RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 24] Looking for Trouble (YE 38)

Transit -> PA Launch Bay
The sole power armor moved up towards the main hatch immediately as ordered, calculating just the right amount of inertia to gently fling them inside without leaving their CFS active. Internal gravity then took over and brought Tsuguka to the ground with a light clink. Other armored crew members awaited them. It would take a minute to process all of the new registry logs from the command net on the spot, as the Nito Hei hadn't been privy to them at the training facility. Recent data recorded Chui Yamashiro as the squad's current CO, but it wasn't somebody that they had spoken to before. Right now that was pretty much just a little hovering marker on her HUD.

"Nito Hei Tsuguka Toyoe reporting in, Chui. Transfer is complete." The rifle was swapped to the left shoulder so she could snap into a rigid salute. The faceplate gleamed into transparent mode for a moment, showing the typically predatory scowl of the crimson nekovalkyrja within. "I am at your command, ma'am. If the mission is urgent I am prepared to use equipment as-is."

That Mindy with the manipulator arms... Was that Akiashiro? It felt surprisingly mundane being back on the hallowed vessel again. Nothing like the first time. But seeing Aikiko again did remind her of old times. Splorfin... Tankyusha... Taharial... It felt like another lifetime at this point. She also hadn't forgotten that the two of them had left on rather a conflicting note last time Tsuguka was put in charge of an away team. Perhaps it was for the best that the peacekeeper was now a higher rank. She could live with that as long as it gave them a fresh start.

PA Bay

Yamashir Natsumi watched the newcomer enter the bay, already accessing data on who they were. She immediatly recignized Tsuguka, that red skin was unmiatakable.

She smiked as Tsuguka reported in. "Nito Hei Tsuguka, it's good to see you again. Welcome back to the Eucharis!" the newly promoted XO of the ship said warmly. "We are about to deploy to inspect the Rixxicore colony vessel and gather what intel we can on them. Please outfit yourself with a teleport pod"

P.A. Bay

"TUGS!" Aikiko yelled in delight once Tsuguka intro'ed herself. "Dang! It's good to see you!" Her duty all forgotten as she rushed over to greet her friend and old comrade at arms. Giving Tugs a powerful Mindy powered back slap. While the XO spoke to Tsuguka.

CLANG!

She transferred what information she had accumulated to Tsuguka's Mindy Computer to look over while in transit to the Rixxicor Colony Ship. She returned back to assist with what ever needs to be done.

~Med Lab~

Taharial sat on one of the examination tables "I just have be busy that is all" she got a notification on her computer about a new crew member and thought nothing of it.

She walked around the Med Lab and decided to see who would be coming to her after this mission, she read Tsuguka's name and squeals "OH MY GOD, SHE IS BACK!"

Wazu would then start running the data through his own pad, sending requests to Charisma for the signal data from the other ships in the task-force. There were more than enough receivers between the ships involved to triangulate the location of the ships transmitting to this colony ship.... while that data was crunched, he turned towards the girl in the captain's chair.

"Hanako, It looks like Umeshu found a lot of chatter coming from the Colony ship, both military grade and personal. There could be hundreds of personal devices on the ship that are either unsecured, or have a weak password. We could start trying to break into those devices on the colony ship, but it would be seen as a hostile act. The safest move would be to start making attempts after the armor team has finished their inspection."

P.A. Bay

"Thank you ma'am." Tsuguka retained her perfect chin-up stance whilst she provided Natsumi with her absolute full attention, outright ignoring Akiashiro for a moment until they were specifically given instructions to go and obtain new equipment. The stone-faced cat lady really hadn't changed one bit. "I will not disappoint your expectations."

Lumbering forwards towards the equipment racks, they seemed completely immersed in the act of removing their booster unit, then quickly and efficiently adding a teleporter system, a pair of missile pods, and some lower leg countermeasure deployers. Didn't even make eye contact with the ex-peacekeeper despite standing right next to her, not once. Saying nothing, they just began moving back towards the launch ramp, and...

Paused suddenly, back still turned.

"...I still have the knife you game me, Itto Hei. Do you remember it?" The voice didn't bear any emotion, but was uncharacteristically softened, as if to underline that this wasn't a professional notification for once, but rather... something else. "Please allow me to protect you this time. It is only correct for someone of your new status."

