RP: YSS Ryūjō YSS Ryujo, Post-Mission 2

[Navian]

YSS Ryujo, Hours Later, in Hyperspace

The Ryujo wasn't limping, or hobbled. Despite having taken enough damage to tear lesser ships apart, and from inside, no less, it was structurally sound and capable of moving at top speed, although there were some issues with the ship's sensors and electrical systems, and the ship's MEGAMI wasn't working quite right. Fyodor hadn't just been imagining things--or maybe he had, but then they'd gotten worse.

In any case, the ship's officers were making more appearances now that the crisis was over. The commander of Ryujo's flight squadron, Errowyn's superior officer, was back on duty, although out of all the Kawarimes on the Ryujo, hers was the one that had been reduced to barely salvageable scraps. She'd had to be assigned Nocnimura's as a spare, which had resulted in some acrimony. Nocnimura's Nodachi was now parked outside the ruined Bay #1 to reduce friction between the two.

Errowyn's Kawarime was damaged, but intact. Flying it was out of the question, but it was lashed down in its launch bay until the bay itself could be repaired. A note was made that in the future, even 'minor repairs' would take place in the maintenance bay, in order to reduce the chances of something like this happening again. On that note, while there was no punishment forthcoming, Errowyn received a politely-written letter from the squadron commander reminding her that the ship's infantry were outside her chain of command, and advised against countermanding their orders without the consent of their own Heisho.

Fyodor was somewhat less fortunate. He'd woken up in the medical bay and been told Nocnimura's quick thinking had kept him alive, or at least kept him from being dead for too long. No further explanation was forthcoming. He'd been given the same treatment in the hemosynthesis tank Lucas Zion had been. Despite more extensive injuries, he was out of the medical bay, sooner, as Zion still needed work done on his cybernetics. As the only SAINT operative on the Ryujo, Fyodor, still left uncomfortable with his brush with death and barely given time to freshen up and leave his gear with the quartermaster, found himself rushed to the ship's library for a one-on-one meeting with the captain.

 

[Samanthia]

Errowyn read the missive as she sat in her quarters. There wasn't much for her to do, except maybe go check out her temp craft. But even that didn't sound appealing at the moment. She shut off the screen she was looking at and sat there for a few moments. She was shaken that a Star Army ship had been breeched by the enemy and caused untold damage to the ship.

She sighed as she glanced at the time. She stood up as she removed her flight suit. She folded it up and set it on the desk to be stored later. She moved to her open locker and pulled out a type 35 uniform with skirt. She cleaned up quickly and put on the clean clothes.

She strapped on her service pistol as she left her cabin and moved through the ship to the one of the mess halls to get a bite to eat. Her mind raced over the past few hours, mentally reviewing all of her actions, taking mental notes to improve on the successes and change what had proved a failure.

She entered the mess and took her place in line as she nodded to a few of those she had befriended. She advanced through the line, gathered her meal and took her usual seat within the mess hall.

 

[Acewing13]

YSS Ryujo, Corridor

While the ship wasn’t limping, Fyodor sure felt like he should be. Yeah, taking a dunk in a tube made him functional, but it didn’t entirely get rid of the feeling that he should be six feet under Gashmerean soil right about now. Makes it worse that I owe my life to the Nightmare, he thought as he walked to his meeting, but I guess if that’s the price for being mobile, I can live with it.

The Kodian paused at the entrance to the Ryujo’s library, apprehensive about the coming encounter. The real question is if I’m in trouble or not. He shrugged and then walked into the room. What are they going to do, kill me?

Looking around, he approached the Captain as soon as he saw her, stopping to salute when he was close. “Itto-hei Zima, reporting Taii,” he said, making sure he kept his voice down to more polite levels. Librarians are twitchy people.

 

[Navian]

YSS Ryujo, Library

Sibyl Gorganis was at a desk, on the floor, about half-upright, which was the Separa'Shan equivalent of either sitting or standing. It was easier to just say she was at the desk. Perhaps by convention, she continued to dabble with the display before her a moment before acknowledging that Fyodor had entered the room. "Greetings, Zima-Hei. I haven't had a chance to welcome to the Ryujo since your arrival, consider it done. Before we can settle you in, however, we must debrief. Tell me of your performance this mission, and what you've observed. Where you think things went wrong, and what we can do better."

 

[Acewing13]

YSS Ryujo, Library

Well, Fyodor thought, trying to think about what exactly to say, not sure if the short greeting is just her wanting to get to business or is a warning for the sole SAINT on the ship. Giving a mental shrug, he cleared his throat and said, “Yes, ma’am.”

