Will  smiles a thin Lipped  smile. He , taking a page of   Roy's   book, puts his fork, gently down on his plate, his food  half  finished.

  ..Admiral,  Captain..  Sirs and Ma'ams..I think i will go outside for a bit. It seems a nice  day...  he winces  as he pushes  away from the Table.

 ..Carry on  trooper, be careful with that wound. What ever gods you look to  decided  this was not you day to die.... Don't anger them by trying to do it again!

 Aye, Admiral, Sir...Already done... he looked to   Harry,..I'll be getting some    fresh air, when you are ready. Unless you have other plans?.

  He Nodded to the table   and  walked gingerly away.

  Rivets nodded,..Fine lad there, an' that's me sayin'. There's  folks out there who would love ta not make a drop...an'  'ere 'e is..a frettin' 'e can't go..

 With no one answering Meari about needing a guide, she would clean up her area and when Will left, she watched him carefully. She got up and limped a little bit on her leg but it was okay once she got it moving again, she just sat too long and it stiffened up on her.

 Meari would walk up next to him and say," It is good to see you up and around Will, I was out fighting the Black Dots and their friends got to kill a Verian that always makes me smile. I am sorry I do not know your last name or rank, I am Sgt. Meari I am a new member of the Hermes valiant SEC, my Granmod Lilit assigned me to the Hermes. You fought very well, and with passion, plus you risked your life for  Harry that is very honorable and it will be my honor to fight by all of your sides. I heard you will not make this jump off, the Verians are tough in hand to hand combat, I will decapitate one of them in your name Will . I look forward when we can fight together. " She nods, gives him a genuine smile and then will walk with him waiting to see if he had any response. Meari knew how hard it was to sit out combat because of an injury, it had happened to her a few times over her combat career, but she was very new at trying to console humans so she gave it her best Udenese try.

 Will  smiled a tolerant ,..yeah... but this is my  2nd jump off i missed out on. In a ROW!..this  kinda  thing  might land me in the QM's cage, cleaning weapons.. My Last Name is Call..Corp..Call...most folks just call me  Will


..............

 Outside..

   Larry     jumped up into the Van,  followed  ab the others ..The SGT falled  back from the front  seat,..the clearing to  the south, is about 5 miles away from the Palace  Grounds. Its is roughly 1 mile   long and a little more then that wide... If you enter  the forest to the  South or east.. it is all wild... to the west is patrolled a bit, because of the Village .. The   Van with the Verians  should be there soon.

"Well...lets ask Meari if there are gardensor woodlands to romp about in, or a place to see animals in the wild, and such?" she smiled and helped clean their area after they were done eating.  Nikki took a napkin and some water to wet it and made sure Haley was atleast...not sticky.  After a few moments they moved to where Meari and Will were, along with Harry.  "Morning all.  Harry, I take it you and Will are gonna hang out today?"she asked a moment then turned to Will and gently laid a hand on his shoulder "Glad you are still with us Will" She didn't clap him or jiggle anything for fear he was barely hanging together.  Finally she looked to Meari a moment "Sorry we were still eating when you asked.  Haley wanted to know if there is like a place to see animals in their native elements or as she put it, pretty nice flowers to look and sniff.  like an arborium or some such?"  She also nodded and smiled to the others right there as well.

With Will seemingly not appreciating her suggestion that he could use his down time to train towards being a sergeant, Harry would once again lapse into an awkward silence as she ate her breakfast without any real enthusiasm up until the point that Will decided to head outside "Um...no, I haven't got anything planned" Harry responded as she finished the last of her bacon and got up to follow him.

It was as Will was heading for the door with Harry quietly walking with him that both the new girl; Meari, and Nikki would stop to offer Will some kind words concerning his recent injury, With then going on to ask if she wand Will would be hanging out together today "Um...yeah...I think so" she replied in a noncommittal voice, not really knowing what she would be doing today.

  Will watched the VAns  flying around, or driving  on the   rock roads,wow..looks like  the beach head on an invasion!,Well Have  any Ideas  where  you want to go..keep in mind, you ahve to drag along a cripple..

