RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 3] - Rocking the Casbah

The rocket impact on the ground had the shrapnel blocked - thankfully - but the resulting concussive blast was enough to overpower his shields and tip his small machine over, forcing it to land on its side. Apparently his counterbalancing still needed major work. Seiren chose a few select curses for the situation and dropped the HIPR, allowing his arms and thrusters to attempt righting itself. All the meanwhile he set that shoulder-mounted electrolaser up a notch and to fire down on the rocketeer. That'd show him for scracthing the YamiNekoNeko decals!

"Eat laser, dirtbag!"

Fruna Ruica, Deck 3, Main Convention Floor

As her position started to take fire Tamamo retreated further into the hall to avoid taking unnecessary damage. Listening to the gun fire for a second she glanced at Shoi McBelle and sent a short message telepathically, 'Flanking. ' Without waiting for approval from the former officer Tamamo lifted into the air and was soon hurtling down the hall moving to another of the Convention Floor's entrances.

Negating her inertia as she reached her destination Tamamo set down on the floor and gently nudged the door open taking care to ensure there were no immediate threats before slipping back into the room proper. Falling into a crouch, Tamamo settled her rifle and took a slow breath as she centred the weapon on the back of the left most pirate that was advancing on the door she had previously occupied. Exhaling slowly she squeezed the trigger three times delivering a trio of rounds into the back of her quarry before shifting to the second and repeating the action. With six of her thirty rounds in the magazine expended Tamamo once again shot up toward the ceiling to impede any return fire.

Rebeka saw the tubby metal giant topple backwards: sparks flying as its hull screamed chalkboard through the flooring and against the hull beneath it concealed as the tiles collected like pencil shavings. Immediately her attention shifted from Seiren's condition in the cab to the figure above, sighting their distance.

While Luca had told her time and time again in long drawn out discussions -- each time like a parent explaining exasperated and raw at the throat to a child why they shouldn't do something, collateral damage was the last thing on her mind.

Seiren was in danger. Subtlety was not an option.

Moving into cover, she dropped to a single knee: fingertips reaching for her cannon. She broke its back and withdrew the revolving chambers, slotting the tube-shaped mechanism into a pocket and then reached beneath an armored flap on her opposing thigh for some thick flexible rectangle of metal like a seat-belt. She locked it in place before adjusting the mechanism: thumb rolling to exchange firemodes. Next, long slender bolts extended from her palm which she slid into the handle of the gun as he wrapped her fingers about it -- a slow whirr as an electric motor somewhere inside its assembly came to life before spooling back down.

And as she never did, she held the thing with two hands, not just one.

Three shots struck the ceiling each time in bursts, each knocking light after light out, each time her arm re-orienting like a machine for the next shot in sequence; it was eerie. Unhappy with those remaining lights, she sighted the nearest loudest cable she could sense and split it.

This brought the convention floor not to darkness but instead to twilight with only the fire from the rocket and some back-lighting in the rafters giving the room form as ornamented plaster and broken glass showered down like petals.

A twinkling light flew for her from the rafters: another crisp ear splitting explosion as she was engulfed with heat and smoke. Then that whirr again, like a dentist's drill -- getting higher before it got deeper, her arm rising out through the black silk to take shot.

The repeating muzzle-flash lit up the room like a strobe light from the floor trickling through the petals, making a spotlight about her feet revealing her position as the shockwave smashed the burning curtain of acrid rocket-smoke to one side. The impacts above toward the shooter were shockwaves of air, a deafening rhythm of beats like fists smashing into the ceiling hull and then off beyond -- fireflies of sparks dancing off the cables her firepower had to fight through followed by the post-supersonic growl of the rounds discharging after the rounds struck a quarter second later; like thunder following lightning; the room sinking back into near darkness as eyes needed time to adjust to the light again.

