|
Post by Galio on Mar 3, 2011 0:17:56 GMT -5
This is a not a time of cities, of industry, or of progress; This is not a time of love, of revelry, or of meditation; This is a time of desperation, of fear, and of battle. A time when even time is one of the many things on your heels, threatening to consume you. Though the days are dark, and the nights are darker, The Family has fallen back to a planet merely charted. Relonia is an inhospitable world, but The Family burrowed into her soil and built their own civilization in an imploding universe. And though every galaxy with life has been overrun by the festering malignancy, The Family provides protection and sustenance to any who are fortunate enough to spot this isolated rock in the vastness of space. This hospitality comes at a price. Everyone that accepts The Family's shelter is required to undergo Deritian training. It teaches advanced ranged and bladed weapon handling and survival skills. However, those who are born on this derelict planet are subject to a different training, The Hacto Ja.
Charl sniffed, opened her eyes, and scanned the room. She pushed up against the wall to a standing position, stepped to the sink, and placed her handguns on either side. She splashed water in her face and frowned into the mirror. She didn't like days off.
She stepped out into the hall and made for the training deck. She looked out the window of Station B and saw Station A. It was far enough away so she couldn't identify any figures in the windows. She had never asked about it. She marched through the doors of the training deck and disparaged her instructor. "Father, I did not like it." He smiled. "I figured you wouldn't. We had never tried it before, and we were curious what four consecutive hours of sleep would do for your performance." Her face hadn't changed. She snorted, "Well, I feel slow and heavy. I hope that is your desired result." He chuckled, "Don't worry, we'll get you back on a random schedule right away. Now let's do some tests, shall we?" A wicked smirk surfaced on her face. "That's what I wanted to hear." She stepped into the middle of the room, and the day began.
|
|
|
Post by NµKe on Mar 3, 2011 22:01:25 GMT -5
Zeph bounced off of the transport. He was whistling. "Dang, Zombies Are Here" was the tune and it had a wretched habit of getting stuck in Zeph's head ALL THE TIME. If it didn't successfully annoy others so much, he'd get frustrated at the song.
Zeph walked into the debriefing room and tossed a stack of papers in a folder onto the desk. The Major there nodded at Zeph and asked...
"Anything out of the ordinary?"
"Successfully pulled off the 'tie the rope to the transport and get a picture of me flying behind a plane with a ginormous explosion behind me' routine again. That's three pictures in that series. If someone EVER tries to compete with me, I'll just... I'll just... blow them out of the water. No competition at all."
"Then again, if I come across someone like me... I think I'll be so stunned and so competitive that one of us will probably have to die... or we'll be best friends..."
Zeph was rambling again. The major had already gone back to work and was chuckling to himself as he heard bits and pieces of Zeph's mad ramblings.
Zeph spun on his heels and skipped out of the room.
"Tootles, Major!"
"See you later, Zeph!"
---
Zeph walked into the training center and had a chat with the instructor.
"So, how's Charl doin'? Don't spare any dirty details... tell me... has she even noticed that you are a man yet? Be honest, Daddy'O... has she?"
Zeph leaned in on the instructor's desk eying him seriously eyeing him seriously. The instructor looked back as if very not impressed by Zeph's joke.
"I'm sure she has." He said, rather matter of factly. He went back to writing and periodically checking the status of Charl on the monitors, both body-vital signs and also the video feed.
"You don't... I mean..." The instructor looked up... "Nevermind. How's Charl?"
"Doing pretty well. She slept for four hours straight last night."
"What the-- why?!" Zeph said.
"We're ordered to try out different sleeping patterns, just to see if it would increase performance capacity."
"Eh? Well?"
"Doubt it. Her current cycle seems to be the strongest, at least for her. She's pretty unique. Oop... she seems to be comin' out now. Maybe she heard your voice... you are ridiculously loud compared to how quiet it is in here..."
Zeph rolled his eyes and looked towards the training-center door.
((Whether you want to handle Training the Matrix style, or actually an arena or whatever... I left it somewhat open... doors can lead to loading rooms, or to the actual area. Up to you.))
|
|
|
Post by Galio on Mar 3, 2011 23:43:03 GMT -5
(("You are ridiculously loud compared to how quiet it is in here." Love it. I'm thinking the training is an advanced CG environment. So it's like Matrix.))
"Zephate, come. We need to train." Charl turned around and walked back to the middle of the room and waited.
"Extraordinarily loud." The instructor muttered as he finished his notes from the last session.
