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

YSS Eucharis
Cabin 3

At the moment, Freyja Yuuki was asleep in her cabin. She spent most of the last three months bored out of her mind. At least until a few days ago when she gave birth to Fumiko. Now she was getting sleep whenever she could. The little Neko had so many questions and she didn't want to leave Freyja's side. She couldn't remember being that shy when she was that age. When nobody else was around, Fumiko was all over the place. She hadn't had much sleep lately as a result, and nothing was happening, so she went

Fumiko jumped onto Freyja's stomach. "Mom! I'm hungry!" She complained, looking up at Freyja's face. When she didn't move the little Neko put her hands on her hips. She floated up to Freyja's ear and yelled, "Mom!"

Freyja jumped to her feet. "Nito Hei Freyja Yuuki, reporting for duty, Shosho!" She shouted, standing at attention. It took her a few seconds to orient herself and realize what had just happened. She turned around to see a miniature, brown-haired version of herself floating in the air near where she had been sitting. Fumiko giggled. "It's me, mother, not Shosho Hanako! Will you get me a snack?"

The little girl was so cute, it was impossible to be mad at her. Freyja sighed. "Fumiko.. Why don't you go to the Lounge and check the mini-fridge? You know how to get there, it's not even that far." She asked.

Fumiko's cheeks darkened. "I don't know..." She said, floating over to be at Freyja's eye level. "Pleaaase come with me?"

The Infantry Neko never stood a chance. Her heart melted. "You are too adorable for your own good." She said, picking up Fumiko and putting her down on her shoulder. Freyja walked out of her cabin, into the crew lounge and straight to the mini-fridge.
 
YSS Eucharis, Medical Bay

Bronzi got up and sauntered over to the MTBU. "Ya. Everything goes to the kid"he said with a sudden flick of his tail.

Bronzi smiled slyly before letting the quick procedure begin. "If I bite it...save what's left. New Bronzi is gunna wanna piss on tha old one."

"Maybeh not. Best ta keep it quiet. Sura'd lose it." He said in a much more solumn tone.
 
YSS Eucharis, Medical Bay

Tan Ann Pan started to nod, but ended up tilting her head at the off-colour request. Not that she hadn't heard stranger, or even the same one before, but she still hadn't expected it, and was unsure she should make such a commitment in her capacity as Star Army medical personnel, rather than as a Nepleslian street doctor.

"Well, for now you're both old and new Bronzi and there's only one. Don't worry, I'm not the executor, I'm your squad's medic. It's always my job to 'save what's left'." She sat back to watch over the MTBU while Bronzi's backup was made, listening out for any interruptions from changes in the ship's readiness condition.
 
YSS Eucharis, Med Bay

The blue Gartagen nodded and leaned back letting the device do its job. When it was over it was over and he stood up.

"Ya. Well it ain't my squad. I'm onleh hea ta observe. I can only join tha fightin if I feel like I'm in direct danger."

"But hopefully, no one is gonna need yer skills, doc"
 
YSS Eucharis - Bridge

"Alright, you can be part of the away team," Hanako told Wazu.

The gunship Eucharis settled into low orbit over the machine planet. Scans showed that it was an armored mass that, at one time, had been well-armed and it looked like there were the remains of some planet-scale superweapon or perhaps a big engine, not that there was much difference at those levels of power output. The surface was dotted with the corpses of thousands of armed robots and the subsurface had a livable area, and the core primarily was a massive computer. There were docking ports around the habitable zones, which looked usable.

"This planet is something Yamatai is probably going to want to capture and hold," Hanako speculated, "but first we need to see what we are dealing with."
 
Bridge

Natsumi turned around, away from her station, looking at the view on the main screen. The scale of the structure was beyond anything she could think of that had been encountered before. Whoever built it must have been immensely technologically advanced and powerful.

"Would you like me to join the landing party, or do you need me here on the ship?" she asked Hanako via wireless.
 
Eucharis, Power Armor Bay

Junko was wise enough to spot an evasion when she saw one. Worry gnawed at her gut, a dozen possible fracture points coming to mind. Had her own departure set off some awful chain of events? Knowing Shiho was gone was only kindling for the fire.

"Go right ahead." She answered. Already, she knew the suit would be fine. Despite its scarred appearance, she'd taken pains to ensure it was wholly functional. Old bit launcher she'd left because she used it so infrequently. Utility tools were great, but they couldn't slice off heads most the time.

