YE 46.1.5
The YSS Resurgence had been able to spend a couple of days aboard the YSS Battle of Yamatai (the "Big BOY"), where they got the help they needed. Burns were scraped away and new flesh regrown. Holes were patched, and the dead were resurrected from the mental backups Poppy had kept safe in her vault. Kalena got a new bottom half of her body. After getting the time they needed to recover, it was time to get back in action. First, captain Aoba called for a meeting in the ship's wardroom to discuss what had happened and what the plan was going forward.
It was just after exercise hour so the crew was mostly dressed in their workout clothing, usually consisting of a white ringer T-shirt and some shorts. Julix and Rossa were serving chocolate croissants, sausages, cheese, grits, and buttery fried eggs along with mixed fruits and crepes.
Since the ship was docked, it was on of the few times there didn't need to be a watch-standing crew in engineering and on the bridge and the wardroom was packed because everyone was there. Trays touched trays and shoulders touched shoulders. Dr. Euikoshi was sitting in Dr. Poppy's lap. Pidole's beetle buddy Bidole flapped across the room toward Pidole, carrying a strawberry through the air. Through the window in the floor, they could see the hangar deck of the BOY.
Aoba stood at one end of the wardroom looking thoughtful and a little tense. Once everyone seemed to be there, he started off the meeting. "Welcome back," he greeted them, "Let me keep things in the open with you. A couple days ago, we came entirely too close to losing our ship. Taisho Kessaku Irim called me to her office to express her displeasure. I am thankful to be here at all. She cited the Thad incident, the Red Phone incident, and this mission specifically."
"It was only by our accomplishments, captain Aoba continued, "such as the rescue of the Concordians, Mishhuvurthyar civilians, and former Mishhuvurthyar slaves, rescue of the Norians, saving the Seelie species, and the recovery of the Wakaba that we earned the right to continue out here. It is my opinion that while we have sometimes stumbled, we are coming through accomplishing huge and risky tasks. I don't want the Resurgence to be relegated back to just doing survey missions of friendly star systems for the Empress, so we need to make sure we act as a team and get it together so we don't end up disbanded or dead. I'd like to start with some discussion over breakfast about the most recent mission. Then we can talk about what comes next."
Yayoi entered the Wardroom silently, and sweaty from a grueling 100 lap and hundred pushup/pull up regime she'd decided on as a form of punishment for herself for what she felt was her failing during the last away mission. She was still displeased with herself, but her silence didn't allow others to be alerted to her feelings.
Yayoi spotted Sanda immediately and stepped into place beside her as she listened to Aoba's words.
Yoshiro, with his bandaged hand was in the wardroom and listening to the captain. He knew Aoba was right about what had happened. He had screwed up bad and they had happened to pay for it. His command of the team had been lacking at best and he was surprised he hadn't gotten anyone killed so far.
Sanda stood in the back, arms crossed and looking tired. She had taken some pain meds with breakfast and was hoping they would kick in soon. "Zone discipline was bad." Sanda spoke up first, wanting to get things started. "Whenever a new threat appeared all our attention turned to it instead of maintaining our zone discipline and trusting our teamates to watch out back."
An Elysian was standing near a corner as she listened to the Captain speak. Chiheisen had mostly healed from her injuries for the previous mission, though the Caelisolan swore she could sometimes still feel the hole that had been carved through her by Cheilith's blade. Chichi remained quiet as always, choosing not to sit as the room was unnaturally crowded... and her wings would've likely been quite an annoyance.
Cheilith was there, feeling awkward. She couldn't help but feel this was all her fault. She was perfectly fine, didn't remember a thing due to her routine pre-mission backup, but everyone was nursing wounds she had given ththem. She had even lost the sword that the Empress had given her. She felt shamed and dirtied by the whole thing even though it wasn’t really her fault.
Cassie raised her gray, clawed hand. "At some point Cheilith got possessed by the freaking Mishhu which basically made her the enemy and someone made the call to bring her back to the ship and it wasn't captain Aoba, and that got people killed. I think we deserve an explanation."
"My command was lacking and I should have been paying attention more to the situation." Yoshiro said and felt guilty. "I need to train how to command more effectively because I am going to get people killed and that would be bad for the Star Army."
