RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 8] Dawning Concerns

[Kai]

"Well, all of our ships are quite user-friendly and the AI is more than capable of telling you everything you need to know when the time comes." Aerin told Luca, as her lime Green Advent hovercar made itself apparent, landing quickly right in front of the Trio.

"Ah, here we go." Aerin said, opening the door and allowing for the others to get in before getting in herself, and whisking them off towards the sales area for starships.

******

As they arrived, Luca and Sebastian would see four Couriers parked within an enormous hangar, along with several Kouken, a number of Mules, and a large inventory of Onset shuttles. Of the Couriers, one was an unfinished Gray color, another was painted a bright, shiny red,and the remaining two were finished off in the light olive color that defined many Origin-made ships.

"So. which one would you like to look at?" the Yamataian CEO asked.

 

[CadetNewb]

Mr. Smith was simply good at his job. He always made sure customers were curious about the latest good, their attention never wavering. In addition, he himself never lost his attention on them either. This time, he wish he did. As pretty as that damned Mini-Neko was, he knew terror when he saw it. It was riding on an Elysian for crying out loud! They absolutely hated those things for what they did to them! And yet...

Fear is a curious thing; it may be born out of some logic, but as it grows, logic vanishes. People often fear and hate something for some reason, and fail to learn anything more about it. Smith was no exception. He went on speaking to each person in turn, answering their questions, but at the same time, he didn't loose an iota of his attention on her. As the masquerade was kept up, Matthew's fear ridden mind imagined tendrils of blood reaching out of her and into the Elysian man's body, controlling him like a warm, fleshy puppet. A toy! That's it. He is probably her toy to play with! he thought.

Even as he went on, it's beautiful smile grew and grew and grew! It was the absolute perfection of it's womanly grace that ripped into the Nepleslian man's mind. It's bodily curves flowing from head to toes were wonderful, especially around it's sensuous hips and modest bust. And yet. The way it moved was too overly perfect. And it's size. Matthew's mind repeated to him, just to make sure the rest of him understood; IT'S RIDING ON HISSHANA'S SHOULDER! The terror of this incomprehensible combination was bordering on the realm of Eldrich Abomination for the man, it's mere sight bringing back terrible, terrible memories that a were supposed to stay buried!

And Mr. Smith was good at his job.

Just as he finished his last sentence with Mr. Bortelli, it replied to him. By now, Matthew's glasses sent him a notice that pointed out certain details; his heart rate was highly elevated, his breathing was starting to get a little shallow, and he was just starting to sweat. 'Just one more round of answers, and we can hop into the cars so I can catch up to my heart. But first thing's first.'

Of course, Miss Naoko. It was merely a formality on my part. I assure you, I will do all I can to find what you are requesting.

'I'd had better.' he thought bitterly. 'Miss President Tatst seems to be doting on you all.' Smith made the calm appearance of pressing his hands together. A single bead of sweat ran down the side of his head. "It is no problem Miss Zeta." Matthew spoke, keeping is professional and relatively level voice intact. "To be honest, you hit the spot. It is a kind of prototype which I thought you would find interesting at the least."

Fortunately for the tormented man, there was a brief moment of relief. "Why yes Mr. Isbala. It is completely possible." He paused for a moment, rubbing his chin. "There should be some room inside the LEAF already, and additional room can be easily made by replacing the pre-existing IAPD units. If it is an absolute must, modifications to the chassis' dimensions are not difficult for us, and can be done as a custom order."

"But enough standing around here. I believe it is best to watch the fireworks instead of talking about them. Please, get anything you wish to purchase here; our rides will be waiting outside."

****

On the way to Dawn's Proving Grounds, Matthew got to reflect over a fair portion of his life. Yes. He disliked Yamatai greatly, and absolutely feared their soldier abominations. But, it didn't mean Yamatai was all bad; Aerin was living proof of that. If it weren't for her, Matthew wouldn't be here providing for his siblings so safely. Plus, the Ginger-Mango Chew he had in his mouth was further evidence of this. Yamataian in origin, girlie ginger had a sharp, exotic bite to it, while manly mango of Nepleslian stock had a sweet-suave smoothness to it. A tasty combination.

