RP: OIF Atuan [OIF Atuan] Episode 8: Ours

[CadetNewb]

The Atuan was limping.

Whatever glorious escape they had was just that - glorious. Like a movie. But in reality? There was always a problem here, there and everywhere. And right now, the Atuan was limping. While the frame team was out and about with power armors to do their dirty work, the destroyer had apparently been duking it out with several smaller HIGA ships in the system. Obviously, it was worse for the wear.

The drives were operating at a less than stellar mark, forcing the ship to repetitively jump and stop to prevent overstressing the systems. What's worse, was that in between jumps, there was reasonable cooldown along with any necessary maintenance work to keep it all running. And to make matters worse, the comms were damaged, preventing them from just calling Dawn Station and management directly about the sick plot. But, there was some sort of upside to all this. The crew were all getting some degree of rest, even if it was spent alternating between sleeping and working their asses off to get ready if things were going to go hot again.

With the loss of two frames and several others damaged, the Frame Test Team had to get the others ready and armed for the inevitable confrontation that was coming. That was the easy part, considering there were several other frames to choose from. But what's worse was the loss of some of the Infiltration Team - rescued or not, some simply didn't make it. They were part of the crew, and though they had only just met? It was that many hands less to help repair and rearm what frames needed to be helped.

Yoshiko busied herself down below, fixing up her pink frame with a single minded gusto befitting the girl. She drowned out all her anger and fears in the work that she was doing with her hands. Kelly meanwhile, sat in the mess, hands held together in what could have been a prayer to the lost as the meal in front of him grew cold.

In the end of the day, he knew that dealing with Kensuke wasn't going to be easy.

 

[Moogle]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

Taela didn't take the situation quite so well as her ex-neko counterpart. She had spent the first hour after their immediate escape ranting in her room. Alone. When she emerged, she was no less furious at their circumstances and states of being.

Her throat was dry.

The military-produced-pilot decided it would in her best interest to go get a drink. Minutes later, she was in a messed-up mess hall, where the two vending machines were knocked over from the battle.

"Of course. . ." She hissed, passing Kelly in the process. she reached under the top of the machine, her tacky fingers gaining traction on the surface. With barely a grunt, she lifted the entire unit back up, slamming it against the wall.

A bottle popped out as the machine settled. It was Ori-Cola, supposed to be one of the "sweetest drinks this side of the galaxy". Taela didn't care and drank it, consuming the entire beverage without pausing for breath.

So why did it taste so bitter?

 

[ShotJon]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

"Sie sind nich fröhlich," said a voice well known to Kelly. Viktoria sat across the table from him, holding a can of juice. She smiled at him, but did not say anything more. Instead her eyes watched his, trying to read his mind. Not that it was hard. He must have thought about the dead orisec troopers and that bastards who caused all this. At least she made sure that that particular HIGA HQ is no more.

Viki finished her can and then put it between her palms. Her muscles flexed as she crushed it. Then she started playing with the metal between her palms, molding it into little ball. She then sat the ball on the table.

"THis is one of Kensuke's balls," she said with a smile of a Vixen. "And this is what I am going to do with it, when he gets into my hand." Her arm raised up, fingers balled into a fist. She then swung and hit the ball. When she raised the fist up, the ball was just flat disc of metal. Good thing Origin had sturdy tables.

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

Kelly had initially gave a dour "Mmhmm," to the petite Neko as she surveyed the fallen soda machines, trying to be polite.

It wasn't until Victoria came up straight to him that he eventually looked up from his food. The dark skinned Nepleslian soon found himself raising both eyebrows - what she did was quite impressive if one thought of it. Most people forgot just how incredibly strong Abwehrans were, how they, somehow, weren't human stock at all, but looked so incredibly human despite that. Her strength allowed Victoria to practically crumple that can like it might as well have been a paper cup.

