RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 24] Looking for Trouble (YE 38)

[Primitive Polygon]

PA Bay

Tsuguka's mechanical movements betrayed a little bit of hesitation as she placed the body bag on the dolly, and then took several steps backwards before making her faceplate transparent. The mild agitation in her angular crimson face made it pretty obvious she was long since fed up with being cooped up inside the armor by now, but was so overly tied to doing things by the book, that she was stuck just standing there until the science team came to remove the source of her ire.

"Thank you, Akiashiro-Hei." A delayed glance of appreciation made it's way across, along with a little respectful bow of the upper torso. "I am pleased to see you made it out okay. Your method of departure was certainly inventive. I wouldn't mind seeing the video logs if they are still intact, it might be a maneuver worth replicating in future. Apologies for not getting there to help you more quickly."

Taharial gave her a little bit of a renewed crawl to her skin, visible to the others by her elbows tightening up to her waist again, but she made the effort to bow politely to the resident angel as well. It wasn't that she was disliked the woman, the neko was just very uneasy over memories of being injured and vulnerable around her. Being touched by other people didn't really make her comfortable, and to be honest her old red-winged comrade seemed to actively get off on it... Those... were thoughts for another time, through.

Wazu's anachronistic suit was just sort of regarded with bare-faced confusion, through she was sure there was some kind of a reason for it. Scientists were basically an enigma to her in general, really.

"Not unless you want me to make sure it's dead, Mister Heram J. Wazu." Was her flat-out response to his question. Tsuguka wasn't trying to be macho, that was literally her thought pattern. She didn't know anything about alien biology, and didn't really know what she could constructively add to the task. "I hope the samples are satisfactory. Unfortunately I'm not entirely sure there was that much of a difference between their insides and outsides in the first place. Maybe we should have gotten more samples of the walls..."

A shrug, fogging up her helmet a little.

"I haven't eaten since I left the logistics vessel last night..." A last glance towards Candon, fatigue slowly taking it's toll now that the mission was finally over. "Sustenance would be welcome."

 

[Samanthia]

P.A. Bay

She nodded to Tsuguka. "No worries, I'm like a bad penny. I always turn up, Tugs." Giving the big stoic warrior a shy smile.

Then looked over to Candon. "As you can see. Jax already ran off with the Mindy to Fabrication. A lot of trace elements from the firefight had been destroyed when I went through Decon."

Hearing the Access doors to the P.A. Bay open and close, she looked over at the strange apparition that was walking towards the filled body bags. She didn't know whether to laugh, shoot or just plain tackle the walking antiquated space suit? Biohazard protective garments? A Rixxikor Special? Only thing that saved Wazu, was that he spoke and it didn't have that Rixxikor crassness to it.

"No thanks! I've had enough of them alive!" She wrinkled her nose while coming around to join the group, wearing her skinsuit which accented her feminine physique. "Now it's your turn to have fun."

 

[Rizzo]

PA Bay

P.A. Bay

Then looked over to Candon. "As you can see. Jax already ran off with the Mindy to Fabrication. A lot of trace elements from the firefight had been destroyed when I went through Decon."

Candon skipped being annoyed and went straight to pissed. That armor could make a massive difference in his investigation and here was a soldier just throwing it away. He removed his helmet and inhaled deeply then slammed it onto his desk. "Unacceptable," he declared loudly enough to make it echo through the room chasing the loud bang from his helmet.

He turned to face Aikiko, his piercing blue-gray eyes locked onto her face like he was looking through the scope of a rifle.
"I decide what is or isn't useable intel, NOT YOU!," he yelled the last part, then lowered his voice again, "Find Jax and have him put that armor back on the rack he found it with all of its attachments from the mission and I swear if it's been recycled already the only armor you'll ever wear again will be a Type 31. Go, now!" He pointed at the exit.

Turning to the others in the room he spoke again in a stern manner. "Just in case this hasn't sunken in yet I will inform you all that we are at war with an enemy we know nothing about, an enemy that seems to know plenty about us. This puts us at the disadvantage. This makes it easier for them to kill us. To avoid having our asses handed to us I will be closely monitoring any and all interactions between us and them so if you get shot I don't want any repairs done until I've inspected the damage, if you talk to them I want it recorded, if you think about them I want it logged in your diary! Am I clear?!"

 

[Zack]

“I am hoping that we can pump what stomach parts they have and get a sample of that wax-food-stuff.” Wazu replied to Tsuguka as he pushed both bug carts together, “There is a lot we do not know about the Rixx, and these samples will go a long way in helping with that.”

He would push the carts out towards the med-bay, getting halfway there before realizing that Tsuguka may not have been joking about making sure they were dead. Wazu would take a look through the clear bit of the body-bag... only to see it was largely covered with bug blood already. He would then place a hand on the bag, moving it around a bit and feeling for any motion inside.

“It would be interesting if they survived all that...” He thought out loud, checking his datapad for the name of the ship's medic...



YSS Eucharis Medbay

“Taharial, Want to cut open some Rixxikor?!” He asked as he pushed the two carts of body bags into the medical bay.

