STING: All that Glitters (IC)

[atmawpn]

STING frigate Exerion, Warp transit, Somewhere in the Shiva Cluster


Navigational threshold achieved. ETA at Project Legacy: 3 hours.

Initiating night-cycle interrupt. Resetting time-cycles, synchronising with Project Legacy.

-----

Around the ship the lights brightened, alarms going off prematurely to wake any sleepers at the time.

"... Condition Yellow set. All Project Lumos personnel are to report to the briefing room in 2 hours for the pre-mission briefing. Repeat: Condition Yellow set. All Project Lumos personnel are to report to the briefing room in 2 hours for the pre-mission briefing..."

A muffled curse as Chris Dalton reached out to silence the alarm, pulling himself from his chair and shuffling out of the lab. He was rarely seen outside the place, choosing to spend most of his meals and waking hours tapping feverishly away at his reports. But for the moment he'd had enough, the lanky and geekish researcher deciding for a change of view. He'd eat his meal in the mess for a change.

[Mokino]

The sun filtered through the purple leaves of the massive cedars before gently touching Mai’s face as she rested. The world was filled with the sounds of nature around her: birds calling out, the buzzing of insects, the gentle lapping of the waves in the pond.

This place always reminded the Mechon of her family’s farm long ago, back on Earth…before the Specters came. And it should; this place was built from her memories after all.

Though not without its changes… Mai thought as she looked up at the leaves above her as they briefly flickered to a natural green for only a moment. No, changes were good. After all, she wasn’t the girl who’d played in the golden fields as a child anymore.

“You disapprove?” asked the woman lying beside her. The woman could almost be mistaken for human except that her skin was made of a white reflective material. Purple eyes watched Mai with curiosity.

“No, it’s beautiful,” Mai replied honestly. She was still getting used to Cyrene’s existence; the AI that composed half of the new her yet seemed both part of her and a distinct entity at the same time. Cyrene knew everything about Mai; every little secret and every repressed memory and yet the AI did not judge her host. Mai was the being’s entire universe after all.

Mai closed her eyes and drifted away, comfortable on the soft grass.

Exerion – Computer Core

When she opened her eyes, she was sitting in her maintenance station by the computer core. The last thing Mai remembered was going over inventory in the armory…

I took us here while you were enjoying the forest. I hope you don’t mind but we were due and I didn’t want to disrupt your meditation. Unfortunately, it seems we’ve got a situation. Immediately, Mai’s mind was filled with the latest from the ship’s communication logs.

We’ve still got two hours. Let’s see if I can tweak our visual sensors more…

[Akranadas]

(Italics denote Mandrakian Language)

"Tasitus, as per your request, this is the following information on your application for breeding. The council of breeding has taken a keen interesting in you, you are one of the only publicly sighted Mandrakian soldiers; and as such they are searching for a suitable female for companionship with you. Your photograph and records are currently being circluated among the potential females as we speak and we hope to have selected a prime partner for you once you return. I will forward more information onto you when I have some. Good luck brother, Mattar of Orion Clutch signing off."

The Mandrakian known as Tasitus placed the communication orb back on the make shift shelve he had made within the cargo hold, the hold was the only place with ample enough room to allow him to move freely; this after all was a human designed ship for human crew. Living on a starship was a new experience to Tasitus, the constant hum of the engines was something that required him to get use to and the steel flooring was always cold which lacked grip against his feet. Still, he felt pride to be apart of this operation and to away from the homeworlds.

Tasitus had turned a section of the cargo hold into his own personalised space, the human crew had asked what he need when he came aboard; he only required the bare essentials. He remembered one of the crew asking him about a bed;

"Do you require a bunk?" the crew member said as he took out a holopad "I could place an order for a specialised one for your size
"A bunk? I do not understand this term" Tasitus replied "Please explain"
"Well, its a err... a bed for sleeping; humans lay down on it to sleep" the crew member replied "Do your kind have beds?"
"No. We sleep standing laying down is uncomfortable" Tasitus explained "I will not require a bunk. I have all I need"

His sleeping quarters were setup between two large crates; providing him with ample privary from the sides as well as keeping him out of the way if the cargo hold required use. The rest of his possessions besides the communication orbs were a large holopad, his weapons and spare armour, ammunition for the missile pods and a few supplies of local food; although he was slightly curious about tasting the human food.

Then the alarm sounded

"... Condition Yellow set. All Project Lumos personnel are to report to the briefing room in 2 hours for the pre-mission briefing. Repeat: Condition Yellow set. All Project Lumos personnel are to report to the briefing room in 2 hours for the pre-mission briefing..."

He would make preparations to attend this meeting, but this time he would leave his armour behind; trying to move through this ships small doors and hatches was hard enough without the bulk of the armour

[Master Chief]

Jarrett rolled off of his bunk, rubbing his head as the alarm blared overhead, waking him from precious sleep. He didn't regret enlisting, and couldn't imagine himself living a normal life, but damn did he wish he could just sleep all day, even if just once.

He quickly ceased his internal grumbling, sliding on a pair of drab MCUU pants and a FORECON tee before making his way out of the quarters, sliding past other men getting dressed as he made for the head, toothbrush in hand. A quick scrub and a washed face later, he made his way out into the cramped corridors of the Exerion, the odd alien here and there reminding him that humanity wasn't alone on the new vessel. It felt weird, to Jarrett; the only interaction he'd personally ever had with aliens was shooting them, but he figured he'd have to work with them eventually, so not much to do about it. He'd had the typical sensitivity training which officially stated how "the extraterrestrial races were stalwart allies of mankind against the Propagators," but in reality most of the instructors boiled down the lecture into a few wise words: fuckers are weird but some of them hit like a truck, so don't piss them off. The birdman down in the hold sprang to mind, though how well it could fight was up in the air.

He saw the Mechon walk past at a brisk pace. Now that was an impressive leap. He understand nothing about them, but they reminded him of Fall somewhat, though she predated the half-human half-AIs by a wide margin and she only had one personality. That'd be weird, having two minds in one body. Suck if they didn't get along.

Eventually he reached the mess; he had two hours before the meeting, which meant breakfast time. He sidled into line as he grabbed a tray and chatted with the other Marines in line around him, the large room steadily filling with more and more waking crew. As he walked past the meal crew handed him breakfast: scrambled eggs, sausage patties, toast, vitamin shake. He put them all on his tray, waiting for the guys behind him before they all moved in a group to an open table, sitting down and continuing their conversation about how hot that chick in the movie was last night and how much their new dress blues sucked compared to the old ones.

[Yoshi]

Rex let out a guttural snarl as the human managed to connect a punch to his midsection, the four armed alien shifting back and then forward releasing a counter punch of his own. The force knocking the human to the side but he managed to balance himself and recover throwing a flurry of punches that the Kri’ranian blocked with his arms. To either side were several other human crewmembers cheering with several guffaws for the human J.T even as he kept pummeling until Rex gave a punch to the leg.
“You fight well,” Rex remarked.

“Yeah, well you ain’t bad yourself,” J.t replied back feigning a punch and launching a kick that staggered the alien backwards briefly.

The Kri took several steps forward and double feigned a punch before whipping his tail around knocking the human about. J.T shifted the near fall into a spun before kicking again, “Had enough yet?”

