Vikernes

<< JOINT POST - Sectoid Commander (DH) and Gael McBannok >> Another day, another set of lousy questioning. For some reason, the Sectoid Commander was not in a good mood today. Maybe he was getting old... but that was psychological; he was still in the prime of his life. Even so, some days were better than others... Today promised to be little different than before. Today, a new human... "Your identification, Human." McBannok had heard the rest of the crew talk about what had happened, and he hadn't seen any harm at all. Nonetheless, the stare of the alien held a feeling he definitely did not like. He tried to appease his throat, which seemed to want to gulp. "McBannok." The Commander extended his mind briefly, subtlely, and without the notice of the mind he was invading. He was surprised to find that the soldier was telling him the truth and withdrew his mind. Interesting specimen... "McBannok. You are a long way from home. Why are you here?" McBannok had always respected the rules, except in times of terrible stress, and since nothing had happened to the others, he was rather able to keep his mind in it's place. He thought of the answer he'd give to an average person. "The mission is confidential.", and then he added, unsurely, "Sir." "Confidential. I see." The Sectoid wasn't actually staring at McBannok, though it seemed so. His eyes focussed on a number of things, McBannok being but one. "I suppose the nature of confidentiality must be respected. How did you get here?" "Explain it to a baby. Don't say more than you need to. He seems satisfied by the answers", McBannok thought, his answer taking a few seconds to come out of his mouth. He tried to disguise the indecision with a half-true cough. "A ship. Sir.", he tried to remember the formalities, but the big black eyes were confusing his mind a bit. He almost muttered "Stay sharp", but kept it to his head. "I see." That would probably be a fruitless line of questioning anyway. "What is your function?" This one seemed to be a bit more... nervous, really, than the others. The others were just arrogant, but McBannok had a different air about him. His mind kept confusing him, as he thought about many different things at the same time as it searched an answer. He couldn't reveal his function... He wasn't exactly a complete soldier. Before he could think any further, realizing he'd wasted enough time, he said: "Civilian... sir." It was only half wrong, but then again, so was it half true. "Civilian. What is your function, Civilian?" The Sectoid had no idea why a civilian would be on this mission... It was possible, he the civilian were a specialist of some sort, but what form of specialist they would require except for military ones was unknown to him. He'd gotten himself into a mess. If he found out that McBannok was scientist and engineer, it was HIM they'd probably tried the torture on. He had to get out of it... "I fight like the others, sir.", he managed to say, in a voice maybe a hint more confident than the rest of his answers. "Oh? You fight. Are you one the Humans present on the Yurilis campaign..." The Sectoid tapped something onto his computer. "Roughly, two of your months ago?" McBannok knew he hadn't been there, so this time the answer had nothing to figure out. "No, sir." He thought he'd add that he didn't even know what it was, but then he might not get more information on it; and he truly wasn't sure or able to measure the pros and cons of saying it. Yurilis... he'd have to remember the name, this might be interesting info. "Unfortunate. Which Humans were involved in this action?" This was of primary importance to his superiors... they were very interested in knowing which humans were now collaborating with their targets now. Faced with the new question, McBannok saw that his one question was overruled. "I don't know, sir. I didn't know of the mission." Crap, maybe he shouldn't have said it anyway. He struggled for an excuse, and found a lame one. "I'm a civilian.", he said, hoping dearly that would explain why he would have been kept ignorant. Had there really been a mission? He wondered... "I see. Other than your team, where else do Humans reside in the Ascidian sphere?" There were obviously others, if this one didn't know. He didn't feel the urge to plumb the other's mind yet... "Are there Humans that are not under your commanding officer's influence?" McBannok had to find a way to shield his answer from the mind abilities of the Sectoid. He knew he had to give an answer that had to be true. "They fled.", and yes, they had fled, the bastards. They had fled and left them here. McBannok let the anger flow into his mind, instead of avoiding it. "Fled?" The Sectoid's mind whirled. What could he possibly mean by "they fled"? It sounded like such a bizarre answer, and it was totally unexpected. "Could you elaborate on that?" McBannok hadn't quite cooled off, and the answer escaped his mouth. "They left us there for you.", he had completely forgotten the Sir's he was suposed to be saying. Damn them... "They fled", he said, and noticed a spark of spittle flying from his mouth, "Far away for all I know" His voiced hadn't really risen much, but there was anger in it. He tried to calm down, and realized that the far away had been rather credible. "Who would they be?" The Sectoid was really puzzled now. Had they left soldier's alive in their ambush? Impossible. They had laid in wait for a long time, and when the sensors were tripped, they had moved into action. The scouts had not reported anything... That turned the Sectoid to a new question. How did the team get to the research facility in the first place? In his few seconds of calm, McBannok realized his answers had to be kept true and enraged... emotional... he closed his eyes for a second, and opened them. That time was enough to get his temper back in boiling oil. "The traitors! Scum!, probably fled as far as they could", he let his own personal frustration badmouth the others who'd left his team behind, subconsciously knowing that the further they were, the safer as well. This one was not going to give him anymore... but could probably be talked to at a later date. "I see, McBannok. I think this line of questioning has tired you... perhaps you should return to your quarters to rest." The call received, the two Floaters came into the Sectoid Commander's office. McBannok held himself stiffly up, and then turned and started walking away by himself, his footfalls heavy on the floor. Right now, he was thinking about nothing but being in the worst of situations due to the other stupid bastards. The Floaters grabbed his arms nonetheless, and led him back to the cell.

