RP: 5th XF [Hotaru] An Unfortunate Night

Yuriko gently pulled herself free of Misato's grasp, and bowed to the three Shosho, and the Taisho. The only thing going on in her mind was the safety of her crew, and the people aboard the station and surrounding system.

"Please excuse me, I will not sit idly by and not assist in this fight. I apologize in advance if I was rude!" The Shoi bowed to them again, and dashed off back towards her ship. Koharu, get me numbers on the enemy ships, anything you can. We're going to help the Fifth. Yuriko replied as she hopped on the elevator off E deck, and made her way back to bay sixteen.

~~~~

Rina just blinked as she was suddenly alerted to incoming SMX vessels. The Shosho cursed under her breath, looked at Misato and frowned. We're talking later. She stated matter of factly, not seemingly satisfied with the response.

"Taisho, permission to go and engage the enemy." Rina asked, suddenly both a soldier, and vice admiral to the core.

Oh yeah…this was just one of those days.

The Hotaru switched to battle-stations; red lightning bathed the corridors in crimson. War was upon them, and vomit green death was out at 3LY and closing; standard battle group thirty ships strong. The assassination faded into the back of her mind. Eriko could waste no time: “Bloody hell, Rina – just go!”

“HOTARU! Give me a full uplink to NECTAR and route my consciousness to the mainframe. Give me full control over your systems, TF-50 and TF-51. Order TF-56 to fold out and exit the battle. Execute an emergency TTD; prepare all ships for immediate engagement. Use the jump to arrange us along a battle line with the planet to our distant left. Prep all weapons for firing and give a general order to launch ours wings. I want our Projected Energy Beams trained on their ships! We have the range advantage; I want us to use it.”

Then all Eriko’s body could think about was the running as she moved to the bridge. Her mind had vanished from her body – subsumed into the massive battle network that was the heart of their operations. She suddenly became aware of the broadcasting Hanabusa ships which had disconnected from PANTHEON, and the fleeing escape pods headed towards the Mishhu battle lines…

Treachery! As the massive Transuniversal Teleportation Drive began its activation, Eriko made a small change to their formation. “…Hotaru, Striker Arrays and Particle Cannons on my signal. Space warped on her orders and the entire Fifth Expeditionary Fleet vanished from Jiyuu’s orbit and appeared six AU away. It was a magnificent sight; the majesty of her Empress’s finest in perfect order.

Not everyone thought as much though…the Hanabusa ships that had been reckless enough to detach from PANTHEON had been forcibly teleported as well, placed in a massive cluster before the entire Fleet, left to run into each other as every gun aboard the massive star fortress set themselves on hair trigger fuses. “Make them cry, Hotaru! Purge the swine, and may the Empress have mercy on any innocents we kill.”

And the massive arrays onboard the mighty Hotaru fired; the Mishhu approach a mere backdrop to the battle’s first signs of conflict. The fifth would be ready; black blood running free from the punctured hulls of any who dared betray the Fifth, the cancer gone, and the loyal and strong and brave ready to face the coming tide.

Asuka, who had been monitoring communications, detected a code and relayed it to Yaichiro. Almost swearing, the Taii quickly activated the Graviton Beam Projectors, and focused them on the doors of Bay 16...they had begun to strain to open a mere second afterwards, and Yaichiro opened a call to Bay 16.

"The enemy has sent a transmission to open Bay 16's doors! Asuka will hold them closed as long as possible for your forces to either evacuate or suit up in Power Armor! GO! GO! GO!"

Yaichiro then sent out a communication to Misato, as his team began to flee from the soon-to-be exposed area...even now air was seeping through the seam of the doors.

"Tange-Shosho-Shi, we don't have much time. The enemy has sent a transmission to open Bay 16's doors. Once my people are evacuated, please send a Sakura to Bay 16 before it enters battle. I wish to arm you with the M29X00 Mini Striker SEM and especially the M29X02 Interdiction Device SEM.

