Security Detail

[Anonymous]

Seth stood in his powersuit with his assualt rifle in the low ready. Not hostile, yet not passive. He held up a hand as someone tryed to enter the citadel. They stopped in place and showed him there ID. Seth waved a armored hand and said. "Move along" he hated 'hey you details'. Right now he wished he was back at the base racked out or at the very least at a gentlmens club with his bros.

A voice came from the audio device on his friends helmet standing next to him. "Dont you just love the army? Another day in paradis. I tell you seth if I dont get out soon im going to kill myself" Seth stopped and checked the ID of another government official trying to enter the building to wave them along and reply to his annoyed friend.

"If anyone catches you talking like that the government will have you executed for lowering morale. If you want to bitch with me about the army at least do it on a private channel. I will be more then happy to voice my oppinions Atakai"

Atakai turned his attention to a security monitor that showed a exray image of all the people walking through the security device into the building. By looking at this he could tell if anyone without proper clearance was trying to sneak a weapon in. He spoke to Seth again. "So the army still getting on your ass about showing sighns of being a pyschic?" Seth stopped anothe person to check there ID. This one said they had a firearm. He checked the weapon to make sure it was safe and handed it to Atakai. The government official walked through the exray security device and Atakai handed the weapon back to the women.

"Not so much anymore" Seth replyed. "I told them I stopped hearing the voices" Atakai looked at him with a sceptical look that was not visible from behind the powersuit helmet. "And did you?" Atakai asked. Seth laughed. "hell no, I just dont wont to end up on the pilot program to die in training or succeed to be plugged into the network with one of those reptiles. The things give me the creeps"

Atakai laughed. "I hear ya bro, I hear ya" What about them creeps you out. Have you even met one?" Seth did his usual ID check and said. "Not that I remember, I might have before the memory wipe" He tryed to force himself to remember something of his past before just waking up at his new unit. His head started to hurt at the attept and he held it with his armored hand.

Atakai said in surprise as lights and the security screen started to flicker. "whoa! A power surge? never seen that before" Seth shook his head to clear the dizzyness and held up a hand to stop another man from entering the building. This one looked at him kind of oddly. Seth paid no mind to check the ID and wave him along. The power returned to normal and Atakai asked. "So sargeant, how much longer until the relief comes?" Seth replyed with no joy. "Four more hours. Stop asking me" Atakai shook his head and reached down to to pick up some papers as Seth checked people leaving the citidel.

"So what is the deal with this list?" Seth replyed over his internal comms. "Put it down. That list is not in your area of resposiblity private so dont worry about it" Since Seth was a none comisioned officer he was given special orders on guard. There was a list of names he was to look out for. Should anyone with that name try to leave the citidel he was authorized to detain them. That was all he knew. The list was suppose to be updated regularly. So far he noticed names just disapearing off the list entirely. He did not care though. Seth just wanted his shift to end so he could brief the next NCO about the special orders and hit up the clubs.

[Anonymous]

Kat stopped walking to pull off a dragon hair that was clinging to her jeans. She liked Powder but she was really hairy. For a dragon she was very cute but had to be groomed a lot. Kat didn’t mind that particular chore it was just she always ended up covered in ridiculously long strands of white hair.

     The furry white dragon was not what most people would expect a dragon to look like and her pilot was not how people pictured pilots either. They were viewed as uncaring ghouls who delighted in causing pain. That wasn’t true at all….well some of them possibly…but certainly not her! Right now she was wearing a purple sleeveless top with a silver star design, black jeans and her long black hair was loose and flowing except for two plaits hanging town the side of her face. She didn’t look like military personnel at all, let alone a cruel, blood thirsty torturer.

     Kat looked more like what she was, a young woman, only just out of her teens. As she headed towards the security checkpoint she was even humming to herself. She stopped humming however when the lights around her started outing. That was weird…Maybe one of the candidates had gotten a little out of hand.

     Shrugging it off, she continued to the exit. She didn’t have anything else to do today so she was just going to hit the clubs and maybe do some shopping. Being a pilot was great and since she hadn’t graduated that long ago the novelty hadn’t worn off yet. Of course she knew she had to take her job seriously too but hell, she was going to enjoy the perks.

     When she reached the checkpoint she smiled brightly at the soldiers there. She didn’t envy them at all. Their job must be boring, doing the same thing everyday.

     “Good Evening,” she said cheerfully, “Weird power outage we had just now, don’t’ you think?”

     They were the security so they would most likely have seen a candidate; they would have been with a pilot after all. And there was a strange aura around. The pilots weren’t so careless to let their energy be traced. It could only be a candidate.

