RP: YSS Miharu Mission 1 "REAR GUARD", Day 5

Nyton set Kotori down on the examination table carefully before he released her but he kept a hand on her back to steady her in case she began to tumble over. Nyton knew Kotori was very strong and the fact that she was still concious in the face of such intense pain was a testament to this. However he could not help but feel that her porcelain doll like features made her appear very frail at the moment.

Miyoko nodded her consent to the MEGAMI's recommendation. "Very well. Nothing invasive. It might actually be best to only do what passive scans you can at first, just to make sure that nothing is seriously wrong in there before beginning more detailed scans."

She glanced over to Nyton. "If she begins showing any signs of pain, could you be ready to pull her off of the table? Without knowing what set off the backup device in the first place, it's hard to know how this will effect her."

With that, the science specialist pulled up a volumetric window showing the data from the medlab scanners and signaled the imaging to begin.

The instruments began taking readings of the patient; Kotori seemed fine, except from her nervous system having sustained a shock that her own self-restoration functions were struggling to recuperate from. The brain activity, aside from some understandable agitation and signs of what could be a very bad migraine, also seemed to check out as promising.

Without accessing Kotori's SPINE interface to access her own software operating system logs, there wasn't much more that Miyoko could find out.

All things considered, Kotori had survived the whole incident much better than the ST reader device.

"Well," Miyoko turned the scanners off and closed the window, "it seems that you're fine, just a bit shaken up. Maybe a very light diffuse brain injury, but nothing that should have long-term effects. Let me know first thing if you start experiencing any more symptoms, though... and I can probably find something for the dizziness and nausea, if you'd like. Also, with your permission, I'd like to continue the backups, pending an inspection of the Hoshi medlab backup center by one of the technicians."

She wasn't going to be taking any chances with this one. The malfunction alone was suspicious, but the fact that it had happened to the highest-ranking person onboard made her thoughts go into a realm entirely beyond suspicion. That the Miharu said that the equipment wasn't malfunctioning brought three possible conclusions to her mind--either the equipment had managed to malfunction in some spectacular way that even the quantum computer didn't notice, something about Kotori had triggered the reaction and the device was working fine otherwise, or the event was part of a deliberate sabotage and the MEGAMI had possibly been compromised too. She didn't want to think too much about that last one--it already felt like half of the galaxy was against them. Having to fight their own ship too wasn't a good prospect.

Desperation.

It was not a quality welcome in a military. Desperation in soldiers suggested a lack of discipline. A battle is not going well? Retreat to better circumstances. The enemy is closing in? Utilize a defensive strategy. Ambush? Counter-attack swiftly and with form. In commanders, it suggested either arrogance, incompetence or both.

Tempered properly, desperation was an energy source. A motivator. Something to be exploited. It was determination.

What Yukari saw before her, in the five simulations Kotori had drawn up, carried all the hallmarks of a determined commander -- well-thoughtout plans, plenty of research, careful simulations. Kotori was doing what Kotori was known for doing -- being ready before being dead. It was a comforting feeling, or would have been.

What Yukari saw between the navigation ticks and wire lines of the giant Mishhu flagship bled desperation. It was not gushing, but it was there. It was not desperation to survive, either, but desperation to win.

The note said it all. "Can you do this Yuka?" Do what? the officer asked herself. Do something entirely foolhardy? Something that would send us to Chiharu-sama?

Skill was not a factor; neither was self-confidence. Yukari was not unsure she could actually do what the last simulation suggested; she knew she could not do it. The maneuver necessary was simple, much like a flake of soap spirals around a sink drain before sliding down. Dodging the beams, assuming the flagship did not catch on to the maneuver, required only a small space to bounce about within. The torpedoes only needed quick reflexes to spoil; the second WARMS alerted her, she would dodge. She was a Nekovalkyrja; she was that good.

But the assumptions ran too high. If other ships were sacrificing themselves to aid the Miharu; if the flagship did not change firing patterns; if the anti-FTL field was not up; if, if, if. All plans had some measure of assumption in them, but this was ... a lot. Too much. It was not a plan at all; none of them was. It was arrogance.

Yukari just shook her head. She was taking things too seriously, again. Kotori was probably bored, or frustrated. There was no harm in simulations, was there? Taking time to filter ideas, purify them, strengthen them, was all part of being a dedicated and determined commander.

She went back to her work. But ... the feeling would not leave her alone. Kotori was cool under pressure, but she was also immature, angry and proud. She was o-Samurai, incomplete, but still o-Samurai. Kotori did not take loss well. Was this a sign of her need for revenge? For what Melisson did to her, to Hanako.

... There was no way to bring up the subject lightly. Yukari resolved to wait for the most opportune moment to speak with her commander. For now, she pushed the simulations aside again, not wishing to consider them.

Her work was soon interrupted by Miharu's notice of a strange occurrance in the medlab.

"Eh ... ?" Yukari frowned at the message, not understanding. She put her headset on. "Suzuka-Chui to medlab, is all well?"

