Abwehran Commander
Inactive Member
YE 35, Sixth Month
Legion XIII Staging Area, 150 km South of Ralt, Yamatai
Eight Years. It had been eight years since her creation by Pnugen. Eight Years since she had become a part of the Star Army of Yamatai. If she had been Nepleslian or a naturally-born Yamataian, she would have been attending primary schooling and playing around with friends. If she had been created years later instead of YE 27, she could have retired twice over. Actually, she could have retired upon her return from the Rift. However, she didn’t retire then, so she now had another two years until her contract ran out.
Strange, she never contemplated retirement until now. Then again, she had planned on continuing for the full eight years anyway, since she had made that promise upon her creation. Now, retirement partially frightened her.
Kurohoshi Masako-shoi was a skilled infantry-woman, a Nekovalkryja with years in service. To other species, she was young. To her own kind, she was quite old. She had been a part of many vessels that had come and gone over her eight years of life. Now she was an Assistant Tactics Instructor for the Thirteenth Legion, a group of Centuries that had been formed in YE 34. She had been with them since Mid-YE 34 after her graduation from the Kyoto War College and had pushed the Fire Team Leaders hard with some of her simulations and training exercises (all approved by her senior instructor of course). And yet, she was still afraid of retirement. Why?
Part of it had to do with her skill set. She had focused on infantry tactics and combat training for a long time, rarely deviating from it. The Nekovalkyrja had thought it best because of the war. She wanted to be as skilled and learned in war as possible to protect her comrades, her friends, their world. But when she returned from the Rift, the war was winding down. What use was there for soldiers without a war? Masako suddenly found herself decidedly lacking in skills necessary for civilian life and it frightened her. So when she had been chosen for officer’s training, she took it.
She was thankful for that opportunity, though she spent it on more combat tactics and such training than on other skills. She was going to be in the Star Army for another three years (at that point) so she had plenty of time to do courses over the Pantheon Network and learn more skills. Until then, the Star Army always needed more instructors. And she was also thankful for what her decision allowed her to experience.
She found love.
A younger Nekovalkyrja, not under her command, had surprised her, flirted with her, and been her first. Masako had been unprepared for the level of emotion she felt from that experience. Maybe it had been too quick, but she decided the young Kurusu Ruri was to be her lover, her girlfriend.
Two weeks of bliss and Ruri had gone off to her duties. Ralt had been an experience Masako would never forget, because it was there she encountered discrimination. It was to be expected since the NMX had made Nekovalkryja as mindless soldiers to fight their original creators. It was expected with the aftermath of the Battle of Yamatai being so fresh in everyone’s minds. It was something that had to heal with time.
Wounds might heal over time, but that restless feeling of not being able to see one’s loved ones only increased with time. Restlessness, and frustration, both grew with the time spent apart. A little more than a year apart from Ruri had made Masako frustrated, extremely frustrated. No news about Ruri since early in YE 34. The disappearance of so many friends made her worry as well. Yukari’s disappearance was understandable with her relation with SAINT, but the others were a bit more --- disconcerting. Rolf’s disappearance was not much about worrying about him as it was worrying about everyone else near him. The missing Tom might be connected with the missing Yukari, though that was merely an assumption on Masako’s part. The missing Miharu’s worried Masako a lot, though none of the remaining members of the Miharu Clan seemed to be too worried (at least openly). They didn’t volunteer any information they could have possibly known and Masako didn’t ask if they did know. It all seemed too much of a coincidence that Ruri would go on duty at the same time as the others disappeared.
*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*
The sound of an alarm broke her thought processes as she glanced at her terminal. Masako had been working on a new combat simulation at her desk before taking a break to worry about her friends. The alarm had come from a warning message about a simulation that would start in an hour. She would be the one supervising it for Fire Teams One and Two of the Thirteenth Legion’s Second Century. Those Fire Teams had recently acquired new Santo Heis fresh from Combat Arms training in Black Sands, which meant they had just finished with the basics of combat. Glancing at her simulation list, Masako grimaced a bit.
They were using an Urban Combat Scenario for the simulation --- specifically UCS-037. That was the simulation many of the Infantry had labeled “Masako’s Malicious Madhouse”, much to her embarrassment.
Over the year, Masako’s worry over her friends and frustration over her girlfriend being away had led to a series of simulation designs that bordered on sadistic. Originally, Masako had wanted to design simulations that were meant to push the users to their limits in both physical as well as mental endurance. She hadn’t really meant for those simulations to be treated as “no-win” scenarios. In fact, they all had win conditions. Maybe her time serving on board the YSS Miharu had affected her view on the “no-win” scenario or maybe her mounting frustration had led her to take it out on the poor soldiers running her simulations. Either way, Masako had become known as a harsh taskmaster, even after she lowered a few scenario difficulties down from Impossible to Exhausting. Her fellow instructors seemed to find this amusing.
Sighing, the old Neko stood up and stretched her lithe body. The simulation maybe an hour away, but Masako preferred to be early. If she was going to be considered a harsh taskmaster, she might as well act the part.
