Officers Club - Edited 11-8-2018

After getting to my quarters, I completed another few dozen mod orders, then hit my console again. It was only 2000 hours. I had a spare short barrel, 12 more spare extended magazines, and I had created a linked targeting system with two prototypes. One of which I had connected to my battle rifle. Before heading to Marine Country, I claimed the schematic and EXP reward for the targeting system.

“Get me, Janssens,” I told the corporal on watch duty. He quickly shut his mask and sent out a comms request. Less than two minutes later Janssens arrived at the hatch.

“Ma’am!” Janssens responded upon seeing me. A grin was splitting his face from ear to ear.

“Escort me to the gunnery range, Sergeant!” I commanded. A small smile on my lips.

Once we arrived, I had Janssens hand over his rifle so I could swap out his barrel for a long, and then his sights. After, I tossed him a half dozen empty extended magazines. His grin threatened to split his head in half.

“Your squad only, 10 EXP for a 45-round magazine. I can only make them in quantities of six, so please find someone to manage the orders. You know the store only sells the standard 30 round mags for 15 EXP.” I told him.

“Make it the platoon, and I’ll send everyone to you for all mods. Some of the others have started to ping the Navy geeks, hoping for answers, but they don’t seem to be willing to try.”

“Yeah, most are probably saving for the ‘Cheng’ title. It’s a pretty good one. Gives EXP for those under you learning shit. I was thinking about taking it myself for a bit, but then...” I pointed at my rank insignia. Parts of this game really were shit. Being able to buy a rank was one of those. There were so many titles. However, that would be much more productive than “Cheng” at the end of the day.

Leaving the Sergeant and his troops, I headed back to my quarters. Blips hit my terminal what felt like every step of the way. When I got back to my quarters I ran a quick check on what pieces were being requested, then I made another two dozen mods, and delivered them. One message received was from a Marine Lieutenant. An offer for a beer with him once I had made “Officer.” As a Warrant, I decided to take him up on that.

At 2200 hours, I was sitting in the Officers Club, waiting to meet the lieutenant that had contacted me. Two full pitchers of beer and a bottle of whiskey in front of me with a few empty shot glasses, I figured it would be enough for any Marine. After waiting for roughly 30 minutes, a lieutenant junior grade walked in, sized up the room, and found the outlier. Shit, I was going to deal with someone fresh from OCS. I almost left once I realized this, but then I remembered how I had received my current warrant officers rank. Also, there was a “business ma’am” deep inside me.

“Excuse me, Miss Jax?” the light LT said as he approached me.

“LT,” I said while standing. I wasn’t sure if he had bought his rank like I had, so some respect at a token level wouldn’t hurt. “Can I get you a drink?” I gestured to the pitchers of beer in front of me,

We made some small talk for a bit; I noticed his eyes kept trailing down my figure, trying to check me out despite my uniform.

“LT is there an issue?” I asked, knowing that the although checking me out wasn’t an issue, the way his eyes lingered could become one.

“No issue, I was just expecting a man.” He responded. Some still didn’t accept that the genders were equal.

“Not to be rude, LT, but your message stated you were interested in my tech. How much of what do you need? We’re about to make planetfall, and I need to have my schedule clear.”

This was not the response he was expecting. I refilled my beer, and then poured and knocked back a shot.

“Uhm, yeah. Uhm, I was told that there were mods for everything?” The LT tried to show he wasn’t bothered by my forced nonchalance

“Again, what and how much did you want?” I asked. My patience was running a tad slim with the whiskey in my system.

“Wha… uhm, what?” the lieutenant replied. He was so fucking green he had to have been straight from OCS.

“I said, WHAT do you want, and how much of it do you want? If you’d like, LT, I could find a Gunny to translate for you.” I decided to play the “officer is an idiot” card. It wasn’t a stretch in this case. He was a light LT after all. I sipped my beer waiting for anything intelligible from the village idiot.

“Uhm, yes… You have stocks and barrels, right?” It seemed like he finally figured out how to extract his skull from his rectum.

“Yes, LT, I know how to make several mods for the Taishi Ci. Your sergeants should be familiar with most of them.” I responded. I knew how the enlisted talk. I was friends with several of them, after all.

“Yes, I’m going to require 115 of each barrel, stock, and sight that you have.” The ass was finally speaking and shit, he seemed to be shopping for his entire company.

“You’ve seen the prices I sell them for, I assume?” Not waiting for his nod, I continued. “I’m more than happy to sell them to your battery. When can I expect payment?” I already knew he wanted them for free, and he seemed the type to try and use his rank to “requisition” them.

“You don’t have to worry about the cost. You can assume it’s an order to create and then surrender the items.” Asshat responded. Yep, I was right.

“Lieutenant, I believe the term for an officer from one branch trying to order an officer from another, is ‘fucking idiot.’ Would you like to test if you fall into that category? We can always call Yama to verify the validity and value of a deal. Do you want to be ‘that guy’?” I asked, standing and preparing to leave the Officers Club.

The lieutenant answered as I turned to walk away. “Your prices are a bit high, don’t you think? You’re damning the fire teams!”

Shit, his whiny voice was getting to me. Best to leave while I could.

“Lieutenant. Your fire teams think my prices are fair. Your squads think my prices are fair, Chances are, the entire platoon, company, battalion, AND regiment think that my prices are fair.” I started walking to the exterior hatch. “I’ll wait to hear from your gunnies to see if there is anything you actually need.” I sent an ID pulse so if anyone in my proximity would get my contact data. Hopefully, this would allow for LT Shit-stain to recognize that there were better ways to get my attention and to order equipment. I then headed back to my quarters to look at costs for weapons mods and to compare them to what I wanted to make. Before doing anything else, I decided it was time to select my rate, officially.

