NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Thats right folks, ITS BACK! This'll be the gathering thread where basically the people who signed up confirm there place here by posting something. (Usualy a little bitof info on what they did before they got called to duty) For me, it'll be more direct though.


The year is 2319, humanity has expanded and in the last few decades, finaly reached its goals in touching the stars. Colonies of humanity have sprung up on the more stable planets and moons. Even now, those colonies were being terraformed to become more like Earth. But back on origin.... something stirs, a long forgotten enemy of humanity wakes and turns its blearly eye to its ultimate goal.... this is the beginning of the end of humanity.

Edward harker sat in the front comparment of the shuttle, behind him sat his adoptive father Winter. Even in the pressurized cabin he could feel the coldness of space, nothing can ever get rid of that feel. He looked back at Winter and saw that his eyes were closed, age ad barley taken its toll on the mans face, even though he was in his late fifties. He shifted back in his seat and looked out his window, not to far from the shuttle was a large space station, a former superweapon turned into a military base during humanitys push towards the stars.

OOC: I'd make post but where are we gathering exactly?

OOC: The undead are out of luck, FT's my house! I'm going to put my people in their early stage of FT. I'd do it later but they go on to control an entire galaxy and that could get confusing. We'll settle for a star system near Alpha Centauri.

Almost as soon as the Dominion attained the ability of interstellar travel, it expanded to inhabit three planets in a star system just past Alpha Centauri. The grandeur and success displayed in its cities on Earth were mulitplied tenfold as vast urban expanses now covered the planet now broken up by unending fields and forests in between them. Civilization and wilderness lived hand in hand as per the strict terraforming specifications.

Using jury rigged alien technology as a starting point, the Dominion Starfleet was now sixty vessels strong, with fifty Attack Ships (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/DominionofRS/attackship.jpg) and ten Strike Cruisers (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/DominionofRS/StrikeCruiser.jpg). Though they were all relatively lightly armed, they were a force nonetheless, relying on their phaser technology to take out any energy shielding and beam elements of the Dominion Defense Force aboard to capture it.
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Captain Seth Talbitt was aboard the DDS Zeta with his squad, looking at the viewscreen simulating a window. Out of tactical interest, no windows were installed on any Dominion craft and the bridge was at the center of the vessel. As he watched the stars coast by along its route, he got to thinking,
What am I doing here? Space is no place for a soldier...I need to be on the ground, where the action is...
His reverie was interrupted by an intone from the ship's intercom system.

"Attention all hands! Attention all hands! we are now entering the Sol system. Earth should be visible within the next few minutes. Prepare for docking procedures. And Major Talbitt, get to the forward airlock. Your presence is both requested and required.

Rolling his eyes, the Major strapped his pistol belt on and boredly walked to the nearest lift.

‘Long-shot’ sat in the cockpit of her FI-941 Rapier, the premier Shenyangi star fighter. It was a no frills design, which was why she liked it. No unnecessary accessories holding back the craft’s natural abilities. She affected a 900-degree snap roll, and continued toward the growing base inverted. When proximity sensors indicated a nearby shuttle and gave her a weapons lock, she affected another 900-degree roll and decided to begin landing procedures.

“Foxtrot Sierra-7 to Quebec Bravo Charlie Base Flight Control, confirm my landing solution for landing bay 1, over.”

The confirmation came back and she made her landing with expert precision. The engines spooled down and cooled, and then the cockpit opened. She climbed out and was followed by an anti-gravity sled with her gear and weapons.

The fighter’s lines were angular and yet streamlined, giving the craft a very simple, but effective appearance. Its paint was an iridescent black with a red band, indicating it was a special operations fighter. The cockpit sealed and did not have any windows, which were always under threat of easy destruction, and thusly a threat to any pilot. The fighter had plenty of modifications, but none were readily obvious. Her flight however, had shown off the engine power and maneuverability of the craft.

Naomi ‘Long-shot’ Marshall (AKA Foxtrot-7) was clad in her combat armor, save the helmet, which sat on top of her gear on the sled. She rolled her neck to stretch and then tossed her naturally red and black hair. It appeared as though the red was streaked in, but it was her real color. Her face was pleasant, with distinctly Asian features. Her eyes were a dark red; they would have appeared brown under cursory inspection. She wore little make-up, partly because she was naturally beautiful, and partly because she did not see any reason to coat her face in cosmetics when she was going to be wearing a sealed, mirrored helmet, wielding a sniper rifle and killing people with inhuman precision.

The armor was obviously effective, illustrated by visible scratching and scoring. Still it was relatively low profile and hinted at the form of the body hidden within, without giving much away. She occasionally called it ‘Military ‘Conservative Sexy’ or MCS armor, due to its form. Only a few people understood the comment fully.

She didn’t pay attention to the technicians in the bay, and headed to the wall across from her fighter to wait for others to arrive. She wouldn’t have seemed inapproachable, but she surely didn’t seem to be very interested in what was going on.

As she leaned on the wall, she decided to activate her personal ‘smart’ AI. She snapped her fingers, and a 2-foot tall image of a beautiful blue woman, who seemed like she might be composed of ice resolved in front of her. She looked a little haughty to any observers. It looked around at the bay, obviously more interested in what was going on than her ‘master’.

“So Shiva how was your trip.”

“Fine, no thanks to your driving.”

“Glad to hear you enjoyed the flight.”

“Quite.”

The two stared each other down, it was quite an intense moment, these two were known to get into some heated debates, and even stop talking to one another for weeks at a time. The moment passed and both laughed for a moment.

“Shiva, could you get me a map of the station, so we know where we’ll be going.”

“Of course Naomi.”

The AI looked distracted for an instant, then her icy blue eyes cleared and she looked back to Naomi.

