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RP [USO X Heartbreaker] I'm Still In The Murder Business

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Requiem for a fallen brother

Alex coughed. The battle had taken a toll on him. His vision was blurred from blood trailing down into his eyes from his forehead. He could see little through his flesh and blood eyes, but sensors intact on his mecha told him the story all too well. Jason was dead. And it was his fault.

He hadn't known the clone all too well, but they had a bond that was indescribable. Jason had been brought into the world because of Alex's skill in the eyes of a psychotic corperation, and now had left it because that skill was not enough to face up to real foes. The brash youth had been in existence for all of a few months before his existence was snuffed out.

Alex felt a few tears leak from his eyes, intermingling with the blood there. He heard himself begin to cry a little. All he could see was the torpedo slamming into Jason over and over, the torpedo he had fired. It was his fault.

Those who were looking on at the outside of the craft would see it reach out toward Jason.
 
YSS Heartbreaker, Bridge

"When your enemy is at ease, make them work. When well fed, starve them. When at rest, make them move." Tsukisaki had these words of wisdom to share with the I'ee, somewhat surprised to see their formation hold as the Megamishhu's powerful scream was emitted. The Heartbreaker was forced to delay firing their main weapon in order to react, reinforcing the PSC field and their shields, taking the brunt of the explosion of asteroid debris to deflect it away from the I'ee vessels gathered around the Yui.

Thankfully they were covered during the delay, as the Necromancer poured its own weapons into the Megamishhu, the giant beast barely clinging to the still charging alien weapon. Now neither massive craft possessed any sort of engines to properly maneuver or aim, although the cannon was still pointed at the rather large target of Ee'ee.

"Opportunities multiply as they are seized." First the Tanks a lot had opened them up, the Heartbreaker had injured them, and now the Necromancer's assault was giving the Heartbreaker, the Mindys and the I'ee another chance to attack. "Resume charging and prepare to fire again."
 
Outer Graveyard

As the Necromancer and the I'ee ships started to close in, more and more of the Megamishhu was being exposed. The dwindling number of battle pods were all starting to busy themselves with shooting down the missiles and other projectiles being lobbed at their parent by the combined fleet, as Hound Squadron started to pull back, escorting the recovery ships back towards the Necromancer.

"What's that on the all hands line?"

Hazel ended up asking, having to take a moment to figure out where the sobbing was comming from,

"KID! GROW UP! Someone... turn off his mic!"

There would be a few seconds of fumbling, and then a -click- as Alex was cut off from the all hands channel, left to sob alone in his cockpit.

--

Meanwhile, the Heartbreaker was continuing to move in... easily able to position itself for a clean shot at the Megamishhu as it tried to hide from the Necromancer. The large, alien, battleship the Megamishhu was attached to however... started to scoop up some of the battlepods, draining energy from anything it could nearby...
 
Outer Graveyard

Hasewega had been spending most the battle circling around the I'ee and Heartbreaker battlegroup, dealing with the odd battlepod that strayed off from the pack. Ingrid seemed to be a doing a magnificent job of handling the main cluster of battlepods and I'ee were being lead by the ambassadors and the Heartbreaker. The battle seemed to be sweeping in their favor s she made another pass around the ships.

Then she felt her heart stop...

She barely noticed it at first. The megamishu was coming back in view as she began moving from keeping a perimeter to assaulting the ship. It was barely visible blip on her HUD but she could see Edtoto and the rest of Chudan's team moving on the ship. Then there was a faint flash where Edtoto was before she dropped off her HUD.

The minkan froze in mid-flight. No, Edtoto is still alive. Hasewega kept reasoning to herself as drifted slowly through the battle. She kept her eyes fixed on where Edtoto was. She'll pop back up the screen and everything will proceed smoothly. The scene kept replaying itself in her head as she felt her stomach churning. "Officer Sivaro? Are you there?" she messaged over the radio to Edtoto, but there was no response. "Officer Sivaro, respond." she tried again to the reply of silence. She felt something welling up in throat as she tried one last time. "Edtoto..." She could feel herself struggling as she spoke. "Please..."

