((This is a fresh hand-written journal that can be found in Smokestack's room in the Freezer under his bed)) I never thought that there'd come a time when I'd actually start writing shit. My life never turned out too hot, but never turned out too cool, you know. But there was always something to do. But I guess that now, as I'm gettin to be old here, that I should start recalling what it was like to live as me. I have friends now, friends that aren't dead, and I ain't as isolated as I used to be before coming here to Antares. It's about time I recall all the memories leading up to these little moments in my life. So let's see.. I was never really Smokestack if I remember right. I went on over to Avos near 8 years back when I was 27 to try and get some information on the old parents. But you know how it is trying to talk to Flightless with your human-given nickname. I kinda just muscled my way round the area till someone recognized my face. Eventually someone gave and recognized me. It was a funny thing too. The guy recognized me even after near 24 years. Told me that my family name was Weatherwind. And with that, I went to public records and found that my name was Etalpalli. But that was 8 years ago. The name means pretty much nothing to me now. Ever since people called me Smokestack, I've gotten friends. At least here in Antares that is. I should probably talk about when I was little though. Maybe next time.
<Written May 24, 2415> I finally got myself situated in my bunk in Mattis. Freezer got locked down and we went to fight to reclaim an old colony of ours. I don't really have any connection to it, but if my friends are gonna fight for it, well I should too. Being a member of the assault team made us one of the go-to teams to be sent in. After being appointed as combat engineer and the shotgun user, I was on point and had to go through the buildings and clear the place out. We were pretty lucky and no one really got hurt. I used a plucking shit ton of flash bangs though. Things got really hectic fighting down that corridor in the hospital, but we came out winners in the end. With Mattis in our hands, we can start doing things instead of being holed up in an underground bunker. Anyways, I kind of lost the mood to talk about my past. It ain't something that I'd want to write out and repeat. Writing out the stories of child labor and death ain't exactly an uplifting thing to write about when I'm trying to talk about my feelings. So Greg died. That kinda got me on edge. Man was a pretty good friend before he moved on to become a colony leader. He sparred with me and we damn near killed each other. I broke his neck and he broke all of my ribs. Those weren't the best of times, but it was one way to make a friend. We talked a lot in the bunker and I don't know, it hurts me a little inside to see another person that I've gotten close to get taken away. I should've been there to do something. ANYTHING even. But hell. I was just as useless back in New Chicago with Dodge as I am now with Greg. Plucking shit. ...I just want to make a difference. In a good way. I got promoted to private first class today and got mentioned for a medal of good conduct (didn't get it though, reasonably), so I'm just steps closer to making a difference in the world. I've done terrible things, but by Kluex, I'll do the right thing now and protect the people I care about. It'd put me at rest and put me closer to Kluex. Pluck, I sound preachy writing this shit.
<Written May 25th, 2415> Ain't much really going on as of today and I guess that's a good thing. If thing's actually went on with the marines, it'd kinda mean that there's some trouble out there in Antares and I'd have to take up a shotty and shove it in people's faces. I act kinda tough, saying a lot of shit I don't mean, but I really don't wanna shoot anyone. Marines tend to get treated like garbage in Antares with our misconduct and lack of discipline, but that gets kinda thrown out when people are actually in trouble right? People don't go around saying that we're utter shit when there's lives on the line. That's kinda when it dawned on me that it doesn't really matter if people don't like me. Kinda the feeling of "Alright, you don't like me, but damn do I like that you don't like me, so I'll defend your right to not like me". Don't know if that makes sense, but it kinda works in my head. I'll do me, and you do you. And what I do, at least now that is, is try and redeem myself in the eyes of Kluex. Doing all the stuff that I do now, I just can't help but look back at my time in the Delta Sector. Ex-penal colony by the name of New Rebel. Years there and I eventually became a fighter pilot taking down other pilots in games of starship dog-fighting. I got the name Smokestack from that old burning piece of durasteel I used to pilot, but I think back now, like, was it worth it? I took near 300 lives. 5 years of it. 60 ships down. 12 ships a year. Families used to come up and try and kill me for taking out their parents. After awhile, you just kinda build a shell, a persona, some kinda way to cope with the bad things you've done. You kinda just try and forget that person with a family died in that explosion you made just for a few pixels. I had 4 years in a ship running away from 300 angry families. Plenty of time to think about what I've done and I still can't forgive it really. I still kinda put up a shell whenever I see good people running around. But the marines? I feel at home with them. I get to be myself and finally get to do the right thing. Being with them now, I feel like I'm just a little closer to Kluex.
