RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 5] A Unique Encounter

Cipher said:

He then turned back towards the rst of the crowd, still holding up a feebly pointing hand. "What... the fuck... was that!?"

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Serra was rather irritated personally. When Noboru made his query, Serra sighed and crossed her arms. "That?" She repeated. "Was Cassifin Montreal, being Cassifin Montreal." She replied. "To that woman, there is no kill, like OVERKILL."

Lance sighed slightly in mild disappointment, "Well... that was kind of anti-climatic..." he pointed out, the ease of the massive over-kill hopefully as evident to everybody else as it was to him, "If she wanted to test fire it more, maybe she should have drawn them in a little more..." he pointed out.

Stovaa's joyous mood grew sullen, the latest development in the madness of miss Montreal seemingly ruining his day.

"Aw for fuck's sake... that was cool and all, but I was REALLY looking forward to killing somebody..." he said, voice raised. Years of violence on the planet below had left him accustomed to fighting and even killing on a regular basis, something he'd been removed from since his enrolment into the military. "Bleh... lab patrol? Much chance of any robots going on a rampage, or should I leave the tin opener back on my bunk?" A joke, obviously, though his manner never left the impression that he was really capable of joking, too gruff and serious for people to really believe him.

He glanced around, noticing everybody else at a high level of anti-climax like himself. No-one could ever say this squad was afraid of a good ruck, at least.

Keziah rolled her eyes at the destruction of the pirate ships. Very Montreal, that. Well, at least she was right, and there was the something--whatever it was that shot out a chiseled asteriod. Even so, she couldn't help but feel bad for the pirates. Stupidly attacking a supposedly unarmed space station was one thing, but even that didn't seem like it deserved a space-rock to the face. At least that explained Montreal's excitement.

She slipped through the crowd, passing by Claire and grasping her hand for a quick moment, and headed towards the tubes. She punched up the code to her armaments, and grabbed the bundle as soon as it arrived, retreating to a corner of the room to start getting dressed. For the first time in a while, she was happy the undersuit was easy to get into. Not that she was modest--she wasn't--but she didn't feel like giving any of the new guys a show.

She dressed quickly, keeping most of her uniform on until she slid into the suit, and within a minute had the undersuit zipped up and she was busily attaching armor plates.

Dragonnova said:

"Hm..." Claire frowned slightly at Cassefin's announcement. Her tone wasn't appropriate for someone whose life's work was under attack by pirates. Later perhaps. She turned to listen to some of the security making ridiculous denials for armor. Then of course, she turned and saw what this suit was about. She laughed, "I'm noticing a theme here. But it's alright." Claire looked over at Jen, "Why don't you wear it? Not ashamed of yourself, are you?" She was referring of course to the way the suit didn't leave as much to the imagination as their uniforms did. Claire of course had no problem with this whatsoever.

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Jen was kind of puzzled, "I thought the CSS suits were the armor?" she asked, also not understanding why she would be ashamed. Though apparently as soon as she asked that question, the battle was over, "Eh? What did I miss?"

She listened to the others and understood that the "cannon" fired something large, like the size of the H.A.'s ego. "I feel more like punching something now..." she said in a low tone, while glancing toward spatula man. Instead of taking that course of action however, she sighed and began walking toward the duty of pacing the halls.

"Hey," she called out to Claire who she recognized as a little from the paint ball game, forgetting all about Claire's armor comment earlier, "your a vet of this squad right? Like does this squad get any action or just patrol halls?"

"Okay, I'm kinda glad that we don't have to fight in a boarding assault. But, wow that was narcissistic." Cyril said, shaking his head. He could understand getting everybody ready for a boarding assault. That was cool, that was normal. But was it really necessary to use the PA system to turn the whole station into captive audience for a live weapons test?

