He laughs faintly at the fire extinguisher remark, covering his eyes with one hand. "Game, set and Hadoken. Nevermind, old reference. About a thousand years old, as I understand it."
Turning, he glances across the table at Jacquelin and smirks. "Why do I have this sort of grim sense of impending doom when you say that?"
As Alec nearly finishes his comment to Jacquelin, he is interrupted as he says "grim sense of impending doom", as the image of Lt. Rolheim (your company commander) flashes on the screen of your quarters vid-com display. He appears in his usual USMC desert B.D.U. (battle dress uniform), which he fondly wears as a reminder of his time spent in the civil wars in Africa; sporting a marine's high and tight haircut, and his usual semi-bored expression. He is a man in his early thirties, and a distant but dependable man who's by-the-book leadership style tends to pass him off as someone lacking in imagination when it comes to unorthodox situations. Still he is a fair and competent leader. "Alright 22nd (your reconnaissance squad's number), your squads due to undergo the 'Gauntlet' in thirty minutes. You're to meet up in combat simulations chamber 6b, and from there you'll be briefed on the nature of the test. Be ready for anything and I'll see you there shortly. Rolheim out."
"Finally", Zaviera said with a tone of anticipation in her voice. She tossed her cards face-up on the table. Ten of Hearts, Ten of Diamonds. Standing, she finished off the bottle in a trio of seconds, and set it on the table. "This is why I wasn't drinking, Mik. See you all there."
Striding out of the room, she headed back to her room, to change into the regulation indigo top for casual dress, and thought about the team.
Chaz was still down for reasons that were freezer-caused, and if he was not running the Gauntlet with them, she was counting him out of the running for all intents and purposes. If they got assigned a replacement "Sword", she would be pleased, but integrating them into the team would take time. Sir Bill was enough to deal with right now.
Speaking of William, she had pulled up what she could access of his files and looked them over. She supposed he covered the mid-range, if semi-covert actions, but anything else he was purported to be capable of, she was unsure whether they would be able to even be conceptualized in the simulator. Unknown.
Mikhail, if he was in the driver's seat of anything, she did not worry about. Dismounted, he could hold behind her. No worries.
Jacquelin and Alec she counted together, since between the two of them, there was likely no problem that they could encounter that could not be resolved given enough time. Jacq was ahead of Alec just for how well she could handle herself in a fight. Hell, she'd seen her spray autofire rather accurately on the range much better than even she could at current. As long as they were out of any major danger, they could hack it.
Reflexively, she checked her sidearm and examined her knife before she left, feeling herself settling into that state of calm where everything non-essential was discarded. Game face. Game time.
She arrived at the room five minutes before they were due.
"See, and no time for me to get in on a hand. C'est la vie, non?"
A queer fire lights in his gut as he rises to his feet, a combination of fear, exhilaration, anticipation and cold acceptance. Tucking his book under his arm, he races down the corridors of the ship and changes into a padded flight suit and helmet with a dark visor that shields his eyes, with the single dusky blue glow of his HuD glowing beneath it. Once he's armored and strapped with his firearms, tools and knife, he stops by the garage to load the Ajax with his mechanical and electronic toolkits, load her initial subroutines and make sure Mikhail is strapped in. Be the time he arrives in the briefing chamber, he is slightly out of breath, but he stands straight and tall.
"Dios mio..." he whispers half to himself. "I don't care if I screw up...but don't let me hold them back..."
Mikhail runs to catch up with the spry Alex, "Hey Teucer! It's VR remember. We do not need to load out Ajax just yet. At least I don't think...Surely they can simulate an Achilles right?"
He grabs his own suit and gear just in case. Impressions also help and showing up in your shore skivies is never a good idea even if it was just VR.
William made his way to his quarters and collected his gear, once he had everything in it's place he sat down on the ground and began to meditate. It wasn't long before the alarm began to sound, he stood up and checked the clock "7 minutes left, should be just enough to get to sim chamber."
William arrived with 1 minute to spare, gave the lieutenant a salute and the took his place with the others. The anticipation was palpable as the time for the "gauntlet" drew near.
Alec nods, removing his helmet, and brushing back his jagged hair. "I know. But I want to get into the habit of booting her up before a mission again. With all the custom mods we've made to the Ajax over the years, she's gotten really temperamental. If a regular Achilles pilot leapt into her and started her warm-up subroutines, he'd probably burn her out and shut her down.
