Kitsurugi Yui 10/31/03 12:41 [GSS Seigi] Yet Another Hallway Collision ON>GSS Seigi. Lavinia had finished her small project while she relaxed; it turned out to be a perfect little plushie of Taisho Chiharu. She was smiling proudly as she walked through the hallway hoping to find someone she could show it to. She knew it was childish, but she also enjoyed getting feedback. ~It's the best I can do, but it's decently good in my opinion, but I wander who else will think that way?~ She thought. Yuuko was coming down the hall from the opposite direction. She had her nose in a copy of SAINT-Zero's daily military newspaper and was reading about how the Nepleslians were starting to get restless again, since little had been done to help the planetary crisis. The front cover read "WTF, WAZU?" Lav didn't really noticed Yuuko coming toward her, a bit lost in thought in what she would do with her talent. She absently bumped into Yuuko, rustling her paper. And bumping the plushie almost into Yuuko's face, but it was soft like a pillow and didn't do any damage. "Oh, sorry." Lav said. Yuuko squeaked as the text was smushed onto her face, smearing newsprint ink on her nose. She let out a growl at the taller neko. Lav backed off a step. "Oh Yuuko, I'm sorry." She said. "I see Wazu's being stupid.' She commented, seeing the headline. "Yeah, you..." Yuuko started to chide, but then spotted the plushie and her frown evaporated into a curious look. "What's that?" "It's a plushie of Taisho Ketsurui." Lav said with a bright, sunny smile. "Oh. A...plushie? Yuuko had never seen such a thing. She poked its belly. "What does it do?" "It's like a teddy bear, it soft and you can hug it and it reminds you of whoever it looks like." Lavinia tried to explain and hugged the soft plushie and handed it to Yuuko to look at. Yuuko took it and closely examined the thing, even more confused. "A Teddy bear??" She tried hugging it, but nothing seemed to happen. "You're working on your sewing skill?" "Hai, I've known how to for a while." Lav said, and then giggled a bit. "It's not supposed to do anything other than be soft and huggable." He said. "Oh!" Yuuko stopped looking for the activation button, blushing ever-so-slightly. She handed the Chi 'plushie' back to its creator. Lav giggled a little bit, accepting the plushie. "Do you like it?" She asked enthusiastically. "I was thinking about starting a small business making them for people who want them." She added. "I see." Yuuko nodded. She wasn't what sure to make of the thing. Finally, her mind put it in the 'art.' category, which explained its existence. "You know, I could probably make one of you. You'd make a cute little plushie." Lavinia said, holding the plushie in one hand and poked Yuuko lightly. A thoughtful "Hmm," was the only reply. Yuuko wasn't at all used to being idolized, and found the concept somewhat disturbing. "Well, if you don't want me to, I won't Yuuko." Lavinia said. "But I need to find others I can make plushies of." she said. "Maybe you should ask permission before making one of someone, especially if it makes fun of them." "It's not supposed to make fun of them." Lavinia said. "It's just ...supposed to remind you of someone far away. "But I agree, I'll ask the people first. I hope Taisho Ketsurui doesn't mind this. Perhaps I should send it to her." Lavinia said thoughtfully. "Maybe," Yuuko said. "It could be a mascot for a ship." "Perhaps." Lav said. "Do you think others will like it?" Yuuko had a lot on her mind, and was started to get agitated with all Lavinia's questioning. "Of course!" she said. Lavinia held her plushie closer to her hugging it gently. She liked the soft feeling of it. Lav jumped a bit. She hadn't realized that her inane questions were annoying. "What's wrong Yuuko? This thing on Wazu?" (And Yuuko didn’t tell her!) "Things got complicated lately." "Oh?" Lav didn't know that. "What's been happening?" "Have you seen the news? The fleets can't get their ships upgraded because of this thing." "No, I haven't seen the news lately." It was Lav's turn to be confused. "What thing? And what did Wazu do now?" "Well you HAD to have heard it over the intercom! He's been demoted back to Taisa! And the news says Qel'noran Yards might fall apart!" "Oh!" Lavinia said, she had been napping at the time and didn't hear it. "Damn, what'd he do?" "I don't know. I guess he disobeyed Yui's orders or something." "That fool." Lav said, she had thought well of Wazu, but disobeying the mistress this badly was rapidly dropping her opinion. Kitsurugi Yui 10/31/03 19:30 [GSS Empire] Prayer of the Neko Warrior I am Nekovalkyrja. I am a Warrior. Created with a vision, Created with a knowledge. Hear me, universe! The sea of energy flows, Around and through us, Churning in reactions. Hear me, Spirit of War The sea of blood flows, Around and through us, Burning with Life and Love. I am a Philosopher. I am an Artist. Creating with Knowledge, Creating with Learning. Hear me, oh future! For that I will paint for you! The blood I spill will be as ink, Inscribing upon history. Hear me, my sisters! For the love I share with you, The blood we spill will be as paint, Everlasting in serenity. Tasuki Yui 10/31/03 23:20 [GSS Seigi] goodbye Dear Mistress-Taisho Yui,         It is clear that I am not wanted around here anymore so as of this moment I am resigning my commission in the GSA. Goodbye,                            Heram J. Wazu Wazu held the data pad in his hand while he through what he was about to do. Sighing he stood up from his chair on the bridge and walked toward the flight deck on the Seigi. He had one more thing to do before he left the GSA totally, Seigi’s AI had been transferred to the Wazu’s little robotic pet while still leaving the Seigi with a functioning system. As he walked down the long hallway Chikara walked up beside him. Uso watched from the doorway of the galley as Wazu passed. “He’s…leaving?” she thought out loud. She turned and headed back to her room. Wazu reached the flight deck where a small shuttle was waiting for him with a QnA escort. Wazu stepped in without looking back as Chikara followed him and laid down on the floor. The shuttle preformed a tight turn and flew out of the shuttle bay and headed toward the QnS test yard. Floating everywhere were hulks of concept designs and unused test ships. As the shuttle came across the form of an Antaeus class battleship that was being refitted and rearmed Wazu looked at the data pad again and added one more line. Tell Irim that I will be back to pay her a visit... Acara 11/2/03 10:18 [GSS Seigi] Relaxation The water was warm and soothing, steam rose all around. Acara lay at the bottom of the baths relaxing, and thinking over the turmoil that had enveloped the Seigi, and GSA. ~Of all the stupid things in the world. A corporate war, and the money system has just been put into play.~ He stretched out over the bottom of the bath, so he had more surface area for the water to get to. All the repairs on the Seigi were finished and Acara was taking a little brake. He had a lot on his mind, and the bathes were a great place to clear ones head. The door to the baths opened and Keenara walked in. She yawned a bit and moved toward the pool. Acara pushed a tendril out of the water to see who had entered. “Oh, hello there Keenara. How have you been. She smiled at him as she undressed and slipped into the steamy water, the water making her blue hair turn dark. “I’ve been a little rushed but it slowed down now. And your self? Acara pulled a larger portion of himself from the bottom of he pool. “Little hectic here as well, but it’s calming down now too. “I think that is what battles do to the meds and techs.” A slow warm smile came to her face. “So how are you handling your new position?” He thought about it a second. “I guess it is fine. As you once put it ‘On the contrary, somebody seems to think you are very good at it.” Acara laughed a little. “You know, I think that you may be right. I never worry about not being the right person for the job when I’m in the middle of it. I only worry about it when I’m not working.” Keenara just smile at him and shook her head. “I’m glad you finally realized it. How are your officers?” He frowned at this. “Most are great, but there is one I feel strange when I’m around.” He sighed. “I guess I can’t let that get in the way of doing my job though.” She nodded. “Why don’t you go talk to her.” Acara’s head shot up. “How do you know it was a her?” Keenara managed a look of surprise. “Lucky guess I suppose. Now go on. You’ve soaked way to long.” “Alright” Acara slid out of the bath, released all the water back into the pool. Then put on his uniform. “I guess I’ll see you later.” He commented as the door shut behind him. “Till then.” Keenara watched him go. “He is as nice a person as you can find, but he’s terribly naïve” She laughed to herself as she sank beneath the water. ~He’ll learn someday.~ Ketsuri Chiharu 11/2/03 22:58 GSS Ketsurui Chiharu]Soushutsu Taisho Ketsurui shook her head as she looked over the headlines, she suddenly remembered that there was something that she had been meaning to do for a long time now. She supposed that she had been unconsciously putting it off and now with the decision to create her own little corporation, she would need all the help she could get from her Clan and anyone else willing to participate. She smiled as she looked over her bridge crew before she left the bridge, heading towards the Med Bay. In the Med Bay, Akari simply tried to busy herself with purification rituals and incantations, anything that might drive away evil spirits and prevent them from entering. Her thoughts often drifted away from her rituals and spells towards her younger sister who was aboard the GSS Seigi right now. The incidents involving the other ship had Akari concerned and she had fallen into a week long fast, praying and meditating for divine protection over her sister and her old comrades aboard the Seigi. The Taisho had soon some concern for the Medical Officer’s well-being but had decided not to press the matter further because she could feel the fear in her and knew it as well. The hatch to the Med Bay opened and the Taisho entered, speaking softly. "How go your preparations, Akari?" The neko stopped and looked over to her commanding officer. "Ketsurui-dono... how may be of service to you this evening ma'am? My preparations are going well but I still fear.." "Inari is safe, you don't have to fear the worst anymore. The Seigi pulled through with no causalities that I have heard of. So please, remember to eat something today? It wouldn't do to have to send a letter to Inari to let her know that you have collapsed from starvation.." The Taisho offered the Sergeant a soft, understanding smile. Akari smiled brightly for the first time in a long while at her captain. "Thank you." "Now to answer your question, I would like to create my NH-X twin and upgrade my body to the present model of NH-X with a few modifications... the details of which should be in my file. But, before I get ST into a new body, I am going to need for you to extract a very specific part of my personality to be placed into the other shell." Ketsurui looked at her medic again, appraising the neko's reaction to this request. "That wouldn't be a problem Ketsurui-dono. Please lay down on the table and show me what part of your personality you'd like to transfer over to the other body..." Kitsurugi Yui 11/3/03 2:21 [1st XF] OPERATION VICTORY ROAD (Tau Ceti) For a week now, a collection of ships from the Star Army 1st Expeditionary Fleet and the GSA 6th fleet had hung around the Tau Ceti system, out of the battle, but certainly in the war. The Yui-Class Recon-Scout Destroyers were actually undergoing upgrades while in service, part of the PANTHEON program. The new Yui Ki-D2-4e model doubled the remote detection capabilities of the ship, and lengthened the sensor range. These upgrades were immediately field-tested. Along with every other RDD-equipped vessel of the two fleets, the Yui destroyers were running their sensors along a very particular route. As the sensors raked the area, everything in their field was recorded, and assigned to a tracking ship, until their was a 50-million-mile wide invisible highway into the system. SAINT (Star Army Intelligence) wasn’t looking for just anything, however. The NDI had discovered a bit of valuable information about the way the Omino drones’ wormhole system worked. The Omino acted like a beacon or reference point for a network of wormhole generators. Without the generators, the Omino drones assigned to it would be all but useless. Each of the generators in or near “Victory Road” (as the nekos had dubbed it) was flagged and assigned to an appropriate unit. On the GSS Empire (GB-10), the command bridge