RP: YSS Resurgence Mission 12: Movers and Shakers

Yoshiro headed down to the med lab and went to find Sanda to see how she was doing. He was still feeling angry about what happened to her and was scared to talk to her about what happened to her. "Sanda, how are you?" Yoshiro asked, clearly upset at himself and showing his guilt on his face. "I was worried about you, Sanda. We all were."

He turned to walk away from the crowd and sat down with his head in his hands, his stress finally getting to him. If Sanda was angry at him, now would be the time to tell him whatever was on her mind.

Medical Lab

"Hey!" Poppy shouted at the intruders as she left Trowa at the doorway and then attempted to move everyone barging into the medical lab back into the corridor. "Excuse me, this is a restricted area. Only medical staff and patients are permitted in the medical lab, by order of Captain Aoba," she reminded everyone of the ship's rules. It reminded her of the time she had to kick Thad out at gunpoint because he was barging in on Mia's appointment. There was even a sign by the door...but of course they were infantry and infantry weren't exactly known for reading.

While everyone was excited to see Sanda, Sanda was in no condition to have visitors yet. Sanda was highly exposed and still hooked up to red IV tubes and wired sensors and had a huge sutured-shut incision on her slightly blood-speckled chest from where Poppy had cut through her muscles and ribs to get to the parasite. "Yuri, please get Sanda a blanket or something to cover up with," she ordered her medical assistant.

Medical Lab

Yuri nodded in acknowledgement of Poppy's order and quickly fetched a warm blanket, which she carefully draped over Sanda to ensure her comfort and privacy. "Here you go, Aunt Sanda. Rest up and recover. We're all here for you," she said softly, offering a reassuring smile.

As she assisted Sanda, Yuri cast a glance at Yoshiro, noticing the turmoil in his expression. Sensing his distress, she approached him quietly, offering a supportive presence without intruding on his personal space. "Yoshiro, it's okay. We're all just relieved that Aunt Sanda is safe now. It wasn't your fault," she gently, hoping to provide him with a sense of comfort during this challenging moment. " But please, everyone, Mom, give her time, you'll see her soon!" She said to everyone else that shouldn't be there.

"Yuri, I should have made sure she wasn't going off on her own. It is my responsibility to make sure that everyone comes home." Yoshiro said, nearly sobbing, to Yuri. "I know we went back and found her and got rid of the parasite but it never should have come to that. She was a comrade in arms and I should have made sure that she was safe instead of letting her go alone like that." He sobbed for a few minutes and spoke some more. "As an officer, I should have made her a bit safer for whatever she was doing but I wasn't smart enough for that." He said and turned away from Yuri. He spoke this time with a sad but genuine smile on his face. "I am glad that she is safe. Tell her drinks are on me and that is a promise." Yoshiro said and went off to do something for Sanda.

Med Bay

Sanda grunted as Yayoi helped her sit up. She hadn't realized till just that moment that she was in at little bit of pain. Despite the pain blockers, she had been in a pretty bad bike wreck and she had just had a parasite removed from her body. Yayoi, Yuri and Yoshiro all began to her which was a little overwhelming. She was very happy to see them all safe and sound. "I'm fine. I'm fine." She assured them. "It'll take more than a bike crash and a Mishhu parasite to keep me out of action." She looked confused by the amount of concern Yoshiro had for her. It almost sounded like he thought he was to blame for what had happened to her. Which was ridiculous. How was it his fault? Her smile returned when Yayoi mentioned that they had found her knife that she had lost in the crash. That was a huge relief. "Gracious." She managed then had to lay back down. It was easier to breath that way.

Sanda was actually relived when Poppy shooed everyone out. She was more tired than she thought she had been and was grateful to just lay back. She saw Trowa through the open door. Through the hustle and bustle of Poppy shooing everyone out she saw him clearly make a few quick hand gestures. She smiled, giving him an air fist and a thumbs up in answer. She hoped it wouldn't be a very long recovery. There were Mishhu insurgence on this planet and Sanda fully intended to show them why you didn't mess with a Star Army Ranger.

Outside Med Bay

As the doors closed Trowa turned to the others. It was touching to see how much concern the crew had for Sanda. Although he frowned a little bit as Yoshiro began to cry as he shared how he felt about what had happened to Sanda. Trowa placed a hand on Yoshiro's shoulder. "Yoshiro. It wasn't your fault." The one eyed Nepleslian assured his friend. "I understand how you feel. Sanda is my sister-in-law. We go way back. I was very concerned about her when she went missing. But I think the mistake your making is that you are thinking of Sanda a civilian." Trowa smiled and chuckled at the idea. "Sanda is definitely not a civilian. She is a soldier. A Star Army Ranger. It's not your job to try to keep her safe. She would be furious at you if she thought you were trying to keep her safe. Sanda prides herself in her abilities as a Ranger and as a fighter."

Trowa looked over at the closed Med bay door. "I'm not saying she was right to break away from the team. There are standing orders for soldiers not to go off by themselves during an away mission without their battle buddy. However I know why she did it. She thought she could protect the team and get away on her own. At the time, we hadn't realized there were anything more than just a gang of thugs who didn't like Yamatai, not that there was a NMX insurrection. Regardless, if Sanda got injured it is on Sanda, not you. I'm sure the Captain will be reminding her of the ship's SOP once she recovers." Trowa sighed a little at all the stress Sanda had caused but then smiled again. "I think the idea of a drink sounds good. Why don't we head to the Wardroom for a drink. We can toast Sanda's return and maybe grab a bite to eat."

YE 46.2

After a few hours, the crew got an update from captain Aoba. He called everyone available to the wardroom for dinner and announcements. "Alright crew, we received word from the local Delsaurian government on Koenic that they've mobilized their forces and are conducting a raid on the old base where the NMX forces were holding Sanda. However, they are not experts in fighting the Mishhuvurthyar and have asked for our help in eliminating the threat once and for all. We're putting a team together to fight our way down through the ancient sewers to defeat the Mishhuvurthyar that is the source of all the...reanimated creatures there. We also have an update from Dr. Pink."

"Hello everyone," the ship's Chief Medical Officer waved, then brushed her hands through her plentiful pink hair. "I wanted to give you an update that Sanda is doing better and with the aid of hemosynth treatments I have been able to accelerate her healing so that she is now almost as good as new and can join you on the next mission."

Aoba looked at Poppy, "Apparently the local governor was impressed by Poppy and wants to see her again. Not only that, they want to discuss joining Yamatai with me to give them better protection against the Mishhuvurthyar threat. So let's show them the power of the Star Army in action and get these NMX forces off their back."

Yoshiro headed to the wardroom after talking with Trowa about the situation he felt like he put himself in. Trowa was right in that he was treating Sanda as if she was a civillian and he was taking too much responsibilty on to himself. He was scared when Sanda went missing and he was deseperate to save her and when he did, she was infected. When heard about the NMX, he was ready for a fight and was raring to go.

Within those two hours, Toidorno had finally taken the opportunity to 'wine down', (a phrase he had yet to learn was incorrect), and he'd changed out of his Clan vacuum suit, quickly bathed out some of the dust and blood, and had made himself presentable once more. He was honored to be included in the call to the wardroom, seating himself next to Joto Heisho Yoshiro in a show of support. He'd seen the distress the younger man had been struggling with, and Toidorno believed that simply being close to him might show him that his fellow crewmembers supported him, and felt he had done well. He listened quietly to the Captain's words, and then to Poppy's revelation to the crew.

Yayoi sat at the table, pleased with Poppy's report, some of which she'd already known. She actually smiled when she listened to Aoba's briefing. She looked forward to wearing her Mindy again. Especially to neutralize the Mishhu.

"Hai" The voice of the Resurgence's resident birb responded to the captians briefing, and consequent orders. Chiheisen had sat out the previous away mission to fill other security related roles, but the Elysian seemed keen on getting back out into the field. She idly cleaned up what was left on her plate, setting it to the side for the time being.

In the meantime, next to the Elysian was a rather hungry Kokoro Hayashi, chewing away at a rather stacked plate of food...

Pushing her food around on her plate without eating it, Mineko thought about the update to the situation on Koenic idly. She had been interested in the animated corpses, but knowing they were simply Mishhuvurthyar parasites infecting hosts meant her mind no longer had a riddle to puzzle. As such, she seemed listless and disinterested in what Aoba and Poppy had to say afterwards, only perking mildly at Sanda's status.

"Salmon night and I'm not hungry," Mineko moaned out. "Such is life."

Yoshiro grabbed some food and then sat back down to eat. He ate his usual meal that he ate at breakfast. "Time to go on the hunt to see the a future of a nation downtrodden by the Mishhu? I am in for that game." Yoshiro said and smiled "Time for blood to be shed and the enemy shall fear the sword that is Yamatai."

"So...." Cassie said, "More crawling through reptilian shit, eh? she laughed darkly. "Hunting the boss monster." She went to get some of the ginger-galzed salmon, rices, and a little of the spinach, finishing it with a dinner roll.

"This time you'll have Mindys instead of the Explorer armor." Trowa told Cassie. "The Explorer armor is good, but with a confirmed NMX presence we're not taking any chances."

"sounds good, and this time, I'll go down, instead of Yuri.. speaking of, I havent checked in with her" Yayoi said.

"Yuri was a great addition to the away team," Mineko said, breaking out of her aloof reverie as she remembered how Yuri's mother had pulled the medic out just when things started to go bad planetside. "You should be proud of her."

"The Governor's choice to seek our direct support is a positive sign." Toidorno reflected aloud. "They wouldn't ask us to take this risk if they did not trust us... To some extent. There is... also the factor that Yamatai's lives are risked, not their own..."

"What if it's a trap?" Pidole asked. "It's possible the sewers could be rigged with explosives or something," she pointed out. "They might know we're coming, now."

Yayoi actually smiled again when Mineko spoke of Yuri during the away mission. "I am pleased she was a great addition. to the away team" She said.

Toidorno thought of Pidole's concerns. The Hidden Sun Clan has been spending years attempting to weed out their own infestations of the Defilers in the western worlds of their territory. Pidole's worry was quite well-founded. "If we do not engage them, we would be offending the Governor... This may be a trap that... we must put our paws into." He looked at Cassie. "Reptilian shit that we must crawl into, perhaps." He seemed to realize that he'd said 'we'... How quickly he'd come to feel a part of this, despite beign of a separate nation, separate species... He closed his eyes for a moment, reflecting on that.

"We could have two groups if we know it's a trap. One that's bait and one that's prepared for such," Mineko said.

Judah folded his arms as he listened closely to what everyone was talking about, thinking about the potential dangers that where ahead of them, he gave a small nod in agreement. "That is true... Anything can be a trap."

"Almost anything," Mineko corrected, thinking of something in particular that brought a smile to her deadpan face.

"I could be the bait." Sanda said as she came into the wardroom. She had dressed and looked good, if a little tired.

"Should we start taking bets on if you end up in the infirmary tonight, then?" Mineko said after her short-lived smile had fallen.

"As fun as... bets are" Chiheisen raised an eyebrow at Mineko as the latter joked. The Elysian crossed her arms as she leaned back on her chair a little, eyes staring down at her now empty plate. "Perhaps comprising the away team with drones to scout ahead for us would be a wiser strategy- without putting the away team at risk of an ambush or- combusting..."

