Session Start: Sat Nov 26 14:04:15 2005 *** Now talking in #H-1 *** ChanServ sets mode: +nrt *** Jex has joined #H-1 It's even registered! *** Cait`Sith has joined #H-1 *** Jex has left #H-1 (Leaving) *** NPC1 has joined #H-1 *** NPC2 has joined #H-1 Well, all right. *** NPC3 has joined #H-1 It's 2020, and you are Captain Senior Lady Mallet, commanding Beta Company of the 1st Mechanized Battalion in Her Royal Majesty's SDF. Are you scared yet? ... I've been since you initially pondered it. *** Cait`Sith is now known as LadyMallet Your command consists of a mix of ten APC's and 14 main battle tanks and crew, with about thirty other assorted support personnel. 1st Mech is currently detached for extended peacekeeping duty on the Ethiopia/Eritrea border - they still haven't patched that up after 27 years of squabbling. How's weapon technology been coming, and are we expected to crush or merely subdue stuff? If crush, has handheld weaponry caught up with the Mallet yet? (I expect defenses and vehicle and armor toughness and such have gone up.) Well, you're fielding mostly "next-generation" US gear - the personal infantry weapon is something that evolved from the current AICW prototype... which is, at its core, just a very good rifle with an little CCD camera for shooting around corners without sticking your head out. The tanks are a lighter unit than the classic M-1 - only three persons per vehicle, they only weigh about 50 tons, but their armor is a bit better than the M-1, particularly on the sides and rear. 'only' 50 tons. Heh. :3 At that weight, you can fly them in, which makes a huge difference for deployment. * LadyMallet nods. Anyway, like most UN peacekeeping missions, you're mostly there to stand in between the hostile forces, notionally as a buffer and a deterrent - if they fight, you get stomped, which would have bad international consequences. ... that's a fun mentality. There's a German battalion and a South African battalion there as well, though those are primarily infantry battalions. The Ethiopian and Eritrean forces are mostly armed with AK-74's and chinese-built T-90's. The forces are spread along much of the border, but Beta Company is in Adi Kwala on the Eritrean side, which sits on the main route out of the mountains and to Asmera, the capital city. * LadyMallet has a rough idea what an AK-74 is. Either a semi or full auto rifle. Looking up a T-90. ... fark, it's a tank. They'll have the latest iteration of the BMP, too, though I'm not sure if that's the BRMD or something else. BRDM. They're both foriegn APCS, it looks like. Err. APCs. The BDRM-2 is amphibious. Whee. Anyway. If you have questions, now is a good time to ask. Once we start, I don't mind if you ask stuff in here. Mostly just thinking about tactics and relative power levels between weapons technologies. Hand-held weaponry caugh up to the Mallet yet? I don't understand the question. I mean, there are rifles, which are somewhat better than the rifles you have now. Well. If we end up fighting tanks/armored vehicles away from ours, do our rifles have near the punch as the Mallet for taking those out? No. * LadyMallet hrms. Can't think of anything else offhand that'd be relevant. Rifles are, fundamentally, just rifles, and armor is, fundamentally, made to shrug off rifle fire. Is the power difference huge enough that it'd be a bad idea to Mallet an offending armored vehicle, and stick with the tank guns? Or not huge enough. Leena will have done the experiment - she thinks she can knock out a tank with a really good hit. Probably not blow it up, but certainly disable one. A full-blown tank, I would expect, could take a hit- not shrug one off, but at least take -one-. * LadyMallet hrms. So, tactics will generally be work from their equipment mostly, and if things get hairy, fall back on the Mallet- it's a Plan B, not a Plan A. Not if you crunch its frame. The seam at the turret would be particularly vulnerable. Non-fighting wise... how volatile is the situation? Locally, not so much. The natives are mostly glad to have you around. How long she been stationed there? And the opposing sides- are they likely/willing to go through her to get to each other? * LadyMallet is trying to place how carefully she should be treating/dealing with them. A month or so. Ladies are all, notionally, part of the SDF, though for most of them service resembles a reserves commission - maybe a couple months total time per year or less, unless they get deployed somewhere. Leena got deployed. She can be more or less happy about this. The opposing sides... well, you're probably there more for Eritrea's benefit than Ethiopia. Eritrea is having some internal problems in addition to the border issues. Heavy weaponry is wai. *^__^* Ethiopia is hard to read - they really seem to want to reconquer the coast, but they do rely on international aid to some degree. In any case, we can start this. I'm not sure how far we'll get with it before my patience runs out today, but it's something that doesn't have to be done in one session. After all, it doesn't need to be done for three or four months. Heh. I think I'm set enough to start. 20-ish looking sound about right for +15 years? No... What's Mallet now? She just recently turned 17. She should look about 24-25 Maybe even 27-28 And still short! Well, yes. . . . In 2020, Tokyo-E made its first, small step into international affairs as it somewhat unexpectedly volunteered a battalion from its still-growing army for the (new (again)) peacekeeping force between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The world didn't know quite what to make of the young nation, but no one was going to object to someone else footing part of the bill for what promised to be a dangerous and possibly prolonged mission. What followed in the border town of Barachi did not - quite - set the tone for Tokyo-E's military deployments to come, but events did show the world just what sort of people these enigmatic "Ladies" were. [November 26, 2020 - 1100 local time] [Barachi, Eritrea - Local headquarters of HRM 1st mech. batt.] [A senior battalion staff meeting] * LadyMallet is in one of the military uniforms everyone else is in. Despite it being made for her size, it -still- looks big on her. The black baseball cap on with that is tilted down to cover her neon-red and hot-pink eyes, and she hasn't bothered to bind her long, long silvery-blond hair yet today. It drapes behind the back of the chair she's sitting at, and she pays attention dutifully. *** NPC1 is now known as ColonelNakamura * ColonelNakamura is an aging JSDF transplant into this new army - he's almost fifty years old, and the radiation scarring on his forehead makes him look even older. Next to Leena, he looks like a mummy. * ColonelNakamura clears his throat. "Pardon me, but we need to start." *** NPC2 is now known as CaptainAbe * CaptainAbe looks up from the recquisition forms he was completing. "Where's the Major?" * ColonelNakamura grimaces. "The infirmary." * LadyMallet doubles the grimace. "Ouch." *** NPC3 is now known as LadyGuitar Yes, she tried the local water. * LadyMallet makes an ... unpleasant face. Dangit, I wish all of my troops were MG's - we could live off the land here instead of having two thousand klicks of supply line. * CaptainAbe eyes the two Ladies at the table, and looks like he decides not to make the comment he wanted to. * LadyMallet raises an eyebrow at Abe, almost amused. * LadyGuitar giggles politely. Still doesn't make it taste better. Captain Kishida is still out in Adi Kwala with Delta company, and it looks like the Germans schedule their staff meetings at the same time we do, so he won't be getting to many of these. ...not that there's much to go over. Yoshi, how are you doing? Um... * CaptainAbe manages to look embarrassed. "We got two of our tanks stuck in a ditch during a night patrol last week." One of them got out once the ground solidified a bit, but we're going to have to take most of the company out there sometime to extract the other one. Otherwise, efficiency is solid, we've had no incidents with the locals, nobody's shooting at us... Well, Gamma Company is about the same, except we didn't lose any vehicles. A couple of illnesses - the XO isn't the only one who tried the local cuisine this week - but they're back on their feet. * ColonelNakamura nods... Lady Mallet? Beta Company's doing good. Nothing out of the ordinary to report here, except that one of the APC's had a door fixed. Let me guess, you kicked the hatch open again? * LadyMallet looks a bit sheepish. "Closed it too hard." Leee~eeena. * LadyMallet eyes Guitar. "Lay off, wouldja?" If you didn't need that command track, my Lady, I'd tell you to stay away from the equipment. *slightly teasing, slightly reproachful* We do have a budget here, you know. Just admit it. You only keep me around because I can do the same thing to the other guys equipment. That... remains to be proven, my Lady. And your duty is to command your company, not go play hero like in the Ningyo war. * LadyMallet nods. "I'm well aware of that fact. How's Alpha?" Besides, I heard you did for more than a few buildings by accident back in the day. I wouldn't want you to get one of my tracks by mistake. I've already enumerated my blunder for the week, my Lady. * LadyMallet leans back, adopting that faintly amused expression. "I thought we were here for a meeting, not a history lesson." * CaptainAbe moans and rubs his face. "Would the South Africans have a heavy-lift crane with them? If they did, it would make this a lot easier." I'll check, but I don't think so. Nuts. How's morale? After a month here, I imagine everone is starting to feel just a little homesick. I know a couple of tankers who just plain feel sick. Otherwise... eh. * LadyMallet pipes up. "Requesting permission to swing by the ditched tank to see if I can do something about it." No thank you, my Lady. We'll work it out on our own. * LadyMallet rolls her eyes. "As you wish." Yoshi, let her take a look - you never can say what an MG can do. * CaptainAbe looks like he's just swallowed sand. "Yes sir." * LadyGuitar clears her throat. "Anyway, the satellite uplink helps a lot - it's not like any of us feel out of touch. It's just the lower standard of living out here that folks are having a rough time getting used to. (") And there's a bit of apathy towards the local situation. We're halfway around the world and some of the cynics are wondering why we're here. I'm keeping my guys busy as I can without exhausting them. I don't think it's helping much with morale, but at least I'm trying to keep their mind off of it. This is to be expected, of course... any ideas on how to shut this down before it becomes a problem? * LadyGuitar almost bounces in her seat. "A concert! Leena sings, and I can play..." * CaptainAbe winces. * ColonelNakamura blinks. * LadyMallet giggles. "I wasn't gonna bring that up just yet. It's not exactly protocol." No kidding - if it were a couple of the NCO's, that would work, but the company commanders? It's a little unconventional, but then everything about this army is a little skewed. Yeah, but... do you really want the Captains thought of as idols? I have no idea what that would do to morale in the long term. Think about it a bit. Everyone famous, or great, that you've looked up to... haven't you ever went to their concert, went to a speech or show, and if you're really lucky, got to talk to them, or shake their hand? People don't forget that. But this is the military, and what should be important is your rank, not what you can do on a stage. You want people to follow you because they trust you, not because you can do a nice jam session. We're not going to try to bond with them, just entertain them a little. Besides, if they're homesick, they're going to be that much more hostile to trusting their commanding officer who's keeping them there. If we cheer them up, it'll be easier to get them to trust us. * ColonelNakamura looks thoughtful. "This is not quite a new dilemma in military history, though it's never been resolved completely either. Do you dare put together your own cult of personality? It can make you a more effective leader, but it can be corrosive to the rest of the command structure if you are not careful. (") I'm inclined to let you do this, if you can find another group or two to perform as well. ... I'm a bit worried about the long term assignments for the leaders in that setup. If you bond that closely to your group, become that group and vice versa, it'll be harder to extract the leader or a single person from that group once it's established. Long term is not really a consideration here - all of you will be rotated out in another nine months anyway, and everyone knows that. * LadyMallet shrugs. "Certainly something to try, then." I think I have a couple of gunners who do a pretty good rock act. If you say so, sir. The South Africans will like it too. * ColonelNakamura makes an extended note. "Can you be ready in two weeks?" Leena? You're not the natural that I am... Put up a general notice on all the companies, if you don't mind? See if we've got any volunteers lurking in the closet. * LadyMallet then turns to Guitar, with a wide grin. "You think so? Perhaps we need to practice some." Two weeks, then. Two weeks. ...but that's really just a one-off event. I'm going to coordinate with some of the NGO's and see if we can't help out with the reconstruction effort. Get the troops to interact with the locals more? That would be healthy, and get them some investment in what happens here. * LadyMallet nods. "Get them some human interaction besides themselves, show them what they're protecting." Right. That'll take a couple of weeks as well, but you can start your own projects sooner than that. * LadyMallet holds a fginer to her lips for a moment, then starts humming something. "When I was just a young girl... I fell in love." She pauses, thinks, then says, rapidly, still humming melodically, "With a tall man, dark man, mysterious and strong man, silent and wise man." * CaptainAbe looks askance at Leena. You can work out lyrics later, Captain Mallet. * LadyMallet chuckles, softly. "Yeah. Sorry. What else is on the agenda?" Well... * ColonelNakamura checks his watch. The new satellite imagery was supposed to be here by now. A wall screen goes *ding*, and lights up. So does the tablet in front of the Colonel. * LadyMallet straigthens herself, turning all serious again. ...I guess we have just-in-time delivery of intel today. Anyway... * ColonelNakamura scans the summary, then starts calling images up on the wall screen. It looks like more of the same. Ethiopia has moved another brigade up to the border region, and they're laagering about thirty klicks from here. This one is fully mechanized, folks, unlike the other five that were already here. Artillery? * LadyMallet eyes the map. Just a few modern