RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 8] Dawning Concerns

"Ya forget all about me Zeta?" Robert interjected as they made plans for hitting the pub. "I could go for a few drinks myself." he smiled as he intertwined his hands behind his head as they walked along.

Daxle froze midstep as he was addressed by the Origin worker.
~Shit~ he thought; he figured he had been a little stealthier than that. He prayed he wasn't losing his touch. 'Oh well' he reasoned 'if you can't do it the easy way, there is always the easier way'.

"Ah, thanks!" he said to the Origin Welder, acting embarrassed "I wasn't exactly sure where I was!" and with that he turned around and began sizing up the three who the worker claimed were the "owners".

"Don't mention it," The worker replied as he got back to making sure the crew of this ship didn't choke to death in mid flight due to a pipe error.

There was a woman, pretty attractive, though he guessed she may be a bit older than him, and an older man of a darker complexion, whom he bet was the superior just because he looked like the kind of guy who would be in charge, and a shaggy guy looking at porn; All human. Daxle squared his shoulders and began picking his way through the construction, but just as he started, he winced as a sharp pain shot through the right side of his back, his left inner thigh, and back of his right heel.

~I'm in rough shape~ he thought, a little sadly. He hoped he would heal up faster; at least when he can find a transport he'll give himself a lookover. He started forward again, hoping that none of those three, who by now were looking at him (except for the guy with the magazine) saw him wince. He smiled a little bit and shoved the pain to as far back in his mind as possible, praying to just get through this encounter without problems.

"I was told this was your ship," Daxle said, as friendly as he could be, giving a little wave of his arm as he approached the three, "I don't suppose I can get passage aboard it?" he asked.

Sebastian was watching Daxle come closer, eventually nudging John in the ribs to get his attention.
Looks injured, Sebastian made a few mental notes whilst scratching his chinfluff, Doctors's bag, slight limp, five foot ten, somewhat overweight. He nodded reflexively upon summarising his analysis of the person approaching him.

"Well, we're in the process of getting a new ship, so once it's ready, we'll be able to take you in," He said, but then he made a few considerations about the crew at large, "However, I do have a few questions - for your wellbeing."

Mentally, Daxle sighed; the older guy was exactly how he predicted he would be: sharp, eagle-eyed and not all that easy to fool. There would be hiding little.
"My well being?" Daxle replied. This wasn't exactly the way he had figured this conversation would go.

"Yes," Sebastian said, "You see, our crew is," He paused for a moment and made a few considerations.
"Diverse?" John took his nose out of the magazine, rolled it up and put it under his arm, "Seeing as though we have a furball, an angel and a death machine - oh, and an organic death machine - just to name a few," He crossed his arms and sighed, absently shaking his head, "Hell, that's before Luca factors into all this."

Sebastian gave a glance to John, surprised that he had the more colourful crew member's rough details, "Ah, yes," He then cleared his throat, "So, do any of those names intimidate you?"

Daxle didn't know what the hell "organic death machine" or "angel" meant, but "Deathmachine" and "furball" only meant one thing to him; Neko's. He buried his dislike deep, mostly because he reminded himself that it would only be temporary.
"'Fraid not" he replied pleasantly "Can't really say any of those mean much to me, I'm just drifting along so..."

"Alright, got anywhere in mind?" John asked, before adjusting his glasses and then putting his rolled up magazine under his left arm, "By the way, th' name's John, I'll be your pilot," He extended his right hand for a handshake from Daxle, "And you are?"

Daxle took the hand and firmly shook it.
"Daxle, most folks just call me Dax. Really what you call me is up to you. As to where I am going, anywhere but here"

"Well," John said, "According to the Captain, we're staying here for another day so this ship," He pointed to the Courier A2, which was still getting adjusted, "Has what we want on it. We're staying a hotel over here," He motioned to a blip on the map, just a few blocks away, "During the meanwhilst. And if anything tries to attack us," He glanced over to Sebastian with a sly grin.

