Futuristic SSN Rebellionis | IC

[Zerulu]

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The low hum of the walls was a constant aboard the vessel. Today was no different; the usual noises of metal creaking and generators grinding were the melody of the great submarine. The lights aboard the ship followed a strict day-night cycle. Currently, the lights were dimmed, scheduled to go into day mode in an hour once the clock reached 7am. The ship inherently held an eerie feel to it, which was completely lost on the inhabitants, as day in and day out, this is what they grew up with, dimmed lights and cold metal walls. The inhabitants functioned as a society of sorts. There was commerce, business and even politics all wrapped into it; ideally, people would stick to their craft to provide for the vessel. You already know all this. Let's get to the real purpose for why you're here.

Earlier in the month, news travelled across the ship that survey drones had found land above the surface, and an expedition team was being formed to carry out a survey mission. The leader of the expedition crew was Artyom Khakimova from the bridge family. Appointing a crew was his responsibility. That's when you got the transmission that you were selected for the crew. You were either filled with joy, confused as to how you got selected or worried about what you would find above the surface, despite your feelings on the matter you knew you had to accept, you were going to make history, you were going to possibly start a new chapter in human life, the reclamation of the surface. Thus the crew were dubbed the Reclaimers. The first official meeting was to be held today at 6am, held in the operations canteen. Despite being the first meeting, it'll also be the last before the mission actually starts. The operations canteen wasn't too dissimilar to the main canteen, the main difference being how much emptier and smaller it was. An orange tint covered the space, giving it a warm and welcoming feeling despite the rather chilly temperature.

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Artyom had woken up an hour before the meeting was due, already making his way down to the canteen. This mission as a whole has taken a rather unhealthy toll on his health, and he had never been responsible for something so important to the future of humanity as a whole. Sleepless nights spent forming a crew that would serve the mission status and have good chemistry amongst themselves. The stakes themselves were high enough already, but the hint towards a possible promotion to captain of the SSN Rebellionis in the case of a successful mission really turned his perfectionism into overdrive.

Sat upon a table, he tapped his heels impatiently. He had gotten there an hour early and still thought the others should have gotten there closer to the time he arrived, and maybe he should have changed the time to 5am, he thought to himself, maybe he should go to the bunks of each team member and get them himself. His mind was racing, and he wanted to get this mission started. He needed to get this mission started. Eventually, the overeagerness passed. His energy had fallen enough for him to start seeing reason. In his head, he went through the mission over and over again, a broken record of thoughts.

Lost in his mind, Artyom lost track of time before he even realised the clock had already ticked to 6am. Noticing this, he jumped off the table, standing at attention, his hands crossed behind his back, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the crew. He hoped they remembered. Who could forget potentially the most important event in all of post-flood history?

kakemha MrReaves liostwolf tyranna AreSneksSly

 

[liostwolf]

Alex hadn't gotten a lot of sleep and was still awake when the morning of the meeting rolled around they look at the clock and takes a sharp breath, it was 3 am and he was dead tired, they settled into bed and tried to fall asleep. Alex woke up at 5: 30 am he rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock. "Shit," He says under his breath, he gets out of bed and gets dressed. He combs his hair but lets it stay poofy. He walks out of her room and sees his mother, she had prepared a small breakfast of toast, as Alex walks into the room she smiles at his mother and looks down at the food, grimacing. "Is that.. all for me" His eyes dart from the food to his mother.

His mother looks at him in a questioning manner Alex rolls his eyes and gestures to his clothing, he is wearing baggy pants and a baggy t shirt "Guy," Alex says in a definite manner, his mother nods then looks to the food. Alex looks at it and back at his mother, "Do I have to?" He asks, clearly not excited at the sight of the food.

"At least, try," Her mother says smiling, Alex walks up to the table and picks at the food taking a bite, he chewed slowly and forced himself to swallow, he repeated this until all the toast was gone, well most of it. She smiled up to her mother and covered her mouth to keep the food down.

He stood up and gave her mother a hug, "I love you. Don't forget me okay?" Alex gives a kiss to his mother, "Miss me" He chuckles and walks out of the house, his mother wished him fair well. Outside of the door, Alex was met by his best, and only, friend: Jay-Jay. "Hi Jay-Jay," Alex closes the door and keeps walking.

