Cath

Checking Things Out

Welcome to the Guild!

Song Reference time

I CHIMED IN WITH A "HAVEN'T YOU PEOPLE EVER HEARD OF, CLOSING A GOD DAMN DOOR"

The Fall of Outremer 1x1 [Ozy x Cathy]

Serin & Clara

Outremer, planetside. City outskirts. Condition unknown.
-------

Serin and Clara both clambered into the back of the waiting dropship, squeezing past the artefact mounting to sit in hot seats. The gunny entered last, shouting orders as he strapped in and locked a bulky shotgun into the slot beside him

Clara checked the clock - two minutes to FTL exit. Engine noise in the hangar grew to a thunderous roar. When Serin addressed her, Clara tapped her ear and mouthed I CAN’T HEAR YOU. Serin switched to her neural implant.

“Run through the plan again. I want to make sure you remembered it.”

“Serin, I have near perfect recall on both imagery and verbal data. If you want, I can recite the serial number of the pad you showed me Outremer’s topography on.”

“No thanks. Humour me with the plan, please.” Serin looked nervous inside her helmet. Clara suspected the NID operator wasn’t happy with the ‘fast and loose’ nature of their mission. It had all come about so quickly; they hadn’t been scheduled to approach Outremer for another two weeks.

But when the planetary administration made contact with an unidentified species that quickly turned out to be hostile, the mission became the Naval Intelligence Division's top priority. Initial reports had postulated that the device they were being sent to retrieve contained charts which looked suspiciously like Outer Systems fleet movements and planet positions.

Clara was almost certain the Outremer lab technicians assigned to study the device had no idea what they were dealing with. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on it, despite the spine chilling threat of danger hanging over them right now.

“Fine. Once the coast is clear, we’ll land at the closest available spaceport to the device. This would be call sign OTC-33971, otherwise known as DuPont Intersystem, located in Outremer’s capital city. From there, we’ll proceed by truck to the downtown police HQ, where the device is being kept. Once we’re there, i’ll begin my initial analysis while you get me and it out of the city and back to the ship.”

“Good. Don’t forget the explosives we need to wire up to it in case we fall to the enemy.”

“I’m not planning on dying today, Serin.”

They shared a wry smile. “I’ll try my best, Clara. Just try not to shoot me in the back with the pistol I gave you.”

“FTL exit, imminent.” The Galahad’s AI chimed neatly over the engine noise.

“Hold on to your hats, ladies!” The gunnery sergeant shouted to himself.

The jump lifted them into the air, slammed them against their belts and then back into their seats at high speed. Clara immediately threw up. Her suit opened to let the refuse out, then rippled so the mess slid down onto the floor.

Almost immediately, klaxons started sounding in the hangar.

“Hangar doors opening. Launch in 30 seconds.” The ship’s AI announced.

Serin opened a secure comm link to The Galahad’s bridge.

“Captain, how are we looking?”

There was a moment’s pause before Captain Cross responded.

“I won’t lie to you ma’am, it doesn’t look good. Salient Blue Team has already launched. Find them and stick to them, they’ll know what to do. Cross, out.” He disconnected.

“Launch.” The ship’s AI announced.

Serin & Clara were pushed back into their seats again as the troop transports in Hangar 2 all left The Galahad’s Glare and headed for Outremer. The hull rattled and hummed as they entered the cold vacuum of space. The dozen people seated around the asset’s circular mount began checking their gear and making their peace.

Something about Captain Cross’s voice had unsettled Serin. What could he see? She used her NID access chain to piggyback on the fleet’s command network. Her wrist module projected a small three dimensional model of Outremer and its moon in front of her eyes. The OSN fleet appeared as blue shapes a few hundred thousand klicks from the surface. A large swarm of unidentified craft showed up in red, a quarter of the way around the planet’s orbit. Some of the dots were rapidly making their way towards the fleet.

She accessed bridge comms for one of the fleet’s vanguard ships, heavy destroyer OSN Beowulf, and listened in.

“No effect on target, ma’am.”
“Fire the MAC again.”
“Point defence vectors 2 and 3 have been disabled, boarders are-”
“Helmsman, initiate starboard helix - bring us in line with Hrothgar and Aethelred now!”
“Energy projectors impacting the engine block! Output down to 70%!”
“They’re in Engineering! Seal the bridge right-”

Serin accessed the helmet cam of Sergeant Mathias Larssen aboard the Beowulf to find him engaged in a heated firefight along with the rest of his platoon. Tall, heavily armoured humanoids lumbered through the smoke towards their position behind a stack of crates. Some were firing energy weapons and some appeared to be wielding large hammers and scythes.

“What kind of sick fucks bring blunt force weapons to a gunfight in space?” Serin muttered angrily.

