"Alright." Skyrah said as she would stand, and place her meager belongings in the other locker.

Having settled the issue with Severian, Cerise turns to Matt; "Mr. Patterson, what can I do for you?"

Matt crisply salutes when Cerise turns and finally addresses him, Commander Rockatansky has transferred me to your command L.T.," he had over the transfer papers, "I'm to be placed in room 234 with the rest of the enlisted under your command."

Cerise returns the salute. "At ease. Great; welcome aboard, so to speak. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Matt stands at ease when ordered to do so, "Nothing right now, ma'am, I just need to get myself squared away in my bunk for now."

"Quarters are tight when we're out on assignment, so don't forget to take advantage of the space afforded by the Gambit while you can. Dismissed."

"Yes ma'am, thank-you, ma'am," Matt crisply salutes once more as he betts his bag and turns in his heel with boot camp precision, heading onward to below new quarters.

Cerise heads back to her room to make the changes necessary to accommodate someone who doesn't necessarily want sunlight-bright light during their sleeping hours. Fortunately, even if laying in her bunk gets tiresome, there are always plenty of places on the ship that are very well lit; she can always go to one of those to relax if the room is dark when she needs it.

Thirteen took the jest. He probably deserved it.

"I don't have too much experience in space. Zero-G and all that. Suggestions are appreciated."

Iphigenia made it to her quarters, she opened the door and saw someone new.

She walks up to her bunk, grabs her tablet, turns around and says "Hello I am the crew's medic, that bunk over there is the only empty one. Sorry, I would love to stay and chat, but I need to go to the infirmary and check on Lt. Murphy."

Iphigenia walks out of the room with her tablet and heads to the infirmary.
When she gets there she asks to see Lt. Murphy.

  Sillia felt sad at how the young kid seemed to be missing on the playfulness of life. She decided to focused more to the task of getting him outfitted.

  "Well as a close hand fighter, I suggest several hand to hand weapons, such a a vibro blade." you are still gonna need a energy pistol and rifle. I like the wolverine, its a reliable weapon. Your gonna need your flight suit, and CVR-3 body armor. Grenades and other possible explosives. I personally use the Hunter Killer power armor." She smiles as she lifts her right foot. "My feet do not fit the cyclone footwear. But you might like to fight with the cads? or maybe a hunter killer suit would be more you. Can you operate any other mecha?

 she turns to the master of arms. "do we have these things for the kid?"

Matt makes his way down to his quarters in room 234, knocking on the door before proceeding inside. He then enters the room slowly, not wanting to make any waves on his entrance.

"Specialist Matt Patterson," he introduces himself to those present, "I guess I'm your new bunk mate."

As Matt enters and announces himself, a curtain opens up and a cyan-skinned girl with purple hair pops her head out. She points to the only empty bunk. "You would find it eventually but that is you, Specialist. You can call my Rizzo, but I am Tech Specialist Kariza Yasan. Nice to meet you!" She extends a hand to him.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:25, Fri 23 Sept 2016.

Thirty six hours from last post:

 The day starts with everyone waking up and getting ready for the day ahead of them. The commanding officers dress in uniforms getting ready for a meeting with commander Rockatansky. Meanwhile Thirteen and Lt. Grey dress in their flight suits for a training exercise.
   Meanwhile the others (Skyrah, Iphigenia, Matt, Severian, sillia,and Kariza) rise and dress in their civilian clothing and get ready for their twenty four hour liberty pass to the Marcus Antonius. They take their time to dress up a bit and grab their overnight bags before heading to the Hanger. As ordered they report to the hanger at 0900 to a wait transport to the Marcus Antonius for the twenty four hours. They reported to Deck Chief Draven, who led them to the transport alpha beta linked and prepping to take off.  Once aboard the beta, they are told to strap in and standby.



