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

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"I was afraid I had sent Mizuho out to die," Kotori confided. "If you hadn't come in when you did, I'm not sure she would have survived. I'm not even sure I could have had lasted long enough for Sigurd to get here."

If it hadn't been of Mara fussing over her hair, Yukari might actually not have known any of this could have had transpired!
 
Yukari shook her helmeted head. "You did as you had to do, as you always do. Mizuho was a soldier ... she knows the risks. And you did not know of the Mishhu, yes?"

This was not something Yukari was particularly good at. She tried to smile, but she realized it didn't matter through her helmet. She sighed, audibly.
 
Kotori heard the sigh and stiffened a bit. She had no need to give the matter any more drama - they had gone through it better than they should have had. Steeling herself, the Taii returned standing and turned to look at the power armored Yukari.

Paying no heed to her filthy appearance, Kotori got back to thinking about how to gain an advantage over the Mishhu ships - with those that had fled, she felt certain they would return in force and there was no way - with the damage to their fold drives - that they could outrun them. They needed to find a place to hide, a place they would be able to hold a strategic advantage over the Mishhu. Kotori was hoping that the null-sensor zone in the asteroids could be just that, but she needed to make sure.

"I will be fine. No need to worry further on my account," she assured Yukari. "I need to be back to supervise the ship's operation. I do have an assignment for you, though: In the null sensor zone are eight of our chibi-MEGAMI probes. I want you to network your AIES to them and to go over each one of them to insure that navigation, targeting and communication should be possible inside that area."
 
Yukari did not like the emotion behind the order. She was not blind -- Kotori was not unharmed. Not inside of her mind.

But the roles were in place again. She was the trusted subordinate, not the confidant. She nodded. "Yes, Taii-san."
 
Kotori turned and left for the monitor room. She had to make sure the sensors were restored now.
 

Leutre looked up from the torpedo he was inspecting. Westwood? Must be one of the newcomers. "Welcome back from the maw of defeat, Deadman. It appears Lady Luck has a sense of humor if someone like you is still alive." Leutre chuckled to himself. "You must have what we call sacd as-sucud, my friend. Leutre the Lunatic here, and that there's Massy the Sassy." He tilted his head over towards Masako, hoping she wouldn't reprimand him for his slip of the tongue.

Leutre cleared his throat and pushed the torpedo beside him in Asher's direction. "See those few dozen torps floating around the room? Get hauling. Feel free to bump them around a bit while you're at it. I'm 92% sure they're all disarmed and perfectly safe to move, more so with Lady Luck on our side. Well? Don't just stand there. Get to work!"
 
"Veressis-Hei," Masako spoke with a hard scolding tone before turning to Asher. "I'm Kurohoshi Masako-Santô Juni, Miharu Armor Wing Leader," she introduced formally, a small, two-way picture screen appearing in her visor as she spoke to him. "The armor behind me is Leutre Veressis-Santô Hei, one of the Miharu's Technicians, forgive him if he's rude," she replied politely before standing up.

"And yes, I want you and your companion to gather as many torpedoes and you can hold and transport them to the Hoshi, the auxilary ship you were just on a moment ago. The torpedoes should be secured before your return here. Unfortunately, since your friend isn't that capable with an armor, I'll need you to be extremely alert, Westwood-Hei," the warrant officer said. "We have to idea when the Mishu will come with reinforcements and I want us all to be ready to escape back to the Hoshi at a moments notice. With Veressis-Hei and your friend not really combat capable, that leaves you and me to cover them if this should occur."
 

Asher was already disliking this guy, he seemed to contrast some of the others he had met earlier. He was not too bad, he seemed to have a sort of dry humor that some of the others lacked.

Deadman, Maw of Defeat...? Jackass...

He grabbed the torpedoes that were pushed in his direction from Luetre.


Asher looked at both of them, a Gear Head and an Armor Head. He figured that was good for handling torpedoes. Though, really, he had never handled them himself, so it was just a guess. Asher refixed his attention to this Masako person.


"Shooty- Er, I mean, Yes mam." Asher stuttered, trying not use his slang.

"I'll gather up these torpedoes when my friend finally gets here, If he can hurry up..." Asher said, waiting on Rys would increase the amount they could take back in one go.
 
"I apologize for the delay." Ryszard said as he finally managed to arrive. Not the least bit embarrassed by his low efficiency with power armor. He managed to get high enough marks to pass through that section of training but was by no means skilled at it. He made his way over towards the torpedoes, "You're sure these are disabled warheads and safe to move?"

He asked that as he looked around, trying to ascertain if there was anything to move them on or if they were being carried. After he saw it was by hand he reached out and grabbed a couple, holding them as securely as he could. "I do not know the lay out of the Hoshi so I will need to be guided to where these go and again, instructed in the proper procedure to secure them before returning." he sent out to the local other power armors since he was unsure who was the commander here.
 
