Fred
Retired Staff
Tsuyosa System, Asteroid belt - 12.3 AU away from the sun (null-sensor zone)
YSS Miharu NJ-X1-00
The last afternoon and evening had been spent by the crews feverishly working to restore their ships into fighting trim - though most of them only had for ambition to restore their fold drive systems; depleted as it was, it was unlikely that the Kinkou Carrier Group had the numbers to oppose another Mishhuvurthyar battlegroup.
Asher, Chigusa and Ryszard had spent quality time in their Daisy power armors doing extra-vehicular activities... more precisely manually feeding AS-5 torpedoes retrieved from the Shikaku into the bottom access to the Miharu's rollbar's torpedo launcher. Then they had spent most of their time properly sealing the hull breaches outside the ship, though the latter part was more letting Chigusa work and trying to get used to the Daisy 1B's handling as they tried to shoo away the occasional curious 5th XF Lamia.
When they came back in, more work awaited them. While the Taii was busy tinkering on a power armor, the sprites enlisted their help. Seeing that the weapon pod launchers damaged in the last battle were beyond repair until they got to a spacedock and that the same applied to the Material Collection System in the starboard wing, they instead got to building an Uriko torpedo bomber craft in the port multi-function bay.
It was particularly back breaking work for the most part... and by the time the day was through, the craft was done and armed.
After Kotori had learned that Mizuho had come to, she wasted no time in having the NH-17 dressed and putting her to work... though it was a different kind of work. After Mizuho had been given the mandatory task of watering the plants in the observation deck, the Taii had given her manuals (real books) which pretty much stood as user manuals to the operation of the Miharu.
Kotori had Mizuho read the manuals chapter to chapter sitting close by as she and Masako were taking the pains to take a serious look at how they could work with their new power armors, with special focus on the plethora of new configurations the Mindy II could accommodate. When Mizuho was done with a chapter of the manuals, Kotori stopped her tinkering to quiz her on the content she had read - making sure that her hired consultant was up to speed on the operational capabilities of the ship.
Miyoko and Leutre spent most of their time in the port cargo bay studying over the debris from the new Mishhuvurthyar phasing scoutships. Their best bet lied in the torn remnant of one of the wings which housed the gravimetric drives of the late scout. Thanks to Leutre's knack at tinkering with very little, they managed to restore the engine drive to a semblance of functionality which allowed Miyoko to glean much more detailed readings on it, now that there was no stealth material to get in the way.
It wasn't enough to determine how the ship's phase system really functioned, but from the adjustments Leutre made on the engine, Miyoko managed to piece out a way to alter the Miharu's transphasic torpedoes so that they might be able to deal the scoutships significant harm even when cloaked. Though the modifications would seriously impair the AS-5's shield-piercing capabilities if done... the lack of any potent protective shielding on the SMX scouts made this a minor concern.
The day was probably harshest on Tom Freeman. The blond yamataian technician ended up being in the subdeck for most of the rest of the day working on the ship's inner workings. There was the fold drive that was needed to escape the system, but there was also the matter of the malfunctioning CFS units which still worked below specifications. The cloud's silver lining was that not only did he had the quiet support and competent assistance of both Ichigo and Nimura, but whenever Tom had to make adjustments to the CFS units, he often got to hear Yukari's voice as he needed to coordinate his work with her for getting the best results out of the recalibrations.
Though the day had started with a mountainload of work for Tom, continually picking at it eventually made it look like a challenge that could be conquered as long as he focused on the essentials instead of being overwhelmed by it all. Again, just getting to hear Yukari's voice from time to time and exchange some witty banter with her likely helped not only pass the time, but also helped cope with the pressure too.
On the bridge, Nyton and Yukari probably had the easiest time. Kotori had pointedly declared she wanted them to remain sharp since both would be pivotal into dealing with a major crisis. Yukari had the task of looking over the crew rosters of the assembled vessels in order to find likely candidates that could help with the takeover of the expected Black Spiral vessel; as well as assisting Tom with the optimization of the Miharu's combined field system.
Nyton, on the other hand, was given the choice of either continuing his investigation concerning the Black Spiral (namely the topic of Amaya's Gate) or getting used to the tacticalconsole so he could perform better in the coming battle. Seeing he had seen a lot of action already, the Nepleslian had returned to his notes and began cross-referencing what he knew about Naraku and how this tied up with Amaya, the blond woman with strong ESP capabilities whom had been rescued by Taisho Ashigari.