pieces. Not enough to be a serious problem - we can kill the guns with even our limited resources before they get more than a handful of rounds in the air. Good spot they've staked out. For coming or going, yeah. Given what's on this side, that would be coming. Ethiopia does seem to be withdrawing one their 34th brigade... The screen flips to show trucks and equipment heading south. But they were pretty well chewed up in the last major skirmish before we arrived, so it could be that they're being moved out of the way. How about Eritrea? They've moved the light-mech brigade out of Adi Keyih, north to the capital. There's some unrest up that way, and they needed the firepower there. Uh... that was the heaviest force they had up here... that makes it like 5-2 for Ethiopia on this axis of attack. Worse than that, with the mechanized force that just came up. Do we have any read on their intentions? * LadyMallet shakes her head. "That's not good at all." No, we don't. The governmental structure in Adis Abeba is as fraught as ever - the people talking to us are saying the right things, but that hasn't always meant that someone else isn't planning to attack anyway. That sort of 3-1 ratio is what you want when you attack... How by the books have they been on strategies like that? In principle, Yoshi, in principle. We could do better than that if we had to. They run out of the old Soviet playbook in their general staff modeling - it's a good one, and everyone has adopted it at some level. Their line forces aren't trained so highly, though, so they have to be more conservative in actual deployments. Three to one should be sufficient for them, though... How many tanks do they have out? Their brigade structure isn't quite as large as ours. The mech brigade has about 150 tanks plus 80ish other tracks, but we're still at about a 5-2 numerical disadvantage. If they come... If they come... do we hold? * LadyMallet rubs her head. "It'll be a headache." In theory... maybe. That doesn't help. We can delay. The fact of the matter is I'll need to call General Vanheert and also the Duchess if that happens. If they come... can we hold? Yeah, we might make it close, but even if we stopped them, we still would get ground into almost nothing. So we can't take them out head on. Can we draw off part of them, lessen the heat for Eritrea? No... they don't care if we peel off - all that they'd want is the road. We could pin down some of their force, but it wouldn't stop an invasion. * LadyMallet traces the road on the map with a finger, looking for a good spot it could be disrupted at. Then let's peel off what we can, and take out the road. Any bridges, cliffs, any good spot to do that at? Not until they hit Adi Keyih. And the Eritrean forces there will have that prepared. What's our range? Can we snipe their tracks or engines along the way? Keep harassing their mechanized unit. We could mess the road up a little, but they have several engineer companies who have a lot of practice in repairing these roads. Piecemeal attacks are not going to work - they have too many troops to cover their flanks for that to work. I was thinking of spreading out peicemeal attacks along ahead of their route. Take a few shots, and withdraw. Don't sneak up them, wait for them. We're too green for that, Lady Mallet. A running fight like that can work, but I don't think I have enough experience to run a battle that way, and I know none of you do. No, we're going to have to choose, if they come. Either stand here, in our prepared positions, or bug out to the east and let them go by. Lady Guitar. You have any tricks you have that you think might be useful? No... in a few months, if there was snow... well, maybe. I was thinking that with some help I might be able to collapse a cliff to bury a road. Don't see a good spot for that. ...we can't stand. If we get wiped out, it will be a political disaster for Her Majesty. That's already out as an option unless our hands get forced more. And if we run scared, that won't be a diplomatic disaster? Let's focus on what we can do. I don't think any of us have the seniority to say what the political fallout of any scenario is. Mmmmn. We can't face them. That'd be suicidal. We can run, but... I don't like that option. We've got some possibilites in the middle. We can't support the South Africans in a running fight, though. How much of their forces would we have to cripple or take outto get them on an even basis? It would depend on what comes at us first. They can afford to lose a brigade of infantry... but they'll need some heavier forces to break through down the road. So we would be better off focusing on their mechanized units. Yeah... but we would anyway - that's what will be shooting at us. 150 tanks, how may APCs? ( many ) 80 or so... they carry more troops per vehicle than us, too. Look, we need to work on our alert plans, so we can react better if they come. Okay. Are our tanks sufficiently more mobile, faster, and longer ranged that doing hit and runs with three to four tanks at a time is an option? We don't need to win, we just need to weaken them. No space in the valley to maneuver like that, Leena... and we can't detach from the South Africans. APCs and anti-tank weaponry, then? She's right, though - we could stage our prepared positions more, and get that affect in some depth... [end session] Oof. *** ColonelNakamura has quit IRC (Quit: Leaving) *** CaptainAbe has quit IRC (Quit: Leaving) *** LadyGuitar has quit IRC (Quit: Leaving) *** LadyMallet has quit IRC (Quit: DOOM ON YOU) *** Retrieving #H-1 info... *** Ked changes topic to 'Coming in 2006.' Session Close: Sat Nov 26 19:10:36 2005 Session Start: Fri Dec 02 23:36:37 2005 *** Now talking in #H-1 *** ChanServ sets mode: +nrt *** ChanServ changes topic to 'Coming in 2006.' *** ChanServ sets mode: +o Ked *** NPC1 has joined #H-1 *** NPC2 has joined #H-1 *** Cait`Sith has joined #H-1 *** Rutt has joined #H-1 *** Cait`Sith is now known as LadyMallet *** NPC1 is now known as Himiko *** NPC2 is now known as Amdemicael *** NPC1 has joined #H-1 Not one to let things sit and wait, Leena took Captain Abe's idea of working with the natives and ran with it. Barachi had been badly battered by the last three years of on-and-off fighting, and Captain Mallet had her crews rotating off-duty to help with reconstruction in no time at all. A few days later, she and her personal crew are doing some stonework at the local town hall. Lady Mallet, predictably, is quite useful for this... [November 30, 2020 - 1940 local time] [Barachi, Eritrea - the somewhat holey and crumbling town hall] * Himiko slaps some mortar into place with a heavy trowel. As Leena's command-track driver, she's almost as small as her boss, but for a normal human female she's pretty strong and has only worked up a mild sweat. She's probably technically still in uniform, but her sergeant's patches are barely visible under the caked construction materials (.) Just drop that squarish one in here, my Lady. * LadyMallet is dressed down a bit- she's down to just a tank-top, the shirt that went over it tied around her waist by the sleeves, baggy military pants, and a black baseball cap, reversed. * LadyMallet gives off just the faintest impression of something glowing softly underneath the baseball cap. Her hair is tied up in a triple-thick ponytail that 'only' goes down to her neck. She's not even breaking a sweat as she strides over to the stones, picks up the aforementioned one, and sets it into place. She adjusts it a bit, eyeballs it, then nods. * Himiko studies it as well, then slathers more of the cement around the edges. Okay, tap it into place. CAREFULLY, this time! * Himiko ruefully eyes some fresh excess rubble on the floor. * LadyMallet laughs. "Easy, now. I think I've got the hang of it." She adjusts it some more, in very small, fine movements. I can't believe the twins didn't even come downstairs when you busted that first one. With all the fighting that's been going on here, you can hardly blame them if they don't come running at every errant sound. They've been your radio crew for a few years, right? Maybe they're used to the loud noises. * Himiko grimaces. "Not since we got here, at least there hasn't been." I'll buy you a drink if we can get back without another spat here. * LadyMallet glances at Himiko and her slight frame for a moment, then adds, "Make that five." * Amdemicael looks sceptical. "And you'll remember that in another eight months?" * Himiko (said that) * LadyMallet raises an eyebrow at Himiko. "Are you doubting me? I never forget a promise." * Himiko looks away. "Yes, my Lady." And that, my friend, is a rock solid, cross my heart and hope to die, promise. * LadyMallet sighs as Himiko looks away. "You don't believe me." * Himiko cants her head. "I... well... it surely won't be that simple. Your normal schedule is busy as hell, and I'll probably get reassigned to another crew when you muster out... But don't worry about it, sir. It's the thought that's important." ... * LadyMallet crosses her arms. "See, now you're doubting me again. But that's okay. You'll see when it happens." And grins. ...and anyway, I heard that the Ethiopians are coming soon. It's a possibility. ... not one I'm really looking forward to. Too bad it's pretty likely. * Amdemicael pokes his head into the room. As the former mayor of Barachi, he has a pretty good knowledge of this structure and how to put it back together... and what it could mean if the war flares up again. ^...excuse me? What's this about the Ethiopians?^ ( ^^ = english? ) * Himiko lays the trowel aside and grimaces. "I shouldn't have said anything." * LadyMallet raises a hand in a not-quite-wave. ^Hello! ... they're up to something. Probably planning an offensive. Can't think of an easy way to say this, but things could get rough again.^ * LadyMallet turns back to Himiko. "Don't worry too much. They would have heard about it eventually. Better they know before than when it happens." Just... be more careful of who's listening in in the future. ^You don't know for certain?^ * LadyMallet turns back to Amdemicael. ^We'll send word once we do.^ ^For now, just bear it in mind as a possibility, and prepare as much as you can accordingly.^ ^But if they're coming... why are you helping rebuild?^ * Amdemicael gestures at the hole in the wall. ^Gotta prepare for the flip side, too. What if they don't come, and we spend all this time not doing anything because of a false alarm?^ * LadyMallet grins, cheerily. ^You Tokyo people are strange. The South Africans don't want to even look at us, but you're one of the top officers and you're fixing my office. My former office, I mean.^ * LadyMallet shrugs. ^Glad to be of service. How are you doing?^ ^I *was* fine, until I heard your news...^ ^Sorry. Anything I can do to make it better?^ ^You could tell-^ *** NPC1 is now known as Girl * Girl rushes into the room, squealing. She's about five years old, in a somewhat ragged but clean dress. She's speaking the local dialect, so you can't make out what she's saying, or what Amdemicael is saying back as he bends down to talk with ther. * Amdemicael calms her down, then boosts her up onto his shoulders. ^Sorry, I don't think you've met my daughter. (^) ^She pretty!^ * LadyMallet casts a glance at Himiko, then back to the father-daughter pair. ^I don't believe I have. She's cute!^ ^Thank you, both.^ * LadyMallet waves at the girl. Up at the girl. Smiling. ^__^ ^Hi, I'm Lady Mallet! Who're you?^ * Girl waves back, shyly. ^She doesn't know any English yet. Or at least not enough to reply. ...I was going to ask. If the Ethiopians come up the valley, what are you going to do? (^) [break] *** Himiko has quit IRC (Quit: Leaving) *** Amdemicael has quit IRC (Quit: Leaving) *** Girl has quit IRC (Quit: Leaving) Session Close: Sat Dec 03 01:28:22 2005 Session Start: Sat May 20 15:10:27 2006 *** Now talking in #H-1 <_< Now waitasecond. How did you hack this channel? It wasn't regged. Rutt got in here first. And, if he's paying attention, should be able to op you. I think you can then reg it. Bullshit, I regged it six months ago. Channels unreg if they're not used for something like six weeks. Damn chanserv. I also noticed you unregged #Hunters. NO I DID NOT. It, too, is not regged anymore. >_> And I know we've been in there more recently than the cutoff point. Bloody fuck. You might want to go in there and reregister it. I don't think anyone else is in there now. Eh, it's moot. *** Rutt sets mode: +o Ked *** Rutt sets mode: -o Rutt There, reg away. I think you may have to drop it. *** Rutt has left #h-1 *** Rutt has joined #h-1 That do it? No... it's claiming I'm not a channel op. Huh. Did you DROP the channel? *** Rutt has left #h-1 <_< GAAAH. *** Rutt has joined #h-1 Not LEAVE, Rutt. Well then what? ^^; do a /msg chanserve drop I just /hop'd the first time. -ChanServ- Channel #h-1 isn't registered. Session Close: Sat May 20 15:37:42 2006 Session Start: Sat May 20 15:37:47 2006 *** Now talking in #H-1 Okay, everyone out. *** Rutt has left #h-1 That means you, Seg. *** Seg has left #H-1 Session Close: Sat May 20 15:38:40 2006 Session Start: Sat May 20 15:38:48 2006 *** Now talking in #H-1 *** ChanServ sets mode: +nrt *** Retrieving #H-1 info... Yeah. *** Seg has joined #H-1 *** Rutt has joined #h-1 *** Cyn_Away has joined #H-1 *** Cyn_Away is now known as Cyn *** Kizn has joined #H-1 *** NPC1 has joined #H-1 *** NPC2 has joined #H-1 *** Darkheart has joined #H-1 *** Seg is now known as Hikaru *** CCD has joined #h-1 *** Rutt is now known as Ichigo *** Cyn is now known as Hikari Curse you for being above me in the alphabet, Sis! *** Darkheart is now known as Mariko *** Kizn is now known as Minami *** CCD is now known as Zulema I win! Wah. ;_; *** Hikari has quit IRC (Ping timeout) *** Kojiro has joined #H-1 (H-1) (Part 1 - The Devil you Know) [Saturday, April 2, 2039 - 2210 Tokyo-Earth time] [The home of General Princess Royal Minami Terazaki - and family] (Minami Katsuragi, sorry) [Session Start] *** Hikari has joined #H-1 * Minami is sitting on her side of the shared home office, a stack of papers up to her head on one side of the desk. She is an older woman, roughly middle-age or older--it's hard to tell--with longish hair loosely tied back at the nape. She's dressed comfortably, though still for the day; the only sign of home comfort is a pair of fuzzy bedroom slippers. (scratch that "or older", then) * Minami is currently working away at yet more paperwork. It seems a backlog has come up somehow. The phone rings - it's a pleasant beeping sound, but not one that Minami was expecting to hear. * Minami frowns and looks up. I'll get it. * Kojiro picks up. "Katsuragi." * Kojiro looks a little worried, and stands up. "Yes, she's here. One second." He walks over from his desk to hers and hands her the phone, mouthing "it's for you" and pointing up with his other hand. * Minami