Greet the (New) Meat! (no, don't eat them!)

[cityship]

By hook or by crook or by avoiding hook and crook, the crew assembled from the previous podpops eventually made it up to the Living Area to greet their new crew mates. The creepy sculpture was also there, though less to greet them than it was always there.

The strange, fleshy seating had multiplied. You really, really don't want to know how.

Comments

[prettycoolguy]

'Officer,' says John's brain, recognizing the confidence in her stance and gait. 'Officer or police,' it amends as his eyes flick over the badge. 'Police, then.' Whoever she is, she's important. Or at least thinks she is.

"Spartan 117, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, ma'am. I've spoken with the AI Cortana and several members of the crew, I believe I understand most of the situation."

It doesn't make any of this seem less crazy or his situation seem any better, true, but he's accepting it.

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

Weird name, but she's used to weird names by now.

"Good, that saves me some breath. I'm Cybil Bennet, Brahm's PD. For some reason, Stacy's decided I'm the captain of this little rag-tag bunch, for whatever that's worth. I'm making sure everyone's briefed before I call the meeting. We have to make special arrangements for it, for certain..." He eyes glance upwards. "Reasons, and we can't waste any time during it."

[prettycoolguy]

"Understood." The Chief nods. Okay, so this is the captain. Also, on a much less important note, he was right. Which is always cool. He has his suspicions about the reasons, and judging by the upward glance he'd guess it has to do with the ship listening in. That meshes with what Cortana told him earlier, too.

"Where will this meeting be?" It sounds good to him, any opportunity to get a better grasp of what's going on is worth grabbing as far as he's concerned.

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"Well, the last one we had was down in the city, but I don't think the crew will want to do that again after what happened there. Stacy's sensors don't function properly there. Which, in some ways, can be a good thing, as far as privacy goes."

She goes on, "Unfortunately, that meant there was a nest of some kind of xeno-alien she didn't realize was there. I lost a man, because he wandered off alone, against orders." The look on her face is just as hard as it was, but something flickers in her eyes.

"They'd somehow tunneled into Stacy's...body to nest there without her realizing. We were attacked, lost some people, but got them back and destroyed all the bugs--and the nest. She cleaned up what was left once attention was brought to it, and basically fumigated the entire deck after we all made it up here."

There's the slightest quirk of her eyebrows.

"We have just as many civilians and show-boating superheroes here as trained soldiers and law enforcement. Part of the meeting is going to be discussion of ship discipline--and training. We need to get coordinated. I'm not losing anyone else."

[prettycoolguy]

He takes that in, confirming his suspicions that despite the general quiet he has encountered, the good ship Stacy is a dangerous place.

Training? Somebody say training? Chief's all for training. It's a wonderfully worthwhile thing to devote time to. Especially if there are civilians on board, he knows all about what happens when you put a bunch of untrained civilians in a combat situation and how it always goes wrong somehow.

"Agreed. If I can help with anything, I will. Thirty years of experience." Or thereabouts, but particulars can wait until they're called upon.

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"Any of those years spent training other soldiers?"

[prettycoolguy]

"Unfortunately, no. But I am used to compensating for less experienced allies. And I can probably get someone to shoot straight with a weapon I know, though here that's not promising much. My combat effectiveness is much lower without my armor, but I was unable to find it in the equipment locker."

No, he's not getting hopeful. What would give you a silly idea like that? Organization is good for his morale, that's all. Really.

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"We could definitely use your help then. Although I have no idea how the fuck we're going to train some of these kids. Superpowers shooting out of every orifice and none of the people that have and combat training don't have any or know how the hell they really work."

[prettycoolguy]

"I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't heard it from Cortana. I know her from home. She's warned me not to let her know anything we don't want Stacy to, the ship can read the AI's."

"If I can set any of them straight, I will." He shakes his head with a sigh at the idea of kids with "magical powers". You never give the rookie the big gun.

[ihatefire.livejournal.com]

"The meeting'll likely be here on Obs Deck, and I'll call it in a few minutes. You'll get the rest of the rundown then."

[prettycoolguy]

"Then I'm going to go get comfortable and wait. Thanks."

John finds himself a place to stand where he can see most of the Obs Deck at a glance, not trusting the furniture or wanting to sit very much anyway.