RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 24] Looking for Trouble (YE 38)

[Samanthia]

Rixxikor Colony Ship

Aikiko gave a reply back on the same private channel, "Yes Ma'am. I will be more cautious." At least she would be doing something . She tapped into the Eucharis Megami to access and bring up the maze like schematic of the Rixxikor Colony ship. She kept the feed link open so those on the Eucharis could see for themselves what was going on and hopefully see something of interest that she missed or something that the Eucharis Science Department might interest in.

Letting her Peace Officer Training surface, Aikiko secured her weapon into safe mode and let it hang down in front of her. Turning to Ruxxles. "Yes do assign one of your Officers to be a guide so that we may get this nasty business of inspection over with to allow you and your ship to resume its travels." In her soft professional authoritive voice that carried well, and then to herself, ~~ and away from Yamataian Controlled Space, ya little roach bugs if you have a brain knowing what's good for you. ~~

She stepped forward a bit to draw even with Tsuguka. She kept her faceplate mirrored so that it provided a mystery to them what she looked like. Her Manipulator Arms slight extended to give a more menacing and authoritive appearance.

 

[Yoshi]

PA BAY EXTERNAL HATCH

Tony looked at Jax for a moment, then out of the hatch before she stepped out and floated away for the ship. The Daisy seem to have basic enough thrusters to keep her relatively vertical. "Don't leave me floating here." She chimed over the comm to Jax. The blackness and the far off fleets gave the area a strange glittery effect.

 

[BloodyScarlet]

PA Bay - External Hatch

Taharial smiled in her suit as she listened to the others talk about teleporting then frowned as she thought there was only one teleporter that they all had to use. She sighed as she realised it was just her mistake as she then followed Tony out of the ship and kept herself stable with small bursts from the thrusters as she moved closer to her ally and talked over the comms with them "Don't worry, I'll help you if he doesn't help you out."

 

[Wes]

Rixxikor Colony Ship

Just like before, a collection of heavily armed Rixxikor started to accumulate around the away team. It seemed to be a recurring pattern. Whenever something threatening was present, a massive response force would form...at first in small numbers, but exponentially growing into a major threat and presumably to some critical mass to crush the intruders, which was the Star Army away team in this case. Since Tsuguka was looking out for warning signs, she could see this happening around the edges of the area and she could also see the solution was to keep moving before this defensive response could happen.

"This isn't a fuckin' cargo ship, Akairo Kyosei," Ruxxles grumbled, continuing the trend of being the worst possible helper to the Star Army team. "We carry nothing special on this ship. Bitch. Only supplies for building colonies. Most of our ship is fulled with life-paste. It is a waxy type of...maybe cheese? I dunno. Fuck. Something we can eat. Okaaaaay? So you waste your time if you're looking for plunder. Go away so we can continue looking for new worlds! Go back to Yamatai."

Meanwhile, Candon's trick had worked and he was basically able to move through the Rixxikor ship freely. The ship seemed haphazardly built out of random junk and older spaceship parts and had a vast and complex electrical system that was questionably safe yet also incredibly robust and redundant. Of interest, there were some computer systems spaced throughout the ship, and these conveniently were operated in Trade language, which seemed to be the language of choice for at least this "hive" of Rixxikor.

 

[Blizzard]

PA Bay

"Leggo!" Jax whooped and dove out of the hatch. Right about then, he remembered the entire reason they were doing this in the first place, and much less enthusiastically, added: "...And get this over with."

Rixxikor Colony Ship

'I wonder what Hanako would say if this bucket's reactor had an "accidental" catastrophic meltdown..." Jax grumbled internally. It would be easy. He could do it in five minutes, tops. All he needed to do would be to find the coolant lines; an easy task when all of the wiring was exposed. It was an engineer's worst nightmare. The only good thing about this whole situation was that he was sealed safely in his power armor, which protected him from the copious layers of greasy, brown roach shit. Already, he could feel a twitch in his right eye forming.

The rest of the team was just ahead, and speaking to one of those disgusting creatures. The last time he'd seen one of them was back on Higaflan, from a hundred yards away, down the sights of a grenade launcher. He'd thought they'd looked ugly then, and it appeared he was still correct about his assumption. This was the first time he'd heard one speak, though. They arrived just in time to hear his words to Aikiko, and Jax felt a twinge of disgust and rage. But also, it was kind of funny, in a way. Mostly because Jax was anticipating Aikiko's response, which would be extremely violent, but you get the picture.

