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RP: 5th XF Mission 004-02 Finishing the Puzzle (Alpha Shift)
- Thread starter Andrew
- Start date
- Status
Akina had awoken before her shift with a twinge of lonelyness. No one in the cavern of a Captain's quarters was to be heard, the Flag having moved to the new base of operations, Taiie no Iori. She still hadn't decided if she wanted the second officer to be the new first officer of the Akuro. This meant some of her things were still in her old quarters, but hardly more than a spare uniform or two. She had already camped out the five deck area in the weeks before as an excuse to spend more time off-duty with whom she privatly knew as 'kacchan.'
Still, it was another morning of her first real command. That perked her up slightly as she thought how close the other woman was, giving her the strength to rise out of the bed without further trepidation. After a shower, she gave a quick zip up to her white-paneled jumpsuit, fixing where her Type 28A2 NSP hung around her hips in it's holster. With one final sigh, she headed out the main entrance of her quarters, nodding to various officers on the deck as they greeted her in passing.
After a light breakfast over her orders, the captain of the Nekovalkryja flagship made her way to the bridge, arriving at the command deck to relieve the Chusa finishing Charlie Shift. "Captain on deck!" came with a few shuffles as crew sat at attention until her "At ease." was repeated below the command tower in the pits. Alpha shift members began filing in below from various points, and quickly some settling jasmine tea was brought out to the woman as she slid into the white Captain's chair. She took the drink with one hand, peering to the operations summary for the last two shifts. Well, everything's clear. Guess we'll tackle the hum-drum first. she thought, connecting to the KAMI as to the status of their monitoring stations.
Still, it was another morning of her first real command. That perked her up slightly as she thought how close the other woman was, giving her the strength to rise out of the bed without further trepidation. After a shower, she gave a quick zip up to her white-paneled jumpsuit, fixing where her Type 28A2 NSP hung around her hips in it's holster. With one final sigh, she headed out the main entrance of her quarters, nodding to various officers on the deck as they greeted her in passing.
After a light breakfast over her orders, the captain of the Nekovalkryja flagship made her way to the bridge, arriving at the command deck to relieve the Chusa finishing Charlie Shift. "Captain on deck!" came with a few shuffles as crew sat at attention until her "At ease." was repeated below the command tower in the pits. Alpha shift members began filing in below from various points, and quickly some settling jasmine tea was brought out to the woman as she slid into the white Captain's chair. She took the drink with one hand, peering to the operations summary for the last two shifts. Well, everything's clear. Guess we'll tackle the hum-drum first. she thought, connecting to the KAMI as to the status of their monitoring stations.
Jatsu
Inactive Member
Jatsu stood in the shower looking up at the showerhead, letting the water hit his face. Damnit, he thought, Called back right in the middle of our date. He turned the water off and dried himself, wrapped his towel around him, then stepped into his room. Something seemed different.
"Huh...where'd Rog's stuff go all of a sudden? He get assigned a new room or something?" he wondered out loud. He grinned, thinking, Well, that's actually pretty convenient if things with Aoiko progress as well as I hope they do. He took a moment to stretch, then changed into his uniform and put on his new rank pin. He tied his hair back and laughed, I wonder if the Taisa will actually assign us to the same station. He shook his head, Damnit, Jatsu, when you're on duty focus on your job. Save the love for shoreleave. He laughed again, then walked out and headed for the bridge. Once he got there, he bowed to the Taisa then looked around. Guess she's not here yet, he thought, then proceeded to sit at the tactical station he was assigned to the previous shift.
"Huh...where'd Rog's stuff go all of a sudden? He get assigned a new room or something?" he wondered out loud. He grinned, thinking, Well, that's actually pretty convenient if things with Aoiko progress as well as I hope they do. He took a moment to stretch, then changed into his uniform and put on his new rank pin. He tied his hair back and laughed, I wonder if the Taisa will actually assign us to the same station. He shook his head, Damnit, Jatsu, when you're on duty focus on your job. Save the love for shoreleave. He laughed again, then walked out and headed for the bridge. Once he got there, he bowed to the Taisa then looked around. Guess she's not here yet, he thought, then proceeded to sit at the tactical station he was assigned to the previous shift.
"Mmn, oh. You're still here. Well good for you." Akina swivled her chair back forward as the Charlie major communications operator was replaced by a small, black haired Nekovalkryja. Looking a bit more normal, though I suppose Mura-what's her name did allright, considering I almost sent her to an early grave.. she thought with a tight smirk. The Akuro's CO crossed her legs, as most of the positions filled with Alpha shift replacements down in the pits.
"Kante deployment teams preparing, teichou." the Nekovalkryja repeated, just having put her earpiece on.
