XCAS Roleplay

[Ghost]

Bright flashes lit up the small cockpit, which was otherwise lit only by it's own instruments and HUD. Corporal Katilin Stone, or Fox as some called her was flying her Valkyrie class fighter through a barrage of fire, as the squadron attacked a Black Spear fighter squadron they had spotted patrolling the system.

Suddenly a beeping noise could be heard through the cockpit's internal speakers: Someone had a missile lock on her. As soon as she heard the beeping, she threw her stick to the right, making a half roll and pulled up her fighter sharply. Luckily these fighters are still somewhat agile, as the missile shot by her and crashed into the Loki fighter she was just engaging a few moments before. The small fighter shuddered and shook a bit from the ensuing explosion, but she had no time to consider that as another fighter, this one painted black as opposed to her grey one, came straight at her guns ablaze... to her surprise this was not a Loki fighter, this was a Valkyrie!

A quick series of dodging motions, by steering the ship to the sides and the both fighters passed eachother.

"Damn.. how did he manage to sneak up on me like that..." Fox mumbled to herself as she started the pursuit of this fighter, though she already knew the answer... Valkyrie class fighters are known for their superior stealth abilities.

She fired her fusion cannons, but unfortunately enough the fighter managed to dodge most of her shots, one shot however struck the side of the small fighter's wing and blasted away a part, causing it to spin out of control for a moment.

Fox grinned slightly as she tried to align the spinning vessel in her sights.

Just a little more... just a little... *Beeeeep* She had a lock on the ship and flipped the switch at the top of her stick. With a bright flash the thruster on two of her missiles engaged and veered straight at the target, which was still spinning out of control. As she followed the missiles crashing into the fighter and exploding, leaving only shrapnel of the destroyed fightercraft suddenly her ship shuddered violently. She spun her head around and saw another Valkyrie decloaking by her side and firing it's guns at her, the next moment her ship groaned and howled as if it were an injured animal... and then it went up in a big fireball, destroying the ship and it's pilot alike...

 

...Darkness...

 

For a moment everything was dark, then the canopy of the combat flight simulator opened up, allowing Fox to get out of the cockpit. She unbuckled her seatbelts and leapt out of the cockpit. As she got out of the simulator's VR suit, that makes you actually feel the things happening, Colonel Cyriacus walked over to her from the other cockpit. He grinned slightly and patted her on the back as she bent over to step out of the suit.

 

"Always keep moving, never stay hanging still to see if your missiles hit. Your targeting indicator will tell you that, you'd have been dead if this were real."

Cyriacus had been flying at the Black Spear's side, as a sort of friendly match between him and Stone. "Keep practising though, you did great at shooting that other Valkyrie, and of course in real life you'll have a real second pilot, not an AI."

In one fluid motion Stone had stepped out of her suit, kicked it away, and grabbed her staff she had put against the wall next to the flight sim. She spun around and within a second she had the Colonel to the ground, her knee on his stomach and her staff just an inch away from his face, frozen in mid-strike. She grinned down at him,

"And you, colonel, need to keep practising on your combat skills, because if I were an Ascadian, you would be dead now."

She got up and helped the colonel up, grinning slightly and as he walked away she gave him a knock on the back with the staff again, not hard enough to hurt, but enough to knock him out of balance. The colonel stumbled forward a few steps and turned around,

"Watch it corporal, I'm not looking to put you on report, but your behavior isn't exactly complimentary at the moment." He turned around again and walked out of the room, leaving Stone with her staff, spinning it around with her hands.

[Andrew_175]

Necro acknowledged the Col. and Fox as they passed each other in the hallway. Andy had decided to go and take out the residual amount of anger out on virtual enemies, instead of friends and colleagues, and could think of no better way to do it than in the flying simulator.

 

He wandered into the VR chamber got suited up, waved at the controller of the unit and climbed into the capsule, closing the door behind him

 

"Alright mateyface" he said to the operator "give me something challenging today".

 

"Affirmative" the operator replied, "loading battle flight sim 857*1"

 

The pod went dark, when what light there was came back to the pod the HWE found himself at the contorls of the good ol' Valkyrie. In front of him, according tohis radar, was a rather large alien fleet, and a large wall of weapons fire heading towards him at an extortionate rate.

 

" This is most pleasing" he muttered calmly, before screaming "Up jump the boogie" and slamming the engines on max burn.

[Ghost]

<<really Necro, I didn't know you were a pilot And remember, the fightercraft don't have shields, the Loki, nor the Valkyrie, so it might not be handy taking on a fleet singlehandedly >>

[Loonie]

<<Heh, he might not be a pilot, but he still can try it (since if I remember correctly there was a time in XCAS when the Commander ordered the troops to start practicing as pilots due to an emergency )

 

For all I care he can try to take on a whole fleet with a Valkyrie, but that of course doesn't mean he'll get far >>

[Andrew_175]

Necro's hands flew over the controls of his ship, as he looked out of the cockpit and surveyed what was around him. A VERY large fleet of ships, friendlies thank god, of varying sizes os ships including something that looked very similar to the Patton.

 

A voice came over the com "engage stealth mode, on my mark... Mark". He watched as his fleet slowly started to dissappear, as well as his own ship. The voice continued "do not disenguage stealth mode unless ordered".

 

The fleet continued to fly towards the enemy at an astounding pace, but on a new vector that aiming to bring them underneath the aliens.

 

As the bottom of the enemy ships got closer and closer the voice came on again "Acuire a target, wait for the disenguage stealth order and then break".

 

Necro got a smallish ship in his sights and locked a missile onto it.

 

"Disenguage stealth on my mark.... Mark"

 

The fleet revealed itself to the enemy. Then several kinds of hell broke loose. The aliens realised what was happening and tried to scatter. In the midst of all the chaos Andy let a missile go causing the ship he was looking at earlier not to be there anymore. He swung the ship around as 4 larger ships charged at him.

 

"wayhey" He roared "come and get me"....

[Loonie]

The pesonnel quarters aboard the Patton were quiet. Only one person resided in them at the moment and he was going through the events that had just happened during the last mission. "Have I become too arrogant with my psionic skills?" he asked himself whilst remembering all the accusations from several of his fellow soldiers back at the European Defence Force. He always assumed that those statements were due to the people being afraid of him, but now he began seeing some of them in a different light. In any event, the fact still stood that he had gotten himself into a PSI battle that he could not hope to win and he knew that even before he initiated the attack. He only tried to prevent the Ethereal from getting into cover so that the rest of the team could take him down. The result was that Kacur had almost turned on his own friends if it weren't for Necro who saved him with a point-blank shot to the Ethereal's head. "But now I'll know better." he thought as he exited the quarters to head towards the cantina.

