Before we start, a few things:

• All posts contained within are owned by their posters, no-one is to repost anything from this thread without the owner's consent.
• Respect the GMs. Their word is final. If you have an issue with a GM's decision, PM Zekiran or myself [MNDF].
• Read the Forum Rules and the Roleplay Guidelines before posting.
• Have fun!

Now... Here comes what we've been waiting for...

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As the sun rises over the desert horizon Black Mesa Research Facility buzzes into full activity; scientists, security guards, janitorial staff, cooks, private contractors, both military and civilian, officials, business types...
People of all professions, all ages, all races...
And not a single one knows what the next morning will hold...

---

SSgt Malcom Connor

It was early. Not unreasonably so, but the wear of the past week had taken its toll on Malcom.
“Hey!” Said Lee, deliberately slamming his locker door.
“Huh?” Mal managed, jolted back to the waking world.
“Late night?”
“Worse. Double shifts.” Mal sighed, finally strapping on his PCV. “Wake up, spend 18 hours walking around, then straight to sleep, rinse and repeat...”
“No breaks?” Lee exclaimed, disbelief upon his face.
Mal laughed dryly “Not even lunch. No time, not with the crappy tram services we have around here.”
Lt. Mitchell entered the locker room, holding the clipboard which would no doubt tell everyone what kind of boredom awaited them for the day. “OKAY, PEOPLE!” He called.
“How long do you intend to do this?” Lee whispered.
“WILLIS!” Mitchell yelled, the rest of the ECRU day shift looking in Lee's direction.
“Sir?”
“Shut it! Now then,” Mitchell began, “it's your favourite time of day! Rota time!” Those who weren't kitted up, hurried to load their G36C's and put on their PCVs. “Okay, usual deal, people. I read your assignment, you haul ***. I really shouldn't need to keep telling you, but some of you aren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed.”
“I think he means you, Chase!” Lee shouted. The locker room was filled with laughter, and even Mitchell managed a smile.
“Yeah, alright, alright.” Mitchell chuckled, “I would like you out on patrol sometime this week! All of squads Bravo, Echo, India and Juliet are staying back on-call." A wave of groans filled the air, as a third of the day shift returned to the commons. “Starting with Alpha; Tallow and Smith, your beat is the bio-enclosures, off you go.”
“Try not to walk into any Snark nests, Chase!” called another soldier. Chase didn't turn back, simply raising his middle finger to him on the way out. Mitchell shook his head and continued
“Wilson and Lambert; you've got Sector D. Willis and Connor, I've wrangled you a beat in Sector E, so Connor don't need to go anywhere for his second shift.” As they passed him on the way out, Mitchell held Mal back. “One second people.”
“What is it, sir?” Mal asked as Mitchell took him to one side.
“You sure you're alright with this?” he asked. “I can find someone else to take your place.”
“It's fine, sir. I could use the extra cash. My parents are getting on in years, and I don't want them put in a home.”
“I understand that, Mal,” Mitchell sighed, “but I don't want you burning out. You're a good soldier, and we need good soldiers. It's hard enough convincing the Science Team and Administration we're actually of some worth.”
“I know, sir. I won't let you down.”
“I know. Go on.” Mitchell returned to assigning squads as Malcom rejoined Lee.
“What was that about, man?” Lee asked as they walked to the tram stop.
“Nothing. Let's just get this day over with.”

(ooc: edited to make it easier to read, and added character's name)

Dr Robert "Flynn" Kessal


Flynn sighed, and looked about the tram. Outbound from the car terminal, he was heading to the center of Black Mesa. Bored out of his mind, he was missing his MP3 player which he had lost the day before. Hoping it was in the lab, or his locker, he paid no heed to the passengers who got on at the next stop. Well, all except one.

"Oi! Zippo! Over here!" Flynn yelled to one of the scientists currently embarking the tram, who looked over and grinned. He was around mid-thirties, with bright ginger hair. He was tall and skinny, and his lab coat sleeves were too short for him.
"Hey Flynn," he said as he sat down, "Why do you never just call me Steve?" Flynn laughed and replied
"It's just not as funny. Besides, you never call me Robert, Sir Steven Xander Esquire!" They both burst out laughing, causing half of the tram's passengers to glance round at them.

