RP: YSS Heartbreaker [Mission 0] To Go Even Further Beyond

Bridge

As the final moments before undocking passed by, Hoshitomo-shoi continued to focus on increasing her body's synchronization to the ship's controls before they were out of the Ikoi into the openness of space and there would be no more room for error without consequences. She tried to equate her own nervous system impulses with motions in the Heartbreaker, as the dormant anti-armor turrets and maneuvering thrusters followed like a mirror of the patterns she commanded. The woman had to admit that this arrangement was indeed quite superior in efficiency to manual controls, and it was little wonder that even a 99-day clone could outfly many non-SPINE equipped pilots. It was a perfect compromise, then, that a militarized Minkan body type could handle this direct neural connection without her having to step over that forbidden threshold and become one of the Nekovalkyrja herself.

Something that did become clear, though, as she checked the status of more minor things that could be a launch issue was that this retrofit was indeed highly rushed. Due to its secrecy this was to be expected... but it was still disconcerting that many vital subsystems appeared to have had little to no actual field testing until this day. Rin felt the need to warn the fellow members of the crew on the bridge, though she did not fully turn around from her console. "The Heartbreaker is yet untested in its new Yui-7 configuration, and as with many extensive retrofits there is always bound to be bugs to work out. I ask that everyone treat this as a 'shakedown cruise' as much as an actual reconnaissance mission. Every station needs to be alert for any isolated system problems they detect once we are underway, and take immediate action to remedy them."

Miho had long since activated a convenient stand built into her console made specifically for minis (so thoughtful, those designers, making the technology cross-compatible like that), and was plugged in, bouncing docking procedures and notifications back and forth like a mailroom clerk on a monday. At least, until they were launched. Once they were out into open space, however, Miho's efforts had largely switched tracks. She put her console through its paces, letting the data stored in her encyclopedic mind flow. Star charts of the nearby systems, information readouts of nearby planets, basic reported loadouts of NMX raiders sighted in the nearby systems. . . all of it was laid before her, in a digital sphere that only she could see.

It might have been a communications station, but that didn't mean it didn't have the hardware to handle vital statistics.

Miho kept two lines open to the Ikoi. One, a simple testing line, to make sure that the communications were actually working. The other was a reporting line, in case they needed to actually communicate.

PA Bay

Kyou barely blinked at SeonJi's question, though that may have just been a lack of reaction. "I'm not quite sure what you mean, wasn't paying attention to him." Her diagnostics done and showing all clean, she nodded to herself, proceeding to check over her weapon systems one by one as well, though they required much less checking, since even outside of her armor training, she'd at least kept up with her weapons practice.

"No problems here, Heisho. All systems check out as green for me, no problems found in my armor systems or weapons systems."

"All green here as well," SeonJi reported in, all of the volumetric cyan-hued hexes floating before her eyes courtesy of her Mindy's IES confirming the results of the various systems checks. Her hand brushed the side of her SMG, switching it from Aether to Scalar and then cycling it through the various Scalar sub-settings before returning it to its Aether setting. "Our pilot friend--" she started to explain to Kyou, but one glance at the blank look on her face and SeonJi decided to drop the whole thing. "Ah, never mind." She smiled pleasantly back at Kyou and stowed her firearm. "He wasn't paying us any attention either."

Grabbing her helmet, SeonJi made sure her hair was still clipped and secure before carefully sliding down the final component of her power armor down over her hair. With the suit locking the helmet into place and the AIES switching SeonJi's readouts to the screen in front of her eyes, she felt confident enough to report, "Ready to launch on your orders, Heisho." Gunshin-Hei and Matonaka-Heisho both seemed quite serious-minded and SeonJi hoped the air between the three of them would lighten as they got to know each other. For now, she was satisfied with her attempts at being friendly and could focus on making sure the escort went as boring as was within her power.

Bridge

Her First Officer's entrance drew Valesti's attention from her console, looking up to greet the Neko with a nod, her frown relaxing just a hint. "Understood, Shoi." She kept the interaction as short and simple as possible, not wanting the others on the Bridge to pick up on any tension between the two. "Nakamura-Hei, bring the Operations station into the communications loop." She herself continued to correspond with the Ikoi through the console and her connection, preparing for the separation. As Rin began her own connection, she could feel Ochiko responding, the MEGAMI seeming to enfold her in a comforting manner, although her overwhelming presence was a reminder of her power aboard the ship.

