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Post by Draxas on Apr 23, 2012 22:19:14 GMT -5
Twilight tapped into the main channel to the Institute's headquarters, ignoring the deep cover protocols he had been maintaining for so long. After the day's events, any need for subtlety was long gone, even though it was only a few hours ago that he was trying to coax essential files from an auxiliary terminal while the guards had started to panic as they got picked off one by one. Besides, he was starting to feel a little woozy, no doubt the result of suffering two head injuries in a short span of time. He only hoped that someone reasonable would be on the other end of the line, because he was in no mood nor condition to deal with the runaround right now.
"This is Agent Twilight, requesting immediate evac. Do you copy?" He noticed that his speech was slightly slurred in a strangely detached manner, as if a still lucid portion of his mind was evaluating his condition from a disembodied perspective. It was a rather bizarre feeling.
"We copy, Twilight," responded the voice over the comm, "That was quite a fireworks display you put on there." The distinctive mix of sarcasm and cockiness was unmistakable.
"Jonathan? Is that you?" One of his instructors from his training days was the last person Twilight expected to be talking to, and the realization helped snap his mind into a more alert state, "I thought you were still on assignment in Brazil?"
"Just got back yesterday, actually. Rio's not all it's cracked up to be this time of year." Twilight could practically see the smirk that he knew was spreading across his face, "I was just having a little chat with Tierney here when you called. Suffice to say he's still annoyed that I snatched the transponder away from him, but I wasn't going to pass up this opportunity."
Twilight, for one, was grateful. Tierney was a notorious stickler for following protocol, and almost certainly would have given him an earful he didn't need if he had answered. Besides, it had been almost a year since he last talked to Jonathan thanks to their various assignments, but Twilight still considered him to be a friend, even a mentor of sorts, and wished he could do some catching up. That would have to wait, though.
"So what the hell happened out there, Twi?" Jonathan asked, "We saw the whole place go up in flames on the sat feed, and we were starting to get worried when you didn't report in."
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Jon," Twilight sighed, "But I need to get back to the Institute right away. The situation with NUFLO has changed dramatically, I have data on my uplink that could potentially crack the whole organization wide open, I even found out who's calling the shots, but that's only made the situation ten times worse than any of us thought. I need to speak with Dr. Carrington directly, and relaying this info through some backwoods outpost isn't going to cut it."
"I've told you before, Agent Twilight," called a distant voice over the comm in a mild Scottish brogue, "Everyone who works for the Institute should just call me Daniel."
"Looks like the boss just arrived," quipped Jonathan, "I'm going to pass you over to him. We'll catch up later."
"Agent Twilight," said Carrington, this time directly into the comm, "You need to give me some idea what's going on out there. We all feared the worst when we saw the facility explode."
"Here's the situation," began Twilight, "I need immediate evac for four people, direct to the Institute. Besides me, I have a captured informant, a researcher from NUFLO. There are also two agents here that are unaffiliated with the Institute but have essential information they are willing to exchange. You... might not like who they are, though."
There was a noticable pause on the other end of the comm before Carrington responded, "God above, it must be Razor and his brother. Anytime one of these operations goes horribly wrong, he's usually involved somehow."
"Er, not exactly," Twilight replied, stealing a glance over at his companions. Both were eavesdropping on his end of the conversation with silent interest, though the researcher was still lying in the dirt, groaning in pain. Razor and Sinim, on the other hand, seemed to have already left in the hovercar while he was talking into the comm. Twilight chalked up missing that detail to the increasingly fuzzy feeling that was returning to the inside of his head.
"Well then who is it?" queried Carrington impatiently. He seemed a lot more agitated now that he suspected Razor was involved, just as everyone had suspected.
"Their kids are here," Twilight responded cautiously, "Both of them would like to speak with you too."
"Absolutely not!" roared Carrington, accompanied by a muffled thump that Twilight suspected was a fist pounded on a desk, "Every time Razor or someone affiliated with him enters Institute property, my buildings need a fortune in repairs, all of my ops go straight to hell in a handbasket, and the Maians get pissed at us for months! I'd sooner let another Skedar invasion through the front door than let those two in here! I swear that if they try to set one foot inside the Institute, I will personally --"
"The brains behind NUFLO is Daishi," interrupted Twilight quietly.
The silence on the other end of the comm was palpable, and lasted several seconds longer than Twilight felt could be considered "awkward".
