“… what am I, a fecking psychic? I don’t know! It could be days. It could be weeks, or months, or… years.” Years. Years!? You glare at Whitney. “Come on, come on! Thi- This isn’t my fault! I’m just telling you the bloody truth! Stop staring at me like you wanna rip me throat out!”

Goddamn it. She’s right. This isn’t her fault. “I’m sorry,” you say. “This is just something we did not want to hear. We needed to hear it but we definitely did not want this kind of news coming to us.” There’s so many things coming to mind now. Was Sergeant Cope aware of this? Is that why he was cagey on retrieving the Transmitter? Frakking hell, if you’ve been gone this long, what if Lieutenant Harrell decides to go get it himself. He could get someone killed! You promised Tierney you’d get her off this planet too. And what about the Lizards? You’re on their home turf! They’re closing in on you day by day. They have rocket artillery pounding the woods! Where are you going to go until help arrives!? If it arrives!?

Son of a bitch! You punch the table, with your good hand, not the bad one.

A very weighted silence fills the air.

“Well.” Whitney forces a smile on her face. “Well, listen! I know things are bad! But, that doesn’t mean we shan’t be too angsty about things! I mean, this here starship we’re in is fairly safe! And I managed to scavenge a lot of amenities and items from the Medevac!” She grabs your wrists and starts dragging you around. She presents you a metal tub full of water. “Look, here’s a bath if you want to take a bath! A little awkward considering you’re a guy and it’s in the same room where I sleep but I don’t mind nothing. Uh, ooh- over there!” She quickly drags you to the other end of the lab. “Here I got me food! All kinds of those yellowy fruits, I have twenty, count them, -twenty- C-Rations! And none of them are them filthy Vegan options either. How about that? And I got lots of meds too! Granted, I couldn’t get the AutoDoc out, but oh well.”

Burke stares at you two as she leads you back to the other end of the lab. Whitney goes on, revealing a pile of boxes. Draped over the side was the Dominion flag, a dark blue field with thirteen yellow stars going diagonally across, with the stars cut off at the corners. “And here’s me boxfort! This is where I sleep in total solitude and comfort! I’ll even share with you and Burke! It’s quite cozy! I have a blanket, I have a lantern, some books, the essentials…”

Burke squints, baffled by what she’s hearing and what she’s seeing. “You have a frakking box fort? Are you five or something? You realize the situation we’re in, right?”

“Give me a fecking break, Burke!” Whitney whines. “I haven’t seen another living human in over a week! I’ve been surrounded by things that want to eat me or kill me or both! I’m stranded, -possibly forever mind you-, on a planet lightyears from me home, me girlfriend, and me poor little doggy, and my conscription lasts another year and a half!” She stomps her foot. “I’m entitled to build a fecking box fort to comfort meself!” She lets go of your wrists. “Now. I also have a case of Whiskey in there too.” Burke immediately perks up, now suddenly interested in the boxfort. “Oh! Suddenly because I have alcohol, you want in my boxfort! Shouldn’t have insulted me! You’re lucky you have a nice ass, sweetheart! I’m going to sleep!” Whitney crouches down, then crawls through a little hole in the boxfort wall and shutters it with a curtain. She quickly opens it. “You’re free to any supplies. Now good night.” She shuts it again.

…

Burke looks at you. “I don’t know what’s worse, that we’re stuck here until we die or that if we do find some Starship off this planet, our lives are in -her- hands.” She drops her DMR on a lab table, then says, “I’m going to wash this scat off of me in that tub.” She walks over to the tub then pulls her poncho off.

“You’re just going to take a bath here?” you ask.

“Why, do you want to join?” she asks. Well. If she offers. “I’m only washing my skin, dumbass. I’m not taking a bath.” Oh. Well. Slightly disappointing, but okay.

> Knock on Whitney’s boxfort. Ask to be let in.
> Talk to Burke. You kind of need to bounce all these emotions off of someone. (About what?)
> Well. Try to get some sleep before you have to move out then.
> Other

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABbc-O_3_Ac

Welcome to No One Gets Left Behind.

To recap: Basically, you just found out that even if you were to find the Transmitter, you're now essentially stuck here with no hope for retrieval until the Fleet comes back.

You got picked up by the Deinos and interacted with them some, even befriended one or two. That one you call Toothy though isn't a very kind fella though.

Before that, Tierney almost died when she got sucked into a quicksand pit. Saving her and getting her out almost killed you as you were sucked into a stream and sent downriver, injuring your hand and hip and back in the process.

Previous thread is here: >>3050064

Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=No+One+Gets+Left+Behind

Dice roll rules: https://pastebin.com/nhswziq6

As per usual, I will leave this up overnight and update when I get back from work at 6PM EST tomorrow. Go ahead and leave your votes in, discuss and make your plans, and other things. You can also drop in any questions you have and I will answer them soon as I'm able to.

>>3076086
> Knock on Whitney’s boxfort. Ask to be let in.
Tell her about our little camp and ask if she wants to join us.
She probably doesn't, but she needs the companionship regardless. Also get Burke in here.

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>>3076086
Let her know we are very very rich, own over 800 acres of land back home.

>>3076086
>> Talk to Burke. You kind of need to bounce all these emotions off of someone. (About what?)
Look on the... bright side? We technically don't have to compete with the top brass for land on this planet anymore. Just dinos.

>>3076086
>> Knock on Whitney’s boxfort. Ask to be let in

>>3076099
Supporting

>>3076086
>Tell burke to hang tight before she runs off, you can talk in the morning when both of you have slept on it.

doubt she would want a stinky unshowered man in her lil fort.

So we're here for the long term, and no longer just planning an escape. That means we need to deal with the issues with the chain of command ASAP. We could have kept the LT and Corporal's issues with each other in the pressure cooker as long as we had a ticket out, but that is not a possibility anymore.

>>3076643
Right. The command issue is a ticking time bomb that can no longer be sidestepped.

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>>3076643
>>3076793

>>3076643
>>3076793
>>3076793
Anyway when we get back to camp time to discuss with our original bunch of people first before we face Cope and Harrell.

> Knock on Whitney’s boxfort. Ask to be let in.

You knock on one of the boxes. “Whitney. You got room for one more in there?”

“No, feck off!” Oh. Okay. “Actually, yes. Come in!” You come over to the hole in the boxes then look at Burke as she scrubs the shit off of her face.

“You coming?” you ask.

“Maybe,” she says. Well, as good a response as you might get. You kneel down, cringing slightly at your hip and back suddenly reminding you that they’re not in the best shape. Then you crawl through the space and find yourself in the fort. The floor has been covered up with what look to be the sheets from a cot. The case of Whiskey and a stack of books along with Whitney’s Carbine and a pistol are stacked underneath the table that the fort is attached to. A lantern sits on top of a smaller box, giving light to this cramped yet cozy little home. Whitney sits under a blanket, looking at you.

“Damn ya smell,” she says. “I should’ve made ya take a bath first.”

“Should I-“

“No, no, it’s fine,” she says. “Is Burke washing herself?” You nod. “Oh. Um.”

“She’s not bathing,” you say.

“Oh.” Whitney looks down, slightly disappointed. “Well. I suppose it’s a good thing anyway. Wouldn’t want to make my girlfriend think I’m disloyal. Not that I might ever see her again I suppose. Or my dog. Or my parents or family or… anyone I know and love.” She shrugs. “Oh well. Carry on.” She points to the other side of the fort. “There’s an extra blanket there. Try not to bleed on it, I like things clean.”

“Right, right.” You take a blanket, then look over at her. “Uh, Whitney.” She tilts her head, looking at you curiously. “Listen, we are part of a bigger group of people. We were going to leave in the morning to rally back with them. You’re free to come with us.”

>>3077212
[2/2]

“Oh, you know! That is very lovely to hear! But… I’d rather stay here,” she says. “I’ve had way too many run-ins with the wildlife and this little establishment I’ve got here is nothing short of cozy, comfy, and safe!” She hugs her legs, smiling at you. “So, I’d… I’d rather stay here, just to give you that good news. I’d rather not leave. And be out there and risk being eaten or killed or raped or anything.” Well, you suppose that sounds fair. “But hey! Since you’re here and uh… I guess if Burke’s not joining us, we can have ourselves a little party too.” A what? You squint, confused. You also look to one of the walls. Burke doesn’t seem to be coming either. “I used to have slumber parties with my friends back in school. God, that was only like a year ago now that I think about it, graduating.” She scoots over to under the table then pulls out a whiskey bottle. “I got six bottles of these, unopened. Wanna crack one open and see who has more skeletons in their closet than the other?”

“Where’d you even get Whiskey?” you ask.

“Oh, I had it saved. Had to smuggle it in when we were loading back at Madrigal,” she says. “I was going to share it with me crew and everything once the invasion was over but I see that’s moot now, yeah? So. Yeah. I’d rather this not go to waste.”

> “Much as I’d love to, I think I’d rather get some sleep. Good night.”
> “Eh. A drink or two won’t hurt I guess.”
> Other

>>3077218
>> “Eh. A drink or two won’t hurt I guess.”
Must as well get used to being stuck here for a while.

>>3077218
>> “Eh. A drink or two won’t hurt I guess.”
Not looking to get too crazy anyway. Maybe we should ask if we could bring the group here if needed to be. That's whats gonna happen anyway

>>3077218
>> “Eh. A drink or two won’t hurt I guess.”
Just ONE. And we should probably relocate all our personnel and resources back to this place, anyways. More defensible, actually has some power. Very useful.

we should probably go offer Burke a drink too

> “Eh. A drink or two won’t hurt I guess.”

“Eh, a drink or two won’t hurt I guess.”

She grins. “Splendid!” She pops the cork on the bottle, then offers it to you. “I’ll allow you to have the first sip.” How generous. You take the bottle, then take a light swig of it. It burns lightly at your throat as it goes down, but the gentle spice and the hint of rusticness to the taste is pretty nostalgic. Makes you want to go back home. You push the thought out of your head and take another swig, then you offer it to Whitney. She quickly takes the bottle and chugs a hearty amount of it. It almost spills out from the corner of her lips.

“Hey, don’t drink it all-“ Burke pokes her head in, curious. She’s clean now it seems. “Oh, hey, Burke.”

“Scoot over,” she says. You push yourself against the side of the boxfort. Well, seems she’s decided to join. “No. You go over there in the middle.” Oh. Oooh. You scoot closer to Whitney. She takes the other side, as far away from Whitney as possible. “I’m only doing this because I haven’t had a drink in a while. Pass me some.”

Whitney pouts. “Hmph. Fine. Bitch.” Whitney holds the bottle out to her. Burke swipes it, then takes a light sip of it. Whitney burps, then thumps her chest. You can already see her face flushing a little from the alcohol. “Hm. Bit of a lightweight unfortunately, but I guess that’s the way things go, hehe. Ha…” She curls up underneath her blanket, looking at you two. “So, are you two like a couple or what?” She begs for the bottle back with her hands, and Burke hands it back across you.

“No,” Burke states firmly. “He’s the only one who actually tolerates me these days.”

“Hmph.” You look to Whitney. “She’s a bit abrasive but you get used to her.”

“I bet.” Whitney smirks, tapping her hands on the floor. “You know, Burke. You kinda remind me of me girlfriend. She had an ass just like yours.” Burke rolls her eyes. “Her name is Ginny. She’s a year older than me. Always loved to wear short shorts in the summer. Had amazing legs. And she was a freak in bed.” She frowns a little. “Now that I think about it, she didn’t have much else going for her. She was kinda boring. But I like her. I miss her. And me dog, Jonesy.”

As Whitney starts prattling off quietly to herself, Burke leans back against the table, the only solid thing here. She looks at you. “In the morning, we should probably get to confronting Cope about the Transmitter.” You look to her.

“… and then her mother tells me I’m not good enough for her, what does she know!” Whitney takes another drink, then exhales loudly. “The bitch!”

“Burke, I-“

Burke grabs your arm, glaring at you. “He –kept- that from us. If we had gone back for the transmitter, we’d have wasted our time, maybe someone would’ve gotten killed too. He’s clearly up to something.”

> “Maybe. We’ll discuss it in the morning.”
> “He was probably only trying to keep morale high.”
> “He probably is. Something about this is strange to me.”
> other

>>3077351
>> “Maybe. We’ll discuss it in the morning.”

>>3077351
>> “He was probably only trying to keep morale high.”

>>3077351
> “Maybe. We’ll discuss it in the morning.”

>>3077351
> “He was probably only trying to keep morale high.”
What is he going to do, turn us over to the dinos?
Oh that motherfucker...
They don't accept surrenders do they? The dinos

>>3076082

>"This is the first time the Dominion has ever actually failed to take a planet within the first day.”

This is good, it gives the survivors value, as we are apparently the only troops that have encountered an entity that completely resisted the dominion, and survived.

So if/when the dominion returns there is a fair reason to extract us.

On another note fuck coopy boy.

> “He probably is. Something about this is strange to me.”

> “Maybe. We’ll discuss it in the morning.”
> “He was probably only trying to keep morale high.”

“He was probably only trying to keep morale high. I don’t know. It doesn’t seem to be in his character to just withhold that for malicious intent.”

Burke doesn’t seem to like that answer. She crosses her arms. “I don’t see how withholding the fact that we’re stuck with no way of escape on this planet is somehow beneficial to anyone. How would you like it if I told you that the love of your life was waiting for you, and you came back home and found out they had frakked every man in your hometown?” You’d actually be quite pissed. But you won’t dignify that with a response. “Nothing about this screams honor or duty or anything resembling goodness. He knows. Whether or not the men who follow him knows, I don’t know. They seem to not know now that I remember it. And the way I see it, he mentioned Lyndon the Navy Liaison was supposedly killed.”

