his question: "So you're sure there's nothing you can do for the Captains or the other officers that were on the Bridge."

The engineer looked back somewhat puzzled and replied: "Er,...no sir. Human bodies, generally speaking, have a hard time dealing with depressurization. Even though we were already in Earth's atmosphere a lot of the bodies, if not almost all of them up there, got sucked out and must've fallen someplace in Asia so...no."

The Lieutenant sighed slightly and continued: "Oh very well. What's the status on the ship and the crew overall then?"

"Sir we're currently in quite dire straits. The alien frigate attack has dealt us quite a wide array of damage. Specifically it has rendered the Shield node, one of the Engineering modules, one of the Laboratory modules, one of the General Stores, a small part of the Troop Barracks, the Medical Bay and of course the Bridge inoperable. Along with this we suffered some nasty casualties too. Some scientific, engineering and piloting staff died in the battle, but most notably almost all of the soldiers, except for your Blue Squad that wasn't in the Troop Barracks when it got depressurized."

Once again Viktor nodded as he made his way through the room slowly:

"What about where we landed at and what's the chances of getting Tranquility airborne again?"

The engineer looked back in a defeated way: "In a word...none. There is no way that we could do that right now unless we bring some heavy machinery and tow the entire ship out, but that'd be more trouble than gain. We've apparently crash landed in Europe, at the eastern edge of the Alps called the Julian Alps. As you could see for yourself the ship is tilted slightly downwards, luckily not enough so that we'd have trouble standing though..."

Viktor had just then noticed about the fact that the floor on which he was standing was sloped slightly towards the front of the ship, curtesy of Earth's gravity. Still it wasn't incredibly problematic, just a little bit annoying sometimes. The engineer then continued onwards:

"...apart from the engine intakes there is another way out though. It looks as if the ship crashed into the middle of an underground cave, to which our hangar area opens up. I've already preformed a quick local terrain scan and the caves do lead to the outside through an opening about a kilometre away from here and even more fortunately it is wide enough so that our craft can leave through it, albiet the pilots would have to be very careful as to how they manuovre through the caves."

"I see." came back Viktor's reply...He wished he would know what to say exactly but he really didn't. This was the first time he was posted as a commander of an entire expeditionary force! The tasks in front of him were akin to that of a Colonel and he had not even remotely been trained in them before! Half embarrased he decided to conclude this quickly:

"Well, carry on with the repairs um...restore the Troop Barracks so that they're at least habitable and that the soldiers can sleep in them, but otherwise don't repair the other destroyed modules. Just get on with fixing those that still function and survey the surrounding area somewhat." he began walking off to the Officer Quarters just as the engineer asked him quickly:

"Um...sir...what about technology? We don't have the faintest clue of what we could research or significantly improve with engineering since we've got quite a few options."

Viktor stopped quickly and replied: "Yes, yes. Detail the possible projects yourself and the same goes for engineering." and continued on his way.

The engineer stood there for a moment and thought to himself, being rather worried. He could somewhat sense that this Lieutenant would need quite a lot of work to become a proper CO of Tranquility Base.

[Zager]

0530 Hours, 15th December, 2085 - Eastern Alps, Europe

Ice, favouring her right, nonwounded leg, reached the peak of the hill, carrying a case and a dufflebag. "My watch now, McAllister," she said. Manual lookout posts had been set up until the engineers could rig up some sensors and video cameras around the perimeter.

Vanessa stood up. "How's your leg?" she asked.

"It's fine, just fine. I've had worse," replied Rina, as she set down her case and bag, and then took off her eyepatch. In the dim light of the morning, one could see that the patch not only covered up the socket, but also hid a small laser scar.

"I can see that. How'd that happen?" Vanessa inquired, as Ice inserted her cybernetic eye, and started assembling her sniper rifle.

"A counter sniper on a mission for the NAA," stated Ice. "Shoot me in the head."

"You were lucky to survive, laser beams that hit near the eyes are usually fatal."

"It wasn't my luck, but rather, the ineptitude of the other sniper that ensured my survival. And I did suffer some damage to the brain, but I find that the injury has helped me focus myself in combat. Before, I was ineffective in combat, always letting my emotions, and my conscience get in the way. No more. I do not wish to discuss this further." Ice pulled out a ghillie suit from her bag, quickly used some dirt and brush from the surroundings to adjust it, and set up to watch for intruders.

[greghannibal]

"Ooooohhhh....." Alexander moaned, finally coming back to the reality of pain after a night of restless sleep. He had had headaches before, but nothing like this...He was still in the medlab bed from which he had fallen unconscious. It was a restless night full of horrific dreams, but at least his head hadn't hurt anymore. Now he was back in reality and all he knew was pain.

"Time to get up Dorothy, it was alllll a dream..." Came a familiar voice.

"Alexei... please shut up...." Stahley rasped. "I never knew such pain was possible..."

"Awww... what's the matter? The cute little medic you like hurt you too much?"

Alexander than let out a string of words that he would have to ask forgiveness from God for later.

"Come on pal, it couldn't have been THAT bad."

