RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 26] Flaming Arrows (YE 38)

[Primitive Polygon]

Open Space > Power Armour Bay

Just as the Eucharis' fine details began to rocket into view, Tsuguka was distracted by a particularly ill-timed fault; The beating her right hand had taken, no doubt combined with the rattle of constant grenade launcher fire, had frozen the servos of her gauntlet like solid concrete. Having a particularly cumbersome and now useless gun stuck in her hand was annoying at the best of times, but now as they rapidly decelerated, the nekovalkyrja soldier suddenly felt her left hand's grip on the sphere of computer parts jolt awkwardly, powerless to stop it from sliding out beneath her as they slammed into their target destination at a considerable pace.

'What happened to the gravity plating?' A single disjointed thought, before she front-flipped into the back wall uncontrollably, slamming her lower back against a mounting rack so hard it winded her utterly. All strength in her legs was instantly gone. Toes responded, curling, but not much else. An utterly disabling pain broke her ability to do anything other than gasp in protest for several seconds, only barely able to observe Shiho's actions and try to regain a mental grasp of the situation.

At least the broken fragments of grenade launcher seemed to have freed themselves, somewhere in between all of this. Her over sized Lamia tower shield was retrieved from a rack on the far left side, through if she was perfectly honest it was making itself useful predominantly as a crutch.

Candon and Mehitabel had appeared again, but had apparently been floored, somewhere in the confusion. Shiho's status was also questionable now, maybe too fatigued to operate. Junko was seemingly the last person standing defensively, so Tsuguka did her best to fumble towards the edge and give that comrade a little cover, at least.

"Masumi-Hei, did you make it on board?" A strained tone, doing her very best to hide the pain under layers of bare agitation. Probably best not to tell the others that she was seeing flashing lights just yet. "Freyja-Hei, Astridr-Hei, please report your condition! You need to make it back to the hangar as soon as possible!"

"Eucharis... We are on board sans two members, Shosho. Please stand by." Leaning over the edge would be difficult with the heavy slab of zesuaium in her hands, but the fragmented panels jutting outward told her all she needed to know. "Be warned... Looks like the cargo bay is hit. It may be depressurized."

 

[Dumont]

Shiho status: Lazy

As the bulky neko was scooped up she proved to not really be so much wounded, so much as just utterly over this whole scenario in terms of willpower to keep going; in her mind, she was on the ship with a delivered payload. Mission complete. She gave one or two cat-like bats with her armored gauntlet to Junko's helmet, without enough force to really do anything.

"Are we safe now?"

 

[ArsenicJohn]

Open Space to YSS Eucharis PA Bay

Freyja's response time had slowed a bit since the fragments of the Kuvexian station pierced her armor. The shards were probably still inside her. There was no exit wound according to her AIES. She was hurt and losing atmosphere, but she felt it was her duty to protect the rest of the team. As soon as the team was confirmed to be safely on the Eucharis, she started to change course. The ship was getting farther and farther away, she realized. If she didn't go now she might be lost forever, and her backup would have no idea what she had realized about Junko-hei during this mission. She didn't want to forget that.

Junko's voice saying her name sounded so sweet. "I'm coming, Junko-chan. My.. my right leg is locked up.. and I'm losing atmo." Freyja explained. She burned hard towards the Eucharis, which was slowly getting farther away. The pain in her abdomen was unbeatable. As she got closer she noticed the armor bay looked like it had been hit. Her armor warned her she was coming in too fast. She slowed down and tried to make a graceful landing. That just wasn't in the cards for the Eucharis Infantry today. The blue Nekovalkyrja slid along the bent floor and her momentum launched her into the ceiling. Or was it the floor? She couldn't tell. Her ears were ringing and she was disoriented. "Junko-chan." She muttered. "I made it back."

Her hand moved to the holes in her armor. She laughed softly, then winced as the pain came. "All those missiles and I.. I was hit by debris." Tears filled her eyes as she lay motionless on the floor. She was so happy to be back safely on the Eucharis.