He managed his connections best he could into maneuvering certain things around. By the time he and the customers entered the giant building, all the things he requested was there. Though, people were a little more difficult to get. 'Is Merkur here? I sent a message her way detailing this important deal. It's not just cash, it's publicity!.' He thought. Regardless, a vast array of death dealing weapons, armor, and vehicles were on display in the staging area, ready to be tested. A massive area with green rolling hills that was part firing range and battleground wasn't too far away, cordoned off by powerful shields that the building itself projected. As Smith turned to look upon his potential customers, a single Asura in the background took punishment as an anti-matter shell smashed into it's shield, lighting the area with a brilliant glow.

As light glared off his now black glasses from the dimming explosion, he spoke impassively. "Where were we going to start?"

 

[Gallant]

Naoko considered Mr. Smith appraisingly, her head slightly tilted, her smile fading back into a very small smirk that would have been placid if it weren't for the warm amusement that was beginning to well up behind the expression. Watching Mr. Smith move, observing how he adjusted his glasses, and catching the very slightly tremors going through his body every time he spoke with her only meant one thing;

He's afraid.

After a few moments of basking in this realisation, she considered just what she was going to do with it. On the one hand, she could completely ignore the information and act as she normally would - meekly pleasing those around her, in an effort to avoid confrontation. But this one wasn't going to be a confrontation; it was going to be a negotiation, since Mr. Smith wasn't part of the crew, and Mr. Smith had something that she very, very much wanted. Legal or not, a place as big as this had to use hemosynthetics for /something/, even if it was just as a supply for their replication and fabrication machines.

They had synthetic material, she was sure; a space station just couldn't run without one or two systems as slaves to the miraculous material. But by law, it just wasn't for general use.

As they sat in the cars, Naoko continued to consider her next point of action. In the end, she decided that intimidation was a viable method of negotiation. After spending the trip nonchalantly perched on Uriel's shoulder, and after Uriel had got out of the car, Naoko crouched, steeling her legs, and jumped.

She landed, rather catlike, on Mr. Smith's shoulder.

When she righted herself, she wasted very little time - as she had done to Uriel, she very gently placed a hand atop his head to steady herself, stood, and pointed off into the distance at one of the machines.

"How about that?" the pretty, brown-eyed war machine said into the man's ear, "What sort of payload is that?"

 

[Blackbird Lore]

Though he'd been ignored, Uriel was unperturbed. Tatst was busy with all of them, and there had been quite the collection of inquiries tossed her way. Not to mention his had nothing in the slightest to do with business.

Yet another car ride, but this one was short. Hisshana was a little surprised to see Naoko leap without warning, but again he was unperturbed. She merely wished to hold a more intimate- that wasn't the right word, but it was the one that came to mind- conversation with Mr. Smith.

He kept close, trying to follow Naoko's finger to its target. If Uriel had ever been given notice of how little he knew was going on between Smith and the Neko he would have been irritated with himself; ignorance was bliss as they say.

 

[Lamb]

"Yeah, yeah!" Enzo almost shouted, leaning back into Smith's private bubble, "Where's the high dollar shits I can actually use, buddy? I been around this stuff before. Useds to, eh, transport it so to speak. It's too big for me. An' I'm a friggin' hero, so's how abouts yous guys points me to the hardwares that isn't the size of Admiral Davis' fuckin' ego and lets me play with it, see? I gots bigger fish to fry an' I'm in a oily mood... So where's the airbikes, the beefy one-handers, the fancy jack-boots, and the never-ending cigarettes? That's what I'm spending my money on, so points me to it."

Idly, Enzo raised his hand over Naoko's head and turned towards her with hopeful eyes after finishing his spiel. His face begged her to let him pet her hair affectionately, with his eyes saying 'Please, I promise not to pet too hard.' and his smirk saying, 'Remember I bought you those clothes... Don't be mean!' Despite his usual intentions, he was for once up to no misdeed, instead only briefly fascinated once again with the tiny Neko which he beheld as his only possible friend. The mind of such a man wonders so that he may have even regarded her as harmless, despite what all logic would present him.

 

[CadetNewb]

As Smith sat there on the cold cement, drenched in blood, the Neko leaped over and forced herself on top of him, pinning down the man with her arms. He could feel a hemosynthetic tentacle stroke his chin as the creature grinned at him, leaning in closer to speak into his ear. It's mouth moved, and warm lips brushed against his ear but for the moment, nothing of it's speech was recalled. An old memory he tried to forget.

