United States Government Intranet
PLA operations have halted. Not entirely, just any expansion to the East towards the Acahualla area has been essentially shut down. The Joint Forces are going to settle in some allocated areas once negotiations with Chieftan Tomimi go through.
She and her kind seem like a nice people, although they keep eying up our technology.
- Sergeant Clark and Lieutenant Lesly
Russia is reporting that things in their Siberian territories are growing increasingly silent. Task Force 141 is on standby in Scotland.
- Secretary of State
No gold on W's cooperation, but we are still working on her. On the other hand, Skullshatterer no longer feels the need to fight, so that's good.
- Eliza Cohen, 'Ash'
"Challenge call: Star"
Pvt. James Ramirez
December 29th, Earth Time, 2055
October 30th, Terra Time, 1097
Well, we were going to end up here anyhow.
GoldenArches. Mickies. Whatever.
McDonalds was where they were currently. Foley ordered to the convoy stop to eat and stretch at this little city just shy of the Texan border. It was about still a long ways away till they reach the big state. This was the small city of Vinton. It may be small, but it was still mighty enough.
The early afternoon sun was above, providing a nice, warm environment to the American south. Blaze, Ace, and Dunn was having a good ol' talk over some Coke. Foley chatting with Amiya while keeping an eye on Red, who was sniffing her food and lightly pushing it away. Nearby, Foley had to remind her to eat, because "this stuff is going to be the last thing till we get to the Ranch."
The Ranch in question was a U.S. Military Installation, legally. It was acquired by the Military after the Ranch became a little silent from its previous owners. Decently large, with some old crops, but still maintained by U.S. National Guard who stop by here for regular training missions. There was some old Oil derricks in there, which may allow Dunn to have a much more comprehensive talk about Earthling energy.
The Ranch was also close to a site that the United States Space Force uses to launch their large scale space ships from. Larger and much faster, but usually reliant on a network of skyhooks and marked asteroids to keep themselves going in a very fast motion.
Reluctantly, Red began to eat. Foley took a sip from his drink. Turning to Lappland and Carmen, he saw the 2 excitedly whisper to each other, like some teenagers trying to share a secret. He raised an eyebrow. "Wonder what the hell those 2 are talking about?" The Grey lupo looked over as well, chewing on some Chicken nuggets. Amiya wasn't paying attention, she was watching Nearl converse outside with Shining and Nightingale, while idly nibbling on some fries.
Dobermann was thinking of something, they were probably getting a little out of shape considering they have been out of action for a while, but they still had their weapons on them... She snapped her finger, going back to eating her food. Daniel and Chen was hanging outside, with Swire and Hoshiguma. All 4 of them was engaged in some sort of conversation, mostly asking Daniel about Maryland, how life was for him.
With the Marine-Ranger and the crazy Lupo...
"Girl-" Carmen drawn out, "I'm pretty damn sure that they're you know what." Lappland light shoved her.
"There's no way," the Lupo responded, pointing at the Angel and the Ranger with happy little Lana between them, "That seems unlikely, right?" She subtly gestures at them, holding a Big Mac, before taking a bite. Carmen shakes her head. "Listen, the 2 are pretty much getting closer, and being unified by little Lana over there, I won't be surprised if..." Carmen pulled back, watching as 3 shadows began to cover the table.
Dunn had come over, flanked by Blaze and Ace, "What are you 2 talking about?" Blaze rested her hand on her hip with her, while Ace had his arm crossed. The 3 were dressed in very casual clothing, with Blaze still having some resemblance to her old uniform.
Carmen was about to point over at Exia and Ramirez, but she stopped herself, as Lappland had decided to go distract herself with bugging Texas and Sora. At that she sighed, and turned to him, "Nothing, nothing to worry about really."
Lappland however, "Texas..." she begins, a little more seriously than the operator is used to. At the tone, she forced herself to listen, and so did Sora who had just finished off a burger and was now drinking some water, "I think Exusiai and Ramirez are a thing." Sora spat out the water at that. Coughing, and watching as Texas spun around rapidly, she turns to Lappland with one simple question.
