RP: LSDF Val'ta [Expedition 1] - One from Another

Er'reds Group, Hello Nurse!

Er'red looked over his shoulder as Ix'ion finally deigned to make his appearance at the front door. His mask unreadable, but if Ix'ion looked the nurse in the... face? He would instantly feel his body temperature drop a few degrees. Finally Er'red turned back to the roller door.

He'd been listening to the chatter of the others, but it was now that he finally opened a view into what each of them were seeing that he recoiled.

"Dammit Berhane, if you take your groin plate off this time I swear to Goddess you won't have anything to show off underneath it after we get back to the ship!" He growled to the young Nepleslian.

"Now, can someone tell the natives to open the door before I have to take more drastic measures. Like using Ix'ion as a steed to climb my way in!"

Inside the Car park

Menelik's left eye twitched underneath his helmet, the man taking a quick breath to steady himself. Truth be told, he was starting to get tired of Er'red's ... well, it wasn't quite incompetence, but the medic seemed to be out of his depth and taking it out on the rest of his team. It was okay to get on someone for mistakes and fuckups, but the Lorath's sour attitude was getting to the normally cheery nepleslian.

"Sir. You need to calm down and wait." It didn't sound threatening, or at least it hadn't meant to sound that way. He continued. "Preferably without insulting the rest of us because you hate the cold, and without ruining this contact by busting into their home impatiently. Their leader is coming to meet me here, so hold your guns and wait. No insults, no threats, and no impotent raging at someone under your command because he Took A Seat Offered to Him By His Hosts." Mene's voice had gotten more flat as he talked, darkening until those last fee words were almost spat dryly. "With all due respect, Sir."

Porrim's Team, Collision
The raider looked up at Akemi first incredulous that there were so many interruptions all the sudden, like they hadn't considered that spiriting away someone in uniform would lead to other people in similar uniforms showing up to look for where the missing uniform had been whisked away to.

The blue haired, would-be raider looked at Akemi, blinking "What? Look man I have no time for a message, I'm trying to-" Then someone grabbed them by the ankle with the force of an angry Marine division and gave them a pull with all their strength. At the same time though, Aran'ya was trying to grab them from behind to do her disarmament.

What ended up happening is that the lady with the rifle dropped the gun into the pit, and fell forward arse over teapot and a twirl screaming, fashion items being torn off of her and sending nuts, bolts, and paper clips on string flying everywhere as she came crashing down on her face into the bathroom tiles.

However, that wasn't all that came tumbling into the hole. Landing on top of the office occupant's chest was Aran'ya's ample chest, along with the rest of her landing face down and burying the raider. Akemi saw her take a tumble, but according to his HUD, their vitals seemed fine, just a little shaken.

Porrim heard the commotion, and a scream from Aran'ya, muttering a curse under her breath and looking towards where Aran'ya's last known position was. She didn't charge ahead though, she followed Knight as he'd directed, looking towards the depression in the floor and scowling. "Aran'ya, report. What do you see? Any sign of J'ann?" She whispered into her radio.

She should've been looking at the stairs further ahead, as Knight spotted someone committing crimes against fashion (or possibly the new face of the YE37 haute couture) coming down with a pair of pistols, yelling 'hey!' and unwisely announcing their position. Knight had an eye on them - Porrim had to turn around. Some of the overturned desks piled with junk nearby made adequate cover. Akemi could see the gunman coming down too, and although he was a little further away, he still had a clear shot of the attacker's legs.

Aran'ya meanwhile was greeted with the sight of a lacy groined J'ann and the unknown-to-her Nepleslian marine. The rifle fell down beside her. Upon closer inspection, it was a Styrling Longbolt with wooden furniture, the sort of rifle found in the hands of enthusiast hunters. Ran deduced that it must've belonged to a Nepleslian who used to work at this office. He spotted the Styrling 10 x 58mm cartridge being the usual for these, and maybe this fallen (and dazed) raider had a few more rounds on them he could filch.

Maybe with this uniformed woman, who he recognised as Lorath Self Defence Force, and the suit of WIND armour they were wearing, there was a way out of this hole if he asked 'nicely'. Breaking through the walls was a lot easier with a power armour, or getting a leg up or a lift was also possible.

