trans_9 | Tightrope

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Tightrope

It had been a few days since the Outsider's gathering, where Hit Girl had finally been able to utilize her strength and talent to help others. All in all, it went pretty well: choices were made, friendships were had, blah blah and kumbaya. What SHE had wanted to show was that she was the type of girl who got the job done, and if anyone needed to be reminded, she would show that to them. Grabbing the flag had just been the start: now she wanted to make sure that whatever happened next, she would be ready, she would show people the type of person her daddy trained.

Which led to today's excursion in the Sensorium: she was doing tightrope walking, one of her weaker points, in order to maintain balance and poise. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop had demanded both, and while she had mastered that, she had not yet made her foray to really careful jumping in tight spots. To give her some energy, she had this playing in the background, and she jumped from rope to rope, her eyes concentrating, her tongue sticking out slightly in concentration.

Each step took courage, and the slightest imperfection would result in her falling, although of course it wouldn't be that big of a deal when you were in the Sensorium anyway. Despite this, Hit Girl demanded nothing less than imperfection: once she had this mastered, going to Negi and learning the delayed spells would be next, not to mention training Sasami.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I can't blame you, I've been avoiding them for years."

"Sounds like you'd be a good source to ask about weapons. It's pretty obviously open carry, but what about weapons that could damage the ship? I'd prefer not to shoot someone in self-defense, have the bullet go through the target and into Stacy, and then get a Violation for that - or doesn't that count?" Actually she'd prefer not to shoot anyone with a bullet; noisy and messy. A laser was faster, cleaner. And it pre-cooked what you shot at, which was another bonus.

"I sincerely doubt that there is anything about random chance involved in this war. We were chosen, if we don't know exactly how or why. Now we have to finish what was started, if we can."

"I generally am going to try avoiding people trying to kill me," Hit Girl said. "Of course, they usually come to ME, so I'm going to have to get better at defending myself when people jump me."

Famous last words.

"So far, I've been able to carry weapons that I can conceal; pretty easily. I don't know how willing they would be to let you have firearms in full view though, people to get all bothered by that. I guess there was some situation with someone shooting somewhere in the hangar or whatever. Likely, you'd want to ask the Captain about that, but I can't see Stacy being able to tell when you were going for somebody or her. There's still a lot I don't know about this ship."

She nodded. "Yeah, I've pretty much accepted that. I'm still alive, and the bastards that forced me to be here are too, doing it to other worlds. At this point its sort of our duty to get revenge."

Anwei giggled, eyes a little bright. "Another reason to work with mercenaries - all your coworkers are very good at coming to your defense, if necessary."

"I actually leafed through what the Armory had - impressive. But something more discreet might be better." If she built a static-formed brace for her messaging laser, she could carry it around and it would look like a tube wrapped in string. She'd sort of planned to be able to increase the power to danger levels in an emergency anyway. Hopefully Stacy wasn't too sensitive about scorch marks.

She narrowed her eyes. "We need to know what's really going on. I had a very interesting conversation with Lord Zetta over the comms, pointing out that if we destroyed the Ohm and only they knew how to restore our worlds, we would have revenge but nothing more."

Hit Girl nodded. "I haven't had the chance to do anything like that myself, but I'll definitely take your word for it. Right now I've gt a few good people I know that'll do a good job of protecting me in a pinch though. I have their backs as well, those that know who they are."

She listened closely to what she said about the armory, that being a place she was going to have to start getting familiar with. She had her weapons, but she was unsure how effective they were going to be amongst all of the enemies they were starting to meet. If there was a way to gets something stronger and be able to carry it around, she'd have to try and get access to that.

"If you find a way to obtain something like that, let me know. I think I may need to start carrying some extra fire power myself."

She sighed. "Yeah, you and everyone else. It makes me wonder exactly what the higher ups know about what we're dealing with. That I barely get to see them is kind of unsettling."

Anwei gave a thumbs-up gesture. "That's always good to know. Sometimes it's all you know, and that's all you need - that someone is there to cover for you."