raises her eyebrows and nods a thanks to her husband as she takes the phone. "Katsuragi." *** NPC1 is now known as Sakura Hey, Mina-kun. * Minami sits up straight. "Sakura! This is a surprise. Good or bad?" Bad. Are you busy? ...Never a break, is there. No, I'm not busy, though Peppermint might disagree--paperwork from the Mongolia deployment. What happened? Oh yeah, congratulations on stomping those neo-Maoist pricks. * Minami quirks a smile. "Thanks." But... I might have something else for you to do. We really can't talk about it on the phone, but let's just say the old team bit off a bit more than it could chew. * Minami hisses in a breath. "That...'s not good. You want me at the Palace then, or your place?" * Kojiro looks askance at Minami, worried. Palace - it's really, really bad, Mina. Not a complete wipe, but it might as well be. We're going to have to rebuild from scratch. * Minami gives him a complicated "it's okay" wave mixed with "I dunno" shrug, then winces again at Sakura's news. "Fuck. Be there in 15." She's already getting up and stepping out of her slippers. We'll be waiting. *** Sakura is now known as NPC1 * Minami grunts an agreement and hangs up. She turns to her husband as she puts on her shoes. "Trouble. Bad." * Kojiro takes the phone and puts it back on the charger. "Sounded like it. Long or short?" Not sure yet, though from what she said I'm betting on the long side. * Minami shrugs on a jacket. "I'll let you know how much I can let you and the kids know when I know." She reaches up a bit to give him a peck, and heads for the door. *** NPC1 is now known as DuchessSakura * Kojiro kisses her back. "Eh, I'll just tell 'em you've been redeployed if you're gone long." He grins a half-worried grin and waves to her. * Minami flashes a smile back and closes the door behind her. *** Minami is now known as PrincessRoyal *** NPC2 is now known as TheQueen *** NPC1 has joined #H-1 The Palace - the new Palace, though it's more than thirty years old now so new is not precisely the proper adjective for it - is, to the naked eye, simply a modern-looking convention-center-like building set in the midst of a forest on the northern tip of Tokyo Bay. What the eye does not see is the kilometers and kilometers of underground headquarters and facilities hidden beneath the woods. This is the beating heart of Tokyo-Earth's Hierarchy. Princess Royal is very politely - and even more efficiently - conducted to a small briefing room as she enters. Two people are waiting for her. * DuchessSakura smiles weakly. "Hey, Mina." * PrincessRoyal , in this form, has short hair cut to a little below chin-length and is wearing what is definitely not home attire--suit with slacks. She eyes the occupants of the room and greets them with a nod and a short "Hi." *** Kojiro has quit IRC (Quit: Quit) * TheQueen may be fifty-some years old, but she looks half of that. For a woman who is titularly the "Queen of the Earth", she is very sedately dressed in a denim jumper. Her hair is long, like her predecessor, but she prefers to sit in real chairs. Like real people. * TheQueen looks grim. Sorry to drag you away from your husband... you were supposed to be getting a sabbatical, right? * PrincessRoyal shows only a brief flash of regret. "Sort of. This sounds more important, though." It is... it could be, at least. So. What's the situation? * DuchessSakura Is more formally attired, though even in this decade it's hard to take that shade of pink jacket as properly formal. Sakura appears to be in her mid-thirties, and has her black hair up in a tight bun. She's lost her glasses sometime in the last decades. We had H-1 out on a punitive raid against the Belgians tonight. Those idiots were moving biologicals of some sort through the embassy staff, and the team was going to sweep up the transaction. Jump and company trailed them to the Ningyo City parking garage... and then fell off the map. * PrincessRoyal is listening attentively, brows wrinkled. The only surviving team member was not on-site. He called in H-4... and their radiation sensors spiked off the meters. The three H-1 team members on site are dead, as are the Belgians, as are the men they were apparently supposed to meat. The place looks like a magic firefight happened. And of course its in the Ningyo's backyard. * PrincessRoyal hisses between her teeth. (meet) You can no doubt appreciate the many, many levels in which this could be a nightmare. ...yeah. Yeah. Oi. * PrincessRoyal rubs her forehead. "And the fi--Ningyo have 'no idea' what happened either, right?" They're denying any awareness or involvement. * PrincessRoyal mutters, very carefully, very to herself, lips barely moving, "of course." Even if they were, we can't ever let that get out, unless we're going to go to war with them. Which I would prefer not to. * PrincessRoyal clears her throat and nods to that one. "Yeah, that's for sure." The garage is still a mess - the forensics crews are still trying to figure out whether to examine or decontaminate first. * PrincessRoyal tightens her lips and shakes her head once, grimly. The Hunters - these Hunters - are a writeoff. I want you to lead the new team. We're going to stock it deep, and your first job is to figure out... this mess. * TheQueen clears her throat. "You don't have to do this. Sakura wanted you, but you do have a career in the SDF, and you're an... unusual choice for H-1 leader. * PrincessRoyal straightens up, blinking. "...Right. yeah. I can see why..." There are good reasons why we keep the team so young. As you well know. * PrincessRoyal nods curtly. "Yes. But...I u nderstand why it needs to be done, too. And let me guess--you'd like a vet." I do, yes. A real one. Something smells here, Mina. Something *deep*. Well, Shrike can take care of things at work. She's been doing a good job at it. * PrincessRoyal half-bows. "I accept." *** Awaymancer has joined #H-1 * DuchessSakura eyes the Queen, who pointedly ignores her. *** Awaymancer is now known as Seg Thank you. Yes, thank you, Princess Royal. I can't think of anyone I... trust to do this more than you. *** Hikaru has quit IRC (Ping timeout) *** Seg is now known as Hikaru * DuchessSakura pulls out a thick folder. "Now... if you'd like to help us with the rest of the team..." [2300 local time] [Downtown Tokyo - Blue Flag Karaoke Bar and Pool] * The Karaoke room is positively packed as Ichigo invited absolutely everyone who graduated with them and then insisted they all try and fit into one room. The employees certainly eyed them oddly as this huge troop of 20-something girls (and some boys) marched into their establishment. * Ichigo is currently in possession of the microphone and is singing an over the top ballad that's really challenging her vocal range, even though she can't reach some notes, she's still giving it her all, belting out the song. The couple drinks she had is certainly helping to add to her performance as well. * Mariko is currently cheering Ichigo right the hell on... and judging by the expansiveness of her motions and the big, dumb grin she's wearing, she's probably had more than a few already--mostly beer from the looks of it, but there are a couple of empty glasses in front of her as well---the corpses of quickly-dispatched salty dogs. * Ichigo is dressed in a light blue dress with a flowery print and a white long sleeve shirt underneath. The dress goes down to her shins and she has big puffy socks on underneath and little black strapped shoes on her feet. Her long white hair is done up in sky blue ribbons and braids that loop around. Her skin is remarkably pale and her eyes are such a light shade of blue that they almost look white. * Ichigo tries to get everyone to clap and sing along as she belts out her song. There's a huge smile painted on her face as she finishes the bridge and belts out the final chorus. * Mariko is more or less Ichigo's polar opposite in looks and dress: tall for a (mostly-)Japanese, she's a bundle of bronze skin in jeans and a faded American sports team tee with bottle-blonde hair that's presently under an everpresent gingham bandanna. Her horrendously-elaborate leather ridin' boots are on the table at the moment, close to kicking over a half-finished mug. "Go, girl!" * Ichigo finishes up her song and jumps up and down, cheering excitedly. "Yaaay! Who wants to go next?" Ichi's cell phone rings as she bounces. No one would hear it over the racket, except that it's tucked into one of her chest pockets and closer to the microphone than her mouth is. *BEEEBEEEBEEEBEEEBEEEP!* I hope I didn't show everyone up. *a huge grin is plastered across her face that obviously says she KNOWS she did.* * Ichigo suddenly looks down at the noise. "Uh oh. Must be family. I'll be right back guys!" * Mariko is clapping heartily... or was, until she winces from the amplified phone-ringing. "Geh... don't take too long, Chi. You'll miss me drinking the rest of these lightweights under the table!" There's a collective wince from the audience, though it's unclear whether this is caused by the noise or the ego. * Ichigo passes the microphone off to the next person in line and squeezes her way out of the booth trying to find a place of relative quiet to talk. She pulls out the phone to look at the caller ID thingy before answering. It's not a number she recognizes - and caller ID doesn't either. You're much better at drinking than I am Mari! You know I get tipsy after just a couple glass. *she sticks her tongue out as she slips out the door* The phone keeps ringing. * Ichigo holds the phone up to her ear. "Hello! This is Ichigo!" * Ichigo blushes and realizes she was still using her loud voice from inside the room. Lady Snow. This is Duchess Sakura. * Ichigo sobers up immediately at the mention of Duchess. "Ma'am! How can I be of service to you?" * Mariko watches Ichogo step away, then goes back to downing the last beer in front of her. "I swear... who in the hell would call and ruin this? We deserve some peace after all that hard work..." You are required to report to the Palace for immediate field assignment. ...we have a little bit of a crisis here, so you need to come directly. Yes, ma'am! Of course! Do... I have time to say goodbye to my friends? Quickly. Very quickly. * DuchessSakura hangs up. * Ichigo nods. "I--" frowns at the hanging up before she had a chance to say goodbye. * Ichigo slips back into the room, finding Ryoko and whispering to her, not wanting to interrupt the current performer. "I need to go right now. The Palace just called and said they needed me. Please tell everyone I'm sorry. I'll try and plan something for tomorrow to make it up to them, okay?" Mariko's phone rings, interrupting Ichi. ... eh? Beh, now what? * Mariko pulls her phone out of her pocket and looks at the thing for a few seconds. After a few seconds, she stabs the 'talk' button with her thumb. "Maria." Lady Twister. This is Duchess Sakura. * Mariko makes a face like she really, really didn't want to hear what she just heard. it doesn't translate to her voice, though. "Evening, ma'am. What can I do for you?" * Ryoko nods. "I'll tell them. Let me know if there's any trouble you need help with." You are - ...where the hell are you? * Ichigo smiles. "Thank you, Ri!" She gives the girl a big hug before slipping out the door again and finding her way to the nearest public transportation focusing really hard on sobering up. The karaoke just restarted, and a half-dozen people just jumped in the pool. It's an *interesting* cacophony. At the Blue Flag, ma'am. Graduation party and all. * Mariko watches Ichigo leave, and she suddenly has this sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. "Something wrong?" Blue what? Never mind. You're being activated for immediate field assignment. You need to come directly to the Palace. ... r-right! * Mariko mouthes 'Fuck!', then shakes her head as she rises and starts leaving cash for the booze on her table. "I'm on my way, ma'am." Good. * DuchessSakura hangs up. * Mariko almost says something else, then is hung up on. Holding the phone always from her almost like it was about to bite her, she finally closes it and tucks it away, grumbling all the way to the door. "'mout, gang. Looks like I hafta be somewhere." * Ichigo is heading down into the subway station just as Mariko steps out. She isn't looking back though so she doesn't notice her following her. There's some collective scratching of heads - these young men and women are trained not to believe in coincidence, and it sure looks like there's one right here. But hey - party! The subway station is fairly full - a good number of people are out on a Saturday night, but it is getting on into the evening so the crowd is trending younger. * Ichigo waits down on the platform for the train to arrive, idly worrying to herself about what is going on. She wasn't expecting the call so soon. Maybe they just saw how great she was and felt it was best not to wait to make use of her talents. It's only a few minutes wait for the southbound main line to arrive. Still plenty of time for Mariko to catch up. *** TheQueen is now known as Shihei-san * Mariko is steadily approaching the platform, bootheels clicking and hands shoved in her pockets. She looks... well, a bit uneasy, outside of the fact that she does seem to be slightly intoxicated. "Of all the times to get a call like that... you'd think they could at least wait until afterwards." She pulls herself from her musing long enough to spot Ichigo and take the time to smile faintly. "Hey, Chi." Mari! Are you going home already? I'm sorry I had to leave so soon... Uh... something like that, yeah. Bit of an emergency. Yeah me too. * Ichigo rocks back and forth from her heels to her toes looking up at the clock and wondering when the dumb train is supposed to be there. * Mariko eyes Ichigo for a moment, opens her mouth... and closes it. "So... we're out. Time to step right into the life, huh?" The southbound train arrives - both of them step on automatically. Yeah... How'd you know? Did... Did they call you too? * Ichigo steps on board the train, trying to find an empty seat she can take. Well, I meant more in general, but yeah, looks like. What a coincidence, huh? * Mariko sits nearby Ichigo so she can keep the conversation going. I suppose. Maybe they just saw how great we were! * Ichigo looks a bit sad for a moment. "I guess Ryoko didn't get the call though..." Mmmm. There's a place for everyone one, Chi. She'll get her shot when it comes, trust you me. ( -one +here ) Yeah, I know she will. She's really super great. Still what do you think they want us for at this time of night? * Mariko looks momentarilly concerned. "Something important, probably." * Ichigo idly looks down at her watch. It has blue leather straps and there's a little chibi Queen on the face with her arms pointing at the time. * Ichigo nods. "Yeah. Must be REALLY important. The next stop