RP: YSS Aeon [Mission 1.1] A little training Exercise

Hisa completed the generator prestart checklist. She was now starting the process for bringing main power online. Initializing generator cooling system. she thought as she activated the appropriate controls. After a minute the display showed that the cooling system pressure was in the acceptable zone. Okay, cycling generator to start mode. she thought running the checklist through her mind. The process was automatic at this point so she just had to monitor the displays. I hope Sum'ishi- Santô Hei gets done in the power bay soon. I do not want engineering to be the cause of a delay in our departure. she thought.

While the crew of the Aeon were preparing to head out on their training mission the Succubus and Ouroboros moved towards two of the repair bays of Virgo Star Fortress. They had received orders from Katae that their repairs would be handled by the Star Fortress to expedite getting the 7th Squadron back into service. While the Integrity maneuvered into position to enter the Ikoi starbase after the Aeon left.

Haruhi grimaced and dropped her head, as if she was bearing witness to something particularly painful to observe as the three enlisted clambered into their Mindys. “Wow,” she started through gritted teeth, “that's the fastest I've ever seen anyone ever board a Mindy. It was so fast that it makes me think you might have forgotten something.” She looked up at the new recruits, raw displeasure scrawled across her face as she drew herself up to her full height. “How does it feel in there? Is it comfortable? Are your boots and your belts and your rank pins feeling nice and comfortable jammed up against the padded linings like they shouldn't be?”

The Santô Juni's voice rose in volume. “I was half expecting to see someone strip by mistake because of the ingrained routines you were supposed to have jammed into your heads from using a 2A, but instead you skim over the manual so you could enjoy your time here chatting away and then climb in without a single thought. Do you honestly think you could maintain an absolute level of concentration while under enemy fire with those sort of constant distractions?!” Haruhi hissed in vexation as she whipped out her diagnostic unit again and checked the seals and other post start-up status indicators of the three armours.

It only took a moment to complete and soon Haruhi stood before them again, taking a deep breath to let her wrath subside as she allowed her voice to return to being merely stern. “Not only could this get you killed but it's also insulting to your Mindys to fail to remove items that will damage them; these armours are issued to you so you damned well need to treat them with respect above and beyond that which I expect you to give to other items I lend you,” The look Haruhi gave them could have melted Zesuaium. “And I do expect you to treat anything I lend you with the utmost respect.” Her arm stabbed out and she pointed to a section of unoccupied power armour storage spaces along the bay's wall. “Now go stow your armours, and the next I ask you to suit up I expect to see it happen properly; you know where Eternity is and she knows where I am so there are no excuses if you have questions. Dismissed.”

Three down, two to go.

Haruhi turned her attention to the remaining two crew members and their new armours; after that little show she expected things to go more smoothly this time around. “Right, let's see what you've got,” she said, only traces of her previous outburst remaining in her tone as she strode over to them with her diagnostic unit in hand. Repeating the same checks with practised efficiency took only a bare few minutes after which she stood back and gave the remaining Santô Hei and her Shoi Kohosei side-kick a blank stare.

“Well don't just stand there, suit up!” she barked.

Eun-Kyung glanced at the aggressive warrant officer as she removed the Mindy's helmet. Officers run the Army, but the Chiefs run the ship, she reminded herself. Granted, Haruhi-Juni wasn't a chief per-se, but having seen the dressing down directed at the Santo Hei already suited up, Eun-Kyung had assigned the Juni to the category of grizzled, veteran spacer. Carefully removing her belt, pins, and boots – she had to admit that without the WO's lecture she probably would have begun removing her clothes entirely – she frowned slightly; behavior appropriate for recruit division commanders in Basic Training bordered more on disrespectful in the Fleet. She was cognizant, of course, that she was still a midshipman and so, as she had done for Alia before, decided to give the Juni the benefit of the doubt, if for no other reason than that Haruhi was clearly very good at her job. Stepping into the now cracked open armor, Eun-Kyung adjusted herself while the armor sealed up again. Once her helmet was on and secured, she turned back to silently wait for the Juni to continue.

