RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 22.2] Echoes of the Past - Part 2

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

"As a science specialist you can either stay here and run the sensors or join the away team," Shosho Hanako told Sigurd. "If you are joining the away team, go ahead and move your things on the way; otherwise, it can wait."

"Find an airlock," Hanako ordered over the team channel.

Surface

As the team inspected the ship, a small periscope about the size of a pen emerged from the gravel, silently watching the team from behind.

Surface /Derelict

Aikiko waited patiently for the results from the drones being commanded by Kale to gather the Intel she needed to place the explosives to penetrate the derelict. She looked at the displays that were already provided and what she was seeing.

She felt the itch of something unseen watching her. She pivoted a full circle to spot the observer. She ran scans as she looked for anything that would give away the watcher’s position or any devices that could be used remotely. She scanned the area and the ground about them.

Then the command from the Shosho came over the team’s freq. “Find an Airlock.”

As she waited for the results from Kale’s Drones, Aikiko moved along side the derelict looking for an airlock big enough for the group and their chosen armor to fit in comfortably.

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

Sigurd was surprised to be given a choice and thus frowned shortly before he got himself under control again. Well, he certainly wouldn't go on away mission on his first day if he didn't have to.
"Thank you, ma'am", he replied therefore "I'll take over the science station then." He bowed quickly and then moved to get to his station, where a nekovalkyrja Jôtô Hei was already at work.
"Jôtô Hei, I relieve you from science station", he announced. "Is there anything more I should know about?"

Surface

"Hmm. I'm in two minds about this. Firstly according to the drones this "wreck" should still be mostly functional. From what the bots are telling me the interior is original, however large parts of it have suffered deep scarring and show signs of having been repaired. Apart from the seeming lack of responce this could be a fully life sustaining environment. I cannot accurately determine the composition of the atmosphere inside the ship until a sample can be taken though given the lack of activity I would assume the atmosphere inside is incompatable with that outside, so I suggest everyone switches over to full internal oxygen circulation." Kale paused a moment before addressing Tsuguka ditrectly. "Given the fact the interior is organic its giving off one large lifesign. I can't see if the ship itself is occupied. We may be walking into a wasp's nest. Furthermore I'm reading high amounts of bioelectrical activity on board. The ship itself is alive, though if it is sentient or even conscious I cannot say."

Kale felt slightly uncomfortable as he gave his report. The drones weren't feeding back as much data as he would have liked. Still, what little he had was still useful. Sweat was starting to collect upon his brow as the stress of controling not one but five bodies at once began to take its toll.

"I would suggest that we stand well back once we open the door and let the drones run scouting and mapping inside. It'll be easier defending the single opening as a chokepoint rather then the numerous tunnels and corridors inside."

Surface / Derelict::

Aikiko listened in as Kale gave his report to the team. It was interesting to say the least. She put away her explosives and continued in her search for another point of enterance. Keeping in view of the rest of the team. "I agree with Namach-Hei." Storming someone's home was not a good idea and using explosives tend to make things go wrong very quickly.

Even with the Eucharis as back-up, Aikiko would rather live just a bit longer. "If you can spare a drone, Namach-Hei. Could you run a scan of the ground to see if there is any hidden surprises below the surface?"
As she rejoined the others of her team. "If I am reading the data correctly and from the Drone visuals. I see no other way into this derelict. It seams that who ever occupying this derelict removed the Airlocks."

Aikiko moved closer to one of the hull breaches. Using one of the manupilator arms, pressed against the rubbery looking substance. Being careful not to puncture it or poke it with a sharp finger claw-like appendages. It was to test the solidity of the substance between the hull plating that was exposed to exterior enviroment of the planetiod.

Surface

Aikiko found that the rubbery material was flexible like a thin tire or a tent roof filled with water. Also, she could feel the gravel beneath her was not supporting her weight very well. The shattered rocks and crystals were quite loose.

Meanwhile, one of Kale's drones reported of a circular depression on top of the broken ship's hull that just might be an entryway.

Bridge

Hanako shook her head and gave Sigurd a little shrug before returning her attention to the main screen, which was showing the team via a zoomed-in camera.

Planet Surface

Taharial listened to the others as they talked about getting into the ship "guys, if it is alive and that, maybe we could just ask it to open up for us" she looked down "I mean it is worth a shot, it might let us in, better than hurting it and causing it to warm what is inside that where we are" she felt stupid for saying it. Taharial floated there and looked at the ship "I am sorry, I shouldn't of said anything, it was a stupid idea born from an old idea" she held her gun tightly "as the only medic, I am just worried for everyone here, I want you all to be as safe as possible" she smiled as she said the last part.

Bridge

Tony got up and move to the other station, then brought up the work Natsumi had been working on. With sloppy and unexperienced attempts, Tony worked on trying to follow all of the data feeds that were coming in. She was behind the curve, the lack of a SPINE system and the fact she wasn't fully trained on the Yamitain digital systems.

What was being brought up creeped her out quite a bit. it seems the ship was a ghost, with something living in there. if she had her way they would have blasted the place and then did a examination of the left overs.

she could only monitor one drone at a time, though she had all of there feeds up on screens. Maybe she would have to get one of those bionic add-ons that would allow her to plug in and feed the data directly into her head.