He reaches out and shakes Mikhail's hand. "I haven't been codenamed Teucer in a long time, Ajax. Good luck to you out there, old buddy mine. I'll watch your back and keep you running."
He walks next to William and shakes his hand as well. The dark visor on his helmet is pulled back, and his eyes are deadly serious. "I know you're new to the squad, but I have a feeling you'll fit right in. Good luck to you. Let's watch each other's backs out there."
He comes next to Zaviera. After a moment of giving her shoulders and arms a quick once-over, noting the subtle lines of her muscles and the armor system under her skin, he smiles wolfishly. "I doubt you'll need my help, soldado. Anything I can disable or dismantle, you can just break. But I'll watch your back anyway. Good luck out there, Zav."
He extends his hand warmly to her.
As Alec shakes William's hand, a slight tightening of the grip and a brief flicker of emotion in William's eyes are all Alec needs to tell that the moment truly touched him. "Good luck to you, as well" is all he says before resuming his attentive stance, his eyes now fixed solely on the lieutenant.
As you all filter into siimulation chamber 6b, you are greeted by Commander Martin and Lt. Rolheims, who each give a sharp salute, but say nothing. The chamber itself is an intricate maze of computers, vid-displays, and a command-center-like adjoining room, where orders and information are relayed to the participants. In the main chamber are twelve 'coffins' as they are infamously dubbed, due to their enclosed nature, which tends to give those with any tendancies towards claustrophobia the hibi-gibi's. Each 'coffin' has a number marking it from one to twelve, while the digital display near the numbers have each one of your names on it. Huntington- Seven; Manougian- Twelve; MacGregor- Eleven; Serra- One; and Zamora- Six. As you stand there in near silence, only the occasional sound of staff members in the command center or the constant hum of computers can be heard.
"I hope I get a good luck, too," Jacq smiles as she walks in, fiddling with one of the straps on her uniform, making sure it's just right.
"Stand tall, folks. Let's do this." Her smile warps into a grimace as she realizes how damned cheesy that sounds.
Lt.Rolheims smiles at Jacquelin's statement, saying "That's what I like to hear, Serra." With a circular gesture, Rolheim motions for everyone to gather round him in your typical briefing huddle. "Alright boys and girls...girl, this is your second big moment. This is your warm up, your graduation test to make sure you all still have what it takes to be recon. This is a piece of cake; it's nothing you can't handle. That being said this will most likely be a very difficult assignment. Here's the scenario: You will be inserted near a enemy position surrounded by steep, rocky hills, while the terrain is desert badlands. You are to find the enemies compound and eliminate the occupants. Collateral damage should be a non-issue here, as the destruction of the opposing enemy forces and gaining entrance into the compound is your objective. There may be unknown surprises as well, so be ready for anything. Force composition is estimated to be several squads backed up by armor, although numbers there are sketchy. Any questions?"
Mikhail snaps a salute, "Ready to roll, sir.
"No questions, sir. I am ready."
"Will we have a map of the area, sir?" Jacq subconsciously holds up her wrist comm, obviously intent on downloading it into the device.
Lt.Rolheim shakes his head negatively. "Not this time, Serra. To simulate the fog of war and accentuate your role as a recon unit, you will be forced to gather whatever information you can on the ground and make your decision based on that."
"Do we requisition equipment now, sir?" Zaviera changed her focus from straight ahead to the Lieutenant.
"Do we requisition equipment now, sir?" Zaviera changed her focus from straight ahead to the Lieutenant.
"For now you'll keep the equipment that's been currently assigned to you, as those capabilities have been programmed into the simulation. The upside to this is that units that perform above the normal standards will get an increase in requisition upon completion and review", says Lt.Rolheim.
Alec eyes the coffin with a little wariness--clearly he does have a problem with enclosed spaces, at least a small one.
To ease his nerves, he turns to the others and gives an easy grin, patting his own chest. "You know what THAT means, right? The rest of you get bazookas while this little pup here gets stuck playing with his Tinker Toys."
Turning back to Rolheim, he snaps a surprisingly crisp salute. His easygoing nature sometimes makes it easy to forget that he's been a military man for several years. "In all seriousness, sir. My entire life I've made my living with my brain. Analyzing, building, theorizing. And in this analyst's opinion, these five people will not disappoint."
"Besides," He adds under his breath slyly. "Give me some Tinker Toys and a 1971 Mazda R100 manual, and I'll build you a bazooka."
Rolheim gives a short laugh, his expression somewhat more at ease then usual. "I'm sure you'll all do me proud. You can begin when you're ready."
