RP: YSS Goban Episode 02: Human After All

Galar groaned, he didn't like to be misdirected. He started to walk to the civilian district just as the sign said. As he neared the district, he noticed a subtlechange in the overall atmosphere; it seemed much calmer here, but everything seemed to be very...uptight. I suppose that's what happens when you live a mile from a military base. he thought.

Now that he was in the civilian district, he started looking around for the gun outlet.

Ma'at couldn't stop the cute laugh that came from her at the reaction from Luca. It was always fun making a man freak out like that. Setting down her equipment on a nearby table, she turned back to Luca, a kind smile on her face.

"You're right. And I know that. Do you really think I would treat you without giving you something for the pain first?" Digging through her bag, she took out two syringes filled with liquid. "So, Mr. Luca, would you like a painkiller or to be knocked out?"

Galar was looking into the many various stores that lined the road his directions told him to follow, trying to find the gun shop. This particular store eluded him. Galar said to himself as he passed by the different shops, "lengerie, no. Hats, no. Custom dresses, no. Jeez, where could this place possibly–"

He turned a corner and right in his face was the gun shop, wide glass windows facing the street. He pushed on the door, the bell tinkled. The store was lit calmly from above by soft white lights, and by rows and rows of lights on the wall behind the counter, highlighting the weapons that the store was displaying. The store was set up in a way such as to direct all of the attention foreward, where the mre expensive weapons were located. A flechette railgun sat in a case proudly in the middle of the glass display that was the counter. Swords, knives and other tactical gear lined the walls on either side of him, surrounding the customer with options from which to choose. A young woman looked up from her work at the main counter as she heard the bell ring and smiled.

Meanwhile, back at the Medical Area...

Luca looked at the syringes before him, "I think I'll take the Painkiller injection," Luca told Ma'at as he held out his left arm and rolled up his sleeve.

Nodding, Ma'at laid one of the syringes down on the table. Stepping closer with the other one in hand, she took some disinfectant and cleaned the spot on his arm before sticking the needle and giving him the painkiller. "We'll wait a few minutes to take effect."

Luca gave Ma'at a nod of acknowlegement and laid down, making a rut in the cot.

The doctor looked at Ma'at as she approached her and Luca. She then glanced at the patient. "All going well?"

Ma'at looked at her watch, waiting a few minutes until she was certain that Luca's arm was numb. When she was sure that he wouldn't be able to feel anything, Ma'at took a pair of thin glasses from her pocket and put them on, looking at his arm. Nodding to herself, she took the scaple and slowly started to cut. "Yes, doctor. I can see the metal."

Luca felt the knife go into him and he could see it, but the pain didn't register. He lightly ground his teeth and beared it.

The doctor watched Ma'at and interjected, "Just a few more minutes, Hei-san, and it the painkiller should do its job. You're a bit unlucky to have a Yamataian body with these wounds -- a Geshrin would lack the tolerance to the medication we use, as it has some poison extract in it. You, on the other hand, need an entire syringe of it just to dull you."

"Unlucky?" Luca replied, then he chuckled, "Hah! If you put it that way." Luca was beginning to feel the painkiller do it's job, "I guess having an iron constitution does come with benefits."

Putting more pressure into the cutting, she stopped as the blood started to flow out. Quickly, Ma'at grabbed a pair of gloves putting them and taking some cloth, cleaning the blood so that she could see. Gently, she pulled the skin apart and started to reach blindly for a pair of forceps.

The skin, slowly yet surely, attempted to close the wound. The painkillers weren't dumbing down the hemosynthetic reactions of Luca's body. The doctor bent down herself and, removing something from her other breast pocket, poked Luca with it. "This ought to delay the healing reaction his body has ... "

Ma'at looked up and gave the doctor a grateful smile. "Thank you." Looking over at the table, she reached out with her free hand and took the forceps. Breathing slowly, she leaned down again, reaching with the forceps for the piece of metal that she could see.

"Uck ... by Yui's claws, that's terrible." The doctor winced. "This is why Yamataians should leave the combat to Nekovalkyrja."

"Hey, they sent the wrong guys to an even worse job." Luca snapped.

"Keep it to yourself, Hei-san," the doctor said.

Smiling at the conversation, Ma'at careful grabbed the shrapanel with the forceps, slowly pulling them out, holding her breath. As she pulled it fully out, she sighed. "One out. Four to go, Mr. Luca."

"Uuu, that feels wierd," Luca said in response to seeing the piece of shrapanel come out of him, he guessed that his flesh had grown around the piece of metal.

Taking a piece of cloth and some more antiinfectant, she cleaned up the cut and bandaged it. "There you go. Now this one." Pushing up her glasses with her arm, Ma'at moved lower, touching his stomach lightly. Quickly turning to her bag, she got another syringe out. Cleaning the spot a bit above where he had pointed to earlier, she stuck it into him, waiting once again for it to effect.

