Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): Nexus Earth - Chapter 9.2 Desolate Litany

[Kazuo]

"Yeah", said Kazuo, "I got one." He was very impressed with the mecha, as they didn't have toys like that to play with where he'd just come from. Which was a funny thing, since the GTA (and for that matter, the Fusion) had been well-established and highly advanced, with established routes of travel, trade and communication spread across hundreds of thousands of light years of space - but they didn't have anything like these giant fighting robots. Weird.

He looked at Lunamaria and asked, "Who's this asshole we're supposed to be fightin', an' why's everyone think he's such an asshole in the first place?

[Justin OOC]

Lunamaria shook her head. "His name is Takashi Satoshi, one the heir to Satoshi Heavy Industries, And Captain of the Elite Crisis Response Team Two. He is one of the only two Skeleton Keys we know of. He was among the first to graduate the modern Satoshi Academy a decade ago, His skill and aptitude earning him a slot as a Lieutenant. He ascended quickly and became a Captain in only two years."

"I can only tell you what I saw of his personality, but even other more veteran Captains and officers gave him a wide berth. He was the Prince i guess, and he expected everyone to serve him, and let him do as he wished. Captain Bordeaux shot him down a number of times, romantically, and in training, and he never took it well. He went on a mission with Head Captain Hayami, and his Son Atsushi Hayami, then Captain of CRT-3 and came back with almost split personalities. He would smile innocently, just before he killed something, or look at someone as if to cause them to die right there, and then compliment them."

"When we discovered Captain Morisato, Takashi's position was threatened, as Kai has a stronger claim, and half the other captains supported him and the Dalaraan Princess's call for peace."

"Incensed over this, He started the Civil war, murdering a number of officers, and rallying his allies to attack the others. In a sanctioned duel, Captain Ishiyama, one of the Full Asrai serving with us, managed to barely defeat him, forcing him to vacate Japan. He and his forces went to North America and laid half of the Continent low as they made their way to The Andean base and the three warships there in production. Odds are, all three are here in this system, along with the better part of four Crisis Response teams."

"We know he's got two powerful allies, Captain Khirghiz, CRT-6 commander, and his heavy assault team, and former head Captain Hizashi Hayami, Commander of the ultra-Elite CRT-1.

"You want to know why he's so bad? In his regular form he can destroy a city, With Bankai released, we start talking countries. That's what I've heard."

"No one on this ship has ever served under him, but his name generally invokes disgust and outrage. Single-handedly he nearly undid all the work that's been done up till now."

[z-Skye the Fallen]

Skye was impressed with the giant robots; it was hard not to be in awe of something so massive and lethal. She was still betting that Prince Haresdlsiethseizarishtelsith could take on of those robots apart with ease, and his father could have handled two or three. She would certainly love to have even Azorhtowizanaidrar, the 'baby' dragon she'd rescued. Though Azzy was little bigger than a horse, she still packed a mean punch.

Still, her interest started to wan as she wandered through areas she didn't understand well. She got the basic concepts, but that was it. Kazuo's question caught her attention, and she looked at Lunamaria with renewed interest. The answer wasn't quite what she expected.

Skye stared at Lunamaria, trying to absorb all the girl was telling her. But with the phrases and words that had no meaning to her, she was just as lost as if the lieutenant had told her that he garfaboled a level fifteen kill-stick. It was all Goblin to her. "No offense, Lieutenant, but what you just said means almost nothing," she said without rancor. "You're describing everything in terms that someone from your universe is going to understand clearly, but means nothing to me. And if I'm going to help you, I have to know something about what I'll be facing.

"Also, what work?" Skye seemed calm and unconcerned. And she was, largely because she couldn't understand the danger and therefore wasn't going to fret about it. She'd help unless she couldn't, and then she'd likely die. Such was the life of a Priestess of Luna.

[Justin OOC]

"Takashi is a genocidal maniac who only believes in the purity of the human race, and that anyone with non-prime human or non-human DNA is worthy only of destruction. He hates people like me, like most of the people Lily and Valerie and Georgi rescued."

"He can open any door, any lock, and this includes those between worlds and dimensions. His Zanputou, his sword, is among the most powerful ever. My Captain once told me of some of the things he's capable of, and showed me the scar he gave her, a woman he professed to love at one time. He's simply put dangerous. I'd rather fight a dozen rounds against a team of Spartans without my gundam than fight him."

"His Gundam, The Epyon Shadow, is capable of cutting a starship in half. It's among the fastest mecha ever produced. Sadly the fulls specs on it are lost, so we can only go off previous footage, but he's a tough customer, that sending any of my men against is akin to suicide orders."

