The calm before the storm

[James Hawke 0]

OCC: Anyone from EA feel free to join

 

After an afternoon dealing with paperwork, James though that, it was time for him to retire for the evening.  During the afternoon, James finished with all the paperwork and got a response from EA.  The main offices of EA accepted James into OMNI Forces with the condition of reduced rank and probation.  Both of the conditions seemed acceptable to James given the nature of his background.  After the informational meeting about OMNI forces, the new crewman was receiving a escort from another enlisted personnel for his temporary quarters. 

 

After a couple of minutes in the hallway the escort pointed to a door and said “Your quarters Lt. Hawke”.  James smiled and said “I am not a Lt. anymore, I am Crewman like you, the new blue uniform should be in the quarters, so you don’t have to salute me, just call me James”.  The crewman looked at James strangely and said “uhhh, thanks James”.  James responded “Thank you for the escort”.

 

As James entered the quarters, he noticed that his quarters were nothing special.  The quarters wall where all white and there was two desk and a bunk bed.  Putting his newly issued bag and personal items in to his bed, James opened the bag and place his one set of casual clothes in to his temporary closet.  James stood up with his Jacket and placed it on the closet, as he opened the closet he noticed his blue crewmen uniform.  Tacking off his white officer, uniform James quickly changed clothes to his new blue uniform.  As he was finishing putting his regulation shirt James saw the ring that he had on his chest. 

 

James closed his eyes for a second and had a small flashback.

 

In the middle of a though winter in Germany, James struggled to keep his Jet Windam under control.  “Phantom Pain Squad C listen up, two Ginn’s are coming in the air.  Deployment of the Destroy Gundam will being  5 minutes.  Need someone to engages the Ginn and buy us 5 minutes”.  James saw his radar and noticed he was in the best position to take the Ginn downs.  “This is Lt. Hawke, I will engage the Ginn, no backup requested.”. 

 

After the conversation, James turned his thrusters to maximum output.  Heading straight to the Ginn, James aimed at one of the Ginn and missed.  “Damn” James said to himself.  The Ginn then broke their formation and divided in to two group.  James followed one of the Ginn and concentrated his fire on the Ginn.  Aiming again James noticed a small beeb on his radar, one of the Giin was behind him and firing while James was firing on the first Ginn.  James then burned his thrusters to overheat, got closer to the Gin, and made a shot.  James shot hit the torso of the Ginn and it was destroyed.  After a while, James then turn the upper thrusters off  and inverted the Windam.  Took another shot at the Ginn and it was also destroyed.  “Good Shooting, Ace!” The squad leader said to James. 

 

As James opened his eyes reality sank in, he was in a warm place with a blue uniform.  “I wonder what Squadron I will be assigned next, I am surprised EA wants me to pilot again…Can I still pilot?  Can I be as good as I was when I was 18?  Do I still have the ability to do it” James questioned himself.  As he finished dressing, James headed to the Cafeteria to eat something.  With his new uniform, James headed out from the door placing the former Phantom Pain history pin in his uniform and his wings in his uniform also.

[James Hawke 0]

OOC: Yeah, that was a flashback, Chris had it right…I know I can’t pilot a MS, but the way that I am incorporating that rule in the storyline is that James was a pilot we COULD pilot, but he is under orders to be grounded until he is clear to flight status again.  But, the experiences stay with him and I am just using flashback to give a background story.

 

As James entered the Cafeteria from the hallway a officer with a white uniform stopped the new crewman.  “Crewman Hawke!” the officer said.  James seeing the uniform stood in perfect attention and gave the officer a salute.  Responding to the officer “Yes, Sir! Crewman 1st Class James Hawke in your presence Sir!”.  The officer smiled and responded, “Here is your orders for your next assignment”.  James grabbed the pad that was handed to him and said “Thank you Sir!” as he saluted the officer.

 

After grabbing the pad James though, that it was time to get some warm food.  It has been almost a year since he was getting warm food on a regular basis.  Some people in the EA complaint about the bad food, but after being a street hungry for a year all of the sudden the food that he though was bad when he was 18 years old seemed like heaven on a dish.  Grabbing meat loaf and skim milk James sat on an empty table.

 

James sat on the Cafeteria eating and watching the news.  While most people in the cafeteria was chatting and having a good time, James stared blankly on the TV. As time went on he grabbed a small data pad and checked the names of his new squad mates.  As he checked the Pad said:

 

87th Special Forces Unit: Off-duty and awaiting orders

Senior members:

Ensign Ernst Gunther Koenig

Crewman 1st Class Johnathon McDowell Locke

Crewman 1st Class James Hawke

 

James chuckled slightly as he saw the list.  “What sort of squadron, they put me here! And Ensign command?  This is OMNI new joke or something like that! Maybe they did assigned me to the right squadron after all”  James though.  On the other side the last time that he was in a serious squadron with a Colonel Command James was tried and convicted in war crimes.  “I look at this list and I would think that most of these people don’t even know how it feels to kill people” James though.  “On the bright side this might be a blessing in disguise, maybe a more human squadron”.  James contemplated his predicament he though that he could retrain his skills in MS piloting.

