RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 20] Strangers (Essai Dreamworld)

Near the Alley

Once Bors opened fire at her Misato Suzume dived for cover. Rolling behind a cart she found her leg had been hit. Tearing off a strip of her new found cloak, she tied a crude bandage over it. Now she was sure this was some sort of trick... Maybe the NMX were trying to run psychical profiles on her. Or just seeing what new training the Star Army had...

Misato was just about to move when the voice of the Shosho chimed in her head. "Ma'am are you real? situation... I'm pinned down, wounded. Shot to the leg. Enemy looks like our people. More so the people i trust most. I think I'm trapped in some sort of fake world... Misato wasn't sure how much she should tell the Shosho. Hell she might be fake too. Some sort of gimmick to get her killed or strip more intell off of her.

Dreamworld Market - Hanako's Group

Near Alleyway

As her allies started to converge and move down the alley, Akane began her own approach. She elected to stay toward the rear of the group, so she wouldn't interfere with what the others were doing. Being in the back also let her defend the others in case someone tried to ambush them from behind.

Following the gunshots, the Nekovalkyrija wished she had a stronger weapon on hand. Her sidearm was fine, but she knew that greater firepower could give a better advantage. Perhaps, Akane thought, something medium-sized would be better. Anything bigger would turn out to be clumsy to use moving through alleys.

More shots came through, these being fired at Akane's crew members. She dashed toward the corner of the alley, her wavy red hair flowing out behind her. As she drew her pistol, Akane crouched, glad for the flexibility her skirt gave her, even as she regretted how exposed it left her.

One team member was already wounded, though not totally out of the action. Shifting to a defensive position, Akane fired a few cover shots while her teammate recovered.

Dreamworld Market

"Ittô Hei Suzume, I need you to calm down and listen to me," Hanako sent. "I want you to activate your body's defenses to intoxicants. I'm attaching a software patch with this transmission that is tailored to clear your system of hallucinogens currently in the air. Your mind's S.A.C.N. module can verify that it is authentic. Once you have it installed, you should be immune. After you do that, take a couple minutes and then give me that situation report.

Near the Alley

The reply message caused Misato to worry a bit more, the first part of it made sense, and there was nothing it could do to hurt her. the second part though... That one bothered her, a patch, it could kill her. Fearing her position was going to be found soon she kicked up her body defense systems.


It would take a little bit of time to works, so she leaned up against the cart and sighed. The Lizard at this point shifted and cooed into her ear. reaching up she scratched it a bit more. Things were making a bit more sense. So much that she started getting quite embarrassed. Once her body had filtered out all of the gas's affects, she found herself clear headed. She quickly applied the patch, taking only a second and a half to install.

"Ma'am... Thank you... Uhhh I'm find Bors shot and hit my leg with a stun blast, I shot a robot that shot Bors with a stun blast. I'm now sitting her behind a cart trying to figure out what do do now."

Misato's first move was to remove the ripped up, burnt cloak, then standing up she holstered her weapon. "Bors It's me..." She made sure she stood out in the open for him to see her." Slowly moving towards him, Mitsuko and Sune, she kept her hands well clear of her holster.

Foot of the Cargo Ramp

After the pain, everything seemed to have gone black and the world was naught but vague mufflings that got quieter and quieter. Soon a tunnel of light appeared and Chieko felt as if she was floating towards it - she felt at peace. Suddenly the tunnel faded, and all around was black again, but what felt like eternity initially soon brought the tunnel back.

The academic floated towards the tunnel of light again, half worried that some cosmic existence was actually trying to punk her. Chieko felt pains all over, as if something was truly wrong. Soon however, she felt the need to breath deep and fast.

A few minutes after the slight dip in her convulsions, Chieko's nose, fingers, and lips started to turn blue again. Then suddenly there came a great gasp for air and the scientist's eyes opened wide as she gripped at the ground. Her breathing was rapid, but she started to regain her true proper colouring.

Soon her breathing stablized and the shaking eased off. The young Minkan relaxed some and blinked her eyes before looking around. "What he hell just happened?" came Chieko's first ragged words of consciousness.

Cargo Bay

The moments were tense as Ayumi waited, watched, hoped, and even dared a word of prayer or two in her mind. When Chieko finally gasped herself into consciousness Ayumi smiled, really smiled, out of relief.

"Please be still Koizumi-hei, you have had an accident and fallen down the cargo ramp. I believe you have injured your spinal cord in some way, but once we get you to the medbay I will be able to properly evaluate you."

Just as quickly as the smile had come, it was gone, and she was back into working Ayumi mode. She began bandaging the Minkan's superficial wounds to stop any blood from escaping. Hopefully the Neko blood would start to work by the time they got to the medbay.

Gently she began to try and move Chieko on to the gurney.

