RP: 21st Fighter Sq [Mission 6.0] Mists and Mysteries

If there was one thing Ricky was good at: it was stashing alcohol.

Whether it was because of adventures as a young child to hide small portions of his father's liqour cabinet for later enjoyment, or just the fact that he was a Nepleslian, wasn't clearly defined. Regardless of why, he had, and he had been in his quarters enjoying four digits of rum. While he did that, he leafed idely through a book discussing various principals of space-based commercial flight. He was pondering, to be honest, feeling so out-of-place in a war not his own, surrounded by men not of his country, and without a sense of purpose outside of: fly and fight. It was -- disheartening, to say the least. The young pilot felt more than just a little out of his element. Maybe his mom and dad were -- no, mom and dad had never been right. Never. With that decisively final thought in mind, Ricky had downed the remains of his drink just as the call for the briefing had been announced over the speakers.

Making his way for the bridge, he had missed Silic's display, as well as coming in just at the end of his superior's angry and explosive protest at the behavior of two other members of the unit. He performed an appropriate bow.

"I apologize for being late." He began, "I got here as quick as I could."

With that, he moved to take a seat.

Silic screamed as the wall rapidly approached, cut off with a grunt as he collided against the bulkhead and fell to the ground in a tumble with a small “Ooow~” of pain. After a few seconds he stirred again, finding himself on an unknown floor clutching his head for the second time in as many minutes.

“What the hell!” he said loudly in anger. “It's never a good mission unless the cyborg has a few cracked ribs, is it?” he said accusingly before falling back down to nurse his sores a bit.

Atsui had been about to deal with the situation, before Yaeko decided to use her own brand of personal skills.

"That is quite enough, this is an official briefing, you will all comport yourselves as soldiers with the Star Army or so help me I will make you regret it." Atsui yelled the veins on her neck bulging briefly.

"Eika-Nitô Juni, Suspend Security Protocol Alpha. I want Hiromi to record the following proceedings." She said to the Intelligence officer.

"Aye ma'am." Konpeki replied as she sent a series of commands, and the protocol was cancelled, the sounds in the room took on the full nature now that the white noise cancelling field was suspended.

"Vas Silic-Ittô Heisho stand at attention, or as much as you can in your current state." she growled.

"Yagami Lynn-Nitô Heisho stand at attention." she said with malice in her eyes when she looked at Lynn.

"Munkata-Kohosei stand at attention. The rest of you sit at attention. I am convening Captain's Mast." She then took a moment to look at information that Hiromi provided her.

"Vas-Heisho, you are charged with, "Two counts of failure to obey a lawful order, in that you did knowingly and intentionally disregard my message for all members of the squadron to report for a briefing. Additionally when Hiromi reminded you of this fact you further chose to ignore it. The following video is submitted as evidence."

A volumetric display appeared above the conference table, the following scene was displayed.

“Silic-san,” said a voice that seemed to come from the entire room, “Numa-Taii is calling all squadron personnel to the flag bridge.”

Silic didn't reply, he put his usual glasses on securely and belted his ankle onto the board. “The mountain is calling, Hiromi.” he said simply, lost in his thrill for speed. He hadn't done this since he was a kid, but it must be like riding a bicycle, right?

He clicked on the control the boards systems and the thrusters slowly warmed up. It was clear he had no intention of making it to the meeting.

“Vas-hei, I really didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice.” replied the computer, sounding oddly satisfied about something.

“Do your wors-” Silic was cut off as the board suddenly jerked out from under his feet, only one ankle strapped in. Silic yelled as board took off, dragging him across the floor rapidly.

Click to expand...

Atsui then turned to Lynn, "Yagami-Heisho, you are charged with assaulting a superior ranking soldier and conduct unbecoming a soldier in the Star Army. I believe everyone present saw the incident so I will not replay it, but it is being loaded into the records for this proceeding."

She then turned towards Yaeko, she could empathize with the Neko, Silic's episodes on more than one occasion had made her want to do the same, but she had to enforce discipline fairly.

"Munkata-Kohosei, you are charged with excessive force in disciplining subordinates, and conduct unbecoming a soldier in the Star Army."

Atsui paused for a moment to let her words sink it.

"Munkata-Kohosei, while the conduct of these two is enough to make a person want to counsel them by bouncing them off the walls. That is not an acceptable method of discipline to be employed by an Officer of the Star Army. However, since at the time of the incident you had not yet accepted your promotion. I am letting you off with a warning." she said her pale blue eyes softening for a moment.

"Now as to you two....." she said looking at Silic and Lynn, "Is there anything either of you care to say in your defense before I pass judgement?"