[Kazuo]

Kazuo scowled as Lunamaria "answered" (emphasis on the quotation marks, yeah?) his question. This chick made about as much sense as pink tassels hangin' off the ends of a Harley Davidson's handlebars.

"No shit!", he said in loud agreement when Skye called the girl on her amazing lack of helpful informativeness or insight. "Listen, I appreciate yer enthusiasm there, Moon-Mary, but what I think might help us all out a bit here, is if you could pretend yer talkin' to a coupla people who've seen maybe six episodes o' Mobile Suit Gundam between 'em. Hey?"

Kazuo's glower only increased in intensity and depth of feeling as the young Satoshi woman's "explanation" (still emphasizing those quotation marks) continued. "Yeah", he growled, "great. This Takashi joker's the biggest badass in history with the most badass giant-robot mecha in history - but only cuz some chucklehead managed to lose the thing's specs - he's gonna fuckin' hate my wings an' Skye here's ears are just gonna piss him right th'hell off, and you", Kazuo pointed an index finger at Lunamaria, "have gotta big fuckin' crush on 'im, an' if I wanna join his fanclub I should talk ta you. Got it."

Kazuo smirked as he shot a glance to Skye and then looked back to Lunamaria. "So look, I gather that 'CRT' stands fer 'Crisis Response Team', an' I gather there's at least six of 'em, but so what? What makes these things so fuckin' important? An' what the hell is Satoshi, anyways? Is it a company, a military group, or a kingdom or somethin'? Cuz I can't tell. I mean, what's this guy a prince of?"

[Justin OOC]

Lunamaria's face screwed down to a scowl. With unprecedented speed her hand snaked out and delivered a Stinging slap across his face. "My name is Lunamaria. It's all I have left to remember my family. You don't get to insult that. I get that you have never seen stuff like this before, that alot of what I'm saying makes little sense. That's why I'm here, trying to help you understand as opposed to being out with my troops. Believe me, I'd rather be there." She tugged at the wrist of her left sleeve.

"You want to know what we are? Fine. We're the army that's been fending off two alien Empires from Earth for years. We were the only thing that stood between them and earth. The CRT's are the military arm of the company, a private army of the best of the best. We're equipped with Technology beyond anything Cathedral has, beyond anything in existence."

"The corporate arm of the company has dramatically improved the quality of life around the globe, lately because Captain Morisato and the others saved them. Kai is now head of the military, and of the company."

"On that note recently all that remains of Japan was ceded to Satoshi control, so yes we are a nation of sorts as well, over 1.5 million employees and their families live in what's left."

"As for the number of CRT's we have thirteen in total. There's about two thirds of a full Team on this ship."

She looks to Kazuo. "What you really need to know is that we are in relatively unknown territory, though it's supposedly allied, there are over six dozen ships out there that don't match our given IFF frequencies, and within six hours one of the most power entities around is going to show up and probably make a beeline straight for us. Since we're in this system, I'm hoping our Allies are here too. If they are they might have detected us and we can link up with them before Takashi gets here. Unfortunately there's at least a dozen ships between us and the primary planet of this system. This is The Throneworld of the Dalaraan Empire, one of the two former enemies that was besieging Earth."

She nods. "I cannot tell you everything about Satoshi, there are some things we officers of the new generation haven't been told. Satoshi is my home, it has been my whole life, just like Kelly and her team, and all the others of our generation. We'd all die to protect our home, and each other."

[z-Skye the Fallen]

When Kazuo launched into his queer little rant, the Skye he had known would have tried to stop him and smooth things over. This Skye pressed her lips together and tried not to giggle out loud. She pulled the sleeve of her kimono over her hand and pressed it to her mouth, unsuccessfully hiding a smile. She knew she shouldn't laugh, but she'd relaxed a lot in the last few years, and his rant was ficken hilarious.

All humor fled when Lunamaria slapped him. Skye's vision went red and it took all of her self-control to understand that she was being given information she needed and to restrain herself enough to listen. She was glad she did because it told her what her long-term goal needed to be: it sounded like one person held all the sway around here, and he was the person she needed to become best friends with, and fast. As much as it disturbed her to do that with Kai of all people, she had sucked up to worse creatures.

All of that rational thinking still didn't calm the storm raging in her - this woman had slapped her Kazuo.

"Thank you for that information," Skye said and even to her ears, her voice sounded glacial. Not the kind of glaciers you find on the poles of a planet - no, this was the kind of ice you find in deep space, usually just before it slammed into your ship. "It's very helpful to know all of that, so thank you."

