[IC] Starships: The Infinity

[Erklings25]

"Aaaaaaaaah!" Gasped Soloman as he jerked upwards in his bed. He just had that dream again. The dream where the only real parent he ever knew Captain Mark Brown of The Infinity, died in an alien raid. He would know, he was there. When Mark died he gained control of his ship. He quickly got out of bed, the scar on his chest from the raid Mark died in throbbed like hell. "Better get changed, so I can meet those new recruits. Let's pray the're not as idiotic as the last bunch." In about 10 minutes, Soloman managed to get changed. The day the new recruits came in was allways the worst day of his life. He hated them all, they usually thought they were in for a run life of adventure. He had seen enough death to kno that there's no such thing. He marched over to the intercom in his room to make a message. "Wake up, crew." His low husky british accent rang out all through The Infinty. "I expect you all to be in the briefing room in 15 minuets. Captain over and out." Gathering up his folder he marched to the briefing room and placed his folder on the table on his little stage, his face the image of to much self confidence, perversion, and a general jerk-like nature.

[datadogie]

Emily was already awake when the message was rang through the intercom to be at the briefing room in fifteen minutes. She had been set straight to the job of a neural networks operation as soon as she boarded, someone else taking care of her belongings and storing them in her cabin. She nodded to herself as she continued guiding a maintenance arm toward one of the dropships in the hangar. She clicked on the 'mount' button on her screen, and then once it had confirmed the task as being completed, she clicked on the 'drain fuel' option. A warning voice began to speak into her ear. "Warning: The draining of fuel must be monitored by an engineer or a ne-"
Emily spoke at the same time as the computer spoke to her. "Neural network operator bypass, authorization 'Whiskey-Bravo-Three-Nine-Five'."
The computer made a clicking sound as it authorized the drain, and pooled dropship fuel back into the tanks. The dropship was currently not needed, so she was making sure that if it had an accident that no fuel leaked. There were other dropships she had drained, however she left one fueled in case of an emergency that required it.
She locked her computer, which she was trained to remember to do. If someone were to access her computer, they would have a lot of power in the way of accessing databases. Most of the highly confidential stuff required a second authorization every time it was accessed, however there were still basic things that could be accessed or done. After locking, Emily took her Admin Deck and trotted down to the meeting area, where she sat in a chair at the very front, giving a salute to the Captain. She then logs into her Deck and is immediately greeted by several errors and things that people have messaged her about while she was logged off. Emily shakes her head to herself as she taps on her pad, going through everything.

[Primal Conundrum]

The earth-shaking sound of metal on metal footsteps warned of Jacqueline's arrival long before she came into sight. She had already been busy around the lower levels of the ship for some time, helping to move and install the large upright docking cradle that served as her necessary alternative to a bed. With her massive frame, there was no bunk that could fit her, and even if there was the regular diagnostics and maintenance required by her suit was most easily dealt with during a normal sleep cycle. Since such a thing couldn't fit into the crew quarters, a small section of the cargo hold had been cordoned off to function as her domicile. What it lacked in privacy it more than made up for in functionality, as the cargo hold was one of the relatively few places on the ship where she never had to worry about damaging the roof by raising her arms too high.

When she arrived at the briefing room, she had to duck slightly to fit in through the doorway. Her suit's integrated helmet was inactive, revealing her heavily scarred face and messily tied-back hair. The suit itself was blocky and industrial looking in a way that only military hardware was, and combined with her size she almost looked like one of her parents was an actual tank. Looking around, her one good eye passed over the available seating to rest on some crates left in the corner—crates that looked sturdy enough that they wouldn't just crumple under her weight. Walking over, she eased herself into a sitting position, bringing her head to eye-level with the rest of the room's occupants. Drumming her fingers on her knee with one hand, she scrutinized the rest of the crew that had so far shown up.