Whoa, way to go!!! Only one thing to point out. On the Assault part, Gael's got C6 all the time, and it isn't in the 'or' part of the DDU and stuff. Otherwise it's A-OK!

<< Private McBannok >> McBannok propped himself back up, and walked to the field, listening to Scott's orders. He inspected it inch by inch, checking for any sensors of some sort. His fingers ran along the wall on the inside of the cell, barely touching the blue glow, and his eyestare ran by them. There weren't any signs of any kind of sensors or infra-reds. He'd learned about this in his training. The first systems had to have some kind of sensor to provide safety, by checking heat or obstruction with infra-red sensors. However, he'd studied that some newer versions of forcefields would not even start if there was any object obstructing the place where the field would appear. One of two. Either it would not start if ANYTHING was in the way, or it would just start, splitting anything in two if it moved. McBannok: There aren't any devices I can see, sir. It may start, and it may not start. If it does, one doesn't want to be below it... sir. They'd have to be sadistic to kill prisoners this way though, sir. He stared unenthusiastically at the barrier and took a few steps back. This was despairing.

<< Private McBannok >> McBannok had now finally managed to pull himself into a sitting position, and even walk around the cell a bit. His knees cracked a couple of times as he took his first steps, but apart from tense muscles and stinging lungs, there didn't seem to be much else wrong with him. As he heard the Lieutenant and commanding officer of the mission speak up, his feet took him to the lighted blue opening. It's glow was the only thing keeping his eyes from total darkness, as the rest was walls and nothing else. He had begun to have a grudge against blue though. Scott: McBannok, you're the Engineer... What do you make of these fields? Can they be broken with nothing but meat, bone, and the clothes on our backs by any remote chance? At first, he thought it was a stupid idea. Then, as it was Lieutenant Scott that asked, he thought again, and the others saw him twist his body around, looking at the mentioned objects, and then at the blue screen before him. Maybe Scott had seen something that he had not, some idea, some glimpse... something! But nop, it was a stupid idea. Nothing could get through the open doorway. McBannok: They'll come for us. They have to. (staring blankly at the door, his shoulders drooped, and without any movement) It was all the answer he could give... He proceded to inspect the what he could see of the outside of the cells. It was a normal cellblock, and he thought he caught the glimpse of some other cells with their protections activated, but he couldn't be sure. All he saw for definite was control pads right outside the doorways. They could easily reach them if they only put an arm out and touched it, but they couldn't. And there wasn't even a proper door, that was the most frustrating part of it. He turned and walked back to a wall, on which he leant. Like he said, they had to come. Either that or they could try to pull some hostage type thing when the Starspawn came. As if they wouldn't be armoured. He let out a louder sigh than he intended, and closed his eyes.

<< Private McBannok >> McBannok stirred slightly as the Lieutenant's faint voice echoed around the indigo-lit walls of the cells. It only took a bit more insistance on Scott's part to get him to open his eyes. The strange colour was definitely weird to him, and it took quite awhile to remember the few seconds before collapsing on the ground unconscious. The fumes and the rage at the Lieutenant for not issuing any orders (if any could have been issued at all). His lungs stang horribly, so he didn't do anything but try to get used to breathing. The athmosphere was heavy, and he could hear the breaths from his other crewmembers. He finally managed to let his head turn, facing Scott, and nodded. Before he could whisper "sir", his lungs flashed in pain, and he broke into a coughing fit which took a while to cool down. After that, he turned his head back up and just lay still. What the heck WAS the place anyway? He still hadn't figured that out, but a more careful look around revealed bars and the source of the bluish light. It didn't take much IQ to understand where they were. So much for underestimating the aliens... McBannok still said nothing, only thinking. He didn't even want to know if anyone had actually died, the very thought of it was unpleasant enough. He began thinking what the hell had happened to the so-called backup outside. They'd just vanished, no sign whatsoever. But they hadn't heard anything leave or fire, except the shells hitting the base, so they probably hadn't put up much of a fight either. "Well, whatever has happened, this was one huge mess...", he thought, fighting his lungs, defending against another cough.

