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RP: 188604 [Star Wasp] 1: Meet The Team, Again.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Zack
  • Start date Start date
Z

Zack

~24 hours after the storm,
The Palace>

Uso was standing in front of the Queen's slave looking over the assembled crowd. What had started as a few Ragnarock Mercenaries and old friends had grown into quite the collection... pilots, soldiers, giant robots, giant nepleslians, space wasps, space spiders... Now that the storm was over it made sense to hold the meeting outside by the charred palace. The Queen's slave's shields provided protection against the elements, as well as dimmed the sun and provided a bit of air-conditioning so that everything was quite comfortable. There was even a set of bleachers of various sizes just to fit everyone.

Uso herself had plenty of time to get ready too, a quick trip to Nepleslia, a nice, clean, new bodysuit, her green hair well combed and then tied back in a braid, bangs now held away from her purple eyes. She even had on a professional looking purple tie, her entire outfit far tighter with nothing left stray to emphasis how detail oriented she was being

However, she couldn't help but think, ~Might as well jump right into it~

“We're all here for mutual benefit, But right NOW we are here to discuss how we're going to keep the NMX from continuing their attacks on the I'ee.”

Uso was using her out door voice, wanting to make sure everyone heard her,



”We have a few new faces here, so feel free to introduce yourselves.

Uso would then clear her throat, more to mark that she was quickly moving to the important topics at hand than to actually clear her throat.



”We also need more ships to fight the NMX, and more ground operations here to support those ships. That means a team for working on developing infrastructure HERE and a team developing their void combat skills out THERE.

The initial plan is to use small craft and what the I'ee have on hand already to find out what kind of ships are harassing the I'ee.

We will then launch a strike once we can be reasonably sure that our first attack can destroy our adversaries.

Locally, we need to start procuring and producing weapons. The Queen slave needs a new coat of paint and some guns. We also have four cargo containers full of used cars. The reactors need to be poped out of those machines and converted into anti-starship munitions. I was hoping our Spacer friends could help with providing a delivery assembly for those bombs... and if the I'ee have any spare ships we could fit remote control features to them and fill those with the explosives.

Here is where you guys introduce yourselves, make suggestions, or volunteer for a role for the upcoming fight.”
 
Ace stood up his towering frame blocking those behind him. "I am already well versed in void combat so I can either teach or I could take Scrabler and Tomblyn on exbiditions to some derelelict facilities I have been detecting since planet fall. Now thoose who were present remeber my previous 'exapade' and I would like to let them know that that is behind me as long as I am paid and my gear is returned to me I will put my full efforts into this. Also I hate thoose NMX bastards so once I finish excavstions I will teach and help in anyway I can." Ace then sat back down.
 
Arccos sat up the back of the human scale set of bleachers. Well, less sat and more slouched. Elbows extended behind her, legs crossed and extended downwards, she seemed content to stretch out in the cool air and take up as much space as possible. Her new hat over her face, poncho of office shielding her from the planet's harsh sun and concealing her new clothes she'd bought to supplement her increasingly tattered and irradiated wardrobe. New jeans, a plain black dress waistcoat and a simple short sleeved white blouse. She finally had those spurs.

"You might want to ask Uso for a formal pardon. You still did what you did, and you're still going for trial without one." Arccos said from under her hat. "Maybe also ask for your job back since you're almost certainly fired from Ragnarok. You claim to have a ship, so I don't think you'll be turned down if you put it to use."

She sat up, flicking a few screens over on her datapad to check some notes.

"I need to get the Lament back in the sky. Me and Truffleclub have been getting the Junkers back online properly. Found a workaround for them, so the nukes are online... Problem is that the ship's torn up, and needs the hulls patching before it can rise up. We also need some new uranium rods to refuel the reactor." She flicked through the datapad, frowning at her transcript of a bunch of Trufflespeak that she didn't exactly understand. "The old rods are some sort of radioactive isotope that's used to make neutron probes. A quick search on the interNEP tells me it's both rare and valuable, or useful for penetrating ammunition... So it's sort of like a dangerously radioactive treasure chest in there."