Skye took a step forward, moving between Lunamaria and Kazuo while getting into Lunamaria's personal space at the same time. Her knuckles were bone white as her hands gripped the whip she'd been toying with throughout the tour. "Now, it's my turn to deliver some information to you. Kazuo is all I have left, and if you ever touch him again, I'll tear off your möpse and feed them to you. Say whatever you want to him, but I'm the only one who gets seinen Arsch versohlen. I don't care what he's done to you, or how he's insulted you." Skye smiled and it wasn't pretty or nice. "Is it fair? No. Is it rational? Not even close. But it is true. Ich schwöre auf mein Mann Scheiterhaufen. Verstanden?"

Frozen blue eyes studied Lunamaria for a moment before Skye added, "Do you have any more information for us, or would you be so kind to show us to our rooms? I think I've had enough."

Oh, she was irritated with Kazuo, too. Trust him to take an already tense situation and make it worse. The difference was that he was her friend, and she'd already accepted his faults, largely. Lunamaria wasn't getting the same pass from her.

Click to reveal..

möpse - "tits"

... seinen Arsch versohlen. "... to spank his ass."

Ich schwöre auf mein Mann Scheiterhaufen. Verstanden? - "I swear on my husband's pyre. Understood?"

[Kazuo]

Kazuo's head snapped back as Loony-maria cracked him across the face, her hand having snaked its way through the blind spot left by his ruined eye. Being slapped by a girl was hardly anything new for someone like Kazuo Kanai, so he was a little better prepared for it than the average guy would've been, but it still stung like a bitch.

What the hell's her problem?, he wondered, With a name like hers, she should be used to comments like that! I mean - shit - it's been a long time since I heard a name that weird...

He had just recovered his wits and was about to lay into Lunamaria for slapping him when Skye stepped in his way and started to verbally rip the strangely-named girl to shreds. Kazuo froze mid-expletive and simply stared, slack-jawed, for the majority of Skye's 'discussion' with the Satoshi woman. Towards the end he finally realized his mouth was still hanging open and snapped it shut.

Holy shit, Skye's even crazier than she used to be!

[Justin OOC]

Lunamaria didn't back down she looked at Skye cooly. "Very Well." She took them from the bay and back to their rooms. "Enjoy your stay aboard the Archangel." She left them there at their rooms, almost an hour gone now.

(The rooms are well appointed staterooms, clearly for high ranking officers. there are TV's with recorded shows from earth, a movie selection, and Computer terminals. the Terminals are coded with limited access to the database, where information corroboratting Lunamaria's rundown, can be found. Pretty much the events of the game thus far save for Ikaris are contained there.)

[Justin OOC]

Kai led Lily and Valerie down to the hangar, and straight to his Mecha, the Meteor. "It's going to be interesting. Ibis and I played with the system when she was training me, seeing if it actually worked." He looked to Valerie. "You remember the system in this thing right?"

He chuckled at least now we know it can seat three people. When Ruri insisted on coming that one time... that was awkward to say the least." The Cockpit hatch was open and he looked to each of them.

Let's go, this is going to take a little startup time, and we'll have to initialize the system." With that he climbed the gantry and entered into the mecha.

(Inside there's a seat to Kai's right with a control panel, and another to the left. These two consoles face each other. They are behind the main pilot seat and slightly elevated.)

[z-Skye the Fallen]

Skye knew that she shouldn’t have said that stuff to Lunamaria – it went against her attempts to project an image of a helpful visitor. And she was still miffed with Kazuo for his part in it. Why did he always have to be a jerk? She let Lunamaria lead them back to their rooms without another statement. Once she was inside her room, she went to the computer and attempted to use the computer system. She hadn’t used one in six years and her skill with them in high school had been lacking at best.

Finally, she shoved back from the desk. “Damn it.” She knew who could help her, but she was still angry at him. However, she also needed to try to tell him to be careful, that it wasn’t safe here without saying it. As advanced and paranoid as Satoshi was, she wouldn’t put it past them to bug her. And if they decide I’m the enemy or it’s inconvenient to have me around, they’ll kill me.

Sighing again, she went and flopped on the bed, really not wanting to lie still but unable to think of anything else to do. She didn’t want to pester Kazuo; chasing after him just so she had some company made her feel awkward and needy. And she was neither of those, so she closed her eyes and tried to rest. She’d need to be ready for meeting “Captain Morisato” and likely the Princess as well. With a final sigh, Skye put her arm over her eyes and tried to calm and prepare her thoughts.

[Kazuo]

Kazuo followed the two ladies, confused and (for him) somewhat cowed. Of course, this just meant all he did was scowl at the walls a lot; it wasn't like he started cringing or wincing or something ridiculous like that.