"WHAT?!" She looked over at Lana, Ramirez, and Exusiai in a booth, happily talking about something, while Lana was trying to speak and make something by the looks of the blue light that was forming around her cupped hands. Texas was looking herself and she tightly gripped her box of Pocky as she fully takes it in.
"Well I'll be..." Foley whistled, catching everybody's attention.
"Everybody, let's pack it up, we got to be at the ranch by 2!"
"Doctor," Rosmontis asked, lazing on the couch in the office that the Doctor shares with Amiya and Kal'tsit. The Doctor looked up from signing and messaging some paperwork to the United States. Pulling down his mask, he looks at the little Orbital Strike weapon of a cat girl and smiles. "What is it Rosmontis?" She was upside down, holding a little bunny plushie. Her green eyes looking up at him.
"When is Amiya going to come back?" Doctor looked at the computer again, tapping and seeing a little notification, "They'll start coming home in about 3 days," he gets up from his desk, and heads over to Rosmontis and lightly, and gently, began to rub her on the head. Soft purrs of bliss came from her, and it caused him to smile, "Don't worry, they'll be here before we know it."
Kal'tsit entered the room, holding a dark cup of coffee. "Doctor, I am preparing operators to head to Chernobog..." she stopped, seeing Rosmontis getting gentle head rubs. With some sort of silent deal struck with him, she began to turn around, "I shall return with this matter later."
Chernobog was silent, except for them.
2:01PM
The drive into the Ranch's area in eastern Texas near Houston was pretty quick. Upon seeing the Lone Star State's flag come up and by, the rangers knew, and the operators knew that they were now in Texas. The flag was up high, and there was large signs, with one even saying, proudly "Drive the friendly way, the Texas way."
The operator herself was not amused by the new flood of joke ways that Lappland was using to try and get her attention. The one that got a genuine laugh out of Carmen was something that made the Marine-Ranger wonder if Lappland learned it from some the internet out of pure boredom. It went something like this.
Lappland goes up to Texas, and she begins, with the biggest shit-eating grin that Carmen has ever seen, and she began, "Pleased to meet you second largest state in the United States by land area-" and that got a resounding slap of annoyance from Texas. Lappland fell backward, and the latter just simply chewed another Pocky, calming herself down, "Shut up."
Carmen snickered a little, as the convoy got on the way. Ptilopsis was still recording everything, but she noticed that there was a distinct feature about this state. There was corn, everywhere. As well as large farms that had a massive bounty of crops on them. Croissant paid attention the most, while Mudrock had a bit of disturbance, "I wonder how the friends of the planet are faring with all of this..."
The Ranch was somewhere up ahead. Guarded by some gates and 2 flags. The American and Texan flag flying at equal height.
This marked the end of the roadtrip, as they were going to head home the day after New Years on Earth, but it was nice to be able to enjoy some of the joys of Earth and learn some things. The vehicles pulled up into the little dirt area that was in front of the main Ranch house. At at that, several operators were happy to get out onto the ranch, seeing it as a pretty laid back finale to the trip and 'learning experience'.
"Wow~" Kroos let out, a breath of fresh air coming to her, Jonathon rubbing his ears, "This place looks so nice!" Fang and Beagle had gotten out, the former stretching her arm and yawning. Beagle began to run around, a little excitedly. "Hey Kroos! Let's go find somewhere to hang out!"
Mudrock began to wander around a little, taking a glove off and going to start rubbing the ground. The soft, sand-soil mixture could only tease at the stories of the people that once was here. While she was having her little fun with the ground, Silence came out and looked at some of the fields that, at some point, was once used to harvest and grow crops.
"Interesting..." she muttered, picking up some of the soil and rubbing it, raising an eyebrow seeing some of the soil burnt. Saria and Ifrit was playing around. Which normally would piss Silence off a little. But for now, while they were here, she decided against it, just to save her the energy and patience for more important matters. Gavial had stepped out and had a proud smile as she lifted her staff and kept it behind her back.