"Fine," grumbled Carrington, finally cutting the tension. Twilight exhaled, which made him realize he had actually been holding his breath, "We're preparing a jumpship to pick you up, they should be there within 15 minutes. I expect full cooperation from your guests when you arrive, and I'm holding you responsible for their behavior, Agent Twilight."
"Yessir," croaked Twilight. Despite Carrington's attempts to foster an informal and friendly atmosphere among his employees at the Institute, he still could be fiercely intimidating when he was angry, and few things seemed to make him as angry as when Razor got involved with Institute business.
"I also expect a full debriefing when you arrive," added Carrington, his voice calming somewhat but still containing an edge, "I need to know what information you have on NUFLO's long term objectives and plans. I don't want to be caught unaware by their next move."
Twilight's head swam, probably from the stressful situation.
"Um, I may not be able to manage that... Could you send a medical team with that jumpship? Our informant looks to have some cracked ribs at least, maybe worse, and I think I've got a concussion," Twilight swayed on his feet as he said it, drawing a few concerned looks.
"Ehm, of course, Agent Twilight," responded Carrington, a note of concern entering his voice, "I'll make sure a medical team is on board. The jumpship will be enroute momentarily, just hold on until then. Carrington out."
As Twilight cut of communication, he stumbled over to a nearby boulder and sat down heavily with his back against it.
"Our chariot is on its way," he said with a weary smirk, "So I think I'm going to just sit down for a bit while we wait."
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Post by Draxas on Apr 23, 2012 22:35:56 GMT -5
I've just spent the bulk of the afternoon re-reading this entire thread. Now I've got some pondering to do -- coming up with a clever and non-cliche motive for Daishi's interest in this technology I made up and didn't plan in advance. I have some ideas regarding that, PM me if you're interested.
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Post by sinim on Apr 24, 2012 4:43:21 GMT -5
That...was excellent.
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Post by N3B on Apr 24, 2012 14:36:30 GMT -5
You should absolitely bring your old character back. Think of how long it's been.That's kind of why I was thinking maybe I shouldn't. I don't much like Hollywood always rebooting and remaking good movies, only to make them worse with modernization, and I don't want to do anything similar with my own character. I don't want to bring him back just as fan service (to myself, no less) unless I feel he can contribute something worthwhile to the premise. I have a halfway satisfying idea right now, but I'd like to flesh out the background in my head a bit more before I start writing anything. I have some ideas regarding that, PM me if you're interested. I'm open to ideas. Message incoming.
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Post by N3B on Apr 25, 2012 23:39:25 GMT -5
N3B sat at his desk flipping through progress reports. The new pistol prototype was firing accurately and with the intended projectile force, but misfired after only ten shots as a result of overheating. He rubbed the goatee on his chin as he decided what to make of these results.
The company he'd founded, Nebuluxe Arms, began as a manufacturer of custom firearms, and grew a reputation in the last decade for its superior railguns -- compact designs with virtually zero recoil, capable of penetrating practically any surface known to earth. The demand for such weapons was relatively low, especially considering the high cost of production, but every so often he received a government contract to supply them with a hundred or more rifles.
Recently, he'd made a push with R&D to work on an even smaller sidearm model, in hopes that a sort of railgun pistol might catch on in the private sector. The current prototype was still bulkier than any other pistol on the market, largely due to the necessary stock attachment, but if offered far greater stopping power, better accuracy, better penetration capabilities, and better range than anything he'd ever used. Now if only he could get the damn thing to stop overheating, without adding too much extra weight or without cutting back on its velocity projection.
Then there was the new remote drone, something he'd been inspired to create after using a CamSpy. The "remodrone," as they'd been casually referring to it during its development cycle, was Nebuluxe's first non-firearm development. The remodrone had a similar design and function to the CamSpy, except they'd managed to give their own model a cloaking apparatus, and a miniature data uplink, a small payload of tranquilizer darts, and an explosive self-destruct mechanism. Everything on the prototype seemed to work as intended, though they didn't test the self-destruct.
N3B sighed and closed the reports. He'd have to test the thing himself in the morning before he could make a decision on what to tweak next. He started to turn off the terminal, planning to return home for the evening when the vidphone started chiming. It was rare that he ever got calls on this phone without them first going through his secretary -- only a select number had access straight to this line. He turned his attention to the screen and saw the words "Carrington Institute" centered on the display.