"I was mostly looking around the Armory to see if there were any weapons I recognized, but there weren't. But I remember reading on the omnicomm that there were some visitors - Lensmen? - who ran a simulation of their weapons in the Sensoriums, and would be giving us weapons to fight against the Ohm. If those simulations were stored, I might try calling them back up. If there's going to be a standard weapon available, I should train on it."

"At least there should be regular Council meetings," she frowned. "Those would help, especially if the general crew could attend. And someone was working on starting a newspaper. Maybe we could get status reports via that."

She nodded. "Yeah. I've been cautious to do that at first though: the last time someone had my back, it turns out we were being set up, and I took a pretty bad shot in the gut. Thank goodness for bulletproof vests."

She nodded. "Yeah, I remember those weapons. I used them back when they were up and running that simulation with the Ohm. Pretty sweet firepower. I'm sure they should be able to call it up, I know I can."

Hit girl didn't fuck around when it came to weapons.

She nodded. "Yeah, that's the problem I'm having. They want to run this council, fine, but they don't really tell us anything except what's mandated. We only seem to get these bits and pieces of what they do, and some people are under the impression their purpose is to make all nice with the Ohm. Its kind of getting to the point that we're gonna be expected to resent the council."

She should look into getting some armor for herself. A ship designed for crew of multiple species ought to have something in her size. "Good to plan ahead in any case."

"Really? Maybe you could teach me how to handle them, if you don't mind. I'm mostly used to light weapons - the kind you just leave clipped by your desk, designed not to penetrate the hull."

"Making nice with the Ohm might be impossible - for all we know they really do want to do nothing but destroy, and there's nothing that will stop them. Or they want to assimilate us into their hive, which I don't think is going to sit too well with the crew. But it's up to the Council to say exactly what they are doing, or else you get thinking about secret meetings and plots and things, and before you know it the crew fragments." Or fragments more, in this case.

If she were actually looking for armor, Hit Girl would have told her exactly where she needed to go. Her barrier jacket was looking more and more of the better thing to wear recently, and though she knew she would miss her old suit, after the Kain thing she simply needed something a little more lightweight.

"I don't see why not. you did help me with the whole minus gravity thing. Light weapons I kind of prefer, but I've used heavier ones when I need to. A bow with a knife at the end, the bigger guns that Overlord Zetta gave me: at this point, I may need to get talking to Kang and those guys to step up my proficiency."

She made a face. "Yeah, I don't really want to make nice with the alien species that blew up my world, I don't care how big of a misunderstanding it was. The whole idea of it in the first place was because we voted in this girl who seems to see roses and lollipops when it comes to understanding each other. Some people need to get it through their heads that there can be flat out SCUM out there, and they want to kill us. If the Council really wants us to believe in them, they can start by actually telling us something."

"What you're wearing now is pretty good for weightless fighting," Anwei said. "Slick surface, hard to get a grip on. Standard uniform for me would be something like this," her denim shirt and plantsuit faded into a gray jumpsuit, studded with connector patches and metal fittings, looking like something that would go under a spacesuit - which of course it was. "It's pretty puncture-resistant, and it would stop a low-caliber bullet; heavier stuff doesn't get used on a spaceship, for obvious reasons."

"I'd ask if we could combine lessons with Kang, but I suspect we're at pretty different efficiency levels. I'd appreciate it if you could show me the Lensman weapons some time. You've already figured out more about free-fall combat than I had after one lesson."

She looked thoughtful. "That would be Dhianiela, yes? Well, so long as her view isn't the majority on the Council, she can at least give the most optimistic interpretation of events - so long as there as Councilors who will counterbalance her. She can see the roses, so long as someone else sees the thorns. Maybe they need to get together with Command and just publish a Current Mission Statement, archive it, and then review it as more information comes in."

"No kidding," Hit Girl said, looking at her outfit. Well, in that case it might make sense to ask Rein to mend her outfit. That barrier jacket was definitely going to have its uses, especially since it could protect her from more than just bullets, but there was no point in hurrying to shrug off the old stuff. Besides, it was the outfit dad made her.

That was important to her.

"Well, I have to admit, I had a little help. I was with a friend of mine Tavros on the ship, and he showed me how to use flight a little bit. It was a little like that. But sure, I'll show you how to use the weapons."

Why not? With all that she could do, it would be nothing but an asset.

