Shadow  sat on some Metal crates, His helmet beside him. A belt  with a  K-bar on one  side and a Blast pistol on the other. There was another  knife  strapped to hi boot.

  Hack was looking out the  window as the Red,green and Blue of  MArs spun slowly below..when  Locad, Spencer,Monty and Xero entered he turned to them and said.  Right then...normally this  would be a walk in the park...but i do not trust the RussianCo-op..they tend  to make certain they get the best...until now..we are going to be getting two brand  new birds...Shadow? if they ain't new...don't take them..and..tell them we want them loaded...if they ask why..tell them , its  because i said they were to be loaded....Once you lift off, you and Monty are to switch to Comm2 and i will give you orders...Locad?  They  will not lift off until the birds  are loaded, and the shuttle  has the supplies  i ordered..YOu will switch to Comm 2  as well and listen to you orders. Spencer..YOu will ride with  Monty, Xero?  you  will ride with Kray...gods  help you... Good Luck down there..and if no one  acts  like they can talk english or something else you can understand...Point them to Xero  and he will handle the  orders for loading and such..got that?

  Shadow  nodded  as he looked at the others, and Locad opened up the shuttle and prepped it  to take off...

  Hack left the bay and the blastdoors  opened..the static  filed  was flickering  waiting  for Locad to take off.................
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:09, Fri 11 Feb 2011.

"Yes sir, Commander. I speak fluent Russian, so if they try to bullshit us I got it covered. I'm ready for this as I'll ever be." He enters the craft.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:29, Fri 11 Feb 2011.

  Kray smiled  and  entered the  craft. He sat  to the right in the  webbed seat behind  Locad. His helmet next to him as he Buckled in,...Our  frist trip to another planet..and  we have to worry about  some eastern Bloc-heads  screwing with us...

"Could be worse," Roy said, with a shrug.  "Some peoples' first visit to another planet was under fire, damaged, and unable to control atmospheric entry or fire retros.  I'll take someone just trying to screw me over anyday..."

He wasn't quite sure what to expect when they got to Mars.  He'd heard very little about how the Eastern Bloc was, in relation to other Earth forces, and he was a little curious about how much was just the ages-old East versus West rivalry and how much was just their captain's personal disdain for Commander Hack.

Didn't make much difference to him, really.  He was there to make sure nobody gave any of the Hermes' crew trouble and ensure they all got back off Mars safely.  If anyone caused trouble, he wasn't about to stop and ponder why.

   Locad  touched  down, the  Door  and ramp opened and Kray was the  first one out,  When Xero exited he said softly to him..Let's  see how they play this  first...then you can let them know you speak Russian.

    The last one out of the shuttle  was Locad  with the Supply list. The  crewman from The Hades who were on the  landing docks  themselevs  , were making  catcalls at the Hermes crew,  ((...Xero would understand...Hi Girls...come out to see some real space jocks?...things of that nature))


  The dock workers  brought  up two forktrucks  with pallets  of  foodstuffs  and  meds.  They began to  load them under Locad's watchful eye.

  Kray went up to  the  pilots  from the Hades, two beaten up torpedoe  craft were there,..these  are not our birds...they are crap.. look Like something  Hades' pilots  would fly...

  They all looked at  Shadow, only one  seemed to frown...one of them said,..you..take..these yours...

  Kray replied in both english  and Hungarian,..No..these are yours...crap craft..those   are , ours...

  He walked over  to  2  brand spanking new craft...still all black  with thier serial numbers on.. He motioned to the Dock master to come over to the  New birds.

  The  Hades's pilots  began to yammer that all they have to do is get them to take the old  ones, and the new ones  are thiers...The  Dumb Hermes slubs  will never know the differant until it is too late.

   Kree Nodded to Xero to take over  from there  as he waved  Monty over to the  two new ones and  began to look them over  as the Dockmaster  stood there with a clipboard watching.

((Red=Russian))

Xero puts on a dazzlingly white smile, and responds in impeccable Russian, accent and all. "Good evening gentlemen. May I assure you that unfortunately we are not interested in meeting 'real space jocks'. I'm afraid you'll be sleeping alone tonight." He pauses for just a moment, enjoying the looks on the Russians faces. "Now, about our craft... I do believe the new ones are ours. At least, if you don't want commander Hack himself to come here and kick your ignorant behinds. Trust me, you do not want that." He turns to Kray. "That should do it."

Charles followed Kray over to the  ships slowly moving around them as he inspected them runnin a hand slowly over the hull.

 (( purple -Russian))


 Kray turns  to look at the  Hade's  folks  with a grin, then nods his thanks to Xero.  Kray points to the clipboard, it seems the dockmaster  is from London and speaks  english, so he tells him about  loading the  torpedoe craft. At first  the  Dockmaster  heistates, but then hrugs  and whistles  for   some Mars MArines  and after a brief  chat  they  wheel 2  Buggies over with one Torpedoe apiece  on them. Kray opens  up the hatch of the one he  will fly , and the 'shooters' hatch as well for Xero. Going aroound the back , Shadow opens  the small cargo hatch and sees that it is  empty..he waits until the Dockmaster is busy with the Marines  as the  fit  the  Torpedoes on the  the lauchgear of the craft...Kray  takes three metal boxes  from a covered  Pallet and stows them in the cargo hatch, then locks  it  down... walking around  the Craft to Join Xero as the  Hades' jocks keep hounding him.

 A woman, in broken english says, as she  points to  a braodshoulder man who is wearing  a furlined  fighterpilot  cap  that loks  like  a relic  from the ancient WW1 pilot,..you should show respect...Ivan is best pilot in whole ESN..he has 45 kills....

  Ivan grins  as he shakes his head, Kray says to Xero,Tanslate this  word for  word....

  ...YOU  are a liar..we have the  top kill pilot on our ship..hhe is our commander...gonna stay that way..until  i catch him...

  The  woman growels,I..do not  make lie...45 drones...Ivan shoot down...

  Kray  laughs,nodding to Xero again,..45...drones?..that's  cute...I have  214 drones...and  1 instructor...but those  don't  count...let me know  when you get your first Demon...

  Ivan  looks at Xero,..Your  friend  has  a big mouth...he should hope  i do not  deciede to shut it for him...

"It's only fair. You tried to decieve us. In any case, I'm sure he didn't mean it. I meant no disrespect either. We're one military now. We have to get along and work together. Someday my life may be in your hands, or viceversa. Know that regardless of the past I would do my best to help you." Xero walks up to Ivan and offers his hand for a handshake. "As a sign of partnership and peace."

Charles didn't move his eyes from the ship but he was listening and when the man started boasting about his drone kills he spoke up. "Drones don't really count anyway, they're predictable acting on set patterns you have no idea how good you are till you've gone up against the real thing."

  The Big Russian, looks  at Xero's  offered hand  and smirks as he takes it,..You make  someone , good bartender someday...Your friends...talk like fighter  jocks...we shall see how they  fly someday..yes?

   The Dock Master says to the crew, Ready when you are Hermes...good luck out  there....  Kray signs  the  clipboard and bangs on the side of the bird he  will fly, Comon Xero...Hack's  waiting  on his  new toys.  He girns at the female  Ruskie  and holds up his hand, thumb and little  finger  sticking out as he mouth's  the  words "call me"..

     As  Kray takes the top cockpit, he  shouts over to Monty,..First Locad. then you...I will follow you up...

   while the Button up, Hack greets  them over  Comm 1, telling them  to switchover to Comm 2...when they do  Hack says,  Once Locad  gets the Shuttle out of orbit  and heads to The Hermes, I want you and Monty to  shake those birds  down....see what rattles and  make  a report to Rivets when you  land..that  Clear?


  Kray nods  as he says,Aye  sir..shake 'em up..that's  why you wanted the full load out on...Got that Monty?  we get to have  a bit of  fun...

Xero smirks back. "By the looks of it, that day will be soon. Good luck." With that, Xero goes back over to the craft. He smacks Kray jokingly on the head. "I don't think she's interested, buddy. Let's get going then." he gets in his seat on the craft.

  Kray pulls down the  cockpit, and  presses  the the button to seal the lids.Alight, Xero my man...make sure you are strapped in...cause  we are supposed to shake these little ladies  up..

  Kray's fingers  tapped on the   console as he  waited  for Locad  and Monty to lift off...he grinned at the Ruskies..as he  warmed up the  engines...

Xero straps in and gets ready to go. "Allright, let's do it." He says, and then he turns to the Russians. He waves at them, smiling. "This should be fun."

Roy followed Montgomery, taking up the number 2 seat on the craft.  He was glad Kray had insisted on the shuttle going first...if there was going to be some kind of trouble, he expected it to be the shuttle that would have the hardest go of it, what with Locad being alone on it for the return leg and it not being a combat vessel.

He had utterly ignored any words the Russians spoke...he didn't understand Russian, in the first place, and their accents, when they spoke English, were thick enough that he could barely make out their words.  He let Xero do all the talking, as the man seemed naturally inclined to the activity, and instead focused on the body language of the Russians.

Suspicion...resentment...the kind of chest-puffing one expects from a group trying to convince someone they deserve more respect than they feel they're getting...but nothing overt.  Still, he'd be more at ease once they were out of Mars orbit...

And then he heard Hack's order for a shakedown flight.  Aw, crap...  He wasn't a pilot...didn't particularly care for flying, actually.  It was one of the reasons he'd become a groundpounder.

"Ummmm...Monty?  Just in case something goes wrong...if I puke, it's nothing personal, okay?  Not saying it's gonna happen...just...you know, if it does..."  Anyone that wanted to challenge his manhood based on his inability to tolerate acrobatic flying could try and back their challenge on the shooting range.  If they beat him, then...maybe...he'd think about listening to what they had to say.

  Kray  smiled  a bit  as he looked at the other  Torpedoe  craft....while  waiting  for Locad to lift off, Kray flipped on the  thruster toggle  to warm them up,..When its  time  for us to lift off...  he chuckled,...watch the  russians...ever hear the term,' Dusting Off'?

A smile came across Charle's face as he sat down and began running prep. When Roy mentioned throwing up he laughed aloud, not that refined british chuckle but a genuine hearty laugh. "No worries Chum, you won't be the first to get a bit disoriented from my style of flying. And its Charles Montgomery, I abhor nicknames." When Kray came across the comm  Charles flipped it on. "Clear as crystal, one dusting off coming up."

Roy tried to get himself settled comfortably in his seat.  It was an exercise in futility...his discomfort had nothing to do with his physical position, just the dread of what might be about to happen.

"Charles it is, then," he muttered.  He'd wondered about that...Hack was very informal as a command officer, but he still had enough rank--and commanded enough respect as a fighter pilot--that there were degrees of familiarity he could get away with that others would be challenged for using.  Nicknames were one of them, apparently...at least in this case.

For the fourth time, he checked to make sure his assault rifle and SMG were secured.  Having one or both of them come adrift in the middle of intensive maneuvers was a sure way to get someone hurt...if not a great way to lose the ship completely.  Everything else was strapped down tightly in holsters or scabbards on his body.  And while this wasn't his first 'combat flight', and he knew quite well how to secure his equipment, re-checking everything made him feel like he was being at least marginally useful.  He hoped he didn't wind up regretting leaving his pack on the shuttle...but the cockpit was beyond crowded with the weapons, and they were far less awkward than the pack.

  The Shuttle  rose as  Locad's  skills came into play..some of  the red dust from the newly terraform dirt swirled  around  bit  as it went higher  and higher into the air.

  Kray Nodded to Charles and the two torpedoe craft began to rise, and over  Comm 2 Kray simple  said,  Thrusters...now...

  Jets  of hot  air Blasted from Shadow's  thrusters. mixed  with the kick of  the  after burners...The Russians  were caught  off guard, as the plastic bags  with Red paint they held in thier hands  were dropped, as they grabbed for the  faces  and  closed thier  eyes....

 In 4 Seconds Kray  was hovering  around  the Shuttle, some700 feet in the air. below them were 14 Easternblock airmen...plastered in Red dust...

    Once  we get out  of atmosphere, we shake these ladies  down...

 Hack sat in the Captain's  Chair, watching the  screen  as the two new birds were put thorugh thier  paces.

  Shadow's craft  Corkscrewed through the  void, then  would dive or  climb in an Immelman, coming back on its  out vapor trail...rear stablizer is  making  a bit of  Noise....

   Hack watched with   his head resting on  on hand, the index finger tapped on his  cheek,...record  anyhting that comes up...The feed is going  right  to  O'Rielly..

  Roger that  Commander...  Kray knew   Captain "Rivets" O'Rielly would  be watching  as well...if anything wasn't right..he  would make it right....

  Xero looked out  the canope, he  could  see the starbooard  wing shaking   like a quivering arrow...Under him the Torpedoe was tapping against the underside of the floor of his  seat  as  it shifted  with each turn.

   After a good Fiftennminutes  of  twisting, diving  and spinning, the pilots  followed the  Shuttle into the  Landing bay.

  Locad and the others  waited for the Green light to come on, as the statci shiled and blast doors  shut...The ramp came down from the Shuttle  and several Sailors brought hover  forks over  to unload the pallets.

  The two Torpedoe Craft landed  behind the  shuttle craft.  A red  Haired, red beared CAptain, whose  sleeves  were rolled up  and his softcover on backwards came over, Well Boyo? anything  ta worry 'bout, cept  for  them wings shaking?

  Kray shrugged, not on the bird  i was flying, that i know of...by-the  way..I have a Comm problem in My bird..you have time to take a look?

  Rivets shook his head   Killian!...See if  ye  can get this Diva's bird takin' right...  he pointed to one of the Comm ensigns who was helping  with the comm Units.

  Shadow smiled, Got  something for you Rivets.... he opened  up the  small cargo compartment and pulled out the  Three Metal cases, Powercells...36  of them...and this... he handed The Captain a Hydro spanner.

  The  Captain's eyes narrowed, but he could not stop the smile, Yer not going ta be gettin' that dockmaster in trouble..ya thief ya...

  Naw, they are  all paid for...by the Hades...they won't know they are missing until they unload...  he  Chuckled

  Go on ya, Get your bird talkin'...You fellas..this is Comm Officer, Ensign Killian...ya make sure ya treat her right...

  Kray  waited  until the others Got to speak to the Ensign. he reasoned most folk only knew a handfull of people on the ship...

"Well, I noticed that the wing was shaking and the torpedo beneath it was bumping against the hull. I assume blowing ourselves up isn't part of our attack plan." He grins, "I'm sure you can fix it. Don't wanna blow ourselves up, the Demons are takin care of that."

  The Captain frowns  and  calls  for a  few maintaince  folks  to come over,  Check them  torp locks mack sure they close..and open for that matter...didn't have this trouble when Humans  was buildin' them...

  Thank ye Ensign Ermanda...ya might have saved us...if them birds can't  drop them eggs when they need to...

"Just doing my part like everyone else. I'm afraid I haven't been too useful yet. Just talked some Russians outta broken birds. Thought they were new, too. Weird, eh?"

  The CAptian lookas at Xero , his eyebrow raises   then looks at Kray.  Kray shrugged and held both hands out...the  Captain  just shook his head  as he  walked around his new toys.....  Ya know...Shadow..if HAck knowed you took them....

  OFFICER ON DECK!  one of hte mechs shouted.

  everyone  snapped to attention when  Hack and Lt Commander Si stood there,...if HAck knew what...Lt Shadow?

  Kray's  halfsmile started to grow, despite his beast efforts to stop it, Power Cells...Commander HAck Sir...

  Power Cells.... he shook his head  as he stood there with his hands on his hips. Lt Commander Si  looked down at the  floor Rivets stood  board striaght... well..one or  two power cells  aren't going to Hurt.....

   36...Commander Hack..sir...

  36!....what the hell....

  And  a Hydro Spanner.... Kray closed his  eyes  for a moment then opened them slowly as he watcher  the Commander...

    They are paid  for  Commander...Hades Pilots  were pickign them up....tried to swap us fer thier beat up birds..or so says the lads...

   Hack Turned to  Shadow and he says, You do know...those power cells are very...very hard to get...and you took enough for 36 fighter craft....18 Tropedoe craft?
  Kray  shrugged  as he remained at attention,well..seeing how  we are going out hunting..and the HAdes  guys were just shooting off thier mouths   about how good they were and how great thier  Captain was....i sorta ..well...figured  we needed them worst then them...

   Hack eyes the Lt....and the spanner?

  It was shiney......

  Hack's eyes widened..Rivets Broke into laughter...Kray couldn't help it as he chuckled  while trying  so very very hard to stay at attention...

Hannah spun around and smiled, nodding at the captain. "Yes, sir. I'll get on it."

She moved over toward the returning men and nodded a greeting, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Pleasure to meet you." She looked to Kray and jerked her chin in the direction of the ship about to ask a question when the shout rang out across the deck.

