Acara
9/17/03 7:20

Transition [GSS Seigi] 

Acara was thinking back as he got of the Yui and headed for Central. ~No wonder it has been lonely around here. I’ll bet I am the last on to get the memo. And just my luck another transfer.” He grumbled a little at He moved along the road toward Central. 

After about 45 minutes Acara realized he had no idea how far Central was away. He laughed a little as he noticed a jeep coming down the road, until I skidded to a halt, spraying him with dust.

“You know, you really need to take a bath now and then, don’t you think.” Came a familiar voice from the drivers seat.

Acara stared in astonishment at the blue haired neko he had known for so long.

Keenara just grinned openly at the befuddlement on Acara’s face.

“Keenara!” Acara was laughing loudly as he rushed over and hugged her.

“Well well well, aren’t we happy to day.” Then she to laughed and returned the hug. “I just wish you could have seen your face. By the way, did you really think you could walk all the way to central?” Keenara asked with a sardonic grin.

Acara looked a little taken aback. “To be honest I had no idea how far it was…….” Then he seemed to realize something. “How is it that you are here?”

Keenara just smiled at him. “ Why don’t you jump in and I’ll tell you on the way to Central.”

“Ok, sounds fine to me” Acara said as he climbed into the passengers seat. “ I did not know you had a jeep?”

“Well, actually I don’t. I just borrowed this from a friend since I knew you would be slow and I would be worth a laugh to come pick you up.” Keenara’s smile was from ear to ear.

“ Oh.” Was all Acara said as the jeep started of at speeds probably not to safe.

“ Have you gotten your assignment yet?” Keenara asked as she moved to the side to miss and equally speeding truck.

Acara shook his head. “ Um, no. I figured I would look it up when I got on my new ship.”

“ The Seigi.” Keenara commented.

Acara looked startled. “ How do you know that?”

“Be cause that is were I am stationed, and you Chief Technical Sentry.” She began to laugh again at the Acara’s be fuddled expression.
“I’m Chief Tech. Why I’m not that good.”

“On the contrary, somebody seems to think you are very good.” Was all Keenara’s reply, as they rode in silence for the rest of the trip.

When the got to one of the shuttle bay’s Keenara pulled out a data pad and sent a message to the owner of the jeep. “ There, ready to go up now?” She asked Acara. 

He looked at the shuttle. “Why do we need to take that, is the new ship really that big?

“Oh, yes and probably a little more.” She said as she climbed in, and Acara followed.

When they finally got up to the ship Acara was in heaven. ~This is probably the biggest ship out there. It will probably need a lot of work.~ 

Keenara gave him a warm smile. “Well I need to be off, and by the way your two friends are here too.” She said over her should as she walked off. 

Acara was smiling to has he headed for the bridge.

Tasuki Uso
9/21/03 13:51

Kai's arrival: part 1 

GSE goon: ON> GSS Seigi

Kai had made his way onto the Seigi via shuttle he stood in the docking bay and briskly walked out into the main hallways of the Ship. "This is the Seigi isn't it? You're a very nice ship." Kai said to the AI

"Thank you Mr. Ashigari" The Seigi commented as Kai walked down her carpeted hallways.

"Is Wazu on the bridge?" He asked as he took a few steps.

"That is correct Mr. Ashigari" Seigi said as a few artificial crewmembers walked by Kai heading for the Flight deck.

Kai nodded in understanding; "Please direct me to the bridge Seigi." He said as he started toward the way he thought it was.

A red line appeared on the wall and led to the open air lift on the flight deck, "Follow the red line please Mr. Ashigari." Seigi commented.

"Thank you." He said as he brushed some hair down over his jewel and followed the line toward the bridge, looking at the various artificial crew as he walked. His duffle bags held in one hand.

He looked around as he walked, in a matter of minutes he reached the bridge and entered in. " Hello." He said pleasantly.

As he entered the heavily armored sphere inside of the ship that was the bridge he saw Wazu and Lav hooked into the computer system comfortably while Alexis was jacking in although in a slightly more aggravated way.

~Wazu!~ Kai jolted him mentally.

"What?" he asked 

"Having a little Seigi assisted daydream?" Kai asked Wazu with a slight smile.

"...I guess you could call it that..." Wazu said although his voice seemed a bit sluggish as if he was drunk.

"Wazu. I was assigned here as your chief intelligence officer." Kai said with a bright smile.

Kai pulled off his cloak and levitated it and his duffle bag sitting against a wall and out of the way.

"I am aware of that." Wazu said again a bit sluggish, ~I suppose that you want your room?~ he asked mentally and a lot faster than he talked. 

~I don't really mind either way. What's wrong? You sound.... Sluggish.~ Kai replied mentally.

~A body's physical reactions are slowed when interfacing this directly~ Wazu thought at him with a greater clarity than his speech.

~Ah, understandable. Practicing a few things that require interfacing? ~ He asked, not wanting to find out directly.

~Did you design this ship Wazu? It's massive. ~

~I am trying to... teach Seigi stuff and yes I did design it~ Wazu replied.

~Should have given it a personality.~ Kai commented. ~I suppose I'll take the room next to yours if it's unoccupied. ~ Kai thought to Wazu, figuring that this was the faster mode of communication.

~The people at QnS don't have time for such redundant things although they did program the computer to learn from its experiences. The room next to mine is unoccupied. Mine is on the far left. ~ Wazu thought back.

"The one right next to Aelexis's" Kai said.

Tasuki Uso
9/21/03 23:06

Engine Trouble 

ON> GSS Seigi

Above Greshintall the Seigi was still preparing for its first combat assignment. Wazu continued to move about inside of the computer system until he received a message from Seigi notifying him that it was nearing time to break orbit and move with the fleet to Nepleslia. ~Seigi will you get the Intel data on the planet for me? ~ He asked the computer. "Yes sir." it responded before sending the communication down to Greshintall.

Alexis took his time sifting through the files, focusing on the fighter and equipment specs. The Neko specs were still a touchy subject; it seemed...he couldn't get access to them yet. Part of him 'watched' Lav's piloting sim from a distance...he was a bit disturbed by the canon. Why would anyone want to start a black hole? How long did the effect last? Finally, he withdrew from the system and waited for the interface to retract, rubbing his neck after it had done so.

Meanwhile, Yuuko had just stumbled into the dining hall. Spotting Uso, she slinked over to the woman and poked her in the belly. "Hey," the little purple-haired neko asked, "What's for breakfast? I'm hungry!"

Uso gave Yuuko an odd look,” don’t poke me," she instructed as she turned to have a look at the kitchen that was situated at the end of the long dinning hall. Slung over Uso's shoulders were four duffle bags that she had yet to set down in her room. "I dunno.... I'll get something out I guess,” Uso said taking a few steps toward the kitchen before stopping, "what would you like?"

The jack closed up and the shifter looked around as he sat up in the chair. He didn't recognize Kai, but nodded to the man in greeting. The guy was probably one of the new crew. Oh, Intel...okay. Alexis sat on the edge of the chair and looked around at the displays posted around the bridge. For some reason he was feeling a bit tired. Shrugging, he walked over to his quarters and entered, then took out a device from his satchel. A few minutes later, he exited the bridge and headed to the lower deck and out to the shuttle bay.

The Flight deck of the ship was empty with just the fighter hanging overhead and both cranes folded up against the walls. In the maintenance bay behind the flight deck one Ronin and Samurai were being worked on with their outer coverings removed and placed against the wall. From one of the side doors to the bay a neko entered and walked over to the two working on the Ronin and lent a hand.

"Hmm." Yuuko seemed lost in though for a moment. With a sudden grin, she chirped, "Muffins! Blueberry, and banana nut! And French toast. " The shorter NH-17 then skittered around the kitchen looking for the ingredients. "Aha!" she zealously pointed, finding the door to the food ingredients storage. Leaping into the room, she began to rummage through boxes and bags, until she came out with a bag of muffin mix. "Here's a start!" she enthusiastically proclaimed, dumping the box on the counter.

Uso smiled as she watched the neko seek out the muffin mix enthusiastically. ~Well that was entertaining," she said out loud as she walked over to where Yuuko put the mix. The kitchen was arranged with all the appliances lining the rear wall of the Dinning hall with a freestanding counter in-between the eating area and the kitchen. Uso dumped her bags on the floor and looked at Yuuko. "Ok now find the blueberries." 

Yuuko made somewhat of a scowl. "Hey," she pointed at Uso's face. "I'm only here to eat!" she announced. But, of course she helped look for the blueberries anyway. Where the heck was the kitchen staff? WAS there a kitchen staff? Perhaps they were still settling in their quarters. Yuuko scooted into a refrigerator, where the fresh fruits and vegetables were kept.

Uso took the time to look at the muffin mix box and read the instructions on the side. "Hmm." she thought out loud as her back oozed with blood and soon formed several tentacles. As she read the box the various tentacles snaked out and preformed various tasks from turning on the stove to grabbing a bowl and other assorted stuff.

"Please don't bleed in the batter,” Yuuko meekly requested.

"Ya whatever." Uso said, not really paying attention as she brought the bowl under the bag of mix and then quickly formed a blade in her right hand that she used to slice open the bottom of the bag and let the mix fall out into the bowl then poof up into the air forcing Uso to blink a few times to get the stuff out of her eyes

The shifter watched the Neko, then followed her over to the stripped fighter craft. They seemed to be doing okay. So he turned around and left. "What am I supposed to do around here?" he muttered. Eventually Alexis passed the kitchen and looked inside. "Hey Uso," he said. "What're you up to?"

"Taisa Jaren, Sir!" Yuuko pattered around the counter, dropping the blueberries next to Uso. Moving close to Alexis, she bowed and chimed a cute "Ohayo" to him.

Uso waved her hand in front of her face to disperse the cloud of muffin mix, "cooking," she said as she stabbed the knife into the counter so it stayed upright as she got some water from the sink and poured it into the bowl, "please refrain from stabbing me Ms. Tasuki." the voice of the Seigi chimed in as Uso began a search for a stirring spoon inside one of the cabinets of the kitchen.

"Ohayo," Alexis replied with a bow of his own. He watched Yuuko for a second...he didn't know Nekos came that short. They'd all been the same height wherever he saw them.

Yuuko was not only short, but she also looked quite young, to the point of being somewhat, physically underdeveloped, especially in the chest area. The girl's every contour was, of course, all available for his perusal; the standard female uniform was very form-fitting.

"Did you find those blueberries yet?" Uso asked as she turned off the stove and turned on the oven not entirely sure which to use or even how to cook.

But Alexis wasn't interested in bust size. He examined her face...she looked somewhat playful. If he was human Alexis'd probably ignore her, but instead he smiled slightly as he watched her. Her enthusiasm was contagious, almost the antithesis of Uso's serious demeanour.

Yuuko looked up at him, and as he looked at her countenance, she inspected his in turn, her big glossy eyes staring back in wonder. The tender moment was softly interrupted by her diminutive hand slowly penetrating his personal space until he took notice. Poised to shake, she smiled and introduced herself to Alexis. "Taii Sakai Yuuko, sir."

"Taisa Alexis Jaren. Nice to make your acquaintance, Miss Sakai," he answered, taking her hand and giving it the customary shake. He noticed her staring, and turned his eyes to Uso. "What're you up to, Uso? Aren't there cooks to do that or is this self-serve like the Yui?"

"Call for backup!" Yuuko heartily suggested. It seemed an appropriate thing for an ex-security sentry to say.

Uso chuckled, "I am the ships cook," she said as she tossed the muffin tray with all the mix now in it into the oven then closed the door.

"How'd that go down?" the shifter asked with a puzzled look as he scanned the countertop for something to chew on. "I thought you were going to be Intel."

