P
Perilous Siege
The Pumpkin Eater
Aashi stood outside of the hatch, with a hand over her eyes as she waited for the first to arrive for their little field trip off of 188604 to retrieve the medical ship Uso had bought. What was going to make it interesting was yet to be revealed to all those coming aboard. But come aboard they were about to be doing.
One not so little black haired Neko quickly flew over to join the trip. He stopped and landed right in front of Aashi, giving her a little smile of anticipation. "Hey buddy, who's all coming?" Maybe he'd get another hug like he did when he hopped on her ship last time to grab the Spacer stuff.
Aashi replied coolly with no intent to hug, "An assortment of Uso's finest, of course. Yourself included, I'm assuming?"
"Yup." Akemi reached forward and tried to give the slender Iroma a quick embrace in order to train her to be more like Sammy. "As long as I get to meet new people. I gotta catch up on who's who."
Aashi, a little taken by the short hug, was moderately pleased with the Neko and was willing to forgive the things that had happened between their last hug and this one, smiling softly and patted the top of Akemi's black-haired head, as she would do to any type of cat. "Thanks, again," she said, always open to consider what others had done for her. Akemi had certainly done quite a bit.
Akemi immediately began purring at the pats and pushed into them, thrusting the sides of his face at Aashi's hand. "Don't mention it."
Rubi on the other hand, was less than pleased. Her first attempt to get over her fear of heights ended with her trying figure how space-ships and the searing urge to shock the hell out of Ronin. Now she had to get back into the giant flying box again to get another flying box with medical supplies. She looked up at the ship as approached the two figures out by the hatch. "This is still the Pumpkin Eater, right?"
"Really? Someone named this thing the pumpkin eater? I mean...I guess it's not exactly a battleship, so it carries about the correct amount of gravitas. Still." A figure coming up to 5'6", body obscured by a standard issue Armored Origin Pilot Suit and with a face obscured by a tinted visor, came up right behind her, head swiveling back and forth to take in his surroundings. "Don't really see Ronin around. You guys are here to help the old man on his supply run, right?"
Aashi nodded dubiously, not knowing if he would show or keep himself in the clear and out of harm's way by sticking this one out. She said to the approaching suited up boy, "The Pumpkin Eater is her name and she'll put you to shame, kid. Are you a part of Uso's crew or..." she trailed off, letting him interject.
Upon hearing another female voice Akemi instantly turned to ascertain its source and zipped over to Rubi. "Hey, my name's Koga Akemi," he said, his eyes alight with interest as if he was a cat eyeing a canary. "You look neato. What's your story?"
Rubi looked down at the little human-looking cat thing then up to the more authoritative looking one with horns. "Yeah, I'm with Uso for the most part. Though I answer more to Raph than her..." She said, trying not to make eye contact with the little cat... thing eyeing her up.
"Well, I guess for a cargo ship two dozen banks of dual plasma arrays is nothing to sneeze up. And yeah, I'm one of Uso's new recruits." The young man appraised each ot the current occupants, which we're a bit of a strange group. He didn't expect to see an Iroma this far out of the Astral Cluster, and he wasn't sure if having an actual Nekovalkyrja on board should be more or less surprising. Then there was the cowgirl wearing full on riot gear like she was expecting to storm the place. "Raph? Can't say I ever heard of the dude before. He a big name around here?"
"A big name, indeed," Aashi said, speaking for Rubi. "You work for Raphael? The space angel isn't too bad, at all. You must know Cyrus and Ulysses, too. Any friend of theirs is a friend of mine. Come on, let me show you in." She ducked through the hatch, avoiding scraping her horns on the top of the opening, and made her way towards the bridge. "If anyone wants to go to the crew lounge or passenger lounge, they can be found down either that hallway," she said pointing, then walked a bit further. "Or that one. Otherwise, follow me to the bridge."
"Gosh, what a greeting," the space kitten said, not actually sounding offended. "Can't I at least get your name? What about a friendly shake?" After his second question he thrust the side of his head forward and wiggled a slender, silky smooth ear at Rubi.
"I know Cyrus somewhat but no idea who Ulysses is. Been a little busy the past few weeks with everyone coming and going." Rubi talked as she followed after Aashi. "Also the name's Rubi and..." she spun around on her heel and thrusted her taser in Akemi's direction. "Don't get snippy at me. Last person who did got the business end of this."
"Whatever Trevor," Akemi replied unimpressed as he swiftly drew his black NSP and pointed it at the bounty hunter while making his way into the ship. "I've got this. The last chick that got snippy with me pulled out a sick looking super sword and blocked all my shots with it but it's way better than whatever you're packing."
"Huh, do we really get to tase anyone who annoys us out here or is that a perk for working for Raph kind of thing? Gotta say, if so this is going to make this job a whole lot less stressful." He swiveled his head to glance at Akemi for a moment before following that up with. "To be fair, threatening a Nekovalkyrja without wearing power armor seems a tad hazardous to your health. Might want to pick the targets better, all I'm saying."
"Just ignore her... and keep a gun on you to make sure she can't get too close. Or just wait until we're nice and high up in the air and she turns into a mess."
Ronin had finally arrived, the man wearing his coat and looking actually somewhat presentable for once. Even if he had been the one to normally try and look however he pleased, the man's mohawk had even been reigned in a bit to a more stable streak rather than a mess of spikes. All-in-all, it made him actually look like a more military-esque individual... barring the still-present dye. Uso had tried to express the importance of getting this medical ship clearly and it hadn't been missed. Medical issues on a planet like this were too great to turn a blind-eye to.
"Ugh... another cat I can't smoke around? Maybe I should make you pay me like Uso... good day to you, though, Aashi."
"Good day," Aashi replied with a smile to him, surveying his face for any scarring and breathing out a thankful sigh when she noticed none.
"Nah, you guys can smoke all you want around me," Akemi replied speedily in an awful casual manner despite currently having his gun pointed at a formidable looking mystery woman who had just menaced him. "I don't care. It'll actually make me happy if you do."
"Yo, old man, nice to see you decided to show up." He turned as soon as he heard the voice, sizing up the rather...punkish looking figure despite his attempt at looking a bit more conventional. "As you can see, within the first 45 seconds we already have someone pointing a gun at someone else. Real A-Team you're putting me on here."
"We're happy to have a voice of reason..." Aashi jokingly said to the kid, then asked, "What is your name?"
"Hmm?" Was his first response, having almost forgotten he was here in the midst of a potential firefight breaking out. "Guess you can call me Jason. I'm the pilot of the M5 they brought in a few days ago."
"Jason, huh? I'll call you Jace. If you're a pilot, you better be an ace one and the name's only suiting" Aashi said as she sat down in the pilot's chair and began turning systems onto operational. "Let's get this operation going. We're picking up a med ship and getting it back to 188604. Who's going to pilot it from where it is now to where it needs to go once I get us there? I'm planning on bringing the Pumpkin Eater back here, myself."
Far behind the group, Arccos boards the Pumpkin Eater, alone. Dressed more warmly than normally, and bearing a hefty briefcase full of mysterious wares. Wandering off into the ship's guts to find her own little nook to huddle in for the journey.
Following along, Ronin decided to take his time moving to the Captain's chair. It was a bit of a jab at Aashi, probably, but the man leaned back into it and didn't bother trying to handle any controls.
"If someone has to pilot it, I guess I could for once. I've been hanging around the outskirts enough that I might land it out there instead of at the runway. But let's worry about getting there and getting it first... who flies it won't matter until then."
Gravtion engines were engaged and the landing gear folded into the support deck as the Pumpkin Eater lifted off. The passengers, or crew as they would more aptly be called, all felt the movement of the ship as it lifted off and Aashi threw thrusters on, slowly building up until they were at a maximum and overrode controls to avoid hitting a speed wall. The momentum meant she could decrease thrust as they got further away from the planet. At a few thousand meters up in altitude, she kicked on the hydrothrusters and moved the speed up before it had time to stall out on them. She got the ship out of atmosphere and on level with the hillsphere they were attempting to overcome. With Turbo Plasma Drive engaged, they began that journey.
Akemi naturally tried to take a seat beside Rubi regardless of how unwise that was. The Neko was perfectly content to have the two of them pointing their weapons at each other the entire trip.
Somewhere in the ship's many cargo holds and crew quarters, Arccos settled in to a corner. Putting her feet up on her mystery briefcase, and booting up her library of mindware entertainment to keep herself busy. Everything nice and quiet...
Crew Lounge
Rubi decided to hold up in the lounge for the flight off planet like last. And probably like last time, she was doing anything but lounging as the ship was taking off. She seemed to curl in the ball in her seat as she felt like everything around her was shaking, beads of sweat running down her face at the overhwelming feeling that something was going to explode next to her.
"Awww. Come on buddy. Relax," Akemi said as he watched Rubi freak out. "I served for years on spaceships. Just grab my hand or something if you'd like. Also, please tell me something you'd like to see that you'd find calming." The Neko then framed his chest with his hands and began displaying images of countless different types of flowers on it using his volumetric ability, slowly shifting from one picture to another.