   As Cerise, Miriana and Kaarle enter observation room zero one they see commander Rockatansky standing in front of a two way mirror looking down into a brightly lit room with twelve tubes lining three walls opposite of a door. There are twelve blank monitors on the wall, to the right of the mirror. Both Thirteen and Michelle are standing just passed the threshold frozen in place with primal fear, as they take in the room which had them trapped, in their memories of another place. The high ceiling hid the occupants behind the high mirrors.
  Without words, Commander Rockatansky signals the others to approach the mirror so they can watch the two below. Miriana feels a cold paralyzing sensation run down her spine, “Listen” he says in his usual cold tone as he reaches down pressing a button.
  A female voice booms over the rooms PA as a small table rises from the floor. “Thirteen, Michelle Remove your cerebral implants now!” Thirteen’s hand reaches behind his head sub-consciously as if he is noticing the implant for the first time. Indeed with his memory missing, it could be his first time. Michelle on the other hand was shacking uncontrollably as she pleaded with the voice; “Please, I don’t want to remove it.”




   A short thirty minutes later the others are on the flight deck of the Marcus Antonius and given the quick rundown of the ship rules. They are walked to the small township of the colonist. It’s about the size of a medium shopping mall that is three stories high with open floor space to allow those to look up or down to the other levels. The center of the ground floor level had a small skating ring, arcade, and a bunch of play activities for all ages, the second floor held shops and several service shops to get various luxury services such as ones nails, hair and even massages which are available all hours of the day. More shops and restaurants occupy the third floor along with the ships small three auditorium movie theater. The ceiling had a replicated natural sky which at this time was showing mid morning. At the far end is the soldiers Hotel, the place where the troops of the fleet get to truly let their hair down.




   Back on the Gambit those in the observation room would miss understand Michelle. However the female voice on the PA was commanding and firm; “Michelle, you made your choice. Remove the plug.” In tears Michelle begs; “Please, I don’t want to do this, PLEASE!” Thirteen feels like he is in some distant dream as he watches Michelle while he fingers his own implant. The voice returns; “MICHELLE, remove the plug now or suffer the consequences!”  Thirteen is once again told to remove his plug as he watches Michelle remove hers. Reluctantly they followed their orders and placed them in the table and taking the new ones offered and placing them into the cerebral jacks. The Voice returned and instructed them to climb into the Mecha synchro tubes. Thirteen despite his feeling of anxiety instinctively climbed into the first one to open feeling as if a nightmare was just about to pounce upon him. Monitor four suddenly activates in the observation rooms, Michelle on the other hand, again pleaded with the voice in tears visibly shaking; “Please, I do not want to do this, I was transferred, I don’t want to be a part of your experiment anymore.” Again the Voice commanded Michelle to enter the plug. And when she began to refuse, two NERV medics enter the room.




  Those on the Marcus Antonius enter the Hotel where the Receptionist smiles at them as they approach the reception desk. She greets them with a genuine warm friendly greeting. She hands each of them a room key to their own room and three movie tickets for the theater. While in a civilian house the rooms would be considered small, here in the depth of deep space where they are crammed into the same size room with five others, it felt like a mansion. In the fifteen by ten foot space a TV hung on the wall, a queen size bed, a small table with two sitting chairs and a private bath with an actual bathtub made this place perfect for any soldier. There were even fake windows which kept time with the ships day and night settings.




 However on the Gambit, even Miriana is visibly disturbed as the NERV personnel enter the room; Why could Michelle not just follow orders, she thought to herself. Cerise, Kaarle are awestruck as they watched what was going on below. Cerise is surprised that the Commander just stood there in cold silence after his revelation with her just days before.
  Michelle was yelling at the two medics to stay back as they approached her, as one pulled a syringe out. The voice once again returning to the PA: “Cadet Grey, this is your last chance, get into your synchro tube now or you will be returned to the NERV and face disciplinary actions." Those watching could hear Commander Rockatansky whispering “I’m sorry”. The feelings in the room was tense and gut wrenching as they watched her climb into a tube which caused monitor 9 to come to life. The synchro tubes entries closed and the two were in complete darkness for several moments before a red light lit their faces.   Michelle can be heard begging for her release, while thirteen sat in complete silence.




  The Marcus Antonius finds the group checked in and ready to head out to get some food and look around. They find a great café style restaurant which served brunch. They each savored every bite of the nonmilitary food which is cooked to each of their different taste. It was like heaven to them. As the group sets out to explore the shops, they are approached by a little girl in a dress made to look like a candy wrapper, holding a tray of chocolate treats. She asked them if they would like to sample a taste of heavenly treats that her father makes. The treats are indeed excellent chocolate with different flavored centers.