He just wasn't sure how to react to what had just happened.

Lunamaria's reaction wasn't really all that surprising, all things considered. Kazuo tended to call things like he saw them: Lunamaria's 'tour-guide' skills had been spectacularly unhelpful, so he'd let her know about it - in no uncertain terms - but that didn't mean he had it in for the girl. And the fact that she'd responded immediately - in a way that brooked no misunderstanding - meant that Kazuo now felt some measure of respect for her, even if she did suck at telling a story.

Skye's reaction on the other hand had caught him completely off-guard. It had, in fact, been just about the last thing he'd expected to happen. If her skin had suddenly melted away to reveal the cracked and scabrous flesh of a plague demon intent on killing him for the very large bounty placed upon his head by the rulers of Bazaroth he would have been less surprised than he was by what had actually happened.

So, confused and unsure of where things stood as he was, Kazuo kept his trap shut as they were led to their staterooms. Once inside he spent several minutes just pacing and working off steam, but then he sat down at the computer and started pouring over the data that was to be found there, waiting to be called to action, assuming that time ever came.

[Justin OOC]

(Val, you and Lily are up)

[SalmonMax]

Lily picked the seat on Kai's right and almost managed to break the instrument cluster off in her hands before she realized that it could unlock and swing out of the way to give access to the seat. She quickly showed Valerie that function, as if it was something she'd already known. A quick application of strength was enough to correct the tiny bend she'd put in the support column then, and she clicked the cluster back around and secured the six point harness in the chair.

"Okay, I'm in position, Kai. You'll have to walk me through the startup procedure."

[Justin OOC]

"I will, once Valerie gets in here, that way we only have to go through this all once."

[Valerie]

Valerie looked inside the Meteor, last time she had been on it was on the Moscow mission and she had been the gunner simply. "Uh Kai... I know you must know about it, but did the Meteor System still has the Upgrade interface?" Valerie remembered how the Meteor was capable of pumping enough energy out to foot the bill of several countries filled with factories.

Moving onto the seat on Kai´s left she breathed a sight of relief seeing that once again she was behind some of the weapon´s. Locking in her harness, Valerie figured it wouldn´t do any harm and created an up-link between her own mind and the Meteor systems.

"It seems the big guy wants to sortie as much as you do Kai. What you need me to do during the mission now?"

[Justin OOC]

"It only effects the main pilot now."

"We're going to use the EMPOWER system. Each of us has special abilities. We're going to sync up with each other and the Gundam, allowing it to draw power from us, and utilize our abilities."

"I chose you two because you are among the most powerful allies I have here."

Since it's just us, we need power to get through. Valerie you're on Defensive duty. Lily, I'm counting on you to manage the deuterra reactor, the core, and the Giga reactor, the three power systems we have. "I'll handle the piloting and offense."

[Justin OOC]

Kai looks to each of them. Before them are a pair of orbs one for each hand. "You grab the orbs and will your power into the machine."

"Valerie, there's a place for you to insert the Stock if you want to use that. Once we've initialized the system, you have to maintain contact."

He nodded back to Senbonzakura, which was already slotted by his left hand, in all honesty, only because of the guard were they able to tell it was once his zanpukto, it looked like an actual control for the mecha.

[SalmonMax]

Lily gives the orbs a mistrusting look, but reaches out to put one of her palms on each one. The moment they touched, the orbs lit up from within by bright sky-blue light that bathed her entire side of the cockpit.

"It's working, I think," she reported.

[Justin OOC]

In here head Lily heard a deep, distinctly female voice. "One is All, All is One." In that Instant she could literally feel Kai next to her, almost superimposed on her very self. Beneath that feeling she felt the reactors within the Meteor including one that felt very much like Ratheros.

Kai's voice spoke to her directly, though Kai didn't move at all. "The Synchronize system unites pilot and machine. It allows the machine to make use of the pilots special abilities. ibis showed me how to use it once Saito died. Currently you and I are synched to the Meteor, and it is drawing on your latent talents, and those of Senbonzakura."

She heard him chuckle in her head. "It also links our minds. The greater the synchronization between us, the more power the Meteor can use."

He smiles in and out. "This is why I chose the both of you. You are the people I am most comfortable with." Lily could see an image of Masane flash from his mind and he sighed.

"This link only lasts while we're in here, but in a limited fashion it is similar to the one i share with her."

"There are no secrets here, if one looks to dig, that's how much I trust you both."

[Valerie]

Val looked back at Kai while he was explaining, finding the compartment for the Stock and slipping it in, last time she was on the Meteor it responded perfectly through the up link, now it seemed she would need to make a different connection as the schematics for the EMPOWER system asked for a full synchronization of the three pilots, what amounts to a telepathic connection that all three share with the Meteor to make it share on its innate talents and strengths.