"Yes... yes it could..." Alex mumbled, groaning again. "Bloody... grenade... coulda... taken... all them... 'toids out myself..."

"'Don't be a hero and get your stupid self killed.' Isn't that what you are always telling me?" Alexei replied.

Alexander than made a few select hand gestures that he would ALSO have to ask forgiveness for later...

[Loonie]

Viktor was in the Command Centre just now looking over the 3-D map of the surrounding area of Tranquility Base. Things were looking rather dire. The engineering and medical staff aboard the base would soon run out of resources with which they could patch up both the Tranquility and the large number of wounded since the crash and the last mission. If anything they needed those resources sooner than later, but apparently that was not the case right now. Acquiring them was also going to be somewhat of a longshot, since the SkyHawk couldn't exit the base yet, since the underground tunnels, whilst in principle wide enough to allow the X-Com craft to exit, still needed several edges cut away so as to prevent the pilot from colliding inside the cave.

So the operational range of X-Com was unfortunately rather limited to the surrounding area that they could scout out on foot. There was only one chance for X-Com as Viktor looked at the map again. A town which was visible from the elevated position where Tranquility Base rested. It'd be a long shot, but there was flyer activity around it, meaning something was there. And anything that can build flying vehicles also needs a stabile amount of resources to maintain them as well...at least hopefully.

In any event it was the best hope that he could come across. He went for the gravlift in the room that would take him out of it and spoke to an officer nearby just before doing so: "Tell Blue Squad to assemble at the Briefing Room in 30 minutes."

[Loonie]

<<New setting >>

"How's the setup of the triage going on doctor?"

A gray haired man got from beneath some tents just a few metres away from the Tranquility Base's tail that was still pointed upwards and sticking out of the ground:

"Well,...currently we should be doing somewhat well since we've got enough space for all the wounded and can now treat them. But only at a most basic level."

A slightly confused look came upon Viktor's face as he asked: "What do you mean by "basic" doctor?"

"What I mean is that we WILL be able to treat all of the injured, but I'll tell you the truth about it all by saying that unless Blue Squad can bring back some kinds of biological material...then our medical aid will quite likely be reduced to the Medikits that have survived the crash landing - meaning in short that no long term healing is going to be possible - NOT something that I would recommend at all."

"*Sigh* I see...I'll update the mission profile of Blue Squad and tell them that our priorities have just changed...the engineering teams report their material shortage is not yet critical and people's health ARE nonetheless above material needs. As long as we've got health we can always think up of ways to get more materials."

"Thank you sir." came back the grateful reply from the doctor as Viktor was already leaving towards the base entrance.

Looking around the landscape for a moment as the wind passed over his hair Viktor gazed at the nearby mountains, the sun setting behind them...it was getting darker and soon they would have to retreat back inside Tranquility Base. But unlike the base's staff Blue Squad did not have that luxury. The Lieutenant wondered for a moment how they were holding up...

<<And it is from here that you continue. Hopefully this week's posting record will be at least slightly better than the last one. >>

[Neorapsta]

Neos stood atop a small ridge a small distance from where the others rested, staring down at the small village ahead. The darkness was intense with the clouds having covered the moon for a while now, but he could still see clearly.

He didn't feel the need to sleep, as he never could truly sleep with the thoughts of other people nearby. Neos was aware of the muted thrum of the Transport ships engines as it rested a short distance away, the corpses of their fallen enemies layed out alongside it.

He turned and stared down at the cold lifeless eyes of one of the sectoids and he was stunned for a moment as memories from a long time ago flooded back, pain & suffering beyond comparison. He was then introduced by a small measure of satisfaction as he knew that he was one step closer to revenge.

He then turned and watched his teammates as they rested and communicated with each other, even though it had been some time since their first meeting, their ways and mannerisms were alien to him.

He then turned and resumed watching the village below thinking about their upcoming mission at daybreak and its importance.

[greghannibal]

Alexander waited until Vanessa was finished checking out Harris. "See man, you're fine"

"Yeah, well you still didn't have to shoot at me" Harris glared at him while Vanessa chuckled.

"Were you so quick to become a "daddy? I've seen what those things can do. He gave McAllister a double-take. "I doubt even our skilled little medic here could have helped you much then." The memory of the last mission struck Stahley and he popped another couple of pills into his mouth. "Among other things..." he mumbled about McAllister under his breath.

[Zager]

Rina had taken the first watch. She had found a suitable position, readied her ghillie suit, and was now wathcing over the area, looking out for hostiles. It probably wouldn't take long before the aliens realized that a transport was missing.

She was taking a three-hundred sixty degree scan of the surroundings, as well as musing over her teammates. Some people have so little to offer, she thought. Harris and Stahley passed through her sights. And we have our fair share of them, she concluded to herself.

The land wasn't as bad as they thought it would be. She'd have to see if there was any game to hunt at some point. She could use some practice with her knives. Unlike other people, when Ice went hunting, she only used a knife. There was no sport in using a gun. It made it too easy. She reserved her guns for when she was hunting humans. Or aliens. Things that shot back. That was what you used a gun for.

