RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 2] - Choke

Reeves had Perked up some when an invitation to Ori-Mart was given to him. As he was already on his way out he neglected to tell Bronzi that he did not own nor did he know how to use a gun, but he figured there would be time to ask him about the problem later when he wasn't dealing with Sura. He would only hold her training back. That is how he looked at it anyway.

"I've heard of those before. Very classy." He murmured thoughtfully as Echelon pointed out the mimicom When they entered the store his false eye lit up a bit. There was just so much to look at. He loved places like this. They were just brimming with supplies and tech. It could keep him occupied for the rest of his little life. He spun on his heel slowly looking about as the shopkeeper called out greeting. "Yea... hi..." The small man murmured as he eyed some of the discounted product. Eventually his circle faced him towards David again. "I'm Pheonix Reeves... " He chirped as Allison was explaining that her friend could and had downloaded a car at one point.

"And I'll definitely be seeing you once I get paid." giving the man a tiny smile he let him go back to work so he could get the Mimicom box.

He slipped back into silence again enjoying the fact that no one found the need to make him answer their questions or carry a lengthy conversation. He was worried he would only make a fool of himself.

Running after Alison and Echelon wasn't the best way to end a pleasant shopping outing. His legs were significantly shorter than either of the pair, and he hadn't really needed to sprint for long distances in the past. By the time they were back at the Kestrel he could barely speak. "I think... I'm going to die." He said between big gulps of air. "You can go on ahead I'm going to see if Bronzi still has a spare gun." He closed his eyes ignoring the dull stitch in his side before actually boarding the ship. When he reached the lounge again he felt like he was about ready to collapse."Well that was interesting... " It looked like he would have to improve his endurance or find a way to fix his stunted height. "er... Luca what are the chances of me actually needing to use a weapon on this mission? Its just. I don't actually... I just I never have and the prospect actually hurting someone is starting to freak me out."

"So yous joins up with Legendary Mercenary and Eye-Are-Ell supah-heros Luca P'vone, an' yous don't even wanna hoit people!?" Enzo wasn't one to let Luca answer every question when there was condescending guffawing to be done. He guffawed condescendingly as he emerged from his walk to the Lady of The Night and back to inspect and validate the scanner-proofness of his favorite hidey-holes. After stowing his contraband and arming up with a nice NSP to match the theme of the getaway, he returned to this-- Reeves making such an admission as to dislike violence.

"Well, why don'tcha get some practice in, give ole' Enzo a good pop, sees if yous can manage to hoit me." Enzo suggested, getting nice and close to Phoenix with that crooked smile. "Handsome guy like yous don't wants t' gives me a kiss, maybe yous might wanna pop me fer askin' fer one? Heh."

Makari bought a few boxes of "normal" Peashooter ammo for the trip to Yamatai just in case he desperately needed to shoot something or someone. He nodded to Luca, "Aye, I'm ready to go boss."

Crimson Kestrel, Lounge
"I'm hoping we don't, but of course," Luca sighed to Reeves and Enzo. "Should it happen we might as well be ready - pray for peace and prepare for war anyway. Lorath saying." He knew that the kid, in their youth would hang onto his word, but Enzo had seen too much to just 'pray for peace' in a world of infinite strife. Quietly, something in the back of his mind ached for another good fight. The only thing that'd gotten his blood flowing recently was the sparring with Bronzi - it wasn't lethal but no holds were barred.

Vita seemed to blink for a couple of moments and tilted her head quizzically. "Oh, dad," she mentioned matter-of-factly, stretching her back lazily, "Someone's delivering a tank to you. Two of them." Luca's train of thought appeared to completely derail as he tried to look between Reeves and Vita, eyebrow cocked.

"Hang on what-?"

Sargasso, The Long Road
"Someone's delivering me a tank," Luca relayed as he looked at Karl and Lina, who'd gotten news of the occurrence and come to spectate the arrival. An aerospace craft was coming towards Sargasso's Long Road, the makeshift airport and spaceport for the beleaguered town. "Who?"

"Lorath Mach-riarchy," Vita said in a Sargassi drawl, putting her hand over her eyes to watch the incoming vessel. It didn't appear to be stopping or slowing down to deliver the packages in an orderly fashion.