south is the end of the line for most people. * Mariko looks over and eyeballs the watch. Her eyebrow promptly rises, and an amused grin works its way onto her face. "You actually have one of those? Heh, I thought only kids bought 'em." (+") The automatic announcement comes on as the doors open. "Central Line South continues to the Palace of the Earth. If you are not an official guest or employee of the Palace, you must exit now. If you stay on this line without clearance, you may be arrested for misdemeanor trespass at the next stop." It's a collectable! They don't even make this one anymore. *takes it off and turns it over* See this number etched in the back? It's a limited edition pressing. I had to order it off the net. * Mariko peers, then shakes her head, laughing. "Heh, guess some things never change even when join the ranks. I figured you were a bit into collecting, but not that much." *** Hikaru is now known as ` The train empties. There are one or two other people that stay on, though they look more like groundskeepers than MG's. Well I started before I turned but after I did I didn't see any reason to stop. The doors close, and they roll south. Some things never change, huh. I was in charge of all the MG fan clubs back at TSM. * Mariko listens, resting her chin on her arms. "I was always kinda interested back in America, before I became myself. Just not that much, y'know?" Oh I knew I was going to be a Magical Girl from the moment I was born. It's just one those things you feel deep down inside, you know? *** Hikaru has joined #H-1 I suppose they would have as many of the toys back in America. What kind of toys did you have? (they wouldn't) Didn't really collect toys... I know alot of kids liked to buy things from import shops and whatnot, but I wasn't that into the whole affair. Was too busy helping with my uncle's ranch. The train rolls to a stop just a minute or two later. The station here is obviously non-standard. It has only one exit, armed guards, and the cement floor is painted with yellow and red stripes. Ooh a ranch! Did you ride cows? ... "End of the line - everyone must exit. Please have your Palace or Hierarchy ID cards ready to present at the checkpoint." * Mariko gives Ichigo a somewhat confused look. "Horses. The cows were for milk and market." She nonetheless gets up and shakes her head, fumbling around for her ID. * Ichigo stands immediately as the train comes to a stop, she wobbles and almost falls back down. She braces herself against the back of the seat. "You always convince me to drink more beers than I should... I hope we don't get in trouble for being tipsy..." * Ichigo digs out her ID as well, heading towards the guards. They'll understand... besides, you're better than you were when we started! Remember the one time after we aced the general exam? I know I do. Right, horses I knew that. Sorry, I've lived in the city all my life. * Mariko grins. "Still got the pictures and everything!" I still don't know how I pulled that off. I was so sick... * Ichigo shows her ID as she steps inside, looking for a convenient place to transform. The ID cards don't just get you through the checkpoint - they unexpectedly get you your own sergeant-major, who briskly escorts you through the thick security gate system into the lower Palace lobby, and to a small conference room. He closes the door, but you do not hear him walk away. * Ichigo looks around the room as she steps inside. ... well, this doesn't bode well. I suppose we should transform. * Mariko takes a peek as well. "We'll need to look presentable anyway." It's empty - there's a few chairs around a table, and at one end of the room is a medium-sized 3d-projection desk. Snow Fall Winter Power Up! * Mariko stands back and watches---the one thing she isn't tired of seeing just so happens to be transformation sequences. * Ichigo does a series of quick gestures and a circle of ice forms around above her and snow begins falling from it. The clothes she's wearing lights up as the circle passes quickly down the length of her body, replacing her clothes with her costume. It's a standard fuku in white and shades of light blue. The buttons and tie for her scarf look to be crystal but are actually just ice. On her head is an ice tiara that looks almost like upsid (On her head is an ice tiara that looks almost like upside down icicles. On her ears are a matching pair of icicle earrings.) * Mariko claps a bit, smirking. "Classy! Guess it's my turns now, huh?" * Ichigo has long white gloves that go up past her elbows and knee high white boots with raised heels. Her skin turns a pale shade of blue almost like she was suffering from hypothermia. However she's still as energetic as ever and bounces excitedly after her transformation sequence finishes. Yay! I never get tired of doing that. *grins from ear to ear* Yup! Let's see what you have! *** Ichigo is now known as LadySnow * Mariko chuckles... and when was she carrying around a black leather ten-gallon hat? "Eh, it's not much, but what the hell! YEEEEHAW!" She gives the hat a toss skyward, and a howling sphere of wind promptly comes into being around her, seeming to tear the clothes right off of her body and into tiny little shreds. For a moment, all that can be seen is her shrouded form inside the storm... * LadySnow chills the air around her almost subconsciously, making the space around her much more comfortable for her to exist in. Anyone who gets too close to her would notice the sharp drop in temperature. * ... until there's a sudden rush of movement within, and the winds die out, leaving behind Mariko in a decidedly non-traditional MG outfit: a long-sleeved jacket, midriff-baring collared shit (complete with bola tie), excessively-short shorts, chaps, empty gunslinger's holster and snazzy spurred cowboy boots. All leather, all black with gold tribal trim. * Mariko smirks, the hat falling neatly onto her now-ringlet-sporting hair, and her eyes glow an eery yellow, in the midst of an unnatural shadow covering the top half of her face. "Lady Twister... tadaima sanjou!" *** Mariko is now known as LadyTwister There's a beat, and then the door opens. You certainly took your time... ( SHIRT. -_- ) We got her as fast as we could! Ma'am! * LadyTwister looks over, and promptly stands at attention. If she was unsteady before, it sure as shit doesn't show now. Ma'am! (here) * Shihei-san walks over to the projector table, and punches a button. The half-meter tall form of Duchess Sakura at a computer terminal appears. * LadySnow also stands at attention. Ma'am, Snow and Twister are here. Are you sure we don't want to wait for the rest? * LadySnow pays careful attention to all the goings on in case she's tested on it later. We don't know for sure if we're going to need someone on site before the rest of the team trickles in. Give them the standard indoctrination. Well, the short version, at least. * LadyTwister looks mildly uneasy about the word 'indoctrination', but it passes. * DuchessSakura goes back to typing, but does not close the connection. Right. * LadySnow tries not to look to excited that she's seeing an actual Duchess. Well another one. (too) * Shihei-san grimaces at the military posture of the Ladies, then grimaces again as their breath finally registers. ...you're drunk! ... we were called from a party, ma'am. We were having a graduation party... We weren't expecting to be called so soon... I apologize profusely ma'am. It was all my idea. * LadyTwister promptly steels herself for a swift and brutal rebuttal. * Shihei-san sneers, but waves at chairs as she sits down. "Whatever. Just try to follow along." * LadySnow nods and gladly takes a seat. It's hard to stand up for so long in her current state. * LadyTwister gladly takes a chair, and almost says something. Training kicks in, and she visibly bites down a little on her tongue. Yes, ma'am. We haven't met before. I'm Yoshino Shihei, Deputy Director of Security. I run Security. My boss (she points at the holo with one thumb) tells me how she wants it run, but I get to handle all the day to day crap. * LadySnow nods, listening intently. * LadyTwister seems to be listening as well, hands clasped. * Shihei-san looks to be in her late forties, if not older. Her slightly-greying black hair is in a severely short page cut, almost masculine. She is wearing a white silk sheath and a black knee-length skirt, which are tight enough to clue you in that she probably doesn't eat enough food every day. * LadySnow rests her arms on the table. Water starts condensing on the parts closest to her. * Shihei-san has the odd quality of being one of the most intense people you'll ever meet - her gaze is sharp, her words short, and there is not a hint of mercy or flexibility in her bearing. To be brief, you two are now working for me. Your new assignment is H-1. * LadyTwister blinks a few times, then mouthes 'H-1'. She proceeds to try and hide her confusion with a nod and a hopeful smile. Ooh. *counts off on her fingers mostly to herself* Two is investigation, three is intelligence, four is the security force and five is the police... Which one is H-1? H-1 is my least favorite branch. What you do is - mostly - clean up the messes that the other branches create, or run into. Ooooh. Is that better than? * LadyTwister promptly frowns at that, but the frown passes after a moment and a heavy sigh. ...better than what? Better than the other branches. Like they call us when they have no one else to turn to? Better is something of a loaded adjective. H-1 deals with a problem when it is in the interests of Tokyo-Earth to have a situation dealt with by MG's. This is a team, not a full agency, and all of you will be MG's. You have... considerable authority over the other branches of Security, but you also have the obligation to keep your activities under cover when possible. * LadySnow looks over at Twister and back at herself with a "of course we are" look on her face. * LadySnow ooohs more. * LadySnow raises her hand. * LadyTwister can't help but blink at that. "I'm going to have to ask how you came to choose us, ma'am. I mean... have you been observing us all this time?" No. We have not. * LadyTwister looks both relieved and... slightly unhappy, all at the same time. * LadySnow keeps her hand raised. Or at least, not more than anyone else. We're choosing you because we need a new team, fast, and you fit the profile, such as there is one. * Shihei-san frowns at Snow. "This is not a classroom, girl. Ask your question." Profile. Huh. * LadyTwister trails off, scratching her nose. Oh um, sorry. *she puts her hand down* I was wondering why did you call us in so suddenly? Are we starting work tonight? *** Cyn has joined #H-1 Yes. The old H-1 team? *taps something on her PDA, switching the holo to a 2d image of a concrete parking area strewn with bodies* Is dead. * LadySnow gasps in shock. What happened? * LadyTwister flinches, visibly. "Guh! Yeah, what went wrong?" *** Hikari has quit IRC (Quit: Switching comps.) * Shihei-san taps the PDA again, and Sakura reappears, still typing, and discussing something with somebody offscreen. We don't know. That's why we need a new team fast. Well I don't think it's right that anyone is hurting Magical Girls! I'll help you however you need me. ... I would like to get a look at the scene, though. It'd be a start to dig up how they died. Could shed some light on things. There are some... problems. But that will happen as soon as H-4 can fully secure the scene. What do you need us to do? Find the bad people and bring them to justice? * LadyTwister looks to be both nervous and... eager? It's hard to say, but her fingers are drumming on the table quickly. "I'd like to be a part of the initial investigation ma'am, fi that's possible. Forensics was gonna be my career... although I'd have rather it not start like this." ...you *are* young. Justice would be good. Personally, I'd settle for knowing why it happened. * LadySnow nods. "What were they doing before they died?" * Shihei-san turns to Twister. "What you would like doesn't matter. You will be working on this, and whatever else comes along for H-1. That is your assignment, and in a few minutes we'll get you Orders for it." Ooh Orders. Neat. ... right, of course. * LadyTwister deflates, slightly. Now. Here's the hard part - to the rest of the world, Lady Snow and Lady Twister are part of a task force in H-2. We're still working out the details of your cover jobs, but you will be working from the H-2 offices once the team gets reestablished. What do I tell my friends when they ask why I was called away suddenly? Ryoko's gonna KNOW if I lie to her... The rule of H-1 is that you don't talk to anyone not on the team about H-1, except in the line of duty. Not anyone. We're working on that. * LadySnow nods again solemnly. Understood, ma'am. Understood. * LadyTwister nods once, still looking mildly unhappy. Yes. Ma'am. * Shihei-san stands up abruptly. "Sakura-sama, that was the short version. Are you ready to Order them in?" *** Cyn is now known as Hikari * LadySnow looks up to Sakura trying not to show exactly how excited she is by all the secret stuff. * LadyTwister goes back to drumming her fingers, looking Ichigo's way for a moment. * LadySnow isn't really the best at hiding it though. * LadyTwister can't help but snicker, shaking her head. * DuchessSakura looks up from several folders of printouts held awkwardly in her hands. "Yeah. And could you come up here after you turn them over to HR? I want your opinion on a couple of these dossiers." Of course, ma'am. * LadySnow looks to Twister for a moment with a big grin on her face. * LadyTwister fights back the urge to chuckle, just barely. Yay Snow. (err mischan) [April 3, 2039 - 0105 local time] [a downtown Tokyo-Earth hotel suite] * Hikaru is in the room without a bed, surfing the web on the hotel computer. His EI has a number of windows open and seems to be going through them quite rapidly. He's focussing on a late-night drama show, until it turns a little too explicitly risque, at which point he changes channels. "Wow, they have porn on their normal TV, here. Weird." * Hikari is tossing and turning in her bed, mostly asleep. She never has found hotel beds to be that comfortable. * Hikari rolls over and yells out, "Change the channel, I'm trying to sleep!" after Hikaru finds the porn on TV. * Hikaru is a moderately attractive young man, currently in jeans and a white A-shirt. A T-shirt with the name of a London cricket team on it lies draped over the back of the chair he's lounging in. He's obviously japanese, with formerly-neatly combed black hair mussed a bit from a long day, but when he spoke it was in british. "Sorry, Sis. Trying something animated now." The hotel computer coughs up a large notification window, which the EI reads and processes before Hikaru can do anything. After a second, the PDA asks him if he wishes to