RP XSDF Roleplay Thread: Vanguard of Forseti

[Alzdude28]

Critical condition
Date uncertain.
Somewhere in subspace
Einherjar, medical section

Once again, Al saw the wall ahead of him shatter under the hail of fire from the Mechtoid plasma cannons. He felt the mixture of concrete and plasma slam into his body, knocking him to the ground. As his vision faded he heard the gunfire continue, then this too faded away.
The next thing he was aware of was a feeling of movement and the howl of the Skyranger engines on ascent. He opened his eyes, but instead of seeing the interior of the dropship, he found himself back in the village of his birth, on Styx Prime. He was lying in the centre of the huts, near the communal fire. Above him was the council of Alphas and the shaman, looking down at him, through their masks. "There isn't enough equipment here to stabilize him." One said, in the human tongue. Al didn't remember anyone knowing of humans back home. He tried to ask what was going on, but found that he couldn't speak.
"Cleared for priority landing, medics on standby." Another said. Their voice muffled and crackling with static.
As this was said, the fire blazed up into an inferno, and Al saw the flames consume the drakes and the village until it was left as the smoking ruin that he had found after the raid. He closed his eyes to try to block out the sight, and when he opened them again he found himself in the cave that had been his home for so many years.
He looked around. The fire was burning by the cave mouth. The floor was covered in fur pelts and there were a few bones scattered near the entrance, from previous meals. It was exactly how he remembered it.
After a few seconds of tranquillity, he saw movement at the mouth of the cave, and the unmistakable figure of his mother entered.
She walked over to where he lay, carrying a brace of g'naika, that they used to trap with snares and cook on the fire until the meat turned black on the surface.
Once she reached him, she knelt down as she had done in the past when he had been ill, and said: "Tskantek h'nektak Zz'khaz Hireshnak. Kasht ne rektoc human ghas-ka. Ka sh'tei hekna ketaskan?" (You've certainly travelled far Zz'khaz Hireshnak. And thrown your lot in with humans too. What have you to show for that?)
He opened his mouth to reply, when with a jolt the cave moved away from him, disappearing into the distance to leave him in darkness once more.
After a while, the blackness resolved itself into the dark, smoke filled engine room of The Red Crab, the freighter that had taken him to Progressus.
Looking around, he saw a small group of humans, a replitan and a drake playing cards at a table between the engines. With a start he recognized the drake as himself.
He looked at the others at the table, who were all his former crewmates. There was Hess, Hanrahan and Captain Tesherova, along with Chief Engineer Weaver. He tried to call out to them, but couldn't hear himself over the engines.
Despite the noise, snatches of conversation drifted across. Some he remembered from the journey, Hanrahan's jokes, Weaver's voice, always sounding weary and the Captain's talk of home.
Some seemed out of place. Voices he didn't recognise saying things he didn't remember. "We can't replicate his blood fast enough."
"Vitals dropping. He's going into cardiac arrest."
"Clear!"
A searing pain bloomed in his chest and the world around him exploded with bright white light.
This soon became the snow cave that he had dug during his survival training in Canada. That merged into the room above the dockyard in Progressus where he had lived and the barracks in Russia he was assigned after enlisting. These kept changing into each other. He found it rather disconcerting.
The soldiers he had met aboard the Einherjar appeared and disappeared. Those he had bumped into, the other White Wolves and those from Operation Old Enemy.
As they ran past him, firing their weapons, he heard their voices float back.
"We can't save the arm. The plasma burns have destroyed the nerves."
"Understood. Prep him for the amputation."
"Don't call the cybernetics team in yet, we don't know enough about his physiology."
A whining noise started in the distance. Somewhere in Al's subconscious a thought formed. Bonesaw. Then, once again, he found himself behind the wall in New Manaus with a barrage of plasma sailing towards him.

 

[MarineAvenger]

The Strength To Do What Is Needed Part One

XSDF Battleship Einherjar
Infirmary, Room 103 of the ICU
Feb. 20th, 2044 (12:24 P.M.)

Nick slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times as he tried to adjust to the lighting. His body felt weak and sore, a couple of tight knots in his back and shoulders, the teen managing to get himself up and lean up on his bed, looking to the side and grabbing his steel framed glasses, unfolding them and putting them on his face. He immediately took them off and had to wipe them with an alcohol wipe, dust and other smudges having settled on the glass.

When he was satisfied with the clean, he looked around and saw no one in his room, not even seeing Glitch. A sharp pain near his lower region made it clear he had been out for at least a while now and he needed to use the bathroom, located by the door. Not wanting to rely on the nurse, Nick didn’t press the call button and he turned in his bed, putting both bare feet on the cold floor, causing the teen to shudder slightly as he pushed himself up and helped steady himself with the bed.

The teen took two steps forward, his head swimming and a wave of nausea from the meds nearly causing him to throw up, though with his empty stomach, there would be nothing to come up. He took another step forward and began to feel very shaky, trying to push himself further. When he got far enough where he had to let go of the bed, the engineer took one step forward and fell forward, landing on the floor with an ‘oof’ and the teen yelping out in pain, nearly pissing himself from the impact with the floor.

He tried to crawl, but he didn’t get very far, the young engineer giving up and just lying on the floor. “...why…?” He asked in a sad and weak tone. “...why…?” He asked again, slightly louder. “...why...why do...I have to be...so weak…why can’t...I be strong…?” He reached out again but he found it hard to see, his vision blurring up. For a moment, Nick didn’t know what was happening until it cleared up again and warm, tickling tear drops rolled down his cheek.

The door opened and a young nurse came in with a tray, obviously being the day’s lunch. When she saw Nick on the floor, she dropped the tray and turned, running out the door and calling out for a doctor. She rushed back in and dropped to Nick’s side, a dark skinned doctor, the one assigned to Nick, came in hurriedly and he joined the nurse, the two wrapping Nick’s arms around their necks and hoisting the engineer up, “Damn it boy, don’t you know how to ask for something instead of trying to do it yourself?” He asked, clearly agitated.

As they moved to bring Nick back to the bed, he weakly shook his head and slowly rose his hand, trying to point a finger at the bathroom. The doctor and nurse both looked at each other and nodded, helping the engineer into the bathroom and leaving, Nick being alone with his privacy.

He found it hard to stay awake as he relieved himself, the teen closing his eyes as the room began to spin a little and he gripped onto his head. When he finally finished, Nick stood up, using the metal supports attached to the wall to help pull him and keep him steady as he pulled his underwear up. He still wore nothing but his underwear and the patient gown overtop, the engineer standing there and losing the ability to focus until the doctor’s voice brought him back into reality and he flushed, calling out in a croaking voice he was done.

The nurse and the doctor both entered again and Nick looked longingly to the bathtub that occupied the side of the bathroom, the teen saying, “...can I...take a bath?” He asked, taking deep but steady breaths.

The doctor sighed and he told the nurse to get ready bringing Nick back to his bed while they waited for the nurse to get towels, soap, and a pair of actual cotton patient clothes, both a top and pants, as well as new underwear. As he sat, the doctor just stared at him like his father used to whenever he had done something stupid. “What were you thinking?” He asked, sighing when he didn’t receive an answer.

“Nick…listen to me.” The doctor ordered in an authoritative tone, the teen slowly looking up. When Nick finally met his eyes, the doctor’s face softened and he began, “I know it sucks son. I can’t imagine how you feel right now, but the fact is you just aren’t strong enough yet. You need rest, and you need to be careful.”

Nick was silent, his look slowly falling back to the white floor.

“What if you had fallen the wrong way, and cracked your head open? Or if you pushed yourself too hard and you had another episode. If it was not for it being lunch time, you would have been in serious trouble.”

Nick still remained silent, not able to swallow his own spit because his mouth was dry. “...why…?”

The doctor raised an eyebrow and he crossed his arms. “Why what?”

“...why...do I...have to be...weak...why can’t...I be strong…?” Nick asked, his tears returning even though he did not make a sound of crying.

“Nick...it is my strong belief that no one is born a specific way. If you want to aspire to something, you must work to it. You will be strong, but first you must make it past these points of weakness. Life goes on, boy. You still have a bright future ahead of you, and you have the ability to be strong if that is what you desire.”

The nurse returned with the supplies she needed and the doctor nodded, going up to Nick and putting a hand on his shoulder with a comforting smile before going to walk out. “I will send for you to get more food.”

The nurse put the stuff down in the bathroom and she returned to Nick, holding out her hand. “Well…come on. You wanted a bath, correct?”

 

[MarineAvenger]

The Strength To Do What Is Needed Part Two

Even though Nick was ghostly pale, his face still seemed to go a bright shade of red. “...you…?”

“Yes, silly. You won’t be the first person I have helped, and I have kids back home on Luna. Granted they are about your age now, but there is little difference.” She told him, trying to get him to calm down.

After a bit, Nick reluctantly nodded and he allowed himself to be helped by the nurse up as she guided him to the bathtub with the bath already drawn. The nurse helped Nick strip down and he went to put a foot in but recoiled in pain. “O-Ow…!” He exasperated. “I-It’s hot…”

“You will get used to it. Come on, it will be relaxing.” The nurse informed him, Nick nodding and trying again, this time went all the way in even though it felt uncomfortable at first, his body quickly adjusted and he soon let out a relaxed sigh. “See… I told you.”

The engineer nodded and he took some water and poured it over his neck, over his implant. He designed it in such a way the inner components would be water proofed by the tight seal of the plate on his neck so there was no threat of electrocution.

The nurse took a soapy rag and rubbing his body down, starting with his back. Even though she reassured him, he still couldn’t help but blush, the red color only deepening when Irina quickly popped into his mind but he quickly squashed the thought before it has any time to actually fully appear.

It took a while, Nick having cleaned his more private areas on his own and the nurse getting the rest, leaving Nick to dry himself off and put on his new clothes, calling out for the nurse who entered back in and picked up his discarded clothing from before and helping him to his bed,

Like the doctor said, there was a new tray of food already waiting for him, a chicken club sandwich with fries and cup of rice pudding with a carton of milk, the teen looking at it briefly before he began scarfing down the much needed meal, satisfied after he was done.

After a few minutes, Nick’s door opened again and Glitch floated in, a guy behind him that Nick recognized as Malcom, the engineer having visited a few times ever since he had put in the infirmary. In his hands, he carried three items, a small cardboard box in one, and in the other a screwdriver and small black ball a little bit larger than a marble. The older engineer set them down on his table and Nick smiled, nodded his head. “Thanks Malcom, this helps a lot.”

The man smiled and said, “Yeah, anytime kid.” Turning around, he left them room and shut the door and the young engineer stuck his tongue out towards the door. It had become a running joke between the two of them, Malcom calling Nick ‘kid’, though he would turn around and call him ‘old man’ just to spite him, even though he was only 41.

Glitch floated up in a hurry and said, “Mr. Cauthon, I advise you please not do this… it is extremely dangerous!” The A.I. protested.

Nick sighed, and he looked at the floating assistant with both annoyance and understanding. “You and I both know this needs to be done. It was my own fault for neglecting to do this sooner and I have been paying the price for it. Now… are you going to just keep floating there, or will you help me out here?”

The A.I. mimicked a sigh and he nodded his body.

“Good…” Nick reached over to his nightstand and took his wrist computer, strapping it to his wrist and activating it, pressing the activation button and Buzzer popping to life, causing Nick a great deal of pain but he powered through it. I need to do this… I can do this…

Positioning the drone behind his head so he could properly see the panel to his implant with his ‘third eye’, Nick took the screwdriver and began working on the back, finally getting the panel off with a fair bit of grief and placing it on his bed, the inner design extremely complex, but the most glaring features were three separate chips that were inserted into it.

A wave of extreme dizziness rolled over him like a stampede of bulls but he powered through, trying to get through, the worst part yet to come. “Glitch...go lock the door.”

“Y-Yes, sir…” The A.I. obeyed with hesitation.

With the door locked, Nick took an unsteady breath, trying to calm himself. I can do this… just like ripping off a bandage… okay… yeah, I can do this… just like ripping off a bandage… a really, really painful bandage…

Nick reached behind his neck and moved around his hand until he felt the first chip, taking a deep breath and grabbing a stack of papers with his other hand, folding them and putting them in his mouth, trying to brace himself.

At the count of 3…

1…

...2…

…

3!

Nick yanked hard and ripped the first chip out of his implant, letting out a very loud scream as pain instantly shot through his body. His teeth went through the paper until they fell out and he was screaming without any muffler.

Putting his hand on the second chip and taking a deep breath, the was a loud bang on the door. “What is going on in there! Nick, open the door! Nick! Damn it, why aren’t the scanners working!” His doctor yelled.

Holding his breath, Nick yanked again and the second chip was ripped out of his head, screaming at the top of his lungs and bawling his eyes out in pain, the bad sensation crashing through his entire nervous system and nothing other than the excruciating pain that jolted through him could be felt.

“Nick!” His doctor yelled again, loud curses being yelled in a language he didn’t understand. “Someone get security down here now, damn it! Nick, hold on!”

Nick didn’t hear him as he banged on the door, the teenager beginning to hyperventilate and shake as he reached for the third and final chip. This one was always the worst, and most dangerous to remove, the complete removal having a chance to fry his implant completely, subsequently frying his brain. The chances were minesquel of ever happening, but even a very small chance had a chance of coming to pass. This was the major design flaw he never mentioned to anyone, always having faked running away from home so he would be alone in order to do it. At least if he died, it would be alone with no one around to see him do it.

There was a louder bang on the door, this time the sound of someone trying to kick the door down. Nick had to hurry, knowing he didn’t have much time if he was going to do this. I love you, Melinda. He thought as he grabbed hold of the chip and forcefully yanked it out. This time the cry silent as Nick’s mind went completely blank for only a split second, but for the teen, it felt like eternity.

