RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 5] A Unique Encounter

"No, no way." Noboru said, checking his VW over again. He looked over at Scarlet as she made her way out towards the stairway, his booted feet clump-clump-clumping heavily over to the Freespacer. "I'm not going to let you kill yourself so I can get away. If you're going to stand here and get yourself killed by those sons of bitches, then I'm gonna be right here next to you."

Stovaa spoke quietly but authoritatively: "They're at the bottom of the stairwell, if we're going to obey our Captain and move deeper into the station, we need to go now if we're gonna get a head start on those gun sluts..."

He was hit by a blink of inspiration, a makeshift plan forming in his mind. Stovaa backtracked into the observation room and grabbed the biggest piece of furniture (or crate) he could carry and returned to the stairs, laying it slightly precariously across the top of the stairs. This meant the top of the stairs were mostly blocked with an obstacle that would be far trickier to climb up over than down over, and if knocked would slide down the stairs into the Uniques. It wasn't going to hurt anyone, but it should slow them down a bit, he mused.

His handiwork established, he headed towards the lab door, glancing backwards occasionally to make sure no-one had snuck up behind him.

The expression on Fetch's face turned to the polar opposite of what it had been but a few moments before; the eyes lost their sparkle, his grin evaporated to something more akin to disgust than the previous humor.

"Dont encourage her soldier man; its not something she needs. As for you Kitty; just because you are a pitiful Type Two does not mean you may sacrifice your life so uselessly. If you stand your ground, even with this Neppy here, you will die, and if you all die than my little life is in danger; karma wont forgive you if you lead to the death of yet another person. And this is an order Kitty, not a request; you are bound to adhere to it since as a Type Two. We need to move now before the whores get up here..."

Fetch did not want to die; he wanted to advance as far as possible, and unlike a Type Two, he was not selfless. Standing and fighting the whores might have been the 'heroic' option, but it would end in depth and do absolutely nothing to help in the long run. However, if they survived and found something useful, then they would be able to possible kill the fashion queens, or at least hurt them.

"Who's to say I would let her die?" Noboru said. "I have combat training from three different militaries, medical training and access to a station full of classified technology. Granted, most of those rooms are locked, but still." Noboru turned away from Scarlet, letting her continue towards the stairs as he spoke to Fetch.

"It may not look like it, but I've screwed up enough times in the past that I'm ready to let it all come to an end in the heat of battle. There're things out there that I can't help, but if I can save a better soldier than me and the only way to do that is to take a bullet for her, then I'd gladly do it." The Yamataian then turned away from Fetch and half-loped, half-ran after Scarlet, catching her at the stairwell. He turned towards the eccentric Freespacer and raised his visor.

"I'd just like to tell you," Noboru scratched at the back of his helmet, attempting to stave off a growing itch beneath it, "That it's been good serving with you, and if one of us is dying here, it's going to be me- not you."

Scarlet still had her back turned for most of the objections, stubbornly attempting to ignore both people whilst simultantiously keeping her eyes on the stairwell's makeshift blockade. Her heavy breathing was even more audiable than the grind of her metal feet pads against the floor.

"...just fall back already." She responded to Noboru when he approached. Her face didn't bear a fiesty grin, but instead a look of abject irritation. "There are people which I owe my death. It isn't clean cut, if killing me kills you aswell... so... go away!"

"No!" Noboru's face was a mask of stoic determination, brows clenched together, mouth twisted in a hard grimage, eyes sharp and keen. "I'm not letting a good soldier sacrifice herself because of some vaunted belief! I'm staying here to finish the job, whether you like it or not!"

Cipher said:

Noboru furrowed his brow in thought. He looked towards Administrator Vanderhuge as he said something about Cassifin "limiting the effectiveness" of the plasma canisters to prevent collateral. The Yamataian looked at the plasma canister on his own VW, towards Scarlet and Fetch, and then back towards the Administrator.

"Is there any way you can increase the burn temperature on the plasma canisters from the weapons lab?" The PFC inquired.

Click to expand...

Dick's face winced slightly as he glanced across at his shoulder before answering. "I could, hypothetically, increase the effectiveness of the original. It's really a matter of adding a compound originally taken out to increase potency...but all the equipment I would need to do this is in the labs," Dick explained. "Not to mention the time it would take to apply the change...I doubt we have a lot of time to work with."

---

As the Uniques continued to suppress Cyril and Keziah, something seemed to give around the area of the vent. Quite suddenly, Cyril would find himself falling...only to come to a sudden, jerking halt. By chance, a large electrical cable had tangled around his foot as the vent below him fell away, spinning in the air before harshly striking the top of the Vinross Yu-Cranker vessel. Being out in the open and clearly visible, the Uniques began focusing their weapon fire onto Cyril.