What have I done for them recently? Luca asked himself. The last time he was close to Lor, it was during one of the wars with the NMX, whilst the United Outer Colonies was still a light in the galactic Eastern dark, untimely snuffed by NMX and internal clan feuds and politics. Maybe Drift, his old friend's midway station had some Lorath on it who were grateful for him and spread word of his deeds to the Lorath speaking audience.

"That plane is getting closer." Luca observed dryly, stepping aside from the Long Road and motioning to the others to stand aside. The aerospace vehicle came dangerously close to skimming the ground and two gigantic packages on sleds fell out of the back of it with a mighty banging noise, sliding across the asphalt, sending flecks and pebbles of it upwards. The tarpaulins on them were not plain, nor camouflage - they looked like Yuletide celebration wrapping paper made of canvas.

Lina and Karl exchanged an incredulous look as the package came to a rolling halt. It was time to give Dave a ring to get the road fixed. "So," Luca asked, halfway between rhetorical, and partway in genuine concern. "Does anyone know how to drive a tank?" His mind was boggling at just where they'd park the damned thing.

Zeta did, and so did Echelon after downloading instructions. The two tanks were snugly under the wings of the ISC Big Bird ship that resided in the hangar. The GP-ORV vehicles were pushed closer to the back of the hangar to make room for them. After that'd been done, it was time to leave. Luca made a head check to see that everyone was accounted for.

"Take off time. We should've be at Yamatai two posts ago," John groaned into the intercom, "Everyone strap yourselves in, buckle up, prepare for takeoff..." he said as the loading ramp for the Crimson Kestrel raised itself and sealed shut, leaving Sargasso behind. He then donned a headset and spoke some dry commands into the Aerospace control towers nearby to get clearance to leave. Clearance was granted quickly and expediently. "We are now jumping towards Yamatai in three, two, one..."

Cracka-THOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooommm...

Yamataian Space, Crimson Kestrel
The trip was a long in distance, but the miracles of Faster than Light travel shortened it down to half hour or so. Luca was sitting in his office, nervously cleaning the pistols he was going to bring with him. The little ODM Raygun that was a gift for him from Aerin, and the HHG that'd become an appendage to him. He was practically never seen without it in the advertisements. It'd get past security easily, but how would he prove that he wasn't going to shoot anyone? These sorts of things just gravitated towards him like moths to a flame, and he was the brightest light out there for a short time.

Big enough to attract a cruiser-shaped bird to bite him in half, but that only made him angry.

"We're here." John said over the intercom, snapping him out of his trance and dropping the pipe cleaner he was using. Luca panicked and dropped his ODM Raygun onto the desk in an attempt to scramble for the errant pipe cleaner. He bent down to pick it up, oily side first by accident and placed it back on the table.

Yamataian space was like a field of roses in bloom. There were hundreds and hundreds of bees going between each rose, swapping pollen and looking to sting anything that didn't look right. The beekeeper of this hive was Yui. She could make every bee, queen and everything beneath dance to her tune. She had every tincture needed to tame the bees, where to direct each one.

And into this field of bees stumbled the Crimson Kestrel, already, John could feel little bees, little signals bouncing off of the hull experimentally, trying to assess whether this foreign entity was a friend or a foe.

"I repeat this is the Crimson Kestrel, requesting permission to send the ISC Big Bird down with passengers. How's the queue?"

"Crimson Kestrel, it's busy. The Yuletide season's got everyone moving around. It'll be a few minutes until a space becomes available if you're dropping passengers off." The person on the other side of the line paused for a moment. "Who exactly is coming down?"

"Luca Pavone, and a retinue for-"

"Oh! We can put you on express," John breathed in exasperation as the person . "Send them down, we'll see if we can speed them through Customs. Which ships are coming?"

John sighed. Perks, but he felt they were ill gained. "Echelon, keep this on Autopilot. I'm going to put the Big Bird down," he then responded to the caller. "Two ships, the Big Bird and the Lady of the Night. Identification numbers..." he rattled them off clinically.

"R0G3R TH4T, J0HNNY B0Y." Echelon's robotic voice responded. However, down in the Hangar, a different Echelon altogether was standing there, a woman with long, shoulder length hair, piercing acidic green eyes and a round face with a lightly pointed chin. She'd put some mascara and makeup on her face, lengthening the appearance of her artificial body's eyelashes. To her, Yamataians revelled in the Artificial, and she was simply playing it to the hilt without pity, wearing a white dress with pink frills and a pair of fake cat's ears and knee-high socks with petite shoes. "I can't believe this is popular," she eyed Allison, who was a little more conservatively dressed.