“I am not sure if we should toss one in the fridge while the other is examined... Though maybe we should put it in the containment cell for the moment? Freezing could damage the bodies and the red one has be thinking that they might not be fully dead. I do not want to look away and let some parasite eat its way out of the body bag.”

 

[Blizzard]

Fabrication

Jackson stood before Aikiko's Mindy, much like a surgeon before his patient, with a cutting torch in his hand. Just as he was about to light it, he froze.

For some odd, indescribable reason, he felt as though he shouldn't begin just yet. He was missing something...

Right! Music! He always worked better with music! He walked back to the workbench, where his communicator sat, and began scrolling for a song that would get him through the repair process.

 

[Samanthia]

Fabrication

Aikiko jumped like a scalded cat at Candon's explosion of temper. He had a point as she took off, entering the Fabrication Bay. Seeing her Mindy still on the Armor Dolly. Jax fiddling with his communicator and a still dormant cutting torch draped over an arm of the Mindy.

"Don't touch my Mindy! Suites would like to take a look at it first." Aikiko slowed to a walk as she approached the Mindy. "Something about gathering intelligence data from it."

She looked it over with a more critical eye at the damage. If she had stayed a second or two longer, her Mindy would've been unworthy to even teleport back to the Eucharis, much less made the space walk back..

 

[Blizzard]

Fabrication

Jax, with an exasperated look, held out his hands. This armor needed to be fixed so he could relieve Cherry, who'd been so rudely awakened so he could head to the Rixxikor ship.

"Ugh, really?!" he complained. He let out a frustrated sigh and dragged his hand down his face. "Alright! Tell Magnum up there to hurry. Cherry's gonna be pissed if I keep her waiting any longer."

He stood up and quickly stowed the equipment he'd been using. Soon the armor was off of its rack and back on the dolly. He relinquished control of the dolly to Aikiko.

"Here ya go. Take it up," Jax grunted. "And try not to get shot up any more on the way, m'kay?"

In the mean time, Jax would head to his room and retrieve the Kuvexian pistol, and study it a bit more. From what he'd learned so far, it operated pretty much like the Yamataian SI side arm, but he wanted to really pick out the differences.

 

[BloodyScarlet]

Med Lab

Taharial turned to the person who had walked and grinned "You know it, I am ready to do this" she looked at the body bags and thought about using her medical scanner "I don't know how my scanner will work on these things, it shows heartbeats and that in crew, but I am not sure about insects." She took her scalpel and smirked "Throw one other one into a cell and close the door" she pulled a bag onto a table then grinned opening the bag "Finally I can see what makes one these bastards tick."

"You may want to look away Sir, the exoskeleton is going to make this harder" she grumbled as she put her scalpel away from the Rixxikor and went into a cupboard to pull out a bone saw, as she made her way back to the body she raised an eyebrow and stopped "I will definitely look away if you have a weak stomach Sir." She put the saw to the chest of the insect and cracked the exoskeleton open as both a disgusting smell and bodily fluids came out of the wound, Taharial gagged but then went back to her serious demeanour.

She stopped and looked at the hands "I can't trust those claws, just in case this thing wakes up" She positioned the saw so it would cut off the three claws and pushed down with enough force that all three claws were cut off with a crunch, she jumped back and growed as a liquid came out and bubbled on the metal "God I didn't know they had this, get me a jar from the top left cuboard Sir, please hurry, I want to collect as much of this as I can."

 

[Zack]

Medical Lab

Wazu would put the second body in one of the containment rooms and lock the door.

"I have not done an autopsy or dissection before. We should get interior samples, as well as get something ready for decontamination after we start. There."

*bbbbbbrrrBBBRRRRRRREERERRRRREEEEEEEEEEE*

The saw started up and cut through the claws of the Rixxikor, flinging blood and acid around, the noise covering up Wazu's one sided discussion on proper procedure.

"Ok, Fuck.... We are going."

Wazu would run over to the cabinets, flinging the open one or two at a time looking for bottles or containers. He started to look at the markings on the bottles, trying to find one that wouldn't react with the acid... But he did not know what type of acid was pouring put from the creature anyways.

"Ok, use one of these!" Wazu said, rushing back bring an armful of bottles from the cabinet.

 

[BloodyScarlet]

Med Lab

Taharial sighed and looked over at the man carrying all the jars "One was enough Sir, you didn't have to bring the entire cuboard over" she took a jar and checked it "This one is fine" she used the other side of the bone saw to slide the acid into the jar. She smiled "Good news is this stuff doesn't effect metal but I don't know what it will effect, so no touching the contents of this jar" she looked at the man dead serious "if you do not know how to do an medical exam, leave and I will conduct this myself, if you want to stay stand by the cuboards and if I ask for one thing bring me one thing."

Taharial went over to the other side of the insect and placed the claws above the jar, then she cut the claws off like last time letting the acid pour into the jar before she removed the jar and looked at the man "Can you remove the claws for me?"

