Whoami

Mx Inferno and Whoami - The Rule of Two

Shae stepped aboard Tendo's ship and locked the access hatch behind her. It was quiet and the power was off so the lights weren't illuminating the metallic corridors of the Celestial Spear. The low light didn't bother Shae as she moved through the dark corridor toward the passenger the room, careful not to knock over any of the numerous boxes Tendo had stored in the main hallway. When she got to the room, she closed and locked the door behind her. Tendo had allowed her to change the code on the door when she took up shelter in his ship.

The room was cramped with four bunks, two on each side of it, along with a viewing port where Tatooine's light shined through. She removed her cloak and unstrapped her blaster pistol, setting it on a crate she used as a sort of night table. After, she rolled into her bunk and closed her eyes. Her lightsabers were hanging from her belt and were in plain sight.

Shae wasn't much of a sleeper after she had been exiled from the Jedi Order. She was so worried that a Jedi might have been following her that she couldn't properly rest. She laid with her eyes closed, remaining in that limbo space where you're not asleep but you're not awake either. She heard the cargo ramp lower, knowing Tendo was coming aboard. She heard a heavy thud and thought that maybe he was working with a client here in Mos Eisley, maybe he was offloading some heavy equipment. "Quiet, Tendo... You're always loud when you work..." she mumbled as she very slowly drifted off to a deeper sleep.

Mx Inferno and Whoami - The Rule of Two

"No! Get away from me!" a girl screamed.

"I'm fraid we can't do that, little lady! You've been hiding something of the Hutts' and they want it back. Until you give it to us, we aren't going anywhere." the lead man of a group of thugs explained, a twisted grin on his face.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I swear!" the human woman replied, honesty in her voice.

It's a shame this was the crime ridden Tatooine, honesty was never valued. The thug took the woman by the hair and lifted her to eye level, "You're lying, bitch! Tell me now or this is going to get ugly real fast."

"You're right. It will." a womanly voice from behind them said. The thugs all turned to look at her, she was in a black cloak that obscured her face.

The ringleader smirked and started stepping toward her, "Trying to play all white knight, lady? Who do you think you are? Some Jedi? They don't bother with Tatooine, it's too far out." he got closer to her, "So if you're not a Jedi, then you're just some other woman who looking for a good beating. Unless of course, you know her and you're affiliated with the item in question that she's hiding."

The cloaked figure looked at the woman on the ground, her feet were bleeding and she was bruised. "I'm neither a Jedi nor a friend of her's. But I'm not going to stand by and watch you beat the poor girl senseless."

"And what're you going to do about, miss? Kill us?" the thug smirked, pulling his blaster pistol from his holster.

"If I must. Then I will." she said, the cold confidence in her reply made the thug hesitate shortly. When he flicked his arm up to fire aa blaster round into her head, there was a quick 'whoomv' sound. It took a couple seconds to register that his hand was missing and when it did, he looked down to what had taken. A red lightsaber. It purred and hummed like any lightsaber ever did. He staggered with his words but finally managed to bark out a command to his lackeys, two of which had run at the first sight of the saber, "Get her!"

The three loyal thugs all raised their blaster pistols and fired. One shot came back and stuck the first thug in the neck. The next one simply missed. The third shot bounced away into the sandstone wall of the alley. Another shot came and once again was deflected. The cloaked saber wielder raised her other hand and pulled the blasters out from their grips. Then, using the force to point the pistols at their owners, the remaining two alive in their knees. The one that had been shot in the neck was dead in seconds. The ring leader dropped to his knees, putting his hand to his stump, "Oh please! Please spare me!"

The cloaked figure simply stood there with her lightsaber in hand, "I don't want to see you again. If I even so much as hear you squeal about me I will find you and finish the job." she looked at the two remaining thugs who were cradling their injured knees, "That goes for you two as well. Out of my sight."

The ringleader ran off whilst holding tightly onto the stump where his hand used to be. The other two needed to be thrown out of the alley with the Force so the cloaked woman could get what she wanted. The girl on the ground scuffled away from the figure as she approached, knowing full well what a red lightsaber symbolized. When the figure was standing right over her, she raised her arms in some sort of feeble defense, but only heard the lightsaber deactivate.

