5tar
Active Member
ON: YSS Senbu
The Senbu's infamous twins stood before the group now, the pink haired Ayane looked over to Ayano and nodded. Then the blue haired twin pressed a button down on her data-pad and the room's lights were dimmed as a large volumetric display flickered to life in the large area behind them on the stage. There was a large three-dimensional map; a top down view of a staging area for their next operation. There was a ship in the middle and an asteroid belt dangerously close to it. "On behalf of the Taisa we apologize you didn't have enough time to get to know your new personnel, but as of now the Senbu is back into active duty and we have our first mission." Though they said they were sorry, it didn't seem as they had anything my apathy for the situation. "Now," the second one, Ayano, started where her sister had finished, "at oh-seven-hundred hours today, the YSS Watcher, a First XF Star Army Intelligence vessel doing intel collection in the northeast around the Halna system sent out a distress signal with a encrypted message." She turned and looked to her sister, who then pressed a finger down on her own data-pad. "What you're about to hear is highly classified and will not be spread beyond these walls."
After that warning, a few seconds of static and silence played throughout the hall, then the sound of heavy male breathing echoed throughout the hall. "This is Taii Izu Kazuoku of the YSS Watcher. This will probably be the last few moments I have to warn the Star Army about this threat. What we found here in the outskirts of the Empire is frightening and horrific. It's like all the machines we've encountered were acting on their own will, like the power armor and ships were being controlled by something beyond that of our artificial intelligences at home, I could almost swear that the—hold on, pause message." The message stopped, and then the lights undimmed a tad. There didn't seem to be anything else to the eerie warning.
"There's nothing more to the message, we could only assume that his cover was compromised and has either been terminated by this new treat or is fighting for his survival at this moment," the pink haired Neko said as she glanced up over the podium. Then her sister stepped towards the screen and pointed up to the screen and it zoomed up closer to the Ayame-class Cruiser. "The ship itself is currently surrounded by three unknown scout-sized vessels; the Senbu will be taking care of them along with the other squadrons. The Pride Wing's operation, however, will be to board the ship. Your primary objectives will be the rescue of any survivors and termination of any hostiles you encounter on your way. Don't worry about the data about the new threat; we will be deploying a specialized team to do the cleanup and recovery of any important details." The pink one turned to the crowd, "So any questions?"
"Machines acting of their own will? Is this some kind of computer virus possibly?" Kuriko wondered aloud. I didn't think they could do things like that. Isn't PANTHEON unhackable? Kuriko thought to herself as she listened for the reactions of other members of her Wing.
"How do we know they won't turn our armors on us and kill us while we're there?" Masako asked snidely, crossing her arms under her breasts, making them bounce slightly as she huffed.
I guess I'll be sticking with my Daisy this time through, Hara thought, frowning. He considered himself little more than a grunt concerning these things… besides, they'd probably figure out more going in than what the twins could tell them. On that note… his eyes swept over their figures. He wondered if one of them was single.
Sakaki crossed her arms. I have no understanding of this, so I shall let the others speak. She side glanced to Masako who she remembered was some kind of mechanic. In the imagination, no one would assume a Mindy will act on the will of itself, however… “Excuse me if I am rude, but this sounds like a bad movie,” stated Sakaki who wasn't really believing what she is hearing. Zombie machines will be something I will have to see to believe.
"It doesn't matter if it is a virus or not. You take down the target like any other enemy and adjust your tactics to meet theirs," Chikako said sternly to Sakaki before placing her index finger on her chin and pondering. "And if it really is, can't we simply lock down our system registries to prevent hacking and store all battle and communications data on a separate partition? I mean, I only know data-pads very well as far as system complexity goes, so don't quote me if my solution is overly simplistic."
"Even the highly dangerous hackers of the Free State have not been able to hack into our Empire's PANTHEON system; it's highly unlikely that it's a virus that is entering the systems. Our own intel has come up with many different scenarios the Taii in the recording could be referring to, the two that seemed the most probable is that they encountered tech that is not our own. Or that they have encountered a strange form of mind altering technologies," the pink haired Ayane said quite simply, she seemed rather confidant in the Empire's computers. Then after Chikako's suggestion, both of the twins looked rather impressed. "Yes precisely," the blue haired Ayano said with a nod.
"So our job is to go in and save the crew of the Watcher? Do we know anything about what to expect once we get in there?" Kuriko asked. For some reason she felt as if she knew what she were asking. Perhaps it's just a moment of clarity resulting from my acceptance of my role, Kuriko thought to herself.
"Correct. As far as what you will be encountering we're still not sure. We could not link to the YSS Watcher due to its ship's power systems being down. The only thing with its own power is the distress beacon and even now it's been disabled." The blue eyed Ayane responded to Kuriko's question and then mentally cued the lights to raise and the display to close. "Now, a secondary objective is the recovery of the soul savior pod, though it's not your primary objective, as we assume one of our deployed units may recover it, you should still keep a sharp eye out for it," the pink eyed Ayano said as she collected her things simultaneously with her sister. "That concludes the briefing; we will be coming out of FTL in approximately twenty minutes. Go to the hangar and suit up, we'll be beginning the operation as soon as we enter the staging area."
Masako just kept quiet and listened to the briefing and sighed some. So we get swept out the door to raid some ship and take out zombie mecha… great. Just great. Watch our suits get taken over and lock us down while they kill us, Masako thought bitterly to herself, thinking they had overall low chances of success, the dissatisfaction clear on her face.
Chikako looked around her at the groans and sighed at the Pride Wing members and felt somewhat angered. Were these… kids? Did they expect to not have to do it if they complained enough? No, they would have to find solutions to any problems they pointed out, and get themselves together. "Mou… you're soldiers, not children! Buck up and suit up, because regardless of how bad this mission looks, it's our mission!"
