Day Three: Training continues.

Rounding the corner from the medical tent Dean stops and turns back to look thinking to himself.  “You spent all night worried about them and they are fine.”  Walking quickly to the Base ops tent Dean quietly slips inside as un-noticed as a 6’ blond fox can be hearing someone approaching Dean walks out to see General Steel, quickly standing at attention and saluting as he gets into line.  Standing at attention through everything the arrival of the lady rat till they are dismissed Dean quickly grabs a sack and heads off to work.

Tent three is one of the larger tents, not as big as the mess but roomy enough to fit a small medical lab inside.  It sits under guard and quarantine but the guards let Shard pass once they recognize him, having apparently been told of his arrival to work.  Inside, the first thing that Shard notices is the scent of death tinged with rotting meat, and secondly that the tent is shockingly cold compared to the outside.  It isn't to the point of feeling like one is in a freezer, but impressively cool none the less.
 
Inside there are several pieces of lab equipment that have been hastily unpacked and assembled, some items plugged into huffing generators outside and patiently waiting to be used.  In the center of the tent is Doctor Naochi, who is currently prodding the open chest cavity of a very dead Thurvine with a thin metal rod.  She doesn't so much as glance up as Shard enters and instead lifts a small black box to the thin paper mask covering her mouth.

“Subject appears to have expired due to brain hypoxia as the result of strangulation.  I have yet to examine the cerebrum and skull, but the alien's throat displays marks of bruising and there are signs of hemorrhaging around the eyes.  Skin samples are processing now to check for any irritants or chemicals that may cause a negative reaction, but I have been told that the individual that brought the creature down is showing no ill effects thus far.  I have also been advised that the individual is a special case and precautions should still be made.”

She clicks off the recorder and glances back at the new arrival.  “The crew left a mess when they set this place up.  There's packing material and debris from outside everywhere.  Clean it up.  And if something you clean up goes squish, put it in biohazard.”  She gestures to a bright yellow metal container with condensation dripping off its sides.  “The turkey dinner here is going bad as we speak, so I need to work while you do.  Mind you don't get in my way.”

Once she finishes she turns to her subject and clicks the recorder back on.  “Upon examination I believe the creature is a combat unit as there are signs of multiple injuries that have healed over.  The most interesting of which are contained in the Thurvine's gills.  I believe the subject was either used to test the viability of breathing ocean water or exposed itself accidentally as the gills show signs of degradation and damage...”

Tamara follows Keir's count as precisely as she can, glad that he isn't counting too fast despite his nervousness. When the push ups are finished, she stands up, straightening with the grace gifted by her feline heritage, and waits for the next orders. Her slitted emerald eyes go from Keir to General Steele then to Sunny, as she waits quietly for whatever awaits them next.

"Well sir, just thinking it was something I ate but I never knew food poisoning or maybe over eating would do this to a body," Charon said to the tiger. "I just feel like a submarine ran me over and just now have I felt strong enough, both in mind and in body to attempt to walk. I also feel I have neglected my time here being in this tent all this time without really knowing what happened to me as I feel I need to report to Commander Steele, I believe he is my commanding officer."
The lanky cheetah was still unsteady on his feet but feeling better the more time he was up. He still had a death grip on the nearest cot but he was wondering why there was two tigers instead of one talking to him. He blinked a few times to focus his sight and the two white felines became one after some concentration. He took his hand away from the cot and fully stretched out to his full height, the snug fitting uniform of the Overlord's surface rustling as he did so.
"So...," the feline started but he had to place his hand back on the cot before falling over. "if I may, would like to go speak to Commander Steele to see if my services are still required after this sickness I have."

As Shard entered the tent he did notice the coolness of it, to be honest it reminded him of home on one of the warmer days. After he was given his instructions Shard nodded and said "Yes Ma'm" then he began to take in the area. The Doctor wasn't wrong when she said they crew had made a mess. He decided that he would start with the largest pieces first. then once that was out of the way he would move onto the smaller stuff. As he worked he constantly made sure that he wasn't in her way. Though he did sneak the odd peek at the dead Thurvine every now and then.

