Jump to content

The Universe, 3029


MRB Data Feed

Recommended Posts

Doctor Rosa Perez stared at Bishop waiting for him to talk. I didn't know where Dr. Shuriken was but Doctor Rosa Perez seemed like she had it under control. Meanwhile I looked at Captain Maxwell. "How bad is it Sir?" I said. 

"it's pretty bad"  Said Captain Maxwell. "Bishop has been juicing and now he has a Addiction." I stared for long minutes at Captain Maxwell as I thought about what that meant. I had been a junkie for a While after I didn't have my job with the Gray Death Squad anymore but since then I had rehabbed and I was Clean. I had got my life back together and I was a Solaris Jock and a celebrity attorney, I knew that Bishop could do it too if he has the inner Strength.

"Let me talk to him." I said. "Maybe I can make him believe that Its worth it to have a life." "Okay." Said captain Maxwell. 'You have 5 minutes. After that we have to get out of here so that the Professionals can do their thing."

I nodded sternly to Captain Maxwell, then I went over to Bishop and looked at him.

"Hey friend, I heard you were feeling bad."I said. Bishop looked at me with bloodshot eyes like someone who had been on a 3 day bender drinking brown listerine and smoking. But he made no speech. "I know we have been on this Mission a LONG time and we want to go home, it's hard out in space on such a timeless flight as this. But I think it's gonna be a Long Long time till touchdown brings us around again to find our people back in the places that we know and love. So we have to be Strong." Bishop looked at me.

"Urgh, mmmfh, pain......" Said bishop. I nodded my head Knowingly. "I know Bishop, but we can get through this Together. I one time had an Addiction. It made it hard to do anything but juice. I used to juice all the time. Every Moment I lived I had to Juice to be able to do Things. But I finally got off the juice."

"Arrgh, nuuuhhhghfff." Said Bishop. He was so sundered, he could barely talk. 

"You don't have to say anything right now, just think of these words from a Ancient spiritual that I used to know. If you wanna be somebodyI, f you wanna go somewhereY ou better wake up and pay attention

Hey...

So you think you've got the answers
To all that lies ahead
Well, in my mind I thought the same one time
And I hear you spouting much talk
'Bout how you ain't being lead
Ain't no one telling you what to do
But attitude will catch up with you
And keep you from your destiny

If you wanna be somebody
If you wanna go somewhere
You better wake up and pay attention
When the time is now or never
To make your dreams come true
You gotta wake up and pay attention

I ain't buyin' no more lyin'
'Cause truth don't cost a thing
Denyin' what's inside's too much to pay
It's 'bout sweatin' without stressin'
There ain't no other way
You know you can't get much without much givin'
Oh, expect from yourself and you'll respect yourself
You control your destiny

Time to wake up, everybody
Time to wake up, children
Wake up, everybody
Ooh...

If you wanna be somebody
Go somewhere
Wake up and pay attention
When the time is now or never
To make your dreams come true
You gotta wake up and pay attention"

Then I nodded and got up. "Here is my Business Card. You can call me if you need a Talk."

I put my Business Card in a slot in Bishop's Armor. Then I walked over to the doctor. 

"I think he is going to be fine soon." I said.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I cleared out of Med Bay, my still-in-place headset crackled to life with the voice of Major Hayes. 

"Control to Eden," Hayes called out. 

"Control, this is Eden," I replied. "Forgive me, but why are we still observing TACCOM protocols? The operation is concluded, with Alpha team safely back at our FBO."

"Because you're not going to be out there alone for long. Short range sensors have picked up an incoming Capellan DropShip. They've apparently been hanging out in the planet's magnetosphere and have begun their descent. We estimate that they are going to be making planetfall at or near the wreck site. Any remnants of your team still on site need to get out of the wreck and off the planet immediately."

"Understood," I replied. "I'll saddle up and take a lance in to pick up Dutch and Kai's team personally."

"Not you, Eden. You’ll be meeting an Eagle fighter with a rumble seat ready for you outside the Tana. You're going to bring the package up to the Mendacius without further delay," Hayes answered.

"But those are my people - " I protested. 

