RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 5] A Unique Encounter

Tweak, upon finding herself free from the confines the rest of her squadmates were sentenced to, would see that she had very few options from there. The hallway connecting the observation room to the elevator was stark, with no other exits other than a small secondary staircase next to the closed (and most likely nonfunctional) elevator leading down into the loading area. The disguised neko could hear faint voices vibrating from down below, carried by the silence the power failure had given her.

Unfortunately, with her helmet's radio seemingly nonfunctional, Tweak's train of thought was moved over to one of the doors in the short hallway. Two were immediately discarded: The one from whence she had come, and the other leading to the currently-useless elevator. Third one looked promising, though, leading to what looked like a way back down to the bay floor.

Knowing that at least one of Squad 35 should be sticking to the original mission, the neko left the hall and started down the stairs, closing her helmet faceplate the rest of the way and holding her rifle at ready as she scanned the bay, doing 'inventory' of everyone who was there.

Through the window, the Cirrus loading crew had gathered together around their foreman, probably discussing what they should do. Laj, Marrisa, Captain Bell and the other Uniques were gathered in the center of the docking area, also talking amongst themselves. The two Uniques, Ivy and Victoria, started to watch intently, trying to figure out amongst themselves what they should have been doing. After a moment, however, the two looked at each other in a somewhat confused manner, making gestures towards each other's helmets. This went on for a bit until they two suddenly spoke at once, utilizing their external audio systems.

"Is your...yeah, mine is...alright, got it," the two spoke, then turned to Squad 35. "Our radio systems aren't functioning."

"None of them are."

Dick Vanderhuge, looking quite fine, gently pushed the three Kokuten had assigned to him to the side, stepping up to the glass. "This area of the research station was built with security in mind...radios and other communication systems are regulated by the Central Station to remain within the Cirrus itself. To prevent prying ears from discovering trade secrets, I suppose. Now that we've lost power, there's no communication system to run your radio signatures to other receivers...the Cirrus is blocking them all," Dick explained, his voice hinted with determination and a little excitement.

What he had said must have been true, as none of their radio headsets were working. Tweak, with several inches of durandium between her and Squad 35, would have to figure that out on her own.

"And we won't be leaving through these see-through walls," the Administrator turned, placing a palm flatly against the one-way transparent pane. "You'd have a better chance cutting through that door with a combat knife. I guess that ventilation shaft," Dick turned and glanced at a small vent in the corner of the room, "would be your best bet; it doubles as a maintenance shaft for the mechanisms for this observation room and some of the loading bay systems. Although, I definitely won't be leaving this room that way."

Almost immediately after Dick had finished, a new sound shook the room faintly. Another explosion...and judging by the clearly muffled sound and clearly visible flashes of light, an explosion coming from down below.

Several figures, roughly 20, appeared from out of the observation room's view, most likely from a forcibly-opened entrance into the loading dock. They weren't dressed in any sort or recognizable order, most of them in makeshift combat vests carrying several different types of weapons, ranging from solid-ammunition pistols to laser rifles. The Cirrus dockworkers, shaken by the explosion, scrambled to get out of the intruders' line of sight, taking refuge behind the Vinross Yu-Cranker transport ship. The two CEOs and their entourage of personal guards, however, did not flee...instead, Captain Bell and her Uniques rushed in front of their VIPs, creating a wall between the two groups with their weapons in ready position.

As the pirates drew near, they also raised their weapons, training them menacingly on the group of silver-armored women warriors. They did not fire just yet, however. One of the vagabonds near the rear of the group moved up, shouting something that the squad above in the observation room could not hear.

As he was brushed aside, Deacon moved to follow Dick and stared out the window the whole time. When the new people arrived, the Kohanian slowly pivoted and sat down on his haunches, looking up to Kokuten with a smile as he spoke softly.

"Company's here, Sir, just like I predicted they would be..."

Then he fell silent and looked around the room, switching back to normal vision as he awaited orders on what the hell they were going to do, since they were sealed inside a room with no exits.

