RP: YSS Aeon [Mission 2] Lost and Found

“Aye aye Taii.” Haruhi then turned and listened to what Kahen had to say. “I'll take the three infantry and Toranaga, that should be enough to play. As for the toys,” she shifted her gaze to Yukimura, “you'll have to wait and see.” With that she strode over towards the freshly arrived SSCC. “Infantry with me! Time to break out the new gear.”

The Juni then proceeded to go through the new equipment item by item, she ordered the infantry members to move it out of the container so she could inspect them and once satisfied tick them off, then have them shifted to the armoury lift to be stowed.

"So I finally get to try some of your cooking." Laughed Trowa. "I'll take roast beef, please. And apple cider sounds great." Trowa took the sandwich and bit hungry into it as he began reading over the Battle of UX-25. He took a sip of his cider and complimented his chef. "This is really good. If your sandwiches are this good, I can't wait for a regular meal." He continued to read over the report and a question came to mind. "Eternity, can you show me a diagram of a NMX destroyer? I want to know along what axis those NMX destroyers have the least amount of fire power."

Sachi smiled at Trowa's compliment. "I am glad that you like it, I promise when we have the chance for a proper meal you will not be disappointed. I'm off to feed other hungry people." With a small wave she whirled and quickly left the bridge.

On the main screen an image from the battle of UX-25 appeared. The weapons identified. With all of the mounted weaponry turret based, there was no obvious weak angle, especially when taking into account that the NMX had performance comparable to the Aeon. And it appeared to have more turrets that the Aeon. The only tactical edge was that some of the Aeon's weaponry was stronger. It just remained to be seen if the Star Army weapon pods were more effective than the enemy battlepods.

Trowa finished his sandwich as he studied the NMX destroyer. "So basically, we need to get in the first punch and hope that their terrible shots." Trowa sighed and took another drink of his cider. He was restless. Knowing that the NMX didn't have an obvious weakness they could exploit meant that it was up to him to keep the ship from being blown up. He was ready to do his duty, even if it meant death, but being responsible for the death of others made him very uneasy.

Trowa finished his cider and then spoke to Eternity. "Eternity, can you run a sim of what we may be up against, based on the past data? I want to know how those things react when attack, how long it takes them to maneuver, and whether or not they have any weak spots in their armor. Where would be the best place to hit them that would take their destroyers out?"

Katae had been listening to Trowa's discussion with Eternity. "Yamamoo-Hei I commend your desire to study the enemy, but alas the amount of actual reliable technical data on the NMX vessels is limited. SARA has not had the opportunity to do an in-depth study of their ships. Presently our best approach is going to be enter the system in running silent mode, and move in on the ships until we are in optimum range. We will probably have the entire squadron open fire on the same ship. With luck and some good aiming we should disable it. Then the odds will be 4 to 3 in our favor, it will become a shooting match and a matter of who can out maneuver whom."

Eun-Kyung bustled up the access ramp to the Aeon. Her absence hadn’t been that long but much had happened during the time. Still, the various qualifying evolutions of a final midshipman cruise had to be observed; she had done what she must aboard the Ikoi and now, moving through the passageways toward the Bridge, she was anxious to get back to her responsibilities under Ise-Taii. She paused outside the Bridge hatch, adjusting the left sleeve of her uniform, before hitting the admittance key and stepping into the compartment. Taking two strides in from the hatch, and sparing the barest glance at the other crew on the Bridge, she stopped and came to attention. “Kim Eun-Kyung Shoi-Kohosei, reporting,” she said, bowing low in the direction of the Captain. “Request permission to resume my duties aboard the Aeon.”

Katae smiled at seeing Eun-Kyung enter the bridge. It will be good to have at least one other officer onboard. Yani will be pleased as well, she was not too keen on being acting XO. She thought. "Permission granted. I presume you have taken care of the administrative issue that called you away.”

“You returned just in time, we will be departing momentarily. Another five minutes and you would have been watching our departure.” Katae stood up and walked over to the midshipman. “Take Mission Control, and send a message to the Star Military of the Democratic Imperium of Nepleslia. Advise them that we will be crossing their borders shortly enroute to a star system beyond Nepleslian space. We are in pursuit of a group of NMX ships, and time is of the essence. Let them know we will not be stopping in their space nor will we bring our tactical systems online within their borders.”

