5tar
Active Member
ON: YSS Senbu
The Pride Wing were now prepared, the mission set in front of them could very well mean the survival of the entire ship. If they succeeded, the morale boost and tactical advantage might just mean putting the edge in favor of the Senbu over their daunting opponents. If they failed, it meant that an Anri vessel would be added to the enemy’s numbers thus making them an even more incredible opponent for the Empire. Quietly many with faith took this moment to pray, some left messages for loved ones at home saying that that may never return... the air was thick and the tensions so high that if you stopped to think of the situation outside for a moment you couldn't help but feel the helplessness. But luckily for the Senbu, they didn't have the convenience to stop... after all, this was the ship that never slept.
Mizu paced herself as she exited the turbo lift on deck 24, heading to the bay where Morality was stored. Coming within sight of the Mindy, she gave a slight sigh and pressed on until she came close enough to physically touch the suit. Running her hand down the armor’s exterior, Mizu drew in a deep breathe before letting it out. Taking off her clothes, Mizu placed the uniform in the locker beside the Mindy, turning back to the suit and opening the hatch. Climbing inside, she sealed the suit as she waited for the suited to take functionality to her being inside and then closed her eyes. She had missed so much; time with the other Pride Wing members, time with the new recruits. She’d also spent several hours of her personal time alone. As her eyes opened, she felt a slight tug inside. Determination? No, this was something else, something that drove her to feel more confident, but not so much that her own judgment would be clouded. As Morality powered up, different screens on the HUD turned on as well, Mizu’s eyes wandering from either side of the cornea to find her position to be sure that visual was operational. As diagnostics came in all green, Mizu opened a channel to the other Pride Wing members, "Kuri-chan. Maya-san. I'm here, what's the situation outside, I wasn't able to get a sit-rep on the matter other than we're to suit up and prepare for battle." Mizu didn't bother with an equipment change as there was no time for it, and she was beginning to get used to the pack she was using from the last skirmish.
Masako would get lost in what she was supposed to do and simply went along with what was going on and hurried for the Pride Wing armor bay to suit up in a customized layout for her custom Mindy. Luckily, Shizuka had seen to it that she'd get a modified one to accommodate her...size. Masako's armor came with two leg capacitors on the lower leg areas, the countermeasure pods in the upper thighs, a teleport unit in a shoulder, a gauss cannon in the other with an energy cloak projector. She was carrying two aether saber rifles for her handheld weapons. "Sakiyurai reporting in, Kuriko-heisho. Sorry for being late," she said over the comm to her.
Hiroko guided P'u forwards towards the abyss, scanning out deep into the wreckage field. She looked around, all around, flexing slightly as she evaluated her team and held her rifle. She needed to be aware of what was going on. And better than in the simulation... "It's surprisingly quiet for an 'Epic Battle'."
A mature woman's voice came over the speaker system in the rear of the 5th shuttle in the Pride Wing 02 team – the craft that the Shosa and the four Daisy pilots were in. It was, of course, the ever-lovely Jôtô Hei Stararcher. "Alright gentlemen and ladies, we're gonna be flying through some rough patches, so I strongly recommend ya keep your stuff firmly attached to your tin cans and hold on tight until we arrive at our destination. I'd also like to thank ya kindly for flying Air Senbu and ask that you please take any explosives with you on your exit." Then she went silent as the five shuttles lifted up off the floor and began launching sequences.
Kuriko-heisho, your orders are to board the first four shuttles, there's only room for two and that's in the helm. They're currently unmanned, so you'll be situated in the pilot and co-pilot seats. Please hurry, the plan is to act before the Pirates set up anti-FTL. We'll use these few moments to get as close as possible," Navi said as she relayed a part of the Shosa's plan. They were lucky for now; because of the Senbu’s pause in its spot, the pirates didn't jump to disable FTL in the area.
"Understood," Kuriko replied to the speaker. "It's all right, we're just getting started. All units, we're to board the first 4 shuttles. 2 to a shuttle, we'll be sitting in the pilot and co-pilot positions. We need to hurry before the enemy sets up an anti-FTL field. Let's do this," Kuriko said over the comm, excited and scared simultaneously. This is what she was, an infantryman – a power armor pilot. Kuriko headed toward the first shuttle and opened the hatch before sliding into the pilot’s chair. It felt awkward for the Neko, sitting in a Mindy with a gauss cannon strapped to her back while riding in the pilot's seat.
Hoshitomo was tense and ready to go, heartened to see the battle joined by more of her friends. When she heard the chatter over the comms, she interjected quickly on the Pride Wing's channel. "Heisho... be advised I am proficient in the piloting of a shuttle should the autopilot fail to follow Stararcher-hei's course for any reason."
Hara frowned, thinking about his short service in the army. "Right… everything else was a walk in the park compared to this… Still, I trust the Shosa would not send us all off to die. She must have some master plan in mind."
Shin nodded to Hara, saying nothing.
Masako would shift her weight around anxiously to try and calm herself down. This wasn't much different from ground battles overall, just bigger in scale and 360 dimensions to use. She could do this, Masako had done this before; she could do it again right? "I'm nervous..." Masako thought aloud to nobody in particular and didn't care who heard her. Thinking she could get the other wings to get more done, she radioed the Vermillion Wing members from before and told them that if they whooped enough ass out there and pulled off a victory she'd personally... reward them. She was giving undertones of a sexual nature to it as well, knowing it'd spark a fire under their asses.
Rin picked up the stray thought and responded with a quick note of her own as she maneuvered toward one of the empty shuttles. "Sakiyurai-hei, it's good to be nervous. That's your anticipation of the battle. Let's board this shuttle together and make sure the enemy feels that same nervousness as we pierce their defenses as the Shosa's swift sword."
Hiroko selected one of the shuttles, waving to gather someone's attention – whomever, really – as she got behind the seat and readied the shuttle. Nothing like taking extended spacecraft training.
The team of Fox T4 shuttles slowly moved forward past the environmental shielding keeping the vacuum of space separate from the insides of the Senbu. Then, just as they could see the Vampire creeping up on the ever-ready Senbu and Vermillion Wing, the shuttles made their jumps. The Pride Wing came out of FTL half way into the Chiharu's defensive gun range. The positron 'striker' arrays came alive and peppered the shuttles with a rain of fire they never experienced before; the amount of fire alone was devastating and demoralizing so close up. "Pride Wing, prepare for deployment! Your objective is to clear the port rapid launch bay of all defensive systems and disable the shielding. Go go go!" Shizuka yelled over communications as the openings for all the shuttles suddenly burst open.
At this point, the doors opened up for the Geshrin Taii. The lift didn't change floors at all, as if the Shosa had been expecting him to act like this the whole time. "Your ranking, accesses and privileges have been reinstated Saiga-taii, the records of this event have been deleted and removed at the orders of Endo-shosa. Also, you are required at the bridge," MEGAMI spoke on cue; this meant that the Pride Wing was now in Chiharu 1's weapons range.
Nicholas stood and picked up his cracked communicator, erasing the agony that shone on his face as he stepped out of the lift and back onto the deck that the bridge was on. “Give me a sitrep, Kameko-chui,” he said, approaching his station and assuming command of the Senbu once again. The Taii sounded colder than he normally did, but did his best to present himself as his normally professional self.
“The Vampire is closing in to our stern, Taii,” Chui Kameko Izuki replied with the same urgency that permeated the bridge’s atmosphere. “Pride Wing has jumped into weapons range with one of the Chiharu and Vermillion Wing is now fully deployed.”
“Thank you, Chui. Order Vermillion Wing to engage the Vampire,” Nicholas said, reviewing a tactical map as he spoke. “Launch all weapons pods and have Weps be prepared to use the CFS offensively.” He made several notes on his console, marking target priorities for the ship’s armor wings. “Have Gold and Obsidian Wings standby for sortie and inform them to prepare to face the second Chiharu.” The Geshrin moved across the deck to another console, leaning over the Yamataian at its controls to input some operations directly. “Tell the helm to bring us within firing range of the same Chiharu that the Pride Wing is assaulting. We will perform anti-armor and ordnance operations until their mission is complete.”
