RP: Terraforming Ake [Terraforming Ake] P1 - Dust Bowl Children

Sapphire stood up from the table, leaving behind her silverware as she headed back for seconds, serving herself with lesser amount of food than the first time. Trashing the Cake, she cut herself average slice from it.

Feeling content and liking the comradery of the others around her as she carried her plate of food back to her seat.

Seiji did not actually care about the drama going on around him. He was smiling as he enjoyed the meal, the simplicity of it was a sharp but welcome contrast to his recent life. Yori and Akemi's drama was completely lost on him. He nibbled at his food, cutting it up in tiny pieces, optimal for digestion, his implements going tink tink tink against the plate with every stroke of his knife and fork.

Seiji was here because this was a meeting. He did have the good sense to be annoyed at the fact that everyone was interrupting that with petty personal problems. Then again almost all personal problems were petty for Seji. They got in the way of proper thinking. He did know though, that, like the tide coming in, business meetings were a beast that could not be stopped; all you had to do was wait and they would resume.

Mako arrived for dinner finally. She had become very busy double and triple checking the perimeter around their landing site and making sure her power armor was back up to snuff. She had a thought that the pirates would attack again and did not want to be caught off guard if they did.

Mako floated into the dining area, looking tired. She grabbed a tiny plate, some food and drink, then went to the open space set aside for her and settled into her meal quietly.

"Hey Sylph," Akemi said as she finally decided to simply set the tuna steaks at Niel's seat. "How about you go annoy the people who left into coming back. I want my exposition already." Not one to be kept waiting she swiftly strode back to her spot and sat down to resume intense mastication.

Alice put her hand on Yori's shoulder and smiled. "I don't worry about your bones right now. Just do not take the cat too seriously." Alice said to the girl. "If you want to talk I am around. About anything. Now come on, boss man looked like he had something serious to talk about, so let's come back."

Yori let out a sigh and adjusted herself. "I guess we should head back...do you think Niel thinks I'm weird now?" She spoke softly as she turned and went to head back inside, stopping at the door. "I haven't made many friends since I started working, I don't want him to think I'm some crazy girl or something."

"If Niel is half a man I think he is, he will ignore Akemi." Alice said back as he followed Yori. "I would not worry about it. Now let's get back in."

Sapphire eyes widened at Akemi's suggestion to bring back the pirates caused her to choke on he food she was eating as she hurriedly swallowed. She ended up sputtering and coughing to clear out the food that tried to go down the wrong tube.

When she recovered, "Oh no! Once is enough! At least wait till after the second wave of colonist comes!" Looks hopefully at Daziel that the second wave of Colonist would arrive with the re-supply ships.

Yori gave a nod to Alice and then went back inside, walking over to her place and sitting down, still a little flushed, but nothing too bad.

"Unfortunately, darling, the other teams will not be cleared to arrive until we're certain that this pirate business is all settled." Daziel replied to Sapphire with a grim look, now stowing his book completely. Now, he stood up seeing that everyone except Franklin had arrived-- and he knew where Franklin was. Behind him, the large viewscreen on the wall blinked to life and Daziel walked alongside it. Sylphie floated up to join him, finding a perch on top of the business-Neko's head.

What appeared on the screen was a woman's face. She was a pale woman, with a pair of bushy, curly poofs of mixed brown-blonde hair on either side of her head. Red LEDs were her pupils and steel shutters were here eyelids. In the arrest-processing photograph, she'd been roughed up a little by the police and a stream of blood escaped from the edge of a sharp-toothed sideways grin.

"This lovely creature is Syvlia Chelenez. As you can see, she bears some small similarity to our spritely new friend, Sylphie." Daziel explained, indicating the tiny sprite he was wearing as a hat. "She is the captain of the registered cargo vessel, ISC Haunted House, and is most likely our primary foe. The ship we were attacked by today is hers, and our unfortunates in the med-bay and laid out in the sand are among her known associates. Famously, she's a hacker and an inventor first, a pirate only to fund her development. We've got every reason to suspect that she hasn't left the planet, because we've recieved no word from Dawn Station about it. That said: they managed to somehow get here undetected so nothing is etched upon stone, now is it?"

Daziel frowned a little. He looked around at everyone and sighed, admitting, "I must regretfully admit that this shall not be easy. We must be under constant guard from these roving privateers, but we must also work in the meantime to solve the mystery we find ourselves faced with and throw these intruders from our rock using ingenuity instead of brute force-- which we find ourselves lacking in."