[nerminator]

Brian Savior

Brian woke up with a new sense of enthusiasm, Staring at the metal wall infront of him he gotten off of his bed, and gotten ready for his new day saving lives, putting on a Khaki-colored Uniform with a Green Vest and Helmet which reminded him of a WWI Helmet in a way,

he armed himself up with a Simple Pistol and some ammo. and a Medical Kit full of cool medical stuff, he was extremely excited and he could barely stop himself from exploding with happiness, he walk-runned out of the door to what he thinks is the Briefing room. he walked inside viewing a medium-sized room with a Table in the middle,

and a person who looked more robot than man Sitting on a crate, just the view of her gave him goosebumps. he looked away from the person. she looked like she had a tank for a mother or something, he looked away and ignored her, he had more important things to do than stare at a robot, he stood with Enthusiasm and waited for briefing to happen

[The15thSpycrab]

Alfred was already heading in the direction of the briefing room when the message rang out. His dropship had docked a few hours ago, and he had taken the time to unpack in his cabin. Back on duty after a 6-month medical leave, he hoped that his fresh energy and enthusiasm would match how rusty he was. A few days in the training complex on Earth gave Alfred a bit of his old edge back, but live combat would be needed to return to full capacity.

He checked the map on his deck (similar to Emily's, but without administrative capabilities.) to ensure he was going the right way, before entering what should be the briefing room. The room was not small, but crates piled in the corners made it a little claustrophobic. The occupants were a varied bunch, not seeming to fit any description of a team. A small platform across from the door supported a scruffy man with multiple scars, who appeared slightly upset about something. "I'm sorry," Alfred said, with a polite, cultured tone. "I appear to have taken a wrong turn. Could any of you direct me to the briefing room?"

[nerminator]

Brian Savior

Brian immediately answered the dude, Stepping forward to his direction he answered, his voice full of New-Enthusiasm, This is the briefing room I think!

[Erklings25]

Soloman's cold eyes watched the new crew as they poured into the briefing room. One of them who was carrying a medical kit, looked far too enthusiastic for Soloman's liking. One member asked if they where the briefing room was. "It's right here idiot!" He sneered distastefully. "It looks like we're all here. Good. We have just received a very basic mission. We need to transport ammo to an outpost in our base on Uranus." He gave the crew a stern look as to dare them to make a joke "Sadly our alien 'compadres' have taken several areas of Saturn and have heavy artillery," he pulled down a picture of the flight route "so to avoid being destroyed on your first mission, that does happen, we will stop on Jupiter where our a new military lab have devolved a device to make us travel past unseen, so we can safely land on Uranus. Sadly we may encounter an alien or two on Jupiter or Uranus so I expect you all of to have all your wepons on you at all times. If you don't and the aliens don't kill you I certainly will, and I'm not joking!" He knew one thing however, the neural networks manager would be into him, he protested when they were brought into his ship. Then again if he had his way a the female members of the crew would dress like french maids. "Any questions?"

[nerminator]

Brian Savior

The commander yelling made Brian flinch a bit, he turned away from the person he was talking to and listened. and frowned after hearing what his mission was, and that he was just going to sit down and wait in a space ship all day,

He wanted to actually do something cool like Rescue soldiers from a POV camp or Lay siege to a city! but instead they were just being glorified cargo ships?. Brian Sighed. this was not what he signed up for.

[Primal Conundrum]

Jack shifted her weight, causing the crate beneath her to creak in protest. When she opened her mouth to speak, her voice had a slightly synthetic edge to it that implied some level of cybernetic assistance to her voice, but even that couldn't mask the distinctive rasp that only a smoker's voice would have. "Experimental stealth tech on a high end warship, all for an ammo drop? There's either something more that we aren't being briefed on here, or else someone idiot in the brass thinks we're a freighter because this is some shit use of materiel if I've ever seen one. Though to be fair..." she looked around the room, her face the very picture of unimpressedness. "...I've seen forests that are less green than some of the faces here, they could probably do with a gimmie mission so they can decide if they'd rather run home or not before things get serious."

[datadogie]

Emily let out a small huff. Ammo drops would mean little difference to her, probably only just a few extra scans to make sure that nothing had fallen out of place. However, the way the captain said they should have their weapons on them at all time made it sound like she would be going onto the ground with the troopers. A neural operator was senior crew on a ship, as they were the only members of the crew that could access remote control functions of many of the things of the ship. The senior operations officer could do that, too, but they never really had the time, and they were limited with what they could do. The captain could also do that, but it was obvious why a captain wouldn't be the one doing it.
Emily grunts. Maybe the reason she could be going onto the ground was to monitor the dropoff of the ammunition, and edit the ship's inventory likewise with her Admin Deck. She shrugged. She'd need an escort if she was going to do that.

