M2T1
Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 2:46 pm
2179 AD, 20th September
Location: Sol system, Gateway Station, USCM Quarters, Briefing Room
Five days of R&R had came to a rather abrupt ending last night, when the Marines leave was recalled. They were to be ready to leave within 24 hours. A few of the Earthborne Marines had planned a quick journey down to Earth to visit relatives and were, naturally, bitterly disappointed. But that was the core of a US Colonial Marines life: Waiting, disappointment and more waiting for more disappointment.
Lt Anderson entered the room carrying a small briefcase, she wore the standard US Colonial Marines brown-tan camouflage dress and a sharp edged cap on her head. A VP70 pistol was strapped to her right thigh in a black leg holdster. The briefing room was a simple construction with each row of chairs slightly elevated over the row in front. Each chair had a foldable tablet that could be used as support for the marines as they scribbled down notes on their PDAs.
"At ease" Lt Anderson said while grabbing her briefcase and pulling out a small memory card from a metal box on the podium in front of her. "First I would like to say that I am sorry for this short notice, but high command specifically requested You...and there are good reasons for it" she continued.
"I am uploading classified information to Your PDA's. The password to get access to them are AE231BE21235BCEDA1. Once accessed You can enter a personal password that is somewhat more easy to remember - Please note that Your PDA after this update is classified to a second grade rating, that means that they are to be locked up in a safe when not used" Lt Anderson looked at the Marines.
"Yes...this also means that You all now have a temporary security class two rating. The reason for this is that we had two options after last mission, either to drop You out or keep You in the loop. We chose that latter due to the succes of last mission"
Class two security ratings was uncommon for ordinary Marines to reach, only high ranking officers got such high clearance. An ordinary Marine had a class three security rating and most civillians had class five or four.
Class one rating was reserved for high command and the president.
Lt Anderson continued. "I will need all and everyone to digitally sign that You accept the temporary security clearance and comply to follow the rules that come by it." The Marines PDAs all blipped at the same time and a small text field appeared with a dotted line at the bottom.
"As You may have noticed, some of Your old friends were not called to this meeting. They didn't cut the security check up and were transferred to other Marine units."
Lt Anderson waited for all Marines to sign the clearance before continuing.
Lt Anderson took off her cap and quickly fixed her hair in a pony tail, she put her cap on the end of the table. She touched a button on the podium and the lights dimmed down.
A picture of a colony appeared.
"This is the Hadleys Hope colony on LV-426 also known as Acheron located in the Zeta 2 Reticuli system. In June of this year (2179) the two colonists Ann and Russ Jorden are sent to investigate an anomaly beyond the Ilium range by a certain Carter Burke of the Weyland-Yutani company. They also bring their children Timmy and Newt.
After two days searching they find a derelict spacecraft of unknown origin. Russ is attacked by something as they enter the spacecraft. Russ is brought back to Hadleys hope for medical attention.
Thirteen days later the contact is lost with Hadley Hope on LV-426. A colonial Marine squad of 2nd Battalion, 9th Regiment is sent to Acheron to investigate. Along with them they take Carter Burke and a certain Ellen Ripley as expert advisors. Ripley was brought along because of her claims of an Alien attacking her crew on the Nostromo after landing on Acheron back in 2122.
What happens after this is unclear. What is known is that there was some kind of engagement between Marines and an unknown force on the planet. This culminated with the destruction of the whole colony in a powerful nuclear explosion on the 28th of July 2179. Our analysis of the site shows that the atmosphere processing plant had a nuclear meltdown and exploded. There was no trace of either the USS Sulaco nor the colony - The USS Sulaco has been filed as missing along with all hands of her crew.
The derelict spacecraft of unknown origin beyond the Ilium range was intact however. A Marine boarding team entered it on the 15th of August and recovered several interesting objects. The Spacecraft was then sealed shut and is now being guarded by a garrison marine company. LV-426 is now classified as a military high security zone.
