RP: LSDF Akahar [Chapter 2.0] - Answer Me

Null thought just how to explain what it was she ate with her people. "Well we eat ambrosia." She started, the translator unbeknownst to her choosing to use the name soylant. "It's a nitrious-sylicad matrix that contains various vitamins and nutrients that are based on current levels in our blood and expected energy requierments based on a job." She shrugged with that, it was fairly boring stuff. Carefully she watched as the other woman picked out a package of tough and dry meat. "But what are you eating? It looks like it has spoiled." Null squinted at the pouch of jerky.

LSDF Akahar, Bridge
"Floorplan downloaded, overlaying now..." the New Tur'listan bridge bunny said as she took scans of the stricken Mok'ro and overlaid them.
Keib sighed at how long the download took. "Horrible service out here," he sighed. "I haven't even busted the monthly cap yet."

"Actually Sir, I think our cap was reduced last year to only 20 TB," the Llmanel bridge bunny replied. "I don't think the brass liked that mass upload you did of the Beach mission."
Keib sighed. He wished every mission could be as simple as the beach mission. It was one of the few times he had some genuine fun on the job, "It was a perfect success and they know it. Don't they like seeing success?"
"Apparently not if it involves a snorkel, bathers and underwater selfies amongst the wreck we were supposed to be salvaging," the Fyunnen sighed.

"Phooey. No sense of fun," he sighed as he overlaid the blueprints. Harvester vessels were small things about 100 metres long. They were meant to work in large groups to tug entire wrecks home. What had sent this one away on its own was a mystery still. They had to assess what had happened, catalogue and report; and if necessary, contain it before they called in the Harvesters to pick up the vessel. Keib's vessel was the first and last line of defence against possible bioweapons, squatters or looters. "At least we'll only have to call in two Harvesters to tug the vessel along if there's not enough room on ours."

"Yeah, about that," the Llmanel bridge bunny said as she looked at the updated cargo manifests. "I don't think we'll have room, unless you plan to have the Frames hang off the side of the ship - and we all know how well THAT goes..."

"Yeah we're never doing that again." Keib sighed. "We'll just settle for stuffing the excess cargo into the spare rooms to make space. Now, if we have Main team enter here and the flank enter here..." he started tracing his finger at the hologram and tracing the preferred routes of the teams. Guiding one team through the ship's cargo hold first while having the other team move in through the bridge and then meet in the middle as they scoured the small ship. Five decks of ship to trace through, and there were still so many questions. What could be in it?

LSDF Akahar, Mess Room
Bes'linn, the chief engineer was sitting down at a table with a large bowl of instant noodles. Merrill had seen her leaving the kitchen with the bowl in her hands, hot broth, noodles and vegetables simmering in the bowl - wrapped in cloth to prevent herself from burning her fingers. She looked over to Merrill and Null and gave them an upwards nod of acknowledgement. "Oh, you're the new addition, aren't you?" she asked the walking Freespacer. She'd heard that there was a new addition but she was too busy verifying the integrity of the ship after the Lazarus team had done their run to meet them. The New Tur'listan was currently on lunch break.

Near her table was a datapad filled with complex equations. Null would recognise them as galactic positioning algorithms and data structures, something she used to tangle with frequently as a navigator for her communal ship. The only difference was that the written word was in Lorath script, not in the natural Freespacer script that she was familiar with. She grumbled a curse under her breath in Lorath that Null's translator would translate as "sit on a stone" as she tapped more commands into her datapad with one hand, juggled the arithmetic in her head and slurped noodles into her mouth with a fork in the other hand.

LSDF Akahar, Rec Room
"Why not sleep here?" Al'ris asked the Fyunnen male, "The grass is so mellow. Maybe..." she thought on her next words, "maybe you don't need to smoke anything just to feel good if that's how you roll but we'd like it if you did."

Bastion's experience was telling her that something that articulate from the Hellion only could've come from what she was on.

