T'risa arched an eyebrow "A precog? or more empathic skill gathering? Could you plan a galactic invasion though?" T'risa said teasing, as her own perosnal mind starting working through the logistics of such a campaign. She looked at S'viim, giving a nod to load up on shields. "Uh, excuse me sir, I think...well, I might a little more advanced person shielding and possibly drones for offence and defence too. A lot of our...adversaries have no problems with brigning advanced weaponry to bear."

M'kira looks on happily as the shopkeeper eagerly talks about his wares. She picks up a phased plasma rifle with a grin. "Don't mind if I do. I am going to enjoy using this on the firing range. The shield units are outstanding and the nano processors are going to be very useful indeed for keeping supplies readily handy. The medical one I think is best handled by our doctor and I bet it's going to prove very, very useful."

She listens to Abby chatting looking at her curiously when she talks about piloting. "I am the pilot so your probably picking that up from me." Then laughs when she talks about what she picked up from Elsebeth. "Don't make her really mad Balkir. I doubt she will use the Impact hammer on you but it won't be pleasant I am sure."

"Drones sound really nice. Actually some people use rigs and remote control combat drones or let them go with A.I." At least she felt both options would commonly be available as long as the range was practical. She looks over at Abby.  "What sort of weapons do you favor? Some people like the big guns, others specialized things like sniper rifles, pistols, or whatever makes them happy."

Elsbeth appeared to be entirely nonplussed about the psychic bleed that Abby was encountering from her.  She quirked her head to the side, stating simply, "I know two-hundred and seventeen distinct ways to disable a bipedal sophont."  There was a thoughtful pause before she continued, "Less than that to disarm one..."  And with a bit of a nod, "And more than that to actually kill."  She actually seemed more surprised that of all those possibilities that was the one that Abby keyed on.

And since Elsbeth knew that she was thinking about at the time (and it wasn't close quarters combat with charged bludgeoning instruments), she could only presume that part of the scenario was actually from the young blonde girl herself.

Besides, true to her genotype as a Praetorian, Elsbeth had always considered herself a guardian and defender first and foremost.  Violence was one means to an end, which was the continued survival of herself and her charges.  The fact that she often got emotionally attached to those that she was designated to protect, seemed natural to her (though her designers might consider it a flaw).

Of course, Balkiir was a different matter.  His protection was probably not necessary; her emotional attachment to him was undeniable and very necessary.  Though she had only known him for a short time (comparatively speaking), Elsbeth could not longer envision a future without him; so strong was the emotional bond that had been formed in her mind.  It was like the attachment that she always felt when protecting someone, and yet so completely different.  And much more deep.  She squeezed his hand and could only shake her head slightly when M'kira playfully quipped about any anger management issues that might the raven-haired CMC Marine might have.  She gave the both of them a noncommittal shrug and a bit of a sheepish grin, neither confirming nor denying anything said.

Instead, Elsbeth preoccupied herself with the technology, hefting a number of the longarms to test the weight, balance and other physical ergonomics of them.  She didn't seem to have to many problems lifting or wielding any of the weapons, but was critical of some of the design choices - acknowledging that they were prototypes in many cases - and letting the proprietor know where she thought problems might stem from.  Weapon design might not be one of her fortes.  But, weapon usage was one of her specialties; so, while she might not know why something was placed where it was, the tall, thin Praetorian wasn't shy about making her opinion known about whether she thought a given item could be used effectively on the battlefield.

She picked two of the larger rifles to try out and tossed two more to the large blue Valkiir male for him to take a look at as well.  Pulling a number of the energy packs and magazines for testing, Elsbeth followed M'kira and the elderly gentleman towards the firing range.  She seemed quite eager to try out the wares, as there was a touch of jauntiness in her step; nothing untoward, but more as though she was 'in her element', of sorts.  And that element seemed encompass a lot of fire and lightning.

Melcor eyed the charged rifle with interest. "That seems like exactly the thing, and one of those shields would likely come in bloody handy too, if I may?" the stocky young man gestured to one of the rifles, planning on testing the weapon's capabilities.