"What a nice place..." she stopped, some sort of feeling coming over her. She began to look around rapidly, trying to find the MAT-V, "Where's that bird doc at?" She questioned in reference to Ptilopsis. Somewhere, she felt something horribly wrong happen, and she needs to find that damn bird for her device. "Gotta... talk to Kal'tsit," she planned. She began to move off in direction of the vehicle.
Suzuran had come out and was happily humming. Facing the sun that was giving the ranch a very comforting feeling of warmth that filled her and the others that was stepping out to enjoy the ranch. Hell, Amiya was pretty sure that Nearl was glowing a little.
Liskarm and Franka had gone off their vehicle, but the latter was messing with the former over some electrical discharges she had let out while the bus was trudging on through the mostly boring highway here.
The vehicles now sat, empty of all the operators that came along, as everybody began to head towards the decently large ranch house. It should be enough to accommodate everybody, provided that some people share and aren't too space needy.
As the JLTV stops and shuts down, Dunn steps out of his vehicle and sees, off in the distance, very derelict Oil Derricks. He watched as Ceylon and Schwarz stepped out. "Hey, Madam Ceylon," he begins, watching as Blaze and Ace got out, and stretched. The Siestan-Liberi lady turns to him, "Yes sir Dunn?"
The Ranger pointed out in the distance, "that over there..." the derricks stayed still, "is one of the things that brought one of the oldest and longest-running forms of energy that is still in use today on Planet Earth." He did a silent gesture, making Ceylon follow, with Schwarz behind. The latter had focused on Dunn, taking as much mental notes of his own behavior as she can, considering how much that Dunn is engaging in polite and civil conversation with her...
... before being absolutely flipped immediately when it comes to talking with Blaze and Ace in a more casual manner. A noise came from her, very subtle, as she got back to observing Dunn while he began to explain how they extracted Crude Oil.
Gavial was talking with Ptilopsis on letting her speak with Kal'tsit for a bit, meanwhile Carmen and Lappland had fully moved their things into the ranch house and was now pretty much preparing for a mock spar fight.
Blue Poison saw a little pond, and went over to it, appreciating the peace, and the quiet with it.
Fang and her team was running from Dobermann. They were running because the latter had managed to find something that they knew was eventually going to be brought up. Kroos had tripped over some of it, and she continued her running.
Obstacle courses for training.
"Instructor!" Beagle began, "Come on, we're on Earth!" Arguing that did not help. Dobermann caught up to her, "And that is why it is important we do training," she points out, "Out there represents a world that Rhodes Island is fighting for. And they have the military techniques and technologies to back that up." She holds her whip, causing Fang and Kroos to go over to them, "So I recommend-"
Foley whistled, "Hey, hey you all," he waves at them, holding a pair of keys. He stepped towards the side of a house, over to 2 containers marked with the Texan National Guard's emblem. Curious, the 4 starts walking over, although Fang and her team was still a little shaken up. A padlock was released, and Foley began to open the containers. "Miss Dobermann," she turns to him, "Before you can start training them..." he starts, going in, and opening something else. It was somewhat dark in there, so they couldn't see what he was grabbing. Kroos, Fang, and Beagle remained cautious, Dobermann simply had her arms crossed.
The sound of metal was heard, as he came back out with 3 weapons. Kroos recognized one as the sniper she used in that brief mission. Dobermann was interested, "Why do you have those?" The Ranger Sergeant lifted up 4 weapons and presented them to the 4.
"If you guys are doing some training, might as well learn a few things from Earth." Dobermann actually didn't see a problem with that and she had nodded in understanding. "I understand Mr. Foley," she looks over at the 3, "Where should I start them off on?"
"Lets start off with using guns for them," Foley responded, going over to the 3 operators.