"The fuck do you need a clear head to fall asleep for? Half this shit makes it easier to sleep. Hope to fuck you don't have anything to do with the doc aboard the ship, whoever it is." Veronica's foul mouth just seemed natural to her. Her confusion at the man's words aside, she reseals the chemicals in their oddly expensive looking containers and slips them into her pockets. She wanders on over to Al'ris and plops her butt down next to the Hellion's.

V hands her the autoinjecter containing the cocktail she had cooked up and was currently on. Hard to say how the hallucinogens and ecstasy would affect a Lorath, but the Geshrin herself seemed to be doing just fine.

Merril cocked her head at the initial term, but nodded when Null explained it better. "Like a superfood, got it!" She said.

She gave a wave to Bes'linn as the New Turlistan entered the room, then dug out a piece of jerky and handed it to the 'spacer.

"It's preserved meat. Dried using heat, salt, and spices. It's a damn fine treat if you're aspected after a carnivore!" Merril explained with a hearty laugh, pulling out another piece and chomping on it viciously.

LSDF Akahar, Bridge
"The plan seems sound now, sir," the New Tur'lista said after appraising and critiquing Keib's plan, offering alterations and other suggestions to keep the team covered and to cover the floorplan of the ship as efficiently as possible. In addition, since there was a Frame Pilot on the ship, she had to account for where they could help, offering fire support or using scanners to monitor their positions or perhaps getting their hands into the ship and opening passageways with the frame's huge hands.

For this mission, EVA suits at minimum were necessary. Hard vacuum was just one of the constant threats on the job - but also the easiest to address. Suits of power armour were the perfect tools for that. As for foreign threats like squatters or looters, some rudimentary firearms would do. The mission's parameters were to gather the data that lead to the Mok'Ro's crash first, then move the ship into the Akahar's hangar or use the tow cables to keep it nearby for further examination, then call an LSDF Salvage Team to take it for themselves. At least, that's what Keib had anticipated would be the best turn of events.

Still, a sense of uneasiness was in Keib's head. This vessel had evaded him for a long time, the Brass merely egging him on like it was a snipe hunt. Even after trying to plan for what he could anticipate, there were still many unknowns. A high-potential quantum memetic event meant that just about anything could be in there. He picked up the intercom and held it close, shaking in his hands for a few moments before he started speaking.

"This is your Captain speaking, The LCS Mok'Ro has been located. I repeat," his grip became steady as he begun to realise the news himself, "the LCS Mok'Ro has finally been found. There will be a meeting in the Ready Room on Deck One in half an hour, then we are to get this thing back home. Cargo Crew, make room for a Harvester Class down below. Everyone else, you know what to do. To our Freespacer contingent, if you think you can contribute, come to the meeting. You will be rewarded for your input and service."

He then put the receiver down and looked over to the doll slumped over one of the consoles, kept in place by an entanglement of wires. he looked back at his console and sent her a message.

Keib stood up from his console and walked over to Aiesu's slouched form, cables still jutting out of her like acupuncture needles full of information. He began removing the cables one by one and pulled handfuls of them away from her, like he was trimming a hedge.

Smoothly, she felt feeling return to her fingertips and other extremities as they trembled - finally - carefully, smoothly sitting upright to glance back at him. Bags sat beneath her eyes, skin glossy in the low light, oily as her hair was, ruffled like feathers. Almost sex-hair. She took a moment to correct the balance of her glasses before bracing herself against the console and hoisting herself to her feet which had fallen asleep hours ago and soon she stood looking up at Keib. Aiesu's smile looked worn out.

Keib himself looked terrible for wear too, he'd been sleeping on the bridge in pursuit of the Mok'ro, and he'd gone through all of his clean shirts, his current shirt crumpled and stained with blotches of tea. His slate eyes looked back down at Aiesu wearily while his hair zigzagged out into barbaric curls. He had neglected the need to shave too, goatee now a lot larger and bushier while the rest of his jaw was now covered in blade-1 fuzz. There was a terrible itch on his neck from those little hairs, garrotting his concentration.

