RP: ISC Phoenix [Interlude 2] - We know what we want

Commercial Lane, Sargasso, Karl's Threepenny Bullets

"All right, thank Karl." Zeta replied as she re-checked the merchandise on the counter. She smiled and took out her money-card. "You are the best. If I manage to cap something with this during the hike, I'll send you a pic." She added with a smile.

Lady of The Night

Twitching her ears as she noted the Nepleslian conman's shift in disposition Tamamo was surprised, almost to the point of being startled, that she was in his presence while he assumed such a relaxed state, something she had never expected. Confident in her ability to keep them safely in the air she took her attention away from the controls long enough to witness Enzo's gesture as he inquired as to where they should go before taking another drink from her slowly depleting milkshake. Contemplating the question as she drank, Tamamo took the time to reference local star charts comparing the distances and features of nearby star systems while plotting out viable locations that they might want to visit.

Eventually she spoke up, "We could visit the Fortuna, or Hope system, perhaps travel as far as Dawn Station, or inward to the core to visit Nepleslia and make it back by the end of the day. Or perhaps you'd rather search about Neplsalia Prime for some land that catches your fancy? Maybe find somewhere to build a little Château Bortelli away from the troubles of the Galaxy?" She noted to herself that his assertion was correct, they could visit a myriad of places, their only limit that they likely had to return in a relatively short time. She also noted that she didn't know enough about local space to choose somewhere that would entertain the conman, after all she was fairly certain that he wouldn't want to visit a ball of ice.

"You have more experience with the wonders of space, as such I would like you to choose where we go. Once you have chosen I'll do my best to fly us there, and then you will handle the return trip... It would be unforgivable to deny you the opportunity to fly your Lady." She hoped that the suggestion would be acceptable, as she didn't have any better alternative and choosing at random seemed a poor decision.

Commercial Lane, Sargasso, Karl's Threepenny Bullets
Happy that business had been concluded, Zeta bought the shotgun, and cartridges, and the quartet were off on their merry way to the hunt. Melissa lead the group and was happy to direct them Northwest past the Long Road. As they were approaching the treeline and starting to feel an incline in the hill, to the southeast, Seiren's factory could be seen. Even without the kid at the wheel, it was still running itself, and sugary smoke was happily rising into the air. The travellers could've sworn the smoke was smiling at them with cutesy faces.

Melissa flared her nostrils as she sniffed the air a few kilometres away from the factory. It wasn't the sort of acrid she was used to on normal Nepleslian industry. Still, industry was industry no matter how fruity it smelled and she kept her eyes forward. "Orright ladies 'n germs, let's go us a walk!" she commanded the team towards the treeline and unslung her rifle, now resting by her hip from a shoulder strap, "if we see somethin' that would look good on a wall, we shoot it!"

She then looked over to Shayla and saw their weapon of choice, "...er bludgeon it t' death - whatever works!"


Somewhere above Sargasso, Lady of the Night
Whatever Tamamo and Enzo decided to do within the Lady of the Night, it was their decision. They weren't just looking at freedom from a distance, lying down on ground while their heads were turned skywards. They were in the sky, and down below was the earth they were once bound to. They could go to Hope, they could go to Fortuna, they could go to Dawn, they could go to Nepleslia - they were free to go wherever with the Conman's guidance.

With the weight of things off of his shoulders and such a lovely vista, able to witness all down on the earth however grandiose or mundane, he could choose wherever he wanted to be with impunity.

The liberty manifest in the freedom of movement was beautiful.


A FEW WEEKS LATER...
Luca looked dour. The crew noticed he was getting into more meetings recently, involving Echelon, John, and Nostrovia - who seemed to come and go through Sargasso as she saw fit, carrying documents and files with her. However, he didn't lose sleep, he still ate regularly and well, and sometimes - he even smiled at what could be around the corner. Even as the Hoplite downstairs had been completed and put into a flyable vessel and Tamamo had gotten some flight experience in, Luca wasn't batting eyelids at that.

He wasn't disclosing what he had to be so happy about and resisted attempts from the crew to find out. During an agonisingly lazy afternoon on a Wednesday (or possibly a Thursday - the days blurred together when there wasn't much to do) and a restless crew clamouring for action or something to do, he made an announcement from his room across the Crimson Kestrel, and to all personal communicators.

♫ Serious Sam: The First Encounter - Hapshepsut Intro ♫

"Ladies, gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking." Luca said over the communications as he was suiting up - the sound of belts strapping and weapon bolts being opened could be heard, along with other ordnance and ammunition being handled. "We have our next mission. It's a doozy, so I'm going to have to hold a briefing in the lounge room in one hour. We may have to do the mission in two teams doing two different objectives, on two different planets."

"Before the meeting, I expect us to be dressed for war, since we need to be moving by tomorrow morning. I have a query for one of our fireteams, the one going in loud - the exacts of who will be figured out during the meeting - can any of you drive a tank?" He was dead serious, but his giddiness destroyed any doubt that he was asking. "Don't worry if you can't, the instructions provided have some cartoons for easy reference." He was referring to the two battle tanks he got as a Yuletide gift a while back. A bizarre gift at first, which were begging to be used.