Erika sat down, her arms folded making herself as small as possible in her chair. Eventually though, she sighed and stood up. "I would like to apologize to all of you. It was my decision to bring Che- the compromised individual back on board."
Yayoi listened as Sanda spoke, as Cassie had, and as both Erika and Yoshiro did. She thought of opening her mouth and ask if the Captain had further ideas for discipline, for herself if anything.
"If we lose the ship, we lose everyone's backups. We're sort of expendable because of those backups, but the ship isn't," Cassie explained, looking at Erika's face. "I think we should have handled this at the lowest level." She didn't say it explicitly but she meant with lethal violence.
"Yes," Erika glanced at Cassie "However we're supposed to have other countermeasures in place. SPINE access is normally revoked when a Nekovalkyrja is infected, which should have prevented the event."
"A lot of things that aren't supposed to happen, happened. I thought my body had countermeasures that would have stopped it as well. Those also failed. Everything happened pretty quickly, it wasn't more than a few minutes between when I- the compromised individual first struck and their detonation outside of the ship." Cheilith said.
Yayoi nodded her head to Cassie's words.
Dr. Euikoshi scooted off Poppy's lap to stand up. "Because of what happened, namely the enemy controlling a teleporter unit, which the Star Army has been trying very hard not to give to the enemy, the fleet is considering removing the teleporter units from our Mindy 4s until it can come up with better countermeasures to the enemy infections. As an alternative they've given me plans to a secret project that would allow the ship to teleport an entire away team to the surface and back. It was previously used on the YSS Asamoya. Pidole and I are looking into how to build it aboard the Resurgence. As for SPINE, it's possible the body didn't know it it was infected. We're still figuring that part out."
Yayoi blinked her eyes in surprise as she heard Eukoshi's words.
Chiheisen's eyebrow raised a bit as the Elysian listened to the conversation, particularly intrigued by the mention of a long range teleporter?... Fascinating.
"I mean these are obviously some sort of newer Mishhu," Cassie pointed out.
"The model I use can teleport a whole team down and back if their armored. Do they want something external?" Cheilith asked.
"SAINTs also go through special conditioning that should prevent a takeover like we experienced." Erika replied "I could have the P4003 I think Cheilith is talking about and do the same thing. If I, or another SAINT operative had lockout codes for the Mindy's in the event of a takeover that would also mitigate a significant amount of risk"
"Are you suggesting that we go through conditioning like SAINT agents?" Yoshiro asked,genuinely curious about this.
"If we put remote kill switches on our Mindy armor, doesn't that means there's a chance the Mishhu could somehow activate them?" Cassie pondered. "Remember when the Kuvexians sent a special forces team and took out the ST Datacenter during the Third Battle of Nataria?"
"No one is putting a remote kill switch on my suit." Sanda said, not liking that idea at all.
"Mineko or I could keep the keys encrypted in our minds, they wouldn't get those. But there could be hardware holes we're not aware of, the chance is very low." Erika responded to the concerns.
"Can we confirm if Sanda was infected," Mineko asked. "Cassie is right that these are some new Mishhu and we need information on how they infected the crew since no parasites were found. Was it telepathically? Mishhu are known for their psionic abilities."
Cassie was also making good points about the Kuvexians had done to the ST data and it sent shivers down Mineko's spine, making her face grim. She had lost her parents then and the loss was still felt by the analyst.
"The only way to find such things out is to capture pieces of technology they may have developed since the Second Mishhuvurthyar War." Koyama spoke up, she'd forgone breakfast in favor of a simple beverage, "This would include any new 'Types' they have developed in regard to physical bodies. Or augmentations of those already on record."
"I can confirm that I am not infected." Sanda said, not appreciating the implications. Her head was hurting and she had recently learned how close she had been to being labled as infected due to her terrors in the hospital and wasn't ancious to have that brought up. "And I don't really give a damn how 'encrypted' your neko minds are. No one is putting a kill switch on my suit!" Sanda was abnormally heated about it. It was out of character for the normally calm and collected Ranger.
Yayoi crossed her arms in displeasure as she listened to the others, especially Mineko's words. She didnt like the implication. "i would have to agree with Sanda." she said as she took note of Sanda's heatedness.
