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RP: Origin OIF Karakoram episode 1.1: A New Hunt

Kai

Retired Staff
RP Date
Ye 41
RP Location
OIF Karakoram
It had taken longer than anticipated, but the Karakoram had finally readied for its second journey. Despite the ship having no problems in and of itself, it took much longer to ready a mission, as intel and personnel were both a little harder to come by for a mission like this. And yet, they had found something; A lead. This lead was a lot more solid than previous ones, and therefore the crew of the Mecha-carrying, pirate-hunting 'test' ship were finally ready to go. As before, the Karakoram was connected to Dawn station via a gangway, long tubes jutting out from the station allowing personnel and supplies to be loaded on the ship. And, as before, a 5'3" redheaded freespacer stood at the entrance to one of these gangways, waiting for the return of 'her' crew; that is, the pilots of the Mecha that the ship carried, the team that was supposed to help the also mecha wielding pirates that had been plaguing Origin's supply chain for years.

"Heeeeeeeeyyy!!!!" Nora shouted, jumping and waving to get the attention of the returning crew, as well as a new face or two. "I'm over here! Mecha Pilots! Get your booties in gear!"
 
Charles made his way over to Nora, and looked around at the faces of the other pilots. It seemed like some had washed out, and some new faces had shown up. However, for the most part, the group was made up of familiar crewmates. He made his way through the docking tube, floating for a moment between the station's artificial gravity field and that of the ship.

"What's up Nora," He asked the red-haired Freespacer, "Are we heading out again?" Dawn station is nice, he thought to himself, but it'll be good to have something to do again.
 
Jennifer was leaning against the tube connecting the ship to the station behind Nora, and mostly gave Charles a nod. "Looks like. The space breathers at the top of the mountain seem to have finally remembered why they got us all together in the first place." She said, her accent still strong as ever, still frequently making one wonder just how intelligent she was by accent alone, but as most in the crew learned, she was a near wizard with the mechas and most other general maintenance on the ship. She was still in the heavy boots, thick cargo pants, long coat and thick shirt (well stained but also well cleaned) she was known for. The tool belt helped with cluing folks in to what her preferred role was.

"Still think that handing me a combat mecha is the worst frame for what I do." She stated to Nora, continuing a long-running disagreement.
 
Anna and Bella wandered around the station for a time before finally finding their way to the docking tubes, glancing at each other first with a smirk they floated across to meet the others. The twins had been assigned to Dawn station on order of their direct superior Kryss Black at Horizon, their reason for being there was simply to assist with prototype testing yet in their regular fashion the duo had found their way to this ship.
"Mech pilots huh?"
"That sounds like a testing job, just like we were meant to."
"We did run away from that guy who was trying to take us somewhere earlier."
"Stranger danger, never can be too careful."

The two laughed as they touched down beside the rest of the actual pilots, looking around their gaze quickly determined 2 things, there were an awful lot of females, and the only current male in sight was shorter than average. "Oh hey, a short guy, didn't know they let kids play with mechs these days." Anna said, mocking Charles before she even knew his name.
"So is this the place for testing the interesting stuff? They tried stuffing us in some boring room with tiny things but we decided to come try out the more interesting things." Bella chimed in, the two girls looking around at the others. "Is this just an all girls club, cause i think someone might be lost."
 
"I mean~" a voice piped up from a little further behind Anna and Bella, it's owner being a somewhat shortish Nepleslian wrapped up in a fluffy-hooded winter jacket that hung down off her shoulders a bit and exposed hints of her pale chest where the woman's origin undershirt and sports bra beneath didn't cover, bottom half clad in the skirt of the company's uniform and a loose set of military boots as she approached the other pilots, metal hands that poked out from her sleeves hugging a brightly-skinned laptop close to Cheylarus' modest frame as her fingers tapped against it gently.