She nodded. "I don't really mind the roses shit if it calms the other people down. I mean, she's likable, definitely an idealist. You meet them from time to time on the ship. I have a friend on the ship like that. But yeah, I figure that would make things a little more tangible to other people on the ship. I guess that newspaper idea might be a good one."

"Whatever you move around well in, and won't fly up in your face. If I was getting into a fight, I'd either wear a spacesuit or armor," gray ceramic-metal braces and pads formed over the jumpsuit, protecting the classic points: chest and back, elbows and knees. "You want to be able to bounce off your opponent, hit and get out of the way before they can get a joint lock on you."

"Tavros? Alex's roommate? I never met him, but I heard that he was repodded. Hopefully he'll come back some day." She hadn't heard from Alex lately either, but she figured he was still recovering from Tavros' departure. That was fine; everyone took their own time.

"From the sounds of what you're saying, a Mission Statement would certainly get people responding - and if they respond in a forum like a newspaper, there will be some record of majority opinions. Which will send a message to the Council and Command that won't be easy to ignore."

"Got it," Hit Girl said, making a note of this in the back of her head. She was really going to have to make a list of all of the different sort of armor she might want to acquire depending on the planets they happened to land on.

"I hope so too. He was a decent enough guy, always willing to talk about stuff, and he seemed a good match for that Alex kid, actually. He was the coolest troll I ever met."

She nodded. "It would be about the time those guys got a bit of a wake up call. Kinda makes me wish water girl was still around: she was dating one of the Council members."

Anwei's shopping list was coming along quite nicely in her own head. Computer supplies (storage most of all), medical imaging equipment, testing gear of all sorts, and most of all a current interdimensional newspackage.

"It must be frustrating for everyone to have their friends disappear, and not know if or when they will come back." A continual reminder of the hostage situation; intermittent reinforcement of the worst sort. "And if I understand correctly, there's no way to go down into the pod caverns and figure out who is where."

Her mouth quirked. "I don't think I've met a water girl. Is she transparent, or does she look like a standard humanoid?" Maybe she was like Duuv, except made of water rather than blood. Which would really puzzle her: at least Duuv was full of organic matter. Could someone really be alive who was just water?

"Yeah well, the only reason that's the way it is is because they haven;t met me yet," Hit Girl said. "They take someone I give half a shit about, I'm running those doors down and hitting them full force. I don't care if I have to go get explosives and run it through: I'll get to my answer."

And she thought that too. "No no, I call her that because its what she's able to do: she can use water anywhere and make it a weapon. She calls it bending. Anyway, she was podded recently, which sucked because she was part of a team I was on and she was one of the captains. She was dating that guy Matt though. I was hoping she was around, maybe get an idea what this council actually does."

Blowing open a stasis pod sounded like a bad idea - no, she just said she was going to take the doors out. "There must be records somewhere in Stacy of which pod holds who. Randomizing the records is just too dangerous - but I suppose the theory is that people would try to attack their enemies in stasis, or free their friends, like you said." She brooded. "Of course 'Stacy' might not even have any control over that list; it might be a subroutine on automatic."

"Have they even met since the election? That was a while ago; there should at least have been an introductory meeting of some sort. Maybe everyone should just write to their favorite, or least favorite, Councilor and ask when the next meeting is. Help get the hint across."

She shrugged. "I dunno. My knowledge of what this ship is able to do is scarce, mostly because I'm still preoccupied with the whole war against the evil aliens bugs things. It's not like I was born with superpowers, so I have to get mine the old fashioned way: being good enough to make it come all its own, or studying to be strong enough to have my own powers. Stacy is just an enigma all her own. Let the braniacs use their heads and figure her out."

She grinned. "That sounds really mean and unnecessary. We should totally do it so they get the message that we need to have a nice sit down with them. I mean, at this point, they should just see it coming that even the proles need some answers."

"I might be best put to use with the braniacs," she said dryly. "I'm a lot better at computers than I am with weapons. My plan is just to keep in training, hope my AI shows up, and see if there's any way to stabilize the neural networks long enough to find out what's wrong with them. And doing that while you're flying inside the ship that is running those networks is - not recommended."

