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RP: YSS Celia Mission 3C: [Space] Grace Under Fire

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Yangfan

Yangfan

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According to the star map, there was only the void of space here. However, as the Celia warped into normal space along with her escorts, it was quite obvious that a skirmish recently took place in the area. Small pieces of metallic or plastic debris occasionally drifted past the Celia.

The comm officers grimaced as their earpieces were suddenly deluged with noise, as every other Yamataian warship in the vicinity tried to contact them at once.

“Watanabe-Taii, signal our arrival to other friendly ships and try to find out what is needed of us,” ordered Aurore. “Tanaka-Taii, put the output of short-range sensors on the main screen.”

“Aye, sir,” responded the two Nekos in unison.

With a few keystrokes, Shina placed the sensor readings up on the main bridge view-screen:

https://stararmy.com/starchan/images/520/mission3C.PNG
 
Responding quickly to Tangozulu's commands, Joey approached the weapon racks and took from them a GP-5 in his right hand. Assuring himself that it wasn't already loaded, he took two of the magazine cartridges and pocketed them, planning to load his weapon once he left his power armor. He picked up the strap locked onto the stock of the weapon, looped it over his shoulder, and allowed it to rest comfortably on his left shoulder.

Finally prepared for his first combat mission, Joey stood at attention and awaited further orders. As he stood in place, he wondered what the Celia's sprites, which would soon be delivering their power armors to them, would look like. He imagined humanoids of various gender and body type, likely wearing uniforms similar to his, although he had no idea what color their panels would be.
 
Avaldamon followed Demaro over to the weapons racks, not fast enough to seem too eager and not slow enough to seem scared. He thought hard in which weapon he would choose.

The SMG was out of the question, small enough in real life he couldn't imagine trying to use it in Daisy. The GP-5 packed quite a punch, but that's compensated for by weight, wait I'm gonna be in a Daisy. . . in space as well, weight doesn't matter much, and it fires faster than the GP-12 which it looks like a lot of others are taking. I think I'll take the GP-5.

He grabbed the large gun and stood next to Demaro. "So it looks like we're going to see some action, when they first told us to go to the armory I thought it was just for manoeuvers."

He kept a close eye on Orie the whole while. She was dependable and with a smaller armor it would probably be good for the three of them to stick together. Two heavy armors and weapons backing up a smaller armor could be pretty useful.
 
Backed-up and back on the bridge, Itkatsu slipped into the chair she had used before and arranged the displays in front of her to allow for a swift transfer of helm controls should the need arise. The preparation took only a few moments, and once done the First Officer turned her attention to the jump procedures, the experience of being the one watching instead of doing relatively unfamiliar but something that she would have to become accustomed to.

With the Celia’s smooth entry to the patch of space that was of interest to them Kiyoko viewed over the sensor readings to glean information out of them. Aside from the two fields of debris – which looked to possibly be the remains of ships – the other pieces of detritus passing by the Ayame were all well small enough to be of no danger to the ship. Beyond what the sensors could tell her, the situation onboard the two ships in question interested Kiyoko – though to find out more about that would have to wait until communications with the other ships in-system was established.
 
Orie took up her chosen Type 28 SMG and stared off into space, dreamily trying to decide which Mindy configuration she wanted to take. The 'light arms only' rule saddened her--too many of the Mindy's neat weapons were anti-armor or starship. She briefly wondered if her superiors would oppose her taking an aether rifle just to look at. And they could be used to cut holes in the hull for rescue purposes! Everyone knew that!

With a sigh, though, she settled on the Hornet's Nest configuration. Try as she might, she couldn't think of a really good way to justify anti-starship weapons on an anti-infantry mission. Even then, she might have to ditch the LASR and gauss cannon. That would at least give her a teleport module, which was still neat. And aether blades! ... not that she was likely to get a chance to use them.
 
The two red-haired Nekos each took a Type 28 SMG, and began to quietly check their weapons. Leet and Woot walked up to the racks and each took a GP-12 rifle. Leet placed his rifle beneath his crotch and made an obscene gesture. Woot laughed and patted Leet on the back.

