Chapter Two: A Whole Old World

[Akirapryde]

She smiled and gave a nod. "it's okay" her voice still soft and filled with that same sense of friendliness. "One of the escape pods had Comstar markings on it. I don't want to place you in any form of trouble. We were just worried about the nature of the wounds some of your friends suffered from."

[CarcerKango]

Jake nodded slowly, gazing around the room again. Was anyone else awake? "We paid our bills, don't worry. ComStar's not after us...I think."

[Akirapryde]

As Jake looked around, he could see the outfits commander Thorchan Eraden laying in a bed across from him. To the right of Jake's bed laid Alice Underwood. On the other side of Alice, laid Eric. Across from Eric was Lyona. Lyona seemed to be much more worse off than the rest. There were three other beds that held other people, but Jake couldn't tell who they were. To Jake's disappointment, none of them were awake. Though Thorchan and Eric appeared as if they could be walking up at any time.

The nurse brought Jake's attention back to her, "I wouldn't worry about your friends. Most of them will be fine" said resting a reassuring hand on his. "I know you and your friends went through a lot." There was a smile on her face as she spoke. "You don't have worry about anything. You are among friends. We want to help you, but you need to be open to us and let us help you."

[CarcerKango]

Jaie smiled tentatively. "Okay then," he said uncertainly. He still wasn't going to reveal any sensitive information to her, but he seemed willing to answer her other questions as best he could.

[aipsylon]

Eric grabbed his head with a moan as he awoke from the unconscious state he had been in. "Mhh, Thanks Medic." He mumbled at feeling the bandages that wrapped around it. His eyes opened a moment later when he felt that he was no longer too dizzy to do so. He saw not the inside of the cramped shuttle like he was expecting but a well lit open room. Pausing he froze into complete stillness his mind searching his body for any kind of restraints meant to hold them in place.

He heard Jake speak, just two words. He thought he remembered some sound before it but he just couldn't place it. His head was swimming dizzy and he was sure that there was much he had missed. He remembered seeing a planet where there was no planet and the anomaly, then he hit his head, no something became dislodged and hit his head he was buckled in tight, he must have gone out then...no he had flashed from after that. God what a curse to be unable to remember what happened.

[Akirapryde]

As the situation continued to unfold, the party was able to identify that they were not secured by restraints, but were lacking all of their equipment and uniforms. Instead they were dressed in traditional hospital gowns.

Sensing that he would not give her the answers she was seeking, she smiled and gave a friendly nod, "It would appear that your heart is as strong as you are" she said softly. She gathered up her things as she said, "I am sure that the doctor should be here soon." She wrote some information down on her clipboard. While Jake could see what she was writing he couldn't read Japanese. "Excuse me" she said softly as she slowly rose from the bed and walked across the room.

Within moments, the door opened up and a group of Japanese walked in. In the lead was a man dressed in a white coat, presumably the doctor. Behind him were a pair of Japanese guards wearing the same markings as the pair outside. The first three were pure Japanese. it was the pair behind them that shocked Jake. A pair of mixed Japanese individuals followed the first three. They were African-Japanese and wore Combine officer uniforms. In the lead of this next pair was elderly male and a slightly younger than the male, a female followed. Both wore military uniforms with the same markings of the guards.

The female walked in and made a side step to remain near the open door. The male however followed the doctor in to the room and up to the bed where Jake was laying. As the male got closer, Jake's eyes fell upon the male's swords. They were traditional Samurai swords and they were worn perfectly worn. But it was what Jake saw on the swords that spoke volumes. There was a simply white cord tied on the katana scabbard and to the swords cross guard. The white cord is clearly broken. As the first two military guards spread out and the female officer remained near the door, the African-Japanese officer walked behind the doctor.

Nurse Moto met the group half way and spoke silently to the Doctor and the officer who followed them. The three spoke softly in Japanese as Jake watched.

[CarcerKango]

Jake's eyes widened when he saw the swords, before he relaxed, figuring that if they were going to do anything bad to him, they would've already. Besides, he trusted the nurse to warn him if anything was going to happen...to an extent, of course. He glanced over to Eric as he woke up.

[aipsylon]

Eric rolled his head lolling it off to the side so he could get a good view of Jake and those that came into the room. His eyes were left open only a sliver, his eye lashes likely concealing much of what he would normally notice but it had to be so to continue to appear like he was still out of it. Injured personnel would often stir a little and there had been a good amount of commotion when he did, perhaps he could appear to have fallen back into unconsciousness .

Laying there he took note of the ranks of those present as well as their positioning in the room. Instantly he hoped that his awakening had not been noticed. This would be an excellent time to get some information on just what they had fallen into. Already he had gotten one important piece of information Jake knew something about the situation upon the entry of the officers into the room.

[Akirapryde]

It was clear that the group was completely unaware that Eric had regained conscious. After speaking with the Doctor and the older African-Japanese officer, Nurse Moto, walked over and stood next to the other nurse. After a short moment of conversation among themselves the Doctor and the older African-Japanese man walked over to the bed where Jake was still laying. Behind the two men walking towards the bed, the female Kuritan Officer stood nearly emotionless as she glanced between the medical room and beyond the door.

After that momentary glance, the female African-Japanese officer returned her attention back to the scene in the medical room. It was not hard to see that the two officers were related in some fashion. It would not be hard to conclude that the two were possibly father-daughter. The female officer wore a patch on the left side of her uniform, the award consisted of a red-and-black ribbon adorned with a depiction of an oriental tiger. And on the left breast pocket of her uniform was a five-centimeter red circle divided by a black katana sword. Worn on her right sleeve near her wrist was a pair of two-centimeter long ribbons. One was midnight blue with a half dozen black stars on it. The other was gray with over a dozen black stars and silver star on it. Her face was scared from a long past battle. She stood like a statue between the doorway and the beds as she watched the scene unfold carefully.

After the doctor and the male officer walked up to the bed, the officer spoke sternly with one hand loosely rested on the middle length sword called a wakizashi. “Lieutenant Straker, I am Major Yoshi Tetsuhara” he said standing just short of the bed. While the man spoke fluent Japanese, he also spoke English much better than Nurse Moto. Major Tetsuhara didn’t wait for Jake to respond, “You and your friends are only alive because we decided to rescue you from your stricken shuttle.” To the keen observer, the man lied. The decision to rescue the party was clearly not a move supported by Major Tetsuhara.

Major Tetsuhara continued, “Listen to me carefully young man. we know that your friend over there” he motioned towards Eric, “is a member of House Steiner.”

He paused for a moment as if something caught his attention at Eric’s bed. After a silent moment he dismissed whatever it was that caught his attention and turned his eyes back to Jake, “now you WILL answer our questions. You are with a noble member of the House of Steiner. Are you a mercenary hired by Steiner or are you a member of the Lyran Alliance Armed Forces?!”

[CarcerKango]

"A merc," Jake said off-handedly, regarding the Major with suspicion. "Just another flyboy out of the academy looking for work."