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

P.A. Bay

Now hearing the orders and situational reports trickling down over the coms, Tsuguka quickly took one more look at Aikiko's loadout. Firepower was all good and well, but they could hardly salvage anything if they had to blow it into tiny pieces to get it free...

"Investigation and salvage work." She replied to her comrade, concisely. Toyoe's angular face never really seemed accusing, but the return of her icy and rigid glare spoke a lot about her current mood. Tsuguka wasn't angry, but did not want her very first mission to go arry before it had even started. "I'll swap out, since you're already using the squid-arms..." As she spoke, she calmly inserted her SMG back into the allocated locker, and quickly hardwired a beam saber/rifle onto her gauntlet in it's place. Much cleaner for cutting open hulls with.

Helmet attached once more, she then blinked the bridge coms. "Power armor team is ready for deployment, ma'am."

Bridge

"Natsumi, give me the scan results," Hanako repeated herself, sounding frustrated.

Meanwhile the ship's computer had already identified some potential targets. There was an unexploded enemy torpedo and a Frasworstch-type battlepod left over from the SMX fleet. "Stark, get us an AA firing solution on the UXO and the battle pods and fire when ready."

Next Hanako called the phone in the armor bay.

P.A. Bay

Aikiko heard the phone ring and moved to answer it. "Akiashiro-Santo speaking, Ma'am or Sir?" Calmly as if everythings is okay. Even though her emotions were in termoil at the time and getting them back in control as there was a mission to focus on. She put it on speaker so Tsuguka could also listen in and respond to whom was calling them.

Bridge

"This is the captain," Hanako told Aikiko over the phone. "We are clearing some targets from the debris field. After that is done, we will drop the shields and the armor team will begin looking through the miscellaneous salvage floating in space. Tsuguka will be the leam leader. The salvage is probably from last year of the First Mishhuvurthyar War so there is Star Army and Mishhuvurthyar/SMX objects. Open the armor bay's armored doors and standby for salvage team deployment."

P.A. Bay

"Affirmitive on the mission directives. Shouldn't I be in charge due to my experience in this mission, Shosho Ketsurui?" Akiashiro spoke respectfully as she glanced at Tsuguka. She took a deep breath to be calm and professional; even though she knew she shouldn't have asked the question. But she did anyways.

Aikiashiro motioned for Tsuguka to open the Power Armor Bay Doors as she connected the phone directly to her Mindy's communication system as she switched the speaker off, but remained connected to Hanako's phone.

P.A. Bay

Standing closely behind her comrade, Tsuguka reacted in more or less the same way, but wasn't about to question the Shosho's orders... Which, after a moment of reflection, is also why she figured that Hanako had chosen her in the first place. She hoped Aikiko wouldn't take it personally. After all, the red neko was designed and programmed with following orders in mind. To work selflessly as part of a team. Individual combat ability didn't factor into it.

Briskly, she just opened the hangar blast doors and mentally readied herself for deployment.

"There will be time to file a report later, Santo Hei Akiashiro." Her calm voice reverberated into her fellow soldier's earpiece. Toyoe was sympathetic, but also stern. "Please prepare yourself... It isn't very efficient to be asking questions like that now. We don't know what is waiting for us out there."

P.A. Bay

Aikiko waved an arm to Tsuguka to acknowledge her as she stood connected to the ship's communication system and the bridge. She turned to watch the P.A. Bay doors open to the grand view of space.

Bridge

Natsumi was scrutenizing the data incoming from the ships sensors, paying special attention to the most likely places to hide an ambush; the field of wreckage or magnetic poles of the nearby planets. Nothing was screaming trap, but she kept her wits about her and eyes peeled none the less.

"Major debris field on the scopes, no detectable energy signatures anywhere in range" the snowy haired operator reported. "Continuing to sweep local space for possible hostiles"

This was still a hostile system. The last time a Yamataian ship had been here it had needed to fight its way out through a Mishhu battle force. Who knew what was still loitering around.

