Sargent Victor Romanov
// Location: Cryogenics bay >> Armory >> Hangar Bay // The thaw was always a pain in the ass for him, most of his discomfort was either caused by dry itchy skin or the texture of that lime flavored mucus he was nearly forced to ingest. At least the Cryo bay was as cold and as crisp as the metal walk ways would allow, the sensation did wake him up a bit. The man looked around, most of the lower ranking members were only just beginning their wake up cycle. He had gotten permission earlier to have an early wakeup call only by a half hour, so he was waking up with the officers.
Romanov made his way at a brisk pace past the other pods and towards the ready room, saluting the odd officer as they walked past. He made it to his locker in a few minutes Pressing his finger against the lock and waiting for it to come open. The first two things he got on where his briefs and his socks. He never wore anything during Cryo some insisted wearing underwear at least, but he never wanted to risk those blisters again, or freezer burn as some called it.
It had only taken him a few more minutes to get dressed, he did take a long look at the picture taped to the locker door. An old photo of one of the times he visited home on leave, it was a picture of him and his sister. The locker room was beginning to fill with some others while Victor secured the protective armor plating on his uniform, it was heavy, but he liked it made him feel like one of the knights of old earth. Stepping out of the Ready room and down toward the armory the man glanced about the others who were walking past, New and old blood alike some had weary faces while others were more excited. Most knew what was coming, what the next step was, either way this was either going to be the biggest success of the UNSC and even humanity for that matter or the biggest farce.
He waited for a moment in line the other officers wanted to get their gear out first before the hoard of foot soldiers finished their wake up cycle. One by one the others grabbed their gear and left until it was finally his turn. The Armorer just looked at him as Victor put his hand up to a scanner and spoke his serial number so that the pad could pick it up.
“Sargent Victor Romanov SN: 25486-15S58K-15864” the other man checked his side of the screen and nodded before taking a cart through some isles, in a few minutes the man returned with Victors Custom M739 SAW. He calls it custom but really it just has a flat black paint job and not the nickel finish like the base ones. He was also given M6G pistol, ammo for both of his weapons, a combat knife, two smoke grenades, and two frag grenades.
Walking back towards the hangar bay the marine stopped by the mess hall briefly, they didn’t have full meals prepared but did have a snack bar set up. A few others were picking through what was there as well, he didn’t stick around long only long enough to pick up a few flavorless nutrition bars and chocolate flavored protein bars. He stuck a few of the protein bars in his pack and ate the nutrition bars on the way to the hangar bay. He had a half hour to kill before the briefing, and he figured he would do it where he was comfortable, the belly of a pelican.
There were a few pelicans nearby with most of the others on higher decks or still locked up, he found a seat on the ramp of one while the pilot and copilot were going through their pre-flight checks. Neither seemed to mind the tall marine, this was after all his favorite spot to sit and relax. It wasn’t all that comfortable, he was out of the way and could see those who were entering and sitting down in the briefing room. Yet for him, this was the spot he would go and sit at while he was still with the Epsilon Eridani Fleet, just one of his old habits. While he sat and waited he pulled out a small square device from his pack, the device was a music player all one had to do was hold a button and say the name of a song and it would play. It wasn’t very loud but it did contain his entire library of old earth songs he has found, so as he ate the last nutrition bar he spoke to the box and it began to play,
Zach Hemsley - Into the valleyThe two going through their flight checks only stopped for a moment to look back at him, muttered a few words between each other, and continued with their work. Honestly he didn’t care what others thought as long as he didn’t play any that were blacklisted for whatever reason he’s never been bothered about it by any officers. Somehow he was able to kill all but 15 minutes of down time before the mission briefing and hadn’t taken all that much notice to the others who came in to the hangar bay. He figured he should find his place before he is unable to walk through the crowd. He found his place designated by the small signs on the chairs and found that one of his squad mates was already sitting down in the chair, Victor noticed the rank on the marines shoulder causing him to impulsively glance at his. Still, the man walked down to his seat a few chairs off from the other man and glanced over at him,
“Sledgehammer?” He inquired while turning his music off and adjusting himself in his seat.
