Toxic

Terrins had zoned out, for lack of a better word, his helmet had turned to face some far off corner of the room and the Minkan's mind wandered elsewhere but the sound that brought him back was the distant noise of somebody dropping a wrench.

His armoured helmet pivoted around a few times to try and figure out what had transpired in his absence but it just looked like more of the same, so Terrins swung the rifle around to his back and pulled the helmet up off of his head - exposing that mop of red hair, that strong jaw, the slightly crooked nose that had been broken a few times and those icey blue eyes.

"Lots of big guys with big guns..." Terrins trailed off as he moved closer to Tecuma and leaned in to whisper to her helmet, "Well if you want someone that doesn't have to compensate to show you a real good time you know where to find me, I hope you're used to yelling as loud as you were earlier, sweet cheeks," the knife-eared Minkan finished, his tone was confident and unwavering as he gave her a friendly pat on the rear and began moving to find a nice pile of crates to sit on.

Shuttle Bay

Ok, Wow, lots of people talking.

Green-Horn was getting a little bit overwhelmed with all the discussion

Then she got a been to indicate she had gotten a Fuckbook invite

"Ugh..." She said, about to hit no... then deciding to check Thad's user profile and see what the user feedback said.

She THEN reminded herself THAT COULD WAIT.

Focus Green-Horn!

Wait, now they are pointing guns at eachother,

"NO SHOOTING EACHOTHER!" Green-Horn yelled out.

"ALSO IF YOU THINK YOUR SKIN CAN HANDLE THE ATMOSPHERE THEN FINE. OTHERWISE PUT SOMETHING ON. USE A PIECE OF ONE OF THE VOIDWALKER SUITS WE HAVE IF YOU MUST!"

"YOU! SPACECASE! YOU CAN BRING THE JUNKERS IF YOU WANT, BUT WE SHOULDN'T BE DOWN THERE LONG ENOUGH TO NEED THEM. ALSO BE CAREFUL YOU DON'T RUIN YOUR GUN! WRAP IT IN A PLASTIC BAG!"


Woo... lots of yelling, her throat was going to get sore.


--

It was then that Silver would arrive. The neko was sheaparding along a young blonde woman in a puffy pressure-suit.

"Would you mind watching her while I suit up?" the neko asked, leaving the girl beside Green-Horn and then heading to her power armor. The rather toned neko would strip off her clothing, leaving her shirt and pants on the floor as she climbed into the yellow suit and let it close around her toned form. Her particular armor had a large shield attached to the left arm, along with a heavy Halligan bar held in the right hand.

Green-Horn would move to stand behind the girl,

"THIS IS QUARTZ BY THE WAY! THE REST OF HER SISTERS ARE ONBOARD, BUT SHE WILL BE THE ONE WE ARE RETURNING HOME! MAKE SURE NOTHING BAD HAPPENS TO HER OK!?"

Terrins rose from the nice and comfy pile of crates he had just found and began moving up towards Green-Horn, giving Quartz a firendly wink before speaking.

"I'll probably be at the back if you want me to stick with her ma'am but also, and I don't want to sound rude here, but..." the Minkan spoke, pausing briefly to pick his next words carefully as Terrins lowered his voice and spoke to Green-Horn quietly.

"You can probably stop yelling since you have that helmet and its mic, we wouldn't want to get your throat too sore before I have a chance to buy you a drink now do we?"

Eternal Pilgrim
Spacecase would undock and trail behind the Yggdrasill. Flipping on the auto pilot he would go about adjusting the ship's shielding to cope with the planet's atmosphere. He would also upload Thad's blueprints to the system and store his finagle and Fatboy in a Junker. He would then grab a few cheap but decent throwing knives and a plasma cutter for self defense. "Should be better than destroying my expensive equipment." He would say to no one in particular. With his preparations pretty much done he decided to see if he couldn't get the Junkers shielding to be able to handle the corrosion for a longer period of time.

Frank nodded "well let me know when you want to get this show started" Frank saluted greenhorn "I'll protect them with my life or die trying ma'am it's what I was built for" and with that Frank loaded up in his stolen and modified U-1 fighter.

