Turn 1: Orders are orders

[Corporal Hicks]

Date: August 14, 2189
Time: 09:30:00
Location: Orion’s Belt, Alnitak System

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Alnitak is a triple star system in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the three main stars of Orion's Belt, along with Alnilam and Mintaka. The primary star, Alnitak Aa, is a hot blue supergiant with an absolute magnitude of -6.0 and is the brightest class O star in Earth’s night sky. Colloquially called Alnitak A, it is itself a close binary, comprising the stars Alnitak Aa and Alnitak Ab. The third star, Alnitak B, circles the other two stars in an orbit of over 1500 years. Alnitak Aa is roughly 33 times as massive as the Sun, with 20 times the diameter. It is about 21,000 times brighter than the Sun, with a surface brightness some 500 times greater. It primarily emits ultraviolet rays that are not observable by the human eye.

The May and the Heimlich coasted into the outer limits of the system. Nearly a month had passed since they took off from Capua. Those who were already awake took the time to open the cryotubes and soon everyone aboard was conscious. The full compliment of the USS Heimlich ate a meal together in the mess hall and then scattered to do various activities. It was still a number of hours before they would reach the system.

Ensign Patrick Yu sat on the bridge of the Heimlich. The bridge on a stealth craft of the Heimlich’s designation couldn’t hold more than four crew in tight quarters. Nevertheless, Yu was accompanied by two flight personnel and two Marines. Sergeant Major Sykes and Staff Sergeant Morse stood at awkward angles, discussing various contingencies with the Ensign who was nominally in command of the Heimlich.

“Sir, the May is sending signals in our direction. Shall I pick up the hail?” asked Seaman Daryl Stark.
Glancing at the Marines, Ensign Yu replied, “Go ahead.”
“USS Heimlich, this is Lieutenant Nelson aboard US Cutter ‘May,’ do you copy?”
“Copy, Lieutenant.”
“We picked up a hail from a friendly destroyer. I’ll send it your way.”

Danny Sykes smirked with second-hand pride, knowing that whatever vessel had picked up the May had not picked up the stealth fighter.

“This is Commander Zimmerman of the USS Higgins, Destroyer Class. US Cutter, identify yourself and proceed to the coordinates attached. You are hereby ordered along with all consort and crew to assist in the defense of Gaia Station from an unknown terrorist vessel. You are now under my command until further notice.”

“Well, let’s go tell the others to get ready,” said Sergeant Major Sykes. He picked up the intercom and ordered all crew to join him in the armory. The room wasn't large enough to fit the normal crew, and the addition of a dozen more people made for tight quarters indeed. Sykes did his best to relay the situation to everyone aboard, with the help of Morse. Basically, they had been superseded by some US Destroyer and now were ordered to help with a terrorist attack on a local space station. Once he was done with the vague briefing, he asked for questions.

[eyeball]

Paulson happened to be in the armoury yet again checking his gear when the call came through, he grabbed his flamer and spare ammo then donned his armour and got the hell out of the way before everyone else turned up it was going to get crowded in there fast it was a small room for lots of marines.
As he left he ran checks on the rest of his gear, motion detector, pistol and combat knife all present and that was him fully loaded any more weight and he would be slowed down.
he stood silently as others came by ready to hear what was going on the combination of excitement and fear coursing through his system.

[LT_Chun]

Henniger was finishing up a diagnostic on his new Com-Tech bypass unit in the small comm shack when the Sarge called for all hands in the armory. He buttoned his utility shirt, grabbed his kit bag and made it to the crowded armory ahead of some behind others. As the Top related the orders, he opened his locker and hurried into his armor. He threw his helmet on, flipped the IR sight down and activated it with a glance. Satisfied, he flipped it up, turned his cam and comm units on, and grabbed his M41 off the rack. He jammed the VP-70 into his hip holster and tucked the Bypass Unit into a pouch.
He patted his web gear down and was satisfied that his basic load was present and ready to go.

"Sarge, we need our rucks?" He called out over the din of warriors donning kit and checking weapons.

[Quinn]

Sixtus had, per usual, taken over the medical bay of the ship he was on. He had set to the task of overseeing the medical records of each Marine and updating their information, as well as updating their immunizations. He had worked through just about everyone, save for Oksana (who was last in the priority chain). He was about to call her in when Sixtus overheard the call to briefing.

He leaned against an arms locker with his arms folded and listened to the abridged briefing. It was barely anything so far, and questions were likely being compiled to forward to the Captain of the Higgins as a request for further information.

”Force estimates, enemy ship class, failing that a displacement. And a general idea what will be expected of us once we arrive; crowd control, QRF, counter-terror, etcetera. Also, our current TO&E.” the corpsman said, using his right hand to gesticulate. His exposed arm had a lot of acid burn scarring, his face was fairly clear of such. His tone of voice was matter of fact, cool and confident.

[Morse]

Morse had been fortunate (or unfortunate) to have spent most of the trip in a cryotube. The selection process had in parts been done by drawing straws. Though he was drinking far less then he used to, and on the edge of space they were in not able to drink at all, he still felt the lingering sickness every time he woke up. Maybe it was the memory of vomiting out the alcohol and acids he let gestate in his stomach for months. Or maybe it was some lingering damage that had been done to his system. Whatever the case he never felt as good as others did coming out of cryosleep, and most people did not feel good at all.

He had been awake for several days when the call had come through, and when Sykes needed personnel wrangled, the task was made easy on a ship with no where to go. It was just a matter of keeping track of who had been in the tubes and walking around to find those that were left.

Morse knew about as much as everyone else did. The only edge he, and most of the Marines had, was a wealth of experience in various kinds of combat oriented experience... much of which had been in space.

"You won't need yer' ruck." Morse commented to Henniger, a Marine he was not overly familiar with. "If serious shit happens'n there, you wanna move fast. 'Sides, station'll prolly have better supply then what were packin' on this shit show of a salvage."

< Tag Henniger

Quinn's question was drawn straight from his stint as an officer. Morse did not come close to considering those things, but he had never been elevated to such a role. He managed personnel, combat, and general operations. That was as far as he was concerned on most things, and waited for what ever came next.

<Tag Anyone

[LT_Chun]

Henniger nodded and called over his shoulder, "Thanks Sarge."

Kicking his locker shut, he fell in to the loose gaggle of waiting warriors.

[BarbarianMathematics]

Tanya was in the armory, cleaning the barrel of her pulse rifle when she heard the call over the intercom. When everyone packed into the room she found herself awkwardly pressed between Oliver Grisham and some Navy guy who she didn’t recognize. She felt pretty cramped, and from where she stood it looked like the navy guy had more space but was standing purposely too close to her.

Hearing Sykes mention that they were ordered to conduct counter-terror operations, she audibly sighed. “Well, there goes our vacation time!” she said sarcastically to anyone near her. The Navy guy was definitely standing a little too close. She jabbed her elbow in way that looked like an accident but definitely gave him something to think about. “Let’s get to work,” she said with a sideways glance at the man. As the crowd began to disperse, she went back to prepping her gear with a little more gusto than before.