Gavin Merrickson's Story

Gavin hated docking stations. Hated them. There were just too many people and the chaos was absolutely horrible. Gavin hated chaos. He much preferred a nice, orderly medical bay. Of course, there was rarely such a thing as an 'orderly medical bay', especially during conflict. Still, at least there were designated tasks which everyone had to complete, and a nice order of how to do things. Much better than this docking station that was filled with hoards of people who had absolutely no clue where to go.

Luckily, he knew where he had to go, and was already heading there. Gavin had been told earlier to head to one of the gates where the F.S.S. Salient would dock and report to a woman named Alice Chen. Thankfully, there were very few women here, so Gavin was rather certain that he wouldn't have a particularly difficult time finding this 'Alice Chen', whoever she was. The thin male was rather curious about what sort of ranking she was. Usually he only had to report to the doctor, but, considering this was his first time on a new ship, he wouldn't be surprised if this 'Alice Chen' was a senior officer of some sort.

Arriving at the proper gate, he immediately saw the one woman there, and walked over to her. "Alice Chen, I presume?" he said softly in a manner that was somehow both formal and friendly at the same time. Gavin didn't quite follow the standard codes for conduct when speaking to other officers, even his seniors, which tended to get him in trouble every now and then. "Medic Gavin Merrickson reporting and at your service." Gavin had long since grown into the habit of using his full name in an introduction, purely from the amount of times he had been mistaken as a female. Of course, there was the occasional person who still believed he was a female despite his obviously male name, but most people seemed to realise he was a male after hearing his given name. He hoped this 'Alice Chen' was one of the latter types of people.

Thaddeus kept at a 20ft distance from Jon when going through the crowd. He always loved the unlawfulness of large crowds for they always provided maximized cover. As he walked around the crowd, he saw Jon address a woman who was obviously Alice Chen. Thaddeus stood to wait and observe any others who may be a potential crew member. "Ghost. Zoom in on targets."

His AI responded and zoomed to an individual smoking a cigarette. The man's eyes took to the direction towards Jon. Nothing too odd about being surprised about a man in a full body suit Thaddeus thought to himself. He zoomed to a character who stopped in front of Alice Chen. In the crowd it was too hard to hear. "Ghost, zoom in on that person's lips." he said. Ghost read the lips and took the words medic ,Gavin, reporting, service from the spoken message.

Satisfied that he had enough information, Thaddeus walked up to Alice Chen and gave a formal salute. "Thaddeus Jackson reporting for duty and station."

Ridley made way as several others approached Chen to introduce themselves. "Starting to get a little crowded in here." He said with a smile. Soon after they were all gathered round, Chen brought up the New to Old question, no doubt to find out what and who she was working with. As was expected, the fully decked commando piped out his reply soon enough. "Well of course we can expect big, strong and bulky armour-lad to have a record, just look at the guy." He waved his hand up and down the armoured figure as if no one else had noticed. "I mean I'm sorry, but who walks around like that? What was your name again? Jen?"
He waved him aside without waiting for a reply, turning to Chen with another polite inclination of his head; "Four tours for me, Ma'am, and I loved every one of them. Well, except for the third one, that was aboard the Cradle, I swear that thing's haunted." He turned his head in the direction of the gate "This will mark lucky number five, I'm sure it will be bundles of fun. Bundles of restrained fun." He added quickly, remembering the LC's rather disciplined nature.

Allen was getting tired of waiting around for something to happen to him. He had a quick thought and then acted on impulse and started to walk towards the bridge of the ship. He passed a man who looked like someone he knew but throw it off his shoulder and continued on his way. The place was a little crowded and almost confusing to him. He then drifted off in thought about earlier that day. He was arguing with a man to let him on the ship a little early so that he may check the engines and give everything a small little test. Allen did not figure out that it was the Chief Engineer until the man had introduced himself. This set a few things in motion for Allen. He knew that showing up early would or should get him in trouble, the man was mad but then the man gave him a small tour of the engine room. He told him to run some more tests because he was so eager to be on board. His tests took far longer than he had expected them to so he knew he was "running" late to the others that were waiting to board. Allen then picked up his pace and rounded a corner to the bridge. A lot of people are in this room was the first observation he made. He noticed a women out of the corner of his eye. He knew her as the second in command, and at a young age too. He then ducked behind some Boxes that had been stacked up and made his way around to look like he just entered the ship for the loading area. He looked around and finally out the window. He approached the group. "This is where we are to meet correct?" he didn't think about it but he accent was a little thinker than normal.

Faith Mackenzie scowled at the people, that happened to get in her way, as she strode forward across the deck towards the sleeping giant resting in its cradle.The F.S.S Salient, the last of its kind, was enormous even at rest and no one who looked at it could doubt it was a warship. Various types of weaponry covered its surface like barnacles on a whale. Faith was not naive enough to believe this would be a peaceful tour, no matter what those in command said, a ship built for war could no more avoid it than a shark could avoid blood. But then that was why she was here after all, to fix those who got hurt whilst on the this tour.