"So," said Flynn, after regaining his composure, "What's on the agenda for AM today?" Zippo shrugged, and replied
"Just preparing for the big test tomorrow. You'll have heard about it. The crystal that the government brought in, under Dr Breen's sanction." Flynn looked puzzled.
"I thought that weird official-looking bloke brought it in. You know, that dude with the suitcase, doesn't say much. Keeps adjusting his tie and brushing his coat before he walks off." Zippo shook his head,
"Nah, he keeps trying to persuade Dr Vance not to do the experiment. And he seems to be following random people around. He has an attachment to following Dr Freeman." Flynn laughed again
"A government-employed stalker? next we'll have bloody James Bond turning up on our door, asking for the latest jetpack!" They both started laughing, and got up as the tram reached the Black Mesa entrance.

"You still missing your MP3 player?" Zippo asked Flynn as they walked to the security doors.
"Yep," replied Flynn, "But it'll turn up somewhere. You know how things are. Dude, when are you gonna ask for a bigger labcoat?" Flynn winked, and Zippo grinned.
"When I have time," he replied, "And besides, what happened to yours?" Flynn looked down at his arms, forgetting the lower arms of his lab coat were missing.
"Oh, I cut them off the other day. Too many mishaps with malfunctioning droids!" Flynn laughed, and Zippo shook his head.
"Well," said Zippo, heading for the corridor leading to the Anomalous Materials labs,
"I'll see you at lunch dude!" Flynn grinned and threw the metal horns in Zippo's direction.
"Likewise, brother!" he said, before heading off to the Robotics labs. Hmm, he thought, I think I remember where my MP3 player is! He headed off to the locker rooms, starting another work day in Black Mesa.

Mars Walsh

The trams were pretty empty, at least at the time that Mars got on them. She knew perfectly well that in around half an hour they'd be busy as heck - getting that many employees into the facility took timing and effort.

If only they would just let her walk in, she had timed her last run from her dorm to the weapons lab in Sector E, and it was nearly half the time that it took to get to the tram station and ride it with its endless loop of employment information and local affairs yammering on.

She kicked the back of the seat in front of her. If there had been someone in it, she might have done it anyway, but as it was she could almost lift it out of its too-worn-screwed moorings.

Whoever sat in it next might be in for a nasty surprise.

She giggled madly at that, and sobered up by the time she got to the platform for her sector. Doctor Walsh had to enter the Sector with some kind of decorum. Especially since she spotted Arne Magnussen down there by her office door waiting impatiently.

As if he ever did anything patiently.

She took her sweet time while in the locker room. Her protective gear fit nicely in the locker along with several interesting magazines and books. She applied her traditional white labcoat over the black and steel colored armor, and finally strode up to the Weapons lab.

"Good morning Arne, how are you today?" She chittered with a huge fake grin on her face. "Better watch what you eat, I can feel your blood pressure from here."

She unlocked the lab door with a special 17 digit sequence, enjoying the colors that Magnussen was turning about digit 12 and giggling to herself by the time she'd finally finished.

"Are you always this late?" He spat, quietly. "We've got plenty to do in my part of the Sector, and I'd like to make sure that you're up to speed. Plenty of buzzing - gossip mongers everywhere - about that blasted Anomalous Materials division."

"I could go check and see how they're doing," Mars replied, pulling out a clipboard and checking her notes from the day before. "But I'm afraid I've got a few things of my own I'm working on." She reached up (having to stretch pretty hard, damn those tall shelves) and grasped a small ceramic-coated object. "Here," she tossed it to Magnussen, "go blow this up if you can. I'd like to see if you get better results than I did."

Magnussen looked at it with doubt carefully moving across his face. He was never a handsome man, but certainly not ugly - he carried himself with grace and bluster. If he wasn't such a prick about everything, Mars might even like him genuinely. As it was, the black-haired woman considered him to be a "peer" (even if he didn't think a woman fifteen years younger than himself - and a woman should even be in such a lab) or perhaps an ally.

