XCAS Roleplay

[DragonHawk]

In the dark, Rallwell nodded at Stone's words. Again? I wonder what that means... Rallwell didn't quite feel so comfortable pressing that point yet, so she pursued another one to see if she could edge out the source of Stone's discomfort. "In that respect, there isn't really anything waiting for me either. A couple of friends... Nobody close though. Maybe that helps me to deal with things, I don't know. And the Aliens... think of the possibilities. Their civilization must be ancient. There are a number of possibilities - I've discussed them with Derrick and Gael. Gael thinks that the Alien empire must be huge, to be able to hit both us and the Ascidians, but Derrick thinks that the Alien domain is not large enough to extend to both planets - they must have some sort of satellite outpost that is vulnerable, like Cydonia was."

 

Rallwell paused and grinned as she became slighly embarassed. "Sorry, analysis - I'm sure you don't want to hear it. Back on topic though, if being caught by surprise is what's worrying you... they've tried twice already, each time catching us pretty much by surprise, and have had no real luck so far. But, as you say, it would be better to be there than here if something were to happen."

[Caster13]

"I don't need help," Terra said to herself outloud enough so that Kacur could hear her. For a minute, she thought that she was in denial, that she was just saying that to get out of this messy situation. But she soon realized she wasn't lying to herself.

 

"My problem is I'm stuck here, and I can't stand the isolation, it's like I've tripped up on LSD or acid and I've realized we're all just a dot in a constantly expanding universe. Even the aliens aren't more than a dot," Terra stopped, recollecting her thoughts again. "All I have to do is concentrate. When we get back to Earth, I can do whatever I want, when I'm back on Earth, I'll be mixed up in all things Earthy and I'll forget how big and empty this universe is."

 

Terra pulled herself up and swung her legs over the side of her bed. "I've got to remember that I don't have a purpose, but that I can eventually make one for myself.

 

"I'm sorry for trying to kill you, this'll sound weak, but it was seriously nothing personal."

[Loonie]

Martin nodded slightly at that last sentence and responded whilst lowering his head downwards in contemplation: "I know."

 

He then got up from the bed and slowly headed towards the door, opening it and then looking back towards Terra and speaking with a somewhat assertive yet still low tone voice:

 

"You know...the universe is always going to be big and empty if you don't have anyone to care for..."

 

He concluded it, slowly leaving out of the door, leaving behind Terra,...for now.

[Mouse Nightshirt]

<<Oh come on! This is becoming a soppy soap romance storyline!!! >>

 

BEEP BEEP BU BEEP, BEEP BEEP BU BEEP

 

*SMASH*

 

Richter sighed. That was the third alarm clock he had broken this month. He just wasn't getting enough sleep these days. His sleep patterns had been totally different in the Red Skull group. They just slept whenever they could, and tuning back to regular sleep was quite a task. He looked over to the working wall clock in his officer's quarter...

 

"Holy shite" shouted Richter. It was only 15 minutes until 0700 training. He quickly pulled on his uniform, gave his face a quick wash, and ran down to his office. By the time he got there, it was 0650. He reached for the Base Announcement system, turned it on, and took a deep breath,

 

"Good morning soldiers! Training will be postponed for another 30 minutes, until 0730, so you don't need to rush yourself now. And would Lieutenant Kacur please report to my office."

 

Whether the extra 30 minutes would have been appreciated or disliked, Richter didn't care. He had other things on his mind.

 

A few minutes later, the Lieutenant entered the office. He gave Richter an odd look, probably due to the haphazard, ungelled hair Richter had not had time to do. Kacur went to take a chair, but Richter stopped him, and got up.

 

"There is no need Lieutenant. This shall be brief. Firstly, I want to know if you think Fléche is capable for training this morning. I don't want her turning the gun on herself or anyone else during training, or ever again for that matter."

 

"No sir," replied Kacur, "I'd think it would be best if she stayed in her quarters, or rather, wherever she would prefer to be right now."

 

"OK, That's fine then, you can tell her she needn't attend training if she does not wish. Secondly, I want to let you know that I am not going to ask what went on there last night between you and Fléche, (which Richter had a fair idea of thanks to niner-niner-three-seven-five), and frankly, I couldn't care. You will not be undermining my authority again. Is that clear?"

 

After a brief pause, Kacur replied, "Yes sir. That is clear."

 

"Good, you're dismissed."

 

"Just one moment sir. I think it would be best if someone stayed with Fléche to keep her company and..."

 

Richter cut him off, "Yes I agree, but that person most definately will not be you. I've assigned Yorke to keep an eye on her for now (and someone else Richter thought). You're not to see her again until after lunchtime, and besides, you need to be present for training. You're dismissed Lieutenant"

 

"With all due respect sir..."

 

"That decision is final. You are dismissed"

 

"Sir"

 

"YOU ARE DISMISSED," Richter roared, "YOU ARE NOT UNDERMINING MY AUTHORITY LIEUTENANT AGAIN, NOW GO"

 

Kacur just looked at Richter for a moment, before leaving. The minute the door close, Richter sank into his chair, and took a few deep breaths. The last thing he wanted was another renegade squad member, even worse, an officer. Suddenly, he felt a light breeze on his face, and he looked up.

 

"What are you doing here?" said Richter.

"I would like to let you know that your Lieutenant is going to see subject three-five-niner Beta."

