Scene: Last night
Chill.
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She couldn't find sleep last night. Tom had been full from his steak dinner and, bless him, he fell asleep almost as soon as he hit the pillow. He'd not even taken the time for a shower. His body smelled of engines and sweat and grit, a kind of aphrodisiac that had the same effect as his usual scent of clean, blisteringly cold snow. It showed he worked. Worked hard. Worked long.
Yukari had spent an hour gazing outside the window from part of the pit, head sideways against her arm. She wanted to sleep. But each time she looked back at his peaceful, messy frame, a goofy grin on his face and the covers scattered over himself ... No. She would not sleep near him; she would sleep
with him. She could not disturb his sleep with her neediness.
She changed out of her red satin underwear and put on the standard-issue sports bra and boxer shorts. A silent question mouthed to
Miharu revealed everyone was asleep — including a sated Kotori, a spent Serizawa Ichi and a perfectly blissful Ketsurui Sora. Yukari thanked
Miharu with a mental grumble and left her room.
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Lust and anger are similar, just as sex and violence are so. They are blinding emotions, ones that eliminate rational thought and shift the brain to utilize instinct. They result in enhanced bodily response times, improved senses and overwhelming desire. They are also dangerous if left unchecked.
Yukari could feel both fighting for space inside her core. Each step she took away from her room and toward the wardroom exchanged lust for anger. Like currency, it was how her mind paid her body for its ruined sleep.
Damn Tom. I, full of need; he instead sleeps like a baby stuffed with milk! Dinner was too good ... and Kotori. Also too good, but for the entire crew. Her words ring less true each time she speaks about victory, about winning. She leaves caring about the crew to me, but does that put her above showing anything but a desire to win?
She was wide awake, and she needed to focus on something.
At that moment, she looked to her left. The VR room.
" ... "
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A power armor simulator was too constricting. Yukari wanted to feel things; have her body overtake her mind. Cut off those few thoughts that hedged her eyes in from the light of sleep, now that she was no longer aroused.
"Miharu," she typed into a virtual console. Telepathic communication might wake someone, and Yukari did not feel like talking. "What NH model would a member of the Daughters of Eve most likely be?"
"NH-17," the computer replied aloud. "NH-7 is possible well."
Yukari remembered being NH-17. What she was capable of at that time in her life, so long ago now. "Generate one NH-17," she typed. "Give it a Type 28A NSP and a knife."
The enemy Neko produced was essentially a Yui clone. Yukari was thankful for that; she'd been the opposite in colors, much like Sora was. The Neko had a serene expression, wore a black Neko uniform and was on the bow-end of the room, where it was darker.
"Remove all possible safeties. Highest difficulty available. Do not allow me any assistance of any time."
Miharu failed to comply. "Shosa ... are you sure? If you are injured — "
"Then I will seek medical assistance when I am able."
"But, this isn't safe. You could get really hurt but still not 'be able to die.'"
"It has been some time since I have felt actual pain. I believe such an experience will be healthy, not harmful."
" ... You're really upset, huh."
"Give me a GP-1, please." The rifle appeared at Yukari's feet; she picked it up, checked it, loaded it and flicked the safety off.
Miharu complied with her previous request, after a bit more grumbling.
" ... Begin," Yukari said, raising the rifle's sights to her eye and hitting her own internal timer.
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BAAM! The first shot from Yukari's rifle pierced the top of the Neko's head, taking off some red hair and some of the scalp. Dangling scraps of flesh and hair hung from the wound.
Yukari's second shot found air. As did the third, fourth — then the rifle was gone, knocked away from below. The next swipe sent Yukari meters away, up and down, landing hard on her palms. She rolled, got up, forced her eyes to look forward again, to search for her target.
Just in time to see the wrong sights of the NSP.
She threw her body to the left. The heat from the NSP's fire cast burning shadows onto her human ear. The next took off a few split ends, but by then Yukari was moving, her momentum reaching top flying speed almost instantly. All she considered was moving up and counting the shots.
31, 32 — She nearly crushed herself against the wall before nearly breaking her neck with a course change. No more fire rained down on her head.
Neko flesh did, however. As Yukari had slowed just enough to gauge her target, the Neko tried to collide into her. To send them into the wall at 110 kph and have Yukari be the cushion. She dodged, barely, and felt the hot claws of the Neko slash her belly.
Yukari pressed her front against the wall, then hurled herself away to the floor, just as the Neko pounced on her previous spot. Yukari came up with the rifle, spun herself around and missed pulling the trigger. The Neko collided with her again, this time pressing the rifle into Yukari's chest as she lay flat on her back. Yukari felt her body being compressed by the Neko's far superior strength, and bloodied by the head wound dripping on her face, but a desperate hand found the trigger and pulled it as hard as her straining muscles let her.
