CronicCrystalis

Mass Effect - The New Threat

Lieutenant Crobalt Nicholas "Cronic" Crystalis - AFR Marine

Name: Crobalt Nicholas Crystalis
Aliases: Cronic (Nickname),
Race: Human(?)
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Appearance: shoulder-length brown hair, moderate tone white skin and azure blue eyes. Wears an alliance military soldier's uniform minus the jacket, wearing a black vest in it's place. Has what looks to be crystalline growths covering part of his forearms.

Faction: Alliance Marine Force Recon
Rank: Lieutenant
Role: Vanguard
Weapons/Equipment:
:: Monomolecular blades
"A vanguard fights in close quarters. Can never hurt to keep a blade handy in those situations."
:: M-27 Scimitar
"A secondary port of call; Biotic charge is powerful, sure, but you might need a little extra firepower to finish off a tougher target. Hence the shotgun."
Background/Personality:
"Lieutenant Crystalis. Crobalt N. A seasoned veteran known for high-risk tactics, choosing to put his life and his alone on the line to ensure his squadron's survival. the man has balls of steel, that's for sure. Not many people have the guts to stare certain death in the face before unloading a shotgun into them or hacking off a limb with a monomolecular blade. Using the biotic charge ability, he's known to zip around the battlefield dispensing shotgun fire to anyone unlucky enough to survive the impact, or use the charge to zip to and from areas where he can turn the situation around. He's even able to channel his biotics into a deadly ranged slash. Off the field, he shows the rookies the ropes of AFR and is a likeable guy, keeping a level head, even when someone's giving him crap. Popular with his troops, but not so much with the brass. Quick thinker, quick reactions, and a quick trigger finger is why he's ahead of the curve when it comes to going right into the hornet's nest. He's not bulletproof though, and he's got the scars to prove it. He views his scars as badges of honour; Each one is proof that despite being shot, he's still breathing. And if he's still breathing, only victory or death'll stop him in his tracks."
- Colonel A. Kaiser, Commander of AFR Task Force.

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

"...I'm just going to ignore that last part." Cronic said, as he took the bottle of mead meant for the Carriage driver and exited the bar. On his way to where the guy parked his cart, he asked people if they'd seen anyone matching the description of the female warrior. As he reached the gate leading out of Whiterun, he was thinking to himself.

"...Of course it's not gonna be that easy to find her. From the looks of it, she's not been here yet. If she has been at all. I doubt we'll get a stroke of luck where she comes to US, but given the events of yesterday, anything's possible." Cronic thought to himself, pushing open the gate and walking through, recalling the most unbelievable of the things he'd run into yesterday; Dragons. Honest to god, living, fire breathing dragons.

"If that's not enough to warrant a major shift in our fortunes, I don't know what is."

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

"Could be anywhere, as far as I know. I first met her near the border between Cyrodiil and Skyrim when the bandit attack occurred. She had a real fire in her eyes, but that's not all I saw; I saw sorrow in those eyes too. Something bad must've happened in her past. Something that scarred her to this day. Kinda like you, now that I think about it." Cronic said, taking a swig of some Mead, having a second bottle on the floor beside him.

"The second bottle's for the cart driver. I promised him a drink, afterall." Cronic said, before resuming his train of thought about the nomadic warrior conjurer.

"Though given the Thalmor have an embassy here, I wager that will be reason enough for her to return to Skyrim. I remember her saying she won't stop until the Thalmor are wiped out... Or until she is." Cronic said to Aria, sounding a little concerned at that last part.

"One woman army is good, but someone needs to show her the world beyond her warpath. Otherwise she won't have any reason to keep going should the Thalmor cease to be."

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

"Only reason I'm even here to begin with was I was short on coin, and the Odd Jobs was a way to remedy that. No way I could've foreseen the events of yesterday though. Speaking of travelling, I can think of one person who might be able to fill out the ranks a bit... Problem is, she's a wanderer like me. As such, I haven't a clue where she could be." Cronic said, as he recalled a certain brown-haired swordswoman he'd met in the past.

"She's a Breton, knows tailoring skills, she's skilled in Conjuration and wielding a two-handed sword, and she learned a few tricks about archery from yours truly as a "Thank you" for helping me out when I was under attacks by Bandits. I don't know where she is now though, but someone like her leaves a lasting impression. Brown hair, blue eyes, wears black attire made specifically for travelling. Has a fur collar lining the top of her coat... And despite saying she left a lasting impression, I've completely forgotten her name." Cronic said, facepalming hard as he said that last part.

"Either way, it's someone who could be a valuable member of the odd jobs team if given the chance." Cronic said, before whispering something into Aria's ear.

"That and she's at odds with the Thalmor too."

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

Cronic needed to quickly slap the sides of his skull, to check that he was still in reality, in that the finely dressed woman next to him known for being able to cut down just about anyone with a blade was still his boss. By this time, Cronic had already eaten. Once he'd sufficiently regained his composure, he began to speak.

"Been doing a little thinking. Based on yesterday's events coupled with one or two close calls, how much longer will our fortunes as a duo last, I wonder?" Cronic said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"To that end, I wager we ought to expand the ranks a little. An extra pair of hands never hurt anyone, afterall."

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

Awaking with a yawn, sleepily rubbing one eye before sitting on the edge of the bed, Cronic waited for himself to fully wake up before he got ready for the day.

"...Must've dozed off in the midst of my thoughts..." Cronic said to himself, as he slipped his boots back on and donned his coat, making sure to fasten it up. Fixing his sword to his belt, Cronic slowly and quietly went downstairs. Sure enough, Aria had nodded off in the usual spot. This would mean that he'd have to go to the Bannered Mare for breakfast again. Last time he tried cooking up something to eat while Aria was sleeping, she almost broke his arm. Quietly unlocking and slipping out the door, he took a deep breath as he felt the sun on his face.