Katae walked back to her station and picked up the handset, she punched in the ship wide code. “Attention all hands. We are embarking now. Secure any non-critical systems, and equipment, report to your stations. We are at Alert Condition.” Hanging up the handset she turned to Trowa. “Lay in a course to these coordinates. Disengage the moorings, and notify me when you are ready to maneuver clear.”

Turning to Eun-Kyung, “After you send that message to SMODIN, signal the squadron to prepare for hyperspace fold. We have a package to retrieve.”

Path of NMX ships.

Trowa sighed. He had really hoped that he would have been able to find some weakness. But he just didn't have enough time or data to study. But the Taii's words were encouraging and Trowa felt ready.

"Aye, aye Ma'am." Trowa responded to his orders. He felt a lot more conferrable with the ship now and how she handled. Although he was sure to get an ear full from Eternity if he scratched the paint. Trowa ran through his pre-flight systems check and got green lights across his board. He disengaged the moorings then called up port control to notify them that they were prepared to leave. After entering the coordinates into the computer, Trowa announced, "All systems are green, moorings have been disengaged and we have our path plotted. We are ready to move on your order Ma'am."

“Aye, ma’am,” said Eun-Kyung, moving over to the Mission Control station. She seated herself and rapidly brought up the communications console displays, selecting the correct message templates. The actual content she had to generate herself was relatively brief; even so, she went over the few phrases twice, reasoning that a spelling error – while not disastrous – would hardly make the Aeon, and by extension the Star Army, look good. That done, she affixed in short order the ship code, her authorization, and, for the message to SMODIN, a CC to 1XF Headquarters. With the messages complete, she loaded them into the communications queue and threw a copy over to one of the command chair’s auxiliary displays. “The messages are on your fourth display, ma’am. They will transmit automatically with your authorization.”

Katae added her authorization to the messages and had Eternity transmit them. She picked up the intercom handset and tied it into the squadron channel. "Squadron Leader to 7th Squadron, All ships engage hyperdrive for specified coordinates. ETA to target destination is 47 minutes. Use that time wisely."

"Yamamoo-Hei, take us into fold. We have a date with a group of NMX ships." she said to Trowa.

Sitting at her station she scanned the Aeon's systems. There are plenty of things that can go wrong with this mission. Haruhi should be up to the task, but the rest of her team are green as grass. she thought.

Outside the Aeon the other ships of the 7th were being enveloped in the blue glow of the hyperspace fold field.

"Yokai, Haruhi-Juni." Hoshi said quietly.

As the infantry moved to get their weapons, Hoshi backed off, away from them to allow room.

I'm in reserve, then. He thought. I just hope none of them get their ass shot off while I'm not around.

He saw the new crewmember, the small Neko would probably soon be out there with the Infantry. "If all of you survive this, I swear I'll do something goofy just for the hell of it." He mumbled under his breath.

"You best be off shift and not near anything important when you do so, then." Haruhi's enhanced Nekovalkyrja hearing had far from dulled with age and had picked up the comment with relative ease. Her gaze never left the equipment coming out of the container as she spoke. "Let's get the last of this away, then those who aren't with me can head to your stations like the good Taii commands." The few pieces of equipment for the Mindy's that were left to move to the lift would be quick to finish up.

"Mission equipment will be as follows: Shoulder-Fired Missile Pods, Barrier Shield Module, Countermeasure Augmentation Pods, Aether Beam Saber-Rifle, Type 29 Armor Service Pistol and Kinetic Energy Absorbing Armor. For those who were asleep the boarding party is Im'inao, Yukimura, Tsubei, Toranaga and myself."

Haruhi pointed to a row of matching power armour equipment that she had ordered be put aside. "Toys are on the floor here, half of it's straight out of the box so double check that it's all ready for battle and they haven't put the missiles in backwards or anything. 'Part from that, get your Mindys kitted up and ready to go - the clock's ticking."

