RP: 4th Fleet (NSN) [Mission 5.2] Playing Second Fiddle

Letting go of the axe as he drew back from the wakizashi wielding Neko, he drew his knife while he gripped his HHG as his cybernetic eye flashed his vitals at him again. 'Nothing to worry about.... At the moment.' he thought to himself as he eyed the injured Neko warily.

"Man you're a tough bitch." he said out loud as he waited before deciding to raise his HHG and fire another round at the Neko. Then he realized that he wasn't sure if the round he had just fired was going to be a red or blue round. So he followed up with another shot. Aiming both of them at the Neko's chest. 'Center Mass.' he thought to himself hoping the rounds would put the stubborn cat out of her misery.

Stan shook his injured hand experimentally, but otherwise wasted no time. His hesitation had caused him to get bitten in the first place, so there was no place for it here. Grabbing his HHG from the floor and giving it a quick once-over, he shot at the Neko, making sure that he wasn't too close. The last thing he needed was to injure himself on top of all the other wounds he had sustained, which were bad enough by themselves.

Stay down, he thought sourly.

As Aleksei moved back the neko stared at him with hate. He was lucky she could not walk thanks to the gaping wound in her belly, from where he struck her before. That gave him time to do his talking and thinking. Too much time wasted, but this time he could do so. The neko did not wait though, as he drew his blade and talked to her. The wakizashi was raised and swung. She did not slash at him though, since he was too far away. The neko threw the blade. Luckily her aim was off as it hit the table behind him, that made part of the barricade. The blade went in and got stuck trembling a little. Aleksei could see a sadness in her eyes in her failure to avenger her comrade before he put two shots in her chest and finished her off.

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Stan picked up his weapon and turned to face the neko laying on the ground. She finished throwing up and now just sat there looking at him. Her ferocity was long gone after the beating she receive from the Id-Sol. Her face was full of blood and tears.

"Yadda!" She said, crawling away from Stan. "Utanaide! Onegai!" She said as his gun aimed at her face.

The look in her eyes shook him inside. 'All is fair.' he thought to himself as he shook it off as his eyes found the wakizashi still quivering in the table. Quickly sheathing his knife and grabbing the short sword, he ran to the fallen Neko with his ax still in her head, wrenching it free as grey matter splashed over the deck. He moved off into the ensuing melee, replacing his ax at his belt as he watched Neko's and Sailors still in combat. Feeling the weight of his rifle slapping against his chest, he resisted the temptation to holster his HHG and use the rifle.

'Not after the last time.' said a voice at the back of his mind. Quickly counting through how many shots he had used since the encounter over the wall, Aleksei came out to five shots used. Quickly reloading the five slots in the cylinder with 3 RED and 2 BLUE rounds as he made his way along keeping his eyes open for any Neko trying to get the jump on him or any sailors who looked like they needed some help. Flicking his wrist to swing the cylinder back in place, he couldn't help but give a grin.

Stan found himself hesitating again. He didn't have the foggiest clue what the Neko was saying, but her reactions said everything. Like anyone else, she didn't want to die. The realisation caused a resurgence of conflicted feelings.

It should have been simple to just pull the trigger anyway, considering what he had done before, but with his opponent being much closer - not to mention the fact that she spoke to him - Stan was reminded rather uncomfortably that although he would have liked to pretend that his opponents were humanoid shells bereft of any emotion or decency, it appeared the opposite was true. So he just stood there, continuing to point his HHG at her. Perhaps she could be taken prisoner and they could get some useful information out of her, or something. At any rate, now that the battle was starting to wind down he wasn't sure he could murder her in cold blood.

The battle was finally coming to a calm. The bobs were standing around their sensor checking for any other danger. There were many bodies on the ground. Both nekos and sailors were laying dead or injured on the ground. Luckily there was more nekoes and sailors, though most of them were obviously shot dead by the bobs before the combat went into melee.