Looking down on her console, the stock had the same design as the mech controls, not very hard looking at the spartan making it had as a prototype machine, besides it the sphere stood there, Val breathed deeply and was lowering her hands, she exhaled as she considered her situation, how their minds would be linked to power up the Meteor, and how everything about her would be laid bare in front of Lily and Kai, she was nervous at the thought but if this was what needed to be done, it would be so.

Lily got ahead of her, as the whole cabin was bathed in a blue light, for a minute everything fell into silence and she lowered her hands onto the sphere.

[Saito]

The Meteor's multiple reactors hummed to life in a way that it had not in quite some time. All the pilots suddenly got a familiar feeling from the machine.....something devoted to victory.

The female computer voice slowly changed to match that of their old friend Saito.

"Saito reporting for duty. Meteor Gundam fully functional and ready to engage."

All three pilots could feel slight changes in their controls, as if the Meteor itself was correcting for slight errors.

"Combat Level Verified. Targets Confirmed. Commence Battle!"

[Justin OOC]

Feeling Valerie join the triumvirate Kai nodded, then Saito's Image appeared in all their minds. "Saito." He smiled. They'd gone through Valkyrie training together before his death.

It couldn't have been him, more likely it was an Engram of him

The system fully initialized, The Mecha moved allmost of its own accord. It moved to the catapult and launched, its metallic wings spreading behind it, A a Blue-White streak ripping through the darkness of space.

[SalmonMax]

"It can't actually BE him," Lily said, "Can it? The Meteor is Federation technology, and they haven't got anything that could hold a soul after death. It must be some kind of...artificial copy of his mind."

For a few seconds she was quiet during the main engine burn, but after that she asked, "So...what exactly do I do, to balance the reactors? What does that mean, exactly?"

[Valerie]

"It really IS him, kinda, I guess, not really sure. The Federation is constituted of consciousness being stored in the ArkShips, the strongest among them get artificial bodies. Gai told me all about it before we came on this mission." Valerie looked over at the defense system, they looked very specific.

"I mean, even Gai it´s not actually a sentient robot. He is an artificial being inside a machine, and as you said The Meteor is a Federation machine, and the EMPOWER system is built off from their technology. It might NOT be the same Saito we once knew, but unless the Meteor simply decided to use his voice, Saito could have been imprinted in the Meteor system, and be here with us now. It makes me feel a bit safer to be honest."

[Justin OOC]

The Empowered Gundam moved faster than it had any right to, even with its bulked up armor. They passed three ships which disgorged four dozen Mecha of obvious Terran design.

"There are no lifesigns aboard the mecha." Kai nodded. "Take out the comms on the ships first, and their propulsion." Valerie found that her powers combined with Lily's were more than enough to channel massive attacks through the meteor's cannons, disabling all three ships with a single attack each.

Meanwhile Kai used their various defensive powers to hold off attacks from the Mecha, as well as the Zankatou to cleave a dozen mecha in twain.

The vulcans on the shoulders spit forth volley after volley of death to the mecha, doing little damage, but destroying many of their rifles. "They're mobile dolls, Someone's controlling them, but the system isn't perfect."

With the Ships destroyed, Thy could finally turn their attention to the mecha completely, which Kai though sorta pathetic. The Mecha all died in a pair of blasts from the Meteor's Buster Rifle, augmented by Lily and Valerie's power.

They flew on towards where the jump signal had been detected, and soon friendly IFF signals were received."

"This Is Lieutenant Lunamaria Hawke, Hold position and prepare for intercept."

On the secure line Kai smiled as he replied. "This is Captain Kai Morisato, Welcome to Dalaraan Lieutenant."

Contact established they quickly called everyone in, and the Meteor landed in the Hangar bay onboard the Archangel.

Kai still linked to the others sent "Feels right being back aboard the Archangel doesn't it?"

He disengaged the system, and all three were struck by an intense wave of weakness as the link was broken. (Everyone's EP is drained by 50%)

Kai sighed, looking to the Image of Saito before him. "Take Care of the Meteor, I've got a feeling I'm going to need it again. "Roger that." It sounded just like him, It could really be him.

Lunamaria and Captain Ramius were waiting there for them when they exited the Mech.

Elsewhere, in their rooms, Skye and Kazuo could hear a commotion going on outside in the hall as people ran past.

[z-Skye the Fallen]

"I'm putting my trust, my faith in you."

