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RP [Task Force Inquisition] Mission 1, Space Phase - Don't Fear the Reaper

Launch Bay/Catapult

Kikyo lost the fight to keep herself from shaking. She was immediately behind Shasse. She gripped her aether submachine gun as she was g-forced into the back of her suit's interior and pushing herself into herself. As she slowed down and suddenly had control, she instinctively hit the brakes and flopped around near Hayami until she was able to stand upright in relation to her.

She was still trembling slightly, but more out of adrenaline than anything. She felt sweat want to bead up all over her, at least she hoped it sweat. She'd cleaned her suit yesterday and hadn't spilled anything that she remembered. She let that thought go out of her mind as she looked to Hayami and smiled from behind her sealed helmet.
 
Launch Bay/Subspace Catapult
Something going on in her head

Akira was fairly silent as her group was raised into the subspace catapult. Her mind started to focus on the task at hand and fell into a state of a battle trance she has long practised over the years. She went over the sub-units of the Squad she made up based on each member's service records.

Of course, they are likely to go out the window since she does not fully know what is going on outside of the ship at the moment. So she did what she could to patch her AIES into the ship's sensors to achieve a greater state of battlefield awareness.

 
♫ Ghost Blade - Stage 1 Theme / Rock

Space, Near Orochi Squadron


For the Mamushi starfighters that were the first to scream out into the void, they were abruptly greeted to a lightshow of epic proportions on display. Streaks of green Positron cannon rounds swept by rapidly as the Orochi Squadron vanguard and the enemy fleet began exchanging gunfire in earnest, their ill-appropriated Star Army legacy technology the equal of what they faced. It was obvious who held the upper hand, though, as the various Irim Heavy Gunships had visually sustained initial damages from the ambush on dropping out of hyperspace. But the old Zesuaium hulled warhorses were not out of the fight, as they struggled through the positron shells fired by the escorts electrical sapping effects to finally return fire with their own Transposition weaponry in response, scoring several hits.


Space, Near the Fenrir

The moment of tension experienced by the space infantry inside the catapult system broke at the speed of light, as the 8 gunships wasted no time aligning just long enough to blast out their power armor wings into the blackness of space towards the menacing cluster of bootstrapped guns that served as the enemy's flagship. Though the subspace encasement protecting the space infantry from CFS effects as they raced bravely (and some would say recklessly) into the heart of the opposing formation, the first thing they could see up close was the 10 Arashi escorts breaking into two groups and accelerating forward...

...But not before they deployed what looked like thousands of power armors leaping out into the battlespace at once from the belly of each of the destroyers. Their coordination was eerily efficient, like waves of the ocean... which was likely because each of them showed up on the Orochi Wing's armor team's AIES's as M1 Lamia units, the venerable precursor of the Mindy 4 that each of them was ensconced within. However vaguely familiar the feminine shape was, the old design was much more durable (being made of zesu alloy) and carried a shield much like the Daisy, in addition to a energy beam rifle and missile launchers on the shoulders in the Wicked Arms style. In such a critical mass of numbers they would be impossible to deal with... but fortunately it seemed the formation was more interested in shooting out towards the YSS Shinigami and its Kagai escorts in the distance, rather than choosing to engage the 800 strong Mindies.

Unfortunately... swarms of Wicked Arms anti-armor missiles fired by the parting escort destroyers had other plans for our infantry wing, now in the ominous shadow of the beastly battleship that was their target. They could feel the raw power eminating from its weapon batteries, almost overwhelming their sensors and slowing down reaction time to the defensive missile swarm. Kurosora-heisho blasted a couple incoming with her countermeasure warheads before they could reach her, yelling over the comms, "Eyes open... Incoming fire! Evasive maneuvers!" The warning wasn't enough to alert some rookies, though, who were still disoriented from the launch ,and more than one 99-er soon went from a hot, explosive fireball into the cold hands of the space Reaper.

Meanwhile, the starfighters comms once more were filled with the voice of the XO, "Heartbreak Squadron, join with Suzume Squadron and engage Arashi Alpha squadron. Karasu and Washi squadron will deal with Beta. Orochi, Awaji, Iyo and Iki will cover your attack. Watch out for their weapon pods, which likely need to be cleared before you can get a killing shot." Sure enough, the YSS Orochi and its kin now also broke into two squads of 4 ships that pressed to engage their opponents, while also clearing the way for the YSS Shinigami to bring its Main Weapon Array's aether shock to bear on the enemy battleship, which was preparing to fire its own several Transposition Flux Cannons once again.


(to be continued)
 
Launch Bay/Catapult

Akane and Aoi were presed back into their seats as the launch acceleration threw them into space. Around them, the battle was starting to shape up. It was mostly older equipment, but still effective. "Ok! Lets see what we can see." Akane said, angling towards the nearest squadron to form up. Aoi for her part calmly went to work in the backseat of the two neko fighter to bring the powerful sensor and communications array up and give them a much better picture of what exactly was happening.
 
