[YSS Shiroyama] Mission One: And that's how it all started...

Buccaneer

Suzume released herself from the embrace with her father and niece at the verbal command from the SOFT leader and returned to her seat with reluctance and a flushed face. It wasn't often she lost her composure but it was equally rare she got to simply got to let it all out which had lead to a feeling of catharsis that left her rather optimistic. She had family on the station! A niece, her father, Even cousins from a clan she bore relation to!

"Do we know what to expect, Nito Hinata?" Suzume looked towards her sempai as she scanned over the SOFT team trying to appraise their loadouts, Her gaze settling on the samurai first and then the strange robotman. She had expected the samurai to be the one with all the swords and the cyborg to be the one with the big guns...

Buccaneer
Sachiko was all smiles as she embraced her grandfather along with her aunt. She was happy she will get to talk to another member of her family besides her aunt. Though sadly she hadn’t had a chance to speak with her other relations no matter how much she wanted to. The young Neko had decided she will have to fix that soon. She jumped when Kimber spoke, which meant they will have to continue later since her Grampa had his duties to do, so she moved back to sit with her aunt a big smile on her face.

She couldn’t help but wish she was there in the cockpit watching them leave the station, so she decided to ask her grandfather about what he saw and felt later. “That’s awesome, huh, that Grandpa Kai gets to serve here too?’ she asked her aunt with a whisper.

Suzume soon asked Hinata a question and she found herself listening in, wanting to know what Hinata said next.

Terra Multa's Orbit - YSS Buccaneer
"Recieved, patching them through to Shanks-Hei" Kimber spoke back as she tapped at her wrist-mounted communicator again, co-ordinates being sent through the Buccaneer's infrastructure to appear as a small readout on her daughter's station, which the lavender-skinned Neko then authorized and punched into the bridge's systems proper before the information was made available, "Oooh, we're going to Jericho today, I know it was only a space elevator that fell there but that place gives me the creeps..." the red-panel murmured from her station before clearing her throat, settling a little further into her seat to monitor the shuttle's readouts.

YSS Shiroyama - Command Module
The green-haired, bleach-skinned Neko whose sensors had lit earlier up returned to her seat with a bag of marshmallows that she quickly popped open, throwing back a handful of the pillowy white goodness with a hum of appreciation as she span around in her seat and tapped her station a few times, eyes dancing across to the clock for a second before flicking back - a few more minutes and she could go sleep off this long shift, or maybe get something better to eat, it hadn't been decided yet but damn were her eyelids heavy.

With a huff she continued checking the various readouts, a small alert in one of the many windows catching a squint before those eyes behind her glasses slowly widened to the size of saucers~

"...Sh~Shosa?" she managed to squeak out, a mouthful of marshmallows falling to her lap, their white coating covering her previously blue skirt...

Terra Multa's Orbit
Sensors lit up, the Shiroyama's communications lines became awash with chatter from the sudden gravitic anomaly that was warping space next to the planet's historically decommissioned colonial-era scout ship, nothing more than a bauble with some history behind it now raised a few questions before the anomaly tore itself open, barely enough time for the people on the Shiroyama to conceive probing it with invasive sensory drones before a small black ship slowly emerged - engines spewing trails of very illegal turbo aetheric plasma, orange tinted even, as it pushed forward and the anomaly collapsed behind it.

People tried to raise a line with it but the ship... drone... flying thing clearly had plans of its own, quickly pivoting to face its belly towards the derelict scout ship and cut main engines in favour of smaller positioning thrusters as long-since-abandoned systems on that historic hunk of junk began powering back up.

Terra Multa's Orbit - YSS Buccaneer - Bridge
"Is this... I thought we were doing planetary training, sir?" Valerie asked Lucas through the little terminal she was using to sync up his communications at that time before all the news on the unknown vessel hit them, new orders from Ryder-Shosa to change directory towards the relic that was suddenly being probed by unknown parties, Valerie's fingers still tapping away at her console with ease and grace as she offered the Iroma a frown.

Terra Multa's Orbit - YSS Buccaneer - Cargo Bay
There were a few more frantic taps on her wrist before Kimber began to fill in the others on what was happening, one of her scarred hands flicking the information up to a volumetric screen in front of all the assembled troopers as she spoke, "New orders, this is no longer a training exercise, we are to intercept and deal with this unknown party in whichever way becomes apparent - we know not of their intentions nor have we been able to tag any of the ship's components but we are being sent in~" she began moving over to the pile of crates people had used as seat and made themselves comfortable on, ripping away one of the velcro panels on the side of her vest to drop it on the floor and begin discarding her weapons.