[Anonymous]

Atakai looked up to the women who stopped just short of the exray security device. Speaking over the secure channel in his helmet Atakai said. "Hey sargeant! Check out the hot chow! Let me check this one" Seth turned around to see the young women. She was not wearing any military uniform of any sort so he just figured she was a citizen that came to the lower level.

Seth started walking towards the young women eyeing her up and down and said over the secure comms. "Nah, I got this. NCO before joe. he he....." He held open a armored hand towards her and said over his audio device this time. "Yes, you would think the network would prevent such things. ID please ma'am"

Atakai sighed. He hated being a private. He sat down in a special chair made to accomadate soldiers wearing powersuites and started typing on the computer. A message popped up.

TO THE SOLDIERS ON GUARD. DUE TO RECENT BODYS THAT JUST ARRIVED BACK FROM BLOCK LEAVE. RELIEF IS COMING EARLY.
--SARGEANT FIRST CLASS ANAHAM

Atakai was happy as hell. They were not short on people to pull guard now. He would tell Sargeant Seth when he was done with this women.

[Anonymous]

[OOC The Citadel is on Aedolis' Upper Level by the way o.O]

Kat’s smile widened when she noticed the guard looking her up and down. She prided herself in her appearance even if some the things she chose to accessorize her outfits with were unusual, like fang earrings and pilots goggles. Today her outfit was rather normal but she had tried something a little different with her hair.

     She showed her ID to the guard which was only really the chip in her arm so he could scan it.

     “I thought maybe a Pilot Candidate had gotten loose,” Kat laughed, “I’ll have to ask the dragons sometime.”

     The guard at first might think she was a crazy person because she looked normal yet was claiming she had access to the dragons. If he then checked her ID though he would discover, that she wasn’t crazy. Well not completely anyway; it did seem you had to be a little crazy in order to pass the program.

[Anonymous]

Seth took her gently by the wrist and put his handheld scanner over the spot where the chip was. He held the scanner in place until it beeped. Atakai looked at what came up on the computer and looked to Seth to wave him over.

But seth could not see the visual gesture he was taken back by this womens words. It surprised. By speaking about dragons he now assumed her to be a pilot. And pilots were the last thing he wanted to be around at the moment. Seth actually thought he had been doing a good job of keeping himself under the radar. He had no intent on being discovered now. He gave a rather boring "I guess so.... Please wait here ma'am" His thoughts were elswhere.

He finally looked to Atakai and went over. Seeing her name on the screen Seth went over to the datapad with the blacklist on it. He scrolled down the list but did not see anything. He waved the pilot threw and said. "Your good ma'am" Have a nice evening"

Just then the relief arrived. Seth was caught off guard once again. After having a conversation with them privatly over the channels he learned about the soldiers just coming off block leave. They were not short on bodys for guard anymore wich ment shorter shifts. Seth looked to Atakai. In turn the private gave a shrug. Oh well, he was off now and could leave.

He went outside with Atakai and the private asked him. "you need a ride back to the B's Sargeant?" Seth shook his head and reached up to twist at his helmet for a minute. With a hiss the pressure lock disingaged and he took his helmet off to hold it under his arm.

His facial features definetly fit that of a stereotypical soldiers with the jagged scar running down the right side of his face. His brown eyes looked hard, yet somehow gentle. Seths hair was cut to a neat high and tight. "Nah, Ill be there later. Im going to have me a burn first"

He watched Atakai leave and reached into a small pack on his hip to pull out some reds. He leaned on the side of the building and lit it to take a deep breath of the smoke he so longly desired while on shift.

[Anonymous]

When the soldier answered he didn’t react how she expected him to and he seemed distracted. That was suspicious…

     When he let her go through she did but she couldn’t shake the weird feeling she had. It couldn’t be coincidence could it. The fact she was a pilot bothered him, that weird power outage….And there weren’t any candidates around as far as she could tell. Kat suspected she had found a psychic. Which was good in one way but many of the other pilots kept complaining there were a lot of candidates this year.

     She would have to ask him and hope he didn’t get alarmed. If he did…well…she’d cross that bridge when she came to it. Hopefully she wasn’t going to end up wrecking someone’s life because of her duty.

     When he leant against the side of a nearby building and started smoking Kat took her chance. She went over and learnt against the wall next to him. At one time when she was much younger she used to smoke but gave it up when she joined the program. It was hard to get them when you were a Candidate so she gave up to save the hassle of having them smuggled in.

     “Hello again,” she said cheerfully, “What’s your name? Mine’s Kat….Well Katsella really but that makes me sound like I work in a pet store.”

