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you_are_not_cleared_for_takeoff
Title “You Are Not Cleared for Takeoff
Storyline Tangled Epiphyte
IC date 2211-09-14
Location Epiphyte, Lopanga Confederacy, Annyrion
Summary Civilians or no, the 7W attempts to take back control of the air
Characters Ichiko, Jericho, Orion, Pandora, Zhenya

An Uncia transport descends from the sky, breaching the Epiphyte perimeter before firing reverse directional thrusters. Heat and air blast away from the sand littered, concrete landing pad. Unlike the rest of the city, the landing pad is still bustling with people either leaving or entering the city. Cargo crates and boxes are stacked for transit as pilots continue to try and make a living by trading with Epiphyte. Despite the riots and takeover by the new 'Mayor' Sethos, the city is still producing food for its inhabitants. It's perhaps surprising the new dictator would allow such a thing to continue, as it could be such a huge security risk. Despite this, some measures have been put forward. As the Uncia transport lands, a small squadron of three or four combat androids line up to escort people and goods off of the aircraft. Even as the pilots and assistants aboard the transport are disconcerted by this notion. Elsewhere on the landing pad, a merchant's cargo is stripped open by five or six combat androids probably looking for contraband or dangerous items. Being suspicious is the number one reason of getting searched, now. At least another twenty combat androids have station around or at the landing pad itself. Out of the 20-30 combat androids on the landing pad, at least six appear to 'commander' androids, as denoted by their yellow and red chassis stripes and secondary markings.

Zinn sits watching the activity from a safe distance, her tailtip swishing idly.

In a nearby sewer…Jericho is giving an inspiring speech perhaps. The truth is that isn't very likely, the otter is dressed to the nines in combat gear as he looks up at the grate above then looks to Zhenya first, “Y'bring ah packages? Think we're gettin' the order t'move soon..” two other 7W members fill out his small little squad, a wolf and a rat.

A produce delivery van pulls into an alleyway between shops, just across from the hub of activity in the landing strip. A service bot exits the back, in preparation for shipments, etc.

From outside all the hustle and bustle of the transport making it's landing a female recom, a bit taller than average but not too tall, slowly wanders into the landing strip area from the north. It's hard to tell what she is at first glance due to the dark green shawl draped over her shoulders and wrapped around her head, leaving nothing to see of her face but deep golden eyes. A long black tail lazily hangs out from underneath the bottom of the patterned green kimono she bares.

The Seventh Wave wolf that fills out Jericho's squad is named Jed. His fine, straight, lavender hair is worn in a style that likely reminds others of a peacock's tail. Unlike Jericho, he wears mostly white with all kinds of belts and pouches. The wolf is a combat medic, and a damn fine one at that.

The rat beside of him is Chips. She earned that nickname for her skill when the chips come down. When she's needed, she comes through. Right now, though? Chips is awfully distracted with something on her boot.

Orion is settled behind a dune, about a mile away off in the desert. He breathes a sigh, pulls a sand-patterned thermal cover over himself and inches up to the top of the dune. He looks through an electronic scope at the landing strip activities and speaks into his commset. “It's awfully quiet… where's that spotter I was told would be with me?” He reaches down to pull his long rifle closer, taking some comfort that it hasn't slipped and rolled down the dune while he wasn't holding it.

Zhenya mms? as she snorts awake from her postion leaning against the wall, “Mm? Oh the party favors? Yeah got them all loaded up down the tunnel, waiting for a good home in someone's rectum.” She says with a nod to Jer, “Got any idea what we're up against?

Jericho shrugs his shoulders while giving an elaborate hand wave, “Robots. Looooooooooooots o'robots.” he smirks before looking upwards again as he brings his comm up, “Well, when're we lightin' the tires 'ere? Also wha' 'appened to Davis if 'e ain't with 'rion.”

The driver of the produce delivery van (red fox wearing a fedora) exits the vehicle, and proceeds towards the hangars at the landing strip.

The merchant getting his goods inspected begins to rage a bit as a glassware pot is shattered against the landing pad. The robot looks utterly unapologetic and lets the merchant on his way. Meanwhile, Jed looks to Jericho and then Zhenya. “Vot? Zo ve're ectually gon againsht dese guys?” Jed has always had a thick accent.

Zhenya says, “Thought that was the plan, any further details?”

