RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 3] Sunny Day on Prilisa Four

[MissingNo]

Taking one more deep breath, the tall hyena anthro got to his feet and slid his HHGs back into their holsters, buttoning a flap over the top of them so that they did not fall out during what, he was guessing, was going to be quite the rough tussle.

"What I see, will remain forever within my mind. And on the blessing of Alleera, I will tell none of what I learn about you." He nodded solemnly, expecting that whatever happened, they would not be coming back from it.

Then, thrusting his shoulders backwards, he fell into a sprinter's stance behind her as she reached for the door, a smile on his lips...a playful smile.

"Thank you," said Tweak, a small smile appearing before she heard the panel beeping at the pilot's terminal again.

The smile quickly disappeared, replaced with a look of grim determination. "Looks like it really is up to us..." she said softly, then checked the sensors for movement around the shuttle before going back to the hatch. Cracking it open, Tweak glanced around...then opened it and slowly walked down the ramp. She looked back at Deacon.

"Okay. Those trees over there," she said, pointing at the treeline directly across from the entrance to the spaceport. "That's where you'll be. I'm going in and making enough racket to get those nekos to follow me, hopefully all of them. If I can, I'll get them to chase me to you...if you think it's safe, give them a few shots to get them locked onto you too, then start running with me. After--" she quickly recalculated distance, speed, and feral neko attention span in her head before continuing -- "about ten seconds, stop and give them both fists. I guess my earlier fifteen-second quote came from how long I'd be running, not you," she said, the slight smile returning. "I'll be near the door until you get into position; raise your hand when you're ready."

Tweak took a deep breath, offering a small prayer to this "Terra" person Dream kept asking things from. Something called "Murphy's Law" kept echoing in her head, but there were only three ways this could go irreparably wrong. And two of them were up to her to prevent, the third was in the hands and wits of Team 35...

"Alright, let's do it." Tweak started toward the spaceport's front door, keeping as low a profile as she could and moving fast and silent to her position. She cycled her vision to thermal, hoping to see what her Tactical Operating System said would be neko thermal signatures...the cat-girls operated noticeably hotter than humans or nearly any other being, so she would be able to tell them apart from the rest of her team.

Oh yeah. There were FOUR ways this could go wrong. "Please don't let Montreal do anything terribly stupid...and please give me the clarity to make it work for us if she does," Tweak added to her previous prayer.

 

[Scot]

"Yep, and welcome back," answered Fitz to Serra, as he attempted to move his tied hands towards the back from his sides. Without looking too suspicious he tried to feel the metal paneling behind him to see if there was some sort of panel that would come off to jack into or something.

In the meantime he kept up with the chatter, "Well in hopes that they don't understand common," he began since talking on his radio consists of talking out loud, "perhaps a distraction could occur, and someone gets to that reactor core so we can just shut down the lights or something, then run out of here?"

 

[AoK]

As Tweak disappeared out the door of the shuttle, something in the back of Deacon's mind started nagging again. Something about the way the nekos acted when he tried to talk to them. Perhaps his team had been going about dealing with the unexpected enemies all wrong.

Then were feral and primal, but they were even more regressed than even Deacon had guessed. Perhaps, and this was a large chance, but perhaps the enemies were at a stage where communication by signal was too advanced. If that was the case, the just maybe...

"Tweak, I have a question for you. When I tried to talk to the creatures that have captured the others, they seemed to no understand. Even when I used hand signal. Just before they left, one hit me in the nose with a can." The Kohanian loped over to the seat with the very can he had been speaking of, picking it up.

"What if these things are attracted to shiny things? I wonder if we could bargain with them to release our friends if we could provide them with enough shiny things. Or maybe, if someone had lots of shiney things on, we could use that person as a leader of our tribe." He continued, slowly turning the can over in his paws.

In the end, though, he just stuffed the can into the pocket of his nepleslian pull over and lumbered back to the shuttle entrance on all fours, and then down onto the ground, heading for the treeline Tweak had indicated.

 

[Della]

Dream noticed Tweak and Deacon getting into action.

"That's great. If only I could help them..."

She put through the radios the message:

Tweak and Deacon are on the move, looks like they have a plan. Stand ready, everyone.

She let her consciousness run through the local network. For a moment, she toyed with the idea of hijacking the Wolverine that Real had requisitioned.

Yeah, great move, that one. Destroy a wolverine and take the other-

-Wait.

Wait wait wait.

She turned her attention to the damaged wolverine, and ran a check of its internal systems.

