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RP: 5th XF [5XF Command, Prelude] The Twelve

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Andrew

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Six Months Earlier
YSS AKURO II


"Shoot me damn it!!â€
 
4 Months Prior
YSS Einoku


Taisa Igarashi Yuka
Personal Log Update


My darling Mazu and I are off to a wonderful start-I never knew love until now. I can't help but feel special, he knows who I really am; what I did to Motoyoshi-sama but he doesn't care.

The Einoku and the Sheridan crews are enjoying what could be their last leave together. We ship out to the front at Talori in the morning. May Yui watch over us-I want to come home to enjoy my Mazu again.
 
4 Months Prior
Akina no Iori


ShoSho Hanabusa Miho
Personal Log


Mayumi-Taisho's plan was set into motion today. The Koyanagi Initiative, a push to reclaim those systems lost to those vile aliens. The others should be very please with its beginnings, with hope we will be able to return what was lost soon enough.

I remain optimistic in the face of these times, the others do too. I certainly hope we will see the end of this war soon enough. For all our sakes.

***
The now Chujo Hanabusa Miho was walking the central core of the Hotaru no Iori. She and her adjuncts were observing the activity following the retreat from Valaad. From her point of view everything needed work, but she had already work the crews so hard.

Chujo, the Taisho and her escort have arrived. They will be arriving in the conferance room shortly. The Hotaru announced to her telepathically.

Good to hear. Inform anyone else to move there now. The star fortress commander responded.

Yes Chujo, Shosho Ieyasu and Taru are already present. Taisa Nosaka is currently undergoing dock procedures. The AI responded back before returning to silence.

Miho smiled to herself and nodded to her escorts. Together they all made their way towards the closest lift.

***
7 Months Prior
YSS AKURO II


The inner airlock hissed closed. Her hand reached for the panel. She tapped the sequence in and the outer airlock door slid open.

She whispered lowly "Hopefully... If there's something you believe in. It will be more forgiving than I..."
 
PRESENT, HOTARU-HIMITSU STAGING AREA

Mitsuya Saito, Miyamae Kahori, and Kotoku Sui arrived within moments of each other taking the lift up to the conference room. Not a word passed between them-they were all engulfed in downloading the latest news from the ships returning from patrols at the edges of the nebula.

***

Mayumi and Yuka entered the Hotaru Star Fortress' conference room; the room square and was dimly lit with blue lighting around the room's exterior edges. It had twelve high-backed comfortable dark blue padded chairs around a circular table; the head chair sat slightly raised and had larger armrests than the others. The floor was polished black, giving little comfort reminding the Taisho of an armor bay.

Behind the head chair was a massive volumetric projection of the fleet logo, with the flags of Yamatai and Taiie on either side. Each chair had a purple cloth over the top with the logo and the name of its intended occupant-save for the larger chair. Each placement had a glass of water, a datapad. The table was a cold ceramic-the symbol of the fleet in the center, but the hummingbird was not engraved, it reflected down onto the table from the window above, the view into space showing the pinkish swirls of the nebula which surrounded them.

As Saito, Kahori and Sui filtered in, along with the others Mayumi took the seat to the right of the central chair, and Yuka beside her.

***
FIVE MONTHS, ONE DAY PRIOR
DISABLED TAIIE NO IORI


Katsuko walked down the corridor, her eyes ahead of her, almost as if to ignore the remains of several of her finest outside of her former office doors. An investigation into the incident was underway; once again the bureaucrats back home would require their answers—want to know what happened to their hardware. The emotional toll of a Taisho was but trivial in such matters, as that the tears held back within her gaze didn't matter to SARA or Command—only to her.

***
FIVE MONTHS PRIOR
YSS AKURO II



SAINT had questioned Corro following the incident on the Iori, as well as several of her other most trusted officers, each of which reported the nature of the questions back to Katsuko. The Taisho read the datapad carefully, her tongue held in her cheek.

Izumi-Chui, Koyanagi-Chujo, please join me in my quarters immediately.
 