was saturated with an incredibly detailed forty-five-foot-wide holographic chart of the sector that listed everything from the Yuumi itself (represented as EMPIRE X1), to subspace rifts caused by the Legacy Cannons that destroyed the control station (outlined in purple), to Omino Drones (which were nondescript red dots clouding the system). Victory Road was outlined by a dotted green line, which entered the system from a point beyond the enemy sensor range. While GSA ships, with their CDD drive could fly down Victory road like it was the Autobahn, the fold-based FTL drives of the NDI and its allies would take forever to travel the full length of the path, so several “Defold Zones” were charted on the map: AO Watchful Eyes (the GSA’s long-range observation point) DZ Sweetheart (the farthest out) DZ Panty Shredder (the “standard” defold zone – twenty minutes from the planet) DZ Tungsten Hammer (five minutes for an NDI destroyer to reach the planet) DZ Screaming Victim (Right in Tau Ceti XI’s path) Tau Ceti XI itself had several areas on it marked as well, but these were LZs, for landing zone. The plans didn’t call for the Star Army to use its planetary forces, but in war, preparation was key; the Capital-Class Infantry Carrier ships were ready just in case. Finally obtaining their goal of total coverage of Victory Road exactly the same moment, the ships of the 1st XF deployed. The subspace fields of the FTL drives of around a hundred ships spread out like the wake of speedboats as the ships all headed out to their targets, their timing perfectly calculated by the PANTHEON. In tiny fractions of seconds, the ships outran their images, crossing the distance between them and their targets. The targeting phase of Operation Victory Road had been very quiet and subtle. This was the opposite. At generator sites all around and inside Victory Road, the Grand White Beams of Star Army ships shot out from their shields, making cutting sweeps through the structures. The Aetheric flux of the all-destructive white beams made cutting through the generators’ shields a surprisingly easy matter. The Jaaq’tah didn’t know what hit them! Before their forces could even start to mount a counterattack, the striped gray starships shot off again, leaving the generator sites to burn and explode as they fell apart, cut in halves or worse by the fast attack. A few stray missiles from Jaaq’tah forces spiralled out into space, where the attackers had floated for a quick five seconds. “What’s happening?!” the Jaaq’tah radio channels were flooded with reports of attacks and confused requests for orders. In the midst of the Chaos, DZ Tungsten Hammer was a particularly intense site, one of the second-stage targets for all sorts of GSA ships, which began “pacifying” the area. Several brand-new Irim-class destroyers showed up for the battle and launched over a hundred thousand Lamia Power Armors to create a zone of absolute space superiority. In the center of the Defold Zone, the Hushain ships appeared. Thirty seconds into the Attack, the Jaaq’tah were starting to get a move on. The GSA didn’t bother attacking diversionary sites because the effect was going to be obvious. Every ship available was chugging toward Victory Road’s path of destruction, but most of them wouldn’t make it in time without their wormholes. The Star Army ships began running security along the borders, taking out a few small pockets of Jaaq’tah ships that were attempting to get in the way. In only took a few kills of this sort to for the Jaaq’tah Spacy to contact its forces and create a rally point; rather than have the speedy GSA ships run from place to place swarming the Jaaq’tah, the Jaaq’tah would gather, and overwhelm the Star Army’s forces. This was all expected, of course. One minute into Operation Victory Road, the Jaaq’tah forces ceased attacking the Star Army Forces and started whatever wasn’t fighting the Nerimians to prepare for a crushing blow to smite this new intrusion. ”You’d make a worthy opponent,” the Hushain commander complimented Taisho Kitsurugi Yui as Yui’s ships provided cover fire, “let’s see if the Jaaq’tah planets do.” The ships descended onto the surface amidst a hail of beam fire. The GSA returned fire, snuffing out as many of the defense guns as possible. The sky was filled with the contrails of millions of drone-seeking missiles and illuminated with fire from starship weapons pods. Yui walked over to the edge of the command bridge and looked down onto the deck below, the ship’s operations center, then back to the massive holographic display. In a while, the Jaaq’tah would be ready to storm them. Forced to rely on sublight engines, the ships were easy to track as they were discovered. Victory road was clear of them. Clusters of red arrowheads began to proliferate the edge areas, which their drones were probing. Three minutes into the operation. It was not in the NDI’s deal that the GSA stick around. The Empire sent the Nerimian command a short message: “We will defend defold zones for another two minutes. Take over if you wish.” With the majority of the Jaaq’tah in battle with or destroyed by the Draconian Forces, the remaining ships that were gathering to come after the Star Army ships were going to be outgunned if the Nerimians choose to bring it to the road. Tasuki Uso 11/3/03 23:47 [GSS Seigi] A new arrival ON> GSS Seigi Kitsune's shuttle had just reached the GSS Seigi currently in orbit over Ralifaris. Its long sleek bay doors pulled back on its rounded hull opening up the flight deck for the shuttle. It took only moments for the small ship to touch down and open its doors onto the no-skid floor of the ship Kitsune nodded as she looked up from her book, standing she looked out the window into the ships landing area. Her eyes wandered over the other ships as she stood at the door. Light footsteps taken as she landed at the port of the small space craft she had been transported in. Two huge cranes were attached to the walls on either side of the bay. Directly above her hundreds of Ronin class fighters were suspended in racks while others lay in a open area near the back with their protective casing pulled off their frames and laid on the ground while several neko's crawled around inside. "Hello Ms.Himora, I am Seigi. This body will serve as a guide for you until you have become accustomed to the ship and order it away." Said a neko that was just to the side of the shuttle. She had shot white hair and stood about 5 foot 2 inches tall. The neko stood up straight and had her arms neatly folded behind her back. Kitsune carried a small book and a small bag with a few belongings issued to her, her light brown her swaying with her movements as she nodded to the Neko Identified as Siege. She took one last look around before looking back to the Neko and nodding again. "Shall I be taken to my quarters?" she asked with a strong voice but still slightly sweet. “Very well Ms. Himora. Please follow me." The neko said right before she turned and headed toward a door on the right side of the flight deck, "You will be assigned in one of the Tech nests until your job has been assigned by the commanding officer." She said She nodded once more following Siege to the doors, "Thank you for your help Ms.Siege." she noted still following the Neko. Kitsunes light footsteps echoing through the boarding area as she took swift steps keeping up with the Neko. The neko led her through the Pilots nests and down the lower left side of the ship toward the Tech nests more toward the center of the ship, they passed lots of nekos, some were getting snacks at the snack bar located just outside of the flight deck and others who were just sleeping or having fun. "This is your room Ms. Himora." The neko said as the door opened. Inside the rather large room was the personal belongings of several of the techs, pictures were strewn about here and there and were tacked onto the wall. The center of the room contained a nest, the soft communal pit where they all slept and around the sides were view screens and tables with nearby chairs, "Is there any job that you would prefer?" The neko asked. Looking into the room she nodded and looked back to Seigi and spoke confidently for no reason, "I'd like a position in the Intelligence area." she said looking back to the room with a twitch of her cat-like ears she looked back and smiled. "You should speak to Mr. Ashigari then." Seigi said as a completely identical neko walked behind her leading another new neko, "I can take you to him if you wish however I suggest you take some time and familiarize yourself with the layout of this ship. The recreation areas are directly above you as well as the medical and Science labs. All supplies are stored on the right side of the ship and the bridge is located in the center, do not attempt to enter the lower section of the bridge at any time." She warned. She nodded taking in everything she was telling her and registering it in her mind, "Ok I shall learn my way around and meet with Mr. Ashigari later on." she said more noting it in her mind rather then telling the Neko. Kitsurugi Yui 11/7/03 7:42 [GSS Seigi] Wondering Why ON> GSS Seigi Uso walked out of her room and headed back towards the galley, her mind was filled with thoughts on what to do now that Wazu had left. Her mind formed the attractive idea of raiding some of QIS's stuff but she decided that it wouldn't help her main goal so she continued to walk, finally reaching the lift and stepping in. Yuuko was munching on her usual hot blueberry muffins there was plenty to go around, and so she motioned Uso over, and telepathically called on one of Seigi's sprites to fetch Uso a tall glass of milk to go with the steaming muffins. Uso walked in just moments before and after seeing the motion sat down next to Yuuko. One of Seigi's sprites brought over a glass of milk just like Yuuko asked and sat it down in front of her, "what do you want?" Uso asked. "I want this war to end." Yuuko said, pointing at her newspaper. The front page read "WHERE IS ELYSIA NOVUS?" A subtitle added, "And What Will We Do When We Find It?" "Ah" Uso said as her eyes began scanning the paper. After a moment she just shrugged, "isn't that SAINT's job?" she asked more as a statement of fact than a real question. "Huh?" Yuuko seemed confused. "What is SAINT's job? To find it? I suppose so." "then go bother them about when the war will end, They have to find that place before we can destroy it," Uso said. "What's wrong with you, Uso?" Yuuko asked, frustrated by Uso's acidic attitude. "Oh, a lot of things." Uso said with a smile. Yuuko's eyes sparkled as she smiled, a curiosity building in them. "Hmm?" the little neko squeaked, hoping for more details. Uso gave her an odd look, "Perhaps you should be intel; you have the curiosity." "Maybe!" Yuuko grinned, considering it. "Communications is fun, but I like to be able to get involved in the action sometimes. Do SAINT people do mostly desk work, or more adventurous stuff?" she asked the former SAINT. "Desk work." Uso said without hesitation "Oh." Yuuko looked bummed. "On the bright side you get a lot of free time," she said. Yuuko pondered, "What about undercover work?" "If your on a ship that almost never happens but you could ask the Taisho for a more permanent assignment.," she said "Well, I was thinking about maybe pretending to be an Elysian and finding out where they're hiding." "I'm sure that they already have people doing that but if you want to then go ahead," Uso said "I don't know what I want to do," Yuuko admitted. "I just want to make a difference and help our people." Uso chuckled a bit, "there isn't a your people or a my people. In the end the only person you can trust is yourself so don't make a habit of risking your neck for others." Uso said. "How can you say that? Uso, us nekos need to work together to defeat the Elysians. You and I are daughters of the Star Army." "The Elysians, then the Jaaq'tah, and so on and so forth, the GSA is always at war and will always be, It likes to conquer things." "Better than them conquering us! We need to expand to survive, right?" "Then why doesn’t the GSA expand peacefully?" Uso asked, "You shouldn't live for the GSA. Live for yourself." "But I'm a part of the GSA. What do you mean live for myself? What would I be without the GSA?" "You would be Yuuko, a Neko," Uso said, "you can be part of the GSA and still live for yourself." "I wonder if one day I'll be a captain?" "Go ask" Uso said, "right now there are five Taii and no Taisa on the Seigi." Yuuko giggled. "Taisa Shinami sent a design idea to Kitsurugi Fleet Yards for a Taii to pilot. I heard they'll name a gunboat after me. So I guess I'm already on my way to becoming famous." The small neko blushed slightly. "Maybe I'll ask Taisho Jaren. I don't know