The marine barracks comprised the entirety of deck eleven, here were contained the living quarters of all the enlisted and junior officers, their training grounds and targeting ranges. The barracks also had its own small medical area, armoury and several recreation rooms. It also contained a separate hall where the two hundred strong combat drone force were kept, in here they each had a charging alcove that they stood in when not needed. The main entrance to the barracks led into a large room which had doorways leading to every other area of the barracks. There were equipment lockers all around the edges of the room, and dozens of large triangular tables each capable of seating fifteen people comfortably. In the centre of each of these tables was a drinks dispenser than could create almost anything to drink. This room was known as the ready room, so called as its where the marine get ready for battle. It was a popular place amongst the marines, and with the open-door policy they had, it was just as popular with the rest of the ship’s crew. At the tables in here was an unwritten rule, that there were no ranks at the tables, all were equal.
In the ready room the two platoons had already begun to stow their weapons and armour, some were heading towards the showers wrapped in towels. Jones was stood next to Frost’s locker smoking on one of his usual after mission cigars.
“So, Frosty” he said “What do you think did all that shit down on the asteroid?”
“I dunno, perhaps the I.P.C. got to them first” she replied
“Oh, please ma’am” Williams laughed “Star guards couldn’t find their nuts if they had both hands on them, and even if they did hit this place, it’d still be crawling with them, and it would have been plastered all over the news”
“Okay smart ass, let’s hear your theory then?” Frost asked, slightly annoyed
“Well look at the evidence so far, it seems quite obvious”
“Care to enlighten the rest of us then” Jones asked handing a bottle to him
“Well sir” he began stopping to take a drink “A hundred and eighty odd corpses, all left where they died, no sign of any attackers, no cargo seemed taken, and no-one fished their network” he paused to take another drink “I’d have to say that this looks like an execution, it’s got the feel that it’s been done, and deliberately left so as a warning to the others”
“But who?” Frost asked
“Probably the Zylithe, they have dealings with the Foderian’s, shit, it was probably them who supplied the P.A.M.M.” Williams said offering the bottle to Frost, who shook her head. “They probably tried ripping them off” he added
"Maybe it was space-madness" Malinea laughed
"Space madness, sure, why not go the whole hog and say it was the lizard people" Raxs added in a serious tone, but with a huge grin on his face.
"Oh, fuck off" she replied "I might be green, but I'm not that bad" Frost responded
“Yeah, besides my people had nothing to do with it” a nearby Voraxon marine added
“That you know of” Serallis added with a grin
“What you all seem to be overlooking” McKay began taking the bottle from Williams as he passed it “There is the chance that this was a black op, or perhaps something bigger, anything involving Spec Ops generally means trouble” he said taking a large gulp from the bottle, before passing it on to Jones”
“You think Sarnt?” Jones asked
“It’s possible, as Williams pointed out it looks like quite a professional job”
“But how does that explain the bite marks we all kept seeing” lieutenant O’Malley asked
“That I can’t explain, but I have no doubt that the Doc or Jenkins will be able to identify where or what they came from”
“Plausible deniability I suppose?” Jones posed
“Could be make some false wounds to make it look like something else did this”
“But what if it was something else?” Frost asked
“Then” McKay smiled “Then we’ll have to deal with that if it comes to it” McKay concluded, spotting Major Tyria who was stood listening to the conversation “Isn’t that right sir”
“Indeed, but your all wrong, I heard it was Jones’s homebrew, made them blow their heads off”
“That only happened once sir” he said offering the bottle to Doix, who with a wry grin took it.
“So, what’s the report then Sarnt?”
“Maintenance reports Rosey will be fully operational by this time tomorrow, the damage isn’t as bad as was first thought, armour plating took most of the impact” he paused “Pervez and Burns are still running the serial number of the P.A.M.M., no report yet from Med-deck on either Pax or the corpse’s sir”
“How’s Dillon progressing with the decryption of that computer core?”
“It’s going slowly sir, Dillon say’s it’s quad-encrypted, he’s got a couple of techies to help him, but so far they’ve only got through about eleven percent”
“Good” he paused “And what of Galphara’s robot problems” he grinned
“Techs are on it now sir” Jones replied smiling at the way Doix had phrased his question “They don’t think the core’s damaged, so whatever it saw should still be there”
“Well then I guess we’re just waiting on everyone else’s reports”
“Yes sir” Jones said, pulling a pack of cards out of his pocket “Care to play the waiting game?”
“Why not, Norn or Esterian?”
“Either boss, anyone else in?” Jones asked taking a seat at one of the tables and began to shuffle the cards. As he did so Doix, McKay, Malinea and Williams joined him.
"I'll join you in a bit" O'Malley said "I got a couple of things still to do before I'm off"
"You’re a credit to the corps son" Jones joked
"I know" he replied exiting the barracks, at the same time Tori entered, she'd changed out of her flight suit, and into more casual clothes, which for Tori meant a pair of tight fitting black shorts and a white low cut vest top, a long pink silk-like dressing gown, and rainbow socks. On her right thigh, you could just glimpse flashes of her massive tattoo that ran from above her knee, all up her side and ending around her shoulder. It was an Amaronian etching, a most painful type of tattoo, but one that ultimately gave the best results, Tori’s was of a tall slender tree, an Amaronian Whilsket tree, that bore flowers with silver petals and blue centres, the smooth bark was a greyish-brown colour, few had ever seen it fully, and even fewer understood what it meant. Tori was thirty-two years old and about five foot eight tall, with an almost perfect hourglass figure, vibrant and fun-loving like most Amaronians. Yet behind her beauty and personality lay several tragedies.
"Damn woman, do you always have them on display?" Doix said
"Only on days ending in y" she quipped "Well come on" she quickly looked around "Who's gonna provide a lady a drink" she said sitting down next to Malinea at the table, who handed her a pink coloured drink from the central dispenser.
Frost however did not join the game, she was submerged in her thoughts, hovering nearby. This wasn’t her first encounter with death, but the details she’d heard about the discoveries on the asteroid unsettled her, it began to play on her mind, how can beings do this to each other, and what kind of civilised peoples can slaughter others in such a way, and why.
“You joining us then Frosty?” Doix asked breaking her train of thought
“Huh?”
“Poker Frosty, are you joining in?”
“Oh, er no, not just now, I’ll just watch”
“Come on, not afraid of losing all your money to us, are you?” Doix joked
“No, it’s not that, just not got my poker head on at the minute” she smirked
"What about you two?" Raxs asked two nearby shineys
“Sure, we’re in” replied one of them, dragging the other with him to the table
“Take a seat then boys” Raxs said, grinning in Jones’s direction “Drink?” he asked offering the shineys the bottle
“Careful kiddies” McKay said adding “That stuffs not for the faint-hearted”
“It’s ok sir” the shiney replied “We’re used to drinking from our academy days” he said, a look of confidence in his eyes. Raxs flashed a devilish glance at Jones, who grinned in reply, knowing Raxs intended to see just how used to drinking they were, by marine standards.
“Very well then ladies and gents, shall we begin, you all know the rules, ante’s 10, no refunds if I take all your money” Jones grinned dealing out the cards
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