Jason wasn't exactly prone to dealing with anxiety attacks considering the spartan conditions of his upbringing. Any subjects that had to deal with that sort of thing must have either had either had it 'corrected' or disposed up under the absurd aping of darwinism that the SSI rules tended to be. Taking a seat across from the two, he leaned in to examine her. "What's wrong with her? Some sort of like...adverse reaction to gravimetrics?"
The little neko next to her wasn't putting her at any ease. She almost wanted to reach over and hit him with the trusty taser, but the moment images started appearing across his chest had her jumping out of her seat. "WHAT THE FUCKING HELL IS THAT? THAT IS NOT NORMAL. STOP."
Akemi switched to videos of kittens doing cute things. "Buddy, I've got pointy ears. Pretend I'm an elf wizard or something. I can show you all sorts of nice stuff. Just tell me what you'd like to see."
"Oh for fucks sake." Jason stood up straight as soon as she started shouting, her overreacton clearly him the hell out. "I'm going to go raid the med bay, see if I can find any tranquilizers. Be right back. Maybe do the opposite of what you're doing at the moment while I'm gone." Quickly, Jason found himself making his way out of the room with directions fed into his mindware.
Rubi waved her taser at Akemi is if he was fly with the ability project images for some reason. "BACK. STAY BACK. TOO MUCH TO HANDLE RIGHT NOW."
"Bitch I'm a fucking wizard," Akemi replied dismissively with a very incredulous expression. "I do what I want. Calm your ass and feast your eyes on soothing things." He moved on to playful puppies.
"This is why I don't let him know where I'm sitting." Arccos' voice drifted from a nearby speaker in the lounge. "Just shoot him, Rubi. No one would convict you for it."
"Personally I'm going to go with my offical advice being don't blow the dude's brains out. I don't want her freaking out more and deciding she likes the idea of coming back here and taking me out too." Another voice drifted through the intercoms, Jason clearly having used his mindware to interface with some of the ships unrestricted systems.
"I love you too Arccos!" Akemi happily exclaimed. He chuckled a bit, absolutely loving how things were going. "I'm really glad you came! I swear I'm only trying to help her."
Rubi only heard the words "Shoot him" amongst the internal alarms going off in her head from being a flying bullet shooting throw space as Ronin put it. She scrambled to unsling the IAW from her back, bringing it up to face Akemi. "STOOOOOOPPPP."
The Neko immediately stopped mind fucking the fragile female. "Fine then you big bully. You happy now? No more cute animals for you or Jason."
"Do it, Rubi." Arccos' voice once more drifted through the room. "No one will miss him. You'll be leaving the universe a better place."
"Shitshitshitshitshitshi-" A stream of curses was all that he could come up with as he sprinted back through the corridors. Coming back in the way he gave carry a handful of different pill bottles. "Hey, uh, not that I'm saying that listening to disembodied voices telling you to murder people hasn't been a real successful plan for a lot people, but maybe let's all try and calm down. I got some uh...." Jason finally checked the labels, eyes glazing off the most useless array he had gotten in a near panic. "Well, one of these says it's for...stress?"
The little star man couldn't help but smile wide despite his dire predicament. "Keep that shit up Arccos and I swear I will haunt your ass assuming we actually have souls tied to our bodies." When Akemi heard Jason offer medication he almost instantly rejected the idea. "Hey hey hey. Why give her pills? That's the easy way out. Let her confront this head on."
"I agree. Very easy way out, specially for me.Not quite as easy as the way out she's been threatening you with, but good enough." The young man sauntered over back towards the two, still acknowledging she had a gun out but making sure to have his steps seem cautious and deliberate. "Maybe this will calm you down, huh Rubi?"
Akemi had to make a crack at the lovely lady's name. "Oh, oh, now he's calling you Ruby because he thinks you're a fuckin' rube and you can't handle getting over a little space fright by yourself. Shoot that asshole not me."
Rubi's hearing eventually began to go out as her ears popped and everything started to get to her. Jace and Akemi's talking sounded like they were underwater and the disemodied still seemed to offer the best suggestion at the time. The rifle began switching between aiming at Akemi to Jace. She felt her finger tighten the trigger before squeezing it in Akemi's direction, firing wildly towards him.
Seeing her start switching the rifle to target him every few seconds instead, Jason immediately dropped the pill bottles and began to slowly back up towards the exit one more, before sprinting out as soon as she began to unload her rifle. Unfortunately given he was in the same direction as her target and the general lack of precision in her shooting meant he caught a stray bullet. Just as as he almost passed through the door, a shell ripped into the middle and index finger of his left hand and tore them off, causing Jason to slide to the ground in pain with a cry of "Fuuuuuckkkkkkkkkk-" at the top of his longs as he clutched the wound.
"Good gravy!" Akemi cried as he ducked low and slid out of his chair while whipping out his NSP and taking aim to shoot at whatever piece of exposed or lightly covered skin he could quickly find. His weapon of course was only set on the lowest stun setting given his eternally gracious nature.
The shot managed to hit inbetween a couple of plates along her thigh, causing her let a mix of a yelp and a grunt. While it was a low setting shock, she herself had never been tased and proceeded to panic even more as she felt most of her joints suddenly stiffen. The recoil from the started pushing her back as the shots more wild ever. With the weight armor and recoil of the gun, she fell backwards into screaming and somewhat twitching mess.
As gunfire went to screaming, and the full automatic fire puttered down to a series of clicks from a depleted magazine, Arccos' voice crackled in over a bullet-dented speaker. "While I admit that this woman is now my favorite person for trying, I'm guessing I'm out of luck and everyone but Akemi's been shot..."
Akemi pounced on Rubi to seize her gun and toss it away. "That's right you fuckin' monster!" He then picked up Rubi by her armor to sit the woman up and started trying to remove the vest. "I still love you though. That was fuckin' intense."
The screaming started to die down to a low, painful seething coming from the hallway and soon after the intercoms, perhaps bringin tot he attention of anyone with eyes in the room towards the doorway splattered with blood. "I fucking hate you. But...fuck, yeah, you got me fucking shot, bitch. I think I lost oh-god fucking damn it, two fucking fingers."
"Rub some dirt on it." Arccos crackled again, flippantly. "I'll get you some new and better ones when we get to port. And don't call Rubi a bitch, she's great."
Laying on her Rubi, felt some calm for a few moments before she felt herself get jerked back with Akemi in full view. As soon he started fiddling with her armor, she tried to push him back. "BACK! STAY BACK!"
"Fuck you buddy," Akemi shot back softly as he continued to try to work the armor off. "I'll get you out of this shit and then you'll relax better."
"Oh for fucks sake-yeah you know what please, antagonise her something fucking more. Blow his brains out RUbi, I don't give a shit anymore." The voicen't having any echo effect, Jason clearly having moved further into the ship.
"Dude, you are getting the best fingers I can find..." Arccos laughed, as whoever this guy was joined her on the hate train.
"I WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT!" Rubi yelled as she quickly grasped the taser from her belt before bringing it crackling up to Akemi's side, no longer caring if she gets puked on again.
When the taser collided with Akemi's body he didn't even make a noise given how much of a sudden shock it was. He simply reflexively pushed off her as hard as he could with his gravity control to get away from it. "Come on man, we made the disembodied laugh," the Neko slowly said as he lay slumped against the foot of a seat twitching. "Didn't that make all this worth it?"
"Rubi, we should hang out." Arccos said plainly, voice still crackling over the speaker. "When we get to New Belfast, I'm buying you whatever meal is appropriate for the local time."
"Wonder how much it costs to put cyanide in that shit these days." Jason's still obviously pained, but at least more subdued voice came through. "Is she still berserk, because I forgot to lock the door and I swear if she comes barrelling through here i'm blowing her head off. As soon I find where you keep the damn guns are in this place."
Rubi didn't want to wait around for Akemi to get closer to her again. She quickly scrambled her way to her feet and out the door, paying no mind to the twitching neko.
"Oh no you don't!" Akemi shouted as if he were catching a pet trying to get into something it shouldn't. He rose and limply floated after Rubi with his pistol at the ready. "I swear I will stun the shit out of you if you don't take off that armor and let me give you a hug. It's for your own good."
"Like hell you will!" Rubi whipped around and pointed one of the PIMPs she's gotten along with the armor. She didn't shoot but her finger was obvious a hair away from spraying more bullets towards Akemi. "Just fucking leave me alone!"
Akemi raised one hand and displayed its palm in a sign of caution while continuing to train his gun on Rubi with the other. "How many weapons do you have lady? You nearly killed two of us. Can't you just take it easy? I only want to help."
The sudden caution sign caused her to flinch, her fingerpulling a single shot that went wide from the neko. "STOP. YOU'RE NOT DOING A VERY GOOD JOB."
Figuring he might be freaking the chick out with his hovering the Neko lowered himself to take an upright stance with his feet on the floor. "Well tell me how I can do a good job. Can't we talk about something instead of you running away?"
As soon as Akemi's feet hit the ground, Rubi could visibly be seen calming down a little but still kept her gun trained on him. "Space. Just give me some space for now then we can bullshit about literally anything, alright?"