The open pack of muffins seemed promising, so he dug one out and took a bite, some crumbs falling to the floor.

"Heh I'll tell you later sometime," Uso said with a smile as she looked over the dinning hall.

Suddenly Alexis' face scrunched up. "Yech!" The burnt muffin was tossed to the sink, a little smoke curling up from the charcoaled lump. "So much for flash-baking," the shifter muttered, scraping the rest of the burnt mix from his hands into the sink. He had taken a handful of the mix and heated it up in an attempt to bake it, but didn't get the temperature right. So what if he didn't know how to cook...He shook his head, then started to watch the oven door.

Yuuko gave Alexis a frightened and confused look. She made a tiny little eep noise, but was otherwise silent.

"Eh?" Alexis glanced over at Yuuko, a question in his look.

A small light on the panel above the stove turned from red to green, "what does that mean?" Uso asked, "That means the muffins are done." Seigi replied, "oh" Uso then opened up the stove and took out the tray of muffins then set them down on the counter, "ok you have your muffins," Uso said as she picked up her duffle bags placing one over each shoulder and then holding one in each arm.

"You first!" Yuuko told Alexis, not quite trusting Uso's haphazard cooking.

"Thanks." He took one and bit into it. A bit tough, but still good. "They're safe to eat. Dun worry 'bout it."

Yuuko eagerly snatched up a muffin from the tray, bouncing it back and forth between her hands. "Eh! AH! Hot!" she juggled it until it was cool enough to put in her mouth without burning her glossy pink lips. Biting out little nibbles at a time, she began working on it with an "Mmm."

Uso sat down the bag in her left hand and picked up a muffin. She put it in her mouth and bit down to keep it there as she picked up the bag again and walked off to try and find her room.

Alexis tore the rest of his muffin in two, then smashed one of the halves and started to eat it. "Not bad Uso...how much work did you actually put into these?"

Again, Yuuko began rummaging through the refrigerators, looking for some milk...

~not much~ she sent him as she walked out the door into the hallway and headed to the rear lifts to get down to where her quarters were.

Repeating the process with the other half, Alexis finished his muffin and hopped up to sit on the un-used part of the countertop. A bit of a glow came to his eyes as he digested the food. "What're you looking for?" he asked Yuuko.

"Milk" an open refrigerator responded in a girly voice.

Alexis looked strangely at the fridge. "I was asking Miss Sakai, but thanks. I didn't know refrigerators could talk...are you a new computer-run model?" The shifter hopped off the counter and walked over to Yuuko. "You lost?"

"Huh?" Yuuko's head popped out of the doorway, followed by the rest of her body. Emerging with a few small cartons of milk, she grabbed another pair of muffins and sat down at a table. Some of the other crewmembers had wandered in to get breakfast, and the muffins were going fast.

"Nothing," Alexis replied, dodging someone reaching for one of the cartons. "Hey, you piloted the ship that took us to the hanger bay on Geshrintall, weren't you?" he asked suddenly.

Yuuko looked up from her muffin devouring. "Mmmhmm." she hummed, her cheeks puffy with muffin inside.

Uso walked into the room that Seigi had assigned her, "for the record I don't like this room Seigi." Uso said as she carefully set her bags down in the corner of the room then headed back to the galley.

The shifter nodded and smiled. "Thanks again for the ride. What's your station here?"

Uso got back to the upper galley and went straight to the fridge to get herself a drink.

"I'm the communications officer," Yuuko explained.

"Mmm, okay." Alexis grimaced inwardly as he realized his conversation had hit a dead end.

Uso walked over to one of the tables away from the few crewmembers that were in at this time and took a long drink from the can in her hand.

Yuuko finished her third muffin, and wiped her mouth off on a napkin. "Heee" she sighed, ether looking at him or out into space. It wasn't easy to tell which, but either way she seemed distracted, as in her own dream world.

"See ya 'round then." Alexis shrugged and left the room, once again to travel the corridors. "If this keeps up I'm be the Ghost of the Seigi, forever wandering the halls," he said aloud. "When are we leaving anyway?"

"I wonder when the ship is moving out? I think we're late." Yuuko randomly blurted out at the same time as Jaren's question.

~Those two should be on the bridge now. ~ Uso thought to herself as she took another sip of her drink.

"You could ask Chujo Wazu.,” she added, hoping that things would speed up a bit.

meanwhile on the bridge Wazu was still waiting for info from SAINT to arrive while the time to move out got closer and closer, "We have 3 minutes left until we have to leave Mr. Wazu," Seigi reminded him as he let his mind wander about the insides of the computer system.

Yuuko showed up on the bridge and sat down at her station, attempting to figure out the controls. "Hrm." she squinted, then tapped a button. "Message from SAINT."

The message on the console was opened up and immediately Wazu was looking it over as he sent the order to move the ship towards Nepleslia.

The main screen switched to a view of a gray-shirted neko. "Nepleslian ships are under orders to cooperate with you, and planetary defences are offline." the simple message played. It had arrived some time ago.

The drive system of the ship activated and pushed it away from greshintall before activating the ships CDD and speeding off towards Nepleslia. Right away Wazu didn't feel good about this assignment. His thoughts were organized along the lines of why a massive space fleet would be needed to subjugate a planet that was cooperating. ~weren't ground forces for that?~ he thought to himself. ~oh well. Seigi please tell the recon pilots to head to their ships and await arrival at the planet. I want them to launch as soon as we leave the CDD effect.~

The whole ship suddenly jolted, and the bridge lights went out for a moment...

Wazu assumed it was the CDD kicking in but he checked the sensors just to be sure. Seigi had already relayed his order and soon the crane operators were picking up the 12 Ronin fighters used in the recon squadrons and placing them on the flight deck as the pilots headed out of their rooms and to the flight deck. Each crane picked up a fighter from the overhead racks and carefully set it down on the rubbery flight deck before repeating the process. The flight ops officer was watching the scene unfold from her post above the flight deck inside of the control center.

"What was that??" Yuuko asked, still fixated on the flickering lighting.

"One of the cables has been damaged and is sending energy through my interior Ms. Yuuko." Seigi responded 


"This is the first time the ship has used its CDD." Yuuko noted. "Maybe something was not finished?"

~Seigi shut down power to the CDD,~ Wazu thought as he retrieved the interior data from the A.I. Almost immediately the ship had complied and shut down the CDD and the surrounding power transmission system.

The ship slowed down to sub-light speed again. Yuuko made a "What's going on?" look. In the engineering section, the walls were blackened and peeling, and a strong burning odour wafted about the hallways. 

Additional techs that were not on duty at the time hurried out of their rooms and towards the damaged section of the ship, picking up fire fighting equipment from HCS conduits as they ran. Several of the A.I. neko's were already there surveying the damage and trying to retrieve downed crewmembers. Wazu observed what Seigi saw through her neko's as they looked around inside of engineering.

Several charred bodies lay burned in place throughout the area where the cable was. The foot-wide power cord had melted itself through the side of an access tunnel and was hanging through a ceiling, touching the metal grating that covered that area of the floor. There were some sparking panels nearby, but nothing seemed to be actively burning anymore.

The remains of some sort of container were laying on the ground nearby. There was a liquid inside.

Wazu scowled from his chair on the bridge, "there isn't supposed to be metal grating on the floor for just this reason~ he thought to the computer as the techs begun repairs, ~I wonder what else the KIF people changed~ he thought as he began shifting through the other systems on the ship while giving repair orders from the A.I. controlled neko's.

Lavino Taiensho
9/23/03 11:33

Lavinia's burning hope 

GSS Seigi
Lavinia had just completed a simulated flight in order to adjust to the way the Seigi operated, satisfied and confident that she could do it, and due to the fact that she still had some free time. Lavinia stood and exited the bridge of the Seigi to have alook around.
She paused for a moment near her room to shut Siaga inside so that he wouldn't wander around the ship and cause problems then continued on her way.

"Attention," Yui's voice came on over the intercom of every ship in the first fleet. Eventually, there would have to be some sort of fleet command announcement system, but this announcement had been made the old-fashioned way. "First Fleet, this Taisho Kitsurugi. The 1st Fleet will depart for Elysian Space in 12 hours. Crew have until then to report to their ships, ready for battle. No further travel to the planet is permitted, unless authorized by your ship's captain. Nekos who have not already done so MUST upgrade to the latest appropriate body. We are going to war. That is all."

Lavinia's eyes widened at the mention of war, she hated it and couldn't understand why everyone simply couldn't get along. "I'd better go get my upgrade." Lavinia said to herself. And headed for the Seigi's Medbay to see if they could perform it.
She had downloaded a map of the ship when she first arrived, so she had some clue as to where she was going.

"Attention," Chiharu's voice came on, immediately after Yui's 'that is all,' "The GSS Ketsurui Chiharu will be departing for Elysian Space in eleven hours and fifty nine minutes. All ships except the GSS Seigi will follow. The Seigi will rendezvous with the GSA's 6th Fleet and depart to Nepleslia. That is all."

Lavinia walked into the Medbay and looked around for the chief medic. "Hello?" Lav asked softly as she walked in and looked around.

"Eh?" a medic poked her head out of an office. He could see Inari in the back of the medbay, working with someone already. "Chusa Mikoshu is out right now. How can I help you?"

"Hi Inari." Lavinia said cheerfully. "I'm here to get an upgrade, possibly into the NH-X." She asked hopefully, for getting one of those bodies had been a desire of hers since she heard that they were in production.

"The X?" Inari inquisitively raised her eyebrows. "They're not a single neko like Chiharu's prototype was anymore. They have two minds." she pointed out to the woman.

"Ooooo." Lavinia said looking a bit disappointed. ~I wish Ritsu was still here, he'd have been able to share my mind.~ Lav thought as she wrestled her bang out of her eye. Lav's eyes started to tear up just a bit at the thought. It had been hard for her, but she was beginning to think that he would have wanted her to continue on. "Maybe...that station...Tabidatsu would have...." She murmured as she thought about what to do now.

"How about an NH-17R?" Inari proposed, finishing up with her patient. 

Lavinia sighed, she had really wanted the X. "Inari, could you do me a small favour? Could you contact Tabidatsu Station and ask if they might have one of Ritsu's old backups?" She asked trying to maintain her calm.

"Only certain computers were allowed to keep ST data after Proposal 39 passed. I don't think any space stations were on the list." Inari tried to explain. "Look," Inari said with a lopsided smile, "You're a pilot. Why would a pilot need an X body?" 

"The backup would have been made before the proposal." Lavinia said, her eyes lighting up with a desperate hope. "I know it sounds farfetched, but would you please just check?" She asked somewhat evading Inari's question

"And it would have been deleted after the proposal." Inari frowned.

"Please Inari." Lav asked again with an anguished expression. "And he'd have hidden another one in a locker somewhere."

With a reluctant sigh, she made an exasperated expression and said, "Fine...I'll check."

"Thank you Inari." Lavinia said.
~I hope there's one there...~ Lav thought as Inari checked.

Inari pieced through the records of the station. It was still around, but was mostly used for refuelling and cargo, and still had the same old computer, a non-AI one that was pretty basic. After a few errors, she found the old records. "The only ST data stored here was the ships that went to Python Station. I..." she tried to be gentle. "I don't see him"

"Please Inari, check Python Station then...." Lav said starting to become teary again.
"Remember, the Yui went to that station after it left Tabidatsu." Lavinia said.

"Lavinia, we're not authorized to access Python Station's computers."

Lavinia brightened up suddenly, You know I think I might have one." Lavinia said pulling an old datapad out of a small bag, "this might contain one." She said. 

