==== On the way to the torpedo storage room, research station ===== Shane threw a hard glance at Private Pillow. The fact that she was taller then him and most probably even stronger irritated the 'proud' XO, but he was at least a bit satisfied with the fact that she followed his orders ... for now. As she motioned him to lead the way again he stepped forward only to see the teal clad Cadet Quiocho looking at him with interest. {If she offers me medical attention ... I'll scream} he thought. Looking around he shrugged and asked quietly, "Why are we not moving? Torpedoes are waiting. Move move move!" He started to walk ... alone. Sinclair looked back to the rest of the group. With Acheson and him taking the point, they had not realized people had lagged behind when soft sounds of foot steps had dissipated and the murmur of people falling over themselves could be heard. He turned around and headed back to the crowd, finding the XO surrounded by 3 women. {Man, how does he get all the chicks? He is always tripping over himself} he thought. As he approached the crowd he whispered, "Is there a problem, Sir?" Pvt. Pillow had fallen into step behind Shane, but it wasn't long before the man stopped abruptly in front of her. She stopped just short of plowing into the XO' back and rolled her eyes at Sinclair. Mai followed behind the group and shook her head as Shane tried to lead the group with confidence. Mai also grinned to herself about all the things she could come up with that the other 'male' team members were possibly thinking. She ended up walking side by side Pvt. Huhu. Honey caught the secret grin of the young doctor and leaning towards her said, "He's a bit unsteady isn't he!" As the green armoured Ensign Sinclair approached him with a question that had an obvious answer. Shane's hair bristled into a neopunk style and Shane recoiled a bit, very well resembling an angry hedgehog. "No, there's not at all, Ensign," he said sharply. He took a step more towards the tall and strong man and sticked his finger into the man's armored chest. "I don't want everyone asking me if I am all right or if I need any help." He sticked him again, "Now turn around ensign and lead the way" He looked around and said with a warning voice: "The next person asking me what time it is will spend the next month in waste disposal duty ... I hope all got that." Sinclair was getting the feeling something was going on between the women, but he could not pin down exactly what. He had observed how women could communicate with the subtlest of gestures, barely detectable by most men. He had always thought that if someone could decipher their way of communicating, they could have an unbreakable code, one the binars could not even decrypt. He gave Shane an odd look, one of question and acceptance. "Aye sir," he said quietly, "but I would suggest that everyone tries to be a bit quieter. I don't know if these things can hear us but any louder and you can wake the dead." Sinclair gave the two ODA members a look of question, "Everyone ready to continue," he asked them. Van who had said little even to this point gave the Ensign a firm nod. She also smiled politely at the XO and gave a small bow again indicating that he move along ahead of her. {Maybe if I'm behind him; he won't get us all killed. He still looks like he has ballerinas or something buzzing around his head.} Stepping a half step away Honey waited for the XO to move. She said nothing but her expression spoke volumes. Mai looked back over to Pvt. Huhu, "Yes, I believe he is a bit unsteady." Mai walked past Ensign Sinclair giving him a wink as she followed up in front of the group. As the group was moving steadily in the general direction of the storage room, Shane began to feel uneasy. It was not cause all the women 'bodyguards' around him, or cause what the others were now thinking, it was more a sense that the mission was going too smooth. From the front came a signal to stop and Ens. Sinclair took few more steps forward to examine something. Everyone else remained where they were, quietly waiting and watching. So did Shane. He looked down at the modified rifle he was holding in his hand and focused on the trigger. >kabooooom<< A short energy blast escaped from the rifle and hit the nearby wall with a loud sound. Not knowing what was going on, Shane saw from the corner of his eye several of the team members ducking for safety. {SHIT!} he screamed in his mind. Sinclair was a few meters ahead of the XO and the others. He had heard a noise and was peering around a corner when he heard the discharge of a rifle behind him. Sinclair wanted to scream, figuring it was one of the ODA females distracted by the XO magnet of a man. Sinclair turned around, the noticeable look of disgust on his face. When he scanned the hall behind him he saw just about everyone crouched down, except the XO. {Good LORD! Where did they get this one! Is he TRYING to call the aliens attention to US!