"Likewise. We do not know what the Mishhu are capable of at this stage, assuming they wouldn't be able to crack that encryption somehow seems like a mistake" Chiheisen piped in from her corner, listening in. She also did not like the idea of a kill switch being installed on her Mindy, though she didn't make her opinion on that known.
Erika looked at Mineko with wide eyes "Are they serious?" She said over a mental link "SAINTs have a kill switch in their minds and they're worried about their armor?" She then said out aloud. "I can assure you if the codes are in a SAINT's mind they cannot be unwillingly taken."
"Our SAINT personnel will be working with those on other ships and SAINT HQ to gather as much data as possible on the threats we face. Any data the Resurgence can collect to assist in that effort is crucial," Captain Aoba noted.
"We are not going to come out of this unscathed while we try to figure this out, captain." Yoshiro said, wondering what he should do about this.
Koyama took a sip of her coffee, winced, the cup still steaming and having misjudged the temperature. "One of the questions they should also find the answer to is this, sir. How did they know to exploit such weaknesses?"
"Spies probably, raiding research labs, there are a lot of ways to find information. Even if a Neko gets cut off from the system, unless the body self destructs, their genetic code is still on them. I think I remember something about them also having brilliant genetic researchers and at least one scientist defector back in the day." Cheilith said.
"We're just retaining whatever weakness they've exploited by not being willing to lay down our lives to avoid what happened a few days ago," Mineko said. "Besides, we're the ship in trouble for messing up right now, we should be figuring out how to avoid what happened more."
"Yeah, and Neko's have fail safes that are suppose to kick in if they become infected too. But we had one turn on our team in less than 5 mins after becoming infected. We know nothing about this virus can do so forgive me if I don't trust you high and mighty ghouls and your damn kill codes." Sanda snapped. Her head was still hurting so she popped another pain pill.
"You'd rather be the one responsible for killing your comrades?" Erika said in response, sending Sanda a pointed look.
Sanda shook her head. "I would rather not take the risk that the person with the 'kill switch' becomes infected because they think their immune to being taken over and lossing said codes which then get the entire uninfected team killed without any way to fight back."
"Fair point." Eirka said firmly. "I'm assuming its a psychic control they're exerting which we're warded against, but their could be new aspects to it. However, the away team is expendable. And it doesn't have to be the SAINT operator on the ground that has these codes, it could be someone in orbit. Change them each mission, invalidate them at the end of a mission."
"Wasn't the Psionic Signal Controler down on the ship when it happened?" Cheilith asked.
"Overloaded." Erika corrected
"If we can't trust each other that's adding a whole new dimension to the fight that I really, really, don't like," Cassie said, visibly frustrated. "The Mishhuvurthyar are going to try to use this to sow chaos in the ranks."
"That's actually one of the things that bugs, me. If I was undetected, they should have waited longer to be able to do more damage. back on the ship and act like a real saboteur. Imagine that fight when everyone but the compromised individual is out of their armor." Cheilith pointed out.
"Maybe it's a proximity thing, unlike the infections of the past that were parasitic," Mineko said in response to the traitorous Cheilith. "If they waited too long you would have gone out of range of the Mishhuvurthyar controlling you." It was interesting to her that Sanda didn't see that it was something psionic or new that the NH body wasn't prepared for, unlike the Mishhu of the past. But the Ranger was so worked up that Mineko was unwilling to explain it directly to her and instead tried to while she brainstormed with Cheilith's point.
Erika folder her arms and looked down. "We can only hope that's the case. Imagine the what would happen if members of the bridge crew were compromised."
Koyama tapped a finger on the table noisily enough to try and capture Aoba's attention, "Do you believe the Taisho would be... amenable to her sister being contacted about this incident?" It was a well documented fact of how Irim and Anri seemed almost polar opposites. Thus far she'd avoided giving into temptation and giving Sanda a throttling. With the Taisa present, it seemed more appropriate for him to be the one to do so. But she was on the verge of doing so.
"Taisho Kessaku Anri?" Aoba asked, rubbing his beard. "The head of Star Army Information Technology and former head of SARA? She invented most of the Kessaku Operating System, so she may have some ideas. I don't think it would hurt to ask."
"Perhaps there's some sort of telepathy dampening medication I can prescribe to inhibit Mishhuvurthyar telepathic signals," Poppy offered, joining the brainstorming.