Allison seemed to groan in apology. "What? I'm an expat. I can't speak for all of them." She didn't keep her finger on the pulse of trivial things like Yamataian fashion trends.

"0H 3NZ0, W4NT M3 T0 4UT0P1L0T TH3 L4DY B4CK UP 0NC3 Y0U T0UCH D0WN 4ND DR0P Y0UR G00DS 0FF?" the robotic side of the Freespacer asked the rogue.

Reeves fists curled up slowly as greasy ole Enzo strode close to him again. "I didn't say I didn't like hurting people. I said I had never done it before. I think there is a very distinct difference between those two things." His lips curved into a small smile. He tapped Enzo's jaw with his fist lightly. "But I don't hoit crew mates because they asked for a kiss. I don't want to make enemies my first day." His hands relaxed and he stuffed them in his pockets. "Even if I tried I don't think it would hurt much. I'm all skin and bones. " Shrugging he decided he would find a place to sit so he wasn't stumbling around from the initial acceleration of the ship.

Now that his sexy homoerotic encounter for the day was over, Enzo felt free to reply to Echelon with a dismissive wave; eyes still peircing Reeves as he moved away to find a place to sit.

"I think I'll pays da fee to has her berthed on the surface fer a minute, see?" The conman suggested, throwing himself against the nearest wall to lean like a professional. A professional leaner-on-things. Or whatever. His hand sliced through the air as he gesticulated his point illustratively, "Could make fer a quick gets-away inna pinch, or what-has-yous."

Before anybody had really counted, Seiren was already reclining in a seat on the ISC Big Bird with two backpacks, one of which had some clothes and whatnot for the trip down, and the other with quite the assortment of seemingly random scrap and knick-knackery. Of course, anybody that knew Seiren knew he could put this stuff to good use once he had time to assemble it. He eagely swung his legs around like an excited child on his first flight, humming the theme to Yami Neko Neko while he waited for boarders.

As Bronzi smirked watching the exchange between Reeves and Enzo, Sura used the distraction to silently slink away and out of the room.

Bronzi slow clapped as the tension left the room. "Ya'll make a great couple. If ya eva want somebody ta watch, an ya know, call out commands, lemme know." He said with a snort. "Now that that prick wavin is ova..." Bronzi looked at Reeves. 'Who are ya, an why are ya pickin a fight with tha greased pinky?"

The large Gartagen was still standing, and looking at the slimmer Reeves, but he did not seem to be being antagonist. He was actually kind of curious.

Meanwhile......


Seiren's humming was interrupted by the feeling of air being sucked in behind him. The nimble creature was perched on the chair and was peering down at him. Sura smirked. 'I was hoping to find you alone." She said softly as she gracefully maneuvered her self around and slid down into a straddle on top of him.

Sura genitally planted her claws on Seiren and was now nose to nose with him. "What is that you are humming?" She said still smiling, and shifting her eyes into seductive slits.

Seiren was, to say the least, a little stunned by Sura's forward approach.

The inventor was used to guys hitting on him at bars. Or when he was drunk. Or on the train. But women? They usually just called him cute and ruffled his hair. He didn't dislike that part.

"Uh-um. . . The theme to this one Yamataian cartoon. . ." He explained, not going into detail in case Sura didn't watch Yam TV.

Seiren was frozen in place, unsure what to do as the Gartagen stared him down, face-to-face.

Rebeka slowly sat up from behind a container, taking in the sight of the pair like a predatory animal and found the scene unsatisfactory. The stuttering made it worse. Within moments, she had her fingertips against Sura's neck, carefully peeling her up and away from Seiren with strength befitting of her size.

Soon Sura's feet met the deck and Rebeka set her down against the same container with the ease of handling a doll before sitting herself next to Seiren. With the seat so close to the ground for someone of her height, her knees came up just shy of Seiren's shoulders - a hand holding the ceiling, pushing herself down into the seat proper.

While she could have waited for Sura's words of retaliation or whatever fight she'd put up, Rebeka instead did something quite unusual for her person and instead chose to speak:

"Yami Neko-Neko, season 2 opening theme, correct?"