     Maybe if she got his name Powder could check his records. He might have been discovered previously but his powers went into decline. It didn’t happen very often but it might be possible. And if he gave her a fake name or wouldn’t tell her then there was always mind reading.

[Anonymous]

Seth blew out the smoke slowly feeling calmer now. He use to just smoke because of the buzz it gave. But after so many years he just could not give it up. Suprisingly enough it did nothing to hinder his PT. He could still run like a champ. Seth noticed the same pilot from inside come over. He kept quiet until she spoke. Though he tryed to act cold and uncaring it was not in his nature. A small smile crept onto his face. For some reason what she said was funny. He blamed it on being a soldier. He knew they all were so easily amused. They had to be dealing with all the gay crap day after day.

He looked to her and decided to act casual. "A pleasure ma'am. Im  Sargeant Syler" It was not a fake name. But rather a person he once knew that went AWOL. "So..." He asked in thought. "May I help you with anything or do you need a escourt?" "Im off duty now, but for a pretty face like yours, I think I can put some extra hours in"

It was a bold comment. But true in his mind. It might lower her supitions and he could brag to the boys later about having hanged out with a pilot. And a pretty one at that.

[Anonymous]

“Powder could you be dear and check the records for ‘Syler’?” Kat asked the dragon telepathically.

     She then laughed at what the soldier said, “You would! Oh thank you Sergeant Syler. I was so worried I might have to wander around my own and you never know what kinds of weirdoes you might meet.”

     She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and he probably knew that but she needed to make sure if he was a psychic or not. Besides company was always nice. Not that she was ever really alone with Powder around.

     “And don’t call me ma’am. I’m not an old woman. I told you, it’s Kat.”            

     Powder than spoke to her, “Sergeant Syler went AWOL a while ago and the pictures don’t match. So that man is not him. However I did manage to find out who he is.”

     “Oh?”

     So he had been lying. That was definitely suspicious.

     “His name’s Sergeant Seth Granby, his mother was a pilot and he is currently being monitored for psychic activity.”

     There was just no hiding anything from the dragons. Having a pilot mother was interesting; Kat’s own parents had no magic or psychic abilities whatsoever. There weren’t any genes to explain where her power came from.

     She wasn’t going to just drag Seth off the ATC though. He was under suspicion anyway and worked for the military. It could wait to be reported; she didn’t have to drag him in that instant like another pilot she had heard rumours of. Maybe she could convince him to go into Haviah with her then try and make him see that being a pilot wasn’t all that bad. His mother being one might have caused his fear or maybe he just didn’t want to do the same job as his mother. More likely though was simply he believed all the rumours that were told about the pilots.

[Anonymous]

Seths smile became more evident. Like him, she seemed to not care about military formality while off work. "Alright then Kat, where you off to?" He flicked his unfinished smoke to the ground to land and kick up embers and die out. Taking the helmet from under his armpit he put it back on and waited for the visual hub to come up saying pressure integrity was back.

His rifle had been slung the entire time he was smoking. So he no took it in both of his hands to put back in the low ready. Speaking to the computer his comms went into general search. If there were any patrols on the streets tonight he could listen in. There were always people on the net smoking and joking though it was against policy.

Speaking on the audio comms so Kat could hear him Seth said. "Lead on, I doubt anyone will try anything with a heavy class power suit soldier beside you" Seth became to think this might not be a bad night after all. With him dedicated to the job all the time. Women was something that was starting to encounter less and less.

At that moment he heard a familiar voice on the comm net. "hey Seth! Where ya at? Why are you not at the barracks yet?" Seth smiled behind his helmet to reply. "Gots me some company tonight. Im escourting that pilot we saw earlier around" Atakai laughed loudly. "What? You da man! You have to tap that ass!" Seth raised eyebro to reply. "heh, i dont think she is the kind of girl that just puts out man. I aint trying nothing stupid and get my junk ripped off by some mind power crap. Ill talk to you later back at the B's"

[Anonymous]

[OOC Sorry it's short o.O feeling kinda bleh today and the last attempt was eaten]

“Just to a couple clubs,” Kat replied, “Might do a bit of shopping.”

     A lot of men hated shopping so if he didn’t want to go she’d understand. But of course his chances of ‘tapping her ass’ as his friend put it would get slimmer. Not she would anyway, nope she’d learnt her lesson when it came to hopping into bed with random men. You might just end up marrying them and might just end up killing them. Ah memories.

[Anonymous]

Seth could offer little in verbal conversation at the moment. He just nodded his head and said to the best of his abilitys without sounding too disapointed. "Alright, sounds good. Lead on" What went on in his head was far from enthusiastic. "Shopping? Oh this is great. It will be hours before I get back. Women and there damn shopping." He just could not understand how a women could spend hours in malls. He did not take the time to think that maybe women thought the same about him and the gym.