"So, you're um..." Inari didn't want to say. Lavinia was breaking a law that could mean life imprisonment.
"Anything for love," the medic grinned, trying not to draw any attention to the pad as she took it into the ST room.

"He gave it to me and said to hold onto it just in case!" Lavinia said. "And I believe that since he GAVE it to me to hold onto, it violates no law."
Lavinia brightened and followed Inari into the ST room. "Um, do I have to do this at the same time to make it work?" She asked

"The only things allowed to hold ST data are AvaNet and MEGAMI/KAMI computers." Inari quietly informed her. "I think it'd be best."

Lav moved over to another ST table and laid on it. "Well then, It'll be between me and you please Inari?" Lavinia asked quietly.

"The only things allowed to hold ST data are AvaNet and MEGAMI/KAMI computers." Inari quietly informed her. "I think it'd be best." Inari left Lavinia in the room for five minutes or so, and returned with a pair of NH-X bodies. Both of them had a reddish skin and pinkish hair. "Don't worry, you can change it." she explained, so as not to draw complaints from Lavinia.

Lavinia grinned. "I am ready." she said.

"Alright," Inari told her, pointing. "Lie down on the table over on that side." The medic adjusted some switches and pushed a few buttons on the control panel of the funky-looking ST machine.

Lavinia laid on the other table and prepared for it.


Lavino Taiensho
9/25/03 13:16

Look whose back. 

After Lavinia had laid out on the ST table and Inari had transferred her over to the NH-X body, along with restoring Ritsurin's old soul backup into the male body; her old body was "fed" to the ship's disposal systems and recycled by the HS system.

Lavinia awoke, nude and dripping with birth slime, and opened her eyes and looked around, as her mind adjusted itself, a process that took a little less than a minute. She reached for a towel and dabbed herself off and when she was sure it was all off, Lavinia wrapped the towel around herself. It was a matter of moments before she was asked to set her default appearance.

~Please select your hair color.~ The disembodied voice asked her in her mind.

~Hmmm.~ Lavinia thought in reply, she was half tempted to try out a different look, but decided against it, as she liked her normal appearance. ~Dark green with pine green tips.~ 

~Please select your default hairstyle~ The voice prompted.

~Medium length, straight, with one long bang over my face; reaching just below my jawline.~ Lavinia replied, wording it out carefully, as to get it right.

~Please select you eye color.~ The voice prompted yet again.

~Sapphire blue.~ Lavinia replied without hesitation.

~You have been set as a nekowalkyrie, is this acceptable? Would you like to add anything else?~ The prompt came one final time.

Lavinia looked around and picked up a small mirror off a nearby table and looked at herself in the small object and was pleased with her appearance. ~No, this is acceptable~ She replied.

She stretched and spotted a GSA uniform laid out for her on a small table where the mirror was. ~Light blue, it's a nice look~ She thought as she slid into the tight uniform. ~Wish these things where a bit looser, I don't like the feeling of it squeezing my breasts like this.~ Lavinia mentally complained and unzipped the top a bit, showing a bit of cleavage, but nothing too showy, her slightly larger than average chest drew enough attention as it was.

When she was finished dressing, a matter of seconds, she looked over at her male counterpart and watched the pink hair fade out to a platinum blonde and grow out to about waist length on the body, and two blood red bangs grow out and cover the handsome face of the man. The bloody red color spread through the silvery colored hair in two neat streaks beginning at the base of the bangs and flowing out in linear patterns and ending at the tips of the hair.

The man sat up without a word and opened his clear amber eyes and looked around while his mind adjusted itself; he had been dead for longer than her, thus his took a bit longer. 

Three claw-slash type marks appeared on his face under his right eye. He opened and closed his fist a couple times as the trademark unbreakable claws appeared, his ears forming not into the cat ears of a neko, but the short, pointed ears of a half breed demon. Ritsurin was quickly coming back into being.

Without a word he grabbed a towel on the table near him and wiped the birth slime off, a simple task as most of it had dripped off while the special features formed. He donned a sleeveless version of the male outfit, it was a bland black color since he didn't have a station or rank yet.

Lavinia had quietly turned around and was watching him with restrained excitement, attempted to cover it up by remaining demure about it. She watched hoping that he hadn't forgotten her while he was "away." He calmly turned in her direction, making her excitement grow almost unbearable.

"Lavinia..." He grinned sardonically, an old trademark grin.

Lavinia's anxious excitement quickly changed to and expression of pure joy as she couldn't hold it back any longer, her eyes filled with tears as she smiled happily and launched herself, with tears streaming down her face, into his arms. "Ritsu!!! You're back!!!" She cried and hugged him tightly around the torso and cuddled into his chest. "Don't leave me like that again, you big dog." She said.

Ritsurin smiled back at her and hugged her back and rubbed her back comfortingly. "I'm so sorry." He said with honest sincerity.

Lavinia looked up at him still smiling joyously. "You'd better not, I don't think I could handle it again." 

"That's a nice color on you." Ritsurin said, noticing her rank pin and light blue uniform. "I see you got promoted."

Lavinia blushed, a delicate pink touching her cheeks and spreading over the bridge of her cute nose. "I'm a pilot now." She said

Ritsurin whistled. "Oh boy we're in trouble then."

Lavinia laughed and hugged him again. "I'm not that bad. I'm better than you are." She giggled.

Ritsurin looked pseudo-pained. "I'm sure you are." He teased. "But we're still going to crash into the first angel ship we see." He continued with a sardonic grin growing into a smile.

Lavinia didn't reply, but giggled loudly, then spoke. "No, Ritsu, that wouldn't be a good idea, I took a sim, and it hurts when the ship gets shot like that. And you know I hate being hurt too badly." She said.

"I know." Ritsurin replied simply.

They continued to sit there for a moment that seemed like eternity hugging each other silently, then stood and headed for the bridge to re-introduce Ritsurin.


Ketsuri Chiharu
9/25/03 21:49

[GSS Ketsurui Chiharu] Regret 

Taisho Ketsurui stared out into the space passing before her eyes just beyond the ship's display. She felt alone and liberated at the same time... this was her second ship change in months and this time she knew everything that there was to know about herself. She had no hidden memories, and no doubts in her mind of the destiny that lay ahead of her. 

Chi sighed deeply as she let herself sink back into her chair. ~ I have seen so many things change in our world. We have a system of currency, there are new ranks, even more models... new alliances and the same enemies. ~ The memories danced across her eyes as the stars blurred into a whirling vision of color and voices. She was filled with a sense of wonder at the new beginning but a sense of regret lingered there. The regret gnawed at her, not letting her forget that she was still missing something in her life- she was a NH-X, the only one left without a partner because she was one of the first. 

Would having a male NH-X twin mean that she was being unfaithful to Yui? Chi frowned as the question resounded in her mind, that was why she was full of regret- Yui. In all of the uproar she had forgotten to say good-bye to Yui. Her feelings for her old friend and fellow Taisho had been bottled up for so long. Yui knew her feelings now, she had finally told her before they had parted ways before...

She remembered well what Yui had said to her about how when Yui got back that they'd run the 1st fleet side by side. Right now that dream didn't seem likely but, Chi couldn't wait for that day to come.

Chiharu smiled softly as a warm feeling swept over her entire being at the thought of being with Yui again. ~One day, it won't be a dream. But until that day, all I can do is wait for the time when Yui and I can be together and we won't have to say good-bye any longer...~


Alexis Jaren
9/26/03 0:13

[GSS Seigi] The Cure for Boredom & A Re-meeting 

ON>GSS Seigi

Lavinia and Ritsurin had reconsolidated their bonds and exited the Medbay. "I have to head to the bridge, since I'm still on duty technically. This ship is huge, so you better go have a look around before anything major happens Ritsu." Lavinia said.

Ritsurin nodded. "I will have a look around, you be careful ok? You're a pilot now, so you can't be goofing off."

Lavinia leaned up and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "That's your department, not mine." She chuckled and turned to head for the bridge.

Lavinia walked off for the bridge, following her mental map. Somewhat hoping to see someone she recognized, as it seemed that most of her old friends got restationed elsewhere.

Alexis had wandered back to the shuttlebay and gotten his fighter out of the clamps. It was now hovering above the bay floor, and he was kneeling on the engine pod with some of the panelling beside him as he tweaked on one of the thrust systems. "Hmm..." He stood up and walked over to the aft weapon turret, removing that panel too. "Lessee...maybe a larger energy conduit would work better." He continued murmuring to himself as he started on the weapon systems. As the shifter walked over the outside of the craft, the skin of the ship seemed to shimmer wherever he stepped.

Ritsurin yawned, he wasn't really used to his body just bit and started wandering around the ship, he looked in the Galley to find it was empty, much to his disappointment. He spend a bit of time looking around and eventually wandered into the shuttlebay. "Whoa. This is a lot of fighters." He whistled as he walked in and looked around.

Ritsu's voice carried in the open bay, albeit without echoing because of the fighters hanging from the walls and ceiling. Alexis frowned. "Not possible." He shrugged and climbed on top of the Cat's Claw, dropping inside through the dorsal hatch. He landed on the top of the munitions bay and climbed off of it to the main deck. He stuck a small device on his temple and mentally ordered the computer to run a diagnostic on the adjustments he had made.

Ritsurin was looking around at the various Ronin fighters and Samurai Class Fighters in the bay. He had always wanted to pilot one of these, but he didn't think he really knew how to. He spent a bit of time looking at the ships and eventually came across the Cat's Claw. "Hmm, this one's different." He said to himself as his amber eyes traced over the fighter.

The orange FTL engine nacelle on the port side was glowing dimly, in stand-by mode, while the stubby pod on the starboard side was venting a clear cloud of gasses that created a mirage effect behind it. The starboard pod was the sub-light engine, the thrust was accelerated particles that didn't give off as much heat as energized particles...much better against heat-seekers.

Ritsurin watched the ship warm up and took a few steps back and off to the side, just in case. "Who's in there?" He called into the vessel. "or is it an AI running self tests?"

Alexis' head popped up from the upper hatch, looking down at the engine, specifically the unpaneled parts. He glanced at Ritsu, then looked back at the engine. "I'm in here. Just trying out a few adjustments." His left eye closed slightly...that voice was familiar. How many males were on this crew anyway?

"Hm." Ritsurin replied. "Is it anything serious?" He poked at the armor of the ship just out of curiosity to see how it'd respond.

"Nah, I'm just bored is all." The armor created a halo around Ritsu's finger, like the ship was covered by plastic-wrap placed over a thin gell layer...The armor was a massive hive of nanites. Some stuck to his finger, then evaporated once they were separated from the main mass. "Do me a favour and don't stand behind the pod over there...that cloud will tear you apart like a haystack in a tornado," Alexis warned, motioning to the sub-light engine.

Ritsurin looked up at Alexis, making his silvery hair dance around him. "I'll remember to stay away from that. This is a nice little ship by the way."

Alexis turned to Ritsurin and smiled. "Thank you. Hey, are you stationed here or just visiting?" The engine's low-pitched hiss wound down as the testing completed. Alexis glanced over at the pod, then pulled himself out of the hatch and slid down to stand on the engine casing. "Hmm...looks like it passed." He replaced the casing sections on the pod and the turret, then dropped to the ground.

Ritsurin looked at Alexis. "I was born here so I suppose I'm stationed here." He said as he continued to look over the ship.

"A newly synthed crewmember, eh? I thought they only could synth Nekos," Alexis remarked, walking around the ship toward Ritsu. "Wazu was killed, he came back a Neko. Are you a new mind too or was this a backed up synth?"

Ritsurin looked at him as he spoke and absently flexed his clawed fingers. "You know, I'm not exactly sure, I feel like I have my own mind, but I also feel another in my mind."

Alexis thought a bit. "Hmm. Sounds normal, then. I guess. What's your position?"