It came through that Lorath accent. But the words were there.

Sura smirked pushing in closer. Both of her hands crept up to caress Seiren's cheeks with the tips of her claws. "Well maybe when this mission is all over.." She whispered in an effort to be a sensual as possible.

"You and I could make out own music..."

Seiren would feel the young, under-aged female squeeze his waist with her powerful thighs. Seiren would feel his hip joints go into sudden pain as the stress was almost too much.

She pursed her lips and huffed at him, then lifted off of the inventor. Having stated her intentions, Sura vanished silently from the room, like a predator that had just made her first kill

The inventor could even stammer out a reply when Sura made innuendo at him, and did as any smaller creature in the grasp of a larger - continued standing perfectly still, though the pain from those powerful legs was a bit much. He breathed a half-sigh of relief as Sura was taken away, and consequently the pressure, but remembered that Rebeka was just as imposing, considering he woke up. Next to her. Even though he went to bed alone.

"Um, yes. It's the season two theme. You watch it?" He asked, almost desperately clinging onto the conversation as a distractor to what just happened.

"I heard you humming it when we met." Rebeka quietly said.

A long silence sat between the two before she continued.

"I went to the trouble of downloading and watching the full franchise."

Seiren's jaw dropped.

"But we only met, like. . . not that long ago! How on Yamatai did you manage to watch the whole thing so quickly?"

Thus, another strange aspect of this amazonian woman was filed away in Seiren's thoughts for safekeeping. The more he learned, the more about her that was intriguingly odd.

Rebeka blinked in a strange sort of disbelief from behind that deadpan mask, the only change being a slight contortion in those blackly painted lips and the particular way those ruby eyes stared into the back of his skull, like the eyes of a blind person.

"Should I have watched more? I can if it is necessary."

Another silence.

"Is it necessary?"

Reeves collapsed in his seat glad to put some distance between himself and the conman. He crossed one leg over the other and leaned on the armrest away from where Enzo was standing. He was more than happy to avoid making eye contact with them. A few glances in their direction told the small Nepleslian clone that Enzo was still staring at him. A slow sarcastic clapping drew his attention to the gartagen crew member that was still in the room. Trying to keep his composure he laughed dismissively. "I seriously doubt THAT would ever happen." Sitting up straighter in his seat he looked up at Bronzi.

Forcing a small smile He tapped his fingers against the couch. "You can call me Reeves sir... " He swallowed the lump in his throat before continuing. "I'm a new Technician.... I wouldn't exactly call that a fight. The greased pinky was just trying to convince me to punch him because he had asked for a kiss earlier. The real problem here is that I don't have any fighting experience at all. If anyone was picking a fight it was Enzo." The company he had worked with before this had been purely Nepleslian so different species definitely caught the young man's curiosity.

ISC Big Bird
It was time to head planetside. The crew that was contained inside the Vampire Class cruiser was strapped in and ready to head down into the cleanly atmosphere of Yamatai. It was so clean you could extract oxygen samples and sell them just so certain people could say they've breathed the air. Such jarring schemes were frequent for those who desired Yamatai, becoming expatriates of other countries just to head somewhere where the grass was greener.

However, a handful of the crew from the Phoenix were Yamataian expatriates themselves - or even expatriates of humanity and civilisation, caught up in an eternal struggle against the universe itself. Luca used to be a citizen before outrageous fortune was thrust upon him and out of a comfortable shell. In his venture, he'd conscripted the assistance of John - his next door neighbour, Allison, a former Yamataian Star Army engineer and roboticist, Jimothi Trakk, former Yamataian Star Army medic and one of the longest-serving members of the Phoenix save for Luca or John. There were a few other former citizens who'd joined the Phoenix, and were they still citizens of their native countries, or did they transcend politics by becoming something else entirely?

That was what Luca was pondering as the Big Bird left the hangar of the Crimson Kestrel and descended into Yamatai's atmosphere towards a spaceport in Kyoto. John could see a space reserved for his ship. A voice crackled into John's headset as he was getting his landing vector. "Do understand that despite celebrity status, we will have to conduct a cursory search for illegal materials." They couldn't have people think that with enough power and influence, you could evade the law. Yui was the Law, and nobody was above her.

