[Fifth Expeditionary Fleet:Yamatai] Time for Answers...

[Andrew]

Yamatai System

For the second time in the span of two days Katsuko would make the journey to Yamatai. The Akuro III and her escorting Battlegroup, joined by the Akumu Battlegroup that was originally bound for Bizankro, made the jump to the Yamatai system. The nearly three hundred ship arrangement formed up around the Akuro III and pulled towards the homeworld.

“All Fifth Expeditionary Fleet vessels hold defensive formation….” The FIC issued to the fleet, as Katsuko issued specific orders to the other specialized units.

Katsuko and the Command Team had remained in the Briefing Theater, she gave a nod towards Caine, “Have the 17th launch in a defensive formation as honor guard for Akuro, have your XO resume command; I want you at my side.”


Katsuko then send a communication via her special channel to the Imperial Palace:

Emperor Uesu,

With the utmost urgency in the name of the national security of the Empire, I request an immediate audience with your royal majesty and court.

Please come to my new Flagship, as my honored guest.

Signed,
Taisho Motoyoshi Katsuko
Commander, Fifth Expeditionary Fleet

 

[Wes]

I am on my way.

Uesu soon arrived, guarded by a fleet of 352,000 starships he'd taken from the depot at Nataria.

 

[Andrew]

FIC reports the Emperor has a large fleet escorting him. All our ships maintaining their defensive posture.

Once aboard the Akuro III, the Emperor would be politely escorted to the main conference room where Katsuko, Davis and her command staff awaited his arrival.

 

[DocTomoe]

As originally planned for Bizankro, and following along for this journey on their own accord, the Lorath Self Defense Force ships which were assigned originally for the offensive against the SMX, stood vigil over the meeting along with the Akumu group they had been assigned to work beside.

Aboard one of the Broadsides-Class Cruisers, Vice Admiral Heartbreak looked upon the scene which took place before her, an uneasy feeling was in her gut, which made her wings twitch on her back, an old avian instinct trying to nag her into fighting or flying. Instead of either, her finger remained perched over a pair of buttons which were installed on the arm-rest of her command chair. "Heartbreak to all hands," She stated over her neural interface. "hold steady, and wait for the 5th to conduct their affairs and relay to us what we should do. We will only act first if signs of aggression are observed." Just like the ships from the 5th, the LSDF took a defensive posture and watched the proceedings closely.

 

[Andrew]

(I don't recall inviting the Lorath, but hey...whatever floats your boat.)

 

[Wes]

Once in the conference room, Emperor Uesu took a seat at the head of the table, ominously waiting for Katsuko to speak.

 

[Andrew]

Katsuko's lips strained tightly as she seen Uesu for the first time, this was not the way she had intended to meet the Emperor of the Empire.

Two volumetric projections formed above the table, one showing the feed from Nepleslia/Melisson, and the other the results of the genetic match between the Mishhu and Nekos found through experiments at Chie Research Facility.

Once the information had been flowing a momment, Katsuko said in a strained, quiet voice to Uesu. "I believe the skeletons in your closet have become the intelliectual knowledge of the universe." she paused, her cold eyes centering on his sitting figure, "I want explinations Emperor, I want to know why it is you sold us all short, brought shame to your family and clan?"

She felt fury, but tamed it, quelling it beneath her desire to keep the Empire from crumbling apart. She explained further, "I ask these things because they end the legitimacy of you and your entire family's rule, they taint the waters of good faith between us and the other nations of the galaxy."

I will not kill you, nor will I let anyone in this room kill you. I want answers. I want to restore the honor of our nation before it is too late. She assured him.

 

[Tyler]

Caine nodded to Katsuko and flicked open his communicator and patched a message through to David. It was a basic one informing him of the situation, figuring the PANTHEON system would already have given him the basic instructions.

David, you are to form an honor guard around the Akuro III, I'm to remain here at Katsuko's side while Uesu arrives here. Concentrate on defending the ship if things go sour, do not attack unless attacked first.

