RP: YSS Miharu Mission 1 "REAR GUARD", Day 4

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari also realized the seriousness of what Mara said. "Shimatta," she swore, then turned on the radio. "Returning a sample to the lab is important, but we must make sure Mara-san is decontaminated as well. Mara-san, please, go to the decontamination room and meet Saito-Hei there. Ichigo-san, Nimura-san, please replace Claymere-Juni and Saito-Hei outside. Continue the work of unloading the torpedoes."

She maneuvered some controls. "I will have the CIES unit to perform an internal scan to ensure the Hoshi is not contaminated, but the Miharu is not here, Claymere-Juni; give me time to raise her."

The communication equipment is not heavily damaged ... "Hoshi to Miharu, copy. Taii-san, are you there?"

 

[Fred]

The CIES tracked the Miharu's position to the edge of the null-sensor zone; it was seemingly holding position and nothing alarming seemed to be happening to the ship... until the label "NOT RECEIVING" appeared next to it after she tried to hail it.

Mara, meanwhile, was left gaping a moment and wanted to protest that she was fine and could still help Yukari out on the bridge... but she was interrupted a moment by Ichigo and Nimura. As both the other sprites acknowledged their orders, something occured to her.

"You know, the Taii will need the sensors and comm systems to be able to interact with the probes she launched. If the system fails to function, she might go and investigate by herself: the monitor room is right besides the maintenance crawlways and the two techs still down in engineering ought to be already busy with other stuff," Mara pointed out.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari thought about that for a moment ... it was not a positive thing to have Kotori inspecting things by herself. Would she not create sprites to do the looking for her? Neither seemed a good idea.

" ... We must continue the salvage," Yukari said slowly. "These weapons will allow us to attack with more versatility. Kotori is a good commander; she can operate by herself, and she put priority on this salvage."

 

[Fred]

Maya nodded slightly. "Are you sure you want me to head for the medlab? You'll end up being the only person on the bridge. I mean, I don't feel sick or anything."

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An annoyed huff escaped Kotori and the nekovalkyrja terminated her SPINE connection abruptly by standing up. I thought the comm/sensor array had been fixed - I guess that's what I get for giving grunt work to bridge crew...

"The sensors are acting up again," she told Mizuho, whom had been following her around like a silent ghost. "I shouldn't be long." She then headed for the monitor room's door.

 

[Nyton]

"I have to disagree with you a bit, Chui. That was before we had possible signs of hostiles aboard. Kotori Taii and Mizuho are unaware of the danger and completely cut off from us." Nyton replied. "We can always make more torpedoes once the fab room is restored. Survival is a much higher priority. I recommend we have Kurohoshi and Veressis abort salvage and go secure the Hoshi. Meanwhile we'll meet at the bridge and escort Mara to the lab so Saito can analyze the substance. I'll leave Westwood with you as backup since he's suited up already. Someone should also escort our engineering crew while they fix the sensor and comm array so maybe the twin sprites could do that after they suit up here." Nyton then paused. "That's just my opinion though, Chui. You got final call on whether we should abort the salvage operation though."

 

[Fred]

Mara felt like snapping that she could escort herself to the medlab if need be - it wasn't like she was suddenly going to turn into a mishhu or anything: it was just a bit of hemosynthetic material which had clotted in her hair.

The sprite considered whom was on board the main hull: Taii Kotori, that Mizuho person, Chief Engineer Tom, the new girl named Chigusa and that Novacorp Frankenstein robot. One was the commander, another was nuts, another was stuck fixing the fold engine, another was a busty ditz and the robot was made by Novacorp.

The robot could amount to something, Mara conceded to herself, though it was hardly worth counting on if there was an intruder aboard the ship.

"Chui, I say we should let Claymere and Kurohoshi-Juni handle things here and send a Mindy armor over to the main hull. Using the teleport module along with help from the C-IES, I'm sure it could get there faster than anything else we could arrange. You'd have to be the one whom would go, though."

 

[Abwehran Commander]

Keeping track of the warheads Leutre let loose, Masako winced as some of them nearly collided. "Veressis-Hei," she spoke firmly over the comm. "Make sure none of those torpedoes collide with each other," she ordered as she kept her eyes outside the storage bay.

I'd rather not be blown up by and accident...being blown up at all isn't my idea of fun either, she thought as she frowned. What was taking the others so long. "Kurohoshi to Hoshi, status report please."

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari said nothing for a moment. In her mind, she noted with the slightest dissatisfaction that when Kotori gave orders, they were followed; when she gave orders, they were questioned. I was no more respectful aboard the Sakura, she thought.

"Kurohoshi-Juni, an unknown substance has been discovered in Mara-san's hair. We believe it came from the main hull somewhere, and are attempting to raise the Taii. Mara will be examined in the meantime. Stand by." Yukari killed the channel and thought.

I do not like power armor. That was the first thought. ... Not many others were forthcoming in the next few seconds. She knew it was a good maneuver though, and one that the enemy, if they were watching, would not expect. Should the highest-ranked officer be the one to leave the vessel? It would seem wiser to send a sprite.

Mara's impatient look did not make her feel better, but she nodded. "Claymere-Juni, you are now in control of the Hoshi. I will check on the Taii. Mara may escort herself, and we require no escorts for the sprites. But you should report to the bridge and take my place."

