Urban Decay

[mtjsmith]

A young officer, the rank on his uniform denoting him as a Major, sits calmly in pilots chair of a Storm class gunboat. The gunboat is quietly making it's way from Stevaspol Depot to Zvezdny Gorodok. Sitting next to him in the Co-Pilot's chair is Chief Pasha Byk, one of the finest Mechanic's the Coalition has ever seen. A man the young officer has learnt a great deal from.

[color=#FFFF00]"So what your saying is that the problem isn't with actually collecting the gas collectors but splitting it down?"
[color=#FF0000]"Da, then combining it into what we need - Usable H-Fuel. Could take weeks.

A beep interrupts their conversation, denoting an urgent a transmission. Ling flicked the communicator on and a video stream from General Alvarez fills the overhead monitor between the Pilot's chairs.

[color=#FFFF00]"General Alvarez! Good to see you comrade. How can we be of assistance?"
[color=#FF9900]"Major Ling, you're required to lead a little field trip hermano. We have a new band of recruits just *dying* to see the joys of JiangXi. You understand si?"
"Lijie comrade. Loud and clear. We're already on our way to Gorodok."
"Good. The Social Credit is docked up there, you will take her down to JiangXi. The Xi'an is required for another mission."

[color=#FFFFFF]Ling was a little uneasy with having to take a hold full of new recruits down in a ship other than his own. For all its fancy technology, touch screen monitors and silver and blue polish, the Xi'an was Ling's first command. A ship he knew and trusted. He finished his briefing from Alvarez, ended the transmission and looked down from the monitor. The Social Credit was a fine ship, a ship that Ling was very envious of until he got his own.

[color=#FFFF00]"Could be worse, we could be going in the Karchov!"

[color=#FFFFFF]Ling and Pasha laughed. Although the Karchov came off the production line around the same time as the Xi'an, it was a hopeless ship. It was rightly scrapped after it's total system failure in New London. The Xi'an was now approaching its touchdown on Gorodok. As he swung the agile gunboat down to its landing platform - Ling could still see the same scorch marks from the previous coups. He laughed, perhaps they were badges of honour for this space station?

[color=#FFFF00]"Right, Lt Xu. Ensure everything works perfectly by the time I get back. Oh and try and fix that starboard thruster again, it still feels slightly out of balance."

[color=#FFFFFF]He saluted the Lieutenant and received a professional send off from him and his crew. Pasha and Ling left the Xi'an and walked slowly over to the Social Credit. It struck Ling very quickly how much older the ship looked. It's armour was redder and duller than the Xi'ans and it had more dinks, and scorch marks. A band of recruits were packing their gear and milling around, they were oblivious to him standing there. Ling thought to himself.. No.. He wouldn't scare them quite yet. He would check out the SoCred first.

[color=#FFFF00]"Oh my...."

[color=#FFFFFF]What greeted Ling was an obviously old vessel. The inside of which seemed to be held together by sheer luck and duct tape. He moved towards the Cockpit where he found a modern looking communication system right next to a dated weapons grid. He sighed when he looked at the chair. Duct tape had been used to cover the rips and tears in the chair. He sat down in it and fiddled with the instruments. Old dials, buttons and levers greeted him. One thing was for sure, he would truly be flying the SoCred. It had very little, if any, computer assistance. He moved back out of the ship where he saw the recruits still ignoring him.

[color=#FFFF00]"RIGHT YOU FECKLESS MORONS!"

[color=#FFFFFF]He drew his Jian. He hoped that the sight of the short sword scared the recruits enough.

[color=#FFFF00]"Saddles are up in 30minutes. That's how long it's probably going to take for me to do the preflight. I'll give you exactly the same treatment as the last batch of recruits.. if you're not onboard by the time I shut the door.. I'll leave you in a crater for the deck staff to clear up. UNDERSTOOD?!"

[color=#FFFFFF]He turned and headed back up the ramp to start his preflight checks. Hopefully the recruits had now got the hint and were preparing for their departure. Pasha was in the rear of the deck. He shouted back to him.

[color=#FFFF00]"While I'm doing this, explain what these halfwits need to do to survive please."

//OOC - recruits can now start posting what they are doing to prepare for the trial and your brief encounter with Major Ling and Pasha Byk. Tomorrow, we will be flying out to start the trial.

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