Union of Independent Worlds Faction RP thread

[Marlin]

Fortunately and owing to Ezra's foresight, some of the Warriors were good with MedTech. They rushed now in to help. Ezra himself was no more able to stand, it seemed his left leg was broken. The beast might have been too close for him and injured his leg. But Adrenaline would do that to people sometimes.

They stabilized him to be transported to safety. Where was the young woman, though?

And how were the right flank?

Finally, they found her..

[Cannonshop]

"...see the choppers coming,
hovering over head.
They've come to get the wounded,
They've come to get the Dead..."
-Airborne Cadence.

KK14 hovered, and settled in the soccer-field.  Now that the infestation had been (mostly) cleared, there was somewhere to land.

Corpsman 1st Class Jody David came off the bird with 100 kilos of medical.  "Where's the crit case?"  when one of the troops on perimeter hesitated, he shifted straight to snarling mode, "Listen, dickhead, I'm going to ask again, and you don't give me a good anwer, I'm shoving that rifle up your ass and I'll have THREE patients to deal with!"

"Over there, sir."  Probie Wellington said, gesturing to the north end of the field, where a group of mixed Army, Clan, and Probies were clustered around the back of a pickup truck.

"You, YOU, you're stretcher bearers now, fall in and follow me." Corpsman David snapped, "Endele, chop-chop!"

David was a big man-he could, in some circles, be mistaken for a Clanner Elemental-Breed.  Two full Corpsman field packs were hardly a burden for him.


The male was in his thirties or forties, "Okay, broken leg, looks like a couple cracked ribs, and...yeah, Star Captain, I'll get you later-hey, you, Clanner with the blonde hair, you're field-medic trained? good, here-there's preser-sleeves, decon and bonesets, take care of your boss..."

He looked over Miranda.  "Dios!" he pulled out a pair of UV illuninators, "You, You, shine these to kill the surface bacteria..." He was pulling on surgical gloves and extracted a strange, vaccuum-cleaner looking instrument, "How long?" he asked.

"What?" someone he didn't bother to look at asked.

"HOW LONG?? How long has her gut been opened up like this?" He demanded again.

"About twenty minutes standard, why?" was the answer.

"Peritonitis and opportunistic infections! she was laying in a field of pigshit! we're going to have to stabilize her before she can Evac out to a hospital." He was cleaning the wound out, a process that included 'scooping' the contents of her perforated intestines with the weird little vacuum.  "Blue needle, it's in the box, NOW. she could fucking die, and hang up a couple bags of BR-453 and run them through the oxygenator into an artery, this gal's lost a hell of a lot of blood..."

[Marlin]

Although the Clanners had tried to preserve Miranda to the best of their abilities, the small Medkits they had with them were not sufficient. The big boy here brought the right stuff, Charlotte thought, even as he ordered her Warriors around.

The recent reforms had already shifted some responsibilities to the Techs anyway, so quite some Warriors were used to having some Techs order them around in special situations like that. She took an UV lamp from another, not to help this loud one, but for her Star Captain. He would want this girl alive as she saw he liked her.

She would not understand that, as that young thing was stupid, arrogant and did not know her limits. Resulting in this mess. And she was freeborn.

[Cannonshop]

Surgery under the best of conditions is painstaking to the point of exhausting work-doing it on the back of a derelict flatbed pickup under manually held lights is a thousand times worse-at least, for a dedicated doctor.

it was getting dark by the time the patient was stabilized enough to make it to the loading ramp of the King Karnov idling at the far end of the field.  Jody finished wrapping the presersleeve around her abdomen, supervised the two stretcher-bearers as they lifted her onto a stretcher-gurney, and carried her away.  He turned to the Star Captain, who was, at least, conscious.

"She'll live, at least, I think so." He told the Clan Warrior, "Your people should get you onto the medevac bird, and back to town, Doc Clement can give you a scrip for series-antibiotics in case there's anything your kids missed, I'd suggest you visit your ship's doc asap and get a thorough going-over, Clan meds have got to be better than what we've got here locally."

