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"I appreciate your concern Sergeant, but I'd like to see this place for myself" he said, "this Op. will be close quarters from our scan. Grab a sniper and an assault rifle. See you in fifteen."

Ashton walked back to the Barracks and Armory junction room, and slipped on his M52B Armor, along with his Boots and Helmet (being sure to remove, then re-insert, his neural uplink jack.) He situated his fatigues and equiptment so as to have easy access to all the tools he'd need out in the field, including his Medical Scanner and ambiguous tool repair kit.

Sliding a clip home onto his BR55, he pulled the bolt back with a satisfying cha-chick!. Holsetering that onto his back, he then checked to make sure his HE pistol was in its place, and that he had enough Frags. Combat knife holstered behind his back (transverse across his lumbars, so as to grab it with a stabbing grip if needed). He was good to go.

He checked his uplink to Angel, hearing her confirm full Radio and Comm signals all locked down and good to go. "Lets go explore the spookey Station of Death, shall we?" He jested. He moved over, back towards the others in Able Company.

[god, when I go off, everyone forgets about me and goes on ahead...*sighs* I hate it when people go on without me]

Rory stood up and walked over to the comander, and he saluted. "I appologise for my actions, I was out of line." He kept the salute up. "I will do my best to complete this mission, sir." He waited for the comander to say he could stop saluting, and his answer.

Warren accepted the pills from Ashton, and put them in his vest pocket. He nodded towards Ashton and headed for his bunk. When he got there he Put on his ODST armor and tapped his head lightly to make sure his helmet was on tight enough. He grabbed his BR55 SR off a near by table and threw it over his shoulder. "Looks like were going in" he muttered under his breath.

He walked down to the Armory and saw several members of Able company already there. He grabbed 2 frag grenades, 3 clips for his rifle, A sidearm, and an extra clip for his sidearm. He looked around and then headed for the primary docking bay.

Warren was the first to arrive at the docking bay, it was odd since he was one of the last to arrive at the armory. He looked around and saw mechanics and pilots tending to pelican's, long swords and hornets. He leaned on nearby wall and observed his surroundings. It was a very open space, biggest space he''d seen in awhile. He didn't make trips down here often, since he had next to no reason to.

Since he was in waiting warren began to wonder why he had not been himself lately. Intense headache's, emotional outbursts, and this bizarre feeling from the station. He couldn't even describe the feeling, all he could tell it was strong. He felt his chest for the pill's Ashton gave him. "These better work" He thought out loud. If another one of those headache's decided to kick in, he doubted he would be able to accomplish his duties.

The Major left as soon as he was dismissed. He had a lot to do and very little time in which to do it. The one thing he hated about the Navy was that they never gave the Marines adequate time to prepare. It was always, "OK we're here, go do your stuff. Call us when you get back." never "OK, we'll be arriving soon, get your men prepared, I'd give you a day at best."

That was the problem with being an officer, you had to sort through a lot of s**t to get things done. The biggest obstacle was that Lipton didn't know anyone on the Monterey, so he would have to resort to someone who did. He ran through the roster of active marines stationed on the ship, there had to be someone to talk to. Of course there was always the scuttlebutt, but he preferred to go through the channels. An officer asking odd questions was never a good sign. He chose the XO of 301st Batt., Captain Xiang Hao Lee. He checked the Captains service record and found an impressive resume. The Captain knew his stuff. He found directions to the Captain's office through the ship's map and headed off to meet him. When he arrived, the Corporal assigned to secretarial detail sat behind a desk working with papers. There were a few Marines waiting for a debrief, it looked like they were from different companies, the ones hardest hit on VerCrouse. No doubt they were trying to get over the pain of loosing their friends and trying to find a new home. Maybe he would end up with some of them. Corporal Moreau looked at the Major, stood at attention, and snapped a sharp salute. Lipton casually returned the salute and the Corporal relaxed.
"Is the Captain busy at the moment?" Lipton inquired.

"No sir. Is there something wrong?"

"No. I just need to speak with the Captain for a while."

"I'll let him know you're coming sir."

"Thank you Corporal."

Lipton nodded to the Marine, who quickly paged Lee via his Data-pad.

Lee opened the clamshell screen of his personal terminal, having just come back to his office through the maze-like sea of human bodies that was the Monterey's swarming passageways. Now comfortably seated, he slipped his finger over the fingerprint scanner on the terminal and allowed it to go through the process of downloading his new data. There, he read everything that they had learned of what the Monterey's intelligence division had begun referring to as "Installation 79". The facts were difficult to understand, but Lee's job wasn't to question a task that was handed to him, it was to make sure it got done.

5 minutes later, he was fully suited and ready to roll. Angel, the ship's own onboard "Smart" AI, was represented on his HUD by a small tab in blue writing. her voice patterns scrolled slowly as she explained what Hammer needed the marines to do.
"Some of these people just got back from Belfast, Angel. I honestly believe that some of them aren't fit for rapid redeployment."
Angel's voice-line undulated slowly as she retorted, her slightly condescending but humorous tone suggesting both ignorance on the Captain's part and amusement on hers. "They've all been cleared by the ship's morale officer, Captain, and Hammer's orders were clear on who needed to be where. You need to be in Pelican bay six in twelve minutes."
Lee double-checked his sidearm one last time, and the second knife he kept in his boot. "Some of them are on meds, god damnit! How am I supposed to keep track of Trigger-Happy Ted if he needs to have a pill every few hours? They could compromise this operation!"
Angel voice sighed and instantly the image of her pouting came to mind. When her voice sounded again through the helmet mikes, it wasn't teasing like it had been before, but almost motherly. "You don't seem to put a lot of faith in your ability to execute this op. The reason you're being chosen for this is because we put our faith in you."
Lee slung his personal battle-rifle onto his back and closed the small locker reserved for him at the armory. The marines passing outside of the sound-proofed prep-room would have no idea what he was talking about, and he had made sure he was alone when he entered. Taking a look around the small room, he was satisfied that the door was still as he had left it: Locked.
"Thanks. I guess I have no choice but to get it done."
Angel let out a small laugh.
"You always have a choice, Captain. It's just not up to you to make it."

Two minutes later, Lee's data-pad rang with the tone that meant someone was waiting in his office. Retrieving the pad from one of his pouches, he touched the screen and Corporal Moreau's face filled the small area.
"There's a Major Lipton here to see you, Sir. ODST, VerCrouse veteran."
Lee checked the mission clock. Still ten minutes before he had to be in the pelican bay. Not knowing why the Major would want to speak to him right before an op, he decided that two minutes would be plenty.
"Tell him I'll be right there. Let him in, make him comfy. Warn him that I'll only have two minutes, though."
"Understood, Sir."