Rayne Wilkens - Video Log.

These are just for characters who requested ICly to have their name hidden. This is for just reading clarity from the OOC standpoint.

Tom - Silas
Jerry - Kalack
Victomus - Tyra

Screen opens up with static, followed by Rayne Wilkens tapping the screen. Rayne trying to look professional as she quickly puts some of her hair behind of her head.

"Alrighty. This is... log one, of the Reaper War. Today is May Fourth, twenty one eighty six. I am Rayne Eleanor Wilkens, a news reporter for Alliance News Network... well, if you couldn't tell from the press vest I'm wearing." She remarks gently, panning the camera down then back up. As she continues speaking. "It's been... a week since the Soverign Class Reaper landed and attacked New Jericho... I was there for it. It... lets not talk about it right now." as Rayne looks around, panning the camera around the settlement she's in. "It's seven days in and I've already ran into the horrors of war. I have a note here..." As she sets the data pad down, searching through her vest and pulls out a paper. On the back of it is census data for the area she is in - and a safe password. "It says... to Samantha Peters. it's a letter from an alliance marine, trying to tell this person he loved them. It's either a Girlfriend, it might be a sister, it might be a wife... I wish I knew. There were two bodies in the compound, no Identification. They were ripped to shreds." As she shakes her head, standing up and going outside - the screen going white as she steps out into the daylight. "There was also another note that was on this datapad. About a man trying to bring back his love, but he had a suicide note. With the words... "I couldn't live without her." and shot himself with this pistol..." As she pulls out of her waistband a Predator. "I also have a broken Katana from the alliance barracks... and I found a jackpot of supplies before getting attacked by Husks. The only thing I need now is a camera, to record whatever is going on out in the world. I have my old recon drone I used to take drone shots of the sunrise; but it's out of juice." As she sits down again, a hazy shade of grey behind her.

"I'm with a few compatriots. Three men. An Alliance Soldier named Adam with a robotic leg. A Quarian who goes by Nath, an engineer who I should get him to take a look at my Katana. The last person is named..." as she hesitates. "Tom. A Bounty Hunter. He's ask for his name to remain under alias, so he'll still be known as Tom." As she looks into the sky. "He's going to be our sniper, and there's an interesting thing about those two. Both of them didn't know that the reapers ever existed. They got shot down by one and lived." As she stands up and walks around on what appears to be a rooftop. "Tom's a marksman - at least, that's what he is now. Nath on the other hand is an engineer whilst I believe Allan is in a leadership role. I haven't ran into anybody else that's apart of this crew. I swore I saw a human by a few tents but I think I was just hallucinating. I've been feeling a bit off ever since the first attack - seeing things that aren't there." As she goes to stand up and go back indoors, climbing down a few stairs. "Anyways... once the war is over... or if the world does end... I'm going to try at least keeping all of these free use. Warts and all. I'm not going to hide any of the nitty gritty things outside of names of people asked. This is the world we live in after all. I'm a reporter, and it's my job to report everything going on - and I'm not going to let anything get in the way of that. Not red tape, not death, nothing. This video log will be my legacy, and maybe after this is over, that bastard lenny will let me go back to the Citadel and be the head reporter there."

A video image becomes more clear, with Rayne Wilkens on top of a building, leaning against a barricade. With what appears to be a tower behind her.

"This is Rayne Wilkens... and the video log for May fifth., twenty one eighty six... don't know where the others went off too. It's fine by me. I'm good with going on my ow-"

As Rayne was about to finish the sentence a gunshot is heard, followed by an impact near the barricade, as she instantly jumps up and puts the datapad away. Ambient noise is heard with Rayne running yelling out "Shit shit shit shit!" as she ran. Eventually the datapad cuts off its video. A second video log is posted with the same date, starting off with the video image becoming more clear again, Rayne Wilkens inside of a building near a computer.

