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

"You can stay if you want, I rather not be involved," Fitz replied to Claire, not feeling too confident in his hand to hand combat, nor does he want to involve himself in manners that does not concern himself.

Deacon's attempts at distracting Tweak's rabid pursuers was met with mixed results; roughly one-third of the neko amazons broke away from the main pack, barreling their way after Deacon while the rest continued out after Tweak. Both members of Squad 34 seemed very capable of out-pacing the ones chasing after them, but never-the-less the screaming, teeming mass of nekos continued pursuit.

Cassefin, George and Lenny arrived in the Lobby just in time to witness the tail-end of the swarm careen through the glass doors out into the landing pad. "There they are! Follow them out and prime this hunk of junk's weapons!"

"Yes ma'am!" Lenny shouted from his cramped secondary seat. The cumbersome machine then began lumbering towards the doorway, fully intent on intercepting the teeming swarm.

---

The other captured personnel around the room, seeing a few of their own freed from their bonds, began yelling for help and attempting to break their own, while others were just too petrified to attempt. Queenie's screaming brigade could be back at any moment, after all...and it wouldn't look too good if they were out and about when they returned.

The amazon queen herself, whom had been sitting patiently on her platform of canvas and bent metal, quickly snapped to attention as the members of Squad 34 broke their bindings. The neko did not seem to be worried; instead, the voluptuous figure, adorned crown jangling with each movement, stood up and dusted off her rump before folding her arms and casting a downward gaze at her captives. Her expression and posture exuded an air of challenge, as if daring her prisoners to attempt escape.

The chatter going on behind her was lost as she retracted her helmet, so the queen could see her face clearly. There was no point climbing over the debris to get to her, that would just make her vulnerable. So it was a waiting game, then.

Keziah frowned, and slowly knelt down, picking up a small chunk of rubble that had broken away from the larger pieces. It was heavy, twice as large as her fist, and very solid. Unwieldy, so it was useless as a real weapon.

But she didn't need it for that.

"Get everyone free," she said over her shoulder, not really looking at whoever she was talking to. "And I'll hit her on the head with this."

Simple and direct. If the queen wouldn't come down on her own, Keziah was determined to make her.

"It would be nice to, you know, shoot her, if someone has some working boomsticks here." Dream said, calmly, struggling against her bonds.

"It would be nice if someone freed me, too." She kept struggling, but it wasn't an attempt to free herself: She was trying to make her scalpel fall from the belt pocket and into the ground.

It was a "scalpel" that would make anyone on the receiving end of Dream's surgery reel away in horror. A wide, dark, jagged blade 20 centimeters long, looking more like a bayonet or a cleaver than like a precision medical implement.

"Yeah, well we shot them plenty of times dear and it didn't do shit." Claire replied to Dream. "In case you didn't see that back in the lobby... Alright I'll help you just a sec.." With her hands now free she managed to draw her knife. After a few seconds of sawing through the material and watching Kaz and Queenie N, The bonds holding Dream came undone, freeing her from her position against the wall. "There you go dear."

In response to Fitz, she frowned but sighed. "I suppose we shouldn't squander the opportunity she's trying to give us, hm?" She went to work freeing the other members of her squad that for all intents and purposes are nameless in this story.

"If you get these, I'll save the one in the closet aye?" Fitz suggested and headed in that direction. Hopefully the poor bastard isn't dead or something, came into thought as he attempted to open the door.

Fitz's attempts at opening the door appeared fruitless at first; it was solidly built and the locking mechanism was in place. Despite their inability to speak proper Trade or even Yamataian languages, they apparently knew how to operate locks.

This was confirmed when the door in front of Fitz swung open and he came face to face with the neko amazon the team witnessed retreat into the small room but a few moments earlier. She was looking rather pleasant, a little red-faced as she held the door handle in one hand and adjusted her askew windbreaker-fabric tube-top with the other.

From the back of the room, out of Fitz's sight, the voice of the Cirrus security member from before sounded out. "Someone...help!" He sounded winded and short of breath.

"Nnnnah?" she said inquisitively, eyebrow raised at the brown-haired Nepleslian, obviously perplexed at why he was standing in her way. She then attempted to look past Fitz, only the find the room nearly empty of her comrades and a few of their prisoners up and about. Her expression of confusion gave way to one of surprise. "Naaaah?!"

Fitz reactively punched with his right metal arm, which wasn't made for contact combat, but would certainly hurt more than his human fist. He then ran past pulling out his cutting tool to free the man from his bonds, "Let's hope those things don't carry any infections eh?" he joked slightly while offering an arm to get the man out of the closet, then hopefully closing the door before the Neko could recover.