“Uh, yeah, your Honour.” Protested Silic, trying to raise a hand as he hobbled about as upright as he could manage. “Technically I am present at the briefing with all speed, so no order has been disobeyed.” Silic coughed hoarsely and finally managed to stand somewhat upright, his back still hunched "Perhaps too much speed." he finished quietly.

Charged? Charged?! Lynn was ruined. She'd never recover; she'd spend years in a brig, or worse -- dishonorable discharge. She'd die from shame.

Lynn stood stock-still, unable to form any words. Unable to think of anything except the imagined horror in her head. She shut her eyes, to make sure she didn't cry in front of everyone right then and there. She held it in, making sure she wasn't quivering. Even though she did. At least she wasn't crying.

Yaeko stood at attention and received her short lecture. She knew it would come the moment Silic was flying across the bridge, but it didn't matter to her. She did what she needed to do, and that was all that mattered to her.

However, when Silic started giving the Taii cheek, she couldn't help but break the attention, even if in a slight way, to rotate her head towards Silic and raise an eyebrow. This isn't going to go well. Damned Nepleslian.

Anne was studying the situation before herself. At first amused when Elisto was called Kitty and she made mental note to call him like that as a joke. Too bad the situation worsened later.

Silics arrival was not the one that would be expected from the soldier and what happened next made it even worse. Anne did not know Lynn very well, she only knew that she had recuparate from being revived. It seem though, that when Silic who was obviously stunned fell on she over-reacted. It was pretty clear that Vas-hei had no control over his behaviour at the moment.

Anne was thinking if revival procedure did not go wrong on Lynn's account. She did not seem emotionaly stable at all. Anne also though that Yaeko dissolver the situation perfectly. She migh have used a little force, but it had results. Poor girl got slapped on the hand too. Well with promotion comes responsibly and status. With status comes image and Yaeko now had to uphold that image.

Atsui had a brief mental image of her hands around Silic's throat and supressed it. It would not do for her to give in to the impulse and break the same rule she chastised Yaeko for.

"Are you really that dense or are you inebriated? The time stamp on the recording clearly shows that it was fully fifteen minutes after I issued the order that Hiromi reminded you. The video further shows that even then you had no intention of reporting.

In fact the only reason you are here, is because Hiromi dragged you here literally with whatever that contraption was."

"Ma'am," Silic crooked as he bent forward again and coughed "I am here, and despite the-" he paused, a silent cringe evident even with his face down "-unconventional means of my arrival I still arrived earlier than quite a few other squadron members. If you plan to use intention as reason to convict I must ask you to recite the regs on thoughtcrime."

Silic had clearly seen the inside of a courtroom before, knowing him probably from behind the Defendants desk mostly. After his unusual bout of well-spoken lawyer talk he sighed shakily "I might need some help here..." he said weakly.

Atsui kept from chuckling, "Vas-Heisho, I suggest you do not try taking up a career as a lawyer. Bottom line, my order said for all personnel to report to the Flag Bridge Immediately. Yes, some of your fellow soldiers may have arrived after you, but they reacted to the order immediately. Even if it meant getting showered or dressed. You steadfastly failed to budge, you didn't even give the appearance of trying to clean up your project. Your arrival here was only because you were dragged here under duress. Ergo, you disobeyed my order.

My sentence is a reduction of one grade and a forfeiture of three months pay. The sentenced is deferred, pending the outcome of this mission.

Although Eika-Juni, I would like to see a detailed account of Vas-Heisho's activities over the five days. Perhaps some mitigating circumstance might show up."

"I will start a basic query now Taii, and complete it when we return." Konpeki replied.

"Sit down Vas-Heisho before you fall down...." Atsui said, then turned to Lynn.

"Yagami-Heisho, what do you have to say in your defense for freaking out, and beating Vas-Heisho to the point where he might not be able to participate in our upcoming mission. Just because he stumbled onto you after his precarious trip?" Atsui said fixing Lynn with her pale blue eyes.

Elisto watched and listened, not saying a word or even reacting to Atsui's actions or those of Yaeko, it was par for the course for him and even he had - back when he was a starship captain - ringed a few necks of crewmen who either came back on duty drunk or acted out of line. One of these days he would love to get back into that kind of grove again, he really was missing it, and envyed the two officers though decided not to show such envy on his face for the obvious reason that he was monitoring the actions of the two soldiers that had just been railed.

"I-" Lynn stopped, trying to calm herself down. What had come out had been more like an "Eeeih!"

"S-Silic-san, has, in the past... Well, that is... I-I... He fell on me from behind, and I was surprised and... I didn't strike him very hard at all!" It was weak, and Lynn knew it. She dropped her ears and eyes down to the ground, unsure.

Silic's only obvious reaction to the sentence was small sound like one would imagine a fish would make out of order, and then promptly collapsed. Face down, bottom up. Out cold.