"Must be another order," he thought to himself as he cleared his throat. Pressing the connect button, he saw Daniel Carrington's wrinkled face materialize on the screen. "Hey old man, what I can do for you today?" He asked with a wry smile on his face.
Carrington sighed on the screen, lowering his head into one hand as he muttered "I've told you before, please just call me Daniel."
"You got it, Danny. What can I do for you?"
"I'm afraid I'm not calling on usual business, although I'm sure we could use a few more of your rifles while we're at it. It's recently come to my attention that Daishi at large, and he's planning something."
N3B fell silent for a moment as a fleeting moment of dread struck him in the chest. "Wasn't that whole thing dead and buried?" He asked, remembering their earlier encounter on the Skedar homeworld. The CISOD's final mission.
"I don't know the details yet or what he's planning. But whatever the case may be, this presents an immediate problem that demands our immediate attention."
"What do you mean, 'our'?" N3B asked. "I don't know if you missed the memo, but I don't work for you any more. I don't do that life-risking business any more, and I'm not as young as I used to be. What do you expect me to do?"
"I have my own agent who will be handling this issue, as well as a few, shall we say, outside helpers cooperating with him. I could use some people experienced with Daishi to help prepare them for what's at stake. Razor and Sinim are already involved, but I'm not overly keen on those two setting foot in my institute."
N3B leaned back in his chair, his head against the headrest staring straight up at the ceiling. His mind went completely blank, unable to think straight. This was unexpected, dire news indeed, but he'd retired from that line of work a long time ago. Fighting Daishi again wasn't his idea of a good time, but there would be major problems if no one did.
"Tell you what," N3B said as he sat upright again, looking at Carrington's face on the monitor, "I'll give you some more of my goodies and I'll give your new agents as much advice as I can, but I'm not doing the dirty work."
"That's all I ask for," Carrington responded.
"Alright, then. Let me make a few calls and then I'll be on my way." He hung up on Carrington, not even waiting for a response. He sighed yet again before calling a few of his staff to let them know he'd be out of town for a while. Then he went down to the research wing and grabbed a few weapons and gizmos, including a few prototypes, and headed for his car.
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Post by N3B on Apr 26, 2012 2:05:16 GMT -5
"Take off the blindfolds," Daishi commanded to the armed guards. Nayton was blinded by the bright artificial lighting -- he'd been wearing the blindfold for at least 20 minutes, and his eyes had gotten used to the darkness. Squinting, he finally saw the room come into focus: he appeared to be in a small, confined room about thirty by twenty feet with only a single entrance. To the right he saw two beds, a sink, and a toilet, all partitioned by hanging curtains, and to his left were lab tables littered with tools, mechanical parts, and several bits of technology he couldn't recognize.
"You'll be staying here while you work for me, so get used to it." Daishi said as he paced between the lab tables. "There will be an armed guard outside that door at all times, so don't get any bright ideas, unless it pertains to that lightwave."
He pointed at a computer terminal sitting in the corner of the room: "On that terminal contains some relevant information my people have gathered on this lightwave's behavior. I've discovered a bit of, shall we say, alien technology, and I believe your work harnessing this lightwave is what I need to power it. So you're going to read through these files and figure out a way to power the specifications listed on that terminal."
"Hold on," Nayton interjected "I've only barely scratched the surface of this thing, what makes you think I can build something for you? I've been working with a full team of graduate students and other colleagues, and all of my own research is still back at my lab."
"Don't worry about your research, Mr Feyes, someone is already on the way to pay your lab and your home to pay a little visit. You'll soon have everything you need to complete the project, I believe. And I believe some the information I have here will prove useful to you."
Nayton felt sick to his stomach. This was completely unreal. The kind of thing that only happens in the movies. How long would he be stuck here? Where is "here," even? What would happen to his lab? Or his home? Or his classes? He had a life elsewhere besides this sterile laboratory and he had other plans than to be someone's slave for the next few months of his life. And in one night, two drunks at a bar and an errant waitress had ruined everything. He cursed all three of them, and even himself for letting this happen.
"At least let me make some phone calls to let people know I'll be gone for a while," he tried to reason, hoping he could maybe get a chance to call the police or something.
"No need -- already taken care of. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business elsewhere that I must attend to. A pair of pesky flies demands my attention." Daishi motioned for the two guards to step outside and made to leave himself when Leigh butted out "Wait! What about me?"
