((SG, maybe it could be an un-live wire that wraps around you. Then it wouldn't change too much. lol))

((Ah, righty-o, then. We'll just pretent that... she uh... bonked her head or something. ))

Michele looked over to where Carson stood.

"We don't need to get out of here, we need to get off this blasted station!" She said, marching through the water to the door, ignoring the blood that the fine cut around her ankle was leaving behind.

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

The blinking red emergency lights flashed eerily against the titanium walls of the corridor they now sprinted through. The corridor curved around the interior perimeter of the station, and was lined with doors that allowed access to various labs and the huge central port used for the launching of spacecraft. As he ran, Thanfield whipped out his PDA and linked to database. Nothing. The database had been completely wiped out.

Instead he extracted his radio and opened communications. "Any civilian scientists in there, this is TG41B marine detachment. We are on the eastern side of the spaceport, outside corridor, nearing the ramp in Division D. What are your positions?"

A moment later, upon arriving at Division D, they reached a steep decline in the floor. Five steps down, he skidded to a halt, looking towards the bottom of the ramp. Was that water? He shot a quizzical glance at Cortez and Winter.

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Holly's radio, having been reduced to so many wires and crushed plastic, did not pick up the signal. But her computer registered an unknown radio signature, beeping insistantly in the midst of her bout of attempting to hack into the Portal files.

The reception of her computer was very poor, not having been made strictly to be used as a radio, but in a moment her voice crackled over Thanfield's. "Biologist Holly Taelor - Portal room, central spaceport, bottom level." At least that was what it sounded like. What with the intereference and a large helping of static, it was hard to tell.

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Carson, feeling for his radio out of habit, found that he had left it in his lab coat. He hurried back to where his coat floated in the water, and grabbed his radio out of the pocket. He shook his head at his own carelessnessere the , stuck the radio in his pocket, and caught back up with Michele.
"We can't just march out the doors." he said. "We'd have to get out past the lockdown, and besides, we don't know what's going on out there. There could be more aliens."

Michele, who had no idea there had been a lockdown, snapped her head around to look at Carson as if he had just grown another head.

"Lockdown?! Since when?" Then she shook her head. "Nevermind." She went over to a small comparment in the wall, which was not flooded yet, and knocked out the back wall, revealing a stash of pistols and amo belts.

"It pays to study the blueprints of this place." She said, tossing a pistol and a belt to the man besider her.

"So, does anyone aboard this drowning hunk of metal know what those aliens are?"

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You may (or may not) know me elsewhere as Elfpen

Carson caught the pistol and put the belt on. He joined her at the compartment, grabbing more ammo for the guns.
"I haven't heard anything about the aliens." he said. "All I know is what I've seen of them. Communications are down, along with just about everything except life support. It's probably all chaos around here."

(ok, let's see, 'portal room' was kinda boring, so I was calling it the CSEA lab - acronym for something like 'chronotronic systems engineering and analysis lab')

Alanna and the tech pounded up to the door of the CSEA lab, only to find it locked. "Blazes!" The engineer shifted the rack on her shoulder to free a hand, punching in her security codes on the the small keypad by the door. The heavy, reinforced steel swung open, and they carried the weapons rack through. Setting it down, they re-locked the door.

"Morris," Alanna called, not yet noticing the new occupant of the lab, "you've got door duty. The rest of you - yes, you, too, Dr. Yenkovich - gear up. We're not giving my baby up without a fight."

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<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

"You could have just knocked," said Holly testily, looking up from her mini-computer. "'Holly, open the door, it's Alanna,' and there you go."

She seemed to be in a decidedly bad mood. All her attempts to hack at the rest of the files had been futile. "And since when is the Portal your baby?"

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Alanna looked up from distributing the weapons. She ran an eye over the younger woman ... blonde ponytail, intelligent eyes ... who was she? She'd met her once or twice, she knew.

Ah, yes. Taelor. She didn't know which lab the woman was with - and she looked like she should still be in school. She also seemed to think that they were somewhat familiar. "I'm sorry?" Alanna asked sharply, disliking the hostile tone.

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<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>

Oh. Holly seemed to have temporarily forgotten that this was Alanna, who stcrictly speaking had only met her once or twice. "Never mind," she sighed, turning back to the computer and inwardly feeling rather irritated. Yes, she was twenty-one and a biologist on the moon. So what?

Her temporary air of annoyance, however, was dissipated when a message flashed up on screen. Access Granted to CSEA Lab Files. Holly punched the air, now grinning slightly. Major breakthrough here.

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"We should get to the lower levels." Carson said. "That's where Holly's headed, and I don't think as many aliens could get down there."

I'm not getting any creative nudges for this RPG right now, sorry. I'll see about making sure that my next post is nice and long, though.

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Winter crouched in a niche in the wall, across from Thanfield, in the identical niche on the other side. He was still glaring, but it was starting to affect his mood. He wasn't having as much fun. If he couldn't smile, he couldn't enjoy himself as much, yet if he smiled, he definitely wouldn't enjoy himself as much. Seeing something out of the corner of his eye, his glare momentarily changed to an expression of shock.

"What are you doing Thanfield?" he hissed, his expression returning to the glare. The Private had smirked. It wasn't exactly a smile, but it was close enough, maybe. It wasn't worth the risk. "Haven't you caught on, Private?" he asked. "Don't smile, or do anything similar to a smile. If you do, you might as well give yourself up for lost."

Of course, there was always the chance that smiling only affected him and the Bhorki, in which case, Thanfield and Sarge were fine regardless of what they did.

That thought led to another one--if the smiling only affected him and the Bhorki, and not anybody else, why? Was he somehow similar to the ugly insectoid aliens? He knew he wasn't particularly handsome, but he hadn't thought it was that bad.

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At first Thanfield thought he really was doing something wrong, to which the fastidious soldier's heartbeat caught in his throat and he hastily analyzed his recent actions for any breech of procedure. But then Winter mentioning something about a smile jolted him back to earth. Oh. And this advice was coming from the genius who needed a Private to put him back in line?

He broadened his smirk just to mock Winter, then, cocking his plasma gun, settled into the cranny to wait. In came the Bhorki, waddling around the corner with its ducklings in tow. He recognized it by the still-sizzling hole in the middle of its bulky chest. The spawning hadn't benefited its ugly face one bit. Hell, he even made Winter look the part of Prince Charming. (jk, jk ) Muscles tensing, he glanced at Cortez for the signal.

Now.

Just as the alien was about to strut on past, Thanfield's plasma grenade bounced along the floor right in front of it. He tucked himself in for the explosion.

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Alanna ran a quick inventory, wishing that she had actual military experience - or that someone in here did... which they didn't. Everyone in the lab now had a handgun, but that probably wouldn't be enough. There was a limited amount of autorifles - but their use required a certain amount of training. Most of the mid-level occupants of the station - administrators, scientists, engineers - had to undergo a basic orientation in defense before coming on board the program, but how many remembered it was an entirely different question. Alanna had a mild obsession with weapons, but that didn't hold for everyone.

"Hey." The engineer tapped on the desk in front of Holly Taelor, to get her attention. "Do you have rifle training?"

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<center>Nothing but the Rain</center>