She travelled light, most of her belongings already being transported on board, carrying only a small shoulder bag filled with a few personal belongings she didn't trust to dockworkers. Last time she had done so her favourite antique hairbrush had ended up on a merchant ship heading for the other side of the galaxy. It had taken her months to finally get it back and it now had a couple of nicks to show for the journey. So now she carried those important things with her. In between her lips was her ever present cigarette, and in the pocket of her doctors coat was a new pack, which was her third already that day. She knew smoking was bad for her, she was a doctor after all, yet that had never stopped her and she felt it kept her sane when the world went to hell.

As she approached what was to be her home, for the next who knew how long, she saw people gathering together in a cluster and she changed direction heading towards them. She kept the scowl on her face and most people stopped short of walking into her avoiding her gaze if possible, inwardly Faith was amused. Looking like she wanted to murder someone never failed to clear a path and she had used it many times in the past for just such an effect. As she neared the group and saw a woman garbed in officers clothes she sighed quietly. She stopped short of the group and took a last drag of her cigarette before regretfully stubbing it out with the heel of her shoe.

She walked straight into the group no hesitation in her stride or posture, this wasn't the first time she had been lumped together with strangers and she doubted it would be the last. She met the woman's gaze ignoring the others to begin with, as she knew military protocol well enough to greet the senior officer first. She straightened her posture and nodded once briefly to the Lt Commander.

"I'm Doctor Mackenzie." She said brusquely "and I would like to get started as soon as possible."

After the short conversation with his brother, Atomsk started looking around. Being Planetary Operations Commander meant anytime these people were on the ground they were under his command. A good commander knew his men. He didn't want to walk up to each person individually. He liked the see what he could glean at first glance and then see how close he was later. It was a game to him. He opened up his cigar box and lit one up. Cigars were for thinking.

He saw his brother of course, and growing up and working with him enough gave him an intimacy few soldiers and commanders could achieve. But he also saw another man who was in a suit very similar to Jon's. He seemed to be observing everyone from a distance like him, but more in a combat sense rather then the person as a whole. He looked like the kind of man that lived for battle, but little else.

Alice Chen. He recognized her and knew quite a bit about her. A very skilled commander, but similar to his brother. Rules were everything. He never got people like this. Rules can't cover everything, and trying to seemed futile to him. But people tried. And so did she. He could already see a bumpy relationship.

Next was a girl that had the nasty disposition that he normally only saw in men. Straightforward. Bland. He was guessing Medic or Engineer. Those types of people only seem to like dead (or dying) people or machines.

He also noticed a man who interested him the most. A man who had a careful look on his face saying he was used to living on the run. Observant. A man he knew he'd come to like. Rules meant little to him. He would be helpful.

He didn't get to finish before a man instructed them on board. The others would have to come later. He walked in with the others. Ready to meet the crew.

Once the hall had filled, and Captain Colter being the last person to step in the auditorium, the Admiral finally began to speak. His voice over the speakers quickly quelled all digressing conversations and attention from the parts of the hall that were not present before soon faced the Admiral. It was resounding, firm, courteous, and resolute, aspects of an Admiral’s voice, specifically Aronimus’ voice. Yet there were subtle undertones which took on a different nature, one that was an overtly paternal voice, one with experience that was no less marked by the vicissitudes of life than any other person of his age.

“Welcome to the Salient, I am Admiral Aronimus Weston,” he paused and awaited the crew’s appropriate response which was a round of applause.

Then he continued.

“I will make this briefing…brief. First off, all of you who were assigned to this ship vary in past field experience, but that does not make you any more or less privileged than your fellow servicemen on board this ship for the duration of this mission.”

The Admiral then called upon Alice Chen and Atomsk Dunaway to platform. As he said this, their profile images and names appeared on the viewing screens, as if on cue, for all the hall to see.

“Lieutenant Commander Alice Chen is my second-in-command, should I be busy and unable to fulfill my duties then Commander Chen will address them for me under her own initiative. All ship crews, pilots, technicians, medical crews, and Science corps personnel will answer directly to her. As for Mr. Dunaway, he will be the Commander for all marines and security personnel; you will directly answer to him. These two will be my top subordinates for the duration of the mission lest some incident prevents either of them from fulfilling their duties.”

The Admiral then told the two officers to return to their seats.

Then he paused to regroup his thoughts, at this point he was at a juncture. He could tell them a truth, which would scare some to the point of requesting re-assignment, or he could leave the matter alone, believing the old saying “what you don’t know can’t hurt you.” However, he decided to err on the side of truth, simply because that was who he was.

“I will not lie to you. In this mission, like all missions, there is a chance that you will die. I address this to each individual on board, right here, right now, in this room. I must present to you then, a decision. You can choose to stay and complete the mission, or you can choose to re-assign yourself elsewhere. Should you elect the latter, we will gather your personal belongings and transport you back to the station via drop ship.”

He paused, awaiting reactions. Some began to look startled and scared. Others accepted the news as nothing new.

“For the rest of you, we are departing immediately, command crews head to the bridge. I trust you will be able to find directions for yourself. Marines please follow Captain Colter to the Barracks section of the ship and set up your belongings. After which command will revert fully to Commander Atomsk Dunaway for the remainder of the trip. Thank you all for coming to the briefing...so...promptly.” The last bit was a touch of sarcasm that Admiral amused himself with.

The Admiral left the platform immediately, heading through a smaller corridor that led directly to the bridge. He had said all that was needed to be said.