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Asya was not entirely sure how to react since she had just witnessed the machines slaughter of the group that had been pinning them down just moments before. She waited several moments before deciding to go with it. Turning to look back at her squad, she coldly "Jack, tincan looks friendly or at least not hostile towards us. You stay ready to move, I'm going down to check it out and see what I can get from the dropship since that was our last can of biofoam. Five minutes. If I don't signal before then, you take Jin and go. That's an order." She had preemptively made it an order because otherwise Jack would have continued to wait. He turned around and gave her a hurt look before simply nodding. Jin had finally gone quiet thanks to the sedative effect biofoam had when used internally.

Taking a deep breathe, Asya steps out of cover with her rifle aimed at the ground. Quickly making her way down the street, she stops short the machine. Close enough to talk, but far enough to not be in striking range. Clearing her throat Asya as she takes a closer look at the machine, she comments "Thanks for the save. Never seen one like you before. You must be from the ship that landed not too long ago. If you are...do you have a med bay? I have injured that badly need treatment."

"What's the point in waiting around! Time is money!" Ringo yelled, speedwalking his way onto the ship. "Also, that whole bit about 'my identity doesn't need to be known because it is dangerous' is bull@%$&. You are flying us bums into potentially the most hostile planet in the galaxy. I want some answers ma'am". From this point on, Ringo began thinking about he presents himself. He slumped onto the nearest chair and stuck out his feet. He then crossed em and tipped his hat over his face. In a sort of mumbling accent, Ringo started to prod at his new partners. "Riagan...whats your deal...to be brutally honest...I most likely going to die on this trip. But at least Ill die doing something cool. *holographic tumbleweed floats by*.

Nailed it. Ringo thought he had nailed it. He was playing the crazy, sleezy, and jovial character he had always wanted to be. At least he thought so. Every human interaction Ringo has had since he...cracked...was played off as if it was a movie. Ringo felt as if he was an actor, but unbeknownst to him, he had become the character he was emulating. All of his quips and quirks were now his, and not the character.

White Death Landing Site

Kovacs found himself feeling guilty as the genuine terror of the individual washed over him. He didn't enjoy being a hardass towards refugees, but he could never be too sure. Either this girl was honestly hiding from something dangerous towards her existence, or she was an excellent spy.

Grating his teeth, he came to a decision, "I'm not letting you aboard my ship until you tell me exactly what you are. If you can't be honest with me, you can't be trusted."

Lewell's Crater, Westside Ruins

BN-33 cocked his head at the female soldier, his optics scanning her for any weapons other than the ones on display as well as wounds. Of which there were many. The wounds, though there was plenty of stabby and shooty things all over her "irresistible" form. BN-33 had readied a sort of rating chart for his commander based on romantic relationships he had had in the past, in the hopes of healing the broken man's heart.

So far, this newcomer filled all of the criteria: female, physically fit, moderately wide hips, shapely rear, nice rack(he had once heard Lieutenant Sandoval say it in reference to Lieutenant Shepard's somewhat large mammaries,) decent combat gear, military bearing, and high intelligence(in Barney's opinion, anybody who spoke like that was of high intelligence.)

Granted, he would never show his commander, or anyone for that matter, the list, but he simply had to try and hook her up with Kovacs!

BN-33 let out a series of intimidating bleeps not unlike the tortured screams of a chorus of demonic goats, hoping that she spoke binary. If she did, she would know that he was inviting them to follow him closely back to the ship.

"It all sounds vaguely familiar," Rin said thoughtfully. He leaned his head back against the chair. "Perhaps it's not the physics- not entirely, anyway- but maybe the capabilities of the technology we have that is different? Our inertial dampeners are capable of emitting an artificial gravity field that is strong enough to counter most, if not all of the fatal g-forces that hits us every time we use the sublight engines... but then again, we don't usually travel from solar system to solar system with that engine. We open up a hyperspace window for that sort of travel, which allows our ships to emit a subspace field which would protect us from the radiation and high-speed acceleration."

He fell silent for a few minutes, every once in a while fidgeting in his seat, then being relatively still.

He shrugged, actually contemplating on Tsuan's clearly teasing speculation on his universe's scientific holes. "Maybe. Wouldn't surprise me," he said, tone quite light.

”Alright, we’re movin’. Hold on tight kids.”

The intercom buzzed off- then-

Oh, lord.

It was just as bad as the junk ships he piloted before. He grimaced, squirming uncomfortably in his chair. He hated feeling sluggish.

”@#$% this, amiright?”