"Would it compromise telepathy amongst ourselves?" Mineko asked.
"Yes, you'd have to use radios, phones, and the good old mouth Mark 1," Poppy said.
"Irim-taisho likes to see those in her fleet face challenges and prevail," Mineko said, cheekily looking to Aoba.
"I heard that Separa'Shan are good at defending themselves from telepathic attacks, perhaps we should have a few of them along." Cheilith suggested.
Yoshiro grabbed a chocolate croissant and went back over to the meeting. He was an infantry soldier so he didn't have much to say. He just wanted to do his job but it was getting scary to do so. He decided to talk to the captain and ask a few questions on his own.
Sanda needed a breather so she moved over to get a cup of coffee. She shook her aching head. What was going on here? She was not acting like herself and that bothered her more than she cared to admit. All this talk of becoming compromised was really getting to her.
The Elysian furrowed her brow as she listened to the evolving conversation. There was something bothering her about the information being presented. "If the Psionic Signal Controller was down, what was stopping the Mishhu from simply taking over the rest of the away team?" She asked, her voice a little low.
Yayoi silently contemplated as she processed what she was hearing from everyone.
"I do not doubt the Taisho's inclinations of facing challenges," Koyama offered, "But in this I would surmise adapting and overcoming those hurdles would work in our favor. Sometimes a softer touch is better than sheer force."
"That's what I meant," Mineko said with a smile nod of her head to Koyama. Half of her head was still bald where she had been burned then healed and so only one lock of her hime cut bounced as she bobbed in reply.
"To get everyone on the same page," Aoba told everyone, "There is no bringing back enemies or compromised individuals back to the ship without prior authorization, Understood? If someone turns on us, we take them down and restore then from the last safe backup. Also be sure to designate fields of coverage and watch 360 degrees in enemy environments. Always have a battle buddy, don't get caught alone."
Yayoi nodded her head, then turned her head as Sanda moved to get coffee, and then the arrival of a exhausted Yuri, who she recalled had a hard time working on taking care of Mineko and a lot of the other crew. Yuri hurried to Sanda's side. "any Coffee left, Aunt Sanda?' she asked her.
"Yes, sir." Yoshiro said. He wanted to recruit his old team from the Aeon II and fight alongside people he knew. He was going to have to ask the captain about this too but that would be when this mission was over.
Cassie stuffed a chocolate croissant in her mouth. "Wait, can anthros eat chocolate?" she said halfway through eating it.
Poppy rapidly began looking it up on a data pad, "You should know this already..."
"So we'll be working without teleporters, no telepathy, as well as Cassie out of commission in the bathrooms again," Mineko said, dramatically letting her head fall into her hands.
Sanda managed a smile at Cassie. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She had not been her self these last few minutes and that fact bothered her more than the whole 'kill switch' debate. She glanced over at Erika. Her bunkmate whom she had a lot of respect for. Had they really just almost had a shouting match? When Yuri came in Sanda's smile became stronger. "Yea, I think there's some left. You've been busy the last few days haven't you?"
Erika watched Cassie walk off with an exhale that flared her nostrils before turning back. "I'd like to request I still be able to deploy with the P4003. If I, or any other SAINT for that matter, is able to be compromised the Empire has bigger problems than a lost ship."
"We will follow whatever orders the fleet gives us," Aoba simply said in reply to Erika.
"For our next mission, can we have a close security specialist for you?" Mineko asked, looking to Aoba with big deep blue eyes and quivering lips.
"Speaking of the next mission," Aoba said, not really interested in committing to accepting a bodyguard. "First Fleet command has lost contact with one of its scouts and we've been asked to investigate. The ship was investigating part of the Concordia Sector and is suspected to have encountered the Mishhuvurthyar."
Yayoi blinked investigating missing scouts is always fun but she wasn't sure she liked the idea of more Mishhuvurthyar.
Visibly deflated, Mineko looked from Aoba to Erika, torn between staying on the ship during the next mission or going with the away team. The analyst had not been able to do much of her line of work while on the bridge acting as a mission operator and liaison for the away team. But that had been the reason she didn't want to go on the away team in the first place. She really wished the captain would have some security on the bridge with him but knew the captain was too selfless to go along with that. Mineko sat grimly looking at Erika, ruminating on the next mission without realizing she was staring at her colleague.