"Once power's up and everything's patched, though? It's got fleet grade manufacturing facilities good enough to refit I'ee vessels, or even just build new ships if we have enough materials."
 
Sammy and most of the Ee'ith members of the Joint Technology Expedition had congregated upon the bleachers with Arccos, with some sitting with their legs swinging idly in the air while others cuddled up against the towering, but beloved 'spacer. Sammy was among those leant up against Arccos' body, hugging her lazily and not paying any attention to what was being said. One of his siblings would fill him in later; right now he was still too sleepy from all the earlier excitement.
The two Ioth sisters were also cuddled up against Arccos, both still shaken after the events that had happened around them in the palace, chattering quietly to each other.

The engineers of the Ithee and Ithit families, numbering roughly fifty each, were scattered around the meeting ground in groups of two or more, most simply chattering quietly amongst themselves. Most of them didn't understand the alien languages, and were more interested in discussing the alien technologies they had seen first hand.

As for Gut-Stripe, she was back in her armour, battered as it was, wandering aimlessly around the meeting area with her rapier held loosely in one hand. Though she looked disinterested, she was in fact listening intently to what was being said: Her inability to keep still was out of what might be called childish excitement. To her, objectives were finally being fulfilled, and that made her quite happy, though she'd never show it.
That said, she didn't seem to acknowledge Uso's indication that people begin introducing themselves; perhaps finding it unnecessary when Uso herself knew who Gut-Stripe was.
 
Ronin had arrived not too long with the various other resources, but it hadn't exactly prepared him for the sight of the arrangement of so many different people. The Tengu had been brought and already unpacked, the orange and brown Mecha standing tall and proud even with the lack of one of its main shoulder cannons. Ronin had left his coat within the cockpit once he'd done some test runs to ensure it was operating, now to the side of the gathered formation and bleachers with his cigarette between his lips. The man's two-colored mohawk was practically perfect for the sort of heat on the planet, the shade making him relatively look well-at-home.

"I can head up and into space tethered to a ship... the Garuda series was designed for air and space combat, even if I've not had really any experience handling it and mine has been stripped down."

He'd not paid a ton of attention to the others gathered quiet yet beyond brief registering of their appearances, but his eyes turned toward the woman who spoke of handling other facilities. One of the people seemed to be eager to teach void combat proficiency, but ultimately the truth was that those unversed in the basics wouldn't even be capable of picking it up in the time-frame they had.

"So I might as well head up there. Once I'm acclimated, it'll be a lot easier if the NMX ends up throwing a wrench in our plans. Especially if they decide to harass more than the hug-bugs and show up to try and hit is. Personal issues and whatever you guys have been up to before aside, we can't let those shits get any window of opportunity. Plenty of people died back in the war making that mistake... makes sense that we don't get caught up in anything until all of this is handled."
 
Ace looked back at Arccos. "Yea I probably should. Anyways I would think it be better that I am a partner with Ragnarok since Tomblyn and Scrabler will be taking most of my time especially Scrabler with his 'glitches'. I can bring my ship along with a few of my old friends who have had experience fighting the NMX along with their supplies. After I finish the excavations of the archaic facilities and fight off the NMX forces I will be leaving planet for some time to handle some other business and am willing to give any others a lift if they so wish."
 
Stuck on this pile of sunbaked silica dust, the large spacer golem could only compare this situation akin to being tapped on the outside of a hull, far too close to a star's burning glare. The lumbering knight had been pacing back and forth in front of Ronin's garuda mecha, pondering when the even larger metal humanoid was intended to wake up. Was it broken? Why did they not challenge a fellow automata?

Eventually, it settled into a final crouching position in the dirt, somewhat at the back of the bleachers. Vast blocky arms with spiked knuckes rested upon the edges of their curved mushroom-like helmet, with contrastingly long and lithe legs coiled beneath. What had once been a glossy orange-white carbon fiber coating was now thoroughly sandblasted by the recent storm, weathered down into a sorry matte rust shade. Their demeanor could only suggest one of depression.

However... Just giving up was not in the Automata's vocabulary, either.

"My name... Largegear clow-dee Truffleclub, em four four seven eight zero nine." An introduction of their own, the giant regarding Uso with a weighty electronic tone filled with lurid broken pronunciations. "Doctur and Enginuer."