Dream picked up her fallen knife and pocketed it, finally free.

She, of course, had a plan.

The social structure of these creatures was pretty clear. Since they were incapable of egalitarianism, one of them assumed the role of absolute leader.
Together with that role went the right of private ownership, or at least one greater than what the other subjects could enjoy. Therefore, the leader was the one who owned the most, in terms of value.

And value was, apparently, for them, a function of shininess and generated interest.

"Get out of here. Discretely." She said, nonchalantly, walking towards the "queen", stepping in front of Kaz. With humble, respectfully slow gestures, she knelt down.

Then, with a polysentience-activated thought, she activated the numerous red LEDs she had in her hair, a gift from Warmonger Keid. The LEDs sparkled and flashed like a brilliant crown of red stars, outshining the forks and spoons in the neko's hair.

Dream pulled them off, one by one, collecting them in her hands, with slow, attention-drawing gestures, still shining bright red, and offered them to the neko "queen".

Simple minds are easy to trick, simple societies were easy to figure.

...she hoped.

Claire spared a glance back towards Fitz to see him punch a neko that had greeted him at the door. Her eyes then switched to Dream, who appeared to be making some kind of offer. When told to leave she frowned, "Well you're very welcome." She said with a slight tone of irritation. Nontheless she tried to work faster in freeing her squadmates, hoping that everyone else would keep the Nekos busy while she did.

The only thing that broke her gaze was Dream. When the diminutive 'Spacer stepped in front of her, she shook herself and took a half-step backwards, but staying there, just in case the queen wasn't so easily appeased.

It might work. She hoped it would, because even as much of a fighter as she was, she didn't relish taking on a neko with only three functioning limbs. Or without power armor. Or explosives.

But she kept the chunk of rubble in her hands, just in case, her synthetic muscles tensed, ready to throw it at the queen's head.

Tweak resisted the urge to fall to all fours, and instead just kept pace with her pursuers. They reached the treeline in just under five seconds and Tweak was a little comforted to see Deacon doing his best to catch his share of attention from the following horde of nekos. But the plan still had a way to go before she could relax and call it good.

She continued running, taking them deeper into the forest, hopefully far enough to where she could fight on more even ground with the ferals without fear of being caught. The woods became thicker the deeper they got in, and after ten seconds of full-out running Tweak and Deacon were nearly a ninety meters in.

Once the arranged time had elapsed since she met up with Deacon, Tweak started to search for a position to turn back on the nekos and fight. Back when she entered the forest, her thermals were overlaid with a tactical version of her normal vision to make it easier to dodge the rapidly-passing trees since the tactical vision traced obstacles and targets in thin yellow and red lines as they passed through her line of sight and tracked them afterward. Looking sideways, she noticed Deacon keeping up. He was lit in thin green, but so was...

No, not now...Or at least not for a few more seconds. Cassifin's Wolverine was crossing the landing strip. Its speed...too fast. They couldn't stop here if they wanted to stay ahead of Headmaster Real.

"Deacon, keep moving! Montreal's on her way in and I wouldn't count on the trees to slow her down!" hollered Tweak to the hyena. She backhanded an incoming neko feral and wove through the trees toward him. "We can't stop or she'll catch up!"

At least if the nekos lose interest in Deacon and I, Headmaster Real can pick them off as they go by...hopefully. If not, the team has thirty seconds to get free and clear of the area, she thought. Slowing down a little, she hopped up into a tree, then backflipped and landed on a neko in mid-leap, slamming it into the ground and catching another out of the air, slamming it back-first into a tree trunk. The trunk splintered with the impact, but the neko seemed to enjoy the new move in this game, leaping at Tweak again. So many simple movements...were they actually using a fighting style at all? Tweak brushed her out of the air again and into another tree, this time headfirst. Then the 'Spacer neko started moving again, waiting for Deacon to get ahead of her before resuming her mad dash further into the woods.

After Fitz re-emerged from the doorway with the Neko's victim, he slammed his fist on the inside door mechanism then closed the door and locked it from the outside, hoping the cat thing did not know good enough about electronics.

Not wanting to be involved his pushed his friend along toward what he hoped would be the exit, and away from the fighting.

The confused neko did not appreciate Fitz's actions. Almost as soon as the closer door slide shut again, a loud series of bangs sounded off from behind the metal framework, accompanied by furious shouts and howls. The door itself quickly began to show signs of wear, large protrusions forming on the door itself as the raging cat-woman behind it slammed into it time after time. It wouldn't hold for long.