Alia had actually already been removing her pins and such getting ready to strip down before the Juni had scared the other Santo Heis. This actually made her frown. Alia couldn't believe the others had completely forgotten to strip before entering a PA. It had been ingrained in her to the extent that she did it from pure muscle memory, so when the Warrant officer yelled at her to suit up Alia merely sped up what she had already been doing.

She stripped down to her undergarments and then crawled into the snug Mindy. Gurei-Taii had taught her that a Mindy or Daisy should fit like a glove. This one definitely fit that requirement. As she waited for the diagnostics to be ran Alia contacted Eternity.

Eternity, Can you give me the quickest route from here to my cabin and then to the bridge, I do not want to be late.

Certainly Tsukiki Alia-Santô Hei, from the power armor bay, proceed forward past the Medbay, then ascend up the zero-g passageway to deck 2. Crew quarters are after of the passageway, and the bridge is forward of the passageway. The Taii is waiting to speak to you. Eternity replied.

Haruhi's fingers drummed against the metal backing of the diagnostic unit as she observed the last two suit up. “Santô Hei, didn't I just finish telling you you don't need to take your clothes off with a 3A? You want to show off some skin then do it on your own time.” She let out a short, sharp sigh and frowned lightly at the faceless armours. “That said, if getting out of your body suit – or all your clothing for that matter – is more natural and makes you feel comfortable inside a power armour I won't fault you for it. Maximising your performance and survivability is the name of the game after all.”

Armed with the diagnostic unit she proceeded to run through the post suit-up checks. “I recommend you try it with your bodysuit on at least once, to compare and so you know what to expect in the event that you do have to board while wearing it.” The unit beeped blandly on both occasions, all systems checked out.

Circling around to stand before them again, Haruhi regarded Eun-Kyung momentarily as though the Mindy-clad officer were a particularly abstract piece of artwork. “The Shoi Kohosei gets a gold star for her acceptable display. Collect five, get a prize,” she said dully, scratching behind an ear absently. “That's all. Rack your armours beside the others,” she pointed to the relevant spaces in case they were unaware, “and if you have any further concerns or queries you know where I live, so see me about them. Dismissed.”

Asi was slightly confused as to why suiting up quickly could be seen as a bad thing, since soldiers were supposed to adapt quickly to the tools they were given on the battlefield. However, he wisely held his comments to himself, realizing that this wasn't a debate he would win, that he would just have to win the Juni over, time permitting. So, he took the helmet off, and shook his hair out quickly, and began to walk out of the way to stow it. Once he was at the compartment, he hung his helmet up on one of the handles and stepped back inside the space, aligning himself as closely with the markings as he could, and then unsealed the suit. He stepped out of it, then reattached the helmet to the armor. Shrugging slightly, he turned around to wait for the others.

Hoshi had removed his holster, but that had been about it. He felt embarrassed -- he just skimmed over the Manual, saw that clothes were acceptable, and gone with it. Should have read it all... He scolded himself.

When Haruhi-Juni gave the order to stow them, Hoshi backed the thing into the rack, and then jumped out to buckle it up quickly.. Anything he questioned, he picked up the manual and read the entire thing, and then once more before applying it. I really don't want to get chewed out again. Hoshi thought, finishing with the last strap.

After finishing, he looked at Haruhi-Juni, and stopped for a moment, wondering if he should double check it. No... it's fine. He looked over at Asine, and an idea occurred to him.

He stepped up next to the other Santô Hei, speaking just loud enough for him to hear. "Hey... Could you double-check my armor? I'll check yours, as well. Just to be sure we didn't screw up."

Hoshi hoped the other man wouldn't take what he said the wrong way, (as little chance of that as there was) and again hoped Haruhi-Juni wouldn't chew him out for making the suggestion if she happened to hear.

