Irina sighs, and lowers her head back onto Koos's chest. "And that's what we should probably talk about," she declares flatly. "You know with most people I don't mention Scarborough, because I'm worried they'll judge me based on the mistakes of my youth. You thought no you want to put me on a pedestal, and get me a god damn medal for it. Which is worse actually." The diminutive russia rolls away from Koos, and snatches her lighter off the nearby night stand. She begins flicking the lighter on, and then off. "Well I hate to break it to you, but I'm not the hero you seem to think I am. I wasn't one of your revolutionaries. I certainly didn't fight the 'good fight' Koos. I was just a fire bug who wanted to watch a building burn down. So I set an abandoned building on fire. The fire jumped, and six homes were destroyed. There was nothing special about them. No angel ambassador forced to watch his home burn down. Just six innocent families I left homeless. That was my crime, my mistake. For that I could just as easily been thrown into the local slammer. Only my gang had been running guns for a precursor of the EDT. Worse yet my father was an enforce for the Russian mob. Back then the mob was very tight with the Anti-Angel movement. So they sent me to Scarborough. I'm still not entirely sure why. Maybe they where trying to get either my father, or I to snitch. Maybe they wanted to make an example of me. Hell maybe they just wanted to scare me straight. Not that it matter much though. I didn't know anything, and my father wasn't going to talk on my account. Did wind up joining the ESN though. So maybe they got what they wanted." Irina snaps the lighter shut, and turns back to Koos. "So yes Scarborough is my dirty little secret. Which is exactly what it aught to be Koos."

Koos sighed. "Damn, that's a pity. I lust after you Irina, I like you, and I am starting to love you. It was nice to think that you were a hero." He fell silent for a momet, then sat up, moving behind her. "But you know what, I don't care. I had no clue in that cafeteria that you had or hadn't been to The Scar, only that you were a pretty girl"

"But you know what, half the human race has tits and ass, what makes you special is that you were still willing to talk to me despite knowing my past. Not just tolerance, but courage, the courage to talk to the outcast tribute kid despite what people might think, a far rarer kind than the purely physical although you have that too. So no, it doesn't bother me that you went to prison. It does bother me that you lost control though. Do you have control now?</Green>

"If you're asking if I'm going to set fire to a cargo bay the answer is no. Beyond that, well... Lets just say there's a reason I became a combat engineer dear," Irina says as she leans back into Koos.

"It seems like an eternity ago when we first meet," She muses. For a moment she remains silent. Before turning to face Koos "You know I think it's funny to hear how impressed you were that I decided to talk to you. I'll admit hearing about you make spears out of rebar to go stab marines was a little... odd. That seemed like just a footnote to me thought. I was impressed. I mean here you are talking about fighting, and ultimately losing a war when you were still a kid. Yet there you where no worse for the wear. You weren't brooding over the injustice of it. You didn't strike me as bitter about having lost. It certainly didn't seem to bother you that you where on an ESN ship. I remember thinking 'Wow how does he do it.' From time to time I wonder if you're just bottling it all up, but then you'll go do something that shows me you've just moved on. That to me speaks volumes about your character." Irina wraps her arms around Koos. "About the kind of man you really are. There are times I can't believe how lucky I am to have someone like that interested in me." She gives him a quick peck on the lips. When she pulls back there is playful glimmer in her eye as she says, "Even if you are only now just, how did you put it, 'starting to love me.'"

The glimmer fades as Irina's face once more becomes serious. She stares purposefully into his eyes. "I know we don't talk much about it, but you know I'm always here if you want to talk about your war. Don't you?" She asks.

Koos gave Irina his big grin when she said that she had control. "I'm glad to hear that skat. Coming to visit you in a fireproof suit just wouldn't be the same." He knew enough not to touch the 'just coming to love me' comment, there was no good answer to that one.

"My war. Hmm. Adventure is somebody else being cold and hungry and scared far away. That's what it was. Hunger and thirst and cold and fear. I was very young. My first clear memory is just after the Strike. I was three or four years old, they had to guess my age as all the records were vaporised with the city you understand. Dust so thick you choked on it, that grey concrete dust, swirling around in the fires and coating everything. I remember feeling incredibly guilty, my mother always told me that the Skinke came for bad boys who didn't eat their vegetables, and I had sneaked some of them to the dog that afternoon. Silly I know, but that was the way of it then."