 

His daily choirs were mounting, especially with a reprimand from the Colonel and an assigment to do all of the waste disposal operations around the Patton for a week. First his 6 hours of psionic training, then about 2 hours of conversing with the team and trying to act as their confidant, then his daily combat training which always took at least 4 hours. He was thankfull that he did not require as much sleep as the other soldiers due to his PSI. This enabled him to do more things during a day but it still wasn't enough. He decided that he had room for one more thing and it had better be a useful one. "Hmm, what is the Ethereal's achilles heel?" he asked himself. He could find only one - the exposed brain, but there was something else. Unpredictable behaviour also seemed to distract them quite a bit and once the equation was put together, he realized what could prove useful. "I wonder where Ong is?"

 

The Lieutenant was drinking a cup of tea in the cantina when Kacur approached him and asked with a quiet voice.

 

"I was wondering if you would have some time on your hands Lieutenant?"

 

"And why were you wondering that, might I ask?"

 

"The Combat training programmes in the simulator do a good job, but there is one important aspect that they miss. Although I already know the basics of Martial arts I have yet to determine more advanced forms. So unless you're too cross with me about that grenade, I was wondering if you could spend an hour or so teaching me."

 

The Lieutenant looked at the Psionisist rather strangely before taking another sip of his tea. He then stared at the cup and simply replied: "We'll see. Right now my shoulder wouldn't allow it, but later on perhaps. Check back with me when my wound is a bit better, okay?"

 

"No problem." Kacur then ordered a strange ascidian drink from the Ascidian bartender and sat down behind an empty table. After taking a sip of the strange liquid and barely restraining himself from puking he thought: "If your way of doing things doesn't work, always find a better one."

 

<<Just a little thing to be taken under note, like Howardson's learning of Ascidian language >>

[Ion Mage]

<<well, then, haven't really posted anything in a loooong time, not a real RP post, that is. Time to get shakin'!>>

 

 

Howardson lay in his bed, now in a very 'mixed' state.

 

His main thought was on the strangest of things: Water. Not acidic water, not poisoned water, not drinking water, but water. Though he didn't mind it in drinking form, he didn't exactly find himself comfortable with it when it comes to swimming.

 

About a week ago, he did the dumbest of things; when that missile was heading towards him, he dived into, of all the things; water! "what was i thinking???" He thought. The fact that he nearly drowned didn't help. Now, just 2 days ago, he had a mission in an underwater facility! All of the recent 'water' incidents kept giving him flashbacks of a time long ago, when his parents were still alive, when he nearly drowned at the beach.

 

Such a moment of near total helplessness remained in his mind since. Duringthe last op, he decided to work on the security systems, not becase he was familiar with heavy weapons, but because the security checkpoints had thicker walling than the rest of the base; and therefore no windows. No water. Non visible at least. Less chance of a hull breach, there was.

 

To make matters worse, the alien barstools had come up with an evil design; eloquents. Its almost as if the whole patton mission was designed to scare him!

 

"Maybe im just obsessing over that little incident..."

 

However, the aliens still seemed to be quite intent on giving howard a watery doom; for during AW-2, various of his relatives (aunts, uncles, etc), had died fighting the aliens.

 

"Why does water hate me so? Why does it hate me so?!?!

.....

Bah, maybe i AM obsessing over it, the deaths in AW-2 were from sonic weapons, not water. Maybe i should change the subject..."

 

Howardson then decided to take another look at the most recent ops weve had.

 

Back when ghost was rescued, howardson made a bit of an observation when he went to the armory to get his stuff; his auto-cannon emphasized the "auto" part more than the "cannon" part; The point of the AC is to deal damage, no spurt those shells out fast! Ok, 1 shell every 5 seconds isnt spurting them out, nor is it fast, but it sure could be doing more damage!

 

Just watching footage from the recent ops showed his AC wasn't even capable of piercing snakemen armor. No less pierce a tank!

 

So, he wrote a note to the folks at engineering: Creating a new, updated version of the Heavy Cannon weilded in Alien war 1. Such a cannon had grown obsolete when the AC had gained an equal, if not greater amount of destructive firepower. Either that, or develop a kind of 'explosive ammunition', which would act as if it were a mini-rocket-launcher, only fast firing!

[Loonie]

*HA!*

 

*URGH!*

 

"Be careful! You don't want to lose balance when attacking. Always do moves where your balance is assured. Only when you've mastered that to the letter can you hope to do really good kicks."

 

"Okay....say I think it's about time for me to meet Jackson about......something. Can we continue tomorrow?"

 

"Sure, I'll see you then at the same time."

 

"Thank you."

 

And after two deep bows the men departed with Kacur heading towards his room and Ong proceeding to get an update from the Commander. "This is definately not as simple as it looks in the movies, but then again I could have anticipated that." he thought to himself as he changed his suit. As he headed down a hallway he thought about his own past.

 

Absolutely nothing had seriously changed him back on Earth. He was still very proud that none of the bullies in school, none of the backward soldiers in the EDF, not even his own parents could make him throw away his assumptions about psionics. He knew that his parents had been very kind to him in many ways, but despite being of quite broad minds, they still couldn't comprehend him fully. After he left them there were the soldiers at the Balkan Section of the EDF. Those tried to change his mind with frequent "code reds", disciplinary actions in which they forcefully made him preform various humiliating things. All throughout those tough times he always kept a corner of his mind isolated from these events and put his beliefs about psionics there. But that corner was rapidly becoming smaller and smaller and if X-Com hadn't noticed him, he knew that he would sooner or later brake under the pressures. No one could withstand that punishment for ever! Not Ong, not Ghost, not Richter and not himself.

 

He noticed how he drew comparisons only from the people with which he was currently stuck and he knew very well why. They were his first true friends in his entire life. Ever since he was thawed out of that cryopod he also noticed that his character began to seriously change for the first time. Perhaps it was also because in this place, some 60 light years away from Earth, he had found what friendship truly means, not just with the Ascidians but also with the X-Com team. How ironic.

