01-14-2017, 10:42 PM
A vague feeling stirred up in the back of Utsuho’s mind as she attempted to curl up in the sleeping bag she had been given. Something was being forgotten, and she wasn’t quite sure what. With her right hand, she reached out towards the fabric, intending to grab hold and pull it over herself. Instead, her control rod bumped against her knee, and the hell raven stared at it blankly for a few seconds.
“Right!” She suddenly exclaimed, jolting Aadibah up. There was no way she’d manage to sleep with that control rod affixed to her arm. How did she remove it, though? The hell raven stared, baffled, at the control rod.
Let’s see here.... Her hand was currently closed around a bar on the inside of the device, maybe if she rotated the bar a small bit? Clamping the rod into place with her legs, she gave it a quick, counterclockwise turn, and with a small click, several rods sprung out from around the tip. A low hum escaped Okuu as she shifted her hand back into position, and the smaller rods retreated back into place. That definitely wasn’t what she had been going for.
“What are you doing?” Aadibah asked, breaking the youkai’s concentration.
“Just trying to get this off,” she responded, glancing over at her new friend. “I accidentally released the control rods instead.”
“You’re not about to blow us up, are you?” the soldier narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“Oh! Nothing like that, don’t worry,” Okuu assured her, smiling confidently. “The control rods are just for precision. There won’t be any really big explosions unless I push myself.”
“Okay...” she said after a moment’s pause, not really sure where to go from there. “Just try and keep it down.” With that said, she laid back down and turned away from the youkai.
Okuu meekly hummed an affirmative, turning back to the problem at hand. Almost instantly, the realization hit her like a brick, and she found herself turning bright red. Holding the rod between her legs again, she let go of the bar and simply pulled her arm out of the device. With a deep sigh, she set it off to the side, sparing a quick glance towards Aadibah, who remained still, likely trying to sleep.
Since that ordeal was finished, it was time for her to sleep as well. The hell raven slipped further into the sleeping bag, enveloping herself up to her the base of her wings in the warm fabric. Leaning against the cold stone of the cell, she closed her eyes. Tomorrow would certainly be another fun day, and the sooner she got to it, the better.
***
Silence hung heavily over the room, stirred only faintly by the breaths each of the five members of the Dingo Squad took. They knew they should probably have been getting rest for the trip tomorrow, but that was never how these things worked out.
“Just fucking great...” Gary mumbled, the first to break the silence, swivelling his chair away from the desk and computer.
“At least casualties were in the single digits,” came the even-toned voice of Kurt, sitting in a stool next to him.
“We all know that’s not the problem here,” said Shana, from where she leaned against the wall. “Carrefore is gonna be short two prowlers, a chopper, and five troopers, and with how uppity the raiders get every time a prime comes their way, we can’t afford to be any more undermanned than we already are.”
“You already know how hesitant the higher-ups are about giving us more troopers. They don’t give a shit about some barren wasteland,” Gary sighed into his hands. “Odds are we’ll be getting the bottom of the barrel a week late. And it’s not like they’ll know we’re short, but it’s like Shana said. Doing this quietly ain’t gonna help if some group out there recruits some other dumbass prime. And I doubt the next one is gonna be as easily swayed as the bird.”
“We could order an outpost back in.”
“Ain’t happenin’ Kurt,” Shana responded, “And you know damn well why.”
“This time we’ve got primes,” Tony interjected from his desk, spinning to face his comrades. “We finish this up and have them clear it out for us. No lost troopers.”
“If you want the outpost levelled, sure,” Gary interjected. “You know primes. Collateral damage doesn’t mean shit to them. If you could summon up an entirely new tank each time someone blew a hole in yours, you wouldn’t give a fuck either. Besides, there’s no guarantee they’d succeed.”
“The alternative. Is. Worse.” Rose signed quick, before turning back to her monitor.
“If we come back to a trashed Carrefore, it doesn’t matter what high-priority mission we were sent on,” said Kurt. “Our asses will be canned. Especially if this star turns out to be nothing.”
“What are the odds of that, though?” Gary asked. “The Kingdom, Empire, and even random-ass primes are interested in this shit. This isn’t a false alarm.”