The snowstorm whirling around the building, meanwhile, didn't let up. Aiesu meanwhile was left in the lobby, awkwardly waiting for the fighting to end.


Apartment Building, Elm's Little Adventure
Momoko looked outside, unable to see where the Mecha had gone in the confusion. "Well, that's good, at least..." she said, looking about the room and shrugging as she walked over to a couch and collapsed into it, looking over to Norio and Akira. "Come on, show some hospitality. I guess we'll wait this storm out, and we'll go see how Knight's doing, and pick up Eric along the way."

Norio grabbed a drip-fed kettle and put it on a hotplate that was connected to the building's still-functioning electricity. Knight helped get it working with Akira, and it sure beat the alternative. Plus, water was easy to find by melting snow and giving it a decent boil, then straining any sediments out.

Akira meanwhile just kind of sat down in an arm chair and looked about, unable to strike up a meaningful conversation, instead crossing his legs and relaxing as he watched the storm through the window.


Er'red's Team, Getting to Know The Locals
Well, where the Hostile-wearing soldier was sitting wasn't a horrible place. Menelik had definitely seen, or heard of worse in the middle of Funky City. He had heard from people who travelled outside the village about places like this. Maybe the stories were a bit exaggerated to put the fear of the Maker in someone's heart, or to toe a line about how simpler living could be better.

Soon, Menelik saw Ash'linn and Akihiko walking down a ramp together and joining him in the cosy little abode that the former(?) NMX neko had made for themselves. "So we live here, and this is house." Akihiko announced, raising their arms and looking around. Well, anything could be a house, even a carpark, but to Akihiko, it was definitely home.

"Ya. Ya. We eat grasses, old supermarket foods that the other people here won't eats," Maya nodded, "duq fruit that Webber grewed," they hadn't seen anyone named Webber yet, "sometimes people who try attack us cos they think we'll kill them first."

"They so rude!" Emirella nodded earnestly, perhaps a little more than was appropriate given that they probably were so upfront about eating intruders.

"Ya! We were happy to wait here until master came back, but..." Inoue sighed, looking out a porthole into the swirling blizzard outside, "I think we lost the war, didn't we?"

"Just like Vee predict." Maya looked over and rested her head on Akihiko's shoulder. "Nepleslians, and Yamataians working together." She reached into the former parasite compartment hanging by Akihiko's side to grab a fruit. "Dogs and Cats!" She took a bite of it and chewed on it. The internal structure looked like a duq, but Menelik and Ashlinn weren't familiar enough with the opiate fruit to identify it at a glance, and without the heedy smell.

"And birds, too!" Emirella piped in as she took a swig from a beer bottle. A small chorus of agreement went through the crowd. Menelik and Ashlinn felt a bit ... left out by the conversation so far. Perhaps the Nekovalkyrja were so unused to talking with friendly strangers that they were talking to each other instead, with their others as an audience. They were perhaps too busy speculating with each other to lead the two soldiers down a garden path with conversation - and six practically naked Nekovalkyrja versus two well armed powered armours in close quarters would've been a bloodbath - for the Neko anyway.

Downstairs meanwhile, Er'red could see on the other side of the roller door through the wind holes in the slats that whoever had gotten in and shut the door behind them before had stopped and turned around. They put the sack down on the ground, mindful that the contents didn't spill out and approached the gates.

"Bird... fruit?" They asked, in mangled Ly'thir as they passed Er'red a strange looking duq. It felt like one in his hands, had the same feel, but it felt a lot hardier, like the ones cultivated in Northern climates. "Is ... goon? Good. Iie, wakarimasen..." They mumbled in the Mishhu dialect of Yamatai-go for a bit, tutting themselves as they walked over to the side. "Come in man. Ash-Lin and Man-lick say friend."

Their Ly'thir really needed work, but on a planet like this, a correspondence course wasn't within reach in these sorts of conditions, but Er'red could hear the garage doors starting to rattle open as the motor did its work.