Legion XIII Staging Area, 150 km South of Ralt, Yamatai
Eight Years. It had been eight years since her creation by Pnugen. Eight Years since she had become a part of the Star Army of Yamatai. If she had been Nepleslian or a naturally-born Yamataian, she would have been attending primary schooling and playing around with friends. If she had been created years later instead of YE 27, she could have retired twice over. Actually, she could have retired upon her return from the Rift. However, she didn’t retire then, so she now had another two years until her contract ran out.
Strange, she never contemplated retirement until now. Then again, she had planned on continuing for the full eight years anyway, since she had made that promise upon her creation. Now, retirement partially frightened her.
Kurohoshi Masako-shoi was a skilled infantry-woman, a Nekovalkryja with years in service. To other species, she was young. To her own kind, she was quite old. She had been a part of many vessels that had come and gone over her eight years of life. Now she was an Assistant Tactics Instructor for the Thirteenth Legion, a group of Centuries that had been formed in YE 34. She had been with them since Mid-YE 34 after her graduation from the Kyoto War College and had pushed the Fire Team Leaders hard with some of her simulations and training exercises (all approved by her senior instructor of course). And yet, she was still afraid of retirement. Why?
Part of it had to do with her skill set. She had focused on infantry tactics and combat training for a long time, rarely deviating from it. The Nekovalkyrja had thought it best because of the war. She wanted to be as skilled and learned in war as possible to protect her comrades, her friends, their world. But when she returned from the Rift, the war was winding down. What use was there for soldiers without a war? Masako suddenly found herself decidedly lacking in skills necessary for civilian life and it frightened her. So when she had been chosen for officer’s training, she took it.
She was thankful for that opportunity, though she spent it on more combat tactics and such training than on other skills. She was going to be in the Star Army for another three years (at that point) so she had plenty of time to do courses over the Pantheon Network and learn more skills. Until then, the Star Army always needed more instructors. And she was also thankful for what her decision allowed her to experience.
She found love.
A younger Nekovalkyrja, not under her command, had surprised her, flirted with her, and been her first. Masako had been unprepared for the level of emotion she felt from that experience. Maybe it had been too quick, but she decided the young Kurusu Ruri was to be her lover, her girlfriend.
Two weeks of bliss and Ruri had gone off to her duties. Ralt had been an experience Masako would never forget, because it was there she encountered discrimination. It was to be expected since the NMX had made Nekovalkryja as mindless soldiers to fight their original creators. It was expected with the aftermath of the Battle of Yamatai being so fresh in everyone’s minds. It was something that had to heal with time.
Wounds might heal over time, but that restless feeling of not being able to see one’s loved ones only increased with time. Restlessness, and frustration, both grew with the time spent apart. A little more than a year apart from Ruri had made Masako frustrated, extremely frustrated. No news about Ruri since early in YE 34. The disappearance of so many friends made her worry as well. Yukari’s disappearance was understandable with her relation with SAINT, but the others were a bit more --- disconcerting. Rolf’s disappearance was not much about worrying about him as it was worrying about everyone else near him. The missing Tom might be connected with the missing Yukari, though that was merely an assumption on Masako’s part. The missing Miharu’s worried Masako a lot, though none of the remaining members of the Miharu Clan seemed to be too worried (at least openly). They didn’t volunteer any information they could have possibly known and Masako didn’t ask if they did know. It all seemed too much of a coincidence that Ruri would go on duty at the same time as the others disappeared.
*BEEP*BEEP*BEEP*
The sound of an alarm broke her thought processes as she glanced at her terminal. Masako had been working on a new combat simulation at her desk before taking a break to worry about her friends. The alarm had come from a warning message about a simulation that would start in an hour. She would be the one supervising it for Fire Teams One and Two of the Thirteenth Legion’s Second Century. Those Fire Teams had recently acquired new Santo Heis fresh from Combat Arms training in Black Sands, which meant they had just finished with the basics of combat. Glancing at her simulation list, Masako grimaced a bit.
They were using an Urban Combat Scenario for the simulation --- specifically UCS-037. That was the simulation many of the Infantry had labeled “Masako’s Malicious Madhouse”, much to her embarrassment.
Over the year, Masako’s worry over her friends and frustration over her girlfriend being away had led to a series of simulation designs that bordered on sadistic. Originally, Masako had wanted to design simulations that were meant to push the users to their limits in both physical as well as mental endurance. She hadn’t really meant for those simulations to be treated as “no-win” scenarios. In fact, they all had win conditions. Maybe her time serving on board the YSS Miharu had affected her view on the “no-win” scenario or maybe her mounting frustration had led her to take it out on the poor soldiers running her simulations. Either way, Masako had become known as a harsh taskmaster, even after she lowered a few scenario difficulties down from Impossible to Exhausting. Her fellow instructors seemed to find this amusing.
Sighing, the old Neko stood up and stretched her lithe body. The simulation maybe an hour away, but Masako preferred to be early. If she was going to be considered a harsh taskmaster, she might as well act the part.
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