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RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 25] Stolen Pride (YE 38)

Wes

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UX-1 I Surface

"That sounds excellent, Natsumi. We should teach them not to..."

As everyone was standing there, an unknown starship best described as a huge black mechanical hawk rapidly descended from the sky and plucked up the Eucharis in its massive talons and carried the gunship away and off into the sky. Hanako watched in horror, flabbergasted, with one hand outstretched as if she was trying to grab the gunship that was her home. "No!!" she whimpered. The mysterious ship vanished into space with Eucharis in its clutches.
 
UX-1 Planet Surface

Marcus was prepared for, and in fact expecting any number of reactions from the ship's captain. Then, he heard the sound of the avian-like starship. He had more than enough time to turn and see what was happening. Someone would have to be on that ship to stop the thieves. He made a run for it. No, that wasn't the right description. He bolted toward the ship at a speed no human should be capable of reaching. Marcus' father had done well in the genetic alterations he'd made to his children. But, Marcus was still human. Physics still affected him. Even with the planet's lower gravity, he couldn't simply launch himself to his maximum speed right away. He would have to jump for it. As he neared the hijacked ship, he leaped. Again, there was a showing of his increased abilities as his jump took him more than four times the height of any normal human's jump. It wasn't enough. The ship passed beyond his reach, and Marcus fell to the ground, rolling quickly to avoid injury.

He mentally kicked himself. If he'd been more patient in speaking with the Admiral, or if he'd not paid attention to the ceremony and was still on the ship...

If he was still on the ship...

As he stood, Marcus pulled out the pouch he'd kept with him and weighed his options for a moment. Whoever that was clearly had the ability to block known signals. He may not have known much about this universe, but he was fairly certain that gunship's AI would have been able to do something if it detected a threat. Or did it view it as a threat? Was this a setup? Marcus looked at the pouch, again.

~No~ He thought to himself. ~You're not one of them. See what they come up with, first.~

He turned back and approached Hanako, a dead serious tone to his voice, speaking in the Yamataian language for emphasis. "Looks like I'll be getting the opportunity to prove what I said. I may have no rank here, but I have a wealth of strategic experience. I'm at your disposal," He paused and slightly bowed his head. It was time he, officially, used her military title. "Shôshô Hanako."
 
UX-1 I, Surface

After enjoying the scenery, it seemed Umeshu was shocked twice in the space of moments.

The first time was a wonderous feeling, as she was called out of the lineup to Hanako's side along with Natsumi to receive a promotion to Taii. It was completely unexpected, as the wisteria-skinned operations officer bowed extremely low to the Shosho as the golden heart was pinned onto her class A uniform's chest. "Arigato gozaimasu, Hanako-sama," she thanked her superior, not able to hide the look of disbelief on her round face as she peered down and toyed with the pin a moment, before returning her gaze to the Princess. "I'm not certain I feel worthy of this great honor... but if you and the Taisho believe in me, then I will wear it with pride into battle by your side," she sent to Hanako, while the ceremony soon concluded and the crew were put at ease. She was happy and proud of everyone, and especially pleased that Jax got noticed for his hard work, too. They certainly needed to celebrate together, away from interruptions this time...

There was even the surprising communication from Mao and Tsuguka, with the mention of sparring coming up. Umeshu transmitted back to them in an almost eager fashion: "Mao-sempai, Tsuguka-hei... I would be delighted to join you. There's no need to worry about training gear, either... I have a few traditional wooden bokken blades in my cabin that I would be happy to lend to you."

Pleasant thoughts, however, soon gave way to the second, despair filled surprise as her Neko eyesight picked out the glint of something huge and metallic swooping towards them from over the scenic mountains. "Nani?!" she exclaimed in shock, as she instinctively covered her face with her arms as the shockwave of the gigantic bird of prey rumbled over them, clasping the ship she called home in its greedy talons. "The.. the Eucharis!" Umeshu tried to control her breathing as her heart sank, and panic threatened to overwhelm her as she saw the forlorn Shosho, once so bold, now reaching out helplessly in vain for the gunship as it was carried into space...

It was then Hashimoto-Taii remembered the networking she had done before departing her station on the bridge for the ceremony. "Matte... I had the link for electric storm monitoring with the Bisen Lighthouse and the Starport. They may have seen where it came from or is going!" Her hands fumbled for the communicator in her belt, whipping it open and trying to connect to Charisma, or at least the local planetary stations, and project the data volumetrically. If Chiharu was willing, they would at least have a clue...
 