Meanwhile, deer grazed near Mirage's fallen mecha, one of the cervine creatures sniffing at her hull curiously before turning around to chew on some grass poking through the cracks in the street. Was there a zoo, or were deer popular pets on this planet? Must've been the latter, knowing the Yamataians. She also saw in the window of a shop a release poster for a new Aoi Tanaka and Take the Lead album ... well, new if it was YE34 had been released, and the interior of the store was full of media and entertainment discs. Games, movies, music, television shows, a snapshot of Jiyuuian culture caught in time.

Maybe someone could snag a handful of things on the way out and take it back. Perhaps a cultural snapshot was just as valuable as discerning whether or not this planet was safe to recolonise. My'ean could see over the snowstorm that it wouldn't last for much longer, or at least slow down a bit to make flight and recon a little easier.

Second Floor Shenanigans

Not taking any chances and figuring it was in the best interest of the newcomer descending the stairs, Akemi fired a shot where he expected the person's groin to be. If it missed he'd keep shooting until he hit once. If it appeared the person's waist wasn't armored he would set his weapon to the weakest stun setting, if not he'd use the one intended for Nekovalkyrja. "Everyone don't freak out! We come in peace to rescue you! We're Lorath, Yamataian and Nepleslian military! I will stun you if you don't behave!" As the soldier spoke he moved to take cover behind the closet desk.

Stair-takers

Knight noticed the pistolero badguy, but he did not want to be the first one to fire off. Good guys don't fire first. So he kept the salvaged shotgun ready, but did not fire right away.

"Drop it son," Kind shouted at the gun man and did a quick sidestep. He wanted to get himself between the bandit and Porrim. Unlike the lorath woman, he was a sturdy robot. It would take more then few rounds from pistols to take him down. Or a sharpshooter. Still Knight doubted that the man was a very good shot. If he was, he would not be using two pistols.

Still that was not all that Knight did, he might not want to fire his gun, but that did not mean he would be just standing there. There were tables, who made pretty good cover, but he did not care for cover. Instead keeping the shotgun in one hand, he grabbed nearest table with his free one and in one swing using his robotic strength tossed it at the armed scumbag.

Er'red's Group, Man-Lick and Ashe'Lin's Gettin' Cozy with the locals.

Ash had her helmet off by now, and had even tossed a powered armor arm around Akihiko's shoulder, a lopsided lazy grin on her face before she separated from the other cat and dropped into a chair next to 'Man-Lick' and grinned, "And here you thought I was gonna do something dumb." She had heard Er'red's orders and had proceeded to take her helmet off and let her hair down, if they were stuck inside, she certainly wasn't going to pass up a chance to get nice and cozy as she glanced at their 'nearly naked in comparison' housemates as they chattered away, "Yeahh... the NMX kinda lost, Sorry, to be the bearers of bad news." she'd nudge Menelik, "Other than that 'We eat the people who have tried to kill us bit' They're not so bad. And This place is pretty Cozy." she'd nod decisively as the other Neko's chattered away, then a thought occured to her, "I'm more worried about how everyone else is gonna react to them...." concern touched her voice as she realized not everyone might be keen on a group of Former NMX seeking help from them. "Given all the bad blood and all." she could have been a Neppie for all the lack of filter she apparently had.

Porrim's Team, Collision

As Akemi's message sowed confusion in front, Aran'ya seized her opportunity to reach for the blue-haired woman's firearm -- a good smack to the head with her own weapon's stock would have easily did the trick to remove the threat she posed quickly and quietly. Her plan was something she had practiced often... unfortunately, the martial artist did not see the hand reach from below until she had already extended herself into the hold. There was a definite momentary scream as she was dragged into the hole in the floor together with the woman...

The best she could do in that split-second of tumbling was to ensure she fell down behind the attacker, bringing her weight down upon them a lot more roughly and noisily than the stealthy L'manel would have liked. With a dazed grunt, Aran'ya's instincts kicked in and she rolled off of them into a semi-crouch, quickly kicking the Styrling a fair distance away so that the blue-haired jailor could not reach for it, just in case she was still conscious after all that.