Meanwhile, the Queen Neko did take notice to Dream and her offering. The LED lights were met with a mixed expression from the headressed neko...she wasn't sure what to make of them, knowing only that they did emit some rather pleasing colors. Turning her attention away from the rest of her captives for a moment, Queenie pranced down her pile of rubble and hastily grabbed the handful of treasures out of Dream's grasp with one hand and gave Dream's chest a hefty shove with the other. A rather rude gesture, but it appeared that the Queen herself had no obligation to be nice. After all, they were still her captives.

---

With a mighty smash of broken framework and shattered glass, Cassefin, George and Lenny gracefully bombarded their way onto the landing pad in hot pursuit of Deacon and Tweak's pursuing mob. They were quick enough to catch the tail-end of the swarm as they headed off into the woods. Cassefin's shuttle was still outside, left untouched

"George!" Cassefin said, prodding the security member with the two of her foot. "Quick, the maser turret! One that short little monster in the rear!" She ordered, a wicked grin spread across her face. "Yes ma'am!" George said, seeming all-to-eager to spread a little pain across his foe's face.

However, nothing happened. Their opportunity for attack quickly vanished from sight as the last neko sped off into the orange, alien woods. "GEORGE! WHAT THE HELL, WHY DID YOU NOT FIRE?!" Cassefin exploded at her security employee, handily dealing out more corporal punishment via the sole of her shoe. "I-ack! I tried, ma'am! The weapons-AACK! Aren't working, dammit!"

"Move aside you fool! Keep watch on that tree line while I fix your dunderheaded problems!" the Head Administrator shouted angrily, quickly leaping into the front seat of the Wolverine as George hastily followed orders. Cassefin began tacking away at the keypanel, searching for the problems plaguing the weapon systems.

Dream's actions to halt their violent progress had proved fruitful, but they were by no means permanent.

---

As Deacon's trail of screaming nekos continued pursuit, Tweak's pursuers were ready to pounce the moment they were given the chance. Some of these amazon-nekos were the ones Tweak had squared off with from earlier, and this time they seemed less likely to underestimate Tweak's unique abilities.

The cat-eared warriors came flying from every direction, limbs flailing as they attempted to capture Tweak in the same manner they used to apprehend the rest of Squad 34. Some of the nekos, however, were more focused on planting flying kicks and tackles on the lone CSS member with surprising teamwork, a slight difference from the previous fight. Tweak would quickly learn this much as she was hit by shoulder-tackles from the front of her chest and just below her armored rear at nearly the same instant, sending her spinning.

This is just getting worse and worse. She couldn't fault the marine for going into the room and rescuing the man. But damned if that didn't complicate matters. She would've just come out anyway and been just as surprised. At least this way she's stuck for a bit.

But not for long. At least she could stand up to a neko. Not kill it, at least without weapons, but at least keep it occupied long enough for everyone else to escape.

Hopefully Dream could do the same with the queen. Buy everyone else as much time as possible.

One... two... three...

She backed away from Dream, dropping the chunk of rubble as she stepped around the generator room towards the steadily crumpling door.

Seven... eight... nine...

Five steps in front of the door. Well enough away from it if it were to violently swing open. Or, worse, actually fall over. But she was confident that she could catch the neko before she could do anything.

Ten... eleven... twelve...

Dream stood quickly back up and planted herself again in front of the Queen with an obsequious gesture.

I'll try and keep her distracted tor as long as I can... you get out of here on the double, and don't worry about me!

Click to expand...

This time, she pulled out of her deep pockets a glass jar full of a greenish liquid. Inside the jar, which she opened, wriggled four slug-like little creatures. She took out one on her right palm and showed it to the queen.

She was quickly getting desperate to hold her attention. She was running out of tricks and, as the feared, the neko was naturally hostile.
She war running a number of scenarios in her head on how to keep her busy or take her out, but, from what she knew about nekos, none of them were going to work. Gods damn Yamatai.

Nah, it was their own fault. They didn't open fire immediately, they had come unprepared and underequipped, and most of all they (well, Dream, at least) didn't have Polysentience access.

"Comon everyone this way!" Fitz yelled out while escoriting everyone to the shuttle, which was probably going to be the only safe place in the complex at this time. Upon entering the shuttle area he noticed it was the only thing there, no neko's or human life, though to be safe he sent a message over the radio...

Heya, anyone in the shuttle right now? If not I'll try an' start it up.

Click to expand...

The best he could think of was to call for help, or if the others had already called for help, then get everyone away from ground zero, or in a safe zone. He didn't plan on abandoning everyone just yet and wasn't planning on flying away, but to keep the engine running for quick getaway.