“Alright, it’s downloading to the MCS memory matrix right now.”

“You’re the best Shiv.”

“I know, I know.”

Shiva decided to display Naomi’s IFF information, so that others would know why she was standing around, and this appeared as a holographic box floating in mid air before off to Naomi’s left.

The two began conversing about the information that Shiva could glean from the station’s systems without doing any serious intrusion activity. As they did this Shiva walked around, but stayed close to Naomi, who stayed on the wall.

The AI disappeared for a moment, and then she reappeared, seated atop the stack of cases on the anti-grav sled.

“Nice to see you’re making yourself at home Shiva.”

“Of course, why shouldn’t I?”

“No, go ahead, I think it gives the right impression.”

Naomi scanned the room with sniper’s precision for anyone coming to greet her.

The shuttle finaly reached the station. Barey a few kilometers away, a Union Super Battleship loomed on patrol with several destroyers. Edward Harker felt a hand on his shoulder. "You'd think with all the intergalactic militaries the Union wouldn't have to play strong man on origion." Winter leaned over hsi seat and looked out the window. A fighter zoomed to close, and they could hear the reprimands from the shuttle pilot. A shudder ran through the shuttle as it docked near the hangar bay. "Seals okay, now get outta here." Drawled the pilot in a thick Brooklyn accent. Winter tipped his hat to him and Edward gathered his gear, he expected a warm reception. Within a minute they had entered the hangar, nly to be greeted by several officers in full uniform. One pair of eyes flicked over General Harker before looking up. "eneral Harrison, sir, I was expecting, uh..." Edward looked up, humor in his eyes. "Someone older? Why yes, I was expecting someone older myself." The officer in the front nodded, then extended his hand towars the rear of the hangar. "As you can see, sir, we've had three people arrive already." Edward took off his hat and pushed through, he had never been muchfor formalities. Winter followed, chuckling softly. He walked over to the nearest soldier, a pretty woman who eyed him with a piercing gaze. He extended his hand, a far cry from the customary salute. "Good morning, hope you had a pleasent flight." He tipped his hat to the others. "Even though I may ot look it, I'm General Harker, recently assigned as the commander of the QCS unit." He jerked his thumb back at Winter. "This is Lt. General Winter, don't ask his real name, he won't tell you." Winter gave a small wave. "And I might add." General Harker said, clearing his throat. 'He's my adoptive father."

Naomi took his hand, with some awkwardness.

"Sirs. Marshall, Naomi, callsign: Foxtrot-7. Sniper, Space Land Air and Sea Teams Boarding Team: Foxtrot. At you service sirs."

She slowly returned to slowly returned to her relaxed state. Shiva could be heard clearing her throat to get the two generals' attention.

"Don't mind her, she figures you'd want to see some military discipline. She's really much more human once you get to know her.

I am Shiva, Long-shot's personal smart AI. I'm a fully-featured warship-grade combat AI, operated from Naomi's MCS armor. I'm an expert in computer intrusion and spotter work."

She gave a short bow. As she did this, she was downloading all the information she could find on these two.

'Always best to know your boss.'

"Oh, don't bother trying to shake my hand, this is a holographic image projected from the armor itself."

"Shiv, you're talking too much."

"Only because you're acting like a combat drone."

Both let out a short "hmph..." and rolled their eyes. Finally Naomi spoke to the generals.

"So, we're going to be eliminating Afflicted Humans, zombies, sir? You've come to the right place. Before the Foxtrot I was a member of the Shenyangi Homeworld Security: Biological Outbreak Suppression Squadron. I spent 4 years in this field, dealing with all manner of zombies. Then I got transferred into the SLAST, and low and behold, I end up here. Helps I'm the best shot in Shenyangi space I guess."

She shrugged. Shiva gave her a slight glare. She was showing off now, and Shiva didn't want Naomi to make some stupid mistake, like get on the CO's bad side with such assertions. Even though they were true.

The Jabitha (http://www.starwars.com/databank/starship/jabitha/index.html) flew through space, mysterious, alone. It landed on the station where the QCS meeting was to take place. Thomas Vanek hopped out, and headed towards the people there.

Naomi quickly examined the craft, it was odd, but it looked like it was someone's luxury cruiser. It was no doubt fast, but it also had all the accessories that she loathed in a conveyance. A oung man came out of the large green vessel, and she quickly sized him up. Something was wrong about him, she didn't like it at all. Shiva's image shuddered ever so slightly, as though the holographic projection were being momentarilly distorted, but it was really Shiva getting the same vibe off this guy.

Before the newcomer could notice she'd been looking at him, Naomi was already looking away, once more prowling the bay for any newcomers.

Vanek walked up to the gathering, looking for any familiar faces.

Edward spoke directly to Shiva. "A smart AI, hm? I've had experiences with Smarties before, they always seemed a slight bit... eccentric." He shrugged. "But then again, I'm barley old enough to be a captain, let alone a general." Winter spoke up, his voice seemed to conjure images of Grandfathers teling stories to grandchildren. "No doubt Shiva knows everything that can be publicly know about us, as well as a few things in the shadows, however, I doubt Miss Naomi knows." He cleared his throat. "I am Lt. general Winter, former commander of the 2nd rifleman division and a former Arkheim Knight." He clapped his hand on Edwards shoulder. "This little kid is my Adopted son, also an Arkheim Knight and a former member of the 117th Infantry division." Edward shot a look back at him. Winter smiled. "Don't worry abotu formalities to much, all you need to kno is that this guy." He nudged Edward on the shoulder. "Is the big boss, other then that, rank has no meaning. You want to get formal say Mister or Miss before someones name."