This feat did not go unrewarded: A deep resounding high velocity "WHUNK!" as something struck her head -- and then again, tracer-fire revealing a second shooter: each strike a crisp clean headshot. She responded with another flickered blinding light of automatic weapons-fire and tracers, erasing the shooter from existence with the same grace as a sand-blaster tackling graffiti -- not moving from her spot.

It took her a moment to realize her left arm was on fire: smothering it carefully with her cloak rather calmly.

Redrick never got his answer from his erstwhile ally. Gouts of razor-sharp pasteboard splinters and plaster dust erupted as the lizard man's shotgun gatling tore through anything not made well enough to stop it. Red threw himself to the deck, wincing as wooden splinters gouged into him and opened cuts in his skin. Plaster dust got in his mouth, so he started to cough and spit as the cacophony - one parts moaning, three parts gunfire, another part a scream he wasn't even fully aware he was making - rose to a crescendo of noise and fervor.

He'd gotten one of the pirates with their retreat, but did any come after them? The roaring stopped, and his screams stopped a few seconds afterwards. The hands gripping his gun - his hands - were white from the pressure they were exerting on the weapon's rugged LSDF approved construction. He let out a shaky breath, his heart-rate still entirely too fast. Thoughts, disjointed, whipped through his head after the sudden assault.

Did the pirates think they were dead? Unlikely. They'd send goons. Redrick yanked the charging handle of his gun, accidentally sending an unfired cartridge flying out of the ejection port to be lost somewhere in the rubble, but he barely registered it. His gun was still good to fire, and that's all that mattered.

He positioned himself in a likely rubble pile, and waited for his pursuers to show themselves, flinching as return fire - something explosive, banged off on the convention room floor. He aligned his sights on the primary entrance to the Rope-Room, confident he could put enough lead into the entranceway to make pursuit unpalatable.

Fruna Ruica, Bridge
Zeta's Impulse armour fired up on all cylinders - so to speak; I don't think powered armour uses pistons any more - and sprinted over Soruk and Wire Head with heavy footfalls, she smashed through the door to the bridge, leaving an Impulse shaped hole in it. It was able to keep people out, but it wasn't able to keep a sufficiently determined power armour out.

Zeta could see two people on the floor in front of her, one of them a pirate, and another, the presumed captain, a Lorath woman wearing a uniform bearing the Fruna Ruica's symbols and the patch for a Captain. The captain seemed to have been kicked in the head and bruising badly, while the pirate lying nearby was covered in burns from a Fatboy on full auto.

Just near the consoles, she could see another pirate on the floor with some serious burning wounds, and some scorch marks on the wall where Fatboy fire had gone astray. Peering over the console, she could see Reeves, and the bullet hole in his left leg that'd come out the other side and hit the floor.

The captain seemed to mumble something in their dazed state as they watched Zeta smash right in - then started shuffling away nervously, still tied and bound - possibly mistaking the armour for that of the one with the hammer. With a slight concussion and impaired vision, she couldn't tell Zeta from The Breaker apart.

Fruna Ruica, Bridge

Zeta checked around with Fatboy in her hands. She looked for targets, before she would move to check friendlies. Her eyes noticed the lorath woman, who shuffling away in fear. That was of course understandable, Zeta was in black Impulse armour. To others she might appear as one of the pirates.

"Wesley watch my back," Zeta said to to her armours AI and moved to Reeves.

"Hey boy," seems you got yourself into trouble. "Seems it went clean through, that is good, but we got to stop the bleeding." Zeta said to him as she crouched by. She looked for a first aid kit, either on the wall or maybe on belts of one of the pirates. If there was none, she would just take belt from one of the pirates and fasten it above the wound on Reeves leg.

The main reason Red had managed to make it so far without one of Enzo's prized insults or a stream of hastily yet delicately crafted smarm was that the conman had basically left him to die. Well, not truly-- for Enzo was nearby. Only, instead of trying to find low cover beneath the swarming sway of firey shotgun death, the greasy conman had followed some ancient monkey instinct and began climbing one of the many noise-making ropes which filled the room so thickly. From his new, higher position, Enzo looked down upon Redrick with some sense of sympathy for the aging chef and twisted the velveteen cord around his wrist so he could better reach a weapon from his many-splendored arsenal-- in this case it was the old, trusty, only-written-used-once-but-presumably-used-many-times-against-mechanical-opponents, EMP-P1A. Quickly, Enzo used his teeth to switch it to IPGD mode and let the thing dangle-- ready to fry any nasty people or electrical components to come through the door.