However, the arrival of Hinoto - the Hoshi's first sprite - got him sidetracked as she offered to help him with combat simulations. The newly born white-haired sprite exhibited a gentle, soft demeanor with contrasted somewhat with Mara's more upbeat attitude. However, with a font of seemingly endless patience, she helped him improve his performance at the tactical station considerably by doing several simulations with him (her often controlling the 'bad mishhus').
Hinoto's gentle insights and stingless rebukes when he stumbled helped him considerably in getting the hang of the tactical station, but more importantly, the power he wielded with it. How to accurately aim area effect weapons, how to track a swiftly moving target with the main gun and how to quickly assign targets to the ship's many weapon pods and turreted cannons was starting to be like second nature to him.
<center>* * *</center>
The next morning, the Miharu and the small ragtag flotilla from the Fifth Expeditionary Fleet still floated amongst the asteroids generating the null-sensor area. The morning was peaceful enough, though the tension crackling in the air hinted at hidden danger.
After breakfast, Kotori had quickly assigned tasks to her crew:
Tom was to enlist the people under his supervision to help him with the dishes, then help him with the laundry and then get to engineering and try to get that fold drive system back into working order.
Nyton and Masako were to prepare to make a sortie in power armor. Both had been on a Nozomi-class vessel once, so, Kotori wanted them to try get the ship's combat arms personnel (which this time around included Miyoko, Mara and Mizuho) ready for such an assault.
In the meantime, Yukari, Hinoto and she would remain on the bridge and monitor the situation, with Yukari continuing to dig around for the personnel Kotori had asked for as well as to find a way to transfer them over.
<center>* * *</center>
"Chui?"
The soft voice interrupted Yukari's monitoring of the probe network. Sitting in the station to her right, Hinoto - the newborn sprite with silver eyes and a snow-like countenance - was lightly pushing a volumetric window her way.
"I narrowed down our choices to only a few candidates within the Fifth Expeditionary, as you requested." The sprite smiled, "Two candidates seem ideal; as they are not of high rank, are non-nekovalkyrja and are only recently assigned onboard a freighter; I do not believe anyone will adamantly argue against their reassignment or that they will be missed."
On the holographic display were the files for "Takuma, Jôtô Hei" and "Ito Rei-Santô Hei".
YSS Miharu NJ-X1-00
The last afternoon and evening had been spent by the crews feverishly working to restore their ships into fighting trim - though most of them only had for ambition to restore their fold drive systems; depleted as it was, it was unlikely that the Kinkou Carrier Group had the numbers to oppose another Mishhuvurthyar battlegroup.
Asher, Chigusa and Ryszard had spent quality time in their Daisy power armors doing extra-vehicular activities... more precisely manually feeding AS-5 torpedoes retrieved from the Shikaku into the bottom access to the Miharu's rollbar's torpedo launcher. Then they had spent most of their time properly sealing the hull breaches outside the ship, though the latter part was more letting Chigusa work and trying to get used to the Daisy 1B's handling as they tried to shoo away the occasional curious 5th XF Lamia.
When they came back in, more work awaited them. While the Taii was busy tinkering on a power armor, the sprites enlisted their help. Seeing that the weapon pod launchers damaged in the last battle were beyond repair until they got to a spacedock and that the same applied to the Material Collection System in the starboard wing, they instead got to building an Uriko torpedo bomber craft in the port multi-function bay.
It was particularly back breaking work for the most part... and by the time the day was through, the craft was done and armed.
After Kotori had learned that Mizuho had come to, she wasted no time in having the NH-17 dressed and putting her to work... though it was a different kind of work. After Mizuho had been given the mandatory task of watering the plants in the observation deck, the Taii had given her manuals (real books) which pretty much stood as user manuals to the operation of the Miharu.
Kotori had Mizuho read the manuals chapter to chapter sitting close by as she and Masako were taking the pains to take a serious look at how they could work with their new power armors, with special focus on the plethora of new configurations the Mindy II could accommodate. When Mizuho was done with a chapter of the manuals, Kotori stopped her tinkering to quiz her on the content she had read - making sure that her hired consultant was up to speed on the operational capabilities of the ship.
Miyoko and Leutre spent most of their time in the port cargo bay studying over the debris from the new Mishhuvurthyar phasing scoutships. Their best bet lied in the torn remnant of one of the wings which housed the gravimetric drives of the late scout. Thanks to Leutre's knack at tinkering with very little, they managed to restore the engine drive to a semblance of functionality which allowed Miyoko to glean much more detailed readings on it, now that there was no stealth material to get in the way.
