Meari saw Nic with the reporter and saw Harry her arm was in a sling but she looked ok, she headed over to Harry then said, " Good too see you made it Ens. Lynch, and very good too see you here to honor the fallen." Meari smiled she didnt offer a warriors shake due to her hurt arm. She would watch and listen too Nic and the reporter.

"Hey," she murmured softly, wrapping her arms around his waist, laying her head on his shoulder. "This is never going to be easy..."

Zob watched for a moment as the bodies faded out of sight before heading back to SEC to return the rifle after that he made a trip back home to change out of his dress uniform into his duty uniform then onward to the Quartermasters.

----> To QM locker

  CE-VA smiled  brightly  for the CAM  as she  moved closer to Nic.Well there you have it! Empire  Vice  Admirals  don't last long against the ESN!

  ..Thank You LT...keep up the Good  work...  she headed off towards the  lift.

 Pilots  and  SEC  troopers walked  by, some greeting  Nic, most steered a bit away from Harry.

 .............

 Roll was  carrying Thor  as the beastie fell asleep.. .he was struggling  witht he  sleeping  larg, but he didn't seem to mind.

..........

  Arnie  gave a sad nod of his head...its going to get worse..the Angels  don't like being shown up..Beta  told me that.

Kira looked to Morgan, "Gonna go get changed out of this dress uniform, ill catch you around the mech bay" as she passed she brushed her hand against his arm.

Once Kira got changed out and into a duty uniform she returned back to the mech bay grabbing a coffee on the way she then pulled up a seat at her makeshift desk to finalize her decision on the combat armor troopers.

She began to put positive check marks next to most of the files until she got to Meari which she was unsure of so she decided to com the Udenese woman and leave a message if she didint respond right away, 'Excuse me SGT Meari this is CPO Ambermoon mech team lead i need to speak to you about your continued involvement in the combat armor project so if you have a few minutes come and see me over in the mech bay' with the message sent she took a sip of coffee and began working on parts request forms as she waited for a response.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:59, Mon 28 June 2021.

She felt the nod of his head and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Any particular color I should look for when we go try on dresses?" she asked, trying to focus on something a little lighter than the send off.

Roy was more stone-faced that unsual...if that was possible...during the ceremony, participating in the toast and saluting with an almost mechanical precision.  After the bodies had been ejected, and the announcements made, he stepped over to the static field, staring out at the stars...one might have thought he was looking to follow the bodies in their journey, but with the pace the Hermes was keeping to reach Etna in a timely fashion, the bodies were falling behind them in a long trail that had ended far out of visual range, now.

The shot glass was still in his hand, emptied, until he tossed it idly out the field a few moments later.  He knew there were many in the crew that had taken it hard that they'd been fighting humans, this time around...but he'd been fighting humans that had sided with the Empire, on Earth, for longer than some of the troopers attending the send-off had been alive, before he ever boarded the Hermes.  To him, it was just another enemy encounter...just a much more costly one than they were accustomed to.

He glanced down at his left arm, hanging in a sling at his side.  The sling was almost not needed, at this point...his arm would still have been tender, but he'd been able to clean and dress himself with a minimum of trouble.  He hoped it would be back to normal by the time they reached Etna, as he had a sneaking suspicion that there would be confrontations there which could only be effectively resolved by judicious application of brute force...and if it was done amongst the ranking personnel of the respective groups, it would forestall many other similar confrontations in the lower ranks.

That, memories of operations with Madsen and others who'd been lost, contemplations of his own mortality, a review of why he chose to fight when he no longer had anyone left on Earth about whom to be concerned, aside from those he'd served with who were there fighting in resistance operations...it all streamed through his mind, in that curious way that seems to be eternal ponderance while at the same time barely lasting a fraction of an eyeblink, while he stood there staring out at the starfield.

  Morgan nodded, and went off to change as well... He wanted to have  shore leave  this time around.

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

   The was a whiff of  cherrywood  smoke near  Roy, Captain Morris   smiled a bit, causing his  mustache to move  up and down... I say, SM. Bit of a sticky walk through the nest ship... Damnable  lot of Empire troops on there..... The  samrt money was on shellign it  until it  could be  put   into snowglobes.....But..The Admiral wanted   a small chance at getting people off.... He's regretting that now?  T9oo many people lost and we barely  have any Intel..

  he puffed the smoke towards the field...on the   comicaly side of things, The LC's recreation of the loyality feast, is treanding , all over The Black

   reaching for the  wall he  tapped the tabacco out side  the  field. and   place the  pipe in a leather  bag  on his  belt...you care for a bit of  brunch?

