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

Yukari shivered under the cold water of the showerhead. Her hair was very good at soaking up lots of water, but she was far, far more used to showers. She hadn't been in a bath in ... she did not remember.

Part of her avoidance of them was the cold washing that came before the actual bath. Even though she was mostly Japanese in a cultural sense, the bathing-before-bathing concept was lost on her. Showering was easier, and didn't involve cold water. The scrubbing was also anything but soothing; she was simply not accustomed to letting someone else wash her. Such was the upbringing of a Nekovalkyrja on a starship.

"The Taii saw this view, from my cabin," Yukari said, wincing. Her SPINE tingled a little under the washing. "For her to request it over a view of the Empress' Palace ... it must mean something to her." She sniffed.

"That is also a good point Mara-san," Masako replied with a frown as she thought of it again. "The asteroid idea would take too long to set up, it's not ideal for a quick insertion," the warrant officer sighed as she scratched the tip of her ear in thought. Why hadn't she seen that before?

Blinking, the pitch-black eyes of the Nekovalkryja warrant officer spied the two newcomers from ther corner of her eye. Turning to see them create their superiors politely, the young Kurohoshi allowed herself to smile and nodded her head in greeting. "Welcome, Kimura-Hei and Ito-Hei. We are planning for an operation at the moment, so please sit with us." the short neko motioned to the two Yamataians.

She then looked at Mara again and scratched the tip of her ear. "Well then, Mara-san. What would you suggest the teams be?" the neko asked curiously.

Nyton gestured to the newcomers and nodded in greeting so as to acknowledge everyone's attendance. He then furrowed his brow and let out a quick sigh. "How long would it take us to just shatter a few asteroids to make a field of rocks? We don't need giant rocks, just fist sized rocks would do if we make it thick enough. If we blast a couple asteroids with our cannons we should have enough rocks." Nyton said as he looked at Mara. He then faced Masako and brought up a list of Armor payloads for both the Daisy and Mindy.

"The Mindy's Aether beam rifle should be capable of cutting through the armored floor of the monitor room to the MEGAMI core. After that just a few blasts from a scalar pulse cannon will fry the MEGAMI electronics. To knock out the bridge crew a phased pusle rifle would work. Both weapons are fairly standard Mindy payloads. Should things require more destruction then a missle pod attachment could be used to suppress personnel and even the NIWS if it should happen to be on the bridge. It probably won't be enough to kill it but the explosions should prevent a confrontation until the MEGAMI is destroyed." Nyton said as he brought up each weapon, the weapon's destructive output, and point location on a Mindy.

"If Kurohoshi and Mara work in tandem they could cover each other while they destroy the MEGAMI and knock out the bridge crew. Both Mindys would carry the same payload should one of them be killed so that the mission can still be completed. In the event that one of them is disabled and the MEGAMI is not destroyed then the remaining member would have to determine whether or not she can continue or not. If it is determined that she cannot complete her mission then they shall escape by some means and call in heavy fire support. We will use the Miharu's main cannon in beam mode to slice through the bridge and make it easier to assault the MEGAMI." Nyton said as he continued his explanation then showed the Miharu positioned to use the main weapon.

Nyton then displayed the stats for the rest of the team. "The Daisy Armors would have the standard payload. The forearm mounted pulse energy weapons can be used to lay down suppressive fire. One fire team member would spray with the pulse energy weapons while another would work together with the plasma rifle to destroy harder targets. When we encounter the Mindy force the weapon of choice will be the plasma rifles. We don't know if we'll be able to force them to a fight within the bay or outside but we'll try and use the asteroid to force our way into the bay. If the entire team is able to infiltrate the bay, the Mindys will be forced to fight us inside where they will be more contained. In the event that the team is unable to force their way into the bay then they should regroup back at the Miharu to perform ship defense and wait for confirmation of the destruction of the MEGAMI. If they do manage to file into the bay then the first line would fire off missles to try and set off the weapon racks. Plasma fire bursts will be used to lay down cover. Once the team is inside and the Mindy force is engaged the majority will face off with the Mindys while three Armors will cover the entrance and cut off anyone who attempts to enter. The Mindy will fight defensively and provide cover to the Daisy's while anticipating the NIWS arrival. Each member must watch each other's backs in case the Mindys try to use their teleportation to outflank us. If we cannot push in and secure the bay then we can use our missles to blast our way out and regroup at the Miharu for ship defense." Nyton had the holowindow schematic of the Nozomi pointing out possible retreat routes such as the main launch port or their entry point.