 

[Mad_Stylus]

<<Armor Bay, Eucharis>>

There.

She could see Freyja's transponder icon on her HUD, now. Flight pattern was erratic, which fit what she was hearing. Wasn't slowing down, not enough for a safe landing. Mindy suits, and the Nekos inside, were tough, but she'd already taken an unknown shrapnel injury.

Do nothing, or do something stupid?

She'd have to ask Tsuguka about this sort of thing later. Had she done anything like this for Tahariel?

She extended out the photonics array in her suit. Lines, long and thin and weak that criss-crossed for durability. They would snap under great, but that was fine. If they were more rigid, they could do more damage.

This was the sort of thing she wished she had some time for practical tests.

A glowing teal net formed, and expanded lazily. When Freyja came in like a humanoid missile, she would have gone right into it. It would catch her, strain and bend and then snap. Kinetic force was arrested, but not suddenly stopped. Her crash against the hangar floor was unavoidable, but this would hopefully soften the landing.

Junko checked that everyone was inside, first. Once she was absolutely certain, she hit the switch and brought the door to a close.

And then she rushed right to Freyja's side.

Her hands floated just above the injuries. Shallow, scattered around the torso. Neko were designed to be tough, though, and the wounds weren't immediately fatal. Freyja would live, though she wasn't done yet.

"We could always open the bay door again, try your luck." Junko teased, or tried to. Her voice came out wearier, and more relieved, than she'd intended. Put her arms around and under Freyja's shoulders. "Can you handle being taken to the medbay?"

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Eucharis Armor Bay

Resyncing the data from Freyja's armor in particular, Tsuguka began reviewing the individual damage logs in an effort to find out what had happened to Santo Hei Astridr. It was no good. Damage reports had abruptly ended somewhere in the last run, FOF tag disappearing completely. Doors closed before them, cutting off the star light and encapsulating them all in the dull blue glow of each another's frames.

"I'm calling it, Shosho. Six of us plus Santo Hei Calidius confirmed on board." A typically stern transmission, trying to stay clear through the slur of her pained body. "Sensor records suggest Santo Hei Astridr is KIA."

Hands occupied themselves testing the seal. Didn't look like there was any damage to the actual doors, so re-pressurizing the room with air wasn't a problem. No gravity still, so the normally heavy armor kind of just peeled off and floated away. Protocol said to tie it down, but the rack was blown up. Annoying. She was inside a environment suit immediately afterwards, plonking a second one into Shiho's lap even whilst still clipping her own helmet on.

"Shiho-Hei, your injuries are not immediately fatal." Understatement, but they didn't really know how the stockier neko's thought process worked yet. The butt of their Type 33 rifle was offered as added incentive, a free hand now readying her Zen Arms SMG at the same time. "We need to make sure whatever hit the floor below is adequately killed."

Fastest way, down the cargo lift. Who knows what could be down there.

"Junko-Hei, we will be back, but make sure those two get some medical attention please."

 

[Wes]

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

"Acknowledged, Tsuguka-Hei," Hanako replied.

"Set course for Yamatai and engage the hyperspace fold system," she ordered. Yet again, the ship would need major repairs. At this point the Star Army wanted the battered Eucharis decommissioned and in a museum, but Hanako had managed to hang on to the battered gunship and keep the repairs coming so far, probably because of her rank and fame. For almost nine years now, this ship was her home and she felt attached to it. "You have the bridge, Natsumi," Hanako said, unbuckling her seat and walking out the door to her cabin.

She stopped at the hatch the power systems room, and gingerly touched it before opening it. A haze of smoke came drifting out and Hanako looked down into the burned room. "Becker-Hei?"

"I'm here, Shosho! Is...is it over?"

"We are about to go home. I want to thank you for getting that capacitor issue solved. You saved everyone on this ship, and made sure the away team had somewhere to come home to," Hanako told him. "All of the engineering crew performed admirably today. Let them know I said so."

"Yes, ma'am!" Becker saluted, his hand bumping on his AMES helmet.