 

<<DUN DUN DUN!!!! Let the fireworks begin! >>

[Ghost]

<<Duh, well of course he's going to see Fleche, you just ordered *him* to go tell her she doesn't need to attend training Mouse >>

 

Lieutenant Ghost was already up for a little bit when the commander called for the delay in the start of training. He was working on cleaning his rifle. A fairly precise work, especially for a instrument of precision, which was what his rifle was. Or at least was supposed to be. The safety of the squad could depend on the accuracy of his shot, so he tried to keep his rifle in the best state he could.

Finishing cleaning up the barrel he starts putting the parts together again, taking care that every part is aligned properly.

As the rifle is assembled, he gets up from his bed, on which he was sitting and cleans up the things he used to clean the rifle and puts them back in the drawer of his desk. Then he grabs his rifle and moves out of his room, off to the training course.

 

In another room, Fox wakes up from the commander's call. She rubs her eyes, and then sits up in the bed, only to find Ralwell already in her uniform, finishing up to go for breakfast. Not much had been said anymore last night, Fox just sat there, apparently thinking before she went to sleep. Ralwell had long gone to sleep by then.

"Ugh, why does the commander always have to do stuff like this when he's in a bad mood."

Getting up from the bed she grabbed a fresh set of underwear and her uniform, and got suited up. Ralwell had already left by then, so she decided to get a quick bite to eat before training time. She exits the room, and walks over towards the mess hall, leaving her gear <<besides the uniform of course you twits, she's wearing that >> behind in her room.

[Loonie]

<<Heh, I do my roleplay posts my way, you do yours your way Mouse. Besides I have quite a few comments on how YOU roleplay and I don't go degrading them with any lines of "soppy soap romance" if you get what I mean.

 

Anyway...I'm actually not feeling too artistic lately so I'll likely not be doing too good posts right now. A little warning though Mouse and all others. Roleplay Kacur only to the surface degree. Let the emotional and internal things to me. Not saying you did anything wrong there Mouse, you did fine. Just be careful about how you roleplay Martin. >>

 

Being up already quite a bit earlier than Richter Martin kept lying in his bed, eyes staring into a single spot on the ceiling. He already had his short amount of sleep that he had gotten used to so his body really didn't feel sleepy. And even if it did his thoughts wouldn't let him go to sleep.

 

It was after several minutes that he heard the message come over the bullhorn by the Commander. After hearing it through he slowly got up from his bed and began by putting his clothes on. He already knew what the purpouse of the Commander calling him over was so he prepared for the answers up ahead, striding down the corridors and down the cargo gravlift straight to the office of the Commander.

 

As he arrived he calmly managed to respond to Richter's primary enquiry and all went well until Martin said:

 

"Just one moment sir. I think it would be best if someone stayed with Fléche to keep her company and..."

 

"Yes I agree, but that person most definately will not be you. I've assigned Yorke to keep an eye on her for now. You're not to see her again until after lunchtime, and besides, you need to be present for training. You're dismissed Lieutenant"

 

"With all due respect sir..."

 

"That decision is final. You are dismissed"

 

"Sir"

 

"YOU ARE DISMISSED," Richter roared, "YOU ARE NOT UNDERMINING MY AUTHORITY LIEUTENANT AGAIN, NOW GO"

 

He could not believe it! This man, a so-called Commander, was now not even ready to take ADVICE! All that Martin really wanted to do was recommend that someone else than Yorke keeps around her! He slowly left the room, dissapointed sorely at just how Richter has become obsessed and blinded with retaining power, even in private! It sickened Martin severely...

 

He made his way back to the personnel quarters back up the gravlift as he thought about what is likely going to happen to Terra now. With Yorke around her constantly it was quite likely going to get much MUCH tougher for her. She'd constantly be reminded of Shinji with Yorke around and it would IN TURN constantly remind her of what bastards X-Com are for killing him. Martin had achieved nothing...not a damn thing. Just now that Terra was slowly beginning to trust him, Richter was going to assign Yorke next to her so as to undermine everything for which Martin was hoping for. He was fuming about it like mad...

 

He didn't even notice that he was already in front of Terra's door and after collecting his wits a bit he knocked a couple of times on it whilst saying: "It's me."

[Ion Mage]

Howardson was getting up, the base lit up partially to simulate morning. He woke up a few minutes prior to the commanders' very own wake-up call indicating a delay of training, and was already in his uniform when the call was given.

 

"hmph. I guess even the commander has problems doing things on time. If i get assigned drill sergeant during training, we're working on quick responses primarily, hands-down."

 

<<say, do i share a bunk with anyone, perchance? THat would help with RP a bit>>

 

He proceeded to the training hall at 0700 regardless of any delays. Most of the equipment emphasized aiming and targetting rather than real combat. What the base needed wasnt a targetting range, but one of the ascidian's virtual reality units. Those would allow for more hands-on training, and would prove even more efficient for 'responce training'.

 

The new recruit, goorit, had also arrived early.

 

"Hmm. Apparently you dont oversleep like the commander either. And what would your' specialty be, again, Private?"

 

"Sir, i go by the name of shadow around here. I would prefer that i be referred to as that." Goorit replied.

 

"Ok, shadow, and whats your specialty?"

 

"I specialize in sniping. Managed to pass the training with flying colors"

 

"And how much did the training emphasize teamwork and fast response times?"

 

"Not much, though i actually self-trained myself in the areas of response."

 

"Hmmm, thats good. Because if i am appointed drill sergeant thats what we are working on today, mostly. On a prior mission, the whole team got detected because it was too busy arguing to actually get hidden."

 

"I see. I hope not to dissappoint. I can't wait to get some kills"

 

"Keep in mind that when you are on a mission, the mission objective takes priority over killing things, as does self-protection. Besides, we dont even keep track of kills around here, not much at least. Its mentioned in some of the debriefs but we dont specify whom got the kills in them."

