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RP: YSS Eucharis [Mission 27, Part 3] Expanding Horizons II (YE 39)

Wardroom

Just as Hanako finally got a chance to get her food, and was standing in the buffet line, the ship intercom came on. It was Ramiro. "Shosho, the supply ship from Yamatai has arrived and they want to send over cargo containers and a shuttle."

"Give them permission and send my greetings to captain Kinder," she was about to say Victory would meet them but Victory was still in the medical lab and Pineapple wasn't on the roster anymore. So there were no available supply people. "Tell them to send supply personnel since we have none available. Also let captain Kinder know I will speak with her personally soon." She then looked around for Jax but he wasn't there. It popped into her head that perhaps not eating dinner could be considered a violation of the Star Army Creed for failure to maintain oneself in top condition and readiness, but she let it pass. Next she looked at Pan, but Pan had patients to go back to. Finally she dialed engineering and sent Becker over to open the ship's cargo bay door.

"Those who are departing the ship should assemble in the armor bay with their luggage," Hanako announced over the intercom. She switched it off and said half-jokingly to Wazu. "That ship has a running track. We could ask them to stay until morning so we can go over there to jog."

Bridge

"Why don't you go grab some dinner?" Ramiro suggested to Takao. "Not much happening up here right now. I got things under control."

Shuttle Bay

Moments later, the T7 shuttle from the YSS Tomoyo arrived with the crew transfers and several staff from the other ship. Among them were three Korean-looking girls in orange panels and white panels. The clerk among them was holding a data pad and was eager to sign some paperwork. Meanwhile the two in orange headed for the elevator down to the cargo bay.

"Welcome aboard the Eucharis," Blackberry (who was up and ready for her night shift on the bridge) greeted everyone getting off the shuttle, exchanging respectful bows.
 
Bridge

Looking over to Ramiro, Takao gave a slight nod of agreement before doing one last pass over his console. Everything was still in order. The Kohosei turned in his chair and got up, standing just off the right side of the chair. He straightened his uniform as he looked to Ramiro again, "Alright, don't forget to get something for yourself."

With a light grin, Takao quietly walked off the bridge and to the wardroom.

Wardroom

Takao walked in, looking around the room quietly before he quietly got at the end of the receiving line. He gave a light and relaxed sigh while leaning to the side slightly to see what was being served since he had momentarily forgotten the menu's exact serving for today. Relatively interested in the adorned fillets, Takao leaned back straight and calmly awaited his turn.
 
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Wardroom

Wazu was absorbed in his datapad, nearly missing what Hanako had to say.

They had been out there for nearly 3 months, and the brief amount of time Wazu had to stretch his legs outside of the ship took place between being ejected from the Hierophant armor and ending up in Freyja's arms. The realization did start to make things feel cramped.

"Would you care to join me for a run after..." He asked Hanako, quickly checking the time "Dinner? I do not think either of us have had a chance to stretch our legs."
 
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Armor Bay --> Fabrication

Jax assisted in cleaning what blood he could from the exterior with a rag and some disinfecting spray. His thoughts went out to Natsumi, who was blissfully unaware that he was becoming intimately familiar with her bodily fluids. Still, it wasn't nearly as bad as scooping up Umeshu's battered, bloody body off of the dust of UX-1...

He dragged the armor into the large space and rigged it up to a stand. Then, came the fun part, removing the plates one by one.

"Sura, could you place these pieces in a pile over by the recycler?" he asked, pointing to a rather large machine in the corner. Toss armor pieces in, receive raw materials to recreate them. Nifty stuff. He remembered stories of ancient mechanics having to meticulously weld seams with arc welders.

"So, you into machines and stuff?" he asked as he worked, trying to strike up conversation.
 
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The ride aboard the supply ship had felt like an eternity for Higashi Takumi. Comparatively, the subsequent shuttle ride over to the YSS Eucharis felt like a fleeting moment. Perhaps it was the excitement building in his gut for what the future may hold. His handsome face remained calm, however, with an ever present smile as patience won the day in his internal struggle. He'd waited this long to get back into action, and this was nothing compared to ten years of death.

While sitting aboard the approaching shuttle, the Shoi found himself once again absentmindedly massaging his ring finger, habitually missing the kiss of metal to flesh. Of course, his wedding band was long gone by now as space dust in a sector of space far from his current location. However, it did not feel that long ago for him. Takumi forced himself to stop and gave his hands something to do by checking his datapad one last time. To his surprise, there was a message waiting for him from Star Army Personnel. Eagerly opening the message revealed a rather surprising and rather unorthodox reply to an inquiry he had made last week.


