Michael wriggled around, attempting to get his armor to open, but apparently being set on fire and quenched in a snow drift had welded it shut around him. At the very least, the helmet felt loose enough to pull off. Michael could already feel his energy starting to slip away.

"Blueberry Shoi, my armor is welded shut, but the helmet should come off with a few good tugs. I think I'm starting to lose energy, I'm suddenly feeling tired, and I'm pretty sure that I might not survive if I pass out now." The Elysian chuckled again to hold back a great deal of pain, and then gave out a long sigh. "In all honesty, ma'am, I wasn't expecting any medical attention from the ship, or for my distress call to be answered.'

"You are still a Star Army soldier," Blueberry told Michael, grabbing a medical kit and opening it up, but she knew most of the medicine inside was meant for Nekovalkyrja and Yamataians. She put some antihemorrhagic/hemostatic on the leg stumps to halt the bleeding. "This gives me an idea for an invention: hydraulic-powered Zesuaium spreader-cutters! The jaws of life, for power armor. Every ship should have some. Worst come to worst we might have to mind-transfer you out of this body into a new one. Do you ever think about becoming Yamataian?"

The shuttle lurched violently as it was hit by a shoulder-fired missile from an NMX Neko. Pineapple didn't say anything about it. "Almost there," she said from the cockpit.

Michael laughed, before groaning at the pain it caused him. Yes, it turns out, being punted 200 meters by a giant robot will make your internals hurt.

"Don't take my laughing as an insult, I'm just somewhat amused to see that my foolishness may be able to help people in the future. The idea is actually a good one, Blueberry Shoi. It would certain help in a situation like this. However, about your other question..." Michael trailed off, closing his eyes and trying to phrase what he wanted to say in the most non-threatening way possible.

"I cannot take up a Yamataian body. I was born on Yamatai, yes, while my people still controlled the planet, and lost my parents in the upheavals that saw us forced to New Elysia. I've been fighting since I was 16 years old, using Yamataian time, and this Caelisolani body of mine represents all that I've fought for, all that I am. I do not mean to offend, ma'am, but I've fought Nekovalkyrja as a teenage guerrilla and as a soldier, and I have fought the NMX as well these past few years. I won't abandon this body so easily!"

The shuttle finally came to rest in the crowded little shuttlebay of the YSS Eucharis. "I have an idea," Blueberry said, lifting Michael onto a grav gurney. She bought him into the armor bay and sat him down. "I was reading the technical manual for the Hikael and I noticed it has monomolecular vibroblades in the elbows."

Blueberry uninstalled one of the elbow blades and then attached it with molecure tape to the end of her pistol and then hooked up the power. With it active, she very carefully cut through the melted part of his armor's seams so it could open again.

After finishing and turning the power off, she squeezed his hand. "Try it now."

With Blueberry's help, Michael was able to extricate himself from the armor, although a few of his feathers ended up getting pulled, earning a wince from their owner.

Now that he had room to breathe again, Michael seemed to relax. "Thank you, Blueberry Shoi. I am sure that was the hard part, regrowing my legs should be relatively easy. If I'm remembering what I was told about the Caelisolanii body correctly, hemosynth should be effective. And... thank you for listening to my spiel back there, without getting angry." Michael smiled at the Neko, blushing a bit from the squeezed hand. "I'm sure that you'll make someone a nice wife someday, ma'am." Michael was sure that was a compliment, there was no way that could make things worse.

"Oh! Oh!" Blueberry laughed, her pink blush showing through the makeup on her cheeks. Marriage was not something she had really thought about. "Let's get you to the medical lab."

Moving Michael into the medical lab on the grav gurney, she helped him fully undress, gave him a pain reliever, and then carried him into one of the hemosynthesis tubes and put an oxygen mask on his face. He was able to still talk through a microphone in the mask.

"Time to make you beautiful again," she told him, closing the door. The tube began to fill with nanomachine-filled blood and Michael was able to float in it. The blood began working on building his new legs.

Michael chuckled alongside Blueberry, though the massive amounts of pain put a damper on that. He smiled, and nodded a thanks to Blueberry as he was lifted into the hemosynth tube.

"Men are handsome, ma'am, not beautiful." Michael said before closing his eyes, letting the small machines get to work, he let his mind wander to various things. Michael was surprisingly quiet during most of the process, and even appeared to fall asleep eventually. After a while though, his eyes fluttered opening, and he seemed to yawn.

"Blueberry Shoi, could you, perhaps, download information on certain subjects to my brain? In particular, Yamataian culture, poetry, and cuisine; as well as guides on the maintenance, repair and modification of powered armors, vehicles, and starships? As long as I'm going to be on-board the Eucharis, I am going to make myself useful and not just be dead weight."