This, Enzo did despite being recently called 'regrettable' and being given a certain lengthily-hyphenated look which would normally promote a violent reaction from the otherwise kind (but usually also violent), if darkened soul.

"Shit. Not even PLASMA? This thing is supposed to be a tank killer. I want my damn money back!" He skittered around the slide a bit attempting to shield himself more from the splatter of shot as he holstered his SiZi 30. Grumbling frantically, he pulled out his HHG and loaded it with remote explosives. Using his memory of where Mr. Lizard was firing and his last position, he pulled out his tiny mirror to pinpoint the foe. Makari cocked his wrist around the slide, just pointing the gun out and hoping to hell he didn't get hit. He pulled the trigger six times, hoping each would stick to the target. He figured he'd wait for confirmation from the massive armor covered being's incessant taunting before pushing the detonator.

Soruk kept his head down while Zeta cleaned house, with much less... grace than he would have done. I suppose it works . He picked himself up when all was clear, shaking his head she passed, frowning as she planned to make even more noise. "Yeah. You do that." He replied, taking a step over to the freespacer, fetching his dagger off the floor and prodding the 'Spacer with it, "If you keep moving, I'm going to feed you some more... 'marbles'."

He was good on his threat, reaching back to fetch a few more EMP's from his pouch, though considerably less than the first time, not wanting to take them off the grid again, "I wonder how they taste. I'm sure you'll tell me, right?" He didn't want to kill the pirate just yet, maybe he'd be useful.

Reeves remained flat on his bottom trying to catch his breath. It wasn't every day that you cook a couple pirates with a fatboy. He couldn't believe how quickly everything inside the bridge had become quiet again. His ears ringing from the close range gunfire he shifted himself intent on checking the condition of the captain and then the panels that would tell him if they would have more company. His plan however was interrupted by a piercing pain in his leg. His mismatched eyes traced the line of bullet holes where the enemy had raked his weapon up at him before dying. Eventually they settled on a visible hole in his pants just above the cuff of his boot. The dark grey of his pants was slowly staining darker about the edges of the hole. "No no no." he sputtered trying his damnedest to fight back tears. His tear duct had been removed to avoid complications with his cybernetic eye so he was left with just the one capable of expressing the confused anguish he felt. He remained completely still while his mind scrambled for a solution. He was contemplating pressing the hot tip of the barrel of his gun against fabric and flesh and using the residual heat to seal up both fabric and flesh alike when a loud crash sounded through the room. He held his gun close to him and remained completely still terrified that it was more pirates here to kill him. He wasn't sure how many rounds he had left in this battery so a shaky hand switched the firing mode to burst. Suppressing the urge to sniff back the snot that had seemed to liquify alongside his distress he sat there listening for a hint at who had come crashing through the door.

His tense form relaxed slightly as he recognized the voice. "Zeta?" He said through gritted teeth. He wiped his face with the arm of his coveralls. In a morbid fascination he reached forward to stopper up the bleeding with his hands while Zeta obtained a belt. The only comparable feeling he had felt prior to being shot was when his eye had been all but plucked out of his face. "Are are they dead?" He asked before jumping to the next topic that sprung to mind remembering that the bridge could have been damaged in the fight. "Are the.... the consuls okay? Are sensors picking up anything at all?" He asked worried that his brash rush of the bridge had ruined their chances of intercepting any incoming threats. Eager to check on them himself he tried to get up. He immediately regretted that course of action and dropped back onto his butt.

