The drunk tank. (Open)

[Chambers, T.]

0730 Hours, April 1, 2543 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \
Saint Rose PD Station 3, Saint Rose, Reach,

Epsilon Eridani System

It had been a long time since he'd gotten this ratty. And even longer since he'd found himself in the 'drunk tank'. The particular lockup he had found himself in wasn't too bad, other than it smelt, primarily of poor choices... but also the aroma of a mixture of vomit and alcohol. He'd ended up here because he'd been 'too drunk' to walk back to the base and had told one of them they were limey bastard when they had suggested he was far to inebriated to walk a kilometre up a highway back to base.

There was only one problem Chambers had always had with getting close to paralytic drunk. He remembered just about everything, no matter how much he seemed to drink he might not be able to pace it all together, but most of the night was there and with it came the regret and guilt of knowing what you'd done.

Even just smelling his own breath is was more than enough to think maybe these bastards had been right, though it didn't make them any better, this was probably going to mean a nice chewing out at the least.

As he continued to feel sorry for himself there were a few dry reaches followed by a powerful expulsion of all manner of food and drink next to him. "awww ...." the smell wasn't the worst part, the worst part was hearing it, he'd been a sympathetic chucker his whole life. after a few moments he managed to quell the swamp that was his gut.

"HEY!..." he called out his voice echoing down the passageway as he got up and approached the main clear poly-carbonate cell 'front'. "We got a chucker 'ere." It was only making the smell worse, there was a difference between fresh on the ground and people just smelling... well reeking of it.

"Hey!?" he called again hitting the clear surface with the palm of his hand. "I think someone here need's a bucket or something, we already have a resident toilet hugger."

Finally there were some footsteps coming down the hallway, hopefully they have something for the poor soul and hopefully he'd be able to plead for a release or to contact his unit and get out of here, copping the punishment had to be better than spending an afternoon in here.

[Flannigan, S.]

Pre-deployment leave guaranteed one thing for certain. Marines would end up in the tank. The ability to go home would save a lot of this for everyone, but it was just too much for the systems in place to keep up with. Especially with the threat of aliens catching interplanetary cruisers. The corp decided, and rightfully so to Flannigan, to keep their troopers protected at Reach. 

However, this meant someone had to be on duty every day to collect the previous night's "casualties" and today was his day. He could hear the usual ruckus emanating from the holding area. The toilet hugger comment was particularly hilarious. Flannigan glanced over at the MP who was also grinning. 

"We appreciate your staff getting here so early Sir," the MP said. "Not having to keep these guys here all day waiting for their units is nice."

Flannigan nodded as they rounded the last corner. There they all were, some of the dirtiest, sorriest, and beleaguered marines he'd seen in quite some time. He'd spent time there, but only once when his sober ride thought it was funny to throw a sobriety test. They had made him pay. 

"Lance Corporal Chambers," the MP announced as he worked the key. "Your captain is here to take you home."

[Chambers, T.]

The vague sense of hope he felt at the footsteps was quickly transformed into dread and self loathing. This was going to be a really, really... really good 'one', 'one of the best days...' he thought sarcastically.

It was hard to even look at the person in the face, he just looked over at the MP as he called his name. "Thanks mate..." Tom shook his head as the door was unlocked and once it was open made his way through it.

He attempted mostly in vain to make the fatigues he was wearing really just less worse than they were, it still wasn't good, blouse open undershirt stained and boots covered in a mixture of human expulsion and dirt. Of course it had to be the skipper that picked him up, why couldn't it have been someone from another company, that way he wouldn't feel quite so bad about personally disappointing his Commanding Officer.

Standing in front of him he looked up. "Captain Flanigan, sir." The Australian offered a salute, the lance was going to try and get off on the best foot, admit it and try and get them to move on. "Before we go sir..." he paused looking down at his boots then back up, obviously both uncomfortable and disappointed. "... I just want make it clear I wont make an excuse for it, I shouldn't have done it and I'll do my best not to let it happen again."

Hopefully, admitting his guilt straight up might get him off formal charges. Oscar might be a rough unit, but now he wasn't sure he'd rather be with any others, that would mean giving up some of best people he could think of watching his back and that was not a good trade to make/

[Flannigan, S.]

