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RP: NSS Sledge Mama [NSS Sledge Mama] Ep. 3 - Into Steel

"Not enjoying it? Well, suck it up soldier - you're being paid to after all," Ylfa teasingly remarked. "And the hell if I know when we're arriving. They're not paying me enough to be the Captain," she shrugged, just as Mayumi spoke up to answer Richard.

"It varies from squad to squad, but you can at least expect one or two of the weapons. We only take headshots when the opportunity comes along or we're specifically told to. Otherwise, it's just what our anti-armor specialist uses," the Neko pointed out. "Honestly though, you should all already know this - we've been staring at each other for a long time now," she added.

"Ohhhhhh...you've been staring at them? What's that supposed to mean, huh?" Emi quickly chimed in, gunning for the kill with a mischievous smile.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" the Star Army officer started to pout with embarrassment. Despite the rank she held, her youth was obviously not just skin deep. That put into question how the rest of the SAoY was, but that remained to be seen. Waving their comments off, Ylfa pressed on,

"So far, you're all about right. They're one of the priority targets to either suppress or kill." Taking into Sawyer's comment though, she nodded. "It's what happens when a new sausage is made out of all the scraps they could get. But yeah, if the two Corporals see a good opportunity, or I kick the bucket, make the call." Rubbing her chin a bit in thought, she snapped her fingers. "There's two more big things I think I gotta cover. There's the fact that their Daisy has that forearm SWAT shield, and then there's their Aether. I'll just focus on that hot white stuff, yeah?" she asked them all.
 
Mark smirked at the Terrence's defense for its stuttering but decided to go no further than that. "I was thinkin' Sarge, that if we could get a hold of several of my personal favorite, The DD Power Armor, with their standard equipment package and and enough droids to pose as us; we could sneak around while using the droids as a distraction while we surprise them. The EMP rifle should be able to disable any armor we come across." Mark said scanning the faces of his new squad. "I don't suppose any of you know how to pilot those do you?"
 
Max had sat and listened to the briefing. He wasn't extremely familiar with Star Army equipment and it was all rather refreshing. He did however perk up at the mention of the cannon and its lethality. It was something that should concern them but it wasn't something that they couldn't overcome. Of course, having their NCO knocked out of battle would prove a problem, similar to their assault on the NMX ship, but they had bounced back relatively well, mostly because Ylfa was around to help I suppose. It was still something to consider and plan for.

"Sir, isn't there either the power source they use for their armor and some of their weapons? Doesn't that stuff eat through armor similar to how incendiaries work?" Asked Max, not entirely sure if this was the correct theory. He figured it was an appropriate way to start the conversation.
 
"Also don't forget that those bloody gauss guns can also fire in burts. It is not single round only, so don't think that if you get up close and personal that they cannot use the gun, cause they bloody can. When I get to use my VOID again, I will make sure to have shield-walls up, those can take the hit from most PA weaponry we encounter, save from really heavy shit like what Render and Ravager mecha have." Lisa added a quip of info on her own.

She then looked at Ylfa. "I will talk it out with Sawyer boss, maybe we could make two squads out of this lot. It should make us more flexible in combat as well. If that is okay with you."
 
Richard nodded to Mayumi's comments taking in the information and trying to plan for it. "This is gonna be a big play book, just for dealing with that gun....and Sarge you said it's not even the worst we have to put up with?" He sighed and stroked his goatee as he thought. For obvious reasons the fresh out of boot camp soldier had never had to deal with Aether weapons, only had discussions about them so he still couldn't full picture just how bad they were, not knowing what was exaggeration and what was truth.

Hearing what Max said got him thinking about some things, but he didn't want to speak up about it till Ylfa finished her explanation of Aether.
 
"The Dark Demons?"

The way Ylfa asked that seriously, leaning in, it almost sounded like they were all Nords gathered around a campfire at night, talking about legends. Her look of puzzlement broke that mental imagery though. "Mmmm...Honestly, I don't know if that's going to work out at all. The suits are non-standard, and on top of that, EMP just isn't good at killing by itself. It's got to be followed up by something to finish the job fast, and that's an extra step." She pointed a thumb at the Hostile next to her. "Even these aren't really going to be bothered by an EMP anymore, and since the Mindy and Daisy are semi-organic, I think they're even less vulnerable," she pointed out. Max caught her attention though.