It would be impossible to tell either it was the sentence, the thought of Konpeki checking out his activities, or that he'd finally succumb to the sheer amount of blunt force trauma and stress sustained within the last few minutes, perhaps a mix of all three but he was down for the count now. Presently there came the sound of light snoring from his direction. Alas, he was still breathing.

Anne was quickly on her feet as Silic fell down. She feared he might hit his head when he fell form that contraption. Hemorrhage somewhen in his head was quite possible. He was just a nepleslian after all.She was at his side soon and rolledh im over, checking him. Soon after a sigh of relief could be heard from her lips.

"He is fine, just out cold. I suggest letting him sleep it off in med-bay." She said when she stood up again. She would hate to let him just lay on the ground.

Errowyn quietly slipped in with the medical crew to pick up Silac, watched as they dealt with a now passed out Silac. Hoping not to be the next target, by seeing the it was obvious that the Captain was very angry at the antics of the few of the Squadron.

At the best of times in the flight bays with the Kawarimes and crew going about there business was hard to hear the ship's P.A. systems. So when the call came for her to join the rest of the squadron, it was passed by word of mouth from one crew to the next till it would reach the designated person.

It was a mad scramble through the ship to arrive at the meeting where everyone was gathered. But the time she reached the designated spot, the doors had been secured from outside intrusion till the medical personel showed up.

OOC- if I am jumping the gun on the medics..then this takes palce when they show up

Kenshin silently shook his head in mute disbelief at the spectacle he'd just witnessed and narrowly resisted the urge to face-palm himself in a kind of horrified bemusement -- he could scarcely believe that the briefing had descended to such a level of near-total anarchy in less than a minute.

The young Yamataian fervently hoped that they could move on to discussing the actual reason for which they had been assembled before something else went spectacularly wrong that morning.

Elisto continued his observation, his mind was still preoccupied, but as he sat there he got a message from an old friend, someone he had helped back on the Yamatai's surface in recovering those who were in pods.

The contents of the message were very simple, and right to the point: it's true, was all that he needed. Elisto lowered his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment before lifting it back up and propping his ICP onto his lap, but shielded it enough so no one would see what was on his screen.

With that confirmation in mind, he could only shake his head in mild disgust but hid the anger that was billowing up, it would not do to blow up in here - after Atsui had already gotten pissed once, she didn't need a soldier being rageful, then again, he wasn't his style anyway he was always the type to be calm and collected - perhaps that was why he joined SAINT in the first place, they always had a need for people who were calm, collected, and didn't crack under pressure.

Though as he watched, his mind migrated back to the briefing, what was it going to be about?

Ricky's expression, which he made no effort to hide, could be described as a twisted mix of horror, and outright disbelief. So this was the unit he had left for the 22nd? A gaggle of immature and duty-shirking pilots who probably had only avoided shooting each other down by sheer luck?! Or at least, that was the impression he was being given. Ricky hadn't been in the military until he had come to Yamatai, but even he knew what was out of place. Soldiers flagrantly disobeying orders, or assaulting fellow soldiers in front of superiors. Or worse yet, the superiors assaulting those under their command! Stuff like that wasn't supposed to happen! Ricky shook his head, making no secret of his disapproval as he promptly buried his face in his hands. He muttered a few quiet, obscure obscenities, and watched the rest of the scene from between his fingers.

'This is crazy.' He thought to himself, 'Maybe I should leave this chicken-sh*t outfit..'

Compared to this, patrolling the friendly skies in an air bus wouldn't be so bad. At least the crew wouldn't be attacking each other. Or maybe that was the alcohol talking to him. He wasn't that drunk though, was he?

Sadly, no.

He wasn't nearly drunk enough for this to be funny.

Elisto had his arms folded, but didn't miss Rickys expression change and the man burying his head. Curiously, he pondered what the man was thinking, given his expression, he decided to ask him.

"Everything ok Thurtson-hei?" he asked via telepathy.

"Yagami-Heisho sentence is a reduction of one grade and a forfeiture of three months pay. The sentenced is deferred, pending a psychological evaluation by our Flight Surgeon. Take a seat." Atsui said looking at Lynn her disapproval clearly visible.

She turned to Konpeki, "Eika-Juni, seal all records pertaining to the captain mast until after our mission."

The medical technicians came into the room, and Atsui motioned them over to Silic and Anne. There was a brief hiss when one of them injected the unconscious Nepleslian with a hypospray. They took a minute to allow the medical nanobots to scan his body.

"No broken bones, or internal injuries. But he will feel like he was kicked by a Oharian muleback when he comes around." the med tech stated. "If you like we can take him to the medical bay."

Atsui turned towards the doorway, "Yumeoibito-Hei, get you butt in here and consider yourself on report. Next time move quicker to get to the meeting."