RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 11.1] The Torchbearers

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Sune had teleported a second after Yaichiro departed. His coordinates put him on the opposite side of the crashed vessel, but afforded him with a less chaotic view.

As he closed on the people, he targeted the weapons they were brandishing. He had his NSD's fire at each of the weapons to prevent them being used on the captives. His science scanner was set for life signs and was tied into his HUD, as he closed on the prisoners closest to him, it showed a number of fast flying life forms. "Parasites." He said as a curse, he put on a burst of speed to put himself in front of one group of the civilians and with his NSD's and his rifle put up a hail of weapon fire targeting the offensive creatures. This day just keeps getting better and better. he thought.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Kumiko didn't reply to Hanako, reasoning that no response was needed. She continued to grab the slaves she knew were uninfected though, reasoning that if they couldn't get them all, it made more sense to grab a hold of the ones they didn't need to decontaminate. She deployed her drones as well, ordering them to fire on any parasite they got a clear shot on, trying to keep as many of the people uninfected as possible.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

The parasites that weren't on or in someone already were picked off by Sune, Kumiko, and Manabu, leaving only the remaining civilians to worry about. Several of them had radiation burns from the nearby teleport and others had parasites eating through their insides and were writhing and screaming violently.

Above the Eucharis, the closed parted and lines of energy started coming down at the gunship, knocking it around and burning its upper hull. The shields were still down because the team hadn't boarded yet. One of the lesser engines was hit and exploded, sending a red piece of hull armor sailing above the team's heads. The armor bay took a hit from above, too, leaving a smoking hole.

The ship was at ground level and the cargo bay ramp was open.

"Get us back on the ship!" Hanako told Mikael.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

The girl was startled at first, not expecting a fully armored person to appear behind her, he actually made her noticably nervous but she gulped down and nodded and allowed herself to be carried. The boy, likewise, didn't fight this and just went with it.

The slaves who Sune had gotten in front of them stopped momentarily, before one thanked him and continued to the shuttle.

Takeyu shook his head. "NMX don't discriminate that's for sure!" he said and pegged targets with his missiles and started firing them off, but made certain to keep some in reserve in case it was needed.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Through the chaos of the slave, slaver, and NMX situation, Helen mostly was stuck with the task of basic gunning, pelting targets with aether Gatling fire until the situation evolved into the actual escaping part of the whole plan... the important part, the part that kept her and everyone else alive.

Helping to wrap up the situation, Helen slung her aether rifle over her shoulder before reaching to the two NSPs which she had settled upon the thigh-holsters built into her Kylie. Setting both to stun, she went about giving a burst of fire to each slaver and slave that her and her armor had spotted being touched or burrowed into by parasites. Once the targets were put into a scalar-burst induced unconsciousness, she helped load up the nearest ones into the shuttle to be de-bugged before moving to a safe distance from the un-armored civilians before bursting into motion in the direction of the tank, with the intent of providing cover fire for the escape into the cargo bay of the Eucharis. "We've done our good deed for the day it seems, now to get out alive and without a bug in our guts to show for it."

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Thankfully, the (hopefully former) slave-children weren't too frightened by Manabu as he unceremoniously scooped them up and ferried them over to the shuttle. Or, maybe they were, but were smart enough to know which scenario they preferred. Both were suitable.

Once they were safely aboard the shuttle with the rest of the survivors, Manabu took a running start before tearing across the landscape towards the opened cargo bay of the Eucharis. Taking a knee, he hefted the battered LA Service Rifle against his left shoulder. Balancing it as best he could across his right forearm - the hand still a mess of blood, bone and pieces of the Mindy - he settled into position and scanned the field, eyes roving from the oncoming tank and the shuttle full of civilians.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Sune seeing the ground situation deteorating rapidly made his way to the shuttle, keeping an eye out for anything that could menace the survivors. "Help the wounded get to the shuttle, anyone we leave here will be NMX fodder." He yelled to the civilians. He grabbed one of the burned civilians in a firemans carry, and move forward.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Kiko busied herself gunning down NMX soldiers, particularly those who were in the tank's vicinity. When the parasites were released, she did her part gunning them down as well, and joined Helen in giving the tank covering fire from on top of it. As the shuttle was loaded, she sent a message to the Eucharis via telepathy: Eucharis, this is Inoue-hei. The incoming shuttle contains NMX parasite-infected civilians in urgent need of decontamination. Message ends.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Yaichiro, still protecting the entrance of the shuttle, picked up two more slaves using Eucharis' sensors, when looking for other hostiles. They were near some burning wreckage about 220 meters out. Detecting no parasites flying around at the moment, Yaichiro noted his coordinates and headed off to their location at high speed, trying to get to them as quickly as possible.