"What. A. Dick!" Jax scoffed in a private communication to Aikiko, with a small grin. He then returned to the team comms.

"Howard Hei reporting for duty, Yamashiro Chewey." he announced, standing straight and giving a quick salute. Dropped his hand and took a step back, opting to not pull out his rifle like the others. Appearing hostile was definitely not on the agenda today.

 

[Wes]

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

"I have detected a sensor ping." Charisma announced. "Running signal analysis."

"What is the range and bearing? Is it hostile?" Hanako asked.

"Displaying chart on main screen. Intermediate-range scan. No sign of attack or approach," Charisma answered. "Signal matches type: Kuvexian Navy Cruiser. Signal is a scan rather than a weapons lock."

"Oh, the attention we have got," Hanako softly mused. "I do believe they are sizing up our new, bigger task force."

"Initiate long range-scans of the signal source area. See if we can size them up, too," Hanako ordered.

"Aye aye," Charisma responded. "Scanning..."

"Provided we now outnumber them, I think they are going to run if we approach them," The Shosho speculated.

"Two ships detected," Charisma announced. "ID is Kuvexian Navy. Classification cruiser. Threat classification: hostile enemy." After a short pause, the AI added, "Hostile ships have now space-folded away."

Hanako opened a channel to her small fleet. "Task force, this is Eucharis," she said. "I need 5 ships to visit the last coordinates of the hostile ships and see if you can find any additional data on their fold origin, destination, path, and general ship information. Out."

Next, Hanako called her away team. "Eucharis away team, this is Hanako. Be advised we got the Kuvexians' attention and they decided we are too dangerous to rough up like last time. However, be advised they could be gathering reinforcements so you should complete your investigation with some haste and return to the ship expeditiously in case we have to move or fight. Out."

Finally, Hanako turned to her scientists Wazu and Hemlock. "Your analysis and suggestions, please."

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Colony Ship

Ruxxles' speech seemed to slowly drain the enthusiasm out of Tsuguka's acting skills the longer it went on, leaving her in a state where she didn't even seem to care about responding to him at all when it was over. How does one even go about acting non-aggressively, towards a species who's entire language seem to be built on overt aggression?

"They're like... bees." Tsuguka thought out loud over the squad channel, trying to reconcile the knowledge gained from a nature program she had seen a while back. "Wasps are bigger and stronger, but have poor heat defense... So if one enters a bee hive, they all just jump on it's back, and boil it in bodyheat."

The red neko took a moment to listen to Shosho Ketsurui's message, but the writing was already on the wall. She could feel the countless eyes digging into her back. They were looking for a weakness.

"Chui Yamashiro, Santo Hei Akiashiro, I'm sending you a live feed." She was hoping that they would do the same so they could all keep a bearing on the situation, but had no authority actually asking for it. Leaving Natsumi behind felt like a dire mistake, but they were running out of time.

Nary a word more, and Tsuguka broke formation, exiting the room on the far side briskly, and entering stealth mode the minute she turned a steep enough corner to hide herself from view. The XO would have to do the explaining, should Ruxxles demand it.

Visual identification systems on overdrive, she began to skid through the larger and noisier open spaces her sensors had to offer in the immediate vicinity. If she could find anything that was clearly not Rixxikor technology, that would be a start...

 

[Rizzo]

Colony Ship, Control room

The bustle of insectoid troops drove Candon nuts as he watched them pass. Every fiber of his body wanted to attack the aggressive bugs and to evacuate his Chui. Years of soldiering had given him the killer instinct of a warrior but his SAINT training kept him focused on the most important objective a spy must acquire, knowledge.

WiFi LINK ESTABLISHED
SAINT_PROGRAM_<CLASSIFIED> ACIVE…
UPLOAD IN PROGRESS…1%..5%..7%….
EST_TIME: 02M 40SEC

The wait was torturous for him as he lay prone and inverted on the ceiling above a cluster of computer terminals, his combined field sticking him there like a magnet. Finding the room, or rather the fragment of a deformed starliner cockpit, had been fairly easy. In fact is was simpler than he'd have liked to admit. His first attempt at scanning for power draw had been useless as the wires appeared to have been run by a drunk toddler but then as armed Rixxicor began scurrying around the halls in response to the armor team it became painfully obvious that some of the bugs with guns had been running away from the team. They lead him straight to where he was, a big clusterf*** of wires plugged into a bunch of outdated computers systems.