Hanako returned the salute and went into her room and dropped off her Type 35 duty uniform jacket on a leather chair, and then went down to the medical lab to see the injured crew.

YSS Eucharis - Medical Lab

The captain arrived in her plain regal blue T-shirt and matching skirt. Inside she found Mango, Lime, and Masumi. "How are you?" she asked, stepping over the scattered medical supplies that Mango's rummaging had left on the floor.

 

[HotelKilo]

Power Armor Bay

After taking a minute to regain her breath, and choke back the urge to vomit all over the inside of her battered life-saving MCAS suit, Mehitabel braced a hand on the bent deckplate. With a ginger shove, the clerk floated away above her savior. "Thank you, Suites-heisho," she muttered distantly as their helmets parted. There was a lot to do yet, she reflected in a dazed sort of way. Pay period would end soon. She'd have to make sure all the paperwork for the new crew members, including herself, was in order. There'd be service ribbons for any of the infantry nekos that hadn't been in battle before....

Being crammed into the tight confines of ill-fitted armor was starting to drive her to distraction. She felt hot and sticky with fear, or whatever emotion was making her unaugmented frame shake. Not caring about her appearance the Elysian fumbled for the right combination of hand movements to get Tahariel's armor off. The results left her floating away from it, rolling to give it a detached visual assessment. The leg pod had been bashed in pretty well by her unplanned EVA, and it looked like shrapnel had jammed almost all the way through the knee joint to her leg. Damage to the back amounted to little more then what looked to her unpracticed eyes as dings, scratches, and chips.

Belle let her wings fall open unrestricted by metal or clenched by fear. It was passing, maybe, as she settled to the floor seperate from the still very aware, if battered, away team. It occurred to her that after being banged around there should be more of a butcher's bill then just a headache but such a thought progressed slowly against the feel of being able to move her wings freely.

 

[Ametheliana]

YSS Eucharis
Medical Lab

The table had been right in telling Oshiro Masumi to get some rest. She had listened and her pink eyelashes had closed on her eyes and only fluttered opened when they had heard the voice of her captain. She didn't speak immediately, but took a moment to consider how she really was before talking.

"I wish I had your combat prowess, Hanako-hime," she told her with a wan expression.

 

[Gunsight1]

YSS Eucharis - Bridge

Natsumi let out a long breath as the ship jumped out of the system into the safety of faster than light space. They were away. They made it. She sank back into her chair, brushing locks of snowy hair away from her eyes as she let that realization settle in. Yes the ship was battered, but the away team was back and they were safely away. That was what mattered at this time.

"Understood, I have the bridge" Natsumi replied as Hanako got up and departed from the command deck. She smiled at her Shosho as the senior officer departed, leaving the bridge to her alone.

"Good job" she said to the ship as she gently ran her hand along the smooth surface of the top of the operations console, patting it affectionately. Except for a few initial short months in training, the Eucharis had been her home for the entirety of her life and she was glad the ship had come through another battle. She was battered and scarred again, and every hit, every scratch and blast mark struck to Natsumi's soul, but knowing the ship had come through, brought them all out of hellfire safely once more, well, that made Natsumi incredibly proud of the ship and even more so, the crew.

The crew had proved themselves once again, gone beyond what was called of them and Natsumi send a quick note to Hanako suggesting they get together later to discuss promotions or commendations to reward their skill and bravery.

 

[Dumont]

Shiho's incentive:

Sitting propped against a wall, Shiho had just reclined in her power armor until an environment suit collided with her lap. Looking up through her helmet at Tsuguka, with a rising urge to push everything off nearby surfaces: She nabbed the rifle, and wedged it on a nearby pile of rubble that might once have been part of the rack. Without gravity, she just pushed herself down, although her armor still began floating away. It was true, she was the least wounded around. Most of the damage was just to her armor, with deep gouges over it where the Kuvexians had managed to puncture her heavier shielding, but none had punched through somehow.

Being at the center of the last mad dash's area of protection meant that it was probably the case that everyone else got wounded for her... Maybe it was guilt that made her actually not reject the order.