She'd be quiet as he worked, for the first minute. Silence ate at her, though, and her own wandering imagination made it worse. Wanted to ask about Fr-

No.

No.

You burned that bridge three months ago, she reminded herself. Left without a word, without anything. She's probably moved on, in that time. If she was lucky, next time they saw each other all she'd get was a right hook.

Let it go.

"I checked up on your findings in this sector." Junko said. "This many husked out planets, I expected from someone like the Rixxikor. Either the Kuvexians aren't producing enough energy, which could be for a lot of reasons, or they don't care about leaving the galaxy in a mess."

A pause.

"Those aren't mutually exclusive."
 
Bridge

Scans complete, Masumi stepped away from the science and sensors section of the bridge and made her way towards the door. Oshiro Masumi turned and bowed towards Hanako at the threshold, saying the Shôshô's name and rank softly before she turned back around and strode out of the bridge towards her armor, which called to her like a siren lulling seaman to peril.

Power Armor Bay

Masumi entered, nodding tersely to Candon as she entered and noted the old face that had returned, but kept her eyes trained on her Mindy. She was battle damaged from her first mission, but more than capable of taking on anything any enemies of Yamatai could throw at her. She began disrobing and when she was down to just her bra and panties, she folded her bodysuit up and put it away neatly. Then she took off each undergarment slowly and methodically before slipping into her Mindy. She dropped her head to either side of her shoulder then stretched out her arms and legs.

She then assumed a ready stance, feet shoulder-width apart and hands balled into fists on either side of her upper thighs. Her head remained looking forward while she utilized the imaging array of the suit to watch the rest of the Eucharis personnel in the bay.
 
YSS Eucharis, Med Bay

Tan Ann Pan stood up as well, filing the rest of her work away for later. "Really? I didn't know you were a reporter. However it works, you're ready to join the crew; as ready as I can get you, anyway.

"It's not my job to say 'Welcome to the Eucharis', but good luck finding someone whose is. I'd better get back to my reading." She picked up her datapad and waved it around, gesturing toward the exit.
 
Crew Lounge

Freyja took a tub of sweet potato ice cream out and found a bowl, a spoon, and a small cup with a tiny spoon for Fumiko. She scooped out enough to fill the little cup and filled half of her bowl. "It's not time to eat yet, but you can have a little snack." The new mother said. Fumiko floated to the cup, nodded at her mother, and picked up her spoon.

"I will defeat the evil sweet potato form Mishu!" The little Neko squeaked, raising her spoon like a sword and floating above the cup. She stabbed the ice cream repeatedly. "Die NMX scum!"

Freyja suppressed a giggle. Seeing Fumiko play made her feel happier than she had in months. She ate her ice cream and Fumiko wolfed hers down before Freyja was halfway finished. She started flying around the room pretending to be in a Mindy, dodging invisible missiles and making sound effects.

While she quickly finished her ice cream, Freyja thought about how she had conceived Fumiko. Her cheeks darkened at the memories of Wazu and the beach. Ever since then she had been a little embarrassed when she saw him while she was on duty. She suddenly noticed Fumiko was staring at her curiously.

"Whatcha thinking about Mommy? Is it someone you looove?" She asked, gasping when Freyja darkened more. "It is!" Fumiko exclaimed, moving over to sit on her mother's shoulder.

Freyja shook her head. "No.. not exactly, butterfly. If you're finished though I really need to go inspect my armor. Want to come with me?"

Fumiko shrunk into herself. "I-if no one else is there..." She said softly, leaning close to Freyja's ear and hiding her face.

"Well, it's either that or you go play with Jacks-" The little Neko jumped up and floated in circles around her head before she could finish, yelling, "Uncle Jax, Uncle Jax, Uncle Jax!"

Freyja laughed. "Okay, okay." She thought about where he might be. "Hmm.. he is probably in fabrication, do you-" She began, but Fumiko was already on her way to see him.

She cleaned up in the lounge and washed her utensils, humming happily. When she was done she hurried to the PA bay.

PA Bay

The first thing she saw was the blue-black hair, then the slightly tanned, creamy skin and hairless elfin ears. A sob escaped her lips and she ran forward, turning to look at Junko. She said only one word while the tears streamed down her face. "Why?"
 
Bridge

'Seeing' the massive object through the various sensors, gun cameras and the like, Takao help the ship steady with careful precision. He kept his mind on the various metallic corpses and possible defense systems that could still be active. Nothing that they couldn't handle. An insurmountable amount of time without maintenance would have probably slowed the system's reaction time, assuming of course these system had been automated.