The screen showed the black ship docking with the side of the planet's historical scrap-heap, making sure to keep the decommissioned scout between itself and the Shiroyama as no doubt the Yamataian station began loading up missiles just in case they were needed - Kimber pulled away a tarp over all the crates with one hand to expose a fresh shipment of blue type 28 environmental suits before the auburn operative began stripping down to her underwear quickly.

"We do not have time for modesty, we need to deal with this, so grab a suit and gear up - that station has not had a breathable atmosphere in my lifetime~" she warned, throwing cargo pants aside in favour of pulling the AMES up over her lithe, lightly tanned, lightly scarred form.

"Great~" Juno huffed, the muscled combat engineer, moving to remove her own plate-carrier, "...I barely managed to get into this uniform in time~"

Buccaneer

As she felt the eyes on her, Midori's own red orbs took in the Neko across from her. Blank mask and barely blinking, she would stare the girl down for a moment or so before she turned her disinterested gaze back toward the front of the ship.

Hinata, on the other hand, let out a yawn and looked to Suzume with a shrug.

"It's just gonna be some bullshit training exercise. Blah blah blah, here to show the face of our squad, blah blah blah, oh no! Invaders! They are going to throw some stupid training exercise at us to knock the rust off and make sure we're up to sn-..." Hinata's chat with the Neko ended as her brows knit in confusion at the sudden radio chatter followed by the image of the ship that ripped into normal space. She blinked a few times and let out a little sigh.

"I uh... Take it that's not part of today's training mission right?" She asked in half-jest before she popped up from her seat and began to quickly undress. She held little modesty herself and was quick to strip and begin to put on her uniform. The tattoos on her arm in plain view when not hidden by her sleeves, she quickly donned her environmental suit alongside Midori who had rested her gun in her seat to quickly follow suit. Unlike the taller woman beside her, Midori's skin was pristine and unmarred by ink save for her genetic tattoo.

Shasse and Miles looked at each other after the orders were given, a grin slowly spread over her face while a frown formed on his. The neko had no troubles getting back out of her own gear given her small frame which she still didn't realise was something of a rarity among her kind, she quickly suited up and tried to sit still with varying degrees of success. Miles meanwhile was doing the same although slightly less eagerly, the minkan also took the time to look around the crew to see if every neko was as trigger happy as the one he'd somehow become tethered to. His sight did happen to glance over Juno who appeared to be loathing the idea of getting into an even tighter suit.

He thought about offering to help her and was about to open his mouth before once again the snowy-haired devil of a neko zipped past him.

"Hey you look like you want to murder that thing, doesn't it fit you properly?" Shasse cocked her head to one side as she inspected this Minkan woman, she never had any problems with her uniforms and suits but it seemed like there was more than a few who had to use a lot of effort.

Buccaneer
Cargo Bay with the other NERDS

Sora simply rolled her eyes. "Seems that some things never change, eh Miko?" slipping her shirt up, the Patrician put herself into her smallclothes before pulling up an AMES and starting to slip in. She certainly hasn't been slacking on keeping herself in shape, and the tower of a woman managed to slide into her species's variant of the suit rather smoothly - after asking for some help with the wings from her boyfriend. "Guess it's time for us to tell 'em to shove off!"

Buccaneer, Cargo Bay.

The change in her demeanor was slow as Suzume's usual deadpan frown turn into a full-blown scowl as she tried to process the information available.

If the other teams superior hadn't shown them first hand, Suzume would have still assumed it to be an overplayed act and just more training trying to throw the teams out of sync, Possibly create the possibility of failure?

Instead he back popped violently as she straightened herself rigid and began to follow suit. She kept her NSP and her GP-12. They where atmosphere rated, after all. And crammed as many of her duty reliant medical supplies as she could in its pouches on her waist and thighs.

It still wasn't enough...

Ammo for her weapons, where slung over with her webbing above even that, Covering her abdomen. And additional, less important and disposable pieces of equipment where shoved under the belts to be held in place by their natural friction. Or clipped on awkwardly. It was in no way protocol, But the theory and its uses had been drilled into her head during training along with hundreds of other hypothetical theories that had been drilled into her head that they where clearly untested but still feasible.