"Alright guys, just a warning that they're gonna get fingery with you once you're in the terminal." John Morris relayed over intercom.
"Ohh, is Yamatai just 'protecting' its interests for the Queen Bee?" Echelon shot back with some venom. Allison rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Look on the bright side, you don't have to pay for it," the redhead told her robot-in-synthskin companion. "Just act normal, we've got nothing to hide."
"Enzo's touching down separately to offload his gear, and he'll probably give us what won't pass a finger search."

"That explains why there was a M1NDY..." Echelon said, briefly lapsing into her native tongue and looking at Tani.

The ship landed on the pad and the back of it opened up, the ramp dropping down to the floor. Luca was the first person to step out, dressed as well as he could be, with his weapons prominently displayed on his sides. A HHG and an ODM Raygun and only some spare magazines or clips - not enough to wage a war. The Grapple Stunner was also attached to his arm.

He could see directions towards the terminal and started heading towards them and the other members of the crew followed him. Inside, the Terminal was designed with a lot of glass in it, to bring as much natural light into the large, open structure as possible and minimise the use of artifical lights. It was a beautiful sight to be sure, and Luca could see the heads of other passengers going about to different ferries and different gates to go to different planets. Their business was theirs.

And Luca was now standing in a queue. Echelon and Allison were directly behind him, followed by everyone else. "Just security..." he repeated, rolling his eyes as he saw pat downs and full body scans. Very rarely would someone be pulled aside. Eventually it was Luca's turn, and in an adjacent queue, he could see an interesting sight unfold.

In the other queue was a gartagen, shrouded in a cloak that covered almost all of his skin, and would have concealed his face had the hood been pulled over his head. It was black with white highlighting, dark maroon stripes along the arms. Metal plating was attached to the arms, legs, and chest, it was an outfit for battle.

The wearer looked around anxiously. The space was bright and big. Bright meant light, light meant he could be seen. Big meant empty, and empty meant nowhere to hide. Matters were made worse with some people... touching him. They probably didn't like the amount of weapons on him.

Luca himself was also being asked to display arms. He pulled the unloaded HHG and Raygun from his belt, demonstrated proper gun safety by checking if they were loaded first before passing them to the officer (they weren't), and then passing him the magazines. She then pointed to the device on his arm. The Grapple Stunner. "We're going to have to take it off."

That thing had become like a symbiotic attachment to him. He sighed and reluctantly put his left hand under his right arm, pulled the release and slid the object off. "It's valuable. There's only one like it..." he said as the weapons inspector tried to examine it. It was sending shocks through her fingers just by handling it improperly.

The gartagen, however was catching his attention, dividing it as he watched the Nekovalkyrja mishandle the Grapple Stunner, and the increasingly large amount of weapons confiscated from this particular Gartagen.

He was annoyed, he didn't like not having his weapons. He had already unsheathed the Sheshka, and his bow, handing them over for inspection. While the inspector was busy working on how to extend the bow, the gartagen had removed the blades from the undersides of his gauntlet, and slid them into a hidden compartment made for them. It would take an expert eye to find the trigger to pop them out again. They had seized his quiver, full of various arrows, thankfully the designated poison arrows had not been coated with their appropiate substances.

"Sir," the Nekovalkyrja inspector told the Gartagen. "What is the meaning of all of these bladed weapons? You have enough to outfit a detachment here," she asked, apparently insensitive of the customs.

He looked directly at her, "I am a member of the Clan of Blades, this is our custom, and our lifestyle. It is what we are trained for, and what we live for. You insult me to suggest that I should have less. A Blade Master should never stop acquiring weapons."

A look of concern crossed the Nekovalkyrja's features, and she looked at the impressive pile of weaponry - hand made, all engraved, each was a work of art in itself. Luca was looking at it too and he scratched his chin. The woman handling the Grapple Stunner appeared to shock herself when she put her palm over the electrodes on the knuckles and formed a circuit. "Ow!" she yelped. "What is this?"

"Valuable." He replied before he looked at the pile of weapons and back at the Gartagen. "Hey!" Luca called out to the Gartagen and the security officer the next queue over as he removed his jacket for his security officer to inspect - underestimating how heavy it was when she held it. "He's with me."