She closed her mouth and took a step back, staying well out of the conversation about the power cells and trying not to laugh.

Roy was still getting his legs back underneath him when Commander Hack arrived.  Instinct took over, and he snapped to attention, only becoming aware of the discussion about the power cells and spanner as the information was shared with the Commander.  He closed his eyes for a moment, and clenched his jaw, burying the urge to shake his head.

Dammit, we're supposed to be a team...  Yeah, true enough, the Russians had tried to foist off a pair of rust-buckets that even his own untrained eyes recognized as desperately needing massive refurbishing...but, still...

It was an immature gesture, and actually exactly the sort of thing he should expect from a fighter pilot.  However, it was not his place to say anything about it, and he held himself at attention, the assault rifle at 'order arms' beside him and the rest of his arsenal hanging from slings or in holsters, with his gear bag on the ground at his feet.

The one good thing about it, though he would never admit it aloud, and didn't consciously recognize it at the moment, was that his annoyance with Shadow's five-finger discounts totally overwhelmed any remaining discomfort he felt about the acrobatic flight back to the ship.

  Hack strighten up, his hands  still on his  hips, the smile grew just a bit wider....Shiney.... he nodded a bit. His eyes  swept over  everyone in the gathered group, as if taking inventory of them, then Turned back to  Shadow,...As an ESN Commanding officer, I must punish you for this...indiscretion. You will be confined to quarters when not on duty, for 30 days....

 Shadow  frowns,Aye, Sir..thank you , Sir...

  Looking over at Rivets, who is just now  wiping his eyes and controlling his laughter he asks,...how is  out  Power cell inventory?

  The CAptain stood  to, and says, still with a bit of  a smile,we had 13 extra  Commander...now we have  49....with the rechargers, and Solar panels, we could  keep the  whole  flock of birds in the air, around the clock...cept for  maintaince  and patchin' up...Sir...

  Hack's  lips twists a moment as he waves Shadow  away Get your Lady taken care off...

  Shadow  Salutes  and  pivots  as he smiles  slightly  at Hannah  and  begins to walk towards his craft

    Oh...Lt. Shadow?   Kray stops and  turns,..Aye , Sir?

  ..I have  just reviewed your punishment...you are credited with time served....You are out of lockdown... Lt Commander? You will note in the  Log, Lt. Shadow  was Punished and has complied  with said  Punishment...

 ..Already Logged, Commander... Si  said  as she  buttoned up her  laptop once more.

  Kray smiled  wide,..Aye  Sir, Thank you Sir...

   Hack winked at Shadow, then turned to the others, Carry on...during times of war..one was judge the crime, weighed against the survival of your people...Rivets? MAke certain those  cases  are sent to the foundry to be melted down. Put the New Cells in with ours...

 ..Way ahead of your Skipper....
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:17, Fri 18 Feb 2011.

  Kray Takes  Hannah over to the Fighter craft. His HAmmer  was Sky Blue , like most of the others. Howvere the Tail fin  and wings  had huge number 19s  stenciled on them. Under the cockpit  was a Circle  with a green T that had  a red slash through it...credit  for "taking out" and instructor duening  grad flight. On Each side of the Nose  was the face of  a Brunette Warrior  woman, in Chainmail..under her was the title " Shadow's Lady"

 ..Open up  LAdy...Ensign Killian is here to fix  you...

 The  Canope opened, the voice of  an English woman came  from the Ship,..Hello  Lt Shadow, I missed you. Good day to you Ensign Killian...My Comm 3 seems to be out of interface with the other ships.....

  Kray grinned  as he said to Hannah,..one of the Techs  on Moon Base, fitted the AI with the voice of my choosing..beats the heck out  of hearing  a robat voice allt he time.... He took off his Jacket, Like all the crew, the Jacket had a Big winged foot on the back, with ESN Hermes  above the  foot and  351 under it. on his left shoulder  was the ESN  flag...on his right shoulder the  American flag.Hop on up and see what you can do, I am going to check  her over  from here....

Hannah followed Kray over to his fighter and tipped her head back, taking in the ship. She grinned at the warrior woman and chuckled at the voice that responded to his greeting.

"I like it. The accent fits somehow. Kind of like a Moneypenny."

She grinned and climbed up into the ship. She ran through a quick checklist of easy fixes, making sure nothing was jammed or set to mute. It was sad how often a mute button turned out to be the issue. Everything checked out so she ran through the system calibrations and made sure everything was within parameters. She did a little tweaking and then leaned her head out the opening.

"How's the comm antenna? Any damage on that end?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:06, Fri 18 Feb 2011.

..I believe it may not extend the whole way, Ensign Killian. I also feel as though the coupler is not sitting right, at the base of the mount....if  that is of  any help.

   Kray Fussed over the landing  skids, using  an old fashion hand spanner to Tighten bolts, he thught were loose,..she always thinks  she knows everything, Ensigh Killian....

  ..Kray!...  The fighter sounded hurt,...if i do not know my own body...how  am i to explain to Ensign Killian what is wrong? And please...do not  tighten those  so tight!

  Hack  and Si bid the others to carry con  and left the  Landing Bay. Rivets  watched the Pallets being unload  and told  some of the  ground crew to get the new birds  and the shuttle  to the chargers, and look them over...already a team was  coming  with a mobil paint  tank to begin to make the new birds  look like thier brothers  and sisters  aboard the Hermes.

    Locad  and Montgomery..ye have anythin' ta report on those birds?

  Si mentioned to Xero that he would need to file a brief report of anyinteraction between the HAdes pilots  and  the Hermes crew.

"Yes sir. Would you like it written or verbal? Im fine with either."

  Lt. Commander  turns to Xero and smiles,Either way , Ensign...as long  as the  Is get dotted and the Ts  are crossed... I will be on the Bridge with the Commander...or..Touring the ship with him when he makes his rounds...Just contact me, should you need to...

"Alright. Ill file the report in a bit sir." He heads over to ee Kray and the other person. "Dang Kray. Maybe your real punishment was being whipped, eh?"

A laugh escaped her at the banter between pilot and ship. Being female, however, she showed sister solidarity.

"Thanks, Moneypenny. I'll start with the coupler. It may be blocking the extension."

She climbed out and moved to the antenna mount, removing the base to check the couplers. "Oh, darlin' you weren't kidding. This thing's close to flying on it's own."

Hannah set about reattaching the coupler, checking the connections to make sure nothing had frayed. "Tell me, sir. Do you always rib your ship?" Her voice carried her laughter as she began replacing the mount base.

Once it was in place she began carefully tightening it down. "Try the extension now," she said to the ship.

Roy was on his way out of the hangar deck when the latest broadcast came through.  This time, he didn't bother hiding his urge to shake his head.  "Damn...we just barely got back on board, and they already know about it..."

There was a sense of foreboding in his mind...it was probably nothing, and he likely had it blown out of proportion...but if the Demons were smart enough to monitor Earth broadcasting (and he was pretty certain they were), they now knew that the Hermes was just past Mars, and out-bound...gave them a definite location to start scanning for the ship, in order to track its progress.  While he valued a free press, Roy had little patience for their insistence on reporting every little detail, especially when those reports could put his own skin at risk.

There was little for him to do on the hangar deck, so he exited, returning to the quartermaster to turn in the weapons he'd checked out.  Maybe some target practice....that always made him feel better.

In reply to Hannah Killian (msg #37):

   Kray smiled Up at the Ensign,..no when  she agrues  with me,....she knows i  am almost always  right...

  The ship's body vibrated a bit, at what could be  a giggle,..they all think they know more then  they do...do they not, Ensign Killian?  The  antanne rose, and the lights  flicked on, Comm 1...worked...Comm 2..worked..Comm 3..worked......Thank you Ensign...it is about time they sent  someone , with a woman's touch...

  Kray shook his head  as  he places the  hand spanner  in the rack by his dock. Thank you Ensign Killian. If  we run into each other on the mess deck, I will stand you a drink...or at very least..a decent meal on the Olympus..

She began to chuckle at Kray's response, but it turned into outright laughter at Lady's comeback.

"They certainly do," she answered. Having a big brother she was well used to the all-knowing male. Satisfied with the comm check coming back positive she tucked her tools back into various pockets and grinned over at Kray.

"I never turn down free food. Thanks." She pulled a small rag from her pocket and began wiping her hands clean. They weren't dirty, per se, but it seemed to fit the feeling of accomplishment after finishing a repair. "Let me know if anything else goes wonky with that coupler, Lady, and I'll replace it."

She went silent when the overhead comm sounded. At the end of the announcement her eyes were wide. So soon. Wow.

Many years later, two corvettes approach mars, a new chapter in the story opens.

Garrat gazed out the static field at the Martian highlands.  Despite another half a decade of ice being directed into the atmosphere the only plants growing in this wasteland was an obscure alien sage.  It dotted the landscape between the two Corvettes and the settlement: a series of smaller grounded ships gathered around a larger cargo hull that had been the core of a scientific expedition nearly two centuries ago.  (Will edit if my timeline is off).

 Mars was slowly being defeated. The  Delta Planets  Mellow  trees  hand been seeded, and try  to their  form, as they did in the Sahara, took root.  But, Both the rees, and the mellons were smaller, and the hybrid grasses from, around The Balck, we spreading...oh so slowly..from the  trunks The area was littered with  'house sized' domes that served   the purpose of   venting O2  and  capturing CO-2 as various  Plants grew.

  Earth and Astra   Cactuses  grew bigger then on  either planet, they became harvesting  plants  for  any colony  that grew them, addign  water from  thier stores, and  new ways to   'ook' them for  food, even if it was just  used to feed  livestock.

  Settlers took tips from Astra and Zolth. Zolth was  , indeed more  green, then Astra, Though the feeling was, that would change  as  Crestians  were being hunted into extinction on Astra.

 On the  same  idea  as 'smudge pots' machine s  protected  by Metaglass,  'manufactured' smoke and  mist, every now and then there  was the reward of a  5 or 10 minute shower, in the area, which was a happy by-product. But the main purpose  was  shielding   settlements from the sun.

 Elsewhere of  the   red  planet, buildings  pumped larger  clouds into the air.. covering  more and More Miles, causing  bigger   showers, and shading  more area.

 The  scientists  in this particular  outpost were independent , they  had to get their parts on thier own, and once a month ,a Sol System transport  would stop by , dropping off   supplies, parts  and people who wanted to transfer there. It wasn't the most thriving Colony, but is one of the few colonies  that  raised  Lizards. the  creatures thrived here.  they were  hunting  rodents and insects  that had  piggybacked to Mars. And the  Colony was in debate, on if they should try importing Largs.

     The ragtag group of ships that had joined Garrat in the sol system had been busy here.  One old military transport had settled on the rise adding one more permanent ship to the settlement and a small landing field cleared in the landscape.  Stacks of cargo containers partially buried in the dry sand made hidden hangers for small ships and shuttles and living and storage spaces for the new part of the community.

    What the casual observer didn’t know is that the hangers and the ship on the hill above them were connected by tunnels made by simply dropping extra cargo units in trenches and covering them over with the red sand.  The occasional cluster of make shift buildings hid a much larger, if simple complex beneath the sands, the most sensitive parts closed off giving the illusion of a simple smuggling base.

As Garrat is suiting up for work in the in the IS main bay, Joseph drops by “Got word from Earth.  Stoly is in route with some shuttles for the Hermes.”

    Garrat was giving his screw-servos a final test before closing his cockpit, excellent, the second array is finally linked into the power grid so we can charge them up.  The Sky Hag and the Pegasus’ Wing are headed for Fuji space so they can carry them if need be but I think they might want to chase the fleet under their own power.  What’s their ETA?”

“A couple of hours at most.  I’m going to head on over to the cantina.  A couple of prospective captains are coming in from Tortuga so we need to make their crew drunk and happy to sweeten the deal.”

“Whew, that doesn’t give me much time to do final touch ups.  I’ll leave you to that business, I’ve heard “Space Shanty” a couple dozen too many times already so I’ll go get the hangers prepped.”

  There  was a crackle on the   base COMs..Vocie only...

  Captain Stolyarev here, Got  some  aricfat here with Broken Lightbulbs, I hear you might be able to fix them?

The retired merc captain handling the smugglers base had no idea what Stoly was talking about so he patched the communication to Garrat who responded “Well sir, your in luck, repairing light bulbs is our specialty.  Popping flares in front of hangar two and four so you can get those bulbs into the dark where we can see how bright they are still burning.”

  Coming in, be advised  we ahve little ones here They were invited to dinner, but leftbefore the main course. need  food  and space worthly clothing  to get them out of ssystem

Garrett happened trotting outside in his Mech to meet them suddenly stopped cold.  “Oh no, I hope you were able to get to all of them in time.  We can certainly feed them in bed them.  Getting them clothing that’s their size will be more difficult. There aren’t a lot of children in this settlement.  If they don’t mind Oversized clothing that is warm and clean, we should be able to make do for now and send runners to other settlements for later.”
This message was last edited by the player at 06:59, Sun 18 Dec 2022.

  Stoly have a dark chuckle.......we brought them in!..then took them out.  and there's  about  200 less texas  empire sniffers that won't  hold office  again, along  with their  trophy wives and   a few Empire  rats   as garnish...

 If you can't  find  shoes or even stockings?  we'll make due..food and rest is what they need, then get them off system in the Morning..Bura is always lookign for kids.. and  Fuji isnat a bad palce..

Garrat watched as the assault craft flew out of the setting sun.  Non reserve fleet personnel were occupied elsewhere so Stoly’s shuttles and their escorts were ushered quietly into the hangers out of the prying eyes of any orbiting observation posts.  The shuttles were parked in the two largest hangars. The passage ways were suddenly alive with carts hauling spare energy cells and what food they could spare.  Garrat felt guilty.  He and the other people working on this place hadn’t been eating all that well and these children deserved more.  He made some calls and sent out for more appropriate supplies.  Then dismounted and approached the lead shuttle.

 The Ramp came  down.  A Fellow  with Close  cropped hair, and  sunglasses. His  SMG  his ready, but  not  aggressive.

 His free hand   holds back the others  who have their SMGs  up as well.. Who's here  to help us out?

Joseph had received the request for help from “Old Rusty” as they had taken to calling the transport on the hill.  He looks across the cantina to one of the locals they had been using for shuttle runs. “Hey Dasher, ye said that pizza you brought in the other day was from that place yer uncle runs over in Crevice Town.  We just got word an old friend picked up a whole bunch of orphans from a demon slaver and we have a whole bunch of hungry mouths to feed coming into Rusty.  I’ll see you paid in full if it has to come out of me own savings but we need it fast.”

It wasn’t long before the beat up shuttle was skimming off on its mission of mercy.

  Stoly stood there, he had a savage looking knifew on his   right hip, and a cross  draw sidearm on his  let.

  He Looked around, another  fellow stepped down a  few steps. What  if we picked the wrong place?

  They  we wasted a damn good rescue..

    Garrat walked forward from his Construction mech hands out and open signaling his people to hold their positions.  “I’m not sure all you have heard but I was once called Sgt. Garrat Wolfrim of the Hermes under SM Spencer.  I Captain a salvage corvette on the side and have joined with some ESN ships and Mercenary units to front a “shipment”  company allowing us to smuggle ESN people and information on and off earth.  I cannot count the times my life has been saved by your shuttles or your nephew who still heads the shuttle pilots on the Delta fleets flagship.  I am honored to make your Acquaintance sir and will aid any operation that turns off the right lights.  I’m afraid we are still a little rough her but anything we have is yours.  My ship is emptying out it’s cupboards as we speak aaand…”. He checks his wrist com.  “More is on the way.”

    get them out, carry  them, each of your take  two...we don't need   mars  dust on bare feet..

The Guards   carried   to each  in the direction they would be pointed to.

 Stoly   shook Garrat's hand,There was a rescue like this in Arizona, two weeks ago. Theybsied   hover   cars  and Vans... we broke even...they saved  about  7 kids..6 more died  in Vans getting  toasted  by fighters., but there were  close  to 100 dead  kiss asses.. thos e kids   are on thier  way to scotland, Hunter will get them out into the Black

 we weren't going to mess around in Texas... so we used the figthers   that we  had  hidden in the  scrap yard, and got all 4 of those  next Gen shuttles out, then blew the Base where  the shuttle Devs worked... They won't be making any  for  a while, unless  there  get some from Russia... I'm  Russian..i wouldn't want to  fly in those.

 Now? no hurry on getting food... These  kids  suffered  enough, a few hours   won't make it any worse..we can leave until Morning..say  8? 9?

 he smiled a Bit...I know the SM and LC  are still around, we  see the Vids. Shame  Hannah came   down to earth, Though she and   Shadow were a decent couple..but..he's  too much a warrior... he will fight, to the knife...