“So we can’t call in an outpost, and we can’t leave Carrefore short-staffed.” Shana said. “What can we do then? Leave someone behind?”
“...Actually might not be that bad of an idea,” Tony responded. “We’ve got two primes who are willing and able to help. They should be able to provide enough extra firepower to at least make up for one of us.”
“It wouldn’t make up for the missing vehicles,” Kurt followed up, “But at the least the trooper shortage would be more manageable.”
“But who?” Tony asked.
“Well, what do we know about the primes so far?” Shana replied.
“For Aadibah...” Gary began, swivelling his chair around to look at some papers on his desk. “It seems she was a combat engineer in her past life. We don’t know how accomplished of a soldier she was though. She hasn’t exactly been open. At least we can count on emergency repairs if one of the prowlers breaks down. And for Reiuji... Nuclear fusion, was it? She’s not a soldier, but that doesn’t really matter because she blew up a fucking jeep with her finger. Simple enough, we point her at the enemy and she obliterates them.”
“I guess that makes things simple,” Tony said, pushing himself to his feet. “Let’s keep the collateral damage to a minimum.”
“Alright, keep us updated,” Gary responded, rising from his seat as well. “We’ll see you again when we get back.”
***
“Rise and shine,” a voice, accompanied by a hand on her shoulder stirred Utsuho up from her sleep.
“...Later...” the young youkai groaned, voice groggy. She curled her wings around her body, as if trying to shield herself from the onslaught.
“No, now.” The voice, that Okuu now recognized as Aadibah, grew stronger. Her demand was punctuated by a heavy thud against her right foot. A small, sleepy giggle escaped her, as the soldier’s foot slammed into her concrete boot, causing her to curse loudly. Almost instantly, two hands clamped onto her shoulders with a vice-like grip, driving in a spear of pain that woke up Okuu in a moment.
“I’m sorry! I’m up, I’m up!” she protested, hands flying up and latching onto Aadibah’s wrists.
“Good,” she growled, releasing her grip. “We don’t have time to dick around so grab your... rod there, and let’s get going.”
“Yessir!” Utsuho affirmed as she got to her feet as quickly as she could. “Do you think they’ll let me keep the sleeping bag?” She wasn’t used to sleeping without the fires of hell to warm her. The only reason she was able to sleep last night was by keeping the nuclear reactions burning. It had been a low burn, but she was probably running a bit low on fuel right now.
“They probably have some already packed,” Aadibah responded, stepping over to the cell door.
“I hope so,” she replied, picking her control rod up off the ground, and following the soldier.
***
“Alright...” Utsuho mumbled, staring blankly at the assortment of items lying in front of her, along with the vehicle she had been led to. This must have been the one that the troopers were talking about yesterday, and it seemed off. “Is... is that safe?” she asked as she turned towards her friend, pointing at the seats seemingly macgyvered to the odd, sled-looking protrusions jutting out from about where the engine was. Though the hell raven didn’t know what sort of power this odd machine ran on, it probably wasn’t cool by any stretch of the imagination.
Aadibah, now noticing the same thing, frowned. “I... assume that it must be...” she responded, “They wouldn’t have put it there otherwise.”
“That seems like a recipe for burns...” Okuu muttered, setting her control rod down against the seat as she leaned towards the engine for closer inspection. With the cool, early morning sunlight, there wasn't much to be seen, however.
“Well, we don’t have time to debate whether it’s safe or not,” the soldier said, already climbing into her seat. “Get in the seat, get the handcuffs on, take the melatonin, get your sack on.”
“First!” she exclaimed, not yet following the order, “Wrap yourself up in this!” She reached her hands back, between the base of her wings, where her cape was tied up, and with an unusually deft movement, untied it. With a quick hop onto the sled portion, her corium boot thumping hard against the metal, she reached over the top of the vehicle, presenting the brilliantly starry fabric to her comrade, and continued. “It can withstand fusion-level temperatures. All my clothes do, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to use my nuclear fusion.” Aadibah’s gaze jumped between the youkai’s face and the fabric in her hands. “...Well, I would still be able to use it. It would just be...”
“Thank you,” she cut off Okuu, taking the cape from her hands. “But hurry up.”