"Hermana, you sure you want that?" Yayoi asked Sanda.

"It was a joke," Mineko said to Chichi. "A bad one, but a joke meant to point out how little we need to put Sanda in the face of danger."

"Sanda, it is good to see you." Yoshiro said. He was glad that Sanda had gotten out of the med lab and back in to action.

"We can use drones as scouts," Euikoshi suggested. "Or people with current, updated mental backups," she shrugged.

Judah let out a chuckle as he unfolded his arms as he looked over at Euikoshi. "What if we just simply tied a rope to the bait and see what happens."

Sanda grinned at Mineko, showing that she the Mishhu hadn't taken her sense of humor. "The NMX think they have taken control of me." Sanda continued. "What if we made it look like I succeeded and the Resurgence just dissapeared. Then I returned to the planet. The NMX would think I had succeeded and they might try reaching out to me. Then I can find their base location. The away team can track me and move in if anything goes wrong and they're not convinced."

"Taisho Irim would have my head if I deliebrately crashed the ship," Aoba said, making a neck-slicing gesture. "But we could fake leaving the system."

What Sanda had proposed was absolutely insane and Yoshiro was smiling about it. "I can lead the away team if you wish, captain." Yoshiro said and ate some more. He was impresseed at the boldness of the plan that she was proposing .

Yayoi blinked at what Sanda was suggesting.

Toidorno steepled his paws together at Sanda's bold proposal. He couldn't help but be impressed. To walk back into danger so readily? She certainly seemed to exhibit the lightning that was her theme. He huffed thoughtfully, looking to the other crewmembers to see what they thought of the idea.

"They'd expect to be in communication with the parasite," Aoba pointed out. "We can't talk back to them in Mishhu telepathy," Aoba said. "...Can we?" he asked, looking at Euikoshi.

"When I was captured, I didn't see any actual Mishhu around. Just Delsaurians in NMX suits. They were speaking basic so that's how I knew I had been infected. We might not need to speak Mishhu, unless our spooks happen to know Mishhu." Sanda glanced over at Miniko and raised a tattooed eyebrow as if to say. Can you do that?

Kokoro stopped her haphazard chewing of turkey, almost choking on her food as Aoba asked the science officer about mishhuvurthyar communications. She tried to play off her sudden food choke as a happy little accident, nervously chuckling as she glanced at Erika, Mineko, and then Aoba in that order...

"Try not to die before the fight" Chiheisen shot at Kokoro with an eyeroll, making the latter growl back at her roommate.

Yayoi leaned back in her seat as she thought about what was being suggested.

"If any one ship in the fleet can, we can," Mineko said, eyes staying on Sanda as her thoughts stayed on the Nekovalkyrja choking on her food, Kokoro.

"If we're really going to set Sanda out as bait, I'd like to request Erika and I perform a preliminary insertion to create a base of operations on the planet outside of Qel'noran control just on the outskirts of Fornox City,"Mineko asked, head turning to Aoba as she asked her question.

"My shuttle is a stealth shuttle. We can sneak the shuttle out and let it bring the away team down as the ship appears to leave," Beryl suggested.

Trowa smiled. "We can even use a few explosives to make masks the ships deparcher to a make it appear that we have in fact been destroyed. Might not look good to our Delsaurian allies, but it would increase Sanda's chances to make contact."

"If nothing else, perhaps removing the ship would make their bikers feel safe to emerge again," Kalena said. She had been the one shooting at them from the skies in the rescue.

"Judah, are you interested in being the medic for the away team this time?" Poppy asked the new medic, hoping to give him some real experience in the field.

Judah looked over towards Poppy as he gave her a nod, his eyes lit up in excitement at the oppurtunity. "I'd love to be part of the away team!"

"Very well. If you find yourself needing help, just call me," Poppy told Judah.

"I got a few scores to settle with those guys. My k/d is down because of how they cheated." Yoshiro said like an angry gamer and laughed, feeling like his old self.

"If we wish to make the explosion story convincing, we could seek help from the Governor in... creating our..." he struggled to think of the word. "Our false tale." He wished he knew a word like 'charade' in Yamataigo. "The Governor could release a statement, or a video."

Yayoi glanced over as yuri quietly enters the wardroom, grabs some food and scurries out. Before Yayoi focused on the convorsation again.

"I would like set up a remote off-site base of operations if the Resurgence is leaving the system," Mineko said.

"Granted," Aoba nodded. "It might make sense to operate out of the shuttle," he added.

"How long would that take?" Sanda asked. She had gotten a plate of food but wasn't wolfing it down in her usall manner which spoke to those that noticed such things that she was taking it slower than her normal self.

"Alright, I'll start setting up equipment and fabricating anything we don't have," Mineko said, setting her uneaten plate of salmon into her hands and standing.

"Very well," Aoba nodded. He put his food into a to-go tray and headed to his captain's cabin for a quiet dinner.

Yayoi glanced towards Sanda, and took note of her slow eating.

Mineko looked down at Sanda's plate, saying "Who'd have thought all it would take to act more like me is a worm in your belly, huh?"

Toidorno watched as the Captain left, and then shifted his attention to the others at the table. "Fight well, on the planet." he said, knowing that they certainly would. "I think your... trick is a fine one. It should make your enemy off-balance."

Sanda looked at Mineko in mock hurt. "Ouch, you're saying I'm acting like a Neko? That cuts deep for a Nepleslian born girl. You need me to come help you get things ready for your makeshift base? You know, carry the heavy stuff for you?"

"Wouldn't want you to waste your energy," Mineko said tersely. A soft smile threatened to push up, but didn't quite make it all the way.

- - -

YSS Resurgence
Ke-T7 Stealth Shuttle "Beryls of Fun"

Once again, cargo specialist Beryl had set up her shuttle for the away team to use on their mission. She had secured a mobile console to one corner as an impromptu workstation and added a chair for it, and she had loaded the shuttle with enough supplies for a week of combat and/or life in the desert. Two rows of seating were available for the away team, and the shuttle had several armor storage ranks and Mindy munitions aboard, as well as antennas and communications gear for the mini base. It would be a bit crowded.

Yoshiro was in the shuttle prepping his weapons and sharpening his salvage sword. He was checking his loadout and ammunition for his weaponry, which consisted of a GP12, his sword he got as a gift from Salvage and his NSP. He made sure that his armor was armed with missiles and a rocket launcher with extra rockets.

Yayoi checked her Mindy's weapon once last time as she sat in the shuttle.

Looking like a true VIP's entourage, Mineko was outfitted with some piece of equipment on every part of her person. She even had a hand each on an anti-jammer unit and a comms device to keep them steady during the shuttle ride and had employed Erika to do the same.

Chiheisen sat down after entering the shuttle, the Elysian closing her eyes as she finished tying her hair up into a halo braid. She slid the helmet on, locking it into place.

Kokoro wasnt going to be taking a heavy combat role for this mission, but even she was in her own, freshly requisitioned Mindy 4! The Nekovalkrja was too busy fascinating over her new Kalamari attachment on her suit, using two of her Mindy's tentacle attatchments to play around with her backup NSP- quite skillfully.

Judah sat down after entering the shuttle and taking his seat, he went through his weapons and double checking he had his medical bags for all the correct items in them. He looked around as he watched the others prepare.

Yoshiro noticed Kokoro as he put on his armor. "Hey Koko, you doing okay?" He asked as he climbed into his armor. He was ready to play his saved state and then improve his score. "I hope you are ready to go. You take it easy and you'll make it through, okay?"

"Hai! Ready!" Kokoro straightened herself up as Yoshiro spoke to her, accidentally dropping the NSP she was spinning around with her mechanical tentacle appendages... "oops.."

"Glad my battle buddy is coming down this time." Sanda said to Yayoi as she brought her gear on board. For the moment, Sanda was still in her Explorer uniform. It might look better if she reapeared in the same clothes she had on when she was captured.

Yayoi glanced over to Sanda "While I was told Yuri performed well, I dont want to take chances, and really want to kill Mishhu" Yayoi commented to her sister.

Once everyone was prepared and ready, Beryl sealed up her shuttle and they quietly and gently drifted from the YSS Resurgence's shuttle bay into space above the planet Koenic. Aoba executed the plan, creating a large explosion and then warping the ship out of the area.

"Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!!!" Yoshiro shouted and laughed. "Let the enemy come and be slayed by my hand and know to fear the blades of Yamatai!" He had to earn his callsign after all.

"I can't wait to let my dogs slip out at the end of the night when I take off this armor," Mineko murmured, looking at her feet as she clinked the heels of her armor together.

Yayoi glanced to Yoshiro as he started his usual theatrics.

Chiheisen furrowed her brow as she quickly turned off her Mindy armor's sound input so she didnt have to hear Yoshiro yell. She sent Yayoi a message over her armors communications system. 'Let me know when he stops screeching about death to the enemy'

"Do you have to yell inside the ship?" Sanda asked irritably as she rubbed her ear.

"Sorry Sanda. Just glad to see you back." Yoshiro said with an embarassed look on his face. He was happy about all that had transpired after the talk with Trowa and Yuri.

"save the shouting for the enemy, Poet" Yayoi commented outloud.

"Of course, Yayoi." Yoshiro said with a grin as he put on his helmet. Slapping the side of his helmet to make sure his faculties were working.

"Guys, it's the coolest thing that happens, getting to hear this guy scream battlecries. Unless you're about to do something more epic, please don't stop him from being as cool as he is," Mineko muttered as she looked at the wall, embarassed to be saying as much.

"Let him screem all he wants to in battle. We're still on the ship." Sanda retorted.

"What happened to your pre-game battle music drowning out everything around you?" Mineko asked, confused. "You're more focused, too... Look at that, you Neko in training, you!"

Sanda made a face. She did do that didn't she. "Hump." Sanda snorted then grinned as she stuck out her tounge at Mineko , who couldn't help but laugh back and shake her head. Sanda turned back to Yoshiro. "Sorry... For snapping. Just some jitters after the last mission."

Slowly and without drawing attention to itself, Beryl's shuttle made its way down to the surface, coming to to a stop in the barren sands of the hot deserts some distance away from the city of Fornox. As soon as the door opened, Cassie rushed out and took up a defensive position, scanning for activity. "Man...we should have brought our own airbikes," she complained after a moment. "Looks clear in this area. Euikoshi made us a map with routes to the sewers and the enemy base, which is probably still getting raided by the locals."

"It's all right Sanda. I know how you feel. I admit I can be annoying at times." Yoshiro said.

Yayoi silently walked out as she prepared herself for battle.

Chiheisen stepped outside and took a defensive position, the Elysian using her LATR's scope to scout out their surroundings along with Cassie.

"Time to walk across the desert like the movies," Cassie shrugged, getting up from her position and grabbing her rucksack full of supplies and two large canteens of water

"If you walk without rhythm, you won't attract the worm." Yoshiro said as he walked out and smiled

"worms?' Yayoi asked confusedly.

"It is just something I heard in a movie once." Yoshiro said to Yayoi.

"Go to Mevar sometime, they have real Mishhu sand worms," Cassie warned Yoshiro. "If we don't kick the NMX off soon, maybe this world's next."

