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Post by Michael Hobbar on Jul 17, 2014 22:18:23 GMT -5
Hobbar finished eating what was on his plate. Putting the napkin to his lips he looked over at the table and couldn’t help but smile. It was awfully odd seeing his Staff Sergeant be this cheerful who was usually very serious. Actually this was the only time he could ever remember Silva being this happy and laughing at the same time. The man who had seen so much combat in a few short years was tonight one of the happiest people in the room, probably happier than Hobbar himself. It wasn’t as if he was not happy tonight, he was happy. But Michael was not the one to draw attention to himself for a crowd. He had never been like that. Just seeing the members of his platoon happy was enough for him to be satisfied. The brutal campaign a few months back had killed many in the platoon but he was confident that no matter what else happened this moment here and now was what defined them as people. Not going into combat but what one did off the battlefield, what one did with life.
He shook those thoughts off, what was with him tonight? Slowly he got up and walked over towards Huxley among whom he had only had a little interaction with, perhaps just a few minutes at best. He had not really gotten to know the person that well other then what the service record had stated. It was quite impressive especially in the area of the Advanced Individual Training for Corpsman he could not remember many corpsmen who had that training. “Huxley” he said as he now stood in front of him. “Enjoying the beverages I see? Hahaha.”
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Post by Christopher Reed on Jul 18, 2014 23:09:06 GMT -5
“Relaxing on the base eh? Wish I was as lucky as you! I was in the hospital for a few months, took a month till I was taken off the respirator. Hey it was not all doom and gloom, I finally got to you know…sleep.” He said and clapped his left hand on Lamond’s left shoulder. “You thought I had it easy huh? Hahahaha!” Reed then took his hand off and put it in his pocket. “You been staying at Hades this entire time? Good lord man why don’t you go off base sometime and have some fun for once. Listen and I’m only telling you this since it seems like you really do ned to get off of the base, why don’t you come with me and Zhour in two days to New Oslo and see a new age rock jazz band eh?”
Reed’s obsession with anything musical was almost comical. And for some reason the new genre rock jazz was right up his alley. Most people including Zhour who dared to not say a word hated the sound…..saxaphones , clarinets, horns, drums and electric guitars just did not mix. Especially with most bands only having one guitar and most of them having some sort of horn instead.
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Post by Berlioz Lamond on Jul 21, 2014 12:18:14 GMT -5
Reed was apparently completely unaware that Berlioz had spent most of those same months on the same ward as him. Perhaps that was for the best. The clap on the shoulder set him on edge but he had to keep concentrating on what Reed was saying.
It was true that he was probably too familiar with the base, the days here had somewhat blurred together. Not moving from battalion to battalion, frontline to frontline, the comparative calm and quiet was almost unsettling, which was a worrying concept alone. That said the offer of seeing a 'new age rock jazz' band sounding more confusing than appealing. Berlioz's grasp of musical genres was limited at best and that sounded more like a mess of people trying to play different instruments than were ever meant to be played together.
"Thanks for the offer Reed, I'll get back to you about that when the time comes around, I dunno if something will come up but we'll see". When he said 'something will come up' he was referring to the odd random check up by his assigned mental health expert. One of the reasons he hadn't left base that often was also that he had to have irregular tabs kept on him.
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Post by Alex Huxley on Jul 21, 2014 20:02:49 GMT -5
Huxley's face almost went green and his expression turned sour but he was able to hold down the bile without protruding his cheeks. It was time to stop the liquid courage now that he had obtained enough. Challenging himself to not slur his words he put out a hand to shake his platoon leaders.
"Sir, how the hell are yah" he smiled.
He turned to Cordelia and put his arm around her, "Yes, Heart, I am as right as rain. Hey!, I been meaning to get together with yah and start talking about how we are going to train with one another and so on and so forth. When yah got time?"
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Post by Lucien Vinigan on Jul 21, 2014 20:16:22 GMT -5
Lucien had just been nervously keeping to himself for most of the part, the idea of many new faces and the presence of a large group of people didn't make him exactly feel safe. He was starting to feel more comfortable on a battlefield than at parties which resulted in him having not talked much to anyone, the only ones he really felt like he 'knew' for long enough was Silva and Hobbar who had kept him alive for as long as he remembered. And then there was Berlioz who had so far been nice before his incident with Reinhardt, but other than that quite a few new people, who he wasn't sure what to do with. He looked down the maroon uniform, the ribbons had become quite a few over the last few campaigns yet he was still just fiddling with the hat in his hand like some new guy, and if one didn't know it probably wouldn't be obvious that he'd been serving in the company ever since it's first deployment. The First training mission on Stataca and the chaos at New Oslo seemed so long ago in his mind. At least the food was nice.
