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[Mission 2.0] Changes and challenges

Nashoba

SARPaholic & Admin
Convention Veteran
Retired Staff
RP Date
YE 43
RP Location
Location: Libra Star Fortress, Alpha Arm Docking area 3
Location: Libra Star Fortress, Alpha Arm Docking area 3

The YSS Aeon II and its squadron are in the Docking Station. The squadron has been going through refurbish and maintenance which is now complete. With the latest war now a matter of history, the 7th Squadron is receiving orders.

C.O. Suite

Eternity sits in one of the chairs in Katae's office. The two of them are reviewing the progress of crew member changes. A KE-T7 shuttle is enters the bay. It lands near the Aeon II. A number of crew members exit the craft and make their way to the Aeon II's airlock.
 
Libra Star Fortress, Officer suite

Trowa opened his eyes and stared a moment at the ceiling. Today was the last day of leave before he would have to report again to the Aeon II. Only this time he was an officer. A Chui. That made him smile. He had waited a long time for this. "You awake?" Asked a sleepy voice. Trowa glanced sideways and saw the beautiful face laying on his shoulder. "Aye, Just enjoying laying here with you. It's what I miss most when I'm on deployment." The beautiful face, with a starburst tattoo over one eye, leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I miss it too." She sat up in bed and glanced at the clock. "Run and grab a shower, I'll lay out your uniform and fix you some breakfast, Yamamoto-Chui."

Trowa took a quick shower and trimmed his beard and mustache. He looked at himself a moment in the mirror. Some salt was beginning to show in his hair and beard. His left eye glowed red and he gently toughed the scar around it. How long ago had he lost his eye? Over 15 years ago? How time flies. He place the eyepatch over the glowing red eye and smiled. He still looked like a dashing rogue, even though he was a lot less rogue then he had been.

His wife had laid out his number one uniform on the bed. As he dressed a little girl came running into the bed room wearing an officer's hat, his officer hat. "Mama says breakfast is ready Papa." Trowa smiled as he scooped the little girl up in his arms and kissed her on the forehead. "Good, I've been smelling those frying onions and it's making my mouth water." Trowa's wife, Estrella, had gone all out for her husband's farewell breakfast. Salami, mashed plantains, eggs, fried onions and fried cheese as well as fresh passion fruit juice. Trowa tucked into his food with relish, it might be a very long time before he had his wife's cooking again.

An hour later Trowa was preparing to board the shuttle that would take him to the Aeon II. He held his daughter in one arm and his wife in the other. "I'll send you messages every day." Trowa was promising Estrella. "You better." Estrella admonished him. A final, long kiss to Estrella and a tight hug to his daughter and Trowa turned to board the shuttle. "Trowa, I almost forgot." Estrella called as she hurried to give her husband a portable cooler. "For your Taisa. Her favorite." Trowa smiled. "I know she'll love them.... Te amo mucho mi Estrella bonita." His wife had grown up speaking a dialect of Nepleslian and Trowa knew how much it meant to her when he used it. They had one last kiss then he boarded the shuttle.

The shuttle ride took very little time at all to reach the Aeon II. Trowa spend the time reviewing the repairs that had been done to the ship as well as the new crew rosters. It would be good to know who was going to be on the ship. When the shuttle arrived, he remained seated a few moments while he finished reading the file he was on. Curious. He made a note to his data slate then grabbed his over night bag and gift for the Taisa disembarked.
 

C.O. Suite​

Eternity lifted her eyes to Katae. "Taisa, your new Executive Officer has arrived. He is on his way to your suite. I will have his issued items to be delivered to his Suite."

Katae switched off the volumetric displays that she had been reviewing. "Well, with that billet finally settled we will be able to brief the crew. Please post a mandatory meeting for all hands in the Hangar Deck for 1600 hrs."

Eternity stood up, "I will attend to that right away. Should I order a pot of hot tea?"

"Kindly have Sachi bring a cart with a kettle of hot water, and tea bags and instant coffee." Katae replied. She put a number of books into one of her cabinets.

"I have advised Sachi of your request." Eternity said as she exited the suite.
 
