<span style="font-weight: bold"> 2115 hours </span><br/><br/>Karen turns to the newcomer ears flattening against her head as she<br/>resists the urge to hiss upon seeing the naga,hand darting to her<br/>pistol as she curses the wind that prevented her from scenting him<br/>before he got so close. After a second she relaxes slightly upon<br/>noticing the uniform, remembering that the ship complement includes<br/>defecting naga and there isn't a threat, but he's still a naga.<br/><br/>Karen warily shakes the proffered hand "I'm karen, and yes it was quite<br/>an evening until you turned up, if you'll excuse me." she says getting<br/>to her feet and heading for the ladder to the topdeck. Rezeies watches<br/>her go with a sigh, he half expected that reaction but didn't quite<br/>expect it to be tinged with such bitterness in the delivery.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold"> 2130 hours </span><br/><br/>Karen is thoughtful through the briefing, happy to know where we're<br/>headed but still irritated by the knowledge she'll be working with<br/>naga, seeing Rezeies at the briefing only serving to remind her.<br/>After the briefing she goes on a walk, choosing to go to the ships<br/>attic as it can only be reached by ladders which means she won't  meet<br/>any naga there.<br/><br/>Karen clambers out of a hatch atop the vessel, standing atop the crest<br/>of the ships hull and watching the moon come out, feeling the wind whip<br/>past her as the airship plows through the clouds, from here looking<br/>like a endless sea of silvery white stretching out in all directions to<br/>meet the sky....<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold"> Day two of voyage 1020 hours </span><br/><span style="font-style: italic"> bang </span><br/>A puff of smoke another bird cruelly plucked out of the air by<br/>capricious fate and a catgirl's marksmanship.<br/><br/>Karen goes through the practiced motions as she has down the last dozen<br/>times this morning, thumb flicking the catch open ,a quick flick of the<br/>wrist to open the breech, a twist of the wrist empties the chamber<br/>before she slots the new round in and then another flick of the wrist<br/>closes the breech as she pulls back the hammer and takes aim on another  bird, the last target already having vanished through the clouds. The snakes could probably track the Steam by looking on the ground for the trail of shot birds being left in its wake.<br/><br/><span style="font-weight: bold"> Day two of voyage 1410 hours </span><br/><br/>"Rear guns?" Karen demands of the flight tech incredulously. "yes<br/>ma'am" the tech replied calmly gesturing at the one person aircraft<br/>Karen had come to see.<br/>"what good are rear guns?" Karen asks half dreading the answer,"they're<br/>to shoot down foes to the rear ma'am." was the reply.<br/>Karen gahs in exasperation and decides to demonstrate exactly what is<br/>wrong with the idea of rear guns on a one person fighter "watch." she<br/>says and whips out both pistols, one aimed at a wall rib ahead of her<br/>the other aimed at a wall rib behind her. After a split second to aim<br/>she fires, the rib ahead getting a new rivet hole and the one behind<br/>her untouched by the bullet that leaves a dent in the wall a good foot<br/>away from it.<br/>"you see my point?" Karen says to the now somewhat less calm technician<br/>as she reloads her pistols.<br/>"yes, but what do you wish done?"<br/>"take them off."<br/>"why would you want to do that ma'am?"<br/>"because i don't need the weight if they're useless"<br/>"that would ruin the balance ma'am"<br/>"then can you at least turn them to face forward?"<br/>"no ma'am the ammunition feeds would have to be moved if we did that"<br/>Karen facepalms and sighs before trying a different tack smiling at the<br/>tech.<br/>"could you please turn the guns around and move the ammunition feeds<br/>for me."<br/>"well maybe i could ask my mates to help" the tech says as karen goes for the cuteness.<br/>"It'd be very kind of you."<br/>"well okay but."<br/>"Thankyou!" Karen says and leaps at him in an affectionate hug which he<br/>takes a few seconds to disentangle somewhat unwillingly from.<br/>"I'll just go start on that now." says the tech heading out of the<br/>hangar in search of his mates and to put some distance between himself<br/>and strange catgirls.<br/>Karen smiles to herself and looks over at the fighter "sometimes it's<br/>good to be a catgirl"she says to herself and sets about cleaning her<br/>pistols.<br/><br/>(ooc: scissors and paper, also the end result for the flying machine by the time karen has finished having it modified is this.<br/>Extended control surfaces for greater manouverability at the cost of reduced top speed due to increased drag (still faster than snake fighters though).<br/>Four guns all pointing forwards to deliver a vicious hail of lead.<br/>White with black stripes paintjob.<br/>Named it 'The Revenge'.)