Flannigan chuckled to himself as they started out of the holding area. Chambers was a name he knew simply from his personnel rosters. Another oddity that Oscar seemed to attract. A former squid who owed it to blah blah blah. He was a fighter and a scrapper. Just the kind of human Flannigan wanted on his command. The fact that he was still yammering and apologizing spoke to just how new he was to the unit. 

"Did ye have a good time lad," Flannigan asked, yanking the door to the outside world open.  "Because that's what this time is for. Ye only apologize fer killing the wrong people or dying, is that clear?"

Flannigan watched the young man for his response before leading the way out onto the post. It was a beautiful day out. Most officers wood be enjoying a round of golf or some such leisure. Not him. The only thing on his docket was a fight night in town this evening. That was his speed of entertainment. Looking lost was the geeky Irish farmer who needed college money. That man died with Harvest.

"Get cleaned up Lance Corporal and we'll get chow. Can't have more fun on an empty stomach but I can't take you to the mess like that. On the double."

[Killinger, J.]

Major Killinger - alongside some of the most beautiful members of his family, his wife and youngest daughter - drove towards what he considered the best fast food restaurant on the base, 'I need Moa food!' and he absolutely intended on ordering the Sweet Chili Heat Moa Wrap, which the Major considered the best on Reach.

The family restaurant wasn't all too popular - being on a military base and all - but John had given it a try one uneventful day earlier in his career and had been going there ever since. It was like a lost puppy starving for food and begging for a nibble of anything you had, except this time John was the puppy and the restaurant was the saint-like being putting a bowl of dog food out for him. For one reason or another the Major just kept going back, over and over again on his days where he was responsibly absent from duty.

Unfortunately, this early in the morning, the traffic was starting to pile up. Everyone was trying to get to work, or rushing to get home from a long shift. John understood how it was and quietly waited for the cars in front of him to move forward, but he was constantly looking for an escape. They weren't going home, not yet at least, and John wanted to pick up breakfast before leaving for their humble home in New Alexandria... if business didn't come knocking first.

His wife and daughter had been waiting at the terminal since four in the morning for John to arrive from orbit, so they deserved something to eat before the day turned to hours on a road.

"Look up the traffic reports on your chatter, Anna." John said.

Adrianna pulled out her phone and handed it to Beth. John chuckled as his daughter tossed her mom the phone and silently told her to do it, but Beth quietly turned on Reach's traffic maps and started to plot a route to 'I need Moa food!'.

"Anna, you're fourteen - I figured you'd know how to do that." John questioned.

"Talking to my friends is one thing, dad." His daughter replied. "Why do you even need... it?" She asked.

"Easier way to tell where vehicles are clumped up and hardly moving, sweetheart." John replied, looking at his daughter through the rear view mirror.

"Take a left turn here," John's wife said. "Then take your third right and you'll get there easier."

John flicked his blinker on and waited. "Wait a minute, that takes us right around the precinct."

"So?"

"Beth..." John started with a sigh. "It's April first and a lot - a lot - of Marines just got some leave granted. Cruisers will be pulling out just to respond to the people who are..." John added, but trailed off.

"Marines like to play those type of jokes?" Beth asked. She knew immediately what John was thinking, a bunch of streaking Marines running down the roadways just because they could on a day like today and probably not even get a slap on their wrists because their commanding officers would been in a 'fuck it' mood.

"Eh," John replied. His experience was rather limited, he was an officer after all. "I think most of them drink their body weight in booze for every day they're on leave. I wouldn't be surprised if some Marines in my MEU come back with alcohol poisoning, or had it before they reported for duty."

Beth blew a raspberry. "Oh young one," she joked. "I've seen worse."

John could feel heat on his face. "Hey, you walked into the men's room after a game. It's not my fault a bunch of sweaty naked dudes hit on you."

"Yes it was!" Beth said through laughter.

John grumbled in response.

The turning signal flashed green and John softly pressed on his 2033 RAM 1500's accelerator pedal, the modified Warthog engine under the hood growling softly as the vehicle gained speed. John followed the directions without another word, even though his wife was probably bugging him; it wasn't his proudest moment and a mistake he'd never make again through text messages - he never asked his wife to grab his equipment and watch after that, considering you had to pass the showers to get to the lockers from the center side - a fact he never considered at the time.