The message would say before he closed the communicator and nodded to Katsuko and remained where he was, sitting close to her already. When Uesu arrive he nodded his head in respect for position and brushed his hair back over his shoulder as he watched what was going on. Caine had noticed the information presented to them too and kept quiet about it, but privately he didn't want to believe the connection.

His blue eyed glare shifted to the emperor when the 5th Taisho spoke up again. Caine wanted to hear this too and stood by quietly, waiting for it. Perhaps he didn't know and this was PNUgen's doing behind his back? The blonde thought as he watched, read and listened to what was going down.

 

[Wes]

"While I was at PNUgen at the time of the plague, my interests were mainly in the field of developing the Nekovalkyrja," Uesu explained. "I have, however, known throughout the war that the Mishhuvurthyar were variations of the nekos, and that Black Spiral was working with them."

 

[Tyler]

Caine thought about it for a moment, his belief having just got dismissed as easily as he'd gotten it. This was highly disturbing and would settle unrest in his trust in the empire now. But the logical part of himself was trying to reason it out, trying to grasp each angle of the situation. "With all due respect sir, is it true that you didn't inform anyone of this beforehand or when they presented themselves as our enemy." he paused to carefully articulate his thoughts.

"Because if it got out when the war first started, other nekos may balk at the idea of slaying their 'sisters' even if they are enemies?" Caine said thoughtfully.

 

[Toshiro]

Yaichiro looked to Caine briefly, wondering if a Taii should even speculate on the matter, much less speak his thoughts aloud in Uesu's presence...even if he was being questioned, he was still the Emperor.

Perhaps...Ketsurui-tenno-sama should give his own reasons, ne? A Taii speculating on the actions of the Emperor vocally in his presence may not be the most respectful way to seek answers.

He communicated to Caine...they needed answers, yes, but this was the Admiralty's and Uesu's time to speak, from his point of view.

 

[Andrew]

Katsuko said coldly, "So why did you not tell us? Let your commanders in the field know why it was this relentless enemy sought to destroy us." She moved closer to him, leaning onto the table. "To know motive, is to understand strategy, it could of even lead to a peaceful resolution if you had bothered to be honest."

She said then bluntly pointing out, "With all due respect, your role at PNUgen would have put you into a position where you could of done something to prevent all this. Yet...as you have done throughout this entire war, you did nothing!" she pushed off the table and walked around it to sit opposite of him. "As far as I, or anyone else who knows or is about to know about all of this -- You are as guilty as the rest of PNUgen, they have paid the price but you seem to have evaded it."

 

[Tyler]

Caine glanced to Yaichiro at his telepathic communication and glanced to katsuko's building anger and realized his faux pax here. He'd possibly given Uesu a way out of it by offering an explanation, but then if he admitted to that he'd be insulting them entirely. Perhaps, but if he admits to that then it shows that he doesn't trust us on the matter where he should. And if he keeps quiet about it then there's something more to this that he's hiding. Caine said telepathically on an encrypted channel to his friend Yaichiro.

 

[Andrew]

Katsuko issued to Caine and Toshiro, Keep quiet...I would rather I be the only one to speak, then if there are concequences to be had-- I can bare them alone.

 

[Wes]

"It wasn't something I wanted to share," Uesu said simply to Katsuko. "You know that the plague secured Yamatai's future from Nepeslian conquerers who ruled at the time, and, with the spin, secured the downfall of the Elysians, who at that time were our mortal enemy...surely you can see how such an act, though distasteful, was...beneficial. All of Yamatai had been offered the chance to upgrade to Geshrin and thus avoid the plague that had been spreading for five years. On the day of activation, the worst of our planet was the part that died."

 

[Toshiro]

Under a carefully maintained face, Yaichiro's blood began to come to a boil as he thought to himself...

Justification...no apologies, no regrets. Just a 'the ends justify the means' speech drenched with xenocism...

With this, Yaichiro glanced to Davis...wondering what his reaction would be...it seemed war itself could be an option, given the Emperor's lack of tact.