Hisa watched as the generator system completed the steps to start mode. She then entered the command into the console for the generator to start drawing in Aether. As this occurred she watched the rise in the core temperature correspondingly. The cooling system likewise increased its activity as well. The pumps began circulating the fluid that would be used to actually produce the ships electrical energy. Entering the core this fluid became superheated, and then was vented into the turbines that in turn rotated the electrical generators. Once Hisa was satisfied that these processes were operating within normal she increased the flow of energy into the reactor. As the turbines continued to spin up the engineering was soon filled with the sub-harmonic sound that Hisa was used to. She then checked the condensers to ensure that they working satisfactorily. Maybe I am being a bit overly cautious, but the main reactor did take damage in the battle of UX-25. I want to make sure that it will not fail when that Taii calls for full power. she thought.

Once the generator output reached standard levels she picked up the handset and dialed the bridge. A moment later Katae answered the intercom. “Bridge here, what can I do for you Usagi- Ittô Hei?” She asked. “Ise-Taii I just wanted to report that main power is available at your command.” Hisa said. “Very good Usagi-Hei, then switch us to internal power and bring the mains online.” “Right away Ise-Taii, I am bringing the mains online.” She hung up the handset and started switching the systems that were getting power from the starbase to the Aeon’s power system. In Hisa’s way of thinking, she was waking ship up.

Thank you Eternity, tell the Taii that i'll be there as swift as possible.

Alia noticed that she had stripped in front of the whole crew and blushed. Her instructor had told her that the body suit can only detract from the pilot's ability to utilize the Mindy.

"Yes Haruhi-Juni, I will try to remember to do that next time."
She said through the Suit's external speakers, but through the SPINE she felt as if she merely spoke with her mouth. Mindy-suited Alia crossed the room to the racks and extricated herself from the Power armor and began to strap it up.

When finished she hurriedly left the PA bay and followed Eternity's directions. When she reached Deck 2 she went aft to drop off her stuff in her shared cabin. Gingerly placing the duffel bag in the specified storage locker she then went foreward to the Bridge.

As she went in she bowed to the Taii. "Tsukiki Alia-Santô Hei reporting to station as requested."

“Welcome to the bridge Tsukik-Hei.” Katae said rising from her command chair. She walked over to Alia and paused for a moment. “I wanted to have a word with you before the others arrived. During your interview you made a comment about the designer of the Plumeria. I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you spoke from ignorance rather than meaning any disrespect. For the record the Plumeria-class ships were designed by Ketsurui Hanako-Taisa, a decorated soldier of the front line and a hero of the Empire. I have had the pleasure of speaking with the Taisa on a couple of occasions, and I would never think of her as a bean-counter. So I am sure no one on my ship would either. Am I mistaken Santô Hei?” Katae paused for a moment to let her words sink in.

Returning to her station she smiled at Alia and said “Take Station number 1. Eternity is currently tracking the progress of the Henry Chen so you can start working on plotting a course to Virginia so we may rendezvous with her. After we run a few tests upon departing the starbase.”

"No Ise-Taii, I would never mean any sort of disrespect towards any officer of the Star Army, let alone Ketsurui-Taisa. There will be no further disrespect, either intentional or not, coming from me about the Plumeria or any other class of ship in the Star Army. I humbly apologize for what I said." Alia said nearly coming to tears. The Taii had been gracious to give her the benefit of the doubt. Calling Ketsurui-Taisa a bean-counter would have caused some Taii's to deliver harsh punishments. One should never dishonor a hero, especially if they are still living.

Wiping away a tear Alia returned to full height and went to station one. She then linked up to the MEGAMI in order to talk to Eternity, while she began running the numbers for a jump to the rendezvous coordinates.

Hello again Eternity, it appears that we will be working together a lot.

It took most of her control for Taikai not to smack herself in the forehead. She had read the manual, and had noted the instructions to remove all pins and other items, but she had been so focused on remembering not to strip completely that she had forgotten the secondary instructions entirely. As it was, she was grateful that the Mindy's helmet hid her furious blush.

She was supposed to me a technician! She was supposed to always be aware of these types of things. As the rest of Haruhi-Juni's words penetrated Taikai's self-berating thoughts, she paled. What if she had irreparably damaged her brand new 3A by leaving on her belt and holster?