if I'm ready to command my own ship yet. Maybe I could get a Yui-class. " Uso leaned in close to Yuuko, "May I ask you something?" "Of course, Miss Uso." "You and Wazu were dating right?" she asked. Yuuko blushed again, "Um...We danced one night, but it wasn't a regular thing. I thought he was a good guy, but after that Elysian ambush, I was hurt and angry at him for prolonging the war." "Well what did you do to him? I want to know why he left." Uso said sounding curious "Me?? I didn't do anything to him! I thought it was the corporate conflict that made him go crazy." Uso gave her a sceptical look, "Well it was either you or someone else, or perhaps a group of people but Wazu isn't the kind of person to loose it just because a business deal goes bad." "We didn't..." Yuuko made an embarrassed face, "play in the nest." Uso laughed, "That isn't it either. I don't think Wazu has ever....um....played in the nest." "Oh! I was beginning to think I was the o... never mind." Yuuko looked around nervously. Uso continued to laugh for a moment until it died down enough for her to ask her next question, "So you really did nothing to him?" she asked. "Not that I know of. I didn't think I mattered to him." "Hmmm..." Uso thought out loud, she was now more confused over Wazu's reason for leaving than ever, "well I'd love to stay and chat but I have something to do" Uso said as she stood up and headed for the door again, "talk to ya later," she said with a wave of her hand over her shoulder. Yuuko grabbed Uso by the wrist and placed a muffin in the woman's hand. "Thanks," she said. Ketsuri Chiharu 11/5/03 23:37 [GSS Ketsurui Chiharu] So much for a good 1st Impression.. After several hours of preparation and formation, two bodies had finished completion and the hemosynth tubes that housed them were opened. Sgt. Akari looked over her patients appraisingly, the request to transfer a part of the Taisho's personality into a separate body had caught the medic off guard but the simple fact that this other body was physically a Human male interested her. Chiharu opened her eyes first, blinking as she stared up into the head lights of the Med Bay from the open glass tube she was laying in. Her mind felt like she was just coming out of a fog, every thing was fuzzy for a moment as her eyes compensated to the light. She sat up as Akari handed the folded bundle that was her uniform. "Arigatou.." The words tumbled awkwardly out of her mouth, the grogginess that accompanied the Soul Transfer process was always disorienting until it passed. "Dore..ka?" The man in the tube beside Chiharu sat up quickly, covering his eyes with one hand as he was seemingly blinded by the light. Akari looked at him curiously, unsure of what to make of him... this was the first time she had seen a human male come out of a hemosynth tube. The man's eyes finally seemed to adjust to the light and he moved his hand down and became self-conscious about the neko staring at him. "Who are you and where am I?" He asked, sounding very unsure. "I am Sergent Akari, the Chief Medical Officer on this ship, the GSS Ketsurui Chiharu. And the lady over there is the original source of your personality, Taisho Ketsurui Chiharu. Everything will make more sense and you'll be reoriented once your mind loads the personal memory and personal recognition data. " Akari adjusted her ponytail for a moment as she indicated the Taisho who was mostly clothed by now, zipping up the front of her uniform to about an inch above her bust and leaving the rest unzipped. The man stared at person indicated in disbelief, did he really come from the mind of that woman? He blinked a bit at the fact the woman was dressing herself did that mean..? He looked down and blushed an unhealthy shade of crimson. "W...where are my clothes?!" He stammered, his emerald green eyes wide with sheer terror at the women. "My, he has an interesting reaction to all of this Akari." Chiharu grinned a bit at her very embarrassed male counterpart, who was trying to cover himself and regain some shred of his damaged dignity. "Jon, relax, it's okay. It'll take a little bit longer for the disorientation to wear off. But, I got a uniform for you... if you want other clothes we'll have to order them for you later, but for now- the uniform will have to do." Akari handed her another bundle, which Chi promptly offered to Jon. "T..thank you... umm.. please.. turn around so that I can get dressed?" Jon asked sheepishly, still crimson. The nekos looked at him curiously and shrugged, turning around after Akari pulled a curtain shut to give the man more privacy. Chi chuckled a bit, it was interesting to Jon for the first time. He was unbelievably cute in his reactions to waking up in the tube but it was understandable. It would only take him a few more minutes before he'd feel like "himself". Kai Ashigari 11/7/03 21:37 [Seigi-Kiyomizudera] Kai's Report --To Taisho Wolf-- "Hate to say this, but there isn't much going on over here on this side other than that Taisho Wazu is leaving the ship. This corporate "war" is tiresome, would you not agree? Otherwise there is nothing to report." --From Taii Ashigari— Kitsune 11/8/03 17:47 GSS Seigi] New arrival (cont) Rikku soon entered after the Neko who had escorted her sister left and threw her bag on the floor, she muttered and walked past Kitsune with a slight growl. "I take it you didn't have that great of a trip now did you?" Kitsune asked sitting down on the floor, rummaged through the things she had brought and looked back up at Rikku. Rikku growled again and sat next to Kitsune doing as she had taken out a uniform that was handed to her as she left the docking area. She stood and changed before sitting back down and raiding her bag. Kitsune sighed and changed also but didn't sit back down, she had the urge to go and explore the area but didn't want to leave her sister there to make trouble for others. She looked out the now open door and smiled at the passing individuals. "You know Rikku you shouldn't dwell on stupid things like that guy, he wasn't your type anyway." she smiled turning back to her sister who was still aggressively ripping through the duffel bag. Rikku waved a hand and stopped before standing and stared at her sister, she stepped forward and started to speak "Kitsune, you have things to think about, you have a short attention span and your memory isn't that great, for you it isn' hard to forget people and things, but for someone like me, it's terrible, it tears me apart, so for me to get over it, your gonna have to stop talking about it, K?" she said irritated at her sisters light-hearted attitude. Kitsune looked at Rikku strangely before she nodded and turned back to the door wonder if anyone was gonna show up to greet them from the other crew, since she and her sister were new, Kitsune had to be the one to make the first impression because if they were to meet Rikku first they wouldn't want to be around them often because of Rikku's lack of interesting conversations. Rikku growled catching her thought as she stuffed the rest of her things in the duffel bag, she stood then walked to the door looking at the passing individuals, unlike Kitsune Rikku had the temper of a nuclear bomb and when you hit her just right she would explode in your face. Kitsune smiled again then turned to Rikku "Oh I almost forgot, we must go speak with Mr. Ashagari, he is the superior officer of the Intelligence job we were planning on getting into, remember?" she asked with wide eyes and a small smile, "I hope he’s here.." she said pondering. Rikku sighed "Yea yea I know, were is he?" she asked looking at a side pannel on the wall that showed a map, finding his sector she grabbed Kitsune's hand and began to walk letting go of her hand as soon as she started to walk with her. Kitsune scrambled to keep up with her until finding her balance and speeding up to her side smileing at passing Nekos and other crew members. Rikku muttered and looked at her "Don't be so friendly, if your friendly with everyone then the one you may trust the most will become the one who sends you to your scrap yard." she sighed and led her to the elevator. Alexis Jaren 11/9/03 17:03 [GSS Seigi] I'm busy right now, please leave a message... Alexis guided the Cat's Claw into the familiar cavern of the Seigi's shuttle bay. Securing the craft, he exited and watched the crane lift it to its position in the rafters of the bay. The shifter seemed bothered by something as he exited the bay and strode briskly to the bridge. "Seigi, could you take over command for now? Let anyone who asks know I'm here, but I want to be alone for a while. I'll be in my quarters if anything important comes up," he said, entering his room and sloughing off his bag and dropping into his nest. Closing his eyes, Alexis attempted to relax, finally dropping into a fitful sleep. Marthias Gabriel 11/8/03 13:23 Orders from superiors. Mathias awoke from his slumber in his room. Rolling over on his bed he looked at the clock. 6:00. Mumbling he rises to his feet and begins to gather his clothing. Stretching large wings he lets out a yawn. Fully clothed in his white attire, Matias places on his black trenchcoat. A large transition to say the least, but he was allowed to do so. Placing the sheath to his sword on his belt, and putting his pistol in his holster, Mathias heads to the bridge. Walking down the corridors of the Elysian Vessel this early was rather boring to him. The halls were empty, except for a few lone sentries guarding the area. Raising his PDA he looks to the lite screen. Placing his stylus upon the screen the area begins to be filled with a slow and deliberate piano concerto. The chords ring out into the hall and Mathias places upon his face a warming smile. Moving his hands along with the movements of the piece he continues for the bridge. Upon arriving the to bridge he is observed first by the communications officer. The small female Elysian looks to this massive archangel, her own size diminished by his own. She smoothed out the wrinkles in her robe and spoke in a soft sweet voice, "Sir, I have orders for you." "Put them on display." Upon the screen before him was a tall Archangel, his commanding officer. This man's long blonde hair shone about as bright as Mathias's own white hair did. His voice was as demanding as his face appeared. "Yes sire, what are my orders?" "As you know we are at war with the GSA, and a large portion of their troops are nekos." "Yes sir that is common knowledge." "We here at Headquarters want you to gather Intel on these Nekos. How they function, how they are designed, anything and everything you can find." "Sir, to do so would require the capture of many and the disassembly of even more." "If that is what you need to do, then do it." "Yes sir." The screen turned black and Mathias sat down in the nearest chair. "Now. Who to learn about first..." Dr Shinichiro Nobumoto 11/8/03 12:32 A transmission arrived, almost as if on que. It was from the battleship Truth. Admiral Nariel's intelligence staff had some information for Mathias' ship, the Thunderbolt. "Our observations of the Seigi and the News lead us to believe that it is currently without its commanding officer. This would be an ideal opportunity to attack them. It is, however, over a planet with a great many other vessels at the moment. Perhaps we could find something to distract the Seigi, to draw it out and capture the vessel. I hear your ship is currently assigned to research the nekos. Since capturing the Seigi would give us a great deal of nekos to toy with, Nariel is willing to back up the Thunderbolt with vessels form his fleet. It's your job to get the Seigi alone, though. Marthias Gabriel 11/9/03 11:40 "Thank you for the intel and your support in our mission." Mathias looked down to his PDA and began to type something in on it. After he typed his memo he pulled up a series of star charts. These charts were downloaded into his PDA thanks to the pilot of this vessel. The charts are also user friendly so even the lowliest of Elysians could use it. Looking back to the screen he spoke to the angel in it's view, "What planet are they orbiting?" During the conversation in the back of Mathias's mind, he is planning a way to distract the GSS Seigi. Dr Shinichiro Nobumoto 11/10/03 1:47 "Ralfaris," the intelligence officer advised him. Kai Ashigari 11/9/03 19:56 [GSS Seigi] Two new crewmembers Kai was working in the intelligence office of the ship, preparing another SAINT report, a short one; but a report nonetheless. He had requested and purchased a NH-12 assistant from PNUgen and was beginning to wonder when she'd show up… or if there was a delay. Kai rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking at what he had thus far. His eyebrow perked at the sight of so many grammatical and typological errors. ~Must be anxiety.