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The weapon GN_Triton had assigned Ty was a product of the Garm Corporation, a business that had immediately jumped on the business of producing thaumaturgic weapons at the start of the unmasked war. It was now one of the biggest military producers in the world and held a near-monopoly on Coven small arms production.

It was a machine pistol, so naturally it was very small; it was designed for inexperienced gunners, and as such was limited to single-shot fire, three-round bursts, and five-round bursts. Ty found it was very difficult to control, a product of its small weight leading to high recoil, especially with its lack of any sort of stock. Firing from the hip, it was nearly useless. Firing with its sight - a pair of small nubs atop the pistol's barrel - was only marginally better.

"The Athena is a very expensive weapon. They're officers-only until the third mission. My apologies," the Tritons replied. "Place your weapons by that screen on the wall for info if you don't recognize it." Cassandra found herself holding a Garm assault rifle. She began (somehwat unenthusiastically) checking its statistics on a screen on the wall beside the door.

"Well, you're going to be in a close-range environment, so you won't need to aim that much... and if you really don't want to aim, Garm also makes shotpistols." A quick exchange found Ty in possession of a Garm shotpistol, a deceptively small device. "Brace your arm very strongly or you might injure yourself," CL_Triton advised.

"Ah... I think I'll stick to the machine pistol, thanks," Ty answered, making the exchange again. He went back to the firing range, determined to get at least one lethal shot in before they landed. At the very least, he thought, he could provide cover fire for someone.

After a while, he realized he needed to get adjusted to his melee weapons, despite having only managed to hit somewhere low on the target's torso a few times. Holstering his gun and removing the muffs, he asked one of the constructs, "Is there a way I can practice with the claws without hurting something important? I need to get accustomed to the weight and range."

Ty moved over to the first dummy, crouched down, and slipped off his shoes, replacing them with the clawed ones. "No, thanks," he said with a smile, taking immense pleasure in the simple act of pulling on the claws and watching the glimmering metal spikes and heel blades. He made sure they fit somewhat loosely, though not enough that they flopped around at all. With that, he looked around to make sure no one had gotten in his way and flipped into a back hand-spring, slashing up through the dummy in front of him before kneeling in a faux-dodge, jamming the bracer/claws onto his hand, and ramming them into the thing's "heart."

It felt good.

He quickly put on the other set of claws and began some light-weight exercises, getting a feel for the five-inch claws on his knuckles, the two-inch ones on his feet, and the vertical blades on his heels.

Cassandra had been firing, and had just emptied a magazine when she flew up into the sky. With great shock, she came back down painfully on her face. A short "Grlkgh" and several seconds later, she got back on her feet, grabbing a few extra magazines and shoving them into open pockets. "What can we possibly do?" she cried, about to sprint after them, but stopping. This was very, very bad.

"How can we possibly do anything?" she grunted once more, backing towards the wall in hopes of not being dropped again.

"How the hell are you - oh, nevermind," Cassandra grunted, waiting and listening. She tried opening her third eye, and let the wash of mana colors flood her senses. On impulse, she decided to attempt to find out what it actually was that was attacking them. Her eye roved, trying to see if there was something identifiable anywhere nearby.

Ty had been prepared to deliver an axe kick to the stuffed foe before him when his upward momentum, combined with the ship's newfound downward momentum, managed to throw him several feet in the air. He oriented himself quickly and landed, when the free-fall ended, on his feet. In the short interval between the ship's first buck and following acceleration, he managed to pocket one or two clips that he had forgotten to grab for his pistol.

He grinned - "Well, this is fun, isn't-" and was abruptly sliding on his rear towards the back wall, keeping all of his new sharp edges pointed forward to avoid hitting anyone else. Without bothering to stand, he looked up at Rose with a boyish, almost giddy smile. This was like being on a roller coaster. "This doesn't seem to be troubling you at all."

"I have faith in our pilots, and you should too," Rose replied with a smile. The ship suddenly shook wildly. She frowned. "I... I'm not even...." She closed her eyes and sighed.

"Tyrgani Battlecruiser!" GN_Triton abruptly yelled. "It came at us from within a cloud... it was waiting for us."

"Then the Cabal Coalition still doesn't know we're coming?" Rose asked.

"Affirmative, Engineer."

"All right then. Where is it in relation to us now?" The ship accelerated again, then suddenly stopped, throwing everyone forward before slamming them to the floor with sudden upward acceleration.

"Below us," Triton replied.

"Everyone, grab a weapon and follow me to the drop pod bay!" Rose yelled out. "We're boarding them. Everyone who can fight well nonmagically, you should pair up with someone who can't - Tyrg's battlecruisers always have a detachment of Shadowmen and we don't know where they'll be. Our pods will attach to the top of their ship and then autobreach with their explosives. Triton, get me a shotpistol," she added as she passed by the receptacle, grabbing a Garm shotpistol Triton that tossed her while still looking at the crew. "Once it breaches their hull, you have your gun braced between your legs and you start firing directly downwards. Don't allow yourself to drop until the mine they almost certainly have planted and cloaked below you detonates." She began a brisk jog to the drop pod bay.