RP [ECS Panopteles] Chapter II: Athenais

[FrostJaeger]

RP Date

YE 46.1

RP Location

Athenais System

Athenais System
Hill Sphere Boundary
ECS Panopteles
Bridge

With a ripple of severely tortured space-time and a flash of light, the opalescent-hued form of the starship ECS Panopteles - and the twenty-three souls onboard it - materialized in the region of space known as the Athenais System. Like the ship’s launch, the members of Alpha Watch were at their posts - the journey not having taken that long, given the relatively close proximity of the Athenais and Keren systems - but unlike the ship’s launch, however, the exploration vessel’s bridge was devoid of anyone else, thanks to the pint-sized raging ball of icy fury known as Konishi Kiyo having shooed everyone else out. The fact that she herself wasn’t needed on the bridge hadn’t exactly been lost on the Mini-Neko, of course, however when this fact had been presented to her by a rather annoyed Semeai Gallo (who as a matter of fact was quite distraught at the chance of not being able to flirt with a certain green-haired Plebeian) the brunette had merely claimed that “rank hath privileges” and thus remained firmly put on the bridge.

That being said, it was time to buckle up and get down to business - and thus after allowing himself a moment or two to take in the view the captain of the ship, a Patrician by the name of Ramiel Aemilia, began to issue a rather lengthly string of orders. “Mister Asellio, set maneuvering systems to station-keeping. Miss Amaterasu, give me a preliminary scan of the system with passive and active sensors. Mister Lightbringer, keep weapons and shields on hot standby, but don’t activate either of them - there isn’t any threat around yet, and I don’t want to put any more wear and tear on decades-old systems then absolutely necessary. Lastly, Mister Mavenbolt, how are the engines holding up after that jump?”

Having finally finished addressing all of the officers in the room, Ramiel paused to look around for the ship’s second-in-command; after not seeing her, he shrugged and took a bite out of the scrumptious-looking apple that had somehow materialized in his hand within the past few seconds, then continued, “Did anyone hear the Chui say where she was going? She was just here a moment ago…”

Medical Bay

The fwshhh of the Medical Bay’s door sliding open revealed just where the aforementioned purple-eyed Type 33(M) had boldly gone as the individual known as Konishi Kiyo glided into the room and up to the scarlet-haired Elysian within it. “Chasan-Hei, I am here for the medical check-up that is customarily made whenever a starship begins a voyage with a brand-new crew. I’ll be informing the captain of my intentions to schedule check-ups for the entire crew - including those utterly repulsive ‘Seraph’ things - once my check-up is completed. Also, would you like me to file promotion paperwork on your behalf? Having read over your file, it appears that you haven’t had a promotion in nearly three years.”

Spoiler: Color Key

“Speech by Ramiel Aemilia.”
“Speech by Konichi Kiyo.”

 

[Lizalopod]

Athenais System
ECS Panopteles - Bridge

The green haired plebeian had taken a moment to stare out of the ships foward facing window, scanning the region of space they had just arrived in visually. The last few days leading up to the ships launch had been interesting atleast, but they were finally doing what they were originally meant to be doing. After just a moment of mindless staring and thinking, the Elysian was snapped back to reality by Ramiel Aemilia's commanding voice. A little, barely noticeable yelp escaped Emiko's lips from under her cybernetics as she turned back to her science terminals. "Hai!" Her fingers began to tap away at the console as the Elysian began to promptly scan the new system in front of them! As information began to filter in, the plebeian's eyes scanned along the terminals display pretty quickly. Only then did she finally speak up, her implant lit up, her synthetic voice filling the bridge momentarily.

"I have detected 9 stellar bodies, one of which is a Star, and eight of them are planetary objects. The systems center is a standard K type, Main sequence star. Orbiting around it are the 8 bodies. Bodies one, three, four and five are barren, rock based planetoids. Bodies six, seven and eight are all ice planetoids..." She paused momentarily, her brow furrowing... "...Fascinating. The second planet in the system appears to be an habitable world containing water and what appears to be carbon-water based life, seems like vegetation. The planet is surrounded by a rather.. odd energy field which seems to be composed of tachyons. I am detecting no signs hinting to intelligent life or ships in the system-" She paused, peering down at the sensor information, before correcting herself. "Ah, magnetic resonance sensors have picked up what could be something in orbit- however the signal is rather faint, it could just be the planet... Regardless, the tachyon field is... an extremely unusual phenomenon, the scanners cannot get through it to get a better reading from the planet below." The Elysian's gaze looked over at the captian. She seemed both suprised and rather intrigued by the interesting planet the sensors were detecting...

 

[BloodyScarlet]

ECS Panopteles
Medical Bay
Taharial looked up and over to the new person that had entered the Med Lab as she smiled kindly, she stood up and moved over "Of course, but I don't see anything wrong with our brother and sisters." She wasn't that pleased with what she heard but knew it would happen at some point but didn't think it would be the first person in the room with her "Yes I would need to be promoted, I kept hearing about it on my returned to the Yamataian space, but have been putting it off, till I got my bearings." She let out a small giggle as she first washed her hands and then put some gloves on and made sure to use some sanitiser on them.

She turned back to the person with her and smiled kindly "Okay then first off, we will check your vitals and then we will get on to the physical aspects making sure you are fit and health." Taharial went through the process happily and made sure that everything was checked off, she was always strict with herself for this stuff and as she worked with Elysians like herself, she also had to check their wings, Every time she had to touch the person she was very soft and gentle with them, only putting pressure if fully needing to check something, but she made sure to let them know she was going to do it before she applied this pressure.