“Okay!” the hell raven replied, smiling brightly, and dropped into her seat.
“Right!” She suddenly exclaimed, jolting Aadibah up. There was no way she’d manage to sleep with that control rod affixed to her arm. How did she remove it, though? The hell raven stared, baffled, at the control rod.
Let’s see here.... Her hand was currently closed around a bar on the inside of the device, maybe if she rotated the bar a small bit? Clamping the rod into place with her legs, she gave it a quick, counterclockwise turn, and with a small click, several rods sprung out from around the tip. A low hum escaped Okuu as she shifted her hand back into position, and the smaller rods retreated back into place. That definitely wasn’t what she had been going for.
“What are you doing?” Aadibah asked, breaking the youkai’s concentration.
“Just trying to get this off,” she responded, glancing over at her new friend. “I accidentally released the control rods instead.”
“You’re not about to blow us up, are you?” the soldier narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“Oh! Nothing like that, don’t worry,” Okuu assured her, smiling confidently. “The control rods are just for precision. There won’t be any really big explosions unless I push myself.”
“Okay...” she said after a moment’s pause, not really sure where to go from there. “Just try and keep it down.” With that said, she laid back down and turned away from the youkai.
Okuu meekly hummed an affirmative, turning back to the problem at hand. Almost instantly, the realization hit her like a brick, and she found herself turning bright red. Holding the rod between her legs again, she let go of the bar and simply pulled her arm out of the device. With a deep sigh, she set it off to the side, sparing a quick glance towards Aadibah, who remained still, likely trying to sleep.
Since that ordeal was finished, it was time for her to sleep as well. The hell raven slipped further into the sleeping bag, enveloping herself up to her the base of her wings in the warm fabric. Leaning against the cold stone of the cell, she closed her eyes. Tomorrow would certainly be another fun day, and the sooner she got to it, the better.
***
Silence hung heavily over the room, stirred only faintly by the breaths each of the five members of the Dingo Squad took. They knew they should probably have been getting rest for the trip tomorrow, but that was never how these things worked out.
“Just fucking great...” Gary mumbled, the first to break the silence, swivelling his chair away from the desk and computer.
“At least casualties were in the single digits,” came the even-toned voice of Kurt, sitting in a stool next to him.
“We all know that’s not the problem here,” said Shana, from where she leaned against the wall. “Carrefore is gonna be short two prowlers, a chopper, and five troopers, and with how uppity the raiders get every time a prime comes their way, we can’t afford to be any more undermanned than we already are.”
“You already know how hesitant the higher-ups are about giving us more troopers. They don’t give a shit about some barren wasteland,” Gary sighed into his hands. “Odds are we’ll be getting the bottom of the barrel a week late. And it’s not like they’ll know we’re short, but it’s like Shana said. Doing this quietly ain’t gonna help if some group out there recruits some other dumbass prime. And I doubt the next one is gonna be as easily swayed as the bird.”
“We could order an outpost back in.”
“Ain’t happenin’ Kurt,” Shana responded, “And you know damn well why.”
“This time we’ve got primes,” Tony interjected from his desk, spinning to face his comrades. “We finish this up and have them clear it out for us. No lost troopers.”
“If you want the outpost levelled, sure,” Gary interjected. “You know primes. Collateral damage doesn’t mean shit to them. If you could summon up an entirely new tank each time someone blew a hole in yours, you wouldn’t give a fuck either. Besides, there’s no guarantee they’d succeed.”
“The alternative. Is. Worse.” Rose signed quick, before turning back to her monitor.
“If we come back to a trashed Carrefore, it doesn’t matter what high-priority mission we were sent on,” said Kurt. “Our asses will be canned. Especially if this star turns out to be nothing.”
“What are the odds of that, though?” Gary asked. “The Kingdom, Empire, and even random-ass primes are interested in this shit. This isn’t a false alarm.”
“So we can’t call in an outpost, and we can’t leave Carrefore short-staffed.” Shana said. “What can we do then? Leave someone behind?”
“...Actually might not be that bad of an idea,” Tony responded. “We’ve got two primes who are willing and able to help. They should be able to provide enough extra firepower to at least make up for one of us.”
