[Empyreal Network Connection Error. Please, seek out a technician for repairs.] Is all she can offer.
[-]The next couple of months are a blur of routine, a blur of following your set schedule with the discipline of a real soldier. You permit no interruption. Train, eat, train. Sign off on whatever needs to be signed.
You burn through food and rifles, sometimes going to bed with such an aching headache that you can't even sleep properly. But you ignore that, pushing yourself until you collapse.
Then you get up and push yourself further.
[-15]You have next to no free time, even on Service days, as the Pontifex often pulls you aside to assist in what he calls stage-training. How to hold yourself, how to speak, what to say. He doesn't have much time to instill these mannerisms in you, but you're a fast learner.
[-]A month in, your underlay is ready, McFee presenting you with a beautifully crafted under-suit for your armor. With it, comes a shining Cutter Hilt, and an SMG designed with rifle-power las-blasts. The magazine is huge, as is the coolant systems, and it comes with twice the amount of lenses and barrel changes one would normally receive with a las-gun. It also has a long-range lens attachment, but you feel it would still be inaccurate at longer distances, simply due to the design that clings to your arm. You have to refit Lucille around the new outfit, but 'she' is becoming easier and more comfortable to activate. Some days you don't even bother to turn 'her' off, keeping a glove on even while you sleep. The disgust that you feel while wearing her becomes an odd kind of comfort.
The armor pushes you harder than any Crusader Drill Commander ever could.
Your training in the arts of command is a little more...difficult. That same bloody arithmetic of men lost versus ground held seems so unlike anything you've ever experienced. The battles against [demons] and [The Plague] themselves seem to be cruel experiences in how not to fight, but the powers that be view them as great successes.
Manpower is cheap; unity is not.[-] Emma takes your advice, viewing your concern as loveable. She begins to sleep more regularly, adjusting her schedule to get more sleep than yourself. You don't get to see her at breakfast, but when you do see her and spend time with her, she seems to be in a better mood. She works just as hard as you do, having to requisition repairs for the training room nearly every day, especially in the last month.
[-] That is because your powers grow incredibly the more you focus on them. Your Inferno becomes a roaring blaze you can direct around yourself, able to 'throw' it a reasonable distance away, and when you focus it, you can create flames that turn metal and armor into slag with just a touch.
[11] One day, after being pushed back by a particularly strong blast, you decide to focus the Inferno in the palms of your hands and face them downwards. Your armor protects you from the heat, but you find your balance hard to keep as it lifts you into the air.
[-] Manipulating the earth around you is a bit more complicated, but the armor seems optimized for that type of Power. It gives you advice and helps with your calculations. You learn much from it. While focusing on twisting the glassy metal within the earth, you superheat it with blasts of hydrogen, producing a more brittle and shinier metal. However, despite that failure, you head to the outskirts of the Holy City to practice something McCreary did.
You focus your energy, your willpower, and Lucille assists you. Kneeling, you take hold of the ground feeling all those glassy, metallic particles within the earth...and you push them in two opposite directions. There's a bit of dust-- and the ground splits and cracks, opening into a tiny ravine. The earth bunches up and compacts beneath your Will, allowing it to open further and further. You stop after a moment, satisfied.
The ravine is about a mans-length across, and you can see you split the land down to the bedrock.
[-] Silas presents you, one day, with a wide variety of combat drugs. Primarily stimulants, sleep medicine, and a few rapid function tranquilizers. "Your body already kills your pain receptors, so I figured uppers and downers would be all that you need. All designed to your unique biology. You'll grow immune to them, in time, however, so use them sparingly."
When you ask how long Silas has been working on them, he explains that he started on the project as soon as he injected you the first time. You thank him, and he gives a small bow.
William arrives the night before your Announcement Ceremony, dropping in on you and Emma. You expect a hulking levithan, but he waves an intact hand, peeling away the glove to reveal a skeletal shaped, robotic limb. Emma doesn't seem pleased, but she rises and gives her brother a begrudging hug, and he leaves the two of you alone. Emma reads a book on your bed.
And you focus on the task at hand-- you have to prepare your speech for tomorrow. You've been speaking with the Pontifex, and with Emma, and with Zachary, but you have nothing concrete yet. It has to be comforting to the populace at large, it has to promise retribution on [The Plague], and has to have holy overtones.
You are Pheobe Gainer AKA Alphira
Local Time: [2300] 9/19/2011
Personal Time: 3 months
Empyreal Time: NO NETWORK CONNECTION.
You feel faintly disgusted comfortable.
You are a picture of perfect health, with bulging muscles beneath your clothes.
You are satiated
Torso:
A fitted grey shirt with long, tight sleeves. On Hand:
Mark 15 Battle Armor Gauntlet (Active, Incompatible:Override)Lower Body:
New grey semi-formal, military-style pants.In Holster:
A worn, but well-repaired las-pistol, painted a dull green. 250/250Hands:
A pair of leather gloves. Feet:
Woolen socks(hidden)
Feet:
A pair of new leather boots.[100 credits] in local currency.
Overload: Qualified
Inferno : Able
Healing Factor: Apprentice
-
Endurance Boost: Amateur.
-
Strength Boost: Amateur.
Matter Manipulation:Silicon::Able
Skill:
Charisma: Apprentice
Skill:
Attrition Warfare: Apprentice
Skill:
Marksmanship: Proficient
You are under contract with The Brotherhood of Scholars for twenty-three years. [Angel] of The Holy City State of SEED
--High Influence within its borders
--Full command of all military resources, as approved by Crusader General
--Full command of all military resources, in emergencies
--Assigned a personal team of researchers, medical officers, and trainers.
Grandmother(adopted), Handler: Mother Nicole Gainer
--Contactable in person.
--High Influence with Scholars, Crusaders, the Thornton Family
--Current lawful ruler of Steelworks 9 Region (Crusader Supported)
Organization: The Thornton Family
--Contactable through Mail, Emma
--High Influence within Steelworks 9 Region
--Allied with Nicole Gainer, you
Organization: Personal Guard
--A complement of fifty guards, highly trained, heavily armed. Each carries a las-rifle, a las-pistol, and a personal knife. They wear Heavily Armored Crusader vests, leggings, boots and face obscuring kevlar face masks.
--Lead by Captain Zachary McKinney
--49/56 Loyal, Fanatic
--3/50 Uncertain
--4/50 Defiant
--McGee Foster (Loyal)
--James Foster (Loyal)
--Erica Hail (Loyal)
--Johnathan Shellton (Loyal)
--Eric Armstrong (Loyal)
--Quincy Black (Loyal)
Ally, Superior: The Pontifex
--Church leader for the Scholars of the Holy SEED city-state.
--High Influence within its borders
--Incredibly High Influence with Zealots
--Minor feud with Crusaders
Ally, Subservient: Captain Zachary McKinney
--Contactable in person
--High Influence within Personal Guard
--Allied with The Pontifex
--Very low Influence with the Crusaders of SEED
Contact, Threat: William Thornton
--Contactable through Mail, Emma
--High influence within The Thornton Family
--Feared within Steelworks 9 Region
Personal Scientist, Ally: Silas Thornton
--Contactable in person
--High influence within The Thornton Family
Contact, Military Trainer Coordinator: Tyler Hop (Cordial)
Lover, Adjutant: Emma Thornton (Content)
--High influence within The Thornton Family
Friends(?) (Lost Contact):
-Jesse Hardhouse
-Amanda Silversmith
-John Frost
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Topic: McCreary's Planet -- (FINISHED) (Read 258058 times)