 

"ok..."

 

Before Shadow could continue, the bell for 0730 training rang, and the team started to show up, save for terra and kacur.

 

Howardson walked up to the commander.

 

"Sir, i would suggest we cover mostly response times and teamwork on this session. That was the main cause of failure on the last mission."

 

<<tag, mouse. And i hope i got you somewhat accurate, shadow. Keep in mind that the sim you went on is unnofficial, and i wasnt referring to that one when i said 'last mission', you werent there for that one >>

[Strong Bob]

<<Ion Mage has a point with the double bunking. Recommend we maybe assign quarters to the characters on the roster or something? It would make socializing in the roleplays a bit more interesting, and characters could get more personal. >>

 

Intercom: Good morning soldiers!

 

Scott: Holy sh...

 

Scott immediatly leapt out of bed at the booming sound throughout the room. Momentarily dazed and unsure what was going on, he grabbed his laser pistol off the drawer and aimed it at random, believing the base to be under attack.

 

Intercom: Training will be postponed for another 30 minutes, until 0730, so you don't need to rush yourself now. And would Lieutenant Kacur please report to my office.

 

His arms relaxed, dropping his weapon on the ground.

 

Scott: F**king intercom. Someone needs to lower the volume on that.

 

Standing back up, he turned back to his mirror. His hair was marred from his awkward sleeping position and he had somewhat of a beard stubble. He then grabbed a fresh uniform from the drawers and dressed.

 

Scott: (Fighting his own morning fatigue) Goddamn... Stupid... Couldn't they make 0730 just ONE hour later? (Wrestling with his uniform, too frustrated to put it on all that well) I bet the guy overslept too... God, what would he say if someone else had done that?

 

 

___

 

 

After an uneventful meal in the Mess Hall and a quick shower, Scott made his way to the training grounds. <<Which should probably be marked on the NAO map or something. >> There he found Howardson and some other strange guy in mid-conversation. Squinting his eyes, Scott didn't recognize the soldier, obviously it had to be a new guy. His stance was firm and proper, couldn't have been an integration from the Kabrons.

 

Scott: Well, looks like they thawed some other guy out of the freezer. Hope he's not another damn pilot.

 

He was about to approach the young private, when suddenly the irritating ring of some bell rang through Scott's head, indicating that training was about to start. It reminded him of High School in a way... Only not quite as labor intensive.

 

Weindhoven entered the training grounds, looking a bit concerned. Scott looked around a bit as Howardson approached him.

 

Scott: No Kacur... No Fléche... That's it, I'm not touching this one!

 

Scott stood to attention along with the other soldiers, awaiting their instructions for todays training as Weindhoven and Howardson had their private conversation...

[Caster13]

As soon as Richter had made his announcement over the PA system, Terra was already awake and dressing into her uniform. People would look at her, she knew, but to hell with them. She was in no mood to simply mope around the base while everybody else got to play in the firing range.

 

She had just finished pulling the zipper up her front when the knock and Kacur's voice came from her door. "Come in," she said outloud as she took the empty pistol and placed it into the holster on her hip. She'll have to go an exchange the empty clip for a fresh full one.

 

Terra heard the door open up but didn't bother looking up. "I can already guess that Richter and probably you don't want me to participate in the training, but frankly, I've got nothing else to do."

[Mouse Nightshirt]

Richter yawned. Whether or not having niner-niner-three-seven-five in the base was a good idea, Richter didn't mind, for now at least. He grabbed his cup of coffee, and headed to the training grounds.

 

By the time he had arrived, it was 0729, and Richter wished he had made himself another cup of coffee. He saw the troops standing, some just chatting to each other, a few looking blankly into the forest, and a couple giving him a few strange looks.

 

"Bah," Richter thought to himself, and just before he was about to shout the plans for the training today, two people came up behind him and walked past. He looked out of the corner of his eyes, and nearly shit himself. "Goddamit" he thought, "Fléche and Kacur, just what we need for an eventful training." He let out a deep sigh, before addressing the troops.

 

Howardson approched him, interrupting Richter's breath which made him cough. "Yes Howardson?"

 

"Sir, i would suggest we cover mostly response times and teamwork on this session. That was the main cause of failure on the last mission."

 

"Nice idea, nice idea. I have plans already, but we'll incorporate that into today's training."

 

Howardson rejoined the troops, and the Commander finally addressed the team, "Good morning soldiers" he said for the second time, "I hope none of you minded the extra 30 minutes you got," Richter decided not to lie, "I slept in. We all do. I'm an idiot for that, and I admit that, but anyhow," he turned to Schmerjchanikov, "I thought it would be a good idea if Ghost led training today. I feel that, although our accuracy is good, infact, it's better than some of the Ascidian General Forces, I thought we could all do with some tips on how to shoot a gun with complete accuracy from our lead Sniper. I'd also like to welcome Private Goorit to the team who was defrosted a few days back. He's also a sniper, so he'll be great backup for Ghost here."

 

Richter gave a quick glance at the team members. Some looked rather interested at the idea, a few had neutral looks, Scott had that normal disgruntled look about him when the Commander was addressing the team, and Richter didn't look long enough at Fléche and Kacur to make out what they were thinking.

 

"Also, thanks to a suggestion," Richter gave a glancing grin at Howardson, "we'll be working on responee times and teamwork. Since I think..." Richter paused, it had to be done, "Kacur is best in tune with you lot, he will lead that bit of training."

 

He stopped, gave a look at Kacur, then turned back to Ghost.

 

"So Lieutenant, it's over to you now."