“You’re not suggesting he murdered Lyndon to keep the truth from getting out, do you?” Is Burke serious? Burke rolls her eyes. “Do you have that much of a problem with authority that you’re reaching for conspiracy theory?”

“It’s a –theory-, numbnuts,” she says. “You can believe it or not, I’m not going to force you. But I’m not holding my breath for a –good- explanation as to why he wouldn’t say anything to anybody.” You’ll admit, it’s hard to think of many good excuses beyond “I didn’t want morale to crumble” for something like this. And he never thought to tell you or Lieutenant Harrell either. For goodness sake, if Harrell decides to send people out to find out while you’re not there, people could die! And with their situation growing more desperate N̷͔͌͐o̷̰̱̘͆̆ ̶͈̩̋h̶̩̝͕͍͂o̶̫̥̩͝͠ṕ̶̪͕̣̓e̶̮̘̐.̴͉̩̿ it’s only a matter of time before they decide to take matters into their own hands.

You sigh, rubbing your nose. “Best we discuss this more in the morning, okay?”

“Alright.” Burke looks at Whitney. You do too. Whitney has fallen asleep completely, empty bottle of whiskey in her arms. “Frakking hell, she finished it off. What a waste.” She turns over and faces away from you. “Good night, boo.”

“Yeah.” You nod. “Um. Good night, Burke.” You scoot a little, then shut the lantern off. All you see is Burke’s silhouetted form beneath her blanket in the darkness. Whitney is right, she…

You shake your head. You’re getting a bit of a headache. Nothing too bad, but it definitely is keeping you from wanting to go on.

Best to get some goddamn rest.

…

…

You awake to the smell of breakfast being cooked. Smells like meat being cooked. You find the lantern hasn’t been turned on. But you do see faint rays of light shimmering in from cracks in the fort. You look over and see Whitney is gone, along with that empty bottle. She must’ve gotten up first. You don’t know what time it is but damn, you better get moving. You nudge Burke. “Wake up.” Burke doesn’t move. You sigh, rubbing your eyes. “Burke, come on.” You pull the sheets off.

You find nothing there.

You hear the hoarse hissing of Raptors outside the boxes. Oh God. Ṫ̵̜͇̑͊̈̀͆͘ͅh̶̳̋̽͛̍͒̚͘ȩ̷̰̹̤̬̳̞͂̒̋͝ỵ̵̡̳́ͅ'̷̹͐́r̸̨̧̨̺̪̞̄͒͌̑̾̆̒ę̸̭̀͛̃͋̉̎ͅ ̶̢̗̪̗̬͍̓̈́͒̔͐̄̚i̶̙̘̫̞͍̠̐̾̈́̄̎͐̈́n̴̼̺̭͗̐s̴̡̰̦̺͈̫͌͒̂̈́͐i̴͖̬̺̝̝̔̄͜ͅḑ̸͚̻̳̀͂e̸̪̝̝̭̿͛̀͌̓͝.̷̡̬̠̟̈̊̀ Where’s your Carbine? You can hear their feet on the floor, then their sharp tapping of their toe claws. The light shifts on either side of the fort. They’re all around you. They’re here. Where’s Burke? Where’s Whitney? “B-…. Burke?” Sweat runs down your cheeks. Your heart races. Fight or flight. No flight. You have nowhere to go. No weapon. No guns. Y̵̛̹̝͓̦͗̐͝ò̸͓͇̓u̸̯͓̿ ̴̣̩̝̂̏d̵̥͕͔̦̋ǫ̵̮͎͊͘ͅǹ̷̞͕̩̿͝'̷̞̃͂̈t̷͓̫̖̊́̌ ̵̰͒̏̉b̷̢̛̭͎̩̿̍͘e̶̹̱̪̰̍l̷̻͎̘̞̂̎͘ő̸̼̈ṅ̴̪̬̩͉̕g̵̦̟̾͒ ̵̮͈̈́ḧ̸̹́e̷̫̣̝͌͛̕r̵̫̮̤e̷̩̫̿͋ͅ.̵̞͍̓͛̆͂

They pounce.

…

…

“Boo!” Burke slaps you awake. She leans over you, her hand on your chest, the other in the air after having just slapped you silly. You stare up at her, drenched in sweat, your heart pounding heavily. She looks down at you, confused, and with a slight air of concern. “Boo?”

“Wh-… Where’s Whitney?” you croak.

“She’s making breakfast,” she says. “Said she’ll slice up some fruit for us before we go.” You take a few sharp breaths as you try to calm yourself. Burke’s look of confusion turns into one of more purer concern. “Boo, what the hell’s wrong with you? Did you have a nightmare or something?” She leans a little closer, then places a hand on your forehead. Her hand is quite warm, but her skin is quite rough though. “Feeling sick or anything?”

> “Get the hell off of me. I’m fine.”
> “Just a nightmare. I’m fine. Thanks.”
> “I mean, my head got a booboo way back when if you want to kiss it better.”
> Other

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9gZ4KLS24M

I have to go to sleep in about an hour from now, so the next update will come at 6PM EST tomorrow when I get home from work. Hope you're enjoying yourselves, and go ahead and leave your votes in.

If you got questions, comments, critique, let it be known. I value it immensely.

>>3077672
>> “Just a nightmare. I’m fine. Thanks.”

>>3077672
> “Just a nightmare. I’m fine. Thanks.”

>>3077672
>> “Just a nightmare. I’m fine. Thanks.”
and stop slapping me

>>3077672
> “Just a nightmare. I’m fine. Thanks.”

What the hell is up with this ship.

>>3077672
>> “Just a nightmare. I’m fine. Thanks.”

>>3077672
>“Just a nightmare. I’m fine. Thanks.”

FUCK NO

I've seen Event Horizon, and I'm not dancing to that music

>>3077791
It made me quite horny.

>>3077677
>I have to go to sleep in about an hour from now, so the next update will come at 6PM EST tomorrow
Feels bad man

>>3077672
>Well it started like a nice dream, waking up to cooking bacon.
>Then I heard the raptor noises, and understood who's bacon it was. You do have a nice ass though.

>>3077672
>> “Just a nightmare. I’m fine. Thanks.”
Don't we still need the orbital transmitter? I mean if we get a ship, we need to be able to contact the fleet so we don't by blown to bits when we try to enter orbit.

>>3078160
Whitney probably still has hers

> “Just a nightmare. I’m fine. Thanks.”

“Just a nightmare.” You shake your head, then gently push Burke off of you. “I’m fine. I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” Burke looks at you as if you aren’t fine. Truth be told, you haven’t had a nightmare so intense in quite a while. You feel your cheeks and feel the sweat dripping off of them. “Thought we were being stalked by Raptors. Thought they had killed you and Whitney. Can you believe that?”

“Hm. I’ve had worse,” Burke mutters. She crawls out of the boxfort, affording you a very nice view of her rear for a few seconds before she gets out. You rub your head, grimacing. It’s as if someone is squeezing your head in a vice. You shake it off, then crawl on out. Then you find Whitney whistling as she slices one of those big yellow fruits into neat little slices, after coring it of course. “You got a wet wipe, Whitney?”

Whitney tosses one to Burke. “Here ya do.” Burke catches it, then hands it to you. You tear it open the start wiping your face. “You know, I will offer the two of you a permanent place here to stay if you’d like. Or, maybe you can bring the entire family here if ya do so care! I’m not looking forward to being alone again, that’s for sure.”

“We might take you up on that,” you say as you finish wiping your face. Whitney hands you a slice of fruit, which you quickly take a bite out of it. Sweetness envelopes your tastebuds as the slice melts in your mouth. “Listen. Your Orbital Transmitter in your Boat, does it-“

“No,” says Whitney. “Doesn’t work. The tide washed over it while I was scavenging the wreck after deciding to move. Everything is long waterlogged or covered in sand and decayed. I don’t know if the AutoDoc works either.” Figures. “Shame really, I’ll admit, maybe an Orbital Transmitter would be nice to have in case the Dominion does decide to come back.”

“Sergeant Cope claims to have had one,” Burke explains. “A Navy Liaison was carrying it.”

“Oh, a walkie-talkie?” asks Whitney. You nod. “Hm. Them’s a bit sturdier I reckon. But like I say, I wouldn’t waste your time on it. Way I see it, without a Fleet to contact, they may as well just be paperweights.”

You nod, sighing. “Right, right. You’re sure you don’t want to come with us, Whitney?”

>>3078882
[2/2]

“Dead sure,” she says. “I’m fine right where I am. But you’re free to take whatever you need. I got supplies, I got food, I have a bath. Um.” She looks at Burke, shifting on her feet a little. “We can maybe... do this and that before you go?” Burke stares at her, clearly not amused at the offer. Whitney blushes intensely, then averts her eyes. “… Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I mean- It’s not like me girlfriend would care anyway. She probably thinks me dead.”

Burke looks at you, stern. “I’ll be outside.” She takes her DMR and marches out the door.

Whitney sighs, a very deep look of sadness on her face. “Well. Um. Come back soon when you’re able to, okay? I just-… I’d love to have some more human contact again. Makes me feel safe and sane and what not.”

> “We will. I promise.”
> “Hey. You can always come to us.”
> “We’ll see what happens, Whitney.”
> Other

>>3078888
>> “We will. I promise.”
On the bright side it seems we've fulfilled the Sergeants mission.

>>3078888
>> “We will. I promise.”

>>3078888
>> “We will. I promise.”
The ship would be a great base of operations from here on out.

>>3078888
> “We will. I promise.”

>>3078915
Well, other than the fact that it (or something in it) is messing with our heads. But it's not like we know that in-character.

>>3078946
Doesn't have to be the ship. Could be just stress and the fact that our ride out of here is gone for the near future.

>>3078888
> “We will. I promise.”
> “Hey. You can always come to us.”

Lets scavenge it anyways, or the auto doc and see if one of our guys can fix it.

> “We will. I promise.”

“We will, I promise.” Whitney beams brightly, then she shifts on her feet nervously, as if unsure what to do.

“Oh… Oh, what the hell, c’mere!” Whitney takes you in a very deep hug. It’s a warm embrace, one that you probably needed for quite a while. “I’m so sorry things are the way that they are but hopefully they get better!” She leans back, smiling at you. “Maybe we’ll even make a new life here for all of us! You’ll see!” Yeah, yeah, maybe you will. With that, you take your Carbine. For now, you don’t feel you need any supplies. You’ll probably make the trek back out here again anyway.

Whitney leads you out to the door, where Burke waits. The swamp is aglow with the orange rays of the sun coming up over the horizon. “Take care now, you two!” Whitney pushes the door shut, leaving you two on the outside.

“Feeling good to walk?” asks Burke. You nod. “Alright. Let’s get going then.” You and Burke start trekking north east, back towards the camp. You notice that the swamp is a lot more quieter than usual. Normally, there’d be the buzzing of insects, maybe the chirping of birds, and the hissing and howling of those Deinos. But no. Near complete silence. You look around and see nothing stalking the two of you. Not even that weird chameleon Lizard you saw way back then. Maybe the artillery scared everything into hiding.

Right, the rocket artillery. You sigh, rubbing your nose. You’re lucky they didn’t come down further. But it’s clear the Lizards want to break their way into the Swamp just to get at you. No more hesitation from them it seems. Seems Sergeant Cope’s plan to keep them out has apparently failed for now. But you at least found a new place to stay. Maybe even hide out if the Lizards come knocking again. And Whitney is quite nice. Shame she doesn’t bat for the home team.

Burke walks ahead of you, keeping her head on a swivel. “Listen,” she says. “When we get back to camp, we confront Cope on what he’s been hiding from us. Everyone needs to know.”

“Hold on,” you say. “Let’s not be-“

Burke looks back at you. “You think it’s right that he’s hiding the fact that we’re not going to get extracted? He’s lying to everyone in camp. We need to let them know.”

> “We talk to Cope first. Then we come out with it.”
> “Burke, it’s probably best to keep quiet about it for now.”
> “Let’s not talk about this now.”
> Other

>>3079094
>> Get both the Sarge and the Lieutenant together for a "chat".
We've got to reveal it, but it's best we discuss it with the other commanders first,so opportunist don't take advantage of the situation.

>>3079094
Supporting >>3079099

>>3078955
True. But I am wary of it nonetheless.

>>3079094
> Other
We inform the people loyal to us first then approach the Sergent and the LT. Just in case the Nav officer disappearing wasn't an accident.

>>3079122
We could always ask Burke to stand guard during the meeting.

>>3079122
Supporting

>>3079135
We should at least tell Graves.

>>3079145
That's a good idea since we're going to be seeing her anyways due to our injuries.

>>3079145
>>3079224
So call a meeting, and in the meantime have Graves tend to our injuries?

> Other


“We bring in the Lieutenant and Sergeant Cope for a chat. We have to discuss it with the commanders first, then we can work it down the line to other people. Graves will have to know as well.”

Burke quirks her brow. “Why does your bottom bitch have to be in on it?”

“Because she has to fix me up, I have a broken hand, a lame back and a hole in my hip,” you explain. “She might as well look over me while we discuss things.” Burke rolls her eyes. “What, are you jealous or something?”

“I just think she’s a little soft, that’s all,” says Burke. Soft? Graves? “Way I see it, if we’re staying on this place in the near future, we have to approach things differently. We can’t just assume we’ll find more supplies to sustain us. We’ll have to hunt, we’ll have to establish territory, we’ll have to learn to live off this land. If people die, that’s on us, and it’s not our responsibility if they die. That’s their fault, not ours.”

“You don’t really mean that,” you say.

“I don’t?” She looks back, glaring at you.

“You don’t. You had every reason to believe I was dead and yet you still came back for me,” you explain. Burke blinks, then looks forward. Huh. You’ve actually flustered her for once. “Look, Burke. We can be hard all we want, show some grit and all that, but we work together out here and we look after each other. That lone wolf stuff stays behind. We’re going to have to provide and people are going to have to pull their weight. Everyone works together.” Burke nods, grumbling quietly to herself. “Now come on. We better get moving and fast.”

