Asteroid Blues

Mr.Feng had been travelling for two days since he received the invitation to the Oceanographer's event, the Sea Lions in Novvy Cimmeria were migrating from their current habitat, a rare ocurrence for the species...

Now he was sitting in the cabin of a small spacecraft, his flight to Novvy Cimmeria had been nothing but pleasant, the chair in which he roosted inside the spacecraft, was made of synthetic leather black leather and it was covered with a gray fur blanket, soft to the touch and warm for the body...he was not asleep but he sure wanted to lay in the comfortable bed of furs forever.

He was the only person sitting in the cabin, as private flights tend to be, and the pilot was a pressurized door away from Feng, inside the cockpit the pilot was pushing buttons, pulling switches and levers, he wore a very old-fashioned khaki pilot helmet with visor and a soundproof and heavy headset.

"I trust the special accomodations were good for you Feng?" Asked the pilot through the comms of the spaceship.
"They are incredible, I haven't been so warm and fuzzy in years, I surely could have used the last time I visited Novvy Cimmeria" He said, clutching the wool softly...

"That's good to hear, we just received the green light to dock, so I'd say you have about ten more minutes before my contract is due" The Ariadnan pilot explained "once you are in the station your transport will be there, he is my brother be kind to him you hear?" his tone was one of concern masked by twinge of bravado..

"Of course I will, the academic guild and myself are quite thrilled the services you provide" Feng said and took a look on his comlog, now strapped to his left wrist...

A directional interface reflected on his pupils as he entered the virtual space, new mail had arrived and within was the name of the Pilot's Brother , "Johnny" it read, an alias undoubtedly he thought as he checked the map attached which showed the route they would take from the station to the cave of lions, and he took the chance to manage his credit accounts to pay both the Pilot and the Driver, he tried to get a quick game of Monster Hunters in, but the sound of the cabin depressuring as the rails lodged on to it were too loud to focus...

The Door opened outwards and up and a cold wind swept through and crept up to Feng, the blue and white lights of the station were somewhat dizzying after traveling more than 24 hours through the darkness of space with only videogames and dim lights showing the route to the bathroom and bar inside the cabin...

"That's my queue" he tought as he closed the Game application, and stood up from his comfy chair, he looked at it longingly and turned to glance at the cabin.

"I told you already, that seat is a family heirloom it's not for sale, you should be ok with all the winter gear you're wearing already!" Whined the pilot as Feng picked up his briefcase and his bag, the first he carried on his right hand and the second across his back strapped with a belt on his chest.

The rest of his attire was Ariadnan, a Black and grey Ushanka rested upon his head, his long braided grey and white hair rested on top of his bag, his jacket was Grey and blue, buttoned up on both sides with black buttons the jackets tail touched his standard winter army boots, he wore a thick grey pant full of cargo pockets and other things, which he had filled to the brim with all kinds of meds against the flu and headaches, it also had a lot of candy and whatever else he had in there would have been anyone's guess...

"I really can't handle the cold..." he said as he walked through the metal railing unto to the platform, the structure was pretty functional if nothing else, it looked more like a Factory than a spaceport, metal walls expanded side by side and metal beams held the roof in place where stalactites were already collecting on the beams and underneath the railings he just crossed.

An immigration booth stood to his left and calmy he proceeded to check out his paperwork with the clerk, a redhead caledonian gal with a red and blue hat with a white feather pinned to the left wing of her hat, her face was crossed with freckles from ear to ear.
"I can only imagine you're travelling for pleasure" she said seductively winking her left eye as she checked out Feng's papers.
"Only for business sadly" he answered with a smile, he hadn't been flirted with in a long time, it seems "exotic charms" worked even in ariadna.
"Awwww, but it says you're married" she gave back his paperwork while pouting with her pale pink lips.
"That's true cub, you'd had to be born a long time ago to be Mrs. Feng" he answered puffing his chest out.
The girl laughed and wished him safe travels, Feng kept walking through the broad industrial room, some doors were lined up on the sides topped with the names of locales such as "the air strip" or "hole number 19" it was very surreal for him to see a spaceport with a 20th century airport aesthetics, ahead of him he came to a pair of doors guarded by Caledonian Volunteers wearing the traditional blue and red kilts.

"Oy friend we need to see your papers cleared before you can leave the hangar" Said one of them without moving.
"I'm sure it all checks out" he said "looking at the booth, now far behind him, while he handed his papers once again.
"Aye it does, let him through" Said the other through his handheld radio.