"Y-yes sir!" the Yamataian said as he relayed the orders to the helm from a nearby panel, allowing the Taii continue using his own terminal. The fear was evident in his voice, but the bridge op could only do as he was ordered, even if that did mean death was staring them in the face off the port bow and they were now about to charge into it.
"Pods are launched and operational, CFS is switched to offensive dedication." The cold and calculating Neko ladies of the weapon’s operation were quick and calm about the decision as they prepared for the combat ahead.
The Vampire has moved into tactical field AD, Vermillion Squadron reports that armor has uncloaked in melee range and they are now engaging. Enemy armor consists of six units comprising in AIR and AIR2 units, their appearances and tactics match ones we’ve fought in the past. Two of them however don’t seem to match any file on record," one of the Chui Neko twins reported and then the other spoke up soon after. "Sir, Gold Wing is prepared to deploy, but the Obsidian Wing Squadron is still preparing, Kanno-shoi suggests that they deploy ahead of the others. Your order’s Sir?"
“Kanno-shoi may deploy his Wing,” Nicholas ordered, his voice sounding very deliberate and contemplative for how quickly he had made the decision. “Once launched, Gold Wing is to hold in cover at tactical field F and wait for Obsidian to accompany them to assault their target.” He made some corrections to the strategic markers currently displayed on the mission operations data page before continuing, “If Obsidian does not arrive within ten minutes after Gold makes it to field F they are to continue their operation alone.” The Geshrin showed none of the small amount of compassion towards those under his command that he usually did as he gave the orders, thinking with ruthless efficiency and without any of the cowardice that he would have normally shown in the situation.
Beside the first enemy Chiharu, as soon as the door to the shuttle opened, Hiroko removed herself from the seat and went through the hatch, letting the shuttle fly past her, leaving her in space, out in the loving care of the void again. Then fields kicked into action and she struck forward. A thought shot off to Sakaki as the sniper rushed into range. "Sakaki, try to check with your schematics on a target – you're going to have to operate at range! Follow my lead." And at the same time, the energy cloak went on, the S-Rifle was drawn, and an Ellipsoid was placed to cover her upper body just in case. This was running into the inferno... and as soon as she got into range the first shield unit she could see was going down.
The moment had arrived as they warped right into the array's range and the hail of fire caused the tiny shuttles shields to buckle and shake. But the voice of the Shosa came loud and clear, and as she slipped from the pilot seat, Rin knew what she had to do. Not exiting the shuttle immediately, the soldier gripped onto the ceiling of the craft instead and used the blown-open hatch as momentary cover, poking her two shoulder gauss cannons up and over it, creating a makeshift double barrel "turret" on the Fox T4. A trio of drones were deployed up and over as well to give her a wide field of vision and act as a pair of "eyes” as she looked for targets immediately and relayed the rest of her plan. "Shifuda-heiso – If we can weaken the capital shields enough, my SDMM missiles can create the vital opening the convoy needs to enter!!"
"Do it," Kuriko responded to Rin. "Aim for their shield generators if possible," she said as she flew out of her shuttle and started toward the Chiharu while scanning for a target.
"Understood! Calculating trajectory patterns now... make your move as soon as you see the opportunity." The Nitô Hei furiously calculated a spread on her AIES to the warheads, and then after another positron barrage passed by, she swung out of the door like a gymnast as a volley of 10 SDMM missiles blossomed to life from her thighs and dashed forward past the friendly armors and into the Chiharu's barrier in a perfect geometric shape resembling an orchid.
The moment the shuttles’ opened their doors to release the armors, Masako would instantly move to avoid the incoming attacks and held out both of her aether rifles, one on each hand and was glad she had her stuff correctly connected and would spot where some of the striker arrays were coming from after dodging them. She knew they had a bit of a lag time and opened fire with both rifles at the arrays attempting to destroy them if she could. "Rin, if you can, take out those striker arrays protecting the rapid launch bay so the others can get in," she said telepathically to her teammate.
As she moved forward, a thought occurred to Hiroko and she got onto the comms to the rest of the group. "If there's a hard target that's bothering you, ring me up. I have sniping."
Sakaki wasted no moment in following Hiroko out of the shuttle and shot out of the shuttle right behind her. "I'm with you, Ishida-hei," she replied back and connected her rifle to her right arm's power. She began to weave around the incoming fire while staying within shooting distance of Hiroko.
The Chiharu's fire blasted past the Pride Wing and the shuttles, it seemed everyone was swift enough to keep just ahead of the blasts. All except Kuriko, who, as she went on a b-line towards the Chiharu, was clipped by a blazing green striker beam. The hit was enough to make considerable amounts of damage to her shields. Sigmund reported that she had 71.32% shield capability remaining. The swarm of missiles shifted and weaved, breaking the shape at some points and then it hit! A visible hole in the shields left some of the external cannons exposed. At this point, the team of Fox T4s moved away some distance, trying to keep their payload as safe as possible until the next phase of the operation.
With the shielding weakened, Hiroko pulsed forward, moving at a loopy, erratic pace, often making loop-ti-loops and swerves to try to throw off the scanners for the enemy weapons. Then, schematics and leading trackers and all manner of targeting aids popped up and she took aim. The first large turret... fire, drag across to nearby targets. She swerved, jumping around like a drunken housefly even as she continued the charge. The next target... S-Rifle pulse again. And so the rhythm kept up and she started to space out her shots so they could charge while she dodged.
Kuriko snapped out of the little trance she was in when she was hit with that green beam of energy. FOCUS! she screamed to herself as she began making evasive maneuvers. Kuriko brought her Aether Beam Saber-Rifle to bear on some of the now exposed cannons and fired a shot at one of them before starting to move evasively again.
"Well that certainly didn't work," Masako sighed and began charging up the beam shots on the rifles while evading any newly incoming shots. When the holes opened up from Rin's missiles she grinned. "Thanks Rin," she said over the radio and shifted her lock-on and angle to fire both beams of destruction through the hole in the shields, attempting to blow the array again.
Sakaki weaved and bobbed, taking a few shots when she could, though not totally relying on herself doing any damage herself at this range. The Hei also constantly checked her partner to that she wouldn't accidentally draw herself away just because of turret fire. She began her charge in and locked onto several targets of opportunity and relayed them to Hiroko. "According to Tsukihime, we should work on these..." and continued to bob and fire if only to attract attention to herself.
"Hit; distortions neutralized. Engaging Strikers." Rin used the momentum of her swing to land on the top of the Fox T4 briefly, enough to catch the sight of the shield piercing barrage creating the openings she and the team so desperately needed. Arranging her few drones in a delta formation around the Mindy, the Barrier Shield Module began to power up for its requisite five seconds as she dashed to join her companions before the holes closed and initiated evasive maneuvers on the way there. Once through, she would immediately start peppering the nearest defenses with gauss cannon fire, supporting Masako's assault from a distance.
Hara's grip on his rifle tightened in anticipation of their coming task. "We're on soon, Shin. Let's show them what the White Tiger of the West and the Red Phoenix of the South can do," he sent telepathically.
Shin was smiling widely under his armor, ready for battle. "Right! We'll have to outdo the girls! I only wish we had some knives!"
The Pride Wing's attacks were on point; the array's cannons were easy targets and the more they took out the more they thinned the fire. At this point the shuttles joined in; making missile attacks on the surface they were attacking. This time Rin took a hit, her Barrier Shield taking a full brunt of a striker's fire. The Wing’s AIES came alive with a highlighted target, it appeared that just behind the armor on left side of the rapid launch bay was the generator for the atmospheric shielding. They needed to take it out then the next phase could continue. The only problem was, at this point, a swarm of variable weapons pods lifted from the external armor and began a mess of counter fire. They had to push through them if they were going to get inside.
Kuriko switched to autofire mode on her aether rifle and laid down suppression fire on the new targets while moving to dodge the incoming fire. She wasn't aiming for accuracy, but sheer volume. "Hiroko, Rin: time to work your magic," Kuriko said encouragingly, hoping that the Hei's combined fire and that of the rest of the wing would quickly eliminate this threat.