It proved soon no difficulty traveling the busy sidewalks. Citizens were quick to get out of the soldier and womens way. Mostly out of fear. Military patrols have been known to beat anyone that so much as looked at them wrong. Luckily for them Seth was not that kind of person. He actually saw himself as a protector, a guardian. If only he knew.

"So...." Seth asked Kat as he scanned the surrounding area for anything that might hinder them. "Forgive my ignorance. But whats it like being a pilot? Is it all bad as some say? And how about the dragons? Does it scare you to even be around one?" There were many things he was curious about. "I heard there all vicious. My companys first sargeant has one arm. He told us a visiting pilots dragon ripped if off out of the fun and pleasure of it."

He was not sure if that story was even true or some tale he told just to make his soldiers think "wow, he survived a dragons wrath, hardcore!" Though this pilot gave Seth leave to throw military formality out the window it still felt awkward to him. Right next to him was a pilot. He felt as if he was tangling with a dragon with nothing but his bare hands right now. If he said anything that upset her, or even simply annoyed her she could have him disapear with a single word. Seth thought it pretty scary stuff to be around someone with that much power.

Then he got to thinking. Should anyone really have that much power? Seth knew well power can corrupt even the most honorable hearts and minds. And he feared what would happen to the country he loved should ever they be lead by those with ill intentions. He was a patriot. A gullable fool believing in the system. But still a patriot with good intentions never the less.

[Anonymous]

[OOC I apologise for the crappy quality]

Kat got the vibe from him that he wasn’t looking forward to the shopping part. Maybe she’d skip it for today or only go into stores he might be interested in like the music ones.

     As they walked she couldn’t help but notice people moving out of their way sharply, which was partially due to Seth and also to the visible port on her own temple. Aedolis soldier’s had a bit of a rough reputation like the pilots did. Seth didn’t seem like a bad person though, he was probably an exception.

     She was heartened by his question about being a pilot. Maybe he wasn’t totally against the idea after all.

     “Hmmm...well it’s not as bad as people think at least from what I’ve seen. I haven’t been a pilot long, just a few months. The other pilots are pretty friendly though and we’ll all like a….dysfunctional family.”

     Just ‘family’ didn’t really describe it. They bickered a lot, well the other pilots did, and some truly hated each other but overall it was kind of like a family.

     “And the dragons are as varied as people. Some are nice and some aren’t. The dragon I’m partnered with certainly fits into the first category though. Being around the dragons doesn’t scare me though. I mean, it did the first time but you get used to them.”

[Anonymous]

Seth listened intently until she was finished. He could not help but smile behind his helmet at what she said about them being family. "Well, I hear most familys are. I cant remember mine. Got mindwiped after something happened while I was serving. Cant remember anything past the point of arriving at my unit" I put in a rquest order to my chain of command to declassify my files and let me read it. But you know how that works out.

The closest I have to family are my comrades and daughter. But I have never seen her. The mother wont let me He pulled out a picture from a pouch to show it to Kat. In it was a little baby human girl dressed in pink. "Thats my little angel"

He was so preoccupied talking to Kat that he did not even notice that they already arrived at the shopping center. "oh wow, here already?" Seth said. He chow slung his rifle behind his back figuring this pilot would want him to carry all her bags.

Seths worrys about pilots and being dicovered was greatly lowered. From what kat told him they were not all that bad. If he got discovered being a pilot could not be all that bad. Though he would miss being a regular joe. Hell, he was not even sure if he was physchic. Probably just hearing voices from going loony. Seth knew being in the infantry did that to people. Especially after being in the army as long as he has. And volunteering each time to boot.

His head started to hurt and a hundred voices all started talking loudly in his head. Seth now remembered why he hated shopping. The voices were always worst in cramped places with lots of people. He just tryed to ignore it and pretend it was his imagination as seth always did. He wondered if Pilots had the same problem. It might shed some insight into of he was just insane, or gifted. Neither he really wanted.

"Hey kat" Ive always wondered something. He wanted to ask the question and sound curious about pilots instead of fixing the problem himself. "If your a pilot you hear voices right? Peoples thoughts? Wont it bother you in a place like this with so many people? How do you tune them out?"

[Anonymous]

Kat was surprised to hear he’d been mind-wiped. It begged the question what for but he probably didn’t know that himself. As for having his records declassified, they were probably taking their time on purpose.

     He seemed to like the idea of the pilots being a family though; maybe convincing him the pilot’s life wasn’t that bad wouldn’t be so hard.

