The Long Journey Home

['Ghost']

Ghost stops his pace as he's confronted by the member of echo squad. Turns and looks at her

Firstly, I never miss, there's a reason I'm one of the best at what I do.

Secondly, destruction will always cause more destruction. For example our recent conflict. The robots started destroying our ship, in retaliation we destroyed them, undoubtedly they are planning their next attack which will bring further destruction. Every conflict in history involves destruction of something precious to one of the sides. Be that something physical, as in an object owned by them or something metaphysical as in an idea. That's the reason we fight. To protect something from destruction. But the circle is unending, a vicious cycle that draws in many individuals. All we do is try to live with the consequences of our decisions and those that we lose to the destruction.

If that is not the nature of war, then I have been through something else.

He turns away and continues on his way to the engineering. After which he catches up to Mikhail.

Calm yourself private. The last thing the people, whom you're so concerned about, need to see is their soldiers, their defences arguing with each other. You're outbursts will do nothing but lower morale, and that can be devastating in it's own right. You don't have to like me for what I do or what I say, but think of those people you're trying so hard to protect before you give in to your emotions. Losing your cool will do nothing but hinder your course.

 

[Alexander Bauhdric]

He nodded, watching the verbal confrontation occur, before watching the captain of the other Squad away. Raising an eyebrow, he folded his arms, not exactly sure what to make of the other captain. However, regardless of other emotions or conflicts of ideology, the respect remained. He had a one-track mind; and that track was doing what he thought was necessary to protect the ship. Was he so different to Alexander then? Well, besides pounds of muscle...

"He is a strange one, friends; and his meta-analysis of war is wrong in my opinion, though not unjustified either. He's correct in one aspect though. I fight to protect all of you from harm. Our only difference is that I naively think I can do it forever."

He sighs, sagging a bit, but then out of no-where he flexes his muscles, a fire lit in his eyes.

"BUT I CAN DO IT FOREVER! THE BAUHDRIC LINE HAS PROTECTED IT'S ALLIES FOR GENERATIONS! THROUGH OUR EXCELLENT LINEAGE, OUR ABILITY TO PROTECT IS UNENDING! FROM FATHER TO SON, MOTHER TO DAUGHTER, THE DUTY CONTINUES!"

It was as if he were monologuing to himself; but he seemed much happier afterwards for doing so. With confidence, he pointed to the door, looking to Ray - the male one as he marched out, assuming you will all follow.

"That's the attitude I like to hear Mr Mourissette! Come on soldiers, lets show the wanderer what we can do! I have no doubt in our ability to restore morale! Alas, all we need to do is flex our indomitable biceps and stand proud above the chaos! Miss Mourisette, do you have an alternative plan? I'm all ears! Your opinions are valuable to me; for ideas are the currency of god!"

 

[Universal_narration]

Echo squad:

You follow your maps to the point of most damage on the port side. You reach what looks like a set of offices, they have been quite thoroughly damaged. Underneath a lot of the debris you spot some dead bodies, damaged equipment, cabinets and the like. There seems to be a small relief effort about that is slowly digging up the rubble to get to the people underneath. There seems to be someone directing the efforts, when he spots you he runs up. The man is relatively tall, has shed away most of his clothing only leaving a vest, trousers and boots. He seems to have been helping people since the battle began, dirt and superficial scratches over most of his visible skin. You can't tell what his allegiance is since he isn't wearing his standard shirt. Though he is Caucasian with dark brown hair, you'd think when his hair is less disheveled it would probably be short and slightly wavy hair. He doesn't look to have the general demeanour of one of Starseeker so is likely a civilian. He speaks up when he reaches you.

"Hey .. *phew* glad you guys got here. You are the military types sent to help us right? Yea we could really use it, we've already counted about 12 dead, 5 injured, 10 critical on this side. Some more trapped behind debris. People started moving as soon as we got hit but some people panicked. Unfortunately didn't help. *sigh* Some of your men came earlier helping out though they have moved the critically injured to medbay. Presumably you are the replacements?"

He quickly eyeballs you all.

"Well you all look strong enough that's for sure, think any of you will be good to help us move some of this stuff without having it collapse on people? Oh, sorry, name's Damiano by the way. Junior Geology expert. Rocks aren't important at the moment, shall we get to it?"