Takumi figured a good way to describe this.. Jellybean is that she's a rainbow of color and personality while being bubbly to a fault. He was a little surprised by the "favorite person" part... but then again everyone probably is her favorite person. Saving the requested files and renaming them to something a bit more.. appropriate, the Minkan pondered about keeping her 'gift' for a moment before finally deciding to just keep it. If her message was anything to go by, it would probably be wise to open it in private, though... Just in case.

By the time he had put the datapad away again, the shuttle had arrived aboard the Eucharis, and several of the passengers had already departed. Hastily grabbing his few meager possessions, Takumi ensured that his green-paneled Type 35 uniform was neat and proper before disembarking himself. His first glance of the gunship's shuttle bay left him in wonder, but the biggest eye-catcher was the magenta-skinned Chui greeting the new arrivals.

Stepping over to the Neko, Takumi bowed politely as he greeted her in return, "Good evening, Chui-san. Higashi-Shoi reporting for duty! It is a pleasure to work with you and the rest of the Eucharis crew." His smile was genuine, and his gray-violet eyes watched her intently. Truth be told, he was nervous and unsure as to where he should go next.
 
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Shuttle Bay

"Shoi Sakura Blackberry," the magenta Nekovalkyra introduced herself. Cabins and the crew lounge are one deck up. Put your things there and then take the stairs up into the wardroom/dining hall to find the Shosho and to get dinner if you need to. I can lead the way if you prefer."

On the other side of the shuttle bay doors was the armor bay, where Takumi saw some crew were working on their damaged suits. There was still some blood visible on the black floor.
 
Familiarization with layout of a Plumeria-class Gunship like the Eucharis had been a key research item for Takumi during the long stretch of travel aboard the supply ship, so navigating through the ship would be easy for him.

"I wouldn't dream of taking you away from your duties, Miss Sakura. I will have MEGAMI show me the way to my cabin. Meeting the Shosho would be a great honor, and how could I say no to dinner?"

As he was talking to Blackberry, a glance over at the mess in the power armor bay gave him a chill. Perhaps speaking with the Shosho is a wise decision after all, he thought to himself. It seemed like the Eucharis was going to be a very interesting tour, and he made a mental note to also check in at the medbay to make a new ST backup. One of the crew working on the suits also looked rather alien to him, but his curiosity on xeno anatomy could wait until after the formalities were settled.
 
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Armor Bay

Sura was had blasted some of the blood off with her sonic tool. But she didn't frown on Jaxon's method. Technology was great but it had to fail, and if her little pen mike tool failed she'd have to go at the body fluid with a wet rag too.

When Jaxon had shifted the suit up and started moving it Sura responded by aiding him. She immediately set about cleaning the area. Heeding his request she moved the spare peaces over to the recycler.

She then switched on her data pad. "Well...it is a bit of a hobby. I started out making little robots and drones for fun...then I moved to yamatai and well....so many wonderful machines gave me new ideas...I designed a walker a few months ago. Didn't sell very well." she said growing nervous. No one had ever asked her that.

One of her drones skittered over and was clicking at her. She held out her hand and it reached up, noting she had a small cut on her left hand from one of the scraps. "Machines are perfect. Predictable. The only way they disappoint you is if somebody like us was wrong. I admire their purity...."
 
Wardroom

Masumi had been standing at the top of the stairs down to the crew lounge rather oddly. Like a statue, the tall Neko was listening intently to all the conversations and tucking away their contents for later perusal, which would likely pool in her thoughts like the blood in the showers had only minutes before collected. She tapped the wall absentmindedly as she thought about what to do and, finally, turned slowly and swept her eyes across the floor of the wardroom, making eye contact with no one until her oceanic eyes laid themselves on Candon as he came towards her.

"Oo-oh!" She sort of sputtered the words out and put her hands down as if holding a visible tray, ready to let the plate with marginally less food on it land in her waiting palms. "I can only assume... Thank you. Will you eat with me up here?"

She made eye contact with the Minkan and said telepathically, "I feel bad. About so many things. But I think—I don't know—that the rest of the crew is having a hard time, I think. Maybe we could do with spending some time at least around them, if not with them. It, I don't know, might be good for everyone to be together right now. I don't know."

Her blue eyes welled up after she had spoken to Candon telepathically. Her words had been said in a fraction of a second, but her sparkling eyes made it appear that the statements had been paining her for minutes on end, floating in her mind as she registered the atmosphere of the wardroom.
 
