RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 22] Echoes of the Past

Bridge

Tony sat there bored through out the whole operation and the wait until the whole crew got done with the ghost ship. She was far too superstitious to go and strip anything from the dead ship. She had instead sat there and continued working through sims that helped her get use to the ship's weapons and flight systems. That continued until Natsumi's message popped up.


She sent the message and then turned to the Shosho, "Ma'am, if you would like I can accompany the ground team and cover them with long range support. Or I can fight that tank you got sitting about in the hanger... If I had a driver that is."

Bridge

"Thank you, Shosho Ketsurui. I won't disappoint you." Tsuguka finally ended the bow, but kept the rigid stance. There was a short pause as she considered the variables, and the immediate things that could go wrong on such a mission. "Technical crew, if I may make some information requests... What is the surface gravity? Do we have any accurate readings as to the size of the anomalous object in question? Would the atmosphere be compatible with the Daisy's weapon systems?"

She was already considering taking Cadet Stark along, so at least Akiashiro would have backup, but the question of who else to bring lingered. Dirjon hadn't even really been interviewed yet, but it felt like it was worthwhile giving him a chance. Mio might or might not have been in a decent psychological state, and Vonderbrink was probably still busy with the salvage, so those two Tsuguka wasn't sure about.

Bridge

Tankyusha held up a hand and the space before him flickered to life with displays. The moon turned, ghost-like, before them. "Splorfin 14 is a small, terrestrial moon in the early stages of natural development. I don't expect we'll find any significant organic life planet-side. The atmosphere has sufficient oxygen, but the abundance of carbon dioxide will make it too toxic to breathe. Gravity is approximately half of standard. I would recommend light environmental suits or armor." He looked to Tsuguka. "I don't see any reason why weapons would work unexpectedly."

He pulled both hands apart, causing the view to zoom in on the moon's surface. It settled on a small island with what looked to be a volcano at its center. "This is where the ship's sensors detected the artifact. At first I assumed it might be buried. However.." The science officer swiped his hand across the volcano and a top layer peeled away. ".. if you look deeper, there seems to be some sort of extremely dense super-structure that makes up the body of the volcano. It's been obscured by plant growth and natural sediment deposits. A thermographic reading does suggest some sort of heat source at the center of the structure."

The moon flickered away.

"I don't recognize this as any sort of technology I'm familiar with and the relatively low metal content of that area suggests this could be a natural formation. It's the shape and structure of it that caught the ship's interest." He seemed thoughtful a moment, pupils flickering with the tell-tale sign that he was processing some data that he didn't himself possess. "I don't see an optimal insertion point for an away team on the sides of the 'volcano', but there is a large opening at the top. Shosho, Tsukuga-Hei, I'll leave it up to you as to how we proceed."

Bridge

"That was thorough." The robust neko woman just put a palm to the center of her chest, and made a slight bow towards the android as she gained eye contact with him. "I appreciate it, Tankyusha-Hei." There wasn't really much more that she could add, but Tsuguka was clearly starting to respect the machine-man's implacable reliability in such matters. The fact that her stiff and lifeless arm movements were making her words seem more than a little disingenuous, well... That was just unfortunate.

"Cadet Stark. Santo Hei Dirjon... I am to understand correctly from your records, that you are both familiar with the Daisy?" Dark eyes flitted through invisible pictures inside of her head, whilst her hand hoisted the communicator up from her belt. The slightly quaint look on her angular face, combined with the strange way that she held the dinky object up in the air, showed how infrequently she had actually had to use it before. "I would like both of your assistance on this mission, if possible."

"Santo Hei Akiashiro, please begin preparing four Daisy units for operation. I will meet you in the power armor bay shortly." The voice took on a slightly softer edge, alrough Toyoe was distracted enough by myriad thoughts that her communicator remained propped up uselessly to the side of her head. "You can choose the load out, but nothing too long-ranged please. This task will likely have us working in confined spaces."

Lounge

Mitsuko was resting in the ship's Lounge, near her cabin, quietly reviewing the report of the earlier discovery and action, after everyone's contributions had been compiled. The Yui class NS-U1-107427 Heartbreaker (the name Mitsuko had submitted to the captain to help keep track of the unnamed vessel that had left with Uesu's Fleet years ago) was on its way to the nearest base for inspection and repairs. The Fox T4 Combat Aeroshuttle (NS-U1-107427-1 and now NG-X1-408-14) Medea II was docked with the Eucharis, and had been similarly given a new name, also pending Hanako's approval. The remaining junk in orbit had been dealt with, thankfully without filling her Cargo Bay. Although, unfortunately, it looked like they were preparing to descend to the surface of a fairly inhospitable moon to investigate yet another ship, which would likely lead to taking aboard yet more junk. And result in yet more reports and paperwork. Murakami let out a sigh as she tried to enjoy the bit of peace between today's missions.