"It could eat through the Jar," Wazu said,

"... Nevermind...." He collected the claws and placed them in seperate containers, moving them over to a side table and leaving them spaced out. He then turned back towards the Rixxikor body on the table.

"We should get some tissue samples from the interior as well. I would also like to see if the Rixxikor uses this acid for digestion as well... and see if its digestive bacteria can survive the PH level."

Taharial nodded to the man "That is what I was about to do before I saw these nasty claws and didn't want this thing to wake up and use them on me" she sighed "I am sorry if I am being harsh on you, I just am used to having other medical personel working with me, I am Taharial Chasen you medic, and you are?" she walked over to a cuboard as she waited for an answer while she mumbled "Where did I put that thing?"

"Heram J. Wazu," He replied,

"Science advisor... I took a biology class once, and I am familiar enough with the basics, though I would think neither of us really know what we are doing in regards to...." He watched her wander off, looking through the cuboards,

".... What are you looking for?"

Taharail pulled out a large set of Forceps "this is what I wanted Wazu" she walked over the insect and pushed it into the cut she made in the chest and used the Forceps to open out the chest out so the two of them could look inside "Well then I accept your help and as this is an insect they should have a simular internal layout I believe."

Wazu winced a bit,

"Is it an inscet? I am not sure its body is that segmented... and it looks like it uses lungs rather than respiring through its skin... er, shell."

Once that shell was cracked open he did come up a bit closer, peering inside of the recently enlaged chest wound. There were certainly organs in there....

"We could.... blow air into the mouth bit and see if anything expands. Those would probably be the lungs."

Tarahial looked at him "We know that they are insectiod so most of the body should be insect-like but it doesn't hurt to try that, do you want to do the honours while I check the stomach to see what sort of acid they have in there?" she walked to another cabinet then pulled out what looked like pump "There is the tool that you will need for checking how they breathe."

She went through another cabinet and pulled out a small tool that looked like a thermometer with a digital readout with a dash on it "I will check the acid with this" she walked over to the jar and let the sensor sit just under the acid surface.

Wazu would take the manual resperator and walk over to the creature's head... moving the head-arm-bits out of the way the best he could before placing the mask over its mouth and squeesing on the ball part to force air into the creature's mouth... Its chest did expand as he did so but,

"You know.... that could be its stomach instead of its lungs..." Wazu said, "I really do not know what tube the air is going down."

Taharial sighed as she walked over and cheeked which tube he was testing and nodded "That is the stomach but don't worry it is hard, just pull it back out and focus, you may need to put your hand down their throat to get it to work."

She walked back and checked the reading on the tester "Okay this is is dangerous, but not too dangerous, it it high enough to dissolve flesh bu not metals, I just hope the stomach is the same or it could be really dangerous."

"Hemlock made a good point earlier about the gut bacteria of this creature being very capable." Wazu said as he pulled the mask part off the resipirator and instead just used the tube... putting his gloved hand into the creature's mouth for a moment before deciding that using a pressure-suited-glove for delicate work really was not an option. He then started trying to slide the tube along, using a few fingers to try and guide it into the right location,

"Not to mention if this creature's flesh is constantly bathed in that kind of acid without disolving.... Oh, we should check how strong the bits on the outside are too, see how much force is required to break them."

Taharial nodded to Wazu "Clever, I think it being a exoskeleton may help them, we have the claws to use to do that" she checked how he was doing with the tube "That looks like your going down the right tube."

She smiled as she headed back to the body and used her scalpel to slice open the stomach so she could test the acid that was housed in that organ.

Wazu would give the resperator a gentle squeese, inflating the creature's lung-bits and pushing the stomach around slightly as Taharial cut into the stomach, acid starting to ooze out into the creature's chest cavity,

"Grab whatever comes out of there... I would like to get a look at their wax-food stuff..." Wazu added.

Taharial moved quickly and grabbed a new jar then moved back and gathered up the acid and stomachs contents, putting the contents on a tray beside the body and the acid close to the other jar but far enough away to not get confused between them "Okay, so they have lungs, but some insects have a single lung like it seems these guys have, the somach acid seems stronger than the acid in their claws but that may be just bacteria in there that helps them break down things."

"Get a sample and we can figure out what bacteria is in there later," Wazu said, occationally daring to look into the stomach cavity of the creature, "We should start harvesting the other organs too. Be sure to record everything so we can see what each thing is connected to..." He then moved forward a bit, getting a better look at the lungs that he was inflating,

"Those certainly do not look human... Like brocoli kinda? Maybe its sick? Or... I guess it could be a bunch of small lungs... that might make more sense for an insect of this size..." He thought outloud.

Taharial looked at the contents that she had put on the tray "This looks like what was on the walls in their ship, it may be that they eat and turn the food into building material, but I am hoping they regurditate this and not defacate it....." She smiled at the guy "Well that makes sence, a body this size using a single long will either have to make the long massive or will have to evolve more lungs as it seems they have."

She grabed her notebook and turned to the very back page and startedto write what organs they found and what they were attached to as she cut them out and put them on trays to have a look at how they evolved.

