"A chatty bunch," the Lieutenant observed. Practically ignoring the squad though, he turned to look at Ylfa, all business. "Do you think you can do it?
"Yes sir, we'll get the job done," she replied, cool and nearly robotic in her professionalism. The ID-SOL stood with a nod of satisfaction before looking at the two Nekovalkyrja standing there. Like a pair of lost kittens, they seemed utterly out of place here, especially since they wore civilian clothing. Though Mayumi dressed somewhat nicely, wearing a white, form fitting turtleneck shirt and blue jeans, Emi looked like she didn't give a damn thanks to the sweats and hoodie she wore. Gaston pointed to them both in turn as he spoke, ordering them about.
"Himura Emi, you work with my troops. Ichiki Mayumi, you're going to stay in my eyesight at all times, understood?" The raven haired Neko nodded, briefly glancing at the marines with a face devoid of expression. Somehow, it didn't feel quite right. "Good. Now, I'll leave it to you Master Sergeant. I need to coordinate with our
guest after all." With that, the giant of a man left, Mayumi glancing back one last time before the doors sealed shut behind her. Ylfa sighed, rubbing her temples before awkwardly smiling at them all. It was the kind of smile one would get at a family reunion that didn't work out the way anybody planned at all.
The kind that tried to cover up something unpleasant. With how fast it all went down, there was no question that things were not looking good at all.
*****
Ylfa said:
"Sorry guys, but...you remember how some of you met what had to be those three Cybernekos back at port?" she wearily asked them.
In the dark, dim lighting, over a dozen marines were tightly packed together in disciplined rows within the boarding craft. It shook and jostled them every few moments; with it being so crude, there was little room to stand in the field stabilized troop bay. However, everything changed the moment the lights came to life, their Hostile armors dully glinting.
"We're on our final approach! This is it marines; prepare for breach and clear!" Ylfa yelled over their comms, the ship's shaking and clatter intensifying as they neared.
Ylfa said:
"Well, we're thinking they're copies or something. Duplicates or backups maybe. Anyways, command's leaving them alone since the people who chat them up are more interesting - we got a lead," the woman grinned, eagerly leaning forward in her seat.
With a solid thud, their boarding craft smashed into the surface, the plasma bore in front of them spinning into motion as it thrust forward. With a fiery screech, the machine screamed to a halt just as quickly, the round portal opening to a scene of darkness, smoke and fire, klaxons blaring on board the base ahead.
"Go, go, go!" a man could be heard, the other squad with them pushing ahead of them, just as planned.
Ylfa said:
"But, the most important thing?" the blond asked them "We're going to catch ourselves a robo-kitty."
Following along, they were getting ready to peel off from the rest, but before they could, the squad ahead of them started running back around the corner ahead. Just as a small handful cleared it, a horrific storm of bullets literally shredded the other Hostiles that were too slow to retreat, tearing them to unrecognizable pieces.
"It's a whole depot of them!" Pinkeye's voice yelled, running past them for her life.
"Shit, get back! Back to the drop, now!" Ylfa yelled, the hallway now behind them utterly ruined from the sheer volume of fire it took. From around the corner, they could see a legion of shadows marching forward. Frantically entering the boarding craft, the door sealed as they caught sight of a heavy, looming silhouette in the dark. Before any of them could say another word, explosions rocked the other side, the marines bouncing in the troop bay. The doors ripping clean off its hinges as the ship was blown into space, they were thrown out like a handful of grain.
Down below, one of many war machines flew out and landed on the moon dusted building below. More heavily armored than the standard Militants they had seen before, its arm guns no longer crude belt fed weapons, it turned its single red eye on them all. And transformed. Head retracting into the hull, legs splaying into a quadrupedal stand as bolts drove into the surface, its offhand unfolded into a second arm gun before it sprayed fire into the starry night, chasing down one marine's zig-zagging thruster wash before tearing through him like a buzz-saw, shields, armor and all.
His spongy, hole ridden form floated through space as the death machine swiveled, searching for its next victim.
"Take it down, take it down!" Ylfa yelled, letting loose with several of her calf missiles. But already, several more red lights could be seen in as they tried to emerge, clambering to climb out of the black and face them in the light.