YSS Eucharis Armor Bay

"Yes, Ma'am," Dirjon responded as he set down the communicator. He'd run his spacesuit through the decontamination showers and had been checking it for damage when he got the call. Slamming it against a hull didn't do it any favors but on the whole these suits are tough and the only real damage happened to his back and toiletries.

He hadn't even gotten a room yet and he was already on his second sortie, this time in a Daisy. Perhaps not the most macho name they could give it but any one on the receiving end knew better than to make fun of such a unit. Good in space, great on ground.

With his spacesuit's compressed air tank being refilled he grabbed his DataJockey once more to review the data and select his loadout from the inventory.
Close quarters may call for some explosive weapons...[/

Code:

Loadout Request:
•Ke-M2-W2909-RGL 50mm Rapid Grenade Launcher
•Ke-M2-W2906 missile pod, right shoulder

As the Daisy made its way down the rack Dirjon located the RGL in the weapon locker and heaved the heavy gun over to the rack, setting it on the supports for hand held weapons. By this time the armor had set down and the missile launcher was being mounted.

And now the hard part...
Dirjon had never been comfortable naked in view of others and had every intention of having his armor on before the rest of the team arrived.

He removed the helmet wasting no time to watch it open as he set it down and walked briskly to the lockers. After briefly checking to make sure no one was looking he stripped off his clothes, stuffed them in the open locker, and dashed back to his armor. Practically jumping in, he slid his arms into the sleeves and closed the armor.

"Phew, glad that's over- Ah!" He whimpered as the catheter did its work.
Sometimes the worst part isn't what we think it is.

Bridge

Natsumi replied to the Nepleslian cadet via message on her terminal screen.

Then she glanced back at Hanako as the order to land was given. "Understood" the Neko replied and dropped herself into her SPINE connection with the Eucharis' computer system. Go ahead and take her in fast and fiery, huh? Natsumi thought to herself. Okay then.

She worked with the navigational system, plotting in a rapid reentry vector that would bring them into the atmosphere on a steep angle and down over the designated site quick.

"Taking us in" she said in a rather disconnected voice, then began de-orbiting the Eucharis with several reverse thrust bursts from the forward thrusters, bleeding off orbital speed rapidly and pitching the gunship's knife-like prow down towards the planet below.

Within moments the ship began to buffet a little as she made contact with the thinnest edge of the atmosphere. Natsumi made an adjustment, softening the ride a little as she ran a new set of scans for atmospheric composition and refactored her entry vector. Then she dropped the Eucharis into the steep reentry slot and brought them down. Heat built up on the outer shields as friction with the thickening atmosphere grew. Application of breaking thrusters aided in the process of slowing the ship down from her previous orbital speed of twenty four thousand miles an hour, rapidly downwards to four digits, then three. The sky grew bright around the ship, blotting out the stars and blackness of space as they dropped down lower and lower. The cloud layer was visible below now and Natsumi switched controls to atmospheric flight mode. They had bled off enough speed now and friction heat was all but gone now as the snowy haired neko swept the Eucharis along like a graceful bird, descending into the cloud bank, then through it.

Below was the sea, her SPINE imposed Head Up Display marked the landing spot, speed, altitude and angle of approach. Natsumi put the Eucharis into a series of banks to bleed off even more speed, rather than firing the thrusters. Once going slow enough, she kicked in the counter gravity systems and then finally control jets to position them into a hover three hundred meters over the water. Then she lowered the warship, setting her down in the sea. Water boiled and hissed as it made contact with the hot hull, but subsided soon enough as it began to cool.

"We are down" she reported once the lancing process had been completed and she disconnected herself from the SPINE interface.

P.A Bay

Aikiko hearing the order from Tsuguka, responded back, "K Nito," voice cold and neutral as usual with the previous first met cold respectfulness. No emotion, just cool professionalism. She began to get the Daisy's ready for rest of the team, when Rizzo came in and began to prep his Daisy. “Permission to use my Mindy, instead of the Daisy, Nito-Hei Tsuguka.”