The doors opened and Feng walked through unto the next room his Driver was waiting for him besides the cargo belt for luggage, he waved his hand as cold air emerged from his nostrils, Feng sneezed, he was now feeling the cold of minus 10 degrees celsius creep upon his chest.

The Ariadnan driver walked up to him and took Feng's bag, he gladly took it off for the driver to carry.

"Thank you friend, I am Mr.Feng a pleasure to make your acquaintance" Said Feng bowing his head slightly

"The pleasure is mine" said the driver, a lad about 25 years old, unsure how to react to Feng's greeting he patted him on the arm slightly.

"So what kind of vehicle are we riding into the tundra, I didn't see that on our contract..." Feng asked methodically

"Well, the reason why you didn't see that one in the contract sir, is cuz I reckon we usually prepare the first vehicle we have access to round these parts all the buggies and speeders are always taken..." he Said in a thick Usariadnan accent, apologizing.

"I assume you were able to get a speeder right?" Asked Feng...
"No sir, I could only manage to get my hands on a Bike, the kind the Mavericks rev up day and night across Ariadna" He said proudly.

"The cold claims me once again..." lamented Feng while holding his face upon his gloved palm "Let us depart, I don't want to miss the Sea Lions" he said.

The driver led Feng through the rest of the spaceport and unto the parking lot the Bike had an ancient like seat firmly strapped to her right side with chromed rails, to Feng's delight however the on the seat chair was just like the one in the spaceship, he seated himself inside it, covering himself with all the blankets and furs like a rodent, meanwhile the driver revved up the bike loudly before throttling it to the 3rd gear , speeding up across the parking lot's exit and unto the broadly lit Highway...

The Bike sped up through the highway for a while before taking a turn taking down a ramp where the paved street ended abrutply and snow covered slope began which descended into a clearing of white ice, "from this point onwards, it's gonna get really frosty Mr.Feng" he said through the speakers on his helmet.

The snow on the ground splashed underneath the speeding wheels and the weight of the bike,"You know, I didn't know this route till recently Mr. this is actually a Strelok controlled area,or so I hear and their routes they seldom share with people like me... who would've thunk the Streloks had a soft spot for the animals of the Island..."

"They view them as comrades in this harsh enviroment surely" said Feng as he roosted on the seat, "I'm sure you know the streloks take care of their own and will purse someone who takes action against them on each god forsaken asteroid, rock, nook and cranny said person could hide upon, like a pack of wolfs edging their prey against a river till he can't scape" he added quite solemnly

"I didn't know that" added johnny with a bit of fright upon his voice
"That's because you've never been on their bad side" he added "not that I am on their bad side either, however this isn't the first time I come to see the fauna and flora of Cimmeria"
"I gotcha, I'll make sure to honor the streloks from now on, I don't want no bounty on my family" said the driver "it wont be long before we arrive at the cave now Mr.feng" said johnny looking at the digital map beside the bike's speed gauge"

The bike descended once upon slopes of moonlit tundra, and a crevice stood besides the sea, the biked parked beside the open maw of the cave, and Mr. Feng took his briefcase and bag and turned to Johnny "This is where your contract's due Johnny, go back from whence you came, your payment is already taken care of" said Feng, no trace was left of the goofy old man in his voice.

"I guess so, the event is invite only" answered Johnny, and revved his bike once more before he throttled away leaving as the old man dissapeared quietly into the cave...

"The outcome of a battle is decided before the battle is fought" - Sun Tze

Sophie, the longest standing sophotect under Yu Jing's Imperial service, was hovering through a warehouse on the upper echelons of the Ji Yuan mining infrastructure, it was in this particular warehouse that shipments from Aleph to support Yu Jing came in, only high ranking agents and the emperor knew about it's existence, it was cut out from every single camera feed and record.

The warehouse contained piles and rows of containment cells, they were used for transportation of Dakini Tacbots, Garuda, Yudbots along with spare parts and bodies for important people, like the recreation Sun Tze, Sophie herself and other sophotects.

Her task in here was maintenance, only the sophotects could keep all the aleph gear operational and also fix any kind of mishaps incurred during shipment or conflict, and it so happens the Operational Hubs of Ji Yuan had been heavily damaged during the conflict for the Asteroid, an artificial gravity failure meant that the sophotects could not sleep keeping watch on all the aleph shipments 24/7 instead.

She was currently checking out the containment pods for Dakinis and Spare bodies, and opened a comms channel "Lee, I still can't believe you haven't changed bodies luv, the one I have prepared for you is even better than the one you have" she said teasingly.