Meyer was alive and well, he did not even seem the phased by everything that just happened already barking orders at the sailors. Sailors started checking their wounded, while Bobs moved forward to cover them.

From up front both Id-Sol marines could see and hear everything plain as day. "Johnson, Flennigan!" Meyer called two petty officers. The one called Johnson was the man with shotgun that shouted at Aleksei before.

"Yes sir?" He asked, as he was slowly loading new shells into his pump-action shotgun. Same as Meyer the combat did not leave a mark on him. He just had a little bloody on his uniform.

"Reinforcements are moving in to pull our wounded and any prisoners we take back. Some of sailors were finishin NMX soldiers off before," Meyer started explaining to the PO. "I won't have any of it now thouth. Admiral needs some prisoners and we are part of nepleslian navy. We won't murder prisoners. See to it Flennigan."

"Johnson," the Lt. said turning his had to other petty officer. "I am going to head up front with rest of the force. We still have some objectives and nekoes the kill. According to our info the prison wing is nearby. Drei will post it up on your datajockey. Take two sailors and those two marines and go secure it. Then radio for evacuation on channel whiskey and someone will come get the prisoners out. We won't be leaving anyone on this ship. Prison should not be well guarded, but if they put up the fight show them how we do it in Nepleslia. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!" Johnson replied and saluted. He then turned around stroking his long black bear. "You marines come here! O'Hara, Ricks you two!" He shouted at the Id-Sols and two other sailors.

Cadet Recruit O'Hara was short burly man with Assault rifle, while Cadet Apprentice Ricks was woman. Athletic short-haired brunette with .357 SMG in her hands. THey were both unhurt, but judging by empty pockets on their belt they saw they share of shooting today.

Post-battle fatigue gave way to a feeling of awe as Stan saw Meyer and the petty officers with nary a scratch on them. Compared to them, he was in a sorry state. Branch rivalry or no, the ID-SOL marine secretly hoped that he too could attain that level of skill. He quickly reloaded his HHG and checked his Showstopper - no need for sloppiness now - before holstering the former weapon and joining the two sailors nearby Johnson.

He felt a pang of embarrassment as he saw that even they had avoided being harmed. His wounded pride scrambled to come up with an excuse for it, and came up blank. His injuries were his own fault, and no amount of placating thoughts would change that. He would merely need to do better next time.

Feeling the adrenaline leaving his blood, Aleksei stared around the area seeing the dead and wounded all over the place. 'Holy sh-' he began to think before his thoughts were interrupted by the marine who had pasted the Neko earlier in the melee with a shotgun ordering him over. Holstering his HHG and sliding the Wakizashi onto his belt, he gripped his Showstopper, running over to the Petty Officer.

Looking over to see his fellow marine had made it out alive, he stood over by him. 'When the shit gets real, the green is what everyone wants next to them.' he thought to himself. "Reporting, sir." he said to the Petty Officer.

Johnson was reloading his pump-action shotgun. He looked up at the four soldier before him. "Okay," he started and took out a cigar, putting it between his lips. "We are going to check local prison wing. We should not expect anything tough there but be ready. And be prepared it won't be pretty." He too out a single match and lighter it on stock of his shotgun to get his cigar puffing.

Meyer meanwhile took the Bobs and whoever was able to fight and scuttled off. The sounds of military boots were all that could be heard. "Weapons check, let's move." Johnson ordered and waved at them to follow him. He held his shotgun in one hand and looked at his datajockey and checked his data-jockey with other.

The group walked through the hallway and then turned right. O'Hara was quiet, holding his rifle up and ready. Though it was clear whenever he looked at two marines that he is not looking to get friendly with them.

"Are you two okay?" Asked Ricks though, looking over the two Id-Sols as they walked. They both after all were bloody and looked like a mess.

Stan silently obeyed Johnson's orders, keeping his head on a swivel in case their merry little band was ambushed by more Nekos. As it was, he was starting to feel slightly drained by the fighting, and his wounds throbbed insistently with pain. He returned O'Hara's looks with an indifferent expression; he didn't really know him, but even if he was a sailor there was no point in antagonising the man - they might well have to rely on each other if things went south.