"Aye, Ma'am." Trowa replied as he through the switch and sent the ship into hyperspace. A crocked, devilish grin appeared on Trowa's face and he snapped his fingers as if suddenly remembering something. "Aw, I left the flowers at the space port. We've got a date and I went and forgot the flowers." He shook his head, "Tisk, tisk, tisk. They were such lovely flowers too. Oh well."

Trowa was feeling more like himself now. He felt more comfortable around the ship and around the crew. After running another check to make sure all was in order, Trowa spoke to the ship. "Eternity, can you run me through a few sims. I need all the practice I can get before the big show."

Hoshi snapped-to, outfitting his power armor and running diagnostics. He kept the extra pair of Medkits, and picked up the Aether Beam-Saber Rifle.

He had seen the wounds the Rifle could give, and grimaced. But he continued on, checking the equipment and readying himself for battle. Hoshi planned on keeping his promise.

Kyoka was too obsessed with the shiny new Mindy models to notice what Hoshi had said, but when her superior spoke she heard every word. With a bow, the Neko equipped her armor quickly and efficently, all the days spent back in training getting their first useage finally. The whole ensemble of weaponry was snapped onto hardpoints and into the hands in two minutes.

"Hee. . . I suppose that is a new record for me." She giggled before double-checking the items for any misplacements and possible hazards. "Everything is as snug as a bug in a rug! I s'pose I'll just wait here until we're ready to suit up." She then sat by the Mindy, observing all the shiny contours of the armor.

As the 7th Squadron streaked through hyperspace, Sachi briskly entered the power armor bay. Her brown hair moved as if in a breeze from the pace of her walking, she was laden with several baskets, and thermoses. She walked over to Haruhu stopped just short of the Juni and with a bow she said, "Hello Haruhi-Juni, I thought you and the rest of the members going on the assault team could use some refreshment prior. Since we have a while I brought down some light food for you." Pointing to the baskets she said, "In the first basket you have a choice of roast beef, cucumber, or ham sandwiches. In the second I have made some sushi and sashimi plates. I have some fresh pears, and apples in the third basekt." Wiggling the thermoses, "In these you can have either tea, apple cider or coffee to drink. After all soldiers need proper nutrition if they are to fight well."

"Cheers," Haruhi replied in thanks, "A bit of a charge-up never goes astray." She turned her head over her shoulder to address the enlisted briefly. "Take it easy on the food and don't stuff yourselves, you'll be needing your blood going to your brain, not your stomache," She snagged a sashimi plate for herself and with a short "back before the shooting starts" went to ride the elevator up to the armoury along with the last of the equipment to be packed away; she wanted to be sure that everything was properly secured away before the action started.

Kyoka hopped over and snagged a roast beef, as well as an apple and some tea, before returning to the side of her Mindy. "I'll say. . ." She nodded in agreement to Sachi's statement. Her meal was gone in mere moments, and she disposed of the wrapper in a nearby bin. Then, the Neko went back to checking out her Mindy.

The 7th Squadron emerged at the outer edge of the target star system in a splash of blue energy. "All ships switch to CDD and go to silent running mode. 15 minutes to targets." Katae sent to the other ships via secure comm.

"Toranaga-Hei, conduct a passive scan and look for any sign of the NMX squadron." she said to the science officer. Hopefully the NMX think they got away clean and have stopped to take time to effect repairs and the like. she thought.

"Yamamoo-Hei, once Toranaga get the coordinates plot an intercept course to bring us up on the NMX vessels' aft." she said to the operator.

"Kim-Shoi Kohosei, notify the away team and the shuttles to prepare for departure." Katae said turning to the midshipman.

“Aye aye, ma’am,” replied Eun-Kyung. She swung her chair back toward her station and snatched up a handset. Keying in the code for the correct communications circuits she waited for the tone indicating a live mic. “Away team to the Armor Bay. Shuttle crew to the Shuttle Bay. Standby for deployment in T minus fifteen minutes. That is all.” She returned the handset to its cradle with a faint clack and turned her attention to the status displays. Ship systems appeared green across the board; there was no real reason to bother Usaga-Hei. For now, she had only to wait for the shuttle and PA ready lights to appear.