In reply to Isobel Sakura (msg # 24):
  (Semi-Flex)
Lizzy smiled and said," Well yes I am I hope that is ok my love." She smiles and giggles, and then adds," I will come back Izzy you cant get rid of me that easy, and cant wait for that."  Then Izzy made a comment about Harry, Lizzy replied," I dont think it will get physical unless I slap her, I will be fine, see you soon Izzy."

 Lizzy listened to Harry, she went to say something when she asked her how she was going to treat her, but Harry waved her off and finished. When Harry was done Lizzy looked at her with caring eyes but Lizzy's voice was stern," So you have checked out Harry, you never go into a jump off with that attitude, you remember when you met me and told me there is a fine line between total fear and enough to respect the danger. What happened to the Harry I first met kicking ass, and shooting down enemies. I know you have been through a lot Harry, but look around we are in a fucking war, how we handle these things will determine if we live or die as a race. Ok yes you shot down your half Sister, who you barely knew, Will left you, but honestly the way you treated him after his string of injuries and of course us did you really think Will and you would last with all that going on. We have all been through hell, come on Harry I watched the man who raised me, get eaten alive by fucking plasma." Lizzy was fighting back tears now, every time she relived that moment it hurt, and Harry could see watching that effected her greatly but it was something she needed to do and it made her stronger and more resolved to win this war and help others.

 Lizzy thought she might have been a little rough on Harry but she had to hear this because she was not ready too loose Harry as a friend and have her die in combat. She let that sit in and then added," Harry you may think I hate you, and you dont trust me. I understand that but Harry you are so wrong, I just want you too pull out of this funk, yes life sucks right now I wont deny that. What is my good friend going too do, give up go out there and fight thinking you will die?" Lizzy then took her arm and added," Or are you going to go out there stay with your wingman and kick some Empire ass, then come back to the Hermes and move on with your life, Izzy and I will help you get your life back in order if you let us, and Harry I care about you and if you want me, I really want to be your good friend again Harry and if you dont give a shit if you live or die, well I do give a shit if you live or die and I don not want too loose a good friend Harry."

 Lizzy then released her hand, and her eyes where tearing, she did not want to loose her friend but what else could she do, she was trying everything she could think of to help her friend but she honestly didnt know what she wanted. Lizzy then thought of that last bit she asked, then in a very friendly more bubbly Lizzy tone, she said," Of course if something ever happened to you I would take care of that box and make sure Hamlet gets to Haley, but Harry." Lizzy looked Harry right into the eyes and said," You are coming back and we are going to get your life back in order, and just something to think about, if I see you up there flying to get killed, I will risk my life to save you, because Harry if you dont think so, you are so worth saving." Lizzy hoped that would at least do something, if it just made her mad enough to punch her and tell her to fuck off that was fine but Lizzy had to try to reach Harry. She stood there waiting for Harry's onslaught rebuttle, but she stood her ground because Lizzy cared about Harry and did not want her to die.

 Right when she was done the LC had his rant and hoped it didnt piss Harry off at her more than she might already be. After the LC spoke she said," So what will it be Harry, have you really checked out, or you going to fight for real with your Hermes family and come back with us? "
This message was last edited by the player at 20:15, Mon 28 Dec 2020.

 Meari heard that the Uden's Promise took damage and her cousin and Granmod where injured, she looked at Will and made her way close to Scaffolding and then asked the group," Excuse me Sirs, Ma'am,I heard the Uden's Promise was damaged badly and Fleet Captain Dusk and Warlord Lilit where injured, do you know the extent of their injuries?"

 beth Called down,..I am dealing with   the link ups  with the ships  right now?..Shade  took the COM call straight  from the   Uden's Promise... he  just grabbed his weapon and Helmet and stalked off to the  Shuttle  area....we know Dusk and  6  bridge  crew  are in  thier Med tech...Lilit is getting treated  on the Bridge..she won't leave, even thought  they are trying to  seal off  the   entrance  holes

...........

  Shadow    Looked at the   Clock when Nikki made her suggestons.....You're  Right  Nikki. But  we   can't have  burst tests now,  we'll have to do like the old  days...  when we get above the Fleet fire off a test shot ot  two

 I also  suggest a sandwich or two and  a drink...  there is a good bet    we won't  be  coming   back except to reload, or  celebrate

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

 Steele  was   angry and Embarrassed  but he  went to his flight  and began to  check all the aircraft, and make sure  all the Pilots  had thier    belts  Loaded.