Shayla just kept running as the other Neko sent her that message. "Gotcha!" She turned the other direction, circling the opposite way as Tamamo flanked their pursuers. Thankfully they'd been slowed down by things like flying jukeboxes, mechs, cowboys, irritable lizard men, etc. With a head start, the giantess was able to loop around to the next doorway just as she heard the young Neko firing at the outmaneuvered pirates.

Once any survivors attempted to return fire at the now ceiling-situated Hei, Shayla rejoined the fight, bellowing to announce her reappearance. She charged their position, now that they were distracted and didn't have those pesky firearms pointed her way, both arms raised with those pythons just about head-high on the unlucky pirates. Thanks to those handy Nekovalkyra abilities, those muscles might as well have been solid steel, for as heavy and dense as they were. Starting a few moments before impact, at least.

Fruna Ruica, Main Convention Floor
Violence and mayhem were on the order. Anyone who was tied up and escorted to the edges of the room and told to lie as flat as possible, avoiding the hundreds and hundreds of stray pellets of shot slamming into into the walls and splintering the durandium interior and had a fetish for for ultraviolence would have a raging boner right now.

♫ Carpenter Brut - Le Perv ♫

Durandium, as a metal that was usually thrown facefirst into combat was made to not retain heat, able to hold and disperse it quickly rather than stay as a hot slag and do potentially more damage. Mr. Lizard Man's rage, and the new eye hole he had to see Makari with was only keeping his shot sprayed on the pillar, making Melissa and Echelon quite nervous up on top.

Makari, meanwhile was in the middle of a trick shot. The ones you'd see in a bar on a Friday evening where it was too hot to stay in and the air conditioning was busted; where the men were comparing their respective lengths and calibres with feats of skill and bravado. Here, however, was the potential eighth day of the week in a pleasure ship and a life and limb situation against a Delsaurian with heavy armour, a short temper, and a very large gun. Business as usual on the Phoenix, of course.

"I TOLD YOU!" Mr. Lizard Man hollered as the behemoth started coming closer, oblivious to the shots Makari had fired and over the din of his own massive gun firing, barrels red hot. "YOU WOULD D-"

That was the only signal Makari needed when he thumbed the detonator. Click~
The first explosion tore Mr. Lizard Man's faceplate off and sent him stumbling backwards as the plate clanged against the floor. The second tore a chunk of his armour off of his shoulders, another detonated behind him and turned a soldier into soup. Mr. Lizard Man only realised what was happening as they felt their left splatter in an arc on the fourth detonation.

As gravity was starting to seize them, Shayla leapt forward and started clobbering the remaining men, taking them out with huge, sweeping attacks, bowling them over and taking advantage of the distraction Tamamo had set up. Their teamwork made short work of them as gravity seized the falling glass and plaster as the lights flickered into multi-coloured, twilight dusky hell. The lights Rebeka had shot at were meant to be multi-coloured on the fly and in their malfunction, had started bathing the room in a kaleidoscope of hues where even the shadows were colourful because of all the competing, malfunctioning lights.

"SEE YOU IN HELL," Mr. Lizard Man roared with their final as they lost their balance and teetered onto their side. "COWB-"

The fifth detonation blew a hole in his chest and disintegrated his muzzle and neck, while the sixth detonation blew up his faceplate again, sending it cartwheeling into the air and landing between Breaker and Luca, the Captain dealing with the Breaker's two lackeys who were trying to flank him and shoot at him while Breaker kept him distracted. He fired the Grapple Stunner at one of their guns, wrenched it out of their hand and gunned the two down without a second thought.


Fruna Ruica, Ropey Room
Enzo and Red found that their roping escapades, with every rope tugged and Enzo's monkey-like clambering gave him a perfect vantage point, able to suspend himself between an intersection of ropes and picking off those who'd chased after him. Redrick, meanwhile was lying down below and relying on camouflage as the two men's pursuers, without power armour started moving into the ropey room.