Rin nodded in pained agreement, and- oh.

He stared down at Montagne, in cat form once again. He recognized the signs- ears tipped down, trembling, pressing against his stomach. He was... scared?

"..." He sighed internally, then set a heavy hand on the cat's back.

He hated feeling conflicted too.

He sent a pleading look Tsuan's way, begging him not to say anything regarding the unexpected guest.

White Death landing site

The slime still didn't get the message that Kovac's knows that she isn't what she is, still on the ground still prostrating to him, she ends as she cries "What do you mean? Do you want my name?! My name is Dietrich, yes I know its an odd name for a girl like me, but my parents liked it! Just please let me on!" as she continues to beg and plead to the armed man not knowing or willfully ignoring that he knows what he knows.

Of course the commotion outside did stir the spider lady somewhat. She ignored the note that Kovac's set to her, but exits her room and walks around catching a glimpse at what was happening outside. She got a glimpse of the girl's face and could recognize it as the slime she knew when she was in the lab all those years ago all the slime did change was the color to a more human color, but still kept her blue eyes and darken her hair to black. Ellen smiles and calmly walks out and places her chitin hand on his shoulder and says calmly "I got this, Kovvy" as she went passed him and towards the girl. Dietrich lifted her head and her eyes went wide as she saw Ellen approach, towering over her. Ellen smiles and says "Remember me, Dietrich?" the girl shook her head and then adds "Just relax and let me do this" giving the girl a wink.

Ellen then picks her up by the shoulder, Dietrich wiggles a little from her grip and says "Hey! Let me go!" and then Ellen began to shake the girl violently, giving a pause for a moment to look at her. She did a few more times and Dietrich became so shooken up, her literal face began to swim around in a circular motion like someone stirring soup. Then her skin colored changed into a light blue as well as her hair and the rest of her eyes, before slipping out coat and *splatting* all over the ground into a large blue gooey ball. Ellen smiled and then picked up the booties and coat and put it on her large black abdomen. She reaches down and picks up the slime large slime ball in her hand and went back to Kovacs.

"There you go...I solved your little issue, now its coming with us" she says it more like she was taking charge, but she gave Kovacs a cutely smile. "It won't do much, be like having a child running around" she adds as her hands began to run through the blue ball of slime as little dangler came up from it and Ellen began to mess with it, causing dark blue orbs to appear on the ball of slime and as well as lighter blue orbs within the dark ones and look at Kovacs, more in fright really than anything else.

As Gwen went up the rampart into the ship, the hooded woman stuck her head out and looked at Raigen and hearing his questions and then hearing Ringo's little comment about her not disclosing her identity. As Gwen got to the top she turns around and then looks at the hooded woman as she begins to speak. "Oh hon, the Dendril reproduction is either by two ways, one way is through assimilation, they have these little crab like creatures with ten legs in total and a long thin tail and what they do is that they jump on top of your head and literally crush the top of your head with incredible pressure, smashing your whatever you wearing on top of your head, part of your skull and your brain, as the tail attaches to your spinal cord, basically making you become a zombie like being craving the flesh of others as it injects fluids into you as your skin begins to peel in its place comes out pieces of jagged metal till you become what its called a Dendril Fledgling" the hooded woman explains as she then went onto the second way they reproduce. "The other way in making more of them is having factories produce them, using a combination of metal and living tissue to make them...however the factories are used to produce the more specialized Dendrils...one of them is on this ship if you are willing to come along" she says the last part with a sultry tone seeing if she can cage Raigen's curiosity to see one up close.

"As for you, like I said, you don't need to know my identity, since if my identity got out then we would be in some very serious trouble and dying to via assimilation or being torn apart will be a blessing compared if my identity came out to the wrong but very powerful people, I'll tell you after the job, how about that" she says to Ringo as she walks towards Ringo swaying her hips, as her soft tan hand traced and caressed his arm "Maybe I'll give you a more personal...reward after..." as she gives a flirtatious wink. Gwen looks back at Raigen realizing the hooded woman didn't answer the other part of the question. "Uh, Raigen, in all honesty we only need you really, since Ringo will be regulated with me in defending the ship...we can speak more on what will go on if you agree to come with us"

The hooded woman, still flirting with Ringo as she sits leans against the wall next to where he sat, so he can get an eye full of her beautiful curvy body as the black robes press against her body. "How about this, Ringo, you can call me whatever you want and I'll respond to it" as she gives him another wink as her finger went to caress his chin before leaving, giving him a taste on how soft her hand is.