Daishi spun around to address her: "You'll be staying here with the professor, to give him an extra set of hands in the lab. You blew your cover and I had to step in to get things done, so you'll assist in making things right." Leigh started to protest, but Daishi cut her off before she even got a word out: "I can't just let you go and have you running your mouth about all this. Or I could just kill you right now, if you'd prefer." She fell silent and stared at the floor. "I thought so," he said as he turned to leave the room.
The door closed behind him, and Nayton and Leigh were left alone in the room. "I can't believe this is happening," Leigh muttered. Nayt sighed and immediately went to lie down on one of the beds.
"So what are going to do?" Leigh asked with a tone of impatient concern and worry.
"I, for one, plan to sleep. It seems there's nothing we can do about our current predicament and my back is killing me. I'm exhausted, and the faster I fall asleep, the sooner I can forget about all of this. At least, for a little while."
"I wouldn't say there's nothing we can do," Leigh said as she brandished a Falcon 3 pistol from her person. Nayt stared at her in disbelief.
"How did you get that in here?" he asked with his jaw hanging wide open. "Those guards back there spent an awfully long time scuffing you...."
"Apparently they didn't search hard enough, or in the right places." She was sporting a wicked smile on her face as she playfully posed with the weapon like she was some kind of secret agent.
"Well, that's a minor reassurance, but I hardly think one pistol is our ticket out of here. But still, it could come in handy. I suggest we play along for the time being and not make our situation any worse than it already is."
With that, Nayton closed his eyes and went to sleep, while Leigh went to stow the pistol somewhere in the room. Soon they were both asleep.
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Post by sinim on Apr 26, 2012 14:24:45 GMT -5
Sureshot sat down beside Twilight. The institute was a long way off. They'd have some time. His cousin was pacing.
"She's always been so impatient." He said to Twilight. With that, he removed the knife from his belt that she had given him earlier and examined it. "I can use these, but I've never liked them. They seem...I don't know...barbaric. Especially the way she uses them."
With that, to Twilight's brief horror, he flipped the knife in his hand so he was holding the tip, and threw it hard and fast straight at the turned back of his female companion."
She side stepped and caught it by the handle as it went by her, placing back on her person without saying a word...continuing to pace.
"You're driving me crazy, Nikki!" Mike scolded. "Look. There's a grizzly about 1 mile east of here. Why don't you go wrestle it? I'll call you when the ride's here."
Nikki turned and smiled. "Why didn't you say so?" With that she turned and ran off happily.
"I can't believe she fell for that." Twilight said, turning back to Sureshot. "She's too trusting."
"She's never had a reason not to trust me. I wouldn't break that now, either. There really is grizzly bear about a mile that way."
Twilight looked in the direction he pointed, but could see only trees. He pondered his companion for a second. "Your eyes really are that good, aren't they? You're aim is impressive too. How good are you, really?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because I didn't get a chance to really fight Daishi, but I saw you fight him. Gauging how good you are tells me what I'm up against." Twilight said calmly.
"Fair enough." Mike said, "Give me one of those falcons."
Twilight handed him one of the 2 Falcon 2's he kept on him, and Mike started to walk away. When he was about 200 yards out he turned and yelled.
"I know you're a good shot. So I'll bet you'd have no problem taking me down from here. I want you to take 3 shots and try your best to hit me."
Twilight shook his head. "No. I don't see how that will prove anything."
"Don't worry. You'll see. Trust me."
Twilight figured...why not? He took careful aim. His eyes were pretty good too...he could tell that his target was just standing there with his arms at his sides. He pointed for the chest. "Don't want to risk a head shot." He muttered to himself. He took 1 last look, and squeezed the trigger 3 times in succession. Nothing. The shots had been fired, but Sureshot was still standing there. Had he missed completely? He was better than that. It was then he noticed how stranged the echo of the gunshots seemed to sound. He realized it right then. Sureshot had fired too. But he had not been hit. He was checking himself over.
When he looked up again, his target had closed the distance by half and was waving him over. Twilight met him half way. Michael pointed down. There on the ground, in a range of about 10ft., were 3 small metal blobs. The remains of a collision of 2 bullets of equal size and velocity. Their bullets.
"That's how good I am." Michael said.
Twilight shook his head. Michael's bullet had only scratched Daishi. If he new ally was this good of a shot, and he couldn't score a direct hit, they were in trouble.
"Yes." Michael said, seeming to read his mind. "This is going to be tough. I'm impressed though. All three of those would have connected in my chest. That's really tough at 200 yards. I appreciate you not aiming for the head too. It's nice to know you care."