Actually, by age, some of us could be considered to be children. Kuriko felt like responding, but instead she chose to remain silent. "Yes, it is. We should get going," Kuriko said in a neutral tone of voice. Hmm… Kuriko thought as she wondered about Chikako's personality. That aside, Kuriko rose and started off toward the armor bay.
"Right," Hara said solemnly. "Let's get to it, then." He stood up, following Kuriko's lead.
Sakaki silently bowed then walked toward the lift so she could be ready. An enemy comprised of zombies will be a formidable opponent, perhaps we can solve this mystery behind the mysterious attack. Then Sakaki quickly noted, “MEGAMI, please send a team to my quarters to pick up a rather large object for the Tsukihime.” Sakaki remained silent, concentrated on the battle ahead.
Masako would get up quickly and head out, having never felt more insulted. "I'll suit up, but I'm not going to buck up until I come back in one friggin' piece," she hissed at Chikako and continued off toward the armor bay.
"Fufufufu. Then I'll be tractoring your crippled ass back to the Senbu, Boin-chan." Chikako giggled, heading up the rear of the line of armor pilots. "If you go into the field with that mindset… you'll die."
"Shut up!" Masako snarled at her. "If my feelings are true you won't be able to. We'll be storming the ship without the armor while they turn against us too," she pointed out and continued on.
"Both of you calm down," Kuriko sent to both of the girls. "We're about to go into combat, we don't need this right now." Kuriko kept her voice even and the slight annoyance that she held stayed out of it. Seems like it's going to be a rough day, Kuriko thought to herself.
"I'm purposefully making myself aggressive, it's how I like to approach missions like this Kuri-heisho…" Masako replied and continued her pace.
"Mou..." Chikako muttered to herself, continuing to walk towards the bridge. "You'll ditch that pessimism when you realize that being close to death is the way of a soldier, though it'll be too late. Luckily, Boin-chan's too stubborn to die of something as silly as being disemboweled by a forearm projector," she message Masako telepathically, grinning widely now that she had found someone to antagonize with impunity.
"Bite me you fat ugly bitch," Masako immediately shot back with a tone dripping with venom.
Sakaki entered the lift and waited for the others to get on. "If there is a foe out there that has indeed gained independence, let us help the machines find peace,” stated Sakaki, quoting from a line from a movie that was about samurai versus zombies. Then, afterwards sent a message to Masako, “May your energy be put into the enemy, and not among ourselves, let us do our best.” She then gave a very small grin toward Masako.
"Chiharu help me," Kuriko muttered as she listened in on the conversation between the two of the soldiers. Kuriko slid into the lift after Sakaki. Once the lift filled with the members of Pride Wing it launched toward the armor bay, its occupants squished nicely inside like a can of sardines.
Chikako seemed to redden and was visibly pained as she stifled a great amount of laughter welling up inside of her, as small tears formed in her eyes. The venom coming from Masako's communications were otherwise hilarious, like the insults of a child hurling the first bad words that came to mind. She wiped away the salty water at the rims of her eyes and looked back at the subordinate pilot. "Fufu… I like you too, Boin-chan."
Masako was completely unapologetic and sneered at Chikako's look. "I know, it's been fun psyching myself up on you. Thanks I needed it really. I'm actually really nervous I have to admit," Masako replied, instantly changing her demeanor as she got into the lift with the others. "Ungh man it's tight in here…" she grunted.
Sakaki felt pressure on her chest, which she promptly ignored as she couldn't readily move, despite that her commanding officer was probably between her and Sakaki.
Meanwhile on the bridge, the buzz of activity was rising. "Seventeen minutes until arrival, sixteen-point-fifty-two minutes until exit," one of the members of the massive command bay called up over the noise. "Gold Wing is suited up and standing by!" one of the girls sitting right beside Ageha said as she reported that her squadron was ready for deployment. "YSS Tategami has announced that they are combat ready, Taii Takeda Naoki has also suggested that his vessel provide the deployment of the boarding team." Apparently the Nozomi-class Scouts that the Senbu had loaded into its MRB were already ready for battle, as then a second voice from the same communications pit called out the readiness of the other vessel. "The YSS Makka is also ready and standing by for deployment, Taii Nenene Satomi requests for point position."
At this point, the chief sitting above the power armor wing combat relay stations turned his attention to his unit. "Alright girls, we're going to go into combat stations in any second. Santô Hei Nanjo, when the alarm is raised it's your duty to find all of your pilots and get them to the bay. The information will be coming in steady soon, try to keep on top of it, if you feel that things are getting a little too fast be sure that you announce it so we can have someone help you catch up." Akira went over his own panel also looking at the information as it came, and then no sooner then he said that there would be a battle stations alarm, one came up.
Ageha nervously looked over her console as she watched her wing still heading for the hanger. She could hear the other wings' ComOps reporting in and was feeling very self-conscious that the Pride Wing were still on their way to suit up. "Shifuda-heisho, whenever your team is ready," the Santô Hei messaged to her Wing, "I'll do my best to support you all on my first mission." Nervously, she reached up and began rubbing one of her barrettes for good luck. A sky blue one with a jagged pattern in white and gold embossed on the front.
Back in the elevator, Kuriko was indeed positioned between the pair. Kuriko decided to not comment on the 'closeness' of the elevator. Maybe this will bring us closer? Kuriko wondered as she waited. Seconds later, the elevator arrived at the bay just as the alarm was raised. "Game time folks. Let's get suited up!" Kuriko said, the excitement in her voice rose as the door slid open.
This was definitely an awkward situation… Hara couldn't help but think of various rather… lewd scenarios going down. Of course, that soon ended as they arrived and filed out. "Roger," Hara replied.
"Nnn…" Chikako mumbled, glancing up at Masako. "I'm just glad that you're not a few inches taller, or I wouldn't be able to breathe," she messaged again, before finally stumbling out of the lift. Air, at last!
Masako shrugged as she was the last to leave. She was blushing a bit at the fact her breasts had been pressed against Chikako's. "Oh come on~ you liked it… should do it again when we get back~" Masako teased and walked with a confident swagger over to where her armor was. She'd prepare to get suited up and not really waste any real time with it. "Poor Hara, gets to watch but not touch…" she said teasingly to the only guy there.
