Colony of Birchmen (closed)

[Othermoose]

Jack awoke to a loud hiss as the door to his cryogenic pod opened. He fell out of the pod onto his hands and knees, choking from the change in air. "Good morning, Jack Cantrell, and welcome to Birchmen. Your clothing and equipment has been placed in your room on the above level. If you need any assistance, don't hesitate to ask." Said a pleasant sounding female AI. Jack ignored the voice and slowly made his way to his feet. He looked around the room to see seven other people on the floor coughing like he'd been.

Jack made his way towards the exit, passing a pod on his left that had the name "unknown Hinson" on his left and one that said "Simon Finn" on his right. Hinson was a large man who was slowly getting to his feet, the blonde man was still on the ground throwing up. Jack passed both men and made his slow progress through the med bay and storage, grabbing a pair of grey cargo pants as he passed a crate of clothing. He pulled the pants on and made his way up the stairs into a large common room. "Where's the armory?" He grunted to the AI. "It is through the second door on your left." The AI replied. "Run a scan of the surrounding area. For a mile. Anything bigger than an ant, I need to know about it." Jack said making his way to the armory.

As Jack waited for the AI's scan he looked over the armory, and was wholly disappointed. It was incredibly under equipped. Eight rifles, eight sub machine guns, and eight pistols were the only guns they had. "At least they gave us plenty of bullets." Jack thought looking at the two large crates of ammo. He took one of the holsters for the pistols and strapped it to his waist. He loaded the weapon before securing it into the holster.

"Where are my quarters?" Jack asked the AI. "Scan pausing at 56.2%. Return to the common room then go through the doors ahead of you. Your door is the second on the right. Resuming scan." The voice said. "Time to get dressed." Jack thought making his way to his room.

 

[Othermoose]

Eddie got to his feet, his head swimming. "That was one hell of nap." Eddie groaned to himself. He looked at the pod across from him to see a young blonde man violently heaving on the ground. The blonde man finished vomiting and Eddie offered him a large hand. "Up you get, mate. Name's Fredrick Hinson. But everyone but me mum calls me Eddie. What do I call you?" "Finn. I'm Simon Finn." The blonde man managed to say in a weak voice. "Enough chit-chat! You two have duties to perform. I am the head of this colony and I expect it to be running smoothly. I'll stay behind and help the women get settled. They can't get adjusted as quickly as us men." Said a sleezy voice. Eddie turned to see the owner of the voice, a tall thin man who managed to look arrogant even wearing nothing but boxers. "Bloody hell mate! We just got up. Give us two shakes to catch our bleedin' breath." Eddie replied to the man before throwing an arm over Simon's shoulder. "Come on mate. I'll help you get to your room. We need some clothes I think." Eddie said helping Finn out the door. "Clothes sound good. Thank you." Simon said leaning heavily on the large man. Simon was happy that Eddie had offered assistance. Without his support, Simon was certain that he couldn't walk yet.

"Now that those others have left, we have a bit of privacy. My name is Senator Logan West. I am the leader of this colony, and I'd be happy to help any and all of you lovely women to your rooms." Logan said, ogling the almost naked forms of the four women coming out of their cryogenic slumbers.

 

[slippedhalo]

Aileen Driscoll was dreaming of home. The rolling, verdant hills of Ireland passed through her mind's eye and she smiled, but the sound of whooshing air and the realization that she was awakening from a cryogenic sleep on a space colonizing station came rushing back to her along with the cold air in her lungs as she took a deep breath and coughed.

She shivered as she got to her feet, looking around at the rest of the groggy people rising. With a swear in a language she thought might be Italian, a short, voluptuous woman with raven locks spat at a tall, arrogant looking fellow, skulking away from him with a pole dancer's grace.

"We're here?" A voice asked, her voice sounding loud to her in the space. Madison Beverly wrapped her arms around her petite frame, shivering in just her taupe bra and panties. Her large, blue eyes flashed a warning at the approach of the swaggering jerk who the crew's Chemist had spat at. "Doctor Madison Beverly, M.D., is everyone feeling ok?" She asked, trying to act more composed than she felt. Her long, coppery brown hair covered her to her waist and she was glad for the extra layer of "protection" for her headlights since it was obvious the bloke was trying to catch a glimpse.

