Foothold:Ch. 1, Wall.

The Marines are Berthed in the belly of the starship, and essential for attack and defense, whether it be on the gorund, or inside the ships during boarding actions. Fighter pilots and ships may win battles, but Marines will win the War.
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Kai
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Foothold:Ch. 1, Wall.

Post by Kai »

A white stick of tightly rolled paper bobbed up and down as it was chewed upon, the owner of the mouth that it was inserted in surveying the situation with a look of boredom, her long, raven hair pulled up into a somewhat spiky bun to allow the helmet cradled in the crook of her arm to properly fit over her head and seal if need be. From her lookout point, on one of the higher levels of the mining base build around the cone of an extinct volcano, the Sergeant surveyed the layout of the land. It would have been beautiful, but for the deadliness. First there was the jungle itself- Patrols who went in there rarely ever came back unscathed, whether or not they encountered any Drathonians. Then, there were those enemies themselves - The Drathonians, while not immune to the jungle either, were so intent upon obliterating the Terrans that they didn't care. Closer in, there was the wide open, charred space between the edge of the forest and the compound wall, the noman's land that was the site of the largest amount of fighting. The outer wall, which bordered this Noman's land, was pitted and charred, with the occasional gap of twisted metal and rubble making what appeared to be a weak point, though the second wall was always manned and noman's land watched intently. The compound rose, uneven rings forming layers almost like some bizarro cake made from stone and metal, covered in watching eyes and guns of all kinds.

The Sergeant turned to look at the group of marines she was in charge of, the name 'Winters' visible on the front of her duty uniform's jacket, and sighed. "We're going to the bottom wall today." she announced. "Intel says that the lizards are planning a push today, so they need as many people on the wall as possible to repel it." The paper stick, from a long-eaten blow-pop, was removed from Lucy Winters' mouth, and tucked into a breast pocket, before the woman grabbed her armor set, slipping first the armored vest on, then the arm pieces, which she secured to the chest piece, before finally stepping into the armored leggings, similarly attaching them, and then stamping her boots on the ground to settle the armor suit and make it more comfortable. Finally she strapped a holster to her hip, complete with a pistol- the design over 2,000 years old in its origin, the gun itself nearly half that, and antique the woman kept working as a bit of a novelty, and picked up her Gauss carbine, hefting it to her shoulder. As an afterthought, the helmet was clipped to her belt.

"You guys ready to go?" she asked.
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Straken
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Re: Foothold: Chapter one.

Post by Straken »

Dominic was already suited up except for his helmet as he waited around for his squad to move out. In his moment of down time he was examining the interior of the helmet by casually running his gloved fingers over the inside surface. ”Hmm, one of the panels by the visor is pushed out a bit, loose wires perhaps?” he thought to himself as he went over rather trivial abnormalities about his mass produced gear.

When Winters spoke up, Dom’s eyes shifted to look at the sergeant. Reflexively he replied “Yes, Sergeant,” but most the rest of his cognitive functions went to examining the holstered gun Winters had on her belt. It was an interesting piece of hardware, and since he was fairly certain he would never get permission to disassemble it he contented himself with mentally picturing how the moving parts fit together. Then with a few blinks he set himself back into soldier mode, and then upon standing up he slipped on his helmet and fastened it to the suit.

With the helmet on, he ran through some diagnostics by flipping through the different subsystems. First checking the HUD, and everything looked good; then teammate readouts, and his team was outlined just like they should be; infrared and low-light were next, and sure enough his eyes now hurt a little; finally Dom brought up his system manuals, and with minute gestures he flipped through various bits of technology he was likely going to have to fix out in the field. Everything checked out, and he was ready to go.

“Everything is set on my end, ma’am,” Dominic added as he stood at the ready.
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Kokuten
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Re: Foothold: Chapter one.

Post by Kokuten »

"Hey Farge," called a voice down the way, one of the Marines arriving late. His armor was speckled black with ash and soot. "I found fum coal fruit."

The Marine wiped some of the black off his face, his red eyes becoming more noticeable under that black dusting. The more he dusted, the more visible the name WESTWOOD would appear on his chest plate. On his hip, were four, hourglass-shaped fruit, tucked in a helmet latched to his belt. When he swallowed what was in his mouth, he took another bit of the similarly shaped fruit in his hand. The lava-orange skin tore under his oddly sharp teeth, revealing a juicy, golden flesh underneath. "Iff pretty good, kinda gotta..." The Marine pucked his lips before licking them after downing that last bite, "A charcoal after-taste."

The Private First Class looked side to side, at the rest of them, "Whass' goin' on, we goin' somewhere?"
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Mr. Blackbird Lore
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Re: Foothold: Chapter one.

Post by Mr. Blackbird Lore »

"We're going to the bottom wall, freeloader," came a surly voice just over Asher's shoulder. She had crept up on him in near silence and so close that she could pluck a coal fruit from Westwood's dangling helmet. She did so and took a bite. Possessing manners clearly superior to her indecorous squaddy, the native chewed and swallowed before speaking again. Like those present, this ebon-haired woman was fully clad in her armor, sans helmet which was clasped to her hip. Unlike those present, she had a kukri strapped to her left thigh and she was idly fingering the lone Heart of Africa diamond in its hilt.

"The Captain wants us on the western rampart, sir." Sir always left a bitter taste in Camilla Enos's mouth, but regulations were what they were. If they didn't respect the rules, there could be only chaos. She had lived on the edge of chaos all her life- literally right next door to the vicious and wicked wilderness of Foothold- and knew that was no proper way to live. Camilla cast her hazel eyes out to that same wilderness for a brief moment before reeling back in and settling her gaze on Asher. She had a sudden thought. "If you break out in hives and your throat shuts up, don't say no one warned you." To herself she murmured, "Though that's probably for the best."
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Gwathdraug
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Re: Foothold: Chapter one.

