RP: NSS Altomir [Mission 1.1] Gathering the Bearings

"Thanks, Alexandra. Good to know there's someone around to take care of us. I'm Desiree, or just Des is fine."

Des moved her arms in circles and rolled her shoulders to adjust to the bandages. There were more bandages than Des cared to count. She thanked her lucky stars adrenaline had kept her going this far.

She pulled the coffee packet out of her pocket and turned to her suit to retrieve her waterpack and heat canister. She took one quick look over her shoulder, in Alexandra's direction.

"Can I interest you in, uh..." She paused, holding the coffee packet up. "Half a cup o' joe? For your troubles?"

"Thank you Des," Alexandra replied with smile but she showed Des her palm turning her offer politely. "I have my own coffee-pack in my rations, which reminds me that I am hungry." She said and grinned, standing up and quietly walking to her Hostile, open next to slumbering Grand Admiral. First she put the suit in low-power mode, since she did not do so earlier and then she retrieved her own pack. She then walked back to Des and sat next to her opening the pack.

"Well, let's have a peek," The medic said exploring the contents. "Hmm sasauge something and guess what. Whole carrot. Well they say it'S good for eyesight. Some cigarettes and energy drink. That is bound to be useful later and of course coffee." She then started preparing coffee cup of her own. She looked at Bernhard who was fast asleep and decided to let him rest. Bernie was medic, he would knew if there was anything needing the medical attention.

"How about you?" She turned to Naomi. "Want me to check you too. I bet you have some scratches and bruised that needs some soothing. You also have quite a bump on your head."

Thomas was about to ask who exactly Muna was, but then halted and gave up the idea, wincing as the other marine tried to cut the enemy weapon free. "Hey, It's your ration and you can do what you want with it though," He said, but then considered what he said for a few moments. No, that didn't sound like him at all. "But I'm sure there is enough there to share if you feel like it." Yeah, that was more like it, too thirsty to refuse it, but not enough to take the whole thing for himself.

He took another moment to look around, this time to check if anyone else needed his assistance with their equipment. He also noticed that Bernhard's armor seemed to be the one that was most banged up, but then Thomas was also afraid of waking up the marine and probably startle him. He was jumpy after all. With that, Thomas brought his attention back to Saveli.

"How are you going to use that weapon if you cut it out, anyway?" He asked.

"I can tell that this weapon is a hard-point attachment." Saveli traced his finger along the lines and contours of the Mindy. He then tapped his his knife just over the section where the hard-point was at. "This is close to where it connects, you can see the segmented plates running flush here, but there's a little space to them. This gun is mounted, not attached, so this means that connections at base could possibly be rewired for our purpose. Possibly."

VHHIRRRRIRRISKSHICKKSFHKKKWHIIRRRRRRRRSSHHHUCKSHHHHSEKCHKWRRRRRRRRRRR. screamed Saveli's chain-blade as it cut through the remainder of the material, allowing the gun to fall free. "If we've no idea how to rewire it, we can always tear it open and find out how we can operate the trigger mechanism. I think. I'm not sure, but I'm unaware to how long we'll be spending out here, so it's best to prepare."

The Iroma heaved the rifle down near his armor and looked at the torn base of the large-bore weapon.

"This weapon is using a drum clip to load its rounds. If possible, we could actually make a rifle that Grand Admiral Vanderhuge can use." noted Saveli, looking at the frayed extensions at the bottom. "I have very little in the way of mechanical know-how, but my family has scavenging in their blood. We'll make use of this weapon somehow."

Des prepared her coffee and sipped it carefully. She looked toward her suit, thinking she should retrieve her ration, too, but her appetite was unfortunately missing. Oh well, she had a lifetime left of being hungry. Why complain about a missed appetite?

The MANLY Meat Roll was held at the side, half-eaten, as Devlin washed the cheese down with a swig of hot sauce. The redhead’s belly bloated from the building pressure. He placed a hand over his stomach and belched up a cloud of gas; the ethereal shimmer of grease and oil forming a skull and crossbones before dissipating into the station. Contented, he let his posture slouch as he grabbed a washcloth from the ration kit and lightly dabbed at his mouth, giving a small, “Excuse me,” to his neighbor.

Private Towa seemed like a reserved woman, letting the silence endure with each drag on her cigar, but it was eating at Devlin as he tried to entertain himself. “Let’s hope we don’t have to fight near an open flame,” he said, raising the meat roll, “With the diets they’re putting us on, we wouldn’t last five seconds.”