"There was a Troll, digging in the rubble. My best guess now is that he was one of the Marines that Admiral Hennesy court-martialed for conducting rescue efforts without authorisation, and that he was probably trying to rescue someone, but at the time I figured he was looking for me to kill me because I got away. I backed away, and there was Piet. He just looked at me, then asked me if I wanted to learn how to kill Trolls. Our main enemy though, was starvation. I have heard all sorts of theories on why the Rubble Rats lasted as long as we did, from Marines being unwilling to slaughter children to our small size making it difficult to tell us apart on Thermal from the packs of Ferals, but they all come from people who weren't there. It was simple, we could get by on less food than anybody else. There were adults coming in all the time, trying to help. But what fed one adult fed eight or ten of us, that simple. That was the Siege of Johannesburg, that was my war."

Garrat enters his room and loads the Design program and stats on to his computer.  The thirty second task takes him about twenty minutes as he works through the language barrier with his translation chip. A shower, some hair care, and a redress latter, He gives a viking salute to the breast plate from his gear that he has mounted over his bed and turns in for the night.

In reply to Garrat Wolfrim (msg # 180):

  Garrat awakens fully rested.(though his feet were Cold)  he dressed,  grabs a bite in the galley, and heads to the quarter master "=====>quarter master
This message was last edited by the player at 05:46, Wed 26 Feb 2014.

At first Irina remains quite after Koos had spoken. Settling to simply hold Koos close. Then, slowly, deliberately, she said, "That's a hell of a story Koos. It's heart breaking really, and I wish I could say something more comforting them I'm sorry you had to go through that." She plants a tender kiss on Koos's check before lapsing back into silence. In the minute that follows Irina struggles to choose her next words. Finally she say, "You know when I was younger my babushka would occasionally tell me about surviving the siege of Stalingrad during second world war. Thought it would take some of the piss out of me if I hand an inkling of what real hardship was. Those stories sounded more like nightmares to me. They certainly weren't the kind of stories that an orphaned boy should have to live through. It makes everything I went through at Scarborough sound like a picnic in comparison."

----> From Hanger Dec

Stepping off the elevator he was greeted with the all to familiar sight of the non com quarters and the guard that stood watch in the area. As Xyran passed the soldier he gave him a salute as he made his way down the hall back to his quarters which unfortunately was adjacent to Irina's so if she was in the mood to raise hell tonight then he wasn't gonna be sleeping much if at all.

First thing he did upon opening the door and locking it behind him was carefully remove his dress uniform and stow it away back into its proper place, he then slipped into some cargo pants and sat down on the side of the bed with his shirt off as he ran his fingers across all the scars, "Its surprising that i'm still alive after all this time... but its gonna take a lot more then a few lucky shots to keep this ranger down that's for damn sure" he said quietly to himself.

Xyran then reached into a box under his desk and pulled out a small photo it was a picture of his adopted daughter Kira and Xyran when he was back in his old service days with Talon... Xyran closed his eyes a small tear escaping from them, 'If there is anything i regret more then anything in this life its not being there for you... i miss you so much... please be safe wherever you are...' Xyran then stashed the photo away back in the box and turned off the light and slowly drifted off to sleep.

In reply to Irina Tatyana (msg # 182):

"Don't pity me Ree, that is not the point. Whatever else, it made me what I am today. Gave me the mental fortitude to endure damn near anything and a perspective on difficulty that serves me well. Whatever happens, I have seen worse. You remark on how considerate I am, well I have been where kindness was literally the only thing we had to give to each other. But I am losing the plot here, the point is that it is not something I regret, rather it is a source of enormous pride to me. We made the high and mighty Skink Empire back down, actually negotiate rather than simply vaporise everyone who got in their way. We still have to pay the Tribute, but that is one hell of a lot better than them taking whatever they like whenever they want. We, a couple of thousand starveling children, stood against the might and power of the Angels, and told them 'this shall not pass'."

His voice had risen to a near shout by the end of his speech, and pride, loss and determination rumbled in his voice.

The sound of his com buzzing from a incoming call on the desk woke him up, slowly opening his eyes he rolled over and grabbed the com unit and put it on, "If this isn't an incredibly beautiful woman i'm hanging up..." He said jokingly into the com not bothering to check who it was that he was answering.

Irina leans back as Koos voice climbs higher. "God you're sexy when you talk like that," Irina declares in a steamy voice. Leaning forward she gives him a passionate kiss. She pulls back with a smirk. "That really was a rousing speech моя сладкая, but you do understand that there is a difference between pity, and sympathy. Just, because I sympathizes with the hardships you had to endure doesn't mean I pitied you. I'm sorry if that's the impression I gave, but I'm still kind of taken aback by the brutality of it all. I never really realized how bad Johannesburg got."

Xyran plopped up out of bed got dressed and made his way down to the observation dec to meet Garrat.

-----> To observation dec

Koos grinned. "Really? I shall have to do it more often then." He returned the kiss with interest, hands sliding Irina's legs round his waist. ...

