Cliffs
Kinie's eyes watered up some and she let out a heavy sigh as she thought about how to answer Delmira. "I...I know it's been hard on us since I've become an officer, even though it's just two decks of difference, it seems like we have trouble getting together because of our different responsibilities on the ship. Still, I can't help feeling like...this is your way of saying I'm no longer enough for you. Look, if you want to see other people, that's your choice. I'm not going to weigh you down. You're officially set free," Kinie said and then looked away to hide her face as the tears came pouring out.
"Woah woah, thats not what i mean." Delmira said and pulled Kinie closer to her. "Its hard yes but we make it work this is why i wanted to ask this sort of thing. I love you Kinie and you know that." She said reaching up to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I just wanted to know your thoughts, and i get it no sexing others." Delmira just held Kinie close to her.
The pair of hardened NMX Nekovalkyra who were ostensibly running a romantic tour here in their spare time for extra money looked at one another, both of their ears fallen down and sideways. With a look of disappointment, Ruru disarmed the MANPAD missile she was going to use as fireworks. Nara just scratched the back of her head awkwardly and then looked off into the distance. Neither of them heard Del's transmission, only Kinie's reply. But, being Nekovalkyrja, they understood all too well what happened. Over the sound system, the next song on the Nepleslian Power Ballads, YE 27-39 playlist was, "And then She Left Me for a Neko."
Kinie was still very upset. She was very quiet for a long time. Finally she said, "We'll have to talk more later, we need to focus on the mission. She wiped her face with her sleeve and then apologized to the two strange Nekovalkyrja. "I'm sorry about that. We were hoping to speak with some Kuvexians who could tell us about the coreward region and got a little caught up in the moment." she told them.
Delmira relased her grip on Kinie and thought about giveing the other Neko a kiss but thought better of it. "Do you want to regroup with the others and someone else can follow the lead or keep going?"
"No, but please call in and let them know we're alright," Kinie suggested.
Delmira will pull out her com. "Delmira to Res we are doing good we got a lead about a Kuvexian big wig who may have information. And yes the two neko are cool."
"So does that mean 'no fireworks,' or 'fireworks,'" asked Nara. Ruru nudged her with an elbow and glared at her, and in return Nara made a teeth-bared expression and a small hissing noise.
"Start up the sled, Nara-ko!" When Ruru said it, Nara's ears went back and she narrowed her eyes, but obeyed it as if it were an order.
Delmira turned her head sharply to look at Nara. "What do you think?" She a bit to irritably
"What do I think?" Nara asked, idly as she stomped on the starter pedal. "I think~" She stopped, blinked, and stomped the pedal again. The engine did not start. And the snow was coming down.
Del sighed and sat back she suddenly looked depressed but she kept a watch just in case.
Stomp. Nothing. Stomp. Nothing. At least the heater still worked.
"Nara! What the x'vaghr'll are you doing up there?"
"I'm trying, Boss!"
"We could call for help if you want," Kinie offered. "My ship has technicians aboard. Or we could ask that local technician from the landing pad area."
Ruru threw her head back and laughed up at the falling snow while Nara just stared at her. "Twelve years. We've made it twelve years without the Boss, and here we are on this n'thlakh-licking snow ball, about to get rescued by Yamatai." She flopped back on the seat next to Nara. "Great. Just great."
Delmira pulled out her com again. "Some Kuvexian named Soon and we are taking a tour." Delmira said her voice filled with a unusual level of irritablility.
Ruru looked at Nara and nodded. Nara nodded back. "You know what, let's just fly away. We just shot the Rixx that was driving it anyway. We don't really care. This was just a way to make more money on the side because the security gig is a drag."
"Hey." Nara leaned in towards Kinie. "Do you wanna blow up the sled? Would that help?"
"Uh....no..." Kinie said, suddenly wiping all of her fingerprints off the vehicle, just in case.
Delmira hopped out of the side of the sled seemingly not bothered by fingerprints.
"No fireworks it is," sighed Nara in disappointment. She gathered up all the launcher tubes. The pistols from the storage drawer by the driver's seat. The booze. The other booze. The guns and booze in the little door in the back. It all went into a backpack that was left bulging at the seams.
"Why not do it yourself?" Delmira asked the neko.
Ruru was already hovering above the sled, eyes over on the colony. "Eh, no fun if everyone's not into it." She shrugged. "C'mon. Nekos are faster than the sled anyway. Ugh, I hate this snowball."
"Right..." Kinie said, "Hopefully we can get out of the cold soon."
"Agreed." Delmira said and floated off the ground.
Nara, carrying everything, snickered, "It's going to be funny when someone finds it and they wonder how it got there!"
"Lets go, we got the green light to go meet Soon." She will turn to Kinie. "They want you to handle the talking."
At the Resurgence / Landing Pad
Poppy arrived at the landing pad with Euikoshi right behind her. She looked around to see who else was there, and then back to Euikoshi. "Senator Iemochi's behind us, right?" Poppy asked Euikoshi. "Tell me he didn't just stand there." She pulled her new leather coat around her tightly and looked for him through the falling snow in the direction they'd come from to see if she could see him. "Also...where's the patient?"