"Great," the elfin eared space wizard answered while staying nice and still. "So I'm guessing it's safe to assume you're a native of the planet we just left. I want you to know I haven't harmed any of you guys. I only recently set up there."
Rubi shrugged. "Hell if I know. There's been so many people moving in and out that I've lost count who's done what. Hell, I remember hearing someone was going trying to romance those creepy Osman nobles."
"Eww, who would ever do that?" Akemi emphatically replied as he scrunched up his face and cocked his head back as if repulsed by the idea. "You should totally come to the tavern I bought into called The Cockpit. I'll let you have all the free space drinks you want after this since you sure seem like you might want some after our trip back."
The prospect of drinking this entire nightmare of a trip away did seem fairly tempting to Rubi. "I'll uh, I'll consider it for now I guess..." she said, somewhat lowering her gun.
Akemi lowered his gun an equal amount. "Fantastic. You're going to find a huge variety of stuff if you go. There'll be plenty of entertainment and I bet you'll fit right in with the rest of the clientele given your outfit."
Rubi raised her gun. "I'm concerned on what you consider to be 'entertainment.'" She shuffled a couple steps away. "I'm just going to try and find a corner to get my bearings in... Please don't follow..."
Akemi crossed his arms and struck a pose of clear disappointment, one the bounty hunter would imagine someone's father making at them. "Buddy, even the people who work for the voice that told you to kill me like going there. That was just an ordinary person you didn't see boarding by the way. She must have gotten on after all of us."
"Well that's great." Rubi said as she shuffled away. "I mean I like Arccos and all but I don't exactly know who all works for her. and I don't really want to right now."
Bridge
Aashi turned to Ronin, "Nice to see you're all healed. Want me to turn on autopilot and we can get down to business?"
"Pft... business? You mean sitting around waiting for us to get there?"
"Waiting? Waiting is boring when you could be watching," she said, procuring a Nepleslian hit. "What do you say? Ready for a much less intense round two?"
Ronin was quiet from his spot in the captain's chair, taking a long moment before pulling free a cigarette and grumbling.
"Does Bick Digger have over a billion fans in his official fan-club?"
Aashi laughed out loud, throwing her head back for a moment before settling her eyes back on Ronin. "Live on the Farm is pretty good. Recent, too. Want to watch it?"
"I suppose that one will do... not like I plan for watching a movie. I just hope those kids don't set that woman off in there. She's outright scared of heights. Last time I got stuck with her, she couldn't even finish a smoke..."
Aashi comm'd in to the lounge and asked cheerily, not knowing even close to the full extent of the issues they were facing, "Any problems back there?"
Rolling his eyes, Ronin got up while lighting his cigarette before moving over to the chair and stood just behind and to the side of Aashi. Aashi's species' lungs did a particularly good job at filtering out toxins. Only a few times a year would they be overcome with minutes worth of coughing fits, in which globules of phlegm would be purged. Thankfully, this was not on Aashi's agenda for the day.
"Ignore them... worst case we'll just have to go in there and shoot someone to restore a bit of order. Wouldn't even need to kill them. They're young enough that if it was that Jason kid he'd probably get a cool scar to brag about..."
Aashi nodded to Ronin and set the movie up, languidly kicking her feet up on the console, eyeing her new ankle boots as she did. The wardrobe change she had recently undergone made her miss some parts of her old pirate life and she felt a pang of remorse at leaving her thigh-highs behind. All the same, she turned to him. "Got any cool scar stories?"
"One," Ronin said while moving to a nearby console to sit at a chair, "As I only got scarred once during all my time with the Star Army." Raising a hand as he finished speaking, he'd casually tap the scar running vertically near his right eye that led down into the larger burn. It was the only thing that blemished his face, unfortunately, but it was at least easy to present.
"I got it during a rather freak accident during the war with the tentacle bastards, though... not as cool as one might think."
"Tell.." Aashi began to ask him to tell her more about that, but then she held her tongue as nightmarish images sprung to her mind. She cursed the images racing through her mind and continued, "Tell me about it."
Looking to the display, it was clear Ronin was trying to figure out the best place to start. Unlike most war heroes, he wasn't the type who normally told the tales of his time. After all, being a pilot or a ground-soldier was far more interesting than simply fixing things up and occasionally defending against hanger invasions.
"Well, it was the only pilot I ever lost during the war. The rest would get hurt or shot down, maybe... but it was the only death when it came to the fighters I helped out. A woman by the name of Mitsuno Haruka. She'd finished a strafing run on those bastards and was coming back for a refit... didn't realize one of the buggers had literally leaped out and clung to her craft until it was too late. Flew 'em almost directly into the hanger before his pesky nature led that Mishhu to detonate one of her fuel tanks. I dunno if she was incinerated or what, but that's not the story... the story is that one of the pieces of her craft flew out and smacked me in the face. It was bladed and just about cut through me, I guess... but I got lucky and had been moving from the force throwing me. It hit me slow enough I could react without getting killed, but not fast enough to avoid getting a burn and this scar."
Watching him thoughtfully, Aashi noticed the look of true sadness that came over Ronin when he talked about the downed pilot and noted the feelings he had surrounding it. She tried hard to fully reconcile the trauma that the Mishhu brought on to so many, but could barely delve past the outer edges of it willingly. Instead she turned to the movie, which indeed had a face mutilation scene playing out at the same moment.
"Well, would you have guessed..." she said, watching the scene play out, then said, "I guess it happens more than you'd think."
Ronin looked to the scene, burying some of the grief with a chuckle before pulling free his cigarette and trying his best to get into the movie.
"I don't guess it was a cool story after all... not that I mind much. My life ain't as interesting as even these sorts of movies."
"This," Aashi said, pointing to the screen, "is spousal abuse, plain and simple. What you went through was war. War is a lot more intense than the movies make it out to be, isn't it?"
"... Well, at times. It also helps if you're an actual pilot or soldier, rather than someone who works on the ships going out to fight the war."
"You offered to pilot the med ship..." she trailed off, then said, "You can pilot that, right?"
"If it's one of Yamatai's ships or similar, yeah... I was re-trained as a pilot, after all. Admittedly, I might need a bit of time to get used to it. I've not really flown anything bigger than some attack craft and my mecha."
"Well let's hope what we're getting is similar," Aashi Nath said with a wide, uneasy smile. "How has Uso been treating you since you got here?" she asked, not knowing what sort of answer she expected.
"Well enough," he paused while the movie continued and he finally returned the smoke to a more proper position for a lengthy drag, "Admittedly, I've not been around the woman much recently."
"Neither have I," Aashi said, musing on their lack of connection to the woman they pledged themselves to. "I think we can safely assume she's treating us as well as possible, given what she's trying to accomplish."
As as she exited the hillsphere and approached New Belfast, she asked those in the lounge to come to the bridge, "Ready or not, here we come! We're going in for landing!"
It only took a matter of moments for the harried, short man to make his way to the bridge after the announcement, apparently having already been heading that way under his own volition. It didn't take a keen pair of eyes to tell that something was definitely off about his appearance. One hand was holding a civilian model of the type 33 Nekovalkyrja Service Pistol. The other hand was missing both the index and the middle finger, both stubbs wrapped in gauze that had been heavily stained red. "So, do you want to long version or the short version?"
"Mmmm," Aashi made the noise as she took in Jace's new appearance, then raised one eyebrow while a hand went to hold her chin and the other, her elbow. She nodded to him as she said, "Whichever story paints the truth."
Jason let a long, disgruntled sigh before he began to recant what had just transpired. "Well, let's see. Where to start? All right, so the native chick, Rubi, turns out she had a...panic attack when she's in a ship. Just want to say whoever thought to bring her along, real genius. So anyway she had a panic attack, so the dumbass with elf ears decided the best way to calm her down was start invading her mind with telepathy sending her...I have no clue. Obviously, she freaked the fuck out because she doesn't have context for that and they were already pointing weapons at each other. I decide to see if I can find some medication or some tranquilizers in the med bay, SOMETHING to calm her down. Meanwhile, someone on the intercoms started telling Rubi to shoot her while I try to talk her down over them. I think one of them called the voice Arccos. Eventually, she pulls out a rifle, I race back and try to defuse the situation but then Akemi starts arguing with me, then all of a sudden she lets loose, spraying everywhere in Akemi's direction. I haul ass out of the room, but before I get out the door a stray bullet does..." He holds his now three fingered left hand. "THIS to me, not that anyone was really concerned at the time. As far as I can tell what happened after I left, Akemi somehow managed to shoot her with that NSP of his set on stun somewhere between the plates. Unfortunately, like an idiot, he got way to close and forgot she was holding a taser so he went down a little after that. Rubi runs out the room, then Akemi tries to float after her wanting to get her out of her armor to give her a fucking hug, while I was treating my old wound and downing some painkillers. That about sums it up."
"So the long version is what you think paints the story best, I see," Aashi said. "I'm so sorry about your hand, come here." She eyed it scrupulously and moved it about, looking at every side of the bandaged left hand. "You're going to need cybernetics. Either that or a symbiote, a bio-enhancement of my people as we can't undergo cybernetic enhancements. Cybernetics probably suit you just fine, though. Tell me, how do you feel now?"