“Yeah, come on.” Burke starts moving at a faster walk, and you start following her. The woods are still quiet as you move along.

…

…

You crossed the river a few minutes ago. That meant you were getting close to the camp. Burke holds her DMR up, trying to make herself visible to anyone in the camp who may be guarding. You hear some bushes rustling up ahead. The two of you kneel. “Friendlies!” yells Burke.

Popping out of the bushes was Nielson, his eyes wide with surprise and awe. “Burke! Oh my God, you brought that son of a bitch back!” He grins, running up to you too, his rifle slung under his arm. You step up to Nielson, and quickly grab his hand and thump chests with him. “Oh my God, it’s good to see you, man! When Burke told us, we thought you for dead! You two have been gone for two days! We were starting to assume the worst!”

You grin. “Well. She did find me. It’s a really long story, let me tell you something.”

“I bet,” he says. “You look like you’ve been through a trash compactor. Shit! Come on, come on!” Nielson starts leading the two of you to camp. “Burke, where did you find him?”

>>3079338
[2/2]

“Face first in some Deinonychus poon,” Burke says sharply. Nielson looks back, weirded out and shocked.

“The Deinos found me, gave me some food and shelter,” you say. “They’re quite nice people. Some of them at least. Look, it’s a really long story.”

“I bet,” says Nielson. “You must’ve had it pretty comfy. Back here though, things are getting a little choppy.” Oh? Nielson’s grin fades a little as he thinks on it. “Harrell sent Joffrey with Horner and Bakker to scout east, look for a gap in the Lizard lines so we can try and sneak through and grab the Transmitter. They were due back this morning but we haven’t seen eye or ear of them. They haven’t even used their radio sets either.”

“He sent Joffrey?” you ask. “He’s a combat engineer. And Horner and Bakker are weapons specs. They’re not scouts.” Is Harrell serious? He chose probably some of the worst people for the job.

Nielson shrugs. “We didn’t have much of a choice. A rocket actually hit the camp. Nobody got dead or injured but everyone’s spooked. That artillery was getting danger close so Cope wants to move. But the farther we move, the further away from the Transmitter we get. Cope and Harrell are pretty close to falling out.” He looks at you, confused. “You alright, man? You look a little funny.”

> “Nielson, there’s something I gotta tell you.” Explain to him everything.
> “Nothing. I need to see Cope and Harrell. Can you get them once we’re in camp?”
> “How’s Tierney?”
> Other

>>3079339
> “Nielson, there’s something I gotta tell you.” Explain to him everything.

Best have his backing and keep him calm, telling everyone out there can cause an emotional domino that can be magnified by others reactions.

>>3079339
>> “Nielson, there’s something I gotta tell you.” Explain to him everything.

>>3079339
>> “Nielson, there’s something I gotta tell you.” Explain to him everything.

>>3079339
>“Nothing. I need to see Cope and Harrell. Can you get them once we’re in camp?”

>>3079339
>> “Nielson, there’s something I gotta tell you.” Explain to him everything.

>>3079421
keep your mouth shut though

Oh man... I suddenly got this feeling a coup is coming on.

> “Nielson, there’s something I gotta tell you.” Explain to him everything.

“Nielson, there’s something I gotta tell you.” You stop him from moving any further. He looks to you, a very visible look of confusion and worry on his face. “You gotta stay quiet on this, okay?”

“Sure, anything,” he says. “Wh-… What is it?” Burke stands to the side, glaring at him.

You sigh. “We ran into a crashed starship, must be near-on centuries old buried partially into the Swamp. We found a pilot there. She was in contact with the Fleet.” Nielson’s eyes widen, as if you’ve filled them with hope. “She’s told us the Fleet’s gone. They’re not coming back anytime soon.” You’ve crushed his hope in one fell swoop. He steps back, as if you’ve physically shoved him with the words. “Harrell probably just sent Joffrey on a fool’s errand. And we think Sergeant Cope is keeping the information from us. Probably to keep morale high, probably for some other purpose. We don’t know. But what we do know is that there’s no rescue coming anytime soon. It could be days, months… years before they come back.”

The look on Nielson’s face is absolute disbelief. “You’re joking.” You shake your head. “God.” He looks to Burke. Burke nods, confirming your explanation. “You’re joking, you gotta be. I-…” Silence is the only thing you can give him right now. “That can’t be.”

“It is,” you say. “I’m sorry. But that’s how it is.”

Nielson holds his chin, his lip quivering a little in grief. “God. That can’t be. But what about the transmitter? What about everything else?”

“In theory, a Transmitter will still be useful if they come back,” says Burke. “If the Dominion decides to come back.”

“No, no, I mean- The camp. Everyone else!” he says. “Goddamn, this is- I-…” He doesn’t seem to know what to do with the information. “Oh my God, what are we going tell them? I mean, the frakking Lizards are closing in on us! And we’re stuck here in a Swamp where most everything is trying to kill us! And then there’s the goddamn Q-Birds, those Quetzalwhateverlus you call ‘em too! What the hell are we going to do?”

“Look, Nielson.” You step closer to him, looking him in the eye. “I need you to stay quiet about this, okay? We plan on sharing this information with everyone once they’re ready.”

Nielson is hesitant. He looks at Burke again. Burke steps forward too, resting a hand on the pistol in her holster. Nielson nods. “Alright. Alright. Um. Mum’s the word, boss.” He looks at you and Burke, any joviality gone from his body. “Come on. Camp is just up ahead.” He turns and starts walking ahead.

Burke steps past you, nodding. You nod back, sighing. The three of you start walking out back to the camp.

Finally you see the Command truck and the Land Rover poking out of the bushes. Then you see wooden barricades set up around in a perimeter around the site. Everyone looks to see Nielson approaching, then they see you. “Oh my stars and garters!” Stoakes cries out. “He’s back!”

“Well, well, well,” Godwin hooks his thumbs on his belt, grinning. “So Morrison wasn’t bullshitting.”

“It’s you!” Morrison grins, hobbling over, his skin still a little pale from recovering from that infection. “Goddamn, I knew they couldn’t put you in the ground!” He offers his hand. You shake it, smiling at him. Nielson stands to the side, quiet. “Hey, someone get Cope and Harrell! You need a drink?”

“Yeah,” you say. Morrison takes his canteen and offers it to you. You take it then take a quick chug of the fresh water. “Thank you, Morrison.”

“Yeah, yeah. You two look like shit,” he says.

“Oh my God!” Tierney steps out of the Command truck, running on over to you. “First I lose you in the river because of me now you’ve come back to frakking haunt me, you jerk, pissant, you freak!” She starts sobbing, running over to you with tears running like rivers down her cheeks. She tackles you, and you do your best not to flinch from her pushing against your hip. “Ah! You’re back!” You pat Tierney’s back, nodding. “Oh my God, you’re back! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry! Please forgive me!” She whimpers into your chest, wetting your jacket with her salty tears. “I should’ve done more, I should’ve done more! I’m sorry!”

“It’s alright, it’s alright.” You pat her back some, nodding to her. Connell, Hood, and Wexley walk on over to, clearly awed by your presence. You look past them and see the Stenonychosaurus still underneath the truck. It keeps its eyes on you, clearly curious. You look to Morrison. “How’s he?”

“He eats,” says Morrison. “Bit Godwin a little bit, had to keep Godwin from shooting it. But he’s docile for now. But goddamn, why are you concerned? You look like shit! Let’s get you to Graves and Tombs!”

“What’s going on!?” Lieutenant Harrell calls out to everyone. Following behind him is Sergeant Cope. When they see you, they’re floored. “My God. Corporal, you made it!” Lieutenant Harrell steps past everyone then pats your shoulder. “I thought you were dead!”

“You thought wrong,” you say. You look at Cope L̵̺͂͑̎̇͗̀͐̑̃Ĩ̸̬̻̟Á̵͉̩̥̦̫̟̬̄̋͛Ŕ̸͙. He looks to you, clearly confused and curious in expression. “Listen, Harrell. Cope. We need to talk. I gotta debrief you both on something I just learned.”

Lieutenant Harrel nods, then says, “Everyone get back on the line! And someone get me Graves too! This man is wounded!” The crowd starts dispersing. Nielson quickly moves to get Graves. Tierney still holds onto you. “Tierney, let go of him. We gotta talk to him.”

Tierney however still keeps hugging you. “I’m so sorry,” she squeals. “I’m so sorry…”

> “You got nothing to be sorry about.”
> “It’s alright. I forgive you.”
> “Just let go of me, Tierney. We can talk later.”
> Other

>>3079467
> Other
Its okay, calm down Tierney. We can talk later if you want, right now I gotta debrief and talk to everyone later.

>>3079467
>> “You got nothing to be sorry about.”
She really doesn't, she actually fucking died in a pit of quicksand. She was in zero condition to be helping anybody.

Also,

>L̵̺͂͑̎̇͗̀͐̑̃Ĩ̸̬̻̟Á̵͉̩̥̦̫̟̬̄̋͛Ŕ̸͙.

We gonna end up snapping and going Berserk on Cope and the dinos or something?

>>3079467
>“You got nothing to be sorry about.”

>>3079485
Idk why we feel that since we keep staying open about him knowing and giving him the benefit of the doubt.

>>3079467
>> “Just let go of me, Tierney. We can talk later.”

>>3079467
>> “You got nothing to be sorry about.”

>>3079485
>We gonna end up snapping and going Berserk on Cope and the dinos or something?
Countdown till our grip on reality becomes unhinged and the squad has to Section 8 us along with Tombs.

>>3079596
>we end up disappearing into the swamp and coming back a week later with a dead Rex being dragged in by a herd of deinos
RIP AND TEAR

YOU ARE HUGE THAT MEANS YOU HAVE HUGE GUTS

> “You got nothing to be sorry about.”

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about.” You gently push her away. Her face is covered in tears, pouty and sorrowful all at the same time. “What happened back there was a fluke. It wasn’t anybody’s fault, alright?” She nods slowly, shivering as you hold her arms. “Listen, I gotta talk with Harrell and Cope here. Just wait up for me, alright?” She nods, stepping back. Stoakes comes over and takes her hand, helping lead her away from you. Tierney looks longingly at you, clearly still surprised to see you here. You look at Cope and Harrell. “Come on, we’ll talk in the truck. Burke, Nielson. Keep people from eavesdropping.”

“Got it,” says Burke. All of you get walking to the Command truck. Inside you find Graves and Tombs talking. Graves looks to you, blinking.

“Daddy, you’re back!” Graves grins. “And not a moment too soon!”

Harrell points to Tombs. “You. Out. Graves, tend to him.” Tombs glances at Graves, then steps past all of you out of the truck. You sit down on a bed and Graves quickly kneels by your side to take stock of your injuries. “Right. Corporal. What is it?”

“I ran into a pilot out in the wilderness with Burke,” you explain. “She had a Transmitter in her dropship that still worked until the tide basically ruined it.”

“And?” Harrell looks curious. But as for Cope, he doesn’t look pleased. He steps back, placing his hands on his belt.

“The Fleet’s gone, Lieutenant,” you say. Graves stops, looking at you with horror in her eyes. Harrell as well looks positively staggered. But most tellingly, Cope doesn’t look surprised. He simply glances away, rubbing at his neck. “We don’t know when it’s coming back. It’ll come back, they have to. But we don’t know when. Could be weeks, months, years.”

“My God.” Harrell shakes his head, stepping back and taking a seat at one of the consoles. “You’re sure about this.” You nod. “Sweet… I-… Oh my God. Really?” You nod. Part of you is actually empathizing with the poor man. He probably hates being here as much as anyone else. And the responsibility of command is clearly weighing on him. This is just making things worse for him. “Well, Cope, this changes everything. We can’t-“ Harrell stops himself, then looks at Cope. “Did you know about this?”

You all look at Cope. He is quiet.

Then he speaks. “Yes,” he says. Harrell stands up, anger quickly coming to him. You too start seeing red too. He knew and yet he refused to tell anyone about it. “I knew. Only I and Lyndon did. Lyndon’s dead obviously so it was just me. But I kept it from you all to keep morale high. You think people are going to want to keep going if they know there’s no chance for rescue? I did what I thought was right. There.” He steps up to you. “You happy?”

“Everyone deserves to know,” you say.

Harrell blinks, standing around. “Oh my God. Joffrey. I sent him out. He’s wasting time out there. I thought we could grab the Transmitter and get out, but now that-“

“It’s pointless,” says Cope. “They’ll be back soon.”

“They were expected an hour ago, Sergeant!” says Harrell. “If any of my subordinates were killed because of your negligence…”

Graves speaks up. “Hey, you two.” They look at Graves. “Let’s not argue in the truck. I do agree, we should tell everyone. But we gotta figure out too what we want to do. The Lizards are closing in on us. It’s only a matter of when, not if, they find our camp here. And they’re going to bring in more ordnance, stuff that can kill those Q-Birds.”

“Graves is right,” says Cope. “Now, you said you encountered the pilot, where was she?”

“She had home set up in an old buried Starship, just to the southwest of here,” you say. “I made contact too with the local Deinos. They might be friendly. At the least, they won’t kill us on sight. We can move everyone there if need be.”

“Not if, now,” says Cope. “That sounds like a good place to set up.”

“Hold on, hold on, no one is going anywhere,” says Harrell. “I have men out there who haven’t come back yet! We can’t just leave them behind!”

> “If we leave markers, they’ll find us. We should leave now while we have the chance.”
> “We can stay a little longer until they get back.”
> “I’ll find them myself, don’t worry.”
> Other

> “Just let go of me, Tierney. We can talk later.”

I have to go to sleep now. But we'll be back first thing in the morning for fresh updates and discussion. So hope you're all enjoying. See you then.