Cassie was still hanging around the base of the ship in her Mindy armor suit, which was slightly visible because the snow was starting to pick up and hit it. "Everything alright?" Cassie asked Euikoshi and Poppy.
Sanda and Mochi made their way back to the ship. They had managed to meet up with the Doctor and his group, along with their KIA and prisoner. Sanda was just releaved that they hadn't run into any more trouble on the way back.
Yayoi saw Sanda and Mochi ahead of her.
"Let's get these guys in containment cells," Vec said catching up to the others.
Mochi glanced back as her heard footsteps behind him, spotting Vec and his party coming to join him and Sanda. Instantly, he spotted the outline of a body, some kind of garment draped over them to cover it. Snapping his fingers, he muttered, "A cloak would have been good to cover the other. At least you're back - get them inside, double time. We don't need any more eyes on us."
A grin flickered across Vec's face. The man seemed rather used to hiding bodies. "Good man," Vec said draging the dead ID-SOL onboard.
Poppy went and grabbed a hovering anti-grav gurney from the ship's cargo bay and brought it over to the bodies the team had brought in. She grabbed one end of the carpet tightly and looked up, "Ready to lift."
With a grunt, Vec helped Poppy, lifted the corpse onto the gurney. "Glad you got back in one piece," he said to his assistant. With a grunt, he lifted the uncious man and dumped him on the gurny as well.
Yayoi said nothing as she didnt find anything important to add to the convorsation, but she had glanced around a little just to make sure they werent spotted acting suspiciously.
From a nearby landing pad two women stepped out from what looked like an old gunship, The human and Snoeshoe hare moved closer toward the Yamatai craft but held there distance some. Lenna spotting the ship smiled and said to Nikicon " Hey look another ship from my homeland, I wonder what they are doing here?"
Nikicon would smile some and hip bump Lenna. "Why don't you go over and find out"
Lenna responded, "Naw they wouldn't let me get close enough to ask. And besides that looks like a warship, might have stopped for some shore leave or something."
Out of the corner of his eye, Mochi caught a glimpse of motion heading towards them. No doubt Sanda, Yayoi and any other Ranger present also spotted it too. He shot them both a glance and inclined his head towards the nearby human, as if giving them a message to check it out.
Yayoi took note of the movement, and turned herself around, and in a subtle attempt to not look intimidating despite the stern look on her face. She made her approach to the approaching individuals.
Sanda nodded to Mochi and without another word flanked Yayoi as they approched the individuals who seemed curious about their ship.
Lenna, spotting the personnel from the Yamatai craft heading over, slowed down and once they were closer she would great them. " Hello there, how goes it?" Nikicon would remain quite for now allowing her Captain to take lead in the talks.
Mochi made sure that Sanda and Yayoi were on their way over, before turning back to the gurney team and supervising their delivery for as long as he could see before they disappeared inside the ship. "Make sure they're treated well, Pink-heisho. If they're alive, we don't have much cause to hold them, and if they're dead, their family might be looking for the corpse." He told them as they left earshot, discreetly enough that the strangers nearby wouldn't overhear. "Straight to the Captain to report so he can decide what to do with them. Got it, Wilson-shoi?"
"Hua," Vec said, heading deeper into the ship. The call had been made then. At this point, whether he escaped this with his career intact mattered less than if they escaped this with the crew intact.
Zeck will walk over to Lenna and Nikicon. "How was your day? Mine not good." She stood beside the the two.
Yayoi looked sternly at the two "you seemed interested in our ship, whats up?" She asked clearly not answering the questions, she didn't really feel up to being a rep of Star army, since the incident.
Lenna would sharpen up catching onto the tone that there was something going on, and then states " Its just that your ship happenes to be the second Yamatai ship in port and I was born in Yamatai. So it was bringing up memories of my homeland and I was mostly wondering why your out here. But i can guess its just shore leave." Spotting Zeck come over Lenna would smile and ask "It's ok Zeck and how about you?"
"It's no good." Zeck said simply she looked at the crew of the Res.
What's up? Really Yayoi? Sanda thought to herself as she looked at Yayoi and raised an eyebrow. But she remained silent and let Yayoi take the lead for now.
Thad came walking up out of whatever hole he had found himself in moments before. He walked towards the lady talking and went to introduce himself. "Hiya." He said towards Lenna.
Yayoi allowed herself to seem like she relaxed as she heard Lenna speak to her, and talk about her past. She spotted Thad, and she couldnt help but wonder where he came from. "Yeah, the planet seemed interesting, so our captain decided to let us have shoreleave." She had said taking note of Sanda's raised eyebrow.
Lenna would laughs some "Its a frozen snowball what is there more to say." Seeing another move over toward them Lenna whould also Greet Thad as he came closer "Greetings!" Then says looking back toward Sanda and Yayoi, " But the food and people are good here as long as they don't take to liking you too much."
