Ch. 7 When are we getting out of here?

[Takota]

Takota had just about worked himself up to getting up and rearranging the borg's armor when Janxi grabs him thus taking his attention off of his potential adversary. He is about to protest but the ensuing nuzzle and massage removes any hint of complaint on his part.

If it had not been as clear as the conversation going on around him Takota would have ignored the voice he hears in his mind. "Yes dear." he says quietly after her comment.

The talking continues around him but the leopard all but ignores it in favor of enjoying the attention Janxi is lavishing upon him. He usually is not much of a talker anyway. When she stops to show off the particle beam rifle. "Now that could be fun but if you bring that then I get to bring a rail gun." he says in a teasing tone as he leans forward to once again enjoy the scratching claws.

[Tori]

Tori's ears perked and her tail ducked as she prepared to leap into yet another fight and pull Takota off of Det, until her partner diffused the situation without even a word.

She watched Janxi produce Sampson and laughed. "I think I'll take out a Mk V from the motor pool, but they don't do real well in a swamp! Cats and toys!"

[dakota]

[Sam]

"does Lt. Norrin know this?" Tim chuckled. " I saw the way he looks at you, and he wants to be more than just friends if he isn't already." He shrugged as he glanced across the room and then back to Sam," I know I'm not a farmer or anything, but I'll manage." Then something struck him funny. " Want to hear a good one? Back when Carson and I were still fairly green, both of us talked about getting out before we turned thirty and starting families. He had plans to go back to some village out west he'd been to on a patrol. I thought that was what he was up to when he transferred to CSOG operations And here I am, the one talking retirement."

[team house]

" I wouldn't say everyone will take a crack at you." Scope said as he drained his can. " But enough to understand you wanting to get outta dodge. Few crazies around here I wouldn't trust."

Det had no clue how close he came to getting pounced as he looked at the heavy weapon. " Nice. Thought about a heavier rail gun, but too noisy with all the dinos down here. Maybe one of those NG pulse plasma rifles, or even get a Hellfire like I had before. You've got the artilley handled, maybe I'll just go up close and personal." The borg smiled, then looked at Tori. " Ain't no way they'll let you have a Mark V. Those are for local patrols. 50 creds says we'll get air dropped in the middle of nowheres by the 7th Cav jockeys."

[Tori]

"Cats understand tha fine art of sarcasm better than most," she said to det with a fangy grin. "Mark V would juss git suck-in-tha-mud."

She looked to Scope and nodded. "Lotta crazies I wouldn't trust. You gotta remember, we ain't humans. We're Imperial property. Better to shoot us an' be safe than take a chance. Considering I intervened in Shep's lil donnybrook, shattered one clyde's jaw, and thumped another one royally, an' called out the puppy brigade at chow, I reckon the three of us are endangered species wif a killer at large."

At that, she cracked into another beer. "I'd juss as soon not go wif many rail guns. They make a lotta noise, an in a swamp, sound carries. Tha quieter tha better, as cats hunt by sound an' site. But if ya gotta have a pepper gun, so be it."

[Janxi]

She put Sampson away, for now. He might end up her big-game rifle. "I like that idea about a hover-jeep uv sum-kind. Quiet and fast, and we can stow a lotta toys in em. You know I love Eve, Tori, but I reckon one could take a bit more of a poundin. I'd rather jump than fly with them 8th Cav dicks anyhow..."

She sat down and stroked takota's head like a housecat. "She's right. While we got Tony out there, none of us is safe, and even then, we ain't exactly tha glee club. Sam gets back, we'll go askin her 'bout a tiger hunt. I hate to do it, but better one of us than some juicer team torturin' him and draggin' it out. We do 'em quick, an' bury him proper."

[dakota]

"You two want some privacy or something?" Det asked, a brow raised as he looked at Janxi and Takota. " You've been all touchy feely since we walked in. Or is it just one of those things about cats? Don't get me wrong, it's alot better than having to worry about some dogboy sniffing my butt."

"Det, your ass is steel plate now.Unless they're sniff for motor oil, you're safe." Scope chuckled before looking back at Tori," Don't let the general overhear that property crap. You know about the first bunch he caught pulling the human superiority card, don't you?" Scope could tell by Tori's expression she hadn't. " couple of dinks out of ChiTown were putting it to a psi-stalker in their squad and General Sykes overheard them. By 6AM the next morning, the psi-stalker was reassigned and the rest of that squad got reassigned to long range recon around the Duluth Hives."