[Marlin]

Ezra did not say a word, he was escorted by some of his Warriors. Indeed he would want to go to his Dropship, where some Op-Theaters were. Transporting humans through space can be problematic if no medical unit is going with them. He mumbled to Charlotte besides him.

She approached that man, Jody, and told him: "The Star Captain wants to get treated in one of our Dropships. It has several theaters and will have space for her as well. He wants her to come with us until she can be released to one of your hospitals. You may come with us to observe. Do you accept?" She asked not really with a choice in her voice.

[Cannonshop]

Ezra did not say a word, he was escorted by some of his Warriors. Indeed he would want to go to his Dropship, where some Op-Theaters were. Transporting humans through space can be problematic if no medical unit is going with them. He mumbled to Charlotte besides him.

She approached that man, Jody, and told him: "The Star Captain wants to get treated in one of our Dropships. It has several theaters and will have space for her as well. He wants her to come with us until she can be released to one of your hospitals. You may come with us to observe. Do you accept?" She asked not really with a choice in her voice.

"Ma'am, it's gotta be better than what we have at Oxford, I'll buy off on that."  He brought out a PADD, tabbed something in, and thumbprinted it.  "Okay, take this with you-they won't give you any grief at the port for taking her along...as long as she can come back when your people have seen to her."  He jerked a thumb behind him, "I'm assigned to look after these guys, it was just damn lucky I was able to bring enough spares."

The thumbprint noted his rank,name,  and the initials "M.D. (Pending DROS)"

[Marlin]

She nodded sharply.

"Good. Well bargained and done." She sent Ezra a thumbs up. Off it went to the port.

The supervised Doc in the Theatre had a younger man besides him and two others seemed to overview the scene. Those who knew might have known that the older was a Scientist once, now he served in his old position but would be watched over suspiciously while teaching a new Doctor as well.

The AMU made its diagnosis and finally Miranda got the treatment she needed. Ezra watched shortly and then had to be moved to his Theatre where he would be checked through. He would have to walk with a crutch until his leg was ok again, in 0-G it would be easier for him, experienced as he was, but the next few days would see him hobbling.

The Doctors assured him that she would soon be stable enough to be sent to the inferior Hospital without worry. But still she was in coma. It would take a while, days if not weeks..

[Cannonshop]

Incompatible proteins, scraps of some leafy plant, bits of varous...things.  The scan showed a lack of proper nutrition-most likely caused by eating non-terran derivative flora and fauna, mineral deficiencies that affected bone-strength and dental structures (not serious...yet), various self-set or poorly set broken bones, scar tissue...  and the wounds sustained against the Beast El Jefe.

She was definitely NOT in top condition before her injuries.

IV fluids to deal with the vitamin and mineral deficit, IV nutrition to improve her constitution, active antibiotics to deal with the dozen or so opportunistic infections that were waging a turf-war in her body, immune-boosters, and cultured blood in her type to replace the "field grade" blood supplements used by that meatball field surgeon.

The actual surgery was, at least, competently done, given the conditions, so the Clan Doctor did not have to revisit it with more than standard scanning.

The problem of more concern, was the head injury.  In spite of a thousand years' of improvement, a bash like that could result in serious consequences.  closed-head cases were always touchy...

[Cannonshop]

Fenimore, Neerabup...

"...scuttlebutt says the government's planning an expedition-rumour has it being named Pathfinder, rumour has it they're going out looking for Bandits."  Charlie Glass poured a shot of sweet wine, "Any of that true?"

"Can't say." David Ryder said, "I know we've gone on an accellerated training regimen, and that about half the unit's been reorganized into a base-five organization.  Lots of emphasis on duelling tactics, sniping, and what they call 'gunslinger' stuff, could be they're planning to set up a training centre with an OpFor configured like the Clans..."

[Cannonshop]

Admin centre, Oxford-on-Tyne, Arluna, Sept. 23rd 3069...

"...now, could you please tell me, Captain, why a guest to our nation went and got run down and run over and chewed up by a damn big Wild Boar in your area of responsibility?"  Debbie Mac was here-the Elected Archduchess herself.