Skye woke up with a gasp before sitting straight up in the bed. She'd fallen asleep, though she hadn't meant to. The dream was fresh in her mind and she lifted her hand to press it to her face. It never made it, because she stopped, staring at it. Her silver aura was gone; it was now a bright, soft blue.

"You have to be ficken kidding me!" Skye all-but screamed, throwing herself out of the bed and into the small attached bathroom. She stared into the mirror at the blue haze around her. "Oh, Schisse no!"

Skye clasped her hands and murmured, "Luna, your faithful servant asks a moment of your attention." Her tone was as scared as it was reverent. That sense of divine presence came to her, and Skye relaxed. "What is going on?"

A whisper filled her ears. I had no choice. It will be alright; be strong.

"What die Holle?" Skye asked, but was jarred from her contemplation by the sound of footsteps in the corridor. It sounded like a call to arms, and she dashed out into the main room. She opened the closet and pawed through the clothing. She grabbed another robe, cursing viciously about the damned kimonos. "Doesn't anyone wear pants?!" she hissed angrily. A pair of socks and boots were considered, but when Skye saw how big they were, she shoved them back into the closet. She ripped off the kimono and pulled on her borrowed clothing in record time, clinching the canvas military belt tight and tucking the remainder under. She rolled the pants up so that she wouldn't trip and she was ready to go.

Skye had her fans under her arm and was securing the whip to her belt as she came out, looking around for someone to question. She saw Kazuo, looking just as confused as her, and she gave him an uncertain smile.

A distraction chose that moment to intervene; someone was running past, and Skye caught his arm. "What's happening?" she asked quickly.

"I don't hav-ha-ha-how can I help you, ma'am?" His brusque tone had changed the instant he'd looked at her. He had stalled out a moment when his eyes had traveled down her body and back up, but he managed to recover without bursting into a nose bleed or losing the ability to talk. The outfit should have looked dumb on her, but she looked all the more feminine for wearing men's clothing. She also looked like she'd grabbed her boyfriend's clothing after tumbling out of bed; the damp, sleep-tousled hair aided that perception.

"What's going on?" she asked, her expression the perfect expression of a woman desperately in need of a man's help. Her hand remained on his arm as she spoke. "What's all the running about?"

[Justin OOC]

The Crewmember shook his head. "The head Captain and the Princess just landed in the Mecha Hangar."

He looked at her. "Sorry, that's all I've been told."

[Kazuo]

Kazuo stood leaning against the door frame leading into his room, his arms folded and a smirk on his face as he watched the interaction between the Skye and the crewman she'd snagged.

"Alla this fuss over two people, huh?", he said casually, "Either this princess is really hot, or both of 'em are kinda important, neh?"

Kazuo had heard all the commotion and come out of his room thinking that "the big fight" everyone seemed to be expecting had finally started, and he might actually get to see some action. Instead it was just some princess and a "head Captain" (which Kazuo mentally translated as meaning "big shot") arriving on the ship. Whoop-dee-doo...

He pushed himself off the wall he'd been leaning on and stepped towards Skye and her new pet crew member, looking like he was about to say or ask more about the new arrivals.

Instead he looked Skye up and down with his working eye and asked, "Why're you glowing blue all of a sudden?"

[z-Skye the Fallen]

Skye gave the helpful crewman a rewarding smile, but what she was going to say next was cut off by Kazuo's approach. She spared him a bemused smile, clearly saying aren't men so easy? She honestly expected him to ask something useful, but should have known better.

His question made her grimace. Clearly pissed, she growled, "Apparently, some goddess around here has lame priestesses and had to borrow one awesome enough for the job from Luna! I guess I'm a plug-n-play priestess." She paused and pointed a warning finger at Kazuo. "No jokes."

Her warning delivered, Skye dropped her hand and sighed, "Anyway, now I'm getting subleased to this chick, some goddess Tsunami."

The crewman gasped and pulled back from Skye. "You're a priestess?"

"Yes, though the 'of whom' seems open to debate," Skye muttered darkly.

"I humbly apologize for my crude behavior earlier," the crewman said, bowing to her. "I didn't realize you were a holy woman. You ... most of them wear robes of their stations."

As Kazuo began to laugh about the concept of Skye being 'holy', the priestess herself ignored him. "Ah yes, the robes. Generally, they're hot, itchy and heavy," Skye said, rolling her eyes, "not to mention unstylish and usually ugly. Calm down, I wasn't offended. I like men to notice me, actually. It's fun." She watched him try to reconcile his usual images of a priestess with her. The borrowed clothing - sans any undergarments - messy hair and bare feet were not exactly what one saw in a Priestess. She gave him a moment before she said, "If you're done being shocked, would you mind taking us to the arrivals? I'd love to meet them." She'd long been curious about these people; meeting them should be interesting, at the least. She had a feeling it would be more than interesting, especially with Kazuo along.

