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

Nyton arrived at the Armor Bay as Masako was suiting up. He finished stripping down and tossed his clothes in a free locker before he started to suit up. "Kurohoshi-Juni we have two confirmed survivors in good condition. One has sighted a third crew member who is suffering from Mishhu infection. Enemy count is unknown. We'll split into two teams. You and Veressis will form one team and focus on salvage while Saito and I focus on securing the survivors. Both teams will destroy any Mishhu we come into contact with. Should the enemy presence be too high then our priority will shift to escape with the two survivors. We'll finish off the enemy with the main cannon."

Nyton finished his Daisy preparations and checked out his weapons payload. Six round magazines for grenade launcher, flares in one of the missle pods. All systems checked out along with defenses, PSC, and propulsions.

Going through her own checklist as she listened to Nyton's briefing, Masako only gave him a small nod as she closed her helmet and sealed it. Bringing up her armor's systems to full capacity, she made another check on her weapons systems which included a LASR with six-round grenade magazine for the launcher, Plasma Rifle with space suite modifications, leg-mounted missile launchers with counter-missiles as payload, and the inclusion of three extra magazines for her LASR she had personally added.

"Claymere-Juni, take care of Saito-Hei. She and Veressis-Hei have yet to take any training sims on the Daisies," she warned with a tone of concern in her voice. "If it comes to hostile actions, you and I are probably the only people out there who can effectively combat any attack." she spoke over her suits communications systems.

Miyoko arrived to the armor bay shortly after the others, toting a small pack of medical supplies. When she saw Leutre, she leaned over, questioning him with a touch of concern in her voice. "We're in a bit of a squeeze, it seems, but do you think you're up to this? If you still feel a bit confused or anything, just say the word and I'll ask that you be left here."

Nyton began to prime the AIES and check over his systems again. "I know. Unfortunately that gives us more work to do but we have no way of avoiding it. I'm not sure how much experience Saito has but Veressis isn't even familiar with Armor operations so he may be more more of a liability." Nyton replied on suit comm system. "Although I suppose his enthusiasm might make up for it."

Leutre gave Miyoko a warm smile. It was an odd thing, having someone genuinely worried about him rather than merely tolerating his presence. Odd, but not unwelcome. "Don't worry. I'll be fine, I always am. You can thank the Lady for that. And it seems you as well... Thank you for your earlier help. I can't remember exactly what I did, but I'm all but certain it was embarrassing."

Stepping forward placed his hands on her shoulder and touched his forehead to hers. He whispered, "Sadalsuud. My sincerest gratitude for being one of the few in this galaxy to tolerate my presence." He stepped back and gave her a slight bow, then turned and entered the armor bay. His father had taught him the importance of taking advantage of others when the opportunity presented itself, but also the duty of returning kindness a hundredfold.

Leutre pushed his thoughts aside when he realized that Nyton and Masako had already changed. Following suit, he quickly stripped and threw his clothes into one of the lockers. While the Daisy armor was somewhat unfamiliar to him, he quickly recalled the the layout of the suit from the technical manuals he had been given. Once he was suited up, he hesitated. He felt the situation finally sink in. His first armor mission. If there was any time he would need the Lady, it was now. Leutre closed his eyes and a deep breath, chanting, "Oh fickle Fortuna, oh Lady Luck, guide us as we run amuck. Listen now, to you I pray, and hope you watch my ass today. Our best we'll give 'er, so please deliver."

Leutre Veressis said:

Stepping forward placed his hands on her shoulder and touched his forehead to hers. He whispered, "Sadalsuud. My sincerest gratitude for being one of the few in this galaxy to tolerate my presence."

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It took the violet-haired Yamataian a good five seconds to decide whether Leutre's gesture was the byproduct of his concussion or a 'normal' thing for him, but in the end she ruled in his favor. Besides, having seen the almost giddy look of excitement on his face as he waited, she got the feeling that telling him to turn back now would just break his little heart, and the straightforward nature of his statement was a welcome turn after the Taii's abrupt kiss.

