RP: SFS Service to the Free State: Glorified Border Guards

Port Cargo Hold

Linda listened to her radio and got the new report with a sigh "Looks like plans changed." She didn't say much because she figured Keno knew what he was doing. She left the live man to him, but since the dead man was probably a Nepleslian citizen she quickly searched him for an ID for purposes of sending a report back to any possible family. If she couldn't find one she would simply take a picture of his face with her Datajockey to have the IPG database ID him. Either way once she was done she began to head out and back to the shuttle, her gun still ready just in case someone was hiding before and decided to make themselves known.

Eli didn't know what the hell a Cult of War or a cyber whatsit or.... well, he had long ago left behind the world he knew - he was essentially experiencing something new every waking second it seemed, and he was far past the point of being surprised or unduly worried about it. Of course there were a bunch of seemingly hostile ships that had just appeared in the system, what, that doesn't happen to you?

Eli gave a quick smack to Arc's shoulder guard. "Ey, good luck mon. See yeh on de Uhlfbert. Stay rude."

He followed Phase, who, despite being laden with the ID-SOL's gore spattered corpse, still managed to move somewhat more nimbly than he did. A tiny Phase emerging from the large Phase like some twisted Freespacer Matryoshka also did not bother him (of course there were two) but he did admit the larger Phase 'shell' rifling through the dead, gore-spattered man's pockets was a little unsettling. Eli buckled himself into a seat, trying not to think too hard about it.

"Phase girl, I like yeh small body better den dat great lumbering ting yeh got outside." Eli said, good naturedly, "More becomin' of a woman of yeh stature."

"Uh... yeah, no, sorry, not that kind of Naval Officer. I vote we let the 'Spacer handle the ship, because I can almost guarantee I would break something, somehow." Max rather hastily to the question posed to him. "And seeing as we have some new friends to deal with, I'd much rather not be flying around in a broken target practice module." He quickly strapped his more or less live prisoner into the shuttle, and then proceeded to do the same himself, working on the principle that waiting until you were under fire was a bad time to strap in. "Let's hurry up and separate, though. We don't want to be attached to this sitting duck target of a ship if things don't end well."

Eir and the others had moved the prisoners halfway towards their comrades near the Crew quarters when Laura came over the com again and issued new and rather urgent orders. Eir had done enough basic research into the free spacer cults prior to her arrival on the Uhlfbert to have an idea of how much the situation had changed.

It was then that Eli and Phase went by, making their way to the shuttle. Eir shook her head in disappointment. Without turning, she told Arc, “Our backup went ahead without us. You push this group forward; I will get the other.” She doubted she had to include the fact that if they so much as slowed them down he should put some holes into them. They didn’t have time for anything else.

A quick march took her to the crew quarters and she was shouting before she even reached them fully. “Everyone up! Hands on the back of your head; you lower them, you lose them. We are getting off this tub.” She stopped only as long as it took for them to stand and to give Keid a nod. Her weapon was ready and trained on them. “March,” she commanded. After their prior experience with the marine and free spacer they complied with only minimal complaint.

She kept them at a very brisk pace, making sure she and her lot were the last to get on board, before making sure they strapped themselves properly in. She sat across from them and did the same. The primary difference between them was that she still had her weapon and was ready to use it.

As she waited for final prep to be done, she could not quite believe the situation they were in. A combined spacer fleet, large enough and well armed enough to shadow a Nepelslian task force? It seemed a little unreal. It sounds as if they had skipped the whole border guards stage. It also brought up another question: Where did this place the spacers they were working with?

As the Marines and their charges were hastily bundled aboard the shuttle, Laura passed Violetta to Bernhard and waited for him to board first. After that, she began climbing up when Bernhard reached down and hoisted her up effortlessly. The hatch behind her sealed with a sombre finality.

For Phase, his search had yielded a datajockey with an encrypted password. But he had not the time to try to crack it.

He did get a response to his query.
"All aboard. Hit it, Dolly!" Laura ordered. Two heart beats later, the shuttle rocketed off. Laura fell forwards, completely unstrapped to anything. Bernhard, in his comparatively large power armor, caught her before she struck anything or anyone. He simply stood using magnetic clamps to hold him in place.

"Thanks," she muttered, unhappy that she had completely forgotten to strap in and would now have to spend the shuttle ride in his arms. Not a good image for her squad.