As Smith stood there on the cold cement, Naoko forced herself on him, forcing his head still with the palm of her small hand. He could feel it's thigh faintly pressing against the side of his head as it stood, a faint warmth radiating from the flesh. It spoke, and Smith most certainly remembered Naoko's words. This was going to be a new memory. Yes. Another memory to toss into the collection.

He blushed, and seemed to follow her small, almost toylike finger to what he hoped was the intended target. "That, Miss Aihara, is what we call the M1-Advanced. We just call it the Asura. It's currently undergoing stress tests to collect data." In actuality, he wasn't really blushing. Blood was rushing to his extremities; Smith's fingers and feet seared with the rapid flow and burning adrenaline that scorched a path through his veins. In addition, his hard-on from the earlier explosions was gone; the blood rushing to his cheeks, arms and legs ad to come from somewhere.

In truth, he almost expected lances of hemosynth to come out of the soles of her small bare feet and pierce his skin, worming their way into his spine, and finally the brain like a parasite. It was sheer terror that kept him rooted firmly in place. Sheer terror that made him answer it's question, and sheer terror that made him briefly blink rapidly as he looked up at her. Matthew's vision was starting to become tunneled from the blood rush and adrenaline, and in an attempt to clear it, looked almost like he was blinking rapidly in surprise at Naoko.

He ignored the last parts of Enzo's speech though, and looked towards the tables that were set up with the new equipment that could go to the Phoenix. Matthew couldn't work up enough emotional fortitude to continue though. His feet were weighed down with the oppressive Neko. He coudn't even bring himself to answer Enzo's questions. Matthew kept looking at the equipment laid out. Miss Merkur wasn't here, a pity. There would be no salvation from her this time around. Still, she, his mentor, brought him this far, and even made sure the circumstances were best for him even though she was absent and away.

The thought gave him some strength. The fist on the side that Naoko stood on curled up tightly, the entire arm tensing with raw emotions, sending tremors up to her feet. With his Origin Industries Business suit on, no one would see that.

But it would most certainly feel it.

 

[Kai]

Or maybe it wouldn't. Contrary to Smith's first Impressions, Sierra was actually there- she had been a few meters away monitoring something for the Test the Asura had been undergoing. As for now, she had quietly made her way to her fellow Nepleslian, weaving her way through the group of mercenaries with Skill and ease.

Smith would feel a punch on the opposite shoulder of the Neko coinciding with the Shiver, and the grinning, Bespectacled Redhead was suddenly present in front of him. "Well, Smith, it seems you've found a new friend." the Electronics expert/Representative/AI programmer joked. "Though, I do think you need to relax a little. I know this is a lot of customers at once, but trust me, It's not as bad as being in front of a group of Star Army officials with my moron Boyfriend babbling on about secret projects and the like."

Next, the Redhead turned her attention toward Enzo. "Well, Mister Bortelli, Origin does not manufacture or necessarily condone the use of Cigarettes, though we do allow it on the station, and our boots are available for purchase at just about any utility store in the Kikyo sector, since someone else makes them. However, Airbikes and Pistols are some of the commodities that we do make. OMC has been focusing on the larger vehicles for a while, so we really only have one style of Airbike available at the moment, but we do have a number of pistols and even a Submachinegun that may be configured as a pistol."

The Representative pushed her glasses up, smiling at the group, whom she rolled into addressing as a whole. "That is why you're here. Real people who really use our stuff in Real situations. The main reason we've invited you into normally restricted access areas is because we would like your feedback and opinions on any of our currents products you have used, and, if you haven't yet used them, they are available to, as we say, Sample, right here, at your fingertips."

 

[Lamb]

"Oh yeah, I used lots of your products," Enzo said; giving the shivering Neko-clad man next to him a firm push. With one outstretched hand, he shoved Smith to one side so he could get to Merkur. "I've wrecksed two Onsets shuttles, an Ocelots hovercar, a heavily modifieds ORV, and I had a Mule get stolen outs from under me! Now, these vehicles aside, I've killeds Neps and Yammies both with the Standards Energy Pistol and the ODM, and I watched these guys kill squids with Fatboys and the Gauss Rifle yous guys put out. Point me to the surveys, the toys, and then the discounts!"