…34%..37%..40%..41%….
EST_TIME: 01MIN 03SEC

'Your not infantry, just let them do their job. Just do your job. Don't think, don't think, just wait…'

…75%..78%..81%..87%….
EST_TIME: 00MIN 45SEC

'… almost done, just a little longer. Almost there… '

…89%..93%..96%..97%.…………
EST_TIME: 57MIN 32SEC

"Are you FREAKING KIDDING ME!!!"


Rixxicor Ship, outside Control room door

One of two Rixxicor guarding the control room looks to his comrade. "Whatcha said, Frixx?" He asks.
"Hmm, I didn't say nothin'."
"Eh, Whadever."


Rixxicor Ship, Control room

…98%..100%
UPLOAD COMPLETE

"That's better," he sighed as the upload finished in 5 seconds.
"Eucharis, Suites here. I've installed the SAINT program, you should have remote access shortly," he radioed quietly, as if it were possible to hear him outside of his helmet... "Standing by for further orders."

 

[Zack]

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

“They did not leave in the direction of a star-system, they are likely using two or more jumps to disguise their destination point.

If they come back using a single jump from their place of origin it should be trivial to track them back to that system. If not, then we would at least have established their round-trip time to this system and get a good idea of their reaction time and distance to their rally point.

I would think we have at least 10-20 minutes before their response arrives in system if their fleet is ready to respond. That should give the armor team plenty of time to finish bugging the ship and maybe grab a few samples. The time it takes them to teleport out and return to the ship should be less then the time it takes for the Kuvexians to position their ships within weapon range so I see no harm in poking around for now.

I would also suggest any of the slower ships of the task force move out of the system. There is no need to get bogged down in a fight here.”

Wazu barely took his attention up from his datapad as he spoke, deciding to add one last thing, “Maybe press Ruxxles who told him this was all legal... and where there is legal there is a paper trail...”

 

[Samanthia]

Rixxikor Colony Ship

Upon hearing Jax, even though it caught her by surprise, Aikiko openly laughed as it emmitted from the Mindy's speakers. First it was a snort as if coughing up plehm, then a soft giggle followed.

Aikiko took off in the other direction, opposite of the route Tsuguka took, when the others had arrived. She remained visible, letting the Rixxikor colonist and crew follow at their leasure. Adjusting her camera view to wide angle to allow as much as possible to be recorded and sent to the Eucharis. She opened doors that she could open and looked into the rooms off the corridor. Still adding to the growing list of violations. She mentally swore never to call a Freespacer ship a junker again no matter how it looked. At least they kept their ships clean and fought tooth -n- nails to keep the crate flying with more pride than these roach bugs.

Occasionally she would use a manipulator arm to swipe the the slime from the walls, as if marking a trail of the route she took and also to get back to the rest of the team if needed through this labyrithine of passageways. Occasionally she woould swipe at herself to keep the majority of the slime off of her from building up.

"Eucharis away team, this is Hanako. Be advised we got the Kuvexians' attention and they decided we are too dangerous to rough up like last time. However, be advised they could be gathering reinforcements so you should complete your investigation with some haste and return to the ship expeditiously in case we have to move or fight. Out." Came the Sho-Sho's voice over the coms.

Aikiko even mapped as she went along to add to the data on the colony ship that may have been missed on the initial scans or mistaken for something else. More she inspected, more disgusted she got. Even though the ship was spaceworthy and built with ruduntant system showed that even the Rixxikor knew about ship building and how to maintain them. She revaluated their intelligence, while looking for anything that didn't scream Rixxikor. Something that would make the Rixxikor treat a lot better than the ship they travelled in.

Taking a closer look at the those that were following her, specially their weapons. Even if they was old and outdated, they was kept in decent working order by their owners.

"So Roach bugs?" She spoke out loud to the Rixxikors, "Who keeps your weapons clean? And if you would be so crude to tell me who would be so stupid to sell them to you?" She spoke in a sarcastic tone to belittle them.

 

[Gunsight1]

Colony Ship


Natsumi accepted the feed from Tsuguka and sent her own to the soldier. She knew the infantry woman was not comfortable leaving an officer behind, but they did not have the time nor the manpower to do what they needed to do one item at a time. And she did have Suites with her if things went pair shaped.