~ Kai thought as he proceeded to correct them and send the report off to Taisho Wolf of SAINT. A Yui-class Recon-Scout Destroyer from Second Expeditionary Fleet showed up out of nowhere. Apparently, 2nd XF was handling the mail lately, at least until the fleet was commissioned. The ship quickly recieved clearance to dock with the Seigi. Once connected via the lift, a series of carts were wheeled aboard by the Yui ship's neko sprites. Among the crowd of remote-control workers was a PNUgen CSR, carrying a small box. Kai stepped out into the hallway and moved through the Seigi to a spot near the bridge, awaiting his assistant who should have been there by this time. ~Perhaps there's been a delay?~ He wondered as he leaned against the wall outside the bridge, combing a hand through his hair. He was a very patient person thankfully, and would wait as long as it took, but the problem with there being no leader aboard the Seigi bothered him. Rikku pushed Kitsune along through the crowd trying to keep her from stopping and talking to every single person, Kitsune came to the hallway and watched Rikku walk up to Ashigari unknowing that he was in fact Ashigari. Rikku nodded a greeting towards Kai and looked around "Would you happen to no where Mr. Ashigari would be at this moment?" she asked as Kitsune walked up next to her with a friendly grin. "Oh?" Kai said, turning to look at the person talking to him, his flaming red hair swished a bit as he did. He fixed his emerald green eyes on Kitsune. "Why, I'm Taii Ashigari, you can call me Kai." He said offering them both a friendly smile and an extended hand. Kitsune turned a pink color at her sisters mistake and smiled covering it up, Rikku on the other hand nodded and reached for his hand, "It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Ashi..I mean Kai." she said with the same serious look and tone, Kitsune rubbed her forehead as Rikku introduced her and her sister "My name is Rikku Himora, this is Kitsune Himora." she said letting go of his hand as Kitsune reached for it and nodded a greeting towards him letting go. Rikku looked at Kitsune and smiled then looked back to Kai "We are looking for a position in your Intelligence unit." she said still using her serious tone "Well, since I'm the only intelligence officer on board, so of course you can join. But, may I ask your qualifications?" He asked, looking at both of them. He pulled out a datapad and peered at it absently, and seeing nothing really that new there, he put it back under his gold robes. "The Himora sisters...fitting." He commented. "pretty names for pretty ladies," he smiled honestly. Kitsune smiled "Thank you Kai." she said responding to the compliant, Rikku nodded in agreement and looked at Kai squarely "Well since we were only recently created we don't have many but we are hard workers and take our work seriously, even Kitsune gets into her work once she is given the chance to work, we major in computer repairs, hacking, and computer operations." She said nodding in agreement of her short statement, Kitsune stayed quiet letting her sister take care of the conversation. Kai rubbed his chin thoughtfully, it was a bit obvious he was a bit distracted. "Then you two should do fine, right now, things are going a bit slowly; although we still need to be alert." He said and inhaled before continuing. "Anything can happen at anytime, but I'm sure you both know and understand that." he said. "Have you had a chance to explore and become familiar with the ship yet?" He added after a moment of thought. Kitsune shook her head before Rikku could say anything and added in "No sir, we haven't we just arrived about an hour ago, we were going to meet with you then take a tour around the ship." she said and looked at Rikku as if waiting for Rikku to make a comment. Rikku smiled and nodded "Yes we just arrived, we thought it better to speak with you before proceeding with further action." she said wondering if she chose to right words for her statement. He smiled and nodded. "Well, you two are now intelligence officers, but your job will be a bit easier if make a few friends who will tell you things. But my office is always open to anyone who has a problem or just needs to talk." Kai said, brushing his hair out of his eyes, showing the milky white diamond in his forehead. "Just be watchful for anything new and keep those cute little ears open." He smiled. They smiled and in unison said "Thank you Mr. Ashigari, you won't regret it." then Rikku nodded a goodbye and drug Kitsune, who had turned a pink tinge again, off through the crowd of nekos. At that point, a soft-looking, abnormally-beautiful freckle-faced neko approached a Kai with a smile and a package. Kitsurugi Yui 11/10/03 12:03 [GSS Seigi] Delivery ON> GSS Seigi (GB-08): Hallway outside bridge. Kai saw the two Himoras off, knowing that they'd be excellent additions to the Seigi crew. He turned slightly and caught sight of the cute freckle-faced neko with the package. "Oh, hello there." He said smiling in return. The hallway was rather crowded with nekos at this point, some probably going to see old friend or delivering various goods. Behind the neko in blue, Kai spotted Lavinia handing her plushie to a pair of postal service nekos, who carefully packed it and whisked it away into the lift. "Hello, Taisa Ashigari," greeted the tender neko. She had well-styled, very soft-looking blonde hair and shining blue eyes. Her uniform was a simple pair of jet-black stockings and shining black go-go boots on the bottom, and a long blouse of blue on the top. The shirt had a black collar lined with real gold threads. On the breast pocket was PNUgen's logo. Kai drew back a bit at the greeting, thinking it had been a minor mistake. then chuckled. "I'm only a Taii." he smiled good-naturedly. "I see you're from PNUgen, that box, is that my order?" He asked, though he was already aware of the answer. The blouse just barely covered her waist. If she were to bend over, her entire backside would be exposed. Such was the way of PNUgen. "The 2nd Fleet told me you were a Taisa. The promotion orders are late, too, I suppose. It probably has to do with the lack of appropriate rank pins. I would have taken my own ship, but the PNUgen fleet's Yui Destroyer's are currently being upgraded to the Yui 4g specifications. Still, there is no excuse for my tardiness, and so I have added an additional five-thousand KS value to your purchase." "Hmm?" he said, giving her a questioning look. "5,000? what?" He asked, confused, he hoped it didn't mean he'd have to pay another 5 thousand KS on top of the 10 thousand already paid. The neko charmingly leaned toward Kai and put her lips to his ear, whispering, "Your neko may have a child, now." The CSR then backed up slightly to watch his expression. She carefully handed the small box to Kai. Kai accepted the box, looking a bit shocked. But after the realization set in he smiled a bit shyly, his cheeks starting to turn the color of his hair. "Well, that is…er...unexpected." He said hanging his head to conceal his changing coloration. "But…um I do not see how. She's so small," he commented, opening the box and peering in. Inside the box, amidst her padded shell, lay the unmoving tiny neko, wrapped in a transparent plastic bag and coated with a slimy-looking clear gel. The CSR grinned at the little black neko and inquired "Shall we find a quiet place to wake her up?" Kai smiled and nodded. "Let's find a quiet place to wake her up, my office is up this way." He said turning his head slightly to point the way. "She's so cute." He smiled. "My name is Ingrid" she told him as she followed him closely. They reached the office in after a very short walk. Kai walked up and moved off to the side, holding the door open for her. "Ladies first then Ingrid." He smiled. The Service Representative entered first with a lovely smile. Taking a seat on the couch, she motioned to the coffee table. Kai nodded mutely and walked over and set the box on the table and opened it gently. "I honestly do not know how to wake her." He admitted. Ingrid unzipped the seal on the bag, and tapped her third finger (nekos don't have pinkies) lightly against the tiny neko's chest, twice in rapid succession. A small holographic screen appeared shortly, hovering over the slumbering neko. It read "KES HCM" at the top, and provided a menu of options. Ingrid zoomed through the menu, going through a number of various windows and set the number of babies the little assistant could eventually have to "1." She then swirled her finger around on the NH-12's belly, causing the window to switch to a self-test mode. The result was "GOOD." Satisfied, she pressed a few more floating buttons, and the tiny being began to stir. Kai was looking at the tiny neko with a strange....happy expression on his face. It was much like witnessing the birth of a child, and indeed in a strange way; it was. His eyes grew very soft as the tiny neko began to rouse itself. "Good morning." The itty-bitty neko said to the two giants admiring her. "Who is my master?" "I am." Kai said his normal, soft voice. He looked into the box with the little neko in, bathing her in red hair on accident. "Your name will be Keiko." He said, it was obvious that he had spent time thinking about this. "What language do you prefer, sir?" Keiko asked, lying back on the bag she came in. "English." He said backing off a bit, feeling a bit silly. "How formal should I be when I speak to you?" A holographic menu appeared, with choices "Very" "Normal" "Informal" and "Rude." "Can I get an example of 'normal'?" He asked her. "Sir, this is an example of use of normal-formality speech. I will address you by sir or by your name, and will always use proper English without such devices such as vulgar idiomatic expressions and contractions. I will also refrain from using sexual references, except in a medical or other appropriate context." "This, Kai, is an example of informal talk. I'll refer to you by your name and will use Standard English and may use expressions and include contractions. Informal speech tends to be shorter." Kai nodded and selected the "informal" mode of speech, he wasn't comfortable with very formal nor did he want to deal with her making off the wall comments. "You're sure?" Keiko verified. "I am." He replied. "Okay. What can I do for you?" "First you could get out of that box and get used to walking around." He joked mildly, offering an open hand for her to stand on. He looked up at Ingrid. "Um...she did come with some clothes right?" He asked, slightly embarrassed. “She comes with a fitted black jumpsuit,” Ingrid explained as Keiko began parading around the table in her birthday suit. Sain 11/7/03 23:25 [Thunderbolt] Another day... Sain rolled off his bed, he was in a sparse room containing only a few personal possessions. The archangels on this ship were ever-so-slightly kind enough to allow him his own accommodations just off the medical bay. He stretched, automatically cupping his hand over his left eye, seemingly to hide something. ~Grrr...damn nekos. I'll never forgive the bitch that did this to me.~ He thought as a low growl issued from his still sleepy lips. He grabbed a black, metallic mask of sorts and fit it to the area his hand was over, wincing a bit as the claw-like mechanisms latched on; they weren't easily visible but they still hurt. He spun on his bed and leapt to his feet, fluttering his medium size wings, unfurling them then pulling them back in; his wings weren't too usable for flying, but he could break a long fall with them. He pulled on a golden shirt, royal blue pants and a long white robe. The black mask covering the area around his left eye standing out against all else he was wearing, but he didn't care; he didn't want anyone to see his scarring. He strode out of his room and into the medical bay, arranging a few papers he had scooped off a meagre table. Sain's pure white eyebrow perked and his eyes fixated on something on the paper he was reading as he sat down near a table. "I'm on guard duty?" He asked himself. He grunted and slid a couple energy pistols into holsters and slid on a armor vest and left the room. He walked briskly past a couple young archangels who gazed at the elysium mask and snickered. "Archangel wannabe can't hold his own!" One of them taunted. Sain spun on the youth. "Shut up." He said in his deep voice. "Don't you have some servants to tend to wannabe?" The other teased meanly. "....." Sain muttered and continued on his way. ~Damn archangels, I am half of them yet they never see that; to them I'm only a plebian who got lucky.