Instead, she shucked her armor, taking up a severed Kuvexian power cable and tying it to a pile of junk so it wouldn't rattle around... She then bapped the rifle off its surface, with a look of dissatisfaction on her face as it just floated away slowly instead of falling down with a satisfying clatter. Nothing was going right this day, was it?

Snatching the rifle from mid-air, she moved in behind Tsuguka.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Medical Corridor; Activate Person Mode

Entering into the gravity field of the corridor adjacent to the med bay, Tsuguka shook with the sensation of pressure being put on her battered spine once more. She didn't expect the pain to be quite that bad, and it left her leaning against a wall with her gravity organ keeping as much pressure off as possible.

Maybe one of these days she'd learn to call it quits, but... not today.

"Do you not find this task agreeable, Shiho-Hei?" They shot an angular sideways glance, lumbering towards the cargo lift. Trying to distract themselves? Expression never changed past an unflinching glare, but they were clearly sweating. "Not asking as an acting officer. I don't feel like an officer in truth. I... I just..."

Feet were being disobedient. Using that inertia organ to simply drag herself inside the elevator was easier. Probably embarrassing? A character in a television show might be embarrassed. Tsuguka kind of just felt too busy to be hurt. Was it better or worse to act embarrassed, because Shiho would relate more to someone being that way? Most perturbing.

"Everyone questions their born duty, you know." A shrug. She was looking at the floor to avoid eye contact, finger hovering over the button whilst she waited for the fellow crimson catgirl to join her. "But every time I think about what else I could be doing, I just draw a blank. How do you go against what you were made for? Being a civilian is just incompatible."

Too much? She was trying to connect. People connected. She saw Suites and Wazu doing it once.

 

[ArsenicJohn]

YSS Eucharis
PA Bay -> Medical Center

Freyja responded to Junko with a nod. "I can float..." She said softly. All she wanted to do was tear off her armor and hold Junko until she fell asleep, but that would have to wait. She leaned on Junko for support. "I would rather.. be close to you, though. Let's get to.. to the med center." Every time she took a deep breath it hurt, so she tried not to breathe deeply. She had to sort of hop on her leg because the joint was locked. Slowly she made her way to the medical center with Junko's assistance.

 

[Dumont]

Boarding the Tsugukavator:

Following along behind Tsuguka, Shiho kept her jaw set and marched on. Having a different trouble from her immediate superior, forcing herself to muster up the will to keep moving when smashed up against a wall of motivational issues. It was a different sort of pain, really. Whether it was worse, better or the same as Tsuguka was feeling right now probably depended on who you asked.

And then... Tsuguka talked, sounding surprisingly down to earth. Shiho's mind swimming between sheer urge to knuckle down and deny everything to avoid trouble, and taking in every detail in something approaching panic as if to try and find a way to squeeze her way past it. But it was the beads of sweat visible through Tsuguka's visor which were the major factor here. Talking not as an officer, trying to relate? But that hard expression when talking... No, Tsuguka just wasn't expressive as far as Shiho knew... Be honest, or be evasive? Bit of both, probably best.

"I'm sick of everyone getting hurt. Not the task." Shiho said blandly, boarding the elevator and letting Tsuguka press that button. "While everything would be great fun if it were all a game, then we could all shake hands and go home afterwards to eat Gyoza, it's not."

Shiho let that hang in the air, some small amount of panic rising in the back of her skull, wondering if she went too far on that one... No. Nope, too late now, go all in.

"So I don't question my duty. I just question when others try to tell me what my duty is, since if they're wrong there's lives on the line. Mine and theirs." She said, watching the doors to the cracked cargo bay open and stepping out to take point, "So for the right now: Duty's to keep you from getting yourself any more hurt than you already are."

 

[Mad_Stylus]

<<PA Bay>>

"Save your strength." Junko soft ordered. Then she scooped the other neko up, carrying her in both arms. The less strain, she figured, the better, if only for Freyja's comfort. Less chance of her losing focus and rattling the shrapnel, too, she figured.

