RP: YSS Kaiyō Mission 16: Sosei Suru

YSS Kaiyō II
Power Armor Bay

Eden's eyes stayed on the shifting rocks and hunks of gaseous particles as the Fuji-class gunship moved about. Due to the artificial gravity of the ship, the movements were imperceptible to the crew unless they were looking out of the open doors, as Eden was doing. She held onto the visuals that her suit was picking up of the rocky, gaseous debris field outside of the ship in a small part of her HUD while she turned to look at Aiko. Her volumetric projection betrayed the gleam in her golden orbs as she looked into the deep red of Aiko's own eyes before she lowered herself into a 45 degree bow momentarily.

"Ketsurui-shoi," Eden began with a soft gaze. "Our mission will require a softer touch with some of the civilians we are coming in contact with than I or much of the crew are prepared to give. Perhaps if we were not taking on so many varying locations, we could stop to take into account their needs more explicitly or thoughtfully. But that is not the case, so I will need yourself and your samurai guards to follow in my group's wake, providing care and assistance. Your occupation as public relations liaison will be put to use, but I would still like your ability as a Kirie pilot to be put to use. The volumetric facade I wear now, of myself, is what I would like you to mimic, only of your own personage. Many of these people are not in a state they want to be in. Some of them were martyrs in their culture. Martyrs, I have come to understand, were ready to die," Eden shook her head as she kept her eyes on Aiko's, "not to be born again. And not to be born into the life they are expected to take up. They will need the tender gaze of someone that has compassion and understanding of what our Empire can do to restore what they may think they have lost." Eden's softened expression had grown hard and steely as she had explained Aiko's role.

"With that, Ketsurui-shoi, Please suit up at your own leisure. Your small team will deploy once mine has successfully handled Location 1, as we will be able to work the station's controls through it and open a docking bay for you to enter through." Eden's face moved to procure a short smile, then she added a nod to her statement, looking to the Kirie Thought Armor in a far part of the power armor bay before looking back to the princess before her. "I greatly hope for your success in this."

"Yes, Chusa!" Aiko confirmed, snapping her nose up and her posture to attention. "I will make ready my wards for the objective laid out before us." She then bowed, mirroring Eden's courtesy, and turned to make her way over to the massive armored suit that had sat mostly dormant for months.

Still, Aiko knew the armor well, having come here to train and attune herself to its pilot pod on numerous occasions. As she approached it, part of her wondered if the machine's frictionless joint sytems would still move and fight and convey her commands with the fidelity expected of its precision engineering. Of course it would, she knew, having personally seen that its laborious maintenance schedules were maintained. But she'd learned that the tickle reaching up from deep within her core was to be expected before battle, and that the concern it heralded only served to sharpen a warrior's senses if it could be controlled rather than consumed.

"Rei-san," the Ketsurui officer prompted telepathically to her assigned yojimbo, stepping up onto her Kirie's leg as it sat waiting in the seiza position it was programmed to take for storage. She slid her fingers over the armor's identity-keyed cockpit lock and it began to crack open and reveal the pilot pod within. "You and Will-kun have been specifically requested for this sortie. We will be attending Teien-chusa's team as a rearguard. Be prepared to encounter non-combatants and use volumetric projection to ensure smooth liaison with individuals liberated from beneath Kuvexia's heel."

Power Armor Bay

The Santo Hei was now secured in her power armor, and she heard a slight hissing sound as it detached from her power armor bay. She knew that the next order of business would likely be to activate her disguise. So much like her companions, she flickered and was soon replaced with a Kuvexian and another of the aliens that had been shown. A Kuvexian was shown before she decided that since she wasn’t so high ranking she shouldn’t have a high ranking disguise.

So she was no longer a Kuvexian but one of the aliens that served them. There, this one at least doesn’t make me feel too dirty. She thought to herself as she settled on her disguise before she looked to the others. She noticed Aiko arriving and getting into her power armor before she looked towards the others some more, “Kiyomori-Hei ready” she said.

Her tail twitched beneath the disguise, though it wasn’t big like Sacre’s she was concerned about it causing problems for the disguise.

Sacre was for her part, slightly shocked that the princess was in deck with them on the mission. She couldn't remember the last time that Aiko had participated in a mission. They had met for routine checkups, but those were short as she was never in anything less then perfect health. She had gotten used to Aiko being distant at the best of times. However, the princess was a shoi; a shoi with two of the toughest bodyguards in the entire galaxy, but still a shoi. For a moment, Sacre was torn between her resolve to treat her like any other shoi and the fact that she was a Princess of Yamatai.