 

Jackson was waiting for him in his quarters in order for Kacur to listen to his most recent troubles. Upon looking at him Kacur thought of a single thing with relief for himself:

 

"Thank god that, unlike him, I managed to leave my past behind and move foward with these people."

[DragonHawk]

>>

 

Private Anne Rallwell lay awake in her bunk, thinking about the past. Her time with the Cult of Sirius had been disturbing, to put it in the nicest way possible. She had seen the bizarre rituals, the chants, the worship of the alien "master race". It had been too much for her, and she had run away after only a month. She thought she could leave, and it would be enough, but it wasn't. The local CoS chapters had hunted her down, destroying her family. She had escaped, barely, and had spent the next days in a homeless shelter.

 

When she gathered up the courage to leave, she found that her escape had been planned. CoS thugs had battered her in an alley, careful not to produce permanent damage, but causing her great pain. She had collapsed after that first beating. In the downpour, she had cried.

 

The second beating had been no different. She attempted to run, but they had cut off all of her escape routes. This one actually hurt less, as they had disappeared more quickly.

 

She fought back on the third beating, which had taken place near a non-descript building. She fought hard, but to no avail. They beat her, and just when she was about to collapse, a miracle occurred. A tall, trenchcoated figure swept into the alley from the street. He walked purposefully, like a knight of the old, striding to her side. He viciously punched one of her assailants from behind. The second, looking up in surprise, got a steel toe in the face, breaking his nose. The third fought back, but his skill was marginal; her saviour decked him in no time. Collecting her in his arms, he whisked her away into the non-descript building.

 

Chris Drake. Her knight in shining armour. He was some sort of academic prodigy, working on locating Elerium for the X-Com Corporation. He had helped her to get back on her feet, to start a new life. The nightmares had still followed her, but they seemed subdued.

 

On his advice, she had taken up Engineering, and had entered the X-Com Engineering Division. Her assignment had kept her away from Drake for many years, but they always kept in touch. Even apart, they had developed a close friendship.

 

When Chris had mentioned the volunteer mission to the Patton, Anne had jumped on the chance. The Patton mission was supposed to be routine, but due to the size and scope of the mission, the Patton would be bringing along huge numbers of troops and scientists. Not only were they to locate elerium, but they were to establish a scientific outpost on Mars, near the wreckage of the Cydonian base.

 

Unfortunately, even then, fate had kept them apart. She was left as a "secondary" engineer, to be interred in cryo-stasis. X-Com had chosen one of its veterans, Elson Richmond, and one of its newest members, Derrick Ko, as their shipside engineers. Rallwell had been depressed at this information, but had consoled herself with the knowledge that she would be thawed on Cydonia. It was then that she had begun to have nagging doubts about her commitment to Chris; what was it really based on?

 

When she had been thawed out, much had changed. Richmond had been returned to statis due to medical reasons, and Ko was in charge of engineering. Indeed, he seemed to consider himself the unofficial commander of medicine, research, and engineering. It galled her slightly that Ko was now senior in rank but not engineering experience. He had openly accepted her into the structure, splitting the assignments between the two of them, and had never seemed to doubt her ability. Still, it had taken her a lot of time to get used to the fact that this 'child' that had six years less experience than her was in command. In fact, she'd only recently come to peace with that state of affairs, just after he had been removed from action.

 

Ko's 'death' had sent her to deep introspective analysis. She had remembered the time when Ko had sat her down and tried to give her advice after Chris had been transformed. It seemed so impersonal then, her mind wracked from the loss, but she understood the advice's value now. "You've got to let go of Drake. When I see you two together, I can feel something is wrong. I think you're attached to him for the wrong reasons." He had calmly put his hand on her shoulder and said, "You let me know if you can't let him go, you let me know if you can't make sense of your feelings, and I'll make the necessary arrangements for you us to part. I'd hate to lose you as both a friend and a colleague, but the needs of the team have to come first, and I won't risk sending your participation if you can't handle it."

 

She still felt close to Drake, but no longer in the passionate way that she had felt before. As much as she hated the feeling of betrayal, she couldn't tie her fate to Drake anymore. She had done too much to stay close to Chris... She needed to strike out on her own, to get out from under his shadow.

 

Anne gazed at his face in an old 2D photograph they had taken together back in Miami. They had both been happy then... but she couldn't cling to him any longer. As Kacur had once suggested to her, she needed to move on with life. Nodding to herself, she set the photograph down, and settled into bed.

 

>>

[Loonie]

<<Despite the fact that you're probably pushing this thing a bit too much towards the point of absurdity ("Her knight in shining armour" eh? ) I still want to give praise that I'm not the only one who posts during the Mouse-Less Sim era.

 

I think you might be roleplaying Anne Rallwell a bit too much like Derrick Ko (only considering the scientific roleplay), but otherwise nice work. Once again it was proven during last night's sim, so to prepare my defences in advance.........NO I am NOT patronizing you when I commend you! :angel: >>

 

Kacur looked at the somewhat curious Ilyuschenko, who was apparently having fun with moving one of his own comic books using his telekinetic powers and amplified by his Psi-Amp of course. Kacur didn't study telekinetics at the World Psionics Center, because he knew that in combat it would almost never really prove useful and though he was intrigued by it, he had nevertheless decided to build up his psionic energy ratings instead.

 

"Are you quite done?"

 

The clip made a loud thud as it abruptly dropped from the air and Ilyuschenko faced Kacur: "Awww man! Try not to do that okay? I was really having fun"

 

"Well we're not here for fun you know. We're here so that you get the lowdown on a new psionic device that might aid you quite well in the battlefield and in interrogations."

 

"You mean like a device for collecting info from the brain? Hah. I can do that with the Psi-Amp just fine ya know. I studied psi extraction damn well back at the Center."

 

Martin really wondered if it was just him or was the whole psionics division from X-Com in a deep filthy gutter. How the heck did this egomaniac get into the ranks?? This wasn't the first time that he heard the newly defrosted private rant about his allmighty PSI skills. It was the third,...No wait! fourth time but this time, however, Kacur decided that it would be for everyone's good health if he would "pacify" the person in front of him before he got out of hand when facing aliens.