FIVE MONTHS PRIOR
YSS AKURO II


"They have questioned Corro and Kazuhiko, yet they didn't have the guts to walk in here and face me themselves.â€
 
Present

The lift ride was swift and uneventful. Ieyasu Taro and Taru Kuniko, joined up with Miho partway through the ride up. The two commanders bowed deeply to the Hotaru's commanding officer. Miho gave them a smile and a short bow in return. The Chujo's adjuncts left at this stop, leaving the three officers to themselves.

"You two must be tired. I've read the recent reports you both made, quite long winded I must say." Miho quipped to the two battle group commanders.

"Oh it's nothing. I had to do something to keep myself occupied." Kuniko responded with a smile. The NH-29 was beaming as usual.

Taro only responded with a long, "Hmmmm."

***
Just outside the conference room, Taisas Nosaka Mamami and Bando Ayako chatted with Shosho Nonomura Eri. The three of them just missed seeing their beloved leader enter the conference chambers. All were caught up in Ayako's recent tale of her scouting group.

As the three officers turned the corner and walked through the sliding door, Eri was the first to see Katsuko at the head table. She let out a small gasp of shock, like someone who had just seen a ghost. The other two, startled by their companion looked at her puzzled and then to Katsuko. They too gave a gasp of shock.

"Well this... unexpected." Eri was finally able to formulate. She was smiling, both on the outside and inside. This is unexpectedly good.

The three newcomers entered and bowed deeply in reverence to Katsuko. Further down the hall the main lift opened up and let Miho, Kuniko, and Taro out. The three heard murmuring from down the hall. Kuniko and Taro looked at each other curiously and then to Miho whose eyes were focused forward. Together they moved down the hall in silence, trying to listen to the talking from the conference room.

As the rounded the bend, they too had a similar reaction to Katsuko's living, breathing form in front of them. Taro swallowed a large lump in his throat as he blinked wide eyed. Only Miho remained controlled, but the watering in her eyes told a different story.

Welcome home Taisho.
 
Katsuko lowered herself into the chair after removing her coat-she wore a white paneled command uniform without a rank on it-as that she had yet to be reinstated. Her cool silver gaze looked around the table, the corners of her lips raised in a warm smile. It had all been done within her absence-the twelve had elevated to the highest ranks in the fleet, her gaze shifted to Mayumi and Yuka, a slight nod spoke a thousand words of thanks, then she addressed them all.

"Due to military regulations, each fleet may only have a single Taisho-until I am officially reinstated I am nothing but a consultant at this table. Your welcoming words can be saved for an environment of more comfort-but I thank you all none the less. We have a lot of work to do-I left you with a whole fleet, and I return to something that resembles cargo escort wing- blame be mostly on the SMX however, it is up to all of us to own what has happened-and move on.â€
 
Miho and the others took their respective seats quietly. They listened intently to Katsuko, and the others who spoke out. All of them regard each member as they spoke out with the utmost respect.

When Miho received her question she sighed lightly at the start and began. "Well everything since our fallback from Valaad is working correctly. But I'm understaffed and peak capacity is nowhere close to being reached. The refugees from Taiie could find room aboard the Hotaru for a short time. But I am in agreement with Saito-Chujo, we need a colony ship for them."

"More importantly we need a planet for them." In a rare showing of speech Shosho Ieyasu Taro spoke up as Miho finished. "As I've said before, our efforts should be redoubled on the colonization mission. That was the intended purpose of this fleet." After finishing he folded his hands in his lap and went silent again.

"Yes, but our first concern has to be those left behind, Taro." Taisa Taru Kuniko began. "The refugees have suffered under this. Isn't it enough pain that they had to bear witness to their planet being lost? We need to return them to our protective wing." As Kuniko finished she looked to the Sui and nodded affirmatively.

"Agreed." Taisa Nosaka Mamami interjected after Kuniko spoke. "But the question of how to go about this remains. While I believe many use are for a full scale action to reel in all of our wayward comrades, we need to realize the sensitive nature of the Star Army's position." She paused to look around the group. "We have been pushed back, but we are rebounding. We need to take that into account when we go digging into other fleets for our own."

After Kuniko finished, Miho nodded. "Taisho, any thoughts?" She looked first to Mayumi, and then her eyes strayed to Katsuko.
 