  By the Numbers  each Crew chief  went  down the line  to check the  Fighters to make sure  belts  were  Loaded, then shut  the cowlings .

 Moving off to the next one.

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

 The ground  crews  where    massed.. felrites, Angels, Burians.. Lirg and  Nugst,  and  various   iterations of humans

     Shade  sat  on a  crate.. eating  a sandwich  and  had a soda.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:02, Mon 28 Dec 2020.

Billie listened quietly at Shadow's announcement, feeling a bit better. It was nothing personal against Harry but she had no intentions of trying to talk her out of any kind of suicide mission nor was she going to participate in such a thing. The mission always came before any personal feelings and she doubted that Harry would even listen to her. With the announcements coming to an end, Billie headed back to her ride to finish any last minute adjustments and the likes.

 Meari nodded and replied," Thank you Lt. I will go check on Shade." Meari was not liking the Roussians at all, as she finally got all the details of the attack on the kids and Skiffle. Meari was so proud of Fleet Captain Dusk and Grandmod Lilit going and helping to protect the children, but them getting injured as well truly upset her as she was going to take it out on the Roussians.

 She looked at Will, and said," Do you mind if we check in on Shade, see if he has any more information on the Uden's Promise my former Ship?"

"What happened? She put her trust in people and got hurt one too many times...and don't sit there thinking Will's some kind of saint he's just as guilty as I am, and he had every chance to talk to me and try and sort this out but instead he packed his bag and ran away like a fucking coward, but hey I am the bad guy so who the fuck cares about my side of the story" Harry replied in a quiet voice that was practically devoid of emotion, with her seemingly giving up on her vid board for the time being.

It was then that Lizzy would pull out the hard sell and talk her into believing that she had something to live for and that she just had to sort herself out and think positively and not give up, with her even going as far as threatening to risk her own life to save her if she tried anything stupid "Don't...I'm already mad at Brivet for pulling that crap, don't you dare do it as well I don't want anyone's death on my conscience, especially yours!" Harry snarled, showing the first bit of emotion since Lizzy's arrival with her having seemingly touched a nerve. However it would be short lived and any further response or discussion was cut short by Shadow calling them all in.

As the LC ranted at them all, Harry would bite back the rather vicious retorts she had in response to his comments knowing that they would only cause more trouble than it was worth, and if she was surprised to hear she was flying with Machins she didn't show it. Not that it took much in the way of brain power to work out what had happened behind her back.

When the briefing, such as it was, came to an end she would once again find herself in Lizzy's company as she returned to her fighter "I was always going to fight for real, I just don't think I'm going to be coming back from this one...the odds are not in my favour and I can little reason to fight them...also you of all people should know that family is overrated" she said in a subdued voice as she took hold Lizzy's arm and neatly wrote her door code on the back of her bracer.

 Lizzy looked at her after the briefing, " Well Harry fight your ass off, kill those fucking bastards, but please try really hard to come back. Well that is the family you have no choice in, I chose to be a member of the Hermes and even fought to stay here. Harry you will always be special to me no matter what you think. What did I tell you when we first met no matter what I would be your friend." Harry wrote her code on her bracer, she looked at Harry and said," I will take care of what you asked, only if you remember there are a lot of reasons for you to come back and that you need to realize on your own Harry." Lizzy had tears in her eyes as she heads off to get some food and drink and look for Izzy, she would wipe the tears away and hope Harry would do her best to come home.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:14, Tue 29 Dec 2020.

  Will nodded  as they went over to the Shuttle  area.. Cora  and Ellen  made a fuss over him, he was chuckling.

 Tucker  waved  at him,Taking it  easy  while we go harvest some Eggplants

I wish  I could  cut  a few of them off the  vine..

 Nagy   nods,..Three planets  out there.. should be a chance to  go on the next Jump...

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

  Shadow  leaned   against   the  crates  by the   food  table  drinking a soda  and nibbling  on a 'ham' salad sandwich.

   Flores   looked at Him,.. Dusk is hurt?

 He nodded,..don't know how bad,,,but if she's in Med tech..well... she wouldn't leave   Lilit on the  Bridge by herself...

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

Karl had his crew gearing up the Morningstar.  Not for the first time, and certainly (he hoped!) not for the last, he looked at the hardpoints on the stubby wings of the craft, and sighed.  Bad timing, he told himself...the concept of the Morningstar had been kind of a throwback to air support craft of the past, and some of the best of those had carried wing-mounted weapons that had long since fallen out of fashion to be used on fighters.  But he'd pushed for the design element to be included...and then had to leave Earth with the prototypes before he'd had a chance to convince anyone to start in on the design of those kinds of weapons.  Awesome as the ship's performance had been throughout the course of the war, it was still not achieving its full potential...