Masako would advance in closer to the bay herself, firing off a 10 missile cloud and, guided by her AIES fire control, streaked toward the variable weapons as she tried to blast what she could with her rifles on charged beam modes to just hammer them with damage and try to take out the generator if she could.
Ushimo-hei began to work on a new set of targets, “Tsukihime, display any fire toward Ishida-hei,” at which point the HUD changed the incoming fire lines of what could be going her partner's direction and charged up the shield in her left arm. She stopped only to take attempts at calculated aim at turrets while blocking some attacks. Careful... one mishap could end my life, the Neko thought to herself, regretting a little about not leaving an ST backup behind.
Rin managed to continue on as the protective unit absorbed the enemy shot excellently with no damage passing through, though it likely couldn't take too much more punishment like that. "BSM shields holding," she announced to her teammates so they would not worry as she aligned to get a good pattern on the critical target and do what she could to avoid further pod fire while the others kept them busy. "Hai, commencing assault on generator," spoke the Hei, pressing onward, as her SLAG attachment was loaded with an HEI round and blasted at the armored unit, followed up by more bursts of her two gauss cannons. Between the two PA's it should be enough...
Hiroko didn't need to be told twice and lanced forward one last time. Reactor: targeted. She raised her rifle and spun in crazy loops, relying on tons of indicators to keep every burst from her S-Rifle constantly locked onto that system. Every shot went to it until it went down, even as she kept her forearm shield raised up.
On the bridge, a sudden sensors reading prompted an increased commotion. "Torpedoes launched from both Chiharu in a wide spray, they’re going to hit the entire field!" A sensor’s operator cried out over the bustle. It seemed like the first show of true force by the battle goddesses was about to begin.
"Brace for impact!" the Yamataian Chui then ordered as she placed her arms stiff against her panel. In an instant the whole tactical field was rained on with a series of subspace explosions, the array of different torpedoes made the battle a lot harder. The Senbu itself shook violently after suffering a direct hit of three different sorts of massive ordnances. It’d take a second longer before the same valiant Yamataian shook her head back up to glance over her panel. "Shields are at twenty-five percent, FTL is disabled in a 2 AU radius.
“Have our weapons system intercept incoming projectile ordnances, damn it!” Nicholas vociferated furiously over the many simultaneous voices all vying to be heard on the bridge after the torpedoes detonated. “Reroute all power from the Graviton Beam Projectors to shields!” he demanded, not expecting that they’d have to use the Main Repair Bay anytime soon. “We are no good to the Shosa dead! Perform your duties better, and if you’re already doing all that you can do more – I don’t want this vessel to take another major hit!”
The steadfast Yamataian Chui quickly went over her panel and sent down the orders to Engineering and glanced over the reported result. "Yes sir, shields are rapidly refilling to a projected seventy-three percent capacity. All weapons operators are better prepared." she quickly answered for the other stations as the mess of voices was hard to hear clearly in the commotion.
A few shots hit many members of the Pride Wing from the Chiharu's defense matrix, superficial to say the least, but Ushimo-hei did end up being hit hard by an array beam, knocking her shields to a displayed 61.22%. The pods were like shooting practice drones, many of them fell to the attacks. Kuriko was luckily enough to make quite a sweeping destruction. Masako's cloud of missiles was also dead on the target, making the numbers a little easier to manage but still dizzying. Then, Hiroko's instant tactics proved useful, as the shields to the area were restoring she managed to blast through the armor – the result was a single flicker of the atmospheric shields before they vanished. But then, the holes caused from Rin closed up and they couldn’t advance at this point.
"We need to focus our fire!" Kuriko said as she mentally marked a section of the ship where the shields seemed weaker. "Everyone but Masako and I spike that target. As soon as it's down get in there at top speed," Kuriko said as she lowered her rifle to fire in more bursts at the enemy while still trying to dodge enemy fire.
"Alright, one more time, someone open up those shields. Kuriko, you take your team and protect the bay and these shuttles; you'll be on point to take on the extra pods that will be coming in after us. My team is going to be taking our pay load deep inside the ship," Shizuka called over open communications as she opened began manipulating a crate after pulling it out from under her chair.
"Understood Endo-shosa," Kuriko replied. "Good luck." With that, Kuriko returned to firing into the mass of enemies. "Sigmund...this could really be our last fight huh." Kuriko thought; it felt like everything was going in slow-motion to the Neko, perhaps it was because of how crazy the situation was. "Pride Wing 01, once we are in the bay we're to defend the shuttles until Pride Wing 02 returns," Kuriko said over the comms.
I can still fight! Sakaki declared to herself and returned fire. She was good as long as she kept evading and blocking shots. Already she planned a teleport into the landing zone as soon as the shields lifted. This would take away from my capacitors, but I won't last if I don't make it in there...
Just as the satisfying destruction of the generator sent a tingle into her nervous system, Hoshitomo-hei's pleasure was short-lived as the shields reconstituted themselves in the time they spent in the attack. "Shosa, I am unable to launch another salvo," responded the Yamataian over the comms. "I underestimated the might of this flagship's shielding mechanisms. I will not do so again."
Shin perked up, hearing that they were nearing their objective. He prepped his rifle and yelled out to his wing mates, "It's time to kick some pirate ass!"
Masako would do her best to avoid the incoming fire by staying as close to the ship as possible and began to spray the enemy with sub-machine style bursts of fire from her rifles. "I still can't help but think we're in a bit over our heads here," Masako said, "but we're the Pride Wing damn it, let's show these pathetic little cunts who's the top dog in this fight!" she said to the others to try and boost morale a little if she could. "I have one more volley left, Hoshitomo-hei..." she said to her and tried to help by releasing a burst of 5 missiles to try and punch a hole in the shield just enough for them to get through if she could.
Rin continued to evade the green beams that filled the void with death, zigging and zagging at right angles, all while taking aim with what remaining ammunition she had left in her shoulder cannons and another HEI grenade, and even a charged bolt from her forearm for good measure... all upon that single focus. The path forward... it had to be opened at all costs!
Masako had made a wide hole in the shielding, enough for the Pride Wing to push through and the shuttles to fly in two by two. "Advance!" Shizuka yelled over the communication channel as she lifted her LASR and gripped the payload tightly in her right hand. She didn't need to say it twice as the shuttles turned their trajectory and zipped towards the opening at full tilt. At this time the two Gold Wing members of the newly assigned Pride Wing 03 got their own Daisys prepared for the operation and GM-06s ready, steadily breathing as they waited for the boarding order, anxiously waiting for whatever was on the other side of that thick hull.
Shin's breathing was slow and steady, in a sort of trance-meditation. He opened his eyes, going over his suit load out and bringing up his GM-06. He turned and looked at Hara, a smile once again crawling over his face. "It's time to fight and we will succeed."
Hara nodded, tensing up as they drew nearer and nearer. "Right," he said, nodding in Shin's direction. His heartbeat increased with every passing moment. Whatever happened, he would do his best.
Masako waited until the shuttles got through and then got inside the shield herself before turning one rifle on the arrays again to try and nullify them the best she could while using the other to try and knock out more of the variable weapon drones. "Hurry up everyone! Get in," she said as she did her work, trying to cover the shuttles the best she could.
Kuriko fell beside Masako on the other side of the hole, attempting to cover her teammates as well as the shuttles while they filed into the hole. Hopefully we can neutralize this quickly, Kuriko thought as she glanced back toward the Senbu, aware that it wasn't a match for the raw power of a Chiharu.
"Excellent shot. That is the might of the Pride Wing!" exclaimed the Nitô Hei to Masako, as the shield was breached with her superior firepower adding to the mix. "Moving to cover your six, Pride Wing 02." She did not hesitate to make a beeline for the opening through the obstacle, providing a spread of covering gauss fire on the weapons pods, no doubt approaching from the rear. Rin would not let up until she was certain all aboard were in the safety of the landing pad.