"Uh… who said I wanted to?" Hara replied, stopping dead in his tracks. "I'm not a pervert or anything like that." He lied—kind of.
"Only a little." Chikako’s expression blanked a little and the reply that came to Masako's outrageous remark was rather plain. She leaned over and placed her hand on Hara's shoulder, gently tugging him down. "They're surprisingly firm, in spite of the size."
Sakaki ran to her Mindy, while ignoring her bouncy bust and stood in front of what had cost her a bundle of the bonus money. Nodding to herself, she asked for some help from the engineering staff to tape the long sheath onto the Tsukihime. This was the first battle she would leave her katana that is at her side, behind on the ship. She began to strip and prepare her melee setup, Now finally I have a weapon worthy of the Tsukihime, I shall become cold as ice, and reap the wind of my enemies.
Masako would cackle wickedly and begin to strip off her uniform, slowly moving in a sultry fashion to show off her figure. Her large breasts bouncing free of her uniform a bit, being firm and perfectly formed as she did. Strutting a bit, swaying her hips in a mature, womanly fashion to taunt; she'd open the armor and slowly step into it before returning to normal to suit up.
Kuriko made her way to her armor and stripped out of her clothing, mentally activating Sigmund as she did so. "Good day Sigmund, I know it's bee a while since I last visited," Kuriko said to the armor as she ran her hand down the seam. "It's good to see that you're being open with me still," Kuriko told it before sliding backwards into the armor. As the armor closed around her, her world went black for a brief second before she linked up with the armor's sensors. "Ueda-heisho, you can use one of the other available armors. You'll need to log in, verify yourself, and set the name of the armor before you can use it. There should be a control panel beside any of the armors," Kuriko said to Chikako as she mentally opened up windows that showed the status of the Wing members to her.
"Uhhhh… um… I should probably… get… in my Daisy," Hara stuttered, hurrying off towards Suzaku
Masako got her helmet on and sighed a bit and thought about what kind of weapon to use. "Man, I dunno what to go with," she mussed. "We don't have any actual greatswords here..." she muttered to herself, loud enough to be heard over the comm.
When the doors of the lift opened up, Mayuki had the happenstance to be carrying some random box of ammo to the other side of the bay. "Eh? Hey Pride..." she started but was cut off as the short Neko was overwhelmed by the stampede of pilots of various bust sizes. She was left on the ground in a daze, with the ammo everywhere. She then promptly fell backwards into the pile of random bullets and parts.
Hara's normal unit was replaced when he arrived, on his armor hanger there seemed to be a brand new Mindy that looked a little bigger and new in design. On the small unit display, it read that the unit was a Mindy M2-3A Power Armor, something that didn't appear anywhere else in the bay. The spec readout and new unit registration and security procedures were on the screen.
Mah mah… it was probably a mistake to tease Hara-hei like that. If gets distracted by thinking of Boin-chan's breasts, he'll die and it'll be my fault, Chikako sighed to herself inwardly as she approached her powered armor, leaving her uniform and gear in a nearby locker. It had become so natural to her that she did it almost while on autopilot, and in a manner of speaking, it was, as she was far too busy thinking about equipment layouts and weapon systems to match her style.
"YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!" Hara shouted as he saw the M2-3A. He immediately registered the unit as Suzaku 2.0 before skimming through the specs and procedures. No need to strip to enter the armor—WHAT?! He removed the items it recommended leaving on board before hopping inside. Today was a good day.
"What the flying black hell?!" Masako exclaimed, hearing Hara shout. "Idiot," she muttered and continued to try and figure out her load out. "What's everyone using? I know Sakaki's going Melee but what about the rest of you?" she asked everyone.
"You guys support me too," Ageha whispered to herself as she continued to watch the Pride Wing mount in their armors. This is it! her brain yelled at her. They're about to take off and they can't do it without you. So get ready! Furiously, she began bringing up various data such as a 3-D map of the area and the sensor readings from each of the Pride's Mindys. Additionally she ran a search in the background for any historical significance and data surrounding the Halna system. Be prepared. You want to be ready for anything. Try to anticipate what they might need, her instructors' advice ran through her head like a broken record.
"Aether weapons are a no-go if we're going to be inside their ship. They're too dangerous with unarmored personnel around. Maybe the plasma rifle?" Kuriko suggested as she looked over her load out. "Other than that, I recommend a standard Pride Wing load out; we can get in and out relatively easily, though. Make sure that you don't teleport around unarmored personnel," Kuriko suggested.
"Hello AIES. Please send the Senbu my equipment load out request from my mental information… Sending now," she said to the powered armor as it drew her in, an action that had become synonymous with the term, 'suiting' up for her. M2-D3000 Eliptoid Shield, M4-W2901 Light Armor Service Rifle with Ke-M4-W2901 LASR-SLAG, KZ Type 29 ASP (Hooked on Shield), 2x M2-W3002 Leg NSB Launchers and M2-P3001 Energy Cloak Shield Projector, she confirmed to the armor's AI.
Masako thought it over and went with the standard Pride Wing load out with a gauss cannon on the other shoulder and countermeasure pods on the legs and an Accelerated Plasma Rifle. "It's a tight fit in here…" Masako whined a bit. "I need to talk the captain into approving the request to customize this thing to my frame," she said. "I'll keep that in mind Kuri-heisho," Masako responded.
"Er… I think I'll just stick with our standard load out and the Ke-M2-W2909!" Hara said. While the armor was new to him, he at least had experience with the Accelerated Plasma rifle in live combat.