 He watched the  Military Van go off with   the LArg and others.

 Meari smiled as Nikki and Haley approached her and asked about flowers, and animals in the wild. Meari Smile sand says," Well there is a  Summer House nearby the big wigs sometime use, as well as my Granmod. There are beautiful flowers and plants that grow there, then you could go to the tree line from there, and it is all wild out there, there is a creek nearby as well I use to play there when I was about your age Haley. Also maybe for later there is an Aquarium on the west side of the Village, and a large lake beyond that."

 She looks at Nikki and then back to Haley and she adds," If you would like it can get dangerous out there, like I said it is the wilds, I would love to accompany you all there if you do not mind me going with you, I haven't been out in these woods in many years."

Roy grinned at Shadow's response to the Nivarians, and shrugged when they looked askance at him.  "Probably a good thing you aren't larg handlers...we might not need to un-teach you a few millenia of bad animal handling practices, and if this goes well, it would probably be easier for Nivarians to swallow new training procedures from other Nivarians than from some upstart human..."  He chuckled a little.

"What we're testing today is a combination of a few things.  Part of it is to find out whether Larry here is a fluke, and just ridiculously smart by comparison to other largs, or whether largs are smarter than your people have been giving them credit for.  See, we got Larry under unusual circumstances, and without any real background in what largs were beyond the knowledge that Nivarians used them as guard and hunting animals.  So, we treated him much the same way we treat our own animals back on Earth...rather than intimidating, threatening, and dominating him, we got him to want to work with us.  And since we didn't beat him the moment he showed any signs of independent thought, he wasn't scared to show us how smart he could be.  Larry's not just a guard animal...he's part of our crew, just as much as you, or LC Shadow, here, or me.  He's got his own rank, he collects a paycheck (although Shadow takes care of it), and he's pretty much got free run of the ship, although he usually sticks close to either Shadow or myself.  So, no...I'm not the least bit concerned.  Hell, Roll there could climb into Larry's mouth and I wouldn't be worried, except for maybe that Larry's got a gag reflex and Roll could wind up covered in whatever he puked up.  But Larry would break his own back before he'd hurt that kid, I'm pretty sure."

He noticed the van approaching as he continued.  "Now, I don't expect the two largs we inherited to be THAT smart and devoted.  But I know damned well that they're smarter than their handlers gave them credit for being, because when Shadow said something about retrieving his knife, one of them tore off the leg that knife was stuck in and carried it over to Shadow...and I'm pretty sure, from their attitude, that none of the handlers would have ever surrendered a knife to any larg, so it wasn't a learned behavior.  So, we're gonna find out just how smart they are, and whether they understand that we're working as a team and that means that anyone in an APF uniform should be able to give them directions, or even if we can trust them to hunt down Verians without turning it into a free-for-all on anyone that's out in the field. If we're successful, then the Hermes will have, hands-down, THE most dangerous boarding teams in the whole damned APF.  If we're not...well, we'll find out just what we can use them for, and whether or not we've gotta have Larry around to keep them in line.  But I'll tell ya...barbaric as your people may think humans are, we have been locking people up for centuries for treating animals the way your people treat largs, and I've got a theory that, between your efforts to keep the largs under control and your insistence on breeding only the biggest studs instead of the smartest ones, you've actually been stifling them."

The van pulled up, the driver made his recommendations, and everyone boarded, squeezing in around Larry.  "Larry...this is Wukke and Hunrr, they're going to be helping us today," he said, as he sat down, pointing at the two Nivarians.  "Hopefully, they're smarter than their predecessors and don't think that trying to jump Shadow is a good idea..."  He looked up at them as the van started moving...  "Larry's very fond of the LC...and just generally intolerant of anyone trying to harm a Hermes crew member...and he's very expeditious about removing that problem if it ever arises."

"Whatcha think Punk'in?  How about we all gather some food and have another picnic?"? She looked at Haley first then to Meari "It's kind of an Earth custom.   Bring some food and drink, a big blanket or sheet.  dine outside and do things like play tag, sit in the sun, stare at clouds,  just talk.  Simple things like that.  Just hang out and relax." True they did that on Bura, it somehow got goofed up.  "We could also make it a hike too.  Probably work off breakfast" she smiled
Haley's head tilted a bit as she thought about it.