"Like I'm high on painkillers after I just got shot." He winced a little as she examined it, but otherwise seemed to be taking it well other then the current attitude he was sporting. "And your damn right i'm getting some cybernetics, it's the least that Arrcos bitch owes me. All though personally, I feel the more pressing matter is that we have psychopaths on the ship running with guns, shooting at each other. Might want to look into it."
"I'd like to think the sherrif has a handle on the situation." She turned on the intercom to speak out to every room, "Arccos, darling. I'd like to know Jace here didn't get shot because you're barking out orders to kill a Neko that undeniably has saved USO assets in the past." Saved may have been a stretch, but Akemi didn't have much going for him. Arccos, on the other hand, had deep pockets and Aashi knew it. "Arccos, Uso had me come out here to buy this med ship, but I can't do that without your money. Want to come out of hiding and scrounge up some bills, preferably ones without your face on them?"
"You mean barking orders to kill the guy who I last saw trying to strip Rubi and force himself on her? After having forced himself on me in the past? Also let slip his part of a contract to the USO letting a bunch of miners contracted to USO starve leaving me to pick up the slack? I can't say I have any regrets for making a suggestion." Arccos' voice echoed on through the halls, "I also find it highly unlikely that Uso would have sent you to buy something, expecting me to pay for it and not tell me. But I'll entertain a gentle shakedown and pony up the bills, sure. I'll even be extra nice and pony up the cash money that's exchangable outside 188604 to pay for the ship, on the provision that my name's on the paperwork. You can line your pockets with a nice fat payout, I give Doc. Hardbody a nice ship and we're all flying pretty straight."
"I'd rather your name than any of ours," Aashi said coldly. Then, she glanced at Jace and asked, "Do you think you'll be able to make up with Rubi? We're going to need you to at least stop calling Arccos a bitch."
"He can call me a bitch, I don't care..." Disembodied Arccos cut in, clearly distracted by something else on her end of the intercoms.
"Consider I'm pretty sure that she was out of her mind at the time, and wasn't shooting in my direction, I think I'll let it slide. Still kind of concerning she's still running around the ship." He replied, clearly exasperated with the exchange. Glancing at the panels at the bridge, he asked. "So, what is this New Belfast place like, anyway? Hive of scum and villainy?"
"Would those things displease you?" Aashi asked as she set dampers on and engaged hydrothrusters.
"Trust me, nothing would make me happier than going somewhere without a lot of excuses to shoot people right about now."
"Well you may just find two or three," Aashi said as she had The Pumpkin Eater descend fully. The landing gear folded out of the support deck as The Pumpkin Eater grounded itself on the icy landing pad and she turned all systems off before she got off. Her ankle boots thunked against the hallway as she took her zip up off the chair and slung it across one shoulder. "Let's get a move on, Jace. Ronin, let's put a pin in that movie and get ourselves going."
Outside, the port of New Belfast seemed to extend out about ten feet at most. The large incredibly frozen lake serving as the most respectable flat ground on which to land a ship was covered in a thick mist on arrival that obscured all vision, leaving all surrounding ships at port to appear as dimly lit hulking beasts in the mist. Nights on New Belfast were long, and rarely had good visibility, but lights in the distance were highlighting the correct way to get in to the city proper should one brave the thoroughly gravelled down surface of the lake; gritty crunches underfoot with each step on the way to Nepleslian colonial civilization.
When it came time to depart the ship Akemi stuck right next to Rubi, still eager to chat and try to improve his image.
As the others stepped out, Arccos seemed to materialise from somewhere on board, stepping out into the cold and the mist without slowing. She loomed over the rest, clutching her hefty suitcase with a clearly artificial hand... Apparently she wasn't wearing her entire skin for some reason.
"I'll take what-his-face to get his fingers fixed up. Call me when you want me to pay for my new ship." She said over a shoulder, as her shape faded into an indistinct silhouette in the mist.
Jason quickly following after her, muttering curses as he nursed the wound.
Rubi tried to keep some distance away from Akemi, and Jason to some degree, as she stepped out in to the cold air.
"So, since you had your space can we bullshit now?" Akemi asked the sterling model for Styrling armor as he walked alongside her. "Could you tell me a bit about yourself?"
Rubi shrugged at the little elf-neko's request. "What's there to know? Someone tells they don't like someone else, they give me money, that someone else usually disappears."
"So you're some super assassin?" Though genuinely interested in Rubi's profession Akemi couldn't help but subsequently trivialize his question. "I gotta say you've got such a charming, rugged face it feels like someone must've put a hit out on my heart because you've sure nailed mine."
"No, I'm more of a bounty hunter and holy shit, I thought Ronin was bad at hitting on people." Rubi again tried to put some more bodies and disatnce between her and the worst-romancer she's ever met.
Akemi chuckled hard and flew faster to match the woman's pace. "Ooh, who's Ronin? What did he do?"
Rubi pointed over to where Ronin would be in the group. "Don't ask about what he did."
The Neko briefly looked over at the other man then right back at Rubi. "Oh come on, when you say that I have to ask. Just so you know I wasn't really trying to hit on you. I simply wanted to let you know I genuinely think you've got a very impressive, handsome looking face like you'd see depicted in a book or on a canvas or in a space person video or game."
Rubi grimmaced at the remembering of being thrown-up on. "Look, just think of something bad and use that for now. Also seriously stop, you're mkaing me really uncomfortable and I don't plan on missing again."
Again Akemi laughed very softly. "I only said what I said as it'd be a waste to not acknowledge the beauty around oneself. What would you like to talk about besides nothing?"
Rubi thought for a moment as she continued to make some distance Akemi. "I think we should talk about personal space and when to calm down on trying to get to know people."
With the duo having talked about him and Rubi being more or less harassed by the goofy cat that had shot off one of Jace's fingers, Ronin had to admit that at least this trip wasn't boring. All-in-all, it didn't stop him from walking alongside Aashi nice and slowly.
"New Belfast, huh? Considering Rubi is on a different world, she's doing far better than I'd have expected. You don't think any of the Nepleslians here are going to try and shoot her or make her their woman, do you?"
"Well okay," Akemi replied as he flew even faster to get near Rubi again. He wondered if she'd start outright running or turn to shoot him. "I've no need of personal space unless I'm dealing with icky guys or girls and you're super not icky. What do you want to do now that you've met Uso and you've got access to stuff like spaceships? Do you want to stick with being an assassin?"
Rubi thought for a moment as her hand moved to one of the PIMPs on her side. "That's a good question... Think I might try to explore what's out there for a bit. Get a bit more used to all these spacey science stuff before moving back to the old life of shooting people for money... Also I am glad for your lifestyle, but please back off and give me some space. "
"Gosh, fine." The inquisitive kitten put a bit more distance between them. "I could give you some spacey science stuff like a vehicle to explore the planet with. You could work for me as a bouncer or something at my tavern."
Rubi still kept her hand on the PIMP as she walked. "Thanks for the offer but I'm going to decline for now, if you don't mind..."
"Do you have anything you'd like fixed or changed about you?" the starry-eyed Starman inquired moving a little further away. "If you'd like to see better or you've got a bad tooth or you'd like to be taller or even a guy or something I can help."
Rubi stopped for a moment to think, rubbing her chin. "Well, kind of wish I was little taller, didn't have such a fear of heights, and... wish I could turn invisible, you know?"
"I can turn invisible if I take all my clothes off." Akemi thought revealing that ability could potentially hurt him in the future if Rubi passed the knowledge onto the natives and they tried to kill him one day, but he figured he'd take the risk. To demonstrate he held one hand up to the woman's face and made it blend in with his surroundings. "I'll do the height thing for you free of charge. I bet I could do something to help with your phobia. I could give you a drug to calm you. I wouldn't want to mess with your brain to fix that. That's something you should overcome yourself. I could give you clothes to make you invisible but I'd worry with how trigger happy you seem to be you'd use 'em to try kill me one day."
Rubi turned to see the hand dissapear for a moment before grimacing as Akemi spoke about all the wonderful things he could do for her. "For fuck's sake, quit trying to buy my affection with your spacey shit so I don't hate you. I'm not my mother damnit."
"I'm just saying I can help you buddy," Akemi exclaimed. "Just because I don't ask for payment doesn't mean I expect you to swoon or throw yourself at me. If you want to charge me something so accepting my stuff won't creep you how about you promise to try coming to my tavern from time to time if you like what you see there? What about taking me along for a sight seeing drive?"
Rubi threw up her hands before walking away. "You know what, I'm starting understand why Arccos wants me to shoot you. I'm going to find some place to get absolutely hammered and forget about this. If you start following me, I'm going to fucking shoot you."
"But why?" Akemi cried, staying where he was. "Don't you like free stuff?"
Rubi was was either already too far off to hear or not wanting pay any attention to Akemi as she walked off.
I should just shoot her in the head and make adjustments on her while she's out Akemi thought as he watched her disappear into the distance.