Sacre scanned the room, noticing the other members of the crew as they perked up at Aiko's sudden appearance. Even though Aiko had been on the ship for as long as Sacre could remember, it was still slightly intimidating to have her along. She switched to the medic's channel. "Saya, Ragnar, heads up, the princess is with us for this one. I don't want to treat her differently then any other officer. However, there's a reason that there are three of the best medics in the whole Army assigned to the Kaiyo, and far as I can tell she's it. I'd also rather also not have to explain how we got her killed if we have to wake up her backup. She's going to be in the back doing public relations with the natives, and looking like a Kuvexian isn't reliable for me, so I'll stick with her to start with. However, I want one of us in range at all times. So if I split off from her, one of you needs to take up the slack."

With that taken care of, Sacre continued her check of the suits. As she came to Kiyomori, she noticed that the Neko didn't seem to know what to do with her tail and was having similar issues. "If we need to disguise ourselves, keep it close. Your photonic's array can project up to two meters out, but it's easier to hide if it's against your back or leg." She suggested.

William's Quarters
YSS Kaiyo II

As everyone prepared for the mission, William sat in his room in pure silence. In the peace and quiet, the boy mediated and awaited instruction from on high. Around him tools and components were strewn about haphazardly after successfully tuning up his cybernetic components. He always enjoyed the relief that meditation afforded him. The respite from hounding thoughts and worries were always welcome.

The meditation was interrupted however when the Princess's words played out in his mind. A glowing blue opened in the dark space. "Orders received and understood, your Highness." William replied reverently as he stood and began moving to the power armor bay.

Power Armor Bay

The Princess's cybernetic warrior strode into the PA bay, a calm determination played out across his face. As he passed Aiko, he smiled and inclined his head as he moved to the black Air 2 that sat off to one side of the room. He stripped and placed his things in the locker as his armor opened for him like it had so many times before.

Stepping inside the armor, it closed around him. Wires snaked their way up his body and plugged into his ports. Soon the armor was no longer a separate thing, but more like a second skin. William triggered the release and his armor took several steps forward. Checks flashed in his mind's eye as his suit informed him of its status. He nodded to himself, satisfied that he was fully armed and ammo topped off.

He opened a channel to Aiko, a picture of his face appearing in the corner of her vision. "Princess, I am ready. Direct me, and it will be done." He said solemnly, as his armor moved next to her's.

YSS Kaiyō II
Power Armor Bay

Eden heard what Sacre had to say to her medics and interjected on the same line, "The chain of command exists for a reason, Sanssinia-heisho. Orders come down from the top of the chain, not from the middle of the chain. Remember that. Ketsurui-shoi’s team is comprised of what it I have said it is comprised of, not what you say it should be. Thank you for taking initiative, but save that for the proper time and place. Medics will stay with my team as I have stated. For now," Eden added, then switched to full team comms, "prepare to deploy."

YSS Kaiyō II
Power Armor Bay

Elenor was as ready as she could be, weapon readied and gear sorted out. Now it was a matter of deploying when the time was right. Elenor was sure that pretty soon, well, the plan would start finding snags or outright issues. Something like this would. But Elenor expected everyone to be able to adapt and overcome it all. After all, this kind of risk environment was what they trained for. Since she had little else to do, since she'd already triple checked her gear, she was busy skimming over the provided documents for hte mission, though paying extra attention to the POW processes, and the ways they would be truncating them for the sake of the mission. She had little else to worry about, think about, or concern herself about until they deployed after all.

Kiyo looked up at the Separa’shan that spoke to her, and then looked to her tail, indeed she could keep her tail close to her if she needed to. She considered that training in durance which she was certain she could achieve. “Thank you, Ma’am,” she told her since she thought it was good to thank someone for their advice.

She then heard Eden’s voice in her comms telling them all to prepare for deployment “Acknowledged” she said in the team communications as she moved herself to the position.

YSS Kaiyō II
Power Armor Bay

Alastair looked over at at Sacre and just shook his head for a moment. He was glad he was not the one who would have to remind Sacre about how the ranks work on the ship. Granted he knew the reports from Miko and show she can be a handful at times.

He wiggled himself into his Mindy armor and did a quick rundown of the systems. Once everything was green lit he moved away from the holding clamps. His helmet was put on a moment later and the HUD lit up. He checked the systems once again before he kicked on his volumetrics. He let a big sign when he put all the dot together of what Eden was talking about. He was going to bring up the rear this mission and this meant he would have to be the one to tend to the people left behind. He had hoped by not being the person in the front he would avoid having to be the savoir but it would seem this role followed him where ever he ends up. He rolled his eyes once more before grabbing another handful of cuffs to push into the Mindy pack. Alastair did not seem himself as a person to give soft eyes but if that was what the mission called for then he would do it. He did have much passion and love for the Empire and what it could do for these people. They were trapped in a hell they did not even know they had entered and he would do his part to free them.

