RP: YSS Miharu Prologue, Day 3

"You do not need to strain yourself, Juni. I will do the hard labor." Sigurd seemed to pick up loads easily, and possibly had an even easier time than a NH-17 nekovalkyrja would've had.

The custodian stacked the boxes indicated in an orderly fashion, sorting fragile from less fragile, commonly-used and rarely-used and made sure to attain optimal ergonometry.

Leutre looked up from the control interface he was inspecting. "What, did you find something good?"

As he made his way over to her, he could barely contain his curiosity. He hadn't actually expected to find anything good among the supplies, but apparently Lady Luck thought it best to favor him today.

"Wow! It's a box of... " Leutre found his enthusiasm fading as he read the label of the box. "... Type 29 Communicators? Erm, well, if you really think they qualify as something good we could mark up one or two boxes as 'damaged in transport' and reallocate them to our personal lockers. But I can't help but point out I was hoping for something a bit less mundane."

Yukari gave Leutre a blank stare for a moment, then shook her head. She popped the box open and took out one of the small devices for herself, then another for Leutre. His was black, hers a gunmetal grey. She found a small manual wedged between two of the small units.

"The Type 29 Communicator is a small handheld device that measures a mere 8cm tall and 4.5 cm wide when folded and just 2cm thick. It uses a flip open design. Its case is available in glossy black, white, gunmetal gray and even in 18k gold (for ceremonial uniforms). It is rugged and durable, designed to function in mud, ice, scorching heat, underwater, and even in space."

She blinked, looking back at Leutre. "It says it provides more features than I wish to name. See?" She showed him the manual as she looked at the one she held. Flipping it open, it had a very long screen on one side and buttons on the other. She closed it -- and saw the outside case had a name engraved into its case, written in katakana. "Tom Freeman," it said. It included a number below it, probably a tracking number of some sort.

Yukari dug into the small crate further -- there was one for each of the crew, including chargers and pouches. She found hers, which was white and had her name etched in kanji on the outside. "Suzuka Yukari," she read in Japanese. "This cannot be real; I have never had something with my name on it."

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Meanwhile, during Sigurd's organization spree, he had to go around a large, matte black looking thing fairly often. It was a nuisence.

"I suppose it's a good time to ask this, while we're setting up contingencies for our deaths... do you know what our mission is? My orders said nothing more than to report here for duty."

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Tom crossed his arms. "Nope. I don't have a clue what our mission is. I can only hope that that's just a clerical error and not an intentional one. I'm pretty sure we'll be briefed on things soon enough, though."

The backup center signalled that its work was complete and Tomi crossed over to it, disengaging the device from Nyton's head. "I suppose," she said, continuing the conversation with Tom, "I'm just a bit apprehensive after directly boarding the ship from my transport, dropping off my things in my room and getting straight to work, then suddenly taking off without so much as a briefing. It feels like we're rushing somewhere..." She trailed off. "But I'm sure there's a logical explanation for it. Anyway, it's your turn for a backup, Freeman-heisho."

Shaking the mind-scarring image of himself with long flowy pink hair out, James rubbed his temple.

Great, a scientist with a sense of humor. I'll wake up one morning to find myself with a beak strapped to my face and a lizard tail growing out of my knee.

"I think," he wavered, "that should I wake up with such hair I'd immediately seek the employ of a barber, to say the least."

Walking over to the tube, James examined it closely.

"Never been up close and personal with one of these before. I sure hope I don't develop a sudden case of claustrophobia."[/i]

"Actually, you don't need to go in there. It's just like a normal ST backup for the most part, only I sedate you first, then make a new body and transfer your mind there afterward. As far as you'll know, you will have been on the table the entire time..." Tomi pulled the backup device down and changed a few settings, apparently getting it ready for Tom. "... unless you change your body, that is. You have several more minutes to decide on any changes you want to make while I'm taking care of this."

Leutre took the manual and began flipping through the pages. Communication, language translation, video and music playback, and games all in one package. "Hmm, not a bad pick after all. Maybe you do have an eye for looting and salvage. I bet with some work you could use these things for eavesdropping or hacking wireless networks. Maybe even an external battery for signal boosting."

He reached down and picked up the black communicator. Turning it over, he ran his thumb along the engraving of his name. "Still, I must concede that you're right. They appear quite nice. In fact, it would be a shame to brutalize such superb craftsman ship. Too bad that's never stopped me."

Leutre looked up from his device and glanced over at Yukari as she inspected her own device. "Just out of curiosity, there wouldn't be the slightest chance you'd keep quiet if I stripped the other devices for parts, would there?" He paused for a moment and frowned. "Or would you just glare at me angrily and tell me to get back to work?"

