Into The Lion's Den

[Neri Kaioh]

Neri walked with her back completely straight, shoulders rolled back. She was proud of the plan they had come up with. It was solid as everyone had a job to do. It was no surprise that the last of the living queens was no where to be seen. It made no difference to her. They would come back in one piece as a success.

She entered into Chi's ship as she pulled her air into a high ponytail. She gave a nod to the others. She strapped herself in as she tapped her coms.

"Ready to brief you on the details when you are ready, sir."

[Jacob Marconi]

Jacob looked at Neri and nodded. He wanted this show on the road. He liked Nero’s efficiency and how she handled mission briefs and debriefs. He couldn’t complain. He had created a force that was self sufficient and operated independently of others.

“Begin the brief and get us moving. I’ve got confidence your plan is sound. I just want to hear it.”

He waited for her to begin and send off all of this because it seemed that everyone had gathered for the briefing. He sat patiently as he checked his weapons.

[Freya Aino]

Freya snickered at Natsumi. She liked the young woman well enough but her attention to what inflamed the grumpy commander was lacking. She was happy when it wasn’t a mass punishment but one that was directed at Natsumi alone. That was a nice change as she checked her weapon one last them then checked the setting on her sonic activator. The setting was right and she checked her spray cans. They were full and charged.

She covered her mouth as she gave grunt and tightened up her gear. It was rubbing a bit more than usual and that wouldn’t do for shipboard fighting. She checked her sidearm and found it was loaded. She smiled because she had been taking extra range time. Her boyfriend could outshoot her. That was horrible or good.

“Hey Alex can you pirouette in that?”

[Mizuki Tsukino]

Mizuki looked at the way the situation was handled and had a bit of a surprise when the pronouncement didn’t convey a punishment to all of those assembled. She merely raised an eyebrow as she let the bolt on her weapon slide home with the quiet metal latch that it gave because of the shape she kept it in.

“Neri...you’re up! Let’s get this plan laid out so we can ruin it with first contact.”

She laughed as she pulled her sidearm and checked it as well. That was a nice metal snap as she let the slide chamber s round and then saved it and holstered it. She was a realist and wanted to find out if her mettle was still as strong and wits still sharp as they were the last time.

[Alexandra Kino]

"It's a plain Jane grenade launcher. I'm using all high-explosive rounds with it. I'm not sure if it's the best idea considering where we're going, but it'll clear the corridors in a hurry." Alex replied to Freya's question through the voice grill of her helmet. Her voice was loud and clear with only a tiny hint of static screeching bursting through at the end of the last sentence. Ada would probably fix that in a singled frenzied night of work once they got back to the station. Ada was a perfectionist like that.

Alex then heard the next question Freya had. It was whether or not she could do a pirouette in the Cataphract Armor. Alex felt that she was being trolled, but the good-natured brunette answered anyway.

"I can, but I don't want to fall over with all this gear I'm lugging. A grenade launcher and ammo with a light machine gun with ammo is a heavy load." Alex replied to Freya. The only reason she could still carry it all in addition to wearing the Cataphract Armor was due to being the daughter of Sailor Jupiter. Without her inherited strength to make carrying the weight possible, Alex would be going nowhere in this heavy armor.

[Hayate Tenoh]

Hayate had received her marching orders from Captain Marconi himself. It was not be wise to keep the captain waiting.

"OK, taking off now. I'll take the lead." Hayate informed the captain. She then gently increased throttle and started to move forward, making certain to keep the Hayabusa level so that it did not scrape the floor or the ceiling as she moved forward. Once she was out of the hangar she maneuvered off to the side, hovered in place, and did one last check of all systems before taking the lead.

"So far, so good. Everything is clear." Hayate said to Captain Marconi as she looked around for signs of trouble. The flight plan that the captain had discussed was simple enough. She took the lead, the Black Swan was in the middle, and William brought up the rear. That was simple enough. Hayate waited for the Black Swan and for William to take off.

[Sakuya]

Sakuya grabbed the arms of her chair as the ship lifted off. She never liked takeoff and it made her want to throw up. Closing her eyes, she listened to the conversation around her “Keep talking! Don’t stop talking!” She spoke quickly as she felt the gravity weigh into her body.

Opening her eyes, she breathed in deeply. It was always better once they got into space. Once they trekked out into the unknown, it would be better. Looking around, she realized how geared up everyone was. Sakuya has her sniper rifle, dagger and that was it. Surely she could defend herself, but she was probably one of the least physically armed woman on this ship. “I want to try one of those grenade launchers sometime...” she pondered out loud.

[Tomoe Natsumi]

Natsume quietly put on her gear..and took her place.  She had always intended to put gear on, but at this point, there was no reason to argue it.  There was no way she was going to wear this everywhere she went, Commander or no Commander...but where they were about to go on a sensitive mission, there was no point in pushing the man more than he had already been.  They needed to keep their head.

However, after this, Natsume felt very out of place, like she didn't feel her role in the group on this mission - she was never quite a good fit for a military type of group, which this one by necessity had to be.   Her uniqueness as it were, was causing more trouble than helping at the moment.  Something she had experienced before with this man.