= = =
OOC: JP by Wes, Ame, Cowboy, Charaa, Sunny D, Yoshiro, Liza, Soban, Zanven
Hollander as guest character Toidorno Sejgui

Erika arrived a little late, running up from the Engineering deck. Having heard the idea to use drones to scout out ahead she'd dropped down to quickly print some additional ones. The Nomad FAR was designed to be either made from off the shelf components, or printed, it was only some of the specialty Star Army made modules that were difficult to source. They were less capable than her dedicated platform, with only civilian grade IRST modules but would do in a pinch. 4, 3 new and one older but much more capable, had adhered them selves to her suits back. Attached to the front of an ammunition vest was a custom Software Defined Radio system, along with several antennas coming off the side, one of them wrapping around to her back and dangling from the back of her MINDY like a thin tail.

"Not going to be the one that lets that happen, Cassie. No enemy of Yamatai shall place their filthy hands on a free world while I am breathing! I promise you!" He said with determination in his voice. "They've already took too much and their payment will be swift and sure." He scanned the area to be sure that no enemies were going to ambush them.

Planet surface

Sanda walked a short distance away from the shuttle and makeshift HQ. She needed moment. She was still dressed in her Explore Uniform and had her camo-cloak wrapped around her head to shield her from the wind and sun. The wind tugged at her cloak as she scanned the area. It hadn't been that long, less than 12 hours since she had been captured and infected with a Mishhu parasite. She had been lucky. Extradentary lucky. She had never been so afraid as she had been when she heard she had been infected. Her team had saved her. And now she was volunteering to go back to her captures in an attempt to find their base? She'd be lying if she said she wasn't afraid. What if they weren't fooled that she had been taken over and tried to infect her again? Sanda shuttered but steeled herself. Courage wasn't the absence of fear, it was being afraid but doing your job anyway.

Sanda headed back over to the shuttle and grabbed helped get the makeshift HQ set up. Once that was done she unloaded her bike. It was Type 30 Akira-class Hoverbike, but it had been modified and upgraded. Sanda and Koyama had spent months working on it, upgrading its power and speed while also making it quieter. Sanda hadn't had a chance to actually use it in the field. Most of their missions lately had been in space or aboard ships or space stations. She was excited to finally get a chance to use it. Sanda did a quick check over the hoverbike then took a can of spray paint and Xed the Star Army logo on the side of the bike, but so that it was obvious that the logo had been marked out. Anything to help her story that she had turned.

Satisfied that she was good to go, Sanda checked with Mineko and Erika. "You girls set up?" Sanda asked. "Are you guys able to pick up any communications? Even encrypted ones? If you can narrow down a source that would be a good place for me to try to infiltrate."

Ke-T7 Stealth Shuttle "Beryls of Fun"

"Primary objective is get down through the sewers to the Mishhuvurthyar that is the source of all of the reanimated corpses. Remember that, everyone!" Mineko loudly shouted past Sanda to everyone within earshot. "Don't let Aoba down!"

Back to her normal speaking voice, she said to Sanda, "As an operative, Erika's going with you. I'll be manning the shuttle alone unless Beryl sticks with it. We'll be able to exfiltrate the team at a moment's notice." Mineko said as she flew to pull the last corner of camo fabric over the shuttle's edge and staked it down with a flourish, then a wink at Sanda.

"The away team will be infiltrating the sewers, as discussed, so it'd be best to head there. Cassie's already on her way, it seems. I'll inform you of any new information or communications as they come in." Seemingly nonchalant, Mineko pulled up the tarp to settle in and started turning on a machine that would help her detect movement of ships in FTL to know before a starship arrived that it was heading their way. She then grabbed some oversized headphones and looked ready to put them on the moment Sanda was out of her hair.

YE 46.2

Hot winds blew the desert sands over the team's shuttle at a steady gale, filling the air with a murky brown haze and whipping the tarp over Mineko and Erika and their sensor box. It looked like they were in the start of a steadily-worsening sandstorm. Sanda's camo cloak flapped in the wind.

Cassie looked around at her squad. She saw Yayoi, Yoshiro, Chiheisen, and Kokoro with her. "Six of us versus the horde, eh?" she said. "I can't see that great in this sandstorm, but it could be great cover and it'll keep the civilians off the streets of the city."

"heh, a easy mode" Yayoi thought to herself as she stood, in her Mindy, Ready for the mission, as she once again checked her weapons both Power Armor and, including her hidden blades, and hand held guns. "Agreed" she said verbally to Cassie as she commented on the sandstorm.

Chiheisen reached for her back, grabbing the LATR off of its back sling and verifying everything was in order and ready for a fight. The Elysian's wings neatly folded in their sheaths, glancing towards Cassie with a small nod.

"I guess I will miss the Resurgence's fire support but we were going to be going underground anyway," Cassie commented. "I'm ready to find a sewer grate if you guys are ready," Cassie said, trying to read map, which made sense on the surface but was a confusing and incomplete mess in the ancient sewers.

Sanda snapped out of her thoughts and pulled her camo-cloak a little tighter over her mouth to keep the dust out. She also put on a pair of goggles to protect her eyes from the stinging sand that the wind was picking and blowing.

Erika stook back and watched Sanda for a moment, her concenred expression conceiled by her helmet "Sure you're up for this Thunder?" She said, taking a step forward "You've just been through an ordeal."

Sanda nodded. If her face had been uncovered, Erika would have seen the determination in her eyes. "Yes. But I think this might be the quickest way to discover their base of operations and shut it down. Besides, you guys will be close at hand to bail me out if things get dicey this time. We now know what we're up against."

Erika nodded in response. "Alright. Do me a solid and try to warn me if you're going to rush. I'll make sure you're covered."

Sanda nodded. "I promise I won't be running off again anytime soon. And if I need you guys to bale me out, I'll use the code phrase: Get me the hell out of here."

The operative chuckled softly under her helmet. "Operation Thunder Extract."

Judah popped his head out of the entrance of the shuttle as he looked around at the surroundings. He still wasn't use to being sent out on missions, he nodded as to prevent any sand entering his mouth in response.

"Stay close with your battle buddies," Cassie told Judah. "Don't get seperated." Outside of the landed shuttle, Judah could see desert dunes and clouds of kicked-up sand and dust carried by the winds of a storm, with bits of trash tumbling by.

Yayoi moved into place beside Sanda, unbothered by the sandstorm going on.

Kokoro giggled as she hopped on over next to Yoshiro. The Neko grinned under her Mindy's helmet as she held a shiny new Type 41 Turbo Aether Plasma Shotgun, pointing it up to the sandy sky as she cocked it. "Huehue... Cant wait to test this girl out in real combat"

Sanda followed along with the rest of the group riding her Hoverbike. Since she wasn't in PA, it was a lot easier to ride than it would be to try to trudge through the sand on her own. The Hoverbike would also give her more manuverabilty if they needed to fan out or bug out fast.

Cassie tried to scratch her head only to bang her armored gauntlet on her Mindy helmet. "Well, I'm just going to try to get to the city sewers, preferably one on the outside of down instead of in the middle and really obvious," she said, floating low over the sands. "Come on everyone," she said, leading the way looking at the map the ship had left them.

After a brief journey across the barren deserts, passing by wrecked ships and giant bones in the sand, they reached the city wall and conveniently there was a drain nearby and Cassie pulled out a crowbar the team had got from the YSS Dragon Sword and opened up the grating.

One by one, they were able to enter a sandstone brick storm drain tunnel that had connections to the ancient sewers. Being out of the storm was a great relief to her. She called up to Sanda and asked, "So how are we working this distraction thing you had planned?" she said.

Sanda was proably more realeaved to be out of the sand then the others. She shook sand out of her cloak and hair a moment before answering. "Erika, can you pull up a map of the city and the tunnel system as far as we know it?"

Erika nodded before shiftting around the gear over the front of her armr to better expose a photonics emmitter. The lens glowed and a 3d blue hologram of the tunnels was projected, there original path highlighted in red, and the point aat which Sanda was separated demarkated with a red X.

Sanda studied the map a moment then began pointing out some landmarks. "Here is where our guide first went underground in that big truck." She pointed to another spot. "Here is where I came out and... crashed." She murmored before continuing. "Here's where we are now. Now this is all guess work, but we're not far from where I would guess is a hideaway. I head forward, you guys stay far enough back that your out of sight, but close enough to jump in if this goes south, and I try to make some sort of contact."

"There should be a way from here to that tunnel under the butcher shop," Cassie speculated. "I'm so glad the Mindy has armored knees right now," she said as she crunched through the sandy drain tunnel, which looked like it could have been 3000 years old for all they could tell. Following Erika's directions, she made her way over to a steep ramp down, which connected to a vertical shaft covered in old blood and entrails on the walls. "This must be the place we came out the last time."

Yayoi like she was always, silently observed as Sanda began her plan. And learned of the past away team that her daughter was on. "The Mindy does have stealth capability, so I could keep up without being seen." She said out loud to Sanda, and the team. "too bad that i'm not that Neko, Kiyo told me about" she thought to herself.

Judah stayed silent as he followed in after the rest, he looked around at the drainage tunnel system, his mouth dropped in awe as he was surprised to see how ancient the system looked like. "This is very cool!"

Chiheisen descended into the tunnel carefully, setting down and beginning to continue on with the rest of the team- until something BONKED her on the head. Kokoro grinned as she hopped off of the birbs head, landing on her likely to annoy her roommate. She slowly floated down to the ground, though she continued to hover close to the ground.

"These tunnels look about two hundred percent less scary with a Mindy helmet on." She commented as she followed along with the team, with a grumbling Elysian in tow.

Heading down into the tunnels, following the map they had made trying to find a way out before, please the visual references, Cassie was able to backtrack down into the tunnels in much less time then it had taken them to find their way up. Soon all but the tinest lights were gone and the team was in the bizarre mazes of the ancient sewers. Ahead of them, dozens of desiccated reptilian mummies blocked their path. There was a distinct metallic "shink" noise as Cassie surprisingly draw a Type 39 NCO Saber she'd been carrying, putting in her right hand with the crowbar in the other. As the first mummy got close and tried to grab her, she beaned it in the head with the crowbar and sliced it with her sword with enough force to knock it back over a ledge where it stumbled into a chasm.

Sanda drew her own sword, Arc. Every ounce of the tattooed Nepleslian wanted to wade into the fight but she stayed in the back. She'd defend herself if the mummy's got within range but it would be better to let her Power Armored team do most of the work.

"I still want an explanation as to how embalmed tissue is being reanimated." Erika calmly as she cut through the mummies with her Aether blade like they were fronds blocking her path in the jungle. "Are the MIshhu employing necromancers now or something?"

As the team began to fight their way down to the lower levels of the sewers, searching for the stairs, the were attacked by dozens and dozens of mummies and the occasional armed zombie.

"these guys, i see why they terrified her.. perfect, thank you mummies for allowing yourself to be seen by a mother" Yayoi thought as she lifted her NSP, at the mummy as she prepared her second signature weapon, her aetheric pulse weapon should she need it.

"Mishhuvurthyar!" Kokoro grunted as she shot a mummy that got way too close with her NSP, her shotgun having returned back to her behind. As much as she wouldve loved to start lightning up the undead with her big gun- it really wasnt needed at this point. "Probably parasites- or something"

"Try to keep hold your fire as much as possible. We don't want to give ourselves away by shooting a bunch of guns!" Sanda adviced as she sliced a mummy nearly in half with her sword.