Alastair moved closer to the party and took notice of Aiko. She was a princess of the Empire and someone who wielded much power. He thought for a moment how this could be a great time for him to get to know the princess better. His looked up past Akiko and took notice of William staring directly at him. There was no doubt this guy would be a problem with trying to get to know the princess better. Either way, no matter the challenge Alastair would find a way to get what he wanted if it meant furthering the goals of the Empire.

YSS Kaiyō II
Power Armor Bay

After the briefing in the war room had ended, the collective group had split off to go to their designated spots, with most of the group headed down to the power armor bay. Nora had chosen to linger while a good bit of the group shuffled out of the room and towards the bay before she joined along with them, traveling with the stranglers at the back of the group. She didn't feel like risking a possible encounter with some of the more energetic of the group which tended to be readily at the front of the pack, pushing ahead with all the energy of an excited youngling. Such energy had been in short supply for the daur ever since that day she had found out she was under suspicion of treason and that her country had been shut down due to terrorist threats. Her family had been taken into custody as a result of this, and even two months later, she still had no word about their condition.

The thought almost seemed to physically weigh on the daur, her movements slow, her shoulders sagged, her large, poofy tail gently brushing the ground as she made her way into the power armor bay. Her blue eyes scanned the rows of mindys, occasionally stopping on the form of a neko as they slipped into their mindy with ease as if the machine were a second skin. Turning her attention back to the task at hand, the daur hustled herself over to the gleaming mindy that rested on the rack under her designated number spot. With a half smile, she tilted her head as her hand traced over the rims of the delicately carved machine, the noises of the power armor bay fading to fuzz in the background as she took a moment to familiarize herself with the extraordinary piece of equipment yet again. For a moment she just stood there, silently appreciating the sculpted form of her mindy suit while she internally packed away here personal worries. She had a mission to do and she needed to do it well, the outcome of this delicate situation very well may hinge directly on each and every person on this ship functioning at their best.

She worked quickly to strip out of her uniform, leaving the pale-skinned daur in her regal blue undergarments, the sports bra, in particular, having the words STAR ARMY emblazoned over the chest. Grabbing onto the shoulders on the mindy, the daur carefully pulled herself up and slipped feet first into the open cavity in the back of the mindy. It took a bit of wiggling as a cold, forming gel-like substance on the inner side of the miny adjusted to allow her passage before firming around her figure once more, almost as if the suit were becoming an extension of her own body. After taking a good 5 minutes to remember how she needed to work herself and her giant, problematic tail into her mindy, she would finally active the suit. As quick as she could while still making sure she grasped the important steps and rules, the daur read up on the PoW policies before decoupling from the rack that had held her mindy securely in place.

YSS Kaiyō II
Power Armor Bay

The "prepare to deploy" command came over the comms, which meant they were getting ready to go. He checked the rest of his systems and they were all green. He saw his superior Kiki and fell in position with her. He didnt say much, but he was going to stick close by, make sure they got the jobs done.

Alastair was taking inventory of the crew when he noticed Nora finally made her way into the bay. Over the past few weeks he had gotten closer to the young Daur and could tell something was weighing her down. She was unlike that time they sparred and afterwards enjoyed a dip in the onsen. The passion that once filled her blue eyes had turned into a grey washed over look. Clearly something was wrong and Alastair being very informed of events in the world at large had a very good idea as to why she might be sad. The news of the Kingdom of Neshaten closing borders to all outsiders and listing all Neshaten outside said boraders as traitors would be shocking news to anyone. Alastair took this as a personal slight since it involved one of his crew. It might not have helped either that he had developed feelings for Nora on top of his own personal beliefs. He was determined to find out more information about her family. The Belmonts have long since had a great connection with the Neshaten Kingdom thanks to the dealing of his father. Since the front door was locked and barred, he would use the backdoor to get what he was after. A smile crossed his face as he walked over towards Nora. He was very pleased with himself the lengths he was willing to take to get what he wanted.

