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RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 21.2] Return to Ether - Spaceside Thread

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Sean_ODuibher

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Engineering

Three days after getting initial approval, Junko found herself in the Mainspace, monitoring system levels with one eye will doing final checks of the live fire exercise parameters with the other. She had spent the intervening time honing the plan and working with Charisma to ensure each phase of the exercise would go off without a hitch. At present, she was feeling confident that it would.

Nodding to herself, she reached down and picked up a handset. "Bridge, Engineering. This is Takeda. Exercise plan is locked in. We're ready to execute once the ground team drops."
 
Bridge

Narsumi listened as the message came in that the training mission was ready. She sat sat at the operations station, enjoying the view out the main view screen as the monitored the ship's progress across space.

All was set here as well and Natsumi was ready to set the guns blazing. Just now a couple details and an order from the Shosho and she would finally get to blast something to space dust
 
Bridge

Hanako picked up her desk phone and called down to Junko engineering. "Engineering, this is the bridge. Hello Takeda, we are currently in the atmosphere over Ether, waiting on the ground team to safely exit. What do you think of pulling First Officer Nayacesen off of the ground team and having him run through the scenario as ship commander? He could probably use the command chair experience more than I do."
 
Engineering

"Yes, ma'am." Junko nodded to herself as she leaned back in her chair. "The scenario is designed to exercise the flight team and tactical decision chain. It certainly couldn't hurt."

She'd been a little surprised at first to hear that Takeyu was going to become the new XO, but upon reflection it made sense. Beyond the mere fact of the seniority of his rank, she was pleased that there would be an experienced engineering voice at the top of the chain of command. She wasn't sure what position that put her in, though. Did that make her NCOIC of the Engineering department or would the ship get a replacement officer? She shrugged off the concern and turned her thoughts back to the Shosho's comments.

A ping from the display interrupted her train of thought. Charisma had been forwarding her relevant information for the exercise and now had the display showing the status of the ground team.

"Uh, it looks like we might be a bit too late, ma'am. I'm reading that he just dropped."
 
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Showers

Sienna sighed in quiet relief as she cut the cascading, tepid water off, and stood there in the shower, leaning with her palms on the tiled wall in front of her as she closed her eyes again. It would take some time for her hangover to completely go away, but the shower had done her at least some good. If nothing else, at least she felt refreshed and clean, even if her head was still aching and her mouth tasted like old cotton, rust, and bile. She didn't move for a few minutes, simply standing there naked in the cool room and letting the remaining water run out of her hair and drip off of her chin and nose. She still had absolutely no desire to eat anything for the time being, but she had already deduced that mealtime was long since over anyhow. There was still no sign of the crew around the living areas, which suited her just fine as well; the last thing she wanted to do at that moment was get drawn into a conversation, or even a simple greeting. Her only companion was the echoing sounds of dripping water and the distant, dull thrum of the ship's engines. The near-silent solitude was more therapeutic than any amount of pain or nausea medication.

Standing there, she lost track of the minutes as they ticked by, even felt like she nodded off for a few seconds a couple of times just standing there. Finally she exhaled slowly and pulled the shower curtain aside, too concerned with concentrating on making slow, deliberate movements, as if her bones would shatter were she to jerk too quickly, to care whether or not anyone might be outside to see her in all of her unclothed glory. She gingerly squatted down and took the towel that was crumpled on the floor just outside of the shower threshold, dabbing it on her face and slicking her hair back with it before standing up again and continuing with mopping up the rest of the water droplets that stubbornly clung to her skin when the rest of it had dripped off or evaporated. Painstakingly she took a cautious step out of the shower as she wrapped the towel around her chest, shuffling over to the counter where she'd dropped her clothes and toiletries.

She took her time brushing her teeth, although no amount of brushing could quite get the taste of stale booze out of her mouth. She ran the faucet and caught some water in her cupped hand, taking a few small sips from her palm and waiting to make sure each drink stayed down before taking another. Looking up at her reflection in the mirror, she smirked and shook her head derisively at her flushed skin and the dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. "Sienna, you stupid bitch," she muttered, leaning on the counter. "We learn any lessons, hm?"