 

<<Sharing rooms, yup, we'll discuss that today or maybe on a forum post. The two senior officers have their own quarters btw, just to let you know

 

And Loonie, soz about that >>

[Ego Terrorist]

<<5 minutes before the previous post>>

 

Yorke stepped out of his office, he'd combed back his hair, but no dobut it wouldn't last five minutes on the firing range. Thank heavens for his lack of vanity. He picked up his watch and medical kit, it paid to have everything available and on hand - especially given Terra's state. "Poor kid." He muttered as he checked he had everything and then he made his way out of the medical lab and onto the coridor he nodded to the few that had already set off to the firing range. Yawning he shook his head. It's gonna be long day

 

<<0727>>

 

Yorke now stood on the firing range looked around, he'd been here enough times and things hadn't changed an inch, he could see Kacur...and young miss Fleche. He didn't say anything but he frowned. He wasn't that keen on her being here, but hell every one deserved a second chance. But if she started to get very aggressive he'd have to talk to the Commander about giving everyone a timeout, with a bit of luck she won't blow another fuse. The Commander took up a position in front of the troops and announced his plans for today. Then handed over to Kacur.

[DragonHawk]

>

 

Ko had never bothered to find out what had happened the night before, so he had walked out of the base feeling relatively normal, without looking at anyone any differently than the day before. He didn't particularly feel like talking to anyone, nor did anyone wish to speak to him, so the matter never came to light.

 

As it was, it was a very nice day outside. The sun was shining, things looked picturesque. It was hard to be thinking negative thoughts now... Still, a large number of base personnel were looking quite tired and quite anxious about something. Too much combat stress starting to build up, maybe. Something to ask Yorke about.

 

Ko picked up his rifle and aimed it down range at the hologram of the sectoid. The hologram was supposed to detect which part of the sectoid was hit, and how debilitating the effects were... It seemed to be such an expensive way of doing things, but if it worked, it worked. Ko pulled the trigger.

 

*****

 

Rallwell stood with Stone as the first line of people went to take their shots at the training holograms. She looked worriedly over at Fleche as she started shooting... If she were to go berzerk, that would be a problem. Rallwell un-did the flap on her holster, and readied it for a quickdraw if need be. She wouldn't be fast enough to stop the first burst, but maybe the second.

 

She looked side-long at Stone. "well, what do you think?"

[Ego Terrorist]

<<Just so we're clear, Yorke's been using his office in the medical lab for the last year or two as his own quarters>>

 

Looking to his right he saw Ko and closer to himself he saw Rallwell ready the flap so that she could quick draw the hand gun quickly, presumably to stop Fleche if she started firing a burst off at the rest of the team. "Hell, this will be a fun 'team building' exercise." He muttered under his breath. He took aim at a target and loosed off a shoot aimed at the targets center of mass.

 

The tension on the firing range was higher than usual...whether that was because of Fleche being on the range or just the stress that had been building up from day one or a combination of both, Yorke wasn't sure. Yorke shouldered his rifle and walked along the row of troopers firing their rifles down the range. He stopped behind Fleche's 'firing booth' and watched as she fired. "You'll want to straighten up a little, and bring the rifle up a little higher, you want to be aiming to hit them with a single shot so look down the iron sights - they've just became an extension of your head, they should be a nice and straight. So close one eye, and keep the other eye looking down the sights, don't focus on the target if you're after accuracy, focus on the sights, and aim the sights at the center of the mass, try and relax a little too and fire on the exhale."

[DragonHawk]

Ko finished off the rifle mag, then safed and slung the weapon over his shoulder. He walked over to where Ghost was supervising the shooting, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Ghost, I'm heading in to make some extra preparations for our departure. Backups, equipment allocation, all that crap." Ghost nodded his assent, and Ko left the shooting range.

 

As he walked to engineering, he turned over their new orders in his head. They were going on a longer range mission, possibly to Ascidia itself, for an unknown purpose. The Ascidian High Council seemed to like keeping them in the dark, but given the sudden concerns over the impending API/Black Spear conflict, one could guess that Kappa Team would be involved in that somehow.

 

They had been quietly getting ready for the last couple of days. Their departure was going to be later in the week or early next week, probably around the 9th of June. Not too many people had noticed yet, as the hangar was generally not used by the troopers during down times, but containers of personel effects, weaponry, ammunition, and armour had already been sealed and ready to go.

 

The engineering bay itself was fairly large. On Ko's desk sat a large number of high-density media. One stack, the backups for the current system and state, were almost complete. The other, smaller stack contained a lot of technical specifications, everything that Ko could find on the network. From the pistol to the psi-amp to what little they knew of the Avenger, anything technical was snatched up and stored. Ko was sure he had authorization to do this, but... Why advertise the fact?

 

Ko started to stack the disks into a custom padded aluminum case. Only a few more, and he would be done.

[Loonie]

<<Okay this is my first and ONLY post I'll make until the 20th. It's just so as you guys get a general setting and also so as I explain Martin Kacur's absence in character. Other than that do not interact with Martin and expect a response from me since he won't even be in NAO. Okay that's all. Have a nice 4 weeks while I'm gone and keep XCAS roleplay alive. >>

 

The Avenger landing ramp descended in the X-Com NAO Hangar section just after the craft had landed safely on the landing pad. After a medium sized thud the soldiers began exiting the craft, some at a steady pace whilst others at a much slower or quicker one.

 

The first to be out was Jackson who joyfully jumped into the air as he exited the Avenger whilst finishing his sentence: "YAY! I didn't get shot today!" and not noticing right away that as he jumped at the foot of the ramp, he had quite a long way down. Tumbling down the ramp and then finnaly ending up lying on the floor he muttered slowly: "Lob------ster....st..."