Quitely, the female recom in the Kimono approaches the landing zone of the newly arrived ship. She stops next to one of the guard droids, no more than 5 feet to the left of it, and holds a hand up to her forhead to shade light as she looks at the ship.

The fox flashes credentials to one of the bots, pausing briefly there at the check point before disappearing into the south hangar.

“Ah' didn't promise you no rose garden,” snips Pan's caustic voice re: Orion over the com. What's everyone's positions?” She asks from wherever her vantage point might be…

The bot clears the fox, allowing them passage to the south of hangar. Out of the Uncia transport ship strides a few citizens looking to do business in Epiphyte. The city is always moving, even when controlled by death robots.

Jed speaks back into the coms, “Vit Jericho. Thiz isn't a rose garden, it's a shtraight-right mess, it iz.” The rat, Chips doesn't say anything over the comms. Jericho will probably handle it.

Orion's reply mocks Pandora's tone: “Rose garden or not, I was expecting the thorns anyway.” In a more businesslike manner he says, “I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. Not giving that up over the airwaves if I'm out here alone. I'm seeing a lot of civilians on the strip…”

Zhenya glances at Jericho, “So what's the specific target we're after? Just all the bots or what?”

“Well, take the strip an' get ah ships out was las' I 'eard, unless we try an' make a stan' outta this place an' move on. Though eight again' 'undreds of the damn things seems like a bad trade off.” the otter replies as he looks to Jed with a smirk, “Wha' y'wan' us t'keel ova' withou' so much as a squeek?” he looks to Chips, “No 'fense.” he then raises up his com again to reply, “Ain' no time t'be word slingin when there's gunslingin' t'be 'ad. We're waitin' in place fer now, jus' need the good wor'.”

“Roger. If things look clear, Jer, you take the group and get down into the north line and take the back way to the hangar just like ah' showed ya. Orion, hold off for now. Pan speaks over the com…

Jed crosses his arms, “Hy be here for hyu guys. No vun's gon to keel over vile Hy'm here.” Chips just raises her hand dismissively as if to say, 'Whatever. No problem.'

After staring at the newly arrived ship, the cloaked woman slowly begins to unwrap the fabric from around her head until the top is completely exposed. Her mouth is still hidden, but now the vibrant gold and black colorings of her hair and face show themselves to the world. A long golden-orange ponytail falls out of the layers of the shawl, swinging and stopping right below her rear.

Orion snorts over the com. “Alright. Not like I'm going anywhere…” The sight of this woman's hair distracts him for a moment. Now /that/ is some hair…

“Roga' tha'.” he then looks to his small crew and indicates further down the tunnel, “Haul yer shi' an' let's get hustlin' we gotta appoin'men' t'keep ya?” he picks up the nearest satchel bag and starts to lead the way at a weighted jog.

Four of the guards on the landing strip gather to begin patrolling the vicinity of the landing area. Such is the normal procedure for the robots. In particular, one android by the shuttle watches the cloaked woman with a pair of eyes to insure nothing hostile happens.

Jed and Chips follows up behind Jericho. Chips lulls a bit behind, while Jed keeps right up and close with the group.

Zhenya slings her pack to her back when it looks like there's about to be some movement, starting after Jericho in a quick trot, munching on an energy bar as she goes.

The female's long tail swishes back and forth a couple of seconds before lightly thwacking the ground behind her a few times.

“As soon as ya'll get there, Jer, board and power on.” Pan instructs. “Jer, ah' got Bonzo wired to Darkgift in orbit, standin' by. Once you get up there, you take my ship.”

The produce delivery van's ignition turns on…. The van slowly rolls out of its parking space, turning onto Landing street.

“Ah'll take good care of 'er.” is Jericho's reply as he jogs along then looks up finally once he reaches the correct grate and looks upwards, he then hands off his satchel to Chips before he climbs up the ladder to move the grate aside to peek to see if he has any uninvited guests waiting.

Orion puts some effort into setting up his rifle during radio silence, just in case. At this range with targets made of metal and wires, he's accompanied by a .50 caliber anti-material rifle. While rather large and unwieldy for carrying around, it's rather good at sitting atop the dune in front of him underneath his sand cover.

Chips takes the satchel and looks up to Jericho. Beyond the grate is – a produce truck! Oh god, better duck!

The woman with the kimono looks to the side, at the robot standing just a few feet away from her. She takes a step or two towards it, now only an arm's length away from the mechanical guard.