Taharial pulled back for a moment as she smiled "Now comes the time, I do favour both using the scanner and my own knowledge as some parts of this stage can lead to the scanner ignoring certain signs, or flagging other things, So can I ask for you to strip down to what your comfortable with." She turned around and smiled "Reason I do both is stuff, like in training the scanner said that the person I worked on was pregnant and we ran all the tests and the scanner kept saying positive, but nothing else did and she wasn't, so I don't fully trust them anymore." When she was told it was okay, she turned around and continued her work, she didn't mention anything, she made sure her face didn't give anything away either as her smile never left her face "All done, I give you a clean bill of health, all levels good, but don't hesitate to come back if you need to talk about anything." She moved away and started to remove the gloves "you can get dress and I will write up everything and give you a tick."

At that moment Samandriel walked in with their head low "hello Ma'am, I heard you wanted to see people about physicals, so I thought I would try and beat everyone and get mine done when their was just the two of us..." He looked up and saw Konishi Kiyo and his face went red as he realised and gulped "I am so sorry I-I-I will step out and wait."

Taharial smiled and shook her head "relax, they had just finished, I can do your physical and don't worry I have read the notes, I know what is going on, I will have to check some levels, but knowing how these things work, I doubt their will be any problems." With that Taharial sat Samandriel and started to do the same things she did with Kiyo to him, while she let Kiyo do her thing and leave as she didn't want anymore weirdness with this meeting.

 

[Arbitrated]

Athenais System
ECS Panopteles
Bridge

The voice of one Patrician male crackled through the aging intercom, claiming, "We made it here almost on time, but our third vector was knocked loose by the shift out of hyperspace. We've already redistributed the power, but our maneuverability is cut by about twelve percent until we can fix the alignment." There was a dip in the voice after a breath's pause, "Oh, of course... Alright Captain, we can't jump until the inertia regulator is fixed, either. Not unless you feel like turning into soup."

"Don't let the Exec hear that!" A more distant voice, with a touch of exertion, added in before the twins chuckled. Whoever was speaking first then closed out, "It'll be a dozen hours. We have the spares to get things back together. Keep 'er steady, we'll be going EVA in three hours to personally assess."

Ship's Heart
Gaius grunted, "With them appeased can ya help me with this damn vein? Meatbags are doing light-knows-all!" His older-by-minutes brother walked over and, together, the two of them finished opening the out-of-shape relief valve for the wounded energy vein, slimy fluid splattering their boots as it fell to the floor and oozed into the nearby drain. Arcturus sighed, "And of course medical wants us for a checkup, they'll have to wait 'til we can come together." Gaius bantered, "What, you don't wanna repeat what we did back in Bridges? Three years and they never knew." The banter between the lively boys filled the engineering area as they split up and started tending to the stressed conduits, bandaging and patching leaks and tears as they arose. One of the Seraphs marched by en route to medical and got looped into the work on command instead.

"Damn this ship is old! They said what, twelve years, but she looks older that twenty! A good jog around the block before today would have been nice to save this damn headache..."

 

[club24]

Icarus listened to the other officers make their reports and observations stony faced as ever. The pilot made a quiet "tch" sound hearing the engineers explain why he had felt the ship become ever so slightly less responsive after coming out of the jump, he couldn't believe this thing was still flying if that's all it took to lose over 10% of his finer controls.

"Holding position aye, despite the loss of power we're not in any danger of an inescapable re-entry. Unsure exactly how the ship will handle once in an atmosphere, I would advise against any courses with narrow sections or tight corners."

The raven-winged brother kept to himself afterwards, his job was to pay attention to the information from everyone else, and to enact the orders of the captain. With purposeful precision the pilot continued monitoring his station, going through the list of readouts and completing sensor checks methodically and in the exact order drilled into officers in Blacksands, the man was nothing if not meticulous to a fault. His eyes swept over the screens in front of him while his hands kept the ship steady with years of experience behind them. Icarus could see the thrusters reporting the same loss mentioned over the intercom, but they weren't in danger of failure, for the time being.

-----

Back in the shared quarters of the Asellio siblings, Alexia had finished unpacking their things and getting the room into shape, the raven sister knew if anything was out of place she'd never hear the end of it when they changed over for the night, though never in front of anyone else, he was far too proud to be lecturing her where others could see. Alexia shook her head with a grin thinking of the times in previous deployments when she'd forget to fold bedding a certain way or leave something unsecured during a jump.

Taking another look around the room she nodded to herself before striding out the door, time to go and pay the doc a visit,

Alexia strode into the room in time to see the mini-neko finishing up and another person getting started by the looks of it.

"Well well, kicked out of the bridge were you? Don't worry it's not all bad!" The raven sister said in the Chui's direction with a smile while leaving against the doorway with her arms crossed, wings twitching a little as she shook them slightly to furl up neatly behind her back.

 

[Soban]

Athenais System
ECS Panopteles
Bridge

"Aye, raising readiness level." Benhisel said, checking the readiness level and raising it appropriately. One of the weapons went from green to amber, a warning that firing could lead to damage to the system. However, it wasn't the whole system that was down, just the individual missile tube. He powered that specific weapon down and sent a request for engineering to take a look at it. "Captain, we have a missile tube down. I've notified engineering of the issue. All other systems ready. "

 

[FrostJaeger]

Athenais System
ECS Panopteles
Bridge

“Noted, Miss Amaterasu,” replied Ramiel, who then proceeded to frown and consume his apple with ever-increasing intensity as the reports from Engineering and Tactical flowed in like the raindrops of an unwelcome autumn shower. “Mnemosyne.”

The distinctive beep of the vessel’s computer filled the air.

“Is there any system onboard that is fully operational?”

“Air conditioning is fully operational, Lokhagi Aemilia.”

The Patrician let out a sigh and rubbed his temples as he felt the beginnings of a headache take hold within him. “I see,” he said in a tone whose amount of disappointment was sufficient enough to easily pierce even Zesuaium were such things capable of being weaponized. “Please compile a comprehensive list of equipment failures and malfunctions and attach it to this day’s captain’s log once I finish composing it. I was assured that this ship-that you would be in tip-top condition, and it seems that I was misinformed.”