<< Private McBannok >> McBannok was silent the whole trip back from the base. He got himself on a corner, and just stared at the ground. Once the VTOL finally landed, he took no rush going out, and just put his stuff stiffly on the armoury, walking away to his quarters. Before he could leave the hangar however, Rallwell (whom he hadn't even noticed) came rushing after taking a quick look to the others. "Was she expecting me?", he thought, as he heard her voice. "Bah, what does it matter, I screwed up big time." Amidst all the confusion of the captive being carried and the injured, McBannok still heard the tip-tap-tip-tap of her feet jogging, nearing him. "McBannok! Hey, McBannok". He forced himself not to look back. As he reached the door, he remembered again how he had managed to ruin the whole mission. He grit his jaws and punched the door on his way out, even if it did hurt afterward. He rushed to the locker rooms, to get the combat suit, and into his normal clothes. Rallwell decided to skip on trying to talk to him there. His failure was consuming him from the inside. He slammed his locker door to close it, and left at a quick pace, to his quarters. McBannok's days were spent as far away from Rallwell as possible (which wasn't much, since she was an engineer too), who was really the only one still trying to talk to him. He had to force himself not to answer back when she gave a shot at starting a conversation. He concentrated as much on job as possible, research and mending guns that were broken, cleaning stuff... anything to keep his mind off the mission. That failure, he was sure, would haunt him for a long time.

<< Pvt. McBannok >> The VTOL had begun it's descent quite some time ago, but while the altitude was decreasing, McBannok's adrenaline was increasing, and rather wildly. Most people were re-checking their equipment, he noticed, and so did he. He reviewed the mission briefing in his head as he checked all possible fixable malfunctions his laser rifle could have. When he moved on to the fusion pistol, he was shaken up by a clunk and his attention dragged back to reality, and not the meeting, in the safe room, away from all the aliens. The door opened faster than he would've wanted, and he rushed along with the team outside, with members in front of him and on his sides. He sent a hand to the backpack and found the DDU just where he'd put it. You could never be wary enough, so he looked permanently, always imagining an alien popping up out of behind a rock. They could be anywhere, this was their place! But his efforts and the team's proved worthless, and they began moving at the Lieutenant's orders, toward the gully just in front of them. He felt much, much safer now that he couldn't be attacked from all sides... there was the air to look at, but he could just stare upward and see both of the outcrops from the gully. He lept to the left of the gully as everyone moved forward, passing rock after rock, and wishing they would stop more often so that he could take cover. They reached the end of the gully, and there was something up front. A little shack. He ran for a rather large boulder near the left side, and knelt behind it after he saw Private Ryan dropping to the ground, and that assured him that he wasn't going to do anything silly if he hid. The lieutenant barely even reacted. He checked the Motion Detector and nothing was moving. Lieutenant Scott: "Alright, everybody keep down and silent... Hoz, Ryan... Get into a stealth position and get a good look at it with your binocs... The rest of you with me..." He saw the other two crawl away, and only then realized he should be following the Lieutenant. He had to sprint AND stoop, and almost lost his balance. Besides, the aliens would probably be bursting through the door and shooting them down any moment now, but he had to keep on. When he finally reached his superior, he noticed something on the ground. Marks, tracks, something. It could've just been the wind, there surely wasn't anything here that could stir the ground. Albeit this, he checked his surroundings again. When they finally reached the shack, it looked like it had been there for years without use. For some reason McBannok wouldn't ever find out, he circled around the shack, looking for the entrance, and back to the starting point. The Lieutenant checked for motion again, shutting everyone's movements. McBannok's hands trembled from the anticipation. It would barely have been noticeable, if he had not a rifle in his hands. He looked at the shaking rifle and took a deep breath and goes to one knee for better support. He just chanced to look up at the officer's face that moment, and he barely collapsed as he noticed his expression. "Oh, great. They're everywhere.... They're EVERYWHERE!", he thought as he regained his balance with a hand on the ground. He sent a "They're here..." pale nod to the others, who whispered something to one another and moved to the shack, at the same time as Yorke appeared through the gully and walked to them. Where the heck he had been, McBannok didn't know, but he could've put a hole through his knees. If anything had happened noone knew what to do with serious injuries. It was too much. "Sir...?", he whispered toward his superior, hoping for confirmation of his fears, or better, he dared wish. Lieutenant Scott: "Very good Doctor.", he said with a small smirk and a pause, " Alright, I'll be moving in first, followed closely by Howardson, Hoz, and Ryan. Everyone else move in after we're in. Got it?" He moved inside, followed by the others. The shots would be coming any moment now, McBannok knew. Only they didn't. He was happy he hadn't gone first, but he wasn't happy he was outside alone with the doctor... His eye began twitching again, he noticed. He really couldn't help it, and when he lifted a hand to try to stop it, he nearly punched himself. That was enough of being outside, he went inside, rifle in hand. Nothing had happened... there were just a few old dusty crates in the middle of the room. He moved next to Ryan, who seemed rather awake. The lieutenant takes Howardson aside for a few words, and McBannok is surprised by Ryan. Private Ryan: "I don't think Colonel Dogget's information would have included the internal layout of the basis. If only it were so easy... Gael, start looking at those crates while I check the bloody walls...or baseboard, or something. There's got to be a way." They both started working, Ryan along the walls and McBannok to the crates. He clicked the security pin on his rifle and let it hang by the harness. He unholdstered his pistol, and pointed it at a crate. He moved slowly, trying not to make any noise for no particular reason, an slid a hand towards the top of the first crate. With only two fingers, he opened it, pointing the fusion pistol inside, aiming at... buttons. There were buttons inside, one with arrows, up and down, and the other with 'a weird circle emiting something'. He didn't recognize it. And there wasn't much logic to it. One single button for up and down, and one for nothing he knew about. He let everyone know that he had found something with a whispery 'Sir!...', and Yorke approached him, as well as a few of the others. Yorke: "What you got?" McBannok was still pointing the gun at the buttons as if they were dangerous. He decided that they weren't much of an enemy, and put the gun back by his side, with the safety pin on. There was a bit of discussion that McBannok wasn't really sure he would be able to contribute to, and finally, Yorke decided to press the button... They all went against the walls as the floor moved, some faster, some slower. The floor had moved, but the dust remained there, hovering. McBannok snatches his rifle up and points at it. 'Eh... gravlift.', he remembered thinking, before an echoing syren went up down below, and the Lieutenant looked to his motion sensor, which was emmiting MUCH more light than usual.