"So, what do you feel like?" he asked with a croak in his voice, looking out the bridge doors that lead to the mess hall and cafeteria.

"Shit" Aiesu said without thinking.
Keib chuckled in reply. "Me too."

"Meat." she eventually spoke up "Something thick and chewy and overdone." Keib nodded in reply as they walked down the halls and the stairs together to the mess hall.
LSDF Akahar, Mess Hall & Cafeteria
Keib found a table where he could see where his chief engineer was a moment ago - empty noodle bowl her callsign.

At the cafeteria, there were cold cuts of meat available on offer, made from different Lorath livestock as well as a rare handful of imported preserves. Jerkies, salamis, mortadellas, biltong, cold cuts and saveloy. Offered alongside it all was various salads, spreads, breads and sauces. It seemed to be sandwiches. Keib simply got some bread, sliced it open, buttered it and stuffed a tongsfull of whatever meats looked best to him, not even glancing at the salads.

Aiesu took a portion of something that appeared raw and quite undercooked, taking quite a while before making her selection. And yet curiously alongside it sat a stack of lettuce and a strange number of cherry tomatoes. She seemed to go out of her way however to find parsley and strawberries -- carefully putting most of the tomatoes back after discovering the fruits. Content, she soon sat down.

Keib sat down too, sandwich in hand, bite-mark visible in it and contents of it threatening to spill onto the table if Keib wasn't holding it so firmly. With a mouthful of food, he couldn't speak without it falling out, but he did make an 'Mmm?' towards Aiesu.

She popped a strawberry in her mouth, chewing quietly. And then another. And then another. She didn't even really seem to chew - each and every time, her eyes lighting up as if she'd never tasted one before. Before long, she'd soon run out. She shot a willfull glance back at the counter and seriously contemplated going back for more.

"Mm?" she said - now reaching for the meat.

Keib took another bite of his sandwich before nodding back at her with another, "Mmmmmm," smiling as best as he could as he chewed on the bread and meat and gulped it down. It was the first fresh meal he'd gotten. Greg had been delivering meals to the bridge prior to that, or it was nutrient paste and bars.

Aiesu's own teeth soon sunk into the meat. What Keib could have sworn was blood dripped against her plate as she squeezed her jaw slowly - pulling back a thick piece that she clumsily chewed on with her mouth open. The task was quite involving and in an odd way, she seemed to forget she was even in the room with him.

Once Keib's mouth was clear, he made a simple observation. "Shark aspectation," he nodded with some respect. Even though he didn't think much of the Lorath religion, aspectation and bonding was one of the elements that fascinated him still. Shark was one of the hardest to pull off properly if he'd heard correctly, all of the aquatics were.

Her gaze rose -- teeth still rasping at the meat. It took her a moment to realise she was there -- and then another to realise what he had said, fighting impulses older than even their own species were.

"Excuse me?"

Keib blinked for a couple of moments before looking back at his sandwich and saying, "Carry on."

And she did just that. Soon after, the piece (easily the size of her head) was reduced to bone which she'd taken to chewing on - leaving sharp tooth shaped craters for several minutes before realising there wasn't any more meat to be had: ligaments, joints and other less than hard pieces all chewed up. Now, she rolled lettuce into smooth columns, chewing thoughtfully as she flittered with them in her fingertips - her manner entirely changed within seconds.

Keib was now about halfway through his sandwich, having been reduced from a foot long to about six inches (give or take an inch) and he then tried talking to her again, "You seem to be enjoying your meal." He looked at the discarded bone, "You'd win prizes at a steak eating contest if they gave you the raw meat," he said in jest.

"My appitite is quite small -- this is about the only thing I'll eat in the next week or so" she stated, now picking at the tomatoes.

"Your meal portion's fairly big though," he replied, guessing that the large portions balanced out the time between meals. "I don't even think Al'ris could eat that much in one sitting, even after she's been killing."