 

He was closely followed by Yorke with a very long and frustrated sigh who began dragging Jacko by his mechanical leg, obviously in quite a grumpy mood. The others then followed the first two until only four people were left in the Avenger.

 

The first three of these quickly walked down the ramp, one of them shouting: "Allright! Now THAT's what I call some fireworks" followed by the other one replying: "Heh, you'd be surprised what stuff we do here. It kicks ass outta all the things that happened back on the force." followed by the last's female's response quickly on top of the second: "Hell yeah" The last person to exit the Avenger however was not as pleased as those three. Standing there on the foot of the landing ramp with his LFS severely charred but barely intact he shouted to the three as they almost exited the Hangar area:

 

"SCOTT! GOORIT! EVANDER! In my office - 15 minutes."

 

The group turned around and a slight hunch came over them about what will happen in that designated time as Kacur began walking slowly down the ramp - the last person to exit the craft and head towards his quarters, leaving the Avenger in the capable hands of a voulenteer Kabron engineer who agreed to maintainance duties in exchange for his release from his cell.

 

--------15 minutes later---------

 

"Private Goorit why did you open fire without my permission when we encountered the Ascadians beyond the last blast door?"

 

Goorit, or Shadow as people began calling him by his nickname, cringed a bit in confusion and replied in as casual tone as he could muster:

 

"Well.....our orders were to eliminate all resistance on the way wasn't it? So...as I saw that the Ascadians had spotted us I opened fire before they could react."

 

Martin drummed his fingers on his desk for a little while whilst staring at the wall away from the trio presented in front of him in his office. He remembered on how hard he always tried to keep casualties to a minimum on both sides and continued:

 

"And you Evander. Why did you do it along with him? I assume for the same reason, correct?"

 

The Pilot slowly nodded and replied quickly with a string of her hair falling over her face as she did so: "Yes sir."

 

Martin then turned fully towards the three in his chair and began addressing all of them, including Scott for whom he knew that this pep-talk would do just as much good even if he hadn't opened fire immediately:

 

"You see troops, here's my little problem. In an ammunition storage facility things have a nasty tendency to go boom boom more often than usual when the bullets and fusion starts flying so I was kind of hoping to keep armed conflicts down to a minimum, IF you know what I mean." he began in a sarcastic voice: "Maybe I hadn't made it clear enough before but you do NOT open fire unless a superior officer gives you permission except when under imminent threat of danger to the X-Com team or when an officer is not present. The Ascadians that we encountered were taken completely by surprise and if we had simply aimed our weapons at them we could've held them at bay peacefully, thereby minimising the risk for the whole place to go off by an accidental bullet from our side, are you still in the house people?" he said as he looked at each one of the three to make sure they're still paying attention. He then resumed: "Well as it was we were all rather fortunate that it wasn't one of our bullets that set the place off now, AREN'T we?" he said as he looked sternly towards Scott and Goorit "So we might want to ask for permission to fire when a high ranking X-Com soldier is around so as we don't play dice with death again in this fashion hmmm?"

 

A long pause ensued then as the four people were quiet and Martin said with a raised voice: "RIGHT?"

 

"Sir yes sir" the other three chorused. Martin then had a long pause again and spoke in a lower tone of voice: "Evander you are dismissed." The Private exited the office quite hastily after throwing off a salute and as the door closed behind her Martin resumed by getting up and walking a bit around his office:

 

"But of course I wouldn't be this pissed if it was all about unauthorized fire that could've blown the place sky high accidentally, but ultimately didn't. The reason as to why I AM this pissed however could be in the two unauthorized grenades that the two of you clowns threw into the room and right next to a stack of explosive ammunition." he turned around swiftly looking into Goorit's eyes "I must say very smart move" in a sarcastic tone.

 

Scott then began moving his lips and spoke: "Sir I..."

 

Martin quickly looked towards Joseph as he began, but who went quiet after the Lieutenant's gaze set in. Martin spoke then as he made his way towards the Corporal: "No no! Keep on going Corporal! Go ahead humor me. What is it you want to say please?"

 

He knew in advance that Scott's nature would have him speaking rather than being quiet and so it happened: "With all due respect sir I THINK that there were too many Ascadian targets to be taken out quickly enough using our rifles so I....we...resorted to grenades."

 

"Ascadian targets that had not even responded to us aggresively yet? That we could've held at bay without any necessary violence? And especially Ascadian targets next to crates which undoubtebly contained explosive ammunition, this being an ammo depot and all, which could send the entire place sky high INCLUDING US?"

 

Scott began shuddering a bit in anger but this time Martin was NOT in a mood to calm him down the least bit. He walked away a bit and as he looked towards the wall away from the two he began speaking slowly: "Private Goorit, as you are still new to this team I will state this once and ONCE only. There is NO hostile action whatsoever to be undertaken during a mission when a superior officer is present near you UNLESS he or she has given you the permission to do so. Not with weapons fire and ESPECIALLY not with grenades. As it is I shall refrain from punishing you but I will not hesitate the next time an incident like this occurs, is that clear?"

 

Shadow's response was a snappy one indeed: "Sir yes sir"

 

Martin waited for a little while and then silently said: "Then you are dismissed."

 

As both of them began making their way out Kacur raised his voice again as he sensed that Scott was about to leave: "Corporal, I did not mean you."

