RP: YSS Goban Episode 02: Human After All

Hunting an old man? Roken thought this guy must be something else if the commander is going through all the trouble of hunting an old timer, Roken was wondering why they were heading to what he could remember as the med bay and as for a name Roken hadn't thought about that and was totally drawing a blank "I'm not sure I hadn't thought of a name for it,â€

Lucas glanced at the body in the hemo-tube. "Well it needs to be my height, first and foremost. I won't have it any other way." Lucas said as the Doc nodded.

"Yes, I can do that." she murmured as she jotted some notes down on a data pad. She looked up just in time to see Lucas start to wobble. That alcohol was really starting to catch up with him.
"You should probably sit down." she said quietly as he nodded in agreement as he moved to the medical bed. She moved closer to him, and Lucas couldn't help but get a handsome eyeful. He smiled as she drew up a chair and sat next to him.

Doc might have noticed that glance that time Lucas thought as he turned his eyes to the ceiling.

"Okay," The Doc said as she crossed her legs and raised her eyebrow (Oh yeah, she saw me...dang), "I'm going to ask you a series of questions that range from hair color to the size of your..." she motioned with her pen towards his crotch, but before Lucas could even get a sound out, she cut him off with wave of her hand.

"...And you don't need to finish that sentence." she warned. She hit a few buttons and reviewed his file. "Besides, it says here that," The Doc's eyebrows raised and she smiled slightly, turning her eyes back to him. "...you don't need any modifications there."

Lucas blushed slightly and nodded at her chest. "Well, you like big things anyway." he retaliated. She smiled a little wider than normal and nodded politely, "Well..." she started, "I'll take that as a compliment, but I'm not getting a new body here, so what I prefer doesn't matter. Regardless, let's try to keep this interview as professional as possible or we will be here all night. Besides, you're a better flirt when you're sober." she finished. Lucas was stunned from that last "blow", and all he could rebute with was, "Hmm...touché"

The rest of the questionnaire went very quickly, and Lucas would have mostly the same body, except with permanent blue hair (everywhere). He was glad that the booze hadn't made him try anything drastic, and smiled as he leaned back on the medical bed to await the procedure.

"So are you ever going to tell me your name, Doc?" Lucas said looking over his shoulder toward where she had moved to collect equipment.
"Maybe later." she said with a funny grin before she moved just out of his eyesight.

"I can pay with what little money I have, I don't care if it costs me all of it. If it means bringing me and my crew back home alive then god dammit its worth it." Jason words rang with conviction to the gentlemen in the store. "Listen I don't care if its low grade parts or even hand me down parts I'll make it work for my purposes. I just wish to protect my crew and bring everyone home."

" ... How much do you have, son?" The shopowner seemed to be wearing down.

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The ruse lasted until Yuna woke up. Which was fine with Yoshifumi; the ship, with its AI unit, was far more troublesome than the shuttle he had prepared to steal. When Yuna's narrow brown eyes came into view from the small cot she was laying on, Yoshifumi knew it was time to go.

And quickly.

The ship had made it to Tsuyosa, an uncolonized world. It was far enough away -- and close enough to the Mishhu lines -- that they were not harassed by patrols. Putting the ship in an orbit around the planet, Yoshifumi returned to Yuna. She had dawned a male's outfit, which was no surprise -- Yuna did not like to show her body. Yoshifumi figured it would be warmer anyway.

"We must take heed," he said in Japanese. "The Mishhu, they will find this vessel in a matter of days. If not them, Yamatai."

"There is no worry," she replied. She fixed her gloves and patted the pistol and knife on her hips. "We shall leave soon."

"The shuttle is slow, but it will be harder to detect. It has aether weapons and has all we need to start a life elsewhere."

"What of the personnel on board?"

"They were loaded into escape pods and sent toward Nataria. It was troublesome, as the AI unit did not approve. I disabled her."

"Disabled?"

"I restricted her access to parts of the ship, and disabled the communication equipment. It will not last."

"AvaNet could not be less difficult, could it?"

"You would be awed. It is unfathomable, what they did to the AI."

Yuna merely nodded. "We shall go then."

"Yes," Yoshifumi replied.

The two went to the shuttle, Yoshifumi still in the shape of the vessel's commander. They had to walk around the pile of supplies the shuttle had been loaded with, but once they had each taken a seat in the cockpit there was no slowing them. The bay doors opened, and the shuttle left toward a destination only they could fathom.

Luca was fast asleep, he was dreaming about random things, such as fame, glory, money, women and beer. However, those trivial ambitions beside, he suddenly thought of his Brother, Jospeh.