Space, Near the Fenrir
♫ MK - 17

It was within the swarms of the oncoming anti-armor missiles that Hayami's armor excelled. Her armor had a large amount of defensive options available for the situation at hand, and she only needed to use one of those to protect herself and a few others around her, as well. Hoping that Kikyo was still close, Hayami released a swarm countermeasure pods, seeking to form a heat screen to protect Kikyo and the others around her from the missile pods. "If you have countermeasures, release them now!" She yelled to Kikyo, Shasse, and the other blue-skinned Neko. As she released her countermeasures, Hayami raised and sighted her SMG in the direction of the swarms of Lamia units. As a group, the hostile armors did not seem to be an immediate threat, but she sensed that a few of them would hinder her boarding efforts against the Fenrir battleship.

In less than a third of a second, Hayami's AIES had calculated the trajectories of her targets in relation to Hayami's own flying arc and she had aligned the end of her weapon with the designated firing curves before a potent series of aetheric pulses discharged from her weapon. In total, she fired thirty-six shots at nine different Lamia armors, each aimed at the center mass areas of the armors. She designed four aetheric pulses to each target, maintaining a rigorous and disciplined shooting style in spite of the chaos of the battle surrounding her...
 
YSS Shinigami, Bridge Main Level

Seated at the Systems and Safety Monitoring station on the starboard side of the battle-ship's impressive bridge , Noboyuki's calls to adjust the CFS for offensive operations were quickly heeded, as the Sharie's impressive aether generators easily we able to pump more power into its weapons over defense. After all, they were not immediately under fire being at the rear of the formation, though by the looks of what was shaping up on the view screen it was only a matter of time before the might of their enemy would focus on them instead of Orochi Squadron, who had soaked up the first alpha strike and was still pressing forward, opening the way for the Shinigami to add its guns to the assault without causing too much friendly fire.

From the command chair, Shosho Kimberly Kier, admiral of the assembled Task Force Inquisition, was intently studying the makeup of the forces arrayed against the might of her Ninth Legion. It was clear to her that the battle had begun in earnest, although it was unexpected to see such an impressive and foreboding battleship, and part of her wondered how it even was managing to hold together. These Graxlat salvagers surely had more tricks up their sleeves, and she hoped Orochi had no gotten in over their head... though with Taisa Hachimitsu's battle-hungry reputation it was not surprising in the slightest.

When she heard Noboyuki's comment, she turned away from the volumetric displays that were showing the swarm of what the MEGAMI now estimated as 40,000 M1 Lamia armors launched from the enemy escorts now approaching the outer defensive screen of their Kagai Assault Ships, whose batteries of Type 32 Light Anti-Armor Turrets began to open fire in response. "I'll be counting on you, Kita-shoi. With the sheer numbers we are currently facing, it's inevitable that some will slip through our defenses. Make sure our internal force fields and other countermeasures are ready. We have to assume the enemy has knowledge of our ships to some degree, and will likely try to damage our critical systems first."

From down on the tactical level, a green-haired Nekovalkyrja at the weapon's station announced: "Weapons ready... aether shock array at full charge!" to which the composed Shosho calmly gave the word. "Good. Target the enemy battleship's core section. Full beam... we don't want to hit the Mindy armor teams, only weaken its layered CFS shields penetrate to the hull. Heavy turrets, focus fire on the enemy's transposition cannons to disable them... point defense turrets and anti-armor launchers, fire at will. We have only seconds to thin that swarm before it is upon us."
 
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YSS Shinigami, Systems and Monitoring

"Have no fear, Kier-shôshô! No defense is truly impregnable, but don't count on those junkers getting by unscathed, either. On top of the Shinigami's defenses, the energy-splintering caused by the damage-boosting CFS will scatter the shots, covering a wider area at the cost of the usual damage per second we usually output at 80%. There are definitely ways around this maneuver, and the success of this strategy will hinge if they will fall for tactic." Truth be told, Kita-shosa had never done something like this before; he had never experienced anti-boarding techniques in the simulations, nor in his first mission on the Imperator. All he could do is just try to think like how the enemy would think if they knew a bit about their ship.

It was still a 50/50.

Noboyuki brought up various HUDs at his station; cross-section, system status, structural monitoring, everything he needed for the task. "I will give the order to change the CFS balance once a substantial number of boarders break through." The chief added. "Either that, or after we get plumbed by the enemy clusterhecks. Whichever happens first, I guess!"