The creatures could’ve passed for humans in advanced, outlandish armour if not for their guttural, throaty battle cries. They were louder than any human could produce unaided, and accessed a much larger voice range. Serin watched, transfixed, as one of the statuesque warriors rushed Larssen’s position, swatted the combat shotgun from his grasp and punched him right in the face. The camera feed disappeared.

Their transport was in the atmosphere now - Serin could feel the pressure of their re-entry fading.

“Get tactical, marines! Dupont Intersystem space port is five minutes out!” The gunnery sergeant yelled, getting data straight from the transport’s cockpit. Serin did the same, opening a scan of the immediate area, command data streaming from Dupont’s ATC tower and topside exterior cameras.

The spaceport sat on the outskirts of Outremer’s largest city, Edessa. It comprised a series of landing bays for smaller craft and outdoor landing cradles for medium sized vessels. These were connected to gleaming white terminal buildings. Districts of cheap, ugly accommodation blocks and sprawling factories surrounded it. As they came in closer, Serin could see thousands of ant-sized people running toward the space port. The blue light of energy weapons lit up the mass of bodies.

“OTC-33971, this is KRGG-19 requesting permission to dock.” the transport’s pilot opened up on the team channel

“We’re under attack! Pad 42 is free - please help us!” came the frantic reply from the ATC tower.

“Copy that. We’ll do what we can. On approach n-”

The transport hold erupted into flames. Serin could scarcely push Clara back into her seat before they were flipped upside down and yanked against their seatbelts.

“WE’RE HIT! BRACE, BRACE.” The pilot shouted as everyone started yelling and the hold filled with smoke and fire.

“GOING IN HOT, HOLD ON!” The hold was ripped apart and Serin could see grey sky and concrete flying past her before something hit her head and everything went black.

The Fall of Outremer 1x1 [Ozy x Cathy]

Serin & Clara

“FTL exit in thirty minutes - all crew to action stations.” The ship’s AI intoned through speakers in the ceiling of the armoury. It would’ve played inside Serin’s head too, if she hadn’t denied it access to her neural implant upon boarding. Moving fast now, she helped herself to a compact assault rifle which magnetised nicely to the front of her new tactical vest. Three magazines fit into pouches alongside it, with her OSNID operator sidearm relegated to a holster at her hip.

She contemplated a few other weapons and toys, but decided to travel light. For Dr Hamilton, Serin had picked out an over-clothes armour pack and a small pistol, just in case. She grabbed them from an adjoining table along with her suit’s helmet and pushed past a squad of marines out of the armoury.

She called Clara via her implant, slaloming past running crewmen in the crowded corridors at a jog. “Serin? where are you? They’re nearly ready to leave.” She eventually picked up.

“I’m on my way with all your gear, princess. You can thank me when it stops a bullet. Are you in a hangar bay?”

“Yeah…hangar 2. I’ll save you a seat.” Clara disconnected. Although the official plan was for civilians to wait until the landing zone was secure, Clara had insisted she get onto the planet as fast as possible. Serin had strongly objected at first, until she’d requisitioned reports from Outremer suggesting the unknown fleet was still active in orbit and appeared extremely powerful. She wanted to get Dr Hamilton to the asset as fast as possible, so they had the best chance of a craft to exfil to at the end.

---
Clara checked the FTL clock while taking a last drink from her water bottle. Fifteen minutes to go. The troop transport they’d repurposed to carry the asset was prepped and waiting. All the data she’d been given on the object indicated it wasn’t harmful to human life by proximity. So she’d allowed the crew to fit a few more soldier seats back in at the last moment. They sat strapped in now, nervously eyeing the spherical mount in the middle of the dropship’s cargo area.

“We need to get you in place, ma’am.” a voice said. She turned; the gunnery sergeant was standing next to her, motioning with one hand for the waiting dropship..

“We need to wait for Serin.”

“I’m here.” Serin strode past, dumping an armour pack and sidearm into Clara’s arms.

“Are we ready to go?” She asked the sergeant, he nodded.

Her eyes glazed over momentarily while she accessed her comms device.

“Captain. We’re ready to deploy.”

Once back, she took the armour pack out of Clara’s arms, activated it and chucked it at Clara’s feet. It unfurled into a mess of wires and thin blue material that grabbed hold of the doctor’s leg and began climbing up like a spider. After half a minute, she was covered from foot to neck in light armour, with a horrified look on her face. Serin chuckled. “Always wanted to do that. Alright, let’s get this over with.”

Song Reference time

The streets are in diiistress

Song Reference time

Oh my god, I have the remedy for love

The Fall of Outremer 1x1 [Ozy x Cathy]

Serin Öztekin CS

Name: Serin Öztekin

Age: 35

Gender: Female

Profession: OSNID Senior Operator

Appearance:


Personality:
Serin is absolutely devoted to her work, often operating weeks at a time without a break. She was always a strong-willed person, but her training made her direct and assertive, bordering on confrontational. She has a dry, caustic sense of humour that quite a few people will mistake for active dislike which isn't always the case.