"Mehitabel-Hei, follow me." She gave the clerk whatever additional help she might have required. Fun fact about a Mindy, what with the photonics: You could literally give someone a hand even with your arms full. Or whatever they might need to prop themselves up.

Carefully, she led the Elysian and carried Freyja to the medbay.

<<Medical>>

"I have one with shrapnel, didn't go through." Junko announced to the medical officer. Either she'd lay her out on a bed, or one of the automated triage. Whichever one, she'd at least have to pop off some of the Mindy suit, cooperating with the doctor on duty. Reclining was not a designed function of combat armor.

 

[HotelKilo]

PA Bay

Light as she was, it was no trouble at all for Junko to grab Belle by the collar and drag the wane clerk along behind them. It sounded like her response to the dedicated neko's question was in the difficult to follow, but pleasant sounding, Seraphim.

Medical

Belle tried to insist first that she was 'okay', then that her inability to stand unsupported was merely due to being 'tired' from her unexpected flight training experience. There was no danger of the clerk dying, especially when there were more seriously wounded troopers ahead of her.

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Cargo Bay; Shihternal Deliberations

The response uttered from the fellow soldier's lips took Tsuguka rather by surprise. She had figured that Shiho's lackadaisical attitude to be inherent of the same kind of cynicism Candon espoused. Instead, her words came across more like something compassionate Umeshu might have said.

"I've tried talking to Shosho Ketsurui about this kind of thing, but it always ends up sounding like a cheesy propaganda commercial." Memories scanned back to the sparse few conversations she had actually had with Hanako. She could certainly understand the Santo Hei distrusting their leader, considering they were like an ancient being in comparison. A mysterious creature from a dark age when Yamatai was in the hands of powerful, uncaring mega-corporations. Who knew what their internal motivations really were anymore... And if she was honest, it wasn't like Candon was any more forthcoming with information, either. "The alternative is the only thing that motivates me, I guess. The interior of a NMX prison block was one of my very first missions. The Shosho has probably seen a lot worse, which is the only reason why I can figure she is so much more aggressive than the legends about her would like us to believe."

Breathing out the distraction for a moment, Tsuguka stepped out into the deck behind her, raising her weapon. Heavy breathing was starting to fog the helmet up, glass meeting with the distinct lack of heat in the area. It was depressurized alright, they just had to find the impact site. Walking towards the rear with a slightly shambling gait, she kept an eye out for any other signs of splash damage on their interior.

"Is it bad that I've never really understood the fear of pain? A person that is damaged is still functional." She wasn't looking back, but didn't want to end a conversation like this, not when it felt like they were actually getting somewhere. "But... But thank you for caring. Karma dictates I will return the favor in kind, Santo-Hei."

A difficult thing to word. She certainly didn't want the other people around her to come to harm, or even die. But that was what the job was, and it was the only thing Tsuguka knew how to do. Perhaps, in some subconscious way, getting into painful situations herself made her feel better about saving someone else from that torment.

 

[Dumont]

Cargo Bay: PsychoTsugukanalysis.

Shiho stalked he way through the depressurised cargo bay, doing her best to ignore the gaping hole in the hull which just showed all that space outside. Taking the lead, and giving herself little pushes with her personal gravity to navigate the rubble and wreckage of the crashed Kuvexian fighter. For a second she thought of keeping her voice low, then remembered the simple fact that there was no sound when there was no air.

"My first mission was an NMX slave raider. I singlehandedly disabled the bridge, preventing their escape." Shiho shared, "And while the alternative was that they got away with all those people, Orochi was a travesty. We lost about a third of us before even managing to start boarding since we were ordered to just fly straight into the teeth of their guns without support fire, or backup. The hull of the ship was covered in... No, spattered with our dead when I landed on it to start cutting on board."

Picking across the cargo bay, Shiho surveyed the wreck and slid her way into cover behind some. She never seemed to walk or skulk when she could bound or slide to get her way somewhere. At least at this point she had a moment to think, her mind just lingering on the neko salsa that was the result of her first charge at an enemy. The one she believed wholeheartedly that she had only survived because she had teleported out, then back in once the battle had started going their way.

