RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 6] - The Trounce of Tami

Robert walked around the shuttle for a bit, unsure of what he would need. Then a thought occurred to him. "Do you have any Incenidary Rounds?" he asked the merchant.

"5000 KS, good sir," The male merchant responded, "And 100 KS for extra belt magazines of ammo. It's built for men like you."

The entered his shuttle, upon Robert's question, "Yes sir, what calibre?" He responded as he came out with a 10 to 20mm in incendiary ammo, but it was pretty limited, with only 100 10mm Incendiary bullets on sale, for 20 KS total.

Luca took a look at the selection. He decided to pick himself up a box of 100 White HHG Rounds, 100 Red HHG Rounds, and 100 Blue HHG Rounds for 15 KS. Pretty easy deal - but Luca thought he had to go the extra mile, and picked himself up a suit of WIND Armour for 10,000 KS and a box of 25 40mm Plasma Grenades for 50 KS.

"I think this'll be useful for us when we're on the ground," Luca said, finding a suit his size.
"Might not be much compared to the big models by the Yamataians," The female merchant said, "If you and your buddies wanna get into the thick of it, take it. It'll be better than nothing!"

"Good idea," Luca replied, finally noticing that the male merchant was the one he saw on Delsauria a few days back, "Hey, you sold me a M'Cel - and it's great!"
"I did?" The merchant asked, pointing to himself, "I'm glad you like it!"
"Excuse him - he's got trouble remembering faces," Mrs. Merchant said, "He must have sold you something before I met him."
"Who're you?" Luca asked Mrs. Merchant.
"I'm his wife."
"You got married? Congratulations!" He patted Mr. Merchant on the back.

Mel decided to get her own suit of WIND, as did Sebastian and Mitch.
"Do you know how to use this?" Sebastian asked his son as he sized up a suit for him.
"I think you just wear it, and the rest comes to you naturally."
"Hmm - in that case, Vincent, is it okay if I borrow your previous chain gun? I can still handle big guns - trust me."

"It's in the Junker." Vincent replied to Seb's comment as he forked over the required 5100 KS for the new chaingun. "Just be careful with it. I tweaked the sights and made a makeshift recoil damper while I was waiting for the shop-ships to show up. Recoil will be less than what you expected, but don't let your guard down- it still kicks like a Kennewessian field-mule."

Robert looked around and after a while he decided to buy one of the "Wind" power armors. "Do you have anything that I could get along with this?" he asked as he was getting sized up for his suit.

Arin bought an assortment of everyday clothes and miscellaneous parts amounting to 5,000 KS for her own planned projects. While she noticed that most of the crew purchased the Lorah light Power Armors, she wasn't the kind to use them herself, the salt and pepper haired girl had other ideas. Through her own naivete she did not realize the danger of the current situation might call for such protective shells.

She also laid out components she needed to assemble her own T1 Dragonsbreath flamethrower plus a few spare parts just in case she screwed up. She took these to the merchant. "How much are these?"

Laeliel wandered into the shuttlebay with a light frown upon her features and hands jammed into the pockets that graced the front of her jumper, mildly curious as to what was for sale but dubious as to whether the goods were any, well... good.

Snubbing the weapon merchant, the young woman stepped into the second shuttle wherein she poked about the clothing racks with varying levels of un-enthusiasm. As soon as she saw the purchases of Lorath powered armour Laeliel couldn't hold back an instinctive sneer, a low-spoken insult about something being inferior slipping past her lips.

Realising her momentary lapse, Laeliel frowned anew and busied herself with inspecting the female merchant's merchandise.

Laeliel's rummage yielded some clothes not only of recent Yamataian, Nepleslian and Lorath Fashion, but even some exotic stuff from Freespacers. None of which really interested her, nor did the massive selection of combat gear, ranging from flak vests to tactical entry suits seen in FCPD SWAT teams.

"Oh," Mr. Merchant said. A TF-1 Dragonsbreath was a weapon that you didn't usually see since it was used exclusively by the YSE, and was difficult to make. The Merchant was a bit lost for a price, "About... err, 850-900 KS, Ma'am?"

Mrs. Merchant looked at Laeliel funny for a moment, then shrugged. Why would I turn down a customer who has racial grumbles? We all do... She thought to herself, noticing Mel go for an oversize ID-SOL sized pair of khaki pants, a loose (by ID-SOL standards) vest, socks, boots and a hat, "A gift for a friend?" She asked the rifle-toting lady politely.

"Bloody oath," Mel replied, her Delsaurian accent slipping in, "I've got a friend 'oo doesn't understand the concept of clothing."
"A nudist?" Mrs. Merchant replied quizzically.
"Ehh - sorta. He's a robot." She said as she passed her money-card through the clothing, paying for it, "Ta for the clothes."

Mel moved away and walked over to Valo.
"G'day, Valo, I have a request." She said, looking over the robot's statuesque physique, blushing slightly, "I need ya to wear something. It's a bit, ah, embarrassing for the crew to see someone mill about in the nud."
She placed the neatly folded clothes down in front of Valo.

"Everyone got what they want?" Luca asked as he put what ammo he could in to the pockets and satchels on his belt and suspenders, "Or can we let these two go?"

"Hold on." Vincent looked about quickly, making a scan for anything that would catch his eye. Spotting nothing (Among other things, a Finagle's Revenge wasn't mounted on the Merchant's armory walls or placed on any of the displays), Vincent nodded. "Ready to go when you are, skipper."

Valo whom was still laying next to the ships generators sat up and looked at Mel. "As you wish" He said as he reached down picking up the garments.