"Damn..." Kokuten said in a defeated tone and looked at the Vanderhuge for a moment. As he tried to speak, another explosion had gripped the room and forced him to a knee.

"Company's here, Sir, just like I predicted they would be..."

Click to expand...

Kokuten opened his visor and looked around. He stuck his cigar back in his mouth.

"Fine then... Cyril! I need you to lead us through the vents and get us around that door. Squad 35, follow him!" The Doctor strolled over to the Adminstrator. "Sir, will you be alright by yourself?"

"Shit..." Cyril said, as he pulled himself to his feet. That one had gotten him as he headed toward the vents into the maintenance tunnels. Deacon's confirmation of his worst case scenario came just as fast. Before he could even think about moving toward the window, Kokuten issued and order almost right on the heels of Deacon's statement.

Clipping his rifle to his backpack, Cyril knead down next to the vent that Mr. Vanderhuge had pointed out. Pulling the grate off of the wall with his cybernetic arm Cyril spoke over his shoulder to the sergeant, his accent thickening as he began to speak quickly. "Alright, Sir. The tunnels are only a little more 'n half a meter square, though. The big guys are going to have to be staying back, sir, and I don't think there's any way in hell Serra's going to get that wing-span through. You're going to be pushing it sir."

He wasn't trying to slow things down, just make sure that they didn't end up wasting time trying to get Deacon or Stovaa through a hole they were never going to fit down in the first place. Without hesitating any further, the little Nepleslian scurried into the tunnels, his tail waving like some sort of stainless steel rat's. Cyril didn't have any trouble clambering forward to the first junction in the tunnel, he'd grown up doing this sort of thing, but he didn't hold any illusions about how easy it would be for the rest of the squad.

"Then we need to get any single person that can fit through, and find a way to make a larger exit." Kokuten said turning his head from Vanderhuge for a moment, he then looked back at the rest of the squad. "Only those who can fit, and don't forget your Plasma Cans!" Kokuten pointed at the box of blue cans, and looked back to Vanderhuge.

Noboru looked away from the window to hear Kokuten's orders about the maintenance shaft and seeing Cyril get ready for entry.

"Next in line, sir. I'll probably fit- Yamataian 'skinny bastard' frame and all that." When Cyril was fully into the vent, Noboru was already moving for the access hatch.

Claire felt her heart skip a beat upon discovery of their boarders. Another fight... more killing... She forcibly cut off that train of thought, as it was only going to cause problems here.

Upon hearing of the air vent idea, she looked over at what they were referring to. "I should be able to fit. I'm slender enough, don't you think?" She asked while placing a hand on her hip as if asking them to actually confirm her body type. Even in times like these, she did this sort of thing. Though it was likely to relieve tension, both for others and herself. Her light was no longer on, either.

"You've got a lovely arse Claire. Now get it in here!" Cyril called out from the tunnels, half playful half impatient. He didn't know what the pirates and the Uniques down in the hold were doing, but it hadn't come down to a gun battle yet. So they had a little time yet, but probably not enough to spend dicking around.

Speaking of which: while Noboru was working his way toward him, Cyril pulled out a small piece of chalk. He wasn't going to go on too far ahead of his squadmates, but there wasn't enough space for him to wait for all of them to get here before he started off. So he sketched an overlarge arrow pointing in the right direction, with a 'THIS WAY - C' caption to be safe, on the wall of the tunnel where they'd see it as they crawled towards it.

Claire gave a short giggle, not the usual ditzy kind as most would expect, but a sort of amused laugh. "Thank you, that's all I needed." She looked over and grabbed Keziah's hand slightly, leading her over to the vent. "Now I know you can fit in here for sure, dear." She said this like she was implying that she knew exactly what kind of body Keziah had. Though not everyone might pick up on that.

That said, she climbed on in after Cyril, noting him marking the way at each turn. "I can see the maintanence crew coming here later and wondering why there's chalk all over the vents. Probably not a good thing to breath in." Luckily, her helmet let her not breath any of the chalk dust in the cramped confines of the shaft.