Wardroom

Toyoe Tsuguka had sat silent throughout the entire meeting. Cross-legged upon the chair, but with the scarlet meat of her arm muscles bulging as they held the surface of the table in a fearsome death grip. The uncanny valley effect of her unblinking gaze didn't do half as much to explain her mood as the fact she refused to actually look at anyone.

Three months of her life she had dedicated to this, and the blame wasn't just on other people. She was actively protecting Natsumi when they got shot. Tsuguka had ordered a completely inexperienced armor pilot to carefully retrieve a crash victim just after a firefight, without killing them...

No, this situation didn't require a punishment. It required a solution... and that solution was now, logically, until the universe said otherwise, her new reason for being...

Back in the real world, the oni neko finally just let out one long sigh, and lent back into her chair with her hands behind her head...

Maybe she could get Wazu to make her a flag pole, too...

Next time, the enemy was going to take them seriously. She swore on it.
 
YSS Eucharis, Wardroom

Candon didn't know what exactly was bothering Masumi but he was glad to see that she wanted to help the team. She may have been surprised to see only one plate but he had no idea whether she was heading to the cabin or otherwise.
"I'd love to," he responded verbally to her dining invitation.
"But you're having a hard time too," he continued telepathically, "if you want to talk let's do that first so we can help the others better."
 
Wardroom -> Medical Center

Tan Ann Pan made it through two tortillas and a few sushi rolls before excusing herself to return to duty. On her way to the medical center, she stopped by her cabin to pour herself half a cup of sake, since none had been served at dinner. There had probably been a good reason for, but then, she felt she had good reason to drink, now, too. She looked at the message from Tsuguka while she was at it.

Medieval-style hammers? She read it again to confirm Tsuguka meant it literally, and not just for some sort of exercise. She composed a response, though she spent little time on it, and discarded it without sending it. She was not going to use a hammer, she told herself, though she wasn't sure how she was going to find a substitute... the supply ship wasn't likely to be carrying a wealth of Nepleslian firearms.

Once it was empty, she set down her cup and continued on to the medical center, giving notice as she hit the zero-G corridor, over the ship's intercom. "This is your medic, Santo Hei Tan Ann Pan. Any crew who were on the away team and have not yet been cleared for duty, please report to the medical center at your earliest convenience. Thank you." She felt it would be too much to explain she had only cleared Tsuguka, Freyja and Junko, though at least when combined with those who'd been put in the hemosynth tanks, that still meant less than half the away team that had gone AWOL. Good enough, she supposed.
 
Wardroom

Taking the one plate out of Candon's hands, Masumi brought them to the table closest to the stairs next to the hibachi grill. She set it down in between where she was and where Candon could sit.

She telepathically spoke out, looking at Candon as she said, "I didn't shoot! But tha—tha—that alien..." Masumi had never been xenophobic until now. "That alien said we all shot her.

Ira said:
Masumi would hear a grumble over the radio -- a half snarl. "Ya. She's been talkin since y'all shot her."
Click to expand...

The words passed through her like a nighttime chill passing through the ovular leaves of birch trees. Enough chills like that and she'd be stripped to her core and nothing else. Candon could see her look away from him, to the Shôshô, then down at the food they were to share.

"I failed us all, in some way. I just don't know how. The alien also said because I disobeyed orders that I... I opened the floodgates for bad things to happen. I don't—don't know what to think. He's right, isn't he?" She shook her head and a wet lock of hair tumbled down from her bun to rest against her shoulder, falling in front of one of her eyes.
 
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YSS Eucharis, Wardroom

Code: 
LOADING 'COMPASSION' PROGRAM…
ERROR-FILE NOT FOUND…
LOADING 'EMPATHY' PROGRAM…
ERROR-FILE NOT FOUND…
LOADING 'SYMPATHY' PROGRAM…
ERROR-FILE NOT FOUND…
LOADING 'FIX_THE_TEAM' PROGRAM…
DATA RETRIEVED...
RUNNING PROGRAM...
He could finally see the problem. It wasn't what he expected but things in life rarely were. With constant eye contact he placed a hand on her shoulder as he telepathically reassured her, "You didn't fire that shot, and let's remember that Natsumi stepped in front of that shot on purpose. That was her choice, and she made more mistakes than you did. You're not the reason things went wrong. Our command structure was completely shuffled minutes before the sortie and that was the mistake that started the failure."

He cautiously moved the stray hairs by her eye behind her ear. "He was outside the whole time, what would he know?"
 

Fabrication

"Yeah... that makes sense." mused Jax. He'd never quite thought of machines that way. More like tools that could always be upgraded and/or tweaked. He himself loved being able to dig into a complex device, find out how it worked and what each individual piece contributed to the machine's function. Like a giant puzzle. "Not gonna lie, you know your stuff, kid. Almost as good as I was at your age."