"Copy, assign them the following drop points. Send four Arashi each their way as cover keep the scout group on standby, just in case." she nodded. The point of the automated systems was to buy them time in case of a hostile incursion to their wide area of operations. Things still hadn't settled completly around the fleet, but that was quickly becoming remidied. I wonder if she'll let me change the hull design.. the Yamataian tossed around in her head as she scanned the main display intently.
"Kante deployment teams preparing, teichou." the Nekovalkryja repeated, just having put her earpiece on.
"Copy, assign them the following drop points. Send four Arashi each their way as cover keep the scout group on standby, just in case." she nodded. The point of the automated systems was to buy them time in case of a hostile incursion to their wide area of operations. Things still hadn't settled completly around the fleet, but that was quickly becoming remidied. I wonder if she'll let me change the hull design.. the Yamataian tossed around in her head as she scanned the main display intently.
Jatsu
Inactive Member
Tch, where the hell else would I be? Jatsu thought. He sighed, then looked over to the communications station. Ah, there she...huh? He blinked a couple times to make sure his vision wasn't failing. Nope, that's definitely not her... He sighed again, then turned back to his station. Hmm...well, I don't really have anything to do right now... he thought, typing in commands to locate Aoiko and display the result as text in a window, ...so there's no harm in finding out where she is. She's supposed to be here, after all. So, really, this is for the benefit of the fleet. Yeah.
"Acess denied." came a monotone voice of the KAMI in response to Jatsu's queries. Additionally, it dropped him back to the tactical display.
"What exactly are you doing there?" Akina asked without turning her gaze to the man. Assured it was nothing major, the Captain watched as the perperations for the deployment went underway, highlighted among the multitude of ships on the display. This went to the point she didn't bother using her interface to find out what he'd been doing on her own. The Captain was a bit more concerned with standard operations, than Jatsu's sniffing around the database.
"What exactly are you doing there?" Akina asked without turning her gaze to the man. Assured it was nothing major, the Captain watched as the perperations for the deployment went underway, highlighted among the multitude of ships on the display. This went to the point she didn't bother using her interface to find out what he'd been doing on her own. The Captain was a bit more concerned with standard operations, than Jatsu's sniffing around the database.
"Oh? Well, just ask personnel later. You, you authorize it." she pointed a finger at a Taiie delivering something to the new communications officer.
"Yes ma'am." the Nekovalkryka replied, wandering over to Jatsu's station. "Listen, just give me her name and I can find out right now." she offered to the man, bending over slightly.
"Captain, kante deployment is standing by." communications reported.
"Yes ma'am." the Nekovalkryka replied, wandering over to Jatsu's station. "Listen, just give me her name and I can find out right now." she offered to the man, bending over slightly.
"Captain, kante deployment is standing by." communications reported.
Jatsu
Inactive Member
Jatsu hesitated for a second, then said, "Ah, no, don't trouble yourself. It's not that important, I can look for her after my shift's over." I don't want to get her in trouble for not being here, he thought, and forced himself to smile at the neko to appear sincere before turning back to his station.
As long as it poses no threat to fleet security, allow him one access later pertaining to his little sweetheart. the Lieutenant thought to the KAMI, before smiling. "Right then. Carry on." she finished, wandering off to the lift.
"Commence deployment." Akina called.
"Deployment, go." communications echoed to the ships. "Roger, clear to L3, Kante team 2."
Two of the stations were gone with their escorts as they were brought along with high warp ships, in oppisite directions of the system, towards the edge of the fleet's theatre of operations. The second team made it's way to the marked point in the system, eager to drop the unassuming automated defense system at the reaches of the Taiie system. "Report from comm. pit: All operations proceeding nominally."
"Commence deployment." Akina called.
"Deployment, go." communications echoed to the ships. "Roger, clear to L3, Kante team 2."
Two of the stations were gone with their escorts as they were brought along with high warp ships, in oppisite directions of the system, towards the edge of the fleet's theatre of operations. The second team made it's way to the marked point in the system, eager to drop the unassuming automated defense system at the reaches of the Taiie system. "Report from comm. pit: All operations proceeding nominally."
Jatsu
Inactive Member
Jatsu watched his tactical readout with little interest. Not much going on out there, he thought. Four Arashi and a Kante over there, another group of the same over there, the planet and the rest of the fleet seem to still be here... He let out a yawn, then thought, She probably just overslept.
Jatsu
Inactive Member
Small flashing lights and four short beeps caught Jatsu's attention. Hmm? "Taisa, 17th's Red Squadron just launched." He keyed in a couple commands to enlarge his map and plot their projected flight vectors. Huh...the only thing directly along that path is the asteroid belt. He let out another yawn while examining the region of the belt they were apparently headed for. Ah, that explains it. "Their destination seems to be the training field set up within the Demesis Belt."
"It's in their schedule for today. Wish them good hunting." the Captain directed.
"Aye ma'am." Aoiko's replacement replied, keeping herself oriented with the console. After a few silent moments she spot again. "Kante team two has arrived at L3, and are beginning their deployment. One and three are still en route." she relayed the chatter from the communications pit below. "Team three is picking up some strange signals, nothing else to report."