 

[Luca]

Melissa tilted her head at Mr. Smith as he was having his tremulous memory overload, "Are you orright?" She asked as she watched Naoko's catty disposition.

"Oooh, works fer me," Melissa told the redhead who'd come out of nowhere, "So we're esteemed 'guests 'o honour' type people?" She quizzically thought aloud.
Her eyes lit up as she gave Enzo a playful poke in the ribs, "Well ain't that somethin'?" Her smile was wide as she reached for a Standard Infantry Sniper Rifle that was nearby, amongst a few others of its kind, and many other Origin weapons inviting to be tested, "Dibs on the rifle," Melissa chuckled.

She then made a reflexive motion as though she was pulling the bolt back, but realised after doing so that there was no bolt to speak of. She sighed, somewhat dejected by this and looked for the nearest target.
"Grab a gun, and show 'em wot you can do!" Melissa shouted with glee, wanting to watch something go boom, "Let's give 'em some feedback!"

-

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the rather large space station, there was some diplomacy.
"Was that good?"
"You bet."

Unfortunately, these were not the people we were looking for. Here they are.

-

"Hum..." Luca thought as he inspected the ships and pointed to the bright red one, "That one looks like it's got some pepper, let's take a closer look."
Sebastian nodded, then said, "Wait, shouldn't we call John to have a look at this too?"
"Good idea, hold on a second," Luca said as he withdrew his Communicator, and punched in John's number on speed dial.

John was fast asleep at the console, his nose was buried in a magazine with burlesquely clad, top hat wearing, greyscale ladies. He snorted as his communicator buzzed to life, telling him to pick it up. He reached out and tried to grab it, flailing a little over the instruments on the console before finding it and holding to his ear.

"Talk, I'm a busy man," He snorted as his brain tried to wake up.
"Hi John, get yourself over here. We've got a surprise," Luca said in a chipper tone of voice, "We want you to get a feel for it first."

He woke up a little more and he smiled, drawing to an entirely incorrect conclusion, "A date with Ms. December from the YE25 Playkitty magazine?"
"Er, not quite," Luca said. John could be heard frowning from miles away, "Now get over here, I don't want you to learn to fly this thing when we've got passengers. Bring someone along if ya want."

John sighed a little as he rubbed his temples, "Alright, alright, whatever, I'll be over soon," He then disconnected. He stood up out of his chair and made a back cracking stretch before taking an inventory on who was left on ship.

Lessee here, we've got Crane, Anna, Hitori, Allison, Echelon, Jimmy, Arin, the Platypus and myself, He rubbed his chinfluff, I'll bring Hitori with me. Maybe that'll lighten things up.

"Hey, Hitori," John said as he walked out into the hallways of the ship, strapping a pistol to his side, "The boss wants us to check out this new ship that he's picking up."

-

Back at where the ship was being checked out, Luca got his incoming message from Zeta. He pulled out his communicator and tapped out this message.

TO: Zeta Five
FR: Captain Luca Pavone

Zeta, don't worry. Wherever the CEO goes, there's a huge retinue of well armed Security guys. Seriously, their guns are huge. You enjoy yourself at the range, alright?
-Captain!

 

[Fay]

Hitori was a little busy carving her initials into a bulkhead when John called to her. She decided that her work could be finished later. "Alright, coming," was her reply. Sheathing her blade, the Geshrin walked over to John and asked, "Where exactly is this new ship?"

A new ship usually meant new places to explore and new secrets to discover. She mildly wondered what the ship looked like, but she was sure that she would find out soon enough.

"It's somewhere in this station, which reminds me," John replied as he took up his communicator again and made a return call, "Luca, where the hell are you?"
He eventually got the directions and coordinates for where his captain was, "Great, we're not getting there by foot," He grumbled, "He'll send someone else to pick us up."

 

[Lamb]

"It'll be my pleasure..." Enzo almost growled in response. The Nepleslian gangster lit another cigarette and grabbed the nearest pistol available to him. It was a Standard Energy Pistol, like he'd used to own. In fact, he had several components of littered through his bag back on the ship. His looked across it and holstered it on one of his magnetic frogs, grabbing another weapon with his free hand. This time, he had an ODM 10mm Pistol.

Armed and dangerous, he rushed to a nearby airbike and mounted it skillfully, swinging his leg over its side in a flutter of duster and cargo pants. "Lower these shields and lets me loose, Townies."