~ He thought darkly. Kitsurugi Yui 11/10/03 17:29 [GSS Seigi] Little Nekos (unedited) ON> Hallway, GSS Seigi. Kai had just finished his goodbyes to Ingrid, the sales rep, and had headed out to show Keiko her world. Of course, he had gotten her to dress in her black jumpsuit first, of course. Keiko sat carefully perched on his shoulder, looking around curiously. "You know Keiko, I didn't think you'd have gotten out of the box and marched around like that. I suppose I must watch what I say." He mused as he showed her the ship. Kitsurugi Yui:: "I was only trying to be helpful." Keiko explained, shamed and confused by his disapproval. Kai Ashigari:: He shook his head a bit, being careful not to knock her off. "It was a bit of humor, I just wasn't expecting you to do it is all, you did nothing wrong." He reassured her. "Oh," she said, now even more confused, going over the event in her head. "Humor." Another crewmember popped out from around a corner, moving about his business. A Qel'noran. Keiko stealthed in a flash, frightened like a little kitten. She was REALLY fast at activating her active camouflage, faster than the average neko. Perhaps it was one of the perks of being a Kurovakten. A special little creature indeed. ~Keiko, it's nothing to really worry about. I said something I didn't really mean, and you went and did it. I just wasn't expecting you to do that is all. But that's a good thing, you listen and respond. You're a good little girl.~ He thought to her, still feeling her on his shoulder. Keiko slowly faded back into view, and wrapped her arms around his neck in the best hug someone her size could manage. Nekos were usually social creatures, and this one was no exception. Already, she was bonding with him and treating him as a father figure. "Thanks." she smiled, glad she was doing ok. Keiko slowly faded back into view, and wrapped her arms around his neck in the best hug someone her size could manage. Nekos were usually social creatures, and this one was no exception. Already, she was bonding with him and treating him as a father figure. "Thanks." she smiled, glad she was doing ok. Kai smiled as he continued through the hallways. He first showed her the large dining hallon the uppermost deck. "This is the Dining Hall, I'm sure you already know what that its don't you?" He asked in soft tone. Yuuko was making her way down the hall and spotted the small coal-black figure on Kai's shoulder. Yuuko couldn't help but blurt out, "Awwww! She's shorter than me!" The communications officer then burst into excited giggles and scooted over to him to get a closer look. Keiko looked at Yuuko's fact and the nekos leaned in so close that their noses touched. Yuuko's eyes crossed for a moment before she backed up a little, tickling Keiko by rolling her torso between her fingers. Keiko spasmed uncontrollably and went into a screaming fit of laughter. Kai laughed as he heard her giggling. "She's cute isn't she?" he asked Yuuko. "I'm showing her around the ship, she's new here." He explained to Yuuko with a warm smile. "I love her!" Yuuko agreed, giving Keiko a break. The tiny neko laid down with her legs spread on either side of Kai's shoulder, like it was a horse she was riding. Her chest rapidly rose and fell against it. Yuuko grinned, finding a new friend. "She's my new assistant." he said. "She cost me quite a bit but it was all worth it." He said, turning to face Yuuko, covering Keiko with hair, tickling her a bit more without meaning to, then quickly brushed it away. "Where are you heading Yuuko?" He asked. "I was just finishing eating," said Yuuko, holding up a muffin. Keiko grabbed it hungrily, and began munching away. The thing was like three times the size of her head, so it looked pretty funny. "What's your name?" Keiko asked, between giant bites. Yuuko replied, "Sakai Yuuko." After a thoughtful pause, she whispered in Kai's opposite ear, "Can I be her mom?" Kai blushed suddenly...he hadn't been expecting that..."Uhm......." He muttered, not really knowing what to say at this. "Oh, I'm sorry, her name’s Keiko." He finally got out, talking to Yuuko. "Hello Miss Keiko." Kai was happy that Keiko's appearance on the ship was going well so far. "Hello, Yuuko." Keiko waved, plotting some way of counter-tickling the bigger (yet small) neko. "Taste good up there Keiko?" He asked her, reaching up and stealing a small chunk away from her. "Well?" Yuuko prodded, seeking an answer to her question. "Mmm." Keiko attempted to hoard the muffin, her mouth stuffed like a squirrel. "Oh… um.." Kai replied, suddenly turning a slight red. "I suppose you could if need a friend." He said. "Would you like that Keiko?" He asked. He was willing to let her have time with other nekos, but still felt protective of her. "Sure!" Keiko replied. She had used her sensitive hearing to eavesdrop on Yuuko's whisper. Kitsurugi Yui 11/10/03 19:47 [Thunderbolt] Trial and Error ON> Elysian Fast Attack Frigate "Thunderbolt" Mathias was approached by his small communications officer, Kemitha Jeiriel. "Sir." she prompted. Mathias focused in his swirling blue eyes upon this officer. "Yes." "Another message from Nariel's whorehouse. They suggest we discreetly capture a shuttle or two in the meantime." Mathias gave a grunt of approval. "Tell me of any vessels that are within the area." "There are a few shuttles around, mostly to close to the planet. I see a number of Yui-Class destroyers operating in the area." the petitely-framed angel's wings ruffled slightly as she hunched over a screen. "There. This one's probably headed to Geshrintall." Mathias looked to the petite angel. He began to think to himself. 'Cloak features are enabled. Now, how to take the ship. Perhaps I should do as that simpleton Jehenniel used. Yes I suppose that will do.' "Deploy a shoot to connect to the spacecraft, then send in five Seraphs to retrieve a few...test subjects." "Sir, I meant this shuttle here." Kemitha pointed. There's a Yui we can raid, but..." she didn't finish. It was wrong to contradict her superiors, she knew. A quick gesture to the pilot and the ship was sneaking up on a Yui-class destroyer. Mathias looked to the screen. A destroyer. No better way to test the water. For him this was a challenge. He wanted to know if he can outsmart the enemy. "Make sure weapons are armed and ready." Mathias wasn't talking to anyone in specific, just to the bridge in general. "Second Expeditionary Fleet." Kemitha read the ship's fleet logo, turning to look back at her commander across the small, brightly-lit bridge. Her nervousness showed in the tight grip her thin digits that curled about the white leather seat she sat in. "First time I've seen Second XF in action." Mathias couldn't help but to smile. This was a challenge to his skill. "Well, you're about to see one up close." He watched as the pilot pulled in to the side of the vessel. "Deploy the chute. And pilot be ready for a speedy leave." "Chute deployed, sir. Seraphs now deploying explosives on the doors." "Excellent." Mathias's grip tightened on his chair as the explosion shook the ship. The Seraphs would be boarding the vessel and grabbing all available nekos as instructed to do so. "Sir! The explosives didn't get it open. The doors must have been upgraded. Seraphs are retrying." "Try once more, tell them to focus the power on the creases...and tell them they have exactly two minutes and then they will be left. Pilot, get ready for a full speed launch." Kemitha gave a relieved look as the Seraphs reported that the second try had been successful. But her already palid face went stark white as a subtle alarm went off on the bridge. "Enemy vessels are locked on to us." she reported. The death-grip of the Star Army's RDD sensors didn't ever seem to let go once it was locked. Furthermore, it meant every ship in the 2nd XF knew exactly where the Thunderbolt was. Below, the Seraphs were confronted not by a standard crew, but by a small army of artificial Nekovalkyrja, all controlled by the ship's MEGAMI computer. PANTHEON X2 sent a message to the Third Fleet. "Elysian Frigate detected near Ralfaris." "Pilot, get ready to launch on my mark." Mathias seemed calm and rational. His voice did not tremble. "Fire side guns toward all threatening enemy guns. We need to get at least one neko." Meanwhile, the Seraphs would be battling with spears to capture at least one neko and return to the ship. Mathias would be keeping an eye on those guns, as soon as he deemed them threatening, they would be out of there. Kemitha was knocked from her seat as the ship was hit by numerous shots. The lights flickered. The Yui was trying to activate its shields, but the Thunderbolt was in the shield space, its own shields disrupting the area. The surface of the ship below seemed to crystallize, covering itself with extra armor. Weapons pods skittered around, exchanging fire with the Thunderbolt's beam cannon eyes. Mathias remained in his seat. He will push this ship as much as he can. "Seraph progress, and hurry. What is it?" "Sir, all seraphs have been slain. Nekos are attempting to counter-invade...I am cutting the chute, sir. Those sprites are no good." The ship below was gaining distance, and at the needed distance, its shields flashed on, and began charging the soliton beam. "What in the thirteen heavens are you doing?" Nariel's voice butted in the bridge of the Thunderbolt, clearly irritated by the sneering sound of it. Mathias looked to the simpleton girl. "Are you stupid?! Reel in the chute, seal that area of the ship, but Seraph guards around the entrances. They want to board, let them. We have our prisoners. Pilot, get us out of here." The pilot gave a nod, and pulled the ship on course as the chute reeled in. As soon as possible, they shot out of there like a bat out of hell. The Yui that had been attacked cloaked and silently was pursuing the Elysian frigate like an assassin would tail a victim into a vacant parking lot. It didn't seem to have any trouble keeping up, although the Thunderbolt was clearly straining to haul ass. ON> GSS Kiyomizudera (GD-45) The Kiyomizudera had recently finished painting Third Fleet tags over the Fifths tags. Wolf was currently in a good mood. It’s about time I got a report from someone besides your average neko. His good mood was crushed with a summons to the bridge by the communications officer. “They’ve got angels at Ralfaris. Well, TTD there then, the hell you waitin’ on? Get ah, Dragon Wing 1 and 2 with us, all right?” “Yes sir.” Wolf came to the bridge as fast as he could, but by then the Kiyo had arrived around Ralfaris, followed shortly by Dragon Wing 1 and 2. “Ask ‘em what’s going on.” The bridge officer nodded and sent the message. Wolf's ships, their RDD sensors searching around, at that point noticed something much more concerning...roughly a thousand Elysian Battlecruisers were hanging out in the area, cloaked. ”Taisho, ah, you need to have a look at this. What is it?” Wolf made his way over to the operations officer who had spoken. He checked the sensors. “Damn & cloak, tell them to do so as well. Dragon Wing 1 and Dragon Wing 2 didn’t need to be told. As the Kiyomizudera cloaked, so did they. Wolf gave orders. “Ask the ships at Ralfaris if they’ve got this on scope too. Ask what they think we should. Until then we’ll wait and see what the angels do.” The Elysian ships looked like they weren't headed anywhere for the time being. PANTHEON 4, which was currently controlling the uncrewed majority of the Fourth Fleet, verified the scans. Those were Elysians, alright. Perhaps this was some sort of trap, designed to draw in a fleet like Wolf's and overpower it. Hmm. His first instinct had involved calling just about every fleet to see if they could lend support to kill the angels, but he knew he didn't know anything about them, having never dealt with them before. He had also thought about trying a small hit-and-run, but that wouldn't be the best thing to do. They'd have to wait for them to make a move. “Call the 1st and 2nd assault groups. We'll have them orbit Ralfaris too for a while. We'll stay here for now. Watch the sensors at all times. I'll be in the briefing room.” Wolf exited the bridge and made his way to the deserted briefing room. He had gotten a headache suddenly. He put his head down for a minute. The Elysian ships hung menacingly in space, waiting for some event to occur. Sensors showed they appeared to be charging their CDD drives. Cautiously, the Elysians began to back off, as if they knew that someone was on to them. Kitsurugi Yui 11/10/03 23:30 [Thunderbolt] Inspecting the Prisoner ON> Elysian Fast Attack Frigate "Thunderbolt" Mathias looks to Kemitha, his eyes calm. "Give me a damage report, status on the neko capture attempt, and scans of any possible trailing vessels." Kemitha responded "moderate damage. Turns out a seraph managed to capture one neko. That's it, though, sir." Mathias let out a sigh. He did not like to repeat