A new update appeared on Ageha's terminal, it looked like a more detailed version of the mission objectives were coming in. The Halna system appeared to be an old pirate infested area, and it was also the system where the Senbu had been close to during its previous missions where they met a heavy resistance of pirates and flagships. The Pride Wing operation objectives were listed by importance: 1-Recovery of any survivors, 2-Elimination of any resistance encountered, and then finally there was a secondary objective—the recovery of the soul savior pod. Though there was a note on that objective, it was also given to all units and was to be one of the Gold Wing's primary objectives in the field. Akira then spoke up and let Ageha also know about the deployment plan. “Nanjo-hei, hurry your unit up. We need them to head to the main repair bay and board the YSS Tategami. Alert their lead that they will be deploying from that vessel.”
"Yokai!" Ageha responded to Akira with confidence. "Shifuda-heisho, please be ready to launch soon," the brown eyed ComOps advised the Pride Wing. A former pirate haven, she thought idly as the information came down the pipe to her console. "Please head to the main repair bay of the YSS Yategami, you will be deploying from there." Ageha transmitted the route there to Kuriko's system, she probably didn't need it having been around longer than Ageha had, but she didn't want to leave anything to chance.
"Right guys, we need to get going. Evidently we're launching from a ship in the repair bay," Kuriko said as she stepped out of the armor rack. I guess this is the way," Kuriko said as she followed the path not quite used to the fact that she was walking through the ship in a power armor.
Masako looked over and followed Kuriko without thinking. "It's weird isn't it?" she asked her friend leading the way. "Going through the ship in the armors that is, carrying heavy arms," she said, "it's like being a badass but… not. It's a kind of turn on," she giggled.
Now that Chikako armor was equipped and ready, she decided to resume communicating with her cohorts, cutting short the Zen-like emptiness in which she placed herself before many missions, smiling that Masako wasn't being a horrid pessimist. Maybe the girl had hope after all. "That's the spirit! Just don't tune up the stimulator too high or you'll black out after every kill, Boin-chan," she said jokingly, resting her LASR on her armor's shoulder.
"Babe… that's pretty much the only thing on this ship that could make me do that." Masako winked at Chikako. "I haven't met many guys on board, but a lot of them seem to be… boring." She sighed. "Even the XO."
"Eh, Saiga-sama?" Chikako said in a hushed, but curious tone. "I know firsthand that he has a magnificent soldier's aura and excellent ancestry, but how is he in person?"
“I hear he's a big pussy; rumor says he's never had much combat proving. So until I see him do it, he isn’t' worth my time of effort." Masako shrugged. "I don't care about aura or ancestry because it means precisely bupkuss until it's tempered by the fire of battle and the repeated strikes of an iron will to rebound," she said in she same hushed tone.
Masako would sigh and continue toward their destination, thinking about what'll happen. "We'll take them down and be home before dinner," she said to Kuriko in a friendly fashion.
On the Senbu’s august command bridge, Shizuka looked around and settled a little farther into her chair. "It's kind of strange being here, I haven't commanded my own ship in combat from the bridge since the first mission," Shizuka said as she glanced over her control panel, the SPINE uplink cords lead back into her chair. The entire ship was connected to her thoughts, her ideas and orders from simple thoughts became documents shuffled down the command chain. It was a completely different experience then connecting with any other type of ship, only because the Anri was so huge and so dependent on multiple units not just a overpowered main gun. "Saiga-shosa, prepare the front. I'll be relying on you still for the combat command of our troops, I believe you've become adept at it and I trust your abilities. As for me, I'm going to be concentrating on the ship, though I will be passing commands through you during the operations." With that the Taisa turned and nodded softly at him and winked intimately as she internally wished him luck.
“As you wish, Taisa,” Nicholas replied curtly, moving forward from his place beside her captain’s seat to the edge of the command platform. He usually stood there during battle, not having the ability to directly connect to the Senbu, having to rely on mundane vocal directives to sway the flow of battle. “Akira-taii, be sure that you route all updates on the status of our wings to any volumetric that are actively identified as being mine,” he told the blonde Yamataian. “And be sure that Obsidian is responding to orders down to the second. Just because they have a new command doesn’t mean that the cancerous apathy and cowardice doesn’t remain within their ranks.” The Shosa was still somewhat bitter about the Obsidian Wing ordeal during the Senbu’s last battle, but gave his order without emotion or malice, stating it coldly and plainly.
Nanjo-hei breathed in deeply, hoping that she could will the Pride Wing into arriving at the Yategami faster. When she heard the Shosa give his orders to her commanding officer, she really began to worry. She tapped on her monitor to try and push her blips forward faster. C'mon you guys, you're almost there, she pleaded mentally with the console. Both Akira-taii and Saiga-shosa were going to be watching her and the Pride Wing through her. Their success was her success. We can do it, Ageha thought again, almost loud enough to be a telepathic message. You guys and me. Together. Let's go. Though, even though that's what she told herself, there was still the niggling feeling that the Pride Wing were a (mostly) solid group before she arrived. Their new ComOps was a new element, and though they all had fun in Kyoto, she still didn't feel like one of the team. But that's what this mission was for, right? To show that Nanjo Ageha deserved to be there and was able to help anyone else who found themselves in trouble. Much like she had needed before.
It didn't take long for the miniature wing to make it to the MRB. Upon arrival near the exterior of the Tategami, Kuriko messaged the ship. "Jôtô Heisho Shifuda Kuriko of Pride Wing requesting permission to board," Kuriko asked the ship's IES.
A familiar cute little feminine voice responded from the Nozomi, "It’s good to see you guys so soon. This is Yuki-heisho, Navi-heisho rather. Permission to board the YSS Tategami granted Pride Wing." The door to the scout craft opened up and the squadrons' AIES were updated with directions and rapid launch positions in the ship's armor bays.
"NAVI-HEISHO!" Kuriko practically shrieked into the mic. "I've missed you!" the Heisho said excitedly. Kuriko had completely forgotten about Ageha being able to hear the communications as she boarded, and thus didn't even consider how it might have affected the poor com tech that was fulfilling Navi's old position.
Masako contacted Ageha. "Hi Ageha," she said nicely. "How're you holding up sweetie?" she asked gently.