As he slung his rifle back onto his suit's backpack, he heard one of the new faces asked what was just about the worst thing that she possibly could given how much attention Finagle seemed to give this place. Grinning somewhat manicly as he leaned on his tail, he answered Jen before Claire got a chance"Ah, don't you worry miss. There'll be plenty of action to go around on this station. Someone down in AD&E'll blow a hole in the hull, or Miss Popjoy'll loose another beasty, or someone at the Temple will blotch a headache cure and unleash a plague of zombies. Never a stop around here."

"Hrm," Kokuten put a hand to his chin, tilting his head and the display of firepower. "Indeed Overkill, like firing a Horrorfish out of a catapult." He looked towards the Pneumatic Delivery System and walked over, receiving his armor and weapon, and then equipping, rather quickly. After securing his suit, he stood erect, taking a look at his spike-firing weapon.

I wonder if Richard will be at the lab, or maybe some of 57. He thought aloud, closing his visor, a pair of green spots glowing through it. The Captain looked over at the rest of his squad, the dim lights cutting off and on as he blinked. "You all heard Kess, correct? Suit up."

Lance was still a little disappointed at the clearly apperant favoring of excessive overkill, and as he walked over to retrieve his own supplies, his shoulders were slightly hunched. As soon as they arrived, he went to a corner, quickly changed into his suit, and while cradeling his weapon in the nook of his arm, got within a respectable distance of the doorway.

Hmm... this fits surprisingly well... he thought to himself.

Deacon had remained impassive through the whole thing, not even reaching back for his katana when the announcement of pirates had been made. For a woman who basically turned into a psychobitch during combat, her joy earlier had meant Cassefin had an ace up her sleeve, so Deacon had not so much as flinched when the pirate ships showed up. Now however, as he slipped into his suit and put the plates where they needed to go, holstering his rifle on his back, he felt the need to bring something up.

Making his way over to Kokuten, the hyena would tap him gently on the shoulder and lean in close to mutter something into the commanding officer's ear that he wanted to keep private. With the deep rumble of his voice, most would be intimidated to have the large predator so near their head, but Deacon hoped the new commander would look past that and hear what his squadmember had to say.

"Sir, I may be speaking out of line here, but I think we should keep the squad ready. The pirates ran this time, but from my knowledge of the pirates and brigands on New Kohana, they will be back. And when they do come back, it will be in greater numbers and with knowledge and preparations for that cannon. The last thing we need is to be defending the station from within, when threats come from without."

And then he headed to the door, standing just to the right of it as he waited for the rest of the team to be ready.

Like the others, Speedy slipped into his CSS suit, strapped on the armor plates, mounted his belt and holster for his HHG. Unlike the others, he didn't seem comfortable in the suit. "Alright I'm ready (Again) for action."

Kokuten looked over at Deacon as he left before he could speak. His whisper hadn't startled the man, but it did seem strange that he didn't give his Captain the time-of-day to respond. So, instead, he nodded to Deacon and looked to the rest of his squad, waiting for them to get suited up.

He does have a point, such destruction doesn't go unanswered, and we may have just been painted a sweeter target. Kokuten though inwardly, making his reflection on Deacon's words.

Kevyn said:

Ah, don't you worry miss. There'll be plenty of action to go around on this station. Someone down in AD&E'll blow a hole in the hull, or Miss Popjoy'll loose another beasty, or someone at the Temple will blotch a headache cure and unleash a plague of zombies. Never a stop around here."

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"Sounds like I should be running back to my old post," she replied sarcastically. Her thoughts though, were more sincere, Zombies don't sound too bad, considering nothing much occurred patrolling a zone who's only danger is the Head Admin.

Jen then crossed her arms and pouted after the sudden removal of the feeling of danger, "Where did all that bravado go?" she asked herself. She too headed toward the delivery system, if not to pick up the station's issued gun, since she was only equipped with her side arm on the belief of an uneventful patrol. She then also picked up her helmet since it would be needed in on the same logic.