Zhenya waits patiently behind Chips, waiting for the all clear to head up

Jericho let's out quite a curse! as he ducks underneath the produce truck…then peeks back upwards to see what there is to be seen while still cursing softly.

Some dust sprinkles Jed, Chips, Zhenya and Jericho as the produce truck passes over them. Chips just waves the dust away before looking boredly at Zhenya, “How can you eat down here?” Above Jericho, the coast is essentially clear. A small patrol of robots has just passed by. If not for the truck, they would have seen you.

The guard next to Ichiko announces in a blaring voice, “PLEASE STEP AWAY FROM THIS UNIT. FURTHER TRANSGRESSIONS WILL BE PERCEIVED AS INTENTIONAL HOSTILITIES.” It means serious business.

Zhenya snerks at Chips, “I grew up in worse shit than this, I'm hungry NOW, so I eat now.” She says with a little glare at her

The van suddenly accelerates… It seems to be heading right for main convoy of bots in the middle of the landing strip.

Orion asks in his headset, “Did somebody order a fruit basket?”

Above Jericho, someone lifts the grate. “Shouldn't you children be at school?” The fox says very tongue-in-cheek. He tips his hat with one hand, and seems to be holding a well-configured smartphone with the other.

The woman's ears turn back a little, and her tail thumps a few times at the ground. She mutters, “Odd…” to herself then takes a step away from the bot, but no further.

Jericho let's go a long breath before he nods and hauls himself up fully, “Well figured we coul' be fashionably late fer once.” he then hunkers himself down to offer a hand up for the rest of the gear and the people after him.

“I suggest you hurry moving your ships like your captain says while I provide the other festivities.” Says the fox, tapping away at the touchscreen. He's effectively concealed from view, standing behind some cargo crates.

The patrol of robots immediately begin to scatter as the produce truck begins accelerating towards the center of the landing strip. Chips hands Jericho the gear before following Zhenya to the surface. Jed covers rear.

Zhenya scrambles up after Jericho, hauling her rather hefty pack with her. She pulls a sidearm out, looking back and forth for targets that have spotted them, “Let's make some chaos”

Orion swivels his rifle–and its scope–towards the group emerging from the sewers to check on them. Or rather, towards the crates he knows the sewers are behind.

The fox sighs and shakes his head at Zhenya, tapping away. The van has suddenly come to a stop.

Pan via com: Um, confirm, fruit delivery? Come on, where are ya'll with our ships. MOVE it.

The van's security alarm goes off! The horn honks repeatedly.

The female's pupils dialate when she realizes what's about to happen. Calmly, she lets her shoulder bag slide down and puts her hand into it. She pulls it back out after a few seconds, but it's hidden in the long kimono sleeve so it's hard to tell if she actually removed anything.

Quickly the robots begin to regroup. Some of the guards are joining the patrol to begin securing a perimeter around the fruit truck, including the guard near Ichiko.

Orion comments over his commset, “This fruit van just took off on its own–that wasn't in the plans I heard. Standing by for cover. Please advise.” He sets the bolt on his rifle.

Jericho eyes the fox for a good moment then just tugs on Zhenya's sleeve, “Change ah plans 'till furtha' notice!” he's jogging for the door leading into the hangar as he calls over the com, “Workin' on it.” once in the hangar he's making a beeline for the Dark Gift even as he flags for the others in his little band to follow.

Zinn looks up, perking her ears at some commotion. Then yawns again, figuring it's nothing important. She stretches felinely.

Zhenya quickly heads after Jericho, nodding at his lead, “Let me know when and where you might need something planted” she growls quietly

Jed scrambles after Jericho. Chips just sort of strolls casually while keeping low. Now Chips is covering the rear.

The robots require no vocal or physical signals to perform tactics. Immediately three forths of the robots begin to rapidly withdraw from the landing pad. Five of the remaining androids quickly begin to approach the truck. Two of the five move to /rip/ the doors off the back, two others cover the sides, while the last android moves to inspect the cab of the produce truck. Two of the androids not tearing the truck apart begin to gather a couple passengers to keep near the truck. No more people are allowed to leave the Uncia shuttle.

Now that the guard next to her has taken off, the woman quickly but quietly gets behind the closest thing large enough to hide her. In this case, it's a small stack of shipping crates.

The truck detonates…. A wave of fire shoots out in all directions!

Zinn yowws, and scrambles for cover!