Toshiro monitored the madness. There was a bunch of bravado, innuendo, and gun comparisons. He tried not to interpret Nepleslians as immature, and knew that it was an assessment that wasn't always accurate as much as a racial stereotype, but these people were strongly supporting it. Not that the Minkan there was any better. He idly wondered if anyone had included a gun form in a penis modification to make the innuendo literal, but was distracted by shouting and a general change in demeanor.

The old Kylie was still more than suitable for this task, the captain donning the obsolesced Power Armor and loading up his own armaments as he introduced himself. "Nice to meet you all. I'm the captain of the Yggdrasill, Toshiro Yuki. I'd ask that we tone down the comparisons a bit. If the ruler of this world is the type to collect a bunch of women and build a society where they all call him 'Daddy', I suspect that displaying such machismo will be a direct hinderance to the mission by challenging his alpha male ego. If anyone wants to know who has the biggest literal gun, the sentient ship we're standing in wins hands down. If you're talking about your junk, there's a time and a place for that and this isn't it."

Thad looked over Quartz a few times before asking a question. "Hey Green-Horn, why did we bring the girls back here of all places. I get home and everything but I have to believe we could of taken them to a better planet."

He was completely serious about this question too. Granted to was use to planet jumping so to him it would be nothing new to just move to another planet.

"She is in good company I think. Nothing will happen to her on my watch." He gave a thumbs up with his armor.

Shuttle Bay

"I'M GOING TO KEEP THIS UP UNTIL YOU ALL START LISTENING!" Green-Horn shouted in response to Terrins letting her know that the yelling was entirely unnecessary. The young Quartz would move around behind Green-Horn as this was going on, hiding behind her as both of them started to take stock of the situation.

Toshiro did seem to have a point too, things were getting a bit out of hand.

Green-Horn would return to a more normal volume.

"We brought her back here because we said we would. When Uso says she is going to do something she is going to do it...or uh... at least she's going to GET someone to do it. Consider this a Mercy-Mission. We can get these girls home and see that they are taken care of. Maybe make some friends. Maybe make some decisions once we get there on how we're going to help them. Maybe help adjust their 'daddy's machismo' you know?" Green-Horn said, building on Toshiro's commentary about what they knew of Quartz's home. She was not wanting to say it outright since Quartz was standing right behind her and hoped that the others would put two and two together at least. Though before she could continue, Quartz started to speak up.

"There isn't any place else for me to go..." She said, her voice not at all loud like the others, "They said I wouldn't be able to return if my suit was damaged... that it was dangerous to bring others back... What if they don't let me back in...."

Thad's first reaction to what Green-Horn shared was a mixed bag. Great, got myself in bed with another princess who has daddy issues. Though he could not help but wonder what she looked like under that suit she wore. Being the big Nep he is figured its worth it like always and just to jump right into the mix.

"Simple enough, can't wait to meet her father either. Sounds like a fun guy to hang out with." He said with a smile as he looked over towards Quartz. "Don't you worry about that, I am sure they will greet us with open doors. If not I have explosives to make a door." He let out a big laugh. "I tease I tease, will be fine. We got this."

Terrins gave all this a few grunts of approval as he fiddled around with his rifle, binding a small shield generator to the body with a good bit of molecure before messing around with a few setting you weren't supposed to fiddle around with - ensuring he could still shoot out but the caustic weather on the planet below wouldn't mess up one of the Minkan's favourite rifles.

Modification done, the rifle hung from the leather strap across his armoured back once more before Terrins knelt down and adopted a softer tone as he spoke to Quartz, "We'll keep you safe, no matter what it takes."

The words were intended to try and re-assure Quartz that she would be kept out of harm's way, but the second half was delivered with a knowing nod toward Green-Horn as the red-headed Minkan's personality dipped for a second - Terrins could confidently say he is a man of his word.

Frank walked back out of his ship hearing quartz wonder what if. Frank smiles warmly

Hey everyone if they are mean to the girls and won't let them back in who's up for building these girls a home heck a new planet just got discovered by that one Corp scare something?"