To break this grim moment, Daziel clapped his hands and then spread his arms to the table. "Well, here we are. All of you have the next ten hours to yourselves to prepare for your jobs tomorrow. The night is short here on the equator, but the sun will soon set. I'm opening the floor to questions from the table-- you will find your assignments and pairings in a datapad aslipped into the envelope behind your chair."

The assignments for the next day were as follows:

• Sapphire and Alice were tasked with recording the medical treatment of the prisoners. Alice would treat them, and Sapphire would set up recording devices to monitor both their progress and anything they said. Alice would also be kept on hand while Franklin interrogated the two prisoners in case he was forced to use more aggressive interrogation techniques. Then, after Franklin left on his own assignment, Alice would be responsible for preparing the med-bay for trauma or surgery-- helping the crew prepare for combat. Sapphire, aside from tending to the monitoring devices, was to assist her every step of the way. If time permitted, Alice was also to check on Niel and monitor the progress of his healing wounds.

• Franklin and Seiji were meant to investigate a series of caves in the distant mountains, in an attempt to locate the platinum ore that the last team had been mining and look for clues as to the whereabouts of the last team. Taking the recently liberated GP-ORV and some mining equipment, the two of them would ride into the desert and visit each cave, scan it, survey the surrounding land, and then return to camp to process the data of the day's find. Seiji would gather the equipment and prepare the truck while Franklin interrogated the prisoners.

• Mako and Akemi were assigned to scouting duty. They would fly north, in the last known heading of the ISC Haunted House and locate the crashed pirate vessel. After some observation, they would report back to base with the location and status of the vessel. If possible, the two of them would be tasked with hiding monitoring devices as well, but if this put them at risk of being spotted by the pirates, their orders were to avoid such a gamble.

• Yori's task was, with Niel's supervision, to examine all data pertaining to the remotely-accessible systems of Akemi and Mako's power armor and attempt to figure out and close off any vulnerabilities in their software. If neccesary, designing new armor components would be provided for from the ships' stock of replacement parts. Sylphie's assistance would be critical to this endeavor, as she likely had been given some abilities similar to her master. Optionally, there was the additional task of, if the means of Syvlia's hacking ingress could be isolated and replicated on equipment used by the pirates. The two of them would have access to the pirates' belonging for this endeavor.

• Coordinating all of this was Daziel. He would appear upon request for closer guidance to the pairs who stayed in camp, and regularly check for updates from those who'd left-- departing to assist them if needed. His communicator code was provided at the bottom of each datapad.

"So, everyone take a teensy glimpse at your various tasks." Daziel instructed, smiling at them, "And direct any questions to me presently."

Alice sat down and listened to the de-briefing, that turned more into a briefing really. She frowned. Again. It seemed that lately, all Alice did was frowning. That would have to stop, otherwise it would keep on her face. Even though Alice was not really pretty, she did not want to make it even worse. No one like scowling ladies after all. Not that there would be anyone on this mission, that should even be interested in her anyway.

"Well," Alice started as she finished reading her assignment. "I assume that since I will be preparing medbay for post-combat medical situation, that we are not getting any help from Orisec. Oh well, no one said this job would be easy. I would just like to say, that I will not allow any violence on the prisoners. Even though, I do not like them, they are still my patients. That said, I am sure if I dig through medical cabinet, I can find something that would untie their tongues without any physical or mental harm, should such need arise."

Sapphire sighed at hearing about the lack of colonist arriving. She picked up her Data pad and looked it over. Keeping the screen from being picked up by cameras placed about the room. At least she had a simple job this time around. "So no re-supply ships either..." in a questioning tone, sounding depressed.

20/20 Hindsight, Sapphire pulled the unfinished seconds she had snagged. She had loss her appetite. All for the sake of Platinum. She shouldn't of applied herself as good as she did back during the recruitment tests and training up for the terraforming project.

She stood up as she pocketed her assignment pad in her pocket. She gathered up the remains of her meal and dishes. Moving over to the sink after disposing of the remain in the proper receptacle, cleaned the plates and silverware. Once done put them away. At least she would get a decent sleep in hopefully if the pirates stay away.

