• If you were supposed to get an email from the forum but didn't (e.g. to verify your account for registration), email Wes at [email protected] or talk to me on Discord for help. Sometimes the server hits our limit of emails we can send per hour.
  • Get in our Discord chat! Discord.gg/stararmy
  • 📅 February and March 2024 are YE 46.2 in the RP.

RP [Fifth Fleet] Fifth MSU: Maintaining the Peace (and quiet)

Status
Not open for further replies.

Kai

Retired Staff
RP Date
YE 43.9
RP Location
YSS Amatsuotome
After the end of the Kuvexian war, the Yamatai Star empire had entered a time of relative peace. While it may have heralded the end of hostilities, it did not mean that everyone in the Star Army could just sit back, relax, and do whatever they wanted. Most believe that the #1 mission of a military is to fight and win wars, and on the surface that may seem true, but the reality is that most of the time, personnel either trained, maintained, or repaired their skills, equipment, and vehicles, and as such, the job of a Maintainer was never done, even if their precious charges were no longer being shot at. In fact, Peacetime gave rise to an even worse enemy than a hostile nation, at least in the eyes of the mechanics, and that enemy was of course their own people. Pilots would fly ships for training, and find new and inventive ways to break them. Vehicle operators would discover the worst ways in which they could neglect their craft and invariably destroy them, without a round ever being fired. Even other mechanics, fixing one piece of equipment, would somehow invent a new method of destroying the very equipment they relied on, in a vicious, never-ending cycle of damage and repairs. And that was nothing to say of the actual, scheduled preventative maintenance and servicing of the myriad equipment that kept a military going on a day to day basis.

War was hell, sure, and while some fought it with a rifle, and others a cannon, or a fighter, gunship, or tank, for each of these, there was a mechanic somewhere, often drinking entirely too much coffee and thriving on a diet of salt, swear words, and synthetic grease.

**********

On The YSS Amatsuotome, business as usual was happening. A large combination of fleet tender, maintenance dock, and battleship, the 'Maiden' as it was often called by its crew was abuzz with activity. Today, the final Yui-class scout that had been damaged during the Kuvexian war was in for repairs. It had been nearly a year since the battle of Glimmergold, meaning that more than just emergency repairs could be done, instead having maintenance crews delve deep into the craft and perform heavy repairs and maintenance on bits of the compact starships that were normally inaccessible.

The Chief of the Fifth Maintenance and Support Unit, one Jôtô Heisho Seyla Midi, Poised on a catwalk overlooking the craft as her crew began delving into it. The ship sported a large hole through its nose, which had thankfully avoided any major damage and didn't breach the crew compartments, but it had knocked out communications and the main cannon, which had forced it to withdraw from its last battle, and a like of time, personnel, and parts meant that it had sat in storage as less damaged craft had been quickly patched up and sent back to battle.

A cup of coffee in her hand - not that it affected her android body, but she still enjoyed the taste and the warmth - Midi-Heisho (Often just called Chief) observed as her troops positioned a large support arm to take up the hull panel that needed removing and keep it from floating off and hitting something else, as well as to hold it up once they restored gravity to the maintenance bay to ease the smaller repairs. One of the newer technicians, however, seemed to be having a slight issue, a transfer from another fleet, most technicians were unaccustomed to the heavy maintenance performed on the Amatsuotome.

"Oi, that one goes clockwise, then pulls straight up with the Mag-wrench. The opposite side is the one that goes counter-clockwise first!" She shouted, not yet wanting to actually get dirty for the day, as the shift had only just begun.
 
  • Love
Reactions: Wes
Stepping into the repair bay with the Yui Class Scout Ship, Junko scanned around looking for Midi-heisho so she could report in to her local supervisor. Names and ranks of individuals flowed into her visual GUI until she heard someone yelling at someone. Her eyes then drifted upwards until the name and rank of the individual she was looking for came to her.

Junko had expected she was going to be shoved into Fort Victory to maintain equipment for the basic training for her active duty time of being in the Reserves. But she had not expected to be sent to a Fleet Tender to work on the ships. Her new colleagues at Ryu Heavy Industries' Shipwright Division were shocked when they started seeing the quiet tiny woman start jumping up and down in the cafeteria.

As she stepped onto the catwalk, she looked down at all the technicians moving around. When she got close enough, she stopped and bowed a bit. "Itto Heisho Takeda Junko reporting, I was told to get my assignment from you."
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wes
Seyla raised her coffee cup and nodded her head at the reporting of the new Heisho, and made to face her as she finished her sentence. "Welcome aboard Takeda-Heisho, it's good to meet you," the woman replied, but that seemed to be the limit of her courtesies, at least in this specific environment. Before saying anything else, she waved to the scout craft below them, motioning as it were toward the damage, as well as the current group of technicians working on it.