Ricks' question was met with a quick once-over of Stan's current condition. "Yeah, I think I'm fine - I'll be damned if these injuries don't hurt, though, and I'm not sure how serious they are, either."

As much as his injured pride wanted to cut him off at the first sentence, Stan knew that misguided machismo wouldn't help anything. He might as well be honest.

Ricks facial expression suddenly changed. She looked at the marine and grunted. "Well that is nice you feel fine," She said with unfriendly tone to her voice. "Cause those sailors you two shot won't." It seemed that the sailors won't get over the friendly fire Stan and Aleksei did earlier easily.

"Shut it Rick," Jonson said simply. The Petty Officer's face remained neutral. "We are here," Were his next words as she pointed forward the doors at the end of the halldway. They were rather big and metallic, large enough for Misshu to float through.

Johnson pointed to sailors and to right side of the doors and then to marines and the left side. The soldiers quickly stacked up and John pat O'Hara on the shoulder and showed him one finger. Petty officer than pointed at Stan and Aleksei who was stacked behind him. They got two fingers. O'Hara will go first and the marines would go right behind him.

"We will try to take prisoners," Johnson than said quietly. O'Hara nodded and took a deep breath. "Go!" Petty officer ordered. O'Hara pushed the button and two halves of the doors slid to the side. The nepleslian sailor did not wait for anything and rushed.

Marines followed him closely entering a room. It had several consoles built to look like a circle with person standing in its center having access to the them. And there stood a neko. The neko held in his arms another woman. That woman only wore a simple garb, almost like a long t-shirt. It was gray and had four numbers on chest.

Neko had her over the woman necks, holding her in front of herself with her superior strength. She aimed her NSP on woman's head. Neko did not say anything and neither did O'Hara, he just aimed his rifle her way.

Stan could see that behind the neko were another hallway exiting the room. That hallway was full of metallic doors. Each door had a small closed window.

A crestfallen expression crossed Stan's face as Ricks brought up the friendly fire incident. Although it wasn't quite his primary concern with the mission still needing to be completed, the ID-SOL was uncertain as to what his fate would be once all was said and done; or, indeed, what everyone else would think of the incident. If the sailors' reactions were any indication, he'd probably be in for an extremely frigid reception.

Johnson's response brought Stan back to reality, and he looked at the large doors at the end of the hallway with a degree of nervous anticipation. Stacking up as he was ordered, he paid close attention to the Petty Officer's instructions. Storming into the room after O'Hara, his eyes swept the room several times, looking for something - anything - that posed a threat. What he found was, in some ways, more unpleasant.

A Neko had taken a hostage - perhaps one of the prisoners. Like O'Hara, he kept his Showstopper fixed rigidly on the Neko, not daring to move for fear that she might see it as a hostile action and kill her hostage. Seeing the hallway, he hazarded a guess that it was where the prisoners were held. Although he was pretty sure that O'Hara had clocked the hallway as well, Stan decided to let the sailor know regardless in case he was too distracted by the Neko. "There's a hallway behind her. There could be prisoners in there. Any ideas?" The ID-SOL spoke quietly in terse, machine gun like bursts, attempting to convey as much information as he could without waffling.

"Don't move," said suddenly neko as Stan tried to walk around her in circle motiong. Her gun aimed at him for second showing she was serious, but it quickly returned back to the woman's head. The nepleslian woman she held, seemed strangely apathetic to her situation. As if it did not matter at all.

"Don't move or I will blast her brain out!" Neko said out loud. Her voice showed she was highly stressed. O'Hara stopped aiming at her lowering his gun and showing her his palms. He did not say anything though, looking to the side on the marines. Ricks and Johnson did not move in the room yet.