She should have brought her gauntlet she inwardly cursed herself. Even if it may very well have used its force to blow her into space with use even more of her training came to haunt her that rather have it and not need it, Than need it and not have it!
She ignored her pre-mission jitters and closed the suits crate, Neatly folding her rikupat uniform and unused equipment on top and sat back down silently watching sachiko from the corner of her vision while she tapped her foot in seeming annoyance when the truth was that the building feeling of anxiety was slowly creeping into the untested ranger.

Had the war found them? Was it the kuvexians, the mishu, pirates?

Would she be able to keep Sachiko safe? Did her sister make a mistake leaving her with Suzume thinking it'd be safe?

She wanted a daisy...

Buccaneer, Cargo Bay.
One moment, Sachiko was happily sitting there, beside her Aunt Suzume, and the next things were panicking. To say the young Neko didn’t like this was an understatement, but the young girl tried not to complain, after all, she had grown up with the saying expect the unexpected, the ship, she grew up on with her mother, taught her that when it was randomly attacked the few times.

So when things got chaotic again, she almost looked for her mother before she remembered that her mother wasn’t there, but her aunt was. She followed silently and quickly stripped down to her undies and dressed in the environmental suit. She glanced over to Suzume and saw her looking over at her. She knew the older Neko was a good person and thus possibly worried, especially for her safety, so she smiled confidently to her, to try letting her see she wasn’t worried or at least to help keep Suzume calm.

Soon she was dressed up, and ready to go, she had her weapons and the things she’ll need as a Combat Engineer.

Buccaneer - Cargo bay

Kensei seemed to stir into motion as the ship suddenly went into a higher threat level. The robot gave his weaponry a quick one over before he walked past the crates with the enviro-suits, instead ripping another one open that was labeled "Ken Seijin 1.0 - Deepspace" in large, Yamataigo letters. Pulling out a large pack with what seemed to be jet-boosters, strapping them to his back quickly. Armour plating sliding down and back up to lock the thrusts to his back. The droid gave the systems a one over - a loud rumble heard as they calibrated, but not ignited just yet. "Locked and loaded - deepspace operation is a go," the robot chirped rather happily, before glancing at his compatriots. Faceplates twitching momentarily, before he tilted his head and offered a thumbs up to the entirety of the crew. "I will take point," the battle-droid added happily, before volumetric projection formed in an odd, yet happy little '^.^' on his face.

BRIDGE
"Hai captain, redirecting now. Weapons are on standby, ready to go hot on command if our friend decides to get hostile. Adjusting approach vector to come in from the hulk's opposite side." Kai announced as he took the safeties off the weapons at his control, power transferring to them to bring them fully online. The Buccaneer banked as it moved to stay out of the unknown craft's line of sight, or weapons. He really hoped they didn't fire missiles around the derelict. A glimpse passed a zoomed in feed from the optical sensors, the unknown craft having the appearance of a broad arrow head in shape with a very organic look, and pitch black. Whether it was for intimidation, or to blend in with space, remained to be seen.

CARGO BAY
"We have an unknown at play Valerie, some ship just showed up out of know where. We're deploying EVA to the derelict it docked to, and they aren't hailing us, or replying to ours. Switching gear sets now, so can't say any more." Lucas replied to Val as he stood and quickly stripped to reveal, like Kimber, down to his scarred form. The only difference was he was heavily scarred, and his body was adorned in two full sets of clashing tattoos that were fluorescent. The environmental suit was slipped on and done up before Lucas scooped his weapons and such back up. "Alright rangers, ready up, we're going aboard. It's going to be tight, check your corners be ready to perform sweep and clear maneuvers just like you trained for! Are you ready Ravens?"

SPACE
The Chiaki Class Escort Destroyer known as the Buccaneer glided around in an arc as it swooped in at a angle from the other side of the derelict, RCS thrusters kicking in as the main engines lowered their output. Letting the inertia carry it forward, the thrusters turned the vessel as it coasted in, re-orienting to bring it's airlock to face the derelict's. Kai's trained hands slowed them to a slow drift before nudging them in, the clamps not sticking at first before another nudge got them attached. The airlock cycling as it prepared to accept the teams for entry, and as Kai gave a small quiet sigh.