"You know," he started, a little hesitant. "I don't know if you being crazy strong is sexy, or terrifying," Kelly admitted to her with a faint, friendly smile. Turning his eyes on the Neko, he prodded her next. "Hey, Taela, what do you think? Crazy strong in a girl sexy, or scary?" the Nepleslian asked her. Kelly had dealt with the 'Old Breed' of Neko before, and there were simply inhuman if they let it show. Eating metal 'food' coins, snapping bone like twigs - all easily done without even possibly sweating.

Literally.

"You must have known a few good looking Twenty-Sevens that could do this when you were serving, right?" he asked Taela

 

[Lamb]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

"Sexy. Always sexy, baby. Always. Sexy." The appearance of the frame-team's only non-pilot member was a bit delayed from the others. Although, it could be said that Mark had a stylish entry to make up for it, waiting for the perfect moment in conversation to shuffle up with a drink, his grimy from hard work uniform top open and shirt unbuttoned to reveal a patchwork of even more tattoo.

He sat on the side of the table with Kelly, across from Viki with a knowing smile while he told Kelly just how (he thought) it was, "Never tell a strong woman she's terrifying when you can tell her she's sexy, Farms. In fact, never tell anybody anything else if there's a chance you can tell 'em they're sexy."

Markus lifted a coffee mug that seemed to appear in his hand, sniffing his caffeine-infused sweetness.

"If you do that, you'll always be sexy too."

 

[Luca]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

Game Over!

The screen faded to black as Lucien watched his player character run out of health and collapse as the camera faded and the music slowed to a drawling howl. He put the controller down and took a swig of watered down drink. He was wearing tracksuit pants and an Origin logo emblazoned shirt for exercise.

"Ae Kelly we weren't jus' cuttin' our teeth fer th' sake o' dickless, were we?" He turned around from the couch and asked, voice leathery and filled with indignation. "Cos' I bite me thumb at 'im an' 'is ilk!" an archaic expression for certain, but his message was clear. "Ee's a dead man, make nae mistake!"

Lucien's clan took a dim view upon betrayal from any level of service. The penalty for shafting your kinsmen for your own sake was death and damnation. His quiet tone and normally easygoing approach belied his need for vengeance for him and his kinsmen: the Atuan.

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

Before Taela could answer, Mark beat her to the punch.

And he was absolutely, utterly right. "Well damn, never really had a lot of time for lady friends - especially when I was with the Reds," he remarked, half muttering in embarrassment. Though Kelly was at least honest enough to admit this, his dark skin still became ever so slightly darker as he blushed. At that point, Lucien lost the game. 'Way to save my bacon man!' he thought to himself, feeling the pressure taken off his shoulders as they all looked at the massive, bored man.

"Don't worry Lucien, we'll tear him apart limb by limb," Kelly nodded, before continuing. "Well, assuming Aerin doesn't do that to him first that is. At least that way, we'll get a break and let her get off her rear for a bit," he joked wistfully. Looking back at Victoria though, Kelly did his best to smile, and without realizing it, went back to a topic he was safely diverted from until his memory screwed him over. 'Tell her that as sexy!' a little voice in his ear said!

"That was damn sexy."

In the back of his head, he already knew he blew it.

 

[Lamb]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

"Mmmm, there ya go, tiger!" Mark chanted, slapping Kelly just a little too hard on the back for someone who'd been recently shot. "Now you're sexy, too!"

Mark looked to Viktoria for encouragement, "Ain't he?"

 

[ShotJon]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

Viktoria smiled at the dark-skinned man sitting across the table from her. She pretty much ignored all the others at this moment, her eyes watching only him. She put one hand under her chin, leaning on the table using her elbow.

"Finally you said it meine liebe," she said with a smile. Black lipstick covered lips parted in a smile, revealing the perfect white teeth. "I was starting to believe that you liked men. That would be such a big waste in sexy man like you."

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

Kelly steadily stared at her for a moment, but then broke into laughter.