 Now them shuttles  saving your lives?  that wasn't me, that was  the people piloting them. There's alot of fine  made weapons out there? but they can't kill anyhting , unless the person suing  it knows  how to shoot!

In reply to mars (msg # 59):

The.   When Stoly refers to it being the crew that saved his life, Garrat responds “If that isn’t Odens own truth.  I’ve fought alongside some good crews, lost one or two, but the hardware Is important sir.  We have one hidden room which is about the size of a smaller hangar, that we have sealed up as kinda a clean room.”  He gestures to a kind of heavy duty hover bike with a broad flat bed that’s unloading fresh power cells for the shuttles. “The mules will take you there.  There is a common space where people can kick back with a fire place and lots of deep couches.  Hot cocoa is one of the few luxuries we afford ourselves and there is plenty brewing.  Most add spirits but for the kids we can keep it boring.  I’ll help load up and we can continue our conversation there.”

As the sun set on that section of Mars the evening winds kicked up. Never pressing more than the 7 pounds per square inch on the static field the variable pressure still made the system flicker a little. Some of the volunteers helped the children onto the mules, “ Don’t worry a little one,”. Garrat said “as he had a young boy clamber on his back.  “ there is nothing dangerous down here. But I do need your help exploring this Martian base beneath the sands. Your young eyes will see things I cannot.“.  The general attitude was one of adventure and exploration. Not too intense for the tire children, but enough for their Curiosity to overcome the fear.

    The mules Entered a passageway in the back of the hanger that slipped up to a cross passage.  Other cars were coming from other hangers with children and members of Stoli’s team.  They turned onto yet another passage that seemed to run higher and deeper into the hillside. Along this passage were nooks in the platforms where supplies were stored and could be loaded onto the carts. Garrat  got off at one And the rescue children were also offloaded on this platform.

“Now “. He said “ A Martian once told me that there was a secret room around here. But you had to speak to the stone and call it a friend as it is spoken on the plains of Siberia.   I don’t know this word.” He turns to Stoly “do you sir?”
This message was last edited by the player at 16:14, Thu 22 Dec 2022.

 Stoly   looked around,..Lots of  words for   Friend..Komrade , of  course is first, Da?... But here are many

  He begins to recite   words, after  Komrade..

 https://www.rbth.com/education...or-friend-in-russian

 The Kids looked  around. It was plain to see, the Kids  did not  come from rich families, nor  could they be considered 'Stem Kids'

Garrat listens to the names.  “ With so many words for friend, your people must be very friendly.”  He thinks about it, “ I think we should stick with the obvious answer, and I like the sound of comrade.”

    He turns to the children, “no everybody sits with me on the count of three. One. Two. Three. “Comrade”


With a click and a rumble, a large rock against the wall rolls aside revealing a short hall to a chamber full of warm light.

  Stoly watches the   wall open, then he turns  and watches their back...There's not goign to  be some long  wiggly things  come out and grab as  as we try to enter?

though he sounded like he was kidding, he let all the other s enter while he looked back.

 “ I got the idea from the movie.”  Garrat confessed  “Not the movie from the idea.”  Stoly however noted that Garrat also waited.  The inside of the room was as Garrat described.  Two levels of shipping containers converted into rooms with a catwalk along the second level.  This room was much better sealed than the others with sheeted plastic over what little exposed rock there was in one corner and no sand occasionally sifting down from cracks in a makeshift ceiling.  Three quarters of the room was given over to a lounge area with a large fire in the middle of the SE quarter with couches around it, two pool tables, a ping pong table, and a set of free weights in the SW quarter, a bar/cooking space with some booths in the NE corner.  In the NW corner was marred by a rock formation raising the floor level but some clank plating was bolted in place making a raised space for a kind of situation room with a central table and terminals along the wall.  The second level cargo units rested on the exposed rock here and held the servers for the mainframe.

   Cups of hot chocolate were being placed on th tables for the children

 The  Kids   made their way to the  tbale   with some  Stoly's team  escorting them.

 ...sorry to put you out like this. We had  through to make a  run for the Bura, funnel, byt that  a damn far ways to go with a shuttle load of hungry kids.,  I should have planed for rations  and such. Gresh send  these  co-ordinace  to see if you could help.

 Stoly winced  a bit,..I  can't  leave the folsk behind  that i  foughtwith on Earth for the last 5 years..I mean..we're not winning, but we sure aren't losing.

Garrat shakes his head, “By all means, bring them by.  We were a little unprepared but this is good training and both these kids and your team deserve everything we can give them and more.”   He looks over the little ones “I adopted a daughter from the stem when I found her shot up from a skirmish while performing a lights out.  It means everything to us to help.”

  Stoly  shakes his head,... no?   me and My people ahve to go back..we have  Hunter, and  Hannah.. some woman Named Jesse?  from the  Hermes down there.. all fighting. Hannah has  evem realixed , she had to use a weapon. That was a big step for her..... I think the numabers say, that across the world, the Empire and Angels lose  like  20,000 people  a day, we lose, Like 1000?..but..we can't  keep that up, some  angels  have crossed over, we have to vet them... thsoe  we  find as spies, we kill outright, the others, help us kill EDT.

“Jessie is a good warrior.  I’m glad she’s fighting the good fight on earth.  Hannah has always had a good heart, too good to work through Shadow’s callousness.  It is better for her to deal with that here.  Hermes is a brutal place to learn what you are willing to do.  It can break people.  I need your help.  I want to help planet side, both supporting some passive programs and maybe giving lights out the ability to hit some heavy targets before I move on.”  He looks at  Stoly.  “My dad was part of a passive occupation through the dark ages.  We took stricken Midg..Earthers from your ancient battle fields and used them to father the Einherjar.  A race of super soldiers that helped us keep the frost giants at bay.  When the wormhole started to collapse Asgard was said to pull all of its forces home leaving Earth to its own devices.  The only thing said to remain is one of our data dumps, that we placed across the cosmos to preserve our history, culture, and technologies for future generations.  I would like to see if anything remains at that site or others it leads me to that might help the ESN secure earth. 
This message was last edited by the player at 01:49, Wed 21 Dec 2022.

  Well... Depends now? I was thinking of  goign to New York, see if   we  can  clean up some of the EDT there...  what you're asking , Might be  better  suited  for  Hunters   base...

 he points to the Black shuttles  with  ESN markings...Those   4  our my newest babies... They are  just a bit wider  and taller , some those   'next Gen' Mechs   can  ride inisde, the bubble  gun glass is thicker, and the swivel mount  for  the  37MM cannon on the Nose , makes it  suitible  for ground  support, as they land or take off... # of them are Going to the Hermes..One is staying here... when I leave, I'll take the Old one  with  me the isle  a few miles south of the Statue..theres  a Base  Hidden on the jeresy sie of  the river.. , I'll join up, with  what's left there.

Sitting in the far back corner, Harry would look up and watch as Garrat's distinctive figure appeared within the doorway as he spoke with someone she didn't recognise. Deciding that if she needed to know what was going on that he would tell her she would return to what she had been doing, namely smoking...or at least trying to. Placing the cigarette between her black painted lips with a leather gloved hand she would raise the cheap Bic lighter and fumble a flame into life so far so good she thought to herself before trying light it. Fortunately for her lungs if not her sanity her hand trembled and shook so violently that all she managed to do was scorch the paper and nearly burn her lip causing her to swear, loudly and vilely as she plucked the ruined cigarette from her lips and threw it towards the trash.

With a defeated sigh she would run her fingers through boot black hair, still finding the new style strange and unfamiliar before picking up a cup and taking a drink of the local hooch. A lot had changed in the month or so since she'd left the Hermes. She'd deserted, fled to Etna station, changed her name, changed her appearance, worked as a gun for hire, pissed off a crime family, got sick, got rescued and was now on Mars trying to work out if that was a good thing or not. But Garrat treated her well and so she returned his kindness with good natured abuse, violent mood swings and whatever jobs her emaciated frame could handle, though thankfully that at least was improving with her looking less like the poster child for starvation and just simply unwell at least they no longer think I'm a damn Vampic!

“The poet’s mead lies in a fjord in Norway, that’s probably closer to Hunter.  My problem is getting my Corvette down to the planet surface without detection because it is submersible and the entrance is now under sea level.”

Joseph texts Garrat.  “Pizzas are on the way, I asked Hecuba to buy children’s cloths at Olympus but she’s probably two to three hours out.  These take a while to cook so we might be making a second run.”

  Stoly gave a grunt  of confirmation...It would be good for them to have a full belly and get some sleep. The  kids who were  'more  aware' didn't  sleep much, the other  kids  were just...scared.

 I hated  taking  them in there  like that, But it worked , not only  did  we kill everyone in that  Damn manor, but were burned it  down, and  killed alot of outside folks too

“I know this is going to sound terrible, but stem kids are used to being thrown into bad situations.  If we systematically rescued a bunch and asked for volunteers to play the part of the sacrifice, in exchange for military apprenticeship you might end up with a willing group that can hold their own if things go sideways.  Recruiting is difficult.  They tend to be hard to track down and harder to convince that your not going to hurt them.  However I have been very proud of my little stem girl.  She may be serving on the rec-dec but she has faced down boarding parties as bravely as any marine.”

A family of Gavas showed up carrying trays of food.  The big bowl of mashed potatoes was once dry and the casserole dish vegetables and platter of polish and Italian sausages were recently frozen before being microwaved back to life but the Lady Elberta peaches had come from a can.  Skewers were provided to roast items over the fire and a couple of bags of marshmallows got pulled out of cupboards.

    It wasn’t enough for everyone but certainly enough to get started.

Grandma Gava, the Matriarch of the Gavas made sure everything was in place then stepped up on the seat next to Harry and placed a cool hand on her forehead.  Her words translate roughly as Are you feeling okay girl?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:42, Wed 21 Dec 2022.

There was a clunk as a bowl of stew was placed on the table in front of her causing Harry to look up at the large apefolk woman ”I’ve already eaten” Harry started, the disbelieving look she got from Nora however quickly put paid to the lie with her simply sliding the bowl closer to her. Had anyone else tried this there would have been a very high chance that they would have ended up wearing the stew. But not Nora. There was just something about Nora that made even whack jobs like Harry do as they were told. No doubt a shrink would point out that Nora was the maternal role model that Harry so desperately yearned for and that Harry would sooner cut her own arm off than disobey her and risk losing her calming influence. There would be a moment of resistance before she rather meekly whispered ”the meds make me chuck” at which point she would receive a sympathetic look as she replied ”eat what you can…you need to keep your strength up” with Harry simply nodding as picked up the spoon and slowly started to eat.

 Stoly watched the Gava,Lots of races, I never saw..Like them Gava and the Spider gators..i've seen Largs, The  Rebel Nivarians  have  brough some to earth, they are training them , in the Sahara Forest, among The Mellon Trees...some got loose  and travelled  down into the Congo...going to be interesting. to see if they can breed with earth Reptiles..

 Stem Kids.... me and The SM met one, his name is Nifty, was  13-14.. had  an old sniper rifle,  We met him down  at  Gresh's Grotto on Olympus...That Sanri would  giv him some creds anda  a box  of  sniper rounds, when he  brought proff of his kills.

    “Nifty was fun.  So street wise of the horror of humanity, yet he was so innocent when it came to kindness.  Many of them are this way.  Mark my words, you will never find a person who better understands what we are fighting for than someone who’s parents were abducted for demons and is forced to navigate the gangs of the stem to survive.  They are also excellent with helping with other rescued children.  I would take any who wanted to join me in a heartbeat.”

“Gavas on the other hand can pass for children only at a distance but fight with precision and brutality.  They oddly team up well with larger warriors complementing ape people in close quarters and sweeping through streets with the Naragran like a plague.  They ferret out snipers and move amongst ceiling pipes and beams faster than most humans can run.  They will use guns but their ability with spears is astonishingly efficient in tight hallways and places that provide opportunities to out maneuver enemies.@


  “I’m glad this base was helpful to you.  Should we set some of these up around the system?  Maybe some on earth?  They are easy to set up at night in desert environments.”
This message was last edited by the player at 06:44, Thu 22 Dec 2022.

Nora looked across at Grandma Gava, the old healer doesn’t have to hear the question, “Mint and willow bark tea drank in occasional sips after the meal should help.  So will the ginger in the stew.  I’ve started paying the locals to grow me some basic herbs in hydroponics.  So we’ll be pretty set for supplies.”

    She lays her hand gently on Harry’s shoulder. “Your strength returns with your will dear.  Even this red world holds beauty…”. The Gava pauses as Nora looks at her flatly.  “I’ll get the tea ready.”

Harry would have to strain her ears to understand the elderly Gava’s accent but would understand that she would be getting some tea to help with the nausea. For reasons that Harry didn’t quite understand the family of Gava and Nora had seemingly adopted her with the rest of Garrat’s crew rather more sensibly in her opinion giving her a wide berth for the time being. The psychological scars left by her time on the Hermes made her unpredictable at best with her moods swinging wildly between suicidal depression and homicidal rage with the news she had received from an Etna clinic that there was a very real chance that she would lose her leg and or arm doing little to help her. Also in true Harry style she had seemingly done everything in her power to keep everyone at arms length even down to her appearance.

She was pale and thin, not in the attractive way but rather the long term illness way, with her hair styled into a pixie cut and dyed black. In an attempt to hide how pale and sickly her skin tone had become she had also taken to wearing black lipstick and eye shadow to infer that it was a deliberate fashion choice like the long dark coat and leather gloves she wore, which when coupled with her pink laced combat boots and posh English accent gave her a Wednesday Addams vibe that most people found off putting.

”If you need growing equipment let me know, I have contacts on Etna that would help us out” Harry offered, almost eager to make herself useful after being ill for so long, not that she would ever dream of telling Grandma Gava that her contact was in the illegal drugs trade. She had hoped that Garrat or more accurately Nora, would have allowed her to visit a station by now in order to make more contacts but her recent bad health had made it impossible for her to do so. But Grandma Gava was right. She was getting better. And soon she would be able to make a more meaningful contribution to Garrat’s operation.

With Grandma Gava leaving to make her a cup of tea, Harry would sit with Nora as she slowly ate her stew, with the large apefolk woman keeping a maternal eye on her, with Harry having seemingly become her daughter ”so what’s with all the kids…since when did we become a crèche?” Harry would ask, having noticed the sudden influx of children and wondering what Garrat was up to.

 Stoly  gave a shrug, there was a no added to it.well.. this was a  hard core  shipping  base for the EDT about 3 years ago. Marines took it down pretty good, everyone sort of forgot  about it, except smugglers.  Lights Out..Like the LC?  they  had a  'talk' with some  folks. Those that didn't see th Lights Out  point of view...are laying in that  big old   canyon  . Those that  were smart, signed up,Had we came in here, and the wwrong  folks would have been here..we just would have  lessoned the strain on the O2 production.

 ..There are going to be idiots. That's plain and simple. All we have to do is pull them out by the roots, so they can't make more...


  You have  coffee and  such   for me and my people? It would be appreciated.

  Garrat claps a hand on Stoly’s shoulder. “Well tonight we celebrate the lives saved and a piece of the cancer cut out.@. He looks over, “The coffee machine is behind the bar, it looks like one craft is full and someone started another brewing.”

 Stoly   gave   the whistle, like so many  squad leaders, then pointed to the Bar..Let us get some  coffee  Comrades.  once  children have eaten, we will  see what is left.

 He  shakes his head as he pats his  own chest...I should have  been storing rations  on   the old shuttle. Short comig on my part. But did not  want cases missing  for pencil necks to ask questions.

 Pointing in the    direction of the  of the Hellraiser shuttles.as i say before, you have  people to fly and crew the shuttle we are leaving? If not, I can ask  if any volunteers want to stay... The other Three  are goign to theb Hermes. It will, most likely, be  my last gift to them

With Nora confessing to knowing nothing about the children other than their recent arrival Harry had nodded as she continued to slowly eat, with her cup of hooch having been replaced with tea at some point during her conversation with Nora, with past experience telling her that it was pointless getting upset about it and that she may as well just accept it.

She would get around about halfway through her meal before her stomach started to rebel, with her simply putting down her spoon and pushing the bowl away ”sorry…that’s all I can manage” she said to Nora in an apologetic voice before taking a tentative sip of her tea ”That’s ok, we’ll try again a little later, just remember to drink your tea and lay off the booze”
”yes mother she replied as she carefully got to her feet, amidst Nora’s chuckling, and made her way over to Garrat with a cup of tea in one hand and a crutch under the other ”hey Gar, who are the these guys with the kids? Do I need to be concerned?”

   Garrat nods to Harry,  “Hey Jen, Captain Stoly here is one of the original core staff of the Hermes.  They hijacked a living dinner shipment for a demon loyalty feast then showed up anyway to make sure some appetites were ruined.  I don’t think those folks will be eating anyone ever again. “

    “We have a ship heading in that direction that usually carries half a dozen shuttles.  We can wrap yours up like a legitimate delivery.  I’m also Trying to contact some friends in the Burian fleet to see if we can get Delta fleet to take possession of the shuttles earlier.”

