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Maxine was the second to board the transport, but one of the last to take a seat. Upon entering she just stood off to the side as the other members of the squad poured in. The sergeant had already sat down in a seat and soon after William followed suit. William had called for introductions and the sergeant starting talking as Shakes and the other members of the squad came in. Maxine was never one to just jump and take the seat she wanted. She liked to let everyone else get their way, because she wasn’t very picky. Of course everyone tried to steer clear of the monstrous Shakes; maybe they were intimidated, maybe they were afraid he would explode, or maybe they just didn’t want to be cramped up against a giant. Being small and possibly because she kind of liked him, Maxine had no problem sitting next to the monstrous hulk. She didn’t feel cramped or intimidated by the man and she was eagerly awaiting his introduction since she would prefer to call him by something other than monster or hulk.

After plopping down next to Shakes, Maxine strapped herself in and rested her assault rifle on her lap. She would have stowed it like the others, but it was already hooked up to her PDC which was in turn hooked up to her head. She could have unplugged it, but she preferred to be prepared and she kind of liked the way it looked having wires running from her head to her PDC and to her gun. Most people would have thought it silly, but just like a writer likes to feel as if he is part of his writing; Maxine liked to feel as if she was part of her technology. While the sergeant finished his introduction, Maxine had rested her head back against the seat. She hated introductions and she had to try extremely hard not to cry. She hated crying in the first place because it made her feel weak, but she knew if she cried now there would have been dire consequences. These were tough men and they probably already didn’t trust their lives to her. Even though a lot of time had passed since equal rights were established and women became common in the military and on the front lines, many men still considered it a man’s job. If she had cried now, in front of them all, they would have never accepted her in the squad and she would have only done a disservice to women everywhere.

Maxine considered speaking up next since the sergeant’s introduction was so short and the others hadn’t begun talking yet, but she wasn’t sure what to say. She always hated introduction because they meant divulging personal information. It isn’t that Maxine didn’t want to be close with her squad and it definitely never bothered her to socialize, it was just that she had to say something about herself and doing so meant exploring that life she left behind. Every time she felt as if she escaped that life it somehow came back to haunt her. Maxine closed her eyes and thought, she tried extremely hard not to cry, but she felt a little liquid appearing in her eyes. God damn it, she hated her parents and she hated everything about her life. She couldn’t think of what to say aside from her name and occupation. No one would care about her shitty life, or her education. She had no hobbies and her social life on Earth was pitiful at best. There was never anything good for Maxine to say during introductions so they ended up just another delve into her painful past.

Maxine opened her eyes allowing one tear to drop. It was small and quick and only the most observant individual would have noticed it. She struggled inside herself to speak and she managed to utter, “I am Lance Corporal Dr. Maxine Hall and I am 27 years old. I was transferred from Alpha squad. I have a PhD in computer science and I will be serving as your technical specialist in the field.” She had nothing else to say, she was already on the verge of crying and if she said anything about her life on Earth she probably would have busted out balling. She figured it didn’t really matter anyway; after all, the sergeant had said less than she and they probably didn’t care much about her past anyway. Using her right hand she wiped the water from her right eye. That may have allowed them to notice she was crying, but the water was interfering with her targeting HUD. Maxine sighed and sat back again, she was glad it was over and she could only wonder what the others thought of her. What if they could sense the despair in her voice, what if they saw that tear drop, what if they figured out why she wiped her eye? Maxine hated worrying about such things, but she had to be a strong woman if she was going to get respect from these guys.

Maxine decided it would be best to purge the worries from her mind so she tried as hard as she could to do so. She wasn’t really too worked up, after all she didn’t actually talk about her past life. Just thinking about her life tended to get her choked up, but taking about it always made her cry. She never really understood why talking about it was worse when so many people say that talking about things makes it better. For now she decided to put it out of her mind and enjoy the others’ introductions. She enjoyed learning about other people and she did like to make friends, especially because she didn’t have any in the past. She also figured if the lives of these men were in her hands she should at the very least know their names. Maxine finally managed to relax a little. She sat back comfortably in her seat eagerly waiting for the introductions of the other squad members. She was hoping to hear all of the introductions, but mostly she was eager to hear what Shakes had to say. She had a strange feeling he wouldn't be giving an introduction, but she really hoped he did. She hoped he would at least give her his name; even though she didn't need him to tell her because of the target identification program on her PDC.