 

Scott got back into his former stance, being severely irritated now as Martin turned around and sat on his desk, looking towards him:

 

"I know what you're thinking right now you know? And I don't need no bloody psionics to know either. You're thinking - <Why the hell did he let those two leave right now and keep me in here? The guy must enjoy seeing how long it takes me to snap!> - Well, I must say that would be a possibility. It could most certainly be a way for me to get back at you for braking my orders so many times."

 

"Sir..."

 

"NO! For once you'll listen to what I say. Do you know how charred my LFS is? If I hadn't run as fast as I did I might've been blown up together with that ammo dump. In fact it came damn close to me being incinerated ONCE AGAIN because of your rashness. THEN I remember another time when I barely managed to save you from a shot by placing myself in harms way and tackling you out of the shot's way. Then in the API brainwashing center when I didn't give up on you...FRANKLY I think that if you can't realize that I saved your bloody life, your sanity AND also saved you from feeling guilt over killing me with your rash actions then you must be the biggest egomaniac there is in the world. And to THINK you actually said "It's about damn time" when I presented you those Corporal stripes! It was too freaking early if you ask me, AND also a lot of other veterans on the team. And in your previous statement I heard you say that you THOUGHT that it was a good idea to throw the grenade. Who asked you to? I didn't tell you that you could THINK about what you should do, I expect you to carry out my orders. Mind you - LIKE HOWARDSON - I don't want robots on my team, but I most certainly don't need renegades like you."

 

He turned around once again and continued:

 

"Do you know why the hell it took you so long to get promoted hmmm? Oh sure. I'm sure you're saying to yourself < because you're a pain in the ass dictator who likes to test my patience >. Well I'm sorry Scotty but that freaking excuse to justify your actions, which puts all of our lives at risk every single day by the way, won't work on me this time. No bloody help for you anymore from me. You either start being thankful to the people who save your ass time and time again and make sure you don't hurt them by being a stupid ass, or you get put back into the freaking freezer. Your choice"

 

Martin sat down behind his desk again and leant with one of his arms on it whilst covering most of his face with it:

 

"Now get out of my sight and don't speak to me in off-duty hours until you grow up dammit"

 

As Scott thundered his way out of the office Martin heard another knock on his door as he replied to it irritatibly:

 

"YEEEEES?"

 

Ghost walked inside looking rather concerned...and so he began speaking to Martin:

 

"Well Kacur.....I'd say you broke every nerve you have, and also every nerve HE has" he said as he looked out to see Scott marching away in his angry pompous way. He then entered the office completely and leaning with his two hands onto Martin's desk he looked towards him whilst saying:

 

"You need a brake."

 

<<And from there you can assume what happens anyway you want it. Ghost is free to roleplay me being escorted to some other Ascadian post with little work and with no Scotts around. The others - I'm not responding from now on. Cherrio and keep the XCAS Roleplay alive whilst I'm gone. >>

[Strong Bob]

Scott: He has no idea does he!? Twenty years fighting against the scum of humanity and he presumes look at me as the more experienced!?

 

Scott thought to himself as he stormed away from Kacur's office. After taking that slander from someone so young, Scott was just a few inches from killing someone.

 

Scott: Does that moron think the Gits would've come peacefully? That they would've allowed us to gracefully sabotage their entire munitions facility without a shot being fired!? Christ... I bet he would've allowed them to shoot at us before taking action. This isn't some f**king tea party... It's WAR! The Gits would've most certainly fought to the death in there, ultimately resulting in the exact same circumstance! Who the hell does he think he is thrusting his problems on us!?

 

Scott soon found himself in the Personnel Quarters corridors. Watching as the rest of Alpha squad contently walked into the shower room. At first he thought he should try to relax a bit in his own quarters, but a nice cold shower would probably do him good right now... And just might save someone's life.

 

___

 

 

As Scott walked in the shower room, everyone was removing their gear mostly smiling and chatting at the "success" of the latest mission, almost comicly at how it was due to Goorit and Scott's grenades...

 

He began undressing away from the rest of the squad, not exactly in any mood to talk with anyone. As he removed the upper portion of his armor he spotted himself in a mirror on a nearby wall. The painful reminder of the Black Spear hostage situation came rushing back to him once again at the sight of the brutal scars on his chest.

 

Scott: They violated my mind... And have marred my body, that I may never forget what has happened out here... They should be killed. All of them! Black Spear, API... f**k the Alien Empire! For the last month I haven't heard of hide nor hair of them, it's all been Ascadians... This war is practically focused on THEM now! I hate them... I HATE THEM! ARRRGH!

 

Scott suddenly thrusted his right fist into the mirror, shattering it completely. The glass shards broke apart and neatly sliced into his hand. The rest of the squad suddenly fell silent and stared at Scott, now gripping the wrist of his now bleeding hand. There was a brief pause, everyone stood completely motionless for a few moments before Scott broke the silence.

 

Scott: (Staring down at his hand, bleeding severely) I - I need to go see Doctor Yorke.

 

He left the shower room as quickly as he had come in. Leaving a mild trail of his own blood leading from the showers to the med-bay...

 

<<Okay... That's all for a few days. Now to get to work on these accursed De-briefs and UFOpaedia thingers. :crazy:>>

[DragonHawk]

Private Rallwell stared across the room blankly at the bare bunk on the other side of the room. She had gotten to know her roommate pretty well during their months together, and her roommate had been there during some of the most awful times in this unknown place...

 

It had been awful seeing her leave. Kaitlin had picked up and left, just three Terran days before. Kaitlin had been pretty cheerful at that time. "I'll be back soon, so keep the door open for me" Anne had taken that at face value, but since then a lot of things had changed.