The Gartagen turned, eyes narrowing at Luca. Who is this, daring to claim my company? He paused for a second, and nodded. Perhaps he seeks business. The Gartagen refused to remove his cloak when the officer asked for it. "Unless you wish to see my bare body, I suggest you do not remove my wear. I also do not want to be held responsible if you hurt your hand."

Luca's callout had caused a stir from some of the members of the queue behind him. Underneath his jacket, he was wearing a segmented breastplate with a mesh of durandium beneath it. His arms were bare for the audience behind him to see. Scars were highly, highly uncommon on a Yamataian body - something had to keep them there.

"I'm afraid we will have to. We can provide you with privacy if you so desire," the officer told Soruk.

"You'll have to take that off too, Mr. Pavone," Luca's security officer told him. "And the boots, and the pants, and your belt..." though, his officer sounded a little more salicious and sultry.

"really." Luca blinked at her. "So be it." A pair of screens fell from the roof and concealed the two men and their security officers, and the massing piles of gear that were starting to occur. Queues were being diverted further back to ease congestion. Luca removed his breastplate as ordered, then his belt, and he heard the security officer yelp as she saw all of the scared cuts and punctures all over him, eventually being completely naked in front of her.

"Wh...what the hell happened to you?" the woman's voice could be heard over the privacy barriers, Soruk could hear her.
"Life, the universe and everything."

The gartagen frowned slightly, "If it must be done, then it shall be."

He started by working on the clasps on the front of his chest, opening the front of the cloak, revealing an inner cloak, that bulged with a metal plate inside. He unbuckled his belt, and set it carefully down, pouches filled with metal balls that were bombs, but they appeared to be marbles. He unclasped the cross-sheathe from his back, setting it down next to the belt. Next came the quiver, which he had to unclasp from the cloak, and put it down with the rest. He could finally remove the outer cloak, and work on the inner cloak, which had the metal plating woven between the fabric layers.

He first slid his gauntlets off, setting them next to each other, and worked on unbuckling everything. After a minute, he let the inner cloak fall to the ground with an audible *THUMP*. He was left with nothing but his scars, clan tattooes, scars crisscrossing everywhere, primarily blade wounds. He gestured to his gear, and then himself, "So it is."

"Ara ara~," the security officer cooed as she began inspecting the gear meticulously, and then determined that, even if this Gartagen were to attempt to fight Yui or despoil the Garden of the Empress, he would not get far after the military might of Yamatai quashed him. At least that's what she believed. "You're free to go once you get dressed, and I can assist," she said, disregarding how long it took for him to disrobe. "Did you know that we've opened peace talks with Gartaga?"

Similarly, the officer in Luca's booth had finished inspecting everything on his person, horrified and boggling at each puncture and cut. "Don't you start anything, you scarred man. How have you managed to survive so much anyway?"

"With that armour, of course." Luca told the officer, still buck naked before he grabbed his heart-patterned boxers and slid them back on. "Do you know how long it'll take me to put all that back on?"
"Not as long if you have assistance~"
"Oh you tease."

The Gartagen nodded at the officer, "I did. You may assist me if you so desire. It will take me awhile to put all this on again by myself."

He started, dressing in the opposite order that he had undressed in. The Nekovalkyrja was passing him his equipment in the order she'd removed it from his person and helping him further by helping tighten straps. Occasionally, the gartagen would feel a finger or two get a little close for comfort, but that was just an inevitability.

"Now, that's just misconduct there." Luca replied as he found that the Neko 'assisting' him was hindering more than helping, "I pay people to do this to me normally," He was trying to clip his belt and its harnesses and straps back on, but she kept on making them slip out. "and you're an amateur too." That made her stop and she let him dress himself.

Eventually, the two were fully clothed and armed again. The privacy curtains lifted, and they were free to go. Allison and Echelon were next in the queue and they were content with being scanned and searched together.

The Gartagen rolled his shoulders, and tugged on a shoulder strap. He continued forward, casting an occasional glance at the man who had claimed his company. With a few quick and silent movements of the hand, the blades were released from the compartments, and slid back into their rightful place. The lethal place.

"So," Luca was walking closer to the Gartagen, eventually leading him towards a cafe. His distinctive purple jacket would serve as a marker for the rest of his crew once they passed checkpoint. "A gartagen with 'enough blades to outfit a detachment.' She was woefully mistaken, she's thinking- just slash, or stab with them, like you would if you were trained in the army,"

An odd way to open the conversation, but Luca's soldiering instincts had kicked in as he pulled a chair out for the mysterious Gartagen, and sat down on the opposite end of the round table. "I have the feeling you know more than just a haymaking slash and stab."