   “You didn’t answer me earlier.  Can a corvette sneak through the earths defense grid undetected?”

 Stoly takes  a sip of your  Coffee  as he scans  his unit to make sure they are getting something.

  With a shake of his head he says,GE-FI and his  EDT  buddies  play a game. They have   random , 3 craft scouts   sweep  areas  , just outside the  Atmo of Earth. They call it 'net Casting"... None of us know when and where they show up, we  try to  leave Atmo when  the   scouts  pop up... heading away from  where they are going...its a Mixed bag for Both sides... They catch some...some get away. Its  Not Good, no matter how you look at it.... Them fighters that landed here, are Frankenstein's . Build from 5 or  6  different  aircraft. Those   Angel  Fighters  that came to kill us?  never  knew they were there... That  opened the Hole for us to get off  planet, Morrow transponders do the rest.... I'd say a corvette has a  60-40 change of  getting through atmo  with out being detected, but  you damn sure  need  a place to  go to fast...They have ships on the oceans , for no other reason then to scan the skies.

  Garrat thinks a bit.  “So it’s line of sight with the Maro transponders.  If we can get through we need to get underwater immediately,  can we slip past at night if we outfit our energy shield to mimic the transponders or get one ourselves?”

  Stoly  gave a  shrug  as  he  sipped a bit more  deeply,.. hard to tell?  I mean, If you try  to slip past, and you're caught, they chase you and  either  get you to heavr to...or blow you up on sight...or both?.

 if you call attention to youself, they'll chck you  out , and  you end up like the first oen?

The Angels  are trying to   fortify Earth, with the Moon  as scanning point, that's  why we  flew past them, before  turning on our transponders  and   breaking  this way.

“So they are using radio scanning equipment from the moon?  If a target is found, do the ships converge on it or is it one target one ship?”

Jose comes in with a stack of five pizzas. “We have fifteen more out on the loading bay. I didn’t want to risk dropping any by carrying too many.  Another set will be here in a bit.”

 Stoly points to two  of his people, that they go out  to get the other  pizzas

  Turning back to Garrat he says,Can't  say, Comrade Garrat. It is never been for me  to fly off the surface  until  now. As I said,   I go back to new York,  finish what Shadow
 started  when he was boy? or Maybe, we go to england   and hunt down EDT..we have leads, be most satisfing to   rid the isle of  EDT

 I do know, a Month ago, a  small trans port   left  earth  form  Aussie land... they didn't make it  to the Kyper  Belt

Garrat nods. “Makes sense.  I’ve been interviewing pilots for months and they don’t even want to try.  I’ll just have to send a small shuttle or two with nuclear bombs on them and make some confusion.”

  Stoly watched as his   troopers  placed  Pizzas  around for the kids to dig into, which they did.

 he also saw  the  Unit, Move away  to allow the Kids to  eat  and  talk and laugh,  They would see how much is left  after.

 You know  Hack. You know this isn't  just about  winning the war, its  about  the destruction of Hel. There is a reason he allowed some demons to be sent to the Deltas, and other  colonies.

 He   Holds  up a finger, as he watches the kids, then looks  back at  Garrat,Hack doesn't  want to  destroy  or  shell the earth. But  he will, because he has  done  the same thing, to some planets that are now APF  planets, However , if he  is able to  neutralize   Hel  and the  Angels.. he may only have to invade  and start harvesting  anyone who isn't   'with the program'


 A frown appears,Hunter and others  from Lights Out, are sending messages, posting   notes, and  gunning down those  who are not our friends. Things  don't  turn around, Earth
 is  going to  have to start all over again.

“I know.  He told me himself.  That’s why I’m here.  That’s why I was able to get other military and non military assets to join me.  Dad had a lot of good things to say about Midgard.  I don’t know if he still lives but I can at least look after the planet he loves while I am here.  The people are strong, passionate.  This is the source of the berserk.  The battle rage that has saved my Asgard more than once.  It is the source of the last known reproductive aid for the porcine who have lost their planet.  For the reasons you say he cannot defend earth of schedule.  We can, and most of all the people of earth it’s self can.  They are mostly passive angels addicted to technology and comfort.  They will rage against oppression.  It is all through their history.  We only need learn how to light the fire.”

  Garrat shrugs, “and weakening the enemy infrastructure to respond won’t hurt either.”

There was a moment of panic at the mention of Stoly however it would quickly become apparent that the man in question was in fact Stoly Senior and as such had never met Harry "Well I'm always up for fucking up the EDT's day" she responded raising her cup in salute to Stoly before quietly listening as the pair discussed the issues surrounding entering Earth's atmosphere and Hacks plans for Earth "Hack can't shell Earth and he knows it...more than half of his fleet has family on Earth, if he issued that order he'd have a mutiny on his hands that could destroy the entire Delta Fleet...Garrat's right, it needs to be an inside job" Harry responded, more than happy to back up Garrat because like the Delta fleet she still had friends and family on Earth.

"Have you considered hijacking an inbound transport? Do it nice and quick so they don't send an SOS and then fly that baby straight through all of the checkpoints...that or we need to find ourselves a defector...in fact we probably will need that defector anyway to make this work" she said, suspecting that it wouldn't matter if they had the correct transponder codes and paint job if they couldn't even speak the right clearance codes and sound the part.

    Garrat shakes his head in disagreement.  “ I’m sorry Carey, he with the shell EDT strong hold and bases in a heartbeat.  He has to, because without the help of alien races google map with against the demons. Most of the Delta fleet are spaceborne And technically to them earth is an occupied planet. Occupied by the enemy. If it Hass to be sacrifice to give the human race a chance, Delta fleet cannot afford to hold back. This is the edicts of absolute war.”

    Garrat listens to her plan. “That is a great plan, the problem is there are very few ships going in and out of earth anymore. That’s a part of how they are controlling it and weakening us. We will certainly look into the option, but I hesitate to rely on that ass plan A.   That said, The best way to neutralize a spy, Is to steal his eyes. You do that by giving him something to look at white you walk quietly behind his back. He cannot report in then continue his watch until he learns enough to dismiss or neutralize a perceived threat.”

“uh-huh…and is Hack going to risk the entire fleet on a technicality? Come on Garrat even you know humans are not that logical” she said with a smile as she sipped her tea. With a few hundred years of human stupidity to back up her claim.

As Garrat pointed out that ships travelling in and out of Earth were a rarity, she would grimace a little ”it does kind of mean we have to pick our moment, not to mention get all of our ducks in a row first” she
said conceding that for the time being at least that there was probably another option they could pursue ”ok so what’s the alternative? The way I see it we either need to sneak past them using stolen codes and stealth or blast past them using seat of your pants flying and fast ships both of which is in short supply” she said looking to Garrat to see if he had any other ideas.

“We have an entire armada of different races that have made sacrifices for this war.  If Hack is unwilling to treat Earth with the Same severity he treated the Felrites and the Hyrians we will lose the fleet and therefore the war.  It is up to us to make Earth an asset and not a liability that needs bombing.”

  “ Stoly has brought up a very important point though.” Garrat said climbing the steps to the situation area.   He booted up a map of the earths oceans.  “If Ge-Fi has ships across the oceans he has great control.  Any floating frame can be updated hold angel radar systems, and angel surface to space systems.  That’s more than 70% of earths surface where  he can place his pawns out of sight of the people but likely cover the entire globe.  Shelling from space is likely to be met with return fire.  It also makes it really hard for us to sneak in.” 

After hearing the comment about Earth shooting back Harry would literally bite her lip before counting to ten. Debate had never been her strong suit, with her often resorting to insults, threats of violence and biting sarcasm, none of which were approved of methods for winning an argument.

Instead she would turn her attention to the problem of the watcher fleet ”ok so we need a way of neutralising it…we can’t knock it out as there are too many ships and receiver stations…how about a virus?  Create a backdoor in the system so we can sneak ships through the system?” she suggested.

   Garrat nods to Harry.  “That would be a good avenue to explore. We would have to talk to ESN because EDT fire walls are well above the pay grade of anyone we’re working with here.”

    He turns to Stoly.  “I’m sorry for cutting into your R&R sir.  Goodness knows you deserve it and this isn’t necessarily your area of expertise. However you are so far the only reliable Intel I have. I can use whatever help I can get, and if you know others who can help with this I would be grateful for introductions.”

(( assuming  Stoly  is  in earshot))

 Stoly says,  This is the  thing, Da?.. GE-FI has   alot  of  experience  in setting up defesnes...not much in offense. So? You must  understands, getting in and out of Earth, even, Moon Base, it is not so simple, Getting out is good, you fly away..use transponders  and   go where you will and hope  no  scout sees you.

 there is a snort and a grunt.earth is  but one Little piece of the prize  now. If  The Admiral needs to shell earth, he will shell earth. it is infested with  EDT..and  those who aid them, Angels   have settled in, there will be countries given to them after the war , no matter how this  turns out.

 when i left the Hermes to come here. the Delta fleet  consisted of  The Hermes, The Harvester ,The Slayer and  Achillies and Athena

 he chuckles deeply,The Fleet   has grown, Many alien ships   are there. But they do not see themselves as  Aliens, nor perceive us to be, it is like Genghis Khan. or  Attila the Hun, or Alexander the great. great massive   ships, support ships, troops  ships and most of  all, almost 100 warships.. all the peoples  and races   , Hack has  brought together, see themselves

 as a  new Galactic Community. But it is a very harsh one. Those   races  and systems that support the Empire, even in the slightest way...GE-FI has  doomed the Earth, Unless the
 earth show colors of the APF... Do not misunderstand this... he holds a  finger in the air  to make the point clear.GE-FI tried , very hard to hold on to 'supreme being'... now we understand, that he  was working  for the Angels , to get more fodder  for the war, and  working with  EDT, when we would fail...we did not fail...

 He  Handed His  cup to his  LT who went to refresh his coffee.GE-FI sent   the early ships   out to patrol, to find  demons, yes..but paths were set were we would not... Commander  O'conner  paid the price  for this,,,Da? But the Hermes  defeated the  first  Demon  vessel we faced..I was there.... it was crippled, , but it was twice the ordinal  Hermes  size and power. Refitting  and making New Cap ships, kept us smaller ,  faster
 and still powerful, added ...many fighters to the hangers,  and increased  transport Bases...Shadow's  family he had left? Killed by Cats!..His brother'sfamily...the sister in law, survived and Joined  Lights out..she was...most angry, killing many many EDT
 and  people who gave them aid, before she was killed....Califronia, New york, texas , London, chian, as a wh9ole, and Moscow, are places  we need to  rush, perhaps, that is were strikes  will come when the Fleet arrives.

 he shakes his head,Hack cannot  afford to have Mercy on Earth. and the small percentage of Earth Born crews.. will either have to  suck it up, or   ask to  be 'excluded'. Keep in mind,  we shelled Bura in certain palces the first time there... we devestaed   Nivar  and  Aqra. Russia was turned int   farm land  with tsuch overturning of the earth there.

 No? my friends?  there will be no mrcy, Just because  Hack is  an earthling. He cannot  afford , for the sake of the  APF. and , if he loses  systems    and colonies  , ebcause he gives  earth mercy, then everyone who died  in this war, would have died for nothing.

 That is why i go back, da?  To   help clean up new York, London.. Moscow...  should be  shelled from orbit. but  that will be opened as a palce  for the  EDT to run to, as well as china. Then..extermination will begin...sometimes, when  sickness takes  deep hold, one  must  cut it out.

 The LT brings  him his  Coffee and Stoly thanks him...do not think you will receive mercy from them if you are captured...They may try to board you , just so they can get names  and  information from those they capture...but you will die..or wish yourself dead. There was  a vid, two days  ago, outside of  an English  military  base. 27  people
tied to fence and shot..10 of them, were Lights Out. the others  were those who gave them aid...this  did not scare people there. more aid  and Volunteers   come in... the
money people , who don't have restrictions put on them, are  deemed to be working with EDT. Assassinations  are a weekly thing there. Lights out is getting many creds from dead rich people... we have techs who tap into  asset trails  in Russia. but the trails get turned
off, when monitors see cred level go down fast..

 This war....is  to the knife. You do not want to be  on the  wrong side of Hack's blade

   “That’s our problem, and kinda the solution Ha, err Jennifer.  Sorry, you reminded me of one of my daughters.  Most of our allies have lost entire worlds to the Demons.  Your belief in the importance of earth is not theirs, But it does belong to you in most of those on earth.  I have you here because of your beliefs, and the fact that you approach conflict from a different direction. I need someone who thinks outside the box. I know discussion isn’t your strong point, but maybe we can use this.  How would you normally win an argument?”

  Stoly   snorted,Agrugement. thatvis   easy Comrade. You either punch faces  until all agree, or you drink , many bottles of vodka, and  soon all agree!. But..this is  not  just  Arguemtn. Its is  war. Ge-FI..EDT  Angels..they want to keep Earth and have power.

  Demons ..they want paradise and Earth...Angel  folk, they do not understand? or maybe the  figure , having  earth in back pocket  helps them from demons.Either way..we must have  earth be free...but also be APF. If they are free, but not APF, people look out of side of eyes. If  we join  APF as  full member, then we become comrades with those of the Black. It is very impotant. da?  Angels, Demons and all others, they sue   earth for prison...for breeding..for  experiments. no APF, means, that is what earth will turn into...big free range
 market for such things.

 we will know  soon, as the fleet makes its  way...if they enbter  the Sol system as a fleet...the  time of  choice  will handed to the people of  earth.

Harry would quirk a brow at Garrat as if to ask are you sure? before shrugging and replying ”he has the right idea, but you guys are over complicating things, you say it’s a war like that makes things difficult, it’s not, it’s just a big gang fight and there are two ways of winning a gang fight, either you give the other side such a kicking that they give up and agree to your demands like Stoly said or you kill the boss and make a deal with the guy that takes over…unfortunately Hack’s billy big bollocks total war bullshit has backed us all into a corner so we can forget about peace talks which means…we need to kill GE-FI and convince whoever takes over that siding with us is in their best interest…the problem of course is how do flatline GE-FI? And who takes over when he’s dead?” She explained, looking to Garrat and Stoly to see if either of them knew the answer to those particular questions.

Garrat listens intently as “Jenny” very briefly answers him then suppresses a smile as she goes on a tirade that has little to do with the question he asked.

    Killing Ge-Fi is definitely on the docket AFTER we somehow manage to get to the “bloody planet”. As you would say.  Let’s deal with what we can do first.  Telling Hack to go fuck himself is probably something we can’t.”

    He looks at the map.  So both of you would suggest we fight the defenses rather than sneak around them.  Going back to my analogy of occupying their eyes, that would be more along the lines of blinding their eyes.”

    He purses his lips “I think it can be done…with some help.”

    That joke about the shuttles with nuclear bombs wasn’t really a joke.  Active sensors send out energy and wait for it to bounce back, seeing the energy return.  Passive sensors look very hard for energy given off by targets.  Flood either one of them with a nuclear generated EMP while they are on and they will be overloaded and never see again.  Un shielded circuitry will brown out.  While most space ships are shielded against space radiation.  Sea ships aren’t.  We just need to figure exactly where and exactly how strong…and of course getting someone to give us the bomb or build one for us.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:12, Sat 31 Dec 2022.

Joseph with the help of others had pulled a large plastic wrapped piece of machinery out of the back and plugged it into the wall as well as connecting a waterline.  Unwrapping it reveals an espresso machine. He gets to work making Stoly’s people very happy.

There was a sharp intake of breath at the suggestion of setting off nukes in order to fry the electronics on the boats and receiver stations with the resulting EMP blast ”yeah…I’d be wary about setting off nukes, it doesn’t paint us in a good light especially when it comes to convincing people that we’re not the bad guys, also it wouldn’t take them long to swap out those components and it will definitely put them on high alert…personally I think we either need virus or an inside man that will allow to just walk through the front door without raising any flags” she said. Not that Garrat’s plan wouldn’t work but that it was kind of a one shot thing ”Do you want me to start putting feelers for people we can potentially turn? I mean even if we go with the nukes it wouldn’t hurt to look” she asked, wanting to get back to work and start pulling her weight.

Gareth raises an eyebrow at her then boots up an article on the table.  “ Earthers knew two centuries ago That a nuclear device set off in the upper atmosphere would not even generate fall out. The EMP generated by it however was over five times the highest level that their sensors could handle frying them instantly.  Basically there was a flash in the sky, and many of their instruments browned out. Other than that there was no other discernible sign That anything happened.  In space, nuclear explosions don’t blow things about. That requires atmosphere to have a reaction to the instantaneous release of energy.  If you’re concerned about winning over the populace, all the evidence they have that this happened will be verbal reports from a government they are already beginning to distrust.”