Nikicon would speak up some "And there is not many carrots here!"
Lenna would look back and quetly says, "Hush you!"
Having made sure that Vec, Poppy and the payload got aboard safely, Mochi thought it best to join the party that seemed to be pleasantly chatting with the newcomers. Strolling over, he raised a hand in greeting. "Hello everybody." It was quite interesting how they might have to explain why some of them who had just got aboard were out of uniform, as were they all currently.
Yayoi nodded "never saw places like this before" she said, as she remembered that Hanako's World was not frozen like this world seemed to be. She glanced to Nikicon who spoke about carrots, and she figured that it was due to her species.
Sanda remained silent. She wasn't in the mood to exchange pleasantries. She wanted to get back to the ship and figure out what their next move was.
"Mind if I ask you a strange question?" Mochi began, noticing the tension that Sanda and Yayoi seemed to have to be done with these visitors. "Do you guys know about any machine worlds? Odd, I know. I've got a pet project and I heard there was one around this area of space, or some such?"
To Mochi, she sent a brief telepathic message: 'Were you made, at all?' Koyama's mental 'voice' poked at his mind delicately enough just to grab his attention. After a moment, the reply came from the Elysian - "I don't believe so. My wings kind of stick out, but I don't think they watch the Senate Channel this far outside Yamatai. No issues at all."
Nikicon's long ear normaly laid back started to riase up as she says in an quesonaly manner " Machine worlds?" Lenna would bring her hand up to her chin and thinks a moment asking " would they have an odd um effect on the space nearby them?"
Zeck looked a bit perky. "Machine you say? but as world?"
Yayoi certainly remembered the mission, but she wasnt sure if she should simply ask these two. "yeah, been hearing rumours about it, and it peaked our interest." She said finally.
Mochi nodded to the questions, his signature warm smile on his lips. "Maybe! I imagine they might, given there's probably a lot of EM radiation blasting out of them. Dangerous, dangerous places though. Have you heard of anything like that?"
Thad Spoke up to the group. "And be sure to stay away from its spawn. Stuff will take over your gear quick."
Zeck looked at Lenna. "Would boss lady know?"
Sanda just glaired at Maximus. Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut. She moved back away from the group so that they wern't all gathered around in a group and examined the surrounding area.
Mochi took his attention away from the newcomers long enough to give Thad the death stare, which he often left to others. However, around civvies something like that was bound to draw questions they weren't allowed to answer. Telepathically, he sent Thad a quick, "Quiet", if he was able to receive it.
Yayoi silently cursed Thad, you baka! she glanced towards him, with her own glare be seen by him
Lenna would nod to the comment that Thad said, and there were question popping up in her head, but she knew that they would not be awnsered. However she nods some looking over toward Zeck and says " I wonder if she would know, she "IS" the Governess of the place so i am sure there might have been something that someone would have reported upon landing here. "
Thad looked at the two giving him dirty looks. He had an expression of "what" on his face. He figured it might be a good idea to warn people given how dangerious things could get.
Koyama's response was quick enough: 'Good, the Captain wants a team back out ASAP. Small, handpicked. No soloing or duos. This has been chaos, thus far. If you're up for some more fieldwork...?' Mochi replied with a moment of static silence, then a little sigh. "What's the objective? I'm not sure we ever got a proper briefing and if we're allowed some equipment that would be great. Rules of engagement, too. Is someone in trouble?"
At the mention of the Governess, Mochi's blonde eyebrow raised a fraction. "You work for the government of Sood Zadra? That's quite interesting. So there's someone who might know that kind of thing?" He asked innocently, as if not expecting anything particular from the answer.
'Same parameters as before. Information gathering, the primary objective is gathering intelligence on the world possible locations. Del and Kinie are still off on their own. I'm asking for an update now, hold a moment.' Koyama returned to the Elysian. Mochi sent a quick feeling of apprehension in response.
Lenna nods some and then says " yes I was hired on as Nikicon here as a transport captain. " Then blinks some " Oh and I'm Fuji, Lenna " She glances over toward a random hoversled that j-turns into a stall and shakes her head some. Then pointing over to the old gunship, And since my transport is an old escort troop carrier class ship it has the firepower to keep what I carry safe and sometimes that is just what is needed to keep a coloney suppled. Thankfuly its guns have been used only a few times. "
"Speaking of, you want i go look at ship?" Zeck asked Lenna holding her tool box up.
Thad thought for a moment as he learned the names of the people he was hanging with. Then it clicked for him that Alastair had shared a couple people he ran into during onne of his missions. Thad figured it might be worth a name bomb to see how they react. "So, during some training I ran into a specific captain. Would you happen to know an Alastair by chance?"