"Not technically my area-the soccer field is owned by the Gonzales family." Laura said, "Turns out there's still a Gonzales left, turns out she's been armadillo since the Plague."

"Property ownership doesn't define your responsibilities, Captain." Debra MacAulliffe said, crossing her arms and staring down at the seated officer.

"No, but...Your Grace, you know the Constitution-she invited him-and gave US permission to hunt there.  What was I supposed to do, argue with a Property Owner, or the Clanners? Call the hunt until they left?"

Deb sighed, "Fine...you're right, you know.  It's not my job to tell you how to do yours-especially when you're just following the laws."  she sat down, "So, did they have a good time?"

"Not sure. Figure the Clanners probably did-they seemed to be in a pretty good mood in spite of their C.O. getting mauled by that Boar..." Laura said, "Minus Miranda getting her guts ripped by that thing, and their boss getting rammed-and-trampled, I'd say they seemed to enjoy themselves, who knows, maybe we can open an 'adventure safari' centre and get tourists to pay for the privelage of shooting ferals-couldn't hurt, anyway."

"What do we know about that animal?" Debra asked, "Is it..?"

"No match to the other carcasses, the vets are still working on it, but looks like a freak, ma'am-we don't have a damned clue where it came from or how it got here unless old man Gonzales was buying freaks for a menagerie." Laura said, "It's genetically compatible with the others, but we can't find any actual blood relation to the other hogs taken in the cull.  I'm thinking of asking the Clanners to run a screening and see if it's genemodded-pigs don't grow like that and haven't since the last ice-age on Terra, long before spaceflight."

"Make sure you get an answer-send some of your samples to the guys up at the MK Synagogue on Kowloon also-they might get us an answer before the Clanners do." Debra said, "If someone's been dumping genetweaks on our worlds we should find out about it before we get another case of the super-pig, I don't want the King of Hogs showing up again without warning."

"You going to stop off and look in on the Ice Hellions while you're here, Your Grace?" Laura asked.

"well...otherwise it's just ribbon-cutting and makin' empty noises, isn't it?" Debra said speculatively, "Vince is offworld, the Scorpions still don't answer their messages, and our message traffic into the rest of the Inner Sphere is spotty right now...yeah, I think I'll be looking in on our guests, let 'm know theyah welcome visitors, it can't hurt."

"Well...watch the accent, Ma'am.  Their XO is pretty...um...traditionalist Clanner?"

[Marlin]

(mostly by CS)

Dropship "Silent Guard" Arluna

Doctor Leonard was called to the wardroom to report on the patient.

"...her immune system is like nothing I have seen in twenty years." he stated, "I wish I could get a gene-sample and find out why."

"Explain-clearly." Charlotte ordered.

"It is...aggressive. it took a severe system-wide trauma for her to get sick at all, and she is recovering at a rate that does not square with the parameters of our equipment." 
He said, "She heals at the normal rate, but she already does not need antibiotics-a normal case with E. Coli getting into the bloodstream would have her on broad-spectrum series and immune boosters for weeks.  That animal's tusk was dirty, it tore open her bowel, intestines...hell, it penetrated her diaphragm-it should have killed her, and even with everything that meatball-medic did, she should be hanging at near-death just from the infections."

"Can you speculate?" she pressed, a bit more attentive.

"Well, my first guess would be gene-customization, but that could be spotted with even the equipment in a shipboard medbay-my second guess is a one-percenter." he said.

"One Percenter?" the Clan female warrior asked.

"Actually more like point-zero-zero-one percenter, the statistical anomaly-that tiny fraction that statistically may exist in any large gene-grouping that is virtually immune to bacterial or viral diseases.  Statistics say they should exist, but there is no legitimate scientific documentation that they DO exist, and further, even with our best work...we never could find the right mix."  he said, "The distribution is effectively too random."  He smiled, "We have a true freak of nature in our medbay, back when I was in the lab..."

"Forget the Labs." Charlotte snapped.