Voices, faint but recognizable, wafted through the maintenance shaft as the handful of CSS members clambered clumsily through it. The rest of the crew still stuck in the observation room, however, would have to settle for simply watching as the events unfolded down below.

---

"Vinross Yu!" The man at the head of the rowdy bunch of marauders spat out, lowering his weapon slightly. "We need to talk!"

For a moment, nothing happened, save for Captain Bell stepping forward a step or two. Before long, however, Laj trampled his way to the head of the group, with Marrisa following closely behind. The pirates all turned their immediate attention to him, many of them tilting their weapons down with a handful of them actually backing away a few steps. "You...incompetent fools," the Vinross Yu-Cranker CEO muttered, narrowing his eyes at the leader of the pirate's ranks. "What in the hell are you doing here, NOW of all times? You were told to begin your raid after we had left...not DURING!"

The vagabond leader was taken back slightly by Laj's tone of voice. He quickly tried to reassert himself, though, straightening up in hopes of using his slight height advantage to win him some respect with Vinross Yu. "Yeah, well we were fed some bullshit info...I lost one of my ships because of it!" The pirate captain sighed heavily. "Now the plan's gone to shit, and we need some help getting off of this station. We've already got what you've-"

"Captain, please," Laj gently interrupted him, his attitude towards the man changing somewhat drastically. The Vinross Yu-Cranker CEO began pacing in a short line in front of the pirate captain, his hand rubbing at the back of his neck. "Settle down...Marrisa and I have this under control. I believe that we already have made plans for getting out of this station. Our lovely has already pulled through on her part, it seems," Laj said, looking up at the silent, flashing emergency light.

All of the marauders listened intently as Laj explained further. From the looks of it, they too were ready to leave. "Yeah? So, how are you getting us out of here?" Laj Vinross Yu stopped pacing. "Now, see, there is the problem..." he said before pausing to breath a short sigh. Laj then turned to the captain, a small, calm smile running along his face. "I'm afraid you won't be leaving."

Before the captain could question the odd reply, Laj reached into his jacket, produced a simple, unremarkable handgun and shot him at near point-blank. Captain Bell and the rest of the Uniques took that action as their cue, and in a flurry of white-hot plasma and muffled screams, the pirate gang was quickly dealt with. Laj, looking oddly pleased with himself, replaced his weapon into the jacket and turned around, heading to his ship. "Miss Cranker, if you be so kind as to return to the ship, we will be leaving now," the CEO asked the woman as he passed her.

"Ma'am," Captain Bell stepped quickly up to Marrisa and saluted. The female Vinross Yu-Cranker CEO stopped and turned to her Unique captain. "What about them," Bell motioned towards the rear of their craft, where several of the Cirrus Station dockworkers were still watching in slight awe. When they noticed the Unique looking at them, they seemed a little apprehensive...after all, from what they had just heard, these pirates that had attacked the station were somehow in league with the company and its members. "Oh..." Marrisa's eyes widened a bit in surprise, but quickly settled back as she gave her answer to the Unique.

"Deal with them as you see fit."

Captain Bell nodded with a smirk, turning to her Uniques in wordless agreement. The Unique motioned towards the rear of the ship where the Cirrus attendants were; the Uniques raised their weapons and advanced quickly. Some of the workers attempted to run, but were quickly shot down with the rest of their coworkers following. The unfortunate crewmen lasted no longer than the pirates before them.

---

Back up in the Observation room, Squad 35 would have little time to mourn the loss of the dock workers. The two Uniques, aware that their game plan had been revealed, had pulled up there weapons and were training them menacingly on the occupants of the room. Dick Vanderhuge, being the closest to them, crouched slightly as though reading himself to attack, but the Unique he was looking at caught on quickly. "HOLD IT!" She ordered, pushing her rifle and aiming it at the Administrator. Dick was forced to stop mid-action, one Unique holding him at gunpoint with her weapon while the other kept the rest of the room at bay. The two shuffled quickly towards the closed bulkhead door, making sure there was nothing behind them but a solid wall.

"All of you drop your weapons. NOW. Or I will shoot the ID-SOL."