[Ion Mage]

Sergeant Frost Dragon, or simply just Draco as some had come to know her, had ordered the team a half-kilometer away from the transport after a short time period of rest.  The enemy would realize that a transport was missing, and would send a search party.  Better to let them find the transport alone, and its dead passengers.  To move the corpses would leave a trail of blood, so the better choice was to let them there, and hope that the primarily plasma wounds would indicate that the cult was involved, and not to alert them to X-Com's own presence.

Upon evacing the area, Draco went over her plans for the rest of the mission, no time weeping over mistakes, so long as she realized there were mistakes, like not immediately realizing the green clothing of te cult.  Upon morning, they would set out to the town nearby.  They would search for materials as specified by Golem, reacting as needed to any hostile presence (which she considered highly likely.  She did not mention this, thinking that the team would suspect that on their' own).  On the way back, she had a plan involving Neos to capture one of the cult members possibly without setting off an alarm, though whether it could happen or not would depend on the circumstances.

"We set out a 0600 hours, as per standard extended mission procedure.  I will not wait for any stragglers, so be ready to move out by then, if not before then." She had stated to the team, before she herself lay down.  "And Neos, you have first sentry shift.  We will rotate every hour until we set out in the morning.  And Stahley, tommorrow morning we will have a little chat about friendly fire."

Stahley looked up at her in a state of mixed feelings, mainly the kind that one feels when they know they are in trouble, and at least going to get a lecture on it.

EDIT:  Added in the last few lines about giving Stahley a chat later.

[NickAragua]

"Harris, wake up. It's your watch." An unidentified voice said as a hand shook his shoulder.

"Yeah, whatever, I'm up." He responded in a dissatisfied tone. Not even bothering to identify the offending individual, he didn't even bother packing up whatever the hell he was sleeping in (if one were to examine the label, they'd find that he was sleeping in a Triton Dynamics Environmental Protection Unit, essentially a lightweight futuristic sleeping bag), and rubbing his eyes while taking a second to get adjusted to the light levels. By the time he finished, whoever had woken him up was already sound asleep.

Of course, he had to draw a middle watch - it was the worst. Not like first or last watch, where you get the whole six or seven hours of sleep, no. You sleep for three, then someone wakes you up, and then you're only allowed to wake the next in line after you're no longer feeling sleepy. Sure, there was some training for falling asleep almost instantaneously, and even drugs to keep you awake or put you to sleep, but the nasty feeling was still there.

Alex sneezed as he sat, nestled in between a couple of rocks and bushes, well-protected from the casual eye. 'Great, a nasty, cold, wet, bacteria-ridden planet. Add to the list 'alien-infested', and we have a winner', he thought.

Looking at his watch, there was still fifty-eight minutes left on his shift, and still a couple of hours before wake-up time. Looking around with the nightvision mode of his binoculars, he saw, much as he expected, nothing of any interest. It was going to be a very long hour indeed...

[Loonie]

<<Check out the new story (Un)Friendly Negotiations for an update of how things now stand.

Remember the Earth Force establishment is most likely much like the jail in which you spent your time at, meaning no high-tech weapons and quite a lot of melee weapons (Harris can "borrow" that chainsaw that he wanted now. ). Otherwise feel free to describe your stay there as much as you like. Just keep in mind that you most likely won't be able to do anything like spying on them or sabotaging their stuff. They're not idiots...well...at least not total idiots. >>

[Ion Mage]

<<since no one else is posting, I'm going to take up the offer of postponing the next mission until Loonie can get back, as punishment for wasting a whole weeks worth of effective RP oppurtunities.  But I myself am a bit guilty, so I'll try catalyzing it>>

The team was released from its Jail cells, and escorted around the base.  Indeed, the base wasn't in the best of conditions.  Though some of the vital areas, such as the bunk, were better maintained than the prison, other areas were not, and even the well-maintained areas were in subpar condition.

The bunks resembled WW1 trenches, only with dirt roofs, and just enough support to keep the 'cave' from collapsing, along with any paraphernilia that would also be associated with poorly-kept bunks, IE beds.  However, superior lighting and matting made it more bearable than the prisons.  The team was then showed the dining hall, which was in similar condition to the bunk, and the locations of the command center and armory.  The comms center was merged as part of the command center, indicating that either the command center was huge, or that the comms center was pitiful.  Given the condition of what they were shown, it wasn't hard to figure out which was the case.

"Now, the only reason we have free room in the bunks is because we recently lost a large task force to a certain group of new arrivals" said the guide, giving an implicative look at the whole team, namely Draco, whom he had heard was the one to issue the order to slaughter those he called friend.

"As it stands, only one person who originally was assigned to this bunk is alive, the one you captured alive.  He survived the crash, by the way, and if what he says is true about your' interrogative techniques... ah whatever, I'll let the captain handle this"

As he said this, a man escorted by two guards walked by, out of the command center.  He had a series of injuries not unlike those suffered by the team.  Crash injuries... he must be the one that the team had captured.  As he walked by, he looked extremely warily at the Frost Dragon, but then his eyes shifted to Vanessa, and he mouthed a silent "Thank you" to her, likely referring to how she refused to intentionally use the medkit wrong as an interrogative method.  One of his escorts spoke up.