"And I guess the fear of pain thing isn't a problem, as long as you don't get why inflicting it can be bad." She held up her hand, giving the signal for Tsuguka to get to cover, and watch her back. Didn't want any survivors jumping her if her superior who she was... Somehow comfortable with calling the shots at, was able to take them out.

Glancing this way or that, Shiho gave a quick darting action out of position. Negating her gravity, and bounding off the ceiling to land just before the cockpit of the crashed fighter. Torn up, and wrecked as it was, she didn't want to take any chances. Giving a burst of automatic fire to the pilot's seat, whatever was actually inside it. Round after round from her rifle punching through the pilot's seat. Maybe an amateurish move, but she recalled something about live prisoners.

"First person I killed..." Shiho said as her fire cut off. "Was an NMX nekovalkyrja. She was rolling around in agony after I hit the bridge with scalar grenades. She... I guess froze and suffocated due to decompression since she was in too much pain to get to a suit. We had a girl like her in the squad; used to be with the NMX. I didn't talk with her much, but she was cute... Really liked meat, and comic books. Can't help but imagine that if things went different, I could have been cooking them both a hamburger or something..."

A small sigh as she remembered exactly what they had been talking about before this mission. Whatever the Kuvexians were, it was brave to fly your ship straight into an enemy like that. In truth she might have thought they'd suffered enough, if she could ever work out how to articulate it.

"I guess saying this out loud just makes me sound like I'm trying to justify thinking like a coward or something, though... Don't worry about paying me back."

 

[Primitive Polygon]

Cargo Bay

Tsuguka just stared, silent and wide-eyed at Shiho's actions, a demeanor reminiscent of a suspicious house cat. If there was even a chance that the pilot was alive, they should have capitalized on it, but... With the computer payload questionable and Astridr-Hei dead, it wasn't like the mission could have been salvaged at this point anyway.

Loosing somebody had always hit her hard in the past, too. It still made her feel sick over the grim feeling, yet this whole affair had made them all feel rather disposable if she was perfectly honest. There wasn't any time to dig her heels in and count heads, because they all would have paid for the hesitation. Shiho-Hei made the soldier think about Orochi's battle report, and how the chaos was so cataclysmic that very little in the way of individual actions were mentioned. The gruff neko speaking to her now had given Tsuguka an entirely different perspective. It reminded her of a time when even the Rixxikor had gained the soldier's sympathies to some extent.

When and how exactly did that time end?...

~"Away team to Eucharis control."~ A simple tone within the transmission. She tagged it so that both Jackson and Decker would be included in the conversation. ~"We've secured the cargo bay, but there is still a large hull breach and displaced wreckage here. Some assistance would be appreciated."~

"...There was an NMX intelligence operative here for a while. I think her name was Hisoka." Returning to the conversation with Shiho, but it seemed like their gun was remaining prepared and trained towards the large hole in the wall panels. Paranoia wouldn't let it rest. "I guess in hindsight she reminded me a bit of Candon-Heisho. Maybe it was the secrecy that comes with the job, I don't know."

 

[ArsenicJohn]

Armor Bay > Med Bay

Freyja started to protest, but she stopped once she was in Junko's arms. Her armored arms wrapped around the shorter Neko's neck and she rested her head on her shoulder. She couldn't wait to get out of the Mindy to feel Junko's body against her. The feelings she had were so intense, it was hard to resist them. The fear and pain had drained out of her. All she felt was the warm feeling in her chest.

When they reached the med bay, she released Junko and stood on her own. She took off her helmet and then lowered herself to the ground using her gravity organ. Once she was reclined on her butt, Freyja opened her armor and leaned forward to free her arms. She then undressed quickly and either climbed into a bed or automated triage. Out of her armor, the four puncture wounds looked bigger. A fragment of metal could be seen poking out of one wound. The rest of the fragments were buried deeper.