Jericho's running gets a hop to it as the shockwave ripples through, the otter shouts over the din, “Find a vessel an' get 'er up if y'can. Atleas' power 'em on so we can get 'em in the air. Spread ou'!” he's got his target though and arrows on in and through the hatch to do what he just described.

Orion sweeps his scope along, following the running group and watching for potential threats.

Zhenya darts to the next ship over by Jericho's, murmuring to herself as she dashes to the bridge to begin the power up of the craft.

The truck sends the seven androids flying. Concrete cracks outwards from the explosion while fire and acrid smoke blow over the landing pad. A lot of cargo seems to have taken damage from that explosion, and worse, there's now blood on the landing pad from the recoms caught in the explosion. The androids nearest to the truck don't get up, but three of them do, singed by fire and maybe missing an arm, but they are still functional. The androids that left the landing pad now rush back.

Jed and Chips team together, because Chips is the one that knows how to operate ships. They both take the ship on the opposite side of Jericho's. Time to move. Jed talks over the comm, “Vot vas dot?! Deed someting jusht explode?”

Zhenya cackles a little bit over the comm, “That was some high grade explosives, my compliments to whoever built that charge.” She calls out as she fusses with the power and finally gets the ship working, though she's at a loss on how to pilot it

The female behind the crates rolls to the side as the shockwave of the explosion sends a few of the small crates tumbling to the ground. Fortunate enough for her, she was far away enough from the blast to not get burnt and the crates took care of most of the shrapnel. She keeps the fabric from the shawl over her mouth to help avoid breathing any smoke blowing in her direction.

Orion says into his commset as the group dissapears from view, watching the entryways they went through, “I think you're clear–somebody talk to me!”

“Readin' ya loud 'n clear. Pan says over the com. “Where are mah' ships, boys?”

“We're gettin' up, 'ave Bonzo patch into the ones tha' we can't fly righ' now.” this is said as the first ship clears the hangar doors with the whine of the engines obscured beneath the steady roar of the flames. Jericho's voice then patches over, ”'ow's everyone..?”

Zhenya clicks on the comm to Jericho, “I've got Half Pint powered up, but dammed if I know how to fly it, so I hope your eyes in the sky will do the job for me”

Jed speaks over the coms, “Chips iz riggink op de ship now, Boss!” Just like that, the ship next to Jericho's fires right up.

The landing port is resecured in a matter of minutes by a swarm of twenty combat androids. Some of them begin re-organizing cargo and identifying hurt or deceased recoms while another small group tear open the Uncia transport ship to release /most/ of the passengers. Though a few of them are held behind due to one reason or another. The passengers that are released, of course, flee. The three damaged androids begin to retreat back into the city.

Assuming the right vessels get key linked in Jer's getting his ship ready to move out as he notes someone duck into the hangar. The otter keys over the comms, “Ready 'em up and get 'em out boys and gals.” to his band as he spends the time to start transmitting to what ships the four of them couldnt reach to get those powered on as well remotely if at all possible. The outer coms then flicker on, “Who's crazy enough t'go duckin' into a 'angar at this poin'?” this is of course aimed at Ichiko…presumably.

Meanwhile, the fox has powered up his hybrid air-car… As it speeds towards the exit, he's careful to not run over Ichiko if she's still there?

The woman quickly throws some of the fabric of her shawl back over her head while she has the chance, though her long braided ponytail remains out as it would take too long to wrap up properly. She runs over to the ship calling out to her and knocks on the hull near the hatch as hard as she can, hoping somebody might open it. She stands in a way that she can look out the hanger to spot any droids that might come in, her right hand now partially exposed. A small thumb trigger is wrapped around onto her hand, but the device it's hooked onto is still conceiled.

The hatch opens! Dun dun duuuuuhn. The otter would be waiting inside atleast with his revolver out incase this might be a TARP. At the very least he's going to be asking questions like, who are you, why are you here, why are you trying to escape! How momentous.

Orion keeps his rifle out and ready, watching silently for robots putting anyone in danger.

Some people are in danger, yet not immediate danger. The few held behind from the Uncia transport are still in quarantine with three or four androids. Only two androids are wandering around and doing damage analysis at this point while the rest of them continue to try and secure the area. No bots are near the hangar at the moment.

The woman side steps through the hatch, keeping her eyes on the hangar door until she's on the ship. She slams a palm onto the button to shut the door and turns around, almost running right into Jericho.