   Those on the Gambit are finding their day less pleasant as those on the Marcus. Commander Rockatansky says to the assembled group; “this is going to be hard to watch. But I want you to fully understand what is happening since your team is going to be experiencing this more then you may like. You are not to stop it or try to interfere with it. Your careers will be over in a second if you do. But understand what these kids will be going through for the rest of their lives.” He says looking directly at Miriana as he said the last part before continuing; “as their commanders know that they are always suffering.” With that he returns to his silence.
  The two in the synchro tube become ridged as they felt the first sensations entering their brains, their faces contorting and twisting in many different forms of terror as their worst fears become the primary thoughts in a non-stop scene. For Thirteen tears begin to flow as his mind begins to see his fears come to life, he is abandon, disgraced, discarded by those in his team, his friends, even those in the control rooms. Michelle can be heard repeatedly saying no, no, stay away, as she is used as a medical experiment, constantly being poked and prodded, her mind being taken over by some foreign entity. Being forced to kill those she loves and cares about. Then as if they both snap, they scream in pain before the look of pure hatred appears on their faces as if they would kill anything that moved. Miriana sub-consciously knows they are fighting for their very lives. And if they should fail in this process they would not survive. Only the strong live through it.




The Marcus is filled with the great smell of fresh baked bread as it is being pulled out of a hot oven. Those window shopping find the shops are filled with fun toys and clothing, small trinkets and some of the high end objects which most soldiers’ desire. The shop keepers are all friendly and helpful to their needs. The hobby and craft shops have many different activities to help kill anyone’s boredom on long voyages. While it is not surprising that most the desired goods are generally twice as expensive as those of freedom station shops. But unlike the Robotech factory, goods are on limited supplies here. So no one complains about the prices.



   Back on the Gambit, in Lab Zero Zero, the mecha synchro tubes open up and their two occupants look as if they just step out of hell. The Voice booms over the PA system once more: “Good work guys, your synchro ratio is still in the high 80’s percentile range, you are now synced with your new mecha. Please step out of your tubes now.” Thirteen notices Michelle still sobbing in her tube as he climbs out of his tube unable to stop the sudden urge to heave up his breakfast all over the floor. The Voice repeats the order for Michelle to exit her tube. One of the two NERV medics reached behind his back as they approach her as she continued refusal to obey the PA’s voice. She screams at them to get away from her and despite his desire to assist his teammate, Thirteen finds himself frozen in place. When the first Medic is struck by Michelle’s fist he steps back as the other removes a pistol and shoots her.




  The Old movie playing on the Marcus’s theaters is a flic about a young girl named Sarah trying to rescue her baby brother from the Goblin King named Jared. The group discusses the movie The Labyrinth while having a great lunch at the taco stand, a small Mexican food eatery which was quite the popular place to eat. They are laughing and making jokes unaware of what is happening back on the Gambit. They discuss which of the restaurants they would eat at for the evening meal.




   Looking down from his place in the Observation room, Commander Rockatansky watches as the medic fires a powerful sedative into Michelle’s chest, with an expression of anger. He listens to the voice tell Thirteen to return to his quarters. Which he reluctantly follows as his question about Michelle is ignored. The voice tells the medics to bring Michelle back to the NERV.
  The officers standing next to the Commander are shocked when he contacts the female voice, his voice and confidence was domineering as he spoke. “Misato, tell your men to hand her over to Sgt. Franklin or have Sinji Ikari and Rei Ayanami report to my office within the next hour.” The female voice sounded angry with her reply; “That’s Captain Katsuragi, commander and she has showed signs of catastrophic failure and needs to be reevaluated immediately.” His lips twist into a smile as if he was winning some type of battle of wills as he continued; “Misato, I cannot stop you from taking Michelle, however I have mission command and I am allowed to have any twelve GK’s I desire. As I have stated I expect to have the two replacements pilots within the hour. Or tell your men to surrender my pilot at once. I know you’re in contact with them right now.”
  The Female voice of Captain Misato Katsuragi can be heard receiving commands from some strange male voice before she replies for the last time. “Your request to have your pilot handed over to your men has been granted for now Commander! But this will not happen again.” His last response to her is a brief one. “Thank you captain.”
   Commander Rockatansky turns to the officers; “Make sure your pilots are ok and let them rest for the night. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go deal with this situation.” With that he leaves the room.



