RP: YSS Miharu Life between Missions 6: Purchase

[Doshii Jun]

Suzuka Yukari rubbed her face with two grey-gloved hands. Her eyes were filled with the image of a slightly damaged Claymere-Taii. The bloodied and battered Yamada-Hei was already on her way to the medical lab to be repaired.

Her feelings on the matter were not relevant. The Taii did what he felt was required to obtain the results he believed necessary.

The same went for Yuzuki-Heisho and the Juni.

Yukari was in a place she did not enjoy -- in the know, but without the moral standing to act. That pedestal was for people who obtained information without spying via an all-seeing, all-knowing computer.

At least she was doing the watching, instead of the ... urinating.

"Shosa," Sanri said from her left. "Is there anything further for me?"

The starship operator, the only sprite who was based on the bridge, was in her 13th hour of work. Yukari softly tapped the side of her headset, sending the blue visor before her eyes back into the air until it was needed again. As she turned her head, her eyes caught on one of Sanri's whriling pigtails. She traced it up to its root, a light-green hairband that matched the Hei's eyes.

"No, Hei-san," Yukari said, her gaze going to the ceiling of the bridge. "Recooperate."

"Hai." The Hei bowed her head and some of her body, but it was awkward from the chair. Each time she moved, her pigtails responded, as if they were the final discharge point for any action the sprite took. As she walked to the door, Yukari's visor unraveled itself and gave her a behind-the-head view of the sprite. Her pigtails never stopped moving, bouncing with vigor.

"It's not a healthy habit, spying," Miharu told her.

"It is intoxicating," Yukari replied, "but useful. I am restrained to this seat, but expected to know the crew. It is easiest to do it this way."

"What would the Taisa think?"

"I believe she would understand. I do not spy on conversation ... unless it is suspicious."

"'Suspicious'? That reminds me of a quote I have inside me somewhere. 'Intelligence officers don't die ... '"

Yukari smiled. "'They receive new titles.' That is true." The Shosa paused a moment. "Miharu, will you do something for me?"

"Depends."

"Speak Yamataian to me," she said in her crystal, textbook-style Pagoda-no-Uesu accent. Most Nekovalkyrja who were older had it, but its differences were too subtle to be very noticible from civilian Kyoto dialect, which was used at Ketsurui no Iori. Just a few different pronounciations of words, the occasional sentence structure.

"You know, you're the only one on the ship that even really speaks it. We're pretty much all Nepleslian, all the time."

"I ask for that very reason."

Miharu was silent for a few seconds. "As you request, Shosa."

"Thank you," she said, bowing her head. "So, am I yet an Investigator?"

"You cannot accomplish the position's tasks," Miharu said. "Contact with SAPM is impossible, as we are are 'off the grid.'" The phrase she said in Nepleslian, a Yamataian equivalent being too clunky to use.

"That is so." Her eyes went back to the large monitor in front of her, hands leaving their place in her lap to hover over the volumetric keyboard of her console. "So, shall we go over the likelihood of our opponent's forces once more?"

"Thirteen hours have elapsed since you and the Hei-san began your examinations," the computer replied, chastizing her and employing an overly formal, "royal" Kyoto accent. "Should you not also take the opportunity to rest and let your spirit revive itself?"

Yukari bypassed the monitor and created a three-dimensional space map within her visor. "A Vale-class vessel, a Takumi-class, five Plumeria gunships ... other smaller vessels of some consequence. And a Gate." She blinked her eyes. The icons were a little fuzzy, around the edges, their identifying orange tags written in Yamataian instead of Nepleslian. "Dominion" came out as "Domain"; Miharu's little joke.

The nanomachines that made up her eyes wanted time to repair what daily use inflicted on them. Just an hour, her OS instantly stated. Her mind wanted time to decompile, compress, restructure and recalibrate. About two hours. Her arm muscles were looking to be torn, so they could mend themselves with a 0.03 percent higher threshold than the last reading taken 13 hours ago. The legs wanted just 0.005 percent. Her hair needed to be "shined" again. Her sex wanted attention. So did her tongue, her ears, the third vertebre of her back, the spot on the right-front side of her neck that cracked the dam holding back so many delightful chemical receptors.

"Damn," she said. "My focus is inadequete."

"Draw visions of the Juni?"

"No." She shook her head. "I must tighten my grip and stare down the problem. I know who can do that."