Judah quickly pulled out his standard issue rifle as he aimed it at the closet mummy, his finger held down on the trigger, a bullet flew out into the closet mummy. "Wait- Oh-.." He lowered his rifle as he just stayed silent after hearing Sanda.

The crack of gunfire echoed through the sewers, alerting more of the local undead. As Cassie guided the team forward, they had to form a unit where each member was covering one of their sides as the attacks were coming from all over, now.

"Well, fuck" Yayoi actually uttered as Judah fired his weapon

"I am so demoted..." Judah muttered as he just probably alerted every single damn thing to their current location. He raised his rifle again and held it like a bat to club the mummies with.

Kokoro nervously chuckled to herself as she put away her NSP aswell. She began to use her Mindy's Kalamari appendages to handle the undead, pushing and stabbing at any that got too close to her, or the people next to her.

"Bumped down to Santo and scrubbing latrines in your future." Erika said with a slight chuckle. "You know, if we do open fire my Ather Carbine should over penetrate and cut through these guys pretty quickly. They are all nicely bunched togeather."

Chiheisen grunted as a silly idea popped into her head- but nontheless an effective one. She stepped a little away from the team, leaving her just enough room to extend her wings to their full(ish) wingspan. The Elysian began to slash at the undead as they continued to progress- it was a little uncomfortable to attack with her wings- but at the very least, effective.

Glowing with teal accent lights, the eerie glow of Mindy armor illuminated the faces of unliving horrors, their desiccated forms whispering tales of an age long forgotten. The stench of decay mingled with the metallic scent of fresh blood as Cassie and her squad carved a path through the relentless undead horde. Yet, for every creature that fell, another took its place, a seemingly endless tide of death.

"Well this is working out great." Sanda said sarcasticly. She wasn't holding back now. There were just too many targets to fight now. The Ranger had her sword in one hand and her baynett in the other. She was a blur of movement, slicing and stabbing with such fierosity yet grace.

Yayoi lifted her aetheric pulse cannons, her sensors picking out Sanda's movement so that when she fires her anger-Aether out she wouldnt accidentally hit Sanda or any of her teammates. Mean while, the next Mummy coming close to say hello, but a sharp hidden blade cut into its brain.

Erika's movements were practiced and repetative. She'd lift her Aether blade and slice through several at once with one power armor assisted diagonal slice, then lift it up over her other shoulder and do an other, coming down from the other side with a back handed motion.

As they pressed on, the tunnels began to twist and turn, a labyrinthine maze that seemed to mock their efforts. Yet, Cassie's leadership was a guiding light, her intiuitive mind mapping a course through the darkness like a cat navigating one of those play climbing tower. Her dual-wielded crowbar and saber became a symbol of unbreakable will...though she really wanted to just shoot them all or set the place to blow with some goodies form the ship's armory. Finally they reached a hidden set of steps down to a secret lab facility where the ancient stones ended and clean, concrete and shiny metallic walls began.

"Do we have some way to temporarily cut the mummies off from following us down here?" Cassie asked the others. Maybe if we can get access to this lab we can lock them out."

"Explosives?" Erika said increduilously "Not exactly stealthy though, and would cut off our retreat."

"Quiet explosives?" Sanda said breathing hard but still ready for more.

Erika simply turned to the ranger and tilted her head.

"HUHUHU," a sinister laugh echoed in the air as they stood, covered in blood and dust, in front of the lab's outer door. "SO...YOU FINALLY FOUND ME. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS DAY. I WILL ENJOY TURNING YOU INTO MY NEWEST PLAYTHINGS!" the Mishhuvurthyar said, watching them through the camera above the door.

"Aye Miércoles!" Sanda swore silently. Her brain was racing. She hadn't thought there were any actual Mishhu on the planet. Just some infected lackies.

Yayoi blinked her red and yellow eyes, behind her helmet as she heard the Mishhu speaking. it sounded to her like perhapes the Mishhuvurthyar had taken the form of a overly large fat slug. And she thought the Mishhuvurthyar was very full of himself.

"LET'S MADE A DEAL," the Mishhuvurthyar suggested. "IF YOU LEAVE YOUR ARMORS THERE I WILL LET YOU IN. IF YOU DON'T, MY RIPPERS WILL TEAR YOU APART."

Cassie went to Yayoi and quietly said, "There's no way we can consider getting naked for this thing, right?" she asked. "I think he just wants to parasite us. I'll take the Ripper Ambush. Agreed?"

Yayoi silently nodded her head to Cassie, there was no way she was getting naked for a Mishhuvurthyar, for Sanda, or her other sister, maayyybe and for a possible future boyfriend, but Mishhuvurthyar NOPE.

"Looks like the negoations are very short." Judah whispered to them. He looked around at the room as he thought about what would happen to them if they did leave the mindys.

"I wouldn't worry too much about Rippers in this environment. They're chunky, and you won't get more than a few able to fire on us at once. They're going to really clog up the passage though." Erika said over coms.

"There won't be any need for that... My Lord." Sanda said addressing the Mishhu. She stepped forward and pulled a device out from under her cloak. It looked like any old hand held comm unit. "Their suits are all wired to this device. As soon as I press it, their suits will power down and you may capture them without a fight." With her other hand Sanda made hand jestures. Trust me.

Kokoro remained silent as the booming voice of the Mishhuvurthyar echoed into her head, announcing himself. She seemed to clutch her main gun, exhaling under her helmet. Chiheisen raised an eyebrow to Sanda's words. It was.. probably a bluff.

Yayoi blinked her eyes as Sanda spoke, she trusted her of course, and she could see the hand gestures. "crap!" Yayoi cursed out loud, as Cassie began acting.

Cassie was picking up what Sanda was laying down. "I can't move!!" she said out loud, freezing in place. "What's happening??" she cried, doing her best acting job.

Judah picked up on what the others where doing and joined in, he froze in place as he let out a yell. "You traitor! I can't move!" He did his best with his acting to make it believeable.

"Sanda you bastard!" Erika cried out as she too acted as though she was locked. "When we get out of this I'll cave your face in!" Then silently, over telecoms she followed it up with another message. "If this works I'll eat my drone."

The small squad of Rippers the Mishhuvurthyar had smuggled onto the planet appeared out of the shadows, their four eyes glowing green. But they didn't attack. They grabbed the armor team and began bringing them to the lab's vault-like door, which began to open. They were getting carried into the Mishhuvurthyar's lab!

Sanda bowed to the Rippers as they came into the room and stood out of their way. Her face showed no emotion as her teamates were grabbed and manhanded inside the Mishhu lab. She tapped a button on her wrist that sent a single ping to her hoverbike outside. She had preset it to send a signal to Mineko that they were in and to come in guns blazing.

"Get your hands off me worm brain!" Erika protested as she was dragged around.

Kokoro and Chiheisen both remained rather silent as they were dragged inside, appart from the occasional grunt. While normal for the Elysian, the Nekovalkrja seemed awfully uncharacteristically quiet.

"Allow me to show you my facilities before you join us forever," the Mishhuvurthyar's voice said over the lab's intercom. They were brought to a security checkpoint. The walls were a bright white inside of the lab, with silver fixing and furniture and lots of glass windows.

Yayoi glared silently behind her helmet as she allowed herself to be dragged. All the while she pleasured herself with thoughts of what she'll do to the Mishhu, and its minions.

Judah slilently sobbed as he was getting dragged around by the Rippers. He hated how this was working so well...

Cassie texted the team, "WE WILL GET AS MUCH INTEL FOR ERIKA AND MINEKO AS POSSIBLE THEN THE DOOM MUSIC WILL KICK IN. OK?"

JP END
= = =
OOC: JP by Wes, Ame, Cowboy, Charaa, Sunny D, Yoshiro, Liza, Soban, Zanven, SidTotalWar
Hollander as guest character Toidorno Sejgui

"The traitor dies a thousand deaths, a warrior only one." Yoshiro whispered to himself as he realized what the team was doing. He was going to have so much fun tearing the Mishhu apart and he would do it slowly but those thoughts would have to wait. He had pretended to be unable to move as the others had so the enemy wouldn't suspect a thing.

Ke-T7 Stealth Shuttle "Beryls of Fun"

It was hard to make out what was behind the visual feed that was coming back to her and Mineko texted back to the team.

"Try to get a look at what's behind those windows," Mineko said even as she enhanced the imagery on her own systems within the shuttle.

Somewhere In Planet Koenic
Mishhuvurthyar Secret Base

It had been approximately four months since the last time Kokoro had been surrounded by her own kind. The now turned Nekovalkrja quickly froze her Mindy's frame to better give the impression that she had been immobilized by Sanda's plan. She really didnt like this plan.. but at the very least it presented... intel gathering opportunities. She muted herself, and lowered the volume of the other's communications as much as possible, to where she could barely still hear them, atleast. The engineer exhaled inside her Mindy, and began to try to listen. Being a defector, Kokoro understood and could very easily translate Mishhuvurthyar, and thus, anything she managed to hear about their situation or what the Mishhuvurthyar were planning would be to their advantage.

Somewhere In Planet Koenic
Mishhuvurthyar Secret Base

Sanda could feel the hair standing up on the back of her neck. She couldn't believe that the Mishhu had bought it. At least, they appeared to have bought it. They were inside the secret base and weren't having to fighting... yet. She hoped the other members of the team could keep their cool. The more intel they could gather the better they'd be able to learn how the Mishhu got here in the first place, how well of a hold did they have on the planet, and how they might be able to stop them from infiltration other planets.

Sanda tried to stay close to Kokoro and Yoshiro. Those were the two she was most worried about. Kokoro she didn't know very well and being the new kid was the biggest unknow for how she would react in a situation like this. Yoshiro she was worried he might start telling off the Mishhu and attract too much attention to himself. The man was fearless, Sanda had to give him that. As long as he could pull the trigger he be in the fight and not give up. But this was not the time to be telling the Mishhu what you plan to do to them.

YE 46.2

Once they had been dragged through the security checkpoint, the Resurgence away team were taken further into the the lab. The Rippers seemed cumbersome and out of place, especially with the seemingly inoperative Mindy that they callously towed.

“Team isn’t responding to my query,” Mineko grumbled to herself, but even as she did, the analyst was able to get a better view of the labs as a whole from the feeds coming in.

Two sets of examination tables were set up along the left wall while right behind them was an open maintenance door through which she could see welding equipment. On the tables, Mineko could make out straps meant to hold the patients down through the visual feed and the grim reminder of what the Mishhuvurhtyar were doing there made her focus even more on what else she could see.

Interspersed between fluorescent lights on the ceiling was a sprinkler system and on the wall closest to the door they had been brought in was an all-too-bright pink fire extinguisher. The Rippers seemed to be bringing them to a far door that had a round hatch wheel handle like those found on nautical boats. 



Walking shoulder to shoulder with Sanda while dragging Yoshiro, the lead Ripper grazed a metal table on wheels. Beakers crashed to the floor and shattered loudly followed by the clattering of a datajockey as the small utility table fell to the ground.

Yoshiro quickly grabbed the datapad as the Ripper looked distracted and hid it in one of his pockets. He thought that it might contain intel that they could use when they got it to someone that could analyze it.