After a very brief trip at high speed, Yaichiro stopped, looking at the pair of malnourished and abandoned slaves as his NSDs retracted into their bays in preparation for teleporting. Normally he'd just rush the distance back rather than teleport, but they needed every second they had. "There is an NMX fleet attacking, and I'm required to get you away from this location immediately. Close your eyes and cover your ears tightly for the next few seconds."

Given the damage to the Power Armor Bay, and his uncertainty of if the bombardments of the Eucharis had shifted it in a way that would affect their location relative to the ship, Yaichiro elected instead to reach forward to grab the slaves and teleport them to the exterior of the shuttle. He hurriedly moved them to seats inside.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Another large beam slammed into the top of the ship, sending a wave of heat and pressure that would knock over anyone still outside.

The Eucharis was burning. The hull above the armor bay was a blackened, wide-open shell with smoke pouring out and red flames visible and the captain's cabin was obliterated in the most recent hit. Huge sections of the thicker end of the ship's main cannon were missing and the bridge area had obvious holes. The whole top of the ship was mauled-looking and burning.

Bridge

Blueberry dragged the heavily-bleeding Blackberry away from the burning console at the front of the bridge. Around her there were flickering screens, a haze of smoke, and sunlight shining in through hull breaches.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

In the seat, the Yamataian boy let out a sigh of relief and thanked the power armor pilot. The girl was right beside him, her head up against his shoulder, though she wanted to sleep, the pain wouldn't let her. Her shoulder and chest were still hurting even though she wasn't bleeding, though her clothing was partly soaked red due to the blood. She was also getting colder over time but now that she was out of the cold she was feeling some warmth through her body.

The boy smiled and placed his hand around her. "By the way, what ship is saving us?" he asked no one in particular as the remainder of the slavers piled onboard.

Outside the two slaves that Yaichiro had found looked at him oddly enough, but followed his instruction as they both covered their ears and closed their eyes. Within seconds they were next to the shuttle and getting inside. "Thanks," one said weakly as her companion helped her inside.

The slaver boss continued to roll his eyes. "More useless baggage," he watched the two slaves that had just been rescued board the shuttle

Takeyu continued running beside the tank and keeping an eye out on his side for enemy hostiles. When he saw the damage to the Eucharis all he could do was shake his head. If we don't get off this planet soon, things will get a whole lot worse,.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Sizing up the situation, Helen knew full well that the matter of the modern Yamataian bleeding heart may end up costing the crew their lives or their freedom. Seeing the smoke billow from the Eucharis only hastened Helen's response as she communicated to the Taisa. "Taisa, ma'am, respectfully suggest that you urge the crew to get off the ground now. These slaves are better off dead at this point. We can drop just a bit of ordinance on the way out, and save them from the torment of being parasite puppets or NMX meals. We can't save them all, we simply do not have the capacity to do so, nor the luxury of time... I'm just not sure the crew knows of that fact, ma'am."

With the situation made clear, Helen shifted her attention skyward. She tapped into the Eucharis' WARMS system before she aimed her Kylie's forearm projectors skyward, and with the next burst of weapons fire from above, she would fire her Kylie's aether projections at the incoming ordinance in hopes of at least dispersing some of the energy and matter which comprised each shot. Until the crew got aboard, there was nothing more to do, other than hope for a miracle.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

"Get this shuttle back to the Eucharis, while there is still a ship to return to." Sune yelled as he shut the hatch. He grabbed one of the shuttle bulkheads rather than worrying about finding a seat.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

In the slaver ships shuttle bay, the last remaining slaver let out a sigh and took out the grenade he had on his belt and looked at it, with the shake of his head he ran over to the available shuttle.