The Gartagen stood, ignoring the man's previous statements, "Who are you, and what do you want?" He liked to keep things straight forward, and if the man wanted to talk, he had best identified himself.

"Captain Luca Pavone." he said plainly. Looking at some of the advertisements in the background bore a likeliness of him that looked nothing like the man before the gartagen. "Mercenary, Badass, living legend. Though, I guess word of it's not in Gartaga yet." The advertisements seemed to be selling something completely unreal, something unlike the man before him. Silly things like energy drinks, a cartoon and action figures.

The reality that inspired them cut much deeper.

Soruk nodded, and sat in the chair that had been offered to him. He placed his gauntlet on the table, face up. The gauntlet itself was engraved with swirling lines, but the focus point was the crest of his clan. A shield crossed by swords, and that cross being bi-sected by another sword.

"Names for Names, that's only fair. Blade Master Sheshren Aisaras Soruk. Master of Shadows. Silent Walker. Darkness Dweller." He replied.

Luca put his gauntletted right hand down on the table near Soruk's, and put his two pistols down. One for scratching the backs of Nekovalkyrja, the other for destroying them. "Loudest, most obvious, master of not knowing when to quit." He then chuckled.

Soruk flexed his wrist, and a blade flashed out, stopping inches from Luca's hand. "Silent, Hidden. I believe you are opposite of me."

Luca balled his hand into a fist and Soruk could see lightning dancing across the electrodes on his knuckles. The blue bolts licked the metal blade occasionally. "Seems that way."

Allison and Echelon eventually met the two and sat down at a table nearby. "Hey Luca, who's the... blade Gartagen? A friend?" Echelon sat down too, pouting at being patted.

Another movement and the top of the gauntlet pushed up about an inch, revealing a spear point. It was attached to a reel of nano-wire. Soruk glanced at the two new arrivals, "Soruk." They waved back in greeting.

"Allison, engineer," the redheaded woman replied. She got through quicker thanks to previous Yamataian Star Army ties.
"Echelon... uh, totally harmless person." The Robot-in-synthskin clothing said bitterly before receiving a jab in the ribs from Allison.

Luca would see the spear point disappear into the gauntlet again, and the blade disappear, retreating to safety. Soruk looked at him, "I'll see what you have to say."

"I'm just going to wait for the other members of my team to get past the checkpoints," Luca said, "then I'll fill you in on the details."

"I have time to spare. Now or then makes no difference to me." was the reply.

The security officers were tough, but firm. So long as you didn't have restricted military technology or smoking paraphernelia on you, they'd let you through after a cursory inspection. They'd done so many in their lives that it'd become routine. However, when dealing with the wonderfully strange and varied folks of the ISC Phoenix crew, things were bound to get interesting.

John and Melissa were the next to come through. Melissa had some trouble justifying why a high powered hunting rifle was to come along, but she handwaved it as she was going big-game hunting near Ralt, called in to keep a population down. It seemed believeable and her licenses were still valid.

For the others, it was in their hands and their mouths to get through.

"Welcome to security check, my name is Nozomi and I will be servicing you today!" Said a cheerky, green haired nekovalyrja witha bobcut to Zeta. The blonde giggled a bit at the cat-girl. It was always funny to arrive on Yamatai. Luckily in a way, Zeta was returning now. She went through the big time security check in past, after Luca's 'death', when she moved to Yamatai to be close to his parents. She still had a small flat in Kyoto.
"Howdy, I just got back. Here is my visa. I was off-planet for a bit for work." Zeta explained showing the needed documents on her data-jockey.
"Ah okay, let me see." The neko replied and took the datapad. "Hmm this seems to be in order. I will need to do personal search though."

"Well okay," Zeta sighed and started unloading on the table. She wore her new setup, and taking it off was pretty annoying. In the corner of her eyes she also saw Luca dissappearing behind curtain. She also saw the neko checking him before the curtain fell and her face. That was a flirtey face. Zeta frowned. "Do I have to strip?" Zeta asked the girl in front of her.
"If it would be possible yes. Don't worry we are equipped to give you privacy." Neko replied and pushed a button. A volumetric curtain raised around Zeta.
"RIght private except for you." Zeta joked. "Well enjoy the show."