Hearing Daziel speak about the captain of the pirate ship only made Yori worry, Jane had been so strong to begin with what would the captain that commanded her be like then? Either way Yori felt that it was much out of her league eve if she had her suit on and at full power. What was even more frightening for her though was that it seemed like they would have to handle this situation themselves.

Yori took out the data pad and examined it to see what her assignment was, and let out an audible sigh of relief after seeing it. She was not going to be in combat, in fact she was going to stay pretty much within the Sister Sara almost exclusively for her work. This fact made her relax quite a bit, but she still had questions to ask before she could continue. "I know keeping the power armor working is the priority, but should I also work on protecting the ships from a digital attack? I would think after seeing the ships we have they know the basic security systems of them."

"Is there some super duper bounty on Syvlia and her crew?" Akemi asked, not having much of anything left to say with the prisoners all sleeping. "How are we splitting anything of value we find? And what's your favourite colour?"

"Hopefully they are different from the first that came here." Sapphire had that sinking feeling that they was the same as the first unlucky group to arrive. Maybe the sleep she was looking forward to, wasn't going to happen. Even hearing of a possible bounty on the pirates didn't phase her depressed state.

She just flopped back in her seat at the table that would have her grandmother and mother screeching at her about her slouched posture. At the moment she didn't care. Giving a soft sigh, she turned her attention to the briefing and other conversations going on around her as she idly played with the pad that was given to her by Daziel.

Seiji was happily consuming his food as Daziel continued his meeting. Everything seemed to be going well; they knew who was gunning after them, they knew why. He was perfectly happy with the idea of mighty Origin swooping down to crush these pirate scum. His happy moment, like many happy moments as of late, was quickly squashed when the team found out no help was coming.

Seiji was about to say something, then quickly thought better of it. Every time he had given his protests voice, they had always fallen on deaf ears, and this time nothing would be different. As far as Seiji was considered, they should be hunkered down together for safety. That logic fell apart as Daziel decided now would be a good time to start handing out the next day’s assignments. The food that had charmed him but a moment ago was now forgotten; not only was Seiji working with his best friend in the world, Franklin, but the two of them were to be separated from the rest of the group and go surveying land!

The only good note seemed to be the fact that they had a vehicle already, that it was relatively fast, and at least they would not be sitting targets. Seiji was about to find something to complain about – the physical labor – when he read ahead about what Franklin would be doing in the meantime. Prisoner interrogation was not a suit he would ever be strong in, or would ever want to be strong in, so on reflection he was perfectly happy how this sorted itself out.

“It’s standard practice that all planets are scanned for valuable resources. We know that they want platinum. Would it not make sense for us to move our operation from any exceptionally large source on the planet? At least that way they have to decide between continuing their nefarious operation and…” He gulped. “Us?”

"Pshhh, whatever Trevor. You've got the coolest cat Koga Akemi protecting you," Akemi said as casually reached for and opened her envelope. "Besides, we don't know if we've hit anything big yet right? For all we know they might've found a much bigger source elsewhere and decided to scare us off or score some extra loot at the same time. Who's to say this planet doesn't have plenty of other equally or more valuable metals?"

"All valid points which I will address presently." Daziel finally spoke up after reclining with his fingers intertwined over his lap for some time. As he spoke, the recently revealed Neko stood and began to prepare a plate with a little bit of everything on it.

"Doctor Mason, you may use whatever means neccesary to loosen the lips of these criminals." Daziel pointed a narrow finger at her over a ladle-full of greens, "This is a matter of life and death, so if answers are not forthcoming I expect advanced techniques to be used. Normally, I'd side with you entirely on the matter; but due to the circumstances I can do little more than allow you the first attempt."

Next, Daziel picked up one of the potatoes and arranged it in one corner of the plate while considering Yori. "If time permits, I wholly reccommend taking a thorough examination of the ships' systems into hand. Again, due to their tactical value, the power armor should take first priority. If you need to have the power armor with you in person to complete the next step, please go ahead and work on the ships until the girls get back from scouting. Otherwise, focus on our tools of war. Furthermore, I'd like it if you could see about enhancing your own power suit for combat--" His voice took a grim turn here, "I'm sorry to say we made need every little ounce of help we can get, darling."

Daziel moved around the table and rested a hand on Akemi's shoulder as he leaned over her to retrieve a sandwhich and a slice of roll cake, adding quickly, "To answer your questions, old girl, there is currently no posted bounty on Sylvia Chelenez, I've yet to determine the final destination for plundered pirate belongings, and green, darling, green. I do hope you'll remember that when Yule comes around again."