“By your command, Lokhagi Aemilia,” replied Mnemosyne.

Following another crunch of the rapidly-dwindling apple held in his hand, Ramiel continued, “Mister Asellio, set a course for Athenais II at the best speed we can safely manage. While en route, I want you to get acquainted with the ship’s reduced maneuvering and accel-decel capabilities. Miss Amaterasu, once in range I want an analysis of that field to see if it’s traversable by power armor; Mister Lightbringer, I want you to assist Miss Amaterasu by launching a sensor drone into that field, then coordinating with her on its deployment.”

With all of that said, the captain leaned back into his sinfully-comfortable chair, finished off what little remained of his apple, and wondered just what else the day had in store for him and his crew as he acquired a second apple from Lord-knows-where and bit into it.

Medical Bay

Kiyo had put up with Taharial’s pokes, prods, tests, and questions with the stoic and uncaring air of someone who was quite used to such things.

Then Samandriel walked in - and the Chui, who’d yet to get any sort of clothing on, reacted in the only way she knew. “ECCHI! HENTAI! BAKA! OZOMASHĪ! FUKETSUNA! HIRETSUNA!” screeched the Mini-Neko at the top of her lungs, her features a rather impressive shade of scarlet as she threw an item - first a scapel, then a miniature shoe, then a second miniature shoe, then an empty (and capped) syringe, then a sheathed miniature katana, and lastly a sheathed miniature wakizashi - at Samadriel with each exclamation. Her fury still not spent (and the entrance and comment of Alexia completely ignored) she - with her tiny hands vainly attempting to cover her equally-tiny breasts and genitals - whirled to face the red-headed Caelisolan in the room and barked “Chasan-Hei, I demand that you immediately erase the image of my privates from Zarall-Shoi’s memories!” as Taharial sat her feathered friend down for his physical.

Before the aforementioned Caelisolan practitioner of healing could reply, however, the medical bay’s door - which now sported several nicks and dings from the sharp objects that had impacted it and clattered to the ground - opened with a fwshhh to admit the bemused form of Faustina Nardi - to the visible relief of Kiyo - whose pale features were immediately caught in a fierce battle between sighing and laughing as she noticed Samandriel’s presence, took in the executive officer’s state of undress, observed the carnage caused by said executive officer, and put two and two together. She then - with what could only be described as a half-smile adorning her features - shared a look with Taharial, and wordlessly stepped back out of the room with another fwshhh of the doors, clearly not awake/interested/paid/caffeinated enough to deal with what had just occurred.

Engineering

“Damn right!” retorted Lucilla Mondadori, who was working alongside the twins to salvage what remained of the Panopteles’ hyperdrive and inertia regulator - only to bit back a long (and decidedly profane) string of curses as a series of notifications and red lights erupted across the display at the console she was working at. “Oh, frakkin’ son of a Neko… alright, looks like I gotta head out into th’ black. Th’ self-diags on Missile Tube Two’s launch coils jus’ returned a failure, an’, well, someone’s gotta go an’ fix it. Catch ya later, gentlemen…”

The Caelisolan - whose once-spotless features and uniform were now covered in specks and dots of the thick white-colored fluid common to the circulatory systems of Elysian vessels - winked at the two decidedly handsome Patricians, got up with a grunt, sauntered over to the exit (which conveniently led into the ship’s power armor bay), and promptly sashayed on through as the door opened and closed with a pair of fwshhhs.

Then a muffled thud - accompanied by a pair of exclamations, apologies, and hasty excuses - could be heard as the Semeai collided with another crew member, whose identity was quickly revealed to be that of a Euanthe as the door retracted with a fwshhh to admit her blue-haired and thoroughly disheveled form; though she was definitely in pain and somewhat stunned (given how she was massaging her head with one hand), the Caelisolan nevertheless approached the twins and said, “Ehm, is there a-anything I can, uhm, do to h-h-help? I’m really sorry I’m, uh, late… I had to use the b-b-b-bathroom…”

Spoiler: OOC & Color Key

+15,000 birb dollars (3,000 cat dollars) to the first three players in the plot who DM me (over Discord) the MCU reference made in the above post.

“Speech by Lucilla Mondadori.”
“Speech by Ramiel Aemilia.”
“Speech by Euanthe Bellicius.”
“Speech by Konichi Kiyo.”
“Speech by Mnemosyne.”

 

[BloodyScarlet]

ECS Panopteles
Medical Bay
Taharial was patient as she done the basic checks on Samandriel, but could she is was effecting him. The last straw was the next person that came in and just walked back out. She put down her tools "Just a moment Samandriel, I am sorry you have to deal with this." She walked up to Kiyo and sighed the smile on her face replaced a more blank expression as she tapped the table "listen here, I don't care about rank in this room, you could be a brand new recruit or Hanako herself, I would not accept this behaviour with any of them." She looked at Samandriel and back at Kiyo "I told him it was okay to be in here, since you just needed to change and then leave, but not with that attitude I don't know if you would be a threat on missions." She stretched and cracked her knuckles "The reason I wonder that, is if you get injured and you have to get your clothes removed to help, you might attack the person that is administrating aid." She turned away "So either apologise to Samandriel, or not either way loose the attitude or the captain will get sent the medical check up and on yours would be, recommend not to go on missions, could be a danger to others."

She walked back to Samandriel "Okay lets get back to it, have you been feeling anything weird, I have heard sometimes it takes awhile to get use to different bodies?"

Samandriel nodded "Sometimes I see myself and I don't think it is me, but then I remember it is me."