"It must be very lonely down there Sophie, this is the 4th time today you've told me this, but this won't be the 4th time we'll engage in Metaphysical and Philosophical enigmas"

"That's such a shame..." she said pouting while placing her hand upon the surface of the containment pod while looking at Gerozilla's Spare Body, and from her hand lights popped out and flashed around in circles and triangles "your body is still alive so one day you'll take a really bad beating and I'll have to carve your body twice, one to get the vital organs from this body out and the second time to get them inside your body"

"That's quite a gruesome thought, Sophie, do you constantly think about carving up my body with your hands?" Answered Gerozilla as a jest.
"I don't need to think about it constantly, when you've done as many surgeries and mechanical fixes as I have you start to see people's flaws and how to correct them, for instance your nose is is bent sideways ever so slightly I have done countless rhinoplasties upon it in my dreams, but your spare body already has a perfect nose!" She laughed as she told her own joke, and Gerozilla joined her laughter.

"As much as I'd like to keep joking and chatting you up while you perform neurosurgical procedures in seconds, I have received a transmission encrypted, by none other than the Old Man himself, Sun Tze, he is currently heading towards your location, please stay put to receive him" Said Gerozilla.

"Well sure I'll do that, I have already finished my shift and was waiting for my replacement" She said and hovered over to the Cargo Elevator's Doors.

She waited there for about 5 minutes until the Doors opened, but no one came through for about 30 seconds "How weird, these doors open only when something comes through, I hope it's not broken..." she said, as she looked behind her to the center of the warehouse, on top of some crates she saw how the legs of a Proxy started to appear.

"GET DOWN!" she heard someone screaming and was tackled from the elevator door into the ground as a high velocity round impacted on the ground where she had been standing, the hulking armor that had tackled her was none other than Sun Tze.

Sun Tze still on the ground Gestured with his hands and pointed forward as a Su Jian in tiger form stampeded unto the warehouse, shooting the Proxy, however the proxy simply vanished and the bullets pierced the air...

Sun Tze stood up slightly, hunched over to minimize his body mass as a target, he held his hand to Sophie and helped her take cover beside the containment pods.

No Comms channel was stablished as the whole sector was jammed when a Netrod pierced the ceiling and crashed upon the center of the warehouse.

Sophie was very confused, when a Yudbot took position on the catwalk where a Son-Bae Yaokong was standing now and linked himself to her, she knew this was deployment, something had snuck in the hangar and was attempting to kill her and the Imperial service was Retaliating...

"I'll slap Lee on the face next time I see him, I so much hate being kept out of the loop" she said as she manifested from her fingers an augmented reality combi rifle...

Shak-Ti, Rudra and her Yadu troopers advance from their position believing their position to be safe, however the outcome of the battle was decided before it began, Sun Tze deployed his forces as to have their position fired upon as soon as they even so much as breathed slightly...

Sophie heard the deafening sounds of a Missile Launcher roaring as it shot it's payload and Sun Tze heard a slight whiffing sound as the cloaked figure above him took a shot at a Yadu Trooper, the sniper was none other than Major Lunah Herself, a Bounty Hunter launched a squishy projectile from his Kanone, the akrylat flew in a weirdly spherical shape as it was being pulled from all directions by the weird gravitational field upon the hub...

Rudra was blasted through it's hull by the missile his legs gave way as his frame was pushed into the ground with a loud crunch of metal as the explosion broke his innards,shak-ti could not avoid the explosion either and was sent flying backwards falling upon her back as debris, oil, parts and blood splashed forth and hovered in mid-air, the Akrylat projectile landed upon Rudra, cementing him into place...

The Yadu trooper vaulting over the railing loosing a burst from her HMG upon the Yaokong heard a crunch on her helmet as a bullet caught her jaw, disintigrating instantly by the acids contained within, her throat melted through as she fell to the ground, her pain inhibitors were on overdrive until her vitals ceased to function altogether...

The Yaokong Remote was reached by a chain of white hot bullets that caved in his roundish chassis bfore uncovering many of his innards, his legs gave up and he fell unoperational during the exchange...

The Surviving Yadu's scrambled from the position and advanced through the back of the hangar, avoiding the eyes of Lunah and the Bounty Hunter, taking position beside their Ikari Company Liason and their O-12 corporate CEO.