Then, for the first time in what felt like a long time, she sighed in relief.

"Thank Terminus, the computational core is still intact." She reached for the craft, checking reactor, movement control, weapons, and then leaping "inside" and trying to move it towards the place were Deacon was waiting.

"Come on, move! Please, move! Please, Vector, make it move!"

 

[MoonMan]

"Leave you behind?"

Cassefin, not surprised at all by Dream's sudden message through her Wolverine, chided in as George and Lenny nearly leaped out of their skin as they shoddily attempted to drive the machine down out of the Storage corridors. Cassefin glanced up at once of the security cameras and glared directly into the lens.

"You silly 'Spacer. I'm going to save your useless rear-ends with my Wolverine! So sit down and shut up, and don't do anything stupid. George! Lenny! Get this hunk of garbage to the Maintenance hallway. Kill any neko that moves!" Cassefin ordered with grandeur, throwing forwards an exaggerated pointing motion doubled with a determined, slightly scary smirking sneer of determination.

"Y-y-yes ma'am!" the two stammered in unison, fumbling to and fro about the hallway, knocking over trash bins and denting doors in their untrained attempts to drive the unwieldy construction.

---

In the generator room, the nekos were loudly congregating, shouting "Nah Nyahs" back and forth as their prisoners looked on. It was difficult to tell what they were arguing about, but one thing was certain and easily identifiable amidst the chaos of loose clothing and colorful hair.

Queenie, or rather, the lovely little cat-eared woman wearing the equally lovely crown of silverware, foil and other lustrous objects, seemed to be the final say in all manners. When she held out her dainty four-fingered palm, all nekos fell silent to listen to her guiding words.

"Nah naaaa nyaaah," Queenie spoke, pointing at one of the prisoners near the corner. A Delsaurian male, lizard-like humanoids from Delsauria, in janitorial garb, jerked up as he noticed the neko point directly at him. The other cat amazons around the room all expressed the same "Ooooooo..." of realization.

"Nyah nah nah," Queenie said simply. A pair of nekos, blatantly miffed at each other, exchanged brightly-colored hats.

"Nyaaa nah, nah nya nya," Queenie said again. A cat amazon near the front jumped up and down with glee, leaping on all fours over to the Cirrus Station Security member whom had been talking to Squad 35's remnants earlier. Effortlessly, she lifted him up over her shoulder and casually trotted to a lone door near the rear of the room; a simple cleaning closet no doubt. The poor fellow yelled bloody murder the entire duration of the trip, and was cut off by the closing of the door, left to whatever horrible, horrible fate awaited him.

It appeared Queenie decided everything for this pack of ladies. From explaining the strange and unusual Delsurian, to deciding squabbles amongst nekos about who gets which hat, to giving permission for whatever unspeakable acts were happening behind that closet door.

The ruckus George, Lenny and Cassefin were making did not go entirely unnoticed, however. A few of the nekos, ears perked curiously, stayed quiet amongst the rest and murmured between each other, as if trying to confirm their suspicions amongst their peers. It was hard to tell noise from noise in between the howls and yells the rest of the nekos were emitting.

---

Dream's attempts at moving the battle-damaged Wolverine were met with mixed results.

It was mobile. The fragmentation grenade was not able to damage propulsion or stabilization, as it went off inside the cockpit itself. The control panel was a mess...but that would only be a minor hindrance for somebody not even using the panel in the first place. A few shards had pierced some vital parts of the circuitry connecting the reactor to the external systems of the Wolverine, and as such cut direct power to everything but the arms of the machine.

Despite all this, it still moved fairly well. Dream, with a short learning curve for the alterations Cassefin's love and care had placed on the vehicle, would be able to drive the thing to her desired location.

 

[Della]

YOU PLAN TO OPEN FIRE INSIDE HERE WHILE THE NEKOS HAVE HOSTAGES?!

Dream screamed through the radio.

ARE YOU INSANE? The whole place might come crashing down thanks to the damn gravity of the planet! And, if things go really bad, you might shoot Deacon and Tweak! They're moving on their won, trying to lure the Nekos outside, and I lost contact with them!!

She sighed heavily - a sigh that could be heard through the radio, despite not being a REAL sigh.

You- you don't do this kind of things on your own. If there is a team, you must work as a team. It's something George and Lenny there understand well: ask them, too. If you go on a rampage without any plan more complex than "open fire when you see a neko", it'll end badly!

She stopped to think. Real was... so very troublesome, but she was predictable enough to Dream's eyes.