Enzo's EMP shots were ineffective for dealing damage, but their radios fizzled out and they disappeared from their IFF displays - and some of them even administered shocks or offered distraction, focussing fire up above. Enzo was a sitting duck up there until Redrick burst out from under the rubble and started gunning the three interlopers down.

The impromptu teamwork displayed showed that a little grease can get any wheels moving.


Fruna Ruica, Main Convention Floor
Seiren and Cass' mechs stood back up from being blasted over to see that Luca and Breaker were alone, and the last man standing dropped their rifle and tried running away, running for the door he came from and whimpering after his whole squad was cut down by Seiren, Cass, Rebeka and Luca.

All of the Pirates they could see were gone, bleeding out, vaporised, or in the case of one very unlucky person, had fled.

"With lighting like this, almost makes you look like we're out on a date," Luca gibed as he stepped on Lizard Man's face plate, and kicked it over to her. "No wingmen for you, though." Breaker tensed and Luca could hear her grip tightening around the hammer's shaft, creaking as her thrusters were staring to activate.

"I'LL AVENGE YOU, LIZARD MAN!" Breaker roared. This was exactly the reaction Luca wanted. "PREPARE TO DIE YOU YAMATAIAN FUCK!"

She charged forward, and Luca fell onto his back and taunted her to come closer. The hammer was over her head and swinging downwards upon him when he braced his right arm against the floor and fired the lance into the hammer, deflecting it and making it hit the space just a foot to the left of his head. He could feel the shockwave as it crashed through the carpet, the wooden veneer and into the ground.

The spear retracted into the Grapple Stunner and he fired it again into her gut, penetrating right through her. "I told you: You're a very hot piece of metal."

Breaker was still growling gutturally as she tried to pull the hammer out for another swing, more aggrieved than anything at the condensed line of the Grapple Stunner's line spear through her gut and out her back.
"I wonder how much you're worth alive?" Luca asked and radioed to the others as he twisted that spear, realising that his aim maybe a few inches too far to his left to hit her heart, but she'd be sporting a wonderful scar. "Ech?"

"F-Fuck you!" Breaker replied, grip slipping on that hammer. Luca put his foot against her chest so she didn't collapse on him. That armour was pretty heavy and he didn't want it falling on him.

"4 PR3TTY P3NNY C4PT14N. SH3'S 4 K33P3R!" Echelon radioed back.

"Even if you escape or get busted out of prison, I'd be glad to meet you again," Luca winked at her as he retracted the Grapple Stunner spear. "Maybe I'll buy you dinner first."

Breaker's vital signs were starting to slow down. Luca had pierced her hard like a matador with an estoc against a charging bull. Luca could see blood splats against the inside of her visor. She could've been worth quite a bit alive. However, since she'd passed out, Luca found himself being the sole supporter of her weight right now, and he couldn't wiggle out without the armour toppling over and crushing him.

"...uh, can anyone lend me a hand?" He looked over to Aiesu, standing behind Seiren, and in Rebeka's general direction.


Fruna Ruica, Bridge
The Captain, realising that the woman in the armour was in fact helping her saviour, and not bearing the voice of that hammer wielding brute who she could hear roaring from far away.

"Q-Quick, you there, they've put the ship on a course for some asteroid base and locked the task bar!" The Captain of the Fruna Ruica tried to shuffle upright, bumping into one of their restrained bridge crew. "G-Get someone to unlock that damn thing and let me get this thing back on course!" She looked behind herself and stared daggers at the one Soruk had in their grip and threatening with more EMP.

Wire Head. "Shareef won't like it at all if you keep it locked on course, you know," the Captain of the Fruna Ruica added as she stared daggers at perhaps the last of the Pirates on board.

Who was Shareef, though? Somewhere outside, a low "Aww Yeah~" could be heard from a deep voiced convention going man somewhere near Shayla. When she looked over to where the voice came from, she could see an ID-SOL who she recognised as an adult film star with a very large ... calibre, resting against the wall, wide eyed that the fighting was over and he could have his fun again.