Just as the agent was about to say something else, the transport arrived overhead. "We can talk more on the way." Michael said and quickly picked up his earpieces and called his cousin, who appeared moments later. She was bloody and carrying a bear pelt. "I think this will look good in the living room." She said, smiling.
Michael just rolled his eyes, handing the Falcon 2 back to Twilight.
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Post by Razor on Apr 28, 2012 22:23:28 GMT -5
Eventually things came to a long, awkward silence between the three waiting for their ride. Nikara had taken to draping the bear pelt over her shoulders with the head on top of hers like some sort of tribal shaman...obviously uncaring of the large volumes of blood now dried on her skin and suit. This just caused Mike to sigh and press his head into a hand.
"...and this is what I have to deal with..."
Twilight opened his mouth to answer when his communicator let out a short chirp. He checked it, then looked up into the air. The cousins turned and followed his gaze into the darkened sky, where each of them could spot the CI dropship approaching in the distance. Nikara finally broke the silence, speaking what they were all thinking.
"It's about damn time!"
Now that their pickup could be measured in a matter of minutes, the three of them started gathering themselves...except for Nikara, who started tapping her foot impatiently, the bear's pelt still draped over her head and shoulders. The dropship slowly eased down to the ground not far from their location, and the three exchanged quick glances before quickly jogging over to it and piling in.
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Post by Draxas on Apr 30, 2012 20:25:15 GMT -5
As Twilight climbed up onto the loading ramp, a pair of CI medical specialists descended carrying a portable stretcher. As Twilight turned to watch them try to retrieve the still moaning tech, the world swirled around him and he stumbled. One of the other members of the med team grabbed his arm to help steady him.
"Come on," he said, guiding Twilight to the closest unoccupied bench, "Sit. We're going to do some checks while we're enroute, so try to relax. No falling asleep, though."
Twilight gratefully flopped into the steel seat. Despite being notoriously uncomfortable under normal circumstances, right now it was a good deal better than trying to keep on his feet. That would go double for when they started moving.
The med tech removed a pen light from his flak jacket and shone it into Twilight's right eye. "Dilation looks normal. Please follow the light with your eye," he said, moving the light slightly to the left and right, up and down. Twilight glanced at details of the dropship as he followed the beam with his eyes:
The medical techs returning up the ramp, with the informant strapped to the stretcher carried between them. Nikara, with her legs hung over the armrest of one of the benches, seemingly bored and cleaning under her fingernails with the point of a combat knife. The pilot, flicking switches as the engines crescendoed into the noise of takeoff.
The med tech switched the light over to his left eye, and continued the tests:
One of the other medical team members, dressing a wound on the forehead of the informant, whose stretcher was now strapped down to another of the benches. Mike, rolling his eyes at his sister's antics while seemingly purposely seated on the opposite side of the dropship. The copilot, belting himself into his seat and checking on several gauges and readouts.
The dropship began to gain altitude as the med tech attending to Twilight switched off the light. "Your responses seem normal, so even if you have a concussion it's pretty minor," he reassured. He removed a small bottle of pills from a different pocket of his vest and handed a pair of the contents over to Twilight, along with a small canteen.
"Those should help with any pain," the med tech said as he returned the pen light to his vest, "Give them about 15 minutes to start working. Until we can do a proper examination, try and take it easy. No sudden or jerky movements, as I'm sure you've already noticed. We don't want you passing out. And definitely no sleeping, no matter how much you might want to, because if you do have a concussion you might never wake up if you're unlucky."
Twilight nodded and grunted assent. He really did want nothing more than to just close his eyes and drift off, but he knew better than that, even before the warning. He downed the pills in one swig from the canteen, and then took another for good measure when a bit of turbulence sent his vision swirling again. More than anything else save sleep right now, he wanted that to stop. He hoped the pills would do the trick.
"You're going to be fine," said the med tech with a slight smile as Twilight handed back the canteen, "If this is the worst injury you ever receive on this job, you can count yourself lucky." Considering the scope of the injuries he had received on previous missions, Twilight didn't appreciate the comment much. Clearly this guy was new, because Twilight was almost sure he had seen every single medical specialist employed by the Institute after his surgeries, and everyone from back then certainly remembered the guy with the artificial spine. He pushed the thought out of his mind; no use getting annoyed about it now.