 

[CadetNewb]

Some people accepted friendship and help and all that with a loud exclamation of appreciation. Some even say things along the lines of "THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!" or other. Then, there are people in the middle who say "Thank You." Finally, there's Mr. Smith and others like him that take help silently; though little is said, they do appreciate it. Only, expressing gratitude erred on the side of difficulty for such people. On the other hand, Smith had a family to feed, and saying "Thank You" was required if one was to be considered working hard on the job. Right now, that proverbial pat on the back Sierra gave him was enough for him to keep going.

"Miss Merkur. Thank you for bringing out the prototypes for me. It'll make my day that much easier." he spoke, eyes briefly flicking up to the mini-monster on his shoulder. After that though, he literally ignored her for the moment. Smith too addressed the entire group of people, and banished the thing on his shoulder from mind by thinking of Origin, it's products, and the friends and family he had on Dawn. Still feeling a bit stiff, a bit shaky, a bit sweaty, the Nepleslian man soldiered on.

"Our apologies Mr. Bortelli; that range is specifically for frames. However. There is a special course for it one building over. But back on topic..." Matthew straightened his tie and cleared his throat. "In addition to receiving your feedback on our products, we also wish for you to consider purchasing some special products from us, and providing your feedback on them as well." as he gestured with his hands, a large roller door opened as Origin employees rushed in, moving in several new items not of standard design.

"First. Let me introduce to you the Light Armored Assault Walker Prototype." Smith pointed to the frame that was marched out, much resembling a LEAF but more heavily armed and armored. Though keeping is face straight, anyone could tell he was excited, trotting over to the machine, somewhat forgetting and attempting to forget Naoko was on his shoulder. The Origin Representative waved his arm and got it's attention, gesturing it to come closer to the Phoenix crew.

"It's built to support Powered Armored Infantry with it's firepower. As you can see, it has improved armor and shields. A Handheld Gauss Rifle is seamlessly integrated into each forearm of the frame." The LAAW posed, displaying each feature as Smith tallied them off. "A shoulder mounted Ultraviolet Pulse Laser modified with an additional beam mode serves for both dirty work and keeping the skies clear of missiles. And finally. The prototype mounts either mortars or mini-missile launchers!"

The LAAW prototype had powerful tracks instead of wheels, and rapidly propelled itself into the range, letting off a single mortar that impacted against the Asura. As the larger frame was far away enough to look almost the size of a normal person, it seemed almost surreal as a fireball appeared beside it as the Asura cowered. A moment later, it shook an angry fist at the smaller frame; it replied with an obscene finger gesture.

Smith, now showing some more tangible emotion, appeared ever so slightly embarrassed. "Ah. You'll have to forgive them. Test pilots tend to have a bit of a rivalry between-" as the shield was still down from letting the prototype LAAW through, wind pelted them all when a missile from the Asura exploded near the distant-and-not-too-distant LAAW. The shields came up, but not in time for Smith to be slapped on the side of the face by a bit of flapping Kimono. He looked up at the source of the mini-kimono and then away, hand to his mouth, cheeks puffing as he tasted bitter bile. 'With luck, they were all looking at those idiots.' he thought.

A mildly angry expression came to life on Mr. Smith's face, the frames suddenly stopping their antics and putting their hands in front of them. It was almost as if they were saying "Whoa, whoa!" in shock or surprise as they walked off the massive field. Matthew regained his composure quickly enough, and used a nearby terminal to summon up some targets, one at 50, 100 and 300 meters for them to shoot at. "Please, go ahead and do as you please with these weapons. Tell us what you think." For the first time in the last long minutes, he looked directly at Naoko. "I will settle some business with Miss Aihara, and will be back monetarily to see you to the rest of the prototypes."

The man in the sharp business suit started to walk away towards the trucks that had unloaded the new, yet to be introduced weapons of war.

 

[Nevaraon]

Robert grinned as he watched the power frames have a little fun on the field. He felt and loved the wind that came out from the field while the shield was down. "Ah, any chance of letting me test out the Impulse armor. With the upgrades that you mentioned?"

 

[Kai]

"That's fine, Pilots do need to know the ships they'll be flying." Aerin commented on the thought of needing John to help for the Purchase. She was somewhat amused that they chose the red one as opposed to an unpainted one which they could have customized, but then again, they were the customer afterall.