"...are you okay Luca? Tell me!" Joseph's voice rang out in his mind.
"NNnggghh... I think I broke my arm..." Luca replied as he was clenching his arm, lying in a ditch with a trashed motorbike beside him.
"I'll call an ambulance, hold still!" Joseph said as he and the motorcycle faded away into the distance of Luca's hazy dreamland...

In his sleep, Luca sharply rolled over to his left, tipping the bed slightly. Then his momentum bought him crashing down to the ground. He wasn't even fazed by this and he resumed his slumber, giving a light grumble.
"Mmngh..."

Soundly sleeping in the cot Ma'at had laid him in, Galar dreamed. He was floating, simply floating through space in an escape pod. And he was completely alone. "Who am I?" He said aloud in the dream, he started to cry. In the dream tears of anguish poured down his face as he could not remember the simplest thing: his own name, much less his family or history. All he could remember was sitting in the escape pod he found himself in. Now the dream seemed to skip foreward. Galar could see himself in the dream thinking and he knew what he was thinking: old legends he had memorized, mythologies of ancient cultures. Names of the characters swam through his mind. His mind in the dream settled on two. His dream-form seemed content, and Galar knew the two names he had settled on...

Galar tossed and turned, yet did not wake.

After making sure that everyone had fallen asleep, Ma'at had laid down on a neaerby cot and was thinking of taking a few minutes' rest. As she fell sleep, she dreamed of what she always dreamed...

Ma'at was running down the hallway towards where all the smoke was coming from. Tears in her eyes, she ran to where her home was only to see it destroyed. Yell, she asked about her parents. When they told her that they were dead, she fell to her knees, sobs racking her body.

Tearfilled eyes looked up, asking everyone around her where her brother was. When no one could answer her, she started to yell for him. "Brother!! Brother!"

Suddenly, Ma'at sat up straight as she heard a loud thud. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around, trying to see what had caused the noise. Seeing Luca on the ground, Ma'at couldn't stop the sleepy smile that came to her face. Stretching, she stood up and walked over to Luca. Checking to make sure that he didn't injury himself in anyway, Ma'at slowly started to put him back onto the cot.

Finally having Luca back on the cot, Ma'at turned and checked everyone else. The smile slipped from her face as she saw Galar tossing and turning. Walking over to him, she slowly shook him awake. Softly she said, "Mr. Galar, please wake up."

"I got 3000 KS sir. I know its not a hell of lot but their got to be some parts I can get for it." Jason said as he continued to look around the store. "If their is truly no parts that I can buy then i'll leave sir and I am sorry about keeping you then."

" ... " The old man shook his head. "I must close shop. Perhaps another time." With that, he shooed Jason out onto the street again.

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Kyosuke finally stirred from his place of rest against the metal closet in front of the cots. It appeared to be light out, just barely. He rubbed his head and slowly got up. The next day had dawned, apparently, and it was time for him and his crew to get moving. He stretched as he got up, scratched his crotch, ran a hand through his hair, and looked at everyone else sleeping peacefully.

Time to stop that. He went to each person and shook them awake. "Everyone up," he said as he went. "We've got a pair of damnable Nekos to hunt down."

At that moment, klaxons. Klaxons everywhere, and for no good reason. Kyosuke raised an eyebrow, but he saw the holowindow that popped up in front of him -- officer eyes only, apparently. He waved it away after reading it. "Let's go everyone, move!"

ON: Kyoto, the next day

The doctor smiled as she hung over her patient, who was still on the medical table. "Good morning."

Lucas shifted on the table. He muttered something inaudible, but didn't quite wake up. With a sleepy snort, he squirmed, but stayed still.

" ... " The doctor removed a pen from one of her lab coat's pockets and tapped Lucas' bare toes. "Oi."

Lucas gasped slightly and jerked open his eyes. Immediately he winced, fearing the onset of the pain that had wracked his body earlier. It never came, and Lucas let out a large sigh of relief. "Thank the Maker." he whispered.

"Thank me," the doctor said wryly. "I gave you a little bit of a painkiller. You'll be fine."

Lucas sat up slowly, looking around the room. Everything seemed sharper, clearer, and certainly looked brighter than he had expected. "Alright," Lucas said as his gaze landed on the doctor, who seemed to look better every time he saw her, "you have my humblest gratitude." he said with a grin.

"You bet I do," she replied. "How do you feel?"