He wondered over to Nora as she removed herself from the Mindy holding rack. Alastair hoped that he could pick her hopes up enough to draw her focus onto the important mission ahead. He would need everyone playing at their best for this mission and being weighed down by life would not aid in this agenda. Though he did hope her feeling of isolation might aid her during this mission. The crew was tasked with saving these people suffering from an evil form of isolation at the hands of the Kuvexian. As he approach her he removed the helmet of his Mindy so he could look at her with his own eyes. A hand reached over and landed firmly on the shoulder of her Mindy. "You are looking as focused as always Santô Hei Shi'non'ha." He said with his signature bright smile. "You got this Nora, lets go free those people from those evil Kuvvy. They are counting on us, they are counting on you to save them." He then moved his hand from her shoulder and reached under and lifted her chin up. Not a word was spoken but his lips moved. He was sure her keen eyes would get the message, "you are amazing."

YSS Kaiyo II
Wardroom then Power Armor Bay

Klaus wasn't pouting. No, really. He wasn't pouting because Eden told him he wouldn't be on point and lead the crew towards glorious victory against the evil slavers, he wasn't. Even if she brought up justifiable reasons for it. He wasn't pouting!

"Very well, I understand Chusa. Whatever role I have I'll give it 110%!" declared the raltian.

As his gaze moved to the rest of the PA bay, Klaus notice Ketsurui-shoi and her bodyguards. To be honest, he hadn't socialized much with either the princess or her bodyguard. He knew of her mostly from William, with whom Klaus occasionally sparred. They studied the very same style of swordsmanship even! Klaus considered approaching him, but decided against it. He didn't want to butt in on what he could tell was a well coordinated team.

He spotted Shi'non'ha-Hei suiting up. But he also spotted Belmont-chui approaching her and giving her words of encouragement and also, most likely, flirting with her. It was easy to see that the Chui had taken a liking to the daur. Not that Klaus could blame him, it was easy to see the appeal of the fox. But he hadn't really had a chance to talk to her. Choosing not to be a third wheel, he scanned the bay, until he found it! The answer!

He walked towards his friend and tapped him in the shoulder with his fist. "Wyatt! Ready to go kick some Kuvexian arse?"

YSS Kaiyo II: Power Armor Bay

As William heard the orders to prepare for deployment, he looked to Aiko and Rei. "What formation shall we take?" The question was directed towards Rei, however if the Princess wished for something else he would of course obey.

He deployed his lance from his forearm, letting it extend to its full height. After making sure that everything was prepared, he let one of the tips of the two headed lance rest against the floor so that the other end pointed directly in the air. He had to smirk to himself, because in that moment he did look like a royal guard. It had been sometime since the Princess had gone into battle with him, and had yet to see him work with his new enhancements or armor.

A burning fire lit in his stomach at that revelation. It was time to show her how much he had improved.

KAIYO II PA BAY

Ragnar didn’t like vips around when shots were fired or things went pear shaped. He did not enjoy corralling civilians. He always hated pr work. He did however know his job and would do it as best he could. He slapped the camo device where Sacre had suggested and wasn’t at all pleased with the xo slapping her suggestion down the way she did.

Let the fancy bois look after the fancy lass, didn’t get much imperial love back home anyway; Ragnar thought as he tapped his breast plate twice and pointed towards Sacre with two fingers. Easily mistaken for a comraderie gesture but it was his way of letting the head medic know that he understood her orders and intended to follow her lead, something he’d picked up and worked out during their combined time in the medbay.

Following the order given to prepare, Ragnar took his spot on the deck and braced to dive into the void again. That old familiar sick feeling in his gut returned. “Why is it always a space mission, do we have something against planets?” He grumbled into the comm.

YSS Kaiyō II
Power Armor Bay

Eden, still dressed in a soft pink kimono through use of volumetrics, turned her body and took a step to look inside of the power armor bay after the ship had taken up a position behind a solid chunk of debris, much akin to an asteroid. Her hair splayed out around her body as she looked to Klaus' equipment to check if he had gained an ABSR to take point with. He had not.

"Sensors aren't picking up any craft outside of the station. We are clear for an easy landing. We just need to take off, now."

Teien Eden then nodded to her crew and walked to the force field before extending one foot after another so that she was out of the ship, then brought her ankles close. She was soon out of view, then back in front of the power armor bay's large opening to space as her thruster wings spewed aether plasma and allowed her to jet forward. With her camouflage on and CFS off, it was truly a leap of faith. She hurtled alongside the large debris that shielded the ship from the station view and her Mindy once again became apparent for what it was and she regained use of CFS. Cresting around the asteroid, she saw the station for the first time in person, the same shape and look as what had been in the wardroom a short time before. She pin-pointed the hatch's location and showed the map to the HUD of her team as she flew forward, stealthed by her suit's AIES.

