RP: NSS Sledge Mama [NSS Sledge Mama] Ep. 4 - Schadenfreude

"Providence" Asteroid Colony

With the hustle and bustle all around them, it was literally an overload of things to do. And not only of things to do, but things that may not have even been the 'best', come to think of it. The fact that the venues were as varied as the people walking across Meatstreet didn't help either, but it seemed that they were in luck. Kelly immediately perked up the moment they all started asking for something more out of sight.

"OH, thank the maker-machines!" she seemed to sigh in relief. "I totally know what you mean Sporty," the machine girl replied to Richard. "They just want to give you an oil change and a tuneup as fast as possible, not even quality, and get on to the next customer - it's just complete money grubbing!" she continued, palms up and mechanical fingers twitching in frustration. Cooling off as quickly as she heated up though, the little light on her faceplate seemed to glow brighter. "This is actually used to be one of my old hangouts, so I know some great places. Buuuuuuuuuut! It's mostly if you enjoy being refueled. Can you take on a hundred milliliters of liquid tritium fuel?" she asked Richard back. Bouncing on her feet, she practically pranced over to Mark. "Freespacers don't usually do it quiet, but I'm sure there's a few places around!" Turing her head at Max though, her mechanical joints had her nod. "So place has to be for locals, quiet, with booze, food and pretty women - I got it."

"Hey! You! Let us get on!" she shouted at the nearby auto-rickshaw, quickly marching over, her footfalls heavy and menacing.

"Oh mein gott!" Tossing a way his kebab, the four armed man quickly grabbed the gear-shift and put it to drive, only for the freespacer to grab the vehicle by the bumper and lift its rear off the ground, wheels spinning.

"Wahahahaha! Who would have thought? I knew it was you!" she laughed. "Guys, hop on! It's an old buddy of mine!"

"Gott rette mich," the driver muttered to himself.

Sledge Mama - Armory

Ylfa gave them all a wolfish smile as she heard each of them speak.

"Sim? Awesome." Slapping the end of the weapon dispenser like a football player in a locker room, the rack quickly snapped back into place with a quickness that was almost defensive. Leading the way through the Sledge Mama's bowels, she had a glint in her eye - the idea excited her. "If you want a medium to long range weapon, that prototype Designated Marksman Rifle you saw earlier is definitely going to be your best bet," she replied to Stripe. "Hot, semi-automatic death, with shots at your fingertips waiting for the pull. Just long range though? Work dat bolt!," Ylfa referred to the bolt-action they saw earlier. "I knew we were getting some new toys to try out, but I'm just getting giddy just looking at the specs!" the woman admitted. Traveling through the Sledge Mama was quicker than expected, only because so much of the crew was on leave, clearing up the corridors, giving them less time to chatter. "I see you like big things too Grimes, but you shouldn't get too cocky - its all about how you use it," she flashed him some pearly white teeth, chuckling at his words. "I admit though, that launcher already sounds like a blast - it uses the same ammo as the Aggressor's AOP, so you know it's a hard hitter."

To some of her squad, the place she was taking them would have been familiar, but not to this group - taking them into the dry, boring storage areas, Ylfa casually kicked at a door, the smell of cigar smoke, sweat and alcohol immediately assaulting them.

"You lazy, hiki bums, being cooped up in here when there's pretty ladies out in port!" she yelled down into the rows of men plugged into the reclined seats. Standing there at the edge of the raised platform at the entrance, she cupped a hand to her ear and listened. "Wow, there really aren't as many people as I thought there would be. Usually the makeshift bar is packed and there's a fight or something going on," she explained, pointing to the bare wall directly across from them. "Well, get on down into the cubicles down there and hop into a seat. If you don't have implants to jack in, put on one of the helmets and we can get started!"

Jamie looked to Ylfa, "Much obliged, Top." He then proceeded to walk to the wall cubicles. Finding the first one, he sat down in the chair and fastened the helmet on top of him. He spoke with his sarcastic tone, "I need to get a jack one of these days, too damn useful."

The screens loaded and the sim began it's reset to life. The interface kicked on and he waited for the Top to say something before activating the simulation state. He might not be in the system yet which might mean a LONG testing stage.