Hot brass was flung into the Neko's hand, which was over the ejection port, and her uniform. The Neko let loose a silent scream and pulled one hand away from the rifle. Just enough for Yukari to hurl the enemy off of her and fly from the port-stern end of the room to the bow-side. The Neko had drawn her knife now, the pistol abandoned on the far stern end. She snarled and attacked, a swept-back line of natural and unnatural claws coming at her.
She fired the rifle from a kneel, wincing as the recoil went through her shoulder and into her bruised chest. Only three rounds were let loose before she had to dodge again; no hits. Yukari had used 10 rounds. Only 10 left. The Neko stood at at the bow side, while Yukari was at the stern. Yukari's breathing was labored, but strong. The Neko had broken no sweat, did not breathe hard, and seemed to just be waiting. The rifle was down at Yukari's hip, an awkward and inaccurate position to fire from.
The Neko simply waited. Muscles locked into position. Her eyes fixed on Yukari's. She was doing something, but Yukari didn't care what that was. She checked her timer, then fired.
The round crashed into the wall behind the Neko without hitting her. Yukari snapped the rifle up to her shoulder, but by then the Neko was hurtling toward her again, low to the ground, knife at her side.
Two more rounds found the floor and nothing else, and Yukari jumped high and onto the ceiling, firing two more shots. The Neko didn't attempt to dodge, the shooting was so bad. It was the same as before, with the Neko hurling herself upward to try and catch Yukari, but to no avail.
The pair squared off again on the floor. Yukari had the rifle at her hip again.
Hip? Eh? Why wasn't it on her shoulder?
It was
always at her shoulder. That was how she learned to shoot. She had drilled that constantly. She was more than proficient. The rifle should never have left her shoulder.
The Neko charged again, and Yukari again dodged. She was at the bow-end now, the Neko at the stern-end. Why was she not using the NSP? Where had it gone? Her ear hurt immensely. Another charge, another close call. Why was the rifle down at her hip again? She brought it up. Charge, dodge, rifle at the hip.
She was failing not only at hitting her mark, but at holding the rifle correctly.
Yukari kept the rifle at her hip and focused on the Neko. Red hair, cut short and spiky, striking green eyes. Pinkish skin. A Yui reverse-clone. Black outfit. All normal. An NH-17R, just as she had been —
No. NH-17T. Red hair, green eyes, pink skin. NH-17T.
The Neko charged, but this time the NSP was in front of her, and Yukari watched the trigger being pulled. Yukari kicked up from the floor and immediately broke for the port wall, rifle back into that little crook between her shoulder and her neck. She cut off the sensory reception from her leg a split second after a scalar bolt clipped it. Yukari was glad she could not see the flesh be blasted and blackened.
As the rifle came toward its target, Yukari fixed on the face of the Neko. Bloodied and ripped apart, on the top-left of its head. And a jagged stump where the thing's
horn had been.
She had not seen the horn before firing. Nor had she seen the large chunk of it laying scattered on the ground. Yukari did not curse herself, for now, but she did fire two more rounds.
Contact. One to the collarbone that burst open in a cloud of red, and the thing's right ear evaporated from the second shot. Then the front of the rifle flashed blue and flew from her hands. Advantage lost.
Yukari touched off the port wall and sailed back to the stern-end head first, eyes searching for the Neko. Where? She had to be close.
Above, fast. The knife was out as Yukari started falling down toward her landing point. She watched it slice the air, coming faster, faster still, too fast, diamond glittering in cold light.
It pierced her belly. Drove through, double-edged smoothness finding mostly blood. Then the serrations came, jaggedly tearing at the edges of the wound rather nastily. Yukari's eyes found the NSP, hanging from the Neko's weaker hand. Her support hand.
A plan crystallized. Only a couple seconds were available, but Yukari reached out to the support hand with both of hers and
threw herself around to get behind the Neko, as hard as her adversary let her.
Her eyes saw the floor. Nearly there. The knife was still in her gut. Now she was behind the Neko's weaker arm, the one she did not shoot with, did not stab with. She turned her own body with all the momentum she could muster, her flying skills finally giving her an offensive edge. Her heels found the Neko's forearm.
The crunch was sickening. But the fingers sprung loose, and the NSP cracked into and off of the floor. Yukari's downward momentum folded her legs, liked locked springs, and she jumped for the NSP as gracelessly as she imagined she would. Her dominant hand found it, just a couple shots left. She finally stopped against the wall, hard, sending the air and blood in her lungs out in a thick mess.
The Neko was on her feet. Was already coming at her. That was a lot of pain rushing at her too, nearly as fast as the Neko.
Yukari almost choked on the tiny breath she had time to take. But she fired anyway.
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Chill.