Docking alarms sounded and the lighting went from its normal bluish tinge to a yellow. The Attack Ship slowly approached the station, the clamps groaning slightly as it docked. With a hiss, the airlocks opened, equalizing pressure. From centuries of living in industrial urban areas, Dominion citizens had long since adapted to survive in lower oxygen environments and the atmoshperes on their vessels mirrored that.

Talbitt calmly strode out, his black dress uniform outlining his muscular features. It had the Gold Eagle, the Dominion's standard, emblazoned over his heart and the oak leaves indicating his rank on his shoulders. Over a dozen campaign pins covered the left side of his uniform. Following the signs down a short corridor, he found himself in the station's hangar bay. Looking around, he noticed a group of officers were talking in a corner of the bay. Calmly striding over, he saluted and introduced himself,

"Gentlemen," his professionalism was momentarily betrayed at an almost imperceptable smile to the female Shenyangi soldier and her AI, "Ladies. Major Seth Talbitt, Commanding Officer Dominion Defense Forces Brigade Delta. I understand we're going to be combatting some...unconventional enemies?"

Over his personal com, the captain of the Zeta piped into his ear, "Major, we're heading back. Your belongings have been left to two attendants on the station and will be brought to you shortly. Happy hunting!"

The channel closed.

Edward chuckled. "Very unconventional. Technically, they're dead." He chuckled again. "And its our job to make them stay dead." A brief hiss of static and the commander of the station's voice boomed throughout the ship. "Srry to interupt you, But General harker is needed on the bridge." Edward tipped his hat. "I have some urgent matters to attend to my friends, I trust that Winter can entertain you for the time being."

"Of course sir," as the general walked away, Seth raised an eyebrow, "A little young for a general don't you think? Though the decorations on his uniform certainly merit the rank."

He chuckled a little before continuing, "I was proud to have made Major this early. I guess I'd better get my ass in gear. I am, after all, representing my people's military."

Winter chuckled. "He got it for leading what was left of the 117th to victory during the Imperialist uprising, kids got guts." he chuckled. "Maybe a bit to much, it runs in his family to have a bright and short career." He shook his head a little. "Thats what happened to his parents, killed in the imperialist uprising when he was barley two, I took him in then."

Seth was now more than a little embarassed for his comments, "Sorry to hear that. I've never had to deal with something on that scale. For the past hundred years all threats I've dealt with were external. I guess when you live in a society in which the government makes military service mandatory and law and order its highest priority insurrecdtions are just a rare occurrence. It may be considered restrictive, but military service is deemed a high honor."

Winter nodded. "The Imperialists were a home grown cell, created by a long boiling resentment when the royalists lost the civil war a couple hundred years back." He looke arounds the shuttle bay. "Made some progress since then to..." He whispered to himself. He looked up. "Now, since big boos has gone and gotten himself lost in an endless mass of red tape, might as well tell you about a battlefield legend, the Immortal three."

Jack Cruon remembered little of how he got to the station. They had found him sitting on a couch with his dog Wilbur in a deserted mining station orbiting a small moon. He had cleaned the station of zombies, but ended up almost starving before a pickup crew consisting of a bunch of aliens found him. Wilbur had sniffed out the location of everything down to the size of rat and he had systematically killed them.

He was in "guest quarters", if you could call it that. The humans running the station hadn't even heard of where he had come from, the Paradise System, they thought he was kidding. There was no such system on their charts. Their language was understandable, an old english variant.

He examined his equipment, cleaning everything systematically, dismantling his pulse pistol, checking the insides of his armor, making sure his combat contacts were clean, recharging his monomolecular electrosaber.

His pack had been refilled. He sold a few of the rings that had been on his fingers with garth gems on them unique to the planet Muse to make ends meet.

He scratched behind Wilbur's ears. Wilbur growled a bit, then stuck out his tongue, the gene dogs eyes had a silvery look to them.

They needed hunters, this he understood, he would hunt for them. They doctors on station had drawn blood and found something interesting, immune vaccine boosters against zombies, viral muscle enhancers, bio-nanite adrenaline enhancers and other things. The doctor who drew the blood wasn't sure he was human...

Shiva was deeply offended by the young general's comments.

"I am not excentric. For that matter I'm not rampant either, the conservative estimates says I've got atleast a decade before I'm even at risk."

She stood up on the cases and folded her arms over he chest. She gave the young general a look that would ought to have been lethal.

"If you're going to insult me and refer to me like I'm a piece of equipment, then we're going to have a problem. I'm just as sentient as you, and a hell of a lot smarter no doubt."

She looked very cross, and her voice was scathing, to put it nicely. For a 2-foot tall hologram she looked extremely angry. Her entire appearance seemed to shift in color slightly, becoming more purple. She was obviously pissed. She turned away from him, and decided to try and make small talk with the Dominion soldier who'd just arrived.

Naomi looked shocked at Shiva's reaction. Her eyes had shifted color, going from their usual deep red to something bordering on pink. She looked from the angry AI to the general several times.

"I'm sorry about her sir, she doesn't take kindly to anything she sees as an insult..."

"Do Not Appologize For Me 'Long-shot'. I have every right to be pissed right now."

Naomi was stunned, Shiva was normally quite pleasant, apparently she didn't like the general's attitude.

Shiva finally got to try and start a conversation with the Dominion soldier.

"A pleasure to meet you Major, the woman in the MCS armor is Naomi, she's a sniper for SLAST Boarding Team: Foxtrot, I'm sure you've heard of them," she lowered her voice so that only Seth would hear her, "and if you're interested, she's single. Just don't say I told you."

The diminutive sprite winked at Talbitt.