She watched as the megamishu closed before taking a hit from the Heartbreaker. Her whole body seemed to tense up, even as the megamishu responded by firing on a nearby asteroid and pelting the Heartbreaker with bits of molten rock. She couldn't feel small bits of rocks belting off her armor's shield as drifted forwards slowly. All Hasewega could feel was the pain of having watched Edtoto disappear as if she was never there at all. No last words, no final goodbye, not even much of a struggle. Just a faint flash and gone.

Tears began to well-up in her eyes as her hand tighten around her aether rifle. She couldn't stay still and mourn forever, there was still a battle going on around her. She looked to see the megamishu gathering up battlepods for something. She didn't care. She quickly boosted forward towards the megamishu, the stiffening fear and sadness that seem to freeze her up being replaced angry as she bared her aether saber and shoulder cannons before opening fire with everything she had on the megamishu and its supply of battlepods.
 
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Outer Graveyard

"Yes," came the reply from each of the I'ee vessels to Tsukisaki's words. The response was simple, but seemed to imply that the Thi-Thi were too impressed by the Taii's words to say more. It seemed like Yamatai had received new members for its wasp fan club. Their ships were unfazed by the Mishhu's retaliatory attacks, confident in the protection of the Star Army vessel, and continued their steady, relentless bombardment.
 
Outer Graveyard

Hidden panels began to slide open, much like the one that had swallowed up the mixed team of infiltrators, golden light vacuuming Battlepods inside by the dozens as they were drained of energy. The Heartbreaker and others monitoring the weapon's power levels saw the charge beginning to increase much like when then Megamishhu had been feeding it.

"Hasewega-Hei?" Rin on the Bridge tried several times to hail the distracted soldier, before switching channels to Ingrid. "Blesi-Hei, please make contact with Hasewega-Hei and get her under control and out of the splash zone around the Megamishhu."

With the I'ee appearing steady and controlled, the Heartbreaker had time to fully power their cannon once more, firing that brilliant beam of light directly at the injured giant, already scarred from missiles and countless other attacks from their temporary allies.
 
Outer Graveyard

The Megamishhu's scream reverberated through the inside of Ingrid's skull as the Heartbreaker put starfire on target. She had thinned out the battlepods some and as they recalled in response to the pounding their mothership was taking, Ingrid cheered. With the battlepods' retreat, Ingrid took in the scene of the battle. The Necromancer opened up with battery fire, the Heartbreaker charged its shock cannon and the Thi-thi cog continued its rolling volleys. The Mishhu was being rent under the combined fire, but they'd gotten blows in against the defenders of Ee’ee as well. One mercenary ship had sacrificed itself, the fighter group had been in a serious furball, Chudan had fallen off the scope when they got near the planet cracking weapon . . . and Hasewega was diving the weapon, screaming after Edtoto?

"Blesi-hei, please make contact with Hasewega-hei and get her under control and out of the splash zone around the Megamishhu," Rin's voice barked. She had seen it too.

"Hai, shoi,” Ingrid radioed. “Sara-hei, you're out of position. Return and resume escort." Hasewega seemed hell bent so Ingrid flew after her, radioing again, "Return to the battlegroup, Hasewega!"

Hasewega opened fire and the battlepods started swarming, enveloping her. "Get out of there!" Ingrid yelled. She gritted her teeth, lit her aether sabre, and dove in after her. Before, Ingrid had been dealing with a division of the battlepod group focused on attacking the Thi-thi ships and the Heartbreaker, but here the full complement of pods was defending the Megamishhu and able to provide Hasewega and her with their undivided attention. Ingrid had to focus more heavily on evasion than retaliation as she pursued Hasewega, trying to reel her in, moving closer and closer to the awesome weapon.

"Hasewega, we need to protect Ee'ee!" Ingrid said. A lance of fire from the Heartbreaker cut through the swarm and ripped into the Megamishhu, narrowly missing the power armor. “We have to provide cover to our ships so they can beat this thing.” She lined up a shot on a battlepod and sent a trigger command. The sabre failed to fire with a low power warning. Ingrid instinctively tried again, and the shot went out, falling far of her target. “Come on, Hasewega. Edtoto will be okay so long as we do our duty,” Ingrid pleaded, her voice plaintive. Her suit kicked as it sent up a power surge warning. “I’m having power system problems, Hasewega. This isn’t safe; we need to–” Ingrid halted. “Power problems! The gun is causing power problems, Hasewega. Edtoto is okay! Their transponders were just depowered. We need to get back to the Heartbreaker before we lose power too. Everyone on the ship needs us there. Ee’ee needs us there. Edtoto is smart; she’ll be able to take care of herself.” Another lance from the Heartbreaker rippled by and Ingrid started working her way out of the hairball. She hoped Hasewega would listen to reason and duty and follow her out.

