RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 21.2] Return to Ether - Spaceside Thread

Bridge

"Scan the shuttle, and if things look alright, let it dock in our shuttle bay and I will send medical to there to meet them." Hanako got on the ship's intercom. "Attention medical staff: Report to the power armor bay. Prepare for possible casualties on incoming shuttle." Hanako absently rubbed her lips around each other as she thought. "I am about ready for this exercise to end. With the away team gone, we are, understandably not at our full capabilities. Let's finish this up and then take the ship to Ether and land there to retrieve the away team."

Bridge

"Scanning the shuttle" Natsumi replied as she directed the warships sensors at the small auxiliary craft. While she did that she also began plotting a course in to Ether.

By the time the scan was complete she the course entered into the astrogation system and signalled the engine room that they would be needing the FTL systems soon.

Bridge

Three distinct inbound hyperfold signatures had appeared on the displays as the Shosho spoke along with their accompanying chime. One froze entirely, its icon joined by a small annotation reading “Simulation Suspended.” The other two continued to increase in strength, with the first breaking through into realspace just as the sensor returns requested by Natsumi arrived, showing the shuttlecraft was completely kosher aside from some power and electronics issues.

The FTL signature resolved into two separate footprints, followed a moment later by IFF signals from transponder beacons; the Aurora and Nadeshiko drifted for a second and then, gaining their bearings, aligned on the Eucharis and began maneuvering. The comms panel lit up a moment later with a signals request and the main display reconfigured to show the captains of the two new arrivals side by side.

“Admiral,” said Taii Wada Mitsuyo, speaking first. “As promised, the Vesper should be just a few seconds out.” The officer paused for a moment as the exercise update packet arrived. “Ma’am, would you like for us to continue with the scenario?”

Engineering

Junko noted the courtesy update from the Bridge, appreciative of being informed ahead of time. A swiftly entered key combination had her display shift, showing the Eucharis’s actual - not simulated - status. She was still concerned about the main cannon subsystems, but they were well insulated from the rest of primary power tree and all propulsion systems were in the green. With the generators still spun up to full military power the ship could handle the power load for FTL maneuvers instantly. All she was left to do was to bring the FTL systems themselves up to a warm standby, prepared to come fully online and respond to helm input with seconds.

Bridge

Hanako nodded respectfully to her fellow captains as they appeared on the main screen. "I think I will halt Eucharis' particpation so I can pick up my away team. You are welcome to independently continue your own exercises. Hanako out." Hanako looked to Natsumi. "Natsumi, take us to Ether and inform the away team that we have return once we arrive." Next, Hanako got on the intercom. "Attention all hands, this the captain speaking. We have concluded our simulation and are making ready to retrieve the away team. Readiness condition is now level 3. Prepare for spacefold."

Bridge

The captains had bowed courteously to the Shosho before the transmission ended and the two gunships changed headings again, loping away toward the location of the paused fold-exit signature. The Vesper arrived momentarily and, after pinging the Eucharis with greetings, peeled off to join her sisters. With a small chime of notification the status indicators reading “Simulation Suspended” changed to the more permanent “Simulation Terminated” as the sensor contacts for the Pack Horse, the shuttlecraft, and the hyperfold footprint disappeared.

Engineering

Junko sighed and stretched as the ship secured from battlestations. A glance at her displays showed the propulsion systems hitting all of the proper indications and holding their levels nicely.

“All right, Shelton-san,” she transmitted over suit comms as she confirmed a final few figures. “If you’d like to go over Damage Control procedures another time I’d be happy to help, but we’re finished with this exercise for now. You can stow the gear back in the DC locker.”

Unsealing and removing her AMES helmet, she ran a hand through her hair before glancing over her shoulder to see whether the Nepleslian had crawled off into the guts of the ship yet.

Engineering

Sienna had diligently followed the carat on her helmet's HUD, poring over the sleek lines of Yamataian engineering, but was starting to wonder if something was wrong with either the data that Junko had sent her, or with her helmet itself. While Yamataian military tech and construction wasn't her specialty, she knew enough about basic engineering and maintenance to recognize a problem when she saw one, and after going over the entire area she was directed to twice, she couldn't find a thing wrong.

Just when she was about to radio back to Junko to ask her just where there was any problem, the message "Simulation Terminated" flashed on the lower corner of her HUD, followed by Junko's statement. Her grip on the plasma cutter tightened, as did her jaw. "...What," she said flatly over the comms, her inflection deadpan and obviously irritated. She took a deep breath and turned around, looking back down the cramped and dark corridor in the direction she'd come, as if expecting to see Junko standing there. "What do you mean, 'finished with this exercise?'"