[The15thSpycrab]

Alfred quickly sat in the closest chair as the captain began to speak, still slightly confused by the lack of professional atmosphere in the briefing room. The crew being briefed were arrayed at different points around the room, some even standing, with no attempt to even organize themselves by rank or position. The angry man at the front, apparently their captain, sounded a little drunk, and was yelling far more than necessary for the small space. After the captain finished his tirade, a heavily-scarred woman in a suit of heavy battle armor spoke up, raising a point about the absurdity of the mission.

Alfred raised his hand, then stood and spoke when no-one acknowledged him. "I must agree, using a warship to carry cargo is less than effective. What limited space we have is mostly used to hold the dropships and our own supplies and ammunition. Perhaps you meant that we would be escorting a convoy or single cargo ship to its destination?" Sitting back down, the young technician officer wasn't sure if he preferred a yes or a no. Which is worse, an incompetent captain or an illogical mission?

[Erklings25]

Soloman smiled at the man who spoke up. "Right there!" He shouted "Right there is a model solider, who can guess what the rest of you where to dim to realise I didn't metion." He liked this kid, he was smart unlike most recruits he met. "Yes we are escorting a smaller convoy to our destination, Uranus. That's why I asked you all to bring your wepons. I wasn't lying about the gadgets though, we need to been unseen by the aliens on Saturn." He turned to the Medic "Listen son, that media it of yours may be used quite frequently on Uranus so, do you feel prepared to fight," he sternly frowned at him "and use it, at the same time!" He said at the same time to faze him a little. He slammed his hand on the desk "Well, do you?"

[Primal Conundrum]

Jack rolled her eyes at the captain who was increasingly sounding like a wannabe Drill Sergeant. "Take it down a notch, Commander. If we need ground support or extraction, that's where I come in. Leave the medic somewhere safe, I can drag any injured personnel back to safety where we DON'T risk having a hole blown through the skull of our support staff. We have one medical officer from what I saw of the unit roster, if sparky there gets critically wounded there's not gonna be anyone to patch him up."

Putting her hands on her knees, she rose to her full standing height. "Besides, we're still in Earth controlled space. Even if we DO run into hostiles, there's no way they'll have the numbers to pose a serious threat. We can just shell any exposed targets with the ship's guns, and we have enough ground firepower to dig them out of any bunkers they might somehow have set up. Unless there's some gaping hole in our intel, there's no reason to expect heavy resistance." She fixed Soloman with an unamused stare. "At least, nowhere near heavy enough to put support staff in the line of fire."

[datadogie]

"Yes, I barely see the reason why I would have to go down to the ground," Emily finally speaks up. "I'm a neural networks operator, not a ground trooper." She says, looking up the the captain. She taps her fingers on her leg. "Is there any reason I should be here if we are speaking about ground operations?" Emily knew her Deck could connect to the ship, even if she was on the ground and it was in high orbit. Barely. But that wasn't meant for her unless she was at a proper ground base, doing everything a neural operator does.

[Erklings25]

Soloman turned his head towards Emily "Listen here, I don't care for Neural network whatevers darling, but if your that instant then fine, you can monitor the ship to check for any damage reports. If any aliens get in here though, you may need backup. My backup." He looked at Jack "You look like your a pretty good fighter, how about whilst I'm guarding the ship here, you can lead the team." He threw her an ear piece "use this to contact me, if you need to." He gathered up his folder and held it under his arm and he tapped his ear piced "This is Soloman Creeks, can you read me? Good," he said, the captain of the convoy was contacting him "Yes we're almost ready, we'll take of in 7 mins, approximately. Soloman Creeks over and out!" He turned to the crew "You heard me, get going!" he ordered, exasperated "Meeting adjourned!" He saluted to the crew and marched out of the room to the cockpit and punched in the co-ordinates. He sighed to himself "I can't wait to see what happens to these imbeciles!" He chuckled.

[Primal Conundrum]

Jack just tossed the earpiece back to him. "Don't need it. All my comm hardware is built in. Keep your trinkets." She smirked a bit as he left, presumably off to go do whatever it was that self-important blowhards did to earn their keep. Taking a deep breath, she looked around at the group still in the room.