"Now then... What will today hold in store for us?" Cronic said to himself, as he turned to walk to the Bannered Mare, grateful that he was still breathing, given what they'd faced yesterday.

"...Should probably consider seeing if anyone in need of some coin is looking for work. Could probably use an extra pair of hands, given how chaotic yesterday was."

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

Letting out a sigh of relief, Cronic did as asked, and luckily managed to catch Arcadia just as she was locking up.

Explaining the situation to the Alchemist, Arcadia left and quickly came back with half a dozen potions of cure disease. A little unexpected, but then again, Cronic did fend off a few cultists that would've tried to kill her too after they were done with him.

Giving her his thanks, he took the potions back to the shop and put one down on Aria's desk, took one for himself, and put the rest atop a shelf, before uncorking the potion and chugging down the contents in one fell swoop.

"Blegh... Not the most pleasant taste in the world, but you make do with what you got." Cronic said as he unclipped his sword from his belt, going up the stairs to his room. It was only a single bed, but for someone who sleeps rough on a regular basis, a bed is considered a luxury item. propping his bow and sword against the wall, Cronic then sat down on the bed after closing the door. Slipping out of his boots and then removing his coat, folding up the latter and putting it onto the nearby night stand, Cronic lay down and began to ponder the days events.

"Dragons, insane cultists, and vampires. Today's been pretty eventful... And crazy. Well. Crazier than most of our antics, anyway." Cronic thought to himself, checking the burn on his arm, which had almost completely healed at this point.

[Private] Gundam SEED: Burning Frontier

"Make it happen, Kenny. Tell the Engineers to prep my ZAKU too. I'll admit, after everything that's happened, the ET's silence worries me. Call me paranoid, but I'm anticipating a sneak attack to happen any time soon." Cronic said, as he began to review the files on Aethon.

"Izumi's still in no condition to pilot a mobile suit. If Aethon needs to be deployed, someone compatible's gonna have to pilot it. Either me or Calthorn at this point." Cronic said, making sure to memorize the figures on Aethon's estimates, such as flight speed, operation time, etc.

---

Calthorn was up and about, but he wasn't up to much, just staring at what was left of Wraith in the middle of the hangar bay, laying flat on it's back. He was just simply leaning on the walkway's barrier, lost in his own thoughts. So much so that he didn't even notice Mark approach.

"So, I've been doing some extensive analysis on your Dagger. Repairs are possible, but it won't really make much difference against the ETs, even if it is a customized version of a mass-produced Mobile Suit. So, here's my proposition. Rather than simply repair the Wraith... I say we give it a full blown re-build instead. Turn it from a modified mass produced MS into the pinnacle of Earth-built Mobile suits, a one-of-a-kind Gundam Unit." Mark said, holding a dossier dubbed "Project W.G" as Calthorn looked at Mark in disbelief.

"Most of what's in this file is mainly just ideas I've jotted down to improve the Wraith's capabilities, offensive, defensive, tactical and so on. But ultimately, you're the one who's gonna be piloting the thing, so it's down to you to decide what'll work and what won't. Given that you yourself have a limited deployment time, I've taken that into account in my choices of components." Mark said as he passed the Dossier to Calthorn.

"...I'll give it some thought when I find the time." Calthorn said, stashing the dossier into his coat before looking back out over the hangar. Mark just simply sighed and went to get back to work.

---

Zerenis too, had made sure to be packing a firearm. Something was playing havoc with his senses, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Choosing to ignore it due to the look of the place and the fact someone or something could try to get the drop on the two of them at any moment was making him nervous. At this point though he was doing all he could to keep up with Izumi. She'd survived an almost fatal incident once before with the aid of the CSC. Zerenis was going to make sure there wouldn't be a second incident, no matter the cost.

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

"Take care out there, y'hear?" Cronic said to the client as he crossed the border.

"Better safe than sorry, boss. Only so much Restoration can do afterall." Cronic said, climbing up into the cart before turning to look at the Driver.

"I owe you a drink for putting up with this mayhem. Had I known this would happen, I would've arranged for horses instead." Cronic said to him, giving him a simple thumbs up and a small pouch of septims.

"Consider it hazard pay." Cronic said, before turning to look at Aria.

"Well, hopefully we can get a replacement door in before we turn in for the night. Probably a bit of a stretch, but after what's happened today, we could use something going right for once."

The Elder Scrolls: Souls of Many Shades [Jake & Cronic]

"Experience, sure. But your biggest mistake was underestimating us. Vampire or no. And for that, you just signed your own death warrant." Cronic said, impaling his sword through the Vampire's back and driving the bloodsucker to the ground, and shoving the blade all the way through the Vampire till it stopped at the handguard, effectively rooting the vampire to the spot, before flames lit up in his hands.

"Come on, whelp. It's time to BURN!" Cronic said, before holding both hands down towards the Vampire, as streams of flames emerged from his hands, engulfing the Vampire. Cronic was clearly in one of those moods where he didn't care about clean kills, and just needed to take his frustrations out on something, as demonstrated by his choice of spell; a Novice-level Destruction spell.

Once Cronic finally stopped casting due to having drained his Magicka reserves (And the fact the Vampire was now a charred husk), he pulled his sword out from the Vampire, cleaned the blade off and then sheathed it.

"Miraak, Harkon... How many more leader types are we going to piss off today?" Cronic said, as he turned to the Cart and it's driver, along with the client.

"...Don't think we caught Sanguinare, but better get checked out as a just-in-case. Last thing we need is becoming a bloodsucker ourselves."