Mara grunted as she picked a box a couple of meters away. "Usually, the Star Army frowns on people tinkering with Star Army-owned equipment... and everything you get free essentially counts as being so." She shifted the weight of the container to be able to carry it around more easily and continued: "Since I'm an experimental ship with unproven system, more flexibility is tolerated... but only to a certain point. Make sure you ask for an officer's approval before making modifications on hardware you do not own."

Nyton sat up after Saito removed the ST device from his head and moved to hang his feet over the table edge. He quickly stood up and stretched a bit. "Well, that's done. I'll be heading off to assist with the offloading then. Don't forget to get an ST backup for yourself Saito and catch up with everyone else." Nyton said before he began to walk to the exit. "Oh and you shouldn't worry too much about the mission specifics yet. All in due time."

" ... " Yukari's look was not one of anger, but one of utter confusion. Leutre seemed to simply not belong, and he reinforced that idea every time he spoke. And yet, there he was.

"These do not seem to require modification," she said slowly before flipping hers open again. "Please set the box near the bottom of the stairs so we do not forget it. We should attune ourselves to these devices if they are to be ours. Perhaps Ketsurui-Taii knows something of them." She paused for a brief instant. "And Mara is correct -- I was almost put in an uncomfortable situation for owning a piece of former Star Army technology."

With that, she put her communicator back where it belonged and held the box up for Leutre to do the same, so he could then take the box near the stairs.

James stepped away and shrugged, idly rubbing the back of his neck.

"I rather like the way I look. Gives me an air of mystery, a certain je ne sais pas if you will. Drives the ladies wild, you know."

He flexed exaggeratedly, kissing both biceps before breaking out into a grin.

"Just as long as I don't come out as a leathery, pink-haired oddity, I think I'll manage. Just keep the tattoos if you could, I went through a lot of trouble to get the look just right."

Tom nodded and sat in the chair, relieved to be so close to getting his ST backup done.

"Unlike my friend here, I'd like some painkillers for the procedure," he said. "Splitting headaches do not help me accomplish my tasks."

"Pain relief isn't really an option in this case- it's more a purely mental phenomenon than actual pain. So..." Tomi pulled the backup device onto Tom's head and changed a few of the settings, "You're just going to take a short nap while it's happening. Won't get rid of the pain, but it's the next best thing." She instructed the device to begin. It quickly began humming, and Tom was soon sedated into unconsciousness.

"I rather like the way I look. Gives me an air of mystery, a certain je ne sais pas if you will. Drives the ladies wild, you know."

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The violet-haired scientist smirked, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "I assure you that under this thin veneer of calm, I really am being driven wild." She walked back over to the reconstruction tube. "So, keep your same appearance, then. Easy enough."

Leutre took the box from Yukari and lowered his voice. Glancing over his shoulder to make sure there wasn't anyone else in earshot he said, "Let me share a bit of a secret with you. I live by one rule, a golden rule that applies no matter what you do, no matter who you are. And that rule is: 'It's not illegal if you aren't caught.'"

With a smirk he turned away and began making his way across deck. As he walked off, he called out, "Mark my words. Follow only the golden rule and you'll do well in life!"

"And just what golden rule is that?" Nyton asked as he entered the room and crossed past Leutre while he walked over to Yukari.

"A rule the Star Army does not recognize," Yukari said, a slightly cold edge to her words. "But it is a rule of life."

She smiled at Nyton. "Your backup was well?"

"Oh one of those rules." Nyton said with a nod of understanding. He had heard plenty of those while growing up on Nepleslia. Nyton put that aside and went on to answer Yukari's inquiry. "Yes the backup proceeded without any complications." he replied and returned the smile. "How about down here? How much more is there left to unload?"

After entering the specifications for James' new body into the reconstruction tube, Tomi returned to the ST backup table and activated the process to wake Tom from his artificial sleep. Satisfied that he seemed to be recovering quickly, she turned to James. "And now, the moment you've been waiting for. I'll need you to take off your clothes. And before you protest- I'm going to be watching your body be assembled in that tube, so I'm going to see parts of you that you don't even know you have."

(( OOC: Remrant, sorry if you wanted to squeeze anything else in there. I went ahead and posted this in the interests of not tying Tom up for too long. ))

"Some," Yukari said. "I believe they are foodstuffs ... but I wished for Tom to be here for them. Then he could decide on what he wished to have available."

She looked back at one of the small crates that had just been moved by an arm inside the storage area. She walked back to it and picked it up; it was a box of special rice. Yukari chose not to think about it; it was too tempting.