Writings of a Kiwi @kiwiwritings-archived - Tumblr Blog

shadowycrossroads‌:

“Would make the job of watching you easier. I’ll kick your shin when we get there.”

Baker would have a couple of hours to rest before the thud of the landing hear deploying and the change in pitch as the vertical fans brought them down, the ramp clanging down and the soldiers filing out.

There would be another name added to the memorial today, another empty seat at dinner, which the squad was late for, another empty bunk…

“Rise and shine, welcome to the hole.” she gestured for Baker to exit before her, more soldiers were outside along with a tall black-haired woman, a second skyranger landed nearby, on board the cleanup crew and the bodies from the fight. “Welcome to XCOM.”

The confiscated weapons were placed on a cart with the recovered alien fragments, something for the eggheads to look at.

“The united nations space command…” the commander said as Baker exited. “I don’t know where you came from but there are no records of such a thing. I ask for your cooperation as we verify you are human, a DNA sample will suffice. Then you can be shown to the barracks to clean up and get changed before we have a little talk.”

The thump of the VTOL landing was enough to summon the marine from her rest. Her confusion at where she had found herself was temporary, remembering who the others were by the time the shotgun woman lightly kicked her. “Wasn’t a dream,” Baker muttered to herself, before rising to her feet. Her heavy armoured boots stomped down the ramp.

To the woman on the ground, Baker gave a nod. The marine could tell the other was of rank, though what rank she wasn’t sure.

“Can Oi wager a guess that the moment Oi take off my armour, it’s goin’ ter be carted off fer studying as well as my weapons?” It might’ve come off a bit sarcastically, but Baker shook her head. “Sorry, ma’am. Not taking well’ta the fact everything Oi’ve known and fought for has gone poof.” Within her armour were several personal effects, mementos from her life. A piece of shrapnel from an Insurrection-era firefight. A photograph of her deceased family. A datapad that listed her service record, among other things. It was all that remained now. “DNA sample — roigh’. Oi understand.” With a sigh Baker her up and took off her helmet. Her hair was a graying white, one of the few signs of her long age, placing her at likely two or three times Janna’s age. She seemed just as spry as one much younger.

“Corporal Cecilia Baker,” the marine finally introduced herself. “Before whatever happened’ta send me here, Oi was a medic’fah the Atlas IV 45th Division. Been a marine’fah thirty-four years.”

#;;Baker #;;XCOM

shadowycrossroads‌:

United nations space command sounded a lot like one of the many groups that had tried to investigate and combat the alien threat before the founding of the XCOM project, but not one anyone was familiar with, Janna would rest safe in the knowledge that everything was being transmitted live back to base and even before they got there it would be checked and verified. So she took the gun and boarded the aircraft, stowing the weapon at the front of the compartment. The screen next to them showing their location in the continental united states and the date the 14th April 2015.

This operation was over…

The stranger would be placed on the beck opposite her where she could keep an eye on her, stun weapon in her lap. “Nice knife…” she said although she could only see the handle and trusting the other would be smarter than to try and draw it, though she would twist her hips to show an identical handle on her thigh. That proved at least one thing on Baker was Earth-made.

Baker followed into the unfamiliar vehicle, sitting in a seat, her stature clearly one of an unhappy woman, but having to accept her circumstances. Unbeknownst to her, it was the exact seat Angel had been in.

Baker’s eyes did stray towards the screen for a moment - the sight of the date only brought a sigh. “Of course,” she muttered to herself, but perhaps widely didn’t say aloud that the date was off 525 years. Considering the enemies they’d fought, the buildings, and the equipment around her, there stood the very real possibility that it was Baker who was off by 525 years.

“It is a nice knoife,” the marine said, as her eyes closed. “Haven’t had’ta use it much, but it’s saved my arse every time it was needed. Sorry, but Oi’m goin’ta take a nap, mate.” Likely a skill Janna was familiar with, falling asleep at a moment’s notice anywhere, anytime.

None of them had even said their names. The marine would be unidentifiable were it not for the ‘BAKER’ upon her armour, and various UNSC symbols. She hadn’t even taken off her helmet.

#;;Baker #;;XCOM #;;AU

harlequin-wheels

OC commission for @uss-edsall

Thanks again for commissioning!

shadowycrossroads‌:

The shotgun was slung over her shoulder but a small device with a pistol grip was removed instead, the arc emitter buzzing to full charge.