One is a compact Striker Array for offense against multiple small enemies, and the other is a fleet-scale Interdiction Device capable of a 9 AU volume coverage, exceeding 3 AU in diameter. It's the most powerful Interdiction Device there currently is in the fleet if not the Army, and you may need it. Be careful with them though, only one of each exists."

Kessah groaned a little in her bed at the announcement, and rolled to the side, falling out of her bed. And hitting her head on the ground, naturally. With a mummer she rubbed the spot she hit and stood up, patting down her sleepy mess of hair. "... Shit just hit the fan? What the bloody fucking hell?" It was a good reaction!

In anycase, she just mummered some more, patting her belly a bit. Its... Gone. Thank the possible diety, or plural. She hopped a little on her heels just to test herself, and smiled a little. She still kinda didn't feel 100%, but she could manage. Instead, she got her miniature ass moving out of her room, down the lift and into the engineering bay. She was rather quick about it. "Preparing systems for battle, Koharu..." And she got to work.

And she was a excellent worker, too.

Yuki stood as well. She wondered how Kichiro could be so calm in the middle of an attack. "Ano... its alright. Uh... I can't think of anywhere," she tried to emulate Kichiro's calm attitude. "Uh... but... I suppose we should head to the medbay."

Though her voice stayed vaguely calm, Yuki's mind was thinking through quite a few things, namely on what to do. With her brief glimpse at the ruckus in the wardroom earlier and the fact that it was New Years Day, she was quite certain many people would be drunk.

"Etto... Kichiro-san. We should probably do something about the alchohol in people's systems. It'd probably be a bad thing if we had a ship run by drunk crewmembers."

The neko caretaker started to head out of the kitchen, away from the food that she had wanted to finally start eating.

Umibouzu quickly began making his way through the vast hallway of the YSS Asuka, however did not run with a true feeling of panic. He somewhat felt an overwhelming feeling of joy as war was upon them, the most accurate contest of might, valor and courage. In his days of a trainee, he often read a few of the limited books of Troll culture and society, as well as a bit of language however nothing he could speak. He would gaze at the red hewed lights, a sign of danger…or a sign of halting, and wondered. He wondered if the blood from the foes the fleet might meet, would stain the halls, along the placid walls, where the brave and strong would be separated from the dead and weak.

Shokupan Umibouzu could spot the area of congregation where all personal were gearing up for battle, He should help them get ready as he was an Armorer, if not a glorified technician and mechanic. The boots would softly clap the hard metal floor, as he arrived at the station, he could tell some of them were ready, yet some had forlorn expressions covering their faces, and others prefered to keep their inner emotions hidden. He could spot some with trembling and unsteady arms, possibly from a fear of the SMX, probably from rumors they exchanged about them, though it was assumed that there were few who were in this state, others were either experienced, cocky and confident of their abilities.

One of the such people was Umibouzu, as he made his way through the Infantry, however asking one of the men where the Armor Bay might be, as Power Armor Pilots would certainly need more help. He would then enter another hallway, similar to the last as he walked, trying to ease his mind off the fear of dying, convincing himself his life should at least be forfeit to fight for the glory of the Star Army of Yamatai. He was never certain why he chose this sort of thinking, he knew he had a bit to live for, and certainly wouldn’t wish to die by his guidance, so he assumed his loyalty guided his fate, to the Star Army of Yamatai.

His gaze would become re-affixed to the lighting of the bay, as he saw many mechanics and technicians scurrying about from power armor, to power armor, making as many little tweaks and maintenance checks as possible. It wouldn’t be long, until Umibouzu too joined the fray of sorts. He quickly began evaluating armor, checking if the armor would hold out to it’s peek, aboard the YSS Asuka.

The general order to launch wings was sounded.

Kishou glanced down to her service rifle – which had seemed so adequate and perfectly reasonable not five minutes before. Now though…it seemed so small and demure. Almost like a toy gun that was meant for target practice instead of war. “Louis-san!...” She called out; slapping her helmet on as she did so. “…I’m going to get a bigger gun!~” And at the speed she left the bridge Kishou might as well have just vanished in a puff of blue smoke.