"If you're in the mission operators seat next time just do it in your Mindy." Erika said to Mineko over psi coms.
Getting the message made Mineko blink and come back to reality. She nodded to Erika, "It's more than that. Nobody protects the captain. I've seen him die."
"I'm saying if you're on the bridge with him." Erika replied, looking away for a moment "I really don't want to see you... It was..." She looked away "Just wear a Mindy next operation, alright?"
"That I can do." Mineko said back, knowing there was a whole iceberg more to talk about between the two of them. Having been a part of the worst part of the mission, Erika had more weight to carry after it than she had before, but there was not a lot of time to go over feelings in the middle of a war. She just walked over to the operative and sat down nearer her, not hungry now that the meeting seemed concluded.
Koyama had gone silent, seeing to the task of somehow getting into contact with Irim's more gentle and academically inclined sister. But, she also sent Sanda a message. A terse message. 'We're talking later.' Not one emoji followed.
"I wouldn't want a cop hanging out over my shoulder either, you know what I mean? Haha," Cassie laughed. "Besides that's what generic soldiers like me are for, guarding doors and stuff."
Chiheisen remained standing against the wall, opting to have breakfast afterwards. The Elysian's purple eyes simply darted around the room as everyone else conversed. She stopped at Cheilith, a sudden flash of a memory from the previous mission came to her head, the moment she had realized she had been stabbed. She then noticed the nekos gaze had met her own, and her eyes quickly diverted from the soldier. She closed her eyes, lightly sighing.
Yuri smiled at Sanda's words, and nodded her head "yeah, very busy, and goody gosh am i glad its over." Yuri said with a smile. The younger Neko pondered giving Sanda a head pat, or a hug, but she doubted Sanda would like that, instead she looked around, and spotted Chiheisen darting around causing her to smile wider, as she saw how she darted around.
While everyone was talking, Sakuko gave Zanven Brax a big warm hug, leaning her head on his shoulder.
Aoba's first officer rose to her feet with her empty cup in hand. But she did stop beside him murmuring to him. She was already trying to work her way into getting into contact with Anri. And already told Sanda that they would be speaking later about her outburst. There was more than one Taisa that in the past would not be as magnanimous as he was about such things.
"I expect every one of you to do your best and be flexible to adapt to the evolving threats. Stay alert, stay coordinated, and stay ready," Taisa Aoba told them. "I'll be on the bridge. Prepare to launch and set readiness condition 3." With that, he headed up to the bridge to get the ship started, followed by the gray-paneled starship operators.
To Mineko, Koyama patted the Neko on the shoulder, leaning down just enough to whisper, "Please keep an eye on the Taisa. I've a Ranger I need to speak to once things are ended." There was enough trust there for her to skirt around the rules. Aoba hadn't refused the notion of someone watching over him. At least in the short term.
"Already on it," Mineko said confidently back, but she looked at Aoba with a touch of concern.
Sanda read the message from Koyama. She expected as much. 'Yes ma'am.' Sanda returned. Sanda looked over at Erika and grit her teeth before walking over to her roomate. "Listen Erika. I... I..." Sanda had to clear her throat a few times. "No hard feelings. I think I've just have fatigue from the last mission. Not thinking clearly."
"No, no hard feelings." Erika said, exhaustion in her own tone. "But you need to understand. If we don't have some kind of kill switch that disables a compromised invidiual the only other option is to actually kill them."
"I'd rather kill someone with my own hands than run the risk of accidentally killing someone with a switch." Sanda started but stopped. "Lets table to discussion for now. I don't think we'll get anywhere continuing it now."
"You want the opportunity to defend yourself, I get it. But Cheilith was just gone, Sanda." Erika explained "The only sign I got that something was wrong was that she abandoned me to chase after the squid."
"I don't blame you for bringing her back to the ship under the circumstances. I would have probably done the same thing. We had no idea what had happened to her until after the fact. Several mission ago, before you joined up. We were fighting some computer virus that took over our Mindy suits. Cassie's suit got infected and she had to bail out of it. Now we know better. Someone starts shooting out own we put them down first and ask questions later."
"I was laser focused on trying to subdue Cheilith." Erika replied, her voice becoming quieter "Even when she was in engineering I was more focused on disabling her, rather than saving the ship."
