Z
Zack
Jack sat in his quarters, at his desk cleaning his now disassembled 45 pistol. The black finish and red engravings becoming more shiny as he wiped and polished. He had been to the range after getting up this morning to get in some practice before joining some of his team mates in the rec room. After an hour or so he left, and began on the task he now worked on.
For the most part, working in the USO was very free form.
For some of the ex-soldiers, it was perhaps a little too free form.
With no one really giving orders or constantly instructing on what to do, some ended up lounging around all day. Others tended to be a bit more productive and pursue their own projects.
For Uso herself, this meant getting some sun by the beach. A green drink in what looked like an attempt at making a fake-cococut. The fearless-leader-type wearing little more than a green one-piece. She seemed unarmed... except for the small 'cupcake' tank drone nearby. She'd be enjoying the beach, but there wasn't much to enjoy. Aside from the sun and the sand, the beach was a mess, green plant matter washing up on shore constantly and making it not-optimal for swimming.
Though this didn't stop the occasional local from wandering by to gather it up as food for later.
Araxie Serai was busy fooling around in the Queen's Slave, working on some new road design for a new city or colony.
Jack had just finished reassembling his now clean sidearm, and considered what to do next. He felt like hitting the range, but wanted to avoid getting his pistol dirty again. Suddenly the thought of rock climbing seemed like a good idea, he hadn't done it since basic. So Jack quickly found some climbing gear in storage, and took a short drive to the nearest beach which he knew had a rather large rock outcropping.
Twenty or so minutes later he was atop said rock outcrop. He equipped the gear and removed his shirt as the temperature was hot out today. Jack secured his anchor to the rock and vaulted himself over the cliff, rappelling down a short distance before grabbing onto the rock face. He made it down about half way before he spotted what looked like a woman he had not met before on the beach with....a small tank? "Who the hell has a personal mini tank?! I want one now damn it.", Jack said before realizing the only person who would was the boss Uso herself.
"You know we can get you one. I have been kinda lax about security lately. We don't really have that much to worry about here right now but still... why chance it?" Uso asked. "Who knows what might stop by..."
"So you must be Uso, wasn't sure if I'd ever actually meet the boss herself in person." Jack said as he continued rappelling down the rock face. He suddenly became conscious of the of whether or not his employer would agree with the tattoo of a crimson sword stabbing through a skull with a large black wing attached to either side of the sword that covered the majority of his back. Jack looked back to Uso for a moment before saying, "If I had known you would be here mam, I would have kept my shirt on. Please forgive my inappropriate conduct, I assumed I would be the only one here."
"Ugh, dial it back a bit," Uso responded, not yet devoting her full attention to jack, "This ain't The Green's army, you can act casual.
I don't need soldiers, between ragnarok and Corgan's little upstart we got enough of those."
"Sorry mam," Jack said as he finally reached the bottom, "The military way, is the only way I know."
He was only ten feet away at the bottom of the rock face. "Was never taught how to properly act until I joined the Nep military." Jack said as he caught himself trying to salute, but stopped figuring it would irritate her.
"By the way mam, I've been meaning to asking you something, I realize the sky guard pilots other than myself don't carry a sidearm. I curious to see if it was possible for me to submit a pistol design to someone to have one produced for them, as well as possible train them in the use of the weapon?"
"Yeah, go find Vier and she'll walk you through that."
Uso shifted around in her seat a bit
"... I can feel the newness on you from here. You're like a shoe that hasn't been worn in yet. I can't relax like this," Uso said, getting up from her chair.
Jack now had her full attention
"Importance to the mission first, loyalty to those I serve with, and to follow the orders of the commanding officer to the letter." Jack said as he took the description of being green a little hard in his mind.
"Here the mission is building something better than it was before, to building a new future. Loyalty to my sky guard comrades, and willing sacrifice myself in their defense and to those in charge including yourself. And finally to fulfill my task to the best of my abilities given to me by my leader, and to support them in any way needed even though Alex is not technically the CO. He is still the boss, he tells me to charge into hell, and i ask if he wants me to blast through or kick the damn door down on the way in." Jack's serious demeanor lost some of it's composure as he finished.