"I don't have one." Ritsurin replied simply.

Ritsurin looked surprised. "Wazu's a Chujo? Ok, who'd be sleep with?" He joked.

"Um...no one as far as I know. He did design this class though. The Integrated Strike Force Battleship, I believe it's called. Anyway, he beat me to The Chair, and somehow I got posted here instead of with Chiharu." Alexis smiled. "So you know him then?"

"Chiharu's not here?" Ritsu asked as he caught it.

"No, haven't you heard?" Alexis narrowed his eyes. This was odd. And those slash-marks seemed familiar. Ritsu? But he had gotten his head blown off without a backup...It wasn't possible..."She got her own ship, the Yuumi Class Ketsurugi Chiharu, named after her. A strange set-up, in my opinion..."

Ritsurin smiled that looked more like a smirk. "Well, she had it coming I suppose."

"Yeah. She did an excellent job aboard the Yui, despite the times we weren't around to back her up. She kept a tight ship." Alexis keyed open the aft hatch. Two feet inside, the munitions bay blocked the compartment. He opened a panel on the bay and accessed some circuits. "I just wish I could have followed her. But I'll make do here. Maybe this boredom spell won't last very long." There was a sizzle, then a couple of conduits began glowing.

Ritsurin moved around so that he could see what Alexis was doing, but being careful of the thruster Alexis said to avoid. "I've only been here a few minutes, but this place isn't so bad really. It is home after all."

"Yeah. For now, anyway." The glow disappeared from the conduits and Alexis removed the interface device, putting it in his pocket. "Hmm. I guess that's all I can do here. Maybe I'll get some more ideas later...why don't we go up and get you an assignment? You can't just wander around all day." Alexis returned the Cat's Claw to its position in the rafters and started toward the bay exit. "I know I can't," he muttered.

Ritsurin grinned and followed Alexis. "What do you do on this ship?" He asked blowing a bang out of his eyes.

"I'm the second-in-command," came the short reply.

"Hmm, sounds like fun." Ritsurin replied and walked next to Alexis. "You look really young, I have to admit. Just how old are ya?"

Alexis shrugged. "I don't know. Probably two or so. I just use this form because it's...well, more useful than an older-looking one. Gets into serious trouble less often. You'd be surprised how few times a kid gets beat on by grown-ups, they are more likely to ignore me."

"Well you can't go through life avoiding everything you know. Sure it works for now, but who knows in the future. I wasn't like that, in my youth, from what I remember, I was always fighting older people."

"Oh, I spar now and then. I just don't fight because..." the shifter falls silent and just keeps walking. His brow is knit into a frown. He didn't want to think of that right now.

"You're afraid of seriously hurting someone." Ritsurin finished for him, or he thought he did.

"If only you knew," came the muttered reply. <Fortunately, it's only come to that once.> Alexis shook his head slightly. Wasn't Timdri back in the Hollow? Why was he hearing it now?

Ritsurin got the hint and didn't push the issue further. "Where do you think I'll be stationed? I was hoping to work with one of those fighters back there." He said, popping his knuckles, in an old habit.

Alexis lifted his head a bit. "I could put in a word for you...but you'd have to pass a flight test, if not than I'll test you. It won't do to have an untrained or under-skilled pilot out there. And I'm wanting to check out the abilities of the Samurai class." They took a lift up to Deck One and started down the hallway. "If you don't make that, there's always security. A lot of people who normally wouldn't have a position seem to end up there."

"Security sounds rather dangerous." Ritsurin said. "I seem to know how to pilot them in the most basic terms. I'd love to take that test as soon as I can." He said, his eyes lightening up.

"Check with Wazu then. If he doesn't have a fighter test for ya, then I'll do it." Alexis smiled a bit and motioned to the armored door to the bridge. "He'll be in there most likely. The guy never leaves the bridge now, it's kind of odd...anyway, Wazu's the Neko wearing a men's uniform."

Ritsurin had to laugh at that. 

"I'll see you around then, Ritsu." The bridge doors shut behind Ritsurin. Alexis just blinked. "Ritsu? Why'd I call him that? Hmph. Maybe he'll like the nickname..."


Tasuki Uso
9/26/03 5:50

[GSS Seigi] Another Arrival. 

ON> GSS Seigi

Jitar's small shuttle had landed on the flight deck of the Seigi just previous to the CDD travel that damage the ship just recently. Her shuttle was moved to the large open area just behind the flight deck that was the maintenance bay. The flight deck was now being loaded full of Ronin fighters by the two large yellow cranes on either side of the room.

A small clatter echoed out of Jitar's ship, followed by a series of curses "Stupid, god damnit!"

Outside of her ship a dozen neko's were heading to the fighters on the deck making preparations for launch. Most of the crew were busy with happenings around the ship and only one neko with short white hair, an A.I. neko, was outside of her ship waiting to deliver her new orders.

She got up from under a small pile of junk; shaking her head she glanced out the open door of her ship.

"Hello Ms. Navar" The neko said, "You are being assigned as the captain of the fourth attack corvette attached to me." Her voice was devoid of emotion, cold like a machine.

"Umm... ok thanks for telling me." She rubs her head again.

"Do you need me to show you to your quarters or your new ship?" the neko asked.

She looked at the neko.

The neko continued to stand there, her face devoid of emotion.

"Yeah that'd be good."

The neko nodded, "please follow me Ms.Navar." She then turned to walk off into one of the doors that lined the sides of the maintenance bay.

Jitar jumped out of her ship following. her paws making little nose on the floor.

The neko walked down into one of the doors and turned left down the hallway. As the pair walked down the hallway they got a good view of the rooms. On this side of the ship it was mostly pilot's quarters however there was a small snack bar near the center of the ship. They continued until they reached a larger hallway that ran perpendicular to the one they were in. The neko led Jitar to one of the many doors, "This will be your room." It said as the door opened on it's own to let them in. Inside was a large soft pit in the floor and off to the side was a ladder leading up to a hatch that led to Jitar's new ship. Around the room were several pieces of furniture, a flat TV against the wall capable of holo-projection, a gun locker and cabinets for storing stuff in.

She stepped past the neko, looking around the room.

From behind the hatch she heard a dull thud.

She glanced up, her hands deep in her jacket pockets, her green eyes shining.

As she looked through the open hatch she saw another neko walking around on the inside of the ship attached just above her room. In her hand was a toolkit of some sort and she had just dropped a rather large hammer on her foot.


Lavino Taiensho
9/27/03 7:57

[GSS Seigi] Lavinia's Fear. 

Lavinia heard the message over the communications link and started to become frightened, it was her first day of duty. She looked over at Ritsurin with widened, scared eyes. Ritsu's eyes narrowed dangerously, he had just been born and now this. "God-fucking-dammit." He swore loudly and walked over to comfort his scared "sister."

"Ritsu, what's this mean?" She asked in a scared voice. Her heart was pounding heavily in her chest as she held her hand over it.

He knelt down in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders trying to calm her down. "I know you're scared, so am I, but we still have to be strong, they most likely want the technical layout and information on this ship. Our next course of actions lie in the hands of Chujo Wazu. Everything will work out, I do not know how but it will. You need to calm down and collect yourself." Ritsurin said, looking into her eyes, his own fierce, as was normal.

Lavinia looked into his eyes, seeking comfort and sniffled a bit; she was still a bit frightened. "You're right, we have to be strong, even if nobody else is." 

Ritsurin grinned and ruffled her hair some. "That's a girl." He said.

Lavinia smiled as he ruffled her hair, then fixed it up when he finished. Her smile fell from her face as she turned to her console and looked for possible ways out.

Ritsurin grinned and stood up tall standing near her, stroking his chin thoughtfully. ~They most likely want information regarding this ship since it appears to be new. Of course they would, during war, you always seek out what will give you an edge at the lowest cost. We want to avoid as much damage to the ship as possible, but we also cannot afford to give up anything on it either.~ He thought with a heavy sigh. 

He looked around and considered how they should respond. "...or face horrible destruction..." Ritsu murmured.

Meanwhile, Lavinia was looking at sensor array results, there appeared to be a couple cloaked ships around the Seigi, but she knew that the minute that she interfaced and tried to escape they'd open fire. Lavinia grunted, the CDD drive wasn't operating properly. If they could by some time, the techs may be able to repair it enough to escape.

Ritsu turned to Wazu with a deadly serious look on his face. "Wazu, they probably want the technical information; what should we do? We can't just turn the ship over, nor can we really surrender."

Kai Ashigari
9/27/03 19:38

[GSS Seigi] Moments before then after the threat. 

ON> GSS Seigi

Kai had gotten himself set up after choosing an empty room, he was pleased with how big the rooms were and how that he didn't really have to share with anyone. He stood up, off his bed, stretched and felt the pangs of hunger, he hadn't eaten since the previous day. He had been so busy moving in on the Seigi and setting himself up. "Seigi, please show me where the closest Galley is." He asked politely.

"Please follow the orange line Mr. Ashigari," The Seigi's disembodied voice said as a small orange stripe appeared on the wall

Kai nodded and followed the Orange line. "Seigi, do you ever use your constructs to show people around? It is a bit, disconcerting talking to a disembodied voice." He said.

"Would you prefer a neko interface instead of a verbal one Mr. Ashigari?" Seigi asked

"It doesn't matter to me either way Seigi, do what you think is more efficient." He smiled as he followed the orange line, occasionally looking into other rooms. Oddly there seemed to be no one in their rooms or in the hallways

Kai noticeably didn't bother walking after a little bit, instead he simply floated above the ground using his ability to levitate and moved via telekinetics, just enough to push off. "Seigi, why are there no other people in the rooms? I thought the ship was more or less fully manned. Based on Crew numbers, how efficiently are we running?" He asked seriously.

"Currently all combat staff are on standby for launch. Currently we have 50% of the suggested crew for a fully loaded I.S.F.B.," Seigi said 

Kai frowned he didn't like the idea of going about undermanned. He floated along the hallway following the orange line and eventually reached the galley. He set himself down and adjusted his grey GSA uniform and looked around.

Uso was leaning back in her chair, resting her feet on the table in front of her as an A.I. neko prepared food in the kitchen. 

"Uso, You should be working, get off your ass and do it." Kai said with a frown, the inefficiency thing had mildly miffed him, his voice carrying a tone of authority.

"And what is it that I should be doing exactly?" Uso asked as she looked up at the ceiling while leaning her chair back on two legs.

Kai's eyes narrowed dangerously. "It is your duty to at least learn to prepare dishes, not the AI's, you can ask for help, but it is your responsibility to do the work." He said.

Uso looked around, "who am I cooking for again?"

Kai grinned suddenly as he brushed a hair out of his face. "I'll see how good you are. Prepare a double bacon cheeseburger for me Uso." He said with grin. "And don't poison it, cook it yourself, no hemosynthing anything. Medium rare with lettuce, tomato, and mayo." He added as an afterthought.

Uso chuckled, "You're no fun," she said as she fell backwards in the chair and rolled backwards into a standing position. "Seigi get me the stuff to make a double bacon cheeseburger." Uso said as she walked over to the kitchen.

Kai looked after her. "Seigi, provide her with only basic assistance, her job is to do it herself, with minimal help." Kai said.

The A.I. neko stopped what it was doing and went to go get the 'stuff' to make what Kai ordered from the pantry in the back.

Uso looked over at Kai, "trying to make my life hard?" she asked with a slight chuckle.

Kai looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Do you want me to make it hard?" He asked. "Seigi...stand by for any additional orders."
He smirked and took a seat at the table Uso had been sitting in previously.

Uso chuckled some more and turned on the stove as the A.I. neko brought out the 'stuff' Uso took the meat and put to patties of beef on a pan as well as a few strips of bacon before putting the pan on the stove.