Widow tried to get her bearings in the dimly lit bathroom, shaking off some of the powder from broken tiles and glittery remains of the noise-maker trap, as her visuals were greeted by the sight of J'Ann standing there in his undergarments with a Ey'tis-in-the-headlights look on his face, along with a real angry and haggard looking specimen of Nepleslian Marine. "Did I catch you with your pants down, Hips?" the Trooper spoke to their dancer first in sarcastic Ly'thir, as there was no doubt a raised eyebrow and a little smile going along with it wondering if the two might have actually been enjoying each other's company. She then switched to Trade for the benefit of them both, "I'm here to bust you out."

The din of Porrim's communication buzzed in her ear, as she kept an eye on the Jiyuuian buried in the floor tiles and glanced up once. She transmitted back over radio, "J'Ann's here... a little under-dressed, but alive. Nepleslian Marine with him, and not too happy about it."

Apartment Building, Elm’s Little Adventure

With nothing else to do, Ghost decided to take a seat on the arm of one of the vacant armchairs, following them into the other room and settling in to wait with the refugees whom, frustratingly, she could only understand, but not speak to.

Ghost accepted their hospitality without comment after viewing their conversation on her cloth display. It rankled her tail that she only understood these people because of the Cat, and she would need to thank him later for his translation services—however automatic they might be—but she still made a mental note to find out whether or not she could get her own translator. Or, better yet, learn another language.

COULD she learn another language?

Well, why not?

Quietly, she stated over the communication she shared with Porrim’s group, “Um. So, they don’t seem very hostile to me. I am going to stop streaming now. It looks like they know Knight.”

Then, she looked back up at the few Yamatians in the room, listening to them and watching them in polite, still, and expectant silence.

Er'reds Group

Er'red's eyes followed the roller door back up, when he looked down a curious looking neko handed him the oddly shaped duq. He stared at it in his palm, thumbing the hard and shriveled fruit in his hand. As the neko turned away to lead them deeper into the compound the fruit was quickly tossed over one shoulder, bouncing off the top of Jiji's head and into the snow.

He tapped his ear and got on the radio to the captain. "Ma'am. We've made contact with the locals in the carpark, They're nekovalkyrja, NMX in origin. They appear to be peaceful. We will report in again when I've found out more."

Following their guide inside Er'red surveyed the room as they walked up the ramp to the living quarters, masked face turning from one side to the other before coming to rest on Menelik.

"Private Berhane." Er'red's voice made the blizzard out seem positively inviting. "I am your superior officer. You will SALUTE WHEN I ARRIVE!"

Er'reds Group

"I actually think I can kinda understand the whole 'eat people who try to kill us' thing." Menelik started, with a shrug. "I mean, they used to be NMX, and we know that the squids had no problems eating prisoners and treating them and their soldiers like crap. So I guess they don't see anything wrong with eating their dead enemies- especially with how scarce food's gotta be around here. Maybe they see it as 'They'd do the same thing to us if they won'."


When the door rolled up and the rest of the team entered, Menelik had already started to stand but wasn't quite fast enough on the draw. He was miffed about it, sure, but Blackwolf had told him that dominance was an important thing to some lorath and that they could get weird when it seemed like they didn't have it. Or, like his gunny had once said about new officers: "They care more about being treated like an officer than actually doing the job, so just humor them and get it done".

Either way, Menelik snapped a salute to the medic and held back a comment. Mostly.

"They're more than just looking peaceful, they definitely look to want off this rock. And their leader is on her way down, so..." He shrugged. "Maybe use your inside voice when talking to her, Sir?

Er'red's group, Sniper Check, Sir!

Ashlinn nodded, she was listening to the conversation and Menelik at the same time and roughly following and agreeing with the flow of both conversations. It helped she didn't have pre-programmed biased opinions and could make up her own mind on the subject at hand based on the fact, you know... a blizzard was bad news bears no matter what species you were. In the end of it all she nodded agreement and grunted, "Survival of the Fittest, the dead don't have use of their meat and it keeps me alive, hmn? No complaints there, you look like you could feed me for a month." She flashed him a grin that was all teeth, as she tried to be humorous. And then Er'red arrived in a bad mood. She rose swiftly and came to a salute and gave him a wide smirk, "SNIPER CHECK SIR! ALL CLEAR!"

