RP: NSS Acadia [Post Mission 3]: R&R (Rest and Rations)

Wandering the halls aimlessly "searching" for his new squad, Pvt.3rd Class Kajiim Ashad exclaims, "Geeze, what's it with space ships and long bleak hallways?" Turning round the corner Kajiim happens upon an open door way, the halls echoing with grinding metal, "whats this?", Kajiim curiously looks inside and recognizes that its a drill, "Ah, this looks promising", Kajiim says to himself. Relieved of his boredom he stands in the door way and watches on as the armors clash.

Jack stared straight in to the cyclops-mimicking features of the first pilot who noticed him as it's inhabitant proceeded to order him to retrieve one of the armors below deck. Whether the pilot was trying to intimidate him with the unblinking and mechanical stare was hard to determine but Jack simply stared back blankly and gave a quick salute to the pilot in affirmation of the orders he had been given. It wasn't that he felt no fear about what that armor could do, he knew from training that it could rip in him half like wet paper if the pilot knew what he was doing.

Without another word Jack headed below decks to where the various armors were being stored, awaiting use. He found one that he felt would be good for a simple PA-on-PA sparring match, a Hostile. Simple, tough, and it could get the job done up close just as well as it could mess somebody up at range if the pilot was skilled. Stretching his neck and arms to prepare himself, Jack dawned his armor, and promptly returned to the area in which his fellow Marines were starting to go at it in carefully controlled sparring matches.

"P3C Jack Hayden, combat medic: reporting for duty." He announced as he emerged in his newly dawned armor.

"YOU" The Chief bellowed at the newly arrived Kajiim through the loudspeakers, causing a few nearby techs to cover their ears in pain. "I don't think you're having a fun time, boot! Get in one of these fucking armors an-" The Chief had froze in his aggressive stance, his monoeyes following the journey of P3C Jack Hayden, from entrance to exit to entrance again.

"...Anyway. YOU!" The Chief bellowed again at Kajiim, "Get yourself an armor and report back here in under 5 fucking minutes or you're doing laps on the hull in a suit made out of fuckin' trash bags and tape! Get moving!" The Chief then turned around and pointed at Phaedra "Volkov. Get this new recruit used to close combat." He said, with a less harsh tone.

The Chief whirled around to face Chad, who had decided to take a seat. "AND YOU! Who the fuck said you could sit down while everyone gets to dish out beatdowns! Get the fuck up! You're with me!" The Chief just stood there. "I want you to hit me as hard as you fuckin' can!"

So MC practicaly told them to have fun with the new guys. Well technicaly Alex wasn't new anymore. She was P2C and already had her first battle. And it wasn't an easy one too. Plus she always did good in hand-to-hand. She was more of a shooting type, but she wasn't afraid to get up close and personal.

She waited for a while to see if she will get a partner assigned by Ran, but he only gave one to Wolf. Well no problem then. It also lookek like nobody was going to borro a Ripper. And borrowing a ripper could be fun. Alex tinkered with her AI for a while until she linked with NMX PA. She tried doing few steps and it was not that bad. Her Hostiles mind probe let her control Ripper and HUD in her helmet let her see was Ripper saw. It was not that much different from controling Hostile.

"P3C Hayden. You have the sheer luck of going toe to toe with real Ripper! Aren't you happy?" she said than as battlepod pointed its blade at combat medic. "Set your Hostile to melee training mode and come over here. And move it!" She yelled then.

If Jack was intimidated by the thought of going against the Ripper it didn't show through his armor. He stepped forward, the feet of his PA banging against the metal floor as he approached. He had been through boot camp, had learned about the Rippers and other armors, and knew that if he could manage to get inside or behind them he would have a better chance of killing it's brain slave.

Another thing he had to consider was that when he was in the power armor it wasn't like fighting against somebody out of the suit. He was an ID-SOL but his height no longer had a direct effect on his fight: the suits tended to make every Marine in them the same general height. Lots of things to consider, Jack just hoped he would make it when he found himself with the real thing coming at him...and that he didn't royally embarrass himself fighting this thing.

"With all due respect, ma'am." Jack nodded toward the Ripper armor "Let's start, please." He said.

He just wanted to get this over with. That way he could find out right now if he was going to somehow horribly embarrass himself or show to the more experienced Marines that he wasn't a pathetic excuse for an ID-SOL, or just a normal Marine for that matter.

Kajiim startled by the loud voice of the officer, instantly jumped to attention as though this hadn't been the first time. "Sir!", Kajiim acknowledging the command saluted and sprinted off to the Armor Bay.

