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Misato looked as Sienna as she made her comment about the ship, she thought it was a decent enough place. but the shosho started talking before Misato could respond herself.
As she heard the option the Shosho was giving Sienna, Misato thought back on the concern Mimi-chan had about her. "Well why don't you join me on the trip to the NMX base, maybe you might know a bit more about their equipment then we do." She tried to say that as nicely as she could with a polite smile on her face.
She sent a message to Mimi-chan through the mental link. What's your plan for this operation? You want to join me? Bet you would look good in a Mindy...
"Actually ma'am, I'd like to request that Valencia-Juni join my team." Takeyu cast a look at Ramiro briefly, followed by a brief smile before he looked back at the Shosho.
Mitsuko frowned at the thought of Sienna going along with one of the teams. Who knew what trouble she could get into? She might have friends waiting for her, ready to ambush the others. She might be planning to steal their shuttle while everyone was distracted...it had happened before, after all.
The Neko was surprised by Misato's offer, but she tried to quickly hide her feelings, watching Sienna from the corner of her eyes. Murakami gave her roommate a slight nod, looking at her instead of their passenger. I...guess I could. We could keep an eye on her. I'm just worried about messing up again. She frowned, again. Which might look confusing, since their conversation was silent.
Misato smiled, 'I wouldn't worry about it, we all have made mistakes from time to time. the trick is to learn from them and move on.'
She sat there waiting to see if there was going to be anything more said about the operation. after a minute she spoke up, "Chusa, unless there anything else, I'm going to take Murakami-hai down to get fitted out for a Mindy."
After drying himself, brushing his teeth and putting on his new uniform, Conrad felt like a new man. He moved towards the fabrication bay with big strides.
''Charisma, would you kindly tell me about the Ship Rules?''
As he made his way over, Charisma started to summarize the first ship rules to him. With every rule, he tried to see if there was a way for him to break it in some way and if so, what he would do to preemptively shut it down to avoid it happening. Before long, he was at the fabrication bay.
Fabrication Bay
As he entered the bay, Conrad couldn't help but look around. This was the place. The place where he'd get to actually making something powerful! A small grin centered on his face, too hard for him to remove.
"Only take Sienna on the NMX Base team if she is aware of and accepts the risks," Hanako warned Sune. "It is an enemy facility, and it is possible there are still remnants like parasites and Rippers. That is also why I want medical personnel there instead of exploring the derelict. I will leave the team arrangements up to you. Good luck."
With that, the Shosho gave a bow to her crew and returned to the bridge.
Fabrication Area
The fabrication area was a large workshop that spanned two decks, with a metal floor and painted metal walls. At the forward end was the hatch to the main zero-gravity passage and on the other was a giant set of double doors separating this area from the cargo bay. Catwalks ran along the outer walls on on the upper deck and hooks, robot arms, and crane systems hung from the ribbed ceiling. Around the compartment there were dozens of heavy industrial machines that an engineer could use to make just about anything, and various supply lockers holding tools and tanks of industrial nanomachines. On the upper level there were computer workstations off of the catwalks.
Sienna's eyes widened just a touch on the mention of the NMX. Now she really wished she'd been paying attention, but she was grateful that Hanako had made it clear that she had an option. There was no way she was going back into a squid installation so soon after escaping from one. That derelict she mentioned sound lilke a far better idea. As Hanako interjected, however, she began to notice that the mousey looking crewmember, Murakami, had been making faces for apparently no visible reason, as if she were talking to someone who wasn't there, without moving her mouth. One of her eyebrows ticked upwards for a moment as she watched her quizzically.
"Yeah, uh," she replied to Misato's question, turning her face in the Neko's direction with her eyes still hanging on Murakami's puzzling behavior for a moment, "no thanks. I'll let you pros handle that one. Count me in on exploring the derelict." She stood from her seat and craned her torso backwards, stretching her arms high over her head. Eyeing her empty breakfast plate, she looked around for some clue as to what the rest of the crew had done with their dishes. "Where do I get suited up?" she asked to anyone in earshot as she did so.