The world was quiet, for the most part, or at least quiet enough for Krystian to tolerate for the moment. Ear-phones plugged in, he had stopped playing music for the last several minutes now, just enjoying the silence, and being left by himself for a short while. He hadn't really slept, even though his eyes were closed, and the only real movement he made was to tend to his cigarette. He was enjoying that near-sleep feeling. The kind you get from being so tired that just having the chance to close your eyes was a physical relief. To be honest, he was just enjoying himself.

As much as one could, in a high-intensity combat zone, with no real hope of immediate support, and after many hours of fighting and fleeing for his life while doing his best to ensure the safety and well-being of two of the highest-ranking Nepleslian Marines currently on the planet -- though Vanderhuge really hadn't needed much "guarding", to be honest. So this was a much needed respite. A time that he could get out of his suit, have a smoke, and simply relax in the open air. At any time the Mishu could come barging in to the station but at the moment he was too tired to really care.

Opening his eyes, he began to look around the station.

If he was keeping track of time correctly, it was nearly time for guards to swap out. He rose up with a stretch and a yawn, in order to be ready to volunteer as relief for the guards in question.

"Don't wave a so much as a cinder around your ration container," Yuriko stated after blowing a tiny smoke ring. Her free hand reaching to her otherside and placing a can of oil down between herself and Devlin.

"Shit like this is in every one of those containers. Sometimes a gun, jet fuel, gasoline, oil. Never know what combustible you'll find." she raised her eyebrows up and down several times before going back to her cigar.

Without any response from the other woman Alex just moved and sat next to Des. She again opened her ration and sipped hot coffee. A whole carrot appeared and Alex looked at it bitterly.

"Well I hoped for something better I tell you." She said and sighed, before biting the tip off and starting to crunch on it. "Oh well could be worse. Though I am unhappy that I had so many rations and I still did not get the bloody forty-fiver!" Alexandra says angrily after swallowing. She then sighs again and continues eating her carrot.

Des nodded. "Yeah, I feel ya, Alex. With my luck I probably got the chili. Or anything else that'll make me regret getting back in my suit later. Thank goodness my appetite's nowhere in sight right now, anyway." She took another sip of her coffee.

Alexandra chuckled. She would not mind some chilli. "If you have chilli I can swap it for my sausage something." She said and laughed a little. Getting this rest was something she needed. She looked at her hands, thee was still some of dried admiral's blood on them. As was on her suits hand. After each mission she had bloody hands and it was almost always blood of her comrades. "Anyway you should try to eat something anyway. Who knows when you get another chance Des."

"That is true. I think we can work something out of it." Thomas said, crouching down next to Saveli so that he could examine the weapon more closely. Said weapon looked as alien and strange as the particle rifle he had acquired and used earlier. 'Calm down, all weapons basically work on the same way,' the marine thought as he started to understand the weapon as well.

And the thought of tinkering with enemy technology also sounded particularly entertaining.

Although the weapon's design was different from the other Nepleslian weapons he was familiar with, he had an idea of it once he saw the helical magazine, but he also couldn't make out where the trigger mechanism was just like the other marine. "We're going to need a pretty huge trigger for it if it's intended to be used by the admiral. Do you think this can be opened with your VCBS?" He asked after a while.

The sun floating over the smoke filled skies of Bal'Sharok gently slid it's way across the sky, as could be seen up at the shifting light at the entrance of the station. Time was passing, and day-light was burning, but so could the attention of those placed on watch. Violetta, interrupting her quiet vigil of the situation, called for a replacement in the watch. Her eyes searched the group and found her four candidates. She had mentioned taking volunteers, but she felt the sudden need to make the decision herself.

First, the volunteer, Czarnecki.

Then, the new woman, Caldwell.

And the engineer speaking to the alien, Mort.

And finally... the woman with them, Mayhew. All four were ordered to replace current watch. Caldwell and Mayhew would take the watch at the entrance, while Czarnecki and Mort would manage the tunnel.

----

"Ah, looks like your number has been called, mechanist." mentioned Saveli as he worked on the rifle, splitting the metal on the side to take a look at it. "We'll look at this later, when we have the time. For now, I'm going to climb back into my armor."

And Saveli did just that, climbing back into the armor, before testing the leg out again. "Thanks again, by the by!"

Bernhard stirred, his mind screaming at him to go back to sleep but his own Savtech telling him that it was time to wake up and get back to killing things. He slightly regretted giving it a very aggressive personality.