Not that he was a shuttle pilot, but a mechanic has to know a little about them at least.

Deacon could feel his strength beginning to wane. Not enough to slow him down, but enough to tell him that this game was leaving the area of "quick sprint" and travelling into the realm of "prolonged game of cat and mouse".

The wickedly crazy smile still spread over his lips as he remembered the second part of the plan, and in a gesture to both keep the pursuers off-balance, he reached to his hip and pulled his HHG, loaded with standard ammo. Without really looking back, he fired three shots, one slightly to his left, one shot directly behind him, and one shot wrapped over the back of his hips, to the right. None were actually meant to hit anything, or anyone, they were meant to hit the ground between himself and the nekos, to keep their interest in the game high.

After doing that and then returning his gun to the holster, Deacon threw another curve ball at his playmates, he began to weave between the trees in further and further arcs, turning to the left, and running for a while, the arcing back to the right for a little bit.

After another few minutes of this game, he decided he was far enough from the spaceport, and with amazing agility for a shoulder heavy beast, he stopped running on all fours, and balanced on his handpaws, waiting.

When the first of the nekos got to him, he mulekicked it between the shoulders, and used the momentum from pushing off the smaller massed object to propel himself forward and handsprung to his feet, falling into a capoiera jinga, bobbing and weaving back and forth at the base of a large tree that reminded Deacon of the oaks and pines near his training grounds on Neo Kohana.

From this, he kicked the legs from under a few nekos, or cartwheeled to the side as the pounced at him, only to smash into the tree behind him. On a few occasions, he did get caught, but he was in his zone, and did not panic. When powerful arms wrapped around his waist, he would simply reach back with one arm, wrapping it around the neko's waist, and pulled her around until her hips were at his side, then he would collapse to that side, driving the neko's spine down on a rock or a root. Just as he was falling into a rhythm of keeping out of their clutches, a few of the nekos tried to pounce him at once. These he caught in midair, one by the back of her makeshift shirtbra, the other by an ankle, and with a twist, flung the first face first into a pine tree, and the other was sent off a small embankment into a rocky ditch.

Then the race was back on, with Deacon leading the nekos actually TOWARDS the spaceport, unknowing that Cassefin was waiting with the Wolverine to blast anything that moved out of the forest's treeline. The entire time, the hyena just laughed, both an actual laugh, and the eerie sound of his primal roots.

The pulsating slug-like creatures Dream held out didn't catch the Queen neko's attention near as much as the lights. When she caught sight of the offering, the amazon's mouth torqued in slight disgust and she quickly snubbed the offering, clearly not interested. Instead, she raised her hand, no doubt meaning to strike Dream again.

Meanwhile, the closet door holding back the neko trapped inside had finally reached its limit. The door, bent and battered, creaked open just enough for the scrambling, furious catgirl to squeeze through. And she didn't look too happy.

---

The few liberated prisoners Fitz was able to lead from the room unnoticed filed in close behind him as he entered the shuttle. His attempts at starting the spacecraft, however, were not as succesful. The shuttle, strictly for use by the Head Administrator, asked the same of Fitz as it had asked of Tweak just moment ago:


Fitz, unfortunately, would not be able to use the shuttle to escape. Instead, he would be treated by the show happened on the very end of the landing pad near the treeline, where Cassefin Montreal and the dynamic duo of George and Lenny shoddily positioned their Wolverine against the tree line.

---

Deacons attempts at fighting off his catgirl pursuers seemed valiant enough...although the nekos themselves understood little more than their prey being above the regular force required for sound capture. The handful of amazons Deacon sent flying poked their heads out of the shrubbery and quickly joined the chase back towards the landing pad, all the more determined to catch their prey.

---

"Ah! I got it! Hah!"

Cassefin exclaimed with rare glee and an even rarer laugh as she finished her adjustments on the Wolverine. She did find it odd how the firing mechanisms had a lock-sequence for certain targets...she was sure to remove that mechanism, allowing her free-range blasting privileges on all targets she deemed menacing. Although Cassefin herself had no intention of doing anything but allow her subordinates to finish the dirty part; the Head Administrator fumbled her way out of the pilot seat and directed George back into it.

However, as the somewhat short Nepleslian slinked his way down into the leathery seat, he bumped the forward keypanel with his knee. Suddenly, the three of them began to hear a faint, not-so-distant hum. Three seconds later they were treated to the delightful spurt of amplified microwave energy that burst from the Wolverines maser-firing radiation emitters. The beam, as luck would have it, was not aimed an any nearby innocent civilians, or Cassefin's shuttle further down behind them on the landing pad, OR even towards Deacon and Tweak in the brush before them.

