Precious Cargo

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Satyr

Guest
Thomas was enjoying his breakfast; eggs, toast and bacon. It wasn't the best in terms of taste and texture, but it sure as he'll wasn't the worst either. He was dressed in his undersuit and charcoal pants, the ends were tucked into his black boots. He was supposed to meet up with his squadmate and head to the command center in less than an hour. All he knew for certain was that ONI was involved. He sighed and sipped at his coffee, black and bitter.

@Iris Ackerman
 
  • Like
Reactions: Iris Ackerman
Tierra yanked on a boot impatiently as she grumbled something to herself about breakfast. She had all but finished pulling on her uniform and throwing her brown hair up in a messy bun when she stumbled into the hall and quickly made her way towards the cafeteria. The room was buzzing with voices and silverware as her emerald green eyes darted about, scanning the area in search for someone. He was to be her assigned squad member on a mission that she knew very little about. A sergeant's rank on a man's shoulder caught her attention. She made her way over and seated herself in a chair across from him.

"Sergeant Wolfe? I'm Corporal Levitan," she said as she stuck out a hand.
 
Thomas accepted her hand and gave it a firm shake. "That's correct, nice to meet you." He replied. He sipped down the last of his coffee and put his silverware on his empty plate. "I wasn't told much, or rather anything, about you. So tell me about yourself." Wolfe didn't ask, but it wasn't a demand either, more like a statement that could be turned down. He figured he should at least know the basics about the person he was being assigned with.
 
Tierra hesitated as she studied his expression, unsure of what she should and shouldn't say. She didn't want to force feed anyone a sob story, but she didn't exactly have much else to tell.
"There's not much to tell, Sergeant. This is only my fourth mission," Corporal Levitan replied. "Forgive me if I'm a little rough on the edges, all I've known is training and war. My first mission went off without a hitch. My second mission was a little more rough. Everyone was either killed or left behind and when I woke up, I had been in cryosleep for God knows how long, recovering from an injury that should've killed me. Then I was deployed on a mission to recon information about weaponry and when the covenant made a surprise arrival, my team was extracted without me. I spent three months on a covenant-infested moon before I was retrieved. And now I'm here. Not much of a story, huh?" Tierra smiled wryly and continued on in a tone of sarcasm. "What about you, Sergeant? What journeys have led you to this fine destination?"
 
  • Like
Reactions: Satyr
"Well you're a survivor, I like that." Thomas commented in regards to her story. He couldn't help but let an amused smile form on his face at her request, must of been the way she had asked it. "I spent most of my time with the ODST. I still remember my first combat drop. It was close to a covenant strong point. We dropped with a pair of Spartan-lls. The mission ended up a success, as far as brass was concerned. On the most recent drop, prior to being indoctrinated into the Spartan lV program, I got clipped by one of those bird headed bastards. Clean shot through and through, left shoulder hasn't been the same since. Outside of war games and the other sims they run I haven't had any field work as a Spartan." He finished his story and looked her in her emerald eyes. Inwardly, for better or worse, he was glad she had been through what she had. It meant that it things got FUBAR'ed she could handle herself, and whenever spooks were involved things tended to not go as planned.
 
  • Love
Reactions: 1 person
"Well it sounds like the covenant has something to worry about then," Coporal Levitan said with a nod. "I'd say we'll be a force to be reckoned with." She glared down at the table for a moment and hesitated, unsure if she should continue the conversation. Tierra felt obliged to care and that scared her. Caring meant she'd get attached and getting attached to a squad member meant she'd risk losing them in battle, like she had her first squad. "I know what you mean about your shoulder though. An entire ship came down on top of me during a firefight a few years back. Practically cut off my left leg. I can't feel much past my knee anymore." Tierra let a moment of silence envelope the air between the two of them. "So.... you know anything about this mission? I wasn't told jack shit, just your name and the room we were supposed to meet in."
 
  • Bucket of Rainbows
Reactions: Satyr
"I haven't been told anything--" he started and was cut off as a man in Gray uniform approached their table. "Sorry to interrupt, Admiral Osman sent me to retrieve you two." the man looked young and he didn't wear any kind of rank or insignia, his uniform was actually quite bare. Thomas didn't argue, he merely glanced at Tierra as he was led down the winding halls and intersections of the Infinity. When they finally arived at their destination the messenger motioned them in before departing. As soon as he spotted her he snapped to attention, sporting a rigid salute. Sitting before them was the newly appointed Admiral, and current head of ONI.
 
