Welcome to Gaia! ::

Koko nodded slightly before re-engaging the turret on the right wing. She swivelled it down & slightly to the left, catching the raiders in her sights. Just as they turned to look at the craft she flipped open a plate on the top of a joystick near the panel & pressed the button beneath. This let loose a stream of bullets, taking out two of the raiders. She quickly released the button again, slightly surprised by how quickly the turret could fire. Her eyes focused on the HUD, noting what each section was telling her. Then she focused on the now dispersed raiders - some fleeing, some firing back - & used more precise shots to pick them off, without letting the turret overheat. Soon, she'd killed all who had remained or tried to flee.

John smiled. "I'm John. Pleased to meet you." John chuckled when he heard Neo being polite. "You can drop the sir, kid. You're not my officer. Tell you what though, you'd make a good officer..." John trailed off as he clicked on where the conversation was going. As he walked out of the church, John was blasted with jetstream. "Bloody hell! What the f**k was that?!" Looking up, he saw nothing and shook his head. "Someone's messing with something big." He turned to Neo. "You alright back there?"

Spinning the turret to get a better look at the surrounding area, Koko noted that there was a fair bit of discarded loot littering the desert floor. She disconnected the turret systems & spun her chair to face Zed.
"There's some stuff down there that I might be able to use to upgrade this ship."
She patted the contol panel slightly, before standing up & beginning to walk off.
"Right then, I should get collecting. Oh, by the way, what's her name?"
She waved her hand to indicate the craft.

Once again, Koko sped off through the ship, locating the cargo hold & pressing a button near a large door, causing it to open. She leapt out & landed neatly on the desert sand - which was beginning to turn red as blood leaked across it. With her inhuman speed she darted round the bodies, studying different objects & either tossing them back down or slinging them over her back using a leather strap. When she couldn't carry any more she would run back to the ship, drop the stuff off in the cargo bay then sprint back out again. After about 15 minutes she made another run back to the ship but this time, instead of heading back out, she slammed the button again, causing the cargo door to slowl shut.

The young mercenary ran a hand through her hair,
"How'd I ever end up doing this? Man, my day sure hasn't gone as planned, but I like this ship & her defence systems are pretty good..."
She ran a hand tenderly down one of the walls on the ship,
"Look like you & I are gunna be spending some time working together, eh Aiolos?"
Grinning, she began to walk back to the main control room, taking a few metal objects, electronics & a rather large looking gun with her.

"Actually, if you don't mind, I'd like to make some upgrades to the Aiolos. I think she could do with some heavier weaponry."
Koko indicated the gun laying across her back, which turned out to be some kind of missile launcher.
"This one was built to be single-fire, since a person is meant to use it, but I can make it multiple-fire & perhaps modify the Aiolos so that she can hold reloads for it. Otherwise you'll only get a max of 5 shots...."

A few moments passed by, then Koko was suddenly in front of Zed on the outside of the ship; she wiped the smudge off, stuck her tongue out slightly then clambered over the to side of the ship's nose. She leaned over then sat down, dragging a bag off her back & taking out a metallic cord. Then she took out a small, round object with a small redish button on the top & a ring next to that. Placing it on the ship's surface she pushed the button & immediately it clung to the metal surface. She smiled & set about tying her cord round the metal loop, testing it to make sure it could hold her weight. She also took out a smaller version of the round object from her pocket; it had a boot attached that fitted round her foot rather snugly.

Once her cord was secure, Koko looked over at Zed, grinned, saluted then leapt over the edge of the craft, swinging underneath & activating the round object as she came close to the ship's underside. She was drawn towards the metal with a loud 'clunk' & hung there by her leg, leaving her hands free to work.

Koko was using her newly 'acquired' plasma cutter to easily scorch through the ship's hull on the underside. She found that, as expected, there was a thin hollow cavity after the main hull. She smirked then heard Zed yell up at her.
"Look, this is delicate, if you don't want a damaged hull you're gunna have to wait a wh...."
She turned around & noticed the pilot stood there - half naked. Abruptly spinning back to look at the Aiolos, Koko felt her cheeks redden. She's never had much contact with other people (especially men) & had very rarely seen a bloke walking around with his shirt off. She coughed a little then began busying herself with fitting a hydraulic system into the cavity, trying not to turn around again.
"When I'm done I'll.... errr.... come tell ya, ok?"
With that she disconnected the magnetic boot from the ship & quickly clambered into the hull, beginning to attach the new hydraulic to the ship's existing defence system.
Dammit, why'd he spring that on me?!

It was another hour before Koko leant back, folded her arms & grinned at her handiwork. At the moment the newly installed piece of weaponry was hanging underneath the Aiolos, it would need to be pulled into the hull from the turret control - if it worked of course. She's modified the rocket laucher so that it now had a large cylinder behind the muzzle for holding four extra shots, which would then spin to gather a new piece of ammo from the Aiolos itself. The hydraulic had engaged easily, attaching well to the existing system & the weapon. She'd also attached hinges to the edge of the hole she'd made, cut the piece of metal down the middle, then reattached it to the hinges; these, in turn, were attached to a secondary hydraulic system that would allow the 'hatch' to be closed over the weapon when it needed to be stored.

Wiping her brow with one hand, the young mercenary realised she was covered in grime. She sighed slightly before disconnecting her boot from the Aiolos & swinging back up onto the nose of the ship. Gathering up her equipment & pressing the button on the round magnet again, she bundled everything back in the back then headed back inside - at a normal pace this time. Once back in the main control room she kept her eyes averted from Zed as she placed her bag next to the chair by the turret controls & sat down.
"I'm done... now I just have to test it."
Placing the helmet from before back on her head, Koko activated the turret system & was pleased to find that the ship was reading her weapon as easily as the existing turrets. She engaged it, swivelled it round then tested the hatch system. The rocket laucher slid easily into the hull & the hatch closed under it.
"Wow.... I actually did it.... i-it works!"