Yukari had never realized how the TA-14 diamond knife felt -- the blade, that is. She did not use one; did not even have one. She'd held one by the grip less than half-a-dozen times. But now, with one sunk into her belly, all the way to the hilt, she now knew.
Chill. So very chill.
The Neko lay almost exactly where it was generated. The rest of its head was gone, a leaky stump giving Yukari a bloody mirror to inspect herself in.
Swipes and smears of blood were everywhere. Bits of flesh, too; Yukari looked down at the inflamed, surging hole where a part of her thigh had been. She coughed, hacking up a little more blood. Tom might be upset with her hair.
The timer had stopped on nine minutes, 37 seconds. Her strategy of wearing down the Neko had failed, but she had succeeded. In a way.
Except for the fact she was a lot of pain. But now she felt sleepy. Propped up against the wall, she gripped the knife and with remarkable calm ripped it out.
Oh. That hurt
much more. But as her blood flowed over her boy shorts, she felt at least a little warm. Her eyelids were getting much heavier. She tore off her sports bra, ripped it up, made the best tourniquet/bandage she could, and tied it around herself so the wound would bleed a little less. That felt better.
How exhausting, she thought. A peaceful smile on her blood-spattered face, Yukari slept.
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Scene: This morning
Waking up was hard to do. But Yukari's eyes creaked open anyway to the same light of the VR room. She was still slumped against the wall.
Her stomach was the first thing to greet her. It growled like a beast was ready to burst forth from her body. Every part of her ached. Her eyes went to her stomach, which really hurt — the wound had healed as far as it could with the energy she had available, but there was still an angry, jagged red crease where the knife had penetrated her.
Her leg was fine, if pained. Her ear, she could feel, was OK too. Bruises, however, were in various places on her body, mostly her arms, shoulders and back. Yukari's internal diagnostics had prioritized what wounds needed mending, then shut down her body to conserve energy. She was sure that was not something the NH-17 was capable of, but she did not recall.
So, purple splotches and all, Yukari came to her feet. She kept her back to the wall, grunted from the bruises flaring up.
"Would you like your battle summary now, Shosa?"
Miharu asked. Hesitation pervaded the computer's tone.
"How long have I slept?" Yukari replied.
"Not much longer than the other crew. Everyone is mostly awake."
Yukari nodded. "I see." She screwed her eyes shut as another bruise flared from what she thought was a gentle touch from her finger. "Please show me my summary."
"Yes ma'am."
Code:
XX-xx-30
YSS Miharu VR Simulation Room
BATTLE SUMMARY, v1.Yu
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SETTINGS
Opponent: NH-17T (Daughters of Eve)
Weapons: Type 28A NSP, TA-14 Survival Knife
Armor: None
Participant: NH-29H (Star Army of Yamatai)
Armament: GP-1 Battle Rifle
Armor: None
Situation: 1-on-1, no setting
Safeties: Imminent death only, all others removed (XO SUZUKA)
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SCORING
(100-point scale + 20-point max bonus for difficulty * Battle Probability, or the chance of the encounter happening based on settings):
Aggressiveness: 10
Use of standardized skills: 8
Originality: 10
Speed: 6
Damage taken: +10
==
Subtotal: 44
Difficulty bonus +10
==
Total: 54
54 * 0.07 percent Battle Probability = 3.78 BATTLE SCORE
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WRITTEN SUMMARY
First shot missed opponent's head due to telepathic interference. Shot would have destroyed opponent's brain, but instead grazed the top and destroyed opponent's horn. This debilitated further telepathic interference, but did not eliminate it.
Participant was poorly equipped and did not attempt any hand-to-hand combat. Participant was fast when flying and nimble, but did not attempt direct attacks. Participant's brain patterns suggested distractions until 7:36, when high degree of intuitive focus was present.
Opponent lost focus progressively, as feedback was experienced from attempting telepathic warfare with damaged equipment. Opponent had more opportunities to kill Participant, but failed to do so because of initial damage.
Suggestions: Increase Battle Probability. Situation should be narrow ship corridor with sidearms as armament. Rely less on flying. Rely more on concentrated indirect attacks with sidearm.
SUMMARY END
Yukari looked at the summary for a moment more, then nodded. "Transmit this to my datapad, please. Thank you,
Miharu."
She was not surprised with her score. She had survived, which was important, but it was hardly a probable event, and it was a very weak win. It was hard to care any further, as the beast inside Yukari's body roared again.
Yukari walked very slowly to the VR room's door, then out of it. She put her right hand against the bulkhead to help her slowly walk down the steps to the wardroom, while her free arm covered her chest, in case there was anyone there.
The officer did not look up, instead keeping to the bulkhead as she headed for the galley. Sanjuro, because of how still he always seemed to stand, was not noticed.