<Written May 26th, 2415> Things've calmed and that's pretty nice. There hasn't been much to do around Antares really. I witnessed a little fight on the Gardens between some Hylotl and got pushed back by the locals. It's weird calling people "locals". We're all from different places and apparently we form little groups and push other people away. Heck it reminds me of the old prison a bit. There was no place for a bird like me. I had no place to sit. But hell, everyone there was an outsider just the same. Everyone was put on that planet whether they liked it or not. There's that little rant. Other than that, today was normal. Met another old marine named Marlowe. Weird human. Also met another named Laonie. Who's at least not scary compared to Cateth. Also came across a recruit named Morgan who I helped around with unofficial training. It just kinda feels good helping a person who's gonna try to rise in the ranks one day. Slow entry today. But whatever.
<Written June 2nd, 2415> I kinda got injured at some point doing an unofficial operation with Britton. I got a message on my PDA from Pris saying that an apex woman was abduct, so I got up and tried investigating. I was with Matt and Cygnus and we made our first efforts disguising ourselves as mercenaries to get into Sundew without getting shot. It worked. Probably because no one was there. After we came back from that botched op, Matt had to leave, but told us to keep investigating. Cygnus became preoccupied with other manners, so I called on Britton to assist me. We ended up tracing this signal back to what we thought was an abandoned lab. Shit wasn't very abandoned when we arrived. So we traced the signal and got onto the planet in full BDU and were packed ready to rumble. Back of my mind now tells me that we definitely should've called for backup, but can't do anything about that now. We reached the door and out comes the intercom from some Apex telling us to leave. Naturally we assumed it was the Knog trying to keep us out. By the time the intercom went off though, we already finished breaching the first door with matter bane. They told us that we'd better leave or they'd turn on the turrets, but knowing the bastards, they'd turn on the turrets anyways. So Britton and I went on in to the next room and kept advancing. Things got more serious after we breached the second door. We were at a standoff with the Knogs and only one closed door was stuck between us and them. They told us that this was our last warning and that we'd better leave or get faced with complete fire. Britton had called in awhile ago and we were told to back out at the first sign of danger. Here was that danger. Problem was that I already felt like they turned on the turrets back at the entrance so we'd just be running right into a damn trap. We didn't have much time to think, so we moved out. I ended up being right and we were shot up by the two turrets guarding the entrance. I was on point and my backpack got burnt to shreds, leaving just a little on the straps. Britton got the worst end of the deal protecting my back and got shot somewhere and had to take cover near the shelves there. I think one of them ended up crashing down on him. So here I am having run out without my squad mate in a trench with 2 smokes and a LAW. I ended up taking out the two turrets and moving up, keeping to the walls as Britton was getting plasma grenades thrown near him. They were really getting at the shelves and he was gonna be out of cover. I got up to the point and started firing away at the desk one Knogger was behind. I emptied my mag into that desk and got a hit on the guy. I ended up taking a round into the shoulder and chest at this point. I dragged Britton's crippled self behind the wall, and told him the escape plan. I grabbed my two smoke grenades and tossed em out to give us time to run out. We stuck to the walls and ran (or in Britton's case, hobbled) as fast as we could until we cleared the hill outside the building. I laid him down and set a beam signature on him for Mattis. Not wanting him to take more hits, I laid my body on top of him and kept watch. Seconds pass by and all of a sudden we're getting sniped at by a Knogger on the building's roof. There ain't no way in hell I was hitting a sniper with a shotgun and getting up would've killed me. It was a wind storm though so we had the advantage. We only had less than a minute left before our beam was initiated. 15 seconds were left and I was all glad I came out alive when BANG a plasma round from a sniper scrapes along my back armor leaving a huge plasma burn across my back. Beam sequence goes and it was all a blur. We ended up getting punished by Matt after we came to at the hospital. I was told not to drink cola anymore and to carry a cola can around with me at all times and Britton was told to do weapons and armor maintenance and to clean the gore pit. I didn't really know that I was addicted to cola until Matt issued the punishment. I've been getting really slow talking to people. In the sense of being a dumb pluck. I mean, how is a weasel a sex toy? I think I might be going crazy... The withdrawal might just ruin me, but hearing that drinking cola might give me organ failure is kinda urging me to stop drinking so much. If I think about it, it might be for the best. But you know what else is for the best? Never drinking energy supplements again. My heart was pounding outta my chest after drinking a can. Everything just felt so fast and slow. I don't even know. I was getting crankier and crankier when all of a sudden, I just collapsed. Yeah. Never again. Lessons for the week: Always call for backup Be more steadfast about your warnings Don't pluck up your mission. Cola withdrawal is plucking stupid Never drink energy supplements.