"Corporal Guerin has been temporarily reassigned to another bunk until further notice.  That is all you need to know" he said to the guide.

The guide responded to the team.  "I think we all know well why hes been reassigned.  The armory and command center are off-limits for security reasons, and we have temporarily confiscated your' weapons, and regrettably, your' medkits too.  All other equipment you are free to use, and when command determines your' legitimacy, you will be given your' weapons and med-kit back"

<<There, given some oppurtinities for at least one of us, and I plan to follow-through with the whole Corporal Guerin guy later on>>

[ShadowBlade]

<<JOINT POST: Private Vanessa McAllister (ShadowBlade) and Private Neos (Neorapsta)>>

The team had been imprisoned and then released by this so called "Earth Force". They were taken to a room in the dirty bunks, which had been assigned to the X-COM troopers because of a major loss of soldiers. Scarlett and Neos were outside the room, in the corridor.

<Private Neos> "Not exactly the greatest first impression from the people who were supposed to be our allies." Neos said as he examined the surroundings taking in the ad-hoc rooms and tunnels.

<Private McAllister> "You can't really blame them for this..." Vanessa replied and sighed in frustration. "It was US who blasted the guts out of some of their workers in the area, plus we stole several goods from their warehouses." Scarlett stated, rubbing some dirt of her somewhat untidy uniform.

<Private Neos> "I suppose that is a fair point, and perhaps in hindsight a better examination of their team might have avoided this." Neos replied.

<Private McAllister> "It's all Draco's fault. I regret having followed her first orders, to open fire at the seemingly hostile locals, but I knew it had gone too far when she told me to use my Medikit as a torture device." McAllister commented, disappointed, and looked around the dusty, old corridor.

<Private Neos> "Nevertheless, I'm sure she had her reasons, however misinformed they may have been." He replied, watching the Earth Force people cautiously as they made there way past them.

<Private McAllister> "I reckon she acted out of impulse upon noticing a very slight sign of hostility from the workers towards us. The sarge wouldn't want to take unnecessary risks, but I guess she was TOO cautious about their approach." Vanessa said, somewhat understanding the reactions of her commanding officer during the unfortunate incident.

<Private Neos> "That is a fair point, but we will probably never know why she did what she did." Neos expressed his opinion.

<Private McAllister> "Yes, that's right. However, we'll see how Oskari will deal with her when we return to the Tranquility." The young medic commented, doubtful about Draco's future as a commanding officer.

<Private Neos> "That we will." He replied.

<Private McAllister> "Yes, we'll see about that." Vanessa sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I'm quite tired now, I'll try to get some sleep on those dirty things they call 'beds' here. See you later, mate." The private chuckled and slowly walked off to the assigned room.

<Private Neos> "Later then." Neos replied and watched as she left.

[Zager]

The first thing Rina did was retrieve her equipment, to be more precise, one specific item among her equipment. She asked the guard to take her to where it was stored, and there she retrieved the item. She left her armor and other miscellenous equipment, she wouldn't need it yet, it was just this one item she wanted.

She nodded at Neos and Mcallister as she walked back into their assigned bunkroom, unbuttoning the top of her shirt, with no regards for modesty. She then carefully placed a medallion over her neck, and buttoned her shirt back up over it. Anybody in the barracks who watched it carefully could see that engraved in the medallion was a crosshairs superimposed over a rifle.

[Ion Mage]

Draco was wandering the base, what she was allowed into at least.  She was not in her armor, as she saw no need, and to appear less menacing, something she figured would benefit her.  She was in deep trouble.

"This resistance force threatened US!  If they were as they say former X-Com, or at least somewhat composed of it, they would have recognized our armor, weapons, credentials; identified us on the spot, and never have threatened!  I had thorough reason to believe that they were cult!  Oskari's going to use this to get me off the command list, if not off the roster."

She continued pondering such thoughts, how she believed what she did was well within her authority.  She ordered them to stand down, gave them the chance, but they brandished their' weapons anyways.  They were alive in enemy territory, with little armaments (but enough to be brandished!).  They had supplies she had been ordered to locate, and it was implied that it would have to be commandeered from the enemy, too!  If she had a bit more imagination, the Frost Dragon would have started thinking it was all a plot to get her off the roster, a setup!

But she was too down to earth for that.  If she was to be grounded, eventually contact with a more sane officer would eventually be made.  That, or the team would get desperate and have to put her back on duty.  And given Golem's reputation, she should be back on course to officerhood.

"These inexperienced Rookies won't stand a chance against the alien wave, not without proper leadership!  All they have is training, and the only effective training is the VR training, and only some people have gone through that!  I need to stay an officer if humanity is to survive."