Mitsuko sat up straight as Misato spoke up about her idea. "Oh...I already have a Mindy assigned to me. It's in...acceptable shape." Sienna caught another frown as she managed to avoid winding up where Misato could keep an eye on her.
Bors was waiting by a nearby locker when he saw Conrad walk in. Waving him over he lead him up a set of stairs to the main computer to begin working on his MCAS.
"Its pretty self explanatory," He said pulling up a few windows of his own MCAS as well as the fabrication process " Its pretty easy to build one to your own specifications, hell that's what it was designed for, but if you need help here's mine for a reference. I'll hang around here for a minute if you need any help."
"Heh, exploring the derelict ship will be way more fun than rooting squiddies out of an old base" Natsumi said to Sienna.
She picked up Sienna's plate and stowed it away in the correct place to get rid of it. "If you come with me, I can get you set up with one of the spare AMES suits" she added and headed for the exit. At the hatch, she glanced back to see if Sienna was following.
There was plenty of time to get things ready and to get Sienna set up with a suit. She also needed to see how the repairs had gone on her own AMES suit, the hole in the leg would not do her any good on the coming mission.
Conrad inspected the list of all possible options, looked at the setup Bors chose. There was a lot of information, but he could stay here forever. Now that he was busy, he had two questions to ask.
''So uh...Bors. Two things. One, some of these options are expensive, some are rare. Are they still available or not? And any general things I might wanna know? Never had more then basic theoretical training. Big guns sounds like my cup of tea but still...''
Conrad turned just a little for the second question, before looking back at the schematic options. His eyes fell upon a first set of contenders. As always, he'd go for power. Yet he also wanted to have enough back-up plans might things go wrong. He had some hefty decisions to make.
''...And ah, I guess you must've noticed the cigar smell too. You're a Nepleslian as far as I know. I'm wondering about the cigar thing that happened. Was I that wrong? Does it perhaps slowly kill Neko shipmates or something? Never did anyone made me feel bad about a cigar in private.''
Conrad wasn't asking if it was wrong: He had reread the ship rules on his way to the fabrication bay. Asked Charisma and had heard of some plaque with the rules on them as well. Yet how they reacted was what suprised him. Maybe he should not have asked Bors, but as far as he knew, if he wanted to get some straight honest answers, you'd have to ask and receive in turn. Might as well have been from one of his tough fellow squadmates on Urtullan.
Sienna pushed a stray bit of hair behind her ear, watching where Natsumi stashed her used plate so she would know for future reference. After the poisonous looks that Conrad had attracted for merely smelling like cigar smoke, she surmised that she'd probably get it worse for making a habit of not cleaning up after herself at mealtime since she wasn't a crew member.
Her eyebrows went up again in response to Natsumi, and she snorted a breathy grunt. "You ain't putting me near them if I have anything to say about it," she replied. When Natsumi mentioned getting her set up with one of the spacesuits, she had to suppress her anticipation. She was almost reeling; less than two days on the ship and they were already giving her a spacesuit. Trusting bunch, she thought with a smirk. These people made so little sense to her. She was held at gunpoint multiple times when she offered to help them, watched them nearly tear one another's throats out over dinner, now they were sending her out as one of their own crew and giving her a spacesuit.
She had certainly found her next haunt for a while. She'd be stupid to move on from this sort of chance.
She stuffed her hands in her pants pockets and followed Natsumi out of the wardroom.
Hanako took a seat her her fancy new bridge chair, and created several volumetric windows, including a camera feed of the power armor bay and one of shuttle bay so she could monitor how efficiently the crew would get suited up and down to the planet. In another window she pulled up a variety of sensor readings. She put the ship into geosynchronous orbit over the site of the old cargo ship crash site and slowly rotated it to point at HX-12 IV whenever possible. She smoothed her hands over her skirt and then stretched her arms out as she let out a yawn, still feeling a little sleepy this morning.
Her console's phone rang. "Engineering here. Electrical repairs are complete," Cherry told her. "Permission to sleep?"