End
The Senbu's infamous twins stood before the group now, the pink haired Ayane looked over to Ayano and nodded. Then the blue haired twin pressed a button down on her data-pad and the room's lights were dimmed as a large volumetric display flickered to life in the large area behind them on the stage. There was a large three-dimensional map; a top down view of a staging area for their next operation. There was a ship in the middle and an asteroid belt dangerously close to it. "On behalf of the Taisa we apologize you didn't have enough time to get to know your new personnel, but as of now the Senbu is back into active duty and we have our first mission." Though they said they were sorry, it didn't seem as they had anything my apathy for the situation. "Now," the second one, Ayano, started where her sister had finished, "at oh-seven-hundred hours today, the YSS Watcher, a First XF Star Army Intelligence vessel doing intel collection in the northeast around the Halna system sent out a distress signal with a encrypted message." She turned and looked to her sister, who then pressed a finger down on her own data-pad. "What you're about to hear is highly classified and will not be spread beyond these walls."
After that warning, a few seconds of static and silence played throughout the hall, then the sound of heavy male breathing echoed throughout the hall. "This is Taii Izu Kazuoku of the YSS Watcher. This will probably be the last few moments I have to warn the Star Army about this threat. What we found here in the outskirts of the Empire is frightening and horrific. It's like all the machines we've encountered were acting on their own will, like the power armor and ships were being controlled by something beyond that of our artificial intelligences at home, I could almost swear that the—hold on, pause message." The message stopped, and then the lights undimmed a tad. There didn't seem to be anything else to the eerie warning.
"There's nothing more to the message, we could only assume that his cover was compromised and has either been terminated by this new treat or is fighting for his survival at this moment," the pink haired Neko said as she glanced up over the podium. Then her sister stepped towards the screen and pointed up to the screen and it zoomed up closer to the Ayame-class Cruiser. "The ship itself is currently surrounded by three unknown scout-sized vessels; the Senbu will be taking care of them along with the other squadrons. The Pride Wing's operation, however, will be to board the ship. Your primary objectives will be the rescue of any survivors and termination of any hostiles you encounter on your way. Don't worry about the data about the new threat; we will be deploying a specialized team to do the cleanup and recovery of any important details." The pink one turned to the crowd, "So any questions?"
"Machines acting of their own will? Is this some kind of computer virus possibly?" Kuriko wondered aloud. I didn't think they could do things like that. Isn't PANTHEON unhackable? Kuriko thought to herself as she listened for the reactions of other members of her Wing.
"How do we know they won't turn our armors on us and kill us while we're there?" Masako asked snidely, crossing her arms under her breasts, making them bounce slightly as she huffed.
I guess I'll be sticking with my Daisy this time through, Hara thought, frowning. He considered himself little more than a grunt concerning these things… besides, they'd probably figure out more going in than what the twins could tell them. On that note… his eyes swept over their figures. He wondered if one of them was single.
Sakaki crossed her arms. I have no understanding of this, so I shall let the others speak. She side glanced to Masako who she remembered was some kind of mechanic. In the imagination, no one would assume a Mindy will act on the will of itself, however… “Excuse me if I am rude, but this sounds like a bad movie,” stated Sakaki who wasn't really believing what she is hearing. Zombie machines will be something I will have to see to believe.
"It doesn't matter if it is a virus or not. You take down the target like any other enemy and adjust your tactics to meet theirs," Chikako said sternly to Sakaki before placing her index finger on her chin and pondering. "And if it really is, can't we simply lock down our system registries to prevent hacking and store all battle and communications data on a separate partition? I mean, I only know data-pads very well as far as system complexity goes, so don't quote me if my solution is overly simplistic."
"Even the highly dangerous hackers of the Free State have not been able to hack into our Empire's PANTHEON system; it's highly unlikely that it's a virus that is entering the systems. Our own intel has come up with many different scenarios the Taii in the recording could be referring to, the two that seemed the most probable is that they encountered tech that is not our own. Or that they have encountered a strange form of mind altering technologies," the pink haired Ayane said quite simply, she seemed rather confidant in the Empire's computers. Then after Chikako's suggestion, both of the twins looked rather impressed. "Yes precisely," the blue haired Ayano said with a nod.
"So our job is to go in and save the crew of the Watcher? Do we know anything about what to expect once we get in there?" Kuriko asked. For some reason she felt as if she knew what she were asking. Perhaps it's just a moment of clarity resulting from my acceptance of my role, Kuriko thought to herself.
"Correct. As far as what you will be encountering we're still not sure. We could not link to the YSS Watcher due to its ship's power systems being down. The only thing with its own power is the distress beacon and even now it's been disabled." The blue eyed Ayane responded to Kuriko's question and then mentally cued the lights to raise and the display to close. "Now, a secondary objective is the recovery of the soul savior pod, though it's not your primary objective, as we assume one of our deployed units may recover it, you should still keep a sharp eye out for it," the pink eyed Ayano said as she collected her things simultaneously with her sister. "That concludes the briefing; we will be coming out of FTL in approximately twenty minutes. Go to the hangar and suit up, we'll be beginning the operation as soon as we enter the staging area."
Masako just kept quiet and listened to the briefing and sighed some. So we get swept out the door to raid some ship and take out zombie mecha… great. Just great. Watch our suits get taken over and lock us down while they kill us, Masako thought bitterly to herself, thinking they had overall low chances of success, the dissatisfaction clear on her face.
Chikako looked around her at the groans and sighed at the Pride Wing members and felt somewhat angered. Were these… kids? Did they expect to not have to do it if they complained enough? No, they would have to find solutions to any problems they pointed out, and get themselves together. "Mou… you're soldiers, not children! Buck up and suit up, because regardless of how bad this mission looks, it's our mission!"
Actually, by age, some of us could be considered to be children. Kuriko felt like responding, but instead she chose to remain silent. "Yes, it is. We should get going," Kuriko said in a neutral tone of voice. Hmm… Kuriko thought as she wondered about Chikako's personality. That aside, Kuriko rose and started off toward the armor bay.