take a call. * Hikari rolls back over and falls asleep. She is wrapped in a blanket while her pillows have hours ago been kicked off the bed. Aside from the pillows, her room is exceedingly neat, making the maid's job easy. * Hikaru blinks, and says some gibberish, which his EI translates into a request for information on who is calling. It politely leaves off the unnecessary "at this hour". It's a woman claiming to be with Tokyo-Earth Department of Security. I'll take the call, then. This should be interesting. *yawns extravagantly, biting it off harshly at the end* Put it through, put it through. * Shihei-san appears on the hotel monitor. Lord... Fate? * Hikaru suppresses another yawn, and rubs irritably at the bags under his eyes. "Hmm. You got the title right. Processed that faster than Sis thought you guys would. What can I do for you?" His japanese, though flawless, bears a distinct british accent. There are some... odd circumstances that have come up. We may be in need of your talents, perhaps for an extended period of time. * Hikaru has a price calculation program up and running at that. "Hm. I would say 'go on', but I'm guessing this needs discussion in person, in a secure locale." When would you like to meet? Yes. What sort of transportation do you have? Just public, with us. We flew in. That makes it harder, but... you're at... hmm. Go down to the lobby and talk to the front desk. I'll arrange transport for you. * Hikaru laughs. "Must be very important. I'll wake Kari and be down as soon as she's ready. Under what names will you have the transport set?" Your normal names. Hurry. * Shihei-san hangs up. * Hikaru closes the windows he has open, and waits for Hikari. He says something nonsensical as he pokes his head in her room. * Hikari rises and gets dressed. A few minutes after Hikaru hangs up, she walks out dressed in a pair of comfortable tan pants, a loose green shirt, and a pair of white sneakers. Her hair looks like she actually ran a brush through it and is currently tied back in a tight ponytail. * Hikaru yawns again. "Ready?" As ready as I'm likely to be this late at night. Let's go. Early in the morning, technically. But yes. * Hikaru opens the door for his sister, and they proceed to the front desk for the aforementioned transportation. The front desk hands them off to a porter, who leads them to a service entrance... where a limosine is waiting. * Hikaru doesn't even bat an eye, and climbs in when the door is opened for him. * Hikari follows along and climbs in the limo while rubbing her eyes. "I wonder what's so important that they couldn't wait till tomorrow. Did they give you any idea what was up?" Other than it was important? Nope. I wonder if this model has a soda fridge... *looks around the limo* They mentioned needing our 'talents' for an extended period of time. This must be the discount limo - there's no refrigerator, merely a pile of Lady Heat's Famous Fish Snacks and some bottled water. And given the limo, I don't think they mean a poly-scientist and a linguist. *winks* Bah. Company cars. No soda at all. The car doesn't quite burn rubber, but it starts southwards at a mildly unpleasant pace. * Hikaru grabs a water bottle, and pulls out a small bottle of No-Doze pills. He takes three of them and swallows them with some water. Want any, Sis? I think there's a dose or two left in here. *jiggles the bottle at Hikari, not even noticing the drive's pace* It's not too long before the car slows, then stops at a security checkpoint. The driver shows something to a guard, the gate goes up, and you're off again, this time driving through a forest. * Hikari takes the bottle and looks at the label. "Says here you should only take two at a time. You should read the label more often." I did. It also says not to take more than six in any 24 hour period. I could never stand the taste of these things. The only reason they'd keep me awake is because of how upset my stomach would get. *shrug* Suit yourself. Looks like you're waking up now, anyway. *shivers a bit* * Hikaru puts the bottle of pills away again. The limosine soon pulls up at the steps of what looks like a concert hall or small sports complex. Mm, nice place. ~Must be one of the really important people in the Hierarchy hiring us.~ ...oh, right. Cheap limo. *climbs out, and holds the door for his sister* Shall we? * Shihei-san is waiting for them at the top of the steps. She has a black jacket on now, as it's a little nippy outside this late. * Hikari climbs out the limo after Hikaru and says with a grin, "I doubt we have a choice." * Hikaru closes the limo door, and heads on up the steps. Walking next to his sister, the resemblance is uncanny, though the differing hair styles make it easy to tell which is which. Lord Fate, Lady Destiny. ...not transformed, I'm guessing? Not currently, but we can fix that if it's a problem. It's all right... for now. Please follow me. * Shihei-san turns and walks into the building. * Hikaru yawns, takes a drink from his water bottle, and follows. * Hikari follows along. "Are we looking at something that calls for immediate mobilization?" If you haven't figured it out yet, this is the Tokyo-Earth Palace - at least the top part of it. We host public events here above the surface. * Shihei-san keys open an elevator. "Real business happens underground." The lobby is mostly empty, but the sounds of what seems to be a party echo from a lit doorway on the far end of the lobby. I see. * Hikari turns her head towards the party's noise. "Evidently." * Hikaru squeezes his eyes closed and shakes his head, and steps on the elevator. Let's get down to business, then. Pun intended. The three head downwards. Waaaaay downwards. Hikaru's ears pop. When the doors open, they reveal a security checkpoint. * Shihei-san waves her card over a reader, and then fills out a form for admitting her two guests. I wonder how many people walk through that door on a daily basis. This far into the complex? Maybe a dozen, not counting guards. We still need guards, though. * Hikaru yawns. Coincidentally relieving the pressure from his popping ears. * Shihei-san leads the group around a corner, and into a room filled with displays - the smallest are meter-square, the largest fills a wall, and in two corners are the largest 3d displays that either of you have ever seen. * Hikari whistles appreciatively as she's led further into the complex. * Hikaru whistles at the same moment Hikari does, in the same tones. *** LadyTwister has quit IRC (Quit: You need to know. You are not him. This fight's not yours. YOU CANNOT WIN.) This is the control center for all of Tokyo-Earth Security. I'm the assisstant director. Over there, buried behind the stacks of folders, is the director. * DuchessSakura kicks her chair away from the worktable, and waves. "I'm Duchess Sakura. Pleased to meet you." * Hikaru exchanges a glance with his sister. * Shihei-san mutters. "And don't touch ANYTHING." * Hikaru jumps a bit at the emphasis in Shihei-san's voice. "Okay, okay, I won't." * DuchessSakura gestures at chairs around the central conference table. The table is spotless... but half-covered with gear, paper, and weapons. * Hikari takes the centermost chair. "Quite the setup you guys have here." * Hikaru eyes it through his viewing monocle. Some lines float across it, along with some symbols, but it's impossible to tell what they're referencing if you're not wearing it. He takes a seat in the chair next to Hikari's. "But it seems everywhere, paperwork looks the same." Some of us don't do paperwork. * Shihei-san balefully eyes her boss. Much paperwork, I mean. But I like printed stuff, and this is one of the few rooms on the planet I can print half of these things. * DuchessSakura sighs. * Hikaru laughs lightly, and waits to see where the Duchess goes with the conversation. I have a job for you two. You'd be part of a team - in some ways the most exclusive agency on the planet. But you have to be citizens, and you have to be committed for the long term. * Hikaru 's eyes flick almost imperceptably to Hikari, just for an instant. You don't have to be *that* mysterious about it. I can appreciate mystery, but I think the middle of the night is hardly the time for it. * Hikaru smiles, and hides another laugh behind finishing off his water. We maintain a full-time black ops team comprised solely of MG's. It does a number of different things, though mostly within the borders of T-E. They were... ambushed tonight, and we find ourselves in the position of needing to put a new team back together. How...unfortunate. My condolences to your organization, and to their families. Nevertheless... a full MG unit, ambushed and destroyed to the point of reconstruction. That -is- impressive. I'll be frank - this team has historically had high mortality rates, but mostly because they go out on the sharp end a *lot*. This is the first time that we've ever had to do this, though. Are the other members going to be as experienced as us, or are we going to have to help train them as time goes on? The team Leader will be Princess Royal. General Princess Royal. She's probably forgotten more about this business than you kids have learned. But after her, yes, you would probably have the most experience in this field. * Hikaru blinks, skimming what information about said Princess his EI can pull up at the mention of her name. "Indeed." All of the Ladies will have had basic weapons and military fieldcraft training. Most of the ones we're choosing have some background in police or security work. But they've never done anything real. * Hikaru nods. "I've done some reading on T-E's MG training programs. They are thorough." That's a deliberate choice - we have more experienced Ladies available, but we keep this team young. It needs to be fresh, it needs to be incorruptible... and it needs to be able to work anonymously. * Shihei-san sniffs. "Ladies get famous fast in this town." Well, we're familiar with that, as you are probably aware. I assume that our living expenses will be provided for should we join up? * Hikaru 's hand is shaking a bit as he brushes his bangs out of his face. "We'd prefer to keep from becoming famous as Ladies, Shihei-san, so you needn't worry on -our- end." You'll get the standard team salary, which is... *looks a number up on her PDA* hourly at 3800 EYen. Normal overtime, triple pay for combat time. * Hikaru smirks a bit sardonically. "A touch of a pay cut, but it also sounds like steadier work." Plus it gets us out of England. I didn't really like the place much. You get only four hours of light a day during winter. * DuchessSakura shudders. "And four hours of darkness in the summer. Never could stand that." Helps one *yawn* stay awake. IF one's inclined taht way. It will mean less globetrotting. You will have - hopefully - a decent amount of downtime, but not on any sort of predictable schedule. That could be a nuisance. It's the way things go around here - weird shit happens, H-1 scrambles to cover it. * Hikari laughs. "I'm more used to making weird stuff happen. That'll be a change of pace." It was like that even back in the day, during the war, when I was on it. The more things change, the more they stay the same," as the english saying goes. * DuchessSakura twinkles for a moment, then turns serious. "If this goes as south as some of my analysts are afraid, we may end up at war again." So, I think if you guys can arrange to have our stuff shipped down here from England, I think we have a deal. But the question on my mind is why we were awakened during the dead of night? Are we off to work immediately? Hm. War is fun and profitable. But terribly messy when it gets beyond the small scale. I wouldn't be surprised if it's much, much more profitable for those willing to take advantage of it, when it gets so big. Maybe you do it for the fun, but I do it for the challenge. Is there a difference, dear sister? The team is forming, but pretty much immediately. H-4 is still decontaminating the scene, but as soon as they give the all-clear we're going to put all of you on site to check it out. What's taking them so long? I haven't had time to check. Perhaps we should go assist them. Anyway, we're happy to have you on board... but you do realize we'll need you to be Tokyo-Earth citizens? Yeah, but I'm sure you can speed the application process along. I assume you have cover jobs ready for us, as well. We'd obviously prefer it if it were not publicly known that Unmei Hikaru and Hikari are Lord Fate and Lady Destiny. Oh, that's *not* a problem. But it's not a simple or casual decision to make. * Hikaru mumbles something about Ichiro. Part of your orders will be not to connect your identities publically. You will lose this assignment if you let that happen. Not an issue at all, I assure you. You're not just changning mercenary employers. You're committing yourselves, your lives, to protecting Tokyo-Earth. You'll be members of the parliament automatically. For some MG's, that's a burden, for some, it's a bonus. But it will be something you have to deal with. Mm. As you say, not a decision to be made lightly. The pay is... moderate. There are constitutional restrictions on our ownership and investment in business, and limits on our salaries. But you will be a part of the most powerful aristocracy on the planet. If that does anything for you. Sounds like it would be interesting to me. I get to put my poli-sci degree to good use while continuing my hobby. So, I'm in, and I believe my brother here is in as well. Is there anything else you need to tell us, or do you want to get back to finding the remaining members for the team? If nothing else, we should go out there now, before decontamination cleans the scene too much. Perhaps we can ascertain the reason for the delay, and report it back to you, as well. No, you'll head out with the full team. It should just be a couple more hours, at the most. *shrug* Your dime, so your call, ma'am. Or is it miss? There's a good pile of forms you'll need to fill out, and then we'll wake up Her Majesty to swear you in. * DuchessSakura shrugs. "People use ma'am, or sir around here, regardless of proper usage." 