Aashi stood outside of the hatch, with a hand over her eyes as she waited for the first to arrive for their little field trip off of 188604 to retrieve the medical ship Uso had bought. What was going to make it interesting was yet to be revealed to all those coming aboard. But come aboard they were about to be doing.
One not so little black haired Neko quickly flew over to join the trip. He stopped and landed right in front of Aashi, giving her a little smile of anticipation. "Hey buddy, who's all coming?" Maybe he'd get another hug like he did when he hopped on her ship last time to grab the Spacer stuff.
Aashi replied coolly with no intent to hug, "An assortment of Uso's finest, of course. Yourself included, I'm assuming?"
"Yup." Akemi reached forward and tried to give the slender Iroma a quick embrace in order to train her to be more like Sammy. "As long as I get to meet new people. I gotta catch up on who's who."
Aashi, a little taken by the short hug, was moderately pleased with the Neko and was willing to forgive the things that had happened between their last hug and this one, smiling softly and patted the top of Akemi's black-haired head, as she would do to any type of cat. "Thanks, again," she said, always open to consider what others had done for her. Akemi had certainly done quite a bit.
Akemi immediately began purring at the pats and pushed into them, thrusting the sides of his face at Aashi's hand. "Don't mention it."
Rubi on the other hand, was less than pleased. Her first attempt to get over her fear of heights ended with her trying figure how space-ships and the searing urge to shock the hell out of Ronin. Now she had to get back into the giant flying box again to get another flying box with medical supplies. She looked up at the ship as approached the two figures out by the hatch. "This is still the Pumpkin Eater, right?"
"Really? Someone named this thing the pumpkin eater? I mean...I guess it's not exactly a battleship, so it carries about the correct amount of gravitas. Still." A figure coming up to 5'6", body obscured by a standard issue Armored Origin Pilot Suit and with a face obscured by a tinted visor, came up right behind her, head swiveling back and forth to take in his surroundings. "Don't really see Ronin around. You guys are here to help the old man on his supply run, right?"
Aashi nodded dubiously, not knowing if he would show or keep himself in the clear and out of harm's way by sticking this one out. She said to the approaching suited up boy, "The Pumpkin Eater is her name and she'll put you to shame, kid. Are you a part of Uso's crew or..." she trailed off, letting him interject.
Upon hearing another female voice Akemi instantly turned to ascertain its source and zipped over to Rubi. "Hey, my name's Koga Akemi," he said, his eyes alight with interest as if he was a cat eyeing a canary. "You look neato. What's your story?"
Rubi looked down at the little human-looking cat thing then up to the more authoritative looking one with horns. "Yeah, I'm with Uso for the most part. Though I answer more to Raph than her..." She said, trying not to make eye contact with the little cat... thing eyeing her up.
"Well, I guess for a cargo ship two dozen banks of dual plasma arrays is nothing to sneeze up. And yeah, I'm one of Uso's new recruits." The young man appraised each ot the current occupants, which we're a bit of a strange group. He didn't expect to see an Iroma this far out of the Astral Cluster, and he wasn't sure if having an actual Nekovalkyrja on board should be more or less surprising. Then there was the cowgirl wearing full on riot gear like she was expecting to storm the place. "Raph? Can't say I ever heard of the dude before. He a big name around here?"
"A big name, indeed," Aashi said, speaking for Rubi. "You work for Raphael? The space angel isn't too bad, at all. You must know Cyrus and Ulysses, too. Any friend of theirs is a friend of mine. Come on, let me show you in." She ducked through the hatch, avoiding scraping her horns on the top of the opening, and made her way towards the bridge. "If anyone wants to go to the crew lounge or passenger lounge, they can be found down either that hallway," she said pointing, then walked a bit further. "Or that one. Otherwise, follow me to the bridge."
"Gosh, what a greeting," the space kitten said, not actually sounding offended. "Can't I at least get your name? What about a friendly shake?" After his second question he thrust the side of his head forward and wiggled a slender, silky smooth ear at Rubi.
"I know Cyrus somewhat but no idea who Ulysses is. Been a little busy the past few weeks with everyone coming and going." Rubi talked as she followed after Aashi. "Also the name's Rubi and..." she spun around on her heel and thrusted her taser in Akemi's direction. "Don't get snippy at me. Last person who did got the business end of this."
"Whatever Trevor," Akemi replied unimpressed as he swiftly drew his black NSP and pointed it at the bounty hunter while making his way into the ship. "I've got this. The last chick that got snippy with me pulled out a sick looking super sword and blocked all my shots with it but it's way better than whatever you're packing."
"Huh, do we really get to tase anyone who annoys us out here or is that a perk for working for Raph kind of thing? Gotta say, if so this is going to make this job a whole lot less stressful." He swiveled his head to glance at Akemi for a moment before following that up with. "To be fair, threatening a Nekovalkyrja without wearing power armor seems a tad hazardous to your health. Might want to pick the targets better, all I'm saying."
"Just ignore her... and keep a gun on you to make sure she can't get too close. Or just wait until we're nice and high up in the air and she turns into a mess."
Ronin had finally arrived, the man wearing his coat and looking actually somewhat presentable for once. Even if he had been the one to normally try and look however he pleased, the man's mohawk had even been reigned in a bit to a more stable streak rather than a mess of spikes. All-in-all, it made him actually look like a more military-esque individual... barring the still-present dye. Uso had tried to express the importance of getting this medical ship clearly and it hadn't been missed. Medical issues on a planet like this were too great to turn a blind-eye to.
"Ugh... another cat I can't smoke around? Maybe I should make you pay me like Uso... good day to you, though, Aashi."
"Good day," Aashi replied with a smile to him, surveying his face for any scarring and breathing out a thankful sigh when she noticed none.
"Nah, you guys can smoke all you want around me," Akemi replied speedily in an awful casual manner despite currently having his gun pointed at a formidable looking mystery woman who had just menaced him. "I don't care. It'll actually make me happy if you do."
"Yo, old man, nice to see you decided to show up." He turned as soon as he heard the voice, sizing up the rather...punkish looking figure despite his attempt at looking a bit more conventional. "As you can see, within the first 45 seconds we already have someone pointing a gun at someone else. Real A-Team you're putting me on here."
"We're happy to have a voice of reason..." Aashi jokingly said to the kid, then asked, "What is your name?"
"Hmm?" Was his first response, having almost forgotten he was here in the midst of a potential firefight breaking out. "Guess you can call me Jason. I'm the pilot of the M5 they brought in a few days ago."
"Jason, huh? I'll call you Jace. If you're a pilot, you better be an ace one and the name's only suiting" Aashi said as she sat down in the pilot's chair and began turning systems onto operational. "Let's get this operation going. We're picking up a med ship and getting it back to 188604. Who's going to pilot it from where it is now to where it needs to go once I get us there? I'm planning on bringing the Pumpkin Eater back here, myself."
Far behind the group, Arccos boards the Pumpkin Eater, alone. Dressed more warmly than normally, and bearing a hefty briefcase full of mysterious wares. Wandering off into the ship's guts to find her own little nook to huddle in for the journey.
Following along, Ronin decided to take his time moving to the Captain's chair. It was a bit of a jab at Aashi, probably, but the man leaned back into it and didn't bother trying to handle any controls.
"If someone has to pilot it, I guess I could for once. I've been hanging around the outskirts enough that I might land it out there instead of at the runway. But let's worry about getting there and getting it first... who flies it won't matter until then."
Gravtion engines were engaged and the landing gear folded into the support deck as the Pumpkin Eater lifted off. The passengers, or crew as they would more aptly be called, all felt the movement of the ship as it lifted off and Aashi threw thrusters on, slowly building up until they were at a maximum and overrode controls to avoid hitting a speed wall. The momentum meant she could decrease thrust as they got further away from the planet. At a few thousand meters up in altitude, she kicked on the hydrothrusters and moved the speed up before it had time to stall out on them. She got the ship out of atmosphere and on level with the hillsphere they were attempting to overcome. With Turbo Plasma Drive engaged, they began that journey.
Akemi naturally tried to take a seat beside Rubi regardless of how unwise that was. The Neko was perfectly content to have the two of them pointing their weapons at each other the entire trip.
Somewhere in the ship's many cargo holds and crew quarters, Arccos settled in to a corner. Putting her feet up on her mystery briefcase, and booting up her library of mindware entertainment to keep herself busy. Everything nice and quiet...
Crew Lounge
Rubi decided to hold up in the lounge for the flight off planet like last. And probably like last time, she was doing anything but lounging as the ship was taking off. She seemed to curl in the ball in her seat as she felt like everything around her was shaking, beads of sweat running down her face at the overhwelming feeling that something was going to explode next to her.
"Awww. Come on buddy. Relax," Akemi said as he watched Rubi freak out. "I served for years on spaceships. Just grab my hand or something if you'd like. Also, please tell me something you'd like to see that you'd find calming." The Neko then framed his chest with his hands and began displaying images of countless different types of flowers on it using his volumetric ability, slowly shifting from one picture to another.
