ataraxion | 6th Marker

Guess it's explanations time on the USG Confessional, and it's my turn. Alright then.

Before I get into details, I'm still going to claim I'm still the best person to have in Engineering, and considering how understaffed we still are, there's not a lot anyone can do for that, except let me work. Those of you who expressed interest earlier to help in engineering, I'm going to still need you until we get some more people working with the systems down here.

Alright, now it's time for the bad part of this story.

In case you didn't know, the name's Clarke. Isaac Clarke. My bad day started out on a ship similar to this. The USG Ishimura.

It was a planet-cracker class. And that means exactly what I said it does. We hadn't found anything besides us in the universe, and us humans - well, we needed resources if we were going to survive, and that old hunk of rock known as Earth had run out a long time ago. So we bust planets open and we turn them into galactic strip-mines.

Well, the flagship of these endeavors, the USG Ishimura, went on a routine planet crack. Well, almost routine. Because as it turned out, they stumbled into a restricted space. And that's where I come in: The Ishimura went dark, I was part of the repair team.

The short version is it didn't end well. The long version is that I had to fix a decrepit spaceship inhabited by one of the most terrifying things we've ever seen, where I come from.

Necromorphs. For those who missed part of that - yeah, 'necro' as in dead. They're aliens that use dead human tissue in order to populate themselves. The entire crew of the ship had been driven crazy and massacred, and most of the repair team did as well, over the course of things.

I... It wasn't easy. One of the scientists we found out were actively betraying the rest of the crew, thought that these Necromorphs were the next step of human evolution.

I had to go down to the planet they'd cracked open and destroy the thing giving them all commands. I had to stop the ship from falling out of the sky. And what did I get for it?

Reminder that I sent my girlfriend to her death by thinking being a med doctor on the biggest, most well-known ship ever devised by humanity would be as good for her as she thought it might be.

So there's my story, and I'm sticking to it. But if we're going to start seeing things from our own homes pop up here. Just remember.

If you see something shambling towards you, and it looks like it should be dead, you cut off its limbs.

Clarke out.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Charles is simply... staring. Perhaps a little slack jawed and confused-- what does one say to something like that? Shuffling carcases, alien ships, cracking planets and things as such-- dead loved ones another sore spot that he can't seem to find a way to quell. After a long several seconds he finally manages a simple, ]

My condolences.

[Well, that's probably one of the few times someone's actually given him condolences over the whole situation, but-]

It's fine. Not a lot you could do to change it.

Just figured while we're all getting out dark nasty secrets out of the closet I'd give you all a rundown.

I'm sure the others appreciate it, and it's a brave thing to do I suppose. I don't know what else to say-- that's quite an unimaginable situation.

Limbs? It's normally headshots. With zombies.

Not where I'm from. Shooting the head just makes them angrier.

So what? You cut their limbs off until they're a flopping torso or something?

More or less.

Kind of effective. I guess. Could still bite.

Lucky as long as they don't outright kill you it won't pass along anything by biting.

Not to mention teeth can't penetrate a well armored RIG.

It'd still hurt. RIG?

Well, yeah.

Resource Integration Gear. Basically one part journal and communication interface, one part suit that monitors vitals, helps you with your job, protects you from hazards... that sort of thing.

Have you got one of those here?

One, yes.

One's better than none. Sounds useful.

Oh god- can I like- vote for not that? As in like- ever?

It won't happen as long as I'm here. I'll promise you that.

[ there's a momentary pause while she gives him a solid once over- and the corner of her mouth tugs into a faint smile. ]

Now I see it.

[Have a confused blink in return. Because what.]

See what?

Hero complex.
[ her expression softens ]

It's in the little lines, by your eyes.

I-

[Congratulations. The unshakable Isaac Clarke has been caught off guard.]

...Close. But not quite. I'm no hero. Just... a man trying to do his job.

So, what's the job, then?

Engineering.

I dunno. [ her head lowers, as does her voice. ]

Sounds like a little more than that to me.

I built big ships, and I know how they work inside an out. Engines, navigation, everything you could want.

...I just happened to get involved with the wrong kind of crowd, and that crowd likes Necromorphs an awful lot more than I do.

[He looks away. You aren't going to crack him so easily, even if the signs are all over his face.]

Why'd you do it?

Fight everything, I mean. [ she reaches up, one hand cupping the back of her neck. ] Wouldn't it have been easier to just- stop?

The first time...They were everywhere. Death would have followed had I stopped. The ship would have crashed. And... I wanted to save her. Nicole, I mean. I didn't realize she was... already gone.

The second time... [He shakes his head.] I don't know. Someone had to. A station in chaos. In the middle of the outbreak... and I was the only one who'd seen them before. I already had the tools.

And I wanted answers.

Edited 2012-05-02 00:35 (UTC)

Did you find them? Your answers?

...In a way, yes, and in other ways, not so much.

So you're still looking.

Aren't we all?

Well what is it, exactly?
That you're after I mean.

Peace of mind, I think. Haven't really had that for a few years, now.

Edited 2012-05-05 22:42 (UTC)

But you think it's possible? To find it?

To find it? Maybe, yeah.

To keep it? Now that's a whole other challenge.

You sound like you've got a plan.

Or maybe just the feeling you should have a plan.

Plan? Ha ha.

Nah, no plan. But bad ideas, I've got plenty of those.

Edited 2012-05-08 19:06 (UTC)

Well that doesn't sound like it could end badly at all.
Especially not on a big ooky space ship in a parallel dimension.

...Eh. It worked once, didn't it?

Who's to say it won't work again?

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