"Tac, check for recent independent operations in that area. Include criminal." Akina said calmly.
"Aye ma'am." Aoiko's replacement replied, keeping herself oriented with the console. After a few silent moments she spot again. "Kante team two has arrived at L3, and are beginning their deployment. One and three are still en route." she relayed the chatter from the communications pit below. "Team three is picking up some strange signals, nothing else to report."
"Tac, check for recent independent operations in that area. Include criminal." Akina said calmly.
Jatsu
Inactive Member
"Yes, Taisa," Jatsu said. He searched through the activity reports of the region, but didn't find anything. "No activity on record, initiating a remote scan." He keyed in the commands, then waited for the results. "Taisa, sensors indicate there are three Ki-F5's near the drop point. Either some civillians want to do our job for us, or they're trying to get around the established checkpoints."
"Deploy half the scout group to their location immediately. I want all their armors on standby." she pointed to Jatsu with an open hand. It was blatently clear to anyone paying attention on the bridge how far the civilianized vessels were from the normal trade lanes.
"Ma'am, Kante two is almost on top of them." the comms station reported.
"Ma'am, Kante two is almost on top of them." the comms station reported.
Jatsu
Inactive Member
Jatsu scratched behind his ear, thinking, She's motioning toward me to tell them? Isn't inter-ship communication up to...well, Communications? Oh well... "Understood, Taisa." Lacking a headset, he quickly typed a message and sent it to Nozomi NS-X5-13 through NS-X5-25.
He looked toward the Taisa and stated, "Deployment orders sent to thirteen Nozomi from the scout pool."
He looked toward the Taisa and stated, "Deployment orders sent to thirteen Nozomi from the scout pool."
"It seems on a high order of probability they're trying to get something past us. They should be okay if Kante two holds until the scouts arrive." the Captain noted, crossing one leg over the other casually and leaning back into her chair. "They're not to destroy the vessels if possible, we need something to send back to Valaad for interrogation." the officer finished coldly. The quiet buzz of activity below seemed unaffected by the operational deployment. Strange sensor readings flashed on the contact area the Kante team was quickly approaching.
"Smugglers?" Jatsu wondered out loud. He looked at the sensors then said, "Taisa, there seems to be some kind of abnormality in the area."
"I'm not certain those scags could have jammers-"
"Captain!" the communications station interrupted,
"Yes?" "Kante two reports contact with vessels, and are attempting to scan their hulls."
"Tell them to stall as long as they can until the scouts arrive." Akina ordered.
Jatsu's screen would light up two more ships, coming out of silent drifting a moment later near the escorts. "Damnit, if Kante two scares them away-" Jatsu started to say, then noticed two new blips on the scanner. "They've got company. Two more ships...attempting to identify."
"Bring up the target zone on the main display please?" she asked, waiting for her trainee operator to respond. Indeed as the Akuro's long range sensors were confirmed by other fleet relays, the pair of Ki-F5's that hadn't been properly decommissioned powered up their weapons. "Tell them to get some scans in, but to protect themselves at all cost until the Nozomi arrive." the red-haired officer said flatly.
"Roger," Jatsu said, then projected the scan onto the main display. I got yelled at last time I did this, he thought, slightly smiling. He sent a command to Kante two ordering them to prioritize defense, then said "The Nozomi should be arriving within a minute."
"Captain, they said they were civilian commercial explorers, the lead Arashi reports they are arming weapons, but scans seem to indicate contraband of various varieties." the Neko spat out, without turning.
"All right. Have them taken into custody. Nozomi are to deploy their MINDY squadrons on arrival." she ordered, just as the pirates began to slug it out with the military escorts in a futile effort.
Commercial explorers? That's a nice way to say smugglers, Jatsu thought. He relayed the command to the deployed Nozomi, then looked at the scanner and shook his head. "Do they really think they have a chance?"
"They might be stalling for something crewman, but we're almost on top of them." Akina pointed to the display, where the ETA was displayed next to the Nozomi group's arrival. A concentration of fire on one Arashi was already causing moderate damage. "Kante one is deploying. Kante three is almost to their target area. Nothing to report." comms mimicked.
"Ah, I suppose that's true," Jatsu said. "Well, at least the Nozomi are almost-Oh shit! Not good!" He blurted, noticing the Arashi taking damage. "How the hell...?"
"Keep your head. They should be fine." she said coldly, as Nozomi saturated the area with MINDY armors, weapons fire lanced on the display, with squadron tags disappearing into the modified ships. Jatsu's screen flashed with another window, containing the readouts of the modified vessels.
"U...understood," Jatsu said. "Ah, Taisa, the report on the ships is finished. The original 3 Ki-F5s have cloaking devices and TTDs installed. The two that showed up recently have those, as well as five antimatter turrets." He paused to think for a second, then added, "Not exactly standard issue, even from when they were military-class."
