Maxine gave a half-assed smile to Alec when she noticed him staring at her. She couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking about. Was he wondering if she was effective in combat, had he noticed her cry, or perhaps it was something more positive; maybe he thought she was hot. She doubted that, because it was never the positive one. She knew he probably was cursing his superiors for sticking two women in his squad; especially since she noticed his attention change to the medic after he was done examining her. In a way Maxine hated it that another woman was assigned to the squad. It wasn’t that Maxine had a problem with female soldiers; after all she was one, but she had to worry that the performance of the other woman would belittle her. To most people Maxine’s concerns would seem petty, but she knew how hard it was for a woman to get any positive recognition in the military and any woman’s poor performance seemed like a reflection of women soldiers as a whole.

Maxine had followed Alec’s gaze to the medic. She looked the girl up and down; the girl was attractive, but had a bit of a child-like appearance. Maxine rarely judged people based on appearance, but she worried that this girl wasn’t marine material. Once Maxine grew bored with the medic she decided to size up the rest of the team. Her targeting system locked onto the wiry sniper across from her. The system read the identification chip implanted in the skin of all soldiers. The name William Firley appeared next to the reticle and it changed to the color blue. She heard the safety on her rifle click as a safeguard against friendly fire. She didn’t know anything about any of these people and she started to miss her old squad. Her old squad-mate, “Glacier,” came to mind, because William kind of looked like him. He was a tall wiry guy who always stayed cool in the face of doom, hence the nickname. She missed him a lot not only because he was a teammate, but because he was the one who joked around her, he was the one who slept with her. Once again feelings of sorrow began to well up inside her.

Seeing this guy William had cast her into another period of reflection. This time she wasn’t tormented by her Earth life, but rather by the loss of a close friend. Her memory was clear and she could picture it as clearly as if she were watching a movie. Once again Maxine closed her eyes and her vision was flooded with things she had wished she never experienced. The video feed was connected to Glacier’s helmet and she remembered intently watching the small screen in the dropship. She was getting slightly sick at the bumpy image while Glacier and the rest of the team ran. “Up against the wall,” the voice of the sergeant came through the audio link and Maxine watched as the team ran ahead of Glacier toward the wall. He looked up and fired a few rounds at the large mass as he ran toward the barricade. He was the last to arrive and with a jerk of the camera the video feed showed the door they came through. She knew he had his back against the wall and so did the rest of the team. She remembered shuttering when she heard that unearthly screech over the audio link. The monstrous noise was drowned out by automatic fire and the sound of screams.

“Glacier! Get out of there now,” Maxine suddenly screamed in the transport as she opened her eyes! She was sweating and breathing heavy and it was likely her eyes were tearing as well. Had she not been strapped in she probably would have jumped out of her seat. The memory was intense and upsetting and she noticed that the attention was on her. It was short-lived though and no one really had the time to react. With a deafening clang the transport shook violently and everyone on board was thrown forward in their seats. Anyone who was not strapped in was likely thrown to the ground and anyone in their seats probably had a little whiplash at the very least. “What the fuck was that,” Maxine asked in her already panicked voice? No one had the chance to answer immediately as another impact shook the ship. A lot of the stowed equipment fell from the compartments showering the passengers. Maxine didn’t even remember the ship departing the mothership, but then again modern spacecraft have very smooth movement and she had been too busy with introductions and reflection to have noticed anything. All of the mental pain that kept coming up had clouded her senses. She knew everyone was onboard and she knew that rescue missions were high priority so she wondered how she could even have believed that they were still in the bay.

Despite the risks involved Maxine disengaged the restraint system and worked her way toward the cockpit. “I am gonna jack into this thing and get a damage report,” Maxine said nervously as she made her way toward the front. She knew it was dangerous to walk around the transport unsecured; especially if they were under fire, but she was the only one qualified to assess the damage. In addition to being the only one qualified she selfishly wanted to prove herself useful as early as possible. She wanted her fellow squad-mates, especially the sergeant to approve of her ability. Her desire to prove herself was bolstered significantly by the fact that she had just made a fool out of herself by calling out for Glacier and crying. The door to the cockpit opened with the sound of released pressurized gases as the two cabins equalized. “What happened,” Maxine asked the pilot. He responded simply by saying, “I think we hit some space debris, nothing to worry about though.” Maxine thought that explanation lacked substance. She wasn’t an expert in astral physics, but she was almost positive that hitting small pieces of space debris wouldn’t have shaken the ship so much and if it was anything too big the ship would have been destroyed. She figured if they had hit debris then the pilot was obviously not qualified to pilot a ship at all; especially, not one that could be dropping soldiers into hostile territory. Without another word Maxine slipped the jack out of the rifle and tapped into the ship’s computer. A detailed schematic and damage report appeared in her right eye and she thoroughly examined the schematic. Apparently the ship’s sensors detected two impacts on the lower hull. No damage was sustained and the threat was minimal.

__________________
Note: When I write anything in this format it is OOC

Current Characters/Roleplays:
None at the moment