She was still flying around in the forest above the trees, she was far enough from the base and landed on the soil. She feels the texture of the soil "Hmmm the soil is very soft and rich, there must be some fruit baring trees nearby" She started to run on foot as she followed sent of the soil. After running around for a bit, she found a few trees that bore fruit "Jack pot" She flies up and picks a few fruit, it was apples. She smiles as she loved to eat apples when she can, but she knew that she needed to gather this for the base

(Just gonna say ahead of time sorry for the super long post)

Jack came across a stream the water higher than normal from the storm the day before, looking down both sides there were no fruit bearing trees so, he began to walk up the stream to find a way across. He grinned as he came across some stones peeking out of the waters, he took a deep breath “Here goes nothing.” His foot slipped on the moss covered rock near the center of the stream, he flailed his arms wildly trying to balance himself. His torso continued moving forward, Jack put his hands down to catch himself on the next stone as his left leg plunged into the water, followed shortly after by the other. “Well that could have gone worse…” he stood and walked the rest of the way across since there was no point in trying to keep dry at this point.

Jack took a minute to remove his pants and wring them out, satisfied that they were not drenched he slid them back on. I’ll go down towards the beach on my way back he thought as he turned delving further into the jungle. A large tree with purple flowers caught his eye, he jogged over spotting bundles of red seedpods hanging from the limbs. Climbing up a fork in the trunk, Jack slid forward on a branch to gather a few bushels of the sterculia pods in the bag. He slid back towards the trunk before there was a sudden snap, all Jack could do as he tumbled down was toss his pack to the side to try and keep the contents safe from being crushed.

The air flushed from his lungs as he landed with a thud on the ground, the limb he had been seated on making it that much more uncomfortable. He lay there on the ground dazed, staring upwards at the streams of light piercing through gaps in the green leaves. Not even thirty minutes and he’d already been drenched and fallen ten feet, it’d be amazing if he survived the day in his own terrain. What felt like an eternity passed, before Jack felt well enough to sit up and assess the situation. His right arm was numb and after inspecting it he realized why, it had been dislocated in the fall. He grabbed his wrist, curling his right hand into a fist, thumb tucked in, as tightly as he could manage before rotating his entire arm clockwise. He heard a loud pop and the sensation of pain flared across his right side causing him to double over, hey at least I’ve got both arms still right?

He turned when his ears caught the sound of a small animal’s cry. With a grunt he stood up and retrieved his rucksack slinging it over his bad arm and his head, cradling his injured arm. This is bad what if I knocked something out of the tree and hurt a feral, will I have to leave it be or... his thoughts trailed off as he found the source of the noise, a ball of mud that appeared to have started growing fur. He moved closer to inspect, the mud covered critter unfurled a wing revealing sky blue eyes, which it quickly hid upon seeing Jack looming over it. “Hey there little thing, I’m not gonna hurt you.” It peeked at him again tears rimming its eyes, its fore-paw was bleeding. Jack looked around, there’s no way this could have happened from that fall must have happened during the storm. He reached down slowly inching towards the critter, “Easy, I just want to help.”  

The tiny chimenticore didn’t look like it was in any condition to put up a fight and offered no resistance as Jack scooped it up and placed it in the nook of his right arm to examine the injury, “Looks bad, but I’m sure I can find something to clean this up, the medical team back at the camp would probably be willing to help to.” Jack set the chimenticore down and slid his right arm partially from the sleeve pulling the material over and tying it around the straps of the rucksack to create a makeshift sling from the cloth. Carefully he picked the critter up and placed it gently in the sling using his hand inside the sleeve to hold it. The sling allowed him to minimize the strength needed to keep his arm in place and hold onto the chimenticore as he began his search for plants that might serve both purposes.