"Our SAINT folks are going to have a field day with this. I think we might have stumbled onto something big." the Yamataian guessed. A few MINDY's blipped off their squadron status indicators as slowly the vessels began blinking from red to blue, indicating their capture.
"Taisa, the scout pool reports all clear. Kante two is deploying." the operator stopped.
"Allright, have them get buttoned down, and fly the things to Taiie no Iori, thank them for an efficient job." Akina decided to be a bit encouraging. Probably a mess in there. she thought.
Well, that was over fast, Jatsu thought, relaying the command. He looked at the display for a couple seconds, then asked, "Shall I switch the main display back, Taisa?"
"Do it." she commanded. "Kante three is on station, beginning deployment." communications reported, Kante one already on the way back." "Well, that's all taken care of. Let's take care of the KAMI." the Taisa prompted. "She doesn't even have a body to project anymore."
Jatsu switched the main display back to its standard, front-window view. He quickly looked up when Akina mentioned KAMI. Take care of KAMI? As in modify? Alter the program? he thought, smiling. "Taisa, may I assist? I focused on AI programming in school."
Akina swiveled her chair to the right, examining the crewman. "All right. Notify the core room what we'll be doing, they've been informed ahead of time to relinquish file locks on my authority." the woman was quite eager to perform this since she had learned about the wipe.
Yatta! Jatsu thought, then quickly sent the message to the core room. "Message sent," he said. Wow, this is the first time I'll be working on a military-grade AI... he thought. I better make sure to do a damn good job.
"First we need to give her a name, and may the gods help you if you say "Akuro" soldier." she pointed at him coldly. "Suggestions?" It was something she knew that needed to be decided, but hadn't put a lot of thought into until just that moment.
"I say we let her decide," he said. "By which I mean, we upload a list of names and have the computer choose randomly. Computer randomization is never truly random."
"Right, submit old tongue names as well, including native." Akina shrugged, "That's as good a way as any." she added, letting her left leg bob over the right.
"Understood, Taisa," he said, then wrote a small program to randomly choose a name from preexisting name lists. He ran the program then reported the result, "Hmm...Freya? I've not familiar with a name like that..."
"Freya..." the Captain of the Akuro repeated the name several times as she accessed the database with her mind's link to the flagship, "An old goddess, love..war...wisdom..yes, I think that will do nicely. It's rather flowing across the tongue. Set it correctly." she let herself smile.
"Ah, I see. Very fitting," Jatsu said. He opened KAMI's configuration file, then stared at it for a few seconds. This is about twenty times as long as what I've worked on, he thought, then proceeded to add Freya in to the list of identifiers and set it as the default. "Done. KAMI's primary identifier is now Freya."
"Good. Let's set her personality before working on the appearance. I'm thinking something to reflect her name, but perhaps with a twist. Would you advise against that, crewman?" Akina asked, trying to keep her excitement under control in front of her primary crewmembers.
"That sounds reasonable. Something soft, yet stern when necessary," he replied. "What kind of twist did you have in mind?"
"She is the herald of our entire presence in this area, and we know she's wise so as you put it would be fine. Warm excepting combat or disciplinary..or..what have you. Her quirk? Mnn, now one must be careful here." she stopped and thought a moment. "Would it be too obnoxious to have her replies be far too chipper on occasion? Or perhaps-ah! Make her pull a trick or two. You know, this and that. Just to the redshirts and during non-essential operations. Keep them on their toes?"
"A prankster?" He chuckled, "Yeah, that could be fun," he answered, starting to lose his formality. "Alright, I'll get to work on it," he said, then went back to the configuration file and started typing rapidly.
"Don't make her too much of one, just give the girl a sense of humor. It will be more interesting to hear the rumors crop up." she amended as she watched the man work. "I can see it was good luck someone tossed you up here, those core officers would blab about it." the Taisa surmised.
"Yeah, I suppose just a subtle degree would be best," he said while typing. He stopped for a second upon the compliment and bewilderedly said, "I...ah, thank you, Taisa," then went back to work.
"Taisa, Kante two and one are back in formation, the scout pool is approaching Taiie no Iori, and have just been given clearance to proceed." "Good, welcome them back, send the Arashi escorts from Kante two for repairs upon return." "Aye ma'am." communications replied. "Well, this is a quiet shift anyway. We'll be getting our marching orders within a few days I'm sure. We're too big of an expenditure of resources to stay here. Drink?" she prompted in a businesslike manner.
Oh, right...I forgot about those, Jatsu thought. He finished typing, then said, "I could go for some tea, extra sugar. And I've finished configuring the personality, just need to test it." He turned back to his console, then stated, "Freya, please repond."
"Good afternoon, crewman." a monotone voice responded.