Passing the precinct he saw a familiar face, it was Captain Flannigan - a Marine under his leadership in the MEU. Flannigan had another Marine with him who looked like he had better days. John decided to pull over and offer the Captain a ride, the last thing he'd do before leaving the military base.

John pulled the vehicle into a parking spot and rolled his window down.

"Captain Flannigan," John said. "Need a lift?" He asked, curling his thumb towards his crew cab truck.

"Anna, get into the front seat please." The Major asked.

"Okay," Adrianna replied, grabbing her chatter from Beth in the process. "Thank you." She added, a courtesy to her mom for handing her phone back.

After his daughter climbed over the folded seat and raised it, she sat down between her father and mother and her eyes were once again glued to the chatter's screen.

[Chambers, T.]

The Lance Corporal had been expecting something from the Skipper, a don't so it or more likely don't get caught, he'd tried It's why he'd decided to walk to base rather than get a ride home and appear quite drunk, the time it took to walk in addition to the walking itself would of helped him sober up.

Shaking the quizzical look from his space the Australian responded. "Aye Sir, a really good time, until the jacks threw me in the tank." He replied directing his thumb back over his shoulder.

listening the to second half of the Captains statement, he was a little confused if he was dead how was he going to say 'sorry sir'. "Got it, Though I don't know how I'll apologize when I'm dead, but I'm sure I'll find a way." He still didn't fully understand the marines and he might never, confidant he wasn't going to live long enough to find out, what chance did they have at surviving the Covenant?

"None of it's mine, but you're right. I look like shit. More fun sir? unless you've got a couple pretty pilots waitin' back at base I'm not sure we can top this leave." He had always had a thing for pilots, their flair and confidence was attractive to him, they usually were far better at throwing you into the pile of trash than you were,  and with his current assignment and mental attitude that suited him fine.

Soon something strange but sounding familiar pulled up and rolled a window down, from it someone who clearly new the skipper and was obviously a marine, an officer of some sort spoke to Captain.

Waiting for Flanigan's lead he eventually got in, hopefully he didn't smell too bad. Oh well life lesson for the officers family perhaps?

"Cheers m--- Sir." He corrected himself, even just thinking of those cute pilots screwed with his head, they had used and abused him and that other poor bastard, but it had been worth every second of it.

[Flannigan, S.]

Flannigan chuckled too himself about the junior marine's confusion. Officers and Non Cons had plenty of stupid sayings that made no sense. It didn't stop them from using them though. And it didn't limit the humor of watching confusion.

It was the sound of a warthog that pulled his attention. He mostly had learned to watch for them because of the number of terrible drivers. He'd watched do many marines roll them, slide them out of control, or drive them up walls that his head was in a swivel the moment he heard an engine. Thankfully this one was Major Killinger and it looked far more stable than a warthog.

"Aye thank ya Major," Flannigan said following Chambers into the seat. "We're back to the barracks before chow. What brings ye by this time o' day? I figured you'd be about as far from base on a final leave as you can get. And this rig looks like it'd take ye anywhere."

[Killinger, J.]

John waited as Flannigan and a fellow Marine climbed into his truck, which half surprised John, but it made sense to him; it didn't take long for Adrianna - and likely Beth - to notice the unpleasant smell wafting from the back seats but they kept quiet, although John knew Beth wouldn't complain about it. John had already told her some Marines tried to drink their body weight in booze, so it wasn't surprising a Marine Captain Flannigan appeared to be escorting now had suffered perhaps a similar fate.

John took a quick peep at his daughters phone, there was something in his gut telling him his teenage daughter wasn't truly keeping quiet. Sure enough he could see his daughter texting a friend about the stench. He played it off by checking a vintage watch on his wrist before looking back towards the set of Marines in his cab.

"I'm off duty, bud; ain't no sirs up here." John said, a whisper of a grin crossing his face. The Major looked over at Flannigan as he explained where they needed to go, followed by a question and a compliment to John's truck. The aging dinosaur felt a little pride in his work over the years to restore a timeless relic.

"Welcome," John started. "I'll drop you guys off at the barracks... but first I'm heading to that restaurant just a couple blocks away, that's where I was originally heading before I saw 'ya. I'l buy you two some food, this place is better than that crap at the garbage bins, I uh mean chow halls." John joked as he pulled out of the parking spot.

