RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 21] Return to Ether (YE 36)

Cargo Bay

Mitsuko looked up from her work as the captain spoke over the intercom, temporarily pulling her from her focused state. She tilted her head, considering the orders. Since she was relatively close to the Armor Bay already, she could afford to finish her work here before reporting for duty. Besides, it sounded like there would be some discussion before they went anywhere. Normally Murakami would have been nervous about the idea of a combat operation, but a simple training mission wasn't nearly as worrying. She silently returned Takeyu's smile before he exited, leaving her to continue her work. Soon enough she'd finish and report in, although she'd likely be one of the last to suit up.

Medbay

Ayumi turned to Izokia as she entered nodding politely in her direction as she did so. "Yes, thank you as well." Ayumi replied, a shy smile on her face for only a moment as she turned back to finish up her cupboard. Nothing had changed, nothing at all, yet she felt the need to take inventory just to make sure that nothing had changed. She finished her quick job just as the order came in from the bridge.

Ayumi frowned slightly as the order finished, turning around to look at Izokia, "Does the Shosho mean us as well?" Ayumi wondered out loud, and then quickly sent off a message to Hanako.


The announcement had also reminded her she hadn't done a mind backup yet. "Orshira-Hei, would you facilitate a backup on me please?" Ayumi asked, her hands folded over her lap.

Bridge

"Engaging FTL" Natsumi confirmed and entered the appropriate commands into her system. The Eucharis rocketed past the speed of light, slicing across the black depths of space towards the programmed destination in the Samurai sector. Natsumi had heard of the place but never been there. This woukd be interesting.

She was curious if the Shosho wanted her to join in the training mission in power armor or not. She hoped not. She had spent much of her short career doing missions in armor rather than manning the ships guns. She shrugged slightly and turned her chair to face the Admiral.

"Shosho, do you want me to relinquish Operations and join the power armor as well, or remain at my station on the bridge?" She asked.

Bridge

Hanako paused a moment to send a message back to Ayumi. "Yes, but make sure everyone who reports for a backup is helped, first," she sent via wireless.

The captain's attention returned to Misato. "That sounds good, but I expect you not to lean on Takeyu. The point of the exercise will be to not only give the crew some more experience, but to allow you to be an NCO and lead them. I think it might be prudent to do some basic exercises before attempting to return to the NMX base, perhaps some survival training, range time, and such in the icy conditions of Ether."

Next, Hanako turned to Takeyu. After he requested to take on the role as First Officer, Hanako nodded in agreement. "That is excellent, Takeyu!" she exclaimed. "You have the rank, the experience, and my trust. Consider yourself the XO, effective immediately."

Hanako also replied to Natsumi: "First, amend course to continue to Ether once we arrive in the Samurai sector and send a message to the Gartagens to let them know we are on our way; then, I would like to you ready your armor. It will be a long journey and I can take the helm."

Medbay

Izokia nodded "Of course I can give you a back up. I'm surprised we never got you one before." She paused as the reality of that statement sank in, "I'm so sorry, I had no idea. That must feel terrible not having that kind of security behind you." Izokia took a major feeling of safety from her back ups and was horrified at the idea of not having one at all times. She made a mental note to update her own before they went on another mission.

Bridge

Takeyu nodded with respect and thanked the Captain; he looked at Misato out of the corner of her eye. I can't help her directly, but I can at least provide idea's and advice if she so needs it, he thought and turned toward the main viewscreen, he wondered just what they were about to do next although listening in the other conversation pretty much told him what he wanted to know. A possible training exercise eh? he smiled a bit and placed one hand on his hip.

Bridge

Logging out of the Systems terminal Kale ran through a little mental checklist. Obviously the most pressing concern was the mental backup that he had to perform. Having not had one since the academy his existing copy was needless to say out of date and he really didn't want to deal with waking up in a new body having no memory of the rest of his friends and comrades. Still, he honestly could say that he trusted his machines over his fellow Yamataians. theywere less likely to make an error in the process. Thankfully the Mindy armours had a SPINE interface. He could make use of that.

Saluting to his superior officers the technician left the bridge and began to make his way down towards the Power Armour Bay, a pensive expression on his face. The mission plan that Misato was planning was definately interesting, though he wondered why she had asked for him rather then Deziarra or even just given a blanket request for a tech to accompany them. Sighing in resignation he shelved the issue in his mind for later.