-

The convention floor was a complete mess. Corpses in various states of unbeing, glass shards and plaster littering the ground and balcony, explosions, gratuitous violence, busted lights, bulletholes in all of the walls, no refreshments on hand, and the Tongue Slide was busted. The staff and convention goers of the ship stood up and tiptoed through the carnage, unsure to make of what just happened in the last couple of minutes. Some of them had been injured in the crossfire, but emergency medical supplies from cavities in the wall were quickly bought out. Tamamo and Shayla had their work cut out for triage.

Unsurprisingly, nobody wanted to treat Breaker for fear she'd start swinging that hammer of hers again, plus they found it hilarious to watch Luca's face go red as he kept the combined weight of her and her armour supported with his legs.

"Eleven out of ten, would be a hostage here again!" One convention goer hollered.

The sound of a cutlery drawer falling over could be heard followed by Luca screaming in surprise. Breaker's unconscious body and all of its armour had fallen on Luca, who was now firmly pinned under the Fyunnen warrior. Luca let out a gentle murmur of pain as he pleaded with his eyes to Seiren, Cass, Rebeka and Aiesu to help him.

After he was sure the fireworks were over, Makari sauntered out to inspect what was left of the auto-shotgun. He was quite happy his trick shots did the trick, otherwise he shuddered to think of the results. If the shotgun was too wrecked, there was always the nice trophy for it. If it was still usable, well let's just say he may have found a new toy. Win-win, right? He did his best to help with the wounded as he chuckled about Luca's predicament, being squished by an armored person wouldn't kill the man.

Makari could see that the Deviance Gatling Shotgun needed to be reloaded since it was getting quite low on ammo, and the reckless use meant that heat had warped some of the barrels and worn some of the mechanisms. Being Nepleslian and surrounded by Nepleslians though, it could have been worth taking. Perhaps Allison, Echelon or Luca could order replacement parts and fix it.

Fruna Ruica, Deck 3, Main Convention Floor

Having been expecting return fire to come from the ground Tamamo was taken by surprise as a flash on her peripheral resulted in a pain an instant later. Things slowly started to piece themselves together as the sound of a detonation followed by the sound of impact and then shattering. Flinching much too slowly Tamamo felt more pain as what she assumed was shrapnel bit into her flesh shredding her ears and turning most of her face and one side of her body into overwhelming pain. For a moment her ability to stick to the ceiling faltered, a moment of vertigo forcing her to react quickly to avoid plummeting to the floor below.

Clenching her jaw Tamamo found that she couldn't even scream as her mind struggled to grasp the pain that surged through her as she stubbornly clung to the ceiling forcing herself to remain in place in spite of the overwhelming agony. Too slowly her body started to force the alien material from her flesh, plaster, glass, and hemosynth falling 'up' to the floor of the Convention Hall. Slowly she wept the shrapnel from her eyes and after a couple of minutes she could see again. Taking a trembling breath she looked 'up' to see the constellation of lost hemosynth, glass shards, and plaster wondering at the shapes that her injury had formed before she carefully drifted down to the floor where she stood on trembling legs observing the aftermath in the dim light.

Shaking her head Tamamo once again pushed the pain aside before shambling over to the nearest still humanoid form as she attempted to anchor her consciousness in the rote action of assessing and administering medical aid where she could using whatever materials she could scrounge from the convention floor.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCWY60hWJec

Redrick exploded from the rubble, covered in white plaster powder, looking like a local theater actor playing the Ghost of Christmas Past. None of the baddies that had followed the two of them were even looking in his direction, Enzo's EMP shots doing a fantastic job of throwing what little tactical coordination and training these guys had to the nine winds. Muzzles swung, sweeping each other, fingers on triggers, yelling, cursing.

Sheep to the slaughter, really.

Redrick, his face curled into a hideous snarl, one of hate, one of vindication, began to shoot. His first shot hit one of the gunmen in the gut, the round key-holing, over-penetrating and hitting his buddy behind him in the knee. Both men toppled.