"Anyone hurt?" Bernhard asked over the squad channel.

"More importantly, anyone know what the hell is going on? Dolly? Keid? Nelson, are you spooks holding something back on us?" Laura added imperatively.

"Oh dear... I seem to have acquired three different weapon locks as well. This is most disruptive for communal harmony but a forceful attempt to restore harmony would seem contrary to our survival," Harmonious Solarsailor piped up.

"What did you do?" Laura asked with exasperation.

"I queried them to know if they were lost since they were not entirely welcome to arrive with their weapons of war. I also happened to comment on their paint work. They seem to have taken exception to that," Harmonious Solarsailor replied, a mild tone of cheekiness in its tone.

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NSS Ulfberht, 25 minutes later

When they landed, the entire hangar was filled with energy as sailors and Marines prepared weapons and power armors. A flight of Hornets sat with refuelling nozzles sticking out. The crews paced anxiously in flight suits beside them.

A Marine rushed over to them. He wore Chief stripes.

"Romero, get your squad in armor! Bunch of Spacer bigwigs are meeting here in person for something. Marines are to provide security AND make sure these guys don't start knifing each other. And ACE has done it again. Hammerhand and Vinidict are being transferred to Frentzen's squad. He took a couple casualties from a pirate interdiction op. Not sure if they'll make it."

"I got casualties too. And prisoners," Laura said matter of factly.

"Damn... Have someone watch them while your squad gets in armor. I'll call for a swabbie security detail."

"Greer, watch them. Rest of you Marines, armor up! I want us looking ready to tear apart every single ship out there with a fork and knife! And once that's done, Greer, I want you in one of those new Devastators! I want at least one of those bad boys out there!"

It was a quiet trip back to the Ulfberht for Eir. She did not have anything to add to the ongoing conversations and she had not yet discharged her duty. She had watched her prisoners with unblinking gaze until they were taken from her on their arrival.

When Eir stepped out of their transport she was struck with the sight of soldiers and support staff running around, each preparing a million different small things, each making up part of the great war-machine that was the Ulfberht, the sound one of absolutely controlled chaos. There was something about it that brought a brief smile to her face.

Her eyes focused on the Chief who ran up to speak with her commanding officer. It was evidence of just how serious the situation was that they were sending them right back in. It wasn’t any better that their squad was reduced in size. Not a shot had been fired yet that she was aware of, but their tactical options where already shrinking.

After the Chief left to get the security detail, Eir walked up to the corporal, overhearing the orders to Greer. “Ma'am, permission to make that two Devastators under your command?” She was not sure if Romero could commit to Devastators to the field, but Eir was going to be damn sure to try.

Linda was rather frustrated on the trip back, so much so she actually did not respond to Laura and was scrolling through screens on her Data Jokey at an astonishing rate, trying to catch up on messages from the IPG and figure out what was going on.

By time they arrived she still had no clue what was going on, and could only send a brief update on the situation. She then had to stand with Laura and listen to the Chief, receiving her intel like a simple grunt. Despite how frustrating it was though to receive her orders in the standard chain of command, the situation was dire and she did not have time to give it much bother.

She moved to the armor racks for the Golem and began taking it off, she was happy to get herself out of the stuffy armor. Since they were getting into power armor she already knew what her decision was going to be. She was most familiar with the Raider armor and the IPG had provided one for her as well, so she made her way over to the black power armor and prepared to board.

"Coordinate with Chief Greer about load outs," Laura replied to Eir as she peeled off the parts of her Golem. As each piece came off, she unceremoniously tossed it to her side. A Junkers drone would pick it up and put it in her armory locker. Once stripped, it was revealed that she had been wearing the standard issue black sports bra, a pair of exercise shorts and socks. Normally, Marines wore the standard uniform underneath whichever armor they were wearing. Laura Romero, however, was nowhere close to normal. She was, in her own words, the Most Brilliant Medic in the Universe and was thus not subject to the expectations of normality.

If she felt any embarrassment over her immodesty, Laura showed none of it. "Keid, get an update from the Polysentience. What the hell is going on? Dolly, communicate with ACE, find out when our reinforcements are gonna get here and get Harm'ny kitted out and ready to go if he needs it." She assumed neither of them would need to change anything in preparation for this new duty.