"Engaging interior force fields and counter measures now! Engineering, adjust the CFS to have it split the weapons fire exclusively on the port, starboard, and aft sections of the Shinigami, the fore section weapons need to take full advantage of that 80% increase! The enemy would want to get in through the sides and rear if they could help it."

Noboyuki said on the direct channel to the Engineering Bay. He felt very nervous, and hoped that the enemy would either split into smaller groups as well as suffer significant enough losses to give the split-up more impact. The goal behind it, after all, was to make the enemy boarding party more manageable for the ship itself to fend off, and if any got through, also easier for the anti-boarding party to defend against.

In the meantime, all the Chief Engineer can do is keep his eyes glued to his screens.
 
YSS Shinigami
Power Armor Bay

The towering birb cocked her head to the side. Shouldn't we be heading out into space? Sora turned on the spot cautiously, looking at the weapons everyone had on them. There was that one neko with a friggin' flamethrower - wait, they had those? - And then she herself had a gatling cannon longer than her arm. Not exactly a ship-friendly loadout. That's... Weird...

Space~
Armin whooped as he engaged a pointless aileron roll, banking over to where he and his brother were ordered. "Finally got something to do again! I don't care if it's just fighters, I wanna get movin' again!" Loaded up with their full loads of torpedoes again, both of the Sargases could easily annihilate battleships given the opportunity. Hopefully they could dent the elderich starship fusion enough to help out... But not now. For now, the twins engaged the enemy fighters.
 
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Space near Fenrir
Shasse had barely recovered from almost smashing into a small rock at light speed when the comms exploded in yelling, she could hear Hayami ordering the deployment of countermeasures if they had any and watched as she began to open fire at the huge mass of M1 Lamia armours which menacingly moved towards their ships, eager to tear them apart. With all the chaos around her the darkness of space had been lit up by brilliant flashes of all sorts, the battle was huge from the perspective of a single mindy suit and could easily overwhelm an inexperienced fighter, Shasse on the other hand simple grinned as the countermeasures intercepted missiles around them and set of eerily quiet flashes of light. "After all, no one in space will hear you scream."

The short neko shouldered her LATR and sighted the squad Hayami had attacked with her own barrage watching the shots arc towards them before she turned her attention elsewhere, it was too early in the battle to be looking for enemy boarders but she could keep an eye on the closest ones. Spying another of the front groups she aligned her sights and had the suit calculate the required leading angle. With an almost cute giggle she fired 2 shots for each armour she saw methodically emptying the 10rnd clip, when it read empty she held the rifle in her offhand while bringing her 20mm gauss cannon to bear against a second group and gripping the barrel with her right hand. Two shots were fired with the intent to surprise for than to destroy as she moved to reload and take shots at the second group of disoriented armours.

"Hayami, I've got two full sets of mini missile pods and a backpack full of guass rounds minus the two i just used, Kikyo I don't want to rush you darling but we are getting paid to kill bad guys and have fun. You may be in that sealed suit but with some atmosphere that shaking would be far more visible." Shasse trailed off slightly before finishing, "It's ok to be afraid, just means your senses will be on alert and that makes you stronger, so whad'ya say ready to blow these losers out of the sky?"

Shinigami
Miles continued to scan through his triage list checking the monitoring status of other mindys to ensure no one would be left unattended if the sensors were faulty, so far so good and he brought the few other combat medics to the top of his list to keep an eye on the group of science nerds he was so proudly part of. They hadn't been given any direct orders yet and he could practically taste the tension building in the hundreds if not thousands of assembled troops as they waited, blind to the outside and giddy with fear and excitement. Miles was no exception, with this many fighters and barely a single combat medic to each squadron when the damage reports started pouring in Miles knew there would be casualties.

He clutched his rifle and closed his eyes wishing that the battle wouldn't become as bloody as he knew it would, in the absence of a chance at a bloodless conflict he had only one option and instead prepared himself for the number he knew would decrease, potentially detrimentally. Miles opened a comms link with Mikodimus for no reason other than to talk to his brother, "Hey Miko, looks like this will get messy quick and we seem to be slightly lacking in medics. I won't lie there is a very real chance that a lot of people may die and." The minkan choked on his words slightly but took a breath and went again, "I just, please don't be as reckless as I know you can be. I don't want to see your name turn red, I don't think I could handle it right now."
 
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YSS Shinigami

Moesashi nodded to their superior with respect before briefly turning to look back at her assembled team. "Understood." The short neko did a count of heads, before motioning the group towards the exit of the Power Armor Bay. As she did, Yama turned her head and spoke back to Himemiya in a seemingly upset tone. "It is with an attitude like that." She was an older soldier, she knew how things worked within chain of command, even with a reputation.

Once all were ready, Moesashi opened the door and proceeded to take her troops down to the lower deck. The firing team were not easy to miss as the team of broad green Daisys broke through the waves of scattering troops headed for their positions amidst the massive battleship. "Things are heating up outside, stay on your toes." She turned around with a smile, breaking the tension a little bit. "Just another day!"

