RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 5] A Unique Encounter

"Oh god dammit." growled Kokuten, losing his cool and throwing his Variable Weapon to the ground. He quickly reached his fingers under his armor plates and pulled out a cigar and a lighter. Quickly, he lit it and stuck it in his mouth, puffing it a few times. He appeared to calm down rather quickly and looked at his squad. The Doctor recomposed himself, cigar in mouth, and picked the rifle off the floor.

"We all alright?" Kokuten yelled, projecting his voice through the room.

Deacon had been thrown from his feet, and he did not look too happy about it as he pulled himself from the awkward position he had landed on beneath a desk. Rubbing the back of his malformed neck, the hyena snarled with even more venomous anger than when he had taken a stand behind Kokuten.

"I will be, after I get a chance to take out a little aggression...Sir." He replied with a strain on the final word. There was a fine line that the Kohanian walked between what would be acceptable in Nepleslian culture, and what had been beaten into him on his home planet. A divider that was quickly failing as he reached out to pick up the rifle that had been on his armor's magnetic area up until the shudders rocked the station. After putting it back, he focused his mind on the task, and switched his cybernetic vision implants to thermal, and began to search for those who might be injured or need some help.

"The Hell!" Jen yelled as she struggled to keep balance, who was silent up to this point if not out of militaristic respect since the others were doing the heckling for her.

"Hey! What just happened?" Jen asked the obvious while everyone was picking themselves up, "What happened to the power?"

Cyril took a deep breath as the lights dropped down to the dull red emergency lights. It never failed with Ms. Montreal. You'd have thought that the woman who designed the freaking thing would know about the power drain from the 'Cassafin Cannon'. At least his eyes were compensating, the room taking on a brighter, washed out tone as they amplified the meager light.

At least he managed to keep his feet when the pirates rammed them. He was staggered by the impact but his tail had lashed out instinctively, giving him a balancing counterpoint. Looking around to see if any of the squad (and maybe, maybe the Uniques) needed first aid, Cyril chimed in with his own "Still standing, Sir."

"Shit!" yelled Keziah as the floor rumbled. Her feet slammed down on the floor, just barely keeping her balance. Once she was certain there wasn't going to be any more uncalled for movement, she relaxed, and slid her rifle off her back. The light really wasn't helping things either, and she switched one eye to infrared as she scanned across the room.

Would be a bad start if they had any casualties now.

See?! See what happens when you think it'll all be easy? She chewed on her lip for a moment.

"Bet you two days' rations we've been boarded," she said to Jen. "Perfect time for it, too."

Noboru stood by Cyril's side, his head low as he waited for the coming admonishments by his sergeant. However, after his only comment in Noboru's direction quickly faded away, the Yamataian's face registered shock as the Sergeant actually turned his voice on the Uniques! Noboru would have smirked, were it not for the power going out at that moment.

When the station shook with the dual impacts of God-knows-what, Noboru- being a much lighter framework than his stalwart Nepleslian team-mates- was thrown to the ground. His head bounced off the floor, luckily shielded by his helmet. The rest of his body, then his Variable Weapon, clattered to the floor shortly after. His head spinning for a moment, Noboru shook the mild discomfort off and retrieved his Variable Weapon, returning to his feet by Kokuten.

"You'll have to save those orders for later," Noboru said as he inserted the plasma cannister into the junction at the rear of his weapon. "For now, the CSS has a job to do. And you're going to need all hands available to do it- psychotic bitches in dresses, insane asylum rejects and yard dogs included."

He looked his Variable Weapon over, checking on the switches, equipment, mechanisms, etc. before holding the gun (safety on) at parade rest. "Ready and awaiting your orders, Sergeant Chiaki."

"Don't call him a yard dog, he really hates it," chimed Stovaa, stood stoically with his head on a slant, listening intently. "Boarded twice, I'd think, hot chick number two. The sound came twice and the echoes aren't in sync." He took his rifle in his hand and cocked it, removing the safety and glancing around. "No idea where it came from though, but I suggest we get down to the VIPs sooner rather than later."

He grunted and looked down at the two uniques, half expecting to find they'd bolted back to their boss. Guess we'll get to see them in action sooner than I thought, he thought, looking over the room below and trying to work out where gave a better defensive position.

"Ngh..." Claire slowly opened her eyes, holding the side of her head to steady her spinning vision. It had been only a slight tremor, but enough of one to make her lose her balance and hit her head on the desk that Deacon had managed to get himself under. Though her head hurt, she managed to pull herself up and take out her rifle. "That... didn't feel too good.." Her helmet had kept the fall from seriously hurting her though, so she regained her composure a few seconds later.