"I noticed you looking around like you haven't seen a maintenance bay this big before, which isn't surprising as we're a little different here at the Fifth MSU." motioning to the section of railing immediately to her left, Midi-Heisho turned back to observing her crew at work. "We don't normally mess with this kind of battle damage in the Star Army but Taisho Whitmoor wants us to be self sufficient, and so self sufficient we are. Try not to get overwhelmed, though your resume shows more experience than most your age. Just know that I expect you to do your job, but I won't tell you how to do it."

Seyla took another sip of her coffee before finally deigning to respond to the last part of Junko's introduction, with a bit more explanation.
"Your assignment will be using your stripes to lead one of the maintenance crews, one which will be made of specialists rather than generalists, and get them working together to ensure that some of our more difficult tasks are completed swiftly and correctly. You'll be getting some of the ugly stuff that comes our way and make it all pretty again. As in make it look like it came from whatever factory spat it out when it was new. any questions?"
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wes
Aphrodi stretched as she walked onto the repair bay, she had been called to help with the repairs of the ships after the war. She made sure her red hair was tied up in her usual bun as she noticed the two talking and walked over, her lavander skin probably the main thing that stuck her out from the others as she caught the last bit of the explanation as she bowed and smiled to the group "Hello Santo Hei, Aphrodi Tevager here, ready to help in anyway I can."

The young Neko was excited to help out, she didn't have chance to actually particapate in the war, but at least she could help with the aftermath "I understand what we are doing here Ma'am, so where would you like me?" She was egar to jump in and fix this, even just looking at some of the ships made her just want to dive in and get to work, so she didn't have to deal with small talk and questions.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wes
Junko just bit her tongue when she was explained what the purpose of an NCO was. But considering the nature of the assignment, she just maintained an attentive look on her face as she was spoken to. When Midi was finished, she nodded her head. "Was pinging the personnel database to see who was who. But you are correct that this is the first assignment of this nature I have received."

She was about to say something else until Aphrodi came up to the pair. Junko simply remained quiet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wes
"Ah, good, another member of the team showed up," Seyla noted after Aphrodi introduced herself. Twisting her left arm so her wrist was facing up, the NCO's BANGLE device projected a volumetric display with a list of scheduled jobs and tasks that needed to be completed that duty day, seeing the different teams assigned to different parts of the current Yui-class in the bay. "Hrmmm. Looks like in roughly ten minutes team A should have the hull plating off and then your team will be free to dig into the damaged parts and start tear-down and evaluation. It's a pretty big hole so expect a lot to be missing and everything to be messed up."

With a casual flick of her right fingers, Midi-Heisho sent a detail of the area in question, a lists of the likely damaged subsystems, primarily the Sensors, comm equipment, and the main gun, all of which would likely need heavy repairs or replacement.

"There should be one more member of your team arriving today, and once they're here, you can feel free to start or go ahead and get started now, whichever you prefer. I've got five other teams to supervise so I'll be hanging around checking in on everything and available for help as needed," the shop lead explained.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wes
With a rapid burst of motion, an awkward and gawkish crew member nearly fell over, stumbling over themselves as they ran towards the group. Ducking under the doorframe, an embarrassed look on their face. They spread their arms sideways rather girlishly as they then struggled to slow down again, hidden evidence that these standard-issue shoes were not up to the task of gripping the floor beneath her considerable robotic weight.

"Gomen!~ Gomen nasai!~" The blonde flagpole bowed so hard that she physically pelted Seyla with her hair. "Santo Hei Iyaru Rida! It is a pleasure to be assigned under your command!"

They stood head-to-shoulders taller than the other three, yet was also clearly the most ill-fitting in their uniform, the least experienced. Junko and Aphrodi's calm and slightly cold demeanour only made it that much more off-putting.

Nobody was panel beating things, or using big reels of molecure tape to bodge the scraps back on... The street racing yanime she had watched in perpetration for this wasn't going to help at all...
 
Junko nodded her head towards Aphrodi as she pulled up what records she could from Star Army Personnel. Her assessments stated she was competent for her occupation, all Junko really needed to know. She projected the same Yui vessel from her wrist watch and looked at her.

"We will start..." Junko started to say, pointing at the nose of the vessel. She then immediately stopped when she heard Iyaru Rida run towards them. When she stopped and bowed, Junko's eyes just slide over slowly towards Midi-heisho in amazement.
 
Seyla shrugged at Junko's questioning gaze, taking another sip of her coffee before deciding to say anything else. "As of right now you three are team Foxtrot, Takeda, Tevager, you both have a decent amount of experience, but Iyaru is newer to the job, so please lend them your knowledge and help develop their skills."