“Asuka – full switch. I’m changing load-outs! The neko shoved her LSAR back into the armoury and replaced the magazines. She drew out one of the glistening Aether Beam Rifles before ascending into the harnesses. Her teleport pack ejected with similar haste and both the shoulder and the leg points were swapped out; a sylph wing-pack lowered itself into place, and counter measure pods were attached. “Dragonfly config, and I'm armed and dangerous. Kishou to bridge, I’m ready to deploy at any time!"

Noboru had been late to awaken. When the alarms on the Asuka had started blaring, he instinctively and autonomously moved to his quarters. He had fallen asleep with alarms all around.

The alarms, with sudden and intense ferocity, all came back to him. Noboru snagged up his sidearm and sprinted down to the PA Bay and managed to find a remaining Daisy. Despite being a Santo Hei fresh from basic, he mobilized quickly, withdrawing what he could- an Aether beam rifle and shield.

Hotaru’s weapons bore down on the rebelling Hanabusa vessels. The civilian ships were dispatched without even a chance, The YSS Yanagi however slipped into hyperspace narrowly escaping the same demise. The YSS Kiachou and YSS Yuuki buckled beneath Hotaru’s strength, spewing debris across the field. The Shikotama ISFC engaged its own fold drive and left the system.
----

The Mishhuvurthyar watched as their enemy switched positions, appearing back into formation away from Jiyuu. They too were organized, their command group consisting of their Blrakkrashiverinth Battleship (Target ID: Soth Arcxis), two of the Ooghlrashithagg Carriers (Target ID: Neyja I, Neyja II) stopped their approach on the Star Army Fleet holding at the edge of the Jiyuu system. Their bays opened spewing their pods into defensive clouds around themselves: Soth Arcxis unloaded all of its 20,000 Frasworstch; they formed twenty wings in total moving onto pentagonal formations in a sphere around their mother ship. (Target ID: Rih 1 ~ 20) Neyja I and II followed suit, with over 50,000 Frasworstch each, forming into the same pentagonal groups but in another sphere around them and the Soth Arcxis. (Target ID: Jio 1~100)

The remaining two Ooghlrashithagg ( Uuyi I, Uuyi II) continued to plow forwards, unloading their 50,000 Frasworstch and 1,618 Whifgurflumik Battle Pods. (Hu 1~100) (Gyu 1,2). Their unloading time was remarkable, only keeping Hu 1-10, and Gyu 1 and 2 back the remaining wings were ordered forwards, rushing the staging area.

The nine Xianthrafruglu (Togi I-IX) split from the carrier groups and folded back into hyperspace disappearing from the battlefield for milliseconds. Togi I, Togi II, and Togi III emerged right in the middle of the fleet’s Ascendancy group, initiating odd corkscrew-like maneuvers their heavy SPEC’s tearing across the ventral surfaces of the Fifth’s command group.

Togi IV, and V emerged as well, their legacy cannons firing two parallel lines directly down the center of the Adlich Assault Group ships positioned at 3-Gamma. The scene ugly as space was torn apart and the gunships were being drawn into the rifts.

Togi VI, VII, VIII, IX engaged Hotaru, their heavy SPECs blasting as their circled the massive Iori, they began charging their Legacy cannons, intending to fully bear themselves down on the fortress.

Meanwhile, the ten Ghullfrashirv (Qeh I~X) escorts jumped to FTL speeds rushing to the lines, stopping short of the edge of the staging area as they unloaded their Quintessence Torpedos, firing at their maximum rate of one every three seconds, the piloted torpedo’s slipping into hyperspace and reemerging at close range to slam into the Star Army ships. Their medium SPEC’s combing through the ISFCs that were in their proximity.