"Let's... try this again. I'm Rayne Eleanor Wilkens, and this is the video log for may Fifth, twenty one eighty six. I'm back at the alliance base with the same people I ran into yesterday, and a few new faces." As she pans the camera around, a Quarian walking behind past her as she turns the camera back on her. "There's... three new people on this survival group now. A man who I want to say his name is Khan, I haven't had a conversation with him before outside of him catcalling me back when I first met him. Said I was an Eight to Nine... of course; the way I've heard him talk that might've been a minus one. I'm going to pretend it's the Eight to Nine." As she shakes her head, chuckling. "Another Human who goes by the name of Adrian; a computer specialist with a weird eye. It feels off, I want to say it's cybernetics. Additionally a Turian, who said to me a few hours ago... 'I don't care what slur or name you call me, I'll tell you my name when we get to that base.' so he'll be called... Jerry, until I get his real name." As she types into the computer screen, getting some data to talk about.

"Anyways... I was shot at by what is according to a public codex called a Marauder. They look like Turians and seem to be squad leaders in some way shape or form. When we ran into a group of them they sicced the Husk's onto us. Adam had to save my life before; and I got a slap for my troubles on the face. It's a tense time for everyone, and I don't care about the hit. I was scared shitless and didn't know what to do when I was under fire." As she rubs her cheek "I held myself together when that Marauder and Husk attacked though. Marauder shot at me but missed... and a husk tried to dive itself onto me but I was able to dodge it and put it out of its misery." As she rubs her arm. "The last time I ran into a husk I was slashed, and I think it was either that - or me taking a fall when running away from New Jerhico that caused my Omnitool to fizzle out." As she looks intently at the computer monitor.

"We're heading to a nearby alliance base once it hits nightfall. If Adam's right it's going to be about one to two Kilometres away. This might be able to let me get actual footage of what's going on out there. Or if I find a working replacement for my drone or just a regular plain old camera. We're going to be heading out in a few hours, and I need to get some sleep." As she yawns "It's going to be a rough time - but I think we'll all make it out unscathed, hopefully."

The video log fizzles out

As the video log opens, it seems to be the steadiest camera setup so far, leaned up against a wall. Rayne sitting on a chair with two bird statues behind her.

"I am Rayne Wilkens... and... wow this feels like my old job." As she laughs out loud.

"Well. Today is May sixth... it might be may seventh now. We were walking for a long while until we got to this bunker. So... I might as well explain what happened. We ran into a few new people along the way. Yesterday a Quarian by the name of Eski came along with us but I didn't realize he was here. Also a man by the name of Thomas. We were walking, heading over to the secured garrison and had a nice conversation with Alliance Soldiers... but... that didn't fare well." As she rubs her face, shaking her head. "The alliance soldiers attacked us, and I know that sounds crazy to hear. If... I'm going to just assume that we're going to be living through  this crisis and we survive. If you've seen my news casts I was the one supporting the Alliance Marines whenever they were under scrutiny. There was a whole case about them making a garrison in New Jerhico and I tried to bring peace through the news agency that way. But... they really did shoot at us. I'm lucky that none of them hit me, the only bullet I took was in my vest." There's scuttling in the background as she smacks her hand against the wall

"Damn rodents... always getting in. Anyways... we found the daughter of the major in charge of the soldiers, Sarah McKinnon. Fourteen years old." As she looks towards her right "And her father, the Major. William McKinnon. It turns out the surviving soldiers were brainwashed. When Adam and the Major were talking it sounded like they were talking about Indoctrination theory. It's not something us civilians should know... nor prisoners. We'll get back to the prisoners here." As she lets out a soft cough, playing with her hair gently. "We also picked up another female Turian who is the prisoner... She's requested a private name that I'll call her... Victomus. I'm bad with names if you could tell. I called our human Tom and the other Turian we met Jerry, Jerry really Rayne? Jesus..." As she laughed, looking around. "Anyways... we picked her up, I got some more ammo and got some armor plates for my arms and legs so less of my body was exposed. And we were going to walk to the mountains where this bunker was. A Thanix Missile base. As we walked there was a incident... the Sovereign Class reaper moved and started targeting the building we were in. It shot lasers at us and made... god it made this awful noise. I thought I'd never hear it again if I was smart and I heard it again." Rayne takes a moment to compose herself, taking a deep breath "We ran back inside. Khan and the kid were nowhere to be seen right now as we got into the basement, and the Major... the major was crushed to death. Sarah doesn't know yet... and I don't want to break the news to her." Rayne looks back towards the door and back towards the Datapad.