Hey everyone! I might try posting here every once and awhile when real-life permits, but one thing I know for a fact that my time does NOT allow, is checking the story up to the point where we are... If anyone could please make a very small resume of everything that's happened, or at least the current situation, I could try to go about and reviving McBannok. He doesn't talk much, but heck, he might do SOMETHING from time to time! Glad to see you all again guys! Don't let it die!

I have a sugestion! Fugue should adapt the SectoidX web-page forum so people could have most of the conversations people have been having here, there! A nice thread for the Art Competition, another for the Writing Competition. The admins would create all the topics necessary, and registred users would be allowed to post there their creations. Also, something that could really incentivate people to go there is a big thread for fan fiction only. Serious fan fiction preferably (but knowing the net the way I do, some comic fiction too). Everyone could post one after another, making stories up as the days go along. : ) I'll take this chance and advertise the free form internet roleplaying sessions hosted by the X-com Alliance Sim at http://www.x-com.co.uk/xcas/ I was part of it for a little while, and I can tell your for sure, it is extremely fun and involving. Being freeform, there aren't any rules, but thanks to the GM, there were some stories that kept me laughing for days: ) I believe they always need more players, so if you're interested in X-com roleplaying and really can't wait until Fugue's SectoidX comes out, then visit the website and talk to Mouse. But seriously, about moving all of this to the forum, it would certainly cause more and more people to go there and become interested. There'd have to be much more content on the actual site too, although much could be only on the forum. Just my two cents, hope I didn't bore anyone to death: )

This second year at the new professional school is being way harder than anyone ever thought... they're completely exhausting us... too many projects, programs to work with, stuff to remember, homework to do... But those are just lame excuses for leaving XCAS................................ I'm just really sorry guys... I'm sure there'll be someone more worthy to take my place... If anyone wants the barely-talking character McBannok, as long as Mouse agrees, you can have it... Sorry again guys..., Hail

Everyone was at the doors of the debriefing room. Some were standing, some weren't. McBannok was sitting down, against the wall, waiting for the Commander. Jacko was next to him, petting his SFC. He turned to McBannok and said: "Hoyee private, wanna pet my thing?". McBannok turned himself against the wall, and pushed with his legs, so he ended up on the other side of the hall, away from Jacko. The rest of the guys were talking loud and laughing. From down below, McBannok could clearly smell the scent of alcohol from most people arround...