Bernhard appeared then in his Raider and shortly was clambering out. "Prisoners are secured and casualties off to the med bay. They wanted me to go with but I got orders from a higher authority to report back to her. Carrier's not maneuvering cos the captain doesn't see the point, not when there's nowhere to run to. They're sending squads onto the hull to make sure we don't get any uninvited guests," he reported matter of factly, trying to keep his eyes locked on hers. "Good. Private Nibbly-Smith is also getting a Devastator on and I told her to coordinate with you," Laura replied just the same.

A pair of J2C Ichabod gun-bots stomped past them, 30mm chainguns swiveling menacingly. "Haven't seen those since... Tange," Laura commented. Bernhard watched too. "Yeah."

At that, he left to check in with Eir. "Private Nygaard-Smith, how are you tooling up?"

Laura, meanwhile, had gotten back into her VOID. Sometimes, she wanted to find a personal emblem to put on her armor. Bernhard has his rampant bear on his Hostile and Sergeant Volkov had her wolf symbol. Problem was... she didn't know what she identified with. As a clone without history, she didn't have the ability to use her past to form connections. She was, after all, only five years old.

Nonetheless, a VOID with laser gatlings and a plasma autocannon were the way to rock the socks off any Spacer terrorist leader. Freedom fighters, terrorists, soldiers of fortune, Laura didn't care who they were. Right now, they were being dicks. And like most Nepleslians, Laura took exception to that behavior. So she had it in her mind to teach these wannabes what real soldiers, who really fight for freedom and really instill terror in their enemies, really do. Kill fuckers and look fabulous doing it.

Eir gave a quick nod to Laura's response. It was hard for her not to hide her smile. Both she and the Devastator where relatively new to the Nepleslian military, but as far as Eir was considered she was made for one. She was already in the process of stripping out of her golem, her uniform wrinkled and sweaty underneath, when the Chief approach. She turned towards him.

“I am considering the environment, Sir. Given what I saw between Phase and Warmonger Kied, I doubt that tactical weapons will be of very much use. So I think raw brute force is what would work best. Plasma Lance Cannons, Doorbeaker, Pulse array. Vibrosaw. I would be tempted to use BOLTs but with everyone packed together friendly fire is a concern. So I will be going with a DART rack. Tower shield as well. To be honest, I believe the shield to be an important part of the unit, more of a requirement than optional.” Eir paused for a second before adding, “Assuming you agree, this suits the situation, Sir.” She shook her head slightly. “This situation does not make much sense, so I believe being ready for anything is important.”

She worked fast but controlled as she stripped out of the golem, well practiced in the act. “Do you know anything about the situation other than has already been said, Sir? I hate to go in blind.”

Phase stayed quiet for the ride, opting not to inform Laura about the results of their Polysentience query under the guise of piloting a ship. Their larger body had boarded the shuttle last, saving the encrypted datajockey in a different compartment than the chainknife for safekeeping. Of course, this just added to the cramped nature of the shuttle, though that didn't bother the Spacer one bit. What did bother the spacer is why people weren't even noticing their smaller body - with the exception of Eli. How /dare/ they prioritize a sudden change in events over ogling her refined form?

Phase said nothing of this.

Once they disembarked, they gave a nod to Garvey, bright circles for eyes illuminating on that glassy plate before returning to the large body and wandering the deck.

"I prefer my more sturdy half for the outer-world," they explained to the man, using their many sensors to pay attention to Laura's new orders at the same time.

To the Chief, she had something else to say. The hulk wheeled about, the mono-eye's lighting once more returned to normal, and faced here. "Laura Greer, I suspect that they are not here for a fight," they said, "A fight would not benefit them."

The large body swapped hands for the brass-capped fingertips Phase had introduced themselves with, and they folded their long arms over eachother in an expectant - or maybe thoughtful - manner.

"Guess dem make sense mon." Eli said, after Phase explained herself, "Dem big body ain't good for pilotin' an' fine work, seh yea."

There was an awkward pause. "Deh little body's cute though, seh yea."

Before Eli could hear Phase's response, he shuffled off to the gear racks, stripping his Golem armor. The suit was cumbersome and heavy, even with its features, and Eli found it a great relief to finally be rid of it. He stretched, enjoying the cracks and snaps he newly freed joints made as he limbered up.