“Hah! They don’t exaggerate when they say humans are stubborn!”

It was then that the ship alarms went off.

"... Condition Yellow set. All Project Lumos personnel are to report to the briefing room in 2 hours for the pre-mission briefing. Repeat: Condition Yellow set. All Project Lumos personnel are to report to the briefing room in 2 hours for the pre-mission briefing..."

Rex tilted his head at that before glancing at J.T, “We’ll call it a draw.” Earning a laugh from the human before the Kri’ranian moved off heading out of the mess hall and towards the quarters he had been provided. While a little cramped he would make do.

[Deunan]

Arne couldn't sleep. Not that she slept much in the first place, but for now she was just unable to even close her eyes. This wasn't the first this happened and most likely not the last either. So as it were, she welcomed the change in the nocturnal cycle, it meant she could bring her mind to different problems, without a need to constantly evaluate the situation over and over again.

In some ways so much was new to her. It was still unusual to think that people were born with nothing. No memories, no knowledge. Nothing at all. And that they then grew up, amassed experience, faltered and died. Her first memory, was opening her eyes knowing perfectly well who she was, how to move, how to walk, how to shoot. And the people that she was around at first maintained the illusion that it was normal. That there was nothing special about her. It didn't last long. In a sense it was an easy thing to cope with. She knew, that her past was nothing. It still didn't stop her from dreaming sometimes, from imagining that there is a past where there was none.

The woman knew she was human, but damn everything, was everyone else so slow. They communicated so inefficiently. Most only vocally. And those that actually had a higher level of brainware were not much better. Those people saw those implants as only an extension of their existing capabilities. They talked in their heads. They didn't think. By the way, she was able to give an entire report, a born would be able to stagger out a sentence at best.

And what they said over the air was so sterile. They only sent out words, lines, letters. They didn't send out thoughts.

During the flight of the ship, she had at least some time to listen to all the new teammates. And it seemed all were sadly as slow as she was afraid. The mechon woman was slightly better, but even to her it didn't come as smoothly.

Arne made sure to limit her own transmission speed and thoughts to for everyone else to understand her and to not look out of the ordinary. She tried to think of an apt analoggy. And the only one she could think of, was of someone who tried to speak with a foreigner, that barely understood. SPeaking incredibly slowly, taking care to pronounce each later, making sure each word could be understood and translated before the next one came again. It was maddeningly frustrating.

And that was just one thing. Another thing she noticed is how attached they were to thier limbs. WHY? You loose one and it can be regrown back on a ship. If it's damaged why lug it around. She still remembered a training with human soldiers.

A beast managed to pin one of them down, damaging his hand, snapping bones. All he had to do was exert some force in order to detach the soft tissue apart. That would free him and allow a counterattack. But no, the man tried to keep the limb intact as long as possible. Making it so much harder for the rest of them to take the animal down. What was the logic behind there. It made no sense.

She sighed, admitting that there was still much about humans she did not understand. She was human, but she still needed to learn a lot moer. Which brought her to the team again. All of the members, but her were probably experienced soldiers. They were able to fight, they fought for longer than she was alive. She had experience herself, but very little of it was her own. In a sense she was the FNG. That brought a small grin to Arne.

TWo hours left, she thought. Might be best to find something to eat. They might have a burger somewhere in the mess hall. She just had to make sure to not drop her cover. A rich kid from of a trade magnate who wanted to play soldier with the big boys and who paid more than enough to be on sting. It meant that the rest wouldn't like her very much. Which she didn't mind. It allowed her to keep enough distance.

[Fuel?]

One thing changed following the Departure - he never Dreamed again. All dreams were replaced by the same thing - he stood alone on a dark, empty surface only sometimes lit up by blue and amber lines skimming through the void. Only sometimes things varied, like now - as he walked through the void, something shined in the distance. He could feel a strange sense of familiarity, but the shape - whatever it was - seemed out of reach.

"... Condition Yellow set. All Project Lumos personnel are to report to the briefing room in 2 hours for the pre-mission briefing. Repeat: Condition Yellow set. All Project Lumos personnel are to report to the briefing room in 2 hours for the pre-mission briefing..."

It would be hard for Cash to say the voice woke him up, but at least it made him return to reality. A low-voltage ping switched the occular links on and within miliseconds his brain was once again looking at the dark interior of the ship. "Rise and shine, ladies. Time to go and play hero of the universe again." the soldier groaned, jumping back on the floor and taking his jacket off the chair before heading outside to the mess hall. Last he checked the inventory, the ship was stocked up on beefburgers and pseudo-fish fishcake. For some reason that was yet to be remembered by his brain, the ship's food storage was completely devoid of chicken.

He wasn't the first to get this idea - Arne, the new member was there already. "Morning. Or, evening - whatever timezone we landed in again." Cash spoke and turned his head towards the wall-screen, enabling it and switching to CNC news.

"Once more, protesters have gathered around the Conqueror's Monument on Eden, dedicated to the Harbingers of Eon." The newsman's camera panned from the raging crowd held back by a line of riot-geared planetary police to the monument itself and its latest addition - a blank faced figure representing the most enigmatic of them, the Chessmaster holding a burning planet in his hand. "Their demands follow the pattern repeated for over five months now - remove the statue of the Chessmaster, who according to the protesters is nothing but a genocidal maniac. In response, Eden governor had this to say"

The camera view switched to a man in his fifties standing before the crowd. "We have been spoiled! We have envisioned ourselves a hero, a superman in a shining ship that will deliver us from all evils! We wanted to rise a legend around normal, mortal men and women that answer the call and aren't afraid to tain their hands with blood of millions so that billions more can sleep at night." As he finished speaking, the camera returned to a view of the studio. "Chessmaster and the Harbingers - heroes of the galaxy or merely watchmen, vanguards of chaos and destruction? Today in the studio, Admiral Altair of the Alliance Defence Force and..."

[Deunan]

One of her new teammates entered. The good-looking man as she remembered him. There was very little she knew otherwise. A few open files in the wide web, but that was about it. The pretty man from Uplink. She'd let it be at that, both of them enjoying a meal in peace. But the man, Cash had other ideas.
"So what do you about that?" He said, pointing at the news screen with his burger. "Bunch of bullshit overall."

It surprised Arne, and one of her first instincts was to talk with him over the air. Her second stopped her. "I would not know. But people say that the Chesmaster had a covert fleet at his disposal."

There, that wasn't too hard was it? Two full sentences, spoken out loud.

[Mokino]

"I heard Chessmaster is just a very lucky idiot," Mai/Cyrene said with a chuckle as she entered the mess, "Only got where he is due to fate smiling upon him."

Ignoring the food, the Mechon joined her other teammates at the table. Cash, the man she'd already surmrised she knew far more about than she would ever reveal, and Arne, the odd girl whose biology confused her sensors and had already tried prodding her with electronic connections. Wisely, Cyrene had ignored the intrusions; the abilities of an individual Mechon had to be kept secret.

"So, what's the situation that was important enough to interrupt my maintenance cycle?" she asked the other two, "I haven't found anything on the ship's network."

[Fuel?]