Well I have tactical and assault shielding that I am only supposed to make available to special operations, and a few select civilian operatives...But I think I can assume your on the list...or get you put on it pretty damn quick." The shop keeper hit a tabon his wrist bracer and a second section of wall retracted showing far more advanced looking devices and specialized armors.

<Blue>the special purpose gear works more like a solid surface than a plasma field, of course it takes a few seconds o warm up, or reform after getting disrupted but it can take hits that would disable most shields in a single shot..Now it uses nano scale-drones, and exo-matter in the defense matrix so you have to refuel them every so often.

The Shield drones can form a mobile screen and move to intercept projectile and plasma shots, no such luck with lasers though they don't have that sort of speed, even using gravitic screens to disperse a laser beam the sensors cant detect the heat trail of the beam fast enough to project a field in front of the beam."

Asault Shields
Basic Shield pack.
Shield Absorbs the first 70 hits taken from projectile, and plasma weapons, and offers 50% reduction in laser weapons.
 once total hits absorb equals 70 points the shield drops and needs to be recharged for 1d8 rounds
Power pack holds ten weapons cells capable of absorbing 200 hit points worth of damage.
   Wearers AC is effectively 14+dex bonus+class bonus to determine if shield is struck. if the strike exceeds this number the shield is unable to deflect the strike, and damage is absorbed by the shield.

Shield drones grant 1/2 cover from projectile and plasma attacks, but are ineffective against laser or melee attacks. Unfortunately they also block line of fire, a person could deploy a drone to cover his flanks, or use a move action to move the drone out of his way, fire then move the drone back into position.

However if an enemy goes on the same point in the initiative order it could fire while the drone was out of position with the defender receiving no cover from the shield drone. a drones shield have the same stats as the basic shield pack, if the attacker fires ont eh drone itself and gets through it's shield the drone will take 15 HP before it shuts down to avoid destruction.

---

 down stairs a series of lanes were set up with targets set up to test the various weapons with a touch of a switch powerful gravitic barriers ad plasma screens form to keep the more powerful weapons from tearing holes through the walls into the next building.

    The heavier weapons on she shelves are designed to be used with power armor, or by combat  exo-suits. Several look as if they were originally meant to be mounted on full vehicles but have been modified for use by Cyberoids or heavily augmented troops.

"Ummm if I stand next to the Empress and her lord General maybe." Abby smiled broadly as listened to the back and forth, Giving T'risa a slight grin..." But I would really rather not, I tend to make a real mess most days."


  After Elspeth spoke, she counted on her fingers for effect...."I know.......ummm Do you count reduce to pavement pizza, with a stolen police car as disabling?"

T'risa smiled at the shopkeeper. "Much better. I'll take it." she said with the expression that price would be of little object. She looked more closely at Abby "I think you'll find we make messes on a more...cosmic scale, but we do try to clean up after ourselves."

Twitch had followed the conversation as best he could, his antennae flicking back and forth as each person spoke to better hear. He looked over the equipment ith multifacited eys and then spoke.

"Friend sentients, this one knows not what equipment is on hand in ship so this one will abide by whatever is acquired for medical purposes. This one believes himself capable of using whatever is provided with no foreseeable issues."

His mandibles clacked a bit, but he tried to keep it to a minimum. Experience showed that most of the non insectoid races disliked the clicking that so often accompanied speech, and he prided himself on mastering the use of he softer parts of his speech centers to better simulate their speech patterns. Although how one conveyed more subtle meanings without use of the hard parts that they lacked he did not know. Queen willing someday he would figure it out.

The tall Praetorian continued to inspect the various and sundry firearms even as the shields were being explained.  However, one could not call Elsbeth inattentive, as she was apparently listening to the instructions.  She had grabbed a set of both offensive and defensive gear for testing, motioning for anyone else (including the young blonde girl) interested to join her downstairs.

