"You know Connor, I told you to pack that fuel line back into the armor, but instead you painted the decals on." From his speakers came the voice of Skye, and if "I told you so" could have a tone, that was the one she used. She was rather good at that.

"Yeah yeah yeah, I know. Well let's make the bastards pay."

The Warthog slowed down as Skye cut off the fuel to prevent a leak. The mech lit up blue as the rail cannon charged up, sending four rounds slamming into the hull of the last corvette. One shredding the bridge as the other two slammed in to the Corvette's main section and explosions rippling along its hull as it went up in flames.

Sentinel was sweating As her weapons finnaly gave out to over heating her autocannon likely had damage do to the Over heating parts. Her PPC read damage do to parts melting and warping due to heat and her Gauss cannon was out of ammo. She was sweating hard and trying to keep p as she suddenly Spotted something coming at High speeds right towards her. Thrusters for ward be ready to catch it!" she said her Fist comming out and catching Kelley's FRAME.

"Lets get back to the ship Now." She felt tired and felt sweat covering her Her coolant best doing its best to cool her down and not die from over heating her self. "Foster Due Repairs and check if Kelley's alive and get a message out to the Star Runner to get the mechanics up and ready to do work on our FRAME's and get A med team for Kelley." She said as she now used her Jump jets to head towards the star runner with Crow and anyone else with them. "You still there Crow got pretty heated up at the end there." she said with a laugh in her voice laughing a bit about the condition she was in.

Foster was already at work with Kelley checking if he was alive As various Repair tendrils went out of Fist that was carrying Kelley's FRAME begin repairs on it and checking if he was alive. As the Three Wen't back to the Star runner at a slow pace do to the Damage done to there FRAME's

Kelley's eyes snapped open. He checked the biometrics on his body. Normal. That was strange since Destiny's End was bathed in enough radiation to kill a normal person three times over. Veronica was saying something, fretting over nothing at this point he supposed. His hearing still wasn't back fully yet, so everything sounded like he had cotton stuffed in his ears. The rider righted himself in the rider's chamber and suddenly felt three lines wrapped around him and dragging him, and in turn Destiny's End, somewhere.

A quick look at the screen showed that some repair tendrils from Sentinel's FRAME were trying to search for things to repair on the FRAME, to little success. Of course there wasn't anything to repair, the only damaged done would always transferred to the rider himself on this FRAME. Kelley typed out a message to the allied FRAME.

"Thanks for the assist, but there's no need for repairs. I think I'll managed back on my own."

Kelley then freed himself of the tendrils and boosted slowly back to the ship. The air smelled sweetly of vanilla, or was that just the after effect of seeing one's life flash before his eyes. Kelley's favorite scent and taste was always vanilla, from the ice cream he would get as a kid to the weirdly natural smell of Morain...

He boosted faster in realization, just as his hearing came back. Morain!

"Mr. Kelley! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" It seemed that Veronica was not pleased at seemingly being ignored, and shouted into Kelley's ears just as his hearing was restored, almost deafening him again.

"I'm fine Veronica, or at least I think I am. Please don't shout, I couldn't hear before due to the explosion." Veronica flushed and replied in a small voice.

"I'm sorry Mr. Kelley, but we should get back to the ship as soon as possible. I'm worry about Morain." Kelley sighed.

"So am I Veronica, so am I." Kelley opened a comms channel to the Starrunner. "This is Loren Kelley, I was just exposed to a lot of radiation and I would like a containment hanger for a full medical analysis before I come back on board. I'm not sure whether I might now be a danger of the crew due to possible radiation coming out from my body itself. And will someone let me know the status of Lieutenant Dereso? Thank you."

With that Destiny's End approached the super carrier.

EPISODE IV: THE CLAIMS OF CHAOS AND LIGHT

< @WanderingJester >

"Roger, Rider Kelley. Medical detail is standing by and... we've had no word from the gun deck. Comms are down and there is a lot of debris blocking the halls. The breach shields closed quickly, but..." Lieutenant Moren's voice broke through the comms. "I'm sorry, we don't know."

[Leave room in here for some brooding]

Soon enough, Kelley had daocked. A quick de-con was given, and a medical analysis came up clean. As he was released from his containment, Kelley got a personal vid-message on his data-slate. "Kelley. This is Commander Yilli. We've unblocked the gun deck and... I thought you'd want to see."

[Leave room in here for some brooding]

As Kelley would arrive, he would see the deck was a mess. A huge hole in the hull was covered by a shimmering blue shield. Everything was broken and destroyed. Recovery crews were hard at work, checking bodies and hauling wounded. "Kelley!" A very familiar voice called to him. He would see Morain, limping over with Michelle Williams hanging on her shoulders. Both were bleeding, and it seemed Michelle had a broken leg. "Medical team! Take this woman to Medical!" As a few men rushed over, and then Morain limped over to Kelley. "It could have been worse. Me and Williams were able to activate the barrier right after impact. Seven dead so far..." Her voice trailed off as she hugged Kelley. "I was pinned under rubble. I couldn't move... but I knew you'd come for me." She told him, gazing into his eyes.