"Really! come on slow down!" Jay-Jay chuckles and jogged to keep up with Alex, Jay-Jay and Alex chattered the whole way up to the meeting room, laughing and hugging on each other, the hum of the ship ignored by the two. The two passed a room and Alex looked at it fondly, inside was an art project he had been working on, he had planned to make it look like the forests of old to give the inhabitants of the submarine a glimpse into how life used to be, but now he had to drop it because of the mission. Alex ripped his eyes away from the door and went back to talking to Jay-Jay. As they drew closer to the meeting room Alex turns to Jay-Jay. "Jay-Jay? I don't think you're supposed to come in here... I really don't even know if you were supposed to be here at all." Alex looks at Jay-Jay and brushes her off with a smile, "Don't get yourself killed, also have fun at your shift" Ash laughs again and elbows her.

"Aww come on you couldn't sneak me in?" Jay-Jay flutters her eye and chuckles, this was just like Jay-Jay to do, she always wanted to do the craziest of things, and would often drag Alex into them, she stops begging with her eyes and stands up straight, trying to keep herself from crying, "Okay I'm... I'm gonna miss you..." Jay-Jay wraps Alex in a hug and he hugs her back. Jay-Jay slips something into Alexes pocket and smirks. A tear slips down Jay-Jay face and she hold Alex closer.

"I'm gonna miss you too" Alex breaks away from the hug and smiles he pulls her in and kisses her cheek but quickly looks away, Jay-Jay smirks and puts a hand to the cheek, she gives Alex a thumbs up as he enters the room. He sees a man sitting there and walks closer. "Am I late?" She asks him her voice coated in worry, she thought that the meeting had happened and that everyone had left but him.

 

[MrReaves]

The blaring of his 4:30 alarm woke Jackson with a start. He swatted idly at the buttons set into the wall of his bunk, finding no purchase in the few groggy seconds it took him to realize he wasn’t wearing his left arm. Groaning, he turned over and bashed the alarm with the other, relishing in the quiet that followed, but only for another short while. He had to get up. An open, half-full bottle of synthetic scotch beckoned from the floor, and he weighed his options. He knew it stayed on his breath, and he couldn’t afford to have it noticed.

He started on the rigors of the morning - slotting his knees into the black carbon fibre legs meant for casual wear, checking their charge (100%). He put on a fresh white shirt before strapping his arm over the anchoring points on his torso, adjusting them to be just tight enough. A series of complex finger movements that he’d trained so often he could dream them calibrated the arm to his neural wave function; the delay in motion was in the range of microseconds. The rest of his clothes were his standard working fare, including the band on his dark grey coat’s sleeve signifying his position as head of the Applied Robotics Subdivision - and the thinner band below it making him out as part of the Critical Repairs Task Force.

Jackson barely took the time for breakfast, pulling a bowl of ready-made overnight oats out of the small refrigerator of his quarters and matching it with a steaming mug of black coffee. Beofre long, he had pulled the door to his place close, checked the lock, and started to make his way over to the Biomed level.

The on-site peacekeeping force has long since grown used to his visits at all times of the day; hell, he was on a first-name basis with most of the rotation. The black-clad, lightly armed guards gave him a nod as he walked through, unbothered by his technical lack of access clearance for Biomed outside of normal visiting hours. Giving away a bit of exclusive booze every now and then could get you into any place on this ship.

He took a slow and measured tread through the hallway lined with observational quarters, in order not to wake anyone who might still be sleeping. It was a fairly identical hallway to that of Critical Care, but he much preferred to walk it. The door display of room 108 showed in thin, white lettering the name Anya M. Broca. He opened and closed the door as quiet as he could. It was cramped, a sterile white, bathed in slight and soothing light, and only the softest background hum of the ship could be heard along with the occasional beep of one of the instruments along the wall. At the center of the back wall stood the bed lined with blue sheets, Anya still asleep in it, peaceful, head framed by the halo of her albino hair.

After dousing his hands in sanitizer, Jackson snuck to the chair next to her bed, sitting and taking in every detail on her. She was undoubtedly healthier-looking than she had in months, a slight blush to her snow-pale skin and her facial features nowhere near as fallen in as when she couldn’t eat for weeks. The treatments were getting better. Maybe one day she’d never need one again.

He spent the next forty or so minutes working through the backlog of mail on his tablet, occasionally glancing up at Anya whenever she stirred. He could do this work anywhere, so he did it with her. Eventually, Anya woke with a yawn, saw him and smiled, unsurprised to see him. “Early days as always?” She half-whispered, vocal chords tender. Jackson smiled back. “Technically, I might be late - I should leave in a few.” He took her hand in his right hand, giving a soft squeeze. “I brought all the stuff you asked for to Isa’s yesterday - she’s all set up for you now.” Anya cast her eyes down. “I feel a bit sorry for imposing.” She replied. “Nonsense. You know Isa’d do anything for us.” Jackson said.