When she looked up, she saw as the Sith pulled her hood back, she was pale looking and red in the eyes as if she was exhausted, but she was beautiful nonetheless. The Sith was in her youthful prime. Her raven black hair was a bit messy, but that's what one would expect on Tatooine. Her facial expression was softer than she'd expect from a Sith, and definitely not what she'd expect from somebody who had just dealt with a band of thugs.

"You know what I am?" the female Sith asked.

The girl nodded, "I do..."

"You fear me?" she continued.

"I do..."

The Sith kneeled down to be at eye level with her, "Not all Sith are evil." she offered an exhausted smile, "Though a lot are. Are you alright?"

The girl looked confused, bewildered and just lost in thought. She had expected this sort of behavior from a Jedi Knight but not the exact opposite. "You aren't going to make sure I don't say anything?" the girl asked.

The Sith shook her head, she brought her bare hands down to the bloodied feet, they were as cold as space. "Allow me to handle this."

Without permission, the Sith went to work on healing the poor girl. Her feet felt tingly, but as if it were some sort of magic, her feet were healing. "The Force..." the girl mumbled. The Sith nodded.

"You're quite well informed for a girl living on Tatooine." she said.

"I'm not from Tatooine. I'm from Alderaan." she explained.

The Sith chuckled, "As am I." she paused and finished up with healing her feet, "We're not so different. Two girls a long way from home, running."

The girl blinked, "Running? From what?"

The Sith was silent for a moment, "The Jedi Order wasn't too keen on my radical ideals, lets leave it at that."

Those words explained everything to the girl, she didn't need to pry to understand that this Sith didn't like the Jedi ways, it might have been the tone in her voice rather than the words themselves that tipped her off, there was passion in it. "Thank you, er..."

"Tenra. Darth Tenra." she then made eye contact with the girl, and at a closer look, the Sith was indeed fatigued. "Run along. Stick to the alleys until you're home. Lock the door."

The girl nodded and smiled to her, "Thank you." she said and left further into the alleyway.

The Sith watched until the girl rounded a corner and left her sight. After, she raised her hood and went back out into the streets of Mos Eisley. "I need to rest..." she said before turning toward a cantina. As she neared it, she could hear music. Stepping inside, she looked around and saw the place was bustling as usual. One man spotted her instantly and called her out.

"Shae! There's my favorite mercenary!" he said and approached her.

"Not now, Tendo..." she sighed as the broad man wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"Aww, already tired of the man who brought you half-way across the galaxy?" the bearded ship captain asked.

"Tired in general, Tendo. You know I will always be grateful for getting me off of Coruscant." Shae responded, looking around at all of the people in the cantina, "I need the keycard to your ship. All of this mercenary work has left me exhausted, I need a proper bed. All this sand stone is making me ache."

Tendo grinned, "My bed has room for nine!"

"A passenger bunk is fine for me, thanks..." Shae swiped the keycard from his pocket and waved it in his face, "I'll leave the cargo ramp unsecured."

Tendo was rubbing the back of his head before just shrugging, "That merc is gonna get me killed one day, but the view is great so I don't really mind." he walked past a few people along the bar, mumbling to himself, "Can't believe I gotta use the cargo bar ramp to get into my own damn ship..." he shook his head.

Mx Inferno and Whoami - The Rule of Two

Shae Sigurd, Darth Tenra

Age
23

Species
Human

Eye color
Gray

Hair color
Black

Height
5' 6"

Weight
123 lbs

Personality
Shae Sigurd is a Sith apprentice that looks to the dark side of the force as a way to greater preserve the galaxy. She is not entirely evil as many would think, and she would still prefer to save a life when necessary rather than take one. Shae feels that the Jedi Order has too many restraints on the Force, and they can't do their duty as effectively as they like to believe. While Shae isn't exactly evil, the dark side of the force does offer some perks to make life easier. The young Sith will intimidate and use her powers for her own gain. She doesn't like the Jedi, and if confronted by one, will fight if there is no other way out. That being said, Shae has much to learn about the dark side, and with her Sith master, there is no telling what his dark teachings might do to sway her mind toward evil.