Gesturing towards one of the larger weapons, the lanky CMC-Marine prompted the proprietor, "You have a test pintle-mount rig for this?"  It was only partially a question as it seemed pretty obvious to her that some sort of man-amplification systems was likely to be required to properly test the thing.  The question was rather perfunctory, as the large support weapon was hefted onto one shoulder with a slight grunt; apparently come hell or high water, the weapon was likely to be fired.

"Only if the individual was," Elsbeth called over her shoulder towards Abby as she toted her wares down to the testing range, "one, still alive after being run over.  And two, you didn't intend to kill them at the time..."  Both intent and action were important in this case.  Inadvertently, disabling didn't count.  And if the individual had died 'accidentally,' then that was manslaughter (level 2, at minimum).

The raven-haired Marine seemed quite at home in front of the targets downstairs.  Instinctively, she put on the ear and eye protection and proceeded to test her potential purchases once the hum of the generators for the protective building barriers began.  Elsbeth was meticulous and methodical, starting with the smallest and working her way up.

One might have said she was all business.  Except that as she continued to work, a slight crooked - almost mischievous - smile crept onto her lips.  More than once she passed a weapon to Balkiir for him to try out as well.  And also more than once, though she said very little, the psychic bleed over the Marshal's communication network caught a sense of 'I have got to get me one of these...'  Elsbeth was definitely a kid in a candy store...

M'kira ooo's looking over all the nice new toys she and her friends could enjoy testing out. Keeping some of it was definitely a must considering this was their chance for a fun shopping spree. Glancing at Abby M'kira shakes her head with a smile. "I imagine anything that takes down the enemy counts Abby. Although Elsbeth has a point your intent at the time makes a difference."

She grins smiling at Elsbeth as she follows speaking softly. "Don't mind if I do." She was a bit excited to test out the various weapons and defensive items. Grabbing a few items herself she heads down stairs as well. Looking very happy she eagerly test fires a few calibrating them as needed. Then activates her personal shield getting used to it. For a little bit she checks out the Nano blade wielding it gracefully and with a critical eye for quality.

M'kira tries out the Plasma repeater, then the Heavy charged repeater, followed by the Twenty five mm cannon. Who could resist that after all? She also checks out the grave belt, Harness to see what it's like. "Hmm T'risa I like the Wild Weasel drone for the electronic warfare But I also like the hijaker and the plasma lvl IV drones. To bad we can't combine it all into one drone. Upgrading for the A.I. would be well worth it if your going to use the drone a lot it's nice to have one that will learn and can help out without being told what to do constantly. Might become good friends after a few battles together too. A few maintenance drones would come in handy as well you know we are going to take damage to our ship, fighter and other gear over time. "

   Staying close to T'risa in case she should require him, S'viim makes note of any and every item that wanted or suggested for purchase, carefully listing them on his veil screen, in alphanumeric order, and linking T'risa in so she can see for herself exactly what is being considered, and who desires which item.  He himself was interested in the personal shield, and he suspected N'ssa would be as well, so he added those to the digital spreadsheet as well.

   He smiled softly behind his veil as the others got more and more excited by each new item.  War was a complicated thing, and S'viim was very glad indeed he was but a humble secretary.  Oh he had his own weapons and defenses; he was far from helpless.  Still, personal conflict was not to his taste and he was more than glad to have N'ssa to deal with those sorts of dangerous situations.

Unlike the lighter shields which created a field of distortion and little more. the heavier shield seemed to grow from glowing motes of dust to a solid barrier which closely hugged the wearers existing armor, and created a second set of physical plates created by a combination of gravitic forces and intelinked nanites that flowed from reserves in the hip and fanny pack that was included with the shield.
   The weapons ran the list from projectile to highly focused plasma. the heaviest were on the range of a hand carried heavy machine gun. the two plasma weapons switched queickly from a rapid fire setting to a heavy high impact plasma cannon mode.
  In short order the test range was full of vapor and fumes from the rapid fire weapons and the sound was properly impressive leaving the ears ringing and a slight after image each time the weapons fired. with proper hearing protection and visors the muzzle blast and concussion were well within the tolerance of anyone who had fired weapons regularly

  Two weapons were available for inspection but not firing. the heavy mass driver guns could easily punch through any personal armor and shields, and deal serious damage to most vehicles, and powered armor. The bulky weapons looked unmanageable at first but once the built in gravitcs, and micro thrusters engaged they were easily handled with little effort by the powerfully built marines.