She almost laughed at the shyness of Rizzo antics as he scooted about naked into his suit, as she loaded the other Daisy's with standard load. Coming into view of Rizzo from where she was hidden from view, she looked at him and winked. Letting him know she saw everything as she headed to her locker

Bridge



All Antonia could think of was that Natsumi was an raciest ass. she probably hated all Nepleasians.

Bridge

Natsumi frowned as she read the response. She didn't like this Stark's attitude. And no she did not trust her abilities either. Someone ranked Cadet had to be green as hell to still be a trainee. Why had the Nepleslian Navy sent them some newbie rather than an experienced officer or noncom? She frowned. Stark was probably racist and hated all Neko too.

Natsumi typed back.

Bridge


Tony typed the message out to Nastumi with a frown at first, but slowly a evil grin formed as she got to the last line.

Bridge

If Cadet Stark happened to look past the words on her screen, she would have found the sharp, impatient glare of the blood-colored neko staring back at her. Tsuguka held up her communicator and physically knocked on the screen, the sound echoing through the Nepelslian's own device inside her pocket.

"You want to prove yourself, Cadet?" The voice was without judgement, but the woman clearly wasn't in the mood to wait too long, either. "Santo Hei Akiashiro has a lot of good things to say about you, so I figured I'd give you a chance. But you are free to stay here if that is your choice. I simply require an answer."

Simultaneously, she responded to Aikiko herself through a telepathic connection, although it would have been hard to tell from the outside. "Permission granted, but please equip defensively. There may not be room to maneuver... Non-explosive weapons are also a good idea."

Bridge

The ride down to the planet was a little more abrupt than the android had been expecting, but it was managed well. He wasn't sure if the pilot and gunner disagreed on that fact or if they were upset about something else. Their facial expressions and furious typing made it clear something was up. He resisted the urge to 'eaves drop' on their conversation.

Tankyusha watched the exchanges with a faint frown. Well, at least it's not just me, he thought, thinking back to when he felt like he was overstepping his reach on the bridge. He looked to Tsuguka, not bothering to hide his expression. "I'm going to grab some equipment. I'll meet the team outside." The android headed for the door.

He paused at the threshold and looked back. "Congratulations on the promotion, Nito-Hei Tsuguka. I trust you will lead us well." He nodded at her respectfully, then disappeared down a corridor.

Bridge

Underneath them, they could feel the ship moving with the waves of the water, which covered about half of the ship, or anything below the armor bay's side doors.

"If it looks safe to go in the top, that seems like an obvious option. If there's an artificial structure in there it might be a base or colony of some sort so I suggest scouting it with drones in advance of an exploration team. We can go in, make sure it is safe, get whatever information is available, and then pass everything to the Yamatai Scientific Studies Service while we move on to the next objective, which is the starship crash site," Hanako proposed. Then her eyes widened a little. "Oh! We should not have landed like that with a shuttle attached to the bottom of the ship. The shuttle is designed for reentry too, but the docking ring isn't designed for those forces."

bridge

"Sorry... I was still busy working on something for the Shosho... but you are not correct. I am not, nor have I ever been in a Daisy. I was trained to fight in standard clothes, not super-armors." Tony replied as she waited for another snarky response from Natsumi.

P.A Bay

Aikiko pulled out her Mindy with the manipulators arms attachment on it. She got it prepped and used the standard shipboard weapons to equipment it. She stripped right next to her mindy and secured her uniform in the her Mindy's slot. Not caring if Rizzo watches her or not. Climbs into her Mindy and connects up to it with her spine connections and feels the slight jab of the DNA synchonizer for the manipulaotrs arms. She did a system checks , seeing her board comes up green for the Miny and the Tenacles system.

She liked the smooth wave action of the water as the ship rose and fell with the swells. She wondered what it would be like in the old wet navies of the very ancient pasts. If it was like this, No wonder Navy was a popular branch to be in.

YSS Eucharis P.A. Bay

Dirjon, who was still recovering from the suit's unwanted intrusion, blushed when he noticed Aikiko winking. He put on his helmet trying to hide it and started the calibration. The synthetic muscles in the suit began to shift and conform to his body as the gravity in the ship began to contradict the planets gravity.

Now most Nepleslian guys like to make fun of how the SAoY is mostly female...
Now Dirjon gets to make fun of them.
Taking his focus off of Aikiko was probably the hardest thing he'd ever done since joining the military.
His mama would proud of his resolve and self control... Or not... Now she would... Not now... That's better- wait, no. Maybe its a good thing mama stayed home.

