RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 8] That Sinking Feeling

[Kokuten]

For most of the trip, Kokuten was silent, laying on his stretcher. He reflected over most of the mission, what had happened and transpired, and could only imagine the sentence. One time before, the Captain had been sent to jail, and his service as a medical officer at Abjection always made him think twice about disservicing the law. Now, it seemed he was either going to relive past experiences or experience his past in a perspective, at any rate, he was silent.

When they were sounded for release, he stay still, waiting for the rest of his squad to move and leave the transport. At the moment the last squad member hopped out, he pushed himself of the stretcher and stepped outside.

This world is very cruel, but... he thought as the humidity of Fortuna flushed his face, ...very fair.

With that thought processed, the Captain made a hard stretch and stepped forward, making his way to the head of the group. There, he spotted Purina, Nell, and Swann, and offered them a smile as the administrator asked how they were doing.

"Very well, Administrator Popjoy! Though, I am very glad to see you've come through this with little harm." Kokuten responded warmly to Purina's question. To say the least, he felt pretty good now. Despite the lacerated muscles in his leg, he appeared to walk straight as a line. His face seemed a tad haggard, and his hair was every which way, making his head look like a spiky broom. Though, the way the Captain's eyes glowed showed that he was recharged, slightly drugged, and ready for duty.

"I'm just glad we were able to clean up this misunderstanding," he looked over at the two Uniques and bowed his head respectfully to them, "Ms. Nell, Captain Swann, thank you for assisting us in that short, joint-operation. Your squad's professionalism was much appreciated, and I apologize for any inconvenience on my part." To say this least, he preferred to be diplomatic through any possible tension.

 

[MissingNo]

From behind Claire and Tweak, a new sound began to draw close; this time from the sky above them. Several hovering vehicles began to descend into the sink hole, each of their hulls adorned with the Gold Harbor Police Department logo, their sirens blaring out loudly.

The climb out of the pit was tricky, but not impossible for Tweak. After eating a burger-sized (but not shaped...or flavored...) stone to give herself something to gain energy from, she intended to try to remain out of sight and climb to the surface, but ended up being waved to return to the room from which she had leaped after being spotted by one of the hovering craft that had appeared nearby.

By the time Tweak had finally found stable footing back on the platform, she would be helped up by another Unique that she had not seen before, Stovaa and Method, as well as a handful of police officers.

It was not an easy transition for Claire, and for a while, it wasn't for Tweak either. To the officer's dismay, they would find that Claire was astonishingly unwilling to let go of Tweak's hips despite being generally unresponsive to nearly everything else they tried. As they left, they had to leave Claire attached to Tweak until they were escorted to the area where the medics were waiting. One of which was an annoyed woman who managed to undo Claire's grip within a matter of seconds and get her on to a stretcher. The geshrin wasn't seriously injured by any means, and was still very much awake.

"I think she may be in shock," Tweak murmured as they tried detaching her passenger and failed. The 'Spacer neko wandered around, being directed from place to place until Claire was removed, then Tweak wandered some more until she was told to "go there, and sit still!" by another equally annoyed person.

The riot police made them take off their helmet...Method and Tweak, however, were an exception; the police instantly recognized their high radiation signatures and asked that they please keep their helmets on; the officers weren't looking to be the unwilling recipients of any unwanted radiation sickness. Kess, still hidden in the confines of Tweak's suit, was deathly quiet through the entire ordeal, having not spoken since Tweak, Claire and her were out in the pit.

Kokuten and Noboru were allowed to lounge about in the stretchers they were carried in on, the medical teams having done all they could in the short, frantic moments to stabilize the two injured bedfellows. For the conditions, the medics did a decent job; the wounds were properly dressed and the drugs made the pain slight while retaining their comprehension in case they were needed for questioning.

Tweak sat still when the group was asked to take their helmets off, half going into mental shock herself, part trying to bide time, and part too tired to do anything. Rocks were dense and provided a lot of matter to be converted to energy, but they tasted like dirt and frankly not very good comfort food. That was what Tweak wanted right now: Sugar, and lots of it. Caffeine, not so much. As she waited for someone to come over and ask why she hadn't removed her helmet, she absently listed off foods under her breath:

"Tortillas...noodles...rice...ground meat...potatoes...lots and lots of whipped cream..."