"Sure thing Archeus" Ian replied with a smile. He set about getting the model set up, retrieving items from where they had been stored in preparation for the storm the day before.

Tigermark listened to the recruit as he attempted to explain where he'd been and what his intentions were. The tiger opened a new page on his tablet and checked the duty log.

"Recruit Bond, you were logged into Medical early yesterday. Dr. Sylvian reported your condition as an allergic reaction to .... the bread. Seems the bread from yesterday had some ground seeds that your system didn't particularly care for. Good thing, because general Steele would NOT have been amused that you missed a full day's training from overeating. He reads the daily reports, so I'm sure he knows where you've been. I'm glad you feeling a bit better, but from my vantage point I'd say you need a little more recoup time. It wouldn't do for you to report to the General and then fall over. Have a seat on one of the cots until you are both steadier on your feet and cleared by Medical to return to duty."

With that, Tigermark returned his attention to the two little foxes. Dr. Sylvian seemed to be starting to doze a bit, and both the foxes seems awake and alert enough, so he proceeded. If they began to tire, he'd stop.

"Miss Ledoux, I'm told you expressed interest in joining our ranks as a minion of Her Majesty, Overlord Fox. I have you and your brother's names, and vital statistics from your medical evaluation. Do you have second or last names? I also need your ages, and any skills or experience you have. Lieutenant Sunday has brought uniforms for you both. I do want to say, though, that if your doing this out of gratitude for your rescue, there's no need. The Overlord wants us to be a benevolent empire, so the rescue is all part of the service. If you truly want to serve, then well and good, we'll get you started."

It seemed that the medical tent was hastily becoming the new meeting point.

“Doctor Sylvian, you’ll have a lot of work to do. It’s better that I return to the R&D tent and leave you with your patients. Thanks for the company; I hope we can talk in the near future!” Garran said, smiling. He saluted Commander Tigermark again, waved to the two foxes and ran to R&D, leaving the doctor to his tasks.

He peeked inside, just in case there was already some officer inside, but it seemed he had been lucky.
“Good morning, everyone! Sorry if I’m late. Did I miss something?”
It seemed that everyone was already at work, and he felt a little guilty. And it seemed he actually missed something – or better someone. A cat-taur was looking at some projects.
He approached her. “Hello. My name’s Garran.” He said, offering a hand. “Are you going to work with us?”

“I have observed that, at least on this creature, that the thurvines have excess moisture in their bodies which includes pockets of it under their skin, perhaps to serve as storage bladders if they work on dry land for an extended period of time.  Note that this may cause the standard shock poles to do excessive damage to them.  I suggest that Fox take my findings to R&D and develop a newer method of battling the creatures if she wishes to stick to her nonlethal policy.”

Chiria clicks the recorder off and goes to a workbench with some tools on it.  She picks up a particularly nasty looking miniature saw and moves to the creature's head.

“If something gray and squishy rolls across the floor, be a good boy and bring it back here, will you?”  And that's all the warning Shard gets as she starts her rather invasive examination of the Thurvine's cranium.  She does her work very cleanly, but also fast and efficient as soon enough she has the creature's skull open and is examining the contents and speaking into her recorder again.

“The brain is a grayish pink in color, but the gray cast could be because of cell degradation.  I also see signs of alteration due to cybernetics and nanites.  I shall attempt to extract these for R&D to examine at their leisure.  I will have to remove the brain to get an accurate number, but at the moment I estimate the weight of the brain to be approximately one kilogram, slightly less than the average adult sentient.”

She clicks the recorder off again and puts the saw on the table, preparing to use a tray full of smaller instruments next.

As Shard worked he did indeed come across something that went squish. It looked like, well he couldn't really think of a way to describe it. So he put on some gloves that he had on his belt and carefully picked it up and placed it in the yellow Bio hazard bin as he had been told making sure to properly sanitize the area the piece had been. Standing up he looked at the open skull of the Thurvine and he recalled how Dr. Naochi described how it had died. "I hope I'm not stepping out of bounds here Dr. but if Her Majesty has a Nonlethal policy...How did this thing end up...well, on the slab?"