Stan froze as the Neko snapped at him, something not helped by the weapon she pointed at him. A block of ice settled into his stomach as he realised that, unlike the previous skirmishes, there was little he could do. The Neko was on a hair trigger, and she would almost certainly be able to shoot the hostage before Stan could take her out. He barely noticed the Nepleslian woman's oddly listless behaviour, so focused was he on the Neko.

"Alright, alright, take it easy..." muttered the ID-SOL, following the example of O'Hara and lowering his weapon, exposing the palms of his hands in a similar fashion. He didn't want to escalate this any further than necessary, but his hands almost felt naked without the Showstopper resting in them. He hoped that either O'Hara or Ricks and Johnson had a plan, since he had run out of ideas rather quickly.

Whatever happened, he hoped it didn't end in the death of a Nepleslian.

The neko did not said anything, she kept pressing her gun into the nepleslian woman's temple. It was clear she was tense and ready to snap at any given moment. Her eyes bolted between Stan and O'Hara as if deciding if she had chance shooting them. For now though, she did nothing.

Stan could hear whisped in his radio. "Do something marine, talk to her." It was Johnson. "We can't even try to take shot from here." He added giving Stan clear notion that this was on him and O'Hara. And O'Hara seemed pretty unsure about the situation.

Oh no. Oh no no no. They were really going to rely on him of all people to stop things spiralling out of control? He couldn't do nothing, though, so he reluctantly decided to bite the bullet. His hands became clammy and the ID-SOL could feel his heart begin to race in what felt like the hundredth time in an hour. You can do this, Stan. Just keep calm and don't say anything likely to provoke her. The thought almost became a mantra, running laps through his head like a wildfire. It felt like it took an aeon to open his mouth and force out the first few words.

"What're you hoping to achieve by doing this?" Good, good, that was at least a start (even if he was already deeming it too provocative). "Nothing good can happen if you kill that woman."

Okay, that was a slight misstep, but nothing unsalvageable. Stan decided to pause for a short while to allow the Neko to get her own views in before continuing. He kept his eyes locked on the Neko, hoping against hope that he might, impossibly, start gaining traction.

Neko's nervousness seemed to lower itself now that the ID-Sol put their weapons out. Her eyes still bolted between Stan and O'Hara as they were each on the other side of the room and she could not look at both of them at the same time. Especially when the hostage which was slightly taller than her was in the way.

"She is enemy," she replied to Stan. "As are you. Masters will be pleased!" She said, but she herself did not sound way too sure of this.

"And? Do you really think that they'll care if you kill a prisoner?" Stan tried to apply a little more pressure, hoping to make the Neko's resolve falter further (or at least put a significant dent in it). "From what I can see, it looks like they've abandoned you. Does that sound like the actions of 'masters' that actually give a damn about you? I think we both know the answer to that, don't we?"

Admittedly, it was a complete guess on his part that the Neko's superiors had left her behind, the only "evidence" on his part being the absence of squids and the fact that things had been rather quiet since they had headed down this way.

If his luck - or whatever remained of that which remained - continued to hold, it would be a great help.

Neko seemed to froze a little. Her eyes pierced Stan and she quite visible gulped. Her eyes then started bolting between him and the sailor. Her reply did not come right away as she watched thee nepleslians in the room.

"I don't belive you," she then said. The finger on trigger pressed it a little more, but she did not fire just yet. "They told me all about you nepleslians. If I will give up you will rape me and then kill me. Or even worse hand me over to Yamatai. I will just hold onto this hostage, you cannot stay on this ship for long!" She reasoned.

Deciding that he was done standing at the rear of the pack, Aleksei shoved his enormous bulk through the door as he leveled his Showstopper on the Neko while he listened to his fellow marine try to defuse the escalating situation. 'This doesn't seem good at all.' he thought to himself as he stayed where he was attempting to find the opportunity he needed to drop her.

"He's right, cat. Your masters have abandoned you and our armor is clearing the ship as we speak. We won't harm you if you drop your weapon and hand over the hostage." he said in an attempt to sound civil though in truth he wanted to drop the Neko and continue on with the prisoner rescue.