PA Bay

The three Neko easily noticed something about the Power Armors stored here, as they began suiting up. Every single one seemed to be fresh off the assembly line. Not a scratch or dent, and they even had that new smell. The Mindy 3A was just being rolled out across the fleets, so their condition was no surprise, but their weapons and accessories, even the Daisys were all brand new. Even if the ship itself was a bit out of date, clearly Star Army wanted to give them the proper tools to succeed.

Everything booted up green, factory fresh, requiring a bit of customization by the trio. It was easy enough to recall their favorite configurations from prior suits or training modules, data flowing through the SPINE connection, the suits' computers rapidly learning how best to work with their owners. The three were now permanently tagged to the Neko trio, although there were enough spare Mindys stored on the racks to accommodate almost the entire crew. One Daisy for each of the infantry members were easy to pick out, as well as the unique shape of the Captain's command variation, the 1H. It seemed to have a custom paint job of some sort, compared to the standard issue Mindys. The dainty form of a Sylph likely meant for Miho also stood out.

Launch Bay

Similarly, the Teisatsu was in pristine condition. Even the seat was a bit too stiff, not yet broken in. It would take the Nepleslian pilot longer to set it up to his specifications, without the aid of a direct connection. Still, it was behaving well, engine idling with a pleasant and familiar vibration, welcoming Skirnir back to where he truly belonged.

Engineering

"Acknowledged, Engineering. Prepare for departure from the Seisenkyo." Tsukisaki responded, although Ochiko remained silent. The readings seemed stable...if a bit disappointing. The Yui had been intact when it was discovered, almost completely operable in fact, and almost none of the systems had been replaced. Cleaned, certainly. Repaired when necessary. Diagnostics had been ran, checked and double checked. Still, the engines lacked a bit of the 'oomph' of current models. Things were taking a bit longer to warm up than Kamatari might have expected, although Valesti and some of the older crew members with Yui-class experience likely weren't surprised.

Bridge

Miho and Rin were experiencing similar issues, as the Hearbreaker lagged slightly behind their expectations. The ship had been refitted while hidden away inside the Ikoi starbase, and had never been fully tested or flown, and this would be its first jump in six years. So far everything seemed to be working properly, but the thought of immediately jumping away from their only backup in this untested relic was a bit worrying.

All three of them received notification that they'd reached the proper coordinates nearly simultaneously. "Here we are, people. Hoshitomo, coordinate undocking procedures with Nakamura-Hei and the Seisenkyo." The Captain's fingers flew over her console, as she entered the official commands to take control of their destiny from the Ikoi that had sheltered this ship for months.

"Deactivate interlocks...dynotherms disconnected...infracells powering down...maneuvering thrusters are go!" Warning lights began pulsing all over the ship, sharp klaxons blaring outside in the Ikoi as the space around the Yui was rapidly evacuated. "Nakane-Hei, transfer power!" Information was being rapidly transferred between the two ships as the Heartbreaker came to life, data streaming through Rin and Miho as they handled the delicate separation procedure.

Engineering

Kamatari smiled and looked around Engineering "Should I go apologise now, or should I wait a bit and make sure the ship is okay" he was talking to himself trying to work out what to do, "I guess it would be safer to wait until we are safe in space." He smiled and nodded at the idea, it meant he had more time to come up with what he should say to the living being, plus it was a girl he may not be able to talk that well to her "How was I able to talk to her before, arrgh I am useless when it comes to anything living." He sighs and looks down "Guess I am just cursed... I should become the Engineering Hermit, never leave this area no matter what."

Bridge

The teal haired Shoi felt the overwhelming presence of Ochiko about her as she worked, and while it seemed comforting and motherly in some ways, she idly wondered about the MEGAMI's own expectations and if she as an operator she could live up to them on this journey. This line of thought was broken, though, as she heard the orders from the Taii and began the separation procedure with care and diligence at the helm of the relic. Tsukisaki's commands caused the physical support system that was binding the ship to retract and fall away, and at the same time the dormant maneuvering thrusters and gravity systems aboard the vessel were now slowly warming to life.

The only thing soon holding the Heartbreaker in place was the repair bay's impressive graviton field, which had to be deactivated to proceed. Rin glanced quickly over to Miho's station, speaking with a firm tone, "Nakamaru-hei, please instruct the Seisenkyo that we are now successfully self-powered, and to begin disengaging their gravitic beam projector arrays 1-7 in sequence before opening the double bay doors."