Charl called out again, "Father, I know my vitals aren't ideal now, but please don't make me desist prematurely. Allow me to fight through this." She watched Zephate approach. "Why are you so late? Even I was two hours later than usual, and I still cleared seventeen blocks on my own." She knew she was about to receive an impertinent response of some sort, so she tried to cut him off and make him feel bad. She growled, "And all the buildings were thirty stories plus! How did you become so filthy?"
|
|
|
Post by NµKe on Mar 7, 2011 21:26:10 GMT -5
Zephate walked slowly into the training room and stared at Charl. He looked deeply into her eyes as if he were searching for something. The instructor leaned in to ask if they were ready, but he was silenced by Zeph's hand holding up a 'wait' sign. He looked at Charl as if she were hiding something. He kept turning his head right and left as if he were definitely not pleased yet... then he waited and stared as if he expected something huge to leap out of Charl's face at him. It was a face of shock, of pure fear... His eyebrows raised as if about to be hit by the wave of fury and terror!
Zeph burped and blew it right into Charl's face.
"Bwahahah! Got ya! Alright, I am COMPLETELY done waiting for the both of you to stop your fooling around. Instructor, beam us up! Charl, quite messin' with your make-up and hair and get ready to actually do something useful."
Zeph leaned over and placed his gloved hand on Charl's shoulder and sighed...
"Oh, and Charl... please... PLEASE... try and keep up."
Zeph winked and the simulation started...
|
|
|
Post by Galio on Mar 7, 2011 23:41:20 GMT -5
She didn't respond. When Zephate did things like that, it vexed Charl sorely. She felt she could do absolutely nothing in response to it, but that there was so much she could possibly do. A violent response had never even crossed her mind. His teasing would just kick her into a dark room with her hot temper. Still, over the heat of this boiling indignation, Charl came so dangerously near to having more curiosity than she could contain. Over time, she had resisted her training to never think about the outside world. She knew there was one, and she wanted to know it so badly. Zephate was literally coated with it every time she saw him. She whispered under her breath, "What is makeup?"
The instructor informed over the intercom, "This is a recreation of the largest city on the nearest planet. You both completed this one six years ago, but there's a twist. Be ready."
She tapped all the weapons on her person as was her custom before every mission to make sure that they were in place, and the overrun city materialized before her.
A massive metropolis spread out before them in the distance. Night was falling, and downtown was two miles away. "City class: Rathen. Population: approximately six million. Status: Contaminated." She glanced at him to make sure he wasn't walking off. "Objective: Eradicate infected hosts." She turned to face him full front. "Would it be too much to ask that we at the very least begin the mission according to..." Her throat tightened, and her eyes became large. She was doing what Zephate always does... Father called it 'sarcasm.' "Oh dear. Silence! The plan!"
As if nothing at all just happened, she turned away and forged toward the objective.
|
|
|
Post by NµKe on Mar 8, 2011 20:56:14 GMT -5
Zeph fell over backwards and landed not-too-hard on the ground and began rolling on the ground laughing.
"I saw that!! You definitely were about to snap! Bwahahahaha!!"
Zeph sat up, dusted off his shoulders with style and chuckled again to himself. He got up onto his feet and walked up to Charl. He chuckled again simply looking at her and then just smiled. He reached over and dusted the invisible bits of dust off of Charl and then began to walk towards the city.
"Comin', homie? Time to make this happen."
[[Feel free to RP respond to the above section, just wanted to speed things by jumping into the town because we need to pick up Ranger soon... not in the simulation, of course, but you get what I mean]] -----------
Zeph checked his submachine gun and his katana in its sheath on his back. Both were completely ready to go. He smiled. He placed his right headphone into his head and started up "Dang, Zombies Are Here" and began to bounce his shoulders in rhythm with the bouncy, country-sounding song. He then got distracted with his own dancing and began to groove, moving his shoulders back and forth and looking down at his feet as they did their own funky dance. He seemed impressed by his own feet as if they were a completely separate entity.
He then stopped, looked up at Charl and smiled.
"Sorry 'bout that. Got a little... carried away..." He rolled his eyes as if astounded by his own goofyness. Zeph then turned back to the city and raised his gun.
"You ready, punk?"
|
|
|
Post by Galio on Mar 8, 2011 23:46:53 GMT -5
Charl spun around as Zephate fell to the ground. She was worried for a moment, but then realized that he was simply up to some more of his inexplicable antics. "Zephate, stop this at once! You are so foolish. I..." His laughter was obtusely loud. She stomped her foot on the ground. "Zephate!" She at least got his attention. He brushed dust off of himself and rose to his feet.