Roy broke out of his reverie at the commentary, a sad half-smile coming to his face.  "Personally, I think the Admiral was right.  Not attempting some kind of rescue effort would have been a propaganda coup for Ge-Fi...now, thanks to the footage that Shade turned up and Ce-Va distributed, instead of us looking like ravaging conquerors shattering a helpless space station, we're the woefully-outnumbered underdogs who bravely gave it everything we could until losses got too high and it became apparent that rescue wasn't an option.  It cost us dearly...but can you imagine what Ge-Fi could have done with the destruction of that base WITHOUT the video showing the hordes of enemy troops just waiting for a chance to have a go at us?"  He shook his head, not liking the images that came to his mind.

"And brunch would be an honor, Captain.  Lead the way..."

Nikki thought about it for a ew moments "Well.  If you have nothing to do we can hang at my place.  I am still on bed/hoverchair restriction.  Until I get checked tomorrow.  Haley can go to school, but I expect they probably won't after what happened.  I'll ask her" she thought "Are you going to be on duty?"She saw Can and Haley talking. She turned to Mitch and held his hand in her good hand "Maybe being on Rec dec might be good...cup of hot tea and see some friends"


Haley was chatting with Can and Doctor Christie after the ceremony about things.  Things Haley thought would be useful for Can.  Including maybe taking Can on a walk of the farm.  Showing him a few places to play, eat sometimes, and just visit. like the civvie area and even the part at the school.  She also said that he could hang with Roll and do boy things and a few boy toys.  She noticed Nikki staring at her and said she had to go for now. Gave both a hug and moved back to Nikki but stopped to see Roll who was struggling a bit with Thor.  He almost looked to the size of Gregor when she first met him.  For his part Gregor was next to the working largs.  Happy to be part of the larg pack.  She did not see his mom and though maybe this was part of a weaning process.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:05, Mon 28 June 2021.

 Maeri was waiting for Harry to respond, she received the comm message from Kira. She sent a message back,'" I am not sure if my special armor was completed, but I will meet with you shortly in the Mech area."

As soon as she saw CE-Va approaching with her camera Harry would move out of the way with it clear that she disliked being on camera even more than Nic did. It was as Nic was giving his interview that Meari would come over to see her ”I didn’t have a lot of choice” Harry replied motioning towards Nic ”…besides I’ve no problem with seeing off the dead, it’s the rest of the crew I’d sooner avoid” she said giving those currently passing her an uncomfortable look as she quietly waited for Nic to finish up so she could leave.

——> Officers Quarters

Upon their arrival on the hangar dec, Izzy had gone and joined the rest of the SEC personnel with her taking a vodka shot for the toast, which she joined in with a little more enthusiastically than she had on other occasions. Not that she had been disrespectful on previous occasions but that she felt a closer connection to the rest of the crew since her transfer to SEC, with her now wearing the only two medals she felt she had earned.

With the ceremony coming to an end and with the exciting prospect of the upcoming ball and Angel silk dresses Izzy would head over to where Lizzy was so they could walk back to their quarters together ”So it looks like I get to see you in a dress again?” she said with a smile as she looped her arm around Lizzy’s waist.

Henry made sure that Can had a glass of water, and instructed him in the way the toast was made.

After the proceedings, he talked with Haley, agreeing with her ideas for helping Can integrate.

He looked over at Val and raised an eyebrow.

"Brunch?"

He turned to Roll and asked if he could manage OK. Thor looked a bit big for him to carry. Then invited Puskie and Disna (with largs) to join them for brunch.

  Roll  nodded, to henry.I'm used to carring largs..well...small ones... I don't  want Thor to miss out on food.... we should make sure  we  take some stuff back  for the Cat-snakes too...

 Disna  walked  with Val  and  Henry as    Roll , dutifully carried the passed out Larg.I gave Young Roll a bit of a dressing down, last night  for letting Thor  have some pizza after the Pup gave up trying to  get into the tins to feed... I told him'... Humans  have not raised  larg pups'..or words to that effect...his answer to me was " we do pretty good with grown up one"... he  chuckled...The Lad is getting feisty.

Henry nodded.

"Larry certainly has a taste for pizza. It may well suit younger largs as well. A lot has changed already from the traditional ways of raising and training largs since we became involved, after all."

-> Rec Dec

 Lizzy wiped her tears away when it was dobe and gave the fallen a heart felt salute. She then saw Izzy coming her way.

 When Izzy came over and said she would see her in a dress again, Lizzy giggled and said,"Yes you will but my dresses might not have enough material to qualify as a dress." Lizzy giggled again and held Izzy close.

 Lizzy and Izzy would make a quick kiss stop to change out of their dress uniforms and head for the Rec Dec, Lizzy was starving.

------>>>> to Rec Dec, via quick stop at Quarters.

 Meari chuckled at Harry's comment, she didn't  have a choice. Meari added,I am glad he made you showing respect to the fallen is important Harry. After Harry made her last comment Meari put one oh ger hands on the shorter woman and said in a serious tone, Yes Harry no one trusts you, you need to step up and show everyone who and what you are all about. You do your job, go the extra mile, and in time other SEC will trust and respect you, but Harry you must play nice with others ok.