[Kazuo]

Kazuo opened his mouth with a joke as bad as it was dirty on his lips when Skye held up her finger and forbade any such activities. Wow, prescient and uptight. Wutta a combination! Kazuo closed his mouth, smirked and kept on listening.

"'Tsunami'?", he asked incredulously when Skye revealed her new patroness' name. "What kinda name's that? What's she a goddess of? Really great surfing?"

Kazuo chuckled at Skye's conversation with whatever-his-name-was-crew-member-guy. Personally, he wasn't especially interested in meeting anybody around here, unless they could point him at this big, bad enemy he was supposed to go smash like an empty soda can, but if that's where Skye wanted to go he didn't see any reason not to tag along. Besides, once he started thinking about it, weren't princesses in stories always getting themselves into distress and shit like that and needing people to come and get 'em outta distress? Like Star Wars, except... not...

Well whatever; it sounded good to Kazuo.

"Hey", he said to Skye as they made their way towards wherever this distressed princess was, "Does this mean I get ta call ya 'Skye Blue'?"

[Valerie]

Valerie felt a little light headed after the disengaging of the Meteor´s EMPOWER system. The whole trip had been pretty dreamlike, she had done her best to not invade the privacy of the other pilots.

"I really hope what we just did is enough to scare the opposition for the time being." Valerie dis engaged her security harness and detached the console in preparation for the cabin to open up, as soon as it did she was getting up. "It´s a great machine, but it´s SO cramped. Gotta talk with Ruri about it."

Once outside she jumped down from the cabin of the kneeling Mech and landed facing Lt Hawke and Capt. Ramius. "Valerie de Quebedo here, Captain Commander Morisato and Princess Lily have arrived to help escort the Archangel to friendly territory. We hope to be of assistance on the time to come."

[SalmonMax]

Lily appeared in a blue haze of light next to Valerie, opting to teleport out rather than navigate the Meteor's tight-fitting instruments again. She smiled and gave Ramius a salute.

"Glad you could make it. We're in a bit of a bind here. I hope you're in good condition, and that Earth is doing well. We have some intelligence that Takashi's due back soon, so we should really get moving. I'll give you the coordinates to move to."

She tapped some keys on her suit's wrist panel and nodded.

[Justin OOC]

"We jumped here following him. He was really pissed off." Captain Ramius replied after saluting. "I'll have our navigator lay in a course at once." She left as Kai climbed down, now Lunamaria saluted. "At ease Lieutenant."

She relaxed as techs began to service the Gundam. "Captain Morisato, We've got a pair of stowaways. They're interdimensionals like Valerie. Captain nanamura forewarned us and said they'd be of help to you. I can take you to them."

--------------

The crewmember nodded, and quickly showed them to the Hangar deck, just in time to see Kai, Lily, and Valerie talking to Lunamaria.

------------------

Kai was about to say something when he saw the two people not dressed like everyone else appear. "I would imagine those are them." Lunamaria turns to look, sighs and nods. "Yes."

[z-Skye the Fallen]

Given her earlier proscription against making dirty jokes, Kazuo no doubt expected more uptight remarks. She glanced up at him, then looked him up and down. Like the sun coming from behind clouds, he got a sly smile and glinting mischievous blue eyes. "What do I get to call you in return?" she asked, her voice low and husky with promise. The technician missed a step just from her voice, without even seeing the intriguing expression. "Angel Eye?"

Still with that challenging, daring smile, she started to sing.

"'Cause my baby's got / Oooooooooooooooooooo / Angel eye / Yeah my baby's got / Oooooooooooooooooooo / Angel eye..." She let her voice trail off, her smile was mysterious as the moon.

Sadly, before Kazuo could reply to that, they emerged into the hanger bay. Skye looked with curiosity at the three people in front of the massive mecha, talking with Lunamaria. I wonder if they're getting properly warned about us.

Her eyes roamed over the three, noting their flight suits. She was very aware of her half-uniform, but she knew it could work in her favor. Taking a breath, she prepared herself and when she stepped forward, there was a slight sway to her walk that hadn't been there. It was hard for someone who had seen her before and someone who saw her now, but truthfully, many men wouldn't care. Barefoot and in borrowed clothing, she looked utterly confident as she walked toward two beautiful women and one handsome man. The man was Kai - she knew he had to be. One of the woman was a princess; she guessed the blue-haired woman just because she seemed to be an alien.