Dobermann nodded in understanding while holding her chin, "I see... I could see further benefit working with these firearms, considering you DID have a mission that brought Kroos along and she used it well apparently." Foley began passing 2 M4s, with ammo of course, with Foregrips to Fang and Beagle, while passing the sniper, which was also loaded up, to Kroos, who held the thing in appreciation again. "There you go, back in your hands."
The Cautus girl hummed in some sort of dazed, familiar happiness as she pulls on the bolt, "This thing's... nice." She put the scope to her eyes, which were still shut and silently muttered, "Ko ko dai yo..." again.
Jonathon was going to snap at her if he hears that phrase in his vicinity again.
He snapped as he realized, "Oh right! We need somebody to help be a physical for you all." He turns around and yells out, "Ramirez!" Nothing, but Carmen had come over with Lappland, who was muddy, somehow, "Hello Carmen."
"Hey-o Sarge, you looking for my brother again?" He nods, chuckling. That Private was pretty much the go-to for almost every scenario, and he was somewhat glad for it. Despite the fact that it was generating a lot of memes from other squads.
"That I am, mind uh..." he gestures, "looking for him?"
"Sure," she responded, looking at Lappland, "Let's go." As the 2 ran off, Foley turned back to Dobermann and gave her an M4. "Alright, so using this is..."
Lappland had found them. The PL group had watched Carmen and Lappland run around for a while trying to find the Angel and the Ranger. She only heard or had an idea where they were when she heard the happy laughter of Lana from a hill somewhere behind the house.
"Psshtt!" she lets out, alerting Carmen as she began to head over to the Lupo. "What is it...?" she questioned, getting up to Lappland before being silenced by her with a finger over her mouth, and her hand pointing out over at the hill.
There, Carmen saw, with her own two eyes, Exusiai and Ramirez hanging out - both of them with smiles and laughing at something they were talking about just a moment, with little Lana running about happily around the 2 while holding a toy.
Carmen felt a chuckle rise in her - akin to something like pride, before turning around and starting to walk off. Lappland faced her, "Where are you going?" she faced back at her and at Foley and the rest of them.
"Gonna take his place, besides," she smirks, "I think he earned it."
Soon, the 3 came back, after about an hour hanging out on the hill and listening to the gunshots. Just in time for some operators to start getting hungry. Ramirez still felt bubbly after talking with Exusiai about life in Laterano, and she felt pretty happy about hearing what life in California was like. Things looked pretty good for the 2, as Lana ran forward and began to play with Suzuran.
As soon as Ramirez stepped near Foley and Dunn, the 2 of them grabbed him by the shoulders, with the former saying, "Ramirez," he begins in a tone that made the Ranger gulp. "We need to talk."
Exusiai looked at him nervously and slowly backed off, "Uhhh, I'll leave you guys to that..." she laughed nervously and she almost went away from them successfully, until Texas grabbed her by the shoulder, gnawing on 2 pocky sticks. "Exia..." she says, in a tone that made the angel's wing spaz in fear and also made the poor angel gulp in fright.
Both knew they were going into a conversation that they had no way in hell getting out of. The Ranger of the 2 sighed in defeat as there was no escape from what was coming, "Well... shit."
"Kal'tsit..." Rosmontis begins, walking around with her near the former Air pad of the Rhodes Island base.
She says former, and that it is in due part that the UN has pretty much have gotten so much equipment up there, it was now pretty much their base with all of that equipment up there. And Amiya, with the Doctor, outvoted her on that. With her attention grabbed by the little one near her, she asks.
"What is it Rosmontis?"
She points at the entrance to the air pad, her little sleeve rolling back. There was a bit of curiosity and wonder in her eyes and Kal'tsit couldn't ignore it.
What she didn't expect was what the little cat girl wants. "I want to try... and lift some of their vehicles..." blinking, rapidly, Kal'tsit let out a sigh and put the clipboard at her side. Thinking, she comes up with an answer.
Besides, she was a little curious herself and she wanted to see what Rosmontis could do with it.
"Fine, we'll go, I don't have much to do anyways."