As he accelerated the Major added to his sentence, and the open windows did a good job combating what was a nearly overpowering smell of bile. "This rig is old, over five hundred years. Twenty thirty-three is the frames date, but that's pretty much the only intact piece from the original vehicle. Some poor bastard took it with him in twenty eighty four on a wave to colonize Luna before something took his pod out, they found the airtight cargo container drifting a few million kilometers past Saturn's Titan moon in twenty five oh-five."

John took a left turn and proceeded straight, he could see the lame sign of the eatery he wanted to order from. "My dad bought it as a project, but he was an enlisted man serving in the Marines when the rebellion really started to heat up. Never had time for it, so he gave it to me back when I lived on Earth - a nice little place called New Calgary. Fixed it up just a few years back and been using it since."

"Yeah, at the cost of nearly a hundred thousand credits over the years." Beth murmured under her breath. John glanced over at his wife with a steel gaze briefly but Beth never saw it or simply didn't care, but he could hear her internal laughter through the silence. How much he had spent on a hobby wasn't information anyone needed to know, but he could assume the fellow Marine and Flannigan were already thinking that... maybe.

John had considered the fact he may be boring his occupants and decided to cut it short, if anything to avoid questions about how much he's actually sunk into his project truck. "Long story short... over my career I've replaced or modified everything to fit in the frame. Insurance is fuck'n pricey, but this old beast is more reliable than a 'hog." He concluded, flicking his left turn signal and pulling into the restaurant drive through. While he didn't know what the enlisted Marine was thinking, the Major swore he could feel the mans awkwardness sitting in a vehicle with two officers, the family of one of those officers and his own situation.

John tried to unroll the window but it was already unrolled, so he quickly released the key for the powered windows. He moved his hand from the panel to his pocket, trying to hide the fact that he made an 'oh shit I'm getting older' mistake as he pulled out his wallet. Hopefully no one saw that.

"Welcome to I Need A Better Pun, how may I take your order?" An enthusiastic employee asked, it sounded like they were either a teenage girl or a young kid working the radio.

"Give us a sec, eh?" John asked before turning around to the Marines in his truck.

"Pick anything, devil dog. Don't worry about the credits, Flannigan'll pay me back." John said with a chuckle to the Enlisted Marine.

"I'm kidding, my treat. A... hope you had a good leave reward. Whad'yu'll have?" John directed at Flannigan.

Even though John had already known what happened to the Enlisted man just by the radiating smell alone, the veteran officer knew to keep his mouth shut. Some times it was best to let good men blow of steam anyway they saw fit, within legal constraints though; hopefully this act of kindness boosted the morale of the unit a little.

[Chambers, T.]

It was only going to get more uncomfortable. Some officers truck likely a major or a colonel and now he'd be smelling out their car.

Tom wanted to say something, apologize, explain it but given the position he was already in it was likely it might only condemn him, he elected to remain quite looking out of the window trying to remember the best parts of the last few days of leave.

Listening to the story of the 'Truck' it was interesting, Being taken off Earth then drifting through the solar system and being found in one piece, surely it would have had some micrometeorite impacts. Still the luck of finding it was quite astonishing, as was the price tag the Officer's wife had blurted out. He was curious how had this been wired up a warthog engine and drive train into one of these old cars, the electrics were close, but still it would either need some adapters and transformers or a whole new wiring system and by the sound of it new was the most likely.

"it's not the Warthog that's unreliable. It's the drivers." If you beat on anything like a bunch of rowdy soldiers did it was going to break, no matter if it was made of pure depleted uranium, they'd find a way to damage it.

As they pulled into the drive thru Chambers considered the options for a few moments letting out a small laugh as he man offered to have the Captain pay. "I might just get the Pun Burger with double bacon and extra spicy sauce, as spicey as can be, I don't want to be able to taste for the rest of the day." It was both a consideration of his current state and somewhat just wanting to see just how hot they'd make, probably no where near enough but it was worth a try.

It wasn't hard to notice the quick glance he had gotten from this mystery officer, he stunk but why offer to drive him around then? it was his own doing in the end.

[Flannigan, S.]