 

Anne had caught Derrick backing up the data once. Stacks and stacks of disks were in his office, neatly being tucked away into a padded metal case of some kind. She had asked what they were for, but Derrick had just smiled and told her not to ask. She had pressured him though, and he had spilled the fact that they were going on a mission, but had, like Kaitlin, insisted that it was a short one.

 

She had run into Dmitri and Kevin as well - both stayed tightlipped, even when Anne mentioned she knew that they were leaving.

 

She didn't even consider, until the very last hour, that each soldier had packed virtually everything they owned for storage or transport, and that the crates in the hangar bay contained enough ammunition and supplies for almost half a year. When she did though, she felt like panicking.

 

Parting with Dmitri had been difficult. He had been her confidant since Kaitlin's capture those months ago. Knowing someone who shared a part of her past, no matter how much, helped to calm her down and reassure her. It would be difficult, but Anne was more confident in herself as well. She had given Dmitri a tight hug and kiss on the cheek before he had boarded the E'colus transport.

 

Kevin, someone she didn't know well, did get a hug, which was enough to embarass the poor soldier, and he retreated quickly into the folds of the ship.

 

Kaitlin had been the next up the ramp, dragging all manners of 'last minute equipment' with her. They exchanged warm hugs, and Kaitlin reassured Anne that they would be back soon. She was off with the smile that she rarely showed anyone else. It was reassuring in itself, radiant, in a way.

 

Derrick had been the last, as usual. His equipment was already on board; he was busy scrounging from engineering - anything technical and not locked down was taken - indeed, even if it was locked, he managed to break in. With a somewhat disoriented wave, he had thrust a sheaf of papers at her, with instructions on what needed to be done, etc etc. He ran off towards the ship, but Anne had caught up, and given him his farewell hug as well. He had hugged back hesitantly, than fairly tightly, before parting with a quick, embarrassed grin. "Hold down the fort, Anne," he had said. "We're depending on the rest of you folks to keep home safe."

 

Anne had thought about that statement after the E'colus had left. How long would they be gone? While they maintained, as did the Commander, that they would be back very soon, none of them had seemed confident of that actually happening.

 

Commander Weindhoven had ordered for the remaining soldiers to 'close rank' as it were, to save on maintenance and cleaning times. Both Ghost's room and the Crazy Chinese room had been cleaned out and other X-Com troopers had moved in. She had left her room open though, just like Kaitlin requested. Still, it was lonely, just staring at the place her best friend used to be...

 

[Caster13]

Terra was in a good mood. Which is really one of those things where people cannot decide whether or not it's a good thing. As soon as the Avenger had landed from the previous mission, she quietly giggled to herself as Scott, Evander and Goorit marched off following Kacur. Three of them, no doubt, were in trouble.

 

After quicking heading back to the armoury and her quarters and stripping herself of all of the equipment and weaponry, she pretended to be bored and walked around the corridors of the base. Within a few minutes, she simply lazed around outside Kacur's office, listening to the shouting going on.

 

It's so much fun hearing it being done to others. The yelling quickly died off and Terra decided it was best not to be seen eaves dropping. She quickly turned towards the mess hall and walked away.

 

Once reaching the mess hall, she quickly looked what was available. "Oooh! Danishes" She lightly grabbed a blueberry danish with the tip of her fingers. She never liked getting her entire hand messy when she ate. She walked around as she took bites out of the danish. At a nearby bulliten board, the new room assignments were just recently posted.

 

The first thing she noticed was that she was assigned her own room all for herself. That's not much of a surprise considering the freaking shit I did a few days ago, she thought to herself morbidly. But her mood quickly brightened up, Woo! I've got an entire room to myself! Don't have to worry about any roommates if I ever think about getting into a romp with some one.

 

Not that there's anybody to do so with, she quickly realized. Ah well. She looked through the rest of the assignments, thinking about which pair of roommates would be fun to eavesdrop on. Scott and Evander... Hmm... Oh. She caught sight of the <unassigned> label beside Ralwell's and Kokinda's names. She tried to remember who Kokinda was but then realized she never met whoever that was yet.

 

Hey? Kacur doesn't have a roommate assigned to him, she frowned slightly, noticing there was no <unassigned> by his name, or rather, he's gets his own room to himself.

 

Bastard. Wonder what would happen if I asked to be assigned his roommate, the evil and chaotic part of her mind wondered. Ah, the fun that would ensue.

[DragonHawk]

Rallwell sighed and rolled off the bed and onto her feet. So boring... Just no motivation today. It can alwaysbe better tomorrow, I suppose, she thought wryly.

 

Rallwell was hungry though. She had skipped lunch due to work. Maybe a meal would do her good... Jacko's cooking was pretty good... Sometimes. It was a bit of russian roulette, perhaps, but even Jacko's worst wasn't inedible.

 

Rallwell left her room to go to the mess hall. Maybe something interesting would be going on there.

[Mouse Nightshirt]

Richter sat down. He was now getting annoyed with the Red Skulls, as they would call him with no notice to attend a meeting, even though he was officially non-active in the Red Skulls anymore. He relaxed, and decided to look into the mission debriefing.

 

He was quite amused.

 

Apparantly Evander, Goorit and Scott had been in big trouble. They had fired into an explosively live area, and Goorit and Scott had thrown, of all things, a grenade into an area with high explosives. Richter wouldn't have been so amused if he had been leading the squad at the time, infact, he was thinking of calling them in now, before he thought that Kacur had already given off steam at them, and he didn't really want to shout at Shadow, nor Evander. However, he thought that Scott could still be worthy of having a kick up the arse.