As she was awaiting the last energetic grip the Ikoi starbase had on the Yui scout to fade so it could move forward under its own power, she noticed some fluctuations in the engine output level readouts streaming to her. As Kamatari waged his little debate with himself about his personal gaffe with Rin, he was likely a little surprised when he heard her voice come over the line to his maintenance console in Engineering.

"Nakane-hei, this is Hoshitomo-shoi. I am seeing some irregularities in the power readings of each of our auxiliary engines. These are the older, simpler models in existence before the Aether Turbo Plasma type which you are likely more familiar with from training. These were not replaced in the refit, so monitor them closely as we disengage and compensate as needed until they balance out." She didn't sound angry at him at least, and surprisingly spoke a lot of his machine language, being a trained tech sentry herself back from her enlisted days.

"The systems are performing under expectations, but well within tolerances. At least, from my limited understanding of the systems. Also, all connections have been established," Miho said, passing along the relevant information.

If she were being honest with herself, Miho felt nervous. This was her first real assignment. Well, first real assignment to actually go anywhere beyond the dock. Any number of things could go wrong. The miniature wasn't afraid of the things that could go wrong. Those were variables. Possibilities. Unlikely, but a chance that they can occur. But as long as she is aware of problems, she can be aware of solutions.

What she was afraid of was failing.

Bridge

"Hopefully our Engineer will quickly familiarize himself with the Heartbreaker's systems and compensate." Valesti calmly responded to Miho's report as she looked up from her console to see the Ikoi's bay doors opening on the main viewscreen in front of them. "Take us into open space, Hoshitomo." The Yui was floating freely now, gravity control and small thrusters able to nudge it gently outside.

"Once we are clear, move us to a safe distance and begin charging for Hyperspace jump. Coordinate with Nakane-Hei...and ensure he is paying proper attention to the current situation." She'd already heard the Shoi contacting Engineering to keep him on task, their Engineer apparently too busy fretting and talking to himself to keep up with their requests. Rin noticed that Ochiko had already quite helpfully plotted their jump to UX-29, having spent quite a long time considering these coordinates and calculations over her years alone.

PA Bay/Launch Bay

"Matonaka-Heisho, have the pilot launch and follow him out as soon as we reemerge into normal space. This should be a short jump. We are not expecting any opposition, so consider this a practice run. We'll be watching on the Bridge." The Captain let that hang over the heads of their infantry and fighter pilot, as a familiar hum of the fold systems charging began to move outwards from Engineering to fill the ship.

Bridge

Rin was surprised how much she could feel through her connection to the ship as its pilot, the sensations of the letting go of the gravity field felt like a great pressure was being removed from her own body. The tight fist that had held onto the Heartbreaker now opened up and released them to their fate, like a flower petal ready to be carried on the winds. She responded crisply to Valesti's orders to get underway, "Hai, Senchou," using the formal word for Captain of the ship.

She was careful to ease the vessel through the bay doors slowly and steadily, the front Yamataium deflector blade emerging into space almost like the beak of a bird hatching from its silver egg. The old Yui scout had now been symbolically reborn to once again ply the stars, not unlike a phoenix would rise from the ashes of its pyre. In a few moments they were in open space, and the distance to their Ikoi mobile starbase steadily increasing. She was going to move to finish the course plots to UX-29 now, but it seemed Ochiko had long beat her to it. The MEGAMI obviously was even more eager than she to stretch her mended wings, as the ship lined its nose up with the programmed straight line path.

"Now beginning Fold Drive charging," announced the Shoi at the helm, accompanied by a rumbling of the ship's main aether generators revving higher as the power draw on them increased. Field regulators inside the hyperspace fold drive started spinning faster in opposing directions with a rhythmic hum, an ever-expanding bubble of a violet-hued, isolated space being spun around them bit by bit. "Prepare for hyperspace jump in 60 seconds..." followed Rin's warning to all personnel, as she remained alert for this first real 'stress test' of the propulsion systems.

Engineering

Kamatari heard the command to check the power readings of each of the auxiliary engines, as he looked he tilted his head, they seemed to be working but the power kept changing from optimal to minimal working power. this wasn't that bad just meant they didn't work to the best he could always work around "Engineering to bridge, this is Nakane-hei, the power I think I can stablize the power levels but it will be after the first jump, the power is just oscillating the jump will be safe."