"Marine, we just don't like that stuff over here in Nepleslia, but in Yamatai, it's as common as water," the Sergeant explained. "The energy an Aether system is infinite, and the weird-ass particles that come from that negative space-wedgie they make are a nightmare to deal with when weaponized. The only real upside for us is that it'll always show up on sensors like a huge 'Over Here' sign. They can still run dark and suddenly turn it all on though," Ylfa added. The chain binding her to the green eyed POW clinked as she moved to sit on top of the bin full of parts. It wasn't a soapbox, but, it was close enough. "And yes Marine," she addressed Richard, "This is some of The Worst stuff they got to toss at us, besides the Katana Freaks. No offense."

"Neko in Nepleslia-land. Nothing to see here," Emi preempted the other Nekovalkyrja's tirade of what was most likely 'Honor!' and such. She had to settle for an angry look.

"If the 50mm Cannon hits you in the chest without your energy barrier, you'll get some broken ribs on top of getting rung like a bell. Aether? Expect some thermal bleed-through to give you second or third degree burns on top of your plates glowing a dull red. Get hit again too soon around that spot, and it's game over." Pointing a finger at Richard, she gave him a verbal pat on the head. "He's got it right that they're going to need a major playbook. Fighting them is a totally different ball game, especially since their stealth systems are flat out better than ours. And that's their stock stuff too."

"Anyone ever get to mess with volumetrics?" she asked. "And not you two. You two don't count," Ylfa went on, noticing Mayumi starting to raise her hand.

It seemed she was the butt-monkey of the group.
 
"Well if you won't hook me up with some of the good gear, would it possible to just get the Demon's dark packs and rig them to the Hostiles; that way we could have the Hostile's snake skin visual camo and the DD's stealth device to protect us from sensors we might be able to come up with something. "I didn't get to play with that stuff in New Detroit or since boot so I'm at a loss."

"You guys ever been down to New Detroit?" He asked, turning to face the rest of the group " There was this seedy little back alley bar that my buddy and I would go down to every night after duty for months. I wonder if that place is still around." He said, looking toward the group lost in thought.
 
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Rachael had finally spoke up at that point. "Having a moment of nostalgia there, Marine?" She said with a slight smirk, it was hard to tell if she was being a little arrogant, a little teasing, or perhaps a bit sincere, she herself at one point had a life before this. It wasn't one she particularly enjoyed remembering outside of a few hit or miss good times, but she did respect those few good times. "No I haven't been there, however I have been to bars like it." She then turns and looked at her commanding officer. "I can't say I have, volumetrics isn't a strong suit. In fact most anything Academic wasn't a strong suit of mine..." She said idly, after having said that, she goes back to being that wall-flower type where she simply listened.
 
"Hostile's snake-skin is just fine. Demons are old and more like bunch of scrap compared to what we have now. Even ELEMENT series did better job then Demons. Crooked and Dark Demons? Sure those can do some damage, but they are too specialised. You can do anything with a Hostile. Well maybe except close combat, but it can hold its own there too." Lisa talked again, she was getting a bit annoyed with the way tall marine complained all the time. It seemed to her as if he thought he was in a summer camp and marine corps. "Also about eather, if you see a Mindy, those are the kitty-suits without shield strapped to its hand, don't get too close. First, the forearm shields they project can stop most of you can dish out, and experienced kitty, can see where you shoot and just put the shield there. Careful about those and if you get too closer, those suits have aether weapon on both forearms, and those have a mode which is a big fucking laser blade. Those will just cut you in half pretty much, they have them for hull cutting, but it can cut armours too and kitties are pretty fast with those."
 
"Hey Sarge I think I got an idea how we can deal with these guys. Since they have better stealth than us, they probably wont be expecting us to take advantage of it. I don't know about the aether guns, but it's sounding like the 50mm is gonna need some pretty good aiming since it's a bullet. Why not have the snake skin active on all our armors and have the drones out? They can still see us on radar, but visually it'll be hard. If we mix a Raider armor in there with it's better stealth system. I don't think it'll finish them off but if we can keep ourselves and the drones out of good sight lines, like in dense forest, we could maybe get the raiders in and take out the 50mms."
 