"Ugh, fix the voice. Just fix it." the woman shivered. "On the way." she said, while sending a flash order to the nearest galley for the operator's tea, and some bubble tea for herself.
Jatsu winced, then went back to the configuration. Okay, higher vocal pitch...larger range... he thought as he changed them. Once finished, he asked, "How are you, Freya?"
"Good afternoon, Crewman Kimura." a smoothly light and warmly tinted voice responded. "Oh, that. Keep that." the ship's Captain pointed with her finger in the air, in a subtle tapping motion.
Jatsu tilted his head and said, "Yeah the voice is good now...but she didn't really answer my question." He stretched and rubbed his head, then asked, "Freya, please tell me something about yourself."
"I am Freya, there are 21,213 soldiers on board me right now, and ten civilians. I enjoy serving the empire. Would you like to know more, dear?" Freya prompted him. "Oh my, now THAT is an AI." the commander laughed softly as a galley crew stepped out of the lift.
Jatsu laughed, "Well, I guess the sense of humor works as intended." He looked over to the galley crewman as she walked toward the Taisa and thought, Wow, they seem to have gotten faster since last shift.
The strategist accepted her drink in one hand with a nod at the Geshrin's bow, who then set Jatsu's tea on his console without a word, hurrying back into the sanctuary of the lift. "All right, right between us, let's see a standard Nekovalkryja type body. Skirt uniform first."
"Thanks...ah, she's gone," Jatsu said. "Understood, Taisa." He took a sip of his tea, then typed a couple commands. The image of a NH-17 appeared between them, standing 5'2" with green eyes, black hair down to her shoulders, and a standard issue skirt uniform accentuating her slender figure.
"Hmm, no no. Let's try longer hair, and a non-standard color. Fill out her chest half a cup, annd...ah, there. Modify her face like..this." Akina said, sending an estimation of the Neko's look mentally to his station. "Otherwise she's looking good so far." the Taisa openly admitted.
"Understood," he replied, then went back to typing. The neko's hair gradually grew down to the middle of her back and became pink, her breasts grew to a large B-cup, and her face morphed to resemble the image projected on his station. "How's that?"
The Yamataian looked closely at the lifelike projection for a pointed 10 seconds. "Pink...with white streaks, or white with prink streaks? Keep it the same straight style, it has some grace to it."
Jatsu typed a couple more short commands, resulting in a few white streaks appearing in the neko's hair. He rubbed his chin with his metallic hand, then took a sip of his tea. "This looks pretty good."
"Yes. I think it's fitting her new persona. Let's give her panels a bit of work. Imperial purple? I don't recall that color being in use anymore." Akina mentioned, sipping her tea in long drags. So glad to give this ship some personality. she thought frankly.
"Isn't she supposed to wear orange?" Jatsu asked.
"She's not a sprite, she's a holographic projection. They're different of course. If we cloned her a body she'd not be either." the Captain shrugged, chewing on some bubbles lightly.
Jatsu shrugged, "Works for me." He changed the panel colors to imperial purple, then looked at the result. "Not bad. Sets her apart from everyone else."
"She is a Nekovalkryja flagship, soldier. I think the only person whom might care is on our base." she said, pointing to the holodisplay without turning her head. "Not that the good admiral does. Save it accordingly, oh..and have her wear a jumpsuit of the same coloring every other day." the bemused Taisa could not help but adopt a warm expression as her thoughts went to Katsuko again.
"Alright. You hear that, Freya? Save this holographic projection as your visual representation, and alternate between a skirt uniform and a jumpsuit uniform each day," he echoed, then finished his tea.
"Acknowledged. Coding updated. Thank you for the modification." the image suddenly took life, responding to him. With a turn she bowed to the captain, before the image shimmered away. "Well..." the Captain turned her seat back forward, "That was it for us besides standing orders, of course. Shift's almost over..mister..Kimura was it? Good work. Call down to morale and tell them to add it to the next ship's digest, tell them to ask you about it if they have questions."
Jatsu smiled. "Yes, that's correct, Taisa. Thank you." He sent the message, then asked, "I assume that, should they have questions, I'm not to disclose certain...personality quirks?"
"Of course not, let them have rumors to write about. God knows I have enough trouble from a PO staff with idle hands." she mentioned calmly, not feeling the need to relay just what would happen to anyone violating her trust within earshot. Giving her approval to an officer presenting some data, the captain of the Akuro waited for the shift to be over, eager to have a nice dinner, when the thought came to her. "You'll sit at the captain's table tonight." she pointed without turning to Kimura. "Don't wear your dress whites, I certainly don't." she smirked to herself, since normally her meals were alone or with some operations officers in their mess. She'd just sit at a bigger table tonight.
Woah, what? "I...wow, thank you, ma'am!" he stammered. Wait, I wanted to look for Aoiko, though, he thought, But when the hell am I going to get a chance like this again? I mean, it's only been a day, waiting until after dinner to find her won't kill me. Where is she, anyway?