Killinger was an oddity to Flannigan. He was truly a kind man who did his best by the troopers. Generally that kind of man was a political rank chaser and a coward when it came to actual combat. Killinger was not a coward by any stretch, though he was not always popular with his upholding the rules. Especially with Oscar. It was one of those breaks from the norm that made Flannigan pause to consider his choices and the man he had become.

His musings were broken by the comment about him paying. Flannigan looked around before offering a wry laugh at the mediocre joke. Chambers was quick to spit out his order and Flannigan was quick to follow. He'd eaten here a few times and it would be a fine meal over chow.

"I'll have the two burrito meal with extra potatoes and the lemonade, Major," he said quickly. "An me deepest thanks. This'll top the chow I planned by miles."

[Killinger, J.]

John took the orders but noted the awkward mood that had developed in the last few minutes; Flannigan seemed distant now, while the other Marine seemed focused on destroying his body for the rest of the day. He couldn't judge, Marines were still a breed of their own even after centuries of history. John quietly asked what his daughter and wife wanted before speaking into the microphone.

"Uh, sir, I have to interrupt you." The young employee replied through the microphone. "We've modernized, our take out menu is now an interactive holographic display. Just reach out and press the combo's you want, or click more for an individual list!"

"Uh, whoa." John paused. "Thank you."

John expanded the list so he could read better, holographic technology was everywhere now and always improving. His family watched holographic videos frequently - the good ones really achieved the mood of putting the viewers into the film, but holographic movies would always be inferior to screen-locked movies simply because the viewer never missed anything. On a holographic movie, a character could get shot and the shooter was behind you the entire time.

The Major ordered the Flaming Hot meal and pressed the check mark next to 'extra bacon' and 'Defeat the heat!' before adding it to the list, he followed up with the rest of the orders and went on to purchase the drinks for everyone. Since the Marine in the back never said what drink he wanted, John ordered him an iced tea but would be willing to swap his water if the Marine preferred that over the sugary drink.

The total flashed on the order. cR 11.34

John pulled out his credit chip, reached out and tapped the reader along the bottom of the information panel.

"Thank you for ordering with us! Your meal will be ready at the window shortly." The employee said.

John pulled the truck up slowly and waited for a few minutes while the workers inside prepared their meal. The Major noticed another vehicle pull up behind them and never even gave a second thought as the man waived his arms around like a sorcerer casting a spell. It only took a few minutes for the meal to come this way, an older woman handed their meal to them and wished us a good day.

John rummaged through the two bags for a moment before gathering the meals before handing them out.

"Enjoy!" The Major said, turning to speak with the Marines in the back. "Don't worry about spilling back there, the wife and I have been through wors-" John was saying before his wife reached out and lightly cuffed him on the backside of the head. She had always done so when John was trailing down a narrow path to revealing a rather embarrassing moment in family history.

"You tell that story like it's an accomplishment!" Beth groaned sarcastically.

John shifted the truck into drive. "It is."

[Chambers, T.]

The Australian had kept to himself most of his life, being in the personal vehicle of one officer with his company commander, ensured he was pretty much going to keep his mouth shut.

Accepting the meal from the driver he offered a nod of thanks, hopefully soon he'd be in a steaming hot shower removing what he was sure was a 'pleasant' odor and the physical traces of a couple nights and days spent largely drinking, eating and the occasional spot of casual sex.

Beginning to eat as they head off, presumably back to the base he was still uncomfortable here. He would have gladly walked or caught one of the marine buses, at least that way he wouldn't be making himself so known to this officer let alone getting caught to Captain Flannigan. Tom could only barely hold back to a grin as the officer explained what he was sure was either one of his conquests of his wife in front of his daughter or perhaps that very daughters conception, either way it was an off one to bring up given the company.

Chambers continued to eat looking out the window of the 'truck'. Finishing there was one last thing to attend to other than the drink. He needed a smoke, these bastard marines he'd joined had given him a bad addiction in addition to a significantly higher change of a gruesome painful end to his existence. checking one of his breast pockets he found the pack and lucky for him it wasn't empty there was just one left through.

Raising the packet up a little, enough for the driver to see through his mirror should he look. "Can I light one up?" he asked, the young marine needed this more than he'd needed the food, but the food had been nice.