Day before departure
The day before he returned to the Aeon, he decided to visit his family and help at their store for a bit. He told his brother and sister stories about his ship and how he leads people to fight. Sho was so excited, he ran around, pretending to be a power armor pilot. "Mom, I am going to go see dad. I will be back soon." Yoshiro told her as he stood up and brushed the bits of grass off his uniform. He walked to the cemetery, with people bowing in respect to a warrior of the Empire. He bowed in return and continued to walk to his father's grave at the cemetery stopping every so often to console a civilian that lost a loved one in the current war against the Kuvexians.

He arrived at the grave of his father and sat in a kneeling position and bowed his head. After lifting his head, he spoke. "Ohaiyo Gozaimasu, Oto-San. Have you been well? I apologize for not being here for your burial but I had duties to attend. Well, you would be surprised to find that I am leading a squad on my ship, the Aeon and hopefully I have been able to do that well.

I am also training to be a starship pilot so I can be of more use to the SAoY. Assuming things keep going the way they are, I may make captain soon. Uhhhhhh....hehehe....I am getting a little bit ahead of myself but that is my goal. Well nothing much else to tell, I mean the store is doing well and Sho and Aoi are growing up fast. So I have to go now, mother is waiting for me. Sayonara, Oto-san."

With that he stood bowed to his father's grave and walked out of the cemetery wiping a few tears out of his eyes as he walked home. His mother had dinner warm for him and he ate in a tranquil silence. After that, he went to bed, to get ready for his next mission on the Aeon.

The next day
He arrived at the Libra Star Fortress at 1500 hours, just enough time to get to the Aeon, take a shower and put on a proper uniform. He got a message to meet in the hangar deck at 1600 hours so he grabbed an onigiri that he bought and headed to the hangar deck.

When he arrived, he bowed to the Taisa and greeted her. "Taisa, it is good to see you. Things find you well I hope?" He said with a smile.
 
A small shuttle flew up and initiated docking procedures with the Libra Star Fortress. When its doors finally opened, a handful of uniformed Star Army personnel filed out. Though he wouldn't have stood out of the crowd if lined up against a wall, one soldier carrying a duffel bag set himself apart in another way. While everyone else quickly dispersed into the busy concourse, he walked out of the shuttle holding a datapad up to his face and quickly froze. He stood there, occasionally flicking his finger across the datapad, for several minutes before he looked up and around. The expression on his face and the way he frantically turned his head to look at different things made it obvious he was utterly lost.

Naturally, the first thing he did when he came to this realization was look down at his datapad again. Eagle-eyed observers saw that he brought up a map of the fortress, and hovered his finger over the screen as he scanned. Every so often, he looked up and around, spotted something, then looked down again. Relief washed over his face and he tapped the screen where he thought he was.

Dragging the map off to one side, he brought up his messages. The most recent being his reassignment to the Aeon-II from Hanako. He skimmed it quickly, then brought up another message that gave details of his shuttle itinerary, and which arm and area he would find his new ship. Bringing the map up again, he found the Alpha Arm, docking area 3, then drew a line with his finger along the path he needed to take. Finally, he unfroze and set off on his route.

Upon reaching the area where the Aeon-II was docked, he showed his identification and orders to security and walked on board, only to find himself lost again. He performed a very similar pathfinding operation, bringing up schematics for the Plumeria-class gunships, and eventually found his way to the bridge.

"Sonoda Takashi Nitô-Hei reporting for duty."
 
Aboard Aeon II

As soon as Trowa stepped aboard the Aeon, Eternity notified him that the Taisa wanted to see him in her office. Trowa thanked Eternity and summoned one of the ships Emmas to deliver his overnight bag to his room. Keeping the gift for the Taisa with him, Trowa headed for her office. Along the way he ran into Sachi, the ships cook. She was pushing a cart with hot water and tea and coffee for the Taisa. They chatted for a moment about recipes. Sachi enjoyed finding new recipes and Trowa had brought her one of his favorite dishes his wife would make. Asopao, a soupy rice dish that also included vegetables and meat or seafood. Since he was heading there anyway, Trowa offered to take the cart himself. He took a quick moment to carefully set some of the sushi his wife had packed for Katie onto the cart, setting the rest underneath the cart.

A few minuets later he was at the Taisa's office and pushing in the cart. He bowed to his commanding officer. "Ise-Taisa. It's good to see you. I ran into Sachi-hei on her way up and thought I'd save her the trip." He pushed the cart forward and added. "I've also have some Sushi my wife made for you. I know fond you are of sushi Isa-san. There's more in the little cooler you can safe for later."
 