[Start of Downtime, start thinking of one small upgrade]

< @MetalDog4 >

"Rider Banning, good show. I welcome you aboard the Starrunner. Report to hangar 008, we have a mechanic waiting for you.

As Connor disembarked from his FRAME, a young woman runs up to him. She was tall with green eyes, short brown hair and a somewhat plain figure. Her eyes glittered in excitement, with an undertone of intelligent passion. "Heya! My name is Kylei Razea! Is this your FRAME? It's a destroyer-type, right? I've never seen such a large cannon on a FRAME, but it's smart. Especially using the shield as a brace."

Noticing she was blabbing, she coughed, blushing. "I'm sorry. I am a mechanic here, but I was... 'assigned' to be your guide around the ship. Commander Yilli will want to debrief you, but she's too busy right now. Is there anywhere you might like to go?"

[Start of Downtime, start thinking of one small upgrade]

< @Xanxas >

Kyras woke up in medical, again. He had feeling in his arms, the fracture and puncture healed, but they were numb, and clumsy. He would see Yalei sitting next to him, tears in her eyes. "OH! You're awake!" As soon as she sees his open eyes, she leans in and kisses him gently. "I... was so scared, Kyras. Two of your team dead... I was so scared you wouldn't wake up. That our child would grow up without you."

[Start of Downtime, start thinking of one small upgrade]

< @Vulpas >

As Sentinel and Crow left their FRAMEs, mechanics rushed to start repairs immediately. Before Sentinel could do anything, Crow grabbed her hand and began to pull her out, into the hallways. "We should go eat. That was an exhausting battle. He never looked back at her, hiding his face, and thus his blush.

As they arrived, Crow sat her down, and asked "Is there anything you'd like?" His blush was heavy now, and he looked away, clearing his throat.

[Start of Downtime, start thinking of one small upgrade]

"Roger, Rider Kelley. Medical detail is standing by and... we've had no word from the gun deck. Comms are down and there is a lot of debris blocking the halls. The breach shields closed quickly, but... I'm sorry, we don't know."

Kelley sighed. Frustratingly there was little he could do now, not until he get cleared by medical about what exactly is going on with him. Veronica bit her lip in concerned, and Destiny's End drifted into the indicated hanger for a medical check up for its rider.

Soon enough, Kelley had docked. A quick de-con was given, and a medical analysis came up clean. As he was released from his containment, Kelley got a personal vid-message on his data-slate. "Kelley. This is Commander Yilli. We've unblocked the gun deck and... I thought you'd want to see."

Kelley hurried up with Veronica on his shoulder to the gun deck, or at least the remnant of the gun deck. There were still bodies being cleared out in the hallways, and damaged sections had to be sealed off due to the vacuum and lost of atmosphere from hull breaches. It took a while to get there, though this was riling up Veronica more than Kelley himself. He looked at his SOUL.

"You know you can go ahead without me right?" Veronica nodded, but replied.

"I don't know if I can handle it if worst comes worst by myself." He nodded sympathetically, and continued up to his destination.

He walked into the mess that was the gun deck, and heard Morain called out to him.

"Kelley!" She was assisting Williams out and passing her to a nearby medical staff. "Medical team! Take this woman to Medical!" Morain then went over and embraced Kelley.

"It could have been worse. Me and Williams were able to activate the barrier right after impact. Seven dead so far... I was pinned under rubble. I couldn't move... but I knew you'd come for me." Kelley smiled, relieved though his face didn't show it. Veronica appeared in hardlight and hugged them both, as Kelley replied.

"Well, apparently since you managed to get out of this mess on your own I didn't arrive fast enough. Either way Morain, I'm glad you're safe" Veronica released her grip, then the three of them went back to their room. Veronica excused herself for some "rest" while Morain fretted over some wound still on Kelley's body. They bandaged each other and just cuddled on the bed a while, both waiting for the other to say something first.

Connor grinned at the young woman's enthusiasm, it was refreshing.

"That's the Warthog's EMRC. It's the naval ordinance model, I won it off a black market dealer who owed me a favor and modified the bracing system to use it with my shield. I suppose a tour of the mechanic's facilities would do for starters, I got some dents to buff out, and a couple fuel lines were severed in the fight."

He extended his hand towards the pretty young woman.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Kylei, I'm Connor Banning, pilot of the Warthog."

This day just got so much better.