Mars made little 'shoo shoo' motions with her armor-clad fingers. And though this was obviously not what he came there for, Dr. Magnussen left for his own section of the weaponry development area with the small object. He turned at the door and asked, "what is it?"

"I don't know," Mars replied. "Found a bunch of them in my testing box yesterday. I think spooky-guy," she opened her eyes all wide and looked around as though mentioning him could make him appear, "flattop dude, brought them. No notes, nothing. So far testing has had them inert at pretty much every turn."

"Inert," Magnussen grunted.

"Impervious," Mars said, with a grin. That got him, she thought. More intently he walked away, and left Mars to her own devices as her staff came in. They slunk past the man with fear - but he was too absorbed to notice them or scold them for being even later than Mars was.

After all it was only seven in the morning, no one just jumps out of bed and invents, right?

[OOC: Can we please put the name of the character being played at the top of the post? Thanks.]

Lt. Sparks

Sparks' boot crunched on the brass of ejected shells that littered the floor around him and his squad as they slowly made their way along a dim corridor lit only by emergency lighting. The corridor ended abruptly with a solid steel door. As the squad formed up around it Sparks turned to Corporal Lewis, a tall and lanky figure with darkened skin and ruffed brown hair;
"Blow it." Sparks nodded to the door.
"Roger. Get back."
Everyone moved back as Lewis began placing small, rectangular pieces of plastic explosive on the door at the critical locations; hinges, locks, handle.
It only took 48 seconds before Lewis had joined Sparks and the others at the end of the corridor. Lewis whispered softly as he ran his finger over the red trigger on a small remote.
"...3...2...1...Fire in the hole."
The last syllable was cut off by the ear-splitting blast followed by the crash of the door falling inwards.
"Go!" Sparks yelled and ran forward in a crouch, the others following.
As they filed hastily into the room gunshots echoed around them, the sounds of ricochets bounced about the chamber as they found cover and returned fire.
As the others held down suppressive fire Sparks twisted to look around his cover, seeing the objective at the opposite end of the room; a large black box, 1x1x3 meters according to the brief.
Sparks pointed to two of the men nearest him with two fingers and signalled them to take the right flank before signalling Lewis to follow him up the right.
As they moved up the room under the covering fire of the other three men from the squad an alarm began to flash.
'One minute left.'
In Jack's mind he was timing the minute, the others knew what it meant and they pushed harder forwards. As both pairs reached the box all except Lewis made a defensive semi-circle as he detached the portable blowtorch from his pack and began cutting through the locks.
'28...'
As Lewis continued cutting the firefight raged on between the others and their adversaries who only managed the occasional pot-shot at the four men around the box.
'19...'
The fourth metallic clank sounded as the fourth lock dropped off, a grating noise followed as Lewis pushed the box open and grabbed the small package from within, stashing it under his arm.
"Fall back!" Sparks ordered with a yell.
As the four sprinted back to the doorway they leapt any obstacles and prayed that bullets would not find them.
'10...'
As Sparks hit 9 in his head they burst from the room and sprinted back along the dim corridor, only 30 meters separated them and their exfil point.
As the end of the corridor rushes to meet them Sparks slides to a halt and pushes each man through with a slap on the back before making his own way out of the door and into the dusty light of morning.

The 7 of them stand gathered just outside of a warehouse building, watching as the Commanding Officer of the H.E.C.U. approaches. As he reaches within a few paces he claps slowly 4 times.
"Lieutenant Sparks... As I'm sure you know Lieutenant Tompkins before you set a near perfect time when you were his Staff Sergeant... And I know you've been pushing to break that time..." A smile spreads across the CO's face as he pauses for a second, "4 seconds under."
The entire squad bursts into a series of celebratory hoots, high fives and laughter.
"Corporal Lewis, pass that package to the Lieutenant, its a surprise for him." As he speaks the CO keeps a smile on his face but something changes in it.
Lewis hands the package to Sparks and finishes the exchange with another high five, "Good work LT, I hope there's a nice lady in there for you... We all know you need one."
Sparks smiles and clips Lewis across the head softly as the others laugh, "I think we could all do with a nice lady, Loo."
As Jack stows the package under his arm he notices the OC's eyes focussed on him, "Sir?"
"Walk with me a moment." the OC's smile has faded, his face is all business now.
"Alright," Sparks pauses to look around his squad, "Fuckin' brilliant work boys. Hit the showers and I'll see you ready for more after lunch. You earned a break."
He turns from them and looks back to the OC, "What's on your mind, chief?"