Sierra Squad:

You reach engineering bay and you see about 20 engineers gathering equipment hurriedly to get to the damaged areas. Asking some of them who the head engineer is they eventually lead you to a young woman repairing one of the damage planes. Presumably it got damaged during the fight, she seems to be tinkering away in a very bizarre manor. Instead of having a normal assortment of tools she only has the bare basics, using a few bits of damaged Wanderer as replacement tools. Calling inside to grab her attention she crawls out from underneath the chassis. She is currently wearing the standard blue overalls for the engineers and has motor oil spread across her face. She has light brown hair boarding on red with a small dyed white fringe at the front. Standing about 5'6" she doesn't seem all too imposing. Seeing you four her eyes light up and scrabbles to her feet.

"Oh wow! Starseeker here to see me? Oh oh, you are the guys that fought outside right?! That was something, swoosh, bang, explosions everywhere. Lots of robot parts just floating out there in space for the taking." She exclaims with glee while her hands are clapped together near her face.

She calms down a little after that. She begins rocks her weight back and forth from foot to foot. Occasionally using one of her feet to scratch the back of the opposing leg. She folds her arms behind her head before continuing.

"Sarah Taylor, Head Engineer at your service! Here to ask for some of the best fooowoosh I can offer? Or maybe add some pizao to some of your MDAs? Hmmmm..." Sarah approaches ghost and brings her face close to his, then pulls away. "Maybe a grinning machine on this guy? So he can always sport a lovely smile! It will just be the talk of the party."

 

['Ghost']

Taken a little aback by the enthusiasm, considering the state of affairs, ghost quickly regains his composure after Sarah moves away from him.

			Great, so my hologram comes in human form too, this could get annoying

After which he stands straight and speaks...

Captain Ghost of Sierra squad here to offer assistance. Privates Aleksandra and Tsuba will give you a hand with the repairs, and the resources required for the repairs. Myself and private Mikhail will be compiling the reports on the damage. So miss Taylor have any of the starship's critical systems been damaged? Have you any injured and if so are they being attended? Do we have any hull breaches or priority fixes?

Ghost stands straight awaiting the list, knowing full well that it will be extensive and exhaustive. The sooner he finished this up the sooner he could investigate just what had attacked them. Hopefully it will shed some light on the recent events and how to defend themselves from the inevitable attack that was coming their way. In the back of his mind though was a small thought, a niggling thought that was making Ghost feel uneasy.

			If we truly have misjumped, and we are in completely unknown space, how the hell are we going to get back? Supplies aren't infinite, Naomi was right about that, and empty stomachs can cause more then just nausea. This could turn messy really quickly if the crew find out about our current predicament.

 

[Mikhail Zhukov]

Mikhail's grin transformed into full time smile as he slightly tilled his head and took a step a forward.

Private Zhukov at your service Miss Taylor. Mikhail saluted Sadly we are here on bushiness Miss Taylor. And please don't tell me its not miss, I don't think my heart can take that. Let me settle on Lady Taylor to avoid the possibility of learning the harsh truth. Commander wants a damage report and we lowly grunts are here to carry out his will. But if you would like a first hand account of all the swoosh and bang from the outside I am sure we can feed your curiosity once we are finished carrying out the orders of our supreme leader, then we can also discuss all the foowoosh and pizao you so graciously offered.Mikhail took a quick step towards the engineer whispering in her ear And of course the grining machine for Mr.Grumpy over there. Moving back to his previous position he continued. But back to buisness what can you tell us about the state of the wanderer Lady Taylor. How badly is she hurt.

 

[Universal_narration]

Sarah holds her hand to her face with her index finger extender. She twirls about a bit while explaining the situation.

"Well, Ghostie, none of the critical systems have been damaged. A lot of the damage on the outside is for the sake of the hull superficial. However moving with this much debris about is not a good idea. My engineers will need to go out and go bang bang and make it pretty outside. Some of you would be perfect for helping. " She giggles.

"Anyway, Grumpy Ghostie would like more than that I'm guessing! The ship has 80% hull integrity with no proper breaches. Starboard side airlock is kind of busted. There is damage to some of the auxiliary offices. Some of the transport vehicles have been damaged, none destroyed. Errr... One of the engines has been damaged though not to a point where it won't work again. Most of these guys here are being sent to deal with that first, just in case the pilot decides to burst off again. We will likely be sitting ducks while we repair the ship, we don't exactly want to fly through all that debris either. So I'd advise taking something large and swish up all that away!" She raises her arms up quickly as if something dawned on her.

She leans in and grabs Ghost be the collar.

"You guys! You just said some of you can do repairs, well you can help us with that definitely. Those shwing new suits of yours should be able to help move a lot of stuff! We can get this done like boom! Yes yes, you know much about guns? Of course you do you are a soldier, come help me clean up this ship and we can get moving on other things!"

