outer_divide | [AUDIO | 006 : Nothing to Sneeze At] Wednesday Evening, Week 16

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[AUDIO | 006 : Nothing to Sneeze At] Wednesday Evening, Week 16

This is Major Alenko.

I've got answers on what the bandits at the hospital were after, and a start on why.

[There's a thread of fatigue in Kaidan's voice, but it's blended in amongst a grimly level quality that lends a little more grit to his usual gentle rasp. One audible intake of breath later, he breaks his pause for attention and continues.]

Long story short, they were after medical supplies because there's some sort of illness that hit their camp, and hit it hard. Out of the nine that jumped us, we had three survivors. We're down to two now, and one's not looking pretty. The other's feverish too. Whatever hit 'em seems to have come from the south -- a trader they'd contacted said there was an outbreak well south of here.

I'm no doctor. I'm certainly no virologist. But if you ran into the bandits, or were at the hospital that day, keep an eye on how you're feeling.

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That sounds promising. Do they have backup inbound?

Not that I've heard. I wouldn't mind getting some sort of scouting party to try and see just how many are still standing, at this point, but then we'd risk them getting sick too.

If I could get one flying without the Authorities going skeet shooting, I'd kill for a surveillance holo-drone.

Assuming they're not already sick. Actually, there's a thought - just send people who were already on the scene. The infection rate's probably not 100%, but limiting exposure's still not a bad idea.

[Beat.]

With a small enough profile, the Authorities shouldn't be able to see a probe, or they'd be jumping every time a seagull flew overhead. And we already know they don't like to use their eyes.

Testing just what size trips their radar out in the open might actually dovetail pretty nicely with a few other things I have in mind. If you're bored...

[Kaidan's drawl is half teasing -- he doesn't know Stark well, but he's laready seen enough to detect the signs of someone who redeisgns their coffee maker if they have a spare five minutes and the brew isn't quite on.]

Salvage in the Old City itself is starting to get a little thin on the ground for that sort of thing, though.

I think I should be insulted.

[It's hard to tell whether he actually is, or is just amused.]

There's the ship. But I was planning on taking a field trip out to Dead Man's Island in a couple days, if you think you can get someone to sign your permission slip.

I think I can tear myself away.

[Kaidan, on the other hand, is definitely amused, if deadpan-quippy about it.]

I'm about as AWOL as it's possible to be at this point, I figure, so I'm good to go. And I guess your, ah, suit gives you some advantages, transportation-wise.

It's capable of sub-orbital flight. So yeah, I'd say so.

Nice.

[Yes, Kaidan is in his mid-30s. This doesn't mean he can't sound boyishly impressed at the notion of power armour with flight capabilities.]

What kind of lift capacity do you have with it? Mine's not so fancy, but it's rated for space, so if you can give me a lift I'll get there faster.

20 tons. Roughly. The system drain for sustaining that over a prolonged flight is, frankly, a little painful. But unless you're secretly made of ultra-dense dark matter, that shouldn't be a problem.

Naw. Only a few nodes, and the density's a variable thing for 'em anyways.

[Kaidan's offhand enough that it could be simple bullshitting.]

Well, you know your way to my lab. Pick me up at my place and we'll call it a date.

[A beat later, awkwardness overtakes the banter.]

Uh. Platonically.

[On the one hand, there is possible-bullshitting to poke at.

On the other hand...]

Ouch. And here I'd thought we'd really made a connection.

[He actually manages to sound wounded. Let it never be said that Tony Stark passes up an opportunity to fluster anyone.]

Edited 2012-10-17 01:31 (UTC)

[Let it never be said that Kaidan Alenko's outgrown the ability to be flustered.]

I-- That's not-- I mean, I didn't-- I just didn't want you thinking I was accidentally hitting on you.

Uh. Not that you're not worth hitting on or anything.

My only objection would be to the "accidentally" part.

[Sorry, Kaidan, it's just too fun poking at you.]

[He does seem to have an invisible sign to that effect pinned to him. And knows it.]