"Thank you," Hanako replied. "Please go ahead and get some rest." She turned to Blackberry. "That goes for you and the other night shift personnel, too."
"Team 1, report to the Power Armor bay after you clean up here and secure any personal gear you are not taking with you. Dismissed." he turned and walked out.
On his way down to the bay he reviewed his standard load out. He only made one small change and that was to his hand held weapon.
He arrived in the bay and signaled for his armor to open.
Bors gave Conrad a quizzical glare as he listened to the questions, searching his mind for possible answers. As he thought he leaned against a nearby rail to get more comfortable.
"I would try to avoid the expensive and rare things, I mean sure the ShoSho could get her hand on them if need be, shes a damned princess for feths sake, but overall I'd still avoid it. As for the components and weapons," Bors said as he walked over to the computer, pulling up another window, " check the armory I would tell you what they all do but I mostly just fix the weapons, and there pretty easy to under stand they just shoot things."
After pulling up the screen he turned the computer back over to Conrad before taking back his position on the rail.
"And yes I'm 100% red-blooded Nepleslian, well minus a few parts," Bors said flexing his hands for reference, " and no, tobacco smoke doesn't kill nekos, it's just illegal in the Empire so most of them have never smelt it in the first place. The smell must have just got to her, seeing as its not very present to someone who normally doesn't smoke. Hell I almost got kicked out of my apartment when I first moved to Yamatai a few years back cause of the stuff." Bors added, not masking the amusement in his voice as he recalled his landlord trying to tell him that smoking was illegal, something that he could barely understand.
Satisfied that he had answered all of Conrad's questions to the best of his ability he began to head down toward the PA Bay to get suited up for the next mission,
"I hope I answered everything for ya, I'm gonna go get suited up myself, and make sure that you program in a paint job, your a big enough target as it is and we don't need you sticking out in a bright metal suit." he said jokingly as he reached ground level and headed out of the fabrication bay.
Takeyu had been thinking about the loadout, but when he noticed Natsumi and Sienna leaving it left him a bit annoyed that they didn't wait to see what his instructions would be. Although, he was saddened that Ramiro hadn't responded to his request, perhaps the soldier had other things to do.
Code:
Natsumi, outfit your PA for close quarters combat please. I'll let you decide on weapons, however, for modules I would like you to equip a teleportation module please for quick exits. Also, NSB's are a must.
Shosho Hanako looked at the teal planet below from above, zooming in its image more and more until it was a satellite-style view close enough to see features. The area of interest didn't seem to have any problematic weather but it did look a little dusty. The shifting sands had covered the crashed freighter almost completely in the last four years since the Eucharis was here but the old antenna on the mountain top was still tethered in place. Sending a mental command, she switched to another set of sensors and the computer began attempting to build a 3D model of the wrecked ship, that could then be used to figure out what it once looked like. Once that got started she looked back to see how things were going in the armor bay and shuttle bay.
Natsumi lead Sienna from the Wardroom to the Power Armor Bay. The compartment was crammed with all sorts of military hardware.
Code:
"Understood, Nayacesen-San" Natsumi replied to the Engineer's orders.
She went to the appropriate locker and withdrew an AMES suit for Sienna. "Okay here you go" she said bringing the suit over.
"This is the Army Multi-Species Environmental Suit, or AMES for short" she said. "It's the same type of suit we had on when we first met you and it will work in space, hostile atmosphere, radiation and keep you alive pretty well" she went on.
Natsumi laid out the soft suit, helmet, back pod, boots and gloves for Sienna. "If you need help putting it on, I can help. Otherwise suit up and you can use one of the lockers here to store everything you are not bringing with you on the mission" she smiled, then turned her attention to her own suit.
Natsumi quickly grabbed the hardware Takeyu had askjed her to bring; One Ke-M2-P3000 Power Armor Teleportation Unit, One Ke-M2-W2704 Nodal Support Bit Launcher. For weaponry, Natsumi selected her Ke-M4-W2901 Light Armor Service Rifle and of course, her trusty NSP. She considered some heavier weaponry, but with the close quarters they would be in the shiny Aether cannon or Gauss rifle would just be overkill.