Engineering

Seeing that Sienna had indeed entered the conduits Junko turned back to her displays, running a few stress-tests on the main cannon array to pass the time. She frowned at the reply, now routed through the console rather than her helmet.

"I mean, the Shosho has decided to terminate the simulation early and retrieve the away team from the surface." She cocked her head mildly, supposing that the Nepleslian might have missed Hanako's announcement while she was crawling around. "The scenario was a bit ambitious, so I guess the rest of the squadron will be concluding the final phases alone."

Engineering

Sienna's jaw slid sideways as she closed her eyes and shook her head with an irritated sigh. The whole "emergency" had just been an exercise. Although she did feel silly for believing it to be an actual crisis, she masked it by directing her frustration at the ship and its crew for not bothering to let her know. "Hnnh," she grunted over the comms. "I'll just be coming back out, then."

Retracing her steps, she made her way back to the engineering bay and descended the ladder, saying nothing further, and keeping her body language in check, so as not to let on just how annoyed she was. With the adrenalin-fueled focus giving way to her ire, her headache was starting to creep back, although it was thankfully still tempered by the medication she'd received from Ayumi. She didn't even look in Junko's direction as she stepped down off the ladder and made her way back over to the storage locker, shoving the tools back in their places, then reached up and disconnected her helmet. With a twist, the helmet hissed and came free of the suit.

While she began to free herself from the AMES, she pondered the last few minutes' events. Even if it had only been a training exercise, her revelations during the ordeal were still valid, she felt. She had lingered too long on this warship, and it would only be a matter of time before something like this would happen for real. And when it did, she saw no reason for her to be around for it. She felt she had already adequately compensated Hanako for being rescued with her services, and felt no obligation to repay them any more than she already had, her unsolicited hospitality notwithstanding. The Nekos weren't her countrymen, and their fight wasn't hers; she had no desire to continue to insert herself into their constant predicaments.

And with Sune's generous gift to her, she now had more than enough means to strike out on her own once again. The Eucharis was officially of no more use to her.

Bridge

"course for Ether plotted into the astrogator and ready" Natsumi announced as she finished the last of her calculations for the FTL trip." Engaging FTL" she added as her fingers danced across her control panel.

The Eucharis rotated around, pointing her dagger-like prow away from the collection if ships participating in the battle simulations. Then her engines flashed, propelling her clear of the area before the ships main faster than light propulsion system kicked in and took the warship out if the area in a brilliant flash of light.

Engineering

Junko watched the power load drawn by the FTL systems peak and then even out. All systems were green, well within their safety margins, and so she stood up and stretched. Luxuriating in the sensation for a moment, she turned and walked over to the DC locker, standing next to Sienna as she removed her own AMES. She wondered, as she straightened a few of the more egregious wrinkles out of her working uniform and stowed the suit with the others in the locker, what had been bothering the woman so much over the radio, though she seemed well enough now.

“You did well, Shelton-san,” she said to the guest with a nod and a smile. “Good reaction time. And I know the volumetrics terminated before you got a chance, but I’m sure you would have handled the simulated repairs quite well. I can smell the mechanical aptitude.” She tapped her nose with an index finger as her grin turned conspiratorial. “Have much shipside repair experience?”

She realized that she knew very little about the Nepleslian woman. She had looked up the official personnel files of the enlisted crew under her, with particular reference to those in the Engineering Department, but snooping in on a guest of the Shosho had seemed impolite to her sensibilities. All she knew was the little gleaned from general conversation aboard the ship; that Sienna had helped the crew on some independent world and been invited aboard by Hanako, all some time before Junko herself had rejoined the crew on the Dreamworld.

Engineering

As she slid herself out of the AMES, Sienna looked over at Junko with an expression that appeared slightly surprised that the Neko was speaking to her. Stepping out of the last leg of the suit, she hung it back in the locker, reduced once again to her pants, boots, and bra, having left her shirt back in the medbay. She ruffled her hair slightly, aerating her scalp from the stuffy helmet, even though she had only been in it for a few moments. "It's just Sienna," she corrected Junko. She was rapidly tiring of the Yamataian honorifics; they were pointless to her, a hollow token of undeserved esteem in a culture that valued the pretention of respect over anyone's ability to earn it. Squatting down to re-tie a lace on her boots, she nodded indifferently to Junko's observation. "Yeah, I've been around a machine or two," she replied, not elaborating further or bothering to make eye contact. "Just woulda been nice to know y'all weren't actually about to get me vented. I mighta been able to sleep off this hangover by now."