Go ahead and discuss things, leave your votes obviously, and begin the waifu wars I guess too.

>>3079661
>> “I’ll find them myself, don’t worry.”
Guess us and Burke have to go find them again. Get the rest to start moving out first.

>>3079661
>> Other
Leave burke behind to guide them

>>3079661
>“We can stay a little longer until they get back.”

>>3079661
>> “I’ll find them myself, don’t worry.”
Burke will bring you guys to the ship

>>3079661
>> “We can stay a little longer until they get back.”
We'll give them several more hours, then we make the move to the ship. We can send out search parties later if they still don't show but we need to get moving.

>>3079666
We're not really in condition to be going rambo honestly, we're kinda fucked up.

>>3079665
Thanks for running dude.

>>3079672
Yeah on second though let Burke do it since she likes to be the lone wolf anyway. Just hope she can lead them back without getting into some stupid argument.

>>3079661
Send Burke to find em and we lead em?

>>3079661
Wait what about the dino?

Cut loose or kill?
Or lead somewhere far away and tie to a tree leave there..... Not too tight, but would take a few hours for it to get loose.

>>3079692
Yeah supporting this.

Good leaders need to delegate and we’re injured.

Leave Burke here and we’ll lead them.

>>3079697
Bring him with...? I mean, we need to decide what to DO with him eventually. Better to decide now desu

>>3079864
bring him and have him start repairing the ship

> “We can stay a little longer until they get back.”
> Other

“We can stay a little longer until they get back,” you say. “And if we do have to leave, we can leave Burke here to help them if they come back after we’re gone.” Sergeant Cope nods, crossing his arms as he looks out the door. “She can help find them as well too if you so prefer that, Lieutenant.”

“No, no, no,” says Lieutenant Harrell. “I’d rather not. We’re already missing three people. I’d rather not be missing four. I’ll give them two hours then…” He sighs, heavy on his heart on saying this. “Then we can move out. Is this place you mentioned somewhere nearby?”

“To the southwest, can’t be more than a couple dozen kilometers,” you explain. “It’s near to a village of those Deinos. They’re somewhat friendly. As long as we don’t disturb them, hopefully they don’t disturb us.” Lieutenant Harrell, Sergeant Cope, and Graves look fairly confused at that explanation. “You look like you don’t believe me.”

“I’m just wondering how you think you can trust that they’re friendly,” says Sergeant Cope.

“Well, I’m not dead. They gave me food and shelter,” you say. “They could’ve easily killed me but they didn’t.” Toothy not withstanding at least.

“This is an interesting revelation,” Harrell remarks. “But…” He sighs. “I’ll have to talk it out with the men about this Transmitter business.” Cope looks to Harrell, now suddenly stricken with concern and quiet fury. “We can’t go on letting them think rescue is coming when it’s not. We gotta be honest.”

“Lieutenant, I disagree,” says Sergeant Cope. “All of their hope is riding on rescue being near.”

“We are making actions that contradict that, Sergeant,” Harrell replies. “I’d rather everyone know exactly what their chances are as opposed to thinking that things are just going to be OK once we find the Transmitter. If we find the Transmitter. People will cry, whine, and maybe someone might commit suicide.” You glare at Harrell. Seriously? He just comes right out with that? “But ultimately, we’ll be betraying their trust by keeping this from them.”

Sergeant Cope shakes his head. “What. Are you going to call them around and tell them yourself?”

“I’ll tell each and every one of them myself,” says Harrell. He looks at you. “Corporal. Thank you for bringing this information to light. You’ve done us a service. It’s a hard pill to swallow but I think it’s for the betterment that everyone knows.”

> “I’m just doing my job, sir.”
> “Sir, I agree with Cope. Maybe we should hold off on letting everyone know for a little while.”
> “It is, sir. Just be gentle with them.”
> Other

>>3080485
>> Other
With all due respect, I should be the one that tells them. I'll be able to tell them exactly what I know, and I think everyone atleast trusts me, instead of this group being split up into camp Harrell and camp Cope

>>3080485
>> “It is, sir. Just be gentle with them.”

>>3080485
>> “It is, sir. Just be gentle with them.”
Even if we tried to keep it a secret I'd doubt we'd be able to as long as Cope thinks he can.

> “It is, sir. Just be gentle with them.”

“It is, sir. Just be gentle with them. I wouldn’t be too upfront about everything.”

Lieutenant Harrell nods. “Alright, Corporal. Don’t worry, I’m a people person.” Clearly. “Sergeant Cope. I want you to prep the vehicles to move as soon as we’re ready. We’ll wait a few hours. If Joffrey and company aren’t back by then, we move out.” Sergeant Cope nods, silent. “Corporal, you lead us. Burke will stay behind to look for our guys if they aren’t back.” You nod, fair play. “Get well soon, alright?” Lieutenant Harrell exits the Command truck. Sergeant Cope gives you a short glare before following him out. What’s his problem?

You shake your head. Goddamn. Out of the frying pan you suppose. Then you feel a prick in your left hand. “Ow!” Graves just injected Inst-Aid into your hand. You didn’t even notice she was still treating you. “Damn. Let me know when you’re doing that.”

“Aw, sowwy wittle babby,” Graves hisses at you. “What, you want me to pull your pants down and start riding you? You might as well start a whole new life here, get me pregnant, claim the land as your own seeing as how we’re stuck here now.”

“Graves-“

“Or better yet, maybe we can go live in a cave and start painting on the walls and just disappear into the ocean! That way anybody comes by who’s intelligent, they look at our cave paintings and go ‘who the frak painted these?’ You know, go on pranking future civilizations into thinking there’s something mystical going on about!” she says, her voice shaking a little. “And then-“

“Graves.” You gently smack her shoulder, stopping her. She sighs, rubbing at her temples. “It’s alright. I’m not pleased with the news either.”

“No, clearly,” she mutters. She covers her mouth for a few seconds, glancing at the floor. You can see her eyes watering for a second before she quickly wipes it away with her arm. She looks back at you, now much more firm. “Any other injuries I should know about?”

“My back is kind of weird,” you say. “It kind of aches at me.”

“You hit it against something?” You nod. Against a rock in the rabids more precisely. “Do you feel sharp pains against your muscles?” You shake your head. “Probably not a fracture then. You just need a massage and some ice packs. That’s not a frakking joke by the way, next chance you get, come find me and I’ll give you a back massage and we can have that thing squared away. As for your hip here.” She points to your hip. “Not infected, somehow. But it’s going to scar pretty badly.”

“Is it bad?” you ask.

“No, it’s healing nicely,” she says. “I’ll just replace the gauze, plant some MediGel on it, and that’ll be that.” She takes the gauze wrap off and tosses it to the floor, then takes a new wrap and some MediGel as well. She’s quiet as she places it against your hip.

…

She gently pats the gauze, sticking it to your side. “There.” She stands up, looking down at you as she places her hands on her hips. “I’d suggest some bed rest too, Daddy. Just don’t strain yourself.” You can clearly see the news is aching at her. But you’re not sure if you want to pry or not.

> “You know, a massage now wouldn’t hurt. We got time.”
> “I’m sorry about Sergeant Cope, lying to us like that, I know you spoke of him fondly.”
> “Listen, no matter what happens, we’ll make it through.”
> Other

>>3080687
>> “I’m sorry about Sergeant Cope, lying to us like that, I know you spoke of him fondly.”
>> “Listen, no matter what happens, we’ll make it through.”

>>3080687
>“Listen, no matter what happens, we’ll make it through.”

>>3080687
>> “Listen, no matter what happens, we’ll make it through.”

>>3080687
>> “Listen, no matter what happens, we’ll make it through.”
I still intend to keep my promise

> “Listen, no matter what happens, we’ll make it through.”

“No matter what happens, Graves. We’ll make it through. Alright?” Graves looks at you, a very forlorn look on her face. “You with me, Graves?”

“Yeah.” She nods, taking a breath. “Yeah, I’m with you, it’s just hard to take in. I mean, I thought for sure we’d be outta here once we got the Transmitter and once we…” She pauses. “I guess it’s a little too much to frakking ask for the Dominion to actually give two shits about the average person and its soldiery. Now they left us behind and just left us for dead.” She sits down on the bed next to you. “Just um… just go ahead and give me a minute here, I need some time to think that’s all.”

You stand up, nodding. “Alright. If you ever need to talk, I’m here.”

“Yeah, yeah, frak off, Daddy.” Graves places her head in her hands, looking down at the floor. You’re not sure what else you can say to her.

You walk on over to the door of the Command truck, and find that Lieutenant Harrell has assembled everyone. Absolutely everyone in the camp. Himself, Cope, Early, Connell, Grimshaw, Hood, Wexley, Nielson, Morrison, Tierney, Stoakes, Burke, Tombs, and Godwin. Seems you’ve caught him in the middle of the speech, judging by all the crushed looks on everyone’s faces. “… now the Corporal has found us a new place to settle. So once we find out what’s going on with Joffrey and Horner and Bakker, we’ll move out. Burke will stay behind to search for them if they’re not here within two hours. People, we are in a very shitty situation, I will not sugarcoat it. But we are in no position to argue or to beg anyone to get us out. Only thing we can do is survive until the Dominion comes back.”

Morrison folds his arms, looking up from the ground. “How long will that be?”

“I don’t know,” says Lieutenant Harrell. Everyone visibly cringes at those words. “Could be weeks, could be months. But, if we pull together, and everyone does their share, we will survive. Humanity has done far more with far less. One way or another Acheron will be the Dominion’s. And one way or another we will get off this planet. Now. I want everyone to start packing everything up. I want those barricades lashed to the Command truck and to the Land Rover, maybe that’ll give us a little bit of armor. Sergeant Cope, get the vehicles warmed up. Rest of you get working.”

Everyone disperses, slowly. Godwin throws his hands up. “Well that’s just frakking great, huh?”

“What the hell are we supposed to frakking do now!?” says Connell. “Wait for them to come to us?” Connell, Hood, and Godwin start congregating with each other. “We’re bonafide frakked.”

Grimshaw walks up to them. “You ask me, no point in doing any soldiery stuff anymore. Dominion ain’t coming back for this pile of dirt anyway. There ain’t no worth for this doing!”

“Grim’s right,” Hood says. “We should-“

“Enough!” Cope walks up to them. “Get working or I’ll make you work! As long as I or Lieutenant Harrell are here, you are still Dominion soldiers and you are still human –frakking- beings! Not savages! Now get on with it! Get everything packed!” Hood, Godwin, Connell, and Grimshaw disperse, moving to grab the barricades. But you can tell by the way they glare at each other and at Harrell that they do not want to take this news standing.

Tierney meanwhile collapses to her knees, sobbing madly as Stoakes and Morrison try to comfort her. “It’s alright, baby,” says Stoakes. “We’ll get through it. It’s okay.” Tierney sputters, unable to form coherent words.

“It’s alright,” says Morrison. “We all got people to go back home to. We’re not giving up, Tierney.”

You sigh, rubbing your eyes.

“Hey.” Nielson walks up to you, as does Tombs. “What should we do with the Steno? We taking him with us?”

Tombs says, “He’s been docile so far. It’d be kind of a waste to put him down after all this.”

> Leash him to the back of the Land Rover, let him walk.
> Get him into the Command truck, bound.
> Put him down. We can’t take him with us.
> Other

>>3081072
> Leash him to the back of the Land Rover, let him walk.

>>3081072
>> Get him into the Command truck, bound.
Still a prisoner, might have some use in the future. Can we ride in the Command truck with it to keep an eye on it? We can still give directions from in there, right?

I also don't know how fucked our hip still is and if we should keep walking with it.

>>3081072
>> Leash him to the back of the Land Rover, let him walk.

Also we'd better be prepared for those three to do something stupid.Though desertion here is honestly a really stupid idea even if the Lizards weren't not trying to kill us.
>>3081095
I think we can stay in the truck;we're injured and hey we deserve the rest.

>>3081072
>Get him into the Command truck, bound.

>>3081072
>> Leash him to the back of the Land Rover, let him walk

>>3081072
>> Leash him to the back of the Land Rover, let him walk.

>>3081109
>>3081268
>inb4 it somehow gets off the leash and escapes into the forest

> Leash him to the back of the Land Rover, let him walk.

“We’ll leash him to the back of the Land Rover, let him walk,” you say. Tombs nods. He grabs some rope and starts tying a loop around the end for a lasso. “You ever lasso anything, Tombs?”

“No, have you?” he asks.

“Nah.” Truth be told, you hunt, you don’t lasso. Lassoing is for cowboys and what not. “You think you can get him?”

“He’s fairly docile,” Tombs explains. “So I think I can get him. You and Nielson can keep moving.” You nod. Tombs, ever reliable. You start walking with Nielson.

Nielson says, “Christ. I didn’t think things would get much worse and they have.” You nod, shoving your hands in your pocket. “You think they’ll come soon, the Dominion?”

“I hope so,” you say. “I don’t plan on dying on this rock.” Y̷̡̛̬͊Ơ̷̮̭͇̮͂̌̐U̸̫͖̮̕̕ ̵̨̠̣̜͠W̴̢̮̰̽̀̍Ỉ̶̪̞̼L̴̆̔͛ͅL̴͉̫̘̓ͅ “And I’m sure you aren’t either. You got stuff to go home to, don’t you?”

“Well, I always wanted to open a garage, follow in my Daddy’s footsteps,” he says. “But I guess that ain’t happening until I get back.” You nod. Nielson is from Hopewell just like you. You can’t imagine what he must be feeling though. Almost dying only to find out that things have gone from bad to worse. And you can’t imagine either what Tierney is going through too. She probably has it worse. Any jovial mood in the camp is replaced with soul-crushing despair as everyone just works through the motions to get the camp packed up.

“You mentioned rockets hit the camp?” you ask.