Power absorption, she thought to herself as she was returning to her escort duty. “Heartbreaker,” she radioed, “check the power levels of the weapon after you fire the shock cannon. Make sure it isn’t absorbing ambient energy from the beam. I’m returning to escort position at full speed.”
 
Outer Graveyard

Unexpectedly, a few minutes after opening to admit the Battlepods, those same doors opened again on the alien ship...followed by more and more silvery panels sliding away. A moment later, dozens of Battlepods were regurgitated into space, seeming completely dead and drained of all energy. They were followed by similarly powerless I'ee ships...NMX ships...and several completely unidentifiable vessels.

All reports were showing the alien weapon's charge decreasing....while several other energy signatures were rapidly increasing. The Heartbreaker stopped its assault on the weakening Megamishhu to take in this information...as well as the sight of several dozen small, perfectly oval metal objects ejected from all over the main alien craft. They showed minimal power, no weapons or shields, no life signs...something wasn't adding up.
 
Outer Graveyard

While at first the I'ee ships attacked the enemy relentlessly, at the sudden change in power levels aboard the old battleship, their attacks ceased. There was a moment of silence as, like the Heartbreaker, they observed what was happening. Finally, the I'ee seemed to decide that they didn't like what was happening. Turning ponderously about, the damaged cog fired its engines, leaving the safety of the Heartbreaker's side with the I'ee corvettes following, heading towards the inner boundaries of the Graveyard.

Snippets of conversation between the main I'ee fleet waiting nearby and those supporting the Heartbreaker could be picked up, and soon the main I'ee fleet come from Ee'ee began to flee as well. Their destination appeared to Kebrenasse, presumably wishing to wait out whatever the battleship was doing there; they seemed to expect something... explosive.
 
Outer Graveyard

"So uh... it isn't shooting?" Uso asked, looking at the image of the Megamishhu being shown in the center of the CIC on the Queen's Slave. Her hands would reach into the projection, dragging the image around to zoom in on the silvery... thingies.

"I do not think it has the power to strike Ee'ee. It may be activating a point defense system." Vier replied calmly, her voice being piped in over the speakers, as the rest of the crew continued to hide, be dragged back for repairs, or hit on whatever SAoY personnel they could get a message to.

Uso would lean in over the display table to get a better look, watching as the Necromancer's cannon fire continued to tear into the Megamishhu.

"... So uh... how confident are you that we're going to win this thing?" Uso asked. "Because we're running out of ships..."
 
Outer Graveyard

"Good!" Werner yelled. "Keep up the fire!"

"Aye aye Sir!" The crew reported as they continued to bombard the enemy vessel.

"Hold on!" The sensors operator reported. "The target is releasing dead ships! They are completely drained of energy and there are no life signs aboard... And their weapons are powering down."

Werner frowned. "This can not be good. Helmsman, translate 50 degrees up angle and full burn, get us away from that ship. Tactical keep putting rounds into that ship."

The Necromancer began changing direction and burning it's main engines, trying to put some distance between them while its main guns and torpedos continued to slam into the target.
 
Outer Graveyard

Ingrid's words seemed to fall on deaf ears with Hasewega. She continued to rush force, opening fire on the Megamishhu as it spewed out some debris and derelict vessels. Trying to dodging around it, Hasewega kept it up her assault before slammed into a clump of I'ee fighters and battlepods. The fight went into flight as she pushed off the wreckage and noticed thew new oval objects coming it. Not wanting to be target for whatever they may do, she quickly fell back, opening fire on the ovals to hopefully delay them.
 
Outer Graveyard

As Sara dodged uncontrolled, unpowered spacecraft, she realized a few did seem to be functioning. A few small ships of familiar Mishhuvurthyar design suddenly pulled away from the storm of metal, immediately taking evasive maneuvers, making sure the large mass of the alien weapon and the attached alien behemoth were between them and the allied forces. The Megamishhu itself had not fared well, screeches now a pained and fading wail, tentacles gone, hide seared and penetrated in numerous locations. It was putting up as little fight as the ship it had been attached to, and was now weakly drifting away from.