After staring at herself for another several minutes, she shook her head again and pushed back from the sink and picked up her undergarments and began to get dressed. Her bra proved taxing to put on as she feebly fumbled with the hooks, and she cursed herself for absently grabbing the pair of tight-fitting stonewash denim jeans she had bought on Hanako's World when she'd left her cabin. She was used to loose-fitting pants, and how Natsumi had talked her into purchasing a pair that made her feel like she'd need a bucket of grease and a shoehorn to squeeze into, she'd never know. After a good bit of struggling in her weakened state, she finally managed to wrestle them on, and while they were surprisingly comfortable once donned, they didn't leave much of her buttocks or thighs to the imagination. Had she felt more chipper, she may have elected to take them off in favor of her work pants, but after completing the agonizing task of putting them on, she didn't want to fool with doing the process in reverse, especially since moving around so much had caused a touch of her nausea to return.

She pulled the sleeveless green V-neck shirt over her head, rolling it down over her bust and tummy, then took the towel and dried her hair the best she could. Looking back in the mirror, she finger-brush edher hair into some semblance of order, then stepped into the gray slip-on shoes, another new article she'd been talked into buying. She felt differently about those, however - they were so much easier to put on and take off than her work boots, to say nothing of how much lighter and less cumbersome they were to walk in. And since she didn't expect to be doing anything too strenuous or work-intensive today, they would do just fine.

Gathering up her things, she rubbed her eyes and sauntered back out into the corridor to make her way back to her cabin. For a moment she contemplated lying down again, but maybe a short walk would do her some good, she reasoned. "Hey Charisma," she said quietly into the air. "Any chance of finding a cup of coffee or something?"
 
Bridge

"Oh. Well, perhaps some other time," Hanako muttered, raising her eyebrows in a mix of frustration and amusement. "Once the shuttle is clear, please take us to the designated exercise area. Keep an eye out for Lorath ships that may want to interrupt us."

Sienna's Cabin

"Lime, the day cook, is assigned to the training mission but there is a coffee machine in the bar nook of the crew lounge, just outside your cabin," Charisma replied, piercing the ambient sounds of electrical humming and dully roaring air vents. Though the ship was basically soundproof, she could still feel the bumps and turbulence as it moved through the atmosphere of the planet outside. "Are you able to use it?" the AI asked.
 
Corridor outside Cabin 6

Sienna jumped a little as Charisma's reply boomed through the hallway. She knew from memory that the AI's synthesized voice was not actually that loud, but her hypersensitivity to sound in her current state along with the quiet environment of white noise made it startling to her nonetheless. Scowling in a random direction at the disembodied voice, she opened the door to her cabin and tossed her effects onto the bed. "It's a coffee machine," she answered, hiding her irritation at the computer's suggestion that she couldn't operate a simple beverage dispenser. "I can figure it out."

She went out to the empty crew lounge and scanned the area. As many times as she'd been in here, she'd never had any reason or opportunity to look or go behind the bar, so she probably shouldn't have been surprised to see what looked like a coffee machine exactly where Charisma had said it would be. She sauntered around the bar and moved to the machine. It looked simple enough with only a few touch-buttons on its front, a receptacle for either a mug or a whole pot, as well as wells for what she assumed were the grounds and the water. The only problem was that she didn't know where any of the necessary materials were kept, but she wasn't about to ask the computer for help.
 
Medbay

Ayumi bounced her foot lightly against her leg in front of her, sitting on her rolling doctor's chair and waiting impatiently for something to happen. She wondered what her part would be in this training, what she was going to learn. Having already sorted and sorted again through her cupboards, made sure that every scanner was charged and properly calibrated, and also set up her MINDY, the young medic was bored.

She was not normally a nervous waiter, usually she was calm and collected- But she was excited. She felt the same excitement she'd felt when the wounded had returned from the dream world. She would be able to prove her use to the Star Army. She wanted to be of use.
 
Bridge

Natsumi relaxed in the Operators chair. Her eyes scanned her displays, darting between ships systems readouts and sensor scans. "Roger that" she replied to Hanako's order, her fingers dancing across her control plate, inputting commands into the navigational system. She plotted in a course to the exercise area, making sure the path she chose kept them well enough away from regular shipping lanes and any planets or bases that would have long range sensors.

Satisfied with her plotted path, she took the ship off autopilot, manually taking back control for the remainder of their atmospheric flight. She could feel the wind outside buffeting and pushing the ship about here and there as it cut through the air like a knife.

"All set to go once the landing party is clear" she announced.
 