CARGO BAY
Lucas stood ready as the others finished kitting up, "Stack on the airlock when ready! Kensei and Suzume take point, Sachiko and Hinata take up the rear." Quickly stepping over beside Kimber he spoke to her, "Miss Shanks, might I suggest divide and conquer? One team move to deal with the guest on the derelict, and the other move to board the unknown vessel?"

Terra Multa's Orbit - YSS Buccaneer - Cargo Bay
Juno's vividly green eyes panned across to Shasse with a warm look before the Minkan went back to changing uniforms, slipping out of her plate carrier and into her sporty undergarments which revealed a lot of her intensely toned physique complete with an eight-pack and everything before Juno began pulling into an AMES suit, "I'll manage, cheers though, just make sure you are ready to go~" the very strong-looking Minkan nodded as the skintight material was sealed up and the helmet was popped onto her head, finishing up getting ready by pulling her vest back on over it all.

Terra Multa's Orbit - YSS Buccaneer - Bridge
Valerie nodded as Lucas updated her quickly, the infowar cat pressing a few more buttons on her console to tune everyone's communications systems into the one frequency, quickly clearing her throat and taking a breath to compose herself before speaking, "Attention both teams, I am uploading the derelict ship's schematics to your heads up displays right now... they don't really mark any hazards that might have arisen since the ship was decommissioned so watch out for jagged edges, those suits are rather thin afterall - stay safe~" she finished before clicking off her press-to-talk button, sending the team a small animated Chibi version of herself that offered a hopeful double thumbs up before dissipating.

Terra Multa's Orbit - YSS Buccaneer - Cargo Bay - Airlock
Kimber was quick to get changed and now seeing that everyone else was ready offered a nod, the Operative's mighty red mane somehow fitting into the helmet as she approached the airlock, katana bouncing around on her hip before the woman stopped to give orders, "Divide and conquer sounds like the appropriate approach to me, your team should follow the reverberation readings we are getting from the back of the ship while we shall intercept those closer to where the unknown vessel must have docked," her voice spoke into their helmets, or in Kensei's case, into his wireless communications system - on queue the Rangers were shown an overlay of something steadily making its way towards the rear of the rather rectangular ship, while the SOFT members were shown something holding position near the other airlock.

"I want Miko and Arinori up front, followed by Juno, with Miles in the middle and Midori watching his back - I'll go second to last and Shasse will bring up the rear, understood?" Kimber's voice that always carried some cold tone of professionalism as she moved into position near the back of the breaching stack, Juno letting out a "Aight, you got it, ma'am," before she fell in too, PAAR 40 at the ready.

"Kai, prep the airlock."

Miles simply nodded his agreement and readied his equipment, making sure his triage system was running as well. Though if Sacre saw him checking his gear first and not his attitude she’d probably skin him alive for it.

Shasse on the other hand grabbed her rifle and stood ready, grinning from ear to ear, though she was a little sad she didn’t get to chill out with anyone else at the back. “Ready Ma’am!” Came her adorable little reply.

Miles shook his head at his blue and white fuzzball of a companion and moved over to fall in with Midori. “I’m counting on you if I need to treat anyone, you got my back out there?” He asked seriously.

Buccaneer
Cargo Bay with the other NERDS

Miko took much pride in helping his girlfriend get suited up. He in turn ripped his outfit off like some big macho man. He even added in the pec flex for good measure. He wasted no time getting suited up and grabbing his gear. This was going to be his first mission in awhile so was very excited to get on with it.

Miko got the orders and took up post next to Sora. Things were about to get wild.

Buccaneer

Midori still had her rifle slung to her back, but had gone so far as to pick up one of the PAAR 40. She figured the strength of her rifle might be a touch overkill in the halls and hull of the ship, at least for now. Her own sword rested back in her room, something she kicked herself for mentally as she had figured this was just to be a training exercise. Fat chance she would go anywhere without it again...

Orders were given and Midori gave a nod first to her leader in Kimberly before she moved closer to Miles. Blood red eyes peered at him from behind the helmet of her suit and seemed to judge him for a moment before she nodded and spoke. "You are in no safer hands than mine." She explained to him, her voice even and cold as she made sure the safety of her rifle was off and ready to fire. After another moment of her creepy stare, Midori turned her gaze back toward the front and simply waited.