Zeta first starting taking out all her guns. First the Sizi plasma revolver from the under-arm holster. Then her hand-cannon from hip holster. From her belt a nep-marine combat knife. Then the woman rached behind her back where she had another melee weapon. Another knife, if you could call something was about foot and half long, with broad blade a knife. All these made Nekovalkyrja before her raise her eyebrows. Zeta then reached to her leg and produced ESG from her ankle.

Then it came time to strip. With her belt off, Zeta unclasped shoulder strap and side strap, taking off the cuirass. Under it a black shirt, Zeta worked the buttons and took it off. THen she untied her military shoes and put them on the table. Cargo pants were next and landed next to the cuirass. THank goodness the table was so big. This left off Zeta standing there in her underwear. A black sport-bra and pair of black Yuuko's g-strings.

The neko worked diligently. She looked into each shoe and even started going through the pockets, that were filled with ammo, drop gums and finally in Zeta's pants was a lighter. Nozomi looked up at the ex-bodyguard. "Are you a smoke, Faivu-san?" She asked.
"Not while I am on Yamatai. Tobacco is illegal here, remember?" Zeta joked.
"It is," Nozomi said playing with the lighter. She frowned at the sarcastic remark, but then smiled like an angel. "I am afraid I will have to do a search."
"A search?" Zeta asked raising her eyebrows.
"A cavity search," the neko replied with the sweetest voice, followed with a FLAP of rubber glove being put in.

___

Ten minutes later.

The curtains dropped and Zeta walked out of the there, her face being red as a cherry. She was also breathing rather heavily. Whoever watched the silhouettes through the curtains, could see that the search was very very thorough. Zeta walked ina bit of a funny was up to Luca, who meanwhile got with Ech, Allyson and some Gart together.

"Uhh Luca, I think I was just raped." Zeta said, but she giggled a bit. Reaching into her pocket she found a slip of paper. On it was a communicator number, letter N and a big heart drawn. "Uh... Yamatai."

she had changed cloths over to her best non-uniform cloths. Mostly her Aethersperm shirt and a skirt. Yamatains weren't quited the ones to like jeans, not that had stopped Tani Mako in the past. But this time she wanted to make sure she blended a bit more.

As they all que up to work their way through security, Tani started itching and worrying. What if they realize she was a deserter. SAINT would be on her with in seconds. Sighing and trying to remain calm she watch Luca, and then the next two go through the check. Well it was now or never she thought.

Stepping up to the check point Tani handed over her credentials and pulled her NSP, unloaded, placing it on the counter. "Afternoon... Tani-sama..." there was a pause as the Neko-guard scanned and then brought up the information for Tani... "Sorry Mako-Hei... Says here you are on leave."

Tani wasn't going to rock the boat with her name being out of order, seemed like something to little to worry about at the moment. Then the comment about her being on leave. "Yes Ma'am..."

"Leave for six months... How on Yamatai did you pull that off?" the Neko asked half rhetorically as she started working Tani through the processing.

"I uhhh... Well you know it's more who you know then what you know... Well more who you sleep with." Tani grinned as she let the Neko pat her down and stamp her though the system.

"You just be careful... I had a nest mate who thought she could sleep her way to the top..." The Neko-guard started as she handed the NSP and mags back over. "She ended up slopping bilges for star cruisers..."

"I'll keep that in mind... Thank you." Tani smiled and accepted her weapon holstering it. With a grin she walked down to where Luca and the rest were waiting, with a more confident stride. "Sir... Looks like I'm a Legal Neko."

Bronzi and Sura had little trouble with security. Bronzi showed his officer's pendant, and he and Sura were lightly searched. When no contraband was located, the officer smiled and said "Welcome Allies of the empire!" and Handed Bronzi's pistol back to him. 'Keep that thing Holstered officer!"

Bronzi looked at his daughter and then at Luca. "Uh. Did I miss somethin?'

Sura smirked. "The Empire and the Union agreed to an alliance, the details are being worked on, but it appears we are being welcomed openly by the Yamataians." Sura said fiddling with her data pad.

Bronzi fell in behind Zeta "Aight lewks, what are yer wantin me and the others to do?"