 

"I don't care if you've spent all your damn life studying it! Things are a lot different out here and we've already encountered a lifeform that could Psi-Shock even an Ethereal. If you don't pay attention to your equipment and briefing and instead rely solely on your own brain power, you are going to go way down. Look at the scar on my forehead. Do you think this means I'm a super PSI or something out of a goddamn movie?! No! It means I suffered an accident on a paintball match, when I nearly got killed by my own stupidity and overconfidence of my psionic abilities! I was lucky that for some strange reason the paint bullet didn't crack my skull. And if you think that you're going to kick some ass with your PSI skills when you meet those aliens, then you might not be as lucky as I was and get a PLASMA bullet in the middle of your forehead instead. Do yooooou get me?"

 

Silence erupted in the room and though it lasted for only 5 seconds, both men could swear that it was 5 minutes.

 

"I asked you something"

 

"I know that, dammit! You're not my superior or anything, jeeze"

 

And after that sentence Ilyuschenko stormed out of the room whilst leaving his comic book on the floor.

 

"Dammit! Why am I even doing this? This was supposed to be Necro's or Jacko's job, why the heck do I have to do Sergeant work for them???" Kacur asked himself as he slowly went after Ilyuschenko for whom he knew that he would leave quickly towards his bunk to reassure himself that he WAS a good Psionisist.

 

<<Sorry about the "Do yoooooou get me" thing from StarShip Troopers DH, but I just couldn't help it. Ain't I a bad boy? >>

[BioHazard]

Damn that Kacur, though he did have a point,thought Ilyuschenko, let's test my theory what happens when you make a Psionisist mad. Thinking about a few other things, he entered his bunk, slightly calmed down, but still mad. "Self levitation can come usefull when trying to get an alternate entrance/exit," half thinking half saying it out loud, " for example, what if there is a hole on the roof? It can be used to increase to ods and more. Let's try it first before i do it in a combat situation though, it isn't exactly pleasent when a Cryssalid is running towards you and u just can't take of."

Thinking this, he sat down in a chair, focusing his mind to push him up. "It's working it's working (hovers 15 centimetres above the chair) come on, bit of forward motion(working aswell, dang u gotta love it) let's try to get higher, uhm it doesn't work, i'm actually getting lower???????????"

Not a second after this sentence was formed in his mind, he lost all Psionic support, slamming onto the ground rather painfully. " As I expected, adrenaline can increase most skills, like running, but also your Psi strength, i must have relaxed to much. Guess i'll read a bit on the old AW1 UFOpedia logs, thay do contain usefull information sometimes. Like when a Plasma Pistol doesn't kill you, but a Heavy does, though i've already read an interesting piece about the Plasma rifle security systems, it seemed i didn't do it right, 'cuz i got quite shocked when putting my nail into it last mission. ::Reads on a bit, trying to refind the chapter where he read how to reprogram the security systems:: Ah here it is, oww, i nearly completely shortcircuited the thing, wich makes the elerium blow... Not pleasent, they could have scraped me of the wall, i hope the prisoner can help us out on giving us the capability to use alien equipment on enemy units. I'll go to the shooting range, emptying an entire clip on a crissy, without even hitting it, is bad.

[DragonHawk]

 

lol, ok, there are a few ways you can look at this:

 

1. Rallwell is actually a temporary diversion from Ko, but I'm not doing a good job. I'm trying to move her away from the Ko persona, but to be honest, even when she was around, she didn't have much a personality... like Ko, hehehe. Just kidding sorta. Anyway, yes, trying to move away. Thanks for the critique Loonie.

 

2. This is like those crappy American reality shows. For those who know of Joe Millionaire: There's a contest for the hand of Anne Rallwell. She's pretty, smart, and kicks lots of alien ass. But her dark secret: she's really Ko in disguise! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Take your pick. If you pick 2, you really are crazy.

 

And yes, Rallwell was THAT obsessed with Drake. Don't doubt it. Oh yeah, and you DIE for using that crappy StarShip Troopers tone! So cheesy! I'm about to puke! >>

 

Rallwell had woken up, mind clear, and had been in the mess hall when Kacur's outburst could be heard from the rec room. It sounded like Ilyuschenko had done something... or not done something, as the case may have been.

 

Walking out, she was nearly bowled over by Ilyuschenko as he stormed away. With barely a grunt, he pushed past her and towards his quarters. Rallwell sighed. It looked like Ilyuschenko's bunk mate, Duke McCarthy, was going to have another fun night. Well, a few hours still...

 

Private Kacur was sauntering past, outwardly at ease, as was his norm. Flagging him down, Rallwell asked, "What's up Martin? Is something wrong?" She looked worriedly towards Ilyuschenko's bunk room.

 

Kacur smiled his inscrutable smile. "Not at all, Private Rallwell." He shrugged. "Just trying to deal with Roel. He is... difficult, sometimes."

 

Nodding, Rallwell beamed a smile at Kacur. "Of course Martin. Some troopers are like that. You're the senior psionisist though, it's part of your job to keep him in line, in a way. You have the authority, at the very least, due to that seniority. It's a lesson I've had to learn myself recently."

 

Rallwell's eyes narrowed, and her grin faltered. "I also know... from my past... that it's always easier to talk to someone you share something in common with. Roel has no contacts, no friends yet, amongst our troopers. Just remember, you are his senior, Martin." With a quick squeeze of his shoulder, Rallwell left.

 

Rallwell almost felt like crying. Roel's self-isolation reminded her so much of herself in the painful past. She had gotten out of it, fortunately, but how would it turn out for him?

 

DO YOU GET ME!?!?!?!>>

[Ghost]

Ghost was walking through the base, with a stack papers in his hands, muttering to himself a little, "I should have never gotten myself promoted to senior officer, damn paperwork, why would I give a damn about how the food stocks for the mess hall are? Why can't they just put it on my terminal, or on a PDA..." Muttering to himself a bit angrily he walked on, though was not really paying attention as he rounded a corner...

 

...and suddenly found himself crashing into private Rallwell who was standing still there, thinking to herself. The crash being totally unexpected he knocked over Rallwell with his weight and fell on top of her himself. When he realized what happened he quickly scrambled off her and to his feet, kneeling down with her to help her up. "I am very sorry about that private, I wasn't paying attention and I crashed into you."

She groaned slightly as she got back to her feet, "It's alright Lieutenant, and you can just call me Anne you now. You need to lose a few pounds there, you're damn heavy." She grinned at Ghost as he looked around and sighed as he saw his papers lying all around.

