Ex

The Spirits Within

Main Gate

And then Olivia fell into the depths of childishness once again, looking to her friends who had arrived. “Oh! Look there, who is that? Who is that?” Olivia asked Samuela, who was basking in delightful, enchanting laughter.

“That’s Emily! Look, it’s Emily” Olivia said.

Emily was standing next to her, looking off into the distance. When Olivia said her name, she jerked her head around sharply, like she'd been startled, and for a moment her face was flat and sour. When she saw the baby, though, she managed a smile. She bent down to reach its eye level, and smiled. It smiled back.

Olivia gently grabbed its arm and poked at Emily’s nose. “Yes, it is! It’s Emily. She has such beautiful hair, don’t you think?” Olivia said to Samuela. “Yes! Yes, she does.”

Emily giggled, and immediately felt childish for doing so. She thought the moment was supposed to be serious, and indeed, it had been until just now. She wondered why Olivia felt okay taking this detour to pay attention to a little child... but then she realized that if she were Olivia, she would have been happy for any distraction from what was coming.

"I didn't know you liked my hair, Liv," she said, still watching the baby.

“Of course I do, sweetie. We are like Day and Night, you and I,” Olivia said, while frolicking with Samuela, and then meeting Emily’s gaze at the end of her sentence.

"It used to be all black," Emily said. "When I was little." She ran a hand through her hair, a little self-conscious.

For a brief moment, of splendid ponder and retrospect, Olivia attempted to recollect an image of her dear friend during their childhood years, and whether or not she could see Emily with blackened hair. …do I know this?... hmm… I can’t remember… how embarrassing…

“I’m sure you were as lovely then as you are now,” Olivia said, with a slight tone of doubt. “Here, you want to hold her?” Olivia asked, hinting at Samuela.

"It only started to get lighter around the same time as I... well, yeah," Emily trailed off. "Sure. I'll hold her."

Olivia felt quite distraught over the fact that she was unsure of when Emily’s details changed in such a distinct manner. However, somewhere in the depths of her mind, the very back of her darkest corners, Olivia knew that she had seen it and taken note of it. Perhaps Olivia was too hard on herself regarding these things. Either way, she nodded and smiled at Emily’s comment about her hair.

“See, it isn’t that bad – children are just wonderful. Fits you like a glove,” Olivia said. She hefted Samuela into Emily's arms. Emily took the baby, trying to hold her gently while mimicking how Olivia had done it. It felt rather like holding a large, moving sack of water. She worried that if she adjusted her position even a little, she'd somehow hurt the child. Still, she smiled into the baby's eyes. Samuela smiled back.

"I think I like them only so long as I'm not in charge of them," Emily said. She looked back down at the baby. It was staring at her silently.

"What do you think?" She asked it. The baby stared at her for another moment, hiccuped, and started to cry.

"I think that's a yes," Emily said, hastily maneuvering to return Samuela to Olivia's arms.

Olivia gently received Samuela and slowly rocked the child back and forth, up and down in her bosoms to calm it down. However, Olivia’s expertise in the field of parenting abruptly ended with duties like these. She was not sure if the baby was responding to her comfort or not, so she turned around to hand Samuela over to her father. “Take her Kim, I don’t know what to do really,” Olivia said. Thereafter, Olivia faced Emily again.

“Well…” Olivia began, scratching her head in ponder. “…babies can sometimes be rocket science, I’d agree with that,” she finished.

---

Field Marshal Sawyer & Departure

Emily stood near the back of the group as Sawyer addressed them. The man didn't inspire confidence; she knew him, she knew his reputation, and she wondered if he cared about any of them even slightly. That he was the one who'd been sent to brief them had to mean one of two things, in Emily's mind: Either the Academy was desperate and had no time to give them a proper explanation of their mission, or they weren't expected to last very long.
She wasn't sure which she would have preferred.

They walked for what seemed like ages, much more slowly than Emily would have liked. Every so often, military vehicles would pass them, and Emily would wonder where they were going - and why WARG couldn't be on them. Orders were orders, yes, but this didn't make any sense. Surely there was some way they could have gotten there faster. Vaguely, in the back of her mind, she wondered if the whole thing was a dream, or a farce. Or hazing. There had to be some explanation.

After several more hours - or what felt like hours - of interminable walking, Olivia stopped near the side fo the road. “We’re taking five…” She said and yawned: “Oh my, I’m so sleepy…”
Emily slumped down underneath a tree, pulled a flask of water from her bag, and took a long drink. She glanced at Olivia. The other girl's tiredness didn't inspire confidence. This was what they had trained for, after all, and yeah, she was winded too, but it felt like a bad idea to even mention it. Better to soldier on. "If this was so critical, couldn't Norton City have sent a car?"

Gazing at the dark skies, Olivia was not sure what she was doing or how she was supposed to do the things that the academy asked of her, or what her friends would ask of her in the future. It seemed as if everything had changed in the blink of an eye when the General said that Olivia was to be the Captain. How was Olivia supposed to be their friend, sister, mother, or whatever, all the while being the superior and commanding officer? It seemed an impossible task to her.