“Where you came from is the main question here. If it’s anywhere but Earth who knows if you’re doing what you say you are with your gun. I’ve never seen anything like it which lately seems to mean it’s alien and we’ve already met some that look a lot human.” the order was coming in to stun the stranger and it was the safest option but that wouldn’t exactly make a friend.

Somebody had to give here. Baker saw the stunning weapon come out, and knew if she did not comply she would be screaming as the electricity coursed through her nervous system. But an incredibly useful piece of information had been given there -- Earth.

She was on Earth. This was the first time she’d ever seen Earth. It was not her Earth, that much was clear. But it was Earth all the same.

“Oi’m a marine’a the United Nations Space Command. Oi’ve been foightin’ in Earth’s defense’fah the majority’a my life. Don’t stun me, let me finish.” With a sigh, she reached to the side of her BR55 and released the magazine, catching it in one hand. Then she reached for the charging handle and removed the bullet from the chamber.

“Oi’m human. Oi can assure you’a that much. But Oi can see that anything Oi feckin’ say in protest’a this order’a yours will not help me. So Oi’ll extend a feckin’ olive branch. Hope the feckers in command’a you sees it.”

Taking the rifle by its barrel, she held it out towards Janna, stock first.

Her other hand moved to her side, to the magnetic part that held her magnum. Merely putting her hand next to it for a moment meant the pistol flew into her hand. Being careful to point it at the sky and keep her finger nowhere near the trigger, she held it towards the one with the machine-gun. “Just let me keep the knoife in my boot. It’s a feckin’ knoife, it’s from my grandfather. Oi won’t pull it on anyone and you’ll stun me before Oi could get halfway to it.”

#;;Baker #;;XCOM

shadowycrossroads‌:

Despite their own surprise and disgust Brick’s reply to the girls was simple. “Find it’s better to shoot first if it ain’t human and let the lab boy ask the questions later…”

And they did just that, adding a hail of bullets to Baker’s burst as two shotgun blasts signaled the end of the alien that caused it.

“Civies should be safe now and the recovery craft will clean up but…” he put his fingers to his ear and nodded.

“I’m going to have to ask you to hand me your weapons…” his tone had changed, orders had come in and when the assault caught she had gotten the same message.

“You want to come quietly…” she reached out to use her thumb to open Baker’s eye wide, looking for anything reptilian. “We don’t want to have to knock you out.” Her tone and loaded gun hinted heavily that this was no idle threat. This came right from the top, the girl with unfamiliar equipment and a bottomless magazine was to be brought in.

And with that, the screams and fighting ended as well. The enemy who had been attacking this city seemed to have simply left, their ground forces defeated, their forces in the air flying back to space. For the first moment in half an hour, the world stopped going at hyperspeed, and Baker relaxed...

... For a moment.

Baker turned her eyes to the woman with the shotgun just in time for her to invade her personal space and open an eye wide. The instant she stopped doing so, Baker took two steps back. Her rifle was not raised, but one hand was in a ‘stop’ signal.

“Give me a second, please.” She said, and in fact she had formed what she wanted to say in less than ten seconds. “Oi can come quietly. Oi can tell Oi ain’t where Oi feckin’ came from. But Oi won’t hand over my weapons. Oi can remove the ammunition and clear the chamber. But they stay on me. Okay?”

#;;Baker #;;XCOM

shadowycrossroads‌:

“Keep moving. We’ll handle the aliens.” She pushed Baker forwards, ‘Angel’ stepping out of cover to gesture them onward. The heavy still laying down cover fire. No one noticed the chryssalid until it was too late, bodily lifting ‘Angel’, turning the and then forcing them to the ground.

“I’ll meet you here.” the assault changed course directly for the alien, as is started towards the civilians now, the medic’s body twitching on the ground.

Only then did Baker figure out that she’d been included among the civilians. Before she could lodge a protest, however, the chitinous alien came and killed one of the mysterious troopers who’d come to their assistance, and the woman with the shotgun had immediately gone after it, in defence of the civilian allies.

In that moment, Baker made the decision that she was going to stay and help. These people were obviously dedicated to protecting human lives. That’s what Baker had been doing for the past twenty-five years. Yet her perceptive eyes were drawn towards the twitching body...

And as it began to stand up, letting out a horrifying groan, she realised something was terribly wrong. A---a zombie?!

“Oi, big guy,” she said, reaching out a gloved hand and patting on the back of the man with the machine-gun. Her other hand still had her BR55 pointed at what had once been a human. “Is it just me, or has she become a feckin’ zombie?!”