It wasn't enough to determine how the ship's phase system really functioned, but from the adjustments Leutre made on the engine, Miyoko managed to piece out a way to alter the Miharu's transphasic torpedoes so that they might be able to deal the scoutships significant harm even when cloaked. Though the modifications would seriously impair the AS-5's shield-piercing capabilities if done... the lack of any potent protective shielding on the SMX scouts made this a minor concern.
The day was probably harshest on Tom Freeman. The blond yamataian technician ended up being in the subdeck for most of the rest of the day working on the ship's inner workings. There was the fold drive that was needed to escape the system, but there was also the matter of the malfunctioning CFS units which still worked below specifications. The cloud's silver lining was that not only did he had the quiet support and competent assistance of both Ichigo and Nimura, but whenever Tom had to make adjustments to the CFS units, he often got to hear Yukari's voice as he needed to coordinate his work with her for getting the best results out of the recalibrations.
Though the day had started with a mountainload of work for Tom, continually picking at it eventually made it look like a challenge that could be conquered as long as he focused on the essentials instead of being overwhelmed by it all. Again, just getting to hear Yukari's voice from time to time and exchange some witty banter with her likely helped not only pass the time, but also helped cope with the pressure too.
On the bridge, Nyton and Yukari probably had the easiest time. Kotori had pointedly declared she wanted them to remain sharp since both would be pivotal into dealing with a major crisis. Yukari had the task of looking over the crew rosters of the assembled vessels in order to find likely candidates that could help with the takeover of the expected Black Spiral vessel; as well as assisting Tom with the optimization of the Miharu's combined field system.
Nyton, on the other hand, was given the choice of either continuing his investigation concerning the Black Spiral (namely the topic of Amaya's Gate) or getting used to the tacticalconsole so he could perform better in the coming battle. Seeing he had seen a lot of action already, the Nepleslian had returned to his notes and began cross-referencing what he knew about Naraku and how this tied up with Amaya, the blond woman with strong ESP capabilities whom had been rescued by Taisho Ashigari.
However, the arrival of Hinoto - the Hoshi's first sprite - got him sidetracked as she offered to help him with combat simulations. The newly born white-haired sprite exhibited a gentle, soft demeanor with contrasted somewhat with Mara's more upbeat attitude. However, with a font of seemingly endless patience, she helped him improve his performance at the tactical station considerably by doing several simulations with him (her often controlling the 'bad mishhus').
Hinoto's gentle insights and stingless rebukes when he stumbled helped him considerably in getting the hang of the tactical station, but more importantly, the power he wielded with it. How to accurately aim area effect weapons, how to track a swiftly moving target with the main gun and how to quickly assign targets to the ship's many weapon pods and turreted cannons was starting to be like second nature to him.
<center>* * *</center>
The next morning, the Miharu and the small ragtag flotilla from the Fifth Expeditionary Fleet still floated amongst the asteroids generating the null-sensor area. The morning was peaceful enough, though the tension crackling in the air hinted at hidden danger.
After breakfast, Kotori had quickly assigned tasks to her crew:
Tom was to enlist the people under his supervision to help him with the dishes, then help him with the laundry and then get to engineering and try to get that fold drive system back into working order.
Nyton and Masako were to prepare to make a sortie in power armor. Both had been on a Nozomi-class vessel once, so, Kotori wanted them to try get the ship's combat arms personnel (which this time around included Miyoko, Mara and Mizuho) ready for such an assault.
In the meantime, Yukari, Hinoto and she would remain on the bridge and monitor the situation, with Yukari continuing to dig around for the personnel Kotori had asked for as well as to find a way to transfer them over.
<center>* * *</center>
"Chui?"
The soft voice interrupted Yukari's monitoring of the probe network. Sitting in the station to her right, Hinoto - the newborn sprite with silver eyes and a snow-like countenance - was lightly pushing a volumetric window her way.
"I narrowed down our choices to only a few candidates within the Fifth Expeditionary, as you requested." The sprite smiled, "Two candidates seem ideal; as they are not of high rank, are non-nekovalkyrja and are only recently assigned onboard a freighter; I do not believe anyone will adamantly argue against their reassignment or that they will be missed."
On the holographic display were the files for "Takuma, Jôtô Hei" and "Ito Rei-Santô Hei".