A wandering soldier with a lot on his mind... - [Open]

[noblefive]

It had been a while since he had awoken from the pods, discovered what had happened. It was a lot to deal with...

...Plus the fact that this ship's acting commander was an alien. One who was likely responsible for the deaths of thousands of humans. If not, he was a member of the group who did.

This was confusing, and Jorge had spent time thinking about it. About what he found out on the Observation Deck. What John told him. If there was anyone who he would believe, it was John, but...

His memories say otherwise.

If anyone cares to notice, there's a 7'8" armoured man walking around a set course in the city. He's been doing this for at least an hour, not talking to anyone, not making a sound.

Comments

[first_of_steel]

He's not the only one out there today in armor. Roger's not a big fan of the plant suits, except for the part where no one in his world ever invented power armor that would let you scratch an itch... and that's something he can deal with, so he spends more time in the T-51b suit than out of it.

So the much larger armored man is going to get an interested look eventually, and possibly a much shorter (6'2") companion, at least for a bit. The last armored human-shaped individual Roger an into on this ship was Erhart, but that's not Imperium armor, so he's curious.

[noblefive]

The armour is of the MJOLNIR class. A mix of Mrk IV and V armour, and modified beyond the norm. It looks well-worn, the paint chipped here and there, but well looked after nonetheless.

Jorge turns his head, pausing as he can feel someone watching him, before casting his helmet down a smidgeon so he can look at Roger.

"Can I help you, sir?" Not confrontational, but his voice is crisp, military, professional.

[first_of_steel]

Roger's own suit has been in active service for something like thirty years now- cared for and maintained for all of them, but still, thirty years in a post-nuclear desert environment is going to leave a mark.

"Didn't intend to intrude," he answers, glancing up in reply. "Trying to figure out if I ought to know you or not. I haven't seen that gear around here before- you got released recently, didn't you?"

[noblefive]

"Yeah, I did." He pauses. "You probably won't know me."

Jorge's battle-damage is more due to alien plasma weapons and rebel bullets, but he's not going to mention that unless asked.

[first_of_steel]

"Didn't think so," says Roger. "I only got to meet a few people on this one. Younger fellow who does things with electricity that'd give a psyker nightmares, and some kind of... some odd kind of Sherlock Holmes."

He's still got no idea how to explain that one.

"Name's Roger Maxson. I used to be Brotherhood of Steel, back on Earth. US Army, before that. Yourself?"

[noblefive]

"...Psyker?" No clue what that is.

He pauses. Since he gave his record... "Chief Warrant Officer Noble Five, UNSC SPECWAR Team 3. Jorge, if it's easier. I was on detachment to the UNSC Colony Planet of Reach before coming here."

Ah, Reach. The mere name brings up awful memories. His voice, however, is professionally as blank as ever.

[first_of_steel]

"People with psychic abilities. There were rumors in my world about 'em, and a couple of research projects trying to cultivate 'em for the military. Never really turned up anything I was ever cleared to know about."

"Hnf. Can't say I've heard of any of those, I'm afraid. We... never got farther than the Moon, before things went to hell back home."

[noblefive]

"The date I was taken from was August 14th, 2552, if it helps put some perspective on it."

[first_of_steel]

"... yeah, that'd do it," says Roger. "July 25th, 2097. Coming up on thirty years after world-wide atomic warfare destroyed human civilization."

"I found out pretty fast when I got here that there's more than one version of history represented around here."

[noblefive]

"Yeah, that's what I heard." It's a lot to think through.

"We didn't have an atomic war in 2097, that's for sure."

[warriorraceguy]

N'tho is jogging. He's full of frustrated, nervous energy. Things are being set in motion and he knows it, but it's difficult to wait. He's Sangheili, it's not surprising he'd rather take action than wait for a long deception. There is uncertainty in the waiting and his inability to openly declare an enemy, and it puts him on edge.

And so, he runs because he needs to move or it's going to drive him crazy.

The Spartan catches his attention quickly, it's not the Demon that he's seen only occasionally. This other is larger and differently armored, but the fact he's a demon is unquestionable.

"I was not aware another of you had woke," he says.

[noblefive]

Muscle memory and sheer instinct cause Noble Five to draw his pistol and train it directly on this new Elite that shows up.

Another one?! Damn it! It takes all of Jorge's self-restraint to not pull the trigger on this damn thing.

"Surprising what you find out, isn't it?" He growls in response. The pistol isn't holstered, but he's not firing. That's a good thing.

[warriorraceguy]

N'tho does not draw his weapon in turn, though his jaws flare out a bit. He's not going to escalate this unless he must. He squares his shoulders and stands tall.

"It was not surprising, Spartan, merely unexpected," he replies, tone level and hard.

He watches the gun pointedly.

[noblefive]

A snort right there, but the pistol gets holstered, Jorge squaring himself up also. John would kill him if he was the one who escalated this.

"Damn surprising for me." He grunts, keeping his eyes fixed on N'tho. He'll notice that this SPARTAN is a bit taller and bulkier than the other.

And also fully willing to tear the Sanghelli limb from limb.

[magnetlips]

When you walk around the city for that long someone is bound to run into you. And that someone was Cassie Lang. There were lines on her face and neck from where mismatched skin met along her left side. Aside from that she looked like your average, if skinny, 17 year old. Her blond hair was cropped just below her ears.

Cassie tried to avoid the Sensoriums and and the city was as good a place as any to build up her calf muscles again. She was thinking about taking a break when she spotted someone she didn't recognize. Or it was someone she knew but couldn't tell under all that shiny armor.

"Oh, hi. Are you exploring or stretching your legs?"

[noblefive]

And the bad thing about trying to think when running a circuit in a public place? The public.

"No, I'm just thinking." He does it better when he's moving, and pauses when Cassie talks to him. He looks her up and down subtly from under his helmet, noting the odd skin patterns.