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Post by Michael Hobbar on Jul 21, 2014 22:53:50 GMT -5
Hobbar smiled and chuckled “I’m fine I can see your enjoying yourself tonight.” He always wanted to get to know the members of his platoon better. Most Commissioned Officers who were leaders of platoons did not associate freely with non commissioned nor enlisted. It was odd for him to be seen with them. However, Hobbar had been raised to treat everyone with respect and it had extended into his military life. Just because someone had enlisted into the military and was not an officer did not mean they were not important. Yes commissioned officers made decisions about orders but the non commissioned officers and enlisted personnel always had to conduct whatever those orders were. They were what really made up the platoon, and for that matter most of the Special Drops Corps, as well as all the other military branches. The military was and had been a volunteer service, there had not been a draft in Hobbar’s nor Huxley’s life time. The last time there had been a military draft was during the War of Greed or the Republican Civil War, which was some eight hundred or odd so years ago.
Michael was not the best in history but the only area of history that he knew very well was military history mostly about the SDC. The enlisted personnel to Hobbar were the heart of the military. Being a Commissioned Officer he got an extra Five hundred local credits (the United Colonial Republic did not have a central currency as each star system had its own currency.) and he always would need extra credits, as life was always full of surprises. “I was looking over your personnel file recently and saw that you went through the Advanced Individual Training for Corpsman, what did that entail?” he asked him. And Hobbar was genuinely wondering what it did entail, as he himself went though the basics of medical attention on the battlefield. But to even get into that sort of program, Huxley of had to caught the attention of either his immediate instructors or someone above them. The challenges that Huxley had to go through the program were very advanced. Hobbar put his drink of warm citrus cider up to his lips and slowly drank it down.
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Post by Alex Huxley on Jul 22, 2014 18:57:15 GMT -5
Huxley was put on the spot quickly. He closed his eyes and thought back to AIT, "At first, I'll be honest, I didn't want to go. I was told by my Drill Instructor that it was a honor to be chosen and that no one should turn it down, that it can open many doors such as specialty units, promotion, among other things. I was nervous but I didn't want to let him down so I went. First thing they did was drop us on a random planet. If I knew which planet it was I'd tell you, sir, honest truth. I was alone with only a week supply of rations and water. I was given a map with a simple goal. Find the three different points using basic land navigation skill and then go to the Evac zone."
Alex rubbed the back of his neck remembering the things that had happened, "It seemed easy enough. Except there were some crazy animals out there. All violent, all territorial, some of which were bigger than me. I couldn't just sneak by and move on so I took care of the ones that happened to get in my way." He mentioned that last part proudly. With only a combat knife he was able to take down several four legged beasts larger than him. "I was wounded a few times and had to conduct self aid, later I found out that the self aid portion was part of the test. They knew I was gonna get mauled. Of course they told me they had medics standing by all along, but I'll tell yah this, sir. I felt alone. Real alone."
He shook his head and continued, "Anyway. I made it to the three zones. At all three zones that had different levels of wounded humans. The models were incredibly life like. They felt, breathed, talked,....cried like real humans. At first I thought these were real individuals with mortal wounds all over there bodies but on the third point one of the models glitched and stopped moving. I passed all three sections and were able to save the...participants. After that I was pinned with my Advanced Medic Medal and came to you guys."
Alex stood a little more straight and said matter of factly, "But, sir, in no way do I think I deserve any special treatment or anything of the sort. I am fresh, I'm green, I'm whatever you call new guys. I promise you I will prove myself in battle. I won't let anyone down."
Huxley hoped he didn't sound pompous or made an ass of himself.
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Post by Michael Hobbar on Jul 23, 2014 9:17:05 GMT -5
Hobbar was intrigued by the advanced medical course that Huxley had to go. Going to officer school other then his training at boot camp were some courses inside a building and some field training as an officer. But they never had anything crazy like that. And from what he had heard the planet sounded similar to Shoreridge III….or for all he knew it could be Tau Ceti. After all no one ever knew what happened at Tau Ceti and it was very highly classified as to what went on there. If the Navy trained it’s corpsmen there then this was the first time he ever heard of it. “ Who said you would let anyone down? It sounds like quite the challenge. And if you ever do figure out where you made planetfall let’s hope it is not Tau Ceti it's anyone's guess as to what actually goes on that place. You should really talk to Lieutenant Kacie Clarke, she has a hobby about it and knows many of the theories. Can't say its healthy for her though, however she is still good in the field. She's actually over there” He told him and nudged toward Clarke who was a few feet away from them, talking with two civilians. Tau Ceti was always in the mind of people as some large secret government operation with strange tales of super weapons.
There were many rumors about the planet. Some stated that the government and military were treating people with very high infectious diseases there and using it as a place for the field test of new drugs. Another stated that the planet was used for science and many scientists had exclusive access to a private planet to study on. Another stated that the planet was used by Special Security as a base to field train troops, the only problem with that theory was that Special Security trained on the planet of Mars. One stated that the planet was part of a colony that had vanished and the government decided to never try to colonize the planet again. Another rumor stated the planet was used by the Republican Army for (again) weapons testing. And yet another stated that the planet was home to an advanced civilization that the Republic had some agreement with. Hobbar could never quite figure out which theory to believe, he was not concerned about it too much. “Those beasts you described earlier they sound a lot like the Skilties on Shoreridge III. Did they change color as they moved?” he asked him.