She hadn't believed it possible, but Taikai scrambled out of her power armor faster than she had gotten into it. As soon as she maneuvered it to the rack she removed her helmet and impatiently stepped out of the suit. Gently putting the helmet down, she quickly inspected the interior of the Mindy, double-checking that she hadn't torn the soft interior. A quick but thorough inspection showed no problems, and she sighed with relief.

Taikai strapped her new armor securely into the rack and then looked around. The two Sant0-Heis who had been suited up like her were now talking together, while the other two new crew members were still getting into their armor. Taikai would have liked to stay and talk with the others, but now that Haruhi-Juni had dismissed her, she expected that she would need to report to the head engineer.

After a quick once over to double check that her power armor was indeed properly stored, Taikai hurried from the power armor bay. She thought it most likely that Usaga Hisa - Itto Hei would be towards the front of the ship, in engineering, so she headed there first.

'Uh... sure." Asine stepped away from his armor, and looked at the other man's armor. He quickly ran his hands over the inside, then eyeballed the whole thing. He looked back at Hoshi. "Yours looks like it's fine. No damage is visible at least." He stepped back. "How about mine?" He glanced over as Taikai left the bay, seemingly in a hurry to get somewhere. That was about when he realized he hadn't even figured out what her position was on the ship. He cursed slightly under his breath, but then decided to worry about it later. Or at least 5 minutes from now.

"Looks good..." Hoshi leaned in and tested a strap. "It's fine." After stepping away from the armor, he looked at Asine. "I'm uh... Yukimura Hoshi, by the way." He looked over at the PA Bay's entrance. "We should probably get out of the way here before we get in trouble."

With that, Hoshi slipped out of the Bay.

Alia let out a smile that shone through her tear streaked face.
I'd love to test her myself Eternity. Let me know when we are at safe distance.

She then turned to the Taii. "I am ready for your orders Ise-Taii."

Eun-Kyung pursed her lips sourly in the safe anonymity of the Mindy’s helmet as she was “dismissed” by the Juni, but stilled her impulse to speak and instead strode purposefully over to the armor racks. The armor quickly secured by the automated systems, she removed her helmet and clambered out of the unsealed suit. She spent a moment reviewing the readouts and telltales on the display next to the rack before gathering up her discarded uniform items across the bay. Back in proper uniform, she spared a glance at the Santo Hei leaving the bay and a polite nod to the Juni before exiting the compartment herself. She still felt like a stranger as she navigated the passageways forward; the ship was much the same as the other Plumeria-class gunships she had had occasion to board, but the weight of her position made the layout of the ship – which should have been comforting in its identical familiarity – alien and cold.

The hatch to the Bridge loomed suddenly ahead of her and she took a moment to clear her head before hitting the admittance stud. With a slight bow of her head and a quick “ma’am” in acknowledgement of the Taii, she stepped swiftly in and fell into a parade rest beside the command chair. She opened her mouth to speak as she glanced around the Bridge but was stopped short by a double take as she caught sight of Alia’s face, replete with red, slightly-puffy eyes and a dried tear track down her cheek. Her mouth worked silently a few times as she stared at the Santo Hei with a frown before shaking her head dismissively and turning back to the Captain. “Apologies, ma’am. Do you have a particular station you wish me to take?”

Katae turned to the door, "Actually Kim-Shoi Kohosei, for the time being I want you to take the center seat. Once engineering is ready for us to get underway. Every officer has a first time ordering a ship out of dock. So this will be your day." she said standing up. "Don't scratch the paint." she said with a smile. She walked over to Alia, "Tsukiki-Hei, while we are waiting for the others to get to their stations, why don't you and Eternity run through a few simultations. Help you to get the feel of the Aeon."

Tsukiki-Hei, perhaps you would care to try one of the simulations/games that Ise-Taii and would do to kill time? I believe you will find it challenging. inquired Eternity

Alia nodded in affirmation to the Taii before turning back to the console and shutting her eyes and immersing herself into the ship's controls via the SPINE.

Ok Eternity, Let's try the simulation.