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

Current Characters/Roleplays:
None at the moment

Shakes' head lolled from side to side as others took their seats, with some random squaddy-types in helmets addressing the sergeant directly. He couldn't work out if they didn't want to mix with the others out of fear or arrogance, but either way he didn't like it. Not knowing where they were from, what their favourite colour was and how they liked their steaks was one thing, not knowing their names was another entirely. He'd have been lying if he'd said he wasn't surprised when Maxine came and sat next to him: he'd gotten the impression from women that they didn't much like the way he spoke to them and his crass opening comment to her was no different. This didn't bother him too much, but it did give him pause for thought.

When she spoke up he listened. Not actively of course - he was too busy eye balling the rest of the squad for that - but he took the information in and felt a shred of respect develop for this woman who had the balls to announce herself in front of men, men who probably didn't trust her. Shakes wasn't sure yet; she certainly had the qualifications to put her here but he'd have to wait and see how she handled herself when the metal started pounding against the meat before he made a proper decision. He heard the faint wavering in her voice but failed to register it as anything more than a slip of the vocal chords, or something. This aside, his mind worked like clockwork - analysing, re-analysing and concluding, while outside he simply ran his tongue under his bottom lip, playing with a mouth ulcer he had had for weeks.

He was more inclined to speak now that Maxine had done it and he had absolutely no idea why. Maybe it was because she was one of the few women who wasn't scared off by his less-than-outstanding appearance, maybe it was because she was gorgeous and it had been a long and lonely time in space for him, or maybe, deep deep down, he just liked the fact that she seemed like she might have the courage to speak to him like a person and not some fire-obsessed maniac. Granted he was a fire-obsessed maniac, but only when the time called for it.

He shifted a little uneasily in his seat but played this off as an attempt to re-adjust the satchels of explosives at his waist. There was another guy he had noticed in the briefing room: wiry fella with a face that betrayed his youth. He'd have to wait and see how that one turned out when he was getting shot at. Shakes decided that it was this guys turn to go next and rested his hands behind his head nonchalantly as he waited.

Jessica sat there silently, wringing her hands. She didn't really know what she was doing here in the first place, she didn't like death, yet being a doctor it was normal. She watched the group through her eyes silently, regarding them all as though she was wary of something. She knew that going where they were going was not the best option, there was probably not going to be any survivors.

"Um... guys," she piped up after a moment, "I really don't like the sound of what is happening, I may need some help with the casualties, providing they've survived that is."

She hoped that at least one person would survive, she was sick and tired of death, people wondered why at 22 she joined the space marines, but she felt it was her way of making up for everything she had got involved in as a child. She didn't know any better, but her guilt hung over her like a lead curtain.

She leant back against her seat, her nervousness showing as she checked through the medical supplies, bandages, dressings, thread, needles, syringes, everything's all there, she thought as she shut the case, adjusting the strap so she could move around easily in it.

Alec was in the midst of being pestered by the new recruits who had the pleasure of accompanying them, he hated new recruits exspecially when he suspected that there would be conflict. They probably had their reasons for being here as he did, but why did they have to be so damned annoying, chatting, and gossiping with no fear in the voices, yet anyways. He didn't have much faith in typical human bravery, nor in typical human anything.

He had grown to hate human nature a many years ago, and he tried avoiding circumstances that brought out the true human in people. He remembered his last battle as if just happened yesterday, but more in particularly he remembered his superior: Major David Grains or Dax as everyone else called him. He was running away from a group of those crazy mars men, when his buddy fell face first on the ground.

The mars men capitalized on the fallen man, they all pounced on him, they started chopping wildly at his flesh with their jaded blades, and the Dax could only watch. Dax crying now his vision plagued by his disembodied friend, and the cries he made before he died. Dax felt guilty for this, and had gone slightly crazy since then. He was the one who promoted Alec in the first place, and Alec was the only one who knew this story, and he swore to tell no one.

Alec only though Dax to be a coward, and not worthy of his position, but that is how human nature worked. "Save yourself before anyone else." He mumbled quietly to himself as he looked to the iron barred floor. It was a saying he came up with after many encounters with humans, and the way they acted in the midst of battle. He would only encourage strength, and bravery to his men, he'd never give the order to retreat if someone elses life relied on it.