He slumped forward as his body twitched, Buzzer having dropped to the floor, deactivated. Nick’s hands shook violently as he reached out and grabbed the box Malcom had brought, folding the top open and grabbing three new chips out of it. This part was always the easiest, Nick easily putting the chips back into their respective slots with little to no pain, though he was usually too numb to feel anything anyways.

Now, the door was kicked open and three security guards rushed in with their guns raised and a group of doctors as well, all trying to look around to try and see what the hell had exactly happened. Only one ran up to Nick and when he saw Nick slumped forward slightly, with the exposed implant on the back of his neck, he got to his level and grabbed his arm, both furious, scared, and confused. “What the hell were you trying to do, Cauthon!”

Nick only smiled and he closed his eyes for a brief second before being shook awake. It had been two years since the last time he had done what he had just done, and it had been a year overdue. It only took Nick’s major episode for him to have realized his grave mistake. His hands were cupped together and he looked down, seeing three, black scorched and shriveled up chips, the three chips that allowed him to directly connect with his drones. One of them were completely blown, obviously the one that had been the one in the slot that would be used for Clunker.

“Well!?” His doctor yelled, still trying to wrap his mind around what the hell had transpired in the room.

Nick slowly turned his head, his content smile still there as his eyes seemed to look at nothing in particular. “I became stronger…” He said, before finally succumbing to his extreme exhaustion and blacking out.

 

[Frostlich1228]

Frostlich1228 & MarineAvenger: "Not a Doctor, a Friend."

XSDF Battleship Einherjar
Office of Camellia Cross
Feb. 20th, 2044 (5:36 P.M.)

Winter sat in her office, tapping the point of a pen of her desk shortly after her last patient left. After a month now, she’s past the point where it’s mostly just previous patients coming in for check-ups or talks, which was fine, she enjoyed helping and being there for them, but she sort of missed meeting so many new people. The likelihood a new person would walk in isn’t zero, but it’s not really high anymore, not until the next mission at least. Looking down at her list, she smiled as she saw Connor Karo’s name, being pretty happy with the progress she was making with him, and how she felt that he was loosing up.

Camellia pressed her intercom, calling Connor into the room with her usual, pleasant sounding ‘The doctor will see you now’.

Connor came into the room a minute later, a plain look on his face. He was still wearing his usual black hoodie and jeans, taking a seat on the therapist’s couch and crossing his leg over the other to get comfortable.

“Hey Connor! It’s great to see you, how’ve you been since our last talk?” Camellia asked with a friendly tone.

“I’ve been… mixed…” He told her reluctantly, looking downwards.

She leaned forward. “Did something happen? Remember, you can trust me, nothing leaves this room.”

“It’s just…” Connor rubbed his face and took a few moments. “I learned earlier today that there was a bounty for my capture or death.”

Her eyes widened greatly, “What!? Where!? On what planet!?”

“I-I don’t know. I was just in the gym this morning and this chick named Cassia came up to me telling me there was a bounty on me. She kept asking me why the hell one would be there but I didn’t know. I… I don’t know what to think…”

“So she didn’t try to… Get that bounty did she?” Camellia asked, “I am aware of her family’s choice of work…”

“She… tried. But, she thought it was strange and tried asking me if I knew. When I affirmed I didn’t she changed her mind. We tried to find who posted it but it was just put under anonymous and unfortunately… we wouldn’t be able to track who posted.”

Winter sighed loudly, “At least she tried to help you get to the bottom of it, after presumably trying to kill you for money.”

“She said… it wasn’t worth it for 300. Who… who…” Connor breathed heavily and he squeezed his hand hard. “Son of a bitch…”

“More than likely just some scumbag who’s never even met you in person. Someone who’d rather be a fucking idiot ‘cause it’s easier rather than actually look at the evidence in the case.” Camellia replied, obviously just as frustrating as he was.

“I don’t know what the fuck is going on anymore…” He said in a low voice, putting both feet on the floor and leaning forward, his eyes glued to the floor.

“I’m sorry Connor… But I promise, I’ll make sure no one else tries to collect on this bounty. Personally, If I have to.” Camellia said sternly, her already violet eyes flashing for a second.

“Thanks…” He told her, finally looking up. “Oh… I do have some… lighter news though.”

“Well, that’s always a good change. C’mon, tell me.”

Connor reached into his pocket and pulled out the envelope, handing it to Camellia, the contents being the two letters, the test, and the picture he had gotten.

Taking a second to read them, she couldn’t stop herself from smiling, “I think this is the most adorable thing I’ve seen all day. Your daughter sounds like a real sweetheart.”

“She gets it from her mother. She was always a sweetheart. I can’t imagine how she deals but… well, she is like her Dad, can take a hit and still stand strong.” He smiled, rubbing his nose and smiling in pride about talking about his own pride and joy herself.

“You’ll get her back. My mom owns part of the American government, I bet she can do something. I can’t actually call her this far into space though, so if she can, it’ll have to wait sadly.” Camellia explained.

Connor stared at Winter for a few moments before shaking his head. “No… I have to get her back myself. It won’t be worth it if I get help from the government. I have to prove I deserve her back, and I am going to do just that. Cassia offered to help me financially but… we will see if I actually take her up on it. She said she would do it just because it would give her more of a chance to go out and do jobs. Only wanted to see my daughter in the picture there as payment.” He said, pointing to the envelope that also had the picture in it.

Winter nodded, “That’s… Actually really respectable. I completely understand. I just like using my family’s power to help people, it feels good.”

“Thanks, but no thanks, Winter.” He said, smiling. “I just… I just hope things go back to normal after all of this. I mean, they could never go back to normal I just… hope I will be a good father.”

“You’re an honest, hard working, loving father who just got dealt a bad hand. I think you do just fine.” She responded, putting her elbows on her desk.

“I have a feeling you say that to everyone down on their luck. It is your job after all.” He pointed out, sitting back.

“Seems like a kind of specific thing to say to everyone.” She chuckled, “But to be honest, I do say kind things to all of them, what kind of psychiatrist would I be if I told them I hated them? Believe me though, when I say I mean everything I say, I believe that all of my patients have good in them, even if they killed a warehouse full of people, if they came to me, that means they have to regret at least something, and that means they still have a chance.”

“That is almost stupidly optimistic… but admirable none the less.” He said with a smile. “I didn’t really know a lot of good people in my life. You are one of the few that actually care.”

“Thanks. I’ve known a lot of people that have done awful things but were able to turn their lives around, my Aunt’s fiance, for one.” Camellia mentally sighed, Fiance…, “Even if she’s not the best person my Aunt could be with.”

“You don’t approve?” He asked.

“She’s nice, but she refuses to make changes to herself for the better of the relationship. All she does is force my aunt to make changes to her life without making changes to her own. She just refuses to compromise.” She explained, “And now she’s finally convinced my Aunt to marry her, something my Aunt explicitly said that she never wanted to do back when she was younger. This is just the latest event in a long string of things she's forced my Aunt into while they've been together. My Aunt’s just doing it cause she’s afraid of losing the one person that ever loved her in an intimate way and she’d do anything to keep it together.”

Connor just shrugged, “I was an only child with really no extended family so I never had those issues. Hope it works out for you guys though.”

“I hope so too… My Aunt is one of the most important people in the world to me and I want her to be happy, if she wants to sleep around a little is that really so bad? Casual sex is far different than sex with someone you love, it’s far more intimate, don’t you agree?” She asked, tapping her fingers on her desk.

“I wouldn’t know. My fiancee was my first and only woman I ever had sexual interactions with.” He stated plainly.

“You know what, nevermind. I’m getting off on a bit of a tangent here.” She said, waving her hand for a second, “We’re here to talk about you, and I was thinking, what if we spent a little more time around each other?”

Connor raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “What do you mean? I already see you almost every week, excluding one or two here and there.”

“Well, maybe we could just hang out sometimes, you know, as friends.” Winter suggested, “What do you say?”


“Seems… a little weird don’t you think?” He asked her seriously.

“Why? I think having another friend could really help your mood a little bit, and make me feel less like that doctor you have to see every week.” She replied.

“Whatever. There are worse things that could happen I guess…” He finally said, giving in and knowing there wouldn’t be much of a point trying to resist.

And this’ll help me keep a better eye on him, make sure no one tries to kill him or something equally stupid. “Great, so, you’re my last patient today, want to head out and do something fun? Get food?” Camellia asked.

“Uh… alright. I am pretty sure there are no squad meetings, and Aknin and Hunter will be doing their own things so not much sense going back to my room and just be bored.”

“Sweet. I hear they have lobster tonight, the chefs bought some off a fish farm on Progressius.” Winter said, sounding pretty excited.

I hate shellfish… Connor thought to himself. “Yeah, sounds great.” He stated with a smirk, getting up from the couch and taking the envelope from Camellia’s desk and putting it back in his pocket.

She smiled, walking towards the door, “Let’s go.”

 

[BMPixy]

DarkGemini24601 and BMPixy: “Birds of a Feather, Part One”
Somewhere in Subspace (February 21st, 2044)
The Einherjar (3:19 P.M., Earth Standard)
Gym 1

Sasha Dragomirov sat in front of three circular weights, the likes of which were typically attached to a bar. She had her eyes closed for the moment, focusing her breathing and concentrating. Let’s see how far I’ve come lately… Opening her eyes with an orange glow around the pupils, she added the same hue to the three weights, working on evenly distributing her telekinetic power. Slowly but surely the three metallic disks were lifted into the air, and she kept them there, trying to test how long she could maintain the split focus on her current feasible limit of 75 pounds.

“Hey, uh, hate to interrupt,” a voice interrupted from behind Sasha, “but some of us need those weights for more conventional reasons.”

The Russian-American nearly dropped them, but managed to salvage her concentration enough to finish their descent in a more controlled fashion. “Sorry… you can have them, done with my testing now.”

“Ah, no problem,” the person said, stepping around in front of Sasha to retrieve the weights. “Wouldn’t have bothered you, but for some reason all of the other twenty-five pounders are already gone. Though I must say, I am quite impressed over lifting that much weight with just your mind.”

Sasha rubbed the back of her neck, getting up from her sitting position. “Not really, when you have people that can use telekinesis to lift their entire body. That’s my end goal, ideally, but I’m not sure if I’ll reach it or not.”

“Hey, don’t know if the same techniques apply to telekinetics, but as long as you keep lifting, you’ll get stronger.” To demonstrate, the person flexed her free arm, the thick muscle bulging slightly. The twenty-five pound weights secured firmly under her left arm, the woman offered her right in a handshake. “Elicia Ensslin. And you are?”

The Dragomirov took a moment to get over a moderate sense of awe, and then shook Elicia’s hand. “Sasha Dragomirov.”

Elicia raised an eyebrow and asked, “Any relation to a Modya Dragomirov?”

“His daughter,” Sasha confirmed with a smile. “You know about him?”

“Yeah, my godfather fought alongside him in the war,” Elicia replied, leaning to the side slightly. “I assume you’re probably familiar with the Foulke family, given the stories Albert told.”

Sasha nodded, smiling slightly. “Pretty much. The whole fight with the Honored Overseer is the one I remember the best. Was pretty badass of him to lose an arm to win that fight.”

Elicia shrugged noncommittally. “Eh, I suppose that’s how it could be viewed. The way Al told it was it was a decision brought on by pure panic over being drained of his life-force, nothing badass about it.”

“He sounds as humble as my father was about pretty much everything,” Sasha noted. “Always putting the spotlight on everyone else, even if he fought as hard as them.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Elicia replied. “Anyways, I’m sure you don’t want to talk about your father too much, and I want to try and pass the Bechdel test, so how ‘bout something else? How’s life been managing for one such as yourself?”

“Alright, things have been quiet for me since I haven’t gone on a mission yet. I’m kind of anxious, honestly… not sure whether I’m eager to get it over with or not wanting that day to come…”

“Yeah, I know that feeling as well,” the Anglo-German said, scratching the back of her neck nervously. “But that day will probably come regardless of our anxieties, considering there’s only so many soldiers on this ship and we’ll most likely end up dealing with every pirate, rebel, and jaywalker from here to Forseti.”

Sasha chuckled. “I would perfectly expect the latter to actually be true, knowing how she is.” Sasha shuddered. “Met her once, and I hope I don’t have to again.”

“Ah, our glorious Commander, I assume?” Elicia shrugged. “I’ve heard she’s quite the fiend, but I just chalked it up to scuttlebutt. She’s really that bad?”

“She had everyone from my transport run a practice course straight out of the hangar, and criticized everyone no matter how hard they tried or how well they did. Plus, she even sent a few people home, from what I heard,” Sasha whispered. “And I keep hearing more and more about how she treats people aboard the ship, particularly aliens.”

“Wow, that’s actually… harsher than what I’ve heard,” Elicia whispered nervously. After a brief swallow, she added with a bit of feigned confidence, “But I’m certain there’s a reason for everything, y’know? Like maybe she criticized to help improve, sent people home because they were a liability, stuff like that.”

“I hope so, but I won’t count on it.” Sasha shook her head. “I’m not too worried though, as long as I stay out of her way. I just know my roommates aren’t going to be able to do that as easily.”

“Oh, why’s that?” Elicia asked, placing her hand on her hip. “They troublemakers?”

“Ehhh…” Sasha shifted her head around for a moment. “Sort of. One of them’s a Tamearin that tends to get herself into trouble and is flirty, which we know our leader doesn’t like, and the other’s Brigid O’Brien. For some reason Streczyk doesn’t like her, or at least trust in her ability.”

“The same Brigid O’Brien that got tossed in the locker for a few weeks?” the Anglo-German queried. “I mean, if it was for something like that, I can sort of understand the mistrust. Or is it something else?”