"Mission is over, so... So, this... Cloudy is helping Uso?" What had been spoken between them and their newly adopted singular crew member had finally caught on, apparently, but they were still not thrilled about the idea of working for a Nekovalkyrja. "No mistake. I am order by Ar-cuss only. I am not let steal bits. I am not let them take Honey Fungus..."

A pause, followed by a distinct shrug.

"You give bits, I make bits. That can be deal." A handfull of sand was grasped, the lumbering thing earnestly trying to sound positive, but shying away from eye contact. "Mass driver. Guided missile. These things great soul-tools of spacer. I can make, is... But only if giving them bits."
 
Ace regarded the large automaton and when he finally understood what it meant by bits he had an idea. "Arccos when I go and study the facilities could you send Truffleclub along there might be stuff there that he can use." Ace then looked back at Uso. "After this is all over I'll be out of your hair unless you call me or I have business on the planet. Sound good to you? Anyways the sooner I get my stuff back the sooner I can study those facilities and the sooner I can do that the sooner I can be more of a help afterwards you can punish me with whatever you want as long as you don't kill me ok."
 
Arccos took a little while to reply. Half invested in giving little head pets to the wasps piled around her, and half taking a while to translate what was being said around her. Trufflespeak was always a bit of word salad, but just from the big automata's demeanor she knew they would prefer to be kept closer to home and just... Away from Uso and her empire in general. Then there was Acespeak. If Truffleclub spoke in word salad, Ace's was more of a footlong sub with a super size combo meal and all the fixings.

"I'd rather keep the ship's engineer where things need fixing. The White Lament is Truffleclub's home, and it's a rare Freespacer who likes to leave their ship." Arccos poked fun at herself somewhat, by Deoradh standards she was rather insane actually. "If Truffleclub wants to go that's their prerogative."

The pale spacer took a moment, giving Sammy a little pat on the head, rubbing one gloved finger between his antennae.

"If they don't? Should Uso grant you pardon and you go underground, then I'll just send down the refurbished junkers after you do a scouting run to dismantle everything. Strip it all to the foundations. Melt it all down and use the base materials for fabrication. Thousand year old Black Claw junk won't be compatible with anything we have, even if it still works by some miracle."
 
Palace, Suicide Mission Meeting

Corgan was sitting at the back near Arccos waiting for things to start, occasionally looking at the impressive mech and the big robot pacing back and forth just in front of it. He had taken a liking to Arccos, although it was hard to tell if he wanted to sleep with her or if he just enjoyed her company. With Corgan, it would be safe to assume both. He was dressed in his usual duster with a red shirt and black pants. For the moment he just listened to the others speak quietly. He noticed Uso was looking pretty good with her hair braided and tight new clothing. Ragna-dog was sitting on his lap, thankfully relatively unharmed by the massive dust storm. The half ID-SOL was petting the dog, who looked like he was ready to fall asleep.

Ace made statements that sounded a lot like demands, and it looked like he may be trying to use his height to intimidate them. Since Ace's little attempt at rebellion got him stuck with more work, he was annoyed with Ace right now. He did have to admit the guy had some balls to challenge Uso and Cyrus, but he should have been smarter about it.

Then Arccos said something he apparently was interested in, and he seemed to perk up. Specifically, the part about the Lament's production capabilities. Clearly, he had something in mind. He didn't plan to bring it up right now. Gut-Stripe couldn't seem to hold still, and the other I'ee were being cute again. His fear of the I'ee had diminished somewhat since he first met them, although he would probably lose it if he met any more space bugs. The new guy didn't happen to introduce himself, apparently wanting to get straight to business.

Ace's offer of a lift was tempting. He could use a couple days on Nepleslia to visit his mother and see some old contacts. Some of them would be interested in this mission to bring 188604 under control. More accurately they would be interested in the opportunities the situation could provide. He may be able to sell the planet's location to some unsavory types.