"They say a lot of crap. Some think he died during the battle, his warp drive failed and the ship fell into the anomaly." Cash spoke, pleasantly surprised that someone here was up to talk so quickly after being woken up. More out of tradition than out of need, the commando snatched one of the mugs with some corporate logo on it and poured in some coffee.

"And that he personally shot Gatak Kaar, had a first officer who defeated a Krayak in hand to hand combat. Sounds like SOL just wants a heroic scapegoat to blame the fall of earth on." He noticed the Mechon walk in. "Hey, if half of what they say is true I wouldn't want to piss him off. Sounds like someone who doesn't really hesitate before blowing someone else up" Cash began to sort through the mess inventory once more. "Doesn't removal of anything remotely connected to poultry seem like a bit of an overkill to you people?"

[Deunan]

"I have heard rumours that he was behind the death of one of Earth's admirals as well." Arne mumbled. She was trying to recall what poultry meant, she was certain that it was a word that had come up, was probably in her initial database as well. But barely used.

"Perhaps the chessmaster is meant to have liked poultry?" She asked, not entirely sure.

[Akranadas]

The smell of freshly cooking food, noise of talking and pure curiosity had brought Tasitus of the ship's mess hall. The journey towards the mess hall had been a tight one however, he was forced to almost walk on his hands to make it through some of the bulkheads and other sealing doors; But he eventually make it into the mess hall. When he entered the hall however, the room seemed to almost go quiet as he felt the eyes of the room looking at him but before long they went back to their meals and conversations.

Tasitus bulk made manoeuvring in the tight space of the mess hall difficult as he tried to avoid slamming his tail into another person or bumping into someone. However soon enough he picked up on how these humans obtain their food; the tray was held awkwardly in his hands as he grabbed two meat filled objects as well as something one of the humans next to him referred to as bacon before he looked for a place to eat.

"Chairs, always with these chairs" he thought out allowed to himself.

He settled at the end of a table with a few of the other indivduals he had seen going about the ship, if he remember correctly they were referred to as Mai, the strange glowing human, Cash the human with stuff on his head and Arne the almost too perfect human.

"What is poultry?" Tasitus asked.

[Fuel?]

"Birds in edible form." Cash tried to force himself not to grin, but all effort was in vain. "They say Chessmaster was involved in a lot of stuff. Mostly bad - kidnapping, assassination, destruction of a space station. Hell, some say he hated someone so much he dropped a starship on him. I bet he's not one guy, just some group - probably led by some crazy cyber-scientist or something."

[Akranadas]

"If this poultry is as delicious as this... bacon then I would like to try some" Tasitus replied while crunching down on another strip of bacon "Chessmaster is irrelevant. Their leadership is irrelevant, we are the predators of the galaxy, they are our prey" he then picked up a burger, removed the buns before eating the cooked beef patty.

[Mokino]

"There are a lot of rumours about the Harbingers," Mai said dismissively as she tried to ignore the alien at the table, "Most of them are probably greatly exagerrated. Nonsense created by the media to keep people watching. I mean they claim Eve Holland was the result of some sort of government experiment."

[Deunan]

Oh that was poultry. Hearing the pretty commando say it brought it back to her. Thankfully no one seemed to notice her blunder. But, there's no better way to learn standard terminology she guessed. She ripped into her burger and asked the rest.
"So anyone has a normal integrated communication suite? It's hard to talk while eating. As to Holland. Would not be unprecendet. Consider the camaasi. They were a government and corporate project."

[Mokino]

If she only knew...

Mai wasn't going to play that particular card until it was necessary; let others speculate on exactly what Mechon were. If she was assumed to just be a cyborg that made things all the easier for now. Discretion was key; Emma had taught her that along with how to use her blade.

"I have one, but it's currently busy trying to find out what command isn't telling us," Mai whispered, "I'd rather not go in blind. On that note, please excuse me. I need to concentrate on this encryption."

[Fuel?]

"Hardly anyone can refuse a good chicken, it has sort of..." The commando stopped chewing and gazed into the ceiling. "... godly status. Similar to bacon." He smiled, having finished the burger and grabbed a pseudofish. "Clonefish allegedly taste like chicken. Also, I have a builtin but come on, distance comms while in the same room? That's just downright awkward."

Behind him, the TV continued. "Let's not go overboard here: the whole 'Harbinger' group is hard to believe in anyway. Even if we assume that they were the first to discover the Ursae Majoris gate, what sort of confirmation do we have about their involvement in the fight? I would dare stating that they're nothing but people's reaction to the invasion - a sudden 'remedy' and something to cling to." The angry voice of one of the station's known skeptics rambled on.

[Deunan]

Borners..Arne sighed inwardly. She'd never understand why they wanted to stay on the less effective way of communicating. It was like trying to messages in a flask! Not that they were much better in air to air, but it was at least bearable.

"Well chicken is one of the healthier meats." She paused for a moment. "Also I would assume I am the least experienced member of the team. I do not know how birdpeople age though. Or what do you call yourselves." She said farily bluntly. Though not negatively.

[Akranadas]

"My universal translator works similar to your distant communication system, it interprets my thoughts on speech before transmitting" Tasitus ate another beef patty, leaving the bun on the plate to demonstrate his device "I cannot form your words without it. Your language comes out clumsy if I try to speak it"

Tasitus paused before answering the question Arne presented "I am a Mandrakian, I am currently 168 years of age. Is that old for humans?"

[Deunan]

I hope you don't mind me speaking in direct. It is more comfortable for me. Arne contacted the mandrakian directly. Making certain to limit herself only to thoughts. Speaking far slower than she would like to. But still with far more comfort than vocally.
168 years would be considered almost unntaineable a few centuries ago. As the human post industrial median age of death was 86.78. But currently it is an attainable age with current medical advances. But you will not find many centenarians in military grunt roles.

It was nice to be able to do two things at a time. Talk and eat.

[Akranadas]

I am what you would call, middle age for my kind, we can push ourselves to live past 250 years possibly further if the need arises but most take the option to pass on once that age is reached; less they become a burden to our society.

Tasitus continued his meal, attempting to not draw attention from the other two at the table as he communicated with Arne

You are different from these two other humans, I can see it; my eyes pick up on the unnatural symmetry of your features and the way your skin appears at odds with the rest of your species. You also lack blemishes that most humans have, spots, scars and skin imperfections. I will not oust you to the others, I have no intention of causing rifts while I am in this service; so don't not fear me young one.

Tasitus had finished the remained of the cooked meats on his plate, only the buns of a few burgers remained; bread was not something he would test himself against right now.

You may ask any question you wish and I will attempt to answer it

[Master Chief]

"Hey, Chicken Little just hopped in," David pointed at the giant bird with his fork, nudging Jarrett with his elbow. Jarrett glanced over, saw it awkwardly make its way in line to grab some grub before sitting down with a group of people. It took Jarrett a moment to recognize the others; the Mechon was there, along with Cash and some other woman about Jarrett's age; must have been the rich kid. Kinda cute for a FNG. Rather not have her watching his back though.

"Guess they eat human food? I figured he'd be rooting in the barf bags or some shit," Odabi laughed, spraying bits of egg across the table as he chortled with the others around him.

"Yeah, just gobble that shit up!" David replied, slapping the big man on the back.

"Looks like Iceman's more interested in the rest of the table. Cash's flowing locks got you entranced?" Brad hooted, jabbing Jarrett as Odabi followed up.