The demand never came and she didn't realize why until she overheard someone talking about "freakin' 'Spacers" and their "secret plot to destroy Nepleslia by sterilizing us all..." She kinda guessed the reason after that. Oh, and one of the more friendly officers stopped by to give her a pair of lead-lined gloves to replace the ones she'd dissolved earlier.

Get up. March to another place. Sit down. Get up. March to another place. Oh, look, it's Cassefin. Oh, listen, we're not in trouble with the law.

Tweak's brain was slowly recovering, but still rather apathetic to what was going on around her. Her teammates were there. All of them seemed all right, except for Noboru (something that was not entirely surprising to her) and Kokuten. Her attention, weak as it was, locked on to him if only to have something to focus on. She watched him as they moved from place to place, watched the medics treat him, watched his thoughts change his expression as he rested.

When Cassefin finally came to retrieve them, Claire was together enough to stand up... but not to stay standing. She almost collapsed again onto Tweak who would either need to support her or find something else to do that. Though noticeably Tweak was not the closest person for her to fall on to which suggested Claire was starting to think again.

A sudden movement next to her brought Tweak out of her semi-dazed state. She turned quickly and held her arms out just in time to intercept a Claire from being caught by the floor. Lowering Claire the rest of the way at a safer rate of descent, Tweak knelt next to her teammate.

"...Are you okay?"

 

[Stovaa]

Stovaa remained relatively calm while in the custody of the police, hoping his record didn't come up. Not that there was anything jailworthy in it, just that it might have thrown a spanner into the works. He spend as much time as possible sat down, at one point being used as a cushion for one of the other Cirrus crew, though he didn't pay heed to who it was as his helmet was on backwards at the time. His mind was running overdrive and he appreciated the darkness to think in.

When they checked out of custody and the craft landed, he breathed a sigh of relief to be back on some relatively familiar ground, even if it was hostile. He expected Cassefin to give them a good shouting out when they got back to Cirrus but in the meanwhile, Purina's charming manner was a no doubt pleasant welcome.

"Most of us are okay, thanks mother" he said with a chuckle. He scoped out the rest of the scene before his eyes settled on Swann. "Sorry about tearing up your walls. Can I have my knife back, or do we have some more weaponless ambushes to wander into?"

 

[TeslaTornado]

Noboru, in the end, was argued onto the stretcher. He had absolutely refused that he be carried about like the infirm, but eventually succumbed to the doctor's repeated orders (and, eventually, physical intervention). He allowed himself to rest temporarily, as he and his squad were carried to the police transport.

The detainment came and went, and Noboru slowly came back from his mild depression, eventually regaining his usual arrogant bluster. With his attitude adjustment came the use of his leg, which he quickly became anxious to exercise. The squad was eventually herded off the police transport, leaving Noboru as one of the last to leave. The expatriate heaved himself gracelessly off the stretcher, landing heavy on both legs. Although he didn't have anywhere near the healing factor of a Nekovalkyrja, the mild hemosynthetic healing capabilities the Yamataian body came with had done wonders for the leg wound; although it still stung and was a bit tender to walk on, it was a thousand times better than it was a few minutes ago, when it was still fresh.

The Yamataian strode off the transport with his helmet under one arm, and took in a loud snort of the station air. "Ahh, smells like sweet freedom," the expatriate said, grinning. He looked over and spotted the Administrator and the two Uniques a few feet away, being greeted by Kokuten. The smile sank a bit, but Noboru still kept grinning as he made his way over to the group, eventually settling for a small, cocky smile.

He extended his free hand to Swann. "Sorry about the, err... Incident, ma'am." Noboru said, trying to keep the embarassment out of his voice. "It was a stupid decision, and I claim full responsibility for my actions. Apology accepted?"

 

[Lamb]

Blake yawned and stretched as he entered the freedom of Fortuna. He lightly rubbed the marks on the side of his face from falling asleep on Stovaa's lap. He felt certain that the day was won in one way or another, but his curiosity was swelling reguarding the secret mission to the server room. He wondered silently if Kess had managed to access the information Cassefin wanted. He wondered aloud if everyone was feeling more or less okay.

"That was really boring!" he chimed, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "I hope everyone's feeling better after that restful imprisonment. Captain? P3C Noboru? How's the hurting? Any better?"