Within a minute, Aerin had ordered one of the station's many cars for hire, this time a Cub Coupe, which parked itself in front of the Phoenix, waiting for the people to be picked up. Of course, it was also accompanied by the necessary security guards to give them their proper clearance to enter the rest of the station.

******

Sierra grinned at Smith, seeing that he was still a little ways away from being a proper salesman, but, she did have a few ideas that she would tell him... Later. After Asking the CEO, of course, though the redhead doubted the tiny Yamataian would have a problem with her plan.

"Remember people, if you need any help with these items, you may ask the station AI; it has a Database of all our products and services available for you. For those without in-built wireless abilities, you can simply ask out loud for a window to browse with, and it will appear for you."

 

[Fian]

In the meantime, Arin Berelai was still recuperating and coughing up radioactive hairballs on the Big Bird's medibay, which was great because a fully uniformed NAM Representative had no business being on Origin Industries property, there was much bad blood between both companies.

 

[Gallant]

Patiently, and perhaps a little smugly too, the NH-12R Bioweapon smoothed some of Mr. Smith’s hair back into place, taking care not to disturb the regular lay overly much as she listened to his description of the weapons on the line, and watched the Asura and the LAAW go at each other. Unbeknownst to her ride, who was nervous but composed, Naoko was also visited by memories – but different ones. The other side of the coin was not much brighter, but instead of bringing on nausea or feelings of weakness or fear, the little woman simply revisited them for their own sake, watching the playback in the back of her mind in a detached sort of way. As she viewed the bloodshed and the carnage that she had visited first on the Elysians, then on the Mishhu and the Nepleslians, for a moment it felt as if she were looking for something. Faces, maybe? Some meaning or purpose? Then, the round near the LAAW exploded, showering the world around it in fire, dirt, and debris. The little neko smiled a little bit and put it out of her mind.

Violence and explosions were the bread and butter of Nepleslians, but to Naoko they had been a visual art form comparable, perhaps, to painting fruit. It was a dry subject, but it could be pretty if you looked at it the right way. When she felt Mr. Smith turn, Naoko took a couple more moments to examine his condition. She had wished to, with her close proximity, make him uncomfortable – but she hadn’t intended to give him a heart attack, or cause too much of a scene.

“Chotto,” she said, bending slightly at the waist to whisper in Mr. Smith’s ear. “I apologize for making you so uneasy, and I am sorry, but I am not really all that dangerous so please relax, ne?” She gave him what she thought would probably be a comforting pat on the head, then straightened and asked more audibly, “What sort of programming do they use? Are they analog or digital?”

 

[Luca]

The radios on Mr. Smith, Sierra and Aerin's crackled to life with a distinctive warble of white noise, signifying a security related broadcast.

"We've got a situation at Silky Stitchings on Sector Nine near Sector Seven," the voice of a harried male security officer spoke, "We've got NMX Parasites - attempting to trace and contain now..."

After a couple of minutes, another bulletin would come through, "The Proprietor, Ms. Marsden is nowhere to be found - we need to bring her in for questioning," There was a hint of tension in his voice, "For now we can hold her responsible for this, since we can't find any trace of the Mishhu," He then corrected himself with a smug chuckle, "Except for the ones we killed on-site, of course!"

He could then be heard issuing orders to others, "Stay alert on Sector Nine near Seven - all units in the vicinity are ordered to find and apprehend Ms. Marsden. Over and out."

-

John and Hitori got their weapons cleared by the guards with relative ease, and then got themselves onto their escort as it made its way automatically through the station and towards the Captain's location.

"I don't get it," John rambled to Hitori, "How come everyone wants Luca's head all the sudden?" He then stroked his chinfluff with a cheeky grin, "The way I see it, lots of people want to give him head, but most of 'em want his head on a platter."

He then chuckled a little as he looked out the window and admired the sights as he waited for Hitori's response, half expecting a slap.

-

Back at the Firing range, the two pilots, affectionately nicknamed Tom and Dick were agreeing to disagree whilst Melissa was happily lining up a shot with the 300 metre target.
She fired once, and felt the kick of the rifle nearly knock her over.
"Alright!" She smirked with satisfaction as the target was destroyed and another was quick to take its place, "Now that's good shootin'!"