Cassie looked around, recording everything she could. She could see scientists working on bioweapons or something behind glass, people in hazmat suits, robot arms moving samples into cryogenic storage. File cabinet like drones whizzed through the lab carrying things from one area to another.

Sanda saw Yoshiro grabb the datapad and momentarily tenced up but it seemed that his movements went undetected. Buen agarre. She thougtht to herself. She looked ahead and saw the size of the operation that was going on here. It was so much larger than she had guessed.

"You just wait you bastards" Erika made a show of screaming within her suit ineffectually. "This one or an ST, I'm going to peel your nails off one by one. And you Sanda! The deepest layers of hell are reserved for betrayers!"

Sanda mearly looked towards Erkia and smiled. Despite the gravity of the situation, Sanda had to stay in charicter and not become caught up in Erika's insults. Although Erika seemed to be having way too much fun insulting her.

"I will beat you with sandals like your mother used to Puta!" Erika continued as she made eye contact, her eyes boring through her suits visor.

Kokoro continued to attempt to listen into any Mishhuvurthyar conversations she could, attempting to discern the enemies intents further. Chiheisen meanwhile, was scanning as much as she could with her systems sensors. She didnt have much else she could do...

Yayoi was silent as she allowed herself to be dragged further, silently, observing everything she could subtly as she did so.

Finally the team was brought to a containment room where NMX workers surrounded them. The Mishhuvurthyar leading the operation gave the orders over the speakers. "Strip them and prepare the parasites for implantation." The workers began trying to remove their armor.

Yoshiro just watched as they were brought in and tried to remain calm. "Remember Sanda, a traitor dies a thousand deaths while a warrior dies only one." Yoshiro said but getting tired of waiting to fight their enemy he pulled out his GP12 and started shooting. "Come out and play, you knock kneed bitches!" Yoshiro started shooting at the NMX and their allies.

"Thousand deaths? What the fuck does that even mean?" Cassie asked, legitimately confused what Yoshiro was trying to convey. It made no sense. "Start shooting shit," she ordered, clubbing one of the NMX worker guys in the face with her armor's bladed elbow then bringing her plasma rifle to bear. Alarms began to blare as the facility went into lockdown. She didn't try to capture anyone, she just started picking every non-Star Army person there off as fast as she could spot them.

Yayoi actually grinned when she heard the order, and her team actually heard a sound that sounded like a giggle, before Yayoi lifted her aetheric plasma cannons and aimed at the NMX nearest her. "Nighty Night" She said as she fired it at the NMX soldier, while the next was helped to a hidden blade in its gut..

Sanda palmed her SiZi plasma revolver and fired at the nearest Ripper. The gun was loaded with a mix of diffrent sized ammo. Unforutally, the cartrige in the chamber was for unarmored targets. Cursing, Sanda quickly spun the cylinder to the heavy rounds and fired again. The heavy rounds were made to only be shot while in PA. Sanda briefly regestared pain in her hand before her cyberntic nerves cut out. There was the smell of burnt flesh as the synthetic flesh of her hand melted away. Sanda just thumb cocked the pistol and fired another heavy round at another Ripper.

Kokoro unlocked her Mindy and reached for her shotgun. She let out a screeching yell telepathically, perhaps out of habit, as she jumped towards one of the nearby NMX targets, unloading aether on them. Chiheisen followed suit, using her LATR's short range mode to lay down fire on the enemy.

Erika thrashed around in her captors grasp and grasped at her aether sword on her hip. She pressed it into the metalic carapace of the ripper holding her, using force and the eneregy of the blade to slowly drill through the armor and into the driver within.

"COME ON YOU CLAMSHELLED BASTARDS AND GET YOU SOME HOT PLASMA SEX!" Yoshiro shouted as he shot at the enemy with his GP-12 . "I AM GOING TO COOK YOU BASTARDS FROM THE INSIDE OUT AND WATCH YOU BLEEEEEEEDDD!!!!!"

The squad of Rippers opened at close range through the door, hitting several of the team members. And some of the NMX scientist staff. Cassie rolled on the floor, her back and thigh smoking, and tried not to scream. "Ow." She looked for cover but the containment room was basically an armored box with examination tables. "We need to push out of here," she said, "this is a fishbowl."

Yayoi tried to dodge the Mishhu attacks, while firing her Scalar Gun's as well as her Aetheric cannons. However, Yayoi made a mental note like very likely a few already have to have Yoshiro take a psych evaluation. Though she'd managed to get hit from enemy attacks.

Kokoro gritted her teeth as her mindy took several shots head on. The nekovalkrja used her Kalamari appendages to reach down and grab at the writhing (and still probably alive) NMX scientists on the ground, picking them up and using them to shield herself from incoming fire, leaving a small gap to allow her to shoot in return. She began to push fowards as much as she could, in an attempt to force the mishhuvurthyar back a little.

Erika's sheild's flared as they took several hits. With her captor down she pushed past the husk and closed, using her Inertial Control System to slide herself quickly at the group along the ground. When she was close enough she pushed up off the ground, slicing one of of the rippers in the head of the pack from groin to shoulder and used her momentum to enter into a back flip. Her hand slid into her grenade satchel and she lobbed a smoke grenade back at them.

Yoshiro was angry as he saw the Mishhu trying to attack an ally. He started beating the Mishhu attacking Kokoro "Not today, meatshield!" He shouted as he fought the Mishuu.

"Ugh," Cassie grunted, scrambling to her feet. She saw Kokoro pushing and followed her, spilling out into the main area of the lab. Armored shutters were starting to come down over the windows and the door to the containment room was starting to shut too. "Everyone stay together!" she yelled. "These guys are all workers, we need to find the actual Mishhuvurthyar," she reminded everyone. She dove behind a counter and tried to focus fire on the Rippers one at a time, calling targets so they could work together. "Shoot the one by the plant!" she said.

Sanda tried to make as small a target as she could. She was not in a Mindy Suit after all and wouldn't survive any hits from the Rippers powerful weapons. She heafted up the Ripper she had gunned down and used its body as a shield while she reloaded her Revolver with all heavy rounds. Her right hand was black and smoking and the metal of the cyberntic fingers could be seen pokeing out. Reloaded, she heard Cassie calling targets and raised her revolver and fired at the Ripper she indicated.

"Hai!" Chiheisen responded to Cassie as she also hid behind the improvised meatshield, firing at anything she could from behind it. Kokoro continued to unload her shotgun at any NMX she could see moving in front of her, angrily shouting. "SHINESHINESHIIINEEEE!!!" in yamataingo.

Yayoi moved forward, using her Mindy Armor to block any attacks coming for Sanda, in addition to the Ripper Sanda had managed to eliminate.

Erika landed next to Cassie, her Blade stowed, she now had her Mass Driver in her hands and began firing into the smoke cloud she'd made. "Would be nice if we could keep one or two of the workers alive." She said to Cassie as she dumped the contents of a magazine into the cloud.

Yoshiro drew his sword with an evil smile "Come close to me oh demon, and let me bleed you dry and eat your soul." Yoshiro said grinning maniacally. "You will burn in the nine circles of hell as I watch."

"At least he's our psycho." The operative said to herself.

"Don't worry the Mishhu will put the dead ones back to work if we don't stop them," Cassie told Erika. The Ripper by the large decorate plant was riddled with the team's bullets and energy blasts and eventually slumped over, burning, as the red emergency lights flashed against its brownish armored body.

"Yoshiro, you're really starting to freak me out. You sounds more like the Mishhu than the Mishhu do." Sanda stated as she fired. She was keeping close to Yayoi, using her friends body as a shield. It was counter intuitive for Sanda. Usally she'd put her own body in the line to protect her hermana but no chance of that without PA.

Erika took cover as she replace the Magazine on her rifle. "He who fights monsters should see that he becomes one." She said, looking in Sanda's direction.

While Yoshiro was monologuing one of the remaining Rippers pounced on him, trying to cut him in half with its huge aether sword, which was bigger than his. These Rippers were really dangerous up close because they were really good with their blade (as opposed to their walking skills, which were hindered by tiny legs and top-heavy bodies).

Yoshiro yelped with surprise as the Ripper jumped on him. He grabbed the arm with the blades and tried to rip it off but realized it was a mistake.

The Ripper lopped off Yoshiro's hand at the wrist when Yoshiro tried to grab it. Unlike the Mishhuvurthyar, the Rippers were silent and didn't talk smack, but its face looked like it really wanted to in that moment.

Yayoi continued firing with her Aetheric Pulse Cannon and her Scalar Gun. "I'm gonna recommend, Yoshiro gets a psych eval, you seconding, Hermana?" Yayoi asked through her comms to Sanda. Yayoi cursed, loudly as she saw the Ripper attacked Yoshiro, and managed to rip his arm off. She sent a Aetheric Pulse at the Mishhu, joining Sanda's attack.

Before Sanda could agree with Yayoi she saw Yoshiro's hand get hacked off. The Ranger fired at the Ripper then had to direct her fire at another one that was closing in on her. Sanda really didn't want what happened to Yoshiro happen to her. She had been getting beat up a little too much lately.

Chiheisen layed down fire into the attacking Rippers targetting Yoshiro with her LATR, the elysian ducked behind one of the desks for cover. She gritted her teeth as she saw the Joto Heisho lose his hand to the Ripper.

"Damn it you cockshelled beast...I will MURDER YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY!" Yoshiro shouted in pain and stabbed the sword he had in his free hand into its back. "I WILL EAT YOUR FLESH GRILLED IN THE FLAMES OF HELL!"


Cassie rushed up behind the Ripper and mag-dumped into its back. Together with Sanda, Yayoi and Chiheisen, they managed to blow through its tough armor and it fell forward into Yoshiro's sword.

Erika, meanwhile, noticing the dogpile to save Yoshiro, continued focusing on the other threats, giving the team cover as they attempted to pull the psychotic Heisho to safety.

With the small squad of Rippers gone, and the blast shutters down, they were now in the clear with no more enemies visible. Cassie took a moment to reload and then looked around. "Anyone bring a med kit?" she asked, "We need some clotter for Yoshiro."

"Thanks, you guys." Yoshiro said to his teammates. He made a tactical mistake but he would rather take a lost hand rather than a lost team mate.

"I might in my pack' Yayoi said indicating her butt pack that her Mindy had.

Sanda reached into Yayoi's butt pack and pulled out a IFAK. "I'll tend to him." Sanda annonced as she moved towards Yoshiro. "Hold still. And no more talking for a minuet while I fix this. I don't know which is worse, you or the Mishhu." She smiled as she said it and punched Yoshiro on the shoulder to show she was mostly teasing.

Kokoro exhaled as her tentacle appendages let go of the now rather crispy looking NMX scientists, letting them fall to the floor unceremoniously. She stared at them momentarily, before circling back towards the team, gun still in hand.

With the smoke clearing Erika let the drones on her back rack off the leash. Once they were hovering in front of her.

"I just brought all explosives," Cassie said. "I'm glad these didn't go off when I was hit, I have basically 300 kilograms of TPE bricks and det cord in my buttpack. I was thinking, like, why not just level the place, right? Also one canteen because it's the desert."

"Hey Cassie." Erika said, looking at her cheaper drones. "Spare a few kilos to strap to these things? I only brought 30 kilos."

