Caldera Base, Level 1
Armory
Upon entering the armory behind Myga and Hoshi with Sahty at the group's rear, Aiko strode past her captain and the NMX guard Molli was disguised as. Always keenly assessing every moment of the mission, the princess immediately saw no other Mishhu personnel inside the room she'd just entered and made some quick assumptions. But she didn't act decisively just yet.
With a smooth motion, Aiko gripped her hefty revolver out of its holster by grabbing the gun around its trigger and cylinder, and then placed it on the first armorer's bench she passed. There was no armorer present to collect the weapon, so Aiko had already decided it was safe to proceed. Not pausing for even a second, she soon began examining all of the NMX equipment that filled the area and moving from one gunrack to the next storage crate in a survey of what the team could use to get deeper into the base.
"Efficient thinking to disarm us during a shift change," Aiko said in the more proper diction her friends were accustomed to hearing from a princess of Yamatai, rifling through a uniform locker while she spoke. Popping her head back around, she held a NMX infantryneko's death mask in front of her face. "Good work. Hoshi and I can wear these to blend in from here out," she added, referring to the fatigues hung up in the cabinet behind her.
"So, which one of you is which?"
Of course, the princess had no idea if either Myga or Sahty were members of her crew or genuine NMX Neko. But she'd relinquished her gun and established herself as a rather irreverent cowboy—at least by Aiko's own standards—so figured the worst that could happen was getting punched or shot. Something caught her eye, though, and she didn't stay still to wait for an answer.
Over in the room's left corner among a heap of older Impaler rifles was a sword. Its hilt wrapped in dusty NMX mustard cloth and its sheath painted an ugly, chalky coyote brown color, Aiko recognized its shape even from the corner of her eye through which she'd first spotted it. So she'd made a beeline over to where the blade rested and quickly tossed aside the tarnished guns and other equipment that crowded its splendor to pluck it out from the pile.
Everything about the katana felt right in her hands. With its redecorated scabbard in her left palm and its haphazardly re-wrapped grip resting in her right, her left thumb forced its blade out from its sheath just enough to reveal the dark grey metal of its habaki blade collar, upon which a profusely scratched and defaced Yamataian Kikyo flower was stamped. No doubt pilfered from some Kuvexian War battlefield in the Ketsurui Military Sector by these particular NMX forces, this Type 40 guntō now belonged to Aiko.
"We should make haste," the princess said, still regarding her new prize with the dreamy appreciation only a kensei could have for a sword. "Where is your third compatriot?"
Armory
Upon entering the armory behind Myga and Hoshi with Sahty at the group's rear, Aiko strode past her captain and the NMX guard Molli was disguised as. Always keenly assessing every moment of the mission, the princess immediately saw no other Mishhu personnel inside the room she'd just entered and made some quick assumptions. But she didn't act decisively just yet.
With a smooth motion, Aiko gripped her hefty revolver out of its holster by grabbing the gun around its trigger and cylinder, and then placed it on the first armorer's bench she passed. There was no armorer present to collect the weapon, so Aiko had already decided it was safe to proceed. Not pausing for even a second, she soon began examining all of the NMX equipment that filled the area and moving from one gunrack to the next storage crate in a survey of what the team could use to get deeper into the base.
"Efficient thinking to disarm us during a shift change," Aiko said in the more proper diction her friends were accustomed to hearing from a princess of Yamatai, rifling through a uniform locker while she spoke. Popping her head back around, she held a NMX infantryneko's death mask in front of her face. "Good work. Hoshi and I can wear these to blend in from here out," she added, referring to the fatigues hung up in the cabinet behind her.
"So, which one of you is which?"
Of course, the princess had no idea if either Myga or Sahty were members of her crew or genuine NMX Neko. But she'd relinquished her gun and established herself as a rather irreverent cowboy—at least by Aiko's own standards—so figured the worst that could happen was getting punched or shot. Something caught her eye, though, and she didn't stay still to wait for an answer.
Over in the room's left corner among a heap of older Impaler rifles was a sword. Its hilt wrapped in dusty NMX mustard cloth and its sheath painted an ugly, chalky coyote brown color, Aiko recognized its shape even from the corner of her eye through which she'd first spotted it. So she'd made a beeline over to where the blade rested and quickly tossed aside the tarnished guns and other equipment that crowded its splendor to pluck it out from the pile.
Everything about the katana felt right in her hands. With its redecorated scabbard in her left palm and its haphazardly re-wrapped grip resting in her right, her left thumb forced its blade out from its sheath just enough to reveal the dark grey metal of its habaki blade collar, upon which a profusely scratched and defaced Yamataian Kikyo flower was stamped. No doubt pilfered from some Kuvexian War battlefield in the Ketsurui Military Sector by these particular NMX forces, this Type 40 guntō now belonged to Aiko.
"We should make haste," the princess said, still regarding her new prize with the dreamy appreciation only a kensei could have for a sword. "Where is your third compatriot?"
