From darkside.buggeroff@buggeroff.sandwich.net Wed Jun 20 22:30:50 2001 Newsgroups: alt.barney.dinosaur.die.die.die Subject: Op: sUcK - Sucks so bad it doesn't have a title ;) (Seg 5) From: "Nemesis the Feral (NYAR!)" Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2001 23:30:50 -0500 NOTE: Because of the narrow scope of this Operation, the project is closed to public participation. However, if you are a member of TRES Corps and interested in the possibility of joining the project, contact darkside@sandwich.net. This Operation is a work in progress. +-----------------+ | Operation: sUcK | +-----------------+ Sucks so bad it doesn't have a title ;) Author: Nexxus/Ari/She of many aliases # Garbage - "Wicked Ways" It was cold outside. There was no sun and it was starting to rain. Had to been growing steadily colder but she still stood there, watching. The damn thing was mocking her. "Come get me, you filthy Jihadii." it teased. "Come on, jump the fence. You know you want to." The damn thing looked like it was mooning her and that only served to aggrivate her even more. Ari had been walking past the Pre-School, on the same path she usually took when she needed to clear her head, when something distinctly Nagenta caught her eye. She stopped and walked over to the chain-link fence for a better look and was greeted by the sight of a purple plushie buried head first in the sandbox. Now she was standing by the fence debating on whether or not she could go yank the damn thing out of the sand by it's tail and rip it's head off without getting caught. She pulled her black coat closed a bit more at the top and shivered. The kids were all playing in another part of the fenced area, under some trees. Nobody seemed to be paying much attention. "Go on, you know you want to." she told herself. "Those kids don't need that crap." After a quick look around to see if anyone was watching, she put a hand up on the chain link followed by a foot. *meow* "Damnit!" she cursed too loudly, climbing down so she could silence the offending 'Linker. It was Admiral Felton and the conversation was brief. "Lieutenant Commander?" "Sir?" "Felton here. I need t' speak wi' ye face-to- face as soon as possible. It's a matter o' some urgence, so it would be very prudent if ye could get here quickly barring any immediate obligations." "I'll be right there." she said, closing the connection. She gave the plushie a final look of contempt and made her way to a place where she could safely teleport herself back to HQ. She found an alley not too many feet away and after a quick look around, disappeared in a split second. Ari appeared in a deserted hallway. It still smelled faintly of new carpet and fresh paint. She made her way down to a door with a frosted pane of glass in it. The letters on it read, "Adm. Felton". She her hand to knock on the door and dropped it, "Lovely. Just lovely." she chastized herself for not thinking to change out of her street clothes. "I'm out of uniform." She shrugged and pulled her coat closed, trying to cover the fact that she was wearing a black dress and not the regular TRES uniform like she should have been. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door before entering quietly. "You wanted to see me, sir?" The new Second-In-Command looked up from the litter of papers on his desk, obviously uncomfortable in a chair he was not accustomed to. "Ahh, Miss Mahtash," he said, shuffling the paper aside. "I trust ye've heard th' news?" "Yes. I have. Does this have anything to do with your message?" she asked, standing with her hands behind her back, facing the desk and the Admiral. An mild look of concern crept over her face. She knew exactly what he was talking about, it was all that anyone was talking about these days. Admiral Marlburger had disappeared, and nobody had any idea where he had gone or even if he was still alive. The resulting promotions and re-organization had brought Ari to a new Squadron. DS nodded. "I've had Commander Brenner doin' th' preliminary investigation. I think at this point it's gonna be pretty fruitless, but something odd caught me eye..." He stopped what he was saying to shuffle through some papers on his desk, and pulled out a rather grisly polaroid. Looking at it with some distaste he continued, "This spongin, or whatever he was, has an odd head wound no consistant wi' either Maenad attacks or conventional weapons. No entrance wound, only, well, th' front o' his head is missin'." He explained further, "Like it exploded outward." before tossing the picture on top of a stack of papers. She took the photo off the stack and inspected it with as much professional detachment as she could muster. She'd seen worse, but there was something about the whole thing that made her stomach churn. She was brought back to the present by the Admiral who continued to explain. "Now, th' really odd thing is that this was determined t'be post-mortem; he was already dead before it happened. An' other evidence, odd as it might also be, indicates tha' somethin'... might have crawled out o' it." He stopped at that, and waited for her reaction. She managed an overly detached, "I've never seen anything like this before...anywhere. " and tossed the polaroid down. "You want me to go check this out, right?" She looked at him for signs of confirmation. He nodded and went on to explain. "I've decided tha' there might be too much o' a hazard fer Miss Brenner t' investigate alone, an' given tha' ye two have somethin' o' a history together, I thought it might be appropriate t' send ye t' aid in her investigation o' this new findin'. We might be dealing wi' a new B'harnate soldier here, and I dinna want t' send anyone in short-handed. " He offered the other Jihaddi a friendly smile. "Consider this yer first assignment under my command. It could be a doozy." Ari bowed her head slightly as she replied, "Alright. I'll go pack my bags now. Will I be going alone or will there be a spin team along as well?" she queried. Her years of prior military experience wouldn't let her return the smile or relax for a second. "They're already waitin' at th' airstrip. There's a helluva mess t' clean up down there." "Mmm." she nodded her head slightly, and gave the door a sideways glance. "What's the departure time on this flight?" she asked a bit too quickly, looking for a clock. She tried to hide her desire to run straight for the plane so she wouldn't hold up the show, so to speak. She didn't know how to deal with the relaxed atmosphere. The Admiral looked at her strangely and checked his watchbefore saying, "Dinna worry, ye've got plenty o' time. Th' spin team is just assemblin' their gear. The transport leaves in an hour an' a half. Any questions?" "No. No questions," she replied without hesitation. Ari gave the door a look again and wished like crazy she could just forget packing and the plane and the formalities and go straight to San Fransisco. She did her best to stand still while the took his time. "I can see ye're anxious t' go," DS said, gathering his papers back into a pile. "Dismissed." A look of relief spread across Ari's face as she saluted smartly and after a quick, "Yes Sir!" walked a bit too quickly towards the door and exited into the hall. Without waiting for the door to shut all the way, she began running in the direction of the barracks. TBC in "It sucks so much...part: II" -- --Nemesis the Feral (NYAR!) Grand Admiral Felton, C-in-C, TRES Corps Jihad 5000 Lord of the Race The Corps is Mother. The Corps is Father. Trust the Corps.