*Shikyo watches quiet next to Lady Kurisho, sipping occasionaly from her tea. She contemplates on the fracticious nature of the sisterhood. So many faces that are part of, yet so few she has ever actualy seen while she went out on patrols. She shrugs mentaly it is apassing thought, reminding herself that not many of them would have the oppertunity to even seen her very often around her, especialy over the last year or so, at least not since the disagreement between herself and the former leader of the Sisterhood.*
*she watched several other younger sisters come and go, noting most do not seem to really take notice of who is in the tea house except that who is at the bar or making the most noise...be it giving Steve fits or with some other visitor. She grins slightly as she considers what sort of reaction might be gained and what would possibly change should she choose to bring the original Golden Dawn out of hiding. The thought os a full on armed Detoryer parked near Ainu might be ammusing, she will have to speak to Lady Kurisho, when she is feeling better, or Lady Saigo about flight status of a Destroyer Class for the Sisterhood.*
*She looks over to Lady Kurisho, noting she answered the Stranger about IronWastas as well, then slides silently out of the corner both and rises smoothly to her feet, at the same time sliding her katana into her Obi before bowing respectfully to Lady Kurisho and taking her leave.*
*She pauses when she hears about the mold covered crate and shakes her head, she had thought she had that thing removed once, seems the tech crews need to be reminded to obey orders a little more swiftly. So she waits for a moment for Steve to come closer before speaking in that same seemingly soft delicate tones she used before when speaking to him* "Steve-san. About that crate. See to its destruction immidiately. Then apprehend the cheif cargo master of the watch and remand him to Iron Wastas for disobeying prior orders of a Sister. See to this immidiately please."
*With that she turns and heads for the door of the tea house, her steps slow and careful as always when she was wearing a full traditional kimono, and also slow just in case anyone else had anything for her...especialy hoping to see Saigo before she had to leave for awhile*
"Oh... the crate? Alright, I'll destroy it. Anything to please the ladies... hehehe... eh" Steve replied as he served up tea to Naomi and Miharu. Immedietly afterwards, he left the Teahouse and made his way in the direction of the armory.
Naomi sipped her tea and changed the holovision channel, apparently showing some kind of obituary to the certian Political Satirist that met an unfortunate end at the hands of Lady Kurisho and Watsas. She overheard Miharu and Keiko noting that Naomi may know more about the incedent with the poor farmer on the Holovision.
"No, I don't know anything about it, Miharu. But if someone in Kusari is paranoid about war machines falling from the sky crushing their livelyhoods, it's Watsas' fault. That's a given." She shrugged.
Naomi then noticed Kurisho, apparently not feeling well. Probably, Kurisho had the same bug that Naomi had cought days prior. "Lady Kurisho, how are you feeling? That bug still going around?"
***
Meanwhile...
Steve made his way to one of the storage rooms in the residential sector to dispose of the moldy old crate which had raised Miharu and Shikyo's concerns. However, 'Dispose' for Steve usually meant with napalm or explosives, and if there was one thing he loved next to women, it was blowing things up. He had armed himself accordingly, with a Consortium πrifle and high-pressure flamethrower, and tapped in the access code to the storage room, and walked inside.
The box was sitting by itself, in the center of the room, directly under a cieling lamp, in an overly dramatic 'creepy' fasion. Steve looked around the room with his helmet sensors and detected nothing about to leap out at him, so he walked over to the box and looked it over. The box itself was a simple wooden crate, covered with mold and presumably emmitting a miasma of stench which Steve could not detect through his mask.
"Good... god!" Steve muttered as he stared at the box. However, as he stood there, a sense of morbid curiousity took over.
"What the hell is in here!?"
Steve, throwing caution to the wind, walked up to the box and proceeded to pry it open with a crowbar...
***
His screams, followed by a hailstorm of gunshots, explosions, and thumping and banging could be heard clear back in the tea house. Apparently causing Naomi to shrug in discontent.
