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RP: 4th Fleet (NSN) [SMoDIN] Graduation Day

The reply made Orion feel inadequate for the situation. Just when he was going to reply, Alex said her condition to the doctor. Once the doctor had given them the recipe, Orion walked over to the dispenser next to the wall and allowed Alex to interact with it, uttering 'excuse mes' and 'pardon me' as he made his way across the crowded floor of the medical bay.

"It is fine, Miss Burning. I have nothing to do at the moment other than to care for your condition, and I believe you are much better off resting horizontally than only half so. You may call me Bodytailor, or Orion, if you wish. Whichever is fine."
 
Alex took the pills, and would have preferred some water to drink with them, but in this situation she would have to buck up and make do. She simply saved up some saliva and swallowed it.

"Well, I've been on my back for a while, and compared to the others in here, I'll just have to buck up...besides, being carried with only these clothes is a liiiittle embarrassing."
 
Captain’s quarters, NSS SugarPea

The captain’s room had a locked trunk at the foot of a queen sized bed and a small closet full of clothing. The door would slide open for Wazu, letting both Samantha and himself to enter. “Sorry about the mess.” He said, “You might have to end up running NNN.”

"My father is a majority shareholder" Samantha says "But... we will have to see who the shareholders vote in charge. I can manage things on a temporary level" She begins to strip in front of Wazu, as she heads for the closet, showing little care for her own modesty

“Oh, THAT wheelwright… either way I do not think there are many people left alive who worked at NNN. I am not sure how NNN is setup, or what backup plans they have in place for this kind of thing.” His eyes would watch her as she stripped, then walked over to the closet. The majority of the clothing were Nepleslian Navy uniforms, blue shirts, kaki pants, and blue hats. There were also a few civilian outfits including a nice dress, a grey tank top, and jeans. "Alex's nudity before was strictly clinical." Wazu said, "And running around topless like you were was strictly a product of necessity. The too tight white shirt and the strip tease though are different animals, they are strictly sexual."

"Most of the off planet reporters should be fine" Samantha says "Also most of the embeds. However that attack did take out most of our central technicians and about 65% of our editors and 90% of the management" she grabs a blue denim shirt, a pair of blue denim pants, and a similar hat, and puts them on. "So you find me sexually attractive?" she asks, with a smile "I'm glad."

“I do not get out a lot.” Wazu said, sitting down on the bed and leaning back slightly, propping himself up on his arms. “And when I do all I seem to meet are bimbos and women who can not hold a decent conversation… Or they are bad choices for any number of reasons. It is refreshing to have someone who can hold their own when it comes to technology.” As he watched Samantha strip and redress he added, “I have seen this part of the movie before, this is the point where the up and coming reporter seduces the soldier?”

Samantha laughs a warm peal. "If I was trying to seduce you, this is where I'd say 'I'm sorry boss, I haven’t seen that movie! Could you show me the highlights!" She shakes her head, sitting down and beginning to fiddle with her cybernetics. She was rapidly checking up on her storage places and their contents quickly. "Speaking of holding their own when it comes to technology... Haven't I heard something about you having an AI 'daughter'?"

“That would be Drei.” Wazu explained, “The AI that runs Nepleslia uses my DNA. We put her together a long time ago and to make the DNA easier to work with we stripped out a lot of the unnecessary stuff. The brain and body then got integrated into a more conventional supercomputer. So, I guess that makes her more of a cyborg than an AI.” He shrugged a little and then added, “What can I say, I’m not very good with kids.”

"I see" Samantha says, "Forgive me for performing an impromptu interview so soon, but may I ask about your relation with Drei? Is she useful in managing your fleet? Do you suggest such 'children' to other Nepleslian commanders?"

“It is alright, we have some down time while we’re heading further into the city.” Wazu straightened up a bit on the bed, sitting up before continuing, “Drei is effectively related to me by blood so I do try and watch out for her. Like her sister that ran the Qel’Noran homeworld, Drei is both a person and a computer system, essentially a dedicated operator of the computer network. Her entire life has been managing fleet actions and logistics, I have trained her personally and she is incredibly smart even without the computer added logic. She doesn’t need me to help run the fleet. The intention was that she would run the other fleets as well, she helps handle their logistics and attempts to help with strategy but.” Wazu stopped himself for a moment, choosing his next words carefully. “Other admirals tend to want to do things their own ways.”