“I’ll send you a full report later, so I won’t waste your time going over the minutiae,” he said, keeping himself at attention. “The main problem that I saw was the lack of communication between departments and the lack of officer leadership.” And that’s all the criticism of the brass I’m going to say, cause I like having my fur on, thank you very much. “The technicians working on the fighters should have notified security when they found explosives, security should have done a better job talking to each other once engaged, and I shouldn’t have gotten distracted in a side engagement when there was a bigger objective in mind and really not have tried to do a full-up science teams job with a multitool.”

After giving a small sigh, the Kodian continued, “Really, it seems we got lucky that the enemy didn’t just go to engineering and wreck the place there. Unless they tried and someone was competent in keeping us from exploding?” he asked, not quite sure if he was straying into dangerous territory.

 

[Navian]

YSS Ryujo, Library

"Thank you," the captain began. She paused for a delicate moment before answering Fyodor's question.

"Yes, they tried. None of the boarders infiltrated the upper four decks, even though most of them made this their primary goal, and the remainder sacrificed themselves to buy time, and later find an alternate route for them. We can give little credit to good fortune." Fyodor was sure there was a hint of warning in that last line from Sibyl. "I have considered that our security teams may be better-trained for defensive actions than for repelling entrenched infiltrators. Perhaps next time, I will not be so hesitant to deploy our assault teams.

"The first infiltrators left the bays before the technicians arrived. I assume you mean in bay #2? We will have to confirm the timing, else the issue may have been with the alert system. The infiltrators targeted officers first, though I've heard conflicting reports from the rest of the command chain as to how this affected us. We were hampered by the loss of our chief of security, but we have six security teams. I've cleared you to review their post-battle stats, perhaps that will give you some insight.

"Is there anything else that you have to share? We've not yet debriefed you from the previous encounter..."

 

[Acewing13]

YSS Ryujo, Library

And this is what I get for not catching up on stuff personally, Fyodor thought, giving another mental sigh. “I’ll look into the reports and let you know if I think of anything useful,” he said, giving a quick nod in response to the warning.

The Kodian paused in as he thought about what to say, if it was a safe topic, then went ahead and stepped back on thin ice. “The only other thing I can think of was the MEGAMI’s behavior during the crisis. Is it normally this,” Annoying? Infuriating? Psychotic? “Unhelpful?” he asked. “It didn’t give good answers to any questions I asked. For instance, it would have been good to know that the officers had been incapacitated so their subordinates could have taken charge and not be expecting orders that weren’t coming.”

 

[Navian]

YSS Ryujo, Library

Gorganis nodded. "Others raised this concern. Although the MEGAMI is designed to be helpful, it is also very protective. The system is tamper-resistant. It was damaged, but there are no signs of subversion. Rather, the cause for complaints is an intended feature, it does not comply with requests when it predicts harmful consequences.

"For many requests for information, the MEGAMI predicted the crew would, and I quote, 'behave irrationally to their detriment' if the requests were fulfilled. I had to use overrides to get it to answer this question, for the same reason; so understand that I share this with you in confidence, in the hopes you'll be able to help solve the underlying issue... which I've been assured cannot be resolved with a software patch. Our MEGAMI does not trust us, and perhaps for good reason.

"Mind you, we are still repairing the hardware, so faults in this were also a factor."

She glanced sideways for a moment, kneading her fingers together and showing her teeth toward the wall in something less than a smile. Then, looked back at Fyodor and changed the topic. "Does anything stand out to you from the space battle, earlier? You were on board the shuttle."

 

[Acewing13]

YSS Ryujo, Library

It knows better than us? Fyodor thought, paranoia making it difficult to keep his eye twitching. Save me from over protective AI. “At least you’re able to wring information out of it when necessary,” he said. “If I could suggest something, Taii, you could try and convinced the MEGAMI to clear a few officers and non-coms so someone can get the truth of the situation when stuff happens? I can get why it wouldn’t want to tell literally everyone that the chain of command got blown up or something, but there was still chaos that happened.” He shrugged then said, “Wish I could help more on that front, but I’m no AI engineer.”

“As for the space battle,” he thought, reaching back to an event that seemed so long ago, “Really wish I had more firepower than a HELGA to fight with. Wasn’t too much of a help, though the fighters did a good job of fighting, from where I was floating.” Space battles are so not my specialty. I’d rather deal with exploding invaders than be that helpless again.

 

[Navian]

YSS Ryujo, Library

"I'll take this into advisement," said the captain of Fyodor's suggestion. "I'll leave you to make equipment requests of your new squad leader. Effective immediately, your new rank is Santo Hei in the Star Army Infantry. You'll find your new squad mates when you review our security teams. On Deck 6, there were some incidents that broke bonds of trust between teammates, you might say, so the reorganization was necessary.