"Waste or not, you probably liked imagining that, didn't you?" he slyly grinned back at her. "Hell, It'd be the same with Taela and Yoshiko, right guys?" he asked the men, slapping the table in glee as his voice rose. Despite his playful remarks, Kelly was soon wistfully looking away from the Abwehran sitting in front of him as the bit of happiness faded away like the color in an ancient photo. The dour mood seemed to stick to the Nepleslian despite her advances.

"Not sure I feel like eating right now," he remarked. Looking back up, his gaze traveled across each and every single on of them there.

 

[Luca]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

"Ah know wot ya mean mate." Lucien sighed in reply to Kelly, having turned around completely and resting his head on his forearms on the back panel of the couch. Looking at his face, it was apparent that sleep had become something of the past with the constant starts and stops on the Atuan, as well as having to learn the basics about keeping the engine running because the engineers couldn't be there all the time.

"'s like a splinter, in yer brain as ya wotch things gettin' closer knowin' that its gonna come tae a head." He sighed slowly, his body deflating ever so slowly as he drew out the sigh as long as he could. "An' nae matter wot happens naeone will see us comin'. Not Dawn, not Kenny, not even Aerin 'erself."

"Hell, we don't even see us comin' either." He arched his back and yawned, showing his pearly whites off before resting his head down on his arms again.

 

[ShotJon]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

Viki watched Kelly with eyes and smiled at his remarks. She would continue the flirt, but mood changed. Though that only meant that the verbal flirt was over for now, there were other way to do this. So when Kelly's eyes went from Lucien back to Viki, he could notice that suddenly her top was a bit more open then earlier showing him quite a bit cleavage.

"Talking about this all," Viki then said, looking at her team-mates. "Can't we fix the comms, Ja? We could jury-rig a super radio out of our mecha's could not we?"

 

[Moogle]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

All the while, Taela had raided toppled vending machine for every single packet of well-preserved munchables that it had. Every. Last. One. She strode to one of the emptier tables in the room and dumped the large armful she carried, watching as the pile slid from dangerous heap to mild mound. Not even bothering to contribute to the conversation on food and focus, she popped open the first bag and ate.

And ate.

And ate.

Bag after bag littered the ground as the walking weapon continued consuming the vendables, furiously chewing each bite.

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

Kelly listened and took in what Lucien said, nodding.

"Yeah, I know what you mean...I think - still doesn't make it that much easier though," he replied. When Victoria spoke with the idea to make some Super-Comms though, the Abwehran woman manged to worm a slight smile out of him. "Naw, otherwise we'd have done that a long time ago. Radio only goes so far before it disperses or something, and subspace stuff's never happy when someone unauthorized even so much as looks under the hood." The dark skinned man leaned back in his seat and relaxed at the idea though, staring at the ceiling

He had to admit, that was the kind of thing they'd do in anime - the stuff he watched and wanted to grow up into as a kid. 'Well look at me now guys - living the dream. Riding around the galaxy in a ship with honking huge guns, giant mecha and a few pretty girls.' he thought to himself, looking back at long gone childhood friends. A glance at them all, and he smirked 'Not as awesome as we all thought it'd be, but still damn awesome.'

"That's why we're going to ask for someone else to do the long range talking for us," Kelly explained, sitting back up.

"Speaking of," a familiarly curt voice over the loudspeakers spoke. "We've just come out of FTL and are now at, and forgive my Abwehran, 'Himmel der Bergleute' I believe," Ged noted. "I'm contacting the authorities in this system as well as the local Origin branch - there's always one around, even if it's just a shop in a mall," he dryly added.

Kelly's melancholy was quickly swiped away as a broad grin spread across his face. "Taela, stop eating because you're unhappy before you become unhappy with how much you eat - we're in luck!"

 

[ShotJon]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

"You will get fat girl," Viki said to the neko who was feating on sweets. "Und what is worst, there won't be any sweet things left for us."