Natsumi frowned when Hanako gave the order for their new Nepleslian exchange person to man the anti-armor guns. Natsumi was not happy having someone else touching her guns. She had been the dedicated gunner since shs came aboard the Eucharis and now that had been taken away from her. Now she felt like a glorified bus driver. Was this punishment for how things had gone in the training mission a few days ago? She wondered and glanced at Stark. She did not know this person, if they were any good at all with guns let alone the guns on a Plumeria class. A frown touched her red lips and she turned her attention back to the sensors and flight controles.

Bridge

The firing solutions were taking a bit longer then one use to Yamataian technologies. Antonia Stark's fingers flew across the physical keyboard built into the console. The klicky clack sounded like machine gun fire as she worked, along with her muttering about carrying the Y and what the Z axis could go and do with itself. Every so often she looked over at Natsumi and realized she was getting a death glare from her. As she finished She made sure that the flight plain that went with each of the firing solution was forwarded to the pilot's station.

"Ma'am... I think I got it, sorry about the delay..." She looked back up at Hanako as she spoke. The weapons were at standby and ready to go once she was given the the green light, and the ship started its attack run.

P.A Bay:

Aikiko sighed as she unplugged the phone jack from her Mindy and grabbed her gear. She noticed the ship began to move again by the stars getting smaller and changing position. She moved to stand besides Tsuguka, watching the stars as she stood on the opposite side of the open P.A. hanger door. It was a good thing her helmet was on and set so she could see out, but not in.

She stood there watching the stars move, winning to control her inner rage. She mentaly went through her checklist of gear she had with her, seeing if she missed anything important. She had her specialized tool kit in her Mindy designed buttpack along with the other items she felt necessary to have along. Her weapons fully charged and ready with back up powercells and her Mindy. She knew her manipulator arms worked fine as she had tested them out.

She gave a short mean sounding laugh. It ended quickly as she hoped Stark was at least able to do her job which she was trained to do. For a Neppie, Tony would fit in nicely with others of the UOCPF Blue Flower Privateeer Crew.

Space

Outside, in space, random objects floated in the silent vacuum, spinning around in the dark almost undetectably because of their small size. But power armor had radar good enough to detect small missiles and when they got outside, they were able to pick up things like a bone saw and even some old uniform jackets, as well as larger objects like an oven and some sort of piece of a room. There was even a derelict Star Army ship.

YSS Eucharis: P.A. Bay

Seeing the derelict Star Army Ship floating there, looking menacing even with gaping holes in its battle scarred hull. She pointed at the Starship so Tsuguka could see the chosen target for searching. She looked around at the other stuff, mentally calculating the value of the other stuff. But her eyes always returned to the Starship. That was were the money was in goods.

That brought a smile to her face, letting herself feel the anger slip away as her focus became more sharper for the job at hand. "Tugs. The Starship." She communicated to Tsuguka. She stepped back and went over to one of the cabinets and pulled out several neatly rolled up cargo straps for strapping down the odd cargo and put them in her buttpack along with the rest of her gear that she could carry in there.

Bridge

Natsumi input the flight path sent over from the Nepleslian gunner into the navigational computer and engaged. This just added to her feeling of being a glorified bus driver.

Natsumi kept her sensor sweep going, hopinto take her mind of what was frustrating her. The landing party was deploying now so she kept a sensor lock on them as she explored. She noted the wrecked star army ship too and focused her scan on it, seeing if she could pick up its ID markings and figure out which ship it was.

"Who are you?" She whispered as she focused an external camera on the wreck as well.

P.A. Bay

Tsuguka's sky blue armored form calmly walked off the edge of the ramp, letting herself drift for a few paces. Her form sparked in a dim silhouette of blue, and then bright red, for just a blink of an eye, as a multitude of different systems settings went into effect at once.