"Kissy kissy? Ehhh?" The table erupted in raucous laughter, the typical Marine spirit of endlessly fucking with each other still strong.

"Cool fantasy," Jarrett replied, shaking his head with a grin. "You whack off to him or something?"

"Hey, he's the 'Face of STING' for a reason, man," Rudy piped in. "Dude's rockin'."

"Man, you'd do anyone, Rudy, your opinion don't count," Brad countered, tossing a milk carton at him to shut him up.

"I deny nothing," Rudy shrugged, taking the thrown gift and ripping it open.

"So, what do you think of that Harbinger shit?" David asked, now pointing at the TV as he looked at Jarrett.

"I know some of 'em," Jarrett shrugged. "They're just people who were in the right place. One's a fucking idiot," referring to Gene. He got along with him about as well as his sister did. He downplayed them, but it was still crazy that Mobius had been so key in saving the fucking galaxy; to him, they were just a group of mercs that were basically family, not heroes to be made statues of, and he knew Gene agreed wholeheartedly. No way he'd want a statue of himself. Renault ... he was a different story.

"I dunno man, they saved the galaxy or some shit, yeah? Pretty impressive if you ask me," Brad chimed in as he shoveled in a mouthful of toast with strawberry jam scraped thin.

"Showed the freaks what humanity's all about," Odabi nodded, thumping his chest with an "Oorah," eliciting a chorus from the gathered Marines in kind.

"Better keep the baton going, then," Jarrett replied as he took a bite of sausage. "Can't let 'em down."

[Fuel?]

It took Cash a while to notice that he paused mid-bite of the fishcake. Something in the air seemed to draw his thoughts for a while but he completely couldn't catch what it was. "Bread's good. I mean, this stuff's been in the ship's fridge for a while I guess - won't beat the fresh stuff." He said to break the silence. All this mission needed was more awkward.

It all did stink though - daughter of someone who owned a few good stations for himself, probably along with a good quarter of Fringe cops? An oversized rooster? Someone who's cybernetic rating hit well above 90? If he was here just because Uplink wanted a logo on the STING posters, it was entirely possible that the bird was here just to promote his government.

That left the two women - spotting the augmentation brand markings would point out who put her here and Arne seemed like a rich runaway or someone who wanted to play a soldier. Either way, her daddy's mercenaries would ride in guns blazing the second something went wrong. So with a team like this, what was the mission? Was there even a mission to begin with, or was that just one big PR stunt to give people one of those fancy 'STING in action once more' blips on TV?

"I wouldn't worry much. We haven't been woken up by red alert klaxons, no information about a containment fleet mobilizing... sounds like they found a dead infected on some barren rock and the command wasn't bored enough to tell them to fuck off."

And here came the louder bits of the team. "Yeah you keep that reaction away from the PR dicks sweetheart. I swear, I see a camera pointed at me once more. Or have to sign one more photograph..." he laughed, finally taking a bite of the pseudofish. Contrary to the opinion, it tasted completely different from chicken. And, to his surprise - it wasn't bad. "Courtesy of fucking Uplink the only cybernetic company producing food aswell. The fish you'll never taste, cause it ain' fucking fish." he put the freshly open box in the middle of the table.

[Deunan]

Oh don't worry. Arne grinned over the link, using the emotion as punctuation. Something that very few people did. I'm certain the rest will pick up on it sooner or later, if they haven't already. We're human though, and it is easy to forget that the simplest aswer is often the true one..

She turned to Cash, feeling stray packets coming all the time. The man was utterly not used to the changes they did to his body. He was like a baby making sounds all the time.
"Could you at least stop sending handshakes all the time if you plan to stay on vocal? And they just put us together. Training or mocks if you ask me."

[Akranadas]

Tasitus looked towards the marine's table, the rowdy nature of the group puzzled him as the rest of the mess hall seemed to be calm and rather quiet but this group of humans weren't; these are warriors thought Tasitus. The one that seemed to lead the group said some words that were clearly directed at him; Chicken... was he calling Tasitus edible meat? An insult perhaps... he was uncertain, his understand of human language didn't pick up on it but still the way they spoke about him was as if they were questioning his commitment to battle. Tasitus decided to have some fun with these... warriors of humanity.

He looked straight towards the marine leader, looking him dead in the eyes as said in his native Mandrakian "All predators think they are unstoppable. That is until the former prey suddenly becomes the predator"

[Mokino]

Mai/Cyrene chose to ignore the burst transmissions between Arne and the Mandrakian for now. It seemed to put the young woman at ease at least. Still, Mai's sensors were cataloguing everything they could about the young woman (who Cyrene was pretty sure was a vat grown human like the Mechon leader Eve) and the avian species.

"Well," the mechon said, "since they never gave us dossiers on the team I'd think introductions are in order." Officially, they didn't. Cyrene's voice had a hint of sarcasm.

"I'm Mai/Cyrene, a Mechon representing my people here," Mai continued, "Formerly Captain Mai Xu of the Terran Defense Fleet. Hacker and recon specialist, amongst other things."

[Akranadas]

"I am Tasitus of the Orion Clutch, 3rd Raptor within the Mandrakian military, finest of the homeworlds few soldiers and forbearer of the shifting change" the large Mandrakian said as he returned to a more natural crouching position "I am here as a representative of the Mandrakian people who wish to assist the galaxy in the continual quest for peace"

[Fuel?]

"Whoa whoa, what did I do. Besides, whispering in company is just rude." Cash shrugged. To say Arne was weirding him out was an understatement. "Some may already know me, name's Cash. Reconeissance and sniper duty. I'm here to make sure you people don't get sniped yourselves or don't have too many tank problems."

[Mokino]

"I can guess what the jarheads are here for," Mai said, gesturing over her shoulder at the rowdy table, "But what about you?" she asked the younger woman.

I'm Cyrene. Who are you? It wasn't like any of the connections Arne had felt before. It felt powerful, like the supercomputers that managed starships and stations, but there was a hint of something else there; an attempt at communicating more than the words. For a brief second, Arne saw the face of a smiling woman with purple hair who somewhat resembled the Mechon sitting at the table before her.

[Deunan]

You've had your gear for a long time haven't you? Asked Arne the Mechon. The question wasn't as much heard as felt. She could feel the mechon trying to communicate on a deeper level. It was still quite obvious she was a borner, but damn was she good if anything. She must have felt the transmission bursts between her and the alien. Arne didn't mind. At least another person who was willing to talk over the air. It was far nicer. And I'm Arne Deternazzo. It's everything I am. The mechon could suddenly see the image she was sending to Arne back in her mind, described and sensed. Was that you?

Still the power and complexity of the transmission gave her pause. Arne was used to simple machines, to humans who barely understood what they could use the link for, and automated meatbag soldiers. It was odd, but sometimes she felt the closest connection to those soldiers. The speed at which they communicated inside of their squads reminded her of herself.

Still it would do best to reply to the pretty man.
"Arne. Grunt work generally. Or at least that's what I'm trained for. I will admit I do not have much actual combat experience. And Cash, what you doing is walking around in a public space with a shake my hand now everyone sign above your head."

She paused for a moment.

"There is another member I think. Nonhuman."