 
(Now recalibrating the battlespace, please wait......... Hang on tight. Another post will follow this one. ;))

♫ Durga - E.S. Posthumus

Space, Near the Fenrir & Orochi Squadron

All around the massive enemy vessel the fighting broke out, as the Orochi Wing's Mindies tried to disperse and dispatch the relentless peppering of missiles headed their way. Fortunately, it did not endure, and casualties were minimal, however Hayami and Shasse soon found that their aggressive retaliatory gunfire into the trailing end of the Arashi's deployed infantry had caused a few of its Lamia units to be shot down and explode like birds culled from a flock. This however quickly attracted the attention of two whole squads of the swarm that turned around and started burning back towards them. The enemy armors wasted no time brandishing WickedArms GM-02 Energy Beam Rifles as they closed distance, their old yet quite familiar two pronged design belching aetheric fury onto the members of 1st Squad, some of which were still recovering from the previous attack. Their sturdy shields were held up, deflecting some of the gunfire that the recovering Nekos of Orochi threw their way once they realized they were under attack from a new vector.

Hayami could hear Kikyo cry out as she took a purple blast right on her chest plate when she hesitated a moment too long, knocked backwards from the protective formation and leaving a trail of smoke... her panicked breathing over comms the only sign she was still alive, but spiraling out of control. The blue-skinned Fumiko also was gunned down, as the energy fire ripped through one of her arms holding her weapon, sending hemosynth bubbling into space as her Mindy tried to suture the wound and keep her from going into shock. "Suzuki-shoi!" warned Kurosora-heisho, as she blocked one of the beams with her shoulder, taking the hit for her commanding officer as a already spent missile pod was knocked off its post, sparking heavily.

Nearby, the pilots of Heartbreak commenced the attack on the escorts in earnest. This was not going to be a cakewalk, however, as Akane and Aoi found that the aformentioned Weapon Pods were already beginning to form around the hulls of the 4 Arashis in the Alpha grouping, the first of the discs of light began to discharge rapid transphasic beam in staggered volleys at the Mamushis as they drew closer. This forced evasive actions for much of the squadron, as the Sargas brothers found themselves like many others unable to immediately launch their torpedoes... rushing late to the fight, 'Tinkerbelle' and 'Cookies' found themselves taking a hit to their CFS shields, which were holding for now. Although powerful, the pods were slow and easy targets if fire could be focused correctly... as some of the Irim Gunship's suppressive fire from the distance proved with a bright shattering flash.


Every combatant no matter the location could feel the raw energy building all around the battlespace, as the melee was finally joined by the YSS Shinigami activating its massive Aether Shock Array. A dazzling beam of scalar energy lanced out through the great distance, as space itself opened up and released its energy, cutting into the amalgamated battleships' CFS bubble like a hot knife through butter. The effect was amplified when the 8 Irim Heavy-Gunships of Orochi Squadron added their own Transposition Flux Cannons to the destructive symphony, boring a hole straight through to the piecemeal hull and causing heavy damage to its midsection. The way forward for the armor boarding team was now largely accomplished.... though something unexpected was about to change that well-laid plan.


The ominous flagship of the salvager kings, despite the smoking purple crater in its belly, continued to power up its fearsome arsenal of Transposition Flux weapons to retaliate upon the foolish members of the Task Force Inquisition that had refused to back down. However, right before firing their powerful energies outwards upon their foes, the aetheric charge building up in the prongs of the bladed arrays began to become unstable. Sensors would detect the cause a split-second before it all came to a head -- the jury-rigged grid of aether reactors had been unable to handle the strain of firing their weapons more than once, and the damage caused by the Sharie had melted a critical piece of the Graxlat's engineering. The flickering become more and more wild, as the core of the battleship codenamed 'Fenrir' where the armor had been pierced started burning white-hot and also visually rippling. With no real safety systems in place, there was nothing to stop the cascading overload.... as all the Transposition weaponry was instead discharged at once on a single point in space centered on the doomed capital ship.

Time itself seemed to stand still again, a ripple shooting out with a quiver through all those nearby, as the collapsing rift began to form. Space itself folded painfully first, as what amounted to a cosmic scream scrambled all sub-space communication systems and disabled all electronics temporarily in the immediate vicinity. Mindy, Lamia, Mamushi, Irim and Arashi alike were buffeted by this immense pressure... and soon the quintessent dark energy nova broke the silence, Nekovalkyrja forced to watch helplessly in slow-motion as it began to grow outward and explode everything near its epicenter at the atomic level.