Lenna would nod some to Zeck and then says " If you want too, we never left since the last time you worked on it, and the refit we did to the Msson reactors are holding up great, it's better than I rememebred it from before." Hearing Alastair Lenna and Nikicon would look to each other and then nod. " Yes he was the captain that came with us to a junk yard to get parts to repair The Sobek. He offered to pay for the parts that we were getting but that was already taken care of. That man seamed to have a way with Neko's, or a curse I was not sure."
Yayoi decided to let Mochi and Thad speak, since Thad seemed to be asking an interesting question. Plus she was interested in the convorsation before her. Her mind processed what they had said about the Governness might know about the Machine World.
Sanda took a data slate out and did a quick run through of where the rest of the crew was. She squinted at her screen when she saw that Del and Kwine were outside the city limits. ¿Qué en el mundo?
Mochi stared at the crashed sled for a moment, squinting as if to pick out any familiar faces that were riding it. After a moment, he shot a message to Koyama, hoping to hurry her reply - "I take it that the crashed sled outside isnt' a concern?" Following that, the Elysian turned his attention back to the others. "Alastair? That name sounds familiar."
Yayoi glanced at Mochi "my little sister mentioned him, to us once, he's a member of the Belmont clan" she telepathically sent to the Senator chui.
A look of realisation dawned on the science officer as Yayoi reminded him, "Oh, THOSE guys. I see. He was running the IRC as well, I think - there was some kind of gossip amongst the officers about him an a Separa'Shan butting heads.. What was I- Oh right-" Mochi realised he was chatting when he should be focusing on the discussion that was going on.
Thad smiled to see that they did in fact know of him. Fun to run into people who have something in common. "Ah very good, I was just curious how this might all be related." He paused for a moment and then continued. "And yes, his fan girl club is a blessing and a curse." He said with a chuckle.
Yayoi glanced at Sanda, then sent her a telepathic message, whats up, Hermana?"
Sanda glanced up towards Yayoi as she received the message and responded. Del and Kinie are outside the city limits. I have no idea what their doing. This whole mission is just keeps getting worse and worse.
'Apparently, Del and Kinie are now on their way to see the colonial governor of this world.' Koyama sent with more than a little irritation. 'We may now have to include possible extraction to the original mission.'
Mochi sent back a wilhelm scream with bad audio quality through the magic of telepathy, then added, "So mission parameters are covert extraction, possible resistance and on the side a bit of asking around? Changing by the second. I'll see about getting Sanda and Yayoi with me if it needs to be outside PA."
'For now? Unless stated otherwise, stick to intel gathering. Wilson-shoi mentioned 'lostek', and gave a brief summary of his encounter.' Koyama returned, wanting to smack the man for the scream, making her wince visibly. 'Pick who to take with you, I would suggest one or both of the Rangers. Poppy has her hands full with the one who received a full on NSP shot to the face. And I've sidelined Wilson-shoi for the moment. That leaves your options limited.'
Mochi replied with a low 'nooooo' from one of those holo-disks he'd watched as a kid. "I've got them with me, but also Thad. Which.. may cause problems.."
Lenna would nod some and then says " Shall we try to contact our Boss and see if she has more information about the machine worlds, or arange a meeting so that you would be able to ask her questions?"
Thad listened to Lenna while the rest of the team was talking to themselves. At least this is what he figured they were doing given the face expressions they used. "This would be most interesting. I'd like to speak with her and I am sure the rest of the team would also."
Yayoi kept her face calm and expressionless as she heard Sanda's reply. fucking damn it.
Mochi nodded at the request to see the Governess - that's exactly where they needed to go. "Absolutely! It'd be an honour to meet her." He agreed enthusiastically, given what he had been chatting with Koyama about. Glancing to the others, he grinned, "I hope you don't mind if we all come? If that's not too much trouble, that is." After a second, he tapped his chin. "Thaddeus, I think you might be better helping on the ship, but you can come too if you'd like. Just remember to be courteous to our host-!"
Lenna would look over toward Nikicon and then says, " I should use the normal channels for this i'm not sure this is considered a busness call."
Nikicon would nod and then says, " Yea, but with how this is dealing with Yamatai it might be warrented you know how incompentant her assistants can be." Nikicon would smile some and some memories of Soon dealing with them.
Lenna would chuckle and then nod "Yes I know it might be important enough for a direct message." Lenna pauses to take a look around and then wonders something as she moves to rub her chin once more. Turning some so that the Katana (A Tamahagane Ta-W1-3a) at her side was able to be seen by those from the Yamataian ship, as was her family crest.
Sanda felt her hand going down to her knife blade as she imagined plunging it into Mochi's back. ¿Qué drogas eres? ¿¡Por qué en nombre de la Emperatriz le dirías a Maximus que puede venir!?
Yayoi glanced to Sanda symppathetically.
Koyama sent Mochi the mental equivalent of a dismissive wave, 'You know how to handle him. If it helps, just tell him to follow your orders as if they were mine.'
Mochi sent back a general feeling of confidence and a quick, "By the way, we've found a route to the Governess too. Extraction in progress."