Meanwhile, the curious Unique at the bottom of the stairwell was able to catch sight of an object being placed at the top. More importantly, she was able to catch sight of the individual placing the obstacle...or at least his hands. "Hey!" the Unique yelled as she hailed the rest of her comrades. "There's a set of stairs here, come on!" The Uniques clamoring at the elevator panels quickly acknowledged the lone Unique, running over to see for themselves while the first one began scaling the flight of steps.

"Cyril!" she screamed, as soon as she saw the vent start to fall. She clambered forward, reaching for him as he fell away, only to be caught by the cable. From bad to worse. He was a huge target, hanging out there, and it would only be a matter of time before they killed him.

Keziah scrambled across the opening, stretching herself out as far as she could to reach the section of cable that was still connected to the vents. "I'll pull you up!" she shouted, hoping to be heard over the sound of gunfire. Using both her arms, and wedging herself against the roof of the shaft, she started to pull Cyril up to safety, leaning back into her intact part of the shaft as she did so.

She hoped that the rest of the vents would stay up.

Noboru turned from the doorway where he was still arguing with Scarlet to communicate briefly with the Administrator. He knew he had to make his words count, because even now he could hear gunfire in the vents and voices from down the stairs.

"See what you can do, then, Administrator. Even if you have to heat them in a saucepan, just add a little more 'oomph' to the cannisters."

"Hey, did you guys hear that?" Lance questioned, shortly after hearing what sounded like somebody yelling to others just beyond the partially blocked stairway. "I think we've got company on the way, and I doubt they're going to be stopped by a table." he commented.

Deacon remained at the junction between the hallways. Watching towards the stairway with a look that at first glance would be impassive and uncaring, however, he was fiercely focused on the stairwell, ears swiveling to take in any sound. With the instructions to start heading for the weapons lab, he would imperceptibly nod his head and stay very near to Claire, almost like a bodyguard to the smaller crewmember.

Claire paused for a split second as she thought she heard something similar to Keziah's scream back in the stainball match. She briefly considered going back to check and see if she and Cyril were still alright, when she was reminded of her job. Namely by Deacon looming over her. She resumed her pace to keep up with everyone, sparing a glance over her shoulder at him. "Little close, aren't you? Not that I mind." She gave a faint smile to show that her spirits hadn't dampened any since the fighting started. She got the odd feeling that optimism was something few members of the squad had. (Dream being one of the huge exceptions.) Nothing saying she couldn't help make up for that, no?

Upon Noboru's objections, the Freespacer woman just scowled at him with an obnoxious glare and generally made it pretty obvious that she wasn't content with him dying alongside her.

Still with the annoyed look, Scarlet briskly set off towards the doorway leading further into the weapons labs, but stopped just short and began rapping on the metal doorframe.

Tap... Tap... Tap.... 'Tonk'

"Ha! A hollow point..." She noted out loud. Scarlet hadn't bothered to learn how the doors on the station were automatically sealed yet, but be it magnetic or pneumatic, breaking the mechanism should let them close it manually. It would buy them a hell of a lot more time than furniture-based barricades.

In a seemingly random burst of animation she darted backwards a few steps, then violently attempted to lance the hollow space inward with her makeshift metal spear and enhanced strength alone.

"Well, at least she's resigned herself to the thought that I'm going to help her, even if it-" Noboru was cut off by the loud sound of metal ricocheting off metal and turned around to see Scarlet jousting with the door for no apparent reason other than she had spazzed out. Turning his head further in her direction, he looked at her in a manner that said "What the fuck are you doing?" before he turned back towards the staircase.

Cyril would have yelped at the sudden stop provided by the electrical cable, if it weren't for the next sudden stop at the top of the freighter knocking his breath out. As it was, it hurt like a son of a bitch. It took Cyril a second to even realize that he was getting shot at. It was only when Kaz began to try and haul up the cable he was still dangling from.

Shaking the fuzz from his head, Cyril tried to hitch his other foot onto the cable and pull himself up. He almost had the upper body strength to swing it, and Kaz hauling him up as well helped. But the weight of fire was just too much. When a pair of solid slugs hit the plating on his legs, he said to hell with it and dropped free of the cable.

Weaponsfire still whipped around his head even if he pressed himself to the top of the ship. Skittering across the top of the freighter until he had as much of the bulk between him and the Uniques as he could. Taking cover behind a rise of engine machinery, Cyril waved thankfully at Kaz. The attempted save was appreciated, it was just a bad place he had been in. Second time she had tried to save his ass, too. Cyril wished that he could do something to return the favor. Preferably without her having to get her arse shot off in the process.