YSS Kaiyō II
Power Armor Bay

"No more than usual, Klaus," the ginger operative spoke over one shoulder to his fellow Minkan in cabin six, a slight smirk hidden by the blue metal of his helmet, which then pivoted once more when Eden gave the order to exit them ship. "Just don't do anything you'll regret out there, stay safe," he offered as a few final words to the Raltian before moving towards the open doors, quickly firing up his wrist-mounted hull cutters one at a time to confirm their functionality as the Minkan's footsteps hastened, breaking into a jog that then turned into a sprint and finally a leap as Wyatt dove out into the void - his armour fading into the void as the volumetrics powered on and wrapped his Mindy in a light-dotted cloak of darkness that matched up with the space around him, flaring aetheric plasma wings to quickly get up to speed before cutting them, carrying the momentum but using his suit's gravitic drives to make corrections in his flight-path.

A precautionary measure more than anything, he may have been a marksman-come-operative but there was a time where Wyatt was heavily recommended to become a pilot - it was easy to see why.

Wyatt slowed his approach to the base until he finally came to a halt, boots lightly impacting with the outer hull as all sound was stolen by the void - soon enough taking up position to watch the backs of the cutting team with the lightly-scratched LATR he was so fond of pressed into one shoulder, ready for the unlikely event their approach had been detected... it felt good to be able to walk around without any clear sense of which way was up or down, it was almost cathartic.

YSS Kaiyō II
Power Armor Bay

Alastair was helping the last of the Neko crew get into her mindy power armor. She was a new recruit and even though they are trained well to use a Mindy, pre battle nerves can shake the mind set of anyone. Then again the fact she wanted to be carried princess style would indicate she had other intentions. Either way Alastair was happy to give a helping hand. He had approached her armor and just started to help her into it when Eden walked by. She was wearing a pink kimono that instantly caught his eye. While he knew this was all volumetric he could not help but look at those hips. "Belmont-chu!" He heard ring out as he looked down at the floor to see a not so amused Neko. "Oh my gosh, my hand slipped. I am so sorry." He said in the most sincere voice as he reached down to help her back up. Clearly she know what happen but thanks to his smile this quickly passed. A moment later he completed his task and was ready to jump.

He moved towards the exit of the ship and jumped out into the unknown. This mission was on it's way and there was no turning back. Alastair quickly entered stealth mode and drifted just off to the side of the to allow the rest of the crew to slip by. He would bring up the rear this mission unless told to do otherwise. He would follow after the crew when the last person entered space.

YSS Kaiyō II
Power Armor Bay

Behind the sleek, white face of the daur's mindy, her piercing blue eyes looking back into the Minkan's as her suit produced an image of him and the area around through cameras on the face of the helmet. As he gave her words of encouragement, the head of her mindy would nod as her feet shifted. Alastair's contagious smile spread a bashful smile flashing across her own lips behind the safety of the mask. Her head lifted again as the Chui pulled away to help another neko slip into her suit. A flicker of doubt would pass through her mind, causing her smile to waver behind the mask of her mindy.

Just then, her head would perk up as she saw the figure of Teien Eden move past, her figure swaying up to the open hatch before she slipped passed the protective forcefield door, her mindy rocketing out into the black space beyond. "looks like it's time to head out." She thought to herself as the daur sucked in a deep breath to calm her nerves. Following after her two superior officers, Eden and Alastair, and her fellow crewmate, Wyatt, the fox girl would rocket out into space, the wings of her Mindy pushing her through the void with a jet of aetheric plasma before cutting off. At this same time, her mindy would seem to disappear as the volumetric systems on her suit cued up a pitch black cover speckled with white "stars", her mode of camouflage inspired directly by her brilliant crewmate, Wyatt, which she'd noticed his mindy easily disappear into space when he used the same tactic.

YSS Kaiyo II
Power Armor Bay

Elenor watched as Eden exited the ship. She hadn't turned on her own volumatrics beyond making sure her chosen disguise worked correctly, so she was a plain blue Mindy with a LASR in hand. Once the gap in the jumpers opened enough, Elenor was out the hull, jumping out in a pencil like fashion, letting herself carry forward on momentium alone to be sure she cleared the ship's hull and any risk of giving the enemy a positive ping on her or the ship before she lit her own wings and began the flight in.

She was keeping her eyes sweeping over the station, the field around it, and the rest of the team. All in all, it looked to be going textbook. Opening a channel to Wyatt, Elenor hoped there was no risk of signal leak. "I hope I'm not the only one getting a puckering feeling about how easy all this has seemed so far." She said to the more experienced man. Switching channels, she pinged Alastair. "Approach vector good so far Sir. Seems we're still ghosts on the scope if the lack of activity means anything." She reported to her SO (Superior Officer), while silently praying to Frejya that the mission would go well, and begging for Loki to not invoke Murphy's Law.