Chaos reigned as space-time righted itself at last, as the monstrous ship was completely rent asunder by its own devices. The surviving chunks of old Irim and Nozomis that made up its structure flew outward like giant zesuiaum shrapnel, pulverizing any fighter or armor unlucky enough to lie in their path and sending the others scattering like leaves in the stellar wind. The YSS Orochi flagship, itself barely able to retain helm control, only narrowly missed being struck the hail of shattered weapon arrays, as it's sensor dish was clipped clean off and sparks flying. However the remaining 7 Irim's of Orochi Squadron were not so lucky -- the Awaji, Ogi, and Tsukishi were completely impaled upon the giant indestructible blades of their former contrymen, while the Iki, Sado and Tsushima were hit by multiple sharp fragments and sheared cleanly in two, as the vacuum of space claimed their crews before forcefields could be brought up on emergency power. And so this would be the resting place of the venerable Orochi Squadron, victims of the Reaper's sharp sickle...

The enemy Arashi escorts were not unscathed either, as they were sent reeling out of control towards the YSS Shinigami, their weapons pods temporarily destroyed by the scalar pulses. Some of their Lamia's that stopped to engage the Orochi Wing were disabled or destroyed, but the bulk of them had already made it to the Ninth Legion's battleship intact, albiet thinned out by defensive fire.

....

However, all was not lost yet. In the sudden deadly stillness of the graveyard of fresh debris where the Fenrir once hovered, a handful of courageous souls, through skill (or perhaps luck) managed to escape the darker fate of the others...

(to be continued)
 
Space, Near the Fenrir & Orochi Squadron
♫ Krewella - Alive


The aetheric lances discharging from the end of her SMG connected with most of her targets, indicated by the periodic but not infrequent explosions among the swarm of Lamia armors. However, the shots quickly attracted the attention of the rest of the rearguard, which broke off and directed retaliatory fire towards the 1st Squad. With her initial advantage compromised, Hayami took swift action to rectify the situation, while seeking to destroy more Lamia armors in the process. The activation of her teleportation system was marked by nothing but her sudden and discrete disappearance. By the time the hostile Lamia armors had processed her disappearance, another barrage of aetheric lances were upon them, this time coming from a vertical flanking angle.

Hayami reappeared in a position above and slightly behind the hostile rearguard of Lamia armors, in a perfect position to lay down more aetheric fire upon the group of armors which had detached itself from the main group to pursue the 1st Squad. By the time Hayami had sighted her SMG, her Mindy's AIES had executed a fresh set of calculations and was displaying a new group of targets for the pilot to fire upon. With only a series of mental commands and accuracy adjustments, the SMG within her hands discharged forty times, designating four pulses each, for the ten Lamia armors that she had targeted. As the SMG fired, Hayami moved at a parallel angle in relation to the movement of the Lamia formation. Not even three seconds had passed before Hayami burned through a capacitor charge to teleport once again, this time manifesting her presence directly below the hostile formation, at an angle from which she would be firing vertically in order to hit her targets.

Hayami replicated the same disciplined and mathematical shooting style as before, although with more risk involved. She fired fourty-four more aetheric pulses at her eleven more targets, designating four pulses for each one, all of which were aimed at center mass. She was almost too focused on annihilating the Lamia to register Kikyo's cries as she was struck down by presumably, one of the aetheric blasts from the rearguard. Her status indicators blinked light red within Hayami's AIES, and before the magenta-haired Neko could fully process it, Fumiko's status indicators did as well. Burning through her last capacitor charge, Hayami teleported back in position with the 1st Squad.

Kikyo and Fumiko were still within visual range, but the former was spiraling out of control and the latter had hemosynth spewing out of her armor, and into space. Fumiko was certainly in worse shape than Kikyo, and didn't seem to be in a state to pilot her armor.

"Kikyo, stay calm and return home. Shasse and I have to go after Fumiko." Hayami yelled over the squad's channel, before marking out Fumiko's position for Shasse to see in her HUD as well. She was confident that Kikyo would be able to take care of herself, and perhaps even continue the fight if she so desired. However, something else began to overshadow her thoughts...


The looming disturbances of quintessent dark energy were palpable within the void, and the warnings from her sensors became more insistent, making the hair on her four tails stand on end. Suddenly and without warning, everything went black. The channels were silent, her HUD had disappeared, and Hayami could only hear the breathing within her ears. She looked towards the looming presence of the Fenrir battleship, which now bore a rippling hole in it's midsection. It would have been the perfect entrance point for a boarding operation, but an overwhelming sensation that it was a trap overtook her, and by then, the unexpected had unfolded before her eyes.

An invisible and silent, but undoubtedly potent series of white explosions, followed by a violent wave of stellar wind, culminated in a powerful release, sending massive zesuaium chunks in all directions, impaling starship, armor, and flesh alike in it's cosmic fury.