"That's an order, Eden. We're pulling you and the package out. No more delays. Meet the fighter outside in five minutes," the Major insisted. 

"Copy, Control," I sighed. "I'll see it done."

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

After quietly observing the retrieval of this “Bishop,” and the nature of his condition, Kaimani finally decided to volunteer to help this man. He had likely saved Kai’s life after all. This decision was risky, he pondered. It might compromise his assumed identity as Takashi, Hideo. Why would a contract planetary surveyor have such intimate familiarity with Nighthawk battlearmor, anyway. Nevertheless, Kai’s honor demanded action before it was too late.

After, the crew and these mercenary soldiers left the medbay to plan their next move, Kai cautiously approached this most quirky medical Android as it treated the afflicted soldier.

“Please excuse my interruption, Medibot san,” Kai said quietly.” “This man seems to be suffering from acute CAWS or Combat Armor Withdrawl Syndrome.  Those suits remind me of a case I observed on an explorer mission. A crewman in an Heavy EVA powersuit was struck at high velocity by a micrometorite. 

The impact sent the suit careening into high orbit for hours and was finally retrieved just before terminal reentry. The suit had successfully managed to activate its emergency seals. However, the impact had embedded the shredded metal into the crewmans cardiothoracic cavity dangerously close to the heart.

The decision was made to leave him inside the suit until the explorer ship could return to Luthien for advanced surgery to safely extract the pilot. 

This man was placed into a phenobarbital induced coma for nearly 2 months, not just for the trip to Luthien, but after the extraction. It seems the suit kept its driver alive by deploying several emergency stimulant and life supporting drugs, which this man became physiologically dependent on during his incident and subsequent weeks until recovery.

I am by no means a medical expert, but I believe this approach is the best chance to save Bishop san. You will need to comatose him for at least 2-3 weeks while his body slowly transitions back to proper endocrine homeostasis. Also he is likely to require several weeks of psychiatric care after his revival. If the captain is willing, I have contacts on Dieron that could help him if the resources to care for him are not available here”

Kai exhaled slowly and carefully, using a semi meditative state to get his racing heart under control. Had he gone too far? Would they realize that he was more than he had revealed? He didn’t know, but at least he had done right by this ailing man. 

As Kai waited for the robot’s response, he wondered if his handler would have lauded his decision, or put him on “gaijin-patrol” for several weeks. Even if these mercenaries decided to “space” him, he would go to his grave knowing he had not sacrificed honor for  safety!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Comatose," MediBot mused. "Symptom: unconsciousness. May also be induced as a component of treatment. Possible causes: Sedative medication. Overdose or allergic response to medication. Insufficient blood oxygen level. Neurological conditions. Concussion. Possible causes of concussion: blunt force trauma. 

MediBot focused it's eyes on it's own hand. MediBot swung it's hand at the patient's head with the maximum amount of force it could exert. 

MediBot toppled over, and aimed it's camera probe upwards just in time to see Doctor Shuriken bringing his foot down after a roundhouse kick. 

"Thank you for that alternative medicine" , Doctor Rosa Perez said. The doctor used a pen to press an inset button on the side of MediBot's head. "Have you brought the sedative?" 

Doctor Shuriken nodded, and held up a jar of dried leaves. MediBot's vision went dark. 

Edited by MediBot
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Several hours later...

C.S.V. Mendacius
En route to system jump point
Nirasaki system
February 7, 3029

___________________________

I held fast to a railing in the corridor of the Mendacius as the vessel executed a full burn away from Nirasaki, its powerful interplanetary drives carrying us away from the blistered desert world at a breakneck pace. About an hour earlier, I'd been ferried aboard by the Eagle fighter, and moments later, Major Hayes and Captain Donovan made the decision to pull the entire remaining contingent of our battlegroup off-world and evacuate to the star system's jump point. The hasty change in plans had been precipitated by a risk assessment that showed we were highly likely to suffer significant attrition to the small detachment of BattleMechs and various armored units that remained planetside with the Tana. Fortunately, Hayes was apparently the kind of commander who knew when to cut his losses, no doubt realizing that the rewards we'd already secured - as well as the losses we'd incurred - were enough for the time being.

