[Mithlas]

((Recruitment thread for character questions, OOC thread for rules, setting, and non-in-character interaction.))

The faint hum of life support's air circulation adds a sense of movement to the sterile interior of the Terran Alliance's military space station orbiting Alkelos 2. The closest developed colony to the galactic core, the military space station is often buzzing with courier and recon vessels, but the cruiser Matsukaze is larger than most space vessels convening in the area and the attention from the civilian traffic lanes is obvious from a thousand kilometers away. The angular, gunmetal gray almost acts as a visual sign for the Alliance spacers, many of the distant civilian courier and transports being painted in the colors of their parent corporations.

With a burst of Rontgen radiation, an ivory-painted courier vessel snaps out of warp and curves towards the cruiser and its waiting support ships. The small, sleek courier ship pulls alongside the Matsukaze, slowing as the two ships pass through the standard procedure of identification and instruction exchange. Inside the passenger level, the door forward into the crew control center slides open and a spacer in the fresh, pressed uniform of a new recruit stumbles into the passenger waiting area that hadn't changed much since the pre-warp era days of fast water-transports and classy aircraft transports. The gray and paneled-pockets lack any customizations from standard-issue Alliance spacer uniforms, and the helm collar indicating the uniform's ability to act as a short-term emergency space suit gave the crewcut-haired man a faint appearance of a jester.

He catches his feet and straightens his uniform with a ruffled air of "I meant to do that", and looks out at the two rows of seats on either side of the main isle. He reaches up one hand to check the matte-black earpiece clipped to his left earlobe. "Pilot wants everyone to know that we've arrived at Alkelos and we'll be docking with the Matsukaze in four minutes. I'm Flight Lieutenant Henderson and I'll be transferring over with you. Um...I'm sorry I haven't been out and about much during the trip, I wasn't sure about how to act with PMCs since I've always just been part of allied-exclusive units before."

He rolls his shoulders in a vain effort to try to look relaxed. "I know you're all the best at what you do, and I don't know much about the mission that wasn't already sent to you - we're here to check out the area and find out the cause behind disappearances in coreward survey expeditions. Any questions before we transfer and get to the briefing? I've received your updated clearances and can answer any questions you all might have."

[Scawire]

Slicer has always liked to get as much information as he could about anything he was involved in this new posting is no different if this guy is going to answer questions Slicer would see what intel he could get. Since this is my first time to this Ship if you could do your best to let me know the layout of the ship that would be of great help. It sure would save us from having to ask for directions every time we want to go anywhere. Slicer hopes this will give him an good idea of where everything was located on the ship. Thing is Slicer knows there will be some areas not told to him for clearance reasons.

[Mithlas]

Flight Lieutenant Henderson nods, then his face slackened slightly. His eyes jerk subtly back and forth in the tell-tale sign of a man reading off the image link in an implanted heads-up display. After a moment he looks back up with a mild stage smile. "The design is similar to the older Solzhenitsyn class. We'll be entering on level three, where you'll note the usual warp drive through the core of the ship's longitudinal axis, with CIC up front and engineering at the back. Both of those will be restricted to Alliance personnel, the doors won't respond to your implanted ID chips. Primary armory and the ship's 'dojo'," he says while moving his fingers into air quotes at the unofficial term for the melee training area, "are up on level 2, where you'll need escort for access to the facilities. I believe most of the marines are quartered on level 2, but you'll be just as likely to see them running laps down on level 5."

"Medlab's down on level 4, and Captain Henri Walther is the medical chief who will be giving us all our final clearing physical. The culturing, cloning, and lab area is restricted to medical personnel, but the treatment area is set to standard access. Most of you will be quartered down on level 4, the locations and software keys should be transmitted to your ID chips as soon as Chief Walther clears us. The VR firing range is just outside the tail armory near the back of level 4, according to my file it requires escort but on every ship I've been on you just need to apply for clearance from security and you should be able to access it for individual training whenever you're not on task somewhere else."