"You didn't eat much on the way here, did you?" The doctor was looking squarely at the somewhat dazed Luca.

Luca pondered for a moment and responded, "Nope, I haven't had a good morsel apart from some bland ration on the ship I came on. It tasted like cardboard."

"Another good thing ... you prevented your healing from acting effectively." The doctor nodded in approval.

Working as slowly as she could, she successful got the piece of metal out of his stomach. Ma'at sighed as she saw that she still had to get two more big pieces out of him. Bandaging up Luca's stomach, Ma'at turned to his left shoulder. She just couldn't imagine how much pain he must've been when he recieved these injuries. Cleaning and numbing the spot, Ma'at set to work cutting into Luca again.

"If that thing hit a few more centimetres to the right, I'd cease to be. Oh well, just my luck!" Luca chuckled as he considered how close he came to death.

Ma'at nodded, slowly taking the metal out, not wanting to go too fast in fear of causing more damage. "You are lucky, Mr. Luca. Thank whatever deity you worship for surviving these injuries." Ma'at smiled as she straightened up, the big piece of shrapnel in her hand.

"Well," Luca replied, "I just follow my whims, no gods or those above or below or whatnot," He said as he grinned and looked at the shrapanel piece.

--To be continued--

Chisato's head and upper torso showed up in Kyosuke's communications window. She looked surprised. "Kyosuke! Where the hell are you! Wait... is this a secure comm. channel?â€

For fuck's sake. NOW what.

"Yes, Chusa, this is a secure channel, for now." Kyosuke was walking toward an empty recreation room. "I am calling to report in and obtain new orders as necessary."

"Where the flying fuck are you Kyosuke? You were supposed to report back here at Anisa hours ago! Has the message been delivered?â€

Kyosuke waited a moment to respond; he was stepping inside the recreation room as Shimada bitched at him. He shut the door and turned to face his commander.

"The message was delivered, Chusa. However, our true mission resulted in the Goban being stolen." He relayed the gist of the story, leaving out the part where he got the shit kicked out of him by a goddamn Custodian droid that was supposed to work for them. He managed not to have any veins blow up in his head after he was done.

"That is my report," he said at the end. "Is there more, Chusa?"

Surprisingly, Chisato listened calmly while Kyosuke gave his report. She shook her head and sighed when Kyosuke was done. "Ugh. This is a fine turn of events... I'll pass your report up the chain of command. In the mean time, how do your propose to get your ship back? Odoris don't grow on trees, you know?"

Kyosuke had an idea. It was called, "shoving an NSP up your ass and pulling the trigger until the battery runs out."

Of course, there was a back-up.

"If possible, Chusa, I would like a vessel to pursue the Goban with. Whatever is available that has a lot of firepower and will not be detected easily."

Meanwhile, back at the gun shop

Galar paroused through the many guns that were available to buy; there were a lot to choose from. He picked up a catalog from the counter next to him and flipped through it. It showed many different types of weapons, moslty energy weapons, although there were a few solid ammunition ones. His eyes rested on the picture and discription of the GP-12. This rifle would be perfect! he thought, but which variation?

Then he found it. The GP-12B1. It was a light variation on the original, but one that could be easily broken down into three peices and concealed easily as well. Perfect.

"Excuse me, but do you have anything that would, you know, fry electronics?" Galar asked.

An incredibly beautiful, soft-spoken Japanese girl wearing glossy white boots, a silky red pleated skirt, and a sheer white top, smiled beside Galar and nodded.

"Yes sir. An electronic countermeasures pistol, made by Leistung Group, is available in our shop. We also have ECM grenades, if you would like those as well."

Luca pointed to his upper right leg, "There's another piece in here, I'm suprised I'm still able to walk let alone move."

Brushing the hair that came out of her ponytail out of her face, Ma'at nodded, looking at his arm. "That one won't be too hard to get out." Numbing that area, Ma'at slowly got to work. "Yes, I am as well. You are one very lucky guy."

"Half of everything is luck, they say," Luca quoted as he tilted his head back on the pillow, his hair spreading out.

Working quickly, but carefully, Ma'at got the metal out of his arm. "Just one more and you are done." With a smile, she put the piece of sharpanel an the table along with the others. It amazed her that he had that in his body for such a long time and yet he wasn't that bad. Pushing her glasses back up her nose, she looked him up and down, finding the last big piece in his leg. Quickly, Ma'at got to work numbing his leg.

"Good. The sooner it all gets out, the better. You're doing a fine job... Ma'at, is it?" Luca told her as he moved his head around, unstiffening his neck.

