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

[standsentinel]

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.

Comments

[standsentinel]

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?

[kazeninaru]

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.

[standsentinel]

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.

[kazeninaru]

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.]

[standsentinel]

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.

[kazeninaru]

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.]

[standsentinel]

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.

[kazeninaru]

[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?

[standsentinel]

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

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

[kazeninaru]

[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.

[standsentinel]

[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.

[kazeninaru]

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.