Her finger was squeezing the trigger, only an ounce away from sending three more bullets into the walking corpse. She wasn’t firing, not just yet, not sure how to react, but any threat - like Angel staggering towards her or the woman with the shotgun - would be met with a burst of three bullets. Baker had half of her ammunition left in this magazine.

#;;Baker #;;XCOM

shadowycrossroads‌:

“Civilians in sight. Get them out of there.” there was a crash as a shop front near Baker exploded outwards, the mangled body of a sectoid closely followed by a shotgun-toting assault specialist who slammed herself against the wall next to the civies, then her eyes fell on the armed one of the group. It was one of those split-second decisions where training and orders took over where the rational mind went blank.

“Get to the skyranger, go! Godammit FLOATERS.”

There was a burst of HMG fire and one of the cybernetic aliens fell almost of top of the group, “I said go!” It would be obvious by what she meant as she pointed at the aircraft that already housed a few civilians, the rest of the squad approaching them.

The rapport of a shotgun blast killing an alien sneaking up on them surprised the marine, though, compared to a living alien sneaking up on her, a welcome one. The woman with a shotgun was entirely unfamiliar in terms of equipment, and neither could Baker say she was familiar with a ‘skyranger.’ But in the heat of the moment, she didn’t question — and didn’t realise the woman had included Baker among the group to be evacuated.

“You heard her,” Baker shouted. “Get goin’! We’ll keep them away from you!”

Whatever a floater was, it was also unfamiliar — but they were shooting at her, so Baker decided to shoot back first and ask questions later. Her rifle was up and thundering more three round bursts at anything with engines keeping it aloft. Baker focused on one side, already treating the unfamiliar woman with a shotgun like an ally.

#;;Baker #;;XCOM

misplacedmuses‌:

“Uu…” Terror relegated herself to the surprisingly comfortable position of third wheel. It seemed when she had someone she could rely on, she let them be her loudspeaker in lieu of her own voice.

“Very well…” Thankfully she couldn’t see the extent of the ketchup stains, at least not from the front. “It is good to know you. So you need help with finding new attire? I know a great section dedicated to the clothings, called ‘Overheated Subject’. No doubt you’ll find what you’re looking for there.”

Kiwi gave a nod. While she didn’t like her current only friend shying away, she accepted it for the moment. She’d rather not let the smell of ketchup stay upon her.

“Yes, I need to find more than just the uniform I’m wearing. Having a wardrobe I can choose from would benefit me greatly, I believe. One cannot live in uniform alone, or so I think. Haven’t been back for more than half a day, so I could be wrong?” Kiwi shrugged. She didn’t think she was.

“In any case, it’s also a good opportunity to make friends with you and Terror. If you know the way, can you please lead us, mate? And if either of you see something I may like, don’t hesitate to point it out.”

#;;Kiwiland #;;AL

shadowycrossroads‌:

All there was was the whine of the engines. They had all seen the footage, this was different. This was not a mass abduction like the others but civilians were being gunned down in the streets, the city was burning…

Was this a response to them? Was this bait to lure them into a trap? Did that matter while people died and could be saved?

“Thirty seconds.” the warning came over the intercom, jarring the soldier from her thoughts, her mind going to the routine of checking her weapon. Safety off, shells loaded, one chambered.

“Ten seconds…”

The familiar triple thump of the landing gear locking into place signaled the squad to their feet. “Here’s hoping the new armor holds up.” a voice behind her said and she didn’t have to look to know it was “Brick”, his HMG resting against his shoulder. It was true, they were all covered in the latest breakthrough based on materials salvaged from alien craft, it should hold up against their weapons, right?

The ramp started lowering even before they hot the ground and as soon as they were down there was no room for stray thought. “Angel’s” rifle let out a burst immediately as the squad scattered to cover, plasma fire adding more battle scars to the skyranger.

“Out priority is the civilians… wait I hear weapons fire. Someone’s fighting them.” “Heavy caliber rounds, only in America…” a spray of bullets from Brick and Janna broke cover, dashing forwards, pressing up against a wall next to a civilian. “Get to the plane, you’ll be safe there.” she gave them a push to get them moving before peeking around to see if she could see where the unknown combatant…

Perhaps curiously, the gunfire changed paces almost in a cyclical fashion. Bursts of three every so often, seemingly aimed, and then fully automatic long bursts of ten or fifteen at a time. Those were always followed by the sounds of plasma being fired in return. Then it was back to bursts.

The gunfire was getting closer, as well. Either the user was advancing towards the skyranger and the team, or retreating -- and considering no plasma had been seen rushing towards the skyranger from the gunfire’s direction, it was likely the latter.