"Great, I just sorted those out...". With the help of Rallwell he picked up the papers and put them on a somewhat messy stack. He got up again as well and looked down at Rallwell. He had a strange feeling when he was around her... he felt like he knew her from somewhere but he couldn't quite place what it was. He never did say a word to her about it, as he thought it was probably nothing, but the feeling was still there when he saw her today.

He thought to himself it might be a good idea to check her personnel records. When Rallwell spoke up again he realized he had been staring at her all that time.

"Is there something the matter Lieutenant? Is there something wrong with me?" She had an eyebrow curved up slightly inquisitively, though also seemed a bit amused.

"Hmm? What? No no of course not, I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something a moment, I'm sorry I'm a bit flooded with work, so I should probably get going and finish this stuff", he stepped back a step quickly and turned around, raising a hand at Rallwell.

"Take care Anne, and I'm sorry for running into you like that. Oh and you can just call me Dmitri, or Ghost like most people do."

Rallwell smiled slightly to herself and shook her head, were all men going to stare at her like that? The lieutenant was obviously not thinking of work while looking at her.

 

Ghost walked away from the crash point and headed to his room, which was also his 'office', for as far as you can call a desk with a terminal an office. Where did he know Rallwell from... why did she seem so familiar...

With these questions spooking through his head, he booted up the terminal and opened up the personnel records.

 

Kacur... Ko... McBannok...McBenneth...McCarthy...Necro...Ong...Paul... aah there it was: Rallwell. He opened the file and started reading...

 

<<note to all you sex-crazed people out there: No this does not mean Ghost is falling in love with Rallwell, but what is happening... you will have to wait and see I will continue this story later, but I don't have much time right now Please be patient for the next installment, which will probably come tomorrow >>

[Loonie]

<<Now that's what I'm talking about Ghost. Nice post and I look foward to your development.

 

As Rallwell left Kacur alone, he felt his knees falter for a brief moment and his face getting hotter. He never even heard the audible crash that came from Anne's direction and simply leant back against a wall and relaxed for a moment:

 

"Well, at least now I can hold my embarrasment in front of women until the conversation is over"

 

His social skills with the opposite sex had improved slightly since he arrived in the Arkunis system. Perhaps the martial arts training with Ong were somehow helping, but alas it was nowhere near to him being able to stand cool and relaxed whilst talking to women for a longer period of time.

 

"Still I guess it'll work itself out. Besides there aren't that many women in this unit. Only Rallwell and Fox, so that if the last doesn't deliberately try to make me embarrased like she is known to occasionaly do to some people, it should be okay."

 

After regaining his normal strength and integrity, he made a mental note not to forget Rallwell's advice about Ilyuschenko and he also knew that he could trust her judgement. Since he had already found out Rallwell's past, he knew that she would almost certainly identify an isolated person when she saw one, in this case being Ilyuschenko. What Kacur couldn't learn about him with psionics, he could always surmise it using psychology. And he still remembered his father's advice on the subject, especially if Martin would ever go into psychiatry. "Some people can be cured and their personas can learn to put themselves on the right track. And the ones that are unable to learn,...give them a new persona." So many people had condemed those words with replies as to why doesn't the psychiatrist help the person, but those people simply did not or did not want to believe that ultimately there is no one that can help them recover except of course the patients themselves and that you can only steer them in that direction.

 

In any event Kacur believed Ilyuschenko to be still capable of putting himself on the right track, or maybe he had half-wished for it that way, since constructing a new persona was a long and ardous proccess that the X-Com team could not afford. He wished that he could be certain about his conclusions, but Ilyushenko's psionic defences were very strong indeed. In fact quite a bit stronger than his own, which also enabled him to Psi-Shock quite a few psionisists back on Earth that were foolish enough to try exploring his mind. "No no. I'll just have to rely on my knowledge of psychology this time around."

 

The only unfortunate thing was that, apart from his telekinetic powers, his defence was the only truly strong aspect in psionics that Ilyuschenko had. His excellent psionic probing abilities were of no use, as the Psionic probe, that was just perfected, no longer required Psionisists to have that skill well developed. His psi-energy was short lived as Kacur had noticed, that during combat he had subconciously used anger during his psionic activities. This enabled him to go into a much stronger psionic state, which however would last only for a very short time and in a longer melee he would most likely collapse on the field from exhaustion. His attack ratings were good enough to easily panic an average alien, but against a Snakeman squad leader, like the one which was encountered in the last mission, he had problems just trying to panic him. Kacur also wondered how did he ever even get accepted into the psionics branch as he seemed to be braking a major rule, that was clearly set at the psionic academy - "A Psionisist must be in exceptional control of his emotional state, as this might interfere with psionics."

 

Martin wasn't sure if he had managed to suppress his emotions at the trials, but it did not really matter, since his true self was here for all to see after he had passed the tests.

 

"Okay. Now lets try the Bad cop/Good cop rutine again." he said to himself as he left towards Ilyuschenko's room in order to explain things to him in a lighter way than the previous time whilst switching from his responsible military persona to his more emphatic one.

 

<<Right! "Blah blah blah psionics blah blah blah psychology blah blah blah..." To be frank I like doing these posts, but I don't like to see them alone and thus supporting DH's "Psionics all the way" theory . So I'll refrain from posting till more of you guys return here, though I must say that things are already starting to look up.

 

Oh! And don't get too hard on me as far as Ilyuschenko's Psi abilities being described here go, since he himself had defined them like this. >>

[DragonHawk]

 

Just a couple of notes here. Lieutenant is a junior officer status... as there are no officers lower. I think in most military organizations, Captain is considered junior as well. Above that is senior (in this case, Colonel) and I would think that Commander is a general officer or flag officer rank.

 

Think about who has access to the files or whatever. Can anyone check the files? Can anyone "read minds"? I'm not sure that personnel files and minds are like books in the library - not anyone can pick up and read. But maybe your interpretation is different. I just wanted to throw that out as something to think about.>>

 

Rallwell's eyes followed Lieutenant Schmerjchanikov, Ghost, as he left towards his office. Smiling, Rallwell privately thought it amusing that in the middle of the day, everyone was heading towards the living quarters...

 

Walking to her office in Engineering, Rallwell thought about her two contacts for the day. Martin Kacur was an X-Com psionisist and was certainly a-typical of such... unless, of course, Silvermoon was the odd one out. Kyle had been brash and outgoing, unlike the introspective Kacur. Did the same variation that existed in standard human personalities also exist in the psionic-enhanced humans? Maybe. The three psionisists activated for the Cydonia team were all quite different...