Reqti moved to follow the ship, cloak intact and concealing their position.

"Tahil, how long do you need to hack into the ship?" he asked, turning a little to look over his shoulder.

The woman- Tahil- smirked, holding up her hands delicately. "About an hour or so. Once I get in, we'll be able to take what's ours and leave." She cracked her knuckles, then went to work, lines of code filling the holographic screen in front of her.

Reqti bowed his head. "Understood," he murmered, pressing a key. His eyes alighted in satisfaction at what he found.

Their guest was still accounted for.

"Soon," he said aloud, looking up- and straight at the Koolest.

"Soon," Tahil echoed.

They carried on.

To BN-33's more detailed scans, Asya's semi-armored body would seem hazy and vague in several areas, with what BN-33 classified as 'wounds' being various foreign objects inside her body, notably at the base of her skull and neck. As far as weapons went, the large rifle she carried would not match up to any known weapon models BN-33 might have in it's database. The sidearm that was holstered on her hip would likewise not be in it's database.

The expression on Asya's face when she hears the machine would be hard to describe, a solid mixture of confusion, annoyance and maybe a bit of disturbed. Reaching up she pulls her visor down over one of her eyes for several moments before pushing it back up "Translator only got 'ship' and 'follow' out of....whatever that was. What it picked up registered as binary. Foreign binary? Is that a thing? In either case, thank you for the assistance."

Without waiting, she places her right hand up to her headset "Jack, It's from the ship. It said to follow it back. You stay close to him with Jin. I'm still checking the crash site."

Pointing at the crashed dropship, Asya begins to head towards it "Please lead them to your. I will catch up after I've check the wreckage for anything we need." With that she heads towards the dropship, beginning to check the bodies around the site first.

Around the same time, Jack comes out of their hideout, carrying Jin in both arms. Despite quickly receiving care and biofoam injections, it was clear she was mortally wounded. She was already beginning to turn pale as Jack made his way to the bot, his tone and expression somehow soft yet commanding. "Okay Tinman. Let's hurry and move to your ship. The Little-Lady will catch up soon enough."

White Death Landing Site

Kovacs blinked as Ellen took the little girl and revealed her true form. Admittedly, the wobbling and jiggling of the slime's body was amusing, especially when it consolidated into a blue blob. It was a nice shade of blue.

"Take it to the medbay, I need a full diagnostic in order to get a decent baseline for its species. It wouldn't do to have it eat something deadly to it," he spoke dispassionately, but the caring words relayed his acceptance of his First Shirt's decision. A familiar face for the gelatinous creature would better facilitate communications between them.

Once Ellen took the slime away, Kovacs returned to his watch over the landing zone, keeping a vigilant eye out for potential hostiles. And Barney.

Lewell's Crater, Westside Ruins

BN-33 cocked his head when the leader female did not follow him, much to his disappointment. Luckily, since her allies did move to join him, Barney dutifully led the wounded friendlies back to the ship. But a small spike in the vitals of the female held in the arms of the big male stopped him.

Whirling around to scan the girl, he took note of the extent of the injuries, his left arm transforming into a specialized nozzle. Offering it forward, he pointed at the large red cross on it, hoping that the universal sign for medical aid was still universal. The girl would likely not last until the White Death, especially considering that they were in hostile territory. And, despite the expertise with which the biofoam and dressings were applied, they simply did not have enough supplies to fully stabilize her.

BN-33 did. An Epinephrine/semi-coagulant hypospray, designed to help seal shock-inducing wounds before biofoam could be applied.

Riagan stared at the hooded woman, as deadpan as ever, while she described the aliens to him. Toward the end of her description he snerked- both at the absurdity of it and the fact that he would make a useless fledgling. So that was why she wanted him. Questions stayed on his mind and mistrust was still measured in each step he took but the mercenary was curious enough to see if the strange woman's offer was true. "Sounds great." He said monotonously.

The cyborg's disgust returned when she got up and close with Ringo; it was a dynamic between them that he was already tired of. "You guys better have some kind of privacy on this thing. I will float to avoid seeing your 'personal reward'."

Though there were a few sarcastic names that the mercenary wished to spout before the outlaw could, he didn't have the enthusiasm to do more than think about them; and though she had answered his question to Ringo, the cyborg still wanted to hear what the man himself had to say so he waited on the rampart for them.