He listened to Truffleclub's introduction and waited for Ace's conversation with Arccos to end. That was when he finally decided to speak up, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. "Howdy y'all, I'm Corgan Garret. I am much more comfortable on the ground or inside a ship with gravity if necessary. Not gonna be much use in zero-g, that shit isn't cool with me. I'm loyal to Cyrus and Ragnarok, and I happen to be growing fond of these particular bugs. Otherwise, I would be skipping this here suicide mission we're about to undertake. That said I wouldn't mind having one of those big-ass robots to ride in, or some better Power Armor. Don't forget that brain spider Uso, ain't going up against the Squids without it."

Corgan looked over at Arccos and spoke a little more quietly. "I'll help you out with getting that Spacer ship flying again, Arc. I got a vehicle I might want your little spider minions to build me."
 
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Rubi was standing the opposite side of the gathering from Ace, the Styrling Murr armor and IAW she was given when she first joined up with occupying Raganrok forces cleaned and polished from the dust storm she had to traverse not to long ago. She could occasionally be seen fighting back grin each time as he mentioned getting stuff back. Though after she had fought back the grins, it gave her enough time to look around the realize and remember that the galaxy outside of the planet is really weird.

"I'm Major Rubi Kalan and I've never really been off planet, nor would I want to at this rate, so I feel I'd be better suited to do dealing with operations here planetside instead out there out there in the void dealing with giant disturbing octopuses."
 
When Ace saw what Rubi had he bolted upright. "WAIT A MINUTE THATS MY GEAR!!" Ace sat back down. "Ahem. Sorry about that outburst it just surprised me that a native is using my gear. I can let her keep it if she takes good care of it. I have other sets on my ship some of which are more personalized." Ace then leaned back to show he was done talking. Soon he fell asleep.
 
"Facilities? Black Claw junk?" Cloudy gave Ace an awkward look, a multitude of small red lenses swiveling in their sockets. "This planet has it's old insides, is?"

Chopping up an old space hulk, and welding the parts into something new, that was a spacer's idea of archaeology. Truffleclub didn't know how they felt about trying to do that on a planet, especially since they new nothing about these black claws, or history not included in the art of never again... Not to mention the fact that the Lament was in a very real sense the automata's creator and parent.

Legs sprouted to full length once more, they lumbered over towards Ace, gaining three foot on the man despite his apparently enhanced genes. Horned head looming over the nepleslian, it took several seconds of deep thought before making any kind of a response. Spike-clad hands were clenched, and a clattering chorus of hard-drive revolutions could be heard as the machine processed a deep, mysterious agenda.

'There might be stuff there that he can use.', Ace had said...

"Ar-cuss?" The head revolved nearly a full 180 degrees, a disgruntled voice jolting outwards. "Am I a boy?"
 
Gut-Stripe seemed somewhat disturbed every time Ace stood up to his full height and spoke quite loudly, chattering and grumbling to herself as she completed a full circuit of the meeting area and begun on another.

As for Sammy, still dozing peacefully at Arccos' side, he let out a soft, content squeak when the 'spacer rubbed between his antennae, waggling both of them sleepily and squeezing her waist with his arms.

A few of the Ithee engineers had gotten up to follow Truffleclub around the area, shadowing him timidly in order to examine the automaton from a safe distance.
 
With cuddling on one side and someone noisily arguing with the large behemoth on the other, Ronin felt glad that he had so far only opted to do a single job for now and not signed some contract. Not only was there seemingly no tail to chase during downtime, but it seemed like the others who had been employed had even had the nerve to go against the others. Who would even tolerate someone betraying them and allow them to even keep working? No sensible military or even back-world country tolerated traitors, much less gave them any sort of freedom to act on their own. The idea of riding up into space with the person who seemed to draw such ire wasn't exactly comforting. At long last, Ronin looked toward the one known as Rubi who spoke up about wanting to be planetside.

"No offense, Miss, but not wanting to be up there is precisely why we should be heading up there. The NMX have a steady doctrine... if things go south and we lose up in space, they'll come here next."

Raising a lighter he'd fashioned from some replaced parts from the Tengu, he'd set the end of his cigarette alight. Where he stood, he at least wasn't within breathing range of anyone to force the fumes on them. The human took a drag on his smoke, releasing it moments later with a lengthy exhale.

