Outpost: Rampart Crew

"Rampart

The Barren Sea is so cold that if it were still for a day, if it were no longer churned by arctic winds and ocean currents, it would freeze solid. You could walk across it. Shine a searchlight downward and illuminate the ice-locked dreamscape of the ocean floor. Ridges and canyons, silted wrecks, eyeless organisms that live and die in perpetual darkness.

The Con Amalgam refinery Kasker Rampart is anchored a kilometre from the clustered islands of Franz Josef Land. A skeleton crew of fifteen haunt corridors and accommodation blocks that used to be home to a thousand people. Each day they preform desultory system checks then get stoned, watch TV, or stare out of a porthole at the bleak sun. They retreat into memory, navigate a landscape of nostalgia and loss, kill time until the day Con Amalgam reboot the platform and set the seabed pipeline pumping again."

Welcome to the Outpost: Rampart crew RP, standard RP rules apply here. Have fun!

Viktoria awoke to the sound of something the did not expect to be woken by: a loud thud, followed by a masculine groan. She sighed, and rolled to the side of her top bunk to check what the noise was. A male on the other side of the room had apparently missed the bed on his way in, as he was now splayed out on the floor. The german woman sighed, as she noticed the man was holding a bottle of some sort, even with the label ripped off she knew what it was.

Viktoria lifted her very thin cover off of her, still wearing her fitness outfit that she hadn't quite taken off from the day before. "3...2...1..." she muttered under her breath, counting down the seconds until what she expected would happen. Moments after she said the final number, she heard a cat-call from her right, a single man who obviously missed home. Viktoria unsheathed the 5-inch combat knife from a holster so cleverly hidden on her calf, and brandished it in front of her, looking to the man. "Keep staring, and best friend becomes size of mint," she called out to him. The man instantly looked away, though Viktoria could hear a chuckle coming from him anyway.

* * *

Viktoria had completed her morning routine, and was already working up a sweat in the ever-so-tiny workout room. She inhaled deeply, then performed a quick, aerial spinning kick to the punching bag, sending it to the side with a heave. She exhaled slowly, grinning to herself. "Not as long as I would like, but I'd say I'm ready," she muttered, as she slowly turned to face the door. The door had a tiny, little makeshift sign on it, basically just a sheet of paper with writing on both sides. The side facing her had 'OPEN' written on it with a black sharpie, and she could vaguely see 'CLOSED' backwards on the other side of the paper, the ink visible through the thin writing surface. She chuckled, and turned the paper around on the window, so that 'CLOSED' faced her, and 'OPEN' faced the hallway on the other side of the door. "I wonder if anyone is waiting..." she muttered, as she turned to walk towards a treadmill.

"I'd say that you have done enough exercise for today Nail" Vlad said with his thick russian accent, obviously talking to someone using the weights a little too much. "I've seen you in here everyday since the oil stopped coming in, what, you bored or something?" continued Vlad, chuckling shortly after. Vlad then went over to the treadmill to see someone else using the equipment, other than Nail. "Hello Viktoria, haven't you been using this equipment enough already? Our punching bag is worn out as it is, we're ordering a new one thankfully. You really should slow down on the punching and kicking, you could hurt yourself somehow, I don't know how, but somehow" Vlad said, Imposing upon Victoria, as though he we're trying to get her attention in the only way he knew how. Vlad turned on the treadmill and started with a slow jog. "Vladimir Rasputin, please report to the utility room, Vlad, that means now" Boomed the speaker system. Vlad turned off the treadmill and said "well, I guess I shall see you later Viktoria". Vlad left the room towards the utility room where ghost was working. Ghost heard the door open and said "about time you got here Vlad, I need you to take a look at the pipes, they seem to be having a little trouble out there, that means going outside the refinery, onto the scaffolding and climbing a few pipes, so put on your winter survival stuff, and grab a tool belt".

* * *

Vladimir was outside in his Parka, wishing he stayed inside. The reason Vlad was called on for repairs was because the refinery was short on workers, and he was one of the most qualified for engineering, even though he dropped out of that class. Vlad started to climb pipes, looking for any imperfections, and found quite a few, although they weren't bad now, they could make for serious problems during the nightfall, where it gets so dark, you can't see the sun for months at a time. Vladimir quickly patched the pipes into working condition and left for the cozy insides of the refinery, when he heard his radio say "I believe you haven't found the problem yet, there's a burst pipe, pressure's all the way down, gonna need you to fix it". It was ghost, Vlad knew that voice anywhere, because ghost was the only Sikh on the ship, he was easy to find, and point out. Vladimir found the burst pipe further down the scaffolding, water was frozen all around the crack in the pipe. Vlad was happy, usually the water freezes after it bursts out all over the scaffolding, making is hard to walk on. Vlad quickly cracked the ice and patched over it, before the water solidified again.

* * *

Vlad was finally back inside. He quickly took off his parka and winter survival gear, not to mention his tool belt. Vlad came inside and talked with ghost for a bit. Vlad started to get hungry and soon waved farewell to ghost, heading to the cafeteria, where punch was then serving dinner. Punch was a nice person, never really liked to get in trouble.
Dinner was potatoes and pork chops, Vlad's favourite. Vlad quickly wolfed down his food and headed to his little room in D block, near "main street". Vlad grabbed a video from his shelf, looked at it, and put it back. It was time to get some new movies. Vlad quickly locked his door, and went down to main street. Jane, the pastor was in her little church doing her Sunday morning preparations, even though no one went there anymore. Well, no one but him. Vlad went in the makeshift church and sat down. He sat through the entire sermon, even though he was bored to death. He stood up from his seat, thanked Jane for the service, and went over to the movie rental store, removed the lock, and went in to choose his movie. He chose a movie called "8 crazy nights". He liked grabbing movies starring comedians, kept his spirits up, even during the long darkness of winter. Vlad went back to his little room in D block, popped in the movie, and sat down in bed, watching the movie.