Thad was getting excited to see the person in charge of this wonderful place. More so to learn more about the person Alastair had met with prior to this mission. "Very cool, I am looking forward to meeting the one in charge." He paused for a moment thinking how to word his next question. "Do you think she'd like a gift? We might have something of interest for her."
The fire-winged Elysian gazed at Thad, wondering where he was going with this. Hopefully he just meant something that he had in his pocket. Nodding enthusiastically to Lenna and Nikicon, Mochi agreed with them. "If it's too much fuss don't feel the need to go out of your way for us. It's just a little question about local knowledge." He gave a polite smile, but clearly remained enthused about the prospect of meeting the Governess. Spotting the family crest, internally he tried to identify it. "What did you say your family name was, Lenna-san?"
Sanda just shook her head. Looked like she'd need to go to the ship and prepare for a major extraction under fire. Boy was she glad she wasn't going with them. Maxiums would probably cause some major incident and wind up getting Mochi killed.
Lenna would nod some as Mochi talked about aranging the meeting and then says " Its not too much fuss, i just have to make sure i use the right channel, As if I use the wrong one Soon might be upset."
"And if we use the right one she might still be upset " Added in Nikicon with a smile and giggle.
"You're not helping Nikicon," Lenna would say as she sighs some. Hearing him ask about her family name Lenna would say I'm from Fuji clan back in Pagoda No Uesureya on Yamatai. " Then blinks and asks "er um something wrong?"
On Sanda's communicator, a message from Koyama came up: 'Tore your hair out yet?'
Sanda read the message and responded. 'Not yet. But I'm probably going to get very drunk tonight. I'm just glad I'm not going with Maximus and the Taii.'
Koyama's next message took a while in coming, but was rather short: 'Unless Iemochi-taii wants you to. He is handpicking his team. Wilson is sidelined. So that leaves the rest of the kids, you included.' Not even so much as a sadface emoji.
Sanda put her face in her hand. Ellos no me pagan lo suficiente para lidiar con toda esta mierda.
'You're facepalming aren't you?' Koyama replied over the text.
"Could you hear the slap from there?' Sanda replied sarcasticly.
Koyama returned: 'No, but anything with Thad involved tends to make you want to give yourself a concussion.'
"Fuji clan?" Mochi echoed, wracking his brain. He'd heard something about a Fuji Hotel at some point in relation to something he couldn't recall. Beyond that, not much came to mind other than some mental images of the city itself. Mentally shrugging, the Elysian gave a polite nod, "Not at all, it's nice to see an ex-pat all the way out here is all. You and that katana are a little piece of home. Although, nowadays I'd prefer a xiphos should I have a choice, heh." Glancing at the others for a moment, he added, "Well, I think we're all ready to go when you are-?"
Lenna would smile and looks down seeing that her family heirloom was visable and then nods some "um yea i think Father opened a Hotel, I've not been home since i was 16. Its been a while but i do keep in touch with my family often. " Lenna smiles some and then says "I'll need to contact her before we head over there she can be very busy with work. "
"I understand. We can meet back here in a few minutes if you'd like? I'm fine waiting, but I don't know if you have to lock up your ship or anything-?" Mochi offered, nodded after Lenna explained her heritage. Mentally, he shot a telepathic message to Tachiko, given that she'd know the most about the clans other than Koyama. "Tachi~? Have you ever heard of the Fuji Clan, or the Fuji Hotel..?"
Lenna would shake her head some and then says " I can call the AI on my craft to lock up for me, and I can message The Barroness from my compad, I can take a few steps back and call anytime. " Lenna would smile some pulling out her compad hitting a few buttions as the device respondes " aye Capatin, locking up now. " Then looks toward Nikicon and then says " welp there goes our plans."
Nikcon smiles some and then says " Yes but this is going to be so much fun!"
Aboard Resurgence (Medlab)
Euikoshi and Poppy swiftly brought the bodies inside to the cargo elevator before Lenna and Nikocon got too close, whisking them away to the medical lab. Once there, Poppy started medical scans and medical diagnostics on both of them, hooking up an IV to the ID-SOL with the headshot and setting up a hemosynth healing drip. She used a hanging machine over the surgical table to start CPR using pushes of gravity force and tried to start circulating the bloodstream to see if he could be saved or at least rebuilt by the nanomachine-filled blood. "Congratulations," she told the unresponsive ID-SOL, "You're eligible for free Yamataian healthcare."
Not too long after his conversation with the XO, Vec swinging out of the Zero G passage onto Deck 4. Striding into the Medlab, he addressed Poppy, "Have you got a pulse yet? He's probably not had any brain function for a while." As he spoke, he checked to make sure the Green skinned prisoner was safely secured in a containment cell.
"I can get this body running again but I think he'd be a vegetable," Poppy said. "It's not like with Mia where I have a copy of his consciousness I can stick back in here. I can repair the body but not the mind. It would be a blank hard-drive and without that we can't even make the connections of neurons we need to have him be himself. That said, and this is questionable, put in some sort of subtitute consciousness and let him loose on the world," Poppy shrugged.