Shaking off her reverie, Miyoko quickly stripped, loaded up her scant supplies, and staked a Daisy as her own. As the armor sealed around her, she was suddenly struck with apprehension. Let's see if I still know how to use one of these well enough to keep myself alive...

Masako turned and watched the two enlisted begin to suit up, waiting patiently, she turned on her speakers. "Veressis-Hei, you're with me," she ordered calmly. "We're to salvage the torpedoes still onboard the Shikaku before anything else." she explained, bringing up a visual of both Yui-class and the Miharu in her helmet. "The Torpedo Storage Bay should be directly behind Engineering in the Aft of the ship," she went on before looking over at the Miharu section. "We will move the torpedoes to the Power Armor Bays and secure them so that they can be transported to the Ammunition Bays afterwards. Now the Yui 4 has a larger payload of torpedoes in it's Bay than we do in both, so we'll want to take only the AS-7 warheads that are safe enough to transfer back. If we can't find any AS-7's safe enough to bring back, we'll just have to settle for AS-5's." Masako continued to explain before pausing.

"Please concentrate on the salvage operation while we are out there," she then stated. "I'll provide security as you work."

Yukari quickly uploaded all the pertinent information to the armors of Leutre, Miyoko, Masako and Nyton, including the issue of a possible Mishhuvurthyar infection on the ship and the interphase inversion pulse.

The Miharu gently coasted into position, with the CFS expanded to include the Shikaku. "Scalar field removed," she said simply. "Continuing to monitor all frequencies. Armors, report in upon launch."

Kotori stood up from her seat. "Keep monitoring things for now. If you get even a hint of some ghost mishhuvurthyar being around - and that'd be as likely as a torpedo delivered egg-infestation - don't hesitate to use it. It'll be what will give our people a fighting chance against them."

The black-haired nekovalkyrja tightened her yukata's sash and added: "I'm concerned that we might run out of time soon before the next mishhu wave will come around and those people from the 5th XF don't seem to have a plan so far beyond the suicidal 'let's get the refugee ships organized and head away at 90 000c' hoping the rest our forces in Vaalad can save our butts..." she finished in a sing-song, not painting a very respectful picture of her opinion about the Fifth Expeditionary Fleet. Kotori irritably brushed her hair back behind her shoulder: "...so, I'm going to take command of the main hull and disconnect the Hoshi. I believe I have a way of salvaging the situation and prolonging our collective survival, but I need it done quickly. Do you need anything before I go?"

" ... " Yukari did not even turn. "An explanation of what you are doing to begin with would be helpful."

Ryszard continued to float there in silence as he listened to the communique across the 155.055 emergency band. I guess I'm just lucky I didn't run into any infected corpses...all I found were the dead floatsam kind due to decomp. he thought to himself silently.

However, he still kept his hand upon his sidearm just in case something infected did come along and he had to fire upon it. It doesn't hurt to be ready just in case he thought, wasn't that why I put on my AMES suit before reporting to command?

Sazuka Yukari said:

"Westwood-Hei, listen carefully. Set your NSP to grenade effect and step at least five meters away from the injured woman. Put three rounds into the area that is swelling. Do you understand? Three rounds, center of the swelling mass."

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Asher slung his GP-12 over his back and pulled out his standard issue NSP and set it grenade effect. He pointed his NSP at the womans chest and aimed accurately, his hands began to shake... Was he really going to shoot a friendly? He was still unsure exactly what was going on.

What are you doing!? Shoot her! Orders are orders! It'll save your life.

He shook his head, wondering if there was some other way to save her. Could he just put her down just like that?

Yeah, pretty much.

No, it didn't seem right, he didn't even know what was wrong with her. Except... That she was in great pain and that swelling in her chest was looking pretty bad. It began to pile up into his mind until his 'Gang Resolution' set in.

"Screw it, I'll just end her misery." Asher thought aloud, he shot 3 consistent rounds into her swell, and shielded his visor for what would happen next.