"AI'ris?" Aiesu sat up, wide eyed, chewing thoughtfully.

"Yes, one of my soldiers, Fyunnen." He recited. "Got a little too bloodthirsty on a mission elsewhere and got transferred here as punishment." If Aiesu wanted to search through the reports, they'd say she killed an Occhestian hostage she was supposed to recover.

Keib now figured that he had enough sandwich to carry in one hand comfortably to the Pilot Ready room, but he waited for Aiesu to finish her meal.

She hurried back from the counter with a paper coffee cup full of strawberries and a banana in her hands. A guilty pleasure.

"Huh... Fyunnen can be scary sometimes. I don't really know many all that well, even though my original employs one. What are they like?"

"They're soldiers first and foremost, that's what they're made for, kind of like Nekovalkyrja or Nepleslian ID-SOL. They have the right mix of strength, toughness and cunning - equally good as officers or grunts. I'm expected to hide behind them though - and most ships are lead by Fyunnen or Llmanel woman, usually an officer who's been with the LSDF for about ten years or so."

The Akahar was too - but by a Fyunnen man until the command had shifted to Keib. "Other than that, they require frequent exercise and regular meals strong in carbohydrates and iron." He waved his sandwich around, it was the perfect example of a small snack for one.

"Sounds like keeping a dog" Aiesu tried not to laugh.

He looked at Aiesu's paper cup of coffee and her much more portable foodstuffs and asked, "Walk to the ready room?" and stood up from the bench seating, offering his hand to help Aiesu up. She nodded with a mouthful of strawberries, insisting on carrying herself.

LSDF Akahar, Pilot Ready Room
They moved together up the stairs to the Pilot Ready room, greeted by an empty room, chairs waiting for soldiers. Keib still had a palmful of sandwich, and saw fit to finish it off before he reached the podium. It'd be impolite to eat while giving such sensitive news.

Mars enjoyed watching the ex-pirate and one of her soldier fool around. She though about suggesting they could all fool around right there and then, because Mars was quite horny. Al'ris was her first target, but she would not mind having some fun with the cheeky geshrin as well. Alas it was not to be as Keib called out to the group. Mars sighed and put the bag of purple pills back into pocket of her shorts.

"Worst timing ever," She said to other two women. "Hopefully we won't have to go right away. Would hate to get Hellions bloody filtered right now. Anyway I am going to check for the briefing. You do whatever I guess," Mars said to Veronica, as Hellion was a bit out of everything.

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Pilot Ready Room

Mars walked into the briefing room, dressed in her uniform. There was not rush in the message sent so she went and dressed properly, including her sidearm and blade, in case they would have to suit up right away.

"Good day," she said to Keib. "Good to finally see you off the bridge. So who do I get to take with me?"

"Bah. Should see what he wants, yeah? Sides, half the time scrapping jobs are traps. Maybe I'll get to break someone's spine." Veronica rolled her shoulders as she stood up. Stepping over the Lorath enjoying the grass and giving her rump a swat. "I'll put you in your place later."

Like it or not, Veronica did sort of follow Keib at the moment. Others may just assume she's a civillian temporarily on board, but the other thing to consider was that leaving her by herself to get up to trouble was likely a bad idea.

Pilot Ready Room
"Fuck this shit is making me hungry. The hell you got to eat on this junker?" Veronica loudly complained as she saunters in. Seeing Keib she gestures a lazy greeting to him, "Hey birdboss. What's up? We got something special to stick our docking dicks into this time?" Vulgar as always, she did however seem to recognize Keib as the leader. For now.

Kam had just found himself to be involved enough with his reading to truly relax and enjoy himself when the call had come out from the commander. He refrained from groaning and settled for glaring at one of the subtlety hidden speakers in a far corner. He stuffed the book away and quickly stood up. This was hardly the sort of thing that he needed after just coming off a "graveyard" shift. But he'd learned from his few years in the service already that the life of a field engineer was never any easy one. The ship commander wanted you working with his engine crew to keep his ship running, while the grunts didn't have the supplies or the know-how to blow up whatever irritating obstacle was making them need the aid of the engineer. He was sure that at some point in the future he would get used to it. Maybe. Some day.