She cocked her head as she listened to Hanako's update and replied over the secure channel to the Eucharis. "Understoid, Shosho. The inspection is underway we will be out of here as quick as we can" she then spoke over the secure squad channel. "Hostiles are most likely inbound. Be prepared to evac asap if we need to. Lets get this inspection done as quick as possible"

She turned her attention to Ruxxles, "Where are your people from, originally?" she asked the bug man. She had to see what she could get out of him, even if just talking to him made her want to take a shower.

 

[Doctor Thaddeus Hemlock]

Wazu was in the position he was for a reason, his mind was sharp as the edge of a sword. He took a seat and nodded as he began to work the data pad.

“Well...” He began, mulling it over clearly, “A child can learn concepts very quickly but extrapolating that data takes experience and examination of those ideas. Without what developmental psychologists called “scaffolding”- a contextual structure in which to learn provided by a culture, community, or a mentor... normally a teacher in our society.” He explained, tugging at some concept that seemed buried under that pile of psycho-jargon.

“My guess is that unless they have some outside influence on their development- they probably stole whatever they have or at least backwards engineered it from someone else’s technology. This is either a situation of developmental piracy or a benefactor hedging his bets by backing a more destructive race... I don’t know which. Maybe their fascination with junk is part of some grander design or is their natural developmental tendency...” He postulated, absent-mindedly, as he combed through the data.


“That being said... I doubt they know how to USE their technology beyond a basic level- the early stages of development include mimicry... hmmm... is there any way we can disrupt their technology- you know, if case we need to disarm them? If we do- I doubt they’d be able to fix it in time for it to be of use to them.” He asked with a concerned edge in his voice.


“Barring that... we COULD distract them. If their need to hoard and collect has reached the level of a compulsion... like these files indicate, we could always lure them with a treasure trove of valuable parts- real or not.” He explained with a shrug.


Aikiko patched in and Dr. Hemlock began to record the data and parse it. It did seem like it matched the schematics. He sent back an automated, non-intrusive, confirmation signal to let her know the signal was being received and they were watching.

The clustering behavior was, again, in line with the data they had on them. It was something they did by default.

"Away team, be advised- you have likely triggered their hive mentality. They are quite defensive of their... ahem, things.”

Hemlock was going to offer more information to the team but closed the line as soon as the Kuvexian Navy Cruiser was announced.

Dr. Hemlock took a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking,
“Kuvexians are... smart. The question is... how smart. The obvious answer is that this was a scouting force. A heavily armed one... but a scouting force. As you have stated Shôshô, it is likely that they will engage in short order. However, there are two other possibilities. One is that this is... a message. They could be saying, ‘we can strike you whenever we want’ or even be luring us to engage. They may have been hoping we’d send ships from our task force to investigate so that we might be left less defended.”


Thaddeus grimaced,
“However, the last option scares me the most. As we are aware, the Rixxikor have a compulsion to collect and the Kuvexian are known to employ Rixxikor as their flunkies. The ship our away team on may be a decoy, bait, or even something as devilish as a bomb and they were just checking in to see how close we were.”


Dr. Hemlock’s voice trailed off on the last line and it was a brief moment before he spoke again, “Either way- I concur with Wazu.”

 

[Wes]

"We have no idea where we are from," Ruxxles told Natsumi. "We come from far beyond, hundreds of light-years away from here. I hatched on a great machine world, but there was not enough food there. Then I was transported to a plentiful planet, but we ate everything there and soon it was crowded. Someone told me that there was a sector full of habitable planets, and many were unclaimed, so I ended up on this ship. And we have been many places since then. The last place we visited was a military space station. It was..."

Just then the sounds of gunshots interrupted Ruxxles's exposition.

"So Roach bugs?" She spoke out loud to the Rixxikors, "Who keeps your weapons clean? And if you would be so crude to tell me who would be so stupid to sell them to you?" She spoke in a sarcastic tone to belittle them.

Apparently that was enough to piss the Rixxikor off, because the ones she was speaking to started shooting Aikiko. Sparks and smoke flew from her armor as it was hit by various bullets, grenades, and plasma bursts from roughly a dozen of the junk-ship's defenders. Her AIES warned her that the chest area of her armor was severely damaged and the head and upper legs had taken hits too. Luckily she was still alive so far.