Armour Bay

Having disrobed Kale removed the helmet of his armour, the chest plate splitting and sliding open.

"Welcome back Namach-Hei."

Kale grimaced as he slid himself into the fleshy membrane of suit. It was by no means the most comfortable sensation. The suit closed around him, encasing his body below the neck. Taking a second to don his helmet the technician connected to the memory backup server of the ship and began to copy himself across.

Bridge

Natsumi bit her lip. Infantry duty again. She deflated a little inside at the thought of that. She wanted to pilot the Euchari's into battle, guns blazing, so badly. She had not fired the ships guns once in her entire time aboard the Eucharis. The one time the warship had fired her guns in anger, Natsumi had been on another planet entirely. She seemed doomed never to have the chance to send blasts of aether energy slicing across the black depths of space and cutting enemy ships apart piece by piece.

Accessing the plotted course, Natsumi added in several way points to the auto pilot program she had set up to take them to the Samurai sector, that would take them to Ether as desired. That all set and done, she saved the updates into the navigational computer. Satisfied, she then disengaged herself from the SPINE system, blinking a few times as the mass information feed from the Eucharis went away. It always felt strange to her, the entire world seemed so much less impressive when she disconnected from a SPINE session.

"Course amended for Ether." she reported. "The helm is yours" Natsumi said as she relinquished control to the command station and stood. Giving the forward view screen and her station one more look, she turned, bowed to the Shosho and departed for the Power Armor bay.

Bridge

Feeling that her update was done, Chieko left the sensor station, stopping by Hanako to give a bow, then made her way from the Bridge. Part of her was not a huge fan of power armor, but the heads-up display and the feeling of invulnerability did tickle her from time to time. Perhaps this outing would be one of the more fun ones.

The science adviser floated her way down the Passage way, then past the Medical Lab towards the Power Armor Bay. She hummed a little tune as she flew semi-casually, allowing her imagination to go over various possibilities, including a few not quite meant for public consumption.

Power Armor Bay

The academic made her way through the door then looked around at everyone present, regardless of their state of dress, with a big smile on her face.

"Hey everybody!" she called out, possibly too happy for the moment.

Power Armor Bay

Natsumi stepped into the space set aside for storage and maintenance of the Eucharis' power armor. She crossed the bay to the slot where her assigned suit of battle armor was stowed and began checking it over. There was, of course, no issues with her MINDY, the armor had been tuned up and cleaned up after the last time she had used it and since then it had rest in its storage space. Still, for the sake of thoroughness, she powered it on and began the system self check diagnostic sequence. While that ran, she visually inspected every component of the armor suit, making sure there were no signs of wear or minor damage that may have been overlooked.

She eyed Chieko after her more than exuberant entrance to the compartment "Hi" she replied, then turned back to the volumetric window showing the current status of the diagnostic.

Bridge

Deziarra bowed and saluted to her superior officers as she entered the Bridge.

"Where would you like me to go?" she asked.

She moved away from the door and stood at attention as she waited for a reply.

Bridge

Shosho Hanako turned to see the ship's IT Nekovalkyrja entering the bridge. "Lansky-hei, are you done with your mental backups and readying your armor?" the captain inquired, referring to the earlier announcement. "If so, you can man the systems station. Junko will be detailing a training exercise for the ship's crew that you and Natsumi will be participating in, since you are not on the away team heading to the planet. If not, do those things first. I want everyone ready in case we need to reinforce the ground team. Also, first see if you can get a connection to the Communications Network of Nepleslia and send them a letter letting them know that we have the remains of two Nepleslians on board and are interested in transferring them to one of their ships while we pass by Nepleslian space."

Medbay

Ayumi shrugged slightly at Izokia's apology. She wasn't afraid of not having a backup, which was probably why she had forgotten to get one. She was simply following the Shosho's orders and making sure she could still be of use to the Eucharis and the Star Army in the case of the "unthinkable". Losing a medic probably wasn't as high on their list of priorities as, say, losing the pilot of the ship, but it would still be inconvenient to replace her. She was more concerned about causing the inconvenience than herself.

Calmly the neko sat in the back up chair and looked over at Izokia, "The Shosho would like us to present ourselves for this training as well, assuming the rest of the crew has completed their mental backups and have no need of us to be here." Ayumi explained softly, not even choosing to comment on yet another of Izokia's fears. Perhaps her own flaw was more that she didn't have that fear, Izokia certainly had a lot of a self preservation drive than Ayumi did. Ayumi simply existed, Izokia seemed to live. The medic didn't envy Izokia her burdens though, she was quite content with her own way of living.