"So, how are things in the Dominion? We've been on deployment for the past few weeks, and news is a bit hard to come by on a pirate-infested derelict research station in deep space."

The color of Naomi's eyes had cooled back to dark red, she wasn't sure if anyone had noticed. She'd always found that it made things more difficult, often times people would label her as a freak after glimpsing the color-shift.

When confronted with someone who made that assertion, she reacted very similarly to Shiva had done moments earlier. She'd long ago decided that the two of them were more alike than either would ever be willing to admit.

Winter looked at Naomis eyes, scratching his chin. "Your eyes...." He looked harder. "Am I correct in assuming that one of your ancestors was a certain Mereshkian?" He then truned to the still angry Shiva. "I must apologize for Blaze's attitude, he never really liked AI's, most of those he's ever encountered were trainer AI's at the academy, and they're.... a bit out of date."

"Hello," said Thomas Vanek walking up to Winter.

Seth smiled at the AI's first comment, his response not betraying any reaction to Shiva's revelation, "A most helpful tip, I'll be sure to keep it in mind. And yes, the files we have on the SLAST are quite extensive. Quite frankly, you've impressed us but I didn't tell you. As for the homefront, things are occurring as usual, what with raiders attacking our outlying colonies and the Fleet working on...something big over at the shipyard. You may have heard about it via the ComNet. It's a prototype of our latest cruiser, though I'm not at liberty to go any further.
You know, I do have someone who you might be interested in meeting. We have been putting resources into our own photonic projection program."

He pulled a small device (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/DominionofRS/mobileemitter.jpg) from his pocket and held it away from him, pushing a button as he did so. Letting go, it hovered for a moment before a figure coalesced into being.
He was about six feet tall and balding. He wore a uniform similar to Seth's, but with a red cross emblazoned on the right side of his chest. He had a medical kit on his waist held in place by a strap over his shoulder. He looked every bit as human as Talbitt did.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," he looked around, "Sorry, part of my programming to say that upon activation. It could be fixed if someone would just allow me to modify my programming."

He shot a glare at Seth before continuing, "At any rate, I am the Emergency Medical Hologram. Most people just call me Doctor, or 'Doc'. I am well versed in over four million medical procedures and am probably one of the more interesting personnel in the Dominion military. Everyone else seems way too uptight."

Seth gave a derisive snort and shook his head, "And you wonder why you don't get out much."

"A medical AI?" Winter said "Wow, you boys must not have very many certified MTs, still I suppose is could work in infectious situations." General Harker walked down the hallway, a wide grin on his face. "Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, sorry I got called away, techs had a little.... present for me." "I wouldn't say present." Said a male voice. Edward slid a small device off his belt and placed it in his hand. A holographic figure appeared, dressed in a Union Uniform dating back several hundred years. "I suppose I should start with introductions." Said the AI. "I am AI 3ddy, although you can call me eddy." Winter chuckled. " Even though I know, tell everyone who you're based on." The Ai bowed slightly. "I am based On General Edward Harrison, everything down to my personality is based on him." The AI chuckled. "Absolutly everything."


OOC: So I did bring an old QCs memeber in, just as an AI. Oh well.

Seth gave a low whistle, "So we've essentially got one of the original founding members with us? That's pretty-"

The Doctor cut him off, "No no, the Dominion has plenty of expert doctors and medics. It's just that with medics being traditionally unarmed, needing free hands in emergency situations, the military has developed the EMH for the purpose of keeping our medical personnel out of potentially deadly situations, seeing as we cannot take damage like a carbon-based lifeform. Major, if you'd demonstrate?"

"Sure thing. Ladies and gents, if you'll clear a path."

He pulled his pistol and leveled it square on the Doctor's chest. He fired one shot, the beam of light passing clear through the Doctor and impacting on the bulkhead behind him.

"However, I can come into contact with him."

The Doctor walked over to Seth and punched him in the arm. The Major winced a little bit, rubbing his arm for a second.

"This way I can administer medical treatment without fear of being hit."

It was General Harkers turn to whistle. "Medics in the Union are lightly armed, but we have escorts for them." Eddy turned to face Seth. "Techinically, I'm not the original Edward Harrison, nothing can duplicate memeories, however I do know most of the things he was involved in."

"Wow." Vanek whistled. "Hello, Eddy."

"Hello Vanek, been a while, hasn't it?" Said the AI.

Shiva nodded to Seth, she knew all about the Dominion's big project. She wasn't a foremost expert on computer-intrusion for nothing.

At Winter's comments, which were meant to defuse her, Shiva's purple hue didn't fade, in fact it got deeper if anything.

"Oh, so now getting on in years is reason to call us out of date? When did humans get the right to give us an expiration date? Even you're still referring to us like a piece of eqiupment. AI are just as alive as you all are, I would have thought a unit tasked with killing the undead would have been commanded by people with an open mind. I guess I was wrong. By that same token then you should have been put out to pasture a couple decades ago... sir."

The last word was less of a title, and more of a well timed insult.

She turned away from the others and took a seat on the far side of the anti-grav sled. She tried to get her mind off the seething anger that coursed through her programming like fire by hacking deeper into the station's security, seeing just how far she could get without applying too much force.

Naomi looked at Winter. She wasn't going to appologize for Shiva, she had a point, and they both knew it.

"If you're referring to Saya, and Alex Marshall, then yes, they're my, very-distant grandparents. Her eyes were passed down to every female member of the family, each time a little different. Mine are known to change through atleast 6 colors, depending on how I'm feeling. Makes it hard to hide one's feelings, though it certainly can be helpful at times."