Looking up for a moment, with a sweet smile, she nodded. "It is, Mr.Luca. And thank you." She turned back to what she was doing, slowly reaching for the piece of metal. Ma'at had to be careful this time, the metal being close to a vein.

The doctor simply watched.

"Oh, you can just call me Luca," he replied with a light blush, "Or, Sebastian, Wolf, or whatever else suits your fancy."

Ma'at let out a deep breath as she straightened up, the metal in her hand. Hearing Luca's reply, her smile widened a bit. "Hm...I like Sebastian....if you don't mind me calling you that."

" ... " The doctor brought up an opaque holopanel with Luca's file on it. She frowned, but closed it without saying anything.

"All of my school friends used to call me 'Wolf', I don't know why though..." Luca cleared up, "It must have been because I was the only person in school who had Sideburns." Luca began to chuckle as he remembered more, "Not even the teachers had sideburns or any other facial hair for that matter!" He could have burst into laughter, but he contained it. Luca was, after all having surgery.

The doctor wondered if more sedatives were needed.

Ma'at laughed lightly, taking off her gloves as she finished bandaging Luca. "Well, there you go, Sebastian. You're all done. You still have a lot of metal left in your body. I suggest as soon as you can, you should get a Soul Transfer. But this is the best we can do at the moment. Take easy for awhile."

"She's right, though with food, your hemosynthesis should be able to eject the metal over the next few days."

"Don't you two worry, I'll try not to become a dartboard while I take it easy," He told the doctors as he smiled, looking at the ceiling, "Thanks for all of your help, girls."

"Doctor," the doctor said. "And you're welcome." She walked off.

Ma'at smiled and bowed to him. "You're welcome. It was nothing. Just helping."

"I guess I'll rest here for time being..." Luca said, "Once I get my strength back, I should be able to get up and find something to eat, because I'm starved thin!"

Ma'at looked around and saw that she wasn't really needed anymore. "Well, if you're hungry, I could get you something. Wouldn't want you starving more."

"That's rather nice of you..." replied Luca as he turned his head away in a blush, "I guess I could have something to eat apart from cardboard ration!"

Ma'at watched, amused, as Luca looked away blushing. "Anything in particular that you would like, Sebastian?"

"Well... I could do with something meaty, probably some stir-fry," Luca replied while licking his lips. He loved eating meat, hearty foods.

Ma'at giggled at the reply. Just like a guy. "Ok. I'll go get that. I'll be back soon." With a bow to Luca and after quickly telling the head doctor of the bay where she was going, Ma'at was off in search for some stir-fry.

The doctor blinked at the rushed report, but nodded.

Wow... she's such a caring person... Luca thought as he watched Ma'at leave in her search for something to feed him. His head rested in his pillow, My brother was like that before he went missing...

Lucas had fallen into a light sleep as he waited for the procedures to fall into order for his new body. His thoughts bounced back and forth between events of his past...the same old nightmare happening again.

Kyle, Sean, Jack, Rick, Vic, John, Dave, York, Vince, and the twins Matt and Nate. Lucas remembered all of them. Their faces were crystal clear as they laughed. They sat hunched around the long, oak rectangle of a table in the tavern. Ah, this old rustic tavern. Lucas thought as he leaned back in his chair and downed whatever Kyle had purchased that night. Lucas could still remember that copper-esque bite the drink had before the fuzzies kicked in. They were laughing, cutting up, and having a merry old time.

Hours flew by in seconds, and now the scene changed to something colder. Wetter. Sour. Lucas remembered that back alley. Some girl had tipped off Sean to "meet me later" in the alley a few blocks down. They always traveled as a group...for protection. Both lucky and unlucky that night.

The girl was nowhere to be found. In fact, only empty metallic shipping crates, garbage dumpsters, and a junker of an unidentifiable vehicle sat in that damp alley. Silence was all that inhabited that place, that is, until they turned to leave. In a flash of guns drawing, people yelling, and adrenaline pumping, Lucas's gang was surrounded. The words continued, but Lucas didn't hear them. He never even knew who shot first, but he did know who fell. Lucas turned as the first bullet belched from the other side. He looked up to the face of Jack to ease his nerves. Jack had a face that could calm you in times of distress. He had an easy-going smile and warm eyes that oozed with kindness. He had always been the voice of reason when Kyle or Sean would start to get out of hand. True he loved his share of their outings and violence, but never cruelty. He would always just walk off if something nasty was about to go down. Sometimes, Lucas thought that Kyle only kept him around to argue with. But Jack's smile always calmed him down. Lucas still remembered his face before the battle. Unfortunately, he couldn't even smile at Lucas before there wasn't a head left to even hold a face.