What she wanted was a super spacetanker full of neural jelly that she could copy Stacy's autonomous systems into, and then take the whole mess apart from the baseline up. Not going to happen, of course. She would bet a tooth that if they got too aggressive the ship would start handing out Punishments, if not just jettisoning pods outright. And alerting the Daligig.

"Maybe we don't have to be that drastic," she said thoughtfully. "Billy in Engineering has a calendaring program set up. Maybe just push out a message for people to start using it, and casually ask the Council to populate it with their meeting dates. If they don't, ask why."

She nodded. "You just said a lot of things I didn't understand, but I get the jist of it. There's always going to b a shortage of stuff we have conveniently missing that would help us to get to the bottom of half the shit going on on this ship."

Whatever worked, really. "I'm not exactly planning on starting a riot, but I think it would help if the ship started to get involved in who is representing them, and know what it is the people they elected are doing, you know?"

"The ship is broken, our tools for fixing it are broken, and if we try to fix either we'll all end up getting a quick vacuum cleaning - or worse. So I'm just going to repair what I can, make everything run smoothly for people. And keep lots of backup material, so that if I get conveniently disappeared, someone else won't have to start over from scratch."

A serial killer would have a field day with this set-up, wouldn't she? Get the computer to declare all her victims repodded and - Anwei choked off that line of thought.

"I agree. Right now I just don't have any feel for the Council - I couldn't even put a face to half their names - so how can I know how they will debate? How can I trust them? And it will just keep getting worse, as the people who do know the Council die or are repodded, and new people come in."

"That sounds like a good plan. Knowing this crew, something insane will happen at the most inconvenient time, exposing exactly how inefficient some things around here can be. So I say the more back ups we have, the better. You never know if Stacy might get damaged or attacked."

She nodded. "I mean, the Outsiders are far from perfect, but I at least see familiar faces, I can watch them on the field. I get to know 'em that way. This council, I barely know any of them, and I wanna know if they're really going to be working in our best interests when it comes to another off planet mission."

"Backing up Stacy's processes would be ideal, of course, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was impossible with the current set-up. She may just be too full to have any leftover room for backups. She may have been designed," the corners of her mouth turned down, "not to have any leftover room."

She considered. "Kang is on the Council, and he went on the mission himself. It's usually a good sign when your Councilors are willing to step up and take a potential hit alongside the rest of the crew. Of course that was a fairly benign mission."

She nodded. "They did say there had been other crew members in the past. It might not be too far fetched to think they might have made sure Stacy had a way of going on, even when they were all killed. So maybe we have to find a way to do that, just in case. I wish I had the smarts to help, honestly."

She knew what she was suited for.

Hit Girl shrugged. "Yeah, but Kang's also pretty bad ass. What the hell does he have to fear, going on a mission? He's probably stomp some aliens flat if they tried to attack us anyway."

"I wish I was a better melee fighter. You know you can fight. I just have to hope that I have some useful information to pass along, and that Stacy doesn't resist by altering my memories or just taking me away."

"We may have to wait until the next mission to find out. So far as I've heard, they don't seem to come on any set schedule." Another frustration: random events she had no control over.

"You'll get there. There are plenty of people who are willing to train you. I know I can do it, and so can many others. Besides, you sound like you have a ton more useful abilities than I do anyway."

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm kinda hating that. I'd like to know when we're going and why. That way I can get bags of the shit that I need later."

Anwei shook her head no - not at the first part of that statement, but at the last. "There's no way to tell what will be useful in a war. You can have the best gear, the best people, and you'd lost if it wasn't for the random windstorm or a bout of sickness or the passing messenger who mentions that the enemy is colorblind. This war may not be won with fists or with coding - maybe it will end up being who has the hardest heart, or the deepest soul, or the shiniest scalp, or something." She was thinking of Megamind, who could probably get quite a gleam on his head with enough oil.

She wondered why Stacy didn't just provide the shit - clearly her own systems must produce some organic by-products. "I'm hoping for some dehumidifiers myself. Hook it up to a filter and I'll have water wherever I want. And it would probably help with keeping gundpowder dry."

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The tags are insane! I'm sorry this took so long!

NP - it's a good kind of insanity though

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