"Suicide Bits strategy?" Chiheisen asked Erika as she walked over, eyeing the drones as they lined up in front of Erika.

"Was thinking on the larger drones this time. They're not going to be as useful in a facility with doors, but they could make excellent breaching devices."

Yoshiro nodded to Sanda as she fixed his hand. He was grateful for her and was glad that she was there.

It didn't take long for Sanda to patch up Yoshiro's hand. She had had basic first aid. Plus had taken the advanced class when it was taught by their old ship's doctor. "That should keep you from bleeding out until Poppy can look at it. She'll fix you up with a new hand as good as the old one. She did the same think for my left a few missions back when I got my leg sliced off by a Ripper back on the Concordia." She was talking a lot more than usal, but that was mostly to keep Yoshiro from thinking about his hurt hand. Sanda was a lot more carring than her tough girl act usally suggested.

Cassie looked at Erika. "Sure, this stuff is heavy. Be kind to your AI friends." She opened her back and sure enough, it was absoutely packed with a ridiculous amount of plastic explosives. "Hey, we should be start blowing these doors open, I bet the boss is already trying to exit. Also I'm not a combat engineer so I have only a basic idea what I'm doing so I'll try not to kill us all with these, LOL."

Erika grabbed a few bricks and shook her head. "No AI to speak of on board. They're controlled by my AEIS. They're more like my own limbs than their own independant entity. I assure you, no sapient creature was harmed in their making or will be in there destruction... aside from the enemy. As for breaching, I took demo training a few months back. I'll take care of it.

"Thanks Sanda." Yoshiro said to her. She was a great soldier and a great person, he could see that. Now it was shown to him and he could see why she was selected for the Rangers.

Yayoi kept her eyes and her sensors on the environment around her, as Sanda tended to Yoshiro like a mom would. She did however glanced towards Cassie, then looked at the doors. "Agreed, the doors should be blasted, since its unlikely

"Judah, see if you can use hemosynth to start reattaching that hand, maybe you can save it before it dies," Cassie requested. The new medic moved to Yoshiro to give it a try.

Sanda made way for the medic and patted him on the shoulder. "While your at it, can you like, give him something that makes him not talk to much?" Sanda joked to Judah as she stepped away to examin her own hand. She made a face as she picked melted syn flesh off her hands.

Yoshiro saw another medic come up to him. "Thanks a lot Sanda." Yoshiro said with a smile.

After loading up her dones and NSPs with explosives they hovered behind her and she made her way over to Cassie to assist.

Cassie jammed a block of the putty-like PE into the door frame of a nearby lab door and then ran a wire across the room. "This is how it works in the training videos right?" She inserted the wires into the clicky thing. "Stand clear!"

"I mean, that will work, but its not ideal." Erika said as she took cover. "Get Yoshiro well away from that, with his suit breached the pressure wave won't be good for him."

Yayoi moved so that she could shield Yoshiro and Sanda if need be.

"What about me?" Sanda yelled as she moved to take cover behind a sturdy looking console.

"Put your damn helmet shield up. This is adjacent to a sewer for Empress's sake." Erika said to the ranger.

Kokoro began to pace around the testing chamber as the team worked on getting the door open, searching for anything remotely interesting that had survived the fire fight.

A blast of smoke filled the room as Cassie clicked the detonator and blew in the door to one of the side areas of the secret underground lab. She rushed over to it and started tugging it the rest of the way open to make room for entry.

Erika had her armed drones go through the breach first, checking the room for any contacts before pushing past Cassie and through the hole she'd made. "Next one I'll show you a trick with some det cord to get a cleaner hole." She called back to the Heisho as she pushed through.

Kokoro focused her attention back to the task at hand, running back to the now blown in hole and using her Kalamari appendages to help Cassie clear the way through.

In the new section, they found a bunch of humanoid scientists dead and what appeared to be the production center for some sort of virus or chemical weapon. An ominous blue liquid was spilling out of some of the glass tubing onto the floor.

"Let's go find this boss. He owes me for my hand and I intend to get my insurance." He said waiting for the clearence to move.

Sanda followed the others in and took in the scene. This stuff was above her pay grade. She wished Kawa or Mineko was here. Mineko... "Hey has anyone made contact with Mineko lately?" Sanda asked. With all that had gone down she had completely forgoten about their makeshift HQ on the surface ready to inform the Res of what was going down.

"Warning: Containment breach detected," a computer voice announced. "This facility has been placed into emergency lockdown."

"Hey Mineko, you there?" Erika asked over coms, the warning doing little to deter her, save for taking a glance at Sanda who she really hoped had her helmet sheild up by now. "Have you got any idea where we're supposed to go to find the squid behind the hologram?"

"Setting scans of the interior to Mishhuvurthyar bio-organism now," Mineko said into Erika's ear.

Mineko's scans were able to show the lab was built over an ancient water cistern in the lower levels of the complex sewers. There was a tunnel down to it from the lab's administrative area. She relayed that information to Erika.

Judah gave Yoshiro a nod. "It's reattached, but take it easy, it'll work after a few hours once the hemosynth finishes rewiring everything."

Yayoi took note of the water cistern, and got a horrible gut feeling inside her as she looked.

"Via admin." Erika said "lets go."

"I see the admin center door sign," Cassie said, setting a charge to bust through the door again. She used way too much explosive putty.

"I'll get this one." Erika said, steping in. She pulled the plastic explosives from the door and placed it back in Cassie's pack, in exchange she pulled out the reel of det cord. She tapped it to part of the door and began making several Neko sized loops, adhearing them to the doors surface with adhesive tape. There were 6 loops in total before she placed a much smaller amount of plastic explosive in the center. She then stood to the side, making sure her CFS was fully charged. "Stand by"

Chiheisen watched Erika do her thing, positioning herself nearby and readying herself to push in with the rest of the team. Kokoro seemed to stay to the tail end of the group, the nekovalkrja still rather silent as she stared at the dead scientists they were leaving behind. She was a bit unnerved, seeing people who wouldve once been her allies dead on the ground, but regardless, she remained quiet.

Yoshiro picked up his GP12 with his good hand and fell back with Kokoro to protect her. "Are you doing okay Koko?" Yoshiro asked concerned.

Sanda noticed Kokoro looking at the dead scientists and was going to ask her how she was holding up but Yoshiro beat her to it so she didn't say anything and moved forward to watch Erika work.

"Oh- gomen'nasai!" She snapped out of her stare, shaking her head and glancing to Yoshiro. She held her shot gun back up, her gaze heading back towards the working Erika. "Im doing fine, just got a bit.. distracted for a second"

Once everyone was situated, Erika set the explosives off, calling out "Fire in the hole!"

In the space of a few nano seconds the det cord heated up the neko sized oval upon the door, ablating its surface and creating fractures. The smaller charge in the center went off and finished the job, tearing the material from door and making a very usable if somewhat jagged door.

Yayoi made sure her shields were up as the explosives were activated and she proceeded forward, silently as she lifted her mindy Mounted weapons forward, ready to fire should a Mishhu pop up to say hello.

Yoshiro nods and smiles at Kokoro. "You're doing a great job Koko. Just keep your head on a swivel and we'll all get out of this okay." Yoshiro said encouragingly.

At the end of the Admin area they reached the huge office meant for a floating Mishhuvurthyar with controls in all directions, and the floor was a huge spiral hatch going down to the cistern below, which was currently sealed shut.

= = =
OOC: JP by Wes, Ame, Cowboy, Charaa, Sunny D, Yoshiro, Liza, Soban, Zanven, SidTotalWar
Hollander as guest character Toidorno Sejgui

Somewhere In Planet Koenic
Mishhuvurthyar Secret Base, Weird Ass Control Room

Kokoro stepped inside of the Mishhuvurthyar office with the rest of her team, the nekovalkrja turning around in a circle to look around the rather oversized room. She could definetlty recognized a couple of the controls in the room, and could probably guess what some of the others probably did... but the technician had never been in a Mishhuvurthyar office or control room quite as big and as elaborate as this one. The ex-advanced type floated upwards as she began to examine and theorize what each control actually did, reading through any labels if there were any. The engineer squinted under her helmet as she looked back towards the rest of the away team...

"This room looks... a little too big for an advanced type..." Kokoro mumbled over the comms with a hint of concern creeping into her voice, the neko's eyes trailing down to the sealed hatch below the team, examining it with a little hesitation. "So... we want to go down, dayo?"

YE 46.2

Far below the city of Fornox, buried in the ancient sewers of the lizard peoples, the team had infiltrated the secret lab where the Mishhhuvurthyar had secretly been working on taking over planet Koenic by raising an army of the dead made from thousands of reanimated mummies from the desert catacombs, creating parasites and bioweapons, and taking over an old Qel'noran base. After fighting off the motorcycle gangs, Rippers, and the undead horde, now the YSS Resurgence crew had come to see the true horror of the sitution. There was only one option: Finish the job, and free Koenic to join the Empire.

Having teleported down to the lab entrance, Pidole Henitot, dressed in her Mindy armor complete with her specially-made beetle pod on its shoulder, joined the away team with a wave. "The captain sent me to open the door," she explained, and got to work. Below the Mishhuvurthyar lab adminstrator's office was a huge circular doorway to the cistern pit below. "I hope you're ready for what's down there," she said as she got to work.

"He didn't send us any other backup?" Sanda asked as she reloaded her revolver.

"What? You got a crush on Colby or Hayden?" Cassie asked Sanda, jokingly.

Yayoi rechecked her Mindy Weapons and her other ones, just to make sure she had something to say a rather brightly lit, violent hello with. She was pleased when she still had enough. She glanced at Cassie and Sanda, and almost smirked as she shook her head.

Sanda raised a tattooed eyebrow, then smiled. "Cassie, I am a happily married woman." Although her smile quickly faded as she thought about the situation. "I would just like some backup. The more we peel this whole operation back the more deeply entrenched we find things."

"Anything I can help with??" Kokoro floated over towards the chief engineer, touching down a little roughly right next to her. The Nekovalkrja saluted Pidole, before waving at the little armored beetle on her shoulder.

"Know any common Mishhuvurthyar passwords?" Pidole asked, returning the salute and rubbing her chin. She was opening a control panel up to get to the data storage chips inside.

"Uhhhhh.... nnnnoooooooo- but I could try to guess maybe?" Kokoro fibbed as she rubbed the back of her armored head, taking a peek into the control panel once Pidole opened it...

Mineko comm’d in to the team, “You’ll have to get to the cistern below. Taking stock of any potential weaknesses in the structure now! Biometric scans loading as well..."

"Hey I got an idea, what if we just, like, drop this whole bag of explosives in there?" Cassie suggested, looking at Yayoi for her opinion and listening to see what Mineko thought.

"I suppose they already know we are here, so couldn't hurt to do it, but would be a large explosion" Yayoi said.

"I know, I like large explosions," Cassie struck a pose with her thumb up.

"Taste the rainbow, explode the rainbow!" Yoshiro said with a silly grin.

"Would there be any potential danger to any structures outside or above ground?" Chiheisen glanced towards Cassie as she spoke, the Elysian remaining relatively quiet (as always) as she strolled around the office with her rifle in hand.

"Euikoshi could scan and model a simulation probably," Pidole told Chiheisen.