[Mokino]

Not as long as you might think Mai winked But Mechon systems are rather unique, even between "individuals" of our race. An odd hint of more sarcasm. That was Cyrene you saw, as she sees herself at least. Perhaps this will help you understand better. A slight flicker as Arne saw the purple haired woman, now full-bodied, sitting at their table, though taking the same seat as the Mechon.

I am Mai and I am Cyrene the woman explained It is difficult to put even into thoughts someone else would understand. We are two halves of the same whole. This symbiosis is what makes us seperate from humans. Arne was bombared with brief glimpses as the Mechon attempted to explain. A human and an AI existing in the same body and sharing every memory, every emotion, every waking though at a level that rivalled even Arne's method of communication. Perfect understanding.

"Cash can't help it if he's still adjusting to having such things," Mai/Cyrene said out loud playfully.

[Yoshi]

Rex returned to the Mess Hall after a trip to his quarters to assemble a few things, the Kri'ranian eyeing the group briefly before wandering over to where the food was served. Peering at the selection, all of it looking familiar yet entirely alien at the same time to the kind of food he was use to. Placing two hands on a rail that others had slid their trays on, the other two pressing against the glass case. The meal crew giving him an odd look, unsure of what to actually offer the large alien.

"That, those, this, and this," He chirped gruffly grabbing two trays for the food as the alien pointing at the ham, sausages, bacon, eggs, and then at various pieces of fruit that were part of the breakfast selection. The Crew piling the food onto the tray without argument not being familiar with how much a creature like him normally ate.

After they finished Rex moved towards the tables eyes glancing over them briefly before the more lizardlike alien took an awkward seat, having to adjust for his tail. Sitting slightly seperate from the nearest person to him. Displaying that normal awkwardness even as an alien with being near those you don't know at all. Taking up the extra silverware he'd grabbed the Kri'ranian began to poke and try the food, alternating the use of which arm was grabbing which morsel seemingly on a complete whim.

[Fuel?]

"What can I say, I'm a friendly person." Cash smiled and started to drink the coffee. Right, so this place apparently had weirdly augmented people hanging about - totally fine by his standards. Complex people were the best sort you could find around. And, let's face it - women without mysteries of their own are boring.

"Can't say I've seen many Kri'ranians though." He turned to the newly arrived alien. "Odd they didn't send one of our token Krayak. I bet Hierarchy will have a few things to say about being 'left out of the loop'"

[Yoshi]

"The Krayak are not needed," Rex stated in a rather matter of fact way while continuing to eat, "As for my kind most stay within league space."

The alien glanced over at cash as if taking in the smaller human before looking back to his food.

[Akranadas]

"Good to see that I'm not the only one from the league here, Kri'ranian" Tasitus shouted to Rex "I've heard very little of your people though, I look forward to see you in action"

Tasitus tried to drink from one of the human cups, but it wasn't large enough to get his beak into; eventually after several tries and a few spills he placed it back on the table.

[Master Chief]

"Yo, think he's talking to you, man," Odabi slapped David on the chest, nodding towards the bird as it jibber-jabbered at them, totally incomprehensible.

"No idea, man," David shrugged, shaking his head at the Mandrakian to show he couldn't understand a word and/or squawk.

"If it's about earlier, don't worry, dog, all in good fun," Rudy pounded his chest.

"I'm Jarrett," the young Marine called out, introducing himself before going around the table. "Odabi, Brad, Rudy, David. 3rd Recon." He watched as the bird alien tried and failed to drink out of a cup, eliciting sniggers from the Marines. "Try this, bro," he called over, raising his squirt bottle of Grape Rain-flavored Strade. He mimicked squeezing it before tossing the bottle over to the Mandrakian. "It'll be easier, trust me."

[Mokino]

The girl seemed pretty smart. Mai/Cyrene had to give Arne that. Even if the reply from Eve had confirmed some of Mai's suspicions; Arne was likely no more than a decade old despite her physical age and knowledge.

Well that explains the communication issues. Kid probably wasn't awoken until her hardware was installed...

Well, it seems we've both got some learning to do. she said to Arne, hoping she was transmitting reassurance as well as her wordsl, You see, I have only been a Mechon for a little over a month; it was only due to my Alliance history that I was chosen for this team. In fact, I was only granted the gifts of this new body due to that history as well. Six months ago, I was an invalid stuck in a hospital bed as I had been for seven years after the fight over Earth. More images flashed in Arne's mind: a frail and weak but still human Mai, the Specter attack, and the silver-haired Harbinger who had saved her life. The last was accompanied by intense feelings of loyalty and duty; Mai's life belonged to the Mechon completely now.

Eve gave me a new life and a new purpose and for that I will be always grateful to her. I know more about the Harbingers and the Eon than I suspect anyone here and, perhaps, I have ways of learning more about where you come from....if you're interested.

"I'm glad we have no Krayak here," Mai said with an audible snort, "Damned fools never took the threat seriously last time. That cost both the Alliance and League greatly." Absently, she slipped the black glove off of her right hand, inspecting the metal joints underneath.

[Fuel?]

"Hey, come on." Cash said with his mouth filled with the pseudofish. "Politics aside, problems of military sort have one thing in common. Problem appears." he held his finger up in the air. "Apply enough Krayak, no problem. Unless you want to be discrete about it - then give them explosives and make sure they accidentally blow up all surveillance equipment."

The Hierarchy's founders, Krayak, to his knowledge were probably the deadlies sentient thing out there. If knowing the regular ones wasn't enough, he briefly recalled a Discovery Culture show that mentioned minor clans that could only be classified as 'batshit crazy'

"Or one of those clans that got forced to become nomads, or booted from Hierarchy? Take the Blackscale for instance - lights go out and they'll gladly rip you to bits before you even hear them."

[Deunan]

You learn quickly then. Most people with decades of being wired can barely send anything that's not plaintext. Slow buggers, and so loud all the time.. She shook her head, not letting out more than she should. It was probably too much as it was. But this team was a group of miscreants, so oddities were not unusual, she hoped.

"Though aren't our and league ships better than theirs? Last I heard we traded two to one."

She pointed at Dalton. "Who's that?"

[Fuel?]

"Ha! There's rumours about a former coalition admiral who, I shit you not, traded TWELVE to one in Damocles. They'd catch two of his prowling about, interdiction fields go up..." The commando stopped talking to take a bite "And bam, you've got a Hierarchy squad trapped by their own field, and a Coalition fleet freely bombing the crap out of them from range. Or the Camaasi - not sure if you've heard of THEM. Rumours say they spent the entire invasion hiding, but how do you explain entire Hierarchy and USC convoys just... dropping off the map?"

[atmawpn]

STING frigate Exerion, 1 hour out, Pre-mission briefing


A tall and athletic man entered the room, his stride and stature suggesting he was an Alliance veteran. Grizzled lines on his face suggested he was of middle age, having seen his fair share of combat in years past.
"Some of you might have seen me around on the journey, and some of you might have not. I am Captain Jake Gardna: CO of the Exerion and senior officer of STING," the man began. "You have been assembled here because of a recent development in the Shiva Cluster."

