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

Nyton nodded although he was impressed by the sheer span of data windows that Kotori viewed. I could do that if I installed my eyes with that new Mark VII targeting upgrade I've seen. I'm definately due an upgrade on most of my systems seeing as they are a few years old now. he thought for a second without realizing. He left the thoughts of new cybernetics and pulled up the window from the planning session earlier. It displayed the enemy ship and the three insertion points for the Armor teams.

"We have a three team strike plan set up to maximize the impact of our Mindy force. Kurohoshi will teleport onto their bridge to neutralize and secure it while bringing along Takuma-Hei in a Harpy. He's our new OS certified member and will focus on taking their MEGAMI offline and securing all of it's data while Kurohoshi covers him." Nyton started and pointed to the bridge site.

"A second team of Mindys in Death Blossom configuration will teleport into the starboard Armor bay and destroy any enemy forces they find here," Nyton said as he pointed to the starboard bay, "while a third team consisting of one Mindy and three Daisy's will strike the portside bay. After all teams have secured their areas they will then proceed to sweep the ship and eliminate anymore resistance until we have complete control of the enemy vessel." he said and moved his hand to the port bay and then the rest of the Nozomi.

"We made sure to have a Mindy available on every team so that should we encounter a NIWS or a hybrid of considerable strength they would be able to teleport it away from our team to a predetermined point where the Miharu could use it's tractor beam to capture it and destroy it with the ship weapons. We'll need the bridge crew ready for such a contingency." Nyton finished up before he closed the window. He then looked around at Yukari's station.

"We tossed around the idea of having a shuttle flown by Suzuka-Chui as a means to medevac any casualties but we're not sure how feasible that may be. Plus we would have to secure an Armor bay and ensure that the ship weapons are offline so that the shuttle has a safe flight to the bay and back. It may stretch us out a bit but it is possible. We also considered capturing their medical bay in case of such an emergency but again that would require rapid movement and a means to secure it."

Nyton closed up the window and looked to Kotori to indicate he had completed his brief.

Kotori was silent a moment until she finally nodded. "You'll have to alter the Death Blossom and Shrike configurations with a teleportation module in their backpack section... but that should only disminish their range of operation."

"What you planned out seems sound," Kotori then allowed. "How long until we are ready to set this up?"

Rei sighed as she threw the bag containing her things into a corner of the room she'd probably have to end up sharing with someone else and scratched behind one of her ears, a look of stifled frustration crossing her face when she looked over at the bed.

"Plenty of time for rest later," She grumbled as she turned around and trudged back to the armor bay, a checklist starting to formulate in her head.

A Shrike Mindy, she thought with a slight smile. Oh, it was hard enough to stop from smiling like a maniac during the briefing, but it's hard not to get excited when you get assigned the big guns. There'd have to be calibrations, of course; bore sighting the guns, syncing her neurohelmet, and pre-flighting amongst others.

Now if only they'd let her bring some explosives too. They were supposed to put an armor bay out of commission...and nothing does that faster than explosives.

"We realized the alterations the Mindy units would need and have already begun their configurations. They should be ready within twenty more minutes. The team members are also getting ready and Saito-Hei is having everyone prepare an ST backup. The new members were put at a higher priority but some of us are having our current ones updated. After all the time and effort I put into my research I wouldn't mind getting mine updated as well." Nyton said in reply.

As people left the armor bay, Masako moved to her towards one of the Mindy's on the rack. "It certainly has been a while...or it at least feels that way," the warrant officer mumbled as she looked over the Mindy II. The last time she had been in a Mindy was on Bowhordia and she still had bad memories of that place, just like she believed Tom did as well. But Freeman had found an outlet, or at least a distraction, in the form of the Chui.

Masako sighed as she crossed her arms underneath her breasts and stared at the Mindy's visor, lost in thought. She never told anyone her feelings about her past, well...not the bad situations she had been in the past. She had earlier found something in common with Miyoko in the fact both had been bounced around from assignment to assignment. It made the young neko feel a lot better knowing she wasn't alone in that aspect. Then again, the war called for such things. More experienced soldiers were highly prized in a fleet at war, or so Masako had read in a book. But Masako didn't feel experienced. Two years was a long time for a neko, but when she was grouped together with Nepleslian and Yamataians nearly ten times her age it only made Masako feel like a child.