"You may see me as green mam, but I understand the position of leadership too well in my opinion. I was in the military for five years, the last two as a squad leader. I left that behind, because I was tired of giving orders that I knew would send people to their death, tired of getting the shit jobs that we were thrown into blind, and as being viewed as nothing more than cannon fodder." He waited to see her reaction, suddenly feeling like he had crossed a line with his long speech.
"You're a fucking relic," Uso spat,
"A cheap stone blade in an era of lasers and missiles..."
It seemed like Uso was losing interest, her eyes wandering a bit before settling back on Jack,
"You'll never be as loyal as that robot-tank, never be as willing to sacrifice yourself as a self-guided bomb, shit you're a fucking human. You're not even that great to stand behind as a body shield since bullets go right through you and your bones are made of fucking calcium. They use that in chalk! ... As a weapon of war you are so fucking outclassed that you aren't worth the time it'd take me to order you to your death.
I've literally got better cannon fodder than you.
Just let that sink in for a moment..." Uso said, crossing her arms and looking down at Jack,
"People win wars these days, and I need people.
You know why Alex gets the special treatment? It ain't because he's a good soldier. It's because he moves the work forward. He made the skyguard happen from his own willpower, practically forced that fucking giant robot thing down everyone's throats.
He does, he creates, he exists as his own independent thing that has agency and provides value. Organizing, building, expanding, all of those things have value to me."
"What did you learn in soldier school and how is it any useful here?"
Jack stayed where he stood, not showing a reaction to her words. "And behind every weapon is the ingenuity, the abstract thinking, and the morals to make the right decision. A machine may be faster, stronger, compute faster, but you never replace a person's way of thinking. With out us these machines are nothing, we give them orders, we build them, we design them, we tell them how to think. Nothing more than a remote control toy, and if you have no use for soldiers then why have Ragnarok around, why not replace them with your mini tanks. You want better then tell you what, I will design a drone that will make your pet tank look like a wind up toy damnit."
He finished waiting to see if she berate him again. Uso seemed to have an opinion that contradict the very purpose of the organization she built. And Jack was beginning to dislike her, she reminded him too much of the command structure that he had left behind.
"Good, points for not backing down... though you aren't quite there yet." Uso grinned, quickly stepping around to Jack's side and putting her head on his shoulder, adjusting herself so that they were both looking at that drone,
"I mean... look at that thing... you don't control that. You barely have any control over what software gets loaded on your datapad.
Do you know who controls that drone? Or who controls the person who controls the drone? Perhaps you know where that drone gets its ammo? Or what is keeping the machines on this planet churning out sofas and Screens instead of nerve gas and planet killers?
... would you even know how to clean your bathroom or get something to eat without looking at your datapad?
Or how about just where that info comes from?
Don't kid yourself into thinking you have control over these machines. They've already ingrained themselves into your life as have millions of other systems.
You want to be a good soldier?" Uso said, "well... keep in mind the two highest kill counts within a thousand light years both belong to humans."
"Well I didn't grow up with all this damn tech, I roamed the streets with a gun in my hand and a electric guitar across my back. I didn't have anyone do anything for me, it was just me and my running buddy Zeke." Jack said pausing for a moment a little strange feeling with Uso's head on his shoulder.
"I made my own way, nothing tying me down, no one to hold me back. The only use my datapad has ever had is for filing reports and storing documents, and I'll be damned if I let it start thinking for me. They are nothing but tools to and end, only useful to me if they can actually do job I need them to do. Much like your use of us." He added wondering to himself why he had ever though this group would be different.
"That's what I need" Uso said, squeezing Jack's shoulders to make her point.
"The Greens may have needed a large standing army... their systems had already fucked up a long time ago and no one was coming to save them from themselves... well no one capable enough of doing it anyways.
We are a small player out here. We don't have the inertia of 20billion Nepleslians to ward off enemies. This place is becoming the jewel of the west and people love stealing jewels.