As soon as Saito had finished suiting up he opened up a comm line over the Armor channel directly to her. "Saito-Hei, you're with me. Kurohoshi-Juni and Veressis-Hei are going to secure the torpedoes while we go and secure the survivors. If they require medical attention or if we encounter any other survivors in need of attention they will be your priority while I pull security. We've been monitoring communications and have a pin pointed location of the two survivors Westwood and Nishimura-Hei." A small map of the Yui opened up and showed their last known location according to their homing beacons. "Unfortunately Westwood has encountered a possibly infected crew member. Hopefully he was able to receive warning to destroy the infection in time." Nyton explained as he began to withdraw his plasma rifle. "Ready Saito-Hei?" he asked and opened up a line to Kurohoshi to verify everyone was ready.

Leutre nodded. "No worries, I've picked my way through wrecks with leaking reactors, collapsing superstructures, and unexploded warheads riddling the hull. In a spacesuit no less." But armor of the Daisy made it more bulky than the basic vacuum suits he used back home. He silently hoped that he wouldn't unintentionally bump into anything volatile with the extra bulk around him. Still, the Daisy was more agile than he expected, so with a little luck and finesse there wouldn't be any more problems.

Glancing at the others he added, "I do hope everyone will use some discretion however. Even if you see Mishhu, try not to fire they're actually attacking or pose a threat to us. Freshly killed ships tend to be as volatile as minefields but much less predictable. You never know when you might trigger an unexploded warhead, or hit a damaged power system and start a chain reaction..." He bit his lip. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. "And one last thing. No fucking missiles. Ever. Even if you have to resort to unarmed combat, I don't want any missiles fired anywhere near the ship."

Weapons and salvage were always a bad combination, but missiles could collapse entire superstructures with a little bit of ill luck. He himself wouldn't be firing a single shot if at all possible, and he hoped the others would feel the same.

Three bolts flashed out from Asher's NSP, making even brighter explosions as they struck the body and filled the surroundings with barely recognizable charred gore floating around.

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"I intend to seed the zone which causes difficulties for our sensors with several of our probes." Kotori answered Yukari. "With that sort of aid, we should be able to navigate through the place without risk to ourselves and hide from the Misshuvurthyar for a time... or at least claim some situational advantage if we have to stand and fight."

Miyoko double-checked her systems and payload. She'd stuck with only a LASR and countermeasure flares to augment the armor's built-in SMGs- after all, her job here was search and rescue, and the sealed first aid kit she'd elected to bring along in case they ran into any injured survivors would be awkward enough to accomodate in battle anyway. Tentatively flexing an armored hand- well, it seems like I haven't completely forgotten how this works- she broadcasted, "Understood, and I'm ready."

Yukari did not like the idea of the ship splitting ... it weakened both vessels and their respective positions on the battlefield. However, the need for better sensory data was undeniable.

" ... Be cautious," she said. "We will not be able to help you, and I would not like to become the commanding officer." She smiled a little. "White panels suit you best."

She returned to her communication work, monitoring their progress. She was sensors and tactical now, whether she wanted to be or not. "Shikaku Hei-sans, copy please. Status?"

"Nishimura-Hei here, floating by the Sensory Access Corridor and sending any floatsam dead and debris down it so they don't collide or cause me issues." Ryszard answered back to Yukari's request. He shook his head a bit and sighed as he stared up at the ceiling.

Shikaku's starting to feel like a giant, steel coffin now...Hopefully that doesn't end up true. He thought to himself. This was definantly not the part of his job he wanted to have, even if it was bound to have occured at some point. He was just lucky he wasn't infected or dead.

Smiling grimly and nodding towards Leutre, she dismissed the maps from her visor view and turned to Nyton. "All systems are green. Veressis-Hei and I are ready," she reported to Nepleslian.

"Saito-Hei, Claymere-Juni, please be careful," she said as she looked at her two crewmates. Her memory flashed to the young girl she could rescue from the Mishu for a moment before she mentally pushed it away. This wasn't the ambush site, these weren't the same Mishu, and she definitely had more than just one other pilot in a Kylie. She was among her crewmates, no...she was among friends. That thought put her mind to ease as she gripped her LASR and double-checked its condition.

Yukari nodded. "Copy, Nishimura-Hei. Please draw your sidearm and set it to normal; Westwood-Hei encountered a possibly infected crewmembers."