Anya kept silent for a bit. “Do we know how long it’s going to be?” She tentatively asked. Jackson bit his lip. “Well, I’m hoping to find that out soon at the seminal meeting.” He said. “But trust me - I don’t plan on letting them keep me from you for long. If I have to, I’ll build a minisub myself and come back.” Anya laughed softly. “I think it’s cool that you’re a Reclaimer, Dad. It’s all everyone here seems to want to talk about.” She said. “You finally get to build things for the land… Like cars.”

“Not sure we still know how to build cars. Might have to reinvent them.” He joked. Anya giggled again. “You should go, Dad. Don’t let them kick you off the team before they even go.” Jackson stood up, but kept hold of her hand. “Wouldn’t be so bad if I got to stay here, would it?” He said. Anya’s smile became tinged with sadness. “No.” She said. “But I’ll be here when you come back. I’m here no matter where you go.”

~~~

As the clock struck six, Jackson made it into the canteen. He scanned it for the unmistakable visage of Artyom Khakimova himself; the next-slated Captain was spearheading the mission himself. Jackson had seen the man at plenty of official events, but never had a one-on-one. It gave him a little bit of confidence that the good heir didn’t find himself too good for a mess hall kibosh when he could have used a proper meeting room.

He spotted Khakimova, though it took a minute to reach the table given the size of the mess. “Sir.” He gave a slight salute to his superior, and a friendly nod to the black-haired person who seemed to have gotten there seconds earlier. “Good morning to you.”

 

[kakemha]

Hana didn't have much sleep last night, having to go through patient notes, having a pretty long shift in the ER, and having to study some of the medical notes on some unknown cases at the hospital. Needless to say, she only got 1 or 2 good hour of sleep. She had woken up at 4:00 am, she wanted to get some work done before heading to the meeting. Her alarm wasn't all that loud, she could've easily went back to sleep, but she decided to get up and turn it off. She took a quick shower and got changed for the day. She wore her usual dark colored clothes, with the exception of a white doctor's coat. She had worn it so often, that it practically became a part of her regular wardrobe.

She walked into her mess of a kitchen and wondered what she would eat for the day. Okay, so the kitchen itself wasn't usually a mess, it was just Hana was frantically trying to figure out what was wrong with one of the patients that had came to her in the ER. She eventually just decided to leave it and started again once she woke up. She decided some coffee and fruit would be enough for now. She turned on her coffee machine and cut up some apples and strawberries from her small fridge. She put the fruit in a bowl and poured herself the coffee. She brought them over to her kitchen table and decided to try and finish researching this man's condition before she had to leave for the meeting.

With a sort of fresh mind, Hana had finally gotten her answer after about 30 minutes to an hour. She was surprised that she hadn't figured it out in the first place. A screen emerged from her eye and it showed a message board. She scrolled till her reached the nurse in charge of the patient, luckily it was her aunt. She send her a quick message about the condition and how to proceed with his treatment. She replied almost instantly and agreed with her diagnosis, and she also wished her luck with the expedition. The screen redacted from her eye and she looked at the clock on the wall, it was almost time for the meeting. She quickly shut down all the lights and appliances and quickly rushed out the door. She felt her eye glitch a bit, she sighed. She'd have to fix that again, but it was always such a pain.

She entered the canteen at about 6:10 am, she was late, but oh well. She spotted 3 people, she walked further into the canteen and greeted them. "Well, good morning." Hana said in her usual calm tone. "Apologies for being late." She apologised to Khakimova. Well, we would have to wait for the rest of the crew.

 

[AreSneksSly]

Were Nicola literally anyone else, they would’ve spent the night sleeping like a normal person. But they weren’t anyone else. Unlike their fellow Reclaimers, they had been spending the last 2 hours beating a teenager. With his consent, of course. “Come on, Artie! You wanna take me down or not?” Nico yelled, their voice bouncing off the metal walls. The ship groaned around the pair as Arthur struggled to rise to his feet. Both combatants were bruised and heaving, but neither were frowning. “Thought they were joking about your stamina,” the red-head chuckled under his breath, wiping the blood that had been pooling around his upper lip.

Nico smirked. “Unlucky for you, huh?”

Finally standing straight, the young man shook the sweat off his hair. “Ugh,” he muttered under his breath, before his eyes focused back on his opponent.