   A crate of test grenades, with reduced power were set up for testing. Plasma, gas, and several "disco ball"grenades were ready to test fire. They were single use laser emitters, which hit the ground popped back into the air and sprayed dozens of beams of intense laser energy within a twenty meter circle.
   With a reluctant sigh The vendor also produced a collection of other items, micro sized explosive charges, xeno-matter enhanced projectiles and a small pistol which fired projectiles made of highly unstable xeno-matter which burned like the heart of the sun for several seconds after being fired.


Weapons

Plasma repeater
Plasma Assault gun
Laser repeater Hvy
Plasma Smg
Plasma projector ( works like a grenade launcher )
Grenades
Incinerator rounds
Incinerator pistol
Grav grenades
Impact enhanced melee weapons
Gravity Maul. ( big assed hammer with gravitcs ripped out of a antiship missile drive inside)
Gravity Snare( non lethal capture weapon)
GravGoo Bomb ( tangler grenade with embedded gravity generators)
Restraint rifle ( shoots pellets which explode into thing stick strands Valkiir would have trouble breaking)
Stick Bombs ( grenades that stick to target and deliver a shaped charge into the target)
Psi Needler( shoots crystal shards like a needler pistol, the needles are charged with psionic energy and explode if desired)
Power boots, and gauntlets( act like Iron mans gloves and boots allowing low level high speed dashes, and fire high impact gravity pulses at targets)
Grav belt: a self contained flight system capable of carrying a human at 35-50 mph.computer assisted controls for maximmum maneuverability indoor
Grav Board: Skate board with same flight system

T'risa nodded at the shield prospects to her aide, her eyes smiling at the prospect of making everyone safer. She was less interested in the weaponry, though the small pistol caught her eye. She picked primarily utilitarian items for herself, placing a high premium on defensive equipment. "Okay, everyone, we'll need to be on the move soon. Please let S'viim know what you need and the account will cover it all." T'risa nodded her approval to S'viim to complete the transaction. "While I appreciate this is really everything you have to offer. I'm sure we'll be back her to order new items in a few months. The edge our technology should give you over your competitors might allow you to broaden your horizons. We appreciate your hospitality and welcome and look forward to future business with you."

She glanced at S'viim "Ok, so, uniforms, weapons and defensive measures and our immediate needs are taken care of. Is there anything else on the agenda for today or can I shop for some of the more luxury goods that I might need?"

S'viim caught T'risa's nod as she examined the personal shields and other defensive gear, and nodded in return, immediately understanding her intent; he'd make sure that a shield was purchased for everyone, plus a few extra in case some were damaged during operations.  He stood ready to add any other desired items as they were brought to his attention, adding them to his tally as needed and retrieving the data required to conclude their business with the vendor as T'risa indicated.

S'viim appreciated that the Marshal was willing to allow him to complete the transaction, noting how she seemed to relax, knowing things were in good hands.  He felt honoured by her faith in him.  Support her.  Take as much of the burden from her shoulders as you can, S'viim, his Matron had commanded him.  For it will only grow greater, believe me.  Underneath his opaque veil, the Tau man smiled; he hoped she would be proud of him.

Having finished her farewell to the shop keep, T'risa turned to him once again and he readily pulled up her schedule to answer her question.

"Hmm, I do not see anything further scheduled Ms T'risa, however... You, and it would appear everyone else in our unit. has received an invitation to a reception, hosted this evening by the local Omaeda representative: refreshments, dinner, entertainment and a formal dance to follow the meal are indicated.  Shall I send them your reply?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:17, Fri 16 Jan 2015.

"Ok T'risa!" Looking over the items with interest. "I will take a Plasma repeater, Plasma Assault Gun, Some Grav Grenades, A grav belt that's to cool to pass up."