Sixthree, still carrying a GP-12 under one arm, took a GP-5 and skillfully attached shoulder straps to it. He slung the GP-5 over his shoulder and then moved the GP-12 to a more comfortable carrying position.

“What about-a me, sah?” asked Zug.

Sixthree smiled. “I got something special for you, soldier. Follow me.”

Sixthree and Zug disappeared behind the rows upon rows of weaponry for a few seconds. By the time they came back, Zug carried a super-sized claymore in one hand. A strong, muscular man would have had trouble wielding this huge sword with both hands, but it seemed like only a short-sword in Zug's gigantic hands. Zug smiled like a child on Christmas morning.

“You know how to handle a sword, don't you, soldier?” asked Sixthree.

“Oh yes sah! Zug's papa taught Zug good swodmanship!” Zug swung his new toy over his head a few times for emphasis.

“Good! If nothing else, you ought to be plenty intimidating out in the field,” observed Sixthree. “Our power armor should arrive at any second now...”

Almost as if on cue, one of the hatchways opened and four Nekos in orange-paneled SAY uniforms emerged from it. They were pushing eight power armor suits on several hover pads. Several smaller hatchways behind the formerly closed hatch was now visible.

“All right, everyone!” shouted Sixthree as he pointed to two of the small portals. “The changing rooms are over there. There should be a bodysuit next to your power armor. If the bodysuit looks like it wouldn't fit you, then you're probably standing next to someone else's armor! I want everyone back here in 3 minutes, with your suits on! Or you can come back naked and go bare-back! I don't care! Now go go go!”

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Aurore brooded silently as she started at the images sent back from the sensors.

“Branard-Taisho, sir, I've established contact with ND-X3-04,” said Taii Watanabe Kioko.

“What do they have to report?”

“ND-X3-04 reports that the Arashi-class ships present were dispatched by HQ in response to a distress call from this area, sir. They now believe that the distress call originated from the merchanter, the Graceful Jaunt. They met hostile fire when they jumped into this area, and returned fire, destroying one Bellystabber-class pirate ship. One other pirate ship escaped during the skirmish. The ships' computers were unable to identify the vessel class, sir. They believe it to be an experimental model. They were able to disable the engines on the third pirate ship, also Bellystabber-class. That ship is currently docked with the Graceful Jaunt, and its crew claim to have taken hostages aboard.”

“What's the current situation?”

“One of the Arashis suffered light damage during the firefight. No casualties. Repairs are already underway. The pirates identified their ship as the Nero. They claim to have hostages, and demand to parley with you personally... They asked for you by name, sir.”

“There are two debris fields. If one of them is a destroyed Bellystabber, what's the other one?”

“The debris field next to ND-X3-05 is indeed the destroyed Bellystabber, sir. ND-X3-4 reports that the other debris field was already present when they arrived at the scene. They are sending an away team to investigate the wreckage, sir.”

“Hmm. Quite the mystery we have on our hands here... Good,” replied Aurore. “Tell them to keep me posted. Watanabe-Taii, I want you to hail the pirate ship. Audio and visual. Let's see what they have to say for themselves.”
 
"Yeah, seems like it...I just hope we're not getting in over our heads here..."

Wasting no time, Joey hustled over to one of the power armors and checked the size of its corresponding body suit. When he noted that it was slightly big for him, he quickly approached the adjacent armor and checked its suit. Satisfied that it would fit him, Joey quickly grabbed it, took it with him into one of the changing rooms, and closed the hatch behind him.

Guessing that he wouldn't be able to wear his uniform under the jumpsuit, Joey began to strip down, laying his discarded clothing nearby. Once he had removed his uniform, young Demaro quickly clambered into his bodysuit. He was surprised at the way it fit his body; it was a tight but comfortable fit, something like a glove made specially for a single hand. Guessing that his outfit would be nothing more than a nuisance aboard the power armor, he left it in the corner as he left, hoping that it would still be there when he returned.

After about sixty seconds, Joey emerged from the changing room in his jumpsuit, his GP-5 slung over his shoulder. He climbed aboard the hovering panel where he had retreived his bodysuit and awaited instructions, nervous but eager to finally board his power armor.
 