The VR training program was suspended after it was determined to be too real, 2 years after Draco finished it.  It was found that putting a soldier through to much would cause 'reality displacement disorder', were one loses a sense of reality, a sense that she is juggling the fate of lives in her hands.  Also, the soldiers actual body wasn't put through the paces, and as such, the result was an extreme,y cold-hearted soldier, with the accuracy of many snipers, proficiency in multiple weapons, and as good a substitute for real combat experience as one got without risk, who couldn't lift a heavy crate that most grunts are expected too.  Though no one who went though the training was discharged from X-Com, the sheer psychological impact and lack of physical tuning got enough attention from human rights activists, doctors, and even some high ranking officers (mostly those with Marine background) to shut down the program.

Granted, VR is still used on occassion, for things such as pre-combat warmup (like the VR mission the team went through before setting out to Earth), as it is not considered to be sufficient to cause psychological damage, and it certainly isn't going to hurt the soldiers health if it only happens on occassion.

But none of that mattered to Draco herself.  Despite the fact that this was only her fifth real case of true combat, she felt right at home in it.  She knew that she was to vital an asset to be grounded, the team would need her!

And if it wasn't for that damned cult of sirius, she wouldn't have felt so threatened by the resistance force, humanity wouldn't be getting sold out, she'd still have her family...........

"No.  THose are not thoughts to think about.  Your' letting your' feelings rise out, Shelley. Calm yourself.  Focus.  Forget.  What Oskari does doesn't matter, he'll end up coming back to you eventually, he needs every soldier he can get.  Don't let your' emotions distort reality.  Think like it is the VR."  Draco had said to herself, in her mind.  If one had been looking, one would see that a lighting effect made it look as though her eyes were changing from red to grey.  Or back to grey, for that matter.

She had found her way into the mess hall.  Corporal Guerin, the one whom had survived the slaughter she herself had ordered, was eating there.  He was being treated to the best that was available, not that it was much.  When he saw her, he got up and said to his friends "I'm not hungry anymore.  I'm heading to my bunk, I'm not hanging around with this monster"

"If you had explained yourself, none of this would have happened.  We were in alien territory, with equpiment that lousy, you'd NEED to be cult to survive"

"Yeah, well, shove it!  How were we to know that you weren't cult too?  You may have had X-Com weapons and armor, but your' craft was alien!  And your' attitude... 'kiss the ground, hands on your head'?  THATS a peaceful restraining order?!?!  And then you opened fi..... ah, screw it.  Only someone who went through that controversial VR training could be such a bitch... so cold as to torture prisoners with medkit misuse..... no wonder they shut it down"

"..."

Draco had no reply for this.  She just turned her head away from him and continued her walking, her focus now shifted from justifying her actions, to considering how she could hold her rifle better in her mind, since she didn't have the real deal to practice with.

<<Damn long post!  And first second-pager!  w00t>>

[Loonie]

<<Heh, kudos to you Ion. >>

Captain Debevec was reviewing his troop status as he was in his "office" room, a murky sewage control room leaking filthy water at the corners and with a single table, upon which several files lay written on old leaflets made out of a material that humanity once used for writing down information and had decided to call "paper". In the year 2085 the modern world had advanced to the point where computers were the defacto tool for writing down information and although most people could still scribble their language onto a paper in a barely readable way, not too many people knew how to write nicely and beautifully onto old paper sheets.

The captain was one of those rare people, which was rather convenient since if he was not then few of his subordinates could understand the scribbled orders he would write down on the order lists. At this moment he was looking through the outpost's roster and his facial expression darkened as he went through the list. Half of the personnel had been captured by the aliens by now with what few people managed to escape them suffering from horrible mutation or deformation that was caused by the mind-warping sectoid experiments. Sometimes they would be deliberately let go by the aliens and at the same time injected with viral diseases that could spread like wildfire amongst the Earth Force personnel. Either way, one thing was for sure. He might not have shown it to that X-Com Lieutenant Oskari, but in reality he needed his assistance as much as X-Com needed that of Earth Force. Or else this position would be lost soon...

He headed out of the office and managed to quickly spot Sergeant Draco heading away from the mess hall and him. Corporal Guerin passed him with a most bitter look as well and the captain didn't need to put two and two together to figure out what had recently happened. Nonetheless he accelerated his step and called out:

"Sergeant Draco"

Turning on one foot the sergeant faced the captain as he made his way towards her. Debevec quickly continued afterwards:

"I wanted to let you know that your Lieutenant has uploaded your mission pads recently. By the looks of it you'll be leaving tommorow morning. When you do, my armoury staff will be sure to grant you access to your weapons and three squads will escort you to the transport that will be loaded with the engineering materials you need. After that...it's up to you."

"Thank you captain...if you don't mind my asking I'd like to know something else."

Captain Debevec was slightly startled that the sergeant would want to know something from him, but nonetheless managed to reply quite quickly: "Ask away."

Making a puzzled look Draco then asked, perhaps also partly because of her recent conversation with Guerin: "Why are you so gullible as to simply allow us to take off with your materials and transport?"

The captain then retorted in quite a frank voice: "Because I have a strong feeling that you're as desperate as we are. If you want to you can take off with the transport and materials and screw us by not taking out that facility, perhaps your lieutenant will do just that. But I don't think so. I have this feeling about your Lieutenant Oskari when I talked to him and I am quite certain that he won't lean into your wishes."