"Anyways, we got out of the utility tunnels and survived, started to walk to the Thanix Missile base which turned out to be... well, inhabited by Cerberus. If you don't know my history with them, they tried hiring me from ANN but I felt like I wouldn't be able to do anything there. There's also a VI on this base. I don't know its name but it's here." As Rayne speaks about the Vi, over the intercom on the base "As you see it's there... we also know that there's Cerberus agents in the building somewhere. Probably below us. Or they might be dead. Who knows... Anyways, after we cleared it out, I had a conversation with Victomus. It turns out she was a revolutionary against the Turian Hierarchy. Was in prison for that. I don't know why she was sent to an Alliance Jail but I suppose that's what had to be done. I don't know what's next... but I hope things are better soon."

The Video log goes to fizzle out as she leans back, rubbing her face. "God what am I going to do..?" As the video fizzles out.

The log opens up on Rayne sitting on the floor of a archival area. A blanket and pillow set underneath her as she holds the Datapad

"Hello myself... or whoever finds this. This is Rayne Wilkens, reporting in on May seventh... well, just before I go to bed on today's events. I've fucked up on my job." As Rayne stifles a cough "I was put in charge of Sarah today, McKinnon. It's my job to make sure she survives now, according to Adam. Additionally, speaking of the ability to survive. I've gotten my Omnitool fixed. Thanks to Eski." As she turns it on, it flickers a moment as she smiles "It could do a little bit more fine tuning but it works now. Me, Eski and Nath were busy exploring the facilities and we found something interesting... the reaper's outside our base." We found a side exit when we were exploring and it's out there." As Rayne looks behind her towards the vent she's leaning against "I keep on hearing rats I swear... anyways. It sounds like the others found out too, Khan didn't seem to happy when he came in, called two people 'pussies' for some reason... just after that we got a call to go to the rec room for a meeting."

Rayne fizzles the datapad log out and instead goes to the meeting, a video feed from her Omnitool surrounding a ping pong table, as Rayne's voice goes over it

"We learned that we need to prioritize three things. One -electricity. Two - Food, and three - what this place really is. That's why I'm in the archives hoping I can find something in the logs but I can't find anything related to the 'Delatura' corporation. Privatized to anyone above a certain class that I can't access. I might ask the VI sometime soon if I can figure out when, the Delatura corporation moved in. It has to be in the records somewhere. Outside of that... is a Power Coupling. The more we find the more systems we can access. Additionally, as Adrian put it..."

It cuts to a zoom in on Adrian

"Adrian Redford says "Yeah lets make a fuckin' impentrable stronghold."

The video feed cuts back to Rayne as she talks

"Additionally... Focusing on the Delatura corporation. It's a robotics slash research and development group. What they're doing on an alliance base I have no idea. Especially one so secretive." Rayne gets up and starts walking through the Archives "Also, due to Major McKinnon..." As Rayne hesitates, sitting down "He cut all extranet activity recently. So no one but Adam and maybe the new Lieutenant we picked up - Liam, can access it." Rayne shakes her head. "Additionally... a ship landed at the Radar Relay. Adam handled it I think. He came back from it unscathed. I didn't at the time since Victomus decided to tell me how handsome Liam was... for some reason." As Rayne lets out a soft chuckle. "Told me it would give more flavor in my documents... I don't see it really, but I remember having to study Anne Frank and she talked about her desires so... I guess it counts." As Rayne shrugs. "I also learned more about a few of our other members... Nath was apparently a slave, and was supposed to be brought back by Tom, turns out that didn't happen. Additionally; Adrian was a hacker, and Khan was a small time gangster on Omega. So I guess we have a lot of criminals." As Rayne looks up towards the ceiling before looking back down "And then there's the situation with Sarah... I told her about her father dying. Made the poor girl cry, I feel awful about it... but I wasn't going to lie to her. Not at all." Rayne soon picks up her things. "That's the end of this log... Even though the Extra-net does exist, I'm not going to give these documents out until the war's over... or if we leave this bunker. This is Rayne Wilkens. Signing off."
 