It was only a couple of minutes before the gunfire sounded liked it was just around the street corner.

“Youse guys have been doin’ well. Just loike we’ve been doin’ -- when Oi lean out, start runnin’. Get behoind that cornah -- Oi’ll be roigh’ behoind you!”

Baker didn’t know how many of the enemy she’d killed. Six, seven, maybe eight. There was still more. She’d gone through a good four of her magazines -- her ammunition rate immense, in order to keep these three alive. “Three, two, one, go! Now! Go!” She popped up and rested the rifle on the car’s bonnet, the weapon set to fully automatic. Another of the small aliens with plasma-guns on her wrists was riddled with the majority of ten bullets.

Down Baker went, more plasma going over her head, this time in sight of the XCOM squad as it splashed upon the buildings around the street corner. Also in sight was that trio. The report of another burst showed that Baker had not been killed.

#;;Baker #;;XCOM

Location Unknown

@shadowycrossroads

2204 HOURS (EARTH TIME) / SEPTEMBER (?) ERROR, 2549(?) (MILITARY CALENDAR) / ???, LOCATION UNKNOWN / STATUS: GETTING BEARINGS

She had no honest clue how she got here. One moment she was putting a magazine into her plate carrier, the last bit of gear she needed. The ship’s marine complement was preparing to leave the ship almost the moment they left slipspace, providing immediate assistance to the planet they were approaching.She felt the odd feelings that always came with exiting Slipspace The next second, she was not in a ship anymore.

She was… Well, it resembled some ancient Earth city, something right out of the holofilms. So very eloquently, her first response was, “what the fuck?”

The loud exclamation went unheard, as Baker became aware of her surroundings. It was a lot of flames and a lot of screaming coming from down the street. Quite concerning, but nothing incredibly new for the old marine, who took her BR55 off of her back, immediately on alert.

Above, some sort of aerocraft Baker didn’t recognise flew by, from it a giant glob of green being shot at a building far away. The plasma explosion immediately alerted the marine to the fact that she was facing an alien invasion. Sure didn’t look like Covenant -- but the buildings and people she could see were certainly human.

Civilians were rushing towards her, now, away from the flames, away from the conflict. Baker began to cautiously move forward, the crowd parting around her. Baker was hoping the rushing crowds only meant that the civilians were trying to escape the aerial bombardment, but when a man was hit in the back by a small glob of green plasma, Baker ran forward to assist, her training as a medic kicking in. It was no use, for the man had been instantly killed, and several more globs flew past Baker as she dove for cover behind a dumpster, only belatedly discovering three terrified people cowering in the dead-end alley beside it.

When she rose up just enough from behind the dumpster to look and aim, she found the enemy in her medium-range scope were neither human or Covenant. For a brief second, she was confused. Then she glanced back at the body in the street. Now the marine glanced to the side towards the three sheltering behind both the dumpster and now her, ignoring the sound of another bit of deadly plasma flying by. They looked at her in terror - and with hope, for she was obviously a soldier, loaded for a war very far away.

For some reason, Baker gave them a toothy grin and a wink.

A moment later, a burst from Baker’s rifle tore into one of the aliens, swiftly followed by another...

#;;Baker #;;XCOM

A troubleshooter?

“... Oi shoot trouble until trouble stops bein’ trouble. Medical troubles can be stopped before they have’ta be treated. Oi focus on bein’ a medic if there is somebody wounded.”

So Corporal Baker youre a medic?

“Honestly, Oi koinda consider myself more of a troubleshooter first, mate. The medical bit’s second in the list, though it’s the much more important part.”

misplacedmuses‌:

“Uuu…” She blushed, flattered by Kiwi’s faint praise. “I-I… I’ll go invite Erebus-neechan… S-See you at the commissary!” She nervously dashed off without another word, sleevies flopping as she skittered along.

Later, at the commissary, she would be standing there, half-cowering behind a hooded girl who looked remarkably similar. Also, she was clearly smaller than Terror. Any attempts to use her to block visibility were completely fruitless.

“Are you the one who requested my presence from beyond the veil? I know who you are, Kiwiland. Or should I say Kiwi, now?”

“Uu! I’m sorry for telling Erebus-neechan your name! I should have let you introduce yourself…” Erebus promptly shushed her sister.

“Kind of cute,” had muttered to herself as Terror almost fled. Despite being somewhat of a walking corpse... Well, sometimes adorable took odd forms.