Post by Gwathdraug »

Private Emma Card noisily joined the rest of the group, a yawn escaping from her already helmeted head and repeating itself personally for each squad member as it crackled over the unit comm-channel. Card at least had the sense to cut the yawn short and flip off her transmitter before rapping out a quick, “Sorry Sergeant, good to go here.”

“Any surface swelling or bloating to go along with the hives from that fruit?” Card asked Camilla casually while shifting her way over to the rest of the squad. “They'd probably miss any of the bruises during the autopsy and just pin him down for accidental asphyxiation through stupidity if it does.”

While waiting for either an answer from the native marine or for things just to get started Card whistled as she tried to remember just how high the pot for Asher not living out the year once he was deployed had gotten before his group had been shipped off of Waypoint.
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Kokuten
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Re: Foothold: Chapter one.

Post by Kokuten »

Asher looked down at his helmet, feeling the weight slightly lessen as an experience of scavenging most of his life. The blackened soldier didn't seem to mind, he simply bit into his fruit again. He wiped his mouth with his black, sooty sleeve smearing more ash on his face, before distributing his fruit to everyone else. Even Card got a Coal Fruit gently lobbed at her, despite her debasing comment. The man had been enjoying himself on this assignment until Emma had shown up. He hadn't seen her since the special 'training' the two of them went through, and had been much happier for it. Still, he didn't let it get him down, he rarely did.

"Pfeh," sputtered Asher in a sigh, spitting out a seed, "I spent two weeks chokin' on my own throat 'cause I was eatin' Surandanian beecher berries. Only thing I had t'eat. I can handle a few hives."

He turned to face them all, a darkened story-teller revealing himself. Now that some of the ash had cleared up, his rugged face and scars had become more evident, revealing a hardy looking man.

"If y'find y'self chokin' on y'own throat, you can solve tha' problem by gettin' a lead pipe, dull tha' end on some concrete, and shove it down y'windpipe," It sounded like a joke, but the face he made impressed an immense degree of seriousness, "The smalla' tha' betta, like wirin' pipe, they keep it behind tha' walls. Just ply off a wall-panel an rip it out. Don't worry 'bout throwin' up when y'stick it in, eitha', it won't be able to get out, so it just sinks back in y'stomach. Burns like a tiddly-fuck, but hey, iss' betta' than suffocatin'."
CadetNewb
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Re: Foothold: Chapter one.

Post by CadetNewb »

Rations. Rations were all they ever got to eat. Hot rations, heated with a little reactive bit inside the package so that they'd taste ok. Cold Rations, eaten straight out of the packaging with a fork and spoon so they'd feel clammy and unpleasant in the mouth. Breached rations, ones that were torn open from the air drop, or otherwise clawed into by the Drathonians themselves when they made it to the foodstuffs first. Sometimes good, sometimes vile - the bacteria, let alone other...contaminants in their claws could be unpleasant at the least, and worse than deadly when The Black Dog smiled. But, despite the sheer amounts of different kinds of rations, there was one thing that remained consistently reliable in this setting. Peanut butter.

Prepared and packaged properly, it almost never, ever spoiled from age, and could be eaten hot or cold without detriment. The stuff was self contained in its own package too, which was also a lot smaller to boot. Peanut butter was almost never, ever breached, and if it were, the very top contaminated level could easily be scooped away . It came in little packages almost like ketchup to be squeezed over ultra-calorie-dense crackers or large jars so it could be piled on top of anything and everything. Peanut butter was a miracle food, capable of reversing the very worst malnutrition all by itself in the span of a few weeks if given properly. And it could be eaten with anything. Anything at all.

Well, that last bit was her opinion of the stuff anyways.

A small hand reached up from behind Asher and firmly grasped his grasp over the bitten charcoal fruit . As a body squeezed up behind him, another familiar hand reached past him, and with a knife in hand, carefully sliced off a single sliver of his fruit, the owner of the two hands taking it and spreading peanut butter over the bit she claimed for herself. With a hearty 'OMN-NOM!' the young marine-ette labeled as Mills gobbled up her favorite food. "We're out of ration crackers since some sort of mold got in and ate the packaging," she mentioned in an airy voice. "The person who found out ended up with mushrooms growing out of his skin - I don't think it's the eatable kind," Pepper mused, idly holding a carbine now that the knife was tucked away.

With the last bite of peanut butter and charcoal fruit held delicately in hand, she held it up to Asher's mouth. "Here Rolf, ahhhhh,~" she went.
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Kokuten
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Re: Foothold: Chapter one.

Post by Kokuten »

Asher's attention turned aside to Pepper as she went hacking at his own fruit. Sure he had eaten two or three on the way up, but she just sliced off part of his fruit! Yes, a woman had brushed against him, and somehow ignored his grimey soot covered exterior. While that notion should have required some surprise, this chick went and took some of his coal fruit! He turned firmly and was about to berate the woman on stealing from scavenger, before she held a peace offering to him.

He looked at it for a second.

He then looked at Pepper, carefully watching the girl, before conceding.

He then opened his mouth.
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Re: Foothold: Chapter one.

Post by CadetNewb »

And Pepper went "NOM" as she ate the last piece herself. "Asher, what are you doing? You're not Rolf," she went on, looking at the man with a raised eyebrow and a frown as though he were a weirdo. Turning swiftly on her heel, she looked at Winters. "Are we going to shoot at some Scalies today?" The young girl was already marching away from the soot covered man, quickly following behind her leader's footsteps.
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Kokuten
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Re: Foothold: Chapter one.

Post by Kokuten »

Asher blinked at that. She had said Rolf, hadn't she? The urban wild man looked at his mutilated fruit, and wondered why people liked picking on him so much.
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