Wazu would slowly pump and deflate the lung-bits, wondering just exactly what he was pumping air into.

"Well, with how much they poop all over the place... they likely make a very toxic enviroment very quickly. Maybe the cheese wax developed symbiotically? The Rixxikor germs kill off anything that completes with the food. The food then grows wherever the Rixxikor take it and it spreads just as rapidly as they do."

"Are there any internal bones? Or is everything hanging off of the exoskelliton parts?" He asked.

Taharial nodded "That does make a lot of sense as well, this explains why there is so much of that stuff" she looked around the inside of the chest "It seems that they just have everything attached to the the exoskeleton and each other so that it doesn't move about that much."

She smiled and started to study the organs she had collect cutting each one open to see what it was "So we have alarge two chambered heart, explains why they can live this size as this is larger than a humans heart, we have the empty stomach and some what looks like glands."

"Seperate out the glands... we can figure out what they produce later." Wazu said, not looking into the chest cavity right at that moment, "I was wondering if they had something more distributed... normally bugs do not have a central heart... but this is not a typical inscet and a lot of what you would see on the smaller creatures does not scale up... maybe it is an optimization for easy of producing new Rixx?"

Taharial nodded at Wazu as she seperated out the glands "I am not sur if we need the other ome with all this one is giving us for information" she looked at the glands "I think one may actually be a small kidney-like thing for cycling out I don't know what as it seemd they could eat only eat that cheese like stuff maybe it is toxic?"

"That would make sense... It looks like everything about the Rixx are toxic, their food might be too... or it could be like celery? You know, really hard to digest... maybe that powerful acid is the only thing making it a net gain of energy for the Rixx? They could probably eat anything and do just fine...

Wazu looked up from the creature's face and towards Taharial, "Do you know how to find out if those things are kidneys?"

Taharial sighed "I am not sure as this species is completely knew to me so I have no idea what to do about checking what the organs we don't know are, it may be easier to scan them and they may reveal more about what is inside, they could be close to a human's organ in make up and if not we will have ot find some other way to do this."

Wazu chuckled,

"This is all new to me!"

He looked back at the chest cavity, getting a good look at the Rixxikor-bit that Taharial had in her hand.

"A lot of species have similar organ structures. I always wanted to know if that was because of convergent evolution, or if they all shared a common ancestor..." Wazu thought outloud, "So, how would you figure out what an organ does if it was human? It would be easy if this was still alive, we could just sorta watch it.... maybe taking a look at what is going in and what is comming out of it?" Wazu would grab a few petri dishes from the collection of containers he had brought over, "You should grab a few samples of whats around it, just so we can have a look later with more accurate sensors later."

Taharial nodded and showed him where it was "it does seem like it was connected to the lower digestive system, so could be a something that either took good nutrients from the digestive system or gave bad things to that area." she smiled " there were these two glands near them" points to two glands that had leak fluids onto the tray, "Most things seemed to have leaked so we can check out what the fuilds are as they aren't the orange blood."

"We can let Charisma handle that... maybe pass the scans and samples along for more in depth analysis... Does Yamatai have.... " Wazu had to think about it for a moment, "Enzyme specialists?" His tone of voice convaying that he was not quite sure what he was asking for.

"So, these things are hermaphradidic right? Where do you think it produces sperm? Or Eggs? We could try growing one..."

Taharial laughed "Yes they are Hermaphraddic but I din't know where the peices are it may be one of these this are the male area and that is the fuild leaked out on the table" she had ignored the first question but looked up at him "We could give the data to Chrisma as she may know the data but I have studdied medical data."

"Then feel free to take a look. Charisma should be able to give us all of the technical details we need...but it will be up to you to make sense of that data." Wazu said,

"... This one is missing a lot of the lower sections... maybe the other one has all the nessisary parts?"

Taharial laughed "It is missing it because they are all on these trays sir, come over here and have a look, it will be easier to see everything if you want to know what each on does we will discuss it and check where it was connected to using my notes."

".... I mean, this one got shot towards the lower part of the body... the other I think is missing the head. Who knows what parts fell out or got crushed." He said, putting the resperator aside and then comming over to Taharial's right side to look over her shoulder at the trays of Rixxikor bits,

".... Yeah... I..." He looked away from the Rixxikor, closing his eyes for a moment. "You know, I never really get to see many dead bodies up close like this."

Taharial looked at him "I saw the bullet hole in this ones groin area but I don't know what the other one is like, It seemed like everything was there, there are some organs here with holes in here."

She smiled and nodded "the other may have more down here but this one has the brain we need."

"Right... The brain...I can get the head strapped down if you want to crack the head open.... assuming the brain is even in there... some inscets have a distributed brain type thing... maybe that is some of what we are seeing in the chest?" He asked, walking over to the Rixxikor's head, grabbing a clamp from the equipment and placing it down on the table.