Jed speaks up on the comms, “Vot's der problem, bozz? Whoz da gurl?”

A familiar voice floats over the 7w comms (jerichos), “We're up up an away boys, I gotta stow away, dun' worry bou' it none…yet.” the vessels are starting to hit the runway and at a bit of speed to encourage quick take offs and less bullet holes in said vessels. The otter is still stuck with Ichiko though as he tips his brows up, “Can I trus' you not to go doin' somethin' stupid on both ah' accoun's?” he asks of Ichiko even as he starts to head back towards the cockpit.

The woman's tail sways curiously when the otter addresses her. She leaves the shawl over her face, though she figures he's probably already seen it. In case he hasn't, though, it's always better to play it safe. “I know what it's like t' have anythin' and everythin' go wrong at th' same time on a ship. I won't mess wit' anythin'.”

Jed begins to line up his vessel as well while Chips works on keeping the engineering parts of the ship okay. As Jericho's ship hits the runway, the robots quickly begin to scatter and open fire on the metal craft. One of the people quarantined is then separated from the group as an android drags them towards the runway with its hand at their head. It blares over all comm channels, “YOU ARE NOT CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF. TURN OFF YOUR ENGINES NOW.” Kind of a moot threat when everything is trying to fill your ship full of holes.

Zhenya growls over the com, “Damn things are using hostages Jer, we got anything that can take them out? Or get off the ground before they can get onto the runway?

The woman makes a quick turn around and slams the button to open up the airlock door. She lays down on the floor and pulls the sleeve of her kimono back, revealing a wrist-mounted shock pistol. After tweaking it a little bit, she proceedes to fire it at some of the droids around the ship.

“We got one betta'…Orion, can you..?” he flops into his jump seat as he eyes the woman suspiciously for a brief moment as he asides off the com, “Well then welcome to 7W for a day ma'am.” the engines at that point are being ramped up as he rolls off onto the strip and shouts, “Get back in ship an' sit down!”

Orion is quick to focus his aim on the robot holding the hostage. Knowing that the ships will not stop, he elects to buy the hostage at least a few seconds if not a lifetime. With such a large caliber, he doesn't need to be very accurate–but he only has one shot before he has to work the bolt. The report of the rifle can't easily be located at such a distance, but the impact of the bullet is surely noticeable. The fox yanks on the bolt to chamber the next round and checks through his scope again.

The crackling and hissing from the pistol is not quite enough to reach any of the androids. However, Orion's shot hits home and blasts a large chunk of the android's torso away, sending circuits, metal, and acid all over the ground. The hostage screams and the robot limps a little bit. After a pause, the android opens fire on the hostage, but utterly misses, before falling to the ground with little more worth than a heap of junk. The hostage flees to get out of the way of the incoming ship. The other androids in the area take this as a hint and cease fire. The immediate lack of gunfire is perhaps a little disturbing.

Seeming to ignore the intercom, the woman continues to lay on the floor of the airlock, shooting at droids. The clip empties, so she takes a couple seconds to reload before firing more shots. The speed gets a little too hard to aim with, so she slams the 'close' button once again and heads towards the cockpit of the ship.

Orion moves his scope around to look for other targets, saying into his com: “Target down. Where's my evac?”

The otter was never the best at pushing a ship to its limits but he does know a lot about control being a part of maintenance. He VTOLs his particular ship up and then the large vessel makes its way to land in the valley between dunes near Orion, which is made easy considering the dire lack of fire being leveled their way which he expresses over the com, “The 'ell is goin' on with these things.”

It apparently takes a moment for them to switch weapon types because the next moment they are firing on Zhenya's and Jed's ships with some time of large anti-armor calibre weapons. The bullets punch some neat holes into Jed's ship as hydraulic smoke begins pouring out of the wing. Regardless, the ship still takes off.

Orion removes his second round from his gun's chamber in preparation for stowing it by ejecting it through the barrel at the most important looking android he can find. With that, he picks up his gear and runs for Jericho's ship.

Zhenya yelps at the large caliber rounds coming up towards towards their ships, darting around the cockpit to find some weapons stations. Those at least she's had a little experience using, and she figures she can lay some covering fire.

