Shadow Ops: The Beginning

[Dracco Knightblade]

This is a role play that I came up with a long time ago in conjunction with someone that a lot of us know, Winter_Snow.  It was designed as a sci-fi fantasy universe that was -loosely- based around the metaverses of Mass Effect, Aliens, HALO: Combat Evolved, Event Horizon, and a few other sci-fi techy things thrown in for good measure.  Thought I might try to re-vitalize it and see if anyone was interested in playing. 

If you are interested in playing along, please post up a profile keeping in mind that the ship that Dracco is on, is literally a ghost ship, minus the 'creatures', who are NPC's.   Please no god modding D:  Not that I'd expect that from anyone here, just thought I'd lay a ground rule right off the bat.

One other note, this roleplay takes place 200 years in the future from the initial introductions events.  The Federated Governments of the universe were dissolved sometime 150 years prior to Dracco 'waking up', the records were destroyed or lost during the uprisings that had taken place at that time; So there are no records of any kind regarding Dracco minus maybe an old military file somewhere in a databank of some private collector, though his operational records and the like from his running with the Shadow Ops group, are nowhere to be found.  The ship Celestia though, was on record as one of the worst space disasters on record, All civilian personnel were lost and the ships last known position was unknown, not listed on any -current- star charts.  So a legend started about "The Celestia", rumors more likely, that she didn't explode or crash into a planet, go into dark space, etc...she's still out there, just nobody knows where, though there are rumors of valuables and the like, including the plasma reactor that, at the time, was worth more than some governments entire military spending budget combined with the gross economic standing of the planet that they ruled over.  So yeah, salvagers 'myth' On a final note, if interested, please don't just "find" Dracco right off the bat XD   ^_^; 

Name: Dracco G. Knightblade
Rank: Commander Federated Territories
Codename:  Reaper
Age: 46 (Though with added cryo stasis 266)
Height: 7'4"
Weight: 350lbs
Weapons Specialization: Explosives, Assault, Long Range, Focused Energy Weapons, Nuclear Spec.


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The not so distant future saw a new age come for all anthro and man kind alike; wars raged for decade after decade. Resources and space on the planet that we all called home once started to run dry at an alarming rate; a great depression saw the end of these wars as there was just nothing left to fight over. Nothing was left at all, no oil, no natural gas, fresh water was being desalinized from the world's oceans and even that was starting to dwindle. It was decided at this time that a pact was to be made and the space relay program through joint international forces was made. New energy sources were found, nuclear power seemed to be the way to go when it came to keeping ahead of the game, fission was starting to die out slowly as the storage for waste and whatnot was getting to out of date and the NATO treaties that were in place to keep a lid on it were in shambles. Fusion was discovered, plasma reactors that would power whole cities for millennia came to pass. Then...Yet again wars broke out between nations that wanted this new power for themselves and no other, new powers fell into place; peace keepers were needed and the soldiers that were left behind after the last war was ended just were sitting collecting dust. It was decided at this point to create a black ops group of mercenaries that did not officially exist. They would work beyond the limits of moral, physical, and jurisdiction of any government, they were controlled by whoever had the deepest pockets or supplied them with the latest technology. 

  These men were trained to the upmost degree in weapons technology, combat techniques and the like; Every member was given a code name, every member was given duties that they had to perform, their personal records destroyed or kept in a locked government vault somewhere out of sight and out of mind of prying public officials that didn't need to know about the operations that were going on behind enemy lines. These were the men that were called in when no one else could go because of beurocratical red tape and moral issues that were tying the hands of military officials of the time.  These men were given the go ahead to travel the stars hidden aboard a massive star city only known as "Celestia".  A single ship that carried more than 400,000 people across the stars living out normal lives, working, eating, sleeping, procreating; all of this coming to fruition through the ships total self sustainability. None of the Civilians aboard the ship ever even knew what the true purpose of this vessel and the lower decks were for. Mainly because none of the civilians even knew that the ship had lower decks as they didn't exist on any city maps, tours, or records, even in the builder's city blueprints there was nothing that told any of the secrets that were held within this Trojan "City".

  The unit met with great success time and time again, governments fell and new ones went into place over the course of the next 20 years, the mercenary group gathering more highly trained soldiers that just suddenly went from normal military lives to not existing, or MIA, as their families were always told.  The newest batch that had arrived was fresh from a war on a system known only as "Belrigrad 416". It was being terraformed at the time, inter planetary conflict had broken out between a radical terrorist organization who had already destroyed several of their terraform facilities on other planets, costing unified governments of the federated colonies trillions of dollars in personnel and equipment to boot. They sent in the group, the ship orbiting the dark planet, its surface constantly under a barrage of thunder storms and rain that would never cease due to the terraform operations climate changing element.  The mercs were to go in, kill every one of the terrorists that they found, and come back out clean as a whistle with the report of the success as always.