Course, you don't attack your supplier."
Uso left it vague as to who was supplying what,
"What keeps us safe is entanglements, logistics, and graduate-level warfare. Fuck, everyone has their own word for it. Politics, war by other means, hybrid-warfare....
If your Nepleslian COs we're trying the same thing as us? They'd already be dead."
"So we survive by supplying what others need, and be as useful to those that might pose a threat. Hmm....So I guess the biggest question now, what could I possibly do that you need?" Jack said as this meeting was going far different then expected.
"There we are!" Uso
"But you can't trust me to know what's useful. Some people like to try and plan for everything... I like to acquire when needed.
For now, anything that is your own thing is useful. Every new capability or service is going to be an asset we can use to get our hooks in."
"Understood, one other thing though while I'm here. Some of the boys have been talking about getting a band together. And somehow I've been volunteered to ask you for permission on this." Jack said getting a better grasp on what kind of woman Uso was.
"Also I'll get started on that design tonight and forward it and the pistol design to Vier." He added as waited for her reaction.
Uso's smile slowly grew until it could grow no more.
She'd always wanted an excuse to say it.
Of course, she'd never been in a band before. She also couldn't play any instruments that she was aware of... but that could be fixed. There was also a usual cast that she could call upon for these kinds of shenanigans.
"Mook..." Uso said, she still hadn't learned his name... and she wanted him to appreciate the gravity of what she was about to say.
...
"We're getting the band back together..."
Uso would wait for Jack to grasp the importance of what was just said... while her hand went to her hips, keying in some very important commands
Sasha heard the beeps coming from her mobile communication thing, then read Uso's message. She then slowly began to key a short answer.
Jack raised an eyebrow, "That was a much more positive reaction than I was expecting."
He tilted his head as if in thought for a moment, "I have an idea for something mam, it would require some people, and more would be needed to get it running, but it has the chance of greatly help in USO's expansion, advancement, and keeping our edge."
Jack looked to Uso as she waited for further responses, see if any interest if any was present.
Airspace above the beach
Alex had gotten Uso's message about wanting to see people about Music and had decided to stop by to see what all the fuss was about. He was circling above the beach now, and decided to do something a little bit crazy.
After lowering his altitude a little bit, Alex opened up the cockpit and jumped out of it, landing with an enormous splash in the water. His head popped up, sending a spray of water droplets around him. His hair was messy now, and he let out a loud laugh.
"Eheheh... Hey Uso! Why do you want to talk to people about music?"
Uso frowned a bit,
Mook clearly didn't understand the gravity of getting the band together.
Then a smile came as Alex splashed-down nearby,
"ALEX!" she shouted, "WE'RE GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER!"
Mook would then continue talking, something about an idea, needing people, "Yes, yes, go grab whoever you want and make it happen. Figure out your budget... How much do drums and Amps cost? Not those like... tiny amps... I want to get the ones Aethersperm used.
Have you ever been to one of their shows?"
Uso's attention shot back towards Alex for a moment,
"CAN YOU PLAY ANYTHING?
CAN WE GET A BASS GUITAR SIZED FOR A U1?"
Jack put a hand to his face before answering, "Yes mam, I can procure some, but that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm referring to is a new sub-division of the sky guard dedicated to advancing our tech, weapons, tactics, methods of intelligence, new tech, .....and fire suppression."
He made a point of emphasizing the last two words, slightly thrown of by the reckless landing, and Uso's lack of attention, leading to a raise eyebrow in response.
"Don't worry 'bout that till there is something to worry about." Uso said, perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to ignore fire-supression... but she was nearly certain that wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass later.
"I mean, you're welcome to setup your own group. I can get you some funding, some space in nath tower, whatever you need... DO what you feel you need to...
... but I need you to focus first.
What instruments do you play?"
Jack perked up slightly at the clearance and the question, "Electric and acoustic guitar."
"Alright then, so we have a starting point... We'll need to get everyone together... ask some questions... figure this all out. Start thinking of songs... and merch... and venues and such...." Uso said, "I take it we're leaning towards rock... I wonder if I can get Aethersperm to tour with us?" Uso said, mostly thinking to herself at this point.