“Don’t get a lot of exercise crafting those little explosives kid?” Nico continued to taunt him, their grin only growing wider as Artie’s smile turned to a glower. Without warning the boy charged at them, and Nicola simply cackled as a dull ache bloomed from their shoulder where they made contact. “That’s it buddy, channel that anger!” they said, digging their heels into the mat. With a twist of their hips, Nico flipped over, throwing them both to the ground before clambering to the top. Nico’s grip was deceptively strong, holding fast to Arthur despite his vicious struggling. Finally, after a few minutes of panting, Artie smacked his palm against the mat.

Nico let go, allowing the young man to breathe as they sniggered. “I win again, Artie boy,” they said, expression smug as they stood over him with their hands on their waist.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Arthur mumbled, pouting. Nico opened their mouth to do some more gloating, but the watch on their hand croaked out a little song before they had the chance. It read ‘5:30’ in large angry red letters on top, with the smaller letters below screaming in all caps: ‘MEETING TIME.’

Nicola hummed to themselves, before turning off the alarm and offering a hand to the boy. Arthur took it, albeit reluctantly, pulling himself to his feet with a look of confusion. “Whaz ‘at?” he slurred, peering over Nico’s arm. Nicola merely pulled it away, sticking out their tongue. “Nunya business,” was their retort, hiding it behind their back. “Adult things.”

Arthur frowned, his pout returning as he crossed his arms. “Surface stuff?”

A smirk. “Maybe.”

The boy sighed, then looked away, his pout deepened. “Fine. Whatever. I don’t care.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say kiddo.” Nico ruffled his head of curls, Arthur squealing as they did. “Now go home to your mom, she’s probably worried.”

Arthur ran out of the gym, grabbing his stuff and blowing a raspberry as he did. Nicola waved him away with a wide grin. As he rounded a corner out of sight, they dropped the cheery look with a groan. They glanced back at the blinking red 5 on their watch. “Hmph.” Standing alone in the training gym made them keenly aware of the ache in their muscles and the smell of sweat which clung to them. They took a quick sniff of their hair, pulling back almost immediately, a look of disgust locked on their face. “Shower time,” they murmured, walking towards their stuff. Nicola began whistling to themselves as they left the gym, off to their quarters to take a nice long shower that would definitely make them late.

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Leaving the freezing cold shower, the chilled air was honestly rather refreshing when compared to a solid hour of sweating and fighting. A towel soaked up the water which dripped from their hair, as Nicola stared out the porthole in their room. The environment was still as blue and boring as ever, yet they were smiling. Because for the first time in years, they’d be among the first to breach the surface.

Throwing on a simple tank top and sweats, Nico tucked their cigarette case into one of their pockets. Opening their door, Nico peered around the kitchen, searching for a certain grumpy old man. Seeing that he was still out, Nicola let out a sigh of relief, running out of their room and to the entrance.

Unfortunately, it turns out that said man was still inside.

“Good morning,” a deep voice echoed from behind them, Nicola cringing as it did.

“Morning, dad,” they responded, slowly turning around with a grimace. Their father was shrouded in shadow, leaning against the fridge and looking as mysterious and untouchable as ever.

“Had a good day?”

“No. Thanks for asking,” Nicola said through a sneer.

They could see him deflate slightly, the tension easing from his shoulders as he sighed. Two pairs of eyes met each other, neither figure making a move toward the other. Finally, Nico broke the tension with a roll of their eyes. “Can I leave yet?” they asked, throwing up their hands. Leonardo shook his head with a small exhale, finally stepping out of his little spot of darkness. Nico was still as the man approached them, grayish skin making him look sickly as always. It was hard to think he was one of the best fighters in the ship, considering his gaunt appearance, but he was. The two sized each other up, glaring, when Leonardo placed a large hand on Nico’s shoulder.

The other tensed a bit at the gesture, but Leonardo was solid against them. Slowly, he nodded. “I’m proud of you, Nicola. You will be part of a new generation.”

Silence. Utter silence.

“Thanks, I think,” Nico responded under their breath, carefully pulling away with a cough. Without looking back they wormed through the exit, shutting the door behind them as they let out an exhale of relief. “I’ll see you later,” they said to no one in particular, more as an afterthought than a real last goodbye.

The walk to the operations canteen for them was far less awkward than their little morning meeting. Nico finally arrived at the meeting place at around 6:15, late but smiling nonetheless. “Good morning!” they sang, throwing their arms open with a grin. “Cap’n, good day. Big guy. Lil bud. Ms. Masami, I didn’t get into trouble this time,” Nico winked, sitting on one of the empty seats and crossing their legs, easily slipping between Khakimova and Taylor.