...Yeah, I think there is no way not to dig myself in any deeper at this point, so I'm just... going to sign off now.

See you at the rendezvous, Stark.

[Well, damn. Haruka frowns at the phone, and thumbs through a call back. She was there, at that bandit raid, and she has spent quite a bit of time with Michiru since then....]

What are the symptoms? What have you learned from the bandits about this sickness?

Pretty much what I've shared -- there are outbreaks to the south, the bandits are coming down with it, and since they were here, probably a good chance that it's spread to the Old City now too.

Symptoms seem to be tied into a high fever. General malaise, looked like some muscle soreness, but how much of that's sickness and how much was the beating these guys collected...

[She makes a somewhat frustrated noise.]

I do not know what malaise is. My English is good, but not that good. Has anyone gone yet to this bandit camp to see how bad it is there?

[She will totally go. She's itching to kick more bad guy ass, and getting out of this ruin of a city for a bit would be kind of awesome.]

Malaise. It's... the general feeling you get when being sick. Dragged out, just feeling awful, weak. Hang on.

[Although his own translator can quite happily process the various Terran languages in addition to some alien dialects, it doesn't exactly work in reverse. Kaidan's left to fish up a dictionary on his omni-tool, and then offer up the Japanese word for 'malaise' with an accent that's decidedly not Japanese, but has some flavour of southeast asian language colouring it instead.]

Nobody's been out to the bandit camp yet. If you wanted to get a few people and you could keep an eye out from a safe distance, some scouting'd be good. Just don't get infected yourself.

[Haruka reads the translation and nods to herself. Much better for her Japanese-oriented brain.]

I can take my partner. If I have not been made ill by now, neither will she. We are very used to scouting. Can you send me directions?

Don't assume too much. You could still be in the window to get sick, you just haven't started yet. We don't know how long the thing incubates for... but I guess we can't just all stop doing everything because of maybes.

Here.
[A packet of data pings its way to Haruka's comm.]

The directions are a little vague, but that'll point you the right way.

I guess I don't need to tell you to be careful.

[The phone dings, and Haruka pauses to stare at it and frown at the data sent-- at least she isn't technologically impaired, and downloads it quickly-- before responding with a wry sort of grin, looking briefly older than your average eighteen year old.]

I'm never careful. I do well, anyway. Thank you. Any advice? Besides 'be careful'?

[He huffs a laugh at that, head shaken slightly.]

That attitude reminds me of someone I used to know pretty well. She did well anyway too.

Assume that they know the terrain better than you do. And be alert for signs of ambushes or traps -- these guys were desperate, not stupid."

[She smirks at him, back, deciding not to take offense at the laugh since he seems to be comparing her to someone he likes.]

I will take that as compliment, then. We will be careful. Thank you for the direction, Alenko-san. I will see what we can find for you.

((and that is, sadly, off-screened :B if you wanna find out what they find out, I'm sure I can poke PG and get you something...))

Much appreciated -- intel's a lot thinner on the ground than I'd like.

(( That would be awesome. :D ))

[With his contact number now in her phone, it's easy enough to give Kaidan a call once she and Michiru are back from their little foray. When he answers, she says,]

Ohayo, Alenko-san. Good morning.

Ah, hi there. You're up early.

[Kaidan sounds very much like he's just been rolled forcibly out of bed to take the call. This is because, thanks to some late-night brainwaves that saw him tinkering away in his workshop, he just has.]

Everything all right?

Is it early?

[She sounds ungodly cheerful, for it being early morning. But she got to be useful and do what she's used to doing, and managed not to hurt and innocents this time, too.]

We looked at that bandit site. There was not much left.

Early-ish. I'm still keeping ship's time, to an extent. Glad the morning was productive for you, though.

[There may be just a little hint of dryness in that wish. Just maybe.]

Not surprised about the bandit site -- staging area or main camp, d'you think?

Not main, no, not very permanent. No one was there anymore, either, except for the scavengers who try to dig up the graves.