Ledoux looking up at Tigermark. "Thank you commander. I'm 17, and just Ledoux and Zenny. My skills have primarily been around providing for my family. I can track, my hearing and eyesight are keen. And I can guard as needed. I consider myself pretty open for just about anything really. I can be dynamic as the situation dictates."

Archeus looked to Alec, "Hmmmmm how are you at coloring? I have some drawings that need to be inked. If you want you can free hand it, or even scan them and digitally color them if you're so inclined?"

Lex made her way down along the beach for a time, slipping of towards the sea water for a time, picking up a few hopeful clams that she found while working her way until she found a proper stream to follow back up towards it's source. Water was a key item to look for when foraging for food. Animals, and plants tended to stay near them, so she followed it upstream, keeping an eye on the vegetation, looking for berries and fruit trees. Her ears took time to scan and swivel around the area, keeping an ear out for any potential animals that she might have to steer clear of.

After pick a handful of apples she walks around to see if there any more trees nearby. The soil she walked on was rich with nutrients meaning that there must have been some more fruit baring trees nearby. She keeps on walking until she stumbles upon a small river, she looks around "A river? Hmm I didn't know there was one near the camp site, then that means there might be something else for me to find if I follow it *She opens her wings and flew above the river to find anything else

Tigermark noted the white vixen's answers on his tablet.

"Hmmm, you sound like a good match for Base Ops, but I have a few more questions. First, how does your age of 17 relate to the normal lifespan for your people? I'm trying to establish if you are an adult and can make that decision to join us legally. Heh, Zenny, I haven't forgotten about you. How old are you, and again, is that age considered an adult. If not, Zenny you may have to stay with us as a dependent of your sister. Also, do you read and write, are you comfortable with wearing clothing, and can you manipulate things well enough to be able to dress yourselves once you're shown how to put on the uniforms?"

Zenny watched as a very wobbly cheetah stumbled his way through the tent and balanced himself using the cot he was on. Judging by his paws dead grip on the railing he wasn’t completely steady on his own two feet. With the tiger distracted and the poor doctor basically asleep, the hungry fox used the opportunity to inch his way forward toward the intoxicating strawberry bowl left abandoned in the grey wolf’s lap.

His ears perked forward as he heard the doctor mumbling on about something in his sleep, probably whatever material he’d been reading just moment before in his book. His eyes zoned in on the bowl of strawberries and he licked from one side of his muzzle to the other, inching towards the edge of the cot as he tried to reach down with his one good front paw to inch the bowl closer. Just as he got a paw on it his balance slipped from the weakness still in his chest and he accidentally flipped the bowl into the doctor’s lap. The small kit watched as one of the larger strawberries roll away from the rest and closer to the cot he was on. Letting lose a triumphant yip, he brought his muzzle down as he snatched up his prize with a loud squish sending a line of juice down his jaw and staining his fur.

Still chewing through what could be classified as a small meal for one his size, he turned toward Tigermark hearing his name and the questions addressed. A slight smile appeared across his muzzle as Zenny bent over the other side of the cot to where the pile of uniforms had been left and grabbed one of the smaller tops up in his mouth. Pulling himself back up without somehow ripping his stitching he dropped the article of clothing upon the bed. He poked his muzzle through the bottom opening of the uniform as he walked himself forward while securing the clothing down with one paw to prevent it from moving. Despite his best efforts to show the tiger, the tip of his muzzle popped through the wrong opening coming out of an open sleeve cuff.

The cheetah seemed a bit down upon hearing what the white tiger was saying to him but he did not disagree. "Well hopefully it won't be too long before I can report to the commander then, just need to get the blood pumping in my system," he said while looking over the rest of the occupants in the medical tent.