Bio
Shae was born on Alderaan into a rich family that treated her like a dynasty princess. She was raised to be respectful and caring. When Shae was five years old, she was discovered to be force sensitive, and it wasn't long before a Jedi emissary found his way to her family's doorstep, offering Shae a life among the Jedi. The young Shae always looked up to the Jedi, and it a fantasy of hers to one day be among their proud ranks. When her parents gave Shae their blessing, she left with the Jedi master and took up a life of discipline.

When Shae reached the temple on Coruscant, she was greeted and tested by the council, proving that was indeed force sensitive. She was admitted to training. Shae showed promise as a youngling Jedi, she surpassed her peers in the art of the lightsaber and in her studies. She was proud of her ability. The master training her and her class, worried that Shae's abundant pride might lead her down a path that he believed she wasn't meant for.

During her teenage years, Shae was going through the normal phases but the masters were used to rebellious teens. She wasn't an issue, far from being a problem child, and for the most part was very respectful and pleasant company to be around. But she still carried her pride with her. It was in her teenage years that she started seeing the Jedi Order as limited. They couldn't love or find companionship. They couldn't tap into their potential to defend the galaxy better. And even if their own life hang in the balance, they always had to try and spare their aggressor's life. It didn't make sense, and whens he brought it up to her master, he knew Shae was treading on thin ice. He explained and tried to steer her clear of her questions, but she kept asking them.

By seventeen, Shae was starting to push the limits of her Order. She had secretly been seeing a Jedi boy and was starting to seed doubts in him too as she talked about the Order's boundaries. One night, the boy was missing, and Shae was accused of sending him off. As a punishment, Shae was also expelled from the Order. But she had learned all she needed to learn from them, and slowly she began her descent into the dark side.

Shae began by forging herself two new lightsabers and honing parts of the force that the Order didn't want her to learn.

Shae wandered the galaxy up to this point, now age twenty three. Not long ago, she was found by another Sith and shown that she was still weak and had plenty to learn. Eager to best herself, Shae accepted his tutelage, and began her long journey into the dark corners of the Force.

Equipment
- Two red lightsabers, the hilts can be joined to form a double bladed saber
- A blaster pistol for when Shae doesn't want to announce herself to be a Sith
- A small pendant given from her family before she left for the Jedi Temple as a child

Toothless - Vanishing Hearts

Useful information! Thank you for clarifying!

Penumbra - Sigil of the Damned

The sun was setting. The shadows were elongating. The air was getting frigid. The light was fading. The people were scattering. The huntress was hunting.

A girl walked alone down the street, clothed in all black and hooded. Only her lips could be seen underneath the hood, the rest was obscured by the long hood. If any expression was on her face, her lips weren't a part of it, they were straight and sealed shut. Every step the girl took in her boots made a low cadence that rebounded off of the buildings and echoed down the road. It was quiet on the street so her eerie walking made up the ambiance. A weak gust of wind blew down the road, caught her cloak and made it wave but she didn't break her stride. The people of Penumbra knew when something was amiss, and the entire aura and visage the lone girl exuded was downright unsettling. The people who's lives were more nightly that daily walked around her, picking up their pace whenever they got too close.

One man who looked like he had a chip on his shoulder got close and even checked her with his arm in passing. The girl stopped. The man kept walking and barked at her as he did, "Watch it, runt!"

"You." the girl said.

The man turned and walked backward away from her, looking at her with a smug grin. "You lost, honey? This ain't no place for a darlin' girl such as yourself."

The girl turned to face him, her hood still masked the majority of her face. "I could say the same about the girl who's giving me attitude."

The man took a moment, "You calling me a girl?" he started walking toward her. People were making themselves scarce, a common rule of thumb in Penumbra was to keep to yourself wherever possible. He must have been an outsider.

The girl lowered her hood and looked him straight in the eyes, unfaltering and piercing. "I can make you one. What's your name?"

The man chewed his tobacco as he looked down at the short girl, he was trying to gauge her. "Elias Smith, and I'm not the one you want to idly threaten."

The girl raised an eyebrow, "And what makes you think I am?"

Elias laughed a hearty laugh, "Because you look like some gutter-rat girl who is trying to make herself look scary so nobody bothers her." he leaned down to get at eye level with her, "It ain't working, doll."

Before Elias could react, the girl has him by his necktie, keeping him at her level. Her other hand went to the knot and tightened it almost to the point of strangling. Elias tried to stand straight but the girl had a good grip to her. The lady in black held him there for two minutes, not saying anything. Every time Elias tried to do something or even speak, she would tighten the knot a bit more. When the shadows cast by the sunset reached her feet, she finally spoke, "You're one of the cultists I'm looking for."