As for Power Armors, he didn't really request anything special. He liked the Hostile suit - it had answers to nearly every situation in it's default loadout, and he wasn't really that great with the other suits. He could leave those duties to those with an actual preference.
He climbed into his Hostile, its hull decorated with various gang symbols and emblems common to his old slums, giving the armor a lived-in look that seemed to attach itself to all of Eli's possessions.

He climbed in, rattling off the pre-operation suit checks that had been drummed into him like a religion in boot. Suit checks green, good to go. Next was his weapon - he picked up the familiar form of an HPAR 'Moneyshot' rifle, the Hostile's bread-and-butter. He loaded a drum into the weapon, and attached as much ammo as would fit onto his empty hardpoints. Who knew, y'know?

"Corporal, 'm ready. Standin' by for further instruction, seh yes."

Linda got herself suited up in her Raider power armor without much hassle, first making sure it moves smoothly. Once she's sure it's operating properly she synced her Datajokey to the ACE system and then booted up some secure programs. Mainly they were feeds to the IPG networks so that she could keep up with in IPG intell distributed, she did not like being uninformed. Once all that was sorted out she grabed a Light Coil Autocannon. After some thinking she decided to bring two magazines of HEs and 2 of standard slugs. As mush as she wanted to bring a few Incendiaries, it was likely they would be in close quarters, and she didn't want the splash getting on anyone it wasn't supposed to.

Bernhard looked at the Devastator. It was a field test unit, not assigned to any single Marine. His eyes darted to the Hostile that had seen him through Tange. The Hostile which Bernhard had used on Rok'Veru was scrapped after he had been wounded. His original Hostile had been left with 4th Fleet and he sorely wished he could use it now. But Laura wanted firepower.

The Devastator. An unfinished model, by all accounts. The IPG Commandos described it as a high performance armor that had no idea what it wanted to do. The Marines saw it as an armor that could do everything better but nothing well. Fire support or assault? As a result, it was released in small numbers for field tests to get a better sense of just what NAM had created.

"I'm not taking a backpack module. I need that space for a MED and my tools. I'm taking ARROWS. No handheld weapon. Warmonger Keid and Phase may be intimidating but they are also nowhere close to being as durable as these things. My role remains to look scary but be ready to perform medical duties. The VBCS, PPG and other standard side arms should be sufficient," Bernhar said. "Your job - look even scarier next to me."

With that, he climbed in and began the process of finding his kit.

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ACE said:

Reaction Force Furious Fire will arrive at the edge of the system in fifteen minutes. It is composed of the battlecruisers Furious Fire, Death Metal, and Starblazer, destroyers Cobalt, Diamond, Spinmaster, Radioactive DJ, and Trashtalker. Latest report from Reaction Force - "We are loaded for bear."

Click to expand...

The Nepleslian AI's response was devoid of emotion and yet always seemed to relay harsh news. It even made good news sound bad.

Suddenly, the captain spoke to the ship publicly. "All stations, this is Captain Helrikke speaking. A combined battlecruiser and destroyer force will be arriving in fifteen minutes. Hands off your triggers. I am currently reaming the gearheads a new asshole for not informing us of what is going on. All of our new arrivals are to be left alone. Do not fire, even if fired upon. Not that we would survive the first salvo, anyway. Stay cool and we'll piss it as things go along."

"Piss it? Do you recognize that term?" Harmonious Solarsailor queried Phase.

The sailors around cheered loudly at that. Captain Helrikke, whose full name was Johann Jakobssen Helrikke, was nicknamed JJ by the crew. "Yeah, piss it with JJ!" became the popular rallying cry amongst the sailors. It didn't pick up much traction with the Marines, who in their typical 'We're better than you' attitude, simply maintained they had always been assured of victory since the Marines were already here to rescue the Navy.

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"Squad, final weapons checks and form on me! Spacer reps on final approach. Make sure you're ready to greet them with a smile and a loaded gun!" Laura commanded them when Captain Helrikke was done. The alarm for an incoming shuttle began blaring and the blue-clad swabbies moved to prepare a landing spot beside Harmonious Solarsailor.

"Laura/Greer, fifteen minute estimate for RF Furious Fire, composed of three battlecruisers and five destroyers. Such firepower~" Phase said, finally settling back in to their earlier demeanor. "Nepleslians love to make such boisterous displays of force! If I were an organic, I might even quiver in my knees~"

Phase let the words sink in with Laura and the chief while they pondered a word of their own.