As greetings and salutes were exchanged, Tierra scrutinized the room and the faces of all the high ranking individuals that surrounded her. She didn't particularly have a problem with authority, but those who usually had power over her made her life unnecessarily problematic; two of the three missions she had embarked on ended unforgivably because of poor decisions made by those appointed over her.
She was still respectful, however. Her body language and her facial expressions did not betray her thoughts in the slightest, one thing she had learned to do well in all her years of being in the UNSC. Of all the reasons why she thought she had been almost killed twice she never considered that it was intentional until just recently. Tierra's mind flashed back to when she was stranded on a covenant infested moon and recalled something about--Tierra's thoughts were suddenly interrupted as she noticed how unusually silent the room was. She had been staring directly at the Admiral seated at a table on the other side of the room and everyone was exchanging glances with each other in mild confusion. Tierra blinked a couple of times and regained her composure, glancing over at Thomas for a moment.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Satyr
The briefing consisted of the limited data they gathered. A UNSC warship had sent out a brief distress signal before it went dark. The issue being that the ship was thought to have been lost in slipspace, years ago. The planet the signal originated from was one of the few remaining outer colonies. The problem with this planet is that before the war it was held by insurectionists. Thomas and Tierra were going to be deliver planetside from orbit via pelican, moddifed for stealth missions.

The next few weeks were spent in cryosleep. When he was finally thawed he shot up and coughed for a few moments. He climbed out of his pod and fell to his knees, he was always clumsy fresh out of the freezer. As his disorientation faded he stood and proceeded to the showers and cleaned himself up before dressing in his undersuit. He didn't bother putting pants on over his suit, or boots even, as the armor bay was in the adjacent room. He wondered briefly how Corporal Levitan was handling cryo thaw, some did fine others didn't.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Iris Ackerman
Corporal Levitan groaned as the door to the chamber hissed open. Her eyes seemed to hesitate as she tried to force them open. She felt sick to her stomach and quickly stepped forward from the pod. The sudden weight her legs had been burdened with brought her to her knees as she used one arm to brace herself and the other to hold her stomach in agony. There was nothing inside of her to throw up--she knew better than to eat before cryosleep. Even so, the thought of food was a distant one.

She blinked a few times at the cold metallic floor as her mind raced with all the horrors of her last mission. There was a flash of light from her wristwatch and she was reminded of her time and place. Today was a new day. There would be new horrors and they would require a fresh mind. Levitan gritted her teeth and shut off the emotional side of her brain. A look of placid determination settled onto the spartan's face as she rose to dress in her undersuit and reunite herself with her teammate.
 
Sergeant Wolfe was relieved to see his squad mate walk into the armorbay. He was already standing in the center of the machine that attached it all. Small mechanical arms buzzed about, attaching bits and pieces here and there. When it was done he was adorning a full suit of Recon-type MJOLNIR combat armor. Thomas' armor was colored a charcoal grey with sage accents. He stepped off the armor platform with a metallic thud. He had gone through plenty of MJOLNIR training, mostly through wargame simulations. He nodded to Tierra as he slipped his helmet on. Thomas went through a brief systems check, once he was satisfied he made his visor transparent so his teammate could see his face.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Iris Ackerman
Tierra stepped onto the platform as she had done so many times before. She braced herself for the weight of the armor as the mechanical arms outstretched towards her. Each time she had done this it seemed to take less time. The armor she received was similar to Sergeant Wolfe's in style and purpose, but differed in shape according to Levitan's body size. As she stepped down from the machine, she rolled her shoulders a couple of times to test the fitting and, satisfied with the result, stepped towards a shelf where her helmet sat.

It was a deep pastel blue like the rest of her armor. The only difference was that it sported a shallow gash across the right side. The structural integrity hadn't been compromised, so Corporal Levitan had requested to keep that helmet as a memento of her first mission gone wrong. It had been painted over so only if you knew where to look could you locate and recognize it. She pulled on the helmet and began a systems check.

"Ready," Corporal stated when all the systems had successfully passed the inspection.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.