Elias got a little more pale, "Cultist? I-I don't know what you mean. Look maybe I was a little too crass you with. What'o ya say we go our separate ways and never see each other again, huh?"

The girl let go of his tie and the man turned and began to run. The shadows of the building were long and ran straight along the road Elias was running down. He made it ten meters before the girl was next to him with a foot stuck out in his path. He tripped and faceplanted into the road. With a groan, Elias looked up at the girl, the cloak was gone and there was a crossbow in her hand. "You're not getting away that easily, Elias." she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him to his feet with one arm, "Walk to that alley, no monkey business."

Elias raised his hands slowly and did as he was told. He looked over his shoulder to her, she wasn't following. When he got into the darkness of the alley way, he saw her sitting on a pile of boxes, cleaning her crossbow out. "So, Elias. Here's how this is going to work."

He blinked and looked back at the woman in the streets, it faded to black and then drifted away like mist in wind. Was he seeing things? "You have three chances. Answer wrong the first time and I put a bolt in your knee. A second, in your crotch. The final one in between your eyes. Answer right and I'll leave you alone. Is that clear?"

Elias spat on the ground, "You're bluffing, no way a little girl knows how to use that thing. You're gonna pay for that you little bi- AGH!" a bolt pierced straight through his kneecap and came out the other end.

The woman stood from her box-throne and walked up to him, leaning down to his level, "I'm not the one you want to idly threaten."

__________

Tessa pulled the bolt out of Elias's knee, "Thank you for cooperating, Mr. Smith. I'll be seeing you very soon." she wiped the blood off of her bolt with his necktie, "Don't try and warn your co-conspirators. I'll know." a shadow separated from her for a moment before fading away.

She turned to leave the alley way, calling back to him as she left, "The chances still count. Next time you disappoint me, I'll back up my threat and make you a girl." the cloak that Tessa had taken off simply faded onto her like some sort of shadowy wrap, then as she stepped into the same building shadow she had used to trip him, she simply just vanished with the wind.

Night time. Tessa's time to shine.

__________

She stepped out of a dark alleyway across from a tavern. People were entering with laughter and leaving with tears, all of them were drunk. There was a large bouncer at the door to the tavern, a distinguishing mark on the back of his hand had tipped Tessa off that he was one of the men Elias had told her about. He really wanted his jewels apparently. She raised her crossbow and aimed it at the man, but before she fired it, she felt one of her comrades was calling.

"Another night." she said to herself and stepped back into the alley way.

Moments later, she was in a park underneath one of the many bridges that the light never reached. "Lorekeeper." she called out to him the moment she saw him with a woman. "You called and the shadows answered, what's so urgent that you felt the need to interrupt me during my hunt?"

Penumbra - Sigil of the Damned

Then I will hop to posting after I have some dinner. ^.^

Penumbra - Sigil of the Damned

Tessa Sigurd

Tessa Sigurd

The Shadowrunner

Age
22

Sex
Female

Personality
Tessa is a smart girl who is witty in conversations and crafty in combat. Though she is bright, lots of that is masked by her aggressive and downright blunt attitude. Tessa is a very unfiltered girl and she will say whatever is on her mind. Tessa is warm towards those she trusts. She is downright harsh toward those she doesn't trust or care about, often shutting them down and blatantly telling them that she doesn't care about what they have to say.

Backstory
"There was a time when I was normal, when I wore pretty dresses and corsets, attended aristocratic functions and fantasized about my prince that would sweep me off my feet. There was a time when I had a name and a face to go with it, and everybody that I knew smiled at me and regarded me to be precious. But the issue is that that -was- a time. It's all different for me now.

When I was young, I had everything a high born daughter could ask for. My father, a renowned general, had ventured off on another one of his conquests, leaving me with my mother and uncle in our estate. I don't know why... But the day my uncle moved into the home, is the same day when I started getting these foreboding feelings of dread. I felt cold, like a chill was running down my spine and it refused to warm. I noticed that the manor had gotten bleaker and everybody in it seemed to be more downtrodden. Our estate guards were frequently being seen falling asleep on duty and nobody felt truly safe.