"She should be studied, Ovkhan-if we can find out the gene-grouping that gives her that resistance, it could be beneficial." he stated.  'My career is effectively over, there is no scientist caste, but this could help the Clan!' he knew he would have to try to be persuasive.

"Your written report mentioned malnourishment," Charlotte observed, "could the alien plants she has been eating have contributed to this?"

"Unknown, which is why she needs to be studied-along with her native environment." Leonard said, "Find the right mix, and it could be the first real medical advance since the Golden Century."  Please, can you not see how significant she is??  In some ways, Leonard knew, and some day, his mouth-and his dedication, would get him shot...

Charlotte cocked her left brow. "I see what you are trying to do, Leonard. If it does not impede her healing, get yourself a gene-example. But you are not to study her in her environment. If what you are telling is true, then she is a gem, but she does not belong to us. You may look into her genes and report it back to me, but no further. You have tried to betray the Clan once, and I will not allow you any more chance at that!"
He sighed, "We need to know if it is natural or environmental, and if the resistance is affected BY the environment..." He looked up at the Warrior,  "You could trial for her." he said, "I know that is permitted-and she would then belong to the Clan, and we could do more than computer modeling off of a small gene-sample-as for her environment, just samples from it would be of use-soil, water, plants, what she has been eating... consider that disease is still a major killer-even with our advanced medical knowledge, yearly thousands of lower-caste, as well as warriors, are preyed upon by illnesses we can barely contain, it shortens lifespans, gobbles up work-hours, and reduces the useful lifetime of tech, laborer, Merchant, and warrior.  A generation virtually immune to normal illness could accomplish so MUCH more."

Charlotte's hand snapped forward to his throat when he went too far for her, telling her to trial for the woman, but she stopped and pouted her lips in thought.

"Trialing for her is not possible.", she said sternly. "Getting some samples should be no problem." 'I will have to talk to the Star Captain for this. If he can convince the local commander, we should get it.' "Get a list of what is needed." This doctor got on her nerves. She should be used to it as old Warrior, but was not. He was acting like a merchant. And certainly he would profit from this and tried his best to achieve the most. Ezra would have to decide most of it, of course, but to trial her away was certainly just stupid considering the relations of this state to the Clan. But...

"Is there anymore now, Leonard? You should use your energy rather to advance your research instead of wast it talking. Like a Merchant." She hissed the last word, clearly to display her distaste for his ways.

He knew when it was over. So he let hang his shoulders and shook his head. For now that was all he could achieve. But his inner Scientist already was excited about his work.

[Cannonshop]

Oxford Spaceport...

My counter.

"The Head of State? Well, I guess as this is their main planet, the possibility was there.", Ezra mumbled as he got the message of the visit. "Charlotte, help me get in my uniform." She was his most trusted Warrior, second in Command of this ship and often coupling partner. Her body was still hard and only her hair showed her age. She was beautiful. Ezra on the other hand.. he was tall, well built but his face showed some of his age with wrinkles. In light of the recent events, though, he had lightened up. Charlotte assumed it was about this Miranda.

Anyway, her Dress Uniform looked good on her. Off-white, two pieces with gray bands around the cuffs while gray stripes ran down the front. The right shoulder showed her unit patch as usual for a trueborn. The sword at her left was also the issued piece for Mechwarriors. Even though she had not piloted one in years, she was entitled to this uniform.

Ezra on the other hand just had his field uniform without the helmet. He had switched the pulse-laser standard with his trusted ER-Laser pistol, not that it would see use now. His left leg was still in a splint and his right arm slung in to hold it still some more days. He shortly thought about removing it, but it would have done no good. His left arm would have to suffice now.

He just hoped he could stand this official business. He would rather look after Miranda. And the Doctor Leonard. It certainly was interesting what he had found. And if the Captain and the Archduchess agreed, he would get some of the samples. And would from then on operate under biohazard restrictions. Perhaps the "Silent Guard" would never touch down on a planet, except Arluna?

"You're sure you don't want to put on a uniform?" Laura asked.

"Certain of 't." Debra MacAulliffe said, "Ah didn' enlist, wound up bein' head-of-state 'fore I could get draft'd, don' see much point in put-on a show of phony medals an' un-earned rank, if they'ah half th' chive they preten' t' be, they'll know who ah am."

