RP: YSS Heartbreaker [Mission V] Whole World Askin' How I Does That

Shuttle Bay
Takeshi

Takeshi felt much more like his usual self now. He looked over at Skade. "Someone has been living on this ship? Maybe he can tell us something about the shuttle over there." He said hopefully. "You can use the power for something else now. I'm recharged enough for a while. If we're here longer than that we've got worse problems." The android thought about the situation for a minute. "Maybe we can steal power from the ship, or reverse the mechanism that drained us." The fact that this person had been living here was worrying in some ways, but it also might be advantageous. "Ask the Sutauto-hei person if he knows where either the Bridge or Engineering are."

Shuttle Bay

Skade looked at Takeshi, giving him a smile as she walked back to him. “Filled up, huh?” she asked, kneeling next to him. “Okay, if you’re sure,” she said, patting him on the shoulder before unplugging him from the shuttle, a little sad that the nanites retreated into his body. “Just tell me if you need more, okay?”

The technician pulled her roll of Molecure tape out and wrapped it around the adapter she had made and the shuttle’s power cable, making a poor substitute for Saba’s built-in system. She then pulled her suit over and plugged it into the port, letting it slowly charge up. Looking at the android, she said, “Stand guard, would you? Need to start kludging things.” Get some energy stored up and then we can start experimenting, she thought, with a smile.

Corridor

The I'ee finished prodding and chopping at the infected Vekimen once their limbs and tendrils finished twitching, and were shooed away from the corpses by Edtoto soon after. Although the parasites seemed to affect the Vekimen in many unique ways, there was nothing about these particular two bodies that seemed too different from the many samples taken while cleaning out the Vekimen Colony Station. Even though their breath was no longer a problem, there was still a noticeable smell that Corgan had to withstand alone.

The newly arrived Medic recognized the I'ee and Vekimen, even though he hadn't had a name for them until a few moments ago. Edtoto looked noticeably better fed, not to mention more civilized, than the ones he'd seen patrolling the corridors or standing guard. Standing guard over several important places, like the area he would have denoted as Engineering if this had been a Star Army ship. The ship had power, and it was obviously coming from that place...but that was as much as he understood. He was a doctor, damn it, not an engineer.

Shuttle Bay

With the android no longer in any danger of unexpectedly shutting down, Skade pulled the plug, unaware of the trace amounts of nanites lingering on the shuttle's end of the connection. Soon her Mindy 3 was receiving its own trickle of charge, as the android was assigned guard duty, leaving her free to grill their new friend about the alien ship's source of power.

Corridor

The Thi-Thi pilots were reluctant to leave the corpses alone, allowing themselves to be herded away before drifting back to cut and poke at the bodies some more. It was as if they couldn't be sure enough that the things were dead. They ignored the newcomer now: Apparently content with him being the business of the others, whom he could actually communicate with.

Edtoto sighed. "I had a bad feeling about this. They may not be particularly tough, but they are faster and far more lethal than an uninfected Vekimen. We were lucky with these ones, we are going to have to really feel an eye out. They could come from anywhere, just like this one. Speaking of," The woman said, turning to the Medic. "We need information. There is a Star Army craft outside of this ship, and we need to get back to it. I can offer you safe passage to the ship, from here, if you can assist us in getting power back to our power armours. Right now we are working off a trickle feed from technology I am not fully aware of. I need everything. Troops on the ship, where they keep supplies, where potential weak points are. If we can go through and widdle away at whatever enemy forces on this ship, that will be that many fewer enemies to stop us from dealing wth this craft. If you can't help us, then I guess we will simply have to do this the hard way," She explained, reloading the shotgun.

Corridor

"I've deduced what I believe is the engineering bay, and I have a feeling the answer lies there. The problem is that it is guarded and I am low on ammunition." He checked the battery level, trying to figure out how many shots he had left before he was dead on energy. He frowned behind his helmet, trying to think if he had any ammunition in his hold behind him, which he didn't believe there was.