Junko would notice a direct message sent to her from the Chief, which was fairly short and not especially descriptive. "Just do your best; they'll probably be a handful"

As this exchange took place, another large piece of hull plating - this one missing a sizeable chunk from a major hit - found its way free of the Yui with an incredibly loud crack, followed by a loud crashing sound and some creaking as fused parts were pulled away from one another and the ship shifted in its supports a bit more than it normally would have during hull plating removal.

"Oi! Make sure everything's disconnected before you do that again!" Midi-Heisho shouted from the catwalk, angrily waving her mug in the general direction of the other maintenance team.
 
Iyaru just blinked and squirmed on the spot nervously for a moment, and then it was Junko's turn to get bow-pelted by the stream of beige-white hair.

"Itto Heisho! Itto Heisho Junko! It is very pleasurable to make your acquaintance!" They were humble alright, but the long introduction seemed suspiciously similar to giving the robot time to mentally look up data on their new crewmates. The fact that they were also fully two foot taller, and put their palms on their knees to awkwardly talk downwards to their superior... It really didn't help. "You are Nekovalkyrja? That's very interesting! You look so human!"

Pink-clad gauntlets pursed themselves into a ball in front of her, and then she bowed again, just a little more properly. At the same time, a small text file was digitally transmitted across, giving a rather long list of modified android specifications.

"I will be very grateful to learn from your example! Please review this data file on my physical tolerances, so you can use this willing subordinate to the maximal ability! I am at your complete disposal!"

Were they asking to be underneath the next super-heavy panel when it fell off the ship?...
 
Junko looks back to her charges and nods. When Iyaru had highlighted her human-like attributes despite being a Neko, her right eye visibly twitched for a moment. She had gone through a lot of personal growth to overcome her insecurity of being in her mind an artifical being pretending to be a natural human, she still hated when others pointed out her uncommon features. "Yes" Junko said as the only response, she then proceeded to go right into business to change the subject.

She received Iyaru's file and processed it through the usual malware software just out of a habit. She then sent the pair digitally a copy of the Yui's Technical Manual. "Very well, your guidance while I am assigned as Active Duty begins now. I have sent you a copy of the Yui's technical manual I memorized years ago. I don't expect you two to learn it in the span of 10 minutes or even a week. But read it, learn it, and commit it to memory like your lives depend on it. Because someday, it very well could."

She looked over towards the nose section of the ship as its hull was nearly detached. "We begin as soon as they are finished, do not need any work accidents because we are in a hurry to beat the repair times of the other teams. I am uninterested in that, I simply want my repairs to be complete and beyond the standard if there is time." she then looked back at the pair. "We will tackle the easier components inside before we collectively work on the more complicated main gun. Aphrodi, you will in responsible for assessing the damage of the sensors and communications on the starboard side. Iyaru and I will do the same on the port side.

Any questions?"
 
"Dooohhh~, Thank you Itto Heisho Junko-San! I will cherish this file for as long as I am alive!" Iyaru looked like they were about to tear up, bundling their overbuilt hands together and becoming glossy-eyed. "It flatters me so much that you care about me being alive! I'll memorise it's teachings with my every waking moment!"

From anybody else it could have come across as extreme sarcasm, but the sheer warmth and energy that the doll-like android was projecting suggested they were barely restraining the urge to leap over the short distance and hug the dark haired woman.

"Would you like me to visually map the hull's current material configuration into a 3D model, so that it can be directly compared to the original construction schematics?" A slightly more professional response now, though they still weren't blinking enough to make it look like anything was going on in that metal head of theirs. "I can do this for the internal components as well as the exterior hull frame in an estimated twenty six minutes!"
 
"Takeda... my surname is Takeda." Junko said with a slightly annoyed face. But then she smiled a bit at the suggestion of visually mapping the ship into a 3D Model. "I did not know that was a capability of Mimics, that is a fantastic idea." she said before motioning the two to follow her as she started to make her way to the stairs to the floor below.

"Can you process it while at the same time recording our inital assessment of the damage? The latter would be of great help to keep track of repairs."
 
"O-of course, Itto Heisho Takeda." The mimicomp twisted it's body whilst the head arced, remaining in position just a little too well. "If you wish to make utilisation of this android's functions whilst the holo-mapping task is in progress, I will remain in your vicinity."

They didn't have to wait long for an operational update. By the time Iyaru Rida reached the bottom of the stairs, the other Nekovalkyrja found themselves signalled with the first stage of the model, albeit a functionally useless one mapped from only one direction thus far. It did at least have a time stamp, and was texture wrapped with colourful bands of material stress patterns, ranging from red to yellow to green.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
RPG-D RPGfix
Back
Top