He had to smile at the antics of the smaller fox. While he didn't hear any sound coming from the male fox, it was clear he was famished and in a good mood after sinking his teeth into the rather large strawberry. This elicited a slight rumble which originated from his stomach. He was hungry again and a couple of strawberries would probably settle his stomach and provide him the energy to at least leave the medical facilities. Taking great care with his current state of unsteadiness he righted the bowl of strawberries on the doctor's lap and popped a couple of the berries into his mouth chewing slowly to make sure no lingering effects from the bread was evident. He felt a rush of tingling adrenaline through his body; yeah that hit the spot at least he didn't have an involuntary accident from his stomach.

He hobbled his way to the two foxes and the white tiger listening in on their conversation.

Ledoux nodded and smiled, "Yes I get that from time to time. I'm a young adult. 25 is considered middle aged for us."

Chiria snaps her recorder off and eyes Shard blandly. “Nonlethal doesn't mean deaths don't happen. Fox just doesn't deal with every Thurvine that trespasses by putting a bullet in its head. Those shock poles the recruits use could kill someone if you hit a person in the chest with it or if you cranked up the power a little.” She gestures to the corpse on the table. “The way I understand it, this guy decided to pick a fight with commander Wolfbane, and the way the fight progressed it reached a kill or be killed point.”

The doctor clicks her recorder on and sets it aside while she starts using the forceps and scalpel to remove the thurvine's brain. “Were I to postulate,” she says, her tone growing a bit more formal, “I would guess that with the creature's weakened state due to salt water damage, it was going to be euthanized soon anyway. It might have been weakened enough that the fight with Bane was too much for it, or it felt like going out in a blaze of glory. Also something to keep in mind, Fox. Some of these guys might play for keeps since they don't have anything to lose.”

She clicks the recorder off and sets the brain on a scale, jotting down some numbers and then moving it to a sterilized table to continue her examinations.

Tigermark smiled.

"Seems your brother has made up his mind. So how old are you, Zenny? Here, let me give you a paw."

The tiger reached out and moved the sleeve from around the little todd's neck, and draped teh uniform top across his shoulders. He then turned back to Ledoux.

"As I asked, do you read and write? Do you think you could use a tablet like I'm using here?"

In the back of his mind, Tigermark was a little concerned about the young fox eating anything solid after having just been through abdominal surgery.

Jack spotted a few light colored flowers standing nearly a foot out of the ground with small bulbs growing on a few of them during his arced path back towards the stream. As he moved closer the chimenticore cub in his arms nuzzled it's face deeper into Jack's chest. Once close enough to properly examine the plant his thoughts were confirmed at the faint scent of garlic. Kneeling down he began plucking some of the bulbs reaching back and dropping them into the bag over his back. The sack was less than half full, mostly filled with the seedpods from earlier though the garlic certainly added to his bounty. Once he reached the stream he continued up the side of it looking into the foliage for anything that might prove useful.

With a little assistance from Tigermark, the kit’s head finally managed to pop through the correct hole in the uniform at the top of the collar. Next he laid himself down flat wiggling his paws up into the sleeves of the uniform, taking great care with his injured front paw. After a few moments of maneuvering he stood up proudly grinning from ear to ear as the new minion uniform top hugged his form snugly, contrasting between the deep blue and his own lavender fur quite nicely.

Tigermark’s next question towards the kit was a bit more of a challenge. He looked around the room for a moment seeing the cheetah right the bowl he'd just tipped over and an idea hit him. Moving back over to the edge of the cot and taking much more care this time, he managed to grip the bowl in his mouth steadily moving it to sit atop the cot. Then taking his nose he nudged berries out one at a time until he had exactly ten strawberries separated from the bowl. Happy with his accomplishment he looked up at the tiger with an excited yip hoping to get his attention.

Tigermark looked back over at the todd's sudden yip. He looked from the young fox to the strawberries arranged in front of him a couple of times and then smiled in understanding.

"Got it, Zenny, You're ten," he said as he made note on his tablet. He then looked back to Ledoux, awaiting her answers.