The Desert (JamiexExelis)

[Jamie_the_Brown]

New Earth, such as it had been named by those that had colonized it centuries before. was a wasteland akin to the one they had escaped... Although this time, they refused to be run off. It was a nigh global desert, oxygen supplied via machines that ran off the planet's very own superfuel, Ragnite.

Lindsay Courric, lieutenant to the New Earth Defense Corps., newly promoted to her position, had gone to the border town of Hamlet 7 (named as such for the world's unique and uninspired naming system of a city type or adjective, followed by a number to indicate its place in the world), only to discover what the NEDC was. Not suppression, but repression... She had been ordered to slaughter innocent civilians, and at the wheel of the tank-skiff she'd been given... she had fired on her own men.

Taking one of the speederbikes that rested in the hull of the tank-skiff, she'd sped off into the desert by the light of a burning city...

It hadn't worked.

The speederbike lay in shambles following a long range cannon shot, one that had nearly ended the former lieutenant's life. She lay now beside the speederbike she'd stolen, uniform torn and ripped, bronzed skin showing where the tan cloth did not. Believed dead by the NEDC, the only thing that marked her as one of their own was her brown officer's uniform (which consisted of simple pants, leather boots, and a buttoned-up shirt that now lay open to reveal the formerly white, dirt-stained tanktop below. Her hat lay off to the side, covered mostly by sand, her sidearm laying along with it.

----

"Yo, that her?" asked a sun-darkened man, not too far off. He had a shotgun held against his shoulder, and he was dressed entirely in a sandy tan color, including a hat which obscured most of his head. A smaller man next to him, with bronzed flesh, brilliant red hair, and a machine gun leaned against his own shoulder looked up to him. "Yeah. Crazy bitch was firing on her own men. Let us get away, though," he said with a shrug.

"We takin' her with us?" asked the larger man, looking down to his apparant boss. "Yeeeeah... I guess we ought'a. She did get our asses out of that sit'tiation," he said, before motioning to the larger man to sling her over his shoulder.

----

When at last the former lieutenant would awake, it would be to alien surroundings... A small hut, locked from the outside. A straw mat, and clothes made of old sacking. Her own clothing lay not too far off, cleaned, and somewhat grey with the not-so-clean water they'd used to clean it. Definitely a far off cry from the kind of washing one could do in the city.

Light streamed in through cracks in the boards in the hut, and should one try to look out, it would be to see little more than sand, sand, and more sand..

 

[Exelis]

After looking about her, Lindsay groaned and held her head. Looking at her clothes and herself, she realized someone had to have changed her, in addition to treating her wounds. Nothing major, a few scratches here and there, and she could feel that her shoulder was strained. Where the hell was she? Getting up, the scratchy cloth she was covered with bothered her enough that she went to her old clothes. Not sure yet what to think, she decided that it would be better to put them on. She didn't put the jacket shirt however. The insignia emblazened on the breast struck her as wrong to wear now. At least untill she truly figured out what was going on. The Lieutenant sighed, changing quickly before standing up. She went to the door, her legs still a bit wobbly, and pushed against the door. Locked... She bit her lip, stepping back and trying to look past the cracks in the door and walls. So much sand... Lord, what would she do for a blade of grass.

She sighed, stepping back, she looked at the floor, looking for some sort of cellar door. She didn't see anything. She bit her lip, whoever put her there had to be nearby... "Hello? Hello," she called out, coughing as she first used her voice. Lips dry and chapped from the heat, she knew she needed some water soon.

 

[Jamie_the_Brown]

The closer Lindsay got to the cracks, the more sound that leaked in from outside would be heard. There was a faint clammor off in the distance, and the sound of excitement edged the indistinct words that followed a small crowd, steadily getting closer to the hut in which Lindsay stood. There was a faint sound of someone toying with the lock, a muttered curse, and then the sound of the door breaking from its hinges as it was knocked down cleanly.

Light streamed in from the outside, catching the rising cloud of earthen dust, stirred up from the door's destruction. A large man, flesh as black as night, rubbed his hand idly before he stepped back. There was a small crowd behind the veritable wall of muscle, with one man on the forefront. His flesh was bronzed, his hair the color of burnt copper, and he had on an armband marking him as a member of the New Earth Liberation Front, typically known as Nels to the NEDC's Neddies. Not only that, but the stripes and sunburst design marked him as the leader, Cezary Richards. Eyes as green as emeralds fell onto Lindsay's form, before he tossed a bowl of questionably safe gruel in front of her. "There ye go, Neddy. Now, who the fuck're you?" he asked, a copper brow raised in question.

The crowd behind him took a few steps back as two guards flanked Cezary, armed with Sandstorm assault rifles, which was standard loadout for the NEDC. The crowd seemed somewhat startled, as tales of Lindsay's 'heroic' saving of their leaders had spread like wildfire. They'd expected a hero's welcome, not their ever-cynical leader's disdain. Mostly, he was just pissed that he owed his life to not only a Neddy, but a female one at that.