Jason wasn't exactly prone to dealing with anxiety attacks considering the spartan conditions of his upbringing. Any subjects that had to deal with that sort of thing must have either had either had it 'corrected' or disposed up under the absurd aping of darwinism that the SSI rules tended to be. Taking a seat across from the two, he leaned in to examine her. "What's wrong with her? Some sort of like...adverse reaction to gravimetrics?"
The little neko next to her wasn't putting her at any ease. She almost wanted to reach over and hit him with the trusty taser, but the moment images started appearing across his chest had her jumping out of her seat. "WHAT THE FUCKING HELL IS THAT? THAT IS NOT NORMAL. STOP."
Akemi switched to videos of kittens doing cute things. "Buddy, I've got pointy ears. Pretend I'm an elf wizard or something. I can show you all sorts of nice stuff. Just tell me what you'd like to see."
"Oh for fucks sake." Jason stood up straight as soon as she started shouting, her overreacton clearly him the hell out. "I'm going to go raid the med bay, see if I can find any tranquilizers. Be right back. Maybe do the opposite of what you're doing at the moment while I'm gone." Quickly, Jason found himself making his way out of the room with directions fed into his mindware.
Rubi waved her taser at Akemi is if he was fly with the ability project images for some reason. "BACK. STAY BACK. TOO MUCH TO HANDLE RIGHT NOW."
"Bitch I'm a fucking wizard," Akemi replied dismissively with a very incredulous expression. "I do what I want. Calm your ass and feast your eyes on soothing things." He moved on to playful puppies.
"This is why I don't let him know where I'm sitting." Arccos' voice drifted from a nearby speaker in the lounge. "Just shoot him, Rubi. No one would convict you for it."
"Personally I'm going to go with my offical advice being don't blow the dude's brains out. I don't want her freaking out more and deciding she likes the idea of coming back here and taking me out too." Another voice drifted through the intercoms, Jason clearly having used his mindware to interface with some of the ships unrestricted systems.
"I love you too Arccos!" Akemi happily exclaimed. He chuckled a bit, absolutely loving how things were going. "I'm really glad you came! I swear I'm only trying to help her."
Rubi only heard the words "Shoot him" amongst the internal alarms going off in her head from being a flying bullet shooting throw space as Ronin put it. She scrambled to unsling the IAW from her back, bringing it up to face Akemi. "STOOOOOOPPPP."
The Neko immediately stopped mind fucking the fragile female. "Fine then you big bully. You happy now? No more cute animals for you or Jason."
"Do it, Rubi." Arccos' voice once more drifted through the room. "No one will miss him. You'll be leaving the universe a better place."
"Shitshitshitshitshitshi-" A stream of curses was all that he could come up with as he sprinted back through the corridors. Coming back in the way he gave carry a handful of different pill bottles. "Hey, uh, not that I'm saying that listening to disembodied voices telling you to murder people hasn't been a real successful plan for a lot people, but maybe let's all try and calm down. I got some uh...." Jason finally checked the labels, eyes glazing off the most useless array he had gotten in a near panic. "Well, one of these says it's for...stress?"
The little star man couldn't help but smile wide despite his dire predicament. "Keep that shit up Arccos and I swear I will haunt your ass assuming we actually have souls tied to our bodies." When Akemi heard Jason offer medication he almost instantly rejected the idea. "Hey hey hey. Why give her pills? That's the easy way out. Let her confront this head on."
"I agree. Very easy way out, specially for me.Not quite as easy as the way out she's been threatening you with, but good enough." The young man sauntered over back towards the two, still acknowledging she had a gun out but making sure to have his steps seem cautious and deliberate. "Maybe this will calm you down, huh Rubi?"
Akemi had to make a crack at the lovely lady's name. "Oh, oh, now he's calling you Ruby because he thinks you're a fuckin' rube and you can't handle getting over a little space fright by yourself. Shoot that asshole not me."
Rubi's hearing eventually began to go out as her ears popped and everything started to get to her. Jace and Akemi's talking sounded like they were underwater and the disemodied still seemed to offer the best suggestion at the time. The rifle began switching between aiming at Akemi to Jace. She felt her finger tighten the trigger before squeezing it in Akemi's direction, firing wildly towards him.
Seeing her start switching the rifle to target him every few seconds instead, Jason immediately dropped the pill bottles and began to slowly back up towards the exit one more, before sprinting out as soon as she began to unload her rifle. Unfortunately given he was in the same direction as her target and the general lack of precision in her shooting meant he caught a stray bullet. Just as as he almost passed through the door, a shell ripped into the middle and index finger of his left hand and tore them off, causing Jason to slide to the ground in pain with a cry of "Fuuuuuckkkkkkkkkk-" at the top of his longs as he clutched the wound.
"Good gravy!" Akemi cried as he ducked low and slid out of his chair while whipping out his NSP and taking aim to shoot at whatever piece of exposed or lightly covered skin he could quickly find. His weapon of course was only set on the lowest stun setting given his eternally gracious nature.
The shot managed to hit inbetween a couple of plates along her thigh, causing her let a mix of a yelp and a grunt. While it was a low setting shock, she herself had never been tased and proceeded to panic even more as she felt most of her joints suddenly stiffen. The recoil from the started pushing her back as the shots more wild ever. With the weight armor and recoil of the gun, she fell backwards into screaming and somewhat twitching mess.
As gunfire went to screaming, and the full automatic fire puttered down to a series of clicks from a depleted magazine, Arccos' voice crackled in over a bullet-dented speaker. "While I admit that this woman is now my favorite person for trying, I'm guessing I'm out of luck and everyone but Akemi's been shot..."
Akemi pounced on Rubi to seize her gun and toss it away. "That's right you fuckin' monster!" He then picked up Rubi by her armor to sit the woman up and started trying to remove the vest. "I still love you though. That was fuckin' intense."
The screaming started to die down to a low, painful seething coming from the hallway and soon after the intercoms, perhaps bringin tot he attention of anyone with eyes in the room towards the doorway splattered with blood. "I fucking hate you. But...fuck, yeah, you got me fucking shot, bitch. I think I lost oh-god fucking damn it, two fucking fingers."
"Rub some dirt on it." Arccos crackled again, flippantly. "I'll get you some new and better ones when we get to port. And don't call Rubi a bitch, she's great."
Laying on her Rubi, felt some calm for a few moments before she felt herself get jerked back with Akemi in full view. As soon he started fiddling with her armor, she tried to push him back. "BACK! STAY BACK!"
"Fuck you buddy," Akemi shot back softly as he continued to try to work the armor off. "I'll get you out of this shit and then you'll relax better."
"Oh for fucks sake-yeah you know what please, antagonise her something fucking more. Blow his brains out RUbi, I don't give a shit anymore." The voicen't having any echo effect, Jason clearly having moved further into the ship.
"Dude, you are getting the best fingers I can find..." Arccos laughed, as whoever this guy was joined her on the hate train.
"I WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT!" Rubi yelled as she quickly grasped the taser from her belt before bringing it crackling up to Akemi's side, no longer caring if she gets puked on again.
When the taser collided with Akemi's body he didn't even make a noise given how much of a sudden shock it was. He simply reflexively pushed off her as hard as he could with his gravity control to get away from it. "Come on man, we made the disembodied laugh," the Neko slowly said as he lay slumped against the foot of a seat twitching. "Didn't that make all this worth it?"
"Rubi, we should hang out." Arccos said plainly, voice still crackling over the speaker. "When we get to New Belfast, I'm buying you whatever meal is appropriate for the local time."
"Wonder how much it costs to put cyanide in that shit these days." Jason's still obviously pained, but at least more subdued voice came through. "Is she still berserk, because I forgot to lock the door and I swear if she comes barrelling through here i'm blowing her head off. As soon I find where you keep the damn guns are in this place."
Rubi didn't want to wait around for Akemi to get closer to her again. She quickly scrambled her way to her feet and out the door, paying no mind to the twitching neko.
"Oh no you don't!" Akemi shouted as if he were catching a pet trying to get into something it shouldn't. He rose and limply floated after Rubi with his pistol at the ready. "I swear I will stun the shit out of you if you don't take off that armor and let me give you a hug. It's for your own good."
"Like hell you will!" Rubi whipped around and pointed one of the PIMPs she's gotten along with the armor. She didn't shoot but her finger was obvious a hair away from spraying more bullets towards Akemi. "Just fucking leave me alone!"
Akemi raised one hand and displayed its palm in a sign of caution while continuing to train his gun on Rubi with the other. "How many weapons do you have lady? You nearly killed two of us. Can't you just take it easy? I only want to help."
The sudden caution sign caused her to flinch, her fingerpulling a single shot that went wide from the neko. "STOP. YOU'RE NOT DOING A VERY GOOD JOB."
Figuring he might be freaking the chick out with his hovering the Neko lowered himself to take an upright stance with his feet on the floor. "Well tell me how I can do a good job. Can't we talk about something instead of you running away?"
As soon as Akemi's feet hit the ground, Rubi could visibly be seen calming down a little but still kept her gun trained on him. "Space. Just give me some space for now then we can bullshit about literally anything, alright?"