Engineering

Junko frowned in confusion. “I believe the Shosho made a general announcement across the ship when we began the exercise. In any event, it wouldn’t do to have anything else be different.” She shrugged. “If you don’t train like you fight you won’t survive all that long. And I have to say I’m impressed by your reactions even more, if you thought this was a real fight. I don’t recall being quite so cool and collected the first few times I saw action, Sienna-san.”

The name felt a little strange as it came out of her mouth. It was rare for her to address anyone so informally, let alone someone she knew so little. But she couldn't very well turn down their guest’s invitation - especially not when she realized said guest was barely clothed. She flushed a little and averted her gaze slightly; suddenly using a given name didn't seem to be quite so discomforting by comparison.

Engineering

If Junko was right about the Shosho's announcement, Sienna must have either slept through it or it was the same announcement that had caused her to burn herself, in which case she was too startled and angry, not to mention in too much pain at that precise moment, to have listened to it. Either way, she had no recollection of ever being told that their predicament was a simulation and nothing more, but she wasn't about to call more attention to it.

She closed her eyes, her face still pointed at her boot as she paused for a half second in relacing it as Junko addressed her with the honorific again. "No, just 'Sienna' is--" she began, then cut herself off, sighing as she shook her head. What was the point of arguing about it? "Never mind." She finished with the laces, and rose back up to her feet, looking down at the comparatively shorter Neko with an amused expression, evidently either oblivious to or too tired to care about the fact that she was one garment away from being topless. "Who said this was the first time I saw action?" she asked, tilting her head, her coarse accent strengthening noticably. "And if it was, how would that make anything any different? Was I supposed to just cower in my room and cry, praying one of y'all would come rescue me?" She chuckled slightly at the thought of that comment. "I may not be no soldier, but I ain't no priss, either. If y'all were gonna drag me into your fight, which I had every reason to think you were, I wasn't gonna die sitting down." She started to hook her thumbs through her belt loops, but after brushing her bare stomach with her hand, she suddenly seemed to become more aware of her lack of a shirt, and folded her arms to cover her bra instead. Looking back up at Junko, she maintained the same entertained grin, but her cheeks reddened ever so slightly. "For an army of genetically engineered superwomen, y'all got some pretty classical ideas about gender."

Bridge

Hanako stood up, looking forward across the gunship's tiny bridge at the main screen, which now showed the iceball world of Ether quickly approaching. "Please send the away team notice that we are here and then offer to retrieve them. We can have the return in their shuttle or land on the planet. Either is fine with me. Let me know what you decide. You have the bridge, Natsumi," Hanako said. Then she left the bridge through the side door, heading into the zero-G passageway and opening the now-unlocked blast shutters as she floated along, carried by her Nekovalkyrja flight ability like some sort of fairy. She went to the wardroom and found it quiet and empty, since the day cook, Lime, was away the the planetary team. Only Lime's Douryo-type android assistant was present, sitting patiently in the galley in a chair behind the serving window with red pretty hair, bright blue eyes, and a frilly maid-style uniform on a voluptuous figure. It was getting near dinner time, so Hanako hatched a plan.

"Excuse me,?" Hanako asked, wondering if the android was active.

The robot girl stood up and did a curtsey. "Oh! Hello there, my name is Layla."

"I am captain Hanako. I would like to cook for the crew. Could you get the ingredients ready for teppanyaki fried rice with beef, chicken, and shrimp?" she asked the robot helper.

"Yes ma'am," Layla nodded.

"Good. I will be back shortly." Hanako said. She needed to change out of her nice uniform so it didn't get soy sauce on its white panels. She headed back through the bridge and to her cabin, where she stripped and traded her duty uniform for a pair of pajama pants and, owing to a lack of civilian clothes, a T-shirt borrowed from her standard-issue exercise uniform. In a moment, she was back in the wardroom, putting on an apron and heating up the metal plate in the middle of the wardroom dining table.

A few minutes later, Hanako announced, "Dinner will be served in the wardroom shortly," on the intercom from the wardroom wall phone.

Bridge

"Aye aye, Shosho," Natsumi replied as Hanako departed. She quickly detected the away team shuttle already in orbit and plotted in an orbital insertion that would allow the shuttle a quick intercept with it's mothership.