  Unfortunately for them they were met with massive failure, the terrorists were more than prepared for an all out assault, taking out drop ships with ground batteries, landing troops were met with IED's and other various weapons that basically turned the governments of the world's pride a joy into a bloody smear of shame across the soaking mud of the backwater planet. One drop ship managed to escape after having received the order to retreat; this was only after the terrorists had unleashed...something; some kind of creature to take down the last of the mercenaries that had been sent in for the sweeper mission.  The last three drop ships that were available off that rock were being manned when one was taken down by the sheer number of these ravenous creatures, the other two made orbit before a catastrophic failure of the ones pressure hull made the entire thing implode. The only one left was manned by 40 troops, many badly injured and dying, one in particular was a commander of their group, one of their near top notch soldiers; who had been with the group for almost 25 years. Three times as long as any one of their normal tours had existed; he was up for release from duty for the third time in a row, but he wanted to stay in regardless.  This dragon anthro had nothing left to lose, his family wiped out during the wars over fusion power, he had no ties, nothing, he was a true ghost. 

  The only one above him that survived was his good friend, and brother in arms that had seen him through many battles, kept him alive as best he could, Dracco, the dragon who was injured had sustained massive injuries to his body; his right arm entirely severed by one of those creatures at the shoulder.  He was losing blood, going into shock and was unconscious, not knowing what was going to happen.  The older male rhinoceros, his friend, Jacob Cobb; had carried him aboard the ship once they docked and had gotten him into a cryo medical chamber before the dragon succumbed to his wounds.  Leaving him there to heal, giving one final salute before returning to the other men, continuing the fight; hopeful that the dragon would live to fight another day with freshly re-grown bone, muscle structure and what organs were damaged, mended.

  Time grew longer and longer...the frost on the tubes' interlaced woven ballistic glass window was thick; the timer screen on the tube had been damaged in some sort of fight that had broken out inside of the ship, Dracco slept through the screams of terror, gunfire, merciless roars and bloodshed that took place just a few weeks after he had been put to sleep. The darkness of space it seemed would be where he slept forevermore. A distant memory of a time long since passed...

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  A warning klaxon rang out and echoed through the cryo chamber where medical stasis pods were suddenly illuminated with fluorescent lights from beneath the grated floor. The Stasis tubes and channels above and below the chamber started to hiss and pop with the sound of steam escaping from between long frozen o-rings that were slowly starting to warm again;  re-animation fluids were being pumped into the only occupied tube. The frost on the woven interlaced ballistics glass tube cover started to slowly liquefy and fall away to the grating below, the occupant within thawing out slowly. His vital signs still negative, as if he was a corpse that had been thawed to no avail. His clothing was torn at the right shoulder and still bloody, but his arm and shoulder, complete with scales were completely regrown. After about an hours worth of the fluid filling the chamber the sound of a computer voice came online "Project Onyx is requested, sta-status cri-cri-crit-t-t-t-tical...all med-medical bay sta-ss-s--sssis personnel are being awoken. Arming; explosive bolts disengaging in 20...electro pulse reanimation coming online in thre..three two...o-o-one..." *a large arm came overtop of the tube where the lone survivor had been dormant these long years in the darkness of cryo sleep.  An electrical surge brought his vital signs back online and made the until now, lifeless body jump...air bubbles came from his slightly parted lips and a steady beeping could be registered on the medical EKG scanner that was attached to the tube itself. His silver eyes opened slowly and he tried to breathe in...Finding himself inside of a still flooded chamber; the fluids of which were starting to be breathed into his lungs.  The dragon started to panic and punch and push at the chambers lid in desperation, hoping someone would hear and get him out before he drowned; but the sound only echoed through the empty hallways and stations of this ship.

The computer voice continued.

  "Explosive bolts disengaging in five..f-f-f--ffour...three...t-t-ttwo..one...explosive bolts...disengaged..." *With this word the near, one-hundred explosive bolts that held the cap on the tube chamber ruptured and the tubes lid came flying off of the chamber, across the room, thumping against the tritanium plate wall and then to the grated floor; followed by a massive rush of the reanimation fluid as well as the loud clank of the lone soldiers body coming to flop against the grating on the floor gasping for breath; rolling to his hands and knees he lurched and more of the fluids that he had swallowed came from within.  Vomiting them up for at least another minute...an unfortunate part of the medical reanimation process, extreme motion sickness and vertigo.  Laying down on his side curled in a fetal position, his combats, and other clothing that he wore clung to his figure as he shivered there against the cold grating; wondering when and if the medical techs were ever going to come.  The computer continued once the scan was complete and the sound of hydraulics came into earshot as a large Robotic arm with a tip that looked like something out of a 20th century horror film called "SAW", came into view.  "subject, Commander Knightblade, Dracco G. Serial number: non existent, date of birth September 16th 2086, height, 7'4", blood type, AB with C and V negative, status...active...Onyx protocol subject selected...scanning.." The large robotic arm moved slowly over top of the figure that lay shivering on the floor; a scan beam that was red in colour came to pass over his figure a few times, drying his clothes with an intense blast of heat, the dragon's shivering slowly subsiding as his body warmed internally.  "Subject status approved, commence armament at subjects leisure." 