The two Scouts (Yur I, II) began actively scanning the staging area, slipping in and out of phase as they tacked through the openings between groups. Pushing nearly FTL speeds, they quickly intensified their attempt on using the access code to open Hotaru’s Bay Sixteen.

Sumaru was on board the Asamoya when the ship wide announcement was made by Koharu. The young PA pilot's feminine face came alive in a sort of excited smile. "Well, at least there are better things to do then sit around." He said to him self as he got up from his bed still in the casual outfit from his shopping endeavors with the Asamoya's captain, he didn't believe it mattered much because when he'd arrive to hop into his armor he'd be getting naked anyhow. So, off he ran at full tilt towards the port bay.

On arrival the slender white haired Yamataian rushed to his armor, the pink paneled Mindy M2-MA code named; 'Wish.' Once he had given the armor a bow of respect, Sumaru would quickly strip down and suit up. During the power up process while his machine booted-up, he took a long deep breath and then spoke softly to the machine as if it was a sentient being. "Alright Wish, you take care of me and let's show them what we're made of." He whispered. Then once he was powered up and undocked from the hangar he then made an announcement to command. "Nitô Hei, Hasegawa Sumaru, armored, ready and awaiting orders." He said as he moved towards the bay door.

Though the situation was seemingly grave, but the lockdown was called off, and she had been -about- to finally leave the transport to head to her new home, the Asamoya. She hadn't been particularly rushing, but as the message came through from Koharu she decided that rushing wasn't such a bad idea. Swiftly, she bolted into a run. The path was straight forward enough to find her way with relative ease. It had taken her a few seconds to fully grasp the situation, but now that she was in quite a do-or-die situation (and she didn't even get to see her quarters yet!) reality seemed to sink in rather quickly.

It didn't take long to find it, but once she got there and inside the elevator it seemed to just be -taunting- her by taking so "long" to get to it's destination. "Come on come on come on..." she mumbled to herself, bouncing slightly in place with her hands balled into fists. She had better places to be than in an elevator!

The door opened. She let out a relieved little yelp, and was about to sprint into motion again when she received another communication. This one caused her to skid to a stop and step to the side, getting herself out of the way of anyone who might have been rushing about in much the same wad she just was. A replay was given before the channel was cut. "Understood."

On the YSS Asuka:

"You're right, Yuki-san. Actually, there are several things we should be doing right about now." Kichiro answered quickly, as he stepped in the Medbay. He moved to a set of cabinets and retrieved two bottles of pills and tossed one to Yuki. "These are Contraveistalgia Tablets. They should sober up anyone who takes them, and eliminate hangovers. We should bring these to the people in the Ward Room."

"As well, I would consider picking up a Type 28 SMG, and a grenade or two, just in case. Our NSP's can only take down one or two Mishhu before we run out of ammo." He continued calmly. Kichiro made an inquiry to MEGAMI about the whereabouts of the crew, just to check if anyone was sleeping. Kotonoha-Heisho? I heard that she was exhausted, but we'll need her. Mah, mah... this is really a cruel thing to be doing to the poor girl. He pondered, having been informed about the crewmember seconds after his inquiry.

"Your roommate, Kotonoha-Heisho is still asleep, and we sort of need her. I know it's not going to be pleasant for her to be working with so little rest, but I think we can entice her out of bed with some food." He said, cracking the tension of the situation with a rather playful tone.

"So we should head over to the Armory first, and split off from there. Do you want to check on the Wardroom or deal with Kotonoha-Heisho?"

Yuki caught the bottle and nodded to Kichiro, and she just kept nodding as she listened to him list what they needed to do.

"Ano... I think I'll go handle Kotonoha-Heisho." Yuki thought back, trying to remember if she'd ever spoken to Kotonoha before. Though Yuki couldn't think of a time where they had converesed, she at least hoped that her roommate wouldn't bite her head off for being woken up.

Yuriko soon arrived on the bridge of the Asamoya, and literally hopped into the command chair. She took but a moment to compose herself before giving Koharu a nod.