    Garrett has the good grace to look embarrassed. “Yeah, you know how you’re looking things up at night and you seem to go down, how do you say, a rabbit hole?  This was one of mine. The history of earthlings playing with nuclear energy is actually very fascinating.”

     “ Joseph can handle the hackers. He’s got a lot more experience at finding people and certainly more connections.  I understand your willingness to help out where you can, but your talents are needed more elsewhere.”  Garrat smiles,  “ After all, if it weren’t for you we wouldn’t of had this map table.  You said all secret bases needed one.”
This message was last edited by the player at 18:33, Sat 31 Dec 2022.

    Garrat turns to Stoly “this would be done on the night side in the dark of the lunar cycle.  That way ships from moon base would take longest to arrive and our location would not be highlighted against the moon.  Another advantage is that it would be a blanket opportunity.  Ships could enter and leave freely for a short period of time.  We can also use it to test and measure response times and the defense systems.

There was a very teenager like groan from Harry in response to Garrat’s scientific explanation as to why his idea wasn’t dangerous ”oh Gar come on! I used to skip physics lessons to snog girls and smoke behind the bike sheds! All I know for certain is that people are stupid, and they get squirrelly when the word Nuke is used” she said, pouting when Garrat pointed out that Joe would be looking for Hackers and potential defectors as he had more contacts and expertise than she did when it came to finding people. As if sensing her disappointment, Garrat would try and sooth her already bruised ego ”great…so I’m an interior designer…come on Gar please, I need something to do, I’ve been lying on my back staring at the ceiling for what feels like forever!” With it having been abundantly clear since her joining Garrat’s organisation that Harry was a very bad patient and didn’t handle being sick very well.

   Garrat looked at her intently.  “I need a good pilot who can climb into an alien ship and figure out how to fly it.  Someone who can assess the readiness of enemy and friendly pilots and craft.”

    He motions to the children “Someone who can spot the next ace and see to it they start their training correctly.”  He nods to the simulators.

    “Someone who can walk into a bar with me and see that something is about to go down while I am talking with a contact. Someone who is good in a fight.   Someone who knows we can’t change delta fleet, but knows we can change earth.  Someone with enough experience to train others in tactics against the empire.  Someone I can rely on.  And most of all, someone I can trust to be my friend.   I rather think your her.  Tell me if you are not.”

Garrat looks up at Stoly, then back at her.  “But we can talk about that later.  I
We need to continue working on getting us where we can save lives here while we have help.

     To Stoly “Sorry about the dirty laundry.  Apparently I need to work on how I establish my expectations with my people.”
This message was last edited by the player at 22:56, Sat 31 Dec 2022.

She would awkwardly shift as Garrat spoke before meekly replying ”you know I’ve got your back Gar…its just…ever since I got here I’ve been lying in bed crying and puking my guts up in between being pumped full of meds…you’ve done me a solid and I want to do something to start paying you back” she quietly replied having not intended to cause any trouble…or at least not on this occasion.

The first thing, we   must  get the kids  out of here  and into The Delta Quad ...everything esle comes  after...we killed  alot of people down there, and I blew up most of the Base i used to  work in..it took 2 years to get those  aircraft to fly, and   to find  Pilots  who 'had  enough' and  wanted to help. or strike back...Be Nice to see  some of them on The Hermes as a Gift to the LC. Give  him some hungry fighters...

Joseph got the buzz in on his COM “ Well, it looks like Esmeralda just landed in the Delilah with clothes and the last pizzas…oh, Chicago stuffed crust, I’m gonna git me some of that.  Anyway, she’s the one Garrat was talking to about smuggling the shuttles off planet…. And she’s looking at the job.”  He reads a message or two “Do you mind if we wrap the shuttles for shipment?” He asks Stoly.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:30, Mon 02 Jan 2023.

Harry’s eyes would narrow slightly at Stoly’s mention of an attack that had taken out several enemy and resulted in a destroyed base, and the appearance of renegade aircraft. All of which set the paranoid part of Harry’s brain screaming with it taking an effort for her to keep her voice calm ”ok here’s what we do, as soon as you guy’s have eaten you grab your gear and the kids, get on one of our shuttles and make a hard burn for Bura, they’re always looking for kids, and we’ll deal with your shuttle…” she said, looking to Garrat to see if he was happy to trade one of their shuttles for the one Stoly had arrived in which they would either need to respray and alter it’s transponder and drive signature or make disappear ”…there’s already someone here to move on the other shuttles which leaves the flyboys…now they’re welcome to stay with us and they’ll certainly see some action or they leave a half hour after you and head for Fuji where they can link up with a fleet or mercenary organisation of their choice, sound good?” she said wanting Stoly, his boys and the kids out of their secret base as soon as possible before the people that were bound to be looking for them thought to come here and start poking around.

  Looking  around Stoly says,   I don't think we need a  wrap?  One of those hellraisers is staying here, you can paint it as you want. My shuttle is gign back down, the other three   are goign   towards the Fleet, if they can catch them. Aagin, hose  kids   must be   safe and into the Delta  Quad.... once  i am airborne, i will Contact  Comrade beth. Until then, i do not want to make  COMs that will  let peopole know where we are.

Harry would wave off the comment about the kids; not really caring whether the kids wound up on Bura or a Delta colony so long as they weren’t here and safely out of reach of the empire, though the addition of a new shuttle was always welcome ”you’ve never been on a big job have you?” Harry quietly said, making it clear that she wasn’t referring to a military operation when she said Big Job ”…word of advice…going back to the same same place you just hit and in the getaway vehicle to boot is a very good way of getting yourself caught…I would seriously recommend ditching that shuttle and then going somewhere faraway to lay low for a bit because you boys are public enemy number one at the moment and they will be looking for you” she said, hoping that he would take onboard her advice but knowing that she couldn’t stop him from going back to Earth if that was what he chose to do.

    “Oh, you’ll catch them.” Esmeralda said, bringing Pizzas and boxes of clothes in with some of her crew. “The Sky hag is at your service and she’ll get your shuttles and children to Bura in record time.”  She looks at Garrat. “Garrat, could you please call your friends at Bura, It would be a lot safer if we had an escort from there in to Delta fleet.”

Esmeralda starts to help unpack boxes but warns Harry “when your standing on another Captain’s bridge, it is unwise to start issuing orders.  Deary.” She opened another box. “That’s where the E-vols screwed up.  They felt entitled to their position in the void but the void will never accept idiots who are unwilling to to earn their place in the universe.” She looked up “You’ve got  the hutspa to be a hell of a freelancer.  You can earn your name in this fool’s arrend but unless you’re willing to play footsies with Hack, you don’t want to be ordering his friends around.”

  Stoly snorted,I have been on some of the biggest... when only the Hermes, Harvester  and  Athena were out there... We had  the  LC  who was an LT..the SM who was a SGT, and Hack who was a commander and a bunch of other people. Now? we weren't criminals, we're   Military, Though Shadow, from what i understood, weeded out gangers  and  'family'  people  when he was in highschool.. but he's wearing the right uniform, so none of  us  ever  second-guessed him..so.. 'big job'... these jobs  we  do , go to the knife. don't  get much  bigger then that..

 the LY  of his  brought over  a slice  of pizza  for   him and a fresh coffee.

Harry would roll her eyes as Stoly missed her point entirely that a military operation with an albeit small fleet backing them up was not the same as what they were doing now, with her raising her hands in a defensive gesture with her left hand trembling ever so slightly ”hey you can do whatever you want, all I’m saying is if you want to avoid having your fingernails pulled you may want to steer clear of Earth for a while” she said before turning to Esmeralda with a mischievous grin ”ah but this is my deck…kinda…and I was merely suggesting they didn’t want to wait too long before moving on, what with how they’re being hunted and this is a secret base an all”

Garrat facepalms.  “ Harry, this room is secret… the base?  Not so much.”  To Stoly “I guess I’ll Talk to you about my plans in private.”  Garrat walks off towards the children coming Ko-Rin about getting any new ships painted in Mars chic.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:00, Wed 04 Jan 2023.

Esmeralda finished laying out the clothes and went to Stoly.  “The  “Sky Hag” will be in orbit over the dark side for most of tonight.  We can move your shuttles up while the children sleep while no one can identify them then use a house shuttle for them in the morning if that’s okay with you.  We are preparing the house shuttle with lots of stuffed animals right now.”

  Stoly  took a big  bite of his Pizza and nodded,Da, You call when ready. My  unit  will leave when the  kids leave. Give  'eyes' something to watch..da?

With Garrat and Stoly heading off, Harry would wander off towards her quarters for a lie down before she got roped into looking after kids, with her pausing long enough to leave the now empty cup with Grandma Gava and thanking her for the tea before leaving.

On the way through Joseph Mets her with two lattes. “Could I talk to you a we bit lass?”

Harry would shrug her shoulders as she was intercepted by Joe, with her seemingly leaning on the crutch a little more than she had before ”Sure…but I need my meds and a lie down, I forgot how tiring dealing with the ESN was” she wearily said as she continued towards her quarters making it clear that if Joe wanted his chat he would have to follow her.

  “Your call.  If you want to use your condition as a crutch that’s up to you.  If you want to find a way around dealing with ESN crap I’ll be in the other safe room.” He points down the hall that leads to said room.  Looking at the children as they were getting excited over the clothing.  “This noise will be heard in the bunks anyway.”

    Joseph heads off to the other room where he has a small open studio set up near the sandstone wall.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:13, Thu 05 Jan 2023.

She would sigh before turning to follow Joe into the other room ”alright but if my leg seizes up you’ll be the one carrying me” she replied as she slowly followed him into the other room. Once inside she would find herself somewhere to sit before carefully lowering herself down and gesturing for Joe to begin.

“ Don’t threaten me with a good Time girl, there are still people who call me a dirty old man, and women have such a nice little hand holds To hang onto while you’re carrying them.”

   Joseph motions her to a deep chair and gets her something to elevate her leg with.  “ much as I would like to launch into what I originally wanted to tell you, let me start with what I promised you first.  The best way to deal with ESN crap is not to deal with it.  Garrat started this madness, he gets to handle the bull.  Meanwhile? Ko-Ron is our go to pilot on almost any flying vehicle.  She’s not enough.  She also doesn’t have that fire you’ve got.   The problem is when you burn it out dealing with stuff you have no control over rather than in the air going a thousand miles an hour with your hair on fire, it weakens you.  That’s why you feel like you just had a boxing match with a wrecking ball.  We’ve Neglected you.  I’ll talk to Garrat about fixing that.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:44, Fri 06 Jan 2023.

There had been a bit of a snort at Joe’s comment from Harry with her replying ”Don’t take this the wrong way but it’s going to take someone really special for me to go that way again” not that she had gone ANY way since arriving with her mostly preferring her own company.

After gesturing for Joe to begin she would brace herself for the expected dressing down. What actually came next wasn’t exactly what she had been expecting and it would show on her face as she listened to him ”very well…I can leave the ESN to Garrat…what do you have in mind for me?”

“Information” Joseph says, “judging by your responses you don’t quite know about everything that has happened so I thought I’d fill you in”

    He takes a sip of his coffee and prepares to get into the narrative. “Stoli left the Hermes so he could come back to earth and build a better shuttle. As things started turning south and the earth disconnected from the ESN fleet, he Started participating in Delta night like operations.  The Americans would say that this isn’t his first rodeo. As things continued, he realized his shuttles might be helping her on the side. He took five working ones and left, sabotaging the factory.  On his way out he intercepted a shipment to a demon loyalty feast and continued onto the feast with the children. This put them in a little danger but Stoly’s team was able to level the feast With the shuttles and a couple of fighters that people were cobbling together in their back yards.”

   “Four out of the five new shuttles are going to their armies. The final one is staying here. So are all of the fighters. The only thing that is going back is Stoly’s  personal shuttle, which is older and has lots of others that look like it on earth.  It is also probably updated to be as capable as anything now.  EDT will be focused on hunting him down in the black.  Now is the time for him to sneak back.  To put in your terms is “Safest place to hide is in the hotel behind the police station.  They never expect you there.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:53, Mon 09 Jan 2023.

Garrett sits down with Stoly.  “I’m going to be blunt.  I need Any contacts you think would be willing to work with me in this system.  Especially off of earth.  Mechanics, scientists, engineers, ex soldiers, navigators, anyone.  I’ll work on who I need for what later.

Stoly  raised  an eyebrow,..Well, Comrade Garrat? you have to   narrow  that to a point. We have Lights Out, as the  main force. we have  ESN who are under ground. Some,? They cannotTake it, so we  try to get  them out of  the system for  APF people to snag and send where they can be of use...the last, are the resistance. They are not only fighting   EDT and  Angels, but   the  militias  who have sold out to the EDT.. I would say, half of them just want to leave Earth behind  and let it burn. Others..want to  fight to th knife...so you tell me what you want..i will see what we can get..but i'll have to do it from  down there.

 he  takes another  bite of his...near cold..pizza and adds.You watch that one in there...I have seen people like that...we had to kill them, before they  turned on us. If she was trustworthy? she would not be here..Da?

Harry would listen as Joe explained the situation though there was still a sharp intake of breath at the mention of Stoly returning to Earth that indicated that she strongly disagreed with the decision, but she would otherwise keep her thoughts on the matter to herself with her instead focusing her attention on what she could do something about, namely the aircraft ”ok in which case I’d like to see the specs on that shuttle and the fighters, it’d be good to know what I’m dealing with…what about the pilots that flew them in? Are they sticking around? Or are they disappearing to sign up to a fleet?” she asked, with experienced combat pilots always being welcome.

>In reply to Antonin Stoly Stolyarev (msg # 136):

“I’ve dealt with worse, and been the one to shoot them.  The sniper I was counting on on the Lady V mission went completely rogue in the middle of that mission.  I had to blow him away right there.  Didn’t do it early enough not to screw with the mission.  That’s a mistake I won’t repeat.  Jenny is like my Wolfrim before he gained his sentience.  Left to his devices he would get into all sorts of trouble even though he meant well.  Give him a bone or something to work on and he was fine.  She’ll either engage or go to ground on earth where she will either drink herself to death or find her own way to be a pain in the empire’s ass.”
This message was last edited by the player at 23:51, Mon 09 Jan 2023.

  Stoly  nodded, but he didn't look too sure.SSN is  ful of those  types. easy t0p recruit, wave  Creds at them, give them some kind of power. and  The EDT  don['t have to waste any real  troops  that way.

 Now...what kind of people you   want....

“ Not quite her ball of twine. She hates the EDT. It is skilled friends of hersAs for the contacts, I was hoping for people who had information that could help me get my ship to the surface.  I need it to get to the archives.  If getting it out proves to hard it will have served it’s purpose until earth is freed.

   Once I am on earth however, I will be needing the ability to communicate with the resistance, lights out, anyone that might need a hand or be willing to help out. We will see what we can do with what we’ve got, and get it done.

  Stoly frowns  as his   empty Coffee, looking around for   a pot, or a can of soda.

  if  the archives is  what i thing you're talkign about, you have to go to the Seed Vault... those   archives  are some 1000 feet below them. The UN hid the archives, because  they were afraid  my people   would figure ut the  language.. once the seed Vault  was set up...we couldn't touch it, then the Angels came.


 when...or..if you land  and get settled in, some people will try and Contact you, I will send  COMs  to Hunter.. we got patches of resistance, some won't join up with us, because they think  they can do better, or they don't trust us... Those  people, we get to go to their base  and savage what is let of their supplies , after  the EDT or Angels wipe them out. Little chiclren, trying to be the big heroes......

Garrat laughs.  “Definitely not the same one.  My chip keeps translating it differently.  The database, Poets Mead, archives, the vault.  It’s a place that has a long story, but it is one worth telling.”

    Garrat looks at the children and motions to a set of chairs near the young ones.  “Care to sit for an old warrior’s tale?”

   Gramma Gava shuffled up to him,  “Anton!” She says like she knows him as she pushes a plate of hot Chicago style pizza into his hand and a Joseph style latte into his other hand.  “You eat.  Your people need a strong leader and they can’t have you wasting away.”  As she came, so is she gone: taking care of the children.

Garrat sits down with Stoly and begins his tale.

  “A long long time ago, before we came to earth to visit the holdings of Ymir, The Asgard were in a brutal war with the minions of the frost giants.  Time after time we drove them from our shores only to have them return with larger and stronger Arnies, but just as they could never gain purchase on our shores, nor could we ever find the home port of the Frost giants to end them once and for all.

   One time they didn’t attack us with ships or troops but with a virus that destroyed all of our software and crippled our technology.  Then the physical attack came, smashing factories rather than capitols, Any place that held the means of producing technology was the prime target.  This was followed by stronger armies than ever before and it was too swift for us to respond too;.  Without our terrestrial computers, and technology it took everything we he’d to fight the invaders.  Still, we fought for a century before we could start regaining ground again.  All that we had worked to achieve the eons before was lost.