“It wouldn’t make up for the missing vehicles,” Kurt followed up, “But at the least the trooper shortage would be more manageable.”
“But who?” Tony asked.
“Well, what do we know about the primes so far?” Shana replied.
“For Aadibah...” Gary began, swivelling his chair around to look at some papers on his desk. “It seems she was a combat engineer in her past life. We don’t know how accomplished of a soldier she was though. She hasn’t exactly been open. At least we can count on emergency repairs if one of the prowlers breaks down. And for Reiuji... Nuclear fusion, was it? She’s not a soldier, but that doesn’t really matter because she blew up a fucking jeep with her finger. Simple enough, we point her at the enemy and she obliterates them.”
“I guess that makes things simple,” Tony said, pushing himself to his feet. “Let’s keep the collateral damage to a minimum.”
“Alright, keep us updated,” Gary responded, rising from his seat as well. “We’ll see you again when we get back.”
***
“Rise and shine,” a voice, accompanied by a hand on her shoulder stirred Utsuho up from her sleep.
“...Later...” the young youkai groaned, voice groggy. She curled her wings around her body, as if trying to shield herself from the onslaught.
“No, now.” The voice, that Okuu now recognized as Aadibah, grew stronger. Her demand was punctuated by a heavy thud against her right foot. A small, sleepy giggle escaped her, as the soldier’s foot slammed into her concrete boot, causing her to curse loudly. Almost instantly, two hands clamped onto her shoulders with a vice-like grip, driving in a spear of pain that woke up Okuu in a moment.
“I’m sorry! I’m up, I’m up!” she protested, hands flying up and latching onto Aadibah’s wrists.
“Good,” she growled, releasing her grip. “We don’t have time to dick around so grab your... rod there, and let’s get going.”
“Yessir!” Utsuho affirmed as she got to her feet as quickly as she could. “Do you think they’ll let me keep the sleeping bag?” She wasn’t used to sleeping without the fires of hell to warm her. The only reason she was able to sleep last night was by keeping the nuclear reactions burning. It had been a low burn, but she was probably running a bit low on fuel right now.
“They probably have some already packed,” Aadibah responded, stepping over to the cell door.
“I hope so,” she replied, picking her control rod up off the ground, and following the soldier.
***
“Alright...” Utsuho mumbled, staring blankly at the assortment of items lying in front of her, along with the vehicle she had been led to. This must have been the one that the troopers were talking about yesterday, and it seemed off. “Is... is that safe?” she asked as she turned towards her friend, pointing at the seats seemingly macgyvered to the odd, sled-looking protrusions jutting out from about where the engine was. Though the hell raven didn’t know what sort of power this odd machine ran on, it probably wasn’t cool by any stretch of the imagination.
Aadibah, now noticing the same thing, frowned. “I... assume that it must be...” she responded, “They wouldn’t have put it there otherwise.”
“That seems like a recipe for burns...” Okuu muttered, setting her control rod down against the seat as she leaned towards the engine for closer inspection. With the cool, early morning sunlight, there wasn't much to be seen, however.
“Well, we don’t have time to debate whether it’s safe or not,” the soldier said, already climbing into her seat. “Get in the seat, get the handcuffs on, take the melatonin, get your sack on.”
“First!” she exclaimed, not yet following the order, “Wrap yourself up in this!” She reached her hands back, between the base of her wings, where her cape was tied up, and with an unusually deft movement, untied it. With a quick hop onto the sled portion, her corium boot thumping hard against the metal, she reached over the top of the vehicle, presenting the brilliantly starry fabric to her comrade, and continued. “It can withstand fusion-level temperatures. All my clothes do, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to use my nuclear fusion.” Aadibah’s gaze jumped between the youkai’s face and the fabric in her hands. “...Well, I would still be able to use it. It would just be...”
“Thank you,” she cut off Okuu, taking the cape from her hands. “But hurry up.”
“Okay!” the hell raven replied, smiling brightly, and dropped into her seat.
![[Image: testclown.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/426940169548201995/453802699662557184/testclown.png)
Yuuka Kazami Wrote:Reimu comes back to make another pass at Meira and she just has an idiot neck child.
Credit to Yuuka for the sig