"Great," the elfin eared space wizard answered while staying nice and still. "So I'm guessing it's safe to assume you're a native of the planet we just left. I want you to know I haven't harmed any of you guys. I only recently set up there."
Rubi shrugged. "Hell if I know. There's been so many people moving in and out that I've lost count who's done what. Hell, I remember hearing someone was going trying to romance those creepy Osman nobles."
"Eww, who would ever do that?" Akemi emphatically replied as he scrunched up his face and cocked his head back as if repulsed by the idea. "You should totally come to the tavern I bought into called The Cockpit. I'll let you have all the free space drinks you want after this since you sure seem like you might want some after our trip back."
The prospect of drinking this entire nightmare of a trip away did seem fairly tempting to Rubi. "I'll uh, I'll consider it for now I guess..." she said, somewhat lowering her gun.
Akemi lowered his gun an equal amount. "Fantastic. You're going to find a huge variety of stuff if you go. There'll be plenty of entertainment and I bet you'll fit right in with the rest of the clientele given your outfit."
Rubi raised her gun. "I'm concerned on what you consider to be 'entertainment.'" She shuffled a couple steps away. "I'm just going to try and find a corner to get my bearings in... Please don't follow..."
Akemi crossed his arms and struck a pose of clear disappointment, one the bounty hunter would imagine someone's father making at them. "Buddy, even the people who work for the voice that told you to kill me like going there. That was just an ordinary person you didn't see boarding by the way. She must have gotten on after all of us."
"Well that's great." Rubi said as she shuffled away. "I mean I like Arccos and all but I don't exactly know who all works for her. and I don't really want to right now."
Bridge
Aashi turned to Ronin, "Nice to see you're all healed. Want me to turn on autopilot and we can get down to business?"
"Pft... business? You mean sitting around waiting for us to get there?"
"Waiting? Waiting is boring when you could be watching," she said, procuring a Nepleslian hit. "What do you say? Ready for a much less intense round two?"
Ronin was quiet from his spot in the captain's chair, taking a long moment before pulling free a cigarette and grumbling.
"Does Bick Digger have over a billion fans in his official fan-club?"
Aashi laughed out loud, throwing her head back for a moment before settling her eyes back on Ronin. "Live on the Farm is pretty good. Recent, too. Want to watch it?"
"I suppose that one will do... not like I plan for watching a movie. I just hope those kids don't set that woman off in there. She's outright scared of heights. Last time I got stuck with her, she couldn't even finish a smoke..."
Aashi comm'd in to the lounge and asked cheerily, not knowing even close to the full extent of the issues they were facing, "Any problems back there?"
Rolling his eyes, Ronin got up while lighting his cigarette before moving over to the chair and stood just behind and to the side of Aashi. Aashi's species' lungs did a particularly good job at filtering out toxins. Only a few times a year would they be overcome with minutes worth of coughing fits, in which globules of phlegm would be purged. Thankfully, this was not on Aashi's agenda for the day.
"Ignore them... worst case we'll just have to go in there and shoot someone to restore a bit of order. Wouldn't even need to kill them. They're young enough that if it was that Jason kid he'd probably get a cool scar to brag about..."
Aashi nodded to Ronin and set the movie up, languidly kicking her feet up on the console, eyeing her new ankle boots as she did. The wardrobe change she had recently undergone made her miss some parts of her old pirate life and she felt a pang of remorse at leaving her thigh-highs behind. All the same, she turned to him. "Got any cool scar stories?"
"One," Ronin said while moving to a nearby console to sit at a chair, "As I only got scarred once during all my time with the Star Army." Raising a hand as he finished speaking, he'd casually tap the scar running vertically near his right eye that led down into the larger burn. It was the only thing that blemished his face, unfortunately, but it was at least easy to present.
"I got it during a rather freak accident during the war with the tentacle bastards, though... not as cool as one might think."
"Tell.." Aashi began to ask him to tell her more about that, but then she held her tongue as nightmarish images sprung to her mind. She cursed the images racing through her mind and continued, "Tell me about it."
Looking to the display, it was clear Ronin was trying to figure out the best place to start. Unlike most war heroes, he wasn't the type who normally told the tales of his time. After all, being a pilot or a ground-soldier was far more interesting than simply fixing things up and occasionally defending against hanger invasions.
"Well, it was the only pilot I ever lost during the war. The rest would get hurt or shot down, maybe... but it was the only death when it came to the fighters I helped out. A woman by the name of Mitsuno Haruka. She'd finished a strafing run on those bastards and was coming back for a refit... didn't realize one of the buggers had literally leaped out and clung to her craft until it was too late. Flew 'em almost directly into the hanger before his pesky nature led that Mishhu to detonate one of her fuel tanks. I dunno if she was incinerated or what, but that's not the story... the story is that one of the pieces of her craft flew out and smacked me in the face. It was bladed and just about cut through me, I guess... but I got lucky and had been moving from the force throwing me. It hit me slow enough I could react without getting killed, but not fast enough to avoid getting a burn and this scar."
Watching him thoughtfully, Aashi noticed the look of true sadness that came over Ronin when he talked about the downed pilot and noted the feelings he had surrounding it. She tried hard to fully reconcile the trauma that the Mishhu brought on to so many, but could barely delve past the outer edges of it willingly. Instead she turned to the movie, which indeed had a face mutilation scene playing out at the same moment.
"Well, would you have guessed..." she said, watching the scene play out, then said, "I guess it happens more than you'd think."
Ronin looked to the scene, burying some of the grief with a chuckle before pulling free his cigarette and trying his best to get into the movie.
"I don't guess it was a cool story after all... not that I mind much. My life ain't as interesting as even these sorts of movies."
"This," Aashi said, pointing to the screen, "is spousal abuse, plain and simple. What you went through was war. War is a lot more intense than the movies make it out to be, isn't it?"
"... Well, at times. It also helps if you're an actual pilot or soldier, rather than someone who works on the ships going out to fight the war."
"You offered to pilot the med ship..." she trailed off, then said, "You can pilot that, right?"
"If it's one of Yamatai's ships or similar, yeah... I was re-trained as a pilot, after all. Admittedly, I might need a bit of time to get used to it. I've not really flown anything bigger than some attack craft and my mecha."
"Well let's hope what we're getting is similar," Aashi Nath said with a wide, uneasy smile. "How has Uso been treating you since you got here?" she asked, not knowing what sort of answer she expected.
"Well enough," he paused while the movie continued and he finally returned the smoke to a more proper position for a lengthy drag, "Admittedly, I've not been around the woman much recently."
"Neither have I," Aashi said, musing on their lack of connection to the woman they pledged themselves to. "I think we can safely assume she's treating us as well as possible, given what she's trying to accomplish."
As as she exited the hillsphere and approached New Belfast, she asked those in the lounge to come to the bridge, "Ready or not, here we come! We're going in for landing!"
It only took a matter of moments for the harried, short man to make his way to the bridge after the announcement, apparently having already been heading that way under his own volition. It didn't take a keen pair of eyes to tell that something was definitely off about his appearance. One hand was holding a civilian model of the type 33 Nekovalkyrja Service Pistol. The other hand was missing both the index and the middle finger, both stubbs wrapped in gauze that had been heavily stained red. "So, do you want to long version or the short version?"
"Mmmm," Aashi made the noise as she took in Jace's new appearance, then raised one eyebrow while a hand went to hold her chin and the other, her elbow. She nodded to him as she said, "Whichever story paints the truth."
Jason let a long, disgruntled sigh before he began to recant what had just transpired. "Well, let's see. Where to start? All right, so the native chick, Rubi, turns out she had a...panic attack when she's in a ship. Just want to say whoever thought to bring her along, real genius. So anyway she had a panic attack, so the dumbass with elf ears decided the best way to calm her down was start invading her mind with telepathy sending her...I have no clue. Obviously, she freaked the fuck out because she doesn't have context for that and they were already pointing weapons at each other. I decide to see if I can find some medication or some tranquilizers in the med bay, SOMETHING to calm her down. Meanwhile, someone on the intercoms started telling Rubi to shoot her while I try to talk her down over them. I think one of them called the voice Arccos. Eventually, she pulls out a rifle, I race back and try to defuse the situation but then Akemi starts arguing with me, then all of a sudden she lets loose, spraying everywhere in Akemi's direction. I haul ass out of the room, but before I get out the door a stray bullet does..." He holds his now three fingered left hand. "THIS to me, not that anyone was really concerned at the time. As far as I can tell what happened after I left, Akemi somehow managed to shoot her with that NSP of his set on stun somewhere between the plates. Unfortunately, like an idiot, he got way to close and forgot she was holding a taser so he went down a little after that. Rubi runs out the room, then Akemi tries to float after her wanting to get her out of her armor to give her a fucking hug, while I was treating my old wound and downing some painkillers. That about sums it up."
"So the long version is what you think paints the story best, I see," Aashi said. "I'm so sorry about your hand, come here." She eyed it scrupulously and moved it about, looking at every side of the bandaged left hand. "You're going to need cybernetics. Either that or a symbiote, a bio-enhancement of my people as we can't undergo cybernetic enhancements. Cybernetics probably suit you just fine, though. Tell me, how do you feel now?"