And Hiroko 'drunkenly' flitted in, solid beams of aether shining through the darkness, lancing drones one shot after the next, moving with quick succession. Her breath flowed in the way Hiroko commanded it to – inhale ...Acquire target, take aim, exhale, Pull. Target eliminated..., inhale… and so the rhythm went on. The spastic blaze of shots nonetheless joined Masako's more directed assault as Hiroko herself moved towards the objective!
Ushimo-hei kept her defensive posture until she saw Hiroko beginning her charge. She then activated her teleport to bypass the shield hole or close to it and fly into the landing zone. In doing so, Tsukihime would fill any enemy with a load of laser from her shoulder mounts.
The members of the Pride Wing deployed were now securely on the deck of the Chiharu as well as all five shuttles, surprisingly. Though most were a little banged up and scorched, what mattered was the cargo was protected. The massive insides of the Chiharu put the Senbu's expansive armor bay to shame. It was large enough to fit four Sakura-class ships comfortably with plenty more room for shuttles and armor and working crews. But here was the stunning part, it was empty – not even a cargo crate in the whole of the area or anyone there with arms to put up a defensive.
As her gauss cannons spent their remaining ammo on the rearguard barrage, Hoshitomo-hei had a good view of the Senbu in the distance. Though it seemed to be coming closer to engage the Chiharu, prompting a fleeting worry from her. As her Mindy floated down to a landing in the shuttle bay, a secure subspace channel was attempted to be opened at long range to the Anri-class vessel, though it steadily degraded over a few seconds. Only the following was legible to the comms personnel receiving it: "Taii... Concepts of Unconventional Ship System Applica... con... 2... over... shi... emitt..." Whatever else was said was lost as they entered the interior of the vessel and all feeds ceased.
The message was sent straight to the Taii for his own personal review by one of the bridge operators on comms. But then an even more grave situation came to be reported directly above the chatter by the mission ops in charge of the Vermillion Wing. "Sir, Vermillion teams one through four have gone silent. Team five can't hold out much longer. The Vampire, sir, it... overloaded their generators and left them dead in the water without life support." The Female Yamataian had tears fought back in her gray eyes; she had become very attached to the members of the wing she was in charge of.
As Gold Wing was just about to begin its operations without Obsidian Wing, they were in Tactical Field O and all outfitted with Sylph Wing packs and enough weapons to put on quite a show. Obsidian Wing, however, was indeed still on the ship and yet to deploy, their status was still; "prepping."
Nicholas had only been trying to decipher what Rin was trying to tell him when word about Vermillion team came to him. “That is unfortunate, but we need…” he began trailing off at the end, still determined in his own mind to target the Chiharu that Shizuka was raiding. There was a pause in his speech as he looked to the tactical map, staring at it the reality of the situation became clear. The course of action that he was currently taking was tactically unsound – irrational – and for the first time he saw that. “Bring us about! Target the Vampire!” he commanded. “All available Obsidian Wing teams are to launch now to assist Gold Wing. Once we’ve come within weapons range, open fire on the pirate vessel and have the remaining Obsidian teams join what’s left of Vermillion.”
A communication to the Taii came up on his screen, and without a prompt to have him accept or not it came alive and opened up with a small messy-haired Neko with short purple hair. She looked up at the Geshrin with a childlike, toothy grin. "Good news, sir, the captured Vampire is operational. We just need a crew of three to come down and man the thing!" she reported, seemingly almost happy about the combat like Shizuka was... coping with the stress so to say. Before he could even speak, the Black haired Yamataian Chui sprung up from her sear and turned to face the Geshrin XO. "Saiga-taii, I volunteer to take command of the ship." Izuki, the chief bridge operator spoke with the same fire in her eyes that many of her kin did. She was prepared for war and would do anything for victory.
The Geshrin Taii looked somewhat annoyed when the purple haired Neko girl’s communication interrupted his work, but ended up being glad at what she had to say. After the communications window closed and Izuki had asked for command of the salvaged vessel, Nicholas nodded. “Permission granted, Chui. Your performance here on the bridge incapable of being replaced, but for that reason I cannot deny you the opportunity,” he responded to the Yamataian woman. “You may select the two other operators who you wish to accompany you, but please make sure to not to take any essential personnel.”
She bowed at her hips in a most formal and respectful bow. "I will provide you a swift victory Saiga-taii, on my honor as a member of the Kameko Clan." With that she then stood back and turned her head to face down over the bridge. "Yoshihisa-shoi and Toda-heisho, you’re with me. Find someone to replace your terminal and follow me to the MRB, we have new orders!" she yelled over the commotion to call upon her candidates. One of the vicious looking Neko weapons operators and a Mission OPs who was in charge of the killed men out there – she'd have quite the vendetta to fulfill – Izuki knew of no other who was more deserving.
After he had returned a respectful bow to Izuki and her chosen left, Nicholas continued his duties commanding the Senbu. The urge to turn the ship back around and confront the Chiharu with Shizuka remained present in the front of his mind, but the Geshrin used all of his willpower to suppress it. He turned to the officer who had replaced the black haired Yamataian, “We outrange the Vampire, tell the helm to keep us beyond their firing arcs when we move to engage.”
There was no replacement for the chief operator, but there were still the other two who stood at her level. The lovely pink and blue Neko twins who the Geshrin wasn't too fond of were there and ready to receive and relay his orders. "Relaying now, Sir." The next twin spoke up with a new status update. "The problem with the Obsidian Wing has been resolved sir; apparently the CO had taken this time to make emergency ST backups of his Squad." She then commented quietly to her sister, "Can you believe it, what a coward..." Who then answered with a 'tch' and eye roll as she went about her own terminal. "Sir, we're now moving back into tactical field T. Vermillion team 05 also reports that they have destroyed one of the Vampire's deployed AIR units and are making a rapid retreat to our protection." Yes, even with that many Mindys in one place, they still only managed to take out one of the highly skilled, blood-hungry pirates.
“Send my reprimands to Obsidian Wing’s CO,” Nicholas said in a frigid, unaffected tone. “Inform him that his objective is to personally take down the enemy armor wing leader without any assistance from his teams.” Although he knew that he was greatly responsible for the current losses that had been taken, what Obsidian’s commander had done infuriated the Taii. In a situation so desperate there was be no excuse for taking the time to make ST scans – especially if, as an armor wing, his soldiers’ were meant to keep fairly recent backups.
"With pleasure, Sir," Ayano the blue haired twin said in an almost sadistic way as she cued up her connection with the Obsidian Commanding Officer and texted him his new orders. Viewing his reaction via MEGAMI, both of the twins had scowled at him with a snobbish glare, and then they simply returned to their operations. "Gold Wing has commenced attacking the second Chiharu. Initial damage report states that the Wing has only one member to receive armor damage and team two have sustained light shield damage. Operations are continuing smoothly," Ayane, the pink haired twin reported as she glanced over the tactical data regarding the wing who seemed to be doing wonderfully despite the odds.
“Excellent,” the Taii commented as the battle seemed to be going their way, even in spite of the losses taken by Vermillion Wing. When the Senbu and captured Vampire arrived on the scene, the enemy Vampire and her armor would doubtlessly be eradicated fairly quickly. “What about the Sho-… Pride Wing?” he stumbled, still unable to ease his concern for Shizuka and her mission. “Is there any word from them since they entered the enemy vessel?”
"No Sir, there's been no contact from the Pride Wing squadron since their entrance to the ship. But the enemy pods are still circulating around the ship and heading towards the bay they entered. From that alone, I can assume their still alive," the operator said with firm confidence not only in her skill but in the Shosa's combat ability. Then, at this point, they smirked at each other, once they knew he wasn't looking that is. They were happy to see that their Shosa was getting her way into his heart, which made them plenty content now with his footing in the chain of command. "The Vampire craft is collecting its armors; we not in range to fire and the Obsidian Wing is arming. I've given forced launch orders to team zero-one along with its CO to give chase."
“Helm, increase propulsion to flank speed!” Nicholas dictated with a critical desire in his voice. “I don’t want them getting away again!” He looked to the systems chart open on his console, checking to ensure that there was enough power to successfully increase the ship’s pace. "Operations, order all available armor teams and Kameko-chui to pursue the enemy immediately!"