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Lounge

It didn't take Sienna long to figure out how to operate the coffee machine. In fact it took her longer to find the mugs, beans, and filters, but at last she had, and the small pot had just finished brewing. Pouring herself a cup, uninterested in any frilly additions like milk or sugar, she shuffled to one of the couches and slowly lowered herself down onto it, then closed her eyes as she sank into the cushions. Propping her feet up on an ottoman, she crossed her ankles and took a sip of the hot black concoction. If nothing else, it was soothing, or at least distracting from her headache.

It was then that she realized that the ship was buffetting harder now, much to her dismay. The turbulence wasn't so bad that she couldn't remain in her seat or keep the contents of her mug inside of it, but it was playing hell on her weakened equilibrium. Muttering a curse under her breath, she closed her eyes tighter and held onto the arm of the couch with her right arm, steadying the coffee mug in her left as she gently bounced with the ship. "Damn it, Natsumi," she groaned, "couldn't you have done this while I was asleep?"
 
Bridge

Deziarra silently sat at the Mission OPS/Communications stations waiting for a reply. As instructed, she sent the Communications Network of Nepleslia a letter letting them know about the remains of two Nepleslians on board. She wondered what kind of response she would receive but thus far there had not been one.

She looked over at Natsumi in the Operators chair for a few seconds before turning back to her own duties. Then she sent a message to Junko letting her know where she was in case there was a more important task for her to do.
 
Bridge

As the last of the ground element cleared the Eucharis, Charisma pinged Mission Ops with the team status and all clear to proceed independently. At Starship Ops, the AI helpfully displayed the exercise maneuver box. It was a large volume, just as clear of shipping lanes and large orbiting objects as Natsumi's projected path.

Engineering

Junko received the same alerts on her display and thanked Charisma. She smiled as she reviewed the exercise checklist again, also acknowledging Deziarra's message. She appreciated being kept apprised but for the moment decided her subordinate was perfectly well situated on the bridge.
 
Bridge

Natsumi saw the new data scroll across her screen, informing her the last of the landing party away. She made sure the Eucharis was all sealed up and ready to move out.

"Moving out to the exercise zone" Natsumi reported. She already had the Shosho's order to depart once the landing party was deployed. Her fingers raced across her controls, inputting commands, directing the Eucharis to climb out of the planetary atmosphere. Soon the rumble and buffeting from air rushing about the ship subsided and went away. The planet fell below them as the Eucharis rocketed into the void.

She dropped the Eucharis in on the pre-plotted course for the exercise zone. The selected location was not far and would not take long for them to get there. "Engaging FTL jump" she said and took the Eucharis beyond the light barrier for their short hop.
 
Bridge

"Excellent," Hanako replied to Natsumi. "I am sure the team will be fine, but I will have Charisma continue to monitor their subspace frequencies and notify us of any news or calls, just in case." The starship captain's golden eyes looked over the bridge crew. She grabbed the phone on her console and dialed the intercom. "Attention all hands, this is Shosho Hanako. We are commencing the training exercise. Set condition three throughout the ship." The Shosho went and grabbed an AMES spacesuit and set it down by her chair before returning to her seat. "Upon arrival, conduct full scans."
 
Bridge

Momoka nodded. "Roger" she said and monitored the ships progress across the gulf of space. When the order for condition three came, she made the appropriate adjustments to her systems. "Sensors ready for when we arrive" she added. She took a moment to grab an AMES suit for herself once she had a moment where the ships autopilot could manage the ship. While this was just a battle simulation and there was little threat of actual decompression it was good to practice everything one went through when taking a warship into combat.
 
Lounge

Were it not for the constant buffeting and vibrating of the ship as it climbed out of whatever turbulence they were flying through, Sienna's coffee might have been at least mildly improving her condition. Instead, the two were cancelling each other out, it seemed, leaving her no better or worse than she was when she'd dragged herself to the lounge. She continued to grasp her hot mug in her left hand and braced her forehead on her fingertips, propped up by her elbow on the arm of the couch as she tried her best to center herself, waiting out the bumpy ride. She concentrated on taking slow, deliberate breaths as she kept her eyes closed, in through her nose, out through her mouth. An unsettling thought occurred to her as she bounced in her seat; had they run into a problem? She swallowed the burning acidic taste creeping up in her throat with a grimace, the act causing her head to pound even more. She was in no shape or mood to deal with any sort of emergency.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of agonizing dread, the turbulence gradually began to soften to a steady vibration, and at last faded to nothing but the thrum of the engines. With one more deep breath, she cautiously opened her eyes, surveying her surroundings and listening intently for any signs of trouble. Her ears were met with only white noise and silence, however, and nothing, at least there in the lounge, looked out of the ordinary. She sighed in relief, raising her mug to her lips again.

