The last time I spoke about the play-by-post game I’m involved in over at roleplayinggames.net the cast was in the midst of an out of control decent to an alien world. Only the small, recently awoken crew of Last Hope stood between life and death from the remaining humans in the universe … they crashed the ship but between the skills of black-Hawk Pilot Specialist Lily Cain and Air Force NASA pilot Tom the crew and the cyro-sleep remains of humanity survived.
Since then a lot happened. Cat-people, bird people killer kaolas and the AI and ship’s doctor waking all the humans … 2 month shave gone by since Lily Cain was woken from cyro-sleep and this is how we now find her:
For those that don’t know my character Specialist Lily Cain is a Para-rescue soldier and one of the 200 humans left in the universe. She is a small, brash soldier who was often in trouble with her command, but one of the best pilots around. She is an in-your-face sci-fi and fantasy geek who attempted to name the planet Bob and Miranda and who now reads the Hobbit to all who will listen every night around a bonfire in the human colony … she also doesn’ tlike what her role is on “New Hope” her name for the colony.
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You’re a paper-pushing secretary! Lily’s mind screamed at her as she scrolled through the GMO seeds listed in Last Hope’s database. I used to fly Black Hawks into warzones and now I’m programing crops! She let out a small puff of air and removed herself from the barrier wall of the “New Hope”, her unofficial name for the colony … and maybe planet. She tucked the tablet under an arm and started her daily walking tour of the facility. She would end at the church, as she always did, to pray and share a few words with the Father than move on toward the “castle” as the SFC has started to refer to Last Hope.
Bastard calls it a castle but would probably nixed the engineer’s plans for a working ballista and upgrades to the wall to create a functional palisade. “We’re not a modern force anymore,” she continued to grumble out loud. “Hell, we’ll be out of ammunition within a year most …” she stopped and tapped on the tablet bringing up her memo pad. Note: ask Jasmine to run the numbers on ammo supply. She slapped the tablet back under her arm and continued her tour.
“Miss Cain!” Lily cringed at the miss. She wasn’t a civilian damnit! She turned and plastered on her best PR smile.
“Joseph!” She said happily to the young man before. “You look like you could use a shower, how goes the …”
“We finally got the Venes house finished,” He interrupted.
“Excell …”
“They’ll be moving in shortly … oh! A couple of the farmers are working on the planting!”
Lily’s smile became genuine; the Venes’ house was one of the last personal structures to be built. Each home was a small one storey structure, not quite round but round-enough that the space, limited as it was, didn’t seem as such.
“That’s great, Joe!” Lily felt her smile growing, food and homes … maybe soon babies … “New Hope indeed,” she blurted out.
Joseph gave her a questioning look and she waved him away. “Okay, I’m going to go take a look at the fields see if we can manage awhile before getting the livestock out of cold storage then off to finish the tour.” She gave Joseph an overly obvious sniff and animated grimace. “Joe, go shower, you smell worse than the koalas …”
The young man smiled and nodded. “You telling the story again tonight?” He asked before heading off. Lily nodded and started on her way.
When the hell did Ibecome Astrid Larsson?
– A half-hour later –
Lily nearly had a skip in her step. The farmers knew their trade even on an alien world. The local plant-life was different so was the soil but tests should the variance wasn’t enough to be a problem for earth born plants … carrots, soon there would be carrots!
The young Specialist hopped up the small steps and into the church. “Father Earl! Great news!” She called out with more excitement than discretion given that she was in a church. “Planting is happening, we’ll have a crop by T-Fall!” She finished and then noticed, far too late, Jordara … “Oh, Jordara!” She raised her hand in a friendly salute … “I’m sorry I interrupted … I’ll come back later …” She trailed off, but hesitated to move, waiting and hoping to be invited to stay.