My mother, superstitious as always, had hired a medium on the basis that the manor was haunted. She feared her husband, my father, was killed and his spirit came back restless. We all gathered in the dining room, sitting at the large table as we watched the medium go about his work. I never believed in such things, and I looked at the medium like he was just grabbing our money and playing us for fools. We didn't see my father that night, we saw something worse.

The medium's eyes had rolled back into his head and he began to seizure. Before we could even reach him on the other end of the great oaken table, he was dead. My mother was next, foaming out the mouth and bleeding from her ears. She gave me one last look before she too fell. I looked at my uncle, who returned the gaze. I watched as his eyes faded to black and an impossibly wide grin form on his face. He approached me and I was helpless, I was eleven years old at the time.

My uncle grabbed me by the arm, despite my cries of mercy and my failed attempts at resisting, he dragged me through the manor. I had realized that my uncle was possessed by something, something the medium must've conjured and whatever it was it was going to kill her like it did her mother and the medium. I was dragged all the way to the front door of the manor, I was petrified, I couldn't even move a muscle. My uncle took a knife from the diner and slit his hand open, his blood didn't pour, it weaved through the air and drew a circle around me.

I could hear something in the back of my head, feel invisible hands take my own and keep me held to the floor. He was going to sacrifice me. I was going to die. My possessed uncle stepped up to me, oh god that grin... He placed the knife against my throat, but he didn't slit it. The front door burst open and in came my father, wearing a suit of armor with his rapier in one hand and his flintlock pistol in the other. Next to him was a hooded individual I had never seen. In the blink of an eye, a crossbow bolt had pierced my uncle's head between the eyes, the hooded man had fired it.

My father ran up his brother, distraught that his he had to die. The hooded man had told him that he was dead the instant the Dark had entered his body. Fearing that news, my father set his gaze on me. I was laying on the floor, staring at him blankly but taking in everything that was happening. He rushed to me, cradled me in his arms. I heard a voice, it wasn't him nor the hooded man, it was another coming from inside my ears. I thought I too had been possessed, maybe I was. But the man in the hood said I wasn't possessed and that I had come close. He looked me over, and saw the mark on my arm that was identical to his own.

Every word coming from their mouths sounded like they were speaking down a tube, my ears were ringing and my vision was scattered. I passed out. When I woke up, I was in a carriage. My father was sitting over me, crying into my mother's kerchief. 'Where are we going?' I asked. He looked at me, placed a hand on my head and said, 'somewhere better for you'. The entire journey was a haze, I heard whispers and that chill that haunted me the day my uncle arrived was still crawling across my spine.

I heard the hooded man speak, that's when I realized that this man was a much closer acquaintance to my father than I initially thought. They spoke as they were comrades, or rather, master and apprentice. Who was this man? Where was he taking my father and I? It didn't take long for me get my second question answered, we had arrived in the city of Penumbra.

Once there, were taken to an apothecary, somebody else my father and this hooded man knew. He took my heads, they were as cold as death. He took my temperature, just as cold. He mentioned my bright teal eyes, I was confused, my eyes were supposed to be green. He then looked at the mark on my arm, he told me that my destiny was much darker than what was originally planned. My father and the hooded man nodded to one another, and that's when they told me about the fraternity. My father was a great general, but he washed up and his usefulness withered. The fraternity offered him a place after he had his own encounter with the strange creatures called the Dark. The hooded man revealed himself to be a hunter name Balthazar, who had saved my father like he had saved me. I was only eleven, it was difficult for me to understand it all, but they took me to the Fraternity so that I could.

I lived among them, but I wasn't one of them. For years I walked the halls of the Fraternity, mingled with the people who populated them and learned from their wisdom. But my father never looked at me the same way, every time I made eye contact, I saw sorrow in his eyes and it made me worry. The chill only got colder for me as I grew older, things I touched felt like I was holding onto a flagpole in the winter time, I knew his sorrow was directed at whatever my affliction was. The whispers never went away, but I had grown used to them.

By the time I was seventeen, whatever affliction I was suffering from had changed me. I was cold, not physically, but verbally. I seemed to lack sympathy and I was often talking down to others as my own skills progressed. My father had tried to punish and discipline me for my attitude, but it never worked. He didn't understand what I was going through. I grew closer to Balthazar as he trained me in the ways of hunting. In some ways, Balthazar felt more loving of me than my own father. I knew that he knew what I was going through, like he had seen it before. He always kept the training quarters hot as he knew how terribly cold I was.