Winter chuckled. "Really now? Interesting little tidbit." He looked at Shiva. "I know I'm an old soldier, can't keep up with the kids anymore. Never doubted your sentience either, the ones at the academy, unfortunatly, followed a strict program and couldn't think for themselves." "Quite correct" Said Eddy. "My inferior cousins barley have enough thinking space to wonder how coffee is made, much less even be sentient." Edward looked at Eddy. "Well, I'm guessing your sentient?" Eddy chuckled. "Give me a flesh and blood body and I'd act the same as any of you." Eddy turned to shiva. "As for you.... I'm guessing a class five AI on the Union scale, with five being the highest." He chuckled again. "It would be interesting to match wits with an AI equal to me." Eddy then switched to a closed frequency directed at Shiva. "Don't worry about General Harker, Winter is the one you should really watch out for."

Shiva stayed silent, to say she was upset would have been an understatement. She found Winter and the general to be limited, and even bigotted.

She deepened in color even further with Eddy's private communique. She didn't respond, even though she wanted to call him a traitor. She began seriously considering showing them why Shenyangi citizens had created an amended version of an old saying.

'Hell hath no fury like an AI woman's scorn.'

Seth turned to the Doctor, "Shouldn't you do something?"

"For God's sake Major, I'm a doctor not a counselor! Besides, she has every right to be angry. Despite the fact that my matrix does not have the problem of encountering difficulties after so many years the general's statements are just as offensive to me as her."

"Dear Lord we have an AI rights rally on our hands..."

"Hello Vanek, been a while, hasn't it?" Said the AI.

"Heck, ya. Well, people, I have absolutely no issue with AIs. At all. As in whether they're human or not."

"Heck, ya. Well, people, I have absolutely no issue with AIs. At all. As in whether they're human or not."

Eddy chuckled. "I'm abouit as close to human as AI's can get, I'm listed as a Class five artificial intelligence on the union scale, which basically means I'm a sentient artifical being." He chuckled again. "So what've you been up to these days?"

"Nothin' much. I managed to get to the head of my government though. Which, surprisingly, leaves me with a lot of free time. So when are we going to get started?"

Seth nodded, "Yeah, I was kind of curious about that myself. Been wanting to see these 'zombies' for a while now."

"Trust me, you really don't. Its about as disturbing as things can get."

Naomi pushed off the wall. Her eyes were appeared to be green, vibrantly, shockingly green. These betrayed her disgust with the creatures. Others might have taken it as the color of fear, but she wasn't going to explain it for them, she'd let them figure it out for themselves.

"Shambling, moaning blood-thirsty monsters that can track you for miles, and practically sense your presence. All caused by a theoretically incurable pathogen that mutates about as fast as it can be identified."

She flexed her fingers quickly.

"Damn things don't even have one frakkin' type. There's been atleast a dozen documented sub-types of the things. Each one more dangerous than the previous one on the god-dammed list. They take an exorbitent amount of ammo to drop unless you take the time to go straight for the head, then you run the risk of missing the frakkin' things entirely. Plasma burns just piss them off, take off a leg and the SOB's just drop down onto their 3 good limbs, and they'll just keep coming until they can't move at all, then they lay there thrashing until you finally blow the things' heads in. Its a frakkin' nightmare, that's why I transferred out of this line of work."

She leaned back onto the wall.

Seth's eyes widened and he raised an eyebrow, "Wow. You know, there's a number of old eccentric ex-Shadow Troopers I know that'd call that the perfect prey. So, plasma doesn't do crap, what about directed energy? My pulse rifle and blaster pistol behave more like firearms and have the power to blow a head clean off. Forgive me if I don't know too much about them. Around 2032 most our records on the 'X' cases were lost or destroyed. All we have is an original roster of QCS members and the mission statment. That, and the only way to kill 'em is to take out their heads."

She shook her head, this guy had missed the point entirely.

"Do you think I'd bring a plasma pistol, or a god dammed plasma sword if they were useless? Directed energy weapons work, as long as you can hit em. Remember, you're shooting for a frakkin' human head, that's bobbing around like a cork in hurricane, that's moving toward you at up to 15 miles per hour, usually in an urban combat setting. Beyond that, you're shooting at it with little or no warning, its a frakkin' nightmare.

The weapons themselves work fine, as long as atmospheric effects don't cause havoc with the bolt, or you don't miss."

Her eyes were still the same vivid green.

He calmed down a little, "Alright, that's not a problem then. I can make a clean headshot just fine. But you did say fifteen MPH, and that's what bothers me. I had no idea that a virus that takes over the body could gain that much control over its faculties. What next, higher sentient thought?"

"I've seen that too, and while I'm at it, the answer to any others is probably yes, yes I have."

An involuntary chill ran down the Major's spine, something he hadn't experienced since his first time in combat. Reflexively, he checked his pistol, consoling himself with the fact that it was on his belt. He really didn't like the sound of that: an enemy that travels in packs, has the strength and power of a human as well as part of the intelligence, evolves rapidly, and can only be killed by a headshot. This wasn't the cakewalk he hoped it would be. These weren't the shambling, stupid corpses he expected. He recalled his briefing with Dominion Intelligence.


A figure is cloaked in shadow in a dark, featureless room. Behind him stands a second figure, illuminated by a stationary holoprojector on the floor. Seth is looking at the visible figure as the concealed one speaks,
"Major, these aren't like the twentieth century cheap movie zombies you're used to so pay attention. They have been classified as hypersapiens, and are a very real threat. You have access to our complete record on them, stored only in this hard copy."

He slides a padd across the table.

"What we have here is a complete record of every single hypersapien event within the past millennium. What don't have is a living, recent sample of the virus. That's where you come in. As luck would have it, there has been a resurgance of hypersapien activity back on Earth and a unit that was disbanded half a century ago is being reformed. Being one of the original member nations, we are sending a representative. Namely, you. Your job is to first and foremost DO your job as a member of the Quarantine and Containment Squad. Gaining a sample is only your secondary objective and only if it is safe for you to do so. Any questions so far?"