Lieutenant Henderson pauses, his eyes unfocusing and scrolling for a moment before he looks at another section of the seating. "Cargo 1-2 next to the fighter bay on level 1 has been set aside for you riggers and fighter jocks, you'll have standard access. If you're wanting VR facilities for pilot training, I believe the briefing room on level 2 has been reconfigured to accept your PANs. That should be open to standard access any time it isn't needed by Matsukaze's officers. Crew canteen is up on level 1, serving the usual three-and-a-half meals a day, special hours and events will be posted in advance on the ship's AR bulletin board." He scrolls through some more internal display for a few seconds and looks back out at the passengers in general. "Down on level 5 you've got the drop pod and landing equipment, most of the rest of that level is storage and engineering quarters so you probably won't be going down there unless you want to join the marines in their morning sprint."

Henderson pulls at his gloves before looking back up. "I understand that you all have already been through a thorough screening process, so...yeah, I think the only places locked down are CIC, engineering, missile bays, and the computer cores on levels 2 and 4, but those tend to be restricted to command or engineering anyway so I hope none of you find it too unusual."

[Scawire]

Slicer stretches his neck to get an kink out of it. Thanks that helps a lot, so any clues on where this metal light speed rocket is heading, or has word got around on any missions we might have. Slicer doubts there will be a lot of intel on the mission ahead but you never know sometimes people get wind of what is going down on command and talk a bit about it. If we have to wait to hear any up coming missions maybe you tell us what missions have just recently took place, that is the non-classified ones any way. That might give us, the new crew, any idea what has been happening out hear in the vast dark space expanse. Slicer was going to pause to give the Space Jockey time to answer but he mind came up with an inportant question he didn't want to wait for. Also what kind of Matrix connection do we have on this ship and what kind of clearance do we private military types got to use it.

[Mithlas]

"Coreward is all I can guess. The Wu Meng stumbled across the remains of one of StellCorp's survey ships a few hours by warp coreward. They put out a call for all of their ships to check in but until they check in we won't know which of the seven still unaccounted for are still in transit and which was destroyed." Henderson pauses to glance over his image link. "According to the report, there were no signs of survivors and they had to identify the ship by paint scheme because there weren't any chunks bigger than six square centimeters left. Whoever got that ship either hauled it away or was very thorough with obliterating it, and command isn't leaving out the possibility that the Halpa 'death ray' may not be a bluff anymore. At least there were particulate traces of thruster activity, which means it probably wasn't a bentu ship as they tend to rely on magnetic drive for sublight."

A click sounds as the ship intercom activates, and the steward's voice floats out from the hidden speakers, "Authentication exchange has been completed, cargo and stowed effects will begin transfer and outbound screening immediately. If you still have any personal carry-on belongings don't forget to have them packed and with you on the way out. Thank you for flying North Wind, the most trusted name in interstellar flights."

Henderson rolls his eyes and leans back against the doorway. "The Matsukaze has a top of the line nested node architecture with Stellcorp's latest firewalls on the first tier dedicated to essential ship functions, and the second tier dedicated to sensors, targeting, and weaponry. Those will be locked out to most of you," the flight lieutenant pauses to glance at a slim man in a blue jumpsuit, "except to gunners like you, Felix. Obviously they'll prefer you jack into one of the gunner cradles in fire control primary or secondary to minimize latency, but if you're stuck in medlab with two broken legs you can log into the ship's wireless and handle the VR from there. Below that is tier three that most of you will be operating on. It's only got a Sanii firewall but it's still better than most civilians have ever seen and it's got the latest updates to keep it from being a liability if Halpan code crackers try anything. That'll have a layout of the ship if you ever wake up after a concussion and can't remember how to get to your duty station. As soon as you get checked out by Walther you'll receive the encryption keys and should be able to log in with one keystroke. Technically there's a fourth tier for query displays and basic AR and such, but those devices are pretty much only capable of handling direct inquiry requests and standard on any ship, it's the same kind of subnode that most of you have in your helms for smartlinked HUDs. As long as we don't have anybody try to rename their room 'Seymour Butts' I doubt there'll be a problem."

[GrimWulf]

Arsenault peers out of the port window opposite the Matsukaze, gazing out into deep space. He listened as the flight lieutenant spoke to the man with the clear asian features, but kept his focus on the star-field.  He knew it was hopeless but there were two stars he was looking for.  From here they would practically be neighbours.