Masako's ears twitched slightly as her mind went on its long un-ending cycle of self-doubt and contemplation of the past. The only time she seemed to get relief was by keeping busy and that meant by working. But these thoughts always came back when there was even a hint of free time. I've let people down before, she thought as her memory conjured up that little girl from her first encounter with the Mishhu. I won't let these soldiers, my comrades, down because of my own self-doubt, the young woman thought as he gaze at the Mindy's visor became harder. She knew intellectually, that this self-doubt was unfounded. She had help people in the past, people who had been in her previous crews. Memories of the Confidence came to mind as she remembered her short time with them. She had rescued two of them from a damaged section after that classified mission at Taiie. They had been at Bowhordia with her, through that hell they called a world. Taisa Arild Bard, Ittô Hei Nicholas Saiga, and Jôtô Heisho Carlos Luera De la Vega had all been her crewmates on the Confidence. In hindsight, she should have remembered Yukisato Mizuho from both Confidence and Mikomi, but the young neko had been barely a year old and had little contact with the former Chusa.

Either way, Masako found herself depressed over the fact she hadn't even tried to contact them since her transfer to the Miharu. Last she heard, Carlos had been shipped back to a hospital to recuperate from his serious injuries, Nicholas had accepted transfer to the Third Expeditionary Fleet, and Taisa Bard had been given his own Sakura. She should at least check up on there status at some point, but that would have to remain for later. A memory of there time aboard the Confidence flashed across her mind, giving the raven-haired neko a small smile. Though she hated to remember her times aboard the Destiny and Mikomi, her memories of her brief time aboard the Confidence were ones she treasured. Hopefully, she would be able to treasure memories of her time aboard the Miharu as well. The professional Ketsurui-Taii, the gentle Suzuka-Chui, the intelligent Claymere-Juni, the exciting Freeman-Heisho, the kinship she had with Saito-Hei (even if they didn't speak often), the troublesome Veressis-Hei, and the contest between Mara and Sigurd. She already had so many precious memories onboard this ship and with this crew. Now there were new members, those she had yet to talk to or get to know.

She would keep them alive. As the Armor Wing Leader, she had a responsibility to try and make that happen. Her expression went again from a gentle smile to a hard, serious look. She'd have to speak with Kimura-Hei soon, they had to come up a priority target list of the enemy bridge crew as well as contingency plans. But for the moment, the enlisted man had to get an ST back-up...and Masako wanted to get one as well. For the memories she had of this ship were precious to her and she didn't want to lose any of them.

Kotori considered a moment and nodded back to Nyton. "Alright, that sounds sensible. Have a go at it - I should go too, but only after Suzuka-Chui will have returned from the assignment I gave her."

"Perhaps if Suzuka-Chui has not returned before I am done I could take over for you." Nyton offered. "By your leave then, Kotori-sama." he said and bowed before turning around to leave.

Asher sat on his bed in his cabin, observing the holo-information on the Mindy. His red eyes slowly moved across the text, trying to absorb what he could before he was called out. The Hei's experience in types of Power Armor had been limited so far to the Daisy and the simulated armors in training.

The Mindy's pretty shooty, it's a bit more Spec. Ops. than the Daisy type.

He looked over the Death Blossom configuration.

Argh, and that loadout's gunna' be messy, I'm used to at least havin' a rifle when I pilot. Maybe I could go out with a SLAG or somtin' in hands if that don't mess with the assault workings of the hardpoints. Wait... Damn, that may need installin' a rack in one of the shoulder hard points, that wouldn't be shooty. I guess I gotta' work with the forearm assault weapons when knockin' the lighter guys 'round, or when I run out of missiles n' warheads. Maybe I shoulda' spoke some more in the briefin'.

Asher read on through the information and began to study some of the general points, something caught his eyes though...

What the...? The height limit for this armor is five n' six.

The Yamataian stood up and planted his feet on the floor next to his bed and began calculating the feet and inches with his hand.

That only goes up to my eyes!

Yukari came up for air before Tom. Possibly because she'd neglected to do her swimming routine for so long. The first breath she took was almost inaudible, but it was long and deep. She let it out just as slow, her eyes closed and other senses ignored just so she could savor what that kiss was like.

Except she couldn't. At least, she couldn't focus on it. Her body was tingling much more than the hot water was capable of causing. She was still pressed into Tom's side, one breast squished against his lean, toned arm. And her left hand had found its way back to Tom's legs. She loved his legs. How they had so much strength in them, yet it wasn't ever shown.

Like it was a secret. A special, dirty kind of secret.

The dance they'd shared was still a bright memory in her brain.

But right then, at the moment she was taking her second breath since the kiss, she was remembering how terribly bad they had been in the kitchen. How he had unceremoniously picked her up, and she had pulled him along, and how they had completely forgotten about anything else until Mara had barged in.

She paused for a few precious seconds.

"Shimatta."

Yukari practically lunged into another kiss with him. If they were destined to be distrubed over and over, she was going to enjoy the time they had.

Leutre stood up and winced slightly as he felt his back painfully protest. He had lost track of time as he toiled away in the depths of the sub deck, but his sore back indicated he has been spending too much time crouching over circuits. The sprites didn't seem to notice his short pause as they continued to go about their tasks. They seemed to handle things smoothly, even without the oversight of Tom or Masako. He paused for a moment as he pondered this.