Nyton then pointed to it again and focused in on the launch bay. "Once the bay is secured then we can begin to fill in through the main hallways. There are two main halls connected to each other. The Daisy team would be able to use the corridors to set up a perimeter and lay down suppressive fire while they advanced. Mini-missles can be guided in to clear out rooms. By this time we would likely encounter the Mindy team from the other bay. If they attack through the halls they won't have as much room to maneuver or use for teleportation to outflank us. They may attempt to retake the bay and attack us from behind. Our Daisy force could split up and sweep through both halls but then we would leave one team vulnerable should the NIWS attack the Daisy team without the Mindy. This limits our speed of engagement and forces us to keep our firepower together." Nyton drew out several dots travelling together through the main hall of the Nozomi. "However we would only have to pull security in two directions: directly in front and to the rear. Any room we encounter enroute would be cleared with missles before we continue. When the NIWS arrives the team members facing it would begin to concentrate fire on one side of the hallway to give the Mindy a corridor to engage the NIWS and teleport it away to a predetermined point. The Mindy duo should have already knocked out the MEGAMI. If they failed to do so yet then the predetermined point will have weapon pods and our main weapon set up to provide fire support to the Mindy. If the Mindy duo was successful then they will be there waiting to engage the NIWS and triple team it. After they have destroyed it they will return to the Nozomi and continue the assault. If they fail then the Miharu must capture it with the tractor beam and attempt to destroy it with it's weapon systems."

Nyton let out a breath and looked again at the schematic. "If there is a second NIWS on the ship then our Daisy team will lay down a fire pattern all around the hallway and retreat. One of the Mindys that was already waiting at the predetermined point should already have it's teleportation system charged and will return to provide more fire support until it's system is recharged. Once it is ready it can teleport away the NIWS and the Miharu can attempt to hold it in place with it's tractor beam. Should all the NIWS be destroyed and the Mindy still able to fight then they will be called back to the Nozomi and continue the assault. Again, if the assault fails then the Daisy team will retreat from the ship and regroup at the Miharu for ship defense."

Nyton looked at everyone and hit a fist into an open palm. "If we act quickly we can do this. The asteroid plan will take the most time to implement but if we start pulverizing asteroids now then we'll have enough debris ready to create the field around the Miharu." he said firmly. "Anymore questions?"

Sigurd made a gesture to get Nyton's attention. "I will play devil's advocate, sir." The custodian paused a moment and then said: "The asteroid field debris has the drawback of seriously impeding the straightforward progress of power armor transit; a thick enough field to limit the teleporter module of the Black spiral Mindy armor will likely in turn promise a battering ride from point A to point B at any respectable combat speed. Furthermore, it will prevent the our Mindy assets to latch on the NIWS and teleport out safely and that facet of the plan to eliminate the NIWS was the most potent solution that has been devised so far."

"Furthermore, our two new mission specialist have had training in demolition and Takuma-Hei has a Kessaku certification," Sigurd continued. "It leads me to believe that the Taii wasn't as concerned with capturing the Black Spiral ship's crew as she was to obtain the computer database inside it. Usage of scalar weapons will indeed disable the Integrated Electronic Suite, but it will also in turn fry it and make it next to useless."

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"Ah. I think I understand, though I cannot begin to know the Taii's motives," Hinoto replied to Yukari. The sprite moved on to wash Yukari's side and then stroke over the length of her arms.

"Are you and the Taii close?" The sprite asked, trying to make conversation.

Yukari's eyes kind of zoned forward, half-lidded, a warm glaze settling over her irises as she thought about it. "I do not know," she said, almost blushing. The smile on her face suggested something entirely different.

"She is my only friend. I have had one before, but she died, I believe. The Taii is my friend now. If that means we are close, then we are close ... but I do not know."

Yukari put her head to her raised knees. "Is it wrong to love a friend, Hinoto-san? Love someone you have known less than a year?"

Nyton looked over to Sigurd. "I mentioned earlier that the insertion team would use an asteroid as cover and concealment. The same asteroid will be used to push through the rocky field and strike the Mindy bay before entrance is made. Our predetermined jump point for our anti-NIWS strategy will be cleared but only upon the start of the operation. The combined field will be used to clear and establish our point for the Mindys to use. If our pilots think it is within their ability they may want to try and have the Miharu hold one larger rock in place and jump the NIWS into it." He then quickly brought up another window with Takuma's record file on it. "The Mindy team will proceed to knock out the bridge crew and cut open access to the MEGAMI. They will then secure the area while the Daisy team escorts Takuma-Hei to the monitor room where he can then hack into the MEGAMI and capture their data. Once Takuma is in the monitor room the two Mindys will cover him while the Daisy team sweeps through the ship and eliminates the rest of the crew." he concluded.