"I see" Samantha says "And how well do you think Drei is handling morality concepts and controversial issues? For example, what are her feelings on freedom of information? How far is she willing to go to save a life?"

“She follows orders,” Wazu replied, “I have no doubt she is developing her own concepts or morality but the system is built to follow the playbook, a series of actions to take under certain circumstances that we generate with constant wargaming.”

"I see" Samantha marks some information down. "Also, in other questions, what do you think was the tactical reason behind the NMX strike into our broadcasting tower?"

“Disruption. Every soldier and every minute we spend dealing with problems on Nepleslia is one that we do not spend handling the NMX problem.” Wazu explained, “This kind of attack is what I would have done if I was looking to slow down our ability to strike their assets.”

"Which assets do you believe they left vulnerable or uncovered that they chose to strike out like this?"

Samantha nods, clearly making mental notes "And lastly what are your personal feelings about today, and the quality of your team?"

“We don’t have the numbers that the NMX have so we have to fight smarter than they do. I think this team is certainly built for that.”

"I see, thanks for the interview!" Samantha says, giving Wazu a hug and a peck on the cheek. "If you need me for computer stuff, or propaganda, or emotional things such as counseling... that's what I'm for!"

"You are welcome," Wazu said right before getting interrupted by the ship's PA system, "We are 30 seconds out from our destination," Wazu would then push himself up off the bed, "Alright, We need to get back up to the bridge." He would then hold out his hand to help her up.

Samantha gently takes his hand and graciously allows him to help her up. She was clearly perfectly willing to play into his small streak of chivalry
 
The captain of the NSS SugarPea turned her head to watch Wazu as he walked through the entryway into the ship’s command center. The captain herself was sitting at the head of the long rectangular table, three seats on either side, with another on the opposite side of the table. A young man was sitting to her right, focused on adjusting the ship’s engine settings as it passed over the rooftops of various nepleslian buildings. The sides of the room were showing what was outside of the ship, providing a panoramic view of Funky City as well as the large black cloud that was still lingering over the site of the attack. It would also show a shoulder launched missile trail up towards the ship and explode harmlessly against the shields, neither crew members seemed to notice or care as ground attack was just one of the hazards of flying in funky city on any given day.

“The senators were reported to be in the cloud somewhere,” The captain said as the ship began descending into the cloud, its engines rotating downward to slow its movement while the computer switched through various sensor filters to build a better picture of the ground below them. The jagged terrain made up of crushed concrete, steel, and glass would soon come into focus as well as the burning buildings that surrounded the area that had been leveled by the blast. There also appeared to be an abandoned ambulance, a wrecked monorail, and a single Storm power armor on the edge of the flat area.

Wazu would merely nod, then head for one of the seats, scrolling through the various menu options displayed until gained access to the ship's sensors, having a more detailed look around the area for himself as he brought up the PA system.

"Orion, I need you on the bridge"
 
Looking around the floor, Orion made sure to carefully walk across the crowded medical bay to a somewhat abandoned corner, where the wall met the floor and there was no one currently sitting down. Alex was clearly within arm's length of the wall. "I will set you down here, then, Miss Burning. I suggest you grab onto the wall as I set you down to prevent accidents. Careful now."

Orion's right arm slowly descended, his left arm staying firmly in place. This allowed Alex Burning's legs to slowly descend down to the floor, until she could effectively touch it. Once his arm had lowered enough, he simply tucked it to his side, as well as his left arm. "If you require anything, I will be standing by..."

Uso said:
Wazu would merely nod, then head for one of the seats, scrolling through the various menu options displayed until gained access to the ship's sensors, having a more detailed look around the area for himself as he brought up the PA system.

"Orion, I need you on the bridge."

The hybrot looked down the medical bay to the exit, then back at Alex. "I am needed on the bridge. I hope you understand if I leave you here for now. Regardless, if there is anything you might need, you may ask for assistance from the doctors, regardless of however busy they may be. I am fairly certain they will do everything they can.

Goodbye Miss Burning. It was a pleasure meeting you. Good luck."

And then the hybrot began to make his way across the crowded floor of hurt civilians, making sure not to step on any of them. "Pardon me... Excuse me... I'm sorry, could you please...? Thank you..."

---------

Orion made it to the bridge. The neon lines across his body were colored red. "Heram, you called?"
 
“There is a lot of data here, I need your help going through it all,” Wazu responded, “Take a seat, We’re trying to find any surviving senators right now and the thermal cameras are being washed out by the fallout from the initial blast. There is also a power armor… hold on a second,”

Wazu would then quickly type out a message and transmit it to the power armor that was moving around below them.