"That's fun", McBannok thought... he jogged to the coconut stand, picked up about three or four, and threw them at the targets while not looking, trying to pick another object. One hit, because he heard a "bang" sound, but the others hit someone who was being dragged across the floor, and the sound was sort of a whoof, cough, and spit...

McBannok was about to jump in happiness when he saw the looks on the Commander and Ko's face. He wondered what was wrong, but after a bit of thought, he assumed it was indeed the testing "hardness". He wanted this test just to show if it actually worked, the problem was really the security system, the rest was Ascadian tech, what could go wrong? Several weeks later, more tests had been made, outside, in storms, in space, and most possible conditions. Results were most satisfying, and the project was considered successful. In the meantime, tests had been made on grenades. Physical perfection had already been handled by Ko, but it still needed a bigger blast. McBannok was sleeping one night, when he dreamed. He saw two golden masses, one glittering much more than the other. They slowly came closer and closer to each other. Then, something like lightning struck down, both the objects touched, there was the brightest light McBannok had ever seen, and he woke up, lying on the floor of the Sleeping Quarters, with a couple of other guys looking at him and laughing. He immediatly ran off to the lab. Currently, the grenade's explosion was done with Elerium... McBannok opened up a grenade, carefuly, left it on the table, got safety equipment on, grabbed a bit of Zrbite and prodded it inside the grenade, he looked arround... a lighter...he needed a lighter... Miracle of miracles, there was one on the table. He picked it up, threw it on the ground, and jumped on it for a couple of times. He looked at it, grabbed the electrical shock maker, and put it inside the grenade too, linking it with a wire to the detonator so it would work. Good ol' lighters! I don't think Ko'll be very happy he left his here... He rushed to the testing lab, turned on all scanners, whispered "fire in the hole", primed the grenade and threw it in... *tick tack... tick tack... tick tack... BOOM*. Red alert went off... McBannok looked at the sensors... they went 20% over the normal Elerium Grenade... not bad for a carelessly handmade improvement. Suddenly, the troopers blew to the door, and screamed... McBannok looked at them and: "Whoops..."...

McBannok heard Ko, he turned and nodded, then, moved in to the firing range, sniper in hand, where he looked at McBenneth. McBenneth was gearing up... as soon as he was ready, McBannok gave him the weapon. Showing McBenneth 2 fingers, McBannok warned him that he should be firing in about two minutes, then he headed to the safe grounds. The Commander was already there, standing up, looking outside. McBenneth had all the information he had on removing the security system and reseting it so that he could use it. First miss, one little electrical shot, second miss, a bigger one, third miss, unconscious for a couple of hours... McBannok was ready, McBenneth was ready, and the Commander was ready. He pressed the big bright red button, and several red lights throughout the firing range went on. McBenneth looked at the gun, and started the procedure immediatly. Suddenly, he jumped. First miss... After glancing to the safe grounds, he tried again... After a couple of minutes, he picked his ammo magazine, and plugged it hard into the Rifle. He proned, and started aiming. The target was as far away as they could manage, which still wasn't much for a sniper. It was a solid rock, of somewhat diminute size, to make it harder. Ten seconds aiming, and McBenneth pressed the trigger. The rock, suposedly very hard (a normal sniper would only rip a few miligrams of it), exploded. The Commander let out a "Yes" and McBannok smiled. McBenneth couldn't handle himself and shot a couple more times at other targets, which practicaly desintegrated, but that was no problem, they would be taken from his salary.

< Two things: 1) I usualy confuse Sectopod and Sectoid for some reason, so nevermind that, and 2), most important of all, if you haven't noticed yet, McBannok rarely speaks. In all the seems, he keeps his mouth shut and does what he thinks he should, the only time he actually talks is when the survival of the whole team is at a very high risk, like the bomb thing, in which he yelled like a madman, so if you roleplay him, be sure to keep him quiet too, thanks. > McBannok scratched his eyes... instead of dripping blood, he saw oil, instead of limbs, he saw metal plates, and instead of bones, he saw wires. He sighed... He walked to the Commander, and put a bit of cash on the table, he grabbed a limb, the most burned out one (from the exploding sectopod, he believed), slowly walked away, carefuly put in on the ground, in the middle of the room, attentively positioned it. Then he walked back a few steps, touched the place where the bit of his missing ear should've been, look vengeful at the limb, started running, and kicked it with his whole strength, making it fly... After it landed noisefuly, he picked it up, dropped it inside the bin, and spit inside.