Smashing the console, the shuttle came online with a grunt and a hiss that came from the main engines. "Old piece of junk, but maybe I can buy some time for that other shuttle," he said and zipped out of the shuttle bay and began using the crudly attached guns to fire up into the sky, knowing full well his weapons wouldn't 'hit' anything, but maybe it would be enough to draw attention away as he began moving away from the Eucharis and its shuttle.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Yaichiro did the same as Sune, holding on, though ready to go out the back of the craft and fire at hostiles if they appeared. Already he was feeling guilt about the fate of the Rikei-class ship, as he'd recommended a ship be sent to investigate the slavers...but he pushed that aside for now. It wasn't like he could have expected this level of retaliation by the enemy, nor so swiftly. He sent a transmission to Cherry.

"Cherry, this is Yaichiro. Bypass the damage to or shut down the damaged engine and be ready to accept Command Staff in Engineering -- it looks like we'll have to use it as a secondary bridge. If the opportunity appears and we can safely bring them close to the ship via a hole in the CFS as we leave, I want the Graviton Beam Projector Array trying to grab whatever Escape Pods we can without slowing down or exposing them to lethal G-Forces."

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Pineapple got the shuttle moving towards the ship and despite her better judgement she landed in the mangled shuttle bay and triggered the armored doors, hoping they would still be working and that they would close before the next volley.

Down below, Hanako's tank drive into the cargo bay, followed by the limping TASHA. She dismounted the tank quickly and ran to the ramp's control leaver and set it to close and seal the door. Next, she attempted to raise the bridge on the phone but there was no response. Hanako resorted to a wireless link to the ship's computer and the Eucharis made a wobbly liftoff and began speeding through the air, leaving a trail of smoke.

Only six of the original 36 task force ships were left. They made top speed for the edge of the Hill Sphere were they could exit via hyperspace. The last heavy cruiser was towing the uncontrolled battleship.

Somehow, they made it out.

- - -

HX-5 System

The Task force remnants appeared back in the HX-5 system again. It was time for some damage control.

Hanako got on the intercom. "This is captain speaking...we have hull breaches in the Taisa Suite, Bridge, Main passage deck one, Wardroom, Galley, cargo lift deck one, and power armor bay. Fires have reported by the ship's computer in the medical center, armor briefing room, and main engineering. Commence damage control operations." She sent a telepathic copy of her announcement afterward.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Helen had managed to scamper into the cargo hold behind the tank, and with the departure from the system, she only took long enough to find an area which had not suffered a decompression for the purpose of taking off her Kylie helmet. She opened one of the boxes from the YC-28, pulling a ration package from it, opening it, and devouring the contents rapidly before she put her helmet back on and made herself available for the task of getting the ship back in working order.

"Taisa, Chusa Kage, in what position would I be most useful at this point?" Helen decided to ask of Hanako and Yaichiro, wanting to deliver the most aid she could to the crew, considering her skills and capabilities. Considering that the ship was in dire straits mechanically and structurally, she felt it was certainly valid to ask Yaichiro for some instruction, since he was the Engineer, and Hanako, since it was her ship.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Cargo Bay

"You know medicine, right?" Hanako asked Helen. "Can you safely extract the parasites. The shuttle bay is cut off from the rest of the ship so you will have to use the maintenance tunnels to reach it. The medical lab sounds destroyed, so we will have to get medical supplies from the tank or shuttles. As for me, I am going to attempt to reach the bridge."

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

Kiko had run to the power armor bay during the flight to the edge of the Hill Sphere, intending to change into a Mindy and help with the escape. When she saw the hole in the ship where the bay had been, she'd turned around and gone to move the civilians to safety. Finding every standard path blocked, she was forced to shed her Daisy and climb through the maintenance tunnels in her AMES. She hoped her sidearm would be enough for whatever additional disaster transpired in there.

When the telepathic announcement reached her, she replied with her current location and a request for orders, forwarding the message to Yaichiro as well.

Re: [Mission 11] The Torchbearers

"Taisa, your body is more vulnerable than my own, would you like to use my power armor to get to the bridge?" Helen offered as she looked to Hanako for a moment, before digging into the supplies from the YC-28 once more, and producing her privately stocked medical kit from the container before sealing it shut. "I doubt I would need it against some meager little parasites."