Jesse had departed as quickly and silently with as little fussing over as she'd hope to deflect.  She'd headed back to her quarters and was resting on the cot looking and examining the EDT insignia and wondered why it was there and what was the purpose of it.

She wondered if Roy would have a clue especially with it being haplessly on the floor of the hut that had attempted to be blown to smithereens.

After her business checking up on her father in the med bay she made her way to her new quarters where her stuff had been delivered, she opened the door and walked in locking the door behind her, 'So this is where ill be resting my head from now on eh?' she thought to herself as she made her way over to the computer in the corner and started typing up a few lists of things to get done and what she may need for the coming future.

After the sendoff, Richard returned to his room. On the walk over, he had become distracted by his own opinions of death and was trying to figure out just what he thought, but, upon reaching his destination, he was able to bring his mind back to the things at hand. Sitting down, he typed out a quick message to send Henry before falling backwards, arms stretched out, onto his bed. He needed to get ready, though, so he stood back up after a moment to change into some simple clothes that still had his rank and position on the Hermes.

Garrat gets in and puts the bag he had under the bed and sends a message out to the four remaining Marines from his recent command. "Hey guys, could you meet me on the flight deck half an hour before drop?  Thanx in advance. "
    He grabs half an hour of sleep just to reset then puts his carefully folded Semiformals back on.  He swings by Ajax's rooms.  And knocks on the door.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:47, Fri 09 May 2014.

He glanced back at the messages between him and Dr Christie. He should go talk to Henry before they go down. "Well, better get to it, if I wanna catch him before we leave." With a sigh, he left his room and started walking toward the Doctor's office.

--->To Christie's Office

In reply to Garrat Wolfrim (msg # 192):

Ajax probably requires a little more time to settle in.  If so Garret will meet him on the flight deck.  If not he will tag along on whatever comes next.

Med Lab ---> Non-Com Quarters

Irina marches down the long corridors to her cabin wordlessly passing by other personnel in the hallway. After a few short minutes she arrives at her cabin, and storms inside. Once inside she collapses back against the door. She rests against the cool metal of the door for a minute before letting out an animalistic roar. Stalking into the room proper she looks over at her desk. On it sits a block of clay that is in the process of being shaped into a bust of a male figure. Rushing over to the table Irina picks up the the clay, and hurls it at the far wall. With a sweep of the arm she scatters the wooden tools she had been using. Her shoulders heave, and she struggles to hold back the tears. "ебать!" She declares as she pounds the desk with her right fist. Sparks fly as the metal collides, and the first tear falls from her face. Like a damn breaking more tears begin streaming down her face. Irina sinks to the floor muttering, "придурок." For what feels like an eternity she lays on the deck, and cries. "Как ты мог так поступить со мной?" she says as she slips off to sleep.

----> From Brig

It took a bit but Both him and Kulio arrived outside her new quarters which was conveniently right across from his, "Well here is your new quarters let me show you in"

He then took the card and unlocked the door then handed it off to her as Zob entered the room with her, "Its not much but it grows on you after a while... my quarters are across the hall here feel free to bother me anytime you feel bored, i know its not gonna be easy here but you just need to give them time to accept you and prove yourself..."

  She  took the Card  and Looked around the room,..and..there are no guards? We are free to move about the ship? That would never happen with a Human, or Angel on one of our ships...You know that!

 she looks   up and down the hall,...maybe it is a trap..to try to have a reason to shoot us?

Zob shook his head, "There are guards around perhaps you missed the one stationed at the far end of the hall?... whatever in any case you are permitted to walk freely on the ship as long as you stay in the Hermes uniform, but understand there is civilians on this vessel and the guards take there safety very seriously so my advice avoid that section of the ship your presence could cause a panic... we just got that demonic charm about us"

Zob chuckled at his joke for a second before continuing, "Everyone on this ship is packing a weapon and knows how to use it, and your safe on this ship as long as you don't actively go and cause trouble as per the the Admirals orders... besides if your really that uncomfortable i can keep you company for a short while its not like i have anything better to do" he said shrugging his shoulders as he took a seat in the chair.

  Kulio  Nodded   and  sat at the other  chair, Ooened the  small fridge  and saw  6 bottled  waters in there....how do we get food...do they call us  to eat?...I see there is a small Cooking station in this  room?..we are allowed to cook here?  she was getting more surprised, by the moment, as she realized the restrictions were loose...

Zob nodded, "Yes you can cook here if that is your desire... as for getting food you will need to head down to the Rec Deck, we are not called to eat we simply go down there to eat whenever we are hungry but it will cost you credits"