Near Alley

Mitsuko gasped as her roommate pointed the weapon at her. "Suzume-chan!" Then Bors was left behind, slumped at her feet. She scowled. "Why are you being so stubborn?" If Misato hadn't insisted on leaving the ship, this wouldn't have happened in the first place. As Misato turned away, she considered just shooting her in the back, then dragging the two stunned bodies off with Sune's help.

But, apparently Riko wasn't as unconscious as she thought. She heard him mumbling before he beat her to the punch, firing on Misato as she fled. "Bors-Hei, not you too!" They were causing quite the scene. Apparently it had been a good idea not to let the two infantry troops bring heavier weapons after all. Mitsuko sighed as her roommate dove for cover, behind some theoretically innocent merchant's cart.

"This is getting ridiculous." While the captain could calm Misato and help her patch herself up, Bors was getting worse every moment he was out of that AMES. While he was still on the ground, groggy from the robot's attack, she modified her earlier idea.

By the time Misato stepped out and Sune arrived, they would have heard Mitsuko stun Bors with the NSP she'd had drawn. Returning it to her holster, she'd grumble and pry Riko's weapon from his hand. She just scowled as her roommate reappeared, looking embarrassed. At least she'd put her weapon away and shed the cloak. The lizard was still hitching a ride, she noticed.

Using her gravity manipulation, she'd heft up Bors, throwing him over one shoulder. His weapon was still in her free hand, as the other steadied him. She just turned toward the way they had come, planning to lift back into the air and head directly for the ship. "If he squirms, I'm going to shoot him again." She grumbled, hoping the other two would be returning with her. She left Misato as Sune's problem. Bors had dragged her back last time, so he was her responsibility this time.

Medbay

Izokia looked down as Dezairra began to wake up " Don't try to move, we I'll get you water as soon as we make sure Natsumi is safe while Chieko is being seen to." Izokia pulled the gurney into the med bay and moved Dezairra onto one of operating tables next to Sienna's table. Izokia noted that she had moved in her sleep while Izokia was gone.

Cargo Bay

She had run back down to get Natsumi before any one else passed out. She ran up next to Natsumi and prepared to check the operator " Hello , Hello can you hear me?"

Cargo Bay

Chieko did her best to behave as she was lifted onto the gurney, then sighed once properly placed. She took a moment to focus on clearing the rest of the fog from her mind; pulling her jacket and shirt up, exposing her belly, she pinched it. The scientist's face seemed to drop more and more as no other reaction registered on it; even as the location she was pinching started to turn colour and bruise.

The academic then reacted when the pressure was getting too much for her fingers, heaving a sigh as she shook and flexed them. "Paralyzed," the Minkan frowned, her voice still weak, "Definitely spinal injury - mid-lower thoracic based on what I seem to not be feeling. I can hardly feel my diaphragm move, other than the changing pressure on my lungs."

Cargo Bay

Ayumi shook her head slightly as she strapped Chieko to the gurney and began to prep her for movement, "You've also damaged your leg, but we can see to setting that once we have taken care of your spine." Just for good measure she added in an: "Everything will be fine." In her most consoling voice.

With this she began to urge the gurney towards the hallway, and then to the medbay.

Medbay

Her curiousity swirled as she entered the medbay, noting that with the amount of patients they now had she'd need to move her Minkan patient right into the operation room. With a quick glance at those who were in the medbay she pushed the gurney across the room and into the operation room.

"I will need to roll you on to your back so that I can get a proper look at the injury." She explained, setting the gurney up next to the examination table so that she could roll her smoothly and without jarring her. "I also need you to tell me what happened so that I can get a proper idea of how you got the injury."

The head of the alien they had talked to earlier appeared behind Sune's shoulder as he entered the scene. It looked around and sniffed through is protective membrane, four nostrils flaring before wandering over to the shadowy, formerly cloaked figure.

"I dear say you've roasted the poor chap!" It exclaimed as it examined the upright body.

Med Bay

"No, no," Chieko feebly replied, "I can breathe now, so set my legs while I can't feel them, then rig me up and toss me into a tube."

She then worked at focusing on what she remembered last, as fuzzy as it was, and then tried to rub her face with her hand again.

"I just remember," the scientist began,"I was flying the Itto-Hei operator back when she kissed me. Anyway, when I looked back where I was going the ground was already there. My feet then hit something, hurt like hell, then everything went black."

Natsumi shook her head. Dust, dirt or fog was obscuring her view and she shook to clear it. As it did the world slowly came into focus, a deserted wasteland, grimy mounds of dirt and sand and garbage. Ahead of her she could see two people scuffling on the ground, kicking up dust and dirt as they fought.