Probably not, he thought with a tired sigh.

Ready Room

Kam had already come off his shift, so he arrived in his uniform, with his sidearm on his belt along with his blade, and ready to go for the most part. He had instead used a few moments on the way to the ready room to grab some food. If it was going to be a painfully long time and he was having to do back-to-back shifts then there was no way that he was going to be stuck doing them on an empty stomach and tired. So he had a sandwich in hand. Which was a grandiose term for a couple of slices of bread with enough meat to make up a few small animals smashed between, with some slices of cheese, and he was contently eating away at it as he entered.

"Good morning, sir." He greeted, making sure not to speak with his mouth full, "So we've finally found the old girl they sent us out here to look for?" He had to cover his mouth as he yawned.

Merril smirked as the announcement went through.

"Well, Null-Null, looks like I gotta go! You're welcome to follow, but I'm gonna go whether you're with me or not!" she said, bolting upright out of her seat. She went into a light jog down the hall.

Minutes later, she entered the Ready Room, pulling on her military coat haphazardly.

Keib was standing there and bristling quietly at the podium as he waited for the soldiers to walk in. The ones that were chosen specifically for the mission were walking in but he did notice a few oddities. That Freespacer who enjoyed tagging along with Merrill didn't seem to be present, and at least one of the Pratimas was somewhere - but wherever they were was not here. He wondered what they even did in their spare time. He had extended hospitality to those freespacers though, and he had to keep them on the ship. Just let 'em go to the Embassy once planetside and they were no longer his worry.

Still, he'd wished they'd made themselves a bit more known - perhaps extended Polysentience disruption and isolation, and the shock of being revivified made them regress into introversion around the more shameless Lorath (and non-Lorath) population. That was understandable. If they still had marbles rolling around the deck to gather, go do so. No pressure - though the single Polysentience Hub's problem was finding another hub to talk to.

He then cleared his throat. "Good day crew, Keib here," he announced himself plainly as he touched a button on his podium, bringing up a hologram to his left. It was a holographic figure of a Harvester Class vessel with its deckplan outlined and highlighted in a white-grey to contrast with the neon blue. "We've found it."

Another image of a Harvester Class vessel with what appeared to be gigantic bullet holes in the stern and the starboard and aft with visible exit wounds, but no entry wounds. The image appeared in vivid cerise without a deckplan. Then, with another motion on the podium, the two holographic images interleaved, the cerise and neon blue turning into a purple. The grey interior of it and floor plan turned into a brilliant white. "The LCS Mok'Ro has been found, but scanners have indicated that there are a lot of unknowns beneath the hull since this looks like the work of an explosion from within."

A yellow question mark appeared inside the middle of the hologram, twirling in space. "The deck plan could look like anything now." He looked over to the unofficial leader of the grunts of the Akahar, "Bastion, you're in command for this one. Power Armour, or something with EVA capabilities is ideal. Your team's mission is as follows."

The points appeared on a board behind him as he spelt them out. "One, retrieve and corpses of crew and salvage the ARIA core for quarantine and identification."
"Two, confirm that the ship is clear from a hostile presence. License to kill."
"Three, once one and two are done, I want you," Keib pointed to the ship's Tech Sentry, "to create anchoring points on the Mok'Ro for the towing tethers. We'll be towing it with us rather than putting it in our hangar. I'm concerned about contamination and I want to keep whatever took the Mok'Ro down there."

He coughed and looked back at the hologram. Keib "Scanners indicated very strange activity, a sort of quantum event that is, even in time ahead, beside and behind us doing something. Anything could potentially have happened."
Quantum science was weird like that. He let those words sink in for a moment and wanted to see if those assembled had anything to say.

"If anyone wishes to stay back and take a role as an analyst or take watch, that's available too," he floated the idea for those unwilling to go into something that was potentially have happening.