"Right," Hara said solemnly. "Let's get to it, then." He stood up, following Kuriko's lead.
Sakaki silently bowed then walked toward the lift so she could be ready. An enemy comprised of zombies will be a formidable opponent, perhaps we can solve this mystery behind the mysterious attack. Then Sakaki quickly noted, “MEGAMI, please send a team to my quarters to pick up a rather large object for the Tsukihime.” Sakaki remained silent, concentrated on the battle ahead.
Masako would get up quickly and head out, having never felt more insulted. "I'll suit up, but I'm not going to buck up until I come back in one friggin' piece," she hissed at Chikako and continued off toward the armor bay.
"Fufufufu. Then I'll be tractoring your crippled ass back to the Senbu, Boin-chan." Chikako giggled, heading up the rear of the line of armor pilots. "If you go into the field with that mindset… you'll die."
"Shut up!" Masako snarled at her. "If my feelings are true you won't be able to. We'll be storming the ship without the armor while they turn against us too," she pointed out and continued on.
"Both of you calm down," Kuriko sent to both of the girls. "We're about to go into combat, we don't need this right now." Kuriko kept her voice even and the slight annoyance that she held stayed out of it. Seems like it's going to be a rough day, Kuriko thought to herself.
"I'm purposefully making myself aggressive, it's how I like to approach missions like this Kuri-heisho…" Masako replied and continued her pace.
"Mou..." Chikako muttered to herself, continuing to walk towards the bridge. "You'll ditch that pessimism when you realize that being close to death is the way of a soldier, though it'll be too late. Luckily, Boin-chan's too stubborn to die of something as silly as being disemboweled by a forearm projector," she message Masako telepathically, grinning widely now that she had found someone to antagonize with impunity.
"Bite me you fat ugly bitch," Masako immediately shot back with a tone dripping with venom.
Sakaki entered the lift and waited for the others to get on. "If there is a foe out there that has indeed gained independence, let us help the machines find peace,” stated Sakaki, quoting from a line from a movie that was about samurai versus zombies. Then, afterwards sent a message to Masako, “May your energy be put into the enemy, and not among ourselves, let us do our best.” She then gave a very small grin toward Masako.
"Chiharu help me," Kuriko muttered as she listened in on the conversation between the two of the soldiers. Kuriko slid into the lift after Sakaki. Once the lift filled with the members of Pride Wing it launched toward the armor bay, its occupants squished nicely inside like a can of sardines.
Chikako seemed to redden and was visibly pained as she stifled a great amount of laughter welling up inside of her, as small tears formed in her eyes. The venom coming from Masako's communications were otherwise hilarious, like the insults of a child hurling the first bad words that came to mind. She wiped away the salty water at the rims of her eyes and looked back at the subordinate pilot. "Fufu… I like you too, Boin-chan."
Masako was completely unapologetic and sneered at Chikako's look. "I know, it's been fun psyching myself up on you. Thanks I needed it really. I'm actually really nervous I have to admit," Masako replied, instantly changing her demeanor as she got into the lift with the others. "Ungh man it's tight in here…" she grunted.
Sakaki felt pressure on her chest, which she promptly ignored as she couldn't readily move, despite that her commanding officer was probably between her and Sakaki.
Meanwhile on the bridge, the buzz of activity was rising. "Seventeen minutes until arrival, sixteen-point-fifty-two minutes until exit," one of the members of the massive command bay called up over the noise. "Gold Wing is suited up and standing by!" one of the girls sitting right beside Ageha said as she reported that her squadron was ready for deployment. "YSS Tategami has announced that they are combat ready, Taii Takeda Naoki has also suggested that his vessel provide the deployment of the boarding team." Apparently the Nozomi-class Scouts that the Senbu had loaded into its MRB were already ready for battle, as then a second voice from the same communications pit called out the readiness of the other vessel. "The YSS Makka is also ready and standing by for deployment, Taii Nenene Satomi requests for point position."
At this point, the chief sitting above the power armor wing combat relay stations turned his attention to his unit. "Alright girls, we're going to go into combat stations in any second. Santô Hei Nanjo, when the alarm is raised it's your duty to find all of your pilots and get them to the bay. The information will be coming in steady soon, try to keep on top of it, if you feel that things are getting a little too fast be sure that you announce it so we can have someone help you catch up." Akira went over his own panel also looking at the information as it came, and then no sooner then he said that there would be a battle stations alarm, one came up.
Ageha nervously looked over her console as she watched her wing still heading for the hanger. She could hear the other wings' ComOps reporting in and was feeling very self-conscious that the Pride Wing were still on their way to suit up. "Shifuda-heisho, whenever your team is ready," the Santô Hei messaged to her Wing, "I'll do my best to support you all on my first mission." Nervously, she reached up and began rubbing one of her barrettes for good luck. A sky blue one with a jagged pattern in white and gold embossed on the front.
Back in the elevator, Kuriko was indeed positioned between the pair. Kuriko decided to not comment on the 'closeness' of the elevator. Maybe this will bring us closer? Kuriko wondered as she waited. Seconds later, the elevator arrived at the bay just as the alarm was raised. "Game time folks. Let's get suited up!" Kuriko said, the excitement in her voice rose as the door slid open.
This was definitely an awkward situation… Hara couldn't help but think of various rather… lewd scenarios going down. Of course, that soon ended as they arrived and filed out. "Roger," Hara replied.
"Nnn…" Chikako mumbled, glancing up at Masako. "I'm just glad that you're not a few inches taller, or I wouldn't be able to breathe," she messaged again, before finally stumbling out of the lift. Air, at last!
Masako shrugged as she was the last to leave. She was blushing a bit at the fact her breasts had been pressed against Chikako's. "Oh come on~ you liked it… should do it again when we get back~" Masako teased and walked with a confident swagger over to where her armor was. She'd prepare to get suited up and not really waste any real time with it. "Poor Hara, gets to watch but not touch…" she said teasingly to the only guy there.