I glanced down at the now-empty data unit clutched tightly in my gloved hand, staring into the square-shaped hollow where its glowing memory core had been. As soon as I'd come aboard, Donovan and a trio of technicians were waiting for me at the airlock. They'd quickly taken the module from the device, secreting it away someplace within the depths of the small vessel. I was intensely curious about what secrets the drive held. I had no idea if I'd ever be privy to that information - as was standard with most contracts, we were simply the hired guns on this excursion; the spoils of the mission were solely the property of the Crayven Corporation. Still, after the losses we'd incurred and the sheer amount of violence, terror, and strife that this particular contract had wrought, being able to see firsthand what it was that we'd recovered would have brought a certain sense of closure.

The Mendacius gave a subtle lurch, and I looked up at the surveillance vessel's airlock, noting the arrival of Aegis Division's DropShip Tana. Due to our hasty retreat from Nirasaki, the repairs to the Republic's major harbor control systems hadn't been fully completed yet, preventing a proper rendezvous between the two DropShips. Consequently, the decision had been made to transfer the excess personnel aboard the diminutive Tana to the Mendacius, which, although technically an espionage vessel, was over three times the Leopard-class vessel's tonnage. The advanced medical facility aboard the surveillance vessel was also better-equipped to provide intensive care to Bishop Weyland - something that he desperately needed - until we were able to transfer back to the Republic.

With a hiss and a loud thunk, the twin airlock doors between the vessels rolled aside, and in a scene eerily reminiscent of that which played out earlier in the afternoon, Doctor Shuriken and Medibot, accompanied by a team of medics flanking a stretcher, slowly made their way through the vestibule.

"Welcome aboard," a commanding voice announced. I turned to see Captain Donovan standing at a parade rest in the Mendacius' corridor, the gold trim of his tunic glinting subtly in the low ambient lighting. Accompanying him was a bespectacled man in a white medical uniform. "If you'll kindly follow Doctor Eris, he'll show you to the infirmary."

As the contingent made their way down the passageway, Steve Jenkins, Nathan Schmidt, Alexander Blackwood, and the newcomer who called himself Kai stepped aboard.

"Gentlemen," I nodded. "Good to see you."

"Excuse me," Captain Donovan interjected, stepping past me and toggling on a nearby monitor.

"What's going on?" I inquired, stepping alongside the man.

"Just trying to make sure that the Capellans receive our message," Donovan mused, bringing up a video feed of Nirasaki, the planet drawing slowly away in the frame.

"Our message?" I replied with confusion.

Donovan nodded silently. Seconds later, the unmistakable flash of a nuclear detonation blossomed in the heart of the Great Banded Desert.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I had opened my mouth to say words to Captain Maxwell and Captain Donovan when I had came aboard the spaceship, but my words got tangled up and disintegrated in my mouth when I looked over and saw a gigantic Flash from the TV screen that Captain Donovan was watching. I ran over and pushed my face in front of the display to see what it was that had happened. My mouth fell open even more as I realized what had been done. On the screen, a gigantic nuclear mushroom cloud was coming off the side of the planet, and as the cloud got bigger and bigger it was slowly forming the shape of a skull, which meant that atomics had been used. Atomics! I could not believe that this horrible deed had been done. Atomics had been made illegal since at least 3000, but now they had been deployed on Nirasaki and the whole world and all the innocents were going to have sundered futures due to the fallout.

"NOOOOOOO!" I Screamed. I fell up into the TV set and slid down the wall pulling the screen with me as I cried tears of remembering for the ages I lived in the post atomic horrors of the Last Great War on Kuuzu...... 

<FLASHBACK>

I trudged up the stairs of the smashed apartment building I slept on a stained nasty mattress with a fridge and a dim light bulb in and kicked the door open due to my arms being full of loot I had found on the way home. I stumbled through the doorway and dumped everything I had found on the floor before going in to the bathroom and taking a dump in the toilet that had not been flushing for years, then poured a bucket of nasty water down it to make it flush along with dead tree leaves to manage the smell. I heard the gentle sound of turds and water hitting the pavement in the street below, and someone yelling. They must have been glad to get the water, even if it was dirty. We lived in a Harsh time.