“Just one. Judging from the impact, can’t have been more than a 60mm, probably light stuff to probe,” he remarks. “If they wanted to kill us, they’d have used bigger stuff. Or used like incendiary rockets or some shit like that, smoke us out.”

“I imagine the Lizards aren’t stupid enough to start a forest fire in their own territory,” you say. Nielson nods, understanding the sentiment. Wildfires can be hard to contain at the best of times. And these Lizards have proven time and time again that they’re clearly intelligent. It’s not what they’re capable of that worries you really. It’s what they understand they’re –not- that worries you even more. They understand they have limits. And they learn to work around those limits, same as a human.

Nielson sighs, then slings his rifle. “Well, I’m going to go check on the vehicles.” He slaps your arm, smiling. “It’s good to have you back, boss.”

“Thanks.” Nielson turns and walks to the Command truck. He steps up next to Early as she checks the engine for any damage or wear and tear.

Right, what to do now?

> Get some rest in the truck.
> Talk with Tierney, see how she feels right now.
> Help Godwin, Connell, Hood, and Grimshaw lash the wood onto the vehicles.
> Talk with Lieutenant Harrell. See if he needs anything else done.
> Other

>>3081455
>> Get some rest in the truck.

>Y̷̡̛̬͊Ơ̷̮̭͇̮͂̌̐U̸̫͖̮̕̕ ̵̨̠̣̜͠W̴̢̮̰̽̀̍Ỉ̶̪̞̼L̴̆̔͛ͅL̴͉̫̘̓ͅ
Oh great, please tell me we're not going crazy.

>>3081455
>> Talk with Tierney, see how she feels right now.
Calm the girl down, she's freaking the fuck out. Our presence seems to have a pretty good calming effect on her.

>>3081455
> Help Godwin, Connell, Hood, and Grimshaw lash the wood onto the vehicles.
These guys are clearly unhappy. We need to address the greater threat first, which is a possible rebellion. As much as I'd like to help Tierney right now, I feel that we've been neglecting these guys for too long.

>>3081455
>Talk with Tierney, see how she feels right now.

>>3081455
> Talk with Tierney, see how she feels right now.

wtf guys, if we don't let the dino go now we HAVE to put it down later, its going to be a huge liability.

>>3081637
I kinda want to see what happens if our captured dino and the tribals meet.

>>3081455
>> Get some rest in the truck.
>Keep our gun on us.
Better to stay armed in case someone tries to mutiny.

>>3081639
More of an issue of losing our secret bug out location to the enemy dino faction.

>>3081642
That is true. If it ever makes an escape attempt it'll have to be shoot on sight.

>>3081637
You can't deny it's usefulness in repair though

>>3081660
We still need to get our family watch back. But I feel talking to Red (Dino) and trying to dump the steno on them could work.

>>3081669
That's an idea.
I'm still not entirely sure about their hierarchy, I don't know how well these ones are treated. Considering it was just left to rot I'm feeling like "not well" is the answer, so I'm curious if we could win it over to our side.

File: curious cat.jpg (11 KB, 227x222)

11 KB JPG

>>3081650
>Implying it will happen when we are looking and paying attention.

>Implying it won't kill the wounded or Tierney when its escaping so they can't alert anyone.

You guys love suffering don't ya?

>>3081683
No, he will be a good boy, or girl, we haven't really checked, or we will take away the watch.

> Talk with Tierney, see how she feels right now.

“Tierney?” You find Tierney sitting on the stump, with Stoakes and Morrison still trying to comfort her. Stoakes sits with her, hugging her. “You alright?” She shakes her head, tears pouring down her cheeks. “I know things are bad but we can still make it. We just have to work together to survive here.”

“Sergeant Cope was lying to us, he lied to us,” she mutters. “I-… I’m not made for this.”

“That’s not true,” says Morrison. “We can make this work.”

“I don’t want to die on this rock, I want to go home…” She sniffles, sharply inhaling and shivering. “You promised me you’d get me back home but how are we supposed to get home without a frakking Fleet to take us out of here? They left us here! They left us here!” she shrieks. Stoakes pats Tierney’s back, trying her best to suppress her own tears too. “I can’t believe they just left us!”

You kneel down beside her. “It’s alright, Tierney, calm down.” She shakes her head, clutching Stoakes like a security blanket. “Look, I said I’d protect you. I promised I’d get you out, didn’t I? My word’s as good as gold.”

Tierney sighs wearily, rubbing at her face to wipe some tears away. “What the hell are we supposed to do now? What are we going to do!? Nothing’s going to fix this! There’s nothing! We’re frakked! We’re frakked” She stands up, letting go of Stoakes. “We’re going to die on this rock! We’re all going to die! I won’t get to see my Mom again!” She’s going hysterical.

> Slap Tierney.
> Hug Tierney.
> Let Tierney vent.
> Other

>>3081899
>Hug Tierney.

>>3081899
>> Hug Tierney.
Squeeze her, tell her we got a nice spot to hunker down in and we found some actually somewhat friendly locals. It's not as dire as it seems.

>>3081899

> Slap Tierney.

>>3081899
>> Slap Tierney.

>>3081899
>> Let Tierney vent.

>>3081899
>Hug Tierney

Shame we can't try to repair the starship or something.

>>3082057
Well it's a good thing we are

>>3082213
Wait, we are? I missed that. Or at least, I'm wondering why didn't we try to tell everyone about that fact.

>>3082057
The spaceship probably dosen't fly too good, but that doesn't mean it's communications are totally fucked

I mean that thing is potentially our only way off-planet so if we can repair it then we definitely should. Also gives our guys a goal to work towards.

> Hug Tierney.

You grab Tierney and pull her close, squeezing her tightly. She cries into your chest, limp, all she can really do is cry. It’s actually making you feel horrible holding her like this. Really, this is the only thing you can do that can really make her feel better, short of sprouting wings and being able to whisk her off the planet instantly. Her sobbing and sniveling is muffled by your chest plate as you pat her back, holding her close. Slowly, she starts calming down as she wraps her arms around you, hugging you back.

“You okay, Tierney?”

“Mhm,” she says, still pressing her face against you.

You gently pull her away and start wiping tears off of her cheeks and out of her eyes. “You’re alright, Tierney. Just keep it together. Alright? We’re not done yet. We’ll get out of here. I promise you that. Alright?” Tierney raises her arms to wipe her face clean, her shivering calming down as she stands in your presence. “Okay?”

“A-… Alright,” she says. “Sorry. I’m just- I’m not built for this. I don’t-“

“Nobody is, that’s what makes us better than the Lizards,” you say. “We’ll survive, we’ll go home safe and sound.” Tierney nods again, huffing and breathing a bit more stably now. She takes a deep breath, hissing. “You’re good.”

“I’m good.” She stomps her foot, looking up at you. “I’m good. I’m good!” She pumps her fist. You smile. Good, good.

Harrell walks into the center of camp. “Time’s up, gentlemen! We gotta move and we gotta move now! Godwin, Connell, Cope, Hood, get on the Land Rover! Everyone else in the Command truck! Let’s go!” You move over to the Command truck with everyone. Everyone starts mounting on, one by one.

Burke grabs Nielson by the shoulder. “Nielson, I need someone to stay with me. You good?”

“Y-… You want me?” he asks.

“Yes. You,” Burke says. Nielson looks to you.

> “Go ahead, Nielson. She trusts you.”
> “Better if you stay here alone, Burke.”
> Other

>>3082325
>> “Go ahead, Nielson. She trusts you.”
To Burke, "Make sure you get him back one in one piece."

>>3082325
> “Go ahead, Nielson. She trusts you.”
Why shouldn't we stay?
Is it because we have to scout?

>>3082347
Probably because you're still recovering from injuries and someone has to lead the others to the ship.

>>3082248
Because we don't wanna give them false confidence. Probably.


>>3082325
>>3082325
>> “Go ahead, Nielson. She trusts you.”

> “Go ahead, Nielson. She trusts you.”

“She trusts you, Nielson. Go ahead.”

“No I don’t,” says Burke. “I just need someone to cover me.” You give a look as if to say “really?” to Burke. She shrugs. “I mean, I trust him enough to not die very easily. How about that?”

“Gee. Thanks.” Nielson readies his rifle then nods. “Don’t worry, I got you covered.”

Burke nods. “It’ll be simple. Just follow my lead, kid.” Nielson nods, clearly nervous at the prospect of being alone with Burke. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he comes home safe.” She better. You saved Nielson yourself. If he dies, you’ll be very pissed. With that, you mount up into the Command truck and take a seat at the door.

“Alright, Cope, lead us on. Early, you follow behind. If the Steno looks like he’s going to make a run for it, crush him with the bullbars,” Harrell calls. Harrell packs up into the passenger seat of the cab of the Command truck. Tombs ties the rope off on the Land Rover’s tow bar then walks away from the Steno. The Steno hisses, clearly displeased at the idea of being forced to walk behind the Land Rover. But when Cope starts driving forward, it’s forced to keep pace behind it with a wounded leg and pride.

Harrell slides open a slot on the back of the cab looking into the back. “Corporal. You got a map?” You nod, walking past everyone who are sitting down either in chairs or on the beds. You pull a map from Graves then hand it to him. “Alright, point it out to us.”

“Right here, to the southwest,” you remark. “Not more than a dozen or two kilometers away south of the river. It’ll be a very unnatural looking hill. Can’t miss it.”

“Alright,” he says. “Thanks.” You nod then take a seat next to Graves. Everyone is silent, clearly not happy with the prospects of moving. Everyone sways in different directions lightly as the truck goes over light bumps and roots in the terrain. Stoakes leans up against Tombs, holding him for support while Morrison holds onto Tierney. Grimshaw stands at the door, watching out the rear for anything that might come from behind.

> May as well nap until you get there.
> “Anyone got stories? Or a joke or something?” Try to lighten the mood.
> “Since we’re stuck here, anyone know how to hunt or farm or anything?”
> Other

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh1gCHfYeQw&pbjreload=10

That's it for tonight, gotta go to sleep for now. But we'll be back first thing in the morning so leave your votes in overnight and we shall see each other in the morning! Hope you're all enjoying yourselves.

>>3082920
>Anyone know how to hunt or farm or anything?”

It's minor, but don't need to add the 'since we're stuck here' part.

>>3082920
>> “Since we’re stuck here, anyone know how to hunt or farm or anything?”

>>3082925
Thanks for running dude.

>>3082920
> May as well nap until you get there.

>>3082920
> “Since we’re stuck here, anyone know how to hunt or farm or anything?”

>>3082920
> “Since we’re stuck here, anyone know how to hunt or farm or anything?”
>Also, I want to be able to talk to the steno. Pictures worked quite well for the deinos that found me, maybe something similar. anyone have idea let me know.

>>3082920
>> “Since we’re stuck here, anyone know how to hunt or farm or anything?

>>3082920
>> Other
I gotta say guys, I'm surprised no one has asked about the weird starship buried underground

> “Since we’re stuck here, anyone know how to hunt or farm or anything?”

“Since we’re stuck here.” Everyone looks at you. “Anyone know how to hunt or farm or anything?” Everyone is quiet, glancing at each other for a second before going back to sulking. “Just me, okay. Um.”

Stoakes raises her hand, awkwardly. “I used to grow a garden back home.”

You snap your finger. “That’s a star! What’d you grow?”

“Tomatoes,” she says. “But then they died after I watered them too much.” Okay. That’s not bad but that’s not great either. “I mean, better to be safe than sorry, right? Plants need water, right?”

Grimshaw looks back. “No, no, Stoakes. It’s plants need nutrients. They only need water every now and again for hydration.” He looks at you. “I studied botany in college.”

“So you know how to farm then?” you ask.

“I said I studied botany, not that I farm,” he remarks. “And… I only studied botany because my ex-girlfriend was studying it. It’s a much, much, longer story than that. But goddamn I hated that girl.” Grimshaw shrugs. “She was a freak in bed but goddamn did I hate her every other minute of my life.”

Graves rolls her eyes. “No one asked for your life story, boy.” With that, silence descends on the command truck again. It’s one thing to get people to interact socially at a party or something. It’s another thing to get people to interact in a place like this. And you were never that social of a person to begin with anyway. “Now I can see why the Dominion likes conscripting people, eliminates idiots from the gene pool.”

“Hey, you watch your mouth,” says Grimshaw. “Otherwise someone might stuff their cock in it.”

“Grimshaw, please,” you say. “She didn’t mean anything by that.”

“I did actually,” Graves says. Oh for frak’s sake, please.

Tombs clears his throat, then says, “Enough. Both of you. The good Corporal here was just trying to gauge people’s experience and skill. He’s right. We’re going to be here a while. Anything that can help sustain us in the long term will be sorely needed.”

Stoakes gasps, realizing something. “Ooh! I used to do arts and crafts in school!”

“See,” you say. “What kind of arts and crafts?”

“I used to make lanyards and this one time I built a birdhouse but I accidentally broke my thumb hammering a nail in so they wouldn’t let me do the woodshop stuff ever again,” she says. Oh God. “Oh, and knitting. I actually knitted this here scarf myself.” She tugs at the scarf she wears around her neck. “It’s really cozy. Too bad we don’t have anything to make scarves with or anything or I’d make some for all of you.” She blinks, then grins widely. “Does singing count? Because I was also in choir at school.”

Grimshaw rolls his eyes. “Yes, Stoakes. Go ahead and sing a song for us.”

Stoakes inhales, smiling proudly as she then pats her knees to get a rhythm. “Ah-“

“I was being sarcastic, please don’t,” Grimshaw says quickly. Stoakes deflates, dejected.

> “Sing us a song, Stoakes. Please. It’ll lighten the mood.”
> Remain silent. Maybe it’s better to let people stew for a bit.
> Talk with someone idly. (Who?)
> Nap the rest of the way.
> Other

>>3083704
>> Remain silent. Maybe it’s better to let people stew for a bit.
Probably best to let everyone work through their emotions until they finally reach acceptance.