  The second movie aboard the Marcus is a sci-fi B flic called Moon 44. A show of space helicopters trying to protect a corporate mining company from their competitors.  The group makes fun of it as they eat their dinner at the fancy steak house.  Their drinks are good and strong, the food cooked to perfection and the service is five stars.  They decide to go and do their own things afterwards and enjoy some private time.  They find their rooms to be a pleasant time to be enjoyed as privacy is rare on the Gambit. They report to the Hanger to find their alpha beta being prep to return them to the Gambit feeling refreshed and happy.  They are all smiles as they touch down on the Gambits decks.

A blurr. That is all it was to Thirteen. Was he experiencing the past or present? Orders given with no hope to reject. He looked towards Michelle and marveled on how she could resist as much as she could when he could not. Was it because she had a name? An identify?

He had wanted to do much but, ultimately, he just went along. He saluted the medic and wearily made his way out. As he did he looked towards the wall. He knew they had an audience. His instincts could sense them.

"Like I said.... Sillia... weapons... don't need... concent." He whispered to himself in a soft, exhausted tone after he leaves. He looked down the corrider and the path back to his quarters seemed like miles in the state that he felt himself in.

"I am so... sorry... Michelle..." He whispered. "I wish... I wish I was not so weak..."

Kaarle stood there watching furiously as the so called medics carried Michelle out of view of the camera feed, and supposedly back to their quarters.  Feelings of anger and rage over what he had just witnessed filled his entire being, his knuckles were white as he clenched hard with both fists, staring with utter contempt at the Commander for doing nothing to stop what they had all just witnessed.  His trembling could hardly be contained, as was his desire to pull his service pistol, and canoeing the commanders head where he stood for letting this torture to take place.

No one volunteers for this sort of thing, and it was clear he and everyone in this room were gravely unaware of the reality of the situation they were all in.

Was this what he had signed up for? he thought to himself still enraged as the Commander stood there and argued with some unknown Captain, who if he'd ever met in person would probably end up with him being court-martialed if not executed on the spot at this particular moment.  He continued to stand there silently, gritting his teeth in the most pained effort to stay the fuck quiet as he had ever done in his life.  When it was all said and done he made no move to acknowledge or salute appropriately when the order was given to tend to his co pilot, and was half way out of the door as they were dismissed.

Heavy footsteps could be heard down the hall heading away from the commanders office as he stormed his way back to his quarters.   For a moment he considered what he would do to the medics if they were there when he arrived.  He couldn't get the picture of the one who had shot Michelle in the chest out of his head.  His right hand instinctively moved to his sidearm, releasing the latch that held it in place.

During peace times sidearms were not part of your normal dress however these times were hardly peaceful.

Turning down the corridor he could see the door to his quarters as he approached it quickly. With his pistol drawn and at his side he reached his destination opening the door quickly.

  Thirteen finds he has his room to himself as all other team members are gone till the next morning. As you lay down a sense of calmness begins to come over you once more and slowly you feel what you assume is your normal self.


  Kaarle you enter the room to find a gruff marine chewing a unlit cigar as he turns from the curled up ball of Michelle. He is unfazed by the sight of your drawn weapon but his voice is horse as he say; "Easy kid, your friend is ok." With that he steps past you.

  Michelle is curled up back to the room lightly sobbing as the effects of the sedative keep her in a drugged state. She does not move or respond to any inquires for several hours till the sedative finally begins to wear off.


  GM Game Note: for the genetically engineered kids in the game, The Process of synchronizing to their mecha is how they get the combat bonuses. I have not fully decided how this is gonna work in the game mechanics as I am still developing that process. But it will have a dice roll and include one of their mental attribute. Your mecha has additional combat computers in them so they basically respond to thought including the cyclones. When you fall below a certain level in your synchronizing you are unable to get the mecha to respond. And though you can still pilot your mecha, it’s with negatives since your characters have been trained so thoroughly with the combat computers they are not used to not having them.  And it is considered a catastrophic failure. After multiple attempts they will remove you from combat and evaluate you. If you’re unable to be solve the problem you’re retired. Refusing orders can get you retired as well.
     

In reply to Gargoyle (msg # 86):

Kaarle didn't recognize the Marine, probably better that the medics hadn't stuck around as he holstered his weapon.  He looked over to Michelle, the pain of worry still obvious across his face as he walked towards her slowly kneeling down beside her.