"Hell no," Vec cut her off flatly. He approached the body to do his own eyes and hands check. "Calling it, no brain function at..." He checked the time. "Let's put him on ice until the Captain gives us further orders." Vec glanced at his coffee corner, but thought better of it. This day wasn't over, he hoped he wouldn't have to but there was still a chance one of the crew would end up under the knife.
"Lets get the surgical suite ready just incase we have more patients, and while you're at it, mind filling me in about this 'Mia' situation?"
"Yes sir," Poppy nodded. She moved ID-SOL body into a containment are and put it on stasis mode, then shut the sealed door. "Thad had sex with her, she got pregnant, she talked to me about her options. She was upset by Thad. She took my gun, She blew her head off. I saved her life, downloaded her backup into her new head. The infant survived," Poppy explained.
As Vec listened, he cleaned down the surgical suite and begain another inventory. He opened his mouth for a moment before closing it. "I'm glad you saved the infant," Vec said eyeing the woman.
"I guess letting kill herself was the only way I could clear the thoughts of abortion out of her mind," Poppy nodded. "But it doesn't count because I never signed a death slip."
"You did what?" Vec snapped. The Pink haired woman suddenly had his full attention.
"It was just intuition and leaving my weapon exposed," Poppy shrugged. "I had a sense."
Thoughts weren't comming right. He'd missheard. He had to have. He walked over to the coffee pot and began grinding beans. "Run that by me one more time, Pink," he said slowly.
"No sir, you must have imagined it," Poppy dismissed him, suddenly feeling a little suspicious of her new boss. "Let's just say there's some times the patient is wrong."
"That's not your call," Vec said pouring beans into his camp coffee pot. He kept his hands firmly on the pot.
"Yeah, well if you have a problem with it, the baby's on the ship, but I wouldn't recommend completing the abortion after the kid's been born for three months already. Besides, Mia has come around to accepting motherhood. None of this would have happened if she wasn't stupid enough to disable all her body's safeguards just so she could get drunk and high."
"What the fuck is wrong with you, woman?" Vec asked still fighting to keep his hand away from his pistol. He turned to face her, anger simmering like the coffee pot behind him.
"What's wrong with me?" Poppy had to laugh. "I'm not the one who did any of it, look elsewhere. I saved two lives that day."
"Do you have your service pistol on you? If so place it on the floor, now," Vec said as the pot continued to bubble behind him.
"Are you serious, sir?" Poppy asked. She was suddenly extremely on edge. "Is there some point to this?" She pulled out her communicator and started texting the captain.
"Yes, you're making decisions for your patients that aren't yours to make. You're unfit for duty," Vec said.
"Sir! Again, I didn't make the decision for her, she's the one that chose to kill herself and if I'm supposed to respect that and let my battle buddy die to suicide because she's in a temporary state of stress then I don't know what kind of officer you are. I request we put this behind us and bury it. Mia's happy, the baby's happy, and we don't need to turn the ship upside down on your moral crusade."
"You just said wanted to talk her out of an abortion. She made the choice. You don't get to make these choices for people," Vec said. The coffee pot began venting steam but he didn't dare take his eyes off of the woman.
"I didn't say that," Poppy protested. I gave her her options, and everything was fine until Thad forced his way into the room and set her off."
"This is an issue for the MPs," Vec said. "MEGAMI, CMO Wilson is officially declaring Poppy Pink Nitô Heisho mentally unfit for duty. Revoke her access to medical systems and alert the captain. It's over Poppy, don't make this harder than it it has to be."
Captain Aoba's voice came over the intercom in the medical lab. "Wilson, what's the problem?"
"I'm using my authority as CMO to temporarily declare Poppy unfit for duty until further investigation. You should be able to play back the security logs a few minutes for an explanation, sir," Vec said. A less trusting part of his mind wondered if the Captain already knew.
"I already know all about it," Aoba told Wilson.
"And you're ok with this, sir?" Vec asked incredulously.
"As far as I'm concerned, Poppy performed amazingly well under extraordinary circumstances," Aoba told Vec. "See me in my office when you're done there."
Poppy crossed her arms over her chest, disappointed because she felt Vec had betrayed her trust over something he wasn't there for and had no business butting into.
"Just, go to your quarters, Pink," Vec said as he left the Medlab.
"Yes, sir," Poppy said, giving him a bow of respect and leaving the medical lab.
Vec didn't immediatly head to the captain's office. Floating alone in the Zero G passage he thought. Who did he trust onboard? Motoyushi was as new as he was, if the rest of the crew was as fucked in the head as Pink, she'd still be clean. He floated up to the bridge level. He'd talk to Motoyoshi, and if necessary, he'd pass this up to fleet.
Aboard Resurgence (Shuttle Bay)
As the crew came back into the ship, Mia tried to offer each of them who wasn't carrying a body a warm cup of hot chocolate.
