"K-7204 reached; I can't take your call at th' moment, but I'll be there when I can. Just leave a message."

((Contact post, IC or OOC: say which.))

Haven't written anything in here for too long. Got to catch up...

Well, things've been okay overall. If I don't count 'Turamee and his ravings. I know I shouldn't put the shipmaster down, but, dear gods - only body count that man gets is droning people to death, I swear. Have to wonder what strings got pulled to drop him in charge. Or what stroke of luck he had.

Pretty much routine cleanup, at the moment. Nothing unusual to report. Wait - one thing, perhaps. Few rookies in the unit at the moment; fresh-faced kids, armour almost too big for them. This is their first posting away from home.
Welcome to real life, you lot. Welcome to the real world.

Ugh, last few months've been bad.
Let's start with the fact that somehow, we ended up with a whole load of godsdamned Flood breaking loose on the AV. I mean, damn. How does that work? Who'd be stupid enough to let them on the transports in the first place? They'd've been blown up soon as there was any idea they were infected! Just to make things worse, my damn powers decided to drop out at that moment. I suppose this is what you get when the Nexus gives you something good. It runs out when you need it most.

So we had to abandon ship. Dropped out of Slipspace to the only planet we could even risk making it to that looked like it could handle life.

And that was pushing it.
Most of it'd been glassed already. Managed to find a spot that hadn't been as badly hit (we were damn lucky there *was* one), there was actually water we could purify, but still; it's the most miserable thing you could imagine, trying to camp out in a wasteland like that, hoping your rations last out long enough for someone to come on a rescue mission (must've been twice as bad for the little guys with the gas deal); it was damn close. I think all of us were praying, and the big guys didn't seem to care that humans were praying right along with them.
I saw something made me wonder. Made me a bit sick, too. Melted carvings, looked like they were in old English once. I think it was a human colony before it got hit. Tried not to think about it, 'cause it's something you don't want to down there.

We got picked up a little while ago. It's only a cargo ship, so it's kind of cramped, but it's going to drop us on a nearby orbital station so everything can be worked out. Not glamourous, but I don't care, it's off that godsforsaken melted rock.

There's reports running around the ship of a strange creature, all black spikes and glowing eyes, causing trouble. The higher ups are denying it, but there's so many people saying they've seen something it's crazy.

Thing is? I ain't used that form on the ship for ages. I test it out in the Nexus now and then, but that's all. (Keep feeling a bit strange when I come back from it. Eh, just something new to cope with.)

Something's FUBAR'd, or someone's lying.

...that did the job. Just getting out there, getting my feet on a damn planet again, not bouncing off the walls like someone shot me out'f a needler - cures everything. Ain't felt this alive in a long time. Feel like a little kid who's just got his hands on his first set of armour.

Got to calm down, now.
Get some of the crap off my kit, too. Close call; lost shields for too damn long at one point. Nearly risked changing and using my own; figured it'd be just too many things to explain at a bad time. Got them back just in time, gods be praised.
All the same; infection form slime is a pain.

...strange how differently things work out in different worlds.

But besides the point.

Finally; getting out of here. Seems like a pretty routine cleanup job, most of the colony's evacuated already but Flood hit the 'port and no-one else has got anywhere to run. Thank the gods - action. I mean, I feel for th' people down there, wouldn't be much good if I didn't, but I'm sick of waiting around.

Just as long as I don't fall asleep in my armour. I mean - this gets much worse'n I'll be no good for fighting, but damn if fresh air isn't going to help. Any chance I'm getting, I'm opening the vents.
Anyway. Here we go.

...okay, the - different form thing is definitely a factor in this tiredness deal. I'm trying to see if staying normal is making it better, but so far I haven't recovered any. Actually starting to get rather hungry with it. Wake up and I'm starving.

Can't see the docs about this one, now. Better just hope it clears up. The stimulant packs do the job for long enough when they've got to, so that's something.

So I've gotten 'what' worked out.
Time to get on to 'why'.

Feeling so tired it's untrue, and I haven't even done anything much recently. Most action I've had is a few rounds in the gym with L and TC the other day. Should go make an appointment with the doc but it's probably nothing.

That creepy kid, going on about 'the darkness'. Wish I knew what in the name of the gods he was talking about. Physically, okay, could lose myself in a dark room when I'm like that but I know that wasn't what he meant. He expected me to know 'cause of what I am, and I don't.

Been running around the Nexus the other way to try and test out what I can actually do like that except frighten the life out of the new guys. Some useful things there from what I can tell; I need to find a way to practice. Though every time I do them, it feels odd. If I can use them, though, it'll all help.

...No matter what I am, who I am doesn't change. It's still me on the inside; it's just like putting on my armour. Just comes from a different place.

Everyone gets fidgety on these long Slipspace hops. Try to keep occupied but it always seems to get a bit nasty at the end. And we're the ones who always end up on the wrong end of it, 'cause some idiot (I shouldn't say that) takes it into their head that we're not doing our job right and we shouldn't be on here. All that crap. Always the same.

...dear gods, those ODSTS, when I went and... I've never seen them so freaked out in all my life. These're the sorts'f guys who'll face the Flood head-on without our armour, and I had them spooked. Went back in as my normal self later and they were all trying to act like it'd been nothing. "I could've taken him" and all that.
Time to surprise a few Grunts later.
Haven't dared trigger a transformation when I'm in armour yet. Don't want to imagine the damage those spikes (I need to get this right in my head - my spikes - damn, that sounds weird) could do to it. Or what damage it could do to me right back. It doesn't seem to affect my normal clothes for some reason, but armour's that much tougher, after all.

Wondering how long this is going to last.