"Equipment is ready, Chui." The small outlet of odd feelings mechanically severed, her mind snapped back to the task at hand. "Ready to deploy on your order."

P.A.Bay

Same old Tsuguka ignoring an old unofficial military custom of meeting an old friend, and comrade at arms. At first she was a bit miffed at the lack of response from Tsuguka. But then she should've remembered that Tugs had a one mind set. All military. She was getting ready to move when Tsuguka spoke again in a tone that was totally alien to her. She had plump forgotten about the knife she gave Tsuguka till reminded.

But before Aikiko could respond to Tugs (Tsuguka), she was all military again and moving on. She shook her head and followed Tsuguka.

"I'm ready as I'll ever be, Chui." Focusing on the upcoming job at hand.

YSS Eucharis, PA Bay

'Great, another late addition', Candon thought to himself as Tsuguka landed, 'at least this one's with the military.'

Without his helmet there was no HUD to show him a dossier summary of the new soldier but he specifically remembered her name being mentioned in the mission logs just before his own arrival.

It was at this point that his precombat impatience began to get the better of him. He was sure that Murakami was busy with important matters and he didn't want to bother her with something he could handle. Overcoming his laziness he went back to his station and reopened his locker where he reclaimed his own communicator and removed the memory unit. They would only need one.

"Heads up, team," he began his update, "now that we have two infantry this will be much easier. Aikiko, New-hei, you two will escort the Chui during the inspection. Again, if anything goes wrong your top priority is to evac the ship. My objective is to bug the ship.. pun not intended. I'll also be attempting a mobile hack. If I'm successful I'll regroup immediately, if not I'll have to keep trying. I'll let you know if I need help. Chui, team is yours, we're ready."

P A Bay

"Alright, lets get going" Natsumi said to the team. She turned for the open space door and engaged her anti-grav system, lifting her power armored feet off the deck as she exited from the Eucharis first.

"Inspection team departing" Natsumi reported to the bridge as she gained distance from the Eucharis and angled around to face the Rixxicore colony vessel.

She did not press forward yet, waiting for the rest of the group to deploy before she engaged her MINDY's engines to close on the colony vessel. "Everyone keep an eye out for any hostle activity, anti armor weaponry and the like. Be prepared to go on the evasive if they attempt to fire upon us as we approach."

Aikiko was next to follow Chui's example in departing the Eucharis. It was bug squishing time as she maneuvered into position on the Chui's left, activating her tactical scanners and bringing up the HUD. It was good to have Tugs back. She was someone she knew and could trust. And there was a few she trusted.

She ran through the process of activating her weapon bringing it up to port arms, ready for deployment if needed.

PA Formation

Using a simple forward fall to drift out of the hanger's gravity field, Tsuguka let inertia carry her to a favorable position with a light spin. Taking a break from reading the mission logs, she mentally prepared herself to make a snap decision if the squad was fired upon. In the case of light arms fire, she would need to put herself between the source and Chui Yamashiro. In the case of anti-ship weaponry, or generally anything that could negate her Zesuaium shield, blocking the line of sight was pointless and dodging would have to take priority.

It felt good to be part of a team again. Calming, even. Everyone had their place in this little well oiled machine of theirs. It was easy to forget just how dangerous the cold empty void was, inches from their faces, but for Tsuguka, it was within these situations alone that a person's character was utterly unambiguous, their innate value clear for all to see.

"Awaiting your approach vector, Chui." The smoothly stoic voice uttered across the com system. "Given their non-standardized approach to construction the last time we where on board one of their vessels, and thus unreliability of any airlocks we might find, I would not feel too guilty about being forced to make our own."

YSS Eucharis, PA Bay

Using the roll of molecure tape on his armor station's workbench Candon taped the communicator onto the armor over his shoulder, between the flame thrower tank and his neck. Then sliding the helmet over his head he sealed himself into his own environment.

Rear of Formation
Last out of the hanger, Candon followed at a moderate distance. Eventually the formation would decelerate to land and he'd fit in smoothly.
"Candyman, forming up."

After a few moments of sustained flight Candon turned off the screen in his helmet to begin a ritual he should've done in the hanger. Closing his eyes he began focusing on only the data feed from his armor via the SPINE interface, the flow of the CFD, the electrical draw of the artificial muscle, pulses to and from the sensors, images through the holographic projection system. Slowly the void around him came back into visibility but not through his eyes. He became the armor.