    To make sure this never happened again, the leaders of Asgard designed the Archives,  large computer systems that held all the recovered secrets of our people as well as our history. The leaders then searched for the longest lived members of Asgard.  They found a group of humans known as The Accursed and tasked them with finding hidden spots to build these places of information.

    We put our efforts into relearning what was lost piece by piece, seeking ancient documents and reverse engineering technologies left behind by Ymir, the ancient civilization that came before us.  This led my Father to visit your people on Earth looking for mining platforms and cities that were said to be built there to harvest earth’s molten core.

   At the time, there were a lot of…visiting races that were affecting the humans so Dad found a good cave by a body of water and sailed his longboat into it.  He referred to this planet as Midgard because it was in the middle of everything.  The perfect place to have one of our information cores.  Dad was one of the accursed.  He had fallen in love with the earth and it’s people though he did not want to change them as the other races seemed to want to.  The Asgard who joined him in recovering tech and building the archives would still visit their earthling neighbors and share stories food and drink as equals.

    One day there was a great battle, some of his earth born friends were fatally wounded on the battle field.  He could not retrieve them and heal them with our advanced technology without risking alerting the angels. Several Valkyrie with him however were able to sneak in under the fog of war and retrieve them.  Unable to return them to their families or the Angels might stumble upon humans healed by our technologies, They returned with us believing themselves on the way to a paradise after death.

     In time more humans were saved.  In time their offspring became the Einherjar.  In time he made his son the first Einherjar of Asgard blood.  That was over seven hundred years ago.  I don’t know if he still lives, but at this time I’m the only Asgardian in this part of the Galaxy.  As his son I was granted the locations of his information cores on top of my own and know where to find this one.

  Mr. Stoly,  I took a oath to protect the sentient communities of space and to promote their unity.  All I have to help you with is the wisdom my father left behind,  It still lies there in that Fjord where he took shelter from the Angels, though other such ports lie hidden across the world.  The oceans have risen since and only a submersible such as my Large transport can reach it.  It may be a long time before our technologies can combine but that’s all the more reason to start now.“

Now that Garrett had explained the archives he was talking about, he waits for Stoli‘s reaction

  Stoly ate and Listened. he  looked at Garret squarely..Comrade? 6  years or more ago, i would have laughed in yoru face, Da?

he gives his head a shake.Me. My people.. we  are  helpign one  body at a time...one aricraft, one ship... every one  we kill , is one less to kill later. but this,,this, no one knows ..not people like me, or  my squad.. you get  down there..that's good, then you contact Lights out, or  the ESN, they might be able to help.

 But for right now,  You get these kids out of here, and those three shuttles  to the Hermes

“Six years or more ago I would have laughed at anyone who would say I’d be stuck in Midgard space all alone.”  Garrat looks over at Esmeralda “Captain, how much longer till the Sky had is in mars’  shadow?”

“Six years or more ago I would have laughed at anyone who would say I’d be stuck in Midgard space all alone.”  Garrat looks over at Esmeralda “Captain, how much longer till the Sky hag is in mars’  shadow?”

Harry would allow enough time to answer her questions concerning the specs of the aircraft they had gained and whether the pilots that had flown them in would be staying before speaking again ”I’ve been thinking, and perhaps what we need to get to Earth is an actual job…I mean there must be people still importing and exporting out off planet, because that’s how trade works and the rich and powerful like making money…so what if were to either impersonate or even better take over one of these companies?” she suggested looking to Joe to see how viable an idea it was, believing that there had to be a better solution than letting off a nuke every time they wanted to move a ship down to Earth.

Esmeralda checks her com, “about 45 minutes.  If you want to leave at the earliest time we better start getting ready.”

Garrat nods.  “So be it.  We’ll send some food along.  Thanks for your help here.  I hope we’ve been able to start returning the favor.”

  He and his people do what they can to make sure the children are set to go.  In the process they are introduced to the many races in his crew.  They also make sure Stoly’s people leave well equipped and fed for their next task.  Any new AP equipment might be traded for more used weapons.  The people at mars base are trying to look like a ragtag collection of smugglers after all.

Joseph shrugs, “it’s worth looking into, but it is a planet. They can pretty much produce anything they need on site.  It’s complicated by the fact that they care which is to unlock some ancient resources that his people supposedly left behind. He needs special tools and equipment for that. That means we’re stuck with what we have and making it look innocent might be difficult.

“Everyday items maybe, but what about delicacies from far away planets? Or luxury corvettes and racing yachts from places like Paradise and Olympus? It’s a big galaxy Joe, trust me there’s something out there people will be willing to import” Harry replied before giving him a curious look at the mention of specialist equipment ”Depends…what exactly are talking about? How big is it and can it be sent down in pieces and assembled later? Or does it need to go down in one piece?…oh and how illegal is it?” she asked having helped load lorries with contraband in the past and suspecting that there would be a solution to the problem if they applied enough thought to it.

In reply to Harriet Lynch (msg # 153):

We’re going to be underwater.  We are using fish Mechs and a fish transport.  The whole Immigrants Song is submersible.  One of the doors even has a water repellent static field.”

”Oh” Harry said with a grimace as she heard what exactly the specialist equipment was ”Getting that sort of stuff down is going to be tricky to get down there undetected” she said with her suspecting that they couldn’t even dismantle the mechs and submersibles and take them down in pieces ”we could cut a deal with one of the larger crime families…they would have the resources and connections to pull that kind of thing off…but…it would cost us” she said with not even Harry sounding convinced that it was a good idea.

  Stoly  went to the Lead Pilot  of the Hellraisers.,You get to the  Hermes, You find   SM Spencer. You give this to him, and only him, Da?

The  Pilot  nodded,Of Course Captain, it will  alredy be  done...hopes for the Motherland   go with you..

 they gripped forearms,No Alexiv, Hopes  for the Human race... there is not use in countries  anylonge, they are only serving   the  Angels now...The very  race we fought aga8nt and  helped the Humans to The Black, is noiw our enemy once more. and the enemy of our enemy?

Alexiv grins,Is  our Comrade!... He took the  package , jogging to the  ship the Hellraisers were on.

  Stoly Mounted up.....Take us  home. New York, or  england,  but come in from  Merury or Venus vector, da!

 You Betcha  Captain,  already done... be  good  to put some of them traitor folks in the ground...

 Stoly  buckled into the bench seat..New york has many fancy places to eat... we have to  check thier menus, gibe them burned hearts, if wrong things are listed.

 the   Shuttle took off  dark flying low over the  struggling 'forests' and covered lakes before taking to the air  on the Dark side.

Garrett had seen Stoli off, but was pacing near the map table. He comes to a decision, coms his crew to meet him there, including Harry.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:58, Tue 24 Jan 2023.

The crew members start to show up including two Naragran from the rafters.  In the other room Joseph looks at his wrist com and then up to Harry. Well, looks like there’s no rest for the wicked.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:20, Tue 24 Jan 2023.

”There never is” Harry sighed as she tucked her own comm away and awkwardly got to her feet with a hiss of pain as her leg started to protest.

Following Joe, she would enter the other room and lean up against the back wall away from the rest of the crew, with her still being seen as Garrat’s merc friend rather than a member of the crew, and silently wait for Garrat to begin.

The table map is now watching the progress of the sky hag towards ESN holdings.  The time is flexed a little too right after Stoli he had taken off.

   “I’m worried about the demons catching those kids in transit.  How much would it take to launch some ships to be in range to help in the event of an emergency.”

“ too much” Joseph said “ you’ve done everything you can for them, sending anyone after them with only draw attention to them. We can, however, prepare for next time by filling space with the ships going to and fro, so that in the group is in radio range of support.”

”So how do we do that? Harry would ask in response to Joe’s suggestion that they fill the area with ships so they could hide other ships in amongst them ”…without drawing attention to ourselves that is”

Joseph looks at her and winks, “Same way you suggested we get to earth.  We’re a shipping company that smuggles in things occasional contraband.  I imagine Ge-Fi would love a good Burian wine at his table.  I also imagine him and his cronies would pay handsomely for it just as Americans used to pay for illegal Cuban Cigars.  Who knows, we might be able to make that supply chain you mentioned with the surface, but that will take time.”   He thinks a bit, “the question is what on earth other than human fodder would demons be willing enough to buy that they would overlook other activities on our part.”

Kolane frowns then speaks up: “We should probably keep in mind that in the next day or two, a stranger is going to arrive in town and start asking questions just to make sure Stoli didn’t come this way. There will probably be one in every small settlement across Mars“

”Really? You know we’re going to have to set up an office somewhere and someone to run it…or at least the legitimate side of things anyway” Harry said, glad that she had been able to help even if it had only been a suggestion. At the mention of how to cater for the Demons without betraying their own kind Harry would pause to think about it for a moment, unsure as to how many Demons on Earth and thus needed placating ”Same thing you sell any soldier on tour…home comforts…non-sentient food, drink and goods from the Empire, as to what they are or how we get them…” she said with a gesture that betrayed her general ignorance on Demon culture and cuisine, though she did know of a certain Demon that might be able to point them in the right direction.

As Kolane voiced his concerns about people coming to look for Stoly and the children, Harry would give Joe an “I told you so” look before speaking up ”The way I see it they’re going to know he’s been here, the guy turned up with an entire fighter escort for crying out loud, so I suggest we get our people out in the towns and bars and start seeding our own rumours of who they were, what they were doing, and where they went…with any luck we’ll make the trail will be too damn muddy to follow” she suggested, with them also needing to hide the shuttles and fighters they’d left behind.

“He turned up at sunset while everyone was battening down for the evening winds and we had only the trusted employees about.  This ain’t our first rodeo as you would say.  That said we are going to have to dig a hole and bury them unless we can build an add on to a hangar and install a false back

”Fair enough…but it still might be good idea to send some people into the local towns to listen for rumours” Harry suggested before grimacing when told they would have to bury the fighters, already picturing having to sift all of the dirt and sand from the intakes and electrical systems, with her being a little precious when it came to aircraft ”We’re going to need a hangar or two for this freight company idea, but I doubt we’d get them built quickly enough…do not have any shipping containers we could stash them in?” she said more out of hope than anything else.

“They won’t fit unless we disassemble them. Besides, shipping containers are the first thing they’re going to be inspected, throwing a tarp over them and bearing them in the sand is the best bet for quick solution. In the meantime, we can start building the hangers. These hangers are made of cargo containers stacked on top of each other and welded together in a hole we dug.  Much like what you see around you. That way we scoop sand over the top of them and unless someone sees the entrance they don’t know they’re there.”
     “I have some things to say to you, and to show you in the morning, but after that, the Delilah has been left behind, you might, as will get some more experience on that ships.  That way you can spread some rumors as you like as you visit some of the local settlements. Let’s be very specific about what we choose to spread.

Although she wasn’t keen on her babies getting dirty she would bow down to Garrat’s knowledge and reluctantly agree to the idea to bury the fighters, with her then listening to his plan on how to construct the hangars with it sounding like it was also well in hand.

Upon hearing that the Deliah was available for her to fly, Harry would visibly perk up at the prospect of flying again, not to mention the fact that it would get her out of the base for a while and possibly give her the chance to visit a bar. When the subject of the rumours came up she would pause for a moment before saying ”I would suggest mercenary company on a supply run before heading out to Astra” she suggested before looking to see if anyone had any other ideas.

In reply to Harriet Lynch (msg # 169):

  Kolane looks uncomfortable “ Rumors are difficult. Mercs tend to keep to themselves, so If you volunteering information, people are going to know you are planting it.  Now don’t get me wrong.  Every organization has a bracket or two he says a little too much at the Cantina.  But anyone who takes that position will not be taken seriously in business. I think we need people to take you seriously Harry,  Your best bet here is probably to go on at a recruiting run and let the information come out in conversation.”

    Garrett scratches his chin, “and it’s going to have to be male.  And this humanoid dominated environment, a drunk female won’t be pumped for information, they’ll just have every male trying to get in their pants. Doesn’t seem to happen with males most of the time.”

Amos Kincaid speaks up, “I’ll be the informant, I can hold a lot of booze and act like I don’t. I’m also learning how to fly shuttles so in time I’ll be able to go off on my own. I’ll have to a company people on business deals, so it looks like I’m in on the inner circle but that should work out”

Needless to say there were concerns on how exactly they were going to go about spreading the rumours, with Kolane first pointing out that they didn’t want Harry to lose her credibility followed by Garrat pointing out that a lone drunk woman was more likely to attract the wrong kind of attention. It was as Amos was volunteering to be their plant that Harry would interject ”I think the first thing we need to do is find out if anyone saw anything…because if Garrat’s right and no one saw anything we may not have to do this”

“They’re more ways to spread rumors little one. You will be very valuable for overheard conversations that and Amos still needs training on shuttles. Do you think you are strong enough to handle a shuttle with him on your own?
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Fri 03 Feb 2023.

There would be a nod to Garrat’s observation, more than willing to agree that there was more than one way to skin a cat, with him then asking whether she could handle a shuttle ”seriously? I could fly it blindfolded Gar!” Harry replied with an arrogant grin. Had it been anyone else she would have left it at that, but she knew that Garrat would see through her arrogance and bravado and want to know the truth, and so after a brief pause she would lose the cocksure tone and continue to speak ”I’ll take a shot tonight before bed then I’ll be good to go in the morning” she said referring to her infusions. She tried to use them sparingly as they were expensive and hard to come by this far from APF territory not to mention the fact that they effectively put her out of commission for several hours with her preferring to use a cocktail of tablets instead. However once the infusion was in her system she would be right as rain for the next few weeks ”when and where do you need me to go?”
This message was last edited by the player at 22:58, Fri 03 Feb 2023.

“I never doubt your skills Harry, but your strength is another matter.  We are going to need you running at full capacity soon.  The dark of the moon is coming.  That’s the best time to head for Earth and we have a lot of ground to cover before we do.  Which reminds me we need to continue to modulate the Largan energy shield to reduce our energy signature as much as possible.”

(Corrected previous post.  Please read.)

Joseph addressed Harry. “Garrat and I were talking about a factor to manage the Martian base last night.  As you brought it up today I’ll send a message to Gresh and see if he can find us a likely candidate.”
This message was last edited by the player at 23:14, Fri 03 Feb 2023.

”I’ll be alright Gar, the shot will see me right for a couple of weeks” Harry replied, uncertain as to when, or even if, she would be back to normal with the possibly unfounded fear that she would need cybernetic limbs still hanging over her head like the sword of Damocles ”I’ll be more than able to train Amos here in a shuttle” she continued with a touch of her usual swagger returning to her voice.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:18, Sat 04 Feb 2023.

“Good, we will be needing all the help we can get.“ He looks around “great of you going out and about tomorrow get some sleep, the rest of you, let’s hide some ships.” He looks at hairy. “don’t worry we will talk with them and cover them as best we can before we put Sand. Over them.”  Garrett pauses and looks around, “does anybody else have any comments or questions”
This message was last edited by the player at 18:12, Fri 10 Feb 2023.

Harry would nod her head in agreement to getting some rest with her already quietly looking forward to getting out of the base even if she did have to teach someone to fly. When the floor was opened for questions Harry would casually raise her hand before speaking ”I’d try and get someone local to run the front before speaking to Gresh, it would raise less suspicions…plus I don’t trust the guy” she said before signalling that she had no more to say, though she would smile when Garrat assured her that they would take good care of the fighters ”well just you make sure they put a big red X on a map with thar be treasure! because I’ll be most upset if my babies get lost before I even get chance to fly them” she replied with a mischievous grin that said she was only playing with him, trusting that he knew what he was doing implicitly.

“ Gresh has been doing right by us for the last 5+ years.  If you want to trust a stranger, do it with your own business.  I’ll keep a bunk open for you when it fails.”

There was a casual shrug from Harry, after all like he'd pointed out it was Garrat's call and money at the end of the day, not hers "Alright...I mean...it's probably just me being paranoid...just make sure the guy knows he's running a front for us and not Gresh is all I'm saying" she replied with a touch of uncertainty in her voice. Her paranoia had kept her alive on more than a few occasions but it also made meant she found it difficult to trust people she didn't personally know and always expected the worst of them. Not to mention her now near irrational hatred of the ESN within which Gresh firmly fell into the category of.

With her piece said would wait to see if anyone else had anything to say before she called it a day and headed towards her quarters in order to get some rest.

Kolane spoke up “Actually he…or she won’t be working for either of us.  They will be working for themselves.  No matter where their loyalty lies, the lure of money can always cement it.  Whoever we get to look after the company will have to work towards the bottom line first to keep up the cover and a healthy percentage of the profits will insure they are there for us when we start sneaking things other than Burian wine and Astran angel steel.”