 

[Blizzard]

Rikkikor Colony Ship

The eruption of gunfire caused Jax to jolt, and his heart rate to skyrocket. The one thing he didn't want to happen was happening. Hurriedly, he pulled his rifle off his shoulder, and held it against his shoulder in low-ready, like he'd been trained. He turned his head this way and that, looking for potential threats, as well as escape routes. The gunfire was coming from where Aikiko had gone, which lead him to believe that she was in some sort of trouble. He wanted to go help, but right now the best option seemed to be to wait by Natsumi and see how things panned out.

 

[Rizzo]

Colony Ship, Control room

This is how his wait for orders was disrupted, not with a bang but a whimper.

Just then the sounds of gunshots interrupted Ruxxles's exposition.

Apparently that was enough to piss the Rixxikor off, because the ones she was speaking to started shooting Aikiko. Sparks and smoke flew from her armor as it was hit by various bullets, grenades, and plasma bursts from roughly a dozen of the junk-ship's defenders. Her AIES warned her that the chest area of her armor was severely damaged and the head and upper legs had taken hits too. Luckily she was still alive so far.

Candon heard neither guns nor blasts, but only a faint beeping as his HUD showed his ally's Mindy being destroyed.
"Man down!" He cried as he dropped off his ceiling perch and took to a mixture of flying and crawling as he rushed back to the team following a digital course to Aikiko. He did his best to avoid touching any of the Rixxicor in the tunnels but despite the remarkable camouflage system on his armor there was no way too effectively stop them from noticing the large amount of air he was displacing as a gust of turbulent air followed him through the tunnels. He would have to rely on the Rixxicors' inexperience for any semblance of real stealth.


Rixxicor Ship, Storage room

Candon's holographic clone sprang to life as he dropped into the image and shut it down replacing the image with himself. "Howard, Stark, pop drones and protect the Chui and Ruxxles, Lord Supreme Royal Commander of Emperors of the Rixxikor Collective," he quickly rattled off in, barely fitting it all in one breath as he said it in Basic over his loud speakers for all to hear, "Chasen, your on me, set to stun and hold fire, triple time!"

With that he rocketed into the tunnel following the course Akiashiro had mapped out as she traveled. 'Triple time' had been a phrase used by Candon's original squad that meant you were traveling as fast as you possibly could on foot while recieving assistance from your armor's propulsion systems. Though he shouldn't have expected Taharial to know what the term meant he didn't really stop to explain anything as he rocket-crawled as quickly as he could without colliding with his surroundings. Seeing as someone was shooting Mindys he cloaked again once he was in the tunnels.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Rixxikor Ship, Storage Room Access -> Storage Room

Tsuguka halted immediately upon the pinging notification, which informed her of the damage Akikio had sustained. Candon seemed to be protecting the Chui according to his FOF tag, so it was left to her to make a split-second judgement of who to move towards. Would the unruly roach-men misunderstand their defense of Yamashiro to be taking Ruxxles hostage?... Would holding the leader at gunpoint defuse the situation, or make it worse? They were on the absolute brink of the situation spiraling out of control, and simply blowing the ship in two would not fulfill the objective of tracking the creature's intended location...

Stealth field still on, she bolted back to the storage room using the bare minimum of bursts from her CFS, her own gravity organ taking on most of the load. Went straight past Natsumi and the others, kept going. Akiashiro took precedent in this situation, she decided.

The density of armed Rixxikor was rapidly increasing. Not quite to her comrade's location yet, and progress was rapidly getting harder. Her scalar SMG would probably have the same effect as just teleporting there even on stun, and she didn't entirely trust her propulsion either, but... Well, the bayonet, that was fair game, if the situation came to it.

Logically, only the ship had to survive.

"Itto-Hei Akiashiro, are you conscious?" The invisible wall of her shield butted a grenade-wielding delinquent out of the way, her voice straining with agitation. "Please report your situation!"

 

[Samanthia]

Rixxikor Colony Ship

Aikiko wasn't going down without a fight, arming a few satchels as first of the shots pinged off her armor and flinging them out from her like grenades. Bringing her weapon into play, yet the damage was done and she was firing blindly as the aether beam fried and scorched what ever was in the path of the shots. She mentally counted down the cook-off of the satchel grenades and ..... Teleported.... At the last possible seconds, leaving behind the chaos that soon erupted.

"Itto-Hei Akiashiro, are you conscious?" The invisible wall of Tsuguka's shield butted a grenade-wielding delinquent out of the way, her voice straining with agitation. "Please report your situation!"