“How am I supposed to know? I guess they are busy with getting their butts kicked by Nautilus. That’s why we have to swoop in and save the day… apparently,” Olivia said, with a hint of sarcasm and despair.

Emily didn't say anything. She forced away her thoughts about Olivia, her confusion at the choice of leader. None of that mattered. She looked into the sky, and pushed herself to her feet. "Come on," she said. "We have to go. We can't be the soldiers who got there too late."

“We won’t be late, Em… there will be plenty of action for the both of us, for everyone,” Olivia said and fell flat onto the ground. She closed her eyes and floated away to a better place, however still very much aware of her present. “Just… relax for a second, Emily,” Olivia said, opening her eyes. When she didn’t hear an answer, she stood up and walked over to Emily, urging her to sit down. The blonde girl shook her head.

“What’s on your mind, really?” Olivia asked.

"It's not important right now," Emily said. "We have a job to do, we should do it."

“How are we supposed to do our job if our minds are elsewhere? Besides, we haven’t talked in a while…” Olivia said, and shifted her gaze into the distance where she could hint the Doral radio antenna. “…the world can wait,” she continued, looking at Emily again.

"Just ask yourself, Liv. Is this how this is supposed to go? We're promoted the day after graduation and then right away, we're on our own? I mean, when we get there, what good are we even gonna be able to do?"

“I’m sure Cid and the Council have their reasons. I mean… it’s not like we’re just some expendable soldiers. They know and we know that we become much stronger than we should be when we’re together, so… why shouldn’t they use that to their advantage? I can’t imagine that they would waste it on some meaningless mission… or a situation where we can’t change anything.”

"But that's just it," Emily said. "They know we're good as a team, but they're just gonna turn us loose on our own and expect us to... what? Win? Clean up? I feel like there's nobody steering this ship, Olivia, I mean - I'll do whatever you need me to do, but shouldn't someone who knows what's really going on be in command?"

“And who would that be then, huh, Thael? Remi? They barely know more than I do…” Olivia said and stood up, taking a few steps away from Emily, but remaining within quiet talking distance. Her head tilted, somewhat, down towards the ground, gazing at the grass playing in the winds. “… you know who that should have been our Captain… and I do my best to substitute him… but, it’s never going to be enough… Emily… I can’t be him,” Olivia finished.

Emily sighed and shook her head. "I didn't mean-- that wasn't what I meant. It's not, you know, it has nothing to do with you. I'm sorry, like I said: It's not even worth discussing now."

Olivia shifted her gaze towards the skies again, where she knew Sam was watching them from, in one way or another. And then she turned around to face Emily again. Locking her arms together and resting her weight on her left leg, Olivia continued: “…it’s always going to be worth discussing, Em… what we are… where we come from… how we got here… and what we are supposed to do – it all has a greater meaning, I’m sure of it. Sam didn’t die for nothing. If there is no clear objective, the objective is to win the war and exterminate every last piece of alien creature there is. That’s our mission, Em… that’s what we are supposed to do. Whatever this is… I don’t know and I don’t care. What I care about is you and all of our friends over there…” Olivia said, and shot the rest of the group a quit glance. “… we are in command, together, even if the academy has said that I’m supposed to direct what we do...” Olivia continued.

"Forget Sam," Emily said, kicking at the ground. "Forget the war, the big goals - that's not our job. We can't do that all on our own, it's bullshit if they expect us to. We can't know what we're doing right now, even with everything any of us can do that's not the same as the kind of experience we'd need to really work as a team -- we're walking to a war zone, Olivia. We shouldn't be tired or dejected. We should be terrified."

“Forget Sam? - - How can you say that?!” Olivia snapped. “He is the reason why we are even here in the first place. Don’t you understand? We shouldn’t be terrified. This is our chance - - the one we’ve been waiting for - - to get some… closure.” Olivia approached Emily and gently put her palm on the girl’s cheek. “This is it, Em… this is the time to finally put that awful… shit… behind us and begin a new life, our lives, without having to soak in fear and regret,” Olivia said, and backed away from Emily again. “We have our training… we have our spirits… and we have each other - - we are a team, and we’re not afraid. Is that understood?” Olivia said, as if giving her first, proper order as a Captain.

Emily regarded Olivia for a moment, then nodded briskly. "Understood."

It was only after they started walking again, and Olivia was ahead of her, that she smiled.

The Spirits Within

Prisk, when you're on, shoot me a message. I'm not really feeling it tonight, but I know that Emily needs to reply to Olivia for the baby thing, and I'd like them to talk on the walk, as well, so hopefully some joint writing will wake me up a little.

The Spirits Within

My post will be tomorrow. Not sure yet what it'll include.

The Spirits Within

Emily hates babies! Emily smash!

Is something going on that would make all the cars unavailable? Some kind of attack or something? It seems like a very poor tactical decision to force your special forces team to wear themselves out running across empty territory.