The two red-haired Nekos were already waiting by the hover pads by the time Joey returned. The other tech sentries seemed to be still changing.

“Leave your uniforms in the changing rooms, people!” yelled Sixthree into the changing rooms. “The sprites will pick them up and return them to your rooms!” He turned and noticed that Joey was already done with changing. He looked down at his data pad. “Joachim Demaro, right? Good hustle, soldier,” he complemented.

“Hey... What about us, sir?” asked one of the Nekos.

“Ha! You're fucking Nekos! You're supposed to be faster than us mere mortals!” retorted Sixthree. “Besides, you've been doing this for years! Newbie here is straight out of basic! ... You are straight out of basic, right?” he asked Joey.
 
Orie took little time to change. Quite used to the process from her power armor experience in basic training, the only noteworthy occurrence was her insistence on doing most of the process, as she did many things, while hovering in midair. It took her several seconds of debate to figure out whether to wear the bodysuit--she was more familiar with piloting armors completely naked, and it seemed like it would interfere with her SPINE interface. But, deciding that the Heisho must know what he was talking about, she pulled the garment on.

Finally suited up, the tiny neko propelled herself back into the main room.
 
Avaldamon walked up and grabbed the suit next to Demaro and put it on folding his clothes carefully in the corner so they wouldn't have wrinkles when he returned to them. When he came out he saw that he was the last of the threesome he had become a part of during his short stay on Celia. He hustled over holding his gun over his shoulder and eyeing the power armor.

He stood at attention waiting for the others to return and the storm of battle to break over them. Maybe it wouldn't be that dramatic, but he could dream.
 
"Yessir," Joey responded sharply, allowing himself a brief smile when he was complimented. "I'd assume that there's not much time or room to hesitate in urgent situations like this; just trying to get the job done right and fast, sir.

"Aye, sir," he added at Tangozulu's question. "Just graduated and achieved my rank within the past few weeks, sir."

In truth, Joey owed his agility to his basic training. It was during his training that he had learned to have a steady hand and not to hesitate, whether he was in the line of fire or taking a shower. His punctuality had been ingrained into him, and it was as much a part of him now as his passion for engineering.

"Requesting permission to board the Daisy, sir."
 
Sixthree turned to watch Leet and Woot amble back toward the group. He had a worried expression on his face. “Yeah, permission granted. Get into your armors, ya grunts... Let me know if you need help.”

Meanwhile, on the bridge...

“The Nero has responded to our hail, sir,” said Taii Watanabe.

“On screen,” ordered Aurore.

The main view-screen flickered. A young Geshrin or Yamataian man sat in the opposing captain's chair. He wore dirty gray overalls, ones that a mechanic would wear. His black hair was unkempt. But there was raw intelligence in his eyes. “Greetings, Taisho Branard. I am Captain Hyde of the free vessel Nero.”

“Captain Hyde, you have exactly ten seconds to convince me to not disintegrate you into subatomic particles.” Aurore stared at Hyde as a cat would stare at a mouse between its paws.

“Whoa, whoa, Taisho,” the young pirate captain smiled, and put up his hands in a conciliatory gesture. “Let's not be so hasty here.”

“Four seconds.”

“Okay! Okay! I have hostages,” the young man sighed. “Look, it's not something I'm proud of, all right? I've been part of a merchant ship crew myself, a long, long time ago. This is not easy for me, Taisho...”

“I'm not interested in your life story, Captain Hyde. Show me proof that you have hostages or I will assume that you're lying.”

Captain Hyde nodded in consent. He snapped his fingers. A rough and muscular hand shoved a Elysian girl onto his lap from off-screen. The young woman had long blonde hair and blue eyes, and wore a white dress. She obviously looked to be scared and in distress, but otherwise appeared to be unharmed.

“The rest of my hostages are at a secure location aboard my ship... You'll have to take my word for it, Taisho Branard.” The young man attempted to place a hand on the girl's shoulder, but she recoiled away from him. A lecherous chuckle could be heard in the background.

Aurore sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine... What are your demands?”

The young captain allowed himself a smile. “You get right to business, Taisho Branard. Good. I like that. I'm glad that the stories I've heard about you have not been told in jest.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, pirate,” Aurore bared her teeth. “Your demands. Now.”

