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RP: NSS Alliance MISSION 2, PART 1: Dinner with the Enemy

Tom

Tom

Well-Known Member
The mess hall was filling quickly. The crew, as well as each of the marine contingents were serving themselves food and drink, as well as finding seats.

Captain Miller had taken a position on the stage and was scribbling onto his datapad. Next to him, on a small four-legged round table, was a glass of water and a sandwich that had been undisturbed. Cadet Willis stood at the side of the captain, surveying the area as well as keeping an eye on the captain, waiting for his signal.

The Cadet had been bogged with paperwork himself, which explained his absence from the VR training. The hulking ID-SOL was unsuccessful in hiding the large scowl of disappointment on his face, as he had wanted to partake in the action.

Miller passed his datapad to the ID-SOL, who hastily scribbled something onto it as well before passing it back to the captain.

"Seems like the executive officer saw something that caught his eye," Willis muttered. "But is it right to promote those two so swiftly?"

The captain nodded without looking at Willis, making sure that the documentation in his hand had been properly signed.

"You saw the rosters, cadet. Alpha squad, as well as the rest of the marines, need the rank balance. I have faith in my XO."

With that, the Miller looked to the sandwich on his table, then back at the cadet.

"Five minutes."

The ID-SOL just nodded.
 
After the little 'witch hunt' meeting from before, Cadet Matthew Lionheart had gone to a secondary computer station to grumble and work. His work was actually more of a personal interest for him, creating a variety of intrusion programs and viral programs for several computers systems ranging from the Reds Armor/Ship computers to Yamataian low-grade Quantum Computers. The only computer system he had trouble understanding were those Elysian Organic Computer Systems, making the young man wish he had taken a hint of biology with his curriculum.

The grumbling, on the other hand, was simply because he thought he had made the Executive Officer of the ship look like an idiot. Though the LT had really done it to himself on that endeavor, the young Lionheart still felt like crap for making a superior officer look like that. Back in school, he would have been forced to do some god awful amount of physical activity to appease said officer or drill instructor. But here, he had made out like a bandit.

Sighing and dry washing his face, Matthew entered the mess hall looking annoyed. The Cadet First Class walked up to serve himself, looking up and towards all the ladies of the support staff. Looking at all those forms, even a computer geek like Matthew could allow his annoyed expression to leave his face before taking his food and moving away. Looking around, the bearded Lionheart seemed to search the mess hall for a appropriate seat.
 
A cook not a decorationist (not a real word but i like it)

Making food on short notice in massive quantities was never as fun as cooking with a nice slow pace. Of course Chris didn't complain out loud, he just expected the VR to take longer then it did. The free time was always welcome, but work called and it wasn't long until food had been set out thanks to the help of the others.

The leftovers from the burritos were used in several rather ingenious ways, saving time in preparations. The lettuce and variety of vegetables were used to make a salad cart, with some new ingredients added in with a choice of dressings made readily available.

The left over hamburger was added with a large fresh batch, seems that meat doesn't last long. Though a good bit did remain which retained the distinct taste of spices. The taste would have to be overlapped with something stronger. Swedish meatballs would do nicely, with an over layering of sugar that distinctive sweet yet creamy sauce should combat the spice nicely, though not completely.

And finally the left over burrito mix. This took some creativity, as not many foods used it other then Mexican. Making it into pasta noodles was defiantly a bit strange, if not down right outrageous, but the little device that stretched dough into spaghetti worked beautifully though it defiantly wouldn't taste like regular spaghetti, but that's what the sauce was for.
 
Wazu virtually signed for some materials to be loaded onto the Alliance, including a series of tools to help with installation of new systems pending the captain's approval. There was also the issue of Adrian which was going to create a backlog of paperwork in the form of electronic forms to fill out.

Wazu stopped in the hallway and rubbed his temple, leaning against the wall for a moment.

He brought his data pad up and set it to record a message. "I would like to make some modifications to the aft storage bay to make full accommodations for VR simulators and some upgrades to the life support systems. Full lists of the modifications are included as a virtual image with this message.â€
 
As Miller munched his sandwich, his datapad blipped. It was a message from Adrian, one of the marines.

Technical Sentry Jonas P. Grames was admitted to medical bay today with minor cuts and bruises and a concussion. According to Armor Bay staff, these injuries came from unauthorized use of a Marine power armor.
Click to expand...

His chewing slowed until he looked a bit like a cow.

Ooookkk... I'll need to have a chat with the staff down there.

Miller swallowed and took a sip of water.

Blip. Blip. Blip.

Hm... ok. It was a request for more materials.

Here was Miller's quick reply.

Lieutenant, I am able to approve the materials request, but they'll have to wait until completion of our next mission. We're set to depart within the next few hours.
Click to expand...