Bors she recognized right away, the other she sorted out after a few moments, Gravedigger... Then Bors was dead, not moving, the bounty hunter was gone. Natsumi bolted for her roommate and friend, skidding onto her knees next to him. She grabbed at the soldier, shaking his unmoving form, urging him to wake up!

Then something struck her from behind, sending her slamming into the ground, cracking the faceplate of her AMES suit. She scrambled and pushed herself back onto her feet just in time to get cracked across the head again, her word spun and she toppled against a bunk of rubble.

Natsumi looked up as she fought to stay on her feet, Gravedigger was there, closing fast, a nasty looking knife clutched in his right hand. She grabbed for her NSP, it wasn't in it's holster. She screamed as knife cut through suit, flesh and bone


Cargo Bay

Natsumi screamed as she was awoken by Izokia, she sat back up with a start, almost smacking into the neko. "Yeah...yeah I can hear you" Natsumi replied groggily. She took several deep breaths, the clean air produced from the Eucharis' life support system was greatly aiding her bodies abilities to deal with drugs and pathogens.

"I feel like hell..." she muttered, "Is Chieko alright?"

With Chieko conscious and off on her way to med bay Kale sighed with relief.

Well if that wasn't a scare and a half.

Broadening his awareness somewhat he came to another conclusion. There were still others here being attended to by Izokia, and with his primary concern out the way he really ought to help if he could.

He trudged his way over to the other medic who was now trying to wake up Natsumi.

"Need any assistance?"

Medbay

Deziarra lay there almost motionless while the Automated Medical Systems did things like monitor her vital signs, clean the sweat off of her, administer basic decontamination procedures, and give her plenty of water along with something to read. Remembering what happened last time, she payed close attention to the things around her. About the last thing she wanted to do was go back to sleep again.

Taking a deep breath of air to remove the dizziness, she turned to look at her own readings on the computer. All signs were normal. She was relieved yet reminded herself an intelligent virus might be able to avoid detection. She sat up slightly to look at Sienna who was clearly in worse shape than she was. The fate of the rest of their group was still unknown.

"How are you feeling?" asked Deziarra hoping Sienna could hear her.

Under normal circumstances, the best thing to do would be rest even if she was doing fine. However, these were far from normal circumstances. She put in a request to return to duty for things that did not involve running or heavy lifting.

She was seated at the end of an absurdly long, rectangluar, ornate dining table, or at least that was the impression she got. Sienna had never personally experienced any form of luxury before, so there was no way for her to possibly know the difference, but for some reason she felt like the place settings were all wrong and there were utensils and objects strewn about the table's sleek black surface that didn't belong there. She looked at each one in turn, but for some reason they slipped from her memory and recognition as quickly as her eyes sent the information on what they saw to her brain.

She then realized that the table was located in a barren, rocky desert that stretched out as far as she could see in every direction, the dust and stones a sickly yellow color flecked with burnt oranges and red. The sky was pale yellow and overcast in thick, noxious-looking clouds, and the ambient light from whatever sun was overhead diffused evenly throughout the scenery.

Far on the opposite side of the table was a blurry figure, seated in a chair with the same manner of unrecognizable flatware set around it that seemed to teeter on the cusp of reality and existence. The figure did not move, speak, or even appear to breathe. It merely sat there, appearing to stare back across the long table at her, even though she could see no distinguishable face.

She tried to think of something to ask it, but nothing came to mind. It was as if she couldn't even muster up the will to speak.

"There's my little muffin," a grizzled, unpleasant male voice came from nowhere, causing a shiver to course out from her core. "Havin' a bite to eat, are we?"

She looked around wide-eyed, trying to find the voice's owner, even though she recognized it immediately.

A meaty hand grabbed a fistful of her hair from behind and wrenched her head back so hard that she felt like if it were any harder it would have snapped her neck. The stench of sweat and grease wafted into her nostrils, and she found herself looking up at an upside-down, gnarled face with a long white beard and wild white hair. Olaf...

The ugly old man's face sneered down at her, baring his yellowed, cracked teeth. "What's the big idear, you runnin' off like that?" Olaf snarled. "Ya got any idea how much work ya left hangin' fer me?"

She wanted to retort. Tried to. But no words came to her. It felt wrong; she'd been afraid of the twisted form of law on Urtullan and the fate that would have befallen her had she tried to escape from her indenture, but not him. Never him. But for some reason in that moment, seeing him was the most terrifying thing she could recall.

She winced in pain as Olaf twisted the fistful of her hair mercilessly tighter and grinned a wicked grin down at her, regarding her almost like a rodent. "I done told ya what I'd have 'em do to ya if ya ever got it in that pretty little head that you'd run off," he hissed, rapping his thick knuckles hard on her forehead.