Sophie took action first, looking through the eyes of her yudbot she hopped around the catwalk until she came beside the Yaokong, her little yudbot hands moved and transfigured themselves multiple times to different tools and spare parts, as she repaired the remote, the whole process took about 5 seconds, though for her perception inside the yudbot it was around 2 hours, however from the edge of her vision inside the bunny bot, she catched a suspicious silhouette emerging from the catwalk up top, it was the proxy Sniper that tried to gun her down, it held his sniper rifle and let loose a high velocity Round that crushed the bunny underneath, sending a bolt of feedback pain all along the spine of her real body...

"Su Jian, I want that robot a cripple!" Shouted Sun Tze, since the lack comms channel had him direct the flow of battle as an Ancient Warlord, through his throat and shouts.

And so The Tiger spun into action, it prowled on top of the container it was and looking down his limbs stretched the metal claws gripping the sides of the container, as his back legs held on the ledge he used the ledge as a vertical springboard, drifting his back limbs upon and floor and running beside the kuang shi and around the building.

The proxy had eyes for everyone and specially the Su Jian, he took a shot, that cut the tail of the Tiger in Mid Air...

Somewhere in the Ji Yuan Headquarters a pilot complained alone about how the tail was part of the movement sensors while hitting the deck.

He prowled stealthily through the hangar, avoiding the Proxy's Aim, and turned right around the corner of some containmet pods, he could now see the proxy's back, but a Yadu Opened fire upon him, his Spitfire unloaded on the Yadu as he roared forth like an angry tiger, The Yadu took was bit by a bullet through his chest, and the Su Jian moved behind cover once more...

It came to the Netrod that came in through the ceiling and showered it in flames, the Rod proved far too resilient however, and the tiger leapt to the top of the container, where he the proxy awaited him Gun in hand, he roared once again like a dragon as the fire engulfed the Proxy, a bullet bounced of the tigers armor, and the body of the proxy was now melted scrap...

Sun Tze moved up to the security grid door, and prepared his rifle to rain bullets on anyone who dare storm his position..

The Post-human lost his sniper proxy, however he moved through his yudbot until he came to Shak Ti, unconscious on the floor and proceeded to perform surgery on her, 3 seconds passed and she had 3 spare parts replaced and a shot of adrenaline infused with pain inhibitor nanomachines pierced her neck, her eyes opened and she coughed softly, tossing around, her chest touched the ground and she aimed her MK-12 forward...

The Yudbot advanced once again and came to the rudra, he replaced the spare parts the gunbot had lost, but could not get the arkrylat removed, his sensors and eyes sparked to life and his legs tried to lift the frame but it was impossible, they wirred incessantly until the gunbot readjusted and stopped trying to get up.

The other Yadu Troopers scrambled a bit on their position, Sun Tze and Su Jian both rebooted their armor protocols as the yadu moved up to the Bounty hunter, able to access his short term memory they they nabbed it from his cube, backing it up on their Hacking device...The Bounty hunter held his head in pain, he couldn't remember how he got to where he was a standing a piercing hot pain flared up on the back of his neck.

The Yadu's doubled back from that position prepared themselves for whatever action Sun Tze or the Su Jian would take against them.

Another Proxy Moved up into the center of the hangar, opening fire upon the prone Su Jian with her Akimbo SMG's, her bullets bounced of the container and the Su Jian's armor, the recoil of her guns however projected her backwards unexpectedly, her head hit the ground first and her face was bleeding when she got up, the gravitational failure proved too much for her programmed body to accomodate...

The Son-Bae took a shot against the Rudra, still held down by the akrylat he was once again pierced through by a missile erupiting like a volcanoa the yudbot was caught in the blast and his dismembered frame and parts flew above Shak-ti as the Rudra fell once more...

The cargo doors opened once more, and lightning fast Garuda Tacbot came in flying, projected by his jetpack he flew over the containment pods and landed beside Rudra, his colors on his hull indicated he was from the imperial service, the garuda moved up and lines his shotgun on shak-ti only to have his spider-like head torn off by her heavy pistol...

The Yadu's were weakened, Sun Tze shouted to the Celestial guard "Sweep this area up! on the double!"