"You're pretty deep underground," Mineko chimed in. "I'd estimate structural damage just to the chamber you're in if an appropriate drop-charge is used."

Yoshiro was watching for the Mishhu while everyone else was placing explosives and what not. scanning the area for movement other than theirs.

After Pidole rewired the door controls, the door began to open to reveal a massive pit below filled with waist-level oozing necrotic fluid. Dozens of skulls lined the stone walls with black ichor erupting from their mouths, frozen in eternal screams, light by dim light from sewage gas lanterns.

Yayoi lifted her Aetheric Pulse Cannon at the door, and lowered it towards the pit. She grimaced at the sight before her from the skulls to the fluid which disgusted her, but she had seen worse, she though.

Sanda was at the back of the group since she wasn't in PA. She would have preferred to have taken the point possession. Although as the doors opened revealing a truly disgusting sight Sanda was glad she wasn't taking point. She also double checked to make sure her shielding helmet was on and operating as it should be.

"Great goddess, what manner of dishonoralbe treatment is this?" Yoshiro asked "If I find out who did this they will die slowly for this." He prepared to fight and let the safety off of his GP12.

From the black liquid, a shape began to form, a rotting Mishhuvurthyar corpse covered in gold decorations, with worms and maggots crawling on its skin and gushing out of its eye sockets. It plunged its tentacles into the pool below and they emerged all around the team, shoving them towards the pit. There was an unbearable hissing sound in everyone's head that slowly became a voice: "SURRENDER," it said. "TO ME."

Yayoi felt revolting disgust as she watched the creature. With her Aetheric Pulse Cannon pointing already there she was about to fire when the tentacles came. "No" was all she said as she fired her Aetheric Pulse Cannon towards where she'd seen the creature.

Yoshiro looked at the creature that appeared and opened fire but missed due to the voice screaming in his head. "I would rather die before I surrender to a disgusting creature such as you. We will make sure that you pay for what you have done!" Yoshiro said in defiance and opened fire with his GP12. "Besides you owe me for my hand, you goopy looking bastard!"

Cassie feel forward into the tunnel, crashing into the black goop as she was unexpectedly pushed from behind when a wall panel bust open and a black tentacle surged out.

"Esa... es... una... fea..." BOOM Sanda's revovler fired, cutting off whatever she was about to say. She drew her NSP from its hoster in her boot and began firing both side arms at the creature. She did her best to stay as far away from the black goop as she could since she had no idea what it would do to her explorer uniform.

Kokoro's eyes widened under her Mindy's HUD as she focused on the slowly rising beast. The rather disgusting scene wasn't what got to her, considering her origins. But having never encountered this... new kind of Mishhuvurthyar before, the Nekovalkrja did not know what to do, or how to react.

Chiheisen meanwhile, did not hesitate to open fire on the Misshuvurthyar, deploying her NSB's for extra firepower alongside her main weapon.

As the team began to shoot at it, the Necro-Mishhuvurthyar hissed and hurled a huge glob of black ichor up into the lab, and when it landed, dozens of skeletons hopped out of it carrying guns and swords, some from hundreds of years ago. They began to attack the team. Interestingly, this Mishhuvurthyar didn't seem to have the shields that the Dominator-type Next Generation Mishhuvurthyar had, but it was still huge and heavily armored and was tanking a lot of damage.

"Watch out, team! We got new contacts!" Yoshiro shouted as he went to help Koko and Cassie. "Koko, help Cassie out of that goop! Get your head in the game and we'll all survive." He said.

Cassie wrestled with skeletons and mummies in the black goop that kept trying to steal her huge backpack of explosives away. She noticed one with a red key and stole it in case it was important.

Kokoro hesitated to respond to Yoshiros order- before finally shaking herself out of her trance and complying "HAI!" She yelled, rocketing towards Cassie and using her rather oversized Shotgun to clear away the mummies and skeletons harrassing the explosive ridden Joto Heisho.

Yayoi continued to fire her Aetheric Pulse Cannon at the Necro-Mishhuvurthyar then grabbed her NSP to fire on the Skeletal creatures.

Sanda turned around to face the new threat and was forced back as a skeleton swung a rusty sword at her. It was surprisingly fast from something that was suppose to be dead. Before she could shoot it the thing had knocked her revolver out of her hand and onto the floor. Sanda ducked another slash at her head and drew her sword Arc as she came up. The blade sliced her attacker's sword in to then decapitate the skull.

Pidole rushed back into the lab complex to find some sort of tool to use. She slid to a halt outside the cryogenic freezing area, looking at the large liquid nitrogen tanks. Suddenly a mummified hand grabbed her shoulder. "Shit, they can get in the lab door now, I left it open..."

"Oh so that is going to be the way you want to play it!" Yoshiro shouted "I am going to rip your guts out and use them to jump rope when I exercise! You are going to regret ever being made you monster!" Yoshiro drew his sword and fought the skeletons attacking him.

The enormous undead Mishhuvurthyar growled and hissed and pushed up from the black goo pit and rushed up to grab the away team members shooting at it with its hundreds of giant black liquid tentacles, grabbing Yayoi and trying to draw her into its gaping central maw full of teeth.

Hearing Pidole's cry, Sanda headed back to the lab to cover her. "I've got you covered Red." Sanda said as she slashed with her sword held in one hand and fired her NSP in the other.

Yoshiro was slashing at the skeletons and fought them as he tried to get to Yayoi.

Yayoi was grabbed, but she decided to let the creature bring her close, close to its weakspot that is.

"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? YOU ARE JUST FOOD," the Necro-Mishhu growled, its liquid skin rapidly regenerating. It crushed Yayoi in its mouth with such force that her legs were pulped and her blood pressure made her eyes pop out inside her helmet.

Yayoi groaned as the creature tried to crush her, but she focused her mind, and closing her eyes as she tried to ignore the pain, and activated her grenades, to explode, and she pointed up with her Aetheric Pulse Cannon to fire, and attempted to fire her weapon through to the creature's brain, hoping its in its head.

"We are your destruction beast! We will destroy you and your kind!! I will use your shell as a shield and your spine as a sword to destroy your kind!" Yoshiro shouted as he attacked the NecroMishhu. "We will never surrender to the likes of you, to do so would dishonor the sacrifice all of the soldiers who fought you before"

Pidole rolled a car-sized tank of liquid nitrogen to Sanda and one to Chieheisen.

Chiheisen gritted her teeth as she watched the Necro Mishhuvurthyar begin to crush Yayoi, before noticing the liquid nitrogen tank and stopping it right next to her. She glanced towards Sanda, nodding.

The Necro-Mishhu's brain had long ago rotted away, and the aether beam shot out through its decaying skull into the side of the tunnel. The Mishhu continued to chew on Yayoi as it looked for its next victim.

Sanda quickly sheathed her sword as she began to rool the enormous tank of liquid Nitrogen towards the boss room. She kept having to pause to shoot zombies and skeletons. When she got to the doorway she saw that abomination take a chomp of Yayoi and screamed.

Cassie, with Kokoro's help was able to escape the crowds of skeletons and use her Mindy's antigrav to float out of their reach, bringing her bag of explosives up towards the Mishhuvurthyar.

Yoshiro continued firing at the Necro and watched as the team tossed explosives at it and in it. "You are about to taste the rainbow bitch!" He said as he reloaded his weapons "Hope you're hungry mother f**ker!"

Pidole grabbed some of Cassie's explosives and set charges on the liquid nitrogen tanks and handed the detonators to Sanda and Chiheisen.

With her grenades activated, she tossed them around inside the Mishhu trying to eat her, hoping to cause more damage inside it. She knew that this might kill her.

The grenades hurt the Mishhuvurthyar, and violently blew her out of the thing's now-exploded mouth, causing her to crash in the black liquid cistern pit. She was immediately accosted by lizardman skeletons with axes.

While Kokoro had gotten Cassie out of the black goop and away from the skeletons, she had instead become the target of them. She yelled as she fought back against them, using her shotgun to lay waste to the undead, DOOM style. The neko knew she had to get out of there though, being overrun rather quickly by the undead.

Sanda nodded to Cassie as she was handed a detonator. Sanda was a very strong girl and her cybernetic arm gave her even more strength. She got a good grip on the the hand hold at the top of the cylinder. "YEEEAAAAA!!!" Sanda put all her strength into the it and threw the cylinder into the pit before moving out of the way to allow Chiheisen room to throw.

Chiheisen wasnt too far behind Sanda with the second large tank of nitrogen, applying her Mindy's capabilities to haul the thing around. She yelled out in a bit of effort as she threw the cylinder right after Sanda's using her Mindy's propulsion to aid in the throw.

Yayoi connected with her Mindy, was able to use its visual sensors, so she knew she was out of the body. But she wasn't out of the woods yet, as the primitive Lizardman Skeletons with axes began attacking her. She began firing her NSP at them, as well as her Aetheric Pulse Cannons.

Yoshiro went to help Koko and started shooting at the skeletons and lizardmen attacking her and Cassie. "ARRRRRRRRRRRR!" He shouted as he charged the creatures in the goop and shot everything he had at the enemy and then drew his sword as he dropped his empty GP12 and drew his NSP sidearm as well. "Come on you goop-covered dipshits! Let's dance!" Yoshiro said.

Pidole ran back to the Mishhuvurthyar's desk looking for something. Cassie handed her a red key she'd grabbed off a skeleton in the cistern.

As the liquid nitrogen tanks exploded on the Necro-Mishhuvurthyar it was instantly frozen in place, its gruesome body stuck in the doorway to the cistern with a roaring face. Everything was still for a moment. Cassie put the entirety of the rest of her explosives into one of its eye sockets, enough to level a building.

"Hope you're hungry because you about to eat explosions!" Yoshiro said and laughed.

Seeing that her legs were damaged, Yayoi began floating up, as she continued to fire on the Skeletons, thats when she saw her ...host frozen and watched Cassie, put explosives into its eye.

Pidole turned the red key on the Mishhuvurthyar's desk. "WARNING," the lab's speakers announced. "EMERGENCY SELF-DESTRUCT SYSTEM ACTIVATED. ALL PERSONNEL, EVACUATE THE LAB. The lab will self-destruct in two minutes. There will be no further warnings."

"Lets get the hell out of here! Move people! CORRE!" Sanda yelled as she picked up her revolver she had lost earlier off the floor. She took a last look around to make sure no one was being left behind then followed the others.

"Let's go people! You heard Sanda, move it out!" He said as he followed the team. He put his sword in its sheath and his empty GP12 on his back. "KOKO! Let's go!"

Chiheisen nodded as she proceeded to hightail it the hell out of there. Kokoro yelped as she followed along with Yoshiro, swinging her shotgun onto her back.

"Judah, help Yayoi," Cassie ordered, also helping to carry Yayoi towards the exit, when she saw an evacuation door open. "Hey guys, looks like an escape system over here!"

Yayoi nodded and floated towards Sanda and the others, hoping to get away from the massive creature. Though Cassie soon began to help her which she was grateful of.

Pidole inspected the escape system. In the main lobby area, some walls had opened to reveal rows of escape pods on sleds to the surface. "This works," she said, making a not bad face.

Climbing into an escape pod, he motioned for Chiheisen and Kokoro to get in the pod. "Koko, Chihei, get in here right now!"