---

Meanwhile in the medbay.

“You, girl, Do you know how to use a hypolathe?” The medic who had prescribed her the pills asked as he moved on to another patient, “Right now you’re the only other person who can walk around besides us and we could use some help.”
 
The perplexed Freespacer would approach the table, wondering exactly what Heram was talking about. "Well, if it wouldn't be too much of a bother, could I be given access to the ship's networks? I tried accessing it through my Terminus unit, but it won't let me, and I don't want to try hacking it... out of fear that the crew may not take kindly to my forceful methods of connection."

Orion's red neon lines slowly changed colors to blue.
 
“Drei, please make that happen.” Wazu said outloud.

The ship’s computer would then grant access to Orion, providing him with a an excessive amount of information about the ship’s systems, every small change in direction, power distribution, and most importantly the external sensors. The numerous hull mounted systems had a patched together picture of the exterior of the ship that was passed along to Orion.

The thermal image of the exterior was virtually blinded by falling bits of radioactive dust that heated up the sky and the ground, washing out the other signatures below as the NSS SugarPea continued to slowly descend. The Optical sensors were having the same problem as black ash began to pile up on the shields of the craft, the cloud above blocking out sunlight leaving only the light of the engines and fires below to light up the ground.
 
Alex heard the doctor, and nodded. "I've seen them used, and it seems simple enough...as long as I don't have to pick which medicines the injector uses."

Alex walked over, picking up one of them. "I think I can patch up wounds at least though." She starts doing so with some of the patients that don't happen to need emergency injections...
 
The medic would adjust a few settings on his hypolathe, then spun it around in his hand so he could offer it over hilt first to Alex. Much like the medic’s own blue scrubs that sat over his uniform the hypolathe was splattered with blood. “In there right now is little more than a saline solution, if they’ve lost a lot of blood give them a little extra just hit the trigger and if you can use the bandages in the storage under the tables. If they’re still bleeding we haven’t gotten to them yet.” The medic would then start feeling around under the table for a fresh hypolathe, quickly getting a hold of a thin plastic baggie with a hypolathe inside of it. He would use it to pull his mask down off his face so his teeth could take hold and tear open a hole.

On the floor by her feet there were plenty of people to choose from using up most of the space in the stark white medbay. The one closest to her was a six foot tall nepleslian who had various cuts all along his body as well as a white shirt soaked in blood leaking out from a wound that was still bleeding.
 
All the images went into Orion's neural cortex. Observing them, he found there was nothing he could see into the streets below. "What is it exactly that you want me to sort out, Heram? The ship seems to be running in near optimal conditions, and sensors both visual and heat-sensitive are unable to penetrate the thick cloud that comes from the city. Unless the cloud clears up, I don't see how that could be solved."

The mention of the Power Armor inspired a new idea. "I suppose if the ship can uplink to the Power Armor's sensors, which are more local, we could broaden the range of the sensors we currently have. Perhaps I could use the Power Armor's sensors to update the condition on site... if the armor pilot does not mind, that is."
 
“Senators, Marines, and NMX.” Wazu responded, “We need to sort out people from the background noise. Try applying a movement filter and dull out anything that is not moving around. I am trying to sort by temperature right now and it is not working too well. We could also try pulling the fallout down with the fire retardants in the ship’s water tank but I could see how that might backfire.”

Wazu would then return to entering commands instead of searching through the data for a moment, sending the power armor’s sensor information over to Orion, “Well, we do not need his permission. It is in Drei’s network so we have access to it. We would have security camera footage on the ground too if they were still intact. All we have is internal building views in this area.”
 
Alex noted the bleeding man and got to work, the hypolathe in one hand and bandages in the other. She started to patch up some of the more serious cuts, before starting to undo his shirt and take it off to get at the wound...if he weren't wounded, the chest pushing against his arm to do so might be a little more than welcome.

"Alright...nngh, that's a nasty wound...Let's see a little saline...and patching!" Alex treated the wound carefully, before checking her handiwork and applying bandages.

"That'll have to do for now..." She noted just how many more people were in need of help. Up until now the war hadn't really hit her, but now she was pondering the scene as she worked, her expression slightly melancholic. So many more people to go...
 