"You made him nervous, captain." Freya remarked with a disembodied giggle. Akina ignored the comment, wondering what Motoyoshi was up to at that moment, assuming it was jockeying a desk in some gigantic office in the star base.
Jatsu snapped his head back to his console and bluntly stated, "I still have your configuration file open, Freya." He rubbed his head. I don't get it...she was here yesterday, then today someone else showed up in her station, and nobody seemed to notice she's not here...damnit, I'll find her after dinner.
"Woops! Thanks for reminding me to zip up." the AI quipped, crashing the tactical display back to it's default. "Where'd you learn to be sly, with Ketsurui samurai?" she added, before stopping her teasing of the enlistee. Akina yawned, holding a hand to her mouth as she listened idly to the chatter around her.
"Smugglers?" Jatsu wondered out loud. He looked at the sensors then said, "Taisa, there seems to be some kind of abnormality in the area."
"I'm not certain those scags could have jammers-"
"Captain!" the communications station interrupted,
"Yes?" "Kante two reports contact with vessels, and are attempting to scan their hulls."
"Tell them to stall as long as they can until the scouts arrive." Akina ordered.
Jatsu's screen would light up two more ships, coming out of silent drifting a moment later near the escorts. "Damnit, if Kante two scares them away-" Jatsu started to say, then noticed two new blips on the scanner. "They've got company. Two more ships...attempting to identify."
"Bring up the target zone on the main display please?" she asked, waiting for her trainee operator to respond. Indeed as the Akuro's long range sensors were confirmed by other fleet relays, the pair of Ki-F5's that hadn't been properly decommissioned powered up their weapons. "Tell them to get some scans in, but to protect themselves at all cost until the Nozomi arrive." the red-haired officer said flatly.
"Roger," Jatsu said, then projected the scan onto the main display. I got yelled at last time I did this, he thought, slightly smiling. He sent a command to Kante two ordering them to prioritize defense, then said "The Nozomi should be arriving within a minute."
"Captain, they said they were civilian commercial explorers, the lead Arashi reports they are arming weapons, but scans seem to indicate contraband of various varieties." the Neko spat out, without turning.
"All right. Have them taken into custody. Nozomi are to deploy their MINDY squadrons on arrival." she ordered, just as the pirates began to slug it out with the military escorts in a futile effort.
Commercial explorers? That's a nice way to say smugglers, Jatsu thought. He relayed the command to the deployed Nozomi, then looked at the scanner and shook his head. "Do they really think they have a chance?"
"They might be stalling for something crewman, but we're almost on top of them." Akina pointed to the display, where the ETA was displayed next to the Nozomi group's arrival. A concentration of fire on one Arashi was already causing moderate damage. "Kante one is deploying. Kante three is almost to their target area. Nothing to report." comms mimicked.
"Ah, I suppose that's true," Jatsu said. "Well, at least the Nozomi are almost-Oh shit! Not good!" He blurted, noticing the Arashi taking damage. "How the hell...?"
"Keep your head. They should be fine." she said coldly, as Nozomi saturated the area with MINDY armors, weapons fire lanced on the display, with squadron tags disappearing into the modified ships. Jatsu's screen flashed with another window, containing the readouts of the modified vessels.
"U...understood," Jatsu said. "Ah, Taisa, the report on the ships is finished. The original 3 Ki-F5s have cloaking devices and TTDs installed. The two that showed up recently have those, as well as five antimatter turrets." He paused to think for a second, then added, "Not exactly standard issue, even from when they were military-class."
"Our SAINT folks are going to have a field day with this. I think we might have stumbled onto something big." the Yamataian guessed. A few MINDY's blipped off their squadron status indicators as slowly the vessels began blinking from red to blue, indicating their capture.
"Taisa, the scout pool reports all clear. Kante two is deploying." the operator stopped.
"Allright, have them get buttoned down, and fly the things to Taiie no Iori, thank them for an efficient job." Akina decided to be a bit encouraging. Probably a mess in there. she thought.
Well, that was over fast, Jatsu thought, relaying the command. He looked at the display for a couple seconds, then asked, "Shall I switch the main display back, Taisa?"
"Do it." she commanded. "Kante three is on station, beginning deployment." communications reported, Kante one already on the way back." "Well, that's all taken care of. Let's take care of the KAMI." the Taisa prompted. "She doesn't even have a body to project anymore."
Jatsu switched the main display back to its standard, front-window view. He quickly looked up when Akina mentioned KAMI. Take care of KAMI? As in modify? Alter the program? he thought, smiling. "Taisa, may I assist? I focused on AI programming in school."
Akina swiveled her chair to the right, examining the crewman. "All right. Notify the core room what we'll be doing, they've been informed ahead of time to relinquish file locks on my authority." the woman was quite eager to perform this since she had learned about the wipe.