“That’s where she went?” Sasha asked with a dumbfounded expression. “How’d that happen?”

“I dunno, just happened to hear about it,” Elicia replied noncommittally. “Though from what I was told, she happened to be released at around the same time as a Tamearin girl, so that may have something to do with it.”

Sasha shook her head. Don’t… tell me… “Well, I’ll definitely ask her about it. Seems I’m going to have to borrow Mrs. Wiewora’s role for a day.”

Elicia raised an eyebrow obliquely at the reference, but shook her head dismissively. “Just take care there. Prison changes people, y’know?” she said. “Never know what might happen.”

“Better make sure my old friend hasn’t turned into a murderer in the past couple of weeks,” Sasha replied sarcastically.

“Well, it’d be pretty hard to hide a body on this ship,” Elicia pondered, not noticing the sarcasm. “And considering they let her out, it probably wasn’t something like that…” she trailed off, rubbing her chin in thought.

 

[BMPixy]

DarkGemini24601 and BMPixy: “Birds of a Feather, Part Two”

Sasha raised an eyebrow. “You’re not actually seriously thinking that’s why the daughter of Morrigan O’Brien was tossed in the brig for awhile, are you? Have you already forgotten our conversation about what the Commander’s like?”

“What- no!” Elicia stammered, quickly shaking her head to dismiss the errant thoughts. “I’m just saying- wait, did you say she’s the daughter of Morrigan O’Brien? The Morrigan O’Brien?”

Sasha grinned. “What, did you think I mean another O’Brien? Or another Brigid?”

“Hey, O’Brien is a common last name!” Elicia defended herself sharply. “Hell, I know three off of the top of my head! I can’t assume that everyone here is the descendant or relative of some famous XCOM member.”

“I supposed we don’t have a Wiewora, though that’s only if you don’t count Tanaka,” Sasha offered with a bemused expression. “Does seem like a return of many of the old guard though, with Cayden Walker here, along with a Cross and a…” The Dragomirov shook her head. “Van Dam… God help us.”

“A-all those people?” Elicia stuttered, her face paling. “Oh my God…” Quickly taking a deep breath to steady herself, she added, “Well, hopefully all of you have some measure of your relative’s skill.”

“I’d hope so… I know my brother’s as good with explosives as dad was. Or is, rather, though he makes them these days more than he fires them. Can’t say I’m as good with academics as mother, though,” Sasha admitted.

“Wait wait wait, your brother is making explosives… on a spaceship,” Elicia said in utter disbelief. “He is making military-grade explosives in an environment where one hull breach means death. What.”

“No, I mean my dad is,” Sasha corrected. “No way would Mikhail make something like that here, especially when he’s terrified of being sucked out into space.”

“Ah, okay, almost had a panic attack,” Elicia replied, placing a hand over her chest. “And that’s why antecedents are the most important thing in any language. Otherwise you get stuff like ‘I suplexed a shark wearing a bolo tie.’ End up wondering who was wearing the bolo tie, you or the shark.”

“Or maybe I’m lying entirely and the shark suplexed me,” Sasha contested with a straight face.

“Yeah, but we’re not factoring in if you’re guarding a labyrinth tunnel and I’m trying to figure out if you’re the guard that only tells the truth or only tells lies,” Elicia countered just as seriously. “Then I’d have to determine what color the sky is and if any modifications have been made to my perception.”

“Or maybe this is all a dream within a… okay, I can’t do this anymore,” Sasha conceded, smirking and shaking her head.

“Already?” Elicia asked, raising her eyebrow. “I mean, we’re only four links into the chain, still at the easy part.”

“But if I get lost in this I’m going to end up with a headache,” Sasha protested. “Or I’ll run out of references. Or both.”

“Eh, alright, your loss,” Elicia replied with a shrug. “Though I suppose you’re new at this, so I can’t fault you for that. Hell, I once did six straight hours of that with Riri way back in the day, so I also had an advantage.”

“Riri?” Sasha inquired.

“Albert’s kid, a close friend of mine,” Elicia explained. “Frederick Ricardo Foulke, didn’t feel like calling him Freddy, so I just found two repeating syllables in his name and called him that. He hates it, I don’t care.”

Sasha raised an eyebrow. “For a second I thought you were going to say ‘Frederick Mason’, and I was going to wonder how you knew the second officer. The U.K. has too many repeating names, I swear…”

“Ivan, Nikolai, Sasha,” Elicia countered, leaning back slightly. “As long as there are names people like, there’ll be repeats.”

“Or we could just name people obscure native american names for good measure,” Sasha countered. “Though I’d feel a little weird if my brother was named ‘Siluk’ or something.”

“Yeah, but then it’s even more awkward when you meet someone who shares that name as well,” Elicia replied. “I mean, if you have a common name, you’re used to sharing a name with someone. But then you have a rare name, you go your whole life thinking that you’re unique, and then bam, you meet Siluk Ivanov Steiner and you have to deal with that realization that you aren’t unique anymore.”

“You know, I seem to remember that Modya ended up discussing things like this when he was around your godfather. I think you learned how to bring up philosophy at any point from him.”

“Really? I never noticed,” Elicia said with a degree of sincerity. “I’m just used to conversations flowing along like this, from one bit of banter to the next.”

Sasha scratched her head. “Maybe. Never had a lot of friends, so I’m less used to it.”

“Well, then lucky that I came along, eh? Always good to have plenty of friends, and now you can count ol’ Lisa as one of them,” Elicia said, sporting a magnificent grin.

“Well, I suppose if I were to use your own trick against you, that would make you Lisa Lisa, wouldn’t it? Or LiLi for short.”

Elicia chuckled heartily, slapping a hand on Sasha’s shoulder. “Hey, it’s whatever you wanna call me. Just keep in mind, I do reserve the right to call you Shasha whenever it is most inconvenient for you.”

The Dragomirov shook her head. “God, that almost even sounds like my actual name.”

“Hey, blame your father for that,” Lisa replied. “I’m just working with what I’ve got, unless you have a middle name you’re hiding from me.”

“Even if I did, I’m not helping you by telling you it.”

“Ah, oh well. Anyways, I best get going now, these weights aren’t gonna bench themselves, y’know?” Elicia said, giving a brief wave as she walked off. “Later!”

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

MarineAvenger & ZombieSplitter53
An Unexpected Run-in: Part One

Ezra ran with all his speed, laughing the entire way as three men chased them, each having multiple black, permanent marker scrawled on their faces. "Get back here you fucking jerk so I can kick your ass!" One of them yelled, having an eloquently drawn handlebar mustache on his face.

"You own damn fault for getting drunk and passing out in the bar!" Ezra yelled back, sprinting to his fullest, much faster than a normal human.

"Damn it, he's getting away!" Another yelled, "How in the bloody hell is he running so fast?"

"Fuck you, that's how!" Ezra ran as he turned the corner, spotting a room with the door slightly ajar and quickly dashing into it, shutting it behind him and smiling as three ran past, screaming whatever things crawled out of their tiny brains. The android let out a big laugh, having to bend over and put his hands on his knees, looking around to see what room he had actually ended up in.

A petite woman with nothing on but white cotton panties and a towl in her hair stared at him wide eyed, like a deer in headlights. "What was that?" A voice called from the shower behind her.

Ezra stood up slowly and looked over the woman in front of him, "Well... Hello there." He said, looking around and slowly realizing he hadn't just run into a supply closet. I am either the luckiest dipshit alive, or I will shortly be turned into scrap metal... Either way... Totally worth it.

Brigid slowly removed the towel from her hair and wrapped it around her exposed chest. She took in several deep breaths, out and in, before letting out a loud, shrill scream.

"What happened!" Korra yelled, rushing out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a pair of lacing black panties. "Who the fuck are you?! What did you do to her?!"

Ezra looked between them, a completely stoic and expressionless face on him as he slowly backed up. "It was a great time seeing you two... Buuuuut... I must be off." Ezra turned and tried to open the door frantically, realizing he had locked it behind him. Fuck, fuck, fuck... Turning around with his back against the wall, he just said, "You know... People say violence solves nothing..."

"Well, I usually don't care what people have to say!" Korra rushed up to him and punched him in the face. Her eyes widened, and she dropped to her knees, grasping her hand in pain.

Brigid rushed to her side and glared at Erza. "What did you do to her?!"

"Oh you know... A little thing called absolutely jack shit. Nice shot though, but I wouldn't recommend it again." Seriously though... What the hell did I walk in to?

"Like hell, you did nothing! It feels like I punched a wall!" Korra looked up at Ezra. "What do want from us?" As she stared at him, her tail slowly snaked its way under the couch next to them.

"What?" He asked, looking between the both of them. "Okay, first off... I want nothing. Seriously, just a moment ago I thought this was just some storage room or janitor's closet. Seriously, who leaves the door opened while getting dressed?" He asked, looking at Brigid. "Second... your both hot, just thought I would clear that up... and thirdly..."

Korra pulled a hidden laser pistol out from under the couch, skillfully passing it between her tail and her hands and pointing it at the Android man. "You have three seconds to tell why you're really here. One..."

"You left the door open while we were in the shower!" Brigid snapped.

"...Two..."

"And why are you hiding a gun under the couch!?"

Korra looked back at her frantic blond friend. "Can we focus on the pervert, please?"

"Oh, yes... I do hate being out of the spotlight." Ezra said sarcastically, looking at Korra with a tilted head, "And yes... I am a raging sexual deviant." He added in the same tone. Ezra stood silent for a few seconds and raised an eyebrow. "I'm not apologizing. Besides, like I said, misunderstanding. You hadn't left the door open, this would have never happened as your tiny blonde friend stated soooooo..." Ezra took a step forward taking a look at Brigid closely and saying, "Oh fuck every kind of duck... it's Brigid O'Brien."

Brigid held her towel tighter while Korra held the weapon level. "Um... yeah? Who wants to know?" Brigid asked, her eye twitching at Erza's defiant words mixed with a shot at her height.

Ezra let out a big laugh and he bent over, having to put both hands on his knees again to support himself so he didn't fall over. "Oh... oh this is too good. I swear, when I heard the stories of your mother, I expected a seven foot tall, beef cake of a women but here I am pleasantly surprised to see I was wrong as the mental image I had of you before was enough... to give me nightmares as you can so imagine. Though for..." Ezra took a deep breath to try and pull himself back from his laughing fit, he stood up with both hands at his waist. "For the sake of making things a little less tense with the... obvious violation of the XSDF rule book pointed at my face..." Ezra gave a toothy grin and said, "Name's Ezra."

Brigid's eye continued to twitched in anger, an aura of energy emulating from her. Korra actually looked worried, taking a step away from Brigid. "N-now, Brigid... I'm sure he didn't mean to..."

"Shoot him!" Brigid yelled. When Korra didn't immediately comply, Brigid's eyes glowed violet. "Go to the bridge, barge into the Commander's office, and call her a stupid bitch to her face!" she commanded Ezra.

Ezra stared at her a few moments and blinked once, laughing even harder from before, having to actually wipe his eye. "Well... nice try but that ain't gonna work on me." Ezra walked to the wall and leaned against it, crossing his arms with a smirk on his face. "You see O'Brien... I'm a fuck mothering android. Very nice to make your acquaintance and all that, even with the multiple attempts on my life." Ezra's smirk seemed to even grow wider.

Brigid rolled her eyes. "Oh, God, you're an Exalt android, aren't you? I'd recognize that cocky attitude anywhere. Why couldn't you be more like Avanix?" She finally stood up, walking backwards to the door leading to her and Korra's bunks. "I'm gonna get us some clothes. If he moves, does anything agressive... or mouths off again, shoot him."

She closed the door behind her, and Korra chuckled. Standing and making no attempt to cover herself, she said, " You really are a winner, huh? I don't think I've seen her that mad since we met. And you've only been here for a couple minutes. That is very impressive."

"Yeah, I am pretty awesome like that." Ezra stretched out his arms and put them behind his head, interconnecting his hands so his head rested on them. "So... question, were you really going to shoot me?"

Korra grinned. "I was thinking about it. Especially when I thought you were attacking my friend... and when you almost broke my hand." She lowered the gun. "But now... you're kinda growing on me. Anyone able to get under O'Brien's skin like this is worth my attention."

"Oh... ha, ha, ha... you have no idea how far I can push someone. And if they try and kill me, I can out run them, let them beat on my metal..." Sexual innuendo perfectly executed, well done me. "Or if they manage to permanently damage my body, I hack into the closest computer and live there for a while. Seriously... you have no idea how fun it is to be an asshole with no consequences."

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

MarineAvenger & ZombieSplitter53
An Unexpected Run-in: Part Two

Korra nodded, folding her arms. "I bet. Sounds like fun." She thought for a moment, and asked. "But... what about when you're done. With everyone pissed off... leaves you kinda alone."

Ezra shrugged his shoulders. "I have people I can rely on for friendship. The ones that can stand my bullshit are the ones that I think are keepers." He stated without hesitation. "Never been lonely."

Korra nodded, looking him up and down. "You said you were an android, right? How... much of an android?"

"What do you mean how much of an android? I am an A.I. in a completely artificial body, not a cyborg... why no one can differentiate the two is beyond me, androids are much cooler. However, even if I am an android, I still do have artificially made components that simulate that of a normal humans, both inside and out, near perfectly." He stated with a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Korra rolled her eyes. "That isn't exactly what I meant, dumbass." She slowly walked up to him. "I mean... how 'artificial' is your body?"

He raised an eyebrow, "Completely, why?"

Korra pouted. "For all your boasting, you're not very smart, are you?" she asked as very pressed against him.

"Even though I am an Exalt, smarts aren't exactly my best quality in life." He said with a toothy grin, staring into Korra's eyes. "So why don't you just tell me what you want?"

"Straight to the point, huh? Okay." The Tamearin woman pressed her forehead against Erza's. "How would you like to be my personal toy?"