"Well I have never heard of a brain being used to breathe and that sounds really bad for the body because there is harmful things in the air that could go straight to your brain then...." Taharial sighed "they may not have a brain like we do but it is somewhere in this body" she moved over to the head and clamps it to the table "try and see what the organs are but looking at the notes and the organs, try using a detector to see what is in the fluid."

"Sure..." He said, looking at the variety of fluids coating the table, his gloves, his pressure suit.... once the head was strapped down he would start gathering up samples of fluid from here and there, bringing them over to the various sampling tools the medbay had avalible to start breaking them down into their components... then he took another sample and placed it in the centrifuge to separate.

"Every fluid in this thing is sticky," He said, trying to wipe some off of his fingers.

"Fluids in the human body are the same Wazu, so don't complain about" Taharial turns on the bone saw and gently cuts around the exoskeleton on the head so that is only just cracks the skull, she tried to not go so deep as she didn't want to harm what was inside this area of the body.

She pulled away the skull when she was done with breaking it and smiled happily as she saw a walnut sized thing in the head "Okay then, that surpised me."

"Well, it does not have the sheer cranial space of most creatures, but it does show a lot of intelligence. Maybe its brain is just very efficent for its size?" He speculated. "So... is that thing soft? Firm? Gooey?"

Taharial touchd the brain and felt it "Hmm it feels like slightly firm jelly so in the middle of soft and firm with a gooey feel but it feels like it will burst easily."

"... I guess I have no idea what that means." Wazu said, "We are certainly going to need to study that more in depth. Maybe cut it up and have Charisma put together a 3d model for study... Could probably have the fabrication bay whip up a machine that can do that..." He thought outloud.

Taharial nodded and grinned "So we should pack up the things to keep them from rotting and I will work out what the fuilds are, you can leave and after I have done everything, I can message you, if needed to I will cut open the other one."

"I can help with the cleanup... or at least with putting the other one in the fridge... should we even do that?.... You know what, lets go with your plan. I will run down to the fabrication bay and get some more specailzed tools made for use up here...

... Your appitite is probably done after that... but want to share our findings over dinner later?" Wazu asked.

Taharial nodded "Unlike some people I never lose my appitite, so I will enjoy to do that" she started to move around getting large jars for the organs so that they could store them all for later use, she adds some fluids to keep the organs from rotting as she placed each one in a jar then labeled it with what she thought it was and a question mark.

She smiled "Now time to clean up all this mess, she started with the trays then moved the body to the freezer in case she needed it later and after that she cleaned the the table that the thing was on.

She then sighed and gathered up her not book and started to write up the data and what she thought everything was at that point in time as she waited for the machines to work out what was in the fluids.

[JP from @Zack and @BloodyScarlet]

 

[Samanthia]

Fabrication Bay

Aikiko smiled at Jax. "If it does get shot up while here in Eucharis. We all will have a serious problem. Of a very unsanitary infestations." She began to move the Mindy Loaded Dolly. "Thanks for your patience Jax. I'll call you when the Mindy is ready for your loving touch."

P.A Bay

With careful maneuvering, and a lift ride later, she pushed the Damaged Mindy to its stowage place and secured it. She sent a message to Suites where her Mindy was located.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

PA Bay

Tsuguka regarded the end of Candon's outburst with a flat "Yes Sir."

On the one hand, she agreed that detailed intelligence on the enemy was of the up most importance, but on the other, trying to get a sample of enemy weaponry had nearly killed her in missions past. She took the initiative on the Rixxikor vessel precisely because she new how opportune the situation was, but attempting to perform such a task under fire might well have changed her priorities. What would she choose if it actually came to that in the future?... Well, they would just have to find out when the time came.

"I was transmitting a direct visual feed to Chui Yamashiro the entire time." The crimson nekovalkyrja removed her helmet slowly after a pace, sharp jawline and furrowed musky eyebrows regarding him with seriousness. "This would definitely include visuals on observed handheld weapons and body armor types. I believe she has already uploaded her data to the Eucharis computer network."

Her armor cracked open with a hiss, and she began to remove the shoulder components from it diligently. Considering how long they had been talking for, this was actually the first time the two had seen each other face to face. The neko looked every bit as stern and imperial as her voice sounded. A compact athletic figure bearing sleek simplistic hair braids, it was only the rather oni-esk color and threatening triangular markings that set her apart from the more regal samurai class at the nation's head.

"Do you require anything else, Joto Hei Suites?" Ears twitched to restore circulation. "I believe it would be correct for me to meet with the Shosho, due to my extended absence."

 

[Rizzo]

PA Bay

"Thank you," Suites replied as he received the affirmative feedback he was looking for. Although Candon had a routine he rigidly followed upon returning to his armor station he couldn't help but pause and become aware of Tsuguka's presence. Her discipline had been admirable, but her appearance had struck him with awe. The crimson woman was a vicious sight to behold. Being taller and standing even more stiffly than even he did with her hair braided to be more functional than glamorous made an unforgettable impression on Candon, she was a soldier and that's how she liked it. In the back of his mind the young Nekovalkyrja reminded him of the members of his old Spec Ops team from the first Mishhuvurthyar War, intimidating soldiers who'd haunt the dreams of any Amazonian warrior. If she was truely was the soldier she appeared to be he wanted her to take leadership of the infantry team. A spy can't always work with the infantry.
"That'll be all. Your dismissed, Toyoe-hei," Candon replied to her.