The ship splashed down into the water giving us a nice view of the shore through the now open door, not like the view he just had but still nice.

Dirjon's biometric data was shown on his HUD with the muscles around the spine on his lower back displayed in yellow, indicating they were hurt.
Yeah, crashing into ships tends to do that to you, he thought to himself then remembered why he crashed, no room to dock the shuttle.

He detached from the hanger and attached the RGL on the right side of his thruster pack while taking his helmet back off. "Hey- um, didn't we have another shuttle on the bottom?.. Of the ship, that is." He asked Aikiko awkwardly.

Bridge

"Thank you Santo Hei Tankyusha." Her hand twitched, as if she wanted to salute, but her body settled for a short bow instead. "We will be ready to leave soon."

Next, Tsuguka returned to giving Stark a prolonged look. "It's not good to overspecialize, you know..." Her head tilted slightly, retaining the blank expression, before speaking again. It seemed as if she was honestly trying to make things right, but was not sure what else to say. "Talk to me when I get back, Cadet Stark. Even if it's just some basic training with ground power armor types, I think the freedom would do you good."

There wasn't time to address the anomaly in the nepelsian's profile now, Toyoe would have to find the correct department to complain to later. Refocused on her mission, she just gave Shosho Ketsurui a stalwart bow before briskly making her way down to the rear ship compartments.

Power Armor Bay

Tsuguka didn't really think much about the slow swaying of the ship. There had been training on this, so she was expecting it. Her anti-gravity organ compensated without her even actively attempting to. There were no neurosis in her head which gave her any images of ancient sailors. When she actually entered the chamber, and seen the waves through the open bay door, however... Well, they were massive. Huge, viscous walls of dark amber sea foam moved in slow motion, creating bizarre crackling noises as the ocean sprawl threw dancing eddies of spray into the containment field in wild arcs.

"...With this low gravity, and an entire gas giant overhead, it's a wonder this ocean even manages to stay on the moon at all." Tsuguka remarked, her voice as if the sight was nothing but a mild irritation. After the briefest of pauses, she was unzipping her work uniform and dashing it into her open locker. "Thank you for coming you two. Cadet Stark and Santo Hei Nunagawa aren't going to be with us, but Tankyusha-Hei will be here shortly. He's getting some additional equipment. Hopefully there won't be any complications."

The Daisy that Akiashiro picked for her seemed to be in good enough condition. She slipped inside and allowed it to rapidly contort to her form.

"Normal radio channels should be fine." The return of that suitably metallic radio squawk, finally making her voice match her demeanor again. "I don't think the water will be too much of a problem, either. Just report anything unusual immediately, okay?"

"It was picked by fleet before we came here.. If not.... oh well. It's a bit late for it now." Aikiko spoke in response to Dirjon as she adjusted her Mindy to her physique. She put on her helmet as Tsuguka entered the P.A. Bay. Picking up her weapon and making final adjustments. She moved to the doorway and looked out at the amber ocean.

YSS Eucharis P.A. Bay

Dirjon shrugged. She was right, if the shuttle didn't get towed off with the Yui-class chances are that we flung it off on reentry and broke the docking tube.

As they waited Dirjon thought out his load-out a little better.
I'll probably be the big gun here, I may as well pack the rifle too...
He moved the RGL from the right side of his thruster pack to the left and grabbed the plasma rifle the Daisy usually comes with, placing it in the right.

In P.A. Training he passed with the best of his class with a 98% on his final exam. His ideal loadouts typically included missile pods on both shoulders but for weight's sake he figured he'd stay with one.

Replacing his helmet he saluted Tsuguka as she arrived... Then she stripped just as comfortably as she talked about the weather.
Okay, now this is just getting weird, he thought as he did his best to ignore it, distracting himself with getting an extra magazine for the rifle and drum for the grenade launcher. He'd read her dossier beforehand and knew she was a straight up soldier. Badass in every sense of the word with easily three times more combat training than he'd had over the course of his whole life. If there was anyone he could trust to pull him out of a bad situation it was her but he dare not look for fear she may kick his ass through the armor, despite the fact that in Yamatai nobody cares. Perhaps one day he'd figure it out but until then Dirjon Ulvson would still be the insecure kid he'd always been for the last 27 years of his life.

"...Just report anything unusual immediately, okay?"
"Yes ma'am," he answered as he primed his fusion thrusters for flight, "Do we have any idea what this artifact is or why we saw it from space? Seems kind of odd that we'd pick up a reading from something underground. It must be making a big disturbance down there."