High Orbit, Planet Toxic,

The swirling yellow ball below the Yggdrasill was just as inhospitable as its name implied. The entire atmosphere was full of carbon dioxide. Swirling storms of acid rolled across the surface of the planet, searing the ground and making life impossible. Mixed in with these storms seemed to be flecks of metal and paint that served to scatter and disrupt sensors, requireing a strong signal just to get a reading through the atmosphere. Even the temperature of the planet was hostile, as the planet was almost tidally locked, its slow rotation ensureing that one side would get blisteringly hot while the other remained cold and dark.. though the massive storms would occationally traverse the planet, bringing with the freezing hail or burning acid-rains.

The spot that Quartz's home resided at was on the bright side of the planet. There were no landing aids, no signals coming from the surface, just a set of co-ordinates provided by Quartz and her ship's computer.

Toshiro stood in his Kylie, helmet off for the moment as he regarded the information relayed to him. "Okay, someone chose this planet because they didn't want to be disturbed. We'll hang back six light-seconds for the moment, ready to move if there is any weapon discharge."

Using his own controls, he attempted to open a channel. Such efforts had been unsuccessful thus far, but it was important to try... "Settlement, this is the SRSS Yggdrasill in cooperation with Uso's Star Organization. We're here to return a survivor discovered in a derelict ship after her combat operations alongside the Elysians. Please acknowledge."

Though the atmosphere was degrading the signal heavily, scattering and absorbing it as it passed through the atmospheric layers filled with metal dust, it was clear that the signal was reaching the surface. Even so there was no response.

"...Right. No response. We'll have to head on down as-is. Shields up to 100%, everyone get ready for descent. Spacecase, if you don't want your vessel to be pulled in as well, recommending you ensure your vessel is detached." Toshiro put on his Kylie's helmet. This was what had been discussed with Yggdrasill before. The ship had elected to join them all the way, not only to better protect them and make a quick extraction if someone's armor got damaged...but also so that they could take more girls out with them if necessary. Some of them might want to leave...

Though the atmosphere might be problematic for smaller craft, the Yggdrasill was more than capable of handling it. The ship's shields pushing the swirling clouds out of the way as it descended to the surface.

"Alright everyone!" Green-Horn would shout out, "Quartz's home should be right around here somewhere. It is probably like... an underground bunker or something. Keep a look out for any kind of entrances."

The bay doors of the Yggdrasill would open up, the shields making a clear area just around the ship itself. However just outside of that clear area was the soupy-yellow clouds that covered the entire planet. Visibility through the fog was limited to only 10 meters or so. The surface of the planet itself was a dry brown powder, with rocks no larger than a baseball.

Quartz herself still seemed uneasy with the others, backing away from Thad as he got close.

Silver, the neko that had been watching over Quartz earlier, would be the first to respond to Frank as she walked towards the bay door. Her power-armored form only addressing him in passing, her tone frigid, "It will be her decision to act when we return her home. We should not be deciding things for her in advance."

"Here, here Frank. I second the idea of another planet that is less...this. Something with a beach sounds mighty nice." Thad picked up his weapon and looked it over for a moment. "Roger Green-Horn, shall scout out the entrance to the base. Though damn sight is next to nothing on this world. Better chance of finding nothing than something." Thad commented as he flipped open the side of his weapon. He checked the chamber and loaded a clip into the slot.

"Lock and load, we have a home to find for our guests." Had he not had his helm on everyone would see he was all smiles. He seemed to enjoy going into dangerous. He took a few short steps before launching into a full sprint and running out of the ship with weapon drawn. He moved a good 20ft out the back of the ship before stopping and kneeling down. He looked back and could barely make out the ship.

"Can't see shit capt'in. Recommend leaving a trail behind so we can find our way back to the ship." Thad said into his comms.

"This place looks like my waste basket after a long night at the bar..." Tecuma growled as she followed Thad out. She had been sorely tempted to tear open the suit on the Quartz girl, but had held back if only out of a neccessity to get paid. It was pathetic how dearly she needed to return home, what good was a home anyways?