With her fire melting right off of the small metallic ovals, which were undisturbed from their escape path, Sara also noticed a strange little ship emerging from the latest field of trash dumped out of the alien structure...

"High likelihood that some sort of fail safe or self destruct has been activated. I believe the I'ee have the right idea here. Recommend retreat to a safe distance." The Taii's voice could be heard on all friendly channels, as the Heartbreaker began to turn away from the battle that both sides had suddenly and very reasonably lost all interest in continuing. Sara and Ingrid could hear these orders, of course, spotting Veronika and Bettie turning to follow the fighter squadron out of the area. But so could the occupants of the shuttle not-quite-rapidly exiting the alien vessel.

As the Bridge crew of the Heartbreaker worked to identify the familiar little ship, they suddenly had video and audio from the away team. It was an odd picture, suits of armor packed into the small space next to a pair of injured I'ee and an unconscious Neko. Their driver seemed to be alternating between delivering in-flight instructions...and asking for directions.
 
YSS Heartbreaker, Bridge

"Oh, dear! Oh, no!" Sally squeaked, hopping from one foot to the other as she watched her kin fleeing the battle, with Yui observing in silence. Though it couldn't be seen from their perspective, Sammy and Gut-Stripe had more or less the same reactions, respectively.
 
“We’re broadcasting now, but I guess for official sake, Heartbreaker, this is the Away Team. We’re on Trendsetter Three-Nine’s ship, need medical assistance, and have little life support, over.”

Slowing briefly, the Heartbreaker's graviton beam projectors locked onto the odd little shuttle, guiding it into their Launch Bay. Thankfully their assigned fighter had been deployed, or there would have been no room for visitors. Kiwi and Pecan appeared first, followed by Cosima, as the various Neko bustled about unloading the ship of both cargo and passengers. Their prisoner was soon detained in one of the Medical Center's cells, as Sally and Yui were called to greet their injured sisters...and assist poor Cosima in treating her newest grumpy and bitey alien guests. At least this time she had some unexpected assistance, even if his uniform was wildly out of date.

Behind the fleeing ships, scattering in all directions away from the alien craft, a great golden light shone. The effects rippling outwards, knocking many of the departing ships off track, although thankfully only the very slowest were injured or destroyed. Besides those singed, the weapon left little evidence behind of its existence or destruction. Similar to the wide, empty streak left through the Graveyard by the initial firing, there was now a massive hole in the crowd of debris at the edge of the Ee'ee system.

The silver eggs continued to mindlessly race past the others, some heading towards the core of the Ee'ee system, others disappearing towards the edges...
 
SHS Jessitha

"...It appears that the Star Army infiltration team, with considerable help from our very own Trendsetter Three-Nine, have successfully destroyed the planet-killing superweapon, and the rest of the remnant fleet have been scattered. Neither we nor the Yamataians have suffered any casualties, although there have been numerous losses for both the I'ee and the Star Organization. A moment of silence."

Groundbreaker stopped her broadcast, briefly, mostly to help hold her tongue. She couldn't exactly admit it to the world, but she was very pleased with how things turned out, even if her bumbling replacement had somehow become the hero of the hour. Maybe it was because she couldn't envy the young would-be diplomat, though she also had to admit she was enthused by the casualty reports.

The Oremonger cut in before she could resume. "Hey, look at that! There's some metal pod things scattering everywhere from the explosion. Maybe if we help some of those get 'lost', we can take them home with us?" There was no dissent from the other crew. Queenie found herself smiling at that, too. The diplomacy and all its interruptions were over, and naturally, that meant this had become a salvage mission. What else could it be?

"With the surviving I'ee and our personnel safe for now, and negotiations left inconclusive, the Jessitha's crew have decided not to extend our mission, and we have little else to report. This is Groundbreaker Eight-Four 4242-4286 in the I'ee home system's Outer Graveyard, signing off."

The studio lights went dark, and surely some magic was going on at the Hive to bring it to those idle enough to spend a few minutes on news programs. Queenie flexed her fingers, and left to join the others in their subterfuge during the respite given her by the Trendsetter's delayed arrival.
 
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