Ezra smirked and put a hand on Korra's cheek, putting his other hand on the side of her ribs and leaned in next to her ear. "You would like that, wouldn't you?" He said in a smooth voice, and in a whisper so the other woman in the other room wouldn't hear. "But unfortunately... all good things come to those who wait."

"Oh, pooh." Korra stepped away and folded her arms, this time pouting for real. "Between Cayden, Sasha's brother, Kallpa, and now you... you're no fun, you know that?"

Brigid stepped in, now fully clothed, but still wearing the same sour expression. She handed some clothes to Korra, and said, "Wow, I'm surprised. You're not all over someone for once. Must be a testament to his character."

Korra laughed nervously. "Y-yeah... guess I'm full over surprises."

Brigid sat down while Korra dressed, staring daggers at the android. "So... what have you heard about me... Erma, was it?"

Ezra rolled his eyes, and he crossed his arms. "That was on purpose, Blondy. And it's Ezra. Though if you really want to make fun of my name, need I remind you, yours rhymes with Midget, Brigid?"

Korra burst into laughter, and Brigid let off a soft growl. "I asked you a question. Answering it is the least you could do from what you got to see today."

"Or what little of it there was..." He muttered, resisting the urge to laugh. "Anyways, I only heard what I read from the multiple XSDF servers I was easily able to hack in to about the old XCOM... which was everything." I am glad that IT guy learned his lesson. Nice to hear he got off easy... maybe I need to try harder next time. "So I know a lot."

Brigid nodded. "And who created you? The Exalts, or Sora and Avanix themselves? You deffinatly remind me of the former." She narrowed her eyes. "Though I'm pretty sure he had more tact."

"Simple, by my Mom and Dad." Ezra sat back and got comfortable, crossing his leg over the other. "I may be a jackass, but I still love my family. They wanted a kid, and I came along. I had a pretty normal childhood for as much as an android could. I had a child body, a teenager one, until I got this one. I was raised primarily by Sora though, my Mom was too busy with... others." He said plainly, looking to the side.

Brigid's eyes softened for the first time. "So... you didn't really see her that much at all?"

"Nah. She was usually busy with work or Elene's kid as a guardian. She put some time for me aside, but they were few and far between." Ezra reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a silver pocket watch, a gift from his mother and father. Inside the cover of the watch, the names Sora and Avanix were scratched inside by Ezra.

Brigid sighed. "I... I know what it means to miss out on your mother. Oddly, the war was the best thing to happen to our relationship." She smiled. "You have complete human emotions, don't you? I'd expect nothing less, considering where you came from."

"Uh... hello, awesome? Right here!" Ezra stated, pointing to himself. "It's like you didn't even listen to me. Anyways, yes... complete range, happy, glad, excited... but, I also have the bad ones. Greed, jealously, anger... lust." Ezra shrugged but he glanced at Korra's direction for a brief second with his smirk still there from before.

Korra gave a quick wink, and Brigid rubbed the back of her neck. "Listen... I'm not all that happy showing you the goods and all. But... but it seems like it was an honest mistake."

Korra chuckled. "If it wasn't, he'd probably be bragging about it."

"Anyway..." Brigid shook her head. "I'm sorry I told Korra to shoot you. And that I tried to get you in trouble, even if it wouldn't work on you."

Ezra waved his hand dismissively. "I guess I'm sorry too. My only regret is not taking a picture of the guys I drew on... that shit was funny, but serves 'em right for falling asleep near me with a marker perfectly accessible near by."

Brigid chuckled. "So, what are you going to do if they see you and sneak up on you? They might not be able to hurt you much, but they might find out your an android."

"Oh, that is simple..." Ezra got a dark look to his face and he said in a menacing voice, "I would throw them in the air lock and watch the life drain from their eyes as they suffocate in the vacuum of space."

"Harsh," Korra said with a grin.

Brigid only frowned. "I'm serious, Erza. I feel you told us you were an android a little too quickly. You could have lied about neural dampening. The Commander doesn't recognize the individuality of androids, even one as advanced as you. I'd hate to see you be treated like property."

"Oh yes... psycho bitch. She can think whatever the hell she wants, I will just remind her of a time women were thought of as property too, see how much longer she doesn't recognize me as a person." Ezra looked like he had put thought into the plan and also added, "But in all seriousness, if someone did find out I was an android, I would just explain to them the reasoning for the secret. If they were going to squawk, I would remind them I know multiple ways I could get them transferred to the ass crack of Sol or do something else to their files."

After clearing his throat, Ezra also said, "And I told you guys because I knew I could trust you to keep my secret, even as you were threatening me."

"And why's that?" Korra asked, finally finished dressing.

"I am always recording with my head. If you did blab, I would show your flab." He said with a smirk. "Though I could always be bluffing..." He added.

Korra folded her arms. "Pft. Like I would care."

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

MarineAvenger & ZombieSplitter53
An Unexpected Run-in: Part Three

The Irish soldier smiled. "It doesn't matter. We wouldn't tell even if you were. Do you know who Alice Fischer is?"

"Course I do. She was in some of the files I... borrowed. I know very well what she is."

"Then you know she's on board. She works in engineering. And she's a close friend. I consider her to be as alive as anyone else." Brigid motioned her hand to Erza. "So I have no choice to think the same as you. Even if you act like a machine specifically programmed to boast and insult me."

"I accept your compliment whole heartedly." Ezra told Brigid, sitting back. "Now... I think I have over stayed my welcome. The people I pranked will most likely be in the showers scrubbing themselves off so I will go." Ezra stood up and he held out his hand to Brigid. "Glad we got to talk O'Brien."

Brigid shook his hand. "Yeah... me too, despite the odd circumstances."

"Certainly odd." Ezra glanced over at Korra and said, "Now that you are actually dressed, would you like something to eat? I don't really need it but I could still use it, and I already talked with Blondy, but don't really know much about you. What do you say?"
Korra shrugged. "I guess. If I have to be dressed for it..." She smiled coyly. "I'll see you around, O'Brien."

"Don't get into any trouble with him," Brigid warned.

"Yeah, yeah," was Korra's response. Ezra walked over to the door and opened it, waiting for Korra to come with him. Korra smiled at the android and stepped out. "Programmed to be a gentleman. I like."

When the door closed and the two began to walk, Ezra just put his hands behind his head with a stoic look. "To be honest, I thought she would rip me apart with her mind powers. Didn't know if the squirt would do something or not."

Korra nodded. "She's a hell of a lot stronger then she looks, too. I think you were about one size joke away from here ripping something important off, but something that you said made her empathize. She does that a lot with people."

"I tend to have a lot of varying effects on people." The android stated, though glancing at Korra he asked, "What about you? You seemed like you wanted to rip something off me in a different way, too." He had a smirk now.

Korra sighed. "Yeah, well... it's strange. I... I built up this manner of being. And I've enjoyed it... when it didn't get me in trouble." A sad look crossed her face for a moment, then returned to neutral. "And now I've come to learn that, around respectable people, my constant flirting can be off putting. But it is who I am now. Besides..." She grinned. "Artificial or not, you're easy on the eyes, and I'm attracted to strong minded people."

"Well... I never said you were off putting, I just like playing hard to get. If I just gave up what I had to offer right away, and not toy with the person first, what is the point of enjoying the passion when it finally comes around." He continued to walk a normal pace and he also added, "Besides, if I truly didn't want you, I wouldn't have touched your side or face, or whispered in your ear. I would have just been blunt with you. From what I saw when I did... you didn't mind either."

Korra giggled, and playfully bumped into him. "Would be kinda hypocritical of me if I did, wouldn't it?"

"Maybe. I wouldn't know just yet. At first, I didn't know if you meant it, so I should ask... were you serious or not?"

Korra looked Erza up and down. "Well... soon after my Sahc-diy-deuh, you'd be the only one I wouldn't have to worry about, unless I wanted to dip into the small supply of pills I got from Progressus. And like I said, you're easy on the eyes. It all depends on whether you could perform or not."


"I could preform just fine. I've slept with multiple girls, even dated a few of the ones I did. I just don't like being led on by a women who says she wants it but runs away because she is scared." He told her directly as they got closer to the cafeteria. "I like a strong woman, but just because I like to sleep around doesn't mean I don't respect them. I want to know that if you really want something, you actually want it. Would hate for you to make a mistake, whether before, during , or after. So that is why I took you out. I was serious when I wanted to know if I wanted to get to know you better. If, and only if you don't change your mind by the end of this... we will see what happens afterwards."

Korra folded her arms and nodded. "I... wow. I can really respect that." A small smirk spread across the Tamearins face. "And I'm plenty willing, provided we can find a means to stay under the radar, and you don't expect a commitment."

"I don't expect one, but I don't shy away from one either." He informed her seriously. "Besides... I live alone in my room. Can't get more under the radar than that. So... we have a deal? You get through this, and I will think about whether I will put out. If I do so, and we do what you really want, anything that comes after, commitment or not, is up to you entirely."

"Kinda feels like I'm about to take a test, but.." Korra nodded. "Deal."

Nodding, Ezra and Korra entered the cafeteria and with the almost non-existent line, they quickly got their trays and found a table, Ezra sitting down first and seeing if Korra sat next to him, or across from him. Korra did the former, sitting as close as she could without crowding the android. "So if you don't have to eat, how are you... powered, I guess."

"Well... I do get a small bit of energy from eating, it is just my artificial stomach is not as effective as your real one. Other than that, I have a small battery in my head that recharges as I sleep, so I always have power no matter what." Taking a bite of his food, he looked to Korra, "So... tell me about yourself."

Korra placed her hand in her palm. "Not much to tell. Kinda boring, to be honest. I'm the discarded child of a pair of Tamearin diplomats, who, despite their power and influence, still could deal with their emotional child. The only one who ever looked out for me was my grandmother, and she made sure when she died that I'd get a chance to make something of myself in the XSDF. And so, here I am, after five years of training. I'm a flirt, something of a bitch, but..." She gave him a sad smile. "I've found some friends I... I think I can rely on. Still need time to be sure of that, though."

"It works to have good friends. If you don't have them... well, you don't get far. Not gonna say sorry about your grandmother though. I didn't know her, so I won't fake being sad about hearing she is dead. Sounds like she cared and that is all that matters. You should take pride in that fact. She obviously saw potential in you." He told her, taking a drink. "That is why I want to get to know you, to find out you have potential myself."

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

MarineAvenger & ZombieSplitter53
An Unexpected Run-in: Part Four

"Is that so." The red head tilted her head slightly. "So how am I doing so far?"

Ezra held up his hand and waved his index finger side to side. "Ah, ah, ah... if I told you, that would be cheating. I just want you to be yourself." The android smiled playfully and he asked, "Ever had a past commitment with a male or female?"

Korra's eyes widened, and she shuddered a bit. She looked away, and slowly nodded, practically whispering, "Male..."

Ezra raised an eyebrow and he leaned forward to look at Korra's face. "Want to talk about it?"

Korra let out a shuddering breath. "There... isn't anything to talk about. He used me... and I was only too happy when he was gone. And he... taught me a good lesson on trust."

"That doesn't sound like nothing." Ezra pointed out, taking another sip of his drink. "Shows you the scum of the universe. Even though I had one offs with some girls, I still had the courtesy to be around and at least offer a friendship with them. If they would deny, that would be their business but anyone who uses a woman is scum, and the same goes for the opposite as well." The android's face grew serious and he put his elbows on the table. "You don't have to tell me, but it might feel better if you tell it to someone you know you have nothing to lose with. Maybe it would help you tell your actual friends later on."

Korra thought for a moment, then slowly said, "Like... like a psychiatrist. Because I... I was talking with the ship's... I... I think I can trust Camilla..."

"Not really. You don't have a commitment with me yet, none whatsoever. So in turn, you should have no worries since my opinion shouldn't mean jack to you at this point. Besides... I'm a guy, if it isn't obvious, I think differently then a chick."

Korra nodded, and turned back to Erza, smiling. "Thanks, Ezra. You're better then most of the men I've met."

"Probably helps that most men are not androids." With a smirk, he then asked, "So... you going to talk about it with me?" Ezra put a wad of food in his mouth and chewed slowly as he waited.

Korra sighed. "When... when I first started my training..." She shook her head. "It should be obvious to most people, but I'm not the smartest person in the world. I didn't learn to socialize very well when my people considered me an outcast, and I missed a lot of school because I was 'sick', according to my parents. When I first started training, I knew little about humanity and the Earth. Hell, I was still learning your language. So... being amongst another culture, and not being the smartest teenage girl, it was easy for people to... manipulate me."

Ezra just sat, having set his food aside and was listening intently on the conversation.

"It was easy at first. Almost fun." Korra gave a half-hearted smile. "People paid attention to me, and I got things. A quick smile here, extra portions at lunch. A kiss there, and I got to skip out of firearms practice early." Her smile faded. "Then my CO caught on... and told me there was something we could do... that I could do exclusively with him, and in exchange, my time through training would be a breeze. And it worked... for a while. Then he... he insisted on doing it during my Sahc-diy-deuh, despite my warnings. Two... two months later, I came to him. Told him my... my Sahc-diy-deuh hadn't come. Which meant..."

Ezra's eyes widened and his breathing hitched, looking at Korra in a bit of disbelief. "You were pregnant..."

Korra shook her head. "No... like I said, I'm not very smart. I miscalculated the change of time between my world and yours. So I thought I was. When I went to him, he... he rather colorfully explained to my what a prostitute was. One who... who exchanges their body for things. He warned me that if even tried to claim he was the father, or mention our relationship, he'd ruin me. And if I lost the XSDF... I would have had nothing left. So I stayed quiet, and was grateful when my Sahc-diy-deuh came."