PAUSE
The Pride Wing were now prepared, the mission set in front of them could very well mean the survival of the entire ship. If they succeeded, the morale boost and tactical advantage might just mean putting the edge in favor of the Senbu over their daunting opponents. If they failed, it meant that an Anri vessel would be added to the enemy’s numbers thus making them an even more incredible opponent for the Empire. Quietly many with faith took this moment to pray, some left messages for loved ones at home saying that that may never return... the air was thick and the tensions so high that if you stopped to think of the situation outside for a moment you couldn't help but feel the helplessness. But luckily for the Senbu, they didn't have the convenience to stop... after all, this was the ship that never slept.
Mizu paced herself as she exited the turbo lift on deck 24, heading to the bay where Morality was stored. Coming within sight of the Mindy, she gave a slight sigh and pressed on until she came close enough to physically touch the suit. Running her hand down the armor’s exterior, Mizu drew in a deep breathe before letting it out. Taking off her clothes, Mizu placed the uniform in the locker beside the Mindy, turning back to the suit and opening the hatch. Climbing inside, she sealed the suit as she waited for the suited to take functionality to her being inside and then closed her eyes. She had missed so much; time with the other Pride Wing members, time with the new recruits. She’d also spent several hours of her personal time alone. As her eyes opened, she felt a slight tug inside. Determination? No, this was something else, something that drove her to feel more confident, but not so much that her own judgment would be clouded. As Morality powered up, different screens on the HUD turned on as well, Mizu’s eyes wandering from either side of the cornea to find her position to be sure that visual was operational. As diagnostics came in all green, Mizu opened a channel to the other Pride Wing members, "Kuri-chan. Maya-san. I'm here, what's the situation outside, I wasn't able to get a sit-rep on the matter other than we're to suit up and prepare for battle." Mizu didn't bother with an equipment change as there was no time for it, and she was beginning to get used to the pack she was using from the last skirmish.
Masako would get lost in what she was supposed to do and simply went along with what was going on and hurried for the Pride Wing armor bay to suit up in a customized layout for her custom Mindy. Luckily, Shizuka had seen to it that she'd get a modified one to accommodate her...size. Masako's armor came with two leg capacitors on the lower leg areas, the countermeasure pods in the upper thighs, a teleport unit in a shoulder, a gauss cannon in the other with an energy cloak projector. She was carrying two aether saber rifles for her handheld weapons. "Sakiyurai reporting in, Kuriko-heisho. Sorry for being late," she said over the comm to her.
Hiroko guided P'u forwards towards the abyss, scanning out deep into the wreckage field. She looked around, all around, flexing slightly as she evaluated her team and held her rifle. She needed to be aware of what was going on. And better than in the simulation... "It's surprisingly quiet for an 'Epic Battle'."
A mature woman's voice came over the speaker system in the rear of the 5th shuttle in the Pride Wing 02 team – the craft that the Shosa and the four Daisy pilots were in. It was, of course, the ever-lovely Jôtô Hei Stararcher. "Alright gentlemen and ladies, we're gonna be flying through some rough patches, so I strongly recommend ya keep your stuff firmly attached to your tin cans and hold on tight until we arrive at our destination. I'd also like to thank ya kindly for flying Air Senbu and ask that you please take any explosives with you on your exit." Then she went silent as the five shuttles lifted up off the floor and began launching sequences.
Kuriko-heisho, your orders are to board the first four shuttles, there's only room for two and that's in the helm. They're currently unmanned, so you'll be situated in the pilot and co-pilot seats. Please hurry, the plan is to act before the Pirates set up anti-FTL. We'll use these few moments to get as close as possible," Navi said as she relayed a part of the Shosa's plan. They were lucky for now; because of the Senbu’s pause in its spot, the pirates didn't jump to disable FTL in the area.
"Understood," Kuriko replied to the speaker. "It's all right, we're just getting started. All units, we're to board the first 4 shuttles. 2 to a shuttle, we'll be sitting in the pilot and co-pilot positions. We need to hurry before the enemy sets up an anti-FTL field. Let's do this," Kuriko said over the comm, excited and scared simultaneously. This is what she was, an infantryman – a power armor pilot. Kuriko headed toward the first shuttle and opened the hatch before sliding into the pilot’s chair. It felt awkward for the Neko, sitting in a Mindy with a gauss cannon strapped to her back while riding in the pilot's seat.
Hoshitomo was tense and ready to go, heartened to see the battle joined by more of her friends. When she heard the chatter over the comms, she interjected quickly on the Pride Wing's channel. "Heisho... be advised I am proficient in the piloting of a shuttle should the autopilot fail to follow Stararcher-hei's course for any reason."
Hara frowned, thinking about his short service in the army. "Right… everything else was a walk in the park compared to this… Still, I trust the Shosa would not send us all off to die. She must have some master plan in mind."
Shin nodded to Hara, saying nothing.
Masako would shift her weight around anxiously to try and calm herself down. This wasn't much different from ground battles overall, just bigger in scale and 360 dimensions to use. She could do this, Masako had done this before; she could do it again right? "I'm nervous..." Masako thought aloud to nobody in particular and didn't care who heard her. Thinking she could get the other wings to get more done, she radioed the Vermillion Wing members from before and told them that if they whooped enough ass out there and pulled off a victory she'd personally... reward them. She was giving undertones of a sexual nature to it as well, knowing it'd spark a fire under their asses.
Rin picked up the stray thought and responded with a quick note of her own as she maneuvered toward one of the empty shuttles. "Sakiyurai-hei, it's good to be nervous. That's your anticipation of the battle. Let's board this shuttle together and make sure the enemy feels that same nervousness as we pierce their defenses as the Shosa's swift sword."
Hiroko selected one of the shuttles, waving to gather someone's attention – whomever, really – as she got behind the seat and readied the shuttle. Nothing like taking extended spacecraft training.
The team of Fox T4 shuttles slowly moved forward past the environmental shielding keeping the vacuum of space separate from the insides of the Senbu. Then, just as they could see the Vampire creeping up on the ever-ready Senbu and Vermillion Wing, the shuttles made their jumps. The Pride Wing came out of FTL half way into the Chiharu's defensive gun range. The positron 'striker' arrays came alive and peppered the shuttles with a rain of fire they never experienced before; the amount of fire alone was devastating and demoralizing so close up. "Pride Wing, prepare for deployment! Your objective is to clear the port rapid launch bay of all defensive systems and disable the shielding. Go go go!" Shizuka yelled over communications as the openings for all the shuttles suddenly burst open.
At this point, the doors opened up for the Geshrin Taii. The lift didn't change floors at all, as if the Shosa had been expecting him to act like this the whole time. "Your ranking, accesses and privileges have been reinstated Saiga-taii, the records of this event have been deleted and removed at the orders of Endo-shosa. Also, you are required at the bridge," MEGAMI spoke on cue; this meant that the Pride Wing was now in Chiharu 1's weapons range.
Nicholas stood and picked up his cracked communicator, erasing the agony that shone on his face as he stepped out of the lift and back onto the deck that the bridge was on. “Give me a sitrep, Kameko-chui,” he said, approaching his station and assuming command of the Senbu once again. The Taii sounded colder than he normally did, but did his best to present himself as his normally professional self.
“The Vampire is closing in to our stern, Taii,” Chui Kameko Izuki replied with the same urgency that permeated the bridge’s atmosphere. “Pride Wing has jumped into weapons range with one of the Chiharu and Vermillion Wing is now fully deployed.”
“Thank you, Chui. Order Vermillion Wing to engage the Vampire,” Nicholas said, reviewing a tactical map as he spoke. “Launch all weapons pods and have Weps be prepared to use the CFS offensively.” He made several notes on his console, marking target priorities for the ship’s armor wings. “Have Gold and Obsidian Wings standby for sortie and inform them to prepare to face the second Chiharu.” The Geshrin moved across the deck to another console, leaning over the Yamataian at its controls to input some operations directly. “Tell the helm to bring us within firing range of the same Chiharu that the Pride Wing is assaulting. We will perform anti-armor and ordnance operations until their mission is complete.”