Finally, there was Seiji. The executive looked down at the scientist as he wrapped the plate in a thin protective foil. He didn't say anything, though. The reason for his silence was made suddenly apparent as the whine of the GP-ORV's engine filled the bay. From beyond the partitions that'd been set up to divide the various 'rooms' in the cargo bay, headlights streamed through the cracks and landed in white shapes on the wall. Soon, the movement of those shapes subsided and the engine noise came to a halt-- quickly being replaced with the sound of Sister Sara's cargo door slowly rising and sealing. Amplified breathing echoed through the pathway as Franklin finally arrived to dinner, wiping a thin layer of Ake brownie dust from the faceplate of his mask before removing it entirely.

"Ever'thing's sitiated. Mule's been put up, bodies cleant up, landing site is clear. We're ready to go on it." Said Franklin, sticking out an upturned palm to recieve the wrapped plate.

"Of course, old boy, I'd expect nothing less." Replied Daziel, filling that palm with the prescribed food. "I was just explaining to Mister Morimoto here why we need to use survey equipment. Would you, as a materials expert, care to elucidate?"
"Sure." Franklin pulled up the remaining empty chair at the table and settled his plate on the edge of the table, fixing Seiji with a firm gaze. "Y'see, Chickenshit, when you scans for minerals, you can usually only pick up the top layer of each individual vein of ore. While this is fan'astic fer settin' up short-order minin' operations, miners t'dee still have to survey and prospect the veins on anything thicker than an asteroid. An' what we're lookin' fer is the vein that's big enough to drive folks to greed. Then, we're gonna check and see if it's been dug on. Y' follow?"

"Even if you don't, old boy, you'll have time." Daziel explained, settling once more into his seat at the head of the table. "To better prepare for tomorrow, I am executing an early Ozone Dump from the APS now, and one more in the morning before everyone gets started."

On cue, a sound started to rumble through the bay. It was a low growl which grew in volume as the seconds passed. The entire bay began to heat up noticeably before the thermostat kicked in and a stiff and cool breeze began to blow from the vents of the ship. Outside, wobbly shapes formed in the setting sun, a rush of superheated and breathable air gushing from every exhaust port of the APS and out into the atmosphere above. Not that anyone could see it. This powerful expulsion lasted for nearly half a minute before the sound died down again as slowly as it'd came-- the air outside camp still vile and harmful, but a few parts-per-million closer to standard humanoid conditions.

As the noise died down, Daziel stood one more time with a smile. Dinner and a show, it seemed. "Well, darlings, I've a great deal of paperwork to see to. I say, I shall likely be up half the night. If any of you need me, I'll be in my quarters here on Sister Sara. Come along, Sylph."

And then he left. And Sylph left with him. And Franklin started eating.

Sapphire hid a yawn behind her hand as she stood up, using Daviel's departure as dismissal. She took her assignment with her as she left the room, letting the Adults discuss their course of action. She wished Franklin would lighten up on Seiji. Not everyone was a super soldier like Akemi and Franklin.

Pausing at the Exit, she looked back at Franklin, "I'd wish you would refrain from insulting a fellow co-worker. It's obvious that Seiji lived a sheltered life. I don't know what he did when he entered the ship. But apparently he driven them off by getting the ship's gun to drive off the pirates."

Then she fled the room, yelling over her shoulder, "When you're ready for me to record, holler for me, Doc!" She fled to her quarters on the Sarah. Exhaustion was catching up on her.

Quarters

Sapphire stripped down to her panties and undershirt and crawled into bed with her two stuffed animals. Using 'Dawg' as a pillow and snuggling 'Fluffy' to her. She succumbed to sleep....

Yori seemed okay with the instructions given until she was told to upgrade her suit for combat, she thought she was done with combat for this trip but it sounded like she was just getting started. She looked at Niel with a worried expression but did not speak until Daziel had left. "Niel....since time is limited and everyone it starting tomorrow, I want to try and get the power armors protected tonight. We already have the diagnostic reports so we can probably get them protected and seal any back doors in time for them leaving." She then let out a heavy sigh and scratched her head. "Then we'll have to work on increasing our fighting power...we should have some Armored Pilot suits somewhere. Maybe we can make one or two improvised power suits....and I suppose upgrade my suit after that..."