Backing into the rack of his armor station he shut down his aether reactor and opened the chest of his M2-2D armor to reveal the classic sight Yamataian power armor is known for, a naked soldier. Grabbing the support beams above him he lifted himself out of the armor and dropped back onto his own feet. Standing under his own strength always a weird sensation after wearing powered armor. Opening his locker he resumed his standard routine.
Pants. Shirt. Gun. Shower.

 

[Zack]

YSS Eucharis Medbay

Wazu would pull out his datapad and key in a few questions about just how he could sterilize his pressure suit without taking it off and without tracking Rixxikor guts through the ship... he eventually decided to head into one of the containment rooms, and have it sterilize the exterior of his pressure suit along with the rest of the room... also burning off the stickers that were on the back of the Helmet and providing a deep clean to a few spacer-added-features of the suit.

He would start to feel tired almost immediately, once again breathing the Eucharis's air instead of his suit's high-oxygen-content. First thing to do... Coffee... then he needed to find a decent existing design for specialized tools in the medbay.... but first things first. He would head back to his room, take off his pressure suit, and then head back to the Mess Hall.

 

[Zack]

YSS Eucharis - Mess Hall.

Wazu sat down and rubbed his eyes... resting his head down on the palms of his hands.

Right out in-front of him was a small plate with bread and butter on it, next to a large cup of coffee that was still steaming hot, the added milk still swirling around, slowly mixing in and turning the brown and white ribbons into more of a solid cream color.

Across the compartment Yamashiro Natsumi stepped through the hatchway. The snowy haired neko glanced about the mess as she strode across to the buffet. She was clad in the more comfortable type 30c uniform rather than her usual crisp and professional type 35 duty uniform and her mass of white hair was pulled back into a loose braid.

She gathered up a plate of fresh fruit, pastries and a mug of hot coco, then looked for a place to sit.

He then picked up his datapad once more, resuming his reading with one hand while the other went for that cup of coffee...

"Mind if I join you?" Natsumi asked. She had been meaning to get to know more about this new Nepleslian scientist since he had come aboard and now seemed a good time as any.

Wazu jolted in a fast, short, movement that straightened his back, lifted his eyes, and turned his attention towards the most immediate need... His left hand bringing the cup of coffee to his lips while the right hand motioned to the seat in front of him.

*clunk* The empty cup ended up back on the table,

"Go ahead," Wazu said, "... Your armor team showed great restraint with the Rixxikor... " His left hand brought the datapad back down beside him, his eyes quickly assessing her, the hair, uniform, food, her hands, then returning to her face, "It was nice to see."

Natsumi settled into the chair across from Wazu, glancing between him and her meal as she made herself comfortable. "For the most part, yes" Natsumi agreed as she took a sip of her hot coco.

There had been one incident on the away mission she was still investigating that did not sit well with her. "I can only hope the data we gathered there can be of some help" she added.

Wazu didn't respond right away, looking at her food again, and then back to her.

"Well. We have enough threads to tug on. I am certain we will find more information as we go." He thought again for a little while, "So ..., Rixxikor Rap or Nepleslian Rock?"

Natsumi raised a snowy eyebrow. "Jeeze.. If left to choose between those two, Nepleslian rock any day" she answered. "the other's just too crude" she smiled wryly and took a bite of fruit.

"I am not so sure about that. The Rixxikor just talked about procreation... have you seen Aethersperm on stage? Less poop, more procreating..." Wazu replied.

Natsumi shrugged. "I donno then" she said. "Don't have any Nepleslian stuff on my kareoke machine" she smiled.

"So then if you had to choose some music?" Wazu asked, "... or am I prying too much too soon? We hardly got to make introductions and I am still learning who is who on the ship. I think I already came on a bit strong with your intelligence officer."

Natsumi smiled, "I don't think asking about music is prying too much" she laughed. "Rock, jazz, pop, stuff like that" she answered his question. "What do you like? I've been looking for someone else to do kareoke with for a while"

"I tend not to favor one thing for too long... usually some form of rock or edm... Though I think the only recent stuff I have heard is Aethersperm and that is not... easy listening." Wazu paused for a moment before adding, "Though I should warn you, I am an engineer, not a singer."

The snowy haired neko smiled "And you think I'm a singer?" she grinned. "I'm a star-ship operator and pilot" she shrugged and chewed on a bit of fruit.

"And a competent armor team leader... I expect you have all sorts of skills." Wazu said, rubbing his eyes a bit before turning to the bit of bread he had ready. "... ever sing for the crew?"

"Oh. Sing for the crew?" her cream cheeks turned pink. "No. I haven't" she replied. "Never thought of that. I just do karaoke in my cabin and stuff when no ones really around. I used to bother my first roomie with it but that's about it"

"If you Karaoke, and there is no one around to hear it, is it still Karaoke?" He asked.

