HotelKilo
Inactive Member
YSS Kaiyo II
Power Armor Bay
While Herrick-hei had declared her intent to find the quartermaster, something Mehitabel had no interest in stopping her from doing, the Natria Green-clad Elysian had decided a better recourse was the PA bay. Even if there was a meal going on that everyone was supposed to attend the odds were still pretty good she could find someone down there. Someone fairly senior. It was hard to comprehend now, she reflected, how much fear had once been attached to this room in her mind.
Blood in zero-g, spinning, the stars, Eucharis behind her, and the sharp stop in friendly (armored) arms. Part of her wondered what Suites or any of her old shipmates would think about her slipping away to check out her own set of armor, to make sure it truly was there, stored safe, in all its wing protecting glory.
Candon for his part was indeed in the armor bay with parts neatly arranged in rows behind the armor rack on which his project hung while he patiently soldered circuits smaller than a grain of sand. The sound of the entrance door opening would indeed catch his attention though he couldn't possibly take his eyes off of the circuit if he ever intended to find it again.
"Don't worry, Shosa, I'll have it ready for the next sortie," he stated dully as he sustained his focus, assuming it was Jinja Emi there to micromanage him.
"Who?" Bel answered the bored voice down the line of racked armors. The speaker was bent into something, well, an armor set obviously, hard at work. Catching her lack of courtesy, she straightened slightly, "Pardon the interruption, heisho. Just new personnel checking to make sure their kit's here."
Candon paused a moment, not surprised that it wasn't the Shosa but that it was more familiar.
"I'll be right up," he claimed as he finished the circuit, "did you need any help with your suit, Bel?"
"Candon?" She stopped in place, waiting, mouth a line and eyes blank for a second as her bird brain checked the facts. Frankly she had just assumed the mental association between the working petty officer and Candon Suites was just bleed over from her day dream.
Bel is waiting casually, but gives him a quick Elysian-style bow that hides her smile for a flash, "Should I be surprised? Or have they realized a Suites-heisho per power armor bay is a valuable force-multiplier?"
"Surprise is definitely more like it. They sent me to kill Eve but Eden seemed to find a better use for her," he replied with a smile as he finished the solder weld and removed his SACOS, which he used for magnifying the tiny circuits of the complicated electronics. Stepping away from the rolling table he approached his winged friend with arms open, "How have you been?"
"Eve? Eden? I am guessing the latter is Teien-shosa that everyone's busy, ahem, commemorating in the wardroom, and the rest sounds far above my pay grade," she replies, trying to piece all of that together in her head. It hurt not having administrative access to ship records at times like this; there was no popping her communicator open to follow the path.
Bel stared at him for a minute, but before the timer ticked over to awkward lifted her arms up to wrap around him, leaning into his shoulder. Don't mention business. She stuck straight to the facts, "Alright. Busy. Joined the infantry, became a Scout, detached duty with the 1st Expeditionary Fleet's Reconnaissance and Intelligence Group for a while. Now they've sent me here."
As she let go, her wings wiggled and her eyes brightened up, "How about you though? You look, good!"
"Thanks, you too. I can tell you're no secretary anymore, you got yourself some muscle now! You're like Tsuguka with wings," he exaggerated as he let go. It was a strange thing to see her as a soldier now. Formerly the woman was a only a document's terror, but now he needed to be concerned about getting beaten a second time in the dojo.
"It's hard to know where to start since I left. I built a corporation on a planet way out in Western space and used it to secure tech data on like every Kuvexian ship, that was fun. I've finally just gone ahead and built a full custom powered armor so you know that's going to be insane. Don't be fooled, that used to be an Elysian suit, not that there's much left from the original. I caught fire in that battle where we lost Hanako's world. She's pretty upset about that," Candon listed missing one huge event, "oh, yeah! Masumi and I got married too! I wanted he to transfer over to Kaiyo but unfortunately science is the only things she's stubborn about. She's on a project that is need to know, and apparently I don't." He shrugged, it wasn't uncommon to keep projects quiet until it was necessary.
"So you have an armor project?" he inquired.
"Hahaha, Tsuguka-san could still pitch me through a couple of bulkheads, but there's a little more there," she admits with pride. He may have been exaggerating for effect, but the compliment still stuck.
As ever, Bel listened quietly to his account. It really shouldn't have been surprising Candon told her everything, not really, that's how he worked and it felt a little silly to have shied away from asking. At the same time, it really was better for him to take it at his own pace. So she nodded, made just a few comments, mostly variations of 'oh wow'. Her eyes flicked downward at the mention of Hanako's World and she nodded 'I imagine'.