He glanced down the flight line, noting the various attitudes of some of the pilots, and mentally making bets on which ones weren't coming back, based on the way in which their body language said they'd already written themselves off.  Someone had even painted dates on their nose art...

He snorted softly.  "Hope whoever it is at least has the wherewithal to take plenty of the enemy with them," he muttered.  That kind of roll-over-and-die mentality was incomprehensible to him...you had to be convinced that you were nigh indestructible to even start as a test pilot, much less stay at it for years.  He made his way over to the platform.

"So, where do you want me, Admiral?  It'd be good to know what my primary task is before we finalize the load-out, just so I know what kind of shells to pack in there..."

Nikki headed back to her craft with water and a sandwich.  Again giving Haley and Roll and Sneak as well tight hugs.  She stopped to check on Harry "Harry...no matter what I got your back." she wasn't afraid to help Harry.  Harry just needed to find that faith in herself again.

  The Admiral had a  Coffee.. he was  lokign around , slowly at the people as they  put on thier gear. Chatted ,,or just stared at nothing  with nervous feet  taping away on the deck.

 He Smiled and  nodded to  Karl, Sneak offered him a sandwich..

 ..  after  we shell the   Roussians   into the dark ages,,we're gonna  fight out  where the Capitol city is, or what's left of it... Then the assault Shuttles  from the Hermes and Athena  are  goign to land on opposite  sides  and  set beacons  for the drop ships... the scene  will be repeated  all over the  damn planet but  pairs of our Delta Fleet ships... I plan on having you in the  air , with some  support, to knock down buildings  and blow up people

  He  took a  sip with a very   dark look   around  the  Hanger,I let them slide , when the goaded the Nivarians into   'standing up' to us..  I wanted to go straight  to thier homeworld then..but  it was selfish on my part...Then Bornberry wasted  a  Task force.. and i figured...'well they learned thier  lesson"...

Hack looked at the  empty cup  and Roll handed him a fresh one. He gave a nod of thanks to the   kid......they are paying for this one  though... They wanted  to show the Empire  they could be attack dogs?... well... we'll show them what happens, when   the  dog catches  the  car...

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

 Disna  and  Puskie  were now on the Hanger  Dec.. Larry leading the largs ... Pushkie   stopped  at the    Shuttles,  he started going over  all the  Suits  with a  new  style 'soft headgear' that  the  Largs   could open and close thier  Mouths   with...

 Disna    shook his head....Tess wanted to  come, Larry wouldn't let her... there's a good bet  He won't until  Thor can  get enough food on his own

.........

 Sneak  smiled at Nikki.. Roll did  too... gregor cam prancing  down the  walk only   area..he  had  ona  suit, but no head gear.

 Roll asked  why didn't gregor  have a helmet. Puskie answered,he's getting bigger, but   we want to wait a while before having   him go into big battles.... and?.. we need  a Larg on the hanger dec   anyway

Haley looked at Gregor and listened to Disna and Puskie "I think it would be nice to have a larg watch his little cousin and his mama, as well as all of us.  And I think our cadet larg master would like it too" she looked at Roll with beaming smile.

"I know, and I'm sorry for how I acted...it just really hurt you know? Also I was kind of jealous over how quickly you and Izzy hooked up...I wasn't sure I'd ended things with the right person and...well...I guess I got my answer" she quietly confessed, deciding that now was as good a time as any to tell her considering her rather grim outlook on life "...also if I get back you're going to have to tell me those reasons because I can't see any where I'm standing" she said before continuing to her fighter, forgoing food and drink in order to adjust a few more settings on her fighter whilst she had the chance.

When Nikki stopped by she would offer her a small and rather weak looking smile that didn't come anywhere near to touching her eyes "I know, and thank you...you're one of the few people I believe actually means it"

After searching the collection of marines currently loitering around the shuttles for any sign of Roy, Izzy would eventually find Lyri. With her deciding that the Master Chief would probably know what was going on and be able to point her to where she needed to be Izzy would walk up to her and try and get her attention "Excuse me, Master Chief...I'd like to volunteer for hangar defence, could you tell me where do I need to be please?" she politely asked, hoping that if nothing else that she would be able to point her in the right direction.