Yukari's Mindy II power armor left the Miharu's main hull to make her sweep of the eight probes, like Kotori had requested. There were navigation difficulties and adjustments to make on the way, but the data she acquired through her recon sweep would no doubt prove very useful for the putpose of adjusting the Miharu's sensors to be able to operate within the null-sensor zone.

The only serious problem that came up was the inability to accurately target anything beyond visual range, which would make starship combat a hairy thing to do in such conditions. On the bright side, if the Miharu went in, there was a good chance the Mishhuvurthyar would never be able to tell it was in there at all.

<center>* * *</center>

Its task done, the Miharu turned around to rendez-vous with the Hoshi. The smaller auxiliary vessel had by now both its multi-function bays crammed with 32 AS-5a torpedoes along with 8 additional chibi-MEGAMI probes. With its complement of power armor recovered, the Hoshi prepared to reconnect with the main hull.

With Mara (whom had gone to decon and settled the matter of the stuff that had gone in her hair - not looking the worse for it) helping Nyton oversee the maneuver, both vessels linked each others with graviton beams and rebonded together. Zesuaium docking clamps interlocked and connections were once more made whole.

The first thing the restored computer network did once it was made whole once again was to notify Miyoko that Mizuho had sustained several paralyzing sting attacks courtesy of a Ghost Mishhuvurthyar which had snuck on board the ship. She was currently comatose inside the main medical laboratory.

Kotori, still a mess with her yukata caked with blood, returned to the bridge and walked back to the command seat. "Report."
 
"... ah. I guess you'll have to wait for later for me to finish," Miyoko said absently to the goo as she sealed it in the container. Even if there was probably a whole corpse full of this stuff on the Miharu, better a sample in hand than two in the... crawlspace.

As she moved briskly toward the main medical lab, Miyoko addressed the MEGAMI in her customary 'staring blankly into space' routine. "Miharu, could you let Mara know to come to the main lab in half an hour or so if she's still having trouble? Also, if you could start scanning the patient with anything the nodal system can give me and have the results waiting by the operating table, I'd appreciate it."
 
"Understood, Saito-Hei," Miharu replied and then, instead of having the data wait for Miyoko, she simply transfered the file to the science specialist's digital memory.

Mizuho had encountered a Ghost Mishhuvurthyar whom had stabbed her a total of twenty-seven times with the stingers at the end of its tentacles, each sting injecting a powerful nekovalkyrja muscle relaxer along with a mild sedative. Normally, a single well delivered sting attack was sufficient for a mishhuvurthyar to render a NH-17R nekovalkyrja incapacitated (NH-29 types, while being physically less able than the NH-17, had a slightly better resistance which could allow to endure a couple of stings before being reduced to the same state); Yukisato Mizuho, however, had engaged the berserker functions of her Emergency Tactical Operating System to bypass the initial symptoms and struggle longer.

Now, however, she was suffering something of an overdose and was not only paralyzed, but also unconscious.
 
Nyton removed the helmet from the Daisy suit and set it down on the console next to him.

"All Armor crews have been returned. Both survivors have been secured and medically cleared. Salvage resulted in the recovery of thirty two AS-5a torpedoes and eight chibi-MEGAMI probes. So far no sign of anymore intruders onboard. Damage continues to be repaired steadily although we're still not out of the woods yet."
 
Kotori rewarded the nepleslian man with a nod as she seated herself. "Get yourself out of armor and assign Kurohoshi-Juni to tending to our two newcomers. First, we'll need to make use of them, but knowledge of our operations will be given out only on a need to know basis. Also let them know that they aren't going to be reassigned shortly - if at all, so, the Miharu is their new home." Kotori pushed part of her blood-matted her behind her shoulders. "I'll expect you back shortly. There is more to be done before we stop to lick our wounds and load those torpedoes."

In addition, she sent Yukari a telepathic summon. "Good job with the recon, Yuka. Please come back to the bridge now."
 
Asher shook his head as he removed his power armor in the bay. He was glad to finally be out of the Shikaku and back into a working ship. The operation with torpedoes was a good success by his view.

When he had removed his Armor, he got into the standard Star Army wear and heaved a sigh. This day had been a long one, he had been one of the two survivors of an entire ship. He also got time in a Daisy armor, and he wasn't expecting to pilot an armor, much less a Daisy, so soon. Though, after thinking of current events, he thought of what would happen to Rys and him now. He wasn't assigned to the Hoshi, but would probably find himself staying on it until it's next stop. This brought him to his next topic, he had not eaten since the night before on the Shikaku. His stomach growled loudly and wondered if he was to get food any time soon.
 