Er'reds Group Of Cannibal Apologetics

Er'red accepted the salutes with his own smartly, completely ignoring their hosts for the moment. Holding it for a full second before snapping his arm back to his side.

"As you were." He ordered, looking around and taking a comfortable seat on a milkcrate facing their hosts, sitting with his hands on his knees. Back straight, eyes ahead. Masked face unreadable.

"We will now discuss your surrender to the united forces DATA forces and your transportation off this planet. I care not stories of your barbarism."

Er'red pulled out his tactical manual and made a show of reading some of the pages on his lap. "Under the statues of war you will be provided security and basic needs for the duration of your stay on board our ship, and eventually be moved to Yamataian custody. You will be kept separated from other survivors from this planet, and you will be provided protection from any threat to your safety. Lor will also be protected from any accusation of neko trafficking or illicit activity and the circumstances of your surrender will be recorded."

Er'red closed the book gently and looked up at the lounging neko.

"In not so many words. It's easier for everyone if we treat you like prisoners of war rather than shipping you with others of the general population of this planet. Wouldn't you agree?"

In the thick of the storm

Ny'za heard Elm's message and since she herself could not do too much in the current situation inside with the captain's group she decided to turn her attention to Elm, ending her a message. "Maybe they speak trade? I can tell you some things to say in trade and we can try that. I can head that way but it might take a little bit with this snow." She worked the controls on the frame and turned it around and began to head in Elm's direction. "You can tell them this, and stream me their reply." She cleared her throat to make sure her voice came through clearly so Elm could hear every syllable.

"Do you speak trade?" The words were in trade, and there was a slight accent to it, but it was obviously well practiced and very clear.

Tange IV, Misato City, Near the Super Awesome Positivity Group, Brand New Snow Drift

As she lay in the 'downed' Whirlwind, Mirage made certain that her out-going comms were offline before heaving a sigh, or at least heaving a sigh as best she could with her lungs full of oxygenated fluid. Her group was a bit of a mess, and being a lowly grunt she didn't have the influence to improve things. As such it was her duty to keep an eye out and make sure that the strutting within the ex-NMX Nekovalkyrja compound went on without any external interference. Though from what her sensors reported, the only interference locally were deer, and a well preserved storefront display dating back three years.

With her broad spectrum of sensors reporting nothing but snow, cute woodland animals, and friendlies in the area, Mirage found herself with little to do but listen in on the bickering in the car park. Sarn-Hei, and Private Berhane seemed to be overly relaxed despite being on duty, and their vacationing attitude wasn't helping much. What was worse in her opinion was the display of insecurity made by their CO, as the Cadet started to needle his underlings on small transgressions instead of taking more tactful approaches to bring the rowdier elements of the crew in line.

In addition the overly friendly interactions, contrasting with the by the letter interpretation of the treaty terms was likely to make their ex-soldier hosts edgy and nervous, something that was going to cause more than a little stir she suspected. Still the Cadet hadn't made any orders that overtly threatened the safety of the squad, and thus it was her duty as a subordinate to toe the line for the moment. Even with her good behaviour Mirage couldn't help but wonder what the command staff of the Val'ta's expedition were going to say after they reviewed the logs of the situation.

Aran'ya said:

There was a definite momentary scream as she was dragged into the hole in the floor together with the woman...

Click to expand...

This definitely gave pause to him - as much pause as possible for someone pulling down not just "Fuckface Captor #1" but some other unidentified individual. Attempting to pull his jailor downward and to the "side" of his body to let them land on the ground beside him, he was in the process treated to a flash of blue hair and the startling presence of some armored individual falling on top of his captor.

Standing at the side of this pile of individuals, the former Corporal had his fists raised in anticipation that he just pulled down another one of his captors. However his demeanor changed slightly as the unidentified armored individual kicked his captor's gun to the side. spoke to his fellow captive in some language that indicated a form of familiarity, and spoke to him in Trade.