'Your Highness' is also technically correct when addressing a Princess or Duchess. Most of the Duchesses are not sticklers, though I think we could use a little more respect around here. Ma'am it is, then, ma'am. So. Paperwork. Let's see it so I can get my EI on the most tedious parts ASAP. *actually pronounces it 'ae-sap'* What say we save the formal titles for formal occasions, Shihei-san? * DuchessSakura sighs. "It's going to be a long night." She scoots back to her desk. Right. Okay, we need to go back up a few floors. My condolences, ma'am! *bounces to his feet, positively shaking with a caffiene high* Ready, Kari? * Hikari rises from her chair. "Close enough, anyway." [end mini] *** DuchessSakura has quit IRC (Quit: Leaving) *** Shihei-san has quit IRC (Quit: Leaving) *** NPC1 has quit IRC (Quit: Leaving) *** LadySnow is now known as Rutt Session Close: Sat May 20 22:37:16 2006 Session Start: Sat May 27 16:07:45 2006 *** Now talking in #H-1 *** ChanServ sets mode: +o Ked *** ` is now known as Hikaru *** Rutt is now known as LadySnow *** Jex is now known as LadyBobOmb *** CCD is now known as LadyKiss *** NPC1 is now known as Shihei-san [April 3, 2039 - 0250 local time] [a briefing room - the same one, actually - in the Palace office area] [mini start[ * LadyBobOmb enters, casting a final glance at the map that's up on her PDA. She's pretty, and it's hard to tell if she's transformed. Even for an MG, she's showing a -lot- of skin. * LadyKiss struts in through the doors, a beautiful green dress clinging to her black body and flowing out at the hips giving a little swoosh to her walk. Matching high heels, carry purse, and gloves accent her black skin. Her chocolate hair done up in light curls, falling down to frame the face. She's short but trying to show height in her dress. * LadyBobOmb 's outfit currently consists of a extremely short-short royal-blue fuku with black lining on the bottom, and a low-cut, billowy white blouse. Her sandals are the same color as her hair- brown. Her hair's down, short-cut and straight. She's got glasses on over her brown eyes. * LadyBobOmb bows politely to the other Lady as she enters, then puts away her PDA. "Hello." She smiles. ^^ The conference table looks a little bit messy. Coffee service has been used and left there, and a few of the chairs are pulled out and left swivelled in the wrong direction. In the front corner, a 3d display is wasting power showing a flat white image of blank Palace letterhead. * LadyKiss smiles charmingly and takes the offered hand. "Hello, I'm Lady Kiss and you are?" * LadyBobOmb is probably older that Kiss, judging by looks. "Junior Lady Bob-Omb." ^^ * LadyKiss laughs. "Ah yes, I'm a Junior Lady too. Any idea why we are here?" * LadyBobOmb shakes her head. "Not yet." * LadyBobOmb pulls a seat out for Kiss, before taking one herself. It seemed urgent. I really do wonder what they want, oh my thank you. * LadyKiss slowly sits down being careful with her dress. * LadyBobOmb glances at her EI for a moment, then tucks it away again. The 3d fizzes to show a somewhat disheveled Duchess. *** PrincessRoyal has joined #H-1 *** NPC2 is now known as DuchessSakura * LadyBobOmb then sags a little in the seat. She's probably still tired. And just as quickly reverts to sitting straight once the screen activates. ...Yoshino-kun, are you... uh. Um. Is Shihei-san there? No ma'am. ...but *you* are. Ladies Bob-Omb and Kiss, I believe? * LadyBobOmb nods. "Yes ma'am." Yes, Ma'am. She was supposed to be briefing you already. Hold on a second while- * Shihei-san walks in, an industrial-sized mug of coffee in hand. * LadyBobOmb nods politely to the newcomer. "Shihei-san?" Ah, I see I'm late. Sorry, I needed to freshen up a little. * LadyKiss looks up at Shihei giving a slight nod. "I believe she just walked in." Hello. I'm Lady Bob-Omb. ^^ ( +Junior ) * Shihei-san doesn't look that refreshed. Her bun is coming a little loose, and her eyes are bloodshot. But she still radiates severity and inteligence - just sleepiness too. *** Darkheart has joined #H-1 I'm Junior Lady Kiss. I know who you are. I helped select you. * LadyKiss puts a hand to her mouth, gasping a bit. "Oh, my, and what were we selected for?" A pleasure to meet you, then. ^^ I'm sorry we had to get you out of bed, but some things have happened and both of you are being reassigned effective now. Did you catch the news on the ride in? There was an article about an explosion near Ningyo City. No, I apologize I didn't se it. Yeah, that would be it. What the press don't know yet is that three Ladies are dead. * LadyBobOmb pulls out her PDA, and glances at it for a moment. She tucks it away again. Oh dear. This is serious isn't it? What the press isn't going to find out is that those Ladies were the core of H-1. And that they were tracking foreigners suspected of smuggling illegal biologicals into the city. This is about as serious as it gets. * LadyBobOmb frowns, and listens. * LadyKiss nods and her lips press into a straight line. You've been selected as a part of the new H-1 team that we're forming. * LadyBobOmb blinks. "Oh, my." That's a great honor. Your previous assignments are canceled. This... well, we may shrink the team a little in a year or two if things settle out, but it's best if you consider it to be a permanent assignment. * DuchessSakura chuckles. "We'll see if you think it's a honor after you do the job for a few months. Of course. And if that's the good news I'm taking it as an honor. I'm waiting for a bad news. Sakura-sama, is she really the sort of material you want in this team? She's just young, and no doubt it sounds exciting. Kiss, dear, the bad news is that this assignment is the closest thing you can get to a combat posting without getting sent to North China or something like that. * LadyBobOmb looks over at Sakura-sama. * LadyKiss smiles just a bit. "The bad news would be who did this or you don't know who did this." If we knew who did this, we wouldn't be panicking to get a new team together, would we? * LadyKiss bows her head. "No. I guess you wouldn't." There are a *lot* of complicating factors on that garage roof, Ladies. In a couple of hours, we'll send you out there to have a look for yourself. Are we going alone? * LadyBobOmb pauses a moment. "And has H-4 done more than secure the area?" No. You're the last two members of the new team to arrive. The others are napping in another lounge. H-4 is in the midst of decontamination procedures. It's... a mess. * DuchessSakura sighs. "I don't mean to be elliptical about this. It's just been a long evening, and it'll be a long day tomorrow. (") Yes, Ma'am. I understand. * Shihei-san is looking slightly amused. "You're the only MG's we're pulling out of other assignments for this. I was expecting more objections." * LadyBobOmb stands up, and bows. "I will do my best." Unfortunately, or fortunately, the blouse doesn't do a great job of covering anything from that angle. I assume any objects I might have will be ignored. This is much more important then any little complaints I might have. * Shihei-san gets an eyeful through the camera pickup, but doesn't comment. * DuchessSakura (did) Ignored... no. But fuller explanations might have been forthcoming. Are there any witnesses, or survivors? I got their paperwork picked up already, ma'am. Nope. No witnesses. And no survivors worth noting. As I said, it's much more important then any little complaints I might have. If some Ladies are dead this is too important to argue over. * LadyBobOmb frowns, then says, to her PDA, "Glitch, do a search on anything you can regarding this incident. See if anyone elses EI Did you? Then I guess we're ready for the unpleasant bits. * LadyBobOmb frowns, then says, to her PDA, "Glitch, do a search on anything you can regarding this incident. See if anyone elses EI's caught anything, or there's any kind of surveillance records you can pull up. Be thorough." You don't have clearance for that, Bob-Omb. Yet. In a little bit you will. * LadyBobOmb then looks up at the 3-vid. "Sakura-sama, that brings me to my next question." Questions are good. * LadyBobOmb blinks. "Ah, you had already answered it. I was going to request such clearance." We can't sign the paperwork before you get ordered. * DuchessSakura nods. "Are you ready?" * LadyBobOmb blinks, then nods. "Yes, Lady." I do have one itsy bitsy request first ma'am. * DuchessSakura waits for it. I need to cancle a lunch appointment tomarrow. So? So, I'll like a few moments in between to make sure that happens. You'll have plenty of time. Thank you Ma'am. Then I'm ready. So. Here's the deal. By Order of the Queen, you now are inducted into H-1. * DuchessSakura 's voice takes on a strange tone, which almost, though not quite, sounds like Her Majesty's timbre and cadences. As team members of H-1, you answer first to your team leader, then to the DDS and myself, and finally to the Queen. In any matter regarding your duties, no one else is in your chain of command, and you may give instructions to any member of Security below agency director level. Second. Besides accomplishing your duties, you are obligated not to disclose your status in H-1 to anyone outside of Security, and to as few people within the Ministry as possible. You must keep your civillian identity uncorrelated with your MG identity as well. * LadyBobOmb nods. Lastly - while the policy and inclination of Her Majesty is not to give general loyalty Orders, members of H-1 are specifically Ordered to never take bribes, never use their position for personal gain, and never betray the interests of Tokyo-Earth. * DuchessSakura grimaces, and her voice goes back to normal. * LadyKiss bows her head again. And... I'm sorry about hitting you with that last one without any warning. Once you understand the role that your team fills, you will see why we think it's necessary. It's ok Ma'am. These seem like unusual circumstances. * LadyBobOmb frowns. "My sister might notice my transfer out of the SDF." We're working up cover jobs in H-2. * Shihei-san turns away. "Oh great. I'll see you later, but I need to make a call." * DuchessSakura (does that) *** Shihei-san is now known as NPC1 The 3d clears. * LadyKiss shakes her head. "This is all". She pauses for a second. "A bit over whelming." Okay. If you want, there's about an hour here where you can try to nap. We're still getting some bits together, and the group briefing will be in... 90 minutes. *** NPC1 is now known as Shihei-san * Shihei-san SAID THAT. GODDAMMIT. *** DuchessSakura is now known as NPC2 () * LadyBobOmb nods at Shihei-san. "Shihei-san? Can you handle the EI authority?" As soon as I file the paperwork. Which I do need about ten signatures on. * Shihei-san hands out pens. And lots and lots of paper. [end mini] Thank you Ma'am. I'll make the call I need to and then would like a nap. Right after I sign these, of course. *** NPC2 is now known as Ozawa (H-1) [April 3, 2039 - 0440 local time] [a very large briefing room in the Palace B2 level] [session start] *** Cyndane has joined #H-1 Things are finally starting to really move. The new team members are being shown into a large room for their first briefing as part of H-1. *** Cyndane is now known as Hikari The room is much larger than it needs to be for the nine people who are entering. * Shihei-san is nursing a half-liter can of Red Bull. * Hikaru is still in the t-shirt with the name of a London Cricket team on it, and yawning spectacularly as he walks in. He's gotten himself a (now half-consumed) liter bottle of mountain dew, which doesn't seem to really be combatting the bags under his eyes. * LadySnow yawns real big and stretches, trying to wake herself back up as she's lead into the room. She's changed back into her light blue dress with the long sleeve undershirt, big socks and cute little blue shoes. * LadySnow is really fighting a losing battle against her sleepiness though as it's way past her bedtime. * LadyBobOmb has picked up some mountain dew herself, and she still looks tired. She's sipping that while reading intently on her PDA, and occasionally glancing back at the paperwork that's done, moving from one page to another. *** Hikari has quit IRC (Ping timeout) * Ozawa is fussing over a pile of duffel bags on a table in the first row. He's a very handsome, VERY fit man in his mid-30's, with a military buzzcut. As he moves, you realize that his left leg is completely stiff. * LadyKiss is nursing a cup of coffee. It's going very, very slowly. * LadyBobOmb is still in the same outfit as before - the one that's mostly skin. * LadySnow tries her best to walk straight after her night of fun and drinking. She stumbles a bit as she enters the room, looking for a place to sit. *** Hikari has joined #H-1 * Hikaru walks - though obviously tired, he doesn't seem to be having any stability issues - over to a chair and sets his bottled beverage down on the table in front of it. He remains standing behind it rather than sitting down, resting his folded arms on the chair's back. *** Darkheart is now known as LadyTwister * PrincessRoyal is still in dress slacks, but she's changed into a regular suit jacket that doesn't quite cover the T-E general's insignia peeking from her shirt collar. She takes a casual swig from the coffee mug she holds, and eyes everyone. * LadyBobOmb holds out a seat for Lady Kiss, again, before taking a seat herself. * LadyTwister is handling herself somewhat better than Snow, although the faint shuffle's there. She at least looks like she's attentive. And dressed like some Western stripper. Sort-of. * Ozawa finally looks up from his gear, half-flinches as he sees the new team, then focusses on Royal. He walks over in front of her, snaps to attention, and salutes. SIR! * PrincessRoyal gives Ozawa a curt nod. "At ease...soldier." *** Hikari has quit IRC (Ping timeout) *** Hikari has joined #H-1 * LadySnow slumps into the nearest available chair she finds, leaning heavily on the table and trying desperately to focus. * PrincessRoyal has the resigned, slightly tired look of someone who's had enough crappily late nights to be able to handle it, and hates that fact. * LadyTwister decides to sit right next to Snow, taking a moment to pat her on the shoulder. "Okay, maybe we need to cut back on your intake a little." * Ozawa barely relaxes. "Ma'am, I'm Sergeant-Major Ozawa. ...retired. I served under you in the Kuwait deployment, ma'am, and it's an honor to work for you again. I'm your adjutant, and armorer, and all-around, uh..." He looks at all the young faces. "Babysitter. Ma'am." * LadyKiss looks around, trying to keep a smile on her face. It's an uphill battle she's losing. I... told you I couldn't handle it like you... *another big yawn* * Hikari walks over to a chair and takes a seat, trying to draw as little attention to herself as she can. Once seated, she begins to scan the room for the rest of these people she will be working with, trying to size them up, so to speak. It's easy. Water. Lots of water. * LadyTwister does take a moment to scan about, lips pursing now and then. * Hikaru snickers at the man's choice of the term "babysitter." * PrincessRoyal nods again, less curtly this time. "Ah. Well, I thank you for your service, past and present, Sergeant-Major." * LadyBobOmb smiles, and nods politely at Sergeant-Major Ozawa. ^^ * A little spider crawls its way up onto the cap closing Hikaru's soda bottle. It almost seems to be looking around. * PrincessRoyal does a quick headcount. "Everyone here? Are we ready to get started?" * Ozawa moves to stand behind the loose row of MG's. I think this is it. * LadyKiss just nods at Princess Royal, still fighting with that smile. I was drinking water up until I fell asleep in that room they stuck us in... *water starts condensing around the spots of the table she's leaning on. Anyone who sits next to her finds it to be noticably cooler around her.