Three of the eight objects where brought to Chrysalis and hidden deep down in the old mines. However when the uprising started they were moved into the Mayors house as he was the only one we could trust. We suspect that the uprising was staged by a corporation to give cover for the retrieval of the containers. The other five containers were all moved to different secure locations throughout the CSC sector"
Lt Anderson waited for a few seconds as the image changed to a steaming bog. This is Saint John. The first CSC terraforming project, the site is now largely empty and most of the valuable components have been moved to Starview. The toxic atmosphere and sulhpur bogs have defied terraforming, and after decades of work the project has been abandoned in favor of the more pleasant Starview. There is still one Atmosphere processor active on on the planet, and there are also numerous research stations scattered around the world. The exact natures of these sites are corporate secrets."
Lt Anderson continued.
"As said earlier, there were eight containers taken from Acheron - out of which three You retrieved. Two of the containers were stored on Saint John in a research station run by Weyland-Yutanis bio-weapons division. We lost contact with this station 96 hours ago."
The display changed again and text appeared:
MISSION ORDERS - EYES ONLY
For U.S. Colonial Marines Strike Team "Byron's Bandits"
Mission Summary: Reconaissance
Site involved: Research Facility "Anubis", System/Planet Saint John
MISSION DEFINITION
Contact was lost recently with Anubis research station on the planet of Saint John. The research station is runned by Weyland-Yutanis top secret bio weapons division. Weyland-Yutani has denied to supply the Marine corps of the exact nature of this research and have required two advisors to follow the Marine strike team due to the sensetive nature of the station. This request has been aknowledged.
Priorities are as follows:
Discover why contact was lost
Determine state and condition of research station
Take steps to reduce threats to other research stations on Saint John
Suggest caution. Non-hostile response from local security personel cannot be guaranteed. Although it is imperative that strike time does not initiate in hostile action unless in self defense.
The need for low profile means that there will be no support elements attached to his mission.
Good luck
U.S. Colonial Marines high command.
"Questions?" Lt Anderson said.
>
Location: Sol system, Gateway Station, USCM Quarters, Briefing Room
Five days of R&R had came to a rather abrupt ending last night, when the Marines leave was recalled. They were to be ready to leave within 24 hours. A few of the Earthborne Marines had planned a quick journey down to Earth to visit relatives and were, naturally, bitterly disappointed. But that was the core of a US Colonial Marines life: Waiting, disappointment and more waiting for more disappointment.
Lt Anderson entered the room carrying a small briefcase, she wore the standard US Colonial Marines brown-tan camouflage dress and a sharp edged cap on her head. A VP70 pistol was strapped to her right thigh in a black leg holdster. The briefing room was a simple construction with each row of chairs slightly elevated over the row in front. Each chair had a foldable tablet that could be used as support for the marines as they scribbled down notes on their PDAs.
"At ease" Lt Anderson said while grabbing her briefcase and pulling out a small memory card from a metal box on the podium in front of her. "First I would like to say that I am sorry for this short notice, but high command specifically requested You...and there are good reasons for it" she continued.
"I am uploading classified information to Your PDA's. The password to get access to them are AE231BE21235BCEDA1. Once accessed You can enter a personal password that is somewhat more easy to remember - Please note that Your PDA after this update is classified to a second grade rating, that means that they are to be locked up in a safe when not used" Lt Anderson looked at the Marines.
"Yes...this also means that You all now have a temporary security class two rating. The reason for this is that we had two options after last mission, either to drop You out or keep You in the loop. We chose that latter due to the succes of last mission"
Class two security ratings was uncommon for ordinary Marines to reach, only high ranking officers got such high clearance. An ordinary Marine had a class three security rating and most civillians had class five or four.
Class one rating was reserved for high command and the president.
Lt Anderson continued. "I will need all and everyone to digitally sign that You accept the temporary security clearance and comply to follow the rules that come by it." The Marines PDAs all blipped at the same time and a small text field appeared with a dotted line at the bottom.