"I would be grateful too." Ezra said, clenching his fist under the table. "Stupid bastard... fires off a few rounds in the wrong target and doesn't even have the balls to man up to it. Might be harsh to say, but I am glad you didn't carry that dick waffle's baby." Reminds me of Amber and her father... I swear, almost makes me glad I can't have children. Even if I did fuck up, at least i would have the balls to own up to it. "So what happened next?"

Korra was silent for several seconds. Finally, she slowly said, "I... I-I was... transferred to the care of another CO. I... completed my training... and now I'm here. Still flirty... but more cautious."

"Well at least you learned a lesson." Ezra stated bluntly, crossing his arms. "But don't ever think you are a slut, a prostitute, a harlot, or anything else in the book. Some people can't help who they are. If you want to be flirty, I don't see why not. Just be sure not to take too many risks, or end up with some loser."

Korra nodded, smiling a bit. "Thank you, Erza. You're surprisingly understanding with someone you just met."

Ezra sighed, closing his eyes and scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, yeah... like I said, I am full of surprises." Putting his hands down again, he looked at Korra with a serious face. "Is there anything else I should know last minute?"

Korra shook her head. "Only that I'm not the easiest person to deal with." She grinned. "But then, I suppose you could say the same about yourself."

Ezra nodded, and he took one last big gulp of his drink before saying, "I reached my decision."

Korra tilted her head slightly. "Oh? And what is you decision?"

Ezra shook his head. "No... not here." Getting up, he took his tray and he dumped it, placing the tray on top of the trash can where all the used trays went before he walked back to Korra. "Follow me."

Korra nodded, and followed closely. "Where are we going?"

Ezra didn't answer her, just walking silently for a good while until they came upon a room in the soldier's barracks, tape going horizontally across it to warn people to stay out. "I guess now you want to hear the answer to whether I am going to sleep with you or not..."

Korra smiled gently. "You know... either way, I'm satisfied that we met, and can be friends."

Ezra nodded, and he took a step forward, putting a hand behind Korra's head and pulling her in for a kiss. Korra let him kiss her, though only for a brief moment, afraid cameras in the hallways would spot them.

Ezra let out a sigh, and he turned from Korra, opening the door to his room. "Go back to O'Brien. You don't need this from me. From what I have gathered from our talk, one day you are going to find someone good for you. Even though you may not see it yet, you have the potential to be something great Korra. You don't need me to spoil that for you." He looked over at her and gave a soft smile, reaching out and touching her cheek. "All men are assholes, even me. But when you find the right asshole for you, I just want you to know I would be happy for you." He rubbed her cheek with his thumb for a moment tenderly.

Korra smiled gently, leaning into his touch. She reached out, passionately kissing Erza with no concern for who might be watching. As she pulled away, she said, "Don't be a stranger. Trust me. You're one of the good assholes." She stepped away, and bowed her head slightly.

Ezra chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "I always enjoy a challenge... so if you ever want to try again, you know where I live now." He stated with a wink. "Who knows... maybe the next time you will get lucky, or the time after that, or after that, or it could never happen at all. You know what they say... good things come to those who wait." Ezra gave one final smirk to Korra before bowing his own head.

Korra giggled childishly, and made her way back to her room, determined to make sure Brigid wouldn't stay sour with Erza. Ezra closed his door behind him and looked around the bare-bones sleeping quarters for one. The lights were off so he just took off his coat and shirt, throwing them to the side as he laid on his bed, going over how a misunderstanding turned into what had transpired.

 

[Dahlexpert]

Trying to civilize a savage

Somewhere in Subspace (February 21st, 2044)
The Einherjar (3:47 P.M., Earth Standard)
Soldiers barbaric


Noire sits in her room reading one of the books, she brought from home. Noire sees Cassia pacing around thinking about something.

“Yo Cassia what’s up, you been pacing around for 12 minutes what’s up.

Cassia looks at Noire looking almost nervous. “Hay Noire, would you say you’re a civilized person?”

“Sure, why are you asking that?”

“Well my social skills suck, and I was wondering can teach me to be a civilized person. Or at least the basic of being civilized.”

Noire blinks several times in both shock and confusion “Um are you sure you want me to teach you to be civilized? I’m not the best person for the job.”

“Well, you’re the closest and your my roommate so can you teach me or not?”

Noire close her book and stands up. “Alright fine I will teach you how to be civilized, first things first you smell really bad when was the last time you showered?”

“Um last month, why do I real smell that bad?”

“Cassia, how often do you shower?”

“Once or twice…..a month”

“OK get into the shower, were taking a shower right now.” Noire starts the shower and forces Cassia in there.

“OW it burns, why is the water so hot?”

“Well the hot water should remove more dark and make you cleaner.”

“But this water is too hot, could you have at least make it colder!”

“No now quit complaining and let me bath you.” Noire spent what felt like forever washing Cassia. After a about 30 minutes, Noire started to shave Cassias legs, to which Cassia responded by kicking Noire several times in her face.


Noire grabbed Cassia leg and lifted her up and slammed her in to the bath water. Noire continued to shave Cassia. “And done your legs are now fully shaved and you are finally clean, now the first rule to being civilized is to at least shower 2 or 3 times a week got it.”


Cassia looks at Noire looking like she was tortured “That was terrible I never want to go through that again.”

“Then you better wash your self, at least twice a week got it.”

“Yea fine whatever.”

“Great now let’s get you dressed.” Noire and cassia leave the bath room and Noire sees Cassia going for her armor


“Um Cassia do you have any close?”


“A true mercenary wears only there armor, a warrior armor should be more comfortable then a warm bed there armor is my everything.”


Noire slaps her hand into her face “Do you have a bra or any underwear?”


“What’s a bra?”


“OU dear god, Cassia what did you do to make sure your breast wasn’t flopping around?”

“I would use bandages and wrap myself up with those.”


My god why did I get this person as a roommate, just how uncivilized is she?


Noire goes through her doers and and pulls out so underwear she bought while on Progressus. “There put this on it should fit you.”

“How do I put this on?”

Noire puts the bra on Cassia, thinking to herself how did this person go this long without learning basic hygiene.


Cassia looks at the bra and is confused by it “This feels weird, why do you wear these?”

“The just do, it’s to make sure we don’t wear bandages over our chest.”

Cassia growls clearly not liking what she’s going through. Noire puts some close on the bed and tells Cassia to wear them.

Noire gives Cassia a blue shirt with a black jacket and some jeans “Aw you look cute in that.”

“I feel wrong, this whole thing feels wrong I want my armor.”

“Normal people don’t wear or sleep in armor Cassia, now how do you feel?”

“Like a bloody flower, I hate this feeling it feels wrong.”

“But this is how being civilized is like, civilized people don’t wear armor constantly and the wear bras take showers and stay clean constantly.”

“See this is why I prefer living in the mountains instead of civilization. I don’t need to go through all this crap.”


“Ou come on this isn’t so bad, you look good without your armor it suits you.”

“Bite me, you and your bloody civilization.

“Well Cassia since I did this with you can you help me out with something?”

“And what’s that?”

“Can, can you train me to fight like you?”

“You want me to train you, why is that?”

“Well you’re a bounty hunter, and a Van Dam your trained to handle anything and everything you I want to get stronger I may not have many friends on this ship but I want to protect the people here. I want to save and protect everyone just like my mom and dad.”


“Heh heh you’re defiantly like Eva, in more ways than you think you are. Alright I will train you just as long as you don’t bath me again.”

“Very well I won’t clean you again, but please clean your armor it smells terrible.”

“Fine fine I’ll clean it, it needs to be cleaned any way.”

 

[Zain Shah]

Alexandros' Room

1800 hours


Alexandros was sprawled on the floor, pale as the white walls around him. He slowly shut his eyes and found himself in one of his visions.

"I see you have began your journey at XSDF."
"Was this what you wanted my Lord? I did this all for you." Alex replied
"Then you aren't doing this for the right reasons." Alexandros struggled for words after this point, his whole purpose crushed by whom he lived for.
"Everything I've done in my life has been for you, why shouldn't I do this for you?" Alex’s legs shaking from nervousness
"You're not a servant, you're a leader so show me you can become a leader."


With those final words, Alex woke up with his half of his cigar still left in his hand. He awkwardly stood up and fixed his hair to realise it was 3 am. Lost for words, Alexandros rubbed his forehead and thought to himself: Why am I doing this? For myself? The Light? To protect my kind? He walked over to his bed and grabbed his bag, pulling out a small, blunt dagger incapable of being any use in combat. He stood there staring at the dagger, which was decorated with red and yellow gems. After a while, he sighed “I don’t know,” whilst putting it back in his bag.


After sleeping for a few hours he again woke up, this time without any visions. He went over to the gym to clear his head but his mind became fixated on what he had heard last night. The frustration got to him and in a fit of anger he threw his dumbell across the gym, nearly hitting two soldiers. He immediately stormed off back into his room and quickly pulled out a cigar and began smoking it. “I need more answers.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

MarineAvenger and DarkGemini24601: “The Measure of a Man, Part 1”

Somewhere in Subspace (February 22nd, 2044)
The Einherjar (12:16 P.M., Earth Standard)
Holo-Room 3

Vindicta glanced around the simulation of Tokyo Ezra had set up, giving a nod of approval. “Certainly an interesting city… I may have to visit it when I return to Earth.”

“Yeah, got some really crazy stuff that goes down there. Even though going overseas for schooling was a little jarring at first, at least I had the luxury of learning the language and alphabet in what… ten seconds depending on wi-fi?” He told his cousin, surprised she actually took him up on his offer to hang out.

“I do feel like you miss out on a lot by just downloading whatever knowledge you need, rather than actively learning it,” the head of the psionics division chided.

“Yeah, a lot of boring grinding out the books and stupid, unneeded side lessons. Trust me, it’s easier this way, and I could still be the smartest one on this ship, I just choose not to be.” He retorted. “Even smarter than you if I wanted to be.”

“Keep dreaming,” Vindicta responded. “In any case, I did want to show you what Luna was like in person.” She reached into her coat pocket for the data chip that had the specifications for the simulation, only to find it wasn’t there. “Dammit. Must have left it on the counter in the labs. I’ll be back in a few minutes, just wait here,” she explained, turning around to do as she had said.

Ezra rolled his eyes and just started to pace back and forth waiting for her to return. “You know for all her boasting, she really is forgetful sometimes…”

About thirty seconds later, the door opened again with a quiet hiss, though it wasn’t Vindicta that walked in. Rather, it was an Indian woman with slightly spiky black hair and a uniform that made no mistake as to who she was. “There you are,” Streczyk said, an expression on her face clearly indicating that she was not exactly pleased to be here.

“Yes, thank you for stating I was actually here… and how can I help our most glorious leader ever today?” He said in a clearly kiss ass, exaggerated tone.

“You know, the last person that called me that got dangerously close to insubordination. I trust you won’t make the same mistake, android.” Astasha narrowed her eyes. “I don’t like having admission files faked, Ezra.”

Ezra stared at her for a few brief moments before he began to laugh slightly, clapping his hands together. “Wow… you solved the case and it only took you what… the whole of two months to find out? Geez, I thought it would have been sooner considering the, I don’t know… milk white skin, red eyes when not a psion and when you try to punch me you might as well run in front of a semi… I could take better care of keeping my appearances but eh, too much work.”

“That, coupled with harassment of XSDF personnel, hacking into holo terminals, and…” A brief flare of disgust showed on Astasha’s features. “...consorting with organics aboard my ship, has left you on very thin ice. If not none at all.”

“Wow… I really need to get on my A-game if that is all you have on me so far.” He noted again, “Well let’s see here, harassment of staff is really a posh, long winded way of saying someone was pissed off by the pranks, which is BS considering how much everyone else laughs when it doesn’t happen to them, your own systems fault for making it so easy… and… you should really try it sometimes, really takes the stress off.”

Astasha smiled, though it was not one of amusement or anything remotely positive. She placed a hand on her forehead for a moment, shaking her head. “I find it absolutely unbelievable that some of my own staff, coupled with an automaton, don’t take me seriously. Clearly Brea and previous commanders have been too lenient.” Her smiling fading, she placed her hand at her side again. “Private Ezra Exalt, you are hereby relieved of your rank, and will be placed in the brig until further notice. I suggest you don’t resist.”

Ezra crossed his arms and looked at the Commander, not with shock or anger but amusement. “Why is it you really don’t want people to like you? Especially us of the artificial kind?”

“I don’t believe I have to explain myself to property. From herein, that’s what you are, according to all existing laws regarding artificial beings.”

“Geez, we have really come full circle haven’t we? Property calling what is property. Oh wait, or did I just make up those thousands of years your kind were in my position along with everyone who was not a white male, oh, I’m so sorry.” He mocked.

“I’m afraid the difference is you aren’t human. My duty is to look out for my own kind, not pander to the… what, four or five so-called ‘sentient’ A.I.s in existence?” Astasha shook her head. “I won’t ask again. Follow me.”

The door opened a third time, and Vindicta stepped in. “I have the… Commander. What… brings you here?”

 

[MarineAvenger]

MarineAvenger and DarkGemini24601: “The Measure of a Man” Part 2

“Miss High and Mighty is playing the race card and I am to be put in jail. You see… this is why you don’t leave me alone!”

Vindicta narrowed her eyes. “You’re… what? I’ll have you know, Ezra is part of the Exalt family. Do you really want to risk…”

“Risk what, dear?” Astasha shook her head. “He has committed several other infractions I could list for you, he’s lucky I have other reasons to buttress my decision. Do not think that just because he takes on your family name and has passing relevance means that I will not do my job.”

The scientist clenched a fist. “I don’t think you know my mother that well, then…”

“You yourself have been responsible for a few missteps as well. Frivolous use of your psionic abilities, disregard for my authority…” Astasha began to list. “I begin to wonder if I might have to tell your mother you simply aren’t ready for this sort of responsibility. She can’t contest my decision, considering the XSDF is my organization.”