< @MetalDog4 >

Kylei smiles as she shakes Connor's hand. "A Naval-Model EMRC? That must have taken quite a bit of jury-rigging. Naval ordinance is not compatible with FRAME systems by default, due to the difference in computing caused by the presence of the SOUL..." She blushed when she noticed that she was blabbing again. "There's no need to worry about your FRAME, Connor. Chief Hushion will take care of that. He knows so much more than I do. Anyway, the mechanic's facilities it is!" She chirps, leading Connor to a large, square room filled with the tools of the mechanic trade: Plasma torches, omni-spanners, and the prototype Exo-suits outfitted with servo-arms.

"Not much, but it's home. We actually have our own living quarters above here, so we can just jump out of bed and get to work. We live decently here. The rooms are quite like apartment. The beds are big, good for the couples..." She jumped, blushing hard as she realized what she said.

"A-a-a-anyway, what now, Connor? We could go to the mess, if you're hungry. We also have a gym, a virtual training center, a few observation decks..." She seemed very embarrassed.

< @WanderingJester >

Morain laid on the bed, cuddling Kelley for quite some time, enjoying the silence. But soon enough, she rolled over to be on top of Kelley, looking deep into his eyes. "Kelley..? My... my sister tried to steal you. And... I am afraid. I am afraid that you'll leave me, go to her. I love you, and I know you love me, but... I can't help it."

Before he could react, She got up. "I'm going to go get us some food. I'll be right back. Please don't go anywhere." Morain told him, before walking out the door, towards the mess hall.

[Giving you time to think or whatever here]

About ten minutes later, Morain returned with A platter of sushi similar to what they had gotten on shore leave. "I thought we could go on another date." She asked, as she put the platter on the table.

"Kelley..? My... my sister tried to steal you. And... I am afraid. I am afraid that you'll leave me, go to her. I love you, and I know you love me, but... I can't help it. I'm going to go get us some food. I'll be right back. Please don't go anywhere."

Then Morain left, leaving Kelley to stare blankly at the empty space where she was. Half of him wanted to laugh, while the other was sadden that Morain either had too little trust in their relationship and/or was so insecure during her upbringing that she thought of something that didn't even cross Kelley's mind. So he waited patiently as she returned with some sushi.

"I thought we could go on another date." Kelley smiled and joined her on the table.

"Don't worry Morain, I love you too. Lauca's special, but only so far as she resembles you. Also I think she has problems communicating with me. I honestly don't know why we were talking about paying for pie at a time when she was trying to kill me." Kelley shrugged and popped the last piece of fish, rice, soy sauce and wasabi into his mouth. Then he swallowed and thought about something, making Morain curious.

When she finally asked what was on his mind, he looked at her slyly. "Though I would say, if there's any chance that you, me and her could..." His voice trailed off, leaving the rest of the sentence hanging for Morain to imagine what it was.

"Integration of the Naval-model EMRC into the FRAME environment was my Master's thesis actually, and while clearly we can both see that it works, the labor/cost intensive nature of it meant that they decided not to implement." He looked around at the facilities taking in their extensive nature. Much better facilities than he was used to, he would be able to do some serious modifications to the Warthog.

"Not much, but it's home. We actually have our own living quarters above here, so we can just jump out of bed and get to work. We live decently here. The rooms are quite like apartment. The beds are big, good for the couples..."
He merely raised one amused eyebrow at her comment and embarrassment.

"Don't be embarrassed Kylei, I must say its nice for once to not be the one struggling to find words around a member of the opposite sex. I tell you what, why don't we get lunch together?"

< @WanderingJester >

Morain's eyes went wide, her thoughts obviously going the 'naughty' route. "No!" She yells, diving over the table to tackle Kelley. "No! You're mine! I won't share you with her, or anyone else!" She cried, holding Kelley close to her as they lay on the floor.

"I love you Loren." She says again, getting up off of him and moving to the bed, presenting herself as she begins to slowly strip. "Now... how much do you love me..?" She asks seductively, giving him her best 'come hither' look.

< @MetalDog4 >

"Lunch... would be nice..." Kylei says hesitantly, obviously still flustered. It disappears on the way to the mess, though, and soon enough she was talking shop, going on about all her ideas that she was able to test under Chief Hushion. "...and the mini-slip propulsion thrusters, once we figure out adequate shielding, will allow quicker acceleration and sudden direction changes without need for inertial dampeners. This is projected to allow greater versatility for our troopers, as there would be much more open space. 35%, in fact... oh, we're here."

She had actually not brought them to the mess, but to a small storage room apparently modified to be a fully-stocked household kitchen. Grill, stove, all the necessities, herbs and spices. "I like to cook, too. Very similar to working on FRAMEs. Come, sit down!" Kylei says, gesturing to a nearby table. "Is there anything in particular you'd like?"