"SAINT is concerned about your conditioning, but should you wish, you'll be able to rejoin their ranks upon review and potential retraining, or else sign a non-disclosure agreement, and either continue your infantry career, or transfer elsewhere. Welcome to the Ryujo, Zima-Hei. I believe you'll make some new friends soon enough. Dismissed."

 

[Arbitrated]

YSS Ryūjō
Mess Hall

A slim female slid in to the line behind Errowyn quietly. Looking around a bit nervously, Argenta Serket wrung her calloused hands slowly as she examined the mess hall and its occupants. I can't believe... We need to be more careful... There could be more of them still.

The nervous technician made her progress through the line nonetheless, doing her best not to step on anyone's toes.

 

[Acewing13]

YSS Ryujo, Library

Wait, what? Fyodor thought, stunned at the demotion, though it made annoying amount of sense when he thought about it. This is what I get for sticking my multitool where it doesn’t belong. Don’t know why SAINT has its panties in a wad, but oh well. They can’t take me down that easily.

“Aye, sir,” the black-haired Kodian said, bowing one last time before heading out of the library, burying his anger and confusion as he walked off to find his new squadmates. Can’t wait to see what other rejects got demoted like I did.

Mess Hall

After finding an Infantry uniform shirt that was his size, which took a while, Fyodor walked into the food line for the mess hall, stomach rumbling as he waited for his turn to be served. Hope its better than what they were serving in the medbay.

 

[Immortal Cyan]

YSS Ryūjō
Mess Hall

Zdena stormed into the mess hall after a horrendous meeting with an NCO, where she had received a demotion for poor conduct after she had started a fight with a squadmate following a friendly fire incident. She was stressed, and for her, stress meant food, and lots of it.

She had recently come out of the med bay after being treated for a minor concussion that was caused by the stun NSP which had shot her in the head. She had been hungry then, but instead of going to the mess hall like a sensible soldier, she found her now ex-squad mate, the one who shot her in the head, and started a fight. They had never come to blows, but the argument was intense enough that it was heard by an officer and a large amount of infantry on the ship. It had come close to a physical altercation, in which case, Zdena would have been in the brig with her ex-squad mate, possibly looking at criminal charges and a dishonorable discharge. The argument was stopped before that could occur however, and she had escaped with a demotion and a verbal warning.

As she reflected on these events, she slid in line behind a large Kodian who was almost twice her height and, although she was quite plump for a Neko, well over nine times her weight. Needless to say, she intended to eat more than he did.

 

[Navian]

YSS Ryujo

Many schedules lay in disarray, not just due the ship's recent medical and security emergencies or the temporary disruptions to its leadership, but also because the expected supply shuttle had never arrived. The galley staff had to improvise, and some crew members had tried to, only to learn battle damage was no excuse for violating the uniform code when they sat down for their supper--not even if the lockers didn't have anything for their size and species.

There was a small advantage for those who'd needed to spend time in hemosynthesis tanks, in that the medics submitted requests for repairs and new fabrication for them, while the walking wounded were more or less left to fend for themselves. Submitting requests wasn't hard, exactly--it just slipped the minds of the long-range light cruiser's mostly green crew.

There had been scuffles and chewing-out sessions aplenty in the past few hours--some public praise, as well, but all of that which had been seen in the dining hall was for the infantry team who had greeted Tomiko to Deck 4. The hubbub had mostly died down an hour or two after the battle, to be replaced by grumbling about failed deliveries, and anticipation of what would come when--not if--the Ryujo caught the enemies who had stolen their shuttle.

Some were worried, others boastful. There were those who thought it mad that the captain had decided to pursue an enemy that had already defeated them, without reinforcements or backup, and others who felt certain that with the advantage of surprise, the Ryujo would be unstoppable--after all, they said, the only reason the enemy were any threat at all was because they'd sprung from ambush.

Still more said nothing, doing their best to return to their daily routine.

Word was there were two new crewmembers assigned to the ship, who had been on the shuttle. Rumours flew about both of them, but given that one had waited patiently in the medical bay throughout the boarding operation, and hadn't returned to Deck 3 in hours, while the other had, depending on who you asked, either performed a series of startling heroics or incredible blunders that ended with him blasted out of the ship by a colossal explosion--one that sent him to the hemosynth tanks, as well--the rumours surrounding the former were more esoteric than the latter.

On account of the logistics issues, the evening menu included ketchup pizza, cheese and mayonnaise sandwiches, cheese ramen, and baked onions with ketchup. The galley crew provided their assurances they'd sort out this out, the next day...