This was the part of him the major didn't know about him, but one day he'd learn, and Alec would mostly likely be demoted if he didn't die first. He wasn't scared of death, nor did he welcome it, he just figured he'd die when he was supposed to, until then he'd help as many people as he could. The military provided as a nice job for doing so, so he stuck around, he may have had alot of knowledge on the human nature, but one thing that always amazed him was the female soldiers, on most occasions they proved braver then most men. They did cry alot, but they were brave, and emotional, a strange combination, but he respected most females over men.

He peered around at the passengers stopping at Maxine, he could have sworn he saw a tear, and then she wiped her eye. He smirked realizing she may be one of his brave, emotionals, another thing that proved that was her sitting next to Shakes. He listened to her introduction sensing there was much more to Maxine Halls, but he wouldn't say anything. He didn't enjoying singling people out unless they forced him to, of course not many dared to try.

If there was one specialization he had that no computer could tell you, it was reading people, and their emotions. He made many soldiers cry in the heat of battle because of them confronting him on how he did things, and his past once. He grew close to that soldier, but was rewarded with a revelation of his past in front of everyone. Alec didn't like his past, and he didn't like when people tried using it as a weapon, but he surely didn't cry about anymore, he grew out of that.

He listened to the medic as well, examining for a moment mostly to take in her beauty, which he was rarely pleasure by in the marines. He didn't enjoy getting close to people, so he'd never be able to be in a healthy relationship like most people, which bothered him, but it was a side effect of being a marine, and he accepted it on day one. He wasn't knowledgeable of medicinal aspects, but he decided he'd offer his help anyways to ease her mind. " I am no doctor or anything, but I can help I guess."

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I feel it everyday it's all the same.
It brings me down, but I'm the one to blame.
I've tried everything to get away.
So, here I go again chasing you down again.
Why do I do this?
It feels like everyday stays the same.
It's dragging me down, and I can't pull away.
Over and over, over and over you make me fall for you.
Over and over, over and over You don't even try to.
I try to live without you, every time I do I feel dead.
I know what's best for me, but I want you instead.

She looked up, a smile crossing her face, "thanks um, I'm sorry I'm not very good with names," she said with a nervous smile.

She was telling the truth there, she wasn't any good with names, her very nature rejected human company, she preferred to be alone and isolated in her existence. Maybe this wasn't the best choice for her, but after that incident back on Earth with her only friend, she couldn't help but freeze slightly.

It was four years prior to her joining and she was completing her first year of her medical degree. Her friend came into the student hall, high as a kite and sporting a new penknife. He messed around, jumping from sofa to sofa carrying it before falling and it going straight through his head. Jessica had frozen then, the sight of the blood from his slowly dying body causing her to retch...

She snapped back into the present, her face drained of colour as that flashback took control of her. She then looked up at Alec, blushing slightly as she noticed how ruggedly handsome his looks were. It was a rarity in the space marines to have handsome men, most of their looks were ruined in their first battle, she had learnt that during her training.

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.

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

Current Characters/Roleplays:
None at the moment

Shakes had been drifting off to sleep when the impact came and he was not appreciative of the interruption. He wasn't particularly tired, but he was incredibly bored; the introduction he had felt like giving having faded away to the back of his memory. It wasn't gone entirely, but he felt like now was certainly not the time under present circumstances. Indeed with all the commotion the small crash had caused in the transport it seemed as though they'd be going in hot without even knowing each others names. When Maxine got up to check with the pilots Shakes seized the opportunity to impart a little friendly wisdom unto the rest of his squad:

"I know some of you will know my name..." he said as he leaned forward menacingly, pausing to stress how serious he was while his eyes drifted from person to person, "...I'll only say this once: you call me 'Shakes'. Anything else and I'll drop you like a bad fucking habit." He paused again - this time for longer, his stare visceral and unwavering. He saw the medic; she looked timid and he was convinced he'd have to baby sit her at some point, he saw the sniper whose expression hadn't changed for some time, and finally his eyes rested on Alec: his glare containing no anger, no malice, but absolutely dripping with judgement. His mind wasn't made up about the young officer quite yet but as go-time approached he became more and more sceptical about following this man.