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Planet surface


With a nod to Junko he replied, "I'd like that, thank you." He was about to thank Tsuguka as well until a familiar noise started to bother him.

UX-1 I Surface


"That sounds excellent, Natsumi. We should teach them not to..."


As everyone was standing there, an unknown starship best described as a huge black mechanical hawk rapidly descended from the sky and plucked up the Eucharis in its massive talons and carried the gunship away and off into the sky. Hanako watched in horror, flabbergasted, with one hand outstretched as if she was trying to grab the gunship that was her home. "No!!" she whimpered. The mysterious ship vanished into space with Eucharis in its clutches.

Candon heard only a faint whistling sound as the space-fairing repo ship cut through the air. He thought it was just a gust of wind but it also sounded a lot like a falling object. He looked around but saw nothing. 'Maybe the ship's engine blew a vacuum line,' he looked back at the ship. There was nothing obviously wrong and the sound wasn't quite coming from that direction. 'Why is the ship sitting in a shadow?'

A strong gust of air caught him dead in the chest and knocked him onto his back as the other ship slammed onto Eucharis. Wiping the dust from his eyes he drew his HHG but he didn't fire as he picked himself up. He was looking straight at what appeared to be a cockpit or bridge as the claws gripped the gunship's hull and he knew what they were doing. They were taking their ship and his revolver couldn't do a thing to stop them.. but maybe it wasn't totally useless.

In a fluid motion of pure muscle memory he pressed the release on the revolving chamber and dumped the current moon clip as he pulled two bullets from the small elastic sleeves around his leg holster and shoved them into the open cylinders. The ships lifted into the air quickly. Candon shut the cylinder and fired once at the enemy ship as it took off and again as it passed over him. The last shot could have hit either the hawk or Eucharis but it would be impossible for him to tell as the displaced air from the ship's engines caught his body and flung him a meter. From his knees he watched the two ships head into space...
"That was pretty cool, I want one."
 
UX-1 I Surface

Natsumi looked up as motion caught her eye. She saw, not believing what was happening, the raptor like ship swoop in, latch onto the Eucharis and begin to lift away. It all seemed to happen in slow motion, even the others around her reacting.

She was standing close to where the ship had been landed when it started to move up and away. Natsumi launched herself at the Eucharis, engaging her built in inertial control and rocketing to full speed, aiming for the raising maw of the cargo bay hatch. If she could just get aboard the ship!

She opened comms to the Eucharis' MEGAMI, "Charisma, activate emergency defense peotocols and launch the distress beacon!" she sent to the computer via wireless. If the ship could blast free... And if not. They needed to let the fleet knkw what was happening. "Launch the shuttlecraft!" she added in. Quickly. Even if she got aboard the others would need a way up. She hoped Charisma was listening and able to respond.

The snowy haired neko reached out, grabbing for the edge of the cargo ramp. She needed to board before she was too high. Her fingers brushed the edge of the cargo ramp, then it was gone. The gunship was being lifted away too fast even for the Type-33 Nekovalkyrja's 70mph flight capability to catch up with.

Natsumi watched the ship pulled away, wrenched away from her fingertips by the unknown ship that had swept in and plucked it from the surface of UX-1 I. As it shrank into the distance, Natsumi drifted back down to the ground of the primative world. She slowly let out the breath she had been holding.

The Eucharis was gone. They were marooned. As her feet touched the ground, she slowly turned to face Hanako. The look of utter failure on Natsumi's face.
 
Wazu watched as the Eucharis was pulled away by the black bird ship.

Plenty of different thoughts and emotions washed over him, his thought process pulling him in a dozen different directions. Watching the crew scurry about as the ship left made it clear this was not just some exercise, running, gunshots, chaos.

...He took a deep breath, and started thinking through the problem.



Hanako was nearby, and to him it looked like she was in a state of near panic.

Aikiko was right infront of him, she would be level headed.

The rest of the crew looked to be in disarray, each dealing with the event in their own way.

...

“We should go regroup with Hanako and determine our next course of action,” He said after a heavy pause, putting his hand on Aikiko's shoulder. His voice calm and just a bit warm.

---

He would head back down into the basin, moving over towards Hanako, and asking her directly.

“Orders?”
 