I know you're used to be in control and do whatever you want, but this time not coordinating is the best way to get us killed. And you don't want that. We're a team, and we either fail separately or win together. Why do you think that I was trying to get you to board those Wolverines for, when I opened the cockpit? We have a plan, a plan that involves everyone.

She blinked a tactical scheme on a lateral monitor, with red dots marking the known positions of Nekos, red circles with their suspected positions, green dots with the positions of members of squad 35, and two blue dots for Tweak and Deacon. The two Wolverine were in white.

I've interfaced with the local network and keeping everything under control, so I can keep a live tactical feed. It would have been better if you hadn't smashed the main screen, but we'll discuss your anger management issues when we get back on the Cirrus. Now, rather than going on a rampage throughout the installation, don't you think it'd be a better choice to hide here, behind this corner, ready to spring a trap on the Nekos once Tweak's plan gets in action?

She started moving the damaged Wolverine towards Deacon's location, as flashing arrows explained her plan.

I'll control the other mech. Its weapon systems have been damaged by the grenade, but it can still go melee. I suppose every little bit helps.

 

[MoonMan]

There was a pause in actions for a minute or so as the Wolverine drifted clumsily on its merry way. Lenny and George looked up at Cassefin; her eyes were narrowed and distant and her lips were pursed in thought. Dreams words had merit; not even Cassefin could deny that. She held this expression for a while, throughout the duration of that long period of hushed voices, before snapping her sight back onto George in the front seat.

"Turn that radio off and continue as planned," Cassefin ordered. George had no choice but to obey.

 

[MissingNo]

A little whisper piped up in the general mental area of Tweak's Tactical OS.

I have a what?

A radio. In her head. WHY DIDN'T SHE REMEMBER THAT WHEN SHE NEEDED IT?!

Tweak calmed herself down (even though it was only a spike in her body tension, it was still a distracting emotion...she must be picking up on Dream's unrestricted nature) and flipped through the channels to the one she recalled being listed on the HUD of her now-destroyed helmet.

As she did this, she completed her thermal survey of the building and surrounding area. Lorcan was spotted, still crouched near the building, apparently not having moved since the nekos showed up and confronted Deacon. Tweak made a mental note to keep tabs on him to make sure he didn't stumble into anything he shouldn't. The neko "court", a huge mass of hot shapes near the insulated, but still warm, body of the reactor was easy to find. But then Tweak noticed a large thing moving down the hallway with three warm spots hanging on it.

That must be the Wolverine that Dream mentioned. So...Headmaster Real is in it and two other guys are with her...but what are they up to?

They were heading toward the lobby, it seemed, and Tweak guessed that Real intended to either escape through the main door or go in and try to rescue her security detail. Silently hoping Dream had some answers, and that this internal radio of hers worked right, Tweak sent out a call on the CSS team's main channel.

Dream? Can you hear me? I got a hold of a radio, but this frequency is poor, change to the one you used earlier. Cycle through the first seventy starting in one-point-three-six-seven seconds from this transmission and I'll meet you there.

The 'spacer neko hoped that the druidess got the hint...the frequency randomization sequence that Dream had used to broadcast her disruption signal would be away from the Cirrus channel and easier to speak freely with the adapted frequency-hop and encryption in place. Dream couldn't use the same randomization key that Tweak had embedded in her brain, but the druidess should still be able to look up the first seventy frequencies that Tweak had listed off earlier. The time Tweak had given would help Dream match Tweak's cycling of the frequencies.

Meanwhile, Tweak crouch-ran toward the door of the lobby, leaving her CSS rifle on her back. She had caught the first part of what Deacon had started to say...her hearing was good enough that she heard all of it, but she thought the hyena-hybrid was talking to himself. And she was already out the door, it was dangerous to stop on the exposed area of the landing pad. But, in the brief time before she got Dream's reply, Tweak consciously reviewed what Deacon had said.

"Shiny things, huh?" Her armor plates were shiny. And...so were Wolverines?

"This is going to get me in so very much trouble with Kess..."

 

[Della]

Back to facepalming.

Tweak, here Dream. Cassefin's going to go on a rampage with her Wolverine and probably do more damage than good. Stay out of her line of fire. I'm bringing over the damaged Wolverine to where you are. Weapons are offline, but it can still be of some help I suppose.
Maybe we should change the plan?
I think the Nekos are going to swarm and rip apart the Wolverine as soon as Real starts drawing attention to her. I don't know exactly how strong they are, but I'm fairly sure that they'll try. How about you use her as a distraction and, once the nekos rush her Wolverine, you run in and try and free the rest of squad 35? I'll use the other wolverine to support you.