Instead, the energy spurred straight into a series of emergency fossil-fuel tanks positioned outside, behind a barbed chain-link fence to keep curious critters out. The maser beam had no trouble searing through the fence and into the first tank it touched, creating a brilliantly loud explosion that shook the foundations of the spaceport, sending strange bird-like creatures fleeing from the trees around the immediate area and bathing the landing pads in some impressively-bright light.

"Uh..." George muttered, sharing the wide-eyed expressions of Miss Montreal and Mister Binks.

"...my bad."

---

Tweak, whom had been faring well against her attackers, would easily both see and hear the massive explosion...as did the amazonic cat-women. They all immediately stopped attacking the cat-eared Freespacers and turned in the direction of the explosion.

The detonation of the fossil-fuel tanks also caught Deacon by surprise as the landing pad came into distant view from the zig-zagging forest of orange. Deacon's pursuing mob also stopped, only able to stare in wonderment at the billowing spectacle of fire before them.

Time seemed to stand still for the all of them, rabid catgirl and security member alike, as the explosion shook the ground and rattled the trees. It took a few moments for the pillar of flames and smoke to settle, but after the plume of fire began to show signs of regression, so too did the immediate attention of the nekos begin to deteriorate.

But they did not resume their chases of Deacon and Tweak. In fact, they seemed to ignore the two CSS members completely. Instead, all of the nekos, a separated but still single-minded swarm, high-tailed it straight back to the Prilisa IV spaceport, where a shuttle full of civilians and a hot-headed Head Administrator awaited them.

---

The Maintenance wing of the spaceport felt a lot of hefty vibrations, but was safely out of sight from the mighty explosion. There was enough of a shockwave, however, to shake a few things around the room up as loose rubble from the ceiling skittered down. Queen Neko herself was clearly surprised by this sudden shockwave, stumbling a bit as she lost her footing on some rocks on the floor. In her haste to regain her composure, the jingling, lustrous headdress atop her noggin slipped off and clanged onto the ground.

Almost instantly, the two nekos in the room lunged straight towards the headdress with astounding speed. The amazon cat-girl fresh from the locked closet seemed to discard all anger for pure anxiousness as she threw herself at the crown...but Queenie was closer, and reached it first. The other neko, still somewhat determined, clasped a hold of the other side and the two began tug-o-warring with the silvery, shimmering adornment chiming between their grasps.

This went on for a good minute or so before the closet neko planted a bare four-toed foot onto her Queen's face and pushed her grip off the headdress. With Queenie flat on her rump on the ground, the other cat-eared woman quickly placed the crown atop her own head as Queenie released a clearly disappointed sigh, tucking her knees to her chest in sad defeat.

"Nyaah nah!" Closet Queenie commanded cheerfully, shining headdress glimmering atop her head in the Prilisa IV sunlight pouring in from the hole in the ceiling.

Old Queenie sniffled and stood up at attention.

Odd behavior seemed to turn odder by the minute on this planet, apparently.

The cat-eared warriors came flying from every direction, limbs flailing as they attempted to capture Tweak in the same manner they used to apprehend the rest of Squad 34. Some of the nekos, however, were more focused on planting flying kicks and tackles on the lone CSS member with surprising teamwork, a slight difference from the previous fight. Tweak would quickly learn this much as she was hit by shoulder-tackles from the front of her chest and just below her armored rear at nearly the same instant, sending her spinning.

Click to expand...

The forest was a much bigger space than the lobby, lending vertical options for evading attacks and space to recover from those meant to send her off-balance. And Tweak also had the freedom of trying to defend only herself. The shoulder-tackle only worked once, and poorly, in the lobby and the nekos weren't the only ones to not learn something from that first encounter. Tweak landed on her back on top of the unfortunate neko to attack her legs, but grabbed the neko on her chest and added to that one's forward momentum, flinging her into the forest. She had just finished shedding the neko who had been trapped under her while fending off further attempts when...

[...]a brilliantly loud explosion that shook the foundations of the spaceport, sending strange bird-like creatures fleeing from the trees around the immediate area and bathing the landing pads in some impressively-bright light.

Click to expand...

Tweak watched with everyone else, then got very worried when the ferals began retreating back to the spaceport.

Radio message to Dream said:

Dream! Incoming!

Click to expand...

She started running too, hitting top unaided running speed in a couple seconds and covering the rest of the distance barely behind the first five nekos. Not bothering with the door, Tweak hopped to the roof and dropped into the hole that the amazonians had been using as an access...and landed flat on the newly crowned queen's shoulders.