"Well, that briefing told us a lot, just not much about the mission. Still, there are things we can do to prepare for it, as best we can. First up, if I'm going to be leading the team, I need to know what equipment we have and that it's working right. I'd like a status report on any shuttles or interceptors we might have, along with their weapons, armor, flight specs, the like. If we're running bodyguard for a convoy, then we might have to use them if we encounter any problems while en route. Beyond that, while I don't think support staff is going to have to fight at all, it would still be a good idea to keep a weapon handy just in case something DOES go FUBAR. I'm not talking a pocket knife people, carry a gun." Pausing to think, she turned to Brian.

"If we need to go planetside, you're coming along and you're waiting in the shuttle, unless they've got tissue paper for armor. We don't need you getting shot, but we need you handy if someone needs immediate attention. Now, last question I had but didn't get a chance to ask..." with a mental command that her neural implants reacted to, she opened a comm to Soloman.

"Since I'm really doubting that we're going to try to land on a couple of gas giants, would you care to tell us what moon or satellite of Jupiter we're headed to, and which moon or satellite of Uranus we're going to be dropping the ammo off at?"

[nerminator]

Brian Savior

Brian opened his mouth and protested against the Robo-cop chick Thats a absolutely horrible plan. If I stay inside of the shuttle and something goes wrong your not just going to "Pull the injured person 50 miles to the medic". I may be a medic but I can defend myself! He protested.

their was no way he was going to sit in a shuttle while everyone else gets the glory. He signed up to save lives. not sit down in a shuttle and count how many seconds until they get back!.

@Primal Conundrum

[Primal Conundrum]

She turned her gaze to him. "First up, if we're going to be 50 miles from the touchdown point, we'll just move the shuttle. Second, if you take a bad hit we have NOBODY to patch you up. You wanna save lives? You'll have an easier time doing it if you're not dead. You think your training as a medic is going to be enough to keep you safe out there?" She walked forward, towering over him. "I was a trained soldier with field experience before they blew me into bloody chunks and our techs put me back together in this thing." She knocked on her chest for emphasis, the metal thunking sound filling the room. "We don't have the luxury of having backup medics, so until that changes I'm not putting you at more risk than I need to. If you can't follow that order and stay on the shuttle, then you can stay here on the ship. You're no good to anybody dead, and I'd rather trained soldiers who know the risks go down there as opposed to some hot-headed kid with more enthusiasm than sense." She shifted her weight on her hips and crossed her arms.

"So which is it gonna be, are you gonna stay on the shuttle like you're told, or am I gonna have to leave you here on the ship?"

[nerminator]

Brian savior flinched and stepped back a bit once the Metal person knocked on her chest, She was actually scary in a way, like. that one drill sergeant who takes his job A bit too seriously. His voice stuttering and scared, He answered her I..I..I think I'll just..stay on the shuttle

A Part of Brian wanted to protest back and bark at her, but another much more Smarter part of him told him to shut up unless he Hates having his teeth inside of his mouth.

@Primal Conundrum

[Primal Conundrum]

She grinned, not in a sarcastic or mean way, but actually seeming relieved. "Good. I realize it doesn't feel like you'll be doing as much, but you'll be a lot more useful to us there than on the frontlines." She crouched down in front of him, bringing herself to eye level. "Don't get me wrong, what you do is useful, but that's exactly why I'm trying to keep you safe. If someone gets hurt, we're going to need you, and you can do a lot more good when you're not filled with bullet holes. What we need is a doctor, someone to patch us up, not another grunt running around and getting shot at." She stood up, giving him a sincere smile. "Let us go and get hurt. It's our job to take the stupid risks, and if we didn't have people like you waiting to put us back together we would have lost a lot more people by now. Let's face facts, our captain?" she nodded her head in the direction that Soloman had walked off towards. "he seems like an idiot. I don't expect that we'll be getting good orders, so there's a good chance that he'll put us in situations where we wind up injured. As long as he's running the show, I need to know that there's SOMEONE kept in reserve who has their head on right. It's not so much if, but WHEN we get hurt, we're going to need someone on hand who knows how to put all the parts back in the right places."

She leaned backwards, flexing her back, the movement somewhat incongruous with her mechanical form. "I know it probably feels like you're sitting on the sidelines, but the best thing you can do to help is to stay safe and be ready if we need medical attention. From what I read of your dossier, your strength really is focused on medicine and healing, and so it only makes sense to play to that. People like you? You could very well save more lives than any of us soldiers, but only if you're alive to do it."