>>3083704
>> Remain silent. Maybe it’s better to let people stew for a bit.

>>3083704
Do we have an encyclopedia computer or something with us? tell them to start reading up on rudamentary farming and hunting and fishing and alien communication

>>3083774
Unfortunately, carrying around an encyclopedic manual either computer or book is not part of the soldier's standard kit.

>>3083774
and ancient spaceflight tech as well

>>3083778
No fieldcraft/basic survival guides? Maybe the dropship pilots will have them?

>>3083778
damn. and the command truck has a shower instead.

>>3083787
Your basic survival guide given out to conscripts usually candidly states that: "You're likely to be deployed to an alien planet where basically everything in this guide will likely be worthless, so use basic common sense." It goes over to how to establish campfires, how to check for clean water and how to make clean water, how to camouflage oneself in their surroundings, how to establish a basic shelter, and how to stretch the usefulness of a basic Power Pack (either as a power source for lights or equipment, ammo for guns, or an improvised explosive).

Most conscripts keep their manuals in their lockers and take a spare powerpack instead. Though they're also provided to Navy Pilots.

>>3083818
Thanks.Also I don't think it was mentioned but was/is the starship of human design or by some other species?

>>3083843
Some other species. It's definitely been there long enough for the trees to have grown around and on top of it to more or less completely mask it unless you're actually looking for it.

>>3083848
Hmm so maybe the Lizards' ancestors had access to spaceflight in the past? Or it's some totally unknown species that the Dominion doesn't know about...

>>3083880
I put money on the ship being the lizard's, but they sort of regressed

>>3083884
Yeah maybe they nuked each other back technologically a couple of centuries.

>>3083704
>> Remain silent. Maybe it’s better to let people stew for a bit.

> Remain silent. Maybe it’s better to let people stew for a bit.

You sigh, you decide to remain quiet for now. Seems everyone is on edge. You shouldn’t poke and prod. As nice as it would be to hear Stoakes sing, or to have everyone be all sunshine and rainbows, it’s probably best to let people process what’s going through their minds. No one here wants to be here. Everyone wants to leave. And now they can’t because the Dominion that saw fit to conscript them, tell them to fight and die on some foreign planet, has now left them to die. You always go by the mantra that N̵̢̡̬̒̇͂̋͒̆ͅƠ̶̼̗͌̌̄͘ ̸̗̿͐͛́̓Ơ̵̡͕̪͙̋͑̈́́N̶͔͓͎͗͒͗͗͜͝È̶͔̦̪͈̠̱͊̃ ̷̛̜̬̒̔̾̓G̶͖̋͐͆̎E̸͎̯̹͌̓T̴͓̺̫̈́͐́Ṡ̷̡̺̿̉ ̸͇͕̺̰͆L̸͇͗́̈́̊̿̑Ȩ̶͖͇͒F̴̨͉̀̄̚T̸̳͎͙̠̜́́̓̒̈́̔ ̵̢̧͚͔̆́̓̕ͅB̵͈̟̪̥͊́͋͘͝Ë̷̤́H̶̬̋̌̽̈́İ̵̧̖̥̹̪Ǹ̷̛̗̉̉́Ḍ̶̡͔͐̉͗ͅ but it seems to you that now that might just get thrown out the window.

Now it’s all about surviving.

After a half hour of riding along in total complete silence, you hear a plasma shot. Then more. What the hell!? You stand up and run to the front of the truck. Harrell opens the slot in the cab to let you see out. The Steno hisses and shrieks as Cope and his men in the Land Rover fire blindly into the woods. Harrell picks up the radio transceiver in the truck’s compartment then asks, “Sergeant. What the hell are you shooting at?”

“We got movement in the woods around us!” says Cope. You hear the familiar calls of the Deinos around the woods. They’re Deinonychus!

Harrell asks, “Did I give a goddamn order to fire on anything out there?”

> “Tell them to cease fire now.”
> Run out and present yourself. The Deinos know you.
> “Tell them to push on. We can’t stay here.”
> Other

>>3083920
>> “Tell them to cease fire now.”

>>3083920
>> “Tell them to cease fire now.”
>> Run out and present yourself. The Deinos know you.

>>3083920
>“Tell them to cease fire now.”

>>3083704
Hah, Stoakes is adorable.

>>3083920
>> “Tell them to cease fire now.”
Can't wait until we finally snap from all the bullshit lol.

>>3084005
We're gonna end up like Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now

>>3083920
Considering how our relationship with the deinos deteriorated, we should be very careful. They might be offering us to the lizards?
>Cease fire, but everyone on the ready. You try communicating.

>>3083920
>> “Tell them to cease fire now. But everyone on the ready." You try communicating.

> “Tell them to cease fire now.”
> Run out and present yourself. The Deinos know you.

“Tell them to cease fire.” You run out of the back of the Command truck as Lieutenant Hrrell gives the order. You jump out then run up to the center of the column. The Steno turns in place, howling and crowing at the bushes all around it as Cope, Godwin, Connell, and Hood fire wildly into the brush. “Stop that! Cease fire!” They look at you, stopping. “Stop!”

Hood looks at you as if you’ve gone crazy. “Why though?”

“We need to be careful! They’re no threat to us unless we make ourselves a threat!” you say. You look around and see several Deinos skulking around in the brush, glaring at you all. They’ve stopped their noisemaking and are content to simply watch from the side. Seems your presence has calmed them or at least made them hesitant to probe any longer. Connell keeps on the Plasma Cannon at the back, staring back at them. Those Deinos can’t be more than a few dozen meters away, well within range. But they simply watch and look from either side. You’re crossing into their territory. They’re clearly not pleased. But they definitely know you.

Hopefully it’s a sneaking respect they have for you that’s keeping them at bay.

“They’ve stopped,” says Hood.

“Eh, keep watching,” says Godwin. “I bet it’s just an ambush waiting to happen.”

You step to the right, looking at them. You hold out your hand and try to show you’re not a threat. The three or so Deinos poke their heads up, looking at you. Cope and company point their weapons now at the obvious targets. “Hold on, guys,” you say. “They’re just curious.”

They look at your Land Rover, then at you and at the truck. You can see their faces now. Painted black snouts, just like Toothy. They must be part of Toothy’s pride then. One of them spits on the ground, then turns around and begins running away. The other two follow after it. You look to the other side of the column. The other Deinos run away too, leaving the column alone. The Steno sharply barks at them, tugging on its leash.

“Huh. Looks like we got a Deino whisperer here,” says Godwin. He looks to you. “Tell me something, buster, do their girls look like the rest of them or do you just close your eyes and imagine?” You glare at him. Do not even go there. “Aw, come on, it’s a joke!”

Connell snorts, sniggering at it. “I bet he’s fallen in love with the chieftan’s daughter, that’s why they ran from him. Don’t wanna make her upset!”

Cope yells at them. “Enough, both of you! Let’s get moving again.” The Land Rover starts up once more, taking the Steno with them.

Lieutenant Harrell pokes his head out of the window, looking to you. “Corporal. How do you do that?”

> “Give them respect and they’ll respect you. Simple.”
> “They’re savages. They understand when they’re outmatched.”
> “It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later.”
> Other

>>3084274
>> “Give them respect and they’ll respect you. Simple.”
"In that sense, they're not that different compared to us."

>>3084274
>> “Give them respect and they’ll respect you. Simple.”

>>3084274
>> “Give them respect and they’ll respect you. Simple.”
>And a lot of luck.

>>3084274
Oh man, we're the Pilgrims and the dinos are the Indians. That Deino, Red, is going to end up being our Squanto isn't it?

>>3084274
>> “Give them respect and they’ll respect you. Simple.”

>>3084368
I mean, if it DOES happen we could take a few lessons about how to not utterly fuck them over.

>>3084368
The Dances with Wolves vibes have been real strong for a while.

> “Give them respect and they’ll respect you. Simple.”

“Give them respect and they’ll respect you, simple as that. We’re lucky that Cope and his crew didn’t kill any of them,” you say. Harrell nods, understanding. You look back at the Steno. It crows lightly, shuddering as it waits for the Land Rover to get moving again. Part of you feels really sorry for it. But you’re not going to unleash it just yet. You feel a tap of water on your head, then look up. Ugh. Is it really going to rain again? It’s not even that cloudy! Goddamn rain is going to get on your nerves one of these days. “We better get moving quick before the rain comes.”

“Right, right.” You step up onto the truck as Harrell commands Cope to get going. “Let’s get going, people!” The truck again moves behind the Land Rover. The pace is still slow owing to the thicket and the brush. But at least you’re moving again.

Morrison folds his arms, smirking at you. “Make some new friends, boss?”

“In a manner of speaking,” you say. You sit down next to Graves again. Wexley rubs his arm, confused a little by that. “They’re not friends but they’re not enemies either. Best not to challenge that you know.”

“Yeah.” Wexley nods, grimacing a little.

Tierney looks at Wexley, at his casted over shoulder. “So how did you get wounded?”

“Stenos,” he says. “They tried to use those spike rifles to disable the Command truck. I got it in the shoulder.” Tierney’s color drains from her face when she imagines that image. Morrison squeezes her arm, pulling her close to comfort her. Wexley motions to Graves, sighing. “And you say apparently I won’t have use of my arm again?”

“Hey, God gave you two to jack off with for a reason,” Graves says. Wexley rolls his eyes. “If we get you an AutoDoc or if we get you to somebody who can repair nerve damage, then we’ll see what happens, Wex.”

“We better,” Wexley mutters.

Stoakes looks at you. “So what’s this starship like?” she asks.

“I don’t know,” you say. “It’s old, ancient even. It’s partially buried into the ground and well, let’s just say it might not be going anywhere anytime soon no matter what we do with it. It’s at least out of the rain though.”

“I hope,” says Grimshaw. “I’ve had it with slogging it in the rain.” You sigh, leaning back. Everyone goes quiet again, clearly not interested in more conversation.

…

…

“Is this the place?” You look out and see the unusual looking mount of dirt, trees, and rocks. You hop out and loop around the place and sure enough, you find the door leading in. You motion the vehicles to come around. And not a moment to waste because the clouds were starting to roll in. That meant more rain it seems. You can see why this place is so wet. You walk up to the door and knock.

“Whitney! It’s me! We’re back!” You wait a few minutes.

Then Whitney slowly drags the door open. She looks past you and sees the two vehicles coming to park by the door. “Oh my goodness, ya weren’t kidding!” She pushes the door open, grinning and beaming like the morning sun. “Hi, welcome everyone! Hello!” Whitney waves her arms at everyone. Her enthusiasm apparently isn’t infectious as nobody appears to be smiling. “Hi! How are y’all doing!? It’s nice to see ya! I thought I was truly alone out here!” Lieutenant Harrell and Sergeant Cope walk up to her. “Hi, I’m Flight Sergeant Whitney, you must be the head honcho around here!”

Lieutenant Harrell nods. “Lieutenant Harrell. You got space in there for all of us?”

“And more,” she says. “Like I said to our friend here, there’s way more underground that I haven’t explored. But ground level here has some rooms to cozy up in, what look to be old laboratories and what not.” Lieutenant Harrell and Sergeant Cope look inside. Cope quirks his brown, smirking as he checks the place out. Lieutenant Harrell though looks more skeptical, clearly not satisfied with the dim interior and the rusty metal of it all. “I can help you guys unpack your things and to celebrate, we can drink the last of my whiskey!”

Godwin looks over, as does Connell, Hood, Grimshaw, and Wexley. “You got whiskey, ma’am?” asks Godwin.

“Five bottles of it. It was six but uh, I drank it all,” she says.

“Now, now,” says Lieutenant Harrell. “Let’s not get too hasty. We can’t be getting drunk.”

“I dunno.” Sergeant Cope steps up, hands on his belt, a sly grin on his face. “It’d be good for morale, Lieutenant. Just a few drinks among everyone then we’re done. It’s not like we have an unlimited supply.”

“I have lots of C-Rations and fresh fruit too,” says Whitney. “It’ll be great, I promise ya!”

“I don’t know. I-…”

> “Party later. Work first. Let’s get to fortifying this place.”
> “A few drinks won’t hurt, Lieutenant.”
> Other

>>3084676
>> Other
Let's all have one drink first,finish the job then drink the rest. I think everyone needs the morale boost.

>>3084676
> “Party later. Work first. Let’s get to fortifying this place.”
We aren't home free yet. Now's not the time to celebrate.

>>3084676
>> “A few drinks won’t hurt, Lieutenant.”
I'll take first watch if it helps

>>3084676
>> “Party later. Work first. Let’s get to fortifying this place.”
There will be plenty of time to drink and relax AFTER our shit is squared away.

>>3084689
Supporting this.

>>3084676
>“Party later. Work first. Let’s get to fortifying this place
But let's stay sober because someone gotta keep an eye on Godwin.

>>3084676
>Look for a way to get both vehicles inside. It was build real big right?

>>3084676
>> “Party later. Work first. Let’s get to fortifying this place.”

It'll taste better once we're set up.

>>3084689
+1

> “Party later. Work first. Let’s get to fortifying this place.”

“Party later, work first, Lieutenant. We gotta get to fortifying this place,” you say. “Then we can work on partying.”

Lieutenant Harrell nods. “Agreed.” Cope frowns a little at that. Godwin and company especially do not look happy at that decision. You’re just saving everyone a little trouble. It’s not great to work even being a little buzzed. “Get those wood barricades off of the vehicles. I want a sentry post built on top of this mound looking in all directions. And I want the vehicles assembled next to the door too, come on people!” He claps his hands.

“Oh, well, later then!” Whitney nervously laughs as she watches everyone get to work.