CO Suite

Katae watched as her new XO brought in a food cart. Her expression was blank, as she listened to his entrance. "Chui Yamamoto, you did graduate in your training did you not?" her voice raising slightly. "You want to explain why you failed to properly report for duty. I expect my Executive Officer to set an example for the crew."
 
CO Suite

Trowa was a veteran starship operator. Even as a cadet, he could preform complex mathematical calculations in his head. Over the years he had gotten advanced cybernetic implants that would give him vectors and velocities of ships and asteroids almost quicker than he could himself think of. But Katae's question was like a tire spinning on an oil spill. His brain just couldn't seem to gain any traction. "Aye.... I.... competed..... Just came aboard...." Trowa's brows furrowed then his eye went wide as his brain finally found some traction. "Executive Officer..." He said breathlessly. A smile that couldn't be hidden appeared on his face and his real eye seemed to glow brighter than his cybernetic eye hidden under his eyepatch ever had. "Begging your pardon Ma'am. It was a momentary lax after spending R and R with my family. I assure you Ma'am it won't happen again." He did manage to bow without falling over then extended his hand to shake hers. "Thank you so much Katae-san. I couldn't be more honored or happy than to be the Aeon's First Officer."
 
CO Suite

Katae said "Bring the cart closer. I want a cup of coffee while we look at our options. I have been reviewing some of the options available. I'm leaning towards checking some of the worlds the original Aeon visited. With the war over, we should be showing the flag so to speak, and see what damage any of the cultures received."

Cargo Hold

The cargo hold had closed that cargo doors. Crew members were still able to enter thru that airlocks. The Star Army Flag was hanging as a back drop. A platform had been rolled in so that the NH-33M could attend the meeting.
 
CO Suite

Trowa scooted the cart closer and pored two cups of coffee. He handed one to Katae. "Sounds good to me." After the close call he had last mission in the debris field doing some exploration sounded all right to him. It might also give him some time to get over the shock of being made XO. "Do we have any intel on how these worlds are doing and what we might expect to find there?"

Bridge

Shina Kim Shoi looked up from her console as Sonoda came onto the bridge. She stood up and said, "Hello Sonoda Takashi Nitô-Hei. I'm Shina Kim Shoi. Its nice to meet you. The Taisa has called all crew members to the hanger for a briefing at 1600." She glanced at her watch. "You've got a little bit of time before hand, but I'd go ahead and start heading that way. I'm sure Kahen-Chui will be trilled to have another science officer aboard."

Hanger

Clyde McBruntel and Perry Fossman were already in the hanger talking and laughing with a couple other infantry when they noticed Tanaka enter. McBruntel's voice boomed out over the sounds of chatter as he waved to Tanaka. "Hey Heisho! Over here! How was your R and R?"
 
Hanger

Yoshiro heard the infantry bantering amongst themselves when he heard one of the infantry call him over and ask how his vacation was. "It was fine. Got to see my brother and sister, helped out my mom at her store and saw my dad at his grave for the first time. He was permanently killed during the NMX attack on Yamatai. They got his backup chip so there was no way to restore him." He said sadly but he perked up again. "Enough of the bad news! I got some pictures from my sister and my brother. Not the greatest artists in the universe but they do try. " he said with a laugh and showed them the pictures.

They had the right shapes that you would have recognized the drawings as power armor but they looked a bit childish. The thought of what his brother and sister had done reminded him of what he was fighting for in the Star Army. Family, friends and those serving under him. He would die for them and bleed for them. Yoshiro was a blade of the Empire and he was not afraid to die He handed the infantry soldiers he was talking to small bottles of orange juice.

"I would be remiss if I didn't toast those who had came before us. To the proud warriors of Yamatai, past, present and future, here's to you, the damn few! To the Aeon 2 as well!" He said and chugged his OJ. "Let none say we lack courage, for we have it in spades! Let none say we lack honor, for we have proven so in doing our duty to our empire and our commanders! Those who stand with us, let's be their shield but those who stand against us, let us be their destruction!" He fell silent after saying that, feeling awkward.
 
CO Suite

"Well, one of our choices would be to check out the AX Systems that we explored back when I first got the Aeon. We may check some of them out. But I am leaning towards checking some of the various worlds that have been settled. New settlements are often prey for raiders or pirates. The risk for raiding would be minimal as most new settlements have very little defense systems." Katae replied.

