Aftermath (Post Job, Horizon/Orlando Crews)

[kyliegrasan]

Kylie was getting annoyed with being lectured. And what part of we're all there is didn't the guy understand? In normal cases, Kylie would've just taken the lecture without saying anything but not now. The discipline on the Esteem had pretty much gone away since the Reaver attack and it was almost as if ranks didn't matter anymore. They were all just people trying to survive.

"Yes sir we did run his background check." Kylie said. "Unfortunately it didn't say anything about him sneaking around armed on closed perimeters or him blowing up our installations. Hell if he created it, what's to stop him from destroying it? So excuse us if we found that was sufficient reason for him to be detained."

Kylie sure as hell didn't survive a Reaver attack to get barked at. And at that point she couldn't care less to get court martialled. It couldn't be any worse than the things she had seen during the attack. Maybe if she was lucky there'd even be some kind of discharge in it. She knew she was probably in enough trouble already for being present when Ursula Garvel was killed and not being able to do anything about it.

"What you see here is what you get... sir." Kylie said. "It's all we could spare to come guard this ass end of nowhere and it's all we can spare to help you spooks out. And if you think that makes us eligable for court martial, then so be it. Whatever gets us back to civilization."

[amaia]

Amaia listened to the whole exchange eagerly, hearing the tension in every word, and the disrespect latent in those very same words made her both grimace and grin - as Lieutenant Grasan noted, this was the ass-end of nowhere, and if military discipline broke down anywhere, it was here.

But the exchanges had gone on long enough. Amaia walked foward a little.

"Lieutenant Grasan," she said. "We got off on the wrong foot, but from the sound of things, there isn't really a right one, standing in this snow." She looked around. "If you don't mind my saying so, this base is screwed. The odds of any attack - be it from robbers, reavers, or independents who still think the war is going on - are now abysmally low." She looked over one of the Marines, who stood a little taller and bolder when he noticed the Lieutenant of the Horizon looking at him.

"You have good soldiers here, Lieutenant, and it's about time we use them." She looked back at Grasan. "Leave as many soldiers as you can spare to keep this place secure and preserved, at least until the investigators arrive. Take yourself and your skeleton crew, and return to the Esteem. From there, you will accompany our bird to Londinium. We'll get your ship patched up, some new blood to replace that which was lost, and then you come back, pick up your men, and you're good as new once more. That mechanic you detained, though, he'd make a good souvenir for the Horizon."

She stepped up close, so she could whisper to Grasan. "There's no need for theatrics here, Lieutenant, but rest assured that when I say my and my Captain's orders are law, I am not lying. This is a direct order, and consider it coming from the mouth of your favorite Admiral. No reason everyone can't be happy here, so let's get on with it." Amaia took a step back and nodded.

"Boris!" she yelled. "Get your ass on this bird here." Amaia turned and started to walk back into the Horizon, ignoring the marines who were, by now, thoroughly confused.

[kyliegrasan]

Kylie was too tired and too exhausted to continue the discussion. It was typical Alliance: one just told her to have her meet with all available men, and then the other one told her to pack up and leave. The right hand of the Alliance didn't know what the left hand was doing.

But it didn't matter to her. She decided to take her men and leave before one of those spooks gave her yet another order to stick around or something.

"Alright." Kylie said. "Denton, leave one chalk of marines here and get that Grishenko guy out of the shuttle. He's their problem now."

Barney stood behind Kylie, when he saw that Kylie was discussing with the Horizon's crew, he had come to back his friend up.

"Barney, start packing things up." Kylie said. "We're leaving."

She turned around and started helping the rest with packing things in. As far as she was concerned, this task was over.

[gordonmiller]

Gordon was released from his cuffs and had immediately started to look around the perimeter. The young lieutenant who was commanding the Alliance troops seemed headstrong, and she was suspicious of Gordon and his crewmates, yet Gordon saw it more as a perk than a flaw. He was a grunt himself once, and he knew what it was. He'd even think less of the young lieutenant if she wasn't that suspicious.

But rather than to get involved in the discussion between his captain, Sang, and the young lieutenant, he went back inside The Horizon and grabbed some stuff he needed to conduct a proper investigation.

As he came back out, he gestured his dog Raxo to follow him. Apparently the argument had been settled between the captain and the Esteem's lieutenant. He walked over to captain Borden with his dog following him.

"Permission to start the investigation?" Gordon asked.

[tomdalton]

Denton was watching the discussion between Kylie and the crew of the Horizon, from a distance away. Sitting by one of the barrels of fire.

He didn't want to join in, even though his rank would probably be high enough to know what's going on. But Denton Had a knack for destroying diplomatic engagements. This is why he's a marine commander.
He sat at the barrel, not looking directly at the group, so as to make out that he wasn't really paying attention. But these guys looked as though they could probably see through it.
The way that they had dealt with a door surrounded by marines. The way the asian woman kept her calm, as was even kind of cheeky back to those who were aiming guns at her. These weren't any old civilians. Not at all.

Denton stood, upon hearing Kylie's order. By the way she gave it, it sounded as though the Esteem wasn't going to be here for too long now.
He gave a nod, and walked quietly toward the shuttle where Grishenko was being held. Kawalski was stood outside the shuttle's door, and Denton took a guess that Cooper was inside guarding the man.
"Kawalski, Get the prisoner.". Kawalski seemed to be dozing off while standing, until he saw Denton. Nothing better to wake you up, when you think you could die in the next few seconds.

The marine panicked and as quick as he could, opened the shuttle doors, and scrambled in. Denton waited outside, with his arms crossed behind his back, looking more aggravated than he ussually looks.. He could hear the two marines whispering from inside, both not wanting to go back out. But thier mistake was taking too long to argue. "Marines!" he barked through the door, also gaining the attention of other marines dotted around the site.
Kawalski and Cooper slowly came from inside the shuttle, Carrying Grishenko between them.
He didn't seem too badly beaten, considering, that Denton gave the order to 'take special care of him'. He just had the odd cut and bruise. This seemed to make Denton worse. It was no wonder the marines didn't want to come outside.
"Is this taking special care of him?" He shouted at the two, who, no matter how much their instincts told them to turn and run, stayed, and looked dead straight, not saying a word.
"I can;t be doing with incompetence like this." he continued, "I think this deserves you and your team to stay behind with the other ship.".
Normally this punishment would be considered harsh to those receiving it. But if it meant getting out of a scolding from Denton, it was well worth it. "Go and gather your squad, and head to the landing site. Dismissed!". he ordered, still with a tone of 'if i could get away with it, i would kill you right now'.

As soon as Denton gave then permission to leave, the two marines half walked and half ran to their squad, while Denton un-cuffed Grishenko, and walked him to the Horizon crew. "It's your lucky day. Seems you got some friends in high places." He whispered into the released prisoner's ear.

Indeed it was lucky for him, for when everything with the incoming ship had been sorted, Denton himself was going to go and interrogate the man. Which is something only Blue gloves know how to do better than him.

He returned to see some of the Esteems crew packing everything up. Which was a relief, but Denton didn't hear of any repairs done to cruiser.
"Here he is." He said to Borden, as he shoved Grishenko forward. "Have fun with him." He said with a dark grin, before heading over to Kylie. "What are we doing giving the prisoner to them?" He asked, wanting to know what's going on. "Everthing that's happening doesn't seem to be going as it should.".

[kyliegrasan]

"I wish I could tell you, Denton." Kylie replied. "I really do. They don't seem to know what they're doing either. One of them tells me to gather all officers, and then the other one tells me to pack up and leave. All I know is they showed me some paper with an admiral's stamp on it telling me to do as they say, so I do just that. I'm probably in enough trouble as it is already when we get back for being on duty when that Companion was killed during the attack."

Kylie closed a munitions' crate and locked it. She then waved at two marines to come carry it off.

"I've sorta gotten used to things not going as they should." Kylie said. "From what I gathered over the past couple of months, it's what being in the Alliance is all about."

Kylie then walked over to the tent and went in. The techs had already started to unplug the electronical equipment, and some of the computers were ready to be dragged out.

She grabbed one and carried it to one of the shuttles. She was just glad to be leaving. At least onboard the Esteem she could make herself useful, instead of being on the ground wasting time, time a lot of the wounded aboard the Esteem didn't have anymore.

[tomdalton]

Denton, for one, wasn't used to things not going as they should. But then again, he's also still not used to being aboard a cruiser. He's used to organising, and executing military operations. Not sitting around, day and night doing nothing but stay on guard. When the reavers first attacked the Esteem, he was kind of glad. Finally some action. Until he realized that not all of the ships personnel where marines like him.

He didn't like the looks of these guys, and had wanted to start shooting as soon as he seen them. But that would ensue with a court martial, especially since they are presumably undercover agents of the alliance. How else would they have a letter from an admiral.
But there's nothing he can do now, so he may as well jump on the band wagon, and help clear up.
He gave a low growl, and a little nasty glare at the other crew, before picking up a crate that lay on the floor in from of him, and followed the marines to one of the shuttles.
"Well I'll see ya back up there!", He called back to Kylie, as he threw the crate up, and onto his shoulder.