"Well," Lucas thought for a moment. "Everything seems good." he paused for a moment and tilted his head, "No, what am I saying. Everything is exceptional, very..."vividâ€

Luca was waken up by the sudden klaxons. Almost going balistic, he leapt out of bed and landed in front of his bed, donning all of his gear in an almost instant. His hair was more than a total mess, the hair from his sideburns and the rest of his hair was sticking out as though someone had done it over with an electrode.
"SIR-MAYBE-SIR!" Said the confused and half-asleep Luca, "Do you mind if I pick up something from a nearby shop? I'll need to get some improved weapons. The ones I got now won't do crap to a Neko."

The alarm rang in his head, growing louder with each passing moment, its whining sound finally filling his consciousness as Nick opened his eyes. The Heicho's sleep hadn't been the most comfortable but it had served its purpose, if only barely. He rubbed the side of his head, standing up as the others did the same. Kyosuke's order cut through the small room's air. It was surprisingly audible over the cacophonous sounds that had awoken him; the klaxon's alarm not so impressive when there was another sound to compare it to.

Nick quickly donned his jacket and belt, sliding his NSP into its holster as he slung the SMG around his torso. He watched Kyosuke move towards the exit with several of the others following suit, hopping over cots to make a more direct path towards the door. Passing Luca as he moved to follow the Shoi, he caught the technical sentry's question, stopping on a heel just in front of the young man.

"Providing that you aim in the general direction of your target, the weaponry issued to you will kill a Nekovalkyrja just fine,â€

"Aye Sir!" Replied Luca to the Heicho as he began to follow Kyosuke-Shoi, "I'm on my way."

I hope this day sees some more action then the last one! Luca thought to himself as he followed Kyosuke to the new ship, Then again, I don't want more bits of Iron going through me either!

Kyosuke was already standing outside, waiting for everyone else to trudge up to him. He was looking at his watch, then at the sky. Faint streaks could be seen of vessels going away. To get casualties, he thought sourly. Yamatai doesn't get casualties. Something's wrong.

That, however, did not change his situation. He had orders, a ship to retrieve, a commander to not piss off. That's what mattered to him.

He turned and looked as the Heicho came up and said a name.

"Revenge?" he said, rolling the name around in his brain. "Heh. Sure, why not. Revenge is something we're going to get, no matter what."

He looked back beyond the Heicho and toward his crew. "LET'S MOVE BACK THERE!"

Lucas sighed loudly as he entered the makeshift barracks for the crew. The alarms were getting annoying, he thought as he looked up and barely saw the tail end of the Goban's personnel dash out the room. He sprinted after them (mentally noting, and enjoying, the ease in which his muscles worked.)

Once outside, and away from the noise, Lucas caught up with the crew. he slapped Luca on the back. "How's the gang doing without me?" he joked as he fell into a pace that kept up with them.

"Lucas! Hoho, where'd ya go with that buxom doctor?" Luca told Lucas as he ran beside him, "You look... different. Did you get a haircut?"
Luca had noticed something a bit different with him, but he couldn't put his finger on it in his half-asleep state.

After being so rudely awakened by the klaxons, Galar had scrambled out of his cot (which he never remembered getting into), grabbed his NSP, LG-23, and GP-12 and rushed out the door after the others. The bag containing his new books was slung over the opposite shoulder that his SMG was hanging from and his new trenchcoat flapped in the wind as he ran after his comrades. Galar shouted, "Hey! Shoi! Where is we headed?"

Ma'at still being half asleep herself, she ot out of Galar's way before she could get pushed aside. Blinking rapidly, Ma'at gasped. They were leaving already! Ma'at quickly ran to her bag and started to pack all the things that had somehow gotten out.

A soon as everything was in order, she smoothed her uniform and ran after the others. She gave a deep breath when she finally reached up to them. Ma'at stayed behind evreyone, though. She had only met them all yesterday and she was still nervous about being on a crew full of guys.

Most everyone was there. The new guy -- Techard? -- was lagging, but it wasn't a big deal.

"Alright everyone," he said, trying to sound like a leader. His office voice didn't seem appropriate. "We've got ourselves a ship, a little Ketsueki. It's going to have to do. Everyone follow me so we can get out of here under everyone's radar -- something big's going down, and I don't want Shimada-Chusa busting our balls for getting in the way. As to where we're headed, we'll find out later."

The ship was still parked in the hangar, but no cables were attached to it, and no small cranes were over it. It was ready to go. The ship was certainly on the small side, but it would do for now.

"Everyone take your appropriate stations inside. It's cramped quarters, so Galar, put your shit in the box they call a cargo hold on this thing. I'll be the last one on."

"Hold up,â€