"Lets make this patrol more interesting," suggested Jen, trying to pry herself out of the moment of whatever she had missed, and look forward to relaxing after the job, "whoever screws up the most has to pay for the drinks."

The Nepleslian then moved close Keziah and asked, "Hey, what did I miss exactly?"

Keziah was mostly armored now, and had been pulling her breastplate on when Jen came over to her. Miss? She looked at the marine, puzzled and perplexed, and snapped most of her armor on in a quick moment.

"What do you mean, exactly?"

Claire snapped out of her thoughts when Keziah grabbed her hand briefly. Giving Kokuten a wink, she casually walked after her dear friend. She wondered if this was how it was normally going to be. Just doing routine patrol duty amongst sheer insanity from her superiors. At least she wouldn't get bored.

Seeing Jen trying to chat it up with her, Claire slid over and put an arm around Keziah's shoulders as if to say 'Mine.' She had her armor under one arm, not putting it on yet. She noticably decided to not take the helmet. (For whatever vain reason.) "I wouldn't worry about what you missed. I'm sure we'll all have plenty of fun memories around here." Tone of innuendo as always, even if she wasn't intending it to be.

"Drinks huh? We have those on here?" Claire didn't seem to think Montreal would let them leave for something like that unless one of the marines smuggled some on board here. She also seemed to not be too impressed with the bet, considering the wager they all had made moments before.

Kess and Mimi waited patiently while their squad readied themselves, making sure to instruct them to send any of their spare articles of clothing left over from changing to their Pneumatic Delivery System personal holds. Once they were all finished, it would be Mimi who would speak first.

"Okay! We have to meet with the Administrator of the Armament Development and Evaluation as part of our assignment...he will be filling us in on the specifics. So, follow us and stay close behind!"

---

The two Savtechs led Squad 35 upwards through the Central Station, towards one of the several Cirrus Station Tram Terminals lining the upper decks. An uneventful tram-ride later, they would arrive at the Weapon Labs.

The first and perhaps most notable detail Squad 35 would notice as they traversed their way through the Armament Development and Evaluation laboratories was an enormous increase in CSS activity. Most of Squad 35 had never been assigned to this part of that station...probably because it was already chock-full of security measures, which makes sense given the sensitivity of the things being worked on. The Savtechs led them past several areas sectioned off by volumetric warning signs and yellow-and-black cautionary cones. Further inspection of these areas would reveal that they were, apparently, at some point used to either test explosives or were the unfortunate locations of some very bad testing misfires...who would have thought that a laboratory dedicated to the pursuit of advanced weaponry would have hazards?

Kess and Mimi eventually led Squad 35 to a small room with a large, see-through glass wall overlooking a larger, stark white room. The smaller room contained little more than a few computer terminals and small crates to the side on the wall, as well as a few labcoat-clad scientists, but one aspect of the room stood out...or rather, stood up, roughly 11 feet up. A man, most likely an ID-SOL from his stature and physical composition, immediately stood up from one of the terminals and turned to meet the two Savtechs, towering over them. This one was dressed differently; he didn't wear a lab-coat, but rather a large, black, slightly glossy coat with a thick, stiff collar. He clasped his hands tightly behind his back as he approached the team, his expression one of dire seriousness.

"I suppose you all are the new detail," the massive ID-SOL said, his voice deep in tone. "Administrator Dick Vanderhuge of the Armament Development and Evaluation laboratories," the ID-SOL introduced himself with a nod, looking over the contingent of CSS members standing before him. Once he was finished, however, Administrator Vanderhuge visibly relaxed, running one of his massive palms over his crop of short, slicked-back hair before crossing his arms in front of him. "If you really want to call it that. As far as I'm concerned, my name is Dick, and this is a weapons lab. Any question before I go on."

Even though he seemingly asked it in earnest, it was more of a demand rather than a question. Somewhat fitting for someone of his stature.