    “Speaking of keeping up the cover,”. The youngest Gava sister said as her hands flew across the key board “We need to clean up the presence of the fighters so we can get them out of…storage.  One of the primary conflicts of the sol system happened here on mars.  We should be able to ask around for parts to build fighters and once we get some coming in, no one will be surprised when we start training people in some apparently beat up fighters.”
This message was last edited by the player at 21:32, Sun 12 Feb 2023.

”That’s not a bad idea” Harry replied as one of the Gava suggested they started collecting starship parts to cover for the fighters, as opposed to Kolane’s theory that she found a little dubious ”…also starship parts sell fairly well so it wouldn’t look odd us asking for them” she added, with them having a selection of spare parts on hand not being a bad thing either as it would allow them to repair and modify the fighters…once they were out of the ground that is.

   “Not bad at all.”  Joseph pipes in. “Then we counter intelligence any rumors we are linked to the attacks on earth without drawing attention to ourselves by mentioning that we weren’t involved.  Plus, we might put together enough pieces to increase the fleet.  I’ll start pulling in pilots if you want to interview them Harry.”

”Making sure people know we’re not working with any of the acronyms would be good too” Harry added, though anyone that spoke with her for more than a few minutes would learn that she bore no love for the ESN. At the mention of her interviewing pilots she would give a slow nod of her head ”I can talk with some pilots for you, though don’t expect a formal interview process” she replied having never interviewed a person in her life.

At the mention of Harry interviewing pilots there’s a stifled chortle from Garrat’s direction though his usually expressive face is oddly neutral at the moment.
   “Mention you are not with them only if asked.  No one trusts volunteered information.”  Garrat said.  Joseph, same rules.  You and Ko run are also out on errand.  Go to bed.  Everyone else?  Let’s make some craft disappear,  there’s not much time left tonight

Hearing the stifled laugh there would be a glare that said there would be serious trouble if she found out who it was ”Sure…I hear you Gar” Harry replied to his comment about only talking about affiliations if asked, her piercing blue eyes searching the people around him.

With much to do the following day, Harry would leave when she was dismissed by Garrat and head for her quarters so she could take her meds and get some much needed rest.

Morning would dawn earlier than Harry probably would have liked it to, but such is the nature of morning.  She is awakened by a knock on her rooms door.  Garrat’s voice boomed on the other side of the door.  “Dress for comfort and durability.  I’m going to show you where x marks the spot, then we can discuss more of your duties.

Harry shot bolt upright and pointed the gun at the door in response to the knocking with her only lowering the weapon upon hearing Garrat’s voice on the other side ”Bloody hell Gar, what time do you call this?” she grumbled sleepily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with her free hand before continuing ”…nevermind, give us a minute” she said placing the gun on the bedside table she would roll out of bed, stretch, wince at the angry bruise on her thigh, then proceed to get dressed in a similar attire to the previous day complete with long dark coat and black leather gloves.

From where he stood Garrat would be able to hear the sound of something heavy being pulled away from the door before it was unlocked and opened by Harry. She was still pale, but looking healthier than she had been when she’d first arrived, with rest and the proper medication doing wonders for her ”ok, where are we headed?” she asked as she stepped into the corridor and locked the door behind her, not that she had anything worth stealing anyway ”…and are we getting anything to eat along the way?” she then said, indicating for Garrat to lead the way.

    “Actually food is the first place we’re headed.  Stoli was in such a hurry to get back to his earth that he left before the last batch of pizzas came in so we have them that we refrigerated over night.  I kinda like cold pizza better than hot first thing in the morning.  How do you say…breakfast of champions.”

    In the common area the food was available.  There was also fresh fruit and Joseph offered to make her the coffee drink of her choice.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:26, Thu 02 Mar 2023.

"It certainly is" Harry replied, wholeheartedly agreeing to his sentiment concerning cold pizza for breakfast as she followed him to the common room. After helping herself to some of the aforementioned "breakfast of champions" she would turn to Joe with a smile when asked what she wanted to drink "I don't suppose you have any tea?" she asked with her having always been more of a tea drinker, though she would settle for coffee if it was the only thing they had on offer.

After getting her breakfast Harry would find them a table where after taking a seat and a sip of her drink she would look to Garrat and say "So what did you want to discuss with me?"

     “I’m a Scott my dear.  If I didn’t have tea I’d have to give up the McPherson Tarten.  English Breakfast?”

Harry would chuckle at Joe’s reaction to her request ”I bet you’ve even got a stash of Irn-Bru to prove it! And English Breakfast would be lovely” she replied with a mischievous grin before moving to join Garrat for breakfast.

To other teams that would be flying out that day or sitting in on breakfast. Jarret looked at Harry “the first is first, I need to show you where X Marks, the Spot at your request.”

Taking a bite of cold pizza Harry would nod in understanding as Garrat told her that their first stop would be to visit the burial site for the fighters so she could have them dug up on a later. After taking the time to swallow the mouthful of pizza Harry would then ask ”ok, I’m cool with that…what’s the next thing you wanted to talk to me about?” before taking another bite of her pizza, with her waiting for Garrat to make his reply.

In reply to Harriet Lynch (msg # 196):

“ finding ways to keep you sane and being profitable to this unit at the same time. Let’s start with the first task before we get into the next.”

”uh-huh and what makes you think I’m sane now? Or ever was?” she said with a mischievous look in her eyes as she took another bite of her pizza, knowing full well her reputation ”personally I would have thought one would feed into the other, but I’m curious to hear your insights into my damaged psyche and see if they’re closer to the mark than Stefi’s rather lazy attempt” she said with the barest hint of contempt, with her finding it ironic that people like Roy and Garrat had a better understanding of her than the medical professional had ”…I seem to recall Joe saying something about Tigers and kibble…”

As she finishes Garrat says “Sanity refers to one’s grasp on reality.  Reality is relative to perception and I would not tell you what to perceive.”  . He gets up “We carry our cages with us, most rely on them for protection like a guardian angel.  There is a saying amongst the earth humans.  “Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly”. It is my belief that you need to do precisely that.  But first things first.”  he starts to lead her to the entrance of the safe room Everything that happened last night, including the arrival of the ships cannot be spoken enough outside this room. There are ears everywhere, so I need you to commit to this.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:56, Wed 15 Mar 2023.

”I’m not sure I have one of those” Harry said as she finished the last of her pizza and got up ”…Teela did a pretty good job…until she got sick that is” she quietly added, with her life having seemingly started to unravel around about the same time her friend had left. For a long time she had been rather bitter and resentful over that fact though she had since decided that it was perhaps for the best.

Carrying her cup of tea she would follow Garrat to the safe room, quirking her brow in response to his comment at the doorway ”I know how to keep my gob shut Gar” she said before waving him inside so they could continue their discussion in private.

In reply to Harriet Lynch (msg # 200):

Garrat was a little confused, at Harry’s reply, but he chalked that up to his translator, chip, not working as well, which happens quite often.  “Teela, is doing quite well. The only reason she was unable to resume her position as a combat pilot is that occasional episodes made her a liability in battle. She’s working as a teacher on LG01 with children who wanted to get a Headstart on pilot training.”

Technically speaking, they were already in the safe room, as the two secret large rooms and adjacent cargo containers were considered the safe room. Garrat was preparing to exit.  He asked to see if there was anything she wished to speak about before they left.

”you were talking about guardian Angels” Harry supplied helpfully when she saw the look of confusion on Garrat’s face, though she was perhaps taking what he’d said a little too literal ”well it’s good to know that she’s doing alright” Harry replied, though it was clear that she missed her old partner in crime, with her forcing a bit of a smile on her face to try and hide the fact ”come on, let’s get this show on the road”

Garrat blinks twice, “unlikely as you found that angels as you once knew them don’t exist.  Did you want me to send a message to Teela ? I will be contacting her tonight.”

Garrat walked with her to the last hangar where some old shuttles, including Delilah and two hover bikes were parked.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:39, Wed 15 Mar 2023.

”Well like I said…I don’t think I have a guardian angel, in either the literal or metaphorical sense” Harry said as they left the safe room and started walking by the hangars, with Garrat then asking if she had a message for Teela. She would be silent for several minutes as she tried to think of what to say after so long and with so much having occurred in the intervening time before finally shaking her head ”no, that’s alright…I wouldn’t know what to say…I’m just glad she’s doing okay” unlike me she silently added, with Teela having always been the more together of the two of them.

The ape woman guarded the entrance you came through and some of the furries covered other openings as Garrat said in a slightly over casual voice “I want to check the new power links for the solar cell batteries.  Please join me.”  he climbs up and into one of the cargo containers that make up the wall and hold the Martian sand at bay.  After passing through multiple containers, linked together by ladders and hatch ways, he removes some batteries from one of the racks and slides open the trap door.  Shining a flashlight down into the open space she can see a room partially filled with sand traveling between the containers, mounted behind the hanger in the dusty light or tarp covered shapes, approximately the size of hammer aircraft nearly stacked on top of each other, but obviously placed with care.  After replacing the batteries Garrat holds his finger to his lips, and then tracks back the way they came not saying a thing until they reach the hanger again.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:27, Thu 27 Apr 2023.

Smiling at the apefolk woman as they passed her, Harry would shrug in a way that seemed to say sure, why not before following Garrat over towards the cargo container. After traversing a series of interconnecting containers and ladders Harry would find herself crouching in front of a hole looking at the tarp covered shapes of the fighters "sleep tight my ladies" Harry would softly purr, clearly satisfied that they had been looked after, before signalling to Garrat that she was happy with what she had seen and was good to go.

Once they were both safely out by the hangar again Harry would break her silence and ask "Well, now that I know where the batteries are...what else did you want to talk to me about?"

“Bluntly, you need to blow some of the reckless bitch out of your system on occasion and we could use the scouting patrol.” Ha says getting on his bike and motioning you to the other.  “It may not look like much but it should do the job.” He motions to hers.  It looks like an old run about with a storage basket on the back.

Upon hearing Garrat’s rather blunt assessment about her being a Reckless Bitch Harry would quirk a single brow as if to say ”oh, and how are you planning to do that sunshine?” as she followed him over to the other bike. After all people had tried changing her before and it hadn’t worked, such as the utterly pointless enforced therapy that both her mother and the ESN had tried, and Lizzy’s insistence that she just needed to be her real self with her overlooking the fact that there was a reason she had walled up that side of her personality. She utterly despised her real self. No doubt Garrat had his own ideas on how to deal with her, with her quietly hoping that he would try and understand her rather than change her.

After taking a single circuit about the bike, looking it up and down with a critical eye, she would mount up and fire the engine before turning to Garrat and saying ”Alright Gar, lead the way”

The walk around reveals that the old inefficient, bulky speeder bike is will covered against the corrosive sands of Mars.  Aftermarket adjustments, and the exhaust port is definitely not stock, but other than that it’s scratched slightly dented, and the well used looking. Garrett gets on his bike and the grins at her as his warms up.  “Let’s go.”
This message was last edited by the player at 16:47, Tue 02 May 2023.

Although the bike wasn’t the prettiest, or the sleekest, it was clearly well maintained with the engine coming alive with a roar. As soon as Garrat started to move, Harry would first keep pace with him and then start pushing to move even faster with only the fact that she didn’t know where they were going stopping her from racing ahead.

In reply to Harriet Lynch (msg # 210):

It’s torqy, very torqy.  Harry has to hang on very tightly to keep from sliding off.  She starts to pull ahead and Garrat’s voice sounds in her helmet.  “You know I am taking you somewhere right?  It’s hard to lead when you’re flying off parts unknown.”

”I’m still here aren’t I?” Harry replied, clearly fighting back the urge to ride even faster and indulge her need for speed that had been long neglected ”So where are we heading? Do I need to be worried?” she asked, curious as to where they were headed …also what exactly is it you’re hoping to find in that cache on Earth?”

She doesn’t see him near her.  Then she spots him on a hill to in the distance.  When she catches up to him he points to what seems to be a rock out cropping in the far distance.  “I’ll met you there with the answer.  Your speeder is faster than mine so you have time to work out the kinks enroute.”

She wasn’t sure at what point Garrat had managed to pull away from her, but she caught up with him on a hill he would point out a rocky outcrop in the distance and challenge her to meet him there ”roger that, see you on the flip side” she said with a grin before gunning the engine and disappearing down the dusty track. She’d ridden bikes before…in fact she’d had ago at driving most things, and usually at speed.

With her speed creeping up ever higher Harry, despite her competitive streak, wasn’t too concerned as to whether or not she got there before Garrat with her instead enjoying the thrill of riding the bike down the dusty track at near suicidal speeds. Her heart hammering within her chest as she effortlessly took the turns, riding the bike like her fighter with the countryside going by in a blur.

With the outcrop appearing far quicker than she had wanted, Harry would come to an abrupt stop with a slide and spray of gravel. Having arrived at her destination she would wait for Garrat to tell her where they were headed and why she was out here.

Garrats personal com chimed alerting him of a message from the 351.

In reply to Justin Kase (msg # 215):

(Probably received another time another place)
(Don’t see a need for it to be private but don’t think anyone will care)

     “Roger that my friend.  Take care of the family for me and give Larry a scratch behind the ears.”

Harry gets there and finds that the outcropping is actually a crashed ship. It has been there so long that the storms have sandblasted the local colors into its frame. Maybe centuries, maybe more.

Bringing the bike to a stop Harry would switch off the engine and remove her helmet before dismounting and turning to look at the long dead ship, half-buried beneath the red, martian dirt, its markings having long since been erased leaving her with no clue as to who it had once belonged to ”So we going scavving then?” Harry would ask Garrat as she walked up to him, curious as to why he had brought her out here.

    He hasn’t pulled up yet but she hears him as he does.  “Nope, just a meeting place.  It’s kinda considered a land mark, off limits to removal.”

    He shrugs. “Also unlikely to be bugged.  But what’s left of the interior is almost as corroded as the exterior.”

She would pause to consider how long the ship had laid here slowly rotting, with the strong Martian winds that had scoured it making it hard to determine whether it was a wreck from Earths early encounters with the Demons or something far older, with it also very easy to believe that the interior wasn’t in much better shape and no doubt picked clean of anything of value ”I take it it’s safe to go in then?” she asked, not that it would stop her from going in if indeed that was where they were headed, with her leaving it up to Garrat to make the next move.

“ we are where we need to be. It was simply a landmark.”

“ the locals just call it the old Martian. If you suggest to meet them out here, they will know where to go. Someone from out of town, not so much.”

     “Soon the Immigrant’s Song going earthside. I’m trying to get someone we can trust to run the entire base, I’m sorry I don’t think you’re up to it. You are in charge of getting the assault wing together and operating properly.  You’ll be operating like mercenaries.  Less orders, more conversations.  General requests such as escort these ships, or we need our flyers to get up to speed (in short train the fuck out of them) will happen.  I trust you can handle those.  This is a military backed civilian base, not a civilian cover for a military action no matter how I’m using it as that, otherwise the enemy will see right through it.  Are you sure you are up to this?

Harry would make a mental note of the landmark along with the decision to see if there were others she could use, figuring that a trip to the town at Olympus Mons may be in order to chat with the locals.

She was a little disappointed to learn that she wasn’t trusted enough to run the base but could understand the reasons and to a certain point agree with them as her health, especially her mental health, had pretty much gone down the toilet as of late. On the plus side she was at least being trusted to get the assault wing organised and trained ”Ok, so for the sake of clarity…you and the Immigrant Song are heading down to Earth to do…whatever…a third party is to be put in charge of the base and by extension me?” she said, giving Garrat a questioning look as she threw her thumb over her shoulder to indicate where they had come from ”…I meanwhile am to set up and train a PMC group that will not only provide a cover for what you’re doing on Earth but also an income and military presence within the system to back you up if necessary and keep me out of trouble…or in the right kind of trouble at least…am I close?” she said wanting to be certain they were both on the same page before she agreed to anything and started asking follow up questions.

Garrat holds a hand out palm down and wobbles it back and forth.  Kinda.  There are a thousand ways this can go sideways.  I can keep you with me, cooped up in a tin can while I hide under the waves, struggling to find a way to mobilize the people of earth, or I can leave you here to work with the ships you’ve already started taking responsibility for.  Agreed it wouldn’t be too different from where you would be if you stayed on that transport to the delta colonies, but you are a couple of steps further up the ladder from where that path would have taken you.”

Given the choice between being cooped up in a ship for long periods of time or staying on Mars to train pilots it was a bit of a no brainier because at least on Mars she could safely blow off a little steam before she had a violent meltdown ”No, this is a big step up from the Delta’s, at least here I have control over my own life and the chance to do something with it” she answered, with the prospect of being trapped on some remote, agrarian planet with nothing but pointless patrols to keep her occupied and no chance of ever being able to leave being the driving factor that had led her to desert in the first place. The thought would cause Harry to chuckle as she looked across the Martian landscape to think a single recommendation on Stefi’s report allowed me to get away!