“You really want to lose one of your most valuable scientists?” Vindicta growled.

“I don’t believe I need much from the psionic sector.” Astasha shook her head. “You psykers already have enough power as it is.”

“You want to see power…” Vindicta growled, a ghostly, black fist starting to form off her right hand.

Astasha chuckled. “Unless you want to find yourself in the depths of space, I suggest you stand down now, and perhaps I’ll forget this blatant insubordination.”

“Cool you jets, Vinny…” Ezra told his cousin. Taking a step forward, Ezra glared at Astasha. “You don’t threaten my family.” He told her, “You really want to throw me in jail, go ahead. Though last time I checked, if I am just property, you have no grounds to throw me in jail. Just as you could not throw a rock in jail for stubbing your toes on it. Just as you can not throw a gun or knife in jail just because it was used to murder someone. When you stop swimming in your own narcissistic pool of shit and actually see how stupid you are, you could really learn something.”

“Oh, but you’re valuable property. Though you did make a good point, which is why…” Astasha snapped her fingers, and out of two pockets on her military belt, two outsider shards floated up, materializing into the crystalline guardians. They both retrieved a chip from the Commander, and quickly placed each on either side of Ezra’s head. “If you’re wondering, those are radio jammers, miniaturized versions of what we use on aircraft.” A thin, almost transparent mesh spanned out from them as they locked themselves in place. “A dense weave of aluminum will keep you from transferring your data via radio waves, and if you were to try, or defy my orders, the jammers themselves have small explosives built into them, enough to blast your processing unit apart.”

You bitch… Vindicta thought, but held her tongue, the situation having turned even more dire than she could have imagined.

“You know… it is a wonder why everyone hates you. Don’t know any reason why they would want to disobey you, just a regular rainbow of sunshine you are.” Ezra continued to glare at the Commander and also added, “You are not the entirety of the XSDF. I could just as easily go to someone else and get your ass fired. That, and I know of a good portion of supporters within high ranks of the XSDF for android rights, and they would be really happy to hear about this. I may not be the smartest, but I cover my ass pretty damn good.”

Astasha shook her head. “Oh, dear, are you going to run to the Council of Nations that chose me in the first place?” The Commander narrowed her eyes. “I won’t let you or anyone else interfere with the prosperity humanity has. And your ‘good number’ is likely tiny, considering the few ‘sentient’ androids that do exist aren’t well known. The ‘rights’ of a select few robots is not my primary concern, and never will be.” Crossing her arms, Astasha flashed one of her cold smiles. “I did mean it when you’re stripped of your rank. From herein, you’ll be serving in the same capacity as the combat droids. Perhaps I’ll add the other android to that roster, but for now I think I’m done here.”

The Commander stepped back, and turned around. “Report directly to Engineering. Try anything funny and I’ll have you dismantled for scrapped for parts.” As she walked by Vindicta, she added, “And I’ll find myself a new head of the psionic division. Consider yourself an average ranking scientist now.” With that, she departed, leaving Vindicta fuming.

“Geez… must be her time of the month.” Ezra muttered, looking at his cousin. “Why did you stick up for me?” He asked her, a little bit angry tone to his voice.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Vindicta growled. “You’re family, and she’s out of her mind! If I inform mother of what’s going on I’m sure she won’t stand for this.”

“Because, now you are in even deeper. You should have just kept your mouth shut and kissed her ass… maybe would have made things easier, even though I doubt it.” He scratched his head and let out a growl. “I would like to see her on the front lines, I could run circles around her if she didn’t hide behind her ‘security guards’.” He rolled his eyes. “Combat droid… yeah, well fuck you too!” He yelled at nobody in particular. “2044 and some people still have the nerve for discrimination. I am pretty sure your dog has more rights than me now.” He told Vindicta.

Vindicta sighed. “I honestly wonder if I’m going to find implanted bombs on him too.” She frowned. “I’m sure I won’t be able to call home if she has any sense, but I will find a way,” she whispered quietly. “For now, just play along, but I won’t let this charade continue.”

Ezra sat down and the floor and he sighed loudly, the sigh turning into growl afterwards. “Will be a great day that woman gets laid, I tell you that.” He looked up at his cousin and he said, “Thanks for trying at least Vin.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

XSDF Stellar Mission
Rescue Mission
Operation Disruptive Influence

System: Tondary
Planet: Tondary 4
Location: Aboard the Scout Class ship 'Bovomum'
Date: February 22nd, 2044
Time: 1400 Hours, Terrain Standard Time

Mission Details:

We picked up a distress call an hour ago over a Y class planet in the Tondary system. The frequency of the signal is out of date, matching that of old Ethereal hyperwave signals not in use for decades. Caution was important, as it could be a trap.

Arriving at Tondary 5, the Einherjar found two parties in conflict. While one side, made up of a number of fighters and a transport, seemed to be using ships recognized to be those of the Triads, the other side was made up from a large scout and several fighters of unknown origin, and there was no indication of which side sent the distress call.

A request for the two sides to stand down resulted in both turning their weapons on the Einherjar. A stellar dog fight soon followed, though through intercepted communications, we discovered that the unknown ships fought under the belief that we were backup for their attackers, and most fled when they had the chance. When we succeeded in fighting off the rest, we were left with the unknown scout, which was apparently under attack from within by Triad and Venom members who had managed to get aboard. While we do not know who is on that ship, we know that they are in trouble. As such, we shall board the vessel and see who we can save.

Number of Soldiers for this Mission: Twelve XSDF troopers and One SHIV

Soldier’s Names:
(Skyranger)

**CPL Steele, Samantha [Heavy] (Overdrive)
*LCPL ‘Capt.’ K'varah, Kearichi [Assault]
LCPL Terra (Tier One Baʒir cybernetics, all limbs count as Tier One arms)
SPC T'surah, Urilio [Scout]
PFC Slora S'vorah
PFC Trivor P'kurah
PFC T'barah, Faros
PFC O'garah , Yessander
PFC PFC Ramirez, Cynthia
PFC D'Angelo, Cosma
PFC Smith, Mason (Magnified Bicep Structure, Iron Skin)
PFC Herrera, Emmanuel
Hover SHIV Two

**Squad Leader
*Team Leader
Italics are player characters.

Gear: (link)

Terrain:
The Bovomum is an odd, Frankenstein-esk ship, made up of parts from all across the galaxy. It is evident that the owner has no specific backer or allegiance, and made the ship and its facilities out of whatever he could find.

Littered along the way to the bridge are a number of fallen individuals. These include a number of humans wearing the Triad symbols, a few Replitans with the Venom symbols, and what was likely the crew of the ship, mostly Sectoids with a few scattered Replitans and Balmadaar.

The ship itself seems to be modeled after an old Ethereal Abductor-class ship, though heavily modified. The loading bay is our best choice for entrance. The dual cargo rooms beyond the loading bay have been converted to hold a variety of biological samples and hazardous materials, as well as components for psionic research and genetic modification. The holding room, originally holding abduction pods, contains a sizable laboratory, impressively expansive considering the limited resources that seem to be available for creating it. Most of the surviving Sectoid crewmen can be found here.

Beyond this, the ship has been modified to including a large barracks, obvious made for the comfort of the occupants, particularly the small room on the side, implying that the ship is more than just for transport, but is in fact meant for living within. After this, the remaining survivors can be found in the bridge of the ship. Note that the gravity controls within the barracks are malfunctioning. Standard Zero-G fighting procedures will be necessary.

Enemies:
One Squad of Two Venom Troopers [Beam Lasers, Skeleton Suit] (One w/ improved Dexterity) & Two Triad Troopers [Pulse Weapons, Carapace Armor]
Two Squad of Four Triad Troopers [Gauss Weapons, Carapace Armor] (One w/ a blue psion, one w/ a yellow psion)
Two Squads of Two Custom Seekers [Beam Pistols]
One squad of One Venom Trooper [Infantry: Pulse Heavy Rifle, Corsair Armor][Neural Dampening, Hyper-Reactive Pupils, Magnified Bicep Structure, Dextrous Muscle Fibers], One Triad Trooper [Paratrooper: Gauss Rifle, Seraph Armor][Orange Psion], and Four Combat Droids [Pulse Rifles, Cleric Armor]

Conditions for Completing the Mission:

(1) The elimination or arrest of all pirates within the Bovomum
(2) The rescue of as many civilians as possible

Civilians:

Based on observations of the fighters and the known members of both Venom and the Triads, all Sectoids are likely members of the ship’s crew, and should be treated as armed civilians. Any encountered should be ordered to stand down, and should not be engaged unless they refuse. The few survivors, eight in total, can be found within the modified labs, with another two in the bridge.

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Taxor the First and DarkGemini24601:

“Operation Disruptive Influence, Part 1”
Einherjar Hanger F


Sarah Wong sat on a sturdy storage crate, tapping one of her boots idly against the metal side of the box with an audible, if faint, clang. The noise was probably driving a few of the soldiers near her crazy, but she didn’t seem to notice, or if she did, she didn’t care. After a few more seconds of the tedium, she raised her wrist, a small beep buzzing in her earpiece. “SkyEye got us covered?” she asked.

“I do, now get going already. They may not have much of a fighting force here at the moment, but I’d rather not wait for reinforcements to come in,” Addington snapped through the radio.

Sarah shut it off, shaking her head. “Definitely back to his old self, I see…” The sniper jumped up from her sitting posture, addressing the waiting soldiers around her. “Alright, we’ve got the green light, more or less. The Skyranger is going to be taking you into that large, patchwork scout craft I showed you on the projector. We expect there to be casualties on both sides, so while there will be enemies you need to keep yourself aware for, don’t expect it to be packed. Don’t let your guard down, though. Remember, this is a rescue mission, so avoid attacking the crew of the ship at all costs unless it becomes an ‘us or them’ situation.”

The Lieutenant gestured to Samantha. “Corporal Steele will be in charge of the mission here. I’m sending two of my operatives suited to confined quarters fighting… more or less... to assist you in this endeavor, but don’t rely solely on them. Lance Corporal Kearichi will be Steele’s second.” Sarah snapped. “Now get moving!”

Samantha turned her head to the other soldiers, though her face was hidden behind the tinted glass of her visor. “Alright everyone, onto the Skyranger. Tickets will be collected at the door.” She shook her head when all of the Volomi squad looked at her with confused expressions on their faces. “That was… just get on.” She turned around briefly as the squad piled on, catching a glimpse of a worried cripple near the back. Smiling to herself, she followed the soldiers on, the door hissing shut as she cleared it.

Slora glanced at the MEC trooper, seemingly only now noticing that it was a Baʒir piloting it rather than a human. “Do not stare,” Kearichi snapped next to her. “That one has sacrificed their limbs in order to better protect their people.”

Tearing her eyes away, she turned her gaze to the veteran Captain. “And we are to fight alongside it?”

Kearichi rolled his four eyes in their sockets. “Childish excitement,” he grumbled.

“Coming up on the ship now,” Big Sky informed the squad as the Skyranger cautiously approached the torn-up hangar of the frankenstein-ish starship it found itself flying towards. “Got some bodies of the pirates down there, as well as what I’m assuming was the guards. I’ll cover you as you exit, since there might be enemies lying in wait,” he concluded, putting a hand on the anti-infantry weaponry controls.

“Alright people,” Samantha said, rising and bringing up her Plasma Novagun. “You know the drill. Do unto others as they do unto you, with the exception of Triads and Venom.” She loaded a charge pack, feeling the satisfying click of it slotting into place. “Sectoids are technically civilians, though, so demand surrender at least once before you open fire. Always go for the surrender over the kill.” She looked over her shoulder. “We all clear on that?”

The chorus of affirmation made her smile briefly, before the jolt of the Skyranger landing demanded her focus. “Let’s get going then,” she said, as the hatch hissed open, and the squad spilled out into the hangar in a breach maneuver. Clearly, the pilot hadn’t been lying. Bodies were strewn around the wreckage of various forklift-style vehicles and other cargo-movers, of varying species. A few electrical fires sparked here and there, mostly circuitry in the walls exposed to the air. Aside from that, the hangar seemed empty.

As the squad was nearly finished with filing out of the Skyranger, an enemy did show themselves, a black-armored triad wielding a blaster rifle. He lifted the weapon over a crate to take a shot, but this was a mistake. A few of the XSDF troops fired at him, forcing him to relocate. In doing so, he ran out into the open for a moment, and was gunned down by dual plasma turrets on the front of the Skyranger, not having a chance of survival.

“Knew it’d be a good idea to cover you,” Big Sky muttered into comms. “Another one, four o’-what the hell!” The pilot suddenly exclaimed, the turrets on the Skyranger moving erratically but not firing. “I’m blind!” He yelled in a panic, a faint yellow flash between enemy cover and the cockpit of the dropship indicating the source of the problem.

Kearichi snarled, and pointed a finger towards the boxes their enemy was hiding behind. “Pincer,” he chattered, and the Volomi split into two groups with the exception of the Urilio, who merely ran to a nearby box and began taking potshots. The rest of the human squad did the same, Samantha rushing forward to catch up.

Getting closer, however, the Volomi found themselves suppressed by two other enemy contacts, who had sprung up from behind cover to take them unawares. Kearichi cursed, and instructed his people to remain low. “Need a distraction,” he snapped into comms. “A big one.”