The lights in the room dimmed as the centre table lit up with a hologram of the Milky Way. "As some of you might know - the Shiva Cluster is one of the most remote locations in the Gate Network, lying far out on the northern edge of the galaxy. Some of you might have heard of the derelict Gate of Hara - the main landmark of the gateway system, and that the rest of the cluster contains similar Eon gate derelicts. That was what we all thought as well, at least until recently..."

The holographic map quickly zoomed into the cluster, then on a particular system somewhat far out from the local Eon gate. "... this is the Vajra star system. Stable primary star, with the planet Vajra-3 considered a possibility for colonisation due to its position in the Goldilocks Zone and somewhat breathable atmo. Probes were sent to further assess feasibility, and this is what they found..."

Orbital
photographs of aesthetically-pleasing and sleek-looking structures on the largest continent, assembled in too organised a pattern to be natural. "... an intact Eon base. Not just derelict, but apparently pristine and more or less undamaged. A research team was dispatched under the codename Project Legacy to verify, and they confirmed the preliminary findings about two weeks ago: most of the databanks remain intact and functional, only needing translation of the Eon language as well as some modifications to existing hardware for compatibility with our own systems. However, three days ago, contact was lost with Project Legacy and STING was alerted. That's where you come in."

Captain Gardna tapped a few buttons on his end, sending to each operative the final logs of the Project Legacy transmission. Brief, but troubling.

AM0257-04-23 09:57:55 GST - Priority transmission from Project Legacy: Gravitic anomaly near Project Base. Hyperspatial readings inconsistent with all known FTL drive signatures.

AM0257-04-23 09:58:32 GST - Automated base-wide alert activated, lockdown engaged across Project Base.

AM0257-04-23 09:59:12 GST - Red alert: unknown life signs detected within perimeter. Energy spikes detected from Project Base systems.

AM0257-04-23 09:59:21 GST - Red alert: Project Base automated defences activated. Unable to override. Life sign counts decreasing.

AM0257-04-23 09:59:42 GST - Connection lost.

AM0257-04-23 10:01:13 GST - Reconnection protocols failure. Priority One alert to STING.

"We're basically flying blind here, and we don't have much to go on except for those message logs. Any other intel will have to be extracted on-site from the Project Legacy surveillance systems. I'll leave it to you to decide how to prepare given the final logs. The objectives are simple: find out what caused Project Legacy to stop reporting in, neutralise any and all threats, and determine if the base's existence is a benefit or a liability. Many of the higher-ups do look forward to any Eon tech they can lay their hands on, but as you know from long ago they're edgy too about accidentally biting off more than they can chew. And one more thing..."

The captain walked over to a lanky and geekish-looking researcher, seated so quietly in one corner he might well have been invisible. "Professor Chris Dalton will be accompanying you to the surface, and he will be your go-to scientific liaison for anything out of your league to understand. Given his standing it would be best if you could keep his survival a priority."

The researcher stood up nervously, glancing quickly and nodding at the rest of the team before hastily sitting back down. It was apparent he didn't quite like the attention.

"Now then - you have the rest of the hour to suit up and prepare. You'll be couried down by shuttle, so be ready in the cargo hold by then. Exerion will remain in orbit for the duration of the mission, serving as comm buoy to HQ, as well as for... tactical reasons. Dismissed."

With that, the captain gestured to Professor Dalton, the two leaving the room as if for further conversation.

[Mokino]

Exerion – Engineering

Mai/Cyrene sat on the bench, her protective “skin” removed to reveal her shining blue metal body in its entirety as she double-checked servos and motors. A flick of her right wrist revealed the spool that fed her urumi weapon. Full, as expected.
"That your main source of hurt or are you grabbing some range too?" Cash aksed, opening his locker and grabbing a few bits of the matte-black armour from within it. "I don't think you actually need an armour though."

"I've also got these," the Mechon replied, pointing at the three drones on the nearby workbench, "But I do rely on the blade quite a bit. It helps being built the way I am of course. Basically I'm a better physical fighter than even most augmented humans. I see better, react faster and hit stronger than even all but the toughest Krayak...at least according to the simulations." Of course, that all came at some cost.

The commando fell silent for a moment, putting the plates and various equipment into the right places. As a last stage, he connected the shield emitter and began the startup sequence. "Krayak are bloody dangerous up close. Can rip a human in half, true story." He pointed at Mai/Cyrene. V-type shielding detected. Calibrating the dispersion field. With a short bang a dark red outline appeared around Cash.

Adjusting kinetic deflection unit. The field's hum pitch increased and the colour entered amber before vanishing completely - just as the sound broke audible barrier and vanished. "Well back in Damocles we didn't have those. I'd fancy my chances against a Plasma Caster or one of their handheld mass drivers with a V-type on my side."

“Could come in handy,” Mai replied, “My power core couldn’t handle a shield system in addition to everything else. Keeping my brain from becoming dead flesh is a bit more important,” she smirked, “I do have this though,” A slight shimmer surrounded the Mechon with a purple glow, “It was developed by our leaders, before they even created the Mechon actually. Supposedly it can protect me from bio-etheric influence. The downside is that the thing cuts a lot of my secondary systems offline due to the drain...“ She looked down at her chest, where the Mechon logo was engraved in the metal; the shape of a human head but filled with a pattern of circuitry that spelled out her name in an encrypted sequence known only to the Mechon network. “…so, Cash, where are you from? Frontier?”

"Earth." Cash grabbed his pistol and checked the charge. "London, to be exact. Served in SWAT, was on my off-duty when Fall hit. Homeless and spacefaring since then."

"Another Earthborn then," Mai replied a bit darkly, "I served in the navy as I said before. Had a run in when a special operations group tried to seize the ship I was captain of and I refused to hand it over. To make a story short, I got dumped to defense duty. I was captaining a frigate when Earth fell...you know what happened to the defence fleet of course..." Mai fell silent as she started slipping her outer layer back on, the plastic-like material seeming to bond on contact with her body. Unlike the previous matte black affair, this one had a slight sheen and was marked with dark crimson patterns. Over her chest was a logo that matched the one it concealed underneath.

Cash sighed, recalling the night when he realized how lucky he was that he picked just those few days to get some time off. Such an egoistic thought - almost all of his unit died down there, and he survived out of sheer luck. "Don't actually. As in, about the fleets - I know one of the former Coalition admirals managed to direct a missile salvo into a hostile Dreadnoguht, taking it down." He reached onto the upper shelf and began to put various charge types into pockets of his armour. "His ship was lost in the anomaly Harbingers triggered though. Hughes, was he? I believe he got into some mess with accidentally attacking a League defense fleet earlier."


"Whatever happened over Earth..." Mai said with difficulty, "It's like something else forced its way into my head, made me do what it desired and I was helpless to watch. We fired on our own people...and they of course had no choice but to fire back. Most of my crew died without a sound before whatever it was left us to our fate. I was severely injured. Spent seven years staring at the same ceiling in fact..." she paused for a moment, staring at conduits above, "...I've seen the video logs of what happened the Hughes myself, the records taken by Eve Holland's ship..." her "dressing" complete, Mai stood for a bit and walked to make sure it was properly secured. "It's funny, Cash," she said with a chuckle, before ducking into a forward roll and effortless planting her feet, grapples activated, on the ceiling, "No one seems to question who and what we Mechon are. Our purpose and goals are completely unknown to you outsiders and yet we don't get nearly the suspicion we probably should."