Sebastian pushed the right side of his coat aside to reveal a six-shooting, single action .44 calibre revolver, of custom make and model, possibly handmade, "We'll be ready."

"Interesting, you lengthened the barrel and widened it as well: thats rawr power and range all in one go" Daxle commented, giving the revolver a glance.

"You are expecting your crew to be attacked?" he asked, a little incredulously. He had a weapon, sure, but damned if he was any great shakes at fighting with it...or fighting.

Sebastian winked, "Maybe for once, things will be peaceful around here, but I ain't counting on it," He then covered his revolver, "However, better safe than sorry, as always," He nodded knowingly.

Back in the fairly well-to-do hotel area (the hotel across the road and the accompanying Onsen that looked like a battle site included), Luca and company were wondering what to do next. It looked like Uriel, Zeta, Robert and Enzo would be hitting the bar circuit and getting hammered. Luca, on the other hand, wasn't sure what to do next. He wasn't feeling peckish, and he felt no need to drink for now.

He was joined by Naoko, who had for some reason extricated herself from the group shortly after they had broken off and started wandering. She was now large enough to wear the cast-offs and donations of the rest of the crew, although it appeared that the wardrobe might just be baggy enough to swallow her. The jacket was too big, the cargo pants were far too large around, and nobody had boots even close to that small - but, the belt helped.

Standing on the corner of Sectors 9 and 2, viewing the sprawl that seemed only nominally more organized than Nepleslia Prime, she twitched her ears up, then back, frowning.

"It's still going on," she stated, to Luca.

Luca turned around and leaned down, "What is?" He asked, not sure whether she was referring to the NMX parasite cleanup, or something else.

Looking up, she smiled slightly at Luca. "The fighting. They keep finding them, all over the place, and calling it over the local police wideband. It has been dying down for the last few minutes, but I think we should avoid the residential area and sectors two and three of the industrial area."

Luca nodded his head knowingly, "Don't worry, OriSec is no longer stretched thin thanks to us, so hopefully they'll get 'em all," He smiled a bit, "Either way, what's a little roach gonna do? They can't get us if we know they're coming!"

"I am not so sure, yo. But, it does not seem important. Where are we going?"

Luca paused for a moment and looked at the lollipop he was sucking on thoughtfully, he then took it out of his mouth and tossed it on the ground, indicating which way to point, "Lollipop says that way, yo," It whirled a little before settling with the stick towards the Onsen.
He picked it up, dusted it off and put it back in his mouth, knowing that the floors were clean enough to eat off in this station. Naoko must not have thought so - she covered her mouth briefly, staring at him, before looking off in the direction of the Onsen with a shrug.

"I suppose."

-

After some checking in, a quick payment and a quick change of clothes, Luca found himself soaking in a warm bath tub that smelt distinctly of oranges, since he noticed a few bobbing around in the water. His next idea was to eat one, before being told off that they were there to make the water smell nice, and probably wouldn't taste good anyway.

"What do Yamataians find so nice 'bout these baths anyway?" He asked while poking one of the oranges.

"It's warm," the former national replied. She was down almost to her ears in the water, eyes closed, her hair pulled over her shoulder as she soaked. Naoko had wanted to dance, to drink a little and let herself go - who was out here to chastise her? - but in the end, she couldn't be arsed. This was a sufficient replacement. "You don't like it?"

"Nah," Luca said, missing the point entirely, "We're just supposed to sit here 'till my fingers turn to prunes?" He looked at his fingers, which were now getting wrinkly, "And you can't eat the oranges!" Further missing the point. However, something else in the water caught his eye at the bottom of the pool.

"Hm?" He said as he leaned down and fished it out. It looked like a small piece of broken machinery, with a label, "Volumetric...?"

"Someone must have lost it," Naoko noted, examining the object through a single cracked eye.

"Amongst other things!" Luca commented, knowing that whoever lost this would've flipped their lid.

"I said no." Mr. Smith spoke coldly. Only, he wasn't 'Mr. Smith' at the moment and the three younger faces staring at him with mixed expressions of grief and a little anger pushed that point hard. "It's not up for discussion, I've already made my choice." Right now, he wasn't the chillingly efficient corporate; he was just Big Brother, or Matt, or Bro.