He then turned around and sighed. He then thought of adding as he stopped for a moment and turned around to face Draco: "In spite of what you may think of me sergeant, and of what you may think of warfare, it is not simply pure calculative logic. Because if it is, then by tommorow you will be gone and both X-Com and Earth Force in this sector will be doomed."

Turning around again the captain then walked off down the dark corridor of the subterranian Earth Force outpost, only a slight shilouette being left of him as Draco watched him leave.

<<And that's it till the next sim. >>

[Loonie]

<<What happens when the two heads of XCGS get together? A lot of stuff to read to say the least!!

***JOINT ROLEPLAY POST*** (Loonie, IonMage) >>

LT_Oskari: ::as Oskari reviews several papers on his desk he rubs his head as some sweat runs down his face. Many things are on his mind right now, but soon enough he'll get a second opinion on them to help him decide on them. Such as that opinion may seem to the Lieutenant...::

SGT_Draco: ::Draco had placed her Rifle and other equipment off to the armory and other storage, and knew she was to head straight to the office after getting out of her mission gear.  She got dressed up into a new off-duty uniform, then headed down to Oskaris 'office', or whatever room had been converted into it.  She knocked the door and went in::  You called, sir?  Debriefing, correct?

LT_Oskari: ::after the knock Oskari turned around and went out of his converted office into the main hallway of the Officer Quarters to meet up with the Sergeant. He quickly gestures with his hand back towards the office as he speaks:: Ah. Come in here Sergeant ::after which he left back into the office and took a seat behind his desk, typing out some details at his holocomputer whilst Draco proceeded behind him::

SGT_Draco: ::Draco followed the Lieutenant as he let her in.  She pulled up a seat in front of his desk as he sat down.  Oskari continued working on his computer, despite her having sat down.  It was obvious that he had a lot of thinking to do:: *ahem*, sir, I know that I made a few errors on my last mission, but I want you to hear my end of the story.

LT_Oskari: ::before Draco could proceed Oskari cut her off:: We'll speak about that at the end of this meeting. First of all I want your opinion on certain issues if that's allright with you? ::he looked towards the Sergeant in a half inquisitive way, observing her response, both facially and vocally::

SGT_Draco: ::A little surprised he didn't want to get down to the debrief yet, Draco decided that playing along was best:: Very well.  What are such issues?

LT_Oskari: The first of these is a peice of quite vital information, which I think you should keep in mind as your squad will continue with its missions. You should know that our scientific team has recovered the body of the imposter that was pretending to be me at the beginning of the last mission. "It" has been determined to be a hybrid, with its preliminary genetic structure matching that of those that were recovered during AW-I. This obviously means that the aliens have knowledge that Tranquility Base is somewhere in this region, as they no doubt sent him to sabotage our mission. The sectoid platoon, which almost killed off our sniper team, was also a part of this sabotage quite likely, as they would've ambushed us after the false "me" led the squad into a trap within the facility. I tell you this, because I want you to know that we have lost the element of surprise with the aliens. They now know that X-Com is nearby. Keep that in mind.

SGT_Draco: Very well.  Personally, I got the idea we were detected when we were ambushed by artillery fire at the first morning after that extended mission.  Why else would the enemy waste ammo on nothing if they didn't know we were there?  Or be that accurate, for that matter?

LT_Oskari: Yes...about that. If you'll take a look at my de-brief of the entire operation it's been confirmed that the artillery was actually from Earth Force. They detected the alien transport landing and thought of hampering their efforts with artillery fire. This would quite likely be true since I've gotten several transcripts from them confirming this but that can be forged. The thing that's confirming this more is that aliens would've likely used plasma artilery instead of shells that have been determined date back to the 20th century.

SGT_Draco: Ah, true.  That sounds like a viable belief.  Now that you mention it, it was non-plasma... so it is confirmed we are detected then.  Do we know if the aliens know our exact location?  We captured some scientists from the cult last mission, brought in blindfolded to keep them from finding our location as we brought them in.  We could interrogate them.

LT_Oskari: That we will Sergeant. And I doubt that they know our position, since if they did then you and I would quite likely be touring a slave camp by now........anyway. Onwards to the next thing I need to talk to you about. I've decided to promote a certain individual within your squad to Corporal if that is acceptable to you, whilst I'm also open to your opinion on the other soldier that I have a mind to promote him as well. The first of these, which I have a feeling you will agree with me, is Rina Delmar. During the last mission she turned out to be most skilled in delaying that platoon.

SGT_Draco: I cannot argue against the promoting of Delmar.  She focuses well on her mission, and her performance was top-notch last mission.  I would not have suspected anyone else to have succeeded where she did, in terms of taking down that many enemies.  And the other would be?

LT_Oskari: Alexei Harris.