Arriving at the bay, Kajiim scans the bay for the "right" armor, "Ah-Ha!" Kajiim spots a scuffed up "Hostile" and suits up. After running a hurried systems check (not wanting to run around in nothing but trash bags).

Kajiim makes his way back to the training room, Stepping through the door and saluting, "Sir! Pvt 3rd Class, Kajiim Ashad, General Infantry, Reporting, Sir!"

"Let's get to it then Mister Hayden!" She said next and make few steps against her enemy. Her battle pod protected her chest and upper body with his left-hand buckler while letting right hand before its face in would-be boxing attack position. It was something you won't see at Ripper, but she wanted Jack to be ready fo anything. Plus Rippers blade being forearm-mounted was perfect for fast jabs.

Her enemy was an ID-SOL which made him more dangerous than your regular marine. But they both had PA now so most of Jacks advantages couldn't be used now. Alexandra's ripper was stronger and when used by her and not stupid brain-slave it wasn't that clumsy anymore.

Alex made few fast steps to Jack and attacked with two fast stabs/jabs agains Jacks chest followed by quick low punch aiming for Jacks belly from left hand which wasn't as much defensive as it looked.

While Jack's advantages weren't entirely gone, most were muted by his power armor. He was facing a Ripper that had the intuitive and educated thought process of an actual human, not a smash-and-bash loving brain slave like what he would normally be facing. However, Jack's instincts weren't gone. Skills that had been programmed and trained to him mere months after he had developed, and some which had been given to him within the tank all came flooding in to his system as the Ripper attacked.

The jabs with the blade, though quick were still restricted by the Ripper's actual capabilities, and so he was able to clear them by ducking below and shifting to the left. The punch was harder to dodge and managed to throw off his balance by managing to catch him near the side of his actual center-mass. However, now Jack found himself next to the hostile behemoth and activated his thrusters to drive in to the side of the monster.

Chad smirked, without looking at the Chief.

He then shot his view at his new opponent and, without getting up, threw his lance at the Chief. But this move was only something to throw him off guard. As soon as he threw it, his thrusters came to life and was now bolting at the Hostile.

If the Lance didn't do anthing, the Multi-ton PA flying at high speeds would deffinately do some damage.

Jack was almost un-balanaced unti he kicked his thrusther on and rammed Ripper. Force of impact made NMC Power Armor make a few steps back, but luckily Alex found balance and stayed on foot.

Alex was a little surprised. It was a good use of thrusther, she probably wouldn't be able to use them that well. But he was an ID-SOL he had a basic traing AND mental programming. Or so she heard. Well he won't have it that easy.

Alex let her battlepod be in what looked like un-balanced position. She was a little leaned to back. But she was ready to use her left hand to defend and her right to quick strike. All waiting for her enemy to fall for a feint.

It appeared that the strike had been successful, actually more so than Jack had expected. The best he had been hoping for was to simply throw it off it's guard: if it hadn't been controlled by a human he might have knocked it flat on it's back. It was controlled by a human, who he had yet to actually know the name of, and so it managed to stay upright after his booster charge.

Jack watched as the Ripper got out of balance...and stayed that way. He quirked an eyebrow beneath the mono-eye face of his power armor. The simulations which he had faced in training weren't the most accurate of course, but even brain slaves would want to balance themselves as quickly as possible. It was most likely a trap set up by it's human controller. For less then a second Jack debated actually disorienting it's human controller to follow in the fashion in which he was trained: take advantage of what you can and keep your enemy from doing the same.

He had a feeling his non ID-SOL compatriots wouldn't be impressed and so Jack simply assumed a defensive stance while he waited for the Ripper's next offensive move.

Good, confident. I like it, was Kingston's private analysis of Private Masson's attitude. At the very least Viktor was pleased to see he wasn't terribly nervous. It meant he'd give his best.

The Private First Class dropped into a typical stance: shielded left arm forward, right arm and sword covering his center and prepared to slash or stab. He boosted forward without warning. Rather than strike out from behind the safety of his bulky arm, the VOID's shielded arm swept toward Sean vertically in an attempt to knock his arms and armaments aside. The Power Armor continued this torque, building momentum for a fast and potentially hard-hitting slash.