Nyton then looked over at Takuma. "Takuma-Hei, how much time and what equipment will you need to capture the MEGAMI and procure all the data they have? Will it even be necessary for the Mindys to cut open access to the MEGAMI or can you do it from the monitor room? If they don't have to then that is more time they can devote to securing the area. Are there any special instructions they will need to make this process easier for you?"

Hinoto moved around Yukari and continued to wash. She actually went over the breasts, though she wasn't really giving them any sort of attention that could be considered sensual. She just did it with care.

"I am not sure. I figure I could be too young to have a good opinion on this, regardless." Hinoto said. She paused, frowned and added: "I was under the impression you were a little bit afraid of her."

Yukari blushed a little, but she did not respond untowardly from the attention. "Afraid of her ... when she is a Taii. When she is Kotori, she is the best of company. You could not compute a person like her. She is singular ... she is Kotori. I am sure of that."

Hinoto gave Yukari a slightly confused look before moving on to scrub the length of Yukari's legs. "You are sure she is Kotori?" She asked uncertainly.

Takuma thought to himself for a minute. "It will be necessary to open access to the MEGAMI to power it down, or it could just turn itself back on again. That would still only require about two people. While everyone else is securing the bridge and other sectors, Ito-Hei and I could cut our way into the computer."

"As for equipment... a small computer to hold all the information will suffice. If their computer systems go up in flames, it could also be of use as a back-up computer. I estimate that after cutting into the room, I could get the data and the MEGAMI in around 3 minutes, including the lost time as the MEGAMI throws every it can at me."

"By the time the Daisy team links up with the Mindy pair they should already have it cut open unless there is serious resistance preventing such. We'll add your computer equipment onto your Armor's payload and one other as a backup in case one set gets destroyed. As for cutting equipment the Daisy team's Mindy will also bring an Aether beam rifle as well as some hand held cutting tools for the Daisy units to use in case we have to cut through it ourselves." Nyton said and nodded in approval to Takuma and Ito.

With that said Nyton looked to Kurohoshi and for any others who wished to add something to the planning session. "Anymore questions?"

"Not that I like echoing the NovaCorp android, but I too still think the asteroid plan is lacking," Mara spoke up. She raised one finger. "Consider this: The scoutship could come from any direction to try to get to the probes. Up, down, left, right, front, back... from the moment they hit the perimeter of the probe network, we are going to have to act quickly to get to them."

"Now, the asteroid plan requires us to powder up enough asteroids to make it so that we'll have plenty of baseball-sized debris around to inhibit teleportations... but the thing is, we can't still choose from where the enemy scout will come from, so we have to do this everywhere. Doing this all around will significantly impede the 5th XF's Lamia power armors which are patrolling around the probes to make sure they stay safe. Not only will they have to navigate in this pea soup, but they also have only one reliable mean of discovering a scoutship going in silent running: eyesight. Eyesight will be pretty impeded by those clouds of debris." Mara turned on Sigurd. "Care to prove me wrong?"

"On the contrary, Sprite Mara," the Custodian coolly replied. "I believe you have a valid point. Please continue."

Mara rolled her eyes and looked back to Nyton and Masako. "Respectfully, I think it's too much trouble for something which could jeopardize our chances of us even getting the jump on them. Consider this: the best way the Miharu has of making that Nozomi stand still is a subspace detonator torpedo attack. If the torpedo has thick debris in its way, it's not even going to get to its target!"

Yukari nodded, shifting on the stool to stretch her legs. She felt a little embarassed. "Nekovalkyrja, though given personality, rarely ... feel personal. Feel like people. Human. I have seen too many experience short lives of being trapped between being too old and too young. As weapons, they are used and expended ... the chance to be an entity is a side-venture for them, a byproduct of the time between fights."

She looked toward the mural. "Do you dream of being a mother someday, Hinoto-san? Do you dream of being a life outside of Hoshi-san?"

Masako could only frown at the entire plan as she scratched the tip of her right ear. The plan was getting too complex, too complicated. It involved too much work to build up to the main objective. "With all due respect Claymere-Juni," Masako finally spoke up after a while of pondering. "But I think we're going about this the wrong way," she replied as she began to remember what the Taii and she had been reviewing last night.