 

[Dragonnova]

Though it was difficult to see through her cracked helmet, Claire had a very relaxed smile on her face. Her hands found their way around Tweak's shoulders in a sort of hug. "Heyyy.... are... are you... hungry...? Imma decent... decent chef. I'll make ya... something... if you... you'll do somethin.. for me." Either Claire was delirious or something the medics had given her had put her even further out of her mind. She didn't even seem to notice Purina and the other uniques as she seemed all too happy to stay uncomfortably close to Tweak.

 

[Kokuten]

"That was really boring!" he chimed, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "I hope everyone's feeling better after that restful imprisonment. Captain? P3C Noboru? How's the hurting? Any better?"

Kokuten patted his leg and gave a thumbs up to Blake.

"Better! Yes, I still have a bit of pain, but it's dulled greatly. I'm well enough to walk straight." The Captain said joyfully, showing the usual goodness that was no longer mired by their situation and perhaps enhanced by his drugs. He took a moment to look around at the squad and scanned over them. Stovaa was more or less unscathed, and like always ready for what came next. Blake was also doing well, if not a little drowsy. Tweak, however, appeared to have sustained a great deal of injury judging by her suit. Though, Claire seemed to be keeping the spirits up with a certain cheeriness that suited the peaceful situation. The two of them seem to have become somewhat close through their test of battle.

Then there was Noboru. He had taken a nasty shot to the leg due to his own plan, and also seemed fairly intent to apologize for how his plan turned out. At any rate, Kokuten wasn't sure how he should've responded to such a leave duty. His previous superiors would've drilled him into hell and back for such a rambunctious action, but the Captain felt that getting shot in the leg was just as good a punishment for anything.

 

[MissingNo]

For someone accustomed to personal space, the situation was awkward. Tweak stared down at the one who was practically hanging from her shoulders in the quasi-hug then tried to sit Claire up, still kneeling on the ground as everyone moved around them. She glanced up at everyone passing by after Claire made her...wait, what was she asking? Tweak looked down at her teammate. She wasn't out of her shock yet, maybe? It had been over an hour, though...

"Can you walk?" Tweak asked, side-stepping the question even though her curiosity was wondering what Claire wanted her to do. And food did sound very good..."We're going to be left behind. I can help you if you need it."

 

[Dragonnova]

Claire leaned her head against Tweak a little, which the helmet made rather awkward. "Sure, let's go." Either she didn't hear Tweak or was just suggesting they start moving. Either way, it seemed Claire would follow along with the spacer if she allowed her to use her as a sort of support.

 

[MoonMan]

Swann nodded each time she was addressed. "Your personal items have already been sent to your shuttle," the faceless Unique replied back to Stovaa. As for Kokuten and Noboru, Swann stood up and bowed her head forward a little, acknowledging their 'sincere apologies'. "Yes, I am sorry as well. Your Head Administrator was kind enough to tell us why you all were down in the sub levels. Although you must understand that I did what I am trained to do to protect Vinross Yu-Cranker personnel. Besides... you didn't give us much of a choice," Swann turned her visor to Kokuten. "I was at fault for not seeing them pass, but next time you give orders to your team to secure a forward position, sir, I ask that you ask whether or not they are allowed."

"Yeah!" Nell interrupted, sounding a little indignant. "Youse guys shouldah told me that findin' the Pink Lady wasso important! Ain't that right, 'Sergeant Badass'," Nell blurted out Stovaa's false name, obvious in her amusement at knowing that it was indeed an alias, casually punching Stovaa on his plated hip as she and Purina approached the group. Purina, on the other hand, chose to simply give the group a small smile, her eyes showing a passing glance of worry. "That's right... if they had no given me my medicine, I would have been in real trouble back there," Purina explained, making mention to a medication that none of the squad had even been made aware of.

Behind the group, Cassefin sighed heavily and rolled her eyes as she . Apparently, she had done a lot of explaining.

Beyond the group, the Cirrus Research Station shuttle awaited their inevitable return, the loading platform lowered. Cassefin hurried to the front of the group and motioned for all of them to proceed towards the shuttle in a timely manner. "Let's go people, you're still on the clock," the red-haired administrator snapped at her squad.

 

[Kokuten]

Kokuten sighed. They were right, most of what happened was due to his inept abilities as a commander. He gave another nod of his head in apology, and turned toward the lowering platform. The Captain's cheery nature was doused for a moment as he ran a hand through his hair. No doubt his superiors would probably have a few words for his poor performance after he submitted a full report, but he would cross that bridge when he reached it. He shook his head and motioned his hand towards the shuttle.