The Kohosei craned his head around the back of the chair to look to the Shôshô, "Shall I keep the firing solutions running in the case things get serious, Hanako-Shôshô?"
 
Bridge > Power Armor Bay

"I'll go make sure preparations are proceeding smoothly, if you'll excuse me," Saiga said, joining the Eucharis' crew as they all began moving to action. "Shosho, Taii," he added with a nod before getting out the door behind Masumi. His eyes lingered longer on Hanako than they did Natsumi. They met with the XO's more directly for that split second, though, before breaking off just when he saw her cheeks flush a little pink, as he'd noticed had become commonplace lately.

In any case, he got to moving toward the power armor bay quickly enough. The SAINT officer intended to suit up when he arrived, too, just in case. If the Shosho or Natsumi wanted him to stay behind he'd oblige, but Tsuguka and Freyja were the only true infantry Neko who'd been there for the three months of SOFT drills.

Others on the crew had trained in special operations tactics alongside them, of course, but nothing could replace the combat foundation that soldiers who wore cornflower blue possessed. Plus Wazu tagging along was another back to watch. Junko's late arrival would help ease the burden in battle, but her timing would certainly be off from the others if a stressful situation arose—and that wasn't even accounting for how Freyja would react to her presence.

And so, having traversed from the bridge through the ship by now, Saiga stepped onto the power armor bay's deck and immediately found out.
 
Fabrication

Jax was interrupted from his reverie by a series of high-pitched squeals, getting steadily louder. The corners of his mouth slowly spread.

Twas the "Blue Terror". Come to destroy his home and pillage his stash of chips and candy.

Jax, originally, had been worried for Freyja when he'd found out she'd gotten pregnant. The responsibilities of being a mother were great-so he'd heard- and he feared that it would conflict with her duties as an infantrywoman. But, somehow, she'd figured it out. Now, after the birth of Fumiko, he feared for the little girl. She was still so naive, unknowing of the danger the ship regularly faced. What would happen if they had to crash land on a remote planet? If the ship experienced another hull breach and she couldn't put on an AMES?! If they had boarders- NO. Don't dwell. Don't need the anxiety. Besides, whatever may come, he would care for her in any way he could. He would kill a motherfucker who dared try and lay a hand on her. He would take an aether blast for her.

"Uncle Jax" he was called now. She reminded him so much of his own nephews, Grant and Isaac, whom he hadn't seen in person for three years. It was that sort of familiarity that made him so protective. Kids didn't need to be exposed to such violence so young, and this one had the misfortune of being born on a Star Army ship mid-deployment.

Jax grinned and floated away from his workstation. Upwards he went, pressing himself flat against the wall above the door. His large, triangular ears swiveled to track the incoming monster.

The squealing grew louder and louder until a blue blur raced through the door below him. Jax grinned ferally and dove after it.

"BOO!" he yelled as he scooped up the little girl in his arms and flew back upwards, spinning Fumiko around a few times and howling with laughter. He stopped and began to slowly lower back to the floor. "Hey there, munchkin!"
 
Eucharis, PA Bay

She knew who it was the instant the doors opened. Recognized the weight of her footfalls. Intuition was a funny sense like that. Turned away from the armor to face Freyja, and any train of thought she had came to a halt.

Junko had dreamt of, dreaded, anticipated and imagined this moment coming a long time. Even before she knew about her eventual return to the Eucharis, she'd wondered what would happen. Hypotheticals, potentials and scenarios had filled her head, countless number of endless situations she'd find and infinitely branching choices. Some definite goal, some amount of professional reconciliation, even if the steps were uncertain.

But, in the actual moment, none of it mattered.

Because she saw Freyja's face, and it unlocked something she'd tried to bury and ignore. At first, it felt like her heart was going to swell enough to burst. In the next half-second, before Freyja even opened her mouth, it hit Junko that she was crying. Crying because of her, and that was a cold vice at her throat.

Because, regardless of anything she said or did or what she withheld, the truth was...

The truth was she still loved Freyja.

So she reached over, and the first thing she did was try and dry her face. Even if it didn't fix the problem, she just... she just couldn't stand to see her cry. Hurt like no other way of harming a person could. No way that bled or broke could touch you quite like that.

Hands on her face, it was easy to "speak" words for one that were not intended for others. Even holding back, the words seethed with emotional content. Regret, resignation and ...longing?... rolled off the message like waves of smoke. Their was no good answer, no easy make-it-right, and Junko knew that.