It was true-to a point.  Her Grace Debra Allison MacAulliffe had grown to a person who radiated authority-and could likely do so wearing a burlap bag and bunny-slippers.

NOT that she needed to duel much in the last few months- three times in the formal, bound-at-the-wrist melee, and twice before and after that with hand-guns, she'd 'settled' challenges to her, and the Congress', authority-all without leaving any scar that wasn't well covered by a good blouse and sturdy, ankle-length skirts.

Today, for instance, in the warmth of late summer, she wore a cotton-and-flax blouse, thin gray cashmere skirts, and her trademark laceless boots, with the pistol riding low on a hip-rig, cross-draw style for speed, complemented by a half-jacket with rigid collar, kept open.

They approached the guard-post point manned (for now) by Ice Hellion troopers on one side, and Marines on the other.

"Milady, could this not wait until-" her Physician spoke up.

"Relax, Harvey, Ah don' expect Ah'll have t' fa'ht anyone t'day, Ah'm jus' goin' ta Pay mah respect t' the Stah-Cap'n an' his people foah theah help dealin' with th' Feral infestation in Goahd'n Canty." she admonished, "an' t' check in on miz Gonzales."

[Marlin]

Oxford Spaceport,
Hellion Landing site,
Security checkpoint

Warrior Desmond, a Freeborn Infantryman and Marine since his graduation from Hector's 3rd tier Training Camp, had seen much in his "career". Mostly the bloody ground and details that most MechWarriors, Elementals and Fighterjock would miss. The aftermath of battles, fistfights of lower Castemen, bandits trying to escape the inevitable, being hunted down by the Clan, Criminals trying to escape their fate by shooting their way out, harming innocents. He had dealt with all that and maintained a certain pride, common for the lowest tier of the Warrior Caste. Now he was on Arluna.
Foreign World and still they were here, only guarding the perimeter for the Dropships that had brought scum here to rebuild that planet.

Suddenly on the other side was movement. Two women seemed bound for his post. Was this scheduled?

He could not remember. But that did not mean much. Better call your superior. "Point Commander?" This was a rather fat Elemental. One of only three with the whole shipment. Already on the comm. It seemed all was good, so Desmond relaxed a bit. Still, careful.

Both were quite young, one civilian, perhaps a diplomat, the other the Captain, he had heard of. Gruesome scars. Oh, Kerensky, there he saw the Star Cap and his Charlotte, with Dress Uniform? Seems the Diplomat was rather important. They made their way to the Checkpoint from the Dropper. The two women now closed, and fatty behind him went to attention mode. A growl let Desmond do the same. He hoped he wouldn't need to say anything.

[Cannonshop]

Laura took the lead when they reached the checkpoint. "I am Captain Gammond, UIW Marine Corps, this is Archduchess Debra MacAullliffe, UIW Head of State.  We would like to have a chat with your Commanding Officer." she said it in a rapid-fire meant to convey a certain professional courtesy mixed with a distaste for delaying tactics.

For her part, Deb looked over the troopers at the checkpoint.  The point-commander would have had Vince all over him just for the extra paunch-and for once, she was glad that Neil, an aged and former Star Adder Elemental who normally worked as her bodyguard, was on pre-deployment briefing duty at the Navy Office, giving briefings on Trial Protocols, rather than here to (likely) berate the man for being slack.

The junior trooper looked...nervous.  Deb held her own expression and posture in what Dao taught her was called 'Sáng sủa Chuẩn bị', or "Serene Preparedness" in the Kowloonese form of Krav Maga known as Bàn tay Mở.  it had become habit-a habit that essentially intimidated the less...scrupulous yet more perceptive members of the Congress-usually more effectively than her pistol, or her voice did.

It had also been useful one other place-and for some reason the younger, fitter warrior made her think of poor Morgan Kell at the trial...