"If we can find more ammunition either stashed on the ship I rode in on or where ever, that will increase our chances. Besides that, it's all up to improvisation, I'm a medic, not a strategist. I'll follow your lead."

Shuttle Bay

“Skade-hei here,” the technician said over the comm, hoping that the new guy could either hear her or that Edtoto could relay her question to him, “I’m wondering the locations of both the engineering bay that you were talking about and the ship that you came in. What kind of ship was it and were there other survivors besides yourself?” Probably not a happy question, but it’s a question that needs to be asked.

As she waited for an answer, she pulled up ways to charge the batteries from her pistol and hopefully what the medic was using as well. Who knows how long we’ll be here, but sounds like we’ll need all the power we can get to break through to engineering.

Corridor

T-39 looked around at the group, mostly in confusion. Then, she spread her arms, and said, "Maybe we can look for some weapons that don't need to reload, like hammers and blades? It looks like you could use some new accessories!" She hadn't thought to bring any maces or greatclubs in her sample kit. Hopefully, it wouldn't come down to using glass shards as knives; those didn't seem fashionable, under the circumstances.

Hallway

Corgan shrugged and dropped his hand. Maybe shaking hands wasn't a thing in Yamatai. The news that they were facing infected Vekimen was worrying. "Guess it's a good thing we have a Vekimen with us." He said cheerfully. No way he was going to die on this mission, not after the party Edtoto had offered him later. He looked back at the I'ee and sighed. "Come on ladies, step away from the corpses. I'll give you all the hugs and juice boxes you want later if you listen to me." From what he thought he knew of I'ee, that was like offering a Nepleslian a rocket launcher.

He turned to the medic. "Where the hell did you even come from? I don't see any doors." His eyes scanned the hallway for any obvious signs of a door. While they were just standing around he reloaded his .45. He really needed to go through that trunk and replace all that junk with things he might actually need. Like batteries, grenades, and some extra magazines.

Shuttle

Takeshi nodded and walked towards the shuttle door, squeezing Skade's hand reassuringly as he passed her. It was more for reassuring himself, though he would never admit that. "I won't move until you tell me to." He informed her from the doorway. The android held his hands forward, palms out. Anything that came close he would either hit with a scalar pulse or burst of flame. "I recall that the Corgan fellow has explosive rounds in a bandolier strapped to his armor. They might come in handy if we need to destroy the ship or create a distraction."

While Edtoto's plan made sense, time was not on their side in this situation.

Their new friend the Medic had been trapped here long enough to know what new arrivals meant...especially when the first had been NMX and the second Star Army. The weapon had destroyed those it hadn't captured, and the few that had attempted to escape the alien craft had been shot down the moment they got outside. Now the weapon was charging again, and the Mishhu-infected aliens were guarding the main power source.

If there really was a Star Army vessel outside, or other friendly craft, there were likely only minutes remaining before the weapon obliterated them. Then he'd be trapped here again, but at least this time his new shipmates would be able to talk to him. Most of them. Although those NMX would probably figure out how to open the alien ship's strange doors and hunt him down eventually.

What they had on hand at the moment was all they had to work with. Isao had his current weapon, a sidearm, and a few alien trinkets that might double as makeshift weapons in a pinch. Along with some tattered uniforms and rations that wouldn't stretch long between the lot of them. He'd have to break that news to them, and get them moving, or his chance at escape would turn into a death sentence. Which seemed like a sad end, after he'd survived all these years, hoping Uesu's Fleet would return to recover him.

Corridor

Though the Thi-Thi were no where near as cuddly as the Ee'ith, the two pilots were still intrigued enough by Corgan's offer of hugs and juice to step away from the mangled Mishhuvarthyar corpses, instead hanging around the Nepleslian and peering at him with curiousity. With their attention shifted to their allies, the I'ee listened in silence as the others discussed their plans. Truthfully, when their ship had been drawn into the alien vessel, the Thi-Thi's first plan of action was to rig the craft's particle core to detonate, hopefully damaging the enemy from within. It was only when they found their ship's power completely drained, and the now-inert particle contaiment reduced to slag and swiss cheese, that they'd begun gearing up in order to sally forth.