"Ye haven't found one o' the stills yet?" Cyril asked as he fell in behind Keziah, Claire and Jen. His green eyes glowed a little brighter as he grinned impishy. It just didn't do to let fellow Nepleslians go dry, now did it? "Well, I'll have to show you three around some o' the maintiance spaces some time."

"To shut the fowl place down, o' course." He added mock piously as he passed the two savtechs on the way out the door. He didn't think that would deliberately pass word to Miss C. Well, he didn't think Kess would anyway. But better safe then sorry when you were dealing with two pieces of the station's computer systems.

***

This wasn't exactly Cyril's first foray into the weapons hot labs. He'd poked his head into here, just barely, while he was assigned to the 74s. He'd only realized it when he hit the first actual dead end he'd met in a month of crawling through the maintenance tunnels. It was only after getting back to the squad room an tracing out his path that he realized he reached the cut off to the labs.

Walking through it now, he had to admit that they were impressive. In a way, the reminded him of Hampton. Not as well worn, but the areas cordoned off reminded him of the various minor industrial accidents and mounds of spare materials that tended to find their way to any disused corners of the shipyard. It was comforting, in a morbid sort of way, to find a bit more evidence that Cirrus wasn't the gleaming ode to cleanliness and stark efficiency that it looked like a first glance.

Of course, his quite marveling at the subtle differences between the weapons labs and the rest of the station was cut short by the introduction of this division's director. The fact that he was an ID SOL wasn't didn't really catch his attention. Hell, they pretty much had two of them in the squad. But when he introduced himself... Cyril would have laughed at the aptness of Mr. Vanderhuge's name, if it weren't for the fact that he suspected that it would have ended up with the ID SOL tieing more then just Cyril's tail into a pretzel. As it was he had to turn an involitary snort into a cough.

To cover it up, Cyril quickly snapped a salute to the director. "Sah. If'n you don't mind me asking, is it safe to infur that this is more then just a patrol assignment?"

Richard retrieved his equipment and such. That all happened earlier. He was not late or behind.
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Richard ALMOST burst into laughter upon hearing Dick's name. Almost. He managed to stifle it down to a few murmurs and a rather unstable looking grin. He slapped himself, turning it into an overly serious-looking face before saluting Vanderhuge. As usual, his brain failed to click into gear while his mouth drove off without him.

"What is the chance of any of us getting blown into tiny pieces while working here, sir?"

"Stills?" Keziah whispered to Cyril. Trailing at the end of the group meant their quiet little exchange wouldn't travel too far. She tried to remember when was the last time she had had a drink of anything alcoholic, at all, and came up short. Smoking she had picked up from the loading crews of too many space ports, but never drinking. She had been too young anyway.

All the time she had stuck close to Claire. When they had first all piled into the tram, she snuck a quick kiss to Claire's cheek when most everyone was looking the other way, and had kept a quiet smile on her face the rest of the ride. Even once inside the weapons lab the smile persisted, but only for a short while as her eyes trailed all over the security, the warnings, and what little else she could see of the weapons lab. It was novel being inside it, as the closest she had ever come to something even like a weapons lab was the arms locker at her asteroid posting.

Remembering Peke, she was quite prepared for an insanely unusual sight of this new Administrator. As far as things went, she was underwhelmed that the huge ID-SOL seemed normal in almost every other aspect. Except for his intelligence, obviously, which would've had to be formidable to be an Administrator under Montreal.

She said nothing, aside from a quick "Sir" and a very crisp salute. Something about the man demanded military precision.

Serra was visibly holding herself back from laughing at the administrator of the weapons department. Was Cassifin even consciously aware of this man's name? "No way this isn't a coincidence. She though to herself as she strained her neck slightly to look the Vanderhuge Dick in the eye.

While the others could barely contain themselves, Speedy kept a straight face, since he failed to care what was funny about Dick's full name. He did, however showed an obvious look of impatience with his squadmates.