"Then why the hell are you talking about it to us?" the younger man hissed.

"Would you rather I just up and leave, sending a vid to you all a month or two later telling what I did Scott? Huh?" Matt shot back.

"No."

"But why? We're doing fine here, aren't we? Aerin's got you on her payroll, and Scott's working part time. We're not in Nepleslia anymore, so we don't have to worry as much." Missi spoke up hopefully. Matthew sighed.

"Just because we're not in Nepleslia anymore doesn't mean we shouldn't work as hard as we have in the past. Hard times are coming, even Yamatai and Nepleslia are on the ropes. And well...we all have to make sacrifices." The three younger siblings cringed at the last, familiar, sentence as it dredged up bitter and frightful memories. A small voice, smaller than the rest so far, spoke up.

"There's a-a Neko? There's a Nekovalkyrja involved?" Jamie asked incredulously. Matt kept silent; many believed that the inability to say 'no' meant 'yes'. In this case, they were very much right. They soon burst out yelling at him not to go, grabbing and clinging to him in an attempt to root him there.

"Quiet! Quiet!" Matt yelled. It wasn't until his throat started to become sore, the suit disheveled, that he managed to get back a semblance of order. They looked at him angrily, expectant of his words. "She's just a crew member on the Phoenix, nothing more. I"m just going to -"

Their jaws dropped.

****

Mr. Smith had to admit that he had never been grilled so thoroughly in his life before. They simply wrung out every last detail they could get their hands on. They then told him what to do, how to act, and ordered him to follow their instructions as best he could. He couldn't help but feel a little irked at the thought, but promising to do all they asked of him tucked away their fears for the moment, and let him go on with his work.

So now, he was at a certain hotel that was under reconstruction, putting on some Origin Industries Issue swimming trunks, and grabbing a towel as he made his way to the coed Onsen. He knew Luca Pavone was there; the offer was good, and he was going to take it. Matt just hoped that it wouldn't hurt Aerin Tatst's feelings. Or worse, in accepting the Mercenary's offer.

As he strolled over to Luca, he noted only one other occupant in the Onsen, but she seemed a ways away in the water, so Matt ignored her. He greeted Luca instead. "Mr. Pavone. I've decided I'll take you up on your of-" Something wasn't quite right; the woman was further off, wasn't she? But where? It was as though she just vanished into thin air. Unless. He looked at the near vicinity instead.

"Aihara! I...didn't recognize you for a moment. I thought. Thought you were going clubbing?" he spoke, flustered. He fought to stay calm in the face of this shocking surprise.

****

"We need to call her, now." said Scott

"Yeah. Jamie, you finished hacking the comms so this won't be on record?"

"It's done Missi! Go ahead and call!"

"I decided not to," Naoko replied, cracking the other eye and looking incredulously at Smith, "I hope my presence isn't too much trouble. Men talking business, ne?"

It was as if she didn't care. Naoko didn't frown, but didn't exactly smile, either - she just kept her neutral expression of mild weariness and would have sank down into the water further, except she was already quite literally up to her ears, and didn't feel like holding her breath for that long. Mr. Smith was one of her projects, in the sense that she acted a certain way around him for a sort of game, but it was not a game that she particularly wanted to play while she was relaxing. Did she honestly even have to speak?

Without waiting for an answer, she flattened her ears back, propped her head on a nearby rock, and closed her eyes in an effort to drown out both the sound and the sight of Smith.

Ugh...

Matthew took a hand and rubbed the back of his neck. This was infuriatingly awkward. She wasn't supposed to be here! Her presence singlehandedly upsetting what he was thinking of saying. And in all honesty? He didn't want her around to hear what he had to say to Luca. He could see just fine without the glasses. Notice the damaged and still under repair buildings, oranges floating about in the hot water as their oils let off a pleasant smell. An Onsen was made for relaxing, and that was what he was expecting to do, damn it! "I see. I hope I'm not interrupting anything between the two of you by joining."