"So what. Science! happened and they fucked up? If you want runaway experiments put down, sure. I can do that." Veronica was no scientist, and barely understood quantum anything. But she did understand it meant something unpredictable and possibly exciting. That she was all for. "Could use a break from fucking the bird girls on the ship. What kind of toys we get to rip apart the 'possible' opposition?"

The implication was that 'rip apart' was likely going to be her method of choice if she could help it. She was certainly spoiling for a fight again, meaning that if it was just a salvage operation everyone would have to put up with her complaining that there was nothing to kill.

"I got it," Mars simple said and smiled. It would be good to go on a mission again. "I will definitely want to take Al'ris with. Also do we have any good suit for Veronica. Good fighter is always nice to have with. If she will be able to co-operate with us at least." Mars added looking at the geshrin. It was a small poke at how anarchic the young geshrin seemed. Mars did not really need to command the girl, she just wanted her to shut up and get out of the way if needed. "Do we have Tenshi armours ready sir? I guess they would be perfect. Unless there is coupl of Mantus' hidden somewhere in the cargo. If not, we will just go in WIND with Gusts I guess."

Merril gave the brief a bit of thought.

"Cap? What if there is no ARIA? Do we just call it a day?" She asked, pulling herself against the wall to finish fastening her coat together.

Aiesu sat, gaze aside with the sweater piled up in her lap that she'd collected from her station on the way back from the cafetaria. The L'manel had no idea where it had come from but she felt a sense of possession. That and the cold biting into her toes. Those same toes couldn't quite reach the floor of the ready-room from her seat as she kicked her legs back and forth. She soon hoisted the shirt up over herself and climbed up into its embrace right over her own shirt. It was perhaps a size too large but she seemed quite happy with it - seemingly oblivious to the bridge orders.

She caught a familiar term from Merril's mouth - synchronising with the onboard records to play catchup before clearing her throat - pretending she'd honestly been paying attention.

"The ship should have a secondary black-box mission event recorder, located in the same chamber. It acts a a buffer between everything the ARIA sees and everything the ARIA does. But... Even if the ARIA looks scrubbed, we'd still appreciate if you brought it back. Ideally we'd like you to bring both back but in event the ARIA is nowhere to be seen, the black-box will have to do."

"Regardless of whether we find the ARIA, a black box, both or neither; the Brass is still expecting that we bring the Ship back under quarantine for further analysis," Keib replied to Merrill first, augmenting Aiesu's statements. She was bought in as the lead technical consultant on this mission for a reason. "I got a message this morning, they said that they'll provide towing shuttles to relieve us of the Mok'ro once we get back to Lorath space."

The CO waited for another question and answered one of his most trusted. "The Tenshis and their weapons are on standby, ready for wear in our refurbished armoury," Keib said. "The new Lazarus equipment really did a number on the place." All of the guns available were fully stocked, repaired and with full magazines, the scratch damage on all of them had been smoothed over with some Structol application. "No bugs or logic bombs either," he mumbled. Yet, he thought sourly, but he didn't want to put that image in the crew's mind - it'd be bad for morale.

He then sized up the ex-pirate of the crew and nodded quietly after doing a quick combat assessment, quietly replaying in his mind's eye how she fought based on security footage and offhand comments. "Veronica could be able to take a WIND suit with GUST attachments. It's the simplest suit I can think of that won't compromise her fighting style if she feels like getting 'hands on'," he nodded towards Bastion.

There was nothing stopping Veronica from taking a Tenshi, or from anyone searching for a Mantis armour, but the cargo manifest said that there were no Mantis armours available. At least there was a Tenshi available for her if she desired. "Provides all the basics: oxygen, pressurisation, life support, thrust - and one size fits all, feels like you're wearing nothing at all."

"So to reiterate," Gough asked, "Go in, eliminate threats, recover ARIA and Black Box, get Tech Sentry-" he gave Kam'kebek a look, "-to create anchor points, then extract and tow ship."