Viktoria looked to Vlad with a smile, watching as the man started to talk to the others with his usual 'wisdom'. She chuckled softly, wiping her sweat-drenched hands on a towel. "Obviously he is trying to work his biceps and is too naive to know that if he waits two days, his muscles will improve more. But you should let him do what he wills, nothing left to do on this pla-...IN this place, my mistake."

She blinked at Vlad's comments, then frowned as she started to react to the words themselves. "This equipment can handle more than you know...and a new punching bag is nice, but not needed." She sighs, holding her head in her right palm, "And if you honestly think I'm going to hurt myself, then you are not the Vlad I know." She raised a hand up to make a comment to Vlad, then was almost immediately stopped by the PA system. After the message finished, her hand went limp and her eyes half closed. "Saved by the bell, dummkopf. I should hope that you intend to be here for our 3 o' clock fist-fight routine?" she asked, uncaring on the surface of her voice, but an alternate tone underneath. She didn't bother paying attention to his response, as her 'students' were already gathering for her first lesson. She breathed deeply for but a moment, then stood up on a small stool to look over her 'class'. She smiled mischievously, as most of them seemed to be made up of visibly confident and bored males. Let's mess around with them, she thought.

"Listen up and listen good! I will not take backlash from any of you, if any of you so much as stare at me I'll have your right arm stuffed and mounted on my wall! Now, I'm sure you all came here just to punch someone without getting into shit, right?"

Many of the males looked at her with a raised eyebrow, one of them snickering slightly.

Viktoria looked to the laughing one with a smile. "Was that a challenge?"

The man smiles, "Sure, why not? I can take on a girl any day of the week."

Viktoria smiled, and stepped down from the stool, standing on one side of a bunch of splayed-out mats. "Prove it, arschloch"

Many of the other males started to cheer for the newcomer, the rest staying silent, staring at the 'arena'. The male took off his shirt, throwing it to the side to reveal a set of pecs and a 4-pack. "What you got, Kraut?"

Viktoria didn't even assume a fighting pose, she merely stood there, arms at her sides, staring onward at the newcomer.

"YOU CAN DO IT, MITCH!" "BREAK HER LEGS!" she heard Mitch's 'gang' start to cheer. Mitch just nodded, and started to jump lightly back and forth, his arms moving up and down in a mock-up of a fighting stance.

Mitch threw a half-hearted punch, Viktoria leaned out of it's way, bringing her right arm up to it. From there, she grabbed Mitch's arm, turned to the side, and pulled his arm forward, pulling the rest of him with it over her shoulder, all in the span of a second or two. Mitch hit the mats hard, but Viktoria wasn't done. She flopped to the floor, put her legs at his torso and head, and pulled on the arm. Mitch screamed, and kept hitting the mats with his free arm. "I give, I give!"

Viktoria snarled, "No you don't...not until your arm, does..." she pulled back hard, and she heard a loud cracking noise, followed moments later by an ear-shattering scream from her 'victim'.

She slowly stood up, spat on Mitch, and returned to her stool without a word. "Now, our first lesson..."

When Vlad was done watching the movie, he realized it was 3:12 PM, which meant he was late. Vlad bolted down the corridors to the exercise room, seeing a man on the floor, writhing in pain, and Viktoria standing over him, as if mocking him. Vlad went over to the mat, and said to Viktoria "you really should go easy on them, you might just kill everyone here! you know that we're running low on pain killers, just because you feel like screwing with them". Vlad helped the man up, obviously new to the refinery. "I'll see you in a bit Viktoria, gonna bring him to Liz, she'll know what to do, as if you haven't given her work before" Vlad said with a chuckle. "Welcome to Rampart buddy, get used to it, you'll be here for at least another six months" Vlad explained to the new comer.

* * *

Vlad was in the medical wing with the new person. Liz came out from her office and looked at the new person, then to Vlad. "Let me guess, he thought he could take on Vik?" Liz said, as if not surprised. "What else would it be?" Vlad replied. "says here he hasn't had his physical yet, your gonna have fun here!" said Liz, holding the new persons file. "Well, I'll let you get to what has to be done Liz, besides, I'm gonna see is Vik has anymore patients for you, you know how she likes to screw with them" Vlad said, with a smirk on his face.

A few moments later, the disorganized fitness room had become a bit more disorganized, as now the dozen or so 'students' of Viktoria's were now paired off and sparring, each of them attempting a brutal counter she had demonstrated to them earlier. The German woman walked amongst them, looking to each of them in turn. Occasionally she'd stop and help correct them, fixing a limp arm or remind them to lift with the pull and whatnot.

She made a mental note that the ones that were cheering Mitch on earlier had become quiet, and were averting her gaze. She smiled coldly, They have learned their first lesson she thought to herself. "SWAP PARTNERS!!!" she yelled from her diaphragm, startling most of her 'class'. They all hurriedly tried to find someone else, and within about a minute each one found a new partner. She smiled, and stepped back a bit, "and...SPARRING PRACTICE, GO!!! Almost immediately, the groups began to spar with one another. She just smiled, and backed up, noting that everyone present had a partner. Were anyone else around and without one of their own, she would have to stand-in for one. But oh did she ever enjoy when that happened.