A short video intro happens as Rayne is sitting in her office. With a direct cut in between the two messages one after the other.

"This is Rayne Wilkens, for May Ninth 2186... not much happened today, we just got two new members on our crew. An Alliance Soldier named Clark Bradford, and a hunter who I just can't remember his name right now, but another celebrity, one of the biggest marksmen on Joab, and one of the biggest hunter. There's talks about a hunting mission going on soon... so... yeah."

"This is Rayne Wilkens, for May Tenth, 2186... nothing really happened today. I was just looking through the logs and wondering what's behind those lab doors on the base. A part of me wants to explore through the ventilation shafts but I know that it's not the safest thing to do."

A new video is attatched at the end, Rayne looking flustered as she takes a swig from a beer bottle, rubbing her face

"This is Rayne Wilkens, for may eleventh, 2186... where do I begin with today? Well... let's start with the beginning. For starters, me, Adam... Kalack and Khan all went up to the satalite array on top of the mountain and were able to get three communication links. The first one was a notice from a nearby settlement, trying to figure out their next move. The second one was the standard alliance broadcast everyone's heard... the third one was what we didn't know at the time, a Cerberus communication system. Me and the rest of the people up there were weirded out... after that me and Adrian searched for Power Couplers to no avail, we couldn't find any. It eventually led to me and Adrian sitting in the basement and Khan came over... whilst we were searching for power couplers Adam went over to the comms station again and we went to see if he was in trouble, after he made some cryptic remarks in the radio frequency. Me, Adrian - both of us in new sets of armor, Tyra, Kalack, and Khan all went after him to see if he was injured..."

Rayne takes a swig of her drink, shaking her head as she looks around the room "He was talking with Cerberus... working with them it looked like. There was an 'intruder alert' siren and Khan kicked down the door. We fought up to Adam and a man with a flamethrower. Khan got burned horribly, and we couldn't help him out. I got scorched as well but the armor helped me. Adam... despite the crazy shit he did popped the helmet off of the Flamethrower unit and killed the husk looking abomination... we all panicked, simple as that. He kept on saying he was working on a 'top secret alliance project about cerberus' which was bullshit. He never bothered to tell us what was going on, he told us about a project underneath the bunker, something Delatura was working on... and then the final bombshell, he isn't Adam Howell."

Rayne takes a swig and walks around her room, stretching as she sat back down

"I told Clark and Liam and Thomas, but they all said I was being 'emotional' and 'hysterical' and they can all fuck right off. I told them what happened and they didn't believe me. I was there, and they weren't. It's nice to see that people don't trust you at face value when you've been saying the truth throughout the years. I don't know what Adam's new name is. I'm too pissed off. I know that I'm not trusting him anymore - at least, not yet. I don't have a reason too... but I know he's not indoctrinated, or if he is he's hiding it well. He helped Khan get to medical even after Khan shot him with his tempest. I don't know what else to think. I'm... I'm pretty sure tomorrow I'm going to get more answers, and until then... whoever sees this. This is Rayne Wilkens, signing off."

Before rayne shuts it off she downs the rest of the bottle and rubs her face "Fucking... god damnit..." as the video feed cuts out

The entire video log is the events that happened on 5/25/2186 involving a banshee that targeted her. Throughout the recording during the event the sounds of crying came from her helmet alongside the noise that was happening. Eventually, the video ends with it on her, leaning on her arms as she shakes her head

"I... I don't even know how I survived... how did I survive... how did I survive..." she shivered and cried, holding onto her legs nervously. Eventually she just went to bed - the audio recording fizzled out with her tearing up again after what happened.