"Well.. Yes.." Natsumi said hesitantly. "You wanna join in?" she asked, eyeing the scientist.

Wazu was mid chew as Natsumi asked, finishing his bite completely before making a response, "...I would like that. I got a few songs in mind..."

"Great!" Natsumi said and smiled. She'd not had anyone to torture with her singing for ages. While she always had a blast singing she could never claim to be a good singer. "After the evening bridge shift?" she asked, already thinking up some songs from her collection that would be good.

"Sure, after the evening bridge shift..."

"It's a plan then!" Natsumi said, her cat ears twitching.



-----



YSS Eucharis - Natsumi's Quarters


"So do you have a roommate that we are going to be bothering?" Wazu asked, the pair fresh off the evening bridge shift.

"Oh, no. Big bonus to being ships executive officer is getting your own cabin!" Natsumi replied and swept her arms around. This recent move to the XO's cabin had been big change for her, she had always shared quarters with others.

Wazu would go to her bed, sitting down on the edge, "Well I love what you have done with the place," He replied.

"Oh, well, I haven't done much of anything to decorate or anything" she replied as she got out a pair of microphones from her closet and set them on her desk beside the karaoke machine.

There really was not much in the generally bare bones cabin save for the karaoke machine, her silk kimono hanging near the closet and the very few small personal items she had.

Wazu looked nervously at the microphones, "I was not expecting a duet. Have a song in mind already?"

"Well, I just thought you would like to have your own microphone and if we do a duet it'll make things easier" the neko replied as she sat next to Wazu, a binder in her hands. She flipped it open, revealing pages and pages full of music disks

"Lets find something fun" she said and grinned at him, almost like a kid in a candy store.

"Well, I had something in mind...." Wazu said, picking up his datapad and pressing a button, letting the device make the appropriate arrangements with the Karaoke machine wirelessly.

"What are you thinking?" Natsumi asked, her white fuzzy ears perking up.

The Kareoke machine started to play bars from an older rock song, quickly building to the lyrics, Wazu would pick one one of the microphones and turn towards Natsumi,

"YAMATAIN WOMAAAAAAAAN,.... Stay away from MEEEEHeeeeee......

YAMATAIN WOMAAAAAAAAN,.... MAMA let me BEEEEheeeeee....."

Natsumi laughed as Wazu started in on the rather well known rock song. "Oh jeeze!" she giggled and picked up her mic and started in with him, singing the lines from the song and keeping up as well as she was able!

Wazu cracked a smile as Natsumi joined in, though naturally he wagged a finger at her when she got up, backing away slightly in the processs.

"Now WOOMANNNN, ... I said STAY AWWAAAAAHAAAAY!"

"Yamataian Womaann, listen what I saaayyy!" Natsumi sang along, "Don't come knocking around my dooor!" she went on, a big grin on her face. “Don't want to see your shadow no more.”

"...I don't need you, Warmachiiiines. I don't need your ghetto sceeeeeenes," Wazu would continue singing right at Natsumi.

"Colored lights can hipnotize, sparkle someone else's eyyeeeees!" Natsumi answered as they carried on, singing through the rest of the song!

As the song wound down, Natsumi hopped over to her closet, where she had a small cooler, which she opened and grabbed a couple bottles. "Cherry cola or orange cream?" she asked, holding the pair of soda bottles up.

"Orange," Wazu replied, his posture switching to one that was less animated, moving over towards the wall to lean against it as Natsumi brought him the soda, "And here I was worried that song would be in poor taste,"

She shrugged and smiled, "Not really" she replied as she opened the orange cream and handed it over. Then she opened her cherry cola and took a long sip of the bubbly, sugary drink. As she downed the first gulp, Natsumi started flipping through her music, finding a disk and popping it into the machine, though she didn't start it up yet, a few minutes to enjoy their drinks were needed.

Wazu just returned her smile, and worked on finishing his drink.... the sugar and the movement both helping him fight off some of the drowsiness.

"So why are you out here?" He asked.

Natsumi glanced at Wazu, sipping her drink, her big red eyes studying him a moment "I like it out here" she replied, truthfully. "This is my home. Ive been in space most of my life, on this ship, in fact and while its dangerous out here and visiting planets is nice.. This is home" she glanced at her drink, then back at him.

"You are... manufactured? From a mother?" Wazu asked.

"Manufactured" she replied. "Out of a tube, me and my sister, a batch of two" she said and thought of her sister, Sakura, who she had not seen in a long time now. "How about you?" she asked.

"Parents," Wazu said solemnly, "Though no family to speak of, at least not in the Kyoto sector... Were you purpose made?"

"Well, I was made to be starship operations" she replied, "Which I still am, though I'm moving on to other stuff as I've become XO" she said, blushing a bit at the thought of the immense responsibility she had recently been in-trusted with.