Ok, that was taken care of. Most of the crew had assembled. He then saw that most of Alpha Squad just got up and left the cafeteria.

What the fuck? He checked his watch--Four minutes left.

Approximately 3 minutes later, Ally sent a message to his datapad.
Captain, there has been an incident involving two marines. Lieutenant Heram has taken care of the issue, but I'm sending you the details now.
Click to expand...

Miller's voice chimed over the intercom.

"All crew members and marines are required to report to the mess hall immediately for mission briefing."

He nodded at Wazu as he entered. The briefing would start come hell or high water, but he groaned inwardly at the latest turn of events.

At least the sandwich was good.
 
Valo had just finished carrying Adrian to the back of the medical bay. Valo picked up one of the medical beds in his free hand and carried it with him.

Valo sat the bed down and Adrian on top of it and immediately strapped his arms and legs down. As he did he spoke to Adrian "You must be restrained for the protection of yourself and others.â€
 
Kokuten was on his way out when Valo came in with Adrian, he watched Valo quickly preform his duties.

"Hey, er, do you need any help with him?" Kokuten asked, making sure that he didn't leave any duties unattended.
 
Adrian watched Valo walk to the containers. He tried to say something to the machine, but all that really came out was a wierd mass of sounds. The murmuring in his skull had subsided slightly, but his brain and body still hurt.
The medic thought over the last couple moments of his life.
Trying to kill himself.
Ally coming in and giving her pre-programmed routine designed to stop a Marine from ending his life and wasting all that money the government had dumped into him by making it look like maybe someone cared.
The trek down the hallway on Driker's back.
It all sucked. How did that damn android stop him? Adrian breathed deep, just about the only thing in his body he was able to control.
 
Fian took a seat at the back of the mess hall with a hamburger. The Vel Steyr had not eaten anything since this morning, with the meeting starting soon he won't have time for a full meal either. Not wanting to think of the earlier incident(s) on an empty stomach. He took a bite of the meat and tried to swallow it, there was something odd about it but he just cant put a finger down on what exactly. Setting the hamburger aside, he looked around to see if Rico has arrived yet.

If that man is as tough as I think he is, he'll be here aaany minute now.

Fian half-heartedly took another bite at the hamburger. It still something odd about it but at least it tasted good.
 
Valo turned his head to Kokuten "No sir. I am capable of attending to this situation."

Valo walked back to the bed and held out his right arm allowing a small panel on his wrist to slide away and an empty vial lifted out. Valo replaced the empty container with a full one.

"Adrian is your name yes?" Valo asked without really expecting a response. Valo held out his right hand and a needle shot up from the end of the index finger "This will assist your body in cleaning itself. You may feel some discomfort over the next few hours, but I assure you it only means the medication is functioning properly"
 
Soreta arrived as mysteriously as she left the VR sims earlier - it was as if she just appeared with the other marines; rather uncomfortably close to Fian, notably, and munching on the rather peculiar improvised meal. She looked quite pleased with herself, not to mention the food.

This briefing affected her more than anyone; after all, she was their mission, wasn't she? Soreta's anticipation was at a head. Let's see what the good captain says now...
 
John entered the mess hall, eying the vast buffet of food and slapping his hand together in sheer joy. 'Oh YEAH" The marine grabbed a plate and started picking out what he wanted in large spoonfuls and handfuls, grabbing some refreshment and plopping down next to Fian.
"Heh there lil buddy!"

He then proceeded to salute the captain, and commenced a glorified face stuffing as if he were a pack of wolves that had just come upon a fresh kill. The sound of engorgement however was thankfully muffled out by the voices of the crew, for had they heard it at it's full roar the certainly would have become ill.

John's thoughts however wondered from the meal, over the news of Rico and Adrian, only to be interrupted by a rumbling from his digestive tract. He muttered the word "sabotage" once and lowly under his breath between bites as he leaned in the opposite direction of Fian, a cloud of what could be mistaken as some chemical warfare agent wafted from his own chair as he sat level once more and continued his meal, hoping the captain's announcments might be delayed long enough for a second course.
 
Kokuten gave a quick wave of the hand to Valo and to anyone else who still found themselves to be in or around the Med bay. The Medic then quickly jogged off, out of the Med bay and towards the Mess Hall. He whipped out a cigar and was about to light it, but decided to save it until after the meal. Kokuten's thoughts drifted back to the last moment he had quiet smoke, which was before the last sim. His last cigar was interupted when Ally busted in on Adrian and himself. He had to toss that one aside to restrain Rico.

What a waste, but best to forget about it.