Taharial frowned at something on the scanner as she made a note "Okay that does happen, your body seems to be okay I will have to ask you to get naked as well, and don't worry, I have had some awkward moments with this stuff so if anything happens, know your not the only one." She giggles at this as Samandriel goes red and disrobes for the rest of the exam. Taharial had now total blanked Kiyo and hoped that Samandriel was doing the same.

Before Samandriel stripped, he mumbled "I am sorry Konishi-Chui, please accept my apologies I was going to wait outside but Chasan-Hei said it was okay." Taharial laughed "and you also got an apology from him as well." After this, Taharial went for the same checks she did for Kiyo, and it was obvious that Samandriel was not used to this stuff but Taharial said nothing about it as she ran through the questions.

 

[Lizalopod]

Athenais System
ECS Panopteles - Bridge

"Aye, launching probe." Benhisel said, launching the probe. "So where do you want it Miss Amaterasu?" He asked.

"As close to the field as you can get it safely" The plebeian nodded as she tapped away at her console, ready to recieve the data readings from the newly deployed probe.

"Allright, let's see what we can do." The patrician said, controlling the flight of the probe to get it close to the field.

Emiko's eyes shot around her monitor as data came flooding in from the probe, which was close enough now to begin scanning the odd tachyon field surrounding the planet. Her eyes narrowed as she began to run some tests on the data, her synthetic voice echoing a little louder on the bridge momentarily. "The Tachyon field appears to be safe for travel given that our power armor shields are modulated properly. I will have Mnemosyne run some tests to determine the best settings, Captian."

As the probe got closer to the anomalous Tachyon field surrounding the planet, it would begin to pick up an odd, sporadic background noise. Benhisel's console would pick up the strange noise and alert him of its existence.

Benhisel looked at his sensors, "I'm getting an odd sounds from the planet." He played the odd background noise. "Does that sound like something to anyone else?" He asked.

Emiko paused her calculations as she listened into the odd sounds, squinting. The Plebeians foot tapped gently against the floor, as if there was something bothering her from the noise. Wordlessly, she began to play with the sound on her console, attempting to find any sort of pattern or rhythm in it... Her mask lit up as she finished tapping away. "Mnemosyne- Clear the rest of the noise, please"

"By your command, Shoi Amaterasu"

". . ." Emiko's eyes seemed to widen as she stared at the console, her gaze riddled with a mixture of concern, confusion... and curiosity, which very quickly evolved into surprise. "What the ####?!" The Elysian's mask seemed to filter out the swear, hilariously replacing it with a bleep. She blinked and looked back, before frantically tapping away at her console. "Apologies Captian-" She quickly apologized for the outburst, before continuing "We have detected a signal coming from the other side of the tachyon field. It is an automated distress signal... from an elysian ship! Its identifying itself as the ECN Cercatore della Verità."

Spoiler: OOC & Color Key

JP done with @Soban
"Speech by Benhisel"
"Speech by Emiko"

 

[club24]

"By your command, Captain." Came the barked acknowledged from Icarus as he eased the old ship towards their target.

"Itinial calculations suggest we'll lose maneuvering above 70% standard speed, I'll begin testing shortly."

The raven winged pilot then switched on the ship intercom and gave a single warning to the rest of the crew, if they've graduated from anywhere that teaches naval skills they should know repeats are a waste of time. "All crew, prepare for manoeuvering tests, stow any dangerous equipment. Testing in 5 minutes." With his announcement made Icarus returned to recalibrating his throttle controls to cap the speed accessible to 80%, he still wanted that little extra if they needed to go in a straight line away from something nasty.

-----

Meanwhile Alexia continued watching on with her own smile as the brief chaos unfolded, deftly doding a stray object that came her way before the doors neside her opened again and the raven sister gave a nod to her crewmate who clearly wasn't interested.

"Well doc, I'd rather not be attacked so I'll just turn an eye if you could let me know when it's my turn." Alexia spoke, winking at Kiyo after they finished redressing, she didn't fear this mini neko one bit they were just a petulant child in her mind.

 

[FrostJaeger]

ECS Panopteles
Medical Bay

For several long moments, the brown-haired Miniature Nekovalkyrja known as Konishi Kiyo glared furiously at the Elysian known as Taharial Chasan, seemingly stewing in the furious hurricane of her rage as she pondered her options; eventually, however, the storm abated, and the Chui looked away in… shame? Rage? Frustration? It was hard to tell. “Apology… accepted, and my apologies, Zarall-Shoi,” she mumbled, clearly not terribly enthused at the prospect of having to apologize to the man who’d seen her most private of places - but also not willing to risk being certified medically unfit for duty by the scarlet-haired doctor. With at least one hand covering her eyes at all times, the XO hurriedly dressed - pausing only to glare at Alexia in response to her comment - and, upon retrieving her shoes and swords from where they’d landed in front of the door after she’d flung them at Samandriel, wordlessly floated into the air and darted out into the corridor beyond.

Or would have, had the door not opened with a fwshh to admit a still-bemused Faustina - who promptly stumbled back outside into the hallway slightly as a fourteen-pound Neko-shaped projectile impacted squarely upon her chest. “The fu-“

In a totally unintentional act of censorship, the fwshh of the medical bay’s door closing cut the Caelisolan off before she could finish her statement; several moments later, an even more bemused Faustina walked into the room with another fwshh, this time without being assaulted by an extremely irate/embarrassed/suffering/etc. NH-33M. “I know my atheistic views aren’t popular, but is there a reason I’m being used as Mini-Torpedo target practice? That hurt, you know, and doctors make the worst patients - and the best pranksters…”

Bridge

“Good, no excellent work, you two, though please watch your language, Miss Amaterasu, amusing as that self-censorship is” said the Lokhagi, who’d managed to teleport (or move very, very quickly) to a standing position behind the seated form of Emiko by the time she mentioned the crashed vessel’s identity. “Cancel those maneuvering tests, Shoi, and get us to Athenais II on the double, he continued as he returned to his sinfully-comfortable chair, finished off the second apple he was holding in one hand, and produced a third. “Though there haven’t been any recent reports of a missing ship, something has to be generating that distress signal, so I want us to get down there as soon as possible so that we can investigate further. With that being said, however… Tactical, raise shields in case this is some kind of Mishhuvurthyar trap. Mnemosyne?”