Hanger Deck

The NH-33M were arriving for the meeting. A few of them flew around some of the full size crew to chat with them. The others settled down on the cart.
 
CO Suite

Trowa had been with the Aeon back when they explored some of those sectors. He had been pretty green back then, just a Itto Hei when they had explored AS-1 now called Genus. But he well remembered the fight against Intellicus and the damage the Aeon had taken. It would be interesting to visit some of those places again after so many years. He pulled out his pocket watch and glanced at the time. "Almost 1600 Ma'am. I guess we should let the rest of the crew know where we're heading to."

Hanger Deck

The young Hei's clapped and raised their OJ bottles to Yoshiro. "Here here! Bravo! Damn right!" They cheered him. Their moral was high. They had had a good time of shore leave after a successful mission. Fossman asked, "So Heisho, any idea where we're heading next?"
 
Hanger

"Not sure . I am hoping to go hunting for Kuvexians, but we will see." Yoshiro said. "I assume that the captain will tell us in the upcoming briefing. We'll get our info then." He stretched his arms a bit and waited for the captain to brief them.
 
CO Suite

Katae sent a message to Eternity. "We are heading to the hangar deck. Ensure all hands are present." She switched off her displays and locked them down. She stood up and moved toward the door. "Time to meed the crew and get the Aeon II back into space where she belongs." she said. Once out of there quarters she locked the door and walked at a brisk pace to the Hanger Deck.

Corridor

"While we will be doing some exploration, part of our orders is to look for any Kuvexians in our space. " she said moving through the ship. "The AX-1 system should be a good place for us to start."
 
"Aye Aye Ma'am." smiled Trowa as he followed his Taisa out of her office. He was still trying to contain his joy at being named XO. As he walked down the corridor beside her he listened carefully to her plan.
 
Hanger

Trowa entered the hanger just ahead of his captain, quickly side stepped and came to attention as he barked out, "Captain on deck!" Instantly a hush fell over the hanger as the whole company came to attention and saluted as Katae entered. Trowa just barely contained a smile. His first command as an XO.
 
Hanger

Katae moved into the hanger and walked to the center of the hanger. "It is good to see all of you. I hope most of you made good use of the extended leave. You may notice that there is a change in who our Executive Officer is. Chui Yamamoto has been promoted, and I have given him the XO position. When you get a chance make sure to congratulate him."

Katae pulled up a volumetric display and expanded it to fill the cargo area.

"We are going to spend some time checking on some of the systems we first explored. As part of this mission we are going to be checking on systems. We will be checking on the systems, looking for possible Kuvexian or Pirate activity. The Aeon II is going to be showing the flag so to speak. We are going to make sure that any settlements are doing well. With the war, it is possible that some planets may have been raided or captured by hostiles being pirates or others." She paused, and the display changed to the AX-01 system.

"AX-01 will be the first for us. A Scientific Studies Service vessel passed through the system before the recent war. They were detecting energy emissions. They were too far away to determine it. So we will investigate, it will give us some time to get used to the changes. XO do you have anything you wish to add?" Katae asked.
 
Hanger

Trowa smiled and nodded to Katae's mention of him as the new XO. It was truly starting to sink in now. As Katae spoke, Trowa's gaze wondered around the hanger at the crew now under his authority. He knew them all by name at least, though he still didn't know a lot about most of them. Some had been with the ship just as long as he had, even longer. They had a good crew and he was sure they could handle anything out there.

It took a half second for him to realize that the Captain had asked him for input. He took a step forward, his hands clasped firmly behind his back. "As the Captain has said, we don't really know what is out there. Kuvexian and/or Pirates are a real possibility. But we will be ready for anything that comes our way. To that end, until we arrive at AX-01, we will conduction different training scenarios. We will have simulations boarding known Kuvexian ships as well as practicing repelling boarders off our own ship." Trowa paused and glanced Katae. "The Aeon is the finest ship I've ever had the privilege of serving on. And it is because of the fine crew like you all that has made it such an honor. I know you will not disappoint."
 
Hangar

"Okay folks, we will give you more information as we get it. Meanwhile, everyone to launch stations. Let's get the Aeon II back into space where she belongs. Department heads, provide your status to the bridge once we are underway. You are all dismissed and report to your stations."

She started walking briskly out of the Hangar, she connected with Eternity and instructed her to notify the station that the YSS Aeon II was ready for departure.
 
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