"Acknowledged, sir." Zaviera had been considering the tactical benefits of having access to a plasma rifle, or the Reaper cannon, but without knowing more about what they were going into, or more study of tactics, it was probably for the better.. She was going to be looking to Alec and Jacq for the core of the planning, anyways.
Walking over to the coffin with her name on it, she waited for the techs to set her up before getting in.
"Sounds like fun." Jacq smiles--it's hard to tell whether she's actually looking forward to this or is forcing a smile.
She enters her "coffin." A lifetime of crawling around in tunnels, enclosed spaces fortunately aren't an issue for her.
Before you enter the "coffins", five technicians arrive at your side and escort you into a secluded changing area, where they hand you each a very sleek-looking black, body suit. The suit itself is very form fitting, and covers your whole body up to your neck. The interior of the suit is covered with various "dots" of some kind, supposedly to track your vital signs and assist with the virtual reality. The technicians then hand you each rubbery, underwear-like shorts with a sheepish smile. "Sometimes it feels too real..." says one of the techs. With that they point you to the nearby changing stalls.
Once suited up, your taken back into the main chamber to enter the "coffins". The process is a convoluted one, as the technician helps you in and plugs, straps, and slides all the necessary devices into their proper places, while your head rests on a cold, metalic head brace. Once strapped in, the coffin slides shut with a hiss, and a goggle-like display descends onto your face. A sharp pain is felt in your arm and then suddenly you're no longer in the "coffin", but are standing, with your mates, in a non-descript, bland, gray room twenty by twenty feet, with low ceilings with dim lighting. No doors can be seen, but all of you are in the room. The sound of Lt. Rolheim’s voice can be heard thru your com-link in your helmet, as you are wearing all your gear. “All right, everyone, this is the staging room. Do any last minute adjustments you need, and when your ready, give a shout. And don't worry, there's no spawn killing here" says Rolheim with a laugh.
The non-descript-looking room slowly fades away, revealing a sunny, barren, desert landscape. To the south, east, and west it stretches on as far as the eye can see, but to the north, you see several steep, rocky hill outcroppings, along with some impact or blast craters. A strong wind pushes across the badlands before you, its howl the only noise you can hear for miles...
"What is it about you people that demands you put my scrawny personage into skin-tight suits? Are you trying to point out my flaws?"
Laughing, giving his noodly arms another critical appraisal, he slips into the coffin once he's all suited up. As they materialize within the situation, he slides up the visor on his helmet and checks his gear piece by piece with the fast fingers of one who knows every spring, trigger and screw in every article of equipment he owns.
Making sure his handgun is secure in its holster, he unslings his Light Assault Weapon and holds it in his hands with the butt against his shoulder.
"I knew it," he remarks with a kittenish smile, glancing around. "It's post-apocalyptia. We're going to find that fort, and it's going to be Barter Town. One of us will have to challenge Blaster to a duel in the Thunderdome."
The HuD over his eye makes a quiet beep, feeding him information as he gazes around. "And it looks like there's only one place they can hide a fort in this barren stretch." He nods towards the northern outcroppings and craters.
"I see they are optimistic about what we will find," replies Mikhail looking across the simulation.
"I see they are optimistic about what we will find," replies Mikhail looking across the simulation.
Mikhail double checks the cockpit of the simulated Achilles. It's not perfect but there's no way they would know all the changes that had been made to Ajax. He would just have to make do.
First thing would be to find out where this fight would be taking place. With a series of flipped switches and a high-pitched whine he activates Ajax's sensor systems. While not as fine-tuned as some of the other arrays it should still give them basic topology of the area.
"Sensors are hot, Tuecer, let's see what kinda rocks are hidden," Mikhail crackles from the Achilles external speakers. With a deft movement he unslings the Spatha Assault Rifle (SAR) from it's holding position.
Mikhail looks at the blank sensor array and smacks it. "Wonder if that'll work in a VR," He grumbles.
Looking around to orient herself, Zaviera went over tactile inventory as the heat hit her. The transition always weirded her out in VR. You went from the climate controlled room, into the coffin, and then instantly you were somewhere else. Assault rifle, Pistol, Knife. Armor, Helmet. The forearm mounted computer that fed info to her helmet's visor was on her left arm, nowhere near as complex as Jacq's.
The banter between Alec and Mikhail lets her know that they're here even before she finishes her inspection, and settling herself, she glances around the landscape bemusedly, before testing the info display on her visor, getting a reading on the temperature, wind speed, and elevation, as well as the range finder and PoV feed from her rifle.