An interesting choice, Elias Garvey, they thought, just as the sailors began chanting that strange slang of theirs.

"Oh, I am not familiar with such things," They replied to Harmony, "These organics have such interesting trends, it is hard to follow without a personal translator at hand."

While they waited for the shuttle to come in Phase's arms pulled outwards to reveal an extra joint along their length, then folded inwards. They pried off the dented plate from their previous skirmish and, with some assistance from the "skirt" arms, popped it back out and smoothed it over with a few swift handswaps inbetween. It seems this wasn't the first time Phase has made on-the-fly repairs to their form.

Eli made absolute sure his weapon was loaded and his suit was ready before forming up on the Corporal. Compared to the Golem, that relied on his body for locomotion, he felt light as air in the Hostile, the suit more than capable of carrying its own weight. He just provided the impulse to do so. He held his rifle, muzzle up, with the finger off the trigger, a universally safe position. It was impossible to construe such as a hostile (har har) demeanor, but if things got hot, he'd only have to bring the rifle down and start shooting, something the advanced fire control systems of the Hostile would not be taxed doing.

Not that they'd survive the opening salvo, of course.

The sailors were cheering, and Eli had to suppress an urge to join them, having not yet fully internalized that Marines were supposed to hold themselves on a pedestal away from the navy - he liked enthusiastic celebration, and seeing or hearing the captain of a ship was a rarity, something sailors relished if they liked their CO, and J.J. Helrikke seemed to be well liked.

Eli, looking around, eyed Phase. He couldn't really tell what she was feeling at such a Nepleslian display, but he guessed it was somewhat confusing.

"Hey girl." Eli's voice crackled over a private hail to the Freespacer. "If ya wondah why dem cheer like dat, it's cause of deh captain. 'Piss it wit' JJ' is like, dem motto of the ship, seh yea. Well. Dem unofficial one, at least."

Linda knew not to be the first one to fire, but the captain's attitude about if they were on the receiving end was somewhat worrying. He couldn't seriously be planning on letting them get shot up if the freespacers did attack could he? She finished her weapons check and made her way to Laura, making sure the raider was recording and sending the feed to the IPG Network, it would be good evidence if any diplomatic issues occurred during this mess, what ever it turned out to be.

Stopping next to Laura she spoke. "Corporal, as this could possibly turn into a diplomatic issue it is all being recorded directly to the IPG network, please behave in a way that will not embarrass yourself." She did not seem phased by the cheering that was going one, and was behaving in a strictly business manner.

"Nelson, look around you. Where are we? Null & Fucking Void. Everything we do is an international incident. Being here is an international incident. I'm gonna bet that, somehow, someway, our recent boarding will make its way onto the Polysentience. I can almost guarantee that the Spacers will know about the ship that jumped within ten hours. So, instead of worrying about my behavior, focus on what we're going to do in the next fifteen minutes."

Laura was somewhat surprised it had taken so long for the IPG Operative to try to compare penis size with her. Of course, now that things weren't completely within the realm of a Marine's training, Nelson probably felt like she was the better trained.

"Corporal Romero knows the score, Operator. She was cloned to be a genius but due to poor influences, is now simply a mad genius. All present and correct, Corporal," Bernhard spoke the last to Laura. He towered over the smaller Raider and even Laura felt she had to look up to see Bernie's head.

"No guns?" Laura asked him.

At that, the good doctor drew him LSP and cocked it. "If I need something stronger, I'll punch them," he replied casually.

"Clear the deck, shuttle coming in!" a Navy hand yelled. "Form a line to my right!" Laura ordered. Another Marine squad was lined up across from them and J2C gunbots were pacing about in pairs.

A Freespacer shuttle entered the hangar two minutes later, cycling through the large airlock. It was guided into place by a Junkers drone though it did not seem to actually the instructions and simply glided over to the spot next to Harmonious Solarsailor. For its part, the AI frigate didn't even seem to react. All of its weapon batteries stayed motionless and the frigate remained silent.

"Squad, TEN-shun!" Laura barked over her mic. Simultaneously, the other Marine squad did likewise, snapping to attention.