Katsuko opened her mouth as if to speak, but shut it quickly catching herself. She smiled slightly embarrassed, and looked to Mayumi.

Mayumi offered, "Last I heard Hummingbird CDC's weren't on the production list at Yamatai, maybe we can convince Luna Bianca to begin production, and Two CDCs equipped with Katsuko Colony Outposts would likely fill the role. It could be a few weeks before we would see delivery.â€
 
The Hotaru's commanding officer nodded slowly. "I will accommodate anyone for the fleet's benefit. The quarters will be less than Spartan but they should suffice for a short time. With those empty spaces the station will be able to hold quite a bit."

Taro nodded to Mayumi. "I will comply." With that said he returned to his quiet reflection of the group before him.

Mamami looked to Sui. "If you need assistance, I would be happy to provide my assistance. I'm certain word of the Sheridan will hearten the refugees." She then looked to Mayumi. "That is if I can be spared the time."

Kuniko nodded forward at no one in particular. "How long do you think it will be before we are able to find a new planet for them, Mayumi? I would think the Hotaru couldn't last that long at max capacity."

"You underestimate my abilities, Kuniko." Miho chuckled. "I will make sure everything is fine. But I must also ask Kuniko's question myself, Mayumi. How long do we have?"
 
Mayumi said, "That falls on the Yugumo. Their departure is tomorrow morning. I have stressed to Motoyoshi-Shosa the importance of their mission to find a new headquarters for this fleet.â€
 
Hooking some of her loose blue hair behind her ear, Kuniko let out a small sigh at the mention of the mine fields around the nebula.

"You have to remember, the problem with this nebula is we still don't have the full details about it. While it could be a blessing, it could be a death trap too."

She looked to the others with her brown eyes, taking a second to let them mull it over before she went on to explain.

"We have no fold drive capability on most of our ships. Like stated before it leaves us like sitting ducks if they should decide to get blood thirsty. What we need now is to get out of this nebula. I suggest we head twoards the creepy passage along with the Yugumo. We should stay there for a while, atleast until the KYF can send us some supplies."

After giving them another moment or so, she continued.

"Either that, or we move out and north, just to the east of Jaspis. From there, we will have a easier path for supplies."

She looked around the room to see the criticism, before she rested back in her chair as well, watching Katsuko closely.
 
Miho watched the volumetric display with keen interest. She had seen enough tactical maps in her time to make some sound judgments. "I would suggest the minefields to our west and south. Mining the north would prove problematic to our supply lines."

"Unless we were to leave specific corridors open for travel." Ayako interjected. "That way we'd only be exposing ourselves to the rear. Which is whatever lies beyond the passage." Ayako formed a display of the nebula in greater detail. "If we could create a way-point system we may be able to keep ourselves organized in this situation."

Taro watched his comrades in silence. He already was turning over thoughts of the current situation in his mind, as well as formulating his correspondence with KFY.

"While I would agree with Kuniko-san. Moving north to Jaspis would open us up to another massive attack. Besides, completely abandoning the nebula would be giving up an excellent field position." Ayako continued. "We can use its natural concealment to set up guerrilla warfare against any vessels entering it. This would be especially useful given the current fleet size and dispersion."

Miho nodded at Ayako, though unsure of her plan. "But that would require we put more vessels in harms way. Losing anymore personnel would be unacceptable at this stage. And I believe we can all agree to that." Miho looked back around the group gathered.
 
Katsuko listened to each of the suggestions; as much as she hated the idea of moving the fleet, fearing that it could be seen as a sign of retreat she had come to the realization that perhaps Kuniko and Saito was right. She looked to Mayumi.

We can't afford to look weak, nor can we afford to look strong and attract the enemy until we are ready for them.. Either to have our revenge; we have to rebuild-away from here.


Mayumi observed the volumetric maps for both locations recommended by Kuniko. She nodded, "Kuniko, I think the point near the creepy passage would give us enough clearance to avoid further harassment from SMX and also allow us to be ready to move as soon as the Yugumo and her escorts have cleared a system for our permanent position.â€
 
"Understood ma'am, I will have the coordinates transfered and ready for each ship by the time we are finished here."