Bridge

Hanako, feeling restless, rose from her seat and paced around the bridge for a few moments, adjusting the way her pistol belt rested on her hips and then hooking her thumbs on it as she stopped and took a position behind the new science specialist. "Sigurd, what sensors are you currently using? Are we scanning the ship now or the ground around it, too?"

Meanwhile, Hanako wirelessly connected to the away team's comm channel. "I can see a hatch on the top of the thing, try that. Get a move on, people."

Planet Surface

Taharial jumped at the sudden noise of Hanako "okay, thank you, much appreciated" she smiled to the others "you heard the lady, lets get going and see what is in here" she smirked at the others as she lifted her body using the thrusters of the suit. Taharial looked down at the others "come on last on one up here, gets to be the first for the physical!" she laughed as she raised up higher until she made it to the top of the thing.

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

After the science station was cleared Sigurd settled in and put a miniature headset onto his right ear to communicate with MEGAMI without disturbing the rest of the bridge crew. Without a SPINE interface vocal commands were just the quickest way to interact with the ships systems.

First he ran a surface scan of the crashed ship and the surrounding area in a five kilometer radius. While that was going, he got himself a general overview about the sensor logs of the last few hours, which gave him a very good image of what this mission was about. The surface scan was finished quickly and revealed nothing extraordinary except the wreck itself. When Hanako placed herself behind him, he just began a deep scan series of the wreckage.

"Right now I'm scanning the ship on maximum safe power settings, ma'am.", Sigurd answered. "Nothing striking on passives nor from the surface area scan I just ran. Deep scan electromagnetics just finished. There's a remarkable area not quite at the ships core visible on thermals." He pointed at one of his screens. "The inside of the ship has about 310 Kelvin, indicating that the ship or whatever inhabits it is definitive alive. That area, however, is about 200 Kelvin hotter than the rest. Thats not enough to be a working power generator or something like that, so I've no idea what it might be. Maybe the other scans will reveal more."

Surface / Derelict Hull Exterior

Tsuguka snapped out of her momentary mental lock-up, and watched the medic shoot away from the rest of the team over the drone's mapping feed.

"Santo Hei Taharial, please don't get too far from the rest of the team without being ordered." It didn't sound threatening, but the red lynx was clearly still treating this as a combat situation until they could absolutely prove that it wasn't. Indeed, whether to attack or attempt to establish contact was a difficult call to make, but it didn't sound like the Shosho was willing to wait much longer... Not to mention that the amount of time they has wasted standing around and scanning the thing meant they had probably lost the initiative anyway... "You are probably right, however. If we don't contact them now, they'd be in their right mind to treat us as an invading party."

"Everybody, move to the suspected opening location. I want weapons ready, but no opening fire unless you can confirm an intended hostile action."

There was a considerable reverberation (As well as a distinct "TONG" sound inside Tsuguka's helmet) as she snapped her gauss cannon into place, and then boosted upwards along the hull, over sized shield ever ready. Utilizing the drone formation to boost her transmission strength, she then then sent circulated a simple message through all known radio bandwidths, in the categorical top 30% most common languages in local space; "This is the Star Army of Yamatai. We are on a mission of national security, but we do not intend to engage in hostilities if you identify yourselves as a neutral party. Please attempt to establish communication as best as you are able."

Hearing her own voice repeated back to her in all sorts of strange languages just made the hard-bitten nekovalkyrja shrug. Maybe she really was just good at listening to orders, and not giving them. But the very last thing that she wanted was for them to be sticking their heads into another wasp's nest. It was better to have the enemies reveal themselves as actual enemies on the outside, where they could rely on the firepower of the Eucharis. That was even assuming that they were hostiles at all.

Still...

A small cursor blinked upon Akiashiro's mental HUD. A private, encrypted communications line with Toyoe.

"Santo Hei... Using the structural data from the drones... Do you think that you would be capable of destroying this craft using its own weight? With the way that it's sticking up out of the dirt like that, and with the state that the hull is in... Simply knocking it over looks like it would be sufficient to destroy their atmospheric containment completely..."

Maybe it wasn't the nicest option, but as always, Tsuguka figured it was better being ruthlessly practical than dead.

Surface / Derelict ::

On the same private channel after she closed the rest to prevent anyone from tapping in on the link, replied, "I've enough explosives and with a warhead or two from the missiles the team is carrying. I'd be able to breech this bogey wide open beyond what any atmospheric generator or shielding can handle with room left over to fly the Eucharis through it without scraping the paint job! You need me to start laying the ground work, Tugs?"

Aikiko didn't like the loose ground she stood on. It was like walking on a side of a sand dune. Just enough support, yet hindered rapid movement and manuevering. It was like being back at the mining town she came from.

Bridge

Natsumi sat still at the Operations station. She was still hooked into the system via SPINE, so she needed only to thinkbher commands rather than use the physical interface. She was bored, while the ship sat in parking orbit there was nothing for her to do but monitor ships systems, which were all working perfectly, and scan empty space for anything that might show up. Right now that was minimul amounts of space dust.