When he tried to scratch his head, all Bernhard felt was the top of a very smooth surface. That meant... oh wait, he had fallen asleep in his Hostile.

As he blinked away the sleep, Bernhard looked around. Marines were walking about. If they were walking, it probably meant they were okay and didn't need medical attention. The female Admiral was strutting around again. She really was like a female version of old man Valken. What was her name?

"Admiral, I suggest you get some rest before we move out. We can wake you if anything comes up," Bernhard suggested from where he sat.

"Wait, wha," Devlin stammered as he pulled his ration into his lap in a flurry, dropping the meat roll on the floor while wrapped in the washcloth. It took little time to spot the jerry can without the MANLY there to steal its glory. Prying the can out of the foam mold, he turned it over to spot a colorful label.

JET A1 - FLAMMABLE LIQUID

Narrowed eyes slid toward Private Towa as Devlin gave her a cocky grin. "My combustible is better than yours," he said, playfully sticking out his tongue, "I can tell you're jealous."

Alexandra finished her carrot and rose to her feet stretching up. She will save the sausage thing for later. She opened the box and lit a single cigarette just to relax a little. Just as she finished it and put it in the floor, Admiral called her and three others including Des for guard duty.

"Well no rest for the wicked I guess," Alex said with chuckle. She did not get any shuteye. Time sure went fast and she needed her energy. It was why she fished the energy drink from the ration and drank it all at one go. Energy drink and coffee should be more then enough to keep her on her toes. Alex quickly closed the ration pack and ran to her Hostile, storing it. She then climbed in and powered up the suit.

She closed it, put her helmet on and made sure it's airtight. She then walked back to Des. "Okay we got the building across from the entrance. Let's move so we can relief those two guys there." She said and made sure her HPAR was locked and loaded.

Yuriko merely thumbed the back of her cigar a few times in response to Devlin's declaration of flammable superiority. The ashes had come so close to his can of jet fuel yet had not set it off.

"Be careful with that stuff or you'll go up like a Roman Candle."

As the call for a rotation of the guard came, Krystian found that he was picked (which was a given, considering that he was the only Marine who had actually volunteered). As he climbed in to his suit, he was presented with the orders for who would secure what areas and instantly noted that he wasn't assigned to the building across the street. Admittedly, it would have been more to his tastes, even with somebody else beside him, but he didn't much like close combat experiences like those that he would likely encounter in the tunnel. Yet as a well-trained and disciplined young Marine, he knew that the Creator had not made it his to ask why, but to do what he was told to do. So if a commanding officer told him to hold a position in a tunnel, then he would do so.

He tossed his cigarette to the ground and started getting ready. Once he finished suiting up and getting ready, he grabbed the foreign Impaler rifle so recently given to him, and went down the tunnel designated as his for the next guard shit.

An encryped communication to the current guard warned him of Krystian's arrival to avoid getting shot because of the wound up reflexes of a jumpy guard. After all, if Marines were getting tense as that one medic had been earlier, then he wanted to play it safe. Once Krystian arrived, the other Marine had started on his journy back to the platform. With that all taken care off, Krystian was left to his own devices fat a point 115 meters down from the platform. He took a moment to examine his immediate surroundings to see if there was any debris, inlets of the wall, or other cover for him to use.

Des did some stretching before suiting up.

"Lookout at that building, got it," she said to Alexandra as she clicked her helmet in place. A quick weapons and system check indicated everything was running pretty well, certainly not at its best, but nothing worth worrying about. Which was good, because Des didn't have time to worry.

"After you, my fair lady," she bowed to Alexandra, gesturing for her to take the lead.

"Yeah. And what you wanna say is probably 'by the way', by the way." Thomas replied to Saveli as he watched the Iroma to climb back inside his Hostile. He moved out and did the same, casting a last look at the enemy rifle and muttering a 'Shame...' as he turned around end entered his PA, pretty much like a kid returning to class by the end of a lunch break. Except there was no lunch and no break.

Once he had finished clicking the helmet into place, Thomas checked on his LSP, pulling the magazine to check if there was ammo inside and then slamming it back home as he moved to the opposite side of the subway tracks as Krystian did.

Instead of sending an encrypted message to the other marine, Thomas just figured that it would be simpler to relieve him in person, and once he did so and sent the other man on his way back, he activated his suit's night vision and took some cover, watching his end of the tracks.