As Vec headed to the bridge his thoughts tumbled through his brain like shrapnel. This whole mission had been a mess. No briefing, no contingencies. Half the crew didn't seem to realize there was a mission at all. He wasn't innocent in this. He'd let himself and Unknifto get cornered. No, his failures had happend earlier. He he'd only made their most obvious tail. No even earlier, he could have made sure he knew where everybody was headed and with whome before they'd left. Instead he'd just joked about barfights.
Koyama, heading toward their resident Medical Officer's position wore a level expression. While she would've preferred going out into the field again, the risks may outstrip the reward in her case. Her grip on the device wasn't white-knuckled, but the grip was firm none the less. "Good, I was hoping it would be you I would run into." her tone neutral as she came on Vec.
"Really?" Vec asked suspiciously, his hand drifting into his pocket for the peace offering.
Koyama's eyes followed the hand, one of her eyebrows slowly lifting the closer he came to whatever was in that pocket.
Catching her glance, Vec produced the bag of lemon candies, "You mentioned these during the EMS class. I got them for you before things got crazy out there. Anyway," he said handing them over, "What can I do for you?"
"Are they alive or dead?" Koyama asked as she looked at the candies, eyeing them suspiciously, then back to the man now with narrowing eyes.
"One dead, one alive, I figure Poppy's gonna try to make sure it's two alive," Vec said in a matter of fact tone.
"And why did it happen?" Koyama prompted.
"Self defense, ma'am," Vec said back straightening, "We noticed we had a tail, tried to shake them, slipped up and got cornered. ID-SOL and his boys wanted to know why we were looking for... 'lostek', he called it. Tried to get him to piss off, but next thing I knew we were in a shoot out. I dropped him before he could drag me off to some torture basement. I dropped the ball. No excuse, ma'am."
Koyama let Vec's words mull over in her mind a moment, "Boys, implying more than one, how many were with him?"
"Six, ma'am," Vec said, "The other prisoner is the guy we made tailing us."
"So, four on the lamb?" Koyama questioned, "And lostek. Not much to go on, Shoi, but at least you have a possible name."
"And some things for the CSO to look over. But, that's not what's bugging me." Vec paused to organize his thoughts. "We aren't the only people looking for this thing are we?"
Koyama made to cross her arms only to remember the datapad. Instead she slapped it idly against her thigh, "If what you said was true? Possibly not. I'm sending people back out. But, for now, Shoi, sidelines. You've patients now."
Vec noded, "Fair enough, ma'am." That could have been worse. Taking that as a dismissial, he jogged off towards the Medlab.
Aboard Resurgence (Bridge)
Koyama looked down toward Tachiko, then back to Aoba, and similarly to the threshold of the bridge. "Motoyoshi-chui, status on our CMO, and CSO?" asked while eyeing the bridge exit, her fingertips itched at the urge to go help unscrew the situation. Then back toward the lower parts of the bridge.
Aoba frowned. "Hmm...I would like to continue the mission as soon as possible," he said. "I think we need to send out a smaller, more handpicked team this time and no splitting up. It is ridiculous that after instructions that crew were to go in pairs that we had solos going around. Next time I want everyone together and anyone who breaks off will have to explain themselves to me personally."
"CMO is with Unknifto and CSO is with Hoshi. They're en route to the ship, and nearly returned. Kawa and Lulie haven't moved since last report." Tachiko didn't turn from the screen, her eyes on the markers moving along the tactical map, and her digital consciousness overlaying thickly with visualizing other data. "No anomalous readings on their status. All nominal. Kawa! Lulie!"
Koyama looking attentively to Aoba, offered a curt nod. "Then I will gather everyone together." Stepping back, she paused, frowning again, "And we will have to pick up those two..." 'Kittens' came to mind, but refraining from going so far she took a breath. "I'll ready a team, have them sent back out immediately." with a short bow, Koyama left the bridge with her pad bouncing along a thigh.
Delmira's voice came over the com. "Delmira to Res we are doing good we got a lead about a Kuvexian big wig who may have information. And yes the two neko are cool."
"Lulie, that's wonderful but we need more about that lead. Please send any intelligence you have. Why are you so far away from the colony?" Tachiko wasn't letting Del and Kinie off that easy.
"Some Kuvexian named Soon and we are taking a tour." Delmira said her voice filled with a unusual level of irritablility.
'Tachi, where are those kittens?' Koyama sent to the Operator.
"Still a little bit outside the colony, Commander. I've cross referenced this Soon: she's the colonial governor. I'm pulling up the dossier that Belmont-Shōsa compiled in his after mission report and sending it to you and the Captain now." Tachiko beamed the information to the two senior officers.
"We are on the move or transport is busted so we are going to fly to meet with Soon." Delmira said over the coms
"Lulie, did you say you're going to see her yourself?" Tachiko looked at the command team. "They're going to go talk to the colonial governor themselves?"
"Correct our neko guides are going to bring us there." Delmira responded
"Aoba-Chūsa, should they..." Tachiko looked to the Captain with one brow raised, "... should they be doing that?"