"On the clock and Green", she said, her version of 'All set and ready to go'. She immediately began surveying their immediate area. "Any outside chatter?"
Alec glances around, holding his assault weapon snapped tight against his shoulder. "I got nothin' here."
William takes the safety off his pistol but leaves it in it's holster, he readies his assault rifle flicking the safety off and loading a round in the chamber. William glances around at his squad-mates, nodding at each to show his readiness.
Jacq curses under her breath as she notes the sensor blockage, but she's still got her own eyes. She scans the landscape, getting a sense for the type of area they're in and what hazards--and assistance--the terrain itself will provide. Also if there are signs of particular rocks, etc. that would suggest valuable resources nearby--it might give them an idea why the outpost is here.
She also looks for anything like vehicle tracks, antennaes, etc. She focuses in the hilly area particularly--likely the more defensible area, and obviously something's blocking their sensor range in the area for a reason.
She also pulls out her assault rifle.
The landscape before you all is bleak, desert badlands, with a large outcropping of steep, rocky hills that rise some 30 to 60 ft above ground. All is silent except for the constant sound of the wind, whipping up bursts of dusts westward; its howls the only constant. The hills before you are intimidating, and seem to be a good natural defense against attackers...
"I think we should give the enemy the benefit of the doubt and assume they've prepared for an assault. We might run into traps along the way. Let's keep an eye out."
He crouches at the edge of the rock and peers forward, his eyes sweeping the outcroppings for anything out of the ordinary.
"Anyway, who wants to go first? I'd volunteer, gallant knight that I am, but wouldn't you know it? I'm kind of anemic." He smirks self-deprecatingly, keeping his gun trained around the rock.
Jacq nods to Alec. "Those craters are from munitions fire... could be sentries or mines, maybe. Keep an eye out for sensors.
"Hill's gonna be damned hard to climb... but then, that makes it the most unexpected entry point. Can Ajax handle it? What do the rest of you guys say?"
"I'd say, either send the armor in first or move together in force. As for the climb, unless we have rope and some gear, I wouldn't. Infiltrating a compound with a broken leg would be difficult at best."
William steps behind Jacquelin and peers around the rock.
"I think we should move up to that big rock striaght ahead of Ajax"
points
"Then have Ajax go around the right side as a diversion while the rest of us slip around to the left.
If anyone else has a better idea, I'm willing to listen."
"Sounds like a plan, ladies. Nice and slow," crackles Mikhail as he begins to move forward rifle at the ready. Note to self, have Alec make radio-comms.
"Anyway, who wants to go first? I'd volunteer, gallant knight that I am, but wouldn't you know it? I'm kind of anemic."
Zaviera snorted and lightly smacked the back of Alec's head, giving him an amused smirk through her visor. Shouldering her rifle, she took a look around the rock they were currently behind, and then moved from cover. Her not-quite run took her to the next rock in front of them, where she crouched and got a good look from the new vantage point.
Zaviera and Mikhail begin to move forward, the Achillies kicking up a fair amount of dust and noise as it moves across the hard desert floor. Fortunately the strong wind helps muffle the noise of the machinery, although the dust that it brings doesn't help your vision. As Mikhail checks his sensors, he still has nothing...something definitely must be jamming the sensors in the area...
William heroically looks out from behind Jacquelin's shoulder, seeing nothing but the steep, rocky outcroppings, but little more.
Jacq heads out behind Zaviera, staying back a few paces, watching her back.
He grins at the pat on the back of his helmet, stalking forward, but pauses when something catches his eye.
"Contact, eleven o'clock forward. There's something out there, but it's well-hidden. I can't make it out." He gestures with the barrel of his gun towards whatever caught his eye. "Be careful. It's on that hill. If it's a Tusken Raider, I'm eating my helmet."
Wiliam follows Alec to hearing Alec's warning of "contact" William looks over the rock during his approach "I can't see a thing." William says as he crouches down doing his best to gain some cover behind the now crowded rock.
Mikhail slows the mecha a bit watching the hill in front of him carefully but keeps going. He finally sees that the team-com switch is off and flips it. Then turns off the external speakers. "Ah ha! No more yelling out intentions to the hostiles."
You move in quickly as a group, taking cover near a large rock. Peering around it you still can't place what Alec briefly noticed. Meanwhile, Mikhail moves directly towards the rocky hill before you...