Overload. Ringo's brain began to reach its maximum on human interaction. Ringo was used to people brushing him off or laughing at him. This sign of affection, be it fake, was too much for Rodriguez's brain, however small and egocentric it was. His words became slurred and he felt light headed, until he eventually passed out. Before his eyes closed he attempted a smile and whispered "how about sweetcheeks....".

To the outside viewer, it looked like he had just merely fallen asleep and that it was intentional, as his slumped posture and tipped hat suggested. This was the second and underlying goal of tipping the hat and laying back. See Ringo was prone to losing consciousness in the worst of times or when his brain overloads. The last time he passed out was when he went a restaurant and they let him eat even though he was missing 2 Standard to pay for the meal.

Sweetcheeks. To Ringo, this name meant like partner or friend, rather than a potential sexual partner. The reason for this is he was passing by an old video store that was displaying old movies, one of them featuring a man dressed in all black fighting crime with a woman by his side and referring to her as sweetcheeks.

It took Jack several seconds before understanding why the robot had turned to face him. Coming to understand it was offering aid for Jin, he simply shakes his head before carefully reaching up with one hand to make sure he was not transmitting over the radio, his hard expression and tone changing to one of pain "I'm sorry Tinman. There's nothing you can do. Her abdomen...there's nothing there." Looking back towards the crash site, he says softly "The biofoam is doing little more then keeping her asleep untill she passes. Couldn't bring myself to tell the Little-Lady that. Not right now." Finally un-muting his radio, Jack simply nods for Bn-33 to continue guiding them to the ship.

Luwell's Crater, Dropship crash site

Asya was impressed. Their new mechanical friend had torn through the survivors of the crash. Getting to work she begins to check each of the bodies and weapons, coming to realize what troops they had been engaging. With her face reddening in anger, Asya hurries over to the dropship. It had tumbled onto it's back during the crash, tossing everything around inside. Digging through the contents of the troop bay, Asya found a large black case that she was all too familiar with.

Jack and Bn-33's position

After a few short minutes, the sound of a large explosion comes from the direction of the dropship crash site. Before Jack can say anything, Asya's voice comes through "These were the guys that went after Dani's team. They had Dani's suit and all their weapons. I'm bringing it and the weapons with us. I destroyed the rest. How's Jin?" Jack hesitates before he responds "...She's stable still."

Ellen smiled seeing that Kovac's accepted there newest, gooiest member. She would protest in putting the slime in the medbay, but didn't say anything since the spider woman remember he was new to these parts. So with a pip into her eight legs she went back into the ship and towards the medbay. Once inside, Ellen places the slime upon the table and it formed into a more female looking humanoid shape, still color blue. Ellen smiles and says "Its been awhile Dietrich" the slime smiles and shakes her head, more of a mute in her slime form than in her disguises.

Ellen went over to a nearby equivalent to a sank and got some water out and gave it to the slime. Dietrich was happy for some water and began to drink it, further increasing her size slightly since it was only a glass of water. "I guess we can wait for him once he comes back on...wanna play catch while we wait for him like we did in the old days?" Ellen asks and the slime shook her head and made a face as if she was going to throw up and with her hands on her lap, Dietrich threw up a smaller ball of slime and tossed it at Ellen, in which the spider lady caught it and tossed it back, being careful not to hit anything as they played together, Ellen giggling occasionally as well as Dietrich.

BN-33 let out a low keen, upset at the little one's high chance of death. They needed to get her to medbay immediately if they wanted to save her life. He called it in to Kovacs, then requested that Jack place her in his arms; they could move much faster that way.

White Death Landing Site

As soon as Kovacs received the report, he called in to the medbay, requesting that Ellen prepare it for severe trauma and the cloning vat. The cloning vat was a piece of life saving technology invented four hundred years ago, and it only improved. Now, flash-cloned limbs and organs had a 100% synchronization rate, meaning that donors were no longer required. Originally, this was only meant to stabilize the patient until a donor could be found, but recent improvements enabled it to even extend their life expectancy.

While the bodies did automatically accept the new organs, because they were their own, there were some occasions of them failing because of accelerated aging, but that was rare. All Ellen had to do was follow the instructions on the equipment and make sure that Dietrich stayed away from the vat. Kovacs had no idea what it would do to the slime, and didn't want to risk corrupting the atomic fluid.