 

Rallwell knew little of Kacur's past. He had never really talked to her about it, preferring instead to help others. There was nothing wrong with that, in Rallwell's mind... but how many secrets could one person hold? Enough, probably.

 

At any rate, he was calm, despite his talk with Ilyuschenko. Rallwell admired that about him. He was always unruffled, never seemed to let anything shake what could only be described as his utter faith in his abilities. Fortunately, he knew his limits as well, and so was a great asset to the team. That had been Kyle's problem... Overreaching.

 

Ghost was a different sort of character altogether. While superficially similar, Ghost seemed to have different... somehow. His reaction in the hallway had been a bit bizarre. After all, they had been in the same base now for over half a year; why would he suddenly stare at her like that? He had never done anything like that before...

 

Ghost's past was a total unknown to her. His file was closed, completely. Since everyone had a confidential file, this wasn't unusual, but he seemed to keep pretty quiet. Not any different than herself, of course, but it was unusual in a unit so close for such information not to come out... maybe it just wasn't time. Currently, he seemed to be focusing on base maintenance issues, which would have nominally gone to Yorke except he was already swamped with other issues.

 

Anyways, he was quite the gentleman, and obviously despised military protocol. Captain Ko had been a contemporary of Ghost's, but they couldn't have been more different. On base, while Ghost had encourged familiarity with his enlisted troopers, Ko had always drawn an invisible, but formal, line, always using proper address or clipped shorthand when addressing other team members. Where Ghost would pretty much ignore base procedures, Ko would always follow them to the letter, if not in spirit. In battle though, the opposite; Ghost seemed to prefer hanging back and playing the game by the book, while Ko was more likely to bend rules. It was an odd dichotomy.

 

Rallwell frowned as she entered her office. A report and a disc labelled with the words "Shield Technology Lvl 2" were sitting on her desk. A progress report. It's going to be a long day.

[Chrysalid_zombie]

<< I hope Mouse is reading this, as it is kinda sim-affecting for my character... Sorry for any inconvinience caused >>