Space: Near Eucharis P.A. Bay

"I'm >< ..live. Near Eucharis. Mindy damaged. I'm fine. Tugs." Aikiko sounded quite pleased with herself over the team's secured channel. Unaware that she was still transmitting to the Eucharis on the Data feed which now was very static filled.

She just floated a few meters off the hull of the Eucharis within its natural mass gravitation field, enjoying the vast void of space and its clean pristine glory with the exception of a Rixxikor Clanship, and the fleet of Yamataian warships. Her emergency beacon began its transmission to make her more easily found as she just floated there.

 

[Wes]

Rixxikor Colony Ship - Damaged Area

Smoke lingered in the air and sparks fell from the ceiling and a orange-glowing, molten-edged gash in one wall showed where Aikiko had fired. Rixxikor defenders advanced towards the singed spot where Aikiko had been just a moment before.

"Hey Rixx. Nothing is left," one of the insectoids pointed. "I...I think you vaped her Rixx."

"Cool," the Rixxikor with the turbo plasma rifle said, looking down at it for a moment. The defenders then shuffled off, leaving the area in still in ruins, and things began to return to something like normalcy. The corpses of a few dead Rixxikor were left where they fell, completely disregarded by the others.

Rixxikor Colony Ship - Storage Area

Ruxxles made an exaggerated shrugging gesture to Natsumi.

 

[Blizzard]

Rixxikor Colony Ship - Storage Area

With drones hovering around in the air, Jax tried his hardest to gain control over his nerves as he listened intently for any word from his team mate. Then, there was a massive explosion, then silence.

Rixxikor Colony Ship - Damaged Area

Smoke lingered in the air and sparks fell from the ceiling and a orange-glowing, molten-edged gash in one wall showed where Aikiko had fired. Rixxikor defenders advanced towards the singed spot where Aikiko had been just a moment before.

"Hey Rixx. Nothing is left," one of the insectoids pointed. "I...I think you vaped her Rixx."

"Cool," the Rixxikor with the turbo plasma rifle said, looking down at it for a moment. The defenders then shuffled off, leaving the area in still in ruins, and things began to return to something like normalcy. The corpses of a few dead Rixxikor were left where they fell, completely disregarded by the others.

Rixxikor Colony Ship - Storage Area

Ruxxles made an exaggerated shrugging gesture to Natsumi.

Jax's throat went dry. Damn these bugs. Damn them all-!

Space: Near Eucharis P.A. Bay

"I'm >< ..live. Near Eucharis. Mindy damaged. I'm fine. Tugs." Aikiko sounded quite pleased with herself over the team's secured channel. Unaware that she was still transmitting to the Eucharis on the Data feed which now was very static filled.

"...Oh." Jax deadpanned, all of the drama of the situation being unceremoniously killed off. Now, he felt angry. Not because of what the Rixxikor had done to Aikiko, but because of what they did to her armor.

"Uh, guys, I don't mean to nag, but please try to bring your armor back in one piece. I kinda- you know- have to fix them..." He curtly reminded over the team channel, and taking care not to broadcast out of the external speakers.

Jax's right eye twitched within the Mindy's helmet as he relaxed himself and continued standing guard. At this rate he foresaw many coffee-fueled, all-night repair sessions in his future.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Rixxikor Colony Ship - Damaged Area

Tsuguka arrived just in time to see the firework show, and was left just standing in shock for a moment as burnt sludge doused her armor.

"I'm >< ..live. Near Eucharis. Mindy damaged. I'm fine. Tugs." Aikiko sounded quite pleased with herself over the team's secured channel. Unaware that she was still transmitting to the Eucharis on the Data feed which now was very static filled.

She continued to hold her breath whilst jabbing her blade into the ceiling, and using her rifle as a foothold to remain unnoticed by the now uninterested roach men on their way out. Stealth field made hiding all too easy as usual. 'What a waste of effort.' Was pretty much the sum of her thoughts. 'If that didn't set off the air, the 'life-wax', or the enemy weapons, nothing will.'

"Eucharis, Nito Hei Tsuguka here." A straight link to the command team. The red neko sounded... discouraged? "Please pick up Itto Hei Akiashiro. She may have damage to her atmospheric seal."

"Chui." Switching lines briskly to the squad network. "Orders?"

On the one hand, she was glad Aikiko was safe. On the other, an open gunbattle would have at least clued Tsuguka in onto exactly what she was supposed to be doing in this situation. Candon may have been worried about damage, but neither the mindy nor the red neko were designed to tip-toe around like this.