As usual, the distinctive beep of the Panopteles-class explorer’s computer filled the air.

“Inform Semeai Teshiel, Semeai Arcturus Mavenbolt, Semeai Mondadori, Ittô Hei Chasan, and Chui Konishi that they are to report to the power armor bay, suit up, and head planetside to the distress beacon’s coordinates. Also program their armors with the appropriate shield modulations, and instruct Beta watch to report to their stations.”

“By your command, Lokhagi Aemilia,” replied Mnemosyne. “Semeai Mondadori is currently outside of the vehicle performing repairs to Missile Tube Two. Should I recall her?”

“Yes,” said the Patrician without a moment’s hesitation. “Shoi Emiko, Duplicari Lightbringer, you’re both on the away team as well, so go get suited up. I’m sure Mnemosyne, Shoi Asellio, and I can hold the fort down until Beta gets here.”

Medical Bay

Shortly after Faustina entered the room, a distinctive beep - followed by the voice of Mnemosyne - could be heard. “Ittô Hei Chasan, your presence in the power armor bay has been requested by Lokhagi Aemilia so that you may suit up in preparation for an away mission to the surface of Athenais II. Shoi Zarall, your presence on the bridge has been requested by Lokhagi Aemilia so that you may relieve Duplicari Lightbringer, who is currently en route to the power armor bay.”

“Lucky you,” said a mostly-recovered Faustina to her Alpha shift counterpart. “Try to not to get yourself killed down there - I already have three and a half mountains of paperwork to do, and if you die I won’t be able to foist three of those mountains onto you. Also try not to bring back some exotic virus that knocks everyone but you and me out - I’ve seen how those episodes go, and it always involves the survivors doing an obscene amount of extra effort, which I don’t get paid enough for.”

Engineering

As was the case with the medical bay, a distinctive beep - followed by the voice of Mnemosyne - could be heard. “Semeai Arcturus Mavenbolt, your presence in the power armor bay has been requested by Lokhagi Aemilia so that you may suit up in preparation for an away mission to the surface of Athenais II. Nitô Hei Bellicius, your presence on the bridge has been requested by Lokhagi Aemilia so that you may man the Engineering station.”

“O-O-Oh! O-ehm, okay! nervously exclaimed Euanthe, who practically jumped out of her skin as she was very visibly startled by the computer’s announcement; with a blush newly adorning her features and a flutter in her wings, she turned to face Arcturus and Gaius, stammered “I’m, ehm, uhm, I’m r-r-r-really sorry I wasn’t able to d-do an-anything…” - and then departed the room, the door opening in front of and closing behind the poor blue-haired Elysian with a pair of fwshhs.

Power Armor Bay

The power armor bay of the ECS Panopteles (sandwiched, for whatever reason, between the ship’s two bathing compartments) had in theory been a large, cavernous room - but was in practice both cramped and confined, with all of the power armors, environmental suits, munitions, ammunition, and weaponry stuffed onto seemingly every available open surface, including the parts of the ceiling that weren’t occupied by lights or totally-not-suspicious vents. Two Tethys, two Anthedons, two Hikaels, and a solitary Mindy occupied seven of the space’s eight power armor racks - and in the middle of it all, the red-headed, extremely muscular, and uniform-clad figure of Lucilla Mondadori was in the process of attempting to stuff her voluptuous body into a third Tethys, her Emrys-made environmental suit messily hanging from a nearby rack. “Fer God’s sake, this should NOT be so flippin’ hard!” she grumbled. “I’m not overweight, I’m jus’ big-boned ‘cause I take exercisin’ seriously!”

Spoiler: Color Key

“Speech by Lucilla Mondadori.”
“Speech by Ramiel Aemilia.”
“Speech by Euanthe Bellicius.”
“Speech by Konichi Kiyo.”
“Speech by Faustina Nardi.”
“Speech by Mnemosyne.”

 

[Arbitrated]

Engineering

The two Patricians and their intercepted Seraph assistant seemed to pay the new arrival no mind as they continued tending to the heart of the Panopteles. Euanthe was instead treated to what seemed to be a technician's ballet as the three workers moved in perfect synergy through the chambers. It wasn't until Mnemosyne interrupted their activity that the two Mavenbolts hesitated, and then quickly noticed that they'd been observed.

The one closer - Gaius - spoke up, "Oh, apologies - I don't believe we've met... Wow, she's gone already." This last comment directed to his brother, as Euanthe was already scampering down the hall. "Wonder what's got her up and ruffled? Anyways, go get suited up, we'll finish up in here, but they couldn't have picked a more inconvenient time for calling you in. Outside's gonna suck ass," he finished with a wipe of his brow.

Power Armor Bay
"Oh, it's not just that. Your rear clamp isn't fully disengaged. Hold still, Miss Mondadori." Arcturus's request preceded his actual appearance into the room, as the rainbow-eyed boy circled around to the muscled soldier's rear end, fiddling with the errant mechanism. A little pop of released tension announced the sudden increase in space for her armor - not unlike the difference between a laced and unlaced boot. The resident Patrician sighed as he started doing the same to his own armor, though much more quietly.

"What's got them so riled up to get us suited and ready so quick? Taharial still hasn't gotten her checkup, and we have a ship to fix."