<Written June 3rd, 2415> Assault got taken along to go investigate something involving this prisoner Floran we've been keeping. Something about a gun she had that she shouldn't have had that was ours. Kept talking about a Carver and I had no idea who he was. Probably because I wasn't a marine for as long as the rest of the guys. I mean, they were really arguing about it and investigating. We came across the grave of the Carver guy and everyone was a little too afraid to dig it up. I really don't see the problem. Back home at the penal colony, bodies always dropped. Nothing changed really. People still mourned the same way. And you can respect what you see. I remember when my parents first died when we got on New Rebel. ganged up on by the humans and beaten to death. They were just a bloody pulp on the ground, but I saw them lying there. They kept me away from the danger. They gave me the chance to still live wanting to be like Kluex and I respect that. Seeing them on the ground rather than in the ground just says a lot more I guess. Shows that you aren't trying to hide them. Not digging up the guy really set us back. We could've gotten his ID and been done with the job. Instead, we ended up searching the plant's house. I really wanted something from that fridge, but I could tell that no one was gonna ease up. Place was way too peaceful for the gear we came in with. The other marines ended up finding notes and clues about the Carver guy. Really cryptic stuff and I'm too deep into withdrawal to really care at this point. Things got a little too far from our objective and the Sergeant ended up pulling us out. Didn't really care at that point. I was still exhausted from not having a decent drink in awhile. I might ask Pris about those other canned drinks since I'm up and about.
<Written June 5th, 2415> Yesterday was plucking weird. Here I am minding my own business sitting around in the bar in Mattis when Pris comes along. We start chatting like usual and she gets into a whole deal about a party and begins arguing with florans over the radio. It was kinda funny listening in on it through my headset. It all slips that she's never mated and that she apparently has space cooties. I don't believe it one bit. It would scare the feathers off of me if she had some kind of disease though. I wouldn't wanna be anywhere near her. So eventually the radio people invited her to some thing and she asked me to tag along. We get stopped by Solour who was apparently hiding in a bush just looking at us. I tried to follow protocol and asked for his permission. Things kinda took a twist and he wanted me to call her gay. I really don't see the problem in homosexuality, so I called her gay. Pris and Solour ended up getting into some kinda verbal gunfight with me in the middle. Solour kinda snapped and told me to clean things on Mattis or call Pris a gross ugly fatty and get her to leave. It was a pretty tough decision. I gotta follow USAF rules and listen to my superiors, but even orders like these are plucking outrageous. So what ended up happening is that Pris just kinda brought me in and started making out with my beak. I didn't know what exactly to do with my hands, so I just flailed around for the minutes that this happened. Then Solour started yelling and she kinda pulled me away and made me run with her. So yeah, yesterday was plucking weird.
<Written June 7th, 2415> So things've picked up a bit and we received a distress signal over the radio about some guy. Assault fire team got assembled for it and we went out to investigate. Shotgun in hand, I beamed down with the rest of the team and lo and behold were a bunch of Florans. Apparently not all of them Dion-whatever (let's call them Dinoplants) tribe members and were just along for the ride. I actually felt pretty bad because they were completely surrounded by guns. Oh well, I had to follow orders and I wasn't risking another situation of trust like with the Knoggers. So I ended up keeping my shotgun pointed at them the entire time while the Staff Sergeant got around to getting them to drop their weapons. So the Dinoplants were all hissy and angry and I thought the situation was pretty tense. So in times like these, we tell jokes right? Wrong. Some florans are so sensitive when you joke about them eating people. Like offended. And all of a sudden, I'm a racist! I mean, I'm the one with the shotgun here, so don't call me racist! Damn Dinoplants. In awkward situations like these, I kind of just like to talk to our captive audience to keep things all positive and safe. And... I get told to keep my beak shut by my superiors, so I kinda gotta keep with the shotgun holding for the next hours. The place was pretty cold now that I think about it. I ended up drawing lots of things in the snow to entertain myself. The entire situation was just a mix of boring and fun. I mean, at least no one got hurt right?