He smiled as he listened to the increasing hum and sorted out what he would need to help with the auxiliary engines, he will send a message to the woman he wrong in the wardroom when he could maybe when he had finished this shift he would look for her to apologise.

As the power peaked, the world glowed that odd color, as the Heartbreaker shifted into Hyperspace. The deep hum continued to thrum throughout the ship as they traveled, although otherwise the Yui might as well have been standing still. Then, just a few minutes later, the trip was over as suddenly as it had begun.

UX-29 System

"Fold Drive disengaged, power levels returning to normal." The Captain had been frowning deeper at the report from Engineering, not at all pleased at the thought of her new ship underperforming. "Understood Nakane-Hei. Shoi, hold this position while our Engineer examines the data from our first jump and adjusts things accordingly. Scans to maximum range."

The Heartbreaker was hanging motionless again, at the edge of the system. The door to the Launch Bay began to open automatically, preparing for the deployment of the Heart of Glass.

PA Bay
Yumi nodded as the two Hei checked in with her, helmet bobbing. "Roger that." Now that her helmet was on and her weapons in place, she was all business. "Follow my lead, form up around the fighter. One on either wing." She transmitted rough coordinates to the two Neko as well as to Skirnir in the Launch Bay, showing her below the fighter and the other two to either side of him. "The Heartbreaker is holding steady, let's head out and secure the local airspace..." The Heisho would be first out after the fighter.

"Copy that" Josva said as his engines roared to life, He released the Heart of Glass into the vastness of space and quickly got himself into formation. He wanted nothing more than to let loose in his new ship but that could be left for another time, now he had to set himself up as a respectable and capable pilot. The captain said that this was to be considered a practice run but that was no excuse for slacking off, Skirnir wanted to be at his best,every second of every mission. His eyes were sharp and his hands relaxed, nothing could go wrong as he set out to examine the local airspace.

Bridge

Rin felt quite the rush of adrenaline and her vision momentarily was awash with a purple miasma as the ship she was linked to slipped through hyperspace in what was thankfully a short, uneventful jump. The relieved helmswoman noted this was a good sign that at least the power flux problems she had noted earlier were likely relatively minor overall, and the newer aether generator's output was solid at the high demand end of things.

The teal-haired Minkan nodded to the Captain, holding the ship's position at the edge of the system as ordered. The next test would be of the ship's onboard scanning systems, and she began to divert the aether generator's power to engage each one in sequence, stepping up from passive to active modes and observing for any errors as she went. Tsukisaki could see that Hoshitomo-shoi was if nothing very thorough and methodical in her approach to just about everything, which is this case was an asset. Eyes and ears open, Ochiko, idly chatted Rin to the MEGAMI as the forward sensor cluster and omni-directional dishes quivered silently. Nothing within at least 20 LY would escape their purview.

As the data streamed in, they soon obtained a visual on the systems' central yellow star and it's surroundings. "Three planetary gravity wells detected in orbit," announced Rin to the assembled bridge crew. "Since there are no hostile aether signatures on scans so far, I propose we each take a planet and run deeper active scans on them. There was a Mishhu base suspected to be somewhere here at one time and we should make every effort to find it, once we have cataloged the basic system survey information."

She then turned to the Nekovalkyrja manning the science station and ordered, "I will take the star and UX-29 I which appears to have a large moon. Focus your efforts on the second rocky planet, UX 29 II." Finally, the XO sent data to Miho's station along with her request, "Nakamaru-hei, in your report you stated that there was a terrestrial planet here and UX 29 III seems to fit the bill. Scan for anything on the surface of note."

Engineering

Kamatari checked the readings from the Heartbreaker and smiled "So we jumped at the optimal power, but I need to work why the power is oscillating, the oscillating was confusing as he didn't know anything about the systems of this ship and he sighed then walked to the MEGAMI panel and coughed "Hey, could you help me with the engines as I haven't had any time to learn about them yet and don't know why the power is oscillating so much, there is a few things that it could be but as I don't know the systems that well I don't know if it one or all of them, or something else."

"On it," was all Miho had to say.

The mini-neko ran the full suite of scans to be safe. Topological, radio, and so on. If there was anything technological or constructed, she would know. Unless there was some sort of jammer - but even the best jammers can't confuse them all.