"I'll try the DMR- it's a prototype, which means I'm going to have a blast figuring out how it works." He said in a somewhat more enthusiastic tone. "Lead the way mam."

"I shall take the DMR as well," Edgardo says trying to match Stripes enthusiasm.

Providence

Terrance stared at his hands in the seat he occupied. His thoughts continued to revert back to the previous mission. "Mission." Cluster-fuck, more like. He hadn't really helped matters, needlessly risking his own life. For what? To gain approval from his peers? To support some ego or pride? "What have you to be proud of? That was a piss-poor performance, you-." The colonist's musings were interrupted when he found himself slamming into the seat in front of him as a particular Freespacer gave the rear of the vehicle a boost. Terrence lifted his boot and placed it against the seat in front of him to prevent his vacating of his resting place. He looked over his shoulder to observe the obscenely strong individual that could lift a vehicle. "O- oh, g- g- guys! Uh... H- hi." He greeted lamely, a sheepish expression on his face as he rubbed the back of his head. "Y- y- you uh... Lookin' for a- a ride?"

Sledge Mama - "Rumble Room"

As Ylfa lead the way into one of the small cubicles, the walls folded themselves away to reveal a handful of other seats and creating room for a VR party. Despite being hastily assembled, there were certain perks to using modular pre-fabs. Once everyone had taken a seat, each person closed their eyes.

Only to reopen them atop an asteroid within a field.

"Designated marksman rifles huh? No problem" Ylfa's familiar voice asked from beside them. Suited up inside a Hostile, with an empty suit for each of them standing by, she patted the long-gun in her arms. "And yep; you're all supermen right now, breathing in that fresh, clean vacuum!" Despite the faceless helmet, they could feel her beaming at them through the nerimium plate. "This is as good as it's going to get for a long range rifle, so suit up and grab your gun - if it's not here, just think of opening up an option box and poke the weapon on the menu you want. After that? Target practice," she explained, pointing an armored finger out into the distance. A flight of Battlepods circled.

"Providence" Asteroid Colony

"Oh hay, it's country-boy; I totally thought you died or something!" Kelly exclaimed, letting go of the vehicle. Resigned to his fate, the hulking, muscular Abwehran sighed and adjusted the small round glasses in his face as he slumped back into his driver's seat. "What happened? Where have you been? Oh, wait! Don't answer that!" the Freespacer shot off in rapid-fire. "Guys, say hi to Amold - Amold Bron! He'll definitely take us to some of the cooler places, so just hop in and tell him what you're looking for!"

"Guten Tag," the four arm man sheepishly replied, hunching over with all four of his hands on the wheel.

"Providence" Asteroid Colony

Richard chuckled at Kelly's response, though he was pretty sure 100 milliliters of any kind of fuel wasn't going to end well for his body. Either way it was good to see Kelly excited, he thought that she would be bothered by the interrogation, but he was happy to see he was wrong. He wasn't as happy to see her rather forceful commandeering of an auto-rickshaw. He made his way over quickly to apologize to the man.

"I'm sorry, she just gets like this sometimes.." Hearing that the man was apparently a friend of Kelly's was a relief though, they wouldn't have to explain why they were being sued for damages to an Auto-rickshaw. "I'm Richard Magnus..it's nice to meet you."

Providence

"Oh... Y- yeah, I'm... I'm o- okay." Terrence replied with a somber expression. Beyond what he had suffered to the Militants, he was mostly untouched. The... Thing they had to fight had entirely ignored him at a point in the fighting. He had felt so impotent as he had tried to fire on it, but it always had some plan or maneuver that rendered his weapon ineffective. Regardless, now wasn't the time to think about that situation. Terrence turned back around in his seat as the others began to embark on the aut0-rickshaw. "S- so, w- w- what brings you f- f- fellas here?" He asked his fellow Marines. He hadn't really had a plan for what he intended to do with his leave, but his associates couldn't have anything worse than a bar in mind.

He grinned in amusement as he put on the 'suit' and grabbed the DMR. "Alright, let's see what this things got!"

Aiming, he took some shots at the engines, hoping they'd either fall or drift.