...buggerybuggerybuggerybuggerybuggery....

Okay, so things had gone quite clearly straight into the shitter. That conversation alone between Vinross Yu and the pirate was enough to get him pulled up on charges. Throw in the flurry of plasma fire that was too uniform to come from anyone but the Uniques and And on top of that, he could just hear that the two silver armored, there was really no other word for them, traitors in the observation room had just realized that the jig was up.

Without wasting any time the little Nepleslian twisted himself around in the tunnel at the intersection he had stopped at. Claire, Keziah, Noboru and himself could quite possibly be the only members of Squad 34 that weren't held up by the Unique's little hostage taking stunt. Granted, taking an ID-SOL hostage was usually a quick ticket for a full body cast. But given the lack of screams and uncomfortably meaty sounds it seemed that the Uniques had the situation under control at the moment. Cyril looked at the other three 34's in the tunnel, his green eyes glowing faintly though his visor, and made a decision.

"Alright: Claire, Noboru. If'n you go straight ahead and then turn the first left, you'll hit the grate for the staircase. You should be right at the top. Get ready at the doorway to do... whatever. I dinnae know, that's your training. Kaz an' I'll take care of getting the door open for you. I'd say you got no more'n a minute, prolly less." Cyril whispered urgently, skirting into a tunnel mouth leading out over the loading bay. He didn't have anything resembling authority here, and barely even seniority over Claire and Noboru for all that it matter. He just had to hope that the desperation of the situation and the fact that he was speaking quickly and confidently would get them to follow his lead.

Cyril hoped that that was the best course of action available to them. There wasn't anytime to check back in with the sergeant, and that might tip their hands. At the moment, based on what his paranoia heightened senses could hear over the breathing and shuffles of the other three in the vent, it didn't seem like the Uniques up in the observation room remembered that they were in here. Or they were too busy panicking that they were alone in a room full of heavy armed and very pissed off Nepleslians.

Kokuten stumbled back in shock as the two Uniques put their weapons to Administrator Vanderhuge's head. The Captain's face twisted in disgust as he tossed his weapon to the floor.

"I had a sneaking suspicion that you were involved in why these pirates were here. Though, I had no Idea it was in this fashion." Kokuten said before turning his head to the remaining members. "Put your weapons down, now."

Serra watched the displays of barbarism with the same detached expression one would watch ants scurry about. When the two Uniques called for weapons down or someone would be shot, she turned her gaze to see the eleven foot tall ID-Sol, half crouched with a slip of a woman keeping him in check. Truth be told, she forgot her rifle back in the meeting hall where she was introduced to the new members.

Taking a second to look at the other Unique holding them hostage, Serra raised a hand. "Excuse me. But what if one doesn't have a weapon to relinquish? May I be excused to retrieve it so I can relinquish it to you?"

Oh god.

It was bad enough squeezing into the maintenance tunnel. The backpack on her armor made maneuvering difficult, but she kept up with everyone as she held up the rear. It was easy, at least, to hide her blush from Claire's comment once they were crawling.

And just as she was starting to regret being so diligent in keeping in shape, the gunfire started. And the screams. She shuddered in her armor, but got a grip on herself. Just like training. Just like the sims. Just like watching Kennewes.

Yet it wasn't.

She nodded mutely at Cyril's orders, happy that he was taking charge. Cracking a door, she could do that. And if all else failed, she could just pull it open. That'd work, too.

Keziah let out a breath, and slid her visor open. "Sounds as good as anything we got," she said, keeping her voice low enough so it wouldn't carry too far.

Jen was gazing outside and was turning to head back when the Uniques drew their weapons. Stopping mid step, she dashed to something to hide behind, Damnit, hopefully they don't see me, I wouldn't be useful has a hostage.

She tried her best to hide behind a box, and hoped they wouldn't notice her just yet. Hopefully they don't call me out, if that happens then I won't be able to act. Thought Jen as her survival instincts kicked in, if it goes according to plan, I could wait them out of take one out... however in the case I do fire I would need one more acting on the second...