While Saito did not like the Emperor's attitude, she was more concerned with the Lorath at the moment, who had elected to follow...and could complicate matters.

"While we respect and are grateful for your support, we worry that you may receive punishment should you be grouped in with us...we would think no less of you if you return to Nyli." She said over a comm link.



Kahori, meanwhile, was performing her duties as the XO from the briefing room, her telepathic access to the IES allowing her to perform her duties and observe this at the same time. Again, she elected to remain silent and contemplative...even as Katsuko began to lash out. She sent a heavily encrypted communication to the Taisho.

Please be careful, Katsuko-sama...while his honor may be in question, he is still the Emperor, and a minimum level of respect is necessary. His sins are heavy, but yelling at him may not be the best course of action...perhaps informing him that his sins are poised to become common knowledge by all races and that SAINT can't really stop it...THAT might be a superior motivation for change...though it should be revealed with care so as not to force a repeat of past mistakes...

 

[Tyler]

Rebuffed by Katsuko, Caine realized he's nearly overstepped his bounds and was somewhat relieved when Uesu didn't catch it. But his seething cynicism was starting to piss Caine off. He would understand why Katsuko was seething and lashing out at the emperor like this. Privately, Caine's father had never approved of the emperor's motivations and methods from what he knew, and now Caine knew why.

The emperor was blatantly incompetent it seemed, by his words and the way he was harshly insulting the Neps. Given the Nepleslians weren't the nicest people in the universe, but they had as much of a right to exist as they, the nekos and yamataians, did. For now, he'd keep his reservations to himself unless called on by Katsuko or Uesu, though for all he and Yaichiro knew, the 'emperor' was ignoring them.

 

[DocTomoe]

Saito's message was received by the LSDF group, and when it was received, the Vice Admiral assigned to the group could not help but to laugh softly. She replied to Saito over a laser-based communication line to prevent the Emperor's ships from intercepting the communication. "We have promised our support to you. If trouble arises from this, we will deal with it just as you will. Also... we do have a want to know more of this situation... especially from what our researchers have come to know from a 'Shoi Miles Gunn' some time ago. Our High Priest seems to think this situation may be related, we want to see this event through and find out as much as we can."

Vice Admiral Heartbreak was intentionally vague, but she did seem to get her point across... she wanted to be there to support the Matriarchy's allies. There was another reason for her presence however, the subject of the investigation, Uesu. The Lorath High Priest had his own interests in the matter at hand.

 

[Tom]

"You know that the plague secured Yamatai's future from Nepeslian conquerers who ruled at the time, and, with the spin, secured the downfall of the Elysians, who at that time were our mortal enemy...surely you can see how such an act, though distasteful, was...beneficial. All of Yamatai had been offered the chance to upgrade to Geshrin and thus avoid the plague that had been spreading for five years. On the day of activation, the worst of our planet was the part that died."

The lightness with which the emperor spoke of the near genocide of his people infuriated Davis to a point he had never felt himself reach before, and it took the Nepleslian a great degree of willpower to simply place his open hands on the table between Uesu and Katsuko and clear his throat.

He stared at a point in the center of the polished table as he spoke, for he feared the sight of the emperor's face right now would make him do something... regrettable.

"I would think the deaths of so many people would deserve an amount of respect," he said, his voice slightly elevated and the words spilling out with deliberation. "They were living, breathing people, not animals to be slaughtered whenever it felt convenient to do so. Billions were killed, Mr. Uesu. Billions."

With that, Davis pushed off the table and backed away a few steps, crossing his arms and putting some much-needed distance between himself and Uesu.

 

[Andrew]

Katsuko said quietly, “I do not know what is more sick, the fact you have justified it to yourself, or that you just tried to justify it to us.”

Katsuko sighed, slipping her fingers around a datapad she said to the Emperor as she got up. “Let me walk you back to your shuttle, we need to talk alone…” She got up and headed towards the door, stopping to give an ushering sway of her arm for him to take the lead.