himself, "And the scans for any trailing vessel?" Paladin Jeiriel gave an apologetic look, "Sir, no positive signs of any tail. But I'm not positive there's nothing there, either. Our Distortion drive makes things difficult." The Thunderbolt was racing at a little over its "top speed." Mathias closed his eyes and started to get lost in his thought. The chances of a vessel trailing them was rather high with the attack he mounted. He reopened his eyes and spoke directly to the pilot. "Drop speed and dive down. Shut down all unnecessary systems except cloaking. We are to run as silent as possible. Keep scans open." "Aye, sir." The ship was hot inside from the burst of speed. As the ship slowed, water droplets began condensing on the walls and control surface. The main lights went out, leaving only a blue glow from emergency lighting. Kemitha fiddled with the cloaking systems to try and maximize their effectiveness. "Still no sign of them." Mathias did not respond. His mind was working. If they were out there, they might be able to realize they are still there. All things are possible. "Keep the weapons armed and ready for any attack. I am going to check out this neko. Keep me informed of -all- events. You know how to find me." Mathias raised his PDA. It has a link to the ship's communications system. He rose from his seat and left the bridge. Making his way down the corridor, he goes to check out the neko that was captured. Two seraphs stood on either side of doorway to the cell which held the prisoner. "She's not a fighter." One of them commented. The cell had a solid white exterior door, and a transparent interior door. The lights were out, of course. Mathias looked down to the two. Not a fighter. "That is not what I was expecting to hear. Yet, perhaps we could work this to our advantage." Mathias opened the cell and closed it as quickly. He was still armed with his pistol and sword. He looked at his prisoner, at least he had something. The prisoner neko looked back at him. Even in the dark, the fear in her eyes could be seen. She wore a blue blouse with a black suit collar, lined and embroidered with shining gold thread. Her lower half was covered with black stockings. Her breast pocket had the PNUgen logo on it. Mathias clicked on the lights so that she could be seen properly. The fear in this neko was somehow refreshing. At least he knew that he had the power. He leaned against the wall, his PDA in hand. The interrogation begins. "What is your name?" His voice was apathetic and calm. Sain had been on guard duty when he saw the seraphs dragging away a neko, he scowled and followed and eventually saw them interrogating her. "Sir Mathias. What is going on here?" He asked in deep.. .slightly evil voice. "My name is Ingrid Mjollnersdottir," the young blonde answered. She looked as if she was about to say more, but the appearance of a second captor distracted her. He fluttered his medium size wings in irritation as he looked at the neko with distinct hate in his eyes. His mask totally obvious in the light as he watched, the black elysium mask shining a bit in the light. Mathias remained calm. With a few clicks of his stylus he added the name of the neko to his information. Then he let his hand slide down his waist and with a brilliant silver arc his sword clanged against the metal bars. Following the attack was silence followed by Mathias in the calmest voice he could muster. "I will deal with you later. Now leave." Mathias would slowly slide his blade back into the sheath. He turned back to his prisoner, and once again spoke calmly. "And what was you job on the vessel?" "Shut up Mathias, you know I'm the head medic here, and you'll only have me trying to pry her open later, so why not find out the basics now?" Sain said, coldly. He hated archangels about as much as he hated Nekos. He oftern had trouble figuring out who was the enemy. He shot a glare at the archangel and walked outside, but stopped briefly in the doorway; "I apologize sir, I stepped out of line." Ingrid spoke in Japanese, with a Norse accent. "I was making a delivery, Sir. I am not in the Star Army. What is your name, sir?" she asked the one who seemed to be in charge. Mathias stopped the clicking of his stylus seised. This neko spoke in a language he did not understand. "Perhaps we should stick to English." Then he added in Seraphim, "Wouldn't want to get confused." Then he converted back to English. "Once more if you please." Sain had stepped out, but was listening outside, acting as a guard...just in case. ~I hope he doesn't go overboard with it, I don't want to have to do something rash.~ He thought to himself, giving no signs of it outwardly. This time, the soft-looking neko repeated her answer and question in English. She seemed to be fairly cooperative. "So you are not a member of the Star Army. Perhaps you could be of some use to us after all. I am Mathias Gabriel, Intelligence Officer for the ECN and ranking officer of this ship." He glanced at Sain. "We are going to keep you here for a while. If you cooperate no harm will come of you. I will personally see to that. Now, what is it that you were delivering?" Sain merely looked stern and respectful...if not a bit curious. "I am a Customer Service Represtative for the Pagoda no Uesureya Genetics Corporation, based at Kitsurugi no Iori. I was delivering a small NH-12 Nekovalkyrja to a customer of ours." Ingrid crossed her arms defensively, and added another question, "Why are the lights out?" Mathias quirked a brow and smiled at this nekos sudden question. "They are out because I wish them to be. PNUgen. So, what has the GSA been purchasing lately?" Ingrid looked down idly, then back to Gabriel. "Nekos, of course, Gabriel sir." Sain was closely watching how Mathias treated the neko, if he tried anything that was against Sain's personal belief he'd stop him. ~Why is she so cooperative?~ He wondered, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall. Ingrid made a pained expression. Moments later, the intercom came on in the cell. "Kemitha here. I cut off a telepathic signal she was sending out. I'm still determining whether or not we're being watched." Mathias smiled and let out a soft chuckle. He slide down the wall and sat, he now looking directly into the neko's eyes. Pressing the record feature on his PDA, he lets it record voice now instead of manually typing in the information. "Of course, I should of have guessed that...Excellent job Kemitha. Good work indeed." Mathias no longer had his kind demeanour. His face became stern and his eyes cold and piercing. He stood and made his way over to the neko. "And who do you believe you would call. I asked you to cooperate and you would be safe. Yet you willingly disobeyed me." Sain peered in subconsciously fingering his weapon, a very old habit of his when he was anxious or nervous. "I am frightened of you...I didn't disobey." Ingrid curled up in the corner of the cell. "Please don't hurt me." "Actually sir, she has been cooperating with you. You never told her not to, and you should have expected it...but that is my opinion." Sain said from outside. "It is proven that fear makes people do irrational things." he amended. By now, the Seraphs were making comments, too. "WHo asked YoUr OpiNion?" one of them creepily cackled. Ignoring Sain completely, Mathias continues. "Tell me what I want to know about nekos and you will not be hurt. I want to know their weaknesses." Mathias did however hear the Seraph speak and he smiled. They knew their place. "I asked myself my opinion." he replied giving the seraph a dark glare. "I know I'm an impure half-breed, but I still have opinions." He said defensively. "But I don't apologize for having the courage to voice them." "Sir, I cannot!" the poor cat-eared woman shook her head. "Either you can tell use, or we can use you as an...experiment." Mathias's voice creep out of his lips as he spoke the final two words. He truly seemed evil with the way he was speaking to her. Seraphs weren't talkative creatures. The only retort was an unnaturally huge mouthful of 4-inch-long teeth breathing on Sain. Sain shook his head absently, the seraphs didn't scare him, he was used to them by now. "May I ask a question?" he asked, sounding humble. "But sir!" the neko protested. "I'm just a civilian! I've never hurt an Elysian!" "True. Yet you also are a neko and therefore know the things that I desire to know." Mathias was totally ignoring Sain, he will deal with the insubordinate being later. Sain scowled, he knew his place, but for him to get anywhere, he couldn't sit back. Sain took out a few coins and was idly flipping them 6 at a time catching them all without moving his feet. ~I hope he doesn't hurt her...she's terrified enough.~ He thought "I don't know what you're talking about." Ingrid lied. As a service rep, she knew more about nekos than most nekos knew about themselves, but it was important to safeguard the secrets of her race. Mathias let out a sigh, perhaps he will press the issue later. "Fine, I will let the issue fall for now. I will let you sleep on the thought tonight." Mathias pointed to a display of buttons on the wall. "This is the control panel for the accommodations of your cell. It is easy to learn once you press them a few times. Your meals will be served to you later by a Seraph." He pointed to one of the guards. "We will continue this on a later date." Mathias opened and reclosed the cell. His eyes focused in on Sain, now went to present business. Sain caught his last set and looked to Mathias, "What?" he asked pointedly. "Meet me in my office in an hour." Inside the cell, Ingrid tucked herself in under the blanket of her small cot, crying herself to sleep. Kitsune 11/9/03 21:45 [GSS Seigi] Training for the Himora Sisters ON> GSS Seigi The crowd of pilots dissipated almost as soon as the Himora sisters left the area. The Seigi neko was still following them around as they moved past other crewmembers who were going to check the mail so to speak. They had still not checked out the recreation areas on the Seigi and with most of the people checking their mail they would be mostly empty around this time. Rikku came to a stop as she reached the end of the crew members "So Kitsune where to now?" she asked sighing, Kitsune shrugged and looked around for the familiar Neko that she had met earlier, finding her she turned and stood in front of her "Seigi, where is it we haven't seen yet?" she asked as she watched some of the crew members. "You have yet to visit the bridge, engineering, the storage areas, the lab, the medbay, and the recreation areas Ms Himora," Seigi responded as she stopped just behind them with her arms still neatly folded behind her back. Kitsune blinked at the long list, she smiled and thought for a moment, "Rikku shall we visit the rec room first?" she asked not waiting for an answer she looked back at Seigi "Would you please escort us to the recreation room?" she asked delighted to have been on board the GSS Seigi. The Seigi neko nodded and motioned toward the wall, "You can have me highlight the path to any room on the wall here." she said as a thin line of neon red appeared on the wall, "You will be able to see these lines even in the event of a power outage so you can reach a room in emergency conditions." She said as she turned and started walking down the hallways, "Please follow me Ms. Himora." She nodded and motioned RIkku to come along, "Thank you for your help Seigi" she said following her down the hallway. Seigi took them down the hallway with the medbay and lab, at the end was a door and two more on either side of the hallway. Seigi turned around to look at them, "to your right is the media center, to your left is the club and ahead of you is the dojo, pool and track." Seigi explained. they could hear loud music coming from the club and several neko's with blue hair pushed past them to enter it. Rikku pointed to the training area as if telling Kitsune that was where she wanted to go and Kitsune sighed "Fine but we're going to the club afterwards." she said as Rikku entered. Kitsune sighed again and looked at Seigi, "Do we have to change into a training outfit?" she asked Seigi as she entered the room after Rikku. the Seigi neko followed them in, "You may if you wish." She responded. The training room had a dojo with clear walls in the center with a circular track around it. in one corner was a rather large pool for swimming laps and in the other there was a large grouping of equipment from weights to lift all the way to obstacles for the track. A few neko's were swimming laps in the pool and another blue haired neko was stretching near the track while another was looking over her shoulder and seemingly talking to her about something. Inside of the dojo part a green haired neko was practicing