Hinata had taken the extra time to gather up a bit of extra ammo, ready for anything that may come and made sure her own PAAR 40 was ready as she checked the rifle over once. With a small huff as she heard her assignment, she gave the leader a nod and a grin. "Awesome, I get to stare at a bunch of lovely asses today, this mission just started to suck a little less."

She let out a small huff into the helmet of her suit and took a deep breath before she found her way to the back of the group next to Sachiko and gave her a once over. "Ready kiddo? You got my back, I got yours, and when we get home I'll buy you a drink ok?" She told the girl next to her and patted her on the shoulder before both hands found their grip on her rifle again.

Buccaneer

A grunt was the affirmation to both her superiors orders as Suzume took her place at the front of the ranger back, Stacking behind the SOFT teams commander and setting herself at the ready.

Her body was almost uncomfortably tight as she took up the ready. Restlessness had taken over her momentarily as she began to pop and crack every bone she could manage before shaking the sleep out of her arms and legs, The GP-12 at the ready as she released a low growl so quiet the suits proximity mic couldn't possibly pick up her guttural sound, The final decibel passing her lips as her demeanor changed almost on its heel from restlessness to absolute stoicism as the young neko went tense and vigil, practically digging her hands uncomfortably into the grip of her rifle as the very combat sense and instinct both instilled in her from birth and by training took over as she simply stared ahead at the back of the SOFT teams head and zoned out to simply listen and take in her surroundings.


She could hear Nito Hinata in the back with Sachiko offering encouragement. That was good, She was in no better hands than that of a veteran with her best interests at heart. She allowed her mind to slip its focus and wander to those of her real self. As the young inexperienced neko on the cusp of real combat as the scenarios played out before her. Battling Mishu and Kuvexians and Nepleslian pirates in a derelict ship, All eyes locked on her as she tore through the scores in her daisy armor, Tsundering squids with her gauntlet and breaking the faces of despots with her shield with silent determination. In them the conversations where all about her, She offered those same words to the samurai. She was bold enough to speak frankly with her Nito like a comrade, She enjoyed the awestuck look on Sachi's face.

She was ready...

Buccaneer

Sachiko nodded her head as she held her rifle close, ready to kick butt and take names. She silently went through her inventory of the technology she had at her disposal to aid in performing her mission. It seemed that Lucas, her team’s leader wanted her at the rear with Hinata-Nitto, so she moved to her position, as she prepared herself, before she looked at Hinata, as she had spoken to her. Yes, she realized, Hinata was older than she was, and she probably had more experience than she did as well.

So her response was obvious “Hai! of course, I’ll be sure to watch your back.” she told her then added “oh, and also learn from you too, since you are my Senpai” she told her with a smile as she felt the hand on her shoulder, before Hinata returned her hand to her weapon.

Terra Multa's Orbit - YSS Buccaneer - Cargo Bay - Airlock

Aleksandra was all cheerful energy, even as Kimber ordered them all to get suited up and ready for a sudden change of plans. Her smile didn't falter, her eyebrows only raising a little at the orders to strip, not wanting to show any indication of concern. And so she complied with the orders, shrugging off the work uniform she had been wearing, showing off the curvy figure underneath clad only in a matte black sports bra and shorts. She then slipped into one of the AMES suits and grabbed a PAAR 40 rifle as well, figuring it would be better for fighting in enclosed spaces.

Aleksandra smirked at Hinata, walking past the Neko slowly. "Don't get too distracted, hon~" she teased, sauntering by with a sway of her hips that exaggerated her rear, already eye-catching in the tight-fitting suit. She chuckled and took up position alongside Hinata, Sachiko, Suzume, and the other Rangers. Don't worry girls, she thought, momma will protect you. The helmet of her suit closed over her head, and only after the visor was concealing her face did she feel it settled into a serious, concerned look.

Then came the rush of adrenaline, the pre-battle anxiety and nerves that Aleksandra well knew. Memories of her home on Tami surfaced in her mind, along with gunshots, explosions, and the grasping tentacles of the Misshu... She shook her head once to clear it and furrowed her brow in focus. Gazing hard-eyed at the airlock, grounding herself in the moment, she gripped her weapon at the ready. Deep breaths. Hands gripping the rifle. Ready for whatever lay on the other side of that door.