He waits for Henderson to finish before asking, "How far out are we? Any local trouble?"  He pulled his Go bag out of the overhead storage and accessed his link, checking his new clearances and seeing if he'd picked up or had any mail waiting for him while in transit.

[Mithlas]

Henderson stepped away from the wall and straightened. "We're a few days from Terra Sol, sir, and about another day at high warp from the intersection between the Carina-Saggitarius Arm where many of the disappearances have occurred. Alkelos has only been terraformed for a few decades so there's not much here besides a rest stop for ships heading coreward into uncharted space or those coming back. The Iskaten Kingdom hit here during the Second Contact War, but there's been no sign of Halpan activity since their Widowmaker crashed out of hyperspace to make emergency repairs. As far as I'm aware, the disappearances out there are the only things that have happened lately. Estimates range from four to six years of disappearances that might be explained by an unknown agent beyond our borders."

The unfolding of folders on Arsenault's link's ARO  display indicate three timed data packets received during the flight to Alkelos. The usual personnel transfer and new unit protocols wait final perusal. A new message transmitted from the Matsukaze during the IFF authentication period waits at the top of the new messages, giving a brief overview of the crew of importance on the Alliance cruiser and adds a final request before the formal beginning of the new mission.

Designees: Wild Card Squadron
Clearance: 2-Angel

Report to standard in-briefing where you will receive clearance updates and final mission orders.

This mission may be the gateway to events as momentous as First Contact. The Alliance thanks you for your decision to serve.

Henderson straightens his uniform, and then gives a brief salute to the waiting personnel in the shuttle. "I'm sure that all of you have more questions, so we'll be gathering in in Cargo 3-4. It looks like we'll all be getting our final clearances there, as well as the full mission orders and briefing. It will be right this way," he states before turning around, pushing the sliding door out of the way, and leading the people into a half-full cargo bay with the usual parade-formation space and folding podium in front of the formation space.

[GrimWulf]

Arsenault files away the information Henderson just gave him in the back of his head for now, might be interested to check into it later.  Meanwhile it was time to look ship shape the brass. He gives his uniform a good going over before following Henderson out the door.

He almost drops his go bag once he see's what's outside however as he's never had this kind of welcome before.  Last time he could remember a parade formation was graduation, he doesn't dare glance behind him to see who else was on the transport but he obviously missed noticing some VIP.

[Scawire]

Slicer fallows the rest of the people onto the ship. Lets see what kind of fun this ship has in stores for us. Slicer thinks this to himself as he does his best to keep pace with everyone else. Slicer continues to look around at his surrounds since this seems like it is going home for some time.

[Mithlas]

The antiseptic white lights form lines at the meeting point between the ceiling and wall. The straight lines and glassmetal-plated ceramic wall plates impose the repetitious feel of an assembly line despite the faux-carpeting to comfortably dampen footsteps. The same pull-slide door handle rests in every door from the airlock to the Cargo 3-4. The same meter-wide door greets Henderson and the others, and beyond yawns a storage space that stretches from the interior-loop hallway to the edge of the inner hull. The more distant lights shed more diffuse illumination that makes the shadows in the assembly seem longer, though the regular ratios of the wall panels give an impression that the room isn't large as much as everything in it has somehow become smaller.

Shortly after the last of the new personnel from the courier ship files into the cargo bay temporarily converted into a parade hall, the door whooshes back open and two marines in their iconic, heavy armour stride in with the faint leather-like groan of their artificial muscle fibers. Their polarized helms give the impression of robots, the smooth surface like an eye staring at everything at once. Following them strides a short woman with her straight black hair neatly combed in a short bobcut style. Her dark cloud-grey uniform displays the Alliance Eagle on the right shoulder, the crackling nebulae of the Fourth Spacer Group on her right. Her cuffs and nehru collar all carry the bright yellow band terminating in an exploding star. With deep strides clinking over the cargo room floor, she walks up to the podium and sweeps her gaze over the assembly.