"As for your question, no Uso, I'm not trying to make your life hard, I just want to see how well you can do when relying only on yourself and not your abilities." Kai said. "Seigi, please bring me a bottle of cold water." He said looking at the A.I. neko.

The neko went to get the bottle of water as Uso cooked the food. she leaned against the wall as she waited for the meat to cook properly.

Kai smiled and nodded and sat back in the chair. "Thank you." He said to the AI neko. He watched Uso prepare the food as he had told her to.

Uso yawned as the food cooked. A small ding was heard as the stove's timer clocked out. Uso then formed a tentical/spatchula and tossed the beef onto a bun.

Kai watched her with patient, attentive eyes, he had thought that she was rather attractive. ~That's probably why I'm watching her with more interest than I should.~ He thought. "Seigi, what is our current status?" He asked curiously

"The CDD is still disabled. the TTD is at 20% charge. The recon and heavy wings are deployed on the flight deck and awaiting launch. All minion crews are at their stations." Seigi then rattled off a list of technical things such as fuel remaining hull integrity and so on.

"That is acceptable, did we make it to Neplesia?" Kai asked as he watched Uso cook, making sure she didn't cheat

Uso tossed together the burger and then picked up the plate then walked it over to Kai, "We did not reach Nepl... one moment." An announcement then came over the PA. He heard Wazu's voice, "I would like you all to hear this." He said as he replayed the angel communication. “This is Admiral Miwasidh Nariel of the Elysian Battleship Truth. You will surrender immediately, or face terrible destruction.” The angel said. "Currently we need to buy time for repairs and to charge the TTD for escape. All ships prepare to launch one the angels begin their attack." Wazu said through the computer system. "Neplesia" The A.I. neko finished.

"Damn!" Kai said slamming his fist on the table. "Thank you Uso. Seigi, can I get a sheet of saran wrap to preserve this?"

The A.I. neko synthed a roll of saran wrap. Uso walked over to another chair and sat down. Leaning back in the chair she resumed looking up at the roof and generally relaxing

Kai wrapped up the burger and walked out of the galley and back to his room and set the still warm burger on a table and headed for the bridge. "Wazu, Have they demanded anything else?" He said as he entered and walked over to the intel console, nodding to the other people on the bridge.

~No~ Wazu thought at him, his body continued to lay in his chair that now contained a cup holder as per his instructions.

~What do you want me to do?~ He thought to Wazu as he looked over various sensor readings

~Right now we don't need you to do anything.~ Wazu sent him, ~however once the battle has concluded we will need you to analyse the attack data of the ship.~

~gotcha.~ Kai thought back and set a datapad on the console. "Seigi, can you interface this directly to the sensors? I want the attack data of the elysian ship stored on this datapad."

"The attack data is already being recorded in the Intel office. Mr. Ashigari" One of the A.I. neko's standing around the sides of the room with a flack vest and pistol at her hip.

"Good enough." Kai said. He didn't have any form of armor on and only his whip for a weapon.

Kai looked around at the nekos. "Wazu, I'm going back to my room to get some armor on is that ok?"

~alright~ Wazu sent him

Kai silently walked out of the room and headed to his, a matter of moments before he returned wearing the black flak armor and headed back to his station. He looked around, figuring he wasn't needed here, as everyone else was prepared, and Seigi had told him that the information was in the intel office. He silently left the bridge and walked back to his room and grabbed the burger and headed back to the galley for his water. He absently took a bite out of the burger and found is surprisingly delicious. He reached the galley; "Uso, this is really quite good." He said as he entered.

"Ok." Uso said with a sarcastic thumbs up. She was now wearing headphones while she leaned her chair back on two legs.

"Uso, there's an Elysian ship outside telling us to surrender. Just so you know." Kai said.

"That's great. really it is." Uso said not really paying attention to Kai.

Kai narrowed his eyes and telekinetically snatched the headphones off her without harming her. "Uso, you will pay attention to your superior officers when they speak to you." He said with uncharacteristic ire. There was something about the atmosphere that made him slightly annoyed. "Being stuck in a place where we can't call for help and the TTD drives are only at 20% charge."

"Aww that had just gotten to the good part." Uso said with a slight chuckle, "I don't see what you are so worried about anyways." 

"Is not a good thing." He added

"I am not worried." He said. "Unlike you, I take my job very seriously." He started floating up off the ground as he automatically began focusing his ability.

"Heh and I take my work seriously. My job, however, a trained monkey could do. There isn't anything I can do to defend the ship so why bother?" she asked 

Kai snapped his gaze onto her. "You wouldn't appreciate being destroyed." He said. "Go get some armor on and grab a sidearm, for now, I'm making you a sentry." He said, "We are undermanned at the present moment, and we need everything we can get."

Uso held up her pistol, "sidearm's part of the uniform." Uso said with a chuckle as she got up from her chair, "And for your information you don't have the rank to demote me to sentry." Uso's back started to bleed as a tentacle formed and wrapped itself around her waste and chest forming armor as it dissolved onto her body. She then slid her pistol back into its holster

"Don't consider it a demotion, you're bored as hell here. I'm doing you a favour. What would you rather be? A cook or sentry?" Kai asked

"Besides, it's only temporary." He added.

"The sentry position was phased out a while back," Uso said "Well anyways the show is about to start. I should get going." Uso said as she walked out the door and headed for the Intel office.

Kai walked out and hurried back to the intel office to monitor the data.

Uso walked into the room. Around the sides were various monitors displaying various sets of information and in the center was a large holographic projector displaying the surrounding space, the Seigi, and the angel ships.

He got back there quickly and looked over there available information and began to analyze the data.
So far all that was there was the Void and the angels ships...


Tasuki Uso
9/27/03 21:46

[GSS Seigi] preparations 

ON> GSS Seigi

"Ouch..." She said wincing slightly, having had the same thing happen to her several times

The neko then continued on her way working on the ship, hurrying along like her life depended on it, "Ms. Nivar will you please board your ship now. Several angel ships are nearby." The A.I. Neko said 

"Alright." Jitar climbed up through the hatch, standing near the ship.

She stood in a small room lined with lockers full of parts with a small hallway on one side that led to the small bridge of the ship. Two techs were preparing the ship to leave and running through the final checks for launch, "The battle plan will be displayed once you jack into the system. Your craft won't go to far from the Seigi so you will only need minimal crew for this operation Ms. Nivar" The A.I. said

"Alright...." She still understood little about the GSA and was a little disorientated by the way things were moving at the moment.

The A.I. neko walked back into the hallways leavening Jitar alone with the 3 neko's onboard that ship. The tech headed down the small hallway lined with tubes and other systems toward the front of the ship as the other two directly interface with the ships onboard computer.

Jitar sighed, boarding the ship, feeling a little lost in what to do. She’d never used a GSA ship before and she was praying it wasn't much different from her's.

The bridge of the ship was little more than a small room with five chairs in it. Two of the neko's were already connected directly to the ship by cables that ran from their shoulders then behind them to where the computer system was.

She looked at the nekos, than around the bridge "this should be fun." she muttered under her breath

"Do you require assistance in operating the ship Ms. Nivar?" The disembodied voice of the computer asked.

"Yeah, probably will."

"Please sit down in one of the chairs Ms. Nivar," The computer instructed.

She sat, a little on edge. She’d never like talking computers.

Several cables started moving on their own and poked her in the back of the shoulders, neck, and backbone lightly looking for a connection port to use.

Jitar jumps, her eyes widening and her ears swivelling back

"Please allow the ship to establish a connection Ms. Nivar," the computer asked

She tries to relax, settling back into the chair, still a little on edge.

The ship establishes a connection and Jitar's became aware of everything the other ships were aware of. She could feel the angel ships lurking about outside of the craft.

She finds it odd. A thinking ship?

Just then she heard Wazu's voice, "I would like you all to hear this." He said as he replayed the angel communication. “This is Admiral Miwasidh Nariel of the Elysian Battleship Truth. You will surrender immediately, or face terrible destruction.” Currently we need to buy time for repairs and to charge the TTD for escape. All ships prepare to launch one the angels begin their attack." Wazu said through the computer system.

"Great..." She listens to the message.

The battle plan was then displayed to her as well as a tutorial on how to use the ship.

"Well, let’s pray I can do this...."


Aeriyon Elisias
9/28/03 7:18

Reaching the frontier 

Aeriyon had reached the Frontier and decided to report in to Taisho Wolf, He had sent a message that read:

"Taisho, I have arrived at the frontier and am preparing to exchange my shuttle for an Elysian one and board one of their ships. I do not know how long this will take me, preferably not forever." --A.E.


Lavinia Taiensho
9/29/03 10:56

[GSS Seigi] The first shot 

Lavinia had been attending to her console as her sensors pointed out that a shot had been fired, she scrambled to pull up the shields in time to either deflect or block the shot. She thankfully got lucky as she deftly evaded the shot as she had just recently interfaced with the Seigi and fired the thrusters to do so, she warily watched the sensors, ready to evade again if necessary. The sensors had warned her that a shot was incoming, and from what direction, which allowed Lav to pull Seigi out of the line of fire.

Ritsurin crouched low to maintain balance as Lav moved the ship suddenly. He issued a low snarl as this had been underhanded and dirty. He was half tempted to take up the role as weapons officer and return fire, but Lavinia felt that caution was needed, so Ritsu was forced to follow through due to their being bonded. But he did walk over to the weapons console and looked it over then looked at Wazu with a serious expression ~Mind if I?~ He asked mentally. He of course didn't want to wait while they just sat there open as hell to be torn apart by the Elysians.

Lavinia knew that her strafe my incite a blownout battle, but she wasn't about to let the ship get damaged so soon. She watchfully readied to pull out of the way again, the sensors informing her of every little thing happening.


Alexis Jaren
9/30/03 2:22

[GSS Seigi] Alerted 

Alexis had almost gotten halfway back to the shuttlebay when he remembered that his room was off the bridge. So he turned around and started the quarter-kilometre hike back to where he had just come. He was almost there when the Angel's threat rang out over the intercom. "That sure doesn't sound very good," Alexis remarked wryly. What a way to break in a new ship. By breaking it. He hadn't heard about the trouble in engineering yet, having been a bit distracted lately. Distracted by the lack of distractions, in a way. The shifter quickly reported to the bridge, stumbling slightly as Lavinia shoved the Seigi to the side of the warning shot, and approached Wazu. "How many are there?" he asked. Angels always seemed to roam in pairs or packs, always outnumbering the GSA ship they attacked. Alexis hoped that the Seigi was up to the challenge...this wasn't the Yui, they wouldn't be able to just simply dodge their way out of this. They needed to simply have more protection than the Angels did...Alexis slowly smiled as a thought approached him. He and the thought had a quick conversation, then it left and he nodded slightly. If they survived this round, he knew how to get them through the next.


Acara
9/28/03 9:48

[GSS Seigi]Hard workers 

Acara stood near the main part of the damage giving orders and working hard at the same time. His natural shyness had evaporated as soon as he saw the damage. 

He had ordered several techs including Hikari to haul the injured to the med bay for Keenara’s care. It may not be as nice, but it was much safer.

His crew had been a little shocked when he first went to work, but it soon was an inspiration. 

“ Come on, we need that up ASAP.” 

“Hey you, plug that in over there.”

“We need this CDD dive up now.”

Acara had three tendrils working on a fried circuit, two and a head directing the other techs. ~Maybe another hour and we’ll be operational.~ 

He tapped a tech on the shoulder. “ Go to a console and let Wazu know he need to by us one more hour, ok.”