Well, I guess that means he's going first. Sean stepped back as quickly as he could to dodge the shield arm, just barely getting out of it's way, before coming back towards the 'Ripper'. The next part of his strategy was to deflect the sword arm high and away from him with his knife, thus letting him get inside it's reach, hopefully with enough time to potentially do some damage. He wasn't sure where a good place to strike would be, but then again, he wasn't in position yet anyway, so it didn't really matter.

Seeking to dodge the incoming projectile, the Chief simply boosted towards the right, accelerating with his armor's repulsion system. As soon as Chad started boosting towards him, the Chief simply pulled out his Vibrosaw Knife, and continued to boost away from Chad at a very wide angle.

"Why in THE FUCK would you throw a weapon away, boot?!" Ran screamed over the loudspeakers as he boosted, keeping the Vibrosaw at his right side and his left hand raised to guard his exposed left side, with his body bladed towards Chad.

"Volkov, get this new recruit used to close combat," the Chief said, pointing at yet another marine she did not recognize. "Kajim," as Phaedra had heard him called, suited up in a Hostile and returned to the deck. After sheathing her VCS, Phaedra approached him and introduced herself.

"P2C Phaedra Volkov, but you can call me Wolf. Welcome to the Acadia," she said with a textbook salute. She then pulled the VCS from the sheath across her chest. Clad in her black NIGHT armor, she only came up to the chestplate of Kajim's Hostile.

"I may not be the best visual representation of a Ripper," said Phaedra with a shrug. "But all the same, a Ripper is designed for close-combat, and it will attempt to close the distance with you. They may be slow and stupid, but never underestimate them," she said, placing her left hand on her hip.

"Get ready. Defend yourself!" she said, using her thrusters to fly straight toward Kajim. She slashed and stabbed her deactivated chainsword at the new recruit's head and torso repetitively.

As the words "get ready" left P2C Volkov, Kajiim grabbed the deactivated vibroknife from his chest and reversed gripped it. Shifting his weight onto his back leg and raising his knife hand up ready to block with his open hand in position opposite from it.

Ok calm.. just like the drills back in camp, focus on the movement.. Kajiim reassured himself, and then he saw it. The Stealth armor boosting towards him, instinctively he moved his knife to parry the attack and right as the knives made contact, Kajiim pivoted his armor 135 degrees to the left, out of the way of Volkov's fury.

With Volkov's back to him Kajiim fired the thrusters speeding forward with a diagonal slash to the upper left of her back.

Well the chief made a solid point. Dumb move on my part, Chad admitted to himself. At boot, this move would have made some recruits shit themselves. Unfortunately he wasn't at boot anymore. This guy new what he was doing at close range and Chad didn't. Good thing I picked an AIR2 instead of a Hostile, at least this way I have the one up on speed.

The Chief needed a surface to boost off of and Chad didn't, so Chad flew as high up as he could to avoid any fast attacks on the floor. From this point he could easily accelarate to any point he wanted, and where he wanted to go was to pick up his Lance. He accelerated quickly and picked up his lance next to the wall, and went into defensive stance. He had a much larger reach now with the Lance than the Chief had with his knife.

Jack didn'T fall for her trick. Very good. He was pretty good at this, but Alex was not bad either. From standing still she boosted herself forward against Jack with her thrusthers, suddenly changing hands. RIght went into defensive while left thursted into quick blow against P3C's head.

She was ready for him to dodge, so she was prepared to caught him, and use her movement force to "take him with her".

Anselm grinned as Private Swigelff took to the air, relieving his frustration at having his punching ba- err... rookie stolen by Mayhew, hurling his deactivated vibrochain knife at the AIR. Silently regreting not loading a pistol on his armor, the heavier PA leapt airborne after its knife and towards the hovering ELEMENT armor, pulling back its shield arm to deliver a mighty haymaker upon the unsuspecting Chad.

As the Ripper charged him Jack began boosting backwards as rapidly as he possibly could, assessing his situation in a mere matter of moments. He was armed only with his power armor and genetically instilled abilities against a Ripper with blade, shield, and forward thrusters only. He could try and play dirty, take out the human controller as gently as possible, and risk getting his ass chewed by his squad leader on his first day in his newly assigned squad. He could also demonstrate just what an ID-SOL such as himself was capable of with the enhancing capabilities of his chosen power armor.

Jack chose the latter, faking the former. He boosted for the Marine in control of the Ripper, rapidly changing direction to move to the side of the Ripper as he did so. Once he found himself pursued he would attempt to use her own body as a means to juke the Ripper out, get inside it's blade and shield, and mess it up royally with the meanest hand-to-hand punch combos he could manage.