Because you deserved better than me.
 
YSS Eucharis, PA Bay

Not finding an issue Candon resigned to the fact that everything was currently operational. Albeit, Candon had set his mind to either the replacement or refurbishment of the armor but for now it was barely passing inspection.
"One way or another they have a massively high demand for natural resources. I hate planets but it pisses me off to see such reckless disregard for a natural environment," he griped as he ran the diagnostics again, "okay, your suit is checking out right but I've seen the computer get it wrong before so try not to stress it too much. Jax will help you rebuild it tomorrow."
Rebuilding the most complicated PA in the known sector would be a daunting task. Fortunately Candon wouldn't have to worry about it, his armor was running great!


He nodded back to Masumi as approached the rack next to her's where his own hung. He greatly appreciated her taking the time to fold her laundry rather than just crumpling it into a big messy ball of whatever it was that drove him crazy in a negative way. He would normally take the time to say 'thank you', literally the only two words he said about it anymore since there was no need to be completely specific about his OCD to the one woman on the ship that by now was very aware of his various quirks. It was the kind of thing he just didn't need bothering him mid-mission.


As he laid his recently folded shirt in the locking cabinet the expected happened.
"Freyja, Junko, compose yourselves," he spoke gently but with firmness, "whatever the reasons are, we can sort it out later. Let's remember how deep we are in enemy territory and focus on the task at hand so we can all get back here safely, alright?.. Now is this going to be a problem?"
 
YSS Eucharis, Med Bay



"Uh...sure..a reporta." He echoed with soft shrug. As Bronzi turned to leave he caught the last bit of what Tan Ann Pann said. Bronzi smiled and responded to her. "Ya, might be betta to be tha one bein read about...seein as ya made me a reporter an all."
Bronzi then did a 180 and walked out the med bay, down the corridor.

PA Bay

Bronzi soon came into the PA bay to find the away team assembling. He nodded and proceeded in straight to his Exo armor's transport case. It was 6 feet all, and a simple pod like oval design. Bronzi pressed his gloved hand to the machine causing it to depressurize and pop open on both sides. In it was his Hierophant Exo Suit.

"POS." He grumbled as he activated it via his left for arm's flip computer. The machine hummed as its fusion core began to heat up. A few moments later the lights were on and he walked it out of its storage pod onto the deck. The large exo armor was far larger then a Mindy or a daisy so Bronzi kept it in a crouching position. HE then walked behind it, and grabbed a device from out of the storage pod. With one hand he effortlessly carried the bulky device via magnetic handle over and attached to the back of his exo suit. With a quick glance it could be summed that the had attached a maneuvering back pack to the large armor. He knew enough about Yamatians to know they liked speed, so he would need to be able to at least keep up. He'd still be slower, but he'd be able to keep a pace.
With that he closed the storage pod up, which with out the exo in it, it folded in one to it self until it was a small box. Bronzi gave the box a swift kick, and sent it sliding across the deck stopping at the nearest bulkhead so it was out of the way. The chest area of the exo suit opened up, and Bronzi climbed aboard, his arms and legs secured into actuators. He then stay in the machine with it crouched awaiting any one who was curious about the metal hulk that was joining the away mission.
 
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YSS Eucharis
PA Bay
Freyja


Freyja's face lit up with anger. She started to slap Junko in the face, but she stopped. Even as angry as she was, she couldn't bring herself to cause Junko any pain. "What are you talking about!? I don't want someone better than you, I want you!" Her tears still fell, but she threw her arms around Junko and squeezed her tight. Freyja pulled back and kissed her. All the pain from the last three months was still there. She loved her despite all of that.

She still had tears on her face when she pulled away to look Junko in the eye. "This doesn't fix what happened. I still love you... But I don't know if I can forgive you." Freyja said somberly. "You should have left me a message."

"There's... also something I have to tell you." She bit her lip, tail swinging nervously. "When I learned you were reassigned.. I lost it. I got more drunk at that beach party than a Nepleslian teenager on prom night. When I woke up the next morning, Wazu-kun took me out to eat and, well.. I don't know what I was thinking. I seduced him in order to get pregnant." Freyja paused for a few seconds.

"I'm a mother." She said, managing a smile. "Would.. would you like to meet my daughter Fumiko? She.. doesn't know about us." She chewed her lip nervously. "But if you want to try this again we could explain it together," Freyja said hopefully.