Her pistol seemed to feel a little heavier than she remembered as she stood up. "Will you prepare CIES for my teleport, Mara-san?"

 

[Strangelove]

"Oh fuddle duddles Mas. A few stray torpedoes never hurt anyone. Unless they're armed. Which they're not... I hope." He glanced over a the torpedoes freefloating throughout the room. "Nope, they don't appear to be. So no worries."

Leutre glided over to Masako, shoving some torpedoes out of the way. The room was starting to become overcrowded with the all the ordnance floating around. "But I am growing rather impatient with the others. How long does it take to pick up a few Deadmen?"

 

[Fred]

"If I don't turn into a Chui-eating mutant space alien, yes." Mara replied to Yukari. The sprite paused in mock suspense, looked right and left and finally turned toward her console. "You're in luck. Seems like I'm not going to eat you right away."

Fingers began dancing over the tactical console. "You can go, Chui. I'll fill in until Claymere-Juni comes back." The sprite sent a request for Ichigo and Nimura to prepare the Mindy II power armor, which resulted in some gripping from Ichigo since both twins had just gotten into Daisy power armor. Mara giggled and told them to get to it quickly.

 

[Nyton]

"Roger that Chui. I'll be right up there." Nyton replied. "What of our two survivors and Saito-Hei?" he asked.

 

[Kokuten]

Asher looked left and right, he listened to the talking around him. He fiddled with his armor as the talking went on and going over some system checks. He knew he was to go assist the team unloading the torpedoes, though when the orders began to jumble around. This soldier was wondering what exactly they wanted him to do. He held his rifle to his side, and looked left and right again.

Alright... I'm ready to go... I mean, I'm out of that papery AMES suit and in an Armor, I feel ready for anything right now.

 

[Doshii Jun]

Yukari still had her headset on, thankfully. "Saito-Hei will examine Mara-san after you relieve her, Claymere-Juni. Our two survivors, provided they are in armor, can assist with the removal of the torpedoes."

 

[Nyton]

"I copy that Chui." Nyton replied. "Alright I'm going up to the bridge. Saito-Hei you head to the medlab. Mara will meet you there. Nishimura and Westwood will go and help with the torpedo salvage. Have the ship's computer guide you to Kurohoshi Juni's position. If anything it may be safer there then here for the moment." he mused grimly.

 

[Kokuten]

"Yes sir." Asher replied with a quick a salute, turning to Ryszard.

"Hey Rys, are you ready to move out yet?" He said checking his rifle, still feeling anxious to move on.

 

[I'm Only Dancing]

Mizuho glanced up briefly at Kotori's statement. "...sensors are acting up?"

It surprised her a bit, truth be told. A fresh-built ship, with supposedly very competent technicians who had stated their sensors were working... ah, but the Miharu had demonstrated that it didn't much like being pushed to those limits it could supposedly reach. Still, Mizuho didn't much like it. As Kotori left the monitor room, she decided it best to move as well. A ponderance.

"...I can't make use of the SPINE interface at all just yet, Kotori. Not until I get my body transferred. Should I investigate instead..?"

The thought that struck her? Mishhu. The Miharu had been struck ravagingly beneath its shields... and the Mishhu had been known to implant eggs and "brain slugs" (as Mizuho called them) on unwary vessels. At the helm, Mizuho's inability to configure with SPINE left her useless. In the case of killing things, the NH-17 body was certainly a more terrifyingly capable machine of berserk fury...

...not that berserk fury would matter in a war in this age.

Except in case of security running.

 

[Fred]

Kotori turned on Mizuho, surprise flashing across her yellow eyes for a moment before she nodded back. "Alright. Just head out of the room and make a right turn. There's going to be an hatch on the wall; it opens up to a passage leading to the officer quarters, at hip-height there should be another hatch which will open to a crawlway that circles around the sensor array. Once you find the problem, just inform me by telepathy and we'll see how we can get it fixed."

 

[I'm Only Dancing]

"Alright."

Mizuho gave a slight bow, flourishing her left hand, and turned to dash on to the next room. Turned right, pushing her way into the officer's quarters with a slight bounce to her stride. A crawlspace, as she had been assured - it was no great difficulty to find it. She paused here a moment, taking in the room she had never seen before continuing on to the crawlspace, and lifting the hatch.

 

[Fred]

The first thing that greeted Mizuho's opening of the maintenance conduit was the whir of the machinery inside. The crawlway was only small enough to allow a humanoid to get inside it on all four, but the relatively small statured violet-haired NH-17S would have no problem maneuvering inside the claustrophobic crawlway - someone more of nepleslian stature would probably have had trouble turning around.

Support-ribbing and wires lined what part of the conduit she could see - there wasn't all that much light, though her eyes probably could adapt and make the most of what ambient light would reach out to a certain distance of the entry.

 

[I'm Only Dancing]

Mizuho's entry into the crawlspace was a decidedly cautious one, eyes darting back and forth to the space before her, ears swiveled slightly outward, splayed to capture noise behind her with greater acuity. She had no desire to die in a crawlspace. God, living until FIFTY would be preferable to dying in a crawlspace.

Still, she pressed her way through, paying attention to the mechanics. She didn't understand it much, but anything too blatant she would see... not being, after all, an idiot.

"I'm in the crawlspace, Kotori. Anything in particular I should be looking for..?"