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Post by Creator on Jul 23, 2014 13:33:14 GMT -5
December 21, 3358
New Oslo City Hall
2146 Hours
59 degrees Fahrenheit
Councilman Simon Gulbrandsen of the Democratic Liberal Party had more then enough to talk about tonight. January 3 was the election for members of the Council for the United Colonial Republic. He was only surprisingly 39 years of age and had not received any anti aging treatments. Simon was the kind of politician who was actually honest when it mattered . His party’s main platform was anti human corporation, anti military but a large advocate for the Outer Colonies. The party’s image on Stataca was quite popular and one of three planets in the entire UCR that voted a majority of Democratic Liberals into the Council. His hair was a light brown , his eyes were a cool blue and his light tan that he had gotten last week from sunbathing was still visible. Most politicians were here tonight spewing the party line rhetoric among the guests.
“Ah Councilman Gulbrandsen!” A voice shouted to the right of him, he then saw Colonel General Keenen Lowell walking towards him. Simon smiled at him as he walked towards him. “Colonel General Lowell. How are you this evening? Good I hope.” Simon shook the hand of Lowell who was carrying a small glass of eggnog. “I’m doing fine Councilman, and so is my wife. Councilman Gulbrandsen can I ask you what is going on with these budget cuts? I know that the Council does not deal with military matters except in the area of finances. I read a report four days ago that our budget is to be cut by 30 percent, not ten percent as was previously stated by my superiors. I’ve had to help cut back our pay for both our officers and enlisted personnel. Does the Council know when the economy will recover? The last financial quarter report was doubtful that it will get better during the new fiscal year.” He said. Gulbrandsen opened his palms. “I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I do not know when the economy will fully recover. When the Council meets after the recess in early March there will be a new financial committee that will advise the Colonial Bank. It is not that easy to fix the situation since this started in the medical sector, with Human Corporation trying to capitalize the cure on lung treatment.” He said.
Everyone knew the story. Two years ago shortly before the ARM arrived, Human Corporation had finally developed the cure for lung cancer. The problem was it was incredibly expensive and many people were not able to afford it. The Corporation worked with local hospitals to also create something cheaper but with the same properties as the drug. A supplement was created that should of worked. Many people changed their stock options within Human Corporation. While many people chose stocks it was either a government stock or a stock with the corporation. But one could change what area of Human Corporation he or she invested in at any time. The supplement did not in fact work out, leading to a record number of 24,678 deaths with multiple class action law suits. People pulled out money of the chosen stock and as a result many other investors in different sectors of Human Corporation stock also pulled out fearing there would be a larger scandal. As a result Human Corporation had to bring its reserves of cash to help keep certain areas of itself afloat, but it was too late as certain sectors and employees were dismantled or fired. Two months after the scandal broke, one month after millions of people pulled out of stock the market had bottomed out and as a result the U.C.R. went into a recession.
“We don’t yet know what the next fiscal year will bring but if nothing major happens such as another large terrorist attack by ARM, I believe the Inner Colonies especially Hod will recover. You do know next month is the election….I assume I have your support?” he told the General. The general nodded, “I can’t say I don’t vote for a certain party but I do take part in every election councilman that has taken place. I’ll try to keep you in mind at the ballot box.” He said and smiled as he did. “I’m glad to hear a citizen such as yourself is caught up in the election process . What the republic needs right now are citizens who help the government’s ability to withstand the financial crisis. I-“ but he stopped mid-sentence. Looking past the general he saw multiple enlisted personnel throughout the party. “General would you mind if I talked to your officers and enlisted about the situation economically.” He asked. The general stood up straight. “No Conuncilman. They have enough to worry about and don’t need a politician going up to them. I’m sure Naval personnel nor Special Security would not mind though. But do not at all talk to them.” He told him coldly. There was only so much he would allow. And he would not let the politician no matter how well he acted to let him cloud their thoughts of politics instead of concentrating on the immediate crisis at hand. “Understood General.” The councilman said.
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Post by Christopher Reed on Jul 24, 2014 22:44:11 GMT -5
“Great, great! I think you will enjoy it!” he told him and smiled once more at his good friend. “I hope you don’t have to go to the hospital anymore. I don’t know how you feel about it but I hate being in the hospital.” He told him. Reed was happy to see his friend who had not been seen in a long while. Well correction, Lamond was around but Reed had been in the hospital. He still could not believe how they had survived their last mission. Zero gravity was one if not probably the most challenging combat environments he had been involved in. He had not yet gotten over how they had some how actually completed the mission even if the Anonymous Resistance Movement leader ex Republican Army General Jason Sneer had escaped the system. From what Reed had heard the bastard had escaped two days prior to the Navy entering the system.
“It’s too bad that bastard Sneer got away though. Wish I could strangle him with my hands. Speaking of hands, Lamond me and Zhour are gonna be playing cards tomorrow night with a few others from Kilo you want in?” Reed had gotten to be quite the card player, the only game he was not really good at was Poker but he was good at just about everything else. Zhour, now there was a person who was good at poker.
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