Jaime hit the switch after a bit and found himself on the asteroid range. Out of natural tendency he reached for his throat before realizing he was breathing air...in space. He shook his head and had began to put on his suit when the battlepods flew over. He hesitated and his expression went blank when their sound pierced the fake air, bringing back memories of the bad kind. He shook himself out of it and had finished putting the Hostile together and had it primed. He thought of the launcher and, true to Top's word, it appeared.

He grabbed it's handle and disengaged the safety. He gave a grin that drew from his inner demons and aimed at the one of the battlepods' hulls. He let the suit's targeting unit guide his weapon and his mind as he aimed to lead the pod. He muttered something under his breath when he pulled the trigger and fired both barrels.

"Get some you digital, murderin' sons of bitches..."

Edgardo got in one of the "suits" and readied his rifle with a practiced mechanical ease. He began siting down the "targets", "Targets sighted, waiting for permission to fire."

Kelly you certainly know how to make friends. "Hey Arnold, nice to meet you Max Carter. As I told my cybernetic colleague I'd like to go somewhere with booze and women, preferable of the non-cat variety. Freaking furries man..."

"Providence" Asteroid Colony

Mark sheepishly nodded at the driver as he climbed aboard. "Oh hey Stutter, we're just going to a bar because the only thing Max, Ball Boy, and I can agree on is that we don't drink enough." he replied to Terrence as he took his seat. Mark tried to keep his voice calm but he was still sore about the whole running in front of them after a militant in the middle of a firefight thing.

"Arnold take us where the beautiful cat women are. If it bothers my associate so much, I'm pretty sure he'll get drunk enough to think Kelly is a beautiful woman as well soon enough." He yelled in a half joking tone in response to Max's furries comment.

"Providence" Asteroid Colony

It was honestly rather odd to see a seven and a half foot tall, muscle bound, four armed man with a hard looking face sitting in such a small vehicle, slightly hunched over in the driver's seat, but that was what they were dealing with. And the fact that Kelly was holding the vehicle by the rear axle.

"Nein. She izn't like this 'zometimes', but most of zee time - you must have only recently met her, but you vill know zoon enough," he gave Richard a thin smile. "Fan off your last great play by zee vay," he added, returning the handshake. Looking over to the Freespacer in question however, she let go of the auto-rickshaw and boarded it along with the others. Thunking herself right next to Terrance.

"Where you've been? They single you out because the naughty neko didn't touch you in bad places?" the machine seriously asked him. Despite the wording, it was a valid question - what happened to Terrance was not typical to what the rest of the squad went through. Of course, this didn't keep Kelly's attention for long at all. "Oh, almost forget to tell you. We're going to some place with booze, food and girls, not necessarily in that order," she explained to him as an afterthought. The way the Freespacer said it, the idea sounded like nothing out of the ordinary, and perhaps a little mundane. "Sounds boring as hell, but it's not my fault I'm better made!" As the auto-rickshaw started up, Amold glanced back at them through the mirror.

"Vell, out of our 'boring' selektion, vee haff things dat are honestly just like Meatstreet but a little better, and alzo zome oddities," the driver began to offer, pointing with one hand in one vague direction. "Out of them, one place is bazically a hostess club, but run by Jiyuuians instead. Zink of it as drinking, eating and flirting vith Nekovalkyrja, but without zee guilt - they do not have all that much love for Yamatai," he continued, another hand pointing in yet another way. "Zough, it sounds like you haff kitty problems. Maybe zat one pub run by Freespacers vere you come for the girls, and ztay for the food is more interezting? An odd place, zat one." Gently coughing into a third hand, Amold jerked his thumb to a place within clear view. "Or, maybe zat place zere is vat you are looking for?" he specifically asked Mark, leaning a forth arm on his seat as he looked back at them all directly.

Inside the "Akemi's" the Abwehran pointed out, they could all definitely see Nekovalkyrja amongst the women there - as well as a Mishhuvurhtyar 'sitting' at a table, menu in tentacle and a cat-eared hostess nervously taking the order.