Tecuma just shook her head at the thought and stood at the edge of the bubble.

"Think Chemlights would survive in this shithole?" She asked over her comms.

Shuttle Bay

Having returned from his ship Spacecase would toss Frank 3 modified shield generators. "Those should be able to withstand the environment out there buddy, But be careful I had to cut the battery lif for each down to about an hour and a half so use them sparingly." Having said that he would walk up to Green-Horn. "So would you like me to have one of my Junkers scout ahead? should save us some time if I send one of the ones equipped with scanning gear. You'd have to give me say an hour to modify its scanners to be able to pierce through all this interference which I know cuts into our time but its the safer option here."

Frank exepted the sheilds I'll see you guys down there I'm going to be doing grid fly by in my modified u-1 fighter and use a sonar to map the area to make it easier for everyone and less Time spent out in that he'll hole" Frank said as he began to do just that

Terrins took a moment to re-adjust his crotch plate into a more comfortable position before he moved over to sidle up next to Tecuma. The Minkan let out a small sigh as he too stared out into the volatile atmosphere, "Considering our guns wouldn't last too long I'm doubtful a few chem lights would fare any better, wishful thinking though - it's a shame I don't get to use my fancy new toy, the visibility really is just fucked."

As he replied, the Minkan stowed his rifle's scope away in the bag he carried around and pulled the helmet down onto his head with a few taps to make sure it had sealed correctly before he turned to Tecuma to say one last thing.

"Speaking of which, I hope to see you on the other side of this - I love big, strong women in armour but I must say, I'm taking a liking to the lass hiding in your suit," Terrins mused with a playful yet firm elbow to the side before he egan walking off to hide in the caustic fog and see if he could find anything.

Raven appeared just in time, she slipped into some power armor as quickly as she could, not really bothering to address anyone, before climbing into the passenger seat of the u-1 fighter Frank was in. "Sorry I'm late."

Shuttle Bay

Green-Horn waited for a moment, it looked like her CO Green-Thumb would be delayed a bit while helping Z9 so she decided to take charge of things for the time being.

"I agree, Chem-lights might get blown away if we get too far from the ship. Do we have some cable on the ship we can use to tie off with?"

She would then turn her attention to Spacecase,

"People might know what they are looking for a little bit better than Junkers, Lets use the robots to make sure no one gets lost. Have them shield the crew from the elements as best they can."


Above them, Frank's U-1 would start mapping the area. The Sonar pings would be highly distored as they moved through the air, and would paint a very rough picture of what was below the surface. However it did not take much to determine what parts of the surface were dirt, and what parts of the surface were large metal doors covered by dirt.

Frank could tell there was at least one doorway right near the ship with a thin coating of dirt over it. It was built to open upwards like a missile-silo door.



Silver would be the first to react. She had a digital mind, and could process the information as fast as it could come in. Her yellow-armor would move right to the lip of the door as the wind outside of the ship's shields started to pick up. The small impacts of metal shards against the shields were clearly visible from inside of the bubble, with the majority of the wind being blocked by the barrier.

After using her feet to clear some of the dirt off the door, she would jam her Halligan Bar right into the side lip of the door and begin to pull, trying to wedge the door open. The door easily weighed several tons, and was made of some thick metal. Even with her power armor assisting she couldn't make the thing budge.

Taking note of Silver's efforts, Toshiro would elect to speak up from his Kylie. "If Yggdrasill extends the shields temporarily, we can extend the ship's grapplers to lift this up if it's too heavy normally. They're essentially huge hands with gravity manipulation devices as well as welding and cutting fingers, which can extend from the ship. They're designed for salvaging initially, but they'll work fine here.

Yggdrasill, controlling an Iron Man armor, acknowledged. "Affirmative. I could easily lift this. The issue is if we would be tearing any heavy duty locking mechanisms inside, or greeted with weapons fire from within. I also recommend care in this regard. This may be a person's exit, but they much keep their ships somewhere. There has to be another exit for vessels as well."