"~the more weight you can save the better right? and women generally have smaller frames so it makes sense both why he was picked and why we are all here," Chey continued, her lightly freckled nose screwing up a little before the clearly rather geeky Nepleslian with her gradient hair up in two messy buns brushed aside some of the hair that hung down the left side of her face aside, further obscuring the rather out of the way scar that ran down Chey's cheek to her neck before she let out a disinterested sigh.

"Anyway sorry I'm a little late, Nora, I had something I needed to finish up along the way," Cheylarus explained her tardiness briefly before letting out a little shiver, the ship wasn't cold but for someone who had grown up on the beaches of a planet called Boiling Hot it was a little too chilly for her liking... maybe she should have worn a hoodie under her jacket~

Her mind was wandering from the giant mechanized things they were here to pilot already~
 
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As if in direct opposition to what Cheylarus had said about smaller frames, the giant Lorath that was known to the crew as Oracle stepped up, her heavy footfalls announcing her arrival. "So, are we to stay out longer than a single mission this time?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. She held no armor with her this time, but as before a sword hung at her waist. Long multi-hued hair swung behind her as she stopped beside Cheylarus and rested the palm of her hand against the grip of her sword. She wore baggy pants cinched in at the knees with her legs below wrapped in bandages with sandles on, Oracle wore a vest over a sleeveless shirt and had her hands wrapped as well up to her forearms.

"It is good to see you again Nora." She had been recalled to the crew over a contract she had signed to run a few missions for the group in exchange for some technology developed for her suit, along with the fact that they had saved her... Along with the training, Oracle had been more or less reminded that she was required to fulfill her contract and it rankled her conscious if she didn't hold her word. A small sigh and a hand through her hair found her waiting for the others to join them as she looked to the newer crew.
 
All the way at the back of the gaggle of pilots stood a tall, dusky skinned man with short cropped orange hair and busy sideburns the same color. His eyes, a deep violet color that almost glowed slightly, studied the figures above him... and no, not in that way. He looked... tired, his face weathered but handsome in the way some men are in their 30's, as they start to age but retain the freshness of youth- but those violet eyes betrayed a certain tired weariness to him.

He wore an Origin Industries uniform without much added on, aside from a baclava pulled down to rest around his neck. Closer inspection would reveal scars across his brown skin, both regular wounds, and deep radiation burns. It wasn't too easy to see them however, not with the uniform and the cloth around his neck.

"Is this the Karakoram?" He asked, voice gravely but not without its appeal.
 
"Yup!" Nora cheerily answered the short blonde man, thrusting a fist into the air excitedly, accompanied by a mischievous grin as she watched others begin to appear as well, some face new, some faces old, all though she recognized them all, having a dossier on each uploaded to her mindwear. The space suit that she wore made some soft rustling sounds ans she looked about, almost physically dancing around Jennifer's question, she instead waved at the woman and gave her a wink. "It's just because we all love you and need you closer!" the freespacer would finally answer before a doing a double-take, as she figured her eyes had suddenly begun deceiving her, but then she remembered two of the new pilots were a set of twins.

Welcome to the Karakoram, Anna and Bella!" she greeted, jumping up again to see over the now-forming crowd. Another new face soon appeared, or rather, new to the frame team. On their last journey Cheylarus had been part of Jennifer's maintenance team but, through a few mistaken keystrokes, the Nepleslian woman had somehow made her way onto the frame team, and since they had lost a couple pilots, her services were needed more in this capacity than her previous one. Nora waved and gave a thumbs up to the mousy woman as if to say No Worries, before the tallest member of the group arrived.

Oracle, a contractor, was always dressed a bit differently than the others; though she had been issued an Origin uniform her contract didn't require her to wear it and thus Nora responded with a "Heya Oracle, Lookin fierce as always!" she made her way through the group to try and put a hand on the tall woman's shoulder, which involved quite a lot of upward reaching. "You ready? We've got actual legit intel this time, so it shouldn't just be exercises like the last voyage."