"Fuckin' about time." Ran immediately made a steady advance towards the discarded Longbolt, operating the mechanism more forcefully to eject the single brass casing. Assuming his captor didn't just carry around a single shot rifle with one piece of ammunition, Ran slung the rifle over his back and made his way to the unconscious captor.

"What outfit are you with?" Ran asked, as he nonchalantly started undoing the pants of this female jailer instead of just inspecting her pockets. Rooting through the pockets for any ammunition, Ran would eventually hand the pants to J'ann. "Please put these on."

Porrim's Group, Wham Bam Thank You Ma'am
The dual-wielding man didn't behave, and incurred the wrath of both Knight and Akemi, who had eyes on them. They charged down the stairs, and - showing more civilian stripes - were not looking towards where they intended to shoot, looking at the hole in the floor their partner was supposed to be. Porrim took this as a signal to leap to cover instead of staying solely behind Knight. They looked towards Knight first and started firing one pistol, and aimed their other pistol in Akemi's general direction and kept pulling the trigger.

Needless to say, while lead was flying through the air, he was hitting a whole lot of nothing aside from the walls, the floors, the desks. The only reason he'd hit any of his intended targets would be an accident. Knight felt a bullet hit him in the shoulder as he was grabbing the desk and heaving.

The first of Akemi's shots went wide, but the second one connected. The only way it could've been more on point is if a loud 'ding' noise was heard when the stunning scalar hit the man's groin. Then a desk and office appliances sailed towards them, falling short of the collision Knight intended, but catching the bandit's fall, pistols falling ahead of the desk and towards the floor as he convulsed, reaching for his groin.

Another pair of footsteps could be heard coming from upstairs, screaming obscenities before tripping over something and landing facefirst onto the desk Knight had thrown, laying beside the bandit nursing his privates and moaning in pain.

Porrim eyed around her cover, looking over to Akemi and giving him a thumbs up for good shooting, and motioning for him to get further inside, and Knight to move up to apprehend the new arrival and watch the stairs as she, in a low crouch, moved towards the hole in the floor, pistol up and looking behind the staircase and sweeping one hundred and eighty degrees to her right as she approached the hole.

Ran's inspection of the rifle, and the pants-pilfering manoeuvre yielded seven rounds for the Styrling, in a loose configuration. If they were loose, and it looked as though the magazine wasn't able to be removed, so it was loaded one by one, or perhaps stripper clipped in somehow, judging by four of his bullets being on a Stripper clip. This rifle was really screwed with, or perhaps made that way for hunting. Then, a rope fell down into the hole, the end landing with a plop on the tiles.

"Aran'ya, here's a line." She said, looking into the hole, and spotting J'ann soon after, "oh my goodness cover yourself~" she pointed at him with a leery grin before noticing the green beret, blinking and looking over to Aran'ya quizzically. "Who's that?" She paid no mind to the de-pantsed raider - their booty game was weaksauce.

J'ann's new new pair of pants, however, looked like they'd fit him quite fine assuming the pants ended just below the hip and baring his midriff. Porrim meanwhile implored Knight and Akemi to keep watch as she held the stone thread rope tight. She saw fit to contact her second in command for this expedition. "Er'red, its Porrim. J'ann's been rescued. How are things going on your end?"


Elm's Little Adventure
The kettle was poured into a pair of plastic cups, the inside of each were freeze-dried noodles, flavour crystals, and dried vegetables. Then, the remaining water was poured into a ceramic cup with a teabag at the bottom. The kettle itself was quite large, a little larger than the average. He sat down on a frayed couch with a creak in the middle with the two cups in hand. One cup was passed to Elm, and an unfolded plastic fork fork. Norio the other one, while smaller businessman Akira sat down next to him with a fork of his own.

"You won't mind if we share the tea, will you?" Akira asked as he placed the cup down on a former cable spool, repurposed into a coffee table with some cardboard over the hole in the middle. "You can have the first sip," he said sliding the cup closer to the white Helashio. The helashio didn't recognise the sort of herb in the brew but it was popular amongst Yamataians for breakfast.