He could see almost everything he focused on, Ideal for situations like this where he'd have to watch his back. Now he was truely ready for the potentially dangerous mission he faced.

Bridge

Umeshu responded to Wazu's compliments on her work with a modest smile, along with a message.

Wazu-san,

You said you trusted my instincts, so I'm merely honoring that trust.

-Umeshu

Click to expand...

Meanwhile, Hashimoto kept a careful watch as the message from Yamashiro-sempai came in letting her know the inspection team had begun launching. "Armor team, hashin," she announced to the Shosho, who would no doubt be pleased to see the operation proceeding apace. The operator's own senses through the SPINE connection were heightened as she monitored the Rixxikor ship for any sudden movements or aggression in response to the PA's deployment.

Bridge

Hanako nodded to Wazu. "Right.' The Shosho also decided now was the time to warn the Rixxikor that the team was on its way.

"Rixxikor ship, I am sending a small team of inspectors to your ship to determine if there are any threats or Kuvexians on board. We want to speak with them for information regarding an incident that occurred in the Higaflan system in which they attacked our ship," Hanako announced. "We require your compliance."

Ruxxles, the self-described "Lord Supreme Royal Commander of Emperors of the Rixxikor Collective," immediately called back to speak with Shosho Hanako. "What right do you have to do this?" he demanded. "This isn't Yamatai space. We were assured our settlement was entirely legal! And you were the ones who trespassed and attacked us first in the Higaflan system!"

"I am not contesting the legality of your colonization efforts, but we are not basing our actions on some legal basis," Hanako replied. "This is a pure threat of force. If you interfere with my search, I will kill you. If your people lie to my team, I will kill them. If you work with us, I will let you go in peace. I can even get food sent to you. But...if I decide you are a threat to us, or even a nuisance, I can order my fleet to remove your colonies by force. So you will work with me. You will show me respect from now on or I will become your nightmare. Do you understand?"

Ruxxles twitched. "Fu--" he started to hiss.

"Ruxxles!" Hanako interrupted, pointing at him. "Do not." She then cut the transmission.

- - -

Space

The giant Rixxikor colony ship lay ahead of the armor team. Its hull looked like a patchwork of many materials and whatever scrap that was available. Charisma identified the various airlocks on its exterior and sent them as highlighted markings to the team.

Cargo Bay

Once she'd finished the inspection to her standards (which were rather highly and required double and triple checks in some circumstances) Mitsuko returned to the Wardroom to refill her coffee. She was pondering how else to contribute beyond simply being on alert and near emergency supplies when a hesitant contact with Charisma brought the cataloging efforts of the task force to her attention. While she didn't specialize in that sort of information, her organizational skills could still come in handy. And it would take just a bit of the workload away from the Bridge, who were obviously rather occupied.

The scout ships themselves had people to sort the acquired data before they sent it to the Eucharis, but that still left dozens of information streams hitting them all at once. Taking all of this data and organizing it in one standardized fashion, then sorting it by importance, lightened the load considerably for those remaining on the Bridge. She settled back into one of the small seats hanging off the wall of the Cargo Bay as she sipped her drink, attention shifting between her data pad and the information moving wirelessly through her digital brain. Those who had remained on the Bridge were still getting the raw data from the scout ships - she wouldn't dare interrupt something like that without a direct order - but right next to it they began receiving a very neatly organized list of the most pertinent bits of information, with a table of contents, chapter listings, easily searchable links, an annotated index, etc.

Splitting her attention like this, it took Mitsuko an extra moment to respond to Candon's request, after checking inventory. "Suites-Hei, although the Type 36 Communicator is now standard issue, the Eucharis as a whole has not yet been fully supplied with the new models. Yourself and a few of our other recent transfers were issued the Type 36, if any of the new features are necessary for your mission. Otherwise, we currently have an excess of Type 29 Communicators both in storage and on hand, if they will suffice." By the time she'd double-checked all the facts, he'd already left the ship. Oh well. Sometimes being thorough precluded brevity.