"He can't even get rid of a BOX properly..." Naomi sighed, listening to the racket proceed. "If we go and help him, he won't learn a lesson from all of this."
She turned the volume of the holovision up, attempting to drown out Steve. However, after a few minuites, the screaming and shooting suddenly and abruptly stopped.
"Kurisho... what was in that box exactly?" Naomi asked, now concerned that something was awry...
Zio sighs as he drinks some of the tea houses tea. That may not be useful the entire time as im pretty sure all you lady's have fire arms. Listening for fire alarms might be helpful.
Well iron gets things done fast so he should be back here soon.
Oh im sorry where are my manners Im Zio.Internecine head of the Consortium research division pleased to meet you both.
While waiting Zio searches through various recorded videos on his holo terminal.
Naomi then noticed Kurisho, apparently not feeling well. Probably, Kurisho had the same bug that Naomi had cought days prior. "Lady Kurisho, how are you feeling? That bug still going around?"
It's either a bug or ............................ no, it can;t be that.
*shrugs slightly*
"Kurisho... what was in that box exactly?" Naomi asked, now concerned that something was awry...
You know, that's the funny thing. I looked into the station's logs. There is No mention of a box lately. And the way things go around here lately and all the holes we have in general security, it just easier to blame Watsas.
....The Christmas tree didn't eat us...or worse...................so we are overdue for our bi-annual 'Alien' invasion.
*turning a bit, she lets out a smile upon her Black Painted lips*
Oh im sorry where are my manners Im Zio.Internecine head of the Consortium research division pleased to meet you both.
It is good to meet you. I am Lady Kurisho.
"Do you think Steve is all right?" Miharu asked, a bit concerned. Of course, she was more afraid of her residential quarters which were nearby than Steve, who she figured Watsas had several clones of. Either that or he followed her around far too much.
"Lady Kurisho, do you think that crate was some kind of Hogosha trap?" she asked. "I hear those Farmers grow a lot of mold.
"Eh, if he isn't, then Watsas will replace him quickly enough." Naomi replied, not particularly concerned over Steve's well being, as opposed to the potential harm that could be caused by some kind of mysterious crate.
"Still... we'd better make sure he got rid of that box." She shrugged, malcontent at the prospect of having to clean up after Steve's inadaquacies.
She stood up and made her way out of the tea house toward the residential deck.
Miharu nodded and followed Naomi toward the mystery crate. "Do you think we need weapons?" she asked.
Thinking to herself, she realized this could be a bad situation. She quickly returned to the table and downed the rest of her cardi-tea. With \CS\-Steve, she realized there was no such thing as too much cardamine. Having done that she hurried back to Naomi's side as they headed out.
"Yes... we will probably need weapons..." Naomi realised, just before arriving at the storage room. She turned around and headed toward the armory.
On arrival, she collected a small array of weapons, including two blaster pistols, a portable rocket launcher, the ZF-1 gun, a combat knife, a belt of hand grenades, pack of throwing knives, body armor, and a helmet. She was quite the sight, as small as she was, carrying a massive bool of oversized weapons toward the storage room.
She stood ready to charge in, and waited for Miharu to follow.
Miharu had joined Naomi in visiting the supply room, though she was much more minimalistic. Body armor was a given, but most of the rest seemed unnecessary. She grabbed a pair of small photon handguns (made in the mold of the Suncannon, of course) and followed Naomi into the room.
As they entered, she couldn't believe her eyes.
Naomi nodded and opened the door, and the two charged into the darkened supply room.
The Box was still there.
Steve was not.
There was apparent evidence of a firefight, but no sign of Steve. No weapons, no pools of blood, no clothing, nothing. Naomi looked around shifty eyed. "Miharu... I'm not taking chances with this. I say we get Watsas to do this. He has lots of scarificial manpower."
Naomi slowly backed out of the room, and headed toward the Lab.