Though Kelly was turned towards her own suit, her head spun around right at Max in an inhuman 180. "Murder Bot?" she asked. "Murder Bot! If I get a call-sign, I want it to be Murder Bot!" she sang, a happy green eyebrow appearing above her eye as she turned back to her own work. "Murder Bot, Murder Bot, Murder Bot!~" Kelly hummed. "Oh, wait," the mechanical Freespacer paused. "Ylfa says your loadouts are A-OK!" Watching her work on her own suit, it was clear that her loadout was the last thing on her mind. Instead, her fingers divided into almost a dozen more as parts of the suit was nimbly taken apart, the internals rearranged until she was satisfied. Despite being the squad's medic, she fit the stereotype of Freespacers being gifted with technology. Without missing a beat or pausing for a second thought, Kelly instantly answered Richard when he spoke up, asking for advice. "What he said. You already know what Ylfa told you about it, so keep shooting at The Cats even if it's a bad shot - if it's just one round that makes it, it'll still punch through their barriers and splatter on their armor if it doesn't penetrate. Cover them in that white hot stuff and bog them down!"
She stopped being so merry when Lisa spoke back though. Her head turning slightly to 'look over ' her shoulder, she asked, "Act? Be? What's the difference? Does it even matter?" The words were bitter and angry, but they weren't hotly snapping back at the Nepleslian woman. "Yui acting like an asshole means she still does asshole things like shit on people. I just wish Nepleslia was there act like a dick and do dick things to he back." At that, their medic stormed off.
As harsh as it was, it was another truth - Nepleslia wasn't there to stop the worst of it from happening to their best friends.
*****
It wasn't until later that they all each other again proper. Standing in the dropship, packed like sardines, it was Ylfa that broke the silence. "Remember, we're the tanks. Grab their attention and hold it while they do the damage," she reminded them.
"I really hope this crack idea is going to be fun," Homura Emi spoke up from inside a Hostile. Annoyed and a little bored sounding, the NMX Neko spoke up from beside them all, decked out in the best of Nepleslian Military Technology.
"It's not every day we get to do this! And to imagine the rest of your people wanted to just be spectators on that dinky Nepleslian ship!" Ichiki Mayumi quickly replied from inside her own Hostile. Though the other NMX POWs preferred to 'spectate' from the Sledge Mama to her distaste, she seemed excited like a child in a candy shop, and was thrilled by the simplest thing, like the rifle in her armored hands.
"I still can't believe both commands were ok with this," Ylfa moaned, next taking a deep breath to calm herself. "Here we go - MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"
The very moment the doors opened, autocannon fire raked the dropship's interior, splashing across their shields as they tried to orientate themselves. With the sudden rush of violence, they could barely make out much, but they could already see what their lives were going to depend on. Below them was a hangar bay filled with crates of various goods and large shipping containers. Closest, there were several of these that were tossed about as explosions erupted across the landing site, scattering cover for them to use in every which way. And already, the hangar bay was filled with dozens of
Militants which the Independent World League terrorists favored. All raising and firing their wrist guns as one massed unit on the Nepleslian Marines.
Staying up there, they weren't going to last long!
"Take cover!" Ylfa yelled, her Hostile taking the lead as she leaped and plummeted to the surface below.
