Post by Deleted on May 17, 2014 21:23:18 GMT
Another one of these. My itch to write is, as of now, unscratched. So... Time to scratch it.
INTRODUCTION
Our weapons expert, Mikon, looked at me with a queer gaze. He was trying to figure me out, quite clearly. "Uh... Fold." His pair of queens was shown to the other five or so of us playing.
The river was dealt, and TinyCarlos, the only non-human in the room, cursed and slid away. He was one card short of a full house. He was also all in. I flipped over my five and my three, the completion of my flush, then took the pot. Harp looked back, to see what cards I had, cussed again, and went into his bunk.
"Captain, do you know when Mulder might be back?" Dome asked. He was the only one with his blaster close by. Probably a smart move. I looked at mine across the room, on top of my footlocker, and responded.
"He said he'd be back any minute now. His estimate was around twenty minutes ago. '14:50 pm,' he said."
"14:50 pm?" Mikon said in confusion, as the auto-dealing machine gave us new cards.
Paying the ante, I said "Yeah. They didn't teach you the time scale of the planet you're moving to?"
"There are different time scales?"
"Yup. A lot of different time scales. This planet runs on a 32 hour day. They don't teach you that in boot camp?" Dome responded for me.
"All they ever taught me was things on ships. I didn't learn shit about working on stations, or anything."
In a normal time, I probably would've chastised Mikon for showing such disrespect to his higher ups, but we all said things like this from time to time, so I let it slide. The poker game went on for a little while longer, with Cany's money running completely dry, and Mikon consistently losing cash. I'm not that great at poker either. Eventually, DFH sucked me dry as well. As I prepared to walk away from the table, Someone who wasn't supposed to be here called my name.
"MIKEY! MI-" and Dome's gun went off. No mantises were cleared to enter our base. Poor guy screamed in agony, as a feeler fell off.
"WHO ARE-"
"Stand down, Dome." I said, authoritatively. "Look at that antennae. It's off his damn skull!" Scoffing in disgust, I turned to the mantis. "Harp, what the fuck happened?"
"Sir, you know this mantis?" Carlos asked, confusedly.
"He's the informant that Mulder was supposed to be meeting. Now Harp, explain yourself."
"Mike. They found me out. Mulder is MIA. Last I saw, he caught some sort of injury to his leg, and was apprehended by rebel forces."
"Damn." I turned and thought. "Anything else?"
"They have bugs on every ship flown in the past 12 months."
"Wait, what?!"
"I'd say that they have forces on their way as we speak, sir. Also, we found this."
"But-but why didn't you tell us?"
"I gave Mulder the information a long time ago. He keeps telling me that he never had the chance. 'Always watched,' he'd say. They haven't done much with the information, but we don't have time. What now, sir?"
"Harp, you go on IWMT's old ship, with IWMT, TinyCarlos, and TKA. Mikon, Dome, you're with me. Headshot, Master Psychic, and Crackman, get on Campman's cruiser. Bio, get your crew on your old ship. Your goal is to escape the rebel's reaches. Everyone understand?"
"YES, SIR," every soldier in the base said in unison.
Harp gave me something else, a little cylinder, before following IWMT. Words were written in human language crudely on the cylinder, reading, "Get this to the Federation's capitol ASAP. For official's eyes only."
"Captain Michael, we should get going, now." Mikon said, looking determined.
"Yes. Let's go."
INTRODUCTION
Our weapons expert, Mikon, looked at me with a queer gaze. He was trying to figure me out, quite clearly. "Uh... Fold." His pair of queens was shown to the other five or so of us playing.
The river was dealt, and TinyCarlos, the only non-human in the room, cursed and slid away. He was one card short of a full house. He was also all in. I flipped over my five and my three, the completion of my flush, then took the pot. Harp looked back, to see what cards I had, cussed again, and went into his bunk.
"Captain, do you know when Mulder might be back?" Dome asked. He was the only one with his blaster close by. Probably a smart move. I looked at mine across the room, on top of my footlocker, and responded.
"He said he'd be back any minute now. His estimate was around twenty minutes ago. '14:50 pm,' he said."
"14:50 pm?" Mikon said in confusion, as the auto-dealing machine gave us new cards.
Paying the ante, I said "Yeah. They didn't teach you the time scale of the planet you're moving to?"
"There are different time scales?"
"Yup. A lot of different time scales. This planet runs on a 32 hour day. They don't teach you that in boot camp?" Dome responded for me.
"All they ever taught me was things on ships. I didn't learn shit about working on stations, or anything."
In a normal time, I probably would've chastised Mikon for showing such disrespect to his higher ups, but we all said things like this from time to time, so I let it slide. The poker game went on for a little while longer, with Cany's money running completely dry, and Mikon consistently losing cash. I'm not that great at poker either. Eventually, DFH sucked me dry as well. As I prepared to walk away from the table, Someone who wasn't supposed to be here called my name.
"MIKEY! MI-" and Dome's gun went off. No mantises were cleared to enter our base. Poor guy screamed in agony, as a feeler fell off.
"WHO ARE-"
"Stand down, Dome." I said, authoritatively. "Look at that antennae. It's off his damn skull!" Scoffing in disgust, I turned to the mantis. "Harp, what the fuck happened?"
"Sir, you know this mantis?" Carlos asked, confusedly.
"He's the informant that Mulder was supposed to be meeting. Now Harp, explain yourself."
"Mike. They found me out. Mulder is MIA. Last I saw, he caught some sort of injury to his leg, and was apprehended by rebel forces."
"Damn." I turned and thought. "Anything else?"
"They have bugs on every ship flown in the past 12 months."
"Wait, what?!"
"I'd say that they have forces on their way as we speak, sir. Also, we found this."
"But-but why didn't you tell us?"
"I gave Mulder the information a long time ago. He keeps telling me that he never had the chance. 'Always watched,' he'd say. They haven't done much with the information, but we don't have time. What now, sir?"
"Harp, you go on IWMT's old ship, with IWMT, TinyCarlos, and TKA. Mikon, Dome, you're with me. Headshot, Master Psychic, and Crackman, get on Campman's cruiser. Bio, get your crew on your old ship. Your goal is to escape the rebel's reaches. Everyone understand?"
"YES, SIR," every soldier in the base said in unison.
Harp gave me something else, a little cylinder, before following IWMT. Words were written in human language crudely on the cylinder, reading, "Get this to the Federation's capitol ASAP. For official's eyes only."
"Captain Michael, we should get going, now." Mikon said, looking determined.
"Yes. Let's go."