[She'd dispatched the digging dinosaurs, at least, before investigating what they were trying to get at.]

All are either gone, dead, or both, there. Wherever the rest went to, it is further away.

Makes sense -- why stage from where you live, after all. Did you get a direction of travel, either where they came from or where they went? Uh, that wasn't 'here', that is.

Too few left to tell, I think. If they left, they left just a few. If they came, it was either in small groups or they covered tracks.

[And between it being too long, and tracking in the wilderness not really being Haruka's best skill, she hadn't managed to tell much beyond that.]

Guess we'll just have to send patrols out farther. Or maybe send one of the giant robots to scout -- at least one of 'em can fly.

I saw them. The robots. That would probably be good. My partner and I tried looking for them before, for the bandits, but we are used to cities and did not find much at the time.

[Which annoys her to no end. She's going to get better at this place, she really is.]

If you want to learn more about moving through the woods, you should look up a fellow named Eliot. He's got a few skills in that direction, I've pulled together.

[Seems like a good idea, really. As much as Haruka hates working with other people, maybe this guy will be less annoying than a bunch of junior high students....]

I'll try that. Do you have his number?

[Eliot's contact information pings over to her with alacrity.]

If he's answering calls, that should get him. Hope it helps, ma'am.

[That obvious she's female, huh? Well, he wouldn't be the first, but she supposed he was pretty observant, at that. Still, names were better than being called "ma'am". She smirks a bit to herself, and offers:]

Tenoh Haruka. My name.

[Pretty observant, career military... or simply from a time where humans rocking an androgynous look have to complete with some alien species' subtle ideas of sexual dimorphism.]

Thank you, Ms. Tenoh. [Kaidan isn't Japanese himself, but growing up in a Vancouver that's only gotten even more blended in the two hundred years between them lets him guess at the ordering of surname and personal name.]

My full name's Kaidan Alenko, since I think I led with the title the other day.

Edited 2012-11-03 22:45 (UTC)

Alenko-san.

[If he's going to use his style of referring to her-- a very gendered one, at that-- she's going to turn it around and use her own style, back. At least she's doing it somewhat light-heartedly.]

It is a pleasure to meet you. In this way, if it counts as meeting. I hope our scouting was a help.

Are you ok, Major?

Just tired.

[And he's got a headache, but he can hardly use (or admit) that as a diagnostic criteria.]

I'm a soldier, not a cop, and questioning bandits isn't something I really trained for.

Look after yourself if you can, anyway.

[Steve knows all about a stubborn streak, but they really can't afford to lose someone like Kaidan, so he'll play mother hen.]

I don't imagine most who find themselves at a hospital expect to be perfect interrogators. Is there a way to go through what the bandits had on 'em without risking further exposure?

Yeah, no worries on that score. I got over my run-my-self-into-the-ground phase during Basic.

[Is it a lie if he believes it himself? Kaidan sounds quietly confident amongst his fatigue in any case. He pauses for a moment to think before replying.]

You'd want to ask one of the doctors for a hard answer, but I'm thinking if you had some sort of barrier -- gloves and surgical masks, that sort of thing -- you'd be OK. Or at least better protected.

[Steve is a little suspicious but he doesn't press the subject further.]

Sounds like you have a solution for yourself too there, Major. [Mother hen mode is really hard to turn off, ok?] You think the supplies in the hospital might be contaminated?

I wouldn't think so. A good hospital's set up to have the idea of infection control in mind, and this one's a couple centuries behind the tech I'm used to, but they definitely still know their stuff.

And certainly, Captain. I figure I'll just keep away from the hospital and not get in people's way, though. I've got some salvage planned with Stark that'll keep me at a remove, and my combat armour's rated for space, so it'll filter pretty much anything if I set it right.

You look after yourself too. Don't run yourself ragged looking after everyone else.

[Kaidan, who can mother hen with the best of them, recognizes a fellow carrier of the trait.]

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[AUDIO | 006 : Nothing to Sneeze At] Wednesday Evening, Week 16

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