They shared a cup together while Momoko was looked outside, pulling a curtain. "Hm, looks like the storm's beginning to slow down." She pointed out as she looked at Ny'za's mecha coming closer to the building, before hearing a knock on the apartment door. Standing there with a leg-length shotgun holster and a lever action shotgun, plump across the waist and fat in the cheeks with short blonde hair was Eric Trevors. Former gunsmith, with a sack of armament in his hands and over his back. "Eric, what brings you here?"

"Guys - there's something lurking in the woods at Knight's, saw it on the thermo just now." He explained, voice gruff as he cast his eye over the others and spotted the unfamiliar white hair. "Who's that?" He asked, placing the sack by his side and rested it on the floor.

Momoko blinked, looking towards the snow white Helashio, back to Trevors and saying "Elm. They're part of those Lorath shuttles I saw coming down with the mecha - one's outside, I think we're being rescued."

"That so?" Trevors said, looking about the room, grimacing and looking at the floor. "Huh. About time," he mumbled tersely before walking into the middle of the apartment and taking a seat across from the two Yamataian men, and to Elm's left. "Knight's coming too, we have to check on him. What's this about a mecha?"

"Do you speak Trade?" Ny'za asked.

Trevors looked out the window, then raised his eyebrow. "Do I!?" He answered quizzically, looking out the window. Elm noticed Akira lean forward and narrow his lips as Trevors got closer to Momoko. "Well. What gives? We being rescued?"


Er'red's Group, We Don't Need No Stinking Badgers
The leader of the rag-tag bunch was considering what Er'red said, but was quick to figure that there was contention between the three disparate elements working together. Well, sort of working. "But war's over." She said. "Better still, our master probably dead or devoured for failure."

"Ya. They punish failure quick and swift, Yamataians just get desk jobs for not killing," Maya pointed out, as Inoue made mock spooky noises. Well, that was all she knew thanks to NMX propaganda.

Emriella stood up and pointed out a porthole. "Oh, look!" She called out. "Blizzard's clearing up!" The storm outside looked like it was starting to thin out, but in its wake, a fog had descended over Misato City now... The Nekovalkyrja all smiled, all six of them, even Vee, who'd come up to see what was going on had the corner of one of their lips turn a little.

After the thrill had passed, they looked between Er'red, Menelik, and Ashlinn, six pairs of cats eyes looking over to Er'red coldly. Akihiko was about to speak up, summoning boisterousness, but Vee seemed to hover over to Akihiko and put a finger over their mouth. The black-haired Neko who interrupted her spoke up, softly.

"If we go as Prisoners, we'll most likely be separated and given new identities, and blocked from contacting each other." She said, lacking the stutters and tics of her sisters, and scowling a little at what she used to do, monitoring what happened to Yamataian POWs. "We want each other's company. The one thing we fear more than death is being separated. Its happened to POWs of Yamatai." She scowled. "We were, well, mindless as, well, pro-Yamatai propaganda at first - but living here made us think for ourselves."

Akihiko, Maya, Emirella, Inoue, and Webber had no idea what Vee just said, but they felt she said it best. "Can you guarantee we won't be separated, if we do come along, however you please? We'll even go as Nepleslian Prisoners of War instead." She put her hands on her hips, and looked at the ground, mumbling, "hell, put us in vacuum beds even, crazy perverted birds." Maybe that was anti-Lorath, NMX made propaganda.

"Vee?!" Akihiko boggled. "That's so ... dirty!"

Meanwhile, Er'red heard a message in his ear: "Er'red, its Porrim. J'ann's been rescued. How are things going on your end?"

"Ya...!"


Mirage, meanwhile, was watching and waiting, and her view was much clearer now that the blizzard had passed. Sensor range had just come back... and My'ean could see one of her frames lying on the ground, while another appeared to be talking to a building, and Porrim's company was indoors away from the farm suddenly.

Needless to say after the mission My'ean had some serious questions to ask Porrim regarding her style of management.

Er'red's Group, We Don't Need No Stinking Badgers

Menelik was a marine, and he knew his duty. That meant he should've been okay with sitting back and following Er'red's orders, even if he disliked the medic's attitude. And from a certain point of view, what he had said made sense regarding these people. And even if he didn't like it, he didn't have any choice in the matter. It was for the best that they go with Er'red's plan, even if it meant they got split up. It couldn't be helped, could it? So Mene'd sat by and quietly listened to the conversation, soaking it in.