"I am Captain Uriburu, commander of Wild Card Squadron. Spacers, both Alliance and contracted, you have chosen to embark on a journey into the unknown." She types into a keypad in the podium and a projector magnetically affixed to the ceiling glows to life. On the outer wall facing the formation appears a star chart of the Orion-Cygnus Arm of the galaxy with Alliance territory marked in blue. The splotches of the Confederacy's territory scroll in orange, and dots with symbols of Halpan kingdoms spring up in yellow and red to indicate their current relations with the Alliance. Another keystroke and the map zooms in to the coreward fringe of Alliance territory, at the intersection between the Orion-Cygnus and Carina-Sagittarius arm. Another keystroke and the territory markings fade to grey, with yellow diamonds marking seven points beyond Alliance territory.

"You may have heard rumors of lone vessels disappearing in the expansion towards the galactic core, or read news reports of the 'unusually high number of superlight drive disasters' resulting in lost ships in this area. These stories are only partially true. Over the past eight years, every ship that has been on recon or survey missions in this region for more than three months has vanished. Until three years ago we did not have definitive proof that it wasn't simply a series of unfortunate failures in warp drive. Over the past two years, a procession of planned rendezvous and investigation meetings has discovered a pattern in the disappearances." A keystroke causes a yellow line to connect to three of the yellow diamonds. "Loitering missions for long-term surveys have been vanishing after a period of approximately two months out of contact. Ships returning early as part of the investigation have indicated long-range sensor difficulties, with two science officers claiming to have spotted sensor ghosts. Infrared telemetry has not verified their claims."

Tapping precedes a much longer chain of orange connecting all of the diamonds on the far coreward end of disappearance locations. "Ships on long-range survey and recon have been disappearing much more quickly, with the confed Einhander missing its check in just just eight days after launch and the Alliance Brazen Fire on a two-day cartography mission that failed to return, with the Strauss sent to investigate it five days later also failing to report back in." Uriburu types into the keypad and the view zooms in to focus on the coreward expansion region, highlighting one of the hollow yellow diamonds. "The most definitive information we have is from the Wu Meng, which recovered debris from a Stellcorp long-term survey vessel. Analysis indicates a nearly one hundred percent probability that it was destroyed with high-energy particle weaponry. Now the corporate ships do not usually have significant armour, but the Brazen Fire and Strauss were both Alliance ships rated to survive military engagements." She leaned onto her podium and looked straight at the crowd for emphasis. "Our armour is the best in the galaxy, and the Strauss had capacitors to jump into warp minutes after dropping out. That so many of these ships are vanishing can only mean one thing."

"They're being destroyed by concerted effort from a hostile entity. Both Bentu corps and Halpan kingdoms have denied having any knowledge or involvement in these disappearances. Our mission is to determine the truth, drive off what threats we can and bring back information to the Alliance so proper defenses can be organized." She looks over the assembled crew and contractees. "We are the fastest, most adaptable people in the alliance. If there is something to kill we'll kill it, if there's something hidden we'll find it, and if there's something too big to shoot down we'll survive to bring word to the Alliance. Any questions?"

[Scawire]

Slicer tries to think about questions to ask, he wonders if it would be disrespectful but decides to ask anyway. I was wondering what is the edge this new ship has that all the other ships did not? Slicer thinks that might be a secrete they are keeping under their hats and may not tell the new personal. If you don't want to say, as a flighter pilot what is the stats of the fighters this fine ship has stored away for us to keep the cold hand of death gripping all of us. Slicer gives a bow after his question.

[Mithlas]

Captain Uriburu glances out at the assembly and locks eyes on Slicer. "The Matsukaze has the latest reinforced warp drive and hardened insulation on the core power grid. We can go faster for longer than any other ship ever built by Terran hands, even with significant damage. Our weapons and targeting sensors have been rated accurate at distances beyond two megameters."

The PMC techie in blue next to Slicer whistles quietly and mutters, "That's nearly spotting distance for Halpa raiders."

"We have the latest, custom-built computers networked to distribute computation load and put pinpoint-accurate railgun fire at any target not matching a FOF library, a combined set of railguns and particle cannons, and the outer hull has been redesigned to accommodate more heat sinks so we can continue pushing combat operations a full eleven minutes longer than battle-type Solzhenitsyn cruisers. If we run into a heyday, we could redline every gun and run out of ammo before the we cook to death from heat waste. Even better, the redesign gives us an entirely new silhouette that nobody has ever seen before. No Bentu spy or Halpa pirate is going to have the faintest idea what to do if they run across us, and Von Plessner's latest armor is going to mean we're around for a long time to bare our teeth. Let's just say that last generation's problem with armor slagging under particle guns is going to be an unlikely possibility." Uriburu looks down into the formation of waiting Alliance spacers. "Commander, the talons are yours, would you care to give the unclassifieds?"