Corridor

The medic motioned to a wall with his thumb, "The doors are sealing, and are almost designed to meld into the walls." He walked over to it and got it to trigger, the wall receding to show a room just big enough to fit about four power armors shoulder to shoulder. It was still littered with all of his equipment. He took about a step in and pulled out a few dead battery magazines and stored them in the Armor. He then took the battle rifle he had held earlier and slung it over his shoulder with it's sling. It had a fresh magazine banded to the other side using a medical tape.

As he began looking for magazines for the battle rifle, he found the saber for his SMG, and attached it to the end. He dug out the few other magazines and stowed them as well before stepping back out and closed the wall behind him, there was a glimpse of clothing folded over, signifying their thoughts, bearing the old Hinomaru and was out of date by nine years to anyone who had studied Star Army uniforms.

"We need to get to the engineering bay, we might be able to brute force our way in."

The Saber made the SMG long on the front end, but would be a weapon that would never need to reload, and the battle rifle would not pierce Power Armor with any reliable worth. He turned to the group, the helmet giving off a stern look.

"We need to move, unless we get their attention here or get the engineering to go up in fire, your ship and what ever else outside that they have been firing at will be smoldering hulks and corpses."

Shuttle

Well, dang it all, Skade thought, as she listened to Isao talk. Turns out we don’t have all the time in the world. “We’ll be there in a minute,” she said, accessing the power armor’s systems to see if it would be worth it to bring it along with them. Heck, maybe I can actually turn on the aether generator or something. It’d be nice to have some actual fire power.

Edtoto growled. They were on a deadline? Great. Wonderful. PERFECT! Then something hit her like a truck. "The Aether Generator..." She said, looking at the shotgun, then at Corgan. "The Aether Generator!" She almost shouted, cutting the box of shotgun shells off her leg and jamming the shotgun and shells into Corgans arms. "You need this now! I'll be right back!" She said, bolting back down the halls towards the shuttlebay. Her legs could carry her pretty fast at a full sprint, letting her reach the bay in no time. She bolted right past Saba and Skade, almost toppling her PA over.

She hopped into it, and it closed around her. As expected, it was telling her that there was low power, but that was total nonsense. How, could an Aether Generator have low power? That didn't work, it was literally unlimited energy. Something was wrong, and they didn't have time to try anything else, so she was going to use some advanced Vekimen technical know-how to get it working. Give it a metaphorical kick in the ass! She wasn't going to tell anyone though... She was pretty sure the system would overload and fail, and worst comes to worst, she was probably going to turn into a nicely done Vekimen full body steak, but honestly, it didn't matter.

She pulled up her suits programming. Increasing the power output of the generator by 300% for less than a second. Hopefully, that wouldn't fry her systems, before the system dropped it down to 75%. Then she would put it back to 100%. She took a deep breath. "Well, if this doesn't work..." She said, before giving the suit her kick. The suit systems shot to life, and the first thing she noticed was it got really hot, but she wasn't dead... Yet. She still wasn't dead. 20 seconds passed, and the systems were running properly. STILL WASN'T DEAD!

"Systems are running, all power optimal... Why didn't I think about this before?" She asked aloud, rolling her arms a little. Her Aether SMG hummed to life. Skade, it hurts if you aren't cold blooded, but up your generator to 300% for about half a second, then drop it down to 75%. I need to go an reinforce the forward group! Get yourself operational, find my IFF, let's get this dealt with!" She yelled, running back to meet up with the group.

After a few minutes of what could be confusion, they would see the armoured Vekimen turn the corner, weapons in hand. Looking at Corgan, she tapped her two fingers to her helmet in a peace sign. "I would still like that shotgun when we leave, if the offer is there," She said, walking forward. "Now, about Engineering? You were saying something about Mishhu guards?'

Corgan

Corgan stared at the shotgun and shells Edtoto suddenly shoved into his hands. "Wait, where are you going!?" He called after her. Damn it, he thought. With an exasperated sigh, the Nepleslian put down his handgun and switched the safety on before stuffing it in the back of his pants. He loaded the shotgun and placed the rest of the shells in his pocket. At least she left me the shotgun.