"If these 'hypersapiens' are so dangerous, why do you want a sample?"

"On the record, we need one to begin research on a pliable vaccine, provided the incubation period hasn't decreased beyond the twenty-four hour period it traditionally has. We would need to determine that as well. Off the record, well, let's just say we believe that in a war cleaning up a planet of zombies would be much easier than a full scale firefight with our enemies."

"That's bioterrorism! You can't possibly expect me to-"

"Now now Major, do remember that we have direct control over where your career goes, if anywhere at all if you get my meaning. You don't have to return from this alive. Besides, you won't have to go anywhere near them. We can't risk such a decorated soldier becoming infected. Computer, download EMH into the mobile emitter."

The second figure disappeared then reappeared on the other side of the room, now with a small triangular device on his arm.

"We have modifed the Doctor here with an Emergency Combat Hologram program in case things get dicy. He also knows what to do in terms of collecting the virus. Just get him to a specimen. We want you to come back Seth, we really do, and if you follow our orders specifically you will. If not, well, I hope you enjoy waste extraction, because if you do wind up surviving that's all you have to look forward to. Questions? No? Dismissed, Major, and good hunting."

Edward cracked his neck. "First mission starts soon, we just have to wait for the Union to finish the quarintene process." He gestured to open space. "Some hospital station got hit with it, and hard to. Some Union ships were in the area and they initiated the lawrence protocol, anything that trys to escape faces dedly force, no expceptions." He shook his head. "Bit brutal, but its better then a pan-galactic epidemic, right?"

Naomi looked at Seth, she'd still have to keep an eye on this one.

Her briefing flashed through her mind.


Secret IC:
Several days earlier:

Naomi stood in her dress uniform, a black jacket (covered in campaign ribbons) and skirt, both with red highlights, over a silver-ish blouse. She wore black heels, just high enough to be distinctly feminine, without being too feminine. Her hair was cut to shoulder-length. Her eyes were their usual deep red.

She looked around the room; she'd been here many times. It was the secure conference center aboard Shenyang's premier stealth vessel, the Elphaba.

It wasn't registered in any Shenyangi fleet databases; it wasn't listed on any registries anywhere. The only knowledge of its statistics was in a physical hard copy of a file, which was secured aboard the vessel. Only top brass in Shenyangi Central Intelligence, the High Council chairman, the military chair, and intelligence chair.

The vessel’s construction had taken place at a facility which was concealed from all directions by natural black holes. The ship was one of a kind; it was cloaked with a system so advanced that even at full power one would never see it moving. The vessel’s drive system was masked such that it could travel at 1/3 full without giving any return on even the most advanced sensor-suite. It was unarmed, save for the most rudimentary of point-defenses. Its docking bay could accommodate two vessels, and one of these slots was always filled with a single FI-941G Stealth Rapier interceptor.

She was used for the most secure of meetings, and had every security system and protocol imaginable in place at all times. It even had an SLAST Boarding Team assigned to it. Two AI were present in her computers, one specialized in computer counter-intrusion and systems infiltration her name was ‘Tanis’; the other, called ‘Esa’ was an expert in ships systems operations. The ships primary systems were isolated from its operations system, and the classified information was secured on a physically isolated main-core, which required an order from the ship’s commanding officer, a Counter-Admiral (equivalent to a rear-admiral), before anyone could connect the secure core to the main systems.

In an isolated, entirely intrusion-proof chamber, that was isolated even further from the vessel, ultra-secret briefings took place in assured security, but still-guarded secrecy.

Naomi was alone in this room, and it unnerved her, the room was so absolutely dead, it was as though one was attending a briefing inside a black hole.

Finally, an AI appeared on a small projector pad before her. This one was the SLAST liaison to SCI ‘Section-5’. It was the unit specializing in the elimination of external threats to Shenyangi space. The small figure of a man in a long cloak appeared.

“State your name, unit, and designation number.”

“Naomi Elizabeth Marshall; Space Land Atmospheric Space Teams: Boarding Team Foxtrot; designation number 4921-ES-87FV-3331.”

“Confirmed; welcome back Naomi.”

“Good to see you again Ginovo.”

“Let’s get down to business. You are not to discuss anything that you see or hear here with anyone outside of your assigned AI, and Boarding Team Foxtrot. We have received some disturbing news, news that puts your specific skill set and family history in, high demand. In United Human Countries territory we have detected a recent series of outbreaks of an undocumented strain of the weaponized pathogen designated: ZIV-09. From intercepted traffic we’ve been able to determine that this particular strain closely resembles the Phi Omegus strain, the strain common to Shenyangi territory. Your time in SLAST and BOSS, both as a sniper and a shooter, have given you unique experience in the tactical elimination of those afflicted with ZIV-09.

We were considering sending you and your AI against interstellar law, into their territory to ensure that they would be handling things appropriately. Then we received new intel.

As of 3 standard weeks ago, UHC has reformed a unit known as the Quarantine and Containment Squad. Their purpose is to destroy those afflicted. We have decided that your expertise will be necessary for their operation to succeed.”

“Why does this briefing have to happen here? Why can’t we discuss this at my unit’s base?”

“We have to maintain security because we know from historical accounts that this unit also encountered something called ‘Ultimate Humanity’. The remnants of it still float through the gene pool to this day, in the DNA of descendants of the original members. Saya and Alex Marshall were both members of this unit. We believe that this ‘UH’ will come into play again. We believe that the effects of ZIV-09 and UH may be tempting to ‘certain allies’ in this galaxy. We need you to keep their representative from collecting samples of ZIV-09, as we can’t prevent the collection of ‘UH’ data.”