"We've reached cruising altitude, and it's clear skies up here, so feel free to go about your business until we arrive," called the pilot over the intercom, "We should be arriving at the Institute in just under 2 hours."
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Post by sinim on May 12, 2012 1:04:34 GMT -5
Mike sat down beside his new companion and the began to swap stories of past experiences. Twilight seemed especially interresred in life growing up with someone like sinim for a father. Nikki, meanwhile, had taken to talking to the bear pelt.
"To be honest, I always had an interrest in working for the institute." Mike said. "My uncle's history with the doctor has pretty much black listed all of us, though. They won't tell me what happened, but my uncle's a bit of a nut job, so who knows."
They heard a growl and Mike moved his head to one side just as a knife whizzed past. Nikki was glaring at him. "Oh come on, cuz. Did he ever tell you?"
Sent from my VM670 using ProBoards
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Post by Razor on May 14, 2012 14:30:33 GMT -5
The knife bounced off the wall between the pair with its blunt side, flipping through the air for her to catch it. Nikara retained a threatening posture for all of about two seconds before flopping down on the floor with a shrug. "Eh. You're right. He IS a nut job. Guess that's what happens when you think yourself the embodiment of chaos itself, eh?" She chuckled and lay to one side, balancing the tip of her blade on one finger. Quite the feat on an airship.
"I'm sure our Institute friend could tell you everything. CI used to run a Special Operations Division...the CISOD. They picked up outside help to deal with large scale threats that the CI didn't have the armory or manpower to deal with on its own. Dad helped with quite a few of them. Then...he hijacked the whole operation. Took a bunch of the greatest soldiers, agents, and fighters on Earth, gave them false orders on Carrington's behalf, and took them to the Skedar homeworld."
She smirked a bit at that and pinched her knife between her fingers. "You can see how that might've pissed the old man off a bit...for all the good he did, returning the homeworld to its original state and everything...Danny boy never did forgive him. Dad took it all in stride...he hadn't really planned on going back anyway."
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Post by Draxas on May 14, 2012 20:00:12 GMT -5
"It wasn't all good he did, you know," said Twilight softly. The others turned to look at him, slightly surprised by his reaction, "Things got really tense between the Maians and the Skedar after the Skedar homeworld transformed like that. For a while, it looked like we would be on the verge of another galactic scale conflict. Everyone thought that the Skedar had deployed some sort of terraforming device, and were worried that it could be used as a weapon."
"Until cooler heads worked things out diplomatically and the treaties were signed, the Maian war fleet was on high alert. I've heard that there were even some fierce battles between them and Skedar battle groups in a few systems, because some of the more fanatical Skedar took the restoration of their homeworld as a sign that their divine beings favored them more than ever before. Since the only gods most Skedar remembered were the gods of war, divine favor was seen as a sign that it was time for conquest."
"Earth was nearly put under martial law by the world's combined governments at the urging of both the Maians and Carrington. They listened because it still wasn't long since the governments of the world had officially made first contact, and only the Maians and the CI had any real experience with the threat of the Skedar. For Carrington's part, yes he was pissed about his mission being hijacked, but there was more to it than that. The majority of his top agents, as well as everyone else affiliated with the CISOD, had disappeared into space for an unknown purpose. The next news he got was of their ship being crippled and overrun by a previously unknown alien threat. After that they all fell off everyone's radar, and then suddenly the Skedar seemed to terrform their world with no warning. He freaked out, understandably; everyone did."
"When the CISOD did finally resurface, enroute from the newly restored Skedar homeworld, nobody knew what to expect. The Maians suggested that they could all be fakes, that they were all disguised Skedar designed to spearhead an invasion of Earth. Suffice to say, when the governments of Earth found out that aliens could impersonate human beings almost flawlessly, paranoia hit an all time high. Not only did the entire CISOD make the world's most wanted list, but everyone went crazy accusing their political rivals or the governments of enemy nations of being controlled by aliens. At that point, the CI had no choice but to go along with the Maians and try to keep order in any way that they could. It didn't help matters that the CISOD got word of what was going on planetside just before reaching Earth, and the majority of them dispersed so that they couldn't be found."
"So yeah, your dad messed things up pretty bad all over Earth for years until this whole thing got ironed out. Small wonder Carrington's still pissed at him."
"Of course, that's just what folks have told me. I was barely a toddler when this all went down."