SGT_Draco: ::Somewhat surprised at the consideration::  Harris?  Why?  He may have some good combat abilities, but that is not the only thing that makes a soldier good.  There is also the personality.  He lets himself be controlled by his... cockyness too much.  Also, his reliability.  Though there haven't been any cases of him not following orders, I wouldn't be surprised if he did so some time in the future.  And his record, namely the part when he broked into a secret laboratory to take a look at classified experiments, would indicate his roguish tendencies.  Lastly, strategically.  If I was to have two corporals, I would prefer to not have them both be the team snipers. See, snipers work in pair, and if I had to split my team in two AND I got incapacitated, then we would have a new leader for the 'sniper team', and the 'main team', rather than having the main team completely commanded by the sniper team.

LT_Oskari: I share your concerns on the sniper team and it has entered my mind as well. And to be perfectly frank I have a feeling that his cockyness will give us hard time in the future as well. However, it's not just about his combat abilities. Based on the reports he thinks very three-dimensionally when he's in combat, the proof of this is his excellent deployment of smoke grenades where it counted on both times. In my opinion he has an excellent perspective of what goes on in a battlefield, which would make him good with some command authority. But as I've said. I too am reserved about his promotion. So...it is your opinion that he should not be promoted yet?

SGT_Draco: Not yet, no.  Maybe in the future, but not yet.

LT_Oskari: Very well then. In that case his promotion is suspended for the time being. Do you have anyone else on your squad in mind as being worthy of the corporal rank?

SGT_Draco: Not immediately, though there are those whom I think would go before Harris.  Namely McAllister, who is rather concerned with the survival of the team.  That, and she isn't all too bad in combat, for a medic.  However, sometimes I think she is too concerned.  She once seemed to want to treat even the trivial wounds, sometimes even risking herself, and we don't need higher ranking individuals risking themselves needlessly.  I'm afraid that she'll be called upon to give orders, and be too obsessed over a patient.  Not that focusing on a patient is a bad thing.  No, no immediate promotions, though I wouldn't be surprised if we had another corporal sometime soon.

LT_Oskari: Very well then. In that event I'm suspending Harrises promotion to Corporal. But just to let you know that if he shows himself in an exemplary position again that's quite likely going to be enough for me to promote him. Now the only thing left for us to talk about is your...'incident'...on the second mission of your operation. Since you seemed eager to tell your side at the beginning why don't you do so right now.

SGT_Draco: *ahem* Very well sir.  It started when we were ordered to go into enemy territory to gather materials. We were told that the area would be occuppied by enemies, and I went in under that belief.  When we landed, we came in contact with the Earth Force squad, though I did not know it was Earth Force. The Earth Force was poorly equipped, so poorly equipped that it would be unlikely that an enemy of the enemy would be able to survive for long under it.  Despite this, I issued a restraining order to follow along and identify themselves.  At this point, they brandished what weaponry they had, when they could have ID'd themselves as EF. This gave me the personal belief that they were Cult of Sirius instead. I may have been wrong, but I was absolutely sure of it.  In order to protect the squad, and in case any of them had a communications device to warn the whole damn town of our presence, I ordered the team to open fire. I will not lie, that is what happened.

LT_Oskari: ::Viktor nodded to himself in his mind slightly, but otherwise kept a still face. After Draco finished he began speaking slowly:: Sergeant...I believe you when you say that it was your personal belief that it was the cult in front of you. I have, or rather HAD, quite an...infamous reputation amongst my fellow officers that I allow my subordinate responsibles to take action overriding my own orders in some extreme cases. But at the same time, you must be aware of this. When you take that action, then you do it on your own prerrogative and deal with the consequences on your own, whatever they may be. Do you take full responsibilty for what happened?

SGT_Draco: Yes.  But I want to note that I was not informed of their' true allegiance, and did it not out of desire to kill, but because I believed it necessarry to complete the mission without alerting the whole alien army, and with minimal casualties on our side.

LT_Oskari: I understand ::he says as he nodded slightly::. This is how we'll do this for future cases. You've had your chance to prove me right that you could make your own decision on the field about something, but since your last decision turned out to be false I want us to be clear on this following point. From this moment onwards, and until I determine that you are good enough to be allowed my privledge again, you are not to act on your own initiative regarding encountering an unknown force. Instead respond as that force responds to you. If they brandish their weapons you brandish yours. You do not preemptively strike at them. Are we clear? ::he finished with a face, intent on relaying that he is not backing down on this point::

SGT_Draco: ::Knowing that this meant that, too say it lightly, he would not tolerate such an incident again:: Yes sir.  I understand.

LT_Oskari: Good. ::Oskari concluded:: Then in that case we are done for now. By the way...it's just occured to me that Delmar and Harris did preform the definition of what could qualify them for the Silver Arrow. Do you think that award would be appropriate for them?

SGT_Draco: Yes. I do not deny that they are worthy of that. ::Draco said as she got up::  As I said, I doubt any other average sniper team would have even survived what they just did.