The shuttle was a boxy thing which looked like two different hulls welded together down the middle. A ramp lowered, clouded by some sort of mist. Typical mystical mumbo-jumbo, Laura thought. Three Spacers, one led the second pair. Behind them were a pair of Militant droids, each armed with a wrist mounted plasma gun. Using her neural probe, Laura tagged the two droids as a possible threats for her squad and had that information transmitted to them. The leading Spacer was clothed, typically, in strange robes and metal sheets. The other two seemed to be covered with a metal skin, yet their faces were flesh. Even with digital magnification from her VOID's monoeyes, Laura could not distinguish weapons on them.

A Navy officer bounded out of the elevator behind Laura, burst between the Marines and stopped before the Spacer delegation and saluted. The moment Laura and the other Marines laid eyes on her, the ACE AI in every suit showed the officer's identity.

"Commander Lydia Raskova, Executive Officer, NSS Ulfberht," she introduced herself to the Spacers. Raskova was a small woman, Laura's size with long blonde hair drawn into a ponytail. All around this strange proceeding, swabbies and pilots watched. A group of pilots were even passing a popcorn bag around as they sat atop a Hornet waiting for its refueling to commence. All activity in the hangar had been stopped for the Spacer shuttle.

Ten more minutes and we'll have a short battlewagon squadron here... Laura sighed to herself.

"Deleterious Comptroller Higa Delta Niner Six, Ministry of Regularity," the leading Spacer, male, returned the introduction. "A laying of apologies is required for the sudden and incongruous arrivals. May we discuss this..."

"Of course, Captain Helrikke is waiting in the conference room. You weren't the only shuttle to arrive. But I need to insist that your security detail remains here in the hangar. It is a requirement the Captain has implemented for all visiting parties," Commander Raskova told him.

"It is regrettable but a Captain is the final law on his own ship. I bow to your requirement," Comptroller replied with a small bow. When he straightened, the two Militants turned and walked back to the ramp, standing guard below it.

After that, the Commander led Comtroller and his party to the elevator, between the lines of Marines.

"Squad, Pre--sent ARMS!" both squad leaders barked. As one, the Marines held their weapons at 45 degrees in salute as the Spacers passed. The two subordinates, identical in many respects, silently watched each line on his respective side.

When they were past, the new commands, "Squad, at ease!" It was the first time Laura had actually used the commands or heard them outside of boot camp.

"So, everyone put on a scary face behind your helmets?" Laura asked once the delegation was gone.

There was something about the Devastator that Eir loved. A lot of people seemed to not care for the armor, but Eir saw it as the future. The Nepleslian Military was built around the idea of specialists: snipers, explosives experts, CQC specialists. Why not have the equipment match the person? Logically she understood the concept of being prepared for anything, but she also understood that if you knew the situation and could properly deploy a specialist to it, you got much better results. As far as she was concerned the Devastator was the first of those specialists.

She had to smirk at her new job: looking scary. It was an easy one, and one that Eir was oh-so looking forward to. She armed her powered armor in the way she had discussed with the chief before suiting up herself. Her armor was bristling with weaponry in a way that most powered armored users would never have the opportunity to comprehend. She never understood the confusion regarding the purpose of the Devastator, it seemed as clear as day to her. If push came to shove and it was time to start firing, she would pick a direction and move forward, guarding herself and obliterating everything in that path.

After the power armor was on and properly sealed, she took a quick moment, stretching and flexing within the hardened confines of the suit until she was sure the fit was as perfect as it was going to be within the limited amount of time she had. By the time that was done, the suit itself had completed its own internal diagnostics and she was ready to go.

The following announcement was comforting to Eir. As a Marine she was never quite settled and comfortable with what the Navy did, and the idea that her Navy was heavily outgunned by a force she did not know the motivations of made everything worse. She made a mental note to see if she could pry a copy of The Art of Never Again free for her own reading. It was then time for Eir to form up on her commander, and she did just that, the Devastator packed with guns and ready for action. Her finger was off her trigger as per the Captain’s orders.

Eir snapped to a crisp military attention when the order came. Outside of the military she had never practiced a proper salute and it was one of the few things her drill sergeant had spent a good amount of time hounding Eir about in Boot. When the spacer introduced himself, Eir mouthed the words ‘Ministry of Regularity’. It was quickly becoming obvious that she needed a lot more education on ’spacers in a great hurry. She didn’t have much time to complete her thoughts before the order came to bring her weapon up in salute. Almost as quickly the ’spacers passed, and she lowered her weapon again. The process was a bit different in a Devastator due to its bulky shield, but she had worn the suit long enough to be comfortable with such things. She had come to the conclusion though that the ’spacers were unlikely to use this time to ambush their fleet.