There are indeed turret weapons on Zhenya's ship! Jed's ship successfully takes off and begins circling around Jericho's ship. It's still smoking a little bit, but it appears to be okay. Jed hasn't called in, anyways. The robots now focus fire on Zhenya, determined to blow enough holes in the chassis to stop the ship before it takes off. The landing strip is an orchestra of gunfire reports.

Zhenya growls as she slips into the stations, focusing on the bots attacking her ship first. She's not exactly a good shot, but she hopes that enough debris being thrown up will throw off their aim enough for them all to get out of there more or less unscathed. “Any time you're ready captain” She calls out, voice cool with concentration

The ship hovers just long enough to get Orion on board as the hatch shuts after him, and with that the vessel is up up and away, likely with weaponry (hopefully sniping rather than blowing up large quadrants of the landing strip) blazing. The otter is rather concentrated on his task of flying as he replies over the comms, “Dont getcher panties in a bunch, we don't leave ah own be'ind!”

The woman on Jericho's ship finds her way to the bridge, looking at the viewscreens/windshield to see whats going on. Seeing the bots using higher powered weapons, she approaches Jericho from the side, “What guns do ya have onboard? Any? I'm going t' see if I can push 'em back a little bit.”

Fortunately, it doesn't take long for the weapons fire to cease after Zhenya becomes to return fire. The civilians that were once in quarantine are now dead, but the robots associated with the deed are no longer around to be found. A few of the androids are blown apart by the heavy weapons fire as debris and concrete fly up from the already heavily damaged landing pad.

Zhenya it seems isn't worrying quite as much about the holes in the landing strip, though she does try to keep to the edges. The rest of the tarmac though seems to be mostly fair game for craters, avoiding passenger ships and civilians as best she can.

Orion spends some time disassembling his rifle to make more room aboard the ship. “You sure as hell better not leave your own behind when you're picking up just anyone!” He eyes the unknown person aboard Jericho's ship.

Jericho eyes the woman for a moment then wiggles a finger to indicate for her to sit, “Sit down missy, ah appreciate the 'elp bu' don't want us doin' more damage than we've already done, lawd knows 'ow this is gonna be spun by time we get 'ome.” and once Orion gets up to the cockpit the otter gives a nod with a smirk, “Glad t'ave you aboar' at any rate.”

Zhenya sighs with relief when the ship she's on finally heads out of range of the heavier weapons. She settles back in the chair, sighing, “I gotta learn how to fly one of these days” she mutters to herself

The stranger lets out a sigh. She seems a little bit antsy, like her trigger finger is just itching to go to work. This isn't her ship and she's not in command so she obliges and takes a seat, studying the bridge and it's controls.

Chips speaks over the coms, “Jericho, our right wing is having a hydraulic leak. We'll need to land here soon, how about we get moving?” The comm crackles off.

Orion eyes the stranger skeptically. Once he has his rifle's barrel detached and the whole apparatus packed neatly, he checks his belt just to make sure his sidearm is still there. He stows the rifle and then straps into a seat. “I've had warmer welcomes, coming back to Epiphyte.” He focuses his odd-eyed gaze on the other passenger. “So tell me, what's your story? We can start with your name.” He squints a little.

“Ah think we're goin' up up an' away fer abit. We'll fix 'er when we get docked, you still got pressure there?” (meaning atmosphere) the otter does shoot the stranger another look though curiously and per his usual chummy personality he extends his right hand distractedly, “Jericho Otaria, pleasa' t'be makin' yer acquaintance missy.” he then focuses on flying while Orion does the grilling. Good cop bad cop? Who knows!, he also comms over, “Zhen, sorry y'didn't get to blow up much, 'ows 'alf pint treatin' ya?”

The woman narrows her eyes a little bit, still the only thing you can see of her face from under the wrappings of the shawl. “Before I can answer ya, I need t' know who ya are first,” She says to Orion, glancing at Jericho as he introduces himself, “I need to know who you're with…”

Zhenya flicks on the com again, “Doing okay, a couple paint scratches on the hull I think, and a dozen or more craters on the tarmac below. Some even have bots in them

Chips replies with a crackle, “We've got life support. We'll just shut off hydraulic pressure and switch to VTOL thrusters.” There's some kind of argument between Jed and Chips in the background before it crackles off again.

Orion says, “Making demands, after you just hopped on to our craft without knowing what it even was?” He unholsters his sidearm–an electronically-fired handgun–and levels it at the woman. “Forgive me for my suspicion, but you just boarded from a warzone without identification. Take that cover off your face. And drop your weapons.” His eyes flick once over the woman's form. “Both of them.”