Oy, hang on. I'm the only crew member who is down here and toiling my arse off! I think that certainly entitles me to a break at the very least, if my sore back doesn't. And its not as if the sprites seem to particularly need my help, bless their cute bottoms.

Leutre quietly made his way out of the sub deck and up the main passage way. His back began to feel better as he began to move about in the low gravity passage.

Though speaking of cute bottoms, I think I'll go see Miyoko for a bit. See what she's up to, maybe get something for my back if it starts to ache again. Then perhaps I'll drop by the kitchen for a cold drink, then take a nap in my quarters for a few hours...

Leutre chucked quietly to himself as he finally reached the medical bay. He poke his head inside as the door opened, and called out, "Oy, Saito, you up to anything relatively fascinating?"

Kel said:

"MEGAMI, could you begin requesting unoccupied people who still need ST backups to come to the Miharu medical lab? I'll take them one at a time in order of descending rank, if possible. Any of them that are busy when you inquire, ask them to try freeing some time for it within the next couple of hours."

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After acknowledging the request, it took a couple of minute for MEGAMI to finally say "Claymere-Juni will be coming shortly."

A quick glance would confirm that she wasn't up to anything fascinating- quite to the contrary, Leutre's entrance found Miyoko methodically stretching in the middle of the room. When he called out, she stopped and turned to face him, looking a bit embarassed for some reason. "Not hardly. About half of the crew still needs backups before we do anything else, so I'll be taking care of those for a while. I'll probably have the time to take care of your checkup now if you're free, though. It's better than staring at the walls while the backups are going."

Asher scratched his ruffly head and looked at his hands, he tried preforming the calculations again, even though he already knew the numbers. Each time he would do so, he would find his hand stopping right on his eyes.

"Er, MEGAMI, where would Claymere-Juni be located right now?" Asher asked the AI, hoping to find and see what is to be done about this.

As Takuma was thinking to himself, it took him a while to notice that almost everyone else left. I must me more tired then I thought..., he thought to himself. He currently had no assignment, and decided to take the free time to catch up on missed Z's.

After walking around for a while, he found his new quarters.... after numerous rights, lefts and U-turns. Giving a little victory cheer, he walked into his room, changed, and basically passed out on the bed.

"Claymere-Juni is currently heading towards the medical bay." the MEGAMI replied politely. "Shall I inform him that you wish to speak to him?"

"Er..." Asher thought for a moment, putting a thumb on his chin.

"That would be wonderful, but tell him I'll meet him in the med bay to do so." said the scruffly Yamataian, promptly exiting his room and walking to the Med Bay.

Just as Nyton arrived at the medbay he received a notification from MEGAMI regarding Asher's request. He acknowledged and then entered to find Saito and Leutre. He nodded to both of them and looked around.

"Well and here I thought there would already be a line forming. So I take it no one else has answered the summons yet."

Saito said:

A quick glance would confirm that she wasn't up to anything fascinating- quite to the contrary, Leutre's entrance found Miyoko methodically stretching in the middle of the room. When he called out, she stopped and turned to face him, looking a bit embarrassed for some reason. "Not hardly. About half of the crew still needs backups before we do anything else, so I'll be taking care of those for a while. I'll probably have the time to take care of your checkup now if you're free, though. It's better than staring at the walls while the backups are going."

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Leutre looked at her curiously for a moment and opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted as he heard someone enter through the door behind him. He nearly jumped in fright when he saw Nyton standing next to him.

Nyton said:

"Well and here I thought there would already be a line forming. So I take it no one else has answered the summons yet."

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Leutre found himself slowly edging backwards, making his way towards Miyoko. He recalled the unpleasant chastening that Nyton had gave him not too long ago, and found himself quite uncomfortable at the thought of lying on an examination table while the Juni was within striking distance.

When he had finally placed Miyoko between himself and Nyton, he nervously mumbled, "Uhh, Saito, you can do Claymere-Juni first. I'll just, erm, wait over here on the opposite side of the room. Just to stay out of the way and all that. I really don't mind waiting until he leaves. No problem at all."

Nyton looked over at Leutre and noticed he appeared nervous. He stifled the urge to leer menacingly and crossed his arms. What was between them would remain primarily between them. "I did not mean to interrupt you two. If you were here on some matter then by all means go right ahead, Veressis-Hei. I don't mind the wait. Asher is supposed to arrive here and discuss something with me anyways."

As if on cue, Asher stepped through the Med Bay door, and stopped, looking around at the three people in the room.

"I'm not interrupting, am I?" Asher looking like he was about to make a salute, but instead shook his hand back down as if masking the attempt, and bowed.