"Eucharis to away team, we have arrived at Ether and are entering orbit to pick you up" she said over the comm channel she opened to the shuttle. "I am relaying our projected course to you now" she added as she sent the information to the shuttlecraft, then closed down the channel.

"Shosho, the away team is already awaiting us in orbit. Begining orbital intercept to recover" Natsumi reported to Hanako as she began piloting the Eucharis in.

Within ten minutes the warship was in a high parking orbit near enough to the shuttle that they would be able to see the dagger-like hull in the distance. Natsumi had the shuttle bay prepared for their arrival, opening the space doors for the support craft.

She decided to remain in the SPINE connection until after the shuttle landed, then she would unplug. The notice that dinner would be ready soon god her tummy grumbling for food.

Engineering

Junko’s face went very still, very neutral for a moment. If this had been a member of the crew the expression likely would have remained as she chewed them out for disrespect. But Sienna was their guest and more importantly from a different culture. Part of Junko suspected the Nepleslian knew perfectly well what she was doing, the exact ways to barb a Yamataian’s notion of politeness. In any event, this wasn’t a matter of crew discipline or conduct, so she tried to let it go. A reputation as a hardass when it came to rules and regulations was fine. A reputation as a lunatic who lost her mind over every perceived slight wasn’t so great.

“I can’t speak for everyone,” Junko said with a sigh, gaze pointedly meeting Sienna’s or looking at the bulkhead above her. “This is more my own social failing; I’m not a great fan of public baths either.” She waved her hand, dismissing further thought on the subject. “But as for your experience, I truly don’t know what you have or haven’t done. My statement meant only to imply that you either naturally have excellent instincts or the requisite experience to develop them. There are plenty of people, in the military or out, who would need their hand held through any sort of damage control. Frankly, I frequently worry about what would happen if all of the Engineering qualified personnel aboard got taken out of action. I don’t know how long you’ll be with us, Sienna-san, but its a comfort to know there are others aboard who won’t get confused by the first bundle of wires or run of piping they come across.”

With the Ship's shuttle bay open, the Away team's shuttle slid in easily and landed. it was great feeling to be back aboard the ship.

Misato started giving orders to have the tanks parked into it's spot and the rest of the team off to the PA bay to de-armor. She stood at the rear of the shuttle watching the Team start to go about their duties.

She opened the channel to the bridge and thanked Natsumi for the pick up, "We are aboard and you can seal the shuttle bay up now. Thank you."

Shuttle Bay

Mitsuko sighed in relief, slumping back in the pilot's seat for a moment. They were safely back home. After this short pause, she began to power down the shuttle, going through all the necessary checks now that it was settled securely once more. This gave the tank and the others plenty of time to leave the shuttle. Last out, she turned to give Misato a wave as she passed, the armor preventing most other friendly gestures. Murakami was sure her roommate had things to do, or at least think about, so she simply followed procedure and headed to the Armor Bay to remove her Mindy. Next she'd be headed to the Cargo Bay again, to make sure Riko put that tank away properly.

Shuttle Bay

Chieko made her way out of the shuttle, sighing with relief upon leaving the ramp before making her way to the armor bay. Walking across the shuttle bay, she soon heard Hanako's announcement. "Looks like we might have food once we are finished up," the scientist commented through the team comm with a smile.


Armor Bay

Once in the armor bay, the young Minkan brought herself over to where her PA needed to park and began checks to open it up. Once everything was ready, she pulled her helmet off and the machine opened up, letting the academic out to feel the chill of air on her skin again. Chieko sucked some of that air into her lungs as she shivered for a few seconds while climbing out.

Once having extracted herself from the her Mindy, the young woman quickly went through the checks to shut down the machine. After that was sufficiently shut down, Chieko jogged to her locker doing the shiver dance, and began putting on her uniform. The clothes too had lowered in temperature enough to make her suck in breath again; but thankfully this eventually warmed up from her own body heat.

Armory
After parking the Troll tank slightly askew to annoy Mitsuko, the nepleslian needed a few laughs after being on that ice ball, Bors had secured his gear and booked it to the armory. It never left the back of his head that he was surrounded by Females who are a quarter of his age and that usually made him a bit uncomfortable when he was stripping down to the buff next to them. As Bors hung up the last bit of his MCAS , he checked the recent bandage on his chest and was happy that there wasn't any signs of major bleeding. Satisfied with the regular wear and tear he though on his undershirt and slung his uniform top over his shoulder and took a seat, waiting for the next thing to do.