“Man, what a frakking narc,” Godwin mutters.

“Come on, Godwin,” says Grimshaw. “Let’s earn our drinks for once.” They start unlashing the wood from the vehicles. “Hey, Connell, come help me get that sentry post up. We’ll need some rope.” Connell grabs some timbers and rope and walks with Grimshaw up to the door. Their goal will be to put up a little post on top of this mound the Starship is buried into, nestled amongst the trees.

Graves and Tombs start carrying the medical supplies inside. “Can you show us inside?” asks Graves to Whitney. Whitney stares at Graves for a second, her eyes flicking to her chest before going back to making eye contact. “Hey, dyke. I’ve only had sex with like two girls and that was just because I was curious, let’s keep it platonic.”

“O-… Oh okay, right. Come on.” Whitney leads the two of them inside. Tierney and Stoakes grab the weapons and follow them. Wexley grumbles, holding his arm as he follows them inside too. Hood drives the Land Rover around to the left side of the door, pointing the engine block outwards while Early brings the truck to the other side. You see Godwin start deploying the wood barricades up as well.

Lieutenant Harrell and Sergeant Cope walk with you inside as you explore more of the this top level. Aside from the laboratory that Whitney was based in, there were five more on this level alone similar to it. The one in the center had a massive tree growing out of it, obviously with the hull having been carved out to accommodate it. Its roots were spilling out barely into the hallway. The other three labs were as deserted as Whitney’s.

It was all established in a simple manner. The hallways went around the laboratories in the center. And at the sides, one next to the door and the other across the way were stairwells leading down further into the ship. For safety reasons, Whitney explained to you that she actually boarded them off with some crates and driftwood so that if there was anything down there, it’d have a hard time busting the doors down. Fair enough.

On the west side (or towards either the front or the back of the ship) were two small rooms filled with crates. Probably storage facilities. You open one of the crates and gag. Inside were some weird black capsules that smelt absolutely rank. Worse than a dead body. A dead body at least has some flavor to it. These capsules were making you vomit. Lieutenant Harrell actually did and had to run out to do it.

Sergeant Cope says to you, “Same with other room. But if we keep the crates shut, it doesn’t smell at least. What do you think they are?”

“Old samples maybe,” you say. “That’s my theory at least.”

Sergeant Cope nods. “Alright. Well, what do you want to do now?”

> “Well, once everyone’s done, we drink, right?”
> Start exploring downstairs, see what you can see.
> Start designating which rooms should be for which purpose.
> Other

>>3085051
>> “Well, once everyone’s done, we drink, right?”

>>3085051
>> “Well, once everyone’s done, we drink, right?”
We did promise. Drink to our new, probably short lives. We can explore more later.

>>3085051
> “Well, once everyone’s done, we drink, right?”
I think we should remain sober, just so we can take care of anyone that needs taking care of.
Maybe one or two drinks.

>>3085046
>> “Well, once everyone’s done, we drink, right
>Then start exploring and designating rooms

>>3085051
>> “Well, once everyone’s done, we drink, right?”

>I might explore downstairs a bit. See what I can see.

>>3085051
>> “Well, once everyone’s done, we drink, right?”
> Start exploring downstairs, see what you can see.

>>3085051
> “Well, once everyone’s done, we drink, right?”
> Start exploring downstairs, see what you can see.

We're only a social drinker.

>>3085260

In this current situation, i very much doubt anyone would be a social drinker. I mean shits pretty fucked lad.

>>3085404
From all of hints so far I think we need to de-stress ourselves a bit otherwise we're going to just snap suddenly.

>>3085404
Well everybody better start getting cozy and comfortable with each other because we're here for the long haul.

> “Well, once everyone’s done, we drink, right?”
> Start exploring downstairs, see what you can see.

“Well, once everything’s done, we drink right?” Cope shrugs, agreeing with that sentiment. “Me though, I’m going to be exploring downstairs.”

“You not going to sit and drink with us?” he asks.

“I’ll be with you,” you say. “I’m just going to explore a little, see what I can see.” Truth be told, it’s really because right now you don’t want to be alone with Sergeant Cope. Not because you’re afraid he’s going to kill you, but more because you’re simply not too comfortable around him. He seems benign for now, but the way he handled things regarding the Transmitter is sketchy. Heck, if he had been upfront about it, he’d have your support no question. But you’re not sure you can abide by liars, even those who think lying by omission isn’t lying.

You pull the barricade off of the stairwell door, then push the door open. Leading down is a very steep stairway. You pull your Carbine out then turn your Infrared on your Tactical Monocle on. You move downstairs, your feet making the stairs clang and bang with every step. You turn and peek in. If you thought the top level was dank and rusty, then think again. It’s completely darkness, which is penetrated only by your Infrared. The hallway stretches on for much longer than it does upstairs. And it seems to you like this is a central hallway rather than the roundabout upstairs.

This hallway you’re in connects with the other stairwell on the other side. It’s a very wide and rather featureless passageway, save for the large grates in the center which protect exposed piping. Along the sides however were large vertical tanks (the holding kind, not the fighting kind). Like the type that you’d see in some experimental lab or something. You step forward. The end of the hall (it’s probably not even a hall, this seems more like a much larger laboratory than the ones upstairs) isn’t in your FOV.

You step up to one of the tanks. Inside was some murky liquid. You can’t tell what’s in there. You start forward then nearly slip on something. You look to the tank next to it. It’s busted completely open. There’s broken shards of glass next to it. Did something break out of this? You squint next to something labeled next to the tank.

You wipe off the grime on it. Unfortunately, it’s written in some strange runes. You’ve never encountered a language like this. You don’t think any Xenoarchaeologist has.

Then you hear something behind you. Just the dripping of water for now.

You blink, looking around. Nothing in your Infrared. You look with your other eye. Nothing in your peripheral. Just the dripping of water from up top.

This isn’t all of it, but you’d really like to get out of here before curiousity gets the better of you.

> Get back upstairs.
> Keep exploring. May as well.
> Other

>>3085443
>> Get back upstairs.
Sounds like it's better not to be alone down here.

>>3085443
>> Get back upstairs.
Oh no, I'm not liking the sounds of this at all.

>>3085443
> Keep exploring. May as well.
Its nothing.

>>3085443
>> Keep exploring. May as well.
just like my movies

>>3085443
>> Get back upstairs.
Discretion is the better part of valour.

>>3085477
>>3085480
t. xenomorphs
Fuck off you xeno scum.

>>3085443
>Get back upstairs.
Don’t split the party!

>>3085443
> Get back upstairs.
We may have let something go upstairs that we shouldn't have.

>>3085507
>>3085506
cowards

>>3085588
Better a coward then dead.

>>3085588
Now is not the time for dumbassery.

>>3085596
Plus we haven't waifued anyone yet,we can't die now! /s

>>3085443
> Get back upstairs.

> Get back upstairs.

You decide now is the time to beat a hasty retreat.

You quickly run back upstairs and shut the door behind you, then rebarricade the door. “Whooo, you see a ghost or something, buster?” You look over and see Godwin coming over past you.

“I was just exploring downstairs,” you say. “Thought I heard something. Decided it’s better to leave it until I get down there with multiple people.”

“Aw, looks like someone’s not getting their little lovenest with Graves then, you’ll have to settle for one of the closets,” he remarks. Oh God, Godwin, please. You stare at him, clearly expression some distaste for him. “Calm down, buster. Come on. Everyone’s done. It’s time to drink.” He smirks, walking past you over to Whitney’s room.

You sigh. Maybe one drink will do you some good.

…

…

“Here’s to our continued survival. And here’s to Joffrey, Horner, Bakker, Burke, and Nielson coming back in one piece,” says Sergeant Cope. “May we all get home safe and sound.” You take the first light swig of some whiskey, then pass it on to Graves. Cope, Harrell, Tombs, and Whitney are the others to take a drink first before passing it down the line. Five bottles and no glasses to drink out of is a little inconvenient, but nobody is complaining. Tierney takes her fist drink, and immediately starts flushing.

“First time drinking?” asks Godwin. Tierney nods. “Aw, the little baby.” Godwin pinches at her cheek, to which Tierney slaps his hand away.

Seems the first drinks though have already lifted everyone’s spirits quite considerably. Whitney places down some bed rolls and blankets around a lantern. Everyone takes a seat and starts conversing. Early simply sits down by Whitney’s boxfort, to which Whitney quickly runs over to share a C-Ration with her. “Ya know, it’s really great to have another pilot around here! So your name’s Early, correct? My name’s Whitney. Seems we’re in the same squadron, but I was flying a Medevac and you were part of the second wave. Weird, eh?” Early nods, munching on a chocolate bar from the C-Ration. “You don’t talk much, do you?” Early shrugs, looking away. “Aw, that’s okay. I talk enough for like three people.”

Connell holds the bottle, taking a second swig. “Hey, give that here.” Hood swipes it from him then takes a second drink of his own. Hood grins, looking at everyone. “Just so you guys know. I know we’re in a bit of a shitty situation.” He places his hand on his heart as everyone sits down. “But. I just want everyone to know, it ain’t me, it’s you.”

Grimshaw looks up. “Frak is that supposed to mean?”

“Just saying, if I die, it ain’t gonna be my fault, tough guy.”

>>3085663
“No, no.” Godwin takes his knife out to chop a piece of fruit up on his knee. “We’ll gladly use you for bait, Hood. You and Connell here. Connell’s fat enough that he’d make a Rex’s stomach explode.”

“That just means there’s more of me to love,” says Connell as he pats his belly. All the boys laugh at Connell as he shakes his belly at them. Stoakes sits in Tombs’ lap while Tombs eats a C-Ration in front of her. "By the way, what'd you do with the Steno?"

Godwin shrugs. "Stuffed him into one of the labs. He'll have some room to move. I ain't cruel enough to put him in one of the closets. Besides, I think a little space and time away from us, and a little isolation, he'll learn who's boss."

"Hear, hear," Wexley remarks. "Goddamn Steno can rot for all I care."

"You're just saying that because one shot you," Hood snaps.

"Oh, so all the Stenos are nice lovely Lizards then, I just happened to run into the -one- guy that likes to shoot giant spikes at people!?" Wexley yells.

Morrison steps up next to everyone. “You know. I don’t know a finer bunch of losers, idiots, and ingrates than you all. I’m glad we’re stuck on this frakking planet together. I mean, look at Godwin. He’s a literal frakking murderer.”

“Hey, they got it coming,” says Godwin. Morrison rolls his eyes, smirking as he sits down next to him. “Please, am I gonna be lectured by the guy who married an alien?”

“She is the finest piece of ass this side of the Galaxy!” Morrison proclaims. “And unlike you virgins, I actually have had sex!” Everyone starts laughing at him. “Ah, frak off! I love her, nothing is going to make me say I don’t! We may live in a cruel frakking world, but goddamn that doesn’t mean we can’t have frakking principles.”

Tombs hums a little, nodding slightly. “Cruel, cruel world, must I go on.” He starts swaying side to side. “Cruel, cruel world I’m moving on.”

“I’ve been living too fast,” Wexley adds with a surprisingly dulcet tune to his voice. “I’ve been living too long. Cruel, cruel world, I’m gone.”

The entire group starts singing. “Cruel, cruel world, must I go on. Cruel, cruel world I’m moving on. I’ve been living, too fast, I’ve been living too long. Cruel, cruel world, I’m gone.” They keep on drinking whiskey, all smiles now finally, for probably the first time in days.

> Take the first watch. May as well make sure they’re safe.
> Join in the festivities. You’ve earned some rest.
> Go take an early sleep. Get ready for a long day tomorrow.
> Other

>>3085671
>> Other
Check up on the dino, see the state it left our watch in.
then
> Join in the festivities. You’ve earned some rest.
Because I think we're about to go fucking nuts if we don't.

>>3085671
>> Join in the festivities. You’ve earned some rest.
Let's enjoy one night of revelry before getting slapped in the face by reality again.

>>3085671
> Join in the festivities. You’ve earned some rest.

>> Other
Check up on the dino, see the state it left our watch in. Then

> Take the first watch. May as well make sure they’re safe

I'm not fond of the ship(where are the corpses), and leaving a hostile prisoner unsupervised is just a recipe for disaster.

>>3085702
Supporting

>>3085671
>> Take the first watch. May as well make sure they’re safe.

>>3085671
>> Join in the festivities. You’ve earned some rest.
Also someone should tell Godwin if he wants to get a GF he shouldn't act like such a thirsty perv kek.

>>3085671
>> Other
check on the dino

so when are we enacting our coup d'é·tat? I say when Harrell does something extremely stupid, and Cope agrees

File: touch_all_the_things_by_p(...).jpg (101 KB, 900x636)

101 KB JPG

>>3085487
This took me a while to find.

>>3085671
> Take the first watch. May as well make sure they’re safe.
>dino
Give it some food, also see if it can get drunk.

> Join in the festivities. You’ve earned some rest.
> Other

You open the lab door into the lab where Godwin told you he had shoved the Steno into. The Steno naps quietly, holding your… actually completed watch in your hands. What the hell? You gently and slowly step up to it, creeping quietly. It is built. You’re not sure if it works. You won’t take it while it sleeps. It sniffs, then opens its eyes. Oh. Too late now. It looks up, growling at you. You step back, then place down some fruit for it. It stops growling, looking at the fruit. Just a little food to get it through the night. Then you’ll come back for it in the morning. It bites down on the fruit, then starts eating and slobbering all over the floor.

Ah, Lizards. Savage bunch of people.

It keeps your watch though. Damn thing. You step back, keeping an eye on it as you walk to the door.

As much as you’d like to take the first watch, you decide a night of debauchery won’t hurt. You walk past Sergeant Cope. “Relax,” he says. “I’ll be outside watching things.” Good, fine. You step back into Whitney’s lab and see everyone still around the lantern. Stoakes holds Tombs hands as they stand up.