Shakes enjoyed throwing his weight around on regular occasions, and certainly there was a lot of it to throw around. He wanted to test these kids before he had to rely on them to cover his back in a squeeze, he needed to know they had the cojones to back up the tough glares and mean talk, and most of all he needed to be certain that they all knew that he was not a man to be fucked with. The last thing he needed was some over-friendly teenager cosying up to him as some kind of father figure: Shakes had been a dad more than once and he'd sucked at it ever time. It wasn't that he didn't like kids, he just didn't like the women they were once attached to and he often found himself being chased away by the strawy-haired harridans who wanted to blame every personal neurosis they'd ever had on him.

Yeah, Shakes enjoyed throwing his weight around because it gave him a good idea of who everyone was beneath the 'army man' fascade. But as he sat back in his chair he was glad he had waited until Maxine had left before he delivered his little warning, because deep down he knew that he was putting on the same damn act.

He had remained silent the whole time, As the other begun introducing their selves, as well as a new person came in. Now, William wasn’t the kind of type that actually cared with whom he was in a squad, but he didn’t particularly like that now they had two woman in it. Not only just woman, two beautiful ones, And William knew he was going to get distracted by it one time, the only thing he didn’t knew was when that happened. He sighed as he closed his eyes for a bit, and repeated the introductions the other made in his head.

”So, Sergeant Alec Smith, the leader of the bunch. Young, eager but also quite experienced” William thought, eyeing the squad leader for a moment, observing his pose, weapons and armor, and then his face, which stood quite serious, and was clearly showing to not mess with him, or scoff at him for his leadership at quite a young age. William did not intend that at all, and he sighed a bit, before his thoughts went further again.

”And Lance corporal Maxine Hall, A technician, brave and beautiful, but at the same time emotional and kind of shy, As if she is only holding up a mask that covers up her true self” William continued his thoughts, his gaze resting upon the woman, as he remembered the tear he saw before she spoke. That made him take the conclusions that she was emotional as well, and he knew that in the marine point of view that could be of disadvantage, but from his point of view there wasn’t anything wrong with being emotional. How many times didn’t he almost burst out in tears when he heard that one of his family members got killed in a mission, or when he was just broke up, or even when his cat died. ”Emotion is no shame…” He thought, before turning upon his next squad mate, and eyeing him carefully, observing both his enormous armor, as well as the wide variety of highly explosive weapons and grenades he carried.

”That brings us to that mister there, He calls himself ‘shakes’. Weird nickname, but hell, why not. He has quite a temper, and is most possibly a explosives freak, seeing from the explosives he carries all over. He’s not scared, and quite ‘first through the door, last on the floor’… Yeah, I might like that guy… If he wasn’t so rude… Well, I do wonder why he waited saying his name until Maxine left… but then again, none of my business.” That went through Williams mind as he observed the ‘tank’. He would most preferably give ‘shakes’ a nickname of William’s own choice, which would be ‘the tank’ of course, but then again, shakes didn’t seem to like the idea of people calling him else way then shakes or his real name. But William couldn’t care less, He’d call that guy ‘tank’ anyways, and he grinned before his gaze went to the last person that they had on the transport, the other woman.

”And not to forget her of course” William thought grinning, as he heard from her before, from some of his mates that she had healed ”Jessica Parker, A medic with quite some skills… But also quite flirty around her patients, and in a good mood… Sometimes she is indeed a little shy, but her job she does serious, We’ll be in good enough hands… At least.. .that’s what I hope, if she doesn’t break under the tension of the battle we are going to.” He observed the blond woman a little, as she sat down too, seemingly quite nervous while she checked through her medical supplies.

“Well, That leaves one person to introduce himself” William spoke, after the small incident on the ship, that didn’t worry him too much. Even if they were under attack, the ship quite survive for a little while. “I don’t really have a rank… So to say…. But I’m William Firley, Currently the sniper of this bunch”. He raised his hand a little as a greet towards all, and then wandered back into his thoughts. William didn’t feel like talking too much today, especially since this was quite a sudden mission. He went back into his thoughts, And wondered what the sudden outburst of Maxine was before the ship got hit by something. She had suddenly screamed “Glacier! Get out of there now,” a while after she had looked at William. After that he had closed her eyes, only to open them with that scream, her eyes full of tears and sweating heavily, as if she had relived something.