"Uh… who said I wanted to?" Hara replied, stopping dead in his tracks. "I'm not a pervert or anything like that." He lied—kind of.
"Only a little." Chikako’s expression blanked a little and the reply that came to Masako's outrageous remark was rather plain. She leaned over and placed her hand on Hara's shoulder, gently tugging him down. "They're surprisingly firm, in spite of the size."
Sakaki ran to her Mindy, while ignoring her bouncy bust and stood in front of what had cost her a bundle of the bonus money. Nodding to herself, she asked for some help from the engineering staff to tape the long sheath onto the Tsukihime. This was the first battle she would leave her katana that is at her side, behind on the ship. She began to strip and prepare her melee setup, Now finally I have a weapon worthy of the Tsukihime, I shall become cold as ice, and reap the wind of my enemies.
Masako would cackle wickedly and begin to strip off her uniform, slowly moving in a sultry fashion to show off her figure. Her large breasts bouncing free of her uniform a bit, being firm and perfectly formed as she did. Strutting a bit, swaying her hips in a mature, womanly fashion to taunt; she'd open the armor and slowly step into it before returning to normal to suit up.
Kuriko made her way to her armor and stripped out of her clothing, mentally activating Sigmund as she did so. "Good day Sigmund, I know it's bee a while since I last visited," Kuriko said to the armor as she ran her hand down the seam. "It's good to see that you're being open with me still," Kuriko told it before sliding backwards into the armor. As the armor closed around her, her world went black for a brief second before she linked up with the armor's sensors. "Ueda-heisho, you can use one of the other available armors. You'll need to log in, verify yourself, and set the name of the armor before you can use it. There should be a control panel beside any of the armors," Kuriko said to Chikako as she mentally opened up windows that showed the status of the Wing members to her.
"Uhhhh… um… I should probably… get… in my Daisy," Hara stuttered, hurrying off towards Suzaku
Masako got her helmet on and sighed a bit and thought about what kind of weapon to use. "Man, I dunno what to go with," she mussed. "We don't have any actual greatswords here..." she muttered to herself, loud enough to be heard over the comm.
When the doors of the lift opened up, Mayuki had the happenstance to be carrying some random box of ammo to the other side of the bay. "Eh? Hey Pride..." she started but was cut off as the short Neko was overwhelmed by the stampede of pilots of various bust sizes. She was left on the ground in a daze, with the ammo everywhere. She then promptly fell backwards into the pile of random bullets and parts.
Hara's normal unit was replaced when he arrived, on his armor hanger there seemed to be a brand new Mindy that looked a little bigger and new in design. On the small unit display, it read that the unit was a Mindy M2-3A Power Armor, something that didn't appear anywhere else in the bay. The spec readout and new unit registration and security procedures were on the screen.
Mah mah… it was probably a mistake to tease Hara-hei like that. If gets distracted by thinking of Boin-chan's breasts, he'll die and it'll be my fault, Chikako sighed to herself inwardly as she approached her powered armor, leaving her uniform and gear in a nearby locker. It had become so natural to her that she did it almost while on autopilot, and in a manner of speaking, it was, as she was far too busy thinking about equipment layouts and weapon systems to match her style.
"YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!" Hara shouted as he saw the M2-3A. He immediately registered the unit as Suzaku 2.0 before skimming through the specs and procedures. No need to strip to enter the armor—WHAT?! He removed the items it recommended leaving on board before hopping inside. Today was a good day.
"What the flying black hell?!" Masako exclaimed, hearing Hara shout. "Idiot," she muttered and continued to try and figure out her load out. "What's everyone using? I know Sakaki's going Melee but what about the rest of you?" she asked everyone.
"You guys support me too," Ageha whispered to herself as she continued to watch the Pride Wing mount in their armors. This is it! her brain yelled at her. They're about to take off and they can't do it without you. So get ready! Furiously, she began bringing up various data such as a 3-D map of the area and the sensor readings from each of the Pride's Mindys. Additionally she ran a search in the background for any historical significance and data surrounding the Halna system. Be prepared. You want to be ready for anything. Try to anticipate what they might need, her instructors' advice ran through her head like a broken record.
"Aether weapons are a no-go if we're going to be inside their ship. They're too dangerous with unarmored personnel around. Maybe the plasma rifle?" Kuriko suggested as she looked over her load out. "Other than that, I recommend a standard Pride Wing load out; we can get in and out relatively easily, though. Make sure that you don't teleport around unarmored personnel," Kuriko suggested.
"Hello AIES. Please send the Senbu my equipment load out request from my mental information… Sending now," she said to the powered armor as it drew her in, an action that had become synonymous with the term, 'suiting' up for her. M2-D3000 Eliptoid Shield, M4-W2901 Light Armor Service Rifle with Ke-M4-W2901 LASR-SLAG, KZ Type 29 ASP (Hooked on Shield), 2x M2-W3002 Leg NSB Launchers and M2-P3001 Energy Cloak Shield Projector, she confirmed to the armor's AI.
Masako thought it over and went with the standard Pride Wing load out with a gauss cannon on the other shoulder and countermeasure pods on the legs and an Accelerated Plasma Rifle. "It's a tight fit in here…" Masako whined a bit. "I need to talk the captain into approving the request to customize this thing to my frame," she said. "I'll keep that in mind Kuri-heisho," Masako responded.
"Er… I think I'll just stick with our standard load out and the Ke-M2-W2909!" Hara said. While the armor was new to him, he at least had experience with the Accelerated Plasma rifle in live combat.