  Dracco, having finally regained his composure and the shivering ceasing as best it could;  stood to his feet with a groan.  His entire spine popping as he lurched forwards and fell against the open medical tubes data pad.  It was obviously damaged, though by what he didn't know; it almost looked like a combination of weapons fire and that it had been half melted, maybe a flame thrower? He didn't know, but something really caught his eye, the thickness of the frost on the datapad's screen;  Wiping it away with a single hand as he tried to get his eyes to focus, still a little blurry from not having used them for so long.  His breath caught in his throat as what was shown on the datapad came into focus; starring in shock at the current date and time displayed on the small screen, his jaw hung slack for but a moment before he whispered "...No...." The reality sinking in and hitting hard, before he growled and smashed his fist through the panel with a great growling hiss; the sparking electricity didn't phase him as he retracted his fist.  He would slowly regain his composure, half expecting to be mobbed by medical personnel and the like, but he now knew that no one was coming in reality.  Tears almost found the ancient soldier, but he maintained his discipline and  composure; fighting through a headache that was on par with the worst possible hangover ever conceived; he would take a deep breath and started to try and at least think straight once again.   

  Taking this opportunity, he walked from the medical chamber and found all the doors in the corridors to be opened, armoury access was granted and the gate was open to the store room for ammunition and armaments.  Areas that he knew that no one would have access to without a pass or access command from the ships AI system; or if there was an emergency evacuation order issued. This baffled him; he shook the thoughts from his mind and proceeded to the mess hall, trying to occupy his mind with his normal routine after an extended time in cryo stasis.  Finding the food synthesizers coated in frost, he would wipe them clean with his hands before hitting the reset switch.  The computer booted up, touch screen flickering to life,  going through its start up cycle, it would end with a friendly face greeting the dragon; a small almost anime-esq caricature of a chef outfit wearing version of the ships main AI.  This figure greeted him with a friendly smile before the pop up menu would come up beside where the AI "stood" on the 2 D screen.   Typing his selection into to the computer, the synthesizer would whir to life.  Walking towards where the men would usually get their trays for their food, he waited and waited until finally he opened one of the sliding doors to find the long frozen corpse of a decomposing rat laying where the food would normally come from.  He would sigh and say "nice..." Before slamming that one down, figuring that he'd end up going hungry.   Turning back around he would hear a "ding" come from one of the other synthesizer sliding doors.  Walking towards it, he half expected to see something jump out at him, but upon opening the door, he would find a plate of spaghetti and meatballs steaming before him.  Smirking to himself, he would retrieve the plate and found a spot to sit down, enjoying his first meal....in almost 200 years.   

Mulling over these thoughts in his mind he sighed as he finished up his meal. He stood again and then started to explore around, trying to find some trace of what had happened to his ship mates, and why he was left alone in medical stasis when all the others had seemed to just have vanished without a trace.

   Stepping into a long dimly lit corridor that had previously always been off limits to even him; the airlocks opened in a fashion that told of either something gone haywire in the ships electrical systems, or an emergency evacuation protocol had been activated. Edging his way down the corridor, being extra cautious due to the advanced GAU auto turrets that hung to either side of the hallways ceiling every 150 feet or so, regardless of the fact that icicles and frost clung to the blued steel particle thrower barrels showing that they haven't been deployed in almost as long as he's been 'asleep'.  Continuing cautiously into the restricted zone, an odd feeling came over him; he felt like he was being watched, he didn't know why but it felt strange.  Though soon the answer to that feeling presented itself.  The Shadow Ops Computer AI voice boomed over inlaid speakers throughout the hallway and made him freeze in his tracks.  "Onyx protocol subject Knightblade, Dracco G. is to proceed this way..." *The floor was then lit up with a small pulsing laser light that was blue in colour; Dracco quirked an eyebrow at this, but decided to follow as instructed. Though his steps were still a bit slow and cautious in nature.  His heavy combat boots making clanking sounds that echoed for what seemed forever as he made his way through the winding hallways and chambers to places that he'd never been inside of this ship before. The dim lighting and his still recovering eyes were a factor in that he didn't notice a sign that was bolted to the wall outside of a double thick blast door.  The sign's faded red paint reading; "RESTRICTED ACCESS: WEAPONS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CLEARANCE BLACK OPS PSYONICS ONLY."