* * LadyBobOmb nods at Princess Royal, with the same smile she gave Ozawa. "Hai." Ladies and Lord, welcome. I'm afraid this is not the way we prefer to put H-1 teams together, but the crisis at hand has forced us to rush. A lot. Yes, ma'am. Highness? * LadyTwister gives Snow another pat, then looks up and listens. * LadySnow looks a bit confused at Royal trying to recognize her. * Hikaru shivers, since he's coincidentally on the other side of Snow from Twister. He doesn't seem to mind, though. * LadySnow blinks a couple times and rubs her eyes, looking up. There she freezes and her eyes immediately widen looking rather panicked. *** Hikari has quit IRC (Ping timeout) There's... a... spider! *** Hikari has joined #H-1 * LadySnow clings to Twister for protection ignoring the fact that she's very very cold to be next to. ... and? * Shihei-san looks askance. * PrincessRoyal raises an eyebrow. And spiders bite! * LadyTwister glances over, then takes a moment to pry Snow off of her politely. "We have a meeeetiiiing..." * LadyKiss shrugs. "I'm sure the dear spider thinks the same of you." * LadyBobOmb glances tiredly over at Snow, idly noting that Spiders = Woke Up Snow. But but but... Shhh. I see a couple of you have already recognized Princess General Royal. She's going to be your team leader. * LadyTwister holds a finger to her lips, then points towards the important peoples. * PrincessRoyal smiles a small smile. "Good mooorning, everyone." * Hikaru blinks. "That's just Spinner. He won't bite." * LadySnow gets up and shuffles to the other side of Twister, trying REALLY hard not to look at the spider, but still keeping an eye on it in case it attacks. A pleasure to meet you, Princess General. It's a uh... *glances at the spider* honor, your Highness. * LadyBobOmb stands, and bows deeply at Royal. "It will be a pleasure to work under you." She sits back down. Normally we prefer to draw the leaders from within the team, but that's not possible, and we may need the extra throw weight. And she was on this team. Once. Sort of. It's a real pleasure to meet you, Ma'am. * Hikaru reaches down and holds his palm out. Spinner crawls from the cap to the young man's hand, and up his arm. "I am terribly sorry, miss," says the spider in what is either a small boy's or a young woman's voice, "I promise I will not accost you." * LadySnow gives an awkward curtsy. * LadyTwister nods respectfully. "Morning, ma'am." * Hikaru bows politely, once the spider is comfortably ensconsed on his shoulder. "A veteran in this team's duties. An honor and a privelage, ma'am." You better not... *she mumbles back sheepishly at the spider* Okay, here's what's going on. * LadySnow looks up again as something infinitely more exciting piques her interest.. "She's gonna be our leader? Will she sign my cards?" * Hikaru holds a hand over his mouth as he bites back a yawn, still standing and trying to pay attention. * LadyTwister stifles a stretch and a yawn, glowing eyes blinking a few times in the patch of darkness covering them. She then also gives Snow a polite elbow to the side. The front whiteboard lights up, becoming a wide display, showing some strange scenes of crushed cars near a park. * LadySnow eeps and goes quiet with another mumbled "Sorry." You'll remember the to-do a month ago with the EU embassies over parking and traffic and... things. * PrincessRoyal quirks her lips. "Maybe later." She turns to the display. The uh... Yeah, okay. *tries to remember* * PrincessRoyal winces at the mention of "embassies." After that... we started watching the EU member nations closer, and were twigged to some... odd things being smuggled in by the Belgians. The biologicals? We heard, third-hand, that some biologicals were coming in yesterday. We scanned the diplomatic luggage with sonics and thermal imaging, and spotted something suspicious. Odd things. I imagine nothing legal, ma'am? I don't think they'd be smuggling legal stuff. Image changes to a thermal scan of a suitcase, with a small warm spot. * LadyKiss bites her lip, scowling a bit. We don't know exactly what. H-1 had a good idea of who in the embassy was involved, and they followed them when left the embassy last night about 2000. But it's something they'd want to kill Ladies for I guess... They tracked the Belgians' car across the city, to the Ningyo City parking garage. I'm more worried that they -could- kill Ladies. * LadySnow sounds very depressed about this idea. That would cause a diplomatic shitstorm, though, even if they could. Do..do we know how they were...killed? Well... you're going to go take a look at that in a little bit. Eww... * LadyTwister simply nods, biting back another yawn. Lady Jump, the team leader, must have smelled some sort of trouble, because she had H-4 already scrambling to the scene before we lost contact. When was this? *** Hikari has quit IRC (Ping timeout) Apparently the Belgians were meeting some people on the roof of the garage, and H-1 swooped in to sweep up all of them, and the package. *** Hikari has joined #H-1 Must have been... 2100? Right around then. Let me guess: The package was gone when H-4 got there. And that's when we lost contact with H-1. Then... the H-4 team arrived, and their radiation sensors started going nuts. How long before she called H-4 and you lost contact with her? Judging by the fact that we're here, the sweeping failed... but radiation. Bomb-making material, maybe? There's a span of about five minutes when we have no information about what happened in the garage. No cameras or anything? * PrincessRoyal shoves her hands into the pockets of her dress slacks and frowns. The radiation's the really freaky part, since the airport sensors detected none when the package was scanned. Maybe it wasn't from the package thingy then. As for cameras in the garage... they were fried by a surge before the Belgians arrived. What about external cameras or ones on nearby buildings? Oh so convient. Isn't it? So we can assume the Belgians' contact was there, and well-equipped. * LadyBobOmb frowns. "The cameras being fried sounds intentional." * Hikaru smiles and nods. Doesn't it, though. How were they disabled? Well, unless the container was lined with something that could block radiation... that, or something else introduced it. Either or, we'll find out something if we're going to go there. *** Hikari has quit IRC (Ping timeout) Quite. Lead or whatever would show up on scanners, wouldn't it? <_< No. * Hikaru opens his soda and drinks some of it. From the sound of the hiss when he unscrewed it, it still hasn't gone flat. Mmm. What's the scene like beside the radiation? How were the Ladies killed? You'll see. * LadySnow you can almost see the wheels turning in her head as she's trying to figure everything out. * Shihei-san stands up. "I'm sorry, Princess, that we've dumped you into this with so little background. If you've got questions, call me." We'll know when we know... huh. Sakura-sama may also be going on-site as well, and I know you know her. * PrincessRoyal pinches the bridge of her nose, but shakes her head. "Don't worry about it. I've seen worse last-minute briefings. Thank you." Ah, yes. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get to work on Her Majesty's morning briefing. Of course. Wait, but, so... we're just going out there? Now? Yup. Hope you got your best out of that nap. * Shihei-san lurches away from the desk, tossing her empty energy drink in the trash as she exits the room. I didn't, but I'll manage... do we have any evidence-gathering equipment? *** Spinner has joined #H-1 *** Shihei-san is now known as NPC1 * PrincessRoyal nods to Ozawa. "What d'you have for us, Sergeant-Major?" * LadyTwister stretches again, smacking her lips and fighting through the last bits of hangover-fog. Of course Ma'am. Not much forensic gear, but H-4 is mostly handling that anyway. Right. Ooh, we get stuff? I do have standard 11mm's for everyone - H-1 members customarily go into the field armed with at least that much. * Hikaru takes another gulp of soda, wincing as the fizz burns his throat on the way down, and caps the drink again. Ah well. Also, I have H-2 PDA's and agency EI's, so you can interface with other agencies. * LadyKiss smiles nodding at all this. There are a few other goodies in the bags, just in case, but I'm hoping we won't have to break out the heavy weapons today. You and me both, Ozawa. Intra-team communications? Or at least not before we can settle into the new headquarters. Ooooh, we get a headquarters?! The PDA's are on the Hierarchy datanet. If you need a headset attachement, I've got those. * LadyTwister smiles, just a tad. "Sounds like we're actually going into the field decently decked-out." Probably a good idea, just in case. Even if it is mostly nostalgia. Never know when you might need both hands. ... nostalgia, ma'am? * PrincessRoyal half-grins at Twister. "Tell you later." We can gin up more customized gear later. This is just the very basics. Gotcha. All right, team, let's grab and go. We can play the introductions game on the way, since I'm guessing most of you don't know each other. I'm Lady Snow! * PrincessRoyal takes a duffel and swings it over her shoulder by way of example, then steps back to allow the rest of the team access. We've got transport in the northern garage. * LadyTwister blinks at the grin... then eyes Chi. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you, girl." Nonetheless, she stands up and gets to moving. * Hikaru laughs. "I'm D-- Lord Fate. Sorry, old habits die hard." * LadySnow gets up and grabs a duffle as well. She's more awake now that she's had people to interact with but you can still tell she's tired and fighting a hangover. * PrincessRoyal looks around. "Is everyone transformed?" * LadyKiss smiles standing up grabing her stuff. "I'm Lady Kiss, as in...the chocolate." * Hikaru grabs a pack of the equipment, and utters some gibberish. The monocle screen over his right eye flashes what looks like a confirmation as his EI has his PDA start interfacing with the H-2 one, linking him into the Agency datanet. The rest of the pack...where'd it go? My sister and I aren't. I suppose we should. Yes. * LadyBobOmb stands up, and partakes of goodies. She looks at both PDA's for a moment, then, "Glitch, reroute to this new PDA." I transformed when I got here. Your Highness. * PrincessRoyal nods approvingly at Lady Snow. Both Kasumi's and Hikaru's EI's report that they can not transfer, and are only being granted limited access to the H-2 devices. And... hm. Lady Twister. Pleasure to meetcha all. * LadyBobOmb blinks. "Oh, my." Problem? * LadySnow roots around in the bag, finding the shiniest looking thing to play with. * LadyTwister fiddles around in her duffel, then gets things into place with a minimum of fuss. The company PDA doesn't like Glitch. Strictly speaking the stuff in the bags is not shiny at all. Most of it is matte black. Ah. We'll get that cleared up when we get back, then. * LadySnow finds the PDA catches her interest the most and pulls it out and starts pushing buttons. I'm transformed Ma'am. * Hikaru babbles something, then continues in his british-accented japanese, "Same here. I'll discuss it with the techies when we're done. I've got datanet communication, so that should suffice." Bah. I just think Wyrd's being antisocial. You always think Wyrd's being antisocial. * LadyBobOmb nods. Then switches to the new PDA, and starts setting it up. * Hikaru pronounced that word in english, like "weird". * LadySnow walks up in step with Royal as they head out. "Your Highness, ma'am. Can I just say that it's a great honor to be working with you? Even if the circumstances aren't really the most ideal..." * LadyTwister mouthes 'weird', then shakes her head and cracks her knuckles. "Chi, you're something else. You know that, right?" * Ozawa watches to make sure that everyone looks like they know what they're doing with their pistols, then packs up and follows the Princess out. * LadyBobOmb then asks the new EI to do a search on other EI's and cameras in the area to see if they caught anything. And to be thorough. She then tucks it away. * Hikaru 's pistols have vanished, along with the rest of the gear he grabbed, except the PDA, which is sitting next to his own on his belt. * LadySnow blinks at Twister. "What am I supposed to be, Mari?" * PrincessRoyal heads...to the northern garage! * LadyBobOmb follows along. She's not used to this place yet. * LadySnow leaves her pistol in the bag for the time being. * PrincessRoyal nods at Snow. "Oh? Thank you, Lady Snow." There's a 15-passenger bus waiting for them. The team boards, and they drive out through the security tunnels, then onto the South Tokyo Bypass. * LadySnow blushes a bit at being addressed directly. Special. Heh. It's worrisome that there were no worthwhile survivors. * LadyTwister gives Snow a pat on the back and grins, eyes gleaming brightly in amusement. And and if there's anything I can do to help you out, please please let me know and I'd be more than happy to do it. Your Highness. Ma'am. * LadyKiss smiles looking over at every one. * Hikaru pulls a heavy jacket-looking thing out, and starts donning it while they ride. * PrincessRoyal looks at Snow directly, a gleam of amusement in her eye. "I believe, for now, your duties as part of this team will suffice. I'll keep the offer in mind, though." * Hikaru can't help but giggling - a bit on the manic side - at Snow's hero-worshipful tones. * LadyBobOmb giggles at Snow. * Hikaru chugs a bit more of his drink. Spinner seems to have disappeared for the moment. This... this is going to make for interesting times. I can already tell. * LadySnow nod nods and smiles brightly. I think you're right. The van moves carefully through traffic, which thins out quickly as the main loop heads north. The team rolls on eastward for a few kilometers, then through a police cordon at the exit to Ningyo City. *** Hikari has joined #H-1 * LadySnow fights and fails to hold back the urge to fangirl gush. "So you knew the first Queen then, Miss Royal?" * LadyBobOmb blinks, and watches Snow. * LadyTwister almost says something, but keeps it down, instead taking her ten-gallon off and idly polishing the star on it. ...yes. Not well, though. I was only a Lady at the time-probably Junior Lady, by today's standards-and so I wasn't close to her by any means, but yes. (scratch that ",but yes" at the end) But you still got to talk to her, right? What was she like? * LadyKiss settles back and watches Princess Royal taking interest in the conversation* *** Princess_Royal has joined #H-1 * Hikaru pulls out a european longsword with engravings in some