RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 5] A Unique Encounter

"You fucking believe them?!" Noboru shouted from his post at the far side of the hangar. Watching hopelessly as the doors closed, Noboru futilely began pounding the bigass volumetric red "CLOSE" button on the display panel, watching as his actions counted for naught. Within seconds, the doors were fully open anyways.

Serra said nothing as Cassifin apparently made a judgment call that obviously went against even her morals. She didn't like that the administrator is bowing to this sort of action, but, Montreal is her superior, and even without the military doctrine drilled into her, Serra followed that command.

Turning to gaze to Noboru after his outburst, Serra raised a hand to her mouth. "Administrators orders," she said simply as she turned back. The though of having to say that leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.

Stovaa's rifle was raised, aiming at the back of Captain Bell's head, finger hovering over the finger, preparing for an order to fire.

When Cassefin told them to stand down, his mind took a second to register it. 'What? Let them go...' he thought to himself.

"Ma'am... they killed a lot of your crew... the Cirrus's crew... Are we really just going to let them go?"

During the standoff, Keziah managed to drag herself to her feet. This was too much. No more gunshots, she didn't want to see anyone else get hurt. Least of all Claire.

It made sense to her, letting them go. Detaining a CEO was huge. Everything, right now, probably had more repercussions than anyone else could see. Except Montreal. For once, she could respect their administrator.

She stepped up to Claire's side, and then quickly slipped around her to stand right in front of her rifle. Keziah grabbed the barrel with her metal arm, muscles priming as they held the rifle in place. Right at her mouth.

"Please," she whispered, begging. Then, louder, her voice quavering slightly; "Squad 35, stand down."

"Alright," Noboru said as he stepped away from the control panel, his body language showing unbridled anger just behind that layer of armor covering his face. He promptly stamped off, heading towards the stairwell. At least he could dissappear off somewhere secluded and beat the ever-living shit out of one of the Cassifin Reservoirs in the Weapons Lab wing.

And just like that, Claire let out a long angry sigh. "Damn you." She was actually directing that at Keziah. She was still furious, and likely would become hostile again at very little provocation, but for now... She noticed Keziah's grip on her gun, now she couldn't even lower it in defeat? For whatever reason, this struck a nerve in Claire. Perhaps it was the feeling of powerlessness that got to her, or maybe she didn't appreciate the one she was closest to making her point a gun at her face, but with a low growl, she shoved Keziah back down to the crates, allowing the gun to go with her. "Make me do that again and I'll just shoot you instead." She had enough venom in her voice to poison the water supply here. Noticing Noboru exit the scene, presumably to vent, she could not think of a better way to stop herself from beating the living daylights out of her administrator than to just leave.

"Hang on, I'm coming too..." And just like that, Claire left the hangar in desperation to stop her violent urges that were growing while leaving her gun in Keziah's hands.

Noboru heard Claire's voice from somewhere in the hangar bay. Already about halfway up the stairs; if it weren't for his heightened senses he probably would've missed it. As it were, he didn't miss it and held up on the stairs. He moved over to the side and leaned back against the uniform white walls, released the clasps on his helmet and slipped it off. Taking a few deep breaths of the recycled station air, he stood by and waited for Claire to catch up.

It didn't take much to topple Keziah over, and she didn't do anything, letting the rifle fall to the side as she hit the crates. She knew it was a stupid thing to do, now, but it had to be done. With the most vocal opposition gone, maybe things would start calming down.

Carefully, she picked herself back up, gripping the crate she had fallen against to keep herself upright. Now she just had to hope nobody else would start shooting, since Claire was the only one she had trusted enough to pull that stunt with.

MoonMan said:

"Uh...that you, Tweak?"

As Tweak left the observation room, entering the relatively empty hallway, she could sense two figures catching sight of her from the arches on both sides of the bulkhead door. Two figures were standing guard there, no doubt positioned their earlier by one of their superiors; two familiar figures, one smaller than most, the other taller. Both of the figures raised their visors as the smaller one exclaimed his slight surprise to see the green-haired CSS member, revealing the familiar faces of George and Lenny as they continued to deduce exactly who had just stepped out of the room.

"Wow, uh, thought that room was empty. You...uh...forget your uniform today or somethin'?" George asked, scratching his chin mindlessly.

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Tweak had hoped to get to the bay before someone stopped her, but turned when George and Lenny spoke.

"I..." She managed a half-smile before continuing. "It got ripped, and it wasn't doing me any good to wear it anymore." She paused. That was the truth. "What's happening in the bay? Is everything alright?"

It didn't take Claire long to catch up. She had already taken her helmet off, letting her red hair out of it's low ponytail. "Goddamn it all... Why the hell are we protecting such a heartless bitch?" Claire made no attempt to lower her voice as she ascended the stairs. Once she passed Noboru she muttered to him, "Let me guess, there's no alcohol allowed on this station, is there?"

"Not exactly," Noboru replied. In hushed tones, he continued, "my first week here I got some engineers together and stockpiled some cleaning alcohol in the engine room." Continuing after his squadmate, he added, "we set up a still using some spare parts, too, so we've got all kinds of moonshine stowed right under the Administrator's nose." The professional soldier grinned, showing off his almost-perfect teeth. Despite the fact that he was outwardly just another xenophobic Yamataian, Kent was becoming more and more the sneaky Nepleslian every minute he spent on the Cirrus Station.

This discovery seemed to please Claire immediately. "Seriously? Wow. I haven't been giving you enough credit it seems." There was a slight pause before she gave the first thing resembling a smile so far. "Any chance you'd be willing to be generous to a lady?" Destruction of government property sounded fun at this point, but getting some alcohol and getting intoxicated was looking far more appealing the more she realized it had been almost a week since she'd had a drink.