 

~~~~ NAO coridor system ~~~~

 

Daniel strode down the corridor with a mission, a mission that he thought he would never do. It was an unusual action and one that hadn't happened at any point during the Patton mission, so it looked like he was the test subject again... "Oh well, it needs doing" he thought. And just like that his objective loomed above him... or technically about level with him, but Daniel felt smaller. It was the door to the Commander's office, which was closed, suggesting the possibility that knocking may not be a bad idea.

Daniel hit the door a couple of times and waited for a reply...

 

"Come in"

 

He took a deep breath and opened the door.

 

Weindhoven: Jackson? Who was injured and what repairs will we need?

 

Jackson: It's not about that sir... This time.

 

Weindhoven: No accident? What can I do for you then SGT?

 

Jackson: Erm... It's kinda difficult to say this. After all I've been around for a while now and some people might be disappointed that I...

 

Weindhoven: *interupting* You want to go back into stasis!?!

 

Jackson: No! God no! I just want demoting!

 

Weindhoven: Demoting? But... You worked to get to SGT, you even stopped getting shot quite as much, which for you I understand is extremely difficult.

 

Jackson: I just don't think I'm good enough sir. I'll admit to being a good troop, but I don't feel I can command anyone... Plus I do tend to attract bullets, which means I'm out of action half the time on missions.

 

Weindhoven: Are you sure about this? You know as well as everyone else that the command structure is pretty jammed up at the minute. You might not be able to get back up to SGT.

 

Jackson: I am sir, I just don't think I'm the right man for the job, I prefer to take orders, not give them.

 

<<Tag Mouse for a responce, you have final decission after all >>

[Loonie]

<<Dear, dear. Now I am washed over by a sense of guilt.

 

Still I guess it's for the best. I might as well do this post then. >>

 

The corridors of NAO were quiet. Not a creature was stirring throughout the base. Until suddenly a clanking sound could be heard from a mechanical leg that was travelling at a somewhat slow pace.

 

"Jacko." thought Martin who was just in the hallways meditating, until the noise disturbed him. He got up quickly but silently and headed towards the noise that was approaching the Commander's office, always careful so as not to reveal himself to the Sergeant. Kacur still had some skills left from the times when he was a secondary Scout and that had probably helped him stay undetected. However a look at Jackson's face sparked another thought inside the Psionisist. "What if Jacko doesn't notice me because he is too concentrated on his reason for talking to the Commander?"

 

Sure enough he could not help but feel that way as Daniel entered the office. Kacur felt that this was one of the rare times that his vows about listening in to private conversations could be forgotten briefly and he silently listened in through the metal doors. He could not discern much of the conversation, though he did feel uneasyness along with several words:

 

"Jackson..................injured.......?"

 

---That's normal--- thought Kacur.

 

"........sir........."

 

"...............for you....."

 

"........difficult............been around for a while.................dissapointed...."

 

"..............back into stasis!?"

 

---What?! That tough that he's gonna have to go there like Richmond!?! But I thought...---

 

"....God...!.....demoting"

 

"Demoting?............................getting shot.......................I understand........."

 

---No he can't! I know there's a freeze on ranks due to command structure problems and that he's trying to help, but I'd rather stay a Private than have Jacko get put into stasis and decomissioned at a lower rank, No!---

 

"I....don't think..........enough sir............being a good troop.....don't feel.........attract bullets................out of action......."

 

---What!? He might not have been good at commanding but he was a great soldier! How can he say things like that about himself?!---

 

".........sure................You know as well as everyone else......................You.....not...able to get back up to SGT."

 

".....sir..........don't think I'm the right man.............."

 

---That does it!!! How can the Commander just support him like that and not give a single counter!!?!! I'm gonna straighten this thing out!!!---

 

Once again Kacur was swept over by a memory of his early childhood years when he was working hard and well and in return recieving from his so-called "friends" critisism that he was lazy. "I might have endured that, but I'll make DAMN sure Jacko won't have to"

 

As he stormed in the office he caught both men by surprise and couldn't help but shout. "SIR! What the heck are you doing?! You know damn well that Jacko might not be good at command but is one hell of a trooper. Now I don't demand this from you as Private to Commander but as man to man. Apologise now"

 

Richter was quite speechless and just couldn't take a grip of the situation right away, but Jacko quickly intervened and explained the situation to Kacur. Martin now felt like the greatest ass this side of the galaxy and composed himself with embarrasment and relief.

 

"Umm, oh dear...........ah....okay then. I'll just go then and leave you two to it okay."

 

He tried to leave the room quickly but Richter interrupted him just as he was exiting: "Private" "Oh wonderful! Latrine scrubbing again." thought Kacur as he turned around to face the Commander.

 

"You do know that it is forbidden to listen in to conversations in my office, much less storm into the place like you just did?"

 

Martin swallowed hard as he thought of the irony. This time his duty to protect his fellow squad members from anything, even false accusations, has gotten him into trouble with the Commander. This added to the previous "hide and seek" incident might not bode well for his future as he composed himself to reply to the question at hand.

 

"Yes sir." he replied in a quiet and sheepish tone.

 

Richter seeing, that the Private in front of him was in an emotionally unbalanced state, was rather surprised. He had never seen Kacur like this before.

 

"Very well Private. You may go, though if this talk of ours with Jackson gets out amongst the ranks, you will find yourself in a hole of shit with specific orders to clean it up."

 

"Yes sir." Kacur nearly collapsed as he exited the room and noticed Rallwell rather interested in him as he began walking to his quarters. "Oh no! Not that!..." he shuddered at the thought of having to deal with his composure in front of women right after this thing.

 

<<hehe. Two people for whom I believe it would be appropriate to post here on this occasion. Mouse and perhaps also DH. So......get to it. >>

[BioHazard]

<< my posts wont be very large, to make sure i won't post together with some1 else, though long enough to keep the game rolling i hope.>>

 

Meanwhile in the firing range, Ilyuschenko was having a bit of fun on the firing range, though he wasn't exactly happy at the speed of the targets.

 

"NOOOOOOOOOOO, faster stupid dummy, that's not even half the speed of a cryssalid << how do i know that? I've hardly seen 1, must be because this character reads a lot>>."

 

"Even at this speed, it's hard to hit a cryssalid."

 

"A, Howardson, i've detected you comming down here, wanna play a game of who empties his 2 pistol clips first? They're the old clips, you know"

 

"I know that, but they'll be used against Floaters and such as they are more effective at that."

 

"Dang, a different game then?"

 

"What did you have in mind?"

 

"Like, the obstacle course? It's starting in a few minuts"

 

"Well, i've thought about joining in, but would it be fare against the others?. I've build the first obstacle you know"

 

"I know, and i think Kacur will be enough trouble, he has altered and increased the size of your maze"

 

"Well, let's go then, i'll be at the finish line first"

 

"Let's first see who get's out first shall we? And then anoy the other with saying: See, i was first?"

 

"Good point"

 

And with this, they both left for the maze

 

<< Major hint to go to the Social Rolplaying thread, come on guys, POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm thinking about making a thread for loonie to give him a place to do his Shaman rituals, despite the fact that they tend to be a bit annoying>>

[Loonie]

<<OMG! GOD NO! Not the Shaman rituals!!! :) They may truly bring people in, but it would really not be worth the space in the long run. Mind you if no one posts for a long time I just *might* put it up myself :devil:

 

Allright, thanks for the hint, now it would be good to get back to the ranks incident with Jacko. >>

[DragonHawk]

All kidding aside, I think having her get interested in someone is probably will probably be a bit "distracting".

 

Just to keep the plot moving... And no, I'm not going to play someone else too much. >>

 

Rallwell checked out Kacur hahaha as he was moving away from the Commander's office. I think he's flying low, thought Rallwell. Not keeping together it seems.

 

"Hey Kacur, what's up? And... err... so as not to embarass yourself, you're flying low..."

 

>>

[Loonie]

<<GRRRRR! When will you understand that I don't want to have Rallwell or any preson of the opposite sex "interested" in Kacur?! Heheh

I meant interested in the way that she was intrigued by the fact that Kacur was staggering a bit and was emotionally unbalanced.... THAT's how I interpret it! Not this --- :inlove: --- you sexually deprived person you .

 