Sledge Mama - "Rumble Room"

The moment Stripe pulled the trigger, the rifle in his armored hands kicked hard, the sound itself proudly unmuted by space. Traveling faster than the eye could see, the liquid metal lance leaped across space and collided with metal hull, burning and eroding away every bit of resistance it met like an ultra-high pressure jet of lava. Knocking it off from it's path, smoke trailed from the battlepod he struck as its flight became erratic, but the lot of them quickly changed course and started coming right their way! Eager for the kill, Jaime stood there on the asteroid and aimed the launcher - beeping shrilly in his ears as the reticle flashed red, he squeezed both triggers and sent the missiles flashing away, a bright sun glowing in the distance as they both exploded.

"Ha! I knew it - you're getting cocky!" Ylfa laughed over the comms. "They're coming right at you now, and the launcher needs to be reloaded - slam those big, fat missiles in!" Like magic, a pair of them appeared at Jaime's feet, but before he could even grab them, the battlepods closed in fast! Before Edgardio ever got his answer, he watched as autocannon fire rapidly impacted against the asteroid they stood on, the armor piercing, explosive shells carving several paths straight at the group! "If you wait all day, you'll never get to try the new stuff out - they sure don't want you to!" the sergeant's voice taunted them all, the woman herself now nowhere to be seen. Though several fighters were swatted away with the launcher, five more were in front of them and closing in from different directions.

While Jaime's weapon needed to be reloaded, Stripe and Edgardio had to hold them off with their DMRs!

Jamie's mind kicked in and he screamed, "RELOADING!" as he began to reload the launcher. "Assholes coming up fast, cover me!" He muttered as he closed the hatches and primed it again for a second go around. "Launcher, UP!" He spun the weapon around and picked two targets in the incoming formation. He fired one, then reacquired to the other closest battlepod and squeezed another off. Jaime then lunged outwards from the incoming fire and began thinking of bringing up a secondary...that mini-AMR looking thing, or a chain gun for that matter.

"Crap crap crapity craaaaap."

Stripe ran for a nearby boulder and leaped behind it, babbling inconherently, than turned to open fire on the battlepods. "Right, so does anyone know of any weaknesses or shall I keep aiming for engine while getting shot at!?" He snapped out, as he fired at another battlepod in three shot bursts- any more, and and he figured the recoil would throw off any chance of aiming he had left.

Edgardo merely said, "Affirmative," before he began firing at the incoming battle pods. His goal was to give Jamie the cover he had asked for, while giving Stripe time to come up with a plan. As he began to fire and reload the weapon as needed, Edgardo repeated the same motto over and over in his head, "Aim with the hand, shoot with the mind, kill with a heart like arctic ice."

"Providence" Asteroid Colony

Richard groaned at the sight of the Nekovalkyrja themed bar. "I have no real issue with individuals from Yamatai, but I'd much rather not see a cat for a while. Had to protect them from their own enemies then their enemies turned out to be cats too. It was crazy, my arms got stabbed through, and worst of all I lost my bonus in a gamble." He rubbed his arm once more at the memory of what happened, it would take a while for him to forget.

"Providence" Asteroid Colony

"W- well, thanks for w- w- warning me. I'll s- s- still come along though, if only to w- w- watch out for you g- g- guys." Terrence stated with a nervous smile. He wiped off the smile and cleared his throat as Kelly sat down next to him. "N- no, but I've been g- g- goin' over it in my head. I- I- I guess they figured I was s- singlin' myself out e- e- enough." He looked at each of the options available as they were laid out by Arnold. His eyes homed in on the Mishhuvurhtyar with an interested expression, as if he was watching some new wildlife in his usual hunting grounds back on Delsauria. His attention returned to his squad-mates as they discussed their options. "Well, it sounds l- like most of u- us would rather not deal with m- more Nekovalkyrja. So, m- maybe we should head to the F- Freespacer place? I'm s- sure it'll be f- fun if th- they're anything like Kelly."