Lucas jerked straight up in his cot, soaked in sweat. Immediately his side exploded with pain. Something popped and he ground his teeth as he could only lay back and groan quietly. His chest heaved with terror as he worked to calm himself down. Deep painful breaths is what it took, until he just sat there, watching Luca flirt with Ma'at. Lucas smiled weakly at the sight took his mind off of his "dream".

Galar was slack-jawed. "ECM grenades? Where? And how much?" He was now so immersed in the amount of things to buy he wasn't even thinking straight anymore. Calm down man, you have to pay attention. Buy only what you need.

"Ok," he took a deep breath. "I want one GP-12B1, one anti-electronics pistol, 2 clips for the GP, 1 for the pistol, a couple pouches, a strap for the GP, and a trenchcoat, preferrably in black. How much would that be?"

Meanwhile.....

Jason had left without alerting Luca, Lucas, or Ma'at of his departure. Jason's mind continued to think of every component that made up most Custodians and knew the only way to beat one would be to build one. Walking only a short ways he located a console. From there he accessed a map of the city and the locations of several stores that he needed to visit, including the Gun shop in the civilian sector, a robot repair shop, and finally the power armor bay here on base.

With this knowledge in hand he walked at a quick pace. He knew he would need the plating of a power armor, which might be found at a robot repair shop. Then he would need a A.I., which would also be at the repair shop, and a control unit, and a vocabulator unit so his machine could communicate in plain English.

But what about the other key components, Jason wondered. "Let's see The power bay should have tactical combat data, so I can grab some of that for his brain, but he'll still need to know other things besides that."

He walked on, getting the occasional eye ball in his direction. "Besides that all would be left is to get some heavy weapons, and a Gun shop would be the better place to get those. But his brain would still need to uploaded; I wonder if I should use it!?" He thought of his project he was -- or had been -- building those few years ago. Maybe it would be time to try it out. With that Jason continued on his way toward the robot repair shop with a grin across his face.

(Doshii edit: Anthony, I had to edit the hell out of this. Dude, you need to step this up some.)

"Ahh... she's such a caring person..." Luca told himself as he laid back, letting his wounds recover, "Something you don't see every day, eh Lucas?"

Luca's hemosynthetic skin was begining to seal up around the cuts made to remove the shrapanel, it was working slowly but steadily to heal him. Resting was also speeding things up a little bit.

Galar walked out of the gun shop with a large smile on his face, black trenchcoat draped around his shoulders and boxes in hand. Walking down the street, arms laden with packages, Galar decided to stop in to the nearest shop that sold alcohol. He picked out one of the more expensive hard liqours and started back towards the crew, thinking that he was out 1,850 KS and didn't mind at all.

His mind, blank at the moment, was still able to pull him into a nearby bookshop. His eyes rested on a book in hard cover resting on a plastic display rack. Her new book! I can't believe it's out so soon! He plucked it off of the shelf and along with another fiction book and 2 nonfiction books, one on an ancient civilization on a planet he had never heard of before and one on codes used by various people in different wars. Galar also couldn't resist picking up a manga that he had heard was good and purchased the pile of books, costing him another 50 KS.

He was getting closer to his comrades, when he saw a hot food vendor handing out some sort of hot-pocket-like thing. This was very appealing to Galar at the moment and bought himself one. Finally, he approached the military district.

"Eh?" Lucas had started nodding off again, but caught Luca's question and raised an eyebrow. "I suppose...but I wasn't the one flirting with her, so I wouldn't know as well." Lucas grinned.

"The 3XF can't spare any ships at the moment, Kyosuke. Shit hit the fan here," replied Chisato. "You said you're at the Kyoto base on Yamatai, right? I'll try to call in some favors with Zero Fleet, see if they have anything that a Shoi is authorized to command. Stand by."

Chisato pressed some button off-screen, and Kyosuke found himself alone in the recreation room. The channel was still open, but both audio and visual were disabled.

A minute or so later, Chisato re-enabled the channel. "Okay. I think we have a Ketsueki-class for you. I'm transmitting to you the coordinates of the ship right now. It's currently docked on the other side of the base. Its temporary designation is NA-X3-13."

Chisato continued. "Normally, you can't match speeds with an Odori-class with that, but unless you're bullshitting me about the state of the Goban's engines when you left it, you'll have no trouble catching up to your ship... By the way, how do you plan to track down the Goban anyway? Do you even know where it's headed?"

Another Neko leaned down and whispered something into Chisato's ear. "They want us to do WHAT?" Chisato screamed back. "Fuck. I got to go, Kyosuke. You're on your own. Oh, remember that you're commanding a loaner ship this time. Lose it too and I'll kill you myself. Shimada out."

The comm. screen went black briefly before displaying the 3XF logo.