---

Dr Robert "Flynn" Kessal


Bored after his shift, Flynn walked into the kitchen area of the staffroom. Getting his usual microwave dinner, he went to put it in the machine, only to find Magnusson had left his casserole in there. Again.
"Bloody Magnusson! Why can't he just eat the whole damn thing, rather than leaving it there?" Flynn, disgruntled, made his dinner.

After eating, he decided to explore a bit. Wandering around aimlessly, he ended up heading towards the Weapons Testing Facility.
Ah, he thought to himself, this is the perfect opportunity to scope out what I could put on some battle droids! Chuckling to himself at the ideas of robots bristling with weapons, Quake-style, he headed off down the corridors.
Plus, he thought, maybe I'll catch sight of that Dr Walsh. She's a hottie! Grinning and chucking again, he set off towards the main test chambers.

As he headed down, watching the day's weapons tests, he saw one of the ECRU guys on patrol.
Hey, he thought, this gives me perfect timing to ask who put those bullet holes in my droid! He walked over to the guy, looking at his ID badge to see who he was. Seeing his name was SSgt Malcom Connor, he asked,
"Excuse me, can I disturb your patrol a second?"

RP Conversation
Involving: SSgt. Malcom Connor (Deimenried) and Dr. Robert Kessal (LorgarForneus)
Drafted: 7th Sep 2008 via IM

To follow LorgarForneus' post above:

> Malcom was once more broken from his daydreaming. "How can I help, sir?"
> Flynn looked at his badge again, "Er, Staff Sergeant, is it? Can I just call you by your first name?" Flynn smiled "I dislike formalities. Anyway, I was wondering if you knew who shot up that droid the other week?"
> Malcom was somewhat suprised. Usually science personnel were so far up their own arses, they couldn't remember what daylight looked like. "Well, we did stop a robotic unit that was causing harm to equipment and personnel the other week..." Malcom mused, "Oh, and it's Malcom, by the way."
> Flynn smiled, and held out his hand "Malcom, eh? I'm Dr Robert Kessal, but just call me Flynn."
> Mal took his hand, firmly shaking it, before returning it to the trigger of his G36C, its natural place, Malcom thought. "In that case, call me Mal."
> Flynn nodded "Mal it is then. As for the droid, I'd heard it was doing some damage. But they need to train you guys in how to disable those things properly. That way, you wouldn't waste your ammunition, and I wouldn't have to repair them. Though it was fun!" Flynn grinned "Definitely broke up the monotony of the day."
> Mal sighed, "Well, normally, we'd use EMP charges to disable the circuits, but we get slated for using those too..."
> Flynn laughed "Well, I can understand that. But I mean, the droid I build, I always add an override switch. Do you guys get a PDA?"
> "PDA?" Mal laughed. "We're lucky if we get a fresh PCV...."
> Flynn grinned "Ah, that may be a problem. Well, if there's a computer nearby, just type the command 'Droid_override full' then the serial number of the droid. That's why I always add the serial number in very big letters!"
> Mal tried to hide a smile, "Yeah... we kept the serial number panel from that and hung it up in the barracks. Bullet holes and all... I'll remember that, Flynn, thanks."
> Flynn smiled "No problem dude. And I wondered where that went! Dude, have you been down in the Anomalous Materials labs? They've been preparing most of the day for the latest experiment."
> "Not recently. That's been Smith and Wilson's beat for the past week, although I hear there's some suit wandering around thereabouts..."
> Flynn shook his head "That bloody suit has been everywhere. Never says anything much, just straightens his tie. Walks around with a briefcase. He seems to be particularly bothered with the guys down there."
> "Ever heard of a guy named Freeman?" Mal enquired, "Works down there. Theoretical physics guy, or some **** like that. Apparently that suit is sticking to him like a limpet."
> Flynn grinned "Oh yeah, I know him. He's the only one who does anything about Magnusson's bloody casserole! Freeman keeps nuking the thing." Flynn laughed. He rubbed his chin, thinking. "Well, I don't know why suit bloke would want him. neither of them talk much, to be honest. I know he's been after Vance and Kleinman."
> "That's not suprising." Mal snorted, "They're at the top of their field. If anyone in this god forsaken place deserves 24/7 peeping-toms-for-hire following them, it's those guys."
> Flynn nodded "Aye, that be true. But you'd think they'd have wierd, female science-groupies or something, not an odd man with a flat-top haircut, a blue suit and a purple tie."
> Malcom just laughed. "Yeah. You'd expect half-naked chicks, not some business guy who looks like he just walked under a particularly sharp low bridge..."
> Flynn burst out laughing "Haha! Nice one dude! Anyway, I best let you get back to patrol. I'll meet up with ye again later, when you're shift's over. We can check out just what the bloody hell's going on. I'm sure Zippo won't mind us bobbing down to the AM labs."
> "I've got another after this... I won't be off duty til' midnight... " Mal sighed, "And then it's straight to sleep for the start of my 6 AM shift again."
> Flynn practically choked. "**** dude, they don't let you off easy, do they? Well, I'll go down in the morning, and I'll tell you what I find afterwards, to satisfy our curiosities." Flynn smiled and nodded. "Oh you seen Dr Walsh around? I was gonna ask her for some weapon specs."
> Mal sighed "Double shifts, dude. Gotta give my parents proper care when they retire. And there's only one set of specifications I want to know about Walsh..." Mal began is patrol once more, chuckling as he went. A crude joke, but she was something else...
> Flynn laughed "No problem man, I'll see you later brother!" He wandered further down the corridor. Oh well, he thought, at least I'm not the only one who thinks she's hot! He burst out laughing, and went to find her, mentally planning a robot tank onto which to fit them.