Jericho indicates the patch on his shoulder as he gives the woman an almost incredulous look but he trusts the fox has things well in hand, “Seventh Wave ma'rm, y'must be new in town if y'dunno eitha' me or 'rion back there.” he does cue the comm though, “Jed, Chips, stop yer bellyachin', an' Zhen, good work t'day.”

Zhenya chuckles over the comm, “Just let me know when we're cracking the command center to those things, I'll split it like an egg, complete with gooey insides”

The woman's tail thumbs the ground a few times in an agitated manner. She unclips the gun from her wrist and puts it back into her bag, setting the bag on the ground behind her. She pulls part of the cloth back from her face, but only the top half. Her mouth remains covered. “This is as much of my face as you're getting right now. You can call me Lia.”

Orion lowers his gun and holsters it again. “One might assume someone unwilling to show their face is either famous, infamous or disfigured. And disfigured, you are not.” He comments as an aside to Jericho, “She has a second weapon in her bag.” He snorts at the stranger and continues. “So, Lia, since I'm not the paparazzi I'll have to assume you're wanted–but I wouldn't have known that if you'd have actually shown your face. What did you do?”

Jericho sets the autopilot on so he can turn to focus on the grillwork going on as he tips his brows up curiously now that he has an actual second to look at the 'guest'. He does wait though before speaking, Orion has seemed to have gotten the important questions out of the way.

Lia leers ar Orion, “S'not a matter of what I may or may not have done. Regardless of who ya are, th' good guys, the bad guys, neither…ya might come t' know who I am in time, ya might not. Though, yer captain here was kind enough t' lemme aboard, so some might say I owe ya the pleasure of m' face.” She hesitates at first, but removes the rest of the shawl from around her face.

Orion considers the face for a moment and then says simply, “Hmm.” He snorts again and then turns toward the front. “I don't see why that was such a big deal.” He keeps watch out of the corner of his eye, still suspicious but significantly more at ease with weapons stowed. “If you wanted to get out of Epiphyte, there were quieter methods by yourself.”

“Yea, a multitude of people gettin' the 'ell outta dodge lately, could've hopped aboar' any of those avenues. Bu' 'ell righ' place, righ' time I guess, can't go grudgin' luck such as it is.” he folds his paws behind his head as he looks up towards the ceiling as he mulls over the events of the raid.

Lia lets out a long breath, looking around the bridge some more. She folds her shawl up and places it into her bag. Keeping an eye on Orion, she reaches back for her ponytail with her left arm and winces, letting out a quiet simian-like screech. She tries to act like nothing's wrong and reaches with the right arm instead. After taking a tie out of the end she uses her tail and right hand to start picking apart the braid. “T' be honest, I wanted t' see what th' bots were capable of. A few day ago, I got close enough to 'em t' kiss them if I wished, and they d'in't move 'cept to look at me. Found m'self here today and figured a ship was th' best way outta th' action.”

Orion blinks a couple of times, then furrows his brow as he looks over at 'Lia'. “Well, I hope you're satisfied. Are you hit?”

Lia reaches back with her right arm to feel her left shoulder. She winces again and lets out a low growl. She stands up and turns around, revealing a small hole about the size of a pencil in her kimono with a small trace of blood on it. It wouldn't have been noticed so easily before with the layers of the shawl on top of it. “Well…my adrenaline's gone down. N'er even felt it really till just now. Dun even remember gettin' hit.”

Jericho blinks a touch at this revelation, “Well ah think we've got a med kit 'ere, though I know jack an' squat about it all even if my 'ands are steady.”

Lia reaches around to the wound with her right hand again. After feeling around the hole a little bit with her finger, she sticks the tip of her pinky into the hole. She lets out a simian howl and her left arm twitches. When she pulles the finger back out, blood starts to lightly trickle from the wound. “There's nothin' in there that I could feel. Coulda gone deep, though. Just need t' throw a dressin' on it an' it should be fine fer now…”

Orion remarks, “Well, we ain't got nothing on board here that I'm aware of. This ship wasn't prepped for sortie. Keep some cloth over it and if we still have a medic by the time we land, he'll take care of it.” With that, he settles back in his seat and stays quiet for the ride.

you_are_not_cleared_for_takeoff.txt · Last modified: 2011/09/14 21:02 by abiri