The blue Neko was startled by Candon's voice. She looked past Junko to see Masumi, Saiga, and Candon looking at them. "We can talk about us later." She said, releasing Junko.

"I'm going to be okay. Are we finally going to be launching, Heisho?" Freyja asked, wiping her tears on her sleeve.

------------------

Fabrication
Fumiko

The youngling giggled. "Uncle Jax! Mother went to check her armor. She said I could come hang out with you." She said, looking up at him with big eyes. "I want to go fight Ninjas with you again!" Fumiko squealed, taking up a fighting stance. "When I get bigger I'm going to join SAINT and be a real ninja. Then I can protect mother and the Shosho from squids and other slimy, gross things."
 
Bridge

Ramiro sat at the Systems and Safety Monitoring system, mostly leaning back in his chair and trying to keep himself busy as he watched the innocuous information roll across the screen.

Shields are still full, like they've been for three weeks. Weapons are still online, but why wouldn't they be? No damage. No alerts. Back to monitoring engineering, I guess.

Pulling up the engineering systems and subsystems information and just watching the numbers change had been the most entertainment he'd found in his new role. Why, oh why, did he decide to specialize in subsystem coordination when he was teaching at the Academy. He watched as the pressure of various piped fluctuated by a few percentages points, a low-level alert popped up for a few minutes before someone down below corrected it, a power spike here or there.

Occasionally Ramiro would would download a bulk load of Takao's system logs so he could scroll through them. The Kohosei was still a student, and was here on a special training program, so someone had to look out for the kid and make sure that he was actually doing things right. But most of the time the logs were just boring and meaningless.

Ramiro barely noticed the people coming and going from the Bridge, although it did feel rather cramped with the Clerk hovering around, and all the stations filled. He missed the days were it was just him in his chair, Natsumi on weapons, and the Princess at the Helm. Good days. He glanced back towards Takao with a slight bit of contempt, as he often did when nobody was paying attention. The kid was in his chair. HIS. Stupid transfers, putting him behind a desk just because the war was over.

Ramiro leaned back again and let out a small sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. He chose not to speak up about the mission. He figured that if Hanako wanted him running infantry then she would ask.
 
Power Armor Bay

"That's right, Yuuki-hei," Saiga answered, preempting Candon's response. The SAINT NCO had done an exemplary job bringing Freyja and Junko's moment of emotion to an end—for now—but Saiga had just come from the bridge and carried Hanako's intention to send an away team down firsthand. The scientist Masumi arriving and suiting up in her armor had probably been the first tell, though.

"And welcome back, Hasegawa-hei. I trust you're still prepared for combat despite your extended vacation," the Chusa added as he moved from the entryway and over toward where his equipment was stored. He eyed the Gartagen unbox and climb into his massive mecha-armor with some interest, fully aware of who he was and somewhat wary about another tag-along on top of Wazu. But if they did run into trouble down on the metal moon then the Hierophant's size could be handy, if for nothing else but the intimidation factor.

"We'll have a full briefing soon, everyone," Saiga announced while he checked over the pristine Mindy 4 he'd been assigned for his stay on the Eucharis. He was more familiar with Daisys, but still comfortable and confident in the Empire's newest armor. "A shipwide announcement should be forthcoming. Assume Yamashiro-taii will take point until further notice.

"And if you're coming, Garta-san," he said with a glance over to Bronzi's hulking robot, "you might hold off sealing yourself in. I don't think the briefing room can accommodate your current... eeto... girth."
 
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Jax beamed, almost laughing from the childish enthusiasm. He squatted down and ruffled Fumiko's hair.

"And I think you'd be a great SAINT agent." said the engineer, pushing down his growing fears that he was speaking to the next Candon. "Don't let anyone tell you different."

He stood back up and strolled back to his work station, bringing up a feed of the outside and gazing at the huge planet-machine-thing that they'd discovered. He would have loved to been able to go along and see if he could pick up any new goodies to analyze. As far as he knew, nothing like this had been built by any of the known races. But you know what? Better to let the jarheads go in first to make sure it's clear of Kuvies.

"Sorry, kiddo, I can't go to the rec room right now. I'm a little busy myself." he said, bringing another tab forward that was full of schematics for Bronzi's massive exo-suit. As the ship's mechanic, it was important for him to know the ins and outs of all equipment onboard in case repairs were needed. It being Gartagen equipment was no excuse.
 
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