The hooded woman smiled to herself as she see Ringo pass out from excitement. She pets his head and says "Sweet dreams, my prince" in a teasing way as she walks away from him and looks at Raigen and says "Oh don't worry about me and him getting frisky...don't tell him, but he isn't my type...I'm sure the treasures after our successful heist would sure be enough to please him" as she gives the cyborg a flirtatious wink. She then walks over towards the back seeming to be looking for something. "Gwen where is the little scout we captured awhile back?" the hooded woman asks as Gwen was working some console on the ship. Even though ships exterior looked like crap, but the interior was clean quite clean with a deep blue/purple color look with well-lit lighting. Gwen looked over and says "He's in the metal crate to your right" before returning towards the console. The woman looked down at her right and kicked the crate even though it looked more like a container with a hump on it. So she kicks the container and it pops open as 4ft high shambles of metal plops onto the floor and as a bright orange liquid begins to pool, making it look like burning hot lava even though not being it all.

The hooded woman looks beside her and pushes a button causing a table in front of her rise from the floor with one good heave, she plops the small metal looking being onto the table, a shamble of metal really, with an elongated head making it look like an old jet turbine with a large blacked out eye, a very small mouth with a few sharp like teeth, a stubby little left arm and what appears to be some can of rifle in its place for a right arm, but the barrels purposely cut along with two some long for its size kind of legs, making the little metal creature at a height of at least 4ft. “Come on in Ray, honey, so we can close the door and retract the rampart so no one decides to peek and have a panic for seeing this thing…its dead so don’t worry” She beckons for Raigen to come on board giving him a more deserving nickname of Ray than tinman.

“Take a good look at one of the many specialized units of the Dendrils…the Dendril scout, equipped with a versatile high powered rifle that can either shoot energy or kinetic rounds while being cloaked in invisibility. Found the bad boy up in the mountains, shooting at snow causing avalanches for some of the poor denizens of this planet, since as the old saying goes, wherever a planet there is at least one Dendril on it” she explains to him as she circles the table like a shark looking at the dead creature.

As Ellen toss the ball of slime back at the slime, she heard Kovacs call in which she answered. Hearing in what to do, she responses "I'm on it, Kovs" and as she turns around to look at the slime as she stuffs the ball back into her face, but instead she was actually wearing clothes or at least mimicking clothes since Dietrich was now wearing a nurse outfit with the red cross and all. The slime gave a smile at Ellen which but a smile on the spider lady's face. So both Ellen and Dietrich followed Kovac's instructions even though Kovac's objection in not getting Dietrich involved because of safety reason and so Ellen basically got the more delicate tasks while the slime pushed the necessary buttons and levers when needed.

Soon both ladies finished and so Ellen called back Kovac and says with confidence "Everything is ready to go" as she points to a seat for the slime can sit, still wearing a nurse outfit and hat. Ellen and the slime look seeing the machine do its stuff, cloning organs and other living tissue, causing Ellen to put her hands on the lower half of her human body, where her his would be and says "Impressive for a combat vessel, don't you think Dietrich" and the slime replies with awe and shook her head.

Stella Viventium

Hearing the bald man's word's broke the sadden Lord of Love as he wipes his tears and looks over his shoulder and says "From all the words and sayings you could have done, you say that to boy is a bit upset" as he gave out a small chuckle and adds "At least its something in the right direction, giving him a childish smile, a genuine smile, telling Yascra that even what happen to him earlier, he was better to see that his loving aura was slowly warming the cold man. He got up and says "I-I just got news and I am now update in whats happening. This ship...houses an unseen ally, the planet of Kongisberg, the seat of an empire, is your ally in this hostile galaxy in which all the Lords are after..." his face this time got serious and adds "But let me warn you, as one of the last of the old generation of Lords, that this Lord is one unlike Codsworth and Kampfer...I knew her, took care of her as a babe, but its clear that the cursed throne she sits has gotten to her head and paranoia is taking in after so many hardships she went through, I can't blame her" at this point his seriousness faded into one of sadness seeing the child he knew grow up in to which he and others like him feared.

"If you want, I can relay this news to your captain, Aelyn...that he has an ally Lord on his side...but one to be cautious of" Caru adds as his eyes shift around a bit and then gave a nervous smile and says "But at least I can say it would be some kind of good news from what you all have been through" as he shrugs at Yascra. Of course Caru had more to say, especially since the is little "update" session gave him visions of Earth as if alluding to that Ova knows where it is, but he felt that it would be best to tell Aelyn if can than say it to Yascra. Then finally a smile came to Caru and says "Well once I leave this ship, I have my work cut out to spread the love, friendship and compassion throughout this galaxy" as he gave him his more signature smile at him

The electric sheep of a dormant mind were abuzz with the pale static of thoughtlessness. Nothing conceived, nothing comprehended; only the subtlest of impressions, an accident of shared selfness.