Backstory:
Serin was born in Geneva, Switzerland to two members of the intelligence community. Mehmet Öztekin (Director of the European Union Intelligence and Situation Centre at the time) met Margarethe Strahovski (govt liaison at the Outer Systems Naval Intelligence Division) during a rare visit back to Earth to see her parents. Serin came into the world five years later.

Much of her childhood was spent in diplomatic suites, her father trying to balance his duties with bringing her up. As a result, she never had many chances to make friends with people her own age, which encouraged her to mature very early. She threw herself into school studies and finished her formal education with a Masters in Inter-system Relations from the Sorbonne.

At this point, Serin had grown exhausted with ground-based operations at the EUISC. She asked her mother (who hadn't been around that much but was thrilled by the prospect of working alongside her daughter) about roles in the Naval Intelligence Division. She worked her way up the chain of command from the staff of a planetary NID liaison to Senior Operator in the shadowy Section 3.

There, she's sent to assess promising claims of alien technology. If it turns out to be significant for intelligence or military technology, she uses the long shadow of NID to secure it for private study.

Dr Clara Hamilton

Name: WIP

Age: 30

Gender: Female

Profession: Former professor of Xenoarchaeology & civilian consultant to OSNID (Outer Systems Naval Intelligence Division)

Appearance

Personality:
Clara is immensely intelligent, with a thought process few people can follow. Like Serin, she is utterly devoted to her field, and this can make her quite reclusive at times. In the periods between long research reveries, Clara is generally amicable but can be too intense for most people to feel comfortable around. A fan of efficiency, she won't shy away from personal questions to make the measure of someone as quick as possible.

Backstory:
Clara's parents were sorghum farmers on Cornucopia, a recent agriculture world on the fringes of Outer Systems space relatively close to Outremer. They tragically died protecting Clara from wild animals, on a rare trip to the foothills when she was 10 years old. Her advanced intellect had already become clear by this point; her parents were midway through negotiating a scholarship for her at one of the better virtual universities.

However, with the money raised by selling the farm, the family lawyer managed to get Clara into the New Chantry on Earth. A relatively new institution for gifted individuals, Clara was able to thrive there and by 18 had taken over as one of the professors of Xenoarchaeology. However, this role left Clara wanting a lot more. So, when the Naval Intelligence Division approached her for a consulting job to study alien artefacts and further human knowledge, she jumped at the chance.

Non-human relics had been showing up for centuries, but many of them were so advanced that unpicking their mystery was very slow work. However, Clara spearheaded efforts to build a virtual interface that could 'encourage' alien objects to give up their secrets. The relic on Outremer is one of the first opportunities for her to use it.

The Fall of Outremer (a Sci-fi story of epic proportions)

I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to withdraw from this RP. I forgot about it, and lost my interest, and it would be rude for me to keep it on hold and try to crank out a CS. I wish you the best of luck in this RP and future ones.

@Zoey Boey

Hey Zoey, no problem! See you soon

The Fall of Outremer 1x1 [Ozy x Cathy]

Reserved

The Fall of Outremer (a Sci-fi story of epic proportions)

Serin Öztekin CS

Name: Serin Öztekin

Age: 35

Gender: Female

Profession: OSNID Senior Operator

Appearance:


Personality:
Serin is absolutely devoted to her work, often operating weeks at a time without a break. She was always a strong-willed person, but her training made her direct and assertive, bordering on confrontational. She has a dry, caustic sense of humour that quite a few people will mistake for active dislike which isn't always the case.

Backstory:
Serin was born in Geneva, Switzerland to two members of the intelligence community. Mehmet Öztekin (Director of the European Union Intelligence and Situation Centre at the time) met Margarethe Strahovski (govt liaison at the Outer Systems Naval Intelligence Division) during a rare visit back to Earth to see her parents. Serin came into the world five years later.

Much of her childhood was spent in diplomatic suites, her father trying to balance his duties with bringing her up. As a result, she never had many chances to make friends with people her own age, which encouraged her to mature very early. She threw herself into school studies and finished her formal education with a Masters in Inter-system Relations from the Sorbonne.

At this point, Serin had grown exhausted with ground-based operations at the EUISC. She asked her mother (who hadn't been around that much but was thrilled by the prospect of working alongside her daughter) about roles in the Naval Intelligence Division. She worked her way up the chain of command from the staff of a planetary NID liaison to Senior Operator in the shadowy Section 3.

There, she's sent to assess promising claims of alien technology. If it turns out to be significant for intelligence or military technology, she uses the long shadow of NID to secure it for private study.

Clara Hamilton

Name: WIP

Age: 30

Gender: Female

Profession: Professor of Xenoarchaeology & occasional special advisor to OSNID (Outer Systems Naval Intelligence Division)

Appearance

Personality:

Backstory: