The Emergent are a post singularity race of genetically modified people that are no longer strictly 'human'. They are a military totality with no civilians left to vote and pursue the security of all its members by political and military means. Defence of its territories, allies and to create a spirit of solidarity and cohesion among its members and allies.
A "fairly sized" portion of space perhaps anywhere between earth and the Zuukid expansion line. Colour either white, teal or lightseagreen.
Government
The Emergent are ruled by a Military Junta. The Council Castellan is made up of 7 Generals, each from various branches but the largest majority being from the Infantry. They are fleet based and reside inside the capital ship "The Graceful" within the Emergent Fleet. These generals can be said to do more than administrate facets of Emergent governance, they are also the cultural core of the Emergent, as Emergent military with its focus on mental discipline stretches to a spiritual one also. More is explained under "History" and "Religion".
The Domains exist as follows; WIP
Nodica (Imperial World)
Pragma (Imperial World)
Celeste (Gass giant)
Luto (Methane ice world)
WIP
History
The Emergent The most marked and important influence upon Emergent culture is the Zuukid war. The location of star system was in the direct warpath of the Zuukid empire. As such the planetary government, then democratic at at the time began in ernest every possible war preparation to survive, militarising every branch of government and conscripting effectively the entire population. The first battles against the Zuukid were severe, over 500 million died in the first day of battles on the outskirts of the system. The ice planet Luto there is now known as a grave-world, many of the bodies there are slowly being discovered and recovered from the ice. After this debacle and many others that resulted in the loss of the planet Luto and Celeste as well as two whole fleets of ships, the military junta decided to take over from the ineffective, overly bureaucratic and ideological democratic government. The democratic government was ruled by two ruling parties whos names have been forgotten and lost to time but are often referred to as "The Left" and "The Right" by scholars. The coup by the council castellan was all but bloodless as most citizens realised their very existence was threatened and many loved ones had been lost. From then on a great crusade was declared and every branch reformed by the great vision of the then leader Gen. Russell Thaddeus Hollis. From that time secret experiments with genetic augmentation were declassified and work was began on reforming the very genome of the peoples of both Nodica and Pragma into what is now called The Emergent.
The Emergent make wide and varied use of genetic therapy and augmentation. All surviving Emergent of the war against the Zuukid bare high levels of genetic engineering, though humans are always used as the base. At the time of the "gene declassification" all the most successful traits of humans in the entire genepool across both planets were pooled into a great database. It infact became briefly illegal to refuse adding your genes to the database. The genes were then carefully selected by geneticists, now known as Gene-Techs into several "formulas" of combat related genes for implanting. Such was the focus upon combat that it eclipsed all other purposes. Sadly this had an unintended consequence, as other races would note, it made The Emergent race highly militaristic in attitude, to the exclusion of other qualities such as "Trust" and "Faith". Their society is at this time truncated. All Emergent are members of the military, indeed another form of society is inconceivable. Despite this there are some qualities which are highly positive. All emergent are calm under fire, and present high emotional flexibility and almost complete resistance to post traumatic stress disorder, they are always calm all the time. They are also grimly determined upon any course of action they set, even seeing life as a resource to spend, they will never break and run from a fight. They are massively adaptable. It seems as though high value was placed upon unconventional thinking and creativity in their genetic selection rather than the opposite, blind obedience, this is surprising indeed to most races. But they all almost universally pursue a philosophy of discipline and meditation, more on this is covered under religion. They are highly intelligent having selected genes from many Jewish and Japanese scientists they have an almost immaculate neural structure free from illness, even the lowliest Emergent is a chess genius. Indeed this leads to another phenomena of Emergent culture multidisciplinary-ness. It is an often said maxim of the Emergent that "Its not the way we fight, its the way we do everything else." Due to the relative universality of military instruction Emergent are able to pursue high academic education relatively freely with no cost. Most teachers and instructors are AI recreations of great Earth figures, Einstein, Churchill, Sun-Tsu etc. This has allowed Emergent to study many disciplines with ease, it is equally likely that an Emergent infantry would be an expert medic as a statistician or notary. The Emergents have also been engineered to also have peak human muscular strength and endurance but particular attention has been made to their immune system and healing factors, this is one of the few departments of the great gene declassification that is still studying improvements. The Emergent are proud of their genetic inheritance. Taken from the two planets Nodica and Pragma. Nodica is ethnically a mixture of English, Jewish, Japanese and Irish. While Pragma is a mixture of Scottish, Nepalese and Native New Zealander. In the times before the Zuukid war the two planets fought great civil wars with eachother.
Outwardly the Emergent may appear as any one of the ethnicities, and often this is maintained through familial and clan lineages, however what is underneath their skin is far different. The genetics used in the Emergent also encompass a number of genes taken from the natural environment. They contain selected gene fragments from Crows, Felines, Octopus, Tardigrade, Axolotl, Salmon and more. Thus they are not entirely human. They are very proud of their accomplishments which they see as being an extension of this genetic pedigree. Thus instead of wearing medals like most military civilisations they instead genetically engineer a portion of their skin to display the genetic formulas which they attribute to their success. This is done only after much research and approval, and a successful military campaign or act of valour, then it is authorised by the senior officer for the gene-tech to begin the process. Each gene formula is represented as a "bar", most starting at the temples and reaching back across the sides of the head. Each bar has a different colouration varying from; varying coloured hair, scales, downy feathers etc, in bright iridescent colours. These represent medals and experience earnt. Most emergent are not straight in the conventional sense, they have been known to pursue relationships outside of the normal sexual sense. This is represented in their media almost half of the time, relationships such as trusted advisors and understudies, but without the necessity of copulation that other species take for granted. This is often whispered as being the "Third Sex" one of reproducing through ideas. Official policy on the matter is lacking. Being gay however is outlawed and highly frowned upon as it is viewed as essential that all Emergent must reproduce to satisfy both evolution and military recruitment quotas. For this reason there are many selective breeding programs for various purposes, some governmental, some pursued individually. Natural reproduction is allowed, but pregnancies must be reported by female officers and only light duties are mandated for such P-personnel, as they are called. The average pregnancy period of a P-personnel is 6 months, due to genetic engineering and accelerated gestation programs. This keeps recruitment quotas at an acceptable level. There are multiple methods of inserting the genetic formulas approved by the council castellan. This is not to say that they replace the innate genetics of the individual, which were improved some time ago. But the formulas are periodically changed and updated to remove perceived flaws, detected through battlefield record.
Military
All Emergent are military assets, varying in rank. One doctrine of the Emergent is universal armament, that each branch weather first line or second line must be equally armed, this also applies to officers and even generals must pass a yearly arms competency exam. Other doctrines include the use of shock troops, orbital deep striking and combined arms. Thus all Emergent are trained on multiple weapons systems, every conceivable weapon they might encounter and even some that are not.
The Standard Drop-Soldier armour is made of a ceramic-embedded steel alloy with titanium mesh. This is effective at countering most heat based weapons such as steel core AP rounds, providing multi shot protection to most areas of the body. It is also highly effective against light and radiation based weaponry owing to its ceramic plates. It however will not protect against direct hits from rail weaponry at any level and is easily overwhelmed by large or successive plasma volleys. It is however, highly efficient at stopping fragments from submunitions and artillery. However it has at present no method to prevent damage caused by shockwaves from explosions. It contains a lead-alloy varnish to protect it from radiation and comes equipped with integral gas mask and rebreather and goggles featuring strategic HUD. It is both sealed and chemical resistant and vacuum resistant, though not a full space suit. Constructed to allow a full range of movement and poses the armour is widely used if expensive design.
"Slab" B10 Flachette system The standard armament of Emergent infantry is the B10 "Slab". It uses caseless telescoped diamond tipped 4mm tri-flachette rounds, (each round firing 3 flachettes). The flachettes themselves contain micro capacitors and are shocking, this is effective against both flesh and electronic targets. Though there are rapid prototyping templates available for replacing the micro capacitor with either; designer poisons , or radioactive substances or a solid .50 cal core. Though these are usually only authorised at a command level. The caseless propellant is also able to be fired in no oxygen environments. It is electrically fired from a bank of 10 barrels located most often as a "slab" on the forearm, though this slab can be moved to various locations on the body. It is replenished by a feed line leading to a small backpack mount, capable of holding 250 rounds. The incorporation of 10 barrels means that initially in combat all 10 barrels can be fired, yielding 30 flachettes, afterwords full auto at 1,400rpm can be achieved by the two lowest barrels fed by the feed line. The weapon requires 0.5 of a second to recharge all 10 barrels during a lul in the fighting, so that the same "blast shot" may be attempted again. The B10 "Slab" also comes in other numbers of barrels such as the B14, B8, and the B5 used by special forces. It is fully capable of functioning without its feed line, though only contains the ammo listed in the barrel B-number. It can be reloaded by casettes by hand and has a loading assist which 'swallows' the casette. The B10 and other B-model designs are always connected to the users nervous system by an induction nerve link. This enables the user to know information about its operation almost instantaneously like a 6th sense. It can also use the integrated guidance system, integrated into the vision of the operator by bionic augment and allows accurate targeting without the need of holding the weapon in the crook of ones arm like so many other designs. It is also completely a hands free design which allows the operator to use his hand in the battle space to perform their job, though the hands are often augmented aswell.
The Entry Claw is a catch all term for a group of bionic assisted hand mounted claw-like devices shock troops are equipped with to enter into buildings by breeching. They are standard issue and can be equipped with a veriety of different claw-like-tools. The tools are mono-molecular edged for better penetration and can be used in close combat.
"Excalibur" Neutron Beamer Rifle. Using radioactive decay to excite a laser beam to energy levels higher than normal, the Neutron beamer rifle is able to vaporise armour it touches into a plasma state. It is also highly effective at penetrating energy fields as even if it does not hit the target the EM field also sends a blast wave of electromagnetic energy that scrambles circuits and synapses alike. There is also enough radiation to effect living matter, but most vehicles in this age are radiation proofed for atmospheric entry . These are powered by a mini thorium reactor, provided as a backpack with feed lines and are usually employed as a man portable squad support weapon or are given to anti tank sniper teams and also [redacted]. As with most laser beam type weapons they have long range and are unaffected by gravity, hence their use by snipers, however with atmospheric debris, weather and at longer range the beam loses its coherency. The user weapons platform is usually educated as a nuclear engineer. They are more powerful than comparative sized plasma volley weapons. They also employ a large lead alloy radiation shield around the barrel and as a muzzle break. The various technological steps to create these weapons are concentrated on Pragma and Nodica, though most other races do not have the full compliment at the same time, nor a military industrial complex devoting to its production, making them prohibitably expensive. Despite this some rare examples exist though often powered by full nuclear reactors. Even amongst Emergent these weapons are deployed sparingly as they are expensive to maintain.
Man-Portable Railgun. Used in situations where there are not enough Excalibur available, this cheaper variation can still puncture most armours. Up to half a squad will carry these in addition to their B10 to augment the squads firepower.
Shock Troop recon units are largely allowed to work autonomously. They are trained gymnasts and contortionists capable of infiltrating buildings when they find them. As such they are specially armed with two wrist mounted silenced B5's. They are intended to infiltrate and provide useful data to the squads they are attached to. Over time these units are becoming more and more divergent from the shock troop squads.
The Ghost is a general purpose v-tol, supersonic transport capable of atmospheric entry and travel through space. It is mission configurable and can equip a variety of weapons similar to the longbow gunship though is purpose built for troop transport and use as a "battle bus".
Standard Gunship capable of hovering in the same spot. Can be launched from space carrier but are exclusively constructed for terrestrial warfare. Mounting a variety of devastating missile pods, rockets, smart bombs, two "Longbow Neutron beamcannon" and a front sustained fire railgun on 360-mount, their primary role is tank hunter.
Shadow are employed alongside squads taking orders directly by Emergent drop-soldiers. It provides a mobile heavy weapons platform mounting two sustained fire railguns aswell as back missile pods. They are often equipped with a "resurrected" personality, though the AI used is a closely guarded secret and periodically switched by commanders. They hover via grav-repulser plates and move via directional jets.
Utilising the same vat-grown muscle tissue technology of the Gekko. K-AI are faster than standard Shocktroops and often used as line breakers in fire teams. They utilise the same AI technology as Shadow though take orders from the chain of command in the fire team. They cannot hold rank.
An ancient Earth design, gekko use vat-grown muscle tissue to create a leg platform for a turret. The Muscle tissue is cloned from goat legs, they are fed with an improved blood analogue which can hold one extra oxygen and is pink in colour. They can heal and are equipped with a very simple programmed intelligence similar to an animal. They carry up to two railguns aswell as one internal sustained fire railgun. They can also be equipped with disposable guided missle pods. If approached they are capable of a devastating roundhouse kick, especially good for dealing with Mechs and quite capable of turning a tank on its side. The Emergent sometimes upload full AIs personalities into these units to act as a force multiplier. They are capable of traversing areas that tanks cannot and can jump over two story buildings.
Utilising grav-plates to hover and get engines to move itself this vehicle cannot travel through space, though is given some small level of stealth capability. Popular with Special Forces and Patrol units it is capable of carrying 7 personnel, 1 in a drivers cap and 7 mag-clamped to the outside. It is extremely fast as it does not touch the ground and can travel over water and minefields. It is actually fairly well armoured against small arms fire which is further improved by the difficulty of tracking it as it moves at high speed. It is quite robust and easy to repair which make it a favourite with Shock troops, and can still operate using only 1 engine and 3 grav plates. It however can be crippled by any explosives.
To Be Revealed.
The Herculese is equipped for both atmospheric and starflight. It is used as a heavy lifter to move assets to and from planets surfaces. Some models are equipped with a twin linked railgun on aircraft mount to engage targets of opportunity and shoot down missiles.
Pegasus space-superiority interceptor starfighter. Most Pegasus Starfighters in Emergent military use were given from Martian Imperial construction yards during the Zuukid war and were kept in service afterwards. The Pegasus is capable of both space flight and atmospheric flight, but it is its role in a ship-to-ship starfighter where it really excels. Equipped with a miniture warp-drive the Pegasus uses holy dark matter technology to propel itself through space by creating a pocket of low concentration dark matter in front of it, pulling it through space and a back draft of high concentration dark matter behind it. Theoretically in areas of the universe with high dark matter concentrations it can reach near lightspeed, in practice in most places it is slower. However its main advantage is its ability to travel extremely long ranges from its carrier, very important for star-combat and reconnaissance. In this role it is still one of the best in its class.
"Ragnarok" Stealth Multi-role fighter-bomber. The Ragnarok design purchased in small numbers from Starburst Valkyries Corp for testing and evaluation. (We can RP this out) It is used as a tactical fighter-bomber in ground operations where it can provide assistance for ground forces over a localised area. Its real advantage lays in its considerable armour and redundant systems which allow it to stay in a hot zone for a useful amount of time, and do its job before travelling to an airfield or carrier for refuelling. It can also engage other enemy air units to defend itself and carries bunker busting bombs. It can also be used in space to assault ships by carrying a large missile or torpedo underneath. There are several planned upgrade systems, including a long duration fule cells to improve its range and duration.
A short takeoff and landing Stealth transport for moving heavy vehicles and equipment. Designed for atmospheric use and can launch from space carrier.
Carrying both Starfighters and land troops, the Carrier, while able to provide support on its own, are also responsible for both the storage and protection of Starfighters.
Destroyers provide a valuable role in naval defense, especially in transport fleets.
The heaviest Ships in the Martian arsenal, Cruisers are largely used in the transportation of troops, as well as for capital ships, and to weaken defenses to allow Starfighters to finish their job.
Placed in low-orbit of certain theaters of war where ships of the line are otherwise indesposed. Using grav repulsers and geosynchronous orbit this gunship provides artillery strikes using its large railgun.
The Emergent have 3 major technological achievements, covered here in brief.
The Great Gene-Declassification: The point in time when all genes from the two planets were gathered into one mega database. They were then selected into "formulas" for military application. This has eclipsed all other purposes. Most Emergent present with peak human physical strength, endurance, an immaculate neural structure and remarkable resistance to ptsd. They are also always calm all the time. This is explained in more detail under History.
Emergent AI systems: The Emergent make use of relatively advanced AI. Often in the form of AI "Resurrected" persons from Earths history, and even entirely fictional characters. Most surprising this use is widespread, even in their military. This is often a worrisome prospect to nations who know first hand the costs of rogue AI, however the Emergent military structure has so far managed the risk. This is due to safeguards. Firstly the AIs are given a human personality of a "Resurrected" character from Earths history. With limited ability to re-write their own core programming they are "tethered" to the personality they inhabit. Thus limiting them from generating anti-human sympathies. They are also periodically restored to factory settings. Secondly the AI which are employed on the battlefield are not allowed to communicate with each other directly, but instead must do so with a human "interpreter", that acts as a conduit lock for the information. This is the reason for the Emergent not fielding AI exclusively on their missions, even though this would reduce the manpower loss and risk to asset personnel, it also has been shown to highly increase the risk of AI rebellion and network security issues to "foreign intervention". These safeguards allow them to field AI controlled machines alongside troops to reduce cost of loss of manpower. The AI personalities inhabiting these machines are a state secret, and are often selected by the commander.
Mk A1 Chemgland Complex. The Mark A1 is a Chemgland that is implanted into all military personnel in the Emergent after puberty. It is a semi organic semi cybernetic structure that produces and acts as a reservoir of useful drugs for the body. It is induction linked to the nervous system and has sensors in the blood, it responds when detecting certain stresses by releasing the right chemicals similar to a gland. It is capable of completely shutting off bloodloss from a severed limb by use of coagulants. It can induce wakefulness for a long period of time with increasing risk of fatigue and lunacy over longer periods of use. It can dull pain by releasing painkillers, though high volumes of use results in tunnel vision and loss of mental acuity. It can release a stimulant cocktail which is capable of keeping the heart pumping even under shock it also increases muscle twitch response rate and agility. It also contains an broad spectrum anti-venom. It is capable of diagnosing and releasing chemicals on its own, but does seek permission from the user, the user controls it through the nerve link at the base of the spine where the tail is. It is worth noting that Emergent do not actually have a tail, but they do have the local nervous system to control one. It was proposed early on that the chemgland should be controlled by Commanders, but it was decided via tactical analysis that this presented too great a risk and that it should be self sustaining. There is much research into nanotechnology integration of the gland however it is common knowledge that talking about such a thing is taboo as it is a state secret.
Emergent Stealth Technolgy. The Emergent military make wide use of Stealth enabled craft. This is a high costing maintenance approach but is countered by the Emergent's total military commitment. It is worth noting that these craft are not 100% stealthy, as this is impossible to achieve, but do have a reduced radar signature. It is possible with enough invested resources that these stealth systems can be nullified. But this would require high price and wide adoption by the opposing military. They do not infact have optical camo.
Religion/Culture
Upon Nodica and Pragma the Universal Kineticism with its emphasis on meditation at some level had mixed with Zen, imported with the Japanese colonists thousands of years ago. Universal Kineticism became intrinsically linked with nature and worship of the environment. It is through this rather surprisingly gentle and peaceful mindfulness that the Emergent respect for animals and plants came from. This eventually culminated with their incorporation of their genes into their bodies.
The Emergent now follow a different path. The Cult of Attention is a divergent subset of Universal Kinetecism that teaches that the direction and manifestation of human attention is the key to solving all conceivable problems within the boundaries of the universe. It teaches that scientific method, debating procedure, critical thinking and other phase-based systems, are all just different methods for focussing attention. It teaches that attention is focussed either on the past remembrance, present or future planning, and that one should stay stuck in one of these for too long. It places significant emphasis on staying focussed in the present for beginners, which is practiced through intense meditation. Later on it moves onto the ability to rapidly switch phases from past to present, to future. As its teaching goes; "bringing the mind from the future or memories back into the present counts as 1 rep, and just like a muscle this faculty can be exercised."
The religion also observes that peacefulness is found in meditation, but also that humans throughout history have found fascism undeniably attractive. It posits that fascism is also like a form of meditation where one focuses their mind solely on the task they are given, to the exclusion of all else, including humanity. Thus it teaches that the best strategy is to be able to focus on tasks fully and completely but to also be able to widen your focus to encompass the little things, like humanity and humility. To be able to do both is key, not just one or the other. Inflexibility is deadly on the battlefield and to those underneath you, it is as though flexibility is a requirement of evolution.
An often repeated quote among Emergent infantry is "Break it down." This refers to equipment maintenance rituals of breaking down weapons into their parts for cleaning, but is equally applied to problem solving. The concept of breaking a problem down, into the phases, such as scientific method, that the Cult of Attention visualises, is often held as a way of dealing with any problem or puzzle. It is suggested in basic training that any problem that seems insurmountable has not been broken down into enough phases. As a side note it is also often stated by Emergent Mathematicians that while all methods reduce a problem into phases mathematics is the ultimate phase-producer as it deals with the smallest quantities and measurements.
One of the mottos of Emergent basic training is "Virtue- born in hardship". It is repeatably drilled into recruits and is repeated back as a sign of attention and conformation. The quote is originally from Gen. Russell Thaddeus Hollis, the victor of the Zuukid crusade. It is because of this quote that in Emergent culture not simply intellectualism is valued, but those who have travelled the furthest from the lowest point. In essence it is distance travelled from hardship to intellectual ease that is valued, far above those who are simply endowed and achieve from that endowment, as all citizens of the emperor should endeavour in mundanity as a standard. This is why all Emergent seek out as much battlefield experience as they can, seeking to differentiate themselves by experience from their peers and, to the religious; apply attention focussing as widely as possible. Emergent are surprisingly xenophobic to non humans and sometimes divergent humans that are unapproved by gene-techs. However they have learnt to reign in this xenophobic tendency to atleast allow them to deal with the subhumans. An example of this is the sanctioning of Cultors, their simple animalistic nature is appreciated aswell as farming skills, as Emergent are loath to farm themselves personally, seeing it as below their class. A certain number of Cultors are maintained in the population aswell as even upon the holy capital ship of the fleet, the "Graceful", tending to the agri-bays to keep the Emergent fed. A high honour indeed for a xenos. Though, while on patrol and garrison missions upon planets Emergent love to hunt and forage for themselves, as one of the few recreational activities they get.
Demographics:
93% Emergent 7%" Cultors Unknown number of Parasitians.
Characters
WIP
Relations
WIP Martian Coalition: Zsresriir: Zuukid Empire: The State, of course, hates the Zuukids, and will eagerly seek war given any provocation. However the counter-Crusade was halted after a number of new systems were taken and consolidated. USS:
I will be playing another military junta. Not because im copying, this idea has sat in my brain for many years. The nation will have spawned from two worlds but is now mostly fleet based.
I'd just like to say i have a habit of joining these games on roleplayerguild but often falling away from it, this is because i'll say things like "lets have a diplomatic summit like Nuremberg or Geneva convention, to ban the use of more destructive (OP) weapons", or "lets start a multinational race car event like F1, so our peoples can expend some rivalry in another fashion besides military", and then no one responds for 4 weeks. Hopefully people will respond to things i say, even if its negative thats ok. Just dont ignore my nation pls!
Basically, i have allot going on. ALLOT. So i might not be the best, most consistent player ever. But that doesnt change the fact that i have allot of ideas unused form another game. To be quite honest i'd just like to share my ideas with the GM to see if they can get some use out of them. I hate to see an idea go to waste.
Ideas include: x1 plot arc / device x1 badguy team (Earth) x1 PC / NPC (Earth)
If thats ok, please tell me and i'll get back to you.
Just before they all got in the Rangerover, Stan stopped by Sandy to get the list of medicines they needed. Bradley was staying back this time and the team was made up of Stan, Jack and Tom. The sleek green Rangerover hybrid whined out of the parking lot driven again by Stan. Trees lined the road either side until they got out to the two way main road which had telephone wires and a few houses here and there. Not even twenty minutes passed and they were at the strip mall.
They pulled up to a shop that said "Seeds and Flowers" on the outside. Stan parked close to the building entrance which was easy as only a few cars were parked there. The building, which had metal bars on the windows had the lights on. Stan let his rifle hang from his back and peeked through the door window before entering followed by Jack and Tom. A woman of about 60 with her grey hair in a bun was behind the counter. She eyed them suspiciously as they entered. "Hello, im from the clan MacStewart community centre and..." She eyed the black rifle barrel poking out from his back and began to back away. Stan raised both hands palms empty "We have money. We have money." he quickly said. "We have MONEY and we'll PAY you." He stressed the terms "We're from a community centre and we need some seeds for vegetables." She looked a little confused and then called "Arnie?" to the back of the room which was filled with shelves of grow bags. A moment passed and Stan kept his palms up for good measure. Then Arnie appeared. A younger, fitter, rotund looking man with black hair, of about the same age. "Can i help you?" "Have you got any seeds for us to BUY." Stan said while trying to smile. "We're local" He added. "Just off church street, by the old summer camp. We were thinking we could grow some extra food and anyone that would sell to us we could enter into a business relationship, sell back to them stuff WE have. Safety in numbers. Until all of this has blown over..." "We're all out of seeds." Arnie said. Stan looked crestfallen. "They were all bought up by the traffic that came through yesterday" Arnie said. Arnie looked over the strange young man in front of him wearing the tartain pants. "What community centre did you say you were from again?" he added. "We're from the Clan MacStewart community centre up by the old summer camp. Theres a bunch of us." Stan said. Arnie mulled this over for a nanosecond. "You dont need seeds. You want vines and grow bags." He finally said, confidingly. "Noone bought any vines or soil." Stan continued cautiously. "How many can you sell me?" "I can let you have about 12 tomatoe and squash vines today. And about 12 more each month." He said slowly. "Sounds good to me." Stan said looking at Jack and Tom. "Lets pay the man." A little while later and the back trunk was filled with vines and soil bags. When they were done Stan said "Ok lets check that pharmacy over there."
They walked across the carpark, passed the KFC restaurant. The pharmacy had its lights on, but the shelves were clearly completely empty. The bell rang as they went in. "Hello? Anybody here? We'd just like to BU-" he stopped as he turned round the corner. "An old lady was on her knees comforting a young man who had been shot." There was lots blood all over the floor, it was a deep red, too much. "Help, i dont know what to do!" She cried. Stan darted over with Jack at his side. He bent down. "I-i tried calling the hospital but the lines too busy." She had obviously tried to staunch the bleeding by pressing down bandages but they were all soaked through onto the floor. She wore a pharmacist coat and name tag 'Gladys'. Stan immediately reached back into his pocket and took out a quick clot patch. "here this'll help stop the bleeding." "SOMEONE GET HIM SOME WATER QUICK." he shouted. The young man also wore a pharmacy labcoat and groaned deliriously. Stan took off the sodden bloody bandages, a big circular bullet hole right over his liver oozed blood and Stan slapped on the quick clot. He tried to poke the patch closer inside the hole but he was too squeamish to jam his finger in. "Oh Mark... oh Mark!" said the old lady. Tom appeared with a cup of water. Stan took it an tried to poor it down the mans throat. He groaned and swallowed. "We have to get him to a hospital. Theres one in town." Stan said. The woman who was in tears said. "You cant carry him! I'll get a hammock." and hurried to a back room. She appeared with a sheet and they lifted him onto it. They then grabbed each side and picked him up in the sheet. The young man groaned in pain but was too delirious to say anything. They quickly carried him back to the Rangerover and holding the man up with the strength of one arm Jack opened the rear doors. "What about the plants?" said Stan. "Theres no fucking time. We'll have to leave them in." Replied Jack. They piled the man ontop of the grow bags and Tom climbed in the back. The old lady got into the side door and Jack and Stan ran round to the front seats of the SUV and strapped their seatbelts. Stan hammered down the accelerator and tore out of onto the main road at top speed. "Tom, i need you to prop his legs up. WAY up there. Keep them WAY up there." Shouted Stan. The SUV revved as the accelerator kept going up gears. There was nobody else on the road and they hit top speed after about 6 seconds. "Whats going on?" Stan heared Lewis in the bluetooth earpiece. "Ive found a random man shot and we're proceeding to hospital." Stan said slowly and with concentration. After a little while he heard Lewis respond. "What do you need me to do?", "Stay on the line, the hospitals just coming up.". They rounded to the main entrance and Stan honked the horn and hit the brakes which squealed to a halt. In a moment they were out of the vehicle and Stan ran into the hospital. "A PHARMACISTS BEEN SHOT! I NEED A DOCTOR!" A moment later some nurses and a doctor came running out with a gurney. The young doctor called out "Wheres he been shot?" Stan said "the liver... it... it looks like the liver.", "i need to get him into an operating room, quick." called the doctor. He looked at the guns. "We didnt..." Stan began "I dont care." replied the doctor as he ran up with the gurney. The old lady Gladys disappeared with them into the hospital. In a moment they were gone and the 3 were left standing on the concrete driveway. Leaving bloody bootprints, Silently they got back into the car. "We've handed him off to the hospital, Lewis. We're heading back to the strip mall." On the drive back, adrenalin pumping, this time obeying the speed limit. They parked at the strip mall and Stan pulled the break handle back. They sat silently. Stan breathed in and then breathed out a big sigh. "Well, that was unexpected." he waited another moment. "C'mon lets finish the job." He popped open the door and got out into the carpark. He took out the list. "Doesnt look like we'll get any of those medicines today." He looked up at the KFC. "But how about some food? Its getting about lunchtime." He set off to the KFC, Jack and Tom followed. The lights were off but the glass front door was ajar. He took out his rifle from its sling and wielded it one hand as he opened the door with the other. "Hello?" He entered the gloom. The lights were on by the kitchen. There were illuminated signs saying "6 piece meal." and etc. There was a strong smell of frying and the faint sound of boiling in the background. Stan walked as quietly as he could. He reached the cashier tills and walked around. He could see that the tills had been opened and the cash swiped clean. "Huh." He said half to himself. He then turned his attention to the kitchen and advanced slowly around the corner. The frying vats were still bubbleing, boiling infact, actually he could see some blue smoke raising up from them. JESUS A FIRE! He went to the dails on the front and switched them all off. He saw the wires heading back to a fuse box, someone had put a nail in the fuse socket. So this is how it was? Swipe the cash and arson the building to cover your tracks. Jack and Tom surveyed the situation. "Well how about that? Ambulance AND fire preventers?!" Stan said jokingly. "I dont know about you, but i'd say preventing a building from burning down has urnt us a free lunch just as soon as these fryers cool down" He then went to the managers room at the back of the building. The vault was open. "Ah, an inside job." He went back to the kitchen and over to the fridge and opened it. There were huge bags of chicken. He took some from the open bag and dropped them into the fryer. He passed some giant cans of cooking oil. "Thats what we need. Cooking oil!" He picked up the cans and started to load them onto the cash desk. "You want to just, TAKE these?" Said Jack. "If it werent for us, the whole building would have burnt to the crisp, heck the entire strip mall, I say we eat our lunch and go." "This doesn't feel right." said Tom. "Ive had a rough day and i want some chicken." Stan retorted. "He does have a point." said Jack. "People have gone crazy and we dont know when we'll get more food." Tom just shook his head. He took out his wallet, a sleek black hugo boss leather affair and opened it to reveal a huge wodge of hundreds. He took one out and placed it on the chash desk. A little while later they were eating at one of the KFC stalls. Even Tom to everyone's surprise. They eat silently, enjoying their ill gotten just reward of self service KFC. Stan broke the silence by getting out the list again. "Humm, alcohol to disinfect and dull pain." he read out. Ofcourse, there weren't any pain killers in the centre. Lots of iodine, no pain killers. "Ok after this we'll try the liquor shop." They finished up and Jack and Stan loaded the cans of cooking oil into the Rangerover. "Ok stick close." he said.
They all walked up to the liquor shop. Stan had a bad feeling about this as he saw the glass window was broken. He opened the door quietly and slipped inside. Inside was a room full to bursting with alcohol of every different type. Nothing had been touched he walked slowly and noticed there wasnt much glass to step on... He approached the desk counter his hand hovering over his pistol holster... a man was sitting with his back turned to them. He hadnt heard them enter. An open bottle of scotch sat next to him and a radio was playing 3 dog. "Hello?" Stan called. The man wheeled around, eyes flashing white and pulled out a pump action shotgun. "WOW, WOW, WOW" Stan shouted "FRIENDLIES, FRIENDLIES!!" The mans burst of speed had got the drop on all of them he was standing up, aiming at Stan. He had white stubble and thinning hair. "Get out the way you came." The grizzled looking man said. "Friendlies! We just want to buy..." "GET OUT. You scavengers are all the same. I heard the shots next door." "That wasnt us! We helped! We took the guy to the hospital." The man looked confused and angry. Lowered the shotgun to his hip. "I saw. It wasnt you. It was that other guy. I took a shot at him through my window. The guy with the white Ferrari." "A white Ferrari?" Stan repeated. "But you still have to LEAVE." "Ok, we're leaving, we're leaving." Slowly they backed out awkwardly out of the door. They went back to the car and got in. "Lets go, not every store visit has to be a victory." He said as he hit the indicators. "A white Ferrari?" Said Jack. Stan slowly blew air out of his teeth. "Some people..."
Later on some people had woken up. Stan rallied Jack and Tom to go with im to show them around. He showed them the outdoor sheds the jetty, the zodiac and had gathered one of the nets hed put in the shed. He then walked into the woods towards where the water screw turbine house was. "These woods are hopefully where we'll hunt. No messing about we need to get hunting as soon as possible and i was hoping you two would help me. We've got electric ATVs for brining back food and hunting rifles we'll train you on. I suggest taking the ATVs out a good one and a half kilomiters out to hunt. Stay in contact with Lewis, whos our radio operator with the bluetooth headsets. Theres probably too much commotion at the centre to get good game. Ducks and pheasants and whatever are probably a good idea with the shotguns. There will be arrow firing gass guns for bigger stuff on the ground like deer or whatever. Those will be silent so you'll have more of a chance." They approached the water screw. "Right, im going to set up this net by the water screw. Sometimes fish come down here... i mean, i assume, because it says its designed that way." He made his way down the stony embankment and with Jack crossing over the other side they were able to pin a net with some rocks. "We'll keep catching as much food as we can and vacuum packing it; we have an industrial vacuum packer. That way we'll have enough for winter." "Whats the point in hunting when the shops are still open?" Jack said as he dutifully placed down a stone on the net. "Well, exactly, today were going to go see what the local shops look like. I passed a strip mall on the way here." "Yes i know the one." Said Jack. "There... imagine if we catch a salmon, then we can have salmon." Stan said as he put down the final stone. "What do you say? Up to an excursion to the shops?" He said looking everyone in the face. "Sure, why not?" Said Tom. After a silence Stan said. "We'll have to take some guns. From now on nobody leaves the centre unarmed. Its just a precaution." "Im not sure, do we need to? I dont want to actually shoot anything." Said Tom. "Dont." Said Stan. "They're just for show." He then added "Hopefully." They then went to the armoury room and picked out 3 LWRC carbines. Loaded 3 mags each. And took two additional PPQ pistols. Bradley and Stan then gave them a run down of gun safety. They stressed these points. "The gun is always treated as if its loaded. Always. Even if its empty you dont point the barrel at anything you dont intend to die." Said Bradley. "Also, if you are in a gunfight and your ally is infront of you behind cover. You dont fire OVER their cover. Never fire over the cover. If they stand up suddenly, or bullets drop down, their dead. Bullets also skip on stuff like pebbles on water. so be careful and never fire near an ally unless you have to." Stan said. Then he added. "Theres a bit of a legal confusion over brandishing vs not brandishing. As of now im telling you we do not practice brandishing. If you have a pistol, you keep it hidden right up until the life or death moment. If someones being a bastard, try convincing them right up until the moment they threaten to kill someone. We dont want anyone to be able to gauge our strength because our strength is not that big." He then let the instructions sink in.
It was early morning and Stan awoke with a start still sitting in the chair of the foyer. A volkswagon hatchback had rolled into the parking lot. He recognised it, got to his feet and strode forward, through the glass door and into the lot. Ian and William were just getting out of the car. "Welcome, welcome. I guess it was a crazy journey?" "Yes, sort of. Everyone in the country decided to move around like musical chairs was the safest thing to do." Said Ian in his trademark sardonic humour. "Well come in, we've got some sweet potatoe soup left in the kitchen that you can warm up. Most everyones asleep... well atleast i think they are... I was..." "Hi Will, hi Addison" he waved as they disembarked unloaded things from the car. A little while later and they had warmed up some leftover soup, mugs of tea and bread. Ian, who preferred not to talk to the young men had no other choice but to make small talk. "Well so what exactly's the plan here, we stay in the community centre, have wars like mad max with other groups over important things like sheep?" Stan hesitated and then said "Well... i was thinking we could croft, like some of the old places up in the highlands. Deer, wild birds. You could even do some fishing... we have a boat." "Ah, good... ive been planning a fishing holiday." said the Engineer as he drank some more tea. "Soo...." Addison began folding her arms and rolling her eyes. "Hows the family been?" "Everyones holding together hoping this will be over soon... we'll be expecting some more people." "How many more?" "Well theres plenty on the membership list. As many as turn up i suppose. A dozen or so???" William let out a sigh as he tapped on his ipad. "Internets' still slow." "Well, we have a computer room already set up, just off to the side of the foyer. Bradley and Lewis were setting up a computer last night. You dont know Lewis but hes from the other side of the family. Professional Drummer." William raised his eyebrows but then went back to his glum teenage look and then slunk off from the table to go find the others. "Dont mind him. SO. Is there any jobs we can do?" Said Addison. Addison who had, of all things grown up on a sailing boat travelling the world with her father who as ex-military officer but somehow made domestic bliss look second nature with Ian. "Its fine. Besides he hasnt had any sleep... neither of you have. Just get yourselfs ensconced and at home and i'll show you the boat later." "What kind of boat is this we're talking about? Wooden barrel? Upturned bucket? Powered by blueberries?" said Ian. "Oh... its a zoidiac." Stan said, not sure how to react to the joke.