She was quite happy that they would have a lot of new equipment or toys as it were to test out. Pausing at the mention of a dance. "A formal Dance? I have a feeling we are going to need to dress up for that if we go." She slips closer to T'risa whispering softly with a smile. "Mind if I ask for the first dance or is there going to be protocol that dictates our dancing partners?"

She glances at Balkir and Elsbeth with a grin. "I look forward to seeing you to Dance. Poppy as well if she doesn't mind. You could dance with Tiny, Myself or S'viim if it wont' stir up trouble. I won't suggest Balkir since I don't know how Elsbeth feels about letting him dance with someone else yet." She gives Elsbeth a inquiring glance to see how she felt about the idea.

Twitch looked over the offerings, tilting his head to the side and lowering his antennae in polite consideration.

"This one would find the non-lethal weaponry more than sufficient for normal duty." He indicates the Restraint Rifle and the Gravity Snare. "The Grav Belt would likely be useful for mobility, although this one wonders if a Grav Board could be modified to fold outwards to carry a sentient in the event that said sentient is incapable of movement, so as to guide them to safety."

S'viim nods smiling and adds them to the growing list.  He considers the question posed by Twitch, concerning the Grav Board and then replies:

   "We can certainly ask the S'vath sahdi if such a modification is possible.  I am quite certain they would accommodate such a reasonable request.  However, asking a Techno-mancer to reconsider his designs is a dangerous business.  He is liable to end up creating a sentient Grav board that can fly a starship and critiques your medical practices."  S'viim chuckles.

T'risa's secretary glances over in the direction of the store where medical devices are displayed and points it out to Twitch.  "Perhaps you might consider some of this equipment to assist you, sir?  I see Dermal re-generators, Tissue knitters, Nano Surgical units, Multi-species bio-scanners, even a Medical Nano Drone unit.  I don't pretend to understand all of these things, but would some of these be useful to you?"

 " You know if I integrated an Ai core into the boards hardware, and fitted it with ..." the technomancer began to think out loud as he listened...obviously triggered by S'viims words." Oh, yeah where were we..Yeah I can knock together a special order, realllll easy."

     He grinned looking at the funds available for transfer as he ran T'risa's account though his exchange terminal."But ya know what would really make this a sweet deal...A bit of the core from that "thing" you salvaged. You can get what I need from main gun...I saw the footage and sensor data the fleet got, of those ..ummm  devices you brought back...That thing has to be using Hyper excited Ferros-Zed in it's main array to get that kind of output without needing to drop it's shields and drives to fire...If you could get me Say a kilo of that stuff would give me the raw material to put together a project i was working on with the Fleet guys. Before I had a slight accident and burned out the last I had.

  Now if ya get me the material I'll trade flat out the gear, and the modified board and medical scanners for yer friend and call it even."

Elsbeth started to push a number of items into the purchase pile; the laser repeater, as well as the plasma projector and SMG were placed there.  Since the plasma projector was on that table, the various grenade munitions for it would also have to be supplied.  So, an assortment of the 'regular', grav, gravgoo, and stick bomb ammunition found their way into the basket.

She hefted the gravity maul testing its weight and balance in both hands then passed it to Balkiir, motioning for him to place it in the pile as well.  "Either you or I can use it..." seemed to be her justification and there was a complete lack of worry in voice despite the fact that the maul obviously had nothing less than a pocket singularity contained within.  That likely had to due with the fact that her concussion rod worked on a similar principle, if slightly lower powered.

The lanky Praetorian picked up the repulsor gloves and boots.  "Marshal," Elsbeth asked, "May I?  I am pretty sure that these pickups will integrate well with the T-17 based CMC standard relays on my recon armour."

Since, the grav belt and various non-lethal weaponry hard already been tapped, Elsbeth didn't need to make sure they made their way onto the cart.  She was also pretty sure that she'd seen T'risa earmark the Psi Needler (and rightfully so).  As far as she could tell, they had pretty much cleaned out the establishment of its more exotic items.