Having been quiet, Mineko chimed in stonily, "Maybe we should run simulations of killing each other with our own hands since kill switches are out of the question. Best to be prepared."
Sanda managed a rudley smile. More like the old Sanda. "You mean you don't do that already?"
"Enough," Koyama did not need to raise her voice above its normal volume. Instead injecting some venom into the word as she looked from Sanda to Mineko. "You are both soldiers of the Empire." To the Nepleslian she pointed and then jerked a thumb toward the Wardroom's door. "With me. Now."
"Yes Ma'am." Sanda replied and followed Koyama.
"Care to explain how you let your composure slip in the wardroom?" Koyama asked with her hands behind her back. Sanda had nearly a foot on her and had to tilt her head back a little to stare her in the eye.
Sanda sighed. "I've been having serious migraines since the last mission. The Battle of Yamatai doctor said my brain was oxygen deprived for sevearl mins. That I might experience blurred vision, headaches and a bunch of other things that make me not act like me."
Koyama took the answer with a small nod, "You did so with the Taisa present." Taking a breath she exhaled, "He did nothing about your... outburst. So it fell to me to talk to you about this."
Yuri quietly made her way towards Chiheisen, wanting to check in on her and see how she's doing. Though visually she thought Chiheisen was doing well.
Chiheisen didn't notice Yuri getting closer, given how her eyes were closed. The Elysian's brow furrowed as Erika and Sanda continued to argue about the dang kill switch, having hoped that conversation had died... Evidently it hadn't.
Poppy went over to Cheilith, "Hey, would you like to talk about what happened sometime? I don't mean the technical parts about how they got you, I mean if you'd like to talk to someone about your feelings, I have some counselor training and I'm here to listen."
Cheilith nodded, "I probably should, I don't understand why something I don't remember, didn't have any part of is effecting me so badly."
Poppy gave Cheilith a warm hug and told her, "Come by the observation dome and we'll talk and look out at the stars. I'll wait for you up there, okay?"
Cheilith nodded, "Thanks."
Pidole stared down at Bidole, feeling an overwhelming gratitude that her joined beetle hadn't been burned up in the attack on engineering. She dabbed at her eyes with a cloth napkin. "I never want to lose you," she told Bidole quietly.
"Takanashi-hei, I wanted to check in and see how your doing?" Yuri asked perhaps accidentally startling her
The Elysians eyes shot open, focusing on Yuri who was now.. much closer than she thought. Chiheisen tried not to make it obvious that she had been startled, but the tiny jolt her wings had made, and the fact that her feathers were now a little ruffled- gave it away. "...I am doing fine, Asakura-hei...", came her simple, dry response.
Yuri smiled kindly at her. "I'm glad to hear it, i have a free hug if you need one too." she said to her.
"Err... I don't... do hugs" She glanced at the neko, her expression a tiny mix of nervousness and annoyance. The Elysian didn't want to be rude to her crewmates either.
Yuri frowned, as she saw the tiny mix of nervousness and annoyance, the nervousness bothered her more than then some overwhelming urge, caused her to.... hug her before she skipped away from her ready to see to any others that need help only to be distracted by the ship leaving.
The Elysian visibly tensed as she was hugged, watching as Yuri skipped away after the embrace. She just stood in place, remaining silent.
The ship's systems began to hum around them and the floor of the docking bay below the wardroom window began to move as the Resurgence rose into a hovering position and began backing out of the giant dreadnought and into space. Soon they would be continuing their mission to hunt the Mishhuvurthyar.
"Oh shit, I forgot to ask about my communicator!" Cassie suddenly perked up. "GUYS! I left behind a network connection to the Mishhu ship...we should see if we can follow it."
"No way, really!" Mineko had been in a daze after watching Koyama reprimand Sanda and maybe even the analyst too. Everything seemed so unreal that something tangible they could work with made her sit up straight.
"Oh?" Euikoshi blinked. "I could do something with that..."
Yayoi blinked "wait that's possible?" she asked Cassie and Euikoshi
"But we have our Concordia mission," Mineko realized.
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JP END
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OOC: JP by Wes, Ame, Cowboy, Charaa, Sunny D, Yoshiro, Liza. Soban