The Cyborg slowed down as he entered the Mess Hall, he was rather hungry after the recent excitement and decided to grab spaghetti. He sat down towards the front of the Mess Hall, so he could hear that was all to be said. Though in the meantime, he would eat his meal. Though for some odd reason, it tasted like he was eating corn tortillias with meat sauce...[/i]
 
Rico firmly decided that it felt good to have his right arm back into working condition. However, he had not had the change to place a new cover of synthetic flesh on it and as such the mechanisms and cybernetics were laid bare underneath his military jacket. It was an odd feeling...he had not serviced his arm in a long time and it felt very different to him to have it exposed.

Rico picked up his already quick pace as he ran through the empty corridors of the NSS Alliance. As he rounded the last corner and the cafeteria bulkhead door came into view he smirked, glad to hear the roar of voices signifying that Miller had not started his speech yet. He quickly burst through the doorway, stopping a few feet off to the side to catch his breath.
 
Adrian felt the small needle puncture his flesh, and moments later more pain permeated his body.
Shit. Don't we have anything better for detox or is this prep for a lethal injection?
He tried to maybe roll over, which was quickly thwarted by the rather tight restraints.
Well damn. Looks like I'm gonna be in here for a long time.
 
Valo stood over Adrian watching him for a few moments before turning away to attend other matters "I will release your restraints when your prepared to release the toxins from your body. Until then I would suggest sleeping"
 
(Mini-JP between Moonman, Fian and FM)

Oh god no. Fian thought as he heard the sound of fat boy detonating from John Hawkins rear end. Even before he could take his last breath of air, he was assaulted by the aromas of a thousand sewers. Quietly getting off the bench, he walked away to the other end of the canteen, his escape muffled by the sounds of John's own gastronomic adventure.

Soreta couldn't believe what she just breathed in. Even the worst of Nepleslian grunts were above open flatulence. She was fuming. In short order, she got up, stepped behind Hawkins, hit him upside the head with a well-recognized Yamataian technique, picked up her food, and followed in Fian's direction. Most of the other marines followed suit, although Soreta was the only one who hit him.

A group of marines were waving at Fian from a table; it consisted of some of the men he worked with during the VR Simulation. They had not had an opportunity to talk with him because he kept walking out of the room after each simulation. Feeling welcomed and rather eager to be distracted of huge concentrations of methane gas, he sat down next to them.

Soreta recognized the men from Epsilon Team - they were skilled, if not 'special' in the sense that she was. Sitting next to Fian once again, she softly resumed eating; unless she was called on, she had no reason to speak.

It has been a while since Fian had casually talked to the rest of the marines. The men were quite friendly to him. Somebody cracked a joke about a flaming marine and everybody laughed... For a while, then a stunned silence only perpetuated by the Vel Steyr's solo guffaw. Even that did not last very long either when he found out that nobody else is laughing. Something was wrong... Something was wrong to his right.

Soreta simply smiled.

Fian fell off his stool.

In the few moments he took to compose himself from his long sprint, Rico quickly glanced around the room in an attempt to spot some of his comrades. He found Fian amongst the crowd and attempted to wave him down...however, before he could do so, he was witness to the odd chain of events leading from a quick relocation away from John to Fian clumsily falling from his stool. By that time, however, Rico had moved close enough to assist his friend back up. "Careful baby, that's a good way to crack your head. Wouldn't want that to happen before you got your promotion, eh?" Rico laughed loudly, patting a hand on his back before briskly taking a seat across from him.

Fian was rendered speechless for a while. He was positively shocked that Soreta would be sitting with the marines, worse, sitting right next to him! The marines from Epsilon had also heard what Rico said and had started ruffling the stunned Vel Steyr.

"Vel Steyr and Sanoroma...it's good to see you can rely on one another." A smile from Soreta, who seemed highly amused at the exchange that just took place.

Rico flashed a sly smile as the gaggle of marines began to murmur and wave congratulations at Fian. He then looked back to Soreta for a moment, before speaking again. "Yeah, you heard right! Mr. P2C Vel Steyr just got a little bump in rank for his damn good leadership."

Soreta's next statement was rather cryptic. "Fast promotions are a common thing for soldiers like the two of you."

Fian had to take off the pressure. "And you too! P1C Sanorama!" He said, shaping his hands like a gun and pointing at Rico. And then he turned to Soreta. "And you, what brings you here with the grunts?"

Soreta was blunt. "I don't like Wazu; he may have what it takes, but I'll be damned if I can spend any more than 10 minutes around him." The statement was more true than she made out.

Rico laughed softly at Soreta's statement. "Aww, what's wrong with the Lieutenant? I think he's a swell guy...knows talent when he sees it," he said with a proud look on his face.

"Ah." Fian replied turning back to face Rico. He still felt uncomfortable near the Yamataian trained Geshrin, he still cant see her eyes! "How do you feel, Rico?"