And then finally, another tall one appeared. Malik Ibn Rashidan; While Iromakuanhe weren't common, he wasn't the first one on the ship. In fact, their beloved Captain was actually one, although she hadn't interacted with the group much more than during briefs and debriefs of the practice missions they had gone on before. However, he had asked them a question, and so the short freespacer woman felt obligated to answer, especially a fellow redhead. "Why yes, this is the Karakoram, and you're Malik, right? You managed to pick the correct gangway and meet up with your new squad, since we're the frame test team!"
 
Cheylarus offered an ever so slightly off-center smile before letting out a huff, making sure she hadn't mixed up faces and names at some point between first meeting the frame jockeys and now, offering herself a little curt nod before speaking up, "Sooo uh~ what's that Intel say then? hope it's not anything too rough~" the mousy Nepleslian woman chuckled a bit before one hand snaked down to fix a crease in the bottom of her skirt, taking a moment to smooth it out over her pale thigh before travelling north to once again grip protectively at the laptop being held to her chest - little hints of her NSMC mannerisms slipping in as she made sure the parts of her uniform being worn were pristine among other things, though the girl's hair was a little unkempt and she looked like she had just woken up, faint bags hanging around beneath her warm eyes.
 
Jennifer rolled her eyes. "I can get close enough in my engineering mech. The issue I have with the combat mecha is I can't do engineering work as well, one, and two, I can't carry as many supplies to keep everyone running for extended bouts." She pointed out again. "Oh, welcome back Chey." She said, giving the girl a nod. "Anyways, I need to go make sure the new mechs ain't about to rattle around when they shouldn't." The head of the mech frame maintenance crews said, giving a brief wave before heading inside to deal with mounting new mecha to their racks for transport.
 
There was a nod, and a grunt from Malik as he was greeted- the older man crossed his arms and slid up the baclava to cover his face at on having his name said aloud. Still... He looked around at the other pilots, memories of the last time he had been surrounded with a gaggle of new pilots, fresh and eager to pilot mechs.

No, back then, they were VANDRs. And just like back then, they would learn. There's nothing romantic, or wonderful, or great about things like these. They were just tools like anything else.

"... Being this in love with robots isn't going to go well for anyone." He muttered to himself.
 
"Looks like we've got some fresh brewed coffee, here, a little dark of a roast for my taste but perhaps we'll lighten up his mood soon!" Nora joked about Malik's comment, before flagging down Jennifer prior to her attempted departure.

"Aht! Don't worry about the Frames, Tory's down there handling it and you and I both know she's more than capable. We've got some other stuff to take care of as the frame team first, all reservations aside. And actually what we have coming up will answer your questions, Chey," the freespacer informed them, thumping her chest with importance (It made a dull sound not unlike that of one of her suit's armored plates bashing against something metallic buried in her upper torso as she did). "This time, we'll be having a briefing while the ship gets underway, so everyone needs to head down to the theater on the entertainment deck just below us for that."

WIthout much further ado, the short redheaded freespacer headed deeper into the ship, to find the stairscase and then head downward as she had instructed the others.
 
It was good to be back on the Karakoram. After so much time spent doing next to nothing, the promise of a voyage where they would actually engage in some kind of meaningful combat was an appetizing one indeed. Charles made his way over to the staircase, following the same route as Nora had taken. He looked back at the rest of the group. "Lots of new faces this time around. I wonder if they're any better than the last batch..." He muttered as he made his way down the stairs, barely loud enough to be heard.

As he entered the entertainment deck, Charles passed by several familiar sights on the way to the theater. The shipboard store and the VR pods were by now scenery he was well used to, though the theater was new to him. As he entered, he marveled slightly at the size. "Wasn't expecting it to be this big."
 
Oracle followed the others more or less silently. She rolled her eyes at the dramatic man that had come up after her but otherwise held her tongue. The ice blue eyes scanned for another pilot, loud-mouthed and foul, but with no sighting of her, she relaxed a little more. She fell in line a few steps behind Charles and looked around at the familiar scene much like he did, remembering her time in the pods training, the store where she had bought what few things she needed before the ship returned to port, but she was less impressed by the theater than the smaller man was.

