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[color=FireBrick][h3]Captain Piper[/h3][/color]
[color=FireBrick]Level[/color]: 2
[color=FireBrick]day/time[/color]: day 3 - night
[color=FireBrick]Location[/color]: Skyrim-Stormcloak Camp
[color=FireBrick]Word count[/color]: 1041
[color=FireBrick]Interacting with[/color]: [@Zarkun], [@Holy Soldier], [@Mattchstick], [@Lugubrious]
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[color=FireBrick]“This all sounds good to me so far”[/color] 

Piper hated to admit it, but she was with the boss when it came to being impressed by Ruben, though she wasn’t going to go around backhanding him like the Boss was. How immature the Boss himself was made the continued patronisation double infuriating. Ruben also seemed like he might have a better grasp of large scale combat than she at least did, presumably that came with the territory of still being in the military. Piper still really hadn't managed to wrap her head around the concept that there where going to be, at the very least, one hundred and eighty seven fighters in the upcoming battle. It was, in her opinion, a ludicrous and unfathomable number of people to try and coordinate in a mission. Up in space you would never even be able to fit that many people on a single ship or station, let alone have them fight in anything looking like a battle where tactics and positioning would be playing a pivotal role. Instead she had more or less ignored the vastly bloated number of combatants during the planning, thinking of this as just another plan for a small scale highest with her crew that just so happened to have some big numbers haphazardly pinned onto each member’s role. This plan for stealthily securing first the gate and then the central guard tower however was something far more up her alley, a good old fashioned heist with sneaking, taking the enemy by surprise and involving only a small team and a clear objective. It was as a result something of a shame the boss pounced on it first as, on top of her preference for that scale of operation, the tower could also have have made a good sniper's perch, though she supposed there was nothing stopping her from taking it later in the battle. Still, just because she disappointed that she wasn't going to be taking point it did not mean she wouldn't offer her assistance in another manner.

[color=FireBrick]“I could take a concealed sniper position to cover the gate stealth operation if you like, so that when… if something goes wrong with it I can provide some marksbotship for your gang Boss. Same goes for the tower assault if it doesn't interfere with our push for the mine. Might be able to find a spot where I can cover both? We’ll see when we get a proper look at the place for ourselves tomorrow.”[/color] 

At a certain point it became clear that discussion was over and the humans, after a bit of scrounging about for supplies, began what piper assumed was what they did to refuse themselves, a process she attempted to avoid staring at in repulsed fascination because of how unpleasantly squishy and wet it was. Instead she saw to the refueling of her boiler, a process which ended up involving melting some snow in a pot over the wood fire to avoid using the humans drinking water, teaching a curiose stormcloak how a steam engine worked and in return rediscovering the production of charcoal as a fuel source for Steambot kind and learning what the Dwarves were, or rather, had been. The tales of the ancients race’s advanced civilisation, the remains of which could be supposedly found buried in the earth reminded her of similar tales of ruins that had existed deep within steamworld before it exploded, though with a lot less toxic waste lying around and with a seemingly equal amount of ancient aggressive bots stomping around, though fortunately the ones here where were not collectively lead by a hostile xenophobic AI mastermind. After she had laid the groundwork for a future Nord led industrial revolution she drank the melted snow to fill up her water tank and briefly opened up the hatch on her chest leading to her furnace, directly fueling the fire raging at her core with some freshly prepared charcoal. She then settled down to clean, oil and polish both herself and her guns to keep the machinery in tip top condition, during which the humans settled down into some kind of low power mode that she assumed was this “sleep” thing Ulfric had mentioned. It was apparently one one that they were easily roused, much to their displeasure, by her making any loud noises as she tried to do some additional solo planning using the crude map. Boredom from the lack of company and the human’s complaining quickly drove her to leave them to it. 

Stepping out of the tent she happened to glance up, only to be struck by pangs of homesickness, for above the strange blue sky had been replaced by a sea of alien stars swimming around an uncannily familiar moon. She wondered what nightmares might lurk behind that great gleaming silver orb. Perhaps it was where the dwarves had disappeared to. Despite the fact that her kind had lived, and one day might again live, on a world like this, up among the stars was where Piper felt she belonged. Up there was where her people were, or rather felt like they were, while she was stuck down here with the humans who where, it seemed, all asleep, leaving her without company or distraction to pass the long night. Wondering the perimeter of the camp however yielded unexpected signs of life as she stumbled into the poor sods stuck with nightwatch duty. It was with them she spent most of the night, bonding with a series of watchmen and women as they all took turns in safeguarding the camp from the possibility of night attacks by forsworn or the monstrous things supposedly lurking out there in the dark woods. She took the opportunity to give some, non ammo expending, night lessons in the use of the captured laser weapons, such as which end was the shooty end, what a safety was and how you reloaded them. While it could not compare to the company of a gang of close companions like those she had aboard her ship back home, chatting with and getting to know some of the people she would be fighting alongside when dawn comae was a pleasant enough way to pass the time.