She then turned her attention back to Kelly and his words. Himmel was one of Abwehran colony words. Not too fancy, but not too shabby either. Or rather it was giant asteroid field, where Abwehrans mined. A good thing to have and not one to look down upon. Also pirates liked to show up here now and then when weltramflotte was not nearby. Viki remember that the mercenary company she worked for, was here fairly often.

"I cannot say if Origin branch would be on this place, es ist possible." Viki then said to Kelly. "But they are bound to have super-radio we can use to call Dawn Station. I am sure they will let us do that."

 

[Luca]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

Lucien's eyes lit up as best as they could. He'd only had about four days where he'd sleep out of seven each week. Napping and sleeping standing up tended to be difficult to distinguish. "I dun care if thae ain't got nae Origin branch I jus' wanna know 'ow long we've been out 'ere."

"An yer gon get yerself a pudge ya little kitty." He mumbled before his head tumbled into his arms and the rest of him eventually rolled back down onto the couch with a whumph and a snort from the scotsman.

A hand crept up the couch before falling back down, punctuated by the sound of snoring.

 

[Lamb]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

"Y'know..." Mark spoke up after a bout of thoughtful silence. "I... I might be able t'do somethin' with that kooky subspace stuff. I mean, it's the same principle as radio, right? Just goes through an imaginary tube in space, or something? I mean, you can always encrypt and decrypt data; so if it's just a matter of content and signal-- I can probably work somethin' out."

Even though the conversation had moved on, Mark felt the need to bring the subject back up; like he was on to something even if he might not be.

 

[Moogle]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

Kelly ragged on her. Viki chided her. But when Lucien made his comment, Taela's rage resurfaced once more.

"I. . ." the little bundle of fury growled, slamming a fist into the table, "am a military-grade bioweapon with the metabolism of a vat of superheated acid. I. DO. NOT. GET. FAT!"

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

Taking the whole situation into account, as the leader of the group, Kelly knew he had to be as professional as possible.

Firmly sitting in his seat, the dark skinned Nepleslian furrowed his brown and rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "I doubt if that's possible Mark, but make the attempt if you think it can work," he spoke seriously. Continuing on in the same calm, professional demeanour, he added, "I also admit that Private Kaila is correct - she won't gain weight from her eating habit, but it can be hoped that her bust will grow as a result instead."

Kelly crossed his arms and nodded to himself sternly.

That is, before letting a faint snicker escape from a slight twitch in his lips. Before completely and utterly breaking down into a short fit of jaded, sad laughter. Wiping away a tear from his eye, he sighed, "It feels like it's been way too long since we all just relaxed, even though it's hardly been just a week maybe." Kelly shook his head and looked up at the intercom. "Ged, how's the comm attempt with the Abwehrans in the 'hood going?"

"Well...not good. It's best you hear for yourself," the AI's voice drifted over the air. "Let me patch you in, right about...."

"Nein - you are to surrender to us immediately. Vee have received notice from Origin zat you and your crew have gone rogue and vee will not aid or harbor suspects," an official sounding voice spoke in accented Nepleslian. "If it is vell zee case zat you and your crew are innocent as you have insisted however, I am certain zat a proper trial or tribunal will clear you of all zee charges, meaning you have no reason not to surrender."

"Zis is your last chance. Either power down your shields, weapons and propulsion, or vacate our space immediately."

 

[Moogle]

Re: Episode 8: Ours

"Drop the private. We're about as military as your looks aren't perverted. . ." Taela shot back sending a glare Kelly's way. And then, the Abwehrans finally came on radio. A sneer crossed her face. "No reason why we shouldn't drop defenses, provided we get a military escort onto ground. I don't want to trust any Origin ships that we might come across. Mark, you made backups of that recording already, right? I'd like to make sure we have something that's unconnected to. . . pretty much any form of wireless."

If the cat was going to burn, she was going to burn smartly.