Sledge Mama - "Rumble Room"

The two missiles, their bases linked together by a massive metal clip, slammed into the rear of the launcher with the satisfying thump of metal-on-metal as Jaimie reloaded. The flight of fighters was down to five battlepods, but Edgardio was quick to sight in the next fighter and start hammering away with his DMR, the weapon bucking in his hands at each trigger pull. Sparks flew across the armor of his target as the fighter veered away, holes being punched into its unshielded hull before a flash of fire and light had it vanish from existence, the fragments hurtling through space. However, just as Jaimie raised his launcher up again and brought it to bear, the hellfire of shells tracing their way across the asteroid's surface raked the marines, their shields dropping fast.

A burst of smoke and fire escaped from the launch tubes as the missiles took off however, the first lancing out towards one of the battlepods. Breaking off and accelerated, the missile smote in the side and burned it away with the explosive fury of a newborn sun. The second left the launcher shortly afterwards and set off after the marine's second target, but burst mid-flight, the sheer volume of fire tearing into the missile's thin body. As the marines basked in the radiation, the battlepods blew by, peeling off as they finished their attack run. Knocked around, battered and bruised inside their suits, both Jaimie and Edgardio realized their shields were nearly down, while Stripe was safely in cover, having fled for the nearest boulder.

"Aw, c'mon, don't just stand there!" Ylfa's cheery voice teased Stripe. "Dance! Throw some punches! You guys can fly and shit!" the blond continued, playfully reminding them all. "Kill these ones quick, before the second wave arrives, and maybe you'll have time to pick through the support packages coming your way!" Just as she finished, new contacts showed up on their sensors - they were too far away to engage them immediately, but if they didn't finish off this group fast enough, they were in for a world of hurt.

"Providence" Asteroid Colony

"Hey, he is zee one zat asked about Zee Catz," Amold reminded Richard. With two of his hands settling on the driver's wheel and a third moving towards the stick shift, the Abwehran man's fourth hand jerked an accusatory thumb back at Mark. "And also, it iz 'Ah-mold'. Say my name with me; 'Ah-mold'. I'm not some immigrant holovid shtar, and zee jokes get old," the alien man added. Immediately taking their suggestions, the Abwehran man gave some gas to the vehicle and soon shifted gears as they drove off, quickly heading right off of Meatstreet and further into the asteroid colony's innards.

"I think you guys said it!" Kelly replied. "I've had enough cats for a lifetime, and I'm even pre-programmed to not like them!" The little fact she pointed out was like a revelation that revealed a lot about the Freespacer machine they were traveling with. It more or less explained why she was so agitated whenever there was a Nekovalkyrja around. "Though, it is kinda weird they singled you out Terrance. I'm actually more curious about whatever happened to Mayumi and Emi - we never heard back," she observed. "Its so weird - I kinda hope they're both dead, but also kinda hope they're ok," the machine girl admitted, the single light on her pitch black faceplate dimming slightly.

As the auto-rickshaw drove on, the traffic packed and not particularly quick, the scenery around them changed fast.

Upscale venues gave way to compact and dense housing as more mundane shops and even utilities sprang up, one after another. In the end of the day, it was still a colony on an asteroid; people needed to shop for their food, buy parts for whatever they did, and they needed to either grow food, produce power or scrub oxygen for the station as a whole. It even meant that the high ceiling nearby the spaceport quickly narrowed down to only a single story or so, the close roof reminding them of where they were. However, like transitioning from one district to another, venues started to crop up again. Unlike Meatstreet, these were not so 'clean' and sanitized - in fact, they weren't mainstream at all. Say what they would about Akemi's, but it was well regulated and organized. Here, there were no franchises to be had. From the various cybernetic surgeries, to gun stores, armor and even small-craft dealers, they all had the personal touch. Outside, they didn't look too much, and some were even seedy, but looking through the windows of some, they could tell the goods were quality.

Most importantly, was where the driver had brought them.

"'Sherry-Berry-Merry' iz an odd name, but, what zey offer is...vell, it's as good as it iz odd," Amold admitted, briefly pausing in thought. "You just have to take a look for yourselves. Go on in, the ride's on me." The exterior was made out of plastic pre-fab walling that was showing its age, chipping and flaking away, while the windows were all blacked out and covered with reinforced bars. And yet, at the same time, there was quite a crowd of people coming and going past the bouncer, a standard Militant standing guard.