-------------------

Before Nyton was given another chance to kidney-punch another sprite, the metallic Yamataian telepathy of the Shosa gave him, perhaps, a slight pause.

"Taii-san. If you are not occupied, could you join me on the bridge? I am unable to process the tactical posibilities of our mission without your guidence."

 

[Nyton]

Nyton was about to begin the run of another simulation with the remaining Nekovalkyrja when he was interrupted by an unwelcome distraction. Damn, looks like I'm being pulled away. I need to see about getting Masako involved so she can continue running these if I get pulled away. he mentally grumbled. He stopped the simulation and made a quick announcement. "We'll have to cut things short, I have another duty to attend to right now. Close up and take some time before reporting to your duties."

With that Nyton made a mental note of his previous idea and hurried over to the bridge. As soon as he arrived he quickly gave a slight bow with a settled countenance. "How may I assist you in Suzuka-Shosa?"

 

[Doshii Jun]

The Neko rose from her chair with her hands pressing on the armrests. She bowed, a little more than she had to, then gestured the Taii to take his assigned seat at the Tactical Station. She sent the map in her visor up to the main monitor for the Taii to see.

"You have the mind for this that I do not, Taii-san, and I need your mind." Miharu, in electric blue, rested at the bottom left-hand corner of the map, while the other potential targets were scattered about. The positions were generic; "topographical" intel was still being mined from the datacore.

"We have so many targets to eliminate," Yukari started, in Nepleslian, sonar-like echoes pulsing from each of the orange-colored objectives and red-colored enemies. "It is hard to establish a workable priority. I always return to my SOP: Two aether torpedoes to destroy everything fighter-sized and smaller, then two anti-matter rounds into the Takumi. By then we will confront Plumeria gunships and the Dominion, snipping our work out for us. We will have to rely on your armor teams to eliminate either Amaya's ship or the Gate."

The Miharu icon pinged, then separated into two. "I do not trust Hoshi to survive such an active firefight. Miharu likely will need her power to be an effective combatant."

The icons merged again. "Other solutions exist, but I cannot steadily hold them in my mind long enough to comprehend them. What do you see, Taii-san?"

 

[Nyton]

Nyton went to his station as per Yukari's instruction and gazed at the tactical situation before him. It was certainly daunting considering they were one ship against a good sized flotilla of cruisers and battleships. That didn't even take into consideration the numerous of enemy Armors that would be present. He was already mentally shifting gears from hand to hand combat to ship side combat and working out other possibilities.

"Our main objective must be the ships critical towards Eve's plan. The rest are just means to an end. If possible I wonder if we could use a quick torpedo spread to occupy the lesser ships while making a run for either the Takumi, the refitted dimensional retrieval ship, or even the Gate." Nyton pondered.

"I agree that separating from Hoshi would be unsound. What I wonder is just how much we can count on the drone forces to distract the main force." he then added. Nyton's thinking was interrupted by a moment of pain while he rubbed his leg slightly where he had been bitten.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari avoided addressing Nyton's rubbing.

"We need not have only Uriko-class bombers; Tempest-class fighters also will likely be at our disposal. Those drones can focus on smaller craft and protect the Urikos during their bombing runs."

The Shosa updated the screen to show the drones hovering around Miharu, each a small green icon. "I determined that we can tow 32 fighter-like craft in our CFS bubble, if we approach the Blue Rift below maximum fold speed. We divide the fighters into eight flights — three Tempests and one Uriko per flight — " The dots coalesced into eight triangles. " — And send them toward their targets."

The triangles spread out from Miharu, but not toward any of the orange and red targets. Question marks blinked above each triangle. "We could comprise some flights with two Urikos, while other flights have all Tempests and act as snubfighters to their armor groups."

 

[Nyton]

Nyton looked at the screen and shook his head. "We don't even know what we will be facing and what forces we will have at our disposal, Shosa. If I had something more definitive I might be able to figure something but we face the unknown, even with the data we received from the core. Even while we train our own the best we can do is just guess." he said with a slight strain to his voice.

Leaning back slightly on his chair, still fully erect in his posture. Nyton crossed his arms and let out a hard breath. "Suzuka-san, this battle we face before us; what do you think our odds are? Even if our plan works out and we get our hands on the drones or what have you. How do you feel? Right now I have a soldier who believes she is going to die and quite frankly I cannot disagree with her. We all stand a good chance of dying and it's taking everything to keep our soldiers motivated. How about yourself?"