"Maybe just a little ma'am." Mark said to Rachael forgetting her name. He turned to look at Lisa. "It was just an idea. I wasn't being serious about the Demon being better. I prefer it and am better with it but I recognize the flaws. I just kinda wanted one." He said with a sheepish smile. He scanned the faces of the assembled squad and composed his thought before he began to speak. "Even though I hate all you greens deep down, including Sarge and the corporals, this assignment might not be as bad as I originally imagined."
 
Max glanced over at Mark when he made his comment. "What exactly do you mean Greens?" Max said confused and slightly aggressive. He wasn't sure if Mark was making an insult or not. It wouldn't be surprised as Max seem to note that Mark kept putting his foot in his mouth, he just wished he'd stop antagonizing the rest of the squad.
 
"No way we're using the Demons guys. We just wouldn't get them in time anyways. And volumetrics are basically crazy good camouflage systems," she replied. "Nearly flawless - you'll only spot them as silhouettes with radar on your HUD." A thin, sly smile emerged on the tall blond's lips as she sat there, listening to her troops talk about the enemy's power armor. Carefully taking it in, she considered the rest of her reply carefully. Right up until the moment Mark opened his mouth.

A flat, no-bullshit question came out of Ylfa as a simple "What?" Ylfa honestly had a hard time believing what she just heard. The Sergeant rubbed her temple as she leaned forward, an elbow resting on her knee in exasperation, before looking at him right in the eyes. "Kid. Little boy," the woman started slowly. "If you're head is still back in Year What-the-Bum-Fuck, you really need to get it out of then and back into the now, ASAP. Now, if you're still running off of some preprogrammed training they crammed into your jar, time to grow out of that shit. And if neither of those deal with the luggage you got, then you need to ask yourself real well why you're even serving with people you hate; people which your life is going to be counting on." Though she wasn't as tall as Mark, she casted a far longer shadow. "Speaking of said people - you and Sawyer get command if I bite it Lisa, but you'll have to wing-it with the fire teams. The fight's going to be mobile to the point it might not even matter how you organize them. Just go with whoever's closest." With that out of the way, she addressed them all this time.

"Now," Ylfa quickly went on, quickly changing her beat into something cheery, "On to that Kitty-Suit with that forearm energy shield!"

"The Mindy is not the same 'kitty-suit' you knew anymore!" a voice suddenly spoke up. Standing there, as the source, was a certain Neko, patriotic and nationalistic to the last. "Thanks to the clever efforts of Miharu Light Industries, the Mindy Two has been upgraded with the latest in Yama-Dura armor, bringing it up to spec in terms of base durability of the Daisy Two! In combination with the already astounding illusions of invisibility our hologram systems - our volumetric projectors - it's even harder to kill than ever " Mayumi was speaking excitedly and with gusto at this point, like a fangirl rabidly talking about her favorite anime with religious devotion. The outburst was enough of a surprise that her counterpart, Emi, raised both her eyebrows in surprise. "On top of that, the forearm shields were discarded in favor of a full body conformal barrier system and a more efficient, streamlined Aether weapon system to ensure victory through firepower for Nyamatai!" At that, she froze, fist still raised in the air in a cheer frozen with utter horror.

"What...what did you just say?" Emi asked slowly in disbelief.
 
"I'm sorry Sarge. The gas Emi released somethings that I haven't completely regain control of yet. I might not agree with how everything works but I don't hate most of the people. You won't hear anything like that again." Mark found himself taking a couple steps back with a confused look on his face whem Mayumi started to speak. "If that is what Yamatai does to their people, remind me not to upset them." He said, regaining some of his senses, looking from Mayumi to the rest of the squad.
 
Rachael just stares at Mayumi with a look of...what? Out of everything that was said by Richard, and the others that fangirl like explosion of squees just completely eradicated her focus and caused her to just...stare at Mayumi. "..." She couldn't find words to speak, she went from a shy, embarrassed little Neko to a vastly boisterous Neko. She paused a moment and sighed before shaking her head. "Well...that was interesting.."
 