For the most part, working in the USO was very free form.
For some of the ex-soldiers, it was perhaps a little too free form.
With no one really giving orders or constantly instructing on what to do, some ended up lounging around all day. Others tended to be a bit more productive and pursue their own projects.
For Uso herself, this meant getting some sun by the beach. A green drink in what looked like an attempt at making a fake-cococut. The fearless-leader-type wearing little more than a green one-piece. She seemed unarmed... except for the small 'cupcake' tank drone nearby. She'd be enjoying the beach, but there wasn't much to enjoy. Aside from the sun and the sand, the beach was a mess, green plant matter washing up on shore constantly and making it not-optimal for swimming.
Though this didn't stop the occasional local from wandering by to gather it up as food for later.
Araxie Serai was busy fooling around in the Queen's Slave, working on some new road design for a new city or colony.
Jack had just finished reassembling his now clean sidearm, and considered what to do next. He felt like hitting the range, but wanted to avoid getting his pistol dirty again. Suddenly the thought of rock climbing seemed like a good idea, he hadn't done it since basic. So Jack quickly found some climbing gear in storage, and took a short drive to the nearest beach which he knew had a rather large rock outcropping.
Twenty or so minutes later he was atop said rock outcrop. He equipped the gear and removed his shirt as the temperature was hot out today. Jack secured his anchor to the rock and vaulted himself over the cliff, rappelling down a short distance before grabbing onto the rock face. He made it down about half way before he spotted what looked like a woman he had not met before on the beach with....a small tank? "Who the hell has a personal mini tank?! I want one now damn it.", Jack said before realizing the only person who would was the boss Uso herself.
"You know we can get you one. I have been kinda lax about security lately. We don't really have that much to worry about here right now but still... why chance it?" Uso asked. "Who knows what might stop by..."
"So you must be Uso, wasn't sure if I'd ever actually meet the boss herself in person." Jack said as he continued rappelling down the rock face. He suddenly became conscious of the of whether or not his employer would agree with the tattoo of a crimson sword stabbing through a skull with a large black wing attached to either side of the sword that covered the majority of his back. Jack looked back to Uso for a moment before saying, "If I had known you would be here mam, I would have kept my shirt on. Please forgive my inappropriate conduct, I assumed I would be the only one here."
"Ugh, dial it back a bit," Uso responded, not yet devoting her full attention to jack, "This ain't The Green's army, you can act casual.
I don't need soldiers, between ragnarok and Corgan's little upstart we got enough of those."
"Sorry mam," Jack said as he finally reached the bottom, "The military way, is the only way I know."
He was only ten feet away at the bottom of the rock face. "Was never taught how to properly act until I joined the Nep military." Jack said as he caught himself trying to salute, but stopped figuring it would irritate her.
"By the way mam, I've been meaning to asking you something, I realize the sky guard pilots other than myself don't carry a sidearm. I curious to see if it was possible for me to submit a pistol design to someone to have one produced for them, as well as possible train them in the use of the weapon?"
"Yeah, go find Vier and she'll walk you through that."
Uso shifted around in her seat a bit
"... I can feel the newness on you from here. You're like a shoe that hasn't been worn in yet. I can't relax like this," Uso said, getting up from her chair.
Jack now had her full attention
"Importance to the mission first, loyalty to those I serve with, and to follow the orders of the commanding officer to the letter." Jack said as he took the description of being green a little hard in his mind.
"Here the mission is building something better than it was before, to building a new future. Loyalty to my sky guard comrades, and willing sacrifice myself in their defense and to those in charge including yourself. And finally to fulfill my task to the best of my abilities given to me by my leader, and to support them in any way needed even though Alex is not technically the CO. He is still the boss, he tells me to charge into hell, and i ask if he wants me to blast through or kick the damn door down on the way in." Jack's serious demeanor lost some of it's composure as he finished.