The kneecapped gunman hit the ground, hard, his weapon firing over the head of third, forcing him to duck. Redrick flinched, swung his gun around, and fired two hasty shots at the startled goon.

They paid off - two shots, fired from the wing, caught the poor, misguided youth of the galaxy in the head and neck, dropping him, sprawling him out into a surprisingly peaceful looking pose, as if he'd gone gently to bed.

Redrick brought his muzzle back around, giving the gutshot miscreant two rounds to the head, one catching him in the temple, the other bouncing off the deck and impaling itself harmlessly into what remained of the plaster partition.

The kneecapped gunman, the last man left standing (for a given value of such, really more laying down) brought his gun around, aimed up to adjust for firing from what was essentially a highly improvised prone position, and pulled the trigger. Red flinched, closing his eyes, not wanting to see the slug that ended his life.

...?

And yet, when he opened his eyes a minute later, it was not the golden gate of heaven that greeted him; instead, his eyes looked at the same gun muzzle. Much to his, and his opponent's no doubt surprise, the weapon had jammed when he had negligently discharged scant seconds earlier.

Redrick blinked, unable to believe his good fortune, and without further ceremony, shot the man dead. It was that pose he held, looking down the rifle's sights, heart pounding, not even breathing, not even really seeing what he was looking at. It was over, somehow he knew, THAT was the last one, the last goon, the last sad remainder of the attempted boarding of the Fruna Ruica.

It was over. Redrick Callahan had, against all odds, survived, and with that last thought, he finally lowered his gun. pose relaxing. Over! It was over! He laughed, a short bark, which devolved into quiet chuckles. He'd lived! It was over and he'd lived!

He looked at the LSDF weapon he carried, as if remembering he was holding it. He studied it for a bi, and then, with the casual disregard of a man who's decided he didn't really need something anymore, he tossed it to his feet.

He looked up to the ropes, and flashed a thumb's up at his erstwhile ally.

"I take back everything I ever said about you." Red said, earnestly. "We fuckin'.... we fuckin' really showed those assholes, didn't we?"

One of the patients Tamamo was attending to lit up when they saw Tamamo, jaw dropping as they watched the blue Nekovalkyrja remove a few stray pellets from their leg from underneath some blood soaked jeans. Tamamo recognised them too, it was one of the cheeky conmen who'd coaxed her onto the Fruna Ruica. They'd coaxed a Nekovalkyrja, but not one this crazy who seemed to be able to keep pace with Luca Pavone, and was bleeding profusely.

"Uh... uhm, Blueberry-sama?" The swindling man said, whose name was unknown to Tamamo as she extracted a shotgun pellet and dropped it into someone's discarded bra. "Did you just kill the attackers with the guys who invaded the invaders?" They had to ask them because they didn't know what was going on, and had gone partially deaf after the Gatling Shotgun's report and the explosions that tore Mr. Lizard Man apart. "You need a doctor or something, and some fresh clothing..."

Tamamo would note that there were plenty of intact corpses to 'feed' from, and the flood of panties on the ground. Though inefficient, it'd still suffice for sustenance. If she waited a little longer, the chefs would probably get around to getting the kitchens back in working order and dispensing food while the ship's staff dispensed further medical supplies to the injured and started triage. Tamamo did receive a few calls from one of the ship staff to be taken aside and to join the triage line since they looked so shredded up.

Speaking of Chefs, another one of the ship's staff, a Nepleslian waiter, had recognised Red to be in the thick of the fighting and couldn't help but smile at them. They always suspected they were some kinda badass with so much saltiness it was possible for him to season a steak by looking at it mean.

"Hey, Mr. Callahan," The waiter asked. "What happens now?" Red always knew they were a bit on the fruity side, though it could've been why they were working here at all. Occasionally they waxed about the university fees they had to pay off.

Meanwhile, up on the balcony, people were giving Rebeka a good amount of distance after her shrapnel showering attack.

"Can someone please get this woman off of me?" Luca asked again, still flailing his arms while his legs kicked from under Breaker's unconscious body.