She resigned to making herself scarce for the remainder of the mission, out of sight and out of mind.  At least that way she wouldn't be drawing attention to herself negatively.   Perhaps her chance would come to prove herself during the mission.

[Ryuusei Fuushino]

Ryuusei was a bit surprised that he didn't get chewed out for his lateness, but managed to conceal it...Instead Natsume got the ass-chewing for coming aboard without any gear.

Now that she was geared up, he could tell she felt embarrassed by the whole thing and whispered to her. "Don't worry, you're not the only one who's not big on it." Motioning to himself, showing that he was wearing the bare minimum that would protect him while not hindering mobility.

It was then he heard the sliding of metal and turned to watch Mizuki put a round into her sidearm. "That's a cool lookin' gun!" And moved in for a closer look at h...errr, it!

[Neri Kaioh]

Neri sat close to the captain as he asked for the briefing. She worked hard to get all the details right as well as let others know what was happening, once again. Her hands pressed into her knees to soak up the sweat on her palms. She took in a deep breath as she started talking. It would by time for everyone to get into their position.

"Sir, after the distress signal was received, we planned accordingly for a trap. Information was verified that the system attacked had a group of rebels. More than likely, General Hai will be there, possibly others. We will follow a route that will allow us to blend into the background noise of space. We approach and dock on the main ship. The Tenohs will keep the fire off the main ship as the rest of the team rescues the captive. The group will split as one will go to the detention center and the interrogation. Two of the most likely places the target will be. Snatch up and head to the ship for a fast get away, sir."

She let out a breath as she finished. Everyone seemed to be on board as she waited for comments from the captain. It was mostly simple as they could not plan for every thing when many details are not there. This would allow them to change on the fly. She knew he would have questions.

[Chisana Usagi]

Chi heard the signal from the captain as she fell into what she was good at. Chisana no Jiyū was her ship and she knew it like the back of her hand. The others could fight, she was groomed to near perfection with flying. She often let the twins show off however they had nothing on her when things got heated. It might be the only time she let her confidence show.

"Buckle up." She called back as the engines low hum roared into life. She drew in the landing gear as she hovered in place. She knew that some hated this part. She did her best to lower the impact on them. She pushed the a shift forward as she let the ship glide out of the hanger with ease. She brought her ship right up behind Hayate's as she waited for William. They would move as a group as long as no one fell behind. Right now, the guns on the ship would be silent. She would have the best shots on them with the return trip.

[Jacob Marconi]

A simple plan rarely went wrong. He nodded and was standing as Chi took the ship out. He was used to this. He had at one point had Chi do her best to get him to strap in but it didn’t work. He looked at Neri.

“I trust you have thought of any variables that may come up? It is your plan and we will go with it.”

He didn’t say much beyond that. When they were in space he felt his boots rose off the deck plates for a moment before the antigravity kicked in. He loved missions and decided to ask a question.

“Alright what will you do if a Cygnarian happens to be on board?”

He always had questions and while he had good intel they didn’t bother with most things the draw of a powered being might be enough to pull one out of their hole to come and be troublesome.

“Mizuki you helped with the planning or was it all you Neri?”

He waited a moment and stepped over to Freya and pulled a strap tighter on her gear. After that he reached over and checked Natsumi’s weapon and nodded. He saw a loose strap on Ryuusei’s gear and tossed him a roll of electrical tape from his cargo pocket.

“Secure that.”

He was doing checks then flipped open the cylinder on his sidearm and snapped it close. It was smooth.

He looked at Alex. She looked a little weighted down. That was a given but that was life.

“You going to be able to hustle in the Alex if we need to or have one of the others rig it to blow if we have to dump it?”

He looked at Ada and noticed she had her field bag for medical. It looked stocked.

“Neri or Mizuki which medic is with which team?”

He looked at Sakuya and noted she had her rifle. He decided he best let them know he had better ideas but she would miss.

“You being a close quarters weapon Ghost?”

He motioned to the overhead storage and grabbed a shotgun down and held it out.

“Everyone might want one of those. It is shipboard combat.”

[Tomoe Natsumi]

Natsumi said nothing as he went by. She hated weapons, she hated having to use them. And while she knew sometimes people had to fight, she also knew that was not her forte. But now was not the time to dwell on such things.

She kept her peace...saying nothing..just looking out the nearby portal window, losing herself in the stars.

[Ryuusei Fuushino]

Without a word he took the electric tape and secured the strap.

He did give an answer when Jacob asked his hypothetical question. "Don't fuck with it unless it decides to shoot first." He remembered reading something in the Cygnarian's file about them not actively engaging in combat. This was gonna be hairy enough fighting in the ship; so avoiding a fight with one of THOSE freaks was preferable.

With that he took the shotgun that was offered; it was the only actual weapon he was carrying.

[Sakuya]

Sakuya have a look of shock. She was normally prepared for everything! She had everything listed out and marks check on her list. She forgot her close-range weapon. She had forgotten Matilda...

Looking up to Jacob, she tensed as she gently took the gun “Apologies, sir.” She spoke sternly as before placing the gun into her empty holster at her side. She had taken Matilda to clean it and had never put it back...

Heavily sighing, she looked forward.