She was mostly oblivious to the message, and instead wanted to blow off some steam by shooting some targets.

Tom, who was piloting the LAAW told Dick via radio, "So, about these parasites."
"Yeah what of 'em?" Dick replied, pointing his Ashigaru's finger at the little man.
"If ya got time after lunch, want t' go squish 'em if things go out of control?"
"That's ONE thing we can agree on!" Dick bragged before asking Mr. Smith, "Can we, please? Maybe bring these idiots along too if you want?"

 

[ShotJon]

Zeta looked at message from Luca. Her face was full fo worry. She worried firstly about Luca and him being almost alone, with most of the combat-ready crew here. And secondly about Arin lying back at Big Bird. She hoped for Arin to get better soon.

Zeta shaked her head to get back into reality. Meanwhile two robots appeared on the range. Both were beutiful machines of destruction and mayhem. "I would be interested in trying out Impulse PA with assault pac. Also I would have a question about Fatboy later, if it was possible." She said to Mr. Smith.

Zeta finally smiled a little upon seeing Mell lining a distant shot like it was few meters from her. "Good shot," she said. Then radios of Mr. Smith and Miss Sierra's crackled to life. Her eyebrows went almost togeter as she scowled upon hearin information about NMX.

She walked to mr. Smith. "I would like to tighten security around Luca. I am afraid this might attempt to his life. You CEO would be in danger too that way. And if I could borrow that Impulse and any gun I would like to join Luca. Can use the time to test drive the thing. Of course I would pay it, should it be damaged in any way." She said aloud so both he and Mr. Smith hear her. She certainly wasn't looking like she was joink either.

 

[Nevaraon]

Robert stood next to Zeta. "I'd like to second that motion. Fat lot of good we do both of our bosses here." he glanced at Zeta. "I swear that these things are following us."

 

[CadetNewb]

The neko frowned, and voiced her disappointment. It said it was joking, and helped him up from the bloody warehouse floor. It told him it was all no big deal, that it was just another deal gone bad. Bodies lay strewn, broken in unimaginable ways by it's...blood tentacles. He saw the neko do things even Mishhu couldn't imagine. Then again, they weren't very imaginative in the first place. It placed a hand on his cheek to try and comfort him.

"It's our first job together, what do you expect? It'll be alright. Relax."

It's hand left behind a warm coating of red on Matthew's cheek. The enemies' blood. its own blood. His best friend and partner's blood. It was all on his face now, and it was warm.

****

Mr. Smith swallowed back the earlier bit of bile without rousing any notice. He completely ignored the Neko's ministrations and words as he continued to walk away and into the back of one of the trucks. It wasn't until he was inside,and closed the doors behind him that he spoke, voice clipped.

"Don't pretend to be my friend. You're most certainly not. We're here for business."

Though his face was lacking expression, one of Matthew's legs gave out, nearly sending him to the floor.Tremors wracked his body as he barely caught himself on a shelf. The Nepleslian took a single breath, and resiliently stood back up, forcing the trembling away.

His strength was still returning, Mr. Smith held an air of defiant dignity as he forced his way to the back. He ignored containers and racks of all sorts of arms and ammunition, and came to a trunk at last. With utter seriousness, he spoke quietly.

"This is literally all the hemosynthetic material owned by Origin Industries, Dawn Station, illegal and otherwise."

With a swift kick, the trunk popped open to reveal it's contents; eight first aid kits. Smith picked up one of the plastic kits and opened one up. His other hand pushed up his glasses with the palm. Without so much as a flourish, Matthew then produced a small half-pint vial of red fluid.

"The Star Army ships docked here sent us some humanitarian supplies to assist us with the injured. This is all that's left over and not used; a total of four pints." he spoke flatly.

At that moment, he received the message, and it wasn't anything good. The Origin Representative quickly put it away, and locked the trunk up as he stormed back out with or without the neko. Not that locking the damned thing would help. Smith yelled out in a loud, commanding and furious voice at the Pilots.

"Tom! Dick! Mishhu detected in the vicinity! Stay frosty!" He turned his glance to the rest of the Phoenix crew and spoke more gently. "With all due respect sir, I recommend taking cover or hopping into the Impulse Test Models. We do not wish for you or your crew to become injured."