Another jolt of pain wracked her head as Olaf jerked it back down to look across the table. The blurry figure sitting across from her was standing now in an odd posture, holding a rod of some kind in its hand. She tried to struggle, but even though Olaf only had a hold of her hair, she couldn't break free. Her body simply disobeyed her mind.

The rod in the figure's hand began to extend towards her, across the table, telescoping inexplicably. She managed to fidget in her seat, but still could not free herself, only staring with her eyes open wide at the probe inching menacingly towards her.

It came close enough to discern details. Searing adrenaline pumped through her veins as she saw the writhing form of a Mishhuvurthyar parasite on the end of it.

"How are you feeling?" Olaf's voice asked her, its clarity breaking up. Everything started to echo and blur again.

"How are you feeling...?"



YSS Eucharis - Medbay

"How are you feeling?" Deziarra's voice said as it started to coalesce in her mind.

Her surroundings started to take form as she blinked groggily. She was on her back on a soft surface, the environment around her had the distinct smell of sterility. Her fingers twitched slightly as feeling came back into them, and she closed and opened her fists, wriggled her nose, and blinked again. She still felt buzzy, floaty, and weird.

"Sleepy," she replied before she was even aware she'd said it, her words slurred as she tried to enunciate with a tongue that felt thick and numb. "Sleepy..."

She lifted her head, trying to blink away the haze again, and looked around. She could make out the familiar environment of the Eucharis medical bay, one of the first parts of the ship she'd been introduced to.

But something wasn't right. She didn't feel like she should be here. Why had she come back? She wanted to be back out in the dreamworld.

Her vision clarified a little as she looked down her torso towards her feet. Transparent walls, containment cells. A strange, blurry figure, humanoid in appearance, but something different. Disturbingly familiar.

The form started to look feminine, but with scaly, tentacled features. A mechanical arm, suspended above her, was moving towards her with an injector.

Her eyes went wide in sudden, pure terror as she realized what was happening. They were going to put a parasite in her.

"NO!" she screamed abruptly. The sudden dose of adrenaline burst in her veins all at once, and she kicked her legs wildly, shuffling on her backside up the bed and away from the approaching probe. With a savage, violent kick she struck the mechanism with the sole of her boot and continued to scramble backwards, falling off of the end of the examination table on the back of her head.

It hurt. A lot. But she remained alert, though her ears were now ringing and a dull, throbbing pain pulsed in her head. She kicked off of the table, sliding a foot or two away from it. "Get away!" she screamed again. In one motion she snatched the knife from her boot and she leaped to her feet. "FRACK you!" she spat. "I won't be your fracking puppet!"

Her wild, feral, crazed and panicked eyes darted from object to object in the room, her knife clutched tightly in her right hand in a reverse grip. She had to get out of there. She should never have come aboard.

She eyed the door and made a dash for it. She needed to get back to the dreamworld.

Medbay

Ayumi, for a moment, was tempted not to do exactly as Chieko asked, her own pride bruised from having been told how to treat her patient- Though Chieko was right. It was better that way.

The others in the room were starting to talk as Ayumi settled herself at the end of the gurney and took hold of Chieko's leg, "I am sorry, I am not able to be much help to you at the moment, the reconstruction tube will help though, I promise." As she spoke she winced as she set the leg with a disgusting crack.

As she looked up to make sure Chieko was okay, Sienna had lept from her bed. Shocked, and caught off guard, she watched as Sienna pulled out her knife, screamed things which made no sense to the Neko, and then ran from the room.

"Shimata..." Ayumi muttered, the first time she'd ever really sworn. "Charisma! Make an announcement, "There is a civilian on the ship, behaving irrationally and armed, approach with extreme caution!""

Charisma repeated her words.


With a sigh and a shake of her head Ayumi returned to gaze to Chieko, "This is out of control."

Cargo Bay

"Shes stable for now Ayumi is taking her up to the medbay now. I'm going to take you up there now and get you all detoxed." She proceeded to move Natsumi's semiconscious body onto the gurney.

Medbay

Izokia had just heard the announcement play across the ship. This was bad, if Sienna was loose it meant that she was awake or worse she wasn't and in her lucid state was about to run around the ship in a mad panic.

Izokia went into the medbay and placed Natsumi on the table. She turned to Ayumi "Should we go look for her there no tell how much damage she can cause to herself or the ship in general.

Cargo Bay

Kale running mostly on adrenalin by this point. Immediately took off to find Sienna. He'd be damned if he let another of his little party get hurt. Especially when he could do something about it.

"Charisma can we track Sienna through internal sensors? It'll make life a lot easier."

Dropping by the sleeper module to pick up his service pistol he made sure to set it to stun before he went on his way.

Medical Lab

"Probably. Do you want to close the blast shutters to keep her from moving?" Charisma suggested.