Officers Club - Original

After getting to my quarters I completed another few dozen mod orders, then hit my console again. It was only 2000 hours. I had a spare short barrel, 12 more spare extended magazines, and I had created a linked targeting system with two prototypes. One of which I had connected to my battle rifle. Before heading to Marine Country, I claimed the schematic and EXP reward for the targeting system.

“Get me Janssens.” I told the corporal on watch duty. He quickly shut his mask and sent out a comms request. Less than two minutes later Janssens arrived at the hatch.

“Ma’am!” Janssens responded upon seeing me. A grin splitting his face from ear to ear.

“Escort me to the gunnery range, Sargent!” I commanded. A small smile on my lips.

Once we arrived, I had Janssens to hand over his rifle, so I could swap out his barrel for a long, and then his sights. After, I tossed him a half dozen empty extended magazines. His grin threatened to split his head in half.

“Your squad only, 10 EXP for a 45-round magazine. I can only make them in quantities of six, so please find someone to manage the orders. You know the store only sells the standard 30 round mags for 15 EXP.” I told him.

“Make it the platoon and I’ll send everyone to you for all mods. Some of the others have started to ping the Navy geeks, hoping for answers, but they don’t seem to be willing to try.”

“Yeah, most are probably saving for the ‘Cheng’ title. It’s a pretty good one. Gives EXP for those under you learning shit. I was thinking about taking it myself for a bit, but then...” I pointed at my rank insignia. Parts of this game really were shit. Being able to buy a rank was one of those. There were so many titles, however, that would be much more productive than “Cheng” at the end of the day.

Leaving the Sergeant and his troops, I headed back to my quarters. Blips hit my terminal what felt like every step of the way. When I got back to my quarters I ran a quick check on what pieces were being requested and I made another two dozen mods, the delivered them. One message received was from a Marine Lieutenant. An offer for a beer with him once I had made “Officer”. As a Warrant I decided to take him up on that.

At 2200 hours, I was sitting in the Officers Club, waiting to meet the lieutenant that had contacted me. Two full pitchers of beer and a bottle of whiskey in front of me with a few empty shot glasses, I figured it would be enough for any marine. After waiting for roughly 30 minutes, a lieutenant junior grade walked in, sized up the room, and found the outlier. Shit, I was going to deal with someone fresh from OCS. I almost left once I realized this, but then I remembered how I had received my officers rank. Also. there was a “business ma’am” deep inside me.

“Excuse me, Miss Jax?” the light LT said as he approached me.

“LT,” I said, while standing. I wasn’t sure if he had bought his rank like I had, so some respect at a token level wouldn’t hurt. “Can I get you a drink?” I gestured to the pitchers of beer in front of me,

We made some small talk for a bit, I noticed his eyes kept trailing down my figure, trying to check me out despite my uniform.

“LT, is there an issue?” I asked, knowing that the although checking me out wasn’t an issue, the way his eyes lingered could become one.

“No issue, I was just expecting a man.” He responded. Some still didn’t accept that the genders were equal.

“Not to be rude, LT, but your message stated you were interested in my tech. How much of what do you need? We’re about to make planet fall, and I need to have my schedule clear.”

This was not the response he was expecting. I refilled my beer, and then poured and knocked back a shot.

“Uhhh, yeah. Uhm, I was told that there were mods for anything?” The LT tried to show he wasn’t bothered by my forced nonchalance

“Again, what and how much did you want?” I asked. My patience was running a tad slim with the whiskey in my system.

“Wha… uhm, what?” the lieutenant replied. He was so fucking green he must have been straight from OCS.

“I said, WHAT do you want, and how much of it o you want? If you’d like, LT, I could find a Gunny to translate for you.” I decided to play the “officer is an idiot” card. It wasn’t a stretch in this case. He was a light LT after all. I sipped my beer waiting for anything intelligible from the village idiot.

“Uhm, yes… You have stocks ad barrels, right?” It seemed like he finally figured out how to extract his skull from his rectum.

“Yes, LT, I know how to make several mods for the Taishi Ci. Your sergeants should be familiar with most of them.” I responded. I know how the enlisted talk. I was friends with several of them, after all.

“Yes, I’m going to require 115 of each barrel, stock, and sight that you have.” The ass was finally speaking and shit, damn, he seemed to be shopping for his entire company.

“You’ve seen the prices I sell them for, I assume?” Not waiting for his nod I continued. “I’m more than happy to sell them to your battery. When can I expect payment?” I already knew he wanted them for free, and he seemed the type to try and use his rank to “requisition” them.

“You don’t have to worry about the cost. You can assume it’s an order to create and then surrender the items.” Ass hat responded. Yep, I was right.

“Lieutenant, I believe the term for an officer from one branch trying to order an officer from another, is ‘fucking idiot’. Would you like to test if you fall into that category? We can always call Yama to verify the validity and value of a deal. Do you want to be ‘that guy’?” I asked, standing and preparing to leave the Officers Club.

The lieutenant answered as I turned to walk away. “Your prices are a bit high, don’t you think? You’re damning the fire teams!”

Shit, his whiney voice was getting to me. Best to leave while I could.

“Lieutenant. Your fire teams think my prices are fair. Your squads think my prices are fair, Chances are, the entire platoon, company, battalion, AND regiment think that my prices are fair.” I started walking to the exterior hatch. “I’ll wait to hear from your gunnies to see if there is anything you actually need.” I sent an ID pulse so if anyone in my proximity would get my contact data. Hopefully this would allow for L.T. Shit-stain to recognize that there were better ways to get my attention and to order equipment. I then headed back to my quarters to look at costs for weapons mods and to compare them to what I wanted to make.