The Bridge

"Sush, take it easy," Zeta replied to Reese as she tied the belt above the wound. "Consoles should be fine, either way this ship has to have secondary bridge somewhere."

Zeta then turned her head and listened to what Captain of the ship had to say. Asteroid base sounded bad. "All right, I will forward it on. Is there a first aid kit on the bridge?" She asked back and then locked her helmet so she could talk to Echelon in piece and quiet, but still hear the Captain and Reese.

"Ech, Luca" Zeta called the freespacer and her lover. "I got a trouble. I managed to take the Bridge along with Reese and Soruk. Reese got hit in leg. The enemy locked the ships course onto some asteroid base according to ships captain. Any idea what to do about that?"

Main Convention Floor
Ech answered Zeta. "S0RRY, L0V3RB0Y H4S 4 CRUSH R1GHT N0W 4ND 1S UN4BL3 T0 T4K3 Y0UR C4LL." She radioed to her as the Mimicom body and Melissa moved away from the Tongue Slide's upper, not willing to see how much longer it'd support their weight. "1 GU3SS Y0U C4N C04X TH4T FR33SP4C3R 1NT0 D01NG 1T. 1 SM3LL H1M B31NG 4 R4T."

Wire Head seemed to perk up, and the Captain kept on staring at him. "Come on, you're under duress here. Fix this." The Captain then stood up and motioned with their bound hands towards the Medical Supply cabinet against the wall. Every bridge needed one. Curiously, there were a few bottles of personal lubricant, some of them empty, resting inside the medical cabinet in addition to medical supplies.


Food Court on Second Deck
"Bloody hell what a day." Melissa said as she and the Freespacer started heading back the way they came, down stairs to the food court, helping herself to a cold, pre-made hotdog in a box; and leaving some change on the counter. "Makes ya wanna scream with the way people live, dunnit?"

"To be honest, I think Allison's gonna be so pissed that she missed this." Echelon said as she drank a warm cola drink she found unattended.

"Missed wot?" Melissa replied. "Blood, guts, gore 'n destruction?"

Echelon threw up her hands. "The sex convention, 1D10T!"

Some of the con goers who were within earshot dropped what they were doing and all stared at her. It was a Lifestyle convention, not something as crass as a sex convention. Echelon returned their stares and scoffed at them. "Y0U KN0W 1T 1S, ST0P F00L1NG Y0URS3LV3S!" Echelon yelled at them. Melissa nearly fell out of her seat laughing with Echelon.


Meanwhile back on the Crimson Kestrel
"The video for this year's con is going to be so. Messed. Up." Allison pouted as she lied down on the couch with a magazine that Vita had passed her, which contained motorcycles. "And I'm not even in it."

"You probably need better hobbies." Vita shrugged from the adjacent couch as she was watching a live feed of what was going on in the Fruna Ruica via various people's headsets now that the action had wound down. "I looked up the details of that 'masseuse' back on Yamatai and-"

Allison went beet red and held up her hand. "Not another word; please? This job's stressful and you know it!"

The Bridge

"Well all right," Zeta's voice could be heard once again out of her helmet. Zeta slide a knife out of its sheath and slit the bounds that held captains hands together. "Treat Reese's wounds and yourself too please. I have to go and have a chat with somebody." Zeta motioned to Reese and then turned and went to the entrance to the bridge where Soruk held the pirate freespacer.

"Soruk old-bot, I hope you don't mind if I borrow this here pirate would you?" Zeta said and did not really wait for answer. She grabbed the Freespacer by collar and made sure it had no more weapons. Then she grabbed him and draggged to consoles.

"All right this is how it goes. You will either A: unlock the course or B: I will use this knife and see how you freespacers handle pain and partial loss of eyesight." Zeta started explaning, placing the tip of her knife under the Freespacers eye. "Or C: I will find the biggest dildo around and see how far in I can stuff it using enhanced strength of my armour. So what is your choice chap?"