But he was stuck on top of a frieghter without anything to do to make himself useful. Or was there? he thought was he realized just what he was leaning against. He hadn't used his training for half a year at least. But damnit, he was still an engine tech. And here he was sitting right on top of the one that the traitors were going to use to escape. Grinning maliciously, Cyril yelled back up to Keziah. "Oi Kaz! Get to ground, I've got a bad idea I want to try!"

Pulling, pulling on the cable, when Cyril let himself free she was leaning way back into the vent, trying to find yet more leverage to use on it. And then, all of a sudden, the weight and tension released and she hurtled back into the bottom of the vent, hitting with a jarring impact.

"Ow..." she murmured, a moment before she saw a xaser slice through the air inches from her head. She rolled to her feet, away from where they might've been firing. But where the hell could she go? Everywhere along the vents here would just make her a perfect target. Going forward was out. Did Cyril say something?

Keziah poked her head back out into the opening, and tapped her ear in the universal signal of I can't hear you! Between all the gunfire and the ringing in her head, she couldn't even hear her own breathing.

Deacon smiled ever so slightly at Claire's comment.

"Sorry." He would say before backing off a few feet. "I worry that this is not as good an idea as they think it is. Those people are very angry, and I doubt very much that they will have any problem killing any of the other crew here on the station, trying to get to us. If we lead them further into the station, that is just going to give them more targets to take out."

The Kohanian leaned against a wall, staring back down the hallway towards where the staircase, and the approaching Uniques, was located.

"But what do I know? After all, I am just the heathen dog, right?"

He cast a withering glare towards Kokuten, his lip curling slightly in a mix of disgust and contempt.

Kokuten head was wracking itself with trying to figure out the best solution for the situation at hand. Mainly, he just kept kicking himself of how unfair it was that all he had to tackle with was sub-par security equipment and a medical degree. Sure, he had been in similar situations before, but he hadn't been in command in those past experiences.

He placed a hand on his helmet for a second. At least, as far as it had come, the squad he had just recently been put in charge of was following his orders. With that, he simply put his reservations of his own positions to the side and kept his apparent cool.

Scarlet's lunge at the door caught his attention. He then saw Akio question her motives, which made him decide to wait for her response.

Then, Deacon explained the con of getting other innocents involved in their escape. Which seemed reasonable, but it there best choice so far was to escape and find a better means to defend themselves.

"But what do I know? After all, I am just the heathen dog, right?"

Click to expand...

This comment struck Kokuten at home, seemingly poking a small hole in the Doctor's heart. It became apparent that he had offended the Kohanian in telling him to desist of amputating and decapitating his enemies for parts. Though, at the same time, he found Deacon as being childish for still dwelling on the matter.

The Nepleslian inside of Kokuten wanted to punch him in the mouth, and tell him to suck it up. The Blue Blooded upbringing in him wanted to agree, that he was a heathen. A quick solution, but one that would just create more tension and a longer lasting dispute. Plus, they weren't exactly the kindest and most settling. No, this situation had to be handled like a Chiaki would.

"Deacon, first of all, it is unhealthy to downplay yourself in such a matter. You are correct, we risk putting more people in danger. However, you must remember that we are in simila, if not the same danger. Our armor is everything to laugh at and so are our weapons. That's why we're escaping off to the Weapons Lab, to find much less laughable equipment." Kokuten said in a somewhat relaxed tone.

Deacon mouthed a Kohanian curse that his superior officer had heard his statement, thinking Kokuten would have been too busy. When he turned, his demeanor was straight faced, but his eyes showed the respect had been regained towards the interesting male.

"Sir, if I might ask as I am sure you have been thinking as well from information you have on the station, but what guarantee do you have that the weapons lab will have weapons that will be any more practical than the ones we currently carry. You saw the weapon that our Administrator believes to be unbeatable. She has you, a doctor, leading a security team of trained engineers and maintainence workers, and myself, an outcast of a backwards society. And you put your trust in her that she would have anything to offer us in her labs? Why don't we think less like cookie cutter copies of what the Nepleslian governement wants, and more like survivalists? In a battle to survive, there are no rules. Why not focus on dividing their force, taking them out one at a time through geurilla tactics? After all, they have shown they kill indiscirminately..."

The hyena closed his mouth, looking off to the side as if in a thought, and then back to his superior.

"I apologize. I have been acting as I would back on my homeworld where such tactics would be of use. I will follow your orders as they are given."

And with that, he snapped off a salute and waited for instructions.

Noboru refrained from watching Scarlet attempt to "Hulk Smash" the door down long enough to push his nose into the Kokuten-Deacon dispute.

"I think guerilla tactics are our best bet right now, sir. We can't face the Uniques in a head-on confrontation; they'll burn right through our armor, even without their standard issue weapons, and we might as well be throwing sticks and rocks at them shooting our Variable Weapons. Deacon has the best idea."