some form of martial arts on her own. She nodded and looked around curiously as RIkku found the training uniforms, she changed and came back in front of Kitsune, "So what do you wanna do first?" she asked a bit excited. Kitsune shrugged and looked at her strangely 'Your the one that wanted to come in here, you choose." she said yawning as she grabbed a training uniform. Rikku shrugged and went out toward the weight lifting area and got started immediately. Kitsune changed and followed her stretching before she did anything else. "hello" said a meek little voice belonging to a long blue haired neko, "You're new here aren't you?" she asked as she stood near Rikku. Rikku sat up after placing the bench pressing weights back up and sat up, she nodded silently and smiled finally "Names Rikku Himora." she said standing and offering a hand. The neko shook her hand, "My name is Koh," she said with a smile, "Pleased to meet you. When did you get here?" she asked being curious like normal. She retreated her hand and nodded "I arrived this morning with my sister Kitsune." she said gesturing at Kitsune who was still stretching. "Ah so your NH-X then?" she asked She nodded "Yes" she sat back down and looked up at her "How long have you been at GSS Seigi?" she asked with an equal amount of curiosity Koh looked up for a moment as if thinking, "um... about three weeks now" she said, "Actually I was created three weeks ago, I've never really been anywhere else." She nodded "I see, so your pretty young huh?" she asked rhetorically as she laid down and started to bench the weights again. Koh nodded and moved behind her to spot her while she lifted, "So how old are you?" she asked She brought the weight down and back up "I'm a year now." she said smiling as she continued "ah" she said. Another neko walked over and put her head on Koh's shoulder and looked down at Rikku, "so whatcha doing Koh?" she asked. She let it drop and brought it back up "Hi, names Rikku." "I'm Taiki" the other neko said, "new?" she asked as she looked at Koh who gave her a small nod, "Ah." she said, "well anyways welcome aboard." She placed the weights up and sat up "Thank you, nice to meet both of you." she said looking at Kitsune who by the time finished stretching and was doing lower body workout. Taiki waved and headed back to the track to run while Koh looked around and sat down nearby to watch. Rikku stood and walked over to Kitsune smiling "How you doing over here?" she asked as she started to exercise next to her, Kitsune shrugged and kept going on a tread mill watching a couple of nekos walk by. "Ack... I got to go." Koh said, "If you wanna talk I'll be in the club." Kitsune smiled and kept jogging on the treadmill behind Rikku watching a few men walking into the gym and working out, she wore a grin as Rikku sighed and punched her in the arm, "Stop thinking about guys and for once think about what your here to think about." she said laughing Rikku stuck her tongue out "You know Mr. Ashigari is kinda cute." she says teasing Rikku because she knew she thought he was, Rikku punched her harder this time "Hush now I don't want everyone thinking I like everybody I meet, all I said was he was handsome, I said nothing else, admit it Kitsune." she said still standing in front of her. Kitsune shrugged "Fine fine that’s all you said. You ruin all the fun you know that Rikku." she said giggling. Lavinia Taiensho 11/11/03 10:11 [GSS Seigi] Back to work Lavinia had successfully sent off her plushie to Taisho-Mistress Yui along with an attached note: --"I hope that this little plushie finds you safely, I send it to you as both a gift and advertisement. I am trying to start my own little business making them and I need some custom orders to get started. Could you please help?"-- She was humming a little tune as she walked through the hallway past the adjoining hall connecting to the recreational areas of the ship. ~No time for that now, I should get back to the bridge and be ready to work~ She thought as she was tempted to have some fun. ~I've had enough time to poke around as it is.~ She reminded herself sharply and turned and headed for the circular room that was the bridge. She entered and walked over to her seat, nodding and waving to the other nekos on the bridge. She sat down as the seigi began the connection process. "No, not yet." she said, unconsciously slapping a wire away. She sat there ready for orders when the Pantheon system alerted her to the elysian ships in the vicinity. But without a known leader, there wasn't much she could do. Dr Shinichiro Nobumoto 11/12/03 8:58 [Thunderbolt, GSA] Eyes over our Shoulders ON> GSS Ketsurui Chiharu Aya reported, "Ketsurui-Taisho, GD-531, Automated Yui-Class reports it is tracking an Elysian Attack Frigate with a prisoner onboard." The massive bridge of the Yuumi illuminated with a bright aqua chart of the area and the ships in it. The Elysian ship was slowly moving, laying low, near the Ralfaris System. The Yui-Class Destroyer was lurking about a billion miles behind it. Chi frowned at the mention of a prisoner. "Alright then, that's something. Let's go see where that Frigate is taking its prisoner. Please take us there. Ishida, ready or not prepare for the worst." "It doesn't seem to be headed anywhere at the moment. PANTHEON X2 requests that its ship be replaced with one of ours," Aya told Chiharu. This was a dreadful dilemma for Chiharu, one of the bad part of being a command officer. If she followed the ship, that meant leaving the poor neko onboard. "Damn. Alright then, contact Taisa Mitsurui Alethea on the GSS Absolution II (GD-106) and have her replace the PANTHEON's ship." She thought this over again, she had to do something. "Tell the Taisa to bid her time and once there is an opening to call for reinforcements and get that Neko back." "Yes, ma'am," Aya nodded, pressing her headset to her ear, relaying the message. Chi smoothed her hair back behind her ears. "Do we have any sign of a point of origin from where that damn ship came from? Maybe we can follow the ghost trail back to wherever it came from." "No signs, ma'am," replied the science officer. Aya chimed in "Pantheon System 4 is reporting nearly one thousand Elysian vessels in the vicinity of Ralfaris. Taisho Wolf's ship is in the area, watching them." Chiharu winced. "That is not a good sign. Where's the 4th fleet positioned at? If they're not there, get them back there in a hurry. We cannot afford to lose Ralfaris to the Elysians." "The fourth fleet is in Ralfaris orbit. Most of the ships are under Pantheon automated control. They're fresh out of the shipyards," Aya observed. She added. "Should I ask for Taishos Yui and Sharie to come help?" "What a way to break them in then. Page the GSS Seigi, and the Taishos Kitsurugi. Ralfaris is going to need all the help they can get.." Chi nodded, it was nice to be doing something again. Yui showed up on the screen, swimming in a 20-foot-wide bubbling marble bath. The Yuumi-Class was famous for its luxuries such as the Captain's Washroom, a three-story bathhouse and sauna decked out in elaborately-inlaid marble, gemstones, and beautifully sculpted gold in every direction. "What's up, love?" Yui grinned, a sensual look in her eyes. Chi smiled brightly see Yui appear on the screen. "It's nice to see you again Yui, but I wish I could be bringing better news to you. At the moment a thousand Elysian ships have been detected near Ralfaris and I'm pretty sure that the 4th fleet is going to need some assistance from those with actual battle experience." Ishida looked at Yui curiously, so this was the neko that Chiharu loved... he too felt that sense of longing at the sight of her but he knew better. Kai had been showing Keiko around when he got the page, so it was a little bit longer before a reply came. "Hai Taisho?" Kai asked, he still looked as youthful has he had been the last time Chiharu had seen him. Keiko waved cheerfully through the visual transmission. "Kai, you've got problems. PANTHEON 4 just told me that are currently a thousand Elysian ships near Ralfaris." Chi sighed as she gave the news. Kai shook his head, making the coal black neko on his shoulder dance to maintain her balance. "That's never good. How far from us are they?" He asked in serious tone. "A thousand?" Yui seemed surprised by the way her green brows raised. "It must be Nariel's fleet again. My ships are still in the Fortress getting upgrades. It may take some time for me to get there." Yui waded over to the side of the bath and climbed out, giving Chi a great view of a great backside. She gave a few short orders to Hinosami, sending her fleet into alert status. "Who was that?" Kai asked, hearing the other voice in the background. He had never met her before and was curious. "Kai, I'm asking the Taishos Kitsurugi if they could assist you with defending Ralfaris. I currently have Yui on the screen as well." Chi looked back from Kai to Yui on her screen. "I sent the Absolution II to replace the PANTHEON ship that was tailing the Attack Frigate that took a hostage." Kai started a bit. "A hostage?" He asked. "Oh, please give the Taisho-mistress my regards" He added. "Well, if they were going to attack...wouldn't they have done it by now?" Kai asked, getting back to business. Yet another holographic screen appeared on Chiharu's bridge, and Yui's third daughter showed up. Unlike Yui, who spent most of her time lounging around enjoying the ship, Sharie was on the bridge most of the time. "Taisho Kitsurugi of the Sixth Fleet, here. What can I do for you Senior Taisho?" "Not necessarily Kai. It's not always best to rush in for the kill. They're probably waiting for something, you're going to need to find out where your fleet is and get them back to home port as soon as possible unless you want a blood bath on your hands. Don't worry about the hostage, I have a ship on it from the 2nd fleet on it." Chiharu looked to the new figure appearing on her screen. "Sharie, I'm bringing you up to speed, we have been told by PANTHEON 4 that there are a thousand Elysian ships near Ralfaris right now. Would you be able to assist the 4th fleet in defending the planet?" Aya switched the communications mode to conference, allowing all the Taishos to all see each other. "Thank you, Aya." Chiharu smiled at her friend. "This should be much easier now." "I'll do just that." Kai said, and turned to his communications officer. "Get into contact with the other ships of the fourth fleet and tell them to get back to Ralfaris immediately." Kai turned back and smiled. "Hello, Taisho...Yui and Sharie...was it?" he said, blowing a hair out of his face. Sharie seemed dangerously fascinated by her mother's nude body, and took a full five seconds or so before she snapped out of it and looked back to Chiharu. "What did you say?" Kai wasn't paying Yui's nudity any attention; he wasn't interested at the moment. Seigi responded to Kai sounding a bit distracted with its work, "The fourth fleet is already here." Yui, for her part, nearly laughed out loud, drying herself off with a towel. She answered for her spawn, "The 6th is also in the process of upgrades." Chi chuckled despite herself, and then her expression went serious again "Sharie, there are a thousand Elysian ships near Ralfaris right now. Will you be able to assist the 4th fleet in defending the planet?" Sharie had been in a LOT of space battles lately, and had learned to fear the possible consequences, but her will to press on was unscathed. "My fleet will be there as soon as possible," she said, trying to hold down her nervous anticipation. Kai looked mildly embarrassed and turned his back to Yui slightly, he didn't know that the defence plan was already activated. "Great, just great, we're on our own for the time being." "Not entirely. Now that everyone knows, everything that can be done will be done. As I stated before, a part of the 2nd fleet will be working to recover the lost neko. Wolf's ship is in the vicinity of Ralfaris as well. So the 3rd or a part of it is near by. " Chiharu stated, trying to figure out how she was going to accomplish her own mission. Kai nodded to the brown-haired Taisho while Keiko had whistled innocently at them. "Hi." She said finally. "Well, the best thing for us to do now is to stay right where we are and see what develops." He added, turning back around again. "Hi." Yui waved back to Keiko, not sure who the little Kurovakten was, but not wanting to make her feel left out. Yui wasn't a huge Kuro fan. All of Eve's helper Nekovalkyrja had been Kuros. "My name is Keiko." She chirped up brightly. Kai smiled, to him she was absolutely adorable; and would probably grow into a very nice neko. Yui looked to the other Admiral briefly. Sharie was busy looking down at her station, sending out orders to her