"Batgirl...are you with me?" he whispered as he gently touched her shoulder with his hand looking into her face for any kind of respond as she continued to sob from the ordeal.

  The movies were ok, not to her personal taste but it was still it was fun to enjoy a group activity. The food on the other hand was something she would make sure to return for. And that little girl with the candy was so cute. The chocolate she would buy from the shop keeper would last a couple of days at best. She buys some extras for Thirteen who was not allowed leave for some training reason. He would love these chocolate treats as she had a couple throughout the day as temptation kept getting the best of her.

  The steak she had for dinner made her mouth water with each bite. The potato was good, but dam it was the steak that made her night. when the group finally went off to do their own thing for the evening she watched the kids playing on the first level of the first level for a short while before retiring to her room. Here she decides to fully embrace the time alone.

  On her way back to the hanger after check out she makes another stop at the candy shop and gets a couple more bags of chocolate.

 When she gets back to the Gambit she makes her way to her quarters.

  it was comforting to her as she felt the touch of Kaarles hand and his voice of concern. However she could not articulate any form of thought. she allowed her eyes to close. her sobs subside as sleep over took her.


  A few hours later she jumps as she startles awake. screaming "no...." as she takes in her surroundings. She lays back down. the feeling of embarrassment washing over her. She wondered to herself how much trouble she had caused for him with her disobedience.

  "Are you here Kchek?" she ask aloud.

In reply to Michelle Grey (msg # 89):

Kaarle lifted his head up from his chest, after having moved her to his bunk he had pulled a chair over and sat beside her to keep an eye considering all she had been through.  Getting shot like that at point blank as well as the initial trauma from before left him quite concerned for her well being.  He had dozed a little bit himself but was immediately conscious of her call as he sat and looked to her.

"yeah I'm here, do you need anything? something to eat? drink?" he said to her with a calm and caring he hadn't heard nor shown to anyone in years.  not since his childhood in fact.

Thirteen threw himself on his bed while the feeling passed. As he began to feel more normal he dragges himself back to his feet and moved to the showers. He felt hungry after losing his lunch but he really felt like he needed to get clean.

As he let the water fall on him he mused that maybe losing his memory was not so bad if he had to remember days like this. Well, at least his synch rate was...

"80%! They said 80%!"

He suddenly exclaimed. A synch rate like that was not bad at all. If he was not handicapped by his memory loss it might have been even higher.

"If I was that good... why was I discarded?"

  Despite knowing the answer, Michelle felt a need say it aloud; "Did you watch the training exercise?" A course he did, the command staff, did not get leave like everyone else. The full level of shame for her actions hit her hard. "I do not think you need to worry about your promotion sir." she turns her head so as to make sure she could hide the tears forming. "I will not disobey orders in the field sir, you will not need to worry about me sir. I know a soldiers life is short. I won't disobey orders anymore, sir. I promise!"


 She sits up and realizes she is not in her own bunk. A little confused. she pulls her knees to her chest. hugging them.

He shakes his head in disgust at the thought.  "If what I saw today is how promotions are handled then count me out." He said sternly as he looked at her still worried about what they had done to her.

He stood holding out a hand to her offering to help her to get to her feet.   "Now then there will be plenty of opportunities to get myself court-martialed or worse, you shouldn't worry about me" he said with a smirk...then with a look of dead seriousness "however if those fucks keep shortcutting things like what I witnessed this morning just so you'll take to you mecha faster then it'll likely be sooner rather then later."

Miriana was disturbed at the proceedings before her, not because of what she was seeing, but because of the lack in discipline Michelle was displaying. Not for the first time she found herself amazed at the sight of such inefficacious and flawed behavior amongst the Micronians. Michelle and Thirteen were obviously under a great deal of stress, so why had their training not conditioned them properly?

She wondered why it had been necessary to point these inadequacies out to her in such a manner. There was no reason she could think of that would benefit a mission in any way, other than perhaps show a potential instability during combat. Perhaps it was one of these 'culture' things again. She turned to Rockatansky, noting that Kaarle had already left the room.

- "Commander, what was the point of this exactly?"

Her voice was calm, almost as if she was striking up a casual conversation about the weather.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:31, Sun 25 Sept 2016.