Det added. "There was another squad in Lone Star that got the same thing along the old Mexican border. Heard they weren't issued any silver rounds, just a box of water pistols just in case." He shook his head. " Screw that. Sure, fresh meat buy into that ownership crap, but anyone whos fought alongside cats or dogs or stalkers, or even the bears and monkeyboys knows you more than pull your weight and then some. Besides, Shep would kick the ass of anyone who thought otherwise in this squad, or at least try. Should wake him up . Hey Tak, gimme a hand would you? We'll move his bunk into the showers. He sleeps heavy enough he won't wake up, and in the morning he'll have no idea how he got there."

Scope chuckled and shook his head. " No worries Takota, Det will get the blame for it." He took a sip of his beer. " Say, did Shep ever tell you the story about the time him and that psicorp sergeant he's got the hots for spooked a rabbit on a creep and it tripped a claymore set across the trail?" He laughed.

[Mierin]

Sam smirks at her brother before admitting, "I don't know what's going on there." Sam shrugs as she eats, "Just seeing what happens." Sam nods at her brother and says, "That is funny."

[Tori]

"Truss me when I say dey could be a lot worse. We uh, juss averted a medical situation. If we hadn't, these two would be at it like alley cats, WIF us in tha room!"

She shook her head and looked over to Scope. "Naw, man. General may be a great guy, Shep's got our six, and Capt'n Sam's alright. But you know right well, it's fuzzfaces first to go over tha wall. When there's a minefield, 'Dogboys out front.' It's juss tha way it is.

"And ya best let Shep sleep. We juss got back 'smornin, an he was wounded yet 'gain, blown up an deaf.Then, he gets back, meets his worss enemy and they slug it out. I ain't messin' wif him."

[Janxi]

"We couldn't even if we wanted to. This may be speakin' more to Tori's point, but procreatin' wifout prior authorization is a court martial-able offense.

"It may be better fer us, but can we git honorable discharges, git married," at that she shot Tak a playful wink, "Move up to Chitown City an open a butcher shop? If I got thrown in tha breedin' program, unlikely for either of us cuz we're hybrids, I ain't gittin tha mate of my choice, am I, but who Bradford says. We get paid a 10th of what yew get paid, don't have leave privileges. If we had to go to a field hospital, would be tha last to be triaged."

She poured another beer and looked at her glass appreciatively. There was a sad sense of irony in her eyes.

"Red solo cup, I fill you up,
Let's have a party, let's have a party!
I love you red solo cup, I lift you up,
Proceed to party, proceed to party!"

Singing a bar of chorus, she took a sip and looked at the newbs. "Y'all mebbe draifted, and mebbe yer volunteers. Me, I was born into tha service, but chose tha Marines. Tha one choice I ever done did have. Tori and Tacky are bofe cloned ta' kill. Grown in a tube in a factory of a laboratory to Imperial standards. Ya see, we're juss cute an' fuzzy skelebots that are a lil smarter. We'll die out in tha field, or sent to a cattery to push out kittens. We'll be replaced wif next year's model. And all the 'New Army' talk and we got rights crap thrown out don't change that fact. Don't talk 'bout how great we got it and how we're team members 'nless ya know tha facts."

She had had a few. It affected her slightly my now, but she was no where near even a proper buzz. Just a little sad her life brought her to a precipice where she had to kill one of her own kind, just for taking the thing she wanted, freedom.

"Yeah, we're all juss back from our lass hump. Ain't nobody gon fox wif Shep." Her eyes locked on Det's for just a moment. She wasn't really sure he knew what he had avoided from Takota. While cats could be silly, and often were, messing with a cat's human was never a good idea.

Her demeanor softened a bit. "That Shep..." hearing the story about the rabbit. "Ya'd swear a black cat crossed his paff before every hop." She laughed. "Guy's got tha worse luck of any smoofface I ever done met."

[Takota]

As the conversation wears on Takota mostly listens now content to stay still and enjoy Janxi's attention.

Waiting until after the others speak Takota chimes in, "There is not much in the way of privacy around here anyway so you'll just have to put up with us." he comments in an easy tone to Det then combs his claws along the back of Janxi's neck. "Besides, a bit of casual grooming can be a distraction to get a cats attention on something other than what they were thinking and not necessarily a sign of what humans may think it is." The last part of his statement could be a bit of an explanation for Det, some supportive words for Janxi as her mood darkens or both.