Aileen nodded, her crimson hair was tied back in a french braid, tucked under...She felt it absently with her hand as she adjusted to the new situation. It seemed she'd just done her hair this morning...She knew she'd been asleep far longer than the handful of hours her brain was tricked into thinking. She turned to the bloke oggling them, "I'm fine, Doc. Sir, Commander Aileen Driscoll. I'm guessing that was Dr. Alessa Lombardo you just pissed off there, Sir. You may not want to mess with the person in charge of creating your next medicine or meal, Sir." She warned.

Taking the medical doctor by the arm she said, "Come on, Doc. Let's go find the others, and some clothes."

Nancy ran her fingers through her short, blonde locks and eyed the man suspiciously. "You aren't Science or Military. I can tell. Where do I know you from, Sir?" She asked as they followed the others.

 

[Othermoose]

"You'll regret that you bitch!" Logan shouted after the woman who had just spit in his face. He turned to Aileen and regained his composer. "I wasn't 'messing' with anyone. As the leader of this mission it is my duty to assist you women. You can't adjust as easily as us men, so I can forgive any moodiness for the time being, but in the future it will not be tolerated." Logan said in a self important voice before turning to Nancy.

"I'm the senator for the great state of Oregon. The president himself personally selected me out of all the United States senators to run this project. As I'm sure you know, the USA put forth the majority of the funding for this project. And as I just said I'll be leading us forward into a new era of human exploration and expansion." Logan said puffing his chest out look a rooster.

Logan continued to prattle on about his "vital" role to the mission as the group made their way up the stairs. "... In fact I was the first at my boarding school to..." "OI! Shut it! I've got a bleedin' headache and I'm sure the girls do too." Eddie, who was now wearing a dark red jumpsuit, shouted cutting Logan off. "How dare you! I am..."

As the two men began to argue loudly Simon, who was now wearing a white lab-coat over a light blue shirt and khaki cargo pants, approached the group, his face bright red in a blush. "Um... The bedrooms are on the left. I mean yours. The womens'. Eddie's and mine were on the right so I assume yours are on the left. They might be mixed up. But um... The rooms are through there." Simon babbled awkwardly doing his best to avoid looking at the women.

The whole groups attention was drawn to the door to the sleeping quarters as it opened to reveal Jack busy at work dragging his truck along behind him. "Who's the biologist?" He asked in a commanding voice. "Um, that would be me. I am." Simon said quietly. "Get to you lab and review the lifeform scan. Everyone else get dressed. We don't have time for greetings. We're on a hostile planet right now. Get your shit together! Move it!" Jack barked in a voice that had clearly been refined on a battlefield to order around troops. He didn't wait to see of his orders were followed.

"Um, I guess I should go read that report... Bye." Simon said awkwardly to the group of women before quickly making his way to his lab. "Yes. The soldier is quite right. The mission comes first. We can meet once we've determined that there is no immediate threat. It's good to see someone on top of his duty." Logan said directing his last sentence at Eddie. "Blow it out your ass." Eddie said to Logan before going to the workshop. "Get dressed ladies, then report to your duties. I have many important reports to write." Logan said before turning on his heel and going to the bedrooms.

 

[slippedhalo]

Madison put on her clothes, Medical blue was the dominating color. A navy blue and light blue jumpsuit with a lab coat of blue and white bearing the Staff of Asclepius emblem in gold over her heart. She was the first dressed, followed almost immediately by Dr. Lombardo in purple and white and Commander Driscoll in military brown camouflage jumpsuit. Dr. Crow was last,.having been held up by the dumbass Logan pretending to get lost and coming into her room while she changed. She wore green and white. It was clear by the white labcoats who the Scientists were.

 

[Othermoose]

Simon felt more at ease as soon as he entered the labs. Talking to half naked women was stressful to him, well so was talking to fully clothed women, but he was in his element now. He looked at the reports, going down each list. He did a few quick calculations in his head before radioing Jack. "I don't think we have anything to worry about. A couple of small signatures. Nothing bigger than a cat. Nothing that looks big enough to disturb the base." Simon said. "Ok. Eddie and I are working on drones right now that will give us a better idea of what we're up against." Came Jack's gruff reply. "Um, no offense, but we're not at war. There's no advanced life on this planet. The most dangerous thing we could see would be something like a bear. Not a big threat with all the guns we have." Simon replied. After a long silence Jack replied. "I hope you're right."