[robertborden]

"Yes, go ahead and do that," said Borden in response to Miller's request to investigate. They couldn't be there for very long because of the prisoner but maybe they could find out who did this without too much effort.

The captain looked at Boris, he looked like he had been beaten. That Denton is going to be in a verse of trouble over this, he thought. "Mr. Grishenko, I'm Captain Borden...welcome to the Horizon. I need you to go check on the engine, it seems to be burning through more fuel than it should."

"Oh, so you are the Captain of this flying crap pile. I thought I was being assigned to a ship not a piece of crap," said Boris as he walked to the engine room. He could be heard yelling things from the back about how they shouldn't have put this engine in this ship and about how daisies would make the place smell nicer.

"Miller, I'll go with you to investigate," he said as he began walking out the ramp. He then turned toward Amaia and said, Ms. Sang, please do what you can to help the Esteem get loaded up and ready to leave.

[gordonmiller]

"Very well sir." Gordon responded at the captain's request to join him. "I suggest we start looking for signs of foul play."

Gordon had noticed that the generator was blown up, but that the wall next to it was still intact. Therefor it couldn't have been destroyed by the blast. Also, the communications' dish was laying too far from the actual facility, from experience in the field Gordon knew that for it to fly that far someone would had to put explosives right at the base of it, where it was attached onto the facility.

"Well sir, what do you want to check out first?" Gordon asked. "The generator, the communications' dish or do you want me to have my dog look for blood or shell casings?"

[robertborden]

"I think you should take the investigation where you see fit," he said. He needed to see if Miller was as good as his file said and this was a perfect opportunity. "However, we should probably start with the blood and shell casings because they are more likely to get tampered with by the wildlife and snow," he added for measure.

They began walking toward the site and based on the bullet holes in the entrance they were able to get a basic trajectory. They walked over to the place that looked as if it would provide the best cover.

He would leave the searching up to Miller and his dog. Borden would try and figure out the big picture.

[gordonmiller]

"I'll start rightaway sir." Gordon said, and then he was off. He gave his dog a sharp whistle, to which the animal came running.

"Raxo, search! Search boy!" Gordon ordered the dog.

The dog understood his master immediately and pointed its snout toward the ground and started sniffing around. A few seconds later, the dog stopped near a large rock formation that was almost exactly across from the facility's entrance and barked a couple of times.

Gordon walked to where his dog had stopped and looked around.

"Okay, stay boy." Gordon said. "Are you sure?"

The dog barked once again in confirmation, and then layed down. There was definately something for Gordon to find here.

A closer inspection of the side of the rock revealed a couple of bulletholes. Gordon took a pair of tweezers from his kit and started digging out the bullets. After he found three bullets, he looked behind him.

"5.56 mm bullets." Gordon thought. "These were probably the bullets from the facility's guards. Given the trajectory they fired them near the door. Meaning whoever they fired at was behind this rock formation."

Gordon then walked behind the rock formation and signaled his dog to follow him. When they got in behind, the dog sniffed around once more and then barked again.

Gordon sat on his knees and started digging in the snow. After digging away a couple layers of snow he found shell casing of what looked to be bullets to an oldstyle rifle.

"Old bullet casings, consistent with the weaponry they use on the border." Gordon pondered. "Given the amount of bullets it was probably a lever action rifle."

Gordon put the bullets in a plastic bag, but as he stood up, his dog barked again.

"What is it boy?" Gordon asked. "Did I miss something?"

The dog made a 360° spin and then layed down again. Whatever Gordon had missed was in front of the dog now. But there was nothing to be seen at first sight.

Gordon kneeled again and carefully dug around in the snow. His dog barked again, telling him that there was still something there. And there was. All of a sudden Gordon came across a minimal amount of blood, but if he did it right he might still be able to collect a sample from it.

He took a swab and carefully collected a sample from it. The snow had watered it down a bit, but with a bit of luck they might still be able to get a DNA sample from it.

After he collected the blood sample he patted his dog on the head.

"Good find boy!" Gordon said. "Now let's go see if there's something to be found near the door."

Gordon and the dog walked back toward the door of the facility, and started searching the snow again. After a while the dog barked again, to which Gordon started digging in the snow again.

It appeared that more blood was waiting to be found. And not just a very minimal amount like it was near the rock formation. The more Gordon dug, the more blood he uncovered. He found it to be somewhat unsettling. It virtually took away every hope of someone still being alive.

"This is not good." Gordon said, knowing the blood was from the Alliance guards. "It looks like they got slaughtered here!"

Among the blood was also the casings of the 5.56 mm rounds. It confirmed that the blood was that of the Alliance guards.

"Sir!" Gordon called. "You need to come see this!"