“I shall deal with the problem,” said Terra, scuttling over to the wall. Magnetic clamps on his legs activated, and he scurried up the wall, before shifting to the roof. The Triad psion seemed to notice this and fired off his pulse autoblaster in the direction of the Meʒir. Some of the machine gun fire missed, and the rest didn’t penetrate the tough carapace of the MEC that shielded him from fire below. Now in position, Terra folded out two of his limbs, aiming the attached plasma pistols downwards and firing. His shots ghosted through the target, however, and he noted, “Enemy has teleimagery in addition to blackout. However…” Catching sight of the real target running for cover, he fired again, and one of his shots connected, damaging the Triad’s armor to near-destruction.

The Triad swore and opened his comms. “Get your scaly asses down here, dammit…” he growled. “Ki-1, Ki-2, target that one giving orders.” Two Seekers soon exited the distortion of being in stealth, and moved to wrap their metallic tendrils around the Lance Corporal Volomi in question. He cried out in surprise when his arms were wrapped up, then again in fear as tentacles slid around his throat. He attempted to wrest the droids off himself, but failed, instead reaching for the sidearm with his free arm.

He didn’t get the chance to test it’s effectiveness on the Seekers, however. A few well placed blasts of plasma tore through one of the metal squids, and damaged the tendrils of the other, allowing the Captain to loosen its grasp. “Part of me is mildly offended they went for you,” Samantha yelled, unable to remove the other one without risking impacting the Volomi’s head. “Trivor, help your Captain out a bit!” Whipping around and seeing the Seeker for the first time, the Volomi opened fire, the Gauss rounds spraying a little to the left of the robot’s ‘head’.

Slora, turning around to see what the commotion was about, nearly panicked right there and then. Quickly clamping down on her adrenaline, though, she landed a burst on the Seeker, damaging its motor senses enough to allow her guard to break free and draw his sidearm, finishing the droid with a spike through the CPU. The two Volomi met gazes for a second, before a burst of pulse reminded them that there were still enemies around, though Samantha and Terra were keeping them neatly suppressed.

Cosma saw an opportunity in this, and readied her pulse rifle, glancing over at Cynthia with her alloy cannon and Emmanuel with his pulse stengen. “Come on, let’s try and get a little closer,” the Italian suggested, and made a break for the next line of cover. Enemy fire ensued, but didn’t connect. They did so again, and again emerged unscathed, now close enough for Cynthia to actually fire off a shot. In a stroke of luck, the alloy spike connected, downing one Triad in a very painful death. Emmanuel’s stengun didn’t quite finish off the psion who couldn’t move in time, but Cosma’s rifle did, hitting the flesh beneath the broken part of his armor and ending his life.

The other pirate threw away his gun and cowered in surrender, even as four more enemies came in, two of them Replitans with merely beam strike rifles and skeleton suits, who wisely took high cover, one of them grappling into the rafters. The other two were Triads with loadouts similar to the now-deceased ones, and took the less optimal cover, opening fire as quickly as they could, one managing to score a hit on Emmanuel. The shot didn’t make it very far past the armor, but did enough damage to leave a burn that made him duck behind cover, recoiling in mild-to-moderate pain.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Taxor the First and DarkGemini24601:
“Operation Disruptive Influence, Part 2”
Bovomum Hangar Bay

Samantha exhaled sharply as she saw the shot, spraying a few bolts towards their foes and soon being rewarded with the ‘click’ of an empty mag. Cursing, she went back behind cover, and begun the lengthy reloading process. “Slora!” she yelled, “You’ve got a medkit, can you get to Emmanuel?”

The Volomi poked her head over the box she was hiding behind, ducking down again when a beam zipped past her face. “Not with those snakes in the ceiling!” she yelled back, getting as low as she could.
“Those need to go first!”

“Of course,” the Corporal muttered, finishing her reload. “You would need the hardest ones to kill killed. SHIV, I need you to take those Replitans on the roof out. Got it?”

The mini-tank buzzed in assent, and angled its HMG up towards the roof. A burst of gauss fire connected with the rafter the first Replitan was on as the other one grappled to a seperate part of the roof, effectively making the enemy fall a few dozen feet and break plenty of bones and other internal features. The second realized its predicament, and set to hopping between pillars, forcing the Hover SHIV to ascend to go after him. A beam shot glanced off the armor of the SHIV as it became level with the now coverless Venom Trooper, and then another spray of rail-accelerated bullets finished him off.

Not wasting the chance, Slora slipped over her cover while the SHIV had drawn the pirate’s attention, making it over to the wounded human before they returned their eyes to the foes still rooted on the ground. Taking a short moment to work out the healing device, she sprayed some of the contents onto the burn, allowing it to mend and cease impacting the soldier’s performance. “Now what?” she asked into her communicator.

It was one of her own people who answered that question. Having spent some time lining up a shot, Trivor fired a burst, each bullet impacting and burrowing into the skull of a pirate who’d stayed out of cover too long. The last, who had been about to pop out himself, immediately reconsidered, and stayed behind cover to analyse his options.

“You’ve got two options,” Samantha said, almost as if reading his mind. “Surrender. Or don’t. The consequences of each choice are yours to make.” To elaborate, she spun up her Plasma Novagun, her intent clear.

The pirate considered his life choices for a few seconds, and then picked the first option, throwing away his weapon in the stellar equivalent of a white flag.

Behind the tinted visor, the Huntress smiled. “You chose wisely,” she said, moving up and allowing one of the Volomi - probably Yessander, given the weapons attached to his back - to take the pirate into custody, restraining them. “Alright people,” she said, turning and waiting for the squad to regroup. “Labs are through here. Likely a high concentration of civilian units in there, possibly a guard. Keep aware, keep in formation, and keep in cover.”

After a short countdown, the motley squad breached the door, poking their weapons inside and allowing Samantha and Terra to take the lead. Frowning, she walked forward slightly, noting the sudden lack of firepower. “Where’d they all go?” she asked, almost disappointed.

“Probably behind the crates,” Kearichi said. “Hiding from the sight of their prey. Or they could be setting up further back, allowing their prey to believe themselves hunters.”

“I’ll go ahead,” Urilio muttered, surprising the human in charge. “I can back away if I come across anything I cannot handle.” Pushing past them, he moved forward, indicating them to follow after he’d gotten a short distance away.

When they arrived close to the end door, he was forced to pull back quickly as a burst of pulse fire opened the energy door, two pirates on the inner side and two aiming with a laser strike rifle and autolaser, respectfully, from the outer sides of the door. The crossfire pinned both forces down, but didn’t seem to do much else, until two Seekers exited stealth. The assassin droids fired off two quick laser bursts at Samantha’s back before going in for the strangle.

The lasers singed the back of her Aegis armor, but did little else other than alert her to their presence. They were too close for her to effectively repel, however, her reflexive spray slicing off a single tentacle from the leftmost Seeker before they enveloped her in their embrace, going as they always did, for the neck. Dashing forward and angling the barrel of his Alloy Cannon so that there was less chance of accidental friendly fire, Kearichi fired directly into the ‘head’ of one of the Seekers, irreparably damaging it and causing it to release its grip. The other Seeker, recognising a threat, angled its head and spat a laser at the Assault, forcing him to dive out of the way and allowing the droid time to complete its hold and begin to squeeze.

That was, until the Meʒir intervened. The mechanized alien cockroach closed in on his commanding officer and took aim with three of his plasma pistols, firing off calculated shots in order to melt the tentacles of the Seeker and make it roll off Samantha, unable to do much more than firing off a few laser bolts at the wall helplessly.

“Thanks,” the Huntress said, bending down and retrieving her Novagun. “Now then, that’s their trump card gone. What’s ours?”

“Direct assault,” Kearichi said, replacing the ammo in his shotgun. “Speed and aggression.”

“Agreed,” she replied, spinning up her weapon. “We’ll keep them suppressed, you and the rest of your team move in for the kill.” The Volomi nodded and sprang out of cover, barking a command in his own language as the humans and Meʒir began the task of suppressing. As one, the Volomi swarmed forward, though only Urilio and Kearichi himself managed to get very close. Pulling out a flashbang, the Vessel tossed it directly in the centre of the pirates, the raised platform shielding him and his allies from the flash itself. With the pirates distracted, Kearichi stormed forward, being rewarded with a point-blank shot to the pirate wielding the autolaser, the spike drilling into the pirate’s brain and killing him instantly. The sniping pirate, recovering from the grenade, dimly saw the Volomi before a shot from Trivors, still a short ways back, ended his life too. Slora, naturally more of an athlete than most of her brethren, also managed to reach the platform, firing a few rounds into the pirates behind the door, wounding but not killing one of them.

The Hover Shiv and Terra accounted for this, however, both armored troops moving forward in the confusion, going into the labs for flanking shots. Both took hits, but neither suffered debilitating damage. Terra ripped apart the uninjured pirate with all four of his plasma pistols, and HS-2 locked onto the other with its sentry gun. The man shouted something before being riddled with bullets, however. “B-Boss, help!”

As the others followed into the room, the Volomi being closest, they came upon the scene of a firefight in the direction of where the Triad had called out. Six Sectoids were hunkered behind lab equipment, occasionally firing to keep their enemies from advancing. Those enemies included three winged combat droids, grounded and hunkered down as well to avoid being hit by plasma pistol fire, as well as a Replitan and Triad with special markings on his armor.

The gangster and space pirate turned to the direction of the fresh noise, narrowing his eyes. “Great, more company. Just what we needed…” He nodded to his Replitan associate. “Guess you’re going to have to blow the grenades.”

The snakeman grinned, popping two plasma grenades and tossing them at the Sectoids. “Was hoping to save these, but!” he shouted as they detonated, destryoing the cover of the survivors and enabling the three androids to pick off the same number of them, the other three giving up on defense and simply hiding behind a mostly intact cloning capsule.

The Triad leader noted the XSDF forces using their time to move into position to try to protect the last three Sectoids. “Alright then,” he muttered, activating his jets and taking aim with his gauss rifle. “You’ve probably taken out the others, but can you handle this, I wonder? Zhanshi!” he proclaimed, his words followed by a gathering of orange energy that solidified into a seven and a half foot tall Reflection, clad in what looked like bronze armor from the Shang era, though its brass knuckles gave it a more mixed look between the old and the new.

 

[Taxor_the_First]

Taxor the First and DarkGemini24601:

“Operation Disruptive Influence, Part 3”
Bovomum Science Lab

Samantha cursed as the Reflection solidified, seeing an easy victory slip away before her eyes. “We’ve got numbers, but they’ve got strength. I don’t think any of us want to be struck by those fists…”

“Soon, Urilio,” Kearichi whispered, before turning to the team leader. “Do you have a plan?”

“Working on it,” she replied, eyes darting over the various aspects of the room, familiarizing herself with them as the last vestiges of orange glow poured into the Reflection’s form. To her dismay, there wasn’t much of use. No experimental weapons lying around, no prototype mining charges. That almost certainly left the environment out as tactically useful.

The Huntress did a mental tally. Her squad was healthy, but exerted. They had two units that were capable of buffing themselves temporarily. They had a MEC and a SHIV. Most of their equipment remained unused, which meant a few grenades were still available. If the Reflection was as strong as it looked, however, none of them would survive a concerted battering, with the probable exception of Terra. The person using the Reflection had some kind of flying armor, which would make him difficult to take out. Then there was the naturally flexible and agile Replitan to consider. Three civilians to protect.

‘Zhanshi’ brought its fists together, and the Huntress made her decision. “We play it defensively, they’ll just pick off the civvies. We can’t let that happen. Which means there’s only one way we’re succeeding today.” She stood up from behind cover and hoisted her Novagun, relying on her armor to take any reaction shots that actually hit her. “Terra, occupy that Reflection. The rest of you, hit ‘em hard!” she barked, unleashing a torrent of plasma towards the flying pirate and forcing him to dodge out of the way.

The Bajir MEC quickly scattered to the ceiling, unleashing a barrage of plasma from all four of its plasma pistols. The superheated gases force the Reflection to back up somewhat, and it seemed to stay close to the Triad psion, perhaps an indication of its limited range. “Kerzat, they’ll try to protect those Sectoids. Attack them to keep their forces busy!”

The Replitan nodded, leaping into the air to draw some fire while two of the flying droids joined him, sending a stream of laser fire down to bite through some of the equipment protecting the cowering civilians. The other two droids joined the Triad, escorting him as he chose to advance with them as mechanical shields if necessary. “I’ll leave the fighting to you, Jaw-long.”

The Triad nodded slightly, though he focused on his flight forward, dodging a shot from one of the XSDF troopers by a hair. His Reflection didn’t move as much, taking a glancing hit but not seeming hindered, following its master from below to shield him even further. “Let’s see how your morale does when you lose your leader,” he mumbled, singling out Samantha as his target.

Oh, how I regret complaining they weren’t targeting me before, she lamented mentally, hurling herself back behind cover while Gauss rounds slammed into the spot she’d just been standing in. Even with this armor, those rounds would pretty much tear right through. The ‘stand and take it’ method won’t work here. Her eyes darted around, checking on the positions of the team and civilians, only then noticing the encroaching Replitan and his entourage of drones. “I don’t care if you miss at this range,” she yelled, “but you still need to remind that lizard that coming over here’s a bad idea. Kearichi, a little help?”

“Human can’t even take care of themself,” the Volomi muttered, moving his sights to the pinned Heavy. “Urilio, Trivor, with me.” The group broke away from the others, turning their sights to the airborne pirate and his glowing guardian. Kearichi frowned, his mandibles turning downwards. “What exactly…?”

“Shoot the pirate for god’s sake!” Obediently, the Volomi ignored what they considered clearly the biggest threat, and focused fire on Jaw-Long, causing him to pause in his assault and giving Samantha a little breathing room. “C’mon, Terra,” she muttered, adding her own fire to the Volomi’s. “I’ve seen a MEC fight a Reflection before, and the MEC won. Smack him!”