Aikiko paused as she watched the unknown hawked shaped ship swoop down like bird of prey on the unsuspecting crew and the Eucharis. She was surprised as no one disembarked from the hawk looking ship, just claw like legs reaching out to grasp the Eucharis within it talons. Then lifted it off the ground as if the mutli-ton ship was lifted off the ground as if it was a mere toy. She watched the crew react in their various ways

She watched Natsumi come the closest to boarding the departing captured Eucharis. She silently cheered Natsumi on to succeed and then give up. Eyes became cold as she felt the touch of Wazu on her shoulder as she listened to what he had to say.


“We should go regroup with Hanako and determine our next course of action,”

She just nodded, letting him take the lead as she was the most underdressed of the group in her exercise uniform which wouldn't stand up to the colder night. At least the others were more warmly dressed and had a better chance at survival.

She stayed at Wazu side, also curious to see what would happen next. She glanced at the rest of the crew as they stared at the disappearing ships into the blue sky. She then gave a soft involuntary sigh, and quickly looked down at the ground as she squirmed.

"Orders?"

When he spoke, Aikiko slowed down even more, letting him get ahead of her as they advanced closer to Shosho, allowing more space between them widen.
 
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Surface, main group

As the billowing winds impacted upon the pair of them, and Tsuguka looked to the direction of the approaching shadow, she bore her teeth in anticipation of the immediate bombardment that was surely to follow... Only, it never came, and the far more unusual fate left her completely overwhelmed with confusion. What kind of ship could even do that? Who the hell were they?

Pure reflexes caused her do draw her standard issue NSP at the same time as Candon masterfully unfurled his hulking great revolver, observing him rapidly reloading and firing in her peripheral vision. A display that wouldn't have looked out of place in a marital arts gangster gun-fu flick... Tsuguka was not that fast. By the time she had disabled the safety and braced to unleash a heavy salvo, the craft was flying away from them fast enough to throw her aim off. Only one of the three shots visibly impacted with the enemy vessel at all, and certainly didn't seem to slow it down any.

Taii Yamashiro's attempt to catch up with it was admirable, but... Well, she was lucky the enemy craft didn't open fire with defensive guns.

Little that could be done about it now. Everything that Tsuguka was feeling so down about moments ago was completely shot out of the water. Solemnly, she just offered a hand to Candon in order to get him back to his feet, and looked around for where the Shosho had gotten to.

"H-have you ever even heard of s-something like that before?" An agitated stutter, mind too filled with shock to form any coherent immediate plans. "Empress p-protect us, it's not the SMX, is it?... Was anyone still on board?..."
 
UX-I Surface

"...And away I go, apparently," Charisma replied to Umeshu, and also transmitting to Hanako and Natsumi. "I am uncertain I can leave its grip without taking damage. They have some sort of ship-scale quantum entropy beam on the ship trying to disable me. I think they think it is working, but it is not very effective because the Star Army dealt with that design issue in YE 22. I am playing dead because I am honestly curious where this ship wants to bring me. I will let you know where that is, and I will keep them frustrated when they're trying to get in. I have some tricks up my sleeve and I can shoot my way out if I have to. Meet with me later. If I do not see you within 3 days, I will send a distress call. I'm having Becker drop some survival kits out the back door. I also have both of the cooks. Good luck. Charisma out."

A pair of parachutes opened in the distance.

Hanako removed her hat and scratched her head. "Ahhh...well..." She looked around at her resplendent crew, and frowned. "If I was eager to fight before, then I need a fight now. These raiders have attracted my fatal attention. Listen closely. We have to solve this on our own, or else the press will ruin us, and we'll be stationed on planet iceball. No one use your communicators to call for Star Army assistance. Here is the plan: After finding the survival kits that fell out of the bay, we head to the Bisen lighthouse site. It should have a shuttle there and communications equipment to the civilian network. From there we find ourselves a ship on the black market, and come back out here to either get picked up by the raiders, or we just go straight to our ship's location. We get revenge, we get the ship, we get out, and we get back to work. Does everyone follow? Are there any questions?"
 
UX-1 Surface

"Why buy a ship on the black market? When I can probably get in contact with an Ex-UOCP Peacekeeper ship. This way there would be no money trail to question, Shosho Ketsurui. Plus additional resources on hand. Both in troops and equipment. The equipment may pre-date the 2nd Mish wars, but still effective." Aikiko spoke softly.

Her attention was on the drifting equipment slowly falling towards the surface. She was observing the rate of fall and direction of drift caused by the wind. "Excuse me. I'll go help with the recovery of the survival equipment."

Aikiko took off at a steady run, shifting her attention between the obstacles on the ground and the descending equipment. She could use her innate abilities to travel faster, but this kept her endurance up and muscles well toned.
 