((In the med bay))

Keenara had her hands full with the injured. There weren’t many, but they were in critical condition. The one she was working on now had been hit by a high voltage, and was losing his nerves system. 

“Inari please take care of the one with the blond hair.” She called over her shoulder. 

After about fifteen minutes her current patient went stable. 

~Well on to the next one.~


Tasuki Uso
9/29/03 16:27

[GSS Seigi] More than ready 

The Seigi narrowly evaded the shot from the angel weapon and it detonated well below the ship, ~Acara you have ten minutes, ~ Wazu sent his chief engineer as he noted where the attack came from, The Seigi opened a communications channel to the lead angel ship, ~Admiral Miwasidh Nariel of the Elysian Battleship Truth we would like to hear what your terms for surrender are, ~ Wazu sent him before closing the channel himself. Hopefully that will buy us some time, ~Acara I need you to personally inspect the TTD to see if it is working properly. I have reason to think that it has been sabotaged.~ Wazu sent him, ~Ritsu I do not need you on the bridge right now~, He smiled as the Seigi’s main gun reached full charge, and all the Minion and fighter crews reported their readiness. Slowly the turrets inside of the ship were being readied and could be deployed at a moments notice, but for right now they needed to seem defenceless. ~If the angels try to shoot at use again then activate the battle plan,~ Wazu sent to all the ships under his command. If the angels wanted a fight then they would get one…


Acara
9/30/03 7:49

[GSS Seigi] TDD drive up 

Acara was almost done when he got Wazu’s message. “Alright. Seigi, I need you to keep thing working properly here.” Then he pointed at three nekos working behind a wall panel. “I need you three to come with me quickly.”

When He got to the TTD drive He quickly began looking over it. “ I need you two to help me look for bugs and problems, and I need you.” Points at the last one. “To get ready to connect the main power directly to the TTD drive, ok. Let get to work.” 

The nekos nodded and moved about the room accordingly, two to the main section of the TTD drive and the third to the console.

Acara began looking over the drive carefully. He had been over the specs on the ship earlier.

After about 5 minutes on of the nekos found a sign of evident sabotage. “ Over here Juni.”

Acara hurried over too here. “What is it?”

The neko had short brown hair and, green eyes. “Somebody took all the fusses out……………and were dumb enough to leave the panel ajar.”

“Nice job. Seigi can you get me copies of these fusses, quickly?”

"Affirmative Mr. Acara" Seigi responded. A matter of seconds later a neko with short white hair walked up and synthed the fuses in her hand before handing them to Acara.

"Thanks Seigi." was all he said as he rushed to install them.

The second neko walked back around with a smug look on her face.

“What are you so happy about?” Acara asked as he plugged in the last fuse.

“The guy who did this was really lazy. He did not even cut the wires just pulled them out at the plug.” She shook her head with a giggle.

Acara smiled as he resumed his humanoid shape. He had removed his shirt in the very beginning, but still wore his rank pin. He moved over to the neko at the console. “ Got the main power up and running?”

“Yes sir.”

Acara thought for a second. “ Did you regulate the power? We don’t want to blow the TTD drive.

She looked a little annoyed. “Yes sir.”

Acara flustered for a minute. “Sorry, You know what you are doing.”

The neko stared at him in amazements far a second. She had never had a superior officer apologies to her before.

“ Well I guess we are ready.” Acara moved to the intercom. “Miss Wazu, We have the TTD drive running at full capacity. You can get us out of here now.” Then He looked at his crew. “I guess we need to get back and help the others.

The nekos nodded as all four went down the hall.


Kitsurugi Yui
9/30/03 8:35

[GSS Seigi] Intrusion 

As the technicians left the TTD room, thin fibres of white goo poked out from behind the fuses. Wrapping around them, the tiny tendrils popped them out of the sockets once more with a quiet click. Within the walls, feeding on the HSCS, dozens of tiny blobs of white goo were at work. Tiny, cloaked forms of the new Seraph S12 were moving throughout the ship like little assassins, systematically disabling key systems, always careful to fake out the internal sensors. To the ship, all seemed well; to the techs, something weird was going on.

Deep within the hidden tunnels of pipes and tunnels, there sat a brooding white figure, a seraph S10 controller-weapon, issuing out orders to the little packs of S12. At its feet was a discarded KFY technician's jumpsuit.

The Battleship TRUTH issued more orders, and more beams headed towards the Seigi at light speed, from roughly 4 light-minutes away. This time, all ships had fired, creating an intersecting net of destruction, blocking the avenues of escape. While the rest of the beams surrounded the Seigi from all directions, a single beam shot straight from above, a thin, concentrated spear of energy to puncture the ship's armor. It was right on target to hit the ship's main generator.

"Soon," Nariel grinned, his female slaves resting on either side of him, "The Seigi shall be mine." He sat back and watched patiently, sipping on honey-milk.


Lavinia Taiensho
9/30/03 9:32

[GSS Seigi] What?! 

Lavinia had been interfaced with the Seigi's piloting systems as the sensors started going crazy showing shots from virtually every direction. She panicked for a split second then focused and attempted to evade the shots, the sensors feeding her the directions from whence they came. She succeeded in evading several shots as the elysians fired them off. She got a loud warning of an incoming shot headed for the engine section of the Seigi.

Scared and desperate to escape, Lavinia threw all her force into the needed thrusters to evade the shot, which she barely did, just in the nick of time, resulting in only a graze away from the intended target. The beam had taken out the shield on the top of the ship, but made no damage to the ship itself. She didn't celebrate yet, this wasn't over. Lav, in her desperation tried to fire the TTD drive and found that it wasn't responding. The shots were nearly impossible to dodge, since the Seigi couldn't go faster than light. Moving out of the way of the aimed blast had put the Seigi into the circle of fire surrounding it, and the whole ship rocked from the blasts. The outer hull's reactive armor exploded on the entire right side of the ship as two beams shaved along the hull. The right CDD engine was burning inside, and electrical surges were travelling throughout the ship.

Ritsurin was still standing near Lavinia, ignoring Wazu's suggestion, he felt that his place was here with her. The look on his face shifted to one of fear, with all this firing going on, and feeling Lavinia's anxiety. She had mentioned to him that piloting the Seigi wasn't hard once she was interfaced, Ritsu was afraid that if a shot got lucky, it'd put her into incredible pain as she felt everything the ship did.

For the first time since his rebirth, Ritsu began to feel an aggression, anger, frustration.....hate for these attackers, and the danger they put his twin in at the moment. He spun on Wazu, his face livid with suppressed anger. "Dammit Wazu, there is no time to play coy with these bastards! Can't you see that they aren't going to wait for your damn reply?" He said in a pissed off tone.

~Ritsu, tell Wazu that the TTD isn't working! There's still something wrong. I felt it come back online then just as quickly slip back offline again.~ Lavinia thought to him. 

Ritsurin's eyes narrowed, this was definitely very serious. "Wazu, Lav says that the TTD isn't working, she felt it come online then shut down again. That shouldn't be happening should it? I think someone, or something sabotaged this ship. Tell the Technicians to check the drive again." He said as Lav fed him the information.

Lavinia tensely awaited the next actions, she was incredibly afraid, not only of the ship being captured, but something else. Her courage being bolstered by Ritsurin's now active presence near her, she felt courage in the fact that she felt him cheering her on in her mind, even though he wasn't aware of it. She shared his feelings of frustration toward this, but she wasn't about to lose hope. 

"I'm may not be needed here, but I'm going to make myself useful Wazu. I'm going down to the technician's area to see if I can lend a hand or two." He said and exited the bridge heading for the place where the trouble was. He followed the mental map Lav had supplied him with.


Lavinia Taiensho
9/30/03 9:54

[GSS Seigi] Lav's pain 

The feeling of the impact of the shots felt like they had punched right through Lavinia. She screamed in mental pain, a sound ringing out clear as a bell. ~Ritsu! I need you here!~ She desperately called to him after he had left the bridge, he had been her support in the past and she desperately wanted him close by.

Ritsurin stopped as her voice rang clearly in his mind, he felt her overwhelming fear and pain. He stopped his movement and spun on his heel and literally tore back to the bridge, he wasn't going to leave her alone when she needed him the most. 

Lavinia de-interfaced with the Seigi's piloting controls, her fear of being hurt beginning to take over. For the first time, she didn't know what to do...it all seemed so hopeless.

Ritsurin soon made it back to where he had started and walked over to her and set his hand on her shoulder. ~It's ok, you're doing as well as you can under the circumstances, you haven't lost yet Lav. Now re-interface with the Seigi and show them that you can do this.~ He said in her mind encouragingly. She lifted her head and looked at him, her fear still showing in her eyes. 

"But...I'm afraid..." She almost whimpered softly, she sounded like a scared child.

"You have to maintain yourself. Believe in yourself that you can do it, ignore what your fear tells you to do. If you give in to it, we all lose." He said pointedly.

"You're right. I can't be afraid, I won't be." Lav said her resilience returning. She turned back and relaxed in the chair and again interfaced with the ship, she pulled it out of the net of shots. She was still very worried about not being able to evade anything, she prayed silently that the Seigi could withstand this.

Ritsurin stood slightly behind Lav with his hand still on her shoulder comfortingly. "Apparently that Nariel bastard wants unconditional surrender." He muttered, wishing that he could do something to shove the arrogant angel's words down his throat along with several other unpleasant things.

Alexis Jaren
9/30/03 22:51

GSS Siegi]Shhh...be vewy vewy quiet, we're huntin' Seraphs! 

ON>>GSS Seigi

Alexis picked himself off the floor of the bridge and stumbled into a chair, but didn't interface. It was just safer in the chairs..."Nevermind, even two are too many..." He took out the Cat's Claw interface device and logged into his fighter's computer. Quickly he downloaded the specs on an unmanned craft, the Banshee strike drone. He also downloaded the specs on the armor that his ship used. Then the shifter logged out and returned his attention to the bridge.

~I count 41 ships total~ Wazu told Alexis as the attack began. 9 angel ships were already burnt out hulks so Wazu didn't bother counting them, ~Alexis are you immune to the gravity changes onboard the ship?~ Wazu asked.

Alexis interfaced with the Seigi to check up on the damage and success on counters, but missed Wazu's question because, unlike most of the crew, he wasn't a broadcast telepath. As soon as the connection was made, he knew something was wrong with the Seigi. There was something inside the ship damaging vital sections. It came through the interface as a feeling of slight nausea...not at all comfortable. The nausea passed quickly and he cycled through the sprites' views to get a better assessment. -Wow. How are the fighters doing?- Alexis sent to Wazu via the interface.

~We cannot launch this close to the event horizon~ Wazu thought at Alexis, this time getting through because the message came through the computer instead of telepathically.

-Oh. And the drives are down too...Seraphs again?- came the shifter's reply.

~Most likely~ Wazu sent back as the Seigi and her Minions fired off another volley of shots striking several targets simultaneously. This time ten beams of the fourteen fired hit in total hit as the Seigi continued its tight orbit around the black hole. By now Seigi was synthing constructs at all the hemosynth ports inside of the ship. A puddle of blood formed at the base of the ports and soon became a disk like shape with a small sensor array and a 9mm weapon system. The Seigi used the artificial gravity system to lift and move these around the high gravity areas of the ship.

Alexis watched the proceedings closely. -Anything I can do to help?- he sent.

~Are you able to survive the gravity increase outside of the major rooms?~ Wazu asked him.

The shifter checked the current gravity level, then sent the impression of nodding. -Yeah. It'll pose some problems if anything serious happens, but I think I can. What do you need me to do?-

~I need you to help Seigi hunt down anything that isn't supposed to be on this ship,~ Wazu sent him in reference to the saboteurs that were making life difficult for him.