She turns to Mikhail.

"Lady Taylor? Ah no need for such formality, Sarah will be fine. Oh oh, you are one of the tank drivers, I saw that thing come back in. Got so much dakka dakka on it now!"

She spins around on the spot in front of the four of you, then leans forward in anticipation.

"So what you guys going to do? I can't exactly boss you around but I can assign you places. As long as I get grumpy face there, he'll be fun to tinker with! Also... do I know you from someplace Ghostie... you look familiar... ah whatever, don't worry about it. Maybe when you smile I'll recognise you, haha."

 

[Mikhail Zhukov]

Well Sarah I personally hold on to the believe that you cant have too much dakka.

Turning back to the rest of Siera. He continued in more serious tone
We can use the tank to get around quicker, myself and sis should be capable of doing any repairs outside and her cutter might come in handy for dealing with any debris. Might be able to scavenge something useful while we are at it. Droping the serious again Mikhail addressed Ghost specifically Just say the word cap and we will clear the skies. Well endless lifeless void of space in our case I guess.

 

['Ghost']

For the first time ghost hesitates, momentarily freezing up before he snaps back to reality. He makes a mental note of all that has been told then it clicks, she called me ghostie. Everytime he heard the pet name a slight twinge of annoyance crossed his face, though as soon as he felt his face falter he re-assumed his stone mantle.

I'd appreciate it if you refer to me by my name or my rank, not some pet name you've come up with on the spot. I'm Squad Captain Ghost, not Ghostie. Secondly, you do realise those 'shwing' suits as you called them are military property and not for civilians to tinker with.

			She does have a point about them being useful though

I agree private, you and Aleksandra can clear the debris from outside the ship. I'm sure you're itching to get back in that tank of yours. Just promise me this time you'll stay inside the damn thing. Private Aleksandra i'll leave you to join your brother and assist with the repairs outside the vessel. That leaves you Private Tsuba, and I'm sure you've guessed this already but you can head up repairs from inside. I'll suit up and shift away the heavier debris then create the report for our CO.

He opens up a comm link with Naomi...

Requesting permission to suit up to assist with the repairs.

As he waits for a response he pauses again, this time seemingly deep in thought.
@Universal_narration

Spoiler

Does Ghost recognise her? Or does she seem familiar in any way?

 

[Aleksandra Zhukov]

"Roger that" Aleksandra saluted and turned to Ghost. "Though it'd be best for J.D to come as well because as competent a tank head Misha is, he can't assess the hull of an interstellar vehicle, unless there's a Phd in astrophysics and aeronautical design he has not told me about. And I'm not sure it's a good use of our resources to restrict him inside when we are of the few who can pilot MDA's at all. We have plenty of techs for inside sir." She turned to sarah and said quite straightforwardly.

"Sarah, Me and J.D here are certified clever clogs. With our spangly shwing suits and Misha's snowdrop we should be able to clear the hull and effect repair to some of the critical areas other than the engine that you already have swarming with techs." she smiled at her coyly and punched her brother gently in the shoulder and said much more playfully "and if you like me and my bro here can give you a full blow by blow on the 'swoosh-bang' later"

			"There are an awful lot of women on this ship in powerful places" said Ula "They're all so pretty too" "Yes well be that as it may I'd rather you focussed on the calculations you're going to have to do" said Aleksandra pointedly "Well looking isn't going to make them explode" smirked Olga "I swear when I get the time I'll program the two of you a cold shower." Aleksandra retorted

"If that's okay captain I'll go get suited up" she turned smartly on the spot and went to leave, as she walked she called out fiendishly "try not to play too rough, we'll need our leader back at some point." she turned to J.D "lets go apply our minds to something, it's been a while."​

 

[Arthur Campbell]

Arthur walked past Damiano seemingly ignoring him. he then started muttering to himself as his eyes darted all over the scene, counting something as his fingers opened and closed rapidly. After a short while he snorted placing his hands on his hips and stared at the rubble.

Hmmm....what is....

Arthur knelt by the debris and picked up several pieces turning them over in his hands. His furowed brow and serious expression morphed into a slight smile. Without taking his eyes off the debris he tapped his communicator calling KABOOM to his position.

How fast can we get hold of underground surveying equipment? If you get me a scanner within the next 5 minutes we could probably clear this debris in... his voice trailed off as he carried out more calculations, under an hour, best time being around...twenty minutes?