"Our current plan is taking too much time to set up and we leave ourselves extremely vulnerable." the young neko replied as she brought to bear her full concentration. "If I were the crew of the Nozomi in question, I would be on a hot standby to begin with. What your plan entails calls for surprise, which is all well and good, but probably won't work. Too actually get into the vessel, the Miharu has to launch a Subspace Detonator to bring down the enemy's shields. Your asteroid plan will get in the way and may cause the torpedo to prematurely detonate. And even if it did hit, the armor wing of the Nozomi will be ready at the Launch Bays by the time our team enters, thus wiping us out or forcing us to take heavy losses." Masako explained as her brows furrowed.

"It is probably my fault for forgetting about my time with Ketsurui-Taii researching the Mindy II's configurations and for me being inexperience at participating in planning sessions," she berated herself before sighing.

"What we need to do is hit hard and fast after the torpedo takes the Nozomi's shields offline, not use asteroids and fancy strategies," the raven-haired neko replied. "Two Mindy II's in Death Blossom Configuration will teleport into one Rapid Launch Bay and immediately being taking out the armor's on the racks and in the bay. Another Mindy II in Shrike Configuration will assault the other rapid launch bay with our contingent of Daisies, an assault that must be made ruthlessly in order to have any effect. A third team consisting of Kimura-Hei and I, will use a duo of a Mindy II Balanced and a Harpy. We will warp into the Monitor Room and disable the Megami." Masako explained.

"I believe we should take the Nozomi intact," the shortest warrant officer went on. "Interior damage cannot be helped, but we should avoid damaging major systems and computer systems. Not only would a second ship help us, but the data we can gain from an intact database would be highly beneficial towards our mission," Masako explained as she remembered her time with Kotori.

"Because of this, I propose that Kimura-Hei try disabling the computer systems by cutting off power to them. After he has successfully taken care of that, we will then storm the bridge and neutralize the crew. From that point on, we will hold the bridge while the other two teams mop up the rest of the crew. Any team that encounters an NIWS will have a Mindy with them to implement our original plan of teleporting it outside the Nozomi and allowing the Miharu to take it out," Masako explained before pausing.

"I believe also, that an NIWS or two is the not the only force we should worry about. Our enemy could also have NH-27s, Nekovalkryja/Mishhuvurthyar Hybrids, or even Type-I Mishhuvurthyar onboard. These three are serious threats just like an NIWS and we must be cautious of them," Masako said as she turned to Nyton.

"Claymere-Juni, I believe this plan is a better approach. You may want to flesh it out a bit, but I think this is a sound plan." the young neko stated with a bit more confidence on her face than she had shown during the majority of the meeting.

"I've never dreamed before," Hinoto replied. She finished with the legs and moved on to the next part - between Yukari's legs.

Yukari was staring off into space, considering that answer. To not dream ... can you live without dreams?

Then, something wet and cold touched her crotch. The immediate response was typical -- she wigged out for the briefest of moments, which was enough for her to slip off the stool and land painfully on her bottom. "Aiech," she said, wincing at the pain.

"Hinoto-san, let me wash there," Yukari said quickly, taking the rag. In a moment, it was done. "Now, shall I wash you?" She rubbed her rear-end in a crude attempt to soothe it.

"But your hair... it hasn't been washed yet." Hinoto frowned - she was probably about to remind Yukari about her having been orders to attend her, and failure to uphold that would mean a lot of things which would incidentally lead to drastic repercussions...

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"Kurohoshi-Juni, you'll have to swap the backpack parts of the Death Blossom and Shrike configurations for teleporter modules. They'll lose on extra shielding and ammo, but there's really no helping it if we want to get the drop on them," Mara pointed out to Masako.

"Ah -- yes," Yukari said slowly, going back to the stool. This was almost demeaning. She was taking orders from a sprite. "Do you always follow orders to the letter? Mara seems very ... flexible."

Nyton could not help but crack a half smile. I actually made the Custodian and the sprite agree on something while Kurohoshi came up with a sound plan. I will have to concede although that was a good enough fight. "I would have to say you have most everything thought up. Any fleshing out would just be what I previously mentioned about clearing the rest of the ship. If one assault team finishes clearing a bay first they could cross over and secure the path to the other bay to prevent reinforcements as well as to out flank the bay's defenders. Otherwise once the areas are secured they can begin the sweep of the ship to eliminate anymore resistance." he said.

Hinoto moved back behind Yukari. "Well, Mara was born to be the facade of a super-genius sentient quantum computer. I'm just the facade for a compact quantum computer. Differences like that make worlds go round, ne?" At the end, Yukari heard the distinct squirting sound probably originating from a shampoo bottle.