Jax gave her a shit-eating grin to let her know he was just teasing.

"Got any plans on a career?"

The last of the pieces were done, so he began chunking them into the open recycler. He received Tsuguka's message, and took a moment to ponder her request.

Code: 
To: Toyoe Tsuguka

From: Jackson Howard

I may be a little busy with armor repairs, but I'm sure my new "assistant" and I can get it done.
 
Reactions: Ira
Fabrication

Sura sent back a shy smile to match Jacksons own. He was older. But his ears and tail were cute. Sure couldn't help but feel some attraction. She knew it wouldn't happen, but a girl could use her eyes. Her tail curled pleasure as she spoke"No. I only just started college...a little early. But. After seeing you and this ship. I've been thinking of joining up. Yamatai is my home now, I might as well do what I can to defend it."

"My Da works for the Gartagen Empress now, but we are Yamataian citizens. We have gotten some funny looks, but after living with Neko and Minkan for a few years...you start viewing things differently."

"I can only squire under my dad for so long anyway."

Sura's tail swished. "Perhaps we should pull the data from this armor?" Sura had some idea of what had happened on the mission, mostly that it did not go so well.
 
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Wardroom

Without thinking Masumi made to move her away from her face as she realized Candon was going to do it. She caught his hand with her fingertips after he had moved her hair behind her ear and her lips parted as she breathed in, a bit taken aback by the touch. She wondered what had sparked her hand to fly up to move her hair for him when he had obviously been doing it. She thought on it while blinking and realized she had lost a bit of trust in something. It wasn't him. It wasn't herself, no. It was ever-present. It was like everything around her had lost its structure, its continuity, its uniformity. She tried to shake the feeling that it was brought on by herself. Her hand held onto Candon's in midair. The thought she had done something wrong was replaced by the ideation that Natsumi had been in the wrong. She shirked that feeling, despising its implications. But the feeling gnawed at her, the feeling that she couldn't trust others' judgement. She looked to Candon as she gently released his hand, considering how much she trusted him. It wasn't blind trust, either. They had been training together for a year now, intensively in the last three months.

"Thank you Can—," she looked up as she top teeth gently bit down on her lip. "Suites-heisho." She released her lip and went on, "Should I ask to be on the bridge at the science station for this next part of the mission tomorrow? I don't know if I'm cut out for the SOFT team, anymore." She looked to Hanako in the room and added telepathically to Candon, "There are only two people on this ship that I trust to give me the right orders."

It hurt her to say it to him. It hurt her to ask if she should remove herself from the line of action. But it also hurt to go through the day they had. This was a decision she couldn't go back on. If she chose a bridge position aboard the ship she would likely stay there if she proved herself worthy, gone from the line of battle for the rest of her days. If she went onto that doomed piece of metal and machine one more time, she risked even more.
 
YSS Eucharis, Wardroom


With as much time as he'd invested training her for field work it was painful to hear her ask for a desk job. Despite disappointment he'd always known that she didn't have the brutal traits needed for dominating combat.
"That's a decision you would have to make, Masumi," he said gently, "I think you'll be missing out on quite the adventure down there. There's something special about seeing these kinds of things in person, seeing the footage just doesn't compare."
 
Wardroom

Masumi stuck one of the forks into the fried fish on the plate and took a bite. She looked to Candon and gave a wan smile to him as she chewed. She looked to the plate again and took another bite, then another. She was hungry after all.

The decision nagged at her mind, but she let the confusion over her role in life subside to take care of more pressing concerns: eating. She looked up once at Hanako and her mouth stopped. She gulped and set her fork down.

To Candon, she said, "Thank you, again."

She brought her fork to the bin for cleaning later and grabbed a napkin, getting the edges of her mouth with it before discarding of it appropriately. She walked forward to Hanako and she seemed to hover in the air right before her heels clicked together and she grounded herself. Her hand went up to her forehead in a salute.

"Shôshô Hanako," Masumi started. She didn't want to speak out of turn or misjudge the situation, though, and said nothing more, waiting for Hanako's response to Masumi approaching her.
 
Wardroom

"I would much rather go in the morning," Hanako told Wazu. She turned back to the buffet and pikced up a plate.

By now she was growing increasingly frustrated, having been unsatisfied with the pathetic after-action review and then all the constant interruptions when she was still trying to get her dinner. Half the crew had already woofed down their food and left and Hanako was still trying to get to the buffet. She was terribly hungry.

Hanako let out a quiet sigh and calmed herself before turning around. "How can I help you, Masumi?"
 
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