Yatta! Jatsu thought, then quickly sent the message to the core room. "Message sent," he said. Wow, this is the first time I'll be working on a military-grade AI... he thought. I better make sure to do a damn good job.
"First we need to give her a name, and may the gods help you if you say "Akuro" soldier." she pointed at him coldly. "Suggestions?" It was something she knew that needed to be decided, but hadn't put a lot of thought into until just that moment.
"I say we let her decide," he said. "By which I mean, we upload a list of names and have the computer choose randomly. Computer randomization is never truly random."
"Right, submit old tongue names as well, including native." Akina shrugged, "That's as good a way as any." she added, letting her left leg bob over the right.
"Understood, Taisa," he said, then wrote a small program to randomly choose a name from preexisting name lists. He ran the program then reported the result, "Hmm...Freya? I've not familiar with a name like that..."
"Freya..." the Captain of the Akuro repeated the name several times as she accessed the database with her mind's link to the flagship, "An old goddess, love..war...wisdom..yes, I think that will do nicely. It's rather flowing across the tongue. Set it correctly." she let herself smile.
"Ah, I see. Very fitting," Jatsu said. He opened KAMI's configuration file, then stared at it for a few seconds. This is about twenty times as long as what I've worked on, he thought, then proceeded to add Freya in to the list of identifiers and set it as the default. "Done. KAMI's primary identifier is now Freya."
"Good. Let's set her personality before working on the appearance. I'm thinking something to reflect her name, but perhaps with a twist. Would you advise against that, crewman?" Akina asked, trying to keep her excitement under control in front of her primary crewmembers.
"That sounds reasonable. Something soft, yet stern when necessary," he replied. "What kind of twist did you have in mind?"
"She is the herald of our entire presence in this area, and we know she's wise so as you put it would be fine. Warm excepting combat or disciplinary..or..what have you. Her quirk? Mnn, now one must be careful here." she stopped and thought a moment. "Would it be too obnoxious to have her replies be far too chipper on occasion? Or perhaps-ah! Make her pull a trick or two. You know, this and that. Just to the redshirts and during non-essential operations. Keep them on their toes?"
"A prankster?" He chuckled, "Yeah, that could be fun," he answered, starting to lose his formality. "Alright, I'll get to work on it," he said, then went back to the configuration file and started typing rapidly.
"Don't make her too much of one, just give the girl a sense of humor. It will be more interesting to hear the rumors crop up." she amended as she watched the man work. "I can see it was good luck someone tossed you up here, those core officers would blab about it." the Taisa surmised.
"Yeah, I suppose just a subtle degree would be best," he said while typing. He stopped for a second upon the compliment and bewilderedly said, "I...ah, thank you, Taisa," then went back to work.
"Taisa, Kante two and one are back in formation, the scout pool is approaching Taiie no Iori, and have just been given clearance to proceed." "Good, welcome them back, send the Arashi escorts from Kante two for repairs upon return." "Aye ma'am." communications replied. "Well, this is a quiet shift anyway. We'll be getting our marching orders within a few days I'm sure. We're too big of an expenditure of resources to stay here. Drink?" she prompted in a businesslike manner.
Oh, right...I forgot about those, Jatsu thought. He finished typing, then said, "I could go for some tea, extra sugar. And I've finished configuring the personality, just need to test it." He turned back to his console, then stated, "Freya, please repond."
"Good afternoon, crewman." a monotone voice responded.
"Ugh, fix the voice. Just fix it." the woman shivered. "On the way." she said, while sending a flash order to the nearest galley for the operator's tea, and some bubble tea for herself.
Jatsu winced, then went back to the configuration. Okay, higher vocal pitch...larger range... he thought as he changed them. Once finished, he asked, "How are you, Freya?"
"Good afternoon, Crewman Kimura." a smoothly light and warmly tinted voice responded. "Oh, that. Keep that." the ship's Captain pointed with her finger in the air, in a subtle tapping motion.
Jatsu tilted his head and said, "Yeah the voice is good now...but she didn't really answer my question." He stretched and rubbed his head, then asked, "Freya, please tell me something about yourself."
"I am Freya, there are 21,213 soldiers on board me right now, and ten civilians. I enjoy serving the empire. Would you like to know more, dear?" Freya prompted him. "Oh my, now THAT is an AI." the commander laughed softly as a galley crew stepped out of the lift.
Jatsu laughed, "Well, I guess the sense of humor works as intended." He looked over to the galley crewman as she walked toward the Taisa and thought, Wow, they seem to have gotten faster since last shift.
The strategist accepted her drink in one hand with a nod at the Geshrin's bow, who then set Jatsu's tea on his console without a word, hurrying back into the sanctuary of the lift. "All right, right between us, let's see a standard Nekovalkryja type body. Skirt uniform first."