He slid the clothing on as slowly as possible in order to tearing it. First the pants and socks, followed by the boots and vest. When Valo picked up the hat, he stared at it for a moment. It wasn't any type of helmet he was aware of. Valo looked at Mel as he placed the hat on his head. "Does this increase your comfort?"

"Splendid," Mel replied to the massive android, giving him a once over inspection. She also went and purchased additional ammo for her Sniper rifle-revolver mashup.

"I'm set." Robert said to Luca, "I've got everything I need, hopefully."
Sebastian nodded in agreement, "This armour should keep us safe and give us some edge over the Mishhu."
"Good idea," Luca said, then went over to the merchants, "I think we're finished here, thanks for your help."

"No worries, sirs and ladies," Mr Merchant replied while packing what was outside of the shuttle and putting it back in, "Pleasure doing business with you."
"Likewise," Said Mrs. Merchant with a smile, getting into her shuttle, and closing the airlock, "Take care, sirs and ladies!" She said over a loudspeaker as she and her husband left the ISC Big Bird.

"John," Luca addressed his Pilot, once the merchant couple had left, "Set course for Tami."
"Can do," John said, adjusting his sunglasses, and pressing buttons and making calculations.
The ship then lurched for a moment, before flying gracefully through space, towards the forested planet.

John grabbed the Intercom system, "Here goes, guys - we're now on our way to Tami... Estimated flight time 12 minutes..."

"If you make sure the calculations are correct, of course..." Vincent intoned, sitting down in one of the navigator's seats on the bridge as he keyed in his share of the equations and engaged the engines. Once the ship was moving forward, he swivelled in his chair towards the Captain.

"So what do you reckon is gonna happen when we get to Tami, cap'n?" Vincent inquired, making sure to check his screen and make the occasional course correction.

Robert leaned on the back of Vincent's chair. "That's a good question. What will we be expecting, Boss?"

"I'd expect that the local kitties will have a hump about us trying to help them," Luca replied knowingly, "We might have to coax them into letting us work alongside them, and getting their help."

"Yeah," John agreed, "Largely, they've got their heads up their asses about military superiority, most of the time." He adjusted his glasses somewhat, "I think they'll reconsider that now that the Mishhu have gotten back on their desks." He then thought for a moment, "Luca, what did you mean about us getting help, from them, or...?"

"From them, I think." The captain replied

"Hmm, figures. Oh well, in any case, I suppose we're going the right direction," He got into the intercom and talked to Valo, "Hey, Valo, are my flight path calcs correct?"

They were a bit off by only 1 point, but lead to the planet still, which was now 6 minutes away.

Valo's voice came out through Luca's terminal "Yes captain. We should arrive within an estimated six minutes"

Robert snapped his fingers. "That's the other thing I wanted to ask you, Boss!" He exclaimed. "Will this hunk of junk," he pointed vaguely at the nearest terminal, trying to indicate Valo, "Will he be coming with? or is he gonna fly the Big Bird and free up John?"

"Oh joy, Vincent thought as he sighed outwardly, "More collaboration with foreign powers. And i thought I wouldn't have to work with Yamatai..." He responded to his captain by simply nodding and turning back to his console.

The terminal gave off a small hum for a few moments before clicking over to Valo's voice again. " I'm afraid I am not programed, nor certified to fly these vessels Robert. "

Robert looked at the terminal. "So that means you'll be joining us?" he asked for clarification.

Valo considered the question for a moment. "I do not believe so. As much as I wish to be of assistance to you, I am very much still attached to the vessels generators as a power supply."

Luca sighed at Robert's , "Oh well, but we've still got enough people to keep this thing going."

Tami was getting close on the radar, now, and soon they were in orbit, ready to land.
"Okay, I'm gonna bring the bird down and-" John was cut off mid sentence by an incoming radio transmission, "Hold that thought."
"You have five seconds to explain what an independent vessel such as yourselves are doing near our Orbit during a war - or you'll be target practice." A stern female voice sounded on the other end of the line, she clearly sounded pissed off at the current predicament.

John momentarily turned off his microphone and turned to Vincent and Luca, "See what I mean? Geez..." He observed, grumbling to himself before handing the microphone to Luca, who turned the mike back on. John couldn't deal with one of them.

"Calm down, woman, we're just trying to make our possible last moments living doing so enjoying Tami's wilderness!"
"I cannot let you do that - strict rules. No escorts or independents. YSE Sanctioned vehicles only."
"You have no idea who I am, do you?" Luca's voice raised, heaving his celebrity muscle around, "Does the name Luca Pavone ring a bell?"
"Big deal," She responded flatly, probably bringing a file up on him, "So you stop one mad scientist and get a single frontpage news slot. You're just a small fry. We can handle this threat ourselves."

"Look here, Nataria has probably fallen to Mishhu by now!" His voice rose again in intensity, "They're probably marching their tentacled asses over here right now and gonna go right through you! At the end of the day, we're equal in the eyes of the Mishhu."
The woman tried to get a word in, "In all honesty, turn around now, before we-"

"UNITED WE STAND!!" He exploded in rage at the woman's stuffiness and lack of cooperation, "DIVIDED WE FALL!!"
"We've no time for bureaucracy or racial supremacy!!"

The woman could be heard holding a sentence of rage back at Luca, then calming down before delivering something in a tone cold enough to freeze, "Fine. You've made your point, land - but expect no sympathies from us."

"Whatever, she-bitch." Luca responded offhandedly before cutting the line with a smile, he nudged John, "Land it, quick!"
"We're already on the ground." John responded flatly.

It turned out while Luca and the woman on the other end of the line were having a shouting match, he'd bought the ship in carefully - and sent his own signals to them via text. Luca just fell over himself realising how much he just smashed the first impression to pieces - for one woman, he hoped.

"Way to talk smooth, wanker!" Mel observed from afar.