  Lyri Turned to Izzy, and said,..Shoey's  staying this  time  around , Unless   The SM   puts him  in command  of  a Shuttle  stick.

 with your  Injuries,  I would say, either   with  Beth's  warroom.... or  near  the LC's berths    Incase we get boarded  and  the  enemy tries to made  of the Med  Tech or elevators.

 she takes another  Look  around,,,but , any crate of  barrel where you can shoot from?..that would be good  as well.

  She tapped  Izzy's head.....head gear this  time....

.........

The LArgs sat down   around  Larry , all looking about  and tryign to thump tails that made and odd  noise in the   'larg suits" when they hit the  plating.

  Gregor  Sta  by the  sandwich table..( roll 'dropped one"...)

  The QM sent    1 crate each, of  Frag...concussion and  yellow  smoke...to each shuttle, as   well as Mags and  loose   rounds  for loading   empties.

Jug and the gava went to the QM to help load and move the gear requested.   more that helped the soon it gets done Jug explained.

 Meari nodded at Will and they headed for Shade, she went to Shade and asked," Shade have you heard anymore how are Dusk and Grandmod?" Meari didnt look sad she looked driven and the Roussians where going to pay for this if Meari had any say in it.

In reply to Harriet Lynch (msg # 42):

 Lizzy looked at Harry, " I know Harry, and I am so sorry, that will never happen again, and I really hope I am worth being friends with. Well I wasnt expecting that either Harry but no matter what I will be your friend. Well hey that doesnt matter you have friends Harry, me , Nikki. Well WHEN you get back I will tell you Harry ok, lets go kick some Roussian ass."

 Lizzy felt better and she hoped Harry was in a little better mindset after this was over Harry needed a friend and Lizzy was going to be her friend. Got her sandwich and drink and did last minute checks of her fighter, belts, emergency gear. She made sure and then copied Harry's door code to her private coms so she wouldnt loose it.  She watched for Izzy to see where she might end up but she was ready for action.

With herself and her bird ready to go, Billie headed over to grab a soda and a couple of sandwiches and headed back to her bird. There was a fluttery feeling in her stomach which she thought was pretty typical given that they were getting ready for a jump off.

Karl nodded.  "Ground attack loadout it is, then."  He saluted and headed back to his bird, feeling...satisfied.  Ground attack was what the Morningstar had been built for, after all, and while it had proven itself capable at other tasks, they always involved some kind of adjustment of flight operations.  He circled up the ground crew.

"Sounds like the Admiral's plan is to punch through any defensive formations the Roussians set up and run the war right up to their front door...and then kick the door down.  No plans to deploy us until after shelling has commenced, and then we're largely going to be helping assault teams hit high-value targets.  So, skip the AP rounds, go heavy on the HE with frag rounds to help with some cover fire.  Standard cannon and minigun loadouts."  He turned to the corporal that was helping keep their jury-rigged conglomeration of alien computer components solidly operational.

"If you can find any recon or intel maps of the surface, give Ed some advance information to help identify potential targets on the way down."  The corporal nodded and headed for his terminal.

With most of the crew finalizing which magazines loaded into the Mirningstar's modular systems, the crew chief and munitions officer came over.  "If you're interested, Captain, we've put together a little something to try out down there..."  Karl looked at the munitions officer curiously...then at the crew chief, who had a delighted smirk on his face.

"Uh...sure.  Whatcha got?"

The MO walked over to a magazine waiting to be loaded.  Karl could see some subtle exterior differences, indicating modifications.  "So, I was talking with some Security guys, a while back...got started talking about some of the early Hermes operations and how they were kinda reinventing operations as they went...and he mentioned something about ion poppers.  I'd never heard of them, and his buddy was giving him a hard time about saying too much...but I finally got him to explain that one of the early comm officers came up with an idea to use the ion dust that's waste from firing the Harvester's ion cannon as a sabotage tool, and that got me thinking, and then thinking some more, and...well, there's five ion rounds in here.  I basically had to make 'em from scratch in the weapons lab...or, at least, the projectiles...and then had to retrofit a magazine to contain them to prevent any risk of contamination...wouldn't take much of that stuff to fubar the whole bird.  And if you use 'em, you want to make sure you don't fly through the detonation zone for a couple of hours afterwards, or you're going down.  They're definitely a high-risk/high-reward round, and if you don't wanna take 'em, I understand.  But if you wanna fuck up enemy operations, these babies can do it on a scale beyond anything else we've got.  Aerial-burst one of these over a comm center and the WHOLE center is down...they can't just bypass a damaged antenna or signal processor...anything the dust gets on is inoperable until it's either fully cleaned or the charge wears off...and that takes...oh...a couple dozen years, I think.  Nobody's really researched it.  Vehicles, weapons arrays, power grids...I don't know what all, it's your job to figure out targets, I guess.  Right now, there's only five of 'em...all in here, and that's all we can fit in the mag after all the containment systems, but they'll fire just like any other round from the howitzer.  Biggest risk would be if someone hit the howitzer with one in the breech, or on its way out...but if they did that with an HE round, you'd be dead even faster because the whole plane would cook off before you could even eject..."  He tapered off, realizing he was on the verge of talking circles...and the lack of reaction thus far had him discouraged...but a hopeful gleam burned behind his eyes.