"Y-yes sir!" the Yamataian said as he relayed the orders to the helm from a nearby panel, allowing the Taii continue using his own terminal. The fear was evident in his voice, but the bridge op could only do as he was ordered, even if that did mean death was staring them in the face off the port bow and they were now about to charge into it.
"Pods are launched and operational, CFS is switched to offensive dedication." The cold and calculating Neko ladies of the weapon’s operation were quick and calm about the decision as they prepared for the combat ahead.
The Vampire has moved into tactical field AD, Vermillion Squadron reports that armor has uncloaked in melee range and they are now engaging. Enemy armor consists of six units comprising in AIR and AIR2 units, their appearances and tactics match ones we’ve fought in the past. Two of them however don’t seem to match any file on record," one of the Chui Neko twins reported and then the other spoke up soon after. "Sir, Gold Wing is prepared to deploy, but the Obsidian Wing Squadron is still preparing, Kanno-shoi suggests that they deploy ahead of the others. Your order’s Sir?"
“Kanno-shoi may deploy his Wing,” Nicholas ordered, his voice sounding very deliberate and contemplative for how quickly he had made the decision. “Once launched, Gold Wing is to hold in cover at tactical field F and wait for Obsidian to accompany them to assault their target.” He made some corrections to the strategic markers currently displayed on the mission operations data page before continuing, “If Obsidian does not arrive within ten minutes after Gold makes it to field F they are to continue their operation alone.” The Geshrin showed none of the small amount of compassion towards those under his command that he usually did as he gave the orders, thinking with ruthless efficiency and without any of the cowardice that he would have normally shown in the situation.
Beside the first enemy Chiharu, as soon as the door to the shuttle opened, Hiroko removed herself from the seat and went through the hatch, letting the shuttle fly past her, leaving her in space, out in the loving care of the void again. Then fields kicked into action and she struck forward. A thought shot off to Sakaki as the sniper rushed into range. "Sakaki, try to check with your schematics on a target – you're going to have to operate at range! Follow my lead." And at the same time, the energy cloak went on, the S-Rifle was drawn, and an Ellipsoid was placed to cover her upper body just in case. This was running into the inferno... and as soon as she got into range the first shield unit she could see was going down.
The moment had arrived as they warped right into the array's range and the hail of fire caused the tiny shuttles shields to buckle and shake. But the voice of the Shosa came loud and clear, and as she slipped from the pilot seat, Rin knew what she had to do. Not exiting the shuttle immediately, the soldier gripped onto the ceiling of the craft instead and used the blown-open hatch as momentary cover, poking her two shoulder gauss cannons up and over it, creating a makeshift double barrel "turret" on the Fox T4. A trio of drones were deployed up and over as well to give her a wide field of vision and act as a pair of "eyes” as she looked for targets immediately and relayed the rest of her plan. "Shifuda-heiso – If we can weaken the capital shields enough, my SDMM missiles can create the vital opening the convoy needs to enter!!"
"Do it," Kuriko responded to Rin. "Aim for their shield generators if possible," she said as she flew out of her shuttle and started toward the Chiharu while scanning for a target.
"Understood! Calculating trajectory patterns now... make your move as soon as you see the opportunity." The Nitô Hei furiously calculated a spread on her AIES to the warheads, and then after another positron barrage passed by, she swung out of the door like a gymnast as a volley of 10 SDMM missiles blossomed to life from her thighs and dashed forward past the friendly armors and into the Chiharu's barrier in a perfect geometric shape resembling an orchid.
The moment the shuttles’ opened their doors to release the armors, Masako would instantly move to avoid the incoming attacks and held out both of her aether rifles, one on each hand and was glad she had her stuff correctly connected and would spot where some of the striker arrays were coming from after dodging them. She knew they had a bit of a lag time and opened fire with both rifles at the arrays attempting to destroy them if she could. "Rin, if you can, take out those striker arrays protecting the rapid launch bay so the others can get in," she said telepathically to her teammate.
As she moved forward, a thought occurred to Hiroko and she got onto the comms to the rest of the group. "If there's a hard target that's bothering you, ring me up. I have sniping."
Sakaki wasted no moment in following Hiroko out of the shuttle and shot out of the shuttle right behind her. "I'm with you, Ishida-hei," she replied back and connected her rifle to her right arm's power. She began to weave around the incoming fire while staying within shooting distance of Hiroko.
The Chiharu's fire blasted past the Pride Wing and the shuttles, it seemed everyone was swift enough to keep just ahead of the blasts. All except Kuriko, who, as she went on a b-line towards the Chiharu, was clipped by a blazing green striker beam. The hit was enough to make considerable amounts of damage to her shields. Sigmund reported that she had 71.32% shield capability remaining. The swarm of missiles shifted and weaved, breaking the shape at some points and then it hit! A visible hole in the shields left some of the external cannons exposed. At this point, the team of Fox T4s moved away some distance, trying to keep their payload as safe as possible until the next phase of the operation.
With the shielding weakened, Hiroko pulsed forward, moving at a loopy, erratic pace, often making loop-ti-loops and swerves to try to throw off the scanners for the enemy weapons. Then, schematics and leading trackers and all manner of targeting aids popped up and she took aim. The first large turret... fire, drag across to nearby targets. She swerved, jumping around like a drunken housefly even as she continued the charge. The next target... S-Rifle pulse again. And so the rhythm kept up and she started to space out her shots so they could charge while she dodged.
Kuriko snapped out of the little trance she was in when she was hit with that green beam of energy. FOCUS! she screamed to herself as she began making evasive maneuvers. Kuriko brought her Aether Beam Saber-Rifle to bear on some of the now exposed cannons and fired a shot at one of them before starting to move evasively again.
"Well that certainly didn't work," Masako sighed and began charging up the beam shots on the rifles while evading any newly incoming shots. When the holes opened up from Rin's missiles she grinned. "Thanks Rin," she said over the radio and shifted her lock-on and angle to fire both beams of destruction through the hole in the shields, attempting to blow the array again.
Sakaki weaved and bobbed, taking a few shots when she could, though not totally relying on herself doing any damage herself at this range. The Hei also constantly checked her partner to that she wouldn't accidentally draw herself away just because of turret fire. She began her charge in and locked onto several targets of opportunity and relayed them to Hiroko. "According to Tsukihime, we should work on these..." and continued to bob and fire if only to attract attention to herself.
"Hit; distortions neutralized. Engaging Strikers." Rin used the momentum of her swing to land on the top of the Fox T4 briefly, enough to catch the sight of the shield piercing barrage creating the openings she and the team so desperately needed. Arranging her few drones in a delta formation around the Mindy, the Barrier Shield Module began to power up for its requisite five seconds as she dashed to join her companions before the holes closed and initiated evasive maneuvers on the way there. Once through, she would immediately start peppering the nearest defenses with gauss cannon fire, supporting Masako's assault from a distance.
Hara's grip on his rifle tightened in anticipation of their coming task. "We're on soon, Shin. Let's show them what the White Tiger of the West and the Red Phoenix of the South can do," he sent telepathically.
Shin was smiling widely under his armor, ready for battle. "Right! We'll have to outdo the girls! I only wish we had some knives!"
The Pride Wing's attacks were on point; the array's cannons were easy targets and the more they took out the more they thinned the fire. At this point the shuttles joined in; making missile attacks on the surface they were attacking. This time Rin took a hit, her Barrier Shield taking a full brunt of a striker's fire. The Wing’s AIES came alive with a highlighted target, it appeared that just behind the armor on left side of the rapid launch bay was the generator for the atmospheric shielding. They needed to take it out then the next phase could continue. The only problem was, at this point, a swarm of variable weapons pods lifted from the external armor and began a mess of counter fire. They had to push through them if they were going to get inside.
Kuriko switched to autofire mode on her aether rifle and laid down suppression fire on the new targets while moving to dodge the incoming fire. She wasn't aiming for accuracy, but sheer volume. "Hiroko, Rin: time to work your magic," Kuriko said encouragingly, hoping that the Hei's combined fire and that of the rest of the wing would quickly eliminate this threat.