PA Bay -> Transit to Rixxikor Vessel

"I volunteer to take point, Chui." The suggestion was transmitted in infra-red, as always. It was enthusiastic in a steely kind of way, but had the typical military drilled-in veneer of agitation that made even such a simple request sound aggressive. Along with the signal, a couple of academy info-graphics were sent across to Akiashiro, showing multi-PA maneuvers that weren't necessarily in the standard Yamatai squad training...

• A diamond-shaped rapid boosting evasion pattern, imitating an atmospheric barrel roll.
• Two suits rotate around each other closely. The front one fires, then hides behind the other whilst their weapon reloads.
• A small shut-in corridor. A shield-bearing mindy shoves a crudely drawn approximation of zen armaments m1 demon against a wall, and the second mindy bayonets it in the exposed side of the stomach.
• One that specifically has an NCO and two power armour mentioned. They both move in front to block fire, the closest one teleports out with the leader, and the second simply obscures the action.

Click to expand...

"Apologies for the intrusion whilst we are on the brink of a mission, but we haven't had the chance to work together recently, Itto Hei Akiashiro." It was a private line between just the two of them. The red neko's deliberately slow mannerisms seemed to be very careful in avoiding giving her companion information overload, ready to cut off at a moments notice should the squad leader order their departure. "The best I can do to aid you at this time, is to show tactics I am trained in. If you want to attempt something, you are welcome to order me directly."

Whoever formatted the images made sure they were cropped to the corner of one's vision, and didn't interfere with acquiring targets. Where the hell had Tsuguka been training?...

Space!

Natsumi examined the Rixxicore colony vessel both visually and with her sensors. It was immense and dilapidated, cobbled together looking. How could something like that function? she thought as she cataloged the data her sensors were recording.

"Yes, please take point" She replied to Tsuguka as she looked over the airlocks that Charisma was marking for them on her HUD. She selected one and transmitted its location to the rest of the team as well as the Eucharis. "We will board through this airlock" she said and adjusted her course. The one she selected was one a decent ways away from the engines, she did not want to think of how good the space bugs radiation shielding was, or not, and preferred to steer away from that section. Rather she had selected one more near one should expect a ships command center to be.

So far there had been no sign of hostility towards her group, she hoped they would submit peacefully to the inspection, but past experience told her to be prepared for an all out attack as soon as they were close enough to lob missiles and rockets at. So she kept her weapons ready and teleport unit on standby.

Space:

Aikiko sent back acknowledgement of receiving Tsuguka's info packet and looked it over as she took her place in the formation as usual on the left side of the diamond formation they was using for transit to the Rixxikor colony ship.

It was easily seen that the Colony ship was subpar to the standards she was ingrained with as a Peace Officer. The ship by just looking at it, failed many regulatory requirements to be even allowed to leave port or orbit till the ship met minimum requirements. For the hull definitely sported several violations. Even to Free Spacer's standards and theirs was the lowest in those traversed the void of space.

She smiled to herself that there was a species that had even lower standards than the Conglomeration of Free Spacers. She made the list of violation as she spotted them and sent them to the Eucharis for added ammunition to deny the Rixxikor access under Diplomatic Relations and Treaties of the Three Super Powers that ruled this sector of space.

Open Space -> Rixxikor Vessel

"Acknowledged, Chui Yamashiro." Tsuguka moved about ten feet in front of Natsumi and raised her shield, SMG jutting out to one side, body bundled up as if crouching in mid-air. The formation was now a rather odd 'Y' shape instead of a diamond. "Beginning maneuvers."

She didn't know enough about metallurgy or alien weapon systems to really know what to expect, so she just concentrated on escorting the team slowly forwards, keeping an eye out for any sudden sources of potential harm. In-depth analysis was better left to those who where qualified for such things.

The one exception she did make, whilst they approached, was visually ascertaining if they would actually fit inside the airlock in question. The shambolic hull of the ungainly behemoth had so many random recycled deck plates, re-purposed bulkhead doors, and various bits of tubing mixed in, she was half expecting to find out the object they were approaching wasn't actually an airlock at all.

Space, PA Formation

As they approached Candon couldn't help but wonder how the colony ship was physically capable of holding air. His stomach began to churn as he thought about what the interior would be like. He could only imagine it as a feces coated labyrinth of wreckage. So he would be breathing his own air, he checked to make sure that his olfactory sensors were off, just in case.