"Thanks...ah, she's gone," Jatsu said. "Understood, Taisa." He took a sip of his tea, then typed a couple commands. The image of a NH-17 appeared between them, standing 5'2" with green eyes, black hair down to her shoulders, and a standard issue skirt uniform accentuating her slender figure.
"Hmm, no no. Let's try longer hair, and a non-standard color. Fill out her chest half a cup, annd...ah, there. Modify her face like..this." Akina said, sending an estimation of the Neko's look mentally to his station. "Otherwise she's looking good so far." the Taisa openly admitted.
"Understood," he replied, then went back to typing. The neko's hair gradually grew down to the middle of her back and became pink, her breasts grew to a large B-cup, and her face morphed to resemble the image projected on his station. "How's that?"
The Yamataian looked closely at the lifelike projection for a pointed 10 seconds. "Pink...with white streaks, or white with prink streaks? Keep it the same straight style, it has some grace to it."
Jatsu typed a couple more short commands, resulting in a few white streaks appearing in the neko's hair. He rubbed his chin with his metallic hand, then took a sip of his tea. "This looks pretty good."
"Yes. I think it's fitting her new persona. Let's give her panels a bit of work. Imperial purple? I don't recall that color being in use anymore." Akina mentioned, sipping her tea in long drags. So glad to give this ship some personality. she thought frankly.
"Isn't she supposed to wear orange?" Jatsu asked.
"She's not a sprite, she's a holographic projection. They're different of course. If we cloned her a body she'd not be either." the Captain shrugged, chewing on some bubbles lightly.
Jatsu shrugged, "Works for me." He changed the panel colors to imperial purple, then looked at the result. "Not bad. Sets her apart from everyone else."
"She is a Nekovalkryja flagship, soldier. I think the only person whom might care is on our base." she said, pointing to the holodisplay without turning her head. "Not that the good admiral does. Save it accordingly, oh..and have her wear a jumpsuit of the same coloring every other day." the bemused Taisa could not help but adopt a warm expression as her thoughts went to Katsuko again.
"Alright. You hear that, Freya? Save this holographic projection as your visual representation, and alternate between a skirt uniform and a jumpsuit uniform each day," he echoed, then finished his tea.
"Acknowledged. Coding updated. Thank you for the modification." the image suddenly took life, responding to him. With a turn she bowed to the captain, before the image shimmered away. "Well..." the Captain turned her seat back forward, "That was it for us besides standing orders, of course. Shift's almost over..mister..Kimura was it? Good work. Call down to morale and tell them to add it to the next ship's digest, tell them to ask you about it if they have questions."
Jatsu smiled. "Yes, that's correct, Taisa. Thank you." He sent the message, then asked, "I assume that, should they have questions, I'm not to disclose certain...personality quirks?"
"Of course not, let them have rumors to write about. God knows I have enough trouble from a PO staff with idle hands." she mentioned calmly, not feeling the need to relay just what would happen to anyone violating her trust within earshot. Giving her approval to an officer presenting some data, the captain of the Akuro waited for the shift to be over, eager to have a nice dinner, when the thought came to her. "You'll sit at the captain's table tonight." she pointed without turning to Kimura. "Don't wear your dress whites, I certainly don't." she smirked to herself, since normally her meals were alone or with some operations officers in their mess. She'd just sit at a bigger table tonight.
Woah, what? "I...wow, thank you, ma'am!" he stammered. Wait, I wanted to look for Aoiko, though, he thought, But when the hell am I going to get a chance like this again? I mean, it's only been a day, waiting until after dinner to find her won't kill me. Where is she, anyway?
"You made him nervous, captain." Freya remarked with a disembodied giggle. Akina ignored the comment, wondering what Motoyoshi was up to at that moment, assuming it was jockeying a desk in some gigantic office in the star base.
Jatsu snapped his head back to his console and bluntly stated, "I still have your configuration file open, Freya." He rubbed his head. I don't get it...she was here yesterday, then today someone else showed up in her station, and nobody seemed to notice she's not here...damnit, I'll find her after dinner.
"Woops! Thanks for reminding me to zip up." the AI quipped, crashing the tactical display back to it's default. "Where'd you learn to be sly, with Ketsurui samurai?" she added, before stopping her teasing of the enlistee. Akina yawned, holding a hand to her mouth as she listened idly to the chatter around her.
"Shimizu Taisa, have a pleasant evening." the third officer offered as she sat down in the warmed Captain's chair. Jatsu's Bravo shift Nekovalkryja replacement stood idly by his console, lifting her heels up and down in the air anxiously.
"Mmm, keep her safe until tommorow." the relieved commander replied, stepping away. "Mr. Kimura, be at the officer's mess in ten minutes." she directly curtly, stepping into the lift with one final look around the bridge.
"Mmm, keep her safe until tommorow." the relieved commander replied, stepping away. "Mr. Kimura, be at the officer's mess in ten minutes." she directly curtly, stepping into the lift with one final look around the bridge.
- Status