"You heard the Head Administrator! Move out and load up for extraction!" Kokuten boomed over the group. Then, he gave a short wave to Nell and Swann, accompanied with a quaint smile. "It's been a pleasure, here's hoping we meet under better circumstances next time."

With that, he sucked in a full breath, before letting out a concluding sigh, and then started off towards the shuttle, taking the lead ahead of the group.

 

[MissingNo]

Claire leaned her head against Tweak a little, which the helmet made rather awkward. "Sure, let's go." Either she didn't hear Tweak or was just suggesting they start moving. Either way, it seemed Claire would follow along with the spacer if she allowed her to use her as a sort of support.

Taking the reply as an invite to help her up, Tweak tried to help Claire to her feet. They were still being left behind, so Tweak picked her semi-coherent teammate up into her arms and carried her easily onto the shuttle. As they passed Nell and the helmeted Unique captain from earlier while the silver-suited ladies watched, Tweak's eyes narrowed behind her visor. Stop looking at me, Swann...

Inside the shuttle, Tweak set Claire down on a seat and then sat down next to her, letting the weary Geshrin rest.

 

[Lamb]

Blake slid into the shuttle and tossed his helmet under the bench. He decided to take the passive sleeping role again for the rest of the trip back and lie his head down onto the the lap of the nearest unlucky member of the Cirrus family. He moaned softly, "I feel like I'm listening to an Azorean ballad curled up in the shade on a beach... It's so hot on this stupid planet."

His eyes dragged down his face at remarkable speed, almost slamming shut. Soon, he would be as interested in the conversation as much as he surmised any of his squadmates were interested in the aforementioned Azorean ballads. Which is, plainly enough, not at all.

 

[MoonMan]

Nell waved in a casual fashion as the Cirrus men and women filed onto their shuttle for departure. Likewise, Swann kept a weathered eye on them as they left, turning to the silvery-haired woman as the shuttle began to close its passenger platform. "So what do you think, Nell?"

Nell heaved a sigh and put her hand back down. "'bout what?"

"I don't think their story matches up that well. Miss Montreal's reasoning didn't explain what they were doing in the assembly and finances division," Swann began to explain. Nell tilted her head to the side a little inquisitively, unsure of what the lady Swann meant. "Well... I dunno, made sense t' me," she replied, scratching her chin as she tried to think back to when Cassefin was explaining the strange circumstances of her security team's intrusion. Swann remained silent for a short moment, looking back at the shuttle as the gravimetric engines began to lift the vehicle into the air. "I suppose it's a little late to be worrying about it now."

---

Laj Vinross Yu was, unfortunately, not around to have his side of the attack documented by the officials. He was currently on his way to the Nepleslian capital, picked up and being transported personally by high-ranking military command. Marissa Cranker, however, managed to oversee the ensuing chaos with relative ease. The co-CEO of the monolithic corporation had rescinded to her private office on the premises after most of the local law enforcement had left, going over the damages in each of her Uniques' reports.

Several Unique captains were present in the large officer space, either standing, sitting in the large cushioned chairs or leaning against the walls. Each Unique was without their helmets, each one wearing a different style of outfit, all Marissa Cranker originals of course; it must have been how each of them made their squads and leaders discernible. Captain Lisa Bell, however, was no present... which immediately noted by each of the ladies around the room.

"Sooooooo... there was some commotion in the financial server room?" Marissa Cranker broke the silence in a surprisingly casual manner, looking up from the large tablet-sized datapad sitting on top of her desk. One of the Uniques leaning against the wall was the first to respond. "Yes ma'am. Networking girls think that something was accessed but they can't be sure. They are fairly certain that there are no viruses or data corruptions, though."

Marissa nodded, biting the end of her tablet stylus as she hummed a short, light-hearted tune. The Uniques around the room exchanged worried glances; Marissa's casualness towards the event seemed unnerving, even to them. Before they were able to worry further, however, the CEO spoke up again. "I understand that Captain Bell was the last one in vicinity of the server?"

"Yes ma'am. We lost her positional beacon a little before Captain Swann arrived at the server room," another Unique clad in a long gossamer gown answered.

"Ah, right. Did we ever find Lisa?" Cranker inquired.