"Well you could say in my life I've seen people with an agenda. Holding some bystander with one hand and aiming a Shredder at you with another or planting a bomb under a museum to 'Open people's eyes to the brainwashing'" He reached into the locker again. Synchronizing with an X20 system... complete. Transmitting ballistic data. Warning: the clip is empty. "Yeah yeah, keep whining. One thing I miss about my old rifle is the silence - the lab should either give this one a sexier one or a mute button." He slowly pulled the Gemini out of the secure locker and looked at Mai/Cyrene - the systems painted her green. "Well at least I know IFF works right."


"And you don't think the Mechon have much of one, right," Mai/Cyrene said, biting her lip, "I think there's a plan for us - I mean creating something like my body must have taken years of research to pull off. Eve's got some plan for us but damned if I have any clue what it is. I suppose it doesn't really matter; she'll reveal things when the time is right. I don't have much choice but to trust her. After all, she saved me from a lifetime of wasting away in a hospital bed." She flipped again, hanging momentarily from each hand before dropping back to the floor. Grapplers checked out. "If you think the gun's loud you should try being a Mechon; Cyrene never shuts up. Not that I mind too much. Nice to have the company."


"I won't complain until it starts to bitch about me not killing someone." Cash began to run the standard diag on recoil dampeners - having them break would mean ending up with a broken arm, something noone would want mid-operation. "Everyone has their agenda, but the command gave me a nice few lessons about not giving a shit. I mean, that's for them to worry about."

"I've been in that seat," Mai replied, "I can't help but keep seeing the big picture here. Comes with the hardware to some extent as well. Speaking of such things, I'd be wary of that Mandrakian fellow. Something about him makes me think his goals might not line up with humanity's much at all."





Arne walked in, her armour already on. She went directly to her locker and started unpacking her rifle. It was a newer piece, something that had only recently come out of camaasi RnD.


"Hey Arne." Cash waved, putting his rifle on the ground. "Oversized owls are oversized owls. It's probably more concerned by representing his people or finding a breeding partner than turning us all into bird chow. Sides, how much trouble can this thing be anyway? I guess you could stuff plenty of nasty stuff under the feathers, but they wouldn't send a suicide bomber bird in as their representative."


"There could be zombies" Arne said in jest. Making some adjustments to her armour. A black suit, devoid of all markings.

Hello again Arne Mai/Cyrene responded in the form she'd realised the young woman was more comfortable with So you have Camassi links I see. You're quite the puzzle and this is from someone who knows a Harbinger personally. "He struts about like he owns the place," Mai/Cyrene said aloud for the benefit of Cash, "I'm just saying to keep an eye out for trouble. It tends to follow wannabe nobles like him."

"Well he'll either surprise us or get gunned down. Don't worry ladies." He picked up the rifle in one hand, slammed a standard Tremor-type round into the mag and let it auto-chamber. "You know the best fucking posterboy out there has your back."


"His implants feel new. Like your's Cash. But he's more used to them. He beleives in them I think." Thank you for this Mai, it is very much appreciated. Cash talks far too much. It drives my heckles around. She radiated the thankfullness back. "So what do you believe killed the team?"


The commando smiled, putting the rifle over his shoulder and turning towards the exit. "I'm used to using mine, and while I haven't always supported big companies - if they put expensive stuff in you, it delivers." Barely visible under the sunglasses he just put on, a scan grid ran through his eyes analyzing both women in the room. "I didn't think I'd see another one in a carbon nanofiber piece here. Thought Uplink patented this and made it their 'don't replicate' shit." He grinned. "As for the crew - fuck if I know, but we head down there, kill it, op success."

Arne gave a small smile. "I've got a rich sponsor. By the way. In combat levels, do we go full air transmission or do you want to stay vocal? I vote for air."


"I will be perfectly honest," Mai/Cyrene said darkly, "I believe we are heading into a trap. Eve Holland's people are far ahead of the pack when it comes to researching the Eon and yet they had no record, no hint at all of the existence of this facility. Which could mean it's a setup by the Propagators. Pack as much EMP as you can, but, Please, check your aim. Those things are apparently beyond human hackers as well, so be warned even air might not be secure. If we pick up any anomalies, it's probably them."


"Beyond what, I rarely care, so let's just focus and do our jobs." For some reason this sounded like a challenge - an enemy hypothetically superior. Something within told him that there was no such thing as 'superior' - everything had a weakness, something to exploit to bring to a fall. "Three are the heralds of the end and three riders of doom. We find nothing, we win. We find hostiles; we introduce them to some terra-style Apocalypse."


"Do not underestimate their masters," Mai cautioned, "The Alliance did that once and we're still picking up the pieces."

"Three are father, three are mother." Arne mumbled, both aloud and over the wireless. She looked around on the ships armoury. Trying to find something suitable. "These EMP grenades might come in handy then." She said, pointing at the explosive racks


"Don't go overly pessimistic; your morale goes down means they win." Cash opened the door and stepped out. "We're here, all that counts. Last an outpost lost contact, STING couldn't even reach it. By the time they arrived, they found a smoking crater where the labs once were, the planet's atmosphere was on fire and something fired a barrage of Blackout warheads at their ships. No evidence sides from crew witnesses - so making it there is a point for us anyway." he moved down the corridor.

"I am only advising caution," Mai stated. The wing-shaped antenna that had replaced her eyes whirred slightly as they re-adjusted to a new signal. "It seems Lady Holland has some new information for me. I'm afraid I must take my leave as well. Be careful out there Arne. Training can only prepare you so much for a real battlefield."

Understood. Arne replied.

[Deunan]

"So do we try to grab a bite while we stille can?" Arne asked the pretty man. Hoping to calm down before the mission. She was getting excited about the whole thing. An almost childish glee.

[Akranadas]

Tasitus sat quietly in his section of the cargo hold, his armor already strapped to his body. The weapon systems were connected to his wings and his rifle laid on the ground beside him. He held in his hand a communication orb, it glowed dimly as he moved it around in his hands, it was the oldest of all the orbs he had in his possession.

"The rights of battle, for all Mandrakian soldiers" the orb spoke "You are the top predator of this galaxy, your claws will be the the weapons to ensure our will and your beak will enable you to devour the flesh of our enemies. These are the rights of the soldier that you are, be pur weapon you Mandrakian. "

He placed the orb back with the others, it was a relic from a time when the Collective thought they were the top killers in the. galaxy but perhaps that would change once more. Tasitus was prepared for this battle, prepared to show theses humans Mandrakian will and cut forth destruction.

[Master Chief]

"Man, am I the only all-natural here? Crazy," Jarrett shook his head, talking to himself as he squeezed into the armory, making way for Mai as she left. "Guess I really am in the big leagues now. Most grunts can barely afford the new model prosthetics."

He walked over to his locker, stripping down to his boxers as he pulled out the undersuit to the VARCAM. He kept speaking as he stepped into the matte black skinsuit and started pulling out the reactive camouflage armor plating, hooking it up to the various ports.

"Like what you're saying though, Cash," he nodded, giving a thumbs up before pulling the gauntlets on. "Gonna light the bastards up, trap or no. Glad to see you're a killer, by the way," he remarked towards Arne, noticing her excitement. Good to have her wanting to kill than breaking down like some did.