 

[BloodyScarlet]

ECS Panopteles
Medical Bay
Taharial finished with Sam as she looked up to Faustina "That was someone who complained our guest here came in to get their check up, after hers, while she was getting changed." She shrugged as she let Sam get changed as she walked over to Faustina and nodded "I am not used to having other medical staff that must, so I am sorry if I forget your hear, or do anything annoying towards you." As she cleans her hand it then popped up, that she had to go to the PA bay as she sighed "of course, this happens while check up are needed to be done." She laughed a little at Faustina and the talk of paperwork and a virus as she raised an eyebrow "then don't ask where I was working when not on duty on a ship." She heads to the door "hold down the fort and oh, I tidied up the drawers and that, so that everything we will direly need is at the front." She slides out the door as Sam smiles and moves to the door "I better get going as well, thank you for the check up."

Power Armour Bay

Taharial walked into the Power armour bay as she stretched and looked at the others "okay, So anyone know why we were called here." She walked up to the Mindy and looked at the others "Oh it seems I am the only in a Mindy, interesting, but fair enough." She opened it up as she looked at the other as she checked the armour "can we just make sure no one does any stupid heroics."

 

[Lizalopod]

Athenais System
ECS Panopteles - Power Armor Bay

Emiko's rather small figure, at least compared with the rest of the Caelisolans and Patrician currently in the Power Armor bay, slid into the bay. Given Tahariel and Arcturus's queries, the small Plebeian scientist's synthetic voice announced her presence in the power armor bay. "We deployed a probe to scan the odd Tachyon field which is surrounding the planet we are orbiting. More to the point, the probe detected a broken up signal which we were able to decrypt- its an automated distress call from an Elysian ship coming from the surface, the ECN Cercatore della Verità. . ."

Emiko's face fell a little in frustration as she came face to face with one of the Hikaels housed in the power armor bay. The sight of Tahariel's Mindy only served to make her more infuriated, noting that her own continuous requests for a Mindy-4 had been denied by the ECN, quoting the Hikael was a more "appropriate" armor. The Small plebeian began to climb into her Hikael, having already changed into a Type-42 bodysuit to fit in more comfortably. She hadn't had much experience flying a Hikael, only some basic training. This wasn't going to be fun....

 

[club24]

"By your command, Captain." Icarus acknowledged as he put a hold on the automated adjustments he was running on their secondary thrusters before gunning towards the planet as efficiently as was safe. With his years of training the pilot was able to ease the old ship into motion without "rocking the boat", guiding the craft towards the signal at 70% its top speed to maintain control.

Meanwhile at the medbay Alexia kept out of the way as the shift changed and people bustled in and out, when all the commotion was over she turned to the new medbay operator.

"So, you gonna do my checkup or do I have to launch mini nekos first?"

 

[Soban]

"Raising shields, I'm also preforming a more detailed sensor sweep to see if there might be any ships or anything that we might have missed." Benhisel said before leaving the bridge to head to the powered armor bay to join the away team. There, he was pleased to see that Teshiel was already suited up and his armor was laid out so that he could quickly don it.

 

[FrostJaeger]

Athenais System
In Orbit Above Athenais II
ECS Panopteles
Power Armor Bay

“Ah, thanks a bunch, hon,” replied the red-haired Caelisolan as she finished closing up her armor. “An’ don’ worry, I learned th’ hard way not t’ be a hero, ‘caus-”

Said Caelisolan’s reply was interrupted by the fwshh of the door leading to the ship’s wardroom parting to reveal a Ke-M4-2 Sylph, which let out a mildly electronic-sounding (yet clearly distinctive) sigh of exasperation as it strode into the power armor bay, a Ke-M4-P2902 Wing Pack attached to its back - and a pair of sword-carrying sheathes attached to its Yamataium-plated hips. “Judging by your expressions, it’s clear that not everyone knows why we’re heading planetside, which means it’s up to me to brief you all. Clearly, I need to have a word with the Tais-the Lokhagi about the need to establish proper briefing procedures. Anyways. From what Mnemosyne has told me, a probe launched by thi-”

The Mini-Neko’s dispersement of information was interrupted by a Tethys-clad Lucilla, who raised an armored hand as she spoke up. “Chui, wit-”

Kiyo’s response - to whip the armored head of her power armor around to stare (glare, more accurately) directly at the underling who’d DARED to interrupt her - was very nearly instantaneous. “Yes, Semeai?” said the XO, the venom in her voice as clear as day even through the slight distortion caused by external speakers that were well over a decade in age.

“Miz Amaterasu already gave us a briefin’ before ya got ‘ere,” responded the engineer, who was clearly not phased in the slightest by her superior’s frosty tone.

“…Oh,” said the Mini-Neko, the deflation in her anger - and the slump of her small shoulders - almost visible despite the layers of Yamataium armor, Yarvex mesh, and titanium framework that lay between her and the outside world. “Very… well then; Amaterasu-Shoi, you and Gallo-Semeai are responsible for briefings in future missions - and did she mention the need to re-modulate your shields to safely traverse the tachyon field?”

Several shakes of the head answered the executive officer’s query.

“And THAT,” continued the Mini-Neko with an accusatory finger pointed at Lucilla, “is why you let your superiors finish their briefings, Semeai Mondadori, because they will contain ALL of the relevant information. I’ll overlook your transgression this once - you didn’t know that your subordinate had neglected to tell you a very important piece of information after all - but should it happen again there will be consequences. As for you, Amaterasu-Shoi…” - like a Sharie turret, the finger (and the Sylph itself) turned to face Emiko - “…either provide a full briefing, or do not provide one at all. Anyways. From what Mnemosyne has told me, a probe launched by Amaterasu-Shoi here picked up an Elysian distress beacon from the planet below, supposedly from a ship named the ECS Cercatore della Verità. Our mission is to locate whatever’s broadcasting the signal and deal with it as the situation requires. The planet below us is also surrounded by a tachyon field of some kind. Mnemosyne should have transmitted the shield modulations necessary to safely pass through the field; in the event that it didn’t, however…”