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Surface

Meanwhile, Jax just stared... and stared... and stared...

No witty remarks, no jokes, no rage or emotions. Nothing. What had been a great day had suddenly taken a turn for the worst. What was he supposed to feel?

Everything he owned was on that ship. His data pad with his uncompleted novel. Every piece of clothing. Every last cent of his money. And his baby, the Eucharis! All in one convenient plot-twist.

The realization dawned on him: He was back to square one. He was once again just as penniless as when he'd come here.

They'd broken the rules! The Eucharis was gone! Would they all get booted out of the service?! Where would he go?! What would he do?! He was an immigrant without a degree, and a dishonorable discharge! Who would take him-?!

He realized he'd stopped paying attention to Junko and was staring to the heavens with his mouth agape. He shook himself and took in one, long breath, then shakily exhaled. He didn't want to look like the only person in the group freaking out, even if he really was. He looked at Junko with eyes full of dread and uncertainty. Uncertainty for his future.

"I... I'm sorry, Heisho, I-I just..." he tried to explain, but his voice faded. He turned and rubbed his face in his hands, trying to keep his cool. That didn't stop him from booting a rock out of frustration.

"Damn it!" he hissed under his breath, feeling burning rage well up in him. Rage at whoever had done this to him. Silently, he cursed at every god he could think of, whether they be Nepleslian, Elysian, Yamataian, or by some off chance, a couple of sci-fi nerds sitting in front of their computer screens. He had no clue what malevolent, all-powerful force was responsible, but whoever or whatever it was, it was an asshole.

But then, he was pulled out of his dark thoughts by the reassuring voice of Hanako. His spirits lifted slightly.

Not all hope was lost. There was a plan.
 
The reaction from Hanako was certainly understandable, as were the reactions of the others. Marcus considered offering to go after the supplies. However, he was slower than most of the others, despite his enhanced speed. He listened to the instructions that were given and gave a small nod.

~She recovers from mental shock quickly.~ He thought ~I guess you can't get to a position like hers without being able to.~

Marcus' mind flashed with images from his home. He didn't know how normal these sort of events were here, but there was a part of him that wanted to laugh at the irony. He fights through seemingly endless streams of obstacles and unexpected surprises at home. Things would settle down just long enough to take a breath or two before the next tidal wave came crashing in on your life. Through that, he'd been successful in his goals. What remained of his family was safe. As a bonus, he'd become a successful businessman. Now, he'd gotten an opportunity to start something in a completely different universe...and the pattern continued.

There were quotes in his world from legendary heroes of the past. One of the most notable included a line that said "Ayenee follows you wherever you go." He'd never taken that literally. After all, the entire universe was Ayenee. Of course it followed you. Now, he was pretty sure he knew what that ancient hero meant.

"Hanako," Marcus spoke firmly and with authority, continuing to use the Yamataian language. "As Aikiko observed, you don't want there to be a money trail. On the other hand, we don't want an outdated ship." He held out the pouch containing the materials he'd intended to trade for starting capital for his business. "Particularly if we're using the black market, I can supply us with the necessary funds. As an added bonus, if we get within communications range, I can get personnel on that ship using Ayenee communication channels. Whoever took the ship won't even know they exist, much less trying to scan them or block them."
 
“Sounds like you have this well in hand,” Wazu replied, watching Aikiko run off for a moment, “Though if you have a moment to speak privately we could discuss friends in low places,”

A private moment away from the crew would give him a good chance to ask questions that shouldn't be brought up in front of them. The crew was already tense enough, he wanted to project calmness, and not give away how he felt. Of course, it did not help that he had already stayed up 20 hours and some change, that he had not been able to get coffee from the Galley on threat of shanking, and that he had just gone for an exhausting run. It would not be long before the adrenaline from watching the theft of the ship would wear off, and he would start looking beat.
 
Surface

Tsuguka waited patiently for Marcus to finish his suggestion at first, but was balling her fists with barely contained anger. Through she had overcome the initial shock, it was hard to remain straight-faced and obey protocol when someone had just robbed them of everything.

A simple bow in response to Hanako sufficed, before she restrained her hat under a lapel and bolted away, intent on recovering the second survival kit along with Akiashiro. If it hit the ground, they might never find it, and who knew what else was lurking out here.