strange alphabet all along its blade. Hikari grasps the hilt and, as they both hold it, they state in unison, "By this sword, the Omen of things to come, let Fate and Destiny walk upon this earth." * Hikari grabs the longsword that Hikaru has pulled out and recites along with him, ""By this sword, the Omen of things to come, let Fate and Destiny walk upon this earth." A bit, at meetings, briefings and the like. I only ever saw her official side, which was...well, official. * LadyBobOmb stifles a giggle at 'official.' Mm. *nods absorbing this new information and filing it away for later* * Ozawa eyes the transformation critically, but witholds comment. *** PrincesssRoyal has joined #H-1 * LadyTwister takes a moment to look back at Hikaru and Hikari. "Huh..." (switch Mina's line to above the transformations) * Hikaru simply...changes. For a moment, it looked as if he would be clad in a suit from an indeterminant era, but then he's just wearing what he was before. His hair, however, is now a platinum blond, and his features a bit more angular. The bags under his eyes seem gone, too. * LadyBobOmb then applauds Hik^2. "How interesting. What does the sword say?" *** Spinner is now known as Weaver *** Hikaru is now known as Lord_Fate * LadyBobOmb pulls her EI out, playing back the recording of the transformation and freezing a frame of the sword, seeing what the text on the sword translates to. * Hikari stands there for a moment and then a moderately bright flash of light occurs around her. When the light is gone, you can see that her jeans and shirt outfit has changed to an elegant black floor-length dress with a shawl draped about her arms. Her hair has gone blond also, and is now a good six to eight inches longer than it was before. That IS interesting there. * Weaver is clinging to Lord Fate's left wrist. He's about half the size of a human fist, and his legs are angular in the extreme, almost making him look like a piece of jewelry with them wrapped around the Lord's wrist. * PrincesssRoyal raises her eyebrows. "Hm." I wish there was more info on her. I looked on the internet and stuff but it's hard to find any real reliable information. I guess it's cause the Palace wasn't public back then... *is mostly oblivious to the transformation having seen enough of them in school and the like.* It's name. *yawns, less extravagantly than before; he certainly doesn't look nearly so tired now* It's called Omen. Iiiinteresting. That's a long name. ^^ It says other things, but nothing really important. It takes effort for me to read it. * LadyKiss smiles a bit. "It's a beautiful weapon though." Where'd you get it? Ah. I'd love to know the full text, if you have the time. ^^ * Lord_Fate puts sheathes it over his shoulder, and leans back in his seat. The sword seems to be gone. He just smiles at Lady Snow, partly mysterious, mostly mischievous. We'd lose part of our mystery if we just came out and told you where it came from. The bus has been winding its way around the parking garage, and comes to a stop on the sixth floor. I imagine some questions are best left unanswered, Chi. Mystery? *blinks* *** Hikari is now known as LadyDestiny Just don't ask Destiny about who you're going to marry. She -hates- that. Who am I going to marry? ... The door opens, and the team exits into the midst of an improvised decontamination zone. You can see the future?! * LadyBobOmb nods. "Knowing the ..." * LadyKiss smiles right into Fate's face. "Don't worry dear, I think I make my own destiny in that matter." * PrincesssRoyal exits slowly, taking everything in. * LadyKiss is still smiling as she gets out and looks around. Yeah, but I don't really like to talk about it. Makes people think that they can change their destiny. But... knowing your destiny takes all the fun out of it. *** Princess_Royal has quit IRC (Ping timeout) * LadySnow puts her hands behind her back. "How many fingers am I holding up? (") * LadyTwister shrugs. "It's harder to life for the moment when you know what it'll be. And Chi, stop that." In relation to the floor? All of them. *** PrincessRoyal has quit IRC (Ping timeout) * LadySnow looks at Twister and pouts. "Whaaaat?" Don't treat teammates' powers like cheap party tricks. Men and women in H-4 standard, bright yellow NBC protection suits are moving around busilly. Also, there's a Ningyo. * LadyTwister wags a finger, but is obviously amused as all get-out. But you made me make ice that time we ran out! *** NPC1 is now known as Anya That was important. I don't like my gin cold. * LadySnow climbs out as she talks. Excuse me... EXCUSE MEEE! * LadyTwister catches the ningyo out of the corner of her eye, and can't help but look. Ooh. Crime scene. It's like we're on TV. * LadyKiss looks at the lady screaming excuse me. * PrincesssRoyal 's hand twitches almost imperceptibly, but she stops it. * Anya is floating along above a thin sheen of water, her tail twitching in visible frustration. * Lord_Fate laughs, still a bit giddilly. He helps his sister down out of the bus, almost gentlemanly. * LadySnow holds up her PDA and points it at various things. * LadyTwister seems to change in demeanor almost automatically once she realizes what's going on, but she also looks frustrated. "Shit, I feel like I should be helping with the investigation." One of you is a Princess, I know, I can feel you. * LadyDestiny accepts Fate's help out of the bus and then strolls over the the possibly-irate person trying to get peoples' attention. Good morning, miss. *he addresses the Ningyo* These things take pictures don't they? How do you make them do that? * PrincesssRoyal crosses her arms. "Can we help you?" * Lord_Fate utters some gibberish, quietly, and Snow gets a small program sent to her PDA offering to perform picture-taking duties for her. Oooh. Neat. Snow? Ask it to auto-record and index everything. They usually also have a voice interface. Simply ask it to. * LadySnow takes lots and lots of pictures as she looks around. I want to know when you're going to get your goons out of our parking garage! The tourist attractions are opening up in *checks her watch* Less than three hours, and if we can't park people, we can't do business!! Uh... we'll be quick? Hi Ms. Ningyo! I'm sorry, but we need to look at everything before we let anyone else in here. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but if the garage is contaminated, you probably won't get much business anyway. * LadyTwister is busy getting used to her PDA, although she's still looking between the scene and the ningyo. *** Sharyna has joined #H-1 *** Sharyna is now known as Royal * Lord_Fate sets his own EI to scanning the garage, and has it issue instructions to the agency one to acquire any information from local equipment on what's been found since the briefing. "I'm sure you want this handled as thoroughly as we do, given the severity of the situation, miss." I'll see what I can do, though. And the Lady - the little insolent brat! - you have in charge here is saying that we may not have it open for a week! WHO'S GOING TO PAY FOR THE ECONOMIC DAMAGE! *** Royal is now known as PrincessRoyal What Lady? * LadyKiss knows when to keep her mouth shut so goes to look around. She's with H-4, I think. You'd have to pay a lot of economic damage if people came here and sued you, too. But yes, let's speak the Lady in charge here. * Ozawa stays in the van. It's not safe yet, Miss. If you let people in now, your tourists wouldn't appreciate becoming sick becuase they visited. * LadyTwister seems content to use the PDA to scan and record, mostly testing it out. "Not bad at all... could use some kind of biological scanner, though..." Hey now, we don't have to scare her. * Anya flounces alongside Royal, gritting her teeth. We can't give any assurances without knowing the full situation, either. * LadyBobOmb has both her EIs already interfacing with local equipment and EI's as much as they can. * LadyDestiny is perfectly content scanning the area with her own two eyes. * Lord_Fate looks around for the corpses and for damaged architecture, trying to ascertain what sort of ordinance might have been utilized. He's somewhat following Royal and the Ningyo, though, keeping them in earshot. * LadySnow walks over to her and says as politely as she can, "I'm very sorry for the inconvenience, but it's very important that we be allowed to work here without being disturbed. I'm sure the Palace will be more than willing whatever financial damages you incur because of our presense here." The only person you don't see here with in full-body protective gear is wearing an H-4 Captain insignia, and is watching the decontamination shower system as it is tested. * PrincessRoyal winces. "Snow, come here." * LadySnow walks over to Royal. "Yes, Your Highness, ma'am?" The captain's name tag identifies her. *** Ozawa is now known as Lady *** Lady is now known as LadyZero Are you sure we've got enough water flow? You really, really don't want to miss anything... Ah, I know you probably haven't had occasion to encounter her yet, but it's not a good idea to make financial assurances if we aren't certain we can back them up. * PrincessRoyal says that in a lowered tone. * LadyDestiny walks up to Lord Fate. "Looks like someone broke the place before you got the chance this time." I'm just trying to reassure her everything is going to be okay. I think it's better than saying stuff to scare her... I'm sure something can be negotiated... I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to overstep my authority or anything, ma'am. Your Highness. It's okay. We'll talk about it later. I know. Rude of them, wot? * PrincessRoyal turns to the captain. "Good morning," she eyes the tag, "Captain Lady Zero. Can I ask about the situation here?" * LadyTwister takes a moment to look at the decontam shower, then further in to see what she can see. * LadyZero turns around. "Princess! Glad you made it. The faster you guys can walk through the crime scene, the less of this shit is going to make it into the environment. Oh, we intend to get through pretty quickly. What do you have here? The showers are stalls made out of tarpulins, with big hoses pointed at them from above. * LadyBobOmb watches the Ningyo for a while. Being close to one is distracting. But you won't at least open the bottom floors? ... it much be strong enough to light people up inside the perimeter. * LadySnow turns away from the Princess a bit disappointed. She smiles at the Ningyo appologetically. * LadyZero winces. We'll see what we can do when we finish, okay? Ma'am, I'm afraid this is a class-4 hazardous spill, and a crime scene. Personally, I've never seen a mess this bad before. I have. But not in a first-world city. What is the mess? Miss Ningyo? Perhaps it would go faster if you helped them with the decontamination. * PrincessRoyal sucks in a breath. "Shit. Do we need gear?" Let's just see what's going on. The sooner we're in, the faster we're done. I'm sure you would be of great assistance. * Anya looks like she'll start frothing in a moment. "You're destroying our livelihoods!" *** PrincesssRoyal has quit IRC (Ping timeout) We're very sorry! But these things happen. Please understand. Shouting isn't going to make the problem go away. Ma'am, if normal humans parked in this garage right now, they would probably die of cancer in two months. Radiation poisoning if they park on the ninth, in three days. * LadySnow steps back over to the Ningyo talking as nicely and politely as she can and smiling all the while. We didn't cause the radiation, miss. Now, now. How would all those tourists feel if they knew this was a crime scene? I don't think they would be interested in coming to such a recent one. * Lord_Fate laughs. You can be certain we want to clean this up as fast as we can, but we don't KNOW how long that will take. Are you kidding? People love a good crime scene. Not an irradiated one. The trainwreck effect and all that? A good crime scene that's old. Not a recent one that might recoure. It's Hierarchy business. We know there were Ladies here when this happened. ((reoccure)) How many civvie fatalities were due to rubberneckers thinking it was a lark, Sis? ((er.. spell check)) (recur) Our people do not carry this sort of equipment, miss. The Hierarchy will make good our losses, or there's going to be hell to pay. If you have concerns about financial liability that you wish to hold us accountable for, I would suggest lodging a complaint with Duchess Squeegee. * Lord_Fate turns, opening his mouth to scold the Ningyo, but bites his tongue. * LadyDestiny tilts her head towards Fate. "Many. And I don't think these arguments are really helping solve problems." * PrincessRoyal smiles, all politeness. Only a close observer would notice the slightly malicious gleam in her eye at that one. * LadyTwister just walks over to Lady Zero, staying a step behind Royal. "... really, what do we need to do to get this over and done? Tensions seem to be getting a bit high..." She looks back at Anya. * Anya stalks - a real accomplisment with no legs - off to the stairwell. ...oi. * PrincessRoyal shakes her head. "Now, yes. Gear, do you think?" Really, we're very sorry this happened. Being mad isn't going help it any though. Transformed, we're okay on this floor. * LadySnow frowns a bit as she turns back to what they're supposed to be doing. All right, then. You're going to want breather masks on nine. * Lord_Fate nods, grinding his teeth. Lovely. I can walk you through the scene in a minute. SHINOHARA - NEED EIGHT MASKS! AND TELL THE LOCALS TO KEEP THE FUCKING FISH OUT! * PrincessRoyal unzips her duffel and takes out her PDA and a headset, putting it on. "Thanks much." * LadySnow frowns even more at Zero. "That was just uncalled for..." * LadyBobOmb pauses. "If I'm going up to the ninth floor, I may want a full suit." * LadyTwister idly slaps on the headset, then drops her hat on top, adjusting the mike. "Some people don't know much tact, Chi... hoi. You machine. Pick up anything and everything biological y'can that I point you at. ^Got me?^" The PDA chirps brightly. * LadyKiss puts on the headset following the lead. I don't see why it's so hard to just be nice to people... * Anya snaps back at Snow. "You haven't been working around that bitch all night. ...okay, go down to five and suit up if you need one. So what do we do now, Your Highness? We should also sweep eight and ten, but if something is lurking on nine, we may want the full team for a combat scenario. So if you're uncomfortable, you should seek a full suit. You can fight in one, right? (") * Lord_Fate (said that) * LadyZero (said that) Well maybe she has a right to be upset. We are interfering with her livelyhood. * LadyBobOmb pauses, and think a moment. "Yes." Let the Lady do her job. Now, let's take a look at what we've got here.... We are, but some things take precedence. Yes Ma'am. * LadyZero che