 

Richter then thought of something important, the personnel quarters needed reshuffled, until he had noticed that had been done too. He sat back for a moment and thought how great his team was, or at least most of them, when suddenly, there was an almighty BANG and the lights went out.

 

"Brilliant, just fecking brilliant." sighed Richter to himself. Trying to find the drawer in his office which contained a torch, Richter managed to bang his head, and cut his knee. He eventually found it, and headed towards the gravlift, before climbing up the emergency ladder, shouting "What the hell is going on here!?".

 

A few minutes later, Rallwell had told the commander the situation. One of the fusion reactors had gone critical, and the reactor's safety fuses had blown, ceasing the flow of hydrogen into the core. The resulting suddent aprubt stop in power had in turn blown out the feeder tube due to the sudden and huge decrease in temperature, causing the metal to contract and break, rather violently, which was what had caused the loud bang. Unfortunately until this was fixed, the base had to run on emergency generators, which left the base on emergency lights, the gravlifts inoperable, and no research, engineering or recreational power usage.

 

Within the next 2 hours, a team of Ascidian Engineers had arrived. After assessing the damage, they told Richter the bad news.

 

"Sorry say, but fusshon reactor no work, big break mean we work days for 3."

 

Richter groaned. No power for 3 days. Great...

[ShadowBlade]

(Five minutes before last post, right after Shadow leaves Kacur's office)

 

Jonathan walked out of the room, and shortly after he closed the door, Kacur's shouts started again, obviously directed to poor Scott, who was still inside the lieutenant's office.

As Jon proceeded to his room, he kept thinking about two things. First of all, he knew that the Ascidian team he threw the grenade at wasn't going to react in a peaceful way anyway, even if we had aimed our rifles and told them to surrender. The private surely knew that he wasn't the only person who had this in his/her mind. And secondly, he couldn't help thinking about Terra, from the first time he saw her, right in the middle of the shooting, back in the alien armoury, even though she had shown no interest on him.

A couple of minutes later, he arrived to his room, which he shared with Sgt. Howardson. He laid down on his bed, still thinking on the same thing. After a few seconds, however, he managed to disperse his thoughts. He grabbed a book from his drawer, next to his bed, and, in the exact moment he opened it, a loud BANG echoed across the whole base and the lights went out.

 

- "Oh, not now! I'm very close to the ending... Now I'm thirsty"

[Caster13]

<< A power outtage, eh? Maybe I can just relive everything that I did when that huge blackout hit North America =P >>

 

Terra was still browsing through the room assignments when the lights suddenly went out in the mess hall. She blinked, thinking that she may have gone blind. Then the red emergency lights turn on. "Phew."

 

She stood still for a moment. Having no idea what to do. Looking around the red lit mess hall, she shrugged and started walking towards her living quarters. Reaching there within a matter of minutes, she grabbed the portable electronic book and turned it on. Thankfully the batteries would last for a few hours.

 

She looked up, the red emergency light in her room was starting to annoy her eyes. She put the book back down and grabbed a chair. Dragging the chair across the floor she set it under the red light and stood up onto it. She reached up to pull of the plastic casing and then unscrewed the lightbulb.

 

Her room became dark except for the glow from the electronic book. She stepped down from the chair and walked towards it. Picking it up, she crawled into bed and simply started reading. She still had quite a few chapters left in The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy.

[ShadowBlade]

Jonathan closed his book and put it on his desk, next to his bed. Having no chance to use reading material and being thirsty, he decided to go to the mess hall for a drink and maybe some social interaction. He began searching for a torch in almost total darkness, since the room's emergency light had broken prior to the blackout. As soon as he found a lighting device, which didn't take him much time because of his excellent sight, he set out to the mess hall.

 

Once he was on his way to the hall, trying to activate the torch, he bumped into someone who was just as disoriented as he was. Neither of them bothered about the bump and continued their way.

 

After some minutes in the darkness, he sighted Richter, walking and swearing, who was coming from Engineering. Jon approached to his commander, although he maybe wasn't in the best mood to talk:

 

- "Sir! What happened? Why don't we have power?"

[Mouse Nightshirt]

Richter grimaced, not that it mattered, as Goorit probably couldn't see much in the way of facial expressions in the darkness.

 

"Simply put Private, the fusion reactors broke, and we have no power for 3 days. That's as complex I'm going to describe it right now. The gits have sent some engineers to fix it, as it is their technology. Anyhow, if you meet anyone in the corridors or anything, you'll be best to spread the story, because there is no PA system anymore. I think it would be best if we all just went to bed, because there is nothing more any of us can do. And by they way, best to try and save on torch batteries, they may last for ages, but we'll need them just in case."

 

With that, Richter walked off, before the thought suddenly hit him. "Damn it! We're grounded until we can open the hangar doors..."

[Ego Terrorist]

"What the?" Yorke looked up as the lights went out. "Great..." Fortunatly the medical bay was fitted with a back-up generator so that the medical equipment could still be used even in a black out, such as the one he was experiencing right now... Yorke muttered something under his breath and made his way to the comms system, that was dead, so he walked over to his desk. He swore twice as he batted his leg against table and objects that he hadn't spotted.

 

Then the red emergency lights came on just as he reached his desk in the office then fumbling with the handle he opened the top draw and he withdrew his hand gun, torch and radio.

 

After all he'd been through out here he'd learnt to assume the worst case senario if he didn't know what was happening, he turned the otrch on and checked his handgun - Loaded, thank god.

 

Then pressing the 'speak' button. "Yorke to anyone who can hear me?" He then released the speak button and holstered his hand gun and walked over to the medical room's enterance. Then pushing the doors open he stepped out onto the corridor and looked both ways as he waited for a response.