As Smith slid into the water, he wondered who this Neko had in the palm of its hand. Vincienzo Bortelli, obviously, but Luca Pavone as well? He hoped that wasn't the case; Mr. Smith was patient enough to find out. If he was lucky, his very presence would annoy her into leaving, and he could speak to Pavone freely and find out all he needed to know.

He insolently blew a few bubbles. Just a few.

"Ah, don't dwell on it," Luca said shrugging indifferently to Smith's perceived intrusion, "So, what's first on the agenda?" He asked as he put his index finger down on Naoko's head and attempted to put her ears under the water gently.

As Smith watched Luca poke the Neko about, he relaxed a little. Perhaps it didn't have sway over him? Though, that could be taken as a sign that it did. A form of intimacy? He shuddered when a part of his mind ventured down that dark allyway. "Well Mr. Pavone, what kind of jobs does your crew take on? I'll need to know what I'm up against after all."

Luca scratched the stubble on his chin, and thought for a moment. It was a bit difficult to say that 'we do everything' since it was a bit of a stretch, but he was able to say this:
"We do things such as fighting, diplomacy, righting wrongs, fighting and trying to survive another day," He scratched the back of his head with a goofy grin, "Oh, and then there's the whole 'celebrity' thing."

He sighed and rolled his eyes, "You save one colony from imminent destruction, and suddenly everyone wants you," He then made a verbal backspace, "No wait, two colonies, killing a mad scientist, a butcher doctor, and a truckload of angry NMX," He was having trouble remembering his exact kill count.

Even as Luca toyed with the Neko, Smith had to admit there was some satisfaction in seeing what he regarded as a powerful and fear inducing mockery of life have it's ears poked under water. Hell, it was cute. Like, poking with a potentially dangerous kitten that could bite of one's....no. He wouldn't venture that far. He turned back to the discussion at hand. It was all harmless information anyways, so no need to obscure anything.

"Your other crew members mentioned a high pay. How much in general? Can you give me some examples, Mr. Pavone?" Smith asked. The crew of the Phoenix may be of near legendary status, but, if they were the sort that had to barely scratch by. Well, Smith wouldn't have much to do with them, would he? Fortunately, it wasn't looking that way.

"Well, it's usually at or above 20K a job," Luca said, "Each," He made a correction, knowing that some of the crew had a lot of money to blow, "Usually it's hazard pay that does it. We could earn more if we keep collateral down."
Speaking of which, Luca noticed the hole in the ceiling that was in the process of getting fixed, and couldn't help but ask, "So, how'd that hole happen?" He nodded upwards, curious.

Smith nodded as Luca pointed out the rough estimate. He supposed it was good enough; with mercenaries, pay could end up inconsistent anyways, but that was unlikely in this case. The usually cold businessman gave a warm chuckle when Luca asked about the damage though. "Long story short, when the Mishhu parasites were taken aboard the Dawn by accident, they caused a mess."

Mr. Smith waved his hand, gesturing to the numerous points of interest. "From what I've...seen, one female employee in particular was particularly unfortunate when an improperly armed missile was accidentally set off by some careless workers who were sent to properly diffuse it." Matthew gave a small, mischievous grin.

"The guys are still talking about it."

A pair of lights made their way toward the onsen, brighter by far than the sky that was simulating early evening, with a beautiful orange sunset, coming from nowhere in particular. About thirty feet above the Onsen, they stopped, but one could not determine the model or color of the vehicle in the twilight. it rocked, slightly, as if an occupant was moving inside, and then a figure disembarked into mid air.

Falling gracefully, much slower than made sense, a very small woman with dark hair and a bright green bikini could be seen swan-diving toward the onsen, precise control of the station's simulated weather making her hair ripple gently in the breeze as it flowed behind her in a manner which spoke of much greater speed than she actually traveled. However, roughly five feet above the water (they could by now, tell it was CEO Aerin Tatst), she abruptly tucked into a cannonball, and let the station's gravity take its course, slamming into the water with much more force than was necessary, splashing water and oranges all over the courtyard surrounding the artificial hot spring.