"Well you're a morbid bastard." Eddie said taking a puff from his cigar as he worked on the drone's left wing. "The kid's right. Nothing to worry about." Eddie said welding the wing onto the body of the craft. "This thing won't be pretty, but I'll have it flying by tomorrow. Maybe two days. Call up the chemist so we I can get the bio-scanners in." Eddie said finishing the welding.

"We need the chemist in the workshop." Jack's voice said over the base's loudspeaker.

 

[slippedhalo]

"I'm in my workshop already!" Called out Alessa impatiently. "And, I need xenobotany doing her thing too."

"My thing," replied Nancy over the loud speaker now, "...is on its way to the drone. It's a sample collection module. I gave it to the soldier girl...er, I mean Commander Driscoll, to bring it to the drone. And, you're welcome."

Driscoll talked into her headset. "I'm on my way." She confirmed just as the doors slid open to reveal her form walking into the hangar bay where the drone was being equipped, s.c.m. being carried under one arm. She smiled as she handed it off. "Further orders?" She asked.

 

[slippedhalo]

Aileen spoke up, sensing the group needed direction. "Step one, Engineering make sure all systems are operating properly. Are the bio-energy cells feeding well enough and producing enough energy? Are we out of minimum energy output a.k.a. sleep mode? I suspect not, since it's still really bloody cold in here, mates. I can see my breath!" She had memorized the check list of what to do. "We send out the dronr for samples. And, both Chemist and Botanist will require soil samples from the planet, STAT. There's seeds to plant, the indoor greenhouse to harvest from, tests to perform, and...Who's hungry? Today it will have to be standard rations but I hope we can be able to eat something fresh by the end of this week. Doc, anything you need?"

Madison shook her head and said into her mouthpiece, "Not unless anyone feels unwell. I have nutrient supplement packs here for every one of us to take before sack time. Other than that, I have my biology experiments to work on until I'm needed for anything. Ill be in my lab in Medical."

"Alright, thanks, Doc. Is everyone clear on what we need to work on today?" Asked Aileen, wondering where Logan was hiding to get out of real work.

 

[Othermoose]

"Aye aye captain. I'll check the systems now, and get everything working ship-shape. And I'm starving, so food would be bloody brilliant right now." Eddie said wiping his hands and leaving the workshop. He made his way to the basement and found the control panel to the generators. "Well there's the bloody problem. Damn thing's not turned on." Eddie said flipping the switches to the generators. "All good down here. Give 'em a minute to kick in, and we'll be have full power before you know it." Eddie said into his headset.

On his way out of the generator room Eddie found Simon standing outside of the medical lab gripping his hand. The young man's sleeve was bright red and his hand was dripping blood from a deep cut across his palm. "Jeez mate! You're all bloody bloody! How'd you manage to do that to yourself?" Eddie asked in alarm. "I, um, dropped a beaker. I cut my hand on the broken glass. Um, can you get the doctor? I got blood on my headset and I'm only getting static. I don't think they're water proof." Simon said sheepishly. "Sure thing mate." Eddie said grabbing Simon's headset from around his neck. "Hey doc. We've got our first medical emergency. Run down here, Simon's getting your floor all bloody." Eddie said into his own set as he worked on Simon's. "Move this wire here... Hit that button... Clean that off... And Bob's your uncle. Good as new mate." Eddie said placing the headset back on Simons head. "Good luck with your hand mate. Maybe you'll get to know the doctor before the rest of us. You know what they say about girls with red hair." Eddie said giving Simon a wink and a light jab to the ribs before heading back to the workshop. "Um no actually. I don't know." Simon said quietly as Eddie left.

Once Eddie made it back to the workshop he began to work on the drone again. The machine was looking more like it was supposed to now, a circular machine with eight short wings around the edge. "Give me another few hours, and this little beauty will be flying about getting to know the place." Eddie said adding a metallic arm to the craft. "I heard someone mention food. How are we coming with that?" Eddie asked not taking his eyes from his work.

 

[slippedhalo]

Madison had just finished putting her long hair up into a bun to keep it out of her way in Med Lab. The first experiment wasn't even begun yet when she was alerted that Simon was bleeding. She triangulated his location just outside the doors and headed toward him with her medical kit in hand.

"Oh my, that's a nasty cut, there." She commented as she put on her gloves and took the hand in hers. "Come sit here and I'll suture the laceration. What did yhis? Glass?" She asked, cleaning the wound lightly with a gauze pad and an alcohol based sterilizer.