"I am point Commander Lucas," fatty said with is deep voice. Desmond saw the Captain's looks. He tried to compose himself, he had seen much worse, despite her scars. Nothing to be feared. But the Archduchess somehow reminded him of his mother back on Londerholm.. only  she radiated authority. He should write his parents a letter again. Lucas spoke on: "I acknowledge you both. You are free to pass."

"Ah Thankee Point Commandah." Deb said, and gave him, and his fitter subordinate, a cursory nod of respect as they walked through the checkpoint.

Just in time, Ezra and Charlotte closed in. Both stood at attention briefly, and then Ezra put on his short speech.  However, he still had trouble with the proper form of address.  He knew that the IS had the habit of differentiating per family status for women.  Males were Misters, females could be Mrs., for married women, Miss for unmarried or Ms., if the status was unclear.  In German that would be Frau or Fräulein but the usage of the latter seemed to be used not on every Lyran planet as women were keen on being equally treated. Now he had read that in Japanese the differences in talk styles were even worse so he was glad they had attacked here. He interrupted his train of thought, using only their titles. "Archduchess, I welcome you in the name of Clan Ice Hellion. I am honored that you want to see us." He nodded to the Captain. "Captain Laura, good to see you."

Deb gave them the 'grin' and answered, "Pleased to meet you, Stah Captain." she said, and rendered a shallow curtsy,  after Laura returned the salutes.  "ah'm afraid ah do not have a speech all pr'pahd, this vis't is unplanned 'head a tahm, Cap'n Gaumond tells me y'all wuh a great he'p in cleain' th' infestation at Goahdun, an' she mentioned y' wuh takin' caah of one a' mah folks heah on yo' ship, seems a thing t'do, step bah an' see how yo' doin', an look in on Landholder Gonzales."

Her accent was Thick-thick enough draw a look of brief confusion from Point Commander Lucas, and cause the female Officer to flinch slightly-ever so slightly, like any Noble on Tharkad, at an accent known derisively among the upper class of Lyrans as 'hillbilly marbles'.

"Tahm permittin', Stah Cap'n, Ah would lahk t' meet an' thank the men y'all brought with you on th' hunt, Ah have heard good things 'bout a couple of 'm, 'specially bringin' down El Jefe, the dom'nant male, and whah'l weah at it, Ah don' s'pose y'all have a trained scientist aboahd-seems our vet'rinarians found a puzzle with that an'mal, an' it maht take a trained geneticist t' unravel it."

[Marlin]

Ezra tried to fight back the urge to simply cover his ears, this accent was gross. He could not imagine someone could mutilate this language so much. But, his willpower to stay friendly won out. Just his right eyelid twitched twice, involuntarily, as he tried to process what she said. This might be harder than to kill El-Jefe.

Charlotte on the other hand just grinned inwardly. It was good she would not have to say much or play nice if she just did not listen. That would make a good joke later. She kept her perfect composure.

Ezra, having decoded the message cleared his throat, putting up a diplomatic smile: "Yes, we tried to help Miranda clear her land of this particularly problematic infestation. Also, of course, we can go to look after her right now, if you want to follow me." As the women went to his side, Charlotte took his right wing, he continued: "Her wounds were serious enough but it seems she will survive. She injured the big hog enough so that I could finish it. Perhaps she even prompted him to return, after he ran over her. I guess we will never know. All in all it seems that Laser Rifles are good at taking them down.." He tried to lengthen his speech not needing to hear her as long as possible, she was no small woman and looked decent enough, but this language.. "After the visit in our ship is over, the Warriors who were with me will be gathered for a short visit by you." Somehow a perverse delight, he thought, they would get to hear her too. Only he hoped they would not kill her in rage. But then, they had seen likely worse things in their duties.

"And yes, our Doctor here would certainly like to hear about what your Veterinarians found out about that beast. If your scientists (in a neutral tone) have made a report, it would be very helpful. Finally I assume that we will be back with the next shipment, so we might see progress."

They were now at the "Silent Guard"'s ramp and went in. It was the biggest ship on the tarmac and again in great shape after the deliverance. Of course it was quite old and in some places it showed, but still was a good piece of Clan technology. (An Overlord C)