"Aaaah~!" she gasped in approval, and poorly restrained delight as she clasp her hands together. Bel nodded in approval, "My congratulations to the both of you! Hopefully the wonders of virtual reality help keep you at least a tiny bit closer..."
The Elysian looked past him towards her armor, "Not yet! I will have to see what the infantry team leader wants me to do. Apparently we have two Scout-qualified infantry troopers."
"So what role are you playing in the armor team?" he asked?
"Not sure. There's another Scout aboard, a marksman I believe. May end up as her spotter, or we may end a mini-recon section," Bel shrugs slightly, "I have not met any of the existing Kaiyo armor team yet... So, I suppose when the devil drives, and all that."
"You can only be so proactive," Candon shrugged, "so how has your personal life been"
"At my pay grade," Bel agrees. Then... Personal life? She... Didn't have one. She shrugs slightly, "Nothing that really surpasses getting married. Or comes close. I've been in the field pretty much since I left Eucharis, or training."
The spook just nodded. There wasn't really much said, but maybe there was more to learn.
"Are you any good?" he asked.
"Moderately. I'm good at being quiet, and I actually know how to use armor now," she says.
She shakes her head, "Nothing compared to you, or Tsu-san, or up to SAINT standards... But practice makes you better, right?"
Again he shrugged.
"I guess we'll see. It sounds like you've been practicing a lot," Candon stated, going back over to his work station, "I've been toying with the idea of organizing some drills to gauge the crew's abilities. It's not my job anymore but I'd like to know who's good and who needs reassignment. The war is going to make it harder to arrange."
"Oh? Who is in charge here?" she asked, carefully skirting any suggestion of feeling out an opinion on them from Candon. Yet the implication remained hovering even after she followed him towards his project, Bel tipped a hand slightly, "True. Although the reaper does tend to winnow out those of... Less competence, from field operations. Which has not been me. Yet."
The PA boomed out. She flashed Candon a brief smile, "Up and at it huh? See you out there, Suites-heisho!"
Mehitabel bounded to her armor, donning it like the second skin it functionally was. A very heavy one loaded with sophisticated electronics and ordnance. Flexing her wings, she joined up with the growing group of infantry listening to their mission brief. There was admittedly a flash of surprise at being allotted a slot in the first wave, being brand new and all. Oh well, maybe they just wanted cannon fodder. That thought was surprisingly less disturbing than it might have been.
Closing up with the rest of the team, her eye flicked across her HUD taking in the information being presented on their target so far.
Power Armor Bay
While Herrick-hei had declared her intent to find the quartermaster, something Mehitabel had no interest in stopping her from doing, the Natria Green-clad Elysian had decided a better recourse was the PA bay. Even if there was a meal going on that everyone was supposed to attend the odds were still pretty good she could find someone down there. Someone fairly senior. It was hard to comprehend now, she reflected, how much fear had once been attached to this room in her mind.
Blood in zero-g, spinning, the stars, Eucharis behind her, and the sharp stop in friendly (armored) arms. Part of her wondered what Suites or any of her old shipmates would think about her slipping away to check out her own set of armor, to make sure it truly was there, stored safe, in all its wing protecting glory.
Candon for his part was indeed in the armor bay with parts neatly arranged in rows behind the armor rack on which his project hung while he patiently soldered circuits smaller than a grain of sand. The sound of the entrance door opening would indeed catch his attention though he couldn't possibly take his eyes off of the circuit if he ever intended to find it again.
"Don't worry, Shosa, I'll have it ready for the next sortie," he stated dully as he sustained his focus, assuming it was Jinja Emi there to micromanage him.
"Who?" Bel answered the bored voice down the line of racked armors. The speaker was bent into something, well, an armor set obviously, hard at work. Catching her lack of courtesy, she straightened slightly, "Pardon the interruption, heisho. Just new personnel checking to make sure their kit's here."
Candon paused a moment, not surprised that it wasn't the Shosa but that it was more familiar.
"I'll be right up," he claimed as he finished the circuit, "did you need any help with your suit, Bel?"
"Candon?" She stopped in place, waiting, mouth a line and eyes blank for a second as her bird brain checked the facts. Frankly she had just assumed the mental association between the working petty officer and Candon Suites was just bleed over from her day dream.
Bel is waiting casually, but gives him a quick Elysian-style bow that hides her smile for a flash, "Should I be surprised? Or have they realized a Suites-heisho per power armor bay is a valuable force-multiplier?"
"Surprise is definitely more like it. They sent me to kill Eve but Eden seemed to find a better use for her," he replied with a smile as he finished the solder weld and removed his SACOS, which he used for magnifying the tiny circuits of the complicated electronics. Stepping away from the rolling table he approached his winged friend with arms open, "How have you been?"