[Gotcha.]
Charl stopped in her tracks when she saw Zephate jiving in the empty street like an imbecile. She glared at the back of his head thoroughly mortified knowing that Father was watching everything. At long last, he desisted and prepared for battle.
"I don't know who you're addressing, but I know I'm ready." She thought about saying something she wouldn't normally say, but she knew Father would not approve of unnecessary words. She remained silent.
She jogged into the city and clapped her pistols together to attract attention. The infected subjects began pouring out onto the streets from the ruined structures. Somehow, they still retained the natural instinct of taking shelter at night. As she began to squeeze the trigger for the first time this mission, the ground violently shook, and she tumbled to the ground. This was unlike anything she had experienced before. She jumped back to her feet and fired 20 rounds into the now uncomfortably close infected. As they fell, she called to Zephate, "Do you think that was the twist Father informed us of?"
[It's not. The station's under attack now. Feel free to take the wheel on this story.]
|
|
|
Post by NµKe on Mar 12, 2011 18:26:11 GMT -5
[Ah, word. Okay, that makes sense. Sweet.]
Zephate was slicing and dicing until the shake. Then he was confused. He sliced a few more and launched himself backwards with a large jump. He quickly checked his Monitor (a small electronic device embedded in Trainee's Arms when in a simulation for easy menu access) and radioed in to the Instructor.
"Instructor! ... Dude, what is going on? ..."
After a couple seconds of somewhat silence (well, it was silence after Charl dropped about eight infected with a single bullet), something started coming through the receiver.
"...Alarm: Intruder Alert... Systems Malfunctioning..." There was a siren noise that accompanied the words.
"Time to abort, homeslice... Charl. Let's go. Abort simulation."
Zephate began typing in the Exit Code into his Monitor. His exit sequence began. It usually took about ten seconds.
For the first time in a good three and a half weeks, Zephate felt that nervous feeling shoot through his veins. Unknown Problems. He rolled his eyes. "Another joke probably..." he muttered to himself. "Freakin' instructor never knows when to quit..." Zeph chuckled.
|
|
|
Post by Galio on Mar 12, 2011 22:46:49 GMT -5
Charl's body tensed when she heard the warnings and sirens from Zephate's receiver. She was frozen, nearly in a panic. Zephate was entering the abortion code, but it wasn't working.
"What's wrong!?" He didn't respond. He was smiling like this was all a joke. The horde drew nearer. "Zephate..." She uttered in a shaky voice. She didn't know what would happen if she was killed in simulation, but she didn't want to find out. "Duck!" Zephate ducked just in time as she spun in perfect form unleashing precise destruction in chosen intervals. The maneuver widened the distance between them and the standing infected. Then Zephate finished entering the code, and things went black.
A fire was blazing where father's station used to be. "Father!?" Zephate grabbed her arm and pulled her to the door. She understood the harshness of his touch and settled down. They braced on either side of the training deck doors. She fisted the switch, and the doors cracked open six inches. She quickly jumped, placing her feet on one door, hands on the other and pulled. She held them open, suspending herself five feet off of the floor. "Go, please." Zephate slipped under her and she dropped down into the hall. It was devoid of life. The emergency lights were on, monitors were black, control panels were fried, and alarms and warnings profusely ruled the air.
"Zephate, I don't know what to do! I've never trained for an attack. I don't even know where the armory is... I only have simulator pistols, and... Zephate, I'm afraid! I've never been afraid before."
She promptly burst into tears at the thought of discovering a forbidden part of herself. Mixed emotions of the guilt of breaking the rule of no fear and realizing how deep this emotion ran unearthed an undiscovered reservoir of tears. "If Father saw me now, he'd never forgive me." She trembled to her knees in the hall. "How much do I not know?" She felt tiny, weak, and pathetic. She knew things were kept from her, but it was so easy to accept that without knowing what it was.
She looked up at Zephate. He looked strong and a thousand feet tall.
|
|
|
Post by NµKe on Mar 16, 2011 16:58:02 GMT -5
Zephate smiled and put his arm around her.
"Don't you worry, you'll be just fine. I know that you haven't trained for this, but technically speaking, no one has, so you're on a level-playing field, mmkay? Now, I need you to be strong for now and we need to get out of here, alrighty? C'mon lil'punk, let's boogie."
Zeph helped her stand up and began to speed up the pace that they were walking. He helped her wipe away some tears with his jacket sleeve and then he drew his blade in his left hand, still keeping his right arm around her. He wasn't about to let her go yet... she was an emotional, well-trained, extremely dangerous woman: one of the most dangerous creatures on any planet.