Alexis's body smiled. -Alright then. I'll try to keep in contact.- The connection was cut and Alexis got up and exited the bridge. Immediately he was slammed to the floor, his body stretching as the gravity tried to flatten him. The shifter grunted as the air was forced out of his lung. His eyes closed then opened, glowed as he set about adapting his body to the environment. His skin vanished, as well as his muscles and soft tissue. His bones were laid bare, but those were in the process of being replaced by metallic limbs. Carefully measuring his movements, Alexis stood himself up on four legs. His legs and arms had reshaped to fit a quadrupedal walk and his body was now made of a mixture of his old bones and duranium alloy. The new creature set off down the hall, steadily setting one foot in front of the other. Any attempt to run would have resulted on him being smashed to the ground again, and another trial to get to his feet. But he could move fast enough this way, speed wasn't an issue at the moment. His metal-reinforced eyes flashed as his vision changed to the broad-band mode he had found was excellent for hunting Seraphs and began to systematically scan the ship.

Two of the small white disks followed him in a flanking formation. The disks were systematically searching each room in the ship, opening them and sending a few in to scan before shutting and locking it, then placing two of the disks outside to monitor and guard.


Alexis Jaren
10/2/03 1:09

[GSS Seigi] Extermination and Recovery 

ON> GSS Seigi

Lavinia was still interfaced with the Seigi's systems, still a bit afraid of damage, but Ritsu's hand on her shoulder was a source of comfort. She was tense and ready to respond quickly, but with the faster engines offline she didn't know how good she'd be. But she was going to try.

Ritsu turned to Wazu "Looks like they're distracted," he said with a sardonic grin.

Yuuko looked worried. More energy beams were arcing over the top of the Seigi as it teetered over the edge of the black hole it had created. The Elysian ships were moving about, but Ghost Regiment was up in their faces, trying to draw attention from the battleship.

Lavinia was holding the ship out of the blackhole, waiting for the right moment to break free.

The Minions headed at high speed toward the Elysian ships on the same side of the black hole as the Seigi, all ten of them let off another volley of GWBs into the Angel formation as they closed the distance. 

"Ghost Zero Six is going down," Yuuko reported.

The Elysian ships ignored the Minions and fired directly in the Seigi's path. Redirecting their power, they came into view as their cloaking devices were deactivated, looking like white-hot burning embers as they closed in. By now, all 36 remaining Elysian vessels were around the small black hole.

Lavinia worked the gravity distortions around the ship to lessen the gravitational pull on the Seigi and broke free of the event horizon, continuing to use the distortions to maintain a safe distance from it. 

Ritsu smiled as her exaltation reached him. Then he looked annoyed again. "Wazu, we need to blast those things," he said, still wanting to help out. But he took comfort that his being close to Lav was helping her keep calm. That would be good enough for now.

The Elysian ships flashed in a sparkle of shimmering teal light, and then were gone...A transmission from Chujo Kuisava confirmed it. "Ghost Leader to Seigi...enemy retreated."

~They'll be back at some point,~ Ritsurin thought as the transmission came over the system.

Wazu recalled the Minions, and soon all the ships were coming in to dock with the Seigi once more. Wazu nodded as the Seigi received the transmission and then sent one of his own. "Thank you for the assistance Ghost Leader." The Seigi still had the problem of the saboteurs to deal with, but Alexis and the A.I. were taking care of that at the moment.

Inside the Seigi, the little S12 seraphs self-destructed, leaving no trace of themselves but the damage they'd done. The Elysian's mission had failed...this time. Onboard the Battleship Truth, Nariel angrily stomped around the bridge while his slaves and officer looked on with a terrible sense of fear. "Next time..." he vowed, trailing off.

It took 10 minutes to fully clear the ship and for Seigi to give the all clear and disarm the internal defences.

Ghosts 7 and 8 used their graviton beams to tow their flaming, wrecked company command ship. Some of the crew had survived, and were working on repairs. The ship itself would be out of commission for a while.

The Minions latched back onto the Seigi and the sound of their docking clamps could be heard in the hallways outside of the Minion nests. Wazu sent a message to engineering. "How much longer until we have the CDD back up?" he asked.

Acara was busy at that moment, so one of the blue haired Nekos stopped to respond. "We should have it back up in 20 minutes, Sir," she said before hurrying off to help with the repairs.

Lavinia made sure to pull away to a safe distance from the blackhole. Ritsurin let off her shoulder and turned to look around. "I suppose I should leave the bridge now, I have a distinct feeling I'm not welcome," he said. Several of the A.I. Nekos were watching him as if he were a criminal inside of a store. "What? I haven't done anything wrong," Ritsurin said defensively. The A.I. Nekos didn't respond but still watched him closely, so he avoided their gaze by looking at Yuuko. "Hello," he said nicely.

"I guess that means the fires are out," Yuuko said to herself. She cringed at the outside view of the Seigi that one of the Yui's had sent her. The whole right side of the battleship had been scorched and mutilated. Then she noticed that there was this weird-looking guy on the bridge, one in CIVILIAN clothes, no less..."Who's he?" the little neko looked up to ask.

Wazu helped Seigi begin the repairs as the outer hull of the ship started to ooze fluid from the HCS. Seigi had the repairs well in hand through, and let Wazu know that he wasn't needed for it.

Lavinia looked over at Yuuko. "He's...um...my friend." she said. Ritsurin looked a bit nervous and blew a bang out of his face, only to have it float back over it. He took a moment then responded. "I'm...Ritsurin," he said.

Wazu disconnected from the Seigi and sat up rubbing his right arm slightly. "And I thought you were dead," Wazu said with a slight smile.

"Huh?" Yuuko looked perplexed.

Ritsurin turned to Wazu slowly, then laughed. "Well, someone up there likes me." Ritsu said.

"Up where?" Yuuko asked, now even more confused.

Wazu chuckled. "He is referring to the belief in a supernatural being," he explained.

"It's a figure of speech young one, I don't really know where I've been," Ritsu said calmly.

Lavinia blushed slightly and stood up after stretching and hugged him around the torso. "He's been away for a while, I'm glad he's back," she said cheerfully.

"Is there another medbay on a higher deck?" Yuuko started to ask..."Supernatural being? Maybe we should call security?" She didn't want this crazy man to intrude on the bridge any longer.

The Seigi's systems were dotted with foreign objects and Alexis found the main Seraph in its hiding place a couple hundred meters off...the shifter mentally grunted. Seeing through the fog of competing energy and light signals was beginning to annoy him. If he still had his organic brain, it'd be giving him one heck of a headache. Instead of dwelling on that, though, he started toward the Seraph. Then something changed...the floating signatures of the Mini-Seraphs vanished. Alexis blinked, then looked back down where he had seen the big "mother" Seraph...was it still there? Indeed, it was. And moving, too.

Wazu flexed his right hand and then let it fall back to his side. He smiled. "Perhaps you should explain, Ritsu." 

Ritsurin looked a bit nervous again and flexed his clawed fingers in response. Lavinia stopped her hug and sat back in her station. "I'm Lavinia's NH-X twin," Ritsu said finally.

Alexis kept a mental lock on the signature. "Alexis to Wazu...is the grav still raised? There is a Seraph aboard, and it's moving..."

"You're not a bridge officer, are you?!" Yuuko squeaked.

"Right now, I'm just a civilian, Wazu hasn't assigned me yet," Ritsu said in a gentle tone.

Wazu flatfaced and quickly got back into the chair to hook up with the computer system. Once he was hooked in again he sent Alexis a message through the intercom. "The gravity has been lowered to normal, where is the seraph now?" he asked as Seigi started to bring her system constructs back.

Alexis made a mental overlay of the Seigi's deck structure and pinpointed the position. "It's below Deck 2, near Engineering and moving up through the access tunnels," came Alexis' reply. "I am moving to intercept." The shifter's form stayed the same, but his limbs changed from what was needed for strength to speed.

Lavinia looked over at Yuuko with gentle eyes. "He looks threatening, but he's a big puppy, really," she giggled.

The Seigi Nekos took up positions around the doors on the bridge. Two of them hurriedly pushed Ritsurin out of the room and into the hallway as the doors to the officers' quarters were locked. Since the armor around the computer core was one single piece the only way to get in was to reach the bridge and blow a hole in the floor where the defence was weakest. System constructs began synthing there and Seigi almost immediately had the area blocked off with a wall of high gravity.

Ritsurin swore loudly as he was rudely pushed out of the bridge. Lavinia looked a bit sad as the Nekos did it and just stood there for a little bit. The stress of all that sitting didn't make her fond of the idea of sitting down again.

The first recon squadron of Ronins were launched as the rest were being stored back in their racks. The single squadron flew out and took up a patrol pattern around the Seigi.

Ritsurin looked around out in the halls, feeling a bit offended. Lavinia looked at Yuuko, "So how long have you been a communications officer?" She asked, wanting to be friendly. Ritsurin was on guard, something about this seemed familiar...

The doors to the bridge were now all locked with AI neko's posted inside all around the bridge.

Yuuko drew her sidearm. Thinking better of it, she went into her room, retrieving a GP-12B Pulse Rifle. She slung a belt of grenades and battery-magazines over her shoulder as an afterthought before heading back out. She walked into the door just as it went into lockdown. "Hey!" Yuuko banged her tiny fist on the locked door, locked inside her room.

"What did I do wrong?" Ritsu asked the system. Lavinia looked at the door, for some reason feeling Ritsu's anxiety.

"Only command staff are allowed on the bridge at this time," Seigi told Ritsurin. One of the A.I. Nekos heard the banging and opened the door, letting Yuuko out of the locked room. "Please refrain from opening any of the doors to the bridge right now Ms Yuuko" she said. Yuuko noticed that the Neko had a flak vest and a GP-12 equipped.

Ritsurin stood outside the bridge, not wanting to provoke the Nekos more. He could feel something was very wrong here...something from before...He didn't know what.

Lavinia looked at the Seigi's Nekos. "Please let him back in. I know he's not command, but I want him here to keep him out of trouble," she pleaded.

"He will be let back in once the Seraph has been removed, Ms. Taiensho," one of the sprites responded.

Lavinia stamped her foot indignantly. "Seigi, you can trust him." she said.

Yuuko seemed somewhat irritated at being trapped on the bridge. As a former security sentry, she was ready to fight. She stood there in her black armor shirt with her rifle and ammo-belt, almost tempted to cut open the door.

Alexis soon realized that running through the Seigi wasn't going to be fast enough. Sure, it was contained, but the Seraph wouldn't allow itself to stay there long. Alexis jumped into the air, then phase-cloaked half-way. It was enough to make him intangible, but not invisible. His inertia carried him through the floor and the layer of wires and pipes between the two decks, he dropped the phase and landed with a soft thump on the deck below. The Angel bio-weapon was much closer now...

Ritsurin sulked outside, his sense tuned in on his surroundings, the feeling not going away. He tried out a property of his body and hemosynthed a sword for himself and a suit of armor. Ritsurin felt totally useless right now, and he didn't like it for moment.

The Seigi system constructs began to clear the area that Alexis had spotted the Seraph in. This search was more intense than the last one; every square inch of that area was going to be scanned. 

Meanwhile, the Seraphs had their first encounter with several returning Minion crewmembers. A majority of the crew weren't informed of the intrusion, so the attack came as a complete surprise. In eight seconds just as many Nekos had been killed. The three seraphs continued into the docking ring.

Lavinia hemosynthed some armor on the spot, feeling that things were escalating.

Ritsurin looked around. "Well Seigi, If I can't be in the bridge what should I do?"