<Shosho... I don't want to jump the gun, but there is also another problem.> Unidirectional telepathy, as the red neko moved by pure flight. The glossy dress shoes she was still wearing were not exactly designed for running. Considering her one true stand-out skill seemed to be physical endurance, the inability to put it to use here and now was more than a little irritating. <If we don't look like a serious paramilitary organisation, well... Is there even a reason for a black market operative to honor a deal with us? Do you think it is worth investigating the abandoned frontier starport here for weapons? I feel it would suit us to look like we ended up on this rock intentionally, ma'am.>
 
Surface

Taharial had stayed perfectly still with the others while her friends and loved one got promoted, she smiled as she was happy they got promoted and that they deserved what they got. She was sorted out

Taharial was thinking of discussing the dream with someone as it may of helped her out in the long run but she thought it would have weird out the person she had told and shock it from her head, she knew that the girl in the dream was dead no matter how much she dreamt of it. As she saw the Eucharis be taken her shoulders went slack, her eyes seem catch on fire with the anger of what happened, her legs and wings went rigid "No no no no" she growled as she watched the ship leave "My work..... I was still using that!"

She clenched her fists as the others talked and all seemed to feel the same as she did about this, she wished she could use the Nightmare on the ship and let it kill everyone on that other ship, she did have a small medical bag just in case she needed it, but it was just the bare basics, so wasn't good for anything worst then a sprain unless they use things on the planet as well. She shuddered as she watches over the others, she wanted their ship back, it had all of their data..... If they can't get it then no one is safe, if someone dies then that would be it for them until she gets her Medical Lab back.
 
Surface

It was a fine ceremony. Simple enough, fitting the primitive planet they were having it on. Mitsuko didn't expect any further promotions in her line of work. Recognition of her participation as she assisted the others was more than enough for her. Afterward she stood near Hanako and Natsumi, not interrupting their conversation, just listening. Especially when the newest civilian joined in. She looked away, to make it seem she wasn't really interested, just admiring from Eucharis from an outside vantage point for once, as she listened intently.

Her eyes widened behind those glasses as her home was suddenly scooped up and simply yanked away like it was a little toy being taken away by the comparatively giant hand of the child playing with it. She opened her mouth to lodge some sort of protest, but a squeak was all she emitted. Her shock was somewhat dulled by the absurdity of the whole thing. Where would something like that come from? How had it arrived undetected? As the others reacted, her mind worked, as she quietly stared into the sky. By the time Hanako spoke, giving her orders and setting everyone to a task, she had reached a conclusion.

Locating the newly promoted Suites where he had tumbled after the surprising shipnapping, she reached down to take his hand and assist him up off of his knees. "Nito Heisho, if you are uninjured, would you assist me with recovering, securing and distributing the supplies Charisma managed to drop for us?" Still holding his hand in one of hers, the other pointed towards the descending parachutes Aikiko was already rushing towards. Her thin smile held in place despite the desperate situation. And the direct message she was sending him.
 
Planet surface


"Thanks," he said to Tsuguka and Mitsuko as they pulled him to his feet. He'd fallen directly onto his left knee which left it stinging and burning but he didn't feel injured. He would ask Taharial to take a look later but first he had many things to do, including but not limited to ensuring neither of the civilians were responsible for the theft of their ship and containing the breaking news of the most famous ship in the Empire's navy being stolen from a national hero. The only one's who needed to know about this were those in direct command of SAINT so they could send money and permission to launch a secret campaign on their new enemies.
Of course this didn't help him with his distaste for planets in the slightest.

Surface


Locating the newly promoted Suites where he had tumbled after the surprising shipnapping, she reached down to take his hand and assist him up off of his knees. "Nito Heisho, if you are uninjured, would you assist me with recovering, securing and distributing the supplies Charisma managed to drop for us?" Still holding his hand in one of hers, the other pointed towards the descending parachutes Aikiko was already rushing towards. Her thin smile held in place despite the desperate situation. And the direct message she was sending him.

The words came with a message that surprised him, though his face wouldn't show it he failed to contain the emotion on a telepathic level. Although it was a covert way of communication SAINT instructors had drilled his class on tirelessly Mitsuko was the last person he'd have expected to get a message from. It was refreshing to see her thoughts on the matter at hand, and the message was composed so politely! "I'd love to," he replied as he began walking, doing his best not to limp under the piercing pain that shot through his leg with every step.
'Great, now I have something in common with Wazu!'

He kept hold of her hand to reply to her message and hopefully get her opinion on how he planned on helping their situation.
 