"It's not that big... I suppose maybe for a ship bound one but..." She just shrugged and found herself a seat to relax in and shifted her sword around to make it easier to sit.
 
Unluckily for Charles, the twins had overheard him.

"The last batch? You talk funny for a kid." Bella said, appearing on one side of the pilot with her hands in her pocket, face angled to look over at him as Anna appeared on the other side with her hands clasped behind her head.
"Do you guys have any big guns around? I'm getting bored with nothing to do and need a rocket launcher or something to play with." While it certainly wasn't odd for females to be involved in combat groups the appearance of these two, in particular, didn't give any hints that they'd be such gun junkies.

The twins continued sticking to Charles' side for a while longer, neither one budging from the side they'd picked as they grinned at the man, though he would be unwise to get his hopes up they just picked him as the most likely to know where the fun toys were for now.
 
Nora seemed to ignore what was going on behind her as everyone followed, shuffling into the room together. she found herself a spot, making her way down the row of comfy looking chairs to one in the very front, and plopped herself down, rocking back and forth in what amounted to waiting patiently for the freespacer. The rest could take in the room now; there were two sections of rows with an aisle down the middle, with about enough seats for half of the Karakoram's max crew to sit at any one time. The chairs alternated in colors, miming the company's special shades of green and blue, along with black to keep it from being tacky. at the front of the theater, was a low stage, with the wall behind it blank aside from a small volumetric projector mounted in the center. The center of the stage itself, however, had a small portable podium situated atop it, and a door to the side of the theater was propped open slightly showing a little bit of movement from someone inside.

Alright everybody! Sit down and get ready! The briefing is about to start and you guys don't want to miss it!" Nora said aloud, making sure everyone had made it into the room first.
 
Jennifer shook her head at the antics of the twins as they headed to the theater. The mechanic was the sort to just let things slide unless it was actually dangerous or stupid. And so far, all it'd been was teasing of Charles. Even as they entered the theater, Jennifer would settle with leaning against the wall in the back. She'd sat through the briefing once already, though not from the pilots end. Heck, she'd had to give it because she was the one who handled the maintenance, repairs and supplying of the mecha frames that the pilots, herself included, used. So this time she was getting to sit in on the pilot's side of things, which would likely be much more interesting than the bone dry discussion of stocks, equipment needs, and expected maintenance cycle plans.
 
Cheylarus' metallic fingers met Jen's greeting with a small wave and a short smile before the group moved into the theater, the mousy Nepleslian taking a few bouncing steps over to seat herself on the outer edge of the group, pale legs folding up beneath the woman as she rested the laptop on her lap - she looked keen, she was keen, keen to be a part of something again - it was a nice feeling that spread its warmth through the remaining limbs the blonde-tipped brunette had available as she leant back in her seat with a small sigh of contentedness.

Chey's metal thumbs rode along the edges of her laptop's lid before the thing was quietly swung open, the Nepleslian closing down the program she was using to stream music a few minutes ago in favour of her preferred word processing application, she looked across to Nora and quietly asked, "You don't mind if I take notes, right?" before pulling her sleeves up a bit to expose similarly metal forearms, slender fingers resting on the device's glowing keyboard with a few faint clinks and scraping sounds.
 
Briefings were nothing new for Malik, though they were a welcome distraction from the antics of his fellow pilots. It wasn't that they were annoying... they just reminded him of times gone past, things that hurt to remember. Not to mention that they reminded him of a youthful him, something that he absolutely hated to be reminded of. So he did his best to ignore the folly of youth surrounding him, tried hard to not say anything, and just took a seat: a grumpy looking man physically in his early 30's with the air of someone older, orange hair somewhat out of place while purple eyes darted around.
 
Charles pouted a little at the comments about his appearance. He had heard a lot of them, but they were still always a little annoying. "Kid? I'm 19, you know. You two look just as young as me." He looked at the two, they did seem to be his age, roughly. "If you want big guns though, you'll see some soon enough. You should sit down, and get ready for the briefing." It was a bit more official than the group that had been there before, hopefully they would do better too.
 
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