"As for Shep ... I have to side with the others. Leave him be so he can rest. There will be time for games later on." Secretly Takota would LOVE to have a bit of fun by doing just as Det suggested and carry the sleeping human into a cold shower. It reminds him of some of the kinds of jokes he would play on the others from his old squad.

That is when it hits him. A sudden longing for the familiarity of his old post, his old unit ... knowing the people and places around him. Takota mentally slaps himself back to reality though reminding himself that he has it good in this new outfit he has been assigned to. The best part is that now, instead of a couple of dogboys to playfully annoy, he has a couple of cats to annoy.

"I'm going to go back to the store for a moment. Forgot some vital things." Takota says thought he grin that appears on his muzzle makes it obvious to any cat that some kind of devious thought is going through his mind.

[Tori]

Tori watched Takota slip out and her ears flicked twice and her tail swished. "Git some movies while yer there!"

She fell in on Janxi nuzzling up. It wasn't an erotic thing, just how cats were. Nuzzle, and replace one body with another. "Well there goes yer man. He better git some good movies like Star Wars an' Aliens. That's all I know!"

[dakota]

[Sam]

"Well don't mess around too much there." Tim warned with a smirk. " I remember your track record back in school wasn't too good, so if he's a decent guy, you better latch on to him." He started laughing. "And who am I kidding, Carson will get buried with a helmet on, which is probably the only way t keep it on him."

Tim looked up and seen one of the village's refugees coming towards them, under escort. " Captain Tim. Can you come? They making us pack again. Soldiers say we havve to move again."

Tim looked at Sam, " I gotta go. Do yourself a favor and go find that Norrin guy and figure things out Sam. I'll see you before you ship out in the morning." He was up and releiving the escort, heading to the refugee camp.

[squad]

"Bad luck doesn't find Shep, he goes looking for it." Scope said with a chuckle. " Tori, I'll tell you right now, when the time comes to go over the wall, you better not hesitate or you'll be watching my six. As far as me or Det are concerned, you three are just a couple more more grunts to do the dirty work Chi-Town doesn't want to dirty their hands with."

Det nodded. " Yup, Scope's right. We're all cannon fodder out here so don't be pullin no contest on who's gotta try to die first. We all know Shep is trying to win that anyways." He laughed. " Probly take all of us to stop him. Sad thing is, unless things have changed, he does that stupid stuff to look out for everyone else."

As Tak slipped out, night was starting to fall on the base, with the sunlight fading and the base lights coming on. One of the newly deployed IAR-5's lumbered passed him. A couple flightcrew members passed him, but paid little attention as he headed to the base store

[Tori]

Tori stood up and squared to Scope. "You really think we'd hesitate goin' over the wall? That's what we live for, foxface." She began licking and grooming her shoulder.

"I'd take offense, but you ain't never seen us work. Cats take point, and humans follow. That's just that. A coupla grunts? We tripled yer body count. Yer in the presence of shagcats. Be smart. Stay behind us. Throw yer animals out front"

Tori began stashing her new gear. Bombs in her LBG, E-clips in pouches. She finished by sharpening knives. "We're not happy to be cannon fodder, but we're gonna win. We're red shirts that shoots back straighter. We fight harder. We get to the line and shred.

"Now right now, I'm prayin'... I'm prayin' we get to hunt down Tony for his own good. He's hurtin us, an if he rolls up on soldiers, it's gon be ugly. "

[Takota]

'I love this time of the day.' Takota thinks as he makes his way out into the fading light. Heading back to the store he quickly locates some para-cord, about one hundred feet of it, and a few movies, making sure to find something where the evil aliens get their butts kicked after the humans figure out how to kill them, like Battle LA and others along that line. Lots of action, shooting and special effects for some eye candy.

After getting his stuff Takota wanders back to the barracks. "Action and adventure to keep us happy for a few hours." he says when he gets back. Tossing the movies to Tori he heads to his bunk for a bit to sit down.

[Mierin]

Sam just smirks at her brother's comments and nods as he gets up to leave. For the moment, Sam decides to finish her meal, knowing that her getting quiet moments to herself are few and far between. (She is polite to anyone who might speak to her)