Another spacer in Alliance greys salutes from the right side of the formation. "Yes, captain. Our complement includes two attack groups. We've got a ten-strong squad of Velociraptors for interception - with three man-able fighters so a squad leader can take them out for a flight in the middle of an ion storm. We've got twelve Harriers for general fighter duty."

"Aren't those kinda old?" asks the blue-jumpsuited technician.

"They're not top of the line, but General Pinhero doesn't deploy antiques and these have enough armor to take a direct hit from antifighter batteries without turning into vapor. We've also got authorization to use needle missiles in case we find light-armored targets too maneuverable for the Matsukaze's main guns. And just for good measure, we've got the parts for three manned Peregrine scouts if we come across an in-system target we need intel for but can't risk the 'kaze getting in close. The thruster baffling is pretty good, as long as you're not pushing it or heading straight away then it should be difficult to pick up on thermal."

[Scawire]

Slicer is glad to get any intel he can get it is always good to know at least what you can do in a fight even when you know near nothing about the enemy. Slicer bows to the two officers. Thanks that gives me a bit better idea what we got to throw at this mystery threat.

[GrimWulf]

Arsenault listens to the rundown of the ship with a sense of pride building up inside him. Only the Alliance could put a beauty like this together.  Looking out over the assembled crew he can sense the confidence that a ship like this automatically brings. He tries to get a good look at every face he can see without too obviously gawking around.  Scanning the command staff he pauses on a face he knows, and only his training stops him from breaking out in a shit eating grin.  Of all the places to run into that old coot. He thinks to himself, making a mental note to be sure to stop by the medbay later.

A thought comes to mind. Stepping forward with a salute Arsenault asks, "Do we have an established rules of engagement at this point? Or are we going to acting on a per mission basis?" After asking his question he steps back again.

[Mithlas]

Captain Uriburu gives a crisp nod. "Primary orders are to observe, secondary to collect or destroy if possible. Specifics have been left to command as per situational analysis. Command was able to identify signs of Halpan attacks within days of the beginning of the Second Contact War, and InOps thinks they can spot Bentu patterns, but these attacks just don't leave enough signs to be sure what's going on. Brass wanted a few experts like you in the possibility of a first contact scenario, but they still aren't sure this isn't corp or kingdom activity." She looked down to the back of the parade formation at a man with wispy white hair, flanked by marines in assault-type exosuits. "Doctor Reeds, did you have any thoughts to share on your interpretation?"

The man removes the thin, frameless glasses from his nose and takes a rag from one pocket to polish the left lens briefly before replacing the items. "The resources that would have to have been expended to make the missing ships vanish so completely would be out of observed behavior patterns for Bentu corporations. The spread pattern on recovered debris indicates short-range aggressors - something well within half a megameter."

The PMC in blue shuffles on his feet. "Well so what's that mean? Lots of space combat continues closing after opening volleys. Even the Alliance didn't always have doctrine for combat outside a megameter."

Reeds turns his face as if trying to move away from an unpleasant smell. "The kingdoms have either signed or recognized the recovery pledge and left a status beacon at the site of a raid for the recovery of survivors, even if only for ransom purposes. When making extractions, they have always targeted persons of importance, but these scout attacks are too random for them, targeting meaningless people and archaic ships." A quarter of the Alliance spacers tense in hostility at his dismissal of the victims, but he doesn't show any sign of recognizing the change in the room's atmosphere. "No, if anything they resemble harvest-poachers stripping a nature preserve of game."

The blue-jumpsuited sergeant crosses his arms and glowers, muttering, "Man, who is that jerk?"

The Alliance sergeant next to him balks silently. "Are you stupid? That's Doctor Valen Reeds, the alien tech expert. He got his hands on a totaled Halpan bomber in the Second Contact War, published his reverse-engineering analysis, and was so accurate that eight kingdoms had a bounty on his head within twenty-four hours. They say that he can take apart a particle cannon - never before seen - then put it back together blindfolded."