Karl looked at him for a moment, calculating...then looked at the crew chief, who just grinned and shrugged.

"Well, shit...what kind of a test pilot would I be if I said no to that?" he asked, and then grinned.  "Load it...we'll see what kind of opportunities present themselves."  He chuckled at the enthusiastic response, giving a wink to the crew chief as he turned and started checking out the cockpit, getting ready to go, and waiting to hear the inevitable sounds of battle that would indicate they were getting close to their target.

With Lyri telling her where she needed to be Izzy would give an understanding nod closely followed by an embarrassed look as she advised her to wear her headgear this time around ”yes...she says it doesn’t bother her but I’d rather not push my luck by getting more facial injuries” she replied just a little sheepishly knowing that she’d been stupid to do so ”Thank you Master Chief I’ll go and find a spot by Beth’s war room, first however I’m going to see my girl off” she said in a grateful voice before heading back towards Lizzy’s berth.

Finding Lizzy back by her fighter with a drink and a sandwich she would offer a tentative smile as she asked ”so...how did it go?” taking the fact that she wasn’t crying as a good sign.

 Lizzy saw Izzy head over to her, Lizzy smiled and after Izzy asked how it went Lizzy replied," I think it went well, she was mad at first, but I hope I reached her. I tried and hopefully she comes back and we can help her get her life back in order and help Harry move forward with her life." Lizzy then looked at Izzy and realized that she might not come back either, but she was not going to think that way. She was going to kill bad guys, help her flight mates and come back alive.

 Lizzy then asked," How did it go you check in with someone Izzy?"

"Well, that's good, truth be told I was kind of worried she'd lose it completely" Izzy replied as she sat down next to Lizzy and placed an arm about her waist as she was asked how she'd got on with finding someone to check in with "yeah, not sure where the Sergeant Major is, but I spoke with the Master Chief and she said I'd be best setting up near Beth's war room, considering my injuries" which was probably just as much to keep her out of the way as it was to defend Med tech and the lifts "What about you? How are you doing? Would you like me to braid your hair so it's out of the way whilst we talk?" she asked, wanting to make sure that her girl was all calm and squared away before she launched.

 Lizzy smiled , and she was still worried about Harry but she did her best, she just hoped they both made it back and she could help her friend rebuild her life. Lizzy then replied," Yeah hopefully I and Nikki helped her enough to make it back she will need more help."  Lizzy smiled when Izzy had a job and it was good she talked to Lyri at least. " That is good keep them protected so Beth can help us more. " Then Izzy asked her about her, and asked to braid her hair. Lizzy smiled and replied," I am fine baby no matter what happens I tried, and I will be back dont worry about that. I would love that Izzy thank you."

  Shade bleeped  and shrugged, pointing to  Beth and The COMs.. He  was  still showing very Black eyes.

 and kept eating his sandwich as he started  at the dec.

......

 Frans  approached Shadow, she took a  sandwich  with a smile to Sneak,  Roll gave her  a water...

    You alright , Kray?

 I'm Fine, its just dealing with the folks who have weaker will  then most.

 do you think they have  the wind up?

 yeah? I mean, look at those in the past..Stevens  tries to land on a Demon ship and get his heart eaten infont of him...whack job tries to shoot The Admiral..justin hides in his quarters,..now   Steele and Harry are crying because  no one loves them anymore...

 ..you.. went off  when Lady was  killed,

 ..but?  I kept  my eye on the prize, I just make bad  guys suffer more then i  would have done a few years ago...so?.. I win.

 She Chuckles,well?   You do good....

 Gonna do a whole bunch of good when we hit the roussian

 she  chuckled   and gave him a hug..see you at pregame..shouldn't be long now.