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."