0111narwhalz wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2017 1:28 am
I ask the nearest not-uninterruptibly-busy person where I can find Lt. Dyoun. I then go to that place and ask Dyoun for a quick situation report. Hopefully she can get me up to speed before I'm dispatched.
Looking around, you sight an engineer over to your left, seemingly repairing a faulty control console. He has it opened up; you can see all the wiring inside. Hoping he'll be able to assist you, you head over to him.
The man looks up as you approach, and you quickly discover his thick accent. "Ay, I halp ya mate?" The way he pronounces "mate" sounds more like "mite". "Danald Swizenaiga at ya service." He's speaking around some sort of tool he's holding between his teeth - something like a cross between a flashlight, a camera, and possibly a projector.
"Yes... my mission briefing mentioned a 'Lieutenant Cho Dyoun'," you explain. "Could you direct me to her?"
The man nods vigorously, and offers you a hand. He gives you a very firm - if brief - handshake. "Ay, you're one of them new
REKT lads, are ya? Ya, 'ey said you jes come outta cryo! Blimey, man's havan na marcy on ya par impavarshed sals eh, if ey ain't een givna farta wonks atterdat fiscio." He devolves into some sort of dialect for a moment and then looks at you. Not knowing what else to do, you nod. He nods back knowingly, and - praise FSM - takes the tool out from between his teeth. His speech clears up immediately. "Yeh, she's down that way, mate. Just take those stairs down yonder, head to one of the bottom floors. Look for a gal with black pigtails and enough energy to get them engines runnin' again. Can't miss her if you tried."
You thank him and let him get back to work, heading off on the final part of your little quest to find someone who can tell you just what the hell is going on.
~~~
"OH MY GOD!!!"
It's Cho. The black pigtails are certainly her defining feature, followed closely by a mixture of European and Asian facial features - slightly narrowed eyes, a thin face, a modest nose, small mouth. She's shorter than you, but not by too much - perhaps a few inches. She makes up for this with an overwhelming enthusiasm and cheerfulness. She spins the chair away from the console and gets quickly to her feet.
"You're one of the new
REKT people!!" she laughs in delight, clasping your hands like a long-lost friend. "Oh, they must've
just pulled you out of cryo! Did SCAMPS send you down here? --- No, he wouldn't have, would he. But you're one of
my people, right? You can call me Cho, and I'm so happy to get to meet you! I
love getting to know my people better, and it helps everyone last longer if I know their tendencies. Well -
actually, Miranda already died, and the others aren't looking much better - but you must be here to replace her! You'll
love it out there - it's a beautiful sunshiny day, there aren't even clouds on this planet! ...Oh - and how are you feeling? You look a bit sick." She stops short, abruptly, looking at you with a puzzled, questioning expression.
You pull your hands away from hers. "I'm fine." Your curt response puts an extreme damper on her enthusiasm.
"Oh... okay," she says, suddenly unsure about herself - but she recovers quickly, bouncing on her toes for a moment. "So, how can I help you?"
"I'd like a brief situation report."
Cho sits back in her seat. "Okay... Well, you read the mission briefing transcript, right?" When you nod, she continues. "Alpha went up toward Huhoba Qitsit - that's the colony - and Beta is trying to go down toward the crashed Nacelle. Unfortunately, SOMEONE didn't keep a good enough leash on the enemy fighters, and they attacked my squads." (Cho says this pointedly in the direction of another similarly-uniformed woman sitting near her, who gives a brief, annoyed smile.) "That's when we lost Miranda, and now Alpha could probably use reinforcements - oh, one moment -" She turns away from you and checks out some of the screens around her. "Mhm... Well, that's
kinda out of my jurisdiction!" You assume she's talking on the comms. "I'll talk to Reyha and try to get her to spare someone, but don't count on it happening! Sorry!"
You wait for her to finish. She says something else over the comms - something about scavengers and military forces - but you aren't paying much attention. You're eyeing the woman that Cho had glared at a few moments ago - Reyha, apparently. You get an uncomfortable feeling about her.
"You'll probably be joining Squad Alpha," Cho says - this time, to you. "I'll be your FTO. Right now one of Reyha's squads are trying to take out some Hiltorel forces above the Nemesis, but after they're dealt with, SCAMPS will send you out."