As she weighed the incinerator pistol in her hands, M'kira's musings caught her ear.  She looked up like a deer in the headlights, staring first at tall blue woman and then over to Balkiir and then back, "What do you mean, Gunnery Sergeant?"  She grimaced slightly, "They attempted to teach me to dance once..."  There was a mental flash of rather troubled consternation, and then a montage of broken toes, broken furniture, and a lot of tripping and falling.  Elsbeth had never considered herself uncoordinated.  But that didn't mean that she was graceful either.

"A grav board certainly sounds interesting." She wonders how safe it would be to ride if that was in mind.

Looking over at Elsbeth she smiles with a slightly amused expression. "Oh so you would rather sit it out on the side lines and watch? It's to bad dancing can be a lot of fun. It's fine by me if you would rather not. Let's just hope it's not  expected of everyone. You could always ask Balkir to show you a move or two if you change your mind. With that expression though I doubt you will."

Twitch looked over, his antennae moving in mollified chastisement. "Yes, of course friend B'shah. This one apologizes for it's oversight."

When the mention of exchange is mentioned his antennae moved into polite puzzlement. Not knowing of what the group has done prior to his arrival, Twitch wisely stays away from that subject.

Something nagged at the mind, and then he recalled the mention of an invite to a reception.

"Apologies for non-critical query, but this one is unaware of this 'reception'. Is this some sort of ritual?" His antennae stayed in the polite puzzlement rotation.

Balkiir gave the weapons a once over as they made their selections and then tried on one of the grav belts, hovering a few inches off the ground and then with little visible effort cut a complete flip without actually moving more than a few inches.
  "Hoverboards aren't too hard to manage, although the ones I saw back when I did a few months on Hammerhead were made from scavenged parts by the local hoodlums." He hefted the Maul and grinned. He was an obvious blade man himself but the heft and throaty humm of the gravitcs were a satisfying touch." We'll take two of these....."

  "Oh good lord a Tau reception, give me a good ol' alien invasion, comet strike, and zombie uprising all rolled into one..." He laughed and gave Elspeth a reassuring smile." It's mostly ballroom dancing, and if you can handle dodging rockets I think you can manage to get through it alive....Besides your gonna be the envy of all those little blue witches, you have a man of your very own..no sharing."

T'risa pursed her lips considering the offer. "I might need to get back to you on that. I've promised the fleet full access to the ship. The materials on board might be necessary for that investigation, but you intrigue me with your discussions on the experiments you were running...." T'risa raised an eyebrow to her aide, wondering how much initiative he might take in order to make it work. "How about all of the gear we're about to take for free, plus once your experiments work, if they are fruitful, you update our vessel for cost."

T'risa raised a hand in the room "While we are now much better prepared for war.....we are not prepared for receptions. I'd like a small shield gen for myself that can be incorporated into formal clothing. S'viim, check to see if there are any tailors or dressmakers on the station that can accommodate large numbers and speedy work. Abby, would you care to join us for an evening. I'd very much enjoy hearing about your exploits."

"Your certainly welcome to come with us Abby. I think it will be fun for you to get to enjoy a social gathering. Oh and I would like a smaller shield generator as well that I can incorporate into my clothing as well. Might as well be prepared for trouble. Besides it's our job to look after T'risa if someone starts a shoot out at the party."

M'kira grins looking over at Balkirr and clapping him playfully on the back with a bit of force. "That's true your a taken man now. That should slow them down a little bit before they try to pounce on you. Besides Elsbeth can handle herself. They will probably think twice before crossing swords with her."

   "My pleasure, T'risa," S'viim answered sincerely.  He already had the station directory on his veil screen and it did not take him more than a minute uncover the best possible match for Lady T'risa's needs.  He smiled brightly and replied.

   "There is a listing here for a Matron by the name of Hera N'varrii.... she is actually on the same level as we are currently, Gray Seven, and has 24/7 business hours listed (impressive work ethic)...she is available any time any day for special orders... I believe she will suit your requirements T'risa."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:13, Tue 17 Mar 2015.