Rico waved his right arm dismissingly at Fian, showing that it was in working condition. He did not know whether he was talking about the arm, or the drug treatments...although, Rico would've rather just talked about his arm. "Good as new baby. That Gran might be worth havin' around after all."

---

Abruptly, Soreta changed the subject. "So who do you like for the airbike race in FC next week?"

"Airbikes, eh?" Rico said, raising an eyebrow slightly. Rico himself had some experience with airbikes...a throwback from his days in Nepleslia. "My money's on Red Terrelso...guy's got talent, and none of those old farts can keep up."

"I trust El Pacino to win." Fian said, trying to recall what he heard from one fellow marine a long time ago. He was not a fan of airbikes, but he felt there is a duty to at least make the diplomat comfortable. "The latest Zen Arms hoverbikes may be statistically faster, but you don't know what kind of modifications that guy did on his horse."

Soreta shook her head with a smirk. "Hardly...I hear Victory's coming back into the ring with some new sponsor, and none of the newer guys could hope to match him. It's just a rumor, though."

This time it was Rico's turn to change the subject. "So, ya like airbikes? What else do you like?" Rico said, adopting a much smoother smile as he leaned a bit in her direction.

"It almost sounds like you want to get kicked in the groin." A knowing smirk stretched across Soreta's face

"Whoa whoa baby. I try not to get physical until the second date," Rico said with a chuckle. "Although, if you're that desperate I can make...a small exception."

"Cut it out Rico." Fian said, raising his voice a little. "I don't think you are ready to go back to the medibay yet."

Rico glanced at Fian with an odd look for a moment before leaning back a bit. He was a little put off by Fian's comment...but he put that aside as he shrugged. "...fine. Maybe some other time, eh sweety? Me and Fian do have to keep up appearances."

Soreta seemed less than enthused at that idea. "Maybe someday you can go to Kyoto and find a neko who'll have you...that is, if Ally doesn't decide to erase all records of your existence. There's a reason Kessaku IES types aren't programmed for sexual relations..."

Fian felt that this was going to escalate into another argument and sure enough, somebody might just get hurt. "That's enough, Soreta. Rico will always be Rico. You don't want to raise a ruckus when the captain is this near starting the meeting." Fian paused to look at the plates on the table. "Enough talk, eat, before the captain begins."

Rico, again, gave another odd look through his smile. What is with all this crap I'm getting for Ally? She's a fuckin' computer... Rico took a moment to find something to say...he was running out of quips, and somewhere along the line the conversation had turned completely around. He suddenly smiled at Soreta...not so much a flirtatious smile, but an impressed one. "Heh. You're good. Fine...I'm done."
 
Istvan ate quickly. Not talking much. He was curious about a couple things. He was upset with Rico still, though he understood that Rico had not been under controll... and he was curious about Benji. He was unsure how much of the kiss the man had given rico was in jest, but he was interested. He was not at his most personable though, wanting to get some of the food in his stomach before anything would interrupt. It tasted funny.... not at all like the good wintr borscht his mother used to make, but he was used to this oddness, he had been in the army a long time, and they rarely ate the foods he was used to.
 
Gran had waved after the running Rico, who then dashed off to the mess hall to meet the other marines and prepare for the briefing. Gran stood in place as Rico left the medbay. He sat back down in the chair beside the bed, he picked up the burnt connector that he had removed from Rico's arm and stared at it for a full two minutes. His knuckles throbbed and he slowly looked at them, he obviously bruised ligaments from hitting the wall and the panel to the medbay door, they had swelled nicely.

He got up and ran some cold water over his slightly damaged hand, soothing the ache. His gaze fell on the flowing water but soon wandered over to where Adrian was tied down. His other hand took a small glass from the wall and filled it with the cool water and found a short piece of sterile plastic tubing that would serve as a straw. His feet walked towards the door and by Adrian's bed, his hand setting the glass near Adrian's head, the straw within easy reach of his mouth. He quickly continued out the door and walked swiftly to the mess hall.

Upon arriving, he silently grabbed a tray and filled it. He chose to sit at a relatively empty and quiet table, not too far from Rico, Fian, and Soreta. He stared blankly at his tray as he munched his vitals, not really thinking about his surroundings, just waiting for the briefing.
 
Adrian listened to Valo and gritted his teeth to the best of his ability.
And that'll happen when?
However, there was no protest that could actually be made in his current physical state, so he decided to catch some sleep anyway.
Adrian heard a faucet running and looked to where Gran was standing.
As Gran walked over with the small glass of water, the medic readied himself for a face-full of water or a beat-down. Neither happened.
As Gran walked away, Adrian stared at the cup.
Is it poisoned? Gran was pretty pissed about Rico...
Until he knew for sure, he didn't dare touch the water.
 
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