Her tactical data feed to Cassefin's Wolverine was still active. She had no idea whether they were using it or ignoring it. Anyway...

...Anyway, she modified subtly the position of the red dots on the screen, to make Cassefin's rampage fit better in her plan: make her open fire as soon as possible, in order to start luring nekos out.
Also, opening fire as far from Squad 35 as possible.

 

[MissingNo]

Tweak saw the second Wolverine making its way toward Deacon.

You're too far away to make it in time, especially at the rate you're moving, and Deacon has no radio so we couldn't alert him to the change in plans easily. I'm going to try diverting Cassifin and proceeding with the original plan. Once all or most nekos are gone, start getting yourselves out of there ASAP.

Taking one last look at the situation, Tweak took a breath. Then another idea occurred to her. One that would possibly keep Montreal from killing everyone with whatever weapons those Wolverines had.

I want to say there is NO way this could work, but what do I have to lose...it'll get them outta there before Real shows up.

Tweak stood up and entered the lobby of the spaceport. Then she let out her breath in one long, ear-piercingly loud sound.

"NNNYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Then she waited, watching with her thermals until she was sure she had every neko's attention, preparing to run for all she was worth.

 

[Della]

Dream sighed and metaphorically crossed her fingers.

Ok, squad, that's the signal. Tweak and Deacon are trying to lure the Nekos out of here. Can anyone here manage to free himself?

 

[Scot]

Fitz had all but gave up trying to find any circuitry in the wall behind him and moved his arms back to where they were. He then heard Dream's message and replied

I can move some, my arm wasn't made to break bone but cutting cloth is a cinch.

 

[MoonMan]

Tweak's distraction attempt seemed to do it's part. Her shriek echoed through the halls, perking up the pointed ears in the generator room to attention. The room turned its gaze to Queenie...and she responded in a chillingly similar way.

"NYAA NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The room screamed in unison, swarming out of the doorway and rooftop exits with practiced speed.

"NYAA NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

In an instant, most of them were gone, barreling their way through the halls and across the rooftops with toothy grins and unrestrained assets bouncing hither and fro. Queenie, once again, did not participate in the hunt and sat atop her rubble platform as she kept a watchful eye over the prisoners.

---

Tweak's piercing cry also garnered the attention of some other unexpected individuals, for better or for worse.

"George!" Cassefin motioned towards the lobby, from where the echoes of the neko's scream had reverberated from. "Get this thing moving! We'll start in that direction and destroy our way to the Maintenance hallway!"

"Yes ma'am!" George and Lenny chided a moment before overshooting their turn, knocking the Wolverine into a complete spin before situating itself back in the correct direction. George received a heel to the side of the head for that one.

"Watch what you're doing, buffoon! Arm the weapons, we're going to obliterate any neko we see!"

 

[MissingNo]

If Tweak knew any expletives, or even a simple "darn!", she would have used one. As it was, she just tensed up.

One's still there...I hope they can get past her.

She tore out of the lobby just before the building seemed to erupt with nekos.

Oops...forgot to signal Deacon! I hope he's been watching.

A shiny figure ran across the landing pad with around two-dozen catgirls hot on her heels.

 

[Liam]

As soon as the neko's fled in pursuit of Tweak, the sound of them all echoing loudly in her head, she clenched her jaw and activated her muscles. The binding was tight, enough to compensate for her arm. But they had also bound her hands together, so all she would need was a little wiggle-room and...

There was a loud crack, sharp through the echo of the nekos. The sound of broken bone. Keziah barely bit back a scream as she tore her arms loose. She wished she hadn't fought back before, so escaping now would've been easier. But, then again, she couldn't have suspected all of this would happen.

Her stomach was turning, her skin shivering, shuddering at the pain she inflicted on herself. The armor would act as enough of a binding to keep the bones together, so she wouldn't injure herself any more than necessary. Hopefully.

But there was the queen. She locked eyes on the woman, her right arm before her, settling into a brawling stance. "Get yourselves free, fast," she hissed into the radio. Then, through her helmet's speaker, so everyone could hear. "I'll occupy her."

 

[AoK]

I don't have time for this...I need to have as little slowing me down as possible, if this is going to-

Deacon had been doing what only came natural to the warriors of his homeworld, he had stripped off his CSS, his nepleslian shirt and gunbelts, and was trying to remove the pants from his digitigrade legs when he heard the commotion from the spaceport.