"Activating CFS and infrared active camouflage. I'm launching." She was already flying on instruments, and thus was examining the derelict ships' registry before Aikiko mentioned it, but only turned to actually face it once her comrade had pointed it out. Toyoe gave Akiashiro a thumbs up with her shield hand, deciding to let the woman with six arms do the heavy lifting if that's what she wanted. "Communications switching to laser from here on out. Please keep us informed on any status changes please."

It was strange. She had expected to be terrified out of her mind, but here and now, stuffed into this inflexible suit with streams of numbers piled into her face, it just felt like another virtual reality simulator. Of course, Tsuguka was still Tsuguka, through, and she was going to act as if they were walking into a trap until they had absolute proof that it wasn't.

"Bridge, I'm sending you a list." Toyoe spoke calmly as she mentally marked out potential threats. "If you don't want to salvage these items, I'd like permission to open fire on them as we advance."

///

From; Active Armor 01-1 (Mindy M2-2a)
Subject; Value/Firing Solution Request

• Hostile enemy mecha (S Xyainbor, TC: 74-10, IC: 723-217-76)
• Intact Mass detector system (S Xyainbor, TC: 47-48, IC: 2313-1497-90)
• Telepathic Activity Scanner (S Xyainbor, TC: 29-62, IC: 1855-1669-88)
• Ship-based power armor replication chamber (S Xyainbor, TC: 72-87, IC: 6321-1362-151)
  
• Psionic control device (S Xyainbor, TC: 65-50, IC: 3307-457-108)

///

"Shall we have a pass of the shuttle first, Santo-Hei Akiashiro?" Toyoe turned upside down on the spot and slowly began to build some speed in the larger ship's general direction, but gave the other soldier time to answer before picking up major acceleration. She was still worried about how Aikiko might be feeling about her giving orders, even if her eyes were preoccupied looking for any sudden suspicious activity. "I'll let you choose... Or we can put it on the list, I guess..."

That was the problem with simulations. It was always an ambush.

:: P.A. Bay / Space ::

Aikiko realized that Tsuguka had left without her as she listened in on Tsuguka's tramsmission. She approached the open bay door, activating her scanners and radars, stepping off into the void of space. She accelerated to catch up with Tsuguka. "Check the shuttle first. It looks operational and an imediate threat." Replying on the laser comms as her voice was soft and focused as she moved towards the Shuttle floating in space. No hint to what she was thinking or feeling. Letting her mind's subconscious handle the operation of her Mindy 2-2a.

Medical Bay

Umeko Ayame had never been in a medical bay that was quite so eclectic. Sure, it was organized by whoever had been ship’s medic before Ayame had been assigned, but she had personally not had a chance to do a proper inventory right down to the paint. She floated about the space, getting accustomed to maneuvering as speedily from one integral portion of her station to the next. There wasn’t really much to do in the medical lab save catalog and collate, and she tried to make absolutely sure that everything in the lab had been secured properly as the Captain announced their ship’s condition at three.


Santo-Hei Tsuguka has stopped by the lab for the most perfunctory memory back-up that Ayame had ever had the pleasure to supervise, a quick in and out with nary a word spoken between them. Which was perfectly fine, as Ayame had found herself frantically trying to figure out exactly what she had to work with and where in the lab it was, just in case anyone actually needed any kind of care. Not that she wanted anyone to be hurt, but she always felt it was best to be prepared just in case.


(And maybe, when she’s all done sorting information she’ll find herself a nice little corner of the lab to set up a sleeping bag in. At least until she had assigned quarters of some sort to bother with.) Until such an emergency she’d keep herself occupied with that much needed inventory review.

P.A. Bay.

Not unlike Ayame, Santo-Hei Nunagawa Mio's time on the YSS Eucharis had up proven to be both hectic and uneventful, with the young Neko making herself familiar with the ship's layout, along with her shipboard duties. Aside from that, she'd mostly been exercising and training. Mio had literally been a last minute transfer to the Eucharis, barely able to reach the ship before it left Kyoto, and as a result, didn't know her fellow crew members as well as the other recent transfers.