When her AIES flashed back to life, Hayami's status signals were all green. Others however, weren't so lucky...
 
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Space, near the fenrir
Battlescene II - FlyByNo

Shasse concentrated on continuing her pattern of disorientating then destroying all the lamia armours she could see using the gauss cannon and LATR in perfect conjunction, she briefly noticed their silent demise as she targeted the next ones not slowing her barrage of high caliber destruction. She was created a neko for the sole purpose to fight and to win and not even death would be the end of her, with a manic grin she stopped to admire the floating mass of disconnected limbs and twisted metal that had once been an enemy squad. Pivoting through space the blue skinned neko put some distance between her and the next group watching as Hayami clinically destroyed another nearby, with the battleships and fighters in the background it certainly made for a spectacular sight.

It was then that Kikyo and Fumiko were struck down by beams of purple destruction presumably emanating from the closest lamia squad which had noticed the group and was on the offensive. Shasse's HUD may not have been a medic's triage display but it told her enough, hearing Hayami's words she sighed within her helmet and looked over to the mindy trailing hemosynth. "And so the crimson tears haunt me." she thought inwardly before responding to Hayami, "Neither one of us is a medic so what exactly do you hope to achieve going after her, as much as it may pain you to hear this it's nothing more than a waste of time. She can no longer fight in that condition and we would only be putting ourselves at risk."

Shasse pulled the rifle up to her shoulder looking down the sight as she had done so many times already, her breath came in slow intervals her mind drifting to her fallen comrades. While she knew what she said was the truth it didn't stop her from wanting to help, but now was not the time. She noticed the opening in the enemy flagship's defense and was about to suggest a boarding operation when the reactors detonated. In a single moment nothing seemed to matter anymore as her HUD flickered and systems faltered, turning she saw a sight beyond imagination. An impossible amount of debri spiraling through space, shredding all that it touched with the remains of ships and armours alike flying past her, but she felt nothing. "And so the crimson tears haunt me."
 
The Vacuum of SPEHS

Armin yelped as one of the shots strayed a bit too close to his fighter, the pure energy briefly flashing against his shielding technically harmlessly. His brother called out, "Hey! Watch their deployed defenses! They're more flexible than what we've got back home." He swooped up and then down in a wavelike motion to set himself next to Armin, who returned, "Awwww they ain't too dangerous if we blow 'em up! Concentrate your fire on one at a time until it stops shooting back!"


YSS Shinigami

"Sounds like they're busy out there," Sora stated somewhat quietly. "Even then, I find it unlikely we'll be boarded this late into the battle. Especially... Especially since the Shinigami hasn't recieved any significant damage. Or at least it seems like that. Just shockwaves."
 
YSS Shinigami - Bridge
Shosho Kier nodded as a sizeable hole was smashed into the side of the hulking Fenrir, her fingers straying to the console beside her to organise the coming attack. She almost missed it, everything happened in the blink of an eye. The aetheric detonation swept across the Shinigami like a tidal wave, the giant suddenly going dead in the water as its displays winked out. A cold moment passed, the utter destruction outside visible through the clear windows of the Bridge and elsewhere on the ship. The entire of space seemed to be on fire, hundreds of different craft exploding near similtaneously at the demise of the Fenrir.

She blinked once, twice. Channels for all bar one of the Task Force screeched with nothing but silence, the last channel - to the YSS Orochi - in anarchy for a split moment before they too succumbed to silence. Their troops were scattered but so was the enemies'. Mourning would come later, for now it was survival. The enemy was in disarray, their commands from their nexus suddenly severed. A shout from the green-haired weapons operator, "TRACKING SYSTEMS RESTARTING."

A broadcast on all channels, to anyone who could hear. "We need to finish them while they're confused - you are soldiers of the Star Army of Yamatai! No mercy! No surrender! Let them feel your rage!"

YSS Shinigami - Power Armor Bay
It was at this moment that the HUDs of what was to be the boarding party flickered and switched, ugly red splotches appearing on their maps. With the lack of point-defence for their flagship, a handful of enterprising hostiles were attempting to break in all over the ship. Decks 110, 70, 65, 64, and 50 were lighting up more and more by the second.

Remnants of the Fenrir
The enemy were in a frenzy, realising that their main means of support had pershed, taking many of their comrades with it. A blood fury seemed to erupt across their scattered ranks, commanders rallying their troops for a kamakaze-like final stand. The movements of the Lamia and enemy fighters grew more and more erratic, little regard for their lives evident. Where there was once order, there was now a swarm, encroaching rapidly on the under-defended Sharie.

Fumiko was spiralling towards the depths of space, looking to be lost in the sea of debris and fallen, both friendly and enemy. Kikyo was much closer, her high voice still panting and whimpering. As those nearby watched, a wing of 5 Lamias sped forth, aiming for an easy kill to give retribution to their fallen allies.