 Meari  smiled and said,That sounds great, we can get food and drink from the Palace, I will see if I can borrow a rifle. Like I said it is wild out there and there are dangerous things out there, but Lady Haley I will protect you.

"I think I'll go see what the largs get up to," said Henry.

"Does that interest you or would you prefer to go collect samples in the woods? Or something else?"

He looked under the table, spotting Mila engrossed in a bone that appeared bigger than she was, almost.

"Come on, girl. You can bring your breakfast along and finish it for lunch!"

He went outside to join Larry and the others.

In reply to Palace (msg # 442):

Stopping at the top of the steps, Harry would take a moment to watch the assembled trucks and vans currently ferrying people out to the various villages and tourist hot spots on offer before replying to Will in a meek voice ” I don’t know really, between you getting hurt and Dixie’s message I haven’t given it much thought” with her not even sure what the planet had to offer ”we could take a walk around the village and see what’s there? Unless there’s something you’d like to do?”

In reply to Palace (msg # 428):

Hawkeye smiled, I never said you signed up to cook. When I was on the ground back on earth I worked for a non-aligned group during the Mybraian conflict. Yes I'm that old. Anyways most of the guys that got the best treatment from their squad and teammates in addition to being good soldiers also had other skills. One guy knew how to sew, another cook, another was a commo wizz despite not being the comm operator in the unit. You may get razzed but when the chips are down and we your buddies might have use for those skills. Or they could win you points with the locals. Better yet, that lady love of yours gets a little spoiled and since she's feeling like a queen in your eyes you get the royal treatment from her. In the end there's more to this than the simple shoot, move, communicate."

In the end it didn't seem to matter, Will seemed set on making the jump off, and headed off in what seemed like a pout.

"He may be a good man, but he's acting like a child now. There'll be plenty more jump offs for him to go on. I understand his excitement to be part of the action, but damn if he couldn't be a little more patient with a situation that is beyond his control." She replies to Rivets.

In reply to Palace (msg # 437):

Sarah replied to Hawkeye and Rivets. "As a commander I'd worry about a trooper like him under me, his excitement is good but could provoke him into being rash. I'd worry in these other side engagements that he's being reckless in his actions which is causing him to continue to get injured and then continue to miss jump offs. Regardless I've met SGT MAJ Spencer, I'm sure the kid is in good hands." She says finishing her plate.

"So what do you have planned for the day?" she asks Rivets

  Will  took the information, for what is was worth. He was still stewing, trying to figure out how he  could try and pass the Med Tests, to make  Jump off.

    Turning around he  says  to  Harry,..let take a shot at the Village..maybe there's  some good  eats there?

  He   will ask the  Trooper  to call a  car or a VAn after  Harry  chooses.

..............

 Rivets   shrugged,lotsa  folks get  gung ho..ya know. They  dunna  figure they're  doin' their  part, if they watch thier  mates  go off  whislt  standin' on the  'anger Dec..

 he fixes  another  cup of  coffee  from the Pot  on the table,As fer me...  I hear tell of a Lake on the   other  side of that Village to the west?... Might wanna see what kind of fisd it has?

 Lilit  smiles, That lake  is  a small sea... there  are  the nornal range of fish  there... from food  fish, to game  fish..preditors  are in the water, so you do not wish to  swim too  far out  from shore. The  Ki-Git.. are the  biggest, they  are to the water..what your LArgs  are to the land.. they are prized  game fish, and  are  served    , most times, on a spit with sauces   swabbed  on it...

 Hennings  looked up....like a Bar b que?..i haven't had that since  we  left Fuji   the first time!

 Lilit  looked confused.

 it is a way Humans  cook  food..on a  grill or  a  spit..other  ways? but  the sauces     are made of many mixtures..some hot to the taste..some sweet...or tangy... flaovors  with   citrus  fruit?.. all manner  of combinations

 ..That's It then...  I'm going to see   if  we can get a boat and  catch somethign like that...have   a cookout  before we need to leave..