"As You may have noticed, some of Your old friends were not called to this meeting. They didn't cut the security check up and were transferred to other Marine units."
Lt Anderson waited for all Marines to sign the clearance before continuing.
Lt Anderson took off her cap and quickly fixed her hair in a pony tail, she put her cap on the end of the table. She touched a button on the podium and the lights dimmed down.
A picture of a colony appeared.
"This is the Hadleys Hope colony on LV-426 also known as Acheron located in the Zeta 2 Reticuli system. In June of this year (2179) the two colonists Ann and Russ Jorden are sent to investigate an anomaly beyond the Ilium range by a certain Carter Burke of the Weyland-Yutani company. They also bring their children Timmy and Newt.
After two days searching they find a derelict spacecraft of unknown origin. Russ is attacked by something as they enter the spacecraft. Russ is brought back to Hadleys hope for medical attention.
Thirteen days later the contact is lost with Hadley Hope on LV-426. A colonial Marine squad of 2nd Battalion, 9th Regiment is sent to Acheron to investigate. Along with them they take Carter Burke and a certain Ellen Ripley as expert advisors. Ripley was brought along because of her claims of an Alien attacking her crew on the Nostromo after landing on Acheron back in 2122.
What happens after this is unclear. What is known is that there was some kind of engagement between Marines and an unknown force on the planet. This culminated with the destruction of the whole colony in a powerful nuclear explosion on the 28th of July 2179. Our analysis of the site shows that the atmosphere processing plant had a nuclear meltdown and exploded. There was no trace of either the USS Sulaco nor the colony - The USS Sulaco has been filed as missing along with all hands of her crew.
The derelict spacecraft of unknown origin beyond the Ilium range was intact however. A Marine boarding team entered it on the 15th of August and recovered several interesting objects. The Spacecraft was then sealed shut and is now being guarded by a garrison marine company. LV-426 is now classified as a military high security zone.
Three of the eight objects where brought to Chrysalis and hidden deep down in the old mines. However when the uprising started they were moved into the Mayors house as he was the only one we could trust. We suspect that the uprising was staged by a corporation to give cover for the retrieval of the containers. The other five containers were all moved to different secure locations throughout the CSC sector"
Lt Anderson waited for a few seconds as the image changed to a steaming bog. This is Saint John. The first CSC terraforming project, the site is now largely empty and most of the valuable components have been moved to Starview. The toxic atmosphere and sulhpur bogs have defied terraforming, and after decades of work the project has been abandoned in favor of the more pleasant Starview. There is still one Atmosphere processor active on on the planet, and there are also numerous research stations scattered around the world. The exact natures of these sites are corporate secrets."
Lt Anderson continued.
"As said earlier, there were eight containers taken from Acheron - out of which three You retrieved. Two of the containers were stored on Saint John in a research station run by Weyland-Yutanis bio-weapons division. We lost contact with this station 96 hours ago."
The display changed again and text appeared:
MISSION ORDERS - EYES ONLY
For U.S. Colonial Marines Strike Team "Byron's Bandits"
Mission Summary: Reconaissance
Site involved: Research Facility "Anubis", System/Planet Saint John
MISSION DEFINITION
Contact was lost recently with Anubis research station on the planet of Saint John. The research station is runned by Weyland-Yutanis top secret bio weapons division. Weyland-Yutani has denied to supply the Marine corps of the exact nature of this research and have required two advisors to follow the Marine strike team due to the sensetive nature of the station. This request has been aknowledged.
Priorities are as follows:
Discover why contact was lost
Determine state and condition of research station
Take steps to reduce threats to other research stations on Saint John
Suggest caution. Non-hostile response from local security personel cannot be guaranteed. Although it is imperative that strike time does not initiate in hostile action unless in self defense.
The need for low profile means that there will be no support elements attached to his mission.
Good luck
U.S. Colonial Marines high command.
"Questions?" Lt Anderson said.
>