Masako would advance in closer to the bay herself, firing off a 10 missile cloud and, guided by her AIES fire control, streaked toward the variable weapons as she tried to blast what she could with her rifles on charged beam modes to just hammer them with damage and try to take out the generator if she could.
Ushimo-hei began to work on a new set of targets, “Tsukihime, display any fire toward Ishida-hei,” at which point the HUD changed the incoming fire lines of what could be going her partner's direction and charged up the shield in her left arm. She stopped only to take attempts at calculated aim at turrets while blocking some attacks. Careful... one mishap could end my life, the Neko thought to herself, regretting a little about not leaving an ST backup behind.
Rin managed to continue on as the protective unit absorbed the enemy shot excellently with no damage passing through, though it likely couldn't take too much more punishment like that. "BSM shields holding," she announced to her teammates so they would not worry as she aligned to get a good pattern on the critical target and do what she could to avoid further pod fire while the others kept them busy. "Hai, commencing assault on generator," spoke the Hei, pressing onward, as her SLAG attachment was loaded with an HEI round and blasted at the armored unit, followed up by more bursts of her two gauss cannons. Between the two PA's it should be enough...
Hiroko didn't need to be told twice and lanced forward one last time. Reactor: targeted. She raised her rifle and spun in crazy loops, relying on tons of indicators to keep every burst from her S-Rifle constantly locked onto that system. Every shot went to it until it went down, even as she kept her forearm shield raised up.
On the bridge, a sudden sensors reading prompted an increased commotion. "Torpedoes launched from both Chiharu in a wide spray, they’re going to hit the entire field!" A sensor’s operator cried out over the bustle. It seemed like the first show of true force by the battle goddesses was about to begin.
"Brace for impact!" the Yamataian Chui then ordered as she placed her arms stiff against her panel. In an instant the whole tactical field was rained on with a series of subspace explosions, the array of different torpedoes made the battle a lot harder. The Senbu itself shook violently after suffering a direct hit of three different sorts of massive ordnances. It’d take a second longer before the same valiant Yamataian shook her head back up to glance over her panel. "Shields are at twenty-five percent, FTL is disabled in a 2 AU radius.
“Have our weapons system intercept incoming projectile ordnances, damn it!” Nicholas vociferated furiously over the many simultaneous voices all vying to be heard on the bridge after the torpedoes detonated. “Reroute all power from the Graviton Beam Projectors to shields!” he demanded, not expecting that they’d have to use the Main Repair Bay anytime soon. “We are no good to the Shosa dead! Perform your duties better, and if you’re already doing all that you can do more – I don’t want this vessel to take another major hit!”
The steadfast Yamataian Chui quickly went over her panel and sent down the orders to Engineering and glanced over the reported result. "Yes sir, shields are rapidly refilling to a projected seventy-three percent capacity. All weapons operators are better prepared." she quickly answered for the other stations as the mess of voices was hard to hear clearly in the commotion.
A few shots hit many members of the Pride Wing from the Chiharu's defense matrix, superficial to say the least, but Ushimo-hei did end up being hit hard by an array beam, knocking her shields to a displayed 61.22%. The pods were like shooting practice drones, many of them fell to the attacks. Kuriko was luckily enough to make quite a sweeping destruction. Masako's cloud of missiles was also dead on the target, making the numbers a little easier to manage but still dizzying. Then, Hiroko's instant tactics proved useful, as the shields to the area were restoring she managed to blast through the armor – the result was a single flicker of the atmospheric shields before they vanished. But then, the holes caused from Rin closed up and they couldn’t advance at this point.
"We need to focus our fire!" Kuriko said as she mentally marked a section of the ship where the shields seemed weaker. "Everyone but Masako and I spike that target. As soon as it's down get in there at top speed," Kuriko said as she lowered her rifle to fire in more bursts at the enemy while still trying to dodge enemy fire.
"Alright, one more time, someone open up those shields. Kuriko, you take your team and protect the bay and these shuttles; you'll be on point to take on the extra pods that will be coming in after us. My team is going to be taking our pay load deep inside the ship," Shizuka called over open communications as she opened began manipulating a crate after pulling it out from under her chair.
"Understood Endo-shosa," Kuriko replied. "Good luck." With that, Kuriko returned to firing into the mass of enemies. "Sigmund...this could really be our last fight huh." Kuriko thought; it felt like everything was going in slow-motion to the Neko, perhaps it was because of how crazy the situation was. "Pride Wing 01, once we are in the bay we're to defend the shuttles until Pride Wing 02 returns," Kuriko said over the comms.
I can still fight! Sakaki declared to herself and returned fire. She was good as long as she kept evading and blocking shots. Already she planned a teleport into the landing zone as soon as the shields lifted. This would take away from my capacitors, but I won't last if I don't make it in there...
Just as the satisfying destruction of the generator sent a tingle into her nervous system, Hoshitomo-hei's pleasure was short-lived as the shields reconstituted themselves in the time they spent in the attack. "Shosa, I am unable to launch another salvo," responded the Yamataian over the comms. "I underestimated the might of this flagship's shielding mechanisms. I will not do so again."
Shin perked up, hearing that they were nearing their objective. He prepped his rifle and yelled out to his wing mates, "It's time to kick some pirate ass!"
Masako would do her best to avoid the incoming fire by staying as close to the ship as possible and began to spray the enemy with sub-machine style bursts of fire from her rifles. "I still can't help but think we're in a bit over our heads here," Masako said, "but we're the Pride Wing damn it, let's show these pathetic little cunts who's the top dog in this fight!" she said to the others to try and boost morale a little if she could. "I have one more volley left, Hoshitomo-hei..." she said to her and tried to help by releasing a burst of 5 missiles to try and punch a hole in the shield just enough for them to get through if she could.
Rin continued to evade the green beams that filled the void with death, zigging and zagging at right angles, all while taking aim with what remaining ammunition she had left in her shoulder cannons and another HEI grenade, and even a charged bolt from her forearm for good measure... all upon that single focus. The path forward... it had to be opened at all costs!
Masako had made a wide hole in the shielding, enough for the Pride Wing to push through and the shuttles to fly in two by two. "Advance!" Shizuka yelled over the communication channel as she lifted her LASR and gripped the payload tightly in her right hand. She didn't need to say it twice as the shuttles turned their trajectory and zipped towards the opening at full tilt. At this time the two Gold Wing members of the newly assigned Pride Wing 03 got their own Daisys prepared for the operation and GM-06s ready, steadily breathing as they waited for the boarding order, anxiously waiting for whatever was on the other side of that thick hull.
Shin's breathing was slow and steady, in a sort of trance-meditation. He opened his eyes, going over his suit load out and bringing up his GM-06. He turned and looked at Hara, a smile once again crawling over his face. "It's time to fight and we will succeed."
Hara nodded, tensing up as they drew nearer and nearer. "Right," he said, nodding in Shin's direction. His heartbeat increased with every passing moment. Whatever happened, he would do his best.
Masako waited until the shuttles got through and then got inside the shield herself before turning one rifle on the arrays again to try and nullify them the best she could while using the other to try and knock out more of the variable weapon drones. "Hurry up everyone! Get in," she said as she did her work, trying to cover the shuttles the best she could.
Kuriko fell beside Masako on the other side of the hole, attempting to cover her teammates as well as the shuttles while they filed into the hole. Hopefully we can neutralize this quickly, Kuriko thought as she glanced back toward the Senbu, aware that it wasn't a match for the raw power of a Chiharu.
"Excellent shot. That is the might of the Pride Wing!" exclaimed the Nitô Hei to Masako, as the shield was breached with her superior firepower adding to the mix. "Moving to cover your six, Pride Wing 02." She did not hesitate to make a beeline for the opening through the obstacle, providing a spread of covering gauss fire on the weapons pods, no doubt approaching from the rear. Rin would not let up until she was certain all aboard were in the safety of the landing pad.