“Um, my crew and I would like some supplies, and safe passage back to our hideout, of course. I would discuss the details with you in person, Taisho Branard, if you could be so generous to grace the Nero with your presence.”

“Ha!” Aurore snorted. “And pray tell, Captain Hyde, just why I should willingly walk into your pathetic little trap?”

The young man's expression was somber and serious. “It is not a trap, Taisho. I swear on my dead mother's grave. I simply wish to have some assurances that you will not get bored and decide to bring this situation to a quick but tragic end. You may bring a few bodyguards with you, if you prefer. Hell! Bring as many as you wish! I'm sure a single Mindy armor of yours would be more than a match for how many ever men I may be able to cram onto my bridge.”

“And what makes you think I won't simply walk onto your bridge and gun down you and your men myself?”

“Because you yourself will be coming unarmed and unarmored, Taisho Branard... Consider it my first specific demand. My men and I will be vulnerable to your bodyguards, but you will be vulnerable to us as well. I hope that it will ensure that both sides will act in good faith.”

Aurore considered this for a moment.

“Come on, Taisho,” pleaded the young man. “What do you have to lose? The best I can possibly do is to somehow manage to kill you, and even then, you will still have your ST backups on the Celia. I assure you that the facilities aboard the Nero are considerably more primitive.”

“All right... but I have a condition myself,” replied Aurore.

“Taisho! You can't possibly be considering endanger-” Yuri began. She was silenced with a single gesture from Aurore.

“I will not be coming aboard your ship unarmed, Captain Hyde,” said Aurore. “My sidearm is a part of my uniform, and I refuse to part with it when I am carrying out my official duties as a Star Army officer... and that includes negotiations in hostage situations.”

Hyde nodded, a hint of admiration in his eyes. “Well said, Taisho Branard. Very well, you may carry your sidearm aboard my ship. But you will come as you are, in uniform, not in power armor. Agreed?”

Aurore smirked. “Agreed.”

The young captain visibly sighed in relief. “I'm glad, Taisho. You will see that I am a reasonable man. I hope that we can resolve this situation peacefully. I-”

“You talk too much, Captain Hyde,” commented Aurore, cutting him off. “My bodyguards and I will be traveling to your ship via shuttle shortly. You will power down any active weapons systems aboard your ship. The nanosecond my ship's sensors detect a power signature in your ship's weapons systems will be the last nanosecond of your life. Understood?”

“... Yes, Taisho Branard.”

“Good. Watanabe-Taii, cut him off.”

The view-screen went black.
 
Once Tangozulu gave him the word, Joey put down his GP-5 and ammunition, reached up, and retreived the helmet from his power armor, placing it on the hover pad at his side. Almost immediately, the Daisy knelt down, and its torso opened up, granting him access. Without hesitating, he put one hand onto the shoulder of the armor, lifted himself up, and turned around to slip his legs and feet into their respective places. It didn't take much to get his feet into place; as soon as he started to lower them into the legs of the armor, a strange kind of suction drew them down into place. Next, he reached his hands into the arms of the armor, and the torso closed back up around him, sealing everything but his head inside. He braced himself for an extremely unpleasant sensation as the organic core of the Daisy molded itself around his body, pushing him into position to better operate it. Finally inside, he picked up the helmet he had removed before and placed it over his head; it locked into place, and its operating systems came fully online. Joey was now in full control of his Diasy.

Before doing anything else, young Demaro disarmed his armor's high-power weapons; per their orders, they would not be engaging in heavy targets and would thus not require such powerful firearms. Instead, he picked up the GP-5 again and locked one of the magazines into its stock, loading it and preparing it for use. After stowing the other cartridge away, he turned towards his commanding officer and addressed him.

"Alright, all systems are green," Joey said. "Awaiting further orders, sir."

((Edited for more correctness.))
 
Orie was able to quickly slide into her Mindy like a second skin, accustomed enough to the associated sensations to pay them little mind. Of far more interest to her was the armor itself. The second the back sealed and her helmet was in place, she started inspecting it gleefully, craning her neck to look down at herself like she was merely trying on a set of new clothes. "Hello, AIES!" she chirped to the armor once it had powered up... and once the external speaker was switched off. "Could you please give me a list of my weapons and hardpoint attachments when you get a chance?"