”I’ll might ask her later” William thought ”I don’t know what the hell that was, but I will ask her, not around the other’s of course… You don’t scream that out of nowhere without having a painful reason”

Then he turned towards ‘shakes’ again. It was still quite a time before they landed, and William didn’t have anything to do, so he looked at the armored man, and begun to talk “Oi, Tank, may I how much explosives you carry actually?”

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Secret member of the W.A.T.B and protector of Ava (I'm watching you, Dreadlord...)

Shakes' glare turned to Firley, his eyes burning with a silent rage. This man had heard what he had just said and had decided to ignore it anyway; he instantly decided that this kid needed a beating. He didn't even mind the nickname 'Tank': it was applicable and didn't take anything away from the tough-guy visage that he had spent over a decade cultivating, he just didn't like this guy; even less since he had a massive damned rifle that would be covering their backs when they went in.

"You talking to me boy?" He said slowly, purposefully and without pause for an answer. "Cos I'm pretty sure I just said what you're gonna call me." He stood up for emphasis. "In fact, you know what? I'm damn near certain I just told you my name..." He took a step forward, his grizzled forearms seeming to swell as he clenched his ham-like fists. "You wanna know how many explosives I'm carryin'? Lots boy, lots." His sunken eyes darkened as he lowered his head and ran his tongue over his lips, like a lion savouring the kill - and the taste - of a gazelle in it's sights.

With ominous silence he started walking towards the sniper, his veiny arms swinging like trees at his side, his face flashed with marks of red where he struggled to control the blood lust he was deeply mired within. The transport fell silent with expectation, the vacuum of noise being filled only by the soft, controlled breathing of Shakes and the steady grinding of his teeth. He hadn’t had a smoke in almost an hour, he was stuck in a tiny room with kids and a woman who was confusing him and his armour was already making him feel uncomfortable.

As he approached Firley one of the willingly anonymous marines tried to step in his way, possibly because he’d decided that he was going to try and make an impression as this squad’s bad ass. It didn’t surprise Shakes: every once in a while a rookie came along who wanted to take the easy route to respect by beating but a big dude like himself. Problem was that they never succeeded and he had to go easy on them so as not to cripple the rest of the squad before missions; this one was no different – with a flick of his left arm the man went tumbling to the ground leaving Shakes and Firley about a foot away from each other.

Nothing more was said, nothing needed to be said. Shakes grabbed Firley by the front of his fatigues and pulled him in close so that the sniper could smell each of the last twenty cigars that he had smoked, and the whiskey that he had downed earlier. His teeth were like slabs of marble in his mouth: wide and surprisingly bright for a man who enjoyed as many vices as Shakes. Was he going to hit this man? He wasn’t sure. It wasn’t absolutely necessary given he’d made his stance on the name issue perfectly clear already, but he kind of wanted to. It had been a while since he’d properly smacked someone in the mouth – although by his standards ‘a while’ actually meant a few days – and he was actually kind of hoping this guy would give him a excuse.

His fist rolled in the socket at his side as he prepared to turn Firley’s lights out, but another impact on the ships hull sent both of them stumbling in different directions, with Shakes barrelling into the group of men wearing helmets and sending them down to the floor with him. His face flushed: he had just been embarrassed by the damn pilots and their inability to avoid space debris, and given he was now in the mood to punch someone he decided they were the most deserving. He pounded towards the cockpit, shoving Firley in the chest as he went by and sporting a grimace that could have killed. As he burst into the separate room he was ready to raise hell having not considered the legal reprocussions of assaulting a pilot, let alone the fact that they would then be stuck in space with their only licensed driver unconscious. However he spotted Maxine and instantly the anger drained straight out of him as he tried to regain a semblance of self control. He was still furious but was starting to realise perhaps these weren’t the people to take it out on.

"Where the hell did you boys learn to drive?” he said with a degree of venom in his voice. "I dunno if anyone told you, but you’re s'posed to avoid the fuckin' asteroids.”