Lt. Sparks

Jack walked alongside the CO in silence as he waited for him to speak. Before long they were walking beside the long firing range, as they paced its length the occasional shot would ring out and a target would shake with the force of a .300 Winchester round passing through it.
But soon their walking stopped, they stood outside the door to one of the old, and now disused, munitions sheds.

"Lieutenant, you're not going to like what I have to say next. But honestly, neither do I. When the suits told me I had to grin and bear it and now you do to. Got it?"
"Yes, Sir." Sparks replied, his voice flat.
"This upcoming operation... It's finally time to let you in on what is going to go down... At least, what little I know... Unfortunately only you are allowed to hear the orders until we are outbound in the Ospreys. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Sir, bu-" Jack began before the CO cut him off.
"Grin and bear it Lieutenant."
"Sir."
"Thank you. Now, you're familiar with Black Mesa Research Facility?"
"Of course, Sir."
"Good, because you're going to get to know it a lot better. That's where the operation is going down..." The CO's voice trails off.
"Sir?"
"Don't worry, come in here." The CO turns and unlocks the shed, holding the door open for Sparks.

Warily Jack takes his first step over the threshold and is surprised by what is before him; a neatly maintained room with a table in the centre and a chair on either side of the table.
"Sir, I thought this was a disused munitions shed?" Sparks inquires.
"It was," he takes a moment as he places his suitcase on the table and keys in the passcode, "What I'm about to give you is for your eyes only, Lieutenant. If a single soul other than your own lays eyes on it you will be discharged and perhaps... Worse."
"Yes, Sir." Jack's voice rises a little as he contemplates what 'worse' could mean.
The CO nods and slides a Manilla folder across the table, placing it in front of one of the chairs, "Take a seat and read it."
Jack nods and sits down, pulling the folder closer to him and running one gloved finger over the red text that emblazons the front of the folder: "TOP SECRET".
His fingers fidget with the top corner of the folder before slowly and deliberately flipping it open. For a moment the shed is in silence as Jack's eyes scan the first few parts of the document. As he reads his eyes slowly widen and after a minute he looks up to the CO:
"I don't see any problems here, Sir, it's about fucking time we put a stop to the **** going on there."