"I'll allow it," Aoba said, heading back to the captain's chair. "At least someone is making progress," he said with the tiniest hint of a smirk, but only for a moment before returning to his usual serious expression.
'XO to bridge,' Koyama's voice piping in on the audio, 'I've our Science Officer ready to resume the mission, he will be handpicking his team. Wilson is sidelined for now... since he has patients. Should I add possible extraction of Lulie and Kawa to objectives?'
"Lulie, tell Kawa she is authorized by the Captain to speak with Soon and is now OIC of the meeting. Proceed on your course." Tachiko sighed after saying it. "Please keep us advised of your situation at all times." She looked back up, "Their projected course is taking them to the structure indicated in Belmont-Shōsa's dossier."
"Commander, Kawa and Lulie are headed to the Colonial Governor's office. The Captain gave them authorization to proceed. I will tag extraction as a contingency objective."
'Good, Iemochi-taii has also found a route to the Governess. And should be able to extract as needed. At least we know we have someone with some diplomacy skills on the ground.' Koyama sent back to the bridge.
After hopefully most of the mess had been cleaned up, Koyama returned to the bridge. Only to see the captain leave it. She'd wanted to follow along, but the look he normally wore seemed intensified. And, thinking better on it, Koyama elected to just join Tachiko at her station. Standing beside it, " The captain is on the Wilson situation... I don't pity the man."
Tachiko smiled somewhat wanly at Koyama. "Well, we still have an operation running, I don't have much time to think about anything that isn't on the tac-map." She tilted her head. "I think I just need... I dunno. I just need something."
"Barber!" Tachiko buzzed the Caretaker on the intercom. "Are you busy? I can't get off the bridge and I just.. I dunno. Need a pick me up. Use your judgement. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. Arigato gozaimasu."
Koyama resisted the urge to groan at the mention of Mia. "We've got Iemochi-taii enroute to the Governess, team selected. All is well. For now hopefully."
Vec's boots landed with a thump as he reached the artificial gravity of the bridge level. He'd have to go to the Captain's office soon, but he couldn't help feeling like that would be walking into an ambush with his eyes closed. Standing in the hall, he sent Motoyoshi a text over her private comm:
«Can I borrow you for a moment, Ops?»
Mia entered the bridge with a pot of hot coffee and a pitcher of hot cocoa. "Hello sir," she smiled at Vec as she passed by on her way to Tachiko. "Coffee or cocoa, ma'am?" she asked. She also whispered, "or flask?" with a giggle.
Vec looked at the woman who by all accounts should be dead, "Neither, thank you." He almost missed the flask, "And no drinking on duty."
"Standing right here, Mia." Koyama said stiffly, alcohol, on the bridge?
"Caretakers always carry some for cleaning purposes," Mia winked.
Tachiko gave Mia a polite, nodding bow. "Make it a mocha. Why choose between them when you can have both?"
"An excellent choice! Maybe all three next time?" she joked, preparing a cup with a lid for Tachiko and grabbing a straw from her fanny pack. It actually smelled amazing. The whole bridge smelled like a coffeehouse now.
Accepting it with another bow, Tachiko took it with both hands. "Domo." She rotated in her seat a bit. «Hai, Wilson-Shōi? I can't leave the Ops Console with an active away team. How may I help you? Go yōken wa?»
Fingers flashing, he jammed out another message, «You were on the bridge for my conversation with the Captain, yes?» He was treading carefully. He worred he'd have to storm the bridge for the red phone depending on how she answered.
She looked over at Koyama before replying. «I was not privy to the other side of the communication, unfortunately. Sumimasen.»
Taking a deep breath, he typed, «I know I've caused a lot of trouble today, and you're well within your right not to listen to me. You're just as new on this boat as I am.»
He paused trying to put the situation into words. «Pink Nitô Heisho was complicite in the death of the Caretaker Mia, and she and the Captain are covering it up. We need to involve MPs.»
"Something wrong?" Koyama asked, catching the look Tachiko gave her.
«If you require their assistance, I don't believe it requires my intervention. I do not have a privileged line to the Investigator division that is unavailable to other Star Army personnel. My apologies. As you said, I am new as well.» Tachiko looked up at Koyama, "I do not have an issue, sorry, Commander." She hid her face behind the coffee, sipping it awkwardly. "This is delicious, Barber-Hei!"
Koyama merely continued staring at Tachiko unblinkingly, "If you say so," Her words laced with doubt.
Vec walked away from the bridge door, unsure how long he could stall. Was she staying out of this? He didn't know. "MEGAMI, patch me through to YEAL," he said with an air of finality.
A dial tone rang through the Bridge, coming from the closest speaker to Vec. After a moment, a click was heard. "Operator?"
"This is CMO Wilson, I am requesting MPs at this location."
= = =
OOC: JP by Wes, Ajax, Charaa, Cowboy, Soresu, Soban, Spaceeye, Shadowwalker, Ethereal, Yuuki, Zanven, Locke, Damaske