Eir turned to Laura, her heavy armor shifting on heel as she did so. “Of course, Ma’am; have to make sure they know we meant business.” She couldn’t help but smile. With their ‘guests’ gone, she felt a lot of the tension leave the room. They may still be out-shipped, and outgunned, but that was a Navy problem.

Linda let out a sigh at Laura's reply, she never did like marines that were in charge. It seemed that maybe it was the leadership training the marines revived that could use some revision, however now was not the time to speak of it she was going to trust that Chief Greer was of sound enough mind that he knew what he was talking about, not like she had much choice at the moment. She could think about things like the politics behind the situation because she had already decided on what course of action should be taken in most situations that would happen, the question would come in whether or not that was the action the rest of the squad wanted to take.

When the ship arrived the fell in on the right like she was supposed to, she didn't want to stand out at this exact moment, not while she was recording everything that she could get her eyes on. She took note of the militants being marked as threats, she didn't disagree with that, but she was more interested in the type twos that were following along. IN general type twos were more suited for labor than for political matters, they made decent assistants, but not great aides in a political conference.

Once they were gone however and the at ease was given, Linda began checking the information feeds to see if a list of the ships and notable individuals that were arriving was being made. She also took this time to report to the IPG that the Ministry of Regularity was on their ship.

"Good stuff, Nibbly! I personally was sticking my tongue at them! And I'm sure Chief Greer was giving his normal 'This is boring' frown," Laura laughed. "Of course. Because I am utterly bored by the fact that we're surrounded by three times our firepower," Bernhard said evenly.

"Ooh, watch out everyone. The Chief has learnt how to use sarcasm against us," Laura chided him. She took a deep breath and waited a moment.

"But in all seriousness, good shit out there, everyone. No serious casualties. For a squad that hasn't even practiced together, that's pretty good. Before we get called for our debriefing, I want a quick one between us. You sods moved fast and reacted faster. Gave as good as we got. You too, Harm'ny! Even if you let one get away!"

"It was my pleasure to provide a positive solution to their discordant actions!" Harmonious Solarsailor chirped happily.

"Yeah yeah, just remember that not every solution is a targeting solution!" Laura replied.

"Is that so? You will need to enlighten me on these new ways of problem solving!" the frigate answered.

Laura sighed in an exaggerated manner. And Bernie says I'm mad.

"Anyway, we shifted gears quickly and without much trouble. Even if we don't survive the next fifteen minutes, that's better than the first squad I was part of. Assistant squad leader breaches the first door of an airlock and then stops to ask permission to blow the second door. Think he got cashiered from the service for incompetence. Or I hope he was. So, unless I'm told otherwise, I'm gonna start trying people out for assistant squad leader until everyone has had a turn. That way, we can split up teams over various ships so that it won't be like today where we're all stuck on one ship while the others make a break. That includes you Spacers. One day, you're gonna be doing this job instead of us so you're gonna need to put the boots on at some point. Right, strip your armor and hit the showers while we wait for the debriefing to be called. Oh by the way, Dolly, good shit with the ID-SOL and the piloting. Might have been toast if you didn't step up like that. Keep it up. Oh yeah, a week's bonus pay to the one who can come up a good name for the squad. Another week's pay for a good emblem!"

Once the squad began to break up, Laura waited to see if the IPG Operative wanted to have another go at her authority. Bernhard had walked off to strip him armor. "Remember, boys and girls, we're now on standby. So if something hits something else, head for your armors and button up," he reminded the Marines.

Just as he turned on the shower, the ship's AI announced in the shower, "Squad Romero, debriefing at Enlisted Lounge 3-Alpha in fifteen minutes."

Oh good, he had five minutes for a shower after all. He threw off his clothes onto a bench and headed for the nearest open shower and turned it full on. The warm water was refreshing. But he needed to get clean and refreshed.

Three minutes later, he walked out feeling much better and began throwing his uniform back on. "Anyone got anything they wanna say, off the record? Corporal's probably headed straight for the lounge so now's the best time," Bernhard asked, knowing Laura would be tensed up and want to head straight to the lounge right after getting out of her armor.