The Kuang shi were eager for a fight, and strolled around carefully as the controller directed their movements with her hands, upon reaching the central Hallway she pressed a button on her control device and the kuang shi leading the charge was her puppet, she moved the joystick on her device side to side as the Kuang Shi's head did the same movement "All good now, let's light up these android b*tches with shrapnel", the controlled Kuang shi move forward erratically, his right hand held his chain rifle in front as if controlled by unseen strings, his legs followed through with short hops, and turning the corner his left hand snapped lightning fast to the chain belt on his rifle, he pulled it so fast and hard his shoulder dislocated, the red hot shrapnel flew viciously biting the yadu's torso and cracking the glass on her helmet, she took a couple of shots at the kuang shi with her rifle, which pierced the Kuang Shi's lungs , and both fell down in agony, the yadu twisted her legs as her pain inhibitors kicked in but the kuang shi fell like a ragdoll upon the ground...

"What a stupid bitch" she said underneath her mask "Number 77 go ahead and finish the job your buddy could not, honor his sacrifice" she demanded while threatening the kuang shi with her control device "don't make me force you, you know I don't want to..." she said coercively

The Kuang shi, ran like a madman and took cover beside his fallen comrade, unholstering his pistol he pulled the trigger on the Yadu Hacker, the bullets caught her knee, which crunched underneath the hot hollowpoint metal, she was struck but not out, she took a shot at the Kuang shi, and his helmet caught the bullet and it ricocheted into the ground...

"Very lucky" said the Celestial Guard "let the tiger finish her up".

The Su Jian, prowled on the container extending his head downwards looking at the Yadu, on one knee clutching her rifle, he pointed at her with his flamethrower and lit her up as she tried to hack her way through his firewall...she burned and died but the Su Jian could not move, the program she had attached to his firmware blocked all remote inputs from the pilot to the Tiger frame...

Sun Tze gestured to Lunah, tracing a path with his fingers and pointing backwards with his thumb, and lunah ran through the catwalk she was in, till she could pull a dot on the wounded proxy beside the Tiger and dead Yadus, she took two shots at her, caught unaware the proxy could do nothing as the bullets pierced his frame, the shock burst his legs from his torso where it started to corrode rapidly...

The Proxy, came out of hiding and managed to repair Rudra and remove all the akrylat upon his frame, the Machine stood up and whirred heavily, like an angry god, it sped forward towards the Kuang Shi, and a missile flew his way once again, the Kuang shi opened fire with a Chain Rifle and a Pistol, the missile struck his frame and exploded but the Rudra kept moving through the blast opening fire on the kuang shi.

His Rifle caught then on the throat and lungs, with hollowpoint rounds the internal damage was lethal to both of them, his weakened frame however couldn't stand the impact of the Shrapnel, and it came crashing down mid sprint against a console...

Shak-Ti cried out for blood and stood up, running towards the su Jian, she opened fire against him and the Son-Bae, but her bullets bounced unharmingly of the Tiger's Armor, and the Son-Bae's missile caught her on the chest, exploding nothing was left of her but the scorched ground...

The OSS troops were routed, when the ghost appeared a Ninj* emerged from the shadows and doubled up to the security hub, she proceeded to jack herself into it, now in Cyberspace she saw a Huge Spider with glowing fur like a bioluminiscent being out of space, it's fangs shone in colors she didn't have words for, her avatar ran up to the spider, projecting herself upwards and crashing down like lighting Neural Katana in hand, the virtual beast shook before it exploded in turquoise luminiscent shards, the ninja sheathed her Katana in unison...

The Comms Channel was finally unjammed...

Sophie connected to it and listened as Sun Tze was congratulating them on a job well done, Gerozilla's voiced sparked on her mind "Sophie, I know this must have been quite a shock, we had to keep you out of the loop as soon as we detected the Netrod on our airspace, the Daoying's managed to crack it's trajectory vectors, it was as you know now headed straight towards the hangar...Sun Tze contacted me and told me he would take personal charge of this operation..."

"And he was a better commander than you!" Chastised Sophie "When I see you I'm gonna slap you on the face and afterwards I'll set up your Martial Arts training program to impossible!"

"Can't say I don't deserve that, but seriously please don't mess my martial arts training program that Asura simulation is still too tough for me..." Lee pleaded "the Cleanup crew should be there now, they'll take anyone remaining inside the hangar into custody, your shift is over Sophie..."

"What about that other sophotect that's inside the Hangar? we have to send her back home, you know harming a Sophotect is a war crime against Humanity!"

"That's Sun Tze's job as our Liaison he'll provide safe passage for them to go back home, you should visit her tomorrow I promise she'll be fine you really need to sleep!"

"Fine...I'll trust you, but I'm still upping up the difficulty of your simulation and also...I'm gonna restrict your access to Monster Hunters while the whole things cleans up, if you mess this one up, you can say goodbye to your favorite hologame!"