"Boarding....? Oh..." The idea of close quarters combat brought back memories of her final hours of her last job. The half-naked Nekos who had rather affectionally tackled and restrained her, the futile attempts at running away then hiding... and the whole general craziness that erupted thereafter. "Any idea where at?"

Kokuten's cigar found it's way to the other side of his mouth. Deacon seemed alright, in fact up and ready to move quickly. He'd have to keep the Kohanian's behavior in mind. Most of the other squadmates only seemed slightly shaken, some already up and awaiting orders. Being a Doctor, he had not much experience leading people, even as a Marine, he was only limited to managing personnel to certain jobs.

"First thing, Jen, Noboru, the two of you please get a good view over the Space Docks, see if any attack has been based there." said Kokuten, looking at each of them as he called their names. He noted the bulkhead closed the door, but not the window. "Keziah, Claire, Deacon, please check on Administrator Vanderhuge and secure his condition."

He looked at Cyril, "Cyril, stick with me for a moment, I've got a question for you." Then, he looked at Stovaa, who seemed to be keeping safe eyes on the Uniques. "Stovaa, talk to the Uniques, see if they have some communication to their squad and see if they have any information."

Cyril wondered what exactly the Sergeant wanted with him. Well, no, that wasn't true. He had a pretty good idea that it involved his very favorite portion of the ship's architecture. He had been hoping in the back of his head that he was going to avoid those things for a while yet, but it looked like it was back to wrestling with junker droids again.

"Sir?" Cyril asked questioningly as he unslung his rifle almost hopefully. If he was going back into the tunnels, the Silver Special on his belt was probably going to be more useful. But who knows? Maybe, if he was lucky, Sarge only wanted to ask him advice or something. And maybe the Uniques over there would rip off their armor and demand that he take them in a manly fashion.

"You said you had experience in cutting metals, right?" asked Kokuten, hoping to play off of Cyril's expertise. "You also mentioned three thousand Kelvin was the standard on those cutting tools, correct? Well, how much damage do you think six thousand Kelvin could do to that door?" The Staff Sergeant thumbed to the closed bulkhead.

Deacon's ear swiveled backward at the chatter behind him as he worked to move some loose paperwork and a chair away from the door, that was until someone referred to him as a junkyard dog. That got a snort from the hyena as he turned towards the center of the room and reached over his shoulder for the hilt of his katana.

When Stovaa chimed in though, the male stopped his motion and nodded silently, happy that someone had ended the situation before he would have had to, especially against Noburo, a person he kinda liked if for no other reason than they carried the same gun, HHGs.

When the commanding officer called his name, along with Keziah and Claire's, the Kohanian narrowed his eyes to focus on the heat signature of Kokuten and noted his instructions. After they were given, Deacon began to search for the large ID SOL to check on his status and make sure he hadn't been thrown out a window, or had his skull bashed open on the edge of a desk or something.

The elevator ride was tense, with the Uniques following them. Tweak didn't say anything more, instead stepping forward to retrieve her issued plasma canister and loading it into her rifle before returning to the back of the group and listening to the not-so-friendly banter.

Then the pirates attacked. The Cannon failed. And Tweak heard slams in the distance. Her TOS identified them and she realized that every important door in that section of the station was going to come down, including this one. And their assignment was on the other side...

Tweak pushed off, moving fast enough to be a blink. Once outside, she barely had time to glance back before the door slammed shut.

Suddenly a shock took her off her feet and slammed her bodily into a wall. Tweak quickly recovered and eyed the door again before examining the walls around her to see where she might be able to either punch through (not literally, maybe?) or find another way to where the VIPs were. She listened to the radio chatter as she searched.

"Yes sir!" Jen replied kicking herself in first gear and grabbing her rifle off the ground which apparently fell off her person during her balancing act. After a quick check of her weapon she nodded to herself and looked over at the other two.

"Come on smartass, lets go," Jen yelled out to Noboru. Her enthusiasm was rising as now something really exciting was happening, while her training kept her focused.

I just hope those guys in my old squad are handling things fine, Jen gave a single prayer to the few who helped pass the time.