He started up his armor, the variable camouflage flickering for a moment before setting itself into Multicam from its original urban digital. Next he reached for his M-55C, checking it to make sure all was good before clipping it onto his chest, followed by his LSAD and numerous extra mags and other assorted gear. He walked over and grabbed some EMP rounds, on Xu's advice. He wished not for the last time that his M-55C was able to slot in the M098H launcher. But he'd make do...

"After all -- Marines improvise."

[Deunan]

Arne was sitting inside of the drop shuttle. She still had technically some time left, butshe wanted some solitude. If someone askedher, she'd say, that she wanted to make sure that her gear was fine. But in truth she wanted to think.

This was a new situation to her. A surge of confusing emotions and notions was filling her. New experiences new ideals.

It wad obvious to her, that she was different to most. But at least in present company it did not matter all that much.

Not that she fully understood what it meant. She didn't have years of experiences and childhoods most people could call upon to help her understand.

Childhood - was there maybe anything more odd and weird.

There was also the the confusing notions with Cash and the marines.

And were they loud. Why did they talk all the time. Talk and talk - it was so slow, so useless.

At least the pre battle excitement she understood, the feeling of rising levels of adrenaline flooding her system, more than any normal human ever had, wulithout it killing him.

Her designers did a good job.

[Fuel?]

Luyten, Capital. 1830 Local time.

The view of Luyten's marvel was simply stunning. The latest addition to its skyline, the Pinnacle - housing the new headquarters of Uplink was possibly one of the best spots to observe the magnificent city.

After the fall of Earth during the Second Incursion, mankind's very centre moved to the home of the Imperium - much to the amusement of its aging ruler, Pensami Kaocho. An old, corrupt empire - torn between the Vermillion Syndicate and numerous companies that tried to bypass competition laws and dominate the market.

Today, even within the impressive show of wealth that was his office on the top of the Pinnacle, Jacob Crusan, CEO of Uplink was far from representing the industrial might of the company. The colour of his skin was close to white, with shades of sickly green and blue and he himself was visibly shaking - all because of a second figure in the room.

"Judging by the look on your face you know why I'm calling." The holographic projection spoke. The transmission lost a lot of its detail as usual, but it was enough to feel uneasy - the calm voice, casually drinking as he spoke of even the most delicate problems. "Not so much 'calling' as breaking into my communication systems." the CEO answered, forcing a smile - there was only so much he could do to pretend that Chessmaster didn't scare him.

The hologram smiled. "Hardly. Breaking would assume your security agents would have patched up the backdoor after I used it the first time. As you may remember, Mr. Crusan - you have something of mine. Something rather valuable." There it was, the rattle of ice cubes in a glass. "I have sent it to your facilities for accomodation training. Thirty minutes ago, I was made aware that its signal coming from the facility is a cleverly crafted fake."

A cold shiver ran down Jacob's spine - he finally got it. The false signal was nigh-impossible to identify but one of his men finally managed to do it - or he did it himself. "I... I can explain. Everything! I though-"

"Why the fear, Mr. Crusan." The Chessmaster interrupted. "I appreciate ambitious businessmen. Their greed, their willingness to do anything in their ability to acquire and preserve wealth is..." He paused for a drink again. "...is what keeps the galaxy spinning. I am not surprised that you sent it into STING - no doubt you realize how capable it is."

"Then why, why haven't you sent him into STING yourself?!" Crusan shouted. "Why bother me with something augmented beyond human comprehension, walking my halls and pretending to 'protect' my employees?!"

"It, Mr. Crusan, 'it'." The hologram stressed. "As someone capable of realizing what it really was, you will surely come to a conclusion on why it was deployed into your facility instead of STING. I will leave you to this... mystery, and ask about something else - how do you plan to retrieve my prototype?"

The CEO sighed. "Proto- this is, this is nuts. I can't just waltz into STING command and demand the man back... what if he's on a mission already? What if-"

"No 'if', Mr. Crusan." The mastermind cut him off once more. "You are not the only ambitious businessman in this company or on this planet. I care little about who leads Uplink - or if it is Uplink at all. You have twenty four hours."

"Look, look I-"

"Hope for your sake that you don't fail me."

The transmission cut off, leaving Jacob Crusan in the middle of his empire - that now seemed as endangered and insignificant as the crumbling administration of Kaocho dynasty.

Exerion

"Back in the day when we were called for, it meant the problem called for bullet solutions." Cash grinned to the marine. "Let's face it - command probably already knows what's down there." He hopped into the shuttle, saddling himself next to Arne. "Ready to roll out the 'humanity's finest'?"

Unknown location, dangerous proximity to Saggitarius *A

"STING." Alexander Hughes picked up a cigar and lit it. "Give me a direct link to Aien if she is in reach."

[Deunan]

"... if you have to wake her up, do so gently. I do not suspect the matter has escalated far enough to consider rash actions." While not as dangerous as having your failure exposed, rudely waking up the Camaasi admiral without a good reason probably sent a few people to kitchen duty."
It didn't take long Aien to show up on the other side of the coms.
"So thoughtfull of you Hughes, you always seem to know when I cycle through the sleep cycle. Can't you ever call when it isn't my first officer that's on bridge watch duty?"
The camaasi woman sighed. It had been a number of long years now, since she met Hughes. The man had the worstac
"Charming as ever, Aien. Forgive my intrusion - it has been a while since I've seen an actual day-night cycle." Alexander raised his glass to the image. "We may have a problem with one of my associates. He himself isn't one, naturally." the old commander stated in advance. "I have all reasons to believe he is now contacting Vermillion to bail him out of the trouble and bring me down. This will not end well for him, but the damage is done."
Bringing up a small control panel to his right, Hughes sent a few files to Aien - mostly detailing the assignment of a Sleeper Prototype to Uplink. "Mister Crusan managed to misplace one of my prototype cybernetic commando units, and was dumb enough to put him in STING."
The admiral's only reaction were her eyebrows. Not even she could keep a poker face on that.
"Have a kill squad designated already? I think we have some loose assets around Lutyen.
She continued flipping trough the sleepers file. "You know Alex, would you mind keeping your pet sleeper in the unit for the time being? I have a project under assessment in STING right now. It would free a lot of my resources if I could pull some of the operatives from lookout. The prototype for Oversight. I remember you wanted it terminated. But is displaying stable results for the time being."

[Yoshi]

The Kri'ranian got his gear together more solemnly inspecting armor as he outfitted himself, shifting to make sure the joints worked properly. Casting a glance at some of the others, while he had implants he didn't really care to much for how humans seemed to enjoy ripping their bodies apart and 'upgrading' them. It was something that he just couldn't understand, as once you take away what makes you you, then what exactly is their left?

But it was a mulling he had no time for as he finished getting his armor on entirely, briefly activating his shield to ensure it was functioning correctly, assuming a brief defensive stance on impulse. Then deactivating the shield and moving to pick up his hefty gun, the massive ordinance partially obscuring the Kri'ranian as he lifted it up with two hands, glancing about before giving it a strong swing that shifted the air. Seemingly satisfied he did a few more quick checks before Rex was fully satisfied that his gear was accounted for and in working order.