"In so few words, correct. If there is nothing else, I suggest you all head to the armoury, suit up, then head down to the Hangar for a ride from Horizon," the pilot in question was currently in the hangar, doing pre-flight checks and plotting their route with the assistance of the Bridge Bunnies. "Keib out, good luck. Dismissed." Al'ris, Gough and Yar'mak were the first ones to get out of their seats and head towards the armoury ahead of the others.

They'd find that there were some specialised tools set aside for Kam'kebek to do his job - hull cutting lasers, a structol applicator with some spare structol and four large pitons to anchor the Akahar's towing hooks on. Everyone else's jobs demanded different things, medical toolkits, anti-organic rifles, anti-armour weapons, there was a multitude there to pick from.

"Bah. Suits. Suppose you have to with a fucked up wreck like that." Her complaint didn't seem serious, as Veronica stretches while the details on the operation are divulged. She takes on another mocking smirk moments later. "I'm too sober to wear nothing at all. You're going to have to try harder for that." Chuckling at her own joke and popping her joints, she doesn't comment further at the briefing, probably to Keib's relief.

Not having much of a mind for ordinance or tech beyond 'does it let me kill things?' she decides to go with Keib's initial suggestion, the WIND suit with GUST attachments. She quickly busies herself preparing for the sortie. Whatever her status aboard the ship was, civillian or not, she did seem eager to get something done. Perhaps it was the possibility of battle that got her attention so?

Merril gave a salute to Keib as she was dismissed. Her plan was to don the proper military armour. No sense in going civilian or engineer style when those weren't her skills. She strode out of the room, shooting a passing grin at Aiesu when the construct donned the sweater.

She paused in front of Veronica.

"You taking any bets on what we find? I've got a few bits to burn," she asked once the Geshrin began making her way to the armory.

Once they arrived, it was simple enough for her to put on the armour and its attachments. It was much harder to decide what to arm herself with once her first-aid supplies were in-hand.

"Got it sir." Mars replied swiftly and got up. It was time to play dress-up. Mars towered and walked behind Veronica and Merril to the armoury. There she picked her personal Tenshi, not that anyone would be up for taking her amour, since everyone here could fit into it twice. She climbed in and locked the armour around, putting on the thruster pack second. Then she thought about weapons she could use. Generally, she could expect if there will be fight it will be in vacuum. So she put Antimatter Flechette Launcher on her right shoulder and Mini-Missile Launcher, loaded with plasma missiles on her left. On the slot on her back she put a Pacifier Gun. Just in case.

As for her own gun she went to where equipment for Mantus was being stored. Instead of standard weapon for Tenshi she grabbed High-Kinetic rifle, that one could find on Mantus and ammo for it. She preferred solid munition weaponry and having something that can shoot for over three minutes on full automatic fire, while shredding most things that could get in its was was nice. Then she just took a buttpack, with basic stuff like first-aid kit and spray can of sealing foam to seal damaged parts of armour while in vacuum. Last were grenades. In closed space like ships, Conscussion grenades were perfect, so Mars grabbed 4 of those, along with 2 flashbangs.

"Okay I think we are ready soon. Just need to get our engineer winglet to get down here as well. Also what is taking Al'ris so damn long." Mars joked as she leaned back and watched Veronica. The WIND looked very form-fitting on the angry Geshrin. "Hey Veronica, you sure WIND is enough for you? I think we have couple of Mantus armours that could be your size. Probably Tenshi as well."

"Huh... You seem confident. Are you scared? Do you really have that little faith in your crew...?"

"Or maybe..."

She pulled her attention away from her console, eyeing him slow and hard. Her words were quiet, so low Keib had to lip-read half of it.

"...Or maybe this is isn't all kayfabe and you really meant all that. That you really have no idea what is happening here?"