With her armor fit out, Natsumi glanced over to see how Sienna was doing. "How's things going over there?" she asked as she started taking off her uniform.
Ramiro's attention span had been wavering. Out of habit and understanding of the usual procedures, he knew that the gist of what they would discuss was 'run in and kill' and since he didn't really mind which team he wound up on it didn't seem important to him. Eventually he looked up, realizing that he had been daydreaming for quite too long, before standing and stretching.
"Alright gents, I'll go suit up. Meet you in the Shuttle Bay Takeyu."
Departing the Wardroom, Ramiro headed towards the Power Armor Bay
PA Bay
After entering the room Ramiro strolled over to where his usual armor was stored and pulled it out. Walking over to the storage area for the modules he grabbed his usual full armament of shield modules and proceeded to attach them to his armor. Once he was satisfied he climbed in and did a functions check of the standard movements and of the many different Shield Modules he was now wearing. Satisfied, he grabbed his LASR, slung it up against his shoulder, and leaned against the wall, taking a short period of mental preparation.
Like a child in a toy factory, Conrad worked hard to create his penultimate toy - a weapon as big as he was. Keeping Bors' MCAS setup as a reference point, the tall recruit started to work. In the midst of his fervor however, he had to send a message to the Chusa. He was going on another mission, after all.
Code:
Sune-Chusa,
I am currently working on creating my MCAS setup along with Bors. However, what are your preferences for the mission? How much time do I have to complete the design? Will I be able to join you in time? Are there other preparations you wish me to make? I'm afraid Bors and myself came here soon, possibly having missed something form the briefing.
Conrad blinked as he realized he had more to discuss with the Chusa.
Code:
And in closing, after this mission, I would kindly ask to speak to you in private. I believe I still owe you a personal apology.
As he finished with his message, he believed he had some things to think about. He had expected more possibilities, but after seeing Bors' preferences, he believed he was close to that. Furthermore, had he been a tinkerer more then a soldier in preparation, he would have thought of many more options to expand the MCAS arsenal. That was not the time now however.
As he had finished his first setup, he looked at Bors, signalling him to have a look. Conrad started to talk him through his decisions.
''So. Guess it's a bit more akin to yours Bors. I've got the same core. I have to admit the Paladin core sounds mighty awesome, I mean, weaponised wings...but I wouldn't be able to control them. The Dragoon Core's gonna be the one for me. I'm more of the durable fighter type then the stealthy or fast type. At least, that's what I figure so far. Field tests will have to confirm or deny it. I did not take the same armor configuration. Yama-Dura is seemingly expensive. I've not got the guts to present that to the Shosho. The Organic-Ceramic Armor's my pick. Balanced sounds good, so it can take a decent punch. We've got the same helmet, same electronics, and the same power systems. Have to say I was a bit surprised at the limited choices for powering. Seeing I've got the same powering configuration, I might as well go with a propulsion system that can take it. I also reckoned the suit could use a little need for speed to compensate for it's semi-heavy configuration.''
Conrad scrolled and got to the interesting part. He had a Shield Module on the Dorsal Hardpoint, A Gauss rifle on the left shoulder and a Missile Pod on the right shoulder. His legs were also equipped with an offensive augmentation pod.
''Dragoon can't have forearm weapons, so that's easily chosen. I like the stuff that goes boom, so the legs are equipped with the offensive augmentation pod. I had an idea to switch it out with the other missiles that can create small holes in armors, but I have to ask you if that hole would be well enough for a Gauss to get a clear shot - A bonafied Killshot. Tough one, but I can't say. I was also considering switching the leg parts out for a shield module and replacing the module on the back with extra ammunition for the rocket launcher or Gauss...probably launcher. But your suit would, in comparison, be able to take a lot more. Derived from that, how many shields would be smart for a mission? A general mission that is..''
Conrad had asked a lot of questions, but after this, he'd have his design ready. All in preparation for another mission. Not a ''same shit different day'' scenario, he hoped.
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