Suddenly Hanako's voice boomed over the intercom, calling the crew to a heightened alert status, and subsequently scaring the ever-loving daylights out of Sienna. Already on edge from the bumpy ride and the worry that there might be a problem, she nearly jumped out of her skin, sloshing coffee all over her chin, the front of her shirt, and her lap. The searing hot liquid evoked a short clipped, but quite loud, scream from her, and in a microsecond she was on her feet and leaning forward, pulling the clingy fabric of her shirt away from her skin, pinched between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand, and vainly steadying the now half-empty mug in her left. The surprise that had immediately changed to startled pain quickly turned to anger, however, once the initial shock had an instant to wear off, and she barely had the chance to take one more quick breath after she screamed before she involuntarily launched into a liquid tirade of harsh and colorful Nepleslian curses at everything and everyone, including Hanako, momentarily forgetting all about her hangover.
 
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Medbay

Ayumi looked up as the intercom fired. She sent a quick acknowledgement to the Shosho before she stood and made sure to double check that everything in the medbay was secure. Today would probably be a slow day, she didn't expect anything to be very exciting on the ship.

It was unfortunate that she wasn't able to go planet side, but she wouldn't dream of leaving the Eucharis without a medic. It just seemed wrong. Perhaps the Shosho would come up with something interesting, an exercise, which would keep her occupied. As it was she had just finished double checking the last thing on her mental check list.

Even though she knew it probably wouldn't be very busy, she hoped that no one would actually get hurt. Training accidents were terrible for morale.
 
Engineering

Junko was already wearing her AMES and merely glanced down at the helmet racked alongside her chair. Being only at Condition Three, she didn’t yet feel the need to seal it on.

“Bridge, Engineering,” she said into the console handset. “Condition Three set in the Mainspace. I’m seeing good CFS balance and generator readings. Ready to make full military power at will.”

Bridge

As Junko’s report came in, the CFS distortion bubble collapsed as the Eucharis completed the short FTL micro-jump. The STL engines came online and the sensors, obedient to Natsumi’s inputs, chugged for a moment as they reestablished resolution now that they were back in realspace and then began sweeping the exercise volume.

All was quiet at first. There were no ships, stations, or really anything of note, only a few deepspace asteroids and comets poking around in the periphery of the system. Charisma noted the objects and factored them in for later weapons firing; otherwise the AI saw no reason not to start things off.

At a range of 1.2 light minutes, the contact was well out of visual range. Even if it had been visible, the view wouldn’t have been that exciting: merely a ship winking into existence out of nowhere, touched with pale blue light at first. The sensors appreciated the event far more keenly. Spacetime distortion and lensing propagated outward faster than light even while the ship’s FTL sensors reached out with equal speed. Even though the mundane realspace emissions let off by the event, and the signatures that would give more information about the contact, were still 72 seconds away, the FTL information was more than enough to confirm a hyperspace exit. The ship’s automated CIC software began a new track based on the the returns from the subspace mass detector, assigning the contact a name (Bogey-1), rough mass (greater than 150,000 tons), and initial bearing and acceleration.

The new ship appeared to be performing a maximum performance burn heading straight insystem and, conveniently, right toward the Eucharis.
 
Bridge

As the Eucharis settled back into normal space, Natsumi reached out with the ships sensors. As the scan of the exercise zone was underway, she activated her SPINE connection to the ships systems. If they were going into simulated battle she was going to be full prepared.

Information began flooding in and Natsumi sorted out what she needed and what she did not, putting everything in it's place in her mind. Data from the scan she pulled up top priority as she piloted the Eucharis into the designated confines of the zone.

"Shosho, detecting a ship coming into range within the exercise zone" Natsumi reported. "The ship seems to be on a course to intercept us"
 
Bridge

Hanako placed her hand on her chin and leaned forward, looking for more information on the control panel and the main viewer. "Raise shields. Identify the type and designation of the ship using sensors," Hanako ordered. "Alter course to place us between the hill sphere edge of the system and the other ship's position." Hanako opened a standard-frequency subspace channel and said. "This is the Star Army of Yamatai gunship Eucharis. Please identify yourself."
 
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