"Speaking of bombshells," Luca chuckled as he shook his head to get the water out, and an orange that'd been caught on his sideburns. He then had a laugh as he realised that he done something similar earlier into one of her factories, from the same vehicle, no less, "What a pleasant surprise!"
Naoko had been bombed out of the pool by Aerin's landing, and had splash-landed in an adjoining pool that had limes bobbing in it, and some other occupants who were as surprised as she was.

Smith leaped up onto his feet in surprise, and managed to settle himself back into the warm waters. His hands instinctively reached up to push up glasses that were no longer there, and with a hint of embarrassment, dismissed his hand back into the water. "Yes, she does have a tendency to do that from time to time." Smith admitted.

From the darker patch of water that signified the CEO's position underwater, there issued a plethora of bubbles, followed by her slowly rising figure. Once her head had breached the surface, Aerin flung it back, whipping much of the water out of her hair, before she smiled at the two men in the Onsen with her. "My, My. fancy meeting you two here." she said, casually, as if the previous events had not even happened. An hourglass-shaped bit of fabric floated up from just beneath the surface, before Aerin grabbed it, returning it to its proper place. "Oopsie~" Aerin mumbled cutely, biting her lower lip in faux embarassment.

Smith turned his head away and shielded his eyes for a moment, not just for Aerin Tatst's sake, but to avoid any blood that may have spurted as a result of witnessing the scene. He neatly coughed into a closed fist before speaking. "Well, I'm glad to see you still have it Miss Tatst. I have to admit, the kids would have loved to see you swan dive like that, minus the last part of course." Matthew glanced at the group, noting that everyone he needed to talk to was here. Minus the extra of course. He sighed, subdued due to the nature of what he needed to do.

"Oh, how are the little tykes doing?" Aerin began, before being stopped short by Smith.

"Actually Aerin, there's something I need to discuss with you, concerning Mr. Pavone here."

"Smith, Smith," Luca said, who had a poorly concealed dumb grin on his face from Aerin's wardrobe malfunction, reminded of when he had a similar situation back at college, "It's alright, everyone figuratively loses their pants once in a while."
He leaned back and then summarised what Smith was going to ask, "I think Mr. Smith wants to ride with me for a while, hope you don't mind."

"More or less. Mr. Pavone here has offered me a place on his crew. It's substantially higher paying, so, I can't easliy refuse." He spoke submissively. "However, if you wish for me to remain here, I will. You've done a lot for us after all."

"It's the hazard pay," Luca mentioned offhandedly.

"Well, you have two options at this point, Matthew." Aerin began, lifting up two fingers to demonstrate. "One, you can quit Origin and go with Luca as his regular crew, your house here on Dawn will remain as long as you can pay the lease, and we can see to your siblings being taken care of." She put down the first figer. "Or two, I can reassign you to field research, with a position as Liason to Luca's crew, which is a higher position and will receive hazard pay, but you have to send regular reports and manage mister Pavone's account with us." She smiled, looking at the two men again, dropping the second finger and slipping her nad beneath the water once again. "What shall it be?"

Luca gave Smith a nudge in the ribs, "Regular reports don't sound that difficult. You get to keep your job," He said, "How hard could it be?"
He then paused for a moment to consider what Aerin said about Smith's siblings, and his eyes widened a little, glancing over to Smith with a face that was quietly surprised.

At this point, Smith felt like having his eyes widen in shock, and then suddenly giving Aerin a crushing bear hug before lifting her up into the air by the armpits. In all honesty, he wasn't sure if he should. Regardless, it was exactly what he did. "Thank you Aerin. I'll do the best I can while aboard the Phoenix." Matthew spoke, holding Aerin up in the air, eyes level.

Luca then remembered something else that he'd almost forgotten, "By the way, we passed by Tami when you guys were on the way out with the Mishhu on your tail, I managed to rescue one of your sales folks," He then nodded towards the Hangar district where the Big Bird was parked, "She's on the Big Bird, recovering slowly. I'll put her into your care."