LSDF Akahar, Pilot Ready Room

Keib watched the last stragglers leave the room and head down to the armoury. He scratched his chest beneath his t-shirt and cricked his neck, blinking a little. His previously twinkling eyes and calm face drooped down into a more natural tiredness. "Lets walk and talk," he directed as he walked away from the ready room and started walking out of the Ready Room, assumedly back towards the bridge from his peers' perspective.

"Each of these people here have been rejected." He said clinically. The normal sense of wisdom that would come across in his next words sounded more like a weariness that'd become second nature. "Each and every one. By family, by religion, by government, by themselves," listed offhandedly like groceries, "and whatever means they've used to try and get themselves back but paint themselves into a corner. Myself included..." he mumbled as he took a turn towards his quarters instead with Aiesu in tow.

"They come to ships like this feeling damned, thinking 'nobody cares for me here - I'm on my own here with everyone else!' - who is also here," he paused as he walked past the recreation room, peering in to see everyone's wares and items where they'd been lying and hopefully where they'll still be if they got back. "By themselves."

Keib's steps tapped against the deck lightly as the door to his office and quarters came into view, "For those loners to tie together, they need to have a common goal other than food, water, sleep, oxygen 'n' sex. I'm just here to be passed an ugly carrot by someone who doesn't like me," referring to his superiors - save for Hakahn, "and wave it in front of those beneath me to get them to do their bidding."

He opened the door and instead of taking his place behind the desk, he stood at it and poured himself two glasses of water, leaving one for Aiesu. "I have to embellish - put on a show. Good shows-" he took a drink, "-tend to have some research-" another gulp, "-and thought and a bit of-" one last swig and the glass was empty, "-love put into them." He put the glass back down on his desk, walked over to the couch beside his desk and crashed on it, face down.

"Thff..." he spoke into the couch before rolling face up, lying on his back with his hands against his chest, rising up and down with his breath. "...fixes the carrot and makes it tastier so I can dangle it in front of my troops without shame. They can get behind that and pull this boat together, then feed it to 'em when they succeed."

He shrugged, content with his explanation. "Works out pretty good so far - even if I have no clue what to expect from the mission either." He then left the floor open for Aiesu to rebut, reply or to move onto another topic. She did say she had something to discuss in private. Keib didn't know what, though.

-

LSDF Akahar, Armoury

"I'll take one of these." Gough said, lifting up one of those strange rifles delivered by Lazarus. He took a moment to examine the thing. Sleek, utterly functional and brutal in its design - the only adornment being that sheen that their metal had this distinct matte sheen on its pale cream surface and a lightly etched hexagonal pattern in its grips. The only other deviations in its smoothness was the iron sights and the customary accessory rails. "It says its main purpose is anti-Mishhu." He nodded as he looked at its data and instructions, watching a small video demonstration in a cutout on one of the armoury's view screens. "That's... reassuring." The marksman was suited up in a WIND with GUST attachments.

"I'll just take this," Yar'mak said, suited up in a Tenshi no Yoru and carried a Deviance Gatling Shotgun with minimissile pods attached to his thighs, "Science don't kill invaders, big fucking guns do."
"Dibs something simple, then." Al'ris said, suited up in another Tenshi and carrying something a little simpler - the default Anti-Neutron gun that was perfect for non-atmospheric environments. She looked at Yar'mak's choice of weaponry and sighed. "How are you going to fire that thing properly without an atmosphere? Its gas-operated."

Yar'mak looked back down at the Deviance and sighed. "I can fire one at a time if I pull the bolt back manually, but I suppose that..." he tried to search for another justification, "ah, um. Fuck," he mumbled as he put the gun down with a frown and started looking for another. "Right, what else we got..." he looked to his superior, "Bastion, suggestions? Whuzzat you got there?" he examined the data for the High-Kinetic Rifle she had in her hands, but something about it didn't speak to him. He wanted something big and with a large rate of fire that went beyond triple digits.

The intercom in the armoury crackled and spoke: "Twenty minutes to launch," the New Tur'listan bridge bunny directed. "Please make final preparations and proceed to Hangar in ten minutes."