I'm nineteen years old now, and I had just passed my test to become a huntress. Balthazar cheered for me and offered me a warmth that my now distant father didn't. I feel as though the cold has left me, but I know that it is only in my mind that it has."

Aspect
Shadowrunner - Ryza's shadow is able to maintain physical form and move independently from her. While moving in a shaded area, Ryza can move quicker and her wounds regenerate. When her shadow is independent, it runs the risk of turning on its allies.

Stats
Strength – C
Vitality – D
Skill – B
Knowledge – A
Bloodlust – C
Darkness – A

Skills
- Tessa is agile and sure footed, as well as very silent
- She is quite smart, more so than she might let on.
- Her temperature has been cold since the day she was about to be sacrificed. Because of this, it is hard for Tessa to be bothered by low temperatures.

Inventory
- Two wrist claws housed in steel black bracers. The claws are folded steel and razor sharp.
- A black lacquer hand crossbow with an auto-loading modification installed onto it.
- Four small tube-like bombs that emit light in case her shadow turns on her.

Penumbra - Sigil of the Damned

Alright, Ryza is finished and ready to go! I'll move her into the characters tab and wait for your green light to post.

EDIT: Also added four small bomb-like items in Ryza's inventory that emit light when they explode, to destroy her shadow in case it turns on her.

Falling Skies: 7th Mobile Armor Suit Team

teeheehee, you silly willies, thinking you're going to be able to take my shiny cool thing ;')

@vietmyke

Ready the WMG

Falling Skies: 7th Mobile Armor Suit Team

Alexis stepped out of her quarters wearing her uniform. Two members of the crew walked past with a salute and went about their business. She unclipped her holopad from her belt and began to look it over as she headed toward the bridge. It was quiet during hyperspace, mostly people getting some R&R. The halls were empty, more so now that a small portion of the crew had been lost back at Cerol, and Alexis could actually hear her own thoughts. As she walked down the hall, she heard a small thud that would have gone completely unnoticed if the ship was bustling with activity. It made her stop for a moment.

Suddenly, the entire ship jutted and it threw Alexis off of her feet, she hit her head against the wall. Alexis fell to the floor, her hands holding onto her head tightly as her ears rang. Pulses of pain flew through her as she clenched her teeth and gripped hard. The alarms went off and people began piling out of their small barracks. One of the crew saw Alexis on the floor and ran to her, "Captain! Captain are you alright?"

Alexis shut her eyes tight for a moment before nodding to the crew. Her ears will still ringing and she could feel something warm seeping between her fingers and down her cheek. It took a few seconds before she got to her feet and looked to the crewman who had come to see if she was alright, "Get to your station! Go!"

The man ran off down the hallway and Alexis did the same to get to the bridge. "Aston you better have a damn good explanation for me..." she muttered as she trekked down the steel halls. Her ears were still ringing and the head wound was hurting like a son of a bitch.

When she got into the bridge, everybody was in a hurry to figure out what the hell was going on. "Somebody give me a report!" she barked, wiping some blood from her face as she did.

Aston and Ardin came up to her, her XO spoke first, "Captain, I don't how they managed it. But the Coalition just pulled us out a hyperspace. Port-side engineering has taken heavy damage, bulkheads have secured the venting. We have multiple hostiles inbound."

As Aston was giving his report, Alexis was watching the holo-display, particularly at the new unit headed their way. She pointed at it, "Zoom in on that. What the hell is that?" she gritted her teeth as she already knew the answer to her question, a new model and it looked liked a very advanced piece of tech.

Ardin added his own input, "Turns out we're under attack by a lot of 'what the hell are those' machines." he pointed at the cruiser that had launched the attack, "Seems we were pulled right into Coalition research space. Perfect."

Alexis stepped onto the CIC platform and looked back at Ardin, "Perfect?! This is far from perfect, admiral!"

Ardin shook his head, "No, it really is perfect. If this sector is used for R&D, then we have a lead on finding the Coalition superweapon."

Alexis thought on it and he was right, this was in all honesty a lucky break despite the circumstances. She needed to work with him on this. "We need to know more about this new MAS."