A new update appeared on Ageha's terminal, it looked like a more detailed version of the mission objectives were coming in. The Halna system appeared to be an old pirate infested area, and it was also the system where the Senbu had been close to during its previous missions where they met a heavy resistance of pirates and flagships. The Pride Wing operation objectives were listed by importance: 1-Recovery of any survivors, 2-Elimination of any resistance encountered, and then finally there was a secondary objective—the recovery of the soul savior pod. Though there was a note on that objective, it was also given to all units and was to be one of the Gold Wing's primary objectives in the field. Akira then spoke up and let Ageha also know about the deployment plan. “Nanjo-hei, hurry your unit up. We need them to head to the main repair bay and board the YSS Tategami. Alert their lead that they will be deploying from that vessel.”
"Yokai!" Ageha responded to Akira with confidence. "Shifuda-heisho, please be ready to launch soon," the brown eyed ComOps advised the Pride Wing. A former pirate haven, she thought idly as the information came down the pipe to her console. "Please head to the main repair bay of the YSS Yategami, you will be deploying from there." Ageha transmitted the route there to Kuriko's system, she probably didn't need it having been around longer than Ageha had, but she didn't want to leave anything to chance.
"Right guys, we need to get going. Evidently we're launching from a ship in the repair bay," Kuriko said as she stepped out of the armor rack. I guess this is the way," Kuriko said as she followed the path not quite used to the fact that she was walking through the ship in a power armor.
Masako looked over and followed Kuriko without thinking. "It's weird isn't it?" she asked her friend leading the way. "Going through the ship in the armors that is, carrying heavy arms," she said, "it's like being a badass but… not. It's a kind of turn on," she giggled.
Now that Chikako armor was equipped and ready, she decided to resume communicating with her cohorts, cutting short the Zen-like emptiness in which she placed herself before many missions, smiling that Masako wasn't being a horrid pessimist. Maybe the girl had hope after all. "That's the spirit! Just don't tune up the stimulator too high or you'll black out after every kill, Boin-chan," she said jokingly, resting her LASR on her armor's shoulder.
"Babe… that's pretty much the only thing on this ship that could make me do that." Masako winked at Chikako. "I haven't met many guys on board, but a lot of them seem to be… boring." She sighed. "Even the XO."
"Eh, Saiga-sama?" Chikako said in a hushed, but curious tone. "I know firsthand that he has a magnificent soldier's aura and excellent ancestry, but how is he in person?"
“I hear he's a big pussy; rumor says he's never had much combat proving. So until I see him do it, he isn’t' worth my time of effort." Masako shrugged. "I don't care about aura or ancestry because it means precisely bupkuss until it's tempered by the fire of battle and the repeated strikes of an iron will to rebound," she said in she same hushed tone.
Masako would sigh and continue toward their destination, thinking about what'll happen. "We'll take them down and be home before dinner," she said to Kuriko in a friendly fashion.
On the Senbu’s august command bridge, Shizuka looked around and settled a little farther into her chair. "It's kind of strange being here, I haven't commanded my own ship in combat from the bridge since the first mission," Shizuka said as she glanced over her control panel, the SPINE uplink cords lead back into her chair. The entire ship was connected to her thoughts, her ideas and orders from simple thoughts became documents shuffled down the command chain. It was a completely different experience then connecting with any other type of ship, only because the Anri was so huge and so dependent on multiple units not just a overpowered main gun. "Saiga-shosa, prepare the front. I'll be relying on you still for the combat command of our troops, I believe you've become adept at it and I trust your abilities. As for me, I'm going to be concentrating on the ship, though I will be passing commands through you during the operations." With that the Taisa turned and nodded softly at him and winked intimately as she internally wished him luck.
“As you wish, Taisa,” Nicholas replied curtly, moving forward from his place beside her captain’s seat to the edge of the command platform. He usually stood there during battle, not having the ability to directly connect to the Senbu, having to rely on mundane vocal directives to sway the flow of battle. “Akira-taii, be sure that you route all updates on the status of our wings to any volumetric that are actively identified as being mine,” he told the blonde Yamataian. “And be sure that Obsidian is responding to orders down to the second. Just because they have a new command doesn’t mean that the cancerous apathy and cowardice doesn’t remain within their ranks.” The Shosa was still somewhat bitter about the Obsidian Wing ordeal during the Senbu’s last battle, but gave his order without emotion or malice, stating it coldly and plainly.
Nanjo-hei breathed in deeply, hoping that she could will the Pride Wing into arriving at the Yategami faster. When she heard the Shosa give his orders to her commanding officer, she really began to worry. She tapped on her monitor to try and push her blips forward faster. C'mon you guys, you're almost there, she pleaded mentally with the console. Both Akira-taii and Saiga-shosa were going to be watching her and the Pride Wing through her. Their success was her success. We can do it, Ageha thought again, almost loud enough to be a telepathic message. You guys and me. Together. Let's go. Though, even though that's what she told herself, there was still the niggling feeling that the Pride Wing were a (mostly) solid group before she arrived. Their new ComOps was a new element, and though they all had fun in Kyoto, she still didn't feel like one of the team. But that's what this mission was for, right? To show that Nanjo Ageha deserved to be there and was able to help anyone else who found themselves in trouble. Much like she had needed before.
It didn't take long for the miniature wing to make it to the MRB. Upon arrival near the exterior of the Tategami, Kuriko messaged the ship. "Jôtô Heisho Shifuda Kuriko of Pride Wing requesting permission to board," Kuriko asked the ship's IES.
A familiar cute little feminine voice responded from the Nozomi, "It’s good to see you guys so soon. This is Yuki-heisho, Navi-heisho rather. Permission to board the YSS Tategami granted Pride Wing." The door to the scout craft opened up and the squadrons' AIES were updated with directions and rapid launch positions in the ship's armor bays.
"NAVI-HEISHO!" Kuriko practically shrieked into the mic. "I've missed you!" the Heisho said excitedly. Kuriko had completely forgotten about Ageha being able to hear the communications as she boarded, and thus didn't even consider how it might have affected the poor com tech that was fulfilling Navi's old position.
Masako contacted Ageha. "Hi Ageha," she said nicely. "How're you holding up sweetie?" she asked gently.
End
