AN: A recent thread and discussion gave me a few ideas for where to go from Unyielding Assault, and this is the beginning of the result.
xXx
After the events on Earth, a slip in the repair docks had been transferred to update a few of the larger ships to carry the new Bolos along with their squads, and the Valley Forge had been second on that list after the Roger Young.
The Roughnecks were anxious to get back into the field after the deployment in Hawaii and the deployment order for the Bolo forces.
After the discovery of a fertile world that the bugs were seeming to advance towards in a section of space both sides had largely ignored, the orders were to reach it first and start digging in to at least have a base and staging area we could strike from, or in the worst case, at least prevent them from having another place to breed by use of the largest warheads SICON ever designed.
-Private Robert Higgins
xXx
The transition to normal drives went smoothly as the slight jarring of the squad on duty was only enough for them to feel through the artificial gravity of the ship before they began the duty of beginning the awakening process for the rest of the passengers and crew aboard the Roger Young.
It was the silence of space that was home to most of the crew, and, slowly, the troopers were beginning to share the sentiment.
And as the world, blue and green in a vein similar to Earth, came into view, the tank held within the ship began its own path to awakening.
xXx
Razaks systems uplink with the ship flooded with data as his systems exited power conservation mode, letting his mind take in the information as thousands of status checks passed through his system and various subsystems activated for just long enough to test, from his tracks to the servomotors of his smaller weapons.
The lack of need allowed him to spend .02 additional seconds to run a complete diagnostic, something that he assumed would become a luxury during deployments, however the appearance of a member of the squad he'd been assigned to within his bay forced him to skip a secondary sweep of those systems.
It took far less time to tie himself into the Roger Youngs comms system for communications as the organic members of SICON did when the option was available to them.
"Corporal Gossard," he stated by way of a greeting.
"Please, just call me Goss," Gossard responded to the machine, "You fully up and running?"
"Affirmative," came the answer, "I can, however, continue diagnostics if you would prefer."
Of course, he'd be constantly running them anyway due to the lack of anything that would keep him busy until combat whether or not the man ordered him to do so.
"Good," the Roughnecks technical expert nodded, "We're all heading planetside in fifteen, Rico's getting everyone else prepped for the drop, figured you could use the same heads up."
"Thank you Corporal," Razak answered, "However, I do not possess a physical..."
The brief pause and shift in tone almost startled the trooper.
"...head, if you would."
A low chuckle as the MI continued from the bay to the rest of the ship, "At least this ones got a strange sense of humor."
If Razaks sensors were less precise, he would have failed to pick up that comment over the high pitched whine of the doors sealing behind the armored man.
For an instant he checked his databanks and momentarily paused at the brief pieces salvaged from one of the CHAS prototypes, that seemed to be the origin of the sentiment.
He made brief note to ensure proper time scheduled upon the forces return to Earth in order to search the larger datanets for more on humor and how to develop it in a way that would not offend the people he was assigned to, if for no other reason than to allow a more expedient relationship with them.
xXx
After the events on Earth, a slip in the repair docks had been transferred to update a few of the larger ships to carry the new Bolos along with their squads, and the Valley Forge had been second on that list after the Roger Young.
The Roughnecks were anxious to get back into the field after the deployment in Hawaii and the deployment order for the Bolo forces.
After the discovery of a fertile world that the bugs were seeming to advance towards in a section of space both sides had largely ignored, the orders were to reach it first and start digging in to at least have a base and staging area we could strike from, or in the worst case, at least prevent them from having another place to breed by use of the largest warheads SICON ever designed.
-Private Robert Higgins
xXx
The transition to normal drives went smoothly as the slight jarring of the squad on duty was only enough for them to feel through the artificial gravity of the ship before they began the duty of beginning the awakening process for the rest of the passengers and crew aboard the Roger Young.
It was the silence of space that was home to most of the crew, and, slowly, the troopers were beginning to share the sentiment.
And as the world, blue and green in a vein similar to Earth, came into view, the tank held within the ship began its own path to awakening.
xXx
Razaks systems uplink with the ship flooded with data as his systems exited power conservation mode, letting his mind take in the information as thousands of status checks passed through his system and various subsystems activated for just long enough to test, from his tracks to the servomotors of his smaller weapons.
The lack of need allowed him to spend .02 additional seconds to run a complete diagnostic, something that he assumed would become a luxury during deployments, however the appearance of a member of the squad he'd been assigned to within his bay forced him to skip a secondary sweep of those systems.
It took far less time to tie himself into the Roger Youngs comms system for communications as the organic members of SICON did when the option was available to them.
"Corporal Gossard," he stated by way of a greeting.
"Please, just call me Goss," Gossard responded to the machine, "You fully up and running?"
"Affirmative," came the answer, "I can, however, continue diagnostics if you would prefer."
Of course, he'd be constantly running them anyway due to the lack of anything that would keep him busy until combat whether or not the man ordered him to do so.
"Good," the Roughnecks technical expert nodded, "We're all heading planetside in fifteen, Rico's getting everyone else prepped for the drop, figured you could use the same heads up."
"Thank you Corporal," Razak answered, "However, I do not possess a physical..."
The brief pause and shift in tone almost startled the trooper.
"...head, if you would."
A low chuckle as the MI continued from the bay to the rest of the ship, "At least this ones got a strange sense of humor."
If Razaks sensors were less precise, he would have failed to pick up that comment over the high pitched whine of the doors sealing behind the armored man.
For an instant he checked his databanks and momentarily paused at the brief pieces salvaged from one of the CHAS prototypes, that seemed to be the origin of the sentiment.
He made brief note to ensure proper time scheduled upon the forces return to Earth in order to search the larger datanets for more on humor and how to develop it in a way that would not offend the people he was assigned to, if for no other reason than to allow a more expedient relationship with them.