Anyway nuff' said, since DH has succeded in letting me blow some steam off, heh. Let's see how I wriggle Kacur out of this one...>>

 

Martin looked away from Rallwell before confronting her and quickly replied: "I'll be fine thanks, now please I have something important to do."

 

"Well if you have some time I'd like you to take a look at something later with the shields. I need to know about a certain component but Ki-tat isn't anywhere in sight so do you think we could discuss it at, say...1800 hours?"

 

Kacur couldn't hold it anymore and he turned as red as an apple around his face.

 

"Ummmm,......er..yes...okay..but..erm..can I go now?"

 

He quickly dashed off to his quarters in order to calm himself down. This was definately not too good a day for him. Then he realised something else. In this dialogue he had just assured himself that he will have to be alone with Rallwell for at least an hour or so! "GAH! Dammit"

 

"What's wrong with him anyway? Is he sick or something?" thought Rallwell.

 

<<OKAY. Now that's how I want to treat Kacur's embarrasment in front of women problem. Not :inlove: , not (as in "something wierd") but as an ILLNESS, or to be more precise a psychological blockade of some sort.

 

Besides DH you started the whole "interested" word thing, I didn't. So I guess that pretty much tells who has more desire for Rallwell to be "interested" in Kacur the way you think she would be. Hehehe >>

[Ion Mage]

<<Please keep social RP separate from the main RP. Thank you for the cooperation. And ive lost track of the obstacle course, even my own obstacle (since it was altered) so Sam's out im afraid>>

 

Another normal day at NAO. Howardson was stuck with the most abnormal of duies; cooking!

 

The agriculture pods were down, and the engineers were too busy to fix them, so it was ascidian food for us today! And of course, no one whom is the least bit skilled could also read ascidian, so it was up to Howardson!

 

"Lets see, some rel'na'ziz, some tez'nar'ip cream, and some re'gal'nal meat. Grind together until it becomes a..... pudding? Paste? Cream? Butter? Ah, probably pudding. None of the other stuff makes sense as a staple meal. Cook in wierd stove-thing for 230 kel'liks... thats 2 minutes. Right, one minute is around 115 point something kel'liks. And cook it at... 370 pol'naz'? Guys, can i get a conversion for pol'naz?"

 

Kacur was at the table, drinking some soda in an effort to wash his sorrows.

 

"Um, 70 degrees?" Kacur quipped. Unfortunately, no one heard this conversation to correct him (as if anyone would know the right answer).

 

"Right, 70 degrees it is"

 

 

 

5 minutes later....

 

"Bleugh! This stuff tastes like lobster magnets! I cant eat this" Jacko cried out. He started vommitting when some stuff lookng similar to mash potato was served.

 

"Agh! Id rather starve" McCarthy yelled.

 

Upon more and more screaming, Weindhoven arrived on the scene.

 

"Ok, apparently Howard can't cook. We'll have to eat the ascidian fruits raw, and hope for the best it seems... if anyone is up to it"

 

He saw Jacko lying in the corner, twitching in his own vomit.

 

"Gah! Howard, get him to Yorke right away"

 

"Yes sir"

 

 

Howardson made it a point to carry jacko, as opposed to dragging him to Yorke, as that could end up hitting various blunt objects on the ground if dragged. He was quite heavy though, with his mechanical leg.

 

"Hey yorke! Jacko didn't have an apetite for my cooking, it seems. I'd sure make a great housewife, wouldn't I?"

 

Yorke looked at him blankly

 

"I wasnt serious, man. I can't even BE a wife. He needs help. If there is any I can help, just ask. I'll get him on the table for you" Howard said.

 

Jacko was placed on the table

 

Yorke looked at jacko, making note of vomit stains on him and his uniform. "Oh, great, the vomit short-circuited his leg! We need a new one! Could you get it for me? There should be a crate of them in the level 3 general stores. Take my access card. Abuse it and die."

 

"Yes, sir"

 

Howard went to the general stores. As an HWE, he frequently had to visit this place, and the armories to haul heavy things around. Other visits to the armory involved reloading heavy ammunition, like missiles, on some of the ascidian fighters that sometimes drop by NAO. So, he had a relatively good handle on how to navigate the stores, and where everything was.

 

"lets see, level 3... they should just give me my own access card. I've seen this place almost as much as jacko has been hit! Its getting a little tiresome having to borrow cards all the time. But, at least they trust me" Howardson thought to himself.

 

He grabbed one of the replacement legs, and headed back to yorke. On the way, he couldn't help but think about jacko. "He sure has been down lately. And yet, he is always so caring about others. Heck, i wouldn't be surprised if he demoted himself to solve the current rank crisis! Nah, wishfull thinking..."

 

When he arrived, he handed the leg to yorke.

 

"say, as a doctor, you also know a bit about psychiatry, right? Why has jacko been so down lately?"

 

"To be honest, i think he may have finally taken a hit to his heart..."

 

"Hmmm, maybe i should congradulate his toughness later on, when hes conscious again... well, later"

 

Howardson went on to the targetting range to practice with the auto-cannon a bit. He hasn't been making many hits lately, so practice is best right about now.

 

But what did yorke mean 'a hit to the heart?'

[Loonie]

<<Nice to have you back in the forums Ion. It's been damn empty without you.

 

And the phrase with the beer is actually "something that he NEVER did" Heh Kacur is veeery careful with his food and drinks so beer would most likely not qualify into it. But nevermind. Just so as you know for next time. >>

 

Kacur looked into the plate that he had been served. He didn't feel like eating at all, since it had usually proven to get nasty if one of his two meals a day would turn into vomiting. Seeing Jacko getting dragged away wasn't too encouraging either, especially since his conversion into 70 degrees could've been a serious mistake. Still Yorke had cleared this food as edible and not toxic, so Martin decided to see how much he can really sepreate mind from matter.

 

He plunged his spoon deep into the "pudding" taking a big scoop and inhaled and exhaled deeply before closing his eyes. His scar began to lightly shine as he plunged the spoon into his mouth and began to taste the thing. The scar got a tad brighter when he swallowed the ration and after a few moments he opened his eyes to see the others staring at him. He let go of the spoon and looked into the bowl of "pudding".

 

"It does work apparently, but it's exhausting just after one spoonful. Heh maybe me and Ilyuschenko could compete in this thing if we really tried, but It's not really for me."

 

This exercise had washed down a lot more "sorrow" than the soda that he decided to try out previously and he made a mental note that the drink wasn't the real solution. At least not for him...

 

"Now that I've reasonably calmed down it would be time to back it up with some meditation". And so he left towards his quarters to find himself a good spot.

[Ion Mage]

<<Right! Post edited for your sake, oh non-alcoholic one >>

[Ion Mage]

<<im gonna bring up a certain isue that has just dissappeared into nowehere>>

 

Howardson was in the gunnery range, polishing up his auto-cannon skills. Many other team members were there, also brushing up on their' skills, or just plain hanging out

 

The targets, set for 'cryssalid' speed, were moving ferociously fast.

 

"Dammit! I can't hit these things with an AC"

 

The main problem was that the target always hit him before the AC would even rev up.

 

"This means you're going to need to use your pistol sidearm a bit more" Ong pointed out.

 

"Easy for you to say, saber warrior! Pistols dont do squat against cryssalids"

 

"Yes, but what good is it when the AC wont fire on time?"

 

"What we need are lightsabers. We already have the force, in the form of psionics"

 

"Well, unfortunately i doubt we have either the knowledge nor the materials to do so. Knowledge, maybe, but not materials" McCarthy stated, matter-of-factually. "Dammit! I can't get this dummy program to work right" He yelled, as his latest attempt at a hacking-aid program failed.

 

"Yeah yeah, but we need something"

 

"How about other teammates? They got good anti-cryssalid weapons" Jackson Reminded him. "Especially when the crys' go for them, not for you"

 

"Well, we could strap cryssalid bait to the pirates, we dont seem to have much use for them! What HAVE they been doing for us anyways? We've had them in containment for months now! And NOTHING has come of it"

 

"Good question. Likely because all the scientists are just too busy with their' current research jobs to interrogate them? But then again, the commander could do the interrogations themselves..." Necro said, practicing with his pistol sidearm, as per Ong's suggestion.

 

"Im still wondering why we are 30 years older, supposedly, but havent aged at all." McCarthy added

 

"Well, i guess we'll just have to see. Now, maybe i should work on my pistol skills for a bit. Been spending too much time with the AC"

 

<<sorry, just that these guys just randomly came back to me. What happened to them? I think mouse has the best answer. At least roleplay the interrogations without anyone else being there! Ill be an honest RPer!>>