} he thought. {And look at those women. They still seem to be attracted to him. Maybe I should bungle about. Maybe my prospects would pick up then.} Sinclair gave a quizzical look at Shane, wondering what happened. Upon hearing the weapon fire Van's immediate response was to crouch and make herself as small as possible. As the dust from the blown away wall began to clear she noticed the XO still standing there like a statue. {God, what an idiot.} She immediately stood and swiftly moved into action. Van moved up behind the XO and moved his hand away from his weapon. Then, she flattened the XO against the floor proving exactly how soft she was or wasn't. Feeling her job was done, she kept the XO safely smashed into the floor and awaited orders. At the sound of the gun shot, Mai's first action was to duck. " Oh, SHITITS!", the little AMO yells as she thinks what's running through the XO's head as she watches him get flattened by Pvt. Pillow. Thinking to herself that no one was hurt {hopefully}. {This man is total LIABILITY!!} Honey thought slowly relaxing her stance and looking down at the flattened XO. {If the CO's anything like his executive officer...heaven help us all!} Sinclair walked back quickly to the XO. He dodged his way between the now standing females. {Well, that should change their opinion of him. Maybe I can pick up the pieces from these poor disillusioned people} he thought to himself. When he reached the XO he leaned in and whispered, "Need help with that rifle, Sir? Or are you just showing off?" Shane tried to shake off the woman lying on him. Having little luck he thought is she was enjoying that or just doing her job as baby-sitter ... erm bodyguard. "Private, would you mind get off of me please?" he asked in a cold polite tone. It was a tone that revealed that denying could lead to fatal consequences. Trying to stand up from the floor he caught the question from the tall Ensign with a 'not pleasant' facial expression and answered him back in the same tone, "Take that rifle Ensign and shut it down." Cold calm he gestured forward: "Lets move people" he said quietly but his cheeks were too white for being calm. Pvt. Pillow began moving quickly at the XO's barely civil request. She took the hand Ensign Sinclair offered and gave him a pleasant smile. She stepped aside and gave a little cough as she shook the wall dust from her hair and again fell in step behind the XO. {Why me? Can ya tell me? Why me? Why do I always get stuck baby-sitting the incompetent?} Honey walked in step beside Shane. After a few paces in silence, she pointed to the cloaking device on his belt. "Hope that's still working, Sir" she said quietly and gave him a small smile. {He must feel about an inch tall...what a shame...poor man.} {Oh, geez.. What next} Mai thought as a quite frustrated look came over her. {How embarrassed the XO was all Mai could do was smile and kind of feel sorry for the poor man, but somewhere in here there should be a lesson learned one would think.} Sinclair looked at Pvt. Pillow. He leaned in and whispered so the XO would not hear. "Is he too much for you to handle, Private? Is it too much to ask that you keep him moving and not make so much noise?" Shane looked at his other bodyguard Huhu and then down on his belt where the cloaking device hung. Yes, hung cause the 3rd fall and the weight of the iron lady Pillow made the device to more of a little box of chaos then to a working device. He sighed and replied, "I don't think too positive about it." This was the moment where LT. Acheson doing front patrol announced danger, "Aliens, 4 pieces, heading in our direction, eye contact" could be read from the gestures he made. Shane looked with some fear in his eyes at Huhu realizing that her and him are without the cloaking device ... and thus visible to the aliens. The murderous look that past over the private's face at the ensigns question was gone as quick as it came as word of the aliens passed to them. She looked at Honey and the XO and took of her device and handed it to Honey. She whispered in Pvt. Huhu's ear, "You seem to do better with him than me. Stick close to him and use that." She held her weapon firmly and prepared for the unknown. Honey took the device, closed her hand around it, turned to Shane and handed it to him."Sir...put that on," she whispered. She picked up the rifle, checked its setting and offered it too."Take it...but don't fire...unless you're sure of what you're aiming at," she added hopefully. Mai inched towards Pillow just in case something should happen. With an awe to wonder look on her face she motioned in the XO's direction. Shane quickly