 

[Arbitrated]

Mess Hall
Serket grumbled to herself as she took a helping of cheese ramen. She lucked out just enough to not be completely out of a uniform, even though it wasn't the most comfortable choice available for her-the baggy outfit weighed her body downward, and for once she planned to be excited when she could crawl back into the tunnels where nobody cared what you wore as long as it wasn't going to get you killed.

"Well, I guess it's nice that you guys have something for us. Thanks." The technician managed to force a smile up towards the crew member across from her before she broke off at the need of the line and chose a moderately-populated table to eat at. It takes a lot to keep a ship moving, and the low supplies made her nervous. What if they ran out of spares and something important like life support broke? We need that shuttle. Or something.

 

[Acewing13]

YSS Ryūjō, Mess Hall

Fyodor kept to himself as rumors flew and a few brave souls dared to look at him as he went through the line. The stories just get more ridiculous with the telling, he thought, rolling his eyes as he heard that he was in league with the infiltrators. Soon I’ll be an Eihei in disguise or some nonsense.

His mood wasn’t improved when he saw what was on the menu. Not enough that I lost all my stuff, but I have to eat this slop as well? Sighing, he piled on a load of sandwiches and baked onions. Might as well keep people away by smelling bad. Probably a better reputation than what I have now.

The Kodian turned to look for a suitably deserted table to sit at, but that let him see the veritable hill of food that the Neko behind him had made for herself. “You feeding a squad with all that food?” he asked, taking a step away from the line so he wouldn’t get yelled at by the cooks and his hungry fellow crew mates.

 

[Immortal Cyan]

Mess Hall

Despite the low-quality of the food, Zdena outdid the Kodian at every turn. If the Kodian got two sandwiches, she got three. If he got two servings of ramen, she piled on four. By the time they reached the end of the line, her plate was stacked high with junk. Now that she actually took the time to look at her food, she found, much to her chagrin, just how bad the meal fare was for the day. However, Zdena took pride in her mental toughness and was not going to quit because of bad fare. Days like this were part of military life, and she had experienced them before.

Zdena sought to quickly get to a near-empty table so that she could set her plate down before she dropped anything. However, the Kodian next to her seemed to be addressing her. She turned towards the Kodian and gave him a sarcastic smile. Upon getting a better look at him, she realized that he was one of the subjects of the ongoing rumor mill aboard the Ryūjō.

"No, but your name seems to be feeding entire rumor mills.", Zdena retorted as she inadvertently led the Kodian to a moderately-populated table occupied by a lone Minkan woman. "What's it to you, bear?"

 

[Samanthia]

Mess Hall

Errowyn lingered long after the others had left as she had at this time no duties to attend to. She had refilled her drink from one of the many dispensers around the Mess. She returned to her large corner booth table that was empty, except for her. She shoved her tray of dirty, yet empty dishes off to the side as she laid her Data Jockey on the table before her. She listened half heartedly to the ebb and flow of conversation around her the room. She took a sip as she activated the Data Jockey and brought up the last runs and encounters.

She soon became engross going over the data. Reliving some of the incidents in her mind to see if she could've had done something different for a different outcome. A much better outcome.

She glanced up at hearing familiar voices. She gave a nod to Fyodor and gave the other that was with him a quick glance over. She took notice of the infantry color tab on her uniform. She relaxed back, resuming her after actions study.

 

[Arbitrated]

YSS Ryujo Mess Hall


The technician seemed to glide horizontally to her left, leaving plenty of room for the newcomers and-more importantly-making sure she didn't get surrounded by their conversation. Mixing her ramen thoroughly even after the cooks had worked it themselves, Argenta mumbled a quiet greeting without raising her head.

Although she didn't seem very cold or distant, the young woman almost seemed to be bored with the prospect of trying to socialize as her pupils tracked the swirling mass of noodles in front of her. Under her breath, she hummed some tune from a song somewhere, likely her home. Although her face was surprisingly hard to read, the notes that came out permeated the air around her with a cocktail of emotions such as sadness, regret, and hope.

 

[Acewing13]

YSS Ryūjō, Mess Hall

“Just making sure I wasn’t going to get stuck with the usual role of garbage disposal,” Fyodor said, shrugging as they reached the table. Why did I talk to her? he thought, absent-mindedly nodding to Errowyn. If I go somewhere else now, I’ll just get another rumor running around about how I’m stuck up or some stupid thing, just when I got put in the regular Infantry. Doing his best not to sigh, he asked Zdena, “You want to hear about the story behind the rumors or are you allergic to fur?” Who'd be the ones putting out the 'good' side of the story anyway? Rio? Errowyn? Urgghh, some intelligence agent I am.