Dr Robert "Flynn" Kessal

After a while of looking around for Dr Walsh, whom he couldn't find, Flynn decided to give up and look for her later. Instead, he ended up going down to the Anomalous Materials labs to talk to Zippo about the experiment tomorrow.

He got down to the AM labs, and found Zippo.
"Hey dude, what's going on?" Zippo looked up from the console and grinned.
"Hey man, just getting the final calibrations set up for tomorrow." He pointed at the colsole, then out the viewing port.
"We're gonna send that special sample through there, and blast it with different frequency radiation waves, to see what happens." Zippo finished his calibrations and stepped away from the console, crossing his arms.
"There we are, finished. Anyway, I gotta go get the stuff ready in there, I'll catch ye later Flynn." Flynn nodded, and replied
"No problem man, I gotta get back home anyway. Later brother!" Flynn left the labs, heading for the staff rooms.
Well, he thought to himself, if I catch Malc tomorrow I'll tell him what's going on. Time to go home and get some sleep! He smiled, and thought about what he would do when he got home. Yet another day has flown by at Black Mesa. He sighed, thinking that tomorrow will be the same old stuff, but made plans to find both Malc and Dr Walsh tomorrow. He finished getting ready, and headed for the tram station.

SSgt. Malcom Connor

After his encounter with Flynn, it was business as usual. Walking around in circles, on guard against something infinately unlikely to ever happen. As poor as Security was, they had stopped most trouble "at the gates", and the past few weeks had been uneventful. Unusually, there were very few emergencies. Usually there were at least two or three containment breeches from the biologcial analysis labs, or some conspiracist crackpot caught snooping around the horrifically insecure industrial sectors.

Despite the quiet time, Malcom did see something unusual. "Thought you were off duty three hours ago, man. What are you doing here?"
Lee was at the vending machine, taking his pick of the morbidly unhealthy snacks that Black Mesa provided. "What? And leave you on your own?" He laughed, "Let's face it, Mal, you're gonna burn out at some point if you keep this up."
"So this was Mitchell's idea?" Mal enquired, knowing full well that given the oppertunity, Lee would be back in the barracks whooping *** at poker and quickly relieving the squad of their hard earned wages, and adding it to his own.
"'Fraid so." Lee sighed, "I wouldn't say he distrusts you, but he wants you back at the barracks." He paused for a while, "And to be honest, I really think that's a good idea."
"Yeah..." Mal pondered, most of his energy sapped by the weeks of double shifts meant he wasn't going to be a help to the facility more than a hinderance. "I'll head back I suppose."
"Get some sleep, mate. You look like hell." Lee said, ushering Mal toward the trams. "Oh! Before I forget!"
"Yeah?" Mal called back.
"Flynn called in, asking for you. Something about a big experiement going down tomorrow!"

Big experiment or not, Malcom was tired, almost blanking the others as he returned to ECRU HQ. "There you are!" Lt. Mitchell called as Mal entered the barracks proper. "I see you bumped into Willis!"
"Yeah." Mal replied, "How'd you manage to get him to do a second shift?"
"Oh, I have my ways." Mitchell smiled, "Go on, get some rest, soldier. I'll need your wits on top form tomorrow."
"Oh?" Mal mused, "How come?"
"There's been some more unpleasantness with administration," Mitchell almost spat out the word Administration, as if speaking it were an affront in itself "and I'm gonna need my wingman again to help bust them down to size."
"Oh, so the usual 'liason' work then!" Mal laughed.
Lt. Mitchell smiled "You know it. Anyway, get some rest. The fun starts tomorrow, 0845 hours sharp." Mitchell returned to the commons, no doubt to poke the on-duty response squads, as they were usually either drunk, or sleeping, at this point in the day.

Another day loomed. More hostility, more work, more stuggles. Same as any day... he thought. Depressingly, that was true. It wasn't any wonder there were so many openings in this facility, the way they were treated. Mal wondered what the future held, thinking of that typical job interview question; "Where do you see yourself in 10 years time?". In that same damn corridor in Sector E, growing older, but not happier. was his last thought as he fell asleep.