"Alright, I am here." She announced, sounding a little tired from the run.

"Attention crew," Yuriko began to announce. "We are about to enter battle with SMX forces, and will be aiding the Fifth in anyway we can. I know we were supposed to be on leave...but our duty calls. Power Armor team, get your loadouts together and get ready to launch. 'Tenshi, you're still the wing leader so get to pulling the team together."

Yuriko noticed that a Nozomi, the one under the command of Taii Yaichiro was trying to hold the doors to Bay Sixteen closed with her graviton beam projectors.

"MEGAMI, bring the aether generators online, and help the Taii out." Yuriko ordered, her readouts coming back, and telling her there was now a slight leak in air from the doors.

A moment later the Asamoya's own graviton beam projectors came online, and brought themselves to bare against the door in addition to the Asuka's.

"YSS Asamoya to YSS Asuka, I thought you could use the assistance." Yuriko's voice sounding a little kind, but with hard edged overtones as she began steeling herself for battle. "We'll help you hold the doors shut until told otherwise."

"Koharu-chan, run a weapons check, and have them set to hot standby. Load torpedo tubes and have weapon pods ready to launch when we finally exit the bay."

"Before you go and check up on Kotonoha-Heisho, you should pick up some of the leftover tempura and a bottle of water." Kichiro said, giving his arms a relaxed stretch. "The water is for once she scarfs it down too quickly and begins to choke." He said, as they rushed over to the armory.

----

He opened the door and moved up the racks, grabbing a Type 28 SMG and an appropriate 4 clips. His eyes darted around, searching for explosives, and despite his misgivings, he retrieved a pair of Emrys Industries HE grenades from a miscellaneous storage cabinet.

"Pick up what you need, Yuki-san. I'll go to the Wardroom now and sober up the crew still hanging there." Kichiro said, heading out the door.

"Un." Yuki replied as she followed Kichiro to the armory.

Inside, the armory, Yuko took a Type 28 SMG as well along with a few clips, before she turned to wave to Kichiro as he left. The neko pondered whether she should get a grenade or two as well as she slowly reached for one hesitantly, but decided against it.

Yuki then left the armory and headed toward the kitchen.

"TF-52 Carrier Group, this is Shosho Rina Tomori, I will be taking command of the group with the exception of the Fujin Carrier group." The Shosho bowed to the Taisho, excused herself, and left to go and direct the group as they jumped in.

She was using her PANTHEON access to direct the group until she could get to a better place to command. She was barking out orders left and right. The Kyoto carriers initiated their fold drives and dragged their Arashi escorts along with them, blinking out of existence, and back again a short distance away on the Mishhuvurthyar's north east, and west side. All of the ships now activated their interdiction fields forming a Anti-FTL barrier about the area.

The Arashi opened up by spewing anti-matter shells, and thousands of MSAP missiles streaked out along with weapon pod fire, the display of energy, lights, and trails of the missiles was staggering as they engaged the SMX destroyers, and battle pods. Some of the Arashi however were still being used to cover the carriers as thousands of Lamias began to pour out of them to engage the SMX pods in combat.

Eriko-chan, I'll provide you cover so you can get at the battleship and carriers. If we can take the carriers out it'll hamper them greatly. Rina's voice would soon be heard in the other Shosho's mind as she continued directing the TF-52 group. There had been reports of some of the crew being drunk, or passed out due to all of the excessive drinking, thankfully some of the commanders of the ships had had enough sense to have them take contraveisalgia tablets. It was a little slow going, but those non-neko crew would be perking up quite soon thanks to them. The rest of the ship commanders began to spread word of getting it done, and having the nekos filter out the alcohol. They'd be a little sluggish, but with the tablets for the Yamataian crew, and the neko's regenerative abilities they'd be 100% soon.

~~~~~

"Koharu-chan, we may have to the new crewmember behind there are already reports of shots being exchanged." Yuriko urged, wearing a soft frown on her face as two volumetric displays popped up in front of her.