Once she'd inspected the armor to her heart's content--this involved a pirouette--she turned and saluted Sixthree, a maneuver that caused a loud THWACK! as a heavily armored hand smacked against her similarly armored helmet. "Me too, sir!" ... and then, several seconds later, she remembered that her external speaker was off. After switching it back on, she repeated the exclamation, with only a marginal loss of enthusiasm.
 
To Joey's surprise, all of the weapons systems on his Daisy armor were already disabled. It looked like he was expected to make do with his GP-5.

“We'll wait here for further orders, soldier,” said Sixthree in response to Joey. He watched for a moment as Leet and Woot clumsily slip into their Daisy armors, and then suddenly looked down, remembering that he was still in uniform. “I should go change as well. Stay here,” he ordered. “I'll be right back.”

As Sixthree marched off to the changing rooms, Joey could see that the two red-haired Nekos had gotten into their Daisy armors as well, and were busy doing diagnostics on each other's armor.

At Orie's request, the Mindy armor's AIES system did a quick system diagnostics and printed the results to one side of her view screen:

WEAPONS

Offline LEFT FOREARM
Offline RIGHT FOREARM
Offline LEFT LEG NSD
Offline RIGHT LEG NSD
No Attachment DORSAL HARDPOINT
No Attachment LEFT SHOULDER HARDPOINT
No Attachment RIGHT SHOULDER HARDPOINT
No Attachment LEFT LEG HARDPOINT
No Attachment RIGHT HARDPOINT

ENGINES

Online AETHER GENERATOR
Online BACKUP ENGINE
Online INERTIALESS DRIVE

ARMOR

100% CFS SHIELDING
100% CAMO LAYER
100% CHASSIS LAYER
100% ORGANIC LAYER

OTHER SYSTEMS

Online AIES
Online PSIONIC SIGNAL CONTROL
Click to expand...

Meanwhile, on the bridge...

Aurore gestured for Celia to come closer. Once the avatar Neko was standing next to her at the Operations Station, Aurore whispered to Kiyoko, Yuri, and Celia:

“Okay, here's the plan... I shall take a shuttle to the pirate ship. Itkatsu-Shosa and the Troll will be on the shuttle with me, and they will act as my bodyguards. Lu-Taii, the tech sentries, and several Lamias will follow in the engine trail of the shuttle, and hopefully sneak past their sensors and onto the pirate ship. Once aboard, they will disable the pirate ship's internal communications, capture as many sections of the pirate ship and the merchant ship as they can, and finally locate and rescue the hostages.”

“The pirate captain will become suspicious if you disable his communications, Taisho,” commented Celia.

“His ship took some damage during the skirmish. I will try to convince him that his comm system was failing because of that...” replied Aurore. “Look, it's a risk we'll have to take. He'll probably order the hostages executed if he realizes that I'm taking over his ship. We have to silence him.”

“What about you, Taisho?” asked Yuri. “You'll likely be killed if you show up unarmored... Maybe if I went in your stead...”

“Don't worry about me, Hayasaka-Chusa,” replied Aurore, smiling. “I will be fine. You'll have to stay here and captain this ship.”

“So I suppose that we will not be seeking a peaceful resolution then, Taisho?” asked Yuri with a sigh.

“Now, Yuri, you know we don't negotiate with pirates,” admonished Aurore. She turned to Kiyoko and Celia, “Itkatsu-Shosa, I suggest that you get to the power armor armory and get suited up. It's on deck 25. Take whichever armor you like, then meet me in the main shuttle bay. Celia, please inform Ittô Heisho Tangozulu that I want the Troll to meet us in the main shuttle bay as well. Also, arrange for Lu-Taii and six Lamias to join Tangozulu's away team as soon as possible. Is that understood, everyone?”
 
Avaldamon laid his gun carefully on the floor and stepped into his Daisy. Once he had been completely secured, he ran a few quick checks on his system. Satisfied that everything was in order he picked up his gun and put on his helmet. After activating the outside speakers he pulled up the settings on the HUD and and flipped through them casually to see what would be useful.
 