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Post by N3B on May 22, 2012 0:59:41 GMT -5
N3B lowered his car onto the landing pad, anxious to get out and stretch his legs. It was a bit of a long drive, especially considering how tired he was already when he got the call from Carrington. He stepped out of the car and spent a few moments kicking the blood back into his legs and straightening his pin-striped, charcoal gray suit.
"I guess I don't really need to keep up appearances," he thought to himself, loosening the knot on his necktie even further to slip it over his head. He tossed it casually into the passenger's seat and closed the driver-side door. Feeling a little refreshed, he took a large, heavy duffel bag out of the back seat, slung the strap across his body, and continued up the ramps towards the institute.
It had been a long time since he'd walked the premises of the institute. Eight years? Nine? It was somewhere around there. Back when Carrington ordered his first batch of Nebuluxe rifles, N3B flew in with the shipment to meet Carrington personally. Ever since that first delivery, N3B preferred to keep relationship on a strictly business level, since he'd never grown to feel quite comfortable around Carrington or the Institute after that last special op.
He remembered feeling surprised at how much the place had changed the last time he was here, but it didn't look much different now. No new additions or renovations that he could see, anyway -- the hangar looked the same as it did nearly a decade ago. As N3B reached the top of the ramp, he made to turn the corner into the long hallways leading up to the Institute proper, he came face to face with Daniel Carrington.
"There you are," Carrington said. "It's good to see you." They shook hands, Carrington's hand feeling more frail and brittle in N3B's hand than he remembered. The man had aged a lot since their last meeting -- N3B could tell through their occasional phone calls -- but he didn't realize quite how much until now. It was a little surprising the old man could still manage all of the inclined slopes leading down to the hangar on his own.
"It's been too long. How have you been?" N3B asked, more out of polite habit than anything else. From what he gathered of their brief conversation over the phone, he wasn't expecting much small talk before getting right down to things.
"Surprisingly well, but there will be time such chatter later. Hopefully." He glanced over N3B's shoulder at the bag he carried. "What all did you bring?"
With a slight grunt, N3B lowered the bag onto the floor and knelt down to unzip it. He started to rummage through the contents, listing things off and handing a few devices up for Carrington to examine. He'd brought a few cloaking devices, a couple kinetic shields, a recent pistol prototype (project code-named "Hawken"), two railgun rifles, the RemoDrone prototype, and several cases of specialty ammunition.
As he finished going through the list, he heard the low rumbling of an approaching dropship. "That must be them. Perfect timing," Carrington said as he clasped his hands togehter. N3B turned his head back towards the hangar, and within seconds, a dropship lowered onto a helipad, lowering an access ramp. About a half-dozen people stepped out of the dropship.
"Come, let me introduce you to my agent," Carrington motioned. "As well as a few other, newer acquaintances," he muttered under his breath, barely loud enough for N3B to hear.
========= (OOC: I planned to write more, but I take so long writing these things and they always end up longer than I anticipate, so I'm just cutting it short right here.)
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Post by sinim on Jun 1, 2012 12:10:32 GMT -5
As the 3 of them got off of the transport sureshot spotted 2 figures walking towards them in the distance. The first was definitely Daniel Carrington. The other was...familiar...he was too tired to place him right now.
"Agent Twilight." Carrington said as he stepped forward and shook Twilight's hand with a smile. "Welcome back."
Then he turned. "You must be Michael."
"Sureshot. Only my family calls me Michael." Said Sureshot.
Carrington ignored him. "I had the pleasure of meeting your father once, Michael."
"He was in the CISOD, wasn't he?." The younger man said, seeming confused.
"Oh no. I meant your real father...Jonathan...yes, I briefed him before his ill fated expedition to the Skedar homeworld. Stubborn, but brilliant. Traits I hear he passed on to you."
Then he moved to Nikki.
"I met you briefly when you were a baby."
Nikki just stood there with here arms crossed.
"You've grown." Carrington said.
"You're old." Was her terse reply.
"Charming." Carrington turned to address the group.
"Gentlemen and lady, a term I use loosely, allow me to introdu..."
"Holy [CENSORED] you're N3b!" Michael exclaimed suddenly. He had just figured it out. He lept forward and shook the man's hand with both of his. "I am a huge fan of yours I'm really into guns I have 1 of your early sniper rifles right here on my back I would love to get my hands on some your newest your stuff I just can't afford it too much military contract work coming out of your company oh well it's such an honor to meet you I can't believe I meeting you wow." Mike stopped to catch his breath while everyone stared in surprise.
"Sorry. I'll be quiet now."
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