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[spaceshipit]

Who: Everyone!
Broadcast: If you want!
Action: July Planet!
When: The month of July!

[This is another planet mingle since the first one has nearly hit captcha! Feel free to continue threads or start brand new ones!]

July Planet Information

First Mingle Post

Comments

[pain_train]

Hi Natasha!

[Since technically she's not 'Captain Romanoff' any more, no need to make it awkward.] Sure, the water's great.

It's good to see you! What ship did you get assigned to?

[outstandingbalance]

You like it hot. Nothing wrong with that, though.

[Natasha sinks in until the water is over her chest.]

Vanquish. Though I haven't spent a whole lot of time there yet.

The crew seems... young.

[pain_train]

It's good for your muscles. And has lots of minerals in it!

Huh. I don't know much about the Vanquish. So at least it means they don't have any major, splashy fuckups on their crew.

[outstandingbalance]

[That earns a short, huffing laugh.]

That's encouraging. Still leaves the potential for lowkey, minor fuckups, but I think I can handle that.

[pain_train]

I think the fleet is kind of full of those. But they have their own charm, right?

[outstandingbalance]

They must, because I just described aout half of the people I know.

[pain_train]

It gives a squad character. Everyone can be a little fuckup in their own way. [Grin.]

[outstandingbalance]

Sounds like you've had some experience working with a team.

[pain_train]

Oh yeah. When I was in M.I., I was lieutenant of Wrath platoon. And I worked really closely with the other six lieutenants in my division.

[Oh right. This Natasha doesn't know all that stuff. Duh.]

[outstandingbalance]

[She does not, though looking at her expression it's hard to tell. She nods as though she at least gets the gist of what Wrath is saying.]

I imagine that would do it. A lot of personalities at play.

[pain_train]

A lot of big personalities. [You had to be, or lose your damn mind, really.] We had a lot of freedom for how to direct our platoons for specializing so... it got pretty interesting on how to best work out battle lines.

[outstandingbalance]

Is that so. Mind if I ask what you specialized in? [Asked with genuine curiosity.]

[pain_train]

Yeah, sure. I did close combat specialization. Lot of hand-to-hand and melee. And my platoon was front line as tank-cutters. High maneuverability hover cycles, you get in close to the tanks and dismantle the armor with a plasma blade.

It was fucking awesome.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha can only just imagine what that might look like, but the image is impressive.]

Hover cycles, huh? Sounds like something I'd like.

[pain_train]

Oh hell yeah. Most fun you can have with your clothes on. More fun, even. Top speed on a combat model's over 500 klicks an hour.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha's attention; there's no denying it's relevant to her interests.]

Yeah? What you're saying, they must have some pretty tight maneuverability still.

[pain_train]

Yep, with the antigrav drive, you get some serious high speed maneuvering. That's why they started upgrading us with synthetic muscle fibers pretty early on, so we could keep up with the machines.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha settles back a little further in the spring, lifting her gaze thoughtfully.]

Upgrading, huh? Makes sense all things considered. It doesn't matter if the tech is amazing if the people using it are holding it back.

[Her tone is a little more distant as she says it; not hostile, but considering.]

[pain_train]

Pretty much. And humans at the controls are still better than remote pilots or drones, just because the timing is so precise.

[She sighs. Ah, reminiscing.]

We had to use every advantage we could find. My city was good at biotech especially, so that was the way we went I guess. And we had a lot of good rare earth elements we got from the mines, so that's where the plasma blades came out of.

[outstandingbalance]

Do you mind if I ask who you were fighting?

[Assuming there was only one enemy, which is a pretty big assumption. Still, it's most straightforward. Natasha doesn't want to infer too much.]

[pain_train]

First it was the other cities. Then the dysthropes after the plague hit.

[outstandingbalance]

That sounds ominous. [Natasha inclines her head a little.] I'm not prying, am I?

[pain_train]

It wasn't great.

Nah, it's fine. It sucked to live through, but I did live through it. And I'm not there any more. I feel kind of bad for saying it, but I'm really glad I'm not there any more. I just wish my friends were here with me.

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha's heard of people who came from places worse than the fleet. She's not really surprised to find someone voice the opinion; it does help contextualize the situation, though.]

It could happen. There were a lot of people here to meet me when I showed up. Could be you'll be the welcoming crew for your friends in the future.

[pain_train]

It's a really nice thought... I hope you're right. It would be great to see Maine and Delta and all them again.