"Dead, ma'am. Seems she sustained mortal wounds from her explosives and fell into the chasm," the Unique replied, her eyes falling to the floor. Several of the other Uniques also had to look away from one another, shifting their weight or clearing their throat to hold their uncomfortable frustration in.

"Oh," Marissa said, the disappointment present in her voice as she continued to peruse through the information on her tablet. "Well, that's a shame. She was a good captain. I understand that the security entourage from Cirrus Research Station was also present in the security room?"

"Yes ma'am," another Unique answered after a moment, the chest of her body armor wrapped in a laced black corset. "Their administrator sent them out to retrieve another member of their-"

"That's all,' Marissa interrupted her abruptly, finally looking up from her data tablet to recline back into her chair. The CEO casually laced her fingers together and took a deep breath, a small, spry smile slowly spreading across her face.

"How bold of you, Finny."

---

Back on the shuttle, Cassefin Montreal let out an enormous sigh as she felt the shuttle begin to ascend into the sky, heading back towards the relatively safe confines of the Cirrus Research Station floating out in Fortuna's orbit. "Finally," Cassefin relented as she glared around the shuttle. "You guys were so close to royally screwing that up," the Head Administrator berated her team, sighing again as she remembered to settle down. "I suppose you all accomplished it all the same. Save for some really, really dumb decisions by... pretty much all of you."

Miss Montreal stood up and sauntered over to Tweak, giving the disguised Neko a stare. "Do you have it?"

 

[MissingNo]

Tweak's eyes widened behind her suit's visor. The module! She felt around her waist, where her shirt was tucked in and hopefully held the SavTech module safely out of harm's way.

After some increasingly frantic patting, she found Kess' module and worked it up her side, then out the underside of her shirt sleeve where she then simply pulled it through one of the several holes torn in the CSS undersuit by the battle. She gingerly held it out to Cassefin without a word. "I'm handing you to Cassefin," she whispered through the channel she still had to Kess. "...It was a pleasure working with you, Kess, I hope we see each other again."

 

[Stovaa]

"No-one is perfect, Ma'am, but at least we did it," said the Id-Sol proudly, puffing out his already prominent chest. He was gripping a rail above his head, doing pull-ups on it. He counted out another ten then paused.

"...uh... what did we do?"

 

[Kokuten]

Kokuten sighed, leaning back in his chair. He felt tired and hungry, but mostly hungry. So hungry, in fact, he'd actually feel like stomaching some of Cassefin's food. Even so, the memory of how her 'health bars' knocked out the chain of command in his squad and made him Captain as a result, prevented him from considering such options. For the most part, he simply brushed off her scolding in favor of trying to relax.

"...uh... what did we do?"

"I think the question I would prefer is, 'What did we do it for?'." the Captain mentioned, looking over at a Stovaa, then at Tweak as she handed the device to the Administrator.

 

[Dragonnova]

Claire was simply not listening to the conversation around her. Her mind seemed to have retreated back into her own little world and was starting to mumble things as if dreaming. To further the impression of sleeping, when Tweak sat her down, she leaned back towards her and slid along their seats until her head came to rest on Tweak's armored shoulder. The comlink between herself and Tweak was still on and a couple things she murmured could barely be heard, "...Mnf.. not so loud, kitten... he might hear you and come back..."

 

[Cora]

Serra has been silent since her and Cassifin were recovered by the Uniques, though the news that Bell was killed made her feel better about how crummy the day was. Even after they were released by the law enforcements and let back to their shuttle, she kept quiet.

 

[MoonMan]

Cassefin accepted the Savtech unit, although Kess did not appear to be in much of a talkative mood any more. Looking down at the small device, the red-haired administrator nodded once and placed the savtech unit into the pocket of her dress jacket as she retreated back to her seat.

The Head Administrator threw a stare over at Stovaa as he asked his question. "You all accomplished exactly what I said you would; with Kess' help we were able to allow Vinross Yu-Cranker Materials to regain control of their facility," Cassefin replied passively in a very matter-of-fact tone. She threw a quick glance over at Purina, who was sitting contently on the other end of the ship, pensively eying the inside of her green glass terrarium. "You all also helped Administrator Popjoy out of a very bad situation... despite nearly getting yourselves arrested for looking super suspicious."

Cassefin leaned back into her seat and drew in a peaceful breath. "What did you all think you were doing? Some secret agent mumbo-jumbo?" She chided, smirking at her own sarcasm.