"Yamatai guy, you said something about blowing up engineering. I've got explosives back in the shuttle bay that should do the trick." He informed Isao without looking. Corgan held the shotgun at the ready until Edtoto came back. He turned to see he wearing her armor, which she had somehow charged. "Edtoto, could you radio Skade? I don't know if she can do whatever you just did to my armor, it's not Aether, but see if she'll try. Oh, and ask her to bring the explosive canisters strapped to my armor." He requested. "Those guards shouldn't be too tough if they're like the ones we just killed."

Takeshi

The android watched Edtoto come back, fiddle with her armor, then put it on and run away. He was surprised what she tried didn't blow them all up. "Almost all charged up, Skade-chan?" Takeshi asked. He was getting worried about the rest of the crew. They could all be dead by no, and no one inside this horrible ship would know. Maybe destroying the ship would leave them stranded in space and with nowhere to go.

Thankfully, Edtoto was not cooked alive, nor did her armor decide to react poorly to the tampering and safety overrides necessary to perform that little stunt. Skade understood what the Vekimen had done while she was watching it happen, and was actually not surprised she hadn't thought of it. She was more surprised Edtoto's suit hadn't exploded or melted down, possibly taking them along with her. The Engineer thought she could replicate the hackjob herself, although doing it from outside the armor would likely be much safer. Unfortunately, the android wasn't aether powered.

With a plan hastily worked up and the Vekimen already returning, the I'ee hovering around Corgan seemed more than eager to head further inside. Isao knew their destination wasn't too far away...a corner here, a hidden door there, down a side passage...

Shuttle

Skade turned to look at the lizard as well, watching her violate a number of safety protocols, and then blink in surprise as it proceeded to work. Well, now I feel stupid, she thought, shaking her head before turning to her Mindy. Really shouldn’t have to do anything that drastic for the jumpstart, since I got some power already. Turning it up to 200% and dumping the batteries should do the trick. “Sounds like a plan,” she said to the Vekimen.

“Yeah, almost done,” she told Saba, quickly programming the suit to perform its unorthodox task, then crossed her fingers as she triggered the program. Even though she withdrew her hand as fast as she could, she felt the heat that Edtoto had warned her about. Once the cycle was complete, she hesitantly accessed the suit’s diagnostics and breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness it worked.

“Can you go get me Corgan’s suit, Takeshi-kun?” the Neko asked, looking at him with one eye as she reverted the power settings to their default setting and started fabricating a couple of new power lines. “We’ll get you topped off as well before we go and join them.”

Corridor

The I'ee seemed pleased that their alien friends were getting their armoured suits online once more. The one pilot who'd lost her gun had found it again, but aside from that the two wasps were woefully under-armed. It didn't seem to bother them in the slightest, however. Instead, they seemed more eager than ever to get a move on, pacing impatiently to and fro.

Takeshi
Shuttle

Saba was happy to be doing something. He was torn between the desire to protect Skade and the desire to kill the Mishu. "I will bring it, for you." He said, subtly implying he wouldn't be doing it for Corgan's sake. His arms fell to his sides and he floated to Corgan's armor. He considered leaving the Nepleslian's gun and the trunk. Skade hadn't said anything about those. Deciding that would provide no benefit and possibly be detrimental to Skade and himself, he closed the lid and reattached the survival kit to the armor.

The android carried the armor with the attached HPAR-33 to the shuttle. He climbed up into the vehicle, then pulled the armor in and set it down near Skade. "Delivery for Skade Masashiga." Takeshi said, trying for a joke.

Shuttle

“Arigatou, Takeshi Deliveries,” Skade said, smiling at the android when he came back, both freshly fabricated power cords in hand. After a moment of looking for the socket on the Origin suit, she plugged one of them into Corgan’s armor and then stood up to plug the other one into Saba.

“Do you want your payment now,” the Neko asked, giving him a wink as she slid the power cord home, “Or can I write up a check?”