"My Tengu should be good to go... if we got the tools, we can use it to carry and haul supplies until I head up. Construction mechs are just more specialized than something combat oriented like mine. I'll just have to make sure my machine's guns are marked up with Takimori Ronin so no one gets wise and tries to break them down for parts while I carry junk..."
 
Palace, Exterior>

“Which is why we are not going to lose,”

Another woman stood up from the crowd, easily 6 foot tall, toned like a nepleslian despite the dark green hair.

“... And hello everyone. I'm Hazel, flight lead for the Hounds. We've been hired to provide a few extra combat craft for the upcoming fight, and to handle the initial recon of the NMX fleet near the I'ee homeworld.”

The woman was sitting with another group of people, all dressed in similarly tight and black clothing. Having accomplished her mission of explaining who she was and what she did, she went back to sitting down.


–


Uso would listen to everyone speak, shifting her weight around as she crossed her arms over her chest... she'd need to deal with Ace at some point.

“ARCCOS, Send me the specifics of those rods. If its just activated 235 then we should be able to produce it on site.”

Uso would then turn her attention to the group of women sitting off to the side, A group of four, all dressed in the same outfit, long pants and a T shirt of matching grey tones and black undertones. Even her eyes matched her shirt, and the muted color of her skin just seemed to make her lighter brown hair visually pop.

“VIER, Can you produce it?” Uso asked,

One of the girls would nod,

“235 and 238 are abundant here, we can setup a refinery and feed material in until we have the desired quantities.”

Uso would grin, “Sounds like you need to get started.... ARCCOS and TRUFFLECLUB!” Uso shouted, turning her attention to the spacers, “Could I impose upon you to stay planetside after we get your ship powered? We can use the Queen's slave's shields to protect you from atmospheric problems and it will be a lot easier to feed your ship raw materials if you remain near those raw materials.
 
Errowyn was laying on a deck chair on top of the Queen Slave. She was wearing an ear bud hooked into the ship's external audio pick up system to listen in on the meeting. She was enjoying the sunlight through the filtered shields that kept the more harmful rays out, yet still to give her a good healthy tan.

She was busy reading up on Mr "8-Ball" to see just how good he was in a fighter. She had seen his craft and liked the way he kept it maintained. A sign of a good pilot is the one that takes care of his/hers craft.

There was the local that seamed to making her way into the inner circle. Errowyn had a good laugh at hearing the Mishhu, called an Octopus. But where she was on the Queen Slave, her laughter didn't carry that far and didn't disturb those below on the bleachers.

Errowyn relaxed enjoying the downtime the meeting. She would put in her two sents worth. But right now before any war was to get troops trained and supplies built up for the blitzkrieg strike that would leave an incapacitated enemy behind, either dead and dying or fleeing for their lives. She frowned at hearing 235 and 238 being talked about. Even in modern warfare if they were used at all was in space against the bigger capitol ships or battle platforms for their EMP capabilities. But very rarely used on a planet unless it was already a dead planet and to bust it wide open for mop-up operations.

She texted Uso,

:: Give Arccos a copy of the schematic for the F6 modified shields, emitters, and control panel. This way they can configure the shields to their liking. It'll free up the Queen Slave for other operations. Unless you plan to use this as your main Office and Residence till you can have a palace built in your benevolent Royal Highness. - E - ::
 
Robot Identity Crisis:

Corgan's offer of help was received warmly, although Arccos didn't want to particularly interrupt all the talking to break it up and speak with him. Already firmly latched into physical contact mode by a pile of dozey wasps, she just smiled and reached a hand over to place it on Corgan's, giving it a little squeeze. Thank you, she said without saying anything, before turning and looking at the conversation between Truffleclub and Ace.

And watched all the way through to where Ace spontaneously collapsed and fell asleep... This was more or less why she didn't bother putting him back in a cell. Although chances were that AI of his would turn up now or something, his mood swings meant she just had to wait until he was on a downturn if she wanted to do anything to him. Truffleclub's question was a bit more pressing. She took a little while to think on it, raising her hand from Corgan and flicking her thumb across her datapad to knock the translated Trufflespeak details of the reactor's requirements over to Uso. She then replaced the datapad, and rested her chin in her hand.