Wazu would eventually spot the people inside of the monorail wreck. “Fu*king power armor pilots can not figure out how to use their radios…” he mumbled as he passed the data along to the pilot and the Captain. The young woman commanding the ship would then instruct the pilot

“Bring us to a hover just above the monorail and send the medics out to collect the wounded.” The pilot would react quickly, the exterior view being projected on the walls, ceiling, and floor of the bridge shifting as the ship moved in low, hovering only twenty feet off the ground as the lower doors slid open, allowing various rescue gear to be deployed downward and generating a small black square where the sensors integrated into the hull had been moved aside.

As the ship came in with a low hover one of the windows of the buildings overlooking the clearing was knocked out by one of the ID-Sols that had ran inside earlier. His SMG had been used to facture the glass with a quick spatter of bullets followed by a chair to knock the window pane loose so that the other ID-Sol, armed with a four barreled rocket launcher, could take aim at the monorail.

---

In the medbay the PA would turn on again, “EMTs to Power Armor Bay, Prepare for wounded.”

Naturally the medics would resume cursing again, one trying to finish sewing up a patient with his hypo lathe before taking off his glove and reaching for a datapad nearby. He would mutter, “Damn, I promised myself I would never use one of these.” With a press of a button he would summon a white painted junker drone to the medical bay. The white sphere that made up its body was connected to a series of tube like arms waving around various pieces of equipment that had been haphazardly attached ranging from a hypolathe, to various needles and saws. “PLEASE STATE THE NATURE OF YOUR…”

The Medic would quickly cut it off, “Injured, Stabilize and prepare the seriously injured for surgery when I get back.” He would then turn to the other medic and shout, “Come on,” The two medics would then rush down the hallway, shouting at Alex as they passed by, “Just try and keep them stable, and make sure the junker doesn’t screw around!”
 
Orion put his large, thick hand to his 'ideal chin', just under his central think tank. "Hm... well, it seems to me that the priority is finding the senators. If the senators were in the building at the time of the explosion, chances are they are either still in there or not too far. Either option is highly possible..."

With his Polysentience Terminus unit, he linked up to the power armor's visual feed on the ground. "What is this Power Armor capable of? What is the pilot's mission?" He was already looking through the myriad of sensors the power armor had, trying to see through the debris, checking each of the sensor feeds the power armor was receiving from the site.
 
"Alright!" Alex said as they rushed off. The busty woman blinked, looking at the drone.

"Okay, looks like I've got to bring on my A-game..." she said, then getting back to work sealing wounds, injecting saline where needed, and keeping an eye on vitals. At least she could do that much.
 
A voice from one of the soldiers on the ground would crackle through on the radio loud enough for everyone on the bridge to hear it.

”Medevac, this is P1C Morris. I'll have to advise you to fly a little higher and prepare your countermeasures. I'm getting-MISSILES INBOUND!"

The ship would rumble slightly as its shields were pierced, a 3D image of the ship would then be displayed in the table in the center of the bridge showing a red highlight of the right wing and right side rear fins, both had small chunks taken out of them. Various statistics were shown below the image as Drei computed them including how much stress the airframe could take now that it had received damage, turning rates, safe levels of climb and fall, ect.

“They hurt my ship!” The young captain shouted, looking sternly over at her pilot who responded with, “We’re picking up injured! I can’t avoid everything.”

Orion would be able to see everything the power armor on the ground could, including the 6th floor vantage point where the missiles had been fired from, the monorail below them, and the truck that had stopped against the side of the same building with a nepleslian marine in the back standing next to the corpse of some ID-Sol.

He would also start receiving a datafeed from Drei displaying the area of initial blast overlaid on the ship’s sensor data. A deep red displayed where survival was impossible, followed by the area of serious injury. The senate’s meeting place was within this area and was signified by a green dot followed by a green circle and corresponding color changes based on probability showing how far someone could have walked after the blast given the terrain. This area was deeper into the clearing and represented a much smaller area than the area that Wazu had been searching with the thermal cameras, data which was also being made available on Orion’s console as it was generated.
 
Things were getting awfully dangerous now. Orion's neon lines slowly glowed from neon blue to neon purple. Whatever they were going to do they would have to do it quickly. "Heram, I'm receiving feedback from the power armor. It seems the pilot is within the vicinity of our assailant. He's in the building and has shot four volleys of missiles. He may have more; suggest repositioning ourselves immediately to avoid any more damage to the ship --alternatively, we may dispose of the enemy."

Right now Orion had an tone of urgency in his voice. What he was saying was important... and he definitely sounded concerned. "There is also a large vehicle next to the building, though I believe it has been neutralized."