 Meari smiled then headed over to the Mech area too find Kira.

Kira was sitting at her desk doing some paperwork but stopped when she saw Meari approach, "SGT Meari... thanks for answering my com on short notice, i have you noted here on record as a tester for Slicks combat armor project, however due to some unforeseen circumstances its not likely Slick will be returning back to continue the project so it has fallen to me"

She then took a sip of coffee, "So i give you two choices... one you can continue to be in the experimental project while we figure out how to proceed with further fine tuning and various development that however will put you under my jurisdiction so to speak, or two i end your involvement and release you back to SEC" Kira then slid the form over to her to sign, "Whatever you choose i won't take offense but i do need a answer"

Harry would give a lopsided shrug in response to Meari’s comments having heard it all before and believing it less and less with each passing day ”yeah, well it’s mutual” she said, what else could she say? Nothing had changed since the last time she’d had this particular conversation and wasn’t liable to anytime soon.

With Meari taking her leave to head off towards the mech shop, Harry would wait for Nic to finish talking to the reporter, not really wanting to attend the brunch especially not on her own with her also suspecting that she would need help changing out of her dress uniform despite the pain killers having now taken effect. It was as she was waiting that thoughts of the upcoming ball would bubble to the surface of her mind, yet another thing that she really wasn’t looking forward to with her already contemplating ducking it altogether again…unless of course somebody was to ask her that is.

"Well we'll just have to see what catches your eye, and what Captain Si has in the children's section for me" Izzy said with a delighted giggle with her already looking forward to the prospect of seeing all those gorgeous angel silk dresses and gowns and spending an evening of music and dancing with Lizzy before whisking her away to their room in the condo "With any luck this time around I won't get caught in an explosion and will be able to properly enjoy our time off together" she added as they walked towards the lifts for a quick outfit change in their room before going on to the rec dec for brunch.

---> Rec Dec

 Meari smiled and listened too Kira, Meari though tit over and she still wanted too see what she could do in this armor and how it would hold up. Meari then said," Chief Ambermoon I would love too stay in the program, see if they can get my suit and weapons right and I would love too test the suit in combat Chief." Meari smiled she was still wondering the amount of damage she could have done with that armor on the hanger dec against those birds that would have been very messy though. Meari then asked," So I will no longer be a member of SEC, I will be under your command Mech division." Meari said it as a matter of fact not upset in any way. Meari chuckled as she thought of herself being called a Mech in this new armor. Meari also knew there was a action figure of her and once she went out in this new armor she wondered if they would add it as an accessory? Meari then asked," Is there such a thing as a Hand to Hand Mech or would this armor be the closest to that?" As she said the last, she signed the paper to stay in the Combat Armor Program.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:11, Tue 29 June 2021.

Kira had a neutral expression as she spoke, "It would simply classify you as a asset of the Hermes mech division, your role on the assault teams would not change" She took another sip of coffee, "I wouldn't call this armor a mech it don't have the same internal components, its a prototype combat armor that was originally designed by Slick to try and bring the common trooper up to a level similar to a mech and ill be up front with you im not a big fan of Slicks idea but im not so narrow minded where i wont give it a honest try... however if i find through the tests that it causes more harm then good the project will be terminated without warning in which case i will release you to SEC"

She then took the signed papers and filled them, "As for hand to hand mechs, the closest ive seen have been the silver blades on Vampic mechs, not saying it isn't possible it just would be very inefficient unless said mech was built specifically for that purpose... now did you have any questions before i send you on your way?" she asked giving her a chance to ask any questions she might have if not she was free to go.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:50, Tue 29 June 2021.

Nic watched CE-VA leave and then turned back to Harry and Meari talking. He nodded to the Udenese, offering a smile then moved over to Harry and offered his arm to her. The interview took him by surprise and he wasn't sure what to make of it. "I hate being put in the spot light. Come on. I don't know about you but I am hungry and need some coffee." This had been the 2nd send off he had been to and it had been just as sober as the first. "If you want, we can sit with your friends. I know you've not talked to them in a few days."

He gave her a brief grin. "So... care to get outfitted in a dress made to piss of Angels, as my date?" He had recalled the exact words used and it had made him smile briefly. He was almost sure Harry would enjoy pissing someone off. "Hopefully you'll be healed by then." He escorted her to the Rec dec.

[To Rec Dec]

 ( slight Flex:
   Meari smiled and nodded at Nic before she left to go see Kira)

 Meari listened to Kira and then said, " The only question I have Chief is when would you like to see, inspect and see me don the armor, that's if Slick made all the adjustments to it before he left." Meari nodded then said," I am ready to begin whenever you are ready Chief and will you contact the SM or should I?"