 

[slippedhalo]

Alessa and Nancy were combining efforts to avoid having to lean too heavily on food rations. Nancy called out happily into her communicator, "The robots have done a great job in the greenhouse garden while we were on our way here! We've got tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, sprouts, string beans, lima beans, carrots, potatoes, peppers, onions, basil, thyme, oregano, rosemary, lavender, berries of different sorts,a ripe pumpkin, a few melons, a lemon tree, an orange tree, a pear tree, an apple tree, a banana tree, and a walnut tree already! And, we should have more stuff, like corn, rice, prunes, grapes, and peaches, in about a month!"

"I'll harvest some things and whip up a roast for lunch." Said Alessa dolcetly in her heavily accented voice over the intercom. "Maybe, I use some flour from storage and make pumpkin pie for dessert after supper tonight too." She suggested, smiling conspiratorially with Nancy at the murmurs and whoops of approval these announcements brought from the others.

 

[Othermoose]

Simon winced as the brunette woman cleaned his hand. "Um, yea. I dropped a beaker. I'm Simon by the way. Simon Finn. I'd shake your hand, but um, blood..." He said akwardly feeling his face heat up from a blush. "I guess Eddie was confused about her hair. But she's still pretty. Really pretty." Simon thought, trying not to stare at the doctor.

 

[Othermoose]

Jack gave a half smile at Alessa's offer to cook. He appreciated someone who offered to do more than what their job required. He was about to thank her when Logan's annoying voice filled the room. "I have good news citizens! I have filled out all of your progress reports and I plan to send them to Earth very soon. If anyone would like to improve their scores, come see me in my chambers this evening." Logan said, his intentions obvious. "Fucking pig. Putting him in charge must have been some kind of mistake." Jack growled.

 

[slippedhalo]

Simon winced as the brunette woman cleaned his hand. "Um, yea. I dropped a beaker. I'm Simon by the way. Simon Finn. I'd shake your hand, but um, blood..." He said akwardly feeling his face heat up from a blush. "I guess Eddie was confused about her hair. But she's still pretty. Really pretty." Simon thought, trying not to stare at the doctor.

She shrugged about the blood, smiling as their equally intense blue eyes met. "I'm Madison. My friends sometimes call me Mads." She said, guving him his bandaged finger and hand back. "You're one of the Scientists. What's your specialty?" She asked, leading him to her lab where she began preparation for her first experiment.

 

[slippedhalo]

Jack gave a half smile at Alessa's offer to cook. He appreciated someone who offered to do more than what their job required. He was about to thank her when Logan's annoying voice filled the room. "I have good news citizens! I have filled out all of your progress reports and I plan to send them to Earth very soon. If anyone would like to improve their scores, come see me in my chambers this evening." Logan said, his intentions obvious. "Fucking pig. Putting him in charge must have been some kind of mistake." Jack growled.

Aileen interrupted with a discovered comunique from Command Center. "Good news, people, I've been sent a mission statement which includes a paragraph about things...A quote from Mission Command; " Just keep the annoying politician busy. There's no reason to take him too seriously. He's not more than a figurehead for the press on Earth. Follow your usual command structure without him and complete your experiments regardless of his ideas, if he does or says anything not necessary to the mission or acts at all shady or unprofessional." I guess this means when gramps goes cookoo, listen to mom." She chuckled.

 

[Othermoose]

"What about Maddie? I like that name for you. It..." Simon stopped speaking, his mind catching up with his mouth. "Um, I mean, Mads is, um..." Simon blushed furiously as he stopped speaking. He silently followed Madison into her lab. "I, um, I'm a biologist. I got my doctorate at 17. Not that I'm bragging! I, um, that's just something about me." Simon said, his face turning an even brighter red; He felt like an even bigger idiot with every word he said. Having such a beautiful woman talking to him was making him even more flustered than usual. "What project are you working on? Maybe I could help?" Simon asked in a final attempt not to look like an idiot.

 

[Othermoose]

"Bloody Hell! They couldn't deal with that ball bag on Earth so they stuck him up here with us?" Eddie asked in disgust. "It looks that way. We'll just deal with him along with anything else that comes up." Jack said quietly. "Alessa, I think now would be a good time to start dinner. Can I offer you any assistance?" Jack asked the raven-haired beauty.