Nyton stood up and bowed. "Roger that Taii. I will move expeditiously." he replied. He then grabbed his helmet and replaced it as he left the bridge. He began to head back towards the Armor bay to properly store the Armor and retrieve his uniform. As he walked he then opened up a comm window to Masako.

"Kurohoshi-Juni. I'm heading back to the Armor bay to change out. Kotori Taii wants you to see to our guests. They'll need room assignments and a debrief. Since they're not cleared, their access to our mission is limited. Keep them in the dark until further notice. As far as they know we're just an experimental ship fighting the war against the SMX. Nothing else." Nyton radio'd to Masako privately.

When Nyton arrived at the Armor bay he removed his helmet and motioned to the new arrivals. "Westwood-Hei. Nishimura-Hei. I thank you again for your help with the salvage of those torpedoes. These weapons will help return our ship to full combat readiness a lot sooner. At the same time I offer my condolences for your crew mates passing. Their deaths will not be in vain, I assure you. However because of our situation you will not soon be reassigned to a new ship. As such the Taii has given authority so that you two can remain on our ship until such a reassignment can be made. Until then I would like you two to consider the Miharu your new home for however long as needed. Kurohoshi-Juni will be in charge of helping you two get acquainted with the ship." he announced. He gave a welcoming smile to them before he looked over at Masako. "They're all yours Kurohoshi-Juni. Please take good care of them. I'm needed back on the bridge but we will all see each other again. If you will excuse me until then."

With that he went about the process of removing the Daisy Armor. After the unit had been completely removed he donned his uniform and hurried back to the bridge.
 
Having changed out of her Daisy and into an actual bodysuit uniform, Masako smiled politely at Nyton and bowed slightly. "Westwood-Hei, Nishimura-Hei, are you hungry at all? Many of us haven't eaten at all I'm afraid, so I hope you won't mind us stoping by the galley before I show you around the ship," the warrant officer said with a smile on her face. Her raven-black eyes looked back over towards Leutre as well. "I believe you are hungry as well, Veressis-Hei. I believe Freeman-Heisho can survive without you for a while long while you get something to eat. Maybe you can take something down to him as well?"
 
When Yukari received Kotori's transmitted message, she was the only one inside the port decontamination room of the Hoshi. She stood under the hot water, letting it fall around her naked body. Her uniform sat out of the way in the changing room the showers were attached to.

The thin slime of the hemosynthetic fluids was nearly off of her, though she was not thinking about it. The blood of the Mishhu was more at the forefront of her mind ... it was actually the first non-Nekovalkyrja thing she had ever killed. Funny, that. She pushed it out of her mind and leaned against the wall the showerhead was put into.

"May I have just a few minutes more, Taii-san? I am not dressed." With a sigh, Yukari cut the water off, snatching her towel off the rack opposite her and drying herself down.
 
[Wanted to post IC. Now's a better time than most for a "Mizuho Flashback" scene. So pucker up and suck it!]

Unconscious, her body ruptured and broken, Mizuho dreams...

"Miz-"
"What is it, Yushi?" Mizuho's voice came out entirely sharper than she had intended. Yushi's thirty-second-automated-updates were growing rather tiresome.

The navigator's voice stopped rather abruptly - he was not accustomed to such tone from his commander. "...er... we're being... hailed. By the Elysian cruiser."
"Found us, did they?"
"...seems so."
"Patch them through."

Sparing a moment to brush aside fuschia tresses, Mizuho gave a smile which showed much more confidence and daring than she felt. Hell, right now that was her only card. Seion and it's crew relied on her, and if she appeared as weak and hopeless as she felt, well... there would be an issue.

Arms crossed as the disturbingly perfect, starkly avian visage of the Elysian commander showed before her. She recognized him; respected him. And right now, positively despised him for outwitting her.

"You look well, Israfil."
"You look less well, infidel. I have terms of surrender for you."
"Surrendering, are you? I always knew you had a sharp mind."
"...your surrender, Yukisato. Not mine."
"Why would I surrender?"
"Perhaps because we have eleven vessels ready to open fire on you, and your engines are disengaged in an attempt to evade us. You will be treated fairly. Or you can be killed."

Mizuho pursed his lips. "...Hina?"
The pink-eyed neko at the sensors gave a grim nod. Mizuho smiled. "Well, then! It seems you've bested me, Israfil. I'll go quietly. If any of my crew are hurt, expect things to grow more difficult for you."

With that, she cut off the transmission. "...Yushi, we will be boarded by some truly spectacular warriors before too long. I suggest everyone arm themselves and find a pretty niche to fight from."

"And you, Mizuho?"
"I'm going quietly."

Unconsciously, Mizuho struggled in complete futility to move her fingers.
 
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