Nyton heard Yukari request a status update and replied. "There was a strange malfunction when Kotori Taii used the ST device. She only suffered minor injuries and will be alright. We are still attempting to discover the nature of the malfunction. Until then the ST device here is out of service."

After he finished his reply he looked at Miyoko and narrowed his eyes. "This is a very odd coincidence indeed. Let's also have our resident OS expert take a look at this. There may have been a signal within the computer program itself that glitched and caused this incident."

Deep down however he feared that perhaps Black Spiral had somehow infected their ship.

"Acknowledged, Claymere-Juni." Yukari looked ahead for a moment at her monitors, then cut the link, with an added order to monitor the situation.

"Miharu-san, please run a safe full-spectrum scan of the vessel. Also, have any updates or incidents occurred outside within the sensor net?"

"Scanning... no, we haven't received any alert from the sensor net or from the Lamias patrolling the perimeter." Miharu paused and then added: "I can see nothing reading as anomalous - correction: Leutre is pretty much an anomaly... but there doesn't seem to be anything worse than a wierd nepleslian on scanners."

Yukari's grin was insufferable; she sighed through it. "Miharu-san ... thank you. And your humor is very good." She started her duties again.

"Don't be so worrisome Claymere. If this is a saboteur then they must be an overly cautious or completely incompetent one, because if you can't even permanently incapacitate a person how do you expect break an entire ship?" Leutre ranted loudly as he began to work the locking the mechanisms around the covering of the ST backup device. "I mean if I were going to sabotage the ship I'd have popped the safety systems on those torps we brought in and threw in a detonator somewhere, then buggered out in an armor or shuttle. Ba-boom, end of Miharu. If anyone asks when I'm picked up I'd just blame it on damaged ordnance. It sounds crude, I know, but it's better to do things loudly than incompetently, neh? Ah, here we go."

Leutre felt the seal of the unit's covering release. He hoped and prayed it wasn't the kind of saboteur cunning enough to use booby traps, or that there was a powerful current going through the system. Not likely, he thought as he finally lifted the covering away. But I really, really hate losing fingers.

Leutre's casual demeanor during a rather serious moment irritated Nyton and he struggled to hide it. "As usual you're missing the obvious. If this is indeed some sort of sabotage and not a strange error then it would appear to be more of a targeted assasination attempt. What better target to eliminate then the Taii herself? Especially since she is also a member of the royal family."

Something hit Nyton after his statement. He then looked directly at Kotori with a concerned look. "Wait, doesn't Black Spiral have an ST backup of your personality already? If they wanted to they could make more than one clone of you like the one we fought back at Lor. And if they eliminated the original then it would be all the easier to sow discord again." He shook his head as though trying to dispell his paranoia. "Maybe I'm just running off with wild theories again but we should check the status of your ST backup as well. It may have been altered or deleted."

Nyton thought for a moment and adopted an altered thinking stance with one hand at the chin and the other supporting Kotori. "Veressis, just what did you find out about the ST device? Any anomalous activity that occurred during Ketsurui-Taii's ST procedure?"

Nyton's words elicited distress in Kotori's eyes for a moment. "My last ST backup was back on the Sakura just before the Battle of Lor." She finally said, closing her eyes shut. "I didn't even know the Miharu existed then - I doubt even if the Black Spiral would have had captured the Sakura that they'd have up to date information on me."

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What Leutre found inside was a crispy-looking sensors receptors along with a few burnt resistances. If the ST reader had been meant as a murder weapon, it was a pretty inefficient and clumsy way to go and injure someone. It was like someone had placed a mirror between it and Kotori and let it backup itself, for lack of a better metaphor.

Maybe the Taii's neural map had been so ugly the ST reader decided to burn itself out instead of recording it? Whimsy aside, it really almost looked like that.

Leutre looked at Nyton as if he has just said something incredibly stupid, but hesitated to actually say anything out of fear he would seek out vengeance later. Instead he turned his attentions to appraising the scorched circuitry more closely. "Well, it appears that the ST backup system did not properly interface with the Taii's neural net. Rather, the signal just bounced back and made the device fry itself out."

"Whether it's due to more sloppy shipyard workers or sabotage I cannot say, but assuming foul play; If someone had at their disposal the ability to compromise a ST backup system without detection, then I'd imagine they would have the resources to pull off something much less...well, less sloppy, for lack of a better word. Even having someone to repeatedly bash her over the head with a fuel pipe would have been a more effective way of killing her. No, the only real reason you should want to do deliberately do something as messy as this would be not to kill the Taii herself but to kill the ST backup system."

Leutre paused for a moment as he weighed his own statement, but found the conclusion quite unsettling. "But the only probable reason to do the latter ... would be to make her open to a forthcoming assassination -- oh, those clever fucking gobshites!" He swore angrily. After a moment he remembered the presence of his superior officers, and lowered his voice to a more respectful tone. "Err, s-sorry. Perhaps it really is just another sterling example of sloppy shipyard construction crews, or maybe my paranoia is just running rampant again. But as I always say, 'Trust the invidious to discern insidious plots, since we betrayers know well of treacherous thoughts.'"