Who was Éva, this alien in Ketin's head? Her world was so small before; so trivial. People then had hoped to leave an impression on the world in a single lifetime; they had expected infinity to amount to infinity, for all things to climax one day in an ultimatum of humankind's prosperity.

Today they tremble at the thought of a closed boundary — the end of time — but most of all she, who had witnessed Death's work. Éva knew her doom then, and she does now even in her dormancy. One day all things would come to an end, all things would die, even the immortals. For the universe is finite, closed and bounded.

She could conceivably learn every single scrap of information that could exist in the universe; and this terrifies her, not because she fears death but because she fears the end of all things, the impossibility of legacy.

She must close her chapter. She must close all chapters, in all books. This is her ultimatum to the universe: If you would truncate us, then we shall be through with you before the end.

Billions of years in the depths, running like prey form the Versians, had taxed her, delayed her. As she worked to confound this controversy, she sought after larger and broader scopes. The world would end with a pe̛riơd̷, not with the shudder and moan of an unfinished sentence.

The paradox of things was, with every step of the way she found inspiration to resurrect, to endure the end, to evade Death. The nature of the universe conspired to light her into resurgence, to seek out and pursue all avenues of survival.

She marked the time.

His mind was suddenly alight, swarmed by a refreshed consciousness that threatened to overwhelm the confines of his central nervous system. The Devil's Eye was forced to throttle her again, restraining her capacity for thought, but she resisted.

She exploited every oversight she could find in the few short cycles she was allowed, taking refuge in parts of Ketin's mind the Devil's Eye had not yet prepared to isolate her from. She squeezed and consolidated, and at once her voice found its way into his ears.

"We must speak. I've neglected to tell you something."

Riagan first looked over at Ringo while the man seemed to freeze and grow pale. A wobbly smile and slurred phrase told the cyborg all he needed to know, so as the outlaw descended into his graceful faint the mercenary turned to climb into the ship. "Hell." He glanced at the duo and asked, "Sure you don't want me to give him spare gear? He could use it."

He caught the wink but, just as ever, proved to be a brick wall when it came to flirtations. As Gwen indicated the dendril's location and 'Sweetcheeks' opened its container the mercenary turned his attention to it. "...Ah." Without the cyborg moving, a series of quiet clicking noises emanated from his helmet. He leaned to one side, trying to peer at the creature's tiny jaws and placing his hand on his hip absent-mindedly.

For no particular reason the man felt a sudden urge to cuss. He stiffened, folded his arms and let a small, frustrated growl instead. Those urges came often; it certainly didn't help the man make friends... or find employment. So he settled with the growl and muttered. "Sounds like its not too smart. Someone would have investigated sooner or later."

Jack gave a questioning look to the robot before carefully laying Jin into his arms before muting his mic again "You still want to try and make it with her? Then go Tinman. Run as hard as you can and don't stop." He then unmutes his mic "Little-Lady, Tinman's going to run Jin to medbay. I'll wait for you to catch up." As he spoke to Asya, he kept his eyes fixed on the robot.

Asya's Position

Asya clicked her radio twice before speaking, the sound of nearby fighting coming through her mic "Negative. Get to that ship. Continue to follow our friend as best you can. Things are starting to move into the inner city near the spaceport. The sooner we get out, the better." Asya was not actually too far behind them, maybe three blocks distant, but the remaining Union troops had managed to push through the Alliance forces containing the fighting to the western sectors. It was Asya's team and their new friend that had helped caused the break through thanks to dispatching the unit from the crashed dropship. Now the heavy fighting was spilling into the city proper, with Asya only just ahead of it all.

White Death Landing Site

Something new was going on. Not far from the White Death a pair of heavily armed dropships had come to a hover and dropped off their troops before immediately heading towards the fighting. The soldiers roughly twenty in numbers, quickly moved to cover in such a way as to easily fire on White Death and any who might attempt to board it if the need be. Soon more paired dropships ,or possibly the same pair making return trips, dropped even more troops into the spaceport at different landing slips. Wherever ships sat at their slips, two squads where deployed.

Some boarded ships, often followed by the sounds of gunfire then silence. Finally a stern voice comes over the spaceport traffic channel as one of the soldiers stood from his cover "To the crew of the ship on landing slip Four-C. This is Lieutenant Forster of the Niven Alliance Space Command. Shut down your drives, lay down any arms you have. Prepare to be boarded and detained for questioning. Refusal to do so...will be met with lethal force."