Most of the Minon crews hadn't left their ships yet. Once Seigi felt the dead bodies, she began to lock down the ship once again. All the doors locked and a web of high-gravity fields activated on the ship, placing the area the Seraphs were in under quarantine. More constructs were deployed to those areas and the word was sent to the pilots and Minion crews to arm themselves. Each fighter wing pilot still in her nest went to the weapons locked and armed themselves.

The shifter spoke to the ceiling: "Seigi, is the Seraph on sensors? Or am I the only one who can see him?" A cloud of purple mist appeared in his hand, it solidified into the prod weapon he liked so much. Alexis loaded it with a synth-cartrige, readying it for firing. Alexis was dashing down the hallway in a full-out run.

The enemies, still cloaked, made their way to the quarters of a Minion crew, waiting outside the door for a few seconds for someone to go in. 

The constructs then started to escort the crew to their rooms so they could arm. Two approached Ritsurin, "Please follow the constructs" The A.I.'s voice said over the PA as they floated down the hall to the galley where the majority of the crew were being collected.

"The Seraph don't appear on my sensors but I do have one detected by the constructs in engineering." And with that the single serph was cut down in a hail of explosive rounds.

Ritsurin followed the constructs, always ready.

Two more seraphs appeared in Alexis' vision. This just kept getting better, didn't it?

They led Ritsu to the galley and scanned the surrounding area before letting him in and closing the door after him. Ritsurin looked around for something to arm himself with. Two AI Nekos stood outside, one was handing out GP-12's the other had flak vests in hand.

The three Seraphs, two S11 and one S10, the latter presumably the leader, entered the Minion quarters, using the S10's telekinesis to generate a false "open" signal for the door, then they entered and quickly eliminated whoever was inside.

Someone could easily think that the AI smiled as the doors closed on the Seraphs and the gravity in the room bumped up to 15g. System constructs were soon waiting at the door. The door opened again and the room was sprayed with high-explosive rounds. The rest remained outside, in case the Seraphs tried to get out.

Lavinia was armored but only bore her sidearms and felt terribly open.

Two of the disks entered the room and scanned it, firing rounds off at into anything that registered as alive.

Ritsurin smirked and accepted a GP-12, and synthed a quick sheath for the sword and slid it in. He already had armor. "I guess I get to have fun," he laughed.

The Seraphs used the same technique on the airlock door to the Minion. The S11 Seraphs covered the rear, firing back at the system Nekos outside while the S10 attempted to fake out the door electronics. Failing that, it crushed the door entirely. The two halves wadding themselves into little balls in the telekinetic field the Seraph's mind created. The disturbance also set off any sensor in the area. 

As the construct security disks entered, they were gunned down by the S11 seraphs, who were armed with rifles of their own.

Ritsu shifted around and threw himself in caution mode, his TOS taking in the surroundings and pointing out what he should be doing, which he followed.

As the door broke open the Seraphs were greeted by 8 nekos with GP-12s. They all fired at once into the small opening that was the hatch into the Minion.

Alexis arrived and surveyed what had already happened. Then he changed the cartridge in the prod to a plasma shot and opened fire with the Nekos.

The constructs continued to fire rounds off into the room. Two fast moving disks, black in color, sped in and exploded inside of the room as they were shot by the Seraphs. More of the black suicide units followed.

The S10, straining against the gravity, crawled into the Minion. The S11 pair followed. As the S10 took control connections to the Minion's computer snapped, leaving the Minion under the command of the S10's powerful mind. That was what it was good for... One of the S11's bodies liquefied and expanded, becoming the new "hatch" keeping in the air. The Minion disconnected, releasing atmosphere pressure from the minion quarters, and air was sucked out from the ring hallway. "You there!" The remaining S11 called out to the Minion's pilot. "Surrender yourself." The seraph spoke in a firm female voice with a slightly metallic tone, it was not often one of these gooey white creatures would say something.


Alexis lost his footing and was one of the first to get sucked out of the Seigi...he was still in the cyborg body, so the vaccuum didn't effect him. The shifter paused...should he go after the Seraphs or return to the Seigi?

Ritsurin looked around. "Seigi, what is going on?" he asked.

"The Serphs have been located and I am in the process of removing them," Seigi replied.

Ritsu looked disappointed. "I suppose I'm to stay here in case they get this far?" he asked, although he knew he should.

"Affirmative" replied the computer.

Ritsu laughed in a bitter tone. He stood at the ready, prepared.

The loss of a Minion wasn't that much...besides, maybe one of the Yui-class ships could track it down. Alexis formed a pair of rockets in his palms and directed himself back to the blown airlock. Once inside, he formed four energy field emitters and placed them in the hole, a temporary seal. "Alexis to Wazu...the Seraphs have taken a Minion, see if you can get one of the Yui-class out there to catch it," he said through the intercom. Well, that was one problem solved. Sort of.

Wazu chuckled and sent a message of his own. "No need," he said as the Minon was blown apart in a hail of turret fire from the Seigi.

"Oh. Damn." The seraph commented as the Minion disintegrated around it.

Lavinia stood watch as the events wound down.

Alexis watched the craft explode in a shower of pretty sparklers and a couple of roman candle bursts..."Ooooo....Ahhhhh...."

One of the techs felt a bit sad. Her other body was blown up on that Minion and she would have to wait for the other crewmembers to be brought back before she could get another one.

"You're an idiot!" Yuuko spat at Wazu. "We could've followed them back to Elysia Nova and won the war!"

Lavinia turned to look at Yuuko, then to Wazu remaining silent.

Wazu barely paid attention to Yuuko, but Seigi responded for him. "They couldn't have gotten far in a Minion. It has no FTL capability"

The little girl looked so different than the happy dancer Wazu met before. Glowering with contempt, she wanted to storm off of the bridge, but couldn't. Yuuko stood silently. "Permission to leave the bridge, SIR."

"Well I think I've had my fill of excitement for one day," Lavinia commented.

The System constructs continued their search of the Seigi for any remaining Seraphs, making sure to check every square inch of the ship this time as to not miss a thing.

A mental alarm sounded in Alexis' head. Hmm...he was getting low on energy, he only had 23% left. He shifted back to his common form and started to walk back to the bridge, and his quarters.

The door to the room where the shoot-out took place shut and locked. Repairs would commence shortly. Once the search of the ship was finished, the security level dropped as did the web of containment gravity. "You may leave," Wazu responded as all the doors around the ship unlocked.

Yuuko walked out without a word.

Ritsurin looked around. "Seigi, can I leave here now? Or am I a prisoner of sorts?" he asked.

"You may leave" Seigi responded as the alert level dropped. The other neko's in the galley started to leave as well taking their weapons back to their rooms.

Ritsu handed the weapon back and dissolved his armor and walked out of the galley. He walked on, wondering what would happen to him.

Uso chuckled. "That was fun," she said as she stood up and left the Intel office. She walked down the hallway and back towards the galley, reabsorbing her armor as she walked.

Yuuko wandered the halls of the Seigi like she was lost, aimlessly moving around the ship, until finally walking down into a ventilation tunnel, headed toward the front of the ship with the cool air rushing around her.

Ritsurin wandered around the ship, just having a look around when he noticed Yuuko heading down a ventilation tunnel and stealthed and silently followed her, having a suspicion of why someone would go down there.

~Why is she going there?~ Ritsurin wondered to himself.

Yuuko ended up leaving the air tunnel in the back of the shuttle/fighter bay.

Ritsurin continued to tail her, still suspicious.

Most of the fighters had been placed back in their overhead racks. The crane operators were still placing the few ships still left in their storage area. Other than the sound of the machinery the place was devoid of life.

Making her way to her Ki-T2, the young Neko crawled inside and began to cry in her arms, leaning against the dash.

Ritsurin had followed her here, out of suspicion, but now he wondered why she was crying. ~Why are you crying?~ he asked in her mind.

Alexis arrived at the bridge and went straight to his quarters. He removed a device from a pocket in his satchel and placed his hand on the InterLink connection. A few minutes later he left the room, fully charged.

She wasn't responding so he quietly left the vicinity, but kept his mind open.

The surprise of someone trying to make telepathy with her startled her so much that she jumped. Now even angrier, she kicked out in frustration, accidentally hitting the controls of her shuttle, sending a spatial distortion wave throughout the bay that rocked the fighter racks enough to make the Ronin fighters smack against one another, not to mention flooring everyone on the deck.

Wazu was busy sending a message back to Ralifaris informing them of what happened. Security around the Genisis would be increased and 11 fresh Minions would be delivered to the Seigi soon enough.

Ritsurin rolled along the ground and leapt to his feet and continued to walk away, thinking she didn't want to talk.

He was probably right..


Kai Ashigari
10/2/03 7:33

[GSS Seigi] Analysis 

Kai had rode out the battle in the locked down intel office as the hologram projectors mapped it out for him, he made quick notes on elements of the battle and the Elysian tactics, as well as a mention of seraphs. He completed his basic analysis, 
"They appear to enjoy cloaking and attacking in packs like dogs. And somehow, someway, a trio of seraphs managed to get onboard the ship and damaging the systems. Apparently to lessen our ability to fight back, they didn't attack any crew members, which shows that they weren't here to outright attack us, more like they wanted the ship itself. They maintained stealth mode until the ghost fleet arrived, and the net which made it hard to move consisted of their version of our GWB, I'm glad they didn't think to use anything that would have shutdown systems. " Kai made a note of.

He completed the intel analysis and fed it directly to Wazu's console on the bridge. He also made a slightly different copy of the events out in the form of a report to SAINT.

-----------------------
To Taisho Wolf:

"We were on our route to Nepleslia to join the sixth fleet when our CDD drive burnt out, an action that was later found to be sabotage. We arrived in an area of space that was apparently damaged in some way, making outgoing communications difficult. When we arrived in the area, repairs on the CDD's began, it was at this point that the Elysians sprung their ambush, first trying to blow off our legacy unit. WE thankfully evaded the shot, but left ourselves open to a shot for the engines, again, barely evaded. They had set up a 'net' of sorts to contain our movements, making it difficult to evade.

It was later found that the seraphs on board were routed out and escaped via one of Seigi's Minion Units, they didn't get too far before the ship annihilated the Minion Unit, destroying it and the seraphs. The sixth fleet's 'ghost fleet' came to our aid and provided the necessary diversion and eventually got the Elysian's to flee. We are still in course of repairs, but will soon be onroute to Nepleslia.

---As a personal note: I believe this call to Nepleslia was a part of the ruse to put us in such a vulnerable position."-- Taii Kai Ashigari.
--------------------

Kai sighed and sent the report to the head of SAINT. The holograms had shut off while he was writing the reports, He absently reached to his side and took a bite of the burger he had prepared moments before the attack.


Kai Ashigari
10/2/03 7:34

[GSS Seigi-Taisho Wolf] Battle analysis and report 

To Taisho Wolf:

"We were on our route to Nepleslia to join the sixth fleet when our CDD drive burnt out, an action that was later found to be sabotage. We arrived in an area of space that was apparently damaged in some way, making outgoing communications difficult. When we arrived in the area, repairs on the CDD's began, it was at this point that the Elysians sprung their ambush, first trying to blow off our legacy unit. WE thankfully evaded the shot, but left ourselves open to a shot for the engines, again, barely evaded. They had set up a 'net' of sorts to contain our movements, making it difficult to evade.

It was later found that the seraphs on board were routed out and escaped via one of Seigi's Minion Units, they didn't get too far before the ship annihilated the Minion Unit, destroying it and the seraphs. The sixth fleet's 'ghost fleet' came to our aid and provided the necessary diversion and eventually got the Elysian's to flee. We are still in course of repairs, but will soon be on route to Nepleslia.

---As a personal note: I believe this call to Nepleslia was a part of the ruse to put us in such a vulnerable position."-- Taii Kai Ashigari.