"Greetings," she said, pausing to give the small group a graceful bow. "I am Lady Skye Fell of the BoneGate Stronghold, Priestess of Tsunami." Her titles could have gone on, but the surprise at how readily she had said her new patron's name stopped her. She recovered instantly. "And this is Kazuo Kanai, my long-time friend.

"You must be Kai," she said to the man, giving him a brilliant, sexy smile. She glanced at the two women. "One of you is the Princess, but I'm afraid I don't know which. All I know is that I have been sent to aid all of you against a dire threat."

[SalmonMax]

The blue-haired, amber-eyed woman...though she looked younger than Skye, if not by much...started forward, hand extended. "That would be me," she said.

"Please call me Lily..." the Princess urged as she shook hands with Skye and Kazuo in turn. Her smile was warm enough, but there was a hint of caution in her posture, and in how closely she watched them. "We could use all the help we can get. If you don't mind me asking...who exactly sent you here?"

She switched her gaze to Skye, seeming to assume that the priestess would be in charge.

[Justin OOC]

Kai was impressed. He didn't think women existed more attractive physically than Lily, Amane, and Valerie, yet here was Skye, who was almost entrancing, dressed informally in one of the Satoshi robes.

"That's right, I'm Kai." He gestured to Valerie, "This is Valerie, We're the rest of this terrible trio."

[Valerie]

Valerie extended her hand. "Valerie de Quebedo, I work directly for Captain Commander Morisato." Valerie looked up and down on the two new strangers, literally examining them with minute detail.

Valerie looked at the barefooted, military pants and Satoshi robe looking woman, if she had not been warned about her being a stranger she would probably have confused her with one of the more eccentric CRT members, after all none of the captains seemed to actually want to use their captain uniform without any modifications, sometimes extreme while at that, except for Kai.

She felt for a second a bit of color rushing to her cheeks as she looked at Skye, and then it struck her that she was basically wearing a Satoshi jacket and a belt over a blue spandex catsuit with long gloves and boots and a couple pieces of cloth attached to the back and coming over her shoulders, she focused her gray colored eyes on Skye´s to clear her mind slightly, Kazuo reminded her too much of Kenpachi for the moment to actually stand looking at the man without throwing a punch.

"Skye Fell right? That´s a lot of titles you got there, Lt. Hawke mentioned you are trans-dimensional, I guess that´s something we have in common. Where do you come form?"

[Kazuo]

Even though he'd had several years to get used to the wings, and people's typical reaction to them, Kazuo still hated it when he was compared to an angel. Knowing next to nothing about the angelic hierarchies within the Judaic, Christian, or Islamic theologies, when Kazuo thought of an angel he saw a prissy little wimp in a stupid robe with a stupid expression on his face and an even stupider harp in one arm. And that just wasn't Kazuo Kanai's style, you know?

So, needless to say, he was still feeling a little grumpy when he and Skye entered the hanger bay, and had already forgotten all about distressed princesses and Star Wars. He followed Skye and the unnamed crew member wordlessly with an impressively serious and dour expression on his face, unwittingly making himself look like some sort of scarred, winged ronin come to call on a potential new master.

He remained silent as everyone either ignored him, or assumed he was just "with the priestess", saying only "Yo" when Skye introduced him. Which suited him just fine, so long as no one got in the way when it came time to fight, Kazuo didn't give a shit who they thought was in charge.

Click to reveal..

Yo: As in English, the Japanese use this as an informal greeting, essentially "hey".

[z-Skye the Fallen]

Skye noted Kazuo's bad mood with relief. She'd learned a long time ago that pissing Kazuo off could get him to shut up, and nothing pissed him off like being compared to an angel. It seems the trick still worked. Of course, his 'Skye Blue' comment had annoyed her, so it was all fair. Stupid oaf doesn't understand how much that hurts, she thought to herself. She was just glad that Kazuo hadn't gone the other way he could go and become mouthy and loud.

"We were sent here by an extradimensional being that I only know as the Old Man," Skye said. "However, since coming, I've had another goddess contact me and say her brother sent us. So who knows." Skye shrugged, then tugged the shoulder of her robe back in place. The 'slip up' and the gesture that followed were graceful and sensual and completely casual.

Skye took Valerie's hand, since it was the one offered. She smirked at the girl and told her, "Those are only part of my titles. They hand those things out like candy in Ikaris. I figured I'd keep it a little short, since we seem to be pressed for time."

Skye stepped a little closer to Kai and Lily. "Captain Morisato, Princess Lily, we have been briefed by Lt. Lunamaria, but I'd like to discuss exactly how you plan to utilize us. We will need to disclose our abilities to you, and as I understand things, we don't have much time. Shall we get started getting to know one another better?" Her smile weakened more than one set of knees in the room.