"Eve? Eden? I am guessing the latter is Teien-shosa that everyone's busy, ahem, commemorating in the wardroom, and the rest sounds far above my pay grade," she replies, trying to piece all of that together in her head. It hurt not having administrative access to ship records at times like this; there was no popping her communicator open to follow the path.
Bel stared at him for a minute, but before the timer ticked over to awkward lifted her arms up to wrap around him, leaning into his shoulder. Don't mention business. She stuck straight to the facts, "Alright. Busy. Joined the infantry, became a Scout, detached duty with the 1st Expeditionary Fleet's Reconnaissance and Intelligence Group for a while. Now they've sent me here."
As she let go, her wings wiggled and her eyes brightened up, "How about you though? You look, good!"
"Thanks, you too. I can tell you're no secretary anymore, you got yourself some muscle now! You're like Tsuguka with wings," he exaggerated as he let go. It was a strange thing to see her as a soldier now. Formerly the woman was a only a document's terror, but now he needed to be concerned about getting beaten a second time in the dojo.
"It's hard to know where to start since I left. I built a corporation on a planet way out in Western space and used it to secure tech data on like every Kuvexian ship, that was fun. I've finally just gone ahead and built a full custom powered armor so you know that's going to be insane. Don't be fooled, that used to be an Elysian suit, not that there's much left from the original. I caught fire in that battle where we lost Hanako's world. She's pretty upset about that," Candon listed missing one huge event, "oh, yeah! Masumi and I got married too! I wanted he to transfer over to Kaiyo but unfortunately science is the only things she's stubborn about. She's on a project that is need to know, and apparently I don't." He shrugged, it wasn't uncommon to keep projects quiet until it was necessary.
"So you have an armor project?" he inquired.
"Hahaha, Tsuguka-san could still pitch me through a couple of bulkheads, but there's a little more there," she admits with pride. He may have been exaggerating for effect, but the compliment still stuck.
As ever, Bel listened quietly to his account. It really shouldn't have been surprising Candon told her everything, not really, that's how he worked and it felt a little silly to have shied away from asking. At the same time, it really was better for him to take it at his own pace. So she nodded, made just a few comments, mostly variations of 'oh wow'. Her eyes flicked downward at the mention of Hanako's World and she nodded 'I imagine'.
"Aaaah~!" she gasped in approval, and poorly restrained delight as she clasp her hands together. Bel nodded in approval, "My congratulations to the both of you! Hopefully the wonders of virtual reality help keep you at least a tiny bit closer..."
The Elysian looked past him towards her armor, "Not yet! I will have to see what the infantry team leader wants me to do. Apparently we have two Scout-qualified infantry troopers."
"So what role are you playing in the armor team?" he asked?
"Not sure. There's another Scout aboard, a marksman I believe. May end up as her spotter, or we may end a mini-recon section," Bel shrugs slightly, "I have not met any of the existing Kaiyo armor team yet... So, I suppose when the devil drives, and all that."
"You can only be so proactive," Candon shrugged, "so how has your personal life been"
"At my pay grade," Bel agrees. Then... Personal life? She... Didn't have one. She shrugs slightly, "Nothing that really surpasses getting married. Or comes close. I've been in the field pretty much since I left Eucharis, or training."
The spook just nodded. There wasn't really much said, but maybe there was more to learn.
"Are you any good?" he asked.
"Moderately. I'm good at being quiet, and I actually know how to use armor now," she says.
She shakes her head, "Nothing compared to you, or Tsu-san, or up to SAINT standards... But practice makes you better, right?"
Again he shrugged.
"I guess we'll see. It sounds like you've been practicing a lot," Candon stated, going back over to his work station, "I've been toying with the idea of organizing some drills to gauge the crew's abilities. It's not my job anymore but I'd like to know who's good and who needs reassignment. The war is going to make it harder to arrange."
"Oh? Who is in charge here?" she asked, carefully skirting any suggestion of feeling out an opinion on them from Candon. Yet the implication remained hovering even after she followed him towards his project, Bel tipped a hand slightly, "True. Although the reaper does tend to winnow out those of... Less competence, from field operations. Which has not been me. Yet."
The PA boomed out. She flashed Candon a brief smile, "Up and at it huh? See you out there, Suites-heisho!"
Mehitabel bounded to her armor, donning it like the second skin it functionally was. A very heavy one loaded with sophisticated electronics and ordnance. Flexing her wings, she joined up with the growing group of infantry listening to their mission brief. There was admittedly a flash of surprise at being allotted a slot in the first wave, being brand new and all. Oh well, maybe they just wanted cannon fodder. That thought was surprisingly less disturbing than it might have been.
Closing up with the rest of the team, her eye flicked across her HUD taking in the information being presented on their target so far.