Zeph peeked out around a corner and heard some voices. They didn't sound familiar, yet he knew that he needed to get off of the station. He could figure out what had happened later. Or... could he? Should he leave now without knowing exactly what is going on? If the girl snapped back into it, they would be a solid team for killing, but he had no clue who or how well trained his opponents would be. He turned and looked at Charl.
"Alright. We have a choice. Go straight for escape? Or attempt to figure out what is going on then escape/or fight? The second is quite dangerous for an emotional girl to undertake (no offense) and if you aren't ready to kill then I'd prefer we stick with the first one. Whaddya think, punk? Can you handle it?"
|
|
|
Post by Galio on Mar 17, 2011 23:54:45 GMT -5
"I am not an emotional girl, Zephate Ryth." Charl sternly stated. After saying so, she looked down and nearly burst into tears again. She began to think deeply, "What in the apocalypse is this feeling? If I ever even showed signs of crying, I'd be beaten until I didn't want to anymore. I openly wept now, and Zephate... held me... Why did he do that?? And why did it seem to help? It was as though he was keeping me from falling into pieces. But I wasn't... not actually. Just give this time; it will all make sense in time... just time." She emerged from her musing and into reality. "My name is not punk. We must discover the cause of this chaos but weapons first." They took the stairs to the lower level and armed themselves. They started back upstairs to the control tower. Charl had always known where it was and how to get there, but she had never been there before. As they moved, she began sinking into thought again. You must understand, uncovering a massive, new part of yourself is quite engrossing. [ ]Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by NµKe on Apr 6, 2011 9:16:34 GMT -5
Zeph sighed to himself. "Pushy women..." he muttered as they took off towards the Control Tower. He drew his shorter dagger and prepared as they approached a crossroads in the hallways.
The next second was full of a couple different actions. One was that Zeph glanced over at Charl and noticed that she was entering back into deep thought, two was that Zeph heard a soldier right around the corner turn and attempt to fire with his safety on, three was that Zeph's dagger when right through his leg, and four was that Zeph caught the man before he hit ground and covered his mouth before he could yell or make any serious racket. He then promptly karate-chopped his neck to knock him unconscious.
"Charl! What are you doing?" Zeph yelled while pointing down the hall. A guard who had a bit of distance was running towards an alarm panel. The distance was being closed, ten feet... five feet...
|
|
|
Post by Galio on Apr 8, 2011 20:25:26 GMT -5
[[Excellent.]]
Charl jumped out of her ocean of thought at the sound of Zephate's voice. She saw his pointing hand in her peripheral and looked down the hall. A guard was nearing an alarm panel, and she wouldn't catch him in time without shooting him. She raised her weapon and lined up her sights on this guard.
She didn't freeze, but she didn't do anything. She felt like there was another option... she didn't have to kill. It was only Zeph that told her to anyway. She let him reach the panel, which didn't work anyway, and she sprinted for his position. He frantically tried to reconnect power to the panel but never got the chance. Charl left the ground into a kick. Her foot met the back of his head, introducing the front of his head to the alarm panel. She landed and smiled back at Zephate, excited at what she had just done. She then slapped her inner self in the face and put the frown back on.
She jogged back to him ordering, "The control tower, now." She brushed passed him and passed the unconscious guard. She stopped at the body and gave Zephate a puzzled look. It was a look that said something like, "How did you... I didn't even... I would have heard..." It was a very puzzled look, but it only lasted for an instant. She made for the tower again. Rounding a corner to a window, she could see Station A. It was as still as its star riddled backdrop.
She and Zephate ascended five flights of stairs and listened at the door of the control room. She mouthed, "Only one. I'll take him." Zephate booted the door off of its hinges as Charl slid in low with dagger in hand. A startled guard rose from his chair. Charl released her dagger.
Before the blade pierced his pant-leg, pinning him to a desk, she had readied both pistols in precaution. Mid-slide, she caught a floor transition with her heels and rose to her feet. She strode straight toward the guard demanding, "What happened here!?"
[[Enter Jorj]]
|
|
|
Post by Hoovy on Apr 16, 2011 20:04:46 GMT -5
[[Sorry if it's kinda long...]] [Flash Back] Charl walked out from Father's room smiling. Franz and I stepped out of our positions hiding in hidden hollows in the wall. "Well," said Father, "Lets get this underway shall we?" He turned his chair back around and hit a few buttons on the control panel to start the simulation.