Cassie quickly but gently put Yayoi into the one of the pods. "Nobody gets left, everyone account for your battle buddy," she said. Pidole and Judah got in with her and she slammed her fist on the big green button and the pod went racing up through the sewers. As that happened Cassie hit the detonator and her ship's armory worth of explosives went off in the Mishhuvurthyar's eye, blowing it into a million shards of frozen flesh and ichor. It was completely obliterated.

"Right, ho-" Chiheisen let out a shriek as Kokoro grabbed her from behind, tossing her into the pod, and jumping in right afterwards.

Yayoi relaxed in the pod as it was launched through the sewers. She couldnt help but think that Yuri would enjoy the ride. Though the thought of her daughter made her realize she'll see the damage she sustained. But she knew Yuri would have to be strong, and she was certain, her injuries weren't too bad.

Yayoi knew that Poppy had been able to restore her arm, from the cybernetics when she first got on board afterall.

Sanda and Erika jumped in a pod as well. They were the last two making sure everyone else had made it.

Yoshiro closed the pod and prepared to launch."Everyone in the pods?" Yoshiro asked over the comms. "Let's go!" He launched his pod out of the base.

In the sunset-lit desert sand, the pods came flying out of the dunes and gently floated back down to the surface with parachutes, surrounded by ball-shaped shock-absorbing balloons. Beryl's shuttle was with them shortly to pick everybody up.

Yoshiro helped Koko and Chihei out of the pod. He was standing outside of the pod "You Mishhu will learn to fear us, you clam shelled bastards" He laughed maniacally.

Chiheisen grumbled and refused to be helped out of the pod, climbing out herself. Kokoro simply nervously chuckled as she got the death stare from the Elysian. The neko stood next to Yoshiro, panting a bit as the adrenaline slowly wore off...

Sanda climbed out of the pod and took a deep breath. They had done it. Against all odds, they had done it. She looked up as Beryl's shuttle passed overhead and waved to it.

Yayoi remained in the pod, as she mentally prepared her report for their captain. They'd witnessed a new Mishhu type, she was certain of it. The captain would need to know everything, especially what her sacrifice allowed her to learn.

The was a rumble from down below as the lab was reduced to rubble and slag, its evil sealed in the sands forever.

"You ok you two?"Yoshiro asked Chihei and Koko. He wanted to make sure that they were not hurt.

"...Do I gotta say it? yeah.. alright..." Kokoro inhaled as she put her hands together, remaining silent for a moment...

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT"

"I need a shower," Cassie huffed. "Holy shit."

Sanda felt the ground shake heard the rumble. She walked a few steps towards the direction of the base. The wind and sand stung her face as she had deactivated her helmet. It was uncomfortable, but she knew she was alive. Alive and the victor. She had been captured, infected, escaped, rescuied, and then went back into the fight and destroyed her enemy. She clinched her fists and raised and arm up in victory and defience. "Yo soy Itto Heisho Sanda Hoshi de Canterbury! Ranger of the YSS Resurgence! While there is fight left in me I will never surrender." She screemed out to the sands. It felt theriputic, in some strange way. There was no answer of course. Sanda turned around and headed back to the shuttle. Like Cassie said, she needed a shower too. A shower and a stiff drink.

Pidole just took a deep breath and stared at the distant desert sunset.

Yayoi floated out of the pod, once her mental report preparation was complete. "Everyone ok?' she asked the team. Ignoring the pain she was feeling at the moment.

As Yoshiro felt the ground rumble beneath him, he smiled. "Taste the rainbow you Mishhu bastards. You guys still owe me for a hand though. "I don't know but I do not ever want to see something like that ever again Koko." He felt good having achieved victory against an enemy who took much from him.

"So...did you guys just save the planet?" Beryl asked.

"Yes, i dare say we did, and learned things." Yayoi said.

"Ad victoriam." Yoshiro said simply. and boarded the shuttle.

= = =
OOC: JP by Wes, Ame, Cowboy, Charaa, Sunny D, Yoshiro, Liza, Soban, Zanven, SidTotalWar
Hollander as guest character Toidorno Sejgui

YSS Resurgence - Shuttle Bay
YE 46.2

The shuttle came to a rest on the glossy black deck inside the Resurgence's shuttle bay. Azumi and Tomoko were there in coveralls in AMES suits with firehoses and they immediately starting hosing the sand off if it, starting at the front end while the away team emerged from its aft. Poppy went to check on Yoshiro and get a look at his hand injury. Cassie went over to the power armor bay (with Pidole following) and, resting her armor on its assigned storage rack, she squirmed out of it. "That's going to need some cleaning too," she said, looking it over. She had crawled through sand, blood and guts, undead corpses, raw sewage, and black necro-Mishhu slime in one mission. Her Mindy armor was often her comfortable place where she felt safe and empowered, but right now it was just offensive. As much as she wanted to immediately clean it, she felt like she herself needed a shower first.

As they began to recover from their mission, Aoba got on the intercom to tell everyone the local government had successfully raided the old fort and eliminated the NMX forces. Though there was still the question of the sand submarine. In any case, the elimination of the mummy threat from the sewers and the uncovering the Mishhu plot had dramatically and instantly increased the local Delsaurians' perception of the Yamatai Star Empire and the Star Army, and with the need for protection from the Mishhuvurthyar underscored, the governor had reached out to request for Koenic to join the Empire, and joined the trip to the Yamatai system to join the International Relations Conference. He'd also asked if Poppy could transfer to the Koenic to serve as the YSE representative (it was worth a try) but she'd opted to stay with the Resurgence.

With the crew safe and their mission completed, the Resurgence raced to its home in the Yamatai System, carrying the real movers and shakers.

YSS Resurgence - En Route to the Yamatai System

YE 46.2

Toidorno had not remained idle during his time on the YSS Resurgence while it had 'feigned death' as part of the gambit orchestrated on Delsauria. In his guest quarters on the ship, he listened to translation study guides from Takavonai to Yamataigo, as well as pre-recorded messages from Tesgi Toioky; while he did so, he kept his paws busy. Like most members of the Clan, he had brought along a case of parts and pieces salvaged from battles and hunts, and he spent hours during the mission, and then during the travel to Yamatai, crafting the salvaged parts into gifts for the crewmembers with whom he had spent time. He felt it was a necessary gesture, as these would be good-bye gifts…

After the Resurgence touched down on the Planet Yamatai, he had the gifts delivered to the quarters of the crewmembers by the cat-eared Caretaker Julia Meadows. Many of the recipients might not even find the gifts until after they'd returned to the ship following the Hanami Festival; by then, Toidorno would've already bid them all goodbye as he remained on Planet Yamatai. The recipients might keep the gifts, or they might throw them away or give them away; whatever they chose to do, that was their right to act according to their cultures and feelings.

Aoba
The gift was a miniature flag of the Empire carved into recovered metal from a destroyed alien starship. The paint used for the colors, too, was made from recycled materials. An accompanying handwritten note read: ‘You and your crew serve your Empire well, Captain Aoba Kuranosuke.”

Cassie
A beautiful metallic rose formed out of molten, laser-scorched steel, complete with thorns and jagged petals. It was as dangerous as it was beautiful. Oddly, no note accompanied the gift, as though the rose was a message all on its own.

Erika
The gift was an inch-diametered glass sphere resting on a tiny stuffed pillow of handmade leather, its edges tied with string made from a bright yellow fur. The sphere was actually several coats of differently-colored translucent glass melted and layered over on top of each other until the whole thing resembled an eye; pupil, iris, and sclera. The color of the iris is that of an intense shade of gold. The accompanying message read: “An eye to watch over the watchful. For Nitô Hei Erika Elster.”

Euikoshi
A fine comb carved from the bone of a large, unknown creature. On one side, artwork was scrimshawed into the flat of the bone; it depicted torpedoes chasing a four-wheeled vehicle. On the other side, a phrase was written in small Yamataigo characters. It read: “To keep the sand out of your excellent green hair, Shoi Kawa Euikoshi.”

Koko
This gift is a drawing on what is certainly handmade paper; it is pressed and dried plant-fiber pulp cut into a square. On it, a picture is drawn of a woman in what seems to be a Yamataian explorer’s uniform, manning a 35mm chaingun. She is drawn almost like a cave painting, with bold colors and simplified features. Some kind of ‘speech bubble’ is drawn above her, with the words “EAT BULLETS YOU ASSHOLES” written in bold Yamataigo. The characters are written rather roughly, as though by an amateur hand. A note accompanies it. “May you continue to serve fine meals to our foes, Santô Hei Kokoro Hayashi.”

Mineko
A 3-inch wide humpback salmon figurine. Each scale of the salmon's upper body was carved in miniature, the silvery bits catching the light as though it were in crystal-clear water. Its belly was smoother and colored a white-pink; somehow the metal was stained or transmuted with a tool to shift its color. It came on a little wooden stand carved to appear as a wave of water. The accompanying note read: “May salmon night come when your stomach is empty, Ittô Hei Mineko.”

Pidole
A small, desiccated branch set on a metal stand. The branches are supported by wire inserted into the wood to keep it steady. This gift appears to be for both Pidole and for Bidole; it’s a hangout spot for a flying beetle! The handwritten note says: “For Chui Pidole Henitot and for Bidole, though I recommend only Bidole attempt to climb it.”

Poppy
A bottle of ‘Dâmukya Iko’, a Clan-made red-wine formed from fermented apple-like fruit. The accompanying note reads: “For Doctor Poppy Pink, wine from the fruit of the orchards of Yomesou on the World Station, bottled from a batch I made in the thirty-eighth year of your empire. Try pairing with cinnamon, or steak.”

Sanda
What looked to be a small square of golden starship armor from a Kuvexian-made ship. It’s edges were dulled so that they could not cut, and it is held up by a simple stand of sturdy wire. On the face of the plate, an intricate carving was made; a woman, riding a bolt of lightning shaped hovercycle. Underneath it, a carved phrase in phonetic Yamataigo, and then Sanda’s name could be read. “Avuoten Vana'a Ittô Heisho Sanda Hoshi.”

Trowa
A black eyepatch of cloth cut from the uniform of a Kuvexian military officer. The strap is made from a string of handmade leather of unknown origin… The leather is brown, at least, and not purple or blue. The note reads, “Shosa Trowa Yamamoto, for when a spare is needed.”

Yoshiro
The gift was a tiny plinth of cut steel. On the top of the plinth rested a small ovoid shape, its color a translucent and frigid white-blue; the object looked as though it was made of ice. A glass dome covered the object. On the plinth’s front-facing face, tiny words in Yamataigo were written: “Chill Pill Prescription for Jôtô Heisho Yoshiro Tanaka. Doctor’s Directions: Take None, Under Any Circumstances. Note: This is a Jest, and not real medical advice.”

Yuri
Two little figures made of recovered metal, embracing in a hug. The taller of the two figures had plain features, feline ears and a tail, and its color is a bland metal… Except for where it is hugging the other. There, the metal had been treated with an electrical charge, making it brighter and shinier thanks to the hug, as though a kindly warmth was spreading into it. The shorter of the figures, also with a tail, had dark brown hair crafted from a carefully cut moonstone gem. A note accompanied the figurines. “To the first person who ever gave me a ‘hug’. I thank you, Nitô Hei Asakura Yuri.”