After I wiped my hands off I went back into the bedroom/living room/kitchen area and built a fire inside the stove and put a can of pork n beans and a pot of cram on the stove to cook. While they cooked I read an article in a grimy copy of Guns N Bullets about Full Auto Shoot Lasers and how they had been used in the war, it was amazing to me that a 200 year old magazine had held up at all in the elements. I had heard somewhere that they had used isotops from radiation in the page materials, that must have been how it was possible. Once the top on the can of beans popped I knew it was done and I pulled the beans off the stove and took a shovel and scooped out the flaming wood and debris from the stove and threw them out the window down into the street below. There was more yelling, and I felt glad that I could help people. I dumped the beans into the pot of cram and mixed it up to make a meal that kind of looked like pork and beans.Then I sat down with my spork and the magazine and the pot and took a bite. The beans and cram tasted like smoke and chemicals, and it made me think about my old unit.....

Oh Steve Jenkins, where are you guys??

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As Steve dissolved into tears and fell dramatically onto the deck, tearing the monitor off the wall and pulling it down with him, I processed what I'd just seen.

"Holy shit, Donovan, did you guys just nuke the Takashima?" I gasped, part at the use of such a massively illegal weapon, part at the destruction of the treasure trove that had still been the wreck, and part in shock and concern about the impact on the planet and whether or not it could be traced back to us. 

"You have a problem with me keeping lethal technology out of the hands of Capellans?" Donovan snapped at me. "Let me tell you something, if it weren't for Major Hayes, you'd be lodging your complaints from the inside of a cell right now. Don't you presume to lecture me on ethics!"

"Yeah, well, at least I didn't commit any actual atrocities." I grumbled. 

"Captain Maxwell - I suggest you get your employee under control before he ends up spending the rest of this trip in the brig." Donovan snarled. 

"He's not my - " Maxwell began, before pausing. "OK. Mister Schmidt, that'll be enough." he continued.

"Aye sir." I responded, going along with the ruse. Maxwell was evidently trying to protect me. 

"Good." Captain Donovan observed. "This one, too." he continued, pointing at Steve Jenkins, who had pressed his lips up against the air vents in the computer monitor and was projectile vomiting inside them. Maxwell shook his head in frustration. 

"Come on, Steve, let's go." he said in exasperation. Jenkins eventually got up, dumping the monitor back on the floor. 

"What's the plan from here, sir?" I asked, looking back to Maxwell. "Do we get to take a crack at the data we recovered?"

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I cast a glance at Donovan. 

"You guys need a couple of extra hands with that data core?" I asked. "I got to see the end product of what it contains in action down on the planet. Nathan here is pretty good with a keyboard."

Marcus shook his head. "Not at this time. We have orders to limit access to the hardware once it has been safely secured. To that end, it will be held in the technology vault for further analysis during our return trip."

"Got it," I nodded. "If your needs should change, let me know. Between this guy," I added, gesturing at Nathan, "Marius Rand, and Alyssa Chase, we've got quite a few technomancers at our disposal."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Captain Donovan responded, casting a side-eyed glare at the vomit-covered computer monitor that now floated freely in the weightless environment of the Mendacius as the ship adjusted its flight attitude. "For now, why don't you gents head down to the steerage deck and get settled in? We'll make sure that any other crew that may be coming over from the Tana find their way to you." 

Donovan's words were not a suggestion, but rather, an implicit order.

"Getting settled in sounds like a fine idea," I agreed, deciding, for the moment, to placate the Captain. "Point us in the right direction, and we'll be on our way."

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The comms officer barked a grotesque guffaw nearly toppling his coffee.

“Make sure you give her my love too, draco-boy!” 

“Hideo Takashi” frowned. Kai hadn’t liked the code that his handler had come up with for their comm cipher. He vaguely suspected that it was a joke, of which Kai was the punchline. The “mushy” gai-Jin hugs and kisses commo message he’d sent had meant

 -Mission Successful- 
-Unforeseen Complication-
-Please Advise-

All he could do now was hold his temper, bide his time, and see to Weyland’s recovery. Hopefully he had demonstrated his usefulness to his new colleagues.