     “Aww, she cute,” Kat said when Seth showed him the picture of his daughter.

     Kat had thought when she married she would have a few kids. Didn’t happen though and now she was a pilot and therefore unlikely to ever have children. Most men were too scared of psychics. Even Seth was wary of her.

      “I create a mental block; it shuts out the voices and prevents other psychics from reading my mind. It’s an easy enough trick to learn.”

     It seemed he was having a little trouble with the voices; that was a pretty sure sign he was psychic. He couldn’t block them out though. Maybe she could help…but then he might get freaked out…Well she could always ask.

     “I can put a block up for you if you want.”

[Anonymous]

Seth was caught off guard by Kats offer. "Oh great" He thought. "She is on to me. Ah, what the hell did I expect....." He just shook his head and laughed through the audio device in his helmet. "What? Me need one? Your joking right? I dont hear voices, well, that would be a lie. Just the ones of the past that haunt me. But that happens to some people after awhile"

He looked around nervously to look back at kat and what he assumed a dont lie to me look. Seth sighed and gave in. "Alright, Alright, you win. I hear things. So what? No big deal. But that does not mean Im a psychic. And if I am Im sure I will know tommorow. The base is doing screenings again.

Seth was not going to accept kats offer of the mental block. But as his head started to hurt worse causing lights to flicker again he asked. "My head is friggen killing me, think you can help this tired soldier out?" Seth raised his hands to twist the helmet a bit. With a hiss the suit decompressed the pressure inside and seth put the helmet under his armpit.

There were deep tired shade lines under his eyes. Meaning either he really was sucking with the head pains, or very worn out from a tired day.

"Just dont try anything funny. I dont like the idea of people getting in my head. So no poking around" The female sounding AI voice of the suite said loudly.

"Warning, Power cells low..... Warning, power cells low" The voice continued to drone on. Seths eyes narrowed and he muttered "Shut up you stupid bitch".  Seth banged a hand against his chest and the female voice went quiet. He shrugged at Kat. The voice came back. "System error 32" Seth started to rub his temples. And laugh softly to kat. "She always does that when I talk dirty to her. Stupid AI...... the power suits useless now. Wont do a damn thing now accept move. Now I need to take it to the maintenence bay and get it fixed when I get back.

[Anonymous]

Kat was not impressed. There was absolutely no point lying to a psychic.

     “If you hear voices you’re either psychic or mad. I doubt you’re mad so logically you must be the alternative.”

     If he was going to be screened tomorrow then she didn’t need to report him, that was good. She could tell him in confidence that she personally was not going to haul him in.

     Just as the lights above them started flickering Seth actually asked for her help. He took his helmet off though as if she blocked her powers. She’d been reading her mind since the moment she approached him after he went off duty. Well not so much reading it but definitely picking up his thoughts. It wasn’t her fault he thought loudly.

     “Don’t worry I won’t. I’m a professional.”

     She carefully constructed a weak barrier around his mind. It wouldn’t stop people reading his mind if they wanted but it would prevent his own brain picking up other people’s thoughts.

     “There, all done.”

     He might feel it if he was a strong enough psychic but it was better than having voices in your head all the time.

[Anonymous]

Seth closed his eyes wondering how pilots went around doing this. Before he even had the chance to really think about it. All the voices stopped at once. Nothing but him and his own thoughts now. Seth opened his eyes. "Well Ill be damned! That worked like a charm! Awww. I cant wait to sleep tonight! It will be the first time I have gotten any decent winks in awhile. Your awsome!"

Well he was definetly grateful. The female power suit AI continued her annoying System error 32 chatter and Seth sighed for the final time that night. "Hey Kat, I have to return to the base and get this fixed. Sorry for having to leave like this all of a sudden, but duty comes before pleasure sadly. But hey! Should the screening for tommorow be cancelled for anything you and me should hang out again. I live in the 1-4 NCO Barracks. Its not hard to find. First floor, room number 120A."

He started to position the helmet on his head again his shouts of displeasure at its AI quite evident. "I know! I know! Shutup!" He waved a hand and started to leave.

[Anonymous]

Kat supposed she should have warned Seth the barrier wasn’t permanent. She wasn’t even sure how long it would last. Oh well.

     She stored his address in her mind for future reference though she suspected she would be seeing more of him. He was psychic after all, she could tell because she was psychic too.

     “Sure we should definitely hang out,” Kat replied as he left, “See you around, Seth.”

     Maybe he jump when he realised she knew his real name. But he probably knew she’d be reading his mind.      

     Now she was alone again. Well, time for retail therapy!