"Just you?" Noboru said in low tones as the two made their way past the observation deck and hung a left into one of the adjoining Rest Areas, or whatever "clever" euphemism the overbitch used in terms of a name. Sitting down in one of the chairs and releasing the armor plates on his shoulders, arms and upper torso, the Santo Hei-turned-Peacekeeper Recruit-turned-P3C set the plates down on the floor next to him, followed by the helmets, then reached over and punched a random button on the nearby Cassefin Reservoir. Without looking, he reached down and pulled out the can that dropped out (unfortunately, Spacer-Drink), busted open the tab with his teeth and downed a mouthfull of the drink, apparently not noticing the strontium additive that caused it to glow like a fucking overhead light.

"Hell," he continued after finishing his first mouthful, "I think I'm gonna have the whole of Squad 35 down for a round of drinks later tonight. On me- the ingredients come out of my paycheck, and this was the first batch I've ever made." He chuckled slightly. "Don't worry; a couple of the engineers helped me out and made sure I didn't put anything into it that would make you go blind..." He grimaced and looked away as he meekly added "permanently" to the end of the sentence.

Deacon watched it all in silence. While the doors closed, he smiled. As they reopened, his smile faded slightly. Reaching down to his side, he touched the leather flap that went over his revolver's holsters. He didn't pull the gun, but pulled the hand back up like he had.

"Pshow." He said softly as he pretended to aim the gun at the doors, and then walked out after Noburo and Claire. He didn't make an attempt to catch up to them, stoping to look back to the Administrator.

"Mistress, you are coming dangerously close to alienating those who you have put in protection of your station. We are human beings, not things. When you learn to think of us as such, perhaps you will find it easier for us to keep our respect for you and your projects."

Then the Kohanian turned and walked out. He was not headed for the hidden alcohol, he was headed back to the barracks to strip out of his armor and weapons, and spend time relaxing under the weight bar. Whether any of the others joined him, he needed to clear his head the way he had while under the instruction of the Nepleslian military, in the weight room.

Claire heard the word 'later' and felt herself twitch again. She moved forward, leaning over into Noboru's face and practically placing herself on top of him. "Why do we have to wait? Afraid to drink alone with a woman, are you?" Claire seemed to be falling back into old habits again. Perhaps it was more of a coping mechanism? Regardless, her subtlety was only in her words, and very thin at that. "Come on. No one will notice us being gone for now. And, if you decide that you'd rather not have our overseer discover it... she's nowhere near the monitors now."

"No," Noboru added another swig of irradiated soda to the list of "stupidly self-inflicted medical conditions". He set the can of Spacer-Drink down on his thigh plate and smiled slightly. "I'm afraid of getting out-drank by a woman." Leaning forward a bit, though, he shrugged a bit and cocked his head to the side. "Although," he added, "booze is sounding better and better by the second."

A few seconds of mulling it over (and another minor dose of dissolved strontium) and the Yamataian made up his mind, finishing off the can and heading for the garbage can. "Alright, you can come along. But only spread the word to members of our Squad; I spent over 400 KS on the distilling equipment that went into that damn thing, and I am nowhere near willing to let some loose-lipped guy mucking around on the command deck spill the beans on my operation."

The little Yamataian's next decisive action was to toss the can into the trash recepticle and head for the engine room.

Claire smiled in a predatory way. "Out-drank, hm? Want to make a bet on it? I have ideas..." Of course, not having drank anything for longer than she was used to, she may not be at her maximum 'capacity' for alcohol. "You're damn right it is."

"Oh of course, dear. I'm -very- good at keeping secrets. You'd be suprised of all the things I've heard. I'll be discreet. But first, let me see if this stuff is worth informing our close confidants about." Claire seemed desperate to take her mind off what just happened. At least Noboru was being obliging to that.

Jen did not take the news well, her left was close to her side arm as her anger silently boiled back to the surface. She was able to hold her anger back, but there was no time like now she felt like shooting a bystander. Her hand reached for her sidearm and gripped it, then let it go.

"Damnit," she said under her breath, and walked off. Tears rolled off her eyes when she out of view, "DAMnit! Where's that Kohan guy! I feel like beating the shit out of something right now!" she shouted, then sort of chuckled out of the stupidness of what she said.

"I just wanted everyone to live, I almost let one die. To hell if I'm not the commander yet. Shit. What DO I have to show for?" She said with a punch to the metal wall of the station, then used it as support to find her room to rest. She moved at a faster pace as she started to break down.

MissingNo said:

"I..." She managed a half-smile before continuing. "It got ripped, and it wasn't doing me any good to wear it anymore." She paused. That was the truth. "What's happening in the bay? Is everything alright?"

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"We dunno," Lenny answered as he shrugged his massive shoulders. "Yeah, we've been workin' on that kitchen youse guys won a few weeks ago," George continued, shifting his hold on his CSS:VW as he spoke. "But I think it's somethin' pretty big, 'cause the Boss was all serious and shit and we shot at a couple a pirates. You think you could...uh...maybe check it out for us? We're not supposed to leave this post."

Serra also disliked the way Cassifin had handled the situation, though from a logical standpoint, she couldn't actually fault her for her choice. There was no hard evidence, the witnesses were a squad she personally lothed and one man she admired who vouched for them, The Vinross Yu-Cranker was an influential company, that Cassifin probably didn't want to cross.

Seeing how she was one of the few remaining of her squad in the hanger still with Montreal, Serra saluted and walked up to her. Speaking candidly, and quietly Serra tried to see if her hypothesis was trye.

"Administrator, you didn't want to let them go either did you?" Serra asked, "you knew something was off after all of us told you, and Abeck backed us up. But, we didn't have the burden of proof to give you cause..." After making her statement, Serra saluted again. "If you do not need me I shall accompany the rest of my squad."