"Well, sir, I could give it a try. Engines are more my specialty, but I did do some structural work 'fore I started my apprenticeship." Cyril said, greatful for a chance to bring his actual training to bear. At Kotuten's suggestion, he looked at the rifle trying to get and idea of how well it would work. He didn't expect much out of the variable weapon, and he wasn't disappointed. He sighed and shook his head. "But these are far and away from the sort of tools a yard dog like me grew up on. The temperature'd more then enough, but that alone's not going to cut it. The aperture is way too large, and impulse'd be way too small if Mr. Vanderhuge is right about how it works.. You could DO it, probably, but it'd take a lot of time to abate it away slowly rather then cutting through."

Cyril was glad that the Sergeant's first instinct wasn't to shove the short guy into a tunnel. But the more that he thought about it, the more it seemed like the direct approach wouldn't work. But there was a handy way to get at the door obliquely even if it meant, sigh, crawling around in the tunnels some more. "'course, if I could get into the maintenance tunnels I could get at the control runs directly sir. They're run along the inside, for the most part. For the junkers to get at. Never really touched them, but I saw a lot o' them this past month."

"I was talking about Cyril, Stovaa." Noboru said. "I believe it was your culture that spawned the term 'yard dog' to describe anyone who works at a shipyard or aboard a ship's crew?" Quickly breaking off the conversation with Stovaa, Noboru turned back towards Jackson, who was apparently to help him look for the ships that had, presumably, crashed their own way into the ship.

"Affirmative, Jen." Noboru put the Variable Weapon he was carrying onto his back and followed Jen over to the window. He didn't know what he was supposed to be looking for, but he probably had a good idea forming by now. Ships of Nepleslian design, at least two, with black-market modifications and/or additional armor, potentially sticking out of the Cirrus Station at awkward angles, like spikes on a porcupine.

"Sorry, thought you were talking about Deacon. Don't forget though, he's not a Neppie, so he might think you're talking about him," Stovaa caught the movement of metal, the katana in Deacon's hand dancing in the light. "And that blade of his looks pretty sharp, and his temper is pretty short."

He turned his attention back to the two Uniques, letting his rifle rest against his shoulder. "Hey, armoured bitches, you two got comm-links to your buddies down there? Ask them what the sitrep is down there" the Id-Sol soldier asked, as politely as he could bring himself to be. He wandered across to the window, wondering how far down it was to the floor. If too far to jump, at least it gave a good vantage point to shoot from. He looked down at the plasma-equipping canister.

"Anyone know if this window can withstand either a CSS rifle shot or a 6000k plasma shot? We get a nice view from up here..."

Too many people talking all at once. She had been in chaotic situations before, but it was mostly people screaming, running, and shooting. She at least knew to defend herself. Here she found it strangely difficult to keep track of everything that was going on. That said, she did catch her orders along with Keziah and Deacon, which she was happy to be grouped with the two squadmates she had liked the most so far.

She flipped on a small light on her helmet, which had the end covered with enough materials so that it wouldn't hurt anyone's eyes if she looked in their direction. "Got it..." She frowned. Where -Did- he go? Not too far she wouldn't think... Her light sweeped the area around her as she tried to spot him.

"Yes sir," said Keziah as she stepped away from the main gaggle of bodies towards Claire and Deacon. If it weren't for the damn light, playing hell with the shadows everywhere, he would be easy to spot visually. She was just happy that she didn't need to rely on it, focusing her search instead on the infrared half of her vision.

Her eyes flickered over to Claire briefly, but she looked all right. She hadn't seen her fall, but instead just heard the after-action report. She's tough. Like me. A little fall wouldn't stop either of us.

"Administrator Vanderhuge?" she called out. "What's your status?"

Kokuten sweated, it was then he suddenly realized they were down a person. He had made a quick head count through the blaring lights and suddenly realized that the security member he hadn't met as of yet had not been present. Hearing Cyril say that they couldn't directly cut through the door did not help either.

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, visibly distressed at the lack of options. Blaring lights didn't help him seem any more calm. Though, at tailed Nepleslian's mention of the Maintenance tunnels, Kokuten lit back up. He gave quick thought of it, leaving Cyril hanging for just a moment. Stovaa's suggestion was rather sound, but it would be a bit of a drop to go through the window. He looked Cyril in the eyes again, his own eyes illuminating even more.

"Ah! If you think you're capable. Then try to locate the controls on that door." Kokuten strolled over to his helmet and put it on, hoping that the radio Uplink was still established. "Notify me over the Squad's channel when you've found them, or need assistance. Now, move, we may not have too much time." He then adjusted himself, speaking clearing into the microphone in his helmet.

"Squad 35, we have a member missing from this room. If you are this member are still capable of transmission, speak up now, copy." Kokuten spoke over the radio channel.