At the very least, he was sure that they were not in the employ of the Draconis Combine, nor did they have much affection for Capellan interests. 

On the whole, he rather liked their unorthodox approach to missions. Though it was more unpredictable and open-ended than he generally preferred, they definitely got the job done!

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Elsewhere...

Oberon Confederation, 3015

"Forgive me for being paranoid," the tall, powerfully built goon who guarded the entrance to the royal treasurer's office began, motioning for me to turn my back toward me so that he could check for any unseen weapons, "but if you know anything about us, you'll know that we've had a rather tough time."

"I understand," I replied. 

"What've you got under the coat?" the guard asked. Slowly, I reached one hand down to pull my longcoat aside. A compact laser pistol sat strapped to my hip.

"Nothing else?"

"No," I replied.

The towering fellow raised an eyebrow at me. "You planning on trying anything funny with the treasurer if I let you in?"

"No, I swear to you I'm not. I'm just here, at the instruction of His Excellency, to collect my payment," I replied. "People do get paid on your world, right?"

The guard looked unconvinced, but eventually relented. With a heavy sigh, he lowered his weapon, and grunted at me, making an 'I've got my eyes on you' gesture as he keyed open the door to the treasurer's office. Quickly, I stepped over the threshold and into the ornate space. Standing before me was a small but orderly desk, flanked on either side by bookcases containing tattered volumes from innumerable different eras. At the desk itself sat the treasurer.

"Hello ," the man, an older fellow, with dozens of battle scars, announced with little inflection n his voice. "What do you need?"

"My name's William Kauffman. I've completed the work on your battleship, and now, if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to be paid," I explained.

"Certainly," the treasurer said. "There's just one small detail we need to work out."

"And that is...?" I asked, beginning to feel a general uneasiness working its way into my psyche.The behavior of the treasurer was highly irregular from that I'd become accustomed to from the agents of the bandit kingdom.

"We need to ensure that you'll adhere to our non-disclosure agreement," the treasurer replied. Without warning, several armed officers strode into the treasurer's office.

"This escalated quickly," I observed. As one of the soldiers looked toward me, I squinted at the details of a small tattoo, barely visible above his shirt line that he wore. What it revealed was chilling.

Wait a second, I thought to myself, these guys are...

###

Somewhere in the Inner Sphere, 3029

A sudden, burning pain flowing through my veins tore me from my flashback, casting me into the waking world once more.

REBOOTING - REBOOTING - REBOOTING - REBOOTING - REBOOTING

CyberStar Downlink v. 1.25 [INITIALIZED]
CommMod v. 1.07 [INITIALIZED]
Optics Enhancer v. 3.54 [INITIALIZED]
Aural Booster v. 6.0 [INITIALIZED]
Logic Co-Processor v. 3.14159265 [INITIALIZED]
Interface v. 0.04b. . .INITIALIZATION FAILED

All functioning systems nominal. Auxiliary power at 35%. Adrenal infusion detected. Bio-recharge in progress.

Consciousness exploded into existence around me, coalescing as a grainy, black-and-white image which quickly burst into a vibrant, technicolor reality, air rushing into my beleaguered lungs and a sudden, overwhelming dread of imminent peril overtaking my consciousness.

"...Maskirovka!"

 I attempted to sit upright as the flashback rushed away, only to feel chains restraining my arms, legs, and torso. I looked around, but saw only dimly-lit medical equipment. As awareness returned to my body and mind, fragments of where I'd previously been - a vastly deep forest, replete with wildlife - raced into my head. That place certainly didn't appear to be where I was now.

"Mister Kauffman, how nice of you to join us," came a voice, piped through overhead speakers. "Shall we begin?"

"Who are you? What is this place...?"

Before I could reply, my body was violently savaged by thousands of volts of electricity, causing me to writhe in pain as my muscles spasmed and my breath caught in my chest...

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...