Times like this Natsumi was sad the war with the Mishhu was all but over, terrifying as they were, it was fun blowing their ships up.

She opened a text window to Stark and input a message;

"How are things over there?"

She asked, then sent the message to the Nepleslian's screen.

Cargo Bay

Mitsuko had taken a few moments to gather herself, finishing the small container of coffee Tsuguka had handed out earlier. After refilling it, she'd returned to the Cargo Bay. This gave her time to go over the paperwork dealing with the transfer of the shuttles they had picked up. She also thought she might as well give the salvage they'd collected recently another glance, while she was otherwise unoccupied today.

Surface - Derelict

Surprisingly, Tsuguka's radio transmissions got a brief response from the derelict craft: "Oh shit!" a squeaky, rattly voice replied or at least spoke over a static-filled basic radio channel.

Meanwhile, the ship's outer airlock opened, revealing a dingy metallic chamber with seats along one side walls and ransacked spacesuit lockers on the opposite side. In front of them was the other airlock door.

Surface - Landing Site

Back at the Eucharis, about a dozen short, humanoid spacesuited figures emerged from a nearby tunnel and started looking at the gunship's underside.

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

Sigurd was just running further scans of the derelict and searching the ships databanks for possible explanations for the heat source inside the wreck, when a priority signal from the sensors cought his attention. He transfered the according sensor data to his main screen and froze... shortly.
Two seconds later he shouted: "Unknown beings right below the ship!"
He took a brief second to sort the information mentally before he continued more with a lower voice: "Thirteen individuals in spacesuits. They're humanoid but short, one meter to one twenty. They're armed, but I can't make out anything that might threaten the Eucharis."
Where the hell did they come from? I must have overlooked something, Sigurd accused himself in his thoughts.

OOC: Edited after consulting with Wes.

Incoming Shuttle (Post 71 Flashback)
Sam was browsing through a Yamataian Photobook while hiding in a restroom. He didn't know who the women were. But, damn... They were hot!

The shuttle shook slighty as it made contact with something. Assuming they've arrived at the YSS Eucharis, Sam waited until everyone else was off, then quickly closed the photobook, got his things, and left the shuttle.

YSS Eucharis
Sam wasn't exactly sure where he was supposed to go or what he was supposed to do as he hadn't received any orders yet. He just kinda got dropped off. The smart thing probably would have been to report to the bridge and ask about his orders. However, he really wanted another look at that photobook, so he went straight to his room. After all, the Captain could always call him on the intercom if his presence was desired at the bridge. There was no reason to rush.

Sam's Room
After finding his room, Sam set his things down near a corner of the room. He could always put them away later. He grabbed the Yamataian Photobook, laid upon his bed, then resumed staring at the seductive photos within.

Surface / Derelict Hull Exterior -> Interior

"You're the expert. I don't want to spook them, through. If you can just give the team some telemetry for now, th-" Tsuguka clearly was fully in the mindset of laying siege to the place, when the strange awkward transmission cut off her train of thought. "Just scope it out for now please, Akiashiro darling."

Darling... It was like the woman only spoke nicely when she happened to confuse it with formality or something...

"Eucharis." A newly opened line. "My Shosho, the downed craft is confirmed occupied... They... I think they responded in trade. My team will perform a further investigation. Recommend you raise your defenses until further information is clarified."

Descending quickly towards the hatch now, Tsuguka sent out orders purely through objective markers on the three-dimensional HUD system. Kale and Akiashiro were to continue laying out plans for the destruction of the facility, whilst herself, Taharial and Dirjon were going inside. Simultaneously, she was lowering her shoulder cannon and getting her aether sabre ready.

"I repeat, vessel occupants..." Back to the multi-language line. Her echoing voice was stern, almost robotic. "Please attempt to communicate as best you can, and identify yourselves..." A short pause, and an observation of the strange plastic-esk material as she entered the unconventional hatch. The idea that these residents could be NMX operatives left over from the war, or even the former emperor's crusade, had occurred to her. If that was true, through... Wouldn't that make them the very same lineage of those that had butchered all of those poor souls in orbit? Giving such a polite parley to an opponent like that gave her more than a little bit of a bitter taste in her mouth.

"Taharial-Hei... Can you get any leads on their genetic structure using the drone data?... I want to know who they are affiliated with."

Tsuguka's massive shield entirely filled the corridor now, and her sabre was charged and ready. It made her feel like some kind of giant trap door spider. She hadn't decided how much she was going to act like one yet.

Bridge

"Stark," Hanako ordered, "Grab up any available crew members on the ship and assemble a team to assess the situation under us. Mitsuko and the new infantry guy should be free. The subjects have weapons so they are possibly hostile but they also might just be trying to get off this rock. If necessary, you're authorized to relocate, detain, or engage them using whatever force if necessary, but the also use the minimum force necessary."

Derelict

Until they got inside the ship, the drones wouldn't be able to scout its interior. Unforunately going inside meant closing the outer airlock door behind them first. The radio channel crackled to life again. "Hey. Wassup girl? how you doin'?" a different-sounding voice replied. "You got room on that ship for me?"