The AI chimed in, "I have already begun an in depth analysis of the new frame, captain."

"Good. Direct all cyber-warfare on the new MAS, keep it in the fog. We're going to capture it and study the tech." Alexis then patched through to Delacroix, "Guillotine, I need you to apprehend the new MAS. Don't take any chances, make sure it can't fight back before you move in. Calamity, cover Guillotine." she looks at the display and shook her head, "Just one surprise attack after the other... We don't have enough MAS units for this. Admiral Ardin, I need your servicemen in the fight to support the 7th."

Ardin looked to his men in black for a moment, "I can spare you two men, captain. But the third is staying with me."

"Four men is better than nothing. They launch as soon they're ready." she then stared at the new cruiser on the display. "This thing looks mean. Helmsman, take us to stand-off range! 7th team, you're clear to launch, keep your team in a defensive stance until we can find a weakspot in our shiny new friends."

Aston looked at the cruiser and then to Alexis, "Those bays on the front of the ship look like troop compartments. We should consider the possibility of a boarding action."

Alexis nodded, "Get the Sigi and Ragnar ready."

Aston turned to face the wall behind the CIC where a small keypad sat alone. He punched in a six digit code and the wall started lowering. Behind it was a small armory for the bridge crew as well as the commanding officer's and the executive officer's ultra-light MAS suits. There were weapons lockers with shotguns and assault rifles as well as emergency medical supplies and rations behind it as well. Additional power supply units were stored so the ultra-lights could run over an expended duration in the event of a prolonged boarding action. Aston stepped up to his ultra-light, it was a sleek white exo-skeleton with reinforced steel plating covering the most exposed parts of the body. Small little arms wrapped and clenched onto Aston's arms, legs and waist before the armor plated folded around him and encased him. Alexis could hear the suit powering up. When it was ready for use, Aston stepped off the small outfitting platform the ultra-light was housed on and grabbed a heavy machine gun from the wall. "Sigi is good to go, captain." he said through a speaker in his ultra-light's helmet.

Aston took Alexis's spot on the CIC platform as she went to her own ultra-light to get suited up. Her MAS was the same model as Astons but it featured more command modules like a long range radio and a scanner suite. It was linked to the Lincoln's own systems so she got all of the tactical readouts in her HUD. She could effectively run the ship from her armor. The suit was stark white like Aston's, but there was a yellow stripe on each of the shoulder plates that ran down to both of her hands. Since commanding often required a lot of hand work, Alexis's weapon was attached to her MAS's shoulder, if she needed to fight, she could fire it mounted or detach it and wield it as a rifle.

The suit's operating system, Sigi, began to boot up. "Identity confirmed: Captain Alexis Marquis, activating MAS. Weapons active. Stabilizers and gyros online. Neural interface connected. All systems green. Locks disengaged. Performing pilot health check. Caution, cranial damage sustained. Recommend avoiding strenuous action." Alexis took a step forward in the ultra-light, the foot landed heavily with a metal on metal thud.

"Aston, stay on the CIC. I'll use the MAS's systems. Two minds are better than one." Alexis ordered while she ran a quick manual systems check, Sigi was rarely used so it was a good idea to always make sure it was still up to snuff.

"Yes ma'am." Aston replied.

Alexis stepped to the side of the holo display and looked it over, "Hark, are your marines ready?"

A distorted reply came back, "Locked and loaded, captain. I'm making my way to you now."

"Don't bother, Sigi has me covered." she explained, getting an impressed whistle through the radio.

"You never pull that machine out from the wall. Expecting a mean fire fight." Hark stated rather than questioned.

"I am. I'm worried about our guests boarding through the hangar, get the heavy team to lock it down. Have a squad ready at the hull breach in Port Engineering. Split the rest of your men into fire teams at all stations. If we get boarded I want it handled quickly so we can launch a counter-offensive."

"Understood, captain. Relaying your orders now. Out." Hark cut off communication and got to doing his job.

Ardin stepped next to Alexis and studied the new MAS, "You sure two of your pilots will be enough for it?"

"Admiral if there's one thing that's true about the 101st, is that every pilot is worth ten of the Coalition's. They may get over-glorified but their skill got them there in the first place. They'll handle it."