Chapter Two: A Whole Old World

[Akirapryde]

A whole old world…

The sounds of steady beeping echoed across the deep darkness of the unconscious. The endless, pulsating sound of that beeping broke through the world of dreams and summoned the mind back to the world of the living. In the distance, what could almost be described as muffled whispers invaded the darkness. Was the whispers, the product of another world or was it just another dream starting to take effect on the mind. As the mind slowly started to waken from its slumber and in to the world of the living, the whispers started to take clarity. While the whispers were not English, they were enough for the mind to take hold of.

Slowly the eye lids open allowing light to assault the eyes. Never before had the disorientation been so complete. It would take a long painful moment for the room to come in to clarity. But as the disorientation retreated, the room focused in to reality. At first were the white painted metals walls, then slowly forms started to take shape. A closer inspection of the room, noted another key piece of information. Everything was designed to be in both gravity as well as in zero gravity. Desks were securely mounted to the floor as were chairs.

A pair of female nurse dressed in all white were the source of the whispering. The pair were talking quietly by a cabinet when a noise drew their attention back to the medical beds. As both of them turned, it was clear that they were Japanese. The senior nurse spoke to one that was clearly a junior nurse, “Ishi to Shō Shō o tori ni ikimasu.”

On that note, the junior nurse calmly walked for the thick air tight door. She manually unlocked the door and pulled it open. Just beyond the door to the right of the opening was a soldier dressed in a ballistic plate armored suite. On the soldier’s shoulder bore the insignia of a gold shield with the official Kurita crest painted in the center of the shield. The soldiers uniform/armor was painted in flat black paint scheme with gold highlights. On his hip was a Vibrokatana and in his hands at the ready was a black and gold shotgun. The Nurse pleasantly greeted the soldier than repeated the jester to her left.

She took a note book from the table and slowly walked over to the row of beds. Behind her, a large painted picture of Theodore Kurita overlooking the entire Medical Bay. In the background of the painting was the telltale sign of the Draconis Combine Dragon. As the senses slowly came in to focus, the slight vibrating of the beds told all those that they were on some kind of ship. Possibly a Dropship or a Jumpship. Across the beds, the surviving party members laid. While some remained sleeping peacefully, others were just waking up.

The Japanese nurse smiled as she spoke softly, “Watashi wa kankoshi Yui Moto” She moved closer to the beds and carefully lowered herself to be near eye level with those laying on the bed. “Anata ga nihongo o hanasu kudasai?” She paused and calmly waited for someone to answer her.

[CarcerKango]

Jake didn't speak Japanese, but he opened his eyes a crack. "Wazzat?" he mumbled. He shifted a bit, trying to prop himself up on one elbow. He noted the picture on the wall and chose to hold his tongue until he figured out more about the situation. Clearly they'd survived the vortex...unless..."Is this...heaven?" he muttered to himself. Great. The afterlife is full of Kuritans.

[Akirapryde]

She smiles and giggles a bit, “No” she said with a thick accent. “Not heaven” she added as she set down on the bed next to Jake. “I am Nurse Yui Moto.” Her white outfit seemed to hang from her body as she moved. Her white nurses hat was set just right while her light blue clothes coat spread around her waist. There was no indication that she was a military nurse.

Her mannerism was open and friendly as she carefully wrapped a blood pressure meter around his arm and put a Stethoscope in her ears. “Some of your friends made it” she said softly then motioned over to seven beds with body bags laying on them, “others didn’t.”

She started to take Jake’s blood pressure, “Do you know your name?”

[CarcerKango]

"Lieutenant Jake N. Straker, ma'am," the young man said with unexpected quickness and open-ness, slightly taken off guard by the nurse's friendly manner. "Um, where are we? If I can ask?"

[Akirapryde]

Her face light up with a friendly smile, "Ah yes, you can ask. You are on the Combine transport, GY One Oh One." she explain. She paused for a moment as her attention shifted to his arm while she listened to the beats of his heart. "We picked up your ships' emergency transponder up. When we arrived there were a number of escape pods around your shuttle floating in space. Most of them were lifeless, but there were a few survivors. You are the first to wake up."

She looked up from his arm holding her smile, "look at my hat. Can you describe my hat." Her voice was soft and her eyes were filled with care. She made a reference to her white nurses hat. In the center of the hat facing him was a thick red cross, signifying the medical field.

[CarcerKango]

With a slight effort, Jake looked up at the nurse. "It's a white nurse's hat, with a red cross in the middle," he said after a moment. He found himself relaxing with the soothing currents of her voice.

[Akirapryde]

She nodded and smiled, "yes, that is correct. Now, do you see the blue dot in the center of the red cross?" she asked softly. Clearly there was no blue dot anywhere on her hat. She moved the disk end of the Stethoscope around Jake's arm as she continued to listen carefully.

[CarcerKango]

Jake paused, his brow furrowing. Then he cracked a half-cocked grin. "There isn't one," he said confidently, exhaling slowly.

[Akirapryde]

She nodded, "Good." Her thick Japanese accent was getting a bit batter to understand through, "I have to admit, I have never seen these kinds of wounds before. Can you tell me what happened?"

[CarcerKango]

Jake's smile faded slightly. "I don't think I'm at liberty to tell you, ma'am. There was a deep-space incident. More than that, I can't say." He glanced around, trying to see if any other familiar faces were here.