Though, as the Captain's voice boomed out across the speakers, calling out for Condition 3, Mio blinked and wiped sweat from her brow. The white Neko had been, as was her wont, training in the ship's recreational room when the call had arrived. Without hesitation, she stowed away her training equipment as per regulations, deposited the used and sweat-drenched towel in the laundry hamper, before grabbing her gear and heading for the PA Bay.

Once she arrived, she noticed two of her crew mates already in their Mindy suits, and she hurried to suit up in one herself, one pre-loaded with a generic, balanced, loadout. By the time she's gotten herself ready, her two colleagues have already taken the plunge into space, and Mio rushes after the two.

"Sorry I'm late. I was exercising when the call came in."

:: Space ::

Aikiko glanced around at hearing the new voice coming over the com’s link between the Mindies. When she spotted the newest member of the team, she just made one of the manipulator arms extend out of its resting place on her back and waved in acknowledgement, then retracted back to it stowage position. She resumed back to carefully maneuvering about while keeping alert.

Space

"It's fine, Santo Hei Nunagawa." Tsuguka's steely voice seemed to fit with the tinny sound of the radio feed altogether too well. She didn't turn back to face them, too busy aiming her rifle at the endless void. "Keep in mind we could already be in range, through. Our Eucharis, too..."

'Our' Eucharis. Now that was an optimistic remark. She thought to herself. It didn't really feel like home, yet. Infact, with all of the old battle stories floating around her head, it felt a little bit like she had been sleeping in museum piece for the last week. With guns. And beings that inhaled nine times their recommended alchohol intake on a regular basis. Also with guns.

At any rate, the red thing barely knew anything about Nunagawa other than her high training grades, and the fact they where greenhorns too. Hopefully they weren't angry about her randomly getting put in the lead too, she felt awkward enough with that fact around Aikiko as it was.

Her ears itched as she shook her head inside the helmet, getting her thoughts back onto the task at hand.

Slowly, a distant twinkling speck of light was taking on a slightly rectangular sort of shape. Without a point of reference, the shuttle looked like it was the size of a single grain of sand, floating in the infinite black. If it wasn't for the slowly creeping rotation of the golf-ball sized gas giant to their left flank, you could probably have convinced someone they were not moving at all.

Tsuguka looked at her relative speed rating. 60,000 km a second... 134 216 178 miles per hour...

Suddenly, it didn't feel like a simulation anymore. Her little durandium suit might as well have been made of paper.

Cargo Bay

Mitsuko had been sulking for days now. Ever since returning to the Eucharis from that shopping spree, finding half of the cabins empty and a certain note waiting for her, she'd been moping about. Holed up in her lonely little cabin as much as possible, going about her duties mechanically while avoiding the new crew members if she could. All of her friends had been replaced by these strangers. One of the few left behind with her seemed more concerned about the civilian's departure. No one to turn to.

The pitiful Neko had heard the announcement and began shuffling towards the PA Bay. She would never truly neglect her duties, but she couldn't work up much enthusiasm for them at the moment. What was the point? Dragging her feet, Murakami arrived late enough for the other two to be fully suited up already, entering just in time to overhear the conversation with their captain. Pausing at the entrance briefly, she turned and altered course to her Cargo Bay.

Once she arrived, Mitsuko routed a text message through the ship, politely but blandly informing the captain and the two soldiers she'd seen leaving the ship that she would be readying the ship to receive salvage. The whole thing made her nostalgic, really. It wasn't the first time she'd had to make room for whatever junk the crew dragged in, spending hours combing through the piles, sorting and identifying. She sighed at the memories, trying not to spend too much time daydreaming. She needed to focus on this work, and stay focused and working for as long as possible. She needed the distraction.