troops. Chiharu seemed to be distracted; one of her crewmen was showing her a chart of the 4th Fleet's movements. Yui made a slight smile, softening a bit. "Nice to meet you Keiko," the Taisho greeted. Kai was still smiling, although he felt a bit out of place. "I just bought her from PNUgen as an assistant." He said to Yui. "It's an honor to meet such a highly esteemed young lady." Kai said giving Yui a little bow out of respect. Yui seemed confused. She looked to her daughter; maybe Kai was bowing to the screen with Sharie on it. Chiharu sighed again and looked back to all the people on her screen. "Now that this is settled.. If any assistance is needed a part of the 2nd fleet should be able to assist in the Defense of Ralfaris." Kai straightened up and turned to Chiharu's screen. "Arigato, I will be sure to take advantage of that if the need arises." He said, giving her a warm smile. "It is good to see you again Taisho." He remarked to Chi's screen. "Is there anything else I need to know or keep in mind?" Chiharu returned Kai's smile before she frowned again. "Keep your eyes and ears open, the Elysians might try to board your ships and capture them. They have a habit of trying to dissect nekos." Kai's eyes hardened and his look turned dark...something she hadn't seen before. "I'll do everything in my power to prevent that, my crew is like my family, and you protect that." He said fiercely Chiharu offered the Taishos Kitsurugi a soft smile. "Good luck you to you all. I am going to resume my own mission now that you all are informed. Maybe this battle will give the distraction needed to get a location of that blasted planet." "Alright." Yui said, sauntering onto her gigantic, elaborately-decorated command bridge, dressed in a soft terrycloth robe. "Take care, Chiharu." The GSS Ketsurui Chiharu shut off its communications lines to the other ships and took off in search of Elysia Novus. A sleek-looking Elysian ship broke off from the main group, and began following the Chiharu's distortion wake. Cloaked, and in the "shadow" of the larger battleship, it was as well hidden as any stealth ship could hope to be. On board was an old friend of Chiharu's. ON> Ralfaris Above Ralfaris the fourth fleet had already been scrambled. Seigi herself had already begun deploying units in accordance to the defence plan laid out by Wazu. Walls of Wakizashis and Wazus screened the many Antaeus class ships of the fourth fleet. The entire first Wakizashi group was being held back behind the planet in reserve and various fleet tending units were attaching the proper support units to all of the ships. The Minion’s were no longer just a wing or a squadron but an entire swarm of nearly 700 ships, the entire complement of the fourth fleet and Ralfaris. Although the crews of all the ships had no real combat experience they had been trained extensively with the best VR for just this situation. Seigi sent a message to Kai, Alexis, and the other Taisho’s that it knew were involved once the preparations had been completed, The defence line is prepared, With that the Antaeus class battleships warmed up their singularity ejection cannons and armed their ender missiles. ON> GSS Seigi Kai nodded. "Seigi, open a communication line with the 3rd fleet." Seigi did as she was told and opened a line. "Taisho Wolf." Kai addressed the head of the third fleet. "What do you plan to do here? The Elysians have a hostage." Kai pointed out. He also sent out telepathic orders to the crew. ~Everyone, we are preparing for a major operation, please prepare for battle. All techs, run diagnostics, I don't want another one sneaking up on us like last time.~ The crew were already far ahead of Kai, most of the fighters had been launched and all of the Minions had joined up with the battle group. A small crew remained to run the Seigi, most of which were in engineering. "Hmm?" A hostage? When did that happen? "They have a hostage? That’s the kind of shit I’d like to be notified about before I start planning to leave." They should have noticed by now, only a fraction of the Third Fleet was here. The other elements of the fleet were far away though could be brought at a minute’s notice. "If they’ve got a hostage I’ll get the rest of the Fleet here. I can’t do anything until I have further information. Would you mind telling me what’s exactly gone on?" "Well Taisho, as far as I know, there's at least a thousand Elysian ships out there...somewhere, we think they may be preparing to attack Ralfaris." Kai replied to the leader of the third fleet. "Oh, really? I didn't know that at all!" His voice was a mock-up of sweet, naive, innocence, though dripped with sarcasm and Wolf obviously couldn't do "sweet" for his life anymore. "We've got sensors too, actually. We've been here a while, you know. What exactly brought you here, and why the whole damn fleet?" Kai turned back to Wolf. "We were here while Taisho Wazu left for his home world." Kai said giving Wolf a frown, he didn't really care for that tone, but he wasn't going to say anything. "And I assume that the rest of the fourth is here in defence of Ralfaris." One of Wolf's Kiyomizudera nekos whispered in his ear, "Why are we speaking with a Taii?" She pointed a slender white finger at Kai's rank pin. "Will you just tell me what the fuck I asked for? And where the fuck is your commanding officer, why am I speaking to you right now anyway?" "Sir, unfortunately that's all I know as of right now, other than that Taisho Ketsurui was so kind as to inform me of a hostage. And I am the commanding officer, I was recently promoted to Taisa, they just didn't have the pin available for some reason." Kai said defensively. "Uh...okay?" some bridge crewman on the Seigi commented. "Right, fine. We’ll get in touch with the rest of the Third. Is there a rescue operation going on right now?" Weren’t they moving back last time? "We saw before that the angels were backing off. What makes you think they plan to attack? Have they shifted back forward?" Wolf looked meaningfully to one of the operations officers who went to check the sensors. Yui called up the Kiyomizudera and the Seigi, "1st XF and 6th SF are almost ready. What's happening?" Taisho Ketsurui has a ship on the Elysian’s tail for the rescue. And yes they were, but something tells me that there's something else going on here, so I was going to wait to see what develops." Kai said. Yui was greeted by a neko with short white hair, "Mr. Wolf is having problems assessing the situation and the 4th fleet has been fully deployed to repel an attack Ms. Yui." she responded. Taisho Yui frowned, getting some info through Pantheon's sensor-intel system. "But the Elysians are almost out of the system... I think they're leaving. Perhaps your defensive posturing scared them off. It's a shame; we could have surprised them." ON> Elysian Fast Attack Frigate “Thunderbolt” Mathias sat aboard his vessel in the bridge. He looked to his communications officer, "Kemitha, what do the scans tell us of any trailing vessels?" Kemitha had spent a few minutes pouring over the sketchy sensor data. "The ship following us is definitely gone. Another one has taken its place, though. It is maintaining its distance. I don't think it's going to attack us. Any good from the prisoner, sir?" "Nothing as of now. Perhaps I will try again after she spends some time in the cell." Mathias looked at the screen in front of him. He sat there quietly. He was thinking of a way to pull information out of that neko. "If the Star Army is not going to rescue her, then it must be following us for another reason," observed Kemitha. "A rescue attempt would seek to regain the neko as soon as possible, to prevent information from being spilled. Since the Star Army knows where we are, and no rescue has been attempted, it seems unlikely any rescue attempt will occur." Mathias's eyes shot open. He was too consumed in the idea of gaining the information he needed he forgot this small detail. "Pilot, if they truly are following us, let them do so. Make course corrections every few minutes, heading in no specific direction. We cannot lead them anywhere." "Well," Kemitha gave a lopsided grin, "We could go exploring." "Our priority now is to obtain information on nekos. We should keep that in mind." Mathias checks the clock on his PDA. His meeting for Sain has arrived. Mathias rises from his chair and speaks to Kemitha, "Keep me informed." With that said he makes his way to his office. Ketsuri Chiharu 11/12/03 17:56 [GSS Absolution II to Taisho Wolf] Rescue Mission On the bridge of the GSS Absolution II (GD-06), Taisa Mitsurui Alethea sat in silence as her ship remained cloaked and followed the Elysian Attack Frigate which had captured the PNUgen neko. She understood her orders and hoped that the opportune time was not too late to retrieve the prisoner. Alethea had heard the stories about what the Elysians did to their neko captives.. but she tried not to dwell on the thought too much or else it might cloud her judgement. "Lelia, send an encrypted message to Taisho Wolf. Since he's in the area he should be notified of our purpose here so we do not butt heads but we don't want the Angels to know what we fully intend to do." GSS Absolution II (GD-06) to Taisho Wolf (3rd Fleet) Taisho Wolf, I felt that since you are in this area that I should inform you of my intent here. My vessel the GSS Absolution II, has been assigned to follow the Elysian vessel that has taken the hostage. Our orders from Taisho Ketsurui are to follow the vessel to wherever it may be going and then when a moment presents itself, to launch an offensive and recover the hostage with the assistance of the fleet. - Taisa Mitsurui Alethea GSS Absolution II (GD-06), 2nd Fleet "Taisa, are you sure that's all you want to tell him?" The communications neko, Lelia asked Alethea, looking very unhappy. "Yes, there is no point to be verbose about it. It just needs to be direct and to the point. Please send that now before any further plans are made on this matter." Alethea's eyes narrowed at her crewmember. "Aye aye..." Lelia frowned but did as she was instructed and sent the message out. Kitsurugi Yui 11/14/03 9:59 [GSS Seigi] The Rank Pin ON > GSS Seigi. Another ship pulled alongside the Seigi, ready to dock with the battleship. It was an Irim-Class Assault Ship, painted with the red and white colors of Kitsurugi Fleet Yards. On its side was a WickedArms logo. "GSS Seigi, this is KFS Advantage (KS-01). We request permission to dock; we have cargo for you." Kai had been preparing for a battle with the Elysians during the whole conversation with the other taishos, but when he had heard that they were withdrawing; he felt a slight pang of relief. He had been uncomfortable, yet honored, being involved in something that important...but he was at a minor loss as to what to do now. "Hmm...the 2nd has a ship after the ship with the hostage, but they may need some backup...." He mused, looking around thoughtfully. Keiko, who had been sitting on his shoulder the whole time looked at him from her perch and asked. "That Yui was pretty cute." she commented absently. "Hmm?" Kai asked, looking at a console with a sensor array showing the ship. After a close look, still a bit careful, Kai nodded. "Of course, allow them to dock." He said. In short order, the private warship was connected to the Seigi, and their lift systems were working as one. Nekos in WickedArms uniforms began offloading heavy crates, full of pins for the 4th Fleet. A red-haired Chujo, in a uniform with a 1st XF logo, walked onto the bridge. "Kai Ashigari?" she asked, her dark eyes searching around. Kai turned to the chujo. "Hai?" He asked. Keiko was sitting on his shoulder still thinking about the other nekos. "That'd be me." He smiled at the neko. "Hello Kai. I'm not staying longer than the ship needs to deliver the 4th Fleet's pins, so this will be short. My name is Chujo Kitsurugi-Chinomai Minori, and the Mistress-taisho has sent me here to give you this." In her hands (both of them), she held a shining silver rank pin, shaped like a five-petaled flower. In the center was a golden triangle containing the 4th Fleet logo. Kai looked surprised. "A Shosho pin? I guess I must be doing something right to get two promotions so close together like this." He grinned, slightly amused by this development. "Yes, you are," Minori reassured him with a warm kiss on the cheek, handed him the pin, and then turned to leave. Her brilliant pink and white cloak flowed around her figure like a flower. Keiko smiled and hugged him the best she could and gave him another kiss on the cheek, seeing as the other neko could do it. Kai blushed a slight red as she did. Minutes later, the KFS Advantage departed, leaving boxes of pins aboard for the Seigi's supply officer to distribute.