The Spirits Within

@Ex, go ahead and write a Codex entry for the Oakridge Military Academy Rank Structure.

So based on what you've said, I'll say Oakridge probably don't have non-commissioned personnel (enlisted; think foot soldiers, airmen, etc.), only civilian employees, ranked officers, and cadets (students). I've based this rank concept on West Point/US Naval Academy internal ranking system.

While they are studying at the Academy, students would hold the rank of Cadet. Cadets would then be separated into class based on year (fourth class = freshman, third class = sophomore, and so on). In school, cadets would be organized into a school-wide Cadet Brigade, which has its own organizational structure. We don't need to worry about that now, but our characters would all have been in one company together (dunno who would have lead it).

After graduation, ranks would likely be determined using something similar to a traditional commissioned officer system. I've made it a little simpler, since it's not a full-military organization and it's not as large as one would be, but here's what I'd suggest:

Second Lieutenant - most students graduate and begin at this rank.
First Lieutenant - most graduates are promoted to this rank after a couple years of service. WARG officers begin at this rank.
Captain - graduates given command assignments begin at this rank (i. e., Olivia).

The rest of the ranks would be determined based on position/duties, time served, and performance, and are as follows:

Major
Lieutenant Colonel
Colonel
Field-Marshal
Major-General
General

So all of our characters would be first lieutenants, except for Olivia, who would be a captain.

It's only when there is no other options and the soldiers have to call support though the academy that they have to help pay for the fireworks.

That makes sense - the thing I felt was less reasonable was what I read as a suggestion that WARG officers should be worried about calling in support for that reason. It's not their job to deal with those headaches, IMO, it's their job to survive and accomplish the objectives.

The Spirits Within

I agree - but if we needed to call in support for some reason, I don't think it makes sense to be penalized for it unless it was a bad call.

I also think it would therefore make sense for WARG personnel to have some kind of commissioned rank structure.

The Spirits Within

OK, a couple thoughts:

It would be great to have a basic rank structure. Within the "team" it can be ignored, but it adds a level of realism. I can come up with one if you'd like.

I don't think it makes sense to discourage soldiers, especially elite soldiers, from calling in vital support if they need it - really, bearing the cost of such things is the government's job anyway. I think it makes more sense to say "you have resources, but don't call them if you don't need them, you're expected to do this on your own as much as possible, that's what WARG does" as a precautionary measure, and leave it at that. But that's just my opinion.

The Spirits Within

Emily had done it. They all had. This was the best outcome she could have hoped for: Joining the WARG, with all her friends, immediately after graduation. She should be happy, they all should, but all she felt was a sort of bare relief. She had met her own expectations, for once. It wasn't the joy she'd imagined. Curious, she tried to glance around the room without moving too perceptibly; but all she could see were the backs of the other's heads, and the serious eyes of the headmaster.

They were a team, that much was true. And they did fight well together. But the burden of having to protect her friends, let alone following their orders... that was terrifying. But maybe she would have been terrified anyway. Maybe that was the way you were supposed to feel, when you were joining the WARG.

It was definitely how you were supposed to feel at the moment you were being shipped out, but to Emily's mind, that was supposed to be because you were worried about getting killed. That wasn't what she was afraid of. She could take care of herself; she knew, in the back of her mind, that whatever else happened, she was safe. The spirits wanted her alive, they needed her alive... neither she nor they would allow otherwise.

But the others - what would this be like for them? How could they possibly be prepared, even with all their years at the Academy, even with all the training, for what was coming? In twenty minutes, they were supposed to be ready to go and fight. Olivia was supposed to be ready to lead; Emily could scarcely believe Olivia had even been chosen to head up their team. She would have put money on almost any of the others (well, maybe not Freddy. But almost any of the others).

As they filed out of the room, Emily gripped the WARG badge gently with her left hand. It felt cool and smooth. She was struck with an urge to throw it away and run, an urge managed to ignore. She could hear the whispers of the spirits, always just outside her range of hearing, and she wondered what they made of all this, if they were even cognizant of it at all. It always seemed as if they were watching her, but whether they actually were, or it was merely her mind's attempts to comprehend some lower level of influence, she had no idea.

She listened to Olivia's stunned attempt at giving orders. She called her father. Their conversation was short and muted. He congratulated her, but she knew there was no pleasure in his voice. He thought she was being sent to die. She assured him she'd call again as soon as she could. He asked when that would be. She didn't know. She dressed in her newly-issued combat uniform. It felt starchy and dry, but it was flexible enough, and hopefully more protective than her usual training outfits. It had sheaths for her batons.

Emily was at the main gates with two minutes to spare, in body, if not in mind.

The Spirits Within

Personally - I don't know why - I keep thinking of the systems alliance uniform from Mass Effect 3, though with a blue beret instead of that hat.

Also, what about ranks? How do those work?

Edit: Another question - why does calling for airstrikes, backups, etc., cost the squad credits? That doesn't really make sense to me.

The Spirits Within

Okay, sure. Let me know when you'd like to do it.