Already Kuniko had sent a message to her communications officers to send out the coordinates to each ship through a encrypted channel.

After the orders had been given, Kuniko rested back in her chair to watch the others, looking around as she thought over the other points given as she began to think over somethings.

As she began to mull things over like positioning and defenses needed, she caught something out of the corner of her eye. A little head of green hair shot from under the table. Kuniko's eyes went wider as she saw the little NH-12 run off to a small area in the room designated for the smaller nekos. A soft blush rose to her cheeks, coloring them a light red as she turned her gaze back to the table, trying to forget the little nekos were there.

So cute.... She thought to herself though.
 
Ayako nodded to Mayumi. But she then hesitated, "Are we still certain we can trust the intelligence provided? It would be catastrophic if we were to lose the Yugumo out-"

"They will not fail." Taro interjected forcefully. "They have a strong crew and an even stronger captain. There is nothing they won't stand against and find victory."

Ayako silenced herself and nodded respectfully to Taro, seemingly reassured. Touchy...

"I will see to it that the mining detail is carried out effectively to the south and west of our new positions." Miho commented as she looked at the datapad she held in front of her. "I'll await the Logistics Group's word before mining the north." As she finished she looked to Mayumi, but remained silent.

Mamami had remained silent for some time. Seeing that the others had spoken their minds, she raised her question. "Since we are discussing the outlines of what's to come. I must ask just how we are going to divide this fleet to fulfill its roles. Are we to remain at our current states and wait for the groups to replenish, or are we going to undergo a fleet reorganization?" Mamami finished and looked around those gathered especially the group commanders present.
 
The communications office put the Taisa on hold, patching herself thru to the conference room where the twelve were meeting. "Excuse the interruption Koyanagi-sama, there is a Taisa on the line for you. She is calling to question your orders reassigning Ionoche-Chui and Sarri-Chui. She mentioned something about court martial or something to that effect; I am sending you my notesâ€
 
Katsuko remained silent as the communication between Pisces and the other involved members of the twelve continued. Something cold was reflected in her eyes-a deep disgust welled within her. And that...used to be one of our own. I swear if I ever see that Taisa with one of this fleet's rank pins on. I will use it to dig out her heart. She thought to herself, we have more important issues to deal with than this meddling fool. So help me, when I am reinstated as Taisho of this fleet, I will have her rank-just for wasting our time.
 
Mamami sighed as the conversation being started. She knew it was a cut and dry argument, commander versus high commander. But from just the introductions she knew that this would not be over quickly or quietly. Mamami was pragmatic, she wished that both sides would calm themselves and issues would be resolved quickly.

Miho on the other hand had her eyes narrowed ahead. She listened intently to Sui and what was spoken about the refugees. She considered most of those refugees casualties of the conflict, and by being stranded they were suffering. That was something the Miho would not accept.

Ayako played with one of her braids of hair. She realized this wasn't something she should be too concerned with. Though the refugee situation warranted concern, she knew that Sui-san was on top of everything. She gave a half-hearted smile at the sternness of Sui and Mayumi.

Taro blinked a few times at the conversation at hand. He grimaced at some of the words spoken, but said nothing. He wasn't the diplomatic type, or so he thought. He watched the rest of the group's reactions, shivering a bit at Katsuko's cold glare. His eyes then came to rest on Eri, to whom he made an apologetic frown and shrug.
 
Off-screen from the discussion between Chujo Kotoku and the Taisa from Pisces another communication had been received from Taisho Yui. Mayumi loosened the Taisho pin from her uniform and with a smile handed it to Katsuko. Everything is set Taisho.

Katsuko picked up the pin and put it on, getting up from her chair she walked up behind Chujo Kotoku and tapped the small control panel next to the Chujo's water glass terminating the communication with Pisces.

~Communication Terminated~

"If that Taisa tries to cause any more problems, please contact personnel and ensure the next command she receives is a garbage hauler. You do not question a Taisho, you do what you're told-this is the military not a public forum. Sui, get your things together, you're going to Pisces dear, file the appropriate motions with Irim. I will ensure there sufficient ships to take on our resources by the time you arrive.â€
 
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