About five minutes into the first test, I, being the captain of the guard, was informed of an unknown life-form in Loading Dock F. "Probably just some small alien animal. Send Squad 2 in to check it out." I replied verbally to the message via Com-link in my helmet. I flipped a switch on the side and switched to Squad 2's commander, Sargent Baker's, helmet cam. "Baker, report in." I ordered.
"Nothing so far sir. Just a couple of- Wait a minute, picking something up. Investigating..." There was a long pause as he walked forward. "It's just behind this crate. I think we just found ourselves our stowaway. Jon, Fil, help me m- *Death Rattle*"
"Squad 2! Report!" I shouted, loud enough to be heard in the hallway. There was a long pause. To long of a pause to mean anything good. I switch my helm-com over to the desk's com unit so everyone in the room could hear.
"Khat reporting sir, we encountered a hostile. Sarg's dead, claw stab through the neck. Fil and Jon are gone to. I- I think I lost the thing." He was breathing heavily, almost out of breath from fear and exhaustion. He sat breathing for a minute or two. Suddenly he shouted, "What was that?!". His helmet cam jerked around quickly. "Must be hearing things. I'm getting out of here! This is suicide!" His cam shook as he stood up and began to run. The running stopped. "Jon? Jon?! Is that you?! Man, I'm so glad your alive! Jon, is something wrong? Jon?! Answer me! Jon! Get back! NOOOO-" The feed from his helmet was cut. The last shot we got from it was a sickly-looking Jon, charging knife raised.
Father sat there stunned for a second. "Lock down Loading Dock F. We need to keep whatever this thing is contained." He said into the desk coms. "Nothing gets in there, nothing gets out. Got it?"
"Affirmative Sir. Nothing in, nothing out." replied the officer on the other side of the com.
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Father leaned forward on his desk. An explosion rocked the base. "What the heck was that?" He asked out loud. Suddenly the form of what was Khat dropped from an air vent in the ceiling.
It stood up and started moving towards Father. Franz and I both raised out 9mm's and opened fire on the thing. Every round hit. Each shoot should have been lethal. It just keep coming it. Khat pulled out a knife and dived forward, stabbing Father in the heart. He was dead before he knew what happened. It then turned on us. We were still shooting to no effect. I was down to seventeen rounds left and the thing showed no sign of deciding to die soon.
"Franz! Get out that door! Move!" I ordered. He ran across the room and kicked the door open. I followed him into the hall and slammed the door shut, locking it. I leaned up against the wall and slid down to a sitting position, breathing heavily. I turned to look up at Franz, but there was no sign of him. Just his helmet resting on the floor. My thoughts were interrupted by a human scream and gun fire. I looked down the hallway, towards the way that Franz disappeared, and saw a force of twenty three of those undead things. I ran the opposite way towards the armory. Once in the armory (still ahead of the things) I grabbed some more ammo, and a combat knife. I ran out of the room and locked myself in the control tower, leaving the things outside to rampage through the base... [End Flashback]
I sat still staring down the barrel of Charl's modified handgun. I gulped. "I'm on your side Charl. No need to kill your own side. Especially with those things outside. Charl looked shocked, only for a second, then her face was hard again.
"How is it that you know my name?" She asked. More of a command than a request.
"I- I was one of Father's per- personal guards. I've seen you walk into his office every day I was on duty, receiving new m- missions and such." I stammered, still somewhat fearing for my life.
|
|
|
Post by NµKe on Apr 25, 2011 22:20:20 GMT -5
Zephate shrugged his shoulders and extended a hand to help the guard up. He took it after a second of sitting there. He got up and shook his head a little then looked up at the Zeph and Charl. Zeph stepped forward and leaned up against the wall next to him and shrugged.
"So... what's going on, dude?" he said in his nonchalant sort of way.
"Felt some bumps, heard some crazies. We got a couple stowaways or something? Is the military that incompetent that it can't handle a couple of silly stowaways?! What are things coming to, Charl?"
Zeph chuckled to himself then looked at the guard who had a face which would silence even a drunk, high, obnoxious stand-up comedian that didn't know when to quit. Zeph's face went solemn. Happy-Go-Lucky-Attempt-1 done. This kid had just lost something he knew... something he held dear. Whether it was security... or his friends... or his lunch... it was gone and he wasn't ecstatic about it. Zeph sometimes gave in to being silly and annoying, but now was not the time. Not when A) death had just happened and B) death was probably about to still happen. Zeph clapped a hand on the kid's shoulder and said in a much more serious, but comforting voice.
"Let's get outta here. Whaddya say? You got any family on board?"
|
|