Hot War - Stars & Stripes

[macrorufus]

(If you'd like to join, please submit a CS in the airlock cycle).

Tranquility Base was the name thrown onto five overground structures and one underground. The first and biggest, was the barracks. This structure held cramped rooms for soldiers, a small cafeteria, and a complex life-support system. Each room held a soldier's personal belongings, bunk and a small desk. The cafeteria served... what could only be called food. Because if it wasn't then nobody wanted to know what it was. The life-support system provided air and was kept functional by a regular restocking of ice drilled from the moon.

The second was a large drilling platform, the third the solar panel array. The former supplied ice, and the latter provided electricity. The fourth was the Apollo 11 Lunar Module which sat about 50m away from the rest of the buildings. The fifth was the 'Montana' - a training recycler. The underground facility was assessed by only a single airlock connected to a lift. This provided access to the vehicle bays. Each bay was populated by the NSDF's Mk1 Razor. The barracks was connected to the bay by underground passage.

At this moment in time, General Collins was glaring at the assembled new recrutis that were present in the cafeteria. He'd handed out copies of the 'Eisenhower Memorandum' to the new recruits. On the projector was an image of Aldrin stepping out of the Lunar Module.

"As you have probably been told before you left, the USA only recently got the first man on the moon with Apollo 11. The Press issued a photo coverage, and publisized the pictures we gave them. Fortunately, the space-race has captivated home enough that nobody seems to have asked who took Aldrin's photo as he exited the Module."
"As you can now see, all that was staged. We've been on the moon for at least a decade. We'e also recieved unconfirmed reports that the Soviets have been spotted on the moon. Though, we were here first, and so their presense isn't a major issue."

He paused to shift the projector onto the next image. This image was of a lump of metal.
"This is an example of bio-metal. This is the same material recovered from the Bering Strait meteorite strike as mentioned in the Memorandum. This metal is simply miraculous. It isn't native to Earth, and so far we've found good quantities on the moon. Our SAV's, Scavenging Autonomous Vehicles search the moon for any of this metal. Fail the pilotting test, and you'll pilot one of them for the rest of your career."

He shifted the image again, to the Mk1 Razor.
"This is what you'll be learning to pilot. The terms drive and fly don't really apply to this vehicle as it hovers, about 4 feet from the ground when active. It's constructed almost entirely from bio-metal, and as such has EDD armor."

He stopped.
"I know this is a lot to take in, but the NSDF doesn't pay you to take it slowly. I'll take a few questions, then we'll go out to the course to practice. Your first practice with the Razor will feature live ammunition. Now. Any questions?"

[Brome Teks]

Phil sits in his chair, finding it plenty comfortable in the reduced gravity of the Moon. Well, he used to be a test pilot, this would be nothing new to him. "Yes, what kind of capabilities do the Razors have, and how steep a learning curve are we expected to ride upon?"

[Nelle Kozera]

Collins looked to Reyez to explain. “Well….I hope you brought your climbing gear because the Razor curve isn't a curve at all. It’s a learning cliff. Aside from being made from Uno…I mean bio-metal i don't know about the EDD armor, it wasn't in my section of design Collins here can explain." She pointed to the General. "The Razor can do about 180km/h so that would be the basic over view if you want something a little more complex you might want to consult the blue prints.” She looked to Collins, “General I brought some plants along where can I put them?”

[macrorufus]

Collins coughs as he stares at Reyez, he's been caught so off-guard by the plants question that the issue of being referred to without his rank flew past him.
"You brought plants?"
He stared a bit longer, still caught a little by the odd question.
"Personal belongings are your own issue. If you want to keep a shrub or some such that's up to you. I suggest you put your plants away."
He straightens up and looks at the assembled pilots.
"Ah, 5 minutes before assembly at the hangar. There's a tunnel that joins the two. Dismissed."
He walks out first, leaving the rest of the men inside to look amongst themselves.

The nearest pilot to Reyez, grins and speaks. He has a Russian accent, though it's not that noticeable...
"Heard on the grapevine that your plants ain't shrubs. Real ballsy of you to bring contraband up here. You're either real valuable, or real stupid. I'm betting on the latter. Name's Alexei, Alexei Tarasov by the way."
He extends a hand, he has the chevrons of a private, and is clearly a siberian wolf. Or at least of Russian ancestry anyway.
"Family emigrated to the California during the 2nd World War. Quite a trip to hear them tell it."
From the hard look he gave Reyez, he's daring Reyez to make an issue of it.

[[OOC: Collins hasn't put 2&2 together yet]]

[Nelle Kozera]

She looked at the wolf, “Well I would like to think I’m valuable.” She chuckled a bit, “So how long have you been up here, and who is running their yap?” She was a little more serious now. “So you came to America now I’m going to guess that you where ether born in Russia, or raised in a rather Russian community…” She shrugged, “But doesn’t matter in the end, we are both going to be getting shot at so... why are you up here? What do you bring to the table?”

[Brome Teks]

Phillip nods. "Well, I'm used to that kind of learning curve..." He stretches, eager to get behind the stick of this experimental new craft.

[macrorufus]

Alexei grins.
"That'd be telling, besides rumours fly fast and hard here. Collins is pretty lax on discipline. I think that's cause he figures we'd go insane if we had to be disciplined all the time. I'm here cause I was a test pilot at 51, and I'm fluent in Russian."
He spins to face the Captain, Philip.
"And you," he notes the rank tab, "sir, what's your story? What brought you to these tropical beaches?"

Pilots began to leave the room and head to the hangar. Alexei would ask Philip and Crystal to accompany him, obviously hoping that Philip would spill the beans on the brief trip from barracks to hangar. There's an airlock system before the hangar that contains space suits. The suits are fairly ugly one-size fits all jobs.
And the hangar itself features a large number of bays with Razors, a lift to bring them through another airlock to the surface, and a suspiciously brown stain on the roof of the hangar.

[Brome Teks]

“Excellent,” Phil says as he heads towards the chamber. “Can’t wait to get behind the sticks of one of the things,” He says. In response to Alexei’s question, he responds, “Well, I’m an astronaut and U.S. Navy test pilot. In addition to testing all kinds of fun aircraft, I flew the Gemini XIII mission before I was chosen to join this organization.”

[macrorufus]

Alexei lets loose a stage whisper, the sort easily heard despite being a whisper. As he does so, he pointed at the stain on the roof of the hangar.
"I heard there used to be some problems with the auto-eject feature. The grease-monkeys think they've fixed it though."

[Brome Teks]

"I sure hope they have. I at least hope to have a space suit on in the event of getting fired out one of those things. Still, I've been in more dangerous buckets of bolts. At least these one's aren't named "widow makers."" He chuckles heartily and gives Alexi a good slap on the back.