LT_Oskari: Very well then. You are dismissed in that event. And Sergeant...despite what happened on that mission,...keep up the good work. ::he nodded slightly as he spoke that last sentence::

SGT_Draco: Yes sir.  You too.  ::Draco nodded back as she left the room::

LT_Oskari: Peice of cake. ::he said to himself as the doors shut themselves when Draco exited the quarters:: Now comes the tricky bit...being a BASE commander. ::he sighs at that thought and at the horrible amount of work he still has left...::

<<And that's all me laddies! So you're all dead and knackered (as in tired) after the last mission quite likely, except for Harris of course who's now in a triage tent outside Tranquility being treated for his shoulder wound. Hope you write something this week...>>

[Neorapsta]

<<Just doing a quick post now, will post again later when everyone else has said what they are doing>>

Neos entered the Laboratory, or atleast what part of it that had been renovated. The only occupant of the room was a young doctor who was busily checking over something at his station before he would proceed to the triage outside and assist the others with the wounded, which encluded Harris. He glanced toward the door at the rear of the compartment that led to a small containment cell, in which he knew the Imposter's body was kept.

He entered the cell not bothering to close the door behind him, as the dead didn't have a tendancy to get up and move....atleast not in this situation. He moved over to the table in the center and the cloth covered corpse upon it. He pulled back the top of the cloth to reveal the face and the neat blast wound in the center. The face had miraculously survived intact, a testament to the Advanced Armors design. Upon examination at the end of the last mission the first shot had knocked it back and knocked it out and the second closer shot had managed to breach the helmet and kill it. The eyes were intact, those black, soulless eyes trademark of a hybrid.

He didn't need advanced hearing to notice that the doctor had finished his work and was coming to the cell door.

"Soldier,why are you so interested in that peace of scum?"

Neos turned, keeping his face straight, "What makes you call him scum?"

"Don't be rediculous, they're all scum every last one of them."

"Don't you have anything better you should be doing...doctor?" Neos replied with an edge to his voice.

The doctor stiffened visibly and turned and stalked out of the room

Neos looked down into those eyes, a mirror of his own, his secret from the rest of the people on this 'ship'. It was like seeing through the looking glass at what may have been. If things had been different would it have been him on this table and another roaming the wilderness?

Neos pondered this for a few more minutes before replacing the cloth and leaving the module...

[NickAragua]

Alex cringed as he tried to lift his arm, not very successfully. The armor he had
worn prevented the plasma bolt from taking a big chunk out of his shoulder,
but it was still a pretty bad burn. He looked back at the PDA he was holding in his other hand, browsing the Galactic News Network archives. Of course, no news had come through from anywhere since the Tranquility crash landed here. Bored, he got up from his bed and headed for the outside, grabbing a "Thermal Protection Unit" (a coat) hanging near the door.

"Hey, where'd you think you're going?" The medic on duty asked. "We just bandaged you up, you're supposed to stay in bed"

"Come on, man, give me a freakin' break. I'm not gonna be doing any heavy lifting, I just wanna get some fresh air, your farts are starting to stink the place up."
"Yeah, whatever, just don't come back in here crying that your shoulder hurts." The medic quipped back, then shrugged and went back to 'electronic filing' - to Alex, it seemed as if the man was playing one of those fancy 3-d card games.

Alex shrugged, and closed the tent flap behind him as he stepped outside. As expected, it was cold and cloudy. He sneezed, using the TPU's sleeve to wipe his nose.

"That's disgusting, Mr. Harris.", a female voice commented.

Alex didn't really bother looking in the direction, as he stood there with his hands in his coat pockets. "Gee, sorry, I should have gotten a, uh... what's it called... " he paused.

"A Personal Fluid Absorber, I believe. In any case, you're supposed to be in bed, recuperating." The voice responded, Alex now noticing the British accent.

Alex smirked. "Look, I just wanted to get some fresh air, the dude in there keeps farting and stinking up the room, someone ought to watch his diet." He looked around a bit. "Plus, there's nothing to do in there, at least here, I can check out the view, such as it is." He sneezed again. "Stupid-ass planet." He added.

"Well, I'm sure that on Mars, you never have gas problems. In any case, your immune system probably hasn't fully adjusted to conditions here, and until we can synthesize some nano-vaccines, you are better off not standing around in the cold air with an injured shoulder. You have five minutes, lad, then I had better see you back in the tent."

Harris chuckled and mockingly waved a hand in front of his nose. "Man, I'm glad I didn't have to crawl through a crap-chute..." He heard the tent flap opening and then closing, but no response. "Yeah, whatever.", he mumbled as he looked up at the sky. Dreary clouds moved by overhead, though Alex thought he saw a flash of gray moving rapidly through them.  He shrugged and sneezed again. "Great, I'm stuck on a nasty, disease-ridden planet, filled with aliens and fart-knockers. I get shot, lectured on sniper tactics and, to top it off, I can't even shoot anyone, 'cause my shoulder is all burnt." He sighed and shook his head, lamenting the current state of affairs.

<<historical note: Corporate marketing people are always at work, giving fancy names to commonplace objects. In addition to "Thermal Protection Units", marketing people have come up with terms such as Independently Powered Personal Hair Reducer (electric razor), Liquid Preservation and Temperature Maintenance Container (thermos), and Molecular Separator (a knife). The trend was apparently started by early 21st century software marketing personnel. >>