Slora chittered triumphantly as a burst of her fire struck one of the drones, damaging its flight system and sending it plummeting to the ground. Her victory was short-lived, however, as the other two drones fought back, pelting her position with laser blasts. She shrieked as one such blast impacted the side of her head, thankfully protected by the half-helm of alloy plating. Seeing their charge taking an attack enraged her guards Yessander and Faros, causing them to recklessly lean out of cover and return fire. One drone fell to the barrage of Gauss, and the other suffered damage, but kept floating along behind the Replitan, who had made a lot of ground in a short amount of time.

A flurry of pulse lasers from Cosma’s rifle and Emmanuel’s stengun arrested the Replitan’s process, precluding the enemy from putting the alloy knife twirled in his left hand to good use. Instead, he decided to take a potshot at his enemies as they left themselves a little exposed to defend the civilians, behind shallow cover on the area overlooking the lab. His pulse heavy rifle blared, and Cynthia took a direct hit to her corsair armor, the single shot ripping through her armor and any extra endurance it provided her, causing her to wince in pain. “Gotcha. And for the finishing shot… the hell?”

Cynthia grinned despite a tear in her eye, rolling forward into the laboratory and slipping underneath a table in one fluid motion, an alloy shard flying out from below it. The projectile hit the railing instead of the Replitan, though the burst of shards did pelt his armor and distract him. “Wore the lighter armor for a reason, asshole… though engineering’s going to hate me now,” Rameriz muttered as she looked over her sparking and very much wrecked protection.

“Trivor!” Slora yelled. “The Replitan!” Understanding immediately, Trivor ceased suppressing the flying pirate and snapped his aim to Kerzat, still recovering from the burst of shrapnel.

“You remind me of the Jaxil we used to have for lunch,” Trivor muttered before firing a burst of Gauss directly at the Replitan’s skull, most of which hit home. “The head was useless to eat on them too.”

Jaw-long grimaced as he saw his ally decimated, but shook his head. “You made a mistake in focusing on him… Zhanshi, you know what to do!”

The Reflection’s lower jaw shifted into a grin, and it raised its hands, still about 5 meters away from Samantha. There was a slight grind of metal, and the rended bullets the Triad had fired earlier were lifted by telekinetic force and shot at her back, hitting with twice the strength of a conventional bullet, not penetrating the armor but leaving dents. The other hand was used to launch what seemed like a ghostly trail of bones, striking into Trivor’s head with the full force of a psi panic.

As for Yam Jaw-long himself, he put away his rifle to fire with a gauss pistol in one hand, and create a small, ‘dust devil’ rift behind Samantha, intent on pushing her into the physical range of Zhanshi. She exclaimed in alarm as the rift pulled at her, causing her to stumble away from whatever semblance of cover she had left and right into the path of the oncoming Reflection. It looked at her expectantly, even letting out what could be interpreted as a chuckle, before slamming its brass knuckles along with its fist into the squad leader.

Yam smiled in satisfaction. “If you think that armor will protect you from the shock of that blow, you’re mistaken indeed.”

Just before the fist impacted, however, a flash of blue-green shone through Samantha’s visor where her eyes would be, and a shell of light blue, fitting her outline, enveloped her. The punch struck the shell, sending ripples through it, but not cracking it. With a smile only she knew was there, she moved with the blow, using it to move the direction she was facing towards the flying pirate. “Urilio, now!” she yelled, unleashing another torrent of plasma at her foe, trying to ignore the Reflection next to her.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Taxor the First and DarkGemini24601:
“Operation Disruptive Influence, Part 4”
Bovomum Science Lab

Jaw-long certainly seemed surprised, and his slow Reflection couldn’t move to defend him in time. The plasma tore through his armor, searing his flesh and making him scream in pain. His Reflection seemed to suffer for a moment as well, but only for that short time. With an expression of unbridled rage, it resumed its attack, drawing its right fist back before slamming it into Samantha with all its might. With the force of the anger behind it, the blow this time succeeded in breaking her defences, shattering the shell and sending her careening backwards into a cluster of scientific devices and beakers.

Using the distraction, Urilio vaulted over his cover, discarding his weapon in the process. “You will refer to me as ‘your majesty’ in the future,” he yelled, his voice echoing oddly. Red ‘fire’ burned from his eyes, and a few wisps of energy peeled off his body, a sign that he was finally acting his role of Vessel. Drawing his hand up and slamming it down again quickly with a crimson afterimage, he brought Yaw-Long down from the sky with a ‘thunk’. Urilio’s mandibles twisted into a grin, and he began charging energy between his hands. “And you should make your peace in the seconds that remain to you.”

“You damn bug!” Yam screamed in denial, Zhanshi switching targets and rushing (with as much speed as it could muster) at Urilio to try to deliver a decisive blow to the unshielded foe. Noting the charging Reflection, the possessed Volomi pumped the last vestiges of necessary energy into the lance and fired it, being struck by the raging Zhanshi less than a second later. The attack did go through, though, the psi lance blasting through the now-unarmored Triad’s chest and sending his lifeless body against the ground. Zhanshi didn’t immediately disappear, but lost sight of any target whatsoever, crushing steel around it. It finally seemed to glance between Urilio and Samantha, trying to decide on something, but crumbled into dust and shards of energy before it made its decision.

Rising from the pile of debris she’d created on impact, Samantha whipped off her helmet, grinning ear to ear. “I think that’s all of ‘em,” she said, as the rest of the team rose from behind cover. Urilio shook his head and rubbed his neck, the glow now gone, and winced when he tried to support himself with his left forearm.

“Might need to have that looked at,” he muttered to himself.

Samantha turned to the three Sectoids still cowering behind an overturned table. “You can come out now. They’re dead.”

The Sectoids slowly crawled out from the rubble and looked around almost unsure of if that was the case. Y-You aren’t Replitans or Balmadaar, clearly. I recognize the ‘humans’ that were encountered just a few hours ago, the ones that attacked us… t-though you are obviously not allied with them. But I’ve never seen an insectoid race such as your companions before. The head Sectoid blinked, seeing that he was probably being rude. My apologies. My name is Tee, I am an assistant to this ship’s captain. You aren’t… from the Ethereal Empire, are you? Nor pirates, by indication of what just happened. Some… unknown faction?

“Unknown only if you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of decades,” the Huntress replied, watching Slora move over to the recovering Trivors. “We’re from the XSDF. Human interstellar military. If there’s a question as to our loyalty…” she gestured to the decimated pirate forces. “... we fight pirates. Anyone else who threatens us too, but mainly pirates. Lucky for you, you don’t seem to be pirates.”

N-Not at all. We are… ahem, outcasts from our empire, for reasons that aren’t a concern. It surprises me that the Ethereal Empire would not have overtaken a faction such as yours… you do have impressive technology, but surely they would have discovered you and… unless… that data did mention have an “X” in it… were… were you the ones that defeated Thantos'Mictlanmacaria?

“Not us personally, and that was a few years back,” Samantha explained. “He and his little army tried to take us over. We repelled them until he showed up to direct things personally, then our best defeated him.” She shrugged. “But that was… over twenty years ago now. Ages. Now, the Ethereals are a bit more friendly and less tyrannical.”

Tee blinked. The Ethereal Empire was defeated? Then… perhaps our exile is at an end… I suppose we won’t have to worry about plan A after all…

Samantha blinked. “P-plan A?” she asked, a little quietly.

We were… attempting to use our medical expertise with the only faction we believed outside of the Ethereal’s grasp… though they seemed to think it better to raid us for supplies, and did not take kindly to the species of our captain.

“For a moment, I was worried you were going to start yabbering about a kamikaze run, or a bomb,” the Huntress muttered. Louder, she said “Why would they take offence to the species of your captain? Is this not a purely Sectoid ship?”

Aside from most of the guards you saw in the hangar, which have perished, our captain is… well…

An Ethereal. Though, judging by what I’ve heard, it seems that even if we lost we are not exactly hated by your faction. A female Humiliata stood on the other side of the laboratory, having come from the bridge area. Her attire did seem very out of date, more at home with what her race had worn before the Ethereal Subjugation War ended, but more odd than that was that her form was not withered and fragile, but rather a healthy composition. Her smooth, dark skin was something practically unknown among the race these days.

The Volomi, seeing the Ethereal enter, all straightened and readied themselves, seemingly believing her to be hostile. Samantha waved a hand and, reluctantly, they lowered their half-raised weaponry. Kearichi kept his hand close to his side, however, hovering over his personal handgun. “You’re right,” Samantha said, “You’re among friends here, even if some of us still hold old grudges. Had we met twenty years ago, I would have shot you on sight. But… I’ve changed my views a bit since then. So has the rest of humanity.” She smiled. “You may consider yourselves rescued.”

It would probably be wise if you shortened your name… this is not the best time to be making them aware of who your grandfather is, Tee warned his captain silently.

The Ethereal bowed slightly. And I am grateful you came when you did. It was… perhaps foolish of me to think I could actually talk to space pirates. In return for your gracious help, I will, of course, give you a similar offer. I can be of use as a doctor with the knowledge I have, and my biokinetic abilities. My name is Volupta, and my associate has already made his name known.

“You wanna join the army, you’ll have to ask the Commander,” Samantha said. “Just… don’t get lippy with her. She doesn’t take well to, uh…” She hesitated, aware that everything going on was likely being recorded by her suit cam, assuming it hadn’t been irreparably damaged in the fight. “... insubordination,” she finished lamely.

Volupta tilted her head slightly. I will… keep that in mind then. I have nothing but respect for you, after all. I could not have fought them off on my own.

“Flattering,” Kearichi growled, “But this ship isn’t exactly in a great condition. I would suggest you grab your personal belongings, and we can get out of here.”

Volupta looked around for a moment, and then moved to follow, walking rather than floating. There isn’t much I’d like to remember about this junkheap anyway. We’ll take what we need in a few minutes and go.

With a glare at the Volomi guard, Samantha nodded. “That’s fine, take your time. We’ll be waiting in the hangar.” Beckoning her squad to follow, she exited, followed by the motley crew of humans, insects and rolling turret.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

<Abduction Craft>
Class L planet Sirius B 4
Feb. 15th, 1300 Hours (Earth Standard Time)

I... what do you mean, dead?

Volupta'Aergianmacaria looked up from her computer for a moment. I thought I cloned you from my brightest DNA strand, Tee... before it degraded. Please tell me I don't have to explain the concept of death to you.

Of course not, Mistress, but... Tee rubbed his head, his expression as close to one of confusion as a Sectoid could get. But... he can't be dead. He...

Everyone dies, Tee. Even the Ethereals. Even...

But... but an Ethereal of... of Thantos'Mictlanmacaria's status... of his power. Unless his strength dropped significantly since you came here...

Volupta sighed. She pushed away from her computer, and removed her helmet so she could rub her temples. Listen, Tee... I don't know what to tell you. I have gone over the files from that crashed Ethereal fighter over and over again...

But are you sure you are readying it right? asked the perpetually nervous Sectoid. The files were so damaged, I am surprised you could recover any of them.

Volupta slowly turned the screen with a lower arm while she continued to rub her temples with her upper hands. It looks that way. Here, see? It refers to Thantos being in a huge fight in orbit around some planet called... Eart... strange name... And here... it says his mask was possession of something called an Atka.

Tee slowly looked over the files. Well... perhaps they simply obtained his helmet... as an insult.

Volupta let out a shrill laugh that echoed as she put her helmet back on. Come now, Tee. You and I know the only way my grandfather would give up his helmet is if he was dead.

As she stood up, stepping out of her room to make sure the preparations were going as planned, Tee quickly followed after. But... but Mistress...

But, but, but. You know if you worked for any other Ethereal, they would have had your head for questioning them so much?

Tee folded his arms. I only question out of concern for you safety.

And your own.

Yes. And my own. What if this is a trap?

To what end? Volupta waved her left arms towards the window, the vast frozen planet seen beyond. I have secluded myself on the planet for over 3.2 cycles. It is a miracle the ship survived the decent through that electrified ionosphere, and it'll take everything it has to survive the trip out. None off the other ships that have been foolish enough to try and land here have survived, and if that information was fake, they would have made it easier to reconstruct.

Tee looked as though he was searching for more to caution Volupta about, but he finally hung his head in defeat. So... you are set on this course?

Yes. Volupta looked around her ship, a mishmash of several other ship parts, salvaged from the crashes she and her team found since coming to this ice ball. That is... assuming we can make it out.

Tee's eyes lit up, seeing an out. However, as Volupta continued to scan the ship in worry, he found he couldn't take it. It... it will make it, Mistress. Leave that to us.

Volupta nodded, smiling behind her mask. Thank you, Tee, she said, gently placing her hand on the Sectoid's head.

As the pair stepped on to the bridge, Tee asked, What will you do? Will you... return to Aethereum?

Volupta chuckled. Of course not. Even if I had any wish to return to my people, I can not take the risk that I would be executed on the spot.

It has been seventeen cycles, Mistress.

And it was only three cycles ago that they murdered my love. I will find something else.

The Sectoid rubbed his head. Um... alright. What?

Volupta tapped the side of her helmet in thought. Piracy?

Piracy!? Tee looked around the bridge, at the odd combination of different computers and small crew of Sectoids. We are not equipped.

Perhaps another pirate group would like our services. Noting the odd look her companion was giving her, Volupta folded her arms. Look, it isn't ideal. I don't enjoy being an outlaw, but unless the entire Ethereal empire was somehow defeated, I have no other choice! It is all I am qualified for...

Tee shrugged. Well... that, or a doctor. Perhaps... we could find a pirate faction in need of a skilled doctor.

Now you're thinking. Volupta excitedly hit the speakers. Alright, everyone. Finish up. We leave as soon as we're ready! She sat in her chair, folding her hands and closing her eyes. Indeed, her decision wasn't ideal. But after so long trapped in this planet, she'd give just about anything to leave and rejoin the rest of the universe once more.