 

However, the orders that he was given specifically stated that he was off the flight status list, until he takes a course of the new flight procedures of the OMNI MS.  James chuckled, as he could not believe that they are forcing him to go to flight school again with the purpose or learning the new techniques of MS.  “It seems that a LOT have change in the last 11 years in MS technology, well as long as the military thinks I am useful even though I am a piece of trash who am I to complain” James though to himself. 

 

James then headed to the Gun shooting Range to practice his aim.  It has been 11 years since he held a gun and being on the military it would be prudent to re-learn everything.  As he entered in the gun shooting range he read a rule that said “Two people minimum inside the range”.  James looked at the rule and proceeded to load one of the community guns.  Inspecting it from any damages, James proceeded to load the gun up and to turn on the interactive software.

 

As James shot the first bullet a flash came in to his head about the Massacre of the coordinator camp.  He remembers his squad member  shooting at innocent civilians one picture came in mind.  A woman and two children held arms as they ran in front of his Dagger.  James remembered when he pulled the triggers the bullets hitting the mom and the children.  As flashback came in to his head James was shooting more and more quickly in the range.  As he shot quicker he had another flashback of a boy who stood in front of his Dagger and attempted to stop the bullets from his dagger to hit other kids with his chest.  Needless to say he failed. 

 

James snapped in to reality to see a empty gun and a bunch of headshots in the range.  In his flashback it seems that he shot at all the targets almost perfectly.  “People want another war, the tension rises and more of the people want to kill Coordinators!  I am joining another squadron and I will be dammed if they kill another innocent person again in order to have a pure blue world…”.  James said that to himself as he loaded another clip and wanted to relieve his frustration with the targets.

[Roromi 417]

“People want another war, the tension rises and more of the people want to kill Coordinators!  I am joining another squadron and I will be dammed if they kill another innocent person again in order to have a pure blue world…”. 

 

“Pure and blue… personally I wouldn’t have it any other way…”

 

Jonathan had been listening in on James, he had been watching for a few minutes now. Once he had gotten his assignment he was curious as to who he’d be working with and had managed to find at least one of them, this James Hawke fellow.

 

He himself had only recently arrived on base, he had just gotten settled in when he got the list of his squad. Locke was pleased to be placed in the special forces yet was discouraged when he found out he had to undergo mobile suit training, as if he didn’t already know how to handle one. Hours of training in the simulators he was itching to get started on his own mobile suit, to configure it to his liking and go out on a real mission.

 

Walking into the range Locke loaded one of the community guns. He went to one of the booths next to James and started shooting at the target. Although the gun was meant for a full sized man Locke utilized the weapon well enough. Although his shots were less consistent than Hawke’s he managed to just as many headshots.

 

Putting the gun down on he turned to study the older, bigger soldier. He was a few inches taller than himself, had brown hair and a questionable look in those blue eyes. If Jon had to make an assumption he would guess the man had been a veteran in the previous war, which contradicted the current rank he was wearing.

 

“Allow me to introduce myself,” popping into salute he looked at his new comrade, “Crewman first class Jonathan M Locke! You are James Hawke am I right?”

 

(OCC: hope that works, feels a little short to me but i just wanted to jump in instead of having a page worth of why Lockes here :p )

[konigstiger 0]

The hallway that was heading to the shooting range was clear. Lighted by lamps on top of the roof. Just then, heavy footsteps could be heard from the other side of the corridor. As every second passes, the footsteps got louder and deeper. It was reverberating against the walls. Finally a figure appeared, a big man walking towards the shooting range. It was Ernst and he is carrying two of his rifles and a cigarette on his mouth. One rifle was a bolt-action high-powered sniper rifle that is strap on his right shoulder. The other was a bigger rifle, a semi-automatic high-powered rifle that his holding down on his left hand. He was to test out his rifles with his new modification on it, which he was working on the entire day.

 

As he made his way inside the shooting range, he noticed that there were not much people on the range. He only found two persons conversing and practicing on the range. Ernst then made his way to the counter to get a slot. “Slot number 14, please…1000 yards…coins only.” Then he was given a protective glasses and an earmuff. He then went to his slots, which were two slots away from the two other shooters.

 

Then along his slot the wall in front of it opened to reveal the outside of the shooting range. It was nighttime so the lights were lighted to illuminate the area. On the far side, 1000 yards away, was another table; on it were 10 average sized coins. The firing range was extended for another 1000 yards. The extended range was used only for skilled marksmen able to shoot a dime from such a far distance.

 

Then Ernst prepared his equipment for the test firing for his new modifications. He will test first the semi-automatic rifle. So he placed the bolt-action rifle on wall behind him and grabbed the huge semi-automatic with both hands. The rifle wasn’t loaded yet, so he reached at his back and retrieved a magazine with ten bullets inside. He then placed it on the magazine slot and slapped it into position. He then lowered the rifle’s stands and placed on the ground below the table. He then wore his glasses and earmuffs. Ernst then drop down to his chest and took his firing position. With the rifle butt firmly pressed against the shoulders, left hand tightly gripped on the rifle, and one eye focused down on the rifles crosshair sights. He was ready to fire his weapon.