"I don't think we can guarantee anything like not splitting you up if you're POWs. So I say Fuck it." Menelik said suddenly, the curse a bit harsh and fumbled as it came out of his mouth and was amplified by his Hostile. 'It's for the best'. 'It can't be helped'. He absolutely hated those sayings, always used whenever someone didn't want to take a risk and do the right thing because of something unimportant holding them back. It felt like cowardice for Menelik to quietly sit by and not do anything here just because 'it might rock the boat'.

"The war's over, and its been over for about four years give or take. You haven't been here, fighting it still, and I damn well don't think we should treat you like an enemy: not after your hospitality and patience." The man in the bulky, warlike armor stood and crossed the room, to stand with the six women, the monoeye glowing a dull red at Er'red.

"Sir, if the only way you can think of the rescue them is to take them captive over a war that's over, then I can't follow your orders. We came here to save them, not put them in chains because of who they used to be slaves of."

Er'reds Group of Forever Privates

Er'reds masked face coldly appraised the warmachine staring at him, not moving from his seat, but raising one leg atop the other as though relaxing. The head turned back to the sitting neko, everyone else was probably very still by now as well.

"I'm unaware of any such polices in Yamatai's rehabilitation program. I would think support groups would be encouraged while integrating into their society. As for the vacuum-beds, I don't, uh, think we have anything like that on board. Santo-hei, please tell us what you know about such matters? The yamataians, not the vac-beds please."

The mask then tilted back up lazily towards Menelik, cloth meeting cyclopian eye. Internally Er'red was contemplating the usefullness of vac-beds for limiting the damage caused by stupid Privates without enough blood to run both their brains at once, but put that aside to focus on the matter at hand.

"The adults are still talking, Private. Now, you have about ten seconds before I have to answer a very important call from the Captain and tell her what is happening, and if you have not sat down or gone outside to cool off by then, it may be better for you to not return to the ship at all, for your own sake."

Even as he spoke, the young cadets hand slowly approached his ear, hovering a few inches away. Menelik may not fear Er'reds wrath, but the Captain getting wind of such happenings could be devastating for Menelik, and not just on his career either.

Porrim's Group
Before going anywhere Akemi decided to call out to whoever was left upstairs while staying behind cover. "Well now we've caught three of your people and aren't killing them! Are you guys going to be nice and come out and surrender so we can help you live or get off this planet?"

Ashlinn, The Female Roger Smith, Negotiator.

Ash blinked, everything happened fast enough that she had to marvel at how they weren't shooting at one another, yet. She did, however, raise to stand up and carefully pivot enough that she could use the giant ass shield attached to her left arm to stop any rounds that might fly towards Er'red. What she really didn't want to have was a power armored boxing match with Man-Lick. So in the interests of keeping it all from going ploin shaped she cleared her throat, "If.." she licked her lips and found her throat suddenly dry before she cleared her throat once more and figured now might be a good time to prove to everyone she wasn't unstable and out of her gourd, "Given that the war's been over for four years, and they've been peacefully living here, which we've yet to see any evidence to the contrary, and Given how far they're willing to make it known they want no trouble, I'm willing to go so far as to say we take them back as Refugee's, Not as P.O.W's. Not saying that just to avoid the potential gunfight and boxing match between myself and Man-Lick over there." She managed a grin, if just barely as she tried to get a little crack at humor going to diffuse the situation.

Looking towards the Former-NMX neko's she'd spread her hands carefully and level, no weapons there, "Counseling, Education, Integration... They're not mindless malignant slaves of chaos anymore. I..can work with them while they're onboard, and offer to help with their counseling." Perhaps she should have picked Medical with a side order of morale officer. She'd look towards Er'red, "Claiming them as POW's... uh, might give everyone the wrong idea about the Val'ta's overall mission, Sir..." Her tone pretty much summed it all up, It was his call. Her eye's however were focused on Menelik as she mentally said a quick prayer to her ancestors... whoever they might be.