YSS Buccaneer - Bridge
Kai quickly reached over to the appropriate control and hit the airlock release. "Both teams, airlock is green for departure and cycling. Clear to enter zone of operation at your discretion. Goddess speed."


YSS Buccaneer - Airlock
"That is indeed wise, we'll keep you updated as we move to intercept. Aleksandra, you're our sharpshooter, keep support close. Everyone watch your fire around view ports, and any indicated weaknesses in structure, this place is very old after all." Lucas said giving final preparation commands as he shouldered his type 41 rifle, a very similar if not more infantry focused version of Aleksandra's own rifle. "Airlock is green, we go on Kimber's signal, now ready up ravens."

YSS Buccaneer
Airlock

Sora stretched her neck around, popping a stiff joint within with a sigh. She swung her hips to the side and bumped them into Miko's, chuckling. "You ready, hun? Let's kick some butt," she exclaimed with anticipation. She turned her head back and nodded to everyone behind her. Turning forward again, the archangel's grip tightened firmly on the handle of her rifle. It was showtime!

Terra Multa's Orbit - YSS Buccaneer - Cargo Bay - Airlock
A few button presses and the small pop-up in the corners of each person's heads up display flickered slightly, the numbers representing what frequency the teams were communicating on morphed into text, each member of Lucas' Rangers now seeing Vandal 2 in its place as their team's designation - likewise the HUD of Kimber's SOFT members now read as Vandal 1, the voice of their lavender-skinned tech wizard chirping through the communications systems as the airlock sealed up behind them and a small hissing sound could be heard, slowly fading into the void, "All suits are green across the board, I can see everything going on but please do let me know if you believe your suit has been breached without it registering on my end... best of luck out there, guys~" there was an understandable air of concern around Valerie's voice but the red-panel in the ship's bridge was doing her best to keep it together.

The hissing faded to nothingness as all traces of atmosphere were pulled from the airlock, the exterior set of doors sliding open with Kimber's command of "Vandal 2, push right and keep your heads on a swivel," she spoke, quick and simple, before the SOFT began pushing towards the front of the ship, the airlock doors waiting for both teams to exit before sealing back up.

Terra Multa's Orbit - Derelict - Vandal 2 (Rangers)
There were the tiniest hints of rust streaking through the derelict ship's dark hallways like diseased veins in her body, remnants from the few times the metal carcass' path had strayed too close to the planet below, letting in hints of oxygen that decayed the historic thing before it was pulled back out to a wider arc - the readings of something moving along a hallway on the other side of the ship grew faint though were still readable, that hallway running parallel to the one laid out before the rangers though there were still a few rooms in the way.

At the end of their current path was an intersection, observing the navigational data permitted to their heads up displays or sweeping the walls for signs would reveal crew quarters leading towards the back of the ship, the door of which was open by barely a few inches while a more direct path through towards the hallway that was giving off readings was blocked off by a sturdy-looking door - the sign above it reading "Hydroponics" in blocky, industrial text of a mass-produced door unit.

Terra Multa's Orbit - Derelict - Vandal 1 (SOFT)
The readings near the other airlock that the SOFT team were sent to investigate seemed to die down as the team approached the bridge of the ship, almost fading away entirely save for the faintest shred of a reading as the lights in Kimber's helmet illuminated a heavy-looking blast door that was well and truly shut - the Auburn operative moved forwards a bit and rested her hand against it with a small nod, sensing that it wouldn't be moving of its own accord any time soon.

"Hold here~" she commanded, thinking for a moment and sweeping their area with her helmet's light once more before it settled on a shoddily-replaced metal panel in the wall, a busted handle letting her carefully pull it open and sweep the initial area with her rifle before speaking again,stepping back and now eyeing the heavy blue shotgun on her engineer's back, "Mikodimus and Shasse, I'm sending you in there with Juno to assist her in gauging whether or not we can jumpstart the ship's emergency systems or at least some parts of it, the rest of us will wait here, I shall take up rear guard." the auburn operative ordered with a small nod, getting ready to move up and replace Shasse's position for the time being.

"You got it, ma'am!" Juno reaffirmed maybe a little too enthusiastically, pulling the rifle closer to her strong shoulder, the defined knots of muscle and sinew highlighted by her suit's skin-tight nature as the combat engineer waited for her assigned escort to fall into place so that they could move deeper into the guts of this vessel.