While the question was relatively simple, Arccos could only wonder if Truffleclub's programming was that sort of mildly abstract. They clearly had some idea of what constituted male or female... And Truffleclubs tended to think in terms of 'is' and 'is not'. A series of yes or no questions was usually best.

"Do you feel like you're a boy? Do you feel like you are a girl? Do you feel like you are neither?" Arccos asked simply. Of course the operative word was 'feel', so this would still take a lot of Trufflethought if Arccos had begun to understand the big one.

Uranium Rods and Planetside:

With the general difficulty of carrying two conversations at once, Arccos split up her replies. Truffleclub got the spoken word, while Uso's response was bumped along with a block of text about fissile materials.

It's a question of whether we can use I'ee infrastructure to repair the ship faster. Their mining fleets are larger and probably more numerous than what we have available. I have no problem staying, and Truffleclub is probably content to just stay in the ship. But the sooner we have that ship up and running, the sooner it can be useful.
 
Sixth Sense Mishaps
Ace woke feeling like someone had just thought something awful about him which wasn't anything new he was used to it he did lots of people for petty revenge in the past. Ace wasn't bothered by that but the towering automata standing directly in front of him. "Uh...What happened?" Ace sat back up the bleachers creaking with the shift of wait forward. "I'm gonna make some calls then investigate the first facility have Aries fill me in on anything I miss she's connected to the ship at the moment subsystems so she can't do anything not that she would. You traumatized her Uso she was slowly dying and she could kinda feel you taking parts off said it was close to what she imagined being skinned felt like." Ace then walked off and made a call for some of his old friends to bring the ship over along with all of Ace's stuff. He did have work to do.
 
Palace Exterior

Aaron Grant, formerly the General of the Rebellion, sat off to the side with a datapad in his hands. He was trying to cram thousands of years of new information into his head in as short a time as possible. Every once in a while, someone would say something and he would start tapping at the datapad furiously. He tried talking to it, but when it spoke back it kind of freaked him out.

The guy looked like hell. There were bruises all over him and bags under his eyes. His hair was sandy blonde and he had piercing gray eyes. Even if one didn't know who he was, it was pretty clear by his tan skin and shorter stature he was most likely a native. He was dressed in his former army's uniform, except he wore no weapons this time. After everyone seemed to be done speaking he looked around to see it anyone wanted to go next. No one moved, so he stood up and walked over beside Uso, turning so he could see everyone. His gaze lingered on Rubi, but he didn't say anything.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Aaron Grant. A few of you know me or know of me. I originally was planning to fight against all of you, thinking you were evil monsters here to enslave us or eat us. An escape pod from an Elysian ship landed on my house when I was a child. I mistook it for an alien cocoon from a terrifying tentacle monster. So I spent most of my life fighting to unite this world, 188604 as you call it. Until you arrived." He spoke with the experience of a man used to giving long speeches even though he was relatively young by human standards at twenty-eight.

Before continuing, he cleared his throat. "I tried to organize a resistance. While we were watching you, I was surprised by your actions. You didn't do any of the terrible things I expected. My friend, who I discovered was an Elysian, convinced me to make a deal with you. He also let me use his powered armor. Unfortunately, General Lewis didn't agree with my plan, which was to wait and see what happened. He left my rebellion and took our top scientist. That man is the one that attacked yesterday, trying to eliminate you despite the huge risk of civilian casualties. You all saw the results of his plan. Raphael and I tried to stop the mountain from being destroyed, but we were too late."

He paused to let all of this sink in, waiting to see if anyone had questions so far. Then he started talking again. "It seems Uso has placed me in charge of the locals. We will be working together to catch this planet up with the rest of the galaxy before something really nasty shows up, like those NMX things you're talking about. Just call me Aaron for now. I don't have a title, although President is a term I discovered that describes my position pretty accurately. I will be staying here since I'm new to the whole space thing. Anyway, someone from this world needs to be in charge. People don't trust you, and I'm going to help with that. Thank you for listening."

Grant returned to his seat and sat down to watch the rest of the meeting and participate if necessary.
 
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