"By process of deduction," the sound of a jacket being donned could be heard - something Luca hadn't been seen wearing for nearly six weeks since the Fruna Ruica incident, "that means there's a quiet team." He let that hang in the air. A quiet approach was being considered at all? "You guys are going to be doing something that doesn't involve tanks, so dress smart if you feel ready to strike from shadow and fuck shit up."

The sound of a shotgun pumping could be heard. "Get psyched team, it's showtime. Out." The intercoms around the ship faded, and the message was clear. One team loud, another team quiet, the tanks - and possibly the Hoplite might get involved. In addition, there were a pair of GP-ORVs which had been around a long, long time with power-armour grade gauss rifles attached to the upper bars to gun from.

John, Melissa, Allison, and Echelon were moving immediately, smiles on faces and fire in their bellies, getting prepared for something interesting.

Seiren had spent the last few weeks shaping up. After a few band prescriptions, he finally had a sleeping medication that worked - pure, dreamless rest. It was sad not to be able to dream, but when the alternative was horrible nightmares, then there was hardly a choice.

The candy factory's progress was, in one word, complete. The Separa'shan manager did her duties admirably, and she and Seiren had built up something of a respectable rapport. But now, the factory was officially open for business - and business was sweet, with Lina assisting in distribution.

All the while, he was getting ready. His left wrist track had traded out his Little Killer for the centrifuge Rebeka had given him. His LEAF, while repaired from his sparring match with her, still wasn't quite ready for combat. Especially since he'd been putting his surprising discovery together on it. Otherwise, he had a couple of odd gifts for the other crew that he put together in the few weeks they had since requests were made. All of which were laid out on a table in front of his workshop.


He eagerly waited for Rebeka, however, to give her her gift in person. After several weeks of teaching her Braille, he finally had a PDA that had the same functionality, as well as an analytical assistant that could read out descriptions of things and define them for her.

Her oddly shaped feet were for the first time wrapped in more conventional looking shoes, large as they were. There was visible discomfort in the way the white giant moved as her feet made their way along the deckplates. She debated advancing before remembering how when she appeared without warning this was a bad thing and that bad things happened, once or twice almost involving automatic weapons fire and words she didn't know the meaning of shouted very loudly. Learning from her experiences, she instead rapped a black laminated knuckle against the arch of the metal wall just gently to announce her presence.

"The others said you wanted to see me. Something about a thing."

"Ja-jaaaan!"

The inventor presented the small handheld device up to Rebeka, a screen made of magically ferromagnetic sand fluid that he didn't quite understand himself. The thing was wrapped in a ribbon.

"I've been working on getting this to you for a while now. Now whenever I'm not around and you have questions, you can get answers! And also, it's got a touch-reading system, so you don't have to worry about reading its interfaces! And it can also store books, and radio shows. . . and. . . uh. . . it can also analyze things for you! Sorta! That feature's a bit buggy! But it's all good!"

His smile could not be more like a spotlight than it was in this instant.

Rebeka spent a few minutes, watching the small inventor show her the basics before deciding she wanted to discover the rest of herself, that having a puzzle explained to her took the fun out of it. Eyeing him on her way out, glove hanging at her wrist with the thing cradled she gave him a nod. She seemed curiously vibrant, knowing she had a window to the world the others wouldn't shut about most of the time: "did you see/did you hear?" all things she couldn't either with.

She gave a quiet nod before disappearing.

"Thank-you for the rectangle."

Crimson Kestrel, Cargo Bay, SSCC-Huge (Home?)

An orderly bundle of cables snaked its way around the edge of one of the larger cargo container in the Crimson Kestrel's cargo bay, leading from a small cluster of caged generators, and assorted machines before worming their way through the partially ajar door and beyond into the dimly lit interior of the cargo crate. From within the gentle song of running servers could be heard filling the enclosed space and providing a constant quiet ambience.

Sitting in one of the few open areas beyond the sparsely populated racks of servers within the crate amid a snarl of cables and surrounded by various tools, some borrowed, others owned, a small blue Nekovalkyrja could be found fussing with a collection of components carefully working to assemble them into a single unit. Her focus was interrupted by the unexpected announcement by the crew's Captain informing them that there would be action soon, this pleased the small girl as it would be nice to put her skills both new and old to use.

Returning her attention to the casing she had been working on Tamamo sighed softly as she set about returning the tools to their proper places before locking away her precious project along with the components she had been gifted. Soon she would be finished, but for now there was work. Gathering up the borrowed tool boxes the small girl tiptoed her way out of the cargo container stepping over the large orderly cable bundle as she made her way carefully toward the small Yamataian inventor's workshop where one of the boxes of borrowed tools had come from.