Maxine steadied herself by grabbing the console in front of her as the ship was rocked by another impact. She hadn’t noticed the events that were transpiring in the other room because of her preoccupation with the ship’s damage report. She was thorough; she always was, even when it wasn’t exactly safe to be so. She didn’t mean to risk herself and others in such a way, but she loved her job and she liked to do it well. She continued to analyze the report after the third impact. The previous two merely hit the ship, shaking it slightly. Those two were deflected by the light armor on the ship, but this third impact was not. The outer hull had been breached, but luckily not completely. The damage was superficial at best only penetrating the armor and doing minor damage to the hull. She couldn’t identify what the object was, but she knew it had become lodged in the hull. It would have to be removed after this mission was over and the ship returned to the bay.

Maxine saved the report on her PDC before sliding the jack out of the computer and back into her rifle. She re-accessed her targeting software and slung the rifle on her back just as Shakes had entered the room. She heard him before he spoke and she had turned to him. He looked pissed at first, or so she thought, but he quickly calmed down when she turned to him. She was never a great judge of people, mainly because she was never close to people, but during the rough period of life she flitted from lover to lover enough to know men fairly well. Shakes sudden mood swing was nothing short of sexual attraction, or at least interest, or so she could figure. She was no certified expert, but she had her gut and she always stuck by it when it came to love. Unfortunately for her love didn’t really have a place among squad mates; it was only moments ago that she emotionally relived the loss of her last inter-squad love affair and she wasn’t sure she could suffer another bout of such misery.

Maxine had unfortunately missed Shakes’ introduction and was forced to rely on the reading of the implant chip for a name. She didn’t want to creep him out, but she preferred to address people, especially love interests, by their name. Jordan Leslie was the name that the targeting software attributed to Shakes and it was the only name she knew him by. “Well Jordan, a pleasant surprise. I thought I would be all alone up here,” Maxine uttered in a low suggestive whisper as if the pilots weren't in the room. She turned her back to him before he could respond as she walked toward the front window. She had already heard his bit about the incompetence of the pilots; it was after all what alerted her to his presence. Calmly she looked out the window and spoke to her newest favorite team member, “I am not so sure asteroids are to blame. They likely would have caused more damage than the reports indicate and we would probably see more. If you look, it is fairly clear.” She stepped aside slightly inviting him to stand closer to her. “I would guess space debris of some kind. Possibly parts from the cargo ship we are heading to now. It is hard to say really considering we didn’t get much out of that message.”

The young tech-marine stood waiting at the window. She had never audibly expressed her desire for him to join her, but she figured even a meathead like Shakes could have picked up on her body language. Maxine didn’t actually have anything else to say to the large marine, but she still wanted him to join her. She wasn’t exactly sure why; however, those who knew her well would claim it was because she enjoyed boyfriend/girlfriend interactions. She had always been a sucker for guys who would stand close to her and watch a sunset; it had been how many guys got into her pants. She longed to be near him, she fantasized about him putting his arm around her and looking into the stars, and she had a strange desire to inhale the air about him; even if it did smell like tobacco. Maxine always believed that short intimate platonic moments like these were the sure fire way to build a sexual relationship.

Like everything else in Dr. Hall’s life this moment of bliss also served as a painful reminder. She recalled the last time she had done something like this. It was the last pleasant memory she had of Glacier; only moments before that fateful mission. The strike team had been selected the night before and it consisted of Glacier, her man; Leigh, the heavy weapons specialist; Sergeant Jacobson, who was in charge of the explosives; and a number of other soldiers from her platoon. The mission was simple; all they ha to do was blow the derelict to exterminate the plague, but it didn’t quite work out as planned. She remembered when Glacier told her about the mission. He had requested that she run technical liaison for the operation and command approved. She had been ecstatic that he wanted her on the ‘horn,’ but she had one of those gut feelings. At this point in her life she blames herself, for a lot of reasons, but mostly because she cursed it. She didn’t believe she cursed it in a superstitious way, but every time she thought about it she could see how being part of the mission affected the team. She distracted him and she lowered his morale the night before when they were standing by the window; just as she stood by the window waiting for Shakes before this mission. She couldn’t help but wonder if this lovely moment would give her that same gut feeling that cursed that operation. Was fate going to catch her since she escaped her death last time?

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

Current Characters/Roleplays:
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