Aerin laughed as she was pulled into the air, and even after Smith let go, she remained floating at the same height, turning to Luca as he spoke about an apparent employee they had found. "There were four who were unacconted for on our transports out of the system. Which one have you found?" she asked, becoming more serious about the subject.

"Nyezeh, Jolokia Nyezeh," He said, "I couldn't find anyone else," He sighed, crestfallen by the subject.

Smith pursed his lips upon hearing this. "Jolokia? She's one of the earliest, senior employees of Origin..." His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Luca. "Why didn't you mention this sooner?" the Origin Representative asked, slightly confused in tone.

Luca blinked in response. Well this is awkward, "Back when I was at the factory, my mind was busy on kicking Vitriol and Malice's arses. Nyezeh hasn't crossed my mind till now since the fight has died down," He blinked a couple of times, "Jim's been taking good care of her since she came in."

"She actually handed in her resignation minutes before the evacuation was completed." Aerin recalled, dropping back down into the water, deep in thought. "The last of our security shots showed there was someone with her, but we weren't able to positively identify him. He wasn't with her when you found her?"

Luca shook his head.

"I suppose we'll simply have to inform the families. Some may be able to be ST'ed, but one of them was a Nepleslian citezen." She shook her head as well, closing her eyes for a second. "Transfer her back to us, we'll take care of her. she's still our responsibility at this point, as we were the ones evacuating the planet after the Star Army had left."

"Certainly," Luca nodded decisively before hearing the chinking of glass behind him. He turned around to notice that a bath hand was kind enough to put some drinks down, along with floating coasters. Luca shrugged indifferently and took a glass of warm sake, watching it bob in the water.

He then noticed a familiar face further up, "Hey!" Luca smiled as he recognised the voice.
"Hey dad," He said, "How's the new ship?"
"It'll be ready tomorrow," Sebastian said as he came into view, wearing a pair of form fitting speedos, and showing off some of his entirely bionic right arm, and surprisingly muscular physique for a man well in his sixties. He sat down in the water quietly, "So, mission success?" He asked the group.

Smith solemnly nodded in reply. "Yes, more than we could have hoped for I think. Aerin?"

"It seems so. Though, I think I may still have some business with the Captian..." Aerin said, swiftly making eyes at the sideburned man, trying to hide the motion from Sebastian. Her hovercar slowly drifted downward, to park itself next to the Onsen. "If you don't mind, I'd like to discuss this business in private." Aerin asked, making her way out of the bath and towards her car, both of the doors opening upward to allow entrance.

"Yes," Luca nodded as he downed the sake in one gulp and put it on the side of the pool, "Business," He then proceeded to pick up his clothes from a neat pile, stuff them in a bag and climb aboard the car with a towel around his waist, and a stupidly wide grin.
Yeeheheee, this's gonna be GREAT!

The doors slammed shut, and the vehicle quietly gained speed and altitude, flying off in the general direction of the nearest juncture between sectors nine and ten.

Mr. Smith stood and bowed deeply as the two departed. As the car flew into the distance, he turned to Sebastian and asked the older man one thing. "How." He spoke, letting it hang there. "How did your son catch an orange in his sideburn?"

Sebastian shrugged idly, with an orange caught in his own beard, "The orange was obviously female."

MISSION 8 - COMPLETE!!

VERY Special Thanks to Kai for letting us use Dawn Station (amongst other things!)

The Dramatis Personae:
Enzo Bortelli - Lam
Naoko Aihara - Gallant
Uriel Hisshana - Blackbird Lore
Whispering Trees 'Panther' - Scot
Robert Raggleton - Nevaraon
Seiren Isbala - Moogle
Daxle Demalier - Frost
Zeta Five - ShotJon
Arin Berelai - Fian

And Introducing...
Matthew Smith - CadetNewb

Guest Starring...
Aerin Tatst - Kai

Finally...
Luca Pavone - Himself
Everyone Else - Themselves