The first officer silently watched the exchange between the pirate captain and Branard-Taisho, sifting through the detail for anything that may prove beneficial in the encounter ahead. Nothing seemed to be of any immediate use though, so she packaged it neatly and filed it away in her memory where it would be available should anything new shed some revelatory light upon it as new information come to hand.

In regards to the Taisho’s plan Kiyoko held the same dissatisfaction as her captain did as to the Taisho going in unarmoured to face the pirates; she trusted Branard’s judgement on the matter though – the Yamataian woman was putting her own life on the line after all – it would just be Kiyoko’s job to make sure she didn’t regret that decision.

“Hai, Taisho.” Dismissed, the Neko officer rose from her chair, and with a quick bow to her superiors acted on Taisho’s suggestion. As she left the bridge Kiyoko pulled up the Celia’s power armour inventory in her mind, weighing up the various pros and cons of each in light of the situation she would be facing before settling on the newer of the Mindy variants. Striding towards the lift that would take her down to the armour bay twenty decks below, the Neko contacted Celia telepathically to arrange her armour. ”Celia-Chusa, please have an M2-2A Mindy with a Ke-M2-F2904 set if available prepared for my use.”
 
“Of course, Itkatsu-Shosa. I will have a Mindy prepared for you...” replied the Celia. “Would you like the Hornet Nest configuration?”

Sixthree returned from the changing rooms wearing a pilot's bodysuit. He also carried a white rag of some sort and a roll of duct tape. He climbed into his power armor first, and allowed the torso armor to close in over his chest before taping the rag on top. The rag had a crude drawing of an Ittô Heisho rank pin, probably done in red and yellow markers.

“Ittô Heisho Tangozulu, please have Santô Hei Leonhart report to the main shuttle bay,” Celia's voice, echoing slightly, wafted down from the ceiling of the armory.

“Understood, ma'am,” replied Sixthree. “Yo! Troll!”

“Yes sah!” reported Zug, snapping to attention.

“You heard the lady, right?”

“Yes sah!”

“Think you can find the main shuttle bay without help?” asked Sixthree.

“Oh yes sah! Zug has been there before!” Zug replied with a big grin.

“Then get to it, soldier! Dismissed!” ordered Sixthree.

Zug bowed and began to walk away, taking the huge sword with him.

“And be careful with your weapon!” Sixthree shouted after him.
 
Joey stayed standing where he was while Zug left the armory, carrying his broadsword. Take care, he said inwardly, and good luck. He had no idea what Zug was needed for, but since he was being requested at the shuttle bay, young Demaro assumed that he was going to be flown to their destination, wherever that was, on a transport vessel, since he was too large to fit into any of the power armors. He made a mental note to start designing a new power armor able to accomodate pilots of various species; as much fun as Zug might have swinging a massive blade around, he didn't think that he should lose the privilege of piloting a power armor just because of his large body structure.

((Crappy post is crappy. Once we get moving and such, I'll try to be more wordy and descriptive.))
 
Liam slowly tossed underneath his blankets as soft music began to play in his room. The room's lighting level gradually brightened from near total darkness to the orange of dawn. Liam blinked. He turned over, and grabbed for the data pad at the edge of his nest.

“Hmm? Why did you wake me up so early, Celia?” he asked, staring at the time display through sleepy eyes. “I have the night shift today.”

“I do apologize, Lu-Taii,” replied the Celia from the ceiling. “Branard-Taisho requires your participation in an away mission.”

“Oh?” Liam rubbed his eyes. “What kind of away mission?”

“You will be briefed once you reach the power armor armory.”

“Typical. Can you at least tell me my role in this mission?” Liam asked as he began to dress.

“The Taisho did not specify, although I surmise that you will be expected to be the computer and sensors specialist,” answered the Celia. “I have a M6-1C Daisy prepared for you.”

“Sensors, huh?” mused Liam, putting his arm through a sleeve. “Very well, how fast do I have to get to the armory?”

“Take your time, Lu-Taii. I need you awake for this mission.”

“Okay, Celia. I'll see you on Deck 25 in ten minutes.”
 
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