Rivets looked at Sarah... ,you  wanna   catch some bar b que?

............

 Meari  doesn't have much trouble   getting a Undenese  pulse  rifle. they had  to wait  for a  guard to  run to the palace. he wasn't going to  give up his own weapon.

With Will suggesting that they check out the village and get something to eat, Harry would smile and nod her head "Sure, that sounds like a plan...I still owe you a meal out from when we were on Fuji" she said, fondly recalling what they had done instead.

As they waited for either one of the vans to become free so they could hitch a lift or for the trooper Will had spoken to, to bring round a car, with Harry more than happy to drive them, Harry would affectionately slip her arm around Will's waist "I missed you last night...the bed was too big" she softly spoke, having found not for the first time that since hooking up with Will that she didn't sleep very well on her own anymore "maybe the village will have a toy shop so you can buy some more toy soldiers?" she suggested in a teasing voice, knowing that as much as she complained about her quarters looking like a toy shop that she wouldn't have it any other way.

  Will brightened a bit..I wonder if they  have  licensed  action figure here?

  ..the men i was in was cramped and cold... I wonder if they have heating in that building!

 The Village came into sight after  a 10 minute or so flight. It was  set up in a rectangle with the  builings around the outside.. and  a street inside them, with another set of buildings   on the otherside of  road..leavign a Village square in the middle.

 peopel were waling about. most in ESN uniforms.

By the time Meari returned with a rifle Nikki had rounded up enough to make a decent picnic gathering.  She even scrounged up some gear too.
Haley was happy she was going to get some sight seeing and such of local animals and flowers.

Nikki pulled out some things to drink like water and some juices and managed to get a few other things too.  With Mitches help there was enough to make an easy hike with.  She whispered to Mitch "Maybe we can stop by a few shops returning in before leaving." she stretched just a bit to kiss him, nibbling his lip doing so.

When Meari returned they moved and found transportation.

===> Uden - Elsewhere

 Meari got back with a borrowed Pulse rifle, when she returned she smiled at everyone and said," Shall we go then, come Lady Haley lets see what my home world can offer."

---------->>>>>>>>> To Uden Elsewhere

Unsurprisingly Will would perk up when the possibility of a store selling licensed Action Figures was raised causing Harry to chuckle as she helped him down to the waiting car. Hopping behind the wheel she would punch in the directions for the village before driving off perhaps a little faster than she should have, though compared to her Mantis the car felt like it was crawling.

Upon reaching the strangely organised village, at least to her eyes anyway, she would look for somewhere to park up not too far away from the shops to spare Will too much walking.

——> Uden Elsewhere

In reply to Palace (msg # 451):

Sarah grinned, sounds like a plan to me." She shifts her attention to Lilit, "Do we need any special tackle or equipment for these prize fish?" She asks thinking of various game fish of earth, and some of the native more predatory species of the colony she'd grown up on.

Hawkeye nudges Rolf, "so should we hit the town then? Tear it down while we still can." She says downing the rest of her coffee, starting to rise waiting to see what Rolf suggests.

  Lilit stood,I will COM ahead. The Boats   will have  tackle  for us...we should be going  if  we want to catch...and Cooks  some of these creatures.

 Rivets  and Hennings  were  smiling as they Got Up

 Morris  said,..I think I will go to the airfield..poke around some of the fighters, But  do COM  me  when you  start  to grill? I would fancy trying some

 Rolf  said,..lets go  give  some  of the  local bars a try... we 'ad the fancy stuff, lets see what the  folks who get dirty drink!

Sarah chuckled, "Well lets not keep the fish waiting then." She says rising and heading for the door.

"Come'on those fish aren't going to catch themselves."

In reply to Palace (msg # 459):

Hawkeye grinned, "Time is short and there's a party to go to, I bet they've got so good stuff there."

--UDEN ELSEWHERE--->
This message was last edited by the player at 01:51, Tue 17 Mar 2020.