“Okay, so you step to the left like this,” says Stoakes. Oh, she’s teaching him how to dance. Tombs follows her steps. “Don’t step on my toes by the way. I know we just got whiskey into our bodies, but you know, be careful.”

“Alright, alright,” Tombs says quietly.

Meanwhile, Godwin, Connell, Hood, Grimshaw, and Wexley converse with each other. Wexley says, “So what if I learned to sing in school? You think that makes me a frakking poof?”

Godwin shrugs, smirking. “Just saying. Came outta nowhere you know.”

“I guarantee, I’ve dropped more panties singing a few nice tunes than you have sidling up to girls saying you’re a gangster, Goddy,” Wexley states firmly. “Look, you gotta drop that creeper act, you know? You gotta let a woman make a decision herself. And always know there’s plenty of fish out there in the ocean. Sure, one rejects you, that’s fine. There’s several dozen billion women in the galaxy to replace her.”

“Yeah, but we’re stuck here,” says Godwin. “Sooo…”

Wexley looks back at Graves as she, Tierney, and Morrison chop some fruit on one of the tables. “Graves, would you frak Godwin?” Godwin and company look at her, expectant.

Tierney looks at Graves, curious while Morrison starts laughing under his breath. Graves says, “Godwin, I wouldn’t let you stick your dick inside of me if you and I were the last people in the Galaxy who could produce viable children. I would rather let the Lizards rape me to death and use me for a breeding sow than allow that to happen. I would-“

“Okay, we get it,” says Godwin, a little peeved. “Goddamn.” You see Lieutenant Harrell kneeling down next to Whitney and Early, conversing with them quietly.

Connell looks at you. “Hey, wonder boy. Come around. We were just trading some stories. Wexley was just telling us why singing is apparently something girls like.”

“He’s not wrong,” says Stoakes as she gently guides Tombs in a very clumsy waltz. “I love a man who can sing. Someone that can sing me a lullaby is welcome company.”

You sigh, sitting down next to Wexley. “Stoakes ain’t wrong. A girl that can sing is a plus in my book.” Godwin rolls his eyes, not particularly believing that. “Where’s the whiskey?” Hood hands you a bottle. It’s almost completely dry, save for a small amount at the bottom.

Eh. Bottom’s up.

That's it for this weekend. We'll be back for more this coming weekend too. I'll pop into /qtg/ in advance to let you all know when we start as well as this thread too.

Was honestly hoping for more time for this part but oh well, maybe next session.

Thanks for reading! Any questions, comments, critique are welcome.

>>3085967
Thanks for running man
Is the dino going to learn how to create a spaceship because we brought him in?
I swear to God if it does, we are so FUCKED

>>3085967
Thanks for running, it was fun.

>>3085967
I really liked the writing and mood you set this week. Thanks!

We're updating once tonight and continuing for the weekend, stand by.

>>3092755
soon

The party atmosphere died down very fast once the whiskey dried up. Only thing left was one bottle for Burke, Nielson, Horner, Bakker, and Joffrey to share once they got back. And even then, Godwin was eyeballing it as Whitney carried into her boxfort. “Y’ain’t being fair, Godwin. They deserve some whiskey too, and they’re not gonna miss out just cuz you were a little thirsty, alright?”

Godwin folds his arms, grimacing. “Oh yeah, I’m thirsty alright.”

“Don’t we know it,” Graves mutters as she sharpens her machete. Tierney sits next to her, hutting her eyes and trying to rest a little. Godwin paces around the room while the men all settle around the lantern. Connell lies back on a bed roll, staring up at the ceiling while Hood, Wexley, Grimshaw, and Morrison chew the fat quietly with each other. You sit with them, listening to them talk.

“Way I see it, the Dominion made a mistake,” says Hood. He rubs at his chin, scratching at some of the fuzzy hairs growing on it from lack of shaving. “They thought they could rush in, crush the competition, move in and kick out the leadership like they do for everyone else. And look where it’s got us.”

“Yeah, see, there’s no reason to believe they were aware of how much of a fight the Lizards would put up,” Grimshaw says. He takes a drink of water from his canteen, hissing a little. “But, Acheron is a very attractive planet. You don’t see many planets that are in the Goldilocks zone that are this developed and have so much attractive wildlife. It’s greed that got us here. Plain old greed and arrogance.”

“You two are just absolutely a bunch of morons,” Wexley mutters as he sits back against the wall. “They thought they could win because they –can- win. There’s no question or doubt that if the Dominion was actually serious, they’d steamroll these Lizards.”

“Then why didn’t we?” asks Hood.

“It was poor planning,” Wexley says. “I mean, an attack at night with no air cover on ground we don’t know? Bound to be a mess.”

“I would’ve just nuked the place.” Godwin is quite upfront as he steps up to you all. “We can always terraform it later like we did Hopewell and them other colonies.”

“It took –decades- for those planets to get where they are.” Wexley looks at Godwin as if he just said the stupidest thing in the world. “Acheron is a crown jewel because it’s free real estate in one of the most strategic sectors of space and it happens to look like a land that time forgot about.”

“A land that time forgot about, how poetic of you.” Hood looks at Wexley, smirking mockingly. “You gonna sing us a song about that, Wex?”

“Frak off,” Wexley rolls his eyes. “The Dominion would never soil the place with nukes, orbital bombardments, or virus bombs.” Wexley has a point there. This is a beautiful place. “Not to mention how final that solution is, tough guy. Okay, you nuke the place, now you’re ruling a pile of dust. The Lizards are-“

“Savages,” Godwin says. “The word you’re looking for is savages.”

Wexley glares at Godwin with those cold blue eyes of his. “Just cuz they eat us and eat each other doesn’t make them unintelligent. It’s clear the Dominion, and even us right now, we’re underestimating them. They got the chops to actually put up a fight on a galactic scale. We just caught them at the wrong time.”

“What. Running us back to the boats, eating the stragglers, and forcing us to live in this rusty old Starship is the –wrong time-?” asks Grimshaw. “What’s the right time then?”

“When they don’t have guns for one thing,” says Wexley. You listen to Wexley closely. He’s mirroring some stuff you’ve thought about lately actually. The Lizards are not to be trifled with. They know the land, they know themselves. And most importantly, they know you as a species. “They’re smart. We oughta appreciate that. If you don’t respect their intelligence, then by God you’ll pay for it.”

Godwin shakes his head. “Numbnuts gets shot in the shoulder once and he’s already thinking about that Lizard poon I’d guess.” Wexley gives Godwin the finger, silently fuming at him.

“Our boy here is proof that at least some won’t attack us on sight,” Wexley remarks, he points to you. You shrug, glancing down at the floor.

“Yeah but he’s special,” Connell says. “He could probably walk right into their cities, rape their women, impregnate them and create a whole empire of half-human miscegenated Lizard hybrids.” The group laughs a little at that image. You don’t. You’re more disgusted by it than anything else.” Godwin sits down, grimacing as he rubs at his nose. “Look, here’s my opinion. Who gives a shit about the Lizards are and how they think? They’re trying to kill us. Let’s not give them anything except some plasma to the belly and a knife to the eye.”

“Amen.” Hood points to Connell, nodding. “But hey, even if we keep fighting, what happens if the Dominion doesn’t come back?”

“They’ll be back,” you say. “They have to come back. This is premium real estate on one of the most important lanes in the sector.”

“Yeah, but… it could take weeks or months or even a year for them to come back,” Hood replies. He looks at Morrison. “Morrison, you’ve been quiet a little while. You thinking about your wife?” Morrison glances up, then goes back to his hands, twiddling his fingers. “Listen man, if this goes on longer than a week. They’re going to send her a message saying you were killed, bro.”

Morrison looks up at Hood, now suddenly full of fury. “Thanks for that, Hood. You’ve reassured me. I’m glad my wife can go on and continue living her life believing I’m frakking dead.” Hood flinches back, clearly realizing how harsh his words are. He glances away shamefully, exhaling quietly. Second hand embarrassment spreads throughout. Hood –really- should not have said that.

Things go quiet now, suddenly awkward.

Wexley licks his teeth lightly, glancing at Godwin. Godwin shrugs in response. “Er. Anyone seen Tombs and Stoakes?”

“They left half an hour ago,” says Godwin. “They’re probably getting it on in one of the storage closets. And I ain’t about to cockblock a guy just for kicks. Probably the last bit of sex he’ll ever get on this godforsaken planet.”

The door opens up, revealing Sergeant Cope walking through. He takes a drink of coffee from a cup improvised from some metal scrap and some duct tape. “Nightfall’s coming, boys. Who volunteers to take watch?” Silence. Sergeant Cope looks at everyone, displeased. You can tell though that the air is quite uneasy around Cope, given what he tried to do. No one seems keen to really interact with him in a friendly manner lately. “Come on, fellas. Let’s all pull our weight. I know none of you are that drunk.”

> “I’ll take watch.”
> Wait for someone to volunteer.
> Volunteer someone. (Who?)
> Other

>>3093089
>> “I’ll take watch.”

>>3093089
>> “I’ll take watch.”

As usual, next update will come around 6PM EST once I get back from work so go ahead and leave your votes in and start discussion if you got things to discuss.

After all, you're stuck on this planet.

>>3093089
>> “I’ll take watch.”
We'll get to sleep through the night when our watch is over, then.

Also, what are the odds the Dominion pulled back because they ran into an even bigger, badder enemy? What if we got off lightly compared to everyone else?

>>3093089
>> Volunteer someone. (Who?)
>morrison, graves
they wont be able to sleep anyway

>>3093089
>> “I’ll take watch

> “I’ll take watch.”

You stand up, unslinging your carbine from your back. “I’ll go.” Sergeant Cope looks at you, as if you’re really saying that despite your hip injury, your fractured hand, and your lamed back. But you won’t say anything else. Just acknowledge him by nodding then go to the door. Sergeant Cope sighs, sitting down with the boys and letting his rifle sit next to him. Part of you really just wants to be alone you guess, maybe stew on the whole idea of not being able to go home anymore. You step out of the door, then walk on to the entrance.

You push the door open and pull it shut behind you. Sunset has come down on the Swamp it seems, everything is lit up in a glowing orange hue. Seems the rains aren’t coming for now. You look up and still see clouds in the sky. Well, you suppose it may change. You look at the mound and see what they’ve set up in terms of watch.

Some of the wood has been used to establish a little improvised ladder leading atop to the trees growing over the starship. At the base of the trees was a small platform covered up by leaves and branches. You sit down cross legged then rest up against the bark of a tree. For now, you gotta hope that Burke comes back soon. And if she comes back, she better come back with the others as well. You sigh deeply, watching northwards. You look down and see a binocular set left in the hide. Cope must have left it there. You take it then start scanning the trees.

All around you, nature continues as it usually does again. The life comes back to the Swamp even after that barrage of rockets sweeping into the brush. You hear the clicking and buzzing of insects and small lizards, the sweet songs of birds in the trees, and the warbling noise of small rodents running through the foliage. You keep on scanning.

Then you see a Deino. It raises its head out of the foliage, looking in your direction. It’s face is painted black, probably one of Toothy’s own. It cocks its head, glaring directly at… You. It blinks, then turns and leaves.

Hmph. Maybe if you fire a frakking warning shot he’ll learn to-

“Hey.”

>>3094142
You jump, hand flying to your knife. “Whoa, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Tierney lowers herself down, her head poking up from below the hide. “I- I didn’t mean to scare you. I just-“ Tierney shakes, her eyes flitting from side to side. “I just wanted to join you.” You take a breath, relaxing. Thank Christ it’s just her. “C-… Can I come up?” You nod. She pulls herself up, revealing in her hand a wooden mug of coffee. She has eschewed her armor, leaving her only in fatigues for now, probably a smart idea. Armor tends to make noise even when shifting. “I-… I brought you some coffee too. Figured, we could share. We might be up all night.”

“You sure you’re good to go for the night?” you say. “Could be a while.”

She nods, firm. “I’m sure.” She places her rifle down on the other side of the hide, then sits down with you.

The hide isn’t really big to begin with. But with two people in her, even sitting down on opposite ends your knees were practically touching. Quite close for comfort. Tierney holds out the coffee to you. You take it then sip the hot liquids. Doesn’t wake you up too much, but it’s a welcome alternative to whiskey. You hand it back to her. “Where’d you get that mug?”

“Oh, Whitney made it,” Tierney explains. “Said she had a lot of time on her hands.” No doubt. “Um. Want me to watch south and you watch north?”

“Yeah.” You lean back, then rest your carbine in your lap and pick up your binoculars again. “Let me know if you see anything.”

“Did you see anything out there before I got here?” she asks.

“Just a Deino,” you say. She glances back at you, curious. “Probably scouting. I don’t think they’re serious but don’t let your guard down.”

“R-… Right.” Tierney seems very on edge, and you can see a hint of pink to her cheeks as she looks south.

…

“Um. Actually.” She looks at you. “I-…” She pauses, again unsure of herself. “I didn’t come up here to take watch with you strictly, I also wanted to talk too.” You nod, still looking north. “I just wanted to thank you for saving my life and everything. It was-… I really don’t know why you would do that given my track record and everything but really, thank you. I owe you my life. Twice over probably, if you hadn’t found me in that locker I probably would’ve shot myself or starved to death anyway.”

“I know you’d do the same,” you say. “It’s no big deal-“

“It is,” she says, firmly. “Really.” She smiles, a little brokenly but still genuine. “So. Thank you. And, all that. I know, I’m a load. I’m trying. I really want to be like you and Burke.” Her smile fades a little. “So yeah.”

> “You know, Burke told me you were dead. Were you actually dead or just…?”
> “You know, I see some Compsognathus running around. Want some target practice?”
> “You don’t have to be like us. We’re scouts, you’re a Heavy.”
> Other