Nyton actually looked at Kotori with an incredulous look. "You haven't had an ST made since you left the Sakura?" he said in surprised outburst. "I know I talk about preserving my life but I still try to keep my ST as up to date as possible."

He then nodded his head to Kotori. "However I do agree with your conclusion. Even if they do get a hold of your ST from the Sakura it would not have any information on the Miharu. And since the Miharu is currently independant from Pantheon then we should not be at risk for having our data hijacked."

The situation was all too convenient. With an impending assault on a Black Spiral ship they did not need this to detract from their operations tempo.

Nyton thought this while Leutre let out his rant. He tried to pick out the parts that made sense. "If the method you found is how you say then I suppose we should run a scan on her systems to ensure it is not the source of the error. If the sabotage was left to destroy the system from dry dock then it would have blown up a lot sooner. Too random if it were supposed to be a targeted kill. If this were meant to destroy the ST system then we should definately examine the one on the Hoshi before it is used. We'll have you run some diagnostics on that one to ensure it is properly functioning."

A rather 'insidious' thought crossed Nyton's mind and he narrowed his eyes but raised his eyebrows with amusement. "Or maybe we should have you detained on the suspicion of treachery." he said while cooly drawing his pistol and aiming it towards Leutre. He made sure the safety was on before pointing it but the threat was much the same considering the distance they now had between each other. "After all, you seem to be the one with the most disdain towards the Taii. Plus you are a technician and capable of pulling off such a stunt. The whole brash demeanor and foolish antics could be just what an assasin would do to throw everyone off so as not to suspect him. Besides, how did that limerick of yours go again? 'Since betrayers know treacherous thoughts?' I would say your big mouth has gotten you into trouble again has it not?"

A slight chuckle escaped from Nyton's lips. "I don't think we have the time for this nonsense. Our position is tenuous and our survival is still in question. Our commander has just suffered unknown injury through uncertain means. We don't even know what force of enemy we are going to encounter let alone when they are going to arrive." He then lowered his pistol. "Unless the Miharu herself is against us then we would have been alerted to any sabotage being inflicted on her by the crew. The only one who could tell the Miharu to look the other way would be Kotori herself. So unless she is the one who inflicted this on herself then we must find some means to solve this riddle. Fast."

"If we rule out sabotage and MEGAMI working against us--because, let's face it, we'd be dead if she wanted us dead--then the most logical answer seems to be that something about her caused it. That doesn't make much sense, though. If they planted something in her head to make it mess up ST backup devices, it would have been ten times easier to outright kill her instead." Miyoko sighed at the complexity of the problem. "Might I suggest that we head toward the Hoshi medlab while we discuss this? Whatever caused it, it's still imperative that we get the backups done before we're forced into combat."

Kotori struggled to get back into a sitting position, opening her eyes. "Claymere-Juni, reholster your weapon immediately. I will not have us go for each others throats just on the ground of suspicions when all we've been hatching are wild conspiracy theories. That's not cunning - it's simply rash." Kotori hissed in exasperation. "Do you not remember there was a ghost mishhuvurthyar moving in the passageways just above our heads and tampering with the ship's sensors? If there was tampering, it could have been done then."

Kotori looked from the corner of her eye at Miyoko. "The medlab in the Hoshi was made very recently by the nodal system... no one could have had really tampered with it or had the time to. So, sabotage there is not as likely as here; we'll rule out the computers acting against us and as unlikely as it seems, Occam's Razor does hint I could be the source." Kotori frowned. "If that's the case, Saito-Hei should go on doing the rest of the backup and run me after all are done to make sure everyone can pass."

"Well, that doesn't give me much hope for the future," Tom flatly replied. "The systems down here were seriously wrecked. If they are the most standard ones here, then things are going to get ugly if something not-so-standard decides to break on us."

Another plate clicked into place. The loud, singular sound made him stop for a moment.

"Hey, do you think we can get a little light music on down here? Maybe some classical or jazz that I can get my work on to?"

"Of course." Miharu replied to Tom. A volumetric window opened in from of him with listing of the genres he requested, which opened to submenus of their own whom had extensive songlists. "My database has the following for you to select from."

MARKED

Yukari could not help but smirk from her position on the bridge. She was, of course, keeping very small tabs on everyone on the ship, just in case, as Miharu had done for her when the ST machine had broken down.

When she noticed Tom was attempting to play some music, she could not help herself. As Tom looked at the list, it suddenly started scrolling all by itself. It then settled on one song, labeled under "Yukari's Karaoke Power!"

Snare drums snapped over the speakers. In Yukari's voice, strangely enough, though much more "stretched," very rock'n'roll.

...

Before Miharu was about to remind her about the work Kotori had left her, Yukari failed to stiffle a triumphant giggle. Dutifully, she then returned to what she had been ordered to do.

Nyton chuckled and complied with Kotori's command. "As you wish. In that case let's get the rest of the ST backups done immediately. By the time the rest of the crew is done hopefully you will feel well enough to scan a little further."

That was worth the wrist slap. If we weren't in such a serious dilemma I would have enjoyed going on for a while longer. Nyton thought as he secretly relished his moment of indiscretion.