A tendril of maybe fifty Lamia suddenly broke from the haze of emissions and shrapnel, darting between the countless blockages and spinning weapon systems, one of the remaining inspirational commanders rallying the combined forces of their Graxlat and perhaps other, leaderless rogues. Firing their thrusters dangerously through this minefield, several flashes of light could be seen, the unlucky of these mavericks becoming dashed upon their fallen allies. It was clear they had one destination in mind - the crippled Sharie.

YSS Orochi
The Orochi was reeling from the huge slab of shrapnel that had smashed into their sensors, though the much smaller Irim-Class looked to have whatever systems that had been hit restart easily, unlike with the outdated Sharie. Whatever was happening in there nobody could tell, its weapons still blasting and shields aglow as it defended itself.
 
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YSS Shinigami PA Bay
Miles saw the spreading red that was seeping through all the cracks composing his HUD and shivered a little inside his suit, the ranks of PA still hadn't moved as a whole as Miles only noticed a single group had broken off to move around the ship, the fire squad. With no ranking to his name or the desire to give orders in a situation where he wasn't the one in control and so he stood among his group with Miko and Sora not far away waiting for their team leader to make a decision. "They will get into the ship en mass if we don't move soon, I don't like this." He spoke in a private link to his brother shuffling on his feet.

Space near the Fen-Fugged
Shasse saw Fumiko spiraling out of control away from them with no signs she would be moving by herself anytime soon and a squad of Lamias closing in, it was clear the frenzied combatants were seeking some sort of vengeance by killing a single one of their troops and she was torn mentally. The neko had already expressed the pointlessness of trying to save her and was sticking by that assessment.

But with the group moving in close to finish off their comrade, she couldn't bear the thought of them reveling in taking the life of her team mate even if she herself had written it off. "I hope you can forgive me for this, Fumiko, may your soul come back to us or wind its way to heaven." She spoke softly before shouldering her rifle and sighting the spinning bloody body of the other neko.

Breathe in
Breathe out
Breathe in


Shasse squeezed the trigger with her eyes closed, some small part of her hoping it wouldn't hit her friend and save her that emotional burden and the awkward conversation in a weeks time. While the other part of her hoped it would magically kill all the lamia near her instead and they could still save her.
 
Space - Remnants of the Fenrir

Beneath the Zesuaium faceplate of her floating Mindy, Hayami’s cyan eyes opened and glanced from left to right, taking in every detail of the HUD and the essential elements of their surroundings. Her eyelids twitched in an unpredictable and erratic fashion, perhaps on account of the waves of radiation and quintessence outside, or more likely, fear. Just to be safe, She would visit the medbay after the battle, to have a scan executed to check for possible genetic damage. The zesuaium suit of armor she wore was completely undamaged and still in a state to protect her from the lethal radiation outside, but paranoia was a strong motivator, and in the rage of war, it kept a soldier alive. However, in spite of her fear and the dead silence across the comms channels, training and study took over.

She was piloting the armor wrong. More specifically, she was not interfacing with her SPINE in the proper way. Of course, she could pilot the armor in her present state, with simply her eyes and ears open to external stimuli. However, there was a better way.

With a slow inhalation of breath, the pilot closed her eyes and surrendered herself to the SPINE.

Her sight was replaced with a panoramic, three-dimensional view and her hearing was replaced with a constant, never ending flow of data and telemetry from the sensors of her armor. Now, Hayami was truly seeing through the metaphorical eyes and ears of the Mindy, presenting her with a nigh-omniscient perspective on the outside space, thereby allowing her to perceive, comprehend, establish, and act with uncanny speed in response to external stimuli. There wasn’t a better way to pilot the Mindy armor, and by her consideration, it was unbelievable that all Nekovalkyrja and Minkan soldiers did not control their armor in such a manner.

Regardless, there was a plethora of new stimuli for her to act on, and she needed to execute quickly. She had recklessly burned through all of her capacitor charges before the calamitous explosion of the Fenrir, although her AIES had confirmed that she had inflicted a sufficient amount of damage upon her targets. Perhaps that course of action had been worth it, but she sorely missed her teleporter and loathed having to wait fifteen more seconds to utilize it again. Fifteen seconds was an eternity in battle, and that presented a serious duration in which her mobility was slightly impaired. However, the Mindy offered a plethora of alternatives for mobility and nigh-instantaneous movement. She was not disabled, by any means.