"Goddamnit." Noboru cursed under his breath, crawling just behind Cyril and just in front of Claire.

Noboru had been a veteran of two different armies, true, but neither engagement he had been involved in had seen him in any frontline action. The closest he had ever gotten to a live-fire action had been shooting a Mishhu that had invaded the PA hangar in Fort Ready, and even then he'd been stabbed in the chest!

But this, this was different. Much different from what he had expected, what he had seen in the holovids of all the engagements in history. What the Uniques were doing down in the hangar below wasn't a fight, it was a slaughter- they were doing away with whatever got in their way, whenever they wanted to. And Noboru found it absolutely ghastly they would do such a thing. Maybe he wasn't cut for this thing after all...

'No, cut that line of thinking.' Noboru shoved the thoughts of his inadequacy out of his mind. 'You've got a job to do now, and nothing's gonna stop you from doing it.' So he waited behind Cyril as he explained his plan, and then responded with a quick "Can do, Cyril." before he moved on and headed for the hallway using the strange, tailed Nepleslian's directions.

"..." Claire felt her heart stop for a moment as the events around them unfolded. She would have to fight after all. Not a pleasant feeling. But the lives of her team and friends were at stake. She couldn't back away from this...

She heard her orders from someone who had decided to take charge it seemed. She didn't know how sound it was, but her mind wasn't coming up with plans. She doubted they could go back. "Alright... Let's move before they decide to shoot down here after us." As soon as they reached the intersection where the two teams would part, she paused and managed to turn around to lay a hand on Keziah as she moved past, "Stay alive out there dear. It wouldn't be nice of you to leave me here."

After that she continued on, following Cyril's instructions and heading the other way.

Stovaa was crouched by the vent, watching Kez and Claire worm their way along the vent when the Uniques pulled their move. He stood and span around, rifle still held across his shoulder.

"...When we've dropped our weapons, what do you plan on doing with us? This room is sealed off and you're not gonna go climbing through the vents with our weapons, nor are you going to leave them here" he said, eyes narrowed though not making any moves, engaged in a staring contest with one of the helmeted Uniques. Or so he thought, there was a visor in the way. She could have been looking at someone else.

"So either you're gonna disarm us then fuck us to death or you're gonna shoot us anyway..." Or, you know that no matter what, we could probably get close and kill you both, but not without incurring casualties. In that case, probably better to play along. 'Sides, I've still got my pistol and knife... his mind whirred, not breaking his stare on the female in front of him.

He laid his rifle down on the ground, barrel towards the Uniques and cracked his knuckles.

Cyril solemnly saluted Noboru and Claire as they passed him in a wordless 'good luck'. It occurred to him that if he was wrong about the situation he could very well be sending the two of them off to die. The nutronium weight that settled into his gut at the idea wasn't a feeling he relished at all. As he watched Claire disappear into the half-light of the tunnel, he found a new respect for people like Sergeant Kokuten and Administrator Vanderhuge.

Shaking away his forbodeings, Cyril set to the job at hand. Remembering the layout from every other identical loading bay that he had clambered over, under and through since being posted to Cirrus Station, Cyril motioned for Keziah to follow. It wasn't that far from where the other two were going, but apparently whoever the architect responsible for these parts of the station was, they (or she as Cyril suspected) had seen the need to tuck it away into its own little, unmarked, alcove.

"I'm gonna need your opinion on this one Kaz." Cyril whispered quickly as he lead the way. "I took a boo at one o' these things before, but I dinnae think it's standard kit. It's close to a standard number but there be a few extra parts that throw me for a loop."

He finished speaking as he skittered into the alcove. For the most part, the bit of wall that on the flipside of the hallway outside was covered in pieces of conduit of all sorts of sizes. But dead in the middle was a locked circuit breaker box. Cyril didn't bother to try and jimmy the lock and just ripped the cover free of its' hinges.

"I know that this is the power in an' out." Cyril said, pointing to the two medium sized conduits going into the top of the box. "An' this looks like a servo control" he added pointing out the first circuit they fed into. "But I dinnae know what the rest 'o it does. Whadda you ken about it?"