Asami did what she could to keep herself out of the way as the ship's crew moved about their tasks. She had allowed herself the liberty of exploring the ship a bit before heading in to see Hanako. She found the Eucharis a very exciting and fascinating place to be. She was used to being around a fair number of people and had been on a few ships. But to see so many people cramped together and bustling about the halls made the Eucharis seem both large and small at the same time. She allowed herself small opportunities to politely spy in and see what the crew was up to in various parts of the ship. Finally satisfied with her little 'adventure' Asami headed to the bridge.

Bridge

The doors to the bridge opened as Asami stepped through. She could see that Hanako was busy talking with one of the crew. She showed a polite smile and nod to everyone on the bridge as she lead herself off to the side and waited for a more opportune moment to speak with Hanako.

Bridge

Junko had been standing quietly to the side, still coming up with the last elements of her plan. She had drawn from her own memories of combat aboard the Eucharis and after action reports from across the Fleet. Still, she intended to have a few twists in there. It wouldn't be any fun, or particularly useful, if it was a perfect copy of a prior engagement. In any event it would be interesting to see what happened with their crew so reduced; with such a large away team the remainder might be a bit stretched to perform damage control. She supposed that was exactly the point.

"Ma'am," she said, addressing the Shosho. "I have the space-side scenario worked up, but my question is whether you would prefer this to be a live fire exercise, with the ship actually maneuvering, or will this be entirely virtual?"

Bridge

"I would prefer live-fire if the scenario permits it," Hanako answered.

Hanako gave Asami a nod as the samurai appeared, and then asked. "Has everyone had a chance yet to meet Asami, the samurai? Also, would anyone else like some tea?"

Bridge

Bowing to the new Samurai. "ma'am would the new Samurai be joining us on the ground? Should i find a slot for her in the operation. Also do you use PAs?" the last part Misato directed towards Asami herself.

Power Armor Bay

The diagnostics were finished. Natsumi's MINDY was all set and ready to go if needed.
The Starship Operator headed out, swinging by medical for an update to her mental backup.

It had been some while since Natsumi had updated her backup, but it had also been some time since they had been in open danger. The incident on the dream world had been a fluke incident that had not allowed them time for backups to be updated by the time they knew there was danger.

Backup compleated Natsumi returned to the bridge. "My armor is ready and backup updated, Shosho" Natsumi reported and resumed her station at Operations.

Power Armor Bay

Chieko waved when Natsumi said high, but when there was nothing else, she made her way over to her MINDY and began checking it out. It had been a while since she had used her armor and though the information was there in her head, it was taking about a third longer than usual to ensure everything was up and running. Next, having no idea what they were up to next, the scientist went for the balanced approach with the LASR-SLAG, though she wondered if it would be possible to request a more sensor based setup for improved detection of objects in the vicinity or other anomalies.

Once she had her armor set up to how she wanted it, the academic began shedding her uniform - carefully folding each item before moving onto the next. Her own exposed skin did not seem to phase her much, though the cooler temperature of the Eucharis' internal environment did make Chieko shiver slightly as she put her clothes away. Slipping into the armor, on the other hand, was nice as she had told it to warm up a little before she began changing.

Power Armor Bay

Mitsuko was finally satisfied. She'd gone through everything in her cargo bay as 'by hand' as she could manage, carefully scanning and checking everything off her list. Everything was in order. Everything was safe. The seed of worry Takeyu had planted had been banished. She let out a sigh of relief, before pushing aside her mental lists and returning the science scanner to its proper place. It was just a brief walk over to the PA Bay, as she finally complied with the announced orders. Murakami had somewhat hoped everyone else would be finished by the time she arrived, but there still seemed to be a few other crew members taking care of their own routine inspections.

Her Mindy was easy enough to find, the helmet still marred with a shallow scar from her first deployment. It had been repaired enough to ensure her armor was 100% again, but the faint gash remained as a reminder to be more careful. She shivered at the thought of what had happened last time she'd suited up, when things had gone even worse. Trying to keep her focus on the present, she examined the exterior of the suit first, trying to delay disrobing for as long as possible. Eventually she had to strip down, blushing, before wriggling herself into the suit. Once inside she could run the last few checks while updating her backup yet again. You could never be too cautious, after all, and Mitsuko tended to keep hers rather up to date.