"Like I'm high on painkillers after I just got shot." He winced a little as she examined it, but otherwise seemed to be taking it well other then the current attitude he was sporting. "And your damn right i'm getting some cybernetics, it's the least that Arrcos bitch owes me. All though personally, I feel the more pressing matter is that we have psychopaths on the ship running with guns, shooting at each other. Might want to look into it."
"I'd like to think the sherrif has a handle on the situation." She turned on the intercom to speak out to every room, "Arccos, darling. I'd like to know Jace here didn't get shot because you're barking out orders to kill a Neko that undeniably has saved USO assets in the past." Saved may have been a stretch, but Akemi didn't have much going for him. Arccos, on the other hand, had deep pockets and Aashi knew it. "Arccos, Uso had me come out here to buy this med ship, but I can't do that without your money. Want to come out of hiding and scrounge up some bills, preferably ones without your face on them?"
"You mean barking orders to kill the guy who I last saw trying to strip Rubi and force himself on her? After having forced himself on me in the past? Also let slip his part of a contract to the USO letting a bunch of miners contracted to USO starve leaving me to pick up the slack? I can't say I have any regrets for making a suggestion." Arccos' voice echoed on through the halls, "I also find it highly unlikely that Uso would have sent you to buy something, expecting me to pay for it and not tell me. But I'll entertain a gentle shakedown and pony up the bills, sure. I'll even be extra nice and pony up the cash money that's exchangable outside 188604 to pay for the ship, on the provision that my name's on the paperwork. You can line your pockets with a nice fat payout, I give Doc. Hardbody a nice ship and we're all flying pretty straight."
"I'd rather your name than any of ours," Aashi said coldly. Then, she glanced at Jace and asked, "Do you think you'll be able to make up with Rubi? We're going to need you to at least stop calling Arccos a bitch."
"He can call me a bitch, I don't care..." Disembodied Arccos cut in, clearly distracted by something else on her end of the intercoms.
"Consider I'm pretty sure that she was out of her mind at the time, and wasn't shooting in my direction, I think I'll let it slide. Still kind of concerning she's still running around the ship." He replied, clearly exasperated with the exchange. Glancing at the panels at the bridge, he asked. "So, what is this New Belfast place like, anyway? Hive of scum and villainy?"
"Would those things displease you?" Aashi asked as she set dampers on and engaged hydrothrusters.
"Trust me, nothing would make me happier than going somewhere without a lot of excuses to shoot people right about now."
"Well you may just find two or three," Aashi said as she had The Pumpkin Eater descend fully. The landing gear folded out of the support deck as The Pumpkin Eater grounded itself on the icy landing pad and she turned all systems off before she got off. Her ankle boots thunked against the hallway as she took her zip up off the chair and slung it across one shoulder. "Let's get a move on, Jace. Ronin, let's put a pin in that movie and get ourselves going."
Outside, the port of New Belfast seemed to extend out about ten feet at most. The large incredibly frozen lake serving as the most respectable flat ground on which to land a ship was covered in a thick mist on arrival that obscured all vision, leaving all surrounding ships at port to appear as dimly lit hulking beasts in the mist. Nights on New Belfast were long, and rarely had good visibility, but lights in the distance were highlighting the correct way to get in to the city proper should one brave the thoroughly gravelled down surface of the lake; gritty crunches underfoot with each step on the way to Nepleslian colonial civilization.
When it came time to depart the ship Akemi stuck right next to Rubi, still eager to chat and try to improve his image.
As the others stepped out, Arccos seemed to materialise from somewhere on board, stepping out into the cold and the mist without slowing. She loomed over the rest, clutching her hefty suitcase with a clearly artificial hand... Apparently she wasn't wearing her entire skin for some reason.
"I'll take what-his-face to get his fingers fixed up. Call me when you want me to pay for my new ship." She said over a shoulder, as her shape faded into an indistinct silhouette in the mist.
Jason quickly following after her, muttering curses as he nursed the wound.
Rubi tried to keep some distance away from Akemi, and Jason to some degree, as she stepped out in to the cold air.
"So, since you had your space can we bullshit now?" Akemi asked the sterling model for Styrling armor as he walked alongside her. "Could you tell me a bit about yourself?"
Rubi shrugged at the little elf-neko's request. "What's there to know? Someone tells they don't like someone else, they give me money, that someone else usually disappears."
"So you're some super assassin?" Though genuinely interested in Rubi's profession Akemi couldn't help but subsequently trivialize his question. "I gotta say you've got such a charming, rugged face it feels like someone must've put a hit out on my heart because you've sure nailed mine."
"No, I'm more of a bounty hunter and holy shit, I thought Ronin was bad at hitting on people." Rubi again tried to put some more bodies and disatnce between her and the worst-romancer she's ever met.
Akemi chuckled hard and flew faster to match the woman's pace. "Ooh, who's Ronin? What did he do?"
Rubi pointed over to where Ronin would be in the group. "Don't ask about what he did."
The Neko briefly looked over at the other man then right back at Rubi. "Oh come on, when you say that I have to ask. Just so you know I wasn't really trying to hit on you. I simply wanted to let you know I genuinely think you've got a very impressive, handsome looking face like you'd see depicted in a book or on a canvas or in a space person video or game."
Rubi grimmaced at the remembering of being thrown-up on. "Look, just think of something bad and use that for now. Also seriously stop, you're mkaing me really uncomfortable and I don't plan on missing again."
Again Akemi laughed very softly. "I only said what I said as it'd be a waste to not acknowledge the beauty around oneself. What would you like to talk about besides nothing?"
Rubi thought for a moment as she continued to make some distance Akemi. "I think we should talk about personal space and when to calm down on trying to get to know people."
With the duo having talked about him and Rubi being more or less harassed by the goofy cat that had shot off one of Jace's fingers, Ronin had to admit that at least this trip wasn't boring. All-in-all, it didn't stop him from walking alongside Aashi nice and slowly.
"New Belfast, huh? Considering Rubi is on a different world, she's doing far better than I'd have expected. You don't think any of the Nepleslians here are going to try and shoot her or make her their woman, do you?"
"Well okay," Akemi replied as he flew even faster to get near Rubi again. He wondered if she'd start outright running or turn to shoot him. "I've no need of personal space unless I'm dealing with icky guys or girls and you're super not icky. What do you want to do now that you've met Uso and you've got access to stuff like spaceships? Do you want to stick with being an assassin?"
Rubi thought for a moment as her hand moved to one of the PIMPs on her side. "That's a good question... Think I might try to explore what's out there for a bit. Get a bit more used to all these spacey science stuff before moving back to the old life of shooting people for money... Also I am glad for your lifestyle, but please back off and give me some space. "
"Gosh, fine." The inquisitive kitten put a bit more distance between them. "I could give you some spacey science stuff like a vehicle to explore the planet with. You could work for me as a bouncer or something at my tavern."
Rubi still kept her hand on the PIMP as she walked. "Thanks for the offer but I'm going to decline for now, if you don't mind..."
"Do you have anything you'd like fixed or changed about you?" the starry-eyed Starman inquired moving a little further away. "If you'd like to see better or you've got a bad tooth or you'd like to be taller or even a guy or something I can help."
Rubi stopped for a moment to think, rubbing her chin. "Well, kind of wish I was little taller, didn't have such a fear of heights, and... wish I could turn invisible, you know?"
"I can turn invisible if I take all my clothes off." Akemi thought revealing that ability could potentially hurt him in the future if Rubi passed the knowledge onto the natives and they tried to kill him one day, but he figured he'd take the risk. To demonstrate he held one hand up to the woman's face and made it blend in with his surroundings. "I'll do the height thing for you free of charge. I bet I could do something to help with your phobia. I could give you a drug to calm you. I wouldn't want to mess with your brain to fix that. That's something you should overcome yourself. I could give you clothes to make you invisible but I'd worry with how trigger happy you seem to be you'd use 'em to try kill me one day."
Rubi turned to see the hand dissapear for a moment before grimacing as Akemi spoke about all the wonderful things he could do for her. "For fuck's sake, quit trying to buy my affection with your spacey shit so I don't hate you. I'm not my mother damnit."
"I'm just saying I can help you buddy," Akemi exclaimed. "Just because I don't ask for payment doesn't mean I expect you to swoon or throw yourself at me. If you want to charge me something so accepting my stuff won't creep you how about you promise to try coming to my tavern from time to time if you like what you see there? What about taking me along for a sight seeing drive?"
Rubi threw up her hands before walking away. "You know what, I'm starting understand why Arccos wants me to shoot you. I'm going to find some place to get absolutely hammered and forget about this. If you start following me, I'm going to fucking shoot you."
"But why?" Akemi cried, staying where he was. "Don't you like free stuff?"
Rubi was was either already too far off to hear or not wanting pay any attention to Akemi as she walked off.
I should just shoot her in the head and make adjustments on her while she's out Akemi thought as he watched her disappear into the distance.
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