shook his head and handed the device back to Huhu. "Take it back Private, the weapon as well." "Its an order," he added as the woman hesitated to do that. Glancing at the rest of the team, he saw that everyone was ducking at the side walls already. "Don't shoot," Shane said remembering Kyelor's words about killing aliens. "Aim at them but for heaven's sake don't shoot." He pointed at the tall Private Pillow, "take care about Blackburn and Quiocho." Turning around to see Sinclair, the man with the strange expression he said, "Ensign come here." Turning to Huhu he said, "I'll hide behind you two, the device should be strong enough to hide me as well." Van nodded at the few sensible things that had come from the XO's mouth. She slowly inched herself and the cadet closer to Blackburn. Pvt. Pillow changed her facial expression to her game face. Now, she was feeling mentally prepared for what ever popped up from around the next corner. Raising a finger to her lips, Honey indicated to Shane that he remain absolutely silent. She laid her hand gently on his arm and pushed him firmly behind her. Her expression said that she hoped he was right. Turning to face the corridor again, she raised the rifle and waited. As Mai inched further along with Pvt. Pillow and Blackburn, Mai felt sandwiched as they awaited for whatever wound up around the corner. She tugged on Pvt. Pillow's pant leg and whispered," Watch out for yourself, I don't want anyone in grave danger or any cases of injury". She said that with the best reassurance as she possibly could as Blackburn pulled her down closer to him. Slowly the aliens were coming. Shane gave several too eager marines a warning look before he ducked behind Huhu and Sinclair and waited for the aliens to pass. This were not the technician aliens ... this one appeared to me taller and more solid ... like ghostly marines ... radiated an aura of lethal danger. Shane could hear them flying nearby as they slowly passed one after another. The device they've got for protection seemed to work as the aliens seemed to take no notice about the human group. As they've come the nearest to Pillow's position, three of them slowed down and turned in the place like searching for something. Pvt. Huhu could hear her own heartbeat thudding fast. She slowly turned as the aliens came near, shielding the XO and gripping the rifle in both hands. Her eyes never leaving the ghostly forms. Pvt. Pillow held her breath and willed her heart to beat silently as the ghostly forms turned and seemed to stare straight at her. She raised her rifle and as she did so the young cadet moved even closer to the private. The forms almost seemed to shrug and then began moving on down the hall. Van turned to follow their progress and was relieved when they moved on past the group the XO was in without incident. {Thank God for that} Mai thought as she breathed more heavily then before, but trying to keep it under wraps from the hearing range of the aliens. {Luckily that was, we could have gotten in a really interesting controversy there} Mai turned around to look at how pale everyone must have been. Honey glanced at the XO and gave a small smile of relief. It wasn't very professional she knew, but that was a bit too close for her liking. Shane sighed in relief. He wouldn't say it to anyone, but he felt a bit sick in his stomach and was very glad that no accident happened here. Closing his eyes he gathered inner strength to lead his team forward. When he opened them he saw Private Huhu smiling at him. That was quite a change towards the behaviors of his marine guards and Shane forced himself to pay her the same back. Standing tall he motioned towards the right way deeper into the station and said quietly, "Let's continue. Acheson ... lead the way, others maintain formation." Shane hoped that no one noticed how pale he must have been looking like or the lack of color in his face. Van let the air she had been holding out slowly and quietly as she listened to the XO. She gave him a courteous nod. {I hope I'm not as pale as he his.} She stood and gave her legs a bit of a stretch before taking her first steps forward. Mai saw Pvt. Pillow inch further and thought to herself, { If only I could walk that fast and manage to keep a confident face..geez woman}. As she thought it was part of her to do, she slowly followed Pvt. Pillow with Blackburn not far behind. Mai didn't want to inch forward because of the shakiness in her legs, but if the AMO wasn't gonna keep track of this whack job who would? ===== End of log ===== Cdt. MaiKai Quiocho AMO USS Chimera & Pvt. Honey Huhu (NPC by Queen Rangi) Marine Escort & Pvt. Vanessa 'Soft' Pillow (NPC by Mrs. President Jass) Marine Escort & Ens. Sinclair (NPC by Big Boss Indy) Security Buddy & LtCmdr. Shane Guzman XO USS Chimera