Medical Bay

“Well, with all of that excitement out of the way, I suppose we should get your physical done before a cosmic ray flips a bit in the computer code and blows us all to smithereens,” said Faustina to Alexia as she looked her coworker over. “Mind stripping down? Don’t worry, I’m not into ladies - and even if it were, I have to go on a glorious treasure hunt for my equipment, seeing as how my Alpha shift counterpart took it upon herself to rearrange literally everything…”


Bridge

With a series of fwshhs, Scaevola and Samandriel - followed moments later (with another pair of fwshhs) by a somewhat out-of-breath Euanthe - entered the bridge and assumed their stations at Science, Tactical, and Engineering, respectively. The blue-haired Caelisolan was the first to speak - “I’m… I’m s-s-so sorry for… for being late, Lo… Lokhagi! I-I had t-t-to come from… Engineering, a-and…” - but it was the blondie at Science who first noticed something unusual on his display. “Hey, Lokhagi, while studying my beautiful reflection in the monitor…” - whether Scaevola was joking or not was anyone’s guess - “…I noticed something amiss: the Aether sensors are, well, were picking up something faint about 2,130 kilometers away, on the other side of the planet. It was there for a couple of seconds, and then it just… vanished.”

The Lokhagi in question, Ramiel Aemilia - sitting in his entirely-too-plush chair and polishing off the remains of what had to be a third (or was it a fourth?) apple - frowned. “Was it a reflection of our own reactor? With all of the problems Engineering mentioned earlier, I’m surprised that the sensors haven’t completely failed already.”

“No idea, Lokhagi,” replied the science birb with a shrug as he turned in his chair to face Ramiel. “Like I said, it was only there for a couple of seconds. I could have Mnemosyne run an analysis on the signal.”

“Do so, and keep watching for any else that’s ‘amiss’,” immediately responded Ramiel, whose expression had become much more serious. “Mister Asellio, hold position until the away team departs, but be ready to perform evasive maneuvers at a moment’s notice. Mnemosyne?”

As always, the ship’s computer answered with a distinctive beep.

“Instruct Chui Kiyo to expedite the away team’s departure, as we’re going to be investigating an anomalous orbital contact on the far side of the planet once the away team has departed.”

“By your command, Lokhagi Aemilia,” replied the Panopteles’ computer.

Power Armor Bay

“…therefore, to ensure the modulation has been appl-” The droning voice of Konishi Kiyo - who’d been explaining how to ensure the shield modulations provided by Mnemosyne had been correctly applied on Hikael-type power armors - abruptly cut off for several moments, plunging the compartment into the wonderfulness that was silence.

Then her voice resumed. “I’ve just been informed by Mnemosyne that an ‘anomalous orbital contact’ was detected on the far side of the planet by the bridge crew, thus we’re to expedite our departure. Is there anyone not prepared to depart?”

After waiting for a moment and not hearing any replies indicative of a lack of readiness, the ship’s executive officer gave a nod of approval. “Mnemosyne?”

Just as before, Mnemosyne answered with a distinctive beep.

“Open the bay doors, then close them once we’ve departed.”

“By your command, Chui Konishi,” replied Mnemosyne, which then continued, “Warning: Power Armor Bay Doors are opening in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.”

At three seconds, the lights in the room dimmed.

At one second, a crease formed along the middle of the room’s floor - and by zero seconds, a decent amount of floor had retracted away to provide the away team with an absolutely stunning view of the blue-, green-, and white-colored planet-sized jewel beneath them.

“Power Armor Bay Doors are open,” said the Mnemosyne, which was then followed by Kiyo saying, “Well then, ladies and other crew-members. Let’s be about it, then,” quite literally stepping off of the ledge… and falling feet-first towards the planet below for a half-second before elegantly assuming a textbook head-first diving posture.

Bridge

After roughly a minute or so had passed since the Lokhagi had given his orders, the voice of Mnemosyne could once again be heard over the bridge’s speakers. “The away team has departed, Lokhagi Aemelia, and the Power Armor Bay door has been closed.”

“Excelle-” replied the captain of the Panopteles, only to be cut off by the… not shrill, but definitely urgent tone of Semeai Gallo. “Lokhagi, it-the aether signature-is back, and-oh hey, Mnemosyne’s completed its analysis. It… isn’t us. There’s someone - or something - else out there.”

“Yellow Alert.” responded Ramiel, acting on reflex. “Set shields to quadru-no, double-front, and don’t bother recalling the away team, Mister Asellio - they’re already committed to landing on the planet, it’s safer for them down there, and they already know what we intend on doing. Speaking of which… Mister Gallo, provide the Helm with coordinates of the contact. Is it moving?”

“Done, and no sir, it’s stationary.”

“What’s its strength?”

“Inconclusive. It’s too faint to get any conclusive reading, and having the planet between us doesn’t help, either.”

“Best guess, then, Mister.”

“Uh… after consulting my superior intellect, I’d say that it’s a small craft of some kind, probably on the larger end, as its strength - after accounting for Athenais II - is about half that of ours.”

“Noted. Helm, lay in a pursuit course, maximum available speed. We should be the only ones out here, and I want to know why we didn’t spot it on the way in.”

Ramiel leaned back in his chair, and produced yet another piece of produce into his hand. The mission had just gotten a lot more complicated…

?????????

The room was as dank as it was dark, and was festooned with volumetric monitors - and a mixture of Advanced-Types and Nekovalkyrja, all of which were huddled over the aforementioned volumetric monitors as the Advanced-Type in the center of the room snarled at one of the volumetric displays projected in front of him. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE CLOAK MALFUNCTIONED AGAIN!?! YOU TOLD ME YOU FIXED IT, CHACIALVGX! I TRUSTED YOU!”