Pausing as Rebeka passed her Tamamo watched the tall figure curiously, wiggling her ears before stepping into the work area with a cheerful greeting, "Hello~ I have your tools." Without waiting for a response she set the toolbox down in an area that had free real-estate within Seiren's workshop before turning and wandering back out of the enclosure.

Wandering past the table of goods outside, Tamamo scooped up the boots that had unexpectedly been created to match her idle concept during her first encounter with the small inventor. With her new footwear in hand Tamamo made her way to the Kestrel's main maintenance and fabrication area to return Allison's tools. A similar greeting and immediate withdrawal from the room as she continued on her way.

Circling around as she returned to her container, Tamamo wondered whether or not it would be beneficial to pretend to be a Nepleslian. Unable to come to a satisfactory answer on her own Tamamo paused outside of her temporary home and sent a message to the Captain's communicator:


Now all she had to do was wait and see what would required of her.

Soruk was busy hammering away in the forge when Luca's voice rang over the intercom, along with other clacking, clanging, clicking, and clunking sounds. He had slowly put the piece he was working on down, cocking his head slightly to listen. It had been about time they went and did something. The blademaster had been getting increasingly anxious about standing around. He had almost called his clan again for a ship, so he could go on his way, at least for a little while. Luckily or unluckily, Luca had impeccable timing to dash that plan.

He nodded slowly as Luca slowly laid out the basics of what was going on. At the mention of a loud team, Soruk huffed a little, "Always loud, always always always..." The blademaster had already come to terms with the fact that the crew of the Phoenix were quiet about 0% percent of the time. That was until Luca mentioned a second team, a quiet team. Soruk raised a brow, listening closely, If the quiet team means just me, this mission will be perfect. That sort of thinking was much to hopeful and the gartagen knew it.

It took the blademaster a total of about thirty seconds to gather up all his gear. He usually carried everything he needed for a fight with him and fortunately, he had been working on the gear he usually left behind. With a few buckle snaps and belt tightening, the gartagen was ready. He turned the forge 'off' and stored his work in process, taking the time to fetch Vita's completed work. Instead of taking the maintenance ducts like he usually did, Soruk chose to walk like normal people. He passed the other inhabitants of the cargo bay, who thankfully left him alone for the most part, giving a quick nod before heading to the meeting.

Crimson Kestrel, Mess Hall
Heavy footsteps could be heard as Luca and most of his equipment walked towards the lounge. He could be seen wearing a combat helmet resembling a riot officer's helmet, spraypainted black with a transparent polygon of durandium where the bulletproof glass would be mounted which extended down towards his chin. Glass was one thing, but a screen of transparent durandium in a triangular shape was another. It wasn't like him to wear a helmet, but his face was still visible beneath the transparent orange durandium.

"I'm not here to announce that I've finally gotten the sense to wear a helmet," he said to an empty room as he found a place to put his datapad down, activating the holographic mode and bringing up all of the documents, items and things, and getting what he could prepared for the meeting ahead of time. Behind him, Echelon was the first to enter, carrying a handful of documents. Made of paper. In a folder. With red stamps on them.

"1 N3V3R UND3RST00D TH3 1D34 0F 4 P4P3RL3SS 0FF1C3. 1T 4SSUM3S TH3R3'S N0 3X1ST1NG P4P3R." She commented as she placed the wad of documents down on the table next to Luca.

"I don't think computers were even considered when paper became a reality," Luca sighed as he grabbed the topmost document, a document specifically to summarise all the other documents beneath it. The summary was marked with '[OPERATION RIP AND TEAR]' with a 'LOUD!' scribbled next to it in Luca's handwriting. Separated by an ampersand and a line, '[OPERATION LASER DOLPHIN]' was written below with a 'quiet!' etched beside it in ballpoint pen.

"Has a nice ring to it," he said as he laid the first set of documents in front of him and scattered the rest so they weren't in a larger pile. "I better brush up on these while I wait for the others to get together." He felt his communicator vibrate in his pocket and saw the message from Tamamo.

"R1GHT," Echelon said as she sat down next to him, waiting for the others while Luca tapped a reply back to Tamamo.

And with that, he continued waiting for the others as Nostrovia entered the room and sat to his other side. The two discussed more about the mission to each other quietly as they waited for personnel to arrive. The hologram from the datapad was being manipulated too, showing the photos, the maps, the locales, the who's who. Luca's eyes narrowed when he saw the primary target of Laser Dolphin: A senator. Of course it had to be a senator. Echelon, Luca, and Nostrovia shared some off colour commentary to get it off of their chests before the meeting, but anyone walking by would've heard some choice words about what they thought...

INTERLUDE 2 - COMPLETE!!

Commercial Lane, Sargasso

"All right," Zeta said as she loaded up her new shotgun with buckshot and then slung over her shoulder. She adjusted the sling for a bit, so it would be more comfortable. "I am looking forward to this a ton, so let's step at it. I was not in the nature for well... well never really. I got all this knowledge of it loaded in my brain, but I never went out. Oh boy this should be interesting."