A short while later, the now three of them met up, Kiwi immediately nothing the similarities between the two... and trying to understand what ‘beyond the veil’ meant, before she gave up.

“No need to worry,” the carrier said, with an attempt to smile. “Makes things a small bit easier, mate.” Then she addressed the other with, “I take it you’re Erebus, Terror’s sister? She was part of the fleet that found me. So... I’m new here. Nice to meet you, Erebus.” Ketchup still stained Kiwi’s pants — but that’s why they were here.

#;;Kiwiland #;;AL

flunkycommand‌:

“This is where you’d make sure you haven’t expended more than you should. We’re the front line, armor is always up, always ready. Controlled shots.” Saiga scolded a little, “we want to push them back and off, and break anything close. There’s no point if they are close and you’re out of shells.”

“If they get too close, our Machine Guns, like PKP here can’t shoot through you you know.”

PKP’s expression said it all. Stern, stoic, and thoroughly unimpressed. But this shotgun would one day be her bulwark and if mistakes like that happened then they could both be damaged.

“SAT, Saiga is correct.” she stepped forward, to stand next to the shotgun. “You are a shotgun with a limited ammo capacity. it would help if you remember how many rounds and count your shots. It should be easy for you. Better plan for now is one single target. You will fire at it continuously and then reload before you hear the click of death. I will set up the target, please remember to count your rounds.”

Saturn’s grimace clearly showed her chagrin, but she didn’t protest against any criticism. Rather, she adopted a more serious expression, as she loaded the two missing shells. Then she was looking downrange again, with one crucial change — this time, her armour was already in front of her, with her looking over it.

“I’m ready,” she said. She was determined to do better — to heed the words of her new comrades. Their safety would depend on it someday.

#;;SAT8 #;;GFL #Want to skip to anything in particular?#Meeting others or?

misplacedmuses‌:

“Uu… You want to make friends? Terror knows that feeling… Friends are, um…. nice…” She was too shy to say it, but she wanted Kiwi to choose her as her first friend. They barely knew each other, but Terror was desperate for companionship. She crossed her arms, but it also looked like she was hugging herself for comfort.

“Terror only shops at the Commissary. Or whatever Erebus-neechan buys for Terror. Uu…”

“Haven’t been around much,” Kiwi commented, “but I’m sure friends are nice to have. You’ve been pretty good to me, for example.” She gave a little shrug.

“Maybe we can start there, if you’d like? Go to somewhere we can get clothes — and invite Erebus? She’s your sister ship, right?”

#;;Kiwi #;;AL

misplacedmuses‌:

“Sadly… Terror thinks that all Eagle Union ships are like that sometimes.” Objectively untrue, but the Union had its fair share of delinquents. Terror rested in place, letting Kiwi clean herself up.

“Sorry…” She apologized, not on Sims’s behalf but just in general.

“So far my experiences has not suggested otherwise, with the Yanks,” Kiwi responded with a shake of her head. Then it was off to the nearest bin to dispose of the stained napkins. Her pants weren’t that badly stained, at least. “Nothing for you to be sorry about, Terror,” she said when she returned, though pointedly, she didn’t sit down again either.

“Well, my one order given so far was to go and make a friend, mate,” she said after a moment of quiet. “Shopping, to find more to wear? If you know a place. And... anybody else you’d think I’d get along with.”

#;;Kiwiland #;;AL

shadowycrossroads‌:

“Then you have no reason to fear shame or humiliation.” the ace too took out a smoke and held it out for the other to light with hers.

“Anyone trying to take a witch away from the front is a short-sighted fool. We belong here, we live here, we die here, and once a witch always a witch.” her words hinted at a very fatalistic view. there were victories, the front moved, there were defeats and the front moved again but Marsielle considered those details beneath her notice and focused on her job and what she was good at, surviving the war was a secondary concern, this was her life and she would make it hers more and more… with the fall of her homeland where did she have to go back to after all, but even now she still smiled softly, this was her home and she wasn’t leaving, and so she understood Rebecca’s unwillingness to leave through that lens.

Rebecca continued to puff on her cigarette, leaning in and lighting the air witch’s stick while she was at it.

“According’ta them,” she didn’t bother to explain who ‘them’ was, “a witch without a familiar ain’t a witch. Couldn’t stay. So... I went here. Anyway, I can help, ay?” The Kiwi was looking at the plane, while she held her half-finished cigarette between two fingers. “Don’t know what I’ll do, when we win. But I’ll get there. Your strikers won’t fail you while I’m here either, Hanna.”

#;;rebecca #;;SW

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

Writings of a Kiwi