“So, in addition to killing the afflicted, you want me to play baby-sitter for a Dominion soldier who may or may not have reasons to obtain a sample of ZIV-09? Is that basically it?”

“Yes it is; in a supremely blunt way. If you wish to decline simply tell me, and we can abort the operation entirely, or move on to another candidate.”

“I’ll do it; I’ll be allowed to take all my gear, correct?”

“Yes, and you will be resupplied at a request.”

“Alright, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you very much Naomi. You’re dismissed. I’ll see you later.”

“Have a nice day Ginovo.”

The AI faded and the doors of the room opened. She left as quickly as possible.

Seth perked up, "Alright, it's game time!"


A station attendant wheeled in a cart containing two large boxes marked the Dominion standard. He opened one, pulling out a large rifle. Charging it, the weapon whirred to life, lights pulsing slowly. He leaned it up against the cart and pulled armor components out of the box. Looking to the General, he asked,
"Anywhere for a guy to get changed?"

As he was checking his gear, his mind was all over the place.

How am I supposed to get a sample?
Why should I help them? The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few...
Does the government even know about it? Probably not.
But I have a job to do, and he DID say that I was only to collect a sample if it was safe to do so. What if it just didn't happen to be safe on the missions?
No, I'll get the sample, but I'll turn it over to the government. That's it. That's what I'll do.

"Shiva, you might want to hop down, I've got to get to the weapons."

"Of course."

Shiva momentarilly disappeared and then reappeared, seated on Naomi's shoulder.

"Is that better?"

"That's just fine."

Naomi crouched down and opened the cases on the cart. Inside each case was a different implement of destruction. She pulled her plasma sword first. It looked like an odd metal handle, with no purpose what so ever. She twitched her fingers and the weapon activated. Two meter long blades of pure blue plasma leapt into existance in the air before her. She deactivated the weapon and spun it around, clipping it to her left hip.

Next came her plasma pistol, a modified version of the standard Shenyangi military sidearm, it fired a 225 Mega-volt bottled plasma 'bolt' at 5.5 deci-amperes. The shots were capable of burning through ship-grade heavy armor, and tended to overload personal shielding on contact. Against human targets they were devestating because they essentially incinerated anything they hit, and caused massive trauma. She carried it because it was also dead accurate, and had the nice feature of being able to literally blow a zombie's head clean off at 400 meters.

She checked the weapon's core charge, it read as 100%, as it should, that would give her approximately 450 shots. She clipped it to her right hip, then added attached a second power core, just in case she needed it.

Lastly she opened a very large black case. Inside was her primary weapon, a Misrah Advanced Weapons Labs SRS-299 mass-driver weapon. It was her personal sniper weapon. It was very large, almost 2 meters in length, she activated its Oracle scope and checked the zeroing. Shiva made nano-adjustments to the sight, until Naomi told her it was perfect. The -299 was designed to send a hyper-dense projectile at near-relativistic velocities out over 40 kilometers in atmosphere. It was fed from a 50 round box magazine, which she loaded into the weapon. She flipped down its bipod and placed it on the deck. She pulled two more mags from the case, both loaded with the obscenely deadly 4.4mm depleted uridium projectiles. The boxes were large, the size of a 5 round magazine for .50 BMG rifle. She attached them to he lower back. She flipped the massive weapon back as though it were nothing, and attached it across her back. She picked up her helmet and put it on, sealing the suit from outside influences.

She stood up, and did a systems check on the armor. It read that all systems were fully operational. She brought up the map of the station Shiva had downloaded earlier.

"I'll be back in about a minute."

She crouched down like a sprinter and took off at a sprint. She accelerated from 0 to 35kph in about 2 seconds and ran the legth of the station. She skidded for about 30 meters at the far end of her run, having to jump and flip off the far wall in order to avoid crashing. She came back and skidded to a halt. She concluded the armor's locomotive systems were working.

She now had to test the various other systems. She did a full system's test of the cloaking system, then activated it, wavering out of existance. She walked until she could see should have been able to see her reflection off of an object. She did several quick motions, and then, satisfied that the system was operating at full efficiency, she deactivated the cloaking system. Lastly she activated the shielding. A slight shimmer momentarilly appeared as the shields activated, then this disappeared, and she tested it by pulling her plasma sword and trying to hit the her arm with it, the inactive handle was stopped dead. She replaced it on her hip. Conviced that the armor was in full working order she deactivated the shields and went back to wait for the others to be ready.

Edward shook his head. "You guys still going into changing rooms?" He flicked a switch on his belt and his armor emerged from where it was retracted, flowing over as if it was liquid. the armor was done in less then a minute. "Its great to be back in this armor." His voice had a slight metallic tinge due to the helmet. A cold sensation flooded the back of his head, followed by some buzzing. " Wow, its kind of cramped in here." Said Eddy. Edward chuckled. "Don't get to comfy."


On board the Archangel medical station

"You've got to be kidding me." "They're breaking through?" "Thought they were only human!" "Shit, they're coming!" "I see 'em, give them, hell!" "Fall back! FALL BACK!" "Come back here coward!" "Its to big, there are to many of them!" "Help me! No no no, get away!"

"We've found that its more reliable to have the armor in its defensive state at all times. You never have to worry about whether it'll be there after a nasty hit. Constant solid-state armor will be there unless its destroyed, unlike semi-solid-state armor, a really good hit in the right place and I've seen that stuff retract, leaving the wearer exposed. Its not a pretty sight on the battlefield. Of course that's my experience, take that for what you will."

Shiva piped up inside the helmet, her voice was inaudible outside the helmet.