 

In the sights, the coins were still fairly small to look at and were still blurry a bit. So Ernest adjusted the range knob on his scope, adjusting it to the range until he could see clearly the coins. He then gave one last inhale through his cigarette and placed it on the ground beside him. Then returned to his eyes back to the sight while exhaling the smoke from his lungs. Then he begun to breath slowly, making him more calm for him to be more accurate. Controlling his breathing is essential to being a sniper from his accuracy to him being nearly invisible on the field.

 

Ernest then gave a deep inhale, still focusing on the target on the crosshair. After some brief seconds, exhaled through his nose and squeezed the trigger. The rifle then gave a loud, violent blast, which echoed through out the firing range. When the rifled fired, the floor would vibrate and you could see dust fly in front of the rifle. And thanks to Ernst’s customization the recoil of the rifle was not that great than before. The bullet streaked through the center of the coin and leaving a hole on it. He then moved his sight to the next coin and squeezed the trigger, hitting the coin and continued to the next. All this was happening very fast. There was only a few seconds apart of each time Ernst fired his weapon, hitting the coins and firing his weapon again. Ernst continued firing his rifle until all ten of the coins were hit without making a single miss.

 

He then double-checked through his scope if he had missed a coin and confirmed all were hit. He then got his cigarette on the floor and stood up and took his rifle and placed it beside the bolt-action rifle. He then took the other rifle; loaded it with its magazine, strapped it on his shoulder, and retracted the bolt of the rifle for one bullet to place it in the chamber. Ernst then pressed a button on the table, then the table on the other side revealed a new set of ten coins. Then he gave another deep inhale through his cigarette and placed it on the table. He then assumed his firing position. Ernst was going to fire the bolt-action rifle while standing.

 

Then he exhaled the smoke out of his lungs while looking through the scope and aiming down the crosshair sight and the first coin. Adjusted again the scopes range up to his desired level. And he inhaled deeply and focused on the target. Exhaled, and squeezed the trigger. Even though the bolt-action was smaller gun compared to the other, it gave an even louder, deep, and violent blast from its barrel. The blast echoed even farther than the other rifle cause it had an even bigger bullet. And again thanks to his modification the recoil rate had drop dramatically. So when the bullet hit the coin, it broke in to two rather than make a hole on it. And after he fire the bullet he would retract the bolt open and a shell casing would fly out, twisting and turning, of the chamber. And retract it back for another bullet to enter the chamber. And Ernst will aim down again his sights to the next target and fire. Again he did this with lighting fast accuracy, hitting every coin and splitting them in to two without even making a miss.

 

Once he finished off all his shots he double-checked again if there were still targets standing and confirmed all targets hit. He then held the rifle with his left arm and took his cigarette again from the table. Inhaled through it and exhaled above him. And then he yawned and stretched his back knowing that his work for the entire day had paid off.

[Roromi 417]

As Locke waited for Hawke to reply the loud echo of the PA being activated caused him to squint. Seeing as how they were in the shooting range it was especially loud.

 

“Crewman Locke report to personnel immediately!”

 

Trying to talk to Hawke again he was cut off as opened his mouth. “Crewman Locke report now!”

 

Looking at the speaker he raised his eyebrow in curiosity and shrugged, apparently they needed him badly. Briefly saluting to Hawke, Jonathan ran past the soldier before Hawke could even respond. He felt bad for leaving so abruptly however business was business.

 

*****

 

Jonathan walked away from the military base, he was dressed in a black leather jacket, a simple green shirt, and a pair of kaki pants with his military boots still being worn. He carried his military bag over his shoulder; it was filled with enough clothes for his little vacation. Despite him being just accepted into the military they insisted he take military leave. Locke assumed it had something to do with his paper work and peculiar background; they probably needed time to further process his papers or something.

 

“I should be getting all my training out of the way first and here they are shipping me off to Orb for some R-N-R I don’t need.” Locke was a little mad about the circumstances but what could he do, sitting around the base would eventually get boring especially if they wouldn’t let him use a mobile suit. “Then again…”

 

Locke looked around him it was about ten in the morning it was a nice day outside. For him it was rare to be given time of his own, when told he would be given so much free time he couldn’t think of what to do, he shyly asked the officer informing him what he should do and the offer came up; “why not go to Orb, they’re having a celebration there” And why not venture to Orb he had never been there, in fact this would be the first time he traveled anywhere on his own. The first time he was outside with his own time his own choices. It was one of the few times in Locke’s life he felt truly free and like a child, he couldn’t help but grin. “Better enjoy it who knows when I’ll be given an opportunity like this again!” Letting the rare joy to course through his body he ran down the street grinning ear to ear. Joy was always brief with Locke he learned to treasure it when he could. His plane left in a couple of hours, he better hurry to get there in time.

 

(OOC: Srry James, I guess I'll be heading to Orb after all cya guys there :p )