”I assume Joe has found potential pilots and marines for me to train for this new venture? I also assume you’ll not want the company registered under any of my names?” she asked, because although Harry Lynch had a reputation it was the wrong kind and was currently wanted for desertion, and although Miss Harriet Carmichael would probably have access to the necessary funds, resources and contacts her sudden reappearance after so long would raise too many questions. She also didn’t want to be associated with any of her parents political leanings.

Garrett raised an eyebrow, “ nothing is under your names, if my hunch is correct ESN already has you tagged.  My operation is one of few they won’t poke around.  Several reasons behind that.  Joseph put the word out for pilots but we are in far tighter security for who we hire than even ESN.  You will need to keep your eyes open as well.  Good pilots who want to fight are already fighting.  We may be stuck with pilots who couldn’t make the cut, have retired, or have an attitude or emotional problem.”

”I figured as much…just put Jenny Fraser on the payroll as the WC or something, I know how to find people that can get me the necessary paperwork if it’s ever needed” Harry replied with a sigh, deciding that it was a problem for another day and one for her Daddy’s lawyers to most likely sort out. For now she just needed the necessary clout to get things running.

With Garrat confirming that Joe had put out the word for pilots, it would be Harry’s turn to raise an eyebrow ”Gar, just because they’re not wearing red or blue doesn’t mean they’re bad or trouble, not everyone wants to wear a uniform or fight for a cause or organisation they don’t believe in, and I can guarantee there are EMS personnel that don’t like how Roles has turned them into second rate ESN…but yeah I’ll keep an eye on them and deal with them accordingly” she said, implying that there was plenty of room in the Martian desert for troublemakers and spies ”…and don’t forget I’m going to be needing ground crew and marines too Gar, I need to be able to fulfil whatever contracts I can get and the more we can offer the better” also having a few dozen men with assault rifles around to guard your stuff never hurt.

    Garrat sighs, “Harry, I  know you have that ‘I’ve been there and know everything’ vibe going for you but you haven’t and you don’t.  I’ve been doing this for hundreds of years and I still don’t know everything.  You’ve got skills but your track record for people you associate with isn’t so hot either.  Don’t even look at your family’s assets.  Joe did some digging.  Your sis pulled the trigger on getting Shadows family killed.  In return your family is persona non grata as you Earthers say.  There’s more than one reason people in the black market are after you.  You’re worth way more as a bargaining chip or bounty than an ally.  We are likely the only people in the galaxy who believe you have acted without malice towards good. “  He shakes his head and looks out at the desert, “focus on the flyers.  Ground troops are a liability and more likely to be plants until we get them vetted.  Some might even end up in shallow graves in the desert.  You won’t be touching them with a ten foot pole.  They will be the minimal part of the group.  Ground crew?  You’re going mercenary style.  You will be sharing a larger unit and there won’t be the luxury of individual teams.  We can’t afford that.  To defend merchants we need fighters and bombers.  We need them outfitted and trained.  And we need them working as a team.”

At the mention of bargaining chips and Bounties Harry’s fists would clench, her muscles tighten and her eyes would go hard with it taking an obvious effort for her to calm herself down and regain her composure ”Don’t play with my paranoia Gar…just don’t Gar please, I struggle with trusting people as it is without you planting ideas into my head” she said in an anguished voice, after all there was a reason she barricaded herself into her room at night and went everywhere armed to the teeth, even now with someone she considered a friend she was armed. She wanted to trust people especially Garrat, she really did! But after her time on the Hermes she just found it so damn hard!

And she more than understood his point about her not using her families assets, it was just frustrating knowing that she had a giant pile of money just out of her reach that would make setting this all up so much easier ”ok we can put off finding marines, but we’re going to need them eventually for security work, even if you get someone else to train and run them…but Gar I’m going to need some technicians to keep the aircraft running even if we just get a couple of civilian mechanics…I mean…I can do basic maintenance but if one of those engines develops a fault…” she didn’t need to go any further than that and hoped Garrat would understand that she wasn’t trying to cause trouble, she just wanted to do it properly. After all this would be her first attempt at any form of command and she wanted it to go as smoothly as possible, and was terrified she’d mess it all up. However after leaving the statement to hang for a few seconds she would visibly deflate, fully expecting another lecture on how she was a liability and how they couldn’t risk getting anyone in with her quietly responding ”I’ll see what I can do”
This message was last edited by the player at 09:35, Wed 20 Sept 2023.

Garrat looked at her incredulously while she finishes talking “play?”  He looks down sadly “huh, play.”  He turns away from her and speaks quietly to someone he obviously wishes was there “I’m sorry Teela my love.  I tried to be gentle with her.  I really did.”  The old soldier stands for a moment then turns back to her.  “Lights out has a shoot to kill order for Harriet Lynch.  They’re not actively searching at this moment, which is why so far, your plastic surgery is working.  Joseph is still actively searching for you online to throw them off the scent.  I have been completely honest and straightforward with you all this time. I Don’t Play Games.”

     “ right now is the perfect time to be a little paranoid, in fact, you will not survive unless you have someone you can trust and rely on looking after you. If you hide in the hole, you will be found. That’s what they expect you to do. That’s what they’re looking for. my only hope is that I can give you enough of a chance to shine to clear your name before you are erased.  Be careful how much you choose to do. If you go beyond the balance of your capability, you will fail. We will talk about that later. Right now you need to know that anything that was your original family is too corrupt for you to touch, or has already been erased from existence. I’m putting a lot on the line to bring you on board, but as of now I am your family. We are your family.”

      “ you need to act like a regular person not someone who is hiding. But you cannot spend any credits from your trip. They have to all be hard credits. Don’t give anyone a trail to follow. I’ll see to it other people handle things for you in that mannerism. I’ll even leave you some mechanics from my own ship to get you started. However, I can’t give you everything, you’re going to have to fight for some of it yourself. And that I believe I have the right person for the job.  Don’t take on any more of the job than you have to until you have the right people to help you get it done. Again, don’t worry about the Marines, that’s not in your ballpark now.”

By the time Garrat had finished speaking Harry looked like she was close to tears though neither of them would be able to pinpoint the cause of this; perhaps it was down to having the dire situation she was in being spelled out? Or how her family was not what she’d thought it was, or how Garrat had said they were her family? Then again it could just be a side effect of her meds? Or a heady cocktail of all of the above ”kind of a catch 22 you got me in dontcha think?” she quietly responded before giving a humourless laugh that said she more than understood how messed up her life was. And how the whole paranoia thing wasn’t helping with the whole trusting people thing.

”Just leave me a decent mechanic and maybe someone to watch my back and I’ll get the pilots up to speed…as for marines so long as someone is dealing with it thats all I need to know” she quietly replied, kind of relieved that she could tick them off her list with her already feeling no small amount of anxiety over the enormity of the task ahead of her.

Garrat raises an eyebrow “I’VE got you in?   I’ll do my best to get you as well set up as possible before I leave.  Now there’s a lot to be done today.  You even get to be parts hunting at the crevasse.  Let’s get back to camp.”

There was a bit of a sigh from Harry in response to Garrat’s comment ”point taken, but regardless  you have to admit that being paranoid AND trusting people doesn’t exactly go hand in hand” though it was good to know that he was going to help her out, if only to get her started.

With them both needed elsewhere and with work to be done, Harry would remount her bike before being struck by a sudden thought ”Hey Gar, this merc outfit…what are we callin’ it?” she asked before starting up her bike ready to follow Garrat back home, figuring they could always discuss it on the ride home if needed.

“Been thinking about that my self.  It needs to have the power to instill confidence, but not be threatening to the empire yet.  We’ll talk it over as a team and decide.  We’re calling the base high sands now because…well, we’re higher her than 95% of mars, that’s why the air is still so thin.  Did you have any suggestions?”
This message was last edited by the player at 16:11, Tue 10 Oct 2023.

”I agree, it needs to sound professional and have no ties to either the Empire or ESN” Harry replied as the bikes started to move along the red dirt of Mars towards their next stop, with Garrat asking if she had any suggestions ”Not sure really…maybe something like Apollo Company or Martian Tactical Solutions…I’ll have to give it some thought she replied as her bike started to pick up speed.

In reply to Harriet Lynch (msg # 234):

    “ i’ll set up a meeting where we can kick ideas around.  Meet you at base”. Garrat takes off for the hanger they left from. She has a little time to do some maneuvering as her bike as faster than his.

”Roger that Gar, see you at the hangar” Harry replied before snapping down her helmets visor and heading down the dirt track. She would take the long way home; enjoying her moment of freedom and Martian countryside, such as it was, as it flashed by her at high speed.

Upon her arrival back at High Sands she would coast the bike through the entrance and bring the bike to a gentle stop beside Garrat’s before dismounting and heading inside to meet him, humming to herself as she did so. Upon finding him she would smile and call out ”Hey Gar, how we looking for that meeting? Also I don’t suppose any ideas came to you on the ride home?” as she walked over to meet him.

      “I have a few.  The meeting hasn’t been arranged yet.  I’ll get on that while you’re in town.” he motions to the dropped ramp on the shuttle where they are parking their bikes.   “remember, we are looking for more ships, ship parts, and places to salvage them.  It is even more important that you are seen looking for these things than that you are getting them.  This our alibi for getting the ships from rebels as well as our source of a larger fleet.   If you seeAny promising flyers you want to recruit, you will have a crewmember with you who knows how much we have to spend.  be frugal, we need to make our coons scream.”

”Sure, I can take a ride into Olympus Mons” Harry replied with a nod as she was informed of the trip into town to look for scrap, even if someone else would be holding the purse strings ”…just so we’re on the same page, when you say flyers are you referring to pilots or aircraft?” she asked, knowing that it could go either way and not wanting to get it wrong. Then again considering her track record she was probably a better judge of aircraft and scrap than people…people were difficult ”so Gar, which unfortunate crew member gets to take a ride with me?

Justin's encouragement and how's things com, popped up, checking to see how things were progressing in their area with Garrat, Harriet and the team.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:47, Wed 20 Dec 2023.

In reply to Justin Kase (msg # 239):

(Technically, Justin has no Idea Harry is even alive. )

      Garrat motions to Delilah.  “Your ship is prepped for departure.  We have a contact that says to look for parts and pilots the Blue Skies bar in Crevice.  Kinkaid is already on board with a list of other supplies we need and a couple crates of deliveries from some of the local farmers.

"Roger that, Blue Sky bar in Crevice...I'll see what I can find" Harry replied with an affirmative nod. She hadn't spent a great deal of time with Kincaid but he'd seemed an ok guy to her, also if memory served he was in need of some flying lessons "Catch you later Gar, you've got my comms number if you need me" she said before heading up the Delilah's ramp.

Entering the Delilah's cockpit Harry would casually wave to Kincaid as she climbed into the pilots seat and started her pre-flight checks "Hey Kincaid, are we all set to go?" she asked whilst plotting a course to Crevice, with her wondering if the place was even big enough to warrant landing pads or whether she would be landing on the outskirts and walking into town.

Kincaid is sitting in the copilot’s seat with a book on his lap and several checklists opened up on the heads up display.  As far as I can tell, everything is prepped and ready to go.  apparently they made sure the ship wasn’t tiptop shape after they buried the bones last night .

"well if everything is loaded and secure, let's get this show on the road" Harry said as she finished her checks and closed the Delilah's ramp before firing up her engines "Gar mentioned you were after lessons, you ever fly one of these before?" she asked as she gently eased the dropship into the air, rotated her round so she was pointing in the right direction and then started moving. Once they were over the open countryside she would fire up the weapon systems to run a few checks and make sure everything was coming up green. She highly doubted that she would be needing them, but it never hurt to check "ok we're at a good altitude and speed, and on the correct heading so you can take over the controls whenever you're ready"
This message was lightly edited by the player at 19:03, Sat 23 Dec 2023.

In reply to Harriet Lynch (msg # 243):

“Might as well squeeze as many hours as I can in.” Kincaid says, grabbing the stick and giving it a slight shake so she knows he’s got it.

”That’s the spirit! Plus it’s always better to do this shit when you’re not being shot at” Harry replied, giving Amos a thumbs up, signalling that she knew he was in control. As far instructors went Harry was fairly hands off with her only speaking up to offer the occasional piece of advice with her more concentrating on them staying on course.

Once they were in the middle of nowhere Harry would fire up the weapons systems and run a few quick checks before powering them down again upon finding that they were all in working order. She didn’t imagine that they would have any need of the Delilah’s weapons but it never hurt to check, not to mention satiate her general paranoia.

”So what’s Crevice like? Is it as charming as the name implies?” Harry would ask as the town in question slowly came into sight, with her having never been there before and so having no idea what to expect ”…also do you need me to land this thing? Or have you got this?”

    Amos obviously knows how to handle controls, just not these controls.  He has lots of habits he’s working on changing over to piloting from being a turret gunner, but he’s working hard and has some tricks to learning that sets him apart from most new pilots.

    The drop ship has been stripped down to be a cargo vessel.  She can have her defend herself, with an impressive chin, Canon, and two banks of Flack missiles.  The targeting system is still pretty good, if a little outdated.

    When asked if the crevice was like it sounded Amos would laugh.  “ the term preference is almost generic name for fronteer town around here.  when making the cross once on Mars, the easiest thing to do was find the crack and cover it over with domes. Then you dig into the side of the crack to make your houses and businesses.”

Having observed Amos for a little while it would become apparent that he didn’t require training so much as a little guidance and time to get his head around the unfamiliar control system. Similarly Harry was currently trying to get her head around the targeting system for the missile banks as for some strange reason the ESN had moved away from missiles in favour of cannons. Part of her wondered whether it was just the simple fact that neither the Angels nor Demons had ever developed missile tech and that the fledgling humans had simply copied their more advanced allies?

Upon hearing the explanation as to the origins of the settlements name Harry would softly chuckle ”Ah so a literal hole in the ground, gotcha” she said as she powered down the weapon systems ”This is air traffic, please state your business and present your credentials” a bored sounding voice spoke out of the ship’s comms system, prompting Harry to readjust her headset before replying ”This is the cargo vessel Delilah, we’ve got some goods to offload and looking to do a little trade in town, forwarding credentials now” Harry replied with her accent seeming grow even posher as she spoke ”ok Delilah, your cleared to land, put her pad 4D, have a nice day”
”Roger that control, have a good day…I’d better bring us in Amos, that letterbox looks a little tight” Harry would say as they approached the entrance to Crevice.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:11, Mon 05 Feb.

    Just after receiving the instructions Amos looks at the dash speakers incredulously then keys the mic.  “What the heck is going on?  I swung by last night to pick up Pizzas and no one said Jack.  Now we just want to hitch our horse at the salon and you want us to reserve a spot in freighter parking?”

    There is a pause before the voice on the radio stammers “ Sorry sir, we have important Guests inbound.  We want to give the appearance of being organized.”

      “Well make sure to set down at a perfect 45 degree angle to the loading strip for the third lift up-ravine from Old Town.”

      “Dropping by the blue sky?”

     “Not that it’s any business of yours, are the VIPs going to be causing any delays around town that we might want to avoid?”

     “They shouldn’t be leaving uptown.  It’s just the bigwigs making sure we know who’s in charge.  They may have scheduled the trip suddenly but there’s almost no other reason they would bother with little fish like us.”
This message was last edited by the player at 01:20, Mon 05 Feb.

       The Crevice is barely visible from a distance.  It is covered over with a transparent sheet of carbon.  workers can be seen as they approach using backpack covers to clear dust off the protective sheeting from the previous nights, dust storm.  Access buildings set over the entrance to similarly covered side crevices With weather appear to be red cement to walkways leading out from them. Sure enough, small shuttles, pressurized hover vans Levibeds (most with inclosed cabs) and even the occasional lover bike are pulled up to these walkways, seemingly to be parked at the traditional 45° angles.  The access point Amos refer to had more long range, hovercrafts and shuttles around it than other lifts in the area.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 17:41, Tue 06 Feb.

Harry would listen to chatter over the radio before swinging the dropship round and bringing her in to land with a flourish in the designated space, clearly showing off ”right let’s get this show on the road” Harry said powering down the engines and tucking a cigarette into the corner of her mouth, though she wouldn’t light up until she was outside.

Amos looks at his data pad. “The car goes to be dropped off seven levels down with the locals call Route 66. That’s a level of roads in the warehouses that supply the crevice. Our final destination is about three floors under us.“

Harry would blow a stream of smoke up into the Martian sky as she listened to Amos explain where they needed to go ”well…unless we need to follow it I say we let the cargo go on its merry way and go where we’re needed” Harry said with a shrug before popping the cigarette back into the corner of her mouth and signalling for Amos to lead the way.

Justin's comm, checking how Garrat & Harry were getting along, pinged in their incoming mail items.