A general broadcast came over her channel, finally, after an eternity of silence and shock. Although it contained no direct orders, the message within the transmission was clear: seize the initiative. Although Hayami did not consider herself to be a leader, she had no problem taking action without the presence of direct orders. Especially when the circumstances were dire enough to warrant immediate action. If there were any moment which necessitated spontaneous action and individual initiative, then this was it. Fumiko was rapidly disappearing from native sight in the field of debris, and while Kikyo was still in good shape, the raven-haired Neko was obviously in a state of shock, and therefore, she was a potential psychological causality. However, Fumiko was a certain causality, and she needed immediate rescue. With the five Lamias going after her flailing, armored form in search of an easy kill. Hayami was desperately outnumbered by them, but it was imperative to Fumiko’s survival that she engage and annihilate them, at all costs.

A quick scan of the area between herself and the Lamias gave the magenta-haired Neko a safe jumping route, free of debris and obstacles. With little else but a thought, Hayami opened a quantum slipstream between herself and the armors via the CFS, intent upon executing a microjump between herself and the Lamia power armors, which would take her within melee range of the group of hostile power armors.

A bluish-white stream filled the pilot’s perspective as the slipstream opened and closed before her. In hardly a moment, the diminutive, feminine, and threatening form of Hayami’s Mindy was directly in front of the path of the charging Lamias, with hardly ten meters separating the lone armor from the bloodthirsty gang of hostile power armors. Almost immediately after the lone Mindy appeared, five ARMA mini-missiles launched from the countermeasure pods on its legs, one designated for each armor in the group. Although the missiles would not be damaging, they would be good for a temporary distraction and a possible stun, at least. The projectiles detonated on the pilot’s mental command, and as they did, four aetheric lances discharged from her SMG, aimed towards the chest of the armor in the lead position of the pack. With a savage, yet inaudible (in the vacuum of space) scream from the pilot, the pulsing aetheric blade at the end of her SMG activated and slashed into the flight path of the next armor, aiming to bisect the head from the body in a single, violent maneuver. In almost the same motion, the Mindy’s left forearm aimed at the oncoming forms of the next two Lamias, discharging eight pulses of energy aimed towards their chests, four shots efficiently allocated for each target.

Finally, five aetheric lances discharged from the end of her SMG, fired and aimed with the intention of resolving a final, decapitating strike upon the fifth armor.

As the last shot left the barrel of Hayami’s SMG, a sharp and high-pitched gasp filled the air within her armor, as she processed the death of Fumiko, and it’s direct cause…
 
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YSS Shinigami
Bridge


You know, if that almagamation of outdated tech didn't blow up like that, then Noboyuki's plan would have done better at watering down the enemy forces, rather than simply dividing the infiltrators. But nope, this had to happen, and now everyone on this old ship is dead in the water in this mesmerizing ocean of plasma and wrecked vessels. This is fine, even though Noboyuki never had anything this bad before. Nope, totally fine, totally fine!

The Chief attempted to reboot his desk to get everything at his station online again. "Well obviously we got them where it hurts, but our - Oh ... Oh holy holly, Shosa Kier! We're NOT okay!"

Oh where to begin with the problems.... First, the ship fell back to auxillary mode. Second, the shields are down, and so is point defense. Third, they have Invaders breaking in on more than one deck of the Shinigami. Top it off with the enemy being totally erratic, and the fact this big ship is crippled AND alone, and the poor Chief is stuck with a ugly serving of DEAR GOD HELP ME!

The one thing that saved the young Baka from rambling loudly about death and suffering, was the simple fact he might get the boot. He don't want the boot, and therefore must have a level head on his shoulders.

What would.... What would a real Chief Engineer do... Oh yeah, actually say why we're not okay! "Decks 110, 70, 65, 64, and 50 have been breached by enemy invaders, our shields and point defense are down, the aether generators have been knocked offline, and um... We might be on our own for this one!"

"Don't worry, everything will be under control! Soonish! I'll send a priority list down to Engineering immediately, covering what we need running from most important to least important, and um... Hopefully we can do something about the Lamia-totting enemy? Yes, no, maybe so? Whatever!"

Chief Engineer Kita sent a message to all technicians and engineers in the Engineering Bay via a computer-to-mind text channel. It had the following, from most important to least:

  1. Get all Aether Cores online!
  2. Get point defense online!
  3. Turn on CFS, set to total defensive power configuration!
 
With a slight stutter and a sharp gasp, Jamie opened her eyes. She looked around her, not fully aware of what was going on.

What happened..? Did I black out?? Hold on... The ship?? Its gone!

The Mindi suited neko snapped back into reality as she noticed blasts everywhere, and the mayhem currently taking place on her surroundings. Gripping her Ke-M2-W2901 Aether Beam Rifle. As she noticed the incoming enemy, Jamie saw, with dismay, what happened to Fumiko, how she was technically put out by Shasse. She sort of understood Shasses intentions as she felt a new feeling of anger flow through her.

"Let's take them down.." Was all she managed to say in between her slightly shaky breathing.
 
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