Richard wore a thin smile on his face as Ylfa chewed into Max over his rather arrogant statement. Hearing Mayumi go off on her fan rant was surprising though, and have him at the brink of chuckling seeing the contrast in her previous personality and how she was acting now. He even had a few things to say just to see if he could get her to continue with such an emphatic nature, but all that was lost in the moment as the word Nyamatai slipped through her lips. He chuckled briefly but quickly held it in, but it was fairly obvious that he did catch that.
 
Lisa regarded the group with a silent look. She noticed Ylfa slipping the word and felt like a certain tension appeared in Emi and Mayumi. It was time to broke that and show that the work was not meant in bad manner. Humour saved a lot of situations in past, no reason why it could not help now. So Lisa waked to Mayumi and hugged her over the shoulder.

"Haha, Nyamatai," Lisa said out loud and laughed. "A good fun eh? We all need a reason to smile. That was great Boss."
 
"Riiiiight," Ylfa sarcastically replied, leaning back a bit as she relaxed.

"I dunno, he might really mean it," Mark heard a girlishly familiar voice worry. He could see it, right at the edge of his vision, but the moment he turned to look, his eyes blinked as well. It was already gone, but the young marine could have sworn he saw a certain purple pony. Not that anyone else noticed.

"Huh. That odd. This was the liveliest I've seen you since...when you were first captured? You weren't quite like this when they took their sweet time getting you off that thing," Emi casually commented. The Neko was honestly thinking back to that time as she moved to lean against the Hostile behind her, arms up to pad the back of her head. Mayumi though, remained quiet as she furiously blushed, eyes downcast at the hard metal floor. The memory of that prison cell and her interrogation was still on her mind, through this entire event with only a reprieve here and there. But on top of that? What she had accidentally said, and in front of a crowd of Nepleslians of all people, was likely something that she would never be able to live down.

It was embarrassing enough to die from! The Shame!

"Nyanmatai. I really like that Mayumi. I'll remember it," the blond woman wolfishly grinned at the Neko; her eyes glanced over at Lisa's attempt to smooth any blows that the two Neko might have taken offense to. Seeing her, it was obvious that there was something on her face at that moment. Something nasty. Something mean. Something cruel. Something that wasn't for Lisa, but shared with the fellow marine. Even then, it was difficult to put a finger on. Just as quickly as the other woman may have spotted it, it was gone as the Sergeant put a finger to her chin in thought. "As for gameplans, yeah Richard, that's about right. Activating our own camo and deploying drones is the best chance we got. They still got a slight edge though, since theirs also handles their thermals and our stealth doesn't. But like I said before, you'll still spot them with your radar." Looking back at Mayumi though, her tone quickly changed. "Hey, put that embarrassment in the back burner for a bit, yeah?" she offered, her tone warm like a big sister's. "Where's that Yamatai-Banzai spirit I saw a moment ago huh? You going to let me do all the talking, or are you going to show off how hot the Daisy is?"

Looking up from the floor, Mayumi's blue eyes shone from behind her black bangs. Small amongst them all, the questioning look her gaze gave the marines around her only added to the look of frailty and vulnerability she most often showed.
 
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Rachael looked towards Mayumi quietly with a slight smirk almost in an approving way. She would look at Ylfa and then Richard, she complimented the man with good hair so he must've said something right in that statement of his and she went back over it in her head. She then followed Lisa quietly as she attempted to give Mayumi a pep up with her words to help her over the embarrassment. She shook her head ever so slightly and chuckled, however she caught the look on Ylfa's face, a look she knew very well and that smile was gone, and back to the scowl she had originally. She continued to be a wallflower for now, and listen, to learn more about the situation as well as the rest of the crew.
 
"That was... Different." Terrence had commented before looking off away from the others, but still paying attention to the conversation. He heard creaking and noted Emi leaning on a dormant Hostile. "Don't hurt yourself." He warned from experience. The amount of times he had leaned on something and had it fall over, sometimes on him, was unfathomable to those that would hear the tale. The FNG looked back on everyone and noted Mayumi's eyes. "Damn, they already made an impression on me." He thought. However, all he had to do was look at their uniforms and he knew the Nepsleslians wouldn't be with them long. War was a bitch like that.
 
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