Now for the mission objective. "Drei is sending me data of the possible points where the senators may be. I will now display it on the holo-projector." Orion, up-linked to the SugarPea's systems, moved the SugarPea's damage projection to the side, and projected an image of the streets below as far as they had searched using the SugarPea's .

When it was displayed, Orion began to explain the legend of the map. "The green dots are the estimated positions of the senators at the time of the initial blast in the building. The large green spheres extending from them represent the distance they could have traveled from there. The further away, the more transparent the sphere becomes, until it is almost invisible, indicating less possibility of having gone that far." Then he pointed at several lines of transparency that crept into the spheres. "There are also several venues that are impossible to take due to rubble being in the way or otherwise having lost connection to them. Take note that they could have also gone up vertically, through stairs or elevators, although this may be unlikely."

Then a large 'blob-like' area in orange appeared, covering the whole 3D map. The colors of the blast radius determining possibility of survival had been completely absent during the whole display; it was rather unnecessary unless the subject came up. "This large area in orange is where we have been looking for the senators. As you can see, it is much bigger than the area where the senators are very probably located."

Orion turned to the commander. "Heram, we need to decrease our search area. It would be unwise to keep searching through areas where the senators will unlikely be. If we cannot find them within the areas indicated by the green spheres, then we may continue to search across the surrounding locations."
 
“Can’t move until the buckets have been pulled up,” The pilot said, referring to the series of stretchers that had been lowered so that their medics could have something to get the injured back up into the ship.

“Right, Have the power armor go after the rocket launcher, He is in a storm right? That should be able to catch up with us when we need to leave.” He would then begin searching through the ship’s inventory, looking for something that could scout the area ahead of them but coming up short. “Looks like the senators are going to have to wait a bit longer. We will head to their most likely locations first.” Wazu would then switch his screen over to the view of the vehicle on the ground, “I’ll let you handle the gun truck down there, we should be within range to hit it with the ship’s pressure cannons. Should be more than enough to knock it over.” He would then quickly focus back on the senators.

“I assume they will be searching for an area where they can be picked up, but one that provides sufficient cover as well. They have to have been expecting a follow up attack by the NMX. “It looks like….” Before Wazu could continue his thought process Drei would chime in, providing a list of facilities that had been damaged by the NMX attack.

Senate Building Blast: Probable cause, overloaded aether generator.
Destroyed structures:
Senate Building (Nepleslian Cathedral)
Monorail Station
Nepleslian Savings and Loan Headquarters
Neppies Fast Food.
Awesomecorp Retail Outlet
Nepleslian Genetics Corporation HQ
Drug Tech Lobbyist Office
FunkyTaco stand
Yuuko’s Panties Retail Outlet
(Expand to see more, 523 more results)

Nepleslian General Hospital Blast: Ammonium Nitrate Suspected
Destroyed Structures:
Nepleslian General Hospital
Vanderhuge Hotel
Vanderhuge Hotel Parking Structure
(Expand to see more, 12 more results)

Nepleslian Utilities Headquarters Blast: Ammonium Nitrate Explosive Suspected
Destroyed Structures:
Nepleslian Utilities Headquarters
Ronald Vanderhuge Memorial Parking Structure

The report would continue, listing various other ammonium nitrate based explosives that were used around the planet until it reached a listing of buildings that had been destroyed by arson within an hour of the blasts in locations around Nepleslia.

Buildings Destroyed by Arson:
Nepleslian Genetics Reasearch lab,
NEPgen Headquarters and Research lab.
Neppies Fast Food (8 locations)
Vanderhuge Disease Institute.
Nepleslian General Hospital Vehicle Storage Facility
AwesomeCorp Retail Outlet (2 locations)
Biowhere Research Lab.
BestOptics Retail Center.
Gorge’s Electronics.
MitochondriCorp Headquarters
 
Once the Sugarpea had been loaded up with the marines from below it would move to where Orion had placed the senators. It would only take a quick search with such proximity to locate them and bring the survivors aboard the now cramped medical ship. It was then that Wazu made available to Orion the same data that Drei had passed along to him. A scouting ship had transmitted back images of the planet Higgaflan, one in particular was of a prison camp with adjacent meatpacking and research facilities. Also known was that transports from Rok’Veru were arriving in system, filled with Nepleslian captives from the recent NMX attack.

“Drei, I need you to hire a specialist…”
 
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