The Mishhuvurthyar at the other end of the line visibly quailed. “I’M SORRY COMMANDER FVIAKCJWNCN! THE TECHNOLOGY IS BRAND NEW AND WAS POOR-”

“SPARE ME YOUR EXCUSES, SUPERIOR OVERSEER! JUST GET THE CLOAK BACK ONLINE!” angrily retorted Fviakcjwncn as he closed the channel with an equally angry slash of a tentacle - then let out a sigh as he slumped down against the partially-raised metal ring that surrounded his command nest. “I’M RUINED, ZANETE, I’M RUINED. OUR MISTRESS WILL DO HORRIBLE THINGS TO ME IF SHE FINDS OUT OUR COVER WAS BLOWN.”

Zanete - a petite gray-skinned, teal-eyed, and brown-haired Type 29 Nekovalkyrja wearing a standard-issue uniform that proudly bore the rank of Master Overseer (!) - let out a faint sigh of her own as she massaged her superior’s (and, for that matter, very passionate lover’s) tentacles. “Oh, don’t worry my darling - we just have to vaporize that pathetic little excuse for a starship, and then all of your worries will be gone.”

“AND IF THEY SEND OUT A TRANSMISSION TO THEIR SUPERIORS?” psionically retorted the Mishhu to his beloved XO - though he knew what her response was going to be.

“They haven’t yet - Laimrota’s made sure of that - and the sooner we snuff out their pitiful lives, the less chance they have of giving away our dear leader’s plans for the Athenais system. Now, shall I sound General Quarters?”

“YES, MY LOVE” psionically replied the commander as he floated back up, “AND HAVE TACTICAL CHARGE THE MAIN CANNON AS WELL. THOUGH VOSKCHWLCK CAN’T HIT THE TOP OF A HEITAN, NOT EVEN HE CAN’T MISS IF THEY GET CLOSE ENOUGH… ASSUMING OUR ENGINEERS CAN FIX THE CLOAK IN TIME.”

As his favorite Nekovalkyrja in the entire universe issued orders and the sound of the General Quarters klaxon filled the air, Fviakcjwncn smiled - or would have, were he capable of such things. His XSS Foabckskcja was nearly thrice the length of the tiny little (albeit unknown in terms of capabilities) Elysian ship that was slowly making its way around the planet known as Athenais II. Assuming that Chacialvgx could get the cloak back up and running for a few minutes, it would all be over very soon for the crew of the ship known as the ECS Panopteles.

Spoiler: Color Key

“Speech by Lucilla Mondadori.”
“Speech by Ramiel Aemilia.”
“Speech by Scaevola Gallo.”
“Speech by Euanthe Bellicius.”
“Speech by Konichi Kiyo.”
“Speech by Mnemosyne.”

“Speech by Fviakcjwncn.”
“Speech by Chacialvgx.”
“Speech by Zanete.”

 

[Lizalopod]

Athenais System
ECS Panopteles - Power Armor Bay

Emiko had only just about managed to get her Hikaels helmet fitted on after removing her mask cybernetic attachment, which she left in the power armor bay. The Elysian power armors systems started up, with the Plebeian hooking up her cybernetics to the armor directly so she could speak through its communicators. The smol had a little heart attack as Lucilla mentioned that she had already briefed the away team to the newly arrived... and already angered first officer- only to be berated by Konishi Kiyo on the lacking briefing she had given. She shrunk a little in her power armor, letting out a tiny "Gomen'nasai Konishi-Chui" through its speakers.

The science officer had already applied her shielding modifications to her Hikael- after some annoying fiddling. She glanced towards Tahariels shiny Mindy, wishing she had also gotten one and didnt have to deal with dreaded Elysian systems. As the lights dimmed and the door opened- Emiko watched as the away team began to hop off of the Panopteles and into freefall. She gulped as she looked down into the planet, hesitating in joining. Her synthetic voice was heard over the comms.

"Konishi Chui... Is it wise for me to do this in a Hikael Power Armor? I have no previous expe-"

Emiko was cut off by resident engineer Lucilla Mondadori, who simply pushed her off of the Panopteles and into free fall.. "Suhprise!" the Caelisolan said in between a snicker, before proceeding to also jump out of the power armor bay.

The Plebeian would then proceed to scream her way down into the atmosphere

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH"

Spoiler: Color Key

"Speech by Emiko"
"Speech by Lucilla"

 

[BloodyScarlet]

ECS Panopteles
Power Armor Bay

Taharial listened as she started to get into her PA, she had to make sure it was all good, it has been awhile since she had worn it and she had done a few modifications with new parts that fit her better. She remember to pack some medical supplies into her equipment pack as she made sure her weapons were okay and then fully climbed into the suit.

After a few moments the Armour Bay was open and like others she walked to the edge and looked to the others "See you down there." She felt a little dramatics were needed for this as she twirled and fell out the opening backwards looking down at the planet as she moved towards Emiko and took her hand gently, turning her body and gently using her thrusters to slow down the Plebeian's fall and hopefully calm them down a little "there you go sweetheart, your safe, if you need it, I will hold your hand till we reach ground."

 

[club24]

Bridge

Icarus nodded with a resounding "Aye" as he continued monitoring the power armour deployment from their underside. It was taking to long but thankfully the other craft appeared to be unmoving for now alleviating some of his stress about needing to pursue.

As soon as the last of the away team had departed he would be ready to move out to hunt the other craft down. "Captain, if this ship is armed and unfriendly we'll be at serious disadvantage. It likely already has us out-manueved even without the current state of engines, and if we lose our thrust I'm sure they'll find a blind spot. Please consider allowing a change of course that gives us distance to fire should that be needed."

 Medbay

"Aww and here I was thinking you were gonna make me call HR, maybe this really isn't like other ships." The raven-winged sister disrobed and neatly folder her clothes onto a bench beside he before moving to have her checkup completed.

"Hope they don't have too much fun down there without us."