And Hiroko 'drunkenly' flitted in, solid beams of aether shining through the darkness, lancing drones one shot after the next, moving with quick succession. Her breath flowed in the way Hiroko commanded it to – inhale ...Acquire target, take aim, exhale, Pull. Target eliminated..., inhale… and so the rhythm went on. The spastic blaze of shots nonetheless joined Masako's more directed assault as Hiroko herself moved towards the objective!
Ushimo-hei kept her defensive posture until she saw Hiroko beginning her charge. She then activated her teleport to bypass the shield hole or close to it and fly into the landing zone. In doing so, Tsukihime would fill any enemy with a load of laser from her shoulder mounts.
The members of the Pride Wing deployed were now securely on the deck of the Chiharu as well as all five shuttles, surprisingly. Though most were a little banged up and scorched, what mattered was the cargo was protected. The massive insides of the Chiharu put the Senbu's expansive armor bay to shame. It was large enough to fit four Sakura-class ships comfortably with plenty more room for shuttles and armor and working crews. But here was the stunning part, it was empty – not even a cargo crate in the whole of the area or anyone there with arms to put up a defensive.
As her gauss cannons spent their remaining ammo on the rearguard barrage, Hoshitomo-hei had a good view of the Senbu in the distance. Though it seemed to be coming closer to engage the Chiharu, prompting a fleeting worry from her. As her Mindy floated down to a landing in the shuttle bay, a secure subspace channel was attempted to be opened at long range to the Anri-class vessel, though it steadily degraded over a few seconds. Only the following was legible to the comms personnel receiving it: "Taii... Concepts of Unconventional Ship System Applica... con... 2... over... shi... emitt..." Whatever else was said was lost as they entered the interior of the vessel and all feeds ceased.
The message was sent straight to the Taii for his own personal review by one of the bridge operators on comms. But then an even more grave situation came to be reported directly above the chatter by the mission ops in charge of the Vermillion Wing. "Sir, Vermillion teams one through four have gone silent. Team five can't hold out much longer. The Vampire, sir, it... overloaded their generators and left them dead in the water without life support." The Female Yamataian had tears fought back in her gray eyes; she had become very attached to the members of the wing she was in charge of.
As Gold Wing was just about to begin its operations without Obsidian Wing, they were in Tactical Field O and all outfitted with Sylph Wing packs and enough weapons to put on quite a show. Obsidian Wing, however, was indeed still on the ship and yet to deploy, their status was still; "prepping."
Nicholas had only been trying to decipher what Rin was trying to tell him when word about Vermillion team came to him. “That is unfortunate, but we need…” he began trailing off at the end, still determined in his own mind to target the Chiharu that Shizuka was raiding. There was a pause in his speech as he looked to the tactical map, staring at it the reality of the situation became clear. The course of action that he was currently taking was tactically unsound – irrational – and for the first time he saw that. “Bring us about! Target the Vampire!” he commanded. “All available Obsidian Wing teams are to launch now to assist Gold Wing. Once we’ve come within weapons range, open fire on the pirate vessel and have the remaining Obsidian teams join what’s left of Vermillion.”
A communication to the Taii came up on his screen, and without a prompt to have him accept or not it came alive and opened up with a small messy-haired Neko with short purple hair. She looked up at the Geshrin with a childlike, toothy grin. "Good news, sir, the captured Vampire is operational. We just need a crew of three to come down and man the thing!" she reported, seemingly almost happy about the combat like Shizuka was... coping with the stress so to say. Before he could even speak, the Black haired Yamataian Chui sprung up from her sear and turned to face the Geshrin XO. "Saiga-taii, I volunteer to take command of the ship." Izuki, the chief bridge operator spoke with the same fire in her eyes that many of her kin did. She was prepared for war and would do anything for victory.
The Geshrin Taii looked somewhat annoyed when the purple haired Neko girl’s communication interrupted his work, but ended up being glad at what she had to say. After the communications window closed and Izuki had asked for command of the salvaged vessel, Nicholas nodded. “Permission granted, Chui. Your performance here on the bridge incapable of being replaced, but for that reason I cannot deny you the opportunity,” he responded to the Yamataian woman. “You may select the two other operators who you wish to accompany you, but please make sure to not to take any essential personnel.”
She bowed at her hips in a most formal and respectful bow. "I will provide you a swift victory Saiga-taii, on my honor as a member of the Kameko Clan." With that she then stood back and turned her head to face down over the bridge. "Yoshihisa-shoi and Toda-heisho, you’re with me. Find someone to replace your terminal and follow me to the MRB, we have new orders!" she yelled over the commotion to call upon her candidates. One of the vicious looking Neko weapons operators and a Mission OPs who was in charge of the killed men out there – she'd have quite the vendetta to fulfill – Izuki knew of no other who was more deserving.
After he had returned a respectful bow to Izuki and her chosen left, Nicholas continued his duties commanding the Senbu. The urge to turn the ship back around and confront the Chiharu with Shizuka remained present in the front of his mind, but the Geshrin used all of his willpower to suppress it. He turned to the officer who had replaced the black haired Yamataian, “We outrange the Vampire, tell the helm to keep us beyond their firing arcs when we move to engage.”
There was no replacement for the chief operator, but there were still the other two who stood at her level. The lovely pink and blue Neko twins who the Geshrin wasn't too fond of were there and ready to receive and relay his orders. "Relaying now, Sir." The next twin spoke up with a new status update. "The problem with the Obsidian Wing has been resolved sir; apparently the CO had taken this time to make emergency ST backups of his Squad." She then commented quietly to her sister, "Can you believe it, what a coward..." Who then answered with a 'tch' and eye roll as she went about her own terminal. "Sir, we're now moving back into tactical field T. Vermillion team 05 also reports that they have destroyed one of the Vampire's deployed AIR units and are making a rapid retreat to our protection." Yes, even with that many Mindys in one place, they still only managed to take out one of the highly skilled, blood-hungry pirates.
“Send my reprimands to Obsidian Wing’s CO,” Nicholas said in a frigid, unaffected tone. “Inform him that his objective is to personally take down the enemy armor wing leader without any assistance from his teams.” Although he knew that he was greatly responsible for the current losses that had been taken, what Obsidian’s commander had done infuriated the Taii. In a situation so desperate there was be no excuse for taking the time to make ST scans – especially if, as an armor wing, his soldiers’ were meant to keep fairly recent backups.
"With pleasure, Sir," Ayano the blue haired twin said in an almost sadistic way as she cued up her connection with the Obsidian Commanding Officer and texted him his new orders. Viewing his reaction via MEGAMI, both of the twins had scowled at him with a snobbish glare, and then they simply returned to their operations. "Gold Wing has commenced attacking the second Chiharu. Initial damage report states that the Wing has only one member to receive armor damage and team two have sustained light shield damage. Operations are continuing smoothly," Ayane, the pink haired twin reported as she glanced over the tactical data regarding the wing who seemed to be doing wonderfully despite the odds.
“Excellent,” the Taii commented as the battle seemed to be going their way, even in spite of the losses taken by Vermillion Wing. When the Senbu and captured Vampire arrived on the scene, the enemy Vampire and her armor would doubtlessly be eradicated fairly quickly. “What about the Sho-… Pride Wing?” he stumbled, still unable to ease his concern for Shizuka and her mission. “Is there any word from them since they entered the enemy vessel?”
"No Sir, there's been no contact from the Pride Wing squadron since their entrance to the ship. But the enemy pods are still circulating around the ship and heading towards the bay they entered. From that alone, I can assume their still alive," the operator said with firm confidence not only in her skill but in the Shosa's combat ability. Then, at this point, they smirked at each other, once they knew he wasn't looking that is. They were happy to see that their Shosa was getting her way into his heart, which made them plenty content now with his footing in the chain of command. "The Vampire craft is collecting its armors; we not in range to fire and the Obsidian Wing is arming. I've given forced launch orders to team zero-one along with its CO to give chase."
“Helm, increase propulsion to flank speed!” Nicholas dictated with a critical desire in his voice. “I don’t want them getting away again!” He looked to the systems chart open on his console, checking to ensure that there was enough power to successfully increase the ship’s pace. "Operations, order all available armor teams and Kameko-chui to pursue the enemy immediately!"
PAUSE