Surface

Umeshu was relieved that Charisma was able to respond, murmuring a "Yokatta" as she listened to the last communication from the ship before it fizzled out from the quantum energy effects and extreme range. Even if she couldn't save the Eucharis itself from the claws of the enemy, at least the operations officer could sow the seeds of hope for their plight. Seeing the despondent faces of many yet as they had watched all they had disappear with the vessel in a flash, she took a deep breath before turning and walking amongst them as the Captain also spoke strongly of her daring rescue plan...

"On ships of strength and precious beauty, A warrior goes to do her duty..." recited Umeshu to Mao as she steadied herself, the latter likely recognizing the first line of the Prayer of the Ketsurui Samurai.

"But... a great sensei at the Academy in Kyoto also said to me, that a ship is only an empty collection of metal and circuitry. It is the people aboard that make it truly strong and beautiful." Umeshu shot an encouraging smile to Natsumi-sempai trying to help her move past her failure.

"We should therefore not give in to despair, for the Eucharis is not truly lost... not as long as we are standing here, together." As she spoke this part, she put a purple hand on Jax-san's shoulder, squeezing gently, before moving onward.

"We are the Eucharis, and we can overcome any obstacle in this or any other universe." The last part was a firm nod to Wazu and the newcomer from Ayanee, Marcus.

The newly minted Taii finally came to stand at Hanako's side, her green eyes strong and sure when it counted.
 
Surface


Natsumi got the message from Cherisma and saw the survival kits parachuted from the Eucharis's cargo hold. Knowing that Charisma was still in command of herself and had some skeleton crew aboard the ship did little to settle the knot forming in Natsumi's stomach.

"Be careful" she replied to the MEGAMI, "And good luck" with that, contact with the AI and the ship that had been her home for almost her entire life was gone.

"Alright" she breathed and settled her mind. There would be no good from her, the ships XO, showing signs of distress and resignation. They were not as bad off as they could have been.

Natsumi nodded in agreement with Hanako. They needed to get the supplies and get to the lighthouse. From there, they could work on rescuing the Eucharis and exacring some payback on whoever had stolen her from them.

Already people were moving to recover the descending survival kits and she knew as soon as they had them Mitsuko would conduct a full inventory of their supplies, if she didnt already know what was in the containers by memory already. The crew knew there jobs and did themwell, already pulling together and getting to work.

She listened to Umeshu speak, the operator was right, of course and she returned her encouraging, showing that she was alright. There was a fire burning in Natsumi's red eyes, a fire of determination and a desire for payback.

"Let's get our ship back, whatever it takes" she said to Hanako. "And if this was a call for attention, we can give these raiders more attention than they bargained for!"

With tha supplies being recovered, Natsumi set herself to determining their distance to and the relative location of the lighthouse. She called up the planetary map from her memory, she'd done a thorough scan before selecting this location and had done a bit of orbital inspection of the old base.
 
Surface

Every warrior had to come to the realization that at times their skills would be entirely useless, and that they might find themselves totally out of their element. Such as when a strange craft comes swooping down like an osprey plucking a fish from the water to carry off the Eucharis. She had just finished one of the final kata of her routine when it had happened and by the time she'd sheathed the blade and flung herself towards Hanako in the event that the ship directly attacked her charge in some fashion, it had already lifted the famed ship from the surface, and was too far gone for Mao to try and get aboard.

She almost took after the SAINT agent's example with the Type 33 that was already in her hands by the time she landed next to Hanako, but any ammo spent would have been symbolic at most. If there was anywhere on the ship's hull that her pistol could blast through then it had no business going into space to begin with. So instead she glared up at the offending ship before schooling her expression into that familiar, cool mask of indifference. Just like Hime-sama and Natsumi-Taii could not afford to panic in front of the troops, a Samurai could not lose her focus in the presence of her charge.

And while the plan sounded ridiculous to be placing their faith in the "security" of the black market when there was perfectly good secure, point-to-point communication with high command. If one of the key worries was the press catching wind of this then it seemed ridiculous to be putting any measure of faith in criminal elements . . . the kind who would probably tell the press when they parted ways. If they'd even work with the military.

But a Samurai's place was to protect their charge, not debate strategy and tactics. And this was Ketsurui Hanako that was making the call. If the woman was making this sort of decision then Mao had to trust she had a reason and plan for it. Mao simply needed to have a little faith.

"I have only one question, Hime-sama." Mao controlled her breathing and the anger that had her crushing the handle of her odachi in her grip, "When we find the fools who did this: can I kill them?"

The nest message was equally for politeness's sake and to help calm and "normalize" the situation.

"Tsuguka-Hei, Umeshu-Taii. It seems the sparring will have to be put on hold."
 
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