Looking up, still half in his pants, Deacon saw Tweak sprinting just in front of an oncoming tide of those that looked...frighteningly...OH!

Curling his lip in a snarl, he pulled the Kohanian dagger from the pile of clothing he had hidden in a hollowed out portion of a tree that looked to have been struck with lightning. With three quick cuts he had completely freed his legs, and had turned his slacks into a pretty functional loincloth. Then taking one of his belts, he fastened it around his waist, and stuck the knife on one side, while fastening an HHG to the other side.

His ears had picked up the sound Tweak used, and though it didn't come naturally, the Kohanian male did his best to emulate it, to get at least some of the nekos to break off their persuit of Tweak, and join in a friendly game of "Chase the Puppy"

NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- And then it happened, something within Deacon snapped, and the sound ended with the same noise attributed to someone getting choked, and then....the all too familiar cackle of a hyena. Deacon had spent his entire childhood trying to get that sound NEVER to pass his lips...and now it was back, and what's more, he couldn't stop.

Using it as a battlecry, Deacon began to sprint on all four legs, towards Tweak, at least until he reached 25 feet outside of the treeline, then he would turn sharply, and begin to sprint back towards the trees, but at a diagonal trajectory away from Tweak.

"Come on, you know you want a piece of this..." He cackled as he stayed low and compact, almost looking like a cat in the way he moved and propelled himself around tree trunks, over or through brush.


Let the games begin... He mused with a crazy grin.

 

[Scot]

Fitz flexed his mechanical right arm until the material that had roped him broke, then he quickly pulled a cutting tool from his right arm and freed Claire. Doing so, he also added quickly, "Comon' lass! It seems we got an opening!" He then placed his cutting tool back into his arm, and looked for his pistol and found it wasn't there. Feeling insecure, he decided it was best to free whoever else was binded, then flee to safety.

 

[Cora]

Serra sat where she was hogtied by the makeshift ropes. Kinda glad they were makeshift ropes. Since the bindings are reused clothing and bits of rubber and plastic, that means their tensile strength is far below synthetic and natural rope. With some work, due to her hands being tied to her feet with plastic cable, Serra was forced to nearly dislocate her arms before the line was pulled beyond it's strength limit and snapped. The cloth restraints were less of a hassle since they were torn strips, which already ruined their holding strength. So, with little more then flexing and pulling, Serra shreds the rest of her bonds.

"Tensile strength is pretty minimal for these bonds, I bet even a Geshrin could tear free."

 

[Della]

Just like Dream planned, of course.

Keeping an eye on Tweak and Cassefin and another on the rest of the squad, she inserted Tweak's signature and appearance in the Wolverine's IFF system's database.

"Sorry Real, but I can't let you blast Tweak, too." She said to herself, activating the firing safeties. Cassefin would have to unlock them manually in order to fire with Tweak in the crosshairs.

Then, she rigged an alarm system that would warn her if Cassefin would actually go all the way in order to kill Tweak, just in case.

Finally, she returned to her body.

She was still suffering from the flying tackle: a stream of pain washed in her the moment she came back. A cracked rib, maybe two, she thought.

She raised her eyes on the queen and gulped, idly wondering if her anesthetics would work on a neko. Because apart for those and her collections of scalpels, she was unarmed.

...shiny things?

Well, she obviously had a great deal of them, from her instruments to the LEDs Keid had given her as a gift exchange. But she was still tied, and Kaz, Terminus bless her, despite her wounds, was provoking the queen.

Mh, queen. Apparently Nekos were innately incapable of egalitarianism: Even after reverting to a primordial state, even before language, they still needed a hierarchy with a supreme chief. Perhaps they didn't have free will?
That would explain a lot of things. A race that can't make decisions on its own, and merely reacts: slaves that follow blindly their master, and a master that is none the wiser of the lowliest of its slaves.

The Freethinkers would be interested in this sociological theory. But I'll have to worry about that later.

 

[Dragonnova]

"Oof!"

Claire's drop from the wall was less than graceful, falling forward and landing on her side. "Ow.." She pushed herself up, watching Kaz try to stare down the queen. (At least, she assumed it was. It was the neko with the most crap on it's hat.)

In response to Fitz, she nodded, but then added, "Right. Um... Is she going to be ok?" She gestured towards Kaz. Not that she wasn't thankful for the distraction, but she didn't like the idea of letting someone go against those neko's alone, even just one of them.