"So that's why Shenyang isn't pursuing research in that field, I thought we just didn't care."

"No, this type of armor, while heavier and more bulky will always be more reliable. That, and you can't house an AI in triple-S alone, you need to interface with the wearer's brain, its more dangerous for both involved."

Naomi sensed that Shiva wanted her to elaborate further.

"In this arrangement, if I die, you might still live, and vice versa, but in triple-S if I die, you're going with me."

"Pleasant."

"Tell me about it."

The SLAST armor's official designation is SCCS-041S, it was entirely self-contained, if she was going to talk to someone not on her comm net, she'd have to do it using the suit's speakers, the same ones that Shiva had been using to communicate. The faceplate of the armor was polarized to the point of being opaque from the outside, no one would be able to tell what she and Shiva were talking about.

Naomi's nickname for it, MCS armor, stems from her first impression of the armor, which was that it was part combat-suit, part swim-suit. Since it was form-fitting, without giving much away (due to the hard-armor components) she and the other female testers had named it MCS (Military-Conservative Sexy) because it was too much of a handful to call it 'Sierra Charlie Charlie Sierra-041 Sierra'. The name had spread amongst the SLAST, but its meaning was a closely guarded secret. Plenty of outsiders had developed back-ronyms for it, not a single guess was even close.

"So, when do we start? These zombies don't stand a chance against a good ole fashioned sabre in my opinion. Though, the occasional gun helps." Thomas tapped his backpack, which was large.

Realizing that he'd get no help, Seth took his armor and moved behind a stack of crates.

"To each their own."

When he finished changing, he put his uniform, neatly folded, in the trunk. Slinging his rifle and attaching the rest of his gear, which consisted of three high explosive grenades, an odd ten inch long cylinder whose only feature was a button, spare energy cores for both his rifle and pistol, and emergency ration packs. Using his nueral interface, he activated the armor's shedling system, which caused a brief field of static to crackle around him before disappearing. He deactivated the EMH's mobile emitter and stored it in his belt; no use wasting its power supply.

His face now totally concealed by his armor (http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/DominionofRS/DarkTroopers.bmp), the Major nodded, saying, "OK, I'm locked and loaded, when do we leave?"

"Lets do the job."

Naomi flexed her fingers. Inside the armor, her eyes were slowly changing over from deep to bright, glowing red. She kept the faceplate polarized to avoid giving away the change. Even though they seemed to accept the color-changing eyes, she doubted they'd appreciate it if her eyes were glowing with an eerie red light as she waited.

She began to wonder how she would be able to snipe on a hospital station, and called up the map. Exactly as she'd expected, there were few oppurtunities for her to do her job. She marked those that were viable. Then the Shenyangi Advanced Marksmanship School's motto crept into her mind. 'See the unseen oppertunities, take the untaken shots.'

"Of course..."

She de-polarized the faceplate, her eyes quickly shifted to a shocking blue and a smile crossed her lips. She projected the schematic of the facility into the air before her and began working trajectories.

"Yes, yes, it'll work."

"What are you thinking Naomi?"

"Well, take a look at the simulation I just uploaded Shiv, you'll see exactly what I'm thinking."

The simulation booted up, showing a diminutive sniper, with some sort of wings on, floating in a close orbit around the station. The tiny figure fired its weapon, and arrows showed the forces acting on her. The wings fired and cancelled any motion, the sniper stayed in its orbit.

"You're not seriously considering sniping into the station EVA are you?"

"Why, you can't do the computations to keep me on course?"

"Of course I can, but its a terrible risk..."

"...With the best chance of reward. I can hit specific targets, or hit windows and decompress the chambers entirely."

"Killing anything inside... ...you're crazy, totally crazy."

"And?"

"I like crazy."

Naomi opened another case, and pulled out four 'wings'. she attached them to the armor's back, and they automatically folded, so as to maintain her comfort until they were needed.

"Special Operations Extra-Vehicular Activity Packs, we call these things 'angel wings', They'll let me orbit the outside of the station, shooting in. The SRS-299 will punch through the outer hull, and hit anything on the other side. With Shiva hacking their systems I can find targets and engage 'on instruments'. Its dangerous to everyone, but its the best bet I've got to assist you guys in there."

Shiva's voice emitted from the speakers now.

"I'll use the station's onboard systems to seal hull breaches, and contain the damage, each of your IFF tags will be displayed for her in 3D on the station so she doesn't engage you."

"So, generals, you willing to approve a crazy, and supremely dangerous operation. I'll stay out there and fire a little bit, then come in and clear interior spaces."

Edward shook his head. "Decomping a station won't do much except give pilots a bit more to worry about, and because its a medical station, thats much worse." he shook his head. "The docking bays are far away from the medical berths, even if the undead made it in, all the hangar crews would have to do is vent it and seal all the internal doors."


OOC: Kind of busy today, barley managed to post this. Going to start the first IC thread tommorow.

"So you want me to decompress the station from the inside, gotcha."

She gestured to the rifle on her back.

"This thing will rip holes in the station either way."

She kept the Angel Wings on, just in case she needed them.

OOC: Posting the first thread right now.

OOC: ITS UP!!!!!!!!

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=13108883#post13108883

OOC: Sorry, but I didn't take the time to read the entire thing. I figured it was just a gathering anyways.

IC: After everybody had left on the mission, Akara finally showed up. Because of the fact that Mereshkans had just barely reached the moon, they had little in the way of spacecraft. He had to 'borrow' one of his sister's ships, and then figure out how to steer the thing. Despite being late, he grinned. Naomi was going to have apoplexy over that. His eyes lightened noticably. He looked around, sighed, and sat down sharpening his katana.