"I know what it feels like to be meant for something... but I am not quite sure I enjoy the feeling. I take it you have never given serious thought to throwing your destiny out the window and ... maybe being an singer?" He asked.

Natsumi blinked. "A singer?" she asked, her cheeks turning brighter pink than before. "I don't think I'm good enough to be a singer!" she giggled,"I . .. Just sing for fun"

"Singing is like anything else, you do it enough and you get better at it. Eventually you get good... and then great." He replied, the solemn attitude swinging back towards cheerful, "Besides, you would be competing against the likes of Ruxxles the Rapping Rixxikor!"

"Oh my god!" Natsumi cracked up, now the briemusical encounter with the bug-man more humorous than anything else right now. "I don't think they're going to take off on the music charts on Yamatai!" she said and downed a mouthful of cola. "I could maybe, though for now I'm enjoying being out here, and I think I want to do as good as I can, prove myself and earn the responsibility I've been given" she smiled. "Then I can sing.. Ir.. Maybe be a singing star-ship captain?" she suggested with a grin and a raised eyebrow.

"Live the dream," Wazu replied, taking another drink from the soda bottle then moving away from the wall, trying to keep moving a bit more.

"And what about you?" she asked, setting her now half empty bottle of cherry cola down on her desk and looking at the Nepleslian. "You're not bad with a microphone" she said, "You could get into singing too!"

"Singing is not something I usually do for entertainment... at least not on my own. " Wazu said, "I mean... the occasional song in the shower, humming a tune, sure... but getting on stage and performing for a crowd? I think I will leave that to someone else."

"That's a shame" Natsumi said, "Though, maybe one of these days I will get enough soda in you and we'll both go sing on stage?" she suggested with a smile.

"I think I will need something a bit harder than soda," Wazu said, looking around for someplace to set the empty soda bottle. "... but who am I to get in the way of your dreams of Star-dom. If you need a backup singer when you hit it big, give me a call."

"For sure" Natsumi replied. "And the same if you ever go into the music business" she added with a grin.

"So what song do you have picked out next?" He asked.

Natsumi keyed up the desired track on the music disk and staryed off as the song began, singing away happily as Wazu tried to keep up with the unfamiliar song....



---



… By the time the two had finished singing, Wazu was struggling to keep his eyes open.

Natsumi eyed Wazu, setting her microphone down. "You getting tired?" she asked and checked her internal clock, it wasnt terribly late.

"Maybe....no.... I just need more coffee. I think the caffeine is running out again," He said, rubbing his eyes again to try and keep his energy up.

Natsumi raised an eyebrow. "If you're getting sleepy we can call it a night" she said, "I don't want you to pass out on the floor"

"I do not pass out anymore." He replied, "... though I still have a lot to do... I should re-up on coffee and get to processing the Rixxikor data we have... We can always continue singing another night... I already used up the one Kareoke song I really know,"

"You can't be thinking of going back to work?" the neko asked, picking up her second soda bottle for the night and sipping at it.

"There is still work to be done... I need..." Wazu took a few moments to collect his thoughts, calming down a bit before continuing, "Long days are not that big a deal. I am used to them. The Rixxikor data needs processing, and I should get something ready for the next Rixxikor involved operation..."

"A little time to rest and sleep wont delay the information" Natsumi commented, "Anyways, if you get to sleepy you won't be as effective... How long have you been awake?" she asked.

"Since Ether... Maybe... 50 hours?" He replied, "... This kinda thing used to be a lot easier."

Natsumi blinked. "Fifty hours?" she replied. "Why? You're going to make yourself sick" Natsumi set her soda down and looked at Wazu dead on.

"Not everyone has a quantum computer in their heads, or can shoot the wings off a Fyunnen at 100 meters," He replied a bit defensively. "I can always sleep later."

Natsumi frowned. "You can't do this to yourself. Staying up so much is not good for you. We nekovalkyrja can do what we do because we were built too, you were not. You need to sleep. Work to do or not, we cannot have you exhausted and unable to function" she said. She wasn't mad at him, per se, but she was not pleased with his habit and not convinced of it being any good with his flimsy reasoning.

"That is why we have sugars, caffeine, modonafil, amphetamines... Nekos are not designed to push their limits like...." Wazu shut himself up at that point, "... I think you are right, I should go sleep."

Red eyes narrowed and her nose scrunched up. "Bed, now. Direct order from the executive officer of the ship" she said in a commanding tone, pulling back the covers on the bed and pushing Wazu into it. "At least ten hours before you're allowed back on duty, or I'll have Charisma lock you in your cabin and pump it full of sleeping gas"

"Ff... fine...." She could already see his eyes closing, the science adviser passing out before he could even get more than a word in edgewise.

Natsumi nodded approvingly as Wazu passed out and pulled the covers over him. She dimmed the lights and quietly cleaned up the soda bottles and put away the kareoke machine before she realized she had just put Wazu to bed in her bunk.

She frowned. She couldn't wake him and send him to his own now. So she grabbed a spare blanket from her locker and settled herself in her desk chair, tipping it back to a comfortable angle and closed her eyes.