"You may see me as green mam, but I understand the position of leadership too well in my opinion. I was in the military for five years, the last two as a squad leader. I left that behind, because I was tired of giving orders that I knew would send people to their death, tired of getting the shit jobs that we were thrown into blind, and as being viewed as nothing more than cannon fodder." He waited to see her reaction, suddenly feeling like he had crossed a line with his long speech.
"You're a fucking relic," Uso spat,
"A cheap stone blade in an era of lasers and missiles..."
It seemed like Uso was losing interest, her eyes wandering a bit before settling back on Jack,
"You'll never be as loyal as that robot-tank, never be as willing to sacrifice yourself as a self-guided bomb, shit you're a fucking human. You're not even that great to stand behind as a body shield since bullets go right through you and your bones are made of fucking calcium. They use that in chalk! ... As a weapon of war you are so fucking outclassed that you aren't worth the time it'd take me to order you to your death.
I've literally got better cannon fodder than you.
Just let that sink in for a moment..." Uso said, crossing her arms and looking down at Jack,
"People win wars these days, and I need people.
You know why Alex gets the special treatment? It ain't because he's a good soldier. It's because he moves the work forward. He made the skyguard happen from his own willpower, practically forced that fucking giant robot thing down everyone's throats.
He does, he creates, he exists as his own independent thing that has agency and provides value. Organizing, building, expanding, all of those things have value to me."
"What did you learn in soldier school and how is it any useful here?"
Jack stayed where he stood, not showing a reaction to her words. "And behind every weapon is the ingenuity, the abstract thinking, and the morals to make the right decision. A machine may be faster, stronger, compute faster, but you never replace a person's way of thinking. With out us these machines are nothing, we give them orders, we build them, we design them, we tell them how to think. Nothing more than a remote control toy, and if you have no use for soldiers then why have Ragnarok around, why not replace them with your mini tanks. You want better then tell you what, I will design a drone that will make your pet tank look like a wind up toy damnit."
He finished waiting to see if she berate him again. Uso seemed to have an opinion that contradict the very purpose of the organization she built. And Jack was beginning to dislike her, she reminded him too much of the command structure that he had left behind.
"Good, points for not backing down... though you aren't quite there yet." Uso grinned, quickly stepping around to Jack's side and putting her head on his shoulder, adjusting herself so that they were both looking at that drone,
"I mean... look at that thing... you don't control that. You barely have any control over what software gets loaded on your datapad.
Do you know who controls that drone? Or who controls the person who controls the drone? Perhaps you know where that drone gets its ammo? Or what is keeping the machines on this planet churning out sofas and Screens instead of nerve gas and planet killers?
... would you even know how to clean your bathroom or get something to eat without looking at your datapad?
Or how about just where that info comes from?
Don't kid yourself into thinking you have control over these machines. They've already ingrained themselves into your life as have millions of other systems.
You want to be a good soldier?" Uso said, "well... keep in mind the two highest kill counts within a thousand light years both belong to humans."
"Well I didn't grow up with all this damn tech, I roamed the streets with a gun in my hand and a electric guitar across my back. I didn't have anyone do anything for me, it was just me and my running buddy Zeke." Jack said pausing for a moment a little strange feeling with Uso's head on his shoulder.
"I made my own way, nothing tying me down, no one to hold me back. The only use my datapad has ever had is for filing reports and storing documents, and I'll be damned if I let it start thinking for me. They are nothing but tools to and end, only useful to me if they can actually do job I need them to do. Much like your use of us." He added wondering to himself why he had ever though this group would be different.
"That's what I need" Uso said, squeezing Jack's shoulders to make her point.
"The Greens may have needed a large standing army... their systems had already fucked up a long time ago and no one was coming to save them from themselves... well no one capable enough of doing it anyways.
We are a small player out here. We don't have the inertia of 20billion Nepleslians to ward off enemies. This place is becoming the jewel of the west and people love stealing jewels.
Course, you don't attack your supplier."
Uso left it vague as to who was supplying what,
"What keeps us safe is entanglements, logistics, and graduate-level warfare. Fuck, everyone has their own word for it. Politics, war by other means, hybrid-warfare....
If your Nepleslian COs we're trying the same thing as us? They'd already be dead."
"So we survive by supplying what others need, and be as useful to those that might pose a threat. Hmm....So I guess the biggest question now, what could I possibly do that you need?" Jack said as this meeting was going far different then expected.
"There we are!" Uso
"But you can't trust me to know what's useful. Some people like to try and plan for everything... I like to acquire when needed.
For now, anything that is your own thing is useful. Every new capability or service is going to be an asset we can use to get our hooks in."
"Understood, one other thing though while I'm here. Some of the boys have been talking about getting a band together. And somehow I've been volunteered to ask you for permission on this." Jack said getting a better grasp on what kind of woman Uso was.
"Also I'll get started on that design tonight and forward it and the pistol design to Vier." He added as waited for her reaction.
Uso's smile slowly grew until it could grow no more.
She'd always wanted an excuse to say it.
Of course, she'd never been in a band before. She also couldn't play any instruments that she was aware of... but that could be fixed. There was also a usual cast that she could call upon for these kinds of shenanigans.
"Mook..." Uso said, she still hadn't learned his name... and she wanted him to appreciate the gravity of what she was about to say.
...
"We're getting the band back together..."
Uso would wait for Jack to grasp the importance of what was just said... while her hand went to her hips, keying in some very important commands
Sasha heard the beeps coming from her mobile communication thing, then read Uso's message. She then slowly began to key a short answer.
Jack raised an eyebrow, "That was a much more positive reaction than I was expecting."
He tilted his head as if in thought for a moment, "I have an idea for something mam, it would require some people, and more would be needed to get it running, but it has the chance of greatly help in USO's expansion, advancement, and keeping our edge."
Jack looked to Uso as she waited for further responses, see if any interest if any was present.
Airspace above the beach
Alex had gotten Uso's message about wanting to see people about Music and had decided to stop by to see what all the fuss was about. He was circling above the beach now, and decided to do something a little bit crazy.
After lowering his altitude a little bit, Alex opened up the cockpit and jumped out of it, landing with an enormous splash in the water. His head popped up, sending a spray of water droplets around him. His hair was messy now, and he let out a loud laugh.
"Eheheh... Hey Uso! Why do you want to talk to people about music?"
Uso frowned a bit,
Mook clearly didn't understand the gravity of getting the band together.
Then a smile came as Alex splashed-down nearby,
"ALEX!" she shouted, "WE'RE GETTING THE BAND BACK TOGETHER!"
Mook would then continue talking, something about an idea, needing people, "Yes, yes, go grab whoever you want and make it happen. Figure out your budget... How much do drums and Amps cost? Not those like... tiny amps... I want to get the ones Aethersperm used.
Have you ever been to one of their shows?"
Uso's attention shot back towards Alex for a moment,
"CAN YOU PLAY ANYTHING?
CAN WE GET A BASS GUITAR SIZED FOR A U1?"
Jack put a hand to his face before answering, "Yes mam, I can procure some, but that's not what I'm talking about. What I'm referring to is a new sub-division of the sky guard dedicated to advancing our tech, weapons, tactics, methods of intelligence, new tech, .....and fire suppression."
He made a point of emphasizing the last two words, slightly thrown of by the reckless landing, and Uso's lack of attention, leading to a raise eyebrow in response.
"Don't worry 'bout that till there is something to worry about." Uso said, perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to ignore fire-supression... but she was nearly certain that wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass later.
"I mean, you're welcome to setup your own group. I can get you some funding, some space in nath tower, whatever you need... DO what you feel you need to...
... but I need you to focus first.
What instruments do you play?"
Jack perked up slightly at the clearance and the question, "Electric and acoustic guitar."
"Alright then, so we have a starting point... We'll need to get everyone together... ask some questions... figure this all out. Start thinking of songs... and merch... and venues and such...." Uso said, "I take it we're leaning towards rock... I wonder if I can get Aethersperm to tour with us?" Uso said, mostly thinking to herself at this point.