"Be forewarned that my scanning may attract the presence of anything active in the system. My suggestion is to elevate alert status just to be safe until we're certain we're alone."

Yumi lifted off the floor of the Launch Bay, zipping out after the Heart of Glass. She spun around as she dipped below the fighter, twisting upside-down in relation to Skirnir, as if she were standing on the underside of his vehicle. Although their sensors were doing most of the work, it was still helpful to have a clear visual, as she covered the blind spot under his fighter. She transmitted a suggested patrol route to the pilot, a wide spiral around the Heartbreaker, hoping the other two Infantry would keep up.

Engineering

"The generator is fine, yes? The engines are fine, yes?" This time Ochiko appeared attached to the ceiling, as upside-down as Yumi, her cushions stacked high enough for her head to wind up just above Kamatari's own. She tapped her fan on her chin, as if she were thinking hard on the problem at hand. "Those nice people on the Seisenkyo replaced all of the power conduits and most of the wiring...something about bringing everything up to code, yes?" She tilted her head, before making a projection of the ship appear in front of them. It also seemed to be the wrong way up to the Engineer. The various conduits and other connections between the Aether Generator and the ship's systems popped into view, highlighted and pulsing.

"Those mean people on the Seisenkyo wouldn't let me out to test everything under full load...maybe they caused this problem, yes?" She made an exaggerated pouty face before disappearing, leaving the projection handing in the air, still upside-down. Nakane could check the condition and configuration of the conduits and connections in general or in specific sections from Engineering, or attempt to walk the ship and inspect key areas by hand...

Bridge

Data began to steadily stream in, as the Heartbreaker's scans spread through the system. While the other two planets and moon seemed rocky and barren, Miho began to notice some curious readings on the third rock from the sun. A thin atmosphere, the presence of frozen water. The hint of radiation and electrical signatures left by familiar 'man-made' power generation. At this distance it was impossible to know what was there, but it was something, opposed to the nothing offered by the empty rocks and the lonely space in between.

"I may have found something. It isn't anything concrete, but on the third planet there's definite signs of past activity. Leftovers, but large enough to warrant a pass-over. Otherwise, there's nothing else to be found in this system."

Miho watched the readouts scroll, focusing her search on that dirtball. Scanning, re-scanning, triple-checking her readings. The more she can discover before they reach it, the better off they'll be in the long run.

Bridge

Rin calmly scanned and cataloged the astrometric data from the main sequence star and its nearest planet, as deeper scans turned up little of interest on the moon in orbit around it. At least she was testing the newly installed equipment, though. Her coworker at the science station also came up empty on the second target as well. It seemed Miho had the ringer in her sights after all, but the Shoi also had wanted to give her that honor in a small way.

The teal-haired officer nodded once to the Mini-Neko as she announced her find cautiously. "Good, good. That very well may be the location of the former Mishhu base of operations in this system. I agree we need to be cautious as we approach, just in case some stragglers stuck around. Prepare to go to Readiness Condition 3."

Hoshitomo-shoi then began to tap several keystrokes on the panel in front of her as the SPINE connection relayed information about the engines power status to her digital brain. Though there apparently was the nagging uneven thrust distribution in the auxiliary engines, the main system seemed to be in good working order from everything she could see from Ochiko's readouts. "Senchou," she spoke respectfully to Valesti in her command chair, "We need to get closer to the third planet to improve the resolutions of our sensors. While Nakane-hei isolates the problem with our fine movement auxiliary engines, it is possible I could instead utilize our Continuum Distortion Drive briefly at low power to travel at an STL speed to that location."

SeonJi followed the route laid out by the Heisho, keeping quiet now as she had requested. And while she may have been trying to keep a light atmosphere in the PA Bay, the red-eyed Neko wasn't so unprofessional that she didn't know to keep serious during a mission. Especially when it involved a trek into what might be an enemy-controlled area.

Making sure her IES was keeping a watch in the directions she couldn't turn her helmet, SeonJi followed along, circling the Heartbreaker. With having spent so much time as part of the ground assaults on HX-13, operating in the vast openness